Ravished Ears (Kanaye Kuro, Mimiko Kato)

[Kouhei Kato]

Kouhei sat there in L'Opera with his young daughter, Mimiko. He had brought her to the opera as a gift, she had been begging him for the last few weeks. He hadn't been able to go with ehr since he was tremendously busy. The young raven haired man had offered Mimiko to go with one of the servants, but she had insisted instead to go with him. He had to comply, seeing as it was his only child, he had to do things with her or he'd regret it forever...

The curtains opened, a plump woman in rather strange attire began to sing. Kouhei could feel his boredom rushing thorugh his body. As much as he loved opera, the woman was singing in Greek, the topic of the song was something Kouhei wasn't fond of. He was glad that Mimiko knew a limited amount of Greek for the topic was appaling. He shifted around in his seat, gazing at the background that was used on stage. He had saved a seat for Kuro next to him, only God knew when that man would come.

Kouhei was dressed in Drusiila Silverheart's most finest men's suit. He was glad that he had asked Drusilla to make him a light blue suit, the suit seemed to fit him for some odd reason unknown to himself.

The woman on stage was then captured by a tall skinny man clad in black. Kouhei knew what was going to happen and felt the sudden urge to cover Mimiko's eyes. Which was what he did. When the scene was over, he took his hand away from her eyes.

The play went about for a good fifteen minutes before the props on the top of the stage began to fall and the peolple on the stage began to scream, Kouhei was confused as to what had happened. Someone on the stage, the tall man clad in black, had died. He lay on the stage bleeding continuosly. All of the audience began to run away in fear, shrieking at the top of their lungs.

"Mimiko, stay here." Kouhei said, his voice filled with panic. Kouhei pushed his way up front and climbed on to the stage, hig feet was being soaked with blood. It didn't bother the man, for he began to examine the body. An old man, who had hosted the Greek opera event, had came on to the stage.

"What is the meaning of this?" The old man yelled.

"That is what I would like to know," Kouhei replied, as he was kneeling down undressing the man who had just died.

"What are you doing, Mr. Kato?" The host yelled.

"Mr. Erasmus, I am being trained in medical affairs... I think I know what I am doing. I want to examine here, then run an auptopsy on this unfortunate man." Kouhei couldn't see where the bleeding came from, there was no wound on the man. Perhaps, someone else had also died and the blood came from that person. But the question was how did this man die? and how what exactly was going on here?

"I called an ambulance" Mr. Erasmus, the Greek hot of the opera play said, "So there is really no need of you to do anything!"

"Actually..." Kouhei began to think, this situation remined him of one of his books. Perhaps this was a mock killer. The killer wanted to recreate what had happened in the famous Greek mystery book. "I think there is more to this than just a simple murder. I think the killer is trying to say something. I garuntee you there will be more murders within a week or so."

The book was written many many years ago, it was about an unkwon serial killer in Greece who commited there first act of murder at an Opera. The death of this man at L'opera was similar, a man dropped dead and began to bleed. But the blood did not belong to the man who died. Later the detective venturedto the top of the Opera to find another dead man. Thus, a follow of strange events and constant murders which were unsuspected and strange.

Kouhei didn't feel like venturing to the upstairs, "Mr. Erasmus, could you get some peole to check the upstairs? That would be most appreciated. I am a law and medical student, I would also wnat you to cancel the ambulance. I'll do everything myself from here on."

Kouhei stood up, waiting for Kuro.

[Kanaye Kuro]

"I'm suprised the man still invites me to things," he sighed. Kanaye always seemed to show up late for who knows what reasons. "Time just hates me," he chuckled.

Today he was invited to L'Opera. Opera wasn't one of his favorite things to attend but he decided it would be best to go so as to not be rude.

The city was quiet today which suprised him. That was when he heard screaming. Maroon eyes shot ahead to find people running from the building. "What the?" He quickened his pace. "Hey! What happened in there?" He was ignored or atleast not heard above the screaming.

He stopped and waited till he could get through the crowds but they seemed like a never ending flood. He gave up on that plan. He pushed his way through the frightened people. As he got deeper in, he caught the scent of blood. A lot of it... "What the hell happened?"

When he finally reached the room he caught sight of Kouhei covered in blood. Kanaye wasn't too worried about him. He already knew it wasn't his. "Hey!" He made his way up to the stage in a very calm matter. As he looked around for anything else he noticed Mimiko alone. He raised a brow and stopped to stare. 'This isn't a very good place for her to be...' He was about to go to her but did otherwise. He needed to see if he needed to assist in any way.

