Hello all! Important note: if you go to my profile page, I will update the dates of when I'm expecting to get a new chapter out for my stories. This way readers can follow along easier.

Also, this chapter has a flashback not pertaining to the drinking party they hooked up at but one where we learn why Sasuke doesn't really care for Ino XD

I know I said I was thinking that roughly 5 chapters and I'd be done (Like 2 chapters ago), but there's still some build up before the climax. So, the story will probably be more than 25 chapters but less than 30. That gives you a clue to how close we are to the end!

R&R plz! Constructive criticism appreciated, but no flames please.

Chapter 20: Interlude

It actually took me until Wednesday to finish the reports I'd been given. They were lengthy and covering patient cases that I usually didn't perform, but this was probably a test from Tsunade to challenge myself. She tended to push the limits with all her staff to make sure everyone was prepared at any given time. I tapped the stack of papers on my desk to straighten them out; finally finished! I left my office and made the trek down the hall and to the right where Tsunade's office was located. I planned on just dropping them off, but for once she was at her desk and not frantically running around.

I wrapped my knuckles against the door. "Can I come in?"

Tsunade looked up from a book she was looking through. She pulled her reading glasses off, circled something on a separate sheet of paper, and waved me in. "Thank goodness you're not Shizune. There's a meeting I need that I'm leading in 10 minutes and she's trying to get me to memorize flashcards." Tsunade snorted. "As if." I let out a small laugh. While Tsunade liked running things with an iron fist, Shizune was the executioner that delegated how the hospital was ran. Being her assistant, Shizune was constantly reminding Tsunade of appointments, meetings, and special projects. If it was up to Tsunade, she'd just sit at her desk and drink that sake she keeps hidden in her bottom drawer all day.

"I won't keep you then. I finished those reports that you asked me to look at. Sorry they took longer than expected." I handed her the file.

Tsunade frowned. She opened the file and thumbed through the reports. Her eyebrows twisted together and her frown deepened.

"Where did you get these?" She asked suddenly. It was my turn to frown.

"One of the nurses gave them to me; said that you wanted me to go through the reports. I assumed to proof them and check for any inconsistencies." I replied.

"...I didn't ask anyone to give these to you." She responded. "I've been looking for these. They were missing out of my mailbox weeks ago. What was the nurse's name?"

I paled. "Um...I don't know. He didn't have a name tag on. I figured he was new."

Tsunade scrunched her face up. "He must be to get handsy with my reports."

Tsunade went off into a tangent about incompetence while I stared at the offending reports. 'She never asked that nurse to give these to me… so why did he?' I wondered, gears in my brain cranking up to max level. Tsunade continued her rant without a care in the world. It was best to leave her office in these moments; her anger was legendary and I didn't want to be in her path when the embers turned into raging flames.

I slipped out with a small excuse she barely heard while she simmered. Flats clacking on the linoleum, I hurried back to my office and closed the door. Normally I left it open, but due to recent events my door would remain closed.

I wasn't paranoid; I knew that now. There was something off about that nurse and I could feel it! Someone was following me, but who? Was it connected to the cult or Kido? Was Hidan continuing with his work? There was also the possibility that it was unrelated to the previous stalkers (though the cult was a strong theory), which meant that my shit luck had doubled from what it was before. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I checked for any new text messages from Sasuke. Between work and his training we usually sent texts during breaks here or there. Most of his were complaints about sit-down classes, but he loved PT and live-action training. Sasuke actually went into detail on those days. A smile graced my face. I missed him, but I was glad he was enjoying his training.

'Nothing yet.' Sighing, I shoved the phone back into my purse. I couldn't text him saying 'Hey, how's it goin'? I'm good, think I'm still being followed and might get murdered, but OK for now.' It wouldn't be right to involve Sasuke. He was miles away in Suna, there was no reason to worry him. Especially when he couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't even tell the police; I had nothing concrete to go off of. Kakashi would just reassure me that everything was OK like he did at Starbucks.

