Daddy's Little Girl

[unicornhunter]

Erika stared at the television in utter terror as the news rattled off the little information they knew about the most recent murder in Ikebukuro. Her body was shaking, and her heart felt like it was trying to break out of her rib cage.

"The police assure us that, though it does bare a striking resemblance to the Baby Doll Murders, they are treating it no differently than any other murder. They have no reason to believe it was committed by the serial killer -"

Erika turned the television off and curled up into a ball in her chair. Make it go away, make it all go away....

[UndergroundGod]

As soon as Izaya logged onto his home computer to make his last few rounds of the internet for the night, a news article with bold headline popped up on his homepage.

“BABY DOLL MURDERER RETURNS?”

Though the headline was obviously only so vague as to attract readers... it did its job. Izaya’s interests were immediately piqued and he followed the link beneath the headline to the full article, scanning it once before perusing it more thoroughly.

Izaya remembered this case, or at least he remembered the original series of murders. It was one of the first official duties he’d performed as an information broker in training, as one of the many girls taken was the daughter of one of Shiki’s close friends. Shiki hadn’t necessarily taken the case personally, but he was more than willing to kill two birds with one stone; send his newest prodigy out for some valuable field training and aid in the capture of a serial killer who was bringing panic to the streets of Ikebukuro and making the police more alert to any suspicious behavior, which was simply bad for Shiki’s business. He’d sent Izaya onto the streets to see if he could do any snooping that would uncover the culprit of the murders before he could cause Shiki any more inconvenience.

And Izaya had started by studying the murders intensely. He had broken into police databases for the details that they would never release to the press, for crime scene photos, evidence logs, and anything else that might lead to the murderer. At fifteen, and only just being exposed to the world of crime... the crime scene photos portrayed some of the most graphic violence Izaya had seen yet, and though he sucked it up and pretended that he was unaffected, at night, he’d been tormented by images of his sisters (seven at the time, and the perfect age to fall victim to the man) strangled bodies, and posed in ruffly dresses, eyes open and empty and staring lifelessly for the camera. He’d hacked into kiddie porn websites where the murders were being discussed, and traced the IP addresses of those who participated in the discussion, compiling suspect names and then eliminating them one by one.

It had taken seven months of behind the scenes and on the street research but eventually the electronic trail had lead him to Mamoru Karisawa (and Izaya was proud that he had single-handedly solved a case that had been tracked by groups of trained police officials years to work on)... but just as he’d been about to deliver this information to Shiki, there were reports of the man’s house catching on fire, and when investigators entered the scene, they found the half-charred remains of a young girl who’d been missing for two days, who’s lower half was mostly intact and was littered with signs of sexual assault. A warrant to search the basement revealed a safe, inside of which was a shoebox full of hair clippings tied neatly with colorful ribbons (all of which were eventually found to match the color of the dress each girl had worn) and a side door led to an area of the basement equipped with what could only be described as an unsettling collection of medieval torture devices.

The man was taken into custody, and there had been enough evidence to convict him on twelve counts of first degree murder and sexual assault (though it was suspected he had well over forty victims), but it had been a ridiculously easy case in which to prove insanity, so instead of life in prison, Mamoru was carted off to a medium security mental health facility to spend the rest of his life.

Izaya read the article through twice, though very few details were included except that the girl was found in front of a privately owned used manga shop, and she had been dressed in lolita fashion. The article speculated on the similarities between this and the murders that had ended seven year ago, though, in the end, admitted that it was only speculation and that the police had assured the public that there was no need for concern.

It did seem that this most recent murder had a few similarities to the old Baby Doll Murders. The girl had been strangled, dressed up and face painted, and abandoned in a public place... but Izaya wanted to know more. The last he’d checked (though it had been years ago), Mamoru was still locked away in the hospital and if that was the case, this had to just be a copycat of some sort, if not a whole new murderer with some coincidental similarities.

Though Izaya had originally been a bit tired, this new stimulation was like a boost of adrenaline to his system. He wouldn’t be able to get to sleep until he found out a little more about all this and since the article had only limited information, his next step was to check what the police had on file.

