I'm glad you guys like the story! But, I'm running out of time so I can't get your names sorry! Anyways, thank you so much for reviewing (you know who you are!) and enjoy!

Nagato spent the next few days pretending to have gone into a spiraling depression, randomly bursting into tears when in the presence of police officers. When they were gone, however, it was Deidara who would cry.

The officers asked questions, some to Nagato, some to Deidara. Both of them lied through their teeth heavily, but skillfully, a skill Deidara was not proud of. The police investigation was going nowhere and the Missing Persons department was getting restless. They had other cases to handle, and with no clues or leads of any kind, they were stuck with one of the strangest cases they'd seen in years: A woman who had disappeared off the face of the earth without leaving a single clue.

It was on Thursday that the police told Nagato that they were beginning to consider dropping the case. Every day that passed, the chances of finding her alive grew smaller and smaller, like an ice cube in water. They'd been looking for her for almost a week, they told a tearful Nagato, too many days had gone by and, for all they knew, she could be dead.

Deidara, who'd been threatened by Nagato to follow along with the story, listened and said nothing. He looked up at the uniformed men, not understanding what they were saying. His head hurt too badly, consequence of not having slept more than fifteen minutes each night since Saturday. Purplish, bruise-like bags hung under the little blonde's eyes and his skin was ashen, giving him the look of someone who had neither home nor food. Nobody seemed to notice, however. Just like nobody seemed to notice the burns on Deidara's fingers that he had received from the stove. He had to eat, and Seiryu had never had the chance to teach him how to cook. Instead, pain taught him how.

"Is there a chance she may have...forgive me...um, run off with someone?" said the tallest of the officers, a dark-haired man in his early forties. He had chocolate brown eyes and a matching mustache that made him look serious but somehow depressed.

Nagato feigned surprise and offense. "Excuse me? My Seiryu, running off with someone? I won't hear of it! Spare me your idiotic comments. My wife was not a cheater...I know she wasn't. We loved each other like no two people have loved before and we were very close..."

"I apologize but I had to ask..." the officer said, looking uncomfortable.

"I s'ppose you're right..." Nagato replied, avoiding the officer's gaze.

"I just had to ask. We called Amegakure Hospital and Akira down there was good enough to talk to us. He reckons coroners don't usually, er...go on 'business trips' as your wife had told you. She worked alright on Friday but never showed up on Saturday. We also talked to your neighbors but they were fairly uncooperative-"

"We don't get along with our neighbors much and in this neighborhood, we tend to keep to ourselves," Nagato cut in.

"I see," said the officer. "Well, we'll call you if anything comes up; we have our best men on the job. See you, sir. Take care of yourself, and your son."

They shook hands and the other officers nodded grimly before leaving the house, the door making a sharp snap as they closed the door behind them.

"Take me with you!" Deidara meant to say, but the words never escaped his lips.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The following Friday, Nagato received the already-known news: Seiryu had been found dead. The next day, two officers were at their door.

"Hello," said an officer. He was not the same one as before. He was average height with brown hair that looked as if it had the texture of dental floss. He had solemn green eyes that were fixed in a piercing gaze. His mouth was a thin line above a wide chin.

He was followed by another, taller, officer with a crew cut that made it seem as though his head was covered in black fuzz. His eyes were a murky brown and a scar running across his upper lip.

"You'd better come in," Nagato said. "I just put my son to bed. Do you gentlemen want anything to drink?"

He stepped aside for the officers and closed the door.

"No thank you, we're fine," said the officer with the scar. "I'm Officer Inouye and this is Officer Kokubo."

They stepped into the living room and sat on the old couches. Nagato sat on the couch facing the two officers, who stared back at him.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Deidara was in the process of eavesdropping at the landing of the stairs. He had always had excellent eyesight and could see perfectly well what was going on below.

"Are you entirely sure your son is sleeping?" said Officer Kokubo, pulling out a file folder from the suitcase he was carrying.

Nagato nodded. "Positive."

"Alright then," Officer Kokubo continued. "I'm afraid we're the ones who have to fill you in on the details of your wife's death."

