And here we go, my entry for MikoRei week 2016! I'm really not entirely sure where I'm going with this idea, so please bear with me a little. This fic had not been pre-planned or even outlined - it was literally a spur of the moment thing and I had just a week to work on it so I didn't do much in depth research on these things. I'm sorry "OTL.

I'm sorry this is a mess.

But worry not! I'm actually quite happy with how it turned out though so ~ I hope you guys enjoy!

I hope I managed to deliver this right so blekh.

Also, I literally have zero knowledge about the working of the Japanese police force or PSIA. I'm basically just working with what I do know from the gazillion crime shows I watch. ~*^.^*~ Oh, and I have no idea about the distance between all these districts and places so yeah. I don't know how long it would take to get from one place to another so I just winged it.

This is the clean version, for the explicit version please visit AO3: "Checkmate"

"Fateful Encounters"

"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit."

- Albert Schweitzer.

BAU, PSIA headquarters, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.

17th September, Thursday.

[3:08 am]

"Is there any good reason you guys called me in so early because I swear to God if this is another one of Captain's stupid get together parties, I'm going to fucking kill him." Fushimi Saruhiko glared at nothing in particular with bloodshot eyes, looking just as sleep deprived as he did two hours ago, after he had left the office, finally able to spend time with his boyfriend after returning from a murder case in Hokkaido. Sadly it was clearly not meant to be.

One of these days Yata Misaki was going to walk out on him, Fushimi was sure of it, seeing as he spent more than half his time being away from him.

Next to him, one of his colleagues, Hidaka Akira seemed to have nodded off, his head buried in his arms, his hair looking an even worse of a mess than usual. Fushimi didn't blame him. Their team had been gone for over half a month, spending time in the freezing cold winds of Hokkaido, searching for a mysterious killer who had seemed to operate locally. After apprehending a young man with a severe case of DID*, the team had finally flown back in the previous evening, all of them mentally and physically exhausted and wanting nothing more than a long week off from chasing down notorious killers and such.

What a foolish hope.

He had hardly had time to greet his lover and get comfortable in his own bed when his phone had started blowing up, his superior urgently asking him to return to their workplace.

Fushimi didn't want to see another human being for the next five months.

He had barely staggered in through the main entrance when their communication liaison, Awashima Seri had handed him a file and ushered him to the debriefing room where about half their team was already present. He took a seat behind the large circular desk just as his supervisory agent, Munakata Reisi walked in, looking so calm and relaxed that you wouldn't think he hadn't slept for three weeks. Fushimi hated him so much at that one instance he opted to punch him. Or rather, opted to imagine punching him.

Akiyama Himori walked in after him along with Benzai Yujiro and Doumyouji Andy, looking as haggard as he felt and for the first time since he had joined the bureau, Fushimi felt an odd sort of kinship with his fellow colleagues.

Clearly indicating that yes, he needed to sleep now.

"Oh all of us are here, marvelous." Munakata observed, easing himself gracefully into place behind the large oval table which was covered in papers. Hidaka looked up to give their section chief a bleary stare, brown eyes dead.

"Munakata-san, why did you call us in?" he all but whined, and Fushimi nodded while the others made similar noises of protests. Munakata held up a hand.

"Awashima-kun will explain everything as soon as she comes."

"I'm here." All eyes turned to look at the young blonde woman as she strode inside purposefully, looking determined if not a bit disheveled. Subconsciously, Fushimi wondered if the woman had even had time to visit her boyfriend, a local bar owner but chances were that no, she hadn't. She probably hadn't even left the building.

"Gentlemen," she greeted them curtly as they all sat up straight, "I know you all got back just a few hours ago but I was suddenly presented with an urgent case that can't take the backseat for now and we need to start working on it immediately." She turned towards the large screen behind her which flickered to life as she help up a remote.

"Okay, since you've all been away, I've had Enomoto help on a smaller side case in Shizume city hoping I could have cracked it on my own. Until 10 hours ago, everything seemed perfect and was sailing smoothly. There was a prime suspect and the arrest was to be made but four hours ago, a member of the Shizume police force contacted me and -" Her face hardened, "It's best if you all listen in on the recording." She clicked a button and all of them sat up, listening to the phone ringing.

Ring.

Ring.

"Hello, Tokyo BAU headquarters, how may I hep you?"

"Awashima san!"

"Yes this is Awashima speaking, who ar-"

"Awashima-san, you have to help us! It's a disaster! He's coming for us! We don't know how to stop him!"

"Calm down! Is this Isana Yashiro from Shizume Police force?"

"Yes but there is no time, he's here for all of us he wants us dead. The curse of the sword is upon us."

