Bleach
Dark and scarce with oxygen, Temari barely survives inside the killer's trunk. After the bumpy ride, they arrived on the street that seems like a normal neighborhood. It was already midnight and everybody was now asleep.
The night scythe lifted her up, using the remaining energy she has, she tried to counter his grip and kick him to escape. But still, he drags her inside his garage which was filled with thick plastic and soaked in bleach. The killer throws her on the cemented cold ground and Temari resigns herself from the struggle.
"Call your brother" he spoke while removing the duct tape from her mouth, Temari groaned in pain.
"You fucking idiot! Do you think I know where Gaara is?"
"I'm going to cut your dirty mouth if you speak to me again that way!"
"I-DON'T-KNOW-WHERE-HE-IS" she yelled in her frustrated tone
The killer half turned and swung his hand to her face "I told you not to talk to me that way!"
"You killed my brother" Temari mumbled while her cheeks kissed the ground
He wickedly laughs "Your brother is weak and…dumb!"
"Kankuro is not a fucking dumb!"
"Then why did he surrender himself to me? What do you call that hmmm? Temari?"
"What did you do to him!?" she yelled out of anger
The night scythe laughed again, this time it was louder "I'll give you a little tour from the past, shall we?"
"You see, Kiba was getting quite a hindrance to my business. With Senator Sato, the business we have, my protection to him….and Kiba discovered it. I said to that jerk to keep his mouth shut but I found out that he told everything to Kankuro and Gaara. So, I began a little murder spree on their cabin"
"You're going to regret what you've done! I'm going to drag you to hell!"
"Unfortunately, your brothers escaped so I make sure they will be behind bars so I could see them, manipulate them, and make sure they will disappear in this world. Well, Kankuro was the easiest. He just asked me to write a letter, a fucking useless letter that no one ever saw"
The killer didn't know that Temari already read the letter, he continues his speech with confidence while she listened to every word he spoke.
"After he wrote, I choke him with the blanket and then hanged him. I make sure it was done naturally as a suicide. He did not say a single word. I cleaned his case flawlessly and I'm glad that I have the power to do that. Impressive right? Big sister?" he mocked her
Emotions start to consume her, and Temari starts to feel that she's having another panic attack. Her breathing starts to strike a pain in her lungs and her vision becomes blurry every second.
"And your other brother Gaara? He fucking escaped when I'm murdering your brother. I bet it runs in the genes, being a coward and dumb? Once I cut your head, your face will be in front of every newspaper and your brother will be here to claim you. I'm ready to decapitate that redhead after you"
.
.
.
.
He was frozen the moment his feet touched the tiled floor of her apartment. It was empty, cold, and dark. Contemplating if Temari ride the last train that night or if something bad happened. Either way, her presence left the four corners of the apartment.
"Temari?" he called her name slowly
Only silence and emptiness of the room responded to him. He walked towards the living room to check; a gasp of horror escaped his mouth when he saw her phone on the ground broken into pieces. His feet walked backward leading to her bedroom when the untouched luggage almost tripped him.
"No—No, this is not happening" his fingers run through his hair while his breathing becomes heavier and shallow like it was longing for air.
Panic stirred inside of him, Shikamaru immediately run to his car and starts to drive his way to the person he knows that could help him. Sweats starts to form on his temples and his quivering hand fished out the phone from his pocket. He dialed Neji's phone number and after a few rings, he answered.
"Neji—Neji, listen…Listen to me, help me find Temari. She's missing….Please…I'm heading my way to your house" he pleaded
"Shikamaru? It's already midnight. She's missing? How many hours is she missing?"
"It doesn't matter, I need you to help me tonight. We need to find her" he put the phone on speaker mode and toss it to the front passenger seat while his hand starts to grab the steering wheel.
"Can you calm down, please? You know that she needs to be away for at least 24 hours to consider a missing person"
He stomps the steering wheel out of frustration "Listen, I'm not going to sit here and do nothing! Just stay there and I'm going to your place. I need your help tonight, please help me on this one Neji"
Neji clears his throat "I'm afraid I cannot, I'm having my vacation out of town. I'm sorry Shikamaru. Can you call Asuma or Jiraiya? Sasuke? Sakura? Or Shino? I think they're free to help you?"
He released a deep sigh "It's alright, I'm sorry to disturb your vacation. I'll probably be going to call them. Bye Neji"
After he drops the call, his fingers glide through his screen and called the people that Neji mentioned. Asuma was busy that night and was having dinner with his fiancé, Kurenai and he did not want to ruin it so he called Jiraiya next. Tsunade answered the call and told him that his senior detective was now drunk on the floor after a few sessions of alcohol. Then he called Sasuke but he was on a mission, far from Konoha, in the land of rivers with Sakura to gather information on the case they are currently handling.
