Naruto was never nervous about anything. Never. He always charged head-on with a fist raised and an air of confidence in everything in his life. He bounded through life with a smile on his face that could brighten any room he walked into.
Now... he was beginning to understand why everyone in school had called Konohamaru 'Slip n Slide' whenever he started to stutter. His palms were sweaty, and his back was sweaty; even the backs of his knees were sweating! He paced back and forth, waiting outside the building where Hinata's apartment was as he worked up the courage to go up there.
Hinata had spent the majority of her early evening with Hanabi, rooting through her closet and trying on outfit after outfit. After finally deciding on one, they chatted for a bit, Hanabi leaving and claiming she had a 'meeting' to go to. Hanabi always had various work meetings to attend, so that wasn't a surprise to Hinata. Neji was nowhere to be found, though, and that was something Hinata found truly strange. She would have expected Neji to show up and start interrogating her again about her call.
Now that she was dressed, she paced back and forth, ensuring she had everything she needed. Keys. Wallet. Identification. Breath mints. Other... various things in her purse. Perfect. Okay. Everything was good to go. She didn't forget anything, did she? Just to be sure, she went through everything a third time and a fourth time...
Naruto finally worked up the courage to go up to her apartment, taking deep breaths before knocking on her door. Someone had been kind enough to let him in the main entrance, so she hadn't had to buzz him in from below. Hearing the knock, Hinata opened the door to his wide smile, feeling her worries melt away.
"Hey, Hinata," Naruto greeted with a wave. He was taken aback by her appearance. Hinata, with Hanabi's assistance, had settled on a dark purple cocktail dress that reached to her knees, with a bit of a ruffled skirt and halter top, complete with tiny sequins sewn on to give it a bit of a shimmer. Her hair was curled and draped over one shoulder, and she'd paired it with a pair of cute strappy heels in a matching shade. She was uncertain about the outfit, feeling like she might have overdressed for their date, but Naruto's usual black suit helped alleviate those concerns.
"Hey," she greeted shyly, wishing she hadn't blushed so profusely at his greeting. "I'm, um... I'm ready to go whenever you are." No more recounting and octuple-checking everything that was in her handbag. It was time to go. Naruto nodded and beckoned for her to follow, leading her down out of the apartment building and to his car. It was a short drive to the restaurant, and thankfully they had a reservation, making things that much easier for them. The restaurant was packed, more so than Hinata was expecting!
"So... have you, um, ever been here?" Naruto asked with an awkward smile.
"No, I haven't," she replied. She knew of the restaurant, but she'd never taken the time to visit. She'd heard they had delicious ramen, which she was looking forward to.
"Really?" Naruto was surprised. Hinata seemed like a connoisseur for food! "Well, I think you'll like it. They've got the best ramen in town! I eat here like... a lot," he admitted as he rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish look. "But seriously, it's so tasty. I think half the wait staff knows me by name." Hinata's eyes widened with surprise before she laughed. Naruto was quirky, and he seemed fun.
They talked back and forth, and Hinata found it easier to hold a conversation with him than she was expecting. In fact, she was talking more than she ever did with anyone; she wasn't the most social person and found most of the time she could only hold conversations if they were professional or if they were with Neji. She preferred quiet, but with Naruto, there was something different about it. His mere presence put her entirely at ease, even if they were talking about the most mundane of things.
She'd never experienced this feeling from anyone in her life. Why hadn't she ever taken the time to talk to him? How had they managed to miss each other back and forth across the precinct so often? How was it that they hadn't managed to hold a conversation for more than a few brief seconds after all of those years? Hinata couldn't put her finger on it. Where had someone like Naruto been all of her life?
Hinata wasn't alone in her feelings. There was... something about Hinata that Naruto couldn't explain. There were dates, and then there was... this. The way she smiled at him or giggled a little when he made a joke was like music to his ears. He remembered his date with Sakura; it'd been fun, and they'd had a great time, but it was nothing like this. Nothing at all. As far as Naruto was concerned, nothing could compare to this.
Shots rang out into the air in the restaurant, sending shrieks and screams everywhere. Naruto and Hinata both looked in the direction of the shots, adrenaline pumping. Naruto's hand reached for his gun, finding it wasn't there; why, of all days, would he pick today to leave it behind? Stupid, stupid choices. He was never going to hear the end of this one. Nevertheless, he reached underneath their table and flipped it up on its side, grabbing Hinata and dragging her behind it to use it as a shield. Hinata had no idea how to react or what was even going on; she'd never imagined herself in this situation.
"What's happening?" She asked, wishing she knew what to do.
"I don't know," he whispered back. "Stay down." He peered around the side of the table, trying to count how many there were, but he couldn't seem to figure it out. From a few tables away from them, Hinata heard a shriek, and she knew who it was.
