His life had been normal, less then two months ago. His life had been good, and he had been ready to be happy; but things never seemed to work out for him; he never seemed to get the chance to be happy. And always, always, Gai seemed to be there; Gai seemed to be ready to hurt him for something that had happened years (a life time ago) ago. And he didn't not how to mollify the other man; hell, he didn't know how to mollify himself, either.
Things were getting strange, and he didn't know how he was supposed to keep going with the flow of things. He didn't know how he was supposed to accept this; any of this.
His life was falling apart around him; he was splitting apart at the seams; and he was sure he was going to go down in flames soon.
He was running nowhere fast; and he was running out of time.
He'd never imagined he'd be in this position. Never imagined that he'd be running circles around his superiors, and avoiding all the goodness, and all of the truth in his world. He'd never imagined that his life would all be for nothing. That trying to make things better would have been in vain.
All he could focus on, he realized, was the fact that Gai seemed disapproving of him; almost as if he knew what Kakashi had resorted to; almost as if he could see the blood Kakashi had barely washed away dripping from his fingertips; almost as if he could see the monster Kakashi had become.
Or the fact that Tenzou, innocent kind Tenzou was a monster like him.
His life was hitting the floor in little shards, and try as he might he couldn't seem to pick the sharp, sharp shards up, and slide them back into place.
But it didn't matter.
(But it did!)
He couldn't think about that; any of it, not now. He had to focus on other things, more important things. Like finding a way to stay alive in the midst of a gang war when he himself was a fucking cop! It was easy to assert dominance among them, though. Easier still as he was a cop (and a wolf). But he didn't find any pleasure in it; any of it. And he was sure he was going to die.
He laughed, and he grinned, and he spoke; but it was hollow. His life was empty, and so was he; and his heart ached with every word, and his eyes burned, with every chuckle; and he felt like he was collapsing in on himself.
He was imploding.
He was so tired. Things had gotten out of control fast; and what had been meant to be just one thing for ANBU, so ANBU could do just one thing for him, had turned into jobs during his free time. And Tenzou wasn't really making things any easier with his constant presence; they were practically living together, he realized. Tenzou didn't seem to mind his house, but rather liked it.
He hated it. Almost gave it to the man on several occasions, but something always stopped him. Though he wasn't really sure what it was. He thought it might have something to do with Obito, but he wasn't really sure. Work was faltering, and therefore, so was he.
He was barely managing three hours of sleep a day (a twenty four hour cycle), and he wasn't at work a forth as much as he used to be. And he knew his cases were showing it; knew Tsunade had noticed; but what was one supposed to do when they had the Yakuza breathing down their neck? He had to do what they said, or they'd give him hell to pay.
Or give him to hell; to pay.
Either way, it didn't matter. He had to go see them again anyway, and he'd only been in the precinct for about an hour. Catching a folder out of Anko's hand as she walked past his desk, Kakashi grabbed Tenzou as he was walking away, "I have to take care of something. Can you cover for me?"
He looked awkward, and Kakashi knew that was because they were the only two out of their group here yet, but he nodded slightly, patting Kakashi's back as the other man moved past him. Sighing Tenzou sat heavily in his seat and began the paper work for the case he'd closed yesterday.
It seemed to him that they were all working on their own cases, that they were all walking on a different road; that they were all burning their own path to hell.
Tenzou was halfway through his report when Gai showed up, "Gai!" he said jumping up, thanking the heavens for sending Gai to him, because he'd desperately needed someone to cover for him. Grabbing his jacket from the back of the chair he pulled it on as Gai came to an awkward pause in front of him, "Please cover for me?" Tenzou whispered, and Gai cast a glance at their desks, confused. "I've got some family stuff I have to take care of, and no one else is here. Please Gai?" a reluctant nod sent him flying toward the door.
He couldn't understand this! Where did they all keep disappearing to? He hardly had time to debrief them before they were all gone. And he was left alone to do the work; all of it, while they were off doing God knows what!