The call was suddenly cut off. Awashima coughed.

"As you can see," she began, now that all of them were highly attentive, "Something might have gone wrong during the arrest. That was the last I had heard from the man and I didn't even give it much thought until this came in about two hours ago." Another click on the remote an the rest immediately sat up, gasping.

Fushimi raised an eyebrow at the carnage displayed on screen.

"Is that..."

"The Shizume City Police station? Yes. Or rather what used to be the station." Awashima confirmed, her mouth set in a tight line, "Clearly, you can tell someone...did quite a number on it." Quite a number indeed. The whole building was in flames, barely holding itself together. Munakata's violet eyes narrowed.

"Casualties?" He inquired as Fushimi flipped through the contents of file the blonde had handed him when he had walked in. Pictures of multiple brutalities greeted him and he grimaced. Ah it was going to be one of those cases then.

"Two officers dead, five in the hospital in critical condition." Awashima replied to their chief, her body tense. "The rest are injured but on their feet." Munakata nodded.

"Very well then." He said, with a slight incline of his head, "Moving onto the case." The images on the screen changed from the wreckage to a photograph of a young woman.

"Miyabi Ameno, 20." Akiyama read out from his own file, "She went missing three months ago in Shibuya and her body was found in the woods surrounding Shizume city approximately a week ago. An old couple was strolling through the site when they discovered this." Another click and Andy let out a small petrified scream. "Clear signs of an over kill." Fushimi clicked his tongue.

That was an understatement.

"How is this a case for us though?" he questioned, not sure why a single death would be enough to call them in. Awashima gave him a blank stare.

"It wasn't our case - which is why this nearly went under the radar. Except two days later, a second body was found." The screen displayed a new person. "Kukuri Yukizome, 19, went missing approximately two weeks ago from her way home from Ashinaka High school. She was found in one of the local parks where a few joggers found her in a similar state as the first victim." Munakata gave a thoughtful look at his own file.

"Some traces of her DNA were found on the next crime scene, placed in the victim's hands." Awashima added. A cold feeling settled into the pit of Fushimi's stomach and he felt a chill go around the room.

"Oya, one more to the body count?" Munakata asked, eyes widening, "Quite a spree for a span of a week." Awashima nodded tersely.

"The final victim was a male. He still hasn't been identified yet though. We figured he's 18 years old though – he had those birthday bracelets with eighteen beads. His autopsy was due today -"

"So this connects the last two murders, but what about the first?" Benzai questioned, "Could be just a one kill thing - his methodology could just be something that the new killer decided to pick up. Like a copy cat killer." The blonde shook her head.

"That's what I had thought originally too." she said, looking grim, "But then we found this at the scene of the crime." She showed them another slide of a necklace wrapped around the third victim's neck. "It belongs to the first victim, a gift from her boyfriend – he was the one who confirmed that victim number one was indeed Miyabi."

"Someone put a lot of thought into this." Fushimi supplied tossing his file away. He had seen enough. "So the unsub wants us to know he's related to all three crimes." Awashima nodded.

"He wants his due credit. Also, the attack on the police station and finally these notes." Another image on the screen showed a bunch of hand written notes. "These were sent to Isana Yashiro at his house."

"Roses are red, violets are blue, I am colorless, I'm out to get you." Andy read out one, "Wow, kind of corny but it does it's job well I guess."

"Miss me miss me, you're too slow to catch me." Benzai read the other out quietly, "What is he? A child?"

"In other words, this is a clear cut challenge to the law enforcers." Fuse concluded, "Look at the last one, ring around the posers, a pocket full of enforcers, ashes ashes, they'll all burn down." He turned to look at Awashima, "I'm guessing this one came last?" The blonde nodded, her face showing clear signs of distress.

"Yes, and then the station was attacked." Awashima said, "Which is why we're being called in. This is clearly getting out of hand and needs to resolved as soon as possible." Gotou Ren, who had been silent throughout the whole discussion finally cleared his throat.

"Victim number three doesn't seem to be placed in the over kill zone though." The body. Clearly a man, was shot twice, once in the head, and one straight in the chest. Munakata's face became grim.

"I agree with you there Gotou-kun." He began raising from his chair which everyone took as a cue to get up as well, "This case is very peculiar because on surface, nothing links the three victims together. But I suppose if we were to go down and investigate, something might pop up?" The team nodded – well except Fushimi, who was giving his chief a wry look. He waited until everyone had filed out before he raised an eyebrow.

"You know something we don't?" He asked out loud. Munakata didn't even flinch.

"I don't know what you're talking about Fushimi-kun." He replied slyly, "You're over thinking things." He gracefully made his way past his favorite subordinate, slightly placing a hand on his shoulder for a few seconds. "Come, we need to get ready to leave."