He feels hopeless, his hands start to grip the steering wheel tighter as he slowly dissociates from himself. He moved his gaze to the right while waiting at a stop light, Mushi street.
"Shino" he whispered
That's where Shino's home is, when the green light flashes he immediately turns his wheel to the right and strolls the street where Shino was living. It was a quiet and peaceful neighborhood so he makes sure that he was not making any loud noises while driving to Shino's house.
When he arrived at Shino's house, he parked his car in front and walked to his door. Shikamaru was praying that he was free tonight to help him to find his lover, his finger immediately pressed the doorbell and waited for Shino to appear. The door opened after a few rings and he was greeted by his colleague that was still dressed in a formal suit, a big collar covering his lower face where he hides the large cut from cheek to cheek.
A faint smell of bleach escaped from the inside of his home catch Shikamaru's attention the most.
He knows Shino is a man of few words so he spoke first "Shino, thank God you're still up. Can you help me tonight?"
Shikamaru instantly entered his home which makes Shino stutter "What do you need?"
"Temari is missing, I need you to help me. Please just this one, I really need your help"
"Temari?" Shino curiously asked
"Yeah, my girlfriend. She's missing and I'm afraid something bad happened to her"
"The suspect that was pinned on the board? The blonde girl from the burlesque club?" Shino turn around and slowly walked to the table where the gin and whiskey were sitting, he poured one to serve it to his uninvited guest.
In the garage, Temari heard his voice, she recognized his voice and a faint hope just entered her soul. Still in the middle of her panic attack, she tried to crawl near the door where it leads to the killer's living room. Every push she made felt like a good depiction of hell's punishment.
She stops crawling when she needs to breathe, tears start gliding down her cheeks from all the struggle she did just to make her way to the door. Her skin was numb from the coldness of the cement but she didn't mind, the low voice of her lover that was echoing across the door gives warmth to her stressed condition.
Temari tried to call his name but her body was now quivering from the panic attack, making her voice hard to create a single word. With every push she did, she called his name but the killer's garage was too condensed and was enfolded in plastic, making the sound hard to escape.
"You look horrible. Take a sip" Shino offered him a whiskey in a glass.
"I'm not really-I need to find her now. I'll drive tonight, help me locate her in the city. Now…immediately" he placed his hands in a praying position, begging Shino to start making a move to find her with him because every minute would become a waste if they didn't start their search.
"I said sip, you need to calm your nerves" Shino demanded
Shikamaru squeezed the skin between his brows "After I drank this whiskey, we go"
"Alright but If we haven't seen her at 6 in the morning, we will leave everything to the police. I need to sleep too you know"
"I understand, helping me tonight is such a great help. I'll handle the rest when you get home, I just need to wait till the police department opens at 8 so I could assign someone to search for her."
Shino laughed; it was his first time hearing his laugh. It was different, more wicked like it didn't fit Shino's usually stoic and impassive attitude.
"Why her? Of all the women Shikamaru, why her? She looks like a murderer from Suna"
Shikamaru was left stunned by what he said, he could not believe that Shino would judge her like that. Probably because Kiba's death was linked almost to Temari and anger just playfully running inside his heart. Nonetheless, Shino was there to help him that night to find her.
"She's different and she's not a murderer. I can prove it to you and to the department" he runs his palms through his face after the realization that she's still missing and tension starts to rise up inside him "I fucking need to see her safe. I need to see her tonight, tomorrow, and every passing day"
"You need to start separating your feelings from your Job Shikamaru. I can feel that your judgment becomes hazy and clouded by your obsession with her. She's still one of the possible murderers until proven innocent" he impassively said while drinking the gin from his glass.
"I hate that you judge her like that Shino" still in a sitting position, he leaned his body close to him to spill the words loud and clear to his face.
"You hate that I called her murderer?" he teasingly said
"Please...Stop calling her that!" he stomps the glass to his table while his voice starts to become louder.
Shino stood up from his seat and mumbled a word "Like her brothers"
It was almost a whisper but Shikamaru caught it from his mouth. His eyes widened from shock, he heard it clearly and he wanted to confirm if Shino just really said it.
"What did you just say?" he asked
"What?" Shino turn around and responded
"You said like her brothers"
"I didn't say anything. You're being delusional Shikamaru" a weak struggle from his breathing becomes noticeable when he speaks.
Shikamaru knows who Shino was talking about when he mumbled Like her brothers. It was obvious that he was pertaining to Gaara and Kankuro.
"How did you know about her brothers Shino? How did you know that her brothers were Gaara and Kankuro?"
The pressure starts to rise up and the silence in the room becomes louder. An almost fading struggle and squealing voice of a woman starts to reverberate from his garage.