A small crack in perfection

A small crack in perfection
By eternalshiva

Disclaimer:
I do not own Naruto or any of the characters portrayed by Masashi Kishimoto, nor do I make any monies off this fanfiction.

AN – I think my favourite reviews for last chapter involved “train wreck in slow motion” to “cluster fuck of emotions”, I’m glad I surprised everyone. Thank you everyone for the great supportive reviews =)

Thank you Jolly Green for the beta, I appreciate it.

BN – Even though I fell asleep while doing the bloody thing? XP o.O So many Shika fans! O.o
AR – That’s not going to leave a very good impression on the chapter D: Yer fired.

Chapter 8
A Sunny Place in Hell

He groaned while leaning his head against the steering wheel of his car and wrapping his fingers tightly around the rubber. His nails dug into his palms painfully, but he ignored it; his mind was in complete and total chaos over what had just happened. He eyed the house momentarily from the driveway and lightly tapped his forehead against the wheel in a strange pattern, increasing the weight of his head with each ‘thump’ and swearing under his breath. This was not happening...

‘Not even noon yet and I’ve crushed someone’s livelihood.’ He leaned away from the wheel and reached into his pants pocket, or tried to, only to realise he had strutted out of the house in his boxers. Groaning again, he shut his eyes tightly, let go of the steering wheel, and rubbed his face with both of his hands in frustration.

“Just... just fantastic,” he mumbled through his fingers in disbelief. He’d forgotten his keys on his graph table and after that marvellously dramatic exit, he wasn’t about to swallow his pride and waltz back into Hinata’s house to retrieve them. His hands combed through his hair as he leaned his head against the leather seat. He continued to stare at the door of her home and unconsciously extended his right hand towards his room, willing for the keys to propel themselves off the desk and come to him.

‘Come on... Get. Out. Here,’ he thought quite forcefully, but it certainly didn’t take a genius to figure out they were staying on the desk and that he was an idiot. How was he supposed to run from his stupidity if he was idly parked in the driveway of his glaring problem?

‘Maybe I can hot wire the car?’ He shifted his weight and dipped his head below the steering column and eyed the plastic panel there. The mere thought of having to destroy anything in his car for the sake of keeping his pride made him falter and he apologised for even thinking of hurting his little baby. He collapsed his upper body against the lower seat, half sitting – half lying down, his side aching as the shift stick dug into his side. He couldn’t remember who had the spare key to his car and asking somebody that would mean openly admitting that he’d majorly fucked up with Hinata and having to put up with their banter.

He frowned, wondering why he was even worried about who would make fun of him for being trapped in his keyless car, outside in the cold, with only boxers and a shirt on. He had more important things to worry about; like how he was going to act normal after that kiss and how he was going to apologize for shoving Hinata onto the ground in a fit of surprise and crushing her now obvious affections.

That had beyond shocked him. His mouth still burned with the forceful pressure of her petite and soft lips against his. Ironically, the feelings she’d put behind that kiss had barely registered with him. His brain had completely shut down when they made contact with his; they’d sparked something old in him and he was a bit confused.

He did like her, but did he like her because she was intriguing or because she used to like him? Did he like this Hinata or did he like the idea that she loved him once upon a time and is flattered by that knowledge? ‘This is confusing as hell.’ He stared at the radio of his car and wondered a moment if he still had the spare cell in the glove box. His free hand reached over, opened it and removed the backup device. He eyed the cell and wondered who he could bail him out.

If he had indeed fallen for the ice princess, he had to make sure it was for the right reasons. She was fragile and adding more instability or uncertainty right now would only make things worse than they already were.

Did he really like her?

“I don’t... know,” he said out loud to no one. He sat up with a sigh. His left thumb pressed lightly across the keys of the cell phone, his mind wandering over the numbers he knew by heart. He knew Hinata challenged him; there was a tingle when he saw her, and he smiled more. Compared to when he fell in love with Sakura, this feeling was entirely different. Sakura’s love was suffocating - bogged down with regrets and promises he didn’t know he could fulfill.

