Disclaimer: these characters belong to Kishimoto (and Sasha belongs to whoever wrote Attack on Titan)

Warnings/notes:

-light political discussion (I like to think I keep things very even present both sides)

-this contains a scene with Hinata talking to her therapist about some of her thoughts and feelings surrounding sexual abuse. I am NOT a therapist and Dr. Haruno is a figment of my imagination. Please do not take anything I write as advice.

-I will slowly be going back through the chapters and getting rid of the "2017" dates. I will just be referring to past and present from here on. The reasons I chose 2017 in the first place were stupid and arbitrary, so I figured I'd just change it.

September 22

3 Years Prior

Izumi had worked her ass off to make detective, so it was infuriating to her that Itachi Uchiha acted like he had just as much experience.

The asshole had nepotism on his side, along with a degree in criminal justice. He had only been hired by the KPD (by his father) two months ago, but already he was allowed to go on a covert operation. Izumi had needed to do grunt work for years before that—all because she didn't have a fancy degree and her parents weren't in charge.

She had tried to establish her role as lead detective on the case (he wasn't even a detective yet), but he kept acting infuriatingly superior when they'd touched base over email.

She didn't know him well, but they were set to meet any minute now to debrief on their assignment, and for the benefit of their team she'd have to keep her indignation in check.

This case had been her life for several years now, and she knew the details backwards and forwards.

The KPD had been watching a vigilante group called the Akatsuki for years. The group itself housed petty and overt criminals alike, but the KPD was more interested in the intelligence they had acquired on other more malicious criminals.

The Akatsuki didn't always use legal methods to extract information on criminals and organizations, but they were usually successful, often when they KPD itself wasn't.

There were several operatives who had already infiltrated the group, but Izumi and Itachi would be the newest. Whereas Izumi had worked relentlessly to get to this point, Itachi found the opportunity effortlessly. He was given the case because he was the right age and aesthetic for the assignment.

When she saw his familiar head of dark hair approach the door, she waved him over to her desk. He walked over, holding two paper cups, and gestured at her with one as he sat down across from her.

"Coffee? I grabbed an extra in case,"

Well damn if he wasn't charming. She was a sucker for caffeine.

"Playing the doting lover already?" She quipped. They would be under the guise of a couple during their time with the Akatsuki. She hardly knew the guy at all, but she would need to change that quickly. She reached out and took the coffee from his hand flashing a grateful smile. She'd play nice.

"I figured we'd be talking for while, and we might want something to keep us going," he shrugged taking a sip from his own cup.

"So I'm guessing you've looked everything over?" She asked returning her gaze to a Manila folder her assignment details were tucked in. They had been given new identities and their initial objective was simply to gain trust within the group. They'd be going to Rain County a few miles away where the group leaders were located. Rain County was a grungier version of Konoha. It was less socioeconomically stable and tended to have more crime.

"I did. It looks like you've already met several of the members?"

"One. A man named Deidara. He invited me to one of the events we're going to. Unfortunately, he did not realize I'd have a 'boyfriend' and he might be a bit irritated about that."

Izumi had managed to spend about three hours with one of the members in a dive bar. One of their informants within the Akatsuki had given her some tips to hit it off with the blonde man, and Izumi used them to get an invitation to an unofficial meet up with some of the other members. She and Itachi would be attending that meeting together.

"I have a copy of the report I wrote somewhere…" Izumi opened one of her drawers to look through the files, "Deidara's an idealist. An artist who believes society should be a certain way. He believes justice should be obtained by any means necessary. I still haven't figured out what led him to join the Akatsuki."

"Not a missing person?" Itachi asked.

"Well yeah, but I don't know who." The KPD had learned that many of the Akatsuki members were interested in the unsolved missing persons cases throughout Konoha and Rain counties.

While Konoha experienced higher profile missing persons cases, such as the Trust Fund Killer cases, Rain County experienced more frequent cases. Over the past few decades, over one hundred people had been reported missing and never found. In a small county like Rain, this was not to be expected.

From the intel already gathered on the Akatsuki, many members felt that police and detectives were bungling the cases. They often felt they needed to take cases into their own hands to have any hope of solving them.

