"So, we have to expect more than just this attack. We were ready for the last one since it was a big event and it was obvious something would happen. The last one was presumably just a test; a warning. We have to expect more attacks. They will come from anytime and anywhere since there are no big events coming up. While we leave the investigation to the professionals, we as a police force have to remain calm, collected and ready for action. While we cannot forget the casualties of last time or prevent sudden deaths, we must honor their memory and try to keep this city as safe as possible. I thank you all for your cooperation and understanding. I also want to thank each and everyone of you for everything you do for this department no matter how small or big." Iruka nodded to his men and everyone stood from their seats in the briefing room with grim expressions. Taking in a deep breath, the commissioner followed them out and patted the few on the back that came to talk to him.
Once he was free to hide inside his office, it became apparent that the luxury of being alone was not going to grace him today at the sight of someone waiting in his office. His shoulders tensed. Steeling himself for what he expected to be a lecture from the major, he sighed in relief at the sight of a tall man with a shock of silver hair who turned from the window to smile at him. "Kakashi."
"Iruka," the smile was charming and Iruka felt a bit of relief at seeing some semblance of normalcy in the other man. Albeit looking tired and drained in his business casual, it was good to see him out of the hospital; Iruka had heard that Kakashi hadn't left Obito's room. "Hope I'm not intruding."
"Not at all," Iruka wanted to shake his hand but there was too much distance between them and instead he sat in his desk chair, Kakashi sitting opposite him. "How is…"
"Um," when Kakashi's face turned to stone, Iruka bit his lip and watched the other man sigh. "Still nothing. The doctor's say that it might be permanent and that I should contact his family to sign a DNR."
"I'm sorry; that's probably not why you came here." Iruka shifted in his seat and Kakashi gave him a quirk of his lips.
"I appreciate the concern." The dark circles under Kakashi's eyes made Iruka worry about the other man's sleeping but Kakashi sat up straight and cut his gaze. "I'm actually here for business reasons."
"Go on," Interested, Iruka got comfortable, pulling a leg up to his other knee.
"I want to help as much as I can with the case. Which is why I want to know if giving you access and surveillance to all the buildings in the Hatake Inc Konoha database will help."
Dumbfounded, Iruka had to snap his jaw shut and sucked in a big breath as he scanned Kakashi's stone cold face to make sure it wasn't just a joke. Kakashi had his business face on; hard eyes and stiff shoulders. "Kakashi..."
"There is a clause in each of the contracts that we sign which permits the creation of a master key for the sole purpose of cooperation with authorities if certain provisions are met. The first provision is if Hatake Inc ever comes under investigation from the federal government. The second is if terrorist actions are committed under Hatake surveillance." Iruka was talked into silence and was struggling with something that Kakashi couldn't put his finger on.
"This isn't a good idea." Was the first thing Iruka said after his long silence.
"But it will help."
"This is going to put a target on your back, Hatake." The use of his last name ground on Kakashi's nerves and he leaned in.
"Iruka, I am the ceo of a surveillance company. I've always had a target on my back."
"Kakashi." Iruka's eyes snapped to him with a frown, head tilting to the side as he gripped the arms of his chair. "I worry about you as it is."
Hanging his head, Kakashi stared at his hands before grabbing the folder on the seat next to him and standing as he dropped it onto Iruka's desk. "Let me do this."
Heaving a pained sigh, Iruka pressed his face into a hand as the other reached for his glasses and slid them on to read the file.
"Do I have your accord?" Kakashi pressed and Iruka bit his lip, looking at Kakashi in frustration from under his thick, black-rimmed glasses. He was backed up against a wall; torn between his work side feeling relieved and the panicking of his personal side.
"Are you going to let me read this thing or not?"
"Come to dinner with me."
"What?" Iruka froze.
"We both need a break so I'm taking you out to dinner." Kakashi was already halfway to the door when Iruka stood and slapped the files on his desk to put his hands on his hips.
"Are you going to at least tell me where?" He looked back to see Iruka biting his lip with his cheeks dusted pink and he glanced down at his shoes briefly with a smile.
"I know a little place near the port." At that, Iruka scoffed. "I've got your number now."
"Let me guess, you'll text me about five minutes before and show up half an hour late."
The mysterious smirk on Kakashi's face gave Iruka shivers. "I can't be late if I'm the one picking you up."
