[Daigo]

    Daigo finding himself in the presence of the Nue was far from a rarity, even more so these days as he was more dedicated than ever to learning and perfecting his craft. Before there was a mission to be had, he was already aware to a degree that someone in the village was helping themselves to bits and pieces within the mortuary that clearly the Nue themselves were far from fond of. He would certainly have been a hypocrite to make an issue personally of pieces here and there from bodies going missing given his own personal experiments, but more often than not that came in the form of blood, not entire organs, and not in such obvious ways. The sloppiness of it annoyed him almost as much as the act itself, because such things tended to draw attention where he most certainly didn't want it drawn.

    When the mission was posted, he had seen it almost immediately, being busy going through other missions for the Diplomatic Corps, and before even a single other person was able to see it he made a point of taking it for himself. With a scroll in hand he went straight to the Nue he was familiar with and told him he had taken the mission personally, but was looking for one of their own to help him. With a scroll in one hand and a name in the other, he went searching for one Masahiko, finding them in surprisingly quick time, and clearing his throat loudly as he approached, holding the mission scroll out to them as his physical introduction.

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything, but you're being volunteered to help me with something. Or you could say I volunteered to help you with something. Regardless, take a look at this, please."

[nue masahiko]

Nakajima Daigo was someone that existed in Masahiko’s periphery for most of his memory—or perhaps it was more accurate to say that Masahiko had existed in Daigo’s orbit, circling around him in quiet admiration since he was a young boy. Pristine, precise, smooth of both word and action; it didn’t take a genius to look at the two men side-by-side and understand how Masahiko had picked up the habits he now wore like a second skin. He was older and less starstruck by the Lady’s bodyguard now, but it still gave him a quiet thrill to be spoken to so casually, a flickering torch still firmly held for a childhood hero. "Voluntold,” Masahiko said, ever-quick with the snark but utterly lacking in malice. He was in the greenhouses, tending to the plants that supplied his poisons, monitoring their growth rates and idly considering the viability of cross-breeding. With deft movements he pulled off the protective gloves he’d been wearing—it was one thing to be elbow-deep in a corpse, and quite another to endure the sight of dirt under one’s fingernails—and disposed of them, then took the scroll in hand. He read it, then he read it again. "How… crass,” he said. His head tilted to the side, mulling over the whys and hows, the angle of approach that would be most effective. "How do you want to tackle this? Do we know if there’s a pattern to the thefts, any preference for victim or specific time frame in which they occur?”

Daigo -- 256

LAIKA OF THQ

[Daigo]

"Right on both accounts."

    Nodding both to the fact he wasn't given much of a choice, even if it was partially presented to him as such by Daigo at least, and it was in fact crass. It wasn't necessarily hard to understand why someone had done this, but they were either forced or paid incredibly handsomely.  Given the bodies taken from and where they were, it would no doubt limit those that had access in the first place, unless they were dealing with a top level moron who was lucky enough to have access, but stupid enough to leave obvious evidence of the crime.

"Think the easiest place to start would be finding out who would have access to the mortuary if possible. given the time periods it took place, it should help to narrow things down. Unfortunately that could prove equally frustrating depending on how large that list ends up."

    With what info he knew, he looked up trying to lay it out in his mind to review, as a few different facial expressions washed over his face.

"As far as I'm aware it took place over the span of a few weeks, but most of the cases involving bodies that would have had to be harvested around the same time given the time between when they were accessible and then found tampered with. My assumption is the first was a test to see if anyone would notice or openly draw attention to the crime, then multiples with opportunity, and finally the last in a hurry as they were likely getting paranoid or were almost caught in the act."

    Pulling out a few folded up pieces of paper, he handed them over to Masahiko. On it was a not terribly comprehensive list, but covered enough information to draw a pattern to a degree.

"If I had to guess, this wasn't someone that was well trained as the initial organs taken were equally those you could and couldn't transplant into someone, and would gain very little information from through any experimentation. Why would someone take the eyes from a body without a doujutsu for example, but only from the first body. That leads me to believe again the first instance was a test run of sorts. In the second instance and time frame, near all the exact same organs were harvested from those bodies. During the last noted case, it had the least organs taken from only a single body with far more sloppy scalpel work, and what you might consider the most desired organs left in alone for those easier to remove."
    

