21: What a gift.

Genma drove us directly to the nearest clinic. He parked in the underground car park, switched off the engine and turned around to us in his seat. "I'm sorry, I have to leave you alone for a moment.

"What?" Hanabi gasped and her hand, which was still a bit trembling in mine, twitched violently.

With an apologetic look, he turned to my sister. "We have to be careful, you know? Your disappearance has not yet been noticed, but it is possible that your father has his informants all over the city. A doctor works here whom I trust. I need to educate her about the situation so that she can treat you both discreetly. It won't be long before I'll come back and we'll go to her right away." He smiled softly. "Don't worry, Hanabi, I won't let you down."

Hanabi inhaled with a hissing breath. "Okay. But hurry up."

"I will." He turned his eyes back to me. "Keep your heads down until then."

I nodded, pulled my sister to me and we lay down on the back seat.

Genma left the car and disappeared into a nearby elevator.

"Hina-oneesan..?", Hanabi asked quietly. Her head rested on my chest and I absentmindedly stroked her damp hair. "Mh-hm?"

"Will everything be fine now?"

There she asked me the one question to which I simply had no answer. It would be so easy to calm her down and tell her that we were safe and nothing would happen to us again. But was that the case? I knew Genma would do everything he could to protect us, but was that enough? He was right, Hiashi had his contacts and if we were careless, he would find us faster than we could count to five. Still, I couldn't scare my sister any further, so I murmured, "Yes, Hana-neechan, it's going to be fine now. We're almost there. Just a little more and we're finally free." An idea came to my mind and I asked encouragingly, "What do you want to do when all this is over?"

"Mhhh," Hanabi said, tapping her index finger on my shoulder. "I want to see the Fuji. And visit a hot spring. And swim in the sea. And I want to pet a donkey."

I couldn't help laughing. "Pet a donkey? Why?"

"I don't know," she replied, a little offended. "I like donkeys. I think they are far too underestimated. Donkeys are cute."

"All right, when we're actually safe, then we'll do all that."

Hanabi rested her chin on my sternum. "And you? What do you want to do?"

I put my arm under my head and looked into my sister's sad, silver eyes. "Do you remember King?" She nodded once. "I want to see him. I want to tell him how much he means to me."

"You really love him, don't you?"

"Yes.. I do."

"But do you know who he is by now?"

I sighed heavily. "No. I showed him my face, but he... I assume I've already met him, but I don't know his true identity."

"Then why do you love him if you don't even know what he looks like?" Hanabi seemed honestly confused. Understandably, for her the concept of love was something completely new. Shit, for me it was too. I could explain to her in detail why I loved King, but I decided to take it short, "You remember that conversation with the analogy, don't you?" Another nod. "That's the reason. He's.. different. So tender. He gives me the feeling that I'm safe with him."

"Do you think he's ugly?"

"What?" I asked with a slight chuckle. "Why should I?"

"Well," Hanabi mumbled and now played around with a button of my pajamas, "someone who writes so beautifully and is like that can't be pretty, can he? That would be unfair."

"You know, Hana-neechan," I began, looking at one of her dark, wet strands of hair that I let slip through my fingers, "I don't care what he looks like. I know how he treats me and that's why I love him. He can only be a one out of ten and I still want to be with him." 'Besides, I know his cock and it's perfect,' I added in my mind and had to smile. My sister didn't understand something like that yet and I would be careful not to explain it to her at this very moment.

"But I guess you hope he's pretty," Hanabi said with raised eyebrows.

"Yes, I do.."

The loud clicking of the car door made us startle. Genma stuck his head in and folded down the driver's seat. "Come on, it's all good. We are expected."

With aching limbs, Hanabi and I struggled out of the car and followed Genma into the elevator in which he had just disappeared and which took us to the fifth floor. There was less going on upstairs than I expected, and from the signs next to the doors announcing oncology treatment rooms I got the impression that we were about to be treated in an area of the hospital that was not actually intended for our type of injuries. Genma led us into a room where a woman of my size with short, black hair and friendly eyes was already waiting. "Hello you two, I'm Shizune," she introduced herself and raised her hand in greeting.

"Hello..", we both murmured back shyly.

"Genma has already enlightened me." Her gaze was glued to me. "Please sit down, I'd like to start with you."

"No!" I said immediately and two surprised pairs of eyes stared at me. "Please treat Hanabi first. I can wait."

Shizune looked as if she wanted to protest, but she nodded in agreement. "All right."