It took a few minutes to crack the fire wall, but before he knew it, he was in and looking over details of the case that no one outside of the department should know. Immediately, he noticed a number of looming differences between this and the Baby Doll murders.

First of all, the girl, Keiko Suzuki, was a middle schooler, almost fifteen. That was seven or eight years older than most of Mamoru’s victims. The girl had been sexually assaulted, though there were rope burns on her wrists, as if she’d been restrained, and the tox screen had found a sedative in her system. Drugs and restraints had never been a part of Mamoru’s mode of operation, though, it was much easier to physically control a seven year old that it was to control a fourteen year old, so that could be a contributing factor.

But the eeriest thing of all was something that the article absolutely couldn't have known about. It seemed that, post-mortum, the killer had carved something into the girl’s arm. English letters, spelling out ERIKA.

Erika. Erika Karisawa. Sure, Mamoru was still in the hospital, but that was a detail that stood out too much for it to be a mere coincidence. Something was going on and Izaya was going to figure it out.

[unicornhunter]

Erika sat on the couch for a long time, trying to reign in her fear. There was no real reason for her to be getting upset. It - it was probably just a copy-cat. Or a coincidence. It - it was just frighteningly similar. . . . They would have called her to tell her if he escaped. . . .

Right?

Erika forced herself to stand up and go into the bathroom. She turned the faucet on, gathered water in her hands, and splashed it onto her face. She did this several times before she could feel her regular breathing pattern return to her. But her heart refused to calm down.

If he had escaped, what did that mean for her and Walker? Was he going to come after them? How much farther into madness had he delved into? She didn't dare hope that he would have forgotten about her. . . . But maybe she didn't have to worry about Walker. HE didn't know who he was. . . . And the apartment was in Walker's name. He couldn't find her because he didn't know his name. . . . They would be safe, at least while they slept.

And there was no way he could know about Dotachin or Togusa. She didn't know them back then. So they were safe, right? She didn't have to worry about any of them. Or herself for that matter. Right? He didn't know how she has grown up to look like. She no longer wore the frilly stuff he had given her, nor did she wear hair ribbons anymore. Her fashion was completely different now, she reasoned with herself. And she wore her hair differently. She wasn't that thirteen-year-old anymore. Even if he did see a picture of her somewhere, or saw her around town, there was no way he could recognize her. Right?

She turned off the faucet and wiped off the excess water with a towel.

Maybe - maybe it wouldn't hurt to call them to make sure he was still there. That there was no reason to think that he was in Ikebukuro again.

Erika left the bathroom and went over to the phone. She pulled out the phone book and looked up the mental institution's phone number. She dialed the number haltingly, her head running with terrified thoughts. Please still be there, please still be there, please. . . .

[Walker Yumasaki]

Walker never liked passing through the streets of Ikebukuro alone. Well, he was never completely alone with all the hubbub and clutter of a traditional bureau of Tokyo. But whenever he was without a companion to escort him home from each outing, sometimes he did feel alone. Normally, Erika would tag along with him, but recently she had disclosed to him that she wasn't feeling well.

Backpack full of new manga- with genres only he enjoyed tucked hidden away from where his girlfriend could find, he had just enough money left to pick up dinner for them at Russia Sushi. That would be the perfect pick-me-up for the both of them. He continued along his way with his famous fox-like grin masking his discomfort.

The local news barker was raving about something known as the "Baby Doll Murderer" returning. That was a name he hadn't heard in a while. He remembered his parents talking about it when he was younger and at the time, he wasn't really big on paying attention to the news. He was more involved with other things. Besides, that was seven years ago, he really didn't care.

Finishing with his errands, he managed to make it back to his apartment... his unusually dark apartment. 'That's funny, I could have sworn I left the lights on for Rii-Rii...' he thought, scratching the back of his head. He shrugged and turned the lights back on, setting the take out on the table.

"Rii-Rii~! I'm home! With food!" He noticed her huddled over near the phone and raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing? Something happen?"

