[Mission] Circles in Circles in Circles.

[Nafan~]

As Hitomi entered the guard post at the town she had been sent to, the captain rose from his seat. "I've been expecting you. Please, sit. The three men are in the cells, you can question them whenever you want to, however you want to. The first is Hiroshi, the town's baker. He was seen at the scene of the first and second crimes, but not at the third, within ten minutes either side of the estimated time of death. The second man is Juhiro, he's some vagabond who wanders around, drinking and hiring whores, partying his life away. We found his wallet ripped open on the floor beside the second victim, and nobody can account for his whereabouts at the time of any of the murders. The third man is Shura. Shura is my nephew, which is why I couldn't investigate this case myself. He'd been missing for about a month before the time of the murders, but he called the guard to the scene of the third crime, covered in the woman's blood, naked. His mind seems to be damaged, changed from when he left. If there is anything else I can do to help, just tell me.".

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[MedeaMoirae]

Hitomi took the seat that was offered, crossing one knee over the other, and listened in silence as the Captain spoke. When he mentioned the last suspect was his own nephew, a part of her broke, remembering her own father and what had happened, yet on the outside, nothing changed. "Thank you, Captain, for the opportunity. I'd be happy to help." she felt as if she needed to say something more, though a part of her did not see the importance of it. When her father had left, and then when she had turned him in, the responses she had gotten had been so varied. She'd been called many things, some praise-worthy, others not worth repeating. Some had been quick to praise her loyalty to the village, some damned her disloyalty to family. She still had no idea where her own mother stood, no matter what was said it had always felt hollow. "Thank you also for trusting me with this, Sir. I know what it is, and how hard it is, when family becomes involved. I assure you, I will be as thorough as possible." she told him, hoping her words would reassure the man in some way, perhaps dull the feelings of guilt she knew would haunt him, no matter his rank or time as a ninja.

Hitomi took a moment to think through what her options were, and in the end, wanted to start at the beginning. "What information do we have about the crime scene? Photos maybe? A file? Is it still in tact and could I possibly see it before I speak to the suspects?"

[Nafan~]

"Yes, there are photographs, and yes, they are in a file. Here it is." the captain said as he flipped through the papers on his desk to hand her the file.

Upon opening the file, Hitomi would be confronted with a collection of horrifying images. The photographs would show three women, naked and beaten to death. Giant black bruises covered their bodies, one even had a purple face, a telltale sign of strangulation. However, all three women had sandy blonde hair, and were roughly the same height, age and build. One body was missing an arm and laying in a puddle of blood, the third victim which Shura had been found with.

The images of the crime scene itself were equally disturbing. The first crime scene had a broken window as the point of entry, while the second crime scene was a door taken off it's hinges. The third crime scene had no signs of forced entry. All three victims had been killed in the bed, naked, which shows why the whore-monger Juhiro was a suspect. The wallet of Juhiro beside the second victim had a rip on the right side. It was also empty of all but an identification card.

What information could Hitomi glean from these images?

[MedeaMoirae]

Hitomi looked through the file carefully, studying every photo as if it were a portrait hiding a little man in a striped shirt, not a horrific murder scene. Her mind wandered as she spoke. 'So there is a type involved, and one of them either knew her attacker, or never locked her door, likely the former. But why was the last the more brutal? Could the other two be some misguided attempt to hide the true purpose? Could the third be the real target? If so, it could be an attempt to frame another as well... Too many questions...'

In silence her mind continued to wander, and she finally looked at the Captain. "Could I hold onto these while I speak to the suspects?" she asked carefully, waiting for a response before adding, "Could I speak to Shura first?" she asked. This could be the most difficult of the interviews, to her, standing here before a member of Shura's family, knowing the silent pressure on her from this man. She would need more time to mull over Shura's responses to be sure she was impartial.

