Chapter 2: Personally Involved

The heads of five policemen shot up at the sound of a certain blonde storming into the office, directly into the police director's office. Before any of her colleagues could warn her that the boss was having a meeting with an important politician, Haruka had burst in, causing the two men to look at her in surprise. "Tenoh-san." The police director, an elderly man named Takeshi, then spoke, concern in his voice. It was obvious that Haruka was very upset about something; her hands were shaking, and her eyes were filled with a mixture of sheer terror and fear. "He has her." The blonde now softly spoke, staring at Takeshi and completely ignoring the politician who still sat there. "Who was whom?" Takeshi asked, completely oblivious to what the blonde was talking about. "The 24 hours killer. He has my girlfriend." Were the last words Haruka managed to stammer out before her eyes suddenly rolled back in her head and she collapsed, hitting the office floor with a soft thud.

Michiru slowly came back to consciousness, not remembering what had happened to her in the first few seconds. Then, it all came back to her: the attacker, the fight and finally the kick that had knocked her out…the aqua haired girl stifled a groan, some rules Haruka had told her a few years ago suddenly coming back to her brain. "It would be a lot easier for us to find kidnappers if the kidnapped people would be a little more attentive to their surroundings." "Don't let him know that you woke up." Michiru told herself, thus not opening her eyes. She concentrated on the noises around her, as well as on the mellow shaking she could feel. That and the fact that she could hear a droning noise showed her that she still was in the car of her kidnapper; she didn't know how long she had been unconscious, and that bugged her. Thanks to the fact that she had been out for an unknown span of time, she didn't know how long she was in the car by now. "I know that you are awake." A deep, male voice suddenly came from the driver's seat, causing the aqua haired girl to flinch. The man who had kidnapped her turned around to look at her, stopping his car while he did, grinning. "I knew from the first second you woke up. You didn't open your eyes or moan, but your breathing changed." Michiru looked at her kidnapper in fear, not too sure about what she should expect next. The dark haired man now grinned, a strange glint suddenly filling his eyes. "Don't worry, Michiru…you won't have to cope with me for too long." He looked at the clock that was mounted in the armature board of the car, and his grin widened. "Only seventeen hours and thirty minutes." That was when Michiru realized who had kidnapped her, and suddenly she found herself unable to breath. It was as if somebody had put a glowing ring around her chest, tightening it with every second that passed. She knew that the ring was also called panic, and that she had to fight it to think up a way to escape, but the knowledge didn't help. The aqua haired girl broke down sobbing, while the kidnapper started the car again and continued to drive, ignoring the desperate whimpers and pleads of his prisoner.

"Here, drink that." Takeshi spoke, sitting the glass of whiskey down on the desk. Haruka looked at him for a second before she looked at the glass and shook her head. "You know that I don't drink." She flatly spoke, her voice not showing any emotions. "I don't want you to gulp it down and get drunk, I want you to drink it up and calm down." Takeshi replied, taking a seat behind his desk again. He sighed and looked at Haruka, not liking what he had to tell her next. "Haruka…you know that we do everything we can to find the killer and Michiru before it's too late." Haruka nodded, still staring down at her hands. Her eyes came up though when she heard what Takeshi said next. "But…I have to take you off the case." Suddenly, life returned to the formerly dull eyes of the blonde, paired with anger. "What do you mean, you have to take me off the case?" "You are personally involved now, Haruka." Takeshi gently spoke, trying to calm the detective down again. "The fact that he has your girlfriend is compromising your judgement." "The fact that he has my girlfriend", Haruka replied, pressing every single word out between clenched teeth, "is pushing me more than anything else to find that bastard and shoot his fucking head away." Takeshi gaped at the rude language of his normally calm and composed detective, not knowing how to comment on this statement. "Please don't take me off the case." Haruka now spoke, her voice soft all of a sudden. "I need to find him personally. He knew that she was my girlfriend, and he knew that it was me who was responsible for his case…please let me do it." Finally, Takeshi let out a sigh. "Good. It is against every single paragraph concerning police work I know, and if anyone finds out, we both will lose our jobs, but fine. Find him and make sure that he never kills again." Haruka nodded and softly spoke "Thank you." before she stood up and left the office. Takeshi looked after her, then let out a sigh and returned to doing his work, wondering if he had made the right decision.