Fushimi clicked his tongue and followed his superior out of the house, only pausing to cast a quick glance at the screen where the photographs of the three victims were smiling back at him.

He slammed the door shut after him.

"..and then I told her there was no way I was going to leave her on our anniversary-" Enomoto Tatsuya nodded at his partner Fuse in a sympathetic way. They were the two technical analysts of the group, working from their head quarters to dig through old information and records. Fuse grimaced.

"I pity the others most of all."

"You should pity us!" Both of them looked up to see Hidaka walking towards them with Akiyama and Andy in tow, all of them holding large steaming mugs of coffee. "We're gonna be busy for the whole of next week at the very least!" Akiyama shook his head.

"Hopefully, we'll catch the guy in a few days only. He's on a spree and if this guy is as arrogant as we believe right now, he's going to kill again - soon." Benzai, who had seemed to drifted in their conversation nodded.

"Yes, especially if he's already attacked the police station - he's on a power trip right now and even if this high from his most recent kill stops him from killing immediately, he's going to want to start again and this time, he's not going to be holding back any punches. Personally I think - FUSHIMI-KUN!" His eyes seemed to have settled onto the sulky agent who was trying his level best to sneak away before someone caught him. Like a deer caught in headlights, he blinked at them slowly, frozen in place.

"Do you want some coffee?" Hidaka asked cheerfully, holding out his mug.

Enomoto mentally facepalmed. Hidaka you idiot if the man wanted coffee, he would have gotten it himself.

Fushimi Saruhiko, their youngest member, was, in a rather short manner of speaking, highly unsociable. He hated spending more time with his fellow colleagues than absolutely necessary, hating it when his superior would forcibly ask him to attend one of his infamous get-togethers. Even now, the initial shock of being discovered had worn off and the tell tale signs of a scowl were showing on his face.

"No, I don't want coffee," he snapped, "What I want is a three month paid vacation so I can get all these images out of my mind or the next person to go on a killing spree is going to be me!" Kamo Ryuho, the oldest member of the team, walked up behind him.

"Fushimi-kun, chief wants you in his office." Fushimi's face went slack and he glared at the door to the dreaded room.

"I fucking hate that man so much." he growled before turning to look back at them, drawing himself up and clicking his tongue, "All right you idiots, get to the transportation cars, we'll be leaving in ten." The rest saluted him quick and he walked off in the direction of their chief's room.

A knock on the door made him look up from his puzzle and he smiled.

"Come in Fushimi-kun." The scowling figure slinked inside and gave his captain a blank look.

"What?"

"What do you make of the case?" Munakata inquired, resting his elbows on the table so as to rest his chin on his intertwined fingers. "I wasn't to know what your take is on the killings." Fushimi snorted.

"Not much - just what I had to say in the room."

Munakata frowned.

"And nothing of this case strikes odd to you at all?" He prodded, looking a bit put out. He had seen as Fushimi's dull blue eyes had lit up for a moment when they had been discussing the case – something that very rarely happened when the young man was tired. Fushimi gave him a level headed stare.

"I want to visit the first victim's crime scene." He finally confessed, "I feel there's something there that we should look for that connects it to the third victim - apart from the necklace." Munakata nodded, slowly getting out of his chair, his eyes focused on the raven haired man before him.

"I trust you will find what is needed Fushimi kun." He said, smiling slyly, "After all, you can't wait to be done with the case so you can return to Yata Misaki kun correct?" Munakata had no doubt his subordinate was making elaborate plans to murder him at the moment. Smiling serenely, he gestured towards he door."Shall we leave then Fushimi kun?"

"...I hate you."

Munakata let out a small chuckle. "I'm quite aware of that Fushimi-kun." The younger man grumbled.

"Don't make me feel bad about hating your pretentious ass." Munakata grinned.

"I wouldn't dream of it Fushimi-kun."

The two of them reached the main gates where the official PSIA vans were waiting for them. Munakata watched as his teams dragged themselves into the in respective cars and turned to smile at the younger man beside him who seemed to have come to a horrible conclusion on his own.

"Oya. It seems you will be riding with me then Fushimi-kun."

The look on the man's face was enough to keep him happy for a few days.

Hotel Divine, Shizume City, Japan.

17th September, Thursday.

[7:00 AM]

"Ah looks like we're here." Munakata stated happily, looking out the window, as they pulled up in front of a hotel they had booked rooms to stay in. Hotel Divine', the name of the establishment was spelled out in large letters and the whole building had a rather old English Victorian mansion feel to it. Two officers stood at the main entrance, waiting to welcome them. As they stepped out, they approached, neither one of them looking particularly happy. Well, they had lost a lot of officers, so Munakata figured it was okay for them to look past the initial pleasantries.

