Despite the company being charged with so much, the legal system was slow. After a single night of worry, work resumed as usual the very next Monday.
The crowd of reporters in the lobby had grown, and now it was out the front door. Cameras flashed as the car pulled into the parking lot, and security escorted Jordan and himself upstairs. It wasn't pleasant to walk through a funnel of people screaming at him and cameras flashing. Security walked in a postage stamp fashion around them, and he and Jordan walked abreast, together in what felt like an unshakable wall moving foreword. Things were going badly, no one had to tell him that.
The elevator stopped at Nagato's floor, the hallway stretching out before them like it was swallow them whole. They both faced the door until that moment, unspeaking, both clad in dark sunglasses and black blazers.
Jordan turn to him, smiling, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Just go up stairs and make the best of today. You can't call me anymore, so I hope you'll be okay alone." The phones were tapped. He'd seen a warrant for that.
"Couldn't I stay here with you?" He asked, turning his head and looking her way.
"No," she replied, to which he asked,
"Why?"
She pressed the close button on the elevator doors, in preparation to speak but she never opened her mouth.
"I want to do everything I can," he expressed as the doors clicked shut. She'd picked him up when he was nothing, he couldn't abandon her now he was on top. He'd be nothing without her. It would hurt him to say it out loud, but he was quite attached.
"Sasuke, you need to stay as far away from all of this as you can," Jordan said factually. He could see her eyebrows were raised by the tautness of her forehead even if he couldn't actually see her eyebrows behind her sunglasses.
"I'm already in trouble, everyone is," he pointed out.
She laughed at him. Her smile cracked at the seams, growing wider and more wicked. "I suppose."
They regarded each other, his empty expression as constant as hers.
Her hand moved very slowly, from his shoulder to his cheek, her fingers ghosting the fringe of his bangs and her warm palm resting on his skin. He let her close the distance between them, and place a kiss that was only half unwanted on his lips. With the other half, he returned her kiss. He rose a hand to rest it on the taller woman's shoulder, his free hand moving to rest on her hip.
Her lips were soft and he could smell her perfume. It smelled like peonies, he realized, after being around it so long but never really smelling it, and the scent filled his senses as his mouth worked against hers. She moved so slowly, her open mouth closing, pressing herself to him, and then her lips were gone with a soft, wet, sucking sound, followed by another kiss. When she drew her lips away finally, she lingered, placing a kiss on his neck. She hovered there, right above the spot she kissed, right below his ear.
"I'm so sorry Sasuke," she whispered, "I'm so sorry I took your virginity. I should have known when it went too far."
"But you're still here," he remarked, "and your still kissing me, and I don't give a shit about my virginity."
"Is that what's important?" She asked, "that I'm here?"
"That's very important." He replied. He wholly expected her to kiss him again, or give him a hickey right there at work, but instead, her arms moved and the tall woman embraced him in a tight hug. So he'd slept with her for the wrong reason, it didn't mean he had to regret it. Though he certainly wouldn't do it again.
He stuck close to her as they wandered down the hall and stopped every few meters to input another pass code. He noticed the number order had changed, it was no longer her birthday, but instead it was Kakuzu's, August fifteenth. The print scanner on the final number locked door took her thumb without argument, and finally they breached the final stretch of hallway. They were in Nagato's office within a small number of steps.
"I was beginning to think you two were gonna suck face in that elevator all morning," the redheaded man spoke, stifling a cough with his thin fingers. Sasuke could see him only by the glow of the four computer monitors mounted to the wall, glowing to illumine that side of the room.
"Yeah, yeah," Jordan huffed, shutting the door behind them, "you violated the no work relationships rule first."
"True," he shrugged, spinning his chair around to face Jordan as she crossed the room, "does Kakuzu know?"
Jordan huffed again, shooting him a dirty look as she cleared off a chair nearby the one she'd claimed. This office was an unruly mess, stacks of papers all over, burying printers and consuming every filing cabinet in sight and the floor under his feet. Pens, pencils, staplers and all other means of office supplies covered every inch the paper didn't occupy, like a real life I-spy book. Sasuke unbuttoned his blazer. It was a bit hot in here with the computer equipment running in such a small space.
