Chapter 1.

::Sasuke::

-----

It was well over midnight when Uchiha Sasuke, the young CEO of the Uchiha corporation, stopped his car at a gas station just outside his home town, Konoha.

All Sasuke wanted to do was go home and get some much needed sleep, but luck was definitely not on his side. He was well aware of the fact that, if he didn't fill his car’s fuel tank, he wouldn't make it home.

Sasuke was exhausted, and more than a little pissed off. He had had to drive to Suna early that morning to attend an important business meeting with the mayor of Suna, Sabaku Gaara. Gaara had informed Sasuke and his rival companies’ presidents that he wanted to renovate the city hall of Suna, the oldest and most magnificent building in the city. If Sasuke got the contract, it would make the Uchiha corporation the most successful company - in their field - in the whole country.

However, this was not why Sasuke was so pissed off, or even why he was tired. No. The reason he was in such foul mood was because he was forced to drive back to Konoha that same night. The vice president of Uchiha corporation, Kurosawa Orochimaru, had decided to call a meeting for the next morning without a warning.

Oh how Sasuke hated the snake-like man. It was as if Orochimaru was deliberately trying to make life difficult for him. This wasn't even the first time something like this had happened. Sasuke was pretty certain that Orochimaru was conniving to take over the company, but he wasn't going to let Orochimaru’s little mind games get to him. And he certainly wasn't going to let Orochimaru steal the company his parents had left for him. No way in hell.

Sasuke got out of his car to do what he was there to do, but, before he could do anything else, he was stopped by a serious voice.

“I can fill up the tank, Uchiha-san. You should stay in the car.”

That voice belonged to Sasuke’s new annoyance, his bodyguard, Aburame Shino.

Sasuke didn't really think he needed a bodyguard, but Uchiha corporation’s head of security, Hatake Kakashi, had disagreed with him. No matter how much he had tried to convince Kakashi of the fact that he could very well take care of himself, and that he didn't need to be protected, Kakashi didn't waver in his decision to hire a bodyguard for him.

The reason for Kakashi’s concern was the fact that Sasuke had started receiving anonymous death threats. At first, no one had really taken them that seriously – why would anyone want to kill Sasuke? - but a few weeks back the death threats had become more frequent, so Kakashi had felt that it was better to be safe than sorry. If someone really wanted Sasuke dead, they should take some precautions.

Kakashi had insisted that Sasuke not only have a bodyguard when he went out, but that said bodyguard should be with him all the time. Sasuke, however, was a very private person, so this didn't bode too well with him. In the end, he gave in, though, agreeing to have a bodyguard just so that Kakashi would stop bothering him. The man, no matter how laid back, could be very persistent when he wanted to be.

Sasuke didn't like the fact that he had practically no privacy, but, more than anything, he hated when someone told him what to do.

“Fine,” Sasuke said, scowling. He didn't move to get back into the car, though. Sasuke knew he was being childish, and that Shino was just doing his job, but it didn't mean that he would just let Shino push him around. Sasuke was stubborn like that.

As a reply to this, Shino gave Sasuke, what Sasuke thought to be, a tired look - he couldn't really tell because Shino was wearing sunglasses. After this, Shino went to fill up the fuel tank without commenting on Sasuke’s less than mature behaviour.

After a few seconds of waiting, Sasuke started to think that it was pointless for him to just stand there doing nothing, so he decided to go pay for the gas. The sooner he got this over with, the sooner he would be home sleeping. Shino would just have to deal with the fact that Sasuke was going inside alone - it wasn't like someone would attack him there anyway, right?

If Shino saw Sasuke leave, he didn't say anything.

Sasuke walked into the gas station's store, heading straight for the counter. The whole way there, he glared at the innocent floor, grumbling something about stupid vice presidents making his life difficult.

When he reached the counter, he looked up - and froze.

There in front of him stood the most gorgeous creature he had ever seen: a boy with unruly blond hair, tanned skin and the bluest of eyes.

The sight left Sasuke speechless; he couldn't help but to stare. It was like the boy in front of him was perfect...

”Oi bastard, what do you think you’re staring at?”

Scratch that. A better word to describe the blond was definitely ‘obnoxious’.

-----

End of chapter one.

Chapter 2.

::Naruto::

-----

‘I’m late. I’m late. I can’t believe I’m late again. Shit. Shit. Shit.’

Uzumaki Naruto was running to work, already almost an hour late.

