Because I've been receiving a lot of "death threats" as to why I always keep you guys hanging, I promised myself to update this story as soon as I can. lol

Kidding aside, at first I wasn't so sure if this story would be able to tickle your NaruIno fetish, but judging from your comments and personal messages, I'm deeply touched with your approval of my work.

And now, I present to you, chapter 9. Pls. don't forget to review. I appreciate every assessment you guys leave me.

Ino felt the searing hot pain slice across her arm.

She ignored it and drew her weapon while she yelled for the couple to get down.

They did, diving for cover behind a parked car. She then latched on to Naruto at the same moment he latched on to her, and they dragged each other to the ground.

It wasn't a second too soon.

Another bullet smashed into the building, into the exact spot where they'd been.

Ino couldn't take the time to berate herself, but she would sure as heck do it later.

She should have paid more attention to that buzz in her head instead of dismissing it. And she darn sure shouldn't have been playing twenty questions with Naruto about his encounter with Karin.

Now that mistake might cost both of them their lives.

She checked the other couple. They were cowering, their hands protectively over their heads.

All in all, it wasn't a bad position.

The car would give them some measure of protection, but it wasn't the same for Naruto and her. For all practical purposes, they were still out in the open.

"Let's move." Naruto ordered.

Ino didn't waste any time. She got to her feet and they scrambled for the narrow alley between the two buildings. He maneuvered them to the far side of an overflowing dumpster, but it wasn't an ideal position either since bullets could go through the metal.

"Uzumaki here," Naruto said into his communicator. "We've got a shooter. Send back up to the outside perimeter of the area and await further orders."

The outside perimeter so that it wouldn't blow their cover. Not that it wouldn't anyway. But Naruto was obviously hoping to salvage this mission and keep them alive.

Ino pulled in a few steadying breaths and glanced down her arm. She saw the gashed fabric and the blood. Nothing serious, she decided, but she angled her body so that Naruto wouldn't notice it. He didn't need that kind of distraction now.

Another shot.

It slammed into the exterior wall and tore off a chunk of brick, sending mortar and dust flying through the air.

Two more shots quickly followed, both of them gashing into the dumpster and the wall just above their heads.

The bullets came close.

Too close. And the thought of them coming any closer set Ino's heart pounding.

She leaned forward slightly, trying to see if she could pinpoint the origin of those bullets so she could get off a shot.

"Don't even think about it!" Naruto snarled.

Ino started to argue, to remind him that she could return fire as well as he could but that probably wasn't a good option anyway.

The gunman clearly had an advantage, and if she moved away from cover to get a better shot, it would also leave her vulnerable. They were already too exposed as it was.

Still, that didn't stop Naruto.

He aimed. And she knew that he was about to do something she'd already dismissed.

But then the shots stopped. And the waiting began.

Ino counted off the seconds, the quiet seconds until she got to sixty. Naruto grabbed her shoulder when she started to move and put her right back against the wall.

"Not yet." He took the end of his communicator and put it against his mouth. "Situation report."

"Additional officers are on the way," the back up officer responded.

Which meant the sniper was getting away.

Again!

Worse, it didn't exclude any of their suspects. Karin, Sasori or Kabuto could have left Perfect Match and sneaked into any of the multistory building across the street.

For that matter, Tomoyama could have done the same thing. He could have been lying in wait for them.

"Pick up Yakushi Kabuto, Dr. Tomoyama, Hiruko Sasori and Hisagi Karin," Naruto demanded into his communicator. "Bring them in! And I want them all interrogated!"

Ino shut the bathroom door and peeled off her top.

Somehow, she'd managed to keep the streak of blood from Naruto, but if she didn't get rid of the evidence, she wouldn't be able to keep it from him for long.

Thankfully, he'd planted himself in the living room and was still immersed in the necessary calls and reports to the headquarters.

"Fuck," she mumbled looking down at the shallow but angry gash that the sniper's bullet had left on her arm.

The bleeding had already stopped, and it wasn't especially painful – okay, it did hurt – but what hurt even more was the realization that it could have been worse.

Much worse.

The gunman could have killed Naruto, the other couple and her.

It was a miracle that all she had to show for the encounter was a minor two-inch abrasion, and some dried blood.

She stuffed the top in the cabinet beneath the sink and located a first aid kit in the medicine cabinet and got to work cleaning the wound.

When she finished, Ino covered it with a bandage and slipped on a white cotton shirt, the only long-sleeved garment she had in her luggage. She hoped that the quick change in clothes wouldn't make Naruto suspicious.

Or maybe it would.

He was standing right in front of her when she opened the door. He had his hands bracketed on each side of the frame, essentially blocking her path.