"Alrighty Sasuke," Jordan spoke, pulling a deck of cards from a pile of junk and used coffee mugs, "what are we playing first? Poker? Or Texas hold 'em?"
She tossed him the deck and sat down.
"This is what you guys do all day?" He asked, almost in disbelief.
"We used to do productive things," Nagato noted, "but pretty much since Konan first thought there was a possibility of us getting in trouble, say, two weeks ago, it's card games and watching security cameras."
"You wouldnt believe what your secretary does when no one's looking," Jordan smirked.
Sasuke didn't want to know.
"We should have gotten coffee, shouldn't we of?" Jordan suggested as Sasuke tossed the cards back her way. She caught them and put them back on the table behind her.
"Yeah, and brought me some too," the red haired man offered, swiveling his chair around back to his monitor.
"What would you like?" Sasuke asked, looking at Jordan and only Jordan, "text it to me exactly, I'll go get it for you."
"Would you really?" his mentor grinned, looking sort of coy. She'd taken her sunglasses off and had one of the bows resting on her lip, almost like she was pouting. He nodded.
"And would you hurry? Jordans' quite thirsty and I don't mean for coffee," Nagato said loud enough to attract their attention this time. He was jesting, "I can't believe you two both outrank me."
"You're just jealous," Jordan's grin morphed into a smirk, kicking back in her chair.
"I have a girlfriend, how can I be jealous?" Nagato turned his head to give his boss a look that was best described as 'what the fuck?'
"Obviously we're much better looking than you and Konan," Jordan snarked.
"Your older than my girlfriend Jordan, and Sasuke is much younger than I am. That sounds like a lot of fumbling around in the dark. With wrinkles."
Jordan's head cocked to one side and she gasped, sitting up stiffly in her seat and her hands flopping to her lap. She was outraged! She did not have wrinkles! Sasuke could see she was about to go off, the joke gone a little too far, but it was Sasuke's turn to smirk. He had Nagato right where he wanted him.
"What can I say?" Sasuke shrugged, "I like my girls a little bit older." Nagato paled, Jordan nearly split a seam laughing. Got him.
So Sasuke went and got coffee and came back, and the three of them laughed and hung around, sometimes with Kakashi, for weeks and weeks. Not a one of them bothered to mention the law suite. Sometimes, he forgot completely that his father was dead and that his mother was at what used to be his home, drunk, alone.
Three weeks brought Christmas. Jordan had an immaculate eight foot, pre lit Christmas tree with six setting and on a spinning stand. It was about six foot wide and it actually looked real at first glance with its ultra realistic branches. The lights twinkled brightly and with a press if a button on the cord used to plug it in, the color or pattern of the lights could be changed. Kakuzu came over and drank scotch as he, Karin and Jordan decorated it with no less than a two hundred ornaments. Even when they were all on Sasuke could see spots where they needed more.
Christmas was good this year. He'd had times in childhood where it'd been great, and other times not so much. This year was shaping up to be great, besides the whole shopping for presents at the mall thing. He had Naruto figured out from the beginning. A pair of bright orange Vans type shoe, and a copy of that movie they'd seen together a while back. Karin came after that, and it took some deciding, but eventually he picked her up some cute stuff for her rabbit and some clothing he thought she might like from a store she favored. Suigetsu was a little harder, and Sasuke ended up purchasing him one of those obnoxious two wheeled segway looking things, the ones that were all the rage right now and getting recalls for spontaneous combustion. Juugo was also sort of hard to buy for, but he was a simple person, so Sasuke thought a simple gift was in order. A sweater that was big enough Sasuke was sure it would fit.
Kakuzu got scotch. Jordan bought it for him when she bought the scotch she was giving him.