I turned to my sister and tentatively squeezed her hand. "Genma and I will be right here, okay? Nothing will happen to you."

Hanabi looked as if she wanted to burst into tears again, but she let go of my hand and followed Shizune into an adjoining room, the door of which was closed and finally I could devote myself to Genma. "We need to talk."

"I agree," he replied quietly. "Hinata, what has—"

"Not about that, that can wait," I interrupted him immediately and approached him a little so that I could spare my voice, which had suffered quite a bit after all that fuss. "We have to go back."

"Um.. Excuse me?"

"We have to go back to the estate," I repeated more concretely.

"Hinata.. Are you kidding—"

"Please, Genma," I said desperately and closed my eyes. The quieter I stood or sat somewhere, the more I felt the pain in my body. "We are running out of time. When Hiashi realizes that Hanabi and I are gone, he will draw conclusions and destroy any evidence. Then we have no chance of bringing him to justice."

"We have your statement."

"It's worth nothing!" I had to stop myself not to let my temper overflow. Now it was important to keep a cool head. I took a deep breath, my chest protesting. "My father is not a fan of technology. He keeps all documents in writing. He has them in a safe in his office, which is equipped with a retina scanner. The only thing is this: He is arrogant. He has always considered this mother-of-pearl shimmer of his eyes to be superior. That's why the scanner doesn't react to his iris per se, but to the color gradient. This means that there are currently four people on this planet who can open his safe. Himself, Neji, Hanabi and I. He trusts in Neji's serfdom, but honestly I'm not sure he knows that I can open it too. He never really considered me a human being, you know? That's why I have to go back, open the safe, secure the evidence and preferably everything before my father notices our absence."

Genma's jaw grinded and his toothpick bobbed up and down thoughtfully. "I understand that. But I can't let you set foot in this house again."

"That's why you have to come with me," I said urgently. "At six o'clock, Iroha comes up and calls Hanabi and me to dinner. That's our deadline."

"That's in an hour and a half," he replied after looking at his cell phone. "I'll never manage to put together a team by then, feed it with the necessary information and storm the property."

I sighed. "And if we sneak? Just the two of us."

His face darkened. "No, Hinata. You will not expose yourself to this danger."

"Genma..", I whispered and took another step towards him so that I could feel his heavy, hot, minty breath on my cool face. "Please. If you storm, he'll destroy everything before you even get close to him. When we have these documents, we have him in our hands. With this he can look for the best lawyer in town, it would be of no use to him. I am our only chance to open this safe. We have to act, otherwise everything will be in vain. Otherwise, this" – I waved my hand to my battered face – " will be in vain."

Groaning, Genma ran his fingers through his hair. "Fuck.. I'll never get that through in front of my boss. She would not agree to this – for good reason. That's too dangerous, Hinata. I don't know if I can protect you there."

"We have to try."

Again, his jaw worked, illustrating his thought process to me. It was clear that he was struggling, but I knew he was of the same opinion as me. If we continued to hesitate, we would lose all progress. "Haaah, shit..", he finally grumbled, pinched his face for a moment and said with an audible growl in his bassy voice, "If this goes wrong, then–"

"I know, but I trust you," I whispered quickly. "Do you trust me?"

He didn't say it, but I recognized it in his eyes, over which a barely perceptible sparkle flitted. And in the fact that he took out his cell phone and called someone. "Asuma, it's me," he said, without taking his eyes off my face. "Yes. You and Gai have to help me. Tsunade is not allowed to know about it, only afterwards. If we are exposed, we are screwed. This may cost us our jobs, but if we are successful, we will grab Hiashi Hyuuga by the balls. Mh, no. Yes, bring one more with you. Yes, I know. Where do we meet? Shit, no, that's too far away. We have to act quickly, our window closes at six."

I suddenly snapped and hurried to the table, where I was frantically looking for pen and paper.

Genma said, "Just a sec," waited a moment and when I held out a piece of paper with a smeared address, he read it aloud. "Did you have that? Yes, exactly. As soon as possible. I'll be there." Then he hung up, filled his lungs with air and expelled it again with a low tone of frustration, which enveloped me in a cloud of mint again. "Fuck, Hinata."

"Thank you, Genma, for risking this for me," I breathed, pulling the sheet from the notepad and crumpling it up.

Genma snorted. "I'm risking your life here right now, so... Fuck. I can't fail, there's too much at stake. But.. what about the address? Is it safe there? Can we talk there?"

