A/N: Look who's back! Thank you Chiruno-Chan for the beta and edit.

Without further ado, here it is, Chapter 10

Otogakure's conference room was filled with cigar smoke as the three men seated at the table, were looking dead serious at each other. It had been an hour since Sasuke arrived at Orochimaru's office, with his usual calm and determined attitude although inside his head there was a storm going on. The moment he walked into the building he tried to block out every thought related to Naruto, Tora or Itachi. He didn't want his mind stuck with his own issues while he was trying to work on another case, but apparently after seeing Tora's face again, the task seemed more than a little difficult. Sasuke was just unable to stop the rush of anger in his nerves.

His thoughts were disarrayed and he couldn't think straight. How could he? He was beyond pissed and being in the same room as Orochimaru didn't help any either. Although the man hadn't even spoken a word and Sasuke tried to avoid any eye contact with him, still he could feel the man's nerve-wrecking stare on him.

It'd been around 9:30 in the morning when Arashi finally arrived, complaining. Now he was here, sitting right in front of Sasuke, smoking out a pack of cigarettes only in a few minutes, fidgeting his knees out of nervousness and avoiding any kind of conversation related to his case.

"I got one supervised hour a week with my step daughter and every time I'm dragged out because of this bullshit!" The middle aged man pulled his last cigarette up and took another long drag from it but even the nicotine couldn't help him calm down. "I mean, with all due respect Orochimaru-sama, but you better have a good reason for calling me every god damn time!"

"Calm down Arashi-san." Sasuke watched Orochimaru as he got up and walked behind the trembling man. He squeezed his shoulders reassuringly. "I've discussed your case with Sasuke-kun, and he is here to talk about your testimony."

Sasuke had talked with Arashi a few times before and it didn't take him much to realize how much he despised the guy. He was tall and thin with long gray hair that was pulled back into a long ponytail and he was dressed in an old-fashioned black suit that was tailored to fit and the fabric looked very expensive. They guy is supposed to be one of Orochimaru's trustful clients. How ridiculous.

The man was one sneaky, foul-mouthed asshole and although Sasuke didn't really care about how much of a jerk he was, he knew if he was going to be acting this way in the court, with all the other evidence against him, the jury would announce him as guilty.

"I already know what I want to say." Arashi blew out a breath, nervously. "I'm not fucking guilty."

Bending on the table, Sasuke glared at Arashi long enough to get the man's attention. He was losing his patience, why didn't this guy get it? If he really wanted to get away with what had been done he had to listen to him.

"Your wife owned a car company, Arashi. I talked to one of her friends a few days ago. She says and I quote' Arashi wants the company, but he can't get his dirty hands on it while I'm alive. ' "

"That's hearsay. It can't get in." Arashi snorted. "I had enough money, I didn't need her company."

"WRONG ANSWER!" Getting up Sasuke slapped his palms against the table, letting Orochimaru who was standing by the window look at him with slight amusement in his eyes. Arashi on the other hand seemed startled. "You borrowed her money to prosper your business but you were running low, you were going to be broke in a few months and if it'd happened you couldn't stay a client in Otogakure's company anymore. You needed money. You needed her company. The only way to get that was for her to either give it to you willingly or to get killed. I hope you understand that this is a motivation."

By the time Sasuke had finished, Arashi was crimson red with anger. He pushed his chair back and stood up, his nostrils flaring as he exhaled aggressively. "I didn't kill anybody! How many times should I say this, I wasn't even home that night!"

"There's no proof in your claim Arashi. You have no witnesses. "

"I have." Sasuke was taken aback by the man's sudden confession, cocking his head as he continued. "I can prove it."

"And how can you do that, may I ask?"

Arashi cast down his head momentarily before lifting it up again. This time he glanced at Orochimaru's direction with pleading eyes. Sasuke looked at the black-haired man from the corner of his eyes. To his bewilderment, the man seemed perfectly unfazed. As a matter of fact Orochimaru's sharp eyes were focused on his instead of Arashi's. What does he want from me? Sasuke wondered before turning back to Arashi again.

"Tell me Arashi, what is there that I need to know?" He asked as he measured his words carefully. Narrowing his eyes in suspicion, Sasuke felt a little left out when he saw Orochimaru nodded as if he was giving Arashi the permission to speak.

