mrs_tanaka | From Hell To Redemption ch. 4

Title: From Hell To Redemption
Author: mrs_Koki (me)
Pairing: KoKame
Disclaimer: owning people is called slavery, common though historically
Rating: R-NC17-ish
Genre: au/drama/crime/mentions of the occult /sex /romance
Length: Multi-chapter
Summary: Is there a way for one broken and defeated detective to navigate the road to redemption alone...or does he need help?

“ Hey Kame?!” Koki calls from the upstairs bed room of their latest crime scene.

“ Yes, Koki?”

“ Look what I found.” He hands another note to Kame.

“ What’s this one say?”

“ We won’t know until the finger print techs get done with it.”

“ I have been going over this case in my head and none of the evidence adds up, Koki. First the killer uses an occult symbol and stops his actions for six months, then he just starts killing but instead of his signature MO he changes to the names of the seven deadly sins. First there was ‘vanity’, then Wrath and now ‘greed’, I know I have a knack for puzzles but I think this is just beyond even my expertise.” Kame says.

“ I Don’t know about that Kame, but we still need to check out the warehouse over at Yokohama Pier. I think the killer is hiding something over there and if we don’t get over there soon then he will have slipped by us once again.” Koki replies, it was only this morning that he figured out that the killer might be stashing whatever tools he uses to torture his victims before he kills them.

“Okay but which warehouse do you think it is?” Kame asks once they get to their intended destination.

“ Think back to the numbers that we found at the ‘Wrath’ murder, the killer told us where to look.” Koki says stopping in front of a building with the number 23 painted above the door.

Looking at the building that Koki had led him to, Kame remembers the math equation that was left on the mirror written in the victim’s own blood.

“ Wow...Koki, you’re right. How did you figure it out though, I mean that equation didn’t make any sense nor did it add up to anything except a series of non descript numbers.” Kame asks.

“ That was how I figured it out. The numbers didn’t add up to anything that made any sense nor were they really helpful, so I thought I would see what happened if I put them in sequential order and the divide those numbers by 23. In the end the only number I kept coming up with was the very number I chose to divide by.” Koki explains as he cuts the lock on the door.

“ I take it then that you’re once dormant skills are coming back to you? I mean when I first started working with you, you never would have figured that out as quickly as you did. On a more personal note, I could really do without Akira’s friend Tokito touching me all the time..its uncomfortable and he’s not...” Kame just trails off as him and Koki head inside.

Hearing that someone else is touching Kame and making him feel that way causes Koki to clench his fist. He’s still not sure why he cares so damn much for Kame’s well being, granted they slept together on many drunken and one sober occasion(s) but that was nothing more than just two people looking for a distraction..or that’s how Koki justifies it anyway, not realizing the real reason behind it.

“ He’s not...what?” Koki asks as they start looking under the various tarps for anything that is remotely helpful to their case.

“ He’s not the one I want to be all touchy with me.” Kame says looking Koki dead in the eyes.

“ And who would that be?”

Kame says nothing and just shrugs as he opens up a nearby door leading into what’s supposed to be an empty room. That’s when he finally finds what they came here for, he immediately shouts for Koki.

“ Koki! You might want to come and look at this!”

“ Yeah wha...” he stops when he sees the various torture devices in different locations.

“ I knew it! Kame get on the phone and call the evidence guys down here.”

Ten minutes later various people were walking all around collecting samples of this, that and the other while Koki and Kame were standing outside talking to one of the finger print techs.

“ Here’s the note you wanted Tanaka-san, we pulled what prints we could off of it but don’t get your hopes up. A lot of what we found were just partial prints.”

“ Okay and thanks.” Kame says as Koki puts the note in his pocket.

“ Hey Kamenashi-san.” Tokito says as he not so subtly brushes against Kame, making Kame shrink back a bit...while Koki just glares at the guy.

“ What do you want and how many times have I told you to knock that off?” Kame asks getting annoyed and angry.

“ The chief wanted me to find out if you had a chance to do as he requested? I thought if not then we could do it together.” He smirks in Koki’s direction and says, “ Knock what off? This?” He feather touches the side of Kame’s face, hoping to get a reaction out of Koki.

He almost does but Kame gives Koki a warning look as he smacks Tokito’s hand away. Kame knows Koki’s feelings are starting to change but he doesn’t want Akira and the others to know this before Koki, himself, has figured it out.