For this reason, Itachi and Izumi were to assume fabricated identities of a young couple who were enraged by the police's handling of their missing loved one.

"Well I guess we'll figure that out then." Itachi sighed. "Tell me everything you do know," he demanded as Izumi gave up looking for the particular file.

She looked at the darker haired man before her. She was annoyed that the partner assigned to the case was such a rookie, but she couldn't complain about his looks. She wouldn't mind pretending to be his girlfriend from a physical perspective. Only time would tell if she felt the same way about his personality.

She wouldn't hold her breath.

Monday, October 27

Present Day

"Let's take a breeaakkkk," Naruto whined, thumping his forehead onto his desk. Sakura was sitting a few feet away on Sasuke's nearly-made bed, holding up flashcards for his biology test tomorrow.

Naruto was in danger of failing biology, and since Sakura was in AP Bio, she had offered to help him study.

"No, Naruto. Stop avoiding the question, and answer something."

"But I'm huungryyyy," he complained, ignoring her glare.

"You just ate. You're literally insatiable, and we are not getting more food until you finish these notecards,"

Naruto moaned, lifting his head from the desk. "A something square…."

"Okay, that's something, at least... you got the shape right," she rolled her eyes," It's a punnet square," Sakura corrected, flipping over another card.

"What's an example of an autosomal recessive disorder?"

"OHH OHH, I know this one!" Naruto jumped from his chair animatedly. "PHENOTYPE!"

Sakura sighed heavily,

"No…I think you got mixed up with the 'P-H.' It's phenylketonuria. You should also remember cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sach's, and sickle-cell,"

Naruto groaned and put his head back on the desk, covering it with his arms. Why would scientists make such stupid long words? And why the hell did he need to know them?

"Why do I even have to knowwww this?" He asked, his voice muffled by his arms.

"Maybe you'll decide to be a doctor one day," Sakura said happily.

"God forbid," a voice said from the doorway. Naruto lifted his head to see Sasuke entering their room. He hadn't seen much of his roommate in the last week. Every since Itachi's death, he'd been distant. When he did see him, he pretended like everything was normal.

"Bastard, I'd be a fantastic doctor," Naruto countered.

Sasuke chose to ignore that comment and instead scowled at Sakura.

"Why are you on my bed?"

"Because there's a higher chance you wash your sheets regularly than Naruto."

Sakura had good reason to think this. She could almost see an imaginary line drawn through their room. Sasuke's side was minimalistic and tidy. He made his bed and kept his desk orderly and clean.

Naruto's side of the room looked like it belonged to an unsupervised toddler. Discarded clothes littered the floor, a small waste basket overflowed, and his desk was covered in junk.

Sasuke seemed to accept this answer and wordlessly moved toward his desk.

"How are you doing?" Sakura asked hesitantly, forcing herself to stare at her nails instead of Sasuke.

"I'd be better if you quit asking," he responded, not even glancing at her as he pulled a textbook from his backpack to lay on his desk.

Sakura looked at Naruto, silently pleading for assistance. They had both tried to talk to Sasuke several times throughout the week. They hadn't expected him to be forthcoming, but the way he dismissed his brother's death since he'd returned to school disturbed both of them.

"You know… my mom is really good at helping people through loss," she tried despite the full knowledge he wouldn't be receptive. She didn't know why she thought mentioning therapy was a good idea, but she had to say something for her own building anxiety.

"Fuck off, Sakura," he glared at her but kept his tone neutral.

"Don't talk to her like that!" Naruto acted scandalized, even though "fuck off" had become a bit of a catchphrase for Sasuke this past week. Sakura rolled her eyes and stood up from the bed, smoothing out the bed behind her.

"Fine. I've had enough of both of you. "

"I've only been here for like two minutes," Sasuke defended, his eyes now glued to his text.

"And you've been completely charming in that time," She said sarcastically, pulling her backpack on.

"Naruto, you need to go through this deck at least two more times," she stated, handing him the stack of notecards.

Sakura left feeling defeated. She wished she could help them both more, but she knew neither Naruto's academic success nor Sasuke's mental health was up to her.