[Nafan~]

The chief guard simply nodded when she asked to see his nephew first. He had visibly stiffened when he had mentioned Shura as her first target, betraying his concern. "Be careful.. he is.. fragile.. of mind at the moment. Any slight provocation and you may break the man." He warned.

He walked over to the doors and used his master key to open the door. He walked through to the cells and escorted his nephew into the interviewing room and sat him down, before exiting the booth. "He's all yours."

[MedeaMoirae]

Hitomi nodded. "I will be as cautious with him as I can, Sir." she told him in as kind a tone as she could manage. As she stepped into the interview room she sat down across from the man, setting the file on her lap. She didn't want to risk accidentally showing him the pictures and maybe sending him into a fit or something. She needed to talk to him first.

"Hello, Shura." she said kindly. "I am Hitomi, you can call me Mai if you like. Do you know why you're here?" she asked both carefully and kindly. She hoped by introducing herself she could put him at ease, she knew it had always put her mother at ease, and her mother was no picture of sanity. Prone to fits of depression and rage, depending on the way the wind blew, Hitomi hoped the experiences of dealing with her mother would help her deal with this man.

[Nafan~]

Black hair sodden with sweat covered a gaunt face. Sunken eyes were lifted to meet hers, darting towards the shadows in the corners constantly. He fidgeted in his chair, tapping the arm which he was cuffed to rhythmically with his fingers. "H.. Hello.. I'm here because uncle asked me in.. because of the girl.. right?.... the girl.." His eyes seemed to lose all focus for a moment as he trailed off, but he quickly snapped back to reality.

The man would of been handsome were his clothes not almost falling off of him with all the holes and intense hunger having emaciated him. He looked easily thirty years older than he was, at nineteen.

[MedeaMoirae]

Mai nodded. After seeing him she knew even more that she would have to be very cautious with this man. He appeared to be cuffed to his chair, perhaps feeding him would be an option? The gratefulness the man might feel from such a thing could have a good end result, or a very bad one. She knocked at the door she had just entered through with a single knuckle, just trying to get someone's attention. Whether it was a guard or the Captain who answered, she would ask if they could acquire some food, or just tea.

She turned towards Shura while she waited. "Yes, the girl. Tell me about her?" she asked him gently.

[Nafan~]

The shaken man took a deep breath to calm himself some. Then he began to talk, although he still seemed just as jumpy. "I had come back to town... and I snuck into a house, but I can't remember why.. I hid.. and then the girl came in. She was a beautiful lady to be sure... I was in the cabinet, to the side of the bed, with the shiny handles. Then she started to take off her clothes... a man came in.. she started screaming and..." The mans voice had risen as he continued. His one, un-shackled hand reached up to his face and gripped his hair. The black, greasy mess was yanked down over his eyes as he shouted. "I jumped out and there was so much red! RED EVERYWHERE! ON ME, ON HER, ON THE MAN. IT WAS... EVERYWHERE...

[MedeaMoirae]

Mai wanted to jump up and stop the man, thinking he might hurt himself, however she knew the movement could startle him. She fell into silence, watching him, and listening. To her it sounded like he was a witness, not a killer, but who knew? The man he saw could've been himself, it wouldn't be the first time that someone mentally replaced themselves with someone else in their own memory of the event, especially since this man seemed rather insane.

"Shura." she said calmly after several moments of silence. "I know this is very difficult for you. What you saw must've been so very terrible, but can you tell me about the man? Can you describe him?" she was as calm as she could be, though in the back of her mind she thought back to her father, to the fight with him. She'd fought her own father and, though he hadn't died, she was no where near cracking up like Shura was. Was she stronger? Or was what he'd seen just that much more terrible than her own experiences?

[Nafan~]

Shura panted frantically in his own world of fear and desperation. "Red.. So much red... No clothes... hair was turned red.. nothing.. so much RED.." as he shouted the final word, Shura threw himself at the table and began to cry into his hands. He wailed and sobbed, wetting the table through his hands. It was clear he would be unable to answer questions for a while.

