A/N: Here's what could be the last chapter, (read an find out ;P). Just some notes on the chapter: I tried looking up what the Japanese Police arms it's officers with, but got sidetracked by the cars, so sorry if the make I picked is not right. There was something else I wanted to say, but it has slipped my mind :S
The next chapter will mean a change in rating from T to M. If this bother's anyone, then you don't have to read on as it is just an epilogue of sorts, and won't affect your reading once I write "Episode 2".
This chapter has stronger language, and can get a bit gory nearing the end, but I think it stays within the T rating. If the majority disagree, I will change it.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy :)


Flashback

It had been almost a month since Shizuru had visited Natsuki at work. Ever since she had been going out with Tomoe Marguerite, head of a textiles and home furnishings company, Shizuru had been spending more time with her girlfriend, and less time with her best-friend. Natsuki would always tell Mai that she hardly noticed, however Mai would never believe her. Every lunch break, Natsuki would position herself facing the break room's door and look to see if someone was entering every five minutes; a look would pass over her face which resembled a kicked puppy whenever someone, who was not Shizuru, entered the room. This lunch time though, Mai had had enough; "Look Natsuki," She said as Natsuki looked at the door for what must have been the fiftieth time. "You see Shizuru every day. You live with her! What's really got you worried?"

"I'm not..." Seeing the look in Mai's eyes, she gave in, "I'm just worried because I don't know this Tomoe person. At least with her previous girlfriends, she brought them to the flat sometimes and I would meet them. This one though, doesn't want to meet me."

"Shizuru is old enough to know –"

"Whether or not someone can be trusted, I know. I just can't help feeling like something's up."

"Why don't you do a background check?"

"And have Shizuru find out and never talk to me again? No thank you Mai. I'd like to keep my head intact."

"Okay, but if you look at that door one more time, I'm setting Mikoto on you."

From that day on, Natsuki sat with her back towards the door.

End of Flashback

It was coming close to nightfall so Natsuki and Chie, along with the heavy armour section of Osaka Police (with Chief Superintendant Armitage in charge) were on their way over to the warehouse district. For some reason, Natsuki couldn't shake that memory out of her head and the feeling like she had forgotten something. The more she tried to think though, the more muddled her brain became. Maybe I forgot a tap on or didn't lock the door.

Next to her in the car, Chie was also feeling apprehensive. The acquiring of the evidence and the way this was all panning out seemed too easy. Almost as if they were all walking into a trap. Seeing the armoured truck driving in front of her, she wondered what Haruka would say if she voiced her concerns. "If you don't use your dead, Captain Chie, we will all end up head." The voice of her Chief passed through her head. Shortly followed by the voice of the Mayor, "I think you mean head and dead Haruka-chan." "Don't call me Haruka-chan in Chie's head Yukino!" Chie chuckled out loud, causing her to get a strange look from Doctor Kruger. She shook her head in response, "When I'm nervous, I tend to imagine random things."

"So you're nervous too?" Natsuki wasn't expecting Chie to be nervous. She wasn't aware at all about Chie's thoughts on the case's end being too simplistic.

Chie tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. "Something just doesn't feel right. I may have been reading too many Nao Zhang mystery novels lately, but when everything looks good, that's usually when everything goes horribly, horribly wrong."

Natsuki gave a frustrated groan, "If both of us are feeling this, then there obviously must be something wrong. Is that the entrance to the district?"

"Yes." Chie replied. What Natsuki said is true, Chie thought, if two professional's, trained in law and science feel something is not right, then there must be something up. Chie read the names of the different Warehouses as she passed, "Okazaki Freight, 1-4... Marguerite Textiles, 5-6... Yuuki Mobile, 7-10..." Most of the lower numbered warehouses seemed abandoned, serving to freak her out more.

"It's like a ghost town." Commented Natsuki, "The darkness seems to accent how alone we are."

"Here we are." Chie stopped her car behind the van, switching off the engine but not leaving the car. "I guess this is our stop." She laughed nervously.

