Things Lost in the Fire

Chapter One

Word Count: 2,284

Rating: T, just to be safe

Warnings: Um... the crimes they're solving are bad but I don't do gore, so...

Summary: Reclusive detective Kent has his hands full with an amnesiac witness and her impulsive younger brother when the task force reforms to track a serial killer.

Author's Note: Okay, so I love how Kent and Ikki get so interested in solving the incident that happens to the heroine in Shin's route, and that made me think over and over again that Kent would make a good detective. Well, most of them show it there, and Toma shows it in his route, so that made me think they all might be pretty good at it.

And so I kept thinking about that as I wrote my other story, and I couldn't let the idea go even as much as the other story took its turns on me and I became less and less sure of it, which is probably why this has appeal as mysteries are very much my comfort zone. I've read and written them for a long time now. Also, the idea of Orion and Kent interacting also led to this because I really wanted to see that, and not just with the heroine speaking for Orion but them actually interacting. Like a brotherly hug between them would be great but just them talking and maybe bickering a little...?

Anyway, that's what started this, and it went darker than that thought would suggest, but I liked the idea of a task force and all the guys being friends, so all of that came into this.

One

"Wake up. Oh, please wake up. Please."

She heard a voice and felt something shaking her right as everything seemed to explode in pain. Her head ached, and it was hard to see who was talking to her. She couldn't seem to form words, and her throat was on fire. She reached a hand up to it and cried out in pain.

"Oh, don't do that," the voice said, distressed. "You'll hurt yourself. A lot. I'm sorry, but you seem to have been badly burned already, even though the fire's not that close to us."

She frowned, but now that he said that, maybe her vision problem wasn't so much because of her head and more because of the haze around them. Smoke, she could smell it now, and she tensed up, looking for the fire he'd spoken of, afraid she couldn't move.

She looked back at the boy. "Who... who are you?"

He winced. "Oh, we really don't have time for that right now. We have to find a way out of here. Fast."

She nodded, though that hurt, too, knowing they couldn't wait around if the building was on fire. She didn't know much else—her name, where she was, how she'd gotten here, none of that came to her despite her growing desperation to know what was happening to her and why everything hurt so much. She had to move.

"Do you think you can stand?"

She looked at the boy with a growing sense of fear. "I... I don't know."

"I think you'd better try," the boy said, trying to be gentle. He seemed kind, and she liked him, but she still didn't know who he was to her. "Here, I'll help you as much as I can."

She took his hand. He was sweet, but young and small, and she didn't think he'd be able to do much to help her. She stood, her legs now hurting as much as her arms, and he gave her a worried look when she moaned.

"You're really hurting. I couldn't see what happened other than where you got burned, but I bet it's bad," he said, and then he coughed. "The smoke is getting worse, too. Okay, maybe if you kind of lean on me, we can get out of here? I found a door over here before I heard you—you were in so much pain you cried out while you were sleeping—and I think it might be the way to go."

She led him take the lead, too weak and in too much pain to argue anyway. She didn't think he would do anything to harm her, and she had to get out of here before it burned. She wanted to know why she was here, how this had happened, but she couldn't remember and all she had to go on was the knowledge that she'd die if she stayed and that this boy seemed to care about her.

She forced herself not to panic. That would do her no good, and she was having a hard enough time walking as it was. Every step sent pain through her whole body, and she felt something wet down her boot, like she must be bleeding from somewhere but she hurt too much to know which cut was the source.

She tried to ignore it. She had to. They were almost at the door. It didn't look too heavy, and he could probably open it, but why were they here? That she didn't understand. If she'd been hurt so badly... how did she get here? And... was he hurt, too, or was he just—No. She couldn't think that. She couldn't believe he was somehow a part of it.

Her fear tripped her up, and she stumbled, falling down.

"Oh, you can't stop now," he said, turning back to her. "We're almost out. Please don't give up."

She looked at the door again and back at him. "Is that really the way out? Or... are you part of this, whatever it is?"

He took her hands, holding them in his. "I swear I didn't have anything to do with hurting you. I... I know I should have explained, but I don't think we have time for that. Just... trust me a little longer. I'll get you out of here, and we can worry about all the rest of it later, okay?"

She tried to get up again and couldn't. Her leg wouldn't support her weight, and she checked it to see a deep cut down her shin that had her skin covered in red.

"Oh, that is really bad," he whispered, and she nodded, though she regretted it a second later as she got dizzy, so light-headed she could barely keep her eyes open. "Hey, wait, don't leave me. Come on. I came so far and did all this to save you. You can't give up now. Please."

"Sorry," she heard herself whisper, but that was the last thing she knew.

Orion heard her apology and almost cried out himself, shaking his head in frustration. He couldn't let this happen. She wasn't supposed to stop now. He'd been searching for his sister everywhere, and now, now when he'd finally found her again. He knew she was hurt—he'd seen her arms and neck where she'd been burned, and it made him so angry—but she was still alive, and he couldn't let either of them give up now.

He touched her cheek, fighting tears. He gave her a pat at first and then shook her, needing her to wake up again. This whole building would burn soon, and they couldn't be here when that happened.

She didn't stir, and he had already tried dragging her when he first found her. He couldn't get her out of here on his own. He knew that.

He swallowed, looking back at the door. No one had been around when he came in, the whole neighborhood deserted, but maybe by now someone was here. They had to have noticed the fire, right? He didn't want to think about who had set it, about that person waiting to hurt his sister again, but he had to risk it, didn't he?

