S.I.U. - The Sailor Investigation Unit
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME
Disclaimer - all characters pertaining to the series Bishoujo Senshi
Sailormoon are owned by Takeuchi Naoko, Bandai and Kodansya. All
other characters were thought up by me. Well, its true, isn't it?
^_^
Part Five
Strange Magic
Aoi opened her eyes to nothing short of a splitting headache.
She let out a long groan, sitting up from wherever it was she had
found herself.
"Team One Leader to AK Central, subject has recovered, over."
Aoi turned slightly to the clicking hush of a transceiver. A young
woman... The same young woman she had seen in the back of her car,
was standing over the other side of her loungeroom, leaning against
the wall.
"Copy that, Team One Leader. Be careful." Said a voice from
the whoever it was she was communicating with.... A soft man's
voice, strangely ethereal... But it lost much of its grace with
the roughening of the airwaves.
Aoi studied the young woman.... Barely older than eighteen,
surely. She certainly looked small enough to be described as a
girl. It was the expression that gave it away, though.... An
increased guardedness that one did not usually find on a child's
face. She was pale-skinned, had very long black hair and deep,
dark eyes. She wore a red kimono with black patterning, which Aoi
could have just died for.
The young woman literally flipped the transceiver into the
sleeve of the kimono, steppd forward and bowed. "I am terribly
sorry about frightening you like that, Kikotsuka-san. It had been
my intention to help you in the event of facing Pluto, but I am
afraid things did not quite turn out as planned."
"Oh... Great." Aoi rubbed her head dazedly, then looked
around, only then realising that she was in her own house, sitting
on her own loungesuite. "Uhh.. How did I get here?"
"My friends and I brought you here. We thought it best that
you recovered in a place that is familiar to you." The girl nodded.
"I am terribly sorry, I have not yet introduced myself. My name is
Hayakawa Arisa."
"Arisa, eh?" Aoi tried to stand up, failed and fell back,
again. "Owie, just how hard did I hit my head?"
"Do not concern yourself. You were checked by our people and
were found to be suffering no permanent damage."
"Easy for you to say." Aoi stared dubiously at Arisa. The
girl had a funny, clipped style of speech... Almost unnatural, as
if communicating with ordinary people was below her.... It
infuriated Aoi somewhat, but at least she hadn't acted in an
unfriendly manner. With the exclusion of appearing in the back seat
of her car....
"Would you like to explain just how you got into the back of
my car? I'm sure there was nobody in there when I got in myself."
"That would be.... protractively difficult to explain."
"Try me."
The girl sniffed. "Very well then... I..."
They were both disturbed by another young woman, who had
stepped through the kitchen door. Slightly older than Arisa. "Hoi,
would you like some cof... Ah, she's awake. Great. Would either
of you like some coffee?" She looked from one to the next. Arisa
turned aside and smiled at the new arrival.
"I am terribly sorry, I must decline your generous offer.
But I feel this good lady may wish to partake in such a beverage."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." The young woman turned to Aoi.
"Well, I suppose you would like some?" Aoi studied her for a
moment. A very different beast to Arisa, she was dressed quite
flamboyantly, with an elegant dark dress and jewellery. Her dark
red, slightly curly hair was tied up in a ponytail, and her eyes
were, if anything, more penetratingly dark than Arisa's, if that
was at all possible. She also had very tanned skin, which appeared
to be natural, making Aoi jealous. She'd tried to get skin that
tanned before and failed.... Gone straight red. Damn the hole in
the ozone layer....
"Yes..." She said, slowly. "I think I would." The young
woman smiled, sweetly, nodding, then turned back into the kitchen.
Aoi looked at Arisa, who was watching her companion leave. "Just
who in hell was that?"
"Ah..." Arisa turned to her. "That was one of my two
partners. Her name is Maria Firenze. She is also an inheritor of
her family's noble line. I would suggest you treat her with much
kindness as she is not the sort to suffer fools, even if she may be
less than endowed within the intellectual department."
"I heard that." Maria said from the kitchen. Arisa smiled.
Aoi just sweatdropped. Great, a pair of wannabe comedians.
"Uh, yeah, right. Where is your other partner, then? Is she
going to make a sudden appearance out of nowhere?"
"In all likelihood, yes. Please do not be surprised when and
if she does."
"Oh, yeah, great." Aoi had had enough of this. "Now, would
you like to explain everything? Just who the hell are you people,
what are you doing in my house, how the hell did you get in my car
and just what the hell do you know about Pluto?"
"Ah, would you like me to answer those questions in that
order?" Arisa smiled, sweetly. Aoi could have socked her one in
the face at that point.
"ANY order will do, as long as they're answered."
Arisa gritted her teeth, looking for all the world as if she
was in pain. "Please don't be so forceful with your enquiries. I
shall tell you everything you want to know." She paused. "I have
told you the names of both Maria and myself. My second partner is
a Gwendoline Wright. She will make her presence felt if she so
wishes, but she is not keen on meeting you, so I think it is very
unlikely. We belong to an organisation called the Sacred House. I
am quite certain you have never heard of it, and so I shall
explain..." Arisa paused for effect. "The Sacred House has been
in operation for longer than I have been alive... Longer than all
of us. We are a group that attempts to... regulate.... for want of
a better term... and maximise the potential of, magic."
Aoi stared at her with boggled eyes. "Really?" She said,
cynically. Arisa sighed, dropping her face.