"Everything okay?" he asked. But it wasn't a simple question. There were some dangerous undercurrents in it.

"I'm fine."

Those now infamous jaw muscles went to work against each other.

"Take off your shirt, or I'll take it off for you."

Oh.

"Does this mean you want to have sex?" Ino tried.

But it was a lousy try.

Anyone with half a brain would have known it wasn't sex on his mind.

Not with that warlike expression.

He only waited for a second or two before he reached out, and grabbed the sides of her shirt and ripped it open.

A few of the buttons merely gave way and slipped through the buttonholes. Others didn't. they landed with tiny bouncing pings on the title floor.

His gaze raced over her body, and it obviously wasn't her lacy bra or her ample breasts that captured his interest. His attention quickly landed on the bandage.

Ino braced herself for him to rip the shirt right off her. But he didn't. His touch gentled and Naruto eased it off her shoulder to expose her arm.

"It's not bad," she insisted.

He didn't take her word for it. Not surprising since he'd just caught her in a lie.

With that same gentle touch, those same careful movements, he lifted the bandage.

And cursed.

The jaw muscles started again.

"How did you know I was hurt?" Ino asked. Her voice actually cracked.

"There was blood on the sleeve of my jacket. It's not mine. I figured it had to be yours."

She shrugged. "And here I thought I'd contained my bodily fluids."

"This isn't funny!"

Because he looked ready to lose it, she ran her hand down the length of his arm. "It's nothing. I've gotten worse from shaving my legs."

He pressed the bandage back in place, gently, and skimmed his finger across from it. Across the top of her left breast and then to her heart.

"Six inches in this direction, and the bullet wouldn't have grazed you. It would have killed you."

His gaze came to hers.

Unlike his touch, there was still no gentleness in those glacier-blue eyes, but Ino knew without a doubt if gentleness was what she needed, he could have easily provided it.

And he did.

Without moving his hand from her heart, Naruto pulled her to him. Where she felt incredibly safe and warm.

Ino went with it, against her better judgment.

Full-blown sex would have been far less of an intimate risk than this.

Unable to hold back a shudder of breath, she rested her head against his shoulder and took things from him she hadn't known she needed.

They stood there for heaven knows how long. Minutes, maybe. Perhaps longer.

The rhythm of her heart seemed to fall into cadence with the pulse that throbbed in his wrist.

And the world seemed to just melt away.

Until the doorbell rang.

Naruto immediately stepped back, drawing his gun, and their tender moment ended.

"Wait here," he ordered.

"Right, and leave you without backup. Like I'm really going to do that."

Knowing she couldn't do much to fix the shirt, she shucked it off and put on one that Naruto had left in the bedroom. Ino had her weapon drawn before he made it to the door.

"It's your lieutenant, Shikamaru." Naruto let her know.

Great. She didn't expect that as much as she didn't want to face him now.

"Don't say a word about the scratch." She warned him in a whisper.

It could have been better if he sent Chouji to check on them. At least, after asking numerous questions, Chouji would eventually leave them not knowing she had been grazed.

But it was Shikamaru. Which was making this situation even worse.

He was part bloodhound and he could sniff out problems a mile away.

She made sure Naruto's shirt covered the bandage before she joined the two men in the living room.

"I came by to check on you," Shikamaru greeted. He was dressed like a delivery man, but the disguise wasn't limited to just his clothes. He was carrying a white bag. "Your mother sent some ramen."

"Thanks." Ino took the bag, knowing she should dig in right away to prove all was right with the world, but her stomach wasn't quite ready for food. She set it on the table instead.

"You can do your initial report on the computer." Shikamaru instructed. "But I'll need you to do a face-to-face at the headquarters. No way around that. We'll send a cruiser for you tomorrow so it'll look as if you're being brought in for questioning. In fact, we'll bring in all the people who were present tonight."

Shikamaru gave them both a considering glance and sat on the sofa. "Did either of you fire your weapons?"

"No," she quickly volunteered.

Naruto stared at her.

Shikamaru paused, as if waiting to see what had caused that stare.

"Any reason to think that your cover's been compromised?" the black haired lieutenant asked and directed that question to Naruto.

The spiky blonde male leaned against the narrow snack bar that divided the kitchen from the living room. "Hard to tell. Just about everyone at the Perfect Match was talking about the shooting. And that other couple was walking right behind us. Maybe the sniper just wanted to make his or her presence known."

Shikamaru didn't say anything for several seconds.

"Well, we're rounding up Kabuto and hopefully Karin for an interrogation, so maybe we'll know something soon. Karin checked herself into a residential mental health clinic about an hour ago. Lots of freedom for her to go from one place to another, but it doesn't give us a lot of access to her unless she's willing to grant us that access. Oh and we learned that Kabuto owns several hunting rifles so I went ahead and requested a search warrant."