And he was tired. He wasn't used to being a detective; and all of this work, work, work! Was driving him crazy. But work he would, because unlike the other three he wasn't about to sign on with some fucking gang, and do what they said, so that they could get him where he wanted to be; and just where was that? He wondered.
But this was all getting a bit out of hand; and here he was one detective working on seven cases; alone. And Kakashi was off at parties the ANBU were holding; and Tenzou was with him. Hiro was doing a bit of work, but only the work he was able to do, provided with the information The Twelve gave him, to solve cases.
What was he going to do?
He was going to stare straight ahead; and he was going to keep to his straight narrow path; and if they chose to follow him, that was all good and well; but if they didn't... then he would be sorry, but he wouldn't go back for them. No matter how many shortcuts he saw on his way; he refused to stray.
They weren't a team anymore, Gai thought as he watched Tenzou run out of the building. A good week and now it was all over. Sitting at his desk he flipped his computer on, absentmindedly thinking of Hiro, and wondering if he could find something on the other man to get him fired, or even better, arrested.
Gai's day didn't seem so dreadful suddenly.
By the time Hiro got in, midafternoon, Gai was getting antsy, and was relieved to see him, even if he hated him, "Mind the front?" Gai had said with a strange urgency to his voice, and Hiro, scowling, had nodded. Just as Gai had gotten up and quickly walked away from him; it was obvious Gai was trying to avoid being alone with him for very long, if at all, but Hiro could care less; the less of Gai he saw the better, really.
Sitting at his desk Hiro pulled one of the case files over to him, and flipped it open; might as well get some work done, it didn't really look like anyone else was doing much, and besides that-
Hello. Gai had left his computer turned on.
Glancing around, to ensure that neither Gai nor Kakashi were in the area Hiro pushed himself out of his chair, and moved over to sit in Gai's chair – he brought the file with him for an excuse; he would say he was cross referencing Gai's work, to make sure he didn't undermine the other detective - and looked at the screen Uchiha Fugaku; why on earth was Gai looking up Fugaku?
Unsure if it was actually anything to worry about Hiro started scrolling through the file; he would find whatever Gai had found, if Gai had found anything; and he would be able to tie up this loose end that Mingyu was apparently too frightened to deal with.
As he signed the last of the papers he'd been going over, and glanced toward the clock on the wall, the phone rang; hesitating for a moment – he could ignore it. He could just let it go to machine, and get back to them in the morning; he could go home to his family; he could, easily – Fugaku heaved a sigh and reached out, picking the receiver up he raised it to his ear, "Uchiha here." He drawled,
"Ah, Fugaku. Good to hear you're still in the office, these days."
That was- that voice was- "… who is this?" it was barely a whisper, and Fugaku was dreading the answer; the answer he already knew.
"I'm hurt." The lilt was amused, "You're really going to pretend not to remember me?"
"What is this?" Fugaku demanded, "What do you want?" (without warning he thought quoeth the Raven "Nevermore.")
"I remember a young, ambitious police officer who was determined to clean this city up. Who was going to take the gangs apart one soldier at a time." Fugaku swallowed audibly, "I remember a young officer who got one man to swear his allegiance with the law. Who swore to protect him and his family." He paused slightly; for effect, "Odd, isn't it what money can buy?" but before Fugaku could respond, the line went dead, and he just sat there, holding the phone.
After several moments Fugaku lowered the phone into the cradle, and then picked it right back up, and dialed a number; once the phone was answered, Fugaku hesitated for a moment, "Mingyu? I… I just got a call from The White Fang."
A/N:
I'm a baddie D; I'm sorry to anyone who was/is still reading this. I can't believe how long it's been since I wrote anything for this.
But I've lost interest in, not only the fic, the fandom. I had this chapter laying about unfinished, and I decided to finish/upload it.
I'll TRY to write more.
