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Back again, sorry for the somewhat late update!

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chapter 4 The unit

Sasuke was lying in bed, silent tears streaming down his face. He gingerly touched his right cheek, it throbbed and hurt very much. It would most certainly bruise and everybody at school would want to know how he got it.

What should he say?

He had never been slapped before, he hadn't even known that he was about to be slapped before it happened. His mommy had always told him that children should never be hurt by adults.

So why? He didn't understand! He had just forgotten to take of his shoes in his excitement to show his grandfather –whom he almost never saw- his report card, he hadn't expected them all to be so incredibly angry!

A soft knock roused the little boy from his thoughts "Sasuke honey? Are you awake?"

Silently his mother appeared in the doorway and moved to his side next to the bed. She gingerly lifted her hand and touched his burning cheek, he winced, but her cool hand felt strangely soothing.

"Are you okay?"

"Did I do something wrong, mommy?"

A sad smile appeared on his mother's face "You just have to be careful around your grandfather, Sasuke, can you remember that?"

Sasuke nodded, seeing the slight guilt in his mother's face.

"Is big brother still angry?"

His mother smiled and bend forward to kiss his forehead "That is nothing for you to worry about, my little genius" He blushed profoundly at the 'genius' nickname "You grades were very good, honey, we're very proud"

"Daddy too?

She smiled her mommy-smile "Yes, especially daddy"

And when she had left his room -probably to talk to her other son- Sasuke, sitting in the dark, couldn't help but wonder that if his daddy really was proud of him… Why didn't he ever praise him like his mother and brother did? Why didn't he come to his room at night and give him a kiss on the forehead? Why didn't he scream at his grandfather, just like his brother had done, when the old man's heavy fist made a highly visible bruise on his youngest son's face?

Didn't his daddy love him?

Sasuke was not happy.

"Geez, I didn't realize you lived in such a dump"

Sasuke glared at the pink haired girl "We can't all have rich friends who pay most of the rent" Angrily he put a mug of coffee in front of Sakura, who was currently sitting at his kitchen (and dinner) table. "Besides I didn't arrive here with much money…" Sasuke himself took his place opposite of Sakura, enjoying the smell of fresh coffee. I was still too hot to drink, though.

"You're poor?" (Sakura took a sip)

"I wasn't in my country, but you know, different money value and whatnot" ( Sasuke took a sip too…His mouth was instantly on fire)

Good, stay vague

"Still, this neighbourhood can't be really safe!"

"I'll manage"

"But this place is filthy! I mean not your room –which is actually the cleanest room I've ever seen, are you an obsessive cleaner or something?- but this flat is, I saw a rat in the hall!"

"Sakura, please stop your complaining, you're ruining my mood"

"You were in a good mood?"

"Why are you here?"

"Well, you have been to my place often enough and you're always so secretive, I was curious."

Sasuke signed, the surprise visit from Sakura this morning hadn't been something he enjoyed, he had tried his hardest to keep people out of his personal life (he had always been strange like that) but she had forced her way inside and promptly started to insult it. Sasuke had been in a good mood too! But he was now nothing but irritated… he really couldn't handle criticism well, he'd always been like that; a true perfectionist, though he had never been as hard-core about it than the rest of his family. But yeah, by American standard, he sure overdid it. So there they were at his kitchen table in his (small, Sakura had pointed out several times) apartment, enjoying a nice cup of coffee and not having to work for another two hours.

"Why are you really here? It couldn't just have been your curiosity, you never wake before half past nine unless you have too and you were at my place at eight"

Sakura scoffed "You're far too perceptive for your own good, do you know that?" She stated "Well, if you're so good at reading me, then tell me, why am I here?"

He looked disinterested her way and took another sip of his steaming hot coffee (how the hell was she drinking it so fast?)"Your date yesterday didn't go well, I suppose? So you're depressed and decided to bug me"

"Aaah" Sakura slumped, and bonked her head on the table "How do you know these things? Do you have a sixth sense or something?"

"Just logical thinking, Sakura, nothing else" Another sip (his tongue was scorched!)"So, what happened?"

"He was really cute… I was having a perfectly good time. But… then he left in the middle of our date…" Sakura grumbled, head still resting on his ugly table.

"What did you do?"

At this, Sakura shot up, het hands supporting her weight on the table "What makes you think it was my fault?" Sasuke just gave her a look "Alright.. I might've… did something…"

"You yelled at him for no apparent reason did you?"