[unicornhunter]

Erika squeaked, startled by Walker entering the room. Before she could really process what he had asked her, she hung up the phone and whirled around to face him, grabbing the closest thing she could use as a weapon. She held it up, ready to stab the intruder with it.

But it was Walker.

Her eyes widened, and she blushed profusely. She dropped the envelope opener she had grabbed, and it fell to the floor with a clatter. Tears gathered in her eyes, and her heart refused to calm down. Without saying anything, she ran over to him and enveloped him in a tight hug, burying her face into his chest. She sobbed hard, unable to take the terror running through her mind anymore.

She didn't want him to be back! She just wanted to continue living out her life as the otaku chick who hung out with Dotachin and read manga with Walker. She just wanted to have this fantasy of being a normal girl be her reality. Was that so wrong? Why couldn't he let her have that?

She could feel Walker's hoodie dampen from her tears, but she couldn't stop crying.

[Walker Yumasaki]

Walker blinked. Erika rarely broke down like this. There were only a few reasons why she would. One was if she lost or broke something of great value to her, which again, didn't happen often. Another time would be if she saw or read something depressing, and she generally tended to avoid tragedies. Finally, it was if something about her past came up and reared it's ugly head.

Now Walker didn't know the details of what happened, but he knew enough. He always promised to remain by her side if it happened again and it was even he who helped her mold her old life into her new care-free and fantasy-filled one. But something must have shattered that perfect world they had to make her cry. All he could do was comfort her.

"Erika," He said slowly, rubbing her back and not using her pet name to show how much he cared, "Please stop crying. Just calm down and tell me what happened. What's got you so upset?"

[unicornhunter]

Erika choked on her own sobs as she tried to respond to him. She had never told Walker who the man was who she was with that night. She had never told Walker what he had been doing for the past seven months before she met him or why he was doing it. She hadn't even told him that she knew that he was being held in a mental institution.

Walker knew her life was bad before he came into it. But he had never pried too much, and he let her feel as though she could take her time opening up to him. Walker was the first real friend she had ever had, and she was eternally grateful for everything Walker has done for her.

But now, right when she needed the comfort he offered most, she found herself not able to voice her fears. She couldn't figure out why exactly. The words just . . . wouldn't form.

She swallowed hard and went for a half-truth.

"The - the murders on the news. Those - those poor, poor girls." She sobbed into his shirt more, unable to tell him more than that. "Why - why did this have to happen?"

[Walker Yumasaki]

Walker's frown made his face longer as his heart sank. As he thought, she had seen something on the television that upset her. He knew she was sensitive, and was mentally kicking himself for not being there for her. He rubbed her back and cupped her face to have her look up at him, forcing a smile for her sake.

"Hey now, don't cry anymore. Look, I'm here, I have Russia Sushi, let's just sit down on the couch and watch some Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei[/u], okay?" He escorted her back to the sofa and wrapped her up in a blanket before grabbing their take out and popping in the DVD. With everything back to normal, he put an arm around her and held her close as they unwound after such a traumatic experience.[/color]

[UndergroundGod]

Since sleep was going to elude him now, Izaya’s next move was to find out just what had happened to Mamoru. Izaya found the similarities between the cases past and present odd, and almost as perplexing as the differences. The change in age was the biggest indication that this might be a new killer. Mamoru had been a pedophile who had preyed on young girls. While it wasn't impossible for his preference to have change, it was unlikely. Other than that, the torture, the sexual assault, the posing… it was all similar, but not so similar that a copycat couldn't be responsible.

That name though. Erika Karisawa. That was definitely something to think about. Erika could be a different individual entirely, of course, but that was an awfully strange coincidence, and Izaya wasn't completely sure he believed in those.

