Reminder of the Heart: A Detective's Case - Chapter 9

Ahem... finally, ne? This particular fanfic will be long and I should start working on the other one too. xD So, enjoy this next chapter. *winks*

Mao looked at the packet given to Jun from Sho. She saw the wire tap and the e-mails from the perpetrator. The report was detailed, describing all the computer language that no one could understand. For the e-mails, the hacker used porno sites to cover up the real source. The real source of the e-mails came from a particular server which Sho hadn’t figured out yet. Although, it seemed he had to use many different passwords to hack through since it was complicated. Then, for the wire tap, it was one of the prototypes introduced at a convention brought on by the National Police Agency. Whoever got in contact with this had to have been part of it. She looked at the list of names on the paper Jun left her when they were comparing. Which of the people would be on the list? She looked over it carefully. Basically, Jun and his ‘friends’ were part of the Criminal Investigation Bureau. They were the only ones who made sense to go to the convention so they can find out the new devices. ~ Jun’s never seen the wire before. Why would he keep that information from me if he knew? I’ll ask him when he comes back. ~ The two names that stood out in her mind were Chief Abe Tsuyoshi and Sho Sakurai. Chief was a well-known police general that no one would cross. Sho is very good at hacking into computer systems. Then her mind went blank, and she sat back on the couch. Too much information all at once and it wasn’t easy. Who has motive if it’s anyone in the police force? She started writing down ideas of the people she knew.

*******
“Come in.” Jun slowly put his hand under his desk to see if he would need to draw the gun. The person opened the door slowly and revealed who he was. It was a new guy who he never seen before.
“Crap… I must have the wrong room again.” The guy was looking at the piece of paper in his hand and scratching his hand. He was tall and very handsome from what Jun gathered.
~ Another pretty boy… oh boy ~ Jun rolled his eyes and went back to typing.
“Hey, could you guide me? I’m looking for Chief Tsuyoshi.” He really was lost.
“May I ask who you are? I’ve never seen you here before.” Jun kept his eyes on the monitor.
“I’m Tomoshisa Yamashita but people call me Yamapi for short. I’m a detective who was transferred to work on the Inoue case.” He looked at Jun who had a shocked look on his face.
“I’m the detective in charge of the case. My name is Matsumoto Jun, but just call me Jun.” Jun decided to be polite and then he looked up.
Yamapi thought of the name carefully and then snapped his fingers, “Oh, you’re Detective Jun! I’ve heard a lot about you in my district.” A big smile came to his face and then he went up to Jun to shake his hand.
Jun got up slowly and placed both his hands on the desk, “No one informed me of this! I work on this case alone until otherwise.”
“Not from what I was told actually. Chief requested it.” Yamapi explained.
“Oh, he’s hearing it from me.” He walked out from behind his desk and grabbed Yamapi’s arm. He dragged him to the Chief’s office and pounded on the door.
“Ok ok.. I’m coming.” Chief open the door and saw a pissed off Jun.
“Who is this?” as he pointed to Yamapi. “I’m fine working on this by myself and when I need help!”
Chief sighed, “Well, I couldn’t get out of this one. The Inoues thought you wouldn’t handle this by yourself. So, they requested for another detective as support.” Yamapi was dumbfounded by all this.
“Oi…. First, they put me on a case that I didn’t work on and now I have to work w/ him?!?!?! This is outrageous. Can’t you tell them that I’m fine?”
“Unfortunately, I can’t give them that answer.” Chief went behind his desk. Jun and Yamapi walked in. Yamapi shut the door while Jun sat down on a chair.
“This is not happening.” Jun put his head in his hands.
“May I say something?” Yamapi finally broke his silence.
“Go ahead.” Chief pointed him to the other chair.
Yamapi sat and shrugged, “Look, I’ve been hearing about this all over the station. I have not been a detective for long but I can give my insight to this case.”
“What good will it do me if you don’t know the case?” Jun glared at him.
“I can read and learn about it in a night. Just give me the file and I’ll read it here. Besides, I was known to figure things out fast in my district.” Yamapi was trying to make himself look good.
Chief looked over at Jun who wasn’t thrilled, “You have no choice. Just work w/ him and I don’t want to see you guys punching each other.”
“I’ll try not to.” Jun crossed his arms.
