Chapter 1: A Long Night at Work

"Each hour away from you is a stab to the heart."

One Week After Prologue

|Sasuke|

"Have a good night, Sasuke-kun." Sakura said as I walked down the steps.

I stopped in my tracks and turned around, walking right back to her. Her face showed her confusion, but I didn't let that faze me as I cupped her cheeks and kissed her. Her hands grabbed my arms as I deepened the kiss, and I dropped my hands to her waist. I felt her push at my shoulders and pulled back to give her breathing room.

"Sasuke-kun…" She started off quiet, but her volume rose as she repeated my name, "Sasuke-kun. Sasuke-kun?"

The dream-like fantasy shattered as I blinked, and I looked back at her. Her face showed hints of worry, and her pinks lips were poised to continue her questioning.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura called again, and I realized I was still staring, "Daijōbu?"

Turning back, I continued down the steps and acted like I hadn't heard her.

'You can't touch her.' I reminded myself as I walked down the street towards the train station, 'You lost that right eleven years ago.'

And it was more than likely I would never get that right back. I had proven myself a failure then, and I hadn't been involved in anything half as important since to suggest otherwise. All I could do was put my heart into my work and hope that something would happen to redeem me. And while that was the idea, I dreaded heading to precinct every night. The city was depending on its officers more and more, and while they offered substantial pay, there was little room left to make mistakes.

Of course, crime was to be expected in a city as large as Konoha, and it wasn't so much the crime that was difficult to deal with but the do-nothing higher-ups. Their incessant requests for status updates and reports of insanely long numbers that they didn't even bother to read drove me insane. I had fantasized about quitting multiple times, but I would no doubt feel the repercussions of that action within days.

As an inspector with twelve sergeants under me, not only would they be at a loss for what to do but the men under them would also feel the effects of their uneasiness and it would inevitably spread throughout the precinct. With everything disrupted, a major spike in criminal activity would surely present itself in the near vicinity.

Just last week, reports found that violent crime had increased by 46%. With that number in mind, it was impossible for me to quit. Knowing that there were criminals out there who were hurting the innocent and could just as easily hurt my wife and child urged me to stick through it. Every officer counted, especially in times like this.

I climbed the steps and was grateful to see a train approaching. After it had slowed and came to a stop, I entered and took a seat next to the far-right exit. I would never forget my training at the police academy, it became a habit to be by the quickest escape route.

As I leaned against the seat, I sighed and shut my eyes for a while, thankful for the silence. It was around the fourth stop that things started getting noisy. Before the train had even pulled into the station, I could hear a commotion and my eyes flipped open. At 10 p.m., the only people I expected to be awake were people working the night shift or the youth.

Thinking these were some youths making noise, I stayed in my seat. It wasn't until I heard a loud CRACK that I sat up straight. Even if they were just fooling around, I couldn't let a gunshot slide. I unholstered my pistol and stepped off the train and onto the platform. A young boy was standing over a bleeding man by the turnstile, still very much awake. Beside them was another man, also flat on the floor and motionless.

"What happened here?" I asked as I checked the pulses of the two men on the floor.

When I confirmed they were both alive, I turned back to the boy to get a good look at him, although a quick glance over him assured I would never forget his face. He had white-blue hair that reached his shoulders, pale skin, and unsettling golden eyes. It wasn't every day you ran into someone that looked like him.

"I asked you a question."

The teen smirked, "These guys tried to hurt me, I defended myself."

Examining the bleeding man, I spotted a bullet entry point in his lower abdomen, "With a gun? What are you doing carrying one of those? And where is it?"

"I didn't have it, this guy did." The boy nodded his head at the man on the ground, "He pulled the trigger, all I did was redirect the gun. If anything, he shot himself."

"Hm." I nodded as I recovered a Glock 45 from under the bleeding man, and I holstered my pistol, "Once the ambulance arrives, I'll take you down to the station to give a statement."

There were obvious blanks in his story, and he had omitted explaining to me how the other man had been incapacitated.

"Mm..." The boy pulled out a phone, the screen lighting up as it turned on, "Not gonna happen."

I narrowed my eyes at him, "What do you mean by that?"

He slowly edged away from me, "It's already past my curfew and if I call my parent to come pick me up from the police station, I'll be in even more trouble. Maybe I'll see ya around, Inspector Sasuke-san!"

He hopped over the turnstile and ran down the corridor.

"*Matte!" I called, preparing to give chase, but I was stopped by something grabbing at my ankle.

