A Fortune's Fool
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta:
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It was a blunt statement, to the point and direct. It was also a statement that had to be replied to, save that the phone rang at that precise moment. But it wasn't any of the office phones, rather it was the personal cell that the cop wore. He checked it, his face smooth of any emotion before answering it.
"I'm here." Was all he said. But after that there was only a brief moment before he nodded. "Understood."
From there he closed his phone and put it back into it's holder before returning his attention fully on Souji. "What would you like to know?"
For a moment Souji could only stare at the man in barely suppressed shock, shouldn't there have been more before such willing agreement?
"I worked with the girl back when she was 10 years old. I can give you some information at the very least... Don't look so surprised, the family is well known among the Perfectural Offices. Those who have those connections know about her true gender." The officer explained as he began walking around the desk towards a small wooden gate. "You might as well come over here. Oh and the name is Kurosawa."
He undid the latch allowing Souji to walk further inside the simple office before leading the young man to a door on the side. "She's been involved in a great deal of cases and been instrumental in solving them. But there's always a chance that a backlash could happen." He opened the door before walking to a desk with a stack of large notebooks. Opening the one on the top he pulled out a CD and placed it in a machine before taking a pair of headphones and holding them out for Souji to put on.
"So you were the one who was talking to her that day." He didn't ask, it was rather clear that Kurosawa knew something. But he slipped the headphones on and the cop began typing into the computer system next to the machine.
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Ring
Ring
Ri- "Shirogane here." Naoto's voice was tired, pained as though she had a serious headache.
"Have I caught you at a bad time Shirogane-san?"
"Na... No... I just got back late..." She almost sounded sheepish.
"Oh, that's right, you graduated High School I believe."
"Hm, yes, how did you know?"
"Well it's not hard to figure out considering how old you are."
"Is... is there a reason why you're calling then? I know it's not to simply wish me congratulations." There was sound going on in the room, as though Naoto was getting up and moving about on her own.
"Yes, it's come to my attention that one of the more violent of criminals you caught years ago has managed to escape."
"... I see... And you're calling me because you believe?" She left her statement hanging, but there was a sound of her sliding on something.
"I think you need to increase your protections for now. Until he has been recaptured."
"You believe my life to be in danger." She put it bluntly, the phone sounded close to her mouth.
Beep.
"Give me a second Kurosawa-san." She sounded distracted before the phone clicked and then clicked again. "Damn Omiai."
"Omiai? Aren't you a little young for a pre arranged marriage?"
"Yes. But in this case they don't know me." She snorted in mild annoyance, but there was an undercurrent of another emotion in her voice.
"Ah, I see, they unknowingly are thinking you to be a good husband."
"It's not funny, at least I can politely decline." Naoto sounded angry and bitter. "But back... wait... Kurosawa-san. I... Damn it I think someone broke in!" She sounded angry at herself, for not noticing. Then again she had been drinking, no matter how slightly. But that was Naoto, she blamed herself for things she had no real control over.
"Shirogane-san get out of there right now."
"I'm already on..." There was a sound of a door clicking open, followed by Naoto's startled cry as the phone got a wonderful clip of a fist on flesh.
The phone clattered to the ground while the sound of rapid footsteps staggered back. A voice, too low to be heard clearly, with only the word 'Bastard' being spat out was picked up.
"He's big, about 170cm's or 175cm's..." Her voice was pained, the first blow must have landed on her face or head. Another growl answered her attempts to talk. Suddenly one set of foot steps sounded firm, while the lighter steps become more uneven. "Green eyes..." Her voice sounded as though she was being yanked around.
"Shut up you bastard!" There was a cry of pain as the sound of a body landing hard on the floor shot into the phone.
The phone picked up the sound of scrambling, someone small, a lithe build which meant Naoto. A drawer was flung open before a cry of pain was heard, mixed with the hard crack of something... Then came the painful sound of a body falling limp to the floor, the sound of silence, then footsteps.
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Kurosawa stood there watching as the young man rested his elbows on the desk. The youth rested his forehead against his hands, his posture one of anguish as he finally pulled off the headphones . The young man looked like he was praying, so he was close to the Detective Prince? He didn't know, only that Akihiko had told him it was ok to let the guy in. "I called the local office after she told me she believed someone broke in. But it wasn't fast enough, she was gone by the time anyone got there that could have saved her."
