Room 215
Author: Lehrain
Rating: T (violence, language, repeated alcohol use)
Spoilers: All Hotel Dusk spoilers and some Naruto spoilers
Genre: Mystery/Hurt/Comfort
Main Characters: Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Obito, Uzumaki Naruto, Orochimaru, Hyuuga Hinata
Secondary Characters: Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Sarada, Tsunade, Sarutobi Konohamaru, Deidara, Haruno Sakura, Chiyo, Jiraiya, Hanare
Ships: NarutoxHinata, SasukexKarin, ObitoxRin, KakashixHanare, OrochimaruxTsunade
Summary: At Hotel Dusk, secrets surround the guests and employees. In a single night, as the mystery unravels, Kakashi discovers the connection between these secrets and a truth that has evaded him for three years. "Room 215, the Wish room…Maybe there's some truth to its name after all. I had a few of my wishes granted last night, but I can't be greedy. Someone like me has a lot of wishes."
Disclaimer: The characters all belong to Masashi Kishimito. The inspiration and story plot come from Nintendo and the creators of Hotel Dusk.
A/N: The concept for this story was adapted from my favorite DS game. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good mystery! I will take some creative liberties with the story along the way, but for the most part, it will follow the plot of the game, with occasional modifications to better suit the Naruto characters. To anyone who hates spoilers, I suggest playing the game before reading this. As always, reviews are much appreciated. Happy reading!
Room 215
Chapter 1
"Prologue"
December 24, 2000
New York
-X-X-
Snowflakes floated in gentle flurries from the brightly lit city rooftops down to the frost-bitten cheeks of New York's civilians. The city began to sleep as the forecasted snowfall continued to cover the once crowded streets. Shops flicked their signs to 'closed' as overworked employees trudged through the thick blanket of white, excitement building for the morning's festivities. However, nestled comfortably away from the potency of Times Square, the police station continued in its celebration, the final hours of Christmas Eve ticking away in the merriment.
Music resounded from the speakers, encompassing the main floor with festive tunes from the radio broadcast. Tinsel and garland intertwined with glowing lights decorated walls and desks, the office Wanted Posters temporarily covered by child-crafted paper snowflakes and visuals of Santa Claus soaring through the night sky.
In a corner of the party space, two officers, one dressed in a festive elf costume and the other in his standard detective attire, were engaged in a heated eating-contest.
"This is my moment, Kakashi! With the youthful spirit of Christmas jollity in the air, I will secure my victory!"
Gai cheered himself on as he repositioned the spoon in his hand, pointing with a celebratory grin at his silver-haired opponent, before resuming his quick-paced consumption of banana pudding.
Kakashi remained unfazed by the animated man's proclamations, instead maintaining his focus on the purposeful mouthfuls of the dessert lying before him. His competitive nature sparked to life during their challenges, despite only outwardly displaying minimal enthusiasm. Even when he was more obviously excited for the competition, his reactions were inevitably overshadowed by the eccentric outbursts of the one and only Might Gai.
Glancing down at his bowl, Kakashi scooped out the final remnants of pudding and, after taking a short pause to prolong the competition, he placed it in his mouth with a satisfied smile. After only a moment, a single fist dropped to the table beside him, a devastated sigh expressing Gai's knowledge of his defeat. Turning to face his previously impassioned opponent, the seasoned detective withheld a chuckle as he noted the man's self-induced frustration. Apparently, stopping to declare his ensuing victory had slowed him down. Who knew?
"Looks like I win again," Kakashi crossed his arms, a coy shrug accompanying his indifferent tone. "How many is that now?"
Gai's expression dropped further as he placed his head on the table, theatrically holding up a single finger.
"Ah, that's right," he nodded. "With this, I broke our tie. I'm in the lead. Again."
The dark-haired officer cut short his momentary despair by bounding to his feet and pointing a finger at his rival, determination returning to his demeanor. "Not for long! From my mind, I shall summon a rival contest even more daring than this one! One that challenges not only the body, but also the very essence of our youthful spirits!"
Kakashi simply shrugged once more, before awarding him a signature crinkling of his eyes. "We'll see if you can come up with something more daring than a pudding eating competition."
Gai furrowed his brows, pouting at the obvious mockery, before completely erasing the displeasure from his expression. "I'll think of something exciting. It will really get our blood boiling, Kakashi! Now, I'm off! I want some punch." With an emphatic salute and a toothy grin, he strolled away from their corner toward the center of the festivities, where a beverage and snack table were set up.
