Catch him no matter what![open/natsumi]

[Tsukino Haruhi]

It was one of those days that Haruhi was glad that she was already in the streets going for shopping instead of being at home. Why was that? Because as soon as she finished shopping she got a call by Inspector Nanami to inform her about a case in a Karaoke bar. The moment she heard the words "there is a murder case", she felt like her blood was boiling from the excitement and ran to the Karaoke bar that the case occurred hanging up immediately after the end of the call. More or less he had more to say but she just didn't want to listen from the phone.

And some minutes later there she was outside the Karaoke Bar. She took a deep breath and stepped inside to see that he was there and so were some of the customers who were curious about what had happened. Haruhi ignored the Inspector and looked at the body inside the booth. Apparently he was stabbed with something sharp while water was spilled on the floor. It was not very obvious but you could tell that since the blood seemed somewhat watery at some place. Judging by the door it was locked. She had noticed that the handle was broken.

"The death happened about an hour ago, judging by the rigor mortis of his body. The culprit didn't leave the weapon behind. It seems like he was surprised, apparently he knew the culprit, judging by his expression he probably never expected to be murdered by him/her. More over, the stab in on his chest, therefore the criminal attacked from the front. Judging by the door, it was locked and someone broke it to get in here. Looking at the wound of the body I can tell that blood oozed from the wound on the culprit therefore even if the clothes are washed they should still have the blood on them if you use luminol, moreover even if the culprit got rid of the clothes, I assume that he is still around, the booth tells me that there were at least four people inside drinking and singing. Looking at the food on the table it seems like they must have left him alone for a while but they should be back, am I wrong?" She asked one of the police officers. "They are already back and are being questioned!" he said pointing at them.

"I see, one of them is the culprit. But in order for me to tell that I shall have to find the weapon. Judging by the water at the crime scene, it might even be possible for the weapon to still be in this room with a different form.

"What are you saying Tsukino-san! This is impossible!" Nanami-san shouted at her hitting the wall with his fists. "There is no weapon in here." He added still shouting. "We searched everywhere!" He admitted. "Are you an amateur?" She asked him boldly. Usually she was kind to people but to him, because he was usually unable to understand the situation, analyze the crime scene and understand how the crime was done.

"The water on his clothes, do you see any empty glass in this room that points to someone actually using it to poor the water on him after he was dead?" She asked him being shifty. "If you look at the way the water has fallen, there is nothing under his back which means that the water was poured on him after he was already on the floor. The weapon was probably a carefully made ice dagger." She explained to him.

"Then..." one of the police officers said. "Yes, the one whose bag has a relatively colder temperature is the culprit. If you search around the neighborhood you might also find the clothes if he or she had time to remove them. " She explained further. "Also, if you look at his hand he is holding something that is ripped. It is a small par of a lottery ticket." She said pointing at his left hand. Maybe the crime happened because of it. Search them for the lottery ticket too." She added and then turned to the crowd and saw a really familiar face that she had scene at school. Her photographic memory told her that she was a student of her school for sure.

Meanwhile the ticket was found on the culrpit's pocket. Although he didn't admit it, the investigation team found the clothes with the blood in the garbage some meters away from the Karaoke bar. They explained to him that they could analyze the sweat and find out if he was the one wearing them. He admitted to it and said that he killed him because he stole the lottery ticket from him. He needed the money for the surgery of his niece. The lottery ticket was his but he would not give it back therefore he came up with such a plan. He even explained the trick as to how he locked the door from the outside using a thin duck tape on the iron that adjusted on the pin of the side-door. Haruhi was not surprised but nevertheless, she texted the inspector to ask him to send the lottery ticket to the family of the criminal's niece while she was trying to decide on if she should go talk to the girl or not.

[Watashi Natsumi]

WATASHINATSUMI

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Natsumi had just finished putting Aimi and Hikaru's meals on the table when her mother came in the door. She quickly skipped into the hallway while her younger siblings ate and greeted her mouth with a warm smile.

"Welcome home okasama!" She sang lowly as her mother removed her shoes and shrugged out of her coat looking tired and weary.

"I'm home Natsumi-chan." She murmured tiredly and Natsumi's smile slipped a little before she forced it back in place. She knew that her mother worked incredibly hard to provide them with their standard of living and though her tired and monotone personality at home depressed Natsumi she also knew that her smile helped her mother and now that she was old enough she wanted to do everything she could to help her and her father who had left for work already and worked nights.

Jumping forward Natsumi took her mother's coat and hung it up, she then danced back into the hall and checked that her siblings were eating properly then jumped back to smile at her mother and ask her if she wanted something to eat. Her mother laughed slightly. "You have far too much energy Natsumi" she told her daughter. Natsumi beamed. "I'd quite like a bath but first I'm going to say hello to the others." Natsumi nodded and grinned before bouncing off towards the stairs.

"I'll run the bath for you. The others are in the kitchen eating and Shin went out to the karaoke house again after work."

Running upstairs Natsumi switched the taps on for a bath for her mother and then ran back down the stairs as her mother was coming up them. Natsumi beamed at her mum as the older woman headed for the bathroom and the warm soak Natsumi knew she loved.

Suddenly she heard a ringing and Natsumi rang forward to her school bag in the hall where her phone was ringing. Pulling it out her fingers brushed the letter that stated she had won the regionals and was going into the national swimming freestyle tournament. She had wanted to tell her mum but knew that now, and probably not for most of the next week, would be the right time. Taking up the phone she hit the call button and held it to her ear. It was Shin saying that he was going out with some friends after the karaoke house. She didn't get a chance to ask why and was annoyed when he evidentally allowed a friend to snatch his phone from his hand and shut it off. Running into the kitchen she told Hikaru and Aimi she was going out briefly.

Pulling her roller blades out of her bag she pulled them on, tied them and was out the door, locking it behind her. She didn't need the two younger ones to run off. Skating as fast as she could into town she was intent on speaking to Shin about how much he went off after his job. She had a horrible feeling that their lifestyle was getting to him. Shin had always liked to do what he wanted and being responsible at an age when his mates were anything but was something her brother struggled with.

She reached the Karaoke House with a screech o f her wheels and found police swarming the place. It appeared there had been a lot happening. Sticking her face up against the window to look in she spotted a girl about her age and... and a body on the floor. Her eyebrows rose as she caught the eye of the girl for a second. The room was a little dark and the window smeery so she couldn't see what was going on. Though she knew her brother had only just phoned her and was probably off with his mates somewhere and was not the body on the floor but she couldn't help the slight fluttering of nervousnous and she waved at the girl inside. She knew she'd never get to talk to a police officer. Looking again she was almost certain that he guy in the room was shorter than her brother and none of the boys being talked to were him but she was still concerned as to what was going on. Moving inside as best she could she only got as far as the door to the murder room before a police officer stopped her. With the hand pushed down on her shoulder she wobbled and nearly fell on her wheels but managed to keep her balance. She noted the name of the girl in the room- a girl in her year but not class. It was Tsukino-san.

"Tsukino-san! How are you? What's going on here?"

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``post status;; finished.
``co-starring;; Tsukino Haruhi.
``taking place;; Karaoke House.

[Tsukino Haruhi]

Haruhi was surprised that the girl was getting closer to her. It was a bit strange since they didn't knew each other but she was hoping that she could make new friend in her new school therefore the fact that she approached her first was a good thing given that sometimes Haruhi can't make a decision quickly. She cleared her throat before she were to speak and then saw that the girl already started talking and immediately the picture of her and the name next to it on the board came to her mind. Apparently she knew the name somewhere in the filed photographs in her mind.

"Watashi-san!" She said and bowed slightly smiling. "I am fine went for shopping but as you can see I got colled by the inspector to solve this case since he had a problem!" She explained calmly. "That man stole a loterry ticket that was the winning one, and because the man who had it before wanted it and he wouldn't give it back, he planned to kill him today. The weapon was an ice dagger!'" She kept going but then shook her head realizing that she was getting into too much detail without a reason and smiled awkwardly as she sweatdropped.

"Anyway I do not think that getting into more detail is going to help you! How come you are here?" She asked her grabbing the bags with the dresses she had left on the side. "Are you looking for someone?" She asked her noticing that she was out in a hurry, since she was wearing the roller skates. Therefore it was something that had to be done quickly, and probably she was looking for someone or trying to catch up with something/someone. This was what she thought at least.

