Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or its characters. They belong to Kishimoto.

So this is a modern mafia/police/detective AU with a dash of florist/tattoo artist AU. It's SasuNaruSasu as well as SakuHina, but there'll be a hint of NaruSaku and SasuSaku in the beginning; there's SakuIno/InoSaku at first too, if you squint. Established bisexual!Sakura. A transgender character (Fuu) will be featured. Also be prepared for angst and drama.

Warnings: character death, kinda-spoilers, violence, drug and alcohol use, and adult scenes in the future. Oh, and gay couples, but if that bothers you, you probably shouldn't be on ff dot net.

Chapter One

"... and he gave off this incredible aura. He felt almost dangerous, but in a good way. Sharp and cold, you know? Oh, and he was so good-looking. I bet he's broken plenty of hearts with that face."

Naruto tried hard to listen to his pink-haired friend's rambling - he really did - but felt himself zone out regardless. She was in love with yet another mysterious stranger that she had apparently spotted in an old-fashioned cafe near the town square. These crushes rarely lasted over a few weeks, and after seven he couldn't bring himself to care anymore. He would only get jealous. After all, he'd been secretly crushing on his childhood friend for years.

The two of them were sitting across from each other at a table in a pita place (called The Leaf, one of their favorite places to eat lunch). Around them customers bustled by, the store surprisingly crowded for a Monday afternoon. He looked up as Sakura finished her lengthy description of the "dreamy guy" and grinned in response.

"Who knows, maybe you'll have a chance this time," he joked, tilting his head slightly and taking another bite of his pita. "Meeting someone at a cafe can only be fate, according to your mushy romance novels."

Sakura rolled her eyes, ignoring the obvious jab at her choice in literature, and put down the milkshake she had been drinking. "I only said I liked his face, idiot. He probably wouldn't look twice at me." She sighed, a bit miffed at her own comment. "It's not my fault that I have an eye for pretty things. I wish I had taken a picture of him or something, because I know you'll agree with me. Won't you?" She teased, arching an eyebrow playfully. Naruto groaned. She hadn't stopped badgering him about his sexuality ever since he turned down dating offers from girls in college. What she didn't know was that he did so because he was in love with someone else.

"I'm not gay, Sakura," he muttered, face turning red as he hoped no one around would hear their conversation. He ducked his head a bit in embarrassment. "Just because I decided not to date Ino doesn't mean anything!" She simply stared in retaliation, sucking a bit more milkshake from the straw before leaning in.

"You deciding that means everything, Naruto. Ino is hot. I would know. Plus, I know you liked her personality. There's no other explanation," she concluded. "I only broke up with her because she wanted to be with you. You also turned down Amaru, who's pretty cute, too." She looked thoughtful for a moment before lighting up in realization. "Or maybe you're asexual? Have you thought of that?"

Naruto shook his head, deciding against telling her that he never found Ino to be that attractive, especially compared to Sakura. Calling her beloved ex and friend anything less than perfect wouldn't sit well with her, and it would only convince her of his apparently questionable sexuality. "Definitely not," he replied, giving her an incredulous look. "And Amaru wasn't my type anyway."

She sighed for the second time that day and rested her head on her hand. "So what exactly is your type, then?"

You, he wanted to say, but he glanced away instead. He could feel heat pooling at his cheeks and he knew immediately that he was blushing. Trying to save face, he turned to her and grinned familiarly. "Big breasts!" he lied, gesturing to his own chest in emphasis, "And an intelligent brain." He smirked mischievously. "So basically the opposite of you." He laughed as she bristled and slugged his arm, annoyed but not offended.

"I wouldn't be going to medical school if I wasn't smart," she retorted, not bothering to defend against the breasts comment. They both knew it was the truth. The two bickered as they cleaned up the wrappers and cups before turning to leave the restaurant.

Sakura pulled open the glass door, gesturing outside with her free hand at Naruto. "Ladies first," she said with a mock politeness. He snorted in amusement and walked outside, not exactly looking ahead. He had one foot out of the doorway before he bumped into someone short. The person let out a muted squeak as they collided quite harshly, and he was surprised as well as impressed that she didn't fall over.

"Whoa, sorry!" The blond apologized, and got a better look at the girl he ran into. She was pretty, with long, dark hair and pale eyes. She wore a sleeveless lavender turtleneck that exposed her arms, which had intricate tattoos curling around them. The tattoos almost didn't match her shy, fragile-looking exterior.

Sakura's still prettier, though.

The girl didn't respond, only stared, which he found strange. Sakura peeked her head over his shoulder before weaving around him to face her.

"Are you alright?" she began, taking in the other girl's appearance. Only then did the dark-haired girl look away from Naruto, meeting Sakura's gaze and blushing.

"I-I'm fine," she stumbled out, tucking her hair behind her ear self-consciously. "It... it was my fault anyway."

