Crossing Fates : Special Story 4 - The Dragon Throws A Party (BakuDeku)

21 - The Bloody Hands

Toshinori searched his gaze then turned to study Izuku's anxious figure. His gaze fell to his twisted hands.

"Okay," the president said simply, reaching out to accept the scotch. "I believe we can have a civilized discourse. Now, what's this about?"

Here goes, Katsuki thought.

He met Izuku's gaze as he said, "In the last hour and a half, one of your humans murdered the vice president's husband, and they tried to make it look like a Nyr did it."

Toshinori's eyes narrowed, and his frame stiffened. "Murdered- Hugo is DEAD?"

"Very dead," Katsuki told him bluntly. He swallowed scotch. "His body is in a hall closet. The killer used some kind of glove with either razor blades or knives attached to the end of the fingers and thumb. My staff is looking for the murder weapon now. The motion used was an inward, slashing one, as if the killer went to grab Kuni's throat one-handed, only instead of strangling him, he closed his fingers and yanked. The carotid arteries on both sides of Kuni's throat were cut. He bled out within ninety seconds, tops."

Outside the library, someone called out.

Katsuki could hear the vice president's voice in the distance, asking, "Have you seen Hugo?"

Katsuki tuned her out.

Toshinori remained standing where he was, his tall, distinguished figure vibrating with reaction, expression blazing with shock and outrage. "Hugo is dead, and you're claiming that a human did it?!"

"It's a fact, Toshinori," Katsuki said. "I can prove it."

Turning, Katsuki walked to the desk, set aside his scotch and began to unwrap the large piece of meat on the tray. When he had opened the package, he discovered it was a leg of lamb, nicely covered with a thin layer of white fat.

Excellent. The fat would show every mark.

Izuku moved to sit with a plop at one end of the sofa. Both he and Toshinori watched Katsuki, their expressions filled with fascination and repugnance.

"The killer was cunning," Katsuki told them. "He put a great deal of planning into the murder. He dodged security cameras and made a murder weapon that would simulate a Nyr's capabilities. But he was fucking stupid too. The murder weapon didn't simulate a Nyr's talons. Nyr handgrips are stronger than humans. Maybe he was concerned his human grip wouldn't be able to strike a killing blow. If I were him, I would have wanted to make sure I could cut the carotid arteries, so I would have been focused on making sure my blades were very sharp. That's what he did. Watch closely now- these are what my talons look like."

As Toshinori and Izuku stared, he held out one hand and made the slight shift that brought out his talons. Splaying his fingers, he held them up for the others to see.

Toshinori said, "I've never seen that in person."

"Most people haven't," Katsuki told him.

The president looked at Izuku. "Do you have talons like that too?"

Izuku shook his head with a smile that looked strained. "Only predator Nyr have talons like that. I'm a herbivore. I don't have the nature or the personality for it."

"You're perfectly safe, Toshinori," Katsuki told the president. "You can step closer, if you like. Do you see how the talons are shaped?"

Fascination overtook the president's shock and outrage, and he took a few steps toward Katsuki as he murmured. "They're curved and angled to a point, from the fingertips to the tip."

"Exactly. They're extremely sharp, but they're also natural. They're made of a hard protein called keratin- which means they aren't exactly uniform either, not like a manufactured blade is. Watch what happens when I make a wound like the ones that killed Hugo."