It wasn't even lunch time yet and my life was unraveling again, right after I'd spent so much time double knotting everything.

1 week later

"Hello."

"Hey babe!" I greeted cheerily. On nights Sasuke wasn't working a late night shift we made the effort to schedule a phone date at eight. These conversations were my favorite part of the day; texts were short and sweet. But during phone calls, Sasuke was more descriptive and the conversation flowed easier. It was easier to prod information out of each other when being on the phone with them.

"How was class today?" I asked, adjusting my laptop to a comfortable spot. Dinner had already been devoured and I was parked on the couch for the rest of the night. Sasuke made an annoyed grunting noise, a familiar reaction when he thought things were a waste of time.

"It's boring."

"They're important when you grow up to be a detective." I teased. Plugging in my Bluetooth, I set the phone down and started typing in the search bar.

Sasuke let out a long sigh. "I know. So what are you doing?"

I stopped typing. "Just watching TV. Everyone's been hyping up this Netflix series so I thought I'd try it out."

"What's the verdict?"

"Definitely creepy. Which is what it was going for." I replied.

I started typing again as we talked about his training, work, and life in Suna vs. Konoha. As we talked I tried to find that occult site that I came across the first time I'd searched Hidan's name. I'd been looking for a couple days and there were similar strange sites, but I hadn't found the one about 'jashin'. My research wasn't going well so far. I'd typed in countless combinations of 'Jashin', 'Hidan', and 'Akatsuki' but no such luck.

"So I'll be back visiting in a couple of weeks."

My attention shifted from the screen to Sasuke's voice. Excitement bubbled through me as I replied. "That's great! I was afraid I wasn't going to see you again until you came home for thanksgiving break."

"I thought that too. Suna's having some big Mayor's event and the staff will be so swamped they're giving us a four day weekend. My parents offered to pay for a ticket home; I'll be staying at their house but I'll need a lift from the airport." Sasuke explained.

The excitement turned into a nervous pit in my belly. 'That means I'll be meeting his parents…'

I seldom heard about Sasuke's family. There were some stories of his older brother lowering him down the laundry shoot by a makeshift rope from sheets, his mother scolding him for stomping over one her flower beds, and his father concocting inedible dinners when his mom worked late, but they were sparse. I didn't know much more about them. Had he told them about me?

"My mom says she's excited to meet you." Sasuke said, almost like reading my mind.

"I'm nervous to meet them." I admitted. His dad sounded like a hard ass and I didn't know what to expect from his mom. I'd seen too many shows of mother's hating their son's girlfriends for trying to take them away or not being good enough. There was a need to feel accepted by his family; like a right of passage.

Suddenly, it occurred to me. 'Sasuke hasn't met my parents yet either…'

They'd been asking about him ever since I'd told them I was seeing someone and posted a picture of us smiling in front of a cafe on my Facebook. My mom blew up my phone about it after that.

Flashback to the conversation with my mom:

'I remember him!' Mom exclaimed as I held the phone away from my ear. I could hear her just fine without needing to put it on speaker.

'How? I mean, we knew each other in high school but we didn't really hang out.'

'He came over to our house for Halloween when you were, what, fourteen? Naruto's friend!'

Oh. NOW I remembered. I invited Naruto to come hang out for Halloween when I was a freshmen in high school and officially too old to pass for a trick or treater. Naruto and Sasuke had came as a package deal at my doorstep, and my parents were on me about introducing them to this stranger in they're home. My parent's liked to know every person I hung out with. Sasuke introduced himself quietly; it wasn't anything spectacular.

There was a small group of my friends already in the family room playing the game Rockband that had just came out. The reason why this memory stuck out to me was because of Ino. It was the first time she'd met Sasuke and she was all but drooling over the Junior hanging out with all the freshies. Even though he sat in the corner she tried to scoot as close as she could to him while she played the guitar controller. She'd dressed up as Bubbles from the powder puff girls so technically she should've been on drums. I was Blossom and Hinata was Buttercup so we were the ones supposed to be on guitars, but I digress. As numbers dwindled we went outside to jump on the trampoline. Us girls had planned ahead and worn black leggings under our dresses. Sasuke, trying to stick with the Halloween theme, was wearing a Superman t-shirt.

After I reintroduced Ino to Sasuke at the hospital, I'd been hearing about this poor shirt for some time. Apparently, Ino had literally tried to cling on to him while we were on the trampoline and she'd ruined his shirt by stretching it out. To be fair to Ino, she didn't know how to properly flirt at the time; she was a little too aggressive. Sasuke didn't appreciate it.

I remembered that memory differently. Sasuke had used that smooth flirty voice that night with all my girl friends, but not me. I thought it was weird to feel jealous because I barely knew him, but he was super hot. And I brushed it off as such. The few times he did say something to me, he talked with me casually just like he did with Naruto. Young me didn't realize that this was a good thing, as I was compartmentalized in his mind as 'friend' not 'eh, maybe I can get with her later'.

'Yes,' I replied to my mom. 'That was him.'

End flashback

Mom had been asking to go out to dinner and meet him, but he'd already moved to Suna. I could try to set something up when he comes back for the weekend...Mom could be abrasive though. She was super friendly, but a lot to take in at once. Dad would probably sit back and crack jokes the whole time; no issue there.

"Don't worry, I've told them all the horrible things you do like chew loudly and drool while you sleep." Sasuke told me.

I rolled my eyes at his teasing. "Ha ha. Funny. I guess that means you should meet my parents too."

"I guess so. What have you told them about me?" Sasuke just asking meant that he was a little nervous about meeting them too.

"They remembered you from a Halloween party from like 10 years ago. Mom referred to you as that 'emu looking kid'. I corrected her though, told her it was 'emo' not 'emu'."

Sasuke chuckled, then got serious. "I remember too. That Superman tee was my favorite shirt…before the incident."

I laughed. "It's not like you can't find another one just like it."

Sasuke pouted. "I can, but it won't be that shirt."

I was still smiling after saying goodnight and hanging up the phone. It was crazy how many small memories I'd forgotten that included Sasuke. An interesting thought crossed my mind. 'Would Sasuke have treated me the same way as other girls if Naruto didn't tell him I was off limits?' It was pointless to think about it though; the past was the past. He could've treated me a number of different ways whether or not Naruto had interjected. The smile faded as I thought about Naruto, then I sighed.

We'd been too hard on each other the morning he came banging on Sasuke's doorstep. 'Didn't I just say the past is the past?' Naruto had been trying to get a hold of me, but honestly I'd been too exhausted to try and patch things up or argue with him. I had wanted to hold on to the anger, but now I missed him and felt bad for dragging it out. Not to mention the damage to Naruto and Sasuke's friendship. I should ask Sasuke about it tomorrow.

It was already ten o 'clock, and after talking to Sasuke I wasn't in the mood to keep searching for that cult website. I'd have to try again tomorrow. Checking the deadbolt on the apartment door, I continued with my nighttime routine and went to bed. The night was dreamless, which wasn't good or bad.

The neutral feeling continued when I woke up the next morning. I texted Sasuke good morning and got ready for work. As I parked and pinned my name tag on my coat, an anxious feeling overwhelmed me. Today I had a couple of important missions to carry out. First, acquire the status of Naruto and Sasuke's friendship. Two, find that cult website. That would have to wait until I got home; I didn't wanna get caught looking at that stuff at work. Three was the most important and the one I'd been putting off, I was going to find this 'nurse' that had delivered those reports to me and interrogate him.

Viola! A little short, but it felt right to end the chapter there.

Sasuke's silly side shows in this chapter. He's held a grudge against Ino for stretching out his favorite shirt when he was a teenager lol

As always, let me know what you guys think!

Cheers~