Disclaimer: Own nothing but this story. Mai Hime belongs to Sunrise studio and all of the Silence of the Lambs stuff, belongs to Thomas Harris.

Summary: Firstly...I'm baaaaacccckkkkkk! Secondly, for those that don't know the story, a deadly murderer is running around the city of Tokyo. Natsuki Kuga, a special agent is sent to discover anything she can about this bloodthirsty murderer. But in order to do that, she might just have to make a deal with the devil. And she is known as Shizuru Fujino.

Okay, so a little history behind this story. Those that remember the fic, might recall what it was about. Now, you might notice that it's really different from the last time I posted it. That's because I'm a better writer than I used to be. Let me tell you, anyone who is new to this story, when I first posted it, ages ago, I think possibly eight, nine or so years ago (feels like it was way more), it was HORRIBLY written. Absolutely horribly. I was a teenager and when I looked back, I didn't think I was a very good writer. So I took it down.

So here is a slightly better written and slightly more coherent version of the same story.

At first, I wanted to keep the story off because of how badly written I thought it was, but because enough people seemed to want it back, here it is. Fine, have your badly written story, rewritten:

Silence of the Himes:

Chapter One:

Special Agent Natsuki Kuga:

The harsh squeaking of the last bolt that needed tightening filled the room, making the bike's mechanic wince at the horrid sound. She scooted back, observing her work. Okay, so the last bit was secured. Should keep her wheel from hanging loose from its clutch for a while. She smiled, tossing the wrench back into its toolbox with hard "clank" and walked over to the table, scooping up the rag there and wiping away the oil smudge from her right cheek. She checked her face in the mirror for any other stains. No signs of any. Kind of a surprise for her, but not an unpleasant one.

She dropped the rag and was about to walk back into the house from her garage when she felt a vibration against her leg. Looking down at her phone, annoyed, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. Checking the ID, she let out an aggravated groan. Tate. Yuuichi Tate. Her chief of police. Had to take this, whether she liked it or not.

She answered it, pressing it to her ear. "Yep, Tate!"

"Kuga," Tate said firmly, "I'm sorry but I urgently need you to come in today. There's something I need to ask you to do. There's an assignment I'm hoping you'll see to." Natsuki rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright." She offered, "I'll be by soon. See yah."

Hanging up and glared at the phone, shoving it back into her pocket she grabbed her leather jacket from where she had hung it, pulled it on and grabbed her black and red helmet, snatching up the keys next to it. The next few minutes revolved around locking her house up, saying goodbye to her adorable and all too friendly yellow Labradors, Kai and Akira and opening the garage door.

She clicked the button, bringing the garage door down once she had walked with her motorcycle out of the garage. The garage door thundered closed and Natsuki pocketed the remote, jumped on her bike, put her helmet on and started the bike up, taking off.

She drove on the highway, wind whipping into her body, making her rock slightly to the left with a swerve on her bike. She swung around, driving down the road on her way to the police station.

She eventually parked her bike outside, taking her helmet off and headed inside. Waving to some of her fellow cops, narrowing her eyes when she saw how grim faced they looked. Perturbed, she walked through the hall to Tate's office. She pushed through the brown wooden door, seeing her boss's frame and spiky hair through the glossy window. She stuck her head through, smirking at Tate. "Tate, what's up?"

Tate smiled, gesturing to the seat that was across form his desk. "Have a seat, Kuga. I'll explain. Please close the door first though."

Natsuki nodded and closed the door, slowly walking over and dropping down on the sofa chair, eyeing her boss skeptically. "So, what's the emergency, chief?" Natsuki asked dryly. Tate observed the agent for a moment before exhaling, "I see you haven't seen the newspaper today." At Natsuki's look of surprise and confusion, Tate reached to the corner of his desk, grabbing a newspaper and tossed it to the young woman. Natsuki caught it, startled and turned it, looking at the front page. Her eyes became huge and she almost dropped the paper.

"Another one?!" She exclaimed, horrified as gawked at the paper in her hands.

The title said, "Another woman has been murdered! Terror stalks Tokyo! The Hime Killer strikes again!"

Natsuki shook her head, hands dropping to her lap, newspaper dropping out of her hands to the floor as Natsuki looked at Tate numbly. "Dammit." She hissed. "We really have to catch this guy."

