Disclaimer: I did not own the characters. Just borrow them from Naoko Takeuchi.
A/N: Ok, here's another chap. So...by Christmas i can upload another chap (hopefully) and an epilogue by New Year (if any). Great. Please review.
I turn my head to the east,
I can't see nobody by my side,
I turn my head to the west,
Still nobody in sight,
I turn my head to the north,
Swallow that pill that they called pride,
That old me's dead n' gone,
And the new me will be alright,
And oh, I've been travelling on this road too long,
Just trying to find my way back home,
The old me's dead n' gone, dead n' gone...
She hit the light and kicked the stiletto away. She moved unsteadily as her mind was still affected by over alcohol effect. But the effect didn't last long. She let out a surprised gasp and her mind was as clear as a crystal when she saw the sitting figure on her couch. "How did you find this place?" The earlier crimson red had long gone from her cheek. Her face went pale immediately when she saw the familiar ponytail. Every inch in her body and minds were consumed by fear.
"Aren't you glad to see me? After all, thanks to you, I can proceed to the final stage of my plan. Furthermore, I never failed to locate anything that I want to seek." Seiya stood on his feet to turn around and met face to face with Anna Kimura.
Avoiding Seiya's scrutinized stare, Anna makes her way into kitchen with her hands clenched into fist to control her shaking hands. Her vision rested on the refrigerator where her self protect weapon was located. 8 more feets, and the weapon would be in her grasp. "Just act cool and be calm." "We are partners Seiya, but it doesn't mean you have the rights to invade into my private place. I don't like surprises. But since you are here, what I can serve to you?" "6 more feet."
Seiya's attention was diverted to his phone when it started to vibrate. Seiya answered the phone with his eyes still fixed on Anna. "The bird has been released." Was the short message from the other side and the phone was hung up. Seiya's lips curved into a smile unconsciously and almost immediately he turned his handphone's power off.
Anna almost stopped breathing when she finally reached her destination and she placed her hand on the freezer's door. Just when she was about to pull the door open, another hand grabbed her collar and yanked her back to behind causing her to land flatly against the bar island then onto the floor. Anna grunted in pain and started to sob.
Seiya knelt at Anna's side and caressed her cheek affectionately. "I just received good news from Thailand and I don't have time to play with you. You should think twice with who you are messing with. You and your brother plan to snatch the stuff under my nose and silenced me later. There's no advantage for a woman for being greedy, Anna. You should just stick on to your initial plan to get Michiru. No worries, you are not alone in the journey to hell. I'll send your brother along. Before that, maybe my men would like to have some fun with you first.
Anna's eyes widened in fear but her body was too weak to put up any fight.
Seiya chuckled and left the crime scene with a new plan on his mind. He fished another phone out from her pocket and dialed another too familiar number.
"Haruka, the day and location is set. But I have 1 more request."
"What is it?"
"I want you to come with me."
"Impossible. Sounds like you don't trust me."
"I trust you Haruka but this time is different. The amount on stake is too high. I need your support. This will be the last time, Haruka."
Silence.
"Alright" And the line went dead.
Chiba Mamoru's frown deepened after his conversation with Thailand had ended. A certain blonde crossed into his mind and he marched his way into Commissioner's office.
2200
Michiru opened the door and studied the girl in front of her. Michiru was certain she saw that girl before but couldn't place out the time and location. There's an unexplainable hatred in her heart towards this girl and yet Michiru couldn't figure out the reason why.
"You don't recognize me?" The girl asked with her mouth chewing on a bubble gum.
Michiru shook her head and then returned a question to the girl. "Do I know you?"
The girl let out an exasperated sigh. "Come on, how can you unable to recognize the girl that rode on your girlfriend on that fateful night?"
Michiru's eyes immediately flared in anger when her mind recollected back the unwanted memories on that particular night.
"Look. I came here not for argument. I just want to clarify certain things with you."
"I don't think there will be a decent conversation in between you and me." If eyes could kill someone, judging from Michiru's killer's eyes, the girl would have been dead by now.
"Oh yes, there is once you have listen to my story. For starter, your girlfriend is innocent. Someone paid me up to mess up with your girlfriend. Your girlfriend was actually unconscious at that time, courtesy of me of course and a bottle of chloroform. I just need to give you an impression that she was fucking me and that's the end of my bargain."
Michiru was surprised with the words but she still felt skeptical about the whole story. For example, why would this girl suddenly showed herself at Michiru's doorstep just with the purpose to tell Michiru the so called truth?
