L.

Light after Dark

Chapter 29

Pein sat behind his large, black desk cursing at the stack of papers staring up at him. It was the middle of the night and he was hard pressed to find any of his acquaintances awake and willing to work at this late hour. Quickly, before any thoughts could escape him he scribbled a note down on a stack of sticky notes before clicking off the light at his desk and standing up. 'Investigator' Was all the note read. "Fucking government officials thinking I'm stupid enough not to know when I'm being followed." Was all he muttered before he disappeared into his dark bedroom adjoined onto his office for the night.

Light after Dark Light after Dark

Sakura woke the next morning to the sound of someone knocking at the door. Groggily she blinked open her eyes and looked at her unfamiliar settings. After a few seconds, she recognized the knocking and sat up, groaning loudly to acknowledge the noise. "Sakura? You're up? Good. Listen the weather people lied-or over estimated again-take it as you will, but anyways the snows not that bad, the streets are currently being cleared and Naruto called to say that he'll be picking you up in about two hours to go to lunch. Alright?" Temari's loud, booming voice thundered though the thick wood of a door.

"Kay…" The pinkett mumbled back, squinting at the glowing clock resting on the bedside table. It read eight-ten AM. 'Gotta get up…rude to sleep in…' She chanted in her head as she slowly peeled back the warm blankets to let the cold air hit her skin. After a few seconds, she mustered enough energy to fumble out of bed and into the on suite bathroom to take a shower.

Light after Dark Light after Dark

Sasuke cursed as he took one step out the front door only to be assaulted by a gust of cold wind sending snow up into his face. "Fucking hell! I hate winter!"

"I'm sure winter hates you as well." Naruto muttered from behind him. "Now before they launch another attack against you I suggest we get a move on yeah?" He squeezed past his friend and out onto the pathway, careful to feel out the ground before he slipped on ice.

"Oh you're so fucking funny Naruto." The irate midnight blue haired man derided as he locked his front door and stuffed the keys into his coat pocket. "You should give up your day job and become a damn comedian."

The spiky blonde ignored his comment in favor of slowly moving towards his car, cursing as his foot almost gave out under him. "Don't you have any salt for the walk? What if someone broke their leg?" He asked, bracing himself on the edge of Sasuke's car.

"Salt?" Sasuke muttered, unlocking his car. "Why the hell would I have salt out here?" He snorted as he reached inside and grabbed his snow cleaner for the car. "Anyways are you going to come with me or what?"

Naruto shrugged and made his way over to his own snow covered orange machine to unlock and clean it. "Cant…wait do you want me to?" He cocked an eyebrow at his friend as he cleaned his windshield.

"You busy?"

"Not really…I mean I was going to take Sakura to lunch remember? And you were supposed to meet me there? You two are going to talk?"

"Oh…right." Sasuke ducked inside his car and started the engine to let it warm up. "So…meet you at the restaurant then?"

"Yeah." Naruto answered, cleaning the rear windscreen and removing as much snow as possible from his car. "Aren't you at least going to shovel a bit?" He asked, glancing around at the amount of snow piled up.

Sasuke followed his gaze then shrugged, kicking aside the snow that gathered around his and Naruto's car. "Nah. If some ass decides to brave it not my fault."

Light after Dark Light after Dark

The next morning, Shizune calmly applied her makeup, dressed for the day, ate a small but healthy breakfast then went to her in-home office and riffled through some old documents before pulling out an official sealed envelope. She then sat at her small, tidy desk and clicked on the lamp before slitting open the envelope and pulling out the top paper. After a few deep breaths, she picked up the desk phone and dialed the number at the top of the paper. At the second ring, a woman's voice answered the phone.

Shizune's heart pounded loudly in her chest, blocking out whatever greeting the woman offered. "Good morning."She began unsteadily before clearing her voice and calming her nerves. "I would like to report Kyoto's Insane Asylum for negligence against its patients and staff."

Light after Dark Light after Dark

Half an hour later Sasuke felt his heart skip a beat as he followed the young man back through the long halls in the bank to where they kept the large vaults. He swallowed a lump rising in his throat when the young man stopped in front of vault number two-eighty and placed the key in the lock. "Are you okay Sir?" He asked Sasuke as he slowly unlocked the vault.

