The Case-Book of Kakashi Hatake

A Study in Silence {Part 8}

Hatake began his ritual, thorough search of the crime scene, measuring seemingly everything, and crawling around on his hands and knees to look under furniture. He would even mutter something to himself occasionally, and the only comfort I had when pondering his sanity was that there was at least a method to his madness.

He spent a while staring at the windowsill and out of the glass pane to the alleyway below before laying flat on his stomach and surveying the entire room from the carpet.

"Aha!"

All eyes focused intently on the consulting detective as he stood up from the floor near the edge of the bed quickly, holding a large knife in one hand with a simple, white cloth acting as a barrier between flesh and evidence. The weapon was a strange shape, sort of like a butcher's knife but about a foot and a half long; far too large to be preparing food with. There was a circular hole cut out of the metal near the tip, and a semicircle of material removed from the back of the blade near the handle. Blood encrusted in its entirety.

I had never seen a weapon that shape in all my years, even in the war.

"We have found the murder weapon for both cases," Hatake grinned triumphantly before giving it to an aghast Inspector Yamashiro and waltzing out the door.

I raced after a few seconds later.

"What now?"

He rubbed his chin, "Now we check the alley to see if my suspicions are correct, and then we head back to Yaku Street. My net is almost complete."

We walked around the side of the building, Hatake examining the indistinguishable marks on the roadway as it transitioned from cobblestones to packed dirt in the narrow lane along the side of the hotel. Hatake walked up the to spot right under the victim's window, surveying the ground in his usual manner before smirking at me in satisfaction. Apparently, this theory of his had been proven correct.

We then waved down a cab and headed back to our apartment. Whenever I asked him a question about his observations, he would wave me off and say that he would explain it all soon, that he just needed to locate something first in order to confirm his suspicions. I had no doubt in my mind that whatever he thought had happened was correct, but my reassurances weren't enough to make him share his deductions with me. I was so curious that his constant avoidance proved to be extremely vexing.

I stormed into my room to take a bath once we arrived, shooting glares at my silver-haired companion for being so tight lipped, but he let them glance off like water on a duck's feather.

Baths are glorious. There, I said it. The one universal truth of this world: baths are glorious. Now, baths after running around in dirty alleys and scrambling around murder scenes are so wonderful that I could never find a single word to encapsulate their goodness. Feeling about three million times better, I pulled on clean clothes and walked back into our living room while still toweling my hair, making a beeline for the kitchen. The only thing that could make the hour more complete was food because I was starved. The scones that Genma had made earlier that day were still on the table. Praise be.

So involved in my quest for food was I, that it took me three bites in to realize that Hatake was standing there in middle of the sitting area staring at me, clearly having paused mid-sentence. There was a young boy standing next to him, hair long and scraggly and clothes heavily worn and brown with filth, a street urchin.

It seems that I'm much more oblivious than I had thought.

Hatake cleared his throat as I tried to melt into the cabinets in embarrassment.

"So, Wiggins, make sure to report back to me as soon as it's found. It'll be two ryos for everyone who participates in the search, and ten for the person who finds the right cab."

The young boy saluted and then disappeared down the stairs quicker than a flash.

I swallowed my large bite of food, "Who's that?"

Hatake sat down and gestured for Pakkun; the small dog dutifully trotted over to him. "Wiggins. He's the head of a group of street urchins who help on my cases. All sharper than a tack and capable of moving around the entire city without being looked at twice. They're invaluable."

I sighed and sat down across from him, "Of course, you've organized the local orphans into a legion of crime solving agents."

He shot a glare at my sarcasm. "Now we just have to wait for them to find the right cab."

"Great. More waiting. My favorite."

A/N: Sorry for the huge wait for this chapter. Yes, I thought that I was being clever with Jin's last line there, but I'm really sorry if you actually feel that way. The next chapter should be the final one of this case, and I'll try my best to get it out as quickly as possible, but it's going to be a long one so have a little patience with me, please.