Narcosis

Ch. 1: Magic

((This idea came to me in a dream. Don't judge me and my genious.))

Stepping out of his apartment, Yoshiki watched his breath leave his lips, the carbon dioxide exiting his lungs and reentering the atmosphere ((Imma nerd)). It was a cold, winter morning with a fog hanging over the houses and streetlights. It was time to go to work as a homicide detective for the local Police Department. Stuffing his gloved hands in his coat pockets he made his way off to work, leaving footprints on the frosted sidewalk. Each day on his way to his job, Yoshiki would pass by Kisaragi Academy, his shift began at six in the morning so at around 5:40 am, the school would be barren of students. As he passed the empty building everyday though, he couldn't help but think back to those fateful days where one innocent friendship charm had brought a world of hell to him and the rest of his classmates who survived the closed spaces of Heavenly Host Elementary. It's been four years since the tragedy that took place at Heavenly Host and the incidents after, yet he still remembers it as if it happened yesterday. He kept his focus on the school until he fully passed it by, then with a sad sigh he turned his focus back to the destination ahead.

Moments later, he walked into the busy police station and made his way to the large office that had read in bold, black letters on the door, 'Detective Kishinuma'. After a few good mornings from his colleagues, he pulled out his keys and unlocked the office door. Once inside, he removed his coat, gloves and a knit beanie that his sister had made him and hung them up on a coat rack. He then paused, looking at his reflection in the window that shown the busy people bustling about outside his office. Clad in a white button up shirt, a dark black jacket and black jeans his gold police badge hooked onto his front belt loop, he ran his fingers through his bleached blond hair. Thinking as he gazed at his reflection about how it didn't appear that he'd aged since high school. His thought process was interrupted by a familiar face at his window and an excited wave. With that a girl with jet black hair and a low cut floral blouse and black slacks opened the door and bounded in the room. Her bright emerald eyes focused on him as she handed him a steaming mug.

"Good morning detective, I thought you might like some coffee."

He nonchalantly accepted the hot mug from her and took a swig. "Thanks Ms. Shueda."

"You're most welcome, and I told you that you can call me Anna." She bowed showing more cleavage than she should in the work environment, though he didn't seem to notice and just nodded at her remark staring off into the distance before he set the mug down on his desk and walked over behind it, using his keys to unlock the desk drawers. He opened one up and removed his gun, holstering it on his brown belt. She watched him as he sat down on his chair and pulled out a couple of case files, his blue/grey eyes scanning over them. She cleared her throat in an attempt to get his attention. "So, I was wondering, there is this new dessert café and I was hoping that tonight, if you might have a break between all your cases that you would like to go, um, with me."

"Hmm… Oh." He looked up from his files. "Thank you for the offer but, I gotta be honest I don't know how the day looks until all the cases come in. Weekdays aren't usually good for plans. I think I told you that I usually have to make plans a week in advance if I have any chance to follow through with them." He went back to the files.

She nodded vigorously. "Yes, of course. You're busy, I understand, so maybe this coming weekend or next?"

"Huh?... Oh sure." He stood up and handed her the cases. "Could you go file these, they're all solved cases."

She paused, open mouthed as she grabbed the case files from his outstretched hand. "…Oh…Y-Yeah, I'll get right to that. " She nodded and quickly left the room, shoulders lowered in slight disappointment. He then leaned against his desk, sipping the coffee he received as he listened to the chatter that ensued once the girl who had invited herself into his office had left. A couple patrolmen had greeted her as she exited.

"Give it up girl, even when the guy does go out on a date with some nice lookin' chick. It never seems to work out."

"Who knows, maybe I could be different." She smirked resting her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, I think he's made it clear you're not and he ain't interested."

"Do you guys have to be so cruel?" She stormed off in a huff, her arms folded across her busty chest.

"Do you think it's because he might be gay?"

"Nah, that can't be it. If it was, he would at least take an interest in guys. He doesn't seem to have a romantic bone in his body."

"Yeah, he just can't seem to find love."

"Guys, c'mon. He is only 21; I'm still surprised he's already a detective, same with that friend of his."

Yoshiki sighed, tiring of the gossip about him and pulled his wallet out of his jacket pocket. He opened it up and pulled out a somewhat faded photo. Some of the faces were blacked out, but his focus was on a blue haired girl standing next to his best friends little sister. "Shinozaki." He whispered aloud as his gaze focused on his black all weather boots then back at the photo.

"Still looking at that picture, eh Yoshiki?" He looked up to see none other than his good friend from high school, Satoshi Mochida, now a narcotics detective with the department. He was wearing a long sleeved, white button up shirt with his badge hanging around his neck, blue jeans and white tennis shoes, his gun holstered at his side. Yoshiki frowned at his friend's appearance and stood to his feet, pocketing the picture.

"How can you dress so lightly on days like this, it's freezing?"

Satoshi merely laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Hey man, it's nice and warm in here. But, on another note it's now pretty obvious why you won't take that secretary up on her offers. What was it, Anna right? You just can't forget about Shinozaki can you?"

There was a long pause as Yoshiki looked back at his shoes. "…Yeah."

"Why don't you try looking her up?"

"I'm no stalker, and besides she might be in a relationship with someone else."

"But, she might not be. Also, you're more of the guy that hunts down stalkers."

Yoshiki shrugged with a slight chuckle. "Well, I guess you could say that."

"So, let's look her up." With that Satoshi flew behind Yoshiki's desk, opening up his lap top. "What was your password again?"

"Can you just….. Can you not…."

"What's the problem? Shinozaki would be a better choice than that secretary chick. Because Naomi told me that you seem to be more of an ass man than a tit man."

Yoshiki's expression faltered. "You normally discuss these things with your wife?"

"We talk about everything." He smiled brightly. "And you're not denying it."

Yoshiki's eyebrow twitched slightly and he let out an irritated sigh. "Please, this goes for you, your wife, or anyone else. Please stop getting involved in my love life."

Satoshi laughed. "Aw c'mon. Just tell me the password."

"Satoshi…. No…. Just….Just no."

Satoshi sighed in defeat. "Fine, be the loner type that shoots down every girl that's attracted to you. Which are practically half the girls here by the way."

