Chapter 2: You can't see me

… for I make sure you never will.

Sabaku no Temari, Special Agent of the Suna Bureau ofthe Suna Bureau of Investigation, had solved every case assigned to her in her whole career.

She would make sure she did an excellent job again like every time. In a few years she would have climbed every step of the ladder and would never have to make field work again. Not that she hadn't fun. She loved the nasty places, the always bad weather, the fog, the darkness. She had always been a night owl anyway. But she knew that she would be too old in a few years to run after high ranked criminals, being shoot at and kicking the guy's ass due to her first-class close combat training.

Temari was on her way again to solve a crime or rather a row of crimes.

Driving her Lexus through the rough traffic of Konohagakure she had a fierce argument with her navigation system about when she had to turn right. She hated not being punctual but she couldn't risk loosing her temper if she wanted to own that nasty device long enough to be guided back home. Although she once or twice had already punctuated a hit here and there, it still worked. It just didn't work for her contentment because it couldn't tell earlier when to change lanes.

A little bit unnerved Temari turned around and followed the instructions. She was relieved when the navigation system told her that she reached her destination. Pulling in one of the park slots in front of the headquarter of KGPD she sighed. Due to her former experience with her navigation system she had wisely planned enough time of driving without destination. Now she had still seven minutes.

Checking her appearance in the rear view mirror she was glad to see that her makeup wasn't smeared. She had only to rearrange her hair that she had occasionally pulled on in desperation when the navigation system had told her the fifth time to turn around. 'Why the hell did it have to be a woman's voice anyway?' It was easier to argue with a man.

Making sure her hair was held in her typical four ponytails - Yeah, you heard right: Four! - she grabbed her bag and exited the car. Straightening her gray costume she knew she looked sharp.

She wore stilettos now to give a certain expression. Later she would change her shoes to more comfortable ones. Temari entered straight the building and went for the front desk.

Behind the desk sat two guys, one looking slumped as the other. Their name tags told her that this were officers Hagane Kotetsu and Kamizuki Izumo. The left one had spiky hair sticking out all over his head. He wore a little beard at his chin and had stretched a white cloth horizontally above his nose and across his face. The other one had medium length hair a part of which was draped over one of his eyes. Other than that he wore a bandana whose legitimacy at police Temari wondered about. But she had already heard about the way the KGPD dealt with things as etiquette and missed to obey rules.

The one with the cloth in his face had his feet on the desk and seemed to stumble on his chair as Temari entered the room. "May I help you?"

Temari looked at her wrist watch. She had three minutes. "I have an appointment now with the Chief of Department."

Hagane Kotetsu grinned. "And you are?"

She showed her identity disk to the guy. "Special Agent Sabaku who has no time for games."

He obviously swallowed. "He'll show you." He pushed the other one from his chair. "Go."

Kamizuki Izumo headed deeper into the building looking every meter over his shoulder to see if she was still following him.

Temari smirked self-confidently while she felt gazes sticking to her. It was a good start of an impression. As the man stopped in front of a door tagged with the label "Chief of Department" Temari checked her watch again. 24 second to go. She smiled at him showing her white teeth. "Thank you."

He stepped aside holding the door open for her and was probably glad to close the door behind her.

"Take a seat, please." The woman in front of her wore two blonde pigtails and had brown eyes. She didn't seem to be that old. Temari had checked on her beforehand. If the date of birth was correct the Chief had to be nearly sixty years old. But she certainly didn't look like that.

Tsunade laid her hands together leaning her elbows on the desk. "I have to apologize. Inspector Nara should arrive every moment."

"Is that the Inspector in charge of the case?"

"Exactly. Inspector Nara is very skilled and talented."

Indeed he was. Doing her homework Temari had also already checked on him. He was one of the youngest policeman ever becoming Inspector. Had he solved this case as fast as his other ones he would have seen a rich future as Captain in very near time. His IQ was over 200 points. What was more about him is that his foster father had been a policeman too working in the drug department. He had died three years ago at a car accident.

Nevertheless she was curious to meet this young man. "Is he always late?"

Tsunade chuckled awkwardly. "Well, it's one of his bad qualities. But his talents weigh up to his flaws."

Before Temari could respond someone knocked slowly at the door.

Tsunade straightened up. A smile appeared on her lips. "There he is." With a slightly raised voice she told him to come in.

After the door opened a man with upstanding black ponytail entered the room. He wore a long black coat over a black shirt. He didn't seem creative in terms of color choices.

His face that Temari assumed one could call handsome wore a disinterested expression. Instantly she felt dislike, she didn't like his sloppy posture and his sour look. Taking the chair besides Temari he dropped onto the seat.

Temari noticed how he seemed to ignore her. While she eyed him from the side his gaze hadn't once drifted to her. Irritated she turned her attention to Tsunade.

"Now that you are here we can start. Special Agent Sabaku this is Inspector Nara."

Temari turned to him nodding politely. Her irritation transformed into annoyance when he still wouldn't acknowledge her presence.

Tsunade must have noticed Temari's ill-humor because she hurried to go with the introduction. "Inspector Nara this is Special Agent Sabaku."

He still didn't move his gaze. He even looked like he was daydreaming. Who knew maybe he was.

"She will become your partner in the case 'Shadow'. Please treat her with respect."

He shortly nodded. At least some sign that he listened at all.

Tsunade eyed both of them. Temari assumed her to wonder if the teamwork was a good idea at all. She wasn't the only one in the room to wonder.

"I would suggest that you first exchange information so that you are both on the same level."