"Agreed." Tate said, bringing his arms behind his back and clasping them. "Which is why I'd like you to meet with someone with just as a disturbed and twisted mind as our current killer. Perhaps you could bring us some insight. I'd like you to meet with a known serial murderer who is incarcerated. But only if you're willing to do this. I will not order you to."

Natsuki stiffened when she heard that. Tate wanted her to speak to a murderer? She couldn't say she had ever heard of that happening here. "Okay…." Natsuki began, cautious, feeling her heart race, "Who?"

Tate looked at her, tilting his head a little, clearly apprehensive to ask this of her. "Natsuki…you don't scare easily, do you?" Natsuki smirked, shrugging, almost puffing her chest out as she straightened her body. "You know I don't, chief. Who is it you want me to speak to? Stop being cryptic."

Finally, Tate sighed, unclasping his hands. "Kuga, have you heard of Shizuru Fujino?" Natsuki processed the name slowly, before growing pale. "Fujino?" She asked weakly, her bravado suddenly not as strong anymore.

Tate smiled grimly. "I see you have."

Natsuki's mouth dropped open. "The cannibal. You want me to talk to her?"

Tate nodded. "I do. But I understand if you can't. Both men and women who have gone in to interview her have come out crying or terrified. Fujino is capable of twisting peoples' words, getting into peoples' heads and making them break down with only a few simple words. I understand completely if you don't want anything to do with this."

Natsuki's emerald eyes glanced up at Tate, then back down at the paper. After a few seconds, she asked carefully, "And you're sure Fujino could give us some insight about the Hime Killer?" Tate nodded. "I do." Natsuki sighed, steeling herself as she locked eyes with Tate. "Then lets do this. I'll meet with Fujino."

Tate smiled. "I'm glad. I know this is a huge thing I'm asking. And I wouldn't trust anyone else with something like this." Natsuki smirked, "Lets face it, you would trust Mai, but better my neck on the line than your sweetheart's right?" Tate flushed and he gave her a mock glare. "Get out of the office now." He ordered in a disgruntled voice, mouth forming into a smirk. Natsuki chuckled, getting up, picking the newspaper up with her, nodded to him and dropped the newspaper on his desk, walking to the door when Tate spoke up again. "Natsuki?" Natsuki whirled around, startled that Tate had used her first name.

She saw the guilt and worry in his eyes as he spoke, "Just be careful, alright? You do not want Shizuru Fujino in your head. When you go to the prison, ask for the director there, Nao Yuuki. She runs the place and will be able to escort you to Fujino." Natsuki nodded, "Got it." She added, looking him in the eye, "I will be careful. Promise."

Tate nodded, smiling and Natsuki turned, walking out the door.

She breathed out slowly as she went down the hall. Boy, how was she going to tell Mai, Mikoto and the others? They were not going to like this. At all.

It didn't take her long to find Mikoto and Mai. The first place she looked was the kitchen. And sure enough, there they were. Mai was putting a pot up and another pot was steaming, the delicious smell of beef curry reaching Natsuki's nose. "Hey, guys." She greeted, grinning, hiding her nervousness. "Natsuki!" Mikoto acknowledged, the small, hyper cadet leaping forward and hugging the older young woman. As they parted, Mai turned to her friend, smiling warmly.

"Hi, Natsuki. How is everything?" Mai asked, unwrapping a package of noodles. Natsuki smiled at her sweet friend. She really didn't want to have to break the news to her about who exactly she was going to be seeing soon.

"I'm okay. Tate is sending me on a new mission." She started, hoping it wasn't going to descend into an argument. Knowing how protective Mai was, she could only guess how the buxom redhead would react. "Here's the thing." She said, watching as Mai's lavender eyes lit up at hearing her friend was going on her mission, "I need to have an interview with someone. A criminal." Mai's eyes widened, alarmed at what she heard. "A criminal?" She repeated. Seeing the uneasiness in the other woman's eyes, Natsuki winced. "Which criminal exactly?" Mai's usual chipper tone was gone as she looked at Natsuki in worry.

Natsuki braced herself, averting her gaze from Mai, letting the name out slowly, "Shizuru Fujino."