Rich people, Sasuke decided, like thoughtful things. They already had the money to get whatever it is they wanted, but the thought behind the gift was what made Christmas. Jordan, as he suspected, was the hardest to buy for. He didn't even actually know what she liked besides big business and roses. She was classy in a hard edged sort of way, and he wasn't going to be caught dead giving her jewelry. Just because they were involved didn't mean she was his girlfriend. There was a certain intimacy about jewelry Sasuke didn't like.
Actually, there was a certain intimacy about Christmas he didn't like, but he couldn't just not participate.
Sasuke had been wandering around the mall for close to two hours when he finally decided he was just going to say fuck it, buy her a necklace, and call it a day. Then he realized, passing by an entertainment store, that Jordan just loved rap music. The lady at the counter didn't question him when he bought seven CDs with some of the most muscular, jewelry clad men in history on the cover.
Christmas was a week after his mall trip. They opened presents, drank hot chocolate, and chilled out until Kakuzu got to the house.
As soon as the accountant arrived, they started on Christmas dinner. For the second time in a few months, Sasuke saw Jordan cook. Karin was on her right hand assisting her the whole time and somehow Kakuzu had weaseled his way into the kitchen and he was the one making the ham.
Sasuke was perfectly okay with sucking on a candy cane in the living room. There was an awful lot of arguing going on in there with three hot heads within arms length of each other.
Dinner was served at the formal dining table which they almost never used. Jordan had a linen tablecloth and she broke out the good China. The other set with roses on it.
Later that night, Karin took off to Naruto's. Her parents were supposed to be there and she hadn't seen them in some time. This house was her first home, but her blood family was a close second, and something about blood was important to Karin. He wondered, sitting on the couch with Jordan and Kakuzu watching a not so stale Christmas movie from the forties, whatever reason his mother did what she did, had it been worth this? He supposed he should call, but even with his cell in his pocket, his hand never moved. He didn't call his brother either, or his grandparents, and he certainly wasn't able to call his father as much as he would have valued one last Christmas with him.
This was okay though.
Kakuzu wasn't snapping at him and Jordan managed to keep her hands to herself. He'd received so many text messages of well wishes from his group of friends and Karin had been particularly pleasant today even if she was gone now.
Yeah, he decided, this was pretty okay.
He went to sleep that night and when he woke up the next morning, there was no hangover arguing or overdue bills on the counter, just Jordan and Kakuzu on the couch and Karin making Canadian bacon in the kitchen.
Paradise couldn't last forever. It was tragic, really, for such a holiday to end the way it did with a court trial the week after Christmas. Konan's trial to be exact.
He got up that Thursday morning and pulled on a t-shirt he'd received from Karin and a pair of slacks. He'd wear the coat Jordan had got for him over the shirt, which boasted a popular alternative rock band he liked, and he'd be set to go. He supposed he didn't look too casual, but not too dressy either. He hoped Jordan wouldn't say anything.
When he walked out into the living room, she didn't say anything, just looked up from a bag she was rummaging around in and gave him a funny look. The tree was still up, still glittering reds and golds, and a package of New Year's party poppers had made their way on to the otherwise clean coffee table. It was a quiet morning, Jordan had given the company in its entirety Christmas Eve through January first off.
"Are you ready?" She asked. She herself was dressed as if she was going to a fashion show, wearing a black tunic that hugged her thin shape and a thick woolen jacket that hung past her hips. This Christmas had been the year of the winter coat. After they'd both climbed in to the car and Jordan was busy on the throttle, Sasuke noticed she had a different pair of sunglasses than her usual old reliables. They were white, he'd never seen her with white sunglasses on before.
Sasuke had been to the courthouse once on a field trip in the third grade. There hadn't been any rough criminals or arguing in the halls, just an empty room where a judge had come and talked to his class about laws and things, it was so long ago Sasuke couldn't remember the specifics, but he did remember that this was nothing like that. A baby cried somewhere and police escorted people in handcuffs too and from rooms. Lawyers bitched on the phone while interns hurried after them with paperwork. Sasuke very near got run over a few times. Jordan towed him along, near running into people herself.
