Starring:
Date: September 15, 2016
Summary:
Nariko calls Michiko and Amani to the morgue of the hospital to do an autopsy on the body of the murdered clan head.
"Murdered Heads and Clan Heads - What’s Hiding in the Body?"
Morgue – Unkei Hospital
Down in the darkest depths of the hospital, where not many people would go, is the morgue. It wasn't as light filled as the rest of the hospital, but it had just enough to make a person feel very uncomfortable and nervous. On a table in the middle of the room was a body that was covered with a cloth. It had been laying there waiting for Amani to have a look at it. Not many people worked down in the morgue so it was quiet enough for a needle to drop and the rest of the floor to hear it.
It is just before lunch and just long enough after breakfast that we find the Yotsuki known as Nariko coming down the stairs to this room. She had called Amani and Michiko the day after the body was found to have them help her discover who caused the clan head's death. She stood in front of two doors leading into the room with the body, waiting nervously and peeking into the room to check for signs of life. She had wished for the body to come alive and to not actually be dead, but well, that was not the case. She looked around outside, wringing her hands together, almost impatiently.
Michiko is a medic, of sorts. She classifies herself as a battlefield medic, really, as her skills are better-suited for the heat of combat rather than falling back. With the medic skills, she also happened to know a bit about poisons. A bit. The girl would just follow after Nariko, coming in a minute or so behind the Yotsuki. "Nariko-sensei," she greets in a rather light tone despite it being so dark and creepy down here. "I heard the news… So we get to investigate your clan head's death?" she would inquire, frowning just a bit as she eyed the door that led to all the dead bodies. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to find much or not, but being trained as a member of ANBU/KRD and happening to be a medic /did/ give her a sort of edge in this kind of thing. At least, one would hope for such.
Amani followed up after Michiko, checking around her to make sure the morgue was secured prior to proceeding. Once she arrived before them all, she looked inside of the double doors while greeting the both of them saying, "So, I finally get to see my 'gift'. I'm thrilled," she spoke with little of the emotion in her voice. "Now that we're all here, I suggest you all get dressed properly for the occasion so that we may open it," she snickered. "Are there any questions before we go in?"
Nariko would smile when Michiko arrived, still referring to her as sensei. "You don't have to call me that anymore you know? I'm no longer your sensei and believe you to be the teacher now." her look then turns solemn. "Yes, it is unfortunate. Hiei and I were called to his home in the middle of the night. We are asking for this to be kept as quiet as possible. We don't wish for the clan or other clans who are against us to find out we have become weak." She let out a sigh and then looked to Amani as she arrived. Sometimes that girl really weirded her out. "How bad will this smell?" She knew dead bodies could smell horrible and wanted to brace herself. She would dress in the appropriate garments before following Amani inside.
Michiko inclines her head to Amani in greeting, and she would shake her head in regards to any questions before slipping into the appropriate clothes/garments that were necessary for inspecting bodies. As she slipped them on, she would tell Nariko, "I know, but … You'll always be my sensei. Even if you aren't by any official capacity." She shrugs lightly, not bothered, apparently. Then she would listen to the comments on this 'mission'. "I won't say a word to those who have no business to know," she states simply as she follows the two.
"It won't smell bad, the body is still fresh. The morgue keeps the body as well preserved as possible, but some decay is inevitable. So, worry not! You'll be fine. There may be a few smells, but nothing that will make the world question you as it does me!" Amani chimed. "Let us proceed with this investigation! Whatever happens in this room stays in this room," she explained while putting on her garments. Once she was all secured, she'd open the doors to the room and move inside, ready to peel back the shroud from the body. "Please, close the doors behind you, though I understand that need not be spoken. Yet, a helpful reminder is always in order in these situations."
Nariko nods to Michiko. "Alright, then that is all I will say on the matter." She smiled and then looked to Amani. "I'll always question you." She moved to the opposite side of the table of Amani, looking down on the cloth, and then back up. She took a deep breath. "Alright, I'm ready." Of course one can only say they are ready and not actually be ready. She was grateful that her two close friends were there with her in case she fainted, and no one would tell on her.
Michiko would step forward and glance over at Amani. "If I may?" she requests before she would outstretch a hand to send a brief pulse of chakra through the body to perform a cursory inspection of the body's current state and the wounds that he/it suffered. Of course, that's all given that Amani let her inspect the body. And she didn't need to show it off to do this, either.
"Of course, you would," Amani snickered at Nariko. She said nothing to Michiko aside from offering a nod of the head at her request to examine the body with a chakra pulse. With both of them working on this together, there will be more eyes and energies to dedicate to picking up on things that one may not be able to discern on their own. "Prepare yourselves," she gave a final warning before pulling back the sheet and revealing the body of the former clan head.
