Yu-Gi-Oh!, Darkest Powers, chapter 3
Title: Darkest Powers
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters
Pairings: Mahaado x Atemu, Yuugi x Atemu, Anzu x Otogi
Genre: supernatural elements, action/adventure, romance
Warnings: shounen ai, foul language, character death (will be warned for in the respective chapter)
Summary: (AU) When two CEOs end up dead in Domino City, detectives Jounouchi Katsuya and Honda Hiroto are put on the case. The investigation goes south when their best friend, Mutou Yuugi, is accused of the murders. Jounouchi goes into the city’s underbelly to clear his friend’s name, only to find out that the stage has been taken over by a master criminal known as The Pharaoh, and his mysterious bodyguard Mahaado…
Author’s note: Butchering of canon events to fit the story. Everyone is at least ten years older. Liberal use of the Japanese police procedure and legal system. Feedback is a great thing.
Key: ----- = scene change
Jounouchi stepped on the gas. How big were the odds that two prominent CEOs were killed in less than a week? Jounouchi had never heard of Dartz before, or the company called Paradius. It was located in the same district as Industrial Illusions, which set alarm bells off in his head. Honda had a similar worrisome expression on his face. Paradius loomed up in front of them: a slender, tall building made out of steel and glass. The entrance was blocked by police cars and several ambulances. Jounouchi showed his badge and he was allowed to enter the building, along with Honda. Just as they went through the large revolving doors, two paramedics pushing a gurney raced past them. Jounouchi caught a glimpse of a young man with short, reddish hair strapped to the gurney, his eyes closed. There was no time to waste and Jounouchi and Honda made their way upstairs, per their captain’s orders. Dartz didn’t have a penthouse on the top floor like Pegasus, but his private offices - with a penchant for more glass. Jounouchi ignored the interior decoration for now and searched out Ushio, standing amidst paramedics and cops, grimacing. He noticed Jounouchi and Honda immediately.
“No eyes were gouged out this time,” he said.
“Bring us up to speed, captain.”
“We have a witness, but unfortunately he’s not in the position to speak.”
“The guy they wheeled away downstairs,” Honda concluded.
“Exactly. The other two are also witnesses, but they didn’t see as much as the third guy. Talk to them. I’ll send the rest away.”
Jounouchi looked around to see which ‘other two’ Ushio was referring to. Leaning against the glass wall, a burly guy with short-cropped blond hair glared at everyone and everything in sight, while a shorter guy with spiky brown hair was attended to by a paramedic.
“We need to put a cast on this,” the paramedic said, examining the man’s arm. “It’s definitely broken. We’ll take you to the hospital.”
“Just a moment,” Jounouchi said. He introduced himself and Honda to the two men. “We’d like to ask you a couple of questions. Can you hold on?”
“Yeah, sure,” he said, flinching as the paramedic tugged at his arm. “Fuck! It all happened so fast!”
“What did you see?”
“Amelda was with Dartz in the office…”
“Amelda?” Jounouchi connected the dots. “He’s the one on his way to the hospital?”
“Yeah. If I get my hands on the one who’s responsible for this! I’ll fucking tear his head off!”
“Varon,” the taller man admonished him. “We have bigger problems than this.”
“Dartz.” Varon heaved a sigh. “Fuck. He’s dead, isn’t he?”
“Tell us what happened,” Honda encouraged him. Annoyed, Varon swatted the paramedic away.
“We were just goofing off. Dartz had asked us to move some artifacts and we were preparing the shipping papers and transport documents. Amelda went into Dartz’ office to ask something, I don’t know - what was he going to ask, Rafael?”
The taller man thought for a second. “I think he wanted to know how to spell the destination of the Polynesian statue.” He pursed his lips. “Amelda was raised in a very poor country. He didn’t have a chance at education like we had.” He dared Jounouchi and Honda to say something about it, but they didn’t comment.
“Anyway, we were packing those artifacts up when someone suddenly enters the office. Which was strange, as every visitor is announced. We just didn’t see him coming.”
“What is your relationship to Dartz? Bodyguards?”
“Sort of. Bodyguards, couriers, handymen, henchmen, whatever you want to call it.” Varon scrunched up his face, trying to suppress the pain. “Like I said, this guy enters and the next
moment, it’s all a blur.”
“So it was a man. Can you describe him?”
“It all happened so fast,” Varon repeated. He seemed embarrassed. Rafael crossed his arms in front of his impressive chest. “I couldn’t see his face. It was a flurry of black and red, and something that looked like gold. I could hear it.”
“You could hear gold?” Honda asked, flabbergasted.
“No, I meant I could hear it was jewelry, some kind of jewelry. It sounded like a solid chain with something dangling from it. Before I knew it, Rafael was down. I managed to lift up my arm to defend myself, but he just broke it!”
Rafael stared into the other direction, his jaw clenched tight. It had to be very frustrating for such a strong guy to go down without being able to properly defend himself or his friends.
“What happened next?”
“He went into Dartz’ office. I heard screams before I lost consciousness.” Varon shivered and he clutched his injured arm. “Fuck, that’s going to haunt me for the rest of my life. Both Amelda and Dartz.”
“Does Dartz have enemies?”
“He’s not the friendliest man around,” Varon said, “he can be a real jackass, that’s for sure. I don’t think however, that he antagonized anyone that severely that… well…” His voice trailed off.
“What’s the exact nature of his business?”
“Import and export of artifacts and antiquities, preferably from the ancient Greek, Egyptians and Romans… everything BC, the older, the better.”
Ancient Egyptian artifacts? Jounouchi perked up. Bakura Ryou had an Egyptian artifact. Pegasus’ game had been based on Ancient Egypt culture and mythology. Was that the connection? He filed it away for future use. Jounouchi hadn’t told Honda about this, as it was such a flimsy connection that he didn’t know whether he should take it serious or not.
“You should really go to the hospital,” the paramedic cut in. Varon had paled significantly. He glanced at Jounouchi.
“Go. We’ll talk to your colleague here.”
Varon nodded in gratitude and the paramedic guided him out of the office, leaving Rafael, who didn’t look like he was going to talk anytime soon. Jounouchi decided to let the man be for the moment. He wasn’t the main witness and he was obviously hiding his own shock and horror behind that grouchy façade. Interrogating him would only lead to disaster and Jounouchi wanted to take a look at the crime scene. Honda followed him into Dartz’ office, where Ushio was standing; he had sent everyone away but the technical unit. Every surface looked so clean that Jounouchi doubted the unit would find any trace, just like at Pegasus’ penthouse. He greeted Mako for good measure and slowly approached the crime scene, taking everything in. The CEO of Paradius, Dartz, laid face forward on his glass desk. A knife with a very intricate handle protruded from his back. Barely any blood was visible on his expensive clothes, which surprised Jounouchi. The killer had to have struck a major blood vessel to kill the CEO with just one stab. He put on latex gloves and rotated Dartz’ head just a little. The man’s eyes were widened in shock and surprise.
“He didn’t see his killer coming,” Honda concluded. “That’s impossible; everything’s made out of glass and he came through the door, taking out Amelda first.”
“Strange that the killer didn’t take out Varon and Rafael,” Jounouchi couldn’t help but wonder. “If I were the killer, I would get rid of any witnesses instead of just incapacitating them. If this killer was really as fast as Varon claimed, he could’ve easily planted a knife into them as well.”
