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September 13, 2016 9:43 AM

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The drive was some twenty-five minutes from the station, time not even conversation could seem to accelerate. What felt like hours passed slowly on the winding roads leading to one of the many frequented prefectural parks, with lookouts providing mesmerizing views of the city skyline at night. In the daylight, the beauty was lessened but not erased completely.

The small mountain peak was heavily shaded thanks to the abundant forestry that hid a collection of hiking paths all throughout. Nature was unbridled there, save for the neatly paved single two-way road that winded up and over the peak, a road whose full route took some thirty minutes on its own to traverse.

Kiri pulled off onto one of the many small parking zones that lined the winding road, where police force vehicles and black unmarked SUVs sat parked, lights flashing and barricading entrance into the crime scene. As he turned the van off, the three unbuckled.

A deep breath came from the back of the vehicle. Amai. The reality of the situation was setting in quickly, shattering the safety he felt back at the lab that was unmistakably absent at the potential scene of a crime.

Sakura offered up words of reassurance, her sad smile far from reassuring as she stepped out of the vehicle. Doors slammed shut unharmoniously and they gathered to Sakura' side.

As a group, they approached an officer on guard who stood in front of yellow tape marking off the investigation scene.

"Badges?" he requested curtly.

Sakura's eyes widened. She hadn't even gotten around to securing hers before the call came through.

"She doesn't have hers yet. She just started today," Amai answered politely, though he took on a defensive stance subconsciously.

"Let her through," a familiar voice commanded. "That's Doctor Haruno, our medical examiner."

"Yes sir."

Shisui waved the group towards him. They ducked under the yellow tape and Sakura followed to his side, the other two men trailing just behind them.

"Don't worry, doctor. There will be a badge request in the documents you have to complete. While your guys set up back at the office later, you can get that all taken care of with HR."

"I'm sorry. I wish I had done that sooner."

"Don't worry about it. No one could have anticipated your first day would have taken this turn." He smiled tightly.

As she walked in dirt, Sakura was relieved she had switched to more practical footwear, some plain sneakers that made it easier to trek across the dirt and foliage safely.

They quickly veered off path, following markers placed on trees guiding them to their destination.

In the silence, save for the crunching of the earth below, a voice spoke up. "Who's the man?" Kiri asked just loud enough for the other three in the group to hear.

Shisui's glaze flickered over towards a man who looked visibly shaken, talking with one of the other officers on the scene. "Oh. He's the one who called in to report a foul smell while he was exercising this morning. Said he recognized her as his coworker."

That must have meant after he made the call, curiosity got the better of him and he inspected the source at his own discretion.

Sakura followed Shisui's glance and turned towards the man who sat off in the distance, his face hardened as another familiar face questioned him. Recognition hit immediately about both identities.

It had been a while since she last saw him, but he looked no different than the last time, just as tall, broad shouldered, and strong featured as ever, accentuated by the simplicity of his straight onyx hair.

Sasuke.

But the second man in question was severely more unexpected. She wondered if it was merely mad coincidence that the runner was an Attending she had only met the same day she encountered Erina. A shiver rocked her, unconcealed under the scrutiny of Shisui's observant gaze.

He took a step towards her and lowered his voice, traces of concern laced in his words. "Are you alright?"

As if he had heard, Sasuke turned his head away from the doctor, Asahi Kubo, to the Inspector and Sakura. He noticed two other men behind them, but they were unremarkable next to them. His vision lingered on Sakura, catching her gaze for a moment. It was enough to read her distress, something he hadn't seen often, so much so that the few times he did, it was always a reason for concern.

Sakura's eyes darted towards the inspector before she averted her gaze forward again. She nodded curtly. "I am. Please take me to the body."

His brows furrowed, but at last he settled. He took off with a half-step, waving the doctor to follow along. "Right this way."

Sakura followed with her team. Her nose involuntarily crinkled the nearer they got, a rotten smell wafting in the air ever stronger with each step.

Nausea hit in violent waves from the deathly stench.

"Oh god, I think I'm going to vomit." Amai squeezed his eyes shut and turned away, gagging at the smell that assaulted his senses. He swore he could taste the rotting as the color drained from his face.

Kiri covered his nose and blinked rapidly, warding off the burning sensation in his eyes. Even his mask was of little help in deafening the odor.