Kakashi watched in silent amusement as one of the junior officers informed Gai of the yellow dessert adorning the front of his costume. He shook his head when the man merely waved it away with a throaty laugh and a thumbs-up, but fondly remarked to himself that nothing could ever inhibit that overwhelming positivity. Not for long, anyway.
Turning to glance out the window, at the scattered droplets of pale snow marring his view of the city, Kakashi's mind wandered to yet another positive individual – Uchiha Obito. They were partners, had been for many years. They had started their careers in the same year, working their way from the lowest ranks to the position of detective. Despite initially clashing, their repeated experiences of saving each other had developed into a deeply rooted bond of trust and friendship. In the moments when the profession took its toll on Kakashi and a darkness clawed inside him, Obito kept him afloat, reminding him with endless optimism that they were working to make the world a better place. It was their job to work tirelessly, facing the horrors of the criminal underground, so that happiness could be attainable for those who couldn't grasp it for themselves.
Even in the frigid December chill, the night before Christmas, Obito was hard at work, while they were leisurely celebrating the holiday countdown – not that he was complaining.
Kakashi contented himself with leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes, wanting to at least take some advantage of the free time that came with the Christmas Party.
His moment of relaxation didn't last long, however, as the piercing sound of a phone ringing alerted him. He cracked an eye open, waiting to locate the source of the sudden call before reacting further, but when Kakashi pinpointed the sound originating from his office, he groaned. He wasn't in the mood to deal with street thugs, but if it was in the cards for him, he didn't have a choice. After pushing himself sluggishly from the chair he had chosen to occupy for the evening, he made his way to his office, shutting the door behind him as he picked up the phone and silenced the incessant ringing.
"Hatake Kakashi speaking," he announced with a bored drawl.
"Kakashi…it's Minato. I didn't want to tell you like this, but this situation is getting out of hand, and I need you here."
Namikaze Minato, the chief of police, was renowned in their precinct for his calm persona and unique sense of humor, but as his voice travelled through the phone, Kakashi detected a strain that was rarely present in the man's tone and a foreboding edge to his words. Something was very wrong.
"What happened?"
"…It's Obito. He–"
Minato's words were cut off by the sharp sound of a gunshot that simultaneously coincided with a commotion occurring beyond the walls of his office. The party atmosphere seemed to have been cut short by a succession of ringing telephones.
"Chief?!" Kakashi's eyes widened with palpable concern.
"I'm alright," the voice responded smoothly, even as soft pants and hurried footsteps drifted through the receiver.
What the hell is going on?
A young rookie hastily pulled open his door, too new to the job to know better, but the words that left his mouth in the next moment disturbed the irritation Kakashi normally felt at being interrupted.
"Is it true that Obito sold us out?!"
"What?!" The detective's dark eyes filled with shock. His mind immediately argued with the unreasonable—impossible—allegation, but he didn't have enough information at hand to confidently deny it.
However, the silence he received from the other end of the phone all but confirmed the accusation. Obito had betrayed them.
"Try to keep a level-head, Kakashi," Minato cautioned gently. "We don't have all the information, so we don't know why he did it. Let's avoid jumping to conclusions. Unfortunately…Obito isn't our main concern right now. Our people are being targeted. Three officers have already been shot down."
As the reality sunk in, the panic in the precinct and the danger surrounding their personnel, Kakashi felt a rage boiling inside him. Obito had been over to dinner at Minato's house, had shared a close camaraderie with everyone in the station, and had been his friend for years. Had he really betrayed all of that for…for what? What had made the slaughter of comrades worth it to him?
The more Kakashi's mind reeled with questions, the more his fury warred with confusion. None of this sounded like the Obito he knew. Obito had vowed time and time again to protect his comrades before anything else. He would jump directly into the flames if it meant saving a life. He had done just that for Kakashi once, and his entire right side bore the scars to prove it.
Kakashi clenched his fist. He needed to confirm for himself if it was true. And if it was…then he needed to know why.
"Where is he?" he asked lowly, his tone constrained as he struggled to control his anger.
