"Ms. Blossom. What a lovely surprise," the man smiled pleasantly as she closed his office door behind her. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
The woman fiddled with the clear rod hanging from the blinds near his office door until the cubicles outside were hidden from view. The man's smile widened in anticipation. She leaned back against the door, her hand turning the lock at the knob, then kicked off her shoes, the heels keeping fairly close to her body in the process.
"Everyone's gone?" he questioned.
"Only Shikamaru is left, and after he finishes printing out the address of whatever restaurant it is his wife wanted to go to tonight, he'll leave," she assured him, her hands coming to grasp his face and make her mouth meet his. She enjoyed the way her bright lipstick rubbed off on his face; like she was staining him.
"Hm," the man said, undoing the cuffs of his shirt behind her, "That man's as lazy as they come. He'll be out of here soon."
"Really?" the woman asked, surprised, "I liked him."
"You can never mix business with pleasure," the man said, then laughed a little at the irony of his statement.
Her lips quirked up, "Hey. Wanna try something?" She undid his tie.
[-M-]
"Are you done yet?"
"Yes, yes, I'm done," Sakura said irritably, unlocking the door and letting Shikamaru in, not bothering to cover herself as she was still in her underwear, anyway, and she knew he wouldn't make a big deal out of it, even if the sight of her see-through panties made him blush.
"Alright, Mr. Hasami," Shikamaru said while his teammate resumed getting dressed, "We're going to need your cooperation on this. As you are aware, there was a big meeting today. During this meeting, three cases were exchanged. Two came from this corporation. Another from your competitor, Hyuuga Enterprises. We're going to need you to give us that case."
"Before you think to yell," Sakura chipped in, removing a syringe from her handbag, "I'm going to point out that this is not the only thing we have to make sure you behave."
"So," Shikamaru said with an amiable gesture, "Please begin."
[-M-]
"Fuck! Can these shitheads be any faster?"a blonde man said, jumping up to grab hold of a fire escape ladder and pulling himself up to climb out of reach.
"And can you be any louder?" his accomplice asked from below him, "Shouting at the top of your lungs doesn't help us escape!"
"You're shouting just as loud as me!"
"Am not!"
"There they are!"
"See? You got us caught!"
"It wasn't me, you moron!"
"Wait – where's the case?"
Without waiting for their pursuers to figure it out, the two men scrambled up the fire escape until they were on the roof. Unable to resist from taunting them, the blond man leaned far over the edge and pulled a face, then rolled away quickly as the sound of shots came from below.
"Come on," his companion barked with an eyeroll, grabbing his teammate by the collar and making sure he was watching before running at a dead sprint towards the opposite edge of the building, leaping, and landing with a painful roll on the neighboring building. He waited until his friend did the same, the other man's extra training helping him to land on the balls of his feet, then moved quickly over to the door sticking out of the apartment building's roof.
It was another round of traded insults before the blonde man had managed to unlock the building's door and they ran inside, taking the stairs two at a time while changing; flipping the jackets of their tuxedos inside-out, messing up hair that had been slicked back, ditching bowties for the open-collar look and yanking carefully-tucked shirts out of their pants, unbuttoning them and scrunching the visible cloth to look even more informal.
The race down the stairs stilled at around the second floor, where they paused to catch their breath.
"They'll be – everywhere – now," the brown-haired man said in between gasps.
"Good thing we don't exist anymore, then," his friend replied, taking out a mirror and removing the contact lenses that had made his eyes appear gray previously. He blinked in distaste at the uncomfortable sensation of putting a hand (he tried not to think about the fire escape, railings, and - oh, no – lock-picking tool that had been in Kiba's pocket. Probably along with a used chew toy of his dog's) in his eye.
Shaking his head to clear the disgusting thoughts, he pulled a small make-up kit out of his jacket pocket and smiled at his companion, "Time to make you look pretty!"
"Oh, sure," his friend replied, closing his eyes and tilting his head back so his more experienced friend could get better access, "You're the one who actually knows how to make someone up and I get the gay jokes."
[-M-]
The man shifted, resisting the urge to look at his phone and check to see what his bugs had picked up. His 'blind man' disguise – one of the only ways to get away with bringing a dog into an establishment, as well as explain away his wearing sunglasses at night – wouldn't be worth much if he was caught looking at his cell phone like he could see what it showed.
Although…
He pulled an earpiece out of his pocket – giving the dog a smile for his whine; he'd probably thought it was a treat – and fixed it into place. And immediately rolled his eyes at Kiba's line.
"Shut up or I'll give you a mole," Naruto replied.
"Wait," Kiba said. The sound of rustling cloth filled his bug's mike.
"Good idea," Naruto's voice came, "They won't think anything of it if two drunks come stumbling out."
The sound of skin being patted came through and the man imagined his teammates were rubbing the scent of alcohol all over themselves to give some legitimacy to the story should they be seen by someone on the street.
"Well, off we go," came the blonde man's voice, and the sound of the two of them stumbling down stairs came through the line.
