Take Me Home

By TheChrysanthemum

Chapter 3

After Kiba and Naruto's interview, they sat inside the main hall's lounge and were too nervous to talk to each other. The interview was conducted by the Fifth Great Chief, Tsunade, or what Kiba called "CEO" for a more better term. Her hot-tempered reputation was widely known throughout the city, even so to the rest of the foreign states. Naruto groaned in frustration as he roughly ran his fingers through his hair. He made a complete fool of himself. He couldn't stop blabbering about his desires to be placed into the Task Force Department despite of his non-Uchiha lineage. Usually, the Task Force were majorly made of Uchiha's, even Sasuke was a part of it.

Naruto had an elaborate plan: be a Task Force member, gain respect from his peers and citizens, and run for office to become Chief. It was so simple in his mind that he didn't even need to account for the different variables that could be thrown in his way.

So stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid! He berated himself.

Flailing his arms and feet, Naruto groaned again.

"Will you shut the fuck up!" Kiba threw a plush pillow at him, aiming for his face. "It's bad enough that you couldn't stop talking about wanting to be in the Task Force but you had to be late to our interview as well! What's the matter with you, man?" Kiba stood up and began to pace around. "We've rehearsed it a thousand times to play it cool," he wrung his hands. "Oh man, I can't face my family if I'm not in the Reconnaissance Department. That's where I'm good at, y'know?"

Naruto effortlessly caught the pillow and buried his face into it, muffling his screams of frustration.

"Oh, shit. Here comes Shikamaru," said Kiba.

Naruto flew out of his seat and almost tackled Shikamaru. "So? How did we do? Did we get it? What did she say?"

Shikamaru held up his hands. "Easy, Naruto. You're talking too fast for me get what you're saying."

"Well?" Kiba chimed in. "The results."

He sighed and placed his hands on both Naruto and Kiba's shoulder. "Sorry to break the bad news, but you guys were placed in the HR Department."

It was Naruto who reacted first. "What! That can't be right! HR is the lowest level here."

"Sorry, that's the boss's decision. She said something along the lines of 'starting from the very bottom,'" replied Shikamaru as he patted Naruto's shoulder. Kiba, on the other hand, wanted to strangle Naruto's neck for his demise.

"I need a drink," muttered Kiba.

…

Naruto was actually a bit excited. Tiny shivers ran through his fingertips as he followed Kiba into Kurama's. Sweat along with the stench of alcohol didn't hit him as hard as it did when he first came there. The red lights illuminated the dancing scandalous girls surrounded by boisterous men, their hands waving in the air, and Naruto, sometimes, had to avert his eyes from staring too long at the girl.

"Getting used to them, are ya?" Kiba grinned.

They sat down in a circular table at the back of the room where the music didn't blast as much as if they were up front near the burlesque dancers on the stage. Kiba ordered scotch on the rocks while he got whiskey. Swirling the drink in his hand, Naruto's eyes scanned the room. Girls wearing skimpy outfits, swaying provocatively around the poles, were definitely the norm, but the state of their clothes nor the amount of their cleavage didn't stir anything from him. In fact, he was uncharacteristically growing frustrated so much that he drank his whiskey in one gulp. He relished at the burn inside his throat.

"Are you looking for a particular girl?" snickered Kiba who was closely watching his behavior.

Was I doing that? he thought, perplexed. He admitted that he had a good time with the girl last night, but instead of the lap dance Kiba paid for, they struck an interesting conversation. Naruto didn't expect her to give him her name, much less her real name, but it was nice once in a while for someone to actually listen to him…

"I'm an idiot," muttered Naruto to no one in particular, not even to Kiba. Was he really looking for her? What was he expecting? Ask her out and expect her to say yes?

All of the questions inside his head further made him want to drink.

"Hello, earth to Naruto." Kiba snapped his fingers in front of his face. "You look like someone whose favorite toy just got stolen."

Naruto paid no heed to him. Maybe, he really was hopeless. After his major break-up with a girl whom he thought was the love of his life, the one whom would extinguish the loneliness lingering in his heart, Naruto swore off dating completely. Like a festering wound, he couldn't forget the moment when she rejected his engagement proposal.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. I can't marry you, not like this. Not when I'm not over him," her voice rang in his ears.

After her rejection, it took the whole gang a month just to get him outside of his apartment. A year to get him to start considering to look at other girls. Two years to make him consider the concept of dating once again.

He couldn't believe he told all of that to the masked girl—-no, stripper; he corrected himself. It might have had something to do with his low-alcohol tolerance or the look in her eyes behind her mask, but the dam that had been holding back all of his frustration, his anger, broke. He poured his heart out to a stripper. God, that sounded pathetic.

If Shikamaru or Kiba ever found out what he did, and there was a good possibility they might, they would do more than smack the back of his head.

So, what the hell was he doing there, looking for her again?

Naruto sighed, his head pounding from the effects of the whiskey and the unanswered questions running around in his mind.