The gray-haired man finally sat straight on his seat, crushing out his cigarette in the ashtray while letting out a deep sigh. "Aya Akiyama, she's my assistant. I was with her the night my wife was murdered."

Sasuke glared down at Arashi accusingly for moment. "Where is she now?" When he saw the man wasn't going to respond to his question, he bent down even further until their eyes were levelled. "I need to interview your assistant, Arashi."

"She's here." He answered. "I told her to wait in the hallway."

"I'll go talk to her then." Sasuke said, sharing a glance with Orochimaru and leaving the office with long strides.

Is it some sort of a game to them? He thought angrily, his hands forming fists at his sides. As he walked into the hallway, he saw Tora sitting next to a girl with short blond hair and talking to her in a soothing voice. She assumed the blond girl was Arashi's assistant as she seemed stressed and very nervous when she took a quick glance at him. It was almost hilarious, seeing Tora comforting someone, saying sweet words. It didn't suite her at all. If Sasuke wasn't that angry and it wasn't a serious situation he would definitely laugh at how uncharacteristic she behaved.

"Miss Akiyama?" He called as the small girl jumped to her feet. She looked pale and scared. It was hard not to notice how her whole body was shaking like a leaf.

"Y-Yes."

"I need to ask you some questions."

"I-I didn't do anything." The girl seemed like she could cry any moment now as Tora walked to her and pulled her into a hug.

"Don't worry honey; it's just a few questions. You'll be fine." How disgustingly sweet. Sasuke's frown deepened as Tora gave him a small smile and pulled him a little further from the girl, whispering. "Don't you offend her, she's my friend."

Sasuke looked back at the girl, then at Tora with a raised eyebrow. "Why am I not surprised?" he scoffed, taking a step away from her.

Tora got closer, tugging his arm harshly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Sasuke leaned in, his face only inches away from hers. "Don't tell me what to do." He snapped, before looking back at Aya."Come with me."

Ignoring an offended Tora, Sasuke walked to an empty room and the blond girl followed him sheepishly.

Naruto had never seen the police department being so crowded. There were police officers in uniforms running around, prisoners shouting and random people complaining about different things. It seemed like every policeman in the city had been called in for some kind of emergency situation. Naruto didn't give it much thought though; he was already busy thinking about what had happened earlier that morning.

He wanted Itachi to talk with Sasuke and tell him what he had told him the other day. This was the only way he could prove to his friend, that he wasn't a betrayer. Even thinking about that made Naruto wince in disgust. He'd never do that to his friends.

He thought Sasuke must have learnt it by now that Naruto would stand by his side until the very end. The only thing he wanted now was for Sasuke to see the truth, to try and to forgive his brother. That is, if Naruto wasn't wrong and Itachi was indeed innocent.

"Uzumaki!"

The blond man's head snapped up to see Gaara, striding towards him, as stoic as the man normally looked, Naruto could see traces of uneasiness on his face.

"I came as soon as you called." Naruto's eyes squinted as he looked around confusedly. "What's going on here?"

"Follow me." Gaara jerked his head to Naruto, walking towards the detainment hallway. Years of working with the mysterious redhead had taught Naruto not to expect a straight-forward answer from the man and as much as it annoyed Naruto, he knew now wasn't the time to argue.

They walked down a corridor that was normally silent and sterile with fluorescent lights glaring down which mostly gave Naruto a dreadful feeling but today everything was exceptionally different. The corridor was over-flowing with people. The sound of the shouting prisoners behind the bars was deafening and as it echoed in the area, made Naruto nauseous. He could see the officers were giving him suspicious looks while talking to each other but in between all the other sounds, it was hard to hear what they were saying.

Only when they got close to the cell rows, did his gut started twisting into a knot. He picked up the pace almost running to the third cell in the row. There were people in uniform blocking the entrance as some camera man was taking pictures from what was inside.

Naruto's heart started pounding in his chest, his mouth was dry and he could feel cold sweat forming in the palms of his hands. Eventually he shoved everybody aside to take a look inside.

The moment he got a clear view of the cell, he gasped in disbelief. His eyes opened wide as he looked down at the dead body lying in the middle of the cell. The very cell of Itachi Uchiha. Soon the look of shock passed over his face only to be replaced by horror. Was Itachi dead?