Hinata’s love was... well, it represented something... It was more... it had more...

“Fuck.” He couldn’t figure it out. He quickly dialled Kiba’s number and grumbled, finally remembering that his spare set was in his office. At least he could get some extra clothes. He might as well go into the office and see what the damage was after that bullshit from this morning.

His mind wandered to Hinata again, the feel of her kiss still lingering. Kiba’s voice cut through his thoughts from the phone and as Naruto explained the dire situation he was in, he asked himself a question that shook the foundation of his feelings: was it really Hinata that liked him or was it the old Hinata that was resurfacing?

Either way, he'd drawn a definitive conclusion in the last fifteen minutes: he was a fucking retard through and through; no question about it.

* * *

Shikamaru leaned back into his chair and eyed Kiba as he dug out the cell phone from his pocket and walked into the hallway. That annoying polka was starting to get to him, but the fading laughter from Kiba was becoming equally irritating.

“... fucking retarded, you know that?” was heard clearly by the genius and he rolled his eyes, wondering what Naruto had gotten himself into this time. He brought his attention back to his laptop as his over-worked fingers reached for a near-empty can of pop on his new workspace. He idly took the last sip before crushing it, considering it was only weak aluminum.

Smirking at the sound, he dropped the crushed can on his other table and proudly admired the eight by eight patterns he'd managed to complete with his discarded cans. The irritating laughter drifted in again and Shikamaru could only sigh as he forced his mind back on his little problem.

While digging through the raw data in order to solve this puzzle, he’d found some things that angered and annoyed him greatly. Yakushi Technologies had screwed over Rasengan Landscaping from the second they signed that contract.

Leaning forward, he brought up the spreadsheet he’d made and scrolled down as he shook his head. Naruto’s ‘babies’ had been compromised the instant he let those snakes touch them. The so-called security program that had been installed on the servers had created a permanent backdoor that couldn’t be removed short of completely formatting the hard drives; something he knew the blond idiot would never allow without being completely free of the other company.

‘There’s more than enough proof here to let Naruto break that stupid contract.’ The pineapple-haired man sighed deeply as he thought of his new boss. How could anyone be so computer-illiterate in this day and age? Sure, not everyone knew the difference between a hard disk and a diode, but to not know anything past how to turn on the machine and use a few programs? This was completely unacceptable; he’d have to force the man into taking courses once he was officially contracted with them.

Shikamaru quickly cut off that line of thought before he lost his focus completely. He was getting tired and before he called it a night, he had to make this secure again somehow without breaking contracted rules. He picked up the document from his desk and thumbed through it quickly, his mind still wandering on the hacking timeline.

It had started off as nothing more than updates to the security program that allowed them more access to the file system. It had eventually escalated to activating the built-in webcams in all the monitors on various ‘update nights’ and the copying and stealing of random files. Connecting through proxies and taking specific files had only started happening a month or so ago. He paused a moment while reading a specific passage in the contract and groaned, wondering if Naruto had been lobotomized.

How could anyone willingly sign a contract that allowed another company to have free reign over their property? It was like handing a complete stranger the keys to your Viper and telling them they could drive it whenever they wanted.

‘Troublesome idiot,’ he repeated over and over inside his head as he continued to see his boss’s short-comings while digging through his copy of the contract to make sure he was within the guidelines. Putting down the lump of worn sheets, he wondered why anyone would want to steal landscaping plans. There had to be more to this than he could see right now, but the contract was getting in his way.

He glanced down at his watch and winced when he realized how long he’d been sitting in front of his computer working on this project. ‘Nearly noon, I need to eat.’ He listened for Kiba, but he was still on the phone. They still needed to put a comprehensive report together for Naruto.

* * *

“I can’t go get you.” Kiba tried to keep from smiling, but he couldn’t help it while imagining Naruto freezing in his car begging for a ride.

