Confessions of a serial killer
folder
Naruto › General
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
6
Views:
1,899
Reviews:
6
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Naruto › General
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
6
Views:
1,899
Reviews:
6
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
Naruto and all its characters belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I make absolutely no profit, and write purely out of enjoyment. I do not own Naruto, or it's characters; it's purely fan fiction.
Chapter 1
The drive to Sakura’s home was about twenty-five minutes give or take, she lived deep in the city, where new condominiums were being built one after the other. It wasn’t her first choice, she had plans on leaving but the job offer was too good to pass up and so she didn’t…which resulted in her getting almost raped/almost killed less than three years into her job – that wasn’t reassuring. The radio played softly, the fresh air felt nice on her skin; fall air always felt fresh no matter what the weather.
Being a woman in this field was difficult, the administrative part was the easiest job next to the receptionist…why couldn’t she just have an easy job…she restrained from biting her lip – feeling it already begin to pulsate after removing the ice-pack, he really hit her hard… ‘’This is you, isn’t it?’’
Kakashi’s soft voice caught her off guard and she slumped in the passenger seat. ‘’Yeah,’’ The tall glass building went on for miles, one of the tallest new buildings in the area. ‘’This is me…’’ She didn’t look at him as she removed her seat belt and grabbed her keys. As she spoke her lip split which caused her to start bleeding again, she felt the blood dribble slightly on her chin – Kakashi noticed, but she was already half way out of his vehicle.
‘’Listen Sakura, if you-‘’
‘’I know, I’ll be in when I’m feeling better,’’ She replied, back to him as she slammed the door – grasping her keys so tightly they started making indents in her fingertips.
‘’Yeah, we got her home…’’ Kakashi sat with his phone to his ear as he watched her walk into the building, his eyes straight ahead as he pulled out onto the main road. ‘’What’s the damage with the gun shots? Is he alive?’’
‘’I wouldn’t say technically, the machines are keeping him alive – they want to examine his body, see if they can find anything’’ Shikamaru spoke on the other line, keeping his tone calm. ‘’We talked to the officers, apparently they didn’t fucking realize what time it was, bunch of braindead idiots…’’He exhaled, definitely smoking, he was never not smoking. ‘’Keep an eye on her eh, she’s probably freaking out,’’
Kakashi nodded, hanging up the phone – he would most definitely be by to check on her. The sun was setting as he headed back to the office.
Heel’s clicking, Sakura dropped her bag and coat on her kitchen counter, and removed her shoes – unbuttoning her shirt; she felt pain on her chest, and sides, and back; the adrenaline must have been wearing off – sooner than she’d like, the pain was overwhelming. The impact of her hitting the hard floor was enough to break a bone, but luckily she just came out bruised and bloody. Touching her side, she winced as she approached the bathroom, a shower would do her good – and if she didn’t wash away the blood on her face, Ino would most definitely know something happened – last thing she needed, bride to be to be worried over nothing.
The taps felt cold as she turned them toward the hot water, loud noises heard from inside the buildings pump system beneath the walls, she pulled down her skirt, removed her undergarments and let the hot water sting her skin – it felt nice, but being a bit of a masochistic it didn’t bother her as much as it would someone else. Closing her eyes she pictured him on top of her, she felt sick – bending over, grasping her knees; she stared at the tiles below her; watching the blood from her lip circle the drain. A loud knock echoed through her one bedroom, it was obviously Ino – was it already 8, damn. She was late, the knock came again, louder, followed by her lock being turned – Ino was the only one with her second set of keys, just in case Sakura forgot her own.
‘’Hey! Sakura, you home?’’ A familiar voice echoed down into her bedroom, into the bathroom as she stepped out of the shower, she cringed – a sharp pain went up her spine, grabbing a towel she covered herself, being careful to cover the bruises; the bruise on her lip was obvious, but she knew how to cover it up. ‘’Yeah! Just got out of the shower,’’
‘’Jesus! You could have called if you were going to be late you know!’’ Ino’s voice bounced off the hollow walls, Sakura could hear her digging around in her kitchen for a coffee mug, bad habit; coffee was terrible, to her anyway. She managed to cover her lip just enough that Ino wouldn’t notice; though the pain was still very much there. Running a hand through her hair, she grabbed a brush and threw it up into a messy bun before returning to her room, Ino was there with a mug in her hand, legs crossed in sweats. ‘’why are you showering before the gym…’’
‘’I had a long day, I needed to.’’ Lying was one thing she wasn’t bad at, she pulled a pair of sweats on and a baggy t-shirt, making sure everything was covered. ‘’We’re going to the gym? I thought we were just being lazy, grabbing breakfast or a bowl of ramen,’’ The pain in her back wasn’t ignorable; she wanted to scream, but she didn’t. Ino sighed, sipping her hot cup of coffee. ‘’Well, Sai won’t be meeting us there for another hour…’’ Her eyes wandered, she caught sight of a bruise on Sakura’s collar bone. ‘’Jesus, what is that?’’
Panic. ‘’What’s what?’’ She stared, Ino stood up and pointed. ‘’Your collar bone is bruised…’’
Sakura swallowed, wide-eyed – why did all of it have to happen today of all days, why not tomorrow, the blonde’s serious expression melted into a sly-smile. ‘’You’re totally having rough sex with Kakashi, aren’t you? I KNEW IT!’’ She giggled frantically. ‘’I don’t blame you, he’s got a nice ass, most def.’’
The panic she felt reseeded as she sat down on the coach, curling her legs in. ‘’No Ino, I’m not screwing my boss…’’
‘’and why the hell not! It’s about time you got laid, how long has it been! I mean seriously!’’
Sakura ignored her horny best friend; poor thing wasn’t getting laid because Sai wanted to wait until after they were married, classy guy…but she just found him weird. ‘’Anyway, when are we going for noodles,’’
‘’Well we can go now; Sai’s bringing his cop friends!’’
‘’Cop friends?’’ She arched a brow.
The bright light from Ino’s phone lit up her face. ‘’Well, one of them is a cop, least I think so,’’
‘’I would know them if they’re cops.’’
Ino shrugged, pushing herself up. ‘’Maybe you do! Who cares! Maybe you can totally hook up with them!’’ She smiled.
The idea of getting dressed and going out with a bunch of strangers was not appealing to Sakura, especially after what happened earlier, she changed into a pair of jeans and a comfortable t-shirt, her phone rang. It was Kakashi, must be checking in. ‘’Hey,’’
‘’Hey, feeling better?’’
She rubbed the back of her neck. ‘’Is he still alive? because I’d really like to sue him or something…’’ She trailed off, humor was a thing…it usually worked but Kakashi wasn’t laughing.
‘’Listen, Shikamaru said he found something at one of the other crime scenes, something that leads us to believe what you said could be true,’’
Sakura closed her door; this was private information not even Ino could hear, or even know about. ‘’About him not being alone?’’
‘’Yeah, listen, I won’t keep you, but I’d just thought I’d give you the heads up’’
Click.
Shivers travelled down Sakura’s back; there was more than one, more than him…but how many… The thought made her stomach ache and lip pulsate – she grabbed her jacket and headed out the door with Ino.
--
Photos of the most recent crime scene were laid out flat on a glass marble top, photos of the killings, and photos of the other crime scenes with unidentified bodies. ‘’Hidan failed his mission, he was caught in section A at the old abandoned farm house, we can’t confirm if he’s alive or not sir.’’
‘’It wasn’t Hidan’s mission, it was yours. You failed; you left him with the mess. Hidan always cleaned his messes, you framed him like I told you to do – we needed a dog, I used him. Now find out if he’s dead, and then kindly fuck off.’’
‘’with pleasure sir,’’ The silver hair male bowed slightly, glasses shimmering from the light of the large office, two body guards stood side by side outside of the door as Kabuto left Orochimaru’s office. But Orochimaru wasn’t the one he was afraid, it was who Orochimaru worked for that would pull his intestines out through his nose and feed them back through his mouth; keeping him alive in the process.
‘’So what will we do about Hidan sir,’’ A female’s voice echoed, bouncing off the hollow walls of his office. ‘’I mean, we’d been using him for five years, they know something is up –‘’
‘’and how do you have such Intel on Hidan, Karin? Do you have someone working on the inside that I’m unaware of, because if you’re keeping things from me –‘’ He slammed his pen down, cracking the marble glass table. ‘’I’ll be sure to make you his replacement.’’
She swallowed, she did have someone on the inside, but that wasn’t her decision. ‘’I do apologize sir but that was not my decision,’’
‘’Alright,’’ He picked up the pen, flipping it over his longer slender fingers – his long uncut finger nails looked like they could rip right through you, his rings clinking together. ‘’Who is it?’’
‘’who is w-who sir?’’
‘’the inside man.’’