When they entered the courtroom, the room was near empty, save for the other office executives, save Kakashi. Jordan sat next to Kakuzu, allowing him to take the end of the bench. They'd entered as a man began speaking, giving a preface of the trial's working for the jury but now it lulled, the room quiet save for some shuffling bodies and papers.
From a door on the left side of the room, Konan entered, unshackled and dignified. Behind her followed a bailiff and another man.
"That's Jiraya?" Jordan asked. Sasuke wasn't sure if the surprise in her voice was sincere.
"That's him," Nagato confirmed.
Sasuke's best guess was that the old man currently seating himself with Konan at the defendant's table was Konan's legal council. He was broad shouldered and white haired, and from the short glimpse Sasuke had seen of his face, he looked to be about sixty. He slumped over the table, quickly pouring himself a glass of water before the prosecution had entered the room.
The prosecutor brought up the back of the pack, stood facing the already seated judge and began speaking.
"In the case of The State verses Konan Minami, charged with one count of obstruction of justice, how do you plead?"
"Not guilty," Konan droned, looking particularly uninterested. Sasuke observed her from behind, she certainly didn't look worried.
"Precede with opening statements," the judge barked.
Konan stood up, smoothed out her skirt and strode over to the jury.
"My name is Konan Minami, I'm thirty five years old, and my favorite food is pizza," she smiled softly, her lips upturning as she folded her hands over one another, keeping them down near her sides and trying to be polite. "I'm a regular person just like you, except for I'm a lawyer. I go to work and do my job just like everyone else. I'm just average. Just about the only thing not so average about me though, is I work for a very large company. The prosecution is trying to paint a deviant picture of the company and myself, trying to say that I have wronged in some way, but all of us sitting here know it's a farce. All of us know that our court systems are not perfect, and I plan on proving my innocence to every person sitting here today. Thank you."
As Konan left the jury, the prosecutor stood up and took her place.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury," he began, in his strict sounding voice, pushing his glasses up on to the bridge of his nose, "the woman sitting before you is, to use her words, a deviant. She's lied, cheated, covered up, fudged, dodged, evaded and downright falsified information on legal documents and documents within her company to keep big business in the green. Justice is as justice is due, and justice for her is long overdue."
And with that, the nerdy looking prosecutor left the galley and sat down at his table. The case continued with the judges booming voice.
"The defense has the first move."
"Your honor," Konan began, "the defense calls Kakashi Hatake to the stand."
There was some more shuffling, and some pretentious dirty looks thrown, and Kakashi walked through the door to the left, the one Konan had come through, looking stone faced and annoyed. Sasuke couldn't imagine the headache he must have.
"Kakashi Hatake, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"
"I do."
"Party is sworn in, proceed."
Konan began immediately, in a brisk tone. "Mr. Hatake, do you know who I am?"
"Yes," he answered, and that was all he said. Konan had no doubt coached him.
"Where do you know me from?"' The lawyer followed up.
"You are the legal head of the company I am currently employed under," Kakashi replied, trying to keep as factual and vague as possible.
"And what sort of thing do you do there?" She continued her questioning.
"I'm head of filing. I organize paperwork," Kakashi was calm. Sasuke watched him closely.
Konan took her eyes off of him, glancing to the jury before she spoke again. "I see, and do you recall what happened on the morning of Friday, November nineteenth?"
"If I'm correct, the was the morning you were arrested and the police stormed my office and tore it apart," Sasuke could see the grey haired man's neck strain. Okay. He wasn't as calm as he appeared with that pale, stoney expression.
"Your correct," Konan confirmed, "I was arrested that morning. Could you tell the court what all they took that day when they destroyed your office?"
He judge looked downright board, the bailiff looked like he had left the land of the living, and Sasuke was pretty close to joining him. Jordan's face was hard and her brows furrowed, He couldn't tell what she was thinking, but he followed her gaze back to the action. Tv had lied, court trials were not in fact full of drama. They were drawn out and full of strategic pissing contests. So, not totally unlike work. The only one in the room not completely void of emotion was the prosecutor, who looked downright bitter. Kakashi cleared his throat before he answered.