I nodded without thinking about it. "You trust Shizune, I trust the people there. They're all right, no spies."

Genma was about to say something, but the door to the next room was pushed open and Shizune and Hanabi, dressed in a dry, red tracksuit, returned. My sister seemed a bit windy, but not as exhausted as I had feared. It was good that Genma knew a female doctor, which had certainly made it easier for Hanabi to have evidences secured. I could have mentioned that Tokuma had raped me, and thus could have inevitably send him to his doom, but I kept the abuse to myself for the time being, let Shizune treat my injuries – although I hadn't even noticed that I had seemingly slashed half of my upper arm at the window in my room – and also got a fresh cloth suit, mine was dark purple. When I stood in the next room so that I could change unobserved, I looked in the mirror hanging on the wall above a sink for the first time in hours. The being who looked back was no longer me. The left side of my face was completely reddened, as was the bridge of my nose and my neck. Thin strips of plaster kept the lacerations closed under my eye and on my temple. After all, I looked exactly how I felt.

My gaze, however, slid a little deeper to the dark blue satin fabric that stuck to my body like a second skin, and my ears suddenly boiled with shame. It was a simple physical reaction that I had no control over, and with the exception of this brief detour into my nymphomania when Genma got out of the car in front of the bookstore, it was also purely due to the cold. But the fact that my nipples were hard and sat like two protruding pupils on my already freely bobbing boobs without the thick fabric of a bra was... FUCK. Had Genma noticed that? He hadn't even looked at it. Right? I thought sharply. And I could have sunk into the ground. There were one or two situations when he didn't look me in the face. They had been only fleeting glances, nothing more than a twitch of the eyes, and yet they gave me just the certainty that he had indeed noticed. Did I like that? To my shame, I had to confess: Yes.

But I had to pull myself together. This was definitely not the right time for such games. I changed and left the hospital with Genma and Hanabi. Back in Genma's car, he took us across the city to a simple, well-kept skyscraper. As we climbed the stairs, he explained a little embarrassed, "Anko, my roommate, may come across as a bit rough at first, but you don't have to be afraid of her. She is a sweetheart." I knew that he was specifically addressing these words to Hanabi and wanted to prepare her emotionally so as not to scare her away. In front of one of the three doors that opened from the landing on the first floor, he stopped, dug his key out of his trouser pocket and gave us, especially my sister, a last look, certainly promising "I'm sorry about what's about to happen" and unlocked the door.

He immediately said, "No, Kotetsu, stop!" and shoved his foot into the crack in the door. When he opened it wider, I saw who Kotetsu was: a fluffy, blueish black cat. He gave Hanabi and me his big, orange eyes, turned around and rushed into the hallway, where two other cats were waiting for their servant to arrive. "These are Hayate" – an enormous, somewhat sickly-looking tomcat with brown tabby fur and brushes on the tips of his ears – "and Izumo" – a small fluff ball with one blind and one yellow eye – "our cats. Are you.. Shit, are you allergic?" Genma looked at us worriedly, but we both shook our heads. That is, we didn't actually know if we were allergic, after all, we had never come into contact with cats.

"Genma?" a surprisingly deep, female voice called from a room down the hallway and a woman's head moved around the corner. That had to be Anko. She had a pale purple bob, gray-brown eyes, was a bit chubby and her actually friendly face turned into a confused grimace as she looked at her roommate and his entourage. "Um.. Hello?"

"Anko, these are Hinata and Hanabi," Genma introduced us. "You.. well, they will stay here indefinitely."

Anko stepped out of the room completely and slowly approached us. She wore a short, brown dress, over it a white vest and her feet were in colorful, presumably self-knitted wool socks. "And.. why, if I may ask?"

"They are witnesses," he murmured to her in a hushed voice and Anko's eyes widened. "Are you fucking kidding me?!" she hissed and sparkled angrily at Genma.

"Order from Tsunade," Genma replied with a shrug.

"I'm not good with children, not after what happened to Karin.."

"I know. But don't look at them as children."

Anko moaned annoyed, shook her head and grumbled quietly, "If that triggers something in me, I'll rip her head off."

"Do that," Genma said with an audible grin. "You can familiarize yourself with Hanabi, Hinata and I have to leave right away."

"Mhhh," Anko grumbled sullenly and unmistakably raised her upper lip. "I'll tell you one thing, Genma Shiranui, you should just come back and not smear an orphan on my cheek."