Getting access to the hospital’ sdatabase turned out to be a bit more time-consuming than he thought, as the database was centralized at a main computer within the hospital itself. It wasn’t a particularly good idea not to back up records online, as most agencies did, but it did make it much harder for Izaya to access the information. He ended up having to gain remote access to one of the computers to get in, and hope that no one was paying attention to the computer he was controlling while he did so. After breaking his way through a few admin passwords, he was knee deep in secured records, looking through Mamoru's file. It seemed that he'd been a fairly well behaved patient for years. He attacked a guard once, shortly after arriving in the facility, but beyond that, he'd taken his medications, ate his meals regularly, and attended singular and group therapy with seemingly no issue.

Until about seven months ago, it seemed. Seven months ago, there seemed to be a big blank spot on Mamoru's record, as if there had once been something there, but it had since been expunged. After years of detailed record keeping, suddenly, in the past seven months… there seemed to have been no records being kept on Mamoru's behavior. There was no log of his medications, no bathroom or shower times, no meal times… It was as if Mamoru had disappeared off the face of the planet.

Or at least as if he'd disappeared from the hospital.

However, there weren't any records concerning his death. His file was still an open file, as if, any day, he might start eating and shitting and taking pills again, not as if he was dead already. The hospital had to know where Mamoru was… but the record didn't give him any hints.

Now, that was suspicious. Was… was the hospital covering up an escape? Had Mamoru somehow slipped through their hands, and was now back on the streets to rape and kill young girls again? The likelihood of it had just increased.

Either way, Izaya was going to find out for sure.

His curiosity was sated just enough so that he could sleep, but tomorrow was going to be busy. He was going to visit the hospital… and perhaps pay a visit to Erika, to see just how she was involved in all of this.

[unicornhunter]

Erika grunted a little in her sleep before she blinked her eyes open and lifted her head off of Walker's shoulder. She looked around, noticing that the television was still on, the DVD menu replaying over and over. They must've fallen asleep while watching it....

She got up off the couch and watched Walker sleep for a little while before deciding to let him get some shut-eye. It was the weekend after all.

She looked over at the phone, wondering if she should try to call the hospital again....

Maybe after she took a shower and brushed her teeth. She felt rather filthy right then.

After her shower, she worked on miso soup and a bowl of rice for breakfast, still contemplating whether or not she should call right then or call later. She ate her food slowly, still wondering what she should do.

Instead of going to the phone, she washed the dishes, filled the dishwasher, ran the dishwasher, then headed out to do some grocery shopping.

She'd call the hospital at a pay phone. She didn't want Walker to overhear the conversation, after all.... She ignored the part of her that was berating her for being a coward.

[UndergroundGod]

Izaya didn't sleep as well as he wanted to, and he woke up abruptly after a nightmare that he didn't care to remember the contents of. The sight of the blood spattering the walls in vicious patterns had been so realistic in the dream that he could smell the faint copper-sour stench of fresh blood. He could feel the splatter of moisture on his skin as if he'd been there when the slaughter occurred to intercept the flying blood.

For another hour or so, he tried getting back to sleep, but without success. It was only nine when he finally decided to get out of bed and do something with himself. He had things to look into, after all, and people to talk to. The day wouldn't necessarily be full of distractions, but learning more would help him look over the case more critically, especially if he could find out that Mamoru wasn't actually involved. He was loathe to admit that the murder case had had an effect on him at any point, but deep in his subconscious, he knew this thing was digging at some very old scars and that that was the reason he felt such a compulsion to discover some new information. There was a sense of danger niggling at the back of his mind, like an itch in his throat that he couldn't clear, but he would ignore it. Surely, he'd exposed himself to more dangerous situations in the past and this was nothing to worry about.

He showered, ate, and dressed, and left his apartment to head in the direction of the hospital. He hopped on a train in Shinjuku and took it into Toshima, on the outskirts of Ikebukuro. The hospital was on the opposite side of the district and would be about a forty minute walk from the station he got off at, but he preferred it. Besides the hospital wasn't set to open to visitation until half past ten, and it was just past ten. He had a bit of time to kill.

And maybe, part of him sort of wanted to stall.

So he travelled down the familiar streets of Ikebukuro, looking casual. He mused briefly to himself about the possibility of Shizuo finding him and he wonder if he would encounter the man this early in the morning.