"Fine. Open it up."

The young man did as he asked and opened the vault, automatic lights lit up the dark room, casting eerie shadows in all of the dark crevices where boxes, bags and what appeared to be sheet covered furniture. Sasuke stood in stunned silence at the sheer volume of stuff piled inside. "Behind that large sheet Sir you will find a smaller vault. Your additional key will open it. Would you like me to do so for you?"

Jerkily, Sasuke shook his head no.

"Very well Sir." The young man stepped back out of the vault and took a stand beside the doorway. "I cannot leave you unattended Sir but I will remain out here until you are finished."

Numbly, Sasuke moved into the large room and began looking around at all of the things inside. His eyes roamed over the furniture but read the boxes that were all labeled; soon he found several white boxes with the words 'family albums' scrawled atop them. Stiffly, he took a seat on one of the covered chairs and pulled the box towards him. After fumbling in his jacket pocket for a few seconds, he pulled out his keys and sliced open the top of the box, revealing several old albums. Shakily, he reached inside and pulled out the top album; it was a thick one with a black and blue plaid design on the front. With trembling fingers he opened the book and his heart skipped a beat.

There, on the first page was a photo of Itachi; sitting under the large patio umbrella near the grill drinking a bottle of Heineken.

"Holy shit…" He muttered, staring at the photo in front of him; without thinking, he began to thumb through the rest of the album, and on each page was a photo of his brother. Sitting with his mother and father, some even had pictures of Itachi holding Sasuke as a baby. One particular photo caught his eye and he stopped on the page; blown up to cover the entire page was a photo of Itachi holding newborn Sasuke in his arms. It was taken in the hospital, probably hours after Sasuke was born. Itachi cradled him in his arms and was smiling down at his new baby brother with love in his eyes, as though he didn't even know the camera was there.

Suddenly, tear drops fell onto the photo, blurring the face of Itachi. Ferociously, Sasuke wiped the tears away of his face and cleaned the photo before shutting the album and gently setting it at his side. He then reached into the box and pulled out a smaller album, one that his mother probably kept on her person. Shakily, he opened to a random page and found a younger version of Itachi staring back at him. "You are my brother…" He mumbled softy to himself, as he reached inside his jacket pocket to pull out his cell phone. Quickly, he scrolled down the screen, selected Naruto's number and typed a quick txt.

'Sakura is right. Itachi is my brother. I found all of the albums.'

Light after Dark Light after Dark

Naruto smiled warmly at Sakura as he opened the passenger door and helped her out of his car, bracing her arm before she lost her balance on the slick ground. "Cheer up Sakura." He began, locking his car as he escorted her to the front doors of the casual restaurant. He was wearing one of Sasuke's black trousers and black dress shirts, having spent the night, but his own winter coat and shoes. "This was going to come out in due time. Not just happened to be the time." He soothed, opening the front door for her to walk through. She was wearing an new above the knee black pencil dress and white dress shirt Temari had bought but never worn along with her own boots and winter jacket.

"Just because it was going to happen eventually doesn't mean I'm going to be all happy and jolly about it." She sighed and walked up to a young man smiling politely at her. "How many Miss?"

"Three." Naruto answered from behind her. "Near the window would be nice."

"Alright." The young man looked down at the podium and quickly scribbled something down before taking three menus off of the stack. "Follow me if you will." He led them down to the far back near a long panel of windows. "You can take your pick of seating if you like."

Sakura quickly pointed to one table in the center of the narrow section. "Here will be great thanks." She smiled at the young man as he placed the menu's down on the table. "Alright. Your server will be with you shortly." He then turned and left.

"Not bad…" Naruto looked around at the sparse patrons as he hung his jacket over the back of his chair and took a seat. "Its comfortable here. They re-renovated since the last time I came." Opposite him Sakura slung her overcoat over the back of her chair and took a seat. "It's nice." She commented softly.

Just then a bubbly woman came up to them. "Hi! Are you two ready to order or do you need some more time? How about drinks?"