Genma giggled darkly. "Don't worry, you know you can't get rid of me."

"Oh, fuck you," was Anko's half-murmured answer before Genma turned to us and said a little louder, "Okay. Hinata?"

I nodded and turned to Hanabi. "Hana-neechan? I'll be back soon, okay?"

"Where are you going?" she asked intimidated.

"I still have to do something so that we are safe in the future. Trust me, little sister, I won't leave you alone."

Hanabi's eyes swam in tears. "Hina-oneesan..." she whimpered. This seemed to arouse Anko's empathy, because she approached us, crouched down and asked somewhat uncertainly, "Um.. Hanabi, right?" My sister nodded. "Hi. I'm Anko. Did you.. Mh. Do you like cats?"

"I.. don't know.."

"The three are cutiepies, little cuddly rockets. If you like, you can cuddle with them. Raidou particularly likes to be stroked on the belly. Shall I show you the spot?"

Hanabi nodded hesitantly. Our hands loosened and she followed Anko into a room at the very end of the hallway. I looked after her a little wistfully. I was glad that she didn't refuse Anko's attempt to cheer her up, but I would have liked to say goodbye to her better. A small, hopeless part of me felt that my last words hadn't been enough, but I pulled myself out of this brief bout of depression, looked up at Genma, who nodded at me, and we went back out into the rain.

The journey was silent and unlike Madara, I didn't like this silence. There was too much unspoken between us that put a strain on our relationship. I still didn't know what exactly he felt about me. Was it just sexual attraction? Or was there more to it? I sighed.

"Are you nervous?" Genma asked into the hum of the engine and the creaking of the windshield wipers.

"Yes..", I whispered and kneaded my hands in my lap. I looked over to the driver's seat, he also turned his head and our eyes met briefly, while outside a bright flash of lightning lit up the cloudy sky. It was like the physical manifestation of that feeling that pierced my body as I looked into those warm, brown irises. And he seemed to feel the same way, because his gaze became softer, conveying to me that he also felt this deep longing. However, this thought only lasted until he lowered his gaze and said softly, "I am with you."

In doing so, he unnecessarily reminded me of what we were about to do. I looked down at my fingers. "Genma..?"

"Yes?" He turned into a side street that would take us directly to a parking lot behind the Ame club.

"What if we fail?"

He stopped the car, turned off the engine, removed the key, and stared at the streaks of rain that rushed over the glass like little waterfalls now that the windshield wipers were stopped. It took him a long time to answer me, and his words were sobering, but I understood their background. "Don't think about it, Hinata." He was right. Confidence was the motto. I threw him a smile, we got out and hurried around the building to the front entrance. There I typed the code into the control panel, the lock buzzed and we entered the vestibule. As expected, the light was on. "Uh.. Well.. I have to warn you: the people here are.. They are special. But they're kind of like my family, well.. my real family. You'll probably think your part anyway, but don't take everything they say personally."

Genma raised his eyebrows with a smile. "I'll never judge you, but I have to admit, now you've made me curious."

"Mh," I just replied, opened the second metal door and entered the main room of the Ame before him. As usual outside opening hours, warm-white LEDs provided more light than the red neon sign above the stage could, but today the lamps above the bar were also switched on. There were four people gathered around a magnificent cake: Pain and Kisame behind the counter, Kakuzu and Hidan on the stools in front of it. Despite all the pain, which had at least subsided a bit thanks to correspondingly strong pills, I had to smile at this sight. Only when I was only a few steps away from the intimate gathering did Kisame notice me, grinned broadly, clapped happily and came towards me with outstretched arms. "Pearl! What are you doing here? Will Tuesday be your new Saturday?"

"Hey..", I said hoarsely, let him press a kiss on my uninjured cheek and looked the fifteen feet up at him. "I'm sorry that I'm bursting in here like that, but.."

Kisame groaned loudly. "Pearl, seriously, stop apologizing. I don't want to hear something like that. You'd better tell me why you look like a truck has flattened you."

I opened my mouth to fob him off with some lie, but then I was pulled out of Kisame's arms by Hidan, who looked at me with pitiful raised eyebrows. "Pearl.. What... What did they do with your beautiful face?" His gaze darkened massively and he glared over my shoulder at Genma. "Was that you, you fucking son of a bitch?! Ohhh wait, I'll tear your cock and stick it in your fucking face—"

"HIDAN!" Kakuzu thundered from behind and Hidan stopped moving instantly. "Sit down."