She always left interactions like that with Sasuke feeling upset with herself. It wasn't his words—she wasn't offended that he'd told her to "fuck off." She was mad at herself for liking someone who treated her so poorly. Once again, she was left wondering why she wanted the guy who cursed at her and not the one who defended her. What was wrong with her??

Sakura didn't understand why she liked him so much. She secretly thought only girls with daddy issues went for troubled guys. She tried to assure herself that she didn't like the dysfunctional part of him—she liked him in spite of his assholish tendencies. She knew there was a small lie in that, though. Of course, she didn't like that he was a jerk to her. She did have to acknowledge, though, that it made the times when he was nice to her (or even just generally tolerant of her) completely swoon-worthy.

He had once acknowledged that she was smart, and her heart had to have jumped out of her body she'd been so thrilled. It was pathetic, really.

She also couldn't deny that she had a pathological need to make others like her, and the more he resisted, the more she wanted him to.

And then, finally, there was the fact that she wanted to be the one to break through his rough exterior. She wanted to be the one to get to know who he really was. She wanted to know his pain and vulnerability. She wanted to be the one he drew closer when he pushed everyone else away.

So, all in all, no, she couldn't pretend she didn't like him for some of his more dysfunctional qualities. They only added to her attraction, and she knew that was messed up. She could at least say they weren't the only reasons she liked him.

She was confused by her own feelings, and she knew her mother would be horrified.

She shook her head as she fished out the key to her dorm room. She and Ino had become religious about keeping it locked since Konohamaru's abduction.

She entered her room and saw Ino sprawled out on her Anthropologie duvet, reading a book for English class. There was some small comfort in the fact that she wasn't the one who had been moping around for a week about having to go to a tropical resort for Thanksgiving. At least she wasn't the only one who was crazy.

Hinata had been seeing Dr. Haruno for over two months now, and she had been able to relax around her significantly. She wrote almost everything she told Dr. Haruno in her journal first. It seemed to help to get some of the discomforts out of the way ahead of time. She had even handed Dr. Haruno pages of the journal to her to read when she had a hard time speaking her thoughts. Overall, it had increased their communication immensely, and Hinata had felt like they had finally been able to do some deeper work because of it.

Today Hinata didn't want to dig up her deepest darkest secrets, though. Something else was on her mind.

"My father won't let me date until I'm 18," she said, frustrated that she could already feel heat come to her cheeks and neck.

"Is that something you'd like to do?" Dr. Haruno asked, leaning forward in her chair.

"O-oh n-no, no, I can't even imagine dating," Hinata spluttered anxiously. She chewed on her lip and furrowed her brow, considering her next words. "It's just that when he told me that the other night, I felt upset, even though I don't want to date."

"Why do you think that is?" The older woman asked, a still presence while Hinata squirmed in her seat.

"I-I think there are a lot of r-reasons it bothers me. I already feel so d-different from my peers. Not being able to have a date to dances or consider dating just makes me even weirder."

Dr. Haruno nodded as if encouraging her to keep taking.

"He acts like he knows everything, but he doesn't actually any anything. I know he doesn't know because I haven't told him —there's no way he could know— but it still makes me mad at him."

Hinata swallowed. She felt emotions threatening to break through. Her eyes stung, so she took a deep breath.

"I just get so upset with myself…."

"Why are you upset with yourself?" Dr. Haruno coaxed gently when she had stopped talking for a moment.

"I don't understand why I'm so angry with him. None of it was his fault. There's no reason he ever could have suspected—all of his rules are meant to keep me safe, but I think that just makes it worse," Hinata felt tears start to form and roll onto her cheeks, "because I know, he's already failed, but he's still telling me these petty, stupid, insignificant rules that don't actually do anything." Hinata felt herself choke on her tears, and she stopped talking to take a moment to breathe.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Hinata. It sounds to me like you love your father dearly, and you're upset with yourself for feeling angry with him—for feeling like he didn't protect you. Does that sound like what you're saying?" Dr. Haruno leaned across her small coffee table to hand Hinata a tissue.

