New story summary in the first chapter.
These are not my characters.
November 16th, 2003
The Konoha Police Department responded to a call at 6:47 yesterday morning about an alarming finding along the Konoha River. A local resident reported finding desecrated body parts on the beach. Upon further investigation, the police clarified that the severely desecrated remains of two bodies were found. Chief Uchiha stated in a press release at 3:00 pm that the bodies remained unidentified at this time, but they are working tirelessly to identify the victims.
The discovery of remains comes seven days after Konoha's most beloved couple, Minato and Kushina Namikaze, were reported missing from their Leaf County home. The couple was first reported missing when a close friend found their infant son home alone.
A friend of the family who would like to remain anonymous claims that "something had to be really, really wrong. Minato and Kushina were over the moon to be parents. They would have never left their child alone. Ever."
When asked if the disappearance of the Namikaze's could be related to the discovery along the Konoha River, Chief Uchiha says that the police force is looking into all possibilities. Still, there is currently not enough evidence to determine the identities of the individuals.
Friday, September 13, 2017
Hinata sometimes hated herself.
Not always. But sometimes.
Sometimes it was a strong feeling that swept over her and left her weak and hollow. Other times it was a whisper in her ear that someone else would do it better. Be better.
When she was home, these feelings multiplied. She hated herself for having the wrong emotions. She resented her sister when she should have been proud to have protected her.
She saw his eyes in her father- in Neji, and it made her hate them, if only for a moment.
She thought of times when she could have pushed back harder. Said no louder.
People made assumptions about her personality because she was shy; because she stuttered and blushed; because she had a soft, gentle voice. People made assumptions about her because of her big doe eyes, which were an innocent pale lavender.
They thought she was virtuous, naïve, pure, and good. Hinata knew she was none of those. She was corrupted, shattered, and full of wretched emotions, carefully suppressed behind her sweet voice and dark lashes.
Innocent, pure, good girls weren't happy when people got cancer. They weren't happy when people were too weak and sick to function. They weren't happy when someone died young. They weren't happy when everyone around them was grieving.
Sometimes, Hinata was filled with hatred and sadness, and loathing.
Sometimes. But not always.
"Always alone and brooding, huh?"
Sasuke looked up from his cup, his face blank as usual. He was slouched against a wall in a room still buzzing with people but slightly removed from the most crowded part of the party.
"Sakura." He greeted her before looking back down at his drink. She assumed he didn't want to talk to her, but she ignored her better judgment and slid down the wall beside him.
"What're you drinking?" She tried again, hoping to be friendlier this time.
"Probably what you are." Sakura hardly knew what she was drinking. She had tried to watch Kiba make the drink before handing her the red solo cup. She hadn't actually thought he would tamper with it, but her mother had harped on her to assume every drink she hadn't made herself was drugged. Sakura was fairly new to drinking and didn't know what portions were appropriate. She had watched Kiba pour unmeasured amounts of clear liquor and Sprite.
"Vodka and Sprite?" She asked, wondering herself if that was what the liquor was. Kiba had assured her it was weak, but she had no real way to know. She had little to compare it to.
Sasuke shrugged, and Sakura took another sip of her drink. She winced slightly, suspecting was more vodka in her cup than Kiba realized, given the astringent taste.
"I actually haven't drunk much before." She smiled at him
"Yeah, you're making that pretty obvious." He eyed her cup.
She instantly felt self-conscious. Was he referring to her reaction? The way she was talking to him? As always, his demeanor made her feel like she was doing something gravely wrong. Her self-consciousness was short-lived, though. She quickly resumed the conversation with the inflated confidence of someone who knew she looked good in her cheerleading uniform, had spent twenty minutes curling her hair, and maybe had a shot (2?) of vodka (tequila?) in her cup.
"You're such a jerk." She nudged him playfully, taking another sip. "So I take it you have?"
Sasuke nodded.
"I guess that happens when you have older siblings." She mused.
Sasuke stayed quiet for a moment. Finally, he sighed.
"I haven't seen him since I was twelve, so the two are definitely not related."
Sakura covered her eyes with one hand. "Oh my God, Sasuke, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to bring that up." She internally berated herself. She needed to put the drink down. What was she thinking, talking about his brother- the prime suspect in the murder of his family??
Sasuke didn't respond, and Sakura suffered a minute of agonizing silence. She was about to apologize again when a familiar voice squealed to her from behind.
"Foreheadddddd." Sakura turned around and saw her best friend.
Ino's arm was slung over Shikamaru's shoulder. He looked slightly exasperated.
"Sakura, let me try your drink." He nodded toward her cup. Sakura was confused, but she trusted Shikamaru implicitly: he was pure logic, so he had to be asking for a reason. She handed out her cup and waited as he took a sip.
"Christ." He scowled. "Kiba's trying to get all the girls wasted. You should probably stop for a while. This is twice as strong as mine."