Hidan obeyed, which made me blink in surprise. "You.. Since when do you listen to your dom?"

The four men exchanged glances, then Pain said matter-of-factly, "Our Zombies are now making it official: they're a couple."

My eyes became huge. "Like.. honestly? Without any time limits or rules?" I looked at the two Zombies, nodding with different emotions on their faces – Hidan seemed ashamed, Kakuzu was grim as always. A short silence in which I processed this information, but finally I couldn't prevent a big grin, I rushed up to the two of them, hugged and kissed them and gasped happily, "You are the stupidest and most lovable and romantic stubborns I know.. Fuck, you're crazy! I'm so proud of you.."

"Hey, you're strangling me, bitch!" Hidan laughed and when I pulled away from him, I saw dark red spots on his pinched face. "That.. yes.. I know what you're going to say, it's unexpected and actually and stuff, right? But yeah.. Kakuzu and I, we.."

"We love each other and want to get married," Kakuzu simply ended Hidan's stuttering, kissed him and looked at him with a glow in his light green eyes that I would like to see more often from him.

Hidan's skull seemed to explode immediately. He crossed his arms and legs indignantly, now crouched there like a ornery child and grimaced sullenly. "Yeeahhh, fuck, it's true. We.. yeah. But now to you, you kitschy whore: Why are you walking around like a punching bag? Have you found a dom who doesn't know how to treat you sensibly?"

Every momentary flare-up of joy in my chest went out and I was reminded why I was here. "That.. is difficult for me to explain. But.. Pain?" My second uncle listened attentively as he continued to polish glasses for the coming evening. "We.. Well.. We have to abuse your club for a moment."

He stopped his rubbing with the tea towel. "Why?"

I looked for help at Genma, who was standing a few feet behind me, but now stepped forward and said, "Hi, I'm Genma Shiranui, police officer." After all, he took the decision from me whether he wanted to play a role here. But he seemed to trust me, which unexpectedly put a little smile on my lips. "Well," he sighed and after a quick look down at me and a hint of a nod on my part, he continued, "It's about Pearl. We want to take revenge on the one who mutilated her, so we have to devise a plan. Sir, will you allow us to occupy one of your tables for this?"

"We mean you and Pearl?" Pain probed.

"No, we are.. Ah, second." Genma fished his cell phone out of his pocket, took a call, said briefly, "All right," and asked again to Pain, "My partners are at the door. May I..?"

Pain jerked his head almost indifferently, Genma disappeared through the metal door and returned after less than ten seconds. In tow he had two men, as I strongly suspected their names were Asuma and Gai. I couldn't determine which of the two was who, but their appearance couldn't have been more different: The taller of the two, who was built similarly to Madara in height and stature, had darker skin, wavy, black hair, an equally black full beard and gentle, hazelnut-colored eyes. He wore a shirt made of thick, brown fabric, which kind of reminded me of old military times. The smaller one – although "smaller" sounded mean, he was still taller than Genma, who wasn't tiny either – even shot Orochimaru's bird. The guy was.. How should I describe him? He was a mixture of the mushroom-shaped haircut of earlier Bruce Lee films, desecrated by chunky eyebrows, an incredibly tight, gnarky green, forbidden campy turtleneck, gray and white striped corduroy pants with flares that would have caused an uproar even in the seventies, and a grin that showed off a row of straight, white teeth. I never expected to ever meet a man who knocked Oro-kaachan off his flamboyant throne as the quirkiest man in the world. But here he was. And his name was Maito Gai, as I learned from Genma's brief introduction. He beamed at me so broadly and so motivating that I couldn't resist him and smiled back. I liked him, I already knew that.

The other man, on the other hand, made my knees cold at the sound of his name. "Asuma Sarutobi."

A shudder chased through my nerves and I stared at the bearded face in front of me in fear. Sarutobi...? Suddenly a cool hand slipped between my fingers and Genma's deep voice murmured close to my ear, "I know, but he's not like his father, believe me."

Asuma seemed to have noticed my reaction to his name, because he pursed his lips and said to the floor, "Yes.. Hello, Hinata."