Hinata nodded, dabbing at her cheeks with the tissue.

"And now every time he tries to protect me from something trivial, like my perfect gentleman of a h-homecoming date, I just feel furious."

"Hinata, you are allowed to feel angry. You can't deal with your emotions until you acknowledge them. I know you'd prefer not to have the feeling in the first place, but it's important to hold space for all of your anger."

Hinata looked out the large window in the office. Her tears had stopped as quickly as they'd come. "I've always had pride in being a nice girl. It's one of the few things I really like about myself," she said quietly. Being so angry doesn't make me feel very nice anymore."

Dr. Haruno smiled sadly and held her gaze for a few moments.

"You are one of the nicest, loveliest, self-aware women I've had the privilege of meeting, Hinata." She paused for a moment to let her words sink in. "And you are allowed to be mad. You were raped, Hinata. You can be furious."

"Today, we're starting our segment on ethics in the legal system. I spent an enlightening decade as a law enforcement officer myself, and I can assure you it is about as perfect as our healthcare system. We'll discuss big topics like the pre-k to prison pipeline, implicit bias, bail and parole, and prison conditions. Who's excited?"

There was an overwhelming silence throughout the room, but Kakashi dismissed it with a wave.

"Fantastic. You can break into your groups. I'll be here if you need anything." With that, he got himself comfortable in his desk chair, propping his feet on his desk, and pulled out his favorite book.

Almost immediately, like they did every week, Neji and Tenten devolved into an argument. Lee would always try to keep the peace when his partners inevitably began quarreling. He valiantly attempted to validate each of his partners' points without angering the other. These endeavors tended to be tiring, and he usually gave up after a few minutes. Today, he lasted a respectable 12 minutes before he turned back to his own notebook, exhausted. Tomorrow he would make it to 13, he swore it!

"I just don't think we should decide who lives or dies," Tenten said as she Googled statistics on the death penalty in the United States.

Neji made a sound resembling a snort, "That is a fascinating perspective from someone so pro-choice. Save a criminal, kill a baby?"

Tenten rolled her eyes. She was not getting back into that debate with him. "Let's not bring abortion into this, thanks."

"Sophisticated argument," Neji mumbled, pulling up an article on his own laptop.

"It's barbaric—like society hasn't changed since the 1800s." Tenten snapped, horrified that he thought murdering people was a real solution to crime.

"Well, until there's a better way to keep crazy people from harming others, I vote we kill them."

"Just put them in prison—life without parole," Tenten yelled, exasperated. How could he possibly believe anything could ever be so black and white?

"People can still do harm from prison." Neji spoke with such an air of superiority; Tenten wanted to slap him.

"How? Give me one example."

"Uhhh, how about when Hitler wrote Mein Kampf in prison. I'd say we'd have been better off if he were dead."

Tenten stopped scrolling and cringed inwardly. Okay he may have gotten her there.

"Maybe there are some extreme cases where I could see it being reasonable, like Hitler." Tenten qualified. She hadn't known that bit if information, but obviously he'd chosen a radical example.

"I think if you rape or murder someone, your right to life is over." Neji said impassively.

"Jesus, Neji, that's extreme…. What about self-defense?" Tenten couldn't believe how comfortable he was deciding someone else's fate—someone else's life.

"Yeah, we'll obviously it doesn't apply to that."

When the bell rang, Tenten realized they had argued the entire time, and they had never actually worked on their project.

"Well, shit, we should probably meet up." She looked from one partner to the other.

"I have Karate from 4-5, then swimming from 5-6, and then synchronized swimming from 7-8, and then a test in chemistry tomorrow to study for. I could do Wednesday…." Lee recited his schedule as his partner's paled at the sheer number of commitments he had.

"And I thought I had a ridiculous schedule," Neji mumbled.

"Okay, how about Neji and I meet up after softball and football practices this evening, and then we'll meet again Wednesday to finish things up."

Scheduling had become more and more difficult each week. Between conflicting extracurricular activities and an incessant stream of tests, they were rarely able to meet with all three of them at once.