“They didn’t matter. The killer was after Dartz, plain and simple.”
Ushio joined them at the desk. “Your first impression?”
“It’s weird as fuck, Captain, pardon my language.”
Ushio made a gesture that Jounouchi’s language wasn’t the problem. “I think we have a serial killer on our hands,” he said. “First Pegasus, now Dartz. We have to find a link, a connection between these murders, or we’ll get an international scandal on our hands. I don’t want Domino City to earn the reputation of ‘CEO killings city’. The press is going to have a field day with this one.”
“I think it’s too early to say it’s a serial killer,” Jounouchi objected. “The modus operandi is quite different. Pegasus wasn’t stabbed. Dartz isn’t missing an eye.”
“Agreed, but they’re both widely-known CEO’s with international connections,” Ushio shot back. “That has to count for something.”
“What do you suggest, captain?” Honda asked.
“I think we should bring in a profiler.” Ushio’s dark eyes scanned the environment. “Someone with enough psychological experience to draw up a profile of this killer and who can gain insight on the way he thinks and operates. I don’t like to stand empty-handed, and neither do you.”
“That’s right, boss.” Jounouchi continued to study Dartz. Aside from the single stab wound, Dartz hadn’t suffered any other injuries. The longhaired man had heterochromatic eyes and looked fairly eccentric to him, just like Pegasus. Could there be a connection in their private lives? Was Honda’s ‘secret lover theory’ more viable than he thought? It bugged him that someone had been able to sneak up on Dartz and kill him from behind. The office didn’t have any other exits or entrances than the single door he had walked through. How was it possible that no one had seen the killer, just ‘a flurry of black and red’? Jounouchi and Honda stayed for another hour to research and examine the crime scene meticulously. Finally, the technical unit threw them out, after promising to send them all the results and reports ASAP.
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If someone had told Jounouchi or Honda that the ‘someone with enough psychological experience’ would turn out to be Yuugi, they would’ve laughed at their face. Yuugi barely ventured outside his own practice, so it was hard to imagine that he was going to help to catch a killer. When Yuugi showed up at his desk, Jounouchi asked him if he had taken a wrong turn somewhere. Yuugi blushed, slightly embarrassed.
“No, Jounouchi-kun, I’m here to help,” he said, flustered. “Ushio-san asked me if I was able to take a look at certain cases to draw up a profile of the person who committed the killings.”
“Yuugi, you aren’t a profiler,” Honda said. “You’re going to puke out your guts when you see the pictures.”
“I expect so, yes,” Yuugi said. He might be introverted, but he wasn’t naïve. “I want to help.”
Jounouchi couldn’t believe that Yuugi was going to work on the Pegasus/Dartz case. “This is a very dangerous killer we’re talking about,” he said. “This is nothing for you, Yuugi, no offence. I’m going to talk to the captain.”
“About what?” Ushio stood behind him, startling Jounouchi.
“Captain! I didn’t see you.”
“Unless you have eyes in the back of your head, no, you didn’t see me. What’s the problem?”
“Not really a problem,” Jounouchi said. “Well, sort of… Captain, I know Yuugi on a personal basis and I don’t think he’s the most suitable person for the profiling job. I mean, I don’t doubt his work or experiences as a psychologist, but he has no idea what detective work entails and besides…”
“I asked him and he accepted,” Ushio said. “What’s the problem? He has a good reputation in the city and I’m sure he’ll be able to take a fresh look at the cases... unless you already solved them?”
“No,” Jounouchi grunted. Yuugi opened his mouth, but Ushio cut him off.
“No apologies or excuses. Get to work, all of you. Jounouchi, give him everything he asks for. No backtalk.”
Yuugi had to share a desk with them and he sat down, shoulders a little hunched. When Jounouchi gave him the files, his hands started to tremble. Honda left and returned with coffee for himself and Jounouchi, and tea for Yuugi. Carefully, yet hesitantly, Yuugi opened Pegasus’ case file and swallowed when he saw the pictures. He leafed slowly through them, still swallowing.
“This doesn’t look personal to me,” he said. “Calculated. Planned. No other injuries, just the eye. The perpetrator knew exactly who and what to go after and didn’t hesitate to kill.”
“Yeah, I thought so too,” Jounouchi said. He’d seen his fair share of ‘personal’ murders; far bloodier and messier than this particular case. “What do you make of the rest of the killer’s modus operandi: look at the reports from the technical unit. No fibers, no threads, no trace.”
“OCD perhaps,” Yuugi said. “Or someone who really doesn’t want to get caught.”
“Duh,” Honda said. “No criminal wants to end up behind bars.”
“Yeah, but most criminals aren’t as thorough as this one, are they? If he can give the technical unit a run for their money, who knows how he really is? Highly intelligent, cunning and calculating. This isn’t a spur-of-the-moment killing. This is meticulous, cold-hearted planning, and it wasn’t random, it was targeted, purposefully. The killer went for the eye; it was the only thing he took. What’s so important about the eye that the killer focused on it with so much patience and well-thought-out preparation to not leave any trace behind?”
A moment of silence. Both Honda and Jounouchi were baffled.
“Wow Yuugi, I didn’t think you had it in you!” Jounouchi saw his friend in a whole different light. It didn’t matter that Yuugi was blushing like a little schoolgirl, probably embarrassed at the increasing louder tone of his voice. “That’s some really good insight. As for the eye, Honda thought it might be a fake one, made of gold.”
“What?” Yuugi asked. Honda explained to him how he had studied pictures of Pegasus and thought that he had an artificial eye, probably made out of gold. The man’s bodyguard, Kemo, had vigorously denied that Pegasus had a fake eye and in truth, there wasn’t enough evidence to support this ‘theory’. The only way to find out was to access Pegasus’ medical files; as he was an American, the procedure to retrieve and translate said files was going to be a long one. Jounouchi reminded himself to ask Rebecca, the department secretary, if she had already put this procedure into motion. Yuugi sipped his tea, if only to take his eyes off of the pictures of the crime scene. After his small break, he focused on the pictures again, this time of Dartz. “What are your thoughts on this one?” Jounouchi was curious.
“This has to be one and the same killer,” Yuugi said. “Swift and clean. Hardly any blood, almost as if the killer wants to spend as little time as possible on the killing itself. He plans it into the tiniest detail possible, but he doesn’t take much time for the actual kill.”
“Yet he takes all the time in the world to clean up,” Honda interrupted. “Nothing is out of place, the glass is spotless clean and the technical unit can’t find a single trace.”
“He doesn’t want to leave a trail,” Yuugi said. “Like a thief in the night, striking from the shadows.”
“You’re scaring me,” Jounouchi said.
“I’m sorry, Jounouchi-kun. In order to draw up a complete profile, I have to study these pictures more. Is there a quiet place around here somewhere?”
“I’ll ask around for you,” Honda offered.
----------------------------
Ushio assigned Yuugi one of the smaller offices, not larger than a broom closet. Jounouchi was severely impressed with his friend’s interpretation of the case files. Honda shared his sentiment.
“Maybe we haven’t given him enough credit for his qualifications and qualities as a psychologist,” Honda said as he was having lunch at the cafeteria with his colleague. “The captain wouldn’t hire him if he wasn’t 100% it would work.”
“Yeah, we owe him an apology.” Jounouchi slurped the ramen from the cup. He ate the food absent-mindedly, not really tasting the flavors.