"Inspector, I am done here! Next time you are in a difficult situation call me again! I wil do my best to help your incompetence!" She said winking at him while he threw his notepad at one of the police officers mambling that this was the last time he was asking for her help in solving a crime. She was always like that, arrogant to the point of humiliating him whenever he was unable to figure out something. "Arrogant high school detectives. They have no respect for Inspectors like me!" He murmured to one of his subordinates.

Haruhi laughed at him a bit and turned to look at Natsumi. "He is a nice man, teasing him is fun!" She whispered. "Shall I help you with what you are doing?" She asked her grinning. After all she was done and had nothing else to do. She had already finished her homework when she had gone back home in less than thirty minutes as always. "I finished my homework long ago and have nothing else that keeps me from accompanying you!" She added winking at her while tilting her head to the left.

[Watashi Natsumi]

WATASHINATSUMI

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Natsumi blinked, surprised that the girl was so informal the police inspector but she decided not to make comment. There were many things in this world that she had not yet got used to so she decided to stay out of this particular conversation and let Tsukino-san do what she wanted. It was then that the girl turned and seemed willing to help Natsumi in whatever she was up to. This surprised her more as it was normally people asking Natsumi for help or advice rather than them offering it to her. She smiled briefly and then nodded. Waving a hand to indicate that they should move outside- the inspectors and police were already crawling the scene, taking photos and collecting evidence of everything in case the event went to trial.

Out on the street Natsumi smiled and explained her situation...

"My brother's ran off because he's a baka and likes to irritate me. I was just coming here to look for him which was where he should have been, but he's made off with some of his friends. I was going to look for him. You can help if you like?"

As the girl had already been honest and obvious in how she was totally free to help Natsumi, Sumi didn't bother to wait for a response. Instead, she checked that her rollar blades were still okay by tapping the backstop and toes on the pavement, and noting whether or not her feet slipped. As they didn't she pointed down the street.

"He likes to hang out at a club down there so we should go there first."

Natsumi started to skate but at a pace Tsukino-san would be able to walk at with her. She headed towards the club watching the rest of the road and area as it was starting to get late. Natsumi wasn't a very strong or capable person in protecting herself but the dark and strangers had just never frightened her- one, because she wasn't really scared of anything (except thunder, but no-one would ever find that out) and secondly because she was very fast- both on her feet and her wheels, and could escape danger fairly capably.

It was for this reason that when Natsumi looked up and noted a group of men walk over from the other side of the road to confront two younger middle-school aged girls Natsumi didn't immediately run, despite no combat training. Instead she listened. One girl began to whimper and the men moved in closer- one raised a hand and twitched his fingers in jerking movements as if beckoning for the girls to put something in it. He was obviously attempting to steal their money. Natsumi became very irritated very quickly. How unfair and cruel could you get?!

Suddenly skating much faster Natsumi called out.

"Hey! You there! Stop that and leave them alone!" She picked up the pace and skated as fast as she could towards them. Inspiration struck- though probably not in the most thought out way- as Natsumi turned on her side at the last minute and bashed into the first man at full force. He then fell and knocked down two of his friends. This had seemed like a good idea until Natsumi also fell in the tangle. Attempting to get up she kicked on guy in the stomach and hit another in the nose with her back-stop, causing it to break and spew blood. As soon as she made it to her feet Natsumi was grabbed from behind by one of the men still on their feet. His arms locked around her and she kicked her legs back to no avail. The girls, she suddenly noticed were still standing there shocked and Natsumi yelled at them. "Go!" They jumped and ran off, narrowly avoiding the last of the five's clutches but Natsumi was struggling and flailing enough that her captor stopped his comrade running after them. Instead the final man turned and moved to grab Natsumi's kicking rollar blades which she neatly kicked him in the chest and only his ass with. Natsumi wasn't a fighter but she was a natural at flailing about uselessly and making a nuisance of herself...

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``post status;; finished.
``co-starring;; Tsukino Haruhi.
``taking place;; In the Street.