"No I didn't! It was his fau-"

"And then you hit him…"

"Well, I just thought-"

"…really hard"

"Aaah" She slumped in her seat again, and her head collided with the table with a loud 'boink'

"It was a misunderstanding, I went to the ladies room and when I got back he was talking on his cell…" now, only her head shot up from its position "All friendly and cute! I heard a woman's voice and did you know what he said to the person on the other line?"

Sasuke glanced at his pink haired friend "I really don't care…"

"he said 'I love you'! those words! So naturally-"

"-You overreacted"

"-Well, yeah, I got… pretty pissed. But then… I found out that, well…"

"It was his sister?"

"No…" Again, her head disappeared in her arms "His mother…"

Sasuke stood up to fill their coffee mugs again (this time he would finish his before hers, damn it!), before taking his seat in front of the girl again. The pink haired girl always had the worst luck with dates, she never seemed to get farther than the first or second date before her violent and jealous personality would get the better of her, in the three months he had known her… She had more ruined dates than Kakashi. And that was saying much. It wasn't that most didn't think she was pretty, Sasuke mused, it was just that most couldn't handle her.

He smiled. She and Karin were quite alike, maybe that's why he had become so fond of the pinkette in such a short amount of time.

Not that he would ever let her know that. Never.

"Why are man such pussies?" Sakura mumbled "One little slap to the face and they're gone!"

"Think about this; if you went to a first date and you got slapped and yelled at, would you go on a second?"

"I guess not… How about WE hit it off, eh handsome?" She fluttered her eyelashes at him "What do you think"

"No way"

"Aaaah, come o-one~!"

"You've already asked me twenty-six times!"

"Pfff, be a spoilsport, I just really, really need to get back on the horse, so to speak… it's been a long time" Sakura whined "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"When was the last time you.. you know… did the deed?"

"And this is your business because…?"

"I'm curious! I'll tell you how long it has been for me!"

Irritated, Sasuke stood up, clearing the table "It's still none off your business, and I don't care about you're apparent 'dry-spell'"

She really was something, Sasuke mused, from the outside she seemed all cute and shy, but when you got to know her better a different side of her personality came to light, an aggressive, curious, evil side.

"We have to head to work soon"

They were an odd bunch, which was saying much, considering Naruto didn't easily found someone or something odd. But this new unit he belonged too was certainly something else, every single one of them was not normal. Of course, Naruto being quite odd himself, found this situation incredibly awesome; though his crazy boss was someone to look out for considering she had punched his best friend through the wall because of a simple dumb comment.

And Naruto knew very well he was the master of those; it had easily could've been him.

Eventually, it would be him.

But still, she was totally badass, crazy beautiful and actually pretty nice (if you exclude the part of her personality that compels her to punch men through windows). Her name was Tsunade and she was their official chief.

But she was just the beginning… Next came another bat-shit crazy woman, obsessed with weapons and was actually busy licking a knife when they were introduced. She looked innocent enough though, with her cute little buns on top of her head and her small stature , but she really, really, wasn't; the things she possessed (and excitedly showed them); spears, knifes, all sorts of guns, poison, he seriously had no idea where the hell she pulled it from, her being so small and all. Just like Naruto and Kiba would be partners, this woman/girl was also partnered with another. Her partner was named Lee and he was seriously suffering from the worst case of ADHD Naruto had ever seen. Which was saying much, considering he was seen as the most energetic kid in school when he was younger.

Then there were Gaara and Shikamaru. Gaara, a large man with surprisingly bright red hair and green eyes was definitely the brawn and Shikamaru, a skinny, lanky but genius man who liked to hack computers was the brain. They made an odd police-couple, but they were surprisingly competent when looking at their track record.

But Naruto was really happy to see Shikamaru; they had known each other in high school; both him, Naruto and Kiba had belonged to the few people who had been marked as 'outcasts' because they had been totally awesome!

But in all seriousness; Shikamaru WAS totally awesome; he could crack any computer, could hack any system; he had already been able to do amazing things in high school (hacking the grade system for example) and the blonde had no doubt that his old friend had improved his bad-ass skills in the time between school and now; the world should be extremely happy Shikamaru was a cop and not a criminal.

So that was it, their little group of detectives, an odd little group Kiba and Naruto fit right in. Which they did, quite good. It had already been a whole week and the two had yet to make a fight! This was quite extraordinary since they had both managed to annoy everybody on their first day with their old job. Naruto especially like Shikamaru (well duh) and Lee (you just couldn't not love that guy… Kiba disagreed). To be honest; both Gaara and Tenten scared the living crap out of him.