"Thank you for letting me listen... Do you know if there's any headway in the case so far?" Souji asked from where he was sitting. His voice was calm, but he was looking straight ahead and made no other move then to talk.
"I wouldn't know, I don't have access to the information from the Inaba region outside of this one phone call." Kurosawa stated, it was the truth, though he knew this guy wanted more then just a simple phone call.
"If this is a previous case... is there any way I can get the records or pictures of the people who she caught over the years?" Souji asked, barely having turned his head to speak more directly to Kurosawa.
"It would be easier if you went to the Shirogane estate yourself. They would have kept copies of everything. If I tried to get it, that would take more time. Do you know where the Estate is?" he asked, "It's near Inaba, but still a ways out."
"I would appreciate the directions," Souji replied while he pushed himself to his feet.
It was how the young man held himself erect after such exposure, the set of his shoulders, something that told him that this young man could possibly help find the Detective Prince in time. Kurosawa nodded and quietly went off to get the address written down letting the youth have a moment to himself. A moment that was used by the young man to slam his fist into a wall by the sounds of it. The actions of a leader he could only assume, not wanting his own pain to be visible to anyone.
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Dojima sat in his office staring at the spot in front of his desk. There really wasn't anything else he could do at that moment, but stare at it. It was something safe, it didn't move, made no gestures, was just a spot on the wall. It was also quiet, patient with him, and didn't make him feel years older then he actually was. It was just a spot on the wall that had been there since the building was erected and would be there in some fashion or another until the building went down. Maybe it would get a fresh load of paint, but nothing else.
Being a police officer is more then carrying a gun or a badge. Anyone can do that, but it takes a special type of person to be either. You have to have the drive to do it, it's not a 9 to 5 job where you wake up go to work and come home. Lots of times it's long hours in the office, pouring over files. You could end up kneeling in the rain at a crime scene, picking at things for hours, trying to find some trace or clue to a crime that links a person to a place and time. This isn't a Runway from Milan or New York, it can get dirty, gritty and a lot of times frustrating. But you know that, your first taste in learning the life of a detective is what brought Adachi in when you discovered his crimes. You have to have a very big heart, and be prepared to have that heart hurt often, because you're going to see a lot of pain in this line of work.
But more then that, you're going to see a lot of ego's, look at Naoto, she disguised herself for years as a boy just for any type of recognition. Being a woman who wants to follow her path only as a cop instead of detective won't change things. It's not going to be easy for you, people are going to write you off as nothing more then a meter maid most of the time. But you have to have that heart in order to keep going, to find the truth, to protect the innocents. Sometimes you won't be able to, sometimes they get away... No matter how much we may hate that, sometimes there's just nothing we can do.
Dojima recalled when Chie sat across from him, her body blocking that spot when she told him of her goal to be a cop. He'd gone on longer about the responsibilities and duties that came with the badge. She nodded with her eyes shinning with determination, she wanted a similar path or maybe it was the same path. Inaba was a small town, the cops knew her pretty well and welcomed her in like a little sister. Sure there was still that male ego and pride, but Chie worked under him, so she got less flack for being there then say, Naoto herself when she started out years before.
"Dojima-san?" She poked her head into his office, answering his summons promptly. He didn't turn to look at her, he had been trying to turn the phrase he was about to say over in his mind and get it to stick. "Chie, I want you to call your friends, the ones still in Inaba, you know. That investigation team you were in back during the murders."
"Why? Is something the matter?" She walked in further, seeking more clarification then what he had given at the moment. She was in her uniform, her cap on, a very neat professional appearance that pleased him. At times it was actually entertaining to walk in on a conversation between Chie and Naoto. It didn't make the law enforcement system look so sexiest like when she was helping Chie try to find a gun that suited her.
"I want all of you together when I explain this, I don't want to repeat myself." he explained still staring at good ol Spot on the Wall.
"Ummm," she began hedging about something her tone hinting that she was trying to guess what this was about. "Is... something wrong with Souji? Did he call?" She began when she suddenly blurted out a, "not that he should! Haha just... you know?"
"Chie. It's Naoto, I want all of you together so I don't have to explain this more then once." He repeated for her. Also he didn't want 'her' to explain this more then once, this wasn't something easy. She had only done the most basic of stuff, meter maiding, citations, this wasn't small time, and it was personal.
"What about Naoto? She's not sick is she?" Chie began to look uncomfortable her eyes growing uneasy and nervous. "Umm Souji called didn't he?"