"Good," Naruto said.

Ino muttered an agreement as well, even though Kabuto probably wasn't stupid enough to leave murder weapons lying around for the cops to find. Still, it'd prevent him from getting a good night's sleep – which would apparently be her fate as well. Naruto probably wouldn't drop that 'six inches over and you could have been killed' discussion.

"You intend to continue with the present mission plan?" Shikamaru asked Naruto.

Naruto stared at the platinum blonde again. Ino stared back and tried to put words in his mouth. Or rather the word. And that word is YES.

He didn't say yes.

But then he didn't say no, either.

"I'll have to get back to you on that," Naruto told the lieutenant.

Shikamaru nodded. Made a sound of contemplation. Then looked at Naruto. "Would you mind if I spoke to Ino in private?"

Another glare from Naruto aimed in her direction, but this one had a 'tell him the truth' warning in it.

It was a warning she'd definitely ignore. Naruto would thank her for it later, after they collared the sniper.

Shikamaru motioned for her to sit down the moment Naruto left the room.

"What's wrong?" Shikamaru asked.

She didn't sit though, but put on her best `I'm a femme fatale' look. "Why would you think anything's wrong?"

Shikamaru's eyebrow lifted.

So much for the 'femme fatale' routine. That eyebrow was a very effective BS monitor.

Still, it didn't stop her from going on the offensive.

"What? Being shot at isn't a reason enough to make me cranky?!"

His eyebrow stayed up. "Why are you wearing Sergeant Uzumaki's shirt?" he pointed out.

"Oh that." Not that she'd thought for a minute that Shikamaru would miss something like that. However, since he'd broached the subject, Ino went with it. It might get him off the undercover assignment.

"Am I not allowed to have a lover?" she retorted.

"You are, if you don't sleep with your boss." he shot back at her.

"My temporary boss," Ino corrected.

Shikamaru shook his head. Nothing overt. Just a simple gesture.

"You know something I don't? Uzumaki Naruto's a sergeant in Homicide. You're a detective in the same department."

"For now, yes. But I figure he'll get promoted and then he'll be asked to be moved." If not then it might come down to her asking for a transfer, a though that had her feeling a little nauseous.

She'd worked hard to get into her position, damn hard, and she wouldn't just give that up. Well, unless there was no other way. Then she'd consider it.

Heaven help her.

"And I haven't actually slept with him," she said more to herself than to the man in front of her. "I've just been flirting with the idea. Lightly flirting with it. And even if something happened between us, it's not against the regs per se. it's just frowned upon because, well, morale problems." She added an indignant huff. "Is this why you came over? To grill me about my love life?"

He caught her wrist and sat her on the coffee table in front of him. "Quit being so defensive. I came to see if you're all right."

Ino leaned closer into his personal space. "I. Am."

"Yes. I can see that."

She didn't want to know if he was being sarcastic, mainly because she was certain he was. After all, his eyebrow was still cocked and locked.

"I also wanted to talk to you about Sergeant Uzumaki and this mission." He calmly went on.

Since she was already on the defensive, she just stayed there.

"Oh no. Don't even think about it." Ino held her thumb and index finger to indicate a miniscule space. "We're this close to getting the sniper, Shika."

"I don't doubt it." And there wasn't anything defensive-sounding about that. He eased down her hand. "Sergeant Uzumaki and you make a good team."

That improved her posture. But she wouldn't let a compliment, if that's indeed what it was, blindside her. "What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you each have talents that balance the other's." he leaned back against the sofa and tucked his hands behind his head. "For Uzumaki, following the procedure is the right thing to do. So that practically ensures a successful mission. You, on the other hand, think outside the box, and that gives you the edge when you're in an evade and escape mode."

"Thanks. I think." Suspicious, she squinted one eye. "Is this some kind of law enforcement version of a hunters versus gatherers theory?"

He smiled. "Well, sort of." His mouth quivered as if he might smile, but then he lowered his hands and continued. "Uzumaki's never missed a shot during fire arms qualification."

Another posture improving remark. "Never?" she could not believe what she heard.

"Never." He repeated.

"Sheez." She let that sink in. "Even Robocop misses every now and then."

"He's also never blown a case. He's batting a thousand in that department."

She frowned, realizing all the blindsiding was probably heading somewhere after all. "And your point would be?"

"No point. You're smart, and that means you know if it comes to a tight situation, then Uzumaki can handle it. No matter how good of a shot you are – and you're good – then he's better."

"And he'll be even better if I'm backing him up." She promptly added.

"Absolutely." He stood. And hugged her. "Be careful okay? I don't want Asuma to haunt me in my dreams if something bad happens to you."