"Officer Yashiro," one of them, the albino one, said, extending his hand for Munakata to shake, "I'm assuming you're Munakata Reisi?" Munakata dipped his head slightly.

"You were the one who called then." He said, giving the man a small smile. Isana nodded, his face grim. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he scowled.

"It's a mess over here. Those men who died – they were good people. They didn't deserve to die." Munakata gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Indeed, it was a tragedy. Their lives will not be forgotten and their killer will be brought to justice."

"Captain, where do we set up our work space?" Both men turned to look at Fushimi leaning against the van, eyes focused on his PDA, fiddling away. "Since the police station is not an option?" Munakata opened his mouth but before he could say a single word, the dark haired officer who had stood silently in the background spoke up.

"It is in bad faith not to make eye contact when speaking to someone else." Munakata bit his tongue to keep himself from smirking. Oho – what an interesting development. Fushimi looked up from his PDA to cast a bored look at them.

"Charming." he dead panned, "Too bad I'm not a man of faith. Captain, where do we set up - I want to know before the merry men of idiotsville join us." Munakata turned to look at Isana.

"Well Isana-san, is there any place we can work?" The albino nodded, gesturing towards the hotel.

"We booked you guys a conference room here so you guys can have some space to work." Munakata smiled wider.

"Excellent. Fushimi kun, if you will." The blue eyed man grumbled as he dragged himself towards the lobby with his overnight bag, no doubt to get himself settled in. Munakata turned to look at the two officers once more. "I'm sorry, I'm not aware of your partner's name." Isana let out a small laugh.

"Oh right – this is Kuroh Yatogami." Kuroh nodded his head a bit in greeting. Munakata lowered his head a bit.

"I'm gracious that you two come all the way to meet us here. We wll get started as soon as the rest of my team arrives, we seemed to have gotten a bit separated along the way." Isana waved his hand.

"No problem Munakata-san." He said brightly, "I'll have some one send you a copy of whatever files we've managed to salvage out of the fire." His face became serious. "Most of our work was just burnt away so we have no idea how helpful it'll be." Munakata shook his head.

"It is alright, we just will want to visit the crime scenes and talk to the immediate contacts and such." Isana nodded and both officers bid them farewell as they walked away. Munakata watched their retreating backs until they disappeared around the corner.

"Well Fushimi-kun, what do you make of them?" Said agent materialized beside him, looking half bored.

"Too early to make a judgement but I'd like to keep an eye on them sir." Munakata nodded in agreement.

"Very well," Munakata said thoughtfully, hands clasped behind his back "I'll have one of the members work with them close quarters." A smile graced his lips. "And Fushimi kun, about that eye contact -" Fushimi groaned and walked away from him, angrily stuffing his hands in his pockets. Humming slightly, he followed the younger man inside. "When are the others getting here?" Fushimi cast a look back at him before he walked on.

"I got a message from Akiyama that they've all stopped to have breakfast on the way before getting here." Munakata raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Oya? You should have told me - we could have gone-" Fushimi held up a hand.

"Work Captain." he drawled out lazily. Munakata's face fell for a briefest of moments before he smiled again.

"Perhaps you and I could-"

"Work." Fushimi marched inside and led the way to the conference room they were to use as their base. Munakata peered around the room curiously.

"Cameras?" he questioned. Fushimi shot him an exasperated look mixed with a bit of annoyance.

"What do you take me for." he huffed, "Disabled them the second I stepped in here." Munakata simply picked up one of the case files and began to leaf through.

"Miyabi Ameno disappeared as she was on her way to a job interview correct?"

"Yes that's what Awashima-san was told." Both males turned around to see the rest of the team come piling in. "Where is she anyways?" Akiyama added, looking around for the familiar sightings of blonde hair, "I thought she was with you guys?"

"She got off at the news station to talk to the local reporters about the case." Fushimi mumbled, setting up a large whiteboard, pulling out a vast collection of colorful markers. "About time you guys got here by the way." He added, shooting them a dirty look.

"Sorry about that." Andy replied, grinning and bounding over to grab a file himself, "So what's the case so far?" Munakata cleared his throat as all eyes turned to him.

"Well, we'll start with the first victim. Miyabi san left her apartment at 3:45 pm, in July, for a job interview. Her roommate filed a missing person's report two days later as Miyabi san never returned home. Apparently, she had never even made it to the interview." Violet eyes looked raised themselves to two members who sat up straight. "Akiyama kun, Benzai kun, I want you both to go and talk to the roommate. She might still be able to tell us things."

