Backtracking

Uzuki Yuugao bore Hiashi's arrogance in silence. If this jerk could help find Hayate's killer, she would have kept silent forever if need be. She knew all her Anbu training would not be able to help in this case. The murder was too clean. There was no scent to follow, no bloody sandal prints to track. Only someone with special doujutsu like the annoying man before her had the power to find the murderer. And when, not if, he succeeded (his arrogance did seem justified), she would be the one to bring the culprit to justice. Her justice.

Hiashi made a motion to dismiss the Anbu, but the lovely young woman with violet hair refused to budge. Hiashi frowned at her continued presence.

"I can help you…" she offered.

He shook his head and turned his back on her.

"Please…" she persisted.

"Someone like you will just hinder my investigation. If you want to help, just be patient. I'll find whoever did this. You'll be among the first to know," Hiashi uncharacteristically promised.

The masked woman nodded in resignation.

After Anbu had left, Hiashi drew a quick diagram of Konoha, dividing it into quadrants. "The chase probably originated from either of these two quadrants. You search this one and I'll take this one. Search in a zigzag pattern from rooftop to rooftop. Be careful not to step on any evidence. " Hiashi then handed Hanabi a scroll. "If you find anything interesting, activated this scroll and I'll come immediately. If you don't find anything, just meet me back at the house."

Hanabi now had her hands full. She was already carrying Hayate's sword and sandals. She juggled the items to take the scroll and secured it in her back pouch. "Umm, father, do you wish to carry the sword…"

"No, you carry it. You never know how many articles you'll have to carry while on a mission. This is good training for you."

'Good training my ass, he's just using me as his beast of burden,' Hanabi grumbled as she readjusted herself, after stowing away the scroll, to hold the sword in her right hand and the sandals in her left. She concentrated chakra to her feet and leaped to the next building.

'If I take my time in searching, it can take all day and I won't have to do anymore training today. Now that dad's not with me I can sneak off for some food. But if he asks me about it I can't lie or he'll know and then…' Hanabi sighed. There wasn't any way around it. It was best to just finish searching her designated quadrant and return home hopefully in time for lunch. She didn't have any money anyway. Hiashi did not believe in allowances. He had to control every facet of her and Hinata's life. Hinata had some freedom not because she was older but because Hiashi couldn't care less about such a weakling.

Hanabi thought about her poor sister in the hospital. Their father had not bothered to visit her. 'I really should drop by when I get a chance…that would be when dear old dad takes a day off to go gambling (Hyuuga are excellent at poker)… but she'll probably be home by then. Maybe I can send her some flowers and charge it to the house account. But then the old miser will pitch a fit…'

Despite having a series of rather random thoughts, Hanabi noticed something on top of a roof, which was decorated by two large fishes with tails arching over their backs. She saw what could be described as a strange dark smear. Hanabi carefully approached it with her eyes activated to avoid stepping on any latent footprints or other possible evidence. The black smear appeared to be dried blood, quite a bit of it. Mixed in with the blood were bits and pieces of…something.

'This is it!' she thought excitedly. She was about to take out the scroll but decided she should look around and draw her own conclusions first. She frowned. There were no latent footprints matching the sandals in her hand. 'Those are too small and those…about the same size but not the same shape or wear pattern…' she thought. Still, this could be related and as she had found nothing else, this would at least satisfy her father that she did make a real attempt to search her quadrant. Hanabi set down the sword and sandals, took out the scroll from her pouch, unfurled it, and poured her chakra into it with her palms. The air rustled, dust swirled, then Hiashi appeared.

"What did you find?" he asked immediately.

"I found a large black stain which appears to be dried blood," Hanabi reported, standing at attention. "There are three sets of recent latent sandal prints. Two smaller pairs and one larger one. But they don't match that of the victim…"

Hiashi furrowed his brow as he looked around. 'Is this a related crime? It doesn't seem likely, and yet…'

He took out a senbon and remaining pieces of paper left over from the last crime scene. 'At least Hanabi found something interesting. All I found was a mess of bird poop!' He carefully collected bits and pieces of various matter imbedded in the dried blood and then ordered, "Hanabi, measure the size of those sandal prints and any noticeable features."

"Yes father." Hanabi moved obediently and used her kunai for scale.

Meanwhile Hiashi peered over the roof while employing the telescopic power of his byakugan. He surveyed the area around them. "Do you know what building this is? The one we're standing on?"

Hanabi looked up from her measurements. "Umm, fishtails…isn't this area where the temporary living quarters are?"

Hiashi nodded. "I think things are coming together. I'll be back in a few minutes. Make sure you note all the positions of those sandal prints."

"Yes father…" Hanabi was about to say but he was already gone.

-...-...-...-...-

Interview with the Sand

Hiashi brushed himself off to ensure he was looking his most presentable. He straightened his robe and his shoulders then entered the building.

The desk clerk looked up sleepily. Upon recognizing one from the noble houses he quickly sat up and greeted the guest, "Good morning Hyuuga-sama, how may I help you today?"

"I need a list of the guests who stayed here last night."

"Well, I can't…you know it's confidential…"

"I'm under direct orders from the Hokage," he glared at the poor clerk with the veins around his eyes bulging threateningly.

The poor young man cowered and nodded. He took out the registry book. "Hmm, let's see, most of our guests checked out yesterday and a few early this morning…"

"Do you have anyone from the Hidden Village of Sand?"