Ino nodded, and even though she wasn't pleased with the mini-lecture, she hugged her best friend and brother back.

She locked the door after she let him out.

"One down, one to go." She grumbled. She'd probably convinced Shikamaru to keep this case alive, but now she had to do the same with Naruto.

"Want some ramen?" she called out.

She took two cups of steamy ramen noodles from the bag. They were still warm so she grabbed a pair of chopsticks and prepared herself for a feast.

Naruto came out from the bedroom and started that staring game again, so Ino shoved him his cup of ramen and a chopstick into his hands. "Eat," she ordered.

He did. And Ino sat back on the coffee table and dug in. "Practically orgasmic huh?" she asked after he'd had his first taste. "It's my mom's recipe."

"Close." Naruto sampled another mouthful. "Speaking of orgasmic, you'd rather let Shikamaru think you have the hots for me than just tell him you're hurt?"

It was a good thing she'd just swallowed that mouthful of ramen, or she might have choked on it.

"You eavesdropped?"

"Thin walls," he countered. "Hard not to eavesdrop."

True. But that didn't let him off the hook completely. "I didn't want him to take me off the case, all right? Sometimes, he can be too protective. Even more protective than my father," she told him.

"If he'd known you were wounded in the line of duty, he would have pulled you off the case. It's not protective instincts. It's procedure." He countered.

She pointed her chopsticks on his direction. "I was scratched in the line of duty. Big difference."

"Why do you feel the rules don't apply to you? And before you start defending yourself, just hear me out. Officers who are wounded, even though it's only a scratch, take time to recoup." He lectured her.

"I don't have time to recoup."

He smacked his ramen cup onto the snack bar and stared at her. "Am I supposed to understand that?!"

No. and no explanation would probably help, either. Still, that didn't stop her.

"I want to be promoted to sergeant, okay? And I wish there were a stronger word than want, because it'd definitely apply here. In six months, I'd be too old for that promotion."

"Too old?" he repeated. "You'll be what – the ripe old age of twenty five?"

"Shikamaru was promoted to lieutenant at the age of twenty five, and Chouji's on his way to that too."

He looked at her as if she'd just sprouted wings. "It is about competing with your best friends?"

She was right, he didn't get it. He couldn't.

"It'd be simple if it were a competition," she muttered, frustrated. "But it's more than that. If I come up short, then I'm not the person I thought I was, and I don't think I can handle that."

Ino glanced at him, sorry that she'd just blurted out what was probably the only deep dark secret she had. She hated it when she was left by her best friends when it comes to personal advancements.

"And no, I don't really expect you to understand," she added. She poked at the ramen again, glad that she had something to prod. Maybe the fake violence would rid her of the alley cat war going on inside her.

He dragged a chair closer and sat down right in front of her so they were eye-to-eye. And only inches apart.

"I understand." He muttered.

Of all the things that Ino thought he might say, that wasn't one of them. "Which part?" she asked, surprised.

"All of it."

She hadn't expected that, either. The skeptical look she gave him no doubt prompted him to continue.

"You see, my dad's a retired three star general, and he never forgave me for breaking ranks to become a police officer. As much as he was sure I'd fail, that's how determined I was to succeed. Every promotion, every citation, every award is to prove to him – and me – that I made the right decision."

"Wow." That's all she could manage to say for a couple of seconds. Talk about revealing deep, dark secrets.

Somehow, this conversation had taken a very unsettling turn.

And more.

He was so close that she took in his scent – and that mixed with the understanding look on his face was a dangerous combination.

"Okay, so maybe you do get it," she managed to say. And there was way too much breath in her voice.

"Yeah. But that doesn't mean I think it's a good idea to toss out regs and procedures. Sometimes you just have to step back and look at the bigger picture. Like this…" he reached for her bandaged arm.

Ino snagged his wrist, a variation of cutting him off at the pass. Or something like it.

All she knew was it couldn't be a good time for him to touch her.

"Put your hands in my shirt again, and I'll take you where you sit."

She waited for him to laugh or give her a wiseguy comeback for using his words against him.

He didn't do either.

Naruto sat their staring at her. Just staring. With those intense cerulean orbs that seemed to make her melt.

Holy shit.

Where did the air suddenly go?

But it was too late for her to care about such things as air, or breathing. Ino let go of his wrist so she could reach for him.

Naruto beat her to it.

There…

That must have been the longest chapter I've wrote so far. I'm sorry for doing this guys as much as i hate to do it, i have to. You must understand that it would not be worthy if I make this chapter longer than it actually is. Besides, i need some sleep. lol

So... please don't burn me.

I promise i'll make it up to you on the next chapter.

Until then! Hope you'll look forward to it.

Xoxo,

Ino Ishii