Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. I do own Jack and the Syndicate. And if you recognize the idea of a criminal organization called the Syndicate with a torturer named Jack...then you know more about me than you should, and you've been visiting websites that most civilized societies would call "eerie at best."

The Third Day: Evening

"Sora Hikari, you are charged with the murder of Agent Kenjiro Matsuo," Kairi recited, trying hard to keep her grief from her voice as she held the gun to her new lover's body. "Roxas and I were sent to kill you."

"Kairi, wait!" Sora wasn't used to having a weapon being pointed at him while he was defenseless. "I don't know what you're talking about! I've never heard of anyone named Matsuo!"

"A tip-off was received," she continued, "that the man known as Sora Hikari, alias Sora Akuma, was the contract killer hired to assassinate Agent Matsuo. If you reveal the name and location of your client, then you may be granted leniency."

The dying sunlight came into this scene and glinted on the barrel of Kairi's service pistol. Sora's hands were gripping the blue sheets so hard his knuckles were white and bloodless. "Kairi, please believe me, I don't know anyone by that name, and I've never targeted anyone in the CIA before-" he stopped and looked away, ashamed.

Her eyes met his now, the blue boring into his head. "Before…?"

"Before you," he whispered. Seeing her face fall, he tried to explain, "Please forgive me. I didn't lie to you, I do love you."

"If you loved me," she growled, "why would you want to kill me?"

Now he glared at her, then lowered his gaze pointedly to the weapon in her hand. "This is different," she was quick to remark, but then she thought about it. I'm really just doing what the higher-ups tell me to do, and getting paid…we're not too different after all. "Why?"

"A client offered us an incredible sum, over a million," he said. "No idea who they were, or why they wanted you dead. I've answered something, now who is this Matsuo?"

She stared at him a long time. "Do you have any weapons on you?"

"A pistol in my jacket."

"Fine."

She stood up and, keeping the gun trained on him, urged him towards his clothes. Sora slowly removed his weapon and tossed it across the room. Kairi nodded and motioned for him to get dressed as she began to explain.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kairi saw Roxas kiss the cross necklace he was wearing and mouth a prayer. For once, she almost felt like joining him.

"I know," the detective said upon seeing their reactions. "If you think this is bad, though, wait till you see the surveillance videos."

"I'm not sure I can handle that," Roxas said, his dilated pupils finding themselves unable to wander from the man before them.

Neither of them had known Kenjiro Matsuo at all, and it was probably for that reason that they were assigned to investigate his death. Their boss had told them that he had died of a suicide, and Kairi mentioned this to the detective that stood with them.

"Oh, he died of suicide," he assured her. "You can check his wrists: he definitely slashed them."

She felt like killing her boss as she shuddered. "People may cut their wrists, they don't crucify themselves."

Matsuo had been pinned to his wall, two nails stuck through his hands and one in each of his ears. His scalp had been taken off, and his skull glistened with pink under the bright investigation lights. His organs were in a pile on the floor, as he had in fact been cut horizontally in half. Matsuo's legs and nether regions were nowhere to be seen.

"He must have been cut up before he was hung up," Kairi concluded, sickened at her choice of words. "His hands and ears couldn't support the weight of his body."

"Brilliant, Holmes," Roxas muttered, flashing her a quick smile as he did. She didn't fall for it, though. He was still quite unnerved, as he had every right to be. "Let's watch that tape."

The tape was just as puzzling as the body itself. It showed the living Matsuo panicking for a few seconds, screaming his head off at something off-screen. So far as Roxas and Kairi could tell, he was shouting the words "No! No! Misa!" He seemed frightened enough to have a heart attack, but before that happened, he feel to his knees and cut his wrists with a razor blade. After he stopped twitching, there was a gunshot, and the tape ended.

"Misa Matsuo," Roxas said after leafing through a file on Matsuo. "Loving wife. Been dead for a year now."

"Dead?"

"As a doornail."

"If she were dead, why would he be screaming at her all of a sudden? Did he have any mental illness?"

"I don't think so."

"Any drug use?"

"C'mon, you really think he'd get past those toc screens?"

Kairi banged her head against the television screen and sighed. "Guess we should check the rest of the house."

Roxas nodded and headed to the dining room. There was an uncorked bottle of wine there, as well as a broken glass on the floor. How do the normal CSI guys not get these things? he thought as he bent to examine the shards.

Ordinarily, when on an investigation, he tried to stay as close as he could to Kairi. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't bring himself to ask her to dinner, even though he was pretty sure she would go if he asked. He sniffed the wine and recoiled from its pungent odor. He swore and moved to cork the bottle, but stopped and tried to focus.

It was the strong smell of wine, yes, but there was something else. Something he'd smelled before, the scent of something very bitter. Then it hit him.

"Absinthe," he said and smiled to himself. "That makes some sense."

"Absinthe?" came Kairi's voice. He turned to face her and was about to report what he'd found, but she spoke first. "Absinthe in his wine, and a body in his backyard. What's next?"

"A what?"

