Secret Files of Serena Tsukino: File #1: Tokyo Murder By: Silver Star "So you are telling me that this death is not just an accident. And the killer tends to leave a black rose at the place of the murder" Serena Tsukino, the number one private detective in Japan, said to her boss, Andrew Rolly, as she pace back and forth across him on the plush red carpet. "Yes, Serena and please stop pacing. You are giving me a headache." Andrew said playfully. Blond and blue eyed Andrew was one of the 'woman attraction thing' as Serena had called him. He is very nice and charming that a lot of girls fell at his feet but too bad 'cause he already had a girlfriend and she's NOT Serena. "Very funny, Andrew." Serena said, rolling her eyes. Her long golden hair was pulled into a ponytail at the nape of her neck by a sky-blue ribbon. A pair of gold-rimmed glasses perched on her nose, though not hiding her big, sapphire blue eyes. Young, smart, and beautiful, Serena was considered one of the most successful woman in Tokyo, considering she is only 21 and she got a great job when she was only 20. Her cleverness and quick thinking skill had brought her to Tokyo Detective Agency and soon, she turned into the best detective around. Some people accused her of opportunism because of the age that she got into the job but she never cared and not a lot of other people listened considering she had helped almost all the people in Tokyo city. Unfortunately, the job of been a detective also bring her danger but she had said once to a reporter that she relish danger. "You are going to have a partner for this job, Serena." Andrew suddenly said, standing up from the leather chair he had been sitting on behind his red wood desk. "A WHAT?!" Serena screamed in surprise. "Wow, Serena. You have been practice on your voice, haven't you? I was sure I was deaf for a second." Andrew said, cleaning some papers on his desk though it was already very neat and clean. An empty coffee mug was on the desk along with a computer, a phone, and an answering machine. A black stacker was on the desk, too, and clean sheets of paper was on the top stacker. "What do you mean a partner? You know I don't need a partner! Why did you do it? Who is it? I want you to call him or her right now and cancel. Oh, and please don't tell me it was Demando Diamond!" Serena said so quickly that Andrew wasn't even sure what she said. Demando Diamond was on the robbery department of the Agency and had his eyes set on Serena from the very first day she stepped into the building. He had tried to ask her out several times now but Serena rejected him everytime. "I can't call him off because it's the request of MY boss. You know Lita, she's always concerned about you and when she heard that you are going to get this assignment, she practically freaked out so she requested me that I give you a partner that I could trust." Andrew said. Lita Fane was the main boss of the Agency. She and Serena had became friends the first day that she met Serena and she had been very protective of her like a big sister. "Hmm...let me guess. It's not Demando that for sure because you never really trusted that guy and it can't be Raye because she couldn't even take care of herself-" "She could take care of herself, Serena. Stop making fun of her. If she heard you saying that she couldn't take care of herself, she'll be sure to ask me to place her with you on this assignment and I don't really intended on that and I don't think you would want that either." Andrew said, cutting Serena off in the middle of her sentence. "Okay, okay, she could take care of herself. Happy?" Serena asked, sticking out her tongue at Andrew which is something she does a lot even though she's already 21. "Anyway, it couldn't be Mina either since you did say 'he'. And I don't think I know this person because I know nobody that is in this building that is a guy that you totally trusted." Serena finished. "Very good Serena. You are right, he's not somebody you know." Andrew said, smiling at the triumph Serena. "We are suppose to meet in about an hour or so at Desert Jade for lunch." "Great. Anyway, let's get to a more relevant topic. How many casualties are there?" Serena asked. "I don't know." Andrew said sighing, suddenly looked really tired. "I think there's 2 dead and 4 are injured. You can get the information from Raye. You know that I don't like deaths and that forcing me to find the condition the victims is in is stressing my out." "I'm- I'm really sorry Andrew but I do need this information to get a exhaustive image of what's happening at this time." Serena said quietly. Andrew's parents had both died when he was only a kid and the worst part was