‘Why did the damn bus have to break today of all days?’

The only day – night actually – of the week that Naruto’s boss will make an appearance at the store. Every Friday, the boss, Sarutobi, comes to get the money from the previous week’s sales from the store’s safe.

‘I hope he’s not there yet.’

This hasn't been Naruto’s day, at all. From the moment he woke up – late! – everything has gone wrong.

First he had missed his weekly ramen date with Iruka because he had forgotten to set his alarm clock. And, as if this wasn't bad enough, when he went to Iruka’s apartment to apologize, his perfectly innocent mind was scarred for life.

Naruto had probably knocked on Iruka’s door hundreds of times before he finally decided to just let himself in – Iruka had given him a spare key for occasions just like this. Thinking that he could wait for Iruka to get home and maybe eat some instant ramen, having not gotten his daily dose yet, Naruto had put the key into the lock.

He was not ready for what he saw when he opened the door.

There, on the living room couch, was Iruka with another man, doing things Naruto didn't even want to think about Iruka doing, much less witness with his own eyes. The man was later announced to be Iruka’s new boyfriend.

After a rather embarrassing high-pitched screaming scene and minutes of running around like headless chickens, both Iruka and Naruto calmed down a little. They were both still blushing furiously when Iruka emerged from his room fully clothed. And after Iruka not so kindly shoved his boyfriend – Naruto never did get his name – out from the apartment, he began to endlessly apologize to Naruto.

When Iruka finally gave Naruto a chance to speak, he assured Iruka that everything was alright and that no permanent damage had been done. Iruka’s troubled look had instantly been replaced with a look of extreme relief, so Naruto did not feel the need to upset the older man again by telling him about his poor, poor mind being scarred.

Iruka has been like a father to Naruto ever since they first met. He was the first person to acknowledge Naruto and truly care for him.

Naruto was orphaned at a very young age. His mother died giving birth to him, and he was only six months old when his father died – Naruto doesn't really know what happened to him.

When he met Iruka the first time, he was six years old.

Since the death of his father, Naruto had already lived in numerous foster homes. Each had been worse than the previous one, but before that time no one had tried to actually physically hurt him.

That night Naruto’s foster father had been extremely drunk. He had decided that everything wrong in his life was somehow the six-year-old Naruto’s fault. The police had been called by Naruto's foster brother, and Iruka had been one of the police officers that had come to help.

Iruka had taken the terrified boy to the police station with him and his partner. He had taken care of Naruto the whole time the boy was at the station, and in that little time a bond had formed between them.

Even after Naruto no longer needed police assistance, having moved into an orphanage, they continued to keep in touch. Iruka visited him at least once a week and called him every other day. And later, when Naruto had become older, he started to visit Iruka at his house and, when the man was at work, at the police station. Naruto was, and still is, very well-liked there.

Naruto is very grateful for everything Iruka has done for him. He doesn't even want to think about what would have happened to him if he hadn't ever met the kind man.

Naruto is also really happy Iruka has found someone to love – even though his love interest had seemed to be a bit eccentric. Iruka definitely deserves to love and be loved in return.

When Naruto finally reached his work place - a gas station just outside Konoha - he headed straight to where his fellow worker, Kiba, was.

Kiba isn't only Naruto’s best; the boy was also Naruto's first friend of his own age. They met in sixth grade and got along right away. Kiba had been the only child that had dared to get close to Naruto and didn't try to avoid him because he lived in an orphanage.

Naruto stopped beside his best friend, panting hard from running so fast.

Kiba looked at him disapprovingly and sighed. “You're late again, Naruto.”

“Yeah. Sorry, man,” Naruto said after catching his breath. He rubbed the back of his neck as he smiled sheepishly.

“You don’t have to apologize, Naruto.” Kiba’s serious look changed to one of amusement. “Just be glad the boss wasn’t here to see it. He would have fired your sorry ass on the spot.”

Naruto grinned, “Yeah, I know. That old fart is too uptight for his own good.”

“No, Naruto. You are just irresponsible for being late.”

“Hey!”

Kiba just gave him a pointed look.

“Okay, okay. You're right.” Naruto admitted in defeat.

Kiba smiled, pleased with himself, “You should go change ‘cause you look like shit, man.”

“Thanks.” Naruto glared at Kiba, while said person just laughed.

Naruto still took the other boy’s advice and went to change. Five minutes later he emerged from the staff room wearing his work clothes. He walked to the counter and sat down next to Kiba.