Karin could feel the sweat start to pool on her forehead, she’d always working with Orochimaru, but since this new guy came into the photo – even he seemed as if he was always scared, she didn’t move. ‘’Suigetsu, he’s posing as cop within the office…he tells me that they’re keeping Hidan alive on machines…’’
Orochimaru’s fingers curled around the pen before thrusting it into Karin’s side, piercing whatever organ got in its way. The motion was so quick she didn’t feel the pain until she felt him remove the pen seconds after stabbing her. ‘’Next time you go behind my back,’’ He sat back down, dropping the pen into the garbage. ‘’I’ll feed you to my dogs, you’re excused Karin…and please, don’t bleed all over my floor on the way out.’’
--
‘’Mm, this smells so good’’ Ino inhaled the mixture of spices and meat in her ramen bowl, her mouth started to water the moment she saw the food coming.
The ramen hut was surprisingly busy, nothing closed at night in this town – it was busy constantly, not that anyone was complaining. A lot of people got off late and liked to enjoy a real meal instead of just fast-food. The smell of the noodles was delicious, but Sakura couldn’t help but feel nauseous the entire time she sat there, pretending she was perfectly fine – what Kakashi had told her really caught her off guard, so much for relaxation – no way was she doing that, she couldn’t – she wanted to know who else could be doing such cruel and horrible deeds, and for what? She didn’t understand it, even as a psychiatrist.
‘’Are you not enjoying your meal, Sakura?’’
Sai’s sudden question caught her off guard, she almost dropped the cup of tea she had placed against her lips – the sensation of the hot temperature calmed her a bit. Sai was odd…even for Ino’s standards, but Ino liked hot guys, and Sakura couldn’t deny that the guy was good looking – she placed her cup down and forced a smile at him. ‘’I’m fine, I’m just taking it slow, I like to enjoy my food, slow….’’ That sounded even dumber aloud than it did in her head, she swallowed – why on earth did she feel nervous, no need to around these two. ‘’Anyway! You two must be excited! Your wedding is next month’’
‘’Oh yes!!’’ Ino set down her chop sticks; she would never shut up on the topic of her marvelous wedding plans. ‘’I’ve arranged everything! Now it’s just a waiting game.’’ She smiled, rather largely – Sakura nodded, wide-eyed as two men approached the table. ‘’Oh, you two made it.’’ Sai stood up, being polite.
Sakura didn’t recognize either of the tall men who approached – Ino mentioned one of them being a cop but maybe she was mistaken. Where she worked, and in this town, she knew every single officer on the team, including the undercovers. One was tall with white hair with a very serious expression on his face, while the other looked a little bit goofy… she stared, and they caught on. ‘’I remember you,’’ The white hair man sat down and ran a hand through those thick locks. ‘’I wanted to apologize personally to you Sakura,’’
How did he know her name…she stared. ‘’Um, I’m sorry,’’ she blinked, doe-eyed. ‘’Have we met?’’
He looked a bit taken back and laughed, lightly, as if he was nervous. ‘’Well, not technically, I’m new…’’ He rubbed the back of his neck. ‘’But, I was the officer on duty…while um...’’
‘’-Oh’’ She clued in, he was the officer who left his post – she looked away; ‘’That’s okay,’’ She lied, it was not okay in the slightest. ‘’We all make mistakes.’’
‘’what’s Suigetsu talking about?’’ Sai looked at her, and looked back at his friend. ‘’Did something happen?’’
‘’nothing, nothing happened,’’ She stood up, leaving her untouched noodles. ‘’I have to go, I got a call from my boss earlier – he wants me in the office tonight,’’ Another lie, Ino bought it, but Sai didn’t – Sai could read people way too easily. ‘’Excuse me gentlemen,’’ She forced a smile, forcing it a bit too much, her lip split and it started bleeding through the make-up she used to conceal it.
‘Damnit.’
‘’Sakura, your lip!’’ Ino grabbed her by the arm. ‘’Come on now you’re being weird, let’s get you to the washroom,’’ She smiled, and Sakura didn’t hesitate, it would be weird if she just ran out…
‘’Jesus, what happened to your lip?’’ Ino dapped it lightly with a wet piece of paper towel. ‘’It looks like someone hit you,’’ She paused. ‘’DID someone hit you!?’’
‘’No Ino, no one hit me, I hit it myself,’’ She shrugged, slumping her shoulders as Ino applied some medicine to it. ‘’Clumsy me…’’
‘’Well you need to be more careful, no guy wants lazy gal!’’
‘’you clueless bastard,’’ Sai smacked Suigetsu in the head. ‘’You’re gonna get yourself fucking killed if you’re not more cautious in there.’’
‘’I had to piss man! I couldn’t help it!’’
‘’Well next time, you better fucking hold it – he’s gonna have my fucking head because of you, Hidan’s out, we have to find a fucking replacement,’’
‘’what about that guy? He’s kind of new though….’’ He pointed toward his friend. ‘’I mean he’s pretty clueless, we could pay him well-‘’
‘’you don’t make that fucking decision you moron.’’
Another smack before the two of them sat down – now Sai had to get his hands dirty, the clueless knucklehead brought them over beer, poor sucker – he may be killed before the night was out.
‘’I’m just saying Sakura; no man wants a woman with bruised lips! Or chapped for that matter.’’ Ino sat back in her seat next to Sai, and smiled; he smiled back – she had no idea, and neither did Sakura.
Close to three hours passed in the busy ramen hut, people coming and going as the night went on – it wasn’t unusual, really. Normally when Ino dragged Sakura into this place it was crawling with hungry business men, and women. The conversation was far from a serious one, Sakura unconsciously kept touching her lip, as if to check if it was bleeding at random times from the heat of her food, the ramen was absolutely delicious but her mind was elsewhere – she couldn’t concrete on the taste of her food. The atmosphere was nice, but Sakura felt tension; the way Sai continued to stare at her, at her lip – she knew he could read people, but he wouldn’t stop staring, The pain in her back was really starting to get to her, but the slow intake of alcohol was masking it.
Ino hiccupped obnoxiously; she was known to have bad hiccups when drinking pure vodka martinis. Sakura knew that later she would most definitely have to help Sai get her into the cab, that girl knew how to party, and she never wanted to go home no matter how intoxicated she managed to get herself but it was Sai’s wallet she was draining, never her own. ‘’I think you’ve had enough,’’ Sai muttered, his arm around Ino as she nuzzled her face into his armpit – Sakura laughed, she wasn’t nearly as intoxicated.
‘’Just give her more to eat,’’ She explained, picking at her bruschetta. ‘’Here Ino, have some bread,’’ She handed her some, and she ate – but Sakura was stuck with a sober Sai and this idiot cop named Suigetsu that nearly got her killed. ‘’So,’’ She looked at the white haired male who was on his fifth beer. ‘’You’re new huh?’’
Sai looked at Suigetsu, as if he was telling him not to fuck anything up more than he already had, but Sakura didn’t notice the way Sai was acting – she didn’t pay any attention as he spoke.
‘’Well! Honestly, this whole job is new…I mean I just finished my schooling – ‘’ He smiled, but stopped soon after. He knew he couldn’t give too much detail to her, or Sai would have him killed too – he was capable of murder without even a second thought. ‘’So you’re just really new at your job, we all make mistakes.’’ She hinted to earlier and took a sip of her drink. ‘’Excuse me guys, ‘’ She smiled and headed for the washroom.
The door chimed and in walked three men, dressed semi-casual, least one of them was. The first male who walked in was tall, with broad shoulders – a very serious look on his face. Those dark eyes stared, looking around the establishment – the second male was dressed down, just in jeans and a simple tee; his blonde hair messily hanging in his blue eyes, a big grin on his face. As for the third, he was dressed semi-casual as well, resembling the first male who entered. ‘’Man! It smells good!!’’
‘’Shut up Naruto, let’s get a seat…’’ Sasuke muttered, watching his older brother approach the table where Sai, Ino and Suigetsu were seated.
‘’Ah Itachi!’’ Sai stood up instantly, leaving Ino semi-unconscious beside him. ‘’excuse my fiancé’…she’s had a little too much to drink,’’ His voice was in low tones – Sakura still hadn’t returned from the washroom, but it gave him little time. ‘’Do you have what I need?’’
Itachi Uchiha pulled out a small envelope and handed it to Sai. ‘’Tell your boss I’m not interested, and to leave my family out of It.’’
‘’But Itachi, he is your family…’’
‘’Not to me he isn’t.’’ He paused, watching Sakura approaching their table, which meant to leave. ‘’Enjoy your noodles, Sai.’’ He unbuttoned the front of his jacket, making brief eye-contact with the pinkette before departing to his own table where Sasuke and Naruto were currently picking out their food.
‘’who was that?’’ She asked her curiosity and cautiousness chiming in – after what happened in her office, she was more paranoid than ever, especially after what Kakashi had said. ‘’Anyone I know?’’ She smiled, trying to ease the tension now that Ino had passed out. It wasn’t as if she and Sai didn’t have anything in common, they both enjoyed the arts, amongst other thing but it was very rare that they’d sit down and have an actual conversation without Ino being involved.
