family affair

three:

normal friday for the pig

"Permission to enter zone six." Sasuke spoke into a nondescript phone, his mask already covering the tired expanse of his face.

"Your name?" A voice came through the phone clearly, though it seemed tinged by slight annoyance.

Sasuke ignored the annoyance for now. "Crow," he said. "From...Konoha Unit 9."

"Ah," the voice said. There was a long pause and Sasuke could hear speedy typing coming from the other end of the phone. They were checking cameras, making sure he wasn't being followed, and registering his BMW. "Permission granted. Enter through door three. An associate will meet you and bring you directly to your team."

Sasuke muttered his thanks and pulled into a sleek tunnel. After driving 6 yards or so, a metal door slid open, and he drove farther into the darkness until he came upon something that looked like a parking garage. He followed the yellow arrows leading him to so-called "door 3" navigating his car up a floor and passing what looked like a crew of Nascar workers who were quickly removing steaming tires off of a fucked-up convertible.

His new headquarters was two and a half hours away from Konoha, making it a real pain in the ass to get there. He guessed they did that on purpose. It wouldn't be permissible if he was seen walking into a random downtown building by his new boss when the Hyugas already seemed inherently suspicious of him. Neji Hyuga looked like he was eager to run him over with his Mustang if Sasuke so much as twitched the wrong way, leaving Sasuke to wonder if he remembered him after all.

In any case, his new assignment was to one of the bigger operational ANBU stations, sitting tight and hidden in the cozy countryside. Mostly, they did intelligence work and training here, but it also aided in distancing agents from the locations of their missions. It also meant Sasuke wouldn't be checking in with his full team as often, which was a blessing in some ways, and a curse in others. He likely would not return to this location for several more weeks, and only if he could manage to sneak away without making the Hyugas suspicious.

He got out of his car, thinking about the strange unnamed Hyuga who sat beside Neji in his Mustang, counting money confidently, and handing him his cut. She was obviously of importance, otherwise, she wouldn't have reached over Neji like that––she was definitely more than just a passenger-seat girlfriend or something. That couldn't be right, they looked related.

He'd bowed to her at the funeral, her striking eyes giving him pause until he shook his head and moved on. So, she was family. She was at the front of the chapel, after all. Perhaps she was a sister or a cousin, someone not as central to the Hyuga Syndicate, but knowledgeable and present nonetheless. In the car, her energy had been placid, but that didn't mean she was unaffected.

The major clans liked to keep the identities of the Family members private, so it was hard to know exactly who that woman in the car was and what her relationship to the clan was. Sasuke could remember a similar disposition among the Uchiha. He'd spent most of his childhood in the shadows of his older brother, father, and uncles, watching them step up to make dangerous and enduring decisions. He'd sit beside the koi pond in their garden, watching men speak quietly amongst themselves while holding their weapons close to their bodies.

The day he was playing soccer alone on the field was the day he'd looked up from his ball and saw two sets of Hyuga eyes staring back at him from the outdoor patio where his father sometimes drank liquor. Hyuga Hizashi and a young Neji stood anxiously, their faces taut. Sasuke watched Fugaku exchange a few terse words with them, his expression drawn and strange. Then, he went inside with Hizashi, leaving Neji to sit alone in the glaring sun.

Sasuke went up to him. "Who are you?"

"Hyuga Neji," the boy, only a year or two older than him, replied. "Who're you?"

"Uchiha Sasuke. What are you doing here?"

Neji shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know and I don't think it's any of your business."

"It doesn't seem like it's your business either, since you don't even know," Sasuke retorted. "Anyway, it's my house so I think I deserve to know."

"You're just a stupid kid," Neji said, rolling his eye like he was that much older than him.

"You can't call me stupid when your dad is asking my dad for help. He wouldn't need help if he was strong like my family," Sasuke was puffing up his chest and crossing his arms. He didn't know what he was talking about and was making assumptions, but one thing Fugaku had always taught him was that a man didn't look down at his feet in front of an opponent unless he was submitting to him, and Hizashi Hyuga had done just that. "So I think you should watch your mouth, Hyuga."

Then Neji lunged at him, swinging his tiny fists in a big arch over his head and aiming for Sasuke's gut. He didn't land anything, because Itachi caught the boy around the stomach and threw him hard onto the ground. He'd been standing in the doorway watching the entire exchange.

Neji coughed on the ground, withering noiselessly as he attempted to get back on his feet. He was winded.