that he had witnessed the death of his parents. Both his father and mother had been killed by a robber who was trying to rob a bank and Andrew's parents had crossed his path. That's one of the reason he got into the Agency, he wanted all the people who had murdered or robbed other people to come back and face their crime. "Well, I'll be going. See you in one hour, okay?" She asked. "Sure, Serena. Go ahead. Just be sure to be back in one hour." "See ya, Andrew." With that, she walked out the door, leaving a exhausted boss. "Hey, Raye." Serena greeted as she saw Raye Fiary, Andrew's secretary also the person who fills the place for absents. "Hello, Serena." Raye greeted back. "You okay? You look kind of sad." "I'm okay. I just asked Andrew about the casualties of my latest assignment." Serena answered, sighing. "You are one of his best friend and you should have know that he doesn't like to talk about deaths." Raye commented. "I know but you know my memory. I could never remember anything!" Serena said, frustrated. "Anyway, Andrew told me ask you for the information. Do you have them?" "Yeah, I do. There are six victims two died of suffocating and one died of falling down from a five story building, possibly been pushed. The rest had been choked." Raye sighed. "I sure hope this murderer get caught soon. He or she seemed like a serial killer." "Yeah...what I don't get is what this killer's relationship with the victims and why he/she tried to assassin them." Serena said, puzzled. "I don't get it either but then again, all the killers are either crazy or insane, choose one." Raye said shrugging. "Hello, everybody!" A cheerful voice said from behind them. Serena winced as she realize who it was. It was Mina Hearts, another investigator of the Homicide Department. Mina looked like the twin of Serena even though they have no relations. They both had long blond hair, they both got blue eyes, and they both are very cheerful. Mina's eyes, however, are a shade lighter, paler blue than Serena's. Mina also wears a trade mark red bow in her hair to hold them back from her face so it's pretty easy to tell the difference. Once Mina and Serena both let their hair down and Sapphire, Demando's little brother, was walking by and he thought there was two Serenas. Mina's cheerfulness was a contrast for the gloomy thing they had been talking about. "What are you guys talking about?" Mina asked. "We were talking about my newest assignment." Serena said, sighing as she put away the notebook which was where she was writing all the information down to. She took off her glasses and rubbed her temple. "What is it?" Mina asked again. "Maybe I could help you." "It's a murder-" "Well, DUH! We are in the Homicide Department aren't we?" Raye said, cutting Serena off. "Raye! Anyway, as I said, it's a murder and I know we are in the Homicide Department." Serena quickly added so that Raye won't have to say that again. "It's a serial murder I think. Six victims already and we have no clue who will be next." "Tried the things all six victims have in common. Maybe that could help." Mina said. "You know what? I gotta go. Andrew set me up with a partner for this assignment and we are going to meet him at lunch." Serena said, checking her wristwatch. "A partner? With YOU?" Mina and Raye both exclaimed in shock. Serena had been famous for the fact that she ALWAYS work alone. "Well, it doesn't matter, really. I'll see you guys later tonight, okay?" Serena asked. "Sure thing. Your house." Raye said. "Lita, too." "See ya later, Serena! Don't be too foolhardy!" Mina said. "Okay, bye!" With that, Serena glide out the door. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ "We're here." Andrew said as he got out his car. "Desert Jade. I love this restaurant." Serena said as she got out the passenger seat. "Come on. I think we are a little bit late." Andrew said, running up the steps to get to the door. "Ladies first." "Thank you." Serena said as she walks in. "So where is he?" "He's right there." Andrew said, waving to a dark haired guy sitting at a far table. He had a pair of dark sunglasses on so Serena couldn't see his eyes. He had jet-black hair and he's wearing a white button down shirt and nice black jeans. "Darien, this is Serena Tsukino. Serena, this is Darien Chiba, your new partner." Andrew said upon reaching the table. "Nice to meet you." Serena said cheerfully, holding out her hands to shake. Darien didn't say anything but simply stood up, nodded, and shook her hands. "Darien is going to work at Tokyo Detective Agency and this is his first assignment. And you, Serena, are going to be his partner. He's using the office next to yours." Andrew said as he