There was the sound of multiple brittle objects crashing to the floor at once and Natsuki whirled around when Mikoto wailed, "My noodles!" Both Natsuki and Mai ignored the distressed younger woman as they met each other's gazes, both dreading what would happen next. "The cannibal?" Mai asked, tone weak and afraid. Natsuki nodded, smiling grimly.

"What's a cannibal?" Mikoto asked, looking between the other two women before asking hopefully, "Can I eat it?"

Natsuki smirked at the irony of the question. "No." She grumbled, "But it could eat you."

Mikoto's eyes widened, sounding nervous at what Natsuki just said, "Huh?"

"Natsuki!" Mai said, glaring at her friend disapprovingly. The navy blue haired officer shrugged, "I'm going to be off soon. I just thought you should know. And it's better you hear it from me than from someone else." Mai nodded. "I appreciate that. Really. But Natsuki? Please be careful. I don't want that woman, that…..creature to sink her hooks into you."

"Or her teeth." Natsuki said dryly and Mai scoffed, smacking her friend's arm, hands going to her hips as Natsuki chuckled. "Smartass." Mai grumbled, shaking her head.

"You know it." Natsuki said, flashing her grin. She took another moment as Mai chuckled and added, "Mai, since I'm going to be gone…I don't know for how long right now, could you check on Kai and Akira while I'm out?" Mai nodded, purple eyes affectionate. "Of course. I'll make sure they're fed and given water and everything. Promise."

Natsuki grinned, "Thanks, buddy."

Next Scene

A few minutes later, Natsuki had said her goodbyes to frightened peers, afraid for their friend's safety, but Natsuki nodded them off, keeping a brave smile on her face as she geared up and jumped on her bike. She got the location of the ward where Fujino was being kept. It was just south of Tokyo, bordering Sakura Street, just before the fields.

Natsuki set out, being waved off by everyone else. Mai, Mikoto, Tate, Midori, Akira, Akane, Sarah, Chie and Aoi and the rest of the staff said their goodbyes. She started walking with her motorcycle, waving to them as she jumped on it, trying not to feel guilty at their concerned faces. They were all afraid for her in some way or other. She could hardly blame them.

But she resigned herself to her assignment. She turned, and drove off fast down the road, heading to the city of Tokyo.

An hour and a half past by and Natsuki finally arrived at the prison, halting her bike, turning it off and setting it up against the stark white wall of the building. She set her helmet down, locking it and the bike up with her chains and keys. She stepped back, looking up and gauging the building in its entirety.

There was nothing specifically threatening about the building. It was just an average building. White. Tall. Wide. Overgrown with ivy lining its cracked walls. Natsuki sighed. As an officer, she knew not to judge something by how it looked. Externally something, or someone could be the most kind or most normal thing or person to look at, but on the inside, there could easily be a rotten core. And what was being held in this building was as rotten as you could get.

No wonder this place had a steel fence around it that people all over the city steered clear of.

Natsuki held her breath in for a moment as she walked up the hard marble stairs to the building's front entrance. She went in and looked around. A woman at the front desk with long pinned up black hair and glasses smiled and said gently, "Hello, may I help you, Ms.?"

"Yes." Natsuki said, smiling, which was a struggle, as the atmosphere of this building immediately made her feel tense, "I would like to speak to Ms. Nao Yuuki? Is she in?"

"Yes, that would be me." A confident purr reached Natsuki's ears and the startled blue haired woman turned to see a young, curvy woman in a white doctor's coat, with bright, deep red hair cut just above her shoulders and bright green eyes that were twinkling at the officer. A coy smile touched the redhead's lips, "How may I help you?"

Natsuki felt an odd unease as she looked at this woman. She seemed normal. But like the outside of the building, that normalcy felt like it was just an appearance. She forced a smile, "Yes, I'm Special Agent Natsuki Kuga. I was asked to come here and interview Shizuru Fujino." She heard the predictable gasp from the woman at the front desk. The bespectacled woman lowered her eyes to the computer. "Oh boy." The woman grumbled, "Here we go again."

"Ms. Omori." Nao chastised, though she was smirking playfully. The redhead turned to Natsuki again and kept her smile up. "Ms. Kuga, I hope you understand what you're getting into by interviewing this….woman."