"That's not fair," Sasuke cried to his brother. "I could've taken him!"

"You could've, but you needn't," said Itachi. "He is not welcome here, and any further disputes would cause problems I can't explain to you right now."

He turned to Neji, who was brushing grass off his pants. Hizashi reappeared on the patio, looking pale. He gestured for Neji to come, and they disappeared back through the house, exiting the compound in a silent, brisk walk.

"What was that even about? We hate the Hyugas, right 'tachi?"

"Right, little brother," Itachi smiled down at him, the sun eclipsing the top of his head making him seem like some sort of divine entity. "But you don't need to worry about that right now. Go play."

Sasuke went back to his lonely game of soccer. Shortly after that, the gunfire started.

"Welcome, Crow," an associate said kindly, and Sasuke cleared his mind. He didn't have time to daydream.

He walked through a pair of glass sliding doors, reminiscent of a hospital or airport entryway, to greet the associate. She was holding a set of folders tightly against her chest and walked swiftly in front of him after he nodded. Her mask was some sort of gerbil.

"I am Hamster," she said, essentially confirming his suspicion. "We're very excited to have you join us here at Unit 7. Have you visited us before?"

"I haven't," Sasuke said, following her into a glass elevator. She hit the button for the 8th floor. "I've heard it's like the Pentagon of ANBU."

Hamster giggled, though Sasuke didn't know what was funny. "We offer plenty of services here, but we're fairly specific to intelligence and tech needs. Your previous unit is the true innovator!"

Sasuke shrugged. It didn't really matter to him; they were all the same agency.

"Slow elevator," he commented idly. It would've been less effort to take the stairs.

Hamster giggled yet again. No wonder she was called Hamster and was stuck doing baseless administrative work. "We're really big fans of you over here, Crow. The work you did taking down the Orochimaru trafficking ring was––"

The elevator doors finally slid open, and Pig greeted them wearing her typical ensemble of a tight pink tank-top and a fitted Nike tennis skirt. Her hair was loose around her face this time, falling in waves around her mask. "I'll take it from here, thank you Hamster."

She escorted Sasuke away swiftly, glaring impassively at Hamster as she did so, muttering about her being annoying.

"When'd you get here?" Sasuke asked as the two of them took a turn down a long, glaringly white, hallway. His whole team had been relocated, but Pig was the only one who had to live there full time.

"Couple days ago," Pig replied. She opened a door to a room that was covered from floor to ceiling with computer screens. There were a couple of agents typing up reports or coding, and the sound of quickly moving fingers filled the room. "My new apartment is cute, smaller than my old place, but nice. You should come by and see it before you leave."

Sasuke hummed but didn't reply. Pig didn't seem bothered, she opened another door, leading to a small room that she scanned her hand to open. "My office for now," she said quietly.

The view was nice, and Sasuke told her such, trying to be kind. It had big windows and a view of the valley, and in the distance, snow-capped mountains lined the skyline. The sun was hanging low in the sky and clouds slowly reached to cover it. She had a nice ergonomic chair, and a desk covered in equal parts with screens. This would be her first big mission with her offsite and in charge. The only person who was above her in decision-making was Ox, her mentor, who was already there, sitting at Pig's desk.

Fox was sitting on top of the desk, making jokes with Ox. He'd gotten in a day before, telling the Hyugas that he was leaving town to care for a sick auntie for a weekend. Sasuke had told them nothing, and just took the rest of the day off. This was likely the last time they would be able to get away without drawing attention.

"What's up, Crow?" He called, sliding off the desk.

Ox turned to him too, her blonde hair sliding off her shoulder to land in a stream down her back as she stood to greet them. "Finally. Crow, Fox, welcome. This will be your last rendezvous in a long while. Pig, go ahead and tell them what you've uncovered."

Sasuke could tell that Pig was secretly delighted by Ox's very mild compliment. Hidden between orders, she'd admitted that Pig had been diligent enough to uncover something that had once been deeply hidden. It was a compliment Pig would've been obnoxiously boastful about a few years ago, when their former team lead, Dog, would pat her head good-naturedly to show his pride.

But Dog was no more, and Ox had stepped in where hard decisions mattered. This was one of them.

Pig composed herself and keyed in a few things on her portable keyboard. Behind them, the wall lit with color as she projected a photo of an auto repair garage. It was about as normal as an auto-repair garage could get, except it sported a neon red sign at the top proclaiming: "Foreign Car Hospital."