"They had a warrant for several hundred of my files. Mostly legal documents but a few pay stubs and other miscellaneous documents."
"Okay, we're only concerned about the legal documents here today though," Konan suddenly looked and sounded very interested, drawing attention to her witnesses words, "What sort of legal files were taken?"
Kakashi was silent for a long time, thinking either about what to say or which documents were taken. "They took some documents filed just before and just after the company was investigated for stock manipulation on… Well, I don't remember when, it was earlier this year."
"Charges that were in fact dropped, were they not? Of reasons of insufficient evidence?" Konan raised her eyebrows very, very high. Sasuke took notice.
"They were," he agreed.
Konan took a few steps in the direction of the jury, facing between them and Kakashi, pulling more attention to herself this time, because now it was her words that mattered. Her voice projected. "And do you have any reason to believe that an investigation that dropped its charges because of insufficient evidence has any viable implications to this case? Supposing that the evidence collected only proved the company's innocence? Which it did, by the way."
Kakashi's voice was quiet. "No, I don't."
"No further questions," Konan grinning, her heels clicking on the hard floors as she took her seat next to Jiraya. She took a few seconds to adjust her tight bun on her head and take a drink of bottled water as the prosecutor stepped up. The weasley man's own shoes clicked on the floor as he strode towards Kakashi was big steps, a scowl set of his features and his hands held a packet of papers.
The prosecutor began in a strong, booming voice, one that made Sasuke grimace. Loud did not pair well with his voice.
"Our issue today is the problem of fraud and obstruction of justice, not stock manipulation. Is it not?"
Kakashi cocked an eyebrow as the man moved to tower over him. It would take more to shake him.
"Well I suppose it is," Kakashi said, very matter of factly.
"Well, the way it seems to me," the prosecutor began, still trying to seem oh so holier than thee, "the defense would like us to believe that just because the company was found innocent on one charge, that they're innocent all around, including Miss Minami, is that how it sounds to you?"
That statement took Kakashi off guard. Sasuke saw the man's eyes widen, if only just a little.
Within the span of a second, Sasuke's brain rushed. Kakashi, who was oh so very loyal, was not under oath. If he lied, he'd be in trouble, not because his opinion of the statement would be wrong, but because his testimony would be worthless after the rapid fire questions Sasuke was sure the prosecutor had. This man was going to destroy Kakashi's credibility either way.
"Objection!" Konan shouted, standing up.
The judge sighed, pinched his temple and barked, "Sustained. Jury will disregard," before anyone could so much as breath. Sasuke knew they wouldn't. They'd already heard what the prosecutor had said, and even though some might, there would be no way of knowing if all on the jury had forgotten the statement.
The prosecutor grinned, in a completely counter way that Jordan did. It was almost scary.
"The prosecution would like to draw attention to exhibit number one," he said, holding up the packet of files over his head. He walked in a very slow, small circle as he continued speaking, showing off his evidence, "one of the files taken from your office, Mr. Hatake. Legal document One-eighty four. Id like to read the first line from it." He cleared his throat, "KMA Corp. in regards to a lawsuit number five forty seven, regarding stock manipulation, reads as followed, 'filed motion, complaint against the court for a biased bailiff.' Can you tell me possibly why this document might end up in your filing room?"
His circle ended back at the stand, again towering over the seated Kakashi.
Kakashi readjusted himself in his seat and he too cleared his throat. "We file everything. It creates a paper trail, for the IRS, you know, they like those."
"Really?" The prosecutor mocked, "Because it seems to me that if you've got this all on file, it'd be easy to keep your story straight, say, if you were to lie?"
"Objection! Badgering!" Konan shouted again.
"Overruled," the judge groaned, "continue. Answer the question."
Worry edged onto Kakashi's face. He tilted his head back just a bit, and swallowed thickly. He kept his eyes on the prosecutor, who stared him down like a hawk.
"Well… I suppose. But what reason would we have to lie?"