The girl seemed to know what was lingering inside Michiru's mind as she produced the answer for her action. "I thought my subject is a guy, but holy shit, it was a dyke. It was so disgusting." The girl shook her head, with hints of regrets on her face but soon she flashed out an apologetic smile when she saw Michiru's darkened face. "Oppss…I'm sorry, I'm not against people like you, just that, it's OK to be a friend but a big NO to relationship. You understand right? Ok back to the story. Well, since it was a dyke, I asked for more payment as compensation but to hell with the girl, she didn't even make the full payment to me. As a payback, here I am, with the story and by the way the mastermind behind this cruel joke is…..Ms…Kimura what what. Sorry I forgot her first name."
"Anna Kimura!" Michiru yelped the name out.
"You got it there. Yeah. Anna Kimura. Weird name. Anyway, I'm done at here. You can go to get your girlfriend back now. Bye." And the girl left the scene.
Michiru was speechless. Her breathing suddenly became uneven. She never thought Anna would go that far just to sabotage her relationship with Haruka. Michiru leaned against the door for support while her mind was slowly digesting the new information. Before Michiru could close the door behind her, another guy appeared in front of her doorstep again. Michiru recognized him as Takumi Kenchin, one of Haruka's subordinates.
"Good day, Ms Kaioh." Kenchin then bowed at Michiru. "I apologized for the interruption. But I'm looking for Inspector Tenoh." There were mixtures of worry, anxiety, hopeful and nervous on Kenchin's face. Michiru simply couldn't shake of the sudden nagging feeling inside her heart.
"No she's not here. What had happened?" Michiru asked.
"Then do you where I can find Haruka. It's urgent. I went to her home, her usual hanging out spots, but she's just….unreachable."
"I don't know. We haven't met each other for almost 1 month." Michiru suddenly felt regret and ashamed with herself. She should have trusted Haruka.
"Ok. If you have her news, call me." Kenchin scribbled his phone number on a piece of paper and handed it to Michiru. "It's urgent." Kenchin bowed again and prepared to leave but he was holding back by Michiru.
"You want to keep on searching for Haruka? I'll go with you. Give me a minute."
"But….."
"Look, in case you don't know. Haruka and I are in a relationship right now. I believe my possibilities of getting Haruka are higher than you, don't you think so"? Michiru was staring sternly at Kenchin, leaving no room for argument. Few minutes later, they were riding together to Haruka's home.
"I just came from Haruka's home. Why do we have to head back there again?" Kenchin asked. His sight never left the road in front of him.
"I have keys to her house. Maybe we can get some clues to her whereabouts from her house. Now tell me, why you are so anxiously looking for Haruka?"
Kenchin seemed hesitant to answer Michiru's question. It was a top secret and it's related to a certain high level operation. But Michiru maybe would be able to shed some light into the matter. Kenchin sighed, weighing the question seriously in his mind.
"It's a secret between us, ok?"
Michiru nodded.
"I got some inside news. Since 1 month ago, the police top management has extracted out all the cases under Senior Detective Chiba and passed it to other teams. The Chiba's team was the given carte blanche by the Commissioner to act independently and it involved a certain yakuza that just came back from Taiwan. The most news disturbing was, Haruka is under SI Chiba's radar recently and tonight SI Chiba will have a secret operation. Inside news from underground had confirmed a big dealing will take place somewhere at Tokyo. Since yesterday night, I couldn't locate Haruka." Kenchin ended the story with a worried sigh.
Michiru unlocked her phone and dialed Haruka's number. It went straightly into the voicemail. "Her phone is out."
"Let's see what we can gather from her house."
When they reached the guard house at Haruka's residential area, both of the saw Haruka's car was coming out through the gate.
"It's Haruka's car." Kenchin exclaimed. He put more pressure on the gas pedal to close up the distance between the 2 cars. Michiru again tried to redial Haruka's number.
"She has turned off the phone. Dammit." Michiru threw the phone back into the bag.
They were left with no option other than tailing Haruka from behind. Tailing Haruka was easier said than done. The busy traffic at Tokyo had just worsened the problem. Haruka's driving skill could be compared with professional racer. Cutting lanes at high speed, squeezing through in between 2 cars, beating the red light in the nick of time; that was as easy as counting 1, 2, and 3 for Haruka. As for Kenchin, he almost crashed his car twice through these dangerous acts and Michiru was pratically shouting "Look out" every 5 minutes. When they finally came out from Tokyo busy's traffic, they let a huge sigh of relief but another problem was awaiting them. Haruka's ability to speed in any cars was what they hated the most at that very moment. Within half and hour time, they lost sight of Haruka.