"That doesn't really matter to me. And you're still sitting in my chair." There was a long pause before Satoshi leaned back in the chair.

"I tell you, I don't know what half the department is talking about when they tell me I made a mistake by marrying so young. Marrying Naomi was the best decision of my life. I'm living happily with my best friend. I mean you're my best friend too just, I wouldn't want to marry you." Satoshi chuckled.

This remark made Yoshiki burst with laughter. "Aw, you've broken my heart."

"I'm so sorry." Satoshi said with a smile.

"Why wouldn't you marry me? I'm a lovable guy."

"You would want to be my wife?" Satoshi raised his eyebrow.

"Satoshi please, we both know you would be the wife."

Both shared a laugh as Yoshiki set his now empty mug down on his desk. "But no homo though."

Satoshi stifled a fit of laughter as he held up his hand. "That was the gayest thing you've ever said and you follow it up with 'no homo'."

Yoshiki shrugged with a smile. "I don't see the problem." They shared more fits of laughter, which soon ended as the Deputy Director of the department entered the room.

"Detective Mochida, aren't you supposed to be in your office, not Detective Kishinuma's?"

"Yes sir! Sorry sir!" Satoshi panicked giving him a salute before falling backwards and flailing wildly as he tumbled back in Yoshiki's chair, landing flat on his back. Yoshiki began to crack up at the whole spectacle but tried to hide his laughter as the Deputy Director cleared his throat.

"Yes well, I need both of you to get down to the conference room. You're both due at the board meeting that's happening in a moment." With that, the Director closed the door and made his leave. Allowing Yoshiki to double over in laughter as Satoshi pulled himself from the floor, peering over Yoshiki's desk.

"Oh you think that's so funny don't you?!"

Yoshiki held his stomach gasping for air and holding up his finger, indicating that he needed a minute. Satoshi waited, tapping his fingers on Yoshiki's desk as his friend caught his breath and finally spoke, standing to his feet. "If you had seen it."

"Yeah, yeah, he wasn't laughing." They both made their way to the door, Yoshiki locking it behind them as soon as they made their exit. "What do you think this meeting's about anyway?"

"Don't know." Yoshiki shrugged. "Guess we'll find out."

As soon as the two entered the meeting room they were immediately ushered to take their seats without even a single glance to their other colleagues in the room. Right after, the Director began talking, flashing a power point up which showed the usual horrifying images of human violence. Though after the brutality and mutilation that was witnessed by the two young detectives in Heavenly Host, nothing seemed to bother them. However, the images of small vials of black, viscous liquid that flashed across the screen as he talked caught both of their attention.

"Incidents of rape, assaults and even murder all caused by this new drug going around, simply called, Magic. We don't know much about it; in fact, doctors won't release any scientific name or what type of chemical compounds it's made from. All we know is that it's composed of some dark liquid laced with a strong aphrodisiac." He moved onto the next slide, displaying a lovely young, dark haired woman wearing a hospital gown. "We do know that there are some sick doctors out there trying to force this drug into their patients. The latest victim here is Kaori Hasegawa. She is a patient at a psychiatric hospital whose physician, a man be the name of Dr. Mitsuhito Amagasaki attempted to force this drug onto her. This is the Hospital where the incident took place."

He changed the slide to an image of the front entrance of Amare Patriarcha Crucis Hospital. "Of course the victim screamed and called out for help, leading way for other doctors and nurses to rush to her room and come to her aid, though through the ensuing chaos, Dr. Amagasaki disappeared." Another slide transition, this time showing a dismembered and partially decomposed corpse. "We found his remains in the woods not far from the rural town that lies next to the Kishi train station. So far, there has been little evidence from the corpse."

"Hey, Yoshiki." Satoshi whispered. "Is it just me or does that black goo remind you of something familiar, like I dunno, the Darkening maybe?"

"Yeah, but how would it have gotten here? Heavenly Host is full of, what was it again, closed dimensional spaces. Come to think of it, where that doctor's body was found was near the Shinozaki estate too." Yoshiki whispered back rubbing his chin, Satoshi nodded and then focused back on the power point slides.

"Just a couple moments ago, we've had a very recent victim from the same hospital come forward and tell us of another physician who tried to force the dangerous drug on her. She is requesting to have a couple of officer's watch over her, for she fears for her life of this man without a doubt. So until this bastard possibly turns up dead like the last one, I'm assigning two, three or four detectives in here to keep an eye on this girl and track down any information about this drug, and any doctors involved with it."

"Oh great, bodyguard duty, count me out." One exclaimed loudly.

"I've selected the very best of you, so you should be damn well honored. It's a big case, which means a big job. But if you don't want the big bucks, by all means get the hell out." The Director snapped quickly quieting the nuisance in the room. "So how about you all talk to her yourself before decide whether you'll take on the case or not."

"Sir, Yoshiki and I will gladly take this case on."

"Uh…. Satoshi…"

"Detective Mochida, you haven't even met this girl yet."

"Well bring her in here, it's not gonna change our minds."

"Since when do you speak for the both of us?" Yoshiki rested his head in his hand, feeling one of his usual migraines begin to hit him.

The familiar click of the door opening distracted them and as they turned to face the small figure that walked into the room, their mouths dropped. Yoshiki jumped to his feet his eyes wide, his mouth hung open, unable to speak. Clad in black wedge and raised winter boots, dark purple thermal tights, a black skirt, black jacket and a white scarf and carrying a light pink bag over her shoulder was a very familiar face. Her blue hair done up in the usual pigtails, and her dark blue eyes filled with tears, she stood in front of the room and began to speak.

"My name is Ayumi Shinozaki, I'm sure that this kind man has told you all about the situation. I just…." She began sobbing. "I just need your help. My doctor, his name is Saito Kasemura, he told me he will always know where I am and would always find me. I just need to know I can be safe." The Director went over to soothe her.

"I want you to tell everything you know to the detectives I assign to look after you. I know it may hurt but, it's necessary for us to get a warrant on this guy." She dried her tears, and after nervously glancing around she nodded as she felt more hot tears form in her eyes and covered her face.

Yoshiki swallowed hard upon seeing her now, she hadn't aged since their days in high school, though the way she dressed made her more sophisticated. If it weren't for the situation he would be smiling at the sight of her, she's absolutely beautiful. But he can't stand seeing her with tears in her eyes, "Shinozaki." He whispered softly.