The blush on Iruka's face grew and he looked away in half embarrassment. "I can get to places on my own."
"Kind of hard without a car of your own. You know, one that doesn't have flashing lights on it." Kakashi winked and threw a wave over his shoulder and he slipped out, leaving Iruka to drop back into his seat drained from the flip flop of emotions.
Yamato was scanning something on his laptop when he heard a knock at his door. Standing and opening it quickly, Iruka strode in looking like there was a storm cloud over his head.
"I have a little gift from a very generous donor, detective."
"Really?" Yamato couldn't help but chuckle and sit back into his seat with Iruka doing the same across from him. He discreetly closed the tab of the gossip article he'd been reading before setting the computer aside to see the chief properly. "What kind of gift?"
"How about access to all the security cameras under Hatake surveillance?"
Iruka watched as Yamato's eyes went wide with surprise and he gave a strained smile and nod.
"What?" The detective was beyond speechless. In all his years of undercover and investigative work, he had never heard of such cooperation before and was frankly blown away. For a brief moment, he felt a small speck of frustration when remembered all the times he'd gone begging to Hatake's people for cooperation with passed investigations only to be flat turned down. He decided to push away the frustration and feel proud of the cunning commissioner that he was working for. Sifting through the file he'd been handed, Yamato couldn't help but say, "this is amazing, Umino. How did you manage to get this kind of clearance?"
"He gave it to me."
"But how did you get him to do that? He's always been-"
"I didn't… I," Iruka cut him off with a stutter. "I didn't make him do anything. I haven't even talked to him about this at all. He showed up this morning and gave it to me without a care in the world."
"What?" He was slack again and Iruka sighed, looking like he was stewing in dark thoughts.
"I don't know what he wants to get out of this. I checked the whole agreement three times and even ran it by Genma over at the courthouse before I came to see you. It's solid; no loopholes or fine print whatsoever." As he listened to the other man worry, Yamato flipped through the agreement that seemed as innocent as his grandmother.
"So… What do you think he has to gain from this?" Yamato asked.
"I… I don't know." Iruka was bent over, elbows on his knees and looking quite confused. "I don't know if he's looking for a favour or…"
"You think he's doing this just to get to you?" The detective wouldn't put it passed him, he knew that Kakashi wasn't the kind of man to just give things away for free.
"He wants to meet with me on Friday." Yamato studied Iruka while the other man explained, "he's picking me up and driving me to the port so if I end up dead, please go check there first."
"So… You think that he's going to pick you up just to kill you and throw your body in the river?" Putting two and two together, Yamato couldn't help but glance over at his laptop with the urge to open it back up. "Even though he gave your department explicit permission to all his assets."
With a frustrated sigh, Iruka whined and slumped back into his seat, running his hands over his face. "I don't know. I don't know. He… Might be taking me out to a restaurant or something but I don't know what he wants from all of this."
"Hmm," Yamato hummed to himself and pulled out a sticky note, writing down his contact info. "I don't know either but tell him to give me call so we can set something up soon. He always seems to loose my contact information when I give it to him."
Taking the note that was handed to him, Iruka frowned. "You're not worried about me at all, are you?"
Looking up, the detective shrugged and watched Iruka stand and start to walk out, "I don't think he's going to kill you. In fact, I think he might do the complete opposite."
Frowning, Iruka looked back in confusion but decided against arguing when he saw Yamato engrossed in his laptop again. After he heard his office door shut quietly, Yamato snapped his eyes up to watch his temporary boss rounded the corner, pulling up the tab he'd closed before and reading the latest gossip that was milling around the tabloids these days; summer fling, the chief of police secretly dating eligible bachelor Kakashi Hatake?!
"If you're not buying, get out," the burly man at the door uncrossed his arms as the small hooded figure refused to move from his gaze. "I'm not going to tell you again, kid."
"I'm buying." A faint voice muttered from under the hood finally. The doorman made a motion.
"Arms up." The small figure complied to the pat down and waited for the bouncer to mumble a word to someone beyond the front door. A few seconds later and the front door was opened, letting the hood move inside from the night air of the city into the drank fog.
Body were pressed up against each other, dancing and grinding to the thumping bass of electronic music. Lights flashed multicolor through the haze of vape smoke and the whole dance stage smells like caramel, covering the underlying scent of grass.