‘’Just a friend of a friend,’’ He lied, but Sakura couldn’t really tell that he was lying – normally with her profession she would catch it instantly… but with him, she just couldn’t read him; a closed book. ‘’We could invite him and his friends back to the table if you’d like, Ino and I have gone out with them a few times before,’’ Another lie, they’d never gone out on a date, or just a casual hangout. It was strictly business, The Uchiha name was known by the biggest of criminals; though, Madara Uchiha, and Obito Uchiha were the worst kind of criminals. Itachi Uchiha had been dealing with his family name since he was eighteen, he didn’t want his younger brother involved so he decided to get out – though, it wasn’t as simple as he was hoping it would be.
‘’Right…’’ Sakura finished her last drink and looked at the clock, it was 11:30, and Ino was not waking up. ‘’I better get her home, you can stay here Sai…I don’t mind cabbing it home with Ino.’’ She smiled. ‘’Besides, I’m sure you and Suigetsu want to enjoy more drinks,’’
Sai shook his head, leaving money on the table. ‘’No need, I’ll take her.’’ He half-smiled, just enough to seem friendly; was it just her, or was he acting really weird…she bit her lip, forgetting about the bruise just momentarily before making it bleed once again. ‘’I should get going, let me know if you guys make it home safely, okay Sai? Er, nice seeing you Suigetsu…’’ She grabbed her purse, paid her bill and headed home – she needed to call Kakashi ASAP.
Sai smiled, but it didn’t seem friendly – then again, his smiles were never friendly, not since him and Ino started dating a year prior, but she loved him and Sakura never doubted Ino’s taste in men, Sai managed to sweep her off her feet, unlike Sakura…she wasn’t really into dating, sure sex was good, but what twenty-four year old wasn’t into that. She felt sick to her stomach, her lip was bleeding again – but she really needed to call Kakashi, he was her only security, least that’s how she felt – he was the head of the police force, private investigator…you name it, he basically did everything. It was impressive, not that she would admit that to him. ‘’Your lip is still bleeding, you may want to get that looked at,’’ Suigetsu said, smiling slightly – tension was there, it never left since Suigetsu arrived, and his goofy friend who seemed oblivious to everything around. But she felt tension and it made her stomach churn.
‘’Um yeah,’’ She pressed her fingers to her lip so the blood wouldn’t drip. ‘’I’m going to go to the ladies room first, thank you for noodles, Sai, Suigetsu,’’ She bowed politely and walked in the direction of the washroom, feeling a bit light headed as she rounded the corner – bumping straight into Naruto, the blonde who came in with Itachi – though, she wouldn’t know that.
‘’Oh my god, I’m so sorry!’’ She bowed a second time in apology, rubbing her forehead after colliding with his. ‘’I’m all over the place,’’ She felt that lump begin to surface again, but she swallowed it back – hoping it would just go away like before, no way would she cry in a public place…especially in front of Sai and his stupid cop-friend who lacked the effort to protect her.
‘’No, it’s my fault,’’ The tall, blonde man smiled, and he was laughing? Sakura stared momentarily, she felt warm and relaxed suddenly – like he was light from the sun, or something. ‘’I’m clumsy,’’ His grin stretched, and she couldn’t help but smile. ‘’Hey…’’ He leaned forward. ‘’Your lip is bleeding! I didn’t do that did I?!’’ He waved his arms, putting his hands up into a defensive mode. ‘’I didn’t mean to! I swear!’’
Sakura blinked…he was acting as if she was going to hit him – and she couldn’t help but laugh which caused him to stare, this time becoming absolutely enamored with her. ‘’Ne…you have a really cute laugh ya’know…’’ He leaned forward, almost backing her up against the wall – his arm rested on the wall above her head as she came to the realization of what he was doing. ‘’Err…’’ She stared up, him being quite taller than her and she turned red, only slightly before shaking her head and dipping underneath his arm and excusing herself into the ladies room.
‘’What was that all about dobe?’’ Sasuke asked, witnessing the entire thing from the booth. ‘’You shouldn’t bother people while they’re eating.’’ He ate a few bites of sushi as Naruto sat down, big grin on his handsome face.
‘’You’re just jealous! She wasn’t eating, we bumped into each other, it’s fate.’’
‘’Fate?’’ Sasuke slightly smirked, and shook his head.
‘’You don’t believe in fate little brother?’’ Itachi asked, enjoying his green tea and noodles. Sasuke rolled his eyes, resting his chin on the palm of his hand as he inhaled more food – he didn’t answer him as the three enjoyed their meal, Sakura was panicking in the washroom. Her fingers shook as she dialed Kakashi’s number.
‘’Hey, everything alright Sakura,’’ It was around midnight by the time she finally got to her phone, she felt like breaking down – but she couldn’t, not in public. ‘’Would you mind picking me up,’’ Her hands weren’t the only thing that was shaking; she could barely keep it together. ‘’What’s going on,’’ Concern was clear in his tone as he grabbed his car keys.
‘’Something isn’t right, my friend passed out, and her boyfriend’s friend is that sketchy cop who left his post.’’ She spoke softly, almost a whisper – afraid someone was listening, but no one really was…it was mainly the shock from what had happened earlier in the day. ‘’I’ll be right there, stay around other people, okay?’’ Click.
After he hung up, Sakura felt the bile rise in her throat, she hurled herself into a stall, and leaned over the toilet within seconds of her throwing up all of her supper, including the bruschetta, what a total waste of money – she sat there for a few minutes, the saliva in her mouth heavy as she lingered there. Flushing the toilet, she stood and wiped her mouth before splashing her face with cold water – she looked pale, her lip looked and felt infected – but be from eating before it healed properly; she sighed, running a hand through her hair before digging through her purse – she applied a little bit of concealer under her eyes, and some around her swollen lip – unfortunately not having any medicine for her lip didn’t help, so she just substituted with some lip balm. The lighting in the washroom made her look washed out, and sick, but the lighting in the main room was the kind that gave her a fresh orange glow – as if she was tanning.
Kakashi’s voice was in the back of her mind, he would be at least twenty minutes, but luckily for her Sai was gone, including Suigetsu and his friend – she inhaled a breath of relief as she wandered out – but standing around would just be awkward…she looked around the room and spotted the blonde guy who hit on her earlier, she guessed it wouldn’t be too bad waiting around him, he was friendly enough…even if he did hit on her. Being confident, she approached the table…soon noticing the intimidating dark hair male sitting next to him, she stopped mid-step and stared; and he stared back. She didn’t move, just stared. ‘why is he staring…’ she thought, feeling paranoid – but the chimes above the door distracted her; it was Kakashi, he must have been closer than she thought, that or he was speeding the whole time.
‘’Hey, you alright,’’ He noticed how pale she was, and worry was obvious on his face. He looked around, searching for Suigetsu so he could yell at him some more but he was nowhere to be seen, Kakashi ran a hand through his hair, and paused on Itachi Uchiha – he knew him, he had a bit of a criminal record…but he also helped out the cops a few times too, he wondered what he was doing there before he noticed Naruto and Sasuke sitting with him. ‘’Come on Sakura, I’ll take you home…’’
The two of them starting exiting but not before Itachi interrupted. ‘’Mr. Hatake, uh, hey, been awhile…’’ He smiled, briefly. ‘’Nice to see you doing well,’’
‘’You too Itachi, how are things,’’
The entire situation felt awkward, Sakura stood beside Kakashi with her head hung low – she felt sick to her stomach and just wanted to crawl into her warm bed, but both Naruto and Sasuke were staring at her and it wasn’t helping. ‘’Hey! You again!’’ Naruto grinned like a fool which in turn got him hit by Sasuke. ‘’Leave her alone dobe, she clearly isn’t interested in you’’ Sasuke muttered, chewing his food – but he continued to stare at her, noting her bruised lip and the way her body language read – he instantly assumed Kakashi was beating her. Bad assumption on his part, ‘’Anyway, I must be going, it was nice seeing you.’’ He bowed politely, and hurried Sakura outside.
‘’Man, did you see her lip?’’ Sasuke looked at his brother. ‘’That man was beating her,’’
Itachi laughed. ‘’Don’t assume little brother, that was Kakashi Hatake, head of the police force…he was probably protecting her.’’
Once they reached Kakashi’s vehicle, she felt a lot more safe…least, as safe as she could. The seat belt felt heavy as she strapped herself in, slumping in her seat as Kakashi started the engine. ‘’So your best friend’s fiancé…he’s friends with Suigetsu?’’