"I said you should stand back, Sir!" The officer's loud voice snapped him back to reality.

"Are you fucking kidding me? I'm his lawyer." Naruto protested, straining to get closer.

"I won't repeat myself, Sir," Straight away the officer in front of him shouted as he pushed him."Get back!"

As a reaction to that Naruto pushed him back strong enough so the man stumbled a few steps away. "I'm his fucking lawyer!"

He couldn't believe it. It was so surreal, a freaking nightmare. What happened in detainment overnight and how had it happened?

Naruto felt the adrenaline rushing into his veins as the officer stepped up to him again but before he was able to make a move and attack him, he was yanked back by a strong hand out of the cell and back to the corridor.

"What the hell-?"

A pair of icy sea-foam blue eyes met his. "Calm down, Naruto. Itachi's alive." Gaara stated coolly.

"Then the body—"

"It belongs to a CIB* agent," Gaara cut in, crossing his arms over his chest. "His name was Kisame Hoshigaki."

"CIB?" Naruto shouted but the second he realized others were looking at him, he hushed. "What was a CIB agent doing here? And where the hell is Itachi?"

"Not sure but Itachi's gone."

Naruto paused for a moment and cast a dry look at Gaara. "Wait, wait are you trying to tell me that Itachi Uchiha killed that CIB agent and escaped?"

"Yes."

"Why the hell would he do that? I talked to him, I accepted his case. I was working on it. What can his possible motivation be?!" He barked.

Gaara's brow creased as he glanced around warily. "That is what's bugging me."

It was strange to see an always cool and collected Gaara act like this. But wasn't this whole situation strange? Naruto squinted a bit. Something smelled fishy. His eyes wandered around the detainment hallway and the station's lobby. CBI agents were everywhere, hovering over the place.

How could he miss all these?

He cupped his chin asking thoughtfully. "When was the guy's time of death?"

"3:45 in the morning." Gaara answered, his lips twisted with disapproval as he looked at the agents. "You have to drop this case, Naruto."

"You're kidding, right?" He scoffed.

It wasn't that Naruto didn't understand the gravity of the situation but he couldn't get it. So what if the CBI were involved? He didn't intended to leave the case, especially now that things had gotten more serious. He demanded to know why Itachi had killed that agent and why he'd escaped like that. Gaara must be kidding, saying something like that. Although by looking at the redhead's blank expression, he was fairly convinced that the guy was dead serious, then again when wasn't he?

Naruto threw him a crooked smile. "I can't." He looked at him unsure of his response as he continued. "I won't."

If it was anything the blond man tried to avoid the most was Gaara's intense glare on him, not only was it unreadable, it also made others feel like they were idiots.

"I think you're unaware of what is going on here, Uzumaki." His voice was flat but this time gentle. "Take this from a friend," Naruto's brows knitted, little did he know that Gaara valued the word 'friend' more than anything and now for him to say this to Naruto meant a lot."Don't get involved." He finally finished his sentence and although he didn't show it, Naruto could tell that he was at least a little concerned.

His voice wasn't that loud or harsh but it rang in the blonde's ears. It seemed as if he'd been just whacked over the head. Something in Gaara's tone was thrilling enough for Naruto to realize that this case was definitely more than a normal homicide. It was deeper than he thought. He was doubtful though. Naruto didn't know whether he wanted to take his friend's advice this time or dig even further.

The silent gap between them was once again filled with the loudness of the hallway. However the voices were only background noises to Naruto as he was drowned in what Gaara had just said. A lot of questions were now flowing in his head; he wasn't sure if Gaara had known that he'd just triggered his curiousness more than scaring him off, intentional or not.

Naruto opened his mouth to ask something but before he had a chance to vocalize the question his cell-phone's ringtone echoed in the corridor. He sighed and automatically his hand went to his pocket. As he looked at the screen his eyes lit up the second he saw Hinata's number on it.

He walked a few steps away from Gaara, touching the screen to answer. "Hey, Hinata."

"Na-Naruto-kun…" He heard her stuttered shyly.

"What's up?"

"I-I—"

Naruto knew his new girlfriend had always been timid, this time though she sounded horribly unconfident.