Pushing through the crowd, he quickly stepped down from the dancefloor and into the lounge area beyond the dancing to search for the man he was supposed to meet. He stood there, scanning for a short moment before he found the other hooded figure he was searching for sitting at the bar with a clear drink. After a moment of hesitation, he stalked forward and sat at the bar.
"Hmm?" Their eyes met and the taller of the two pulled out of his hunch to study. "Aren't you a little young to be in this part of town?"
"If that were true, then I wouldn't be allowed within a hundred miles of this city." Was the quip back. "I need information."
"I don't do things for free, kid."
"Take is as a favour then and do whatever you want." There was a moment of the older man ignoring the small hooded figure until the clarification made hair on the back of his neck stand on end. "I can kill."
His collar was grabbed and the kid met his eyes as the older man tugged him in close to whisper menacingly against the loud music. "You're from the asylum aren't you? You're going to find yourself in the back of an alley if you don't shut up, kid."
"You need me." The voice coming from the dark hood was calm and collected. "I can do things that you can't. You and I want the same thing; his death. Get me the details and I'll do it."
Like a cornered animal, they both were still until the collar was let go and they stayed silent.
"You have the connections, Cat."
"Who are you?" Black eyes tried to decipher who was under that hood.
"I'm nobody; just the person you need."
The kid stepped off the stool and melded into the bodies of people as the Cat watched him go, having a dark feeling that this newcomer was going to shake up the balance more than anyone else could.
In this new hoodie that had yet to have cat ears sewn on, the man hummed and held a hand up, "hit me."
"Someone's out to kill you." The Cat muttered as he tapped the glass of the giant aquarium. He looked over his shoulder at the dark-haired man on the crimson couch by the fireplace, sipping from a delicate teacup.
"What else is new?" Itachi smirked and looked over his shoulder at the Cat who had suddenly appeared in his main foyer. "Thank you for the tip although I doubt I could give you much for that information."
"Of course," with a small step to the side, the Cat grinned and said slyly. "I've got much more interesting news."
"Oh, do tell," Itachi was still smiling but there was now a glimmer of interest in his eye and the Cat knew that he was in the clear.
"Depends on what information you have to give back."
"A name. A very specific one; one of high interest at the moment. And you?"
"Something that might help you with your family troubles."
Itachi was nodding and he said as he stood, heading to the bathroom, "deal."
The Cat swallowed the knot in his throat and slunk over to the couch, feeling his stomach churn with the thought of all that new and juicy information that he would soon be sitting on; the name of the man who would soon be thrown into jail.
Sitting down where Itachi had been previously sitting, he switched out the sd card for the one he'd been hiding in his sleeve. Soon enough, the Uchiha came back and sat right next to him, a warm hand smoothing over the Cat's thigh and making him jump.
"I'd like to thank you for you time, Black Cat." Itachi was just about to slid his hand higher when the body next to him vanished. He turned his gaze back to find the Cat crouching on the back of the sofa, smirking.
"Another time, Itachi." The Cat patted his head before slinking out with a swing in his step.
"Asuma," the whine he heard from the bedroom made him pause on one foot, unsure that he'd actually heard Kurenai's voice until she called for him a bit louder. Stepping from the doorway in his uniform and boots, Asuma quickly moved to his wife's side of the bed and kissed her forehead.
"Hey, how you feeling?" She'd been sick since the night before from first trimester nausea and he felt more guilty than tired from the little amount of sleep he got. She had probably worried herself sick the last few nights after the attack and he knew that when she was alone on her days off, she would pace around in boredom and worry.
"Could you go and get me some fruit?"
He was going to be late for work.
Half an hour later, he discreetly chewed the nicotine gum he'd regimented himself to and was heading to Umino's office on the tenth floor of their department building when he was stopped in the lobby.
"Captain Sarutobi!" Asuma turned to see a man he'd never seen before with short brown hair and a very forgettable face. Looking at the hand that was stretched out to him, Asuma took it cautiously. "It's good to finally meet you, I am detective Yamato from the Wind district. I was assigned to the recent investigation by commissioner Umino."
"Nice to meet you," he said politely with a curt nod. "You're going to have to be a bit more specific when you say investigation. Sadly, this city has way too many of those."
"Ah, the most recent; the bombing."