"Why do you think Souji would call? I doubt he knows about this." He countered, mildly confused as to why Chie kept trying to bring Souji into this.
"Oh I don't know... I mean the letter said 'not' to call the cops and uh... well..." She had begun to babble, her thoughts coming out like a stream of information. "But I guess he might have called you, since you're family and stuff."
"Naoto's been kidnapped." He put it bluntly, sometimes a blunt fact could stop Chie from running off on her thoughts.
"No she's not!" Chie's automatic answer caught him off guard as she went on to elaborate. "He just thinks that because that's what the picture says. But it's just a joke, we're going to trick Souji into coming back to Inaba! It's this totally romantic idea that the employees over at the Amagi Inn helped us cook up."
He could only stare at her long and hard for a moment, he didn't mean to, he could see her starting to worry more. 'A romantic...' He felt like something had just hit him in the back of the head with a board, and it took a great deal of training not to show that shock.
"Souji never called me."
"Look, just tell him that you're on the case. We have everything covered, no problems! OH! I know, you tried to call her right? She's probably still sleeping since they over guessed the amount of liquor they put in her drink last night." She went on, but he shut her words out as he tried to absorb that fact.
They got Naoto drunk. The girl wasn't big, and none of the gang were drinkers to start with, so they wouldn't know how much to put in. No wonder Naoto had missed any and all signs that someone had broken into her apartment. She would have been vulnerable and the conversation that had been recorded between herself and Kurosawa suddenly made more sense.
"Chie, I'm ordering you as your commanding officer to call and get your friends in my office asap." He didn't want to be hard with her. He never thought that a prank meant for romance would take such a dark turn. She obeyed though, her eyes uncertain as she began dialing away giving orders and calling others.
'I'm going to have to call Souji, given what Chie said he's probably already worried sick about Naoto. This is only going to make it worse.'
They arrived, piling into his office one after another, with various expressions of worry and concern. Not much having changed from the way the gang looked or behaved outwardly, but there was an undercurrent of worry growing in them. Yukiko clutched a hand full of pictures in her hands bringing them to Chie to confer with her over something.
"As you five currently still in Inaba are the closest to Naoto, I felt it was for the best to tell you first. Naoto's been kidnapped, unless your stunt involved cracking her head open on her dresser that is."
The pictures spilled onto the floor as everyone stopped moving and turned to look at him.
"Nao-chan? Someone took Nao-chan?" Teddie was the first to attempt to talk, to ask the question in every pair of eyes staring at him.
"Yes, Teddie."
"Yer lying! She's gotta be here!" Kanji was the first to get angry, flipping out his cell phone and dialing a number rapidly. But their heads turned as one towards the drawer in Dojima's desk, something was ringing. Without a word Dojima pulled out the cell phone, still in it's plastic bag, from when they cased the apartment.
Every face was pale, distraught, Yukiko picked up the pictures and put them on the desk before him. He paused looking at these young adults, and that's what they were, young adults, before looking at the pictures. Naoto was always tied up, in every picture, but after a while the outfits began to change.
"The story is that a guy decided he liked Naoto and wanted her for himself. So he kidnaps her and taunts Souji by sending the pictures. She didn't agree to it at first. She despised the whole idea of it, but then one night she called Chie and said she'd do it. We didn't understand or ask, she seemed to want to keep the reason to herself. But we grabbed Rise and went shopping and began buying things that would look good on her." Yukiko explained her voice soft, tentative as though by saying that she had condemned them all to a terrible punishment.
He picked up the last picture, a candle lit dinner in the Amagi Inn clearly. Naoto had been handcuffed with her hands behind her back. But she wore a lovely modern gown, modest in cut, one that seemed to show her curves without overexposing them. It was a bit of a surprise, seeing Naoto dressed like a girl on a date, rather then a boy on a case.
He didn't know, his nephew had solved a murder case after all, he might have figured out something was up much sooner. But this was being set up by his friends and Dojima doubted that Souji would say 'no'. Besides, for a picture like the one he held, how could Souji resist a girlfriend looking so helpless and needing a champion? A silly idea, one that Naoto would normally scoff, and yet, something made her change her mind.
But he doubted it had anything to do with the actual kidnapping, and he had no business to pry into her personal life. Instead he reached out and selected a line before dialing out of the office.
"Dojima-san?" Chie sounded so weak as she spoke, her eyes filled with concern.
"You kept implying that Souji should already know about this false kidnapping. He needs to know the situation has changed."
