The steady "tap tap tap" of Duo's boots could be heard echoing throughout the hardwood hallway outside of Quatre's bedroom. Looking at his watch for the seventh time in as many minutes, Duo crossed his arms across his chest and sighed at the door that stood between him and his friend.
"Quatre, you were supposed to be ready twenty minutes ago! What is taking so long?" Banging on the door once again, Duo was rewarded with a dejected moan emitted from the other side.
"What am I supposed to wear to a club? I have nothing!" Quatre sounded obviously distressed, so Duo slowly opened the door, wanting to help his fashion-challenged friend.
"First," Duo said, sifting through Quatre's closet, "the purple vest and pink shirt combo are definitely out. What else do you have buried in here? Lesse…." Duo continued to route through the closet while Quatre, momentarily overwhelmed, stood back and watched.
"What's wrong with my shirt and vest?" he asked, his voice sounding very bewildered.
Half an hour later, and after much protest on Duo's part over clothing color, the two were ready to go. Dressed in black leather pants, black boots, and a tight fitting black tank top, Duo felt ready to take on the town, not to mention any psychopaths that he might encounter. Since he was going as backup, Quatre decided he should be a bit more reserved in his dress, choosing a tight pair of jeans and a white, sleeveless tank top with black tennis shoes.
"You got what we need?" Duo eyed his friend, checking his clothes for any suspicious bulges that would give away the fact that he was equipped with several guns and maybe a knife or two.
"Hey, I am your backup aren't I? What good would I be if I couldn't carry my own weapons?" Quatre grinned at his long time partner and the two of them started to make their way from the mansion.
"Now," Duo said as they neared the front door, "I know you've probably been kept pretty up to date on the things going on around the office, but this is one of those top secret, don't ask don't tell cases. The gruesomeness of the murders alone demands it, not to mention how the Tokyo PD has botched the investigation up till now. Have you been fully briefed on the situation?"
"I know that we're looking at a very twisted guy. I've heard that there have been missing body parts associated with each victim and that, along with the body parts, the hair is always removed."
Duo was impressed. Quatre's level of knowledge on the case was up to par with even his own, despite the fact that he was only a part time Preventer.
"Well, at least I don't have to worry about your knowledge of the guy. I'm assuming you were told how he picks his victims, and you know why we're going to the clubs tonight." Quatre nodded affirmative as he opened the passenger side door of Duo's car.
"So you're hoping to lure the guy out with this?" Quatre asked, grabbing the end of Duo's braid and waving it in his face.
"That's what I'm hoping. Of course, the fact that I'm absolutely irresistible will help too." Duo flashed Quatre his breath taking smile and Quatre just looked on nervously, not sure how the night was going to turn out.
As the car pulled out of the driveway, Quatre felt a chill go through his body and the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight up. Looking around for the source of his discomfort, he got the distinct feeling that the two of them were being watched.
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Slamming against the side of the car, Duo folded his arms and let out a frustrated sigh. It was nearing 1:30 in the morning and he and Quatre had made no progress. They were no closer to catching the murderer than they had been this afternoon. And to top it all off, he had lost his hair tie in the last club and now his beautiful chestnut locks were quickly unraveling from their constant bindings.
"Are we calling it quits for the night, Duo?" Quatre asked from the other side of the car, waiting for his friend to unlock the doors before getting in.
"Not quite yet," Duo said, unlocking the car doors and hoping into the driver's seat. "There's one more place I want to check out."
Staring at his friend skeptically, Quatre buckled his seat belt. "Do you really think you're going to find him tonight, Duo? I mean, out of all the clubs in Tokyo, you think that we're going to pick the right one on the first night?"
A breeze blew through the open car window, sending locks of Duo's freed hair blowing past his face. He turned and looked at Quatre, his violet eyes burning into Quatre's cerulean ones. "What else am I supposed to do, Quat? I've got surveillance tapes on every club in the city, but this guy never shows. And yet, for some reason we keep finding his bodies all over the place. How is he doing it? This is the only connection I can see and I don't know how else to go about it." He rested his forehead on the steering wheel, the leather feeling cool against his skin.
Quatre could tell that this case was getting to Duo more than most. It had been going on for too long and each new killing had Duo feeling personally responsible. He tended to take violent cases too personally, like everyday that the killer was left free was a day that he failed.
"So," Quatre said, breaking the silence and reaching behind him to get his seat belt, "what club are we off to next?"
Duo reached onto the seat behind him, rifling through some papers he'd printed off of the internet which told about the most popular clubs in the area. "We're off to a happy little place called The Yellow Rose. It caters mainly to the homosexual scene, but there tend to be several straight couples there, looking to have a good time without getting hit on."
"Sounds like a plan," Quatre said, nodding as Duo turned on the engine and the two sped out of the parking lot and headed on their way to the last club of the night.
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2:15 AM. It was getting later and later as Duo danced the night away, constantly aware of his surroundings and always on the look out for the suspicious. His unbound hair spiraled around his figure, catching the flashes of the strobe light and shining in the hazy atmosphere. The beat of the music pounded in his chest, the rhythm reverberated through his very being.