“Okay, what’s going on?” Honda asked. “When you eat like this, you’re mulling over something. What’s on your mind?”
He knew him too well, of course. “I have the feeling that we’re overlooking something important. Something bigger. Something bigger is going on,” Jounouchi said, sourly.
“Don’t tell me you’re relying on your intuition,” Honda joked, even though he knew how important a gut feeling was for a detective.
“Even if Yuugi draws up an entire profile, it doesn’t help us. We only have one witness we still have to interrogate, but we don’t have any suspects yet, or a motive, except for a memory-missing delivery boy and some weird-ass Ancient Egypt stuff.”
“Ancient Egypt stuff?”
Jounouchi hesitantly told Honda about his theory and wasn’t surprised at his partner’s reaction: rolling his eyes.
“I know it’s farfetched,” Jounouchi said, a little irritated. “However, we have three people connected to Ancient Egypt somehow and in this case we’re grasping at straws as far as motives and suspects go.”
“All right, all right,” Honda conceded. “Let’s recapitulate: Pegasus made his money with a game based on Ancient Egypt mythology. Dartz dealt in antiquities from Ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt. Our only ‘suspect’ possesses a golden ring from Ancient Egypt…”
“Actually, Bakura never mentioned it was from Ancient Egypt. He only said his father brought it with him from one of his earlier travels.”
“Did it look ancient to you?”
“Hey man, I have no idea about historical artifacts.”
“We could always ask the curator of the National Museum,” Honda suggested.
“Are you… are you taking this seriously?”
“The more I think about it, the more plausible it sounds… like you said yourself, we’re grasping at straws. I prefer grasping at straws with some potential to it, then doing nothing and allowing a killer to run loose.”
“You’re right. I…” Jounouchi’s cell phone rang. He flipped it open. “Mako,” he said. “I hope the technical unit has some good news for me?”
“No, on the contrary,” he said, sounding agitated. “I have reported it to the captain, but I thought you should know too. The knife… Dartz’ murder weapon has been stolen.”
“What?”
“I have the knife photographed and documented, but it hasn’t been logged into the evidence vault. Apparently, it never reached the police station at all.” Mako leafed through some paperwork. “I’m looking into it… maybe someone has been ‘creative’.”
“It’s evidence in a murder case,” he said. “Not to mention some kind of artifact.” He had seen hundreds of knives before, but never one with such an intricate handle like this.
“Talk to Hirutani, he knows gangs and fences,” Mako suggested. “Oh, there’s something else. Before you arrived, I spoke to Varon to help identify Dartz’ belongings. He didn’t recognize the knife. It has to be the murderer’s.”
“Fuck,” Jounouchi said and hung up.
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It was late in the evening. For once, Jounouchi was at home, but he didn’t enjoy his spare time much. He was tempted to call Mai. Even though their relationship hadn’t worked out, they were still good friends. Mai was a good conversation partner and knew how to make him feel comfortable. She had a strong opinion of her own and didn’t back down quickly. He had his phone in his hand, but he didn’t call. He was aware how he was distancing himself and it made him feel awful. Jounouchi had promised, ever since the bad divorce from his parents, that he would protect his sister and everyone else from pain and violence. What good was his position with the police force if he wasn’t able to catch this killer? Two CEOs dead and he didn’t have an inkling of the perpetrator. Annoyed with himself, Jounouchi shoved some clutter from his couch on the floor and sat down. Not a second later, his phone rang.
“Yuugi,” he said, recognizing the number on the display.
“Jounouchi-kun, I’m not disturbing you?”
“Nah, I’m just at home.”
“Dinner?”
“Yeah, got myself some noodles,” he said, eyeing the take-out box on the table. “What’s up?”
“I wanted to apologize,” Yuugi said. “For coming on so strong this morning. I mean, when I was sitting at your desk and talking about the profile…”
“Yuugi, please…” Jounouchi was amused, endeared and slightly annoyed at the same time. “We don’t mind at all that you showed us a little spunk. In fact, you should do that more often.”
He could almost hear Yuugi blush, if that was even possible. “I-I’m sorry,” he said despite Jounouchi’s words. “I got a little carried away. I’m not used to look at pictures of dead people and I had to focus on something else, lest I would throw up. It was pretty intense, and I’m sorry if I took it out on you guys.”
“It’s all right,” Jounouchi said, because he knew Yuugi wanted to hear that. He probably couldn’t or wouldn’t go to sleep if his apology wasn’t accepted. “Don’t worry about it, Yuugi. Your input was valuable.”
“I’ll finish up the profile as soon as possible,” Yuugi said. Silence. Jounouchi knew something was bothering his friend. They knew each other for so long, it wasn’t that hard to tell if something was wrong or not.
“Anzu-chan is going to marry Otogi-kun,” he blurted out. “She told me about it on Shizuka-chan’s birthday party.” Jounouchi wasn’t really shocked by the news. After all, they had been in a relationship for so long. He knew what it was about, though: Anzu’s marriage made a definitive end to Yuugi’s silent hope that somehow, for whatever reason, she would still choose him instead of Otogi. How painful it had to be, Jounouchi thought, and how… unworldly patient Yuugi had been, to still cling to that hope, like a lifeline. He hadn’t acted upon his feelings, and now he had to watch Anzu getting married, simply because Otogi had taken action to win the girl’s heart. Jounouchi didn’t know what to say. ‘I’m sorry?’ ‘Sorry Yuugi, but you should’ve made the first move?’ Instead, he said: “You know, we should totally do something fun together. You, me and Honda, if you like. Something without killers, blood or scary pictures. Let’s go laser questing, or go-karting, and have dinner somewhere. My treat!”
“That would be nice, Jounouchi-kun,” Yuugi said, his voice upbeat, but Jounouchi could hear the loneliness in it. He hung up, feeling sad and overwhelmed at being unable to cheer up his friend.
-------------------------------------------
As expected, Ushio was livid at the loss of the murder weapon. He immediately put a second team of detectives on the case to investigate the knife’s whereabouts. It had disappeared somewhere in the bureaucracy of evidence logging and the detectives weren’t allowed to take any time off before they had retrieved the item. Fortunately, Mako still had pictures of the object and forwarded them by e-mail to Jounouchi. It was extremely frustrating. Dartz’ case seemed to go cold just as fast as Pegasus’. Varon’s testimony hadn’t wielded anything useful and his third colleague, Amelda, was still in the hospital, comatose. Jounouchi stared at the picture of the knife and got an idea.
“Get your jacket,” he said to Honda, “we’re leaving.”
“You got something?”
“You mentioned it before, when we talked about the Ancient Egypt connection… where else but the National Museum can we ask about a knife like this?”
“What would that achieve?” Honda asked.
“Maybe the curator of the museum can shed some light on the artifact and that might give us another lead. Come on, slowpoke. Let’s go!”
-----------------------------
The National Museum was on the other side of town and Jounouchi drove, as always, quite aggressively. He parked the car in front of the large building and he and Honda got out. Honda shivered dramatically.
“I haven’t been here since my high school days.”
“Me neither,” Jounouchi said. “Well, we better push through. This is important.”
They went up the steps and entered the Museum through sliding doors. The huge hallway was crowded with bulletin boards, displaying information about the numerous exhibits, currently showing. Jounouchi spotted the central information desk and walked up to it. The young woman, dressed impeccably, behind the desk turned towards him and bowed.
“Can I help you?”
He showed her his badge and a picture of the knife. “I would like to talk to someone specialized in this kind of artifact,” he said.