He turned his attention back to Kouhei and got up on the stage. He smiled, "Sorry I'm late... Again..."

"Hmm..." He circled the victim examining him. This wasn't his blood either. "Stange. How did this guy die?" He stopped his circling and looked back to Kouhei expecting answers.

After a few moments he grew tired of us standing there. "What can I do to help?"

[Mimiko Kato]

Mimko Looked at Kuro then her Father, Mimiko loved solving things. She didn't know what was going on because she was only 3. Mimiko had a something to ask he father but she didn't want to ask what was happening.

I'm here Because daddy toke me to the opera" Mimiko said in a sad voice to Kuro. Mimiko never saw what happened because her dad covered her eyes, but she did see the blood on the stage and saw her dad go on the stage to see what happened.

[Kouhei Kato]

Kouhei looked up to see Mr. Erasmus glaring, Kouhei turned to see Kuro walking through the Opera and towards the stage. Mr. Erasmus muttered something then left. Kouhei felt like telling him good riddance but thought it best not to, seeing as it did not fit the mood and it was uncecssary. Kouhei watched as Mr. Erasmus called for other peopel to go to the upstairs.

"Late, when are you never late? Anyways, that is unimportant now." He turned to look at the body, thinking over ther Greek mystery book he had read during the summer. He couldn't remember the ending for some reason, neither did her know where it was in his large home. He knew the basis and beginning of it and that is what mattered for now atleast.

"Well, the man just screamed and dropped dead. As you probably know the blood isn't his nor mine." Kouhei didn't feel like explaining the rest, but he did anyways, "I read a book this summer called Dorcas. It's a greek mystery novel or play... But the way the man died in story is exactly the same as to how the man here died, it was also in an opera. It was also during the night on october the nineteenth, I don't think this is convinience. I assume this is some sort of mock killer who is trying to be the antagonist of the story. Not only that but is it not convinient that this is a greek play playing now, the host of this event is greek? The book Dorcas is greek, it was based in Greece, but the book has been translated to Japanese, so I wouldn't be surprised if someone here in Yuugiri was the killer." Kouhei felt like his tongue was going to be tied, he had talked so much and so fast. He was glad that Yuugiri was a small Island with a not so large population, the ycould narrow it down. Kouhei was already deducing who it could have been, he knew so many people who had attended the same play as him. Any of them could have been the killer, even Mr. Erasmus. Kouhei was also thinking of ways to figure out who the killer was using his money to influence media or news to make the person to spit it out.

Before he could answer Kuro, his own daughter interupted him. "Perhaps you'd like to see Nana?" He said referring to Mimiko's grandmother, she was visitingfrom Germany alongside Mimiko's grandfather. Oskarhad invited them over after Kouhei sarcasting yelled at him to bring the whole family over when Oskar brought a group of drunk friends into the house. "Actually, forget it. Oskar will be there." He said more to himself then anyone else. "Mimiko, darling, you are to stay by my side understand? When daddy tells you to behave or not look, you listen."

"AAAHHH!!" It was not just one person, but multiple people yelling. They all ran from the direction of the upstairs. One was yelling frantically about a body so badly mutilated, it seemed to be that of a woman, but the person wasn't sure.

Mr. Erasmus turned to them, "Are you guys chickens or what? Be men, go back and retrieve the body. Master Kato here wants to examine the bodies on his own."

"wait, wait, wait." Kouhei called to the men, so that he could go over and have the men explain to him properly of what they saw. Kouhei turned to Kuro, "Well, you can do as you wish. Do anything that you think could help me out. Firstly, we both can go upstaira to see what happened. Then, we can do a little research while trying to narrow down who the killer may be." Kouhei grabbed Mimiko's arm as he rushed over to the group of men, who seemed to be in shock.

"What happened? Don't be fools. Just tell."

One of the men spoke slowly, "We saw a body of a woman, badly mutilated... Too terrible to describe. We think we saw the murderer. It's a man for sure. He's young, but I didn't see his face clearly... He was holding a large knife with blood dripping from it."

Kouhei began to think that maybe the man who died previous was poisoned and somehow the blood came from beneath the stage. An idea ticked from his, maybe the Killer was using this Opera as some sort of headquearter for serial murder. It was just a thought. Everything seemed like the book, the fact that he was killing within an opera and using it as thought it were some amusement park for killing was much like the book. Kouhei turned to Kuro.