[Tsukino Haruhi]

Haruhi heard what the girl said and her lip twitched. She had a wild brother apparently. It would be fun to help her find him. It would kill some of her time since for Haruhi, the time after her school was always boring. She really had nothing to do except stay online after finishing her homework that normally was taking her 30 minutes to finish. Without thinking about it much and since she had already offered her help she smirked, nodded and after hearing of the possible place he could have been she followed her. "I am following you then!" She said smiling in a friendly way to her.

While they were walking though time was passing by and she was thinking of how much more exciting the day could get. She already made a new friend apparently, if not friend then a new acquantance, she was helping her, going to a club and ... if it was a club it meant only one thing... delinquents doing their weird things while she could take her time and kick the hell out of them. While thinking of that she just couldn't hide the idiotic smile she had on her face with a slight impression that she was thinking of how she would hit them.

When though she looked at the opposite side of the road and ahead she saw some men ganging up on two middle school students. She thought that finally it was time to get them and while she ran to them so did Natsumi. Haruhi saw how she was fighting them. It was too messed up. At times like these she was very happy that she had done martial arts. It was something that her mother and father made her do telling her that it was a what Sherlock Holmes would do. A detective should always do some exercise. Not to mention that since Haruhi's mother was involved with the FBI she was scared that people would target her therefore it would only be natural that she had to learn how to fight.

"Natsumi!" Haruhi yelled and she looked at the men. She span around him and when he least expected it a kick on his back made him fall to the ground. Two men stopped her from spinning and then she smirked. "I was waiting for at least one of you to do that ... " she confessed closing her eyes and while they were holding her hands and tried to pin her on the wall she used her legs to put resistance on the wall and while they were pushing her she walked on the wall and pushed herself up and when she brought her legs down she kicked them freeing her hands. The two of them hit the wall and Haruhi landed safely.

Turning around she saw at least three of them trying to immobilize Natsumi. "I do not think so.." she said and ran catching one of them from the back of his neck pressing the sides with her fingers and kicked his back with her knee. While he was falling down she used her elbow to hit his head leaving only him unconscious while two men behind were trying to stand and do their next attack. The other guy tried to attack her from the behind but Haruhi placed her leg between his and kicked him with her ankle right on his..*cough*<word ommited> making him to let her hands and touch at that place sreaming in pain while he received a kick on the face.

"You can either let her go... or I can call the police Inspector who is a few blocks away at the Karaoke, he is a good friend of mine.." She said. "Or you can just keep doing this and..." then she stopped speaking and ran to him attempting to kick his back in order to let go of Natsumi but she was stopped when she saw that those who were no longer unconscious brought out knives. She could handle two of them easily but 4 holding knives was not exactly someting easily done. She grabbed her mobile from her pocket and immediately called the inspector while she was hiding the mobile behind her back.

"What are you planning to do?" she shouted. "You think it will be easy to attack us with knives at our way to the club near the karaoke bar? The police are very close and will definitely come!" She said and while she was shouting two guys came from behind them while the 'panda's siren' could be heard. "The ptrol cars are coming..."she said grinning and grabbed Natsumi's hand dragging her to her. "Natsumi are you okay? Can you run?" She asked her trying to see if she needed help to balance herself.

[Watashi Natsumi]

WATASHINATSUMI

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Natsumi watched in apparent awe as the girl she had just met promptly ran after her. She had been a few feet behind as Natsumi was on wheels and a lot faster because of it. She was already struggling against the man holding her prisoner when Tsukino-san came running in. Sumi was amazingly impressed when the girl attacked and beat several of the men to the ground. Okay Natsumi had knocked down three of them but they hadn't stayed down very long- only long enough for the middle school girls to get away. That had been the plan of course. Let the younger girls get away. Natsumi never had been amazingly good at thinking things through and only going for the straight course of action. The girls had been vulnerable and needed to get away so she had knocked over the men as best she could to help them. Her train of thought hadn't really gone any further than that- like, how she was going to get away from them. Her lack of pre-thought plus her flippant attitude towards her own self-protection often got her stuck in situations that probably weren't the best. Like this one.

But then Tsukino-san came running in and took out two of the attackers! Natsumi couldn't believe it! She was strong from her swimming and diving but this girl was obviously actually trained in combat. Natsumi had no training in combat, just experience in flailing. Which was what she was doing when Tsukino-san was getting her phone out and calling the police. She was causing a fantastic diversion.