"Car repair for rich people," Fox said. His eyes looked like he was smiling under the mask.

Pig tapped a key and the image changed. Next was some sort of closet, lined with all types of various tools and car parts. There was a service door at the back of it. She tapped yet another key, and the door was open to reveal the lowlights of a bar.

Sasuke said nothing, but his eyes caught a detail...the shape of a logo on a far away bottle. His eyes widened suddenly, "How did you––"

"I don't get it," Fox blurted, crossing his arms. "There's tons of hidden speakeasies in town."

"Yes, but are they all owned by the Akatsuki?" Pig questioned, confirming Sasuke's suspicion. Very subtly, there was a bottle of liquor that had the dark cloud of Akatsuki printed on it. "I found this place one day when investigating this garage for fun. There's been coverage about all these carjackings happening in town. Real nice cars. Ferraris and shit."

"Uh uh," Fox said. "I'm following."

"Well, police have been finding the cars later, absolutely gutted. You would think whoever's stealing luxury vehicles would want to keep them, no? So I look up a list of places that sell and install foreign car parts. This place comes up as, maybe, the third or fourth Google result. It seemed inherently shady because what do we know about Maiko avenue?"

"Not quite the neighborhood for Porsches," Sasuke humored her, already connecting the dots that Sakura had strung across the wall.

"So, I pulled their business records, tax documents, whatever. Seems like business is going well. Maybe too well. I started thinking that maybe they're stealing these cars, scrapping them for parts, and selling them back to a bunch of rich idiots. A basic scam. I started compiling a report so that I could send a tip to the police-"

"A normal Friday night for Pig, then?" Fox teased.

"Fuck off," Pig sent him a mean look. "It's because of this you have an in! Anyway, I was still curious so I asked the guys in tech to hack into one of their security cameras, you know, to have a peek at who's coming in and out. The cameras? Completely unhackable, at least by those guys. But it made me think––are basic criminals really going through that effort? What are they really hiding?"

At that point, Pig could tell she was losing them, so she hurried to finish her story. "Anyway, I went there myself one morning while on my run and located some cameras next door that might pick up something. I watched the footage later––it wasn't great, just showed the edge of one of the driveways––-and saw this car pull off around 3 am. I ran the plates. Car was registered to a Maru Sanin, so at first, I figured they were stolen, but––"

"Orochimaru's plates?" Fox seemed to realize this at the same time as Sasuke, and they both looked at each other, startled, before quickly looking away. Orochimaru was long incarcerated, but that mission they'd worked together over three years ago as rookies had set the tone for the rest of their careers.

"Yeah," Pig said quietly. "I knew it sounded familiar. I didn't do anything with that information for a while, but the whole thing seemed weird. It's mighty specific to use an imprisoned trafficking tycoon's stolen plates so...I dug up Orochimaru's file."

"Pig..." Fox said, almost reaching for her but stopping himself. It must've been emotionally intense for Pig to put herself through that. That was one of the most painful missions of their lives. Just seeing Orochimaru's face in the news had given Pig panic attacks for weeks. It wasn't something that was ideal for an agent. They all had to go to therapy and take wellness exams just to be deemed fit to go back into the field.

Pig waved him off, clearing her throat to continue: "Anyway, to wrap this up, I found that he'd once been in the Akatsuki. That connection seemed too important to ignore. So..." here, she sent Ox a sideways glance, though surely Ox already knew what would come next. "I sent my private contact to the garage, just to check it out. He was able to gain access to the club that's inside after taking in a damaged bmw, and he pretty much confirmed it. I found one of Akatsuki's secret clubs. It's the only one we know of so far."

Sasuke felt the edges of his vision blackout like he'd suddenly been submerged in pitch-black water. A shiver went up his spine and he knew, inherently, that he was closer than he'd ever been to finding his brother.

But he didn't have time for those thoughts, he could think them later when more information was known and he could process in the quiet of his studio apartment. Now, Fox was asking a stupid question, saying "What does this have to do with the Hyugas though?"

"It has everything to do with the Hyugas," Sasuke grunted. "Don't you remember? Akatsuki killed one of their own a couple of weeks ago. They're going to want this information."

Ox was nodding, pleased. "Exactly, and because you know something so secret, they'll want you both closer to Hiashi. Remember, this is a retrieval mission. Your goal is to find the Byakugan File. Only then, can the Hyugas be taken down. You'd do well to remember that, Fox."

"Yes sir," Fox said, lowering his head. "But how do we tell Hiashi we came across this information?"