Baby blue eyes darted up to the bashful Sakura and sighed. "Order something. Temari told me you didn't eat anytime last night or this morning."

The pinkett only shrugged and avoided his gaze.

"Okay." He shook his head. "We'll have some fries, dumplings, chicken wings and two coffees for now thanks."

The server nodded as she scribbled down the order. "Alright. I'll be back with your order."

Naruto nodded then frowned as his phone vibrated in his pant pocket. After a few seconds of fumbling around, he pulled it out to see a text message from Sasuke blinking. He tapped the screen and read the message.

'Sakura is right. Itachi is my brother. I found all of the albums.'

A deeper frown settled on his face as the words sunk into his head. 'Well…would it have been better if it was all lies? At least it was the truth…'

"Is that Sempai?" Sakura's soft voice dragged him out of his thoughts.

"No. No its Sasuke." He quickly tapped out a message and sent it. 'Alright. We're at the restaurant. Hurry up. Bring some albums?' "Don't worry Sakura." He turned his attention back to the worried pinkett sitting opposite him. "You're not in trouble. We're going to clear everything up alright? Air all the dirty laundry." He grinned cheekily at her. "Figuratively of course. Unless someone's bloomers needs airing?" He raised a mocking eyebrow at her causing her to blush but giggle all the same. "There's that smile! Thought it was gone forever."

It was then the server returned with their order, she placed down the three dishes in the middle of the table and then the two large mugs of coffee followed by two plates. "There you go! Anything else I can get you?"

"No thank you." Naruto smiled up at her as she left while popping a few fries into his mouth.

Curious green eyes darted around the restaurant as she sipped the steaming cup of coffee in front of her and played with the edge of her napkin.

"Saku, come on eat." She looked up into the sparkling baby blue eyes of her best friend pushing the tray of French fries towards her as he took a gulp of his coffee.

"I'm not like you, you know." Her long fingers moved gracefully to the tray and picked up one fry. "My stomachs not a bottomless pit Naru." She scowled playfully before popping the fry into her mouth and reaching for another.

Naruto laughed and nodded then sneakily pushed the plate filled with dumplings closer to arm then leaned back. 'At least she's eating something now.' He breathed deeply as a small smile snuck onto his lips. 'Though…' He glanced down at the Rolex resting on his wrist. 'They are running late…'

"Hey…" Sakura began, munching on a fry and twirling a stand of her long pink hair. "That guy over there…he looks awfully familiar don't you think?" She motioned somewhere behind Naruto's head.

"Huh?" He turned to see no one in particular behind him. "Uh…I don't see anyone Saku…" Baby blue eyes turned back to see her still staring past him.

"What do you mean? Right there!" She pointed casually with her hand; her long, pale, pink nails gesturing behind him to an empty seat in front of the open window. "He's right there-the guy with red hair and pale skin." Her emerald eyes remained focused on him even as her best friend grabbed her jaw and jerked her head to look at him.

"Sakura…"

Baffled emerald eyes blinked up at her best friend in front of her. "N…don't you see him?" She whispered, panic starting too coarse throughout her body.

"Sakura tell me what you're talking about. What are you seeing?" Worry etched into the baby blue eyed man's face as his worst fears played themselves out in his mind. 'For fucks sake don't tell me she's remembering Gaara now!'

"A man with red hair and pale skin…" She whispered, staring past his shoulder. "He's wearing a…a hospital uniform and holding…" Her eyes squinted to see better. "Puppets?"

Naruto jerked her head back to face him and stared into her orbs, trying to figure out what exactly she was talking about. "…Puppets Sakura?"

"Yeah…weird right?"

Slowly, the spiky blonde male nodded and released her face, leaning back in his chair. "Yeah…weird…I'm going to go call someone okay? Stay right here. Don't move." With that said he jumped out of his chair and walked to a corner not too far from Sakura. Without taking his eyes off of the confused, nervous pinkett he called Sasuke. After a few rings, the midnight blue haired man picked up. "Hello?"

"Sasuke man where the hell are you?" Naruto spat into the phone, earning him a few odd looks from the workers walking by.