"Kakashi, don't—"
He cut off Minato's warning by slamming the phone down, abruptly cutting the line. He knew it was unreasonable, he was trained to remain calm in even more dire situations, but he had a gnawing feeling that Obito would be too far out of reach if he didn't find him first. His burning need to understand pushed him forward.
Kakashi rounded on the shivering rookie, still in the same position by the door. "Where is he?" he asked again.
"L-last I heard, he was fleeing toward the Hudson River."
With only a hasty nod to express his gratitude, he turned and yanked his coat from his chair, throwing the material over his shoulders as he raced out of the station and into the freezing night. One glance at his car, entirely covered in snow, and the growing intensity of the snowfall and Kakashi reasoned that it would be unsafe to drive in the current conditions. Gritting his teeth, he ran in the direction of the well-known river, hoping the boy's information was reliable. The unmistakable sound of police sirens wailed around him, blue and crimson lights flashing as he picked up his pace.
What happened…Obito?
Kakashi reached the docks with an abrupt halt, pausing only a moment to calm his heavy breathing before intently casting his gaze at his surroundings, searching for a familiar figure. A ship bell sounded in the distance, the gusting chill carrying a dense fog over the Hudson that swept onto the edge of the docks where he spotted a lone figure. In the dim lighting, he was only able to make out a faint silhouette, but he knew it was him.
He stepped closer, the light gradually increasing to expand his field of vision.
"Obito."
His partner had his back to him, hands tucked into his coat pockets as he faced the deceivingly serene river. He didn't acknowledge his presence, didn't react to hearing his name, and Kakashi wondered if he was purposefully avoiding him. After everything they had been through together, was he unable to face him?
"…Why?"
There was no response.
"Answer me, Obito."
His hands shook. Seeing the detective again and his apparent indifference to the situation summoned the wrath he had been trying to bury with reason.
"Damnit, Obito! Why the hell did you do it?!"
A weighted silence hung in the air, mixing with the ephemeral wisps flowing from Kakashi's sporadic breaths. He finally received a reaction when Obito tilted his head in his direction, the scars on his face catching the light but his thoughts concealed by the shadows. A hand slipped out of his pocket, slowly reaching toward the space on his belt where Kakashi knew he wore his gun. He quickly unholstered his own weapon and focused it on the dark-haired detective standing before him.
"Don't move."
Obito paused, Kakashi's warning seeming to reach him, but in the next moment, the speed of his actions increased. He pivoted on his foot, his darkened gaze briefly meeting the fire in Kakashi's, before he secured his fingers on the handle of his gun and extended his arm.
Kakashi's instincts kicked in, his rampant emotions calming in the face of the threat, and his finger reflexively pulled the trigger.
The sound of a gunshot pierced the still night.
Obito's body reacted to the force of the bullet and his foot slipped off the dock. As he fell back, the icy water enveloped him, swallowing him beneath its surface and only leaving behind his final, whispered plea as the river stilled.
"R-Rin."
-X-X-
December 28, 2003
Los Angeles
-X-X-
A monotonous, blaring ringtone pulled Kakashi from his fitful slumber. His eyes snapped open and he sat up with a start as a shallow gasp escaped him. Scanning his eyes briefly around, he registered the familiar surroundings of his cheap apartment.
Kakashi sighed, dropping his face into his palm. It had been three years since that night and ever since, his mind replayed the memory in his dreams, searching the taunting details for any clue behind Obito's motives. When he shot his partner, they waited several days for his body to surface, but nothing was ever found. He couldn't shake the implications behind that fact, that Obito had somehow survived, and so he set off on a mission—to find the partner who betrayed him and figure out his side. He couldn't let it go until he knew the truth.
After the incident, Minato had suggested he take time off to recover, but instead, he quit the force altogether. He had behaved recklessly when he chased after Obito, abandoning his comrades at a crucial time when they needed his experience. No less than seven officers were killed during the shootings. Several more were injured, including the chief. He had broken protocol and made the wrong choice. He was no longer fit to be a detective.
Minato seemed hesitant to let him walk away, but he relented with understanding and helped him find a job with an old friend, a rather eccentric elderly man named Jiraiya. He owned a business known as Red Crown that was a sales company on the surface, but behind the scenes, it specialized in finding items most people would prefer to remain hidden. Jiraiya took Kakashi in as a door-to-door salesman, but he occasionally assisted with the item searches. In exchange, Jiraiya was discreetly helping him track down leads on the missing Uchiha.
