The Detective
In the morning the first rains of the season had set in. There was always something about the first rains of the season. Spring rain has a weird way of being both hopeful and dreary all at the same time. Memories of warm weather stir, mixing with the emotions brought on by the day's somber grayness. The rain dripped off the roof, slid down the windows, and fell away to its destination on the ground below. One pair of eyes followed this journey as he sipped his coffee. As Yuki sat there in the kitchen, with his mind lost in the gentle pattering sound, for just a moment he had forgotten what the day had in store for him.
A pair of arms wrapped around Yuki from behind. It was the half-hearted good morning glomp. Shuichi was never very good with mornings. Still half asleep he yawned in Yuki's ear, "Good morning love. Sleep well?"
"Mmm, what about you?"
"No, I had the weirdest dream." Normally this phrase was Yuki's cue to dart off to his office and 'work', but Shuichi still had him in his arms; he wasn't going anywhere. "You know that lady Joan Rivers, yea well, we were in Las Vegas and for some reason Joan and I had to share a room."
Yuki cringed at the mental picture "Um, EW! Did you make yourself something to eat before you went to sleep?"
"Listen, it gets better."
"Better?"
"Yes, anyway I flooded the hotel room. The bed was floating a way and everything and Joan was really mad, so she sent a gorilla after me."
For the first time in his life Yuki was happy when K broke down the door in a hail of gunfire. Yea! Now all Yuki had to do was get the thought Joan Rivers out of his head. Ew.
It was time to meet the detective; hopefully this mess would all be over when they find the idiot teenager with a panache for pranks and evil letters.
The stormy spring weather brought with it the winds. Winds that blew unpredictably. Playfully rustling in different directions ruffling hair and sweeping away light things out of peoples hands. Light things like papers, papers with directions written on them. Directions, like the ones to the detectives office. Damn it!
Three hours later.
Hiro, Suguru, and Tohma were bored to death. The detective was working and asked not to be bothered until the entire party had arrived. They were about to send out the hounds and form a search party (actually, it was more like a lynch mob), when the other three finally arrived.
"Where.." Tohma started.
"Don't ask, please don't ask." K cut him off.
Yuki couldn't help but notice the door they were walking into was an office for international investigations. What the hell? This did not bode well. "Everyone, this is Detective George Brown. He's a special investigator who has taken up this case for us." K announced.
At the head of the desk the Detective stood up to greet his guests. The wall behind his back was littered with things he had tacked up. There were articles in several different languages, fuzzy surveillance pictures, and other scraps of paper. Brown was an English man only two inches shorter than Yuki, in his 50's with a strong build and messy, graying hair.
"It's a pleasure to meet you all I already know who all of you are." He nodded over at Yuki and Shuichi, "Mr. Shindou and Mr. Uesugi." Shuichi watched as the detective sized him up. "Ok, I am not one to waist time with beating around the bush. This is a very serious matter, so let's get right to the point shall we?"
The detective threw down some pictures naming each of them as they hit the desk, "England, Germany, America, and Ireland." Yuki glanced at the pictures in horror. Shuichi stood up to get a better view and immediately went very pale. They were all of little colorful type guys covered in blood all dead. Shindou appeared as if he was going to faint. He fell back in the chair behind him without a word staring blankly at the detective.
"I have seen the letters you both have been getting and I can say that I am sure the one who wrote these is the same man I have been tracking across four countries." Shuichi watched as the man paced this way and that way as he spoke. "He's known as the tiger stalker. He gets his kicks off of others pain and suffering. He picks a target and starts with the letters. So far all of the victims have been lead singers. He apparently either really likes or really hates music. He sets up a place to commit his crime wile he torments his victims. Eventually he grabs them, after that we only find the bodies." Brown's pause was like a silent curse. "He is called the tiger stalker because he cuts his victims up making patterns like tigers stripes wile they are fully conscious he likes to watch them bleed. He finally kills them by slitting the victims throat, but the last victim died from loss of blood before that."
"Mr. Shindou, were all the events in the letters correct?" Shuichi nodded mindlessly not really looking at the detective anymore, his gaze was fixed on the wall of articles behind him.
Yuki could feel his chest clenching up. He could almost picture Shuichi in one of those pictures torn and broken. This was not what he was expecting at all. Yuki put his hand on Shuichi's shoulder. He could see Shu was scared, and had gone uncharacteristically quiet again. It took a wile before Shuichi spoke and when he did his voice sounded so small and lost. "Don't you even know what this guy looks like yet? Don't you have any clues? What are we supposed to do about this?"
Yuki could see his lover was really struggling to keep it together. He just held on to Shindou's shoulder in some way attempting to make sure his lover didn't just disappear right then and there.
Brown looked at him. "We don't suggest going into hiding because that didn't work for the last two victims. We don't expect this guy to make a move anytime soon, so we are canvassing the area as best we can to search for people who have moved in during the past few months. We are also doing a check of all the abandoned buildings in the area. He will set up the trap in one of those. He likes places that are deserted. The kind of place you can scream for help and nobody will hear you."
"Wait a minute" k shouted, "What the heck, do you mean to say you lost two people under close surveillance?"
"He managed to get the last two subjects off on their own using threats to friends and family. Once they managed to get them off on their own, he used a device to block the tracking devices we had planted and… well you see what happened to the American and the German."