“It looks Egyptian to me,” the girl replied. “I know just the right person for you. One moment, please.” She picked up the phone and pressed a few buttons. Apparently, the person on the other side took the call quite quickly, as she immediately started talking. “Yes, Ishtar-san? Two detectives would like to talk to you. Yes, right here at the service desk.” She hung up and smiled at Jounouchi. “She’ll be downstairs right away.”
He thanked her for her help and turned around to face Honda. His colleague muttered under his breath that he knew exactly why he hadn’t visited the Museum ever again. Jounouchi caught a few words like ‘pretentious’ and ‘too intellectual’, and he just grinned. His eyes traveled through the hallway, noticing the hypermodern elevators next to a grand staircase. Somehow the modern and the historical objects combined quite well, and a woman was descending… no, gliding down the stairs, with such elegance and grace as if her feet didn’t touch the steps and the stairs completely bended itself to her movements. Her ankle-length beige dress was smooth and pristine, hugging her slender figure and leaving her shoulders bare, focusing the attention on the necklace she wore… with the exact same symbol as Bakura Ryou’s ‘ring’.
“My name is Isis Ishtar,” she said, her voice pleasant and well-articulated. “What can I do for the protectors of this city? There is nothing wrong with my brother, I hope?”
Jounouchi kept staring at her necklace, failing to answer. The ensuing silence quickly turned awkward. Ishizu put her hand on the necklace as if she wanted to protect it from Jounouchi’s scrutinizing glare.
“Detective..?” she said at the same time as Honda elbowed him. “Jounouchi..!”
He broke out of his trance and coughed. “My apologies, Ishtar-san. Please, can you tell me something about this artifact?” He showed her the picture of the knife.
“That is a ceremonial knife,” she said. “Only to be used at the court of a Pharaoh. I would require further study to pinpoint the exact age of the artifact, but judging from its markings, I feel quite safe to say that it is from the 18th dynasty.”
“Tutankhamen?” Honda tried, his brain coming up with the name of the most known Pharaoh. Isis looked at him with a brief, but genuine smile.
“The 18th dynasty covers at least two hundred and fifty years,” she said. “The knife could be from way before his time, or way after. Would you like me to find out more?”
“I would,” Jounouchi said. “Is there anything more you can tell us right away?”
She looked again at the picture. “Like I said, it is a ceremonial knife that only priests or the Pharaoh himself was allowed to wield. It was used to sacrifice animals for the gods.”
“So it’s not like a steak knife,” Jounouchi tried.
Isis chuckled. “Absolutely not. If only priests or the Pharaoh were wielding this, it is nothing but sacred. No one else would be allowed to touch it.”
“How could this thing end up in Domino City?”
“I would like to know as well,” she said. “A ceremonial knife would be a priceless addition to our collection. I…” A crashing sound was overheard and she snapped her head into the direction the noise came from. “Excuse me, gentlemen.”
She walked away with small steps, every movement graceful. Curiously, Jounouchi followed her, even though he didn’t know why. Along with the crashing sound, he had heard male voices. If visitors were bothering or demolishing the exhibit… he turned around the corner and saw Isis talking to two young men in rapid Arabic. Her tone of voice was how a parent would talk to a mischievous kid, but he couldn’t understand a word that she was saying, as he didn’t speak Arabic. The two young men were surprisingly alike; tan skin, blond hair, eyes with long dark lashes and strange markings under them. A broken mug was on the floor, along with some rapidly cooling liquid.
“Is everything all right?” he asked.
Isis turned around, apparently not surprised that he had followed her. “Forgive me,” she said.
“My brothers can be quite rowdy, and they are not…friends with justice. That is why I thought you were coming for them, when you showed me your badge. Malik, Marik, you will greet Jounouchi-sama of the Domino Police Force, now.”
“Konnichiwa, Jounouchi-sama,” the left one said, his voice quite stern and with a curt, angry tone of voice to it. The right one, sporting a much wilder, spikier hairdo, made a mocking bow and said: “Konnichiwa, Jounouchi-daimyo.” He spoke with a rougher voice and with a much heavier accent.
“Nice to meet you,” Jounouchi said. If his memory served him correctly, Isis had asked if there was nothing wrong with her brother as in singular, not plural.
“Malik, Marik, go back to the apartment and stay there,” Isis said. “I will not have any backtalk from you two. When I come home tonight, you will have done your homework and your daily chores.”
“Yes, sister,” Malik said, but the other, addressed with Marik, just looked at her.
“Marik?”
“Yes, pretty sister,” he finally said, but his voice sing-songed in such a way that Jounouchi felt shivers running down his spine. The two left and Isis heaved a sigh.
“My apologies,” she said. “It was not my intention for you to witness my family…problems.”
“They’re your younger brothers? I have a younger sister. I know how much one wants to protect their younger siblings.”
She gave him a grateful smile. “We moved to Domino City not long ago. We were raised in fairly old-fashioned traditions and this modern world is difficult to adapt to. They have much to learn how to behave in public.”
“They’re twins? The resemblance is uncanny.”
Isis’ expression became slightly marred, as if it pained her to talk about them. “No, not twins, just brothers.”
“Why did he call me ‘daimyo’? That’s… not really an honorific one would use so quickly.”
Isis shook her head. She sounded a little shaky when she answered: “Forgive him, Jounouchi-sama. Marik is the youngest and he is… still learning. He has so much more to learn. I will take a look at the picture for you, detective, and call you when I find out something new.”
Jounouchi recognized a dismissal when he heard one. He thanked her for her cooperation and went back to the information desk and pulled Honda away, who was trying to flirt hopelessly with the girl. Protesting loudly, Honda poked him in the chest.
“What was up with you? Staring at her like that!”
“I was looking at the necklace,” Jounouchi defended himself. “It had the same stylized eye as Bakura’s ring.”
“Eye?”
“Yeah, that thingie in the middle.” Jounouchi grabbed his notebook from the glove compartment of his car, took out a piece of paper and drew the stylized eye. “This one. The same as Bakura’s ring.”
“Weird.” Honda hadn’t seen Bakura’s ring, but he trusted his colleague. They returned to the police station in silence and searched out their desks. Rebecca had delivered a list with the artifacts Dartz had been importing and exporting, and she had also attached a list of his inventory, along with a written statement of Rafael that nothing was missing. Jounouchi and Honda checked the list, but the number of Ancient Egyptian artifacts was minimal. Most of his collection had been African, Numerian, Roman, Greek arts and crafts. Dartz himself was an avid collector of everything pertaining to Atlantis.
“Atlantis has nothing to do with Ancient Egypt, right?” Honda asked.
“We need a historian,” Jounouchi groaned.
“Could the two CEO’s be killed for an artifact?”
“What kind of thief leaves a priceless artifact behind?” Jounouchi asked out loud, referring to
the ceremonial knife that had been stuck in Dartz’ back. “I’m going to get us some coffee.” been stolen. He went to the coffee machine, his mind racing a mile a minute. Find out if there was an active, if not illegal, market for historical artifacts. Check those Ishtar boys, that was really weird. Call the hospital to see if Amelda had come around yet. Ask Yuugi if he had made more progress on the profile. And where the hell were Pegasus’ medical records? Was it that hard to translate a couple of pages from English to Japanese? He had lots and lots to do, and that was just the way he liked it.