"Well, I'm not really sure," the prosecutor chitted, his voice quieting suddenly, and his gaze directed down on the floor. "You see, I can't quite figure this so called paper trail out. You've got everything recorded, sometimes in triplicate, but on the majority of these papers, there's these big, black, marker spots, blacking out words."
The look of horror didn't get a chance to cross Kakashi's face as the shrew of a man looked back up at him, his own eyebrows raised in a questioning sort of expression. Sasuke saw the look on Kakashi's face start to bubble, but it never made it to the surface.
"Objection! Your honor, who is on trial here?" Konan shouted once more, shooting straight up and nearly tipping her chair in the process.
The judges hand fell from his face with a definite thump on to his desk and he rolled his eyes, huffing as he spoke. "We know who's on trial here, please sit down. Prosecution, please move on."
"Alright, alright. One last question," he said, his lips pursed and hands up in mock surrender, "Why do you suppose the defendant would file such a motion? Why would it matter if the bailiff is bias?"
"I don't know," Kakashi answered quickly.
"Do you suppose, I don't know, to stall a trial to cover something else up?"
"Objection!" Jiraya shouted this time.
Before the judge could speak, the prosecutor strode away from the stand, quickly spitting out the words "Nothing further," and seated himself.
Jiraya stood up and spoke for a second time, his long, white hair falling over his shoulder to hang straight on his back. "The defense calls to the stand Konan Minami."
Jordan almost immediately shot out of her seat, her hands on the bench in front of them with a full intent to go up and over if it hadn't been for Kakuzu. The older man's hand slapped across her chest and pushed her back down in her seat. The scuffle attracted a few glances, but whoever looked their way glued their eyes right back to Konan who stride to the front of the room. Jordan threw Kakuzu a death glare and he returned it.
"Calm. Down," the older man growled.
"Fuck you!" She said, trying to keep her voice in a low snarl.
"Get ahold of yourself!" Kakuzu exclaimed, failing to keep his voice low enough not to be heard, earning some questionable glances from other courtroom goers, "You can not fall apart on us now. We've worked too hard for too long."
"Fuck you, you hot headed son of a bitch," she coiled like a cobra, hissing her threat with venom from every syllable.
"Not to interrupt," Nagato spoke levely, "but we are in a courtroom."
Back in the land of the trial, Konan was already sworn in, and Jiraya was getting up to question her.
Sasuke watched Jordan shake her head, brushing her dark hair out of her face and pulling her sunglasses off to pin them to her shirt using the bow. He watched her rub her bloodshot eyes, running her hand down her face and sighing heavily. He noticed the heavy bags under her eyes, too dark for even her powdered makeup to cover. She didn't look like she'd slept in two, maybe three days. It was disturbing.
She looked over at him, her smile gone and expression empty, and then looked back to the trail in front of them. Sasuke looked back too.
The white haired lawyer was seating himself, and he did not look happy. Jiraya looked troubled as he sat turned so Sasuke could no longer see his face and sat down.
"No questions," said the prosecutor, flipping through some papers on the table top. The bailiff let Konan down quietly, and she took her seat.
"However," the man spoke again, "the prosecution would like to present articles of evidence two through five, beginning with number two."
The shrew of a man stood up, carrying an armload of papers with him. He plucked one off of the top, held it up, and tucked the others into the crook of his elbow. "Exhibit number one, three incorrectly filled out court motions. Exhibit number two, a personal email from the defendant's dumped personal computer files."
The prosecutor took the page he had in his hand, which was actually a paper clipped stack of other papers, and made a motion with his hand, fanning the pages out so the volume could be viewed by the jury.
"All of these were legally obtained and are usable in court. The first three were obtained with a warrant for the defendant's company building and the last was obtained in a different warrant for her personal items. I think it's time to put a nail in this coffin, don't you?" He cleared his throat, and drug out a single sheet of paper from the pile and held it up. "I'll take the liberty of reading this out loud."
Jiraya made a move to stand, his body shifting foreword for his balance and his chair scratched on the floor, but the cyan haired woman extended a hand in his direction. Sasuke watched him glance down at her hand, and then back at her with a look of confusion, and then acceptance. Jiraya turned to face the judge. Konan never moved her head, so her face was unreadable, but he imagined it was glazed with a hardened look of frustration and fear.