Nariko looked from Michiko to Amani. "I don't mind." Even if it wasn't her place to let Michiko do her work, she said it anyway, forgetting this was Amani's place of business. She looked to Amani and braced herself. Once the cloth is removed from the body she would look from Michiko to Amani again. She didn't know what to say, it was still very surreal. "Geez.." She would softly say, even if she had seen the body previous to this, but it was in clothes and in a bed, not on a table getting ready to be cut open.
Michiko focuses a bit on the readings she gets from the body, tuning out Amani and Nariko for a brief moment before she steps away and allows for Amani to reveal the actual body. Then she looks to the two. "If it wasn't obvious already in the reports, this man was poisoned. We'll have to take some time to actually check what kind of poison was used, but I can say that whoever did this was being underhanded. Michiko takes a small breath and then sighs shortly after, glancing to Amani, then. "Is there anything you found? Or Nariko-sensei, since you were at the scene earlier than us?"
"If you need time to gather yourself, I can wait," Amani offered to Nariko. "We don't need to proceed too quickly. I'd much rather you be somewhat comfortable before we go ahead. Michiko's analysis is correct, on that note. It is poison and I imagine that it is nothing within the ordinary realm. I personally find tracing poisons difficult since those that use them also tend to acquire them from sources that make them specially. No one poison is the same, in most cases, even if they contain similar elements," she sighed. "But I do believe we will be successful in figuring this out. I can't rest until we are certain we have the culprit."
She stepped away from the body to acquire materials she'd already had set up in the room. "This is my first time seeing the body. So, I will be as new to this as you are."
Nariko looked to Michiko and nodded as she revealed the cause of death. Then she looked to Amani and all hope of finding the murderer quickly disappeared. "Great. So a loose end? I was hoping we could find it quickly." She let out a sigh and then tilted her head to the side. "But, what if we are able to determine the type of poison? While all of them are similar we can still find a similar kind right?" And then she gathered her materials. Nariko's first time seeing a body end up like this and she was having to taking charge. She looked to Michiko. "All that we found, well, what the aides found, was a kunai protruding from the neck, which I believe was collected with the amount of evidence we found. The office was a mess when we walked in." She saw a box on a counter with “Yotsuki" written on it and went to go open it up. She was relieved to have found what she needed. She pulled out a kunai in a bag and some papers. "His head was resting on these papers and this kunai is thought to have been in his neck." You know, cause of the blood that is on it, very similar to the paper. "So, we tried to make sure the KRD collected as much stuff as possible. Everything is here in this box." She walked back to the table and looked at the body. "It is unfortunate he was killed so young."
"I wouldn't say we are meeting a loose end. Poisons, in particular can be determined by who uses them. For example, it's possible the poison could have been acquired from the Land of Wind. They have experts in this stuff there, at least a few clans that I know of that make particular use of it and each have their own blends. This /is/ an example, however, but it could be used as a viable option in determining where it came from. Others that use poison can be found in the other nations also," Amani explains. "If his death was by poison, then the kunai was nothing more than a distraction. Why use a weapon if the poison was enough?" She questioned.
Moments into the work, a knock is heard at the door. Nariko would glance and yell, “Enter.” She looked at the girl who entered. “You are not to breathe a word of what you see here.” She looks serious as she tells the girl. The girl nods and hands a note to Michiko calling for her immediate attention at the Administration hall.
Nariko looks to Amani as she explains information about poisons. "So, are there clans within Kumogakure that could make such things?" She's pretty she knows there are, but she wanted a list. "If any of them reside here that might be the start of our search." She then thinks about the kunai. "Maybe they wanted to make people think that this was done by a true assassin? I mean, they probably also wanted it to look like a messy assassin." She shrugs and then looks to the body. "Do you need any tools?" She wanted to look inside this body to see if they could find out more.
"None that I know of, but that doesn't stop them from acquiring said poisons!" Amani chimed. "Perhaps they did. In that case, I may rethink how this took place. It's possible the elder didn't pass that quickly from the neck wound. It's very possible that he died a slow, agonizing death with a combination of poison in his system and intense pain shooting out of his neck in the form of sharpened metal," she described. "I could look further into the body to be more thorough, but I doubt I'll find anything of significance. It's poison and one terrible stab wound to the neck. It's your call."
Nariko looks to Amani and just stares. "Really? You're just going to tell me that?" She eyes her for a moment. "I didn't come in here to get told what I assumed. Let me get you your tools." She walked over to the box that contained all the evidence, pausing for a moment. "We need to know more about this and take care of it." She grabbed a tray of tools that were next to it and walked them over to Amani. She was careful, but still slammed them down. "We're going to find out more. We need to know the kind of poison that was used and how it affected him." She wasn't going to take this lazy work from Amani, she knew better.
"Ahaaa and now you're taking the first steps towards becoming an elder!" Amani snickered as she slowly lifted her hand and moved Nariko to the side to stand before her tools. "Now I will use these to examine further. Are you sure you wish to watch? Cutting open a body can be thrilling and exciting!" Such a mixed context. "And I'll make sure he's sewn back up nicely after I'm done, but you'd be surprised how much lies between the skin and the insides," she remarked with glee.
