Author's Notes:
Yes, I have my hands full with my current stories but I can never resist the allure of another Kankuro story. Blame my muse.
I'm busting my hump finishing up chapters and editing as we speak and I will be posting new chapters for the other fan fiction in the next few days or so.
Story updates are on my author profile. Don't threaten to beat me… yet. XD
This story is a special request and is dedicated to one of my dear beta readers, Judo Creature, who wanted to see a Kankuro/Hana Inuzuka pairing.
This is a raw chapter… like everything else in life, it's subject to revision at a later date.
Enjoy.
The story is rate T for teens and contains mild profanity.
A sentence in Italics denotes the private thoughts of a character.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I just enjoy writing stories…
Chapter One – A Challenging Assignment
Kiba looked up from his paperwork when he heard the brisk tap on the office door.
It was his sister's signature knock.
"Come in, Hana. I've been expecting you." replied the large man behind the desk.
"Hey, brat. What's the job? Is it another decrepit old billionaire who needs a personal body guard again?" countered Hana frowning in remembrance of the last job.
Kiba laughed and replied, "Don't tell me you're still sore about him copping a feel? Jiraiya did say he was sorry, Hana. He even set you up in a nice spa for a couple of weeks, despite the fact that you busted his arm."
"Damn pervert! I don't care if he's the owner of the Come Come Paradise Franchise of high class strip clubs. A strip club is still a strip club and he's still a lecherous old bastard!" grumbled Hana to her grinning brother.
"Well, you'll be relieved to know that it's not a perverted billionaire for this assignment but this one is going to be tricky," replied Kiba.
"Tricky? In what way?" asked Hana, sitting down in the comfortable leather seat.
"We've been hired by Suna Enterprises to look after their chief Robotics Guru. They are worried that the competition may try to eliminate this guy before he finishes his latest project. A project that has the potential to put the competitors out of business," murmured the large tattooed man, sliding a manila folder over to his sibling.
Hana quickly flipped through the dossier and raised an eyebrow before commenting, "This isn't much to go by, Kiba… Are you sure Shino wasn't able to get more information than this?"
Kiba grinned widely at his sister's comment. He wasn't offended. He knew Shino was the best in the business. If there was information to be dug up, he always found the dirt.
"Yeah – that's it. This guy is a dark horse. In fact, aside from the marketing information available to the public, not much else is known about the corporation or the family that runs it. The only thing we do know is that this guy is related to the two key players and primary stockholders on the board," replied Kiba with a small frown before continuing, "What we also know is that this guy has been offered crazy amounts of money to leave the family operation for one of the rival companies and he's turned them down countless times. He's fiercely loyal to his siblings."
Hana folded her arms across her chest and looked down at the open dossier in quiet contemplation. She secretly admired the man for sticking to his principles and not abandoning his family, despite the inducements being waved in the guy's face.
She looked up at her own sibling under hooded lashes and gave a small smile.
In fact, this man reminded him an awful lot like her own brother.
She too, had been offered a lot of money to work for rival personal security and protection agencies, only to turn them down every time.
Hana reasoned that she already worked for the best in the business, so there was no need for her to jump ship. Besides, the advantage of being the boss man's sibling was that he was pretty generous about giving his employees time off after long and tedious assignments… like Jiraiya.
Hana mentally shuddered. He certainly hadn't been her worst assignment but he'd been the most memorable to date.
She shuffled through the papers in the folder until she came to the photos of the clients.
They were certainly a striking family. The artic blonde was stunning in an unconventional sense but her eyes were drawn to the two tattooed men.
"Tattoos, huh?" asked Hana, grinning wickedly at her amused brother.
Kiba had a feeling that his sister was going to enjoy this assignment. Hana was a sucker for men with ink, most especially if they were good looking men. The more prominent the place, the better she liked it and facial tattoos were a definite turn on for the young woman.
"So who's the lucky man I will be shadowing?" asked Hana finally getting excited at the prospect of working this assignment.
