A/N: Been working on this one for a while, sorry guys. I have been trying to incorporate like 4 things into this story at once, and trying to keep them in there discretely so I can further incorporate on them later. Well, here you go, I present to you chapter 2 of Ominous Spirits.
Chapter 2: Profiling
Toshiro sat with L in the captains room, with Matsumoto sleeping on the couch. Toshiro picked up one of the many cannoli's L requested and threw it at the sleeping woman, who woke with a startle.
"Get back to work." Toshiro said bluntly. Matsumoto sat up, shaking off the drowsiness, then looked at the pile of papers on the desk in front of her. Toshiro looked back at L, who had a slightly anxious face, probably because he now had one less cannoli to enjoy. "Well?" Toshiro said. L looked back to the crime scene photos, and continued to inspect them.
"Nothing stand out exactly. Not yet, at least." L picked up a cupcake with two of his fingers, unwrapped the paper, then began eating it. He looked back at the photos, stopped slightly, then picked up one of them. The picture of the victims hand, with the perpetrators hair still lodged in his nail. L then placed his cupcake down, and picked up another photo, this one of the sword. He placed them side by side for comparison, then flipped between them both, then placed one behind the other, and alternated them rapidly.
"Stop it! The hell are you doing?" Toshiro said angrily. L looked at Toshiro.
"The sword. The person who wielded it was left handed." L responded.
"How can you tell?"
"There's a small mark of dirt on the right hand side of the hilt. If you were wielding the sword, it would be exactly where the thumb would be. But the sword in this picture is on the right hand."
"Was he ambidextrous?" Toshiro asked.
"Not that I can tell." Toshiro picked up the strand of hair, now in an evidence bag, then picked up the picture of the victim's hand, with the hair in the nail, again. "There's also no scalp in the nail. If the victim managed to get a piece of hair from the killer, with the root intact might I add, how did he manage to dodge the entire scalp?" L asked.
"There had to have been something taken off. More hair, skin, anything." Toshiro thought out loud. L looked at Toshiro, then in front of him. He put the tip of his index finger's nail in his mouth as he thought. Just then, a knock came to the door.
"Enter." Toshiro called. The door slid open, and everyone looked at the man at the door.
"Sir, we have some results from the lab."
"Of what?" Toshiro asked.
"The shoeprint, and the victim's name." The man replied. "The shoe style matched a shinigami's shoe."
"Probably of the victim." Toshiro said. L looked at the photo of the print in the mud.
"No, that doesn't make any sense, it's going the opposite direction, they must have gotten the same type of shoe." L said. Toshiro looked back at L.
"Shinigami's shoes are special ordered, maybe theirs was made in a similar fashion as the shoe of a shinigami." Toshiro looked to the man "Did you get any fibers from the print at the scene?"
"In fact, we did, and it was the same material as a shinigami's sandal." Toshiro looked to L, who looked at a picture of the victim.
"The victim had it's shoes. This doesn't make any sense." L said as he looked at Toshiro. Toshiro looked back at the man. "What about the victim?"
"Victim's name is Akane Hotaka, of Squad 12. He was one of the blood analysts."
"Did he have any active cases?"
"No."
"Then there's no motive there. Any past enemies?"
"Not that we can tell." The man gave Toshiro a file. "Here's his history, nothing stands out here." Toshiro opened the file, and looked it over for about 30 seconds before handing it to L, who repeated this action.
"What do you think?" Toshiro asked L.
"This guy is too ordinary." L responded.
"You think someone tampered with the file?" Toshiro asked.
"We can't rule out anything yet, but how could the killer have gotten into the system?" L asked.
"The only way would to have been there in person. But they would have been seen."
"Then it wouldn't have been possible. This guy's clean." L said disappointingly. Toshiro looked back at the man.
"Do we have any leads or suspects?" Toshiro asked.
"Not yet. We'll have the DNA results of the blood and hair in the morning." The man responded.
"Alright, thank you." Toshiro said. "You can go." The man bowed.
"Sir." The man slid the door shut, both Toshiro and L heard the thumps of footsteps get quieter and quieter as the man walked away.
"What now?" Toshiro asked. L looked at Toshiro.
"We wait."
"I guess we don't have much of a choice now do we?" Toshiro said. He looked over at Matsumoto, who was drooling over her papers. Toshiro reached to a cupcake, but L stopped him with a slight hand over his. Toshiro looked up to him, who had a nervous expression. Toshiro let go of the cupcake, and grabbed a blank paper, crumpled it up, and threw it at his sleeping lieutenant, who woke with another "eep!" "Get back to work, Rangiku." Toshiro said. Toshiro looked at L, who was concentrating on the pictures in front of him.
"We can generate a general list of suspects. Male, brown hair, about 5'4''- 5'5'', maybe 135 pounds, with the ability to wield a sword well, and a relatively high spiritual pressure, while also being able to control it." L looked to Toshiro, whose eyes told either confusion, and impression.
"How did you figure all that out? With the weight and everything? You basically outlined the entire suspect without anything coming back from the lab." Toshiro questioned.
"The shoe imprint here is from a size 10 shoe, meaning the culprit has to be around 5'5'', and 120- 145 pds. I went with 135 not only because it's safe, but also because the deepness of the imprint tells me it held about that amount of weight." L explained. Toshiro looked at him, highly impressed. Toshiro then looked to Matsumoto.
"Did you get all that?" He called.
"Yes sir...." She said, uneasily. She grabbed a notepad and walked out of the captains quarters. Toshiro turned back to L, then closed his eyes and sighed.
"Well, its been a long day, and you've done good. It's time for some rest." He opened his eyes and looked back at L, who had an interested look on his face. "Got anywhere to say?" He asked.
"Actually, I've only been here for two days. Last night I fell asleep under a bridge, next to a stream. It was quite relaxing, and not cold at all...." L slowly spoke softly and looked down. Toshiro looked at him, into his eyes and saw something. His eyes glimmered, as if tears were forming, but nothing was coming out. He couldn't tell what was on his mind, but it seemed to him like.... regret. Like he had something to finish, and couldn't do it. L snapped back, and finished his thought. "It gave me time to think. I enjoyed it, but I don't think I would want to do it tonight, its supposed to be cold." Toshiro looked at L with uncertainty, unsure what to make out of what he said, and what his expression said. Although he knew he was right, it was supposed to be a cold night.
"Alright, I guess.... I guess I'll have you at my place." Toshiro said. L looked at him and smiled.
"Thank you, Captain Hitsugaya" Toshiro had a surprised look, he hadn't seen L smile since they met. Was it because he was sad? Or was never happy? Either way, it put some part of his mind at ease, but he was never gonna show it.
"Please, there's no need for formalities, technically, I'm not your captain. Call me Toshiro." Toshiro had a slight flush to him, he hadn't said that to anyone before, but he knew L needed someone in his new life, maybe he could give him that sense of friendship, if only for a little while. L looked at Toshiro with open eyes, and a slightly confused face. "Let's get going, I'm tired." Toshiro got up and walked towards the door. He looked back at L, and tried to get him out of the trance he seemed to be in. "L, come on, lets go!" L snapped back into reality, and began looking around.
"Oh, sorry, I was thinking about the case...." L responded.
"Right, well, come on, lets go." Toshiro said. L got up and began his awkward walk towards the door. He walked out the door, and as Toshiro turned off the lights, he asked the question he had wanted to ask for a while. "Hey, doesn't walking like that hurt?"