Signs of Murder [Plot Mission] [Group]

Kenji knew it was only a matter of time before he had to be one of the shinobi to try and crack the case of the killings, although he had hoped he would be the only one to be there. Alas it was simply not meant to be and instead he'd be working with yet another person and between the pool of people he knew, he was actually praying it would just be Hikari. He wasn't sure if he could take another instance of friendly fire from his own team mates again.

As Kenji approached the murder scene, he readjusted his simple black short sleeved jacket and let out a yawn while his right hand was digging into his plain black pants for his paper used to seal Lingchi. He doubted he'd need his puppet but the bruise in the middle of the man's chest was proof that he shouldn't exactly hope all of his fellow shinobi were friendly in their greetings. Knowing he was at least prepared for a sudden skill challenge again, Kenji moved his right hand to retrieve his candy stick and place it within his mouth as he entered the crime scene.

The stench of iron was strong as he walked into the room and he saw the body of a middle aged man stretched out in the middle of the room, a red "A" painted on his body and a few dotted out throughout the room. It seemed this one managed to put up some sort of fight though as to the right was a knocked over plant and it seemed the trail of blood started right here, at the man's own door. Hurm. On Kenji's left was a kid who seemed to be standing there patiently, waiting for something. Wait.

"Are you my partner for this...?" Kenji asked a bit confused on why a child was here, the teenagers he could get but why did they decide to send a child who barely looked like he could be hitting 12 to help him solve a murder case? Especially one that alluded the special forces and jounin and chunin and basically everyone above Kenji's own pay grade, let alone this child's pay grade.

"Right..." Kenji simply uttered as he looked down at the pale child who stood nearly a foot shorter than himself. It made some sense to pair a child with someone older like himself but what confused him more was to put a child on a murder case like this. Eh, it wasn't his job to question things. Well, question things such as why a child is here anyways.

"Well, guess we should get started." Kenji swiftly changed the topic as he approached the stretched out body, kneeling down besides the body of man who seemed to have his throat slashed. "Hurm. Seems his throat was slashed somewhere near the door way." Kenji noted as he looked back to the door where the blood started. "And if I had to guess, he stumbled forward, knocking the plant over before he fell and bled out here since there doesn't seem to be any other wounds..." Kenji explained as he looked at the middle aged man's body.

He seemed to have been a bit out of shape, sporting a round belly and equally big arms, although underneath the man's painted A was a faint scar right across his chest, it seemed to have been quite old and was large for a wound to his chest, reaching from the man's sternum to his shoulder in one clean slice. "Say kid, you know anything about this guy?" Kenji asked his child companion, curious if he had any clue who this man was.

Kenji listened in as the kid told him about the man, a private doctor and loan shark huh? Can't say he expected that combo, but then again a man doesn't get a scar like that just being a regular old doctor. Although the kid's own theory and possible motive was a bit surprising to the older shinobi as his eyebrow rose up and he looked a the kid. "You haven't quite heard about the murders before this, have you?" Kenji asked a bit curious as he took his candy stick from his mouth.

"Pretty much every other week a body is found, granted I don't know the details of how exactly they died but their bodies are found stretched out like this and of course these red "A"s are painted on both the body and a few times on the walls." Kenji explained to the kid as he gestured toward the A on both the man's chest and around the walls of the room. "So I somehow doubt this was a revenge move, unless all of the other victims were loan sharks that crossed the same guy, in which case I'm both impressed and scared of the idiot who took multiple deals with multiple loan sharks." Kenji joked about the impossible motive for the murder, with so much murders he doubted all of them were related to loan sharks. Still, as he admitted, he didn't exactly bother with the other cases, he was just here to gather clues.

"Although I gotta ask, what makes you think there was more than one attacker? Doesn't really take a lot of people to slice someone's throat from behind." Kenji decided to question the one statement the kid made on his own that didn't really seem to have basis on the reasoning.  After asking the question, Kenji rose to his feet and placed his candy stick back in his mouth as he walked to the doorway and stood right where the man would've been standing from Kenji's own theory, looking out into the room before him.

It was a simple bedroom, the bed laid in front of him, a window to was laying right above the bed and to Kenji's right was the same potted plant still knocked over and to his left was the empty spot where he first saw Kaguya. Hurm. It took Kenji a bit to see him however, maybe that's where the killer waited before attacking him? But it would be risky if the man checked the corner even by accident with his peripheral vision and unlike Kenji, the doctor had both eyes. Still, Kenji's right eye was the eye missing, so if anything Kenji should've had a better chance of spotting anyone on his left.

"Say, think the guy was just standing where you were standing when I first came in? I didn't even see you were there at first." Kenji asked the kid after letting him give his reasoning on why he thought there was more than one killer. If the killer was standing there, perhaps that's why no one reported anyone suspicious looking around the house at all, can't exactly see them if they're already inside after all. Then again, it would be equally easy to just break into a house under the cover of night and the body wasn't exactly fresh so the killer could've just left at night or got in at night.

"Hurm. The group idea could be something worth checking into, they clearly are leaving some sort of mark with an A. Could be their symbol." Kenji commented as he rubbed his chin slightly and thought about the meaning behind the A. Always the same deal, why place it more than once and why on both the man and walls? What could the A mean was the biggest problem people got stumped on and Kenji couldn't really see a reason for it. If they left an "X" it could make some sense but why specifically A?

Regardless, Kenji asked his question and it seemed the kid was agreeing with him about the killer potentially hiding in the corner. "Well at least we know this killing was done from inside... Only question is how did they get in before the guy?" Kenji would ask as he moved to the only window, looking out onto other houses along the cliff with no clear sign of the window being forced opened. Then again... Kenji moved the window ever so slightly and to his surprise the window opened without any resistance. "Hurm. Window is unlocked... But could've been left unlocked when the killer left." Kenji commented as begun to examine the window a bit closer.

"What's your gut telling you kid? Entrance? Exit? Both? Or just a red herring?" Kenji asked as he kept looking around the window, trying to find some sort of hint of anyone either entering or exiting through the window. It could've also been possible the killer simply picked the lock of the front door and locked it on his way out of course but an unlocked window was something worth at least noting.

"Start of something more huh?" Kenji questioned as he thought about it, wondering just what exactly was going to be coming and considering the length of time the murders have been ongoing, he was a bit worried about what could be happening that would require such time. Not to mention they were going as far as to taunt it beforehand if that was true.... These were troubling thoughts to Kenji as he simply stroked his chin in thought while still looking out at the nearby houses.

The kid outlined the case and so far that seemed to be all they could gather and it didn't really provide them with anymore clues on who or what could be pulling this off or why. They knew how it happened, or at least a good clue of what happened, but they didn't have a why just yet, nothing but aimless theories. The kid however stopped himself and apologized, explaining he'd rather not be around blood and Kenji only rose an eyebrow at the kid as he bid the older shinobi farewell. "Right... See ya kid." Kenji simply muttered as the kid left him at the crime scene a bit abruptly.

Strange, kid didn't seem to mind the blood until now... Wonder why he waited so long to leave? Then again, the elders probably wouldn't be happy if the kid simply came here and stood around for 5 minutes before bailing and at least it seemed Kenji and him had hit a wall for now. Maybe he'll look into this on his own time further... Maybe even invite the kid again.

Wait a second. Who the hell was the kid? Did the kid seriously forget to introduce himself? Wait. Did Kenji forget to introduce himself as well? "Fuck." Kenji muttered in disbelief, wondering how he could've let that slip. Oh well, maybe they'll be assigned to a mission once again, properly introduce each other. For now, golden flower tea was sounding pretty good.