"Bwaaaahhhhh." Satoshi slowly held up his finger pointing directly at her, his mouth agape as complete gibberish poured from his lips. The commotion had caught her attention and she turned to look over at the two.

"Kishinuma-kun…. Mochida-kun…. Oh my goodness." She wiped her eyes. "I haven't seen you two in so long."

"Gah! It is you! Hey, how are things? Oh right, not well. That's what we're here for!" Satoshi chuckled.

"Hi, Shinozaki." Was all Yoshiki could manage.

"You know these two Miss?" The Director looked astonished as she nodded. "Well, small world. Normally this would go against protocol but, since you'll feel more comfortable being with people you know in your house. I'll assign Detectives Kishinuma and Mochida to the case."

"I don't see any reason why I should disagree with that decision." Yoshiki said calmly.

"You can count on us sir." Satoshi saluted rather foolishly.

"Thank you." Ayumi bowed with a slight smile. "I'm fine with this situation. I would very much enjoy catching up with some old friends of mine." Yoshiki inwardly smiled himself seeing her a bit happier. She looks so much prettier when she smiled.

"Great, they'll accompany you home this evening and keep watch of you and your home over the night."

"The whole night?" She gasped. "Sir, is there any female officers that can join them, I don't want a couple of guys watching me change or shower or anything."

"We wouldn't do anything like that Shinozaki." Satoshi waved his hands, he then nudged Yoshiki with his elbow, "Can't be too certain about you though." Satoshi whispered in his ear.

"Satoshi, shut up." Yoshiki muttered through grit teeth.

"Now, now you two, the ladies demands must be met." He pressed the button on the intercom on the desk. "Miss Shueda, could you send me Officers Takai and Kobayashi? Thank you." After turning off the intercom he looked back to the group. "All the rest of you are dismissed."

Ayumi waved for a taxi and gestured for the two to get in. Satoshi fumbled around his pocket for a bit as they sat in the cab. "I'll inform the other two to follow this cab." He quickly dialed a number and put the phone to his ear. Ayumi nodded in response to Satoshi and turned to Yoshiki and smiled. He adjusted the collar of his jacket, trying to hide the light pink blush across his cheeks.

"It really has been a while. It's good to see you again Kishinuma-Kun." He nodded in agreement. "A detective is pretty powerful position; it's interesting to see that you went from being a delinquent in high school to an officer of the law. I had a feeling you weren't as bad a guy as I previously thought." She giggled. "You've really changed for the better."

"Heh, we'll it was thanks to you. You were the one that told me to hold out until graduation." He chuckled a bit nervously as he reflected fondly on the memory of his first time meeting her.

"Oh you still remember that?" She laughed, making him smile. She's absolutely gorgeous, especially when she laughs. "It's no big deal; I was just looking out for a fellow student as class representative."

"Well my home life wasn't that great at the time. So it was nice to see you take me into consideration. My parents weren't, let's just say, that fond of me and I lived in an apartment on my own and the only family that came to visit was my sister." He told her honestly.

She nodded in an understanding way, "Yes, I heard that gym teacher mention something along those lines. My sincerest apologies, but if I had that big an impact with you, then I'm happy I was there for you and I'm happy we became friends back then." She smiled happily making him blush again, finding himself at a loss for words. "It really is good to see old friends like you and Mochida-Kun again. I've missed you." Her eyes sparkled with joy as she looked at him. "Hey, what's with that silence shouldn't you say something sweet?"

His face turned bright red and his eyes grew wide, "Oh uh. Sorry." She giggled and playfully punched him in the arm.

"Heh heh, jerk."

He rubbed the back of his head, "I…. I missed you too, Shinozaki." He returned to attempting to hide his beet red face catching a glimpse of Satoshi silently watching the whole scenario with a big smile.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

Of course not Mochida-Kun." She turned and smiled at him. "Just chatting with Kishinuma-Kun. You two haven't changed a bit have you?" She giggled, once again making Yoshiki smile.

"Nope, we're still the same." Satoshi laughed. "Anyway, the other two officers are right behind us and no worries, they're both girls."

"Okay, that's good." She then gestured for the driver to pull up to a rather refined and large suburban home. "This is the place."

"This is your house?!" Satoshi gasped peering out the car window at the lovely home.

"Yes, this is it." She giggled at his reaction.

"It's huge!"

"It's not that big." She laughed as she opened her wallet and paid the driver all in cash.

"Jeeze, just how loaded are you?" Satoshi asked wide eyed as they got out.

"You do seem pretty well off Shinozaki." Yoshiki nodded in agreement.

"I have a pretty decent job." She shrugged as they made their way to the door.

A sudden loud voice stopped the three directly at the front door and they turned to see two figures in front of an unmarked police car. "The taxi was parked over here for a bit Yome."

"Yes, I saw, in fact they are standing right there in front of the door." A woman, dressed in a full police uniform, with a black beanie on her head and her blond hair covering one of her bright aqua blue eyes was pointing directly at them. Another woman with short lavender hair with a little bunny hair clip and olive green eyes spun around to face them; she was also clad in full uniform.

"Oh so you're right. Thanks Yome," She waived over at them and ran toward the door with the blond following behind her. "Hi, nice to meet you I'm Ran Kobayashi!" She vigorously shook Ayumi's hand. "You're Shinozaki-San right? You must be since these two are here." She giggled.

The blond bowed. "And I'm Azusa Takai, good evening Shinozaki-San. We're assigned to look after you under our supervisor, Knight-Kun's watch."

"And as your supervisor, I really wish you would just call my Kishinuma." Yoshiki grumbled.

"Supervisor?" Ayumi asked.

"Yup!" Ran put her hands on her hips proudly. "Yome and I are training to become homicide detectives just like Knight-Kun. Sorry, Kinght-Kun, the name just fits you." Yoshiki sighed and Azusa nodded in agreement with Ran.

"Yes, thus he is our supervisor." Azusa smiled.

"I see." Ayumi smiled back at them, though she found it rather odd that Ran is referring to Azusa as 'bride'. "Well, let's get inside." Ayumi pulled out her keys and promptly unlocked the door. "I'll make us some tea."