"There is absolutely no doubt it was murder. We found your wife down by a river a few miles north from here. Her body...her body was dumped there approximately a week ago, according to forensic evidence. She was bloated and there were early signs of putrefaction. We found her in a black trash bag. No prints were found. Her purse was with her, somebody took all of her money-"

"D-Did she suffer?" Nagato cut in, fake tears running down his face.

Inouye paused. "She...She was shot in the stomach....According to the autopsy report, the bullet severed her abdominal aorta. She lived less than a minute after being shot. According to the report, she may have died sometime between eight a.m and nine a.m. Saturday morning."

Nagato gave a great howl, covering his face with his hands. "Oh God...I was hoping she hadn't suffered...Do you have any idea who did it...or why?"

This time, it was Kokubo who spoke. "From what you tell us, along with our other sources, there is no rational motive that we can think of. We have no leads as to who did it. What we do know, however, is that whoever did it will most likely be charged with first-degree murder. I do not believe this was a random incident. I think she was followed, and whoever did this planned it for quite some time. There's no doubt about it- someone knew who she was, where she was, and probably knew her previously."

"We have photos of the crime scene..." said Inouye tentatively, taking the folder from Officer Kokubo.

"I'd like to see them..." Nagato said, much to the officers' surprise.

Four eight-by-ten photographs were placed on the coffee table separating Nagato from the officers. From above, Deidara could see the pictures clearly, and he nearly wet himself.

In the first was a picture of Seiryu's body, lying naked at the riverbank, the black plastic bag in which she had been found was lying torn beside her, under her purse. She lay spread-eagle on the ground, her hair spread out around her face, on the ground, some of it now wet because of the river. Her body was covered in blood, her head facing to one side. Her legs were spread wide apart and blood had dried on her legs. Her body was bloated, her skin had taken on a yellowish, waxy complexion. Her closed eyes seemed sunken and her lips were gray. The tips of her fingers were beginning to turn purplish, as were her toes. She was surrounded by pebbles and grass, the beauty of the background contrasted heavily with the macabre scene in front of it.

Nagato gasped and cried harder.

The second picture was a close up on the gun-shot wound on Seiryu's stomach. Dry blood was caked around the bullet hole. A could of her lower intestine was visible, a horrible gray, bulging through the hole.

Deidara could suddenly feel his dinner coming back up. He covered his mouth with his hands and fought the feeling of nausea down, crying silently. He dropped to his knees, hugging the railing.

Up came the third picture and Deidara could see a second close up to his mother's gun-shot. A small plastic ruler had been placed next to the wound to measure how wide it was. Deidara could not see the numbers on the ruler, nor did he want to.

"The medical examiner tells us whoever shot her probably used a thirty-two," said Inouye said quietly. "We looked for the weapon but couldn't find one. We're still searching for it."

The fourth picture was a picture of Seiryu lying on the ground, but from another angle. In this shot, one could clearly see the blood that had dried on her stomach and legs.

"Oh God..." Nagato muttered, pushing the pictures away, holding his head in his arms. "Please tell me that's all..."

Kokubo looked hesitant. "There's also the matter that she was raped. After she died, I mean. Then, something sharp, a knife maybe was forced up-"

Deidara covered his ears and ran silently back to his room. He didn't want to hear anymore.

Deidara felt nothing. The photos had hit him with the hard truth: Seiryu was dead. She was really dead. The photos proved it, they proved it! She was never coming back. It was as if his interior process was held in suspended animation, the pause button on life had been pushed. How was it possible? How was it possible that Seiryu was gone? Now, Deidara realized with a horrible jolt, that he could hardly remember his mother's face. Her image was a slow-healing scar. Still there, but fading- only a few things stood out: Her warm smile, her delicate voice, and her sweet-smelling perfume that brought Deidara a sense of comfort. Oddly enough, it seemed that life just went on. It was only eight p.m. Everyone else went on with their lives, probably out eating dinner with their families right now, or sitting at home, watching movies. The would be wrapped up in blankets, keeping out the cold September breeze. The ten o'clock news might mention Seiryu, but only for a good two days, and then everybody would forget. She was just another homicide victim.

But she was also his mother.

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That's just downright depressing. Even so, I felt it was a good chapter. R&R please? Arigato. Ja ne!