“Well, will I be able to meet the client?” Yamapi was quite curious.
“Yes.” He gave him the file to look at.
Yamapi opened up the folder to see who he’ll be talking to, “She’s beautiful.” He held up the picture to see it clearer. “She looks familiar actually.”
“Oh really?” Jun asked.
“Yes.” He looked down at the file and started to read the facts. Jun watched him and realized the guy was no joke. His eyes read the words faster than he could. “Ok, I knew she looked familiar. She goes to my college.”
Chief smiled, “Good. Then you can keep a close watch on her there while Jun figures outside.”
“Sir!” Jun began to object but decided to not go further.
“So, she’s the Inoues’ daughter? Her real name is Mao Inoue. Got it. I just need to remember that she goes by the other name at school then.” Yamapi seemed giddy. Jun already didn’t like the guy. He observed how he looked at her picture… it bugged him so much.
“Ok, well, we have this settled. I think you two need to get more acquainted.” Chief suggested.
“Sounds good.” Jun just left the office and rolled his eyes. ~ Ugh, am I jealous? I must be… I don’t like how he looked at her picture. ~ He walked back to his office and sat on his chair. Little did he know, Yamapi followed him back to his office, holding the file. “Don’t you have a cubicle or something to go to?” Jun was plain rude.
“No. Chief said I can share w/ you here while I’m at the station. Besides, you know more about this than I do. So you can share the details.” Yamapi sat and started reading it.
“Just read the reports in there and then you’ll get the insight of things.” Jun went back to typing up his report to the Chief.
“I have a question….” Yamapi didn’t look up at all.
“What?” Jun didn’t look at him either.
“You jealous of the way I looked at Mao’s picture?” Yamapi grinned as he turned the page.
~ What? How the heck did he know when he never looked up? ~ Jun cleared his throat, “What makes you say that?”
“I don’t know. I know you’re already threatened that I’m here to help out on the case that you couldn’t figure out on your own. Then, I saw, from the corner of my eye, how you continued to glare at me when I was looking at Mao’s photo. It’s just a quick observation.” Yamapi held up Mao’s picture, “You guys dating secretly?”
Jun kept his poked face but his head exploded, “No, we aren’t.”
“So, that means I can date her then, right?” Yamapi looked up and wink.
“I suppose. I don’t think she would go for you, though.” Jun was enraged inside, but wasn’t going to blow up. It wasn’t part of his character.
“I see.” Yamapi nodded.
“Look, I’m apparently stuck with you.” Jun looked at him and spoke his mind. “So, don’t even think of trying to go after Mao. She doesn’t need someone like you to watch her back. She can take care of herself.”
“You would know this how?” Yamapi’s curiosity struck.
“I interact w/ her because her family wants me to.” Jun answered.
“Right. Are you sure it’s not for your own benefits of getting to know her?” Yamapi seemed to be the type to test people constantly. Jun saw why he was good cause he can suspect motive.
“No. Besides, she’s helped a bit on the case itself to figure out clues we’ve found. Now if you don’t mind, I need to get my report done.” Jun went back to typing.
“Fine. I’ll finish reading this file outside.” Yamapi got up and left the office. Jun got up and locked his door so he wouldn’t come in again. He turned and learned against the door. ~ This guy…. He’s trying to find out more information of me and Mao now. Oi…. I’m really not going to have fun w/ this case w/ him around. ~

*******
It was 1am. Mao fell asleep with the notebook in her hand. She was waiting for Jun to come home, but it was no use. She hadn’t slept well the past couple of nights since many things happened. Jun came back and turned on a light.
“Mao?” Jun quietly called out. He walked in and took off his shoes. Then, he slid into some house slippers. From the living room, he heard some sleep talking and headed into that direction. He saw Mao sleeping peacefully.  He was contemplative on what to do, but decided to her into her bedroom. He picked her up slowly. Once he did so, she immediately curled up his arms. It was an unusual reaction to him, but she was still asleep. He walked into her room slowly and placed her on the bed. She was an angel while sleeping. After putting the blankets over her, he went back out to the living room and shut the door slowly. He quickly decided to look at Mao’s notes. He was very impressed on what she deducted. It will definitely help him.
