Hello everyone! I'm back! The last several months have been hell for me, but I'm finally getting back on my feet and decided to give this story a test run.
The Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office is actually a real organization; they are the Japanese equivalent of the CIA, hence why they deal with international criminals and such. I didn't really feel like adding the proper measuring units for this story because it's like 5am and I want to go to bed. Also, if I have grammar errors and/or spelling errors, it's also the same reason.
It's rated M for a reason (for possible lemon and guaranteed violence and language).
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Naruto characters.
Chapter One: A New Case
"You're late, again." Sakura stated without looking at up from where she was crouched.
"Yeah, well…" A male voice sounded sheepish behind her.
"I don't want to hear it, Kakashi," she sighed as she stood up and faced her old mentor; he wore his grey hair in a gravity defying style, as always, an eye patch covering his left eye, and a mask covering the lower portion of his face, though she didn't know why he wore it. He wore the standard police uniform, a dark blue suit with a black flak vest on top, despite the fact that he was part of the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office. "Looks like we have another murder. The Americans are not going to be happy about this one…"
"Just the one then?" Kakashi asked as he looked around; the furniture and fixtures were all knocked over, there were holes in the walls, and the windows were shattered. "Any witnesses?"
Sakura shook her head. "I'm afraid not. The security cameras were all destroyed and the footage taken."
"What about the body," he asked again, ignoring the sudden rush of inspectors that burst into the main room.
"Already at headquarters." She pulled out her digital camera and handed it to him so he could inspect the photos. "Three shots to the chest and direct trauma to the head. The suspect used the victim's laptop."
"It's messier than the last one," Kakashi stated quietly. "The victim might have had a personal attachment to him."
Sakura placed a hand on her hip and checked her phone for messages. "That, or this one fought back. Shizune is searching the body now."
"Hm." He handed back the camera and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I was a little shocked to see you here, Sakura. Normally Tsunade doesn't give you field time."
"Normally that's the case, but Naruto, Sasuke, and Lee are waiting for the American inspectors at the airport." She signaled for him to follow her to the bedroom. "I got sick of sitting in that lab so I decided to persuade Tsunade to let me out tonight."
"And how did you do that?" Amusement lacing his voice.
Sakura smirked. "It's amazing what she'll do to get the key to her liquor cabinet."
Kakashi chuckled softly as they entered the room. He whistled at the size of the giant bedroom while Sakura dug in her bag and pulled out a small pair of tweezers and an evidence bag. She went over to the open window and began picking up some of the rocks off the floor, inspecting them for anything out of the ordinary. Behind her, Kakashi did the same as he searched the bed and nightstands. After a few minutes, Sakura stood and glanced at the window frame and widened her eyes slightly.
"Kakashi," she said in a hushed voice.
He came over to her side and Sakura pointed out the torn black cloth that had caught on a nail. After she put it in the bag, she pulled out her phone and quickly dialed Shizune's number, leaving Kakashi by the window.
As it rang, Sakura put the cloth in the bag, adjusted her pants, and pushed a few strands of pink hair behind her ear.
"Hello?" Shizune's soft voice answered.
"Hey, Shizune, it's me." Sakura paused for a second. "Have you found anything on the body yet?"
She huffed a little before answering in a bored tone. "Not really, just some slight bruises here and there."
I knew it…Sakura thought to herself. "Hmm, did you check under his nails? Maybe in his mouth?"
"Give me a second." There was a shuffling sound coming her end for a couple of minutes before she said anything again. "There's some dirt and…what the hell…"
"What is it?" Sakura asked in a slightly panicked tone.
"I just found—"
"Haruno! Hatake!" Choji's voice shouted from the bathroom.
"I'll call you back, Shizune." Sakura rushed as she closed her phone and ran with Kakashi to the bathroom.
The chubby Choji stood in front of the mirror, confusion and shock etched into his face. Kakashi entered before her and instantly went rigid, his one visible grey eye wide with horror. Sakura slipped in beside Kakashi and looked at the mirror; on it, in blood, was a drawing of a cloud.
Kakashi snapped out of his reverie and handed Sakura her camera. The air around him became serious and he quickly began barking out orders while he dialed a number on his phone.
"Sakura, take a picture of this and when you're done, check it for finger prints." His voice was solid and cold. "Choji, take some of the officers with you and check the perimeter."
"Yes, sir." Choji and Sakura voiced in unison as they followed their orders.
Sakura stood at an angle from the mirror so her image couldn't be seen in the picture; she then put the camera in her bag and pulled out a small brush and a tiny container of grey powder, and applied it to the visible fingerprints in the blood. After putting those tools away, she then pulled out a fingerprint lifting pad that was about an inch long and carefully pressed it against the print. When she lifted it, there was an exact copy of it on the tape and Sakura sealed it to the attached pad and placed it into a small bag before turning to Kakashi, who was talking on his cell phone.
"Genma," he sounded irritated. "Listen, I need you to bring up the Akatsuki files…I don't care how long it's been, just do what you're told…Damn it, Genma, if you don't pull up those fucking files I will tell Tsunade about your porn collection stashed in your desk…That's more like it."
Sakura raised an eyebrow at him. "He has a porn collection in his desk?"
He shrugged. "I was only bluffing…"
"Well, let's get to the lab." She said as she put the finger print in her bag. "I want to get a look at the body before the Americans get there."
Sasuke rolled his eyes at his partner's antics; Naruto was once again badgering him about going out to bar with him over the weekend. However, he didn't seem to realize that he didn't enjoy those environments as much as his co-workers did; Sasuke released his stress through physical training that normally left him sweaty and strained.
"Aah," Naruto started complaining again. "When will these guys get here?"
Sasuke shook his head and again smirked at his friend's choice of attire; a pair of jeans and an orange button up shirt that barely covered up the black tee-shirt underneath that had a picture of a bowl of ramen on it. Though he supposed it was better than Lee's green suit. Sasuke looked down at his own black suit and ran a hand through his blue-black hair.
He looked at his watch and sighed heavily. Though he hated to admit it, Naruto was right; the flight they were waiting for was late. He leaned against the black Range Rover and momentarily thought about what Sakura might be doing, but quickly banished those thoughts from his mind.
"Seriously, Sasuke," Naruto turned to Sasuke with a Cheshire grin on his face. "You should come with us. Sakura sometimes comes, and she wears these cute little outfits that show off her—"
Sasuke shut him up by waving him off, now wasn't the time he wanted to think about their pink haired co-worker in little outfits that showed off anything, he had to keep his mind on the job. He thought about the case that she and Kakashi were working on and a feeling of jealousy twisted his stomach, a feeling he discarded without so much as a second a thought.
Naruto's phone rang, an obnoxious American song that made Sasuke cringe, and he answered with an equally annoying greeting.
"SAKU!" He all but shouted into his phone. "Whatcha doin'?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes and looked at his own phone for a moment before closing his eyes.
"Oh dude, that's not cool…" Naruto muttered. "At least you got some solid evidence. Hey, just a shot in the dark, but are you joining us at the bar on Saturday?...Awesome!...Ok, Sakura, talk to you later." Naruto put his phone away with a giant grin on his face and nudged Sasuke, who glared back. "Come on, man, you have to come, just this once."
"No." Sasuke answered, m ore irritated than ever.
"Please?" He pleaded with his hands together and his bottom lip puffed out. "If you don't have fun, I'll never bother you about it again."
Sasuke sighed in defeat. "Fine."
"Yes." Naruto fisted the air and continued to grin.
"Hey guys," Lee said enthusiastically, "they're here!"
"Finally!" Naruto shouted and the three of them stood straight as a small personal jet landed in the distance.
Sasuke quietly agreed with Naruto as the jet came closer to them and stopped at a closed terminal. Some of the workers rushed over with a staircase and lined it up with the door before it opened. Three agents came out of the plane, two well dressed males and an angry looking female with auburn hair. The three approached them, each with a similar professional demeanor.
Naruto shook hands with the eldest looking of the three first and he introduced himself with an even tone.
"I'm William," he said in English. "The man to my left is James and the lady to my right is Amy. I apologize for the delay; we had to avoid a storm on the way here."
Thankfully, both Sasuke and Naruto were both fluent in English and introduced themselves, Lee however just stood in his spot and bowed when his name was spoken. All three of the American agents paused when they looked at Lee, and the one named James seemed to be trying to hold back laughter.
"We're sorry for this," Naruto commented with a grim look on his face. "We have put our best on this case."