"Are you alright?" asked Naruto worriedly, secretly hoping that it wasn't anything serious. He'd got his plate full as it was for today, although he couldn't ignore his gut feeling.

As her voice suddenly cracked over the line, Naruto's heart started to pound crazily. "I-I—see you b-but—th-there was a-man—" Chopped words choking out from her were barely coherent.

He intervened immediately to soothe her. "Hinata, Hinata— calm down, okay?" said Naruto, in a comforting tone. "Where are you now?"

"I'm in your house—Naruto-k-kun, h-help please—" She begged as her shaky breath was replaced by a much rougher male voice. "I really don't want to hurt her, Naruto."

"Who is this?" Naruto frowned at the vaguely familiar voice. "What do you want?!"

"You should've known by now, that I am not in police detainment anymore. I don't want any trouble though." The recognition finally kicked in as the man responded coolly. "Don't inform anyone about our call and don't let anyone follow you. That is if you want her safe and sound."

"You bastard" An aura of impatience and growing anger emanated from Naruto. "If you hurt one hair on her head, I swear, I will fucking kill you!"

"I'm not going to hurt her," The voice on the other side of the line, sounded unthreatened. "Unless someone makes me."

Beep Beep Beep

For a few moments, Naruto stood there, at the end of the corridor, listening dully to the dial tone as his face slowly twisted in anger and his whole body started to shake with frustration. How could that bastard do it? Naruto wanted to help him. He wanted to find out the truth and he thanked him by threatening to hurt his girlfriend?

It didn't take much for Naruto to punch the wall and cuss his way out of the suffocating corridor. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Gaara following him with doubtful eyes.

"What's wrong?" He asked with a touch of concern in his voice.

Naruto only threw him a guilty look in response, striding out of the police department without saying another word. He wondered if Gaara knew it was already too late for him to back off.

"I'd say you need some medical care, it seems pretty broken to me."

Unconsciously, Sasuke lifted his hand to touch his nose. He winced at the pain. It hurt like hell, although at first it seemed like a scratch, only now did he realized how bad it really was. Other than that his purple nasal fracture and swollen dark circles under his eyes gave him a nasty look, thanks to Naruto for that.

"I'm fine." He replied dryly, without even looking at Orochimaru.

Otogakure's headmaster let a small chuckle leave his lips. Standing at a bar in a VIP casino room, he placed two glasses before themselves and filled them with whiskey. "I know you're a stubborn kid but I can't deny your skills." He picked up his glass and took a sip of it. "From the moment I saw you, I knew I could trust you, even with the whole company."

Sasuke's eyes shifted to the glass. Whiskey in the middle of the day? Where has his morals gone? Honestly he was too sour to give a shit right now. After his interview with Arashi's secretary and convincing the woman to give a testimony in the court, he'd accepted to have a drink with Orochimaru. Not that he liked him in any way, it was just that the man held an odd charisma or perhaps today was simply too crazy for him to stay sober.

"Don't get your hopes high. When this case is over, I'm outta here." He quaffed the glass in a single gulp. The drink's sourness gave him a sudden sense of euphoria as he held out his glass for more.

"I respected him, you know." Orochimaru said out of the blue, his hazel eyes fixed on Sasuke. "You remind me of your father."

"My father?" Sasuke frowned and regarded him over the glass's rim.

Orochimaru cocked his head and returned the look with a quizzical air that almost discomposed the young lawyer. "It's insensible of me, isn't it? I haven't told you that your father and I were… friends, indeed." Taking another sip from his drink he said. "He must be so proud of you."

It irked Sasuke how well the man played his cards. Every time he revealed a little piece of information to surprise him or maybe to generally give him a heads up of how he has eyes and ears on everything. It was quite difficult for Sasuke to tell if he meant well or if there were wicked intentions behind his words.

"What else is there that I don't know?" Sasuke snapped.

Orochimaru leaned back in his seat comfortably. "You see Sasuke-kun, there are two poles to everything. This city too has two different poles, two powerful sides that fight each other in a battle to gain control of everything." He explained, "You have heard of Yin and Yang, darkness and light, good and evil, eh?" arching an eyebrow he continued. "Not everything in this world is as divided as it's been said. There are no black and white, there's grey. Fukaso Uchiha had always been considered a good man when he was alive. He fought for justice. He was a hero. The only problem was that he refused to choose a side. He chose to stay in the middle and fight. He was truly alone."

