The Case-Book of Kakashi Hatake

The Murders of Silver Blaze {Part 3}

Inspector Gai led Hatake to the scene of the crime as I trailed behind them by a few feet; Colonel Wasabi stayed back having already seen the gruesome sight one time too many. The green-clad man carefully lifted a few stiff pieces of canvas from the ground where they had been protecting the footprints concealed beneath.

Balancing on the balls of his feet and sitting on his heels, Hatake focused intently on the revealed ground, eyebrows twitching with his severe concentration. After a few minutes, he stood and strolled around carefully, mindful of all his foot placements. I could only imagine what was going on his head, reading the marks in the dirt like he reads those books of his.

His evaluation of the area surrounding the corpse complete, Hatake gestured for the Inspector to come and hold open the barn door that was already ajar. The consulting detective walked into the barn calmly, past the dead body before looking at the empty stall, running his fingers gently over the released latch and seemingly smelling the surrounding area if the way he breathed in deeply through his nose was anything to go by. He walked back to the corpse and where Inspector Gai was, having propped open the door to examine the scene as well.

"Doctor," Hatake waved his hand to me.

Nodding in understanding, I made my way over to the two men before gathering my skirt up into my left hand and crouching on the bloodstained ground next to the body.

Death is never pretty no matter how romanticized it may get. We are just sacks of flesh, and once the blood stops pumping, to dust we return.

Saburo Moya's mouth was open in the dirt and all of the muscles of his face were scrunched up like a grimace. Carefully, I tried to flex the fingers of his left hand only to find that they were stiff. The visible skin was a waxy yellow that marbled into more of a sickly, redish purple the closer to the ground it got, and when I gently pushed my finger against the dark purple coloration in the pads of his palms, there was no change at all which indicated that the victim's blood had hardened in place. I could already see insects crawling through the exposed flesh of his face. The hair on the back of his head was matted with blood, and gently feeling the area with my fore and middle fingers, I skated around two, large indentations right next to each other that seemed to be of similar shapes. Scrunching up my nose with slight distaste, I leaned in closer to the corpse's face and pulled back his lower lip then lifted open an eyelid gently before standing quickly and backing away.

I pulled the glove off my right hand, inverting it and making a mental note that these were now my official crime scene gloves. Unfortunately, I really liked those gloves.

"I'd put the time of death at about twelve to fourteen hours ago. Looking at face and the muscle stiffness in the hands show that rigor mortis has fully set in, and the coloration of the body indicates that it hasn't been moved and that livor mortis has ended. I believe that the cause of death was the blow to the back of head. I couldn't find any trace of poison, but you'll have to wait for the coroner to give a full autopsy before we can be sure about anything."

Hatake nodded; it seemed that I had corroborated his conclusions. Inspector Gai, however, was looking at me with something akin to shock.

"To think," he said in a grave tone, "that a youthful flower such as yourself could be so comfortable with and knowledgeable about death is... most shocking."

I sighed and ran my fingers gently through my hair, pushing back any pieces that had fallen out its knot and into my face, "There are a lot of dead people in a war, and I had to become proficient in examining them."

I walked slowly away from the crime scene; my job was done and I'd had more than my fill of death for the day.

Colonel Wasabi was watching me with newfound appreciation, his eyes following my every movement as I came to stand several feet away.

"I should have known from the moment I saw how you carry yourself," he remarked almost ironically.

I turned my head some to view him from the corner of my eye. "Known what?"

"You're one of Tsunade's students aren't you? I've known her for many years, and only she could train a female doctor of your caliber."

He now had my full attention as a small smile graced my lips, "You know Dr. Kato?"

"She's a good friend of mine. We met years ago a horse race." He laughed, "She lost every bet."

I chuckled some as well, "That certainly sounds like the good doctor I know."

Despite her poor luck in gambling, choleric temper, and abuse of alcohol, I will never truly be able to express my full gratitude and thanks to Doctor Tsunade Kato. She was not just a pioneer for women, but a leading figure in the medical world. I had been her student for four years before joining the military, and without her as a predecessor, I would have been stuck cleaning bed pans in a tent full of gangrenous soldiers. She is so good at what she does that people cannot simply dismiss her as flighty, a legendary sucker, or a woman who doesn't know her place. One look at her advancements in science and accomplishments is enough to silence any complaints except for from her harshest of critics.

"It's been years since I last saw her," I remarked mostly to myself, "I should go pay a visit."

Briskly, Hatake walked over to us, leaving Gai and his underlings to deal with the decomposing corpse.

"So," the Colonel turned to my companion, "do you know who did this?"

The consulting detective ran a hand over his jaw pensively, thinking through all of the possible scenarios. "Yes, I believe I do."

"Well then, who was it? Tell the Inspector so that they can be arrested immediately."

Hatake glanced at the older man, "You see, that poses a bit of a problem as our killer is missing and can't quite be... convicted in the normal fashion."

"What do you mean?"

"It was your horse, Colonel Wasabi. The murderer was Silver Blaze."