Chapter Eight

Scanning the big mansions with their trimmed lawns made me feel out of place which in turn made me mad. I didn't like feeling bad about myself or thinking so little just because I wasn't born rich but I also hated the fact that these people slept in mansions they barely lived in when other people were starving and homeless. I shook my head, judging wasn't going to help me with this one, sadly.

I'd been watching the Skyfell's for the better part of two hours ever since they'd come home. Mrs. Skyfell tended to her kids when they were dropped off by the school bus while Mr. Skyfell mainly stayed in his office that overlooked the street and was conveniently in my lie of sight. He was on the phone a lot.

I sighed leaning back and nibbling on an apple wondering when Mrs. Skyfell would have to leave. Her boys looked strong so they had some sort of practice things going on didn't they? For crying out loud it was the suburbs, it was supposed to be empty at this time of the day.

My thoughts drifted to Anna and how much I missed doing stakeouts with her. I had held off on the grieving until I- or we- had caught her killer. Thieves may not have much of an honor code but me and my family valued it, treasured it. It helped us stay grounded when other thieves got greedy and ended up caught and imprisoned. That was the ultimate trick to stealing, never get greedy. But doing this without Anna made me feel her absence a lot more as I knew no one would be able to take her place as my passenger.

Of course we ended up making up our own stories when we did these stakeouts, like who was cheating on who and their fake mistress was only two seconds from finding out, or who was having a bad day.

I slapped myself out of my daze when the front door slammed shut and a car turned on. Mrs. Skyfell and her boys were leaving looking like they were dressed in jerseys. I watched them back out of the driveway before starting my car and giving them thirty seconds as a head start. Instead of going all the way to the stop sign I turned right into the back alley.

Of course Mr. Skyfell would be an obstacle but one I could navigate around.

I landed in the lush backyard that had a pond/pool with fish, frogs and various bugs. The bushes helped to conceal me from being seen until I reached the backdoor. It wasn't locked so with a slow tug I opened the door and was inside before a second had passed.

The outside was lush and spacious enough to have hiding places at a moments notice. The inside? Not so much. Thank the gods that Mr. Skyfell wasn't in the kitchen. I ghosted through the house quickly finding the office and Mr. Skyfell who was on the phone.

"I can't help the thief who took your property!" Out came my phone set to record. "She didn't have the bags with her. In fact she lost it before she died."

'You had better find those bags otherwise you're dead!'

"I'm trying! I'm meeting with some informants later to see what they've found. It can't be that hard to find who hired the thief."

'I am not paying you to sit on your ass Natsu. I want my diamonds back and I want them back before I come back from my trip. You have two days! If they're not back with you then you had better invest in life insurance.'

"Don't worry Kenji, you'll have your diamonds back in a few days and this will just seem like a bad dream." Natsu chuckled nervously as the phone clicked. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" Something heavy crashed and the sound of glass shattering made me flinch. The sound of buttons being pushed came and a second later a gruff voice came on.

'Hello?'

"Mannen Hozuki? This is Natsu Skyfell. I need to hire you for a job." Oh crap. Mannen wasn't just the best informant he was also a good mercenary. Whatever job he took on he made sure to finish it. Almost killed me a few years back because I got in his way while we were on the same job. Of course we were stealing the same thing but I digress.

'What kind of job?'

"I need to find out about a little thief named Anna Uzumaki and who hired her to work her last job."

'Uzumaki huh? Troublesome lot. I'm going to need two grand up front and another two grand after I'm done.'

"WHAT? That's a steep price for a thief!" I mentally chuckled. Mannen was also maybe a bit of a sweetie once you proved your worth.

'If you know the Uzumaki clan like I do then you'll know that what I'm asking for is as cheap as it can get.'

"I'm sure we can negotiate something?"

'Four grand or I walk. Go to someone else and they won't take the job or even think about it. The Uzumaki aren't people you take lightly.' I was feeling a bit sentimental now. Mental note: get the guy a sword.

"Alright but you had better pull through or you don't get paid. Meet me at the Circle at 5:30 for the first half. You're also going to have to explain who the Uzumaki are so I know what I'm paying for."

'Hmph, whatever.' The click of a call ended.

"Ridiculous. Four grand for one little thief?" Mr. Skyfell was coming towards me. I grabbed the phone before backing up into the hallway to the laundry room. I ended the recording session before peeking out of the room. I could hear Mr. Skyfell in the kitchen so I raced down to the office. I wouldn't have a lot of time for this and I hoped I could find what I needed.

"Kenji, Kenji, Kenji..." I whispered looking through Mr. Skyfells contact list. I found a name for Kenji Hasegawa along with a number and a tab attached. I clicked on the tab only for several documents to come up. "Wow." I backed out of the documents and clicked print. Hopefully Mr. Skyfell would think it was just the fax machine.

My phone buzzed but I ignored it in favor of looking through Mr. Kenji's file. Mr. Skyfell had him in his 'Top Client- High Profile' niche. I quickly exited from all those documents before putting the computer back the way I'd seen it just as my eye caught something on the desktop. 'Diamonds'.

Now what are the chances of that being important?

The sound of glass tinkling came from the hallway. Shit.

I was under the desk hoping Mr. Skyfell didn't have to sit down when the doorbell rang.

"What now?" He mumbled before leaving. I got up and clicked on 'Diamonds'. It was a music video that I was glad to exit and grab the papers in the printer. I looked around before seeing the vent. No, just no.

Instead I peeked out the door to see Mr. Skyfell facing Detective's Akasuna and Katsu who were asking him questions. I grinned impishly when Deidera's eyes- which had been roaming over the house- landed on me and widened. I put a finger to my lips but the movement caught Sasori's eye. I smirked at his glare and waved goodbye before running down the hallway to the kitchen and back door.

I don't know how I could have trusted him but I did. I was over the wall in a second with my vibrating phone in my hand.

"What?" I hissed.

'We found the diamonds nee-chan.' Naruto's exuberant voice sounded.

"Good, because I have the owners paperwork. Need a ride?"

'Yes please.'

"Be there in five." I hung up. Oh yes, this would be over and done with soon.

GM NASAI: Review?