The Anime Murder Files
Special Number 01
Case No. 10- The Zodiac Murders
Investigating Detectives: Kaige and Flame with aide from Zoro and Sanji
The Victim: A passerby found Hatsuharu Sohma severely beaten outside the main Sohma residence early in the morning. Details of what happened are sketchy at best because the main family has refused thus far to comment on the murder.
The Suspects:
Tohru Honda- The young woman has made a place for herself in the household of a strange family. Her reasons for being there appear to be innocent, as does she. Yet, there's something about her that just doesn't sit right. It could be those creepy eyes.
Akito Sohma- The head of the household seems to have a violent streak a mile long. It would make sense that he'd murder someone in cold blood. It would also explain why the family is oddly silent on what's happening.
Ayame Sohma- Ayame's alibi for the night in question is full of holes. It could be that he was just doing something of a private nature, or it could be the murder. We're ruling nothing out.
Hatori Sohma- There seems to be something haunting this man. It could be nearly anything so why not the murder of Hatsuharu?
Hiro Sohma- The boy is rather young to have been the murderer. But most things are possible with a blunt object in hand. You don't need a whole lot of strength to subdue someone when you've got a handy bat.
Isuzu Sohma (AKA Rin)- She used to date Hatsuharu before switching interests to Shigure. It's possible that Hatsuharu hadn't liked this and tried to confront her. Confrontations can go very wrong.
Kagura Sohma- Upon first glance you'd think nothing sinister of the girl. But if you watch her long enough, you begin to notice things, like her tendency towards violence. If that were how she shows affection, I'd hate to see her vengeance.
Kisa Sohma- The girl is adorable. Just look at her face!! You just want to hug and squeeze her. Murder is an unlikely course for her, but none of the family is being ruled out.
Kureno Sohma- At first, it's hard to notice this man and he didn't come apparent until you were anywhere near Akito. But the man seems to be close to him no matter what. So if Akito didn't want to do his dirty work, why not ask your shadow?
Kyo Sohma- He's another family member with a violent streak. While his attentions seem to be more for fighting Yuki, Hatsuharu liked to challenge him. Maybe Kyo went a little too far during one of their fights.
Momiji Sohma- He's another person who seems to be an unlikely killer. Yet there's something in the boy that he hides from the world. It may just be an intense sadness or it could likely be something else.
Ritsu Sohma- He's awfully nervous about something. Despite multiple claims of innocence, there's something seriously wrong with this suspect.
Shigure Sohma- Excuse me while I pick my tongue off the ground. All right, while being a major hottie, it's possible he's a killer. Though I doubt he'll be closely looked at as a suspect.
Yuki Sohma- Yuki is another person who I find hard to believe as a murderer. Though, anything's possible in that large of a family. Grudges can so easily be hidden behind cool expressions.
Arisa Uotani & Hanajima Saki- Both of the girls are close personal friends of Tohru. It's possible that they'd do anything for the girl and things can be misconstrued so easily. A helpful warning can turn sour very quickly.
The Setting: The main house of the Sohma family.
Another day, another murder and so on and so on…
Kaige eyed the estate with an all-seeing stare. Something was incredibly odd with this family. While it was it a large and varied family, a small group of them actually lived or visited this area of the house. It seemed as if they were lucky to have even gotten this far.
"Kaige, come on, Akito's waiting to speak with us." Flame was further up on the path waiting impatiently for her to catch up to the rest of our group. Kaige hurried along the path, eager to get to the bottom of this case. Killing someone so young, not to mention as hot as Hatsuharu, was a serious crime in her book. Whereas normally she would have taken her sweet time getting her questions answered.
Their guide was Shigure Sohma, who seemed more interesting in flirting with them then leading them to Akito. Both Kaige and Flame would have been happy to take him up on his numerous offers had Zoro and Sanji not been there. The two men were working to become detectives and were with them to get experience in the field.
Zoro grumbled impatiently but didn't bother to stop the man's advances. The last time he'd done that, Kaige hadn't been very happy with him. He didn't want Kaige unhappy with him ever again.
"As much as I'd like to take you up on your offer Shigure-kun, we're here to solve Haru's murder. Maybe another time." Flame broke into Shigure's smooth, practiced flirting.
Shigure sighed loudly. "All right ladies, I guess this will have to wait." Seemingly all business now, Shigure pulled ahead of the group and led them to a dark empty room. It would have been creepier had they not seen worse things then a little darkness.
Shigure opened one of the doors to let in a stream of sunshine, illuminating the room and the man who lay on the floor. They'd been told Akito was ill, but he seemed more angry than ill.