"I knew you would not believe this to be fact. I find it
astounding, the human mind's capacity to overuse its... How should
I term it... Its BS Sensor." Arisa looked embarrassed at using the
term, as if it were too vulgar to have emanated from a mouth such as
hers.
Aoi nodded. "You betcha."
"And you work in an arm of the police department that
investigates the activities of the Sailorsenshi. I must say, I find
your cynicism to be more than a little hypocritical." That put Aoi
back in her place.
"And so? Where is this leading to?" Aoi huffed.
"It is leading to the fact that we have had our eyes on you
for quite some time.... A few months, in fact."
"W... Why me?"
"Because, in maximising the usage of magic, the Sacred House
has had in operation a program of regulating bloodlines. In doing
so, we have removed the element of unpredictability... In other
words, the inability to predict just who is going to inherit magical
powers. In doing this, we have had to research the family trees of
all of our subjects... Even following up 'whispered' lines of
illegitimacy." Arisa smiled. "We discovered, over 700 years ago,
whilst following the bloodline of the Yokuro clan, that an
illegitimate child had been born to one Yokuro Hazuki, and a peasant
girl by the name of.... Kikotsuka Madoka...."
Aoi stared at her. Not having had even the vaguest interest
in her family tree, she boggled that someone else, an organisation,
so to speak, would be. "Are you trying to tell me that you're
interested in me because I may or may not contain the powers of this
so-called Yokuro clan? That I may be a descendant of this couple?"
"Hai." Arisa said, simply. Aoi felt a slight nervousness,
now, gripping onto the edge of the loungesuite she was sitting on.
"Well, I can tell, you, I certainly haven't shown any signs
of any magical powers.... I mean, I would KNOW if I had them,
wouldn't I?"
"Not necessarily. Especially not with one of the bloodline
of Yokuro. Mind Predators use their powers naturally, often without
thinking. Those who don't realise they have these powers can be
immensely dangerous. It is fortunate, really, that the Yokuro clan
has been one of the Sacred House's biggest supporters... Indeed,
one of the founding families."
Aoi stood, a little uneasily on her feet.... Arisa moved
forward to help her, but she waved her away. Aoi then began to
pace her loungeroom. "..And your appearance in the back of my car..
That was done by magic, was it?"
"Hai. I am a witch. One of the breed of Masters, capable of
controlling all aspects of the powers which have been bred into our
species by the Others."
"The Others?"
"Yes, another species entirely.... It was their interbreeding
with human beings that brought about the rise of our kind."
"Don't use the term 'our'. I haven't accepted your story as
anything other than crap yet."
Arisa flinched. "Must you use such vulgar language?"
"I'm not the one who said 'BS Sensor."
Arisa flinched again. "Yes, sorry about that. I did not
intend to use such offensive language around you."
Aoi sighed. "Never mind. What is your connection to Pluto?
How did you know she was going to make an appearance, anyway?"
"We were following you. It was simplicity in itself to listen
in on all conversations coming from that apartment. We had all the
relevant information on the occupant the moment you looked up her
name on your office's mainframe."
"You've tapped into the Police Network?"
"Of course. We are legally affiliated to the police. We are
well within our rights to do so."
"I don't care... You aren't part of the Police Department....
Are you?" She stared at Arisa.
"My dear Kikotsuka-san. We ARE the law. We have been for
some time. We allow your kind to exercise your various forms of
social control and constraints as you see fit, as long as none of
you upset the status quo."
Aoi shook her head. "And why? Why did you follow me?
Surely, not to tell me this? You could have done that at any time."
Arisa shrugged. "Indeed, we could have. Now you know of us,
we aren't going to leave you alone." She paused. "We are
interested in the Sailorsenshi. We want their bloodlines."
Aoi stared at her. "Their WHAT?"
"We want their bloodlines. We want their magic. We wish to
regulate and control it, lest it fall into the hands of our enemies.
I fear what may happen if power, such as theirs, falls into the
hands of the enemies of the human race."
Aoi spluttered, disbelievingly. "I'm not listening to any
more of this. I have no magic, I do not believe in secret
organisations and I'm trying to solve the murder of a Sailorsenshi.
Now please, remove yourselves from my apartment and my life..."
"Does that mean you don't want your coffee?" Aoi turned to
see Maria holding a mug in the doorway. Aoi facefaulted, slowly
stepping over to her small dining table, sitting down and placing
her head in her hands.
"I think she wants the ooffee, Maria. She just doesn't want
to see us." Arisa smiled. Maria shrugged and stepped over to Aoi,
placing the coffee on the table before her.
"I guess that means we should leave, then." Maria crossed her
arms behind her head and stepped towards the hallway leading to the
front door, near the door to the kitchen. She paused as Arisa moved
up to Aoi.
Aoi looked up at the girl, who gave her a serious expression,
placing a hand on her shoulder. "You may not believe us now... But
the future is an uncertain place." She put a card on the table,
next to the mug. "You are destined to require our assistance,
Kikotsuka-san. We know a lot more than you about the murder of the
senshi."
Arisa turned and walked away. Aoi watched her go. "Wait..."
Aoi put out a hand, and Arisa paused, looking over her shoulder.
"If you know something... Why don't you just say?"
"Murders can cover the misdemeanors of those closest to us.
