Chapter 23- That's what you have friends for

Temari put the last book on the shelves and exhaled. Finally, she was done. She got her coat and closed the door of the shop, carefully putting away the key. She checked her watch. Half past five, if she hurried she could be on time for dinner.

She quickly went to Tenten's room, where the other girls would be. When she got there, though, she found only Tenten.

"Hey, where are the others?"

Tenten laughed. "I forgot it was my turn to cook today, so we're eating in the canteen. I was just about to go."

"Oh, okay."

The two girls walked through the corridors together. There were quite a lot of people, and Temari wondered why it was so crowded. She asked Tenten.

"I don't know," the girl answered. "If it's important we'll find out soon enough."

"Yeah, you're right. Hey, have you heard about Sakura yet?"

"About her and Sasuke, you mean? Yeah, I did."

"Great for her, isn't it?"

"I suppose so. But it makes me a bit… I don't know."

"Wha, you're not jealous, are you?"

"No, not in that way. But it's just… All of you are getting together! You and Shikamaru are acting as if you've been married for years already, Kiba and Hinata are impossible to separate, Ino has masses of boyfriends, and now Sakura too… It makes me feel so left out."

Temari thought about it for a moment. It was true, Tenten had never really been involved with a guy. Would she feel so sad about that?

"Is it just that you feel left out by us, or do you have a crush and you can't get it to become something more?" she asked.

Tenten looked away. "Both, I guess."

"Hmmm… Well, you're the only one who can change that!"

"You're probably right. Hey, don't tell anyone, okay?"

"Sure."

They entered the canteen. Tenten waved to the other girls, who were all sitting at a table. The boys sat at the table next to it. Sakura had turned around and talked with Naruto and Sasuke, leaning on the backside of her chair. Lee and Gaara were having a heated conversation, and Kankuro discussed something with Kiba, Shino and Neji. Temari caught Shikamaru's eye, and greeted him silently. He answered her smile and continued eating. She got some pasta from the buffet and sat down next to Ino.

"Hi! Anything new happened?"

"Nah, not really," the blonde answered. "I've decided to quit boys for a while, though."

"How do you mean, quit?"

"Exactly what I say. I'm done with them, from now on I'll live celibate."

Temari laughed. "I wish you luck!"

At that moment, the door to the canteen opened and three people came in. A red-haired woman (Temari narrowed her eyes but then realized it wasn't Tayuya), a young man wearing a police uniform, and a really big guy with arms like tree trunks. The room fell silent and all eyes were directed at them. The one wearing the uniform said:

"Is Uchiha Sasuke here?"

Sakura's eyes became wide, and she looked at Sasuke quickly. His face was blank, showing no surprise. He stood up and said:

"I am here."

"Come with us for a moment, please," the policeman said.

Sasuke walked towards them and they silently spoke to him. He answered just as quietly, and the strangers took him out of the canteen.

Everyone looked at each other. What was going on? Sakura and Naruto started whispering, and Temari met Shikamaru's eyes again. He shrugged.

After a few minutes, the red-haired woman came back. She looked around and then came towards their table. Sakura and Naruto immediately approached her.

"Excuse me, miss, what is going on? Why are you looking for Sasuke?" Sakura asked. The woman looked at her.

"We're busy investigating a case, and he can help us with that."

"So he's not getting arrested?" Naruto asked. The woman smiled. "No."

"Good."

"I would like to ask you a few questions, though. Uchiha Sasuke used to work for a company. Could you tell me what you know about that?"

"Sure," Naruto said. "It was a bunch of criminals, and they forced Sasuke to work with them!"

Sakura kicked his shin. She smiled apologetic at the woman. "Excuse him, please. I do know a bit about the work he did, more than this idiot probably."

"Good, shall we sit down and talk about that, then?" Sakura nodded, and offered the woman a seat next to Temari. The woman (she was younger than she looked like at first glance) held her hand out to Sakura and said:

"My name is Karin, by the way." Sakura shook her hand and said: "Haruno Sakura."

"Well then, Sakura. Can you tell me about the company Uchiha Sasuke worked at?" She took a notebook and pen, and looked at Sakura in anticipation. The girl swallowed.

"Of course. It was a company that investigated DNA modification, though Sasuke didn't work in a lab. He had to keep the books for the chief, accounting and such. He got paid a lot, but he told me he found out the company was committing fraud, so he left."