sat down. "So now you are my apprentice." Serena said, sitting down also. "Well, actually I'm your partner, not your student." Darien said. He took off his sunglasses and burnished them with an unused napkin. Serena thought as she stared into Darien's midnight blue eyes. "Your orders please." The waitress said. After they placed their orders, they started to talk about the case. "From what I have right now, I think it's a serial killer." Serena said. "What if it isn't?" Darien argued. "What if the killer had some grudge against just these six people?" "But they don't even KNOW each other!" Serena retorted. "They don't have to know each other! They all could have known somebody!" Darien said, frustrated. "Can you two please keep it down? Everybody's eyes are on us." Andrew suddenly cut in. Serena and Darien broke off their eyes contact and look around. Everybody was staring at them as if they've grown two heads. Serena blushed and Darien did nothing. He simply turned back to face the other two sitting at the table, ignoring everybody else. "You are an alien." Serena muttered to Darien. "No, I'm not. I'm a human." Darien muttered back. "I meant you are strange, Darien." Serena said, rolling her eyes. "Great. Now I'm strange AND I'm from outer space." Darien said, smiling a little. "You've got a strange sense of humor." Serena commented. "Thanks." "That wasn't a compliment." "So?" "So you weren't suppose to say 'thanks'!" "Why?" "Because it wasn't a compliment!" "So?" "Yeah, so?" Andrew suddenly said. "UGH! You two are IMPOSSIBLE!" Serena said, frustrated. Darien was smiling fully, now, not just a small smile. He seemed to enjoy annoying Serena out. "We are the 'Impossible Two'." Andrew said, laughing as he high-five with Darien. "That's what Mrs. Klinning called us." "Whose Mrs. Klinning?" Serena asked curiously. "She's our High School teacher." Darien said. "You guys went to High School together?" Serena asked. "Yeah. Didn't I tell you that?" Andrew asked. "No." Serena said. "But yo-" She was suddenly cut off by a scream. Serena immediately sprung up, looking around trying to find the source of the scream. She didn't need to look for long because the scream came from a table on the other side of their table. She quickly run over and see what happened. She held up a badge on her wallet to show the people that she's a detective and to tell them to move over so she could see what's happening. A woman with long dark-brown hair was laying face up on the floor and another blond woman in her 30's was kneeling beside her, crying. "There's nothing to see here, people." Andrew said, herding everybody out the door of the restaurant. "What happened." Serena asked the woman that was crying as she checked for pulse of the woman lying on the floor. "I- I don't know!" She said between sobs. "Tell us your name and then tell us what happened." Darien said. "Andrew, go tell them to call the police." Andrew nodded and was gone in a second. "She doesn't have a pulse." Serena said. "Please, tell us what happened. We are detectives. You can tell us." "I don't know what happened!" The woman burst out. "I- I'm sorry. I'm Melissa Terine. My friend and I were just eating when she said that she needs to go to the bathroom and when she got up, she fell down to floor, clutching her heart!" "What's her name?" Darien asked gently. "Her name is Sarah, Sarah Manila." Melissa said. Darien got up and went to the table where the two women were eating while Serena tried to comfort Melissa. He brought the teacup on the right to his nose and sniffed it. He did the same thing with the other cup. "Interesting." He said. "What's interesting?" Serena asked as she helped the Melissa onto a chair. "The tea that was obviously Sarah's was poisoned." Darien said, showing Serena the teacup from the left. "Poisoned?" Melissa asked in disbelieve. "Who would want to do that? Sarah was always nice to everybody and she has no enemies!" Darien and Serena exchanged glances. "I want you to wait here for the police, Melissa, okay?" Serena said. "Everything will be alright." With that, both Darien and Serena sped off to the kitchen. Surprisingly, nobody was there. "That's odd..." Serena trailed off as she saw what she was looking for: a perfect black rose in full bloom. "A black rose." Darien said. "That's the symbol that had been left by the killer." Serena said softly. She took a napkin and gently lift the rose. Suddenly, Andrew burst into the kitchen. "Are you guys okay? I got back from phoning the police and found you guys missing. When I ask the woman-" "Melissa, her name is Melissa, Melissa Terine." Serena cut in. "When I ask Melissa, she said you guys went to the kitchen