Natsuki gave a sigh, "Yes, I guess it is." Slowly, she opened the door. Turning as if she was about to say something, she shook her head instead and stepped out of the car and towards the van where Armitage was already out and prepping the heavily armoured officers.

"The feet sensors show that there are two bodies on the third floor of the building behind us." Chief Superintendant Haruka Armitage said as quietly as she could, which was a few decibels below yelling.

Feeling Chie come up next to her she asked, "Feet sensors?"

With a snort, Chie explained, "Heat sensors. During a raid or a hostage situation, we use them to see how many people are in the building. They're also useful to see where the hostage might be, and where the kidnapper is." She motioned towards the inside of the van and showed Natsuki the monitors connected to the heat sensing technology. At the centre of what looked like a room full of purple were two human shaped blobs of yellow, orange and red; one sitting and one standing. "Why does that picture make me feel worse and not better?"

Natsuki waited a beat before answering, "Because they're not moving."

"What do you mean?" Haruka asked, listening into their conversation.

"Try standing still for a long time," Natsuki said, facing Haruka and Chie, "without meaning to, you move or fidget. It's a natural response as your body needs to flex muscles to move blood in the veins back to the heart. They" She looked back at the monitor and pointed, "are not moving."

Chie was about to agree when Haruka interrupted, "No matter. We shall storm the bear house at midnight!" She then turned back to her officers and began placing them around the building.

Chie looked at her watch, 10:35... we don't have much time before Haruka charges. The Chief Superintendant is a smart officer, but she can be so hard headed at times. "What do you think we should do?" Looking at Natsuki in the glow of the monitors, she could see her brow deeply furrowed.

"I don't know." The Doctor replied after a while, "Reito brought us here for a reason... why would he set up this trap?"

"Maybe he wants us to all go into the building before he blows it sky high." Suggested Chie, "but what would he gain from exploding half of Osaka PD and one of his main warehouses?"

"Not much..." Natsuki became silent as information flew through her mind, "Unless it's not Reito who kidnapped Shizuru."

"I can see where you're going but walk me through it." Said Chie.

"Every piece of evidence we've gained so far points to Reito. I don't know about you, but a kidnapper would never reveal their identity unless they planned on killing their hostage. Reito's only motive for kidnapping Shizuru would be to marry her and if she dies before her parents, then he inherits nothing. These reasons make me believe that Reito has been framed." Natsuki began pacing in frustration.

"I agree with all the above, but there is just one problem," Chie said as she watched Natsuki pace between her and the van, "Who framed Roger Rabbit?"

"If I knew, Captain, I wouldn't be pacing like an animal trapped in a cage now, would I?" Was the gruff reply.

Chie choose to ignore Natsuki's sharp reply, understanding that the worry she held for Shizuru was making her even more irritable than usual. Instead she decided to view the surrounding area.

The Warehouse estate was located next to Osaka's harbour with the main import/export companies having warehouses right next to the shore. Kanzaki's happened to be one of these shore side buildings, along with Okazaki and Marguerite. Staring out into the dark waters of harbour, Chie could see the lights reflecting from the police van, the floodlight on the Kanzaki building and a light from further on. Not knowing what this light could be from, she looked at the other buildings, noticing that the orange glow from a room in warehouse 6. "Looks like Marguerite textiles don't worry about their electricity bill."

Natsuki immediately stopped her pacing, her attention solely on Chie, "What did you say?"

"There's a light on in one of the rooms. They obviously don't care about their bills." Chie Re-iterated.

"No... Who did you say the building belongs to?" Natsuki asked slowly, coming closer.

"Marguerite textiles?" Answered Chie "The name rings I bell, but I figured that Aoi must have mentioned it once or twice."

"Kami Damn it!" Yelled Natsuki as she flipped open her mobile and speed dialled a number. "Come on! Pick up!" Her pacing resumed as Chie looked on bemused. "I should have known... Fucking Tomoe!"

Chie could hear her synapses clicking as it dawned on her, "The ex-girlfriend."

Someone on the other line must have answered, "Hello, Mai? It's Kruger, are you doing graveyard? Thank Fuck! Sorry, it's just... I want you to do a background check on Tomoe Marguerite. That's M-A-R... I'll explain later." She snapped her phone shut with a sigh, "I should explain something Chie. Shizuru did not just dump Marguerite because of her possessiveness, but also because of the fetishes she forced Shiz to partake in."

"Kinky." Chie remarked, scrunching her nose in distaste.

"Not so much kink as stink." Natsuki replied, "recently, there has been an increase in people wanting to relive their younger days or nurture others. They would do this by going to clubs to meet like minded people, like a normal bondage club, but instead of their being a sadist and a masochist..."

"There would be a diaper wearer and a diaper changer." Finished Chie.

"Exactly. This of course is all legal; no sexual acts take place at these clubs." Continued Natsuki, "Heck, most of the people there go for comfort rather than sexual release. Marguerite on the other hand liked it when it got sexual."

"I see." Chie let it all sink in. "I bet you've been dying to have her background checked."

"Yes, I did. At the time though, I respected Shizuru's privacy." Natsuki gave a laugh laced with irony, "I was just about to hit the search button when Shizuru announced that the relationship was over. After that, I didn't see any point in revealing the women's past." When her phone buzzed, she flipped it open before it could beep, "Kruger. Uh-huh... okay." She shook her head in disbelief, "I promise I'll tell you Mai, as soon as I'm back home with Shizuru. Thank you."

"Well?"

"She was released from Kansai Institute for the Mentally Challenged seven years ago, labelled schizophrenic, bi-polar on remand, which means that when she left, it was under control, but it could come back at any time if not cared for. Her father's company filed for bankruptcy two years ago but still has the deeds for warehouse six in the Osaka industrial estate."

Chie immediately went into the van, picking up some equipment before returning to Natsuki. She lifted the lapel of Natsuki's trench coat, "That's a microphone which is connected to this earpiece," She placed said earpiece onto her own ear. "This," She lifted a handgun, "Is a spare, police issue Glock. I'm giving you it for emergency only." She gave Natsuki a pointed look.

"Yes ma'am." Natsuki agreed, just happy that they were going to do something useful.

"I gave you the microphone because I have a feeling the reason this building was set up was to send all the police in the wrong direction. She must have known that you would eventually figure it all out and wanted you to rush into the action without backup. What she didn't plan on happening was me." Chie gave Natsuki a smile as she began walking to warehouse 6.

Natsuki followed Chie to the main gate of the building. Placing her ear to the door, she strained to hear any sounds coming from within. Chie confirmed with a nod that she too, had not heard anything. Together, they rolled the sliding door open and peered into the darkness. The glow of a light could be seen illuminating a set of stairs up to the second floor. Walking in to the warehouse, Chie nodded her head to those stairs, telling Natsuki to make her way up, whilst she stayed on the first floor, out of sight from anyone who might be upstairs.

As Natsuki climbed up, she could see that the whole floor was empty apart from a couple of rusting machines piled up in one corner and a chair placed about five metres away from the stairwell. Sitting on that chair was, "Shizuru!" Hearing her name being called, Shizuru looked up from the floor.

"Natsuki." Her hands were tied to behind the chair back, her feet tied around the legs but her mouth was not gagged.

"Ah! So nice of you to finally join us, Doctor!" Said a voice from behind Natsuki. Pulling the glock out from her jacket pocket, she spun round to face the voice. "I wouldn't do that if I were you Doctor. You see this device in my hand?" Natsuki gave a nod, "You shot me and I might just accidentally press this button sending the great Chief and her Captain sky high. Put the gun down."

Natsuki did as she was told, placing the gun on the ground and kicking it away, near the stairwell. "What do you want, Marguerite?" She followed Tomoe as she moved from her previous place to where Shizuru was currently sitting.

"Isn't it obvious Nat-chan? I want Shizuru to myself and for you to leave us alone." She gave a girlish laugh, as if she had just announced a shocking rumour.

"If I remember correctly, Shizuru dumped you through no fault of my own." Natsuki growled, "and don't call me that."

"Oh you say that, but we both know that she loves you far more than she loves me. Don't you Ru?" Tomoe asked, running her fingers through Shizuru's hair.

"Don't touch her!" Natsuki yelled. She felt powerless over what to do next.

"What? Are you afraid I'm going to hurt her?" She gave another laugh, "The irony of that is you've hurt her a lot more than I ever will, Nat-chan."

"I told you to stop calling me that!" Maybe if I keep her talking and somehow manoeuvre her back towards the stairwell then signal to Chie... this has doomed to fail written all over it.

"I love how you pick up on me calling you by your first name but hardly bat an eye at what I've insinuated. That is precisely what I was talking about, isn't it Shizuru, my love?"

"How dare you talk to her!"

"It would be wise of you to remember who's in charge here, Natsuki." Tomoe warned, her grey eyes flashing before they returned to their usual glee filled state. "Until I decide when I am bored with you, I think I shall take this time to tell you the ins and outs of my plan, as I am sure some of the pieces have you confused."

"What makes you so sure I wish to spend my last few moments listening to the crazed monologue of a schizophrenic?" Natsuki replied, not bothering to look anywhere but at Shizuru.

"So you finally looked me up, Nat-chan?" A growl was her only response. "Anyway, moving on. As you know, Natsuki, a year ago last month, Shizuru politely told me, "I can't be with you any more Tomoe-san, I don't see this relationship going anywhere." I of course knew immediately that what she really saying was, "I don't love you as much as I love Doctor Natsuki Kruger." This upset me deeply and in a fit of depression, I began using LSD again, which I guess from a medical stand point, triggered my schizophrenia." Noticing the Doctor's preoccupation, she addressed her with," Don't you think so Nat-chan?"

Still not taking her eyes off of Shizuru, Natsuki replied, "It has been known to happen."

Tomoe hummed in agreement, peeved at Natsuki's refusal to look at her. "For a month, I revelled in the plans my voices were whispering to me, one more devious than the other; until one particular voice, Alyssa-chan, came up with something brilliant. This little birdie reminded me of the failed marriage between the Kanzaki and Fujino that my father had mentioned in passing all those years ago. She told me that a sister's jealousy and a man's need to get whatever he wants would be the perfect ruse to cover up my own kidnap. The only problem was you. I knew that you'd go running around like a lost dog trying to find its owner, and I also knew that's you'd eventually find out what really happened." Fed up with Natsuki's lack of interest, Tomoe stood in front of Shizuru, blocking their eye contact. "So," She continued, "I decided to make things easy for you. I sent left the first letter, knowing that you'd know it was addressed to you. I sent the second letter to throw you off a little, making you think it was a relative misunderstanding the haiku. Knowing that one of Shizuru's vases was hand made by her sister only made my plan easier; I found a particularly prominent fingerprint and sprayed it with liquid latex. When it had dried, I carefully pealed it off and lightly covered it with jojoba oil. Did you know, Doctor, that jojoba oil is closely related to human skin oil? Of course you do, you wrote a paper on it." The irony was not lost on Natsuki, "Alakazam! Instant fingerprint maker. Of course, the incriminating fingerprint would not appease the Judge, who you would need a court order from if you wanted to interrogate Anh Lu. A witness was needed. This was a little tricky for me to do, but I decided, if I could kidnap full grown, healthy women, I can quite easily murder and impersonate an old lady."

Now this really shocked Natsuki. "You did what?"

"Slow aren't we, Nat-chan? After I had bundled an unconscious Shizuru into the back of a delivery van, with all her belongings (disguised as a delivery women of course), I was walking back to her flat when I saw Ms. Chen. I struck up an easy conversation with her, trying to learn her mannerisms. This was about to become easier for me, as she invited me in for a cup of tea. I agreed to do so, but first, I just had to clean Shizuru's apartment. It had to be spotless; I would only allow the great Doctor Kruger to collect any evidence from me."