The Yakuza merely took advantage of the situation to get back at the
Sailorsenshi. The truth lies much closer to them." She paused.
"Your keys and other items are sitting on the kitchen bench. Good
morning to you." Arisa turned and stepped past Maria, who followed
her into the hallway. Aoi watched and listened as the door opened,
then closed behind them. She was alone.
She picked up the card... A small burgundy-coloured plastic
card with gold trimming. Flash, thought Aoi. On it was the name
of Hayakawa, and a contact phone number. There was no address or
specific organisation listed with either. Aoi sighed and picked up
the coffee, sniffing it in case anything untoward had been added to
its contents. Damn, thought Aoi, she put in too much sugar.
Just as she took a sip, the phone rang. Coffee flew from her
mouth across the table, and she cursed, putting the mug down and
wiping her chin. She stood and stomped into the kitchen, where the
phone was hanging next to the fridge.
She answered. "Ehello. Kikotsuka answering service. Can I
help you?"
"Yeah, great, Kiko-san. Very funny." Kaji's lovely bass
tones rumbled through her ear.
"Yes, Kaji, what do you want?"
"Ah, just thought you'd like to know. The SIU office..."
Aoi's ears picked up. "What about it?"
"They've been broken into. The mainframe is toast, as are all
the filing cabinets."
"What the f... When did THIS happen? I only left there about
three...." She looked at the clock. 10.35am! She gawked at the
time. Where had it all gone?
"Three? Jeez, they might have been waiting for you to leave
when they did it." Kaji's voice seemed concerned. "Did you see
anything last night? Anything at all?"
"N..no... There wasn't anyone around when I left. The last
person I saw there was Akizuki-san... He'd come to visit..." A
thought occured to Aoi. "Hold on a minute, Kaji..." She put the
receiver on top of the fridge and ran to the front door, throwing
it open. She blinked a couple of times, her eyes not used to even
the admittedly pale light. Her unit sat on the front of one of the
main streets in her local districts, so it was reasonably busy. She
tried to spot Arisa and Maria, but failed. It should have been
easy, considering how much the pair would have stood out... Aoi
cursed and stepped back in, almost slamming the door behind her.
She ran back to the phone. "Sorry about that."
"What the hell are you doing there?"
"I just had some... Uhh... company. Can you hang on about
half an hour, I'll be there myself to have a look at the damage."
She sniffed under her armpits. "Actually, make that 45 minutes."
Aoi had to flash her i.d. at the entrance of the SIU carpark,
something she hadn't had to do since her early days as a cadet of
the police force. Then she had trouble finding a place to park her
car. There were plenty of vehicles from various divisions here
today. It wasn't every day that someone broke into a branch of
the police, and Aoi was sure there were quite a few sightseers
amongst this lot.
Naturally, Kaji was standing out the front, waiting for her.
She'd managed to squeeze her car between a marked vehicle and the
retaining wall at the far end, then squeezed herself to get out of
the door, cursing at the little room she'd been left.
Kaji stepped over to her as she locked her car. She patted
the vehicle. Good thing those girls had left it in the right
parking spot out the back of her unit... She'd had complaints from
the neightbours before about putting it in the wrong spot. She
sniffed and turned to Kaji as he sighed.
"I just gotta warn you, the Chief wants to see you."
"Yeah, well, that's surprising news since I was the last
person here." She moved from the gap between her car and the
retaining wall. "Well, where is he, then?"
"Top floor of the building, going over what is left of our
records office." Kaji shook his head. "All those years of
gathering this stuff, and they trash it in the space of a few
hours." Aoi nodded. Kaji seemed depressed. He had been with the
SIU for almost twice as long as she had, so had a greater attachment
to the job.
Aoi stepped through the front doors, which were being checked
over. They had been smashed in. Aoi shrugged. They needed better
security on the office, anyway, maybe this would convince them it
was time to update things. She turned to the computer office,
aghast at the damage perpetrated to the mainframe. Someone had
taken to it with a baseball bat. A very heavy baseball bat. At
least that was what it looked like. Fortunately, most of the
information stored there had been downloaded into the Police
Network, and would be salvageable.
Shimazaki was standing in the office, staring as forensics
went through the wreckage with a fine-toothed comb. If there was
ever a time when the police took crime seriously, it was when it
was perpetrated on themselves....
He turned to her and shrugged. Speechless for once, thought
Aoi, smugly. She stepped over to him. "And what would a member of
Major Crime be doing, gracing the humble offices of lowly
filekeepers like the SIU?"
"Yeah, fuck you too, Kiko-san." He growled.
"Woah, hit a nerve, have I? SIU important enough to be broken
into but not Major Crime, eh? Guess we must have hit on something
with this senshi murder case." Shimazaki shook his head.
"Don't be so smug. This is only going to hold things up that
little bit longer."
"Wanna bet?" Aoi smiled and turned from him. He followed her
for a short distance.
"What do you mean by that? Hey, Kiko-san... Have you found
something?" She ignored him and opened the door to the stairs.
Two flights up, she exited the stairwell and entered the
records office. It looked as if a tornado had hit it. Not the work
of a normal bunch of vandals, this.
The filing cabinets that once stretched from one end of the
building to the other had been shredded.... Little pieces of metal
piled amongst shredded bits and pieces of paper, cardboard and
photographs, distributed neatly all over the floor. It wasn't hard
to find the SIU Chief, a burly, aging man of sixty, standing in the
middle of the room with forensic officers and others, trying to
decide where they should start looking for clues as to who might
have perpetrated this... act of wanton destruction. Aoi almost
snorted at the description.