William inclined his head just a bit as they all entered the vehicle, with Sasuke behind the wheel, and drove away from the airport. The drive was quiet, no one seemed inclined to talk, which was fine for Sasuke. After what seemed like an eternity, they reached the Naichō headquarters, a large heavily secured building surrounded by a thick gate. As they reached the gate, Sasuke flashed his card to the guard and waited for the gate to open so he could drive through.
Moments later, Sasuke and the others were escorting the American agents into their building, passing many of their own, who stopped and stared, to the morgue. Sasuke rolled his eyes at them and continued on his path, quickly glancing into the lab, only to see Shikamaru with his face buried in a microscope.
She must still be in the field then…he thought to himself as they turned left and into a large elevator.
Once they were all in the elevator, Lee pressed the button for the floor with the morgue in it and it shook slightly as it began its decent. After a few seconds, the door opened behind them and they all exited into a long, white hallway. As they walked, their footsteps echoed down the corridor and it wasn't long before they could hear water running and the sound of two women talking. The hallway instantly opened up into a large room with three metal beds in the center, a sink and shelf of surgical tools on one side, and two walls with freezers lining them.
Cleaning off the recently used metal bed was the dark haired Shizune wearing a white lab jacket and Sakura, who wore a similar jacket and her beautiful pink hair in a ponytail, was at the sink washing her hands. Shizune was the first to look up and notice them enter, but she just smiled and straightened up. Sakura turned and quickly rushed to greet them, her hands help up by her head.
"Ah, you must be the American agents," She spoke in flawless English and ignored the shocked looks the agents gave her. "I'm Sakura Haruno, I would shake your hands, but they haven't been sanitized yet." The three nodded, but said nothing. "The body is in the freezer and if you'd like, I can give you a copy of the evidence we have collected."
"That would be greatly appreciated," William inclined his head.
Sakura turned to Shizune and spoke in Japanese. "Can you open the freezer for them?"
Shizune nodded; she only spoke a little English and didn't mind not having to deal with the other agents. She walked over to the freezer behind her and opened up a door in the middle row and slid out the body of an older man; the side of his head was heavily damaged and pale skin seemed to be covered in dark bruises. Sakura took Shizune's place and pulled down the sheet, covering his body, and rested it on his hips.
"As you can see, his head was hit with a blunt object, which happened to be his laptop; we believe that to be the cause of his death." She pointed out three bullet wounds in his chest. "These here were shot after his death and were shot fairly close to the victim."
William nodded, studying the body closely.
Sasuke looked up at Sakura and saw how her delicate pink brows twitched slightly when she pulled up his hands and her eyes flickered to meet his own gaze, and he instantly dropped his gaze back to the body.
"As you can see, his nails are chipped and some fingers are broken." She set his hand down carefully and opened his mouth. "He is also missing some teeth. He must have put up quite a fight…"
"If you don't mind," William said in a monotone, "I'd like to perform an autopsy on this body while we are here."
"By all means," Sakura nodded and put the sheet back over the body before sliding him back into the freezer. "Now, if you'll just give me one second, I'll clean up and we can head to the lab and we can go over the evidence we gathered at the scene. Tomorrow we'll visit the scene of the crime so we can go over it together, if you'd like."
William nodded again and Sakura walked over to the sink, her heels clicking against the tile floor loudly. She washed her hands momentarily and took off her white jacket, revealing a thin red button up shirt that hugged her slim waist and chest and tucked into her black chic Larisa pants, which only he recognized because he went with her to buy them, and he remembered them being ridiculously expensive. He averted his gaze when he saw how those pants fit so snuggly to her shapely ass and looked over at James, who was openly checking her out. Sasuke decided then that he didn't like James.
Sakura hung her jacket on a hook beside the sink and whipped around, her long pink tresses swing around her head in the process. She walked past them and led the way back to the elevator. Sasuke stood beside her, and her hips brushed against his hand as she leaned forward to press the main floor button, and he went rigid when she bumped him from the elevator shaking.
"We should get that looked at," Naruto mumbled to himself, but Lee laughed out at the comment, causing Amy to jump and hug the bar she had been leaning against.
The doors opened and everyone rushed out and Sakura continued to lead the way to the lab. Shikamaru was still standing at the microscope when they entered the quiet room; Sakura tapped on his shoulder and he looked up, his expression bored as always.