Kiba was perfectly buzzed, and one of his favorite songs had just come on. He was feeling pretty good when he heard his name whined in the long, drunken way only intoxicated girls seemed able to make.
"Kiiiibaaaa," Ino said loudly, grabbing onto his shoulder to stabilize herself as she stumbled toward him. He grabbed her by the hip to keep her steady.
"You okay there, Ino?" He grinned at the drunk girl with a confident smirk.
"Im soooo so good." She giggled excessively, "your parties are the bessst." She leaned into him a little more and grabbed his hand that wasn't still planted on her hip, keeping her upright.
"Yuh know Kiba, I feel like we hardly know each other. It's so crazy cuz we've gone to school together for, like, so long." The blonde trailed her thumb up his hand, to his forearm, and slowly his bicep where his muscles met his short sleeves. Her manicured fingers stopped at the fabric, settling there. He could hardly help the arrogant grin that covered his face. Ino Yamanaka was hot-as-fuck, and she made it clear in one sentence that she was into him. He would absolutely play along.
"Sooo long." He responded, mirroring her drawn-out vowels, pulling her closer to lean into her ear. "Do you know what I think would help us get to know each other better?"
Ino giggled and smiled up at him, "what?"
"Shots." He spoke into her ear like it was a secret.
"Oh my God, yesssssss. You are so smart." The blonde squeezed his arm a little and gave him a flirtatious look.
He was totally getting laid tonight, and he had barely tried.
"Want me to show you where the good stuff is?" He asked, grabbing her hand and pulling her away from the crowd.
"What's the good stuff?
"Whatever we find in my dad's office." He smirked at her and pulled her to a door away from the rest of their classmates. "He keeps his best stuff there so he can impress clients."
"Oh my God, my dad does that too. He's like always name-dropping bourbon that no one cares about."
Kiba pulled the girl through the door and then dropped her hand as he started looking for something they could take shots of. He didn't think the blonde would be too impressed by aged scotch. When he found an artistically packaged tequila bottle, he figured it would do the trick. He pulled two rocks glasses off a display shelf and poured them both generous portions.
"Do you want a salt and lime, or do you want to see how smooth the good stuff really is?" He handed her the glass, willing her to deny the accoutrements.
The blonde took the glass from his hand and gave him a sly smile. "Let's just go for it." She tapped her glass against his in a gentle cheers and then tipped her head back. Kiba watched with a strange kind of admiration as the gorgeous girl finished her shot like she'd had years of practice. He took his quickly and grinned at her setting their glasses down. She was leaning against the wall of darkly stained bookshelves, looking slightly flushed from the alcohol. He closed some distance between them so they were just a few inches apart.
"How'd you learn to take a shot like that?" he asked, his voice taking on the husky tone it did when he was going in for the kill.
"How did you?" she countered, dodging the question with a coy look.
"I've been crashing my sister's parties for like four years." He watched the blonde's brows furrow as she tried to do the simplest drunken math.
"But, you were like eleven?" he frowned for a minute. He supposed he hadn't actually been taking shots that long. He mostly tried to snag beer in his middle school days. He had only gotten bolder in the last year. She didn't need to know that, though. It would ruin his street cred.
"Yeah, when I have kids, there's no way I'm leaving them alone like my parents have." He leaned in so his lips brushed her ear, "there are way too many opportunities for trouble." He brought both hands to her hips and ran them smoothly up her torso behind her back. She smiled at him but then extricated herself from his touch. She looked at him mischievously and walked back to the bottle of tequila. She poured more tequila into their glasses, and Kiba couldn't help but notice she clearly had no gauge for how much alcohol was in a shot. The glasses each had at least two, maybe three. His dad probably didn't want that tequila anyway….
If she wanted to drink, he wouldn't protest. He raised a brow at her, and she flashed her gorgeous smile, handing him a glass.
"Cheers to doing the opposite of our parents." She sighed before tipping her head back again. She sputtered about halfway through, unable to take the full amount. He grabbed the glass from her and tugged her hip closer to him so he was pressed against her now.
"Don't drink too much," he murmured, leaning closer to kiss her just under her ear.
"Wow, sooo bossy," she sighed as he began kissing from her neck to her collarbone.
"I'm just looking out for you," he paused, looking up at her face. "You'll be on the floor if you drink all of that. I've been there."
She pouted, "it's how all the heroines in chick flicks deal with their existential crises, so I figured I'd give it a try." She picked up her glass and started drinking the rest of the contents.
Kiba shook his head but let her keep going. Who was he to stop her. "What's this existential crisis all about?" He asked. Finally, he grabbed her glass and drank the last sip for himself. It was mercy, really. He was just doing her a favor.
She scowled at him and lightly slapped his shoulder, "Heeeyyyy," she whined, "I needed that."
