Disclaimer: I don't own, just the plot because I live with it.
Reasonable Doubts
By Zelha
Summary: Honor and Truth were her favorite words as an attorney. What happens when Sakura's best friend is accused of murder? In the happenstance of the most difficult case of her entire career, Sakura finds herself in a maelstrom of feelings, politics and most importantly, an old rivalry with the DA. NejiSaku, AU.
-X-
"Does the Defender have another statement to make?"
"Yes, Your Honor. The case that occupies us today needs to be considered regarding the eighth article of our Child Protection Law, with claims about the superior interest inferred to all underage children. It is in Kurosaki Miyabi's main interest to know who her father was, despite how much he does not want to know her. And following the creed of this particular article it is quite appalling to see a parent that does not want to protect and support their very own child. I plead for this Court to take into consideration how Miyabi's mother had to keep two jobs to provide the necessary support for her infant girl."
The judge nodded curtly. "Any other statements from the Prosecutor?"
"No, Your Honor."
"Very well. Session adjourned; you can reach the file for the verdict by tomorrow at 2:00 PM."
"All rise..."
-X-
There was something that Haruno Sakura loved dearly after a stressful day at the City Family Courthouse. A cup of hot, creamy, sweet coffee brought first thing by a smiling waiter as she paid for it. The coffee shop was just one of the many that surrounded the business district of the gigantic city of Konoha, but she liked to walk an extra block to get her preferred Mocha fix from her favorite shop.
"Tough day?" the waiter asked to the Defender, who was currently enjoying the smell of the coffee, as was her habit before taking the first sip.
"You have no idea," Sakura answered with a smile. "And I have to go back tomorrow to get the verdict."
"I'm sure you'll win," the waiter said, handing her the change. "You always do."
"I think you're biased, but thanks anyway," Sakura laughed as she turned to leave. "See you tomorrow!"
It was the beginning of the afternoon. After a lunch accompanied by her briefcase and her daily planner – she really needed to do something with the lack of paper sheets at the office – she headed back to the courthouse archive, in order to revise some case files. An alimony case and a visitation rights case had gone down the wrong way – stupid Child Rights counselor! Sakura seethed internally – plus an international custody restitution case. Those cases were the worst to her, because some courts overseas took way too long to respond to a petition.
It was about four-thirty when she deemed herself worthy of a break and headed to her office. Haruno Sakura didn't own a car. The Public Defense was near to the Family Law Courthouse anyway, so it wasn't really a pressing issue for her. Besides, she hated traffic jams, so she took the subway every day, even if it was packed to disgusting levels.
However, being a Public Defender sometimes brought a sense of reality to Sakura. She resigned from her post after her mentor Tsunade asked her to join her law firm – and realizing that making a difference was an uphill battle, and her shishou had better connections to other institutions and people when it was needed.
Her cases brought a little bit more profit for her as a private attorney; she was known in the firm for taking all the cases for people with low resources, as she used to represent them before. Tsunade only shrugged and allowed her to do as she pleased, but some of Sakura's colleagues thought her stubborn and naïve. Some others regarded her as the one that understood people best.
Entering the old building that housed Sannin and Associates, Sakura realized that the rush hour at the subway was about to begin. With a resigned sigh, she bade goodbye to an early dinner at home and prepared herself to linger at the office for a couple more hours until it was good and easy to return home.
"I thought you were going to blow me off!" was the exclamation that received her. Sakura blinked and brought her palm on her face, remembering about the occasion her interloper was talking about.
Tenten, her assistant – shared with another attorney – was pouting behind her desk.
"Oh God, I forgot..." Sakura said with a groan. "I'm sorry, Ten! I swear I'll make it up to you. How about we go clubbing on Friday?"
Tenten raised a perfectly defined eyebrow. "Yeah, right. Friday, the day you usually say you're going to run home and hole up the entire weekend, claiming exhaustion and whatnot."
Sakura rolled her eyes, but she was positive she said something like that last time Tenten asked her to go clubbing on a Friday night.
"Okay, how about we go to the bar downstairs for a drink now and we reschedule the clubbing for later?" Sakura tried again but Tenten's chocolate eyes narrowed on her.