The Chief spotted her. "Ah, Kiko-san. You have arrived at
last. Now, perhaps, we can get somewhere."
Kuburata, the head of the Forensics Department, who was
standing next to the Chief, chuckled. "Yeah, and I'm Midorikawa
Hikaru." The Chief ignored him and stepped over to Aoi, putting
his feet wherever he could find an empty spot to put them, not an
easy task for someone of his build.
"I take it you were the last one here. Akunatsuka has told
me.... You were here, using the mainframe earlier this morning,
going through the psych records of the senshi."
Aoi nodded. "Then he called me, asking me to go through
the school records of the Juuban district for 92 through to 94,
looking for any female student without parents, or missing at
least one parent."
"Why do I get the feeling he was trying to keep you out of the
way of things?"
"Probably because he has been hanging around that smug
bastard, Shimazaki, for too long."
"Don't say that too loudly. You know Shimazaki's old man is
a bigwig within the office of the police minister in the Diet."
"Yeah, about the only reason the useless little bastard is in
Major Crime in the first place." She snorted. The Chief wagged a
finger at her and guided her aside.
"Now, I want you to remember absolutely everything that
happened earlier this morning. Akunatsuka has told me everything
you mentioned to him over the phone, and Akizuki has confirmed he
met with you earlier this morning...."
"I'm sorry, Chief, I really can't tell you anymore than that.
It had been a long day.... I was tired, so I went home..."
"And that's all... You saw no-one?"
"Look, if I had seen anyone, I would tell you, wouldn't I?
After all, its bad enough to think I might have been here when
they.." She gestured to the room. The Chief nodded
understandingly. "So, what are we going to do, now?"
"About what?" The Chief blinked.
"The Senshi case... About the killing."
"Ah, yes. Well, did you find anything intersting in your
searches?" Aoi paused for a moment, not knowing how to answer
this just yet.... The Chief stared at her through slitted eyes.
"Come on, Kiko-san, you're not very good at keeping things in. Did
you find something or not?"
"Nothing... that is connected to this case. There were still
things I would have liked to look up on the mainframe...."
"Well, you can do that back at Major Crime. They're moving us
there until things can be sorted out here." he gestured to the
room, helplessly. "That may be a while."
She chuckled, shaking her head. "Was anything taken?"
"Not that we've discovered. Looks like someone didn't want us
involved in something."
And I have a sneaking suspicion who that might be, Aoi thought
to herself.
"Oh, and by the way, they completed the autopsy on the
senshi." Aoi looked at the Chief, blinking.
"Find anything interesting?"
"A Heart Crystal, for starters. Its being held in the labs
for further investigation. On top of that, your favourite person in
Major Crime found a transformation pen." The Chief reached into his
overcoat and pulled out a plastic bag. "Its evidence, but we don't
quite know what to do with it. As far as we know, it really doesn't
have anything to do with the killing of the senshi. It was just
there at the scene in the motel." He held the bag out to Aoi, and
she could see the pen within.
Slowly, she took it, holding it with almost reverential
tenderness. For some reason, she felt immensely sad seeing it. She
touched the portion of the pen where the planetary symbol was
printed. For a second, it seemed to glow, then faded away.
"Can I keep this? For a while, at least?" Aoi looked up at
the Chief. He thought for a few moments, then nodded. "It can't
do any harm. Just don't remove it from the bag. Its already been
tested by forensics, and they've found nothing of interest on it,
but its better to cover our arses in any case."
She nodded and placed the pen in the pocket of her jacket.
The Chief smiled. "Please be our guest and mourn the passing of the
office as it once was. Everyone else seems to be. Just don't touch
anything that might look vaguely like evidence." He turned and
stepped back to where Kuburata and one of his officers were rifling
through the wreckage on the floor. Aoi sighed and made her way
around the edge of the wreckage to the windows, staring out into the
carpark, thinking quietly to herself.
Was this the work of Pluto? She certainly would have had the
power within her to have done so. She was also certain that Pluto
would do anything within her power to protect the identities of the
Sailorsenshi, even if it meant halting the investigation into those
behind the death of Pluto's comrade. And besides, it was likely
that, after the events outside the apartment of the Kino girl, she
would have come back here.
Then there were those girls who belonged to the "Sacred
House". They certainly seemed to know part of what was going on.
Aoi cursed herself... Why did she turn them away like that?
Because of their stupid story about the House and the bloodlines
thing? She shook her head and gazed out the window.
There was someone watching her from the gardens above the
carpark. Her heart skipped a beat.... He was staring directly at
her. No mistaking it...
He was a good looking sort, too. Long brown hair, so long
she could see it blowing in the wind. Thin, effeminate looks,
dressed in black jeans, red shirt and black jacket with black
ripple-soled shoes. But those EYES. They were so blue, even she
could see them across the distance.
He smirked, and she realised he must have known she'd seen
him. He held up a finger, like a gun, pointing it directly at her.
And then he fired. At that moment, he vanished.
Aoi's eyes blinked a couple of times, then she shivered. What
was it Arisa had said, about there being enemies of the Sacred
House? Aoi turned and made her way out of the Records Office as
quickly as possible....
