CHAPTER EIGHT
In our midst part-5
"You want me to keep an eye on Sakura?"
Hinata turned up at work the next day, looking forward to another day of routine patrols and desk work. Life as the commander of the 6th brigade of the homeland defense corps was….uneventful to say the least. Open to both shinobi and civilians, the corps was established after the last great war purely to defend the village from external threats while the police force and other shinobi carried out their duties. Hinata had enrolled in it after the war, and she had quickly risen through the ranks in the two years she served. A part of her told her that her influential father and lineage was to blame for her quick rise but nonetheless, she worked as hard as she could to be as worthy a commander as was required of the job.
She walked into her office that morning only to find the trio of her boss, Shikamaru and Kiba waiting for her in the room. And nothing prepared her for the news they brought.
"Why are we increasing surveillance on Sakura?" the Hyuuga asked the three men in the room with her.
"Because", Kiba stepped forward, "We have suspicions regarding the recent murders"
"Suspicions that involve Sakura?" she shot back at him.
"Hinata, this is all part of our investigative process, all we're asking is for you-" Shikamaru found himself interrupted by the young woman he was speaking to.
"Shikamaru, it's Sakura we're talking about here! I can't spy on her!"
"Hyuuga Hinata!", her commander, Tanjiro Kobayashi barked at her. "Let me remind you that you signed up for this, do your damn job and enough with the questions!"
Hinata bowed her head and meekly responded, "Yes sir"
"Good", the large man nodded. "Effective immediately, I'm assigning you to special surveillance duty on Miss Sakura Haruno…"
Hinata couldn't focus on the rest of her boss's words, which sounded more and more incoherent as he continued to speak. All that was on her mind was the task recently assigned to her: spying on her best friend.
There's no way it's Sakura….right?
Shikamaru's voice brought her back to reality.
"Hinata, you're the best tracker on our books which is why we met you for help. This isn't to say we plan on arresting Sakura, it's just part of our investigation"
Kiba stepped forward and placed a reassuring hand on his former teammate's shoulder.
"Hinata, I hope you understand what we're trying to tell you here"
The young woman sighed in exasperation and gave her reply
"I understand, Kiba-kun"
That afternoon, Shizune was on her lunch break at work. Still shaken by the direction the investigation was going, she tried her best to put on her usual demeanor whenever she interacted with her pink haired employee. Sakura worked as hard as ever, shuffling between rooms whenever she was needed. Much of the hospital, staff and patients alike adored the young woman, and there were already talks of her succeeding Shizune as the head once she retired. As Shizune reclined on her seat, she took another look at the green folder in her drawer.
Hitomi Akimichi
Akira Sakadai…
The names of the victims could all be found in Sakura's list of blood donors. Shikamaru had informed her of the increased surveillance on Sakura the investigative team had implemented, apparently Hinata was assigned to the task as she was best suited for the job. Shizune couldn't imagine how the poor girl must've felt being told to spy on her best friend for being a potential murderer. Shizune reached for the bottle she hid under her desk and poured herself a glass, deep in thought.
But why would she do this?
But as soon as she lifted the glass to her throat, she stopped. Slamming the glass down on the table, she searched for a particular brown folder from the previous day
The updated list of new donors Mikasa had delivered on Sakura's behalf.
"No, no,.no…" was all she could mutter as she went over the names, the first name in particular standing out to her.
Hinata Hyuuga.
In a flash, Shizune bolted from her seat and beeped for her assistant. The lack of a reply reminded her that she had given her the day off.
Dammit
She grabbed her lab coat and scurried out of her room, almost screaming at the first medic nin she came across
"Get me Sakura Haruno"
"She went out for her lunch break Miss Shizune"
Shizune made her way out of the building debating between going to Shikamaru or looking for Sakura first but eventually making a decision, setting course for Sakura's favourite café. She wasn't sure she was the killer, but she swore she was going to do anything to prevent Hinata from getting hurt.
She thundered forward, ignoring the growing pain in her chest
"Damn it" she muttered, blaming the tightness in her chest on the copious amounts of alcohol she had consumed the past few days. A medic nin greeted her at the entrance but then his jovial expression changed into sheer horror the moment he focused on her.
"Shizune-sama!"
Shizune paused to look at the young man, and for a moment she could feel the pain in her chest building up until she gripped the front of her lab coat in pain.
Her hand felt moisture.
Looking down at the expanding patch of red on the front of her clothing, Shizune could feel herself buckle over and collapse on the ground In pain. As she struggled to focus on the panicked screams and blurry figures scrambling towards her, she felt a tear drop from her eye, laden with a rush of realization.
"It was….you"
Hinata rubbed her hands nervously as she sat in the small restaurant. Several tables away, her target sat, enjoying a meal with Ino and Tenten. She still didn't believe the charismatic bundle of energy she saw in front of her could be a ruthless killer, but she had to do her job nonetheless. She produced a mirror from her purse, going over her disguise one more time.
Wearing a blonde wig and a green sweatshirt pared with a pair of black trousers, she could barely recognize her own self. He completed her look with a pair of blue contacts and sunglasses to hide her dojutsu. She raised her head to continue her surveillance duties when a pat on her shoulder distracted her.
"Quite the makeover you got Hina, I like it though". Naruto's beaming face was the highlight of her day so far, and she felt herself feel more at ease as he settled into the seat in front of her
"Naruto-kun, it's not a makeover it's a disguise"
"Huh? Disguise?" Naruto asked, confused. "Who are you hiding from?"