Natsuki nodded, "I know. I know it's risky. But if it's to get insight on a case, then I think it's worth it. More importantly, the chief of my department thinks it's worth it." She held up the questionnaire that Tate had given her, "I'm just going to give her this, if you don't mind."

Nao nodded, smile widening. "I like your thinking. Risk taking is a part of life. I like to hear stuff like that." Her voice ended with a teasing edge that Natsuki just didn't quite like, but masked her unease as well as she could as Nao nodded for the agent to follow her. The two of them walked to the door of the hall, leading to the next level of the sanitarium. Nao put her hand on the lever of the door before turning to Natsuki, expression becoming surprisingly serious. "Whatever you do, Ms. Kuga," Nao said, "Do not talk to any of the other prisoners. Do not hand anything to Fujino besides that." Nao nodded to the questionnaire, "Do not give her any personal information about you or anyone you know. Understood?" Natsuki nodded, aware that this was procedure and was prepared to follow through.

"Good." Nao said, smiling, "Mr. Kaiji Sakomizu will be the guard to let you in. Good luck." Nao opened the door and let Natsuki in, walking down the stairs. As she walked, Natsuki got the distinct impression that Nao's eyes were following her with a little too much intensity, but tried to ignore it till she heard the door behind her close. As she was halfway down the stairs, she heard horrified screams ring through the air that sent utter fear through her. Her heart raced at the noise, but reminded herself that everyone here was locked in cells in some form or other.

She reached the bottom of the stairwell and saw three guards standing there. One of them, a tan-skinned man with a small beard, fluffy brown, curly hair and quite a bit overweight with small glasses turned to Natsuki and smiled. "Hello, may I ask you who you are?" He asked. Natsuki nodded. "Special Agent Natsuki Kuga. Nao Yuuki said that you could go over with me what needs to be done when I interview Shizuru Fujino."

She noticed the other two guards stiffen before going back to work. The man, who Natsuki assumed was Kaiji nodded. "Alright." He said, voice genteel, "Here are some of the ground rules." The large man proceeded to tell her pretty much everything Nao had already told Natsuki and the blue haired agent had to refrain from rolling her eyes. Same old lecture. When Koji was done, he moved out of the way, opening up the cell door, leading to the hall of grim cells.

"Agent Kuga." Kaiji said respectively, nodding his head as Natsuki smiled and nodded back, walking through, down the hall as the gate closed and locked. Natsuki observed the whole, horrid hall in its ominous entirety. Ragged edged walls that were as grey as the cold floor. A cold, barren ceiling with only hanging, bright lamps. Multiple jail cells lined the opposite wall, containing screaming and moaning inmates, banging on their doors and walls in agony. Natsuki sucked in a breath, walking down the hall, avoiding looking at any of the inmates.

At the farthest part of the hall, right in front of the opposite wall, she spotted a foldup chair set up in front of a cell that looked like it had a pane of glass for a door. Natsuki narrowed her eyes as she closed in on it. A pane of glass? Wouldn't that be easy to break? Wasn't that risky instead of a row of iron bars?

As she went past all the other doors, ignoring the hisses and arms reaching out to grab at her, staying as close to the opposite wall as possible, hand going to her gun, just in case, she heard a snarling voice thrown at her from the last cell before the one with the glass door. "Bitch!" A voice spat at her, making Natsuki slant her eyes towards the cell, a tall, large shouldered woman with bright yellow hair and furious purple eyes spat at her, "Fucking bitch!" Natsuki ground her teeth together. She could ignore her need to shoot that woman long enough to get to and speak to Fujino. She could do this.

She got to the end of the hall, standing in front of the foldup chair and turned, preparing herself.

What she saw, standing in the cell, certainly didn't give her the impression of a serial killer. It was a tall, voluptuous woman, body dressed in a dark blue jumpsuit, with long wheat colored hair, almost down to the middle of her back, bright crimson eyes and a gentle smile on a gorgeous face. Natsuki's mouth went dry. She knew she had just told herself that she shouldn't judge anything to be innocent, based on appearances, but this woman made any thoughts she had about that jump out the window. She stared, stunned. She found it hard to believe a woman that looked like, well…this was the serial killer Shizuru Fujino. Indeed, when the visual of Fujino the cannibal came to mind, there was just no way Natsuki could compare it to the woman standing before her.

"Are you going to say something?" The woman asked, voice coated in silk, head tilting, making a shiver run down Natsuki's back before she could stop it. Natsuki shook her head, pink tint over her cheeks as she tried to compose herself again. Forcing her embarrassment away, she looked at the woman hard, trying to keep a neutral expression up.

"Yes, my apologies, Ms. Fujino." Natsuki began, trying to keep her voice cool and collected, "I am Special Agent Natsuki Kuga. Pleased to make your acquaintance. I was sent here to ask you a few questions. If you don't mind, I would be very grateful if you could share your thoughts."

The wheat-haired woman's smile remained as she stepped forward to the glass and Natsuki's heart raced. She should back away. She knew she should. But how could this woman be a murderer? How? The two just didn't seem to be related at all. Sure, she had seen this woman's face all over the news, the day the cannibal had been caught-the officer who succeeded in finally catching the lunatic having his name kept hidden from the media. She had seen this woman's face on websites attached to "cannibal," she had seen her face all over the place as new stories were shown on TV of the murderess's crimes. But still...it just didn't seem possible.

"May I see your credentials if we are to get to know each other?" Fujino asked, still smiling incredibly pleasantly. Perhaps too pleasantly. Natsuki nodded, reaching into her pocket, though she was cautious. She wasn't sure she should show this woman anything. Regardless of appearances, this woman was locked up in here for a reason. But, if she wanted this woman to answer any questions, she needed Fujino to trust her, even if it was only a little. She pulled out her ID, flipping it up and holding it out in front of her.

Fujino stepped closer, red eyes somehow becoming brighter and more intense as she neared the glass barrier. "Closer." Fujino requested and red flags popped up in Natsuki's mind, but she moved closer. "Closer." Fujino repeated. Natsuki swallowed hard and practically pressed her ID up to the glass. It was only then that the agent realized that Fujino wasn't looking at her ID. Fujino was looking at her. Right. At. Her. Natsuki felt a shudder begin at the intense gaze, before Fujino glanced at the agent's ID and turned away. "That ID is going to expire soon." Fujino simply said, as if what happened just now was the most normal thing ever.

Natsuki sighed in relief as she put the ID away, stepping back.

"Well," She said, feeling a huge weight off her shoulders, "Now that that's over with, may we begin?"

"Of course." Fujino said, turning with an amused smile, "I'm ready if you are." Natsuki tried not to read too much into that statement as she looked around the former doctor's cell. There was a sink, a toilet, a mirror above the sink, a cot up against the wall, three wooden bookshelves with many, many books lined up on the shelves, and several large sheets of butcher paper with elaborately drawn cities on them. There was one quite beautiful drawing of a violin, closest to the glass pane.

Without thinking, intrigue forced the words out, "Did you draw all of these yourself?" Natsuki asked, almost feeling like she should smack her head against the wall for the absentminded question.

Fujino looked at the drawings before nodding, still smiling. "Yes. All of them. All of them of places I've been. Rome. Madrid. Paris. Venice. Lucca. Florence. I am sad to say I know now that I will never get to go back to any of those places again." Fujino's face became sober for a moment before she smiled again at Natsuki. "Have you ever been to any of these places before, Agent Kuga?" Natuski shook her head, not sure what else to do with this strange conversation.

"Oh, you must." Fujino smiled, chuckling, "They are beautiful cities. One should always travel whenever they get the chance. They are gorgeous places to see before-" Fujino stiffened as she averted her eyes, "My apologies." Natsuki lifted an eyebrow. "What are you apologizing for?" She asked. Fujino sighed, "I was going to say, 'before you die.' But I imagine that that's not something that you want to discuss with someone like me. My apologies."

Natsuki hesitated. She knew she shouldn't let her guard down. Not at all.

Still, Fujino sounded more or less sincere. "It's alright." Natsuki shrugged, finally sitting down on the chair calmly, "You have every right to talk about the cities you've been in. I imagine it must be difficult knowing you'll never go to any of them again."

Fujino smiled. "Thank you for your understanding. I bear with it though. Now, may I ask what kind of questions you'd like to ask?" Natsuki hesitated a moment before pulling out the file that Tate gave her with the questionnaire. "Oooh, a questionnaire," Fujino chuckled, smirking, "I'm slightly disappointed." Natsuki cocked her head, not sure how to deduce what the wheat-haired woman was talking about. "Why do you say that?" She asked.

Fujino shrugged, "I was hoping that you'd be a little more original and come up with questions yourself. Not ask according to your station's commands. I was hoping when you came to interview me, I was being interviewed by someone who was her own woman." Before Natsuki could restrain her heated anger, she was up off the chair again, glaring at the woman behind the glass, cheeks flushed, forgetting about self-preservation.

"Look here!" She snapped, I don't want to hear any lecture from someone who is a murderer." Fujino smirked, leaning back against the wall. "Good, so you do have a temper. I was worried that you'd be incredibly boring. So, give me the questionnaire." Natsuki's mouth dropped open, stepping back. "Alright." Natsuki said at last, walking to the drawer of Fujino's cell. She opened it, keeping her eyes on Fujino the entire time and slipped the questionnaire inside, shutting the drawer. A beat past and Fujino got up off the cot, walking over to her drawer and pulled the papers out.

Fujino flipped through the papers, cocking her head. Finally, she smirked again, turning to Natsuki. "Oh, Natsuki, does your chief think that I'll be in any way interested by this child's play?" Fujino dropped the questionnaire to the floor uncaringly, grinning, startling Natsuki, who stepped back again. "Dr.," Natsuki began, "I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about. And if you don't mind, I would prefer if we kept our relationship on a last name basis."

Fujino chuckled, shrugging. "If you insist. A pity. Natsuki truly is such a lovely name." Natsuki narrowed her eyes at that, but said nothing. "Very well," Fujino submitted, "Kuga, it is. What I mean, Agent, is that these questions are child's play. Your chief just gave you these to keep us from the point of why you're here. Why send a trainee to one of the most dangerous criminals known to Japan? Why not interview a regular murderer? Why put you in this kind of danger? What do you and your station really want, Kuga?"

Natsuki held her breath, surprised, but knew maybe she shouldn't have been. She had heard of this woman's brilliance. Perhaps she shouldn't have been startled at all by this conclusion. Fujino leaned back against the wall, next to the mirror and watched Natsuki, eyes focused on the agent. "I'm not interested in your station or your chief's questions. I'm interested in your questions." Natsuki felt air leave her throat as she tried to come up with a response. Nothing came out of her mouth. What was Fujino saying? She wanted Natsuki to come up with her own questions, independent of the questionnaire? Was that what she was hearing?

"I…" She hesitated, "This isn't exactly the procedure, Dr. Fujino." Fujino chuckled, pulling her body off the wall, flipping a strand of light brown hair over her shoulder, "Procedure? My dear agent, this is not your average situation. Surely you don't think you should abide by normal rules in a place like this? You must have some creativity in that beautiful head of yours."

Natsuki felt blood rush to her cheeks at the praise. Beautiful-? She shook her head. It had been quite a while since anyone had said something like that outside of creepy catcalling. She fought down the blush as she grumbled out, teeth clenched, trying to keep her eyes focused on anything in the cell besides the smirking cannibal, "Okay, okay. So you've made your point. You want something more original. Got it. Fine." It took Natsuki a moment to think. More than a moment, really, because this was huge, what she was about to do. Hadn't everyone pretty much told her not to do this? Wasn't she letting Fujino get to her now?

She found her question coming out carefully, now risking looking the doctor right in the eyes, "What was the name of the agent that caught you?"

Fujino cocked her head, her lip pulling back to reveal some teeth. "What a strange question. Oh well, I guess I can't complain. Better than those boring pages. Very well. His name was Nakamura. Agent Goro Nakamura. I don't know if you've heard of him or not. It's odd though. I'd have thought after my capture, he would have been held up as a hero. Perhaps he wanted as little to do with the media as possible. Then again, I can't blame him after…" Fujino's voice trailed off and she glanced to the side and Natsuki knew that the cannibal was thinking about something troubling. She wasn't going to push.

Those red eyes glanced back at Natsuki. "Next question." Fujino teased. Natsuki nodded. "Okay." She swallowed down the unease at what might have just happened in the so-called good doctor's head, and asked the next question, now focused on doing what Tate had asked, now that she had gotten the answer that she had always wondered about the killer, "Have you heard of the Hime Killer?" A strange look of unsettling glee filled Fujino's red eyes and Natsuki suddenly regretted her question.

