Shadows of doubt

[HotelBravo]

“You’re…” The man faltered. Hanako of Hanamura was in Pebble Country. In her hand was paper. Hanako didn’t have much of a reputation in any country, so it was that when she had spent all of her money in the festival she had looked for a means to obtain some more. That is why she had picked up a request from a job board and met a man in a rather disreputable part of town. The man looked shocked. It was her age no doubt. The girl was young. Too young to be in this line of work, but he looked at his own handwriting reflected on the paper before him, and weighed getting justice versus sending a little girl to do the dirty work. Hanako watched him with impassive eyes as he ultimately made his choice.

“Alright. You’re a Shinobi right?” Hanako nodded in response, not even responding with her voice. The paper had laid out that one was to contact him at a specific place and time and that he would explain the nature of the request, but the ryo was listed up front, and that was the part that Hanako was interested in. She waited for the man as he ordered a bottle of sake and poured some for himself and sipped on the sake bowl before he began. “It was murder. The samurai…Well they looked at the scene but they said they couldn’t figure it out.” The man spat on the floor. “I want you to find her killer. My wife. She was murdered two nights ago in our home. The place is still sealed off and guarded by samurai so only a shinobi would have the skill set to infiltrate it.”

”Write the address.” Hanako flipped the paper so that its blank backside was facing up, and set down a pen as well. She waited while the directions were written before she took the paper and sealed it in a storage seal. ”When I find the killer what do you want me to do?”

“Kill them.”

Hanako nodded. She turned to leave and the man returned to his drink, feeling guilt for the 14 year old girl he had just hired. Hanako followed his instructions and arrived at his home. It was a boarded up. She would need to make her way carefully without being seen or heard. She stayed out of their line of sight and shifted her weight with care to insure that no sound could be heard from her steps as she made her way to the roof. She moved to the side and slipped her small frame between a pair of boards and into the window.

445 words

[HotelBravo]

The building was small, had Tatami mats for its flooring. Hanako didn’t want to leave any foot prints on the floor, nor did she want to take off her sandals for fear of leaving a trace of evidence, so instead she walked along the wall and ceiling while she examined the place. She had entered through the Daidokoro, or kitchen area. A pot of rice had boiled to the point of burning, and the room smelled like burned rice. Hanako suspected that one of the samurai investigating the scene initially had turned off the stove here. The victim had been cooking that much as plain. Hanako moved through the building as she searched for the location of the murder. After a brief tour of the house she found her way to the Ofuro. It was a stereo typical bathing room, with a small shower area and stool for washing and the Ofuro proper, a large bath tub that was now covered with blood. So this was the place that the murder occurred. Hanako hummed quietly to herself as she examined the trail of blood and the splatter pattern. She had seen enough killing in her time to get some level of familiarity with the process.

She scanned over the area, seeing bloody fingerprints on the Ofuro where the victim had collapsed. They had been stabbed in the back with a knife. Based on the pattern it was a wide blade - wider than a kunai. Most likely a kitchen knife. While this provided some information as to the “who” and the “what”, there were still many pieces still missing. Hanako memorized the pattern of the finger print for later use and began to inspect the other objects. Why were there two people in the Ofuro? Why did one of them kill the other? Hanako moved to check the windows and the doors for signs of forced entry. Outside of her own entry into the building she couldnt’ find any tampering. If they did come into the building they may have used the same method - or perhaps they had simply just walked in through the front door? The front door was fine, and wasn't kicked in either. It was very possible that someone had simply walked in and done this - this meant that the most likely suspect at the current time was her own customer - the very man who had tasked her with unveiling the truth.

There wasn’t enough to even accuse him of the murder for now. He had no motive. She needed to look around more. She moved over to the bedroom and began to look things over. The futons had been drawn out, and there were two of them - meaning that two people had been getting ready to sleep here before or immediately after the murder. Hanako climbed down the side of the wall and began to rummage through a writing desk that had been pushed against the wall. She looked through the various letters here - the bills and receipts that had been kept by the couple

508 Words
[445+508 = 953]
953/750 = +1 Endurance