All of a sudden the wind whips up and a small rock hits Tokito in the back of the head, he rubs his head as he goes back to what he was trying to do..only to be hit with yet another rock.

Smiling Kame says, “ It seems mother nature doesn’t like you touching me either,hahaha! To answer the Chief’s question, No I haven’t had the time yet.”

Grumbling Tokito walks back to where Akira, Massu and Kousuke were collecting anything that might be useful after Kame had noticed some light track marks made by a pair of what appears to be heavy work boots.

After the guy’s out of ear shot Koki asks, “ Why did you stop me? What does the Chief want you to do?”

“ I stopped you because Massu was watching the whole exchange between the three of us. While you still would rather not work with me, did you want to give those three idiots even the smallest clue that we’re slightly closer than you wanted us to be in the first place? I mean the clothes thing was kinda unavoidable as mine reeked of whiskey and sake, not to mention Kousuke caught you running your hand along my back.” Kame answers.

“ Good point Kame and the chief?”

“ He wants me to replace the flowers at Yuichi’s grave for him since he doesn’t have the time, and since the grounds keepers don’t keep up with it like they told him they did. I just don’t know what kinds of flowers to get, any ideas?” Kame asks, not looking at Koki.

“ Why ask me?” Koki snorts.

“ Because I don’t want to over step my boundaries and accidently pick something that you might have given him, if that was something the two of you did.” He answers quietly.

He knows he has to be careful and tread lightly around Koki where Yuichi is concerned, so he figured it was safer to ask first.

“Hmm...try lilies. He was the flower giver not me, not really. Lilies were his favorite flowers so use those.” Koki answers as they head for the car to go question anyone who works on the docks that might know who uses that warehouse.

“D-do you want to come with me?” Kame asks hesitantly.

“No.” Koki answers curtly. Kame just nods as they find the dock manager who just happen to be there to see how the repairs were coming along after that horrible thunder storm and torrential down pour they were hit with last night.

“ Excuse us, Manager-san. Are a Mr. Ryusuke?” Kame asks.

“ Yes, can I help you two gentlemen?” he answers.

“ Yes, we’re investigating a series of murders and our investigation led us to one of your warehouses, do you know who rented out warehouse 23?” Koki asks.

“ Warehouse 23? Yeah I should have that back in my office, if you two could follow me back I will check my files for you.”

Koki and Kame just nod and follow the guy back. He leads them to a slightly smaller building just off the Pier and nicely protected against the weather. He motions for them to follow him up the stairs. He unlocks his door and pulls up the file on his computer.

“ Yeah I rented out to a “ Hiro Shinsuke”. he says as he prints out a copy for them to take with them.

“ Did he say what he wanted to use it for?”

“ No, he just said it was for a bunch of stuff he had no more room for. But he was acting kinda strange when he first showed up to see how much it would cost to rent such a large warehouse.”

“ Weird..how?” Koki asks.

“ He seemed kinda, I don’t know, excited...jumpy. Like he was more than a few cans short of a six pack, if you know what I mean. Every time I tried to find out what kinds items he wanted to store, for insurance reasons we keep an item list on everything that’s stored here, he seemed to go into these uncontrollable fits of rage and when he threw a rather large amount of money on my desk...I didn’t ask any more questions. That’s about it really, If I remember anything else I’ll call you.”

Nodding Koki and Kame leave the man to finish his job.

“ Any ideas Kame?” Koki asks as they climb back in the car.

“ I’m still trying to get a marker on this guy, Koki. He seems like he’s trying to become immortal or something.”

“ Back on that ritual..again Kazuya.” Koki sighs and rolls his eyes as they head off to see if their new suspect is home.

“ Well look at the first eight victims they had that symbol either on or near the bodies and....” Kame tries to explain but Koki cuts him off.

“ Don’t start with that crap again, Kame. Killing others to achieve immortality...that’s just insane!”

“ I know that but...”

“No buts, Kame. Just stop with all this talk of the occult and immortality rituals, its just utter nonsense.” He says with finality as they stop in front of their only suspect’s house.

Kame says nothing more about it as they knock on the front door, getting no response. Figuring the man isn’t home they get back in the car and head back to the station to run a back ground check on the guy.