[nue masahiko]

Masahiko nodded along quietly as Daigo laid out what they needed to know, what they knew, and what they theorized. The first robbery had been a test run to discover if the perpetrator would be suspected or caught; the second was more organized and the perpetrator was targeting specific organs from multiple cadavers; the final was sloppy and rushed, with little gained from the act. "As if they had to leave prematurely to evade detection,” Masahiko murmured thoughtfully. He took the papers offered, reading through the provided list carefully and thoroughly. "I agree, this would have to be someone without proper medical training,” he said. He rolled up the scroll, refolded the papers, gave both back to Daigo. "Narrow the list of those who have access to the mortuary during that time frame down to exclusively the support staff, and from there find out if any of those individuals are in dire financial straits. The only kind of person attempting to sell organs unfit for transplant on the black market is the kind of person who’s desperate and uninformed.” A beat; he suddenly grew self-conscious, as if being made aware too late how confidently he was speaking and to whom. "I believe. The access list may lead to a different theory, of course.” He glanced around; raised a hand to call over one of the genin who was on greenhouse duty, quickly and quietly relayed instruction for what information he needed and which plants still needed tending. Then his attention returned to Daigo. "To the hospital, then?”

Daigo -- 257

LAIKA OF THQ

[Daigo]

"Exactly."

    It sounded as if they were on the same page, which made things far easier going forward. Taking everything he was handed back, he slid them into various pockets out of sight and adjusted his clothes.

"It might come off more smooth if you were to speak to whoever is at the front desk, given clan affiliation. Assuming who I think is working there today is there."

    Waiting for a moment  as Masahiko was finishing up and passing things off, he just kept running over the information in his head one last time, already having a list of theories in his mind. His momentary concentration was broken as his mission partner spoke up once more, and he returned his question with a nod. Making a simple motion with his head, he started walking away towards the hospital, a fairly determined look glued onto his face.
    
"So clearly we are looking to retrieve the body parts, but there is a realistic chance that could prove difficult if not impossible. Assuming they aren't still being stored, they could already be in new host bodies, or in unrecoverable pieces."

    Looking back over his shoulder for a moment, he turned back forward.

"I would suggest we keep our focus strictly on finding the missing organs. If a capture is necessary, please leave that to me. Desperate people do desperate things when cornered."

[nue masahiko]

Masahiko’s sudden self-consciousness was dispersed by Daigo’s affirmation of his theory—they were on the same page, a fact that was much more flattering for Masahiko than Daigo. If he could keep pace with an elite jounin for this mission, especially one he admired so ardently, then that would bode well for his future endeavors… he hoped. "Understood,” he said, though he paused, his brow furrowing ever-so-slightly. "If I may ask, who do you expect to be working today?” Masahiko was familiar with a lot of the hospital staff, but he hardly had the schedule memorized, and his own duties there were scattered and spontaneous, often only being called when needed. He followed in Daigo’s wake once his business was settled, the pair making their way towards the hospital. "If they’re in new host bodies, that’s a separate issue altogether,” Masahiko said. The curse of empathy that Mei had laid upon him made his gut churn uncomfortably at the thought; even as he told himself to focus on the task at hand, he couldn’t help but consider those souls who had received shoddy fourth-rate organ transplants, and the potentially irreversible damage that had been done to them. Some measure of his pride rankled when Daigo insisted that the capture of the offender be left to him, should such a thing arise, but Masahiko was obedient if nothing else, and so he nodded in agreement. "If I may, I could merge with you in such a scenario,” Masahiko offered. "I can do it quickly if need be, and provide support in that regard.” When they reached the hospital, Masahiko took point in approaching the front desk as they agreed, curious to see the person that Daigo hoped would be staffing it today.

Daigo -- 290

LAIKA OF THQ

[Daigo]

    A simple question that he didn't have a simple answer to, and it wasn't like he could just make up a name and hope for the best as it would be seen right through most likely. Giving a bit of a sigh, he lowered his shoulders before standing back up straight.

"Don't laugh, but I honestly don't remember her name. She's always busy so I usually just wave and walk by. Never actually got her name after all this time."

    Grumbling to himself as they were walking, he rubbed the entirety of his face with his palm before running his fingers through his hair. Waving his hand dismissively he tried to play it off a bit.

"We'll deal with it when we get there I guess."

    There wasn't much said from him on the way there, as his mind traveled to multiple differing thoughts, before he handed his notepad back to Masahiko.

"Hold onto this. I've got most of it memorized."

    Walking inside the hospital he shivered a bit as it was always just a few degrees colder in here, and given they didn't exactly live in the most warm region it was bordering on uncomfortable. It did make sense to some extent, but while his body ran warm, meaning he wasn't as susceptible to the cold, those changes in temperature were also more noticeable. By the time they got to the front desk he used all the willpower in his body not to do some equivalent of a sigh of relief and an audible cheer at avoiding the awkward situation he was worried about. The woman he had seen many times at the front desk wasn't there, replaced by someone he had seen no more than a handful of times; a member of the Nue clan that couldn't have been more than a few years younger than Masahiko.

    Trying to subtly motion towards the desk, he looked back at his mission partner.