I looked down and found the bleeding man holding onto me. He coughed blood onto the floor and I clicked my tongue at the realization that I had probably lost the boy by now.

"That boy—" The man coughed, "That boy is dangerous."

"Dangerous? How?" I questioned, kneeling by him once more and making a mental note of his accent.

He opened his mouth to speak again but lost consciousness, and I caught his head before it could smack into the ground.

Removing my walkie-talkie from my hip, I held down a button on the side, "This is Inspector Uchiha Sasuke, I need an ambulance at the Hokage Avenue train station..."

|40 Minutes Later|

"Late again, Uchiha?" Superintendent Sakasaki chided me, "That's the fourth time this week."

Gritting my teeth, I turned to face him, "Sorry sir, I would've been here earlier, but an incident occurred on my way to work. You can read about it in my report."

He frowned and for a minute I thought he was going to continue with his chastising.

Instead, he shook his head and turned away, "Whatever, next Monday I'll start cracking down on you."

I spat at his feet as soon as he was out of sight before heading to my desk. With a shuffle, I removed my coat and draped it over my chair before sitting down.

"Don't let him get to you like that." I heard a familiar voice from above me.

Looking up, I found Uzumaki Karin peeking over my computer screen. She pushed her glasses back up onto her face before offering me a supportive smile, and I sighed as I logged onto the network.

"I know." I assured her, "Tonight's just not a goodnight."

"Is it ever goodnight when you're working?" She asked, a teasing undertone in her voice.

"No, it's not." I admitted, a smile tugging at the corner of my mouth, "Don't you have rap sheets to go over?"

"I might…I might not." She lowered into her seat and went out of sight, "You'll never know."

I didn't respond to her last attempt at a joke as a new memo opened on the screen. Though Karin had managed to brighten my mood, it was inevitable that something else would counteract her efforts.

"What's going on now?" I quietly asked myself as I read the memo.

URGENT NOTICE

The following statements are to be put in effect next Monday! Due to the recent spike in criminal activity around the city of Konoha:

- All officers are now required to work five 10-hour shifts a week!

- Tardiness will be met with fire and fury!

- One of your off days must be used to guard important figures every month.

- All officers must retake the CPR Certification Test.

- All officers should assemble for a mandatory meeting this Sunday from 5 to 7 p.m.

- East Senju Avenue and Hyūga Boulevard have reached level 4 on the Madara Scale.

- It is advised that…

I closed the memo and covered my face with my hands. Everyone would be required to work more hours, but being an inspector put me at the headlights of the new rotations. And with Sakasaki intent on breathing down my neck, I would be getting the shortest end of the stick.

With a groan, I brought out my phone and checked the time: 10:53 p.m. Sakura should've been fast asleep, and while I usually went straight to bed once I was home, I wondered how she would react to learn I would be coming home later than usual.

Shaking my head, I set my phone aside, 'What are you thinking? You're going to tell her so she can what? Show you some pity? Is that what you want, you fool?'

Before I could continue to berate myself, my sister-in-law Inspector Izumi came to my desk, "Sasuke, The Six are having a meeting and a few of them think you should be present."

I stood up from my seat, "Is Nii-san…?"

She nodded, "He's there."

I followed her up the stairs to the unmistakable *roku room. Its interior was solid, syrup brown wood, with an ash grey carpet encompassing the floor, and in the center stood a large oval black table with six seats surrounding it, already occupied by their six inhabitants.

Izumi closed the door behind me after I entered the room, and I crossed my arms before leaning against the wall.

"Yo, Sasuke." Chief Superintendent Shisui saluted me with two fingers from his seat.

I cracked a smile as I raised my hand to greet him, but when I noticed Sakasaki frowning across from him my lips went back to the firm line they were usually in, "Forgive my forwardness, but why was I called here?"

Senior Superintendent Itachi started, "I'm sure you've read the latest memo. Crime has spiked a ridiculous amount this year and we can only patrol and police so much. For now, we've asked everyone to take on the burden of working an extra day, but the others agree that this is not a permanent solution."

"So now you're asking me as an on-scene officer for my input." I guessed.

"That's right." Commissioner Kakashi nodded, spinning a pen between his fingers, "That won't be a problem, right, Sasuke-kun?"

I looked at him for two seconds before turning my gaze elsewhere, "No sir."

Out of all The Six, he was the most intimidating. At 48-years-old, the Commissioner of Police was not to be taken lightly. Sure, he wasn't out and about patrolling the streets, but as the story goes, when he was in his prime Hatake Kakashi had arrested over two thousand criminals in one month alone.

