Written: January 2009
Disclaimer: Wait... this is canon?
Author's Note: Drabble for Andy.
Prompt: A murder scene, Satou/Takagi, and "This job does things to you."
Through the Motions
The body was hung upside-down by a broken and re-tied electrical cord from the shower curtain rod. The head had been smashed against the side of the tub, and Takagi was sure that there wasn't a centimeter of tile that wasn't red. Blood had pooled in the head, and what wasn't on the floor bloated the young man's face unrecognizably.
Takagi wanted to be sick, wanted to feel the least bit nauseous, but he only kneeled on the carpet and reached to touch the boy's neck.
"We were supposed to be on a stakeout, sir. I don't understand what happened." Satou's stocking cap twisted in her grip.
Megure turned to Takagi, also wearing a plainclothes disguise. "Less than thirty minutes," he reported from his place on the floor, staring at the body.
The inspector sighed and looked between them for a long moment. "I don't know what I'm going to do with you two." He turned to give orders to the other officers.
Takagi glanced back. "You're going to ruin your hat, Satou-san."
"God dammit, if we hadn't been fooling around, we could have stopped the murderer!" Her head remained down.
His first instinct was to apologize, but he looked at the hat again and stood to lead her to the entryway of the apartment. "There was nothing we could have done," he told her, hands heavy on her shoulders. "We couldn't have seen through the window from park whether we were... 'fooling around' or not." Satou shook her head and his stomach lurched.
"Takagi-kun?" she squeaked when he pulled her into him.
"You didn't do anything wrong," he breathed, not wanting to let her go. "And I'd like to think that you weren't just kissing me because we were undercover."
She gathered fistfuls of his sweater. "Me too."