The Distance Between Us

AN: Here's chapter one! Still pretty short, but like I said, chapters will get longer. Other characters are being brought in now so you know the plots moving along! This chapter is me pretty much bullshitting what goes down at a crime scene investigation. (I never really could get into CSI.) But I hope it makes some sense. Remember: Artistic License! Anyway, for some reason I had a really easy time writing this chapter. It was fun for me. I've never written anything like this before so it was a new experience. But that's enough rambling, ONWARD TO CHAPTER ONE!

And say hello to Sasuke!

Chapter 1 - Happiness is a Warm Gun

"You're being ridiculous, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted.

The dark haired teen didn't respond, he barely even acknowledging the other boys presence in the doorway. His back was still towards Naruto as he continued to move around his nearly empty room and dumping things into his suitcase. Naruto scowled at his moving back.

"This is completely insane! What do you plan on doing? Where do you plan on going? How the hell are you going to survive?" Naruto winced at the desperation that managed to sneak into his voice. Sasuke finally stopped his movements after he dropped a mysterious black case into his luggage.

"I'm not an idiot, Naruto. I know what the hell I'm doing. I wouldn't just leave without a plan in mind." The finality of Sasuke's voice made Naruto even more frustrated.

"And what the hell is your plan?" Naruto growled out.

Sasuke paused in his movements for a moment. "That's none of your concern." He finally says before harshly zipping up his last suitcase and tossing it over his shoulder as he turned to finally face Naruto. The fury and determination in Sasuke's dark eyes almost made Naruto want to step back, but he had to hold his ground. "Out of the way, Uzumaki."

Naruto narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms against his chest. "No," he stated firmly.

The slight twitch in Sasuke's eyebrow didn't go unnoticed by Naruto. "Move or I'll move you myself." Sasuke said threateningly. The dark narrowing of his eyes left no argument about the seriousness of that threat, but Naruto didn't back down.

"I'm not letting you leave, Sasuke. You can't just up and go now… you can't just…just leave-"

"Watch me."

Sasuke dropped his suitcase to the floor. The loud bang of it against the floorboards echoed through the quite room. Naruto didn't move.

"Sasuke, I-"

"I don't want to hear it, Naruto. I won't let you or anyone else get in the way of this. It's what I need to do."

"No you don't, damn it! You don't have to take this burden on yourself! I know you're upset about the verdict, but can't you just believe that everything will work out? You don't have to do this!" Naruto tried to reason.

"Hn, ignorance really is bliss." Sasuke stated dryly. "I told you before; I won't let anyone stop me. I'll do whatever it takes, no matter what that means."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed further and Naruto's blood began to boil. Taking that remaining step between them, Naruto grabbed on to the Uchiha's collar and forcibly brought them face to face. Sasuke barely even flinched. "I won't let you go."

Sasuke closed his eyes momentarily, as if coming to a decision. "I'll do what I have to then."

Before Naruto could even have a chance to react, he was slammed face first into the door, his arm twisting painfully behind his back. "Damn it, Sasuke!"

His arm continued to be twisted behind him, the pain racing up his arm and through his shoulder. "I told you I'd do what I'd have to," Sasuke breathed lowly into Naruto's ear, "Even if that means taking you out of the picture."

White hot pain shot through Naruto's arm, enough to make him want to pass out. He screamed when he heard the snap-

"Fuck!"

Naruto shouted, sitting up harshly from his bed. Trying to regain his breathing he looked around his dimly lit room, the early rays from the sunlight peaking in through his dusty, dark curtains. The clock on his bed side dresser blinked 6:13 am at him in harsh red lines. Naruto sighed and brought his hand up to his bare right shoulder, rubbing away the tingling ghost of a break from so many years ago. It was just one of the many injuries he sustained that night.

The sudden buzzing from his cell phone broke Naruto from his thoughts and he reached for the device sitting on his desk. The caller ID read "Captain" and he sighed as he hit the talk button.

"Uzumaki," he croaked groggily into the receiver.

"Naruto, I need you at Hokage Towers Hotel down on First. We've got a 187. Inuzuka's already there, he'll fill you in." Kakashi's voice stated firmly across the line.

Naruto nodded, "Got it. I'll be there in fifteen." So much for getting some rest, Naruto thought bitterly.

Hanging up the phone, he stretched his arms above his head and groaned before stepping out of bed and making his way to the bathroom. He'll have time for a five minute shower and a piece of toast before he has to be on his way. He was never really one to stomach much food before he had to visit a murder scene.

By the time 6:22 rolled around, Naruto was already heading out the door.

Naruto sighed as he stepped through the sliding glass doors and into the high class hotel, feeling slightly out of place. He adjusted the badge attached to his vest self-consciously as he made his way inside. The doorman barely even gave him a second glance, probably already knowing the reason he was there as he wordlessly directed Naruto to the elevator across the lobby.

His shoes moved soundlessly across the polished black marble floors as he observed his surroundings. Tall marble pillars lined the lobby as they accented the floors, adding to the hotel's elegant black white and gold décor. Whoever the victim was must have been pretty well off to be able to stay in a hotel like this, Naruto mused as the gold platted elevator door slid open with a ding.

Naruto stepped inside and hit the button for the 23rd floor and waited. A smile spread across his face as cheesy elevator music played as it slowly brought him to the carnage he was most likely to see on the 23rd floor. He watched the numbers light up one after another; 14, 18, 21, and Naruto fiddled with his hair in his reflection on the elevator doors.

The doors finally part and he steps out into the hall, feet sinking into the burgundy carpet. He can see the swarm of officers from there, all surrounding an open door down the hall and chatting amongst themselves, making it easy for Naruto to tell where all the action was going down.

Naruto approached the scene and nodded a greeting to Officer Abari as he made his way inside the suite. He could already see a few CSIs moving around the rooms, snapping photos and dusting for fingerprints. Naruto noticed his partner Kiba standing in the midst of all the chaos and watching on intently.

"Yo, Kiba, what'd I miss?" Naruto asked as he approached his friend.

"It's about time you got your lazy ass here," Kiba smirked. "Now we can really get started."

"Yeah, yeah, just give me the rundown." Naruto said as he observed some of the cops and CSIs work.

"Well the victim's name is Sasori Iwaiyama, a known criminal around these parts. He was supposedly apart of the Akatsuki gang, but there's no concrete evidence of that yet seeing as how there's no record of any of it's members-"

"So could this possibly be a gang related murder?" Naruto interrupted.

Kiba shrugged, "Don't know yet, but we're not ruling out that possibility. No one's came to collect the body, no relatives or friends or anything like that yet. But considering his supposed line of work, I'm not surprised."

"Right, so I guess we should get started. Talk to the staff down at the lobby, see if anyone seen anything. I'm gonna go look around." Naruto stated.

Kiba nodded, "Sounds good."

Naruto watched Kiba leave the scene and then immediately turned to the master bedroom where he assumed everything was really going on. He stepped into the large bedroom and observed the scene. The body lay sprawled across what looked like a freshly made bed. If it wasn't for the blood, it would look as if the victim had just passed out like that. A bullet wound was clearly noticeable in the center of the victim's head being slightly obscured by the shock of red hair falling over his head. At first glance, he assumed all that red was blood. He was dressed in nothing but a pair of black boxers, a pair of black studs in each ear. He looked like a relatively young, attractive young man.

Naruto stepped further into the room and noticed one the CSIs immediately as Shikamaru Nara. He stood in the center of the room, hands shoved in his pockets as he seemed to boredly gaze around the room. But Naruto knew better, Shikamaru was one of the sharpest eyes in the agency and he knew the man was analyzing every little detail about the scene and committing it to memory. It was almost freaky the way he did that.

But if Shikamaru was here, he knew his partner must be here too. Naruto looked back to the bed and saw the shock of pink hair tied messily into a bun crouching down at the edge of the bed. The sound of the camera clicking filled the room as Sakura took a few more snap shots of the victims face and wound up close. Naruto walked over to the other edge of side of the bed and took a better look at the victim.

"What've you got?" He asked suddenly.

Sakura glanced up from her work wide eyes to see the other man there. "Naruto? You're on the case?"

Naruto nodded with a smile, "Clearly. So what have you got for me? I heard this guy was supposedly apart of the Akatsuki gang?"

"Yeah, that's what we heard too. But it's not much. Whoever did this seemed to know what they were doing. The lack of blood splatter indicates the body was moved from its original spot after the shooting, and the clothes seemed to have been removed and most likely destroyed." Sakura explained easily, as she pointed the lack of blood on the scene.

Naruto looked around and noticed what she said was true; the only blood that could immediately be seen was around the wound on the forehead. He scratched his chin in contemplation and looked back over to Shikamaru.

