Stripped
Chapter Four: In the Lee
Disclaimer: I don't own No. 6.
Author's Note: First of all thanks to everyone who reviewed, alerted, and faved! You guys are my inspiration! Secondly, get reading!
As the door slid shut on Shion's familiar, endlessly questioning, crimson eyes Nezumi fought the urge to tear it open again. Shion would not disappear if he let him out of his sight, he reminded himself.
Moving briskly Nezumi let Cravat and Tsukiyo out of his jacket pocket and together the three scanned the small office for recording devices. They found a few of course but all of them were clearly for Shion's work and not for spying on the white-haired young man.
Safe from prying eyes Nezumi let himself lean heavily against the door. His hands were trembling, he noted absently, and he felt exhausted.
Shion was alive.
The crushing relief rolled through him anew and Nezumi clenched his fists, teeth and eyes shut to keep the overwhelming emotion from spilling out.
The six hours he'd spent believing that Shion was dead were some of the worst in his life.
While he was travelling he though often about just returning to No. 6 and going back to Shion. He'd spent long nights as he approached the city agonizing over his reception after being gone so long. He'd been prepared, or so he'd thought, for Shion's tears, his anger and rejection, his joy or even his indifference.
He had not been prepared for Inukashi to tell him that Shion was newly dead.
All he could think at the time, as the knowledge all but physically burned him, was how could he have wasted all that time running from the potential for this pain. He hadn't been happy wandering the forgotten world and seeing all there was to see of the other habitable districts, not when Shion was so far away, yet he hadn't returned. He had shied away from the potential for this pain and lost all that time he could have been happy and felt the pain anyway, and it was worse because he couldn't help but think if he'd been there to protect him Shion might still be alive.
The moment he'd realized that Inukashi had tricked him, that Shion was alive and well and in no danger was…indescribable. The feelings welling up inside him had threatened to over boil and turn him into a trembling mess. As it was he hadn't even been able to resist the urge to throw his arms around the airhead he'd missed so damn much.
Then Shion had looked at him.
It was almost like that night they'd first met. Shion had stared into his eyes for so long that Nezumi began to wonder what he could see there.
That first night Shion had thrown himself wide open, letting the hopeless, hunted, and half-way broken Nezumi bury himself in his warmth and acceptance and taking in return a piece of him that Nezumi had never been able to retrieve.
Now there was a curious wariness in Shion's crimson gaze. Shion had looked at him, looked through him, but he'd closed himself off and his gaze had gone blank. Maybe Shion had always known how to do this but Nezumi had never been barred from seeing what the white haired genius was thinking and feeling.
Somewhere in the years Nezumi had been away Shion had learned the lessons Nezumi had been trying so desperately to teach him all those years ago. He'd learned how to close his heart to people. He'd learned how to shield himself from the pain that emotional connections could cause him. Even though this was what Nezumi thought he'd wanted, now that it had happened he grieved for the loss of Shion's innocence.
Nezumi turned back to the office in search of a distraction from his unruly thoughts and the impossible tangle of emotions that accompanied them.
It wasn't a huge office by any stretch. There was a desk piled with papers, a tablet, a mini-fridge, a typical ergonomic office chair, a filing cabinet and a couch that looked like it saw regular use.
Nezumi narrowed his eyes at the space in front of him. It could have been any other office in any other place, there wasn't even a picture sitting on the desk or tacked to the bulletin board, yet something of Shion clung to this place. It was in the way that the thick medical tomes were organized and the stack of case files that still needed attention and the fluffy throw blanket neatly folded over the back of the couch.
Nezumi shuffled through some of the papers curiously and grimaced slightly when he got a look at the grisly stack of photos from a few different crime scenes, all of them similar to the body Shion was currently examining.
He dropped into the office chair and began rooting around in the desk without compunction, grinning when he found the books Shion had mentioned. There was a well-loved looking copy of Hamlet. The spine was broken and practically all the pages had been dog-eared at one time or another.
"Perhaps you remember more than you think," Nezumi said quietly.
He opened the book up to a random page and ran his fingers lightly over the words a tad wistfully before putting the play book aside.
He picked up Pride and Prejudice and snorted a little in amusement before placing it on top of Hamlet. There were two pocket paperbacks from newer authors that Nezumi set aside as well finally settling on The Hobbit he put the books back in their drawer and threw himself onto the couch to read.
Hours passed in calm silence as Nezumi alternated between reading and dozing letting the scent and sense of Shion relax and reassure him.
Nezumi was still lounging on Shion's couch absorbed in the book when the door to the office finally slid open with a soft whush. He looked up and Shion walked through jaw stubbornly set and garnet eyes narrowed in annoyance as he yanked the tie from his white hair and let it tumble around his face in a shaggy mess.
Following behind him was a burly older man with thinning brown hair and the beginnings of a beer gut. He was dressed in business casual attire and had a gun holstered at his hip and he was scowling through a good two weeks' worth of stubble at the slender coroner.
"You've had my vic on ice for going on a week now Doc, I need that autopsy report as of yesterday."
"The autopsy was only just completed yesterday Olsen and I'll have the official report in your inbox later tonight," said Shion with what was clearly forced patience.
"Just because there's a high profile case with lots of media attention the ordinary everyday average homicides get shoved onto the back burner it's not right."
Shion stopped and did an abrupt about-face in the middle of his office his eyes flashing as he glared up at the detective. Olsen stopped short and even took a half-step backwards at the expression on Shion's face.
