Chapter Six

What's Going On?

This was essentially grave robbing, but here in this town which was clearly covering up this disease by explaining it off as "rain sickness from Ame" or their local "swamp fever" - or just an unknown plague - Orochimaru would take no chances, until he and Kabuto were both caught by the sergeant and senior officer. This was his chance to open the coffin since this was all or nothing...

...only to find no one was inside.

Sergeant Sano and Senior Officer Chiba both looked at the vacant resting place with dismay, mirroring his and his protégé's thoughts. "What the...what is going on, sir?" the sergeant finally managed.

Indeed, what WAS going on? Someone must have dug up the body before they got here, or something else far more sinister was in play, only he couldn't jump to that conclusion without solid proof. Grunting, Orochimaru accepted a helping hand from the sergeant while his former pupil was out with help of the other officer. "Sergeant, I don't know any more than you do," he answered. "But I'm Orochimaru, medical professor and doctor of Konoha. I came out here to aid Dr. Yakushi here, who was the son I never had and the best pupil I've taught. It doesn't need me to tell you that there is something seriously wrong with what is happening here in Otogakure. All these young men dying and now this." He gestured to the empty grave before them.

"Well, some say that it's the marsh fever," Sano said, making him shake his head.

"Marsh snakeskin." Orochimaru scoffed. "In any sense, could a common local fever cause a body to disappear into thin air?" Absolutely not! "Sergeant, it's imperative that we not say a word of this until we know what is exactly going on, including how the body disappeared. That's why we needed it: to open it during the night and examine, if the villagers wouldn't permit." This notion truly disturbed both policemen, but the understanding was there.

And then Sergeant Sano relented. "I'll be honored to help you then, sir. I shall withhold the report on this matter for seventy-two hours, but no more. I dare not do more." He lowered his eyes. "My...boy was one of the first to go."

So, he was going to help for his son's sake. And with three days' time, that would have to do, but that would also mean he and Kabuto would face jail time for months. And just when he was due for retirement pretty soon.

This was going to devastate Hanaru and Manami when this would get back to them, only that meant she had to think of an excuse to give the town when she returned with Ren. Either way would be some months in jail as it was for most parts.

Right now was a mystery to solve.

Kabuto and the policemen were going to finish digging the grave back to its original state, make sure it looked like it hadn't been touched, and he would go back into the house where it was warmer as the night drew colder and darker. But when he got back, there was a flash of headlights; there was only one car in this village. He heard himself gasp as he saw who came stumbling out of the vehicle and falling onto the gravel, exhausted and losing consciousness.

"Hanaru!"

He dove to her side and took her into his embrace, carrying her like a bride and then helping her stand up long enough to reach in to grab the keys out of the engine. She was going to tell him where she'd been, but he could see that she was too exhausted to talk, and Kabuto was busy enough as it was in the cemetery.

The sensation up Orochimaru's spine was colder than the witching hour's hand striking.

~o~

He, the sergeant and his senior officer had just finished filling the vacant grave back to its original state by the time the sky was turning gray with pre-dawn. They were all exhausted, and could really use some sleep now, so he was going back to the house after bidding a good day to the policemen. He could use the sleep, so he trudged right to his room, passing Manami's and passing out instantly.

He wasn't sure how much time passed before he felt the sun on his eyelids, blinding him momentarily until he blinked it away and stretched out until his bones popped and his muscles relaxed. Sighing, he lay there for a few moments. Just what I needed after hours of digging and then digging the grave back...

Now his brain was on active alert at the memory of the previous night.

Seventy-two hours...that was all the time they needed to try and figure out what happened to that body. But only he, Orochimaru, the sergeant and senior officer knew of the events, though what if once they were satisfied, the charges could be dropped?

First, he needed a good cup of tea that his sister would make, and Hanaru could do so herself, though he didn't smell it when he came downstairs - and that was when he saw Orochimaru sitting at the kitchen table with a glass of whiskey, and that was unusual for him, given his guardian never downed alcohol at this time of morning, or even if he was under distress. "Kabuto," he said somberly when he saw him come in.

Hanaru and Ren weren't there, and neither was Manami. "Orochimaru, where are the girls and Ren?"

"Hanaru and the boy are still in their room. But I need to tell you about Manami..."

His blood ran cold. Something was wrong that the man wasn't telling him. "What are you saying?" Kabuto demanded, coming in. Something happened. What the hell was it? Was she...ill? If she was, then it was going to be his fault for not seeing it before. And he fell to his knees, but he didn't reach the floor because Orochimaru caught him and helped him sit.