Sasuke began to feel as if his hold on reality was slipping. He stared at the man's grave expression. Orochimaru just wasn't the one to hide the deep-seated gleam of amusement in his eyes. "And you're saying this to me because?" He asked, trying to inject as much frigidity into his voice as possible. The image of his father being friends with this guy just seemed too absurd.

Orochimaru waved one hand carelessly. "All I want to tell you Sasuke-kun is that it is wrong. It is absolutely wrong to stay in the middle. You destroy yourself that way. You should find your own side, the pole that you have the strongest connection with." He shrugged and pointed at Sasuke, "Even your brother, Itachi, had chosen a side, years ago."

Sasuke looked at him startled, feeling slightly confused. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"He was, still is part of the yakuza."

Sasuke's stomach twisted into a knot the moment Orochimaru brought up yakuza. As a head of the Tokyo Police Department, his old man had always been fighting with yakuza. Now Itachi had joined them. Why would he? His head suddenly felt heavy with the pain throbbing and pulsing in his skull. It seemed as if someone was hammering his brain over and over again. The vision of his parents' bloody room appeared before his eyes.

"They couldn't buy Fukaso Uchiha. Instead they took away his son."

Orochimaru's voice echoed in his head. His brain felt like it was on overdrive, but at the same time he couldn't process properly. Images ran through his head, chasing one another round and round. Why would he do something like that? Was it because of money? He cast down his head as warmth ran down his face. He felt around and found it under his nose, crimson. Blood. He quickly wiped it with the back of his hand.

"You don't want to lose to him, do you?" Orochimaru asked in a hushed tone. Sasuke opened his mouth but only a groan left his lips. "You're aware of the fact that yakuza is everywhere, right? It has even corrupted the law. The judges, the prosecutors, who can you and can you not trust?" Sasuke remembered this morning and what happened with Naruto, even his closest friend was with them. Who had he left now to trust? "Otogakure has always been opposing yakuza. I know I'm not a saint, but no one is perfectly white, is it son?" The man emphasized every word as he looked closely at Sasuke.

"Tell me now, which side are you on, Sasuke-kun?"

On his emotional drive back home, Naruto lost control of his compulsion for speed. He tried to consider every possibility to keep himself calm but he found himself unable to do so. He was too angry to think straight.

The moment he reached the house, he pulled up to it with a squeal of tires and ran inside. His heart began pounding as he found the door was open. There was no sign of Itachi, nevertheless Naruto rushed into the living room afraid of what he might find.

"Hinata!" He called out only to see her sitting on the sofa, a little pale and out of breath but unharmed. As soon as Hinata saw Naruto, she rushed into his arms. He was completely overpowered by the varied emotions.

"Are you alright?" he clasped her close. "Did he hurt you?"

She buried her face in his shoulder. "I'm fine."

"You're sure?" He was tremendously relieved that she wasn't hurt but that didn't mean Itachi could get away with it.

"She's alright." Naruto looked up to the third voice around them. Itachi was only a few steps away, gazing dully at them.

He gritted his teeth. "You bastard! Do you have any fucking idea what you're doing?" He took one step ahead, growling. "You even dared to keep my girl as a hostage." His breaths were suddenly ragged and uneven. He was about to attack Itachi as the man raised his gun, pointing it at him.

"Naruto!" Hinata gripped Naruto's arm and pulled him back, looking at Itachi's calm expression, scared.

"I told you, I don't want any trouble." He said flatly.

Naruto looked at the gun's barrel, frowning. "Don't you see? You're already in trouble! You killed a fucking CBI agent and escaped!"

For the first time in the last few minutes, Itachi's brow creased as a flash of sadness passed his dark eyes. "I had no other choice. He tried to kill me." He shook his head, almost to get rid of a sudden thought in his head. "I'll explain it to you later, trust me."

"Fuck that!" Naruto yelled. "Why would I trust you?"