Nariko eyed Amani and shook her head. "You are such a.." She refrains from finishing that statement and lets out a sigh. As she's pushed out of the way, she moves to the other side and looks at the body. "As much as I don't wish to be here, I need to be here. I don't wish to find out hours from now." She shook her head at Amani. You are very strange." And that was true. And the reason for why Amani is the medic and she is the diplomat. She stood up straight and tried to not look as if she wanted to run out of the room, since this would be her first time seeing the inside of a body. "Let's get this started."
Amani retrieved all the tools, all of them ready and sterilized to be ready for opening a body. She started by cutting into the chest cavity and peeling back layers as she went along until it was all open for viewing some time later. "Alright! I have opened up the body and will now begin a search in order to ascertain what kind of poison it was. Nariko, if you could, you can still look at the body for any other signs. Discolorations in the eyes, maybe inside the mouth, potential ruptures of blood vessels, that sort of thing. Fingernail bed, anything that may look unusual on a healthy human being," she states. "From here on, I will be looking into the chest and surrounding areas and our combined efforts should produce a result of sorts."
Nariko holds her breath for a moment as Amani cuts into the body. A shiver runs down her spine as she watches the meticulous work of her friend and colleague. When asked to check the rest of the body still she blinks and breathes out. "You mean poison can affect all aspects of the body?" She learns something new every day. She moves to the head to open the eyelids and checks for the discoloration. Nothing. She checks the inside of the mouth and hmms. Then she moves to the hands. She raises them so she can look at them a bit easier. Her brow furrows. "Well, I think this would count." She says noticing the look of the fingers. They didn't look quite right in the fingernail. More yellow than anything.
"Excellent. We'll keep that on record," Amani stated as she continued her work. "I'll be taking samples of the tissue soon from different places. That way, we'll get an idea of what kind of damage we'll be working with." She backs away from the body with her gloves raised and ready to gather other tools. "But poison may not affect all aspects of the body. Sometimes, it's meant to target specific areas. Let us say a snake, for instance. They have venoms that do different things depending on the type of venom they contain. Some snakes have a venom that kills blood cells, causing them to clot and thicken, creating a blockage. That can quickly kill someone. Others have venoms that destroy tissue and others still have venoms that travel through the bloodstream and to different areas of the body, ultimately seeking out the heart. Or a combination of all the examples. Pick your poison," she shrugged. "Some toxins affect the mind and by extension the nervous system or control of your body. Nasty stuff."
Nariko sets the hand down and then moves to the feet. "Well, I suppose that makes sense. So I'm going to hope that this poison can be found easily." She pulls the blanket off the feet to keep some parts covered and others not so covered. As Amani describes how different poisons work with snakes she tilts her head. "Huh. I'm sort of hoping he didn't suffer." She lets out a sigh and examines the feet. "It looks the same down here as up in the hands. They're both a yellow nail bed." She looks to Amani. "I think it would be wise to collect some blood. Hopefully it'll narrow things down. Have you found anything yet?" She was getting impatient, but was trying to not seem impatient.
"Yellowing of fingers and toes could be an indication of a fungal infection," Amani hummed. "But I will keep my mind open to poisoning still. In the meantime, I am taking samples of tissue from different locations and will even take a blood sample if there is any good batch left to draw. Unfortunately, blood isn't the type of thing that likes to survive for long periods of time, but we've been keeping the body cold, so we may have a chance," she explained. "Once I have a blood sample, I think that will assist in narrowing our search down and with the tissue samples, I may even be able to determine the type of poison."
Nariko smiles. "Thanks Amani. You're the best." She gave the girl a thumbs up and then put the cover back over the feet. She returned back to the head of the body and let out a sigh. While she wasn't feeling naseuous or anything, she was really starting to feel dizzy and out of sorts. "I am hoping I can leave this in your hands to find the rest." She smiled and looked to Amani, holding her stomach. "I think I have handled as much as I can for now. Are you okay if I step out?"
"I am fine with you stepping out. It's alright with me. This wouldn't be the first time I've had to look into a body, although I don't see them very often," Amani muttered to herself. "But still, feel free to take a breather. I will stay here and ensure I have thoroughly looked over this body. We will determine the poison soon enough. It'll be a start in heading the right direction in breaking open this case."
Nariko nods to Amani. "Thank you. You have been very helpful. I'll just wait outside for you." She points to the doors and lets out a sigh. She makes her way to a sink to wash her hands and dry them off before exiting the room. As she moves to the side of the wall where the doors are she leans against it, sliding down. She lets out a sigh and leans her head back as she sits down, back against the wall. "I just hope we can find this person." She closed her eyes, seeming to be very tired and exhausted. She would wait outside until Amani finished her duty and provided a report, until then she would rest her eyes.
