Summary: AU Pickpocketing and stealing are the only things Naruto knows to survive in the busy streets of Konoha. But what happens when she stole a wallet from the wrong guy, namely Uchiha Sasuke? What does fate have in stored for these two? SasuFemNaru

Pairings: SasuFemNaru, LeeSaku, NejiTen, KibaHina, JirTsu, ShikaTema, ChouIno

Warnings: Language, Sexual terms, Violence

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Thieving Gets You Nowhere
by Aesura

New Friends and Old Memories

Sasuke stood in the open doorway of the spare room, the room that Naruto now occupied. He sighed, pushing his ebony hair out of his eyes as he looked at the door in slight confusion, wondering why she had insisted upon leaving the door open night after night. Shaking his head, he turned his eyes to the bed, where Naruto slept with her back to him.

He couldn't help but notice that the blankets were slipping lower down her back while her nightshirt was riding up, revealing both the bare skin of her back and most of the orange panties she wore. It took a moment before Sasuke realized that he was staring, and when he did, he tiredly rubbed his eyes and moved his vision to her feet.

"Dobe?" he called from the doorway, knocking slightly on the doorframe as he did so and waited for a response. "Naruto?" he tried again, using her real name, this time a little louder and still receiving no response from the sleeping girl on the bed.

Seeing no other option, Sasuke stepped into her room, carefully averting his eyes from her bare back, and walked around the bed so he was in front of her. "Dobe, c'mon. It's eight o'clock," he told her, reaching out to gently shake her shoulder in an attempt to awaken her.

She shrugged his hand off, rolling over and mumbling something he was unable to decipher, but he was fairly certain it had sounded like "I don't wanna get up." It was either that or "the dogs are winning the cup." Sasuke decided it was the former, unless she was having some strange dreams.

"Naruto, it's time to get up," he said, his voice loud, clear, and firm, leaving, he hoped, no room for argument. It was the same voice he used when he was at work giving orders to the police squads and it seemed to work with them.

"No it's not," she mumbled, burrowing into the covers and curling up into a ball so that all that was visible was the very top of her head, which was just a blonde spot on the burgundy sheets and comforter.

"Yes. It is," Sasuke retorted, trying to pull the blankets off her head. "We need to go out so I can check and see if things are still going smoothly at the Konoha Military Police Corps."

Naruto pulled the blankets down far enough to glare at him over the top of them. "Then go and I'll just stay here and sleep until you get back," she muttered, wondering why in the world he needed her to go with him to his police station.

Sasuke sighed and rubbed a hand down his face, raising his eyebrows and watching her as she hid once more beneath the blankets. "Naruto, I'm going to be dropping you off at a café so you can get a job there. Some of my friends work down there and they can help you train as a waitress this morning so you can work the afternoon shift today," he explained slowly, knowing that in her sleepy headed state, it would take a moment for things to sink in.

A loud groan came from the blankets and before Sasuke could stop it, a pillow came around and walloped him in the face. He stood there shocked for a moment before his eyes landed upon the form completely covered in blankets on the bed, just the arm she had used to hit him with the pillow sticking out. A soft chuckle rumbled through his chest, surprising both himself and Naruto, who was now carefully peeking out of the blankets. "You aren't mad at me?" she whispered quietly, preparing to duck in case he tried to retaliate.

"No, I'm not mad," Sasuke replied, still speculating why he wasn't angry at her action. Usually, even the slightest bump from a random stranger would tick the Uchiha off, sending said person a deathly glare that would make them wet their pants in a heartbeat, but he held no malice towards the blonde, he even found her childish act…cute? …Wait.. WHAT?

Mentally shaking off the sudden thought out of his head, he walked towards the bedroom door, her bedroom door. He briefly wondered when he had stopped considering this room the spare room and started calling it hers, but he decided not to ponder the issue too long. Instead, he looked back at her over his shoulder, seeing that she was settling into the blankets once more. "Naruto, you have five minutes or you don't get any breakfast."