‘’Supposedly,’’ Sakura stared out the window. ‘’If it’s okay with you sir, could you please just take me home…’’
‘’Of Course, Sakura, you just relax’’
A few days had past, and Sakura spent most of it in bed; like Kakashi told her to do – no way was she going out until her lip healed, and it did, not leaving any scars thank god, she didn’t want to live with the reminder of being attacked. He had given her a full week off of work, the night after he dropped her off Sakura slept for about 24 hours, not leaving her apartment once – not even to talk to a very hung over Ino, until today that was. The two of them met for breakfast, more or less brunch since either of them were morning people, Sakura’s lip healed nicely but she didn’t wear makeup usually to cover anything up – her hair was pulled back and the weather was warm. ‘’I’m so sorry I got so drunk,’’ She sipped her tea, looking at the small menu, the two of them sitting outside of the tiny café. ‘’you know how I am with alcohol,’’ She smiled, trying to figure out what she wanted, there was so much to choose from – biscuits, fruit trays, you name it; all healthy deliciousness. ‘’How late did you end up staying anyway,’’
The cold glass of lemonade felt refreshing on Sakura’s skin as she twirled her straw around the ice in her cup, her mind was elsewhere – she wanted to get some insight on this new cop Suigetsu, but she didn’t want to come off as suspicious to anyone. ‘’Yoo-hoo, earth to Sakura’’
‘’Oh, sorry Ino,’’ She half-smiled and took a sip of her drink before looking at the menu. ‘’Didn’t Sai tell you,’’
‘’Tell me what?’’
‘’Oh never mind,’’ She shrugged, not wanting to mention too much to her in case she decided to blab to Sai herself. ‘’So when are we shopping for cakes?’’ She changed the subject to Ino’s wedding, it always distracted her no matter what kind of a conversation they were having, she’d never seen someone so dedicated.
‘’Well!!! I picked out three different ones, but I’m not sure which one…I mean, there’s this pure chocolate raspberry tart, a vanilla one, and another…but I don’t recall the flavor!’’ She laughed as the waiter approached, Sakura knew who he was – it was the blonde from a week ago that tried feeling her up in the hall of the restaurant, but he made her feel all warm and fuzzy.
‘’Well well!’’ He was grinning, of course. ‘’what a small world!’’
Naruto was dressed in all black with an apron around his waist, he actually looked kind of cute in his work attire, and both girls couldn’t deny that. ‘’nice to see you again,’’
‘’um, you too,’’ Sakura half-smiled, getting funny looks from Ino.
Naruto sat down at the empty chair between the two of them before resting his head on the palm of his hand; his charm was actually working, even Ino was buying it. ‘’I never did catch your name,’’
‘’her name is Sakura!’’ Obnoxiously, Ino told him her name, which in turn Sakura wanted to knock her out – now he knew her name, oh god. ‘’Sakura? That’s beautiful ya know…I’m Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki!’’ That smile, did it ever go? – Anytime out of the small amount of time she had seen him and been around him, he was smiling…it was kind of creepy to her, but also…warm and fuzzy.
‘’Nice to meet you, technically,’’ Sakura sipped some of her drink, remembering the guy who was with him – that dark haired guy, did he work here too?
‘’So! Naruto! I’m Ino,’’ She held out her hand. ‘’How do you and my friend know one another’’
‘’We met at the ramen hut just last week, I didn’t really introduce myself properly last time’’
Ino arched a brow in Sakura’s direction, but she was standing. ‘’Excuse me, ladies room!’’ Before Ino could even say a word, she’d ran off inside of the café – leaving Naruto to ask more about her, and Ino was more than willing to share what she knew.
The café itself was cute, it was connected to a bar – which meant it usually got busy around 7:00pm when all the business men got off work for a drink, all the tables and chairs matched, it was a lounge-like setting, however the food was delicious and she could never say no to good food. It was dimly lit inside, her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness as she moved through, excusing herself to any bystanders. She didn’t actually need to use the wash room, she just wanted an excuse to escape the pervert….but even though he was charming, he still made her feel warm and fuzzy – which was a love/hate thus far. The ladies room was clean, with towels instead of paper to dry her hands if needed – she looked in the mirror, looking a lot better now that her lip was healed and the bruises had faded; she didn’t need the constant reminder on her face.
Moving to fix her hair, she managed to break the elastic holding her thick pink locks together, and she didn’t have another – so much for a lazy hair day…running her slender fingers through it, she tried her best to make it look decent…lucky there was a nice breeze, so it wasn’t exactly humid which meant it wouldn’t turn into a bad hair day – not what she needed. She stood in the wash room for a solid 10 minutes, she wasn’t really in the mood to talk with Naruto, she just wanted to eat. Her stomach growled as she exited out of the washroom, almost knocking over someone else – jeez, was this becoming a habit? She looked up, and a very pissed off Uchiha stared back at her, holding a bottle of liquor – must be the bartender, but she recognized him. It was Sasuke, the guy who was staring at her last week, sitting next to Naruto. ‘’Um, excuse me’’ She bowed politely and hurried past him – so the both of them worked here…
Back outside she could hear Ino laughing loudly – she sounded like a pig when she laughed. Naruto was laughing too, what on earth… Sakura approached the table cautiously, not wanting to disturb their conversation. ‘’Ah, you’re back! Finally, we can order, I’m starving!’’ Ino had already decided what she wanted, unlike Sakura who barely looked at the menu.
‘’Alright ladies, what will it be?’’
‘’Well, I’m having pancakes, with a small fruit tray.’’
Sakura blanked, she completely forgot to check over the menu. ‘’um, I’ll have a parfait….’’ She blinked again as Naruto took their menu’s. ‘’I’ll get right to that,’’ He winked and wandered back inside.
‘’Oh my god, he should totally be your date to the wedding Sakura!!!’’
‘’my what?’’
‘’your date! We need more men to walk the bridesmaids down the aisle, duh!’’
Weddings weren’t Sakura’s thing – she never saw herself getting married, and even if she did, it wouldn’t be a huge blow out – she would want to have a big honey moon overall, not wedding. The idea of even being her maid-of-honor freaked her out a little more than she could admit to Ino.
Inside Naruto approached the bar, putting in Sakura and Ino’s order, Sasuke eyed him from behind the bar. ‘’What are you smiling for’’
‘’that pretty pink haired girl is sitting in my section, she’s got a cute friend too.’’
Not seeming interested, Sasuke poured him lemonade handing it to him, he looked outside. ‘’you mean the girl from last week right? I saw her earlier’’
‘’Oh really,’’ A perverted look on Naruto’s face made Sasuke shake his head.
‘’why are you so interested anyway dobe, she’s obviously not good news having to be protected by the head officer in the police force,’’ He poured himself a glass of water, taking a small sip before getting judged by the blonde.
‘’you’re just jealous cause you’re stuck with your shitty crazy girlfriend Karin’’
‘’Karin isn’t my girlfriend,’’
‘’Yeah but you sleep with her, don’t you? Or use to, I don’t remember – you sleep with a lot of women man… I don’t know how you keep track of em’all.’’ Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. ‘’anyway, I invited them to our event in two weeks, we are supposed to invite pretty girls…’’He laughed, hearing their order come up. ‘’Anyway! Lighten up Uchiha!’’
Back outside the girls were talking back and forth about Ino’s wedding, and how beautiful it would be – Sakura didn’t want to seem uninterested…she was her best friend after all. ‘’So when are you going back to work?’’
‘’Most likely after the weekend,’’ Sakura shrugged, finally having told Ino all of what happened – she didn’t freak out as badly as Sakura thought she might. ‘’Anyway, thanks for lunch, I should go-‘’
‘’-Before you do…’’ She looked nervous, half-smiling. ‘’I sort of agreed to come to this event with Naruto…you have to come too…’’
‘’Ino!’’
‘’I’m sorry! He’s so cute! Maybe he has friends!’’ She continued smiling, putting her hands up in a defense, Sakura sighed, shaking her head. ‘’I’ll call you later Ino’’
Back at the office Kakashi was researching some info on some of Hidan’s odd killings, comparing the new to the old – he most definitely wasn’t alone in any of what he was doing, but he couldn’t exactly figure it out, why would someone set him up as a dog… Kakashi was smarter than a lot of people – but he just couldn’t figure it out, there were absolutely no leads, whatsoever. Re-visiting the crime-scene with Shikamaru that afternoon was all he could think of. ‘’I just don’t understand it,’’ He kicked a small pile of hay, all of the blood had been cleaned – the rotting smell was faint, but the area was blocked off, having a cop on duty to keep an eye out in case any troublemakers came by. ‘’We have no leads, none’’ The disappointment in his voice was clear, and Shikamaru knew it – but he was doing all he could, he had his best men on it.
‘’Well, what we’ve gathered thus far, Hidan was hired by someone; he was their dog, basically framing himself for someone else’s work.’’
‘’Not technically,’’ Kakashi lit up a cigarette, wandering around where the entire massacre was filmed. ‘’Hidan was being framed for the previous slaughters, but this one we saw him in the film, doing what he does best…I have a theory that the previous killings were set up to be Hidan, when in reality they were just using him – and someone else was doing the dirty work, but as for this recent one – it was Hidan, he was psychotic, and he snapped; killing two innocent people.’’ He explained, unable to stand still. ‘’Hidan was framed, we just don’t know by who…the previous murders in this case…they weren’t just innocent people’’ He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, exhaling smoke.
Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck, tired from the long hours he worked, today was supposed to be his day off. ‘’We have some leads, sir…but they’re not confirmed. We’re doing our best.’’