in a hurry. What did I miss?" Andrew said in one breath. Serena didn't say anything. She simply showed Andrew the black rose and he understood. It was the serial killer again. "Are the police coming?" Darien asked. "Yeah. They'll be here in less than 5 minutes." Just then they heard siren in the distance. "I guess they are here." With that, they all hurried off to the other room. ~~~~~~~~~~ "Does she have any enemies? Anybody who doesn't like her as much?" Serena asked. She, Darien, and Andrew had followed the police to the police station to question Melissa. Since they are detectives, they got the privilege to ask her questions and get to know all the information that they needed. Right now they are in one of those gray rooms questioning Melissa. They are not suspecting Melissa or anything like that but they are trying to know more about Sarah. Serena was sitting on the edge of the table with the like shining on her. Andrew was pacing back and fourth behind her. Darien was sitting on the chair that was on the opposite side of Melissa. Melissa shook her head. "No, I don't think so. She's very tolerant and jovial that everybody likes her. I couldn't imagine anybody abhor her. She's so nice to everybody." "Tell me in sequence what you two did today." Darien said as he leans toward the table a little more and the light from the lamp shone over him, making him look menacing. "Well, yesterday we decided that we go to Terrain to look at their land-" "Terrain? What terrain?" Andrew asked, cutting Melissa off in the middle of her sentence. "Terrain, you know, the Land Company? It was named after the word terrain and after the owner of that company, Jennifer Terrainer. Jennifer is a friend of Sarah and I. Sarah decided to build a house and she want to buy this land that belong to Terrain." Melissa clarified. "Okay, continue." Andrew said as he stopped pacing and faced Melissa. "We made an appointment to meet for breakfast at Star Dream Café and then meet Jennifer to make a deal and buy the land." Melissa continued. "By the time we finished signing all the papers and stuff, it was time for lunch. We asked Jennifer if she wanted to join us but she said she has an appointment with another customer for lunch. Then we came to Desert Jade and you know the rest." Melissa finished. "Thank you Melissa. You are a big help to us." Andrew said, coming over and shaking her hands. "We'll contact you as soon as we find murderer." "Thank YOU for helping me and Sarah even though she's already dead. But I'm sure she will bless you when she went to heaven." Melissa said, shaking everybody's hands in turn. "Do you need a ride home?" Serena asked as she led everybody out the room and into the busy hallway of the police station. "No, I'll be fine." Melissa said. "You sure? We could assign a police officer to take you home or better yet, I'll take you home." Darien said. "No, I'll be alright. I just want you to find the murderer of my best friend and penalize him or her." Melissa said. "Good-bye and thank you!" With those final words, she walk down the hallway and out the door into the night. "Another one." Serena said, sighing as she turned to the opposite direction of the hallway. "This is the seventh, isn't it?" Darien asked as he, Serena, and Andrew headed for Dr. Amy Waterman's office to find out the exact condition of Sarah. "That poor woman." Serena said, talking about Melissa. "Her best friend just died and she couldn't do anything about beside waiting and praying." "Yeah...we are here." Darien said as they arrived at the door that had 'Dr. Amy Waterman' written on a metal plate. He knocked on the door and heard a muffled woman's voice telling them to come in. He turned the knob and went into the office of Dr. Waterman. "You three must be Serena Tsukino, Darien Chiba, and Andrew Rolly." A woman around Serena's age with blue hair and a friendly face said as she stood up and shook their hands one by one. She had a white lab coat on and underneath it, she wears a blue turtleneck and blue jeans. "Hello, Dr. Waterman-" "Please, just call me Amy." Dr. Waterman said, cutting Serena off in the middle of her sentence. "Alright, Amy." Serena said. "From what I found out in the tea and from Sarah's corpse, the tea which Sarah had drunk had a kind of poison in it. As she drunk it, the poison spread quickly throughout her body and took away the blood cells. Most of them will travel back to the heart and coat it, making it slow it's pumping motion which is suppose to give oxygen and other things a body needed in order to survive and it will soon stop pumping. This kind of poison will make the person who drunk it look like she/he died of heart attack, or