Chapter 11 – Sex, Lies and…

(Well, thanx for r+ring! Interesting to see your thoughts on Shiro…you've actually thought up a much better plot twist than I've actually got! Oh, well, hope you'll enjoy it anyway. Don't own JSR, etc etc…r+r!)

I'm sitting in a police car, hands cuffed behind my back. On one side of me is Shar, still struggling for breath. On the other Benten rolls past the windows. In front of me are two cops. One of them I don't know. The other I'm praying I don't.

I don't want to look at him. If I catch his eye, he might recognise me. But I can't stop glancing, quickly, up at the driver's mirror, trying to see his face.

Cube and Alex didn't recognise you, I told myself.

But Shiro's smart. And he must be looking for you. He probably checks out every girl rudie he catches.

What the hell is he doing here anyway? He's supposed to be dead!

I thought back, remembered the door opening – how angry I'd felt – how I'd grabbed that Arabian knife off the bedside table – he'd ripped off the covers – and I'd stabbed. There'd been blood. He'd groaned. He'd fallen.

But had he died?

I watched the driver's face, heart pounding, hoping that somehow it wouldn't be Shiro, that somehow I'd see that it wasn't him, that his face would change, that I'd be safe.

Nothing happened.

"Don't worry," Shar whispered to me. "Worse things happen at sea, right?"

I managed to smile. "If you say so."

I glanced up at the mirror again, and met his eyes. They looked smug.

Quickly I dropped my head and tried to think calmly. No good. He had me at his mercy. I had no safety. No safety at all.

We screeched to a halt in front of the police station, and were dragged out of the car. Shiro took Shar. I watched his back as he walked in front of me. It looked depressingly familiar.

I wanted to cry, whimper like a baby, run and hide in a corner. Maybe it wouldn't do much, but my calm face was beginning to shatter at the edges. My eyes were twitching as tears tried to force their way out, and I could feel my whole body trembling.

The strip lights in the station made me screw up my eyes as we entered, and a strong smell of coffee, sweat and ink rolled up and choked me. They took us down to a corridor lined with cells. I kept my eyes on the mould-coloured floor as the door was unlocked, concentrated on the relief I felt as my hands were freed. There was a metallic slam as the door shut behind me, and I looked round to see the other three Love Shockers, looking fed up.

"Hey," Shar said. "Welcome to the first step."

"First step?"

"On the long road to paying the debt to society. We're really in trouble now. And the GGs are gonna love it."

"Come on, guys," San said. "Look on the bright side."

"What fucking bright side?" Dash had a black eye, and it made her look even more tough than normal. "We have been arrested. There is absolutely no way we'll get off. We will be packed off to some detention centre for the best years of our lives, and when we come out we'll be too old and too weak to ever skate again. There is no bright side, Gilbert."

San sighed, and let her head sink.

We sat there for what seemed like ages, listening to the bustle of the police station carrying on around us. Someone shouting. Click of computer keys. In a cell a few down from ours a prisoner was singing off-key. The front door slamming back against the wall every time it was opened.

Where was he? My mind thrummed the question over and over again, like a pianist picking out the same three notes. Where was he?

My hands were curling into fists, fists ringed with the marks of the handcuffs. But I couldn't care about prison. All my fear was fixated on him.

Footsteps. I jumped inside, but forced my body to stay still.

"You." A female voice. I slowly let out my breath. "Come on. The Captain wants to see you."

San got to her feet and slouched across to the bars. I heard the rattle of keys, the door creaked, then slammed shut again.

"Wonder why?" Shar said.

"He wants to see if she can tell him anything," Dash said. "About rudies. Captain Onishima hates rudies, remember?"

I wanted to talk, prove I wasn't scared, but my mouth seemed frozen. Behind my eyes my mind ran in small terrified circles.

Waiting. More waiting. Rattle of the door, and San was shoved back inside. She was shivering, and I could see she was near tears.

"Well?" Dash asked. "What did he say?"