"You'll have to keep it warm on the kettle for us Shinozaki-San." Ran gave Ayumi a salute.

"What do you mean?" Ayumi gave the lavender haired officer a rather confused look.

"Sorry Shinozaki-San. We'll be busy setting up surveillance cameras, we want to make sure no one suspicious with intent to harm you gets pass." Azusa assured her.

"Ah, I see, that makes sense. Let me know when you're done, I'll keep the tea warm."

"Roger dodger!" Ran released her salute and the two went off to the car to get the equipment. With that, Ayumi pushed the door open and gestured for the two detectives to come in.

The house was very ornate and decorative inside. Embroidered curtains lined the windows, soft plush carpets, and several sculptures. Brilliant and artistic paintings and sketches lined the walls, all appeared to be originals. "I'll go get the tea started in the kitchen, go ahead and make yourselves at home." She gestured to the two couches surrounding the coffee table in the living room.

"Alright, just holler if something happens." Satoshi called to her as she walked toward the kitchen door throwing her jacket and scarf on the coat hanger. She turned and nodded with a smile before disappearing into the kitchen.

"This place is swanky." Satoshi wondered around the living room in awe.

Yoshiki set his shoes down by his friend's shoes and Ayumi's designer boots and hung his jacket on the coat hanger. "You could say that again….. Wait, swanky?"

"Yeah, you never heard that term used before?" Yoshiki shook his head and sat down. "Hey, don't just flop there on the couch like this is your house."

"She said make yourself at home." Yoshiki shrugged watching his friend hang up his coat and take a seat next to him. At that moment, Ayumi returned with a tray of tea and cookies. She sat the tray down on the coffee table and poured them each a glass, there was a decorative purple rose sewn into her black blouse at the front of the shoulder, Yoshiki couldn't help but smile at her beauty.

"So how have you two been since graduation?" She picked up her own cup and took a sip.

"Well, I've been pretty good." Satoshi smiled. "I got a job as a narcotics detective and Yoshiki got a job as a homicide detective as you know, yup, nothing better than giving out justice."

Yoshiki sighed and picked up the steaming tea cup placed in front of him, peering into the liquid in the cup his reflection staring back. "I guess you can call it that." He shrugged. "We've been well though, how about you Shinozaki?"

"I've been pretty good myself, after the incident that is."

Both nodded and Yoshiki lowered his head as Satoshi reached for a cookie. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to bring that up."

"Don't worry Kishinuma-Kun; it was really me that brought it up."

"So what is your job anyway, you haven't told us?" Yoshiki asked trying to change the subject. "I'm guessing something with artwork judging by your home."

"Oh, I'm actually an illustrator like I always wanted to be." She smiled proudly. "In fact, a lot of my work has become quite popular with quite a few published materials and what you see on the walls is all mine and my coworkers."

"Well that explains the nice place and the money you got." Satoshi said wiping cookie crumbs from his face. "These are delicious by the way."

"Thanks Mochida-Kun. But, it's not like I'm a millionaire or anything." Ayumi giggled.

"So are you single these days?" Satoshi asked nudging Yoshiki with his elbow, Yoshiki shot him a glare in response.

"Actually, yes, I haven't really dated much with so many trips to the hospital." She beamed at the question, probably because Satoshi was asking it, Yoshiki thought. But it soon faded. "It's kind of hard after…. Well, you know."

Satoshi's shoulders fell, and Yoshiki sighed sadly. "I'm sorry; I did not mean to go there." Satoshi shrugged disheartened.

"Don't worry about it." Ayumi brushed it aside with a smile. "How about you Mochida-Kun?"

"Well, Naomi and I actually got married a couple months ago. I bet she would be glad to see you. Yuka would be too, she's now in high school. Man, they grow up fast."

"Oh…" Satoshi noticed her shoulders sink a bit and rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Oh, I know this is some pretty unfortunate news. Yoshiki did inform me of your high school crush on me."

She smiled nervously. "Oh, is that so? Heh, I wasn't aware you knew Kishinuma-Kun. But I guess it's obvious looking back on it now. It doesn't matter now, I haven't even thought about that in a long time." There was a long pause and she turned to Yoshiki with a smile. "What about you Kishinuma-Kun?"

"What do you mean?"

"Have you found that special someone?"

Yoshiki sat up straight and turned a shade of red. "I….Uh….N-no. I haven't actually."

Ayumi giggled in that cute way he had always liked. "I guess that makes two of us." Once again there was another long pause and then Ayumi set down her tea cup. "I'm really glad I found you guys at the police station though." She folded her hands in her lap. "There's something very serious we need to talk about."

"Yeah, we figured." Yoshiki stated bluntly.

"It always seems to drag you in doesn't it?" Satoshi sighed holding his head in his hands.

She nodded, "But, this might be on a greater scale than we could ever imagine."

Hours Earlier…

"The doctor will be in shortly, you just relax here." The nurse bowed to Ayumi before leaving the office. Ayumi thanked her as she left and sat back on the patient bed looking at the I.V. line pumping a saline solution into her body. Ever since her diagnoses of PTSD and even before such, her health had severely deteriorated at many points due to the anxiety about the tragic incidents in her life. And now, here she was back in the hospital after passing out at work, apparently from dehydration. Soon after a man in a white lab coat walked in, obviously the doctor. His bespectacled eyes were almost onyx in color and his dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, he was busily looking at his patient chart before setting it on the desk and turning to his patient.

"Miss Shinozaki is it?"

"Y-yes sir."

"I'm Doctor Saito Kasemura, it's nice to meet you finally."

"You too." Ayumi paused for a bit, wondering what he meant by that 'finally' part.

"It seems you've been hospitalized quite a lot lately for malnutrition and a lot of that attributes to stress." He vigorously scribbled on a prescription pad. "I'm hoping this antianxiety medication will help easy your stress."

"Thank you doctor, but I don't think pills will cut it for me." That and she knew full well that a psychiatrist wouldn't believe any of the crap she's been put through ever since she found that charm.

"That's understandable." He adjusted his glasses and turned around folding his hands behind his back, she gave him a glance feeling uneasy. "After all, having origins coming from the Shinozaki Estate is rather stressful."