"That should be simple," Sasuke said, suddenly resigned. Suddenly excited. Suddenly terrified. Intent like this hasn't pulsed through his veins since Orochimaru, and they all knew how that ended. "I need to tell them who I am."

"That's a terrible plan!" Pig exclaimed, outraged. "That isn't-that's not-that doesn't even make sense!"

But Ox was nodding again. "No, Pig, think again. An Uchiha is the most likely to know where the Akatsuki is. His brother is one of them, after all."

Two masked heads swiveled to look at him. Pig was waving her hands from side-to-side, and an unrelenting gesture of no. "No, no, no. You'll never be able to return to-"

"If this is successful, I'll retire," Sasuke said placidly. "If it fails, well..."

"It won't fail," Fox said. "I won't let it.

-:-

"So, Sasuke, I didn't know you were suicidal," Naruto said, already red in the face from all the sake they'd been drinking. They were sitting at a roadside bar, a real hole-in-the-wall, that served oozing bowls of steaming ramen. A few dozen yards away, the countryside spread out wide and far, and groups of brown cows sang in the distance. The sun was quickly making its descent below the sprawling mountaintops. The ground was lightly dusted with snow from a few days before.

"I'm not suicidal," Sasuke said flatly. "I just want the Hyugas dead."

Sakura hiccuped beside him, also red in the face. She was sitting on the other side of him. "Good thing we're not cops, that statement is a lawsuit."

"Not really, considering..."

"That's true," Sakura agreed placidly, Sasuke didn't need to say more. "Because the cops were in the Uchiha pockets too, right?"

"You're drunk, so I'll ignore that comment."

"Yeah, yeah, low blow Sakura," Naruto rallied. Then he turned back to Sasuke. "Why do you hate the Hyugas so much anyways?"

"Enough of this," Sasuke made to stand from the bar. "I'm going to-"

"No, no, stay, we'll stop," Sakura grabbed his arm and pulled him into a sit. "Sorry, sorry. This whole thing is just intense and convoluted. I didn't even expect the O-Orochimaru piece..."

She started hiccupping here. So much for a well-endowed and greatly feared agent; she was practically leaking tears over her rice dish. Sasuke sighed and sat back down, placing a heavy hand on her shoulder. Above them, red and green holiday decorations flashed gently.

"It's okay to miss Kakashi, Sakura," Sasuke said quietly. From his other side, Naruto stood up to wrap an arm around the weeping pinkette. He, too, had a heavy look eclipsing his gaze, and when he looked up, it was into the fields to grass and not his teammates.

Honestly speaking, this was why Sasuke hated drinking with them. They always had to bring up Kakashi and get emotional about their futures. With his free hand, he finished his small cup of sake, at least to catch up with them. Sakura was shaking her head, saying "I didn't want it to be true."

"What?"

"The foreign car thing," she admitted, whispering. She was making a small cocoon of herself, folding her arms against the bar and burying her head into them. The chef ignored them. He worked at Unit 7 in administration part-time. He was a former full-time agent who liked the countryside too much to leave it. Sasuke remembered Ox recommending the shop, but of course, she didn't say who he actually was. "I knew...I knew you wouldn't let it go, Sasuke."

His grip on the cup tightened, but he chose not to say anything mean. Instead, he poured more into it and drank until he felt his ears turn warm. A cold breeze wove its way past them, and the sun disappeared from view.

He quickly finished the bottle, slamming it hard on the table when he was done. This was the first time he'd seen stars this bright in years. There were no clouds, no light pollution, and the darkness covered every corner.

"It doesn't matter," he said, glaring into her tear-speckled face. "It's a part of the mission now."

-:-

All things considered, it was a nice apartment. It had a full kitchen next to its only room, where Sakura had laid her full mattress (no bed frame), a small desk (scattered with papers, sticky notes, and a lonely-looking desk lamp), and a growing pile of clothing (next to the door.)

Of course, there were other things of note: a loaded rifle bedside, for one, which she'd blushed about and said she'd put it in the closet across from her tiny yellow tiled bathroom. (She later forgot to do that entirely.) A bucket of magazines and clips, glinting in the light. A flour jar that held three knives and a pistol. She was much too nervous to pretend to be normal.

The rifle was nothing but a muted distraction after Sasuke laid her down that night. He hated that it had become a habit. It was a bad one, an awful one even, because Sakura wanted more from him than he could ever give. She knew that.

