A/N: Have any of you heard of Sponge-Odd Square-Parents day? That's today...So I'm being tortured by SpongeBob and Fairly Odd Parents...Cosmo is stupider than Naruto, you know that? XD
Chapter 21: Hunt
Itachi walked into the police station with the two policemen. Actually, one was a woman, so the better word would be police officers. Itachi was taken into an interrogation room. A constable was already sitting at the table.
"Hello." The constable greeted.
"Hi." Itachi said calmly. He sat down in a chair.
"So, what happened?" The constable turned to the two officers.
"A boy was shot today." The female officer said. "This man has information on the shooting."
The officer put the gun now in an evidence bag on the table. "He gave us this."
The constable narrowed his eyes at Itachi.
"How do we know it wasn't you who shot the gun?" The constable asked.
"Because Shikamaru Nara picked up the gun. You won't find my finger prints on it." Itachi replied.
"Tell me about the shooting." The constable told Itachi.
Itachi relayed the information that he heard on the phone.
"So, you know these people?" The constable asked.
"Yes. I'm ashamed to say I used to be a member of their band." Itachi told the constable. "But when I found out they were beating up members of other bands that were considered 'threats' to them, I quit."
"Why didn't you report this to the police originally?" The constable asked.
"Because I had no proof." Itachi said simply. "Now I do. They shot one of my best friends."
"Do you have photographs of these men?"
"Of course I do." Itachi replied. "They're at my house. Let me help you any way I can. These guys beat me to a pulp about a month ago, and now they've drawn the line behind their ankles. (1)"
The constable nodded. "Could we use you as communication? You're in a band yourself. You could draw media attention to the issue if need be."
Itachi nodded. He grabbed the notepad that was sitting on the table and wrote his cell phone number down on it. "This is my cell phone number due to lack of a house phone."
The constable chuckled. "All right." He took the number. "Could you drive him to his house to pick up the photographs?" The constable asked the officers.
Itachi dug through the drawers of his bedroom. He was looking for that ancient photo album. He found it, and dragged it down the stairs to the kitchen table. He flipped it over so the back was facing up, and he opened it flipping to the pages where Black Death was. Itachi pulled out the group photograph that unfortunately included himself.
The police nodded at it. "Have they changed much?"
"Not really." Itachi began pointing out the individual people. "The one with orange hair has a few more piercings, the one with grey hair grew his hair longer, the blonde's hair is longer as well, and the redhead hasn't changed a bit."
"What are their names?"
"The orange haired one is Pain. He's the leader of the group. The grey haired one is Pain's right hand man. They're never seen without each other. He's Hidan. The blonde is Deidara, and the redhead is Sasori."
The officer wrote down everything Itachi said.
"All right. The constable you talked to is the leader of the investigation. He'll contact you if anything comes up." The officer said.
Itachi nodded.
The officers bid him farewell, and left his house.
Itachi closed the photo album and picked it up to put it back where it belonged. The album slipped from his arms as he reached the top of the stairs, and fell open again.
Itachi stared stone-faced at the photo of him and a mischievous looking female. He quickly slammed the album shut. He tossed it on top of a shoebox that was probably empty so he could get it quickly if the police needed more photographs of Black Death.
Itachi sat down at his desk and booted up his computer, his cell phone lying beside it on the desk.
Back at the hospital, the group minus two were sitting in the waiting room as the sun rose on day two of the disaster. The group was bleary eyed, and Hinata looked to be nodding off. Hiashi had to leave in the middle of the night to look after his youngest daughter, Hanabi, who was probably worried sick about him.
Hinata's head fell onto her chest and shot back up again. She blinked her pale eyes that now looked paler due to the dark shadows beneath her eyes.
Shikamaru had fallen asleep on his fist. His elbow rested on the armrest of his chair, his cheek distorted by his clenched hand.
A nurse came over to the group. "Hey," She said softly. The group looked up at her with tired eyes. "There's private room you can sleep in if you're going to be staying here for awhile." The nurse said.
Sasuke shook Shikamaru awake.
Shikamaru's eyes peeled open slowly. Then he jumped to attention. "Neji!" He gasped.
"He's still unconscious, dear." The nurse told him.
The nurse lead the weary group into one of those rooms specially designed for the family or friends of sick or injured patients. There were only two beds.
"Hinata, you take a bed." Temari said softly.
Hinata nodded, too sleepy to argue.
The boys ordered Shikamaru onto the other bed, before lying down on the floor, or sitting against a wall. The girls did the same.
Back at Itachi's house, Itachi wasn't sleeping at all. He was constantly sipping coffee, which he never drank until now. He vowed that after this, he wouldn't drink it again. The shadows under his eyes were deeper than Hinata's, but his eyes weren't weary like hers. They were hard, and wide-awake. Itachi wasn't going to rest until Pain was found.
