Stripped

Chapter One: Dead to the World

Disclaimer: I don't own No. 6.

Author's Note: Hi guys, *waves*, this is my first time writing fanfiction for this fandom, usually I hang out in Harry Potter, but I noticed how few fics there were in here with an arcing plot and then I started thinking about what Shion might be doing without Nezumi and the result is...starting another project when I haven't come even close to finishing any of the other ones I have on the go.

Um, for any readers who have me on author alert and are only here because they're wondering what the bleep I'm doing starting another story...sorry!

Anywho, I've only ever seen the anime but from what I gather the differences between the anime and the novels aren't too major. This story begins post-series about four years after the departure of Nezumi.

WARNING: This story contains Slash (M/M) as well as things like violence, torture, gore and death. Note the rating, not for kiddies.

Now on to the story!

At seven in the morning the out of the way street in Mid-Town lined with cozy restaurants and chic boutiques was already filled with gawkers, people who'd stopped on their way to work, or to the market that had sprung up three blocks over, to stare wide-eyed at the scene spread before them with that strange mixture of horrified fascination twisting their faces.

Shion shook his head at their antics, at their ignorance, as he scraped his shaggy hair back from his face into a messy ponytail and covered it with his cap. Moving quickly he shrugged into the familiar weight of the dark blue jacket with white block letters printed across the back that read coroner. Reaching into his pocket he found his ID card and clipped it onto his breast pocket, grabbing his field kit before slamming the trunk of his car shut.

The normally idyllic street was cordoned off with bright yellow police tape separating the civilians from the officers and the forensic team milling around on the other side, taking photos and carefully cataloguing everything about the scene.

Shion marched forward from where he'd parked his car approaching the tall well-muscled black man with a shaved head who was guarding the perimeter like some sort of watch dog.

"Morning, Bear,"

"Doc," he greeted in a low rumbling voice.

He held out his hand and Shion handed over his ID card for scanning. The scanner gave a chirpy little blip and he handed Shion back the card without any unnecessary motion.

"They giving you trouble?" asked Shion nodding at the gawkers.

"Vultures," somehow the tall man made the one word into a sneer without changing the inflection of his voice or the no nonsense expression on his face.

"Hmm," hummed Shion in agreement as he ducked under the tape and into the melee of the crime scene, "Is Lin here yet?" he asked.

Bear just flicked his eyes to a point beyond Shion's shoulder pointedly before turning his scrutiny back to the crowd splayed out before him.

"You're here, finally," called a familiar voice.

Shion turned around and found himself faced with Bear's partner.

"Detective Lin," he greeted the blond delicately boned woman of mixed ancestry who was striding towards him with a polite nod and a soft smile.

"Shion," she said with a brisk nod of her own.

Osana Lin was a beautiful woman, short and as delicate looking as fine china but her dark sensual almond shaped eyes were perpetually cold and analytical and her wide expressive mouth permanently set in a tight lipped frown. She was like a finely crafted blade, beautiful to look at but still, in truth, deadly steel.

He'd like to say they were friends but with Lin being the way that she was it was difficult to tell. In some ways she was even more inscrutable than her monosyllabic counterpart.

"Is it the same as the others?" he asked.

"That's what I'm hoping you can confirm," she said, "The MO is the same, chains, barbed wire, but we have to rule out copycats at this stage of the game because the press is of course swarming over this case like flies on shit,"

Shion nodded frowning with concentration as they approached the body. The faint scent of charred flesh and the metallic tang of dried blood in the air were detectable even with the strong breeze and the officers supervising the forensics team were looking a tad green around the gills.

The victim was female, mid-thirties with a slim, toned figure, a woman who had taken good care of her body. A runner, Shion thought, examining the thick calf muscle on the left leg. As with the other five victims the woman's right side had been burnt away to bones and those bones had been carefully wound with barbed wire. The left side was left intact, the flesh riddled with cuts and paramortem bruising and the message carved along the ribs...

"Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality," Lin read off carefully blank-faced in the way that told Shion she was probably seething with anger internally.

"Edgar Allen Poe," Shion commented.

Lin raised an eyebrow, "Who was he, another writer?"

"Yes, circa the early seventeenth century, his best known works are of mystery and macabre,"

"I didn't know you were into that kind of thing," she commented.

"Neither did I until I actually started reading the books on my shelves," Shion said wryly pulling on the close fitting blue vinyl gloves, "Do you have an ID for our victim?" he asked stepping closer to the body.

It was swinging slightly in the wind, chained to the steel frame of the sign above the store advertising for fine wines and cheeses the old fashioned manacles fastened just tightly enough to keep her wrists from slipping out of them.

"Mai Risako, 32, she was a freelance journalist, her twin sister, Lai, saw the body on the six o'clock news and called in,"

Shion grimaced briefly in sympathy before turning his mind to the evidence before him.

"In keeping with the previous cases the immediately apparent injuries are paramortum, ligature marks on the victim's left ankle and the damage to the remains of the right ankle are consistent with the wounds found on the previous victims and indicate that she was held captive for a time before her murder,"

"Can you tell how long?"

Shion shook his head.

"No, but I'd place time of death between twelve and thirty two hours ago,"

"The body was discovered early this morning by the manager of the coffee shop across the street, but, as usual, nobody saw anybody coming or going. Alright, take her down," she added waving her hand at the two officers waiting on the low roof of the store.

"Well who would be looking out for that kind of thing in Mid-Town?" asked Shion rhetorically, guiding the body as it was lowered carefully to the ground, "Out in the West Block slums, or the far northern border of North District, maybe, but the people here have been sheltered from violence and crime all their lives,"

Lin grunted a noncommittal response.

"This is interesting," he added pointing out the melted tips of the fingers on the victim's left hand.

"Why?"

"These marks here on the knuckles, and here on the anterior aspect of the left forearm, are very typical defensive wounds,"

"That's new," said Lin intently, "The previous victims were drugged, taken from behind,"

"This one saw her attacker coming, she fought with him. The killer probably dipped her fingers into some sort of acid, to make sure any DNA evidence was destroyed,"

"And to punish her for fighting him," Lin said with grim certainty.

"That I couldn't say," Shion said, "I'm not a psychologist. But looking here," he tilted the head slightly to better expose the charred section of the skull, "You see this pattern of fractures?"

"Yeah,"

"It's consistent with blunt force trauma and the lack of remodelling indicates it was a recent break,"

Lin nodded to herself.

"So the killer is creeping up on our victim, she hears him and before he can drug her, she turns, he presses the attack, she fights with him, trying to escape, so he picks up something and brains her with it, knocking her out,"

"That's what it looks like anyway," Shion agreed, "I'll swab the fractures in case there are particulates that weren't destroyed by the fire and I'll try and make a cast of the wound give you an idea of what she was hit with once I get her back to the morgue. I'll have an official cause of death for you once I finish with the autopsy but it's no stretch to assume she died of shock, like all the others,"

"Do what you can, double check everything," Lin said with a nod that was somehow grateful even though it was just as brisk and professional as all the ones before it.

"You'll get him, Lin," Shion said, trying to be reassuring, "He's getting sloppy, making mistakes,"

"Yeah, but how many more women are going to end up like this poor bitch before that happens?" she asked shaking her head as she walked away.

Looking at the face of the woman, grossly asymmetrical and twisted with agony, as he carefully manoeuvred her corpse into the black body bag and watching as two of the burlier officers carry it on a stretcher, loading it up in the ambulance; Shion can't help but wonder the same thing.

AN: So like I said this is my first time playing on this playgroud, let me know what you guys think especially of the characterizitions and feel free to review once, twice or three times.

More to come.