‘’Well your best isn’t good enough Shikamaru,’’ He snapped, looking at the time – it was getting late. ‘’We should go, ‘’
‘’Yeah…’’ Shikamaru followed, and they left the scene.
[[So I know it's mostly dialogue and whatnot but I'll be adding more in soon! I hope your enjoyed chapter 1!]]
Being a woman in this field was difficult, the administrative part was the easiest job next to the receptionist…why couldn’t she just have an easy job…she restrained from biting her lip – feeling it already begin to pulsate after removing the ice-pack, he really hit her hard… ‘’This is you, isn’t it?’’
Kakashi’s soft voice caught her off guard and she slumped in the passenger seat. ‘’Yeah,’’ The tall glass building went on for miles, one of the tallest new buildings in the area. ‘’This is me…’’ She didn’t look at him as she removed her seat belt and grabbed her keys. As she spoke her lip split which caused her to start bleeding again, she felt the blood dribble slightly on her chin – Kakashi noticed, but she was already half way out of his vehicle.
‘’Listen Sakura, if you-‘’
‘’I know, I’ll be in when I’m feeling better,’’ She replied, back to him as she slammed the door – grasping her keys so tightly they started making indents in her fingertips.
‘’Yeah, we got her home…’’ Kakashi sat with his phone to his ear as he watched her walk into the building, his eyes straight ahead as he pulled out onto the main road. ‘’What’s the damage with the gun shots? Is he alive?’’
‘’I wouldn’t say technically, the machines are keeping him alive – they want to examine his body, see if they can find anything’’ Shikamaru spoke on the other line, keeping his tone calm. ‘’We talked to the officers, apparently they didn’t fucking realize what time it was, bunch of braindead idiots…’’He exhaled, definitely smoking, he was never not smoking. ‘’Keep an eye on her eh, she’s probably freaking out,’’
Kakashi nodded, hanging up the phone – he would most definitely be by to check on her. The sun was setting as he headed back to the office.
Heel’s clicking, Sakura dropped her bag and coat on her kitchen counter, and removed her shoes – unbuttoning her shirt; she felt pain on her chest, and sides, and back; the adrenaline must have been wearing off – sooner than she’d like, the pain was overwhelming. The impact of her hitting the hard floor was enough to break a bone, but luckily she just came out bruised and bloody. Touching her side, she winced as she approached the bathroom, a shower would do her good – and if she didn’t wash away the blood on her face, Ino would most definitely know something happened – last thing she needed, bride to be to be worried over nothing.
The taps felt cold as she turned them toward the hot water, loud noises heard from inside the buildings pump system beneath the walls, she pulled down her skirt, removed her undergarments and let the hot water sting her skin – it felt nice, but being a bit of a masochistic it didn’t bother her as much as it would someone else. Closing her eyes she pictured him on top of her, she felt sick – bending over, grasping her knees; she stared at the tiles below her; watching the blood from her lip circle the drain. A loud knock echoed through her one bedroom, it was obviously Ino – was it already 8, damn. She was late, the knock came again, louder, followed by her lock being turned – Ino was the only one with her second set of keys, just in case Sakura forgot her own.
‘’Hey! Sakura, you home?’’ A familiar voice echoed down into her bedroom, into the bathroom as she stepped out of the shower, she cringed – a sharp pain went up her spine, grabbing a towel she covered herself, being careful to cover the bruises; the bruise on her lip was obvious, but she knew how to cover it up. ‘’Yeah! Just got out of the shower,’’
‘’Jesus! You could have called if you were going to be late you know!’’ Ino’s voice bounced off the hollow walls, Sakura could hear her digging around in her kitchen for a coffee mug, bad habit; coffee was terrible, to her anyway. She managed to cover her lip just enough that Ino wouldn’t notice; though the pain was still very much there. Running a hand through her hair, she grabbed a brush and threw it up into a messy bun before returning to her room, Ino was there with a mug in her hand, legs crossed in sweats. ‘’why are you showering before the gym…’’
‘’I had a long day, I needed to.’’ Lying was one thing she wasn’t bad at, she pulled a pair of sweats on and a baggy t-shirt, making sure everything was covered. ‘’We’re going to the gym? I thought we were just being lazy, grabbing breakfast or a bowl of ramen,’’ The pain in her back wasn’t ignorable; she wanted to scream, but she didn’t. Ino sighed, sipping her hot cup of coffee. ‘’Well, Sai won’t be meeting us there for another hour…’’ Her eyes wandered, she caught sight of a bruise on Sakura’s collar bone. ‘’Jesus, what is that?’’
Panic. ‘’What’s what?’’ She stared, Ino stood up and pointed. ‘’Your collar bone is bruised…’’
Sakura swallowed, wide-eyed – why did all of it have to happen today of all days, why not tomorrow, the blonde’s serious expression melted into a sly-smile. ‘’You’re totally having rough sex with Kakashi, aren’t you? I KNEW IT!’’ She giggled frantically. ‘’I don’t blame you, he’s got a nice ass, most def.’’
The panic she felt reseeded as she sat down on the coach, curling her legs in. ‘’No Ino, I’m not screwing my boss…’’
‘’and why the hell not! It’s about time you got laid, how long has it been! I mean seriously!’’
Sakura ignored her horny best friend; poor thing wasn’t getting laid because Sai wanted to wait until after they were married, classy guy…but she just found him weird. ‘’Anyway, when are we going for noodles,’’
‘’Well we can go now; Sai’s bringing his cop friends!’’
‘’Cop friends?’’ She arched a brow.
The bright light from Ino’s phone lit up her face. ‘’Well, one of them is a cop, least I think so,’’
‘’I would know them if they’re cops.’’
Ino shrugged, pushing herself up. ‘’Maybe you do! Who cares! Maybe you can totally hook up with them!’’ She smiled.
The idea of getting dressed and going out with a bunch of strangers was not appealing to Sakura, especially after what happened earlier, she changed into a pair of jeans and a comfortable t-shirt, her phone rang. It was Kakashi, must be checking in. ‘’Hey,’’
‘’Hey, feeling better?’’
She rubbed the back of her neck. ‘’Is he still alive? because I’d really like to sue him or something…’’ She trailed off, humor was a thing…it usually worked but Kakashi wasn’t laughing.
‘’Listen, Shikamaru said he found something at one of the other crime scenes, something that leads us to believe what you said could be true,’’
Sakura closed her door; this was private information not even Ino could hear, or even know about. ‘’About him not being alone?’’
‘’Yeah, listen, I won’t keep you, but I’d just thought I’d give you the heads up’’
Click.
Shivers travelled down Sakura’s back; there was more than one, more than him…but how many… The thought made her stomach ache and lip pulsate – she grabbed her jacket and headed out the door with Ino.
--
Photos of the most recent crime scene were laid out flat on a glass marble top, photos of the killings, and photos of the other crime scenes with unidentified bodies. ‘’Hidan failed his mission, he was caught in section A at the old abandoned farm house, we can’t confirm if he’s alive or not sir.’’
‘’It wasn’t Hidan’s mission, it was yours. You failed; you left him with the mess. Hidan always cleaned his messes, you framed him like I told you to do – we needed a dog, I used him. Now find out if he’s dead, and then kindly fuck off.’’
‘’with pleasure sir,’’ The silver hair male bowed slightly, glasses shimmering from the light of the large office, two body guards stood side by side outside of the door as Kabuto left Orochimaru’s office. But Orochimaru wasn’t the one he was afraid, it was who Orochimaru worked for that would pull his intestines out through his nose and feed them back through his mouth; keeping him alive in the process.
‘’So what will we do about Hidan sir,’’ A female’s voice echoed, bouncing off the hollow walls of his office. ‘’I mean, we’d been using him for five years, they know something is up –‘’
‘’and how do you have such Intel on Hidan, Karin? Do you have someone working on the inside that I’m unaware of, because if you’re keeping things from me –‘’ He slammed his pen down, cracking the marble glass table. ‘’I’ll be sure to make you his replacement.’’
She swallowed, she did have someone on the inside, but that wasn’t her decision. ‘’I do apologize sir but that was not my decision,’’
‘’Alright,’’ He picked up the pen, flipping it over his longer slender fingers – his long uncut finger nails looked like they could rip right through you, his rings clinking together. ‘’Who is it?’’
‘’who is w-who sir?’’
‘’the inside man.’’
Karin could feel the sweat start to pool on her forehead, she’d always working with Orochimaru, but since this new guy came into the photo – even he seemed as if he was always scared, she didn’t move. ‘’Suigetsu, he’s posing as cop within the office…he tells me that they’re keeping Hidan alive on machines…’’
Orochimaru’s fingers curled around the pen before thrusting it into Karin’s side, piercing whatever organ got in its way. The motion was so quick she didn’t feel the pain until she felt him remove the pen seconds after stabbing her. ‘’Next time you go behind my back,’’ He sat back down, dropping the pen into the garbage. ‘’I’ll feed you to my dogs, you’re excused Karin…and please, don’t bleed all over my floor on the way out.’’
