Naruto woke up at his usual time. 6 am. Usually, he'd be getting up going for a run, or hitting the gym. After that, he'd cook a lovely breakfast for his lovely wife and himself before getting into the shower and readying himself for work. But this was only the first day of his suspension. None of the things that normally motivated him applied.

The sun was not up yet. He sat on the edge of the bed and stared out of his bedroom window. The calm darkness was not as comforting to him as it usually was. He wasn't at ease with himself. He had to do something. He quietly slid into his slipped and walked himself downstairs to the coffee table where his disheveled papers lie. He started looking over everything he had.

Sakura had made copies of nearly everything 2-3 times over. She was thorough. It was what kept her as one of the bests on the force. He began to organize the paper into piles. Ordering them by the date of the event. Oldest to newest. His ordering system was working well for him before he knew it his wife was awake and getting ready for work. Naruto was startled when she came down and kissed him on the cheek.

"Hi sweetie." She spoke softly.

He leaned back and pecked her on the cheek before speaking "Hey cutie."

"Plans for the day?" She asked walking towards the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

"I think I'm going to relax and just try to get my mind off of things before I go see the captain," Naruto replied.

Hinata was pouring herself a cup of coffee when she spoke again. "Do you think that's wise? I mean the captain could still be mad at you."

"He probably still is mad at me." Naruto chuckled. "But I'm taking the fall for this." He tacked on.

Hinata was continuing to make breakfast. He heard her open the fridge door and retrieve some ingredients.

"Eggs?" She questions.

"2" He replied.

"How do you want them?" She added

"Sunnyside up. No wait scrambled." Naruto retorted.

"Oh, adventurous today." She added in a slightly sarcastic tone.

"Something like that." Naruto replied still organizing the files. "I will be careful. I just need answers."

"2 scrambled eggs coming up. I just don't want anything to happen to you." Hinata offered.

"I know sweetness. I'll be careful." Naruto said finishing his piles of paperwork.

He was noticing there was a strange coincidence with all the documents he was seeing. Many of the files he had were detailing Sakura's activity, however, there were duplicate drop sites inside of a week. Why was Sakura making two drops in a week? That was risky as hell for no reason. It was standard procedure for an undercover officer to make one drop in a secured location. Who was she making these drops to?

Hinata finished cooked and presented the eggs to her husband with a cup of coffee.

"Here you go." She added.

"Thanks, hun." He accepted the plate and mug graciously.

"Look, I gotta run. My class is starting fractions today and I need all the prep time I can get." She said gathering her papers preparing to leave the house.

"Ok love. Have a great day." He gave her a quick peck on the lips. She smiled and left swiftly through the front door.

Naruto returned to studying his case files.

"What was going on Sakura?" He quietly muttered. He took a sip of coffee afterward.

He began to look at the locations listed on the paper and furrowed his brow.

"Ok. These are the dates and times I know Sakura met with me. But these other ones just don't make sense." He continued aloud.

Sakura was very diligent about detailing her work when she would leave something at a drop site. A list of names and numbers or a series of incriminating photos or something that would be later on cataloged, but on the times she made the duplicate drops there was … nothing.

"Come on Sakura. This isn't like you. You would document lint from Kiba's pocket! Why didn't you log this?" He wondered aloud.

He was becoming frustrated. He needed to talk to her. He needed to ask the big questions, but he knew he couldn't risk it. She was deep undercover amid one of the biggest criminals around. He could not simply approach her.

"No. no. I need to have more evidence before I come to her about this. I mean for all I know she could have been feeding information to Kiba's people or another cop." Naruto stopped speaking and leaned his head back to view the ceiling.

"Careful buddy-boy. You just accused Sakura of working for the wrong side. You don't have any proof of that." He paused. "Besides, why would she catalog herself lying on official records? So that throws that theory out of the window. That just leaves the other option."

He sat back up.

"Another cop?" He said incredulously. "No. I'm her partner. She wouldn't do anything without talking to me first. There is no one else on the force that she'd-" He stopped again before saying it. "Captain Hurano."

"It only makes sense right?" He stood and began to pace the room. "He's the only other person she'd ever go to about things. She wouldn't dare risk her life with anyone else aside from me … or the captain."