"You said you believed me when I said I didn't kill my parents." Itachi confessed for the second time as Hinata gasped in horror. Here in front of them was a stranger with a pistol in his hand who claimed he wasn't a murderer, what irony. There was a long pause then, as Naruto stared back in his eyes. He didn't fidget though.

"Maybe I was wrong." Naruto said brusquely, groping in his pocket for his phone.

Itachi's expression darkened. "You really don't have any choice now, Naruto." He said bitterly. "You're already a part of this."

The blond man looked at him with widened eyes, laughing dryly. "Is this a fucking joke? You broke into my house and threatened to hurt my girl, asshole!"

"They stole my identity!" Even the dark-haired man's patience seemed to be wearing thin as he spoke in a much louder tone. "I had no choice."

"Who are they?" Naruto quickly asked, gripping his phone without taking it out of his pocket, he dialed 119*. "If you don't tell me what's exactly going on, I won't be able to help you."

"Please don't." His voice grasping his usual calmness again as he pointed his gun to Naruto, making him freeze in his spot. "Give me your phone."

Clenching his jaw, Naruto took his phone out forcefully and threw it to Itachi as he was instructed. "This is crazy. You're only making it worse Uchiha!"

He glanced grimly at the couple in front of him. "I'm sorry; but you can't back off now, when we—" Suddenly interrupted by the doorbell, he turned to Naruto abruptly. "Were you being followed?"

Naruto looked over his shoulder, shrugging. "No."

The older man, kept his gun pointing at them, while walking over to the kitchen cautiously as he slightly pulled the curtain and looked out the small window to see who it was. There were two men dressing in black suits. There were also two black Toyota parking out in front of the house.

"Dammit!" He murmured.

"Mr. Uzumaki. We're from CBI."

Looking back, Itachi saw Naruto standing quietly behind the counter. "Tell me why Kisame Hoshigaki wanted to kill you?" he considered.

Itachi responded with a glare, even though every second that passed were of value. Once again the agent's voice echoed at the main door. "We know you're in there. Open the door now."

Suddenly the ticking of the clock hanging on the wall became the most nerve-wrecking sound in the whole universe to Itachi Uchiha. He didn't say a word though.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me the truth." Naruto said, crossing his arms.

The knocking on the door grew even more impatient as Itachi's eyes shifted to the door then to the man in front of him.

"He didn't want to." He corrected. "He was ordered to."

Naruto cocked a brow. "By whom?"

Itachi's eyes darted to Hinata, clinging onto Naruto. "They break in, they're gonna kill both of you. So if you don't want her to die here, stop asking so many questions!" He walked passed him to the corridor that led to the backyard. "We need a car."

"You can take my car." Both men looked up at Hinata who was standing terribly scared by the counter. "I-I didn't w-want my father to-to find out I was here so I parked my car at the b-back door." She stuttered, giving her car keys to Naruto.

Naruto's mouth hung open. "Hinata?!" He looked questioningly at her. "You don't have to do this!"

She cast down her head quickly, causing her dark bangs to hide her face. "I-I don't want a-anything happen to you, Naruto-kun."

Naruto let out a frustrated sigh. "But we can't trust him."

"Don't." Itachi commented.

"Open the door now or we will have to break it!" The agents shouted once again.

"Trust your instincts." Itachi ignored the pounding on the door and started for the door. The couple followed him, too, as the main door was flown open with the splintering of wood.

As soon as they stepped out, the sound of gunfire echoed through the alley. The sun pounded their heads as they ran fast forward to a white Mitsubishi that was parked behind the fences. Panicking, Hinata almost threw herself in the passenger seat and both men took the front seats.

Adrenaline rushing through his veins, Naruto started the engine and stepped hard on the gas pedal. As they drove away, Itachi watched the CBI agents' reflection on the side mirror, pointing their guns at them.

"Get down!" Itachi shouted by the time the car's back window shattered as a bullet had flew through it and cracked it on impact.

"They're shooting at us!" Naruto yelled, holding onto the wheel and flooring the car. He looked over his shoulder to see Hinata had slumped in her seat. "You okay, Hinata?"

"Y-yes." There came another shot as Naruto got down low enough to avoid getting shot in the back of his head.

Itachi used this opportunity to put his head out of the window and started shooting at the two Toyota Camry that were following them.