After two minutes, he couldn't take it any longer.

“God, I’m already bored.” Naruto shifted in his seat restlessly.

This kind of job – where he was just supposed to sit still and wait for clients – didn't really fit him. The only reason Naruto didn't quit was the fact that he really needed the money. He wanted to be independent. He didn't like the idea of leeching of off Iruka’s money, at all.

“Just deal with it.” Said Kiba without any sympathy, turning a page of the magazine he had started to read.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at Kiba and pouted, “Fine, I will.”

Fifteen minutes of total boredom later, the store’s doors finally opened and the first client of the night walked in.

The client was a boy who looked to be no older than Naruto himself. The boy had raven black hair and pale skin. He was wearing a white dress shirt and black pants.

All that went on in Naruto’s mind was ‘wow, what a babe’.

The dark-haired boy stopped in front of the counter. He lifted his gaze from the floor and looked straight at Naruto – and stared.

And stared.

And stared some more.

For a brief moment, Naruto was mesmerized by the boy’s deep onyx eyes, but, when he finally came to his senses, he began to feel self-conscious.

After that he began to feel highly uncomfortable. Naruto didn't like to be stared at like that, no matter how attractive the person doing the staring was. He didn't know how he was supposed to act, so he did the only thing he could think of at the moment – he got mad.

“Oi, bastard. What do you think you’re staring at?” He said not so quietly.

Naruto hadn't really meant to sound so rude – honestly, he hadn't! But he wasn't going to apologize either – after all, he wasn't the one being impolite and staring.

------

Sasuke was able to regain his bearings after the blond had spoken. He instantly plastered his usual impassive look on his face.

‘Bastard, eh?' Sasuke thought, smirking. 'Well, isn’t he a feisty one... Maybe more than a little obnoxious, yes, but feisty...’

“Bastard? Is this how you usually treat your customers... Naruto? You call them names without any reason?” Sasuke asked as innocently as an Uchiha possibly could, ignoring the blond’s earlier question.

Naruto bristled. ‘That smirk... It makes me want to pound his head repeatedly against the cash register!’

“Don’t try to turn this around on me, bastard! You were the one staring! Why? You really think I’m that hot? I’m honoured. You should probably – he pointed at the raven haired boy’s chin – wipe that drool off.”

“Hn. Don’t flatter yourself, dobe. You're not that great.” God, how Sasuke hoped that the other boy was only bluffing with the drool thing.

“Don’t call me that, you bastard! And how did you know my name anyway?” Naruto eyed Sasuke suspiciously before pointing a finger at him accusingly. “Are you stalking me or something?”

Sasuke smirked his ‘are-you-really-that-stupid’ smirk. ‘This Naruto character is a bit thick, but it’s certainly entertaining to watch, and provoke, him. It’s way too easy to anger the blond anyway...’

“No, idiot.” Sasuke pointed at Naruto’s chest “You have a name tag.”

Naruto blushed, embarrassed, and intelligently said, “Oh.”

“Oh, indeed. You shouldn’t just go around accusing people of things they haven’t done.” Sasuke’s wicked smirk widened and he added with an arrogant voice. “Don't you have any manners, dobe?”

Naruto’s embarrassment was gone in a flash; he was fuming now. “Why you...” But before he could finish what he had been about to say, and jump over the counter to give Sasuke’s throat a little squeeze, Kiba stopped him.

-----

When Shino was done with the car, he decided to go after Sasuke.

He, being as good as he was at his job, had naturally immediately noticed when the Uchiha had left. He just hadn't bothered to say anything about – or against – it. He knew very well that the stubborn boy wouldn't have listened to him anyway.

He checked his surroundings for any possible attackers, or other dangers, while walking towards his destination.

Shino always did his job extremely thoroughly, but especially now – when the actual object of his protection was against having a bodyguard, reluctant to cooperate with him – he had to be more alert and cautious than ever.

Shino noticed a group of people a little behind him – they were coming from their car, obviously heading for the store. There was four of them; one man and three women.

Shino observed what the people looked like and how they were acting to determine if they were a threat or not. Two of the people were talking animatedly to each other, while the other two were listening to them, laughing. The man had dark hair and huge eyebrows, while the three women each had different hair colours – black, blond and pink.

Shino decided that the group looked harmless and that they didn't seem to pose a threat to the Uchiha.

When he reached the store, he went in and inspected his surroundings.