[MedeaMoirae]

Mai simply nodded, looking over at the man a moment. 'He can't give me any more information right now, but perhaps I can come back and talk to him later.' "Shura, I'm going to leave now. If it's alright with you, I'd like to come back and talk to you later."

She turned and knocked on the door, waiting for it to open. Once it did she would speak to the Captain again. "I would like to speak to the baker next."

[Nafan~]

The captain nodded and silently escorted the girl to the baker's room, with tears in his eyes. He opened the door to let her in and stood outside the door to wait for her to finish.

The baker looked up as she entered. He was a portly man, with balding brown hair. His blue eyes stared at her, and he spoke up angrily. "Finally come to let me out have you? 'bout time you realised I didn't kill nobody."

[MedeaMoirae]

Mai raised an eyebrow in response to the man. 'So he's a gruff and burly sort then? Of course, and to think, I must've expected him to be rather sweet and cuddly.' She pursed her lips and crossed her arms, looking at the man. "Let you out? I was just thinking maybe you were the one who did it after all, judging by your eagerness to get out of here, you must be hiding something." She couldn't hold back her own sarcasm, it just came on all too naturally.

Mai sat in a chair and eyed the man for a moment, her look like a woman judging a man for every past crime committed against women. "I am Kyuusho Hitomi. And I'm here to ask you some questions. Now, if you would lose the attitude, and simply tell me your association with the victim?" She did her best to bring her tone back to civility, after all, if the man had a temper the last thing she wanted to do was piss him off, she might never get answers from him if that happened.

[Nafan~]

"I have a right to be angry about being accused of something I have not done. I'm one of two bakers in this whole town, and I'm the only one that offers delivery. I was delivering bread to those girls, not bashing 'em. Why would I want to get rid of paying customers? This is ridiculous." He retorted. He was not going to back down to her. This interrogation was more than likely going to be a battle of wills.

[MedeaMoirae]

Mai nodded, thinking a moment before she spoke again. "Can you tell me what you do know then?" she asked in a kinder voice. "I understand you're pissed, and your treatment is likely unjustified. I'm afraid people just get caught up when tragedies and horrors such as these occur." she explained with a sigh, looking at him with, instead of anger, what could be described as understanding, even a silent plea. "I'm sure you can understand we really just want to find out who DID kill them then. That's why I was brought in. I'm a separate party, I had nothing to do with the arrests. My job is just to solve the final pieces of the puzzle. Can you tell me what you do know of the girls? What habits did you observe when they purchased your goods? Maybe anyone following them?"

Truth was she hated playing nice, but sometimes it had benefits. If this man was telling the truth and he was no suspect, then he may've witnessed something they needed to know about. If he was lying and he was the killer, no matter how much she screamed at him it wasn't going to work. Perhaps taking on a more sympathetic tone would help.

[Nafan~]

The baker sighed, clearly exasperated. His facial expression remained dark as he replied. "Both of them were going through hard times. They'd order bred less frequently and with less of it. They only ordered it to be delivered at all because they were working all the time. I think one of them had three jobs, and if you don't mind me saying, not all of them were exactly 'appropriate'. But that's all I know, I'm just their baker for gods sake."

[MedeaMoirae]

Mai listened cautiously, her expression never changing, and emotions never coming to the surface. "You'd be surprised how much more someone like you could know compared to someone they were friends with. We hide our true selves from the people we want close, and we tend to care less what someone thinks of us if we think we'll either never see them again, or never need to know."

She sighed and thought a moment. "Define what you mean by appropriate? I understand you're just their baker, but I need to know everything you know. Any slightest change, even in the type of bread they ordered, could indicate a change that could help me break this case."

[MedeaMoirae]

((OOC: Sorry to double post and all, but as much as I'm loving this mission I'm about to inactivate this character so it need to be marked as failed.))

[Nafan~]

Oh that's cool.