Asuma hummed and studied the other man closely, seeing a very stern face and calm stature that was very familiar. This man must have seen a lot of work. "Welcome aboard."
"Thank you, I was hoping that I could talk to you in my office. I have some very important things I want to go over."
Feeling his exhaustion of the passed few days creep over him, Asuma sighed and glanced at the elevator.
"Is it on the third floor?"
"Huh? Uh, yes, it is."
With a sigh, Asuma gathered himself and nodded, "let's get started then."
Moving away from the elevator doors, they followed the small line of people begrudgingly trudging up the stairs to the second and third floors. Finally on the third floor, Yamato looked over to the flushed man behind him and asked, "how long have the second or third floor buttons been out of order for?"
"Five years." At Yamato's confused face, Asuma continued. "They stopped working for people without handicap keys. One of the investigations that have yet to be closed mainly because Iruka will never admit that he did it."
"Huh," Yamato unlocked his office doors and set himself up while Asuma studied the traffic outside his window, noting that it faced the quieter side of their corner instead of the busy one. "I never pegged him to be the hateful type."
"He used to have his office on the third floor actually; just down the hall." Asuma chewed on his gum hard and wished he had a glass of water but turned his attention back to the man who had pulled out his laptop and was turning it towards him.
"This is Sasori. Convicted murderer and diagnosed psychopath, known for the skinning of his victims. Got an anonymous tip last night that he was somehow involved in all this mess; he was apparently seen outside the party about half an hour before the explosion." A small and skinny face appeared on screen with a shock of red hair and dead eyes, making Asuma frown.
"Isn't he supposed to be locked up at Gedo?" He murmured and Yamato shook his head.
"That's what the initial reports were saying until they finally checked his cell and found him gone. He used to be partnered with a man called Deidara who was apparently an expert at explosions who blew himself up. I suspect that he didn't actually die and they've paired up again after Sasori got out."
Asuma's frown deeped. "So now we have to worry about Orochimaru, Sasori, Deidara and those other two loonies that got out."
"Mhm," Yamato nodded. "Kisame and Zetsu."
"What do you have in mind, detective?"
"I was hoping I could use your manpower to hold a stakeout at the locations I'd received by my anonymous source." Pulling over his laptop and typing in a few keys, he brought up a map with four locations pined in red and went over each location. "The Kanto bank on fifth, the Noh theatre and a small restaurant called the Pigeon."
"Those are pretty spread out." Asuma hovered closer to the screen and pointed to the Pigeon's location on the east side of the city. "That place is well known for being shady but these other places seem more like targets."
"I was thinking we could post a few stakeouts in the buildings overlooking them. The Noh theatre only has one performance on Thursday at 6:30 which would be the prime time for another attack. The bank might be a bit trickier since the tellers are open the early morning until late at night except on weekends when they close earlier." Yamato was pulling out a pad of empty weekly calendars and ripping off a few sheets to highlight the timeslots when the bank was open. "Our best bet, if we're expecting another explosive attack, would be to post a lookout in the hotel across the street for the next few days."
Asuma was standing and pacing in thought, chewing on his gum as he thought out loud, "the theatre will be easy to cover and, if we can get clearance to the security cameras of the bank, then we've got those two covered."
"I should have surveillance inside the bank by Friday." Yamato said quickly to Asuma's surprise and the bearded man nodded.
"Good. Until then, we should have someone staking out in the hotel across the street for the next few nights. As for Pigeon, I think I can get some undercover help from an outside source." At those words, Yamato looked up at Asuma and nodded at the look he was given, having a pretty good idea at which 'undercover help' he was talking about.
"I'll see who is on duty tonight and see if we can get some guys to switch their shifts around." With his hands in his pockets, Asuma strode out.
"Thank you, sir." Yamato called out after him.
The rest of the day for Asuma was spend rescheduling officers and contacting their two stations to see if anyone wanted to volunteer for some overtime with little luck. It was only that night that he got a call from an old friend who was used to night shifts and met with him to go over what the department was looking for. With the officer reassigned, Asuma got a call late that night with confirmation that everything was set and ready to roll for their first night of surveillance and he went home feeling accomplished.
The next morning, Asuma awoke to the Thursday sun peeking through the curtains directly into his eyes and he groaned as his alarm went off. That morning, he had a bowl of fruit slices and a cup of tea ready for when Kurenai would stumble out of the bathroom.
