Chapter Seven

"Hinata, are you okay?" Naruto asked as he slurped up the last of his noodles, not at all bothered with the mess he made. "Not hungry?"

"Oh, I-" Hinata fidgeted. "Naruto, what would you do if you knew something…" She trailed off.

Naruto's stomach clenched and he inwardly hoped his look of confusion was believable. "What do you mean?"

Her eyes flickered, and she shook her head. Then with an unsteady hand she reached for her chopsticks.

Naruto caught her wrist.

"N-Naruto?" She tried to tug her hand free but his grip was firm.

He had been undercover for two months and he still had no leads, no clue to what was going on. He was still a stranger wandering around on dangerous territory.

Everyday, it felt like he was running out of more and more time. He didn't know what was going to happen let alone when but his gut instincts told him, whatever it was, it would be soon.

The tension on the streets was suffocating, the people were scared and no one stayed out late anymore.

And Tsunade was getting impatient.

"Hinata, if you know something, anything, you need to tell me. I can help you."

For a moment Hinata was shocked but her eyes soon narrowed, "How can you help me?"

Naruot hesitated, "Do you trust me?"

Hinata was suddenly reminded of vague conversations she had with Sasuke and Shikamaru. They told him to be wary of any strangers that suddenly appeared in her life.

The instructions were all from Neji, but her cousin never had the time to personally pass on his own messages to her face, no, he was too important for that. Hinata felt a pang of bitterness settle in the bottom of her stomach.

No matter how hard she tried, she could never forget that she was overlooked, ignored, in favour of Neji.

Sasuke and Shikamaru looked out for her because she was their obligation, they had to and the females took her under their wing because they were kind. But if there was the luxury of choice nobody would even look at Hinata twice. She was quiet by nature and had the natural ability to blend in with her surroundings, sometimes; people would forget she was there.

Naruto didn't look down on her, through her, or past her. Naruto looked at Hinata, she couldn't remember the last time anyone had done that.

For a moment the two sat in silence.

"Yes" She replied. She took a deep breath and said, "Shikamaru is having an affair."

Naruto wasn't at all surprised. He did, however, feel somewhat disappointed with the information. It wasn't the big break he was hoping for.

"With Temari-"

Naruto stiffened, he was well aware of who Temari was and more importantly who she was associated with - The Shukaku.

"How do you know this?"

Hinata's smiled sadly, "When you're me, people sometimes forget you exist."

Naruto placed his hand over hers'. He genuinely liked this girl and he sincerely hoped she would come out from all of this as a stronger person.

He may have only been handed a small piece to the puzzle but it was something and Naruto was always that guy who saw the glass half full.

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Shikamaru could not remember a time in his life when he was ever afraid. He had been annoyed and maybe even worried, but he had never been afraid. So it was a strange feeling, something he could not at first name but it had all come together like pieces of a puzzle; the accelerated heartbeat, the dry throat, the heavy weight at the bottom of his stomach. Nara Shikamaru was afraid.

The crowd of people outside Ino's shop parted like the Red Sea as Shikamaru approached and almost like he was a magnet Ino ran, stumbled, fell against him. Her hands clawing at his chest for leverage, he gripped her arms and pulled her upright. She looked up at him, tears streamed from her puffy eyes, her mouth was open but nothing was coming out.

"Nr. Nara?" Shikamaru looked to the officer that had approached. "Your wife seems to be suffering from shock. I can't blame her really."

"What happened?" He had received a phone call from Ino early in the morning, not too long after she had left for work. She was hysterical on the phone, crying and screaming, begging him to come to her.

The officer did not answer straight away, as if he was weighing his thoughts, choosing his words carefully. "I'm afraid your wife's shop is now a crime scene."

It annoyed Shikamaru when people danced around the answer, it wasted everyone's time. "What happened?" He repeated.

A group of men in forensic jackets left, revealing to Shikamaru what he wanted to know.

The section of roses, the ones Ino had been so proud of, was more specifically the crime scene. A body lay sprawled on top of the flowers like it was a bed. The red dress was sharper then the red of the roses and the blood seeping from her many wounds were almost undetectable against the thin material. Her hair blonde, almost covered her face but from here Shikamaru could see her eyes, opened and blue, staring back at him.

"Mr. Nara, do you recognise this woman?"

Ino screamed and Shikamaru pulled her closer to him, muffling her cries. He couldn't look away.

"Mr. Nara? Sir? Do you recognise the woman? Your wife has indicated that she does not know-"

"No." Shikamaru closed his eyes. "I don't know her."

He could feel the officer looking at him could feel the officer's hesitation. "Okay Mr. Nara. Thank you for your co-operation. You understand that we may have to contact you in the near future."

Shikamaru nodded and when he opened his eyes the officer was gone, swept away by the continuous flow of people coming and going.

"Ino!"

His wife pried herself from him and looked towards the voice she recognised. Sakura soon became visible in the crowd and Ino pulled away.

Shikamaru let her go.

"We've definitely got a problem now."

Shikamaru did not look at the man that appeared beside him.

"Multiple stab wounds, from what I can see, all on the upper torso. Stabbings often indicate that it's personal, could also mean she may have known her killer, might explain how they could have gotten so close with so little defence wounds."

"I don't want to hear it."

Sasuke turned to look at Shikamaru who still refused to meet his gaze. "You may as well hear it from me."

Shikamaru swallowed. "Did you?"

"Did I what?"

Shikamaru finally turned to face his long time companion. "Did you-" he paused, "Did you tell Neji?"

Sasuke met Shikamaru's eyes and for a moment did not answer.

"No"

Nara nodded. "Okay." He looked away. "Okay."

Shikamaru was smart enough to know when he should be afraid.