Sakura swallowed back the saliva that pooled in her mouth, willing herself to fight the nausea. Her eyes watered. She pulled out a folded mask from her coat's pocket, sliding the ear loops over her ears and pinching the metal clasp against her nose bridge as she slowly approached the lifeless pale petite form in the lively greenery tinged with the beginnings of the autumnal yellows and oranges.

As she moved closer, the forensic entomologist team surrounding the body cleared the space, offering it up to Sakura and her team. Over a meter from the body, the heaviness that weighed her shoulders down returned tenfold, her suspicions screaming out how right she had been.

Sakura's expression fell grim. "That's Erina Ueno," she said softly.

Shisui's gaze shifted to her from the corner of his eyes. "We'll have to formally run a DNA sample to confirm that. May I ask how you know her?"

"I met her when I worked at the university medical center," she answered a while later as a single gloved hand unsteadily pulled back on the corpse's eyelids, her eyes swiping across the rest of the victim's body.

From a single glance alone, there was no doubting this was a homicidal act. From the looks of it, she was tortured and murdered in cold blood, her fingernails removed, visible burns around her ankles and wrists where charred rope remained bound. The most condemning evidence was a deep gash across where her carotid artery was, an instant death if nothing else. If there were any other wounds dealt, they were hidden under her loose-fitting hospital gown-like garment.

Shisui eyed her suspiciously, noticing the slightest movement in her throat as she swallowed and the tremble in her hands as she inspected the deceased woman, young maggots eating away at her eyes and neck wound most visibly. He shifted his gaze for a moment and bit his lip before he spoke decidedly. "Doctor, are you alright? You're shaking."

The silence in her hesitation was filled with the low chatter from all around and the crunching footsteps from both man and canine. She cleared her throat. "I knew what I was getting into when I started this a year ago. I just never imagined it would feel so personal so soon."

For Erina, Asahi, and Sakura to meet here hardly felt like a coincidence to her. Intentional was more like it. A cruel trick of fate for death to unite them again. It was a terrible coincidence. Sickening even.

"Do you need a moment?"

She shook her head and stood up slowly, removing the gloves from her hands as she spoke. "That's alright. The sooner we get to work on this, the sooner we can bring her justice," she said decidedly. "You two," she said to Kiri and Amai. "Please prepare her for transport while I get some information from the other teams."

Though her resolve was firm, her expressions and reactions betrayed her state of mind. Others may not have caught it, but Shisui did. He watched as the men got to work before Sakura asked for a rundown from the other teams present to better inform herself of the scene.

Minutes of running around and note taking revealed suspicions from Shino, the entomologist on the scene, that Erina had been dead for a few days now. The lack of any DNA trails and other forms of evidence from other teams though hinted that her final resting place was unlikely the same place where she was murdered, and so the timeline would be better clarified from the autopsy itself.

It was only around half past ten when Erina was collected and ready for transportation back to the police department.

In her rounds, Sakura narrowly missed Sasuke, not at all intentionally but caught up in the ebb and flow of information gathering. The eyes of many lingered on her, not just from Sasuke, whose own gaze was laced with concern.

Shisui was attentive too, although he was more tactful and analytical, not looking to pry but fixated on the atmospheric tension that left Sakura's shoulders stiff in the warming sun.

Sakura's professional authority, though not exclusive to her, held a special power it seemed, enthralling onlookers. Perhaps this sort of job carried that weight. You learned to be unfazed by a lot, but even then, the nature of this case quickly undid any instance where she felt desensitized to death and the job.

As she readied to leave, physically and mentally drained from the last hour alone, a pang of guilt hit her. A large part of her wanted to face Doctor Kubo to reassure him, but it felt wrong to in her state… as if nothing she said would sound remotely true or reassuring.

Words failed her just as they had then, the price of defeat at Death's door.

As she reached for the van's door handle, a voice like silk called for her. She froze, her hand dropping slowly as she turned to face its owner.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his words echoing the other Shisui's from earlier. But their relationship was different.

Sakura frowned and shook her head. "No… no, not really." She hoped that the strain in her voice wasn't audible so much as it was felt tightly in her throat. Sakura swallowed hard and shifted her body back to the door. With a calming breath, she collected herself. "Please reassure Doctor Kubo that we'll figure out who did this. Until then, he needs to take care of himself."

His voice came a moment later. "I can do that."

"Thank you, Sasuke."


A/N: Happy holidays, everyone! Heads up, you can find me on Tumblr under missawrites if you have questions or just want to talk about this story or others. Stay safe and healthy, and I'll see you in the new year.