--
‘’Mm, this smells so good’’ Ino inhaled the mixture of spices and meat in her ramen bowl, her mouth started to water the moment she saw the food coming.
The ramen hut was surprisingly busy, nothing closed at night in this town – it was busy constantly, not that anyone was complaining. A lot of people got off late and liked to enjoy a real meal instead of just fast-food. The smell of the noodles was delicious, but Sakura couldn’t help but feel nauseous the entire time she sat there, pretending she was perfectly fine – what Kakashi had told her really caught her off guard, so much for relaxation – no way was she doing that, she couldn’t – she wanted to know who else could be doing such cruel and horrible deeds, and for what? She didn’t understand it, even as a psychiatrist.
‘’Are you not enjoying your meal, Sakura?’’
Sai’s sudden question caught her off guard, she almost dropped the cup of tea she had placed against her lips – the sensation of the hot temperature calmed her a bit. Sai was odd…even for Ino’s standards, but Ino liked hot guys, and Sakura couldn’t deny that the guy was good looking – she placed her cup down and forced a smile at him. ‘’I’m fine, I’m just taking it slow, I like to enjoy my food, slow….’’ That sounded even dumber aloud than it did in her head, she swallowed – why on earth did she feel nervous, no need to around these two. ‘’Anyway! You two must be excited! Your wedding is next month’’
‘’Oh yes!!’’ Ino set down her chop sticks; she would never shut up on the topic of her marvelous wedding plans. ‘’I’ve arranged everything! Now it’s just a waiting game.’’ She smiled, rather largely – Sakura nodded, wide-eyed as two men approached the table. ‘’Oh, you two made it.’’ Sai stood up, being polite.
Sakura didn’t recognize either of the tall men who approached – Ino mentioned one of them being a cop but maybe she was mistaken. Where she worked, and in this town, she knew every single officer on the team, including the undercovers. One was tall with white hair with a very serious expression on his face, while the other looked a little bit goofy… she stared, and they caught on. ‘’I remember you,’’ The white hair man sat down and ran a hand through those thick locks. ‘’I wanted to apologize personally to you Sakura,’’
How did he know her name…she stared. ‘’Um, I’m sorry,’’ she blinked, doe-eyed. ‘’Have we met?’’
He looked a bit taken back and laughed, lightly, as if he was nervous. ‘’Well, not technically, I’m new…’’ He rubbed the back of his neck. ‘’But, I was the officer on duty…while um...’’
‘’-Oh’’ She clued in, he was the officer who left his post – she looked away; ‘’That’s okay,’’ She lied, it was not okay in the slightest. ‘’We all make mistakes.’’
‘’what’s Suigetsu talking about?’’ Sai looked at her, and looked back at his friend. ‘’Did something happen?’’
‘’nothing, nothing happened,’’ She stood up, leaving her untouched noodles. ‘’I have to go, I got a call from my boss earlier – he wants me in the office tonight,’’ Another lie, Ino bought it, but Sai didn’t – Sai could read people way too easily. ‘’Excuse me gentlemen,’’ She forced a smile, forcing it a bit too much, her lip split and it started bleeding through the make-up she used to conceal it.
‘Damnit.’
‘’Sakura, your lip!’’ Ino grabbed her by the arm. ‘’Come on now you’re being weird, let’s get you to the washroom,’’ She smiled, and Sakura didn’t hesitate, it would be weird if she just ran out…
‘’Jesus, what happened to your lip?’’ Ino dapped it lightly with a wet piece of paper towel. ‘’It looks like someone hit you,’’ She paused. ‘’DID someone hit you!?’’
‘’No Ino, no one hit me, I hit it myself,’’ She shrugged, slumping her shoulders as Ino applied some medicine to it. ‘’Clumsy me…’’
‘’Well you need to be more careful, no guy wants lazy gal!’’
‘’you clueless bastard,’’ Sai smacked Suigetsu in the head. ‘’You’re gonna get yourself fucking killed if you’re not more cautious in there.’’
‘’I had to piss man! I couldn’t help it!’’
‘’Well next time, you better fucking hold it – he’s gonna have my fucking head because of you, Hidan’s out, we have to find a fucking replacement,’’
‘’what about that guy? He’s kind of new though….’’ He pointed toward his friend. ‘’I mean he’s pretty clueless, we could pay him well-‘’
‘’you don’t make that fucking decision you moron.’’
Another smack before the two of them sat down – now Sai had to get his hands dirty, the clueless knucklehead brought them over beer, poor sucker – he may be killed before the night was out.
‘’I’m just saying Sakura; no man wants a woman with bruised lips! Or chapped for that matter.’’ Ino sat back in her seat next to Sai, and smiled; he smiled back – she had no idea, and neither did Sakura.
Close to three hours passed in the busy ramen hut, people coming and going as the night went on – it wasn’t unusual, really. Normally when Ino dragged Sakura into this place it was crawling with hungry business men, and women. The conversation was far from a serious one, Sakura unconsciously kept touching her lip, as if to check if it was bleeding at random times from the heat of her food, the ramen was absolutely delicious but her mind was elsewhere – she couldn’t concrete on the taste of her food. The atmosphere was nice, but Sakura felt tension; the way Sai continued to stare at her, at her lip – she knew he could read people, but he wouldn’t stop staring, The pain in her back was really starting to get to her, but the slow intake of alcohol was masking it.
Ino hiccupped obnoxiously; she was known to have bad hiccups when drinking pure vodka martinis. Sakura knew that later she would most definitely have to help Sai get her into the cab, that girl knew how to party, and she never wanted to go home no matter how intoxicated she managed to get herself but it was Sai’s wallet she was draining, never her own. ‘’I think you’ve had enough,’’ Sai muttered, his arm around Ino as she nuzzled her face into his armpit – Sakura laughed, she wasn’t nearly as intoxicated.
‘’Just give her more to eat,’’ She explained, picking at her bruschetta. ‘’Here Ino, have some bread,’’ She handed her some, and she ate – but Sakura was stuck with a sober Sai and this idiot cop named Suigetsu that nearly got her killed. ‘’So,’’ She looked at the white haired male who was on his fifth beer. ‘’You’re new huh?’’
Sai looked at Suigetsu, as if he was telling him not to fuck anything up more than he already had, but Sakura didn’t notice the way Sai was acting – she didn’t pay any attention as he spoke.
‘’Well! Honestly, this whole job is new…I mean I just finished my schooling – ‘’ He smiled, but stopped soon after. He knew he couldn’t give too much detail to her, or Sai would have him killed too – he was capable of murder without even a second thought. ‘’So you’re just really new at your job, we all make mistakes.’’ She hinted to earlier and took a sip of her drink. ‘’Excuse me guys, ‘’ She smiled and headed for the washroom.
The door chimed and in walked three men, dressed semi-casual, least one of them was. The first male who walked in was tall, with broad shoulders – a very serious look on his face. Those dark eyes stared, looking around the establishment – the second male was dressed down, just in jeans and a simple tee; his blonde hair messily hanging in his blue eyes, a big grin on his face. As for the third, he was dressed semi-casual as well, resembling the first male who entered. ‘’Man! It smells good!!’’
‘’Shut up Naruto, let’s get a seat…’’ Sasuke muttered, watching his older brother approach the table where Sai, Ino and Suigetsu were seated.
‘’Ah Itachi!’’ Sai stood up instantly, leaving Ino semi-unconscious beside him. ‘’excuse my fiancé’…she’s had a little too much to drink,’’ His voice was in low tones – Sakura still hadn’t returned from the washroom, but it gave him little time. ‘’Do you have what I need?’’
Itachi Uchiha pulled out a small envelope and handed it to Sai. ‘’Tell your boss I’m not interested, and to leave my family out of It.’’
‘’But Itachi, he is your family…’’
‘’Not to me he isn’t.’’ He paused, watching Sakura approaching their table, which meant to leave. ‘’Enjoy your noodles, Sai.’’ He unbuttoned the front of his jacket, making brief eye-contact with the pinkette before departing to his own table where Sasuke and Naruto were currently picking out their food.
‘’who was that?’’ She asked her curiosity and cautiousness chiming in – after what happened in her office, she was more paranoid than ever, especially after what Kakashi had said. ‘’Anyone I know?’’ She smiled, trying to ease the tension now that Ino had passed out. It wasn’t as if she and Sai didn’t have anything in common, they both enjoyed the arts, amongst other thing but it was very rare that they’d sit down and have an actual conversation without Ino being involved.
‘’Just a friend of a friend,’’ He lied, but Sakura couldn’t really tell that he was lying – normally with her profession she would catch it instantly… but with him, she just couldn’t read him; a closed book. ‘’We could invite him and his friends back to the table if you’d like, Ino and I have gone out with them a few times before,’’ Another lie, they’d never gone out on a date, or just a casual hangout. It was strictly business, The Uchiha name was known by the biggest of criminals; though, Madara Uchiha, and Obito Uchiha were the worst kind of criminals. Itachi Uchiha had been dealing with his family name since he was eighteen, he didn’t want his younger brother involved so he decided to get out – though, it wasn’t as simple as he was hoping it would be.