Naruto weaved right in the busy street, driving in between the cars. He sped up as fast as he could while making turns through the neighbourhood while bullets were ringing out, hitting the car in different places. Although none of them had managed to get through the cracked back window.

Itachi opened up with yet another burst of shooting. He must have seen the vehicle approaching. He muttered, "Shit!" a terrible screaming of tires skidding on the road. A horn blaring out. He shot out the front left tire of one the Toyota behind them. Then shot out both the front tires of the other one. The two cars spun out of control and smashed into several cars in neighbouring lines. Other drivers slammed on their brakes to avoid being hit.

The two black cars collided side by side, locked next to one another. Pieces of scrap metal flew all over the place, crashing into everything. Both the cars slammed through the metal barrier along the road and into a large oak three. The fronts of both cars crumpled from the impact.

Naruto looked at the results' reflection, cursing under breath. "Fuck!" the survival of the two drivers was unlikely. "Are they dead?" He demanded, feeling cold sweats running down his face. Hinata looked like she was about to pass out. A feeling of guilt embraced both of them.

Itachi leaned his head against the seat, closing his eyes. "It doesn't matter."

"You're insane!" Naruto shouted, hitting his hand hard on the steering wheel in anger."This is fucking insane! You're in deep shit Itachi!"

"We."

"What?" Naruto looked startled.

"I said we're in deep shit." Itachi emphasized.

"We? There's no we? You pulled us into this mess."

"I didn't force you to accept my case." He started coughing roughly before he inhaled deeply and took a short glance at Hinata."And she was just there."

"This is ridiculous—" Naruto truly felt himself at loss of words. The moment he accepted a case, he didn't expect any of these. Anyway it was useless to let anger control his actions right now. He needed to at least try to be logical, even though it was impossible. Soon he found the busy streets being the most dangerous out of all the places. So he turned left into a long narrowed alley and slowed down a little.

"Where to now?" it was hard to look at Itachi and not to punch him in the gut so Naruto fixed his eyes on the road ahead.

A moment of silence passed as Itachi started coughing dryly. Bending forward and putting his hand on his mouth. Naruto looked at him from the corner of his eyes. He considered asking what was wrong with him but for all he cared, Itachi could cough to death.

His eyes momentarily diverted to Hinata's face as she leaned forward and gave her handkerchief to the man. Shocked, Naruto looked at Hinata in disbelief. She was staring at Itachi with a mixture of fear and concern exhibited in her eyes.

Finally the dark-haired man took a deep breath and looked up with cloudy eyes. "I'd planned to get as far away from here as possible, at least for the time being."

Before Naruto could respond Hinata quietly said. "W-we can go to my family's lake house."

"Hinata?" Naruto may have not realized it but he sounded extremely whinny. Sure, Hinata had surprised him a lot in the past hour.

"I-I mean—that place is safe." She uttered shyly.

"But you can't do it Hinata." Naruto tried to argue.

"Why can't she?" Itachi intervened, tilting his head, he said. "She clearly wants to help."

Naruto felt his blood boiling once again. "She's from a really respectful family, it gets her into trouble!"

"She's already in trouble."

"Shut up!"

"It's okay Naruto-kun, n-no one will know." Naruto looked back at Hinata again. He could blame his sourness on the man sitting next to him but now Hinata just made it worse. The blonde looked away. How could she become so unfair? They've been friends for twelve years since high school—technically they weren't really friends more like classmates still though that didn't change anything—and she'd never ever invited him to their lake house before. Only now she decided to invite a complete stranger? And not any random stranger but Itachi Uchiha, the first class criminal who was also charged with murder.

This blew his mind. Yes, he understood the fact that the guy was a little good-looking and almost handsome but it still didn't give Hinata the authority to act so unfair towards her own boyfriend!

Alright man calm down, she still loves you! I hope. Desperately Naruto tried to convince himself before letting out a frustrated sigh which earned him a slight smirk from the man in question.

Guess being an arrogant asshole also runs in the Uchiha family.

"Whatever." Naruto huffed, having no other choice; he turned the steering wheel and drove away to the main road and to the country side

Sakura wrapped a towel around her body and walked out of the bathroom. She sat on the edge of her bed and looked out of the large window. Her eyes drifted to the horizon. The sky was dyed pomegranate pink as the sun tried to praise the last of its amber limbs over the rooftops.