Naruto began to stack all of the papers together and ran to the upstairs office. He nearly tripped over his own feet because he was moving so fast. Suddenly in his mind, it was starting to make sense. Who else BUT the captain would be in Sakura's short list of trusted co-workers? As he reached the top of the stairs, he darted left and ran into the office making a beeline for the printer. Naruto all but slammed the papers down into the copier and began to make duplicates of all the papers he had with him. If he was right. He needed proof of what was going on.

As the printer finished making copies, Naruto took the original files and run into his bedroom the into the closet.

"Come on, come on, come on where is it?" He asked himself.

On the bottom left-hand corner of the walk-in closet, he saw it. The safe. He took four steps over to it and lowered himself down. He quickly input the code and opened the door. Gently, he placed the documents into the safe before securing the door afterward.

"Just in case my hunch turns out to be right." He said softly to himself.

Naruto stood and returned to the printer in the other room. Gathered the papers and placed them back into his briefcase. He plopped himself back down on the couch sitting on the remote. The TV powered on just in time to see the news story from last night begin again. Naruto listened intently. To the captain's words during his interview.

"My dear citizens, we apologize for the disruption to your everyday lives. There was an incident involving a

A suspect. I have taken disciplinary action against the officer at fault. It seems like this officer took their Aggression out on the subject. This officer took a vantage point and shot this suspect with a large caliber firearm weapon from a nearby hotel. That is all I am willing to say at the moment."

Naruto hated hearing this story, he hated the lies the captain told. He looked so smug. As if he had all the answers and the people were eating it up. It was disgusting. Then it hit him like a freight train.

The captain did this interview about 5 minutes after Naruto was dismissed. How did he know all of these details about the shooting? They were still scrambling to secure the building when Naruto left.

"What the hell?" Naruto said aloud. "A nearby hotel? How did he-" Naruto began to see red.

He stood up and marched upstairs to change. He needed to see Sakura, but he needed to speak to the captain first.

"Ok. Be calm be cool and stay collected." Naruto was parked outside of the precinct. He was going to confront the captain, but since he didn't have all of the evidence he knew he needed to play it safe.

He reached for his door handle when a knocking came from the other side of his car. He whipped his head around to inspect whoever was knocking at his window. He relaxed as soon as he saw who it was. One of the only people who could ever put him at ease. It was Sakura.

Sakura was up early that morning due to a rather annoying sound that startled her awake. She rolled over to see it wasn't her alarm clock. It was her phone. She rolled back over and attempted to close her eyes. HER PHONE.

She sprang into action rapidly grabbing the device and answering it.

"HELLO?!" She yelled into it. A moment of silence.

"Good morning." The voice spoke.

"Oh. Itachi. It's you." She spoke tensely. "I mean Uchiha-sama, good morning."

She couldn't see his face, but she imagined him frowning.

"It's ok." He wanted her to be informal with him. "Have you made progress with the police?" He was direct.

"Um. No, I just woke up. In fact, you woke me up." She tacked on.

"I need progress by the end of the day. There was so recent trouble there. Now might be the time infiltrate." He spoke smoothly to her. He seemed…calm to her.

She took a second to clear her throat before responding. "You expect me to waltz in there and just strike up a conversation with an officer of the law?"

"If it helps, you can just walk in there instead."

Silence.

Did he just make a joke? Itachi doesn't joke. Well, his half attempt at humor caught Sakura off guard. She chuckled.

"Fine, I'll walk. But you seriously have overestimated my skillset." She coyly replied.

"I hope not. You handled yourself so well last night. It'd be a shame if you couldn't top your performance from last night." He spoke.

This was flirting and he was doing quite well might she add. Itachi was flirting…with her? Maybe he was starting to feel a certain way about her.

"Well, I'll give it my best. But I can't guarantee anything substantial."

"I'm sure you could if you tried hard enough." His smooth voice paired well with the coy flirting.

"Are you always this smooth when discussing infiltrating the police?" She countered.

"Only if it guarantees results." He added.

She held the phone away from her face for a moment to chuckle.

"How long do I have?" She asked lightly.

"Noon." He added his tone sterner this time. This was not missed by Sakura.

"Lunch?" She was pushing.

"Is that not noon?" He questioned.

"No. Lunch means 12:30 in my world." She replied.

A slight pause occurred before Itachi responded.

"Sure. I'll meet you by the precinct." He added.