"And judging by the burn marks around the wound proves that he was shot point-blank… execution style." Shikamaru had intervened.

Naruto nodded, "I've read some files on the Akatsuki, and this doesn't seem like their work. They're way more meticulous and thought out than this. They definitely wouldn't have left the body out in the open. It's clearly the work of someone else."

"This is actually the third supposed Akatsuki member being murdered this month. The other two were both in completely different district, so they weren't connected, but now I'm suspicious." Sakura had murmured the last part more to herself.

"Who would be offing Akatsuki members though?" Naruto wondered out loud, "And if the body was moved from its original place of murder, how could they move it to the 23rd floor without being noticed? He must have been murdered somewhere in this suite. Got anything on that Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru glanced back at the bathroom door across the room and shrugged. "Nothing's come up yet. We sent a few samples down to the lab; it'll take a while for the results to get back though."

Naruto nodded, "Alright, make sure you send the results down to us as soon as you can. I'm gonna go talk to Kiba and see if he found anything yet."

Shikamaru nodded to him as he turned to leave.

"Naruto, wait up a second?" Sakura called as she jogged up to him. Naruto stopped just outside the door and turned back to his pink haired friend with a smile.

"What's up, Sakura?"

"Haven't talked to you in a while. How have you been?" Sakura asked, sounding somewhat distracted.

Naruto shrugged, "Alright. The last case was a real pain in the ass so I was busy nonstop for months. What's going on?"

"Not much. There's ah… something I wanted to tell you. Lunch later?" Sakura asked. Years ago, Naruto would have swooned at the thought of having lunch with Sakura, but over the years he began to see her nothing more than a sister, albeit a somewhat violent and scary sister.

"Of course!" Naruto smiled, "I have a break around noon. I'll meet you at the usual place?"

Sakura nodded once and waved him off before going back over and speaking to Shikamaru. Naruto turned to leave once again and headed out of the suite and back down to the lobby to find Kiba. As he stepped off of the elevator, he already had seen Kiba making his way towards him.

"So what have you got?" Naruto asked.

Kiba grinned, "I managed to get someone down at the station for questioning this after noon, and…" he trailed off, his grin becoming cockier. "I got this." he said, waving a small cassette in front of Naruto's face. "It's surveillance footage from last night that might be able to help."

Naruto grinned happily and patted Kiba roughly on the shoulder. "Sweet! Nice work Kiba. We'll go over it tonight after the questioning. For now, we'll head back up to the suit and help with the investigation. And when we get back to the station, remind me to pull the file on this Sasori guy, yeah?"

Kiba nodded with a smile and patted Naruto roughly back on his back as he ushered him back to the elevator. "Sure thing, sir."

It was around 12:15 in the afternoon by the time he reached Ichiraku's; the small restaurant that Naruto and Sakura often had lunch at. They had the best ramen. Naruto smiled warily at the thought. It's been a long day and he could definitely use I nice bowl of ramen to get him through the rest of it. It was proving to be a long night too.

Stepping into the restaurant, Naruto smiled and waved at the young lady behind the counter and continued on his way to his and Sakura's usual spot. He wasn't surprised to find his friend already there in their small booth in the corner. Naruto smile as he noticed she has already ordered his favorite ramen and a cup of coffee.

"Hey, Sakura!" Naruto greeted happily as he plopped down in the seat across from the pink haired girl. He noticed her eyes narrow slightly and he winced.

"You're late," she stated firmly.

Naruto chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, sorry! I got held up at the station! And besides, technically I'm not late. I told you I'd meet you around noon… it's around noon!" Naruto defended pitifully.

Sakura shook her head and sighed, "Whatever, your foods probably cold now."

"Like I care about the temperature of ramen," Naruto said cheekily before digging in. "Thanks! So what is it you wanted to talk about?" He noted Sakura's disgusted face for speaking with his mouth full and then her expression changing to a somewhat nervous air, though she tried to hide it. But she couldn't hide it from him; it was part of his job to notice those things.

She shifted slightly in her seat and took a sip of her coffee. "I ran into Sai the other day," she began slowly.

Naruto looked at her quizzically for a moment. "Sai… Sai…Sai… why does that name sound familiar?"

"We knew him… back in high school?" Sakura explained slowly.

Naruto's eyes widened as a realization dawned on him. "Oh yeah! That weird ass kid from art class who was always drawing me! He freaked me out! When did you see him?"