END OF PART 5
DDFA ayanami@internode.on.net
27th Feb 1998
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME
Disclaimer - all characters pertaining to the series Bishoujo Senshi
Sailormoon are owned by Takeuchi Naoko, Bandai and Kodansya. All
other characters were thought up by me. Well, its true, isn't it?
^_^
Part Five
Strange Magic
Aoi opened her eyes to nothing short of a splitting headache.
She let out a long groan, sitting up from wherever it was she had
found herself.
"Team One Leader to AK Central, subject has recovered, over."
Aoi turned slightly to the clicking hush of a transceiver. A young
woman... The same young woman she had seen in the back of her car,
was standing over the other side of her loungeroom, leaning against
the wall.
"Copy that, Team One Leader. Be careful." Said a voice from
the whoever it was she was communicating with.... A soft man's
voice, strangely ethereal... But it lost much of its grace with
the roughening of the airwaves.
Aoi studied the young woman.... Barely older than eighteen,
surely. She certainly looked small enough to be described as a
girl. It was the expression that gave it away, though.... An
increased guardedness that one did not usually find on a child's
face. She was pale-skinned, had very long black hair and deep,
dark eyes. She wore a red kimono with black patterning, which Aoi
could have just died for.
The young woman literally flipped the transceiver into the
sleeve of the kimono, steppd forward and bowed. "I am terribly
sorry about frightening you like that, Kikotsuka-san. It had been
my intention to help you in the event of facing Pluto, but I am
afraid things did not quite turn out as planned."
"Oh... Great." Aoi rubbed her head dazedly, then looked
around, only then realising that she was in her own house, sitting
on her own loungesuite. "Uhh.. How did I get here?"
"My friends and I brought you here. We thought it best that
you recovered in a place that is familiar to you." The girl nodded.
"I am terribly sorry, I have not yet introduced myself. My name is
Hayakawa Arisa."
"Arisa, eh?" Aoi tried to stand up, failed and fell back,
again. "Owie, just how hard did I hit my head?"
"Do not concern yourself. You were checked by our people and
were found to be suffering no permanent damage."
"Easy for you to say." Aoi stared dubiously at Arisa. The
girl had a funny, clipped style of speech... Almost unnatural, as
if communicating with ordinary people was below her.... It
infuriated Aoi somewhat, but at least she hadn't acted in an
unfriendly manner. With the exclusion of appearing in the back seat
of her car....
"Would you like to explain just how you got into the back of
my car? I'm sure there was nobody in there when I got in myself."
"That would be.... protractively difficult to explain."
"Try me."
The girl sniffed. "Very well then... I..."
They were both disturbed by another young woman, who had
stepped through the kitchen door. Slightly older than Arisa. "Hoi,
would you like some cof... Ah, she's awake. Great. Would either
of you like some coffee?" She looked from one to the next. Arisa
turned aside and smiled at the new arrival.
"I am terribly sorry, I must decline your generous offer.
But I feel this good lady may wish to partake in such a beverage."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." The young woman turned to Aoi.
"Well, I suppose you would like some?" Aoi studied her for a
moment. A very different beast to Arisa, she was dressed quite
flamboyantly, with an elegant dark dress and jewellery. Her dark
red, slightly curly hair was tied up in a ponytail, and her eyes
were, if anything, more penetratingly dark than Arisa's, if that
was at all possible. She also had very tanned skin, which appeared
to be natural, making Aoi jealous. She'd tried to get skin that
tanned before and failed.... Gone straight red. Damn the hole in
the ozone layer....
"Yes..." She said, slowly. "I think I would." The young
woman smiled, sweetly, nodding, then turned back into the kitchen.
Aoi looked at Arisa, who was watching her companion leave. "Just
who in hell was that?"
"Ah..." Arisa turned to her. "That was one of my two
partners. Her name is Maria Firenze. She is also an inheritor of
her family's noble line. I would suggest you treat her with much
kindness as she is not the sort to suffer fools, even if she may be
less than endowed within the intellectual department."
"I heard that." Maria said from the kitchen. Arisa smiled.
Aoi just sweatdropped. Great, a pair of wannabe comedians.
"Uh, yeah, right. Where is your other partner, then? Is she
going to make a sudden appearance out of nowhere?"
"In all likelihood, yes. Please do not be surprised when and
if she does."
"Oh, yeah, great." Aoi had had enough of this. "Now, would
you like to explain everything? Just who the hell are you people,
what are you doing in my house, how the hell did you get in my car
and just what the hell do you know about Pluto?"
"Ah, would you like me to answer those questions in that
order?" Arisa smiled, sweetly. Aoi could have socked her one in
the face at that point.
"ANY order will do, as long as they're answered."
Arisa gritted her teeth, looking for all the world as if she
was in pain. "Please don't be so forceful with your enquiries. I
shall tell you everything you want to know." She paused. "I have
told you the names of both Maria and myself. My second partner is
a Gwendoline Wright. She will make her presence felt if she so
wishes, but she is not keen on meeting you, so I think it is very
unlikely. We belong to an organisation called the Sacred House. I
am quite certain you have never heard of it, and so I shall
explain..." Arisa paused for effect. "The Sacred House has been
in operation for longer than I have been alive... Longer than all
of us. We are a group that attempts to... regulate.... for want of
a better term... and maximise the potential of, magic."
Aoi stared at her with boggled eyes. "Really?" She said,
cynically. Arisa sighed, dropping her face.