in another word, making it look like an accident. Whoever put the poison in her tea knows what he/she's doing. This person definitely want people get the suspicion of murder off their mind. And it's working, too." Amy said. "When the police told me that she died clutching her heart, I practically analyzed right there that it's an heart attack until of course they said that they found poison in her tea. "Also, I think this person who put the poison in Sarah's tea knows her pretty well. This poison could heal certain kind of diseases but it will kill people who don't have that kind of diseases." Amy continued. "This poison can heal?" Andrew asked, puzzled. "I guess you could say that. It's like you put one kind of bug into a jar and another kind of bug into the same jar and they will battle and at the end, they destroyed each other. This poison is like this. When it faces this certain kind of diseases, it will destroy it and at the same time, the disease will destroy the poison, too. But some other diseases couldn't destroy the poison and so the poison destroys the disease and the person alone with it." Amy explained. "So what you are saying is that the murderer, whoever it is, has to be pretty close to Sarah to know that she doesn't have this kind of disease." Darien said. "Exactly." Amy said. "I think I understand now." Serena said slowly. "But it could be any of her friends. I mean, you heard Melissa, everybody liked her so she must have a bunch of friends." "We still need to find something more in order to crack this case. The clues are a little deficient." Andrew said. "Thank you, Amy. You are a BIG help. Next time, I'll be sure to ask for you help." Serena said, smiling and shaking Amy's hands again. "You are welcome. I'll be glad to help. I want this murderer to be captured and penalized!" Amy said, smiling also. "Thank you again, Amy." Andrew said. With that, all three of them walk out the door of the office. "Now what?" Serena asked, turning to face her two companions. "I want to ask a few more questions to the family of the other six victims." Darien said. "Why?" Andrew asked. "I think there might be some clues that you guys might have missed." Darien said, shrugging. "Sure I guess. We'll have to set up appointments with them." Serena said as they all walked out the building of the police station. "What time is it?" "It's 7:45." Andrew said, checking his watch. "It's almost 8 ALREADY!?" Serena screeched. "Keep it down, will ya Serena?" Darien asked as he dropped his hands from his ears. "I think I'm going to be deaf for a few minutes." "Very funny, Darien." Serena said. "What did ya say?" Darien asked. "Grrr..." "Maybe way should go somewhere to eat." Andrew suggested. "Okay, where?" Serena asked. "Uh...Desert Jade?" Darien asked. All three of them looked at each other. "NAH!" ~~~~~~~~~~ "Does John have any enemies? Anybody that doesn't like him as much?" Darien asked Samantha Jenningson, the sister of John Remada, one of the victims of the killer, at Tuesday morning. Darien, Serena, and Andrew had made an appointment with all six families after their dinner, Monday. "No. At least I don't think so." Samantha said. "Does he have any money that he need to reimburse?" Darien asked. "Well, he's planning to buy a piece of land to build a house so he's asking for money from the bank-" "Land? From where?" Darien asked, cutting Samantha off. "From Terrain. The land company that belongs to Jennifer Terrainer." Samantha answered. "But I don't see what that got to do with the death of my brother." "Terrain, eh? Oh, this land does have something to do with John's death." Darien said mysteriously. "Don't worry. We'll find the killer whoever it is." Darien stood up from the couch he had been sitting on and walked to the door. "Thank you. Have a safe drive home!" With a final shake of hands, Darien was out the door and heading for the next family. ~~~~~~~~~~ "Does she want to buy any land?" Darien asked Cindy Lawrence, daughter of Jane Lawrence who was, of course, one of the victims. Cindy looked at Darien with a weird expression. "Yeah. Why do you want to know?" "Where did she bought the land?" Darien asked, ignoring her questioning stare and her questions. "At Terrain." Cindy said. "Okay. Thank you for your help." Darien said as he got up. They shook hands again and then Darien was out the door. ~~~~~~~~~~ "Look what I found out?" Darien asked excitedly as he burst into Serena's office. Serena looked up from behind her desk, a stunned expression was on her face. I guess she wasn't used to people bursting into her office without knocking first. "Don't you think you should knock first?" Serena finally asked, annoyed. "Sorry, but