Disclaimer:

I do not own Citrus nor any of the characters in it. All rights belong respectfully to Saburo Uta.

"OKOGI!"

A blaring voice shot through Yuzu's ears as she walked into the police station. The blonde quickly looked for the origin of the voice only to find her superior officer, Yamada Goro, quickly approaching her. Goro was a tall man with the physique of a gorilla. His arms were bulging with muscles and he had that permanent scowl plastered on his face while his black hair streaked with grey slicked back in an authoritative manner, he looked intimidating, to say the least. it's no wonder that Yuzu almost instinctively shrieked when she noticed he was already towering over her.

Attempting to feigning ignorance despite knowing exactly why she's being called out so early in the morning. A weak smile stretched over her face as she attempts to subdue his bubbling anger. Not that it ever worked but she could at least try, right? Or so she thought.

"Good morning, Goro-senpai... what's the m-matter?" She muttered in a sheepish but cheerful voice, perfectly masking the shriek she had almost let out.

"How many times MUST I tell you NOT to wear these ridiculous accessories when you come to work?!"

He immediately snapped at the young blonde, anger pouring from every angle of his face as he pointed at her heart-shaped dangling earrings. Yuzu knew they weren't exactly part of the uniform and that she should know better than to wear something like this at work but she just couldn't help it. Every morning she renews her dedication to leave her "gyaru" side at home and every morning she fails to do exactly that.

For example, a couple of hours ago she swore that she would definitely come to work in nothing but the required uniform; No frills, no extras. Though as soon as she walked in front of the mirror, she couldn't help but notice how bland and "uncute" she looked. An hour after that realization, she had full make-up, beautiful nails, these wonderful earrings, and her blonde hair up in a bun with bangs falling on each side of her face. She was finally cute enough to leave the house.

"Let's not even get started on your dyed hair!"

Goro's fuming snapped her back to the current situation and she puts on the most determined look she could muster.

"Come on, Goro-senpai. It doesn't hurt anyone! Besides, I look cuter with blonde hair!"

Goro was always stern, he believed in the strictness of the police department and how every officer should follow the rules set for them in order to honor the respect they commanded from the public which they served and protected, however, he wasn't a bad person. In fact, Yuzu knew that her superior was probably internally kicking himself for letting that comment slip as his face contorted from a scowl to guilt, then a sigh.

"Well, whatever-" he said, brushing off the blonde's complete dress code violation along with her comments.

"We don't have time for this anyway. Come to the briefing room, there's been another one."

Yuzu blinked twice 'another one?' she thought to herself as she followed Goro into the briefing room.

"Goro-senpai, what do you mean by another one?" Yuzu asked as she tried to erase the gruesome thoughts that had started to rush into her mind.

"You know exactly what I mean, Okogi." Goro replied to her as he opened the door.

Scanning the crowd, Yuzu noticed her partner and best friend, Taniguchi Harumi or Harumin as she affectionately called her. The plum haired girl waved at her, hazel eyes bright with excitement as she motioned for Yuzu to occupy the empty seat right next to her. Despite being like two peas in a pod, Harumi actually followed the dress code and fancies calling herself a stealth gyaru in contrast to Yuzu's all out gyaru.

"Yo! Yuzucchi! Did Goro-senpai give you the usual morning lecture?" Harumi smiled and teased her.

"Is there a morning where he doesn't?" Yuzu pouts in reply.

"You could always just follow the dress code, you know? Stealth gyaru style!" Harumi giggles as she gives her a thumbs up.

Yuzu looks at her friend without even contemplating whether to dye her hair back to its original dark brown shade.

"No, thanks. I'll keep my hair, though the accessories I might be willing to consider."

"Atta girl, Yuzucchi!"

"Anyway, they've been whispering amongst themselves for a while now." Harumi comments as she crossed her arms in front of her. A sudden seriousness overcomes the excitement that burned in her eyes only a few seconds ago.

There was quite a bit of chatter going on around the room though there was an uneasy tension amongst those who spoke. Yuzu took note of this as she herself was feeling a little nervous with how Goro answered her last question. He was right, she knew exactly what he was talking about. She just didn't want to consider the possibility that they failed to protect another citizen.

The uncomfortable feeling sunk to her stomach as the warmth slowly left her fingers, leaving only a slight tremor and coldness as it did.

"Yuzucchi... are you all right?" Harumi inquired upon noticing the dread that was spreading on Yuzu's face.

"Hey, Harumin-"

"Good morning, everyone"

Yuzu immediately went quiet as a thundering voice pulled everyone's attention to its owner. The police chief was standing in front of the room, his grayed hair and powerful sky-blue eyes were fixed on a couple of documents that he was holding. On closer inspection, Yuzu noticed that he had dark rings under his eyes. Not that it wasn't unusual for the police chief considering how hard he worked, but even more so today... he looked like he didn't sleep at all.

"Let's begin." At the chief's command, the lights were turned off and the projector was fired up, becoming the sole source of light in the dimmed room.