So when it was Friday evening and their shift was officially over, Naruto was glad that he got this job, although it still sucked to be back in his birthplace; he was content with the way it all turned out; his father had welcomed him back with open arms, he lived far away from his old neighbourhood, and his job had nice people in it.

"Are you going with?" Shikamaru asked him and Kiba as they prepared to leave.

"With? What are you talking about dude?" Kiba answered

The man moved into an even more slumped stance"…eh I've already explained… troublesome…" a bored looked accompanied his winey voice with such convincing exhaustion Naruto realised that his old friend hadn't just perfected his computer skills since high school.

"Youthful FRIENDS!" Lee "The week as ENDED! So we'll depart to the lovely bar two measly blocks from here! ICHA ICHA PARADISE!"

"Icha Icha paradise?" Kiba and Naruto shared a look, that name was awesome.

"Yeah" Tenten who had previously been polishing her giant machine gun, suddenly appeared behind Naruto. Obviously, he was startled, so he let out a manly scream ("dude, you scream like a thirteen year old high school girl!") "We go there every week, it's quite cosy and nice! The boss is an old friend of Tsunade's booty call!"

"YES!" Lees continued his rambling "It's always NICE en COSY an FANTASTIC there! And the personnel are all so very LIVELY an YOUTHFULL"

"So you go there every week?" Naruto asked Tenten, all the while completely ignoring the crazy now-spandex-wearing nuttcase.

"Yes we do, It's relaxing after a stressful week"

"YES THE HOME OFF MY BEAUTIFUL CHERRY BLOSSOM! ONE DAY SHE WILL RETURN MY GREAT YOUTHFUL LOVE!"

"What the hell" Kiba looked a bit nauseous "Is he rambling about? And what is he wearing?"

Tenten giggled "He just gets a little overenthusiastic about a certain girl who works there"

"DON'T WORRY MY SWEET HUNNYBUN! I'LL BE WITH YOU SHORTLY TO PROTECT AND SERVE YOU!"

"I doubt she needs any protection" Gaara muttered, when they all exited the station. The cold night sky biting in their skin. "Just a few days ago, I'd been notified that a certain someone broke a guy's nose"

"MY SWEET WAS PROBABLY ONLY PROTECTING HER PURITY WITH STRENGTH SO GREAT IT MAKES HER MORE LOVELY, YOUTHFULL AND-"

"Please, stop talking" Kiba groaned

Lee stopped, turned, walked towards Kiba, slung his arm around his shoulder, and exclaimed with the loudest voice possible; "YOU'RE RIGHT NEW FRIEND! LET'S NOT TALK…LET'S SING ABOUT YOUTHFULL LOVE!"

Kiba paled "No…please…no!"

"CAN YOU SEEEEEEEEEEE THE LOOOOOVEEE TONIGGHHHHT!"

Kiba turned to Naruto "Please god no!"

"I'm sorry Kiba… You know me…"

And the whole way to the café was accompanied by two voices singing Disney songs, one of singers in the most tone-deaf way possible.

Yeah, Naruto really liked Lee.

…

"Finally here!" Kiba exclaimed as they stood before the bar, he couldn't listen to those two for a second longer, he quickly opened the door, the others piling is as well, and looked around the place.

It was nice, it had a certain homey feeling to it and pleasant music was playing on the background. Kiba could see why those other detective liked this place so much.

"Welcome, welcome!" A grey-haired man with his face half covered by a scarf yelled from his position behind the bar. "I see our favourite costumers are back! O and you brought new faces?"

Naruto pales, oh no, Kakashi

Tenten smiled sweetly at the man "Hello Kakashi, yes they are new recruits all the way from California!" They all moved to the bar and took a seat.

"California? O such a nice place! I've been there before, in my younger years of course!"

Tenten looked around herself "No offence Kakashi, but it's pretty rare for you to be working… Where are those other two?"

Kakashi smiled "No offence taken, dear Tenten" He pointed behind him "They're in the back, doing inventory"

"Ah, I see"

"So…" Kakashi turned to Kiba and Naruto "How do you like the new job? I can't help but be surprised that you two have become responsible for maintaining the law, as you two used to break almost every law when you were younger…"

Damn, they both winced, Kakshi had recognized them… He had been their old chemistry teacher when they had still been in high school, he had also been one of Naruto's neighbours in the neighbourhood he always terrorised. Naruto wasn't surprised to see the man here, with such a different job; he had always done that; as soon as Kakashi became bored he'd look for another occupation. Naruto remembered the stories Kakashi always told them; about what kind of jobs he had participated in… but not all should've been believed, Kakashi could hardly really have been an astronaut or cowboy.

"Eh… You remember that…?"