"She's gone and it's your fault." What choice did Michiru have except to put the blame on Kenchin.
"Except screaming at me for the whole night, you are not helping at all. Why don't you say something smart for once, Ms Lawyer?" Kenchin, losing all his patience for the first time in the end, hit back at Michiru sarcastically.
"Then what do you suggest, Mr Detective?"
Kenchin took the question seriously and checked the surrounding areas before replied. "I recognized this highway. I heard Mamoru had requested for marine's help in tonight's operation. If I'm not mistaken, Haruka is heading to Enoshima beach."
0100
Enoshima beach is both a small island and a small seaside town next to the island in Kanagawa prefecture, to the south of Tokyo. It's a popular beach destination and, on a nice summer day, has a bit of a laid-back California surfer vibe.
Once they reached, they found Haruka had abandoned her car at the further corner of the parking lot but Haruka was no where in sight. They decided to walk to the beach to try their luck. Enoshima beach is one of the tourist's hotspot in Japan, so it was not a surprised to see people strolling along the beach even though the time was already close to midnight.
"I didn't see her. Did you?" Michiru asked.
"Negative." Kenchin replied with his eyes still scanning through the darkness that seem to engulf the whole beach.
Sound of a running engine had attracted their attention.
"Haruka." They shouted at unison when they directed their attention to the source of the sound and found saw Haruka was directing the motorboat to the open sea.
"We need another boat." Michiru stated the fact.
"Bullshit. I know that. How?"
Michiru pointed her fingers to the motorboats that were lining nicely at the shore. "There's a wooden hut not far from the motorboats. Maybe the people inside the hut can give use some ideas about the motorboats." Michiru took her move first, followed closely by Kenchin.
Their progress took another turn when out of nowhere they were surrounded by a group of men. Not an ordinary men. Men with firearm.
"Mamoru?" Both of their eyes widened in surprise.
"Where do you think you are going?" Before they could answer, Momoru had had another plan for them. "Lock them up. Get two men to keep close on eyes on them. The rest, follow me."
It was at this moment, Michiru decided to scream to create a ruckus. Her scream drawn everyone's attention at the beach. The scream caused Mamoru to get panic too.
"What are you doing at here?"
"Take me with you then I will zip my mouth."
"That's impossible. I'm leading an operation now."
"Does it involve Haruka?"
"It's none of your business."
"Then I will keep screaming, attracting unwanted attention, delay your movement, and Haruka will be long gone."
"Do you know the consequences of your action, Ms Kaioh? You are obstructing my operation at here." Mamoru was glaring hard on Michiru, only to be met back by an even stare from Michiru.
"The last time I check, my knowledge in law is still above yours. Make the wise decision now Inspector, otherwise your operation will be blown up."
Mamoru hissed angrily through his teeth and checked the surrounding areas. True enough, few passersby were slowly approaching them. Mamoru even saw 2 beach guards were jogging towards their direction. They could not expose their identity. This tailing operation could not reach Seiya's ears otherwise all will be in vain. Reluctantly, Mamoru changed his orders. "You are going to stay at here, Kenchin. This is an order." Mamoru turned to Kenchin. "By the time I back, you will be temporary under arrest, and you are required to record a statement. The rest follow me…..along with you, Ms Kaioh."
The troops marched forward, separated into 2 motorboats and headed into the darkness.
Haruka's boat led her to a luxury yacht. From the motorboat, she climbed onto the yacht and moved to the deck. There, she united with Seiya.
"Hiroshi, are the divers ready?" Mamoru communicated with the head of the marine through wireless earphone.
Hisroshi, leading another team, currently checking on the radar inside the control room on a more advanced ship. "Everything's set. I got the target. They are in a yacht right now. You are 500m from the target. Another 2 boats situated 200m away, we presume are target's alliance are moving to target's direction."
"Copy that. Taiki, turned off the engine and all the lights now then started to row."
Alliances with enemies were moving together silently to the same target.
Michiru always found the sea enticing. Most of her vacation times were being spent on water than land. Or land that came together with water. She had no trouble with water and water always able to calm and soothe her. But not this time though. She was surrounded by darkness. She couldn't feel the depth of the sea, only the reflection of darkness that seems to have engulfed the whole pacific. Occasionally, she could hear the sound of water hitting their boat, other than that, it was only eerie silent. The only light, that twinkled like a star in the dark sky came from the yacht belong to Seiya.
