CHAPTER SIX
In our midst-Part 3
Kakashi observed the faces in his office one more time. Each person in the large room mirrored the frustration he was feeling that hazy evening. Outside the building, the sun was slowly exiting the sky, casting an orange hue on city of Konohagakure. On a normal evening this would've been perfect weather to go for a stroll, or just watch the sunset. But the tense mood that hung heavy not only in that office, but all over the village meant that the streets were already mostly empty as early as 6pm. The news about the body Ino and Sai found three days prior spread like wildfire, and the village was beginning to enter a state of panic.
"The medical reports are in Hokage-sama" the voice of Shizune interrupted his thoughts reminding him why he had requested the meeting. The head of the general hospital, Shizune had a bandage around her head this evening. 'A fall' she had mentioned.
"Long story short, it's the same cause of death as all the others. We have reason to believe this is the work of the same killer" she declared placing the brown folder on his desk.
Kiba cleared his throat and spoke next, "We still have no leads Lord sixth, Orihime was perfectly healthy and the last people she interacted with didn't notice any strange behavior" He paused for a moment to exchange glances with Sai; "We have no investigative leads either, there were no witnesses. Whoever killed her must've taken advantage of the deserted street and ambushed her on her way home, when she was off duty and away from the eyes of her partner"
Kakashi got up from his chair and stood in front of his desk, facing the Jonin shinobi he had summoned to his office. He singled out his right hand man, Shikamaru from the group and gave him his orders.
"Shikamaru, from today you are in charge of the general investigation surrounding these murders. You will have the full support of the medical team and the Police force, along with all their resources."
"Understood Lord sixth", the young man responded with a small bow.
Kakashi nodded and turned to Naruto. "Effective immediately, I'm assigning you to village security till further notice Naruto." Kakashi reached for a stamped document on his desk and handed it to him.
"You and Hinata are to work with the homeland defense corps to maintain constant surveillance. Under her command, Hinata will show you the ropes to help you ease into your task. Your shadow clones jutsu paired with her Byakugan will contribute greatly to boost our surveillance capabilities." The blonde nodded in understanding and took his leave, Hinata in tow.
It was now Sakura's turn to speak. She stepped forward from the group and faced her former teacher.
"Hokage-sama, the public mood as of recent has been….poor, no doubt due to recent happenings. I suggest we start a sort of campaign, to lift the village's spirits"
Kakashi raised his eyebrow, puzzled. "Campaign?"
"Yes, most of the population is scared, and they're beginning to lose faith in the ability of Konoha's Shinobi to protect them." She took quick glances at her colleagues on her left and right before continuing, "There's also been rumours that the murders are the work of enemy shinobi that have successfully infiltrated the village. We could announce to the public that we've made significant progress in our investigation, to stem these rumours and fears before they get out of control"
Kakashi settled down on his seat, spinning around till he was facing outside his window, in the direction of the great stone faces.
"You want me to lie to the village, Sakura?"
Shizune placed her hand on her pink-haired assistant's shoulder before she could speak. "It may seem unorthodox, but the situation currently may call for such an action, Hokage-sama"
Kakashi let out an exhausted sigh, then spun around to face them "I'll consider it. You're all dismissed"
At the southern gate of the village, team Naruto was carrying out their assigned mission for the day: border patrol. As expected these days, nothing much happened throughout the entire mission, especially with the newly established curfew restricting movement within the city walls from 7pm till 5am the next day. The rule applied to everyone but shinobi placed on guard duty, which happened to include the three young chunin today. Naruto had ordered them to man the southern gate while he accompanied Hinata to the Hokage tower, where she had a good vantage point to scan the village from.
While patrolling atop the fence that closed off the village to the outside world, a bored and exhausted, Moegi tried to start a conversation with her patrol buddy for the evening: her childhood friend, Udon. Team 15 was also posted to the same gate for guard duty, much to Moegi's approval. Atleast she'd have a buddy to keep her company till her shift was over. Konohamaru and Hanabi had been dispatched to another part of the wall to keep watch.
"Soooo….." her voice trailed off as she really had nothing else to say. The two had been paired for over four hours, and they spent the most of it chatting away.
"I need to pee" Udon announced to his partner.
"Okay, go do it in a corner"
"Nah, remember what we were told? Two man cell at all times"
Moegi stopped in her tracks, evaluating what her friend was implying.
'No way"
"Come on!"
"Udon I am not escorting you to pee"
"But what if the killer attacks me while I'm vulnerable hmm?"
"Well, it'd suck to be you in that case"
Udon scowled at his friend then stood up atop the wall, walking a few feet away then facing outside the village.
"Udon, don't tell me you're…."
The sound of trickling liquid confirmed Moegi's fears.
"You disgusting pig!" she shot at him
Udon simply sighed in relief, ignoring his friend's complaints which really just sounded like incoherent rambling to him. The relief he felt at that moment was everything.
"Squad two, come in" a female voice crackled from Moegi's radio but she didn't pay attention to it, prioritizing scolding Udon for his recent actions instead
"What if it was windy huh? You could've pissed on me!"
"But it wasn't windy was it?" Udon walked back up to her and sat on the fence next to her. "I wasn't even close to you, stop overreacting"
"Don't touch me with your dick hand!" Moegi squirmed away from her friend who was now laughing, clearly enjoying himself.
"Squad six to squad two requesting an update, over" the voice from the radio called out again, this time sounding more masculine.