Only one person in her life she knew shrieked like that. Forget Naruto's warning-she ignored it entirely, darting out from behind the table as she saw one of the assailants had an arm around a brunette's waist. As she struggled, Hinata couldn't mistake that mess of long brown hair tied back in two long braids. What was Hanabi doing here? Was her little sister stalking her date?
Hinata didn't have time to think about that. She charged at the trio, half tackling one of the assailants and jostling him enough that he lost his grip on Hanabi. She scrambled away and toward the door, darting away at a sprint. Hinata tried to disentangle herself from the assailant, yelling at her sister.
"Hanabi! Run!" She shrieked before one of the men backhanded her and sent her crashing back to the floor. They were cursing audibly, and with their initial target gone, they had to think fast. The one Hinata hadn't tackled grabbed her around the waist, hoisting her as they'd tried with her sister. Hinata tried to struggle, but then something collided hard with the back of her head, knocking her unconscious.
Naruto had tried to grab Hinata as she left the safety of their table, watching in horror at the scene before him. He was impressed with Hinata's ferocity in protecting her sister and also worried at her recklessness. He tried to call out to her before she was knocked cold, but another voice interrupted him, and from the table Hanabi had been grabbed from, he saw Neji standing, his long hair pulled up underneath a cap. He saw Neji's gun levelled at the assailants, commanding them to stop.
As one hauled Hinata out of the restaurant, the other raised his gun, pointing it at Neji and firing without hesitation. The flash of the gun and the sound made Naruto's ears ring, and he saw Neji fall to the ground. Hinata was gone, and Naruto had his cell phone out, immediately dialling authorities as he rushed over. It... it didn't look good. Their assailants had rushed to make the shot, so Neji was still alive, but he was barely conscious. Naruto had his jacket off and over the wound with as much pressure as he could muster, his phone on speaker and tossed to the floor as he did his best to speak with the authorities. He knew the drill; he was no stranger to this.
"Neji!" Hanabi's voice was audible as she was back in the room, skidding along the floor on her knees to stop beside Naruto. "Is he okay? Is he- they were here for me, and-"
"He's going to be fine," Naruto reassured her, doing his best to try and believe it himself. The outlook wasn't good, but that was the last thing he could tell Hanabi right now. "Listen to me, Hanabi. Do you know who those two men were? At all?"
"I-" Hanabi shook her head. "Well... No, I don't, but..." Hanabi remembered what her sister had told her about what was happening. Something was going on at the company, and Hinata had warned her about it. She'd also mentioned that Naruto and Sai were being sketchy, which made Hanabi uncertain about trusting them, but did she have a choice? The only other person she could trust was Neji, and he was not in good shape right now.
She had to trust Naruto. She had to trust her instincts, and her instincts were telling her that Naruto was to be trusted right now.
"But what?" Naruto asked, swearing under his breath. Where were the damn paramedics? Just as that thought crossed his mind, they rushed in, taking over looking after Neji. Naruto had to think. Neji wasn't the target. Hanabi was. That meant keeping Hanabi close to him would be the best bet. He needed the one person-or rather, two people-who could provide him backup.
He opened his phone and dialled Sai, beckoning for Hanabi to follow him. He opened the passenger door of his car and let Hanabi get in, stepping to the drivers' side and taking a seat. He closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath before he angrily slapped the steering wheel before leaning his forehead against it in frustration. Worry pierced his gut for a second before he pulled his phone out, dialling Sai's number. It rang, and rang, and rang, eventually going to voicemail.
"What the hell? For- oh, this is not the time," he grumbled, trying Sai again. It went to voicemail again. He tried a third time, chewing his lip.
"Maybe he's-" Hanabi tried to interject, but Naruto shook his head.
"No. Sai would know by the second call it was important, and he wouldn't have it turned off." He tossed the phone in the console between the seats, taking one more deep breath to center himself. "Hanabi... how much do you know about what's going on?" He had to know where to start if she was going to get involved in this. It was too coincidental; the fact that they were investigating Hyuga Securities Industries, the fact that Hanabi became a target and Hinata now took her place, all of it fit too nicely.
"Well... Not a lot, really. There was someone suspicious talking to Father outside of D.A. Yamanaka's house that Hinata told me about, but that's it." She might as well leave out the bit about not trusting them. That wasn't worth going over.
"Okay. Well... Here's what we know." As he put the car into drive, he explained everything he could to Hanabi, starting right from when Sakura ended up in the hospital up to Ino's accident, even covering Sasuke and Sakura's disappearance. He was driving as fast as he legally could in the direction of the safe house, having left the scene to be handled by the beat cops. They knew who he was; it wouldn't take them long to get in touch with him about the rest of the scene. Screw decorum now; they damn well didn't have time for that.
Once they reached the safe house, Naruto pulled out the burner phone he'd bought and dialled the number he knew was the burner Sasuke had tried calling him from. He'd never been somewhere he was able to answer it, and Sasuke needed to understand what was going on. He and Sakura had been left in the dark for the last few weeks, and now was the time to rectify that.