"What do you have?" Sakura asked him in a kind tone.
He sighed and hit a few keys on the computer attached to the microscope, bringing up a photo of what he had been looking at on a large screen against the wall. Everyone's attention went to the blue substance it was showing.
"These are the skin cells that we found under the victim's nails," Sakura stated. "We ran some tests and the blue pigmentation is only ink; our suspect had large portions of his skin tattooed blue. We also found the victim's blood on the mirror in the bathroom drawn in the shape of a cloud."
"A cloud?" Amy asked, skeptical.
"Yes." Sakura nodded. "Naruto, can you find Kakashi and ask him to bring me the copy of the victim's file, please?"
Naruto nodded and rushed out of the door, glad to be out of the lab.
"Have you identified the suspect?" James asked, his eyes still taking in Sakura's appearance.
Sakura smiled and turned to the computer and pulled up a picture of their suspect, a blue skinned man with gill tattoos under his eyes and white contacts in. "His name is Kisame Hoshigaki, a member of the terrorist organization known as the Akatsuki; their symbol being a red cloud." Sakura brought the other files on the screen as she went through the list of the members. "There are seven known members, though there are believed to be more; each just as deadly as the last. There is Kisame himself, our primary suspect. Deidara, an explosive expert. Sasori Akasuna, a mass murderer from Iran. Hidan, a Jashinist, a religion that requires human sacrifices. Kakuzu, a man who rips open the chests of his victims and rips out their still beating hearts. Zetsu, a man with a severe case of multi-personality disorder and schizophrenia." Sakura took up a deep breath and looked Sasuke, who grew more agitated by each second that passed by, in the eyes before bringing up the last file. "And then there is Itachi Uchiha, a man who slaughtered his family in one night…leaving one survivor."
The Americans turned their heads to Sasuke, who glared daggers at the picture of his older brother. Thankfully, Naruto entered the room at that moment, the file in his hands and gave it to William, who instantly opened and thumbed through pictures of the scene, evidence, victim, and copies of their test results, suspect, and the files on the other members of the Akatsuki.
"Naruto," Sakura looked to her friend, her voice an octave higher than normal, "can you take them to Kakashi? He can fill you all in about everything else."
Naruto nodded, pouting slightly for having to go back to where he just came from. Once they were all out of the lab, Sakura minimized the files and walked up to Sasuke, taking his hands into her own. Sasuke barely felt her warm hands in his, his eyes still glued to the screen, though his brother's picture was no longer up there. He knew his eyes were burning with rage and his skin was on fire. So, he stormed out of the lab and to the stairs, Sakura hot on his heels.
"Sasuke," She called after him as he took each step two at time. "Sasuke, wait."
Sasuke stopped before he reached the landing for the second floor. He felt hands wrap around his waist and Sakura's head rest between his shoulder blades.
"Sasuke," she spoke softly into his shirt. "I know it's hard, and I'm here for you. You don't have to be alone…"
Sasuke didn't talk or move for several moments, but rather enjoyed the feeling of Sakura pressed against him in such a comfortable way. He could feel her heart beat on his back and he slowed his heart of match it and dropped his head slightly; he was too tired to fight her right now, so he gave her this one victory.
The silence between the two was disturbed by the sound of Sakura's phone vibrating in her pocket. Sasuke heard her huff in annoyance, a sound he couldn't help but smirk at, and let him go to answer it. He turned around the moment she let him and watched the emotions spread over her beautiful face.
"Hello?" Her voice dripped with irritation. "Yes, this is her."
In the next second, Sasuke watched the blood drain from her face and she dropped her phone with a loud thud. Her breathing became labored and she seemed to be lost in a world of her own.
"Sakura?" Sasuke asked, concern shaking his voice slightly, just slightly. "Sakura, what is it?"
She looked up at him, her emerald eyes shimmering with tears that were already streaming down her cheeks. She shook her head and began backing down the stairs slowly. Sasuke picked up her phone off the floor and followed Sakura.
"Who was it, Sakura?" He repeated himself again, something he really hated doing.
"It's my mom…" She said her voice quiet and broken. "She's…she's…"
I apologize if it sucked. My sleep deprived mind came up with this while listening to Warrior's Dance by Prodigy.
Please Read and Review so I can decide to continue with the story or not.
With Love and Gratitude,
~Ell