At the mention of food, Naruto leaped out of the bed and began scrambling around the room, not even thinking about the fact that she was half undressed and Sasuke was still in the room. She turned long enough to see him leaving, shutting the door as he did so and causing her unexplainable fear to set in. "Don't shut the-" she started, then stopped when she noticed that he had just partially shut it for her.

Five minutes later, Naruto found herself sitting on the kitchen counter and staring glumly at the bowl of wheat bran cereal in her hands. "This isn't breakfast," she muttered, picking some up on her spoon and letting it fall back into the milk. "Hell, this isn't even food. I wouldn't feed this to my worst enemy."

Across the kitchen and sitting on a stool pulled up to the bar, Sasuke sat calmly eating the same wheat bran cereal and reading the morning paper. "It's that or nothing," he told her, not taking his eyes off the article he was reading.

"When you said 'breakfast,' I naturally assumed bacon, eggs, pancakes, waffles, French toast, or something like you've been cooking this last week," Naruto complained, taking a bite of her cereal and grimacing. She quickly grabbed her glass of orange juice to wash the horrid taste out of her mouth. "Not this... this... shit."

Sasuke raised his eyes from the paper just long enough to glance at her. "I don't cook a big breakfast on the days I have to work."

Naruto rolled her eyes and managed to choke down a few more bites of the cereal before her stomach began to retaliate. Pouring it down the garbage disposal, she rinsed out her bowl before grabbing a granola bar out of the cabinet, having decided that it would taste much better than that stuff Sasuke called cereal. "If I'm gonna have to eat cereal every morning, we're gonna have to buy something with the word 'sugar' or 'frosted' in the name," she grumbled, biting into the granola bar.

A few minutes later, the two of them were walking to the covered garage the apartment building provided for its tenants and Naruto found herself wondering what type of car Sasuke drove. Even after being there for a week, she still hadn't seen it. Almost immediately, Naruto's jaw dropped when she saw which car the man was climbing into. "You drive a Jaguar?" she asked incredulously, her eyes widening as she circled the black car and stared at the white leather seats.

"Yes, I do. Now get in the car," Sasuke demanded, having to roll down his window to yell at her. He watched as she very tentatively climbed into the passenger seat, checking the bottoms of her shoes before she pulled them into the car. "What are you doing?"

"I don't want to get this thing dirty or anything. I mean, it's a Jaguar!" Naruto very carefully closed the door, almost afraid to touch anything in the car for fear of breaking something. But then her eyes fell upon the radio which was still turned off. And before Sasuke could stop her, she had already changed it from his station of classical music to one of those stations that played everything from pop music to rock.

Groaning, Sasuke swiftly drove out of the parking garage and turned onto the road, concentrating on his driving so he didn't have to listen to her choice of music. Turning a sharp curve, creating some exhaustion from his tires in the process, he didn't notice the unnerving silence coming from beside him. He continued driving, keeping his eyes on the road until he felt his passenger staring at him with dilated eyes. "What?" he asked, turning to her as he stopped at a red light in an audible skid.

"You were driving way over the speed limit! We could have died!" Naruto exclaimed, clenching her fingernails to the leather seat. "Drive a bit more slower, teme!"

Ignoring her first comment and deciding not to argue with this girl, Sasuke focused on her second instead. "It's Sasuke," he said coldly, his eyes already back on the road and waiting for the light to turn green.

"Sorry, it just slipped," Naruto muttered apologetically, staring out the passenger side window at the people milling on the streets. A glimpse of a homeless man wandering around reminded her that if it hadn't been for Sasuke, she would still be out there. Feeling a sense of gratitude, she decided she would try and be more gracious towards him and less like the annoyance she knew she was.

"So, have you owned the Konoha Military Police Corps long?" she asked, trying to strike up a conversation with the Ice Prince. There was a long silence and Naruto soon believed that Sasuke either hadn't heard her question or chose to ignore it. And in case it were the latter, she decided not to repeat it for fear of making him mad. But his baritone voice interrupted her thoughts, causing her to turn to look at him as he spoke.

"I've had it for about two years now," he finally answered, turning into the parking lot of the café, Ichiraku Café. "Aniki... I inherited it from him when he died. But I had always known that I would take over eventually. It just came as a shock that it would be while I was so young."

He paused, killing the engine of his car and just sat there in the parking lot with Naruto, hunched over the steering wheel with his head resting atop it. "I was only sixteen and a sophomore at high school. And now, here I am, the owner of the entire police force in Konoha. I wasn't ready for it and it took a lot out of me to handle both it and finish school."

His young passenger twisted around so she was facing him and tentatively reached a hand out, placing it on his shoulders to comfort him. But, feeling him tense up immediately at her touch, she drew her hand back and looked down at the floorboard.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke. It must've been really hard on you," she whispered quietly, have afraid he would yell at her. "But look how far you've come. I mean, eighteen years old and you own a Jaguar! That's gotta be something considering that most people who own jags are ancient."

Nodding, Sasuke raised his head from the steering wheel and stared blankly out the front windshield. He let out a deep sigh, pushing his emotions back behind his wall once more before he stepped out into the brisk September morning air. He waited for Naruto to follow him before locking and setting the alarm on his car with the remote. "Come on," he called, cocking his head to the side, "let's go introduce you to the manager."

Naruto followed him through the front door, now gazing upon a quaint bistro, circular tables accompanied by matching chairs set throughout the cozy atmosphere. Waitresses dressed in uniform scurried to and from different tables, placing food and refreshments down in front of the customers. Pleasant chatting vibrated in the spacious area, giving off an enjoyable vibe.

Trailing Sasuke through another door, she found herself in a huge kitchen, the walls permeated with the scents of the many dinners cooked there. She breathed in deeply, closing her eyes to better savor the smells, surprised that the place could smell so good when nothing was even cooking. "Sasuke, I already love this place," she muttered, taking another deep breath of various scents. "It smells like your kitchen at the apartment."

Silently laughing at her, he stood off to the side. "You're so childish," he remarked, earning an angry pout from the other. Sasuke brushed past her and beckoned her to follow him towards an elderly cook, his front facing the stove. Only his traditional chef's clothing and hat could be seen, along with the back side of his graying hair. Once a few feet from said person, Sasuke called out, "Teuchi-san."

The man straightened up and turned around, his expression changing to one of reorganization. "Ah, Sasuke! Long time no see! What brings you here to Ichiraku Café? Ordering the usual?"

Sasuke shook his head, placing his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Actually, I'm here to introduce you to Naruto. She'll like to get a job here as a waitress starting now."

The elder man adverted his attention to Naruto, who lowered her gaze quickly to the tiled floor, feeling a little awkward at the towering stare. She concealed her fidgeting horribly, biting her lower lip in apprehension. When she was about to look up, unable to stand the anxious air any longer, an abrupt shove staggered her forward, only a foot away from the chef. Once regaining her stance, she shot a glare back at Sasuke, who wore a slight smirk on his façade.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Naruto!" Dropping the frown, she faced instead to her new boss, his face grinning with welcome and warmth, a look she never received until recently. It filled her with a sense of belonging, a feeling she wanted to cherish forever. Naruto took full advantage of this invite. "You too, Teuchi-san!" she replied back with a smile, shaking his out raised hand.

Suddenly, a ringtone went off, sending nearby people to look at the owner's direction. Sasuke pulled out his cellphone, looking at the identification screen. He stepped aside, pressing the 'confirm' button on his phone. Naruto tried to catch some of the conversation, but Sasuke's fast, yet fluid talking was making that difficult. Though, she did saw his eyebrows furrowed, followed by a frown. Whatever the discussion was about, Naruto didn't need to hear what they are saying to know that it's not good news.

"Gomen, but I have to leave now. There's an urgent matter that I need to deal with." He then turned his attention to Naruto. "Try not to break anything, dobe." Naruto's eye twitched slightly at the jabbed retort, her face reddening up in anger and embarrassment. She was about to counter his comment, but Sasuke suddenly left briskly, leaving her lost for words. A cough from the manager returned her attention back to him.