"I sure do boys, and by the way; you still owe me a new grass mower."

"Yeah…sorry about that time…"

Not long after that they all ordered their drinks, and had a mighty good time talking and laughing with each other; Naruto and Kiba were forced to cough up a few stories from their 'bad-boy' days, and soon enough everybody got into talking about their youth.

As Naruto was in a deep conversation with Lee about the use of spandex Kiba looked around, noticing a voice and the fact that the back door was opening.

"Kakashi, you aren't slacking off are you?" A sickingly familiar voice spoke out "We can't find the-"

And then Kiba's chocolate brown eyes met with a bright green.

And he paled

"Naruto! We have to get out of here! It's Sakura!"

"Wha-?"

The girl stood there for a minute, before recognition flashed through her eyes.

"YOU TWO!"

Sasuke and Sakura had both been surprised when Kakashi came to work that evening and declared that he would do bar duty, of course, everything had a reason… This time the reason was inventory.

Inventory. The chore from hell.

They had to count and record every single thing and it had to add up too! Normally they should've had all day for this grand task but of course Kakashi chose to inform them on the last possible moment and they had to really step up to still finish the task on time. So no, they both weren't very happy.

"326 little bags of sugar"

"15 bottles of whiskey"

"I see… one…two…three plates here, we should add that up by the ones we've already counted"

"Alright…"

Sasuke looked up, there, on the highest shelf were still various bottles they had to count.

"Huh, that's strange…" Sakura whispered

"What?"

"I can't find the crates of beer I had shipped in yesterday…"

"Crates of beer? I saw Kakashi carrying some a few hours ago…" Sasuke looked up again "Maybe they're on that upper self…"

He got a ladder and carefully climbed it, reaching the before mentioned shelf, he looked around it.

"…I think I found Kakashi's secret porn collection."

"No crates?"

"No" He looked away, slightly nauseous "But now I'm pretty scarred for life" more so than he already was.

"Alright" Sakura got up "I'll go ask him"

Within seconds Sakura had moved to the staircase and was by the door, Sasuke had also climbed down the ladder and was safely on the ground. He grabbed his discarded notebook with all the information on it and moved to count the various bundles of napkins just as he heard Sakura open the back door.

He had just counted his third napkin when he heard a voice upstairs screaming something, followed by the door swinging closed with a loud bang.

Then…

"YOU TWO!" Sakura's furious voice…

The raven looked up when various screams and thumbs reached his ears; it was as if someone was being chased, then various more screams, then a loud BANG.

Guarded, Sasuke quickly grabbed for his bag he always had in arms reach, and he pulled his small handgun from the bottom, sliding it into the back of his jeans, and pulling his shirt over it. It sounded like Sakura knew those people she was attacking, but he couldn't be careful enough… in a few quick but careful steps Sasuke had walked up the staircase and reached the door, from that position he could hear the panicked voices loud and clear.

"Sakura, please calm down!" That was Kakashi

"Let me GO! I'm gonna kill them!" Sakura's angry voice…

A few more stumbles and a loud excess off breath, then, another unfamiliar voice;

"Don't let her go! Keep her restrained!"

"AUW! You bit my hand!"

"Kiba run! She's free!"

Sasuke thought this might me a good time to see what was going on, so he opened the door, just in time to see a glimpse of golden hair and blue eyes before a heavy body slammed into him. With the added weight he could feel himself (and the idiot who had so blindly run into him) falling backwards, which wasn't very good, since falling backwards meant falling down a flight of stairs.

"KOHANA!" "NARUTO!"

Sasuke winced as his back made contact with the steps of the stairs, the body above him knocking the air out of his longs, he let out a startled breath of pain and he could feel strong arms encircling him and reversing their positions, so luckily the second time they went down the other body broke his fall. After what seemed like an eternity, they finally stopped falling, having arrived at the bottom of the stairs. They plopped down with a dull thud, Sasuke on top of the other person. The raven let himself lay there on the solid chest for a moment, hearing his own and the other man's sharp gasps, before a voice reached his ears.

"You o-okay?"

No of course he wasn't, he just fell down the freaking stairs! He sure as hell was lucky his gun hadn't gone off!

Sasuke slowly moved his head up, as he heard several feet running down the stairs and screaming his (not really his) and the other guy's name, and then he looked straight in the bluest eyes he had ever seen.

He could already tell this guy was a freaking idiot.

So, they finally met! How exciting!

I had a hard time writing this one... so if you see any errors; be sure to tell me please!

oh and R&R! Reviews are golden (and awesome too)

BTW; I passed! YAY!