Shino quickly removed the microphone from his ear, making sure his gaze stayed on the table – and, consequently, on the case Akamaru had brought over as soon as his owner had given it to him. A waitress came over with a smile (idly, he mused that it would've been wasted on a blind man, regardless) and asked him if he'd like anything to drink.
"I am waiting for two friends, too," he said, "Both will have a coffee."
"And for you?"
"Water, thank you."
"Alright. I'll be right out with those." With an indulgent pet to Akamaru, who sniffed at her inquisitively, she spun around and headed off to spray herself with sanitizer and tend to another table's orders.
Another twenty minutes had two smirking men sitting in front of him, smelling like they'd been drinking since sundown. Akamaru whined and put his nose under Shino's coat to try and block out the smell. Naruto pulled a tiny bottle of cologne out and spritzed himself, then handing it over to Kiba. The smell became slightly more tolerable, though the dog still didn't want to pull his head out of Shino's jacket.
"Excellent. Coffee," Naruto smiled at the waitress, who wrinkled her nose at the strong smell of alcohol and now cologne, but still attempted a smile. Taking pity on her, Naruto refrained from making any more conversation. Instead, he turned to Shino. "So, we got it?"
"Yes," the 'blind' man nodded at the case, "We just need to make it back to headquarters."
"I can call a car," Kiba said, eager to stop being the source of his dog's whining.
[-M-]
"Hi, I'm Ino," the woman slid her hand daintily into the grip of her teammate, who, as per usual, didn't so much as blink.
"It is nice to meet you. I'm Neji. This is my cousin Hinata," he gestured to the woman at his side, who smiled uncertainly and exchanged a handshake with the beautiful blonde.
Ino gave her a kind smile, then turned to the man who'd gotten her attention in the first place, "I've heard a lot about you from Hiashi," her tone became more coy, "He says you're the most valuable worker in the program."
"I do what I can," the Hyuuga said, trying hard to ignore his cousin's discomfort. Not only was she watching her father's much younger date flirt with her cousin, she was also listening to her sing his praises. It couldn't be helping her inferiority complex.
"You wouldn't mind letting me have a dance?" Ino said with a beguiling smile, placing a diamond-studded hand on her hip.
Neji turned to Hinata, who quickly stuttered out, "Not at all! Please – enjoy the evening!" and turned to find the closest wall she could lean against and dissuade others from asking her to dance.
With a small sigh at the heiress' meek behavior, he took Ino by the hand and led her onto the floor, then began an unimpressive waltz.
"What did you want to tell me?" the woman asked.
"There are three guards stationed where they are visible. One of the cases has already been retrieved by Naruto and Kiba."
"Excellent," Ino said, twirling, "That leaves just the one. Any doorway will work?"
"The one leading up to the hotel rooms is the fastest one. It has a guard shift in half an hour."
"Dingy, suspect hotel hallway it is," the woman said with a sigh. "I call distracting Hiashi."
"I have no wish to be the one with that job," her partner said with a sniff, and led her away from the floor.
[-M-]
Hinata sighed, getting up from her comfortable chair and moving to leave the party. Making conversation with people was one thing – her cousin and her father's cold dispositions made her seem like the epitome of warmth to the people wanting to congratulate the Hyuuga on their new deal with the Hisami Corps. – but watching her father's arm candy constantly stroke his chest (and ego) was another. Ino was beautiful, charming and knew exactly what to say to guests. And Hinata just couldn't figure out why she made her so on edge.
Maybe it was just the way there seemed to be an electric charge over the party tonight. Everyone was moving – the security guards seemed to be dancing around, talking hurriedly in hushed tones into microphones attached to their collars, smiling reassuringly whenever she approached one with a question. Even Neji seemed more cold than usual, talking on his cell phone more than discussing deals with other companies' branches and giving the entire room shifty glances every twenty minutes.
Speaking of…
Her cousin gave another look around the room before slipping quietly past an ignorant guard. Feeling a strange sensation on her neck, like she was being watched, Hinata turned to meet eyes with her father's date. Ino quickly turned to Hiashi with a hundred-watt smile gracing her face.
Something was definitely wrong.
Hinata followed her cousin, flashing a badge at the security guard who stepped aside to let her pass. She was just in time to see her cousin turn the corner. Slipping off her heels, Hinata tiptoed after him, turning two corners, then pressing herself against a wall to keep her shadow from showing up along with his on the wall opposite her.
"Mr. Hyuuga, I'm sorry, but you aren't authorized to – " there was nothing after that, just the sound of a body slumping over.
Hinata covered her mouth and prayed she wasn't going to see her cousin standing over a body when she turned the corner.
No such luck.
Quickly, she turned before she could be caught and moved to alert the guard past whom she'd walked earlier that something was going on.
But she couldn't.
Because there was an arm holding her hands behind her back and another hand held against her throat in a form she recognized from the self-defense classes her father had her take. Hitting the Adam's apple could do anything from shock to kill a man. She wasn't sure about the statistics for women, but she didn't think they would be all that different. Neji was going to end her life.
But then Ino came around the corner, and her eyes narrowed, and she pulled a syringe out of the little sparkly purse she'd been carrying with her and injected something into Hinata's arm.
And then the world went black.
…
…
A/N: Wanna review?