‘’Right…’’ Sakura finished her last drink and looked at the clock, it was 11:30, and Ino was not waking up. ‘’I better get her home, you can stay here Sai…I don’t mind cabbing it home with Ino.’’ She smiled. ‘’Besides, I’m sure you and Suigetsu want to enjoy more drinks,’’
Sai shook his head, leaving money on the table. ‘’No need, I’ll take her.’’ He half-smiled, just enough to seem friendly; was it just her, or was he acting really weird…she bit her lip, forgetting about the bruise just momentarily before making it bleed once again. ‘’I should get going, let me know if you guys make it home safely, okay Sai? Er, nice seeing you Suigetsu…’’ She grabbed her purse, paid her bill and headed home – she needed to call Kakashi ASAP.
Sai smiled, but it didn’t seem friendly – then again, his smiles were never friendly, not since him and Ino started dating a year prior, but she loved him and Sakura never doubted Ino’s taste in men, Sai managed to sweep her off her feet, unlike Sakura…she wasn’t really into dating, sure sex was good, but what twenty-four year old wasn’t into that. She felt sick to her stomach, her lip was bleeding again – but she really needed to call Kakashi, he was her only security, least that’s how she felt – he was the head of the police force, private investigator…you name it, he basically did everything. It was impressive, not that she would admit that to him. ‘’Your lip is still bleeding, you may want to get that looked at,’’ Suigetsu said, smiling slightly – tension was there, it never left since Suigetsu arrived, and his goofy friend who seemed oblivious to everything around. But she felt tension and it made her stomach churn.
‘’Um yeah,’’ She pressed her fingers to her lip so the blood wouldn’t drip. ‘’I’m going to go to the ladies room first, thank you for noodles, Sai, Suigetsu,’’ She bowed politely and walked in the direction of the washroom, feeling a bit light headed as she rounded the corner – bumping straight into Naruto, the blonde who came in with Itachi – though, she wouldn’t know that.
‘’Oh my god, I’m so sorry!’’ She bowed a second time in apology, rubbing her forehead after colliding with his. ‘’I’m all over the place,’’ She felt that lump begin to surface again, but she swallowed it back – hoping it would just go away like before, no way would she cry in a public place…especially in front of Sai and his stupid cop-friend who lacked the effort to protect her.
‘’No, it’s my fault,’’ The tall, blonde man smiled, and he was laughing? Sakura stared momentarily, she felt warm and relaxed suddenly – like he was light from the sun, or something. ‘’I’m clumsy,’’ His grin stretched, and she couldn’t help but smile. ‘’Hey…’’ He leaned forward. ‘’Your lip is bleeding! I didn’t do that did I?!’’ He waved his arms, putting his hands up into a defensive mode. ‘’I didn’t mean to! I swear!’’
Sakura blinked…he was acting as if she was going to hit him – and she couldn’t help but laugh which caused him to stare, this time becoming absolutely enamored with her. ‘’Ne…you have a really cute laugh ya’know…’’ He leaned forward, almost backing her up against the wall – his arm rested on the wall above her head as she came to the realization of what he was doing. ‘’Err…’’ She stared up, him being quite taller than her and she turned red, only slightly before shaking her head and dipping underneath his arm and excusing herself into the ladies room.
‘’What was that all about dobe?’’ Sasuke asked, witnessing the entire thing from the booth. ‘’You shouldn’t bother people while they’re eating.’’ He ate a few bites of sushi as Naruto sat down, big grin on his handsome face.
‘’You’re just jealous! She wasn’t eating, we bumped into each other, it’s fate.’’
‘’Fate?’’ Sasuke slightly smirked, and shook his head.
‘’You don’t believe in fate little brother?’’ Itachi asked, enjoying his green tea and noodles. Sasuke rolled his eyes, resting his chin on the palm of his hand as he inhaled more food – he didn’t answer him as the three enjoyed their meal, Sakura was panicking in the washroom. Her fingers shook as she dialed Kakashi’s number.
‘’Hey, everything alright Sakura,’’ It was around midnight by the time she finally got to her phone, she felt like breaking down – but she couldn’t, not in public. ‘’Would you mind picking me up,’’ Her hands weren’t the only thing that was shaking; she could barely keep it together. ‘’What’s going on,’’ Concern was clear in his tone as he grabbed his car keys.
‘’Something isn’t right, my friend passed out, and her boyfriend’s friend is that sketchy cop who left his post.’’ She spoke softly, almost a whisper – afraid someone was listening, but no one really was…it was mainly the shock from what had happened earlier in the day. ‘’I’ll be right there, stay around other people, okay?’’ Click.
After he hung up, Sakura felt the bile rise in her throat, she hurled herself into a stall, and leaned over the toilet within seconds of her throwing up all of her supper, including the bruschetta, what a total waste of money – she sat there for a few minutes, the saliva in her mouth heavy as she lingered there. Flushing the toilet, she stood and wiped her mouth before splashing her face with cold water – she looked pale, her lip looked and felt infected – but be from eating before it healed properly; she sighed, running a hand through her hair before digging through her purse – she applied a little bit of concealer under her eyes, and some around her swollen lip – unfortunately not having any medicine for her lip didn’t help, so she just substituted with some lip balm. The lighting in the washroom made her look washed out, and sick, but the lighting in the main room was the kind that gave her a fresh orange glow – as if she was tanning.
Kakashi’s voice was in the back of her mind, he would be at least twenty minutes, but luckily for her Sai was gone, including Suigetsu and his friend – she inhaled a breath of relief as she wandered out – but standing around would just be awkward…she looked around the room and spotted the blonde guy who hit on her earlier, she guessed it wouldn’t be too bad waiting around him, he was friendly enough…even if he did hit on her. Being confident, she approached the table…soon noticing the intimidating dark hair male sitting next to him, she stopped mid-step and stared; and he stared back. She didn’t move, just stared. ‘why is he staring…’ she thought, feeling paranoid – but the chimes above the door distracted her; it was Kakashi, he must have been closer than she thought, that or he was speeding the whole time.
‘’Hey, you alright,’’ He noticed how pale she was, and worry was obvious on his face. He looked around, searching for Suigetsu so he could yell at him some more but he was nowhere to be seen, Kakashi ran a hand through his hair, and paused on Itachi Uchiha – he knew him, he had a bit of a criminal record…but he also helped out the cops a few times too, he wondered what he was doing there before he noticed Naruto and Sasuke sitting with him. ‘’Come on Sakura, I’ll take you home…’’
The two of them starting exiting but not before Itachi interrupted. ‘’Mr. Hatake, uh, hey, been awhile…’’ He smiled, briefly. ‘’Nice to see you doing well,’’
‘’You too Itachi, how are things,’’
The entire situation felt awkward, Sakura stood beside Kakashi with her head hung low – she felt sick to her stomach and just wanted to crawl into her warm bed, but both Naruto and Sasuke were staring at her and it wasn’t helping. ‘’Hey! You again!’’ Naruto grinned like a fool which in turn got him hit by Sasuke. ‘’Leave her alone dobe, she clearly isn’t interested in you’’ Sasuke muttered, chewing his food – but he continued to stare at her, noting her bruised lip and the way her body language read – he instantly assumed Kakashi was beating her. Bad assumption on his part, ‘’Anyway, I must be going, it was nice seeing you.’’ He bowed politely, and hurried Sakura outside.
‘’Man, did you see her lip?’’ Sasuke looked at his brother. ‘’That man was beating her,’’
Itachi laughed. ‘’Don’t assume little brother, that was Kakashi Hatake, head of the police force…he was probably protecting her.’’
Once they reached Kakashi’s vehicle, she felt a lot more safe…least, as safe as she could. The seat belt felt heavy as she strapped herself in, slumping in her seat as Kakashi started the engine. ‘’So your best friend’s fiancé…he’s friends with Suigetsu?’’
‘’Supposedly,’’ Sakura stared out the window. ‘’If it’s okay with you sir, could you please just take me home…’’
‘’Of Course, Sakura, you just relax’’
A few days had past, and Sakura spent most of it in bed; like Kakashi told her to do – no way was she going out until her lip healed, and it did, not leaving any scars thank god, she didn’t want to live with the reminder of being attacked. He had given her a full week off of work, the night after he dropped her off Sakura slept for about 24 hours, not leaving her apartment once – not even to talk to a very hung over Ino, until today that was. The two of them met for breakfast, more or less brunch since either of them were morning people, Sakura’s lip healed nicely but she didn’t wear makeup usually to cover anything up – her hair was pulled back and the weather was warm. ‘’I’m so sorry I got so drunk,’’ She sipped her tea, looking at the small menu, the two of them sitting outside of the tiny café. ‘’you know how I am with alcohol,’’ She smiled, trying to figure out what she wanted, there was so much to choose from – biscuits, fruit trays, you name it; all healthy deliciousness. ‘’How late did you end up staying anyway,’’
The cold glass of lemonade felt refreshing on Sakura’s skin as she twirled her straw around the ice in her cup, her mind was elsewhere – she wanted to get some insight on this new cop Suigetsu, but she didn’t want to come off as suspicious to anyone. ‘’Yoo-hoo, earth to Sakura’’
‘’Oh, sorry Ino,’’ She half-smiled and took a sip of her drink before looking at the menu. ‘’Didn’t Sai tell you,’’
‘’Tell me what?’’