"Are you sure that won't look suspicious?" She offered.

"Lunch." He replied and ended the call.

Sakura pulled herself out of bed all the way and walked into the bathroom. She needed to get a police contact before noon. Just great. There was only one person she could trust, but she didn't know if he would be up for the job. Her personal phone was broken, and it wouldn't be smart to dial him from the phone Itachi gave her so what now?

Itachi did suggest she just walk into the precinct and just do her thing. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to do. She figured she'd take his advance and walk down and see what was going on.

Sakura showered and dressed in simple running clothes and shoes. It was a simple ensemble of pink dolphin shorts, a white short-sleeve shirt, and pink and white running shoes. She placed the phone Itachi gave her in her pocket. Walking towards the door she put on a white hat and took off on foot towards the precinct.

Her mind was blank. She didn't want to overthink the situation. All she had to do and let herself in and make herself look lost in the event that Tenten was watching her. Unlikely, but still a possibility. As she approached the building, she didn't see Naruto's car in the parking lot. He's normally earlier than her. As she got closer she noticed him parked across the street. This was unusual.

She jogged a little closer to examine the car. He was still in it. She jogged over to the passenger side window and knocked. It startled him. What a goofball.

Naruto lowered the window after starting the car again.

"SAKURA?" He asked.

"Well, who else do you know has pink hair?" She coyly laughed.

"Get in. I was trying to get in touch with you. Well…not really, but I was debating on when I could." He added.

"Ok. What's going on? Why aren't you at work?" She asked.

Naruto sighed. "I got suspended."

"What?"

"30 days. No pay."

"For what?" Sakura was starting to get mad.

"The captain blamed me for Kiba's death." Naruto looked away from her. He was still upset.

"That was NOT your fault."

"I know that." He sighed. "And to be frank. I think the captain knows that too."

Sakura paused.

"So why did he suspend you then? If he knows that was literally out of your hands." She trailed off.

"That's why I'm here. There's a lot of unanswered questions I have for him."

There was a moment of silence.

"Why are you here Sakura." Naruto started "You're undercover. Can you even be seen with me? Are they following you? Is somebody watching you?" Naruto's head began to swivel left and right.

"Naruto. Relax. Part of what I'm supposed to do is infiltrate the police department. That's why I'm here today." She put two hands on either side of his head to stop him. "I'm fine."

"Besides, I was wanting to use you for this part anyway. You're a stand-up guy and kind of a boy scout. They'd pick you out of a lineup as a cop any day…with a blindfold on." She chuckled at the end letting go of his face.

"So if you're suspended. Why are you here?" She had circled back.

"Like I said. I'm confronting the captain today. There are some elements of this case that just don't make sense. I think he has some of the missing pieces."

"Like what? Kiba was shot while transporting to a different facility. It doesn't seem like there is much to solve aside from who shot him." Sakura responded.

Her pocket began to ring. It was the phone given to her by Itachi what she had come to call 'Itachi's phone'

"Yeah, but-" Naruto tried.

"Hold on and be very quiet." Sakura held a finger up at him to silence him while she took the call.

"Hello?" She began

"Who's the guy?" The voice began

"Tenten?" She answered back.

"I told you I would be keeping an eye on you." Confirming it was Tenten.

"Do you ever take a day off?" Sakura began now she was looking around.

Naruto sat silently puzzled.

"Well. If there's one thing I know about you is that you get the job done." Tenten sounded rather relaxed at the moment.

"Yes. I do specialize in results." Sakura countered still looking around. She couldn't see where Tenten was.

"Uchicha-sama would be pleased you were able to find a cop so quickly. Emphasis on the quickly part." Tenten was sounding suggestive.

"I really don't have time for your Tenten games or threats of violence right now." Sakura snapped back.

"Neither do I. Uchiha-sama might not be either." The call ended.

"That bitch hung up on me!" Sakura proclaimed.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Naruto spoke.

"We're being watched by a psycho gun-loving lunatic. So act like I'm coming on to you so we can make this believable." Sakura added placing her phone back into her shorts.

"What. Why?" Naruto seemed a little upset with this.

"Because she has an affinity for guns and shooting people." Sakura gritted through her teeth.

Naruto leaned in closer to her. She leaned in closer to him. From a distance, it looked like they were making out. Softly Naruto began to whisper into Sakura's ear.