She felt a kind of calm she had never felt before. This confused her deeply, like it wasn't supposed to be. This was not how she had pictured it since her divorce. There was a part of her that kept on questioning and then there was a loud voice in her head who made that tiny questioning part go away by saying 'Let the story guide you—for once.'

She was happy that Ino had accepted to take over her shift- at least for today; she wanted to daydream all day. Serenely standing up, she let go of her towel and grabbed a white shirt lying on a chair and pulled it above her head. The material loosely hugged her naked form as she walked to the balcony attached to the bedroom. A wooden chair was placed there with a small coffee table with a glass top that had a stack of her many books. Lately she didn't spend much time home but given a choice of spending time anywhere she can, she'd always pick this balcony. She didn't know if it was because of what had happened the previous night or something else but she knew she was in a good mood, today. A cup of coffee, her favourite Shakespeare play and some fresh flowers on the table was everything she required right at the moment.

She went near the railing and held it, looking up at the flawless sky as her mind wandered to the onyx-eyed man. Now it was just too hard to deny it. She was falling and she couldn't stop herself from doing so. It was out of her control but at the same time, it exhilarated her. For the first time in her life, she was living in a moment, contently.

The evening breeze caressed her damp skin and ruffled her hair. She shivered. Not with cold. With anticipation. Inhaling deeply, she felt like she was infinite and free.

As she was about to make her way back to the kitchen to make herself a coffee, the sudden sound of the doorbell ringing stopped her. Surprised, she looked at the door wondering who it might be, she didn't expect anyone.

Sakura walked to the door and without looking through the peephole, she opened the door. Her body completely froze as she saw Sasuke Uchiha was standing in the doorway, looking blankly at her.

For a few moments Sakura stood there, looking at him with a surprised look on her face. She was just thinking about him right now and now he was here. She didn't know what to say or how to react to this, but she could feel that her face was on fire. Once again, even without saying a word this man was able to make her feel so bare and naked.

Sakura hadn't had a time to invite him in as he walked up to her and leaned embarrassingly close.

"I should've accepted your invitation last night." He said hazily, looking right into her eyes.

Unknowingly Sakura took a step back, but the wall stopped her. Her eyes suddenly fell on the wound on his nose. Automatically she raised her hand to his face. "Are you okay?"

"I'm scared it's too late now." She could smell a mixture of nicotine and cologne radiating from him but still though to her eyes he was flawless. Sasuke responded by taking a step forward and closing the distance until his hard chest nearly brushed hers. His hands cupped both sides of her face and her pulse fluttered in her throat.

"Sas—"

His mouth covered hers, stealing the words with an almost-demanding kiss. Raw heat flooded her system, scrambling her senses. On instinct, she returned the kiss, tasting the remaining bitterness of alcohol in his mouth.

It all had happened too fast that she didn't even have time to think about how drunk he might have been. The thing was that even as sober as she thought she was, she still enjoyed it.

A/N:

Hey everybody it's me! I'm alive! So so so sorry for the looooooooooong wait. I hope it was worth it anyway. And finally the moment we've all been waiting for had come!

I personally loved the last part. I wanted this to be longer but because the story is rated as T, I can't add more details to Sasuke and Sakura's part here.

Due to the the comments that I've received for writing a one-shot, I tried my best to write one. So you guys-for those who encouraged me and asked me to go and write one already- there's a SasuSaku hot moment oneshot laying in my stories right now! [COMPLETELY M RATED] go check it out and don't forget to leave a review! love you all!

Thank you Thank you for all the 116 followers and 57 favorites and all those who have reviewed so far.

Special thanks to my dear amazing beta-reader Chiruno-Chan and the following reviewers : xXKawaiiNijiXx ,crazymel2008 , the guest reviewer, Dieinhappiness, my lovely YZYdragon2222, Tiger Priestess, Meemy-Chan, IsseyRiot for your constructive criticism and also that one hater who made me laugh with her/his comment.

I really hope all of you enjoyed it

See you real soon, in the next chapter

~Bella

*CBI : is almost the equivalent of FBI in Japan

119: emergency number in Japan, in the US it's 911