Mamoru kept his guard up for the entire time. His eyes never left the yacht, like a hound locked on his prey. His body went rigid, when 4 other men joined Haruka and Seiya on the deck. "Hiroshi, tell the divers to join the party."
8 divers jumped into the water soundlessly and silently approaching the yacht.
"Who's he?" One of the men asked and pointed his finger at Haruka.
"She's my partner and someone that I can put my trust into to ensure today's event goes on smoothly without interruption." Seiya stood closer to Haruka in a very protective manner. Haruka remained silent and sighed inwardly.
The men checked Haruka out one last time before they produced 4 suitcases.
When Mamoru saw the exchange had taken place, he ordered the divers to climb into the boat. 8 divers took the order professionally as within 15 seconds time, they were marching to the decks with guns on hand and surrounded the 'party' with ease. One of the men tried to pull a gun out but end up holding his hand in pain. His hand was being shot by the forces to avoid any reckless act. By this time, the motorboat that had been carrying Mamoru and Michiru had reached the side of the yacht. Just when Mamoru thought the fishes were in his net, 2 of them managed to swim out from the trap.
With 1 arm strangling Haruka's neck from behind, Seiya used his other free hand to get his gun and pointed at Haruka's temple. "You betrayed me, Haruka." Seiya whispered the words to Haruka's ear. There wasn't any hint of anger in his voice. Only calmness.
"Believe it or not Seiya, I didn't."
"How to you expect me to trust you, Haruka?"
"Haruka….."
Haruka turned her head around to see Michiru covered her mouth in horror.
The 4 villains had been taken away by the polices with another boat. With hostage in hand, Seiya didn't have any intention to save anyone except himself. Currently, only Seiya, Haruka and 4 other polices occupied the deck. Mamoru started his negotiations with Seiya.
"Kou Seiya. You are surrounded by….."
"Cut the crap Inspector. I know that. I was a police before." Seiya cut in to interrupt Mamoru. "The situation is, I have 1 Senior Detective in my hand as hostage. Comply my demand and I will ensure her safety. Otherwise…." Seiya tightened his grip on Haruka's neck. Haruka frowned as she has difficulty in breathing. "…..I will send my best friend here to another world with my own hand."
"No." Michiru anxiously shouted out her objection. Seiya smirked at it.
"My first demand; I want everybody out from my yacht."
The remaining forces shared a look with Mamoru before kept their focus back on Seiya. Mamoru stay rooted on the same spot, reluctant to comply to Seiya' request.
Sensing Mamoru's hesitation, Michiru shouted at Mamoru. "What are you waiting at? Ask them to retreat. He got Haruka."
"He won't kill her!" Mamoru shouted back straightly at Michiru's face. At this point, a shot was being fired and Michiru screamed.
The environment became tension again after the gun shot. Mamoru pulled his gun out of his holster and pointed at Seiya. Seiya had just fired a hot next to Haruka's feet and the gun was at Haruka's temple again. "Try me, Mamoru. I do not wish to repeat my request again."
"Ask them to clear out. There's a life on stake here." Michiru shouted at Mamoru again.
"I don't need your reminder, Ms Kaioh." Mamoru then let a frustrated growl. "Get out from the yacht." Mamoru finally ordered.
The remaining 4 forces slowly move backwards and jumped out from the yacht.
"Let Haruka go." Michiru quickly demanded after the yacht was cleared.
"Not so fast Michiru." Seiya rested his gaze on Mamoru. "I will take Haruka with me and stop following me. If you want her back in one piece." Seiya got lower and whispered to Haruka's ear. "Any message for your beloved, Haruka? Take it as my last present for you."
Their gazes locked. Tears were accumulating at the corner of her eyes but Michiru managed to fight it off and put up a smile.
"I'm sorry." Haruka couldn't find any suitable word except to apologize. "For everything." Her relationship with Michiru took another turn, her best friend was holding her as hostage, and most probably the Tokyo Police Department had categorized her under criminal section. Just when Haruka thought she could change into a new leaf, the whole had collapsed in front of her in the cruelest way and maybe she had to leave the world with full regrets. "Believe me Michiru, I never cheated on u."
"I knew it Haruka. I knew it. You didn't cheat on me. It was a trap from Anna and I was being such a jerk for not trusting you…." By now, tears were steaming down from Michiru's eyes. "I love you, Haruka. Will…..will you take me back?" Michiru forced out the sweetest smile that she could master. Inside the smiling façade, her whole body was actually trembling with fear. Fearing Seiya would actually pull the trigger and blasted Haruka's head off in front of her.