------------------------------
Previous chapters: 1 | 2 |
This entry was originally posted at http://the-goldenpath.dreamwidth.org/59024.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters
Pairings: Mahaado x Atemu, Yuugi x Atemu, Anzu x Otogi
Genre: supernatural elements, action/adventure, romance
Warnings: shounen ai, foul language, character death (will be warned for in the respective chapter)
Summary: (AU) When two CEOs end up dead in Domino City, detectives Jounouchi Katsuya and Honda Hiroto are put on the case. The investigation goes south when their best friend, Mutou Yuugi, is accused of the murders. Jounouchi goes into the city’s underbelly to clear his friend’s name, only to find out that the stage has been taken over by a master criminal known as The Pharaoh, and his mysterious bodyguard Mahaado…
Author’s note: Butchering of canon events to fit the story. Everyone is at least ten years older. Liberal use of the Japanese police procedure and legal system. Feedback is a great thing.
Key: ----- = scene change
Jounouchi stepped on the gas. How big were the odds that two prominent CEOs were killed in less than a week? Jounouchi had never heard of Dartz before, or the company called Paradius. It was located in the same district as Industrial Illusions, which set alarm bells off in his head. Honda had a similar worrisome expression on his face. Paradius loomed up in front of them: a slender, tall building made out of steel and glass. The entrance was blocked by police cars and several ambulances. Jounouchi showed his badge and he was allowed to enter the building, along with Honda. Just as they went through the large revolving doors, two paramedics pushing a gurney raced past them. Jounouchi caught a glimpse of a young man with short, reddish hair strapped to the gurney, his eyes closed. There was no time to waste and Jounouchi and Honda made their way upstairs, per their captain’s orders. Dartz didn’t have a penthouse on the top floor like Pegasus, but his private offices - with a penchant for more glass. Jounouchi ignored the interior decoration for now and searched out Ushio, standing amidst paramedics and cops, grimacing. He noticed Jounouchi and Honda immediately.
“No eyes were gouged out this time,” he said.
“Bring us up to speed, captain.”
“We have a witness, but unfortunately he’s not in the position to speak.”
“The guy they wheeled away downstairs,” Honda concluded.
“Exactly. The other two are also witnesses, but they didn’t see as much as the third guy. Talk to them. I’ll send the rest away.”
Jounouchi looked around to see which ‘other two’ Ushio was referring to. Leaning against the glass wall, a burly guy with short-cropped blond hair glared at everyone and everything in sight, while a shorter guy with spiky brown hair was attended to by a paramedic.
“We need to put a cast on this,” the paramedic said, examining the man’s arm. “It’s definitely broken. We’ll take you to the hospital.”
“Just a moment,” Jounouchi said. He introduced himself and Honda to the two men. “We’d like to ask you a couple of questions. Can you hold on?”
“Yeah, sure,” he said, flinching as the paramedic tugged at his arm. “Fuck! It all happened so fast!”
“What did you see?”
“Amelda was with Dartz in the office…”
“Amelda?” Jounouchi connected the dots. “He’s the one on his way to the hospital?”
“Yeah. If I get my hands on the one who’s responsible for this! I’ll fucking tear his head off!”
“Varon,” the taller man admonished him. “We have bigger problems than this.”
“Dartz.” Varon heaved a sigh. “Fuck. He’s dead, isn’t he?”
“Tell us what happened,” Honda encouraged him. Annoyed, Varon swatted the paramedic away.
“We were just goofing off. Dartz had asked us to move some artifacts and we were preparing the shipping papers and transport documents. Amelda went into Dartz’ office to ask something, I don’t know - what was he going to ask, Rafael?”
The taller man thought for a second. “I think he wanted to know how to spell the destination of the Polynesian statue.” He pursed his lips. “Amelda was raised in a very poor country. He didn’t have a chance at education like we had.” He dared Jounouchi and Honda to say something about it, but they didn’t comment.
“Anyway, we were packing those artifacts up when someone suddenly enters the office. Which was strange, as every visitor is announced. We just didn’t see him coming.”
“What is your relationship to Dartz? Bodyguards?”
“Sort of. Bodyguards, couriers, handymen, henchmen, whatever you want to call it.” Varon scrunched up his face, trying to suppress the pain. “Like I said, this guy enters and the next
moment, it’s all a blur.”
“So it was a man. Can you describe him?”
“It all happened so fast,” Varon repeated. He seemed embarrassed. Rafael crossed his arms in front of his impressive chest. “I couldn’t see his face. It was a flurry of black and red, and something that looked like gold. I could hear it.”
“You could hear gold?” Honda asked, flabbergasted.
“No, I meant I could hear it was jewelry, some kind of jewelry. It sounded like a solid chain with something dangling from it. Before I knew it, Rafael was down. I managed to lift up my arm to defend myself, but he just broke it!”
Rafael stared into the other direction, his jaw clenched tight. It had to be very frustrating for such a strong guy to go down without being able to properly defend himself or his friends.
“What happened next?”
“He went into Dartz’ office. I heard screams before I lost consciousness.” Varon shivered and he clutched his injured arm. “Fuck, that’s going to haunt me for the rest of my life. Both Amelda and Dartz.”
“Does Dartz have enemies?”
“He’s not the friendliest man around,” Varon said, “he can be a real jackass, that’s for sure. I don’t think however, that he antagonized anyone that severely that… well…” His voice trailed off.
“What’s the exact nature of his business?”
“Import and export of artifacts and antiquities, preferably from the ancient Greek, Egyptians and Romans… everything BC, the older, the better.”
Ancient Egyptian artifacts? Jounouchi perked up. Bakura Ryou had an Egyptian artifact. Pegasus’ game had been based on Ancient Egypt culture and mythology. Was that the connection? He filed it away for future use. Jounouchi hadn’t told Honda about this, as it was such a flimsy connection that he didn’t know whether he should take it serious or not.
“You should really go to the hospital,” the paramedic cut in. Varon had paled significantly. He glanced at Jounouchi.
“Go. We’ll talk to your colleague here.”
Varon nodded in gratitude and the paramedic guided him out of the office, leaving Rafael, who didn’t look like he was going to talk anytime soon. Jounouchi decided to let the man be for the moment. He wasn’t the main witness and he was obviously hiding his own shock and horror behind that grouchy façade. Interrogating him would only lead to disaster and Jounouchi wanted to take a look at the crime scene. Honda followed him into Dartz’ office, where Ushio was standing; he had sent everyone away but the technical unit. Every surface looked so clean that Jounouchi doubted the unit would find any trace, just like at Pegasus’ penthouse. He greeted Mako for good measure and slowly approached the crime scene, taking everything in. The CEO of Paradius, Dartz, laid face forward on his glass desk. A knife with a very intricate handle protruded from his back. Barely any blood was visible on his expensive clothes, which surprised Jounouchi. The killer had to have struck a major blood vessel to kill the CEO with just one stab. He put on latex gloves and rotated Dartz’ head just a little. The man’s eyes were widened in shock and surprise.
“He didn’t see his killer coming,” Honda concluded. “That’s impossible; everything’s made out of glass and he came through the door, taking out Amelda first.”
“Strange that the killer didn’t take out Varon and Rafael,” Jounouchi couldn’t help but wonder. “If I were the killer, I would get rid of any witnesses instead of just incapacitating them. If this killer was really as fast as Varon claimed, he could’ve easily planted a knife into them as well.”