"To, NKamiko, the email address of the defendant's significant other, from KMinsmi. 'I will be able to jam them up and bury them in so much paperwork, they'll be too busy looking for their asses to really see what's going on here. Don't worry, have a good day.' Now, this is number twenty two in a chain of emails, but when the computer dumped, this was the only one that had not been deleted."
"The one time you get sloppy, Miss Minami, it damns you. That's law. Evidence numbers two through four are three incorrectly filed court motions, as I said before. The jury isn't stupid, they can see what's going on here," he was talking to Konan now, he wasn't facing her but the tense he used implied it, "the jury can see that though filing motions and backing up the trial is not illegal, but this was done to the courts deliberately, in attempt to stall the process so the company could cover their behinds. Obstruction of justice is defined as 'any attempt to hinder the discovery, apprehension, conviction or punishment of anyone who has committed a crime by means of bribery, murder, intimidation, and the use of physical force against witnesses, law enforcement officers or court officials.'"
He rose his eyebrows with a condescending smile, "now if this email isn't proof of intimidating the court system, I don't know what is."
"Nagato, what's she doing? Why isn't she doing anything?" Jordan barked, her head snapping to the right to stare the red headed man down. "Nagato, she's got to do something quick, this guy is murdering her."
The trial continued in front of him, but Sasuke's focus shifted to the woman next to him.
Her face was red and angry, her eyebrows pinned down and her face taunt. "Nagato!"
"She's giving up, Jordan," the redhead said quietly, his gaze cast and unwavering on his girlfriend.
"No, no, no, no! She can't just-just- just- give up!" The CEO stuttered, balking and stammering, panicked and the forced cool she always carried gone. Kakuzu put his head in his hands.
"Please-" Nagato tried, but she refused to relent.
"She can't just give up and lay down and take it!"
"Please Jordan," he pressed, quiet still but loud enough to project over her," I'll pay whatever fine we get as back last from this, personally, just let it go."
"It's not about the money it's-" Jordan spat, but the judge's booming voice pulled the attention of everyone in the room.
"The jury will now exit the room and return with a verdict."
It was over.
It was all over for Konan and Sasuke knew it.
There was no way in hell's half acre that she'd created enough reasonable doubt for them to find her innocent, not with that email. Sasuke knew it didn't hinge on whatever the company did, it only mattered if Konan covered it up.
She had.
He knew it, nobody had to tell him despite having no prior knowledge.
The jury knew it too. It only took them ten minutes to return to the courtroom, counting the time to walk to and from the separate room used to decide.
"Has the jury reached a verdict?"
"I can't watch this," Jordan muttered.
A spindly legged woman around sixty stood, brushing her greying hair behind her ear and clearing her throat before she spoke." We have your honor. We find the defendant, Konan Minami, guilty."
Jordan was out of her seat, storming from the room within seconds of the delivery. She look foreward, and away from him as she strode past quickly. Sasuke wasn't even sure who it was passing him until he saw her purse pass by his nose.
"The court thanks the jury for their service," said the judge, heaving a tired sigh, "We will proceed next week to sentencing. Adjourned."
Konan stood up immediately, and somehow Nagato was at her side, hugging her over the railing separating the floor from the audience. Jiraya patted the woman on the back, smiling sadly and Sasuke thought he saw him mouth "you did good, kid" to one of the lovers. The bailiff approached and Konan willingly put her arms behind her back.
"I'll meet you at the prison, I'll be right there love, I'll be right there," Nagato promised, rubbing his right eye to prevent any more tears from flowing down his cheeks. Konan could only nod, biting back tears of her own. Nagato lit out of the room like his feet were on fire before Konan had even been handcuffed.
"Hey, kid," Kakuzu's deep, rumbling voice grabbed his attention.
Sasuke turned his head, acknowledging him.
Kakuzu heaved a heavy sigh and continued speaking, looking pretty worn down himself. "Let's go."
