"We're here," Sakura whispered as she gently shook me from my sleep. I rose from my position and took a glance at our surroundings. It was a Courtyard Marriott that was right across from a shopping center where numerous people were walking in and out. That could be a potential location for Deidara to strike, after all shopping centers are always populated during hours. We walked into the hotel with Jugo, Suigetsu, and 4 other agents whose names I forgot because they weren't important.
The 8 of us walked in and went to the front desk. While Suigetsu got us our rooms and keys, Jugo leaned down and whispered, "We have to get 2 rooms to save the office's money, Ibiki's orders, sorry."
I inwardly groaned in displeasure, Sakura and I would probably end up sharing a room with Jugo and Suigetsu, meaning we couldn't do, as in do, anything.
We walked to the elevator and in a minute or so, we got to our rooms. Rooms 408 and 410, right next to each other, as expected.
"Here," Suigetsu handed me a key to our room, 408, and proceeded to enter with us trailing him. Sakura and I claimed the bed nearest to the window while Jugo and Suigetsu threw two pouches to us containing toothbrushes and toothpaste, the travel kind. I set mine aside and sat on the edge of the bed, checking my phone and texting Kakashi about where I was.
"We're going to meet up with the other guys and drive down to the police station, all of the FBI Agents from across the state are meeting there," Jugo explained before rising from his bed and walking outside. Suigetsu flashed Sakura a quick and toothy smile before exiting behind Jugo. I glared at his back and turned my gaze to Sakura, who was looking at me.
"That guy creeps me out," She mumbled. I smirked at her before getting up from the bed and leading her outside and down to the lobby, where Jugo and Suigetsu would be waiting for us. "How many agents do you think are going to be there?" She asked me.
I tapped my chin thoughtfully before replying with a simple, "70." She nodded and the elevator rang. Jugo and Suigetsu, along with the other 4 agents, walked out and made their way to their cars with us following from a distance. Sakura and I slipped into my car and we followed behind the others, leaving the parking lot and driving onto the main road.
Sakura connected her phone to the car and began to sing along to her music, something that had become normal in our routine. I sat there quietly, listening and focusing on the road, though the occasional smirk made its way onto my features sometimes.
As we drove, it became clear to me as to why Fort Myers was such a popular tourist destination. It was like an island, surrounded by the ocean and littered with greenery everywhere, the place was the definition of relaxing. If only we were here under different circumstances, we could've enjoyed the place.
Unfortunately, life still likes to fuck with me sometimes.
Sakura began to smile and stare at the various stores and stands around, I could easily tell that if we weren't on the job, she would've loved to stop and look around, and honestly, I wouldn't mind it either. The streets were busy with activity, people enjoying some downtime with their families or significant others, which meant that Deidara had plenty of places to strike from. That thought was enough to keep my mind engaged, the thought of a hidden explosive killing these oblivious people.
I glanced at the girl next to me, if she was even hurt from one of his attacks, I would kill him with my bare hands. Thankfully, she was still looking out of the window, absorbing the view around her, so she couldn't see the menacing look on my face. I stared ahead, gripping the steering wheel tightly while my teeth grinded against each other.
"It's beautiful," she breathed, her voice a soothing antidote to me. I relaxed my grip on the steering wheel and exhaled, there was no reason for me to be frustrated already, we hadn't even began investigating. We pulled into the driveway of the police station and exited our vehicles. The station was buzzing with activity from the inside, police officers being ordered to where they should go and patrol, detectives and lieutenants putting together their own crime boards to determine where Deidara would be.
"Discretion, people!" A loud voice called out, "do not put the public on alert! This is covert!" We made our way to the cafeteria, where all the tables had been set up and each was labeled with the location of an office. They would let us work with our own departments, but there was a huge board at the front which seemed to be where all the stations could gather info and use it as one whole unit. It seemed pretty efficient, though I hoped that the departments wouldn't treat it as a competition, people's lives were at risk. We saw a table with a sign that read 'Jacksonville', so we made our way over to see pens and notepads as well as dossiers laid out in front of us.
"Jacksonville department, I'm Alex Derifko, Tampa, welcome to our workplace," A blonde haired man greeted. One of our other agents greeted the man while I turned back to our table, studying the dossier.
"What's on it?" Sakura asked.
"It's all the locations of where the police officers are stationed and the info on Deidara we already have on our file."
"I'm guessing they stationed the officers at all the major tourist destinations?"
"Such an observant woman you are." She stuck her tongue out at me before reaching for another copy of the dossier and reading through it.
"So you're the famous Sasuke Uchiha," a voice said from behind me. I turned around to see a short red-haired man flanked by a taller girl and a taller boy. The girl's hair was tied back in four ponytails while the other guy's hair was hidden by a hood. "My name is Gaara, these are my siblings, Temari and Kankuro, from the Tallahassee station, it's an honor to meet you Mr. Uchiha."
He extended his hand and I shook it quickly before saying, "Call me Sasuke, and I guess you already know who I am."
"Of course, you already have been recognized by the other agents here as our best man, it seems your previous successes have already garnered you a reputation as the 'FBI's Finest'. And from the looks of it, the female agents are very interested in getting to know you," Gaara said with a smile and quick glance at his older sister, Temari. She blushed as my eyes went to hers and thumped Gaara on the back of his head.
"You ass!" She hissed to him, drawing a laugh out of the red-haired man before storming away.
"Please excuse us, it was a pleasure meeting you, Sasuke," Gaara said before him and his brother retreated to where his sister had gone.
"Who was that?" Sakura asked from behind me, still studying the dossier.
"Some other agents, seemed trustworthy, but its too early to tell for sure." She shook her head at me, muttering "paranoid" under her breath before continuing her studies of the dossier.
"We're going to go to where the police officers are stationed and canvas as much of the area we can," Jugo told me before nodding to Suigetsu to get the car ready.
"Keep your eyes active and weapons ready, split up so you can cover more ground as well," I told Jugo, who nodded in response before following after Suigetsu and leaving the police station. I decided that maybe taking Sakura for a patrol would be a good idea, after all she would be able to see all of the sights Fort Myers had to offer, well at least one of them, and it would be productive as well, much more so than just sitting on our asses staring at a dossier for the day.
"Let's go," I whispered into her ear before anyone could interrupt us. We made our way out of the room and police station and out to the lot where my car was waiting. I slipped into the driver's seat and ignited the car, its engine roaring to life.
"Let's go to Lakes Regional Park," Sakura suggested, "that place is usually pretty busy and he could strike there considering that there's only one security camera within a mile radius, which is pretty dumb if you ask me," she explained.
"How do you know there's only one camera in a mile?" I asked, disturbed at how she knew something so trivial.
"You didn't read the whole dossier, did you?" She asked. I sighed in defeat and she giggled in response before turning on her phone's GPS and guiding me to the park she was talking about. We arrived shortly after, to a pretty astounding view, the sunlight shined on the roof of the lake, illuminating it and causing a yellowish glow. Numerous fisherman sat on top of the railing that ran alongside the sidewalk with baits and whatever else they required to hook as many fish as they could. However, despite the large amount of fishermen, there weren't many other people in the park, just a couple of kids hanging around and a woman with her dog. I looked around and spotted a cop car parked maybe 20 feet from my car with an officer leaning on the driver's door. He was constantly looking around, alert for any activity, hopefully all the other cops stationed in other places were showing the same dedication as this guy.
"Come on," Sakura said, grabbing my hand and pulling me along. We walked alongside the sidewalk, staring at the ocean and at any people nearby, hoping to catch Deidara off guard, but we found no such luck. All the people we saw were civilians or tourists, regular people. "Should we keep looking? Its been an hour since we got here," Sakura said.
"How about we stay for a half hour then go somewhere else?" I suggested. She nodded in approval and held onto my hand again, sending sparks up my arm. I took her hand and shoved it into my pocket along with mine. It was odd that amidst all this Deidara crap we were walking in a park holding hands, although we were doing our jobs, technically. We stopped when there seemed to be no one else entering the park, meaning Deidara would most likely not be turning up, at least not to us. I leaned onto the railing and freed Sakura's hand, letting her lean on the same railing.