Quatre sat at a stool at the bar, his eyes scanning the corners of the darkened building, flitting back to the dance floor every couple minutes to double check on his friend. He didn't know exactly what he was looking for, but he hoped that he would be able to recognize someone suspicious when he saw them.
From somewhere in the room, a pair of eyes watched both men. The person smiled to himself, knowing that there would be no action for either of them. They wouldn't nab their suspect any more than he would nab them. The sheer pointlessness of their actions made the watcher chuckle silently. He waited with the two in the club, watching their every move and noting the way they communicated through eye contact, the slight twitching of the eyebrows signifying an all clear.
The time slowly ticked away until it was nearing three in the morning. Realizing that he still had work in the morning and that the night was a complete bust, Duo signaled to Quatre that it was time to go. Meeting each other by the door, the two walked to their car, completely unaware of the click of a camera that resounded in the silence of the night outside of the club.
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The blaring of the alarm clock jolted Duo from his restless sleep. Despite the short time that they had lived together, Duo had gotten used to feeling Heero's presence beside him and he didn't sleep well when he wasn't there. They had moved in with each other three months after becoming partners, and had been beside each other ever since.
Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, Duo shuffled his feet over the floor until they came into contact with what they were searching for. A fluffy pair of purple bunny slippers found their way onto his feet and he stood up and made his way to the bathroom.
He jumped in the shower, washing off the sweat from the night before. Washing his hair thoroughly, Duo thought about what a complete waste of time the night had been. Nothing remotely out of the ordinary had happened and he had Quatre had finally had to call the whole excursion a flop.
Wrapping up his dripping hair, Duo left the shower and, accompanied by the steam from the bathroom, hurried into his bedroom. Pulling a pair of pants out from the chest of drawers next to his bed, unfurled the towel from around his hair and was about to begin brushing through the tangled mass when he heard something from outside the apartment.
'Damn dog,' Duo thought as he recognized the sound of Jinx, his next door neighbor's husky who barked at anything that passed. Most of the apartments in Tokyo allowed pets and this one was no exception, but that didn't mean that Duo had to like being awakened at all hours by the damn dog next door.
When the barking hadn't subsided after a while, Duo got curious. Usually, after whoever was outside the door had passed, Jinx would end her tirade, however today she just kept going.
'What is her problem today?' Something wasn't right. Jinx may have been annoying every now and then, but she was still a pretty well behaved dog. 'Maybe something's wrong with Ms. Yuko.' The old lady who lived next door was well liked on the hall, but she did live alone and if anything had happened to her, it might take a while to notice. 'I should probably go check on her.'
Wet hair hanging down his back, Duo walked from his bedroom to the front door, all the while listening and waiting for Jinx's barking to stop. He opened the door that led out into the hall and stopped dead in his tracks, staring down at what was waiting for him on his door mat.
Roses. A dozen blood red roses were lying on his front mat. They were held together by a black band and had no kind of formal wrapping whatsoever. A white card was nestled in amongst the petals and Duo bent slowly to pick it up.
Examining it, he realized that he was still standing out in the hall. Any thoughts of Yuko-san forgotten, Duo reached down and grabbed the stems of the flowers without a second though. He was rewarded with several sharp jabs to his palm as he realized that the flowers had not been de-thorned. The black band tying the stems together caught his eye again and he noticed several silver streaks in it. Realization dawned on him as he grabbed at the hair tie holding the flowers together. This was the same band that he had thought he'd lost the night before in the clubs.
Goose bumps worked their way over his exposed flesh as he reentered his apartment and set the flowers down. Picking up the envelope once again, he studied it with quiet intensity. A drop of blood from the thorn pricks on his hand had fallen onto the white paper, staining a spot the same red as the flowers.
The envelope was standard size, but the note itself felt heavier than just paper. Opening it up, he quickly realized why.
Inside were several Polaroid pictures, each one dated and time stamped on the bottom, showing Quatre and Duo's gradual progression from bar to bar the night before. There were six pictures in all and the first five started at Quatre's house and ended with them going to the car at the end of the night.
The last picture was the most disturbing one. It showed Duo standing outside his apartment kissing Heero as they stood in front of the cab, early in the morning the day before. A single index card fell out of the envelope as Duo stared at the pictures, and he bent down to pick it up. In careful, neat handwriting one word was scrolled across it.
MINE.
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AHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH!! ;; Sorry. I get a little over hyper when I finish a particularly fun/hard/annoying chapter. And this one was definitely all three. I know that some of you are probably thinking "Damn, woman! Type faster!" but it's not that easy!! . I know exactly where the story is going, I know how I want the beginning, middle, and end to all connect, but it's just GETTING it there that's the problem! But any who, that problems all done with for this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it! Now please go read and review!!
P.S. sorry for the lack of length in this chapter. I promise the next one will be longer!!
P.P.S. if you enjoy this story, you should go check out a friend of mines. Her author name is FatelessWanderer and she has a great Gundam Wing story going right now titled Crimson Christmas. This chapter is also dedicated to her and another very dedicated fan I have named Ixy who reviews so much it's crazy! Thanks guys for keeping me motivated!