Sasuke nodded and they both stood up, Sasuke led the way outside.
When they descended the steps of the courthouse, Jordan was sitting in her car, her hand out the window and just sitting. Nagato pulled up into the space next to her, idling for a moment before he pulled out, his engine whining out of the parking lot and disappearing down the road.
"Just be calm," Kakuzu instructed, shoving his hands in to his coat pockets as they approached. The car faced away from them, and Sasuke could see the look of distaste on his mentor's face in the mirror.
"Jordan," Kakuzu called when they'd reached the back of the started car. Jordan's eyes narrowed in the mirror. Kakuzu shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and scowled harshly.
"I don't know what the fuck your problem is, but get off my case," the CEO spat, turning to look up at Kakuzu as he stood near the driver's side window. Sasuke stood awkwardly next to him. Why hadn't he gone around to get in the passenger seat?
"Well first of all, I wasn't on your case, but I could be if your gonna throw a fit like some snot nosed brat," Kakuzu scoffed, fully prepared to argue with his ex-wife in public.
Sasuke watched a snarl erupted onto Jordan's face and the arm that had previously been resting on the window reached across her body, between her seat and the console, and pulled a pistol. "Call me another name you son of a bitch, I dare you."
Sasuke watched the sun glint off the silver barrel of the gun, gripped tightly between the woman's hands and held daringly out the window, in full view of the public. It had a black, ribbed grip on it's handle and a sight on the end of the barrel, but at such close range, she wouldn't need it.
Kakuzu was unafraid of the pistol pointed in his chest. He laughed. His chest shook and he laughed before he spoke. "No. Shoot me. I dare you. "
Something ripped from Jordan's throat like a roar and she threw the pistol into her passenger seat and floored her car, tearing out if the parking space and nearly taking off the front end of another car. She was gone before Sasuke could blink, sneaking out of the pay lot after another car while the gate was still up.
"That could have gone better," Kakuzu scoffed again, more to himself this time, "come on rug rat, I'll take you golfing with me. It's heated and indoors."
"I really just want to go home," Sasuke countered.
"Not with her you don't," Kakuzu chuckled darkly, digging his keys out if his pocket and threw them to Sasuke. "We're gonna be late. Scratch my car and I'll wring your neck."
Sasuke didn't gave any other choice but to catch the set of keys and cross to a less populated side of the parking lot, and drive his not-father to golf. He didn't have another choice, he'd be stuck here without a ride. Kakuzu pulled his golf shoes out of a bag in the back seat as they pulled out if the court house lot after a while lot of complaining about paying the fee.
"Sons a bitches fuck me over in taxes every year and still want my goddamn money to park in public places," the older man bitched.
Sasuke didn't respond, he just kept his eyes on the traffic as be merged on to the highway.
"And you know what else?" He continued, "that fucking jury had Konan hung before we started."
That peeked Sasuke's attention. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, well, fuck," Kakuzu swore, "people that they call for jury duty? Like regular people, not millionaires, they hate big business. 'Think it's corrupt and greedy. Don't tell me that those people don't already have a preconceived idea of the person before they go in. Of course they do, and yeah, we are corrupt and greedy, but there was no room for the benefit of the doubt in their minds." Kakuzu scoffed, finishing with his shoes and pulling off his blazer to lay it in the back seat. He unbuttoned his dress shirt to reveal a polo underneath. "She was doomed before she set foot in the room."
Sasuke could only nod, because he knew better than to disagree with Kakuzu.
He wasn't sure about that whole idea. It sounded like a far fetched conspiracy theory. He had more faith in the justice system than that, surely anyone biased would have gotten weeded out in jury selection.
Konan was guilty, that was the end if it and guilty people went to jail.
That was justice no matter who it screwed over with it's aftermath.
It didn't matter if Itachi wasn't out of law school and the legal team at the company was little more than a joke. It didn't matter that they had huge accusations to face as a company. It didn't matter to the legal system if everyone Sasuke cared about was in danger. That was the system. That was justice.
Something did feel wrong about it though. Very wrong