He was a master in manipulation and disguise, going as far as infiltrating enemy ranks and faking deaths of comrades, all for the sake of putting criminal bosses behind bars. His title was one to be feared: The Konoha Police Department's Copy Cop.

"So," Superintendent Supervisor Might Guy smiled brightly, "What are your thoughts?"

I covered my mouth with a hand, thinking, "The memo said that East Senju Avenue has been bumped up to level four on the Madara Scale. If I'm correct, that's the same place where the Kirigakure prison escapee was caught two years ago."

"Yes, what about it?" Sakasaki rolled his hand.

"Senior Superintendent Itachi was the one that arrested him." I got up off the wall, reminding myself to be calm as I continued, "You suspected he was able to have escaped with the help of an outside organization, but he never confessed so he was just put away. What if the organization that helped him escape is responsible for the crime occurring now?"

"It would explain the sudden rise." Superintendent General Obito nodded, pinching his chin between his fingers, "If this organization was coordinated enough to break him out of a secure jail, they must have enough resources to get the thugs of Konoha to start causing disturbances in order to shift our attention."

"Not just Konoha thugs." I added, "Earlier tonight I came across a strange scene with two men and a teenage boy. Somehow, they'd gotten into a scuffle and the men were armed. Although I only spoke with one of them for a bit, I recognized a Suna accent."

"So they're bringing in people from out of town." Shisui drummed his fingers on the table, "If your hunch is right and they're the ones behind this, we have a serious problem."

"Maybe if Tsunade-san gets lucky, she can make a youth serum and we can inject Kakashi with it, so he can go back to his infiltration days." Guy joked.

"No, those days are over." Kakashi glanced at him, "I'm leaving this to the younger generation."

"Regardless," Shisui brought everyone back to focus, "We need to uncover their agenda. If Sasuke's thinking is on the mark, we'll definitely be looking at a covert operation."

"I can go undercover." Sakasaki offered.

"That's not an option." Obito shook his head, "The Six are too notorious to go undercover. If any of us tried, they'd see through us in an instant and we could lose them before we figure out what they're up to."

"And an average police officer would crack under pressure if they learned how serious this could be." Guy leaned back in his chair, "There's no one with our skill-set who's basically under the radar."

The room was silent except for the whoosh of the ceiling fan and the general hum of the water dispenser.

"There is one person we can trust." Itachi turned to me, smiling slightly, "Are you up for it?"

I raised an eyebrow, "Me? Are you sure?"

"Exactly." Sakasaki sat up, disagreeing with Itachi's suggestion, "Why him?"

"Sasuke is actually the perfect candidate." Shisui countered, turning to Sakasaki, "High up in the ranks but not so high that media knows his name, knows Konoha like the back of his hand, and is an expert at his work."

Sakasaki shook his head, "He can't—"

"I've heard enough." Kakashi raised his hand, silencing any objections, "Shisui and Itachi, look into this organization and if it exists Sasuke-kun will go undercover and find out their agenda, is that understood?"

I saluted him, "Yes sir."

"Good." Obito clapped his hands together as he stood up, "The Commissioner's words are final, this meeting is adjourned."

I waited patiently as they filed out of the room and as the last to leave, Sakasaki bumped into me.

"Don't screw this up." He said in a low voice as he passed by.

I bit my tongue as I stared after him, 'Of course I won't.'

*Matte means wait, and is the shortened version of 'chotto matte kudasai' meaning 'wait a moment please'

*Roku can be read as Six, but depending on the kanji formation, it can also be read as Record. Hence, the Six/Record Room.

|Sakura|

"Ugh! Mama, why?!" Sarada stomped her foot.

"You're really asking me that?" I raised an eyebrow as I popped a grape into my mouth, "You're seriously asking me why I won't allow a fifteen-year-old to go to an unsupervised house party? *Hontōni?"

"It won't be unsupervised." She pushed her glasses back, "Somebody's bound to be over 21."

"Absolutely not." I switched on the TV, changing the HDMI from 1 to 2.

"Please?"

"No." I scrolled through Apple TV's list of apps until I got to Netflix, "Where there's teens, there's drinking, and where there's drinking, there's danger. Even if hell froze over, I'd never allow you to go somewhere so unsafe."

"Mama, come on..." She tried again.

"Sarada, I said no."

"Tch." She clicked her tongue before turning around and muttering under her breath, "You can get like this with me but not Papa."

"What did you say?" I set down the remote, turning to look at her.