"It's beautiful…" she whispered, her eyes glowing and her lips turned up into a small smile.
"Yeah," I muttered, though I wasn't talking about the sunset. We stood there until the sun had finally gone beneath and the moon began to come out reflecting onto the water like the sun had before it. Damn this place was really nice, it angered me that Deidara would try and disturb the peace that the people had created there, I really hated that asshole.
"Ready to go?" Sakura asked. I nodded and we turned back to where I had parked the car. On the way back, we crossed paths with the officer and we acknowledged each other briefly before Sakura and I hopped into the Camaro and left the park. Fort Myers was breathtaking at night, even more so than in the day, though that might be my personal bias talking. There were those artificial torches lighting the streets and the adults had come out to play, meaning the alcohol and partying was probably in full effect by now.
"Oh god," I muttered.
"What?"
"I haven't had a drink in like a week."
"Congrats."
"This is serious, Haruno."
"Maybe you're turning over a new leaf, Sasuke. Look at you, all sober and stuff."
"I need alcohol."
"Stop being so needy, we can get a drink after this whole Deidara shit is taken care of."
"But that could be days," I whined.
"Oh my god, you're such a little kid sometimes."
"I just want a beverage that burns my throat."
"Phrasing, Sasuke."
"Shut up!" She burst out laughing as a blush crept onto my cheeks and I pouted at the road. "Annoying," I muttered. She punched my arm and I couldn't help but wince slightly, she packed a hell of a punch. We pulled into the station and sat there in my parked car for a minute.
"Do we have to go inside? All the guys in their are like Suigetsu," she said.
"What's wrong with Suigetsu?"
"I mean he seems nice and all, but when he stares at me I get creeped out."
"You're scared of him?"
"Not really scared, more like weirded out by."
"Hn."
"Why do you keep saying that?!"
"Cause it annoys you."
"Asshole."
"Hn."
"Ok, fuck you." She opened the car door and began to make her way inside, but I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her close to me. I checked if anyone was nearby, but it was just us. I leaned down and captured her lips with mine, I just couldn't help myself, I had gone way too long without tasting them, it was like going through withdrawal or something. I grabbed a hold of her hips and her hands wrestled with my hair while pulling me closer into her. We kissed and kissed for a little while before finally separating. I pulled away slightly and leaned my forehead on hers, slightly out of breath.
"What was that for?" She whispered.
"I can't do that in there, obviously," I answered, smirking down at her flushed expression. She reached up and pecked my lips one more time before giving me a dazzling smile. We went inside and to the cafeteria, where our table was littered with some notes and fast food wrappers.
"Welcome back," Suigetsu greeted. Jugo raised an eyebrow at Sakura's still dusted cheeks and my messy hair, he definitely knew what we were doing, that weird motherfucker. He handed me some of the notes they had, which was basically a bunch of doodles of Deidara and some other random shit.
"What the hell is this?" I demanded. "That's what we got on him so far, do you like my doodles?" Suigetsu answered and asked.
"These are some fucking drawings, you didn't find anything important at all?" I asked, livid with our lack of data.
"Um, n-no," Suigetsu stammered, looking frightened at my deathly expression. I crumpled the paper up and glared at him, letting him know exactly what I thought of his drawings.
"If tomorrow's notes are like this, Suigetsu, I'll slit your throat with a fish hook and use whatever's on it as bait, you little shit." He backed away from me, obviously shaken at my words. I glared again and stepped closer to him, which almost sent him into a panic attack.
"Sasuke," I felt a hand brush against mine and I turned to look at Sakura, who was trying her hardest not to laugh, but was clearly trying to get me to back off the cerulean-haired man in front of me. I got out of his face and just as I was about to sit down, the voice of the station chief sounded through the crowd.
"Listen up, agents, we'll be working in shifts! We're going to do it alphabetically, anyone whose station starts with A-M will take the night shift and N-Z will take the day shift. If you're station's name begins with N-Z, you are to report here tomorrow morning, as for the people who's station's names are A-M, you'll be staying until the morning and going back to rest during the day. That's it! N-Z get your asses out of here! Everyone else keep working!"