The pink haired girl shook her head in reassurance, grabbing Naruto by the shoulder. "Nah, it was this goof's fault. Mine too, for distracting him." She blinked, staring at the twin lions tattooed onto her arms in various hues of blue. "Those look amazing."

The pale girl turned even redder at the compliment, inhaling sharply. "T-thank you!" she replied a bit too loudly. Sakura placed a hand on her hip and tipped her head while Naruto was bumped into from behind by an impatient man about to leave.

"Guys," he tried to cut in, noticing how the three of them were blocking the exit. "Hey-"

"I was thinking about maybe getting tattoos done," she continued, oblivious to the disturbance behind her. "Where'd you get yours?" This caused the shorter girl to tuck hair behind her other ear, fidgeting.

"Guys, um-"

"I... I did them myself," she mumbled, wringing her hands subtly. "I'm a tattoo artist." Sakura's mouth formed an "O" in surprise.

"Really?" she exclaimed, leaning forward a bit. "That's incredible! Where do you work?"

The other girl giggled at her excitement, relaxing slightly. "A place called Eighth Trigram Ink. It's near the old hotel."

Sakura made a thoughtful noise as she made a mental note. "And who should I ask for?" she asked, smiling politely.

"H-Hinata Hyuuga."

"Hey!" an irritated voice sounded from inside the diner. "Hurry the hell up!" Naruto cringed, releasing a plethora of apologies as he shoved Sakura out of the way. She didn't seem to notice as she kept her eyes trained on Hinata.

"Thanks! I'll be sure to stop by sometime," she promised, waving goodbye as the blond dragged her away down the sidewalk. "What?" she quipped at him when she noticed him glaring at her. He sighed, letting go of her shoulder.

"Nothing," he grumbled, and the two walked down the street at a languid pace. After a full minute of silence, he whipped his head to the side to face her. "Since when did you want tattoos?" he said, exasperated. This girl can fall in love with anyone at first sight... except me, he growled in his head sullenly.

"For a while now," she replied, rolling her eyes at him. "And don't be like that. She was cute."

"I thought she was kind of weird," he muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets. Sakura made a noise of protest beside him.

"Wha- no she wasn't!" she shook her head in disbelief. "See? This is what I'm talking about. You're not into girls at all!"

"I'm into a girl!" he claimed, turning his head to her indignantly.

She scoffed, crossing her arms. "Yeah, right. Who?"

He opened his mouth to snap at her, then closed it, ears turning red. He couldn't say it. "I'm not going to tell you, Sakura."

Under his breath, he cursed his luck.

After walking Sakura back to her campus, they parted ways and he headed down to his workplace. Or rather, one of his many workplaces.

When he arrived, the car repair shop was chaotic. Bottles were strewn about everywhere, some of them broken, and their small TV was blaring, set to the local Konoha City News. It looked like his boss, Jiraiya, was out at the moment because his three coworkers had thrashed the place. The smell of alcohol weighed heavily in the air and Lee, a crazy green-clad coworker, was bouncing off of the walls.

"Yo, Naruto!" A clearly drunk ponytailed boy slurred, leaning heavily on a truck. "Wha's up?"

The blond boy chuckled nervously, waving lightly. "Hey, Shikamaru. Where's Jiraiya?"

"Jiraiya's out of town for a while," a chubby man answered, preferring the bag of chips in his hand over the bottles on the table beside him. "And he left Tsunade in charge."

That explains a lot, Naruto reckoned, picking up a bottle to inspect it. "What's he doing?" he asked absentmindedly while studying the label with fleeting curiosity. Beer. Not exactly up his alley, but he could drink a bit.

Chouji, the man still eating from the bag of potato chips, shrugged noncommittally. "Who knows; he never tells us about these things. But at least he turns a blind eye to our parties to make up for it." Naruto looked up from the bottle he was holding and snorted in amusement.

"We can hardly call this a 'party'," he responded, deciding against drinking for the night. He had a shift at a diner in a few hours. "And who's taking care of the cars today? Aren't we in business?"

Shikamaru flopped onto the hood of the truck lazily, spilling a bit of the beer in his hand. "It's been slow today," he tried his best to explain, eyes falling closed. He waved his arm in dismissal. "And we already fixed up the cars here."

Peering around, Naruto saw that he was right; other than the clear mess, their customer's cars were looking better than ever. He nodded appreciatively, placing his hands on his hips. "Cool," he stated, impressed, before glancing down at his watch. Four hours until his shift. He could either kill some time with his coworkers or get the next job done early.

His thoughts were interrupted as the already loud television flooded the room with the sound of sirens. Three heads snapped up to the screen in time to see a masked man in a black hoodie shoot down a few more officers before racing down an alley. The camera shook as the reporter ran with the rest of the police force after him, rambling all the way.