Kiba grinned wolfishly, his own tribal tattoos slashing down like red fangs as he pointed to one of the photos.
"You'll meet the family tomorrow morning at their place of business at nine sharp with Hinata and then you will be following him around." replied Kiba trying not to laugh out loud at the look of lust that briefly flashed in Hana's eyes.
Even better!
"I can hardly wait, brother." murmured Hana with an evil smirk before picking up the dossier and walking out the office.
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"This is bullshit! I keep telling you two that I don't need a fucking watch-dog!" ground out the large man turning to glare at his two siblings.
They continued to watch him impassively as he prowled around the spacious office.
"Kankuro, Gaara and I feel that hiring personal protection for you is the best option, at least until you've finished your latest project," countered the blonde woman smoothly.
"Temari - the police are already looking into the death threats and the failed car bomb attempt. This is overkill. I can look after myself," muttered Kankuro in disgust.
"Detective Nara suggested that since they wired your car – they see you as a serious threat to their livelihood. We just think that it would be in your best interests that we have an expert around for a while to keep an eye on you," replied Temari.
Kankuro gave his brother a disgruntled look and asked, "You agreed to hire this agency then, Gaara?"
"The Inuzuka Agency is the best in the business. I wouldn't trust your welfare with anyone else," replied Gaara, leaning back in his large leather chair and folding his arms across his chest.
Kankuro stopped his pacing and gave his brother a piercing look, clearly telling him without words what he thought of Gaara's concerns.
The red-head merely raised his non-existent eyebrow, causing his kanji tattoo to ride up further on his left temple.
The large man gave a disgusted snort and stalked over to one of the large bay windows.
He began to stare blindly out at the cityscape, the morning light reflecting off the skyscrapers. Normally, he enjoyed the spectacle of the colors dancing off the tall buildings but right now, he was too wound up with frustration eating at his gut and feeling betrayed by what he viewed as his siblings' high handedness.
He hated it when they did shit like this. It made him conveniently forget the fact that while they were his family, they were also the ones in charge of running this business.
Kankuro heard the crackle of the intercom then as Gaara's receptionist announced the arrival of his nine o'clock appointment.
The Agency team was here.
Great. An arrogant asshole trailing him all over the place until the completion of his project deadline. He couldn't wait to meet the guy.
The large doors opened and he turned to watch the man who was going to be his paid babysitter enters the room… only to stare in stunned silence at the sight of the two beautiful women dressed in conservative business attire walk sedately over to the leather chairs in front of the large desk.
The petite woman with the indigo bob walked ahead with her brief case firmly by her side as the taller athletic brunette with the odd facial tattoos followed a step or two behind.
Kankuro instantly dismissed the smaller woman from his mind as he continued to watch the other woman fascinated. She was beautiful but those triangular tattoos like slashing red fangs on her cheeks made her look positively animalistic.
Not that it was a bad thing…
Gaara and Temari looked over at their now quiet sibling, contemplating the new visitors with undisguised curiosity. They were both privately amused that he wasn't objecting to the added protection now.
Gaara stood up as the petite woman walked up to the desk with her hand outstretched and introduced herself and the other woman.
"Mr. Sabaku, I'm Hinata Hyuuga and this is my associate, Hana Inuzuka. We're from the agency."
Kankuro continued to stare at the two women as Gaara shook their hands and gestured for them to take a seat.
These two worked for that agency?! Suddenly this private babysitter thing didn't sound so bad.
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He was taken by surprise the very moment when they walked into the office.
Gaara was having problems of his own trying to keep the disbelief from showing upon his face as he clasped the smaller woman's hand in greeting.
She was very alluring and looked quite delicate with those pearlescent eyes and pale skin of hers but her firm hand shake bore testament to the underlying strength and resilience of the young woman before him.
He sat down at his desk and watched as Hinata swung her brief case onto her lap.