San shrugged and sat down on the bench next to me. "Just – just the usual crap. How if I don't blab everything I know I'll be in jail for the rest of – the rest of my life."

"And did you?"

"Huh?"

"Blab," Shar said.

"I just said he'd captured all my gang and there was nothing left to tell. I just kept saying that, I just wouldn't say anything else."

I couldn't handle this. Any minute I was going to shatter, and they'd all stare and ask what was wrong, and then they'd know how weak I really was. The power would be gone. I drew a short, sharp breath. Calm. Calm.

The footsteps returned, and Dash was marched out.

"Maybe we'll see Alex again," Shar said to San. "You never know."

I tried not to gulp.

"I wish I wasn't here," San said.

"We all do." I wanted to push her. "Stop whining, okay?"

"Calm down, Kell," Shar said.

I scowled at her and turned away. If only I could tell them why I was frightened. They could help me –

No. They'd think I was a freak.

No one will feel sorry for you, Kelly.

Dash was brought back now, and Shar was taken out.

"Well?" San asked.

Dash rolled her eyes. "He yelled at me some, but I've handled much worse than him. You guys'll be fine."

I wished I could go to sleep, and wake up somewhere – anywhere – else. And then Shar was brought back, and they called to me.

I stood up and walked over to the bars. They cuffed me again, then took me out of the cell and down the corridor.

Seeing Onishima mightn't be so bad. Better than seeing Shiro. Much better.

I was pulled right, towards a closed office door. Nearly there.

Then footsteps behind me, and he said, "I'd like to speak to this one, if that's all right?"

"The captain's waiting for her."

"Tell him I'll hand her over in a second."

I wanted to scream, to struggle, to fight, but I couldn't move. My ears were ringing with fright. Dimly I felt a hand on my arm, dragging me forward, into another office, but my vision was blurring and I couldn't pick out any details.

I was shoved down into a chair. It was dark. I couldn't see a thing.

Then his voice came out of the blackness.

"Good to see you again, Kelly."

"I don't know what you mean. That's not my name." The words came from a part of my brain that had decided to take matters into its own hands. The rest of my mind was frozen.

"Don't pretend. I saw your face in the car."

"I don't care what you saw. I'm not who you think I am."

My mind raced, trying to see if there was anything that would give him conclusive proof. I imagine his was doing the same thing.

"My wife won't, I imagine, be too pleased to see you."

"Why should I care about what your wife thinks of me?"

"Well, she is your mother."

"You married my mother?"

Shit!

I could smell the triumph in his voice. "Yes, Kelly. After she found me bleeding in your room, she realised how much she cared for me."

I bit back tears, stared out of the office window. A single streetlamp shone through it, turning everything orange and black, glaring on the surfaces of the walls and furniture. Alone in the night.

She'd gone with him. She'd left me to go with him.

"Where were you, anyway?" he asked. "I scoured Tokyo-to for you."

"None of your business where I was."

"My congratulations if you managed to leave the country. Attempted murder can be a difficult thing to escape from."

"Why aren't you dead?" I hissed.

He laughed, came closer to me. The chair dug uncomfortably into my back. "You have the spirit to kill, but you don't have the biological knowledge. You missed my heart. And most other vital organs. I cried out, and your mother came up to me. She called an ambulance, and they saved my life. Wonderful, isn't it?"

I couldn't speak.

"The problem for you is basically that I can prove that you are Fuyutsuri Kellaani, and then you can be charged with my attempted murder."

"Then I'll tell them just why I did it."

"Do you really think anyone will believe you? The news is full of stories of women crying rape when the allegations are false. A good lawyer could paint a picture of a teenage girl fanatically jealous of her mother's new focus of affections – a girl who was already going off the rails – a girl who had a reputation for violence at school – a girl who finally snapped and stabbed out when the victim was saying goodnight to her."

His voice was smooth and very, very convincing. I felt panic rising up my throat. To stop a scream, I spoke. "So will you?"