They drove together this morning to the office, Kurenai feeling much better albeit looking a little pale but they went their separate ways regardless. In his office, Asuma spent the first few hours of work sifting through all the reports relating to the Pigeon and the Kanto bank before dropping them off by Yamato's office before getting a call about a 10-38 on the highway; a suspicious vehicle that turned out to be bust.
Finally, the evening started to creep in and the real work started. The undercover car that Asuma had reserved for the night was ready and waiting for him in the garage and he headed out into the city, dressed in his business casual for the Pigeon and parking the car around the block. From the glove compartment, he pulled out a nondescript smartphone and held the power button down until the screen gradually lit up with a small insignia before falling back to black, slipping it back inside the glove compartment.
The wait that followed had Asuma pulling out his own phone and keeping his mind busy. He'd been looking at the houses he and Kurenai had checked out a few weeks before. They were all either too small or too big; no bedroom for the baby but close to downtown or too many bedrooms but further out in the suburbs. There was a nice bungalow they had yet to check out that was near the bridge that led into downtown Konoha from the western suburbs but the price was a little too steep for their wallet at the moment even with all the savings they had tucked away.
"I like that one," came a soft whisper from the backseat that made Asuma flinch and glare at the masked man who was sitting quietly in the back. The blank and pearly white mask that stared back at him was unsettling but he'd seen the mask enough times to simply feel cautious.
Putting away his phone, Asuma looked away from the sleek black ridges of carbon fiber armour to glance around the street. He said in a low tone, "we need your help; your connections."
"I'm listening," was the whisper of a response he got and he felt less anxious.
"We need proof that the bombing was committed by a man named Deidara; expert in explosions. One of the escapees from Gedo was named Sasori; his partner in crime before Deidara supposedly killed himself. We suspect they teamed up again and are planning more attacks. The Pigeon was a tip we got from an anonymous source."
"Hmph," the voice behind him seemed to scoff a laugh and Asuma looked at the hooded figure in the black through his rearview mirror. "So, you want me to use my connections to find evidence?"
There was a knock at the door to Scarecrow's left that made both of the men in the car snap their heads to see a smug looking Cat peering in at them. Opening the door, the Cat slid in and shut it behind him. He slid up to the stoic Scarecrow and threw his arms to the back of the seat as he crossed his legs, getting settled in as he slyly asked, "start the party without me?"
"We were just talking about you." Asuma smirked at the pointed ears on the Cat's hood and the cock of his head.
"Oh yeah, eh?" Unlike the Scarecrow, the Cat was a loose canon and even though there were people in the department that thought they had no need for these vigilantes, Asuma could see the worth in having masks do their dirty work even if they were either too quiet or too talkative.
"Bet the commissioner just loves it when you come to see us," as he stretched out the word 'love' in a teasing manner, the Cat made a grin that grated on Asuma's nerves but he chuckled it off. They all knew how much the commissioner hated the masks in this city but everyone couldn't deny how much they helped. Asuma knew that Umino had their phone and heard the conversations but had ignored them both. He had even brought up the topic of their masked vigilantes one night over paperwork. The commissioner had given him a frustrated look and told him that they were a curse on the city but if they were able to cooperate then they could be overlooked.
"We should get going then, shall we?" The Scarecrow looked towards the man next to him who looked at him curiously.
"If you say so," they both slipped out and walked off, Asuma watching as they sauntered around the corner together. They would have looked like two guys simply walking down the street if it hadn't been for Cat's ears and the heavy belt of gadgets and tools that held the Scarecrow's cloak close to his body.
"Have you ever heard of Itachi?"
"Hmm?" The Cat looked over at the hooded man next to him and shrugged. "Maybe."
He got a knowing look from behind the Scarecrow's mask and grinned back. There wasn't much room for lies between the two since the Cat knew almost everyone in town and the Scarecrow didn't look like he had time to play cat and mouse tonight. The Cat looked over at the Pigeon and said with a leer, "I can't give out the details of our relationship but yes I do. Jealous?"
The Scarecrow grunted which made the Cat frown and elbow the other man in the side. "Hey, come on. Get your head in the game, big guy."
"Whatever you say, shorty," the Cat could tell that Scarecrow was smirking and he couldn't help but flush and smile, feeling relieved at the normal banter. "Let's go put the kick ass in team."