“Why not?” the blonde asked irritably.

“Because this is far too amusing.” Kiba cracked up again. Naruto snorted in annoyance.

“Fuck off, you asshole. Come get me!” he nearly shouted this time. He really didn’t want to go back inside the house and get his keys; he’d rather freeze to death.

“Call Sakura. She’s closer to the Hyuuga’s then me.”

“No, she’s going to be asking me a ton of questions if I get her to pick me up.” Kiba started to laugh again. “This is entirely your fault, you bastard,” Naruto continued.

“How is this my fault?” he sobered up quickly at the accusations, the smirk never leaving his lips.

“You told me to ask her what was up,” he pouted. Kiba shook his head.

“Why on earth would you ever listen to me?” Naruto sighed, another point to Kiba.

“Fine, I’ll call Sakura. I’ll be in the office later to come get some clothes.” He flipped the phone off, cutting the irritating barks of laughter from his partner, and wished some unpleasant accidents to befall him while he dialled Sakura’s number.

* * *

The tanned man wearing a headband sat across the desk from his silver-haired boss with a bored expression. Kabuto narrowed his eyes as the technician continued to chew what he called homemade gum. To his disgust, it was a sticky and stringy substance that reminded him of spider webs.

“How far will this set the plan back, Kidomaru?"

He gave a slight shrug as he answered. "It shouldn't be too bad. Once the twins finish rewiring the server room, we should be back up and running.” He blew one white bubble between his lips until it made a loud pop sound before continuing, irking Kabuto further.

“Though I'm curious as to how we're going to carry out the full plan if we don't have ready access to Rasengan Landscaping's recent plans?" His boss waved away the concern airily.

"I've already sent Tayuya and Jirobo to see if they can re-establish the connection from that end.” Kidomaru raised a brow, not entirely surprised that Kabuto had already taken measures to fix the problem. “I expect for them to have it up by the end of the day and we should be back in business as soon as those two finish repairing the damage Tayuya caused."

Kidomaru gave a quick nod. "The real issue is this guy that's attacking our network. If he had been trying to do real harm instead of just trying to get data out, he could have really screwed us."

Kabuto held his chin in thought for a moment before nodding sharply. "Once you get Rasengan Landscaping back on the network, get the full team together and track this guy down. I want him neutralized by the end of the week, understood?"

Kidomaru gave an affirmative grunt as he stood, knowing he was being dismissed. He walked towards the door, but stopped halfway there and turned back to the silver-haired man in the business suit, “You wanna remind me why we're doing all this again? Seems kinda lame piggy backing off this company to get to the real prize."

Kabuto adjusted his glasses with a smirk before he answered. "Like the corsairs of France, we are the merely the hired hands to the king who seeks his rightful place.” He stated, Kidomaru gave him a questionable stare that only amused Kabuto. “We must destroy those who support the false ‘king’ before we can move in for the kill.”

The tanned man snorted as he turned back towards the door. "Yarr..." he muttered sarcastically under his breath as he closed the threshold behind him.

* * *

A white van bearing a golden YK symbol pulled up in front of Rasengan Landscaping and parked in one of the reserved spots near the front of the lot. Two figures exited the vehicle, went around to the back and retrieved a toolbox and a bundle of cable before slamming the doors shut. They quickly made their way to the front door and crossed the lobby towards the security desk.

The bored looking guard put down his magazine and focused on the odd pair in front of him. "Can I help you gentlemen with something today?" he asked before he broke into a wheezing cough.

"Yes, we're from Yakushi Technologies and we've got a work order to take a look at the servers," Jirobo stated as he handed the sickly looking guard a clipboard. "Apparently, the security update never happened on your system and we've been unable to connect from our end to manually install it, so they sent us here to see what the problem was."

The man looked down at the clipboard before checking his own digital list of scheduled visitors for the day. When he noticed "Yakushi Technologies" marked with ‘Contact Kiba immediately’ as one of them, he turned his attention back to the duo. "I'm sorry sir, but you're not scheduled,” he lied expertly. He was a little suspicious of the duo; something seemed a little off. “I'll have to call upstairs to see what they want to do."

Thinking nothing of the issue, the hefty technician smiled amiably and gave a nod. "No problem. We'll wait while you get confirmation." He hefted the cable off of his shoulder and placed it on the ground.

The woman lugging the toolbox turned away from the desk and grumbled irritably under her breath, causing the guard to give her a questioning glance that she failed to see. Jirobo noticed this and intervened before the man could ask.

"She's had a bad day,” he explained as a apologetic smile graced his lips. “A virus has been giving all of us trouble, which is why we're so concerned about getting this update installed."

Hayate gave a nod and picked up the phone to call the boss.

* * *

"Yeah, that's good Shika. I'm pretty sure even a toddler could understand that," commented the dog owner with a grin. The tech gave a sigh of relief and sank back in the comfortable lopsided chair in Naruto's office.

"Good. I was beginning to worry that it would be impossible." Kiba snorted his agreement and reached down lazily to pet the huge dog lying next to his chair. It was coming up past lunch time and he'd gotten zero sleep the night before because of all the craziness.

Just as Kiba was contemplating making a suggestion for a nap break, the phone on his desk rang. Barely moving his head, he glanced at the readout and saw that it was the front desk. Grumbling, he sat up and removed it from the receiver. "What's up, Hayate?"

"Mr. Inuzuka? Where's Mr. Uzumaki today?" the voice on the end of the line said. Kiba sighed.

"I thought we told you to call us by our first names? Naruto's going to be gone for a time taking care of a major contract."

The guard merely coughed in response as he eyed the two across the lobby. "Normally I would refer to you as such, but we have visitors down at the front desk and I didn't think it would be wise," he replied in a quite hushed tone that seemed rather suspicious to Kiba.

"A couple of technicians from Yakushi Technologies wanting to see the server room and considering the warning left next to the company name,” he stopped looking when one of the technicians looked towards him from where he was seated, “I thought it would be best I called. You know anything about that?"

Kiba's fatigue disappeared as he sat up straight in the chair. "Did they say why they wanted to see it?" he asked seriously. Hayate caught the change in tone and eyed Jirobo and Tayuya again.

"Something about a security update that failed to install?"

Kiba let out a low growl that had Akamaru looking up at his master. "Security updates my ass.” He motioned to Shikamaru to stay quiet and to pay attention. “Listen up. Those technicians don't go past the lobby. Stall for time while I get some things ready up here.” Shikamaru raised a brow in curiosity while Kiba pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation.

“Tell them I'll be down to meet them shortly. Oh, and call the two other guards from upstairs… Izumo and Kotetsu. I’m going to need them for a set-up."

"Will do, boss. See you in a few," he said as he hung up and turned to Jirobo and Tayuya.

"Mr. Inuzuka will see you personally as soon as he finishes up with some business." The two techs nodded and didn’t ask why it wasn’t Naruto meeting them.

* * *

Sakura stared at Naruto while he hopped into her overly pink beetle. He hated this car, it was so… god damned girly.

“So, let me get this straight.” He tried to glare at her, but he couldn’t do it seriously in his boxers with his teeth clattering from the cold air. She grinned as she heard him groan, “You’re too chicken-shit to man up and get your keys after arguing with Hinata over…?”

“Ugh…” He was going to have to tell her everything. He wasn’t looking forward to that, not one bit.

“Come on, you need to tell me if you want me to get you some clothes.” She smirked. He hated his life, so much. That gleam in her eye only meant trouble and he knew Ino was going to know everything by supper. He had to give in.

“Start driving. I’ll tell you everything and you need to make sure you keep both hands on the wheel.” He pointed at her hands while making his point. She put the Beetle in reverse and started to laugh.

