Sakura reached for the door handle to get into the back of the limo just in time for the door to open and Tenten to get out.
"Keep your hands by your side. We've in a public place and I can't have people seeing you get frisked so openly." Tenten said in a hushed tone smiling and hugging Sakura in the process.
"Can't have people knowing how deep our love for each other is." Sakura added sarcastically.
"Sometimes, you just make me want to shoot you for target practice," Tenten said through her teeth disguising her frisk in her hug. "Get in."
Sakura entered the limo to see Itachi sitting diagonally from her. His face looked empty, but his body language seemed upset.
"Uchiha-sama." She said nicely.
There was no response.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Tenten smirking.
"Where are going for lunch?" She asked attempting to draw words out of his frowning mouth.
Again. No response.
Itachi knocked against the glass and the limo took off driving past Naruto in his car. She dared not look back and see if he followed her instructions.
They rode in silence to their destination. After five minutes of driving, the limo stopped near a nice bistro.
"Out," Itachi said flatly. Sakura complied. Tenten began to follow.
"No. You stay here." Itachi said stopping the brown-haired woman from exiting the limo.
"As you wish Uchiha-sama," Tenten replied without hesitation closing the door behind herself. The limo drove off.
Itachi and Sakura made a few steps forwards towards the entrance to the restaurant. A waitress greeted them. Itachi did not speak, the waitress simply guided them back to a table and provided them with glasses of water.
Sakura knew he was likely upset over her meeting up with Naruto. Was her cover blown? Did he not trust her? What exactly did Tenten say to him? She had to know and for her to know she had to get him to talk, so she began to speak.
"Have I done something to upset you?"
Itachi locked eyes with her. His onyx globes were very intense today. His face was stoic but seemed like it was attempting to hide something.
"Who was the man you were with today." His tone and body language instantly shifted. It reminded her of the first time they met. Coy. But this time it was telling that he was upset. She'd interacted with him enough to spot it.
Sakura opted to match his body language.
"A mark. An officer from the police department." She replied. The waitress brought over a light appetizer. No one had ordered it. Maybe this was part of Itachi's standing order.
"Hn." He replied. Sakura was not satisfied with this current attitude he had.
"You don't trust me anymore." She began sipping her water.
"I never trusted you from the start." He countered. It was intended to be hurtful, but Sakura wasn't that easily hurt.
"Don't lie to me." She picked up the menu the waitress placed on the table with the waters.
Itachi's eyes shot up to see her emerald ones. She didn't waiver from examining the menu.
"Because if you did not trust me, you'd have had me killed by now." Her body language remained calm. Her eyes stayed on the menu, but she could feel his eyes burning a hole into her eyelids.
"If you're going to be working side by side. We need to be honest to each other." She started before Itachi spoke again.
"You're not seeing that man then?" His tone was even and his eye contact was still burning into her. Now it was her turn to stare back and she needed to match his intensity.
Sakura kept her composure together. He was jealous! Of all the things to be on this planet. He was jealous of Naruto? What did he know that would make him jealous it didn't make sense unless…Tenten. Tenten must have told him what she saw.
"That man is simply a source of information. Whatever intel you've gotten from Tenten, is likely wrong." She finally matched his eyes. "Besides, I don't fuck for a living, remember?"
"Who said anything about Tenten?" He countered. He wouldn't fall into that trap so easily.
"Well, let's see. Tenten spots me with a man in a car and a few moments later you show up unexpectedly with an attitude." Sakura added. She was starting to get upset. He should trust her by now.
"Is that all?" He spoke.
"Hn." She replied. Pulling a page from his book.
He smirked.
"I told you what I want out of our relationship." She opened the dialogue again.
"Money." He stated.
"I'm open to more." She added lightly sipping her water.
"Money?" He added. His face looked concerned for a moment.
"That too."
There was a pause.
Itachi reached into his pocket and removed a roll of cash.
"This is what you've earned so far." She accepted the money.
"You're paying me. That must mean I've got the job." She summarized aloud.
"Yes." He replied softly.
"No more driving all over town like a madwoman?" She added.
"No. You won't have to do that anymore." He reassured.
"Good. Because Kisame is a rather slimy individual." She added dramatically shuddering. He smirked at that remark. It was true, but at least she knew how to handle him now.
You're not going to count it?" he questioned referring to the money.
"No."
Now he took a sip of his water.
"I see." He replied. "You trust me?"
"Provisionally." She added.
"Oh?" He added feigning offense with his tone.
"You said my interview was done. I never said yours was over." She added attempting to lighten the mood.
This was not lost on him. "Is that so?" He added a slight playfulness in his tone.
"Yes." She began sipping her glass of water. "So far, you're doing well."
"Well, you've got to tell me what position I've applied for." He took a risk by extending his playfulness. He was testing the waters. Was she speaking about business or pleasure?
"I'll tell you when you get the job." She replied smirking earning a similar smirk from him.
They shared a laugh prior to ordering. Itachi laughing was a new sight to her. He never really exposed himself like that. He was starting to really open up to her. Sakura did not have to keep her guard up around him anymore. He was expressing himself. It was enjoyable to see him in this light.
"Then I think we'll get along swimmingly." She added.
Naruto watched as they pulled away. Sakura was handling business. But she never answered his question.
He agreed that they wouldn't make any one-sided moves, but there was too much at stake for him to blindly follow a woman he couldn't track or even openly share information with. Her evasion of his questions made him suspect she was not being completely honest, but he knew he couldn't just outright call her a liar.
This was a situation he was not accustomed to being in. He was usually able to talk to her about nearly everything. But now, she was so deep in her cover he couldn't risk it. Naruto took a deep sigh as the limo drove out of his view. He could not wait for Sakura to feed him bits and pieces of information. He needed to take action.
Naruto stared at the police building. There were people moving in and out of the entrance like a busy beehive. He leaned his seat back and stared at the ceiling of his car before looking out of his rear windshield. A lightbulb went off. His eyes landed on a tall brown building. Naruto immediately sat the front seat up and looked at the police building. Then got out of his car leaving the door open behind him and he ran into the street to see the building clearer. Traffic began to swerve, and honk and he was obstructing the flow of traffic. He spun around to see the precinct and building three times before he made the connection. He ran back to his car slamming the door as he entered, turned the key, and wildly made an illegal U-turn in the street. As he got closer and closer to the building the sign on the front began clear to him. The bright white and red-letter read the words 'VACANCIES'. It was a hotel. Konoha's premier hotel, The Suites at Konoha. A hotel southwest of the police precinct.
Standing at 22 stories high, The Suites at Konoha was a luxurious and expansive palace of a building. Naruto had never been inside of it before. The reviews from locals mentioned it as a great place to stay. He needed to remember that just in case Hinata wants an inexpensive vacation.
Naruto parked his car upfront to the hotel simply staring out of the window into the lobby until a man approached his driver-side window and knocked starling the seasoned police officer. It was a young man in a red vest. A valet worker.
"Oh!" Naruto said jumping slightly before rolling down the window. "Sorry, can I help you?" He finished.
"Sorry to startle you sir, but you're in line for valet service, would you like us to park your car for you?" The young man asked.
"Umm, yeah yeah. That'll be fine. I'll pay you when I get back." Naruto reached for his briefcase in the back of the car but decided to leave it here. He didn't need to tout his evidence around with him. He'd stand out with a briefcase and no room more than he would without one.
He walked into the large and regal ground floor lobby. White marble lined the floors, walls, and ceiling adding the sophisticated ambiance. Naruto was greeted by a bellman in a similar red vest as the man who parked his car for him.
Naruto nodded and kept walking casually looking around and making his way towards the elevator. There had to be nearly 15 guests in the lobby interacting with staff making Naruto's awkward entrance into the building less noticeable.
As he approached the elevator, he pressed the up button and studied the emergency exit floor plan layout next to the lift. Normally, people would not pay attention to this diagram, but Naruto needed to be ready to make an exit since he was working off the books. As he studied the layout, the elevator chimed and the doors opened.
Naruto placed himself inside of the lift the doors closed behind him. Naruto took a moment to review his options for choosing a floor to exit onto. Eventually, he settled on the 10th floor. 10 was high enough to take a shot get a decent vantage point. He pressed the button and elevated chimed and began to ascend. Once the doors opened, he found himself on a regular hotel floor. The air felt still he calmly walked down the hallway observing for anything unusual. As he began to lightly investigate, he thought back to his conversation with Sakura.
She was rather adamant that he refrains from snooping until she was able to hold things down on her end of the bargain. He felt bad that he was acting against he wishes, but he needed to get things handled on his end. She wasn't here. She was undercover working a different angle of the same case. He tried to put that out of his mind as he walked on.
As he walked his saw guests occasionally enter or exit their units. A group of young kids ran past him in swimwear hinting there was a pool nearby for them to splash around in. Naruto noted that there was police tape blocking one of the doors to a room. The door was open, but the tape didn't make for much of a convincing barrier to entry.