"Well, if you'll follow me Naruto, we'll get you assigned to work here." The blonde nodded her head, trailing behind Teuchi, her thoughts about Sasuke's phone call now in the back of her mind. Maybe it's just a new case down at the police station. He did say that he needed to go down there.

They walked into the small office located off the kitchen. He gestured towards the seat in front of his desk and handed her a form and a pen. "I need you to fill that out so you can work here." At her questioning glance, he elaborated. "I need it for filing information and government regulations."

"Okay, whatever you say boss," Naruto replied, grinning as she stared down at the form. While Teuchi was going over various receipts and placing supply orders, Naruto happily filled out the paper, but frowned when she came to the next box. "Uh... Teuchi-san... I don't have a social security card."

"Just put your number in for now. I'm sure Sasuke could get you a copy of your card later," he answered, raising his eyes from the papers he was going over.

"That's the problem... I don't know my social security number." She glanced up at him and watched as he lowered the paper he was holding to his desk and wearily rubbed his eyes. "I'm sorry," she whimpered softly.

Shaking his head, he gave her a sympathetic smile. "Just fill out the rest and I'll pay you under the table for now," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "And you could ask Sasuke to go about getting your social security card tomorrow."

Naruto's eyes widened in shock at the mention of pay. "I'm getting paid to work here?" she asked disbelievingly, staring at him intently as though waiting for him to tell her it had only been a joke. But, instead he nodded. "But what if I mess up?"

"Yes, Naruto. You'll be making the same amount as the other waitresses. And don't worry. Hinata and my daughter Ayame could teach you how to be a waitress, so you don't have to worry." He stood up, walking to the office door and calling over his shoulder, "I've got some things to check on. I'll be right back."

A few minutes later, Naruto was introduced to three of Teuchi's employees: a black haired seventeen year old waitress named Hinata, the robust sandy haired eighteeen year old assistant chef Chouji, and a brunette twenty-three year old waitress Ayame. The news of her association with Uchiha Sasuke spread like wildfire, making greetings easier with positive remarks.

Teuchi had explained to Hinata that Naruto was to be the new waitress and had the shy girl find a uniform for her and begin her training since he, himself, would be busy in the kitchen today. In a timid smile, Hinata quietly ushered Naruto to follow her to where they kept the spare uniforms.

Pulling the smallest pair of the uniform and shoes she could find, Hinata held them out towards Naruto. "H-Here, these m-might work," she told her, trying to judge if they would be small enough.

Naruto took the clothing and shoes out of the girl's hands, careful not to wrinkle the fabric as she entered the bathroom. "These should work fine, Hinata," she reassured through the bathroom door as she pulled the uniform on and found out they did, indeed, fit her. Once she was done changing, she stepped outside, picking at the end of the uniform in aversion. "Does it look okay?"

"I-It looks r-really nice on y-you, N-Naruto-chan," she said, turning and reaching into a cabinet to pull out a pallid apron, accompanied by a coal colored border. "A-And don't f-forget this." As she tied it around her waist, the sleeves drooping lazily off her shoulders. The bands criss-crossed behind her back, tying into a bow to keep the apron from falling off. The identical red and black ribbons swayed back and forth on the right side of her apron.

Raising her eyebrows, Naruto stared at the apron on her for a moment. "Colorful," she muttered, looking down at the splash of white and black. "So… what now?"

"Um… N-Now, I'll s-show you where a-all the t-tables a-are and what their n-numbers are b-before the c-customers start filing i-in." When they were about to reach the main serving room, Hinata, twirling her index fingers, replied, "Y-You must be a v-very good f-friend of Sasuke's if he's willing t-to help y-you."

Naruto halted in her steps after hearing the accusation, flabbergasted. Hinata continued walking, not noticing the fact that Naruto wasn't following her anymore. Only one thought popped into the blonde's mind: What the hell was that suppose to mean?

After dropping Naruto off at Ichiraku Café, Sasuke drove to the Konoha Military Police Force promptly, all in all maintaining his fluent driving. Kakashi's call made his brows furrowed. His voice sounded grave, a tone he never uses unless in serious circumstances. What is it about this new case that had him worked up?

He parked in his reserved spot, shutting the door and activating his car alarm behind him as he made his way to the looming police station. When he first stepped through the automatic sliding doors, he knew something was wrong. The uproar gossiped by his co-workers turned into hush whispers as soon as they saw him. Scanning the room, he walked down the main aisle with an air of authoritative ambience. No one dared to disrespect or speak up with him in the room. No one, except of course…

"Hey! Sasuke!"

…his annoying-mutt friend.

Inuzuka Kiba, head of the Canine Tracking Unit, came running towards him with his partner Akamaru by his side. Sasuke's face remained expressionless as the two skidded to a halt in front of him, panting for short gasps of air.

"Did you watch the news last night?" Kiba asked instantly as soon as he regained his normal heartbeat rate. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the peculiar question, not something he would have expected to come out of the spiky haired brunette. Of course he hasn't because he had to take care of Naruto while she was still sick in bay, but he wasn't going to be telling him, nor his other friends about her, not just yet. "No. What does that have to do with anything?"

Kiba stopped short on what he was about to say, the Uchiha's answer taking him by surprise. He was sure he had been keeping up with the current updates of turbulence in Konoha, like he does everyday. Now that Kiba knows that he hasn't, telling him about it would be one hell of a challenge, especially since the news was related to him in some way…

"Well,… uh.." He turned to Akamaru for some help, but the dog just growled uncomfortably, not knowing what advice to give to his master.

Sasuke annoyed by the two's irksome exchange, he said, "Send Kakashi, Shikamaru, Shino, and Hyuuga to my office. We have some matters to discuss."

"Oh, ..err, right! Come on, Akamaru!" They sprinted off in search for them. Sasuke saw them off, then continued heading towards his destined location. The moment he entered his office, the wave of conversation rose in an octave or too. Whatever this case is about, it sure has everyone uptight about it. He walked to his desk and accessed his computer; as soon as he did, the door creaked opened, letting in four distinguish people.

The first, Hatake Kakashi, former captain of the Black Ops, or ANBU, short for Special Assassination and Tactical Squad. Next enters Aburame Shino head of the Espionage Division. Then Hyuuga Neji. Their families had always been competing against each other for dominance and power in the past. Now, the rivalry between the two had died down, but the descendents of the two clans still bicker at each other's throats from time to time. Nara Shikamaru, head of the Intelligence Division, came in last, his hands in his pockets with the same lazy expression on his face every time he's been assigned to a new case. Newcomers of the police force would always be baffled on how a sluggish person like him could be in command of a unit, much less the Intelligence one at that. But they guess that's what you call a lazy genius.

Once they were all inside and the door was closed, Sasuke began interrogating the silver haired man. "Okay, Kakashi. What was your call all about?"

"We received word that there were four murders yesterday at 11:48 pm from the victims' neighbors. They heard a disturbance nearby so they phoned us about the strange noises coming from their neighbor's house. When we arrived at the scene, it was already too late. We were about to call you to come down there to help investigate the crime scene, but it was already passed 12 the time we got down there."

Sasuke nodded his head, turning to his computer screen. He clicked on an icon, displaying an entire updated list of cases he's currently and had been working on. He moved his mouse to the digitalized folder at the top of the window. "Are these the pictures from the crime scene?" Sasuke turned to him.

Kakashi nodded. "Feel free to take a look."

He double-clicked on the folder and peered at the screen, looking closely at the pictures. They were the bodies of the victims, obviously, placed in a certain position, and the wounds that he perceived made him grimace.

"Here are the case files." Kakashi came to stand beside him, handing him a few manila folders. Flipping open the case file, he took a look at the profile of the victims, some more gruesome pictures, and the reports.

The victims had been found dead in their home. A father, a mother, and two brothers, one older than the other by two years. Sasuke tried not to feel uncomfortable when he noticed that the bodies of the parents were arranged the same way as was his parent's bodies were when they were murdered. The others noticed the position also, but they dared not uttered the resemblance out loud, for fear of how the last Uchiha might react.

"We have no suspects, right?" Sasuke confirmed.

"We can't think of any," he informed him. "We've followed the most standard procedures but we haven't had any leads." The standard procedures involved questioning the acquaintances and co-workers of the victims to find out if they'd made any enemies who might want to harm them, and such.

"So they all came out clean?" he was surprised. Kakashi nodded. Strange. Usually, crimes like these happened as a means of revenge but here, the victims seemed to have no enemies. Then again, people do commit crimes for their own messed up reasons.

"It's possible we missed something," Shino suggested, the emotion in his eyes hidden by his sunglasses. "There could be dark secrets the victims were hiding that no one else is aware of."

"That's one possibility," conceded Sasuke, "but I'm not sure if these are revenge killings."

He lifted an eyebrow. "Explain."

"Revenge killings occur when there is a case of unrequited love, or if people are involved in something illegal, like drugs," he said. "Here, reports say there was no one who wanted to harm these people. That's probable enough because they were just ordinary people. Unless we find some new evidence, I'm inclined to believe that there's just a psychopath out there who thinks killing is fun."

Neji's lips quirked. "It took you five minutes to reach that conclusion, Uchiha?" he drawled.

Sasuke glowered at the jab. "Well, do you have a better theory then, Hyuuga?" he asked, annoyed.

A thick stack of paper clipped together was thrown in front of Sasuke's desk, making the Uchiha gazed up at the one responsible. "I've written down some of my observations yesterday regarding this case," Shikamaru explained lazily. "You can read through it or not, doesn't really matter to me. This is all too troublesome anyway."

Sasuke kept eye contact with the lazy genius for a moment longer, then reached for his documented notes. He turned several pages before he found something that sparked his attention.

"Position…" he murmured. There was something weird about positions of the wounds…

Frowning, he quickly went back to the photos, gaze lingering on their wounds. On the back of the father, there were two upright slashes, the right one curving downward towards the left. When he looked at the picture of the mother, he discovered a horizontal slash on her upper chest. The older brother had a horizontal line, immediately slanting to the left, scrawled out on his chest, accompanied by a left diagonal slash that sliced across his eyes. Lastly, the younger brother was marked with a left diagonal cut, gashing his left wrist until it was almost severed off. A horizontal line identical to the mother's hacked the boy's throat, indicating where most of the blood lost had came from. The final marking was another diagonal line that curved to the left, only this one longer than the previous one.

His eyes widened.

"Sasuke," he said softly, realization dawning on him. He looked questioningly at everyone in the room, all appearing grave.

"Looks like Neji was wrong in thinking you had lost your touch," Shino deadpanned.

Neji ignored his comment. "It's your name," he said. "Why would the killer write your name?"

Sasuke looked away, his bangs falling like a cascade, hiding his face from his vision. "I think," he said, "the question should be, how does he know about me in the first place?"

Kakashi stared at the monitor once more, then at him. "The first guess that comes to mind is that it's probably someone you locked away?" he suggested carefully.

"Hmm. Maybe." Sasuke probed his elbows on the table, interlacing his fingers together as he turned towards him. "But that's highly unlikely because I interact only with the police force when working on cases. I've never had any contact with the criminals."

"Well, it's already evident that the killer knows you from somewhere," Kakashi titled up his chin. "And he has something against you to carry out these revenge killings."

"So now you think they're revenge killings?" he questioned.

"Well, they're revenge killings, but they're not revenge against the victims." He stared at him. "They're revenge against you."

He looked perplexed about that. "Revenge?" he echoed. In deep thought, he asked no one in particular, "Who would want to kill me?"

Neji crossed his arms. "Isn't it obvious? It has to be a criminal you caught." Everybody in the room was staring at him, waiting for him to continue. "There's a chance they've escaped, learned about you and now they just want to take revenge."

Sasuke tightened his fist, once again turning away in frustration. "The killing methods are not familiar at all," he admitted.

Shino turned his attention back to him. "So you don't think this is someone that you caught?" he said in slight monotone.

"No, I really don't think so."

"Well, he obviously knows you." He looked at the photos again.

"It would be a good idea," Sasuke stated, "to look through my old case files." He rotated halfway on his rolling chair, pulling open a drawer from the filing cabinet. "There could be something there that's connected to this investigation."

For the next two hours, the five were immersed in reading through Sasuke's old case files and trying to find a match with the present mystery, looking for any clue that would lead them to the identity of the killer.

"Well, that was pointless," Shikamaru announced once they were done examining the files, rubbing his eyes and putting away the papers and photographs. They were all scattered; it would be a pain to rearrange it, but thankfully, that was not his job. "It doesn't seem like our killer's among these people."

"Hmm," Sasuke was holding up a page in his hand, reading its contents very carefully. "No, doesn't seem like it. Either I've never met this person before or they've changed their style. But even then, I should be able to find some patterns."

Kakashi frowned. It made sense because a person could never completely change their thought patterns. Well, it was possible but was it really worth it to go through so much effort just for revenge? Kakashi thought about this for a moment. Every possibility had been so far exhausted. That left only one thing to be considered…

"Do you think it's someone you know in real life?" he asked him. "Someone who knows you exceptionally well? Someone who wants to finish something they started years ago?"

Sasuke looked at him. "I don't know many people on personal terms," he admitted. "If I considered that possibility, then the killer would have to be either everybody in this room or the rest of my friends. And I don't think that's true." He looked up, putting away the papers. "He wrote my name on the bodies," he muttered.

"Obviously, he's trying to give you a message," Neji said.

"And it's not clear what the message is since all he said was 'Sasuke'," the detective seemed discontent with the dead end.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru mused, yawning. "Maybe we should call it a day. It's too early to suspect anyone now. All we have is your name and four victims. It still doesn't make complete sense. The information we have so far is too limited to identify him."

Sasuke hate to admit it, but his lazy friend was right. If they want any chance of capturing the murderer, they just have to wait till he strikes again. He nodded his head in agreement after he sighed silently. "Fine. Send all the data from this case to my laptop. I'll be working at my apartment for most of the time. Tell everyone else to keep investigating. And get Jiraiya to help with his investigation too. It'll do him good than just publishing those trash he calls 'masterpieces'."

"Hai!" They all saluted to the young heir, exiting out one by one. Even though they were friends, professional matters must be the number one priority; emotions can't get in the way of work.

Once they all left his office, Sasuke sighed wearily, leaning back on his broad chair. This case was already proving stressful for him, both physically and mentally. Not only that, the photos of the murder scene…

He picked up one of the pictures, the one of the deceased father lying over his dead wife. Sasuke covered his eyes with his already raised arm, feeling a stinging sensation in the back of his eyes that he hadn't felt in years.

At the dinner rush, Naruto found herself seemingly pulled in five directions at once as she rushed around trying to take orders and serve food at the same time. Of course, Hinata or Ayame did come to relieve her occasionally, or take on another table when yet another party seated in her area. And, after Naruto spilled a whole pitcher of iced tea down a woman's cleavage, Ayame had taken over that table as well.

Finally taking her break, she retreated to the kitchen where Chouji was diligently stirring a pot of noodles on the stove. And at that moment, she heard her stomach rumbled in hunger, making her realized that she hadn't eaten anything since this morning. She snuck up behind him, eyeing the broth like a starving hawk. "Hey Chouji, can I have a taste?" she asked hopefully, causing the cook to yelp, resulting in his ladle flying across the kitchen.

"Give a guy a warning next time, Naruto!" he told her, whirling around with a slightly irritated expression on his face. A grumble was his only answer.

"Heh heh heh…" Naruto rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment, making Chouji chuckled, forgetting his anger towards the blonde a few seconds ago. He got a new ladle and a bowl, scooping out some of the prepared noodles. "Sure, Naruto. Let me know what you think."