To say Tenten wasn't secretly joyful about this would be an outright lie. Even though they spent a significant amount of time arguing, Tenten's crush on Neji was still very much there. She liked Lee a lot, but she couldn't hide the little bit of excitement whenever she got to be alone with Neji.

Even though she pretty much hated every single political view he shared with her, a part of her still liked talking to him about it. It wasn't exactly flirtatious banter, but there was still something thrilling about it. She enjoyed coming up with quick remarks, and even if they made her angry, she could admire how clever some of his were.

And then there was the fact that he was gorgeous, and the more time she spent with him, the more attracted she seemed to become. When she was with him, she couldn't stop thinking about touching him. She'd imagine running her hands over those amazing arms up to his toned shoulders. She'd imagine wrapping her arms around his neck, tilting her head up, and brushing her lips over his. She'd imagine what would happen if he liked it. He'd press her against a wall and let her legs wrap around his waist and murmur dirty things he'd never said out loud before. When he'd kiss her, he'd make her know that he wanted her just as much as she wanted him.

Aghhhh, but alas…

That was the problem, wasn't it? Tenten still couldn't tell if the attraction was mutual. She had felt hopeful when he'd told her she looked pretty at the dance. Still, that didn't necessarily mean anything. She was becoming increasingly affected by him, and she had no idea if she was anything more than his annoying ethics partner.

She didn't think that was it, though. Other people had told her he didn't like to talk much, but he talked with her. Sure, a lot of it was school-related, but it still seemed positive. She felt something there. She couldn't explain why, but she felt like maybe he liked her too. She just didn't know how to figure it out for sure.

Sasuke's jaw was rigid, eyes hard, as he pulled a small off-white envelope out of his underwear drawer—not the best hiding spot, but somewhere he prayed his idiot roommate would avoid.

It had been a week since the bizarre man named Kisame handed him the envelope and disappeared, leaving him stunned and bewildered. His hands had shaken as he'd walked over to a nearby bench, and he gently opened the envelope, trying not to rip the paper more than necessary.

Now, after rifling through his boxers, he held the contents of the envelope in his hands and reread the note for what had to be the tenth time that week.

Dear Little Brother,

If you are reading this, it's safe to assume I'm dead— disintegrating somewhere, no longer a benefit or burden on the world. Rest assured; I have done all I can to ensure you do not meet the same fate. Still, you are in danger, and it is critical you heed my every word. I know you do not trust me, but allow me the opportunity to gain that trust back. To show anyone else this note would be very foolish. I will tell you why soon. I can only write so much at once —I will explain that too at a better time. For now, find 459005 in the town Mom took us to that bedbug-ridden inn.

Yours,

I

Sasuke's eye's lingered on the page, rereading each line repeatedly. His fingers clutched the brass key that had fallen from the paper tightly, letting the ridges dig into his hand. Though his words had been nondescript, Sasuke knew what Itachi wanted him to find, and he had already found an exact address online.

When Sasuke was younger, his parents took Itachi and him on a trip for the weekend to a lake about 50 miles west of Konoha. The town was small, but it was a popular vacation destination. His mom had chosen a bed and breakfast housed in a Victorian-style mansion that smelled a thousand years old.

The trip itself had been one of Sasuke's favorites. His parents had rented a boat and taken him and Itachi tubing. They stayed on the lake for hours, snacking on salt and vinegar chips and root beer (an odd combination in retrospect), which his parents had seldom let him have.

Inauspiciously, after returning home, they realized they had brought bed bugs with them, and their perfect family vacation had gone from success to catastrophe.

Based on the small key and the numbers Itachi had scrawled out in his distinctive neat handwriting, Sasuke assumed he was looking for a P.O. Box in the small town surrounding Lake Kiri.

Despite overwhelming curiosity and not a small amount of trepidation, Sasuke had not been able to make a 100-mile round-trip trek out of town that week for obvious reasons. With school and a cross-country meet over the weekend, he couldn't take off any time he wanted without others noticing.

He had tried to think through the logistics during the week and hoped he could make the trip Saturday after his next meet. Kakashi would assume he was at school, so he just had to try to explain what would likely be a costly Uber trip.