“They didn’t matter. The killer was after Dartz, plain and simple.”
Ushio joined them at the desk. “Your first impression?”
“It’s weird as fuck, Captain, pardon my language.”
Ushio made a gesture that Jounouchi’s language wasn’t the problem. “I think we have a serial killer on our hands,” he said. “First Pegasus, now Dartz. We have to find a link, a connection between these murders, or we’ll get an international scandal on our hands. I don’t want Domino City to earn the reputation of ‘CEO killings city’. The press is going to have a field day with this one.”
“I think it’s too early to say it’s a serial killer,” Jounouchi objected. “The modus operandi is quite different. Pegasus wasn’t stabbed. Dartz isn’t missing an eye.”
“Agreed, but they’re both widely-known CEO’s with international connections,” Ushio shot back. “That has to count for something.”
“What do you suggest, captain?” Honda asked.
“I think we should bring in a profiler.” Ushio’s dark eyes scanned the environment. “Someone with enough psychological experience to draw up a profile of this killer and who can gain insight on the way he thinks and operates. I don’t like to stand empty-handed, and neither do you.”
“That’s right, boss.” Jounouchi continued to study Dartz. Aside from the single stab wound, Dartz hadn’t suffered any other injuries. The longhaired man had heterochromatic eyes and looked fairly eccentric to him, just like Pegasus. Could there be a connection in their private lives? Was Honda’s ‘secret lover theory’ more viable than he thought? It bugged him that someone had been able to sneak up on Dartz and kill him from behind. The office didn’t have any other exits or entrances than the single door he had walked through. How was it possible that no one had seen the killer, just ‘a flurry of black and red’? Jounouchi and Honda stayed for another hour to research and examine the crime scene meticulously. Finally, the technical unit threw them out, after promising to send them all the results and reports ASAP.
-----------------------------------
If someone had told Jounouchi or Honda that the ‘someone with enough psychological experience’ would turn out to be Yuugi, they would’ve laughed at their face. Yuugi barely ventured outside his own practice, so it was hard to imagine that he was going to help to catch a killer. When Yuugi showed up at his desk, Jounouchi asked him if he had taken a wrong turn somewhere. Yuugi blushed, slightly embarrassed.
“No, Jounouchi-kun, I’m here to help,” he said, flustered. “Ushio-san asked me if I was able to take a look at certain cases to draw up a profile of the person who committed the killings.”
“Yuugi, you aren’t a profiler,” Honda said. “You’re going to puke out your guts when you see the pictures.”
“I expect so, yes,” Yuugi said. He might be introverted, but he wasn’t naïve. “I want to help.”
Jounouchi couldn’t believe that Yuugi was going to work on the Pegasus/Dartz case. “This is a very dangerous killer we’re talking about,” he said. “This is nothing for you, Yuugi, no offence. I’m going to talk to the captain.”
“About what?” Ushio stood behind him, startling Jounouchi.
“Captain! I didn’t see you.”
“Unless you have eyes in the back of your head, no, you didn’t see me. What’s the problem?”
“Not really a problem,” Jounouchi said. “Well, sort of… Captain, I know Yuugi on a personal basis and I don’t think he’s the most suitable person for the profiling job. I mean, I don’t doubt his work or experiences as a psychologist, but he has no idea what detective work entails and besides…”
“I asked him and he accepted,” Ushio said. “What’s the problem? He has a good reputation in the city and I’m sure he’ll be able to take a fresh look at the cases... unless you already solved them?”
“No,” Jounouchi grunted. Yuugi opened his mouth, but Ushio cut him off.
“No apologies or excuses. Get to work, all of you. Jounouchi, give him everything he asks for. No backtalk.”
Yuugi had to share a desk with them and he sat down, shoulders a little hunched. When Jounouchi gave him the files, his hands started to tremble. Honda left and returned with coffee for himself and Jounouchi, and tea for Yuugi. Carefully, yet hesitantly, Yuugi opened Pegasus’ case file and swallowed when he saw the pictures. He leafed slowly through them, still swallowing.
“This doesn’t look personal to me,” he said. “Calculated. Planned. No other injuries, just the eye. The perpetrator knew exactly who and what to go after and didn’t hesitate to kill.”
“Yeah, I thought so too,” Jounouchi said. He’d seen his fair share of ‘personal’ murders; far bloodier and messier than this particular case. “What do you make of the rest of the killer’s modus operandi: look at the reports from the technical unit. No fibers, no threads, no trace.”
“OCD perhaps,” Yuugi said. “Or someone who really doesn’t want to get caught.”
“Duh,” Honda said. “No criminal wants to end up behind bars.”
“Yeah, but most criminals aren’t as thorough as this one, are they? If he can give the technical unit a run for their money, who knows how he really is? Highly intelligent, cunning and calculating. This isn’t a spur-of-the-moment killing. This is meticulous, cold-hearted planning, and it wasn’t random, it was targeted, purposefully. The killer went for the eye; it was the only thing he took. What’s so important about the eye that the killer focused on it with so much patience and well-thought-out preparation to not leave any trace behind?”
A moment of silence. Both Honda and Jounouchi were baffled.
“Wow Yuugi, I didn’t think you had it in you!” Jounouchi saw his friend in a whole different light. It didn’t matter that Yuugi was blushing like a little schoolgirl, probably embarrassed at the increasing louder tone of his voice. “That’s some really good insight. As for the eye, Honda thought it might be a fake one, made of gold.”
“What?” Yuugi asked. Honda explained to him how he had studied pictures of Pegasus and thought that he had an artificial eye, probably made out of gold. The man’s bodyguard, Kemo, had vigorously denied that Pegasus had a fake eye and in truth, there wasn’t enough evidence to support this ‘theory’. The only way to find out was to access Pegasus’ medical files; as he was an American, the procedure to retrieve and translate said files was going to be a long one. Jounouchi reminded himself to ask Rebecca, the department secretary, if she had already put this procedure into motion. Yuugi sipped his tea, if only to take his eyes off of the pictures of the crime scene. After his small break, he focused on the pictures again, this time of Dartz. “What are your thoughts on this one?” Jounouchi was curious.
“This has to be one and the same killer,” Yuugi said. “Swift and clean. Hardly any blood, almost as if the killer wants to spend as little time as possible on the killing itself. He plans it into the tiniest detail possible, but he doesn’t take much time for the actual kill.”
“Yet he takes all the time in the world to clean up,” Honda interrupted. “Nothing is out of place, the glass is spotless clean and the technical unit can’t find a single trace.”
“He doesn’t want to leave a trail,” Yuugi said. “Like a thief in the night, striking from the shadows.”
“You’re scaring me,” Jounouchi said.
“I’m sorry, Jounouchi-kun. In order to draw up a complete profile, I have to study these pictures more. Is there a quiet place around here somewhere?”
“I’ll ask around for you,” Honda offered.
----------------------------
Ushio assigned Yuugi one of the smaller offices, not larger than a broom closet. Jounouchi was severely impressed with his friend’s interpretation of the case files. Honda shared his sentiment.
“Maybe we haven’t given him enough credit for his qualifications and qualities as a psychologist,” Honda said as he was having lunch at the cafeteria with his colleague. “The captain wouldn’t hire him if he wasn’t 100% it would work.”
“Yeah, we owe him an apology.” Jounouchi slurped the ramen from the cup. He ate the food absent-mindedly, not really tasting the flavors.