However, Shizuo wasn't the familiar face that Izaya ran into—it was actually a much more interesting one, considering his circumstances.

He spotted the girl about a block away, heading in his direction and, oddly enough, she was traveling alone. Though he saw her and waved, she didn't seem to notice him. There was a tense feeling about her, a neutral look on her face that countered the carefree grin she typically wore. Izaya's curiosity was sparked; he needed to talk to her. Once he was just a half a block from her, he called out.

"Erika!" he said in his typical, overly familiar way. His voice took on a pleasantly surprised tone and he smiled at her, though the smile could hardly be considered a docile one. Once he was sure he had her attention, he continued pleasantly, "Funny I should run into you. I actually had a question for you."

He debated for a split second over whether he was going to ask the question he meant to ask, or if he would create a ruse at the last moment to conceal his plans until later, when he had more information… but he decided to just lay it out there. The only thing he truly had left to do at this point was visit the hospital in person to see if visiting Mamoru was an option… and what better excuse would there be to do that if he were to bring the man's potential long lost relative with him?

Grinning a bit wider and carefully watching her face as he asked, he posed the question, "Does the name 'Mamoru' mean anything to you?"

[unicornhunter]

Erika kept her head down as she walked. She planned on not talking to anyone while she was out, so even if Dotachin or Togusa spotted her, she'd pretend as though she couldn't hear them.

At least, that was the plan until a very unexpected voice called out to her.

She looked up to see Izaya standing near her. She suddenly felt more tense than she was already. She tried to tell herself that, even though he was an information broker, that didn't mean he knew about what was bothering her. And even if he did, there was no way he could be able to connect her to those murders. . . . Right?

"Good morning, Iza-Iza," she said, forcing a smile on her face. She didn't want to give him any reason to ask her funny questions, after all. But it was more difficult than she thought it would be. It had been so long since she had to fake it. . . .

"Huh? You did?" She didn't really like where this was going now. What could he possibly want to ask her? She desperately hoped it wasn't what she was thinking it would be. She kept telling herself there was no way that Izaya knew about it. Maybe - maybe something happened to Dotachin or Togusa. And he wanted to talk to her to find out information about it? But if Dotachin or Togusa were in any danger, she would've heard about it, right? Unless the news came to her and Walker after she had stepped out. In which case Walker would be trying to find her or call her on her cell phone. So that wasn't looking too likely. . . . Could it have something to do with Kida? Or Mikado or Anri?

She paled when her fears were confirmed. It was about him. She tried to keep from betraying too much, but she hadn't had to hide her emotions for such a long time. Panic was pumping through her veins, and she knew before she even opened her mouth that he wouldn't believe her if she lied.

But she lied anyway.

"N-no, I - that name doesn't m-mean anything to me."

This was bad. This was really, really bad.

[UndergroundGod]

Of course, her initial reaction to him was apprehension. In her already tense state, just Izaya's presence would have that sort of effect on her. That alone meant there was something going on that she preferred Izaya not to know about, even though she knew it was quite possible for him to already know.

When she answered, she visibly paled and stuttered out a haphazard reply that Izaya didn't think would fool the most gullible person on the planet. It was painfully obvious that she was lying. The name struck a chord, and though Mamoru wasn't necessarily the most uncommon name, the chance that a different Mamoru could have such a visceral effect on her was slim.

He hadn't really asked the question to get her to tell him the truth anyway. That's what her facial expression was for, that's why he watched her so intently as he asked the question, so that he could gauge her reaction. After all, if Izaya had had a pedophile serial killer for a relative, he probably would have lied about it as well (though he would have done a much better job of it).

Izaya wondered how much she knew. Her reaction made it clear that she knew the man was a murderer, but not how detailed that knowledge was. In all the police reports on the subject, her name hadn't been mentioned. A daughter had been listed (and thinking on it, maybe Izaya should have pried into Child Services records for more information on the subject), but a name hadn't been attached to it. He wondered if she'd lived with him at the time of the murders, if she had seen the torture chamber basement and the mutilated bodies of girls half her age… Or maybe only the trial had made her aware of the monster that she'd been living with, the monster that had perhaps tucked her in at night and fed her meals and dressed her in the morning.