It wasn't soon after that the "panda siren" could be heard and the men hesitated. The one holding onto Natsumi loosened his grip as he looked towards the oncoming sound. Tsukino-san grabbed Natsumi's hand and tugged her away from the men. Narrowly avoiding falling over her wheels Natsumi moved with Tsukino-san as she called to her-

Can you run?

Natsumi have her a grin and the thumbs up and skated forwards several yards away from the mob the had encouraged towards the edge of the street. She then spun on her wheels to make sure Tsukino-san was right behind her.

"That was impressive Tsukino-san! I can't fight at all... It's my brother who's into that kind of thing... I'm more sporty- especially swimming."

Natsumi looked towards the Karaoke House and then back to Tsukino and her phone. Sumi shook her head and smiled in disbelief.

"I still can't believe that you work with the police. You're only my age right? You must be like super-smart or something, because I could never do that. My skills don't really lie with my brain thought to be honest..."

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``post status;; finished.
``co-starring;; Tsukino Haruhi.
``taking place;; In the Street.

[Tsukino Haruhi]

Haruhi was anxious not about herself because even if she were to stay back alone the police would be there soon but she hoped that they did not do anything disgraceful to Natsumi like putting transmitters on her to find them later an attack. This was 'in fashion' back in New York after all and she made a mental note to herself to check her for them. If by anyway they did such a thing then they should better cover themselves because she can find them easily especially since she knows their faces. Even if they tried to escape now later on she would give the description to the police and they would do the portraits and in less time that it would be expected they would find them, just from her detecting the shop that they bought the transmitter.

The moment Haruhi asked her if she could run she saw her lips moving forming a grin and then giving her the thumbs up Natsumi set off. Haruhi gave a last kick to the one who tried to stop her and the police was very close to the scene so she fled running as fast as possible catching up with Natsumi. When she saw that Natsumi had spun on the wheels to look behind she ran a bit faster an caught up with the speed until there was no need to run that fast anymore.

"That was impressive Tsukino-san! I can't fight at all... It's my brother who's into that kind of thing... I'm more sporty- especially swimming." She heard this from Natsumi and blushed. Well of course she could not tell her that she was trained to Karate since she was young because her father and mother were getting worried that criminals who held a grudge against them would try to attack her and take revenge. More importantly she had no intentions of admitting her connections with FBI and the Tokyo Police completely to her therefore she shrugged. "Nah, I am not working with them, the Inspector in charge is a family friend, he knows me since I was quite known in New York about solving cases and hunting down a certain thief he calls me when he has strange cases." She said nodding. "Nothing important really." She added smiling. It was not like her to brag or anything. And she did not like to brag to girls. If it was a boy she would absolutely do it to show that women are superior to them. She is a feminist after all...

Then she remembered to shake off the impression that she is some kind of karate kid."Sometimes learning some self defense is good! You never know what will happen on the streets." She said and showed to her the small -now- scar she had on the top of her arm close to the shoulder. It was a knife scar that she got in New York when she tried to stop a murderer from running away after she had solved the case revealing to everyone that he had done it. "Since I was attacked in the past I was made by my parents to learn self defense!" She said nodding. Though it was not at that time that it started, but when she was 13 that someone tried to attack her for the first time and Mr Buraun was the one who protected her.

"And since I live here alone it is more like something obligatory I suppose! You never know what happens." She said and shrugged it off. "Oh and and...I noticed that you are sporty! It fits your style!" She said nodding and then she remembered that she said something about swimming making Haruhi's pink lips to form a smirk. "I will go to Okinawa this summer to the house we have there!" She said not mentioning that it was actually a really big house. "I am thinking of inviting Cai Mei-going alone is not fun- so if you also want to come you can stay at my house!" She explained and then remembered that they would not use a normal airplane so that they would not need to pay the transportation. Especially Cai Mei. Haruhi was already figuring ways that would help her financially without her finding out that she was behind it.

"And I am going with my father's private plane because I do not like crowded places." She said but the truth was that she was afraid that if she were to take an airplane there might be a hijacking or something. People those days were going crazy after all and she did not intend in any way to let Natsumi be in danger, or herself and especially not Cai Mei. If they denied to go with the private plane then she would have to show them what her mother had sent her about hijackers. She was sure that both would love to take the private plane.