"There was one group of genin still here this morning. They're supposed to check out soon…"

"Where are they?"

"Top floor, second set of rooms on the right…"

Hiashi hurriedly climbed the stairs. 'They're still here…I can catch them!'

Their door was open. Their knapsacks were packed and the team looked ready to leave. Hiashi saw the three sand genin sitting around, bored. 'They're probably waiting for their sensei,' Hiashi deduced.

They looked at him impassively. Hiashi saw a pretty teenage girl with four short bushy yellow ponytails, a stout boy with weird purplish makeup all dressed in black, and a smaller, thinner boy with red hair and black-ringed blue eyes Each appeared to be carrying a weapon of some sort. The girl had a large fan. The stout boy was holding a bundle wrapped in bandages. The other boy had a large gourd strapped to his back.

The girl, who apparently was the leader, spoke first, "Is there something you want?"

'Rather bitchy attitude so common of the kunoichi nowadays,' grumbled Hiashi to himself. 'So impolite, no respect for their elders, kids today! Good thing I beat respect into my kids.'

All three of the sand genin recognized Hiashi's eyes were like those of Hinata's and Neji's. 'He must be a relative. What does he want. We didn't fight anyone from their clan,' they all thought simultaneously.

"Excuse me, perhaps you can be of assistance…I'm the …uh…caretaker here and I noticed a…mess on the roof. Would any of you happen to know anything about it?" Hiashi carefully studied the responses of the three siblings. The bitchy girl and the kid with the ugly makeup flinched slightly. The other remained impassive.

"Sorry, can't help you," replied the blond girl evasively.

"Well, perhaps I can speak to your sensei?" Hiashi persisted.

"He's not around."

"I thought I just passed him, big guy, about 6 feet tall and 180 pounds, right?" Hiashi took a gamble based on the sandal prints he found at Hayate's death site. 'This could tie the two crimes together,' he thought expectantly.

The girl nodded cautiously.

Hiashi took note of their sandal shape and size, and their height and weight. 'I think I know who here is possibly involved with what occurred on top of this roof, but who was the second victim and how are these crimes connected if at all?'

"Well, sorry to have bothered you. Have a safe trip back, " Hiashi said pleasantly before he left to return towhere his daughter was waiting.

After the man with the weird white eyes had left, Temari closed the door . "What did you do Gaara?" She asked tentatively, in case he was still in his kill mode.

Gaara looked away without replying.

Kankurou muttered, "Where the hell is Baki-sensei? We'd better hurry and get out of this pathetic village before Gaara loses control again and we get caught in the middle."

-…-…-…-

"Hanabi, I need to see the Hokage. I want you to keep an eye on the Sand team. Don't let them leave."

"Huh? How am I supposed to stop them?"

"Use your brain, think of something, you're smarter than your sister, right?" Hiashi ordered as he took off.

Hanabi carefully stowed away the sword and sandals on top of the roof. She leaped to the roof of the building across, then jumped down. Now she stood across the street to the entrance to the dormitory. She watched a number of people go in and out as she waited anxiously for her father to return. At least fifteen minutes had passed when she saw the Sand team emerge.

'What to do? What to do?' she thought as she quickly ran over. "Excuse me, aren't you the sand genin who just defeated our leaf genin yesterday? Can I have your autograph? Might be worth something if you become legendary." The little girl gave them a wide-eyed look of admiration.

'Another one of that clan with the white eyes. How creepy. Why are they so interested in us?' Temari wondered.

Gaara trembled slightly. 'I must resist the urge to kill her in broad daylight.'

Kankurou mused, 'She might know something about that guy Neji. He was interesting. But that idiot Naruto was useless – couldn't get any good info out of him.' After a bit of thought to his approach, Kankurou finally said, "Sure I'll give you an autograph. Hey, are you related to Hyuuga Neji? He sure was an interesting guy."

"Yeah, he's my cousin. He beat up my older sister. She's still in the hospital," Hanabi replied bitterly, thinking how dare one of the branch family lay ahand on one of the head family.

'Hmm…how ruthless, yet impressive, wish I could do that to Temari or Gaara,' the puppeteer thought, then said aloud, "You sure have pretty eyes."

"Er, thanks. Your…uh…stripes are very…masculine," Hanabi replied, blushing. 'No one ever compliments my eyes. They all think they're creepy.'

"Does everyone in your clan have such lovely eyes?" Kankurou asked with what he hoped was a smile, but it came off more as a horrific grimace.

"Yeah…why?" Hanabi replied cautiously. 'He seems awfully interested in my clan.'

"But you must be very special…"

Temari interrupted, "Stop with the flirting, we have to get going, Baki sensei's probably left already."

'Stupid bitch I'm data gathering,' Kankurou thought angrily.

Gaara was whispering to himself, "Too small and weak to be a tasty morsel for you Mother. We must be patient."

"So, uh, why don't you tell me about yourself and your clan," Hanabi smiled back,trying to flirt back even though he was probably twice her age and she had nothing to flirt with except her large white eyes. Still she smiled and tilted her head back and played with her long black hair coquettishly.

-…-…-…-

Author's Notes: This story is not meant to promote KankurouxHanabi! I'm still not sure where I'll be going with this story. Now that I know the Anbu girl's name I might write her in or I might use her in another story. I was think of maybe writing a series of Hiashi and Hanabi mystery fics but since I'm still stuck on this I probably won't.

Next up: Hiashi reports to the Hokage.