He backed her toward the shelf and put one of his hands through her silky blonde hair behind her ear, the other hand around her body resting on the shelf. "I've got a better solution for that existential crisis," he murmured as his lips slowly covered hers.
She was the best kisser he'd been with. She was less awkward and more confident than even some of the upperclassmen he'd kissed. He knew many guys his age wouldn't have had half of his patience hooking up with a gorgeous, passionate girl who seemed to know what she was doing. Kiba applauded himself on his ability to draw things out. He'd take it slow and make her beg.
He kissed her for several minutes before he could tell she was becoming impatient. Her movements were becoming more desperate but also sloppier. Her kisses were unrestrained, and his name was slurred on her lips. Was she that into it, or was she that drunk? He thought his answer came moments later when she dropped to her knees. She leaned forward, and her hands were on him, and he could feel himself becoming more desperate too. Then the real reason for her lack of restraint and finesse became apparent.
He watched in displeasure as the beautiful girl covered her mouth and stood up quickly, running toward the door. Yep. She was wasted, and she was about to puke.
He should have been more disappointed, but he wasn't. He was grateful, she had stumbled away so quickly, and he hadn't had to watch her vomit all over his dad's office. Or him. Life was full of small miracles if you looked for them, he supposed.
Shikamaru had been watching his best friends all night. He watched one with pride and one with concern. He beamed as he watched Chouji happily munching on chips with his crush. She had commandeered an entire bowl of Doritos for herself and was laughing at something Chouji had said. He had never imagined Chouji would have such effortless romantic success this year. He hoped it would continue for his friend.
Ino, on the other hand, was making his head hurt.
He had never dealt with a depressed Ino before, but that's what he had suspected she had been feeling for the past two weeks since her parents announced their divorce. She was different, and he could hardly explain it. He should have been happy she'd been a little quieter lately. He should have been relieved that her aggressive confidence had been toned down to that of a normal person, but he wasn't. It was all wrong.
He'd watched her throw herself at Kiba tonight and was overwhelmed with rage when it took Kiba less than five minutes to pull her away. His disdain must have been apparent because one of the sophomores from the chess club, Neji, walked up to him holding out a beer.
"Take it." He said with a nod. "I hate that fucking dude." He looked over at Kiba as he and Ino disappeared out of sight. Shikamaru didn't know either Hyuuga well, but the glowering man's hatred for Kiba made sense to him in a way. He knew Hinata was very close to Kiba, despite their friendship being such an odd pairing. Hinata was shy and innocent, and Kiba was raucous and raunchy. Given that Neji had always been protective of his little cousins, Shikamaru understood why he hated the guy.
It was about 30 minutes later when he saw a flash of blonde hair coming out of the hallway. He saw her stumble into the bathroom, and it only took him about three seconds to deduce that she was probably throwing up. He sighed, placed his beer down next to him, and walked away from the crowd toward the hallway. He knocked on the bathroom door and called her name. The response was a moan and the nauseating sound of his friend vomiting.
"'S'that you, Shika?" He heard her voice through the door.
"It's me." He confirmed.
"Ughhhh… will you get me water?" He heard her groan through the door. A minute later, he returned with the water, and she let him inside the small bathroom. She looked pathetic, lying in fetal position on the floor, her short red cheer skirt disheveled, and the blonde hair she was so obsessive about maintaining was a mess.
He knelt down next to her, and she groaned in acknowledgment. "Shika, everthingsss spinning."
Shikamaru sighed, "Ino, when did you get so drunk?"
"Mmmmmm… I dunno… maybe ihwus the tequila shos."
Well, this was troublesome.
"When did you take tequila shots?" He sighed.
"S' with Kiba." She turned her head so her forehead was on the tile floor.
"Ino, you probably don't want your face on the bathroom floor…." He sighed.
"Mmmmmmmm…"
Dammit. Shikamaru knelt down closer to her and pulled her head up, trying to position her upright
"Can we go back to the party?" She murmured, eyes still closed. He laughed lightly.
"No, I think we'd better get you back to the dorms. Let's hang out for a few minutes, though, in case you get sick again. She slumped in his lap, and the two stayed there quietly until she agreed she was ready to return to campus.
Monday, September 16, 2017
Jiraiya was prepared this time. He had uncorked a bottle of wine and already had the glasses on the counter for when Tsunade came over. She had another meeting with the administration this evening, and based on the last one, he knew she would come demanding wine. He just hoped she would be her typical angry, passionate self and not hurt and sad like the last time. He could hardly deal with that.
It was almost seven when she let herself in with the spare key he'd given her over a decade ago. When he didn't hear her angry rant, he became hopeful that she'd possibly had a good meeting. One look at her face dismissed this idea. She was ashen and uncharacteristically silent.
"Tsunade?" Jiraiya prompted, attempting to make eye contact.
"It's happening again." She said coldly, "a student is missing."