"You heard me." He followed her out into the backyard and saw nothing. She led him into a patch of brush and he saw the decaying, but unmarred body of a young woman.

"Your best theory," Sora asked, "was that an assassin dug up his wife's body, spiked his wine with absinthe, used his wife to make the man commit suicide out of fear, cut him in half, and nailed him to a wall?"

"Yes," Kairi confirmed.

"How much are you paid?"

"Shut up."

While she still had her gun loaded and pointed at Sora, she was starting to feel a bit ridiculous for suspecting him. He may be a hired killer, but the idea that he would do something so elaborately cruel was laughable.

"Well, for what it's worth, it wasn't me," Sora assured her. "And something tells me that if we find my client, then we'll find your killer." Should I tell her about Sephiroth? No, I can't. It'll just be the old "one-armed man did it" trick.

"Give me one good reason to believe you."

They looked hard at each other and tried to figure out all possible angles. Both were difficult opponents, and Sora knew that he was at an incredible disadvantage here.

"I don't have one," Sora confessed. "So what can I do to make you trust me?"

Kairi thought. What can I do? Should I do anything? Technically, if he can help us find the killer, he'd be pardoned…but that's assuming he really isn't guilty.

Why is it, thought Sora, that I see no way out of this?

Sora opened the door quickly and tossed his jacket at Cloud. "Get up. We've got work to do."

Cloud awoke from his restless sleep and peered sleepily at Sora. "What? Look, I can deal with the police, so don't-"

"Change of plans," Sora said, picking up the phone. "I'm not killing Kairi. We're calling the Syndicate."

"We're what?!" Cloud jumped up from the couch and practically ran over to Sora. "We can't just call them up and ask for help!"

"Told you, no killing Kairi," Sora drummed his fingers on his chest as the phone rang. "We're going to ask them who hired us."

Cloud gaped at him but found he couldn't say anything at first. He thought that if he gazed at Sora's face long enough, a smile would force its way into his friend's lips, and he'd reveal that the number he'd dialed was actually a pizza place. Seeing that this result was not forthcoming, Cloud forced himself to accept it. "And the Syndicate is just going to roll over and help us for free, are they?"

"Not for free, you know how they operate. Bonjour!" Sora said cheerily into the phone. He waited for a moment, and then there was a voice on the other end of the line.

"Who are the philosophers?" it asked.

"Lo li lu le la," Sora answered. There was another pause while the call was transferred again.

"Hiya, Hikari."

"Jack, good to talk to you. I need your help."

"Figured. Oh, I'm really sorry to hear about Larxene. But now that that's out of the way, what do you need?"

Sora was a bit annoyed at how Jack brushed off his own coworker's murder, but then remembered that Jack was the Syndicate's torturer, and thus, his attitude towards death was even more extreme than Sora's. "Listen, I need you to find out who it was that hired me to kill Kairi Yamato, the-"

"CIA woman, yes. We know all about that thanks to Larxene. The target's not dead yet."

Not bothering to ask how Jack knew this, Sora just agreed.

"Yes, yes, as it turns out," Jack continued, "the call from your client came from a reputable gentleman's club on the other side of the city, one by the name of 'Grain of Sand.' It was a private line, so it must have been someone in charge of the club."

"Thanks, Jack, you've been very helpful."

He moved to hang up, but stopped when he heard Jack's voice again. "Hikari?"

"Yeah, Jack?"

"Larxene, she was…a good friend. And, ah, Syndicate policy is to provide for any remaining loved ones, so if, I mean, if Kisaragi needs a place to stay or a job, or something…" he trailed off, and Sora could tell that Jack wasn't used to making offers like this.

"Thanks, Jack, but Cloud and I have already decided to take care of Yuffie. If she does wind up in need of a job, I'll be happy to recommend the Syndicate."

"Yeah. Okay. Good luck, Sora. Don't call here again. You only got let through because we figured it was an emergency, what with Larxene dying and all. If you really need to talk to us, go through the proper channels next time, okay?"

"Sure thing, Jack." Without giving a farewell, Sora hung up on the Syndicate worker before turning to Cloud. "Our client is someone involved with the Grain of Sand. I've never been there, but I've passed by a few times, You?"

"Yeah," Cloud said, and nodded. "I know one of the managers, but I haven't spoken to old Rose in a while. He might not even remember me."

"Good enough." Sora shrugged and yawned. "I really hope this works."

"He got away."

It wasn't a question, with an inflection at the end, but a dull statement, that came out of Roxas' mouth. Kairi resisted the urge to flinch. "He got out before I had the chance to arrest him."

"You let him get away. I'm guessing he left while you were sleeping, or else in the afterglow." Roxas was royally furious, and it was starting to show. For once, Kairi actually agreed with him. She had just let a known contract killer escape on a dubious basis.

"Listen, we'll go to his place early tomorrow and arrest him, it's not like we need a warrant, since we don't need to search."

"Yeah."

With that, Roxas left her, but not before she distinctly caught his left eye twitching in fury.