“Okay, what’s going on?” Honda asked. “When you eat like this, you’re mulling over something. What’s on your mind?”
He knew him too well, of course. “I have the feeling that we’re overlooking something important. Something bigger. Something bigger is going on,” Jounouchi said, sourly.
“Don’t tell me you’re relying on your intuition,” Honda joked, even though he knew how important a gut feeling was for a detective.
“Even if Yuugi draws up an entire profile, it doesn’t help us. We only have one witness we still have to interrogate, but we don’t have any suspects yet, or a motive, except for a memory-missing delivery boy and some weird-ass Ancient Egypt stuff.”
“Ancient Egypt stuff?”
Jounouchi hesitantly told Honda about his theory and wasn’t surprised at his partner’s reaction: rolling his eyes.
“I know it’s farfetched,” Jounouchi said, a little irritated. “However, we have three people connected to Ancient Egypt somehow and in this case we’re grasping at straws as far as motives and suspects go.”
“All right, all right,” Honda conceded. “Let’s recapitulate: Pegasus made his money with a game based on Ancient Egypt mythology. Dartz dealt in antiquities from Ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt. Our only ‘suspect’ possesses a golden ring from Ancient Egypt…”
“Actually, Bakura never mentioned it was from Ancient Egypt. He only said his father brought it with him from one of his earlier travels.”
“Did it look ancient to you?”
“Hey man, I have no idea about historical artifacts.”
“We could always ask the curator of the National Museum,” Honda suggested.
“Are you… are you taking this seriously?”
“The more I think about it, the more plausible it sounds… like you said yourself, we’re grasping at straws. I prefer grasping at straws with some potential to it, then doing nothing and allowing a killer to run loose.”
“You’re right. I…” Jounouchi’s cell phone rang. He flipped it open. “Mako,” he said. “I hope the technical unit has some good news for me?”
“No, on the contrary,” he said, sounding agitated. “I have reported it to the captain, but I thought you should know too. The knife… Dartz’ murder weapon has been stolen.”
“What?”
“I have the knife photographed and documented, but it hasn’t been logged into the evidence vault. Apparently, it never reached the police station at all.” Mako leafed through some paperwork. “I’m looking into it… maybe someone has been ‘creative’.”
“It’s evidence in a murder case,” he said. “Not to mention some kind of artifact.” He had seen hundreds of knives before, but never one with such an intricate handle like this.
“Talk to Hirutani, he knows gangs and fences,” Mako suggested. “Oh, there’s something else. Before you arrived, I spoke to Varon to help identify Dartz’ belongings. He didn’t recognize the knife. It has to be the murderer’s.”
“Fuck,” Jounouchi said and hung up.
-----------------------------------
It was late in the evening. For once, Jounouchi was at home, but he didn’t enjoy his spare time much. He was tempted to call Mai. Even though their relationship hadn’t worked out, they were still good friends. Mai was a good conversation partner and knew how to make him feel comfortable. She had a strong opinion of her own and didn’t back down quickly. He had his phone in his hand, but he didn’t call. He was aware how he was distancing himself and it made him feel awful. Jounouchi had promised, ever since the bad divorce from his parents, that he would protect his sister and everyone else from pain and violence. What good was his position with the police force if he wasn’t able to catch this killer? Two CEOs dead and he didn’t have an inkling of the perpetrator. Annoyed with himself, Jounouchi shoved some clutter from his couch on the floor and sat down. Not a second later, his phone rang.
“Yuugi,” he said, recognizing the number on the display.
“Jounouchi-kun, I’m not disturbing you?”
“Nah, I’m just at home.”
“Dinner?”
“Yeah, got myself some noodles,” he said, eyeing the take-out box on the table. “What’s up?”
“I wanted to apologize,” Yuugi said. “For coming on so strong this morning. I mean, when I was sitting at your desk and talking about the profile…”
“Yuugi, please…” Jounouchi was amused, endeared and slightly annoyed at the same time. “We don’t mind at all that you showed us a little spunk. In fact, you should do that more often.”
He could almost hear Yuugi blush, if that was even possible. “I-I’m sorry,” he said despite Jounouchi’s words. “I got a little carried away. I’m not used to look at pictures of dead people and I had to focus on something else, lest I would throw up. It was pretty intense, and I’m sorry if I took it out on you guys.”
“It’s all right,” Jounouchi said, because he knew Yuugi wanted to hear that. He probably couldn’t or wouldn’t go to sleep if his apology wasn’t accepted. “Don’t worry about it, Yuugi. Your input was valuable.”
“I’ll finish up the profile as soon as possible,” Yuugi said. Silence. Jounouchi knew something was bothering his friend. They knew each other for so long, it wasn’t that hard to tell if something was wrong or not.
“Anzu-chan is going to marry Otogi-kun,” he blurted out. “She told me about it on Shizuka-chan’s birthday party.” Jounouchi wasn’t really shocked by the news. After all, they had been in a relationship for so long. He knew what it was about, though: Anzu’s marriage made a definitive end to Yuugi’s silent hope that somehow, for whatever reason, she would still choose him instead of Otogi. How painful it had to be, Jounouchi thought, and how… unworldly patient Yuugi had been, to still cling to that hope, like a lifeline. He hadn’t acted upon his feelings, and now he had to watch Anzu getting married, simply because Otogi had taken action to win the girl’s heart. Jounouchi didn’t know what to say. ‘I’m sorry?’ ‘Sorry Yuugi, but you should’ve made the first move?’ Instead, he said: “You know, we should totally do something fun together. You, me and Honda, if you like. Something without killers, blood or scary pictures. Let’s go laser questing, or go-karting, and have dinner somewhere. My treat!”
“That would be nice, Jounouchi-kun,” Yuugi said, his voice upbeat, but Jounouchi could hear the loneliness in it. He hung up, feeling sad and overwhelmed at being unable to cheer up his friend.
-------------------------------------------
As expected, Ushio was livid at the loss of the murder weapon. He immediately put a second team of detectives on the case to investigate the knife’s whereabouts. It had disappeared somewhere in the bureaucracy of evidence logging and the detectives weren’t allowed to take any time off before they had retrieved the item. Fortunately, Mako still had pictures of the object and forwarded them by e-mail to Jounouchi. It was extremely frustrating. Dartz’ case seemed to go cold just as fast as Pegasus’. Varon’s testimony hadn’t wielded anything useful and his third colleague, Amelda, was still in the hospital, comatose. Jounouchi stared at the picture of the knife and got an idea.
“Get your jacket,” he said to Honda, “we’re leaving.”
“You got something?”
“You mentioned it before, when we talked about the Ancient Egypt connection… where else but the National Museum can we ask about a knife like this?”
“What would that achieve?” Honda asked.
“Maybe the curator of the museum can shed some light on the artifact and that might give us another lead. Come on, slowpoke. Let’s go!”
-----------------------------
The National Museum was on the other side of town and Jounouchi drove, as always, quite aggressively. He parked the car in front of the large building and he and Honda got out. Honda shivered dramatically.
“I haven’t been here since my high school days.”
“Me neither,” Jounouchi said. “Well, we better push through. This is important.”
They went up the steps and entered the Museum through sliding doors. The huge hallway was crowded with bulletin boards, displaying information about the numerous exhibits, currently showing. Jounouchi spotted the central information desk and walked up to it. The young woman, dressed impeccably, behind the desk turned towards him and bowed.
“Can I help you?”
He showed her his badge and a picture of the knife. “I would like to talk to someone specialized in this kind of artifact,” he said.
“It looks Egyptian to me,” the girl replied. “I know just the right person for you. One moment, please.” She picked up the phone and pressed a few buttons. Apparently, the person on the other side took the call quite quickly, as she immediately started talking. “Yes, Ishtar-san? Two detectives would like to talk to you. Yes, right here at the service desk.” She hung up and smiled at Jounouchi. “She’ll be downstairs right away.”
He thanked her for her help and turned around to face Honda. His colleague muttered under his breath that he knew exactly why he hadn’t visited the Museum ever again. Jounouchi caught a few words like ‘pretentious’ and ‘too intellectual’, and he just grinned. His eyes traveled through the hallway, noticing the hypermodern elevators next to a grand staircase. Somehow the modern and the historical objects combined quite well, and a woman was descending… no, gliding down the stairs, with such elegance and grace as if her feet didn’t touch the steps and the stairs completely bended itself to her movements. Her ankle-length beige dress was smooth and pristine, hugging her slender figure and leaving her shoulders bare, focusing the attention on the necklace she wore… with the exact same symbol as Bakura Ryou’s ‘ring’.
“My name is Isis Ishtar,” she said, her voice pleasant and well-articulated. “What can I do for the protectors of this city? There is nothing wrong with my brother, I hope?”
Jounouchi kept staring at her necklace, failing to answer. The ensuing silence quickly turned awkward. Ishizu put her hand on the necklace as if she wanted to protect it from Jounouchi’s scrutinizing glare.
“Detective..?” she said at the same time as Honda elbowed him. “Jounouchi..!”
He broke out of his trance and coughed. “My apologies, Ishtar-san. Please, can you tell me something about this artifact?” He showed her the picture of the knife.
“That is a ceremonial knife,” she said. “Only to be used at the court of a Pharaoh. I would require further study to pinpoint the exact age of the artifact, but judging from its markings, I feel quite safe to say that it is from the 18th dynasty.”
“Tutankhamen?” Honda tried, his brain coming up with the name of the most known Pharaoh. Isis looked at him with a brief, but genuine smile.
“The 18th dynasty covers at least two hundred and fifty years,” she said. “The knife could be from way before his time, or way after. Would you like me to find out more?”
“I would,” Jounouchi said. “Is there anything more you can tell us right away?”
She looked again at the picture. “Like I said, it is a ceremonial knife that only priests or the Pharaoh himself was allowed to wield. It was used to sacrifice animals for the gods.”
“So it’s not like a steak knife,” Jounouchi tried.
Isis chuckled. “Absolutely not. If only priests or the Pharaoh were wielding this, it is nothing but sacred. No one else would be allowed to touch it.”
“How could this thing end up in Domino City?”
“I would like to know as well,” she said. “A ceremonial knife would be a priceless addition to our collection. I…” A crashing sound was overheard and she snapped her head into the direction the noise came from. “Excuse me, gentlemen.”
She walked away with small steps, every movement graceful. Curiously, Jounouchi followed her, even though he didn’t know why. Along with the crashing sound, he had heard male voices. If visitors were bothering or demolishing the exhibit… he turned around the corner and saw Isis talking to two young men in rapid Arabic. Her tone of voice was how a parent would talk to a mischievous kid, but he couldn’t understand a word that she was saying, as he didn’t speak Arabic. The two young men were surprisingly alike; tan skin, blond hair, eyes with long dark lashes and strange markings under them. A broken mug was on the floor, along with some rapidly cooling liquid.
“Is everything all right?” he asked.
Isis turned around, apparently not surprised that he had followed her. “Forgive me,” she said.
“My brothers can be quite rowdy, and they are not…friends with justice. That is why I thought you were coming for them, when you showed me your badge. Malik, Marik, you will greet Jounouchi-sama of the Domino Police Force, now.”
“Konnichiwa, Jounouchi-sama,” the left one said, his voice quite stern and with a curt, angry tone of voice to it. The right one, sporting a much wilder, spikier hairdo, made a mocking bow and said: “Konnichiwa, Jounouchi-daimyo.” He spoke with a rougher voice and with a much heavier accent.
“Nice to meet you,” Jounouchi said. If his memory served him correctly, Isis had asked if there was nothing wrong with her brother as in singular, not plural.
“Malik, Marik, go back to the apartment and stay there,” Isis said. “I will not have any backtalk from you two. When I come home tonight, you will have done your homework and your daily chores.”
“Yes, sister,” Malik said, but the other, addressed with Marik, just looked at her.
“Marik?”
“Yes, pretty sister,” he finally said, but his voice sing-songed in such a way that Jounouchi felt shivers running down his spine. The two left and Isis heaved a sigh.
“My apologies,” she said. “It was not my intention for you to witness my family…problems.”
“They’re your younger brothers? I have a younger sister. I know how much one wants to protect their younger siblings.”
She gave him a grateful smile. “We moved to Domino City not long ago. We were raised in fairly old-fashioned traditions and this modern world is difficult to adapt to. They have much to learn how to behave in public.”
“They’re twins? The resemblance is uncanny.”
Isis’ expression became slightly marred, as if it pained her to talk about them. “No, not twins, just brothers.”
“Why did he call me ‘daimyo’? That’s… not really an honorific one would use so quickly.”
Isis shook her head. She sounded a little shaky when she answered: “Forgive him, Jounouchi-sama. Marik is the youngest and he is… still learning. He has so much more to learn. I will take a look at the picture for you, detective, and call you when I find out something new.”
Jounouchi recognized a dismissal when he heard one. He thanked her for her cooperation and went back to the information desk and pulled Honda away, who was trying to flirt hopelessly with the girl. Protesting loudly, Honda poked him in the chest.
“What was up with you? Staring at her like that!”
“I was looking at the necklace,” Jounouchi defended himself. “It had the same stylized eye as Bakura’s ring.”
“Eye?”
“Yeah, that thingie in the middle.” Jounouchi grabbed his notebook from the glove compartment of his car, took out a piece of paper and drew the stylized eye. “This one. The same as Bakura’s ring.”
“Weird.” Honda hadn’t seen Bakura’s ring, but he trusted his colleague. They returned to the police station in silence and searched out their desks. Rebecca had delivered a list with the artifacts Dartz had been importing and exporting, and she had also attached a list of his inventory, along with a written statement of Rafael that nothing was missing. Jounouchi and Honda checked the list, but the number of Ancient Egyptian artifacts was minimal. Most of his collection had been African, Numerian, Roman, Greek arts and crafts. Dartz himself was an avid collector of everything pertaining to Atlantis.
“Atlantis has nothing to do with Ancient Egypt, right?” Honda asked.
“We need a historian,” Jounouchi groaned.
“Could the two CEO’s be killed for an artifact?”
“What kind of thief leaves a priceless artifact behind?” Jounouchi asked out loud, referring to
the ceremonial knife that had been stuck in Dartz’ back. “I’m going to get us some coffee.” been stolen. He went to the coffee machine, his mind racing a mile a minute. Find out if there was an active, if not illegal, market for historical artifacts. Check those Ishtar boys, that was really weird. Call the hospital to see if Amelda had come around yet. Ask Yuugi if he had made more progress on the profile. And where the hell were Pegasus’ medical records? Was it that hard to translate a couple of pages from English to Japanese? He had lots and lots to do, and that was just the way he liked it.
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