"Hinata?!", Hidan croaked from behind and a loud clap told me that he had taken a blow from Kakuzu for it. I turned around and Hidan rubbed the back of his head grimly. Shyly, I cleared my throat. "Yes.. I.. Well.. my real name—"

".. is none of our business, Pearl," Pain said simply, Kisame nodded with a smile and even Kakuzu gave me a meaningful look, although I interpreted it differently than "It's okay, we'll keep your secret". I knitted my eyebrows together in surprise and was about to suppress the urge to ask my second father about the origin, when Asuma took the burden off me, "Huh? Well, if that's not Kakuzu 'Bill Butcher' Notaki. What does the probation do?"

Kakuzu's eyes narrowed. "Asuma 'Nepotist Pig' Sarutobi. What does the father do? Still at large?"

Asuma sucked in a loud breath and he bowed his head. "Touché. I guess I'll have to swallow it if I bear that last name."

"That's right," Kakuzu replied, took a sip of his pure shochu, which he always ordered here, and said, "I guess the gentlemen have something to talk about with Pearl, don't they?"

"Pearl?" Gai and Asuma asked in unison, but Genma heroically interjected. "Yes, you're right. We should discuss. Our window closes in.. yeah, suck me, less than an hour."

"It's going to be scrimpy," Gai commented, but he puffed himself up and almost roared, "But that shouldn't stop us! We can do it, guys." He threw a thumbs up into the round and I thought I could see a flash on his shining teeth. Yes, I indeed liked him.

Asuma grumbled something into his beard. When the two men were already moving towards one of the recesses and Genma and I wanted to follow them, we noticed at the same time that his hand was still in mine. It had felt so strangely normal to touch him that I hadn't even noticed it. We looked at each other, but quickly tore ourselves out of this intense eye contact and sat down next to Asuma and Gai on the narrow leather couch, whereby I was glad to be sandwiched between Gai and Genma, because on the one hand I had an excuse to feel Genma's leg on mine, and on the other hand I knew at least one person between me and Asuma. Genma trusted him and that's why I wanted to do the same, but it was an unpleasant feeling to be near the man whose father had raped me when I was fifteen. This world was really small.

"So," Genma began, sighed, sent his peppermint into my nostrils and plucked a napkin from the holder on the glass table to place it flat in front of our small team. "We basically don't have time for any plans anymore. But fuck, we're going to go through with it now. It's about Hinata having to sneak into Hiashi's office to open the safe there before the Gin'nome-kai notices her disappearance and evidence is destroyed."

I noticed that the men to my right were hesitant, but they played down their concern well and got straight to the point. "What is our death-blow?" asked Asuma.

"When Iroha calls the princesses to dinner. This happens at exactly six o'clock. We have to be out again by then," Genma explained.

"It's going to be difficult," Gai said.

"Difficult? Impossible," Asuma corrected.

Genma, "I know... But we have to try. Hinata and I go in, get the documents and are out before six. Well.. at least that's the idea."

I wanted to throw in something that could help us, but I could hardly breathe in the quick exchange of words.

Asuma, "How are you going to get in and out without the cameras seeing you?"

Genma clicked his tongue thoughtfully, so I finally intervened, "We'll use my escape route." I tapped the napkin. "If this is the main entrance, there is a spot in the wall that is not captured by the cameras. I've been using it for years to get off the site and back on it unnoticed. We have to climb, but.." I smiled at Genma briefly. "I trust you to do that."

He snorted with a smile. "Okay, so the wall."

"Due to the storm, it is now dark enough. We sneak a path through the garden, which is also in the blind spot, here to the back of the house" – I ran my index finger over the red fabric as if it would do anything, but somehow it felt necessary to illustrate my words – "and climb up the tendrils to my window. Well, I got injured there during my escape, so we have to be careful. There's a chair right behind the window and there are shards on the floor, just so you know." Genma nodded. "From my room we have to go down two flights of stairs to the ground floor, through the hallway to the door from where we reach the west wing. That's the difficult part, because we can't get around the camera. They will definitely see us there."

"And there is no other way to the office?" asked Gai.

"No. It does have a window, but it is alarmed. We have to go through the door. But we have to somehow distract the guard so that they don't see us."

"How many guards are there?" Asuma seemed to be busy taking imaginably notes.

"Usually only two, Iroha and Tokuma. Tokuma is.." I swallowed and a twitch on my leg told me that Genma hadn't missed this. "Well, Tokuma got time off."

The three men looked at each other irritated. "Wait, one of the bodyguards wasn't even present? Even though the Hoozuki were there today?"