"I knew you would not believe this to be fact. I find it
astounding, the human mind's capacity to overuse its... How should
I term it... Its BS Sensor." Arisa looked embarrassed at using the
term, as if it were too vulgar to have emanated from a mouth such as
hers.
Aoi nodded. "You betcha."
"And you work in an arm of the police department that
investigates the activities of the Sailorsenshi. I must say, I find
your cynicism to be more than a little hypocritical." That put Aoi
back in her place.
"And so? Where is this leading to?" Aoi huffed.
"It is leading to the fact that we have had our eyes on you
for quite some time.... A few months, in fact."
"W... Why me?"
"Because, in maximising the usage of magic, the Sacred House
has had in operation a program of regulating bloodlines. In doing
so, we have removed the element of unpredictability... In other
words, the inability to predict just who is going to inherit magical
powers. In doing this, we have had to research the family trees of
all of our subjects... Even following up 'whispered' lines of
illegitimacy." Arisa smiled. "We discovered, over 700 years ago,
whilst following the bloodline of the Yokuro clan, that an
illegitimate child had been born to one Yokuro Hazuki, and a peasant
girl by the name of.... Kikotsuka Madoka...."
Aoi stared at her. Not having had even the vaguest interest
in her family tree, she boggled that someone else, an organisation,
so to speak, would be. "Are you trying to tell me that you're
interested in me because I may or may not contain the powers of this
so-called Yokuro clan? That I may be a descendant of this couple?"
"Hai." Arisa said, simply. Aoi felt a slight nervousness,
now, gripping onto the edge of the loungesuite she was sitting on.
"Well, I can tell, you, I certainly haven't shown any signs
of any magical powers.... I mean, I would KNOW if I had them,
wouldn't I?"
"Not necessarily. Especially not with one of the bloodline
of Yokuro. Mind Predators use their powers naturally, often without
thinking. Those who don't realise they have these powers can be
immensely dangerous. It is fortunate, really, that the Yokuro clan
has been one of the Sacred House's biggest supporters... Indeed,
one of the founding families."
Aoi stood, a little uneasily on her feet.... Arisa moved
forward to help her, but she waved her away. Aoi then began to
pace her loungeroom. "..And your appearance in the back of my car..
That was done by magic, was it?"
"Hai. I am a witch. One of the breed of Masters, capable of
controlling all aspects of the powers which have been bred into our
species by the Others."
"The Others?"
"Yes, another species entirely.... It was their interbreeding
with human beings that brought about the rise of our kind."
"Don't use the term 'our'. I haven't accepted your story as
anything other than crap yet."
Arisa flinched. "Must you use such vulgar language?"
"I'm not the one who said 'BS Sensor."
Arisa flinched again. "Yes, sorry about that. I did not
intend to use such offensive language around you."
Aoi sighed. "Never mind. What is your connection to Pluto?
How did you know she was going to make an appearance, anyway?"
"We were following you. It was simplicity in itself to listen
in on all conversations coming from that apartment. We had all the
relevant information on the occupant the moment you looked up her
name on your office's mainframe."
"You've tapped into the Police Network?"
"Of course. We are legally affiliated to the police. We are
well within our rights to do so."
"I don't care... You aren't part of the Police Department....
Are you?" She stared at Arisa.
"My dear Kikotsuka-san. We ARE the law. We have been for
some time. We allow your kind to exercise your various forms of
social control and constraints as you see fit, as long as none of
you upset the status quo."
Aoi shook her head. "And why? Why did you follow me?
Surely, not to tell me this? You could have done that at any time."
Arisa shrugged. "Indeed, we could have. Now you know of us,
we aren't going to leave you alone." She paused. "We are
interested in the Sailorsenshi. We want their bloodlines."
Aoi stared at her. "Their WHAT?"
"We want their bloodlines. We want their magic. We wish to
regulate and control it, lest it fall into the hands of our enemies.
I fear what may happen if power, such as theirs, falls into the
hands of the enemies of the human race."
Aoi spluttered, disbelievingly. "I'm not listening to any
more of this. I have no magic, I do not believe in secret
organisations and I'm trying to solve the murder of a Sailorsenshi.
Now please, remove yourselves from my apartment and my life..."
"Does that mean you don't want your coffee?" Aoi turned to
see Maria holding a mug in the doorway. Aoi facefaulted, slowly
stepping over to her small dining table, sitting down and placing
her head in her hands.
"I think she wants the ooffee, Maria. She just doesn't want
to see us." Arisa smiled. Maria shrugged and stepped over to Aoi,
placing the coffee on the table before her.
"I guess that means we should leave, then." Maria crossed her
arms behind her head and stepped towards the hallway leading to the
front door, near the door to the kitchen. She paused as Arisa moved
up to Aoi.
Aoi looked up at the girl, who gave her a serious expression,
placing a hand on her shoulder. "You may not believe us now... But
the future is an uncertain place." She put a card on the table,
next to the mug. "You are destined to require our assistance,
Kikotsuka-san. We know a lot more than you about the murder of the
senshi."
Arisa turned and walked away. Aoi watched her go. "Wait..."
Aoi put out a hand, and Arisa paused, looking over her shoulder.
"If you know something... Why don't you just say?"
"Murders can cover the misdemeanors of those closest to us.
The Yakuza merely took advantage of the situation to get back at the
Sailorsenshi. The truth lies much closer to them." She paused.