Akiyama and Benzai nodded and headed out. Then Munakata turned to look at Hidaka and Gotou, who were trying to help Fushimi set up the board where they would work on the case. "You two should probably go and speak to Miyabi's boyfriend - get him to tell you all about her. And don't forget that this man is also a potential suspect." As the two left the room, Munakata finally turned to look at the rest of them.

"The rest of you are going to head out to the disposal site where the unsub dumped the body."

"Colorless." Fushimi mumbled quietly, "He calls himself colorless." Munakata nodded.

"True," he agreed, "Colorless then. Let's go men." The remaining three men saluted, a bit reluctantly on Fushimi's part to be completely honest and filed out of the room. Munakata picked up the picture of the first victim, fingers trailing along its edges as he went and tacked it to the board. Staring at her intently, he silently assessed the situation in his mind.

Miyabi was headed for a meeting and the unsub had probably been lying low, waiting for her to pass so that he could attack. Seeing as it had been quite a busy time on the streets, no doubt it had to be someone she either knew or felt secure around. There was no evidence of sexual misconduct so this was not a sexual predator.

Picking up a marker, Munakata wrote down what he knew about all three victims.

Female, female, male.

20, 19 18.

Ah. So there it was.

"A countdown." He muttered, "He's counting down the kills. It's a timer...but to what?"

Forest, Shizume City, Japan.

17th September, Thursday.

[7:20 AM]

"Can you please bring me the couple who found the body?" Fushimi asked the young officer who greeted them at the edge of the forest. The kid, who looked like he was fresh out of the academy, nodded eagerly and began to lead them into the forest, following a path.

"Kusuhara Takeru." he supplied, holding out his hand, reminding Fushimi of an eager puppy wagging it's tail, "Hey, I heard you guys are from the PSIA - really?" Andy, who was trailing behind them grinned and nodded.

"Yup, that's us! We're profilers though - we look into the minds of the killer and try to think the same way he does!" Kusuhara's eyes widened with amazement and Fushimi and Kamo exchanged wary looks - really, there was no shutting up the red head.

"So cool!" Kusuhara exclaimed, looking thrilled, "You guys must have met so many serial killers. That so cool!" Andy's chest puffed up and he opened his mouth to respond but Fushimi beat him to it.

"There is nothing cool or remarkable about it." he said sharply, "It's a serious job which some of us," he shot a dirty look at Andy who deflated immediately, "don't seem to realize." Andy pouted and Kamo let out a small chuckle. Fushimi turned to look at the young officer again, who at this point, looked extremely flustered. "So, the couple who found the body?" Kusuhara nodded towards and old couple sitting on some rocks near by, looking around nervously. As Fushimi made his way over, the young officer reached out and grabbed him by his upper arm.

"Ah Fushimi-kun," he said, eyes turning serious, "Please don't be too harsh with them - they've been through a lot." Fushimi stared for a bit before clicking his tongue. He nodded and made his way over to the pair.

"Agent Fushimi Saruhiko," he declared holding up a badge, "Mr. and Mrs. Iwa-san?" The two nodded, the man holding on to the woman's frail looking fingers. Seeing them so close made a pang of longing erupt in his own chest for a certain ex-delinquent. Shaking away the thought, he lowered his head a bit in respect before taking a seat across from them on a log, "I understand you wouldn't want to talk about...what you saw that day but we-"

"I want to help." The woman's eyes, sharp and bright stared at him filled with determination. "I want to help. Anyone," Her voice was wavering, as her grip on her husband's fingers tightened, "Anyone who would do that to another human being...they deserve to be caught." Letting go of her husband's hand, she reached out and grabbed his instead, making him flinch internally, "You're-you're going to catch him right?"

"Yes ma'am," Fushimi mumbled, wishing he had let Kamo handle the questioning. "We're gonna try our level best." The woman seemed appeased by that answer and released her hold on him. Sitting up straight, she took a deep breath and nodded at her husband who gave her a small hesitant smile.

"Okay we're ready." Fushimi took a deep breath.

"You say you were both out for your daily walk when you came across it sometime in the evening, is that correct?" They nodded. Fushimi pointed to the path. "And this is a path you take everyday?" Another nod. "Alright, can you describe what you saw? Not-" he added hastily, seeing their faces begin to show despair, "-not the victim but before that, while you were on the walk...did you notice anyone or anything strange?" The husband closed his eyes for a moment.

"No..." he finally said, "There was no one there. That isn't anything new - it's mostly quiet and empty at that time. We only go there because Isana-san is on posted here around that time. He comes and stays here from three to six." Fushimi nodded. Isana had been the first to the crime scene after hearing the screaming of the woman. "He led us away and that's all that happened."