“You think I’m going to beat you?” She noted a car that stopped at the end of the driveway to let her by. She didn’t recognize the driver since they were wearing shades and the windows were quite dark. She eyed her ex as he sighed again, his head drooped in defeat.

“You might,” he meekly responded. She raised a brow and shook her head, wondering just what the hell he did to be in this situation.

* * *

Hanabi watched the pink car drive away with Naruto in the passenger seat. She narrowed her eyes and frowned, wondering why the blonde was shivering and so poorly dressed. She looked up towards her sister’s house and sighed, contemplating if it was something that was fixable. Naruto looked absolutely miserable and worried.

She pulled into the driveway, climbed out of her car and took in a deep breath. She had to break the news to her sister that their father was in the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s and that she needed to sign some paperwork while he was still lucid.

She made her way to the front door and debated in knocking, but decided she wanted to surprise her older sister. She pushed the door open and was a bit surprised to hear nothing, but a soft sob in the darkness of the hallway. She quickly made her way through and stopped a moment, noticing half of Hinata’s orange ottoman sticking out of the guest room.

She wasn’t one to question her sister’s odd habits, so she ignored it and knocked on her sister’s bedroom door.

* * *

"If they sent techs, then they're probably the same ones that I had that skirmish with earlier," commented Shikamaru as he walked side by side with Kiba towards the security room. "If I can get a good look at their faces, I can figure out exactly who I'm dealing with." Kiba tossed a light wind breaker on without breaking his stride.

"Good. The more we have on these guys, the better.” He looked around for his mutt, but it wasn’t following him. “I've got Kotetsu and Izumo downstairs getting your plan ready. I don't intend to let them anywhere near our system again," he growled. Coming to an abrupt halt, he turned to his genius friend with a frown. "You'll be okay operating the cameras, right?"

Shikamaru scoffed with a smirk. "I think I can handle myself, Kiba. You just worry about getting those technicians out of here." Kiba gave a feral grin and whistled for his dog.

"I've got it easy. For once, I'm actually glad for that damned contract." Akamaru appeared from Naruto's office while Kiba zipped up the jacket halfway. "You want fish for lunch? I'm running by the Japanese take-out place and grabbing some teriyaki and rice for myself."

The lazy man shrugged and unlocked the security room with the key Kiba had given him and stepped inside. "Sounds good, just make sure it’s not that smelly fish. Something about it rubs me the wrong way." Kiba made a disgusted sound and nodded his head. Before the door could close, the dog owner caught it with his foot and stuck his head inside.

"Hey Shika? Thanks for all this on the down-low man.” He grinned, “As soon as we deal with all this, Naruto will hire on your company for our IT support," he added in confirmation.

Shikamaru smirked. "Nara Corporate Solutions is all about working in the shadows." For some odd reason, Kiba couldn’t help but laugh at the company motto.

* * *

There was nothing confidence inspiring about the situation as Sakura slowed down and pulled onto the highway shoulder; the way her fist gripped the steering wheel, the odd growl vibrating in her throat and the twitch in her brow.

“N-n-now, Sakura.” Naruto could feel the killing intent seeping out of her pores. Her face was hidden by her vibrant pink hair, but his fear was apparent; translucent even, as he would later describe to his grand-children.

“You…” she said in a low threatening tone he had no intentions of ignoring. He quickly calculated how fast he could get to his home half naked and bare footed from here, but he was sure Sakura would find a way to run him down several times before getting there.

“I-I-I d-didn’t-t-t mean to!” he stuttered out, his heart beat was out of control. He could have sworn he heard the wheel snap under her fists. He’d done it now.

“You fucking shoved her off?” she yelled. Loudly. To the point his ears were ringing mercilessly. He crouched into himself, waiting for the onslaught of punches, but they never came. She continued to glare that evil stare that made his skin crawl in fear.

“She kissed me out of the blue!” he tried to defend, but she wouldn’t hear any of it. She threw the car back in gear and peeled out of the parked spot, muttering things that she would do to him once she got home. He blanched and prayed to whatever god that was sympathetic to his cause.

“I can’t believe you,” she ranted. “I should drive you right back there, march you in and throw you in front of her, begging for her forgiveness, you ass,” she seethed. He cringed, knowing full well she wasn’t joking.

“Please don’t, I need time to-” She shot him another glare that forced him to gulp. The car swerved and she swore under her breath again.

“Every one of you! All the fucking same.” He felt completely defeated. “You need to man-up, Naruto. She’s not something you should throw aside,” she spat out. The sting of her words hit both of them. She herself had been used and thrown away and in-turn, she had used and thrown aside Naruto. The cycle continued.

Not if she had any say in the matter!

“I’m not going to do that… I’m just not sure if she’s-” he struggled a moment on how to explain it without it coming out the wrong way.

“I just want to make sure it’s her that wants this, and not her memories,” he mumbled out, embarrassed a little at the admission. Sakura looked away from the road a moment in shock at the blonde’s confession.

“You like her?” She was a bit uncomfortable with the discussion considering that she still fiercely loved him, but they had agreed a long time ago that they were not a good fit. No matter how much they wanted to be together.

“Yeah, I think I do.” He shivered, reached over and turned up the heat. “But I fucked up major.” He leaned his head against the window pane and stared at the glove compartment. His thoughts wandered back to Hinata’s crying face and the void of emotion in her eyes as the fight ended.

How was he going to drag her out of that wall again. He’d managed to get really close this one time, but completely screwed up. Sakura heard him sigh; his finger drew an endless circle on the pane. He was so pathetic.

“You’re pathetic.” He shot her a dirty look without lifting his head from the pane. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “If she’s figuring out her feelings, there’s no way you could have screwed up that bad,” she chastised softly. Her heart was going out to him, this was where they split apart, and she was going to be a memory for him.

“I don’t know, something about the way she ended the argument,” he reminisced. “She bowed to me.” Sakura raised a brow and pressed her lips together.

“Her voice had no emotions, her eyes were completely…” He couldn’t even finish his sentence. There was an ache in his chest when he thought about her eyes. He needed to get her back, needed to have her laughing again.

“Don’t worry, we’ll figure something out, Naruto.”

They drove in silence until they reached Sakura’s apartment.

* * *

Hanabi stared at the lump her sister represented. She wasn’t impressed.

“Get dressed. Father is requesting your presence.” She kicked her sister’s foot and Hinata only ignored her. She was positive she saw the older girl blink, so there was no way she was dead. Her skin looked abused, it was red and puffy, her hair was a complete mess and she was still dressed in her pyjamas.

“What happened? I saw Naruto leave with Sakura.” This question seemed to have stir life back into the heiress.

“Sakura?” she asked meekly, her voice raw from all her crying. Hanabi raised a brow, wondering what had her sister in such a mess.

“Yes, she picked him up. In his boxers, mind you.” She narrowed her eyes as Hinata sat up from her position on the floor. She had laid down after sliding down the door. Her sister had forcibly pushed her away when she entered her room. Hinata brought her hands to her face and rubbed in frustration.

‘Of course he’d call her, she’s the love of his life,’ she thought jealously before being able to shake the feeling away. She had no business being jealous; she was not worthy of him, of his sunshine or his nectar. She sighed and Hanabi shook her head.

“What happened?” she asked again, slightly amused that her sister seemed to have completely lost control on the situation. She’d have to thank Neji later for this devilish plan. Hinata eyed her younger sister and repressed the urge to hit a few disabling pressure points she could reach. That smirk meant something was going as planned.

She hated her siblings.

“Why does father need to see me?” she casually asked, uninterested. Since her father had been diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s, he’d kept himself in isolation, only seeing Neji to sign documentation.

“He’s not doing very well,” the younger Hyuuga replied while she watched her sister strip off the pyjama and pick more suitable clothing for the meeting. Not quite formal, not quite casual. She had great taste in clothes.

