Soft Light and Shadows
Chapter 2: Paper Flowers
by: IMBSA
IMBSA: I'm so happy you like it!!! ::smiley face::
Disclaimer: "Some people are like slinkies: not really good for anything, but you can't help laughing when you push them down the stairs."
"Eew!" Doujima squealed, jumping backwards as Amon uncovered the body. It was Miyagi, all right, but a very dead and shattered Miyagi. Amon and Robin didn't seem very perturbed by it, as though dead corpses were everyday occurrences in their job, which, in actuality, was true.
"You're right Amon." Robin said, reaching a gloved hand out to touch it, which Amon, surprisingly enough, didn't object to. "He's in perfect health."
"For a dead guy." Dojima added, overcoming her disgust.
"Yes." Amon replied. "He is."
"What's this?" Robin asked, tracing a design etched into the side Miyagi's neck.
"It looks like a tattoo." Dojima responded. It was a simple enough design, a bleeding white rose impaled on a dagger, but there was something ominous about it.
"That's interesting. I don't remember reading about him having a tattoo." Amon replied. "What do you know about roses?"
"A white rose represents purity and innocence." Robin answered. "You can even go on to say that it stands for girlhood." Amon and Dojima looked at her. Robin shrugged. "We had to know that at the convent."
"Girlhood? Innocence?! What straight guy would get a tattoo of a rose?" When the other two ignored her, she said, "Well, I don't think there's anything else we can find out from him." Dojima was getting seriously freaked out (A/N: Who wouldn't? They're in a friggin' morgue!) and desperately wanted to leave.
"I agree." Amon said. He and Dojima began walking away, but Robin stayed where she was. There was something about that tattoo that struck a chord in her, but she couldn't tell what. "Robin?" Amon's voice shook her out of her reverie.
"I'm coming." She said, walking after the other two.
"Michael." Amon said, directly after entering the Headquarters. "Did you find anything on Valerie Brooks?"
"Nope, not a shred. I mean there's the usual stuff--occupation, where she lives, stuff like that. But nothing about her family or any personal information. There's a birth date, but not much else."
"What about Miyagi?" Michael typed a bit more.
"Uh, he's a witch descendent who's been living on the streets for awhile. He used to be in a gang of hoodlums called The Fallen, but most of them have been killed or imprisoned. He backed out before the gang's collapse."
"Look into the gang." More typing.
Then, "Uh, like I said, it's called The Fallen, but they were powerful in most of the city until about three years ago. They would kidnap people off the streets and tattoo them with a rose of the colors white, red, black, and pink. Then they'd let them go. No other injury, if you could call it that, excepting the tattoo, came to them. At that point at least. No ransom notes either. Not able to tell anything about their kidnappers or what they did because The Fallen used some kind of harmless tranquilizer, there was nothing to report. Two weeks later, the former captive would be dead. It says here that the tattoo was a marking and whoever was tattooed with one would be killed by the gang member with the corresponding tattoo. It was a game--of sorts."
"A game? Who plays games with roses? Sounds stupid, the rose being a sign that you're marked for death." Dojima remarked.
"Like the tattoo we saw on Miyagi's body." Robin murmured, used to ignoring such comments from the girl. Michael looked up.
"What?" He asked.
"Miyagi's body had a tattoo, a white rose that was bleeding and impaled by a knife."
"Something like that. Except the tattoo on the victim would be just the flower, not bleeding or stabbed. Miyagi was best buds with the Black Rose, one Damien Manson. Then someone ratted out the gang and left Miyagi as the only alive and free member."
"Look up 'Damien Manson'." Amon directed. His answer was the sound of typing.
"The Black Rose, yadda, yadda, yadda. Oh. He was a witch descendent and was killed around the time of the collapse of the gang. His power was the ability to turn his body into a shadow and become quasi-tangible. He also backed out early to take care of his half-sister, Julia, but was killed a month after."
"Anything else?"
"Nope." Amon opened his mouth, but Michael cut him off. "The sister disappeared that night as well and is presumed dead. Anything else while I'm up?"
Valerie was sitting up in her hospital bed, bandaged arms resting on her lap when Karasuma and Sakaki came in. Her face was turned away from them as she was looking out the window. "Ms. Brooks? " Valerie turned to them. She had shoulder length blonde hair and wide green eyes.
"Yes?"