30 minutes passed by. It was time for him to sleep too. He had a very exhausting day with the move, writing out his report and meeting his new ‘partner’ who he wasn’t thrilled about. As he was about to sleep, he heard screaming come from the other room and fell off the couch.
"What the?” The screaming continued and Jun ran into Mao’s room. She was having a nightmare. He quickly ran to her side and shook her to wake up. “Mao, wake up…..” After a couple of minutes, she woke up while Jun held her arms.
"You ok?” Jun was very concerned. Mao sat up next to him since he was sitting on the side of her bed. Tears ran down her cheeks and she fiercely hugged him. He just held her, patting her head, “Shhh… it’ll be ok. I’m here.”
“Jun…. I thought you died.” Mao buried her face in his shoulder.
“That was a nightmare.” ~ I died? ~ Jun was surprised.
Mao sobbed, “I think I was thinking of the story you told earlier and it got to me.”
“It won’t happen to me. I promise….”
“Still, I’m very scared for you. I know it’s your line of work, but the person may come after you instead.” Mao didn’t let go.
“That actually wouldn’t surprise me. I’ve put a lot of people in jail” Jun was trying to make light of the situation.
She continued to cry some more. ~ Am I going to ever get some sleep? I guess not. Mao’s more important. ~ Jun thought. After 10 minutes, her sobs subsided and she managed to look up at him. He had a big smile on his face. “I’m alive.” He winked at her.
“I’m glad it was only a nightmare and nothing real.” Mao sniffled.
“Yes. It must have been gruesome. I’m sorry I told you my life story earlier.” Jun felt bad.
“No, don’t worry. I wanted to know. I must be stressed from this case. I’m still scared about the person calling me.” Mao remembered that moment where fear struck her the most.
“We’ll get him. I wish I got more clues faster. I apologize on not being efficient as I should be.” Jun bowed his head.
“I can’t see you well.” She turned on her night stand light. When the light turned on, she saw Jun’s head bowing. “Jun….” She straightened his head to look at her. “Don’t apologize. The case got more complicated and there is nothing you can do about it.”
He nodded and blinked. Her face was wet from the crying and he got some tissues to help wipe them. She stopped him from doing so. “Is this wrong?” He backed away slowly without waiting for her response.
“No.” She looked at his hand and took the tissues away. Jun arched a brow and wondered. She brought his hand up to her cheek and closed her eyes. He smelled so good, and his touch comforted her. A smile was the result. “I don’t know if I would regret this…”
“Regret what?”
“This….” Mao leaned in and kissed his lips gently. Jun’s eyes shot wide open which made his reaction slow. She thought of this as a rejection and backed away slowly. “I’m sorry. I guess I shouldn’t have. I should have thought-“ Jun cut her off by kissing her. He wanted to for a while and didn’t know she felt the same. She closed her eyes and melted with him through it. The innocent kiss became a very passionate one. Jun slid his arms around her waist while Mao’s arms found their way up to his neck. It was a kiss of destiny…. This case was meant for them to be brought together like this.
Jun realized if he continued to make out w/ her, he wouldn’t be able to control what was going to happen next. He slowly pulled away and breathed. Mao had her innocent look which he adored.
“Did I hurt you? I know I’m not Yukie and I know you’ll never get over her….” Mao began.
“No.” He looked at her. “The truth is…” He brushed her cheek. “If we continued, I don’t think I can control with what would happen next.” He leaned his head forward. Their foreheads were touching each other.
“I’m sorry to have brought this on. I’ve been wanting to do that for a while…. Well, I didn’t mean to surprise you.” Mao felt really bad.
“Mao, you’re not Yukie. I accepted that. You and her are completely different. I began… I… well….” Jun lost his train of thought.
“Jun?” Mao looked at him.
“Yes?” His eyes were closed because he was really tired.
“Could you sleep in my bed with me tonight?” She didn’t want to be alone in her room.
“You sure that is wise?” He wanted to make sure.
"Yes. I know this sounds very dependent of me but I’m not scared when you’re around. You protect me…” she explained.
“All right.” He lightly kissed her lips again and she kissed back. They both went in her bed and tucked themselves in.
"Good night, Jun.”
“Good night, Mao-chan.” Jun turned off the night stand light and held Mao close to him. The two drifted off to a peaceful sleep.