After another chorus of rings sounded, Kakashi finally relented and reached across the bed to pick up his cellphone from the side table. He took a moment to adjust his eyes and take in the name on the screen before answering with another sigh.
"Kakashi!" Jiraiya's animated voice boomed loudly in the ex-detective's ear. He flinched, releasing an irritated exhale. "So nice of you to finally return my calls! Long night?"
"Yeah, you could say that," he returned flatly. Not only did the dreams disrupt his sleep, but the hangover certainly didn't help. He had started the night harmlessly re-reading his favorite book series, again, but when the distressing thoughts persisted beyond even the escape of the captivating story, he had resorted to bourbon instead.
Now, he was regretting that decision.
Jiraiya laughed heartily, "I don't have much sympathy for ya! I may be a drunk, but not when I'm working." The older man's intensity dwindled on the other end, before he added, "Now, I received a call this morning from a client, and I've got a job for you."
Kakashi resisted the urge to groan in complaint. He was not in the mood for this.
"It's at Hotel Dusk, a little hamlet in the Nevada desert," Jiraiya continued. He wasn't kidding about that lack of sympathy. It would take several hours to reach Nevada before nightfall, probably more if his car finally gave out on the way. He would have to leave shortly after their phone call if he wanted to make it there at a decent time.
"I'll get Hanare to text you the details, but I'll also be sending a package your way with the client information. It should be there by the time you arrive."
Kakashi ran a hand through his hair, frustration growing at the prospect of the upcoming job, but he had no choice. Jiraiya was the boss.
"Alright. I'll head that way soon."
"Good! Finish sobering up and give me a call when you get the package." With that and a final laugh, Jiraiya ended the call.
Kakashi tossed his phone on the pillow behind him and leaned back onto the bed, his gaze catching the movements of the ceiling fan overhead. He watched listlessly as the blades spun at a sluggish pace, his mind already running through the list of tasks he needed to complete. He allowed himself another moment of laziness, a reprieve from the pounding in his head before he begrudgingly pushed himself off the bed and started the packing process.
He didn't expect the job to last more than a day, so he only prepared the essentials he would need for an overnight trip and threw them into his run-down briefcase. After changing into his work clothes and slipping on his official Red Crown employee jacket, he heard a sudden chime from his cellphone, alerting him to a new message.
That must be Hanare.
He retraced his steps to the bed to retrieve his phone and tapped on the keypad, pulling open the message as he made his way out of his apartment. Just as Jiraiya said, she had sent him the address to the hotel, but there was also a personal message following that.
Hanare: Hey, handsome ;) I heard from Jiraiya that you had another rough night. Do me a favor and drive safe today, okay?
A small smile pulled at the corner of Kakashi's mouth. The message was just like her, starting with a flirty remark before expressing her genuine concern for him. She had been Jiraiya's secretary long before he had joined the team, but she was almost the complete opposite of that exuberant man, and he had quickly warmed up to her calming presence, occasionally seeking her out when he felt himself sinking too far into one of his lows. There was a silent understanding between them. He hadn't told her much about his past, but she never pushed, patiently giving him the time and space he needed to get there when he was ready. He appreciated that about her.
Kakashi: Sure thing. You know you don't have to worry so much about me, right?
Hanare: I can't help it, darling. You've given me too many reasons to worry ;)
Kakashi: Hey, I'm getting on the road now, so if you want me to be safe, stop texting.
Hanare: If I must. Just call me when you get there, alright?
Kakashi: I will.
He deposited his phone on the empty seat beside him and started the ignition, tearing out of his complex's parking lot and heading toward the open road.
-X-X-
December 28, 2003
Nevada
-X-X-
Kakashi reached Hotel Dusk at a quarter to five. He parked on the side, before pocketing his phone and stepping onto the cracked sidewalk. He dug out his briefcase from the trunk and gave the dilapidated building a brief once-over, noting the faded tan hues of the bricks and scattered shards of broken lights from the large sign bearing the hotel's name. He was used to staying in battered establishments. Since travel came with the job, it was more practical to stay in cheaper places. Most of the time, there wasn't much of a hassle in retrieving the lost items, and he hoped this time would follow the same, smooth process.
This is my life now. This is what I'm doing until I find you…Obito.
With a final sigh, he walked toward the main entrance, pushing open the double doors and entering the hotel.