He nodded to himself, getting up and running to the door, shoving it open and running the short distance down the hall to the outer door. He pushed past it, too, stumbling out into the street. He looked around, frantic. He needed to find someone to help, fast.

He couldn't see anyone here, not down either direction of the alley, but he heard laughter, and he swallowed as he forced himself toward it. Was that the person who set the fire? Could it just be some teenager playing a prank? Maybe if they knew they'd set it with someone inside, they'd help?

He didn't know, but he had to find out. He ran toward the front of the alley, but one look at that man standing there laughing, the sinister expression on his face, Orion knew he didn't dare ask. He swallowed, about to back away, but then he saw something else.

The creepy laughing man was not laughing at the fire, but at someone standing across the street from him, another stranger. Orion didn't know who he was, and he was even a bit scary himself, but he knew what he had to do, for his sister.

He ran across the road without looking back, going over to grab hold of the man's coat, tugging hard on it.

"Please. I need your help."

The man jerked, startled, bumping into the building behind him. He frowned at Orion, confused. "Where did you come from?"

"You didn't see me? You were staring at the fire and I crossed from over there and—" Orion stopped. The laughing man was no longer in sight. Did that mean—could he have gone back for her? This was really, really bad.

He looked back up at the man in front of him. "It's my sister. She's in there, and I can't wake her. I can't carry her. Please. I need help."

The man's eyes went back to the building across the street. "Given the rate of spread and the size of the structure itself, the fire will consume it before emergency personnel arrive on site."

Orion stared at him. Seriously? That was how this guy was going to react. "Uh..."

"It is likely that reentering the building now would be fatal for anyone attempting to do so."

"I don't care!" Orion shouted, almost hitting this jerk. "I can't leave my sister in there. I'm going back to help her. You... I don't care what you do. I have to help her."

He turned back, crossing the street again. He was out of breath when he rushed in through the door, but he forced himself down the hall to his sister. He wasn't leaving her alone. Even if he couldn't save her, he would make sure she wasn't alone.

"Damn," Shin observed, even though he knew it was pointless. "Another one."

Next to him, Toma nodded, his expression giving away little to the other officers on the scene but showing Shin just how much it bothered him to see this again. This creep was getting bolder by the day, having set this place ablaze in the middle of the lunch time rush instead of the dead of night or even early morning as he had before.

Not that it made much difference—the fire had still claimed most of the building before they got it put out, and Shin didn't have any illusions about what they'd find in the rubble when the smoke cleared. More mutilated bodies, just like before, an unholy offering or something—no one could agree on why this sicko did what he did—would be posed throughout the ruin, a monstrous display this guy wanted seen by everyone.

"They cleared us to go in yet?" Toma asked Ikki, who shook his head, his eyes not leaving the carnage in front of them. "How long you been here, anyway?"

Shin almost snorted. That was a stupid question. Ikki always went to the cafe a block over for lunch on Fridays, so he'd have been one of the first on the scene. "Better question—was this set here so you'd notice it?"

"Me?" Ikki laughed. "I doubt it was for my sake, even if a few people around here know my schedule by now. I'm not that important."

Shin rolled his eyes. Sometimes Ikki really made him want to punch him, though not as much as Toma ever did. Still, Ikki was being stupid if he thought people didn't notice him. A former child star whose fan club was still very active despite his decision to give up acting and go to work as a policeman, people tweeted or whatever the hell that was about his location and posted pictures of him online all the time. That was why Ikki almost always got the high profile cases and did all the press stuff no one else wanted.

"Or maybe someone else," Toma said, giving Ikki a look. "Did he come this time?"

"No."

Shin cursed under his breath. How long was that going to last, anyway? Not that he or anyone else could tell someone how long to grieve, but Shin didn't think he'd seen the light of day in weeks.

"He didn't?" Toma asked, wincing. "Not again. It's been... what, two years now? I know it was bad, but it's not like him."

Ikki didn't respond, and Shin ended up elbowing Toma instead. His step-brother glared back at him, but Shin didn't back down. Wasn't Toma supposed to be the kind one? Sensitive and all that? Shin might think it had been too long, too, but none of them were in any place to judge.

"I've finished taking photos of the perimeter," Ukyo said, joining them with camera in hand. "And I've got plenty of candid shots of the crowd, but I won't know until later if I got anyone we've seen before at the other scenes."

"Good work," Waka said, appearing behind them without a sound again, though at least this time Shin hadn't jumped at it, only tensed up like Toma and Ikki. He hated when their captain managed to catch them off-guard, though it was rarer now than when he'd been a rookie. Most of the time they just expected Waka to be there, even if they hadn't seen him.

He seriously must have been a government assassin before 'retiring' to join the police.

"Uh, sir," Toma began, eying Shin for a second, making him shrug, since it wasn't like they could ignore this, even if they were supposed to be somewhere else. "We were—"

"This takes priority," Waka said. "I've been authorized to pull you all from your current assignments and reform the task force. All five of you."

Shin had been expecting this for a while, even if he generally preferred working alone undercover instead of doing the desk thing with a team. This case was just too big and too violent to leave to ordinary detectives. He figured Waka had wanted this from the first fire, not that they weren't all following the case in their way.

Well, all but the one who'd shut himself up in the lab, at least.

Ikki took off his sunglasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "On paper, he's just on leave, but that doesn't mean he'll take the order."

Waka eyed the ruin in front of them. Shin swore he could now make out the charred remains of a body. "He doesn't have a choice."