"You are such a baby Moegi" Udon said in between laughs. "Its just piss"
"Whatever, don't touch me"
A light scuffle could be heard over the radio which Moegi still hadn't paid attention to. The female voice returned, this time speaking into it much louder.
"Moegi! Would you pick up the damn radio!" Hanabi's voice startled her teammate causing her to fumble for the device pinned to her flak jacket.
"Squad six, this is squad two we are oscar 3 on…wait is it delta?" Moegi's voice trailed off in confusion.
"It's just a routine check-in stupid, just say yes if everything's alright on your end" the male voice, which belonged to Konohamaru spoke again. "I still can't believe we're supposed to entrust our lives to your stupid ass"
"Yeah, we're good here" Moegi replied. "And next time I have to heal you I'll leave a scalpel in your body Konohamaru!"
"Whatever, bye bye" then the radio went silent with a beep
Further along the village fence, Konohamaru handed a radio back to Hanabi.
"That's four hourly check-ins without anything happening"
"Only six more to go" Hanabi said with mock enthusiasm. She plopped on a nearby park bench and relaxed her head on the backrest while her teammate stood behind her. Konohamaru continued fiddling with the shuriken he'd been carrying around all night in his left hand, his right hand busy resting in his pocket. A few moments later, he joined Hanabi on the bench and opened his backpack.
"What's that?" Hanabi's head perked up to look into his bag.
"None of your business"
"Come on let me see"
Konohamaru clutched his bag closer to him. "You didn't let me read your stupid love letter so I'm returning the favour"
Not sure if she heard correctly, Hanabi sat upright with a shocked expression on her face. "Love letter? I haven't gotten any love letters"
"Then what was in that piece of paper you kept hiding from me"
Hanabi hesitated for a moment, deep in thought. Then it finally clicked for her. "Oh you mean that? I was just…. Writing to someone" she said, shifting her gaze to a nearby tree and away from Konohamaru's face.
"Ohhh…..so you're the bleeding heart pouring their feelings into words" Konohamaru teased, watching his teammate squirm for a reply.
"What? No!"
"Then why are you writing love letters hmm?
Hanabi rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the arm. "I was writing to a friend stupid"
Konohamaru's eyes widened in surprise. "You have friends?"
"You're such an annoying brat"
Konohamaru laughed at her reply and reached inside his backpack. "I guess it's that cloud girl, Nephilim was it? She kicked your butt in the Chunin exams"
Hanabi was caught off guard, not expecting him to know about her growing friendship with Nezuko. The cloud ninja had sent her a few letters after the exam, including on the day team four got promoted to chunin. Overtime, Hanabi came to find they had a few shared interests, and Nezuko didn't seem like a bad person to be around. They occasionally exchanged letters every now and then, and deep down Hanabi was looking forward to meeting her again…. Hopefully for a rematch which Nezuko wasn't opposed to either.
"Her name's Nezuko and yes her team kicked all our butts to be fair, and don't make me bring up the silly stunt you pulled off"
Konohamaru waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah water under the bridge. Well, I think it's good you're making friends"
"Thanks for the concern, Dad"
"Maybe the love letters will come soon"
Hanabi looked up at the starry night sky and exhaled, ignoring Konohamaru's shit eating grin.
"Personally, I'd rather an admirer came up to me and said it instead of hiding behind letters". She lowered her head and mumbled to herself, rubbing her arms for warmth "not like it matters anyway, I'll probably just get shipped off to a guy I barely know regardless"
Her last words escaped Konohamaru's ears however, he was busy rummaging through his bag. Finally, he produced a small blanket from it to Hanabi's surprise.
"That's very thoughtful of you Sarutobi"
"Well, I figured it'd be cold tonight, so I came prepared" he said, wrapping the blanket around himself. He wasn't prepared at all when his teammate leaned into him and grabbed the other end of the blanket to cover herself too.
"Hope you don't mind? I'm a bit cold too"
"Nah, what are friends for?" Konohamaru replied, waving dismissively.
"Friends huh?" Hanabi muttered, looking up at him and resting her head on his shoulder.
"Don't make me change my mind" Konohamaru replied, feeling his heart rate accelerate. He was made more aware of her proximity to him as she readjusted herself against him, trying to get more comfortable under the blanket they shared. Konohamaru couldn't help but steal a glance at her resting on his shoulder. He caught a whiff of her perfume with his nose and he could feel his blush worsen.
"We should probably get back to patrolling in a few minutes" Hanabi mumbled, not changing her position snuggled under his blanket and Konohamaru took the time to study her face.
He couldn't remember exactly when or how he started finding her pretty, but it was a sentiment he'd harboured for a long time. But recently after getting placed on the same team as Hanabi and actually getting to spend meaningful time with her, he'd begun to find the Hyuuga heiress beautiful. Watching her resting peacefully on his shoulder, Konohamaru felt the urge to trace her soft features with his fingers. He decided to shift his gaze to the night sky in a bid to silence the embarrassing thoughts going through his head while his annoying teammate sat close to him. As if she was reading his mind, Hanabi sat upright and got up from the park bench some minutes later.
"Alright, let's get back to work" she said and then walked a few feet away from him. "Come on"
"I'll be right behind you just, let me pack up" Konohamaru replied. Hanabi nodded and stood nearby while he packed his things.
As he zipped his backpack Konohamaru ran his hand through his hair and looked at his teammate who was facing another direction. He smiled to himself and set off to meet her.
"I'm starting to act so uncool"