Gaara was trying not to look at how her slim pencil skirt rode up her leg as she had sat down and shifted her weight slightly.
She fished out a small bundle of contracts and leaned forward to place them carefully on the table.
Gaara could feel himself break out in a fine sheen of sweat as he caught a glimpse of her generous cleavage peaking out from the top of her modest blouse.
He collected the paperwork and began to read, starting to become even more impressed with this woman before him. This was the first time he'd done business with a company where the contract was as clear and concise as this one was.
He looked up suddenly and frowned, "You need to make copies of our keys?"
"We require keys only for those premises that Mr. Kankuro Sabaku will be working and residing. It's a safety precaution and our operative will need immediate access if he's in trouble," murmured Hinata softly, trying to slow down her heartbeat.
The red head was quite attractive in a dark and dangerous sense. The last time she had been so affected by a man had been her late husband, Naruto.
She was perplexed when she saw him frown abruptly and wondered at what caused that reaction.
"You will be providing protection for my brother?!" growled Gaara, clearly displeased by that thought.
Hinata tried hard to hide the smile that threatened to break loose and quickly replied, "No. My colleague Hana Inuzuka has been assigned to look after your brother. I'm merely here for the paperwork."
She was the secretary?! He wouldn't mind looking at her every day.
"You couldn't afford my services, Mr. Sabaku," replied the petite woman smoothly.
Hana turned her head to the side to stop herself from laughing out loud at the stunned look on the red-head's face.
She glanced over at the sister and noticed that she was quite amused by that intriguing little interlude between the two of them.
Hana wasn't about to let onto the brooding man behind the desk that her friend could literally read people like an open book and she could figure out what they were thinking relatively easily, even normally hard to read people like Gaara. Hinata's loyalty to her brother was absolute and she was an old hand at making that clearly apparent to clients.
The petite woman waited perfectly composed while Gaara carefully read through the rest of the contract, then signed the paperwork.
"You will receive a copy of the contract via certified mail in a couple of days. Do you have a spare set of keys that we can make copies from, Mr. Sabaku?" murmured Hinata, sliding the contracts back into the brief case and carefully removing a large white envelope before locking the case and standing up.
"Call me Gaara," replied the red-head before continuing, "You can use this spare set, rather than having keys especially cut."
"It has all the keys we need, Mr. Sabaku?" questioned Hinata, ignoring his invitation to address him in such a casual way.
She dared to question him?! She didn't come up to his chin and yet, she still had the cheek to double check?
"Yes… all of them," Growled out Gaara.
"Excellent. We will get copies cut from this set and return them back to you. Good day, Mr. Sabaku," replied Hinata, knowing her insistence to get another set of keys cut was going to infuriate the man further.
Hinata placed the keys into her pocket and turned to look at her colleague still seated with a small smirk on her lips.
"Hana, I will drop off the keys at your designated apartment for this assignment. The details of your cover, documents and your apartment key are in this envelope," murmured the small woman placing the white envelope into Hana's hand before walking over to the door.
Hinata paused at the door way and couldn't resist making one last comment before going out the door, "Good luck, Hana. You're going to need it dealing with those two men on a regular basis. The red-head has the potential to be a bigger pain in the ass than the boss."
Hana shared a mischievous grin with the blonde seated behind Gaara who was fuming over Hinata's parting words.
This was the first time she had ever seen the petite woman get so riled up by a man before… it was going to be interesting to see who was left standing after this assignment was finally completed. Hana had her money riding on the pearl-eyed Hyuuga.
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The two women were correct in their assumption that the president of Suna Enterprises was quietly fuming at the silver-eyed woman's final parting words. He had a feeling that she said that just to be deliberately provoking and he didn't like it, not one little bit.
"Is she always that confrontational?" growled out Gaara to the young woman with the strange facial tattoos, still seated before him.
Hana looked up from her perusal of the envelope and smiled before replying, "No, not normally. When I first met her, she was a shy little thing but her late husband was largely responsible for changing that situation."