With that, about half of the agents in the room dispersed to leave for their hotels and get some sleep while the other half would continue working. By work, we meant keep canvassing areas to the best of our ability. We had no other information on Deidara, we thought we knew his MO, but after the theater attack, he might be changing things up, all we could do was cover as much territory as possible.
"Sakura," I called and motioned to the door. We made our way back outside and into the parking lot we were in only 10 minutes ago. And just like before, we were driving through the streets of late night Fort Myers, observing its civilians, who didn't have a clue as to what was happening around them. Lucky them. This whole fucking thing was so infuriating, like the world was trying so hard to make me into the person I used to be. I had finally regained myself, my emotions, my heart, and people like Deidara, their like reminders that nothing in the world stays good, like I would snap out of this little spell that was called 'happiness' and revert back to being a cold-hearted bastard who suffered from insomnia and constant nightmares.
"Stop the car," Sakura said, more like commanded.
"What?"
"Stop the car."
"Why?"
"Sasuke. Stop. The. Fucking. Car." I parked on the side of the street, right across from a closed coffee shop.
"Why am I stopping? Did you find something?" She glared at me so fiercely that it rivalled my own. "What?" I asked, exasperated.
"What the fuck is your problem, Sasuke?"
"Hold up, what?"
"You think I don't notice you glaring at the road? You think I wouldn't notice that your eyes started to change colors?" I didn't even notice that, how the hell did she? I pursed my lips and sat back in my seat, glaring up at the moon as if I could light it on fire with my eyes.
"So you're just going to sit there and glare at the sky? That's fine, let me drive, maybe we can get something done." I snapped my head towards her and met her eyes with my own fierce gaze. "Got something to say?" She taunted. God, she knew exactly how to get me mad, and unfortunately, exactly how to get me to talk.
"Its this whole fucking thing with Deidara, its bringing back the old me, from before we met, I'm just frustrated."
"Frustrated?" "I'm fucking pissed and I'm fucking annoyed! This guy is a prick and I want to catch him!"
"Are you sure that's it?"
I stared at her incredulously. "How do you do that?"
"Magic, answer my question." I took a deep breath and exhaled, there was no getting out of this, I was trapped.
"I'm...I'm trying, Sakura, I really am, but people like this, they just bring out the worst parts of me. I'm trying to be the man you think I can be, I'm trying to be better." I could tell that she was a little surprised with the genuine sincerity in my tone, to be honest, even I was surprised. "I'm trying so hard…" Her hand came out and poked my cheek, that was unexpected. "What the hell was that for?" I asked while rubbing my cheek.
"That was more for me than for you. And as for you trying so hard, I know, Sasuke, I get it. You were happy back home, and now you're dragged out here to catch some guy who loves dropping bombs. On top of that, he's after FBI Agents, so that only adds to your stress levels. This job, it brings out the worst elements of you, but only because you let it, Sasuke. You give up control too easily, and you know I'm right. You've been trying to keep your control, so Sasuke, try harder." I groaned and banged my forehead onto the steering wheel. "And I don't want you to try and be the man you think I want. I fell in love with you for you." Her being right was getting really annoying, really quickly. Then again, if it wasn't for her, I would've never gotten this far, I would've never began to fight my demons if she hadn't come into my life, and now here she was, still urging me to fight myself. Still though, did she always have to be right?
"I hate you," I muttered, my forehead still resting on the steering wheel.
"Uh-huh, keep telling yourself that, Uchiha." She was smirking. I wasn't looking at her, but I knew. She was smirking victoriously.
Damn her.
I rose from the steering wheel and looked at her. She grinned and I didn't even realize that I was already smiling. But then I saw something in the coffee shop, a face.
With one eye covered.
With blonde hair.
A ghastly smirk covered his features. Then I realized he wasn't in the coffee shop. I was staring at a reflection. He was across the street, lost in the crowd, but I knew what he was doing. He saw us and he couldn't resist. He wanted his face to be the last we ever saw.
That's when everything went up in flames.