“How so?”

“He’s having a lot of emotional lapses and it’s worrisome.”

“Emotional lapses?” Hinata almost laughed. Her father was the biggest emotional-retard she had ever the displeasure of being exposed to since her accident. Although she sympathized with him a little, she was also suffering from emotional lapses.

“Yes, he’s affected more so in that aspect then in memory.” She looked away from her sister and looked around her room, it was quaint, cozy and somehow it was ridiculously messy. “It sort of reminds me of that Bendii Syndrome.”

“The what?” her elder sister asked, genuinely confused.

“Never mind.” Hanabi shook her head. She’d forgotten her sister had lived under a rock and never watched Star Trek. Hinata shrugged and pulled the sweater over her head, walked over to her desk and picked up her brush. She looked at her face in the mirror and sighed; she was puffy and unattractive.

“That still doesn’t answer my original question.” She eyed her sister from the reflection of the mirror, Hanabi almost looked sad.

“He’s been asking for you.” She looked away from Hinata and considered making the bed. “He’s been thinking a lot about our mother.”

Hinata froze a moment in mid stroke, her gaze questioning her sister for more information. Hanabi walked over to the bed and shook the blankets free from their tangles, smoothing out the wrinkles as she laid out the sheets.

“He’s been lost in the past; asking where you are, where our mother is and he won’t stop apologizing.” Her voice wavered a little by the end. It was sad to see her father’s strong independent mind get eaten by such a cruel disease.

“Apologizing?” her sister asked again, her voice was laced with worry. Hanabi only nodded as she laid down the heavier blankets, the goose feather duvet fluffed to a more respectable state.

“Yes, I would rather not tell you more, sister.” She turned towards Hinata, who was wrapping her long tresses in a constricting bun. She hated that bun, but her sister wouldn’t change the habit.

“Ok, I will meet with him and see what the problem is.” Hanabi gave her a small smile that confused Hinata.

‘I think you’ll be saddened by what he has to say, sister,’ was the last thought the youngest Hyuuga had before she followed Hinata out of the front door.

* * *

“Okay, one last check; you both know the plan, right?” Kiba asked Kotetsu and Izumo.

The shorter of the two men sighed and fidgeted slightly in the unfamiliar clothing he was wearing. Kotetsu still wore the bandage over the bridge of his nose like usual, but he’d changed out of his security uniform and into one of Naruto’s spare sets of clothes along with his partner’s bandana at Kiba’s behest.

“Yeah, sure thing boss. Got it right and tight,” he said evenly. “What I don’t know is why I got picked to be the one in handcuffs,” he grumbled as he held up his bound wrists in front of him.

Kiba blinked at the man in amazement while Izumo stifled a chuckle from behind Kotetsu. Crossing his arms across his chest, he grinned slightly and spoke as if to a child.

“Why Kotetsu, isn’t it obvious? It’s because you fit the bill! After all, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck…” he let the axiom drift off while the bound man’s partner in crime finally let out a guffaw. Kotetsu sighed with resignation and frustration.

“Are you comparing me to a duck, Kiba?” His superior slapped him heartily on the shoulder while keeping his grin in place.

“Of course not, Kotetsu! Why are you even complaining anyway? You’re getting paid for this on top of a free lunch,” the dog owner commented while Akamaru woofed in agreement, causing the usually carefree man to groan in defeat.

The guard turned actor looked back at his friend and rolled his eyes. “Let’s just get this over with. Oh, and if you tell Naruto what I did, you’re going to fucking regret it,” he threatened.

Izumo just laughed and started to push him towards the door leading to the lobby. “Yeah, yeah. Save all those menacing glares for our guests, eh?”

* * *

“What the hell is taking this guy so damn long?” Tayuya grumbled to the large man sitting next to her. Jirobo shook his head, but didn’t bother to chastise her on her language.