"I think your dad is involved in Kiba's murder." He spoke softly.

Sakura's eyes widened for a moment before returning to normal size.

"My dad?" She parroted.

"Yes. He's the only one that could explain all that's happened."

"Keyword: explain. Not be implicated in Kiba's murder."

Sakura reached to grab his face seductively, began to lightly place kisses on his neck.

"He is NOT involved." She countered between kisses.

"So why was he conveniently not in the building when Kiba was shot?" Naruto hissed. "Ease up on the neck kissing. That's only for my wife."

Sakura stopped kissing his neck and resorted to nuzzling his neck instead. "My dad is a good man. He's done nothing but support and protect us."

"So why was I suspended? How does that factor into the puzzle?" He hissed again.

Sakura was silent.

"There has to be another explanation for this." She started.

"Yeah well. That's why I'm here."

"Naruto the moment you walk onto that campus. My dad could have you arrested. Are you sure that's a risk you want to take?" She was starting to plead with him as their 'make-out session' continued.

"Sakura. I need your help to prove this." He was beginning to plead with her nuzzling her neck as he spoke softly.

"My dad is innocent." She continued. Their fake make-out session continued. It was rather convincing. She began to rub his chest.

"Careful where you put those wandering hands of yours! If you really believe there is no side of your dad that could be involved, then help me prove it!" Naruto continued.

"It's a makeout session. If you don't use your hands, you're not doing it right." She countered. He put a hand on her lower thigh.

Sakura resumed speaking "Just because he wasn't in the building the building that does not make him guilty!"

"Yeah? Then what about those duplicate drops you were making? Does that make YOU guilty?" He pulled away from her for a moment to look into her eyes.

Her phone rang again. Naruto let go of her as she reached back into her pocket to retrieve the phone again. They locked eyes as she answered the phone.

"Hello?" Sakura spoke. Naruto looked away placing his hand on his forehead.

"Lunch?" The voice was Itachi's but it was not as calm and controlled as before.

"Is it time already?" She responded.

"Change of plans. I will be there in approximately 5 minutes." The call ended. His voice changed worried her. That will be an issue she'd have to deal with.

"Who was that?" Naruto questioned.

"Itachi." She deadpanned.

"Naruto I really need your help with this half of my case. Will you help me or am I going to fly solo on this one?"

Naruto groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. You know I will always have your back. We're a team." He replied annoyed.

"And as a team. We won't be making any one-sided moves right?" She spoke to him like a three-year-old.

"Right. He begrudgingly agreed. "How do we keep in contact with one another?"

"I'll buy a disposable phone." She countered.

"Ok, that works for you. But how will I know that's you?" He was partially annoyed. For such a smart woman she could come up with some half-ass ideas.

"I'll call you and ask if you want pie." She added.

"Oh come on Sakura next thing you know we'll have code names to match!"

"If you say. 'Yes.' That means I'm fine and it's safe to talk BUT if you say 'Sorry wrong number' that means help me and it's not safe to talk. Got it?" Sakura had her serious face on.

"You're being 100% serious aren't you." It was Naruto's turn to deadpan.

"Yes."

"How about we just set up regular meet-ups here. I am your police contact, right? A phone is too risky." He countered.

She thought for a moment before replying.

"Fine, I guess the phone idea was a bit far-fetched."

"No, it was a bit too James Bond." Naruto replied.

"Fine, we can meet here once a week at 11 am. If I don't show, I'm probably in trouble." She ended. Naruto put on a worried face.

"Don't worry. It'll be fine." She finished. 'My ride is here. Wait until his car leaves the leave in the opposite direction. Do not follow him. You'll only get me killed."

Naruto looked behind his car to see a nice black limo.

"Expensive tastes, huh?" He replied. "You're going to lunch with a man in a limo?"

Sakura nodded.

"Well ask him if your informant cop 'boyfriend' can get a bowl of ramen." Naruto joked.

Sakura rolled her eyes and got out of the car. Itachi arriving early was not apart of the plan. Tenten must have tipped him off. His tone on the phone didn't sound happy, Sakura knew was walking into a potentially hostile situation. Itachi was generally collected, but she had yet to see him angry. She took a shallow breath and confidently walked to Itachi's limo.