Ga Rei Hime

Eight

Sara Gallagher reported in to her aunt Elliot not long after Natsuki visited. After visibly getting involved with the fighting between Rena and Natsuki, her cover as a 'new hooker on the street' was kinda blown. As was Rena's, too.

"So, what did you think of your first undercover case?" Elliot teased.

"A lot of being pawed by letcherous guys," Sara noted wryly. "And women."

"Bet you liked that," Elliot teased.

Sara stuck out her tongue at Elliot, making the older woman chuckle. "Let me put it this way," she deadpanned, "most women looking for a working girl weren't 'Prince Charming.'"

Elliot snickered. "So there's a complication with the missing women case, according to Natsuki?" Elliot asked.

"Admittedly, the working girls didn't exactly embrace me with open arms so we can't be totally certain," Sara cautioned her. "But yes, it sounds like regular clients of theirs were disappearing, along with the girls," she said.

"No names, I'm guessing?" Elliot sighed.

"Other than first names, which might be an alias, no," Sara sighed.

"We're going to have to go through the missing person's cases," Elliot looked glum. "Did they suggest a time frame?"

"Couple of months," Sara shrugged. She brightened a bit, "Do you remember the city councilor who disappeared, Smith-something?"

"Yeah?" Elliot asked.

"He was also a regular with the working girls. Maybe he didn't JUST disappear?" Sara smiled at her smugly.

Elliot didn't look THAT much happier. "That ALSO means we have to re-open the case," she reminded her, "AND the wife is not going to be happy with us. At all."

"Yeah, I would not be looking forward to that conversation," Sara conceded. She impersonated a gruff police officer, "Ma'am, did you know your husband was banging working girls? Or how long? Did he have any favorites...?"

"Yeah, we'd get killed," Elliot sighed.

"As I assume I'm still on the case," Sara offered, "do you want me to start going through the missing person's files?"

"For the past six months," Elliot agreed. "I'll assign you an officer to help, obviously. Look for commonalities and any connections to the missing women."

"Got it," Sara saluted then left.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Mai Tokhia was a morning person, which set her apart from her teammates. They did NOT get up to greet the dawn, instead curling up and hoping that damn light would just go away. So, Mai was often on her own in the mornings.

'Nao didn't make it back last night,' Mai noted as she checked her room. Not surprising, the other woman had CLEARLY been on a mission to get laid last night.

'And Shizuru is still asleep.' Mai peeked into the other room.

Deciding to get breakfast Mai locked up the hotel rooms and headed out. Fuka was a college town, pretty much, but because of all the students had a wealth of coffee shops and such. She passed by the trendy 'Starbucks' and such, picking out a busy locally owned place.

"I'd like to get a Grande, double double," the hipster ahead asked.

The barista just LOOKED at him in pure disdain.

"Medium coffee, two cream and sugar," he corrected himself meekly.

"Much better," the barista agreed as she made up his drink, "now go die."

Mai watched him leave, then stepped up. "So if this is Coffee of Doom, does that make the washroom the Bathroom of Doom?"

"The Cave Of 40 Asses," the barista said, deadpan.

Mai snorted. "Medium mocha, with two cream and sugar," she ordered. "Is that how you regularly treat hipsters?" she asked.

"Sometimes Faye heaps scorn on them too," the woman grinned. "I'm Dora."

"Mai," she nodded, "Thanks," she took her drink and paid.

Notes: That is NOT Questionable Content (webcomic) and their Coffee of Doom. Really. We now return you to the fanfic, in progresss...

Ignoring the random Author's Note, Mai took her coffee outside to people watch. It was nice out, and the streets were busy with people rushing to school or work. And some things other than people, of course.

As a Hunter trained by the Agency, Mai could easily pick out spirits and more tangible monsters living beside humans. And there were a LOT here in Fuka, as it was a vortex zone for spirit energy. Things were drawn here, and were hard to detect via psychic abilities and such.

'Rena Sayers has her hands full, being based here,' Mai noted thoughtfully.

"Oh god, give me some of that coffee," Nao groaned as she staggered up.

"What happened to you?" Mai had to ask. Nao looked exhausted, was dressed in yesterday's clothes and... Mai blinked. She wasn't wearing any underthings?

"Mine," Nao swiped the cup and took a drink. "Oh god that's nice."

Mai was going to protest, but decided to let it go. "I repeat," she said, "what happened?"

"Threesome," Nao answered cheerfully.

"WHAT." Mai yelped.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The deputy Mayor of the city of Fuka strode into her office, her assistant right behind her. She was blonde, good looking and if Nao was there right now, she'd INSTANTLY know who she was.

Haruka Suzushiro sat at her desk, unaware that Nao was giving Mai a blow by blow account of the night they had spent together.

Yukino Kikukawa, her assistant, lover and not incidently the third woman in Nao's threesome adventure, sat at her desk nearby. "We got a call from Chief Chandler. She wants to see you," Yukino noted as she checked messages.

"Hopefully something minor," Haruka sighed. "Book her in after ten. I need some coffee before the bad news hits..."

"I TOLD you we should have gotten some rest," Yukino teased innocently.

Haruka snorted, knowing that Yukino had been urging her on.

A hour later, several cups of coffee had been drunk and they were plowing effectively through the paperwork the mayor's office generated. While Mayor Kazahana was theoretically in charge, a large amount of the work ended up on Haruka's desk.

"Ms Suzushiro, Chief Chandler is here," their secretary Aoi Senou reported, standing in the office doorway.

"Send her in," Haruka nodded.

Elliot Chandler strode in, the slightly older woman smiling warmly "Good morning," she said then noted, "You look a bit more ragged than usual. Didn't sleep well?"

"You could say that," Haruka agreed mildly.

"Two things have come up you should be aware of," Elliot said briskly as she sat across from the two of them.

"Good news or bad news?" Yukino asked mildly.

"Bit of both," Elliot admitted. "We have a small break in the Smith case," she told them.

Haruka leaned forward, "Oh?" Smith had been on the city council, in charge of the budget. That posting may have been a mistake, as he simply disappeared several months ago. Worse, along with vanishing he ALSO vanished thousands in city funds...

"It appears he was also a regular with the city's working girls," Elliot revealed. "And a undercover officer of mine has found out that their clients have been going missing."

Yukino blinked. "He didn't just run off with the cash? He's dead?" she asked.

"He MAY be dead," Elliot corrected. "Or he may have actually just took off with the money like we thought. We've only just started investigating this line of inquiry."

"Huh. Okay...," Haruka nodded. "What's the other news?" she asked.

"A contact of mine," actually Rena Sayers, but Elliot wasn't going to name her, "has informed me that a team of monster hunters from the Agency are in town."

"Is that going to cause a disturbance?" Haruka asked, having mental images of rampaging monster hunters running through her head.

"They're usually fairly discrete," Elliot reassured them.

"Keep an eye on them anyway," Haruka ordered. "I know we have no local authority over them, but I don't want trouble in town."

"We'll try," Elliot cautioned, "I can't make any promises."

"Understood," Haruka nodded.

Elliot got up, "Well, that covers everything so far. Obviously, the day's still young..."

"Please don't jinx us," Yukino laughed.

Elliot just laughed as she headed out.

There was a moment's quiet as Elliot left. Then Yukino looked at Haruka, "A group of Hunters in town. You don't think that woman was...?"

"Of course not," Haruka waved that off. "I mean, what are the odds...?"

In another part of town, Nao sneezed loudly.

To be continued...

Notes: If I ever do a full adults only version of this fic, I'll probably do a full chapter on the threesome. And YES, Nao is a bit of a slut. Which will be very embarrassing once they all meet.