"Your keys and other items are sitting on the kitchen bench. Good
morning to you." Arisa turned and stepped past Maria, who followed
her into the hallway. Aoi watched and listened as the door opened,
then closed behind them. She was alone.
She picked up the card... A small burgundy-coloured plastic
card with gold trimming. Flash, thought Aoi. On it was the name
of Hayakawa, and a contact phone number. There was no address or
specific organisation listed with either. Aoi sighed and picked up
the coffee, sniffing it in case anything untoward had been added to
its contents. Damn, thought Aoi, she put in too much sugar.
Just as she took a sip, the phone rang. Coffee flew from her
mouth across the table, and she cursed, putting the mug down and
wiping her chin. She stood and stomped into the kitchen, where the
phone was hanging next to the fridge.
She answered. "Ehello. Kikotsuka answering service. Can I
help you?"
"Yeah, great, Kiko-san. Very funny." Kaji's lovely bass
tones rumbled through her ear.
"Yes, Kaji, what do you want?"
"Ah, just thought you'd like to know. The SIU office..."
Aoi's ears picked up. "What about it?"
"They've been broken into. The mainframe is toast, as are all
the filing cabinets."
"What the f... When did THIS happen? I only left there about
three...." She looked at the clock. 10.35am! She gawked at the
time. Where had it all gone?
"Three? Jeez, they might have been waiting for you to leave
when they did it." Kaji's voice seemed concerned. "Did you see
anything last night? Anything at all?"
"N..no... There wasn't anyone around when I left. The last
person I saw there was Akizuki-san... He'd come to visit..." A
thought occured to Aoi. "Hold on a minute, Kaji..." She put the
receiver on top of the fridge and ran to the front door, throwing
it open. She blinked a couple of times, her eyes not used to even
the admittedly pale light. Her unit sat on the front of one of the
main streets in her local districts, so it was reasonably busy. She
tried to spot Arisa and Maria, but failed. It should have been
easy, considering how much the pair would have stood out... Aoi
cursed and stepped back in, almost slamming the door behind her.
She ran back to the phone. "Sorry about that."
"What the hell are you doing there?"
"I just had some... Uhh... company. Can you hang on about
half an hour, I'll be there myself to have a look at the damage."
She sniffed under her armpits. "Actually, make that 45 minutes."
Aoi had to flash her i.d. at the entrance of the SIU carpark,
something she hadn't had to do since her early days as a cadet of
the police force. Then she had trouble finding a place to park her
car. There were plenty of vehicles from various divisions here
today. It wasn't every day that someone broke into a branch of
the police, and Aoi was sure there were quite a few sightseers
amongst this lot.
Naturally, Kaji was standing out the front, waiting for her.
She'd managed to squeeze her car between a marked vehicle and the
retaining wall at the far end, then squeezed herself to get out of
the door, cursing at the little room she'd been left.
Kaji stepped over to her as she locked her car. She patted
the vehicle. Good thing those girls had left it in the right
parking spot out the back of her unit... She'd had complaints from
the neightbours before about putting it in the wrong spot. She
sniffed and turned to Kaji as he sighed.
"I just gotta warn you, the Chief wants to see you."
"Yeah, well, that's surprising news since I was the last
person here." She moved from the gap between her car and the
retaining wall. "Well, where is he, then?"
"Top floor of the building, going over what is left of our
records office." Kaji shook his head. "All those years of
gathering this stuff, and they trash it in the space of a few
hours." Aoi nodded. Kaji seemed depressed. He had been with the
SIU for almost twice as long as she had, so had a greater attachment
to the job.
Aoi stepped through the front doors, which were being checked
over. They had been smashed in. Aoi shrugged. They needed better
security on the office, anyway, maybe this would convince them it
was time to update things. She turned to the computer office,
aghast at the damage perpetrated to the mainframe. Someone had
taken to it with a baseball bat. A very heavy baseball bat. At
least that was what it looked like. Fortunately, most of the
information stored there had been downloaded into the Police
Network, and would be salvageable.
Shimazaki was standing in the office, staring as forensics
went through the wreckage with a fine-toothed comb. If there was
ever a time when the police took crime seriously, it was when it
was perpetrated on themselves....
He turned to her and shrugged. Speechless for once, thought
Aoi, smugly. She stepped over to him. "And what would a member of
Major Crime be doing, gracing the humble offices of lowly
filekeepers like the SIU?"
"Yeah, fuck you too, Kiko-san." He growled.
"Woah, hit a nerve, have I? SIU important enough to be broken
into but not Major Crime, eh? Guess we must have hit on something
with this senshi murder case." Shimazaki shook his head.
"Don't be so smug. This is only going to hold things up that
little bit longer."
"Wanna bet?" Aoi smiled and turned from him. He followed her
for a short distance.
"What do you mean by that? Hey, Kiko-san... Have you found
something?" She ignored him and opened the door to the stairs.
Two flights up, she exited the stairwell and entered the
records office. It looked as if a tornado had hit it. Not the work
of a normal bunch of vandals, this.
The filing cabinets that once stretched from one end of the
building to the other had been shredded.... Little pieces of metal
piled amongst shredded bits and pieces of paper, cardboard and
photographs, distributed neatly all over the floor. It wasn't hard
to find the SIU Chief, a burly, aging man of sixty, standing in the
middle of the room with forensic officers and others, trying to
decide where they should start looking for clues as to who might
have perpetrated this... act of wanton destruction. Aoi almost
snorted at the description.