"A-an unidentified Akatsuki member has been discovered in Northeast Konoha!" the voice said breathlessly, huffing to keep up. The fugitive didn't glance back once as bullets were fired at him, all missing their target. He was steadily getting away, disappearing into the night. "Three victims were shot dead, and one is currently missing. All four had been working with the police before the attack. We still don't know how they obtained such information, but it is very likely that..."

Naruto tuned out the sounds of running and gunshots, trying to focus on something else. Shikamaru must have noticed because he motioned for Lee to switch off the television before turning concerned (and drunk) eyes to the blond.

"You're almost there, Naruto," he mumbled in consolation. "Just a month and a half, yeah? You've survived for a year like this, so that's nothin'." He awkwardly patted his shoulder to cheer him up. "Then you can leave us to do your fancy detective work."

The blue-eyed boy laughed bitterly. "Yeah," he sighed, "but that's only if the residence is still available and if they accept me into their department." He groaned in exhaustion, rubbing his face. "That old man had better not sell it to anyone else. God knows how much work I've done to get it."

Chouji swallowed a mouthful of barbecue chips before chiming in thoughtfully. "Sarutobi knew your dad really well though; he wouldn't sell it to anyone but you." Hopping up on the hood of the truck next to Shikamaru, he stared at Naruto incredulously. "The real question is if you'll survive or not, though. The Akatsuki and the other gangs aren't exactly going easy on the police, and if they somehow find out about your dad, you'll be a target for sure." Shikamaru grunted his agreement, already almost half-asleep, and the blond haired boy bristled a bit at the remark.

"Of course I'll survive," he repeated mockingly, crossing his arms and leaning down to sit on a chair. "And I'm willing to take risks if I can help finish what my dad started. I didn't heal from these-" he gestured to the scars on his cheeks, "-for nothing. Besides, I've always known that I wanted to do the same job my dad did." Some vengeance would also be satisfying, he thought to himself bitterly. Shikamaru grunted again, not even bothering to sit up as he lit a cigarette and took a drag.

Puffing out a lungful of smoke, he closed his eyes, seemingly thinking to himself. "Is there any way to hide your relation to Minato, d'you think?" Opening his eyes to slits, he brought the cigarette to his mouth again but kept it hovered millimeters above his lips. "I mean, you've already changed your last name but someone's bound to notice the resemblance. Not to mention the fact that you're buying back his old place." He let out a tired groan and flung an arm over his eyes, the cigarette forgotten. "So troublesome. Can't you jus' rent an apartment?" Chouji was silent and stopped eating, sneaking a glance at Naruto's conflicted expression.

"Shika-" he began, but the blond cut him off impatiently.

"I have to live there," he insisted, shifting to straddle the chair backwards and resting his arms on the backrest. He couldn't make eye contact with either of them. He knew it was stupid of him to buy the place, because it would instantly connect him to the deceased detective Minato Namikaze - his father. It was downright idiotic of him to paint a target on his back like that, but deep inside he knew that something in that building would be important in his life and in the pursuit of the Akatsuki. That feeling was the only thing keeping him going as he worked countless of jobs to scrounge up enough money to buy the old residence. That, and the fact that he'd be able to finally join the police force as a detective and fight the gangs in the crime-ridden streets of Konoha. Trying to distract himself from his thoughts, he shook his head and grinned brightly, scooting forward in his chair towards the truck. "Besides, you know me. Not even a gang of criminals can bring me down."

Chouji laughed and resumed munching on his snack while the lazier of the two snorted. That was a good way to end the conversation. He decided that it would be good timing to leave for his next shift now. Glancing at his watch in mock surprise, he stood up from the chair. "Whoa, I should go now guys," he remarked, although he knew Shikamaru probably saw right through his ruse. Smiling and lifting his hand in a casual wave, he headed toward the door. "Keep Lee out of trouble, alright?" The said man turned around in a drunken haze and waved frantically as Naruto exited Sannin Auto Repairs. He laughed quietly and headed down the street to his next job, still mulling over his father. Stuffing his hands in the pockets of his jeans, he stared ahead, too absorbed in his thoughts to be polite to passerby around him.

He was afraid of the Akatsuki. He knew firsthand what they were capable of, but they didn't usually kill people unless they stood in their way or if the murder was profitable. Joining the police force - as a detective, no less - was sure to draw attention. Not that blond officers were uncommon, but if one of the gang members was to notice his scars, the higher-ups would surely remember. Identifying him would be easy. He'd have to stay on his toes at all times.

He was tough, though. He had had his fair share of fights in high school, and it was uncommon for him to lose when brawling one-on-one. I'm sure I can handle myself, he reassured, fists clenching in anticipation for the future. He'd get to fulfill his lifelong dream soon. Just a few more weeks of labor.

A few more weeks before he'd take down the Akatsuki.

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More action will start in two or three chapters!