The line picked up, but there was silence. Naruto knew precisely why. "Ramen's the best," he said into the line, waiting for the answer.
"For fuck's sake," Sasuke replied over the line. "Way to take your goddamn time." Okay, he deserved that. He'd taken longer than anticipated to get back to Sasuke, but it was hard when you were constantly watching.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know," the blonde waved off as he got out and pulled his gun out from the glove compartment before turning to Hanabi. "Stay here, lock the doors, do not get out of this car for any reason, do you hear me?" He knew he had to be clear with her. He hadn't been clear enough with Hinata, which led to her severe recklessness.
"Naruto, what the hell is going on? You're on speaker, by the way. Sakura and Karin are here." Oh, speaker. Great. He knew this wasn't about to go very well. No time like the present. He switched to his handsfree earpiece, stuffing the phone in his pocket as he readied his gun. They couldn't be too careful. Sai wasn't answering, and that was a cause for concern.
"Yeah, Sasuke, that's the problem. I don't really have an answer for you. Hold on." He knocked at the door, and upon looking at it, the lock looked... possibly jimmied. Damn it, he thought to himself, drawing in a deep breath before booting the door.
"You know I know what the sound of kicking a door down sounds like, right?" Sasuke snarked in his ear, and Naruto made a mocking face but ignored him. He'd answer in a second, and he was sure Sasuke knew that. Even as the detective chattered obnoxiously in his ear, Naruto ignored it, doing a full sweep of the house. He couldn't see anyone in the house, yet Sai's vehicle was there. He checked each bedroom; none of them were sleeping, and he couldn't see any of them around... at all.
"For fuck's sake," Naruto cursed.
"What? Talk to us, Naruto!" Sakura demanded, and Naruto closed his eyes.
"Listen, I-Hinata's been kidnapped. They were going for her sister, Hanabi, but she got grabbed, and Neji got shot trying to stop them. I tried to call Sai, but I can't find him anywhere, and he was staying at the safe house with Ino. She's nowhere to be fou-" His words were cut off as he caught a glimpse of a foot in the living room, rushing around.
"Damn it!" His voice became louder as he saw Sai lying on the living room carpet, not moving an inch. Naruto could tell he'd been hit by something, and it didn't look good. Nevertheless, he was alive, though there were... suspicious bullet holes on the ground near him, as well as what appeared to be a photo tossed on top of him.
"What?!" Sasuke demanded.
"Sai's in bad shape, and Ino's nowhere to be found. This had to be a double attempt... Hanabi's the heiress to Hyuga Securities Industries, and we've been looking into their Akatsuki involvement, and Ino... Fuck, you don't know about that, either. Yeah, shit. Akatsuki came after you two because when Ino went to pick up things from your house, Sakura, the damn place blew up... and they found a body inside. Idate Shimura's body." Naruto was checking Sai's vitals, relieved that he seemed to be alright. He'd been knocked pretty hard, but other than that, he was uninjured. More than anything, he probably just had a concussion.
The wheezing sound over the line became audible to Naruto, and he could hear Sakura speaking, though her words were rambling and too quiet for him to understand. He could hear Sasuke's voice, too, likely talking her down. He could hear Karin over the line, seemingly talking to Sasuke.
"Go look after her," she said. "I'll get whatever details I can from Naru-"
"Hey! What the fuck?" Naruto snapped over the phone. Now he understood how Sasuke felt. "What the hell is going on over there? Is she okay? Did something happen?" Naruto heard someone pick up the phone before Karin spoke again, her voice lower and more straightforward.
"It's fine. Sakura devolved into a panic attack from the news and fainted." She closed her eyes. "Shit-okay, listen up. I may not know her that well, but I know for a fact that she can't handle much more of this on-the-run bullshit, and Sasuke... Fuck, I don't know if he can handle much more of it, either. Just-fuck. I'll keep the burner for now so he can look after her, but whenever you find something out, you call me. Jugo and I run a bail bonds slash P.I. business. I will call him, and we'll start looking for whatever we can and update you. Just-find their friends. For fuck's sake, find them." Naruto knew the weight of Karin's words.
"Yeah. I will." Naruto hung up the line and dialled paramedics for the second time tonight, wishing he wasn't in this situation. This was going to be bad. Very bad. And at this rate, he was going to be under scrutiny for everything.
A/N: Hey everyone! I just wanted to throw a teensy apology for not updating as soon as I would have liked. I had a work trip right after the last update (thought I would have time to write, but it was a cesspool of chaos), then had to play catch-up at work for the week after, followed by Thanksgiving... and realistically, October to February is absurdly busy at work for me. As a result, my updates probably won't come as often, as I just won't have as much time to write. But don't fret! I definitely will still be updating my stories and still writing, it just may take longer to get chapters out.