"In Switzerland you idiot where the hell do you think I am? I'm stuck in fucking traffic."

"Now's not the time for bullshit-we need to get Sakura to a doctor and fast." He waved off a female server walking up to him with a concerned look on her face.

The sound of someone blowing their car horn blared though the phone before Sasuke spoke. "What? A doctor? Take her then you don't need me."

Baby blue eyes rolled at his friend's denseness. "Not her physician you dolt. A mental one. A physiatrist or something."

"Ahhh…now you see what I've been talking about huh?" Sasuke's voice turned mildly conceited.

"Don't get cocky." He ran a hand though his messy hair and sighed. "I don't know any physiatrist'. Do you?"

"Why the hell do you expect me to know one?"

"Because you're rich. You were born rich. You grew up rich-isn't that in your like yearly health care routine?"

"…What?"

"I don't know-don't you rich people always get dental checkups and medical and mental every years or something?" He began to pace, his eyes still locked on Sakura who now started stirring her coffee out of boredom and the need for something to do.

"…Naruto what the hell are you talking about?"

"I don't fucking know! Just help me instead of criticizing me!"

"What about Shizune?"

"Shizune? You mean Tsunade's assistant?"

"Yeah doesn't she have a degree or something?"

"I don't know."

"Well give her a call."

"But Sempai-you know he won't like this."

"Then don't tell him. Anyways some police are ahead and I don't really feel like getting a ticket. I'll call you later to find out what's going on. Bye." With that said he hung up.

Naruto sighed and rubbed the back of his neck to try and rid the impending stress he felt coming. "Are you okay Sir?" Baby blue eyes looked to his side to see a young server balancing a tray full of drinks looking at him. "Do you need me to call an ambulance?"

Heat rushed to the spiky blondes face but he shook his head. "No! No it's fine. Just some unforeseen problems at work. But thank you." He then scrolled down his phone book and clicked Shizune's number. 'Pick up, pick up, pick up.'

"Hello?" Shizune answered on the third ring.

"Shizune! It's Naruto. Listen I know this is out of the blue but you're a physiatrist right?"

"Sort of…why?"

"Well…to be honest the shit's hit the fan and I need you to do me a favor. Do you think you can see Sakura an see…see if she's alright?"

A long pause built between them before she answered. "Naruto, I'm sorry but-"

"Please Shizune. Please." A long, tired sigh escaped his lips. "You don't know what it's like- too see her like this…it's like she's going insane and all I can do is stand by and watch as she falls apart." He ran a hand down his face. "I'm not asking you to diagnose her or care for her. All I want is for you to see her and tell me if she's…" He couldn't say it; he couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence.

After a few seconds Shizune hummed. "Okay. Alright Naruto. Bring Sakura to the hospital. Go through the side entrance. I'll see her at four O'clock."

Light after Dark Light after Dark

Shikamaru sighed and chanced a glance up at Ino who sat across the breakfast table from him. As soon as he looked he regretted it, there she sat glaring holes into his face. "Ino…"

"Don't Ino me." She spat and tossed down the fork she had in her hand. "You just bring him over here in the middle of the night?" With one long manicured finger she pointed to Kiba who sat sheepishly at Shikamaru's side trying to make himself invisible. "Did you ever think of calling me? Would a 'Hey Ino, I know you won't be too happy about this but since it's snowing out, I want to let Kiba spend the night. Would you mind?' Did that ever occur to you?" Her blue eyes blazed in anger and frustration. "Did it?"

The pineapple haired guard bit his lower lip in thought before he sat up straighter and looked his girlfriend in the eye. "Honestly Ino? No. It didn't. I didn't think you would let him stay the night if I asked you."

"I'm not a heartless bitch Shikamaru. I know it was a blizzard out last night and it would have been dangerous for him to drive all the way home in it." She sent a look Kiba's way. "I wouldn't have objected."

"Really?" Kiba raised an eyebrow at her.

Blue eyes narrowed in his direction. "No."

"Then why are you so fucking pissed at me?"