"I think it;s best if we observe this place and then once we get enough clues we can track down the killer. What do you think? I'm not exaclty a genius, we need two brains to find one person." Kouhei whined, while holding Mimiko's hand a tad bit more tightly.

[Kanaye Kuro]

He noticed the dissapointment in the little girls voice. He just smiled warmly not knowing what else to do. He turned his attention back to Kouhei once he answered. "A killer going by a book eh? Sounds like some movie or something. You'd never expect it in real life. The world is getting stranger each passing day," he finished with a sigh.

He couldn't help but laugh at the conversation between Kouhei and Mimiko. Kouhei really didn't like Oskar.

The sound of more screaming caught his attention. "I'm going to go deaf by time we ge through this," he whined. He watched as the men ran down the stairs screaming about some body. He smirked. "This guy is really quick. Wonder how much bod-" he was cut off seeing Mimiko ot of the corner of his eye. Maybe he should keep quiet. This isn't something a little girl would really want to hear.

He listened to the description. A woman, mutilated. "Harsh..."

He let them continue and decided to search the stage for any clues. He walked over to the body and looked around fo anything suspicious. There wasn't really anything. He crouched down and stuck a finger into the pool of blood. He examined it and smelled it more. It was bitter smelling. But still there wasn't anything. Kuro rubbed the blood off on his shirt.

He turned when he heard Kouhei once more. "Yeah some clues would be useful. Since the killer was upstairs I'd say we search there but of course that is just my opinion," he shrugged. "I can go alone if you wish so she won't have to see anything." He sounded hesitant saying this. He didn't want to leave the two behind especially since the killer might still be here.

"It would easier if I had a blood sample..." He looked to the other men expecting some confusion. It would be a whole lot easier to track this guy down if he could smell his blood. Just one of the props of being a Kyuuketsuki.

[Mimiko Kato]

Mimiko looked up at Kuro. "Daddy whats happening here?" Mimiko said in here little cute voice that she always talk in. "Daddy i'm hungry when can we go get something to eat?" Mimiko said with a little smile on her face and looking at her dad.

Mimiko was starting to get bored. She had nothing to do while her father was working on the case, she didn't know how she could help. Mimiko looked at Kuro and asked something "how are you?"Mimiko said with a smile on her angel like face.

Mimiko wished she had music to listen to, Because music always kept her busy and she loved music her whole live her mom and dad would play it when she was baby to help her sleep.

[Kouhei Kato]

Kouhei held onto Mimiko's hand tightly. "Nothing is happening here that you should to be concerned with, Mimiko. I would call Oskar to come and watch over you, but I should call someome else..." Kouhei took out his phone to call his home, no one answered. Kouhei grunted and shoved his handphone back into his coat pocket. "I guess, you'll have to come along... But you have to listen to me."

Kouhei turned to Kuro. "I say we search the upstairs, as well. But you never know if he escaped to hide in the downstairs or even went home... But it's best to go upatairs as you suggested. But good on getting blood samples. Why didn't I think of that?" Kouhei began to yell at Mr. Erasmus in Greek to give Kuro some blood samples. Mr. Erasmus nodded but Kouhei could tell the man was hesitant. Kouhei didn't think that the man was hesitant because he didn't want to be found out as the killer but because he didn't trust Kouhei or Kuro's judgement. Mr. Erasmus began to mutter to the other men in slight annoyance, he was most likely telling them to get blood samples.

Kouhei began to go in the direction of the staircase that lead to the upstairs. He held onto Mimiko's hand. "There is no way I'm letting you go upstairs alone. We're going together!" Kouhei sounded quite stubborn but he wasn't going to let his bestfriend go upstairs and be ripped to shreads but the killer, not that Kuro was unable to protect himself. Plus, Kouhei wanted to investigate the upstairs and he didn't want to leave Mimiko alone. He wondered if he could trust Mr. Erasmus, he knew the man for a couple years or so, but the two never engaged in a conversation without ending it with a heated arguement over politics or some other subject. "Mr. Erasmus," Kouhei said returning to the Japanese language when talking to the Greek man, "Is it alright if you come with us and watch over Mimiko?"

"What makes you think I am going to let you boss me around? Don't you think you have bossed me enough? You come to my Opera. a murder happens and you think you can solve everything without consulthing the police?" Mr. Erasmus face was red as blood by the time he finnished his little unimportant rant.