Sakura giggled slightly as she seemed to relax somewhat, it made Naruto smile. "I saw him a couple of days ago. We ran into each other at the post office, he asked about you."

Naruto grimaced slightly, "I see, so what's he been up to?" Naruto asked absently as he dug back into his ramen.

Sakura shrugged and began to look hesitant again. "I don't know, I think he's a journalist now or something. I'm not sure, he wasn't very clear…" she explained.

"Journalist? I thought he was into art?" Naruto asked through another mouth full of ramen. Sakura ignored it this time.

"Yeah, he… he asked me about Sasuke too…" she said slowly as she looked down at her coffee. Naruto dropped his chopsticks and stared up at her. This must have been why she seemed so nervous and hesitant to speak to him. They didn't talk much about Sasuke since he left; it always made the atmosphere so dark and suppressive around them.

"He asked about Sasuke? Why?" Naruto questioned as he abandoned his ramen and leaned back into his seat, still observing his friend.

"I don't know. I don't think he knew about Sasuke leaving. He seemed shocked that I didn't know how he was and that I haven't spoken to him for years… He said that… that he saw him… almost a week ago… in the city."

Naruto's eyes widened at the news and he slouched back into his seat further, almost at a lost for what to say. Sasuke? Back in the city? Why would he be back suddenly? Naruto's sure he would have heard news if anything had happened to Itachi, where ever he was. And he didn't think Sasuke would come back, if at all, until he had dealt with his brother… unless…

"W-what did he say? Did he speak to him? Where was he? Was he sure it was him?" Naruto asked, beginning to sound frantic, but he couldn't bring himself to calm down.

"I don't know," Sakura began sadly. "He didn't speak to him but Sai was sure it was him. He said he was only a few feet away when he saw him get into a car and drive off down town. That's… all I know."

Naruto sighed and slouched back down into his seat, his ramen already forgotten. Was Sasuke really back? And if so, what did that mean? Whatever the reason, Naruto didn't have a good feeling about it, not at all.

"It's raining," a silver haired man said as he exhaled a puff of smoke into the chilly night air. Rain drops began to pummel the small overhang outside of the old shop, and Suigetsu crushed his cigarette beneath the heel of his boots. A girl scoffed from beside him.

"Way to state the obvious, dumb ass," she retorted with an undignified snort.

"No one asked you, you bitch!" Suigetsu snarled at the red headed girl as she adjusted her wire-rimmed glasses.

"Tch, you're such a pain in the ass. Why don't you shut the hell up?"

"Why don't you just fuck off?"

"Bit me!"

"Oh, you'd like that wouldn't you?"

"Why you skinny little… I'll kick your-"

"Enough."

The bickering duo stopped immediately as Sasuke Uchiha stepped out from the small shop and out into the rain. The three waiting for him under the overhang followed obediently as he stepped into the driver's seat of his black escalade. Suigetsu hoped into the passenger seat as Karin and Juugo slipped into the back seat. They waited patiently as Sasuke shook the rain water from his hair and reached for the keys in his pocket.

"So, where to now, Sasuke?" Suigetsu asked curiously, "Are we going to find this Deidara fellow that Sasori mentioned?"

"Yeah, as soon as possible. I don't want to stay in this place any longer than we need to, it's not safe." Sasuke explained lowly as he stuck the key in the ignition.

"You used to live hear didn't you, Sasuke?" Juugo's quiet voice called out from the backseat. Sasuke hesitated a moment at the question before turning the key in the ignition.

"A long time ago," Sasuke explained quickly. "But it would still be troublesome if we ran into any old acquaintances of mine."

"Why? Got some crazy ex girlfriends running around here?" Suigetsu smirked, ignoring Karin's frustrated growl from the backseat. Sasuke scoffed and pealed out into the rain slicked streets of this city, tires screeching against the cement.

"Ex-girlfriend's would be the least of my troubles," Sasuke murmured quietly as the image of a blonde haired, blue eyed idiot popped into his mind before shaking it away. It was no time to be thinking about him. He had more important things to deal with.

AN2: Well that's it for Chapter one! I'm working on Chapter two as we speak. Hopefully I can get it out before too long. Reviews really help motivate me! And sorry for the slowness of this chapter, everything is just still getting established. But I promise things will get a lot more exciting! And no worries, Naruto and Sasuke will meet up soon enough. And when they do, you can expect some intense feelings to go down. ;) Again, motivate me with your reviews, my lovelies!