And Naruto did just that. Since she hadn't eaten in some time, anything would taste good to her, but Chouji's stew was like bliss. After finishing her fifth bowl of noodles in an alarming rate, Naruto smiled cheerfully. "Chouji, that was good! I mean, really, really good. And I should know, I really like food." The assistant chef grinned proudly, soaking in the compliments. It was every chef's pride to have someone praised their cooking skills.

"Hey, what's that stuff anyway?" Naruto asked as she placed the empty bowl in the sink, turning to face her new friend after she was done.

"It's ramen. Miso ramen to be exact. It's the café's specialty," Chouji answered while turning off the stove, not wanting to burn the noodles.

"I can see why it's the specialty here. Ramen's the best thing in the world!" Naruto exclaimed, making necessarily hand motions to emphasis her fact. Though, she didn't consider the fact that she only had it a few times just now.

"Naruto! Order up for table seven!" someone called to her as they placed the food on the counter for her to pick up. Naruto groaned in protest. With one final wave goodbye back at her new friend Chouji, she dragged her feet across the tiled floor to return to the hellish place dubbed 'The Room of Agonizing Torture'.

At a little passed nine o' clock, Sasuke pulled up into the empty parking lot of Ichiraku Café, excluding the one car parked in the employers' section. The events from this afternoon continued to repeat through his head like a mantra, never ceasing to stop as he walked up to the front door. The closed sign wavered a bit by the mild air conditioner filtering out inside the place, though the lights were still on, most likely waiting for him to pick up Naruto. Gripping the handle, he paused for a brief moment, clenching the bar until his knuckles turned white. He wasn't going to let his past get the better of him. He's solved numerous of cases, all of them gruesome and violent, something that no one should see in their lifetime, and this case was no exception. He wasn't about to chickened out from this assignment, from his past. He will solved this case, whatever the cost may be.

Taking a deep breath and entering the café, he was greeted by the site of Ayame, already dressed in her casual clothes. She sat sitting on one of the chairs yet to be turned upside-down on top of the table, gazing out of the window in thought. But as soon as she heard the chiming bell on top of the door ringed, she sat right-up, turning her gaze towards the Uchiha. "Sasuke!" she greeted happily.

"Sorry to make you and your father wait," Sasuke politely apologized. Ayame waved off the apology, still smiling. "No need to apologize. It was no trouble. Otou-san was planning on staying a little late anyways. He needed to make some last calls on food shipment."

Sasuke nodded his head at the answer, looking around for a certain blonde haired dobe. When he spotted her snoozing away on a table nearby, he could only stare at the outfit she was wearing. Sure, he had seen Hinata, Ayame, and the other waitresses wear the same attire, but on Naruto, he was just.. entranced…

Ayame caught Sasuke's stare, giving off an apologetic smile to the sleeping girl. "Poor Naruto. She was so tired that after we closed, she found the nearest table and collapsed on it. She's been like that ever since. Hinata and Chouji insisted on staying till you come to pick her up, but I told them to go home; they needed to be here on time for tomorrow's shifts."

Her explanation snapped Sasuke out of his staring, adverting his attention to the brunette woman. "Thank you for watching over Naruto for me. You can go tell your father he can close up now."

Nodding her head, she walked towards the office her father was currently in, but not first without turning around and giving the raven a wave off. "'Kay. Goodnight, Sasuke!"

"'Night, Ayame." Sasuke returned the gesture, only less enthusiastically. Once she was out of his sight, he walked over to the slumbering form, shaking the girl awake. "Wake up, Naruto… I'm taking you home," Sasuke replied, hauling her up to her feet. "Go change and we'll leave." He watched as she slowly regained consciousness and scurried off to retrieve the clothes she wore earlier.

Naruto came back a few minutes later, still slightly dazed from her short nap. "Uh… I'm ready to go," she muttered as she saw him leaning against the wall in the café, apparently deep in thought. She, herself, was deep in thought as well, thinking about how this man was more than she first thought he was. There was much more to him than she could see or understand right now. As they walked out to his car, she continued to ponder this, falling asleep on the ride to his apartment.