Kairi lovers: LEAVE NOW. You have been warned.
Disclaimer: I do not own kingdom Hearts, its characters, and the idea for this story was inspired by an episode of Case Closed.
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Crimson stains paint the once soft, white carpeting, hardening it as it dries. The skin pales as the blood still stream from the wound. Her body is motionless, already stiffening, slowly slipping into decay. Red-brunette hair falls over her ghostly cheeks, her eyes close to seeing the front of her brain. Her head falls limply to the side; her temple housing the hole that caused her death; her unmovable finger still wrapped around the trigger. A small piece of paper is crumpled in her other hand, a simple request written upon it: 'Plehs don't bother with a funeral.'
"A tragic thing it is when a young girl commits such a suicide," the chief of police said, his head shaking slowly from side to side.
"Yep. What kind of life they must live to drive them to do this," his comrade stated.
"Especially murder." Zexion was hovering over the body, examining every detail.
"What are you talking about, Zexion?" the first man, Auron, questioned. "This is a suicide we're dealing with; not a murder."
"Why get everyone caught up in the idea of having to find a suspect," Cid scolded, "when there isn't one?"
Slate hair waved back and forth with the motion of Zexion's head as he sighed at their naivety, and kneeled down to examine the body. "There clearly is. You two are just missing obvious clues."
"What?" the two chorused in unison.
"Have we found any shell casings?"
"Well, uh…"
"What about the note? Any signs of forgery?" He looked to the older men who remained speechless. "And who, exactly, examined the wound for crucial details?" The teen rose and began pacing, the drying eyes of the corpse seeming to watch his every move.
"No one, Detective," said another officer from the hallway, overhearing his question.
"Mhm."
"Hmph. No seventeen-year-old could figure somethin' like that out. Kid, quit makin' shit up and go back to your video games."
"Officer Cid, please," Zexion stated calmly. "No need to become envious."
"ENVIOUS? HA!"
The adolescent male pulled out a notepad and pen, hurriedly scribbling down some notes. "You're still sticking to the suicide, then? Well, then let's analyze the note, shall we? 'Please don't bother with a funeral.'" He read. "A simple wish, but her parents said she was a straight A student. Someone with that status would know how to spell 'please'. Instead she spelled it P-L-E-H-S. Take away the 'S' and reverse the order of the letters, and you get 'help'."
"So, what?" challenged Cid. "Suicidal folks want help."
"Not if they're already dead. By then it's too late. If she had been planning her death when she wrote this, she would have written more of a good-bye letter if anything. My second point, gentlemen: the shell casings. They are nowhere to be found. So where are they? Could the one who fired the gun have picked them up and disposed of them? Perhaps. But, as you said, this is a suicide," Zexion mocked. "I'll tell you a little secret: dead girls don't walk. So who could have taken them away from the scene but a murderer?
"At last, the final clue." With the pen he pointed to her damaged temple. "If it were suicide, then where are the burns on her skin?"
"Burns?" Cid asked.
"Yes. When fired, the force of the bullet through the barrel creates sparks due to the friction of metal on metal. If she was the one to pull the trigger at her own forehead, the weapon would have been close enough for the sparks to reach her skin and burn it." He stood defiantly, crossing his arms over his chest.
"You have to admit," the chief said to his comrade, "the kid's got what it takes."
"Naturally," said Zexion. "My final conclusion in short: the murderer broke in (or, as the case may be the suspect could have been a friend of hers who she had invited over.) The suspect forced her to write a suicide note, and she slipped in her plea for help. That's when he or she fired the weapon, picked up the casings, and got as far away from the scene as possible. That is, of course, after moving the corpse to where it rests now, and placing the gun in the victim's hand."
"So then, what do we do?" Cid asked.
"Honestly. How on earth were you accepted into the force?" Zexion almost complained.
"Why, you little bas-"
"Who is this girl anyway?" The teenager turned to Auron.
The man pulled out the case file and found the information. "Her name was Kairi," he stated smoothly.
The three of them exchanged glances. Cid cleared his throat awkwardly, while Zexion shifted his weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably.
"Well, then," Zexion began, "I think we've all agreed we can give the murderer… an eternity's head start?"
"Agreed."