"We have a tour to start in two weeks. We can't cancel it now." Shuichi moaned in anguish.
"It's probably best you don't cancel. It takes this guy over a year to set up his plan. We know he won't do anything unless he's researched every possible angle. There won't be any routine habits for him to learn and follow with Mr. Shindou on the move. He won't have the time he needs to form his plan the way he likes. We suspect he isn't going to strike until sometime after you get back from touring."
Yuki couldn't contain himself any longer "SUSPECT? You suspect he won't make his move? You're guessing about what this guy might do while people are dying? What the hell is going on! What kind of crackpot detective are you!" Yuki had left Shuichi's side and was now an inch from the detective's face. Brown didn't flinch for a second. He just returned the most intense stare that Yuki had ever seen.
Brown spat through clenched teeth, "We are doing our best Mr. Uesugi. This guy is nothing like anything we have ever encountered before. I have all the top people from around the world working with me on bringing this guy down."
"Yea, well so far your best has four people dead." Yuki's voice took a dangerous growl returning the same intense stare.
Brown's face started to turn red. Yuki had obviously hit a tender subject. "I will have you know that I have been catching these monsters long before you were born, kiddo! I've seen the darkest parts of the human soul and this guy is not your average psychopath. So unless you want to see your friend over there get hurt, you're gonna' to have to deal with me."
K grabbed Yuki's shoulder and pulled him back a few steps "Listen, Yuki it's not like we have a choice. This guy after Shindou is dangerous and like it or not we need this man to help us." K was staring at the detective wearily. He didn't seem to like Brown either.
"So Mr. Shindou it's up to you. Do you want to continue with the tour or not." Tohma's voice, as always, was like the smooth edge of a very sharp knife, you barely feel it, until it cuts you right through.
Hiro looked at Tohma. He didn't like this idea at all, "Shuichi you don't have to do this for us. Bad luck will be fine if we skip the tour."
"It's up to Mr. Shindou weather or not he wants to disappoint his fans over this." Tohma continued never lifting his gaze from Shuichi.
Shuichi looked up at his friend, "Hiro, what am I going to do, just sit here and wait for the guy? No, I want to do this."
Shuichi met Tohma's eyes with a blank stare. "Yes, We can't cancel the tour now, it's been sold out for weeks already." He said with a sigh of resignation.
"Fine," mused Tohma.
"I'm coming with him." Tohma's face lost its trademark smile for a second as he turned to verify what he just heard.
"Eiri, you want to go with him?" Tohma's eyebrows disappeared under the brim of his pimp hat.
Yuki coldly regarded the smaller man for a minute. "Yes, I have to do some book signings for my latest work I can arrange them around the stops on the tour."
"Fine, whatever you want." Tohma sighed exasperated.
Brown looked around at everybody. This was the moment he was waiting for, "Ok, now that that's settled, Mr. K is it? I am going to need you to go through the security needs with you. We need to pull out all the stops. I want extra security, full camera surveillance, the works. We already have Mr. Shindou's apartment under surveillance. We are going to catch this guy no matter what it takes." Brown said rubbing his hands together like he was about to enjoy a fine dinner.
Shuichi grabbed Yuki's hand and gave it a quick squeeze. Yuki looked at him even though he had his head down Yuki knew he had, had enough of all this and just needed to go home.
The ride home was short, 15 minutes to be exact, and quiet. Yuki watched Shuichi waiting for the singer to start talking again. All this quiet was getting on his nerves. He stopped for a second when he realized he was about to complain about it being too quiet. "Oh yes", he thought to himself, "I've lost it."
Once home, Shuichi immediately flopped into the couch and sank into it where he stayed not moving. His mind was spinning so fast it had left his body behind. Yuki looked out the window and saw the surveillance van parked in the street below. Every move was going to be watched. He shuttered at the thought. This might even cut into their sex life... Then again if he could somehow get a copy of a tape of them… He turned to see the small form of his lover attempting to become one with the couch. "Hey Shu while you're down there see if you can find my pen. I haven't seen it since yesterday, and try not to hog all the spare change. Most of it's mine anyway."
Shuichi wasn't amused. He did want to burry himself in those cushions and never come out again. He wanted so bad to wake up and find everything was back to normal.
Yuki stood over him for a wile, to think of what that psycho wanted to do to him was too much. He hated feeling like there was nothing he could do. The stalker was a mystery, no face to place his hatred upon. Yuki wanted to kill this guy. Shu looked up to see the expression on Yuki's face. He balked and sat up, " Yuki! Are you mad at me? I am so sorry for dragging you into this! Oh Yuuukiiiii." He made a move to grab Yuki around his waist. Yuki knew what was coming and caught Shuichi first. He pulled him into a tight hug. Holding him close and tight so he could smell the strawberry shampoo. He just stood there breathing his lover in, wishing for all the world he could protect him from everything. He wanted to never let go of him ever again.
"Shu-chan, please don't worry we'll get through this. I will never let anything bad happen to you. Ok? C'mon let's get some sleep." Shuichi was exhausted after a few hours he did manage to fall asleep.
I want to thank all my readers and those who took time out to review my story. It really means a lot to me.
Again, I don't care if you feel the need to tell me I suck I want to hear about it. (I only ask that you be ready to tell me how I suck.)