"So you saw nothing else?" Fushimi urged. The woman's eyes became a bit misty.

"The rock had been moved."

"What?" Fushimi questioned, puzzled. The woman pointed to a small boulder a bit further away.

"That rock...its been moved. I didn't think...I didn't think it was important but-"

"Are you sure?" Fushimi asked, his heart beating faster. The woman nodded.

"I've walked this trail for ten years young man and that's always been right around this bend but it's been moved to..." The rest of her words died in her mouth and Fushimi understood what she meant. The boulder was now next to the tree the body had been hanging from. Fushimi signaled Kamo and Andy to go investigate a bit. Turning back to face the old couple, he got up and held out his hand to help the elderly up.

"Thank you for your time and patience." he said in a mechanical voice, years of training flowing out, "I'm sorry for inconveniencing you." The woman shook her head, tears forming in her eyes.

"None of it - just...just catch him." Nodding, Fushimi watched as they made their way back down the trail where some officer was ready to escort them home.

Turning to face Kamo and Andy, he walked over and raised his eyebrow. "Well?" Kamo nodded towards the tree.

"The rock was rolled all the way over to the base of the tree." he said, eyes looking at the boulder thoughtfully. "It's just the right thing one would need to stand on." Fushimi raised his eyebrow.

"Pardon?" Andy waved his hand impatiently.

"The unsub needed to elevate the body right? Well, he used this rock to get up on the tree." Fushimi cocked his head, his mind processing bits of information.

"You and I can get on these branches pretty easily." he started slowly as both of them nodded, "But we wouldn't be able to do so...if we were shorter..."

"Bingo." Andy said, snapping his fingers, "The unsub is shorter than us! Or really weak - you know he might not have been able to pull himself up."

"But he pushed this boulder all the way till here." Kamo argued, "He can't be weak." Fushimi had to agree that Kamo had a really good point.

Someone knew that the trail would be empty at that time. Fushimi thought as he silently watched Kamo and Andy work on their discovery, Someone knew this path would be empty and the stone would be there. This is a local acting out.

"You guys keep looking around here for more clues." He said, as both of his colleagues straightened up and nodded, "I'll look around and see if there is something the cops might have missed. They're not the brightest in the lot here." Andy and Kamo nodded their heads and began to inspect their surroundings.

"So no one has been in or out of here I hope." Fushimi asked one of the other officers stationed at the edge of the forest. The man nodded nervously. Behind them, Kamo and Andy worked silently, trying to find things that hadn't been washed away by time and Fushimi stared at them for a few minutes. After making sure Andy was in fact doing his job and not horsing around, he turned to look around the area. Slinking a bit deeper into the forest, he made his way off the trail.

"Think Saruhiko, think. The unsub clearly takes pride in his work - If I was the unsub," he thought, picking his way through the thicket, "I'd want to leave something more. Something that means something to me personally – something like-" His feet came to an abrupt stop. Eyes widening, his face set itself in a grimace as he turned and shouted -

"OI YOU GUYS! SOMEONE CALL THE FORENSICS AND GET A CAMERA! I NEED A PICTURE OF THIS." There, on the rock in front of him was a large red symbol carved into the stone and painted in what Fushimi assumed to be dried blood. An intricate pattern of dark flames with clearly a very artistic touch to it. Fushimi felt a small tug in his mind as he stared and couldn't help but feel he had seen it before. It wasn't until Kamo showed up with some of the forensic crew in tow that he remembered. His mouth became dry and he ran his tongue over his lips to make them moist.

"Also get me a car, we're going to see the bodies."

Forensics Laboratory, Shizume City, Tokyo, Japan.

17th September, Thursday.

[10:00 AM]

"I knew it." Fushimi stared at the body laid out in front of him, wrinkling his nose in disgust. The doctor had tried their level best to patch her up again but it was clear that wasn't going to be easy. Kukuri's empty sockets stared up at them, clean now, as compared to the mess they had been when the body had first been discovered. But Fushimi was focused on the palm of her hand. There, carved into it, was the same symbol.

"I knew I had seen this before." he muttered. Behind him, Andy and Kamo were giving each other amused looks. "This symbol links these two together."

"What symbol?" He looked up to see the forensics doctor, Douhan Hirasaka come in, wearing her white coat over her casual outfit. He nodded towards the corpse's hand.

"The mark." The woman before him nodded.

"Ah yes, I was going to message you all about this. I looked over the third victim today and guess what I found on him? I didn't give this symbol much attention to be honest - it wasn't until I was called by your team five minutes ago that I related the two." Fushimi nodded.

