looking at the world outside
by ashly

summary: Detective Uchiha is out to find the people who killed his old partner. The enigmatic Uzumaki Naruto may hold the key to all his answers...if Sasuke can crack through his defensive shell. SasuNaru.

disclaimer: i don't claim to own Naruto because...i don't. simple enough, right?

rating: pg-13 for the moment, may go up later

a/n: there's some added warnings to this fic so beware! Sasuke as a police detective is just yummy though XD

warnings!: a/u, drug abuse, illegal handling of weapons, swearing, more swearing, death (although not a main character), mild child abuse, angst, character bashing, sap, some ooc, limey (.) Just about anything you'd find in a gritty detective novel, but toned down a little.…Also unbeata'd for the moment.

prologue

Sasuke's partner had been dead for five hours before he managed to get to the scene of the crime. He'd been on a date with some girl whose face he couldn't even remember anymore. He still couldn't get over that. He'd been on a date with a girl and now he couldn't remember her hair colour, her eyes, hell, even her name was forgotten at this point. Everything else had just been swept from his mind as soon as he'd answered that phone call.

"Detective Uchiha? There's a message from Headquarters for you. It's about your partner…" What had followed amounted to one singular fact. They'd danced around the subject for a good ten minutes but that fact had remained the same. His partner had been murdered.

He'd ditched the girl, throwing down a few notes to cover the bill as he left the restaurant and drove back to his home, mindlessly putting his car to its limit in his race to get to his house. His engine had barely had time to cool before he was exiting the house again, changed into his uniform and sliding back into the driver's seat.

Now, standing in the doorway to his partner's – his friend's – living room, Sasuke had to hold back a shudder as he looked at the state of everything. Neji would have hated to see what had happened to his apartment. The potted plant Sasuke had bought for a joke on Neji's twenty-fifth birthday was upended, the ceramic plant pot smashed and dirt covered Neji's pristine cream carpet.

Not that the bloody trail leading to the balcony hadn't ruined the carpet anyway but the added dirt would've driven Neji insane, not to mention that the plant was probably dead now. It couldn't be anything but really with its stem snapped in half like that.

The books that Neji had so treasured were torn and spread about the room, layering everything with the printed page of some medical journal or other. Sasuke could still remember his partner telling him that he was going to quit being a Detective one day and become an acupuncturist or some other ridiculous such thing.

"I want to help people Uchiha, not just arrest them and throw them in jail. Do you really think spending a few years in prison is going to help these guiltless thugs? I want to help change their destiny…"

Shaking his head of the past Sasuke walked further in the room only to be stopped by Sergeant Kakashi who stared at him with one raised eye, the other hidden behind the eye patch he wore at all times. Sasuke scowled at the older man and tried to walk around him only to be stopped again.

"Where do you think you're going Detective Uchiha?" The grey-haired man drawled, making the statement sound twice as long as it was. Sasuke could never understand how Kakashi could make everything sound so much more boring that it actually was. Even when he'd been learning from the older man as a rookie cop it had baffled him to no end.

"I'm here to see the body," Sasuke finally replied, settling back on his heels and levelling Kakashi with a determined look. He was not going to be moved before he could get a look at Neji, they'd been partners together for three years damn it.

"Are you?" The Sergeant replied, his voice dripping with…was that derision? Sasuke bristled even as he tried to keep himself calm. He wasn't going to get anywhere if he let his anger get away from him. Why couldn't the other man just let him pass already?

"Yes I am, and you're not going to stop me," Sasuke stated before he finally shouldered past the other man. He ignored the fact that Kakashi had moved anyway and finally stepped into the room that he'd been in countless times before.

"You're not going to like it," Kakashi warned, even as he moved to the other side of the room to give Sasuke some privacy. The young Detective just snorted, he didn't like any of this. Why not add more things to hate to the mixture?

It looked so different, without a particular long-haired man lounging on the white sofa turning a page of some book-or-other, or sitting primly by the grand piano, ready to show off his skills to the ready listener. Not that Sasuke liked classical music but he could stomach a few songs now and then for Neji.

It felt like a dead weight dropped into his stomach when he realised that he'd never hear his friend play for him again.

Damn it, this was not how things were supposed to go. Neji was supposed to leave police work willingly. Just...not like this. Anything but this...

Narrowing his eyes Sasuke swept his gaze over the upturned sofa, the piano with the deep gauges in it, and the gauzy curtains which swayed slightly in the breeze from the window. The morning sun was just beginning to cascade into the room, lighting on the broken glass that led out to the balcony.