The group woke up instantly around noon when the door to their private room opened. The doctor they saw the night before stood in the doorway.
"How is he?" Tenten murmured wearily.
"His condition hasn't improved, but nor has it gotten any worse. He's stable right now, but he still can't breathe on his own. You can see him if you want."
The group instantly got up. The doctor led them to Neji's room. Tenten tried not to cry when she saw Neji hooked up to the various wires and tubes that were the only things keeping him alive. As the group sat around his bed, Tenten realized how thin some of the tubes were, and how fragile they looked. To think that if one were to break, her friend would die.
Tenten brushed a tear off her cheek. Without thinking, she reached out and took his hand. She didn't know why she did it, but a moment after taking his hand, she thought of those medical miracle shows where the person who was unconscious began to communicate while unconscious.
"What are you doing Tenten?" Shikamaru asked when he noticed she was holding his hand.
Tenten shrugged. "I wanted to see if he'd respond."
Shikamaru nodded. "Talk to him."
"Neji, it's Tenten..." Tenten said softly. "We're all here for you." She got no response.
"Don't die on us Neji." Naruto growled softly. "If you do I'll...I'll..." Naruto frowned. What could he do to someone that died?
Tenten's eyes suddenly widened. "Guys he just squeezed my hand." She said in a monotone.
The group looked at her with shock.
"You're kidding..." Shikamaru said with his eyes wide.
Tenten felt the strangest thing of all. Neji's index finger seemed to be tracing letters on the palm of her hand.
N... A... R... U... T... O... "He's saying something...Naruto..." Y... O... U... A... R... E... "You are..." A... N... I... D... I... O... T ...
Tenten began to laugh.
"What did he say?" Naruto asked.
"He says you're an idiot." Tenten laughed.
Naruto laughed. "Yup, that's Neji."
"That's amazing..." Shikamaru said behind his hand. "I've heard of that happening, but I've never seen it."
The doctor came back in. "What happened?" The doctor asked upon seeing their amazed faces.
"He just spoke." Tenten said.
The doctor frowned. "What?"
"He wrote on my palm." Tenten explained.
"Wow." The doctor raised his eyebrows. "What did he say?"
"Naruto, you are an idiot." Tenten said simply.
The doctor laughed. "He didn't say 'I love you'?"
"Why would he?" Tenten asked.
"That's usually what happens. I've only seen that happen once before, with a kid who knew sign language. He spelled out 'I love you, mom' when his mom was nearby." The doctor sighed. "I hate to tell you to leave, but I need to look him over again to make sure the wounds are healing."
The group nodded. Tenten let go of his hand, a bit unnerved when he gripped a little tighter. "I'll be back." She told him, and his grip loosened.
The group walked back to their room. Shikamaru headed towards the front door.
"Where are you going?" Temari asked.
"To call Itachi and tell him about Neji." He said simply.
Itachi's phone rang, making him practically jump out of his skin. He picked it up and read the caller. It was Shikamaru.
He flipped it open. "Hey Shika. How's Neji?"
You wouldn't believe what happened! Shikamaru sounded excited. It was so weird!
"What happened?"
Neji communicated with us while he was unconscious!
"Whoa...that's cool. What did he say?"
Well, Naruto threatened him, saying if Neji died...well he didn't finish his sentence because you can't threaten a dead man right?
"Right?"
Tenten was holding his hand at the time and told us that he was writing on her palm. He spelled each letter on her palm, and he said 'Naruto, You are an idiot'.
Itachi burst out laughing. "Oh that's precious!"
How is the hunt coming along?
"All right. I still haven't gotten any news from the police."
Ah. Well, I'll call later. I'm exhausted.
"You get some sleep." Itachi told Shikamaru in a moment of hypocrisy.
Later, Shikamaru said, and the phone went dead.
Itachi closed his phone again.
He tried to imagine Neji calling Naruto an idiot just by palm writing. He smiled and began to laugh when the image appeared crystal clear in his mind.
His phone rang again. With a lightened heart, he picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
Itachi Uchiha? The voice asked.
"Yes, that's me."
There are no more leads to Neji's shooters. Our K9 unit isn't finding anything, and nobody who lives in the area of the park has seen anything. I'm sorry Itachi, the case has gone cold.
Itachi leaned back in his chair. "No way..." He whispered.
A/N: I LOVE cliff hangers! I'm really getting into this cliff hanger thing...the amusing thing is, nobody's reviewed my new chapters yet...Everyone's at school except me! XD ha-ha. They'll have a surprise when they get home. Victoria Day in Canada my friends! It's a national holiday!
REVIEW!
(1)I made that up: "they've drawn the line behind their ankles." It means they've drawn the line they've already crossed.