"Sakura, I moved earth and sky to get you a date with this guy!" Tenten snapped as she banged her desk with a hand. "And now you want to go for drinks to that lousy bar downstairs? Please! He deserves a little more than that!"
"Ten, come on, have a heart! I just got out of a trial and frankly, I'm beat! I haven't gone home because of the rush hour; no one likes to get groped while you get yourself packed into a subway train."
"There's a solution for you," the brunette raised both eyebrows to enhance her statement. "And it's a fairly easy one: get a damn car already!"
Sakura sighed. She wasn't going anywhere for the next two hours so she was basically stuck with Tenten's lecturing. It was her fault for not appearing soon enough in the office for her friend to confirm the date with that mystery man – who sounded way too good for her – instead of keeping her table at the courthouse archive as she went through several cases that needed her attention.
Sannin and Associates was a somewhat smallish firm, but the accounts and clients it got were near the top notch, most definitely thanks to Tsunade's connections and political background. Having a father and an uncle as judges also helped, Sakura figured. And Tsunade's mulish assurance that everything was okay with all things office related got them seriously understaffed, as most lawyers needed everything done by others as they only handled court stuff, but not Sakura. She preferred to try to settle things with the warring parties before going to court. It was better to conciliate than to antagonize, she always thought.
The good thing was that Tenten assisted to both her and a brilliant international law attorney called Nara Shikamaru, who was one of the most sought by the clients of the firm. Once, he defended a guy named Lee from an unjust charge of public brawling, earning the guy's undying gratefulness. Now Lee came by the office on his off afternoons, helping filing cases and some other menial, yet necessary tasks in the name of bureaucracy.
This left Tenten mostly free to keep up with Sakura's daily log and planner, as well as allowing her to concentrate on her petitions and lawsuits when needed to be detailed and thoroughly written.
Having worked with Tenten for almost a year now prompted Sakura to become closer to her assistant, seeing as the girl was her only female friend now that Ino had left to pursue a modeling career overseas in Lightning Country. However, the blonde had instructed Tenten to 'get Sakura a man, otherwise she'll be a crazy cat lady in a few years down the road,' something that didn't amuse Sakura in the least.
"Alright, alright..." Sakura placated as she allowed herself to fall on a chair in front of Tenten's desk. "Tell the guy I'm sorry and that I'll be happy to reschedule if he's willing to. Where's Lee-san? I thought he was going to walk you home. It's Wednesday."
"Yeah, it's Wednesday," Tenten glared at her pink-haired boss. "Day in which he wanted me to accompany him to the nearest ice rink and skate 'to embolden the spring of our youths!' It's nearly the end of the month, so I told him I had to draw up the monthly statistics."
Sakura let out a tired laugh. "That was mean. It's clear Lee-san likes you."
"When you're not around," the brunette sniffed. "It's a good thing I'm not taking him seriously or I'd be pissed off at the attention he heaps on you."
Both women knew that the enthusiastic Lee was mostly harmless, and his fervor grated on Sakura's nerves, so she made a point by having Tenten close her office door when the guy came by. Until she had to leave, that is. Lee thought Sakura was beautiful and brought roses every single day for two whole weeks until he discovered all the flowers on Tenten's desk. Of course, the brunette had only helped her busy boss to clear up her office, but by some strike of luck Lee thought Sakura didn't accept his suit, so he backed off some, much to her relief, and Tenten simply pounced on the poor guy.
She didn't have time for a relationship, especially with someone that was so different from her standards.
Sakura snorted to herself, lost in her thoughts. Standards, what a joke. It could have been a standard if she hadn't committed her life to her work, but all things considered, it was for the best. Her last relationship had been basically a car wreck, so it was good to be alone.
Sometimes.
Bah.
The phone rang on Tenten's desk. "I hope it's the guy I told you about," she said as she grabbed her headset. "Sannin and Associates, good evening! ...Oh hey! I was just talking about you. Yeah, she just got here; she had a bad day at court so she was wondering if-wait, I have another call, please hold for a moment! Sannin and Associates, good evening! ...Yes, she's... alright, if you give me your name I can take the message... but sir, she's not a... alright, let me ask her directly... yes, please hold for a moment!"
Sakura had one eyebrow lifted with the first call, but when the second rolled by the other brow joined its sister on her forehead.