"Olsen, you're working a murder-suicide, the autopsy confirms it beyond a shadow of a doubt. This high profile case as you call it is about tracking down a wanton murderer who likes to torture his victims. Your perp is already dead and beyond taking a second victim. This guy is still loose and you can see how we might want to catch such a man before he murders another innocent woman and how that might be considered more pressing than filing paperwork on a cut and dry case. Get it?"
"Got it."
"Good."
Olsen's eyes flicked around the room, looking for something to take the attention off himself, and his gaze alighted on Nezumi who was watching the proceedings with an affected, lazy, sort of amused interest.
"Who's this?"
"An old friend."
"You don't have old friends," growled the detective suspiciously.
"Apparently I do, who knew?"
Olsen glared down at Nezumi.
"You meet this punk today?"
"Yes Olsen, and yes, I do see where you're going with this."
"Shion, you don't know this guy and you've let him have access to your office your computer, your files, and five silver marks says you've already invited him back to your place for tea and biscuits."
"I'm not taking that bet," Shion said absently rifling through the papers on his desk.
"So I'm right."
"I want a lawyer before I submit to interrogation."
"God freaking damn it all to hell Shion—" Olsen cut himself off with a huff and turned back to Nezumi, "I know your face pretty-boy, something happens to the Doc here and you'll have the entire department on your ass, you hear me?"
"Loud and clear detective," answered Nezumi unconcernedly flipping a page.
"Disrespectful punk," muttered Olsen scowling.
"Olsen as adorable as your unsolicited, unwanted, overbearing, overprotectiveness is, go away," Shion ordered.
Olsen grunted but turned toward the door.
"I'm telling Lin and Bear," he grumbled.
"You do that."
The door slid open and shut with another soft whooshing noise and there was a moment of silence before Nezumi spoke.
"How charming, his majesty has knights in shining Kevlar," Nezumi teased.
"It's annoying is what it is," Shion huffed running a hand through his hair and leaning his hip against the corner of his desk, his expression a mix of fondness and annoyance, "It's like have twenty older siblings and since I lost my memories I'm almost certain they've become worse."
"They care for you."
Shion smiled, "True, but if I didn't give them a hard time they would coddle me and the last thing anyone needs is constant coddling."
"True enough," agreed Nezumi with a dark smile, thinking of No. 6 as it had been for most of his life, the No. 6 Shion had grown up in, "He is right about a couple of things though. You don't know me but you know a little bit about me by now, why are you letting a guy who broke into your lab and put a knife to your throat have such freedom. You have no reason to trust me."
"Innocent until proven guilty. You've given me no reason not to trust you, so until you betray me you have my trust," shrugged Shion.
"Tch. Airhead. One of these days your naïve way of viewing the world is going to get you killed."
"Probably, but that day isn't today, I have a good feeling," said Shion shooting Nezumi a smile.
There was a soft beep and Shion gave a small jolt and immediately turned to his tablet and hit a flashing icon with his index finger.
"Lin," Shion greeted with a smile as a holo-screen filled with Lin's expressionless face popped up above his console.
"You done the autopsy? I heard from the crime lab that they got all the wash and prelim samples you sent."
"Yes, I've completed the autopsy and sent all my findings to the forensics lab they've got an audio video interactive walkthrough as well as my official report."
"Thanks Shion, I know I'm leaning heavy on you for this one."
"It's fine, Lin, really. I want to get this guy just as badly as you."
Lin nodded briskly.
"I talked to Kimi and she said that you sent her a bunch of measurements," Lin said a slight questioning lilt to her voice.
"I catalogued all the paramortem injuries and took a mold of the skull fractures. I'm hoping that with enough data Kimi can put together a simulation of what the victim endured before her confinement. The only way we're going to catch this guy in his lair is if we stumble into it. He's too careful about destroying the forensic evidence. So we'll need to find out where his hunting grounds are, Kimi and the lab are working on getting you your crime scene and if we can find that…"
"Good work," Lin said a ghost of a smile crossing her face.
"I'm heading home now, I've got a backlog of paperwork to file, but I've handed over my usual caseload to Mona and Dr. Haruka so I'm on call for you, whatever you need, until we get this guy."
Lin nodded brusquely.
"Good, I need you working this one Shion, none of the other MEs have the same range of experience with injuries that you do and none of them have your eye for detail."
Shion flushed a bit even as he shot her a teasing grin.
"No, I will not be your personal coroner," he told her mock-sternly.
Lin snorted softly.
"Be careful on your way home," she ordered, "I'll call you if we find anything."
The holo-screen minimized itself as Lin cut their talk short without so much as a goodbye. Shion shook his head at the empty air gathering up the case files on his desk. He quickly sorted them out and shuffled them back into their appropriate dossiers and then stacked them alphabetically by date, sliding them into his beat up tote bag.
"So, I don't have anything other than coffee and five day old take-out in my kitchen, do you feel like anything specific for dinner?"
"It's been awhile since I had your stew," said Nezumi considering.
"Alright, we'll stop off at the market and grab some fresh stuff. Just let me get changed."
AN: Can I just say gah! Nezumi is so difficult to write! He has such a complex character and I want to explore some of his emotional development but I kind of feel like he's still out of character despite my best efforts.
Anyway, let me know what you guys think by dropping me a review on your way back to real life!