The Dead do not Suffer the Living to Pass. V.3

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Ami had been away from the Hyuuga compounds for longer than she had wanted to admit. The young girl had traveled to the Sun village for weeks on end doing collaborative missions with their shinobi, traveled to a place called Baulder and also another mission with Gen in Debon. She had begun to miss her home, although not so much the people living in it. The green haired kunoichi would receive a message from the village gate guards when she arrived in Gekkousato, an urgent letter from one of her clan leaders. It detailed that there had been a killing, a murder on clan compound grounds. That was absurd! The girl's step quickened as she tore through the streets, hastening to the compounds. Who had been killed? How? When? All of these questions were swarming her mind as she turned the corner off the main street and headed to her home. It surprised her greatly that someone had somehow managed to kill a member of her clan ON clan grounds. They had to have the greatest of nerve or had to have been extremely calculating.

It was true that Ami was not the only one who had decided to take a little leave from the Hyuuga mansion. Her father had been out dealing with village related issues by the order of their Kage, possibly to deal with a capture of some sort of a missing ninja. The elders were simply figureheads of the clan, so they were never really in the compounds any way. This left all the other people, the servants, butlers, cooks, and attendants vulnerable. Although she had a good grasp of everyone who lived on grounds, she was sure that there were other members of her clan she had never crossed paths before, hoping that her first meeting with them would not be her last. She reached the gates and stopped, immediately recognizing the figure that was standing rather awkwardly at the entrance. It was her teammate, Karite. Wow, even her teammate had received word of the murder before her! Ami would clear her throat a little before walking up to the woman, a little embarrassed that she was as clueless as Karite was about the situation.

"So they sent you here too, Karite?"

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Ami nodded her head as Karite mentioned that there had been a murder in the Akumu compounds as well. It seemed that the murders, if it was the same as the other murders she had found around the village, had gone from highly skilled professionals to attacking people from prestige compounds. That was very unsettling to her, especially since the only connection she had had to the dead bodies had now all but disappeared. The young girl heaved a small sigh and was about to reply to her when she noticed a familiar figure walking towards them. Ami was actually very surprised to see Arashi, especially in the moon village. "Arashi!" she would give him a very warm smile. She had gone on a mission with him not too long ago and had wondered when she would see him again.

"I just got back from the Sun village myself and got word of the murder when I walked through the gates." she would turn her attention back to Karite, answering her question. It didn't sit well with her that a murder had happened on her compounds and she was literally the last person to know about it. Even someone from another village had known about it before her...Ami would look at where they were standing now, feeling something amiss. One of the attendants would see her and bow respectfully. Waving a hand to her, she would walk towards the woman. The girl hated being bowed at, or any kind of unnecessary formalities that people seemed to enjoy giving. "What happened? Actually...come over here and tell us what you know. Don't be afraid, they are my friends." she would say softly, her eyes glancing over at them.

The woman would follow Ami obediently to where the others were standing. The look on her face was still unmasked with surprise and hurt at what had happened. After taking a deep breath, she would begin, her eyes casting to the floor as she spoke. "One of our people were killed..." her eyes would well with tears. "Nanami, you remember her, Ami-dono..." How Ami hated the honorific. But she was too absorbed by shock. One of her youngest attendants, the daughter of another attendant at her compounds had been murdered. Nanami...the Hyuuga would formulate the mental image of a girl with wavy brown hair and emerald eyes. She couldn't have been more than fifteen years old. The two of them shared many fond memories and she had treated Nanami like her own sister even though their ranks were different. To hear that she had died greatly shocked and saddened Ami. "Where's her body...take us there..." her voice shook as she tried to maintain composure.

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The three of them would follow the attendant to where the body was located. The girl had been brutally murdered, the giant A painted on her body was more than enough to tell the story. Nanami would make Ami's body count for this specific case rise to seven. It was chilling and frustrating to know that the murderer was still out there and still actively killing people. The girl knelt down beside the body, examining the many stab wounds. The blood loss would tell her that the murderer or murderers had taken their sweet time to draw out every attack so that the girl would suffer. Why would someone or some people want her to suffer this way?

"Who could have done this...?" Ami looked around her. There had to be some clues left behind. She would turn to the attendant and question her about Nanami's whereabouts the day before as she guessed that the girl was probably killed some time between yesterday night and this morning, from the way the blood had dried. The woman would tell her that there was nothing special, except that there was a time of about two hours when the entire house would have gone outdoors to do some shopping for the compound. Nanami had complained of being unwell and had stayed behind in her room.