The morning routine was always the same: wake up, exercise, dust the apartment, shower, breakfast, and then dress for work. But on this day, Shino got out of the shower to a couple of surprise guests.
"Oi, Shino. Put on a towel and come out here already." Kiba's voice boomed from the kitchen.
Throwing on a white shirt and shorts, Shino wondered whether Kiba had picked the lock on the front door, stolen a key, or broken a window to get in. Reaching the kitchen he saw Hinata standing by the stove and he remembered giving her a spare key.
"Good morning Shino." Hinata nodded politely and turned her attention back to the stove, "Please sit down, breakfast is just about ready." Eggs, grits, hash browns, and Kiba's signature thick-cut bacon looked to bethe morning's spread. Grabbing the orange juice out of the fridge, Shino noticed the bowl of cantaloupe and pulled that out as well.
After saying grace, at Hinata's insistence, the three started chowing down. Gracefully dabbing the corners of her mouth after finishing her hash browns, Hinata's gaze drifted around the room. "You've been in this apartment for what, a year now?"
"A little under a year, moved in last April."
"That's right, I remember doing a 'house-warming' at the time." Hinata frowned and turned her attention back to her plate for a moment. Tapping her fork on the edge of her plate, she nodded. "Alright, since it's my day off today I've decided you two are coming with me."
"What?" Kiba almost choked on his orange juice.
"Almost a year and your apartment is barely furnished. And you Kiba. Your place is just a step above barren. No wonder you two don't have girlfriends."
"I don't see what that has to do with-" Kiba tried to defend himself.
"You keep your bed in the living room and your bedroom is where you have your workout equipment. At least Shino keeps his weights stored in the closet."
"You went through my closets?" Shino wasn't really surprised, truth was he took long showers and they likely got bored waiting for him.
"We're going shopping today and I won't hear any more complaints." Hinata was rarely forceful, but when she was there was no use arguing with her. On the counter, Hinata's mobile phone rang. Picking it up she answered, "Hinata here, yes, what? Hold on. I've got to take this." Getting up from the table she walked to the door and stepped outside.
"Saved by the dial." Kiba chuckled as he took a bite out of a thick piece of bacon.
Taking a critical look around the apartment, Shino shrugged his shoulders and realized it was a little bare. He had considered purchasing a stereo system and a few more lamps and even a couch, but there was never time for any of it after he was done with work. Moreover he has put a lot of money towards his car, but given that it was a work expense he was likely to receive most of it back on his taxes.
"You're joking. I can't believe you are doing this today!" Hinata's raised voice was not diminished by the closed screen door. Hanging up her cell phone she came inside and finished her breakfast plate in a rush. "Better eat up, no time for leisure today. I'll see you both at the station." On the kitchen counter, Shino's home phone rang. "That will be Sergeant Nara, tell him I'm on my way." Washing her plate and hands, she put her hair in a pony-tail and drove away in her car.
"Dodged a bullet there, didn't we?" Kiba sounded relived to avoid shopping.
"You know what they say Kiba, 'it does no good to dodge one bullet when the gun shooting at you has five more shots.'" Polishing off his bowl, Shino grit his teeth and picked up the phone. "Shino here."
"Shino, good. Guess Hinata was over there this morning after all. I need you and Kiba down here pronto. A couple of Feds are here on a case you two have done some work on and it's not pretty." Shikamaru sounded more upset than nervous, usual emotion when dealing with federal agents.
"Which case?" Shino inquired.
"The one you've been coordinating with Monroe County, the gun runners from the Keys. I've had Captain Mifune from down there calling me at least three times an hour asking what's going on. Get down here now," pausing for a moment, Shikamaru continued, "and Shino, no baggage please."
Half disappointed, half frustrated, Shino hung up the phone harder than he usually did. "Finish up Kiba." Going to the bathroom, Shino brushed his teeth and grabbed his keys before bolting out the door to the station with Kiba in quick pursuit.
Obviously trying to keep things light, Kiba made a show of his bravado, "Don't stress too much Shino, these Feds are all pushovers. They're here to make a show of jurisdiction, but in the end we'll wind up doing all the work, and they'll try to take all the credit. It's a song and dance to them, but they all have two left feet."
"We'll see." Taking off his sunglasses, they made their way out of the garage and to the office. There were two suits standing on opposite sides of the captain's room. Shikamaru was standing outside the office on the phone; Inspector Hiruzen was holding his own with the two agents while Captain Kakashi napped in the corner.
The first agent's bowl cut was overshadowed by his thick eyebrows; he seemed way too energetic and forceful. The other agent was a woman, hair done in a very distinctive two bun style. Sounds of an argument from another room caught Shino's ear, and through a cracked door he heard Hinata arguing with someone else.
"Okay Chief, what's all this ruckus about?" Kiba asked Shikamaru, who rolled his eyes at being called chief again.
"Let me give you the short version before they talk your ears off." Shikamaru motioned to the Inspector's office. "The man in there is Special Agent Lee, Rock Lee, if you can believe that's his real name. He's from the FBI. The gun runners you're tracking have local mafia ties, which is the FBI's main job. Of course, the guns are very specific which has brought her, Special Agent Tenten from the ATF. She's already tracked a few of the guns from earlier shipments and wants to get a step closer to the source."
"And the one arguing with Hinata?" Shino asked with perfect timing as the door opened on the other side of the room. Following Hinata was a man who almost looked like her twin; long brown hair, white eyes, and a trim build that was hidden by a well-tailored suit. The man didn't look like any federal agent he had seen before.
"Special Agent Neji Hyuuga." Extending a hand, Neji shook Shino's hand before reaching towards Kiba, who glared instead of returning the handshake. "I've heard about both of you from Hinata. If you didn't know we are-"
"Her older cousin, spent a lot of time in boarding schools, saw her mainly on holidays." Kiba was showing off that he knew more than was expected. Neji was not surprised, but simply nodded. "I know this is not goingto be easy for any of us, but let's try to remember that we're all on the same side here, regardless of who gets the collar."
A knock on the glass window of the Inspector's office caught their attention; Captain Kakashi motioned for all of them to come in. Shikamaru transferred his phone call into the office and went in. Nine bodies made for a cramped office, but Inspector Hiruzen didn't much look like he cared about comfort, perhaps he was making a subtle point about the case by choosing his office for the meeting. Picking up the phone, he answered the transferred call and put it on speaker. "Can you hear us Captain Mifune?"
"Yes Inspector Hiruzen. Let's hurry this up, if you please."
"Of course." Opening a couple of files on his desk, Hiruzen examined the papers before passing them around.
"It's easy to see why this has become an inter-departmental nightmare, from the get-go it was a mess. Two gun runners, stationed down in the Keys. If they stayed down there it'd be a matter for Monroe County officials, but they bring their wares up here to Konoha, Making it a Konoha-Dade County matter. We initially decided to cooperate and coordinate our efforts, but things got out of hand. Captain Mifune, please continue."
"Our efforts have centered on capturing two individuals, Zabuza Momochi and Haku Yuki. They've been a thorn in our sides for months now. We've been following them for over a year now, and each time we've searched them we've come up with nothing. They have a sophisticated network of exchanges and drop points throughout the Keys, we've never come up with anything, after the sixth search warrant the judge told us he wouldn't grant another without good cause. They run their operation too clean down here, no slip-ups."
"But we know it's them," Agent Tenten interrupted, "we've captured a dozen firearms that we're sure came from them, but no criminal is willing to testify against them. They're like ghosts in the criminal community. One time we got someone to testify against Zabuza, but the night before he was going to sign a deposition, he was found dead in his prison cell, turned into a human pincushion."
"So why do we have the suits here?" Kiba's blunt question caused Captain Kakashi to groan.
"The reason we're here-" Agent Lee started off but was cut off by Neji, who threw Zabuza's file down on the desk.
"Zabuza, lied about his age to get into the marines at 15, 5 tours of 'Nam from 70-74, fought against the Khmer Rouge as a freelance mercenary from '75-79, Special forces from '82-84, where he was special envoy to the ARDE. After a dishonorable discharge he started up this business, and we've been tracking him ever since. But he's grown to be too much of an embarrassment for the government."
"I'm sure it has nothing to do with the little song and dance they put Colonel North through last year." Shino was all too familiar with the Iran-Contra affair. Though most of the traffic from Central America was going towards California, the drug trade was damaging from start to finish no matter where it was located. Neji's expression turned cold at Shino's remark.
"Look, I don't care what the motivations are." Hiruzen took back control of the meeting. "People are getting hurt and you can either work together or bicker until lunchtime. I say the easiest way to deal with this is to catch the guy first, and then argue once he's in custody, agreed?" Agents Lee and Tenten nodded, Shino and Neji stared at each other before Neji nodded in agreement as well, "Good." With a sigh, Hiruzen looked to Hinata as people began shuffling out of his office. "Anything the DA's office has to say about this?"
"Don't overcommit yourself. If you're putting this much into capture, don't come back empty-handed. At least that's what I think Mr. E would say something big and grandiose like that." With a chuckle, Hinata nodded to Kiba and Shino's office, and the two followed her in. "I've read about these guys, you two need to be careful. This isn't like chasing around drugged up yuppies or slapping pimps. These two are killers."
"Is he going to be a problem?" Kiba was staring at Neji.
"Oddly enough that's what he asked me about you two." With a laugh Hinata took a seat. "Shame we don't get to go shopping today. You two owe me a rain check."
"We'll owe you a rain check." Shino measured his response as he sat down too. "But first, you owe us an explanation."
"Oh? And where do you want me to start?" Hinata folded her hands in her lap.
"How is it that after twenty years of tabloids speculating every possible location, Neji Hyuuga shows up in our office as a CIA agent?"
Author's Notes:
I think it's appropriate to give a little background into the Hyuuga family in the Konoha Vice world. We're all familiar with the Kennedy family of US Political fame. Well imagine a parallel family to the Kennedys in Florida. Senator Hyuuga (Hiashi) is Hinata's father, his twin brother was Governor Hyuuga (Hizashi) who was assassinated in the 50s. The Media hounded the Hyuuga to the point where Hiashi helped Neji (who is like JFK jr.) escape from the media and grow up out of the public's eyes. So for Neji to show up here as a CIA agent is rather surprising to Shino, who knows enough of the backstory to know how big this is.