"Hanaru went out last night to find her, said she saw Manami leave. Thought she couldn't have gone far, but...she found her out in the woods. Couldn't even bring her back if she tried." Orochimaru paused to clear his throat, his features tight as if trying not to twist with pain. "She's dead."

"No...no..."

Kabuto moaned and breathlessly sobbed for a long while, leaning into the man who raised him and his sister since they were children, wondering if this was real. The disease without a name had struck over a dozen men, including his best friend, and now it had taken his baby sister from him.

"No, Kabuto, don't blame yourself," Orochimaru insisted, making him look at him, and didn't scold him for the tears he knew were visible and burning his face. "If she's been struck by this disease, it's no fault of yours. For her sake and all of ours, we have to find out about this sickness and destroy it before it gets another!"

~o~

He would have scolded her for leaving her son alone at night, foolishly going out to look for her friend while he and Kabuto were unaware, also knowing that those imbeciles were still out there, but she didn't appear to be harmed in that direction.

She was in and out when he first brought her into the house, choosing to bring her right to his room rather than take her straight to the one she shared with her boy who had not waken up to the commotion. Orochimaru took in her frizzy hair and the dirt that got onto her sweet face which was moist with perspiration. He had to go and get her a wet rag to clean it, and the cold water woke her up enough to nearly jump into hysteria again before he had to slap his hand over her mouth and hiss at her to quiet down.

"Or-Orochimaru," she'd managed as soon as she quieted down.

"Just what were you doing out there at this time of night, your boy alone without us around?" he'd demanded right back, before calming down when she told him everything...only it made his blood boil and then cool down only to freeze like ice.

What she told him could be the stuff of nightmares that couldn't even be true - except he knew it was.

Manami left the house without telling anyone where she was going, prompting Hanaru to get into her car to follow her, only to lose her unexpectedly. She gets out of the car to follow where she last saw Manami, but then she gets accosted by a drunken Toshio Matsuda - and those damned fools!

And to know she was in the presence of her dear friend's strange husband made his spine tingle with greater suspicion, even as Hashimoto pleaded with her to not speak a word of what would have transpired if he had not been there to stop it. And what happened after she left was what made Orochimaru burst inside, and not only the fact that Manami's corpse was thrown to the ground.

A man who didn't even look human.

All of this took place at an old mine work that resided near the Hashimoto property. Manami had to still be lying there. "I got so scared I left her there and ran back to the car," Hanaru finished with tears streaking her cheeks. "I'm so ashamed of myself. I should have dragged her back to the car, but..."

He interrupted her, telling her it wasn't her fault, and to calm down - such as rubbing that crystal of hers - before going right to bed so that she could sleep it off, be with her son, and he would tell Kabuto for her. Which was the most difficult thing he had to do besides letting Tsunade go, and because he loved Manami like she was his own daughter.

That was why he let himself have only one drink so early that morning when he knew it wasn't good for the health.

So he told Kabuto what Hanaru told him, and now they were off into the woods, with Sergeant Sano and Senior Officer Chiba in tow - and there lay ahead the mine work, but there was no time to speak of it even when Kabuto said he never knew this place existed. Understandable, given it was hidden in plain sight. Perhaps the owner hasn't tried reopening it for some reason.

They took the car to make the trip faster and easier, and not only did they find Manami where Hanaru said she was, but there also lay Toshio Matsuda, who was drunk as the clouds overhead, filled with rain that they would eventually let down. About ten yards away was Manami, eyes wide open and some blood splattered about her neck and mouth, the latter which was also slack in a silent scream.

To look at her made Orochimaru's stomach roll, but he held himself together with a face tight with anger, whilst Kabuto turned and vomited onto the grass while Sano, Chiba and Matsuda who now had handcuffs on him - after being awoken to a shock and tried to run on instinct - looked on in mortification.

Orochimaru had no idea whether to believe this or not, but it seemed Toshio Matsuda might have killed Manami in a drunken rage to get back at Kabuto, except in his mind, Hanaru's description of the one who threw her friend down still rang through his mind.

"I'll take him to the station," Sano told him and Kabuto after he, the senior officer and the potential suspect were dropped off, with many of the locals watching the scene and some of them whispering to each other while others could only watch in disbelief, but an obvious lack of surprise in play.