"Of course I have." Fujino practically purred, "Even down here, there is news of murderers. What else about the killer, are you curious about?"

Natsuki felt the questions begin to leak out, "Why do you think the killer does what he or she does, Fujino?"

Fujino shrugged, walking to her cot and dropping down on it, "I don't know to be honest. Could be a number of things. Trauma. He's as insane as I am. Both. Perhaps he's being threatened by someone else. Or perhaps he just enjoys hurting other people."

Natsuki shook her head, "Enjoying hurting other people and being insane is the same thing." Fujino cocked her head, smirking. "Is it?"

Natsuki shivered, trying not to be bothered by those piercing eyes, or the question thrown at her. Fujino looked over at her drawings. "I'm not sure I want to talk about the Hime Killer anymore. Lets move on to something else." Natsuki's teeth ground together anew. Dammit. So close. "Fujino-" She started, but before she could say anything else, the deafening rattling of the bars next to Fujino's cell made the agent jump and turn her head, looking at the blonde-haired, purple eyed maniac in the next cell snarl, "Bitch! Fuck your mother!"

Natsuki snarled, roving forward and reaching out for the sneering lunatic when she heard Fujino call out for her, "Agent Kuga! Agent Kuga! Please come here!" Distracted from her rage, Natsuki side-stepped to the glass and met her gaze with Fujino's intense scarlet one.

"Agent Kuga," Fujino said, anger in the cannibal's tone, surprising the agent, "I'm sorry for Ms. Suzushiro's behavior. I would never have those vulgar comments thrown at you or your family. So I shall give you some of what you want. But first," A sly smile touched Fujino's lips, "I would like us to call each other by our first names, if you don't mind."

Natsuki almost didn't answer. She didn't want to be on a first name basis with this animal. But then…what choice did she have right now? If it helped her get some answers about the Hime Killer, then…

She nodded, feeling the words forced out now, "Alright…Shizuru." A wide smile appeared on the doctor's face, making Natsuki instantly regret her decision. "Thank you, Natsuki." Her name was purred out and Natsuki found it sounding strange and almost ethereal rolling off the doctor's tongue.

"Now then," Fu-No, Shizuru said, "I can send you somewhere. Somewhere where you may find answers. Go look into Kagutsuchi's Shop. Near Hana Avenue. Just East of Tokyo Tower."

Natsuki eyed the cannibal for a few seconds before nodding. "Okay," She said finally, "Thank you, Shizuru." There was a startlingly pleased smile that reached Shizuru's lips and the doctor nodded as Natsuki pulled away from the glass and headed down the hall, glowering at the blonde woman behind the bars next to Shizuru's cell as she left. Had she turned around, she might have seen how Shizuru was staring at Suzushiro's cell dangerously, murder in those crimson eyes.

Okay, first chapter. Wow. It's been ages. *Starts shoving the dust and dirt away from the computer. * Wow. But if you insist, I will repost the stories. Redone.

So be patient. Since I'm rewriting the series of fics, this might take a while. Be patient, please.

Also, while we're on the subject, it seems a certain someone couldn't wait. A certain author, that I shall not name, posted these stories without my permission. Not only that, he/she claimed that he/she asked permission, even though at the time I disabled my PM, so he/she couldn't have. Now, I could have been mature about this and not mentioned it at all, but here's the thing, plagiarism, thievery, is serious. This author stole from me. It's true that this is fanfiction, but this story and the crossover was what I came up with. So a word of advice to the author, never do that again. In the world, had this originally been my actual written, legally published story, with original characters and all, you would have been sued into the ground by now. No one else do as this author did, or I will take this chapter down, never repost again, and keep all the other chapters from being uploaded. Are we clear?

I'll give you a few seconds to think about that.

Good. Oh, and thank you, so much, for alerting me: xx Catty xx, RogueMudblood, Mach The Cynic, HorusTheAvenger. You didn't have to tell me that someone had stolen my stories, but did and that's important. So thank you.

So a word of warning for this story. Given the subject matter, there is cannibalism, murder, brutal scenes, and trauma. So trigger warning later on.