"The victim's name is Oshio Eri. She's 18 years old, fresh out of high school. Her mother reported her missing 3 days ago." An oddly tactile click could be heard and the image of a teenage girl in her sailor uniform was shown on the screen.

The girl was posing playfully at the camera with a smile on her face while her right hand did that oh-so-popular peace sign. Yuzu kept this in mind, assuming that the girl looked like your average teenager who went to school, had fun and studied hard. She even thought that the girl reminded her of herself a bit, minus the studying hard, of course. Looking closely at the girl's face, she focused on her facial features: long lashes, pale skin and a gorgeous crown of raven hair which flowed all the way down to her waist. She was, by all accounts, a beautiful girl.

Yuzu lingered a bit longer on the photo as she mumbled to herself "Green eyes." Soon after, another tactile click could be heard, followed by the chief's voice.

"At 9 P.M. yesterday, we received a phone call from a distressed citizen at xx district. The caller complained of a horrible stench coming from the apartment right beside them. Upon dispatch to the said location..."

A short pause enveloped the room as another click rushed through the silence.

"This was found."

The room was filled with the sound of disgust and anger mixed together. Yuzu gulped down as she felt her stomach churning at the horrific sight that bathed her eyes. The mangled body of a girl, with her two hands, tied together and roped up to the ceiling as if she's some sort of armed teru teru bōzu considering how she was stark naked, easily showing off how pale the girl was compared to when she was alive.

This wasn't the first time Yuzu saw this, the girl was already the fourth victim which is why in her notes she referred to her as 'victim #4.' She knew her name very well, just like she knew the first three's names, she just preferred to call them this way; feeling like the most honorable thing she could do for them was to disassociate their mangled bodies from their names. Thinking 'They deserve to be remembered better.'

"Sick bastard... he took the eyes and tongue again." Harumi off-handedly mumbled under her breath, but it was loud enough for Yuzu and a couple of their co-workers to hear.

"This is already the fourth one and we have nothing on the guy." She continued to blurt out.

"I understand that the department has been working hard on this case but we need to work harder." The chief continued speaking after the whispers died down.

"What have we got so far?" He asked in a tone which Yuzu could only comprehend as having a slight hint of desperation.

"Sorry, Chief. The bastard is a crafty son of a bitch. We've been combing the city up and down since the first murder but somehow he still manages to do it."

It was Goro who spoke just before looking down, seemingly disappointed in himself for letting the killer get away with another girl's life. No one criticized Goro for his lack of results, everyone understood that he worked on this case to the best of his abilities but the culprit was not letting up. He hasn't slipped at all, there was no evidence and despite the obvious sexual assault done to the victims, they were no closer to apprehending him. A loud sigh escaped from Goro before continuing.

"We know that so far he's only abducted women with black hair and this particular look about them." He motions as he pulls up the image of Oshio Eri and takes a second to look at the latest victim. There were vague emotions in his eyes, something that Yuzu could only describe as the in-between of anger and guilt.

"So far we've confirmed that all of the women were never tangled up in any shady business. They were all A students who worked hard, charismatic and held in high regard amongst their peers and family. They were also, as you've all noticed, fairly good looking." He then shifted his gaze towards the screen where the crime scene was shown.

"As for the crime... we know he always takes them to apartments in and around the city. These apartments are always low end with no security cameras. We have absolutely no idea what he looks like. He always takes the eyes and tongues of his victims, we assume he keeps them as trophies. We've also confirmed that all the victims have been sexually assaulted and the culprit made no attempt to hide this fact."

"What makes you say that, Yamada?" The chief asks with a puzzled look on his face.

"We have his semen sample. We just-" Goro became increasingly dejected and helpless as he spoke.

"We have no culprit to compare them to. We've already gone through the entire database and we couldn't match it with any known offender." He finally said after a long pause.

"Cheeky bastard." Said one of the officers inside the room and everyone quietly agreed with his sentiment.

Yuzu looked at the screen again, she knew this came with the job but the amount of disturbing dead bodies she'd been exposed to in the short amount of time she had been a part of the police force was unexpected. She could still feel the temporary loss of warmth as thoughts of the victims lingered in her mind. It was only because of Harumi's interruption that she was able to finally snap out of her daze.

"Do you know what they call him?" Harumi looks at Yuzu, completely aware of how fazed the blonde was at the moment.

"Yeah... Doll Maker." Yuzu shivered at the words that had just escaped her lips.

Notes:

Hello,

This is my first fanfiction and any feedback would be awesome. Criticism, in particular, is very welcome.

I'm very enamored by crime stories and I thought it would be an interesting idea to throw Yuzu at a job which doesn't suit her very much but she chose to enter for her own reasons. It might be a bit grim at times but I'd probably also add some light-hearted material most of the time. After all, it's not much of a Yuzu if she can't be a bubbling cocktail of sunshine and happiness.

Thank you!