Her eyes widened and she suddenly felt incredibly unnerved by this man. What could possibly be his connection with the Shinozaki Estate? "I'm sorry, what do you mean?"

"There's really no reason to act like you don't understand. I know you're a part of that cursed family." He turned his head revealing a twisted smirk that appeared on his face. Her breath hitched, this man was disturbing. First off, how could he have figured out her curse? More importantly, she had a feeling that she had to get away from him and soon. "After all, it was through researching you that I came across this." He produced a familiar book that really made her crawl back into the far corner of the bed. "Funny, I found it in your luxurious home. It looks rather gaudy; no wonder why you hid it away so cleverly. Something this obscene shouldn't be out in the open in such a lovely home. But, it does do the trick."

"How did you find it?" She gasped. "Th-the Book of Shadows, no. No! I demand you hand it over to me immediately; you have no idea what atrocities that can bring about! I had it locked away and hidden for a reason!"

"I'm afraid I cannot, you should probably be more cleaver about your hiding places. But I digress yes, such horrible things, like what happened to your sister?"

A gasp escaped her lips and his lips curled back in a gruesome smile. "Oh yes, I know of that incident, it was in the papers. Though you should mostly blame that on yourself, it's not the books fault. And do please try and keep your voice down, there are other patients here you know."

This man was no ordinary doctor; no he was someone who knew too much. Way too much, "Just who the hell are you?! Why would you break into my home, and how did you manage to get that?!"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm just a doctor who cares about a frequent patient. I mean, so many visits for stress induced illnesses and mental collapses and break downs. That's far beyond any stress a typical adult female like yourself should have. It caught my fascination you see; your abnormalities piqued my curiosity. So I decided to do some poking around with a couple colleagues of mine to see what I could find about you. And one's home can tell a lot about a person, yours definitely told a lot about you; interesting that you choose to live so close to the old Shinozaki Estate."

"That's breaking and entering, I could have you arrested!"

"Ha! Like you have any credibility with any officer! No one in that field or even anyone here believes in anything paranormal. In fact, here you're just some psycho bitch." He stepped over brushing a strand of hair out of her face with that ever present and disgusting smile. "But I know, I've learned all about you, and you my dear are quite interesting."

She pulled away from him and smacked his hand away. "How dare you talk to a patient like that. You bastard." Ayumi felt herself tremble.

"What are you going to do about it? Hmm." Ayumi lowered her head, not even wanting to look at him anymore. "That's what I thought; you should know your place girl. That happens to be my test subject at the moment."

"Test subject?"

His smile grew wider. "Of course, you see two of my other colleagues and I and a couple of rather curious med students decided for the fun of it, we would try a spell from this ancient book here. And when we did, something truly amazing happened." His eyes grew wide as he spoke. "We thought the best location would be the run down residence of Makina Shinozaki."

Ayumi's eyes grew wide in shock. "Y-you're crazy!"

"Crazy? No just experimentation at work. When we got everything set up and performed the ritual however a huge rift appeared that seemed to cut the fabric of space and time and a blast of black mist came rushing through the opening, the atmosphere seemed to change as if we were transported to another dimension. Soon after that, all of the med students we brought there started collapsing, twitching and convulsing in fits of violence and pain." He seemed to get more excited as he continued. "Tearing out their own hair, clawing out their eyes, attacking each other like animals, ripping each other limb from limb a black gaseous substance escaping every pour of their bodies which after a while lay strewn bloodied and disemboweled across the floor, a thick black ooze seeping out of the gory carnage. We thought it fit to collect samples of the dark gunk."

She stumbled over feeling as though she was about to faint. "The Darkening…. No, not that. It can't be."

"Is that what you call it? Well, anyway the passage soon disappeared and everything felt like we were back on earth again, except for the fact that all those torn up bodies had disappeared along with the passage. We went to work the next day only to find that no one seemed to care about the missing students and when we asked about them nobody knew who they were. It was like they never even existed. Looking at the samples we collected, our curiosity fully piqued, we wanted to see how introducing this black goo to the world would impact it. Could this substance have such a great effect on a larger population as well? But first we had to make it appealing, something that would make human kind want to put into their body, do you know what that something is?"

"That doesn't matter; you can't toy with people's lives like some kind of twisted experiment! This is the Darkening you're playing with; it literally destroys a person's sanity slowly." She couldn't believe what she was hearing and how calmly this guy was about it.

"We wanted to see that for ourselves, so we wanted to make it available for mass human consumption and make it appealing for said consumption. You know what people enjoy most?" He paused as if waiting for her to answer. "Sex. Everyone enjoys sex so we added a powerful aphrodisiac to the ooze so people would want to take it. It became quite popular in the black market world where my colleague had distributed it and this lead to promising, violent and risqué results."

"That would make sense. It is the Darkening." She snarled.

"Yes well, one of my other colleagues results, Dr. Amagasaki, didn't go so well. He tried to force this drug into a patient, Kaori Hasegawa, in hopes of getting it on with her. But her screams resulted in him having to flee. We drove him out passed Kishi station near the Shinozaki Estate until things died down and we could convince the staff and police that the girl was being hysterical again. That damn Amagasaki was screwing everything up cause he wanted to get his rocks off. The crazy bitch followed us their though, how the hell she knew where to go, we had no idea. There was that same black and purple mist seeping out of her so somehow he successfully got her to ingest the drug. This mist lifted Dr. Amagasaki into the air and in the blink of an eye he simple exploded into several pieces, limbs flew in each direction as it rained down blood and viscera on Miss Hasegawa who had quite the pleased look then with that she slowly made her leave. We followed her back to Kishi station where she shouted something like 'Shiho I'm coming soon.' then jumped in front of an oncoming train, splattering into a mass of blood and viscera herself, like a bug against a windshield. Heh, interesting phenomena though, Amagasaki was screwing things up and she was some psychotic girl so good riddance to them both."

"She probably suffered a great deal, that poor girl." Ayumi felt tears sting her eyes. "You monster."

"Aside from that, my other colleague is doing his experiments so I figured now I can start mine. And as I had hoped, I can perform them on the being that holds the origins of the curse, on its source, which is why I'm so happy to see you today."

"Do you think I'm just going to sit still and let you infect me with the Darkening? I know, of your plot now. It's not going to work."

