A/N: Hello there! If you're here and new to my works, please note that this story is a spin-off from the start of my crime AU, Happy Accidents, and its first spinoff, Who Am I. If you haven't read either of those stories, please note that some details in this story may not be explained as they have been covered in the other stories, which are happening simultaneously with this one; they all exist under one large, overarching main plot with character-focused romance stories. I highly recommend reading the other stories before reading this one. Happy reading!
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Naruto had never been a religious man, but today, he was praying. He was praying to whatever god, deity, or otherworldly being would hear it, begging for his best friend to be okay, begging for him to escape, raying that he'd done enough to help Sasuke Uchiha go on the run as a wanted criminal. It was better than the alternative.
After making the call, he'd decided to take a walk, taking a roundabout route to make sure he wasn't followed before tossing the burner phone he had on the ground, smashing it to pieces. He found a large rock near one of the parks and picked it up, smashing the phone even more, ensuring if anyone came across it, they would find nothing on it. No serial numbers, no saved numbers, nothing. He'd pick up a new one and contact Sasuke by that one.
After his brief stroll, he made his way back to the hospital, a sad look on his face as he stood outside the patient room. He'd never seen Ino in such rough shape. He couldn't help but reminisce about their usual office banter; their habit of prankish one another back and forth was legendary. They were always minor, harmless pranks, but it was a bit of excellent office fun to lighten the mood where they worked.
"What's her status?" He asked, looking to the dark-haired male who stood just as vigilantly outside the room.
"They... don't know yet. She's stable, but they said tonight is going to be the hardest. The next twelve to twenty-four hours are going to be crucial in determining whether she'll make it or not." For someone usually devoid of emotion, Sai seemed deeply troubled. He'd always seemed so aloof and detached, more so than even Sasuke was.
"You... gonna be okay, man?" Naruto asked, concern rising in his gut. "You were right there when it happened, weren'tcha?" That had to be hard to see. Naruto had seen the sight of Sakura's place after she'd been shot, and that had been hard enough. Ino was in worse shape by comparison.
"I... said something that I should not have," Sai remarked, a remorseful look on his face. "I said that it was a mistake for Detective Uchiha to have allowed Hidan to escape when Dr. Haruno was injured. I didn't understand why Miss Yamanaka—why Ino was so upset by my words. Then the house exploded, and I... there I was, in the very same position he was."
"Hey, listen. Hindsight is 20/20 when it comes to words sometimes, especially for you. Look, you just aren't used to how we do things around here, ya know? It's tough sometimes and all. Ya just don't know until you're in that position." Naruto shrugged and laid a hand on Sai's shoulder. "Listen. I know... that ROOT is involved in this, but I trust ya, all right? You can help us get to the bottom of all this." Sai had more than proven himself to be a trustworthy comrade, even if he was a ROOT member.
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Hinata had spent the entire evening baking up a storm, humming away in her kitchen. There was cause for celebration today; Detective Uchiha was back from his administrative leave, and DA Yamanaka had returned from her vacation. Hinata always found a reason to celebrate, which also meant she always found a reason to bake.
And, of course, she was making cinnamon rolls. It was a recipe she'd perfected over the years, given they were her favourite. With the warm rolls packed into a storage container, the bluenette made her way out of her house, hopping in her car and plugging in the directions to Ino's house. The two weren't best friends like Sakura and Ino, but they were incredibly close; they worked on many cases together and had an excellent silent rapport in the office that allowed them to communicate efficiently as partners.
As she pulled up into a spot just down the street, she noticed something. There were people she didn't recognize outside Ino's house, milling about as if they were waiting. It was just two of them, but if it weren't for the fact that she recognized one of them, Hinata would have continued up to the front door none the wiser.
Nevertheless, she knew that dark hair. Her father, Hiashi, was talking with a man in a suit, who had chin-length red hair and appeared skinny and almost gaunt. Why were they outside Ino's house? Curiosity got the better of Hinata as she crawled out through the passenger side of her car, staying low along the vehicles until she was just across the street from them, peering through the window of a car she was hiding behind.
Days like today, Hinata was glad she'd mastered the art of lip-reading. She could make out parts of the conversation, but not enough to piece the entire thing together; being able to read what they were saying helped her put the rest together. Something about whether something had been taken care of, and... were they talking about Detective Uchiha? That made... almost no sense. She studied further, noting they spoke about some 'problem' being taken care of. Contextually, it made little to no sense to her. It sounded like they were trying to frame Uchiha for something, but what? And why?
Seeing their conversation coming to an end, Hinata quickly scrambled back to her car, hiding behind it and taking deep breaths to calm herself. She was too shaky to approach Ino's house now, so there was only one option. She dialled the blonde's cell number, silently hoping she'd pick up, but it rang to... nothing? Not even her voicemail? That was more than strange. Ino must have turned her phone off if that were the case, or perhaps the battery had died. There was one other person she could try.