He doubted Kakashi would even see the charge, but if he did, he resolved to tell him he'd gone to a haunted house with his friends. There was a year-round haunted house not far from Lake Kiri, and given it would be Halloween weekend, he figured it could be a decent excuse.

There was the complicated matter that Kakashi talked to Naruto almost daily because of football. If Kakashi thought Sasuke was going with his friends, he would assume it would be with Naruto. With Naruto's big mouth, he'd inevitably be caught in a lie.

He decided he would only worry about that if Kakashi actually checked Sasuke's credit card bill and asked about the charge.

Sasuke had no clue what could possibly be in that P.O. Box. He forced himself to remember that Itachi was a murderous sociopath, and he had to expect the worst. What if it was something horrific, like a severed thumb? How psychotic had his brother become before his death?

If he were smart, he'd give the letter to the police since Itachi had been a very wanted man before his body was discovered. Still, Sasuke knew he wouldn't do that. Itachi had said he wanted to gain Sasuke's trust back, and Sasuke wanted desperately for that to be a possibility.

Was there anything his brother could tell him that would redeem him? Sasuke knew better than to hold too much hope, but he couldn't stop a fleck of optimism from taking root in his mind.

He folded the note carefully and put it back in its envelope with the key, burying it under a pair of worn-out compression shorts.

Sasuke would have to wait another five days before any of his questions could be answered.

Neji sat on the floor of Tenten's room with papers spread out around him and his laptop propped on his knees. He was leaning against her bed, and she sat a couple of feet away in a similar position.

So far, they had worked together much more peacefully than earlier in the day. It was weird, but his favorite part of the day seemed to be sitting with Tenten on a dirty old dorm-room carpet researching lethal injection…

He watched her highlighting some statistics in an article she had printed, and he couldn't help but smile at how focused she looked. She kept biting the end of her highlighter every time she paused to read. She must have noticed him looking at her because she looked up at him with a confused smile, "What?"

Neji flushed slightly at being caught staring. "Oh, uh, nothing," he cleared his throat nervously, "I just thought it was funny how intense you looked."

"Me, intense? Oh, God, if Neji Hyuuga thinks I'm intense, I really need to chill out," she teased, biting her lip and meeting his eyes with her amber ones.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, amused, even though he already knew.

"It means you're super serious all the time, and I can't believe you're calling me intense." She nudged him so he knew she wasn't too serious.

"Would you rather me be flippant?" He asked and watched as an exasperated grin spread over her face.

"Only someone way too serious would use the word 'flippant' in everyday conversation," she laughed, leaning slightly closer to him.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I am the epitome of chill." He grinned at her, mirroring the way she leaned on one arm toward him.

"Mhmm," she murmured, even though her tone implied she disagreed. Her expression changed slightly from one of levity to one of thoughtfulness. "Hey, Neji, can I ask you a question?" He noted she said this almost shyly, which was unusual for her.

"Yeah," he said, matching her soft tone, suddenly aware of how close had become.

He watched her expression turn bashful, and she twisted a lock of her wavy brown hair nervously. "What's up?" He gently prompted again.

She stayed quiet for a moment, piquing his curiosity even more. She seemed to be thinking about something quite hard, biting her lip and averting her gaze.

"Do you like me?" She asked finally, with an adorably hesitant smile. She didn't bring her eyes up to his until after she finished her question.

Neji was momentarily stunned by her boldness. He looked back up at her, giving her his own apprehensive smile. He knew his answer immediately, but it took a moment for him to reassure himself that telling her was a good idea.

Her vulnerability shocked him. Tenten was the girl who argued with him several times a week for the last two months. She was the girl who had nonchalantly befriended his cousin and set a bunch of strangers up with dates. She was the one who dragged him onto the dance floor. It was deeply amusing and somewhat humbling to see her look so unsure, so much so that he felt himself laugh nervously.

He nodded slowly, meeting her dark eyes with his own, "I do,"

He watched her lips twitch into a more confident, coy grin.

He felt his breath catch as she leaned in so close he could feel her breath on his lips.

"Are you ever gonna do anything about it?"

Please let me know how I'm doing!