"Kakashi—you don't honestly think we would actually cause harm to our own daughter?!" Nanami asked, a pleading in her eyes—but a dark glare hiding behind.
"I won't know for certain until the ANBU return with Aiko. What I do know is that several people from the Okumura Clan didn't have alibis that held up. Their recount of events clashed with others' which cast shadows over what you and Hitomi were telling me before," Kakashi, the Hokage, said with a cold voice. It had already been over two weeks since he had sent an ANBU team out of the Hidden Leaf to search for Aiko. While he did have confirmation that they had captured her, he found himself immensely busy dealing with more pressing matters here in Konoha.
For one: after investigating and questioning the entire Okumura Clan—discretely—Kakashi had learned that accounts of events he had been told weren't quite so black and white. Several allegations weren't even true, either.
"Why did you even need to question our family in the first place?" Hitomi, Nanami's mother, asked with irritation. Her mask was slipping.
"Because a small voice in my head told me it would be wise," Kakashi replied, eyeing Hitomi incredulously.
"I thought you believed us!" Hitomi near shouted, "I thought we had your trust and could rely on you! You told us you would help us!""
"I am helping you," the Hokage reminded them, "But my first and foremost duty is to the people of Konoha as a whole. I won't disrespect them by blindly following another when I don't know the whole truth for myself. Now," Kakashi took a deep breath and heaved it out in a long sigh, "I'm not saying the two of you were lying. But as of right now, I can't follow your instruction completely until I figure out the truth."
"And how do you plan on doing that? Secretly interrogating our family again?!"
"Mother, stop..." Nanami pleaded, realizing the older woman was losing her temper and that that in itself could topple their plans.
"The only reason I did it discretely last time was so none of the Okumura could have time to fabricate any stories in case the two of you weren't telling me the truth. That's how this works. Your family doesn't get to conjure up whatever tales they please and Konoha will follow them blindly. You are not in control of this village."
Hitomi turned away, her face bright red. She wasn't used to anyone talking to her like that and it was hard to maintain composure when she found it so disrespectful. She was one of the eldest in the Okumura Clan! Nobody ever dared speak to her with such authority!
"So what's the plan, then?" Hitomi asked, still facing away but her voice was calm now.
"I sent a member of the Wolf Division with the ANBU; they will be able to read Aiko's mind and gather accurate accounts of what is actually true. We'll go from there once they return, and I will handle the situation accordingly."
Nanami's eyes widened ever so slightly as she felt a lump form in her throat. She nodded, "Of course," she said, "thank you, Kakashi." Then she turned and grabbed her mother's arm gently as the two of them left the room quickly.
As they made their way back towards the Okumura compound, Nanami and Hitomi both felt panic rise within them. This was getting out of hand. They were losing control over the situation. The truth from Aiko would reveal them all to be horrible people, which would cause hellacious problems with Konoha, which would no doubt spurn further investigation. Everything the Okumura had built—dealings in black markets, assassinations, blackmail, torture—it would all come into the light. Revealing any aspect of what the Okumura family dealt in would cause their entire business foundation to crumble. Their contacts would hear about them being found out and would no longer use their services; they would appear unreliable.
"Calm yourself, dear," Hitomi said darkly. Nanami snapped out of her daze, not realizing she was on the verge of hyperventilating.
"What are we going to do?!" Nanami whispered harshly, "This could ruin us! I knew I shouldn't have let Karasu make this decision! We never should have asked for outside help!"
"Hush!" Hitomi warned as they walked past a few cheery folks that were enjoying their day out in Konoha's sunny weather.
Entering into the Okumura compound offered some relief for the two women. Here, they were safe from prying eyes and eavesdropping. But the stress and panic didn't leave. They needed to think of something quickly, before the ANBU returned with Aiko.
"You two look like you've seen a ghost," a young man said. Hitomi shot a dagger glare at him, caring not as she realized it was her nephew. He immediately held up his hands and backed away. His aunt was obviously in a foul mood and he didn't want to deal with her wrath.
"Karasu," Hitomi said, entering into the man's office room without so much as knocking. Inside, she found her son-in-law and another woman. They were just talking, as far as anyone could tell. The older man sat behind his brooding desk while the woman sat in a chair that was turned slightly on the opposite side. She was leaning onto the desk almost suggestively; an elbow resting on the wood while she rested her chin on the back of her hand. Her attire was formal with a long, fitting skirt, but her tucked in blouse had just one too many buttons undone on the top and her cleavage showed through provocatively.
The two stopped conversing at Hitomi's rather unceremonious entrance, but neither seemed really bothered. The woman even had a playful smile on her face, clearly she had just been laughing, but her eyes were half-lidded. Whatever she had been laughing at, it was of a more suggestive nature.
Nanami stared on but didn't care. She was used to this sort of thing with her husband. It wasn't like they were married for love anyway. And she knew Karasu wouldn't resort to seduction or affairs unless he got something out of it. Which meant that Nanami got something out of it. So it was beneficial.
"Lark with your whores later, we have something important to discuss and there isn't much time," Hitomi said sharply, waving the woman out and forgetting about her as soon as she was gone.
Karasu sighed in annoyance and leaned back in his chair, elbow propped on the arm as he passively rubbed his thumb against the side of his index finger, "What is it?"
It was Nanami who ended up explaining everything, an edge in her voice. At first, Karasu seemed disinterested, but when it was explained to him that they were losing the support of Konohagakure and the Hokage, he sat up straighter in his chair. Aiko could be returning any day now, and with the aid of the Wolf ANBU, everything the Okumura knew of could shatter.
"Do we have any idea how far off she is?" Karasu asked. He too was worried but he kept it from his voice.
"No," Hitomi admitted.
Karasu cursed under his breath, "Then we should send some of our own to intercept them, disguised. They can't know they're ours."
"Aiko would alert the ANBU as soon as she saw their faces!" Nanami interjected, as if baffled that her husband would even suggest such a thing.
"We'll send our best," Karasu hissed at her, "It won't matter as long as they all end up dead."
"You really think that our best could possibly stand up to Aiko, and seven ANBU?! Do you remember what she did to Atsushi?"
"Atsushi was disposable, and an idiot. If anything, Aiko saved me the headache of having to kill him myself. "
"Then what do you propose?!—"
A sharp knock rapt on the door jamb, "Um... sir...?" A nervous voice called out. Karasu was silent a moment before he shot a dangerous, murderous look at the small, teenage boy that stood behind his wife and mother-in-law, half-hidden behind the doorframe.
"What is it?"
The boy gulped, afraid of having to speak to the Okumura leader, "The ANBU have returned with Aiko. Their coming through the main gate as we speak." Then he ran off, knowing all too well the fury all three of the people in the room could direct at him.
Nanami turned her head slowly to look at her mother, then back at her husband. Her eyes were wide and horrified—and furious. They had had less time than any of them could have thought.
They were ruined.