He leaned back staring holes into the roof.

When Tsunade cleared her throat he shifted his gaze on her. "Well then are we released?"

Temari instantly didn't like him. 'What an ignorant prick.'

Tsunade nodded. "You may go."

Nara stood up nodding one last time at Tsunade before leaving the room.

Temari must have worn a stupefied expression for in the next moment Tsunade told her to follow him. Breaking out of her amazed state she left the room. "Thank you, Chief Tsunade."

He wasn't walking fast so she caught up to him on the hallway. "Inspector Nara, I'm sorry I have to ask but where are you going?"

He stopped and turned around to her opening the door on his right side. "To my office."

'At least he had looked at me.' Temari shrugged and followed him into the room. Highly intelligent people had always some major flaws. It didn't automatically mean he would complicate the investigations.

She closed the door after entering his office. In opposition to her expectation she was surprised how neat and organized his office was. Unlike him it wasn't messy. The wooden shelves weren't overloaded. The desk was for the most part clear so that she had enough space to work opposite of him.

She watched him taking of his coat and taking a seat behind the desk, the collar of his shirt was disordered, one side sticking up and the other folded. The dark circles around his eyes showed her that he did not sleep enough. Watching him from the door where she leaned on while he scanned her as well from head to toe she thought he was actually very cute.

Smirking at him she walked to the other side of his desk and sat down onto the chair.

He rubbed his neck before she heard him speaking for the third time. "Well, how about to start by what you do not know already?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "What about you summing up the case? I heard there weren't any traces left on the crime scenes?"

He nodded his head reaching for a folder on his desk. "Yes, that is why media gave him the name 'Shadow'. He appears and leaves unnoticed. There were never any eyewitnesses. The crime scene is always clear apart from the victim's corpse." Turning the opened folder towards her he showed her a photo of the first victim.

She pulled the folder closer. "What about the victims?" Skimming through the folder she saw various pictures of the different corpses. They always lay on their side or on their belly.

He leaned back into his chair. The back rest made a clicking noise. "The victims belong exclusively to the drug scene. They always work for one of the big bosses."

'There is a motif behind this.' She crossed her legs and ran her hand over her skirt. "Who are they?" She noticed his eyes following her movements.

"There are two big circles." He cleared his throat. "One circle around a man named Orochimaru, the other one centers in a crime organization that splits up into a few people of whose we do not know all the identities."

She furrowed her brows in thought. Why would Shadow randomly kill members of two drug rings? "The drug department?"

"The information I have I've got comes from them. I work closely together with Inspector Kakashi and his team. You will meet them eventually." He beat his fingers on the desk before him and yawned.

Temari ignored his inappropriate act. She nodded closing the folder and put it on the desk. "So, basically, someone is out there, killing people of whom we do know only blurry the identity."

Nara nodded.

Temari sighed. "Sounds like fun." She took the folder one more time looking again at the photos. "How does he kill exactly?"

"He cuts the throat with a twelve to fifteen centimeter long blade. Because of the way the body lies on the ground he most certainly grabs the victim from behind which makes it easier to establish sufficient strength to cut the throat. He is a right handed person." Nara bend over the desk to point at close up of a victim. "The cut gets deeper starting from the left side to right."

Temari nodded. She had seen more brutal things. She had seen disgusting and unnerving things. This person seemed like a professional killer. He left no traces and didn't play with the victims. As morbid as it sounded he was just killing them. By using a knife instead of a gun or another firearm he made sure that the process of murder was quiet. Moreover there were no bullets left that could be traced back to him or that he needed to prepare by scratching out its number.

Such a person wouldn't kill randomly. And he obviously knew that his victims were part of the drug circles. Maybe he had been part of them so he had internal information. But then again: Why would he kill in both drug scenes? There had to be a structure.

Temari nodded more to herself than to the Inspector. "The murderer has to have some structure. He won't kill anybody that just crosses his way. We have to draw a chart comparing the chronology of the murders and their connection."

Inspector Nara raised an eyebrow.

She wondered if he hadn't thought of this idea or if he was surprised because she did. "Is something the matter?"

For the first time she saw an expression on his face that was more than slightly indifferent. He chuckled. "Well, I have the feeling that you want to seize the case."

Temari sighed. 'Again this same old story.' She had heard this often enough to know that his prudence was hurt. In all those years she worked as Special Agent she had learned that members of the police were sensitive when it came to their cases. "I don't seize the case."

Instead of lighting the argument he shrugged his shoulders. "Just a thought."

"I don't want any hard feelings to stand between us. It will only complicate the investigation." She held her hand out to him.

He eyed the hand, a smirk began to cross his face. Shaking her hand once he held onto it. "Okay. Then I should tell you right from the beginning that I didn't expect a woman to be send for solving this case."

She almost broke his hand after that comment but let his hand go when she saw fear forming his face. She wanted to show him her strength but promised to herself that she wouldn't hurt that guy like the last one.

He relieved his hand back and controlled it for any fractures.

Temari smirked at him showing her teeth. "So now that we've got that straight we might begin to work on the chart."

He nodded opening a drawer on the right side of his desk. He grabbed something and handed it to her.

It was a beeper.

Resting his elbows on the desk he rubbed his lips against intertwined hands. "You'll be paged if something happens concerning Shadow. Say if another victim has been discovered or -" He sighed. "- if that might be the case Shadow was caught."

Temari raised an confused eyebrow. "You sound disappointed."

He leaned back into his chair sighing and bringing the fingertips together. "The thing has been going on to long for my taste."

She smiled at him. "That's why I am here now."