Karin nodded. "Hm, he was right about the fraud. That's how we got them, eventually, but it wasn't the only thing they were doing."

"Oh?" Sakura's eyes were wide. "What else then?"

"Their investigation of DNA was illegal. They tried unethical experiments, really bad things were happening."

Temari eyed them secretly. She was working with DNA and cell cultivation herself, so this was intriguing. She cleared her throat and asked:

"Excuse me, but could you tell me more about the experiments this company was doing? I'm studying Biomedical science and this could be very interesting."

Karin looked at her. "I'm sorry, I'm not allowed to talk about the results of our research. But even if I did, I don't know anything about that subject so I couldn't tell you a thing."

"That's too bad," Temari sighed. "Thanks anyway."

Karin put her notebook away and smiled. "I guess I'm done. My partners will be finished with the boy soon, and then we can go again."

Seeing Sakura's look, she explained: "This is only formal. It's needed to round off the case, Sasuke worked there for some time so we need to question him too, but it's not really important."

"That's fine," Sakura said. "Sasuke felt really bad about his job there, I'm glad they're getting to court now."

Karin nodded. Then she looked at the girls, grinning slightly.

"Oh, I do hope Suigetsu and Juugo will leave some of that Sasuke guy for me. He's a real cutie…"

Temari and Sakura exchanged looks. Sakura's eyebrow twitched, and Temari began to fear for the health of the woman next to her. She decided to act quickly and said the first thing that came to mind:

"Ah, too bad he's already taken!" Sakura looked at her, tensed, but Temari winked. No need to get possessive, girl. Karin looked at her curiously.

"Oh really? Which one of these girls is the lucky one?"

Temari coughed. "Well, it's not really a girl…" Karin's eyebrows shot up.

"Then you mean…" Temari nodded, and gestured towards Naruto.

"See that blond guy there?" Karin followed her look. She pouted and said:

"Aaaah… Why all the cute ones..."

Temari nodded, sighing too. "Always the cute ones…"

Behind her, Sakura was unable to contain her laughter.

A few minutes later, the door opened again and Sasuke came back, clearly looking relieved. Naruto immediately began talking to him, which resulted in a slightly jealous and wistful look from Karin. The guy in the police uniform then asked for her attention, and the three officers talked quietly for a while.

Naruto and Sasuke sat down next to Sakura. The pink-haired girl asked:

"How did it go? What did they ask?"

"Nothing to worry about," Sasuke said reassuringly. "The one with the light hair is a cop, I told him to take a look at my brother's gang. He said he had been doing that for a while already, he's after one of Itachi's friends. The big guy used to work under Orochimaru too, he showed me he also has that tattoo."

He absently rubbed his neck. Temari suddenly remembered something.

"Hey Sasuke, can I take a closer look at it?" she asked. The boy looked at her suspiciously, but pulled his collar lower. Temari inspected the dark lines of the mark there, and smiled. It was the same.

"Okay, thank you," she said. "I'm gonna talk to those cops for a minute."

The three others looked at her strangely as she walked towards the officers.

"… So I guess we're done here." The uniformed guy (Suigetsu, was it?) closed his notebook. At that moment, Temari asked:

"Eh, excuse me? I just remembered something that might be useful."

"Well, spill it," Suigetsu said.

"Sasuke said the tattoo he has in his neck is a sign of the company he worked for. He said all people involved with its criminal activities have one. Well, I don't know if this is useful, but I know a girl who has precisely the same tattoo."

Karin and Suigetsu exchanged glances.

"What's her name?" Suigetsu asked.

"Oto no Tayuya. She lives here on the campus."

Karin scribbled it down, and Suigetsu said: "Thank you. We'll have a talk with her."

Temari smiled and went back to the others. She let herself fall into a chair next to Shikamaru and looked at him contently.

"I don't think we'll be having trouble with Tayuya anymore," she said. He didn't ask why she thought that, merely shrugged. "Good."

"And when they're going after that Akatsuki gang too, I think Hidan won't show up anymore either…"

That made him smirk. "Even better," he said.

AN: I'm having a bit of a writer's block here... I want to write 2 more chapters, but I'm kinda out of ideas. Do you have any suggestions?