"So the third body has the mark too?" The blonde woman's mouth got set in a tight line.

"Well yes, but not quite the same thing." Fushimi raised his eyebrow.

"Oh really? How is that?" he inquired. Douhan's green eyes met his blue ones before she motioned them to follow her to the other room where another body was laid out. Slipping on gloves, she easily turned it over slightly so they could have a clear view of the man's left shoulder.

The symbol glared at them, taunting them with it's existence.

"As you can see," Douhan began, "This is clearly a nicely done tattoo. The strokes, the curves - they are all made by a professional artist. Meanwhile the ones you see on the stone and her palm, you can see they were done in a crude fashion. Someone who only knew what the tattoo looked like and didn't have any real knowledge of ever making it." Fushimi nodded absentmindedly.

"So this victim had this tattoo before his kill." Douhan nodded.

"Affirmative. Also, unless this is a very old tattoo, you can tell it's been there for a few years. There is one more thing you'd be interested in knowing." The three of them all looked at her puzzled, "Miyabi was restrained and skinned. You can see from all her abdominal laceration she was fighting back till the end. Kukuri on the other hand, was not restrained - she had been killed before she was made to resemble the first victim. Also, one would suspect she was familiar with the person who did this as you can't see any marks on her that would give away that she was abducted. As in the case of the first victim, you can find traces of sedatives in her body which mean she was subdued and sedated but Kukuri has nothing of the sort - not even chloroform."

"She went with him willingly."

"Yes that is what I would say." Douhan said, sliding her glasses back up her nose, "She was killed by a stab in the heart so you can probably assume that was the first wound - he killed her and then mutilated her body." Fushimi nodded and thanked the doctor before signalling the others to follow him out. As they made their way away from the laboratory, his thoughts all over the place.

"One thing's for sure then," Kamo voiced behind him, "The last victim was not coincidental. He was a target." Fushimi nodded.

"Now all we need to do is figure out who the fuck he is." Pulling out his cell phone, he called back at headquarters.

"Enomoto," he said, as soon as the call got connected to the other end, "I need you do look into something for me. It's a symbol."

Hotel Divine, Shizume City, Tokyo, Japan.

17th September, Thursday.

[1:00 PM]

Munakata sighed, eyes hurting a bit and he reached up and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He had recently just gotten some news about some tattoo and finally pieces were falling into place. All except for -

"I'm hungry." The thought had surprised him because he hardly ever felt such but he was. All around him was a mess of papers. Files scattered all over the tables and the white board in front of him full of theories and pictures trying to link the murders together. So far, only the tattoo was the thing that connected them.

Hidaka and Gotou were still not back with their share of the information and neither were Akiyama and Benzai back with theirs. Awashima had contacted him a few moments ago that she was a few minutes away from the hotel. Sighing, he turned to walk out of the room. He really should get at least some coffee. Exiting the hotel, he turned to look for a nearby diner he might buy a small meal before returning back to his place. Walking briskly, he soon saw a small restaurant across the street. Smiling to himself, he made his way to the brightly colored place.

The bell above the door ringed, softly but alerting the hostess of his presence who immediately smiled at him widely.

"Welcome!" she greeted him cheerfully, "What can I get for you?" He slid into a seat on the main counter next to a red headed man, who was the only other customer in the place.

"I'll have a green tea then, no sugar." He stated brusquely, "And I suppose I wouldn't mind a chicken sandwich but do not include any cheese in it." The person next to him snorted and turned to look at him. Munakata faced him, raising an eyebrow, seconds away from demanding what was so amusing.

"You talk funny." Munakata couldn't answer. He was too busy staring at the golden eyes staring at him, pining him into place. Munakata didn't need to be a profiler to know this man was bad news. Leather jacket, chains and a slanted smile. Eyelids half lowered, fingers running through artfully tussled hair - it was like a bad movie scene and Munakata knew for a fact that he was above all of it.

So why was his heart beating so fast?

Still the man had sort of insulted him and Munakata was not going to stand for that.

"Oya?" he inquired, a tight smile on his face, "What's so funny?" He watched as the other chuckled - a deep throaty sound that sent shivers down his spine and made his fingers tingle. It was just the kind of low timbre that he liked - something he was discovering just now. Golden orbs stared at him relentlessly, making him somewhat want to squirm in his seat. But Munakata was, if not anything else, the master of masking his true emotions.

"You sound so stuck up." It seemed the man did not like to speak a lot of words, but the ones he did left an impact nonetheless. Huffing, Munakata got to his feet in indignation.