Shino saw Sasuke standing at the check-out counter with two sales clerks. The raven-haired boy was talking with the blond haired one. He also noted that there was only one other person inside the store with them; a young man with grey hair and eyeglasses. Shino had seen the man go into the store just a moment after Sasuke.

After having thoroughly checked the place out, Shino walked to where the Uchiha was. The blond Sasuke had been talking to was now trying to get out of the other sales clerk’s grip to strangle Sasuke – the boy looked absolutely furious.

When the Uchiha acknowledged his presence, Shino nodded towards the fuming blond and asked, “Is everything alright, Uchiha-san?”

-----

Sasuke only nodded an affirmative to Shino’s question. He was watching the dense boy in front of him intensely, while said boy was thrashing around in his friend’s grip. Even though it didn't show on his face, Sasuke was having a really hard time trying to suppress the smile that was threatening to form on his lips.

Sasuke could tell that Naruto was different from the people he usually had around him; the boy was clearly a ‘what-you-see-is-what-you-get’ kind of person. It was refreshing for him to converse with a straightforward person, even if they were just fighting.

Shino’s voice interrupted Sasuke’s train of thought.

“You shouldn’t have left without me, Uchiha-san. I’m supposed to be with you at all times. Hatake-san...”

Sasuke just snorted and proceeded to ignore the man beside him. Shino seemed to take the not-so-subtle hint, and didn't finish what he had been about to say.

Naruto had stopped his thrashing when Shino had spoken. When Kiba let him go, he immediately burst out in laughter.

After he had calmed down a little, he spoke. “Oh man, this is too much... You actually have a babysitter?”

After saying this, Naruto started to laugh again. Now it was Sasuke’s turn to be annoyed. He glared at the blond who was now clutching his stomach in uncontrollable laughter.

“I have better things to do than stand here watching your idiotic face, so why don’t you do your job - or are you even capable of that, idiot?”

Naruto’s laughter died down instantly.

“Don’t talk down to me, you bastard! You should be more respectful towards me, Uzumaki Naruto, the future mayor of Konoha!”

Sasuke’s reply to Naruto’s exclamation was less than agreeing; it involved words like ‘you’, ‘mayor’ and ‘in your dreams’.

The boys just kept shouting at each other – well, Naruto shouted – while the seven other people in the store watched on, curious.

No one noticed the three armed people entering the store until a loud male voice echoed through the store. It made everybody freeze.

”This is a robbery! If you do what we tell you to do, nobody will get hurt!”

-----

End of chapter two.

Chapter 3.

Wrong Place, Wrong Time

-----

It was late at night. Mitarashi Anko was walking through a gas station’s yard with her two associates. Even though she had known the two for many years, she couldn't call them her friends. She knew them all too well, what they are like and all the things they have done, to actually get close to them.

The one walking on Anko’s left side was a woman.

Her name is Tayuya. She has brown eyes and dark pink hair. Tayuya is the type of person who could kill without even blinking an eye. She has absolutely no problem with taking someone’s life. There is one word that describes her perfectly: ruthless. Tayuya is also fiercely loyal to those she deems worthy and respects. She would never betray the people who have helped her and taken care of her.

The one walking on Anko’s right side was a man.

His name is Kimimaro. He has green eyes and white hair and very pale skin that makes him look a little sickly. He has two tattoos on his forehead; one red dot above each eye.

Kimimaro is different from Tayuya. He isn't ruthless at heart like her, but what makes him even more dangerous is the fact that he is easily manipulated by others. If the ‘right person’ asks him to do something, he will do it, no questions asked.

When they finally reached the gas station’s store, they stopped in front of the door. Kimimaro turned around to face the women and spoke.

“Anko, you stay at the door and, if you see anyone coming, inform me right away. Tayuya, you keep an eye on the hostages and follow the plan. Is everything clear?”

Both women nodded.

“Good. Now, put your masks on.”

The only reason why they hadn't put the masks on earlier, when they had been in their car, was because they would have looked suspicious if someone had seen them skulking around wearing them.

Their masks were different from one another. Anko’s mask was plain white, while Kimimaro had a white mask with black pipe-like patterns on it. Tayuya’s mask was also white, but it had black lightning-like patterns on it.

When they were ready, Kimimaro turned around to face the store’s doors and spoke. “Okay. Let’s go then.”

Anko watched the man open the doors and disappear inside. She stood still until she saw Tayuya go after him, then she went in, too.

