Hours turned into day that made days that toghether became weeks.

Each day was like the next. She showed up for her shifts at the club. She knew bills would come and she still needed to eat. It didn't feel like it had used to. She didn't take pride in her profession as she had once done. She had tried desperately finding another job but all her efforts were turned down and rejected. She was stuck.

Desperation became real the day she had entered the club, the backroom was silent. There were only a few muttering amongst them. Ino would find out why halfway through her shift. The knowledge hit her hard in the gut. It had happened several times before. It wouldn't be the last time either. This time, for the first time it had done something to Ino. One of the girls was dead.

Poor, innocent and shy Hinata. It had to be her boyfriend. He was known to be abusive. One night he must have handed one blow too many and she ended up at his feet, dead. She was the one of the many that didn't get away before it was too late.

It was the same day as the new regular appeared. He gave Ino shivers, had cash to spend and bought lap dance after lap dance. Only from her, never any of the other girls. Ino was glad I refused to work the backrooms. She certainly didn't want to be in private with him. Something about him was off. She couldn't tell what, but she had always been right about things like these before. It hit her extra hard after the passing of Hinata.

Her eyes often met his hers. She couldn't make out if they were grey or brown in the dimly light club. They sent shivers up her spine and she wanted nothing to with him. She had to tend to his need, she needed the money. His bright red hair was always unkempt. It didn't seemed like he cared about looks. Ino knew he had to be a man of money judging by how often he came by and how much money he spent without seemingly a single worry.

He almost never spoke, especially when she was close by. She didn't know his voice. He was a mystery in his dark, lose fitting clothes.

It wasn't until Ino started seeing him outside the club that she started being really worried.

It wasn't uncommon that the girls got stalkers. Ino had always made it a point to be impossible to follow. Her address was unknown; she never took the bus straight home. She didn't even keep receipts in her clothes at work because it would give off what stores were most likely close to her home. There was no way she should have stalker.

This was more than a common strip enthusiast.

She had contacted Itachi, but she knew she couldn't. He was laying low because of the case, and if he had been able he would have contacted her.

She contemplated contacting Kisame. She couldn't. She thought about his wife, Ino didn't want her to end up like her name sister who had been working at the club.

Ino's fear was that this was someone related to the case, someone who would want to hurt Itachi through her or even make him come out of hiding. All she could do for now was to wait for him to make his first move. Before that time she'd call Deidara.

He was the safest person to contact. He had security around him at all time, but there could still be some danger to him. It couldn't be helped, it was a waiting game if she didn't do something.

"Shit, they're following you?"

Deidara knew everything that Ino knew. He had upped his security, he had the maximum security. He wanted to invite her over, but it would be the stupidest idea he could think of. The smartest thing she could do was to play oblivious, even when they approached her.

It would happen sooner or later. She would have to try and lie, it was the only way she might end up saving her life. He didn't tell her the last part. She was worried enough.

"How many are there, how they look, do they have anything in common?"

She sighed into the phone. She hadn't thought about the possibility that they were more than one person following her.

"He's got grey-brown eyes, very red hair, I'd say he's short, dark clothes."

She tried to wrap her head around what might be vital information about how he looked. If there was something else Deidara might have use of knowing.

"Oh! Yeah, on his right hand, where his thumb is adjoined with the rest of his hand, he had a scorpion tattoo."

It became silent on the other line, Ino tried to make contact with him several times. Had she had something better to do, and hadn't it been about her life she would have hung up on him. The fact that he became so silent told her that either he was finding information or he already knew something bad and needed time to process it.

"You can't be alone, here are you?"

Ino hung up on his and sent her address over text. She didn't want to say it out loud. She still wasn't comfortable living where she was. He didn't respond to her text so she sat down on her bed.

A series of buzzing woke her up from her light slumber. She hadn't been sleeping much the last couple of week and every minute she got was a blessing.

She quickly realized that it was her doorbell. She walked over and pushed the speakerphone button waiting for whomever on the other side make it known who he or she was.

"Deidara."

It wasn't as they had agreed on a password or like someone else knew where she lived.

"I'll let you in."

It seemed like hours before the elevator took him to her floor. There was a light knock on her door. She unlocked and opened.

As expected Deidara entered.

The fact that he wasn't alone made her gasp. The fact that he had a gun to the back of his head made her want to scream. This wasn't the time to scream or show weakness. She wasn't even surprised anymore when the red haired man from the club entered behind Deidara.

"It took you so long before you took interest in me?"

Cocococococoococococococo

Sorry, I've been neglecting this story. I think I wrote myself in a corner. I had become so focused on the case, the police part that I had forgotten that something else would have to follow. Then there were so many lose ands to tie up. As you might have noticed this story is nearing its end. The good news is that I've got it all worked out. If you dare to hope, expect more frequent updates for this story.