"What?"

"Turn me in."

"I don't know. I haven't decided yet." Suddenly he grabbed my shirt, hauled me to my feet. "You need a lesson taught you –" His hand caught my face, and I stumbled back. "But I haven't decided what that lesson should be."

"If you charge me with attempted murder," I snarled, "I'll tell and tell until everyone in the world knows what you did. Someone will believe me. And that someone will know you're a lying, cheating, two-timing bastard who gets his kicks from raping teenage girls, and then your career will snowball, and then –"

He hit me again, and this time it hurt. I tasted blood in my mouth, welling round my teeth.

"And what will happen to you, Kelly?" he said, still quietly, but rage throbbing in his voice. "If you're found guilty, you'll get a life sentence if you're lucky. And you have to admit, the odds are stacked against you. You have no money of your own. No way to post bail. No way to get a good lawyer. You're already known to be a member of a group of vandals. Your schoolfriends could testify that you were violent towards them. Your mother will say anything to see you punished –"

I gritted my teeth, dug them into my lip.

"And, after all, you are guilty. We know that justice prevails."

"What's your point, Shiro?" I said, pulling my mind away from the fear aroused by his words. "What do you want me to do?"

"I know what you're going to do. You're going to plead guilty to attempted murder, and take what's coming to you."

"Fuck you. I'm not doing anything you tell me," I hissed.

That was a mistake. He slapped me round the face, twice, and then his hands reached down my shirt. Before I could do anything he was on me.

What word shall I use for it this time? I don't know. It hurt, it hurt more than it had before, or so I could remember. The pain went right through me, scraped my back. It was dark. I couldn't see anything. That made my other senses stronger, and that was bad. I remember little things. Clothes rustling. My hands damp with sweat. A car rushing past outside the window, burning us with light.

He dropped me. I lay on the ground, aching all over, cold, not knowing if I was crying or not.

"Tidy yourself," he said. "The captain wants to see you."

I didn't move, and he kicked me.

"Don't try blabbing to him," he said as I straightened my clothes. "Onishima hates rudies, the most of any of us. He doesn't care what happens to you, so don't play the pity game."

I got to my feet, chest hurting from holding back tears. I wouldn't, I wouldn't cry.

My mind was ricocheting off my skull as I tried to find a way out of this mess. I felt crazy, light-headed, scrambled. Maybe it was because of that that I thought of the plan.

Onishima's office was lighter. Shadows clustered in the corners and under the furniture, but at least I could see what was going on. Shiro shoved me down into a chair in front of Onishima's desk, then left.

Could I really do this? I thought.

Oh, come on. It can't be that hard.

"So, anything you want to tell me?" Onishima glared at me across the paper-covered desk. I quickly tried to forget how bad I'd felt a minute ago. Confidence was going to be the key here.

"Only that you're the best-looking guy I've ever seen." I gently ran the tip of my tongue along my lips, and smirked inside as Onishima preened. Guys were all the same.

"Anything else? I guess you should know rudies who are helpful can sometimes receive lighter sentences."

He was mellowing towards me, I could see. Good. I ran my eyes over his body, noting with resignation the coffee stains on his shirt, the stubble speckling his chin, his dusty eyes.

"Well…I don't know. I mean, I could hardly sell my mates out, now could I?" I scooted the chair nearer to his desk.

"Then it's the Juvie Skaters Correctional Facility for you –"

"I could handle that," I murmured, and gazed up at him through my eyelashes.

"Listen, you little bitch – " He got up quickly, came round and gripped the front of my shirt. I mentally punched the air. Close contact. The rest would be – should be – easy.

Was I really gonna get away with this?

Confidence, girl.

Quickly I raised my head, and pressed my lips to his. He smelt of coffee, of doughnuts, of morning breath. I closed my eyes and let the businesslike part of myself take over. His stubble scratched my face.