"Nothing." She reached for the doorknob.

"No, no, no." I called her back, "Say it loud and clear for me. No child of mine mumbles."

"I-It's not that serious..." A line of sweat slid down the side of her face.

I cracked my knuckles, "Don't make me repeat myself."

Her eyes darted back to the door, and I could see she was contemplating whether or not to make a run for it. Before she could escape, I got up and pressed I got up and pressed my hand against the door.

Realizing she was boxed in with no choice, she sighed, "I-I said, you can get like this with me but not Papa."

"What do you mean not Papa?" I crossed my arms.

"I heard you guys yesterday." She fidgeted in place, "Aunt Ino invited us to dinner, right? You were wondering if Papa could call out sick and come with us, but he said no. You tried to convince him but then he yelled at you and you didn't yell back..."

I was silent.

She threw her hands up in surrender, "I didn't mean to eavesdrop! It was at night, and it was so quiet, when I heard you guys arguing it wasn't hard to listen in."

"It's fine." I patted her head, "It's not your fault."

If Sarada had heard all that, I could only imagine the countless other disagreements Sasuke and I had shared before that she had managed to overhear.

'Oh Kami.' I thought to myself as I looked at her in a new light, 'No wonder why she's being so stubborn.'

In my failure to put my foot down with Sasuke, I was somehow giving Sarada the impression that I was a pushover.

'Not really far from the truth.'

"So..." Sarada looked up at me, "About that party—"

I shook away the voice in my head as I answered, "It's still a no."

"What?!" She frowned, "Why am I the only one being mistreated?"

"Listen," I clamped down on the top of her head, my patience running thin, "You've barely lived life, so I don't expect you to understand but when you're grown up, you'll look back at this and think, Thanks Mom, you really showed me down the right path! So, zip it."

"Unbelievable…" She muttered to herself as she left my room.

Settling back into bed, I pulled the covers over myself as I nestled in to watch the subbed version of the American show: Criminal Minds.

"English sounds so weird." I said to myself as I ate another grape.

I continued snacking on grapes until the episode finished.

"Wow, that was crazy!" I said as I got up and stretched.

A glance at the clock told me the time was 11:32, "Hm, it's not that late."

After a quick trip to the bathroom, I grabbed a bag of chips from my secret stash of snacks and jumped back into bed, "One more episode can't hurt."

One episode turned to two, two turned to three, and three turned into an entire season.

"No!" I yelled at the screen just as the credits started rolling, "What happened to Emily? Is she dead? Fuck, if Doyle really got her…"

I couldn't let things end just like that. Sure, I had finished season 6, but they'd ended things so abruptly.

'Just one more.' I told myself, but as I was about to click continue, I peeked at the clock.

"2 a.m.?" I quickly switched off the TV, "Never mind."

Laying back, I shut my eyes and tried to let sleep take hold of me. Of course, it wouldn't be that easy. After five minutes of shuffling and twisting, I sat up. Counting sheep had never worked for me, and I considered getting up to look for some sleep meds in the bathroom, but when I couldn't remember having any, I waved the option away.

I looked down at the empty spot beside me. Although Sasuke and I barely spoke to each other without the air getting tense, I had to admit that I felt most rested after sleeping beside him. Something about his presence allowed me to relax, even if he was the cause of my heartache during the day. But Sasuke wouldn't be home for another eight hours, and I needed to go to bed now. There was no way he would be able to help.

My eyes moved on from his spot and fell to his black dress shirt crumpled up on the floor. An idea came to mind, and I picked it up.

'Well, maybe he can.'

I removed my nightgown and pulled his shirt on, buttoning it up a bit before I pressed the collar to my nose and took a deep sniff. His usual cologne mixed with his scent was intoxicating, and I sighed it all out, rubbing my legs together. I imagined his hands on me, his lips traversing my skin, his body pressed against mine…

"Sasuke-kun…" I murmured as I ran my hand down to my center and slid my fingers against myself, "Oh Kami…"

It had been ages since I had felt him, and I couldn't even remember the last time we'd kissed.

'Because he's tired of you.'

I shook my head at the negative thought and continued, spreading my legs before rubbing against my entrance. Scrunching my eyes shut, I pushed two fingers inside and bit my lip as I worked at pleasuring myself.

'He's always been tired of you. Can't say I'm surprised. After all, you're stupidity cost you your—'

'Shut up.' I managed to think as I drove my fingers deeper, gasping as I hit my sweet spot.