"Yes," I replied, realizing that I trusted Kou's words blindly. Was that a mistake..? "My father often involves the Four, so I guess they were there as support. On the other hand, the Akumahikari-kai weren't there with malicious intent either, so it's quite possible that my father relied on Iroha and Kou. Kou is usually the night guard, but he was there during the day in Tokuma's place today."

"So we assume two or more bodyguards," Gai summed up.

I nodded and finally, since we had cleared the way, I saw talking about our buffer, but again I didn't get around to it.

"Well, Genma, I hate to say it," Asuma muttered and I closed my mouth again – my scratchy throat thanked me, "but there are too few of us. If Hinata really has to go in, someone has to go with her, and just the two of them can't manage to surround the house. We are definitely missing the sniper. My eyes aren't as good as they used to be, so you can forget about me. And at best, we need a decoy, but if you want to accompany Hinata, we have no one else. They know me and with Gai we are still undecided whether he is not already on their watch list. Besides, you're a red rag with them by now, forgotten? So, no matter how we look at it, we are missing two important keys – plus more men who can intervene."

"You know me, Genma, I never like to paint black, but Asuma is right," Gai agreed. "In the short time we have, we can never do it with the people we have. You should have initiated Tsunade, then we would have more resources."

Now was–

"Well, and do you think she would allow Hinata to go in there?" Genma asked, brushing his hair absently. "I don't, that's why we have to do it this way. Somehow. I organize the sniper and then we have to hope that Gai is not yet a familiar face. Play a Jehovah's Witness or so, something stupid, the main thing is that you distract them."

"Jehovah? Bullshit," Hidan suddenly spoke up again and suddenly I forgot that I had wanted to talk at all. Without being noticed by us, he had crouched down in the neighboring hollow and now came strolling around the black curtain, leaning against the pillar behind it and grinning broadly. "Jashin is the only true God. And guys, honestly, I can tell you something about him for hours."

"Excuse me?" Asuma said indignantly. "This conversation is confidential."

"Yeah, fuck that," Hidan grumbled. "Pearl has to sneak in somewhere and get something out and security guards and blah, don't mind. BUT: You need a decoy. And I can be one."

"Hidan," I gasped in horror. "This.. No, that's not your business."

His pink eyes showed something like melancholy. "Pearl.. I embarrassed you and I still owe you something for that. See that as a balance. We'll be even with that and I'll be able to bully you again until I drop dead."

"That's too dangerous," I said emphatically, stood up, climbed over Genma's legs and looked at Hidan seriously. I am.. well.." I took a deep breath and quickly said, "I'm the daughter of a yakuza boss. They have guns and they won't hesitate to use them."

Grinning, Hidan patted the crown of my head. "Oh, Pearl. And if you were a yakuza yourself, I don't care. I love you and I don't want anyone to do something like that to you again. Your fucking porcelain face doesn't deserve such a treatment. So, I want to help avenge you, even if it's about your father. What's my own life compared to your beauty, eh?"

Tears welled up in my eyes and I shook my head. "Hidan.."

"The little bastard is right," said a deep voice behind him. Kakuzu pushed himself into my field of vision in his suit with the loosened tie and gave me that look again. And by God, this time I understood it. It was care. Pure, brutal care. Kakuzu smiled slightly, which he rarely did. "I'm coming along as support. You don't deserve to be treated like that. Besides, I owe you something, Pearl."

"What..? Hidan, ok, but you..?" I looked at him in surprise. "Why owe.. how.. Kuzu, I don't understand."

Kakuzu sighed heavily, let his eyes wander over all the faces of the seated policemen once, and then said, "In a previous life, I did many bad things. One of them was that I accepted the order from Tokuma Uchiha to kill an infant. When I saw those big, silver eyes, I knew I couldn't cut them out of you. I took my knife from your face and sank it into Tokuma's chest instead." He approached me, stroked my cheek with his rough thumb, where my fine scar sat under the eye, covered by all the bruises. "I'm afraid I was the first man to disfigure you. Let me help you now to hunt down the last one."

My lips parted, dragging threads of spit with them, which waved in my vibrating breath like flags of unbridled despair. "Dad..", I whimpered, threw my arms around Kakuzu's neck and clung to this man who had known exactly where I came from all these years and yet had never said anything because it simply hadn't been necessary. He had accepted me as I wanted to be, as Pearl. For him, I had always been. His Pearl, which had to be protected and avenged. "But if you die, I'll kill you," I whispered into his dark shirt collar.

Kakuzu laughed briefly. "I promise, Pearl."