"Oh but I already have, you see as a rich doctor I can pay interns, nurses, other doctors, hell even druggies and nymphos on the street looking for a hot fix of our drug which I have dubbed Magic, to do my bidding for me. So not only do I have an army against you as long as you resist but, I may have given the nurse a little extra something to put in your I.V. bag besides saline."

Her eyes wide in fear she slowly looked up at the bag, it appeared to be a normal I.V. bag with a saline solution but upon closer inspection she saw black mist arise from the liquid inside the bag, with a loud shout she reached to pull the I.V. out only for the doctor to grab her hand.

"Ah ah ah, we can't have that now, you'll ruin the experiment. By the way, I hope there's a hot date in your life, a boy you like perhaps 'cause you're gonna rock his world tonight, even if it kills him." He laughed in a sadistic manner.

"You heartless bastard, I'm going to the police!"

"Like I said, good luck trying to explain that, as if they would believe you."

"Let me go!" As she tried to struggle free she felt a sharp hypodermic needle dig into her neck and a wave of drowsiness hit her like a truck.

"Shhhh, go to sleep now. Tonight, my little test subject you will shine." He stroked her hair. "You're so precious when you're falling asleep, so adorable and innocent." A thin line of drool trickled down his chin.

"You disgusting pervert…. You better watch yourself….. You might end up like that Dr. Amagasaki." She was able to get out that last threat before collapsing back on the bed, overcome by the sleeping drug forced into her body. The last thing she heard was that same nurse asking if everything was okay now and if 'the subject' wasn't causing a ruckus anymore. The sicko of a doctor told her that everything was fine, then darkness.

Present Time…

"And then when I woke up. I was in the reception area, so I quickly made it over to the police station as fast as I could. Apparently they've known about the drug Magic for a while now, and about the death of Dr. Amagasaki." Ayumi sighed feeling tears in her eyes again. "I was just so happy to see you guys, cause I knew then that I could tell the whole story."

"Don't worry Shinozaki, we'll hunt this bastard down." Satoshi assured her.

"We're here for you. You know that." Yoshiki nodded.

"Thank you so much." She wiped away her new formed tears.

"So, it is the Darkening like we suspected, except now it's a sex drug on steroids and with some really unwanted side effects." Yoshiki muttered in disgust.

"Yeah, and what's worse is that it's inside Shinozaki." Satoshi gave her a concerned look.

"Yeah, not good at all, but it's that damn psycho's fault." Yoshiki growled.

"I've been keeping my Holy Water close. Not sure how much that will help but, to be honest I'm terrified." Ayumi looked down at her tea cup. Yoshiki was about to go comfort her when a couple of loud voices outside interrupted them.

"Oh Yome, I can see your panties. Oh they're so cute; I just want to grab them!"

"Ran not now we have to-AHHH!" A loud crash soon followed and Satoshi rolled his eyes while Yoshiki smacked his hand against his forehead.

"I'll go help them out, I need to step out and give the wife a call anyway. Let her know what's going on." Satoshi stood up and made his way to the door.

"Have fun." Yoshiki stated sarcastically.

"Oh yeah."

"Tell Nakashima-San I said hi." Ayumi called out as he opened the front door.

"Will do." Satoshi waved as he shut the door behind him leaving Yoshiki and Ayumi alone in the living room. There was a short moment of silence before Ayumi lifted her tea cup again and began drinking the warm liquid.

"Well so far nothing has happened, so here's hoping I can fight off the Darkening." She took another sip and smiled. "Let's move onto a better topic and not on this for now, I told you all I can, so it can probably be investigated in the morning right?"

Yoshiki nodded. "It's the first thing I plan on doing in the morning."

"Really not a shower or anything?" She giggled.

"Okay the first thing I do involving work." They both shared a laugh and Yoshiki couldn't help but be caught up in her beauty once again. "You look lovely Shinozaki." The words slipped out before his brain could even process it and he felt like slapping his hand over his mouth. He was half expecting to be smacked in the face, a typical reaction from her in high school. But instead she paused for a minute and smiled.

"Thank you Kishinuma-Kun, that's very sweet of you to say. A coworker of mine demanded I buy this outfit when we were out shopping. She's trying to get me to find a man, in her words. It was rather embarrassing at the time." She laughed.

"Well, it looks very pretty on you." He said with a smile.

"I hope you're not flirting with your recent victim Kishinuma."

"Wh-what?! No, I was just giving you a complement." He turned bright red.

"Relax, I'm joking." She laughed. "It's very kind of you to say that, you're quite the handsome man yourself now a days."

His face turned even redder and there was another long pause. "So are you saying I wasn't in high school?" He said trying to get the original color of his face back with humor. She laughed again.

"Hey, now I didn't say that at all, I'm sure a lot of girls had a little crush on you in high school." She took another sip of her tea, unaware that he was currently trying to hide his red face. "Ah, to be in high school again. And actually live like a normal student for the whole experience of high school." She set her empty cup down and there was another short pause before he cleared his throat.

"Hey at least you got us." He shrugged.

"Yup, I do. There is that." She giggled. "Oh, I should probably show you the guest rooms and bathrooms soon. Remind me to do that once Mochida-Kun and the others get back in."

"Got it." He chuckled. "So an illustrator huh? Why don't you show me some of your artwork?"

Her eyes grew wide with delight. "Oh, I would love too." She quickly pulled out a book from under the coffee table and opened it up. "Here's my latest pieces. Come here and take a look, it's rather tedious to reach across the table, I don't want to do something clumsy like knock the tea pot over." She giggled and he nodded with a chuckle getting up and sitting on the couch next to her. She leaned over with the book and pointed to each of her new artwork pieces, he gazed upon the brilliant artistry that was displayed to him, blushing at how close she was to him; she really does have talent.

"This one I made for a nice couple, I drew specters of their parents who had passed away, watching over the couple and the woman is pregnant with their first child. I really thought symbolism played a role in this one. This one was made for the spiritualist Aiko Niwa, I wasn't really fond of her but, a client is a client." She continued on as she pointed to each one, a smile on her face, it was good to see her happy in a situation like this.

"They're all very beautiful and well done, you've always had some great talent. Oh, what's this one?" He pointed to a familiar figure dressed in a Kisaragi school uniform. She grinned at him and playfully punched him in the arm again.