Or maybe she had been a victim of the man herself.

Either way, her ability to trust others… it must have been shattered by the incident. It must have been incredibly hard to put faith in another human being after what had happened to destroy her home and family. Izaya could imagine… what something like that would do to a person.

Mentally, he shifted gears, trying to decide precisely what direction he was heading next. The conversation, unlike so many he had, was unscripted. He hadn't been prepared to face Erika yet and so wasn't precisely sure what he was going to reveal and in what order, but he knew he had to keep talking or the girl would bolt—and he wasn't in the mood for a chase.

His face softened then, the grin disappeared and was replaced with a more serious look. It wasn't necessarily compassion on his features, but it was the closest thing his face knew how to emote and he was prepared to reach out and lightly touch her shoulder to cut off her running if it looked like she might. A simple touch was excellent at knocking a coming train of thought (like the desire to run) from its tracks.

Choosing his words carefully, the tone of his voice was serious enough to match his face and he posed, "He's your father, isn't he?"

The undertone of the statement made it clear that he wasn't just asking about Mamoru Karisawa… He was asking very specifically if Mamoru Karisawa, the Baby Doll Murderer, was her father.

[unicornhunter]

Erika flinched at the question. She lowered her head again, keeping her eyes on Izaya's shoes instead of looking at his expression. Who did she think she was trying to kid? No one would've believed her lie. But she hadn't thought it was that obvious. . . . She had been able to hide it so well. . . . She swallowed hard.

"How did you find out? Not even the police were able to figure out where I went. . . ."

Tears started to gather in her eyes, but she really didn't want to cry again. Not after breaking down yesterday, and definitely not in front of Izaya Orihara. She bit her lip. The motion, in addition to the conversation topic, triggered a memory.

Little Erika bit at her lower lip, trying to keep from crying. Her father tilted her head up, making her look at him. "No, no, don't do that, my little princess. You'll ruin your make-up." He took out a tube of lipstick and helped her reapply it. He then took out a handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes, doing his best to leave the eyeliner untouched. "There now. What could have upset you so badly?"

Erika's body trembled, and she bit her lip harder - harder until it bled. When she opened her mouth to speak, a trail of blood rolled down her chin.

"D-Do you know if he really has broken out of the mental hospital? I-If this is really him?"

[UndergroundGod]

And at that point, he got the very definite answer he was looking for. Her body language conveyed the message clearly. She flinched as the question passed him lips and then couldn't raise her gaze to meet his. Upon asking her how he knew, it became assured that Mamoru was her father, and Izaya was very interested.

He wasn't sure how much to reveal, to be honest. Was now a good time to tell her that the only reason he'd drawn the conclusion was because of the most recent case? It was sure she'd heard about the young girl's murder, that was probably the reason for her initial tension and she had to be wondering the same exact things Izaya was. Was Mamoru really responsible? Or was he still locked away from the worlds? He was saved, however, from actually answering the question, which was fine. He would tell her that, whoever this murderer may be, he had carved her name into the flesh of a dead girl, but he would wait until later to do so.

Almost immediately, he noticed moisture in her eyes and he frowned harder. He really wasn't in the mood to see someone crying right now, though the more dramatically Erika reacted, the more obvious it was that her dealings with his father, whatever they may be, were sufficiently painful.

They were at least painful enough to apparently make her bite into her own lip. Izaya's eyebrow twitched up in surprise as a rivulet of blood rolled down her chin and beaded there.

"I have my suspicions," he told her evasively, though he was hardly lying. All he had to confirm or deny his beliefs was hospital records, which may or may not have been up to date. For all he knew, the hospital had paper records that were only updated into the system at intervals. He needed to go there to be completely sure and he told her that. "I'm actually on my way to the hospital now to look into it."

He leaned into her, a ploy of body language that implied camaraderie, as he added, "You should come with me."