“Who knows?” he said with a hint of exasperation. He was getting a little irked with her behaviour.

A few more seconds passed before the red head got to her feet and began pacing the lobby impatiently. Hayate watched the foul-mouthed woman with veiled amusement as he waited for Kiba to finally come down from whatever it was that he was doing. He hoped it was soon; he didn’t think the fiery red head would be able to hold her temper in check much longer.

As if answering his prayers, the side door leading to the lobby opened to reveal Kiba and his huge white dog Akamaru. Tayuya spun on her heel and faced the acting president with annoyance.

“About fucking time…” the guard heard her mumble under her breath. Jirobo got to his feet and began walking towards Kiba with a professional smile on his face.

“Mr. Inuzuka I presume?” he asked. A very annoyed looking Kiba gave a curt nod and offered his hand to the technician.

“That’s correct. I apologize for making you wait for so long…” Kiba glanced down at the nametag on the uniform the man wore “Jirobo, but I had to finish dealing with a vandal. I’m really not surprised to see you guys here right now considering what happened. How’d you find out about the damage so quickly?” he asked, managing to keep a professional expression on his face despite his apathy for the people standing in front of him. Hayate gave his boss a strange look behind their guests’ backs since he knew that Kiba had caused that damage himself.

Jirobo looked confused, but it was Tayuya that spoke first. “What the hell are you talking about?” Kiba gave her a genuinely surprised look before glancing back towards her co-worker.

“You didn’t know? Well, I guess I’ll fill you in,” he said as the side door opened once more, causing Kiba to turn back. “Ah… here’s the culprit now.” From the doorway stumbled Kotetsu as he was pushed by Izumo, followed closely by Shikamaru holding a pair of tapes and wearing Kotetsu’s uniform with his normal bored expression.

“Hey you ass! Quit pushing!” exclaimed the bound man with a scowl. Izumo looked unimpressed as he grabbed the other man by the arm and lead him towards the front doors.

“Shut it. Being pushed around is the least of your worries where you’re going. I don’t know where in the ‘prison bitch’ hierarchy vandals are, but I’m pretty sure it’s not the top,” he said with a laugh as he pushed open the double doors and took him outside.

Tayuya and Jirobo turned back to Kiba with renewed curiosity. “What happened?” asked the stout man. Kiba ignored the question and turned to Shikamaru, who’d walked up next to his friend instead of following the others out, and took one of the tapes he was holding.

“This the one we were gonna take to Y.T. after we took him to the station?” he asked. Shikamaru only nodded in response before turning towards the elevator, not sparing the two technicians a second glance. He’d already memorized their faces. Kiba held the tape out to Jirobo and began explaining.

“Early this morning, that man you just saw, broke into our server room and took an axe to the main server line.” The larger man raised a brow and tried not to laugh. His partner narrowed her eyes, knowing full well he was laughing at her. Kiba missed the quiet communication as he swept his hand towards the man being handled roughly into his car. “This tape is a copy of the security camera feed from that room that we were going to bring to you so that you could have it for your records since the servers fall under your aegis.” Jirobo took the tape and examined it momentarily before focusing on the other man again. Kiba grimaced and continued.

“Unfortunately, I can’t allow you to enter the room until the police can do a full investigation, so I’m sorry to say that your trip out here was in vain.”

Jirobo gave a nod and a smile. “I understand completely. I’ll be sure to pass this along to my boss along with the situation.” He offered his hand for another handshake, which Kiba gave quickly. “I appreciate your time Mr. Inuzuka. Just give us a call whenever the police clear the room and we’ll have your servers back up in no time.” Giving a short farewell to the other man, he shot Tayuya a look that clearly told her to keep her comments to herself and leave quickly.

Hayate blinked as the crowd of people left his lobby empty. He was confused to say the least and he’d been left completely out of the loop.

“Just another day, at Rasengan Landscape.” he mumbled before sitting down and picking up his paper again.

* * *

:o R&R~