“ I’ll see you later Koki, I better get that errand done for the Chief before Tokito can use it as another excuse to get close to me.” Kame says quietly as Koki is running Shinsuke’s name through the data base.

Koki says nothing as Kame just walks away. After stopping at the florist, Kame heads over to the cemetery. He gets out and as he’s making his way to Yuichi’s grave a gentle breeze hits his face, stopping in front of the head stone he kneels and puts the lilies in the little vase and says a small prayer.

“ Was he always this stubborn, Yuichi?” Kame asks the head stone.

“ Yes, Kame.” Yuichi says, showing himself to Kame once again. “ Just be patient with him, we both know he’s starting to come out of his depression the longer he’s around you. I know you fell for him and you really want to help him and I think we both have noticed that he’s starting feel something for you but he’s just too stubborn, allowing his pride to get in the way, and he's still unable to forgive himself for not being able to prevent me from being gunned down a year ago.”

“ Do you think I should tell him how I feel?” Kame asks.

“ No, he has noticed your feelings some time ago and he’s so confused right now that he’s about to break. But I think its best if you leave now, Koki’s heading this way and if he sees you here then there’s no telling what he might do. Before I go, the promise he made that he’s never kept was about him letting go and moving on with a new love. I’ll talk to you again, jaa ne.” Yuichi says and disappears just as Koki gets closer.

“ What in the hell are you still doing here? I thought you were just dropping the flowers off?” Koki asks Kame as he stands up from where he was leaning against Yuichi’s head stone.

“ I was just...” he starts but Koki never gives him the chance to finish.

“ You know what, forget it. Just get out of here and never come by this place again..you got that!”

Kame just nods and turns to leave.

“ Oh and take these with you.” He throws the flowers Kame laid there back at him. “ I’ll take care of it from now on. If you think that by not prying into what happened, or by getting me to sleep with you that its going to get me to love you..then you’re wrong Kamenashi-san! I don’t love you and I never will!!” He shouts causing Kame to shrink back and even though Kame knows Koki is just lying to himself, he won’t deny that the words still hurt.

Knowing that Koki won’t listen to him he just heads back to his car and his apartment, not realizing that the very killer they’re trying to find is following him. While Koki replaces the flowers Kame had put there with his own, and says his own prayer as he breaks down.

While Koki is at Yuichi’s grave, Kame calls the chief and tells him that he’s not feeling well and won’t be in for a few days but that if he’s needed then to call him and he will come in. Their boss agrees and hangs up, after his phone call Kame writes Koki a letter explaining that he’s not trying to get him to do anything and that he didn’t mean anything by still being there when Koki showed up. He finishes his letter and drives over to Koki’s place and slips the note under the front door. By the time he gets back from dropping the note off and driving around trying to clear his head, its quite late. He crawls into bed after dinner and falls asleep. All of a sudden he’s woken up by a voice in his dreams saying...

“ Kame! Watch Out!!” It was Maru’s, he was trying to warn Kame but it was too late.

The next thing Kame knows he’s waking up in the strangest room he’s ever seen, strapped to a chair with red and white candles around him and he’s blind folded. All of a sudden he hears a strange voice coming from the speaker in the corner.

“ I wouldn’t struggle if I were you. You’re here for a reason, Agent Kamenashi.” the killer says, seeing Kame trying to free himself.

“ What do you want from me?” Kame asks as he looks up and sees a large blade hanging over his head.

“ Its simple really, Detective. You’re life. You need to pay for your lustful thoughts towards a guy who doesn’t want you around and I need your life energy to finish my ritual.”

“ You’re the...” Kame trails off.

“That’s right, Detective. I’m the ‘Immortality Seeker’ as the media calls me. Nice name don’t you think. Though I can’t help but think that if your partner had listened to your occult murder theory than you wouldn’t be in the position that you’re currently in. To make things interesting, I will give him a chance to find you since you trust him so much.”

“ How do you know about that?” Kame asks.

“ I was there, in the station, that day you two were talking about it and I heard what you told everyone when you first started. Yes I was in the station the day you hit that rookie for calling him a murderer. While the others shun him and mistrust your partner, you don't, you have faith in that he will protect you. Now how about we put that to a test, shall we?” His tone was the essence of rhetorical.