Finally I let him go. As he staggered I got to my feet. Now I was taller than him. Moving quickly, I pulled off his trenchcoat, unbuttoned his shirt. Running my hands down his hairy chest, I rolled my eyes as he shivered and grasped me round the waist, his hands groping and pawing at my shorts.

As I felt him pull them down I kissed him again, this time slipping my tongue into his mouth, and caressing his. This was not fun, in case you're wondering. But oddly enough, it wasn't as bad as I'd thought it would be. At least this time I was the one calling the shots.

We moved back against the desk. His hands moved to my top, and under it. His rough fingers pulled at my nipples, and I resisted the urge to tell him that I wasn't a radio and didn't need tuning. Let the guy think he was Casanova. Best get this over with.

Quickly I unzipped his flies, and then opened my legs and let him enter me, kissing him as it happened. My eyes roamed around the room, glancing over the piles of paperwork, the dying lamp, the coffee mouldering on a shelf. Hardly the Ritz, but then he was hardly Mr Right.

In, out, in, out. I counted the thrusts off in my mind. Presumably he'd not go on any longer than any of the others. Shiro had been horrible. Coin had been bliss. This guy was merely rather yucky.

He gasped out as he came – I felt every muscle in him tense – then go limp. He moved away from me, looked at me, and I gave him a long, slow grin.

He didn't return it. He was dressing himself with an expression composed of horror, disgust and fury. Calmly I straightened my clothes.

"Was that good enough for you?" I said. And mentally I crossed him off my To Do list.

"You –"

"Everyone knows girls can't rape guys," I said. My hands were trembling, but with triumph, not fear. Compared to Shiro this would be easy. "If I was to go public, absolutely no blame would attach to me, right?"

He glared at me. "No one'd believe you."

"There is such a thing as medical evidence, you know." I studied my nails. "DNA. Sperm samples." If they didn't find his, they'd find Shiro's. Win-win.

"Even if you somehow removed that, people would start getting curious about what was going on in this police station. Just why you were so desperate to catch rudies. Especially female ones." I raised my eyebrows, and looked him full in the face.

"You say one word and I'll make sure you spend the rest of your life behind bars," he said.

"Calm down. I don't want to spoil your rep. I just want you to help me."

"How?" He slumped in his chair. I felt almost sorry for him. Almost.

"Well, stop nabbing any more of my gang, for a start," I said. Kris was still out there. She could keep the Love Shockers going until I got out myself. If I did.

"You all dress the same?"

"Yeah. Let us tag all we want. Don't attack us in any way." That should even the odds between us and the GGs.

"And?"

"Well, I have a little problem with one of the other officers," I said. "He said he'd fix me up for murder any day, and as I'm a street punk I haven't exactly got the legal skills to avoid that. Anything you can do?"

Please, please say yes.

"Who is this other cop?" he asked.

"Hokuju Shiro," I said. "He's married to my mother. He's always felt resentful of me." And he's not the only one who can twist the truth.

"You really think I'm gonna listen to you?" Onishima said. There was a strong tone of bravado in his voice.

"I'm just asking," I said. If he didn't listen, I was dead. Maybe literally. "Listen, you don't have to free me. If you get Shiro to drop the attempted murder charges, I'll go onto the Rudie Centre or whatever it is. I'll keep my ears open. Anything you want to know about, I'll try and find out about. That could be useful. Rudies won't tell you much, but we trust each other."

"Looking at you I got no idea why."

"What do you say?" I forced down the desperation in my voice. "I can't see any disadvantages. You don't get any nasty rumours about…stuff…and you get a free spy, and I don't get sent down for life and Shiro's off my back."

He narrowed his eyes. "You'll keep your mouth shut?"

"If you keep Shiro from getting at me. I get slammed for murder or anything like it, or he hurts me some other way, I blab."

"If you blab, I tell him he can do what he likes with you."

"Then it's a deal." I smiled. "So, you finished talking to me, Captain?"

(That was not a fun thing to write…I'm gonna go scrub myself clean…please r+r though, please!)