"I understand you're just trying to do your jobs, but we had nothing to do with Haru's death. I suggest you look elsewhere if you want to find his murderer." Kaige's eyes narrowed at the man. He seemed to be barely containing his violence; Kaige knew how that was.
She drew closer until Akito's attention was fully on her. "If you understand, you'll stop fighting us and answer our questions." Kaige stopped with her face nearly touching his, letting her own violent streak show through her eyes.
They stayed like that for a few minutes before Akito shook his head. "I'm afraid that won't be possible." It was obvious that Akito was hiding something now. Kaige drew away and went to stand next to Shigure. "Well then perhaps you won't mind if we question the rest of your family?"
Without thinking much about it, Kaige drew Shigure into a casual hug. Yet, she wasn't hugging Shigure. In his place was a black dog. Kaige turned shocked eyes to Flame. "Am I seeing things?"
Flame shook her head and came across the room to look at what Shigure had become. "So, this is what you've all been hiding." Akito hands were clenched by his side, it was likely that'd he strike out at any second.
"Yes, that was it, I'll let you keep your memory of this if you promise not to tell anyone else our secret." Flame wandered quietly how they'd take their memories of the event while nodding her agreement.
"Now that we've got all that settled, why don't you tell us where you were when Haru was killed?" Kaige asked the question while latched onto Shigure. Akito shrugged the question off. "Here, I didn't see Haru that day, he was supposed to have been at Shigure's visiting."
Kaige turned curious eyes to the dog in her arms. "Was he there?" The dog nodded, an odd thing to see. "He was there until after dinner, that's when he went home." Sanji spoke up, trying to be helpful. "So he was killed as he returned home."
Akito nodded. "Yes, that's what we figured. That's all we know, so leave our family alone and find out who did this." Akito seemed certain that they'd follow his instructions and leave, but his bubble was about to be burst.
"I'm sorry, but we'll go about this investigation as we see fit." Kaige said this with a dangerous edge to her voice. Those who knew her backed away quickly. Shigure seemed to notice what the others did and followed their lead.
It happened rather quickly. Akito was suddenly up and lunging at her. The knife was out of her pocket and into him before he had time to claw at her. He stared up at her, eyes going dim with death. "I'd tell you not to try that again, but I'm afraid there won't be a next time." Kaige pushed his limp body to the floor and turned to Shigure.
"We're going to go take a look around, see if we can find some sort of evidence or witnesses. We'll be back tomorrow to question the rest of your family." They left Shigure with Akito's body and departed. Flame swung an arm around Kaige's shoulder. "How about we make the rookies look for the evidence while we laze about."
Kaige grinned and looked back at Zoro and Sanji. "An excellent idea, Flame-chan, go get to work guys!" Sanji immediately rushed off to do their bidding, while Zoro followed slowly.
Later that night…
Shigure exited the Sohma house was a feeling of trepidation. It was almost as if someone was out there. He lifted his head to the wind and sniffed slightly. His sense of smell may be better while he was a dog, but his own was still good enough.
His suspicions were confirmed; someone was definitely out there. He turned around there they were. "You scared me, what are you doing out so late?" Shigure grinned at the person and never noticed the gun they held. The shots reported loudly into the night sky, breaking the peaceful quiet.
About an hour later…
Zoro and Sanji were the first on the scene. As they weren't allowed to come back into they had found something to report. Another body seemed like something of importance. Zoro had been left to baby sit the body while Sanji fetched Flame and Kaige.
The two stared sadly down at the Shigure's body. "This is too much of a coincidence, the two murders have to be connected." Sanji interrupted their mourning to say. He gained double murderous glares that shut him up.
Flame and Kaige moved away from the body to discuss the case. "We need to start questioning the family now. It's fairly obvious that whoever's doing this has a vendetta to carry out and won't stop with just Haru and Shigure."
Kaige nodded in agreement. "We may need to protect the rest of the family. But we may end up protecting the murder." Kaige turned towards the main house. "I'm going to make some calls, see if I can get the rest of the family to go into hiding or something."
She found Hatori waiting inside with a few of the other family members. She easily recognized Kisa, Hiro, Ayame, Ritsu, and Kureno among them. "We haven't been able to get a hold of Kagura and Rin, nor has anyone answered at Shigure's place."
Kaige sighed impatiently. "I'll leave Zoro here to protect you, Sanji can go check on Kagura and Rin. Flame and I will go over to Shigure's place." Hatori seemed to be pleased about her concern so she left it at that.