That balcony had been Neji's proud and joy. Now it was his coffin.

Smirking slightly at the morbid thought Sasuke took a fortifying breath before he took the last step and then he was there, standing just next to the curtains that caressed his skin.

He couldn't stop the gasp that escaped his mouth but he did stifle it, putting his hand to his mouth and smothering any other sounds with his white glove. It helped to keep the smell at bay as well. The body hadn't been moved at his request – and probably Kakashi's as well, though he was loathe to admit it – and that meant that everything was exactly as it had been when the murderer had left the scene.

The broken glass that littered his feet gave a pretty clear entrance point, the balcony doors had been completely shattered, only jagged edges remained and some of the shards were covered in a red substance. Sasuke bent slightly to confirm it was blood, his mouth lengthening into a frown as he straightened again and finally focused on the body in front of him.

Neji had always been a pale bastard but now…If possible he looked whiter than the paint beneath him and Sasuke had been there when his partner had bought the damn stuff from the DIY shop. 'Super White' it had said on the tin but it failed to match up with the colour of Neji's face post-mortem.

His lips were a pale pink, a washed out rose and his clothes looked like they'd been splashed with paint by a mentally-unstable abstract artist. His usual gray-and-white outfit was covered in crimson, centring around his chest where Sasuke could see the the entry point where the bullet had entered his partner's body.

Kneeling down next to the body Sasuke carefully took off his white gloves and replaced them with his latex ones, reaching out slowly to trail his hand along his friend's body, pulling at his loose t-shirt to look underneath at the pale skin. The skin was reddened in places and Sasuke was sure bruising would show up, the discoloration would be obvious if he gave it a few hours.

But he didn't have a few hours. His friend had been killed and he'd been on date.

The guilt swamped him for a moment before he pushed it back. He had work to do. He could grieve later when his friend's killer was locked up and behind bars. And put there by him, Uchiha Sasuke, he wasn't going to let anyone else beat him to the son-of-a-bitch who killed Sasuke's friend, his best friend and only partner.

"Time of death is estimated at around twelve-thirty this morning Sir." A voice said from above him and Sasuke nodded to confirm he'd heard, moving his hand slightly as his attention caught on something sticking out of his friend's pocket.

"We have a witness who says he saw Mr. Hyuuga enter the building at eleven o'clock, in keeping with when he clocked off work at ten-thirty. His name is…" the voice paused as the Officer checked the notepad in his hand. "A Mr. Shikamaru, he says he'll be at home tomorrow morning if we have any more questions and I have his contact details if you want them." Another lengthy pause then he continued again. "At the moment there are no prime suspects identified." The Officer stopped talking altogether for a moment, looking down at the quiet detective who seemed to have frozen in space apart from his hand which had reached out to the lapel of his friend's shirt. "Ah…Mr. Uchiha? Do you need anything else?"

Sasuke reached up with his other hand to wave the Officer away from him but the stubborn man stayed where he was, looking over his shoulder like an over-eager puppy. Sasuke turned his head slightly to glare at the young man until he gave a sheepish smile, rubbed the back of his head and walked back into the living room. Sasuke tried to remember the man's name but it evaded him. He was sure it was Inu-something, Inuzaki maybe?

Shifting away the thought for later Sasuke focused on the item in his hand. He'd found it just poking out of the top of Neji's shirt, partly hidden away. He wouldn't have seen it except for the drop of blood that had managed to catch on the top of it. It was a piece of paper, an incongruous, white piece of paper that could make or break everything.

Feeling the excitement rising inside of him Sasuke fingered the piece of paper for a moment. He could feel it, the chase was on. With this, everything would begin properly.

"I'll find your killer Hyuuga," he promised the silent corpse next to him. "I promise, on my honour as an Uchiha, and as a member of the State Police."

Opening the piece of paper Sasuke was confused to read only two words. He cast a look in Neji's direction before scanning the words again but they were the same as they had been a moment before; just two simple words that could mean anything.

find naruto.

Sasuke scowled down at the piece of paper. Exactly what was a 'naruto'? Looking down at his friend again he sighed, trying to withhold his impatience as he shook his head slowly.

"Just couldn't make this easy for me could you? Sadistic bastard."

tbc.

a/n: so that's it for now! I'm curious to know what you think of it, please r&r (: