Mysteries of the Heart Chapter 1: Preparations, a naruto fanfic

Title: Mysteries of the Heart

Full Summary: Due to the recent breach in security, everyone is in a mad scramble trying to get answers. Throw in some unsuspecting victims into the batch, along with a of couple paranoid folks, people who have contrasting personality issues, a sinister plot, a sprinkle of some chaos and misunderstanding, and viola! The ingredients for a disaster are all set and accounted for.

Rating: T – M

" Talking "

' Thoughts/Lyrics'

Warning(s): Might include typos, a slandering of the English language, profanity, maybe some OOC-ness with some characters (It's my first time writing for this fandom, they might be a bit off ^^'', so sorry in advance!) yaoi (in future chapters), putting up with my humor, and a mighty helping of suffering for some characters. But hey, you torture those you love best right? –cricket cricket- …right…-coughs awkwardly- Okay, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. You'll know if I ever did, or if any Naruto fangirl owned that show…trust me…you'd know right away -evil grin-

Song: "Everybody Loves Me" by: One Republic

Chapter 1: Preparations

.-.-.-.-.

"Naruto! Are you almost done packing?" Jirayia shouted from the bottom of the staircase, placing his suitcases down near the front door. Straining to hear an answer, but receiving only muffled music as the response; he bounded up the spiraling staircase and toward the room where the music's volume was concealed by the oak door.

He released a tired sigh and did not bother knocking as he barged into his adopted grandson's room. The loud music assaulted his eardrums as they escaped from Naruto's room after he opened the door.

Got love for the people that have warned you,

Got love for all the sentimental value

Eight balls with the takers that'll make you,

Lay cards with the lovers that'll hate you

Naruto hummed to the song, oblivious to the other person intruding on this private moment as he bopped his head to the beat while hunting through his closet for clothes.

And you don't have to make a sound,

They got what you need, what you need

A triumphant Naruto emerged from the closet holding out his favorite orange shirt that he had to dig through mounds of clothes to find. He packed it away into his suitcase and continued his pilferage through his closet for more clothes as he checked his cell phone for text messages.

He didn't want to brag, but he was a pro at multitasking. The best of the best, no one could be more focused on a task than he was, nothing got passed him. He grinned and sang along with the next verse of the song.

Make you say, "Oh my!"

Feels just like I don't try,

Looks so good I might die

He winked at himself as he passed the door-length mirror. Sure he was only clad in a white t-shirt and heart-patterned boxers, but he was Uzumaki Naruto! He made any outfit look good, believe it!

All I know is everybody loves me,

Get down,

Swaying to my own sound,

All I know is, everybody loves me,

Everybody loves me

Naruto finished with a laugh and did a spin before he bowed to an invisible audience.

"Encore you say? Oh no…I couldn't…well maybe just one more," He flashed a cocky smile as he did his own rendition of the air guitar and slid onto the carpet mimicking what appeared to be a guitar solo of some sort.

Jiraiya all the while covered his mouth with his hand to keep himself from erupting in laughter as he watched his grandson throw a mini-rock concert in his room, but they had a plane to catch tomorrow, so the fun had to end eventually.

"Okay, rock star time to pack up the gig and get your ass off the floor. We have to leave early tomorrow you know."

Naruto's head spun toward his door at break necking speed that he grunted in pain as he felt the whiplash of his actions.

"Old man! You could have knocked or something!" Naruto all but shrieked at his grandfather, he was a man, and manly people did not shriek.

"And pass up the chance to witness the elusive Uzumaki Naruto concert?" Jiraiya teased as he entered the room plopping down on the bed as he brushed off the glare coming from the blond.

The answer he got was a huff of annoyance from Naruto who scurried off back into his closet feeling his face heat up from the embarrassment of being caught. Okay…so maybe he wasn't the best multi-tasker around, so what if he was a little oblivious, isn't everybody? He refused to be singled out on this little fact.

Jiraiya smiled unbeknownst to the blond who was angrily grumbling away in the closet. The little punk was growing up so fast, and don't get him wrong or anything, but he really wanted what was best for the blond. That's why he requested that Naruto be part of this case. He adamantly argued with Itachi after the meeting to have Naruto come along, and he was met with some resistance on the Uchiha's part, but his determination was something to be envious of. Eventually, the Uchiha reluctantly agreed, but on one condition.

Jiraiya scratched his chin as he thought of what was in store for them once they made it to Japan. 'With any luck, we'll hopefully make it through this with minimal damage.'

He then frowned as he shifted his attention back to his grandson; the mere thought was nearly impossible to achieve. He couldn't protect Naruto this time; he couldn't protect him from the horrible truth that was lurking in the near future. It was finally time for Naruto to find the missing pieces of his murky past that eluded him all these years.

And Jiraiya hoped, with every fiber of his being, that this would be the same Naruto that would come back to them. This carefree, happy-go-lucky blond whose smile was so damn contagious, there should be a diagnosis of it.

'Naruto, don't take this mission as a joke. This task will either make you the man you've always wanted to be, complete; or break you and we'd lose you forever.'

Jiraiya forced himself to believe that it would be the former of the two; the latter was not even an option in his mind.

.-.-.-.-.

-In Japan-

Onyx eyes glared through the window as he witnessed the transaction right below him. Disgusted, he tore his eyes away from the two people that he had accidentally caught making out in the front parking lot. Had they no shame? Out in public…and in front of him no less! Granted they probably did not know he saw them, but still, had they no decency? They were literally sucking each others faces off.

A suppressed shudder made its way down his back as he was given a hideous mental image. He needed to bleach out his mind now courtesy from those two.

You would never catch him in that situation. The need to show that much public display of affection was beyond him.

His last relationship, hell even he would not call it that, never really got intimate or personal. It was not his fault that his partner could not handle his personality. Bitch thought he would change for her? Ha, yeah right, this is the Uchiha Sasuke you are talking about and he does not change for anybody. She was lucky he even looked her way. Any arguments claiming that he glared at her instead of looked will be denied all the way to court and back.

A knock on the door put a stop to his musings as he stalked toward his desk and sat down on his chair.

"Enter." Came the smooth command.

"Uchiha-sama, these files have been sent in…and the higher-ups wish for you to look at them..." Sasuke let his gaze linger on the stiff man before him. He glanced at the name tag that read "Yoshiro" before dark, calculating eyes locked onto wide and fearful brown ones.

Yoshiro forced down a gulp and tried to put a calm façade as he stared off against his boss. Sometimes it really sucked being an intern…he had no clue what he was in for.

Minutes ticked by as the tension in the room rose to suffocating levels. Yoshiro was slowly coming to his wit's end if his boss did not say anything sometime soon.

"Yoshiro-san," Sasuke began after what seemed like an eternity to the man being addressed, "Are these files of the utmost importance?"

Yoshiro's expression faltered as he stared at the raven in front of him confused, "I…w-would think so Uchiha-sama…" That was a safe enough answer, right? Wrong. He now stupidly entered the dangerous game, which was communicating with his boss.

Sasuke's glare hardened as he warily eyed the documents that were being offered to him. "Are you sure?"

Yoshiro tried to regain his composure once the Uchiha directed his attention to the pieces of paper in his hands. "Yes, sir I-"

Before he could finish his sentence or even blink the raven was suddenly in front of him. A good distance away from his face, but close enough that he was trapped and doomed if the intimidating man suddenly decided to physically lash out at him. Yoshiro internally cursed as he felt his life flashing right before his eyes, and then he was suddenly dragged back to reality as the raven's sharp voice cut through his little reverie.

"Then why were you," Sasuke's face contorted with disgust before he continued, "doing other business when you knew how important these files were?"

Yoshiro's face reminded him of a deer caught between two headlights, combined with a gaping fish struggling for water as its death slowly approached. At least he was generous enough to keep himself from laughing at the man's expense, his expression really was priceless. Too bad though, once Sasuke pounced and you had let your guard down; he went in for the kill.

"Did you even check the files?" A simple, innocent question.

"Uchiha-sama I-" But alas, too slow with the retaliation.

"Or were you too busy thinking about fucking the girl you had made out with outside?" Bet you were not expecting this one.

Yoshiro's eyes were as round as saucers as he stared at his boss with disbelieving eyes, "How did you find out?"

Sasuke scowled at the trembling man and quickly pointed toward his window. For the love of god, he was working with a bunch of incompetents! Really now, the windows were facing the god damn parking lots and this imbecile was trying to act aloof? Oh hell no, intern or not, that was not going to work, especially if Sasuke was your boss.

"U-uchiha-sama…I c-c-an e-explain, y-you see-" Yoshiro stammered trying to get out of the predicament he landed himself in. Though his grave was getting deeper with every word that came out of his mouth.

Sasuke retreated back to his desk with the files held in a firm grip. "Leave now, or I'll fire you."

Yoshiro seemed taken aback by the threat, he licked his lips and tried to calm his beating heart.

"E-excuse me?"

"Get. Out." Sasuke hissed with his back to the intern.

Yoshiro did not need to be told again as he literally ran out of his boss's office at a speed that made his co-workers wonder if the devil was chasing him. Though Yoshiro would have preferred the devil over the Uchiha any day, for he firmly believed that even his boss could scare the living hell out of the devil himself and take over his domain if he wanted to. But unfortunately, Sasuke preferred to intimidate the living instead of the dead…lucky us…

.-.-.-.-.

-Somewhere in the Building-

Kiba snorted as he watched the intern run away from the Uchiha's office. "Oi, Shika! It seems the moody bastard scared another one off, I'm tellin' ya I am soo going to win this bet!" He exclaimed once he walked into the cubicle of his supposedly sleeping friend.

Shikamaru did not even budge a muscle as Kiba continued to rant about this so-called bet, it was okay though. His lack of acknowledgment toward you did not mean he was not listening. That was one of the things you had to be wary of with the quiet brunette, you had no idea if he was really dozing off or if he was simply closing his eyes as you accidentally let out an embarrassing secret to him while you were too caught up in your rant to notice the slip-up.

Finally feeling an oncoming headache from the loudness of his friend, Shikamaru lifted his head with great effort and shot Kiba a pointed look. "Kiba, what the hell are you going on about now?"

Kiba leaned against one of the walls and gave his friend a face-splitting grin. "Don't ya remember? At the worker's lounge during our lunch break where Ino, Sakura, and I made a bet at how long we think the new intern will last?" He looked completely affronted that Shikamaru would dare forget such a thing. Especially when he felt strongly that he was going to win this bet, and save his manly pride from the bruising it would get from the girls if he lost.

Shikamaru could only let out a tired sigh, contemplating on how said bet was completely irrelevant to their task at hand. "Kiba," he rubbed his left eye, "focus." He did not need to say what it was the boisterous man needed to focus on, he already knew. Plus it would be too troublesome to explain anymore than he needed to.

The atmosphere in the small cubicle drastically shifted so quickly that Shikamaru even bothered to look up and take notice of the troubled expression evident on the spiky brunette's face.

"Kiba…" Shikamaru started.

Said man kept his eyes glued to the checkered-patterned carpet beneath them as the tension in the room acclimated.

"We've been investigating this case for months now Shikamaru," The quiet brunette noted that Kiba was in a serious mood if he was using his full name, "But dammit! We aren't gettin' anywhere! It seems every time we find a lead, it ends up being a false one or a dead end! I'm getting really sick and tired of these wild goose chases…I really am." Kiba ended in a hushed whisper.

Shikamaru craned his neck to the left in an attempt to stretch out the soreness he felt before he sighed heavily and stared back at the dejected man before him.

"You know I was the one who deemed those files important before I gave them to the intern, Yoshiro." He explained, wondering if he should tell his friend what the files contained.

Kiba raised his head and shot him with a bewildered look, "What the hell does that have to do with anything?"

Shikamaru ignored him and continued, "At first it was more information regarding the case," he paused seriously re-considering his actions for it would surely elicit an immediate response from Kiba. Nonetheless, he had already brought the topic out in the open, so he had no choice but to continue. This act of kindness was proving to be more troublesome than it was worth. All he wanted to do was to go back to his nap, the one that was interrupted the moment the dog-lover announced his presence.

Shikamaru sighed for the umpteenth time that day as he noticed how the conversation baited the spiky brunette in. 'Might as well get it over with.'

"The corporation branch in America was targeted a few days ago; they even managed to download some classified files as well." There, he had said it. The silence that followed was such a promising delight as he hoped to get back to his nap, maybe if the silence lingered for a while longer he could get in a good 30-minute power nap.

"WHAT!"

Shikamaru knew it was too good to be true.

Kiba suddenly re-gained his ability to talk once the shock had subsided, "What do you mean it was targeted?" He did not know when it happened but his hands seemed to have grabbed the scruff of Shikamaru's shirt and he pulled him forward. He shook the man a bit roughly when he remained silent.

Shikamaru merely shrugged Kiba off, "It means what you think it means Kiba."

Kiba released his hold and was now pacing around the room while Shikamaru was ready to trip him if he did not stop anytime soon. God, he was getting dizzy and tired watching him freak out like that.

Finally Kiba stopped. Ah salvation! Then he opened his mouth. Damn, karma is being a real bitch today isn't she?

"Wait, what files were stolen?"

"They're not sure of the exact files. That is why they are sending an operative here as well."

Kiba seemed dumbfounded, "But why send an operative? The files were already stolen, isn't it a bit too late to send someone in now?"

"It said the operative they are sending over can help us with this case."

Kiba let out a snort. "What good will that do? If you haven't noticed Shika we've been sitting ducks here for a while now. Nothing has happened."

"Because we weren't the ones being targeted." Shikamaru sent Kiba a reprimanding look, honestly wasn't he listening? He was making a lot of effort answering Kiba's abundant questions and connecting the pieces together, the least Kiba could do was pay attention.

"But now we are?"

"Exactly."

Kiba glanced back at Shikamaru and asked his final question, "So who's the operative they're sending over?"

A glint appeared in Shikamaru's eyes as he mulled over the question. "They didn't say exactly who, giving only the vague clue of us knowing the person."

Kiba's eyes narrowed in concentration, "We only know of one person over there in the American branch…Shika…do you really think it's him they are sending?" There was such hope in his voice it was something akin to a child asking his father if Santa was coming, you just couldn't be a jerk and crush their spirit.

Shikamaru let out a small chuckle before he straightened up and made his way out of his cubicle.

"I have a feeling things are about to change once he's back here again."

A full-fledged grin broke out on Kiba's face as he smacked Shikamaru's shoulder in a friendly way. "Hell yes! It's about damn time he comes back home!" A realization hit Kiba as they were walking toward the front of the building. "Oh my god! I have to tell the others, they'll be thrilled to hear the news!"

Shikamaru shook his head at his friend's antics. The two walked in a comfortable pace as Kiba went on and on about a 'Welcome-back-Home!' party.

"-so much preparation, hey Shika were you even listening?"

"Huh?"

Kiba was about to mock his friend in reply when they were suddenly startled by a particularly loud slam. They watched in mild interest as the young Uchiha exited his office with a rather murderous aura surrounding him. Those who knew what kind of mood Sasuke was in were wise to leave the man alone, and those unfortunate ones who were caught in the line of fire were simply 'disposed of' as one would put it. Or in other words they were fired and out the door with a "what-just-happened" look on their unsuspecting faces.

"Wow," Kiba whistled as he stayed clear of the battleground, "What got him into a pissy mood?"

Shikamaru held a hand over his mouth trying to contain a yawn before answering, "He probably finished reading the files."

"And it made him that upset?" Kiba incredulously asked watching a poor man get roughly shoved aside by the enraged Uchiha.

"Apparently so, plus I don't think it helped that it was his older brother who sent those files."

As if 'Sasuke's Older Brother' were the magic words, Kiba nodded his head in understanding and exited the building with Shikamaru following behind him, "A message from his older brother would do it."

.-.-.-.-.

-Back in New York-

Jiraiya glanced at his watch and back toward the top of the stairs as he waited for his grandson to emerge from his room.

"Naruto! If you don't hurry up, I'll come up there and haul your ass down here myself!" He threatened and grinned as he heard the panicked shuffling of feet above him and the door slamming.

Naruto ran down the stairs with his luggage in tow and almost barreled down his grandfather if Jiraiya had not wisely moved aside to let the frantic blond through.

"Okay, okay I'm here. Where's the cab?" He asked while zipping up a black windbreaker and adjusting his black and orange beanie.

"Outside waiting, since you took forever getting downstairs." Jiraiya rolled his eyes while grabbing one of Naruto's suitcases and heading back toward the yellow cab.

Naruto grinned sheepishly and waved an apology to the cab driver, he then grabbed the brass knob of the front door and pulled it forward closing it. It metaphorically symbolized the ending to yet another chapter in his life.

This was it.

They were finally going back home.

He heard the sounds of the locks clicking in place and gazed at the house before him. This had been his home for nearly six years, he couldn't believe the next time he would go inside another house it wouldn't be this one. It would be one that was hundreds of miles away, over the Pacific Ocean.

He felt a warm hand on his shoulder and glanced to his left to see his grandfather standing beside him, staring at the house like he was.

"You're not going all sentimental on me now are you Naruto?"

The blond laughed and gently shoved his grandfather's hand from his shoulder, "Nah, if anyone's becoming overly emotional it would be you. I bet you're holding in those so-called manly tears just to make me feel better."

"Dream on kiddo."

"With you always around, they're more like nightmares," Naruto retorted as he slipped away from Jiraiya's insulted glare and walked towards the cab. He pulled out his iPod from his pocket and placed the headphones into his ears.

"Naruto, you're not the best listener around here, believe me I would know, so are you trying to make it worse with having your music blaring through those headphones?" Jiraiya asked following the blond back to where the yellow cab was waiting for them.

Naruto quickly turned around and childishly stuck his tongue out at him. Oh, that was so mature.

"For your information," the blond drawled out, "this is to drown out all the noise, like snoring, once we're on the plane!"

Jiraiya rubbed his chin in thought, "Now that's not such a bad idea there Naruto, I always knew if you put your mind to it and actually focused you could be capable of creating logical thoughts!"

"You old fart; I was talking about your snoring! It's so loud it could wake the dead!"

"Why you little punk!"

Naruto laughed as he ran inside the cab and slammed the door closed before his grandfather could strangle him.

This was going to be an interesting trip indeed.

.-.-.-.-.

Author's Note:

Oh I changed my name from xFairy-of-Twilight, to SilverxStarlight! So don't worry this is still the same person xD Now moving on!

The first chapter is now finally out! ^^

Sorry for the lack of plot development in this chapter! o-o'' It's the first one, so things will be moving along quite soon. But this is, dare I say it, to prepare for the meeting that is ahead in the next chapter, that's why it's called "Preparations" *cough* xD

Oh, and don't worry Sasuke won't always be that grumpy, he's just in pissed-off-boss mode at the moment ;D Besides it's showing how he's like before Naruto comes into his life, he needs room for change, so fear the wrath of the grumpy Sasuke!

.-.-.-.-.

What's to Come:

Naruto and Jiraiya finally arrive in Japan, but who's this person that was sent to pick them up?

Kiba and Shikamaru apparently play a role in this mission, just what is it though?

The contents of the documents and the agreement are finally revealed!

Naruto and Sasuke finally meet each other!

Stay tuned for the next chapter, "The Rivalry Begins".

.-.-.-.-.

SilverxStarlight