‘’Oh never mind,’’ She shrugged, not wanting to mention too much to her in case she decided to blab to Sai herself. ‘’So when are we shopping for cakes?’’ She changed the subject to Ino’s wedding, it always distracted her no matter what kind of a conversation they were having, she’d never seen someone so dedicated.
‘’Well!!! I picked out three different ones, but I’m not sure which one…I mean, there’s this pure chocolate raspberry tart, a vanilla one, and another…but I don’t recall the flavor!’’ She laughed as the waiter approached, Sakura knew who he was – it was the blonde from a week ago that tried feeling her up in the hall of the restaurant, but he made her feel all warm and fuzzy.
‘’Well well!’’ He was grinning, of course. ‘’what a small world!’’
Naruto was dressed in all black with an apron around his waist, he actually looked kind of cute in his work attire, and both girls couldn’t deny that. ‘’nice to see you again,’’
‘’um, you too,’’ Sakura half-smiled, getting funny looks from Ino.
Naruto sat down at the empty chair between the two of them before resting his head on the palm of his hand; his charm was actually working, even Ino was buying it. ‘’I never did catch your name,’’
‘’her name is Sakura!’’ Obnoxiously, Ino told him her name, which in turn Sakura wanted to knock her out – now he knew her name, oh god. ‘’Sakura? That’s beautiful ya know…I’m Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki!’’ That smile, did it ever go? – Anytime out of the small amount of time she had seen him and been around him, he was smiling…it was kind of creepy to her, but also…warm and fuzzy.
‘’Nice to meet you, technically,’’ Sakura sipped some of her drink, remembering the guy who was with him – that dark haired guy, did he work here too?
‘’So! Naruto! I’m Ino,’’ She held out her hand. ‘’How do you and my friend know one another’’
‘’We met at the ramen hut just last week, I didn’t really introduce myself properly last time’’
Ino arched a brow in Sakura’s direction, but she was standing. ‘’Excuse me, ladies room!’’ Before Ino could even say a word, she’d ran off inside of the café – leaving Naruto to ask more about her, and Ino was more than willing to share what she knew.
The café itself was cute, it was connected to a bar – which meant it usually got busy around 7:00pm when all the business men got off work for a drink, all the tables and chairs matched, it was a lounge-like setting, however the food was delicious and she could never say no to good food. It was dimly lit inside, her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness as she moved through, excusing herself to any bystanders. She didn’t actually need to use the wash room, she just wanted an excuse to escape the pervert….but even though he was charming, he still made her feel warm and fuzzy – which was a love/hate thus far. The ladies room was clean, with towels instead of paper to dry her hands if needed – she looked in the mirror, looking a lot better now that her lip was healed and the bruises had faded; she didn’t need the constant reminder on her face.
Moving to fix her hair, she managed to break the elastic holding her thick pink locks together, and she didn’t have another – so much for a lazy hair day…running her slender fingers through it, she tried her best to make it look decent…lucky there was a nice breeze, so it wasn’t exactly humid which meant it wouldn’t turn into a bad hair day – not what she needed. She stood in the wash room for a solid 10 minutes, she wasn’t really in the mood to talk with Naruto, she just wanted to eat. Her stomach growled as she exited out of the washroom, almost knocking over someone else – jeez, was this becoming a habit? She looked up, and a very pissed off Uchiha stared back at her, holding a bottle of liquor – must be the bartender, but she recognized him. It was Sasuke, the guy who was staring at her last week, sitting next to Naruto. ‘’Um, excuse me’’ She bowed politely and hurried past him – so the both of them worked here…
Back outside she could hear Ino laughing loudly – she sounded like a pig when she laughed. Naruto was laughing too, what on earth… Sakura approached the table cautiously, not wanting to disturb their conversation. ‘’Ah, you’re back! Finally, we can order, I’m starving!’’ Ino had already decided what she wanted, unlike Sakura who barely looked at the menu.
‘’Alright ladies, what will it be?’’
‘’Well, I’m having pancakes, with a small fruit tray.’’
Sakura blanked, she completely forgot to check over the menu. ‘’um, I’ll have a parfait….’’ She blinked again as Naruto took their menu’s. ‘’I’ll get right to that,’’ He winked and wandered back inside.
‘’Oh my god, he should totally be your date to the wedding Sakura!!!’’
‘’my what?’’
‘’your date! We need more men to walk the bridesmaids down the aisle, duh!’’
Weddings weren’t Sakura’s thing – she never saw herself getting married, and even if she did, it wouldn’t be a huge blow out – she would want to have a big honey moon overall, not wedding. The idea of even being her maid-of-honor freaked her out a little more than she could admit to Ino.
Inside Naruto approached the bar, putting in Sakura and Ino’s order, Sasuke eyed him from behind the bar. ‘’What are you smiling for’’
‘’that pretty pink haired girl is sitting in my section, she’s got a cute friend too.’’
Not seeming interested, Sasuke poured him lemonade handing it to him, he looked outside. ‘’you mean the girl from last week right? I saw her earlier’’
‘’Oh really,’’ A perverted look on Naruto’s face made Sasuke shake his head.
‘’why are you so interested anyway dobe, she’s obviously not good news having to be protected by the head officer in the police force,’’ He poured himself a glass of water, taking a small sip before getting judged by the blonde.
‘’you’re just jealous cause you’re stuck with your shitty crazy girlfriend Karin’’
‘’Karin isn’t my girlfriend,’’
‘’Yeah but you sleep with her, don’t you? Or use to, I don’t remember – you sleep with a lot of women man… I don’t know how you keep track of em’all.’’ Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. ‘’anyway, I invited them to our event in two weeks, we are supposed to invite pretty girls…’’He laughed, hearing their order come up. ‘’Anyway! Lighten up Uchiha!’’
Back outside the girls were talking back and forth about Ino’s wedding, and how beautiful it would be – Sakura didn’t want to seem uninterested…she was her best friend after all. ‘’So when are you going back to work?’’
‘’Most likely after the weekend,’’ Sakura shrugged, finally having told Ino all of what happened – she didn’t freak out as badly as Sakura thought she might. ‘’Anyway, thanks for lunch, I should go-‘’
‘’-Before you do…’’ She looked nervous, half-smiling. ‘’I sort of agreed to come to this event with Naruto…you have to come too…’’
‘’Ino!’’
‘’I’m sorry! He’s so cute! Maybe he has friends!’’ She continued smiling, putting her hands up in a defense, Sakura sighed, shaking her head. ‘’I’ll call you later Ino’’
Back at the office Kakashi was researching some info on some of Hidan’s odd killings, comparing the new to the old – he most definitely wasn’t alone in any of what he was doing, but he couldn’t exactly figure it out, why would someone set him up as a dog… Kakashi was smarter than a lot of people – but he just couldn’t figure it out, there were absolutely no leads, whatsoever. Re-visiting the crime-scene with Shikamaru that afternoon was all he could think of. ‘’I just don’t understand it,’’ He kicked a small pile of hay, all of the blood had been cleaned – the rotting smell was faint, but the area was blocked off, having a cop on duty to keep an eye out in case any troublemakers came by. ‘’We have no leads, none’’ The disappointment in his voice was clear, and Shikamaru knew it – but he was doing all he could, he had his best men on it.
‘’Well, what we’ve gathered thus far, Hidan was hired by someone; he was their dog, basically framing himself for someone else’s work.’’
‘’Not technically,’’ Kakashi lit up a cigarette, wandering around where the entire massacre was filmed. ‘’Hidan was being framed for the previous slaughters, but this one we saw him in the film, doing what he does best…I have a theory that the previous killings were set up to be Hidan, when in reality they were just using him – and someone else was doing the dirty work, but as for this recent one – it was Hidan, he was psychotic, and he snapped; killing two innocent people.’’ He explained, unable to stand still. ‘’Hidan was framed, we just don’t know by who…the previous murders in this case…they weren’t just innocent people’’ He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, exhaling smoke.
Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck, tired from the long hours he worked, today was supposed to be his day off. ‘’We have some leads, sir…but they’re not confirmed. We’re doing our best.’’
‘’Well your best isn’t good enough Shikamaru,’’ He snapped, looking at the time – it was getting late. ‘’We should go, ‘’
‘’Yeah…’’ Shikamaru followed, and they left the scene.
[[So I know it's mostly dialogue and whatnot but I'll be adding more in soon! I hope your enjoyed chapter 1!]]