When I pictured Sasuke on top of me, envisioning him as the cause for my bliss, I felt a spring in my stomach coil up, and I picked up the pace of my thrusts. Searching for some kind of memory to help me with getting off, I managed to recall his low grunts from a while back, and the spring in me snapped.

I bit my lip to muffle my moans as I came apart on the bed, and after many steadying breaths, I loosened up and fell back onto my pillow. Within seconds of shutting my eyes, a wave of tiredness rolled over me and I fell asleep.

*Hontōni means really

|Sasuke|

It hadn't taken Shisui and Itachi more than an hour to do some digging and find that my speculations had been correct. They established contact with a mole in this organization who had been looking to come to the authorities.

While there were initial concerns that it could be a trap, those concerns faded away as the mole provided us with two crucial pieces of information. First, the organization was called Akatsuki, and while that sounded vaguely familiar, Itachi told me not to worry my head about it, as he would be sending out feelers for anything under that name. The next piece of information could technically have been broken into three. The mole informed us that Akatsuki not only operated at a multi-regional level, but that they had recently moved their base of operations close to Konoha.

"Did they say where?" I asked after Shisui was done speaking.

Shisui shook his head, "Things can't be that easy."

After that, Itachi and Shisui urged me home, telling me that they would get more details before completely explaining everything.

Pushing work out of my mind, I entered my home and immediately found it to be too quiet.

'It's 7 a.m. on a Saturday.' I reminded myself as I climbed the stairs, 'They're asleep.'

When I reached the top, I decided to peek into Sarada's room, and I was a bit surprised to find her bed empty. I completely opened her door and stepped inside to get a good look at the scene. Her favorite sandals were missing from their spot, the smell of her usual perfume lingered in the air, and her black satchel was gone.

Surmising that she had gone out, I shut her door and headed to the master bedroom. I pushed the door as softly as I could before stepping inside and shutting it behind me just as quietly. When I turned around, what I saw was a sight for sore eyes: Sakura was curled up on my side of the bed wearing my black shirt from yesterday. Nothing but my black shirt.

I swallowed silently as I shook her, "Oi, Sakura. Sakura, *okiro."

"W-What…?" She mumbled as she rolled over, turning away from me.

"Sarada's not in the house."

She nodded into the pillow, "She told me she was meeting up with Chōchō, I gave her permission."

With that resolved, I sat down on the edge of the bed and removed my boots. I set aside the left leg and started undoing the laces of the right, but just as I set down the right leg, I felt a weight settle against my back, and towards my center back I felt twin peaks poking into me.

"Sakura...what are you doing?" I asked, trying to stay rational.

She brought her face against mine and breathed her desire into my ear, "Sarada's not here, and she won't be back for a couple hours. This is the perfect time to…"

I kept my eyes forward as she pressed her lips to the side of my face. If I looked at her right now, nothing would stop me from ravaging her. An erection began to rise at the imagery in my mind and I quickly tried to calm myself.

'You can't, you fool.' I reminded myself, 'You don't deserve her.'

"Gomen, Sakura, but I can't." I lightly pushed her away, "I have a really important task coming up and there's all these new rules…I'm not in the mood."

"Oh." She let go, completely sliding off my back, "Okay. I'll just…do you want breakfast?"

The disappearance of her warmth at my back made me grimace but I quickly composed myself and hoped that she hadn't caught it.

"I'm fine." I moved my boots out of the way and laid down in bed, turning away from her.

'You have no right.' I repeated to myself as I shut my eyes, 'You have no right.'

I felt her get up and go around the bed before the door opened, "I'm gonna go eat."

Her voice wavered towards the end, and I felt a lump form in my throat.

"Mm." I hummed, not trusting my voice to remain neutral if I said anything else.

The door clicked shut and I opened my eyes, tightening my fists and fighting back the urge to yell. Why couldn't I hug her? Why couldn't I kiss her?

'Why did I fail back then?' I thought to myself as I wiped my face.

I couldn't stop my mind from replaying the events of Sunagakure. The panic, the screaming, the blood…due to my hotheaded stupidity, I wasn't there when Sakura needed me the most, and my pride had caused us to lose what we could never regain.

'And you want to feel her?' I laughed uncannily.

I had always known in my heart that I had a long way to go before I could fully atone for my mistakes, and even after eleven years, I still felt that I was nowhere near redeeming myself. This operation had to succeed; although nothing could change the past, the success of this mission could brighten the future.

With my mind in a tumble, I shut my eyes and tried to rest.

*Okiro means wake up