"I never said you couldn't consult the police, I said don't call the ambulance. I'll auptopsy both the bodies alone with the help of Kuro. Although, it'd be unwise to consult the police as you'd be the next victim. Since you'd be like the first domino to try and get in their way, they'd kill you and then the police. You don't want to end up like this poor fellow who's laying on stage now, do you?" Kouhei said with a serious tone in his voice. "Not to mention, I'm probably on their next on the list of whom to kill. I wouldn't be surprised if one of my servants are killed as a message to show that I am next. I'll have to advice my family to leave." Kouhei was glad that Oskar would be leaving. Kouhei wondered if his frightening monologue scared Mr. Erasmus into following Kouhei or not.

"Mimiko," Mr. Erasmus said softly obviously putting on fake laughter. "Let's follow your father!" He said quickly grabbing Mimiko's pale little hand and stroked her blonde hair.

"Well then..." Kouhei put his pale had on the railing and raised himself up and began to slowly march up the ladder-like staircase. He reached the top, he could see Mr. Erasmus following, pulling Mimiko quickly as if if they were not to follow they would die because the stage was cursed.

"Come on, little girl." Mr. Erasmus said, "I have lots of candy at my home. So when this whole ordeal is finnished with I can give you some."

Kouhei could help but snort, what a show Mr. Erasmus was putting on. Kouhei originally came so that Mimiko could watch a famous Greek show and enjoy it. The show was ruined. But now she could watch Mr. Erasmus make a fool out of himself. He was obviously pretending to be some sort of clown to make Mimiko laugh.

Kouhei looked around. Behind a set of curtains, he could see the body of the dead woman who was said to be badly mutilated. He walked up to the body, it reeked. The young man covered his mouth with some cloth he found in his pocket. He found a ring stuck in between the woman's teeth, Kouhei picked it up and put in the cloth and back in his pocket. "I found something!" Kouhei yelled at Kuro.

"You found something?" Mr. Erasmus scoffed from far away, he didn't want Mimiko to go over to her father, she would see the dead body. "Mimiko, look what I can do!" Mr. Erasmus, took a piece of paper from his pocket and began to make an origami of a person, it looked like a woman wearing a dress. "See, it's an angel."

Kouhei felt a sudden sadness in his heart, he wondered if his wife was an angel and was watching over him and his daughter. Kouhei hated his father and his mother, they caused him so much pain. Kouhei looked at the walls. There was a message written in blood.

They all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,


Kouhei's eyes opened wide. "What could this mean?" Kouhei took a picture with his cellphone and then put his cellphone back in his coat pocket back where the ring was.

[Kanaye Kuro]

He couldn't help but smile at the little girl once she spoke. He crouched down slightly, but did not manage to get to her level. "I'm fine. How about you, my dear?"

His maroon eyes shot torwards Kouhei before lifting himself up. "Sounds good," he replied as he looked back over to the men. His face was expressionless as he watched, waiting for the needed blood samples.

All this Greek was proving to be a little confusing to him. He didn't know a thing they were saying but managed to keep that fact from showing.

Kuro started off torwards the staircase, looking up, already smelling something. He was about to take the first step when he heard Kouhei behind. He wasn't all that sure about his tone of voice. Did he not trust him? No that couldn't be it. Scared for him? That was a possibility. The two were close friends, well atleast from his point of view. "Okay. Together it is." He stepped back waiting for Kouhei.

He glared at the man known as Mr. Erasmus. He wasn't all that sure about letting her go off with him. But of course he always had these trust issues. He wouldn't argue but keep his eye on him. Eyes narrowed when the man argued. Kanaye found him useless. Why was he even here? True this man could be the killer. But if he didn't calm down, Kuro would gladly quiet him. He smirked at the thought.

He listened as Kouhei countered. His words troubled him. What if he was next? Kuro wouldn't allow it. This was going to prove to be challenging.

He followed up the stairs after Mimiko and Mr. Erasmus just incase the killer was down stairs he could make sure they wasn't harmed. Once they were all upstairs, he looked around for any sign of the murderer as well as searching for clues in the proccess.

"I found something!"

He turned to Kouhei and quickly made his way over to see what it was. That scent got stronger and he found out why. There was the girl but you could hardly tell. Kuro looked down to the ring before it was put away. "That could be useful..."

Eyes slowly scanned the wall coming upon the red words. His eyes narrowed as he read it. "Does this have to do with anything in your book?" He waited for Kouhei to take his picture before getting closer to examine it. "They all ran after the farmer's wife, Who cut off their tails with a carving knife..." He frowned, "Could be a riddle or some clue. This guy might be wanting us to follow... What do you think?"