"Because neither of you thought to call me and let me know! You both just presumed I would have been a bitch and say no!" She stood up from the table and glared down at them both as though they were two naughty little children who got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. "I would think you know me better than that Shikamaru." With that said she spun on her heel and walked into the living room. After a few seconds they heard the television click on and the familiar sound of the news declaring that the weather crisis was over and the storm didn't even come close to hitting blizzard level.

Kiba snorted into his cup of coffee. "Why aren't I surprise? They always fucking over react and make everyone freak out." He tried to break the awkward silence and tension that had built.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at his friend as he stood up from the table and began clearing the used dishes and cups. "I may be wrong…but weren't you the one complaining and concerned last night?"

"Why are you clearing the table?"

The pineapple haired guard shrugged. "Because Ino always does it."

"Right…well work hasn't been cancelled." Kiba stood up and picked up the remainder of the dishes and cups. "What time are you going in? I kind of want to clean my car before my shift starts you know?"

Shikamaru turned and made his way over to the back door and opened it, revealing their outer wear hanging in the back section. "I'm not going in today. You can take my car if you want. I'll take Ino's." He stated, slipping on his boots and lacing them up.

Kiba cocked an eyebrow at him as he followed his friends and pulled on his boots. "What? Where are you going?" He thought for a moment before a stupid grin broke out on his face. "You're not! Are you man?"

"I'm not what?"

The tattooed guard looked around to make sure Ino was nowhere in sight before he leaned forward and whispered. "You're going to ask for her hand in marriage aren't you?"

Shikamaru ignored his friend in favor of putting on his jacket and tossing Kiba's at his head.

"Don't ignore me-you are aren't you? It's perfect!" He whispered excitedly before he really began thinking. "But that'd be stupid…she's angry right now…" A frown found its way onto his face. "Which means you aren't setting up the engagement…you're going to talk to her father!" Surprise and realization appeared on his face.

Shikamaru sighed and nodded, having already dressed for the cold outside. "Yes now shut up."

Kiba eyed his friends clothing, taking in his guarding uniform and jacket. "Don't you think…you should dress better?" He raised a disapproving eyebrow at him. "I think you should wait. I mean she is awfully upset in there."

The pineapple haired guard looked back inside before opening the outside door and grunting as the cold wind hit him. "She's not really upset…slightly disappointed and worried. But that's how women are. Besides today is the perfect day to ask." He looked up into the sky. "Her parents loved the snow."

Light after Dark Light after Dark

Shikamaru let out a puff of breath, watching as the cold air clouded around his face before dispersing. Slowly, he walked up to two statue marked graves and stopped before them, taking in the large stone in front of him. Carved into it was a long, intricate vine surrounding the family name and then the dates they were both born and then died. He worked his jaw for a second, thinking over how to begin before finally relenting and just dove right in. "Greetings Mr. and Mrs. Yamanaka." He bowed deeply then stood back up, both hands in his pocket due to the freezing temperatures of the open cemetery. "My name is Nara Shikamaru and I have been dating your daughter, Yamanaka Ino for several years now. I'm not sure if she has told you about me or not…" He paused in his speech when a snowflake landed on the tip of his nose. He looked up into the white sky, squinting as more snow began to fall around him.

"Things have been going good between us." He continued on, his gaze now back to the graves in front of him. "I know I haven't visited much in the past…and I do wish I had come more often…but today, I am here to ask for your daughters hand in marriage." He bowed deeply and closed his eyes. "I will take very good care of Ino. I love her and am willing to die for her." He stood back up and swallowed thickly. "I know this must be very difficult for you two. We haven't exactly spent much time together as a family. But I assure you, this feels like the next natural step in our growing relationship and as time moves on, I will do everything I can to make Ino happy. I love her every bit as much as you two did…perhaps even more so." He paused for a moment and just stared at the snow covered grave marker, watching as more snow began to collect upon it. In a moment of not thinking, he reached forward and placed his hand on the statue. "I hope I have your blessing to marry your daughter. I plan to propose to her very soon and I will do it right here. So that you two can share the special moment. "

Light after Dark Light after Dark

L.

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