MISPER

Love of a Mother

Natsume pulled to a stop in between the several police cars that were parked near the forest end. He and his team drove like crazy through the village nearby and then through the forest on the old macadam drive, their tyres squeaking.

There were more than 15 police cars and one paramedic – and the many volunteers who helped. As he got out of the car and made his way towards the lake he could see, his phone ringed.

''Yeah?'' he nodded at several other police officers and frantically searched for her.

''How is she?'' Mochu asked.

''Haven't seen her yet.'' He noticed the paramedics crouching next to a familiar person and his heart sped up. There she was, a baby in her arms, an old, too big dress covering her body that was now bandaged at arms and legs. She had a plaster on her front head and her skin was as white as a sheet of paper. She was half lying and half sitting on the stretcher, ready to be taken to the hospital.

He heard the voice on his phone call his name.

''Yeah?''

''What is it? Did you?''

''Did I what?''

''Man… Listen to what I say. Now, did-''

''Sorry, I need to go now. Call you back.'' And he ended the call. He rushed towards the paramedics and showed them his badge. His whole body was tense and he was in between behaving professionally or like a desperate man who found the girl, he liked alive. He knew he had to be professional first.

''I just want to ask her a few questions.'' He pushed, glancing at her. She looked up at him tiredly, but it seemed she received a sedative, because her eyes were droping and she was close to falling asleep.

''Sorry, Inspector. We need to bring her to the hospital. She gave birth a few hours ago and she and the baby need medical attention right away. Not to mention that she…'' the young female doctor sighed, glancing at the tired girl. Mikan was almost asleep.

The doctor pulled Natsume by the arm to move away. ''Look, inspector. She had been held captive in a closed space for more than two weeks. She had not seen the sun light for a very long time, her skin is so sensitive that she might get a nasty sunburn if we don't bring her away. According to her, she escaped and ran from an underground room through the forest, to the holiday cottages, then crossed that small part of the forest and collapsed here. Then she spent the night lying half in water, giving birth, while it was just 15 degrees outside.''

Natsume stared in shock. ''Ran?'' he looked around to see the area. ''B-but that's at least 4km!''

''That's what I want to tell you. Your murder was chasing her and while her baby was on his way out, she was running. She killed the guy with a metallic bar in self-defence before giving birth to her son.'' The doctor explained what Mikan had told them and looked at the sleeping mother and her baby.

Natsume stared at her too, nodding, feeling his heart ache. ''Bring her to the hospital.'' He wanted to wake her up and ask her how she is. He wanted to express his feelings for her, but he had to do other things first. So he watched the paramedics and two police cars bring Mikan away to the nearest hospital. The others stayed behind to invastigate the place.

In the meantime Natsume took a look at the famous murderer who always escaped them. The forensics took photos, brought him out of the water, took all evidence from his body and the surrounding place. The pathologist was now taking a look at his body. Natsume crouched down next to him. The dead man had long black hair and white skin just as on the photo. Half of his face was pierced through with a bar.

''A clear hit into the face. The bar went straight through his eye, his skull, and came out at the other side. He was dead in a second. There are scratches on his arms, made by the girl that struggled to get free.'' The pathologist sighed. ''This girl is so lucky to have escaped this monster… And very brave. I have no idea how she made it.''

''I know. If we had done more, this wouldn't have happened in the first place.'' Natsume shook his head, dread filling his lungs.

''Don't dwell on it, inspector. She brought him down singlehanded, and if it weren't for her constant medling, girls would keep disappearing. It was pure luck.''

''Hyuuga-san!'' Both, Natsume and the pathologist looked up by the call. Inspector Ruka wanted him to come.

''Guess I need to take a look down there.'' Natsume stood up and left the pathologists do his work. He walked ''What have you found?''

The forensics were digging through the earth and mud, and Natsume feared the worst. Nogi walked to him. ''I think we have the right place.''

''Is this-''

''Yeah… We've already found four skeletons. We guess there are more.''

So this was the place. This was the place where that guy brought the pregnant girls, waited for them to bring the child out and then killed them. Mikan could have been one of them. But she escaped on her own without any help.

''We've got a lot to do here.''

Natsume nodded numbly and worked with them. They had a lot to discover. They found a wooden room under the earth. The one trapped inside was not able to climb up without a ladder. The ceiling of the underground box was a board that could be moved from the outside, by pulling it to the side with the handle. It was all well hidden with leafs. Inside the room/box, the police found some food that Mikan had to eat and other things that proved her almost three week stay in there. They also found a flashlight outside on the grass with Persona's skin and blood on it. They concluded Mikan had hit persona with it to escape. The ladder was still where Persona had left it.

As they continued their search, they discovered the cottage Mikan broke. They followed her traces of escape and were amazed at the Girl's survival ability. She had ran 4 and a half kilometres through a thick forest; they had found pieces of her clothing that were cut by branches; crossed a slippery meadow until she came to the lake. They had to count in the low temperatures and muddy ground.

Mikan Sakura, in all her pregnant glory, had succeeded to do what even a healthy man would have problems with. She saved herself and her child, and the many girls that would have to suffer the same fate his Persona had not been killed. And Mikan would have died herself if the volunteers had not found her.

The report about the incident was more than 500 hundred pages long with photos and evidences clearly telling what had happened.

The reporters had a huge story to tell.