Keying in Sai's number, she heard him pick up, feeling a sense of relief. "Hi, i-it's Miss Hyuga. Is Miss Yamanaka available? I had, um, tried her cell, but I assume it died since she isn't picking up." It wasn't often that it happened, but Ino had done so once or twice. Luckily during those times, Hinata had been able to reach her on the office phone.
"Miss Yamanaka is... busy at the moment," Sai responded, though his tone made Hinata suspicious.
"Busy? Is it the Kohlrabi case?" Hinata always knew everything there was to know about Ino's cases; she was Ino's administrative assistant, after all.
"No, it is... something else. I am not at liberty to say for the sake of her privacy." A strange choice of words. She could tell Sai was hiding something, but she wasn't feeling confident enough to speak up against it. Nevertheless, she had a growing pit of dread in her stomach.
"...I see. Good day, then," she said politely, hanging up the line. Once she'd composed herself, she got back in her car and drove him, feeling beyond baffled by that conversation.
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"You're not going to tell her?" Naruto asked, knowing full well who it was on the phone. He'd recognized the voice on the other line and deduced it could only be one person: Hinata. No one would sound so polite, and Naruto was sure Sasuke and Sakura wouldn't be making the mistake of trying to call Sai. Sasuke was no fool; he knew how these sorts of scenarios worked. He'd been planning for weeks in case this happened.
"I cannot," Sai said, shaking his head. "Miss Yamanaka's condition has to be kept under wraps." Under wraps? What kind of ridiculousness was that? Naruto couldn't believe what he heard from Sai. His fist clenched at his side, lips pursing and eyes narrowing as he stared Sai down. Moments ago, he'd been inclined to trust Sai, but now he was less than so. Naruto rarely ever got angry, but today... Today was an exception.
He reached toward Sai and grasped the male's shirt, shoving him up against the wall as he stared at him, blue eyes flickering with anger. "What the hell kind of bullshit is that? Hinata will find out whether ya keep it from her or not, and she damn well deserves to know! Ya can't keep these kinds of things from people, dick!" Though he was angry, he made sure to keep his voice down; he didn't want to attract attention.
"There is more going on here than you are aware of, Detective Uzumaki," Sai replied calmly, unfazed by Naruto's anger. "This is delicate, and at the moment, finding out who is responsible for what happened is the priority. The more that we can control the flow of information and vet people who could be involved, directly or indirectly, the better." Naruto hated that Sai was right. The flow of information was vital, but he hated secrets with a passion.
Reluctantly he let Sai go, releasing his grip and shaking his head. "Ya better be right about this, or it'll be on your head." Naruto ran a hand through his hair, drawing in a deep breath to calm himself before he turned back. "Who so far have ya vetted, then? Hmm?"
"Right now, Chief Hatake. We can follow up with him for information, but it will have to be a private conversation. I am... concerned about Chief Tenshi. Her appearance was too coincidental, and accusing Detective Uchiha of the crime is nonsensical from my perspective. Her statements pointed to nothing more than circumstantial assumptions that were determined to be unfounded by the remainder of your investigation." Naruto had a bad feeling about the whole situation, and the more Sai explained it, the worse that feeling became.
"Yeah, I see what ya mean," Naruto replied. "I still don't like it at all. I hate keeping secrets from friends. It's not fair. They deserve to know, ya know?" Naruto prided himself on his honesty, which meant that keeping secrets or lying to protect people wasn't something he agreed with. Nevertheless, if it meant lying to an enemy for the sake of saving his friends, he'd have to. He upheld the law, but sometimes it made absolutely no sense to him.
"I don't believe it's the most appealing course of action, either, but... if there is something I have learned from Miss Yamanaka, it's that... friendship and bonds are important." That sounded just like Ino. The two of them were relatively close, so he knew precisely what Sai was talking about. "That does remind me... why are you so willing to trust me with knowing the details of Detective Uchiha's... situation?" Naruto was surprised by that question. Wasn't it obvious?
"Well, that's a pretty simple one. You've proven yourself. And, well, Sakura and Ino seemed to trust ya, and I trust their judgement. Keepin' me in the loop helped." Naruto shrugged. "Besides, you also did your due diligence figurin' out whether Ino was to be trusted or not, and you went with your gut. I can respect that."
"I see," Sai replied. "Well... I'm glad to hear it. Let's take turns looking after Ino, then. I'll take the first shift; you can head home and get some rest."
"Sure. By all means. And Sai?" Naruto added, raising a fist toward him for a fist bump. Sai seemed hesitant, slowly doing the same until their fists bumped together, prompting a bright grin on Naruto's face. "Stay cool, okay?"
Sai reached forward and bumped his fist with Naruto's awkwardly. "Sure. I will."