"Haha, you jerk don't be silly, that's a picture of you I drew from high school. Come to think of it, I can draw another picture of you today. Like a then and now thing."

"Relax, I'm joking." He grinned as she laughed again and shoved him.

"You really are a jerk, ya know." She jabbed playfully. "Anyway, here's one of Mochida-Kun too, and Nakashima-San. This is one of Yui-Sensei, Suzumoto-San, Shinohara-San, Morishige-Kun. An adorable picture I drew of Morishige-Kun and Suzumoto-San and a rather silly one of Nakashima-San and Shinohara-San." The first image displayed Mayu clinging to Morishige's arm with a big smile; a small smile was displayed on Morishige as well. The second showed Seiko with a happy smile and a twinkle in her eye as she was grabbing the large breasts of a rather shocked Naomi from behind. She sighed a bit, her smile was tinged with a bit of sorrow, "I always draw them the most so I know I won't ever forget them. Look at all these fond memories; we were so happy back then."

"Well, I haven't drawn them at all and I still remember them. So you're not the only one, but that's truly a great way to remember them fondly." He paused. "We were happy then, but to be honest, I'm more than happy to see you now."

Her bright smile fully returned. "Thank you Kishinuma-Kun. I'm more than happy to see you again too." Her bright, twinkling blue eyes met with his and he returned her smile. She's so gorgeous, he couldn't help himself. He hoped this moment would last for a while but there was another crash outside that interrupted the moment.

"Dammit you two, those cameras are expensive!" Satoshi's voice came from outside, sounding very frustrated.

"My apologies, I don't know what's gotten into her." Azusa's voice was heard after, followed by Ran giggling.

"I just can't help myself around Yome, she's so pretty. Sorry."

Yoshiki exhaled in equal frustration about his moment with his first love in high school being ruined. "Sorry about that."

"Don't be." She brushed it aside. "Oh look, here's a picture of Naho-San."

He frowned, "The picture is nice, but honestly I wasn't too fond of her."

She nodded in understanding, "I can see that, I mean she didn't really live up to my standards in the end as my high school idol and role model. And she did some terrible things, hence why-." She suddenly stopped in mid-sentence and the book fell out of her lap, he caught it and set it on the table and turned to her. She was trembling and appeared to be fading in and out of consciousness.

"Shinozaki! What happened? What's wrong?" He grabbed her shoulders holding her up. "Stay with me now, look at me, I want to see your eyes." He was a bit panicked but, being a cop he didn't really show it, keeping control of the situation that just arose. He was slightly relieved to see she did what he told her to do and turned toward him.

"Oh…. I suddenly…. Feel dizzy and faint….. I feel so cold now." She spoke in a tired manner and collapsed against him, moving closer as if trying to get warmth. His cheeks turned a bit pink but he ignored it as he shook her a little trying to get her to get up.

"Do you need my jacket or your jacket? How about a blanket or hot tea? Stay with me."

"It's okay Kishinuma-Kun. I'm with you." She murmured. "Thank you for your concern for me."

"Sh-Shinozaki. Hey."

"You've always been so strong and protective, especially of me." She buried her face against his chest. "Mmmm… So strong…." His cheeks turned a bright shade of red. Something was extremely off, and he knew exactly what when he felt her hands travel underneath his jacket. "Ohh, that body of yours…. So strong and sexy." He gasped as she ripped open the buttons on his shirt, her hands running across his bare skin. She looked up at him with dark eyes and a big grin, a trickle of saliva coming from the corner of her mouth.

"Sh-Shinozaki…. No, stop this Shinozaki." He grabbed her by the shoulders attempting to push her away, but she had a strong grip on him.

"Why should I Kishinuma-Kun?" She giggled in a disturbingly playful way, not the way that made him smile. "Be honest here, I've seen the way you've been looking at me, ever since you had laid eyes on me in the meeting room. Looking at me hungrily like that, you know you want me and you want this. Admit it." He noticed her snaking her way out of her purple tights and soon kicking them off, her lacy, pink panties were next to slide down her legs, kicking them off as well. He knew in his brain that this had a high chance of ending badly but he couldn't change that due to the situation that the blood from his brain was quickly rushing to his lower extremities as she straddled his hips, pushing him back and pinning him down to the couch. He tried to fight back, knowing he had to end this, but it was no use.

"I…I-Yes I do." He figured he should be honest, trying to ignore the feeling of her hands softly caressing every bit of his torso, but failing miserably. "I can't deny that fact, but not like this Shinozaki. If this were in any other situation I would be loving this right now."

"Don't be coy; you ARE loving this right now. I can tell." She giggled as she leaned closer, running her index finger from his chest to the top of his belt buckle. Moving fast, she quickly undid his belt.

"Shinozaki, think about what you're doing." He whimpered softly, shivering with pleasure as he felt her hot breath against his bare chest.

Her lips softly touched his bare skin making his body tense. "Such a big strong man." He gasped loudly as he felt her suddenly grope him, her soft giggle echoed through his ear. "Really big, you're really packing heat and I'm not talking about your gun there." He bit his lip as he felt her hand stroke the crotch of his pants, his arousal increasing. "I knew that bulge in your pants I noticed in high school wasn't a lie."

"Please, snap out of it." He begged her to control herself and simultaneously, trying to stop his self-control from continuing to grow thin.

She giggled. "What are you talking about? Hmmm, .Ki." She said his name slowly as she unbuttoned his pants. "Mmmm, you're really hard, that's gonna feel nice."

"Shinozaki, please let's talk about this."

"I don't want to talk about anything."

"I… Ah… I just want to talk to you."

"I'm tired of talking." She leaned even closer to him, her lips caressing the nape of his neck. "Let's get busy, detective." With that, she bit down hard into his neck. He struggled to break away but, she had him pinned down good. She was creating the perfect amount of soft suction against his neck, her warm, moist tongue caressing his increasingly sensitive skin. He bit his lip; desperately try to stifle a moan of sheer pleasure.

"No, no, no, not like this…. Shinozaki.." Thoughts spun through his head but his mind went blank as he felt her teeth dig into his flesh. A warm, sticky and moist trickle of blood made its way down his neck to his chest. He couldn't hold it back, he cried out, his loud scream echoing through the living room. "Shinozaki! GAH!"