"I will have you know," he said, positively peeved, "A lot of people consider one of the most enjoyable companion ever." He saw a the other's light up and knew he had said the wrong thing. The person let out another throaty laugh - this time the profiler had to consciously hold himself from reacting to it - and smirked at him.

"I'm sure you make a really enjoyable companion." he drawled, leaving no doubts in the other's mind about what exactly he was implying and Munakata could feel his body flushing. Glaring at the man, he addressed the woman who was busy preparing his order.

"Make my order to go." he said politely. The woman nodded, and began to bad his sandwich. The red head watched him with barely masked amusement. Munakata wanted to punch him - something almost instinctual seemed to be taking over and he hurriedly paid for his food before he did something he would truly regret.

As he exited through the door, he missed golden eyes watching him thoughtfully.

"So that's him huh."

"Oh Captain you're back." Munakata walked into the hotel to see Fushimi and the others sitting in various positions on the floor, papers scattered everywhere. "We found where that symbol comes from."

"Enomoto found where it comes from." Kamo corrected him, "We just found the symbol." Andy waved his hand.

"Details."

"Excellent work team." Munakata said, eyes sparkling, "Did Enomoto-kun and Fuse-kun fax the details?" Fushimi sat up from where he was sprawled on the floor, looking every bit lethargic as he was and nodded.

"Yeah - Awashima-san went to make the copies." Munakata came and sat down on one of the chairs pulling out his sandwich and taking a dainty bit. A flash of red consumed his mind momentarily but he ignored it in favor of not ruining his mood.

"Captain, you're scowling."

Ah there goes his good mood.

"I'm simply thinking of a dreadful person I came across today." He informed the raven haired male, "Simply boorish and uncouth and not worth our time." Fushimi raised an eye brow.

"Oookay." He said, holding up his hands, "I'll just, not ask."

"So what does the symbol represent?" He inquired after finishing his food.

"No blood, no bone, no ash." The other said lazily, stretching his arms above his head. "Its a logo for a local gang." A look of distaste made it's way on his face and Munakata had to bite the insides of his cheek to stop himself from reminding his subordinate that his boyfriend once used to be part of some local gang as well. "Homra, they call it. They're a bit arsenic in nature thus the stupid flames." Munakata nodded.

"And the leader?" he inquired, "I'm guessing he's someone we'll have to question?" Fushimi gave him the "no shit genius" look which he felt was highly in appropriate seeing as he was his supervisory agent. Nonetheless, he let it slide. "Tell me about him."

"He's somewhere in his late 20's, typical thug like attitude. Likes to nap a lot - apparently that's what all his files say - like legit, this is apparently on of his qualities. He likes to nap a lot." Munakata snorted.

"Sounds like a charming man."

"It gets better, he mostly only speaks grunts and monosyllabic words."

Munakata rolled his eyes.

"Cavemen.' he muttered, walking over to the board. He noticed how Fushimi had made a list of all their data in one corner. "Have Akiyama-san and the others not returned yet?" Fushimi shook his head no. Somewhere in the corner, both Kamo and Andy dozed off in their seats and Munakata figured he could let them - they needed their rest after all.

"Akiyama and Benzai are on their way back while Hidaka and Gotou decided to go speak to victim number two's parents." Munakata tapped a marker against the board.

"And what do you think of the countdown theory?" he asked, taking a sip of his tea. Fushimi made a disturbed look.

"Well, I'm hoping that its a coincidence but being in this line of work means that there is literally zero chance of that - this guy plans on killing seventeen more times and also include if he's going by age, children." A look of pure disgust wormed its way onto his face. "What a sick fuck."

"Indeed." Munakata agreed, "So you think the leader of the gang could be the one killing all these people?" Fushimi shrugged, clicking his tongue.

"Who knows." he mumbled, "I haven't talked to Suoh Mikoto yet."

"Suoh Mikoto?"

"The leader."

"Oya? Then-"

"Here is all the information you need for the Homra group." Awashima declared, entering the room briskly and handing them all separate files, waking up Andy and Kamo. "We even managed to get a hold of the man's picture." Munakata muted out the rest of the conversation as he began to flip through the file. A single photograph fluttered to the ground and he leaned in to pick it up.

A flash of red.

Munakata froze.

Fingers trembling, he picked up the photograph and stared at it with increasing apprehension. Somewhere in the back of his mind, a headache was brewing slowly.

This had to be some sort of cosmic joke the universe was playing on him.

Red hair, golden eyes and a piercing gaze.

A small humorless chuckle escaped past his lips.

Suoh Mikoto was indeed, a man full of surprises.

Well...well then.

I hope you liked it?

I would understand if some people didn't like the aimlessly boring parts but they were necessary ^^"