…

Hinata almost ran away. She didn't expect to see him again or ever but out of all places in the city, she had to see him inside Konoha Inc. Thanks to their little encounter, she hadn't been at her best mindset that she would have liked during her interview.

All she was doing was minding her own business, trying to find her room number but out of nowhere, her papers were flying in the air, and pain exploded on her back. The worst situation she could put herself happened within a second. It wasn't her fault, or at least that was what she thought.

He looked exactly what she had in her min but brighter. When she saw him in Kurama's, it was dark but here where he was bathed in natural light, he was, for a better term, attractive. His piercing eyes hadn't lost their touch. Their conversation last night rushed back to her: his rejection, her intimacy problems, his insecurities, her self-doubts. Like doused with cold water, she recoiled from him, gathering as much papers she could to salvage her situation.

He won't remember me. He couldn't. She thought desperately.

Pushing the memory to the back of her head, Hinata walked through the French double doors with hopes in her heart for the first time since her banishment. She reflected about her interview. Despite of her non-existent work experience and her low social status, the current Chief willingly gave her a chance. Hinata tried hard not to play with the hem of her skirt. Her hands were clammy and beads of sweat gathered at her temples. The woman, Hinata heard that her name was "Tsunade," regarded her file with a collected expression, casually flipping through her resume with a nonchalant attitude. Tsunade didn't bat an eye when Hinata pronounced her last name, the notorious Hyuuga clan, in which she had to clenched her hands just to get her last name out.

"Since you need experience, you can start at the HR department on one condition," the chief momentarily paused, observing her reaction. "It also came to my attention that you have connections to Kurama's."

Hinata's heart dropped. "I— I don't know what you've heard but I only do that because… because…" because no one would hire me.

"I know your predicament," the chief folded her arms across her chest. "But I'm sure that you've heard about the serial killer on the loose, and it appears to be that the killer is only targeting dancers at Kurama's."

"And you want me to be an insider, secretly investigating them." Hinata finished it for her.

"That'll be your first assignment if you take the job. Usually, I leave this kind of assignment to the Task Force, but my best Uchiha agents are off on other missions. Judging from your file and my own interpretation of you, you are an exceptional candidate for this job."

"I'll do it," declared Hinata. Gone was the timid, shy Hinata and this was her chance to prove herself.

The chief smiled. "Not so fast. I'm assigning two agents to this case that's also from the HR department. I'm sure you'll get along with them just fine. But for your safety, they won't know your cover. You only report to me or my trusted advisor if you notice anything strange or out of place in the club. The less people know about it, the better."

She gazed up at the sky with the full moon staring back at her. The Chief's last words engraved in her mind like hot iron pressing on her skin. "Oh, Hinata one more thing. Don't let anyone determine what you want and who you want to be. That's all. You may go."

Instead of flagging down a taxi, she decided to walk to her apartment. She inhaled the cool breeze and smiled as she gently swayed her arms back and forth.

…

The next day, Hinata was the first one to arrive in front of the HR office. For the umpteenth time in the morning, she smoothed her skirt with her palms. Maybe it was the coffee, she thought because her nerves were all over the place.

"Hello! You must be Hinata Hyuuga," greeted a sleepy voice behind her.

Hinata turned around, surprised that she didn't hear him coming. "Good morning, uh—-"

"Just call me Shikamaru. 'Mr. Nara' is just too troublesome."

"Hello," she smiled, and they shook hands.

"You're actually the punctual one in the group. Your partners are supposed to be here by now," he checked his watch, and Hinata could see that he was pissed. "They're twenty-five minutes late."

"Hey Shikamaru!"

Her breath stopped. She recognized that voice. She knew that voice.

Oh god. Oh god. Her panic mode began to set in.

"You're late!" Shikamaru yelled at them.

"Could you tone it down," groaned Naruto.

"We're having the worst hangover in the history of hangovers," said the other boy, whom she later knew as Kiba, massaging his temples with his forefingers.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "I'm not even going to scold you about the importance of being on time. Anyway, this is Hinata Hyuuga, your final addition to the group."

Hinata wanted to hide, to crawl away, at least from him.

"Hi-na-ta," Naruto enunciated her name. She could almost see the bulb lighting above his head. His eyes growing wide, he snapped his fingers. "Oh! I know you! We've met before!"

"You're too fucking loud, Naruto!" hissed Kiba.

Naruto shook her hands too fervently. "I never thought I'll see you again!"

Neither did I, she thought.

"What I meant was, I'm happy to see you again!" he flashed her one of his honest smiles, and Hinata couldn't help but to return it. For some reason, her action even made him more excited.

"Okay, okay. Don't hog her now," Kiba, amused, slightly pushed him away. "Hi, my name's Kiba Inuzaka."

"Enough with the greetings," announced Shikamaru. "The chief is waiting for us and you know how much she hates to wait."

A/N: I've decided to have this story wrapped up in about 10 chapters. I don't like it to be too long or too short for that matter. I need a BETA reader and if anyone who a great one, please PM me. Don't forget to R&R! =D