Manami's corpse was in the trunk, though it was a lack of respect in his opinion. They were going to take her to the house for inspection, since they had no other opportunity for a body to operate on and see if the disease took her or if she was truly murdered by hand...

Now they had her laying down across the table. Her eyes had been closed by his hand. There had to still be fingerprints, but while they were found - along with bruises around the throat, indicating that a human hand indeed did the job - there was no way to identify whose it was, and these people had no modern technology for him to do his work; they also hated outsiders coming in and intruding their sanctuary, but only a few people was minor compared to the greater medical field outside.

That meant he and Kabuto were alone in this now.

"...strange."

"Mm?" Orochimaru frowned when he looked up at his former pupil after laying out the surgical tools. Kabuto had his hand against his sister's cold, ashen throat and then checked the hand on the left, and that was when he saw what the young man meant: no sign of rigor mortis. That was indeed strange, because after some hours, the stiffening of the muscles would kick in. And several hours had gone by since Hanaru left her poor friend out there in fright. But that wasn't all, when Orochimaru dug further and unwrapped Manami's right wrist, exposing the cut that was still present visibly in her skin.

"She did that some days ago with a piece of glass, maybe," Kabuto answered when he was asked of it. "She was...rather secretive."

Very suspicious. But then I suppose it's natural since it could have been an accident, though why do I suspect more...?

Orochimaru put that question on hold until all of this was seen through, and the next thing he did was take a sample of the blood that was still along her throat, seeing it hadn't come from a throat wound or her mouth, it seemed. There was only one way to find out, so it was dabbed on a cotton ball and placed on a glass slab to slide under the microscope for inspection...

...only to find the cells didn't match any living person to date. It wasn't even human blood, but it couldn't have been an animal's, either.

These were dead blood cells.

Kabuto was dismayed. "H-how could this be?" was all he could manage. "If she wasn't attacked by an animal, and there are no external signs of that - but the bruises around her throat...?"

What, indeed - or whom. "Nevertheless, get ready, Kabuto," he said somberly. "And for your sake, let me do the job." Since this was his adopted daughter, he would have to do this in order for the boy's sake, and he had more control over his emotions at this point and time.

Orochimaru picked up the scalpel and threw the sheet over to the other side, exposing the poor girl's expanse of flesh, and began to get to work.

~o~

When she fell asleep after tiredly getting into her night set, all she could see was Manami's corpse and the look on her face. And thank God she didn't wake Ren up - but when he woke her up, he was giddy with excitement. That boy really slept like a log just like his father used to do, except when Itachi was on the field.

"Mum, Mum, get up so Aunt Manami can make us breakfast!" He was jumping up and down, giddy which was just what she wanted to see in him, and it made her happy - but inside, she felt torn apart as soon as she remembered her conversation with Orochimaru.

He must have told Kabuto, and now they're working on her - but to see if she got the strange disease?

She wasn't even a doctor, but she wouldn't be surprised, since this village denied Kabuto authority to have an autopsy. She could imagine the distress since the only available corpse was his own sister. Maybe Orochimaru did it in his stead to spare the trouble. If only she knew the details now...

"I'm afraid there is bad news regarding your Aunt Manami, my boy."

"Orochimaru!" Hanaru sat up quickly, her son sliding back, and both looked up at him to see the strain on his features. The smile that appeared was forced.

"How are you, Hanaru?"

She grunted, stretching herself. "I've been better."

Ren looked at her, confused. "Mum, what's he talking about?" he asked, scrunching his brows. "Mr. Orochimaru?"

The snake-like man sighed, coming into the room and sitting at the foot of the bed. "It's complicated to explain, my boy, but remember what you were told which was going on in this village?" he asked carefully, and Ren's eyes widened. He nodded.

"Yeah, the people dying, but Uncle Kabuto can't figure it out because they won't let him." Orochimaru nodded somberly.

"Well, it appears that the same thing might have happened to Aunt Manami, except when we delved deeper, we found nothing. Outside, it looked like she was sick just like your father - your husband," he added when he looked up at Hanaru, who reached up and held the crystal which felt like ice and turned her flesh and blood into that, "as well as the young men from this village...only inside, it's another story. She was clean as a jewel. And not only that, but we found bruises around her throat, which indicates physical strangulation."

In other words: Manami looked like she was sick with the disease, but someone choked her to death.

Murder.

Not only that, but if this wasn't some disease, if her poor friend and all the men - including her late husband - died the same way, then what the hell was going on here?!