Relieved washed over Haruka after Michiru had finally make her confession. She couldn't restrain herself from smiling even though the situation was a tense one.
"Took you long enough to figure that out Michiru. Pity it's a little bit too late."
Anger soon took over Haruka's senses, when the words came out from Seiya's mouth. Haruka struggled to turn herself around so she could be face to face with Seiya but failed. Seiya tightened his grip causing Haruka to choke.
"Fuck you, Seiya you knew it. It was part of your plan too, right?" It was more to a statement than a question. Haruka was coughing in between the words but she was so pissed off and she felt the needs to curse on her so called best friend for betraying their friendship.
"Stop your struggle Haruka. You got what you want Haruka, and now get in here with me. And you Mamoru, stop following me." Seiya forced Haruka to the lower deck and took her to the control room while Michiru repeatedly calling for Haruka's name. Not long, the yacht moved out from its location and moved further into the big ocean.
When Mamoru had analyze the distance was safe enough for a another round of tailing, Mamoru ordered Hiroshi to move forward along with his own motorboat. At the same time, Mamoru called back to headquarter to apply for an assist from a helicopter. After few minutes, the yacht too a sharp turn and disappeared behind an island. Mamoru sped up to get hold on the yacht but a sudden sound of explosion took him off guarded. Both Hiroshi and Mamoru hurried to the scene only to find the whole yacht had been engulfed by fire. Flames were forcing its way up to the dark sky. Burning debris were scattered around the burning yacht.
"Holy shit." Mamoru murmured with widened eyes.
As for Michiru, her knees went weak at the scene in front of her and fainted.
5 days. The marines had searched the ocean for 5 days. The remaining ship wrecked, if any, had been brought back for analysis. They couldn't find any sign of human life. They couldn't find the suitcases that Mamoru believed used to contain the drugs and a lot of cash for illegal dealing. And for 5 days, Michiru had been waiting by the beach, hoping to be the first one to get any fresh news from the search.
Blue orbs were still fixing at the far away ocean, ignoring the approaching footsteps. When the footsteps came to a halt, Michiru slowly raised her gaze and met with Mamoru's. She could see the hesitation on Mamoru's face. Mamoru let out a regretful sigh and his frown deepened.
"The search had been fruitless for 5 days. So…..the top management had decided to cease the searching operation" Mamoru spoke with a lowly voice. Just barely above whisper.
The reaction from Michiru was a contrast with Mamoru's. Her blue orbs were flared in anger and disappointment, her hands clenched into fist the she shook her head slowly, objecting to the decision. "There are 2 lives out there in the middle of the ocean, probably fighting for survival, waiting for the rescue team, and yet, now you told me you have to pull out the rescue troops. Since when does the government take a human life so lightly? And we are talking 2 human lives at here."
"There's also probability that both of them had been exploded into pieces, served as food to the carnivorous fishes in the ocean there or….or….the body had been swept by current to the pacific there. How are we going to find them?" Mamoru covered his face with both hands and shook his head. "Haruka is my friend too. I put so much effort on this operation not because I take Haruka as a suspect, it's because I want to prove her innocence. Do you really think I will put Haruka's life in jeopardy….leaving her crying for help while I do nothing, enjoying my tea at home huh? I have no choice Michiru. 5 days and we came back empty handed. We can't afford to waste anymore manpower, Michiru." Never in Mamoru's life had he felt guilty like today. He just couldn't kick off the feeling that, he's part of the reason Haruka fall into this unfortunate fate. Again, Mamoru let out a regretful sigh. "I'm sorry." Mamoru then turned around and face the open sea. "I'm sorry." This time, he forwarded his deepest apologies to Haruka.
There was nothing Michiru could do, except allowing her tears to flow down freely to the sand and into the ocean to lead the message to Haruka that she needed her and she wanted her back by her side.
The Tokyo Police Department had chosen to announce to the media that Senior Detective Haruka had been killed in the execution of their hazardous duty for the image's sake and had closed up the file as a successful one. Hence, as a tribute to Haruka's contribution, they allowed a corpseless Haruka to be buried at National Police Memorial Park with her coffin covered by Japan national flag.
Team C's Senior Inspector Tenoh Haruka is officially dead.
Last A/N: I wanted to emphasize a thing at here. Tenoh Haruka is really dead. Sorry for killing her.