Natsuki shifted uncomfortably under Tomoe's glare, "After I was satisfied with the room, I went back to Ms. Chen's where I was offered tea and a slice of cake. I was still pondering over how I would handle this; should I just tie her up? What if the police decide to search the flat? It wasn't until I saw the flash of the knife she was using to cut the cake, that I decided to kill the poor bitch. I still had the problem of where to hide the body, but as I noticed how hungry her cats were..." Natsuki's stomach rolled, "I knew her body would be gone by the time you got to Osaka and all I had to do was dispose of the bones using one of the vats of industrial acid on the ground floor of this very Warehouse. Her clothes, thank Kami, fit me perfectly. All I had to do was buy a wig from the local costume shop, cut a key under Anh Lu's name and wait for the CSI's to leave so I could plant the Kanzaki batch of Chloral Hidrate." Here, she paused to see the look on Natsuki's face, "The fact that Mr. Pickle's," she said the name in a fake old ladies voice, "had taken to me so well was the icing on the cake.

"Once you'd come and gone, I knew that despite my early victories, there was still a lot that needed to be done. Knowing I only had a few hours over you," Continued Tomoe, "as you waited for the results to come in, I knew that some things had to be done on my way over to Osaka, so I found Anh Lu's private phone number, and called her. I knew she wouldn't go out for just anyone, so I arranged a meeting with her in the Hyatt Regency Hotel saying I was a business journalist for the Kyoto Shimbun. You know, I nearly cried with laughter when I heard that you too were staying at that very same hotel. That morning, when you were preparing to go to the Lu residence, I had decided to leave your friend, the Captain a little present. Stealing one of the waitress uniforms they had been lying around, I easily picked her pocket, grabbing the key to her hotel room. All I had to do after that was place some chloral hidrate into Lu's glass, watch as she slowly drifted off, disguise myself, yet again as a waitress so I won't look suspicious rolling a cart around, place her body on the bed and plunge the Katana into her chest. Not forgetting, of course, to place the last clue in her big, fat mouth!"

"How did you get a Kanzaki Katana?" Natsuki asked, her curiosity taking over.

"That family had always been proud of their heritage; too proud. Yes, they came from a line of Samurai, but every one of them was a traitor to the country! Anyway, to show off their pride, they would hang a Katana in each Warehouse. It was a simple enough feat to get one of the many workers to take it by waving a case full of Yen in their face. In a couple of days time, they'll find out that it's all fake." Tomoe hummed in thought, "What next? Ah! Yes, my work was not yet done as I still had to rush back to Osaka, place heating lamps and enough C4 to demolish a building into an empty Kanzaki warehouse and wait for your slow brain to catch up with my clues." Tomoe regained her breath and took a deep bow, "Yes, I know. Brilliant!" She slowly walked over to where Natsuki had kicked the Glock behind her, and picked it up, placing the detonator onto the floor instead. "Nice gun, Nat-chan. Let me guess, did you steal it from the Captain when she wasn't looking. Bit of a bad cop that one is." She un-clicked the safety.

"No!" Screamed Shizuru, who had been quite through the whole monologue, "Please, just leave her alone. I'll do anything."

"Would you Shizuru?" Snarled Tomoe, "Would you forget to love her if I asked you to?"

"Who says I won't stop loving her, even if you kill her?" Shizuru replied with a sob, straining against the bonds that held her back.

"Well, we'll just have to see then, won't we?" As she lifted the gun and pointed it towards Natsuki, time seemed to slow.

Natsuki didn't want to spend her final seconds looking down the barrel of a gun. Instead she turned away from Tomoe, and looked straight at Shizuru. Those red eyes were brighter than usual as the tears rolled from them and down her cheeks. In those final seconds, Natsuki knew that Shizuru was all she needed.

A gun shot rang through the room.

Tomoe crumpled to the floor revealing Chie, her gun smoking.

"Alakzam, Jackass!"