"There's this guy asking for your help," Tenten said, a strange expression on her face. "He sounds like... he's crying, and he just repeats your name and how much he needs you. He said he's in the police precinct, and that he was accused of something he didn't do. He sounds pretty desperate."
"And his name?" Sakura frowned. She was by no means a criminal defender, but maybe Shikamaru knew someone good.
But nothing prepared her for what she heard next from her friend's lips. The pencil she was playing with slipped from her fingers until it hit the floor, forgotten.
"His name is Uzumaki Naruto, and he says he's in jail for murder."
-X-
"Sakura!" Tenten yelled as she pursued her boss down the stairs. "Goddamn it, Sakura, WAIT!"
"No, I can't, I have to go to the precinct and tell those cops to release him!"
Tenten prayed for the heels of her boots to hold and jumped the last four stairs. As she landed, she grabbed Sakura's arm, effectively stopping her in her tracks.
The pink-haired attorney had grabbed the phone so fast that Tenten missed her hand. After a few words, most of them trying to calm the poor guy that was calling, she stood, grabbed her briefcase and ran towards the stairs, paying absolutely no heed to her assistant, who ran behind her shouting her name in alarm.
"Breathe, Sakura! Who the hell is this guy for you to flip out like this?"
"He's basically my brother, we grew up together... he's my best friend, Ten, I can't leave him like that! I need to-"
"You need to breathe!" Tenten cut her off with a hiss. "My car is in the parking lot downstairs, I'll drive you. And please, breathe!"
Taking her friend's advice, Sakura inhaled deeply and tried to calm down. "Okay, let's go."
"Maybe you can tell me how this happened on the way."
"I don't know... this is horrible," Sakura said as the elevator doors opened for them, feeling Naruto's situation as the beginning of a nightmare.
She fervently hoped it wasn't like that.
"By the way, how the hell did you manage to jump down the stairs without breaking those heels?"
Tenten smiled as the elevator stopped. "That, my friend, is practice. You can thank Lee and his outrageous love for racing down to the park in expensive yet stylish shoes for that."
Sakura snorted.
-X-
The trip to the police station was laded with bursts of anxious silences from Sakura as they traipsed through the evening traffic. Tenten's car was an outdated but still strong sports vehicle, which she claimed to love as much as her collection of knives and swords. Something really weird for a legal assistant, but then again Tenten herself had said that her position in Sannin and Associates was temporary until she found something more... like her. This amused Sakura when she met her, so she requested the lively brunette when she accepted Tsunade's proposal and joined the firm.
The police station was as rundown as most things government-related. A lousy painting job, creaking furniture, moody receptionist and even moodier police officers. It was a good thing for Sakura to have called Shikamaru, who gave her the name of one of his contacts. The man in question was the only kind person in the station, as she could see from the starting point. Detective Sarutobi Asuma was understanding with her pledge, and accompanied her to the interrogation room where they kept her surrogate brother.
Red-rimmed blue eyes lifted apprehensively from the table as she opened the door.
"Sakura!"
"Naruto... you okay? Are you hurt?" she asked, knowing how some policemen could exact some sort of interrogation method on her friend. The blond man shook his head.
"I'm fine. I'm just... Sakura, I swear to all the Gods above, I didn't-"
"Allow me to explain to your lawyer," Asuma said, pointing at some pictures that lay on the table. "Around two p.m. we got a 110 call about a murder. We went to check it out and we found this guy, lying unconscious near to the DB."
"DB?" Sakura asked, taking a seat next to Naruto's, without slipping from the hold he had on her hand.
"Dead body, counselor," Asuma nodded, frowning momentarily. "It was identified as Uchiha Fugaku. Your represented here basically went insane when he came around and saw the dead man. We brought him in for questioning, but later our CSI team found this guy's fingerprints all over the DB."
Sakura gaped.
"I swear, Sakura-chan, that I didn't-"
"Naruto, please," she cut him off sternly. "Don't say anything more. Let me... let me handle this, okay?"
The blond man took air and was about to protest, but thankfully he obeyed, looking anxious.
"You said that he was unconscious," Sakura prompted. Asuma nodded curtly.
"He has a nasty bump on his head, yes. There are also signs of a struggle in the crime scene, so for now, he's our primary suspect."
Sakura pressed her lips and nodded. "Alright. Have you interrogated him?"
"I was about to, but then he called you so we had to wait. It says a lot for a suspect to ask for a lawyer right from the start."
"Wouldn't you, if you saw yourself in something like this?" Sakura asked, waving to the thick brown folder Asuma had lying in front of him. "If you don't mind, I'd like to see the pictures of the crime scene and the body."
"Suit yourself."
The detective flipped the folder open and started placing large photos of a grim, gory scenario. The Uchiha mansion was still decorated as she remembered from the old days, but the blood splatters downplayed the grandeur of the decor to resemble a very bad B-rated zombie movie.
Uchiha Fugaku's body was another story altogether. Bloated and with ghastly bruises around his eyes, the former leader of the highly prestigious Uchiha family looked like a homeless guy beaten up like a punching bag. A suspicious trace of a yellowish foam was around his mouth, plus the cut on his neck was broad enough to actually catch a glimpse of his trachea.
Sakura bit her lip to control herself. It was good that she had had an early lunch that day, because the pictures would have certainly upset her stomach.
She also was thankful because the pictures didn't reproduce the smell.
"I'm sure we can do something about that," Asuma replied. "Your represented here though, he will be detained until the prosecutor accuses him."
A light flashed in Sakura's head.
"Asuma-san, I'm sure you just want to close up this case, but according to the Penal Code, a suspect can only be in police custody for seventy-two hours, no more. Also, even if you have some evidence that ties my client to this case, you can't keep him here until he gets formally accused by the prosecutor. He can be released until the prosecutor draws up the proper paperwork."
"Actually, Haruno-san, we have enough evidence for the prosecutor and he will drop the accusation tomorrow morning at court. Also, there's something called 'probable cause' that supports our claims of your client being Uchiha-san's murderer."
Sakura flushed, embarrassed and angry at both herself and that thorough prosecutor.
"Fine, Asuma-san," she said. "We will see this through tomorrow at the courthouse."
The detective nodded. "Your represented will spend the night here, so..." he trailed off, giving Sakura the real meaning. She had to leave. She had spent the good part of two hours looking at pictures and listening to every word Naruto said to her.
Cursing internally for not paying enough attention in Law School to Criminal Law, she knew she needed help.
Naruto's desperate blue eyes followed her as she stood up. "I didn't do it, Sakura-chan."
"I know, Naruto, I know."
"But this is... not your specialty."
"It's not, but I will not abandon you, Naruto."
"But... I don't have any money, Sakura..."
She looked down to her blond friend. "I know that too, Naruto. Don't worry about it."
"But..."
"Naruto," she cut him off softly. "There are some cases that aren't charged to the clients. And this one will be one of them. Just do me a favor and concentrate on every single fact that can help me defend you, okay? No one will demand a single dime from you."
He nodded slowly, but still looked troubled. "What about Sasuke?"
Sakura's green eyes narrowed in contained anger.
"Forget about him, Naruto. He's not needed here."
She only hoped she was right on that.
-XxX-
A/N: Well hello there, folks! I am not dead, nor do I plan to back out from the fanfiction world for the time being. Let's just say I want to see a couple stories through, so there's plenty more entertainment from me, if Manolito the muse wills it.
You will notice this story is a NejiSaku but there's no Neji in the scene right now. No worries though, he'll appear sooner than you think!
You might also compare the plot to the Raising the Bar TV show. You're both right and wrong in that conclusion, because I took a few elements from that show (although I don't watch it because I hate the male lead character), but the rest is a heterogeneous mix of The Practice, Ally McBeal and my own personal experience as a Legal Assistant for my country's Public Defenders. I've wanted to write something like this for years, but I wanted to finish my main WIP before tackling this project, so yeah.
In any case, I need to point out that the articles and laws I name in the story will not belong to the US laws, but to my homeland's laws, which I happen to be very familiar with. Just run with me and with the plot, and I assure you, you will not be disappointed.
This story though, is dedicated to another NejiSaku lover like me. My dearest sister Celtic Oak, who was kind enough to kick my ass whenever I felt too moronic about this story. Para ti, hermana, espero te guste.
That's enough tl;dr for now! Once more, my deepest thanks to MelissaRose85 for her sharp betaing skills, and to you all for reading.