listen to this! All of the victims was a customer of Terrain!" Darien said as he bright the information over to let Serena see it. "Don't you think it's kind of odd that all seven of these victims were a customer at Terrain!? I mean, it kind of jibes, you know. If Jennifer had some grudge against the seven of them, she had a lot of opportunities." "Terrain? You mean Jennifer Terrainer? You know what? I'm going to set up an appointment with her right now." Serena said as she grabbed the phone. "Actually, I already did that." Darien said. Serena started at him in surprise. "You already did that?" "I know you would want to do that so I did it in advance." Darien said. "We have an appointment with her at 4:30 P.M. Right now it's 4:00 so we better start to head over there." "You know what?" Serena asked as she and Darien start out toward the parking lot. "What?" Darien asked. "You are the best partner I've ever had." Serena said. "I'm the ONLY partner you've ever had!" ~~~~~~~~~~ "Come in!" A muffled woman's voice said inside the door. Darien turned the knob and walked in with Serena at his heals. "Hello." Darien said as he shook Jennifer Terrainer's hands. "Welcome!" Jennifer said as she shook Serena's hands. She was in her late 20's with long red hair and emerald green eyes. She was wearing a dark maroon colored business suite and matching maroon high-heels. "I understand that you want to talk to me about my friend, Sarah's death." Serena looked at Darien and he shook his head a little, not really noticeable but she noticed and it was enough. Darien had never told her that they are here to talk about Sarah's and the other six victim's deaths. Serena decided to start with a dramatic subject instead of talking casually and then get to the relevant subject. Besides, she wanted to see Jennifer's reaction. "Why did you do it, Jennifer?" She burst out suddenly. "Do what?" Jennifer asked with a blank expression but Serena thought she detected a hint of panic in Jennifer's eyes but they disappeared quickly as if it were never there. "You know what you did, Jennifer." Darien added. Jennifer's friendly expression melted and she had a scowl on her face. "You want to know? Fine. I'll tell you." She said as she walked casually back to her desk. "But I'll make sure you'll never tell." The next thing Serena know was a gun pointing at them. "Exactly 20 years ago at this exact day, eight teenagers met on the land that is called Terrain today. They had just robbed a museum and had a very, very valuable possession. They've locked the possession into a small box and hid it in an oak tree on the Terrain land. They've made copies of eight keys that could unlock the box and they each got one. Unknown to them, a little girl no more than 10 was watching them. "That little girl was me and those eight teenagers where the victims and my older sister. Several years later, before my sister could get it out again, she died. Before she died, however, she gave me the key to the box. I know that if I don't kill the seven other people, I'll never be able to get it out so that's why I killed them. And I've done a good job of it didn't I?" "You killed them because they've got the key?" Serena asked. "Yes. And now I will kill you because you've already know the truth. Good bye-" "But not before we give a fight!" Darien said, cutting Jennifer off. He suddenly jumped up and kicked her on the stomach. The gun skittered to a stop under the desk. He grabbed both of her arms and jerked it to her back. "Come on, Serena. Help me here." He said as he held tight though Jennifer kept on struggling and kicking him. "I can't find anything that could tie her up!" Serena yelled, frustrated. "Your hair ribbon!" Darien yelled desperately, trying to hold Jennifer for few more minutes. "Oh." Serena quickly taking off her sky-blue hair ribbon and tied it around Jennifer's hands. A key suddenly fell out of Jennifer's pocket and onto the floor. "Huh?" Serena pick it up and examined it. "I think this is the key for the box, isn't it?" Jennifer didn't answer. "Call the police, Serena." Darien said, still holding Jennifer but not as hard as before. "We are already here." Andrew's voice said from the doorway. "Thank god, Andrew. You are right on time." Serena said, relieved. Several police officers came in and took Jennifer away. "So what did I missed?" Andrew asked. "A lot. Let us tell you on the way..." ~~~~~~~~~~ The End...or is it? What do you think? Good? Bad? Email me at: bailuli@hotmail.com I LOVE getting Emails. This fanfic started as a homework assignment so there will be words in there that will be hard to understood like 'jibe' or 'reimburse'. I still hope you like it!