"I really can't tell you, it's….top secret"
"Well is the person here? Are they dangerous?" Naruto asked, turning around to scan the restaurant.
Hinata took his hand in hers "No, I'm fine. I'm sorry but you need to leave Naruto, I don't want you jeopardizing my mission"
Naruto frowned slightly with her words. "Here I was feeling lucky for running into my girlfriend like this, only to find out I'm a nuisance apparently"
Hinata giggled and readjusted her glasses "Maybe I need to improve my disguise, you found me out so quickly"
"Nah, your disguise is perfect, but I don't even need my vision to find the girl I'm in love with" Naruto said with a smile, watching Hinata's cheeks turn a shade of pink.
"You know, you could've just used the transformation jutsu" he added.
"You know I was never very good at it Naruto" Hinata looked over her shoulder and sighed. "What will all the gossips say, spotting you at lunch with a stranger?"
Naruto let out a small laugh and scratched his cheek. "I'm sure Hinata wouldn't mind me hanging out with strangers if they were all as gorgeous as the one I'm with now" he said, enjoying the sight of the ever increasing blush forming on his partner's face
"Oh stop it Naruto, don't be such a tease" she laughed, slapping his wrist playfully.
"Well I better get going, don't want to distract you on your super secret mission" he said, getting up from his seat. "It's just that I have clones monitoring all the places I was assigned to, so I'm kind of jobless you see"
"Well in that case….I order you, the real Naruto to patrol the Hokage tower"
Naruto made a small salute to her with a smile on his face. "Yes ma'am!" then he made to leave. "See ya Hinata". Reaching the door to the restaurant, he mouthed the words 'I love you' to her.
"I love you too" she mouthed back at him as he left
Feeling a small pang of loneliness with Naruto's departure, Hinata steeled herself and sought out her target.
She was gone.
"Dammit' she muttered under her breath as she activated her Byakugan. She scanned her surroundings, searching outside the café. Finally, she spotted Ino and Tenten walking together a few streets down. Which meant Sakura couldn't be too far off. Hinata directed her gaze to the right and found a woman wearing the white lab coat of the general hospital.
"Found you", she said to herself and set off in pursuit of her target.
Hinata shielded her eyes from the sun, cursing herself for not bringing an umbrella with her. Her target had seemed to take notice of the weather and was now wearing a sunhat. She followed the woman further into the village and noticed she wasn't heading for the hospital. Puzzled, Hinata produced a notebook and pen from her purse to write down her discovery. Then her target reached an intersection and turned left, heading to the southern part of Konoha.
"What are you up to Sakura" Hinata said under her breath as she deactivated her dojutsu and increased her pace to keep up with her target, who she discovered was a fast walker.
She shadowed the woman until they made it to a neighbourhood located on the outskirts of the village, close to the southern gate. Then her target walked into a house and closed the door.
Hinata pretended to check out the items on display in a nearby shop while she activated her Byakugan to continue observing her target in the building behind her, who had made her way into the attic and settled her bag on the floor. She noticed her make a weird gesture with her hands and her left leg, which she didn't quite understand.
Then her target grabbed a knife from a nearby table and plunged it into her chest.
"Sakura!" Hinata called out, abandoning the store and all safety protocols she had drilled into her before setting on her mission and storming into the building, air palming the door off it's hinges. She sprinted upstairs determined to save her friend who she was certain came to this unfamiliar place to commit suicide.
"Sakura, stop! You don't have to…." Hinata's voice trailed off as she took in her surroundings. The entire floor was covered red markings, which she suspected to be blood. The markings, which resemble some sort of symbol streaked all over the room, even making their way to the ceiling. Hinata stood in shock, watching her friend who she was certain she saw stab herself mere seconds earlier turn around and lock her green eyes with her lavender ones.
"You", she mumbled in a low breath. "What are you doing?"
The young woman smiled at Hinata and removed her sunhat, exposing her shoulder length hair. "What a coincidence, you couldn't even exercise the patience to wait your own turn".
Then she drew her knife again.
"Shizune is…." Sakura could do little to stop the stream of tears running down her cheeks. She stumbled backwards in disbelief, into the hands of Sai who was standing behind her for support.
"No way" she managed to let out, before breaking down into sobs.
"It's definitely the killer, through the eyewitness reports I can definitely say this is the work of a Jashinist." Shikamaru said, holding his face in his hands as he sat on a chair.
"If only I figured this out sooner…." Regret could be felt in his words.
"We need to find whoever is doing this" Sai said, turning to Kiba and pulling him a few feet away, "Where's Hinata?"
"She should be nearby, she was trailing Sakura"
"But she isn't here, did she desert?"
"No, Hinata would never desert her post"
"So where is she?"
Overhearing their conversation, Tenten stepped forward to answer their questions. "I met Naruto a few hours ago, he told me he saw Hinata at a restaurant but she was busy working, she didn't tell him what she was working on though"
Sai paused in thought. "How long ago was this Tenten?"
"Hmm…about 4 hours ago"
Shikamaru sat up from his seat. "The hospital staff found a notepad with Shizune at the time of her death, it had a few names in it including Hinata's…" then his eyes widened in fear.
"Hinata could be in danger, we need to find her now"