Meanwhile…

"Just be more careful with that equipment okay." Satoshi rubbed his head.

"Yes sir." Azusa bowed.

"Rodger dodge!" Ran saluted.

"We just have this last-." He paused. "What is that?"

"Hmm?" Azusa turned. "Movement!" She gasped.

"Is that a gas mask?" Ran asked peering through the bushes at the rustling. Just then, several men in trench coats and gas masks leapt from the bushes and bolted in several directions.

Satoshi whipped into action grabbing his gun and pointing it at the crowd. "Stop police!" The girls pulled out their firearms and he turned to them. "Check the perimeter!" They nodded and went off in several directions in pursuit of the suspicious figures. Satoshi bolted after them as well, soon catching up to one. He grabbed the masked figure and slammed him down to the ground, holstering his gun and pinning him down.

"Why did you run?"

"None of your fucking business pig!" The man spat through the mask, Satoshi slammed his head against the ground.

"Not the answer I was looking for."

"That blond one you got with ya is hot. Wonder what she'd be like on Magic?"

"So, it is what I thought."

"Clear!" Azusa yealled running toward him.

"Clear!" Ran's voice called out. "Dammit, they got away!"

"I got one right here!" The two girls bolted up to him just as a loud scream echoed from the house, he couldn't tell if it was of pleasure or pain. "Yoshiki?!"

"Sounds like you're friends having a good time." The masked man turned to Azusa. "What's up baby?"

"Save your breath worm!" She scoffed.

"Don't you dare talk to Yome like that!" Ran hissed.

"Dammit!" Satoshi muttered getting up. "Keep an eye on him." They nodded and he ran back to the house as fast as he could.

Meanwhile…

Satoshi burst through the door only to find Ayumi looking up at him with possessed eyes, a small trickle of a mixture of saliva and blood traveled down her chin. Yoshiki pinned beneath her and while she was distracted, he struggled out beneath her and ran over to his friends' side. Both looked disheveled.

"Shinozaki….. Calm down." He turned to Yoshiki. "How you holding up?"

"Fine, I didn't let it get far."

"Your neck is bleeding."

"I'll be fine."

She began tip toing over to them, black mist rising from her body looking at each one of them before grinning widely at Yoshiki and bolting as fast as lightning toward him.

"Shinozaki!" Both of them shouted as Ayumi pounced on the blond detective. He struggled trying to push her away once again as she began licking at the wound on his neck.

"Mmmm, your blood tastes Heavenly, Yoshiki." She moaned. He didn't understand this, now Satoshi was in the room. Why would she go after him again instead of her high school crush, it didn't make sense, but he couldn't think about that much at the moment.

"Yoshiki!" Satoshi tried to intervene but, Yoshiki stopped him and pulled Ayumi into a soft embrace.

"Please, stop this Shinozaki. Snap out of it and come back to us. You don't want to do this, I know and you know it. Just please, be the same Ayumi Shinozaki we always knew." There was a long pause before there was a rather distant whimper.

"So…. Warm…. Where?... Kishinuma-Kun?"

"Shinozaki! You're back!" He gasped, noticing Satoshi's body also relax.

"Ah!" She blushed jumping from his arms. "D-did I?... Oh my God, your neck Kishinuma-Kun. Did I do that? I….. I'm so sorry." She began to tear up.

"It's okay, it's over now, you're safe." He reassured the girl.

"Uh, Yoshiki." Satoshi pointed at her bare legs which were dripping black ooze onto the floor. She gasped loudly trying to shake it off.

"Hold on." Yoshiki pulled out a plastic baggy and held it against her leg, filling it up with the ooze.

"I'll call Naomi over here she's a nurse." Yoshiki nodded to his friend who flipped open his phone as Ayumi sprinkled Holy water on it. Yoshiki flipped open his own phone and took pictures for evidence. He winced a little at the pain in his neck as Satoshi closed his phone.

"Naomi is on her way. Man that must hurt." Satoshi pointed at his neck.

"I'm sorry it's my fault." Ayumi trembled.

"It's definitely not your fault, don't say that. I'll be alright, it doesn't hurt that much." He assured her and she nodded, wiping her tears.

"At least not as much as your blue balls will." Satoshi smirked and pointed at him.

"Oh, oh my." Ayumi turned away from Yoshiki, her face bright red. He looked down and blushed himself, frowning angrily as he grabbed a pillow that fell to the floor and held it in front of himself.

"Why did you have to point that out?" Satoshi laughed at the whole spectacle.

Moments later…

Naomi hovered over Yoshiki dressed in full scrubs as she finished bandaging his wound. "All better now. It's good to see you Kishinuma-Kun though not under the best circumstances."

"Thanks Nakashima." He smiled weakly, showing his appreciation. She smiled back and turned to Ayumi.

"You too, class rep." Ayumi laughed lightly.

"We aren't in high school any more, no need to call me that."

"Sorry, I'm just used to it." Naomi laughed; she hadn't changed much since high school either. "So explain to me how Kishinuma got injured and why two female officers are standing in the class reps living room with a tied up guy wearing a gas mask."

Satoshi sighed. "You may want to sit down for this hun, it's a long story."

"You know I love stories." She giggled.

Yoshiki handed Azusa the bag of evidence and emailed the pictures to her phone. "Here, take this down to evidence. I'm sending you the pictures right now. Nakashima is here and she's a woman that can handle the situation, trust me. We'll take care of him." He glanced down at the incapacitated suspect.

"Of course, come on Ran."

"Okay, Yome and Boss."

"Boss huh, guess that's better." Yoshiki shrugged.

Neither noticed a curious Naomi walking over. "What pictures?" She then caught a glimpse of the dark liquid running down Ayumi's legs and the bag. Her eyes grew wide in terror and her jaw dropped. "No…"

"Naomi…. Honey." Satoshi began approaching his wife in a panic as she collapsed to the ground, gripping her head, a loud cry escaping her lips as tears fell down her cheeks.

"Nakashima-San!" Ayumi and Yoshiki cried out in unison. The girls looked onward in worry.

"Seiko…. Seiko…"

End

((What will happen next? All questions will be answered in more chapters to come, stay posted.))