The Chief spotted her. "Ah, Kiko-san. You have arrived at
last. Now, perhaps, we can get somewhere."
Kuburata, the head of the Forensics Department, who was
standing next to the Chief, chuckled. "Yeah, and I'm Midorikawa
Hikaru." The Chief ignored him and stepped over to Aoi, putting
his feet wherever he could find an empty spot to put them, not an
easy task for someone of his build.
"I take it you were the last one here. Akunatsuka has told
me.... You were here, using the mainframe earlier this morning,
going through the psych records of the senshi."
Aoi nodded. "Then he called me, asking me to go through
the school records of the Juuban district for 92 through to 94,
looking for any female student without parents, or missing at
least one parent."
"Why do I get the feeling he was trying to keep you out of the
way of things?"
"Probably because he has been hanging around that smug
bastard, Shimazaki, for too long."
"Don't say that too loudly. You know Shimazaki's old man is
a bigwig within the office of the police minister in the Diet."
"Yeah, about the only reason the useless little bastard is in
Major Crime in the first place." She snorted. The Chief wagged a
finger at her and guided her aside.
"Now, I want you to remember absolutely everything that
happened earlier this morning. Akunatsuka has told me everything
you mentioned to him over the phone, and Akizuki has confirmed he
met with you earlier this morning...."
"I'm sorry, Chief, I really can't tell you anymore than that.
It had been a long day.... I was tired, so I went home..."
"And that's all... You saw no-one?"
"Look, if I had seen anyone, I would tell you, wouldn't I?
After all, its bad enough to think I might have been here when
they.." She gestured to the room. The Chief nodded
understandingly. "So, what are we going to do, now?"
"About what?" The Chief blinked.
"The Senshi case... About the killing."
"Ah, yes. Well, did you find anything intersting in your
searches?" Aoi paused for a moment, not knowing how to answer
this just yet.... The Chief stared at her through slitted eyes.
"Come on, Kiko-san, you're not very good at keeping things in. Did
you find something or not?"
"Nothing... that is connected to this case. There were still
things I would have liked to look up on the mainframe...."
"Well, you can do that back at Major Crime. They're moving us
there until things can be sorted out here." he gestured to the
room, helplessly. "That may be a while."
She chuckled, shaking her head. "Was anything taken?"
"Not that we've discovered. Looks like someone didn't want us
involved in something."
And I have a sneaking suspicion who that might be, Aoi thought
to herself.
"Oh, and by the way, they completed the autopsy on the
senshi." Aoi looked at the Chief, blinking.
"Find anything interesting?"
"A Heart Crystal, for starters. Its being held in the labs
for further investigation. On top of that, your favourite person in
Major Crime found a transformation pen." The Chief reached into his
overcoat and pulled out a plastic bag. "Its evidence, but we don't
quite know what to do with it. As far as we know, it really doesn't
have anything to do with the killing of the senshi. It was just
there at the scene in the motel." He held the bag out to Aoi, and
she could see the pen within.
Slowly, she took it, holding it with almost reverential
tenderness. For some reason, she felt immensely sad seeing it. She
touched the portion of the pen where the planetary symbol was
printed. For a second, it seemed to glow, then faded away.
"Can I keep this? For a while, at least?" Aoi looked up at
the Chief. He thought for a few moments, then nodded. "It can't
do any harm. Just don't remove it from the bag. Its already been
tested by forensics, and they've found nothing of interest on it,
but its better to cover our arses in any case."
She nodded and placed the pen in the pocket of her jacket.
The Chief smiled. "Please be our guest and mourn the passing of the
office as it once was. Everyone else seems to be. Just don't touch
anything that might look vaguely like evidence." He turned and
stepped back to where Kuburata and one of his officers were rifling
through the wreckage on the floor. Aoi sighed and made her way
around the edge of the wreckage to the windows, staring out into the
carpark, thinking quietly to herself.
Was this the work of Pluto? She certainly would have had the
power within her to have done so. She was also certain that Pluto
would do anything within her power to protect the identities of the
Sailorsenshi, even if it meant halting the investigation into those
behind the death of Pluto's comrade. And besides, it was likely
that, after the events outside the apartment of the Kino girl, she
would have come back here.
Then there were those girls who belonged to the "Sacred
House". They certainly seemed to know part of what was going on.
Aoi cursed herself... Why did she turn them away like that?
Because of their stupid story about the House and the bloodlines
thing? She shook her head and gazed out the window.
There was someone watching her from the gardens above the
carpark. Her heart skipped a beat.... He was staring directly at
her. No mistaking it...
He was a good looking sort, too. Long brown hair, so long
she could see it blowing in the wind. Thin, effeminate looks,
dressed in black jeans, red shirt and black jacket with black
ripple-soled shoes. But those EYES. They were so blue, even she
could see them across the distance.
He smirked, and she realised he must have known she'd seen
him. He held up a finger, like a gun, pointing it directly at her.
And then he fired. At that moment, he vanished.
Aoi's eyes blinked a couple of times, then she shivered. What
was it Arisa had said, about there being enemies of the Sacred
House? Aoi turned and made her way out of the Records Office as
quickly as possible....
END OF PART 5
DDFA ayanami@internode.on.net
27th Feb 1998