"I'm Karasuma Miho, and this is Sakaki Haruto. We work for STN-J and the police have turned this case over to us. We just have some questions for you."
"Of course," she replied, a bright albeit nervous smile gracing her features.
After they had sat down in the two chairs provided by the hospital, Valerie divulged to them, "I've already told the police everything I know."
"We understand, Ms. Brooks." Karasuma replied. "But would you be so kind as to tell us what happened this morning?" She nudged Sakaki and, with a look, warned him not to interrupt.
"No problem. It was a normal day." Valerie started. "I woke up yesterday morning to get ready for my shift at the local bookstore. The day went on without anything out of the ordinary happening. When my shift was over, I went grocery shopping and came back around midnight."
"Didn't you notice anything strange when you first pulled up?" Sakaki asked, ignoring Karasuma.
"No, nothing at all. You see, I enter on the other side of the building, so I can't see my apartment from there. I came in and found the power was switched off, so I turned to go and ask the landlord what had happened. I wasn't late on the rent, so I didn't know why it would be off. As I turned, a man grabbed me from behind and pulled me into the apartment. We struggled for a bit, crashing into things and such. Finally, my head struck something--I don't know what--and I blanked out. Anything after that is a mystery."
"And you've never seen that guy before, right?" Sakaki asked.
"Right." Valerie affirmed with a nod of her head. A slight silence settled over the three.
"Oh, I met your cat." Sakaki mentioned. "Or rather, it met me."
"Shini? How is she?" Valerie sat up straight, her face seeming to transform into a state of joy. She clearly loved her cat.
"Just fine. Karasuma thinks it likes me."
"She likes everyone who'll even look at her. She's such an adorable cat. She usually likes to greet me at the door."
"Speaking of which, where was she when you were attacked, if she's so loyal?"
"I expect she knew something was wrong. I believe that animals have some type of ability to sense danger. It's the same sense that alerts them to the presence of spirits."
"Ms. Brooks--"Karasuma began.
"Please, call me Val." She replied, smiling.
"Val, who's the boy in the picture on the mantle? The one with you and him? It's summer in the photo and the two of you are wet, like you just came back from swimming." Valerie's smile suddenly went a bit stiff. She slumped heavily in her bed, looking very sad. Karasuma and Sakaki immediately went to her side.
"That's my brother." When Val spoke, her voice was suddenly tired and it sounded like she was going to cry in spite of her cheery mood moments ago. "He--he died a few years ago from cancer. It was too late for them to do anything when they found out; the tumor was too large."
"I'm sorry." Karasuma said, putting a hand on her arm, intending to calm her. She was again overcome with emotions that were not her own. When she surfaced again, she gave Sakaki a meaningful look.
"It's ok. I just get so weepy all of sudden when I think of that photo sometimes."
"I'm truly sorry." Karasuma repeated.
"How were you to know?" Val sniffed. "I hate to say this, but you're going to have to cut the visit short."
"We understand. Thank you for being kind enough to answer our questions."
"Oh, thank you. At least someone's trying to get things done." They began to leave. As she lifted her arm to wave good-bye, part of the sleeve of her dark blue and white polka-dotted gown fell, revealing a small tattoo of a white rose on her upper arm.
IMBSA: Dun dun dun. Heh heh. Anyway, that's the chappie! Oh, and I have replies to the reviewers.
AlyssC01: Thanks. Patience was never my strong point. Damn that rap music! (Not that I'm knocking it or anything....) It was no problem using Karasuma; I think that she and Sakaki didn't get enough screen time in the series. Especially Sakaki. So most of what I write will probably have many Sakaki and Karasuma parts. And if you think that what I wrote had a big Karasuma part, get ready. This fic mostly centers around the two of them and Valerie.
AnimeReviewer790: I have some anime patches for you. Lots of them. If you don't know what those are, well, they're like nicotine patches, but for otakus (I spelt that right, right?). The reason I have them....Well, let's just say my friends and/or family got a bit "worried" about my "anime problem." As a last resort (after the electric cattle prods and straitjackets), they would slap those babies on me and I (supposedly) became less obsessed with anime. Needless to say they don't work. On me, at least. And it's ok about the reviews. See! Someone else reviewed!!!! ::points to top of the page:: Oh and I usually write the story beforehand so I can update every night. (Such is not the case with "Vacation Time, Please", however.) But I'm working on it!!!!!!
Thanks to you guys! Thanks for the encouragement!!!!!