Naruto scratched his head and looked around before swiftly ducking under the tape into the room and shutting the door. Once inside he looked around. There was nothing unusual about the room. Nothing seemed out of place. The beds were nicely made; the walls were free of dents, cracks, scuffs, or holes. Wandering into the bathroom, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Everything was … normal. Except it smelled like paint. The wall must have been repainted recently. Naruto approached the window next to assess the view from the room.
There he could see a clear and unobstructed view of the police building. More specifically, the entryway into the building. As he looked through the glass, he noticed something peculiar, this window opened. This was startling. A tenth-floor unit window that opened? That seemed rather irresponsible. Most hotels would never think to include such a glaring oversight in safety. In fact, building codes wouldn't allow it in most circumstances. He fumbled with the latch mechanism and cracked the window open. The fresh air was welcomed in this room that smelled like paint.
As he stared out towards the precinct, Naruto re-thought the events of Kiba's murder. He used his right hand as a gun holding it close to his face pointing towards the steps. Closing his left eye to improve his accuracy, focused his sight even more. This was the location. Someone did gun Kiba down from here. But, not with a handgun, this was too far away. A rifle would do the trick. Someone with advanced riflery skills could hit a target like Kiba with no problem. They must have had great accuracy as they didn't miss Kiba as he moved and missed everyone else. That was impressive.
Naruto lowered his hands and opened his left eye again. He looked down to inspect the windowsill closely. No mark or residue was present. He looked around the room to see if anything else was out of the ordinary. The room looked to be in order. If someone used a rifle they must have either been sitting or laying down to aim and fire. Perhaps the bed was moved to make their target easier to visualize? Naruto walked over to bed only to find they were immovable. They were bolted down to the ground and anchored to the wall.
He sat down on the bed feeling slightly defeated. Something in this room had to have been brought in to help the assassin maintain their vantage point. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. The stress of the situation was getting to him. As his eyes refocused ahead of him, he realized he hadn't considered the desk in front of the bed. He walked over to it and lifted the front legs off of the ground. It was lightweight and easy for one person to move. Bingo. He slid the desk over to the window and unceremoniously climbed on top of it and laid down recreating a rifle with his hands. Closing his left eye again, he narrowed his sights on the precinct again. He could see the stairs, the door, even part of the parking lot. Naruto felt a chill go down his spine. This was it. This was the location someone killed Kiba from. He quickly got off of the table and put it back. Kiba was killed here. It was still a hard idea for him to wrap his mind around.
He slowly walked back towards the door. His anxiety was raising. He took a few deep breaths and leaned against the wall. Normally, a case like this wouldn't get to him but there was so much at stake here, he couldn't help but feel anxious. After calming his anxiety, he wiped the sweat from his brow and reached for the door handle. He heard voices approaching the room. He couldn't be sure that they were coming towards the room, but he knew he couldn't be found in this compromising position.
He pressed himself against the wall behind the room's main door. As the voices got closer he did not recognize either voice immediately, but one voice did seem slightly familiar, the car valet! That's why he knew the first voice. As he listened, he heard the other man talk to the valet in a commanding and domineering tone
"You should have told me sooner that he was here." The other man said.
"I'm sorry sir. I didn't know it was him until after he'd entered the hotel." The valet said. "But I contacted you as soon as I could. I was told that he wouldn't be a problem after the captain dealt with him."
Naruto eyes widened. Did they know the captain?
"Lower your voice and tone. No one needs to hear this conversation." The other man said, "Did he leave the building yet?"
"No sir."
"What did he look like." The other man said flatly.
"Just as he was described, blonde sort of spikey hair and blue eyes."
"Hn. Go and check the other floors and see if he's somewhere else in the hotel. If he leaves, I want to be notified immediately." He replied to the valet. "Take this." He added.
"A gun?" The valet replied.
Silence.
"Right away, Uchiha-sama." The valet said walking away.
Uchiha? Was the valet talking to Itachi? Naruto was slightly puzzled as he thought Sakura was with Itachi how was Itachi in two places at once?
Naruto crept forward to look through the peephole to see who was speaking. Through the distorted view of the peephole, he saw a man with black hair slightly swept to the side. The man was loading a weapon and placed it in his midback. Who was this man and how did he know about Naruto or the captain? Naruto knew he needed an exit, but he was ten floors above the ground and his safest way out was the door that was standing in between him and this mysterious man.
The black-haired man walked away from the door. After Naruto could no longer hear his footfalls, he looked through the peephole again. Now was his chance to escape.