At Kagura's home…
It had taken Sanji a bit of time to get there and he'd gotten lost a number of times. The sight of the home was welcoming until he saw the open front door. He hurried inside to find that he was too late. Rin, Kagura, and Kagura's mother had already been killed. He leaned over and checked for a pulse all the same. The bodies were warm, but there was no life in them.
They hadn't been dead long, so they must have been killed right after Shigure. The killer could be anywhere now. On they're way back to the main house, or possibly on their way to Shigure's house. Most likely already at Shigure's home…
At Shigure's home…
Flame and Kaige had arrived to find Kyo, Yuki, and Tohru all asleep. They hadn't heard the phone ring, as it wasn't plugged in. Shigure had unplugged it to avoid the calls of his publicist. It was a relief to see them all alive.
"So, perhaps we were wrong." Kaige said as they waited outside for the trio to pack their things. "Maybe the person only wanted to kill Shigure and Hatsuharu. It may have nothing to do with the other family members."
"That's where you're wrong, Ms. Detective." A voice spoke up from the shadows. "It has everything to do with that family and it's members." Arisa Uotani stepped forward into the light from the house. In her right hand, she held a gun and in her left she held a knife.
"Aren't having a knife and a gun a bit redundant?" Kaige asked, ignoring the fact that the gun was pointed in their direction. The hand that held the gun shook slightly in anger. "Maybe, but I've got a lot of people to kill tonight, it's easier having two weapons."
Flame glared at the girl. "What makes you think we're just going to let you go around killing people?" Uotani's eyes were beginning to look a little wild. "You can't stop me if you're dead, now can you?"
Tohru, Yuki, and Kyo chose that moment to come outside. Uotani turned towards them, taking her eyes from Flame and Kaige. They took that chance to lunge at the girl. By mutual consent, Flame took the gun and Kaige took the knife. Her finger clenched on the trigger as it was knocked from her hand, sending a shot off into the night.
Kaige had no such luck with the knife. Uotani had a good hold on it, and managed to knock Kaige off balance. She stabbed Kaige and pushed her into Flame. Kaige took them both to the ground, her hands grabbing out for something to keep her balance.
Uotani turned to her original victims. She smiled at Tohru. "You don't have to worry, I don't want to kill you Tohru. Just them. I won't allow them to take me away from you anymore." Ignoring Tohru's shocked face, she dived at the nearest Sohma.
She missed stabbing Yuki in her haste. It ended up being more of an awkward hug then anything. Except he wasn't there anymore, in his place was a rat. Uotani stared down at the rat in confusion. "What's going on?"
The only answer Uotani got was a sound like that of a car backfiring. Her confusion switched from the rat to the gory, bleeding exit wound in her chest. She turned back to see Flame holding her lost gun. "You fucking stabbed her! You fucking bitch!"
Flame squeezed off another couple of rounds as Uotani fell to the ground dead. It wouldn't help the fact that Kaige was bleeding from a wound in her side, but it made her feel a little bit better. She dropped the gun and turned back to her partner.
Kaige held her hands tight against the wound, trying to stop the blood. "Flame-chan… could you do me a favor?" Flame leaned down and waited for the request. "Could you kick her for me?" Kaige passed out as Sanji came running up the path.
Sanji took in the scene and quickly went to get Hatori. Flame barely took in the shocked looks of Tohru, Kyo, and a naked Yuki as she violently kicked Uotani's dead body. When she was finally satisfied she went back to Kaige and held her own hands over the wound until Hatori arrived on the scene with Sanji and a very worried Zoro.
A few weeks later…
Kaige opened her eyes and didn't know where she was. She tried to sit up and found it impossible. Not only did her side hurt like a bitch, but something was also weighing down both her arms. She lifted her head and looked first left then right.
On her left, Zoro was curled against her side, most of his body resting on her arm. On her right, Flame was using her arm as a pillow. "Guys…" She tried rousing them for a few minutes, but her voice was hoarse and neither seemed to hear.
She tried clearing her throat, which drew the attention of Sanji. He stood from his position by the door. "You awake?" His words woke Zoro and Flame. They both turned anxious looks to her. "I'm fine, so stop looking at me like that and get me some water."
Sanji went for the water while the others explained what happened. "After you fainted, Hatori came and fixed you up. We're at the main Sohma house. Hatori volunteered to take care of you until you're completed healed."
Kaige nodded slightly. "But… did you kick her for me?" Flame laughed at the question. "Yes, multiple times." Kaige smiled and drifted back off to sleep.
A/N- Okay. I don't hate anyone in Fruits Basket. So writing some of this didn't make me the happiest of people. But once I thought it up, I had to write it. So recall that all people who get killed eventually come back. (Even those that are the killers… they sometimes get killed multiple times…)