Still, she was his friend, his teammate, and he truly hated to see her hurting. But...he had needs. And she was willing to fulfill them.

After they enjoyed their hesitant routine of rugged, quiet, sex, Sasuke rolled off of her warm and trembling body to lay on his back. Next to the rifle was a dilapidated carton of cigarettes from which Sasuke shook one out and lit using the lighter that sat beside the bucket of clips.

"I gotta go back south tonight," he said, and then after a pause: "I thought you stopped smoking?"

"I know that," Sakura replied, still slightly out of breath after orgasming. She got up slowly to grab a towel from her bathroom, flipping the switch and bathing the small room in brilliant yellow light. She ignored the cigarette question. "Want me to cry about it?"

"I think you've done enough crying today, Haruno," Sasuke said as he ashed the cigarette.

Sakura walked out of her bathroom and threw the used rag at his face. She had great aim, but Sasuke had better reflexes. He caught it with his free hand and discarded it next to the rifle. "You can be so mean sometimes, you know?"

He watched her naked body as she walked into the kitchen, flipping on more lights as if she were scared of the dark. She had a nice body, lean and plush where it needed to be and soft in places that were unexpected for an agent of her caliber. It was no question that Sakura was beautiful, and that perhaps Sasuke was a lucky man. Sometimes he thought of a normal life he could've had, had he met Sakura at a normal place, like a college campus or a supermarket.

Instead, they'd both been orphans, along with Naruto, who were desperate for something to live for. ANBU had informants everywhere, in schools, at places of worship, within the government––and something about each of them had piqued their interest. Sasuke got tested in foster care, Naruto had a coach as an agent who saw his potential, and Sakura's mentor had picked her up off the street after she'd witnessed her get away with pickpocketing ten men all on the same train car.

At 14, Sasuke's foster mother said he had a meeting with a very important person. The person was an agent and he invited Sasuke to a very special school. The rest was history, really. He graduated accelerated high school, completed college in two years, and was on the field after that. With every test he passed with genius-level capability, he was reminded of the days on the Uchiha compound, where the elders would walk around calling him a prodigy.

He guessed it was a good thing he could use those good skills for something.

"You want chicken? I've got leftovers," Sakura called. "Beer, too."

Sasuke grunted to confirm, drawing out another cigarette from the carton. Yeah, Sakura could be a good wife. She was kind and compassionate. Her place was a bit messy, but who had time to clean? To that note, she was an excellent worker: thoughtful, smart, and not afraid to stand up for herself. She was good at fucking him and liked being thrown around. She could be nurturing too, if she wanted to be. If they had kids, they'd be attractive and dramatically smart, and they both would do anything to protect and provide for them. He could make a life with her.

He slid an arm around her waist and she smiled, turning a cute pink color as she sat down on her bed, a plate of greasy fried chicken between them. She held out two green glass bottles slick with sweat, "Open these?"

He sat up and opened the bottles with his teeth because she liked to watch him do it. She did this thing where she sometimes pretended to be weak or incapable so that he could do whatever it was for her. He didn't know if he liked that about her or not. He drank the beer, and Sakura watched his adam's apple move. He could tell her eyes on him had turned ravenous once more.

Sakura had always loved him, and it scared him because he didn't think himself capable of such a feeling. When they were younger, the love was more volatile, but as adults, she pretended like she had buried it away somewhere and thrown away the key. Sasuke knew what it meant to run his fingers down her thighs, but he did it anyway.

They ate the chicken in silence for a while, getting their fingers nice and greasy as they tore the skin from the bone. Once the plate was only the remains, Sakura carried it back to the kitchen and Sasuke watched her do it, his eyes heavy and lidded with lust.

It's good that we can fuck for hours, he thought, as Sakura climbed on top of him, her scarred hands anchored to each of his shoulders as she began to move with him inside her.

This way, she could not ask any questions about his feelings or inflict any doubt on the mission.

She didn't need to know his true goal. He didn't want her to fuck up his plans.

an: how r u guys liking it so far! I'm excited for things to pick up after this. I think this will be my last time updating twice a week, I'm just trying to get to the good parts! So far I have 15/23? chapters written, so I'm excited to take ya'll on this journey. You can expect weekly updates, I'm just trying to figure out what day works best for me.

and have no fear! I think Sasuke and Hinata officially meet in the next chapter.

please please please review! This proj has taken me months and it's still not done. I would truly love to hear what you think. There are some exciting things cmoing up.