Gaara watched Hana return her attention back to the contents of the package as he sat there in shock slowly digesting the brunette's words.
The young woman was a widow already, at her age?
He looked up from his contemplation of his desk when he heard his brother finally shifting from his position at the bay window to walk over to the large desk.
Hana heard the man move too and tried to keep rigid control on her emotions as her eyes drank in the sight of the large man prowling over like a lion on the hunt and sinking down into the leather chair beside her.
It was hard to believe that the man with the kabuki style facial tattoos was a genius in his field. He just didn't look the type but as she knew from first hand experience, looks were very deceiving.
"So… you will be watching over me. I'm pleasantly surprised that your boss would send in a woman for a dangerous job like this one," drawled Kankuro, deliberately trying to do some baiting of his own.
"My brother believes that sending in an operative of the opposite sex arouses the least amount of suspicion," replied Hana raising her eyebrow and daring the man to comment further.
Gaara and Temari shared a telling look before eagerly returning their gazes back to the drama unfolding before them.
"So, I find myself curious. What cover did your brother devise for you on this latest assignment?" murmured the large man, giving the woman a sideways glance that made it clear to Hana that the man wouldn't be adverse to covering her himself in the near future.
Temari and Hana both held their collective breaths. Temari had never seen her brother act like this before and Hana had never before been so blatantly propositioned like this man was doing.
Still, Hana wasn't about to let Kankuro get the upper hand, even though she wasn't adverse to the idea of being intimately covered by this man. She had a feeling that he would never let her leave his bed feeling dissatisfied…if he ever let her leave it at all.
"I've a feeling that you're going to love it. My assignment name will be Emiko Tanaka and I'm your mistress," drawled out Hana in a sultry tone before casually murmuring, "Do you have a problem with that or do you need to inform your current mistress that you're stepping up?"
So she was going to pose as his mistress, huh?
No, he didn't currently have one but looking at this woman sitting beside him, he certainly wasn't upset at the notion of her being his mistress and the connotations and privileges associated with that position.
"Hell no, I'm not upset in the slightest by the thought of you acting as my mistress. In fact, it's been years since I've had one of those. Yes, Emiko… I'm looking forward to it," countered Kankuro in a honeyed tone.
Temari and Gaara looked at each other a little shocked and very excited at the chemistry zinging between these two. Kankuro was right. It had been years since a woman had turned his head and the prospect that he found this one attractive gave them hope.
Yes, judging by the look of determination on Kankuro's face, it was only going to be a matter of time before he made the young woman his mistress in reality.
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"As delightful as this conversation is, I still have a project deadline. Can I go back to the lab now or do you two still need to grill me some more?" asked Kankuro, giving his siblings a cutting glance.
Gaara scowled at his brother's tone and countered, "We're done here for the moment. I know where to find you if I need you."
Kankuro nodded abruptly and got to his feet in a sweeping fluid movement.
Hana finished placing her assignment information back into the envelope when she felt a movement close by.
She glanced up to see the man had his hand outstretched, waiting to help her up.
"Well, darling? Are you coming with me or staying with them?" murmured the large man in a cheeky tone.
"You better go with him now, Emiko. We'll talk to you later," replied Temari with a small smile of her own.
Kankuro's siblings watched in silence as their brother stalked out of the office, dragging the brunette along in his wake by her wrist.
Temari waited until the door slammed behind Kankuro before commenting to Gaara, "Well, he's seems a lot more accepting of the new situation, doesn't he?"
Gaara made a deep scoffing sound and replied, "Inuzuka is not a stupid man. He knew what he was doing when he assigned his sister to someone like Kankuro. I'm now satisfied after watching that enlightening interaction between the two of them that he'll keep his watchdog close and that's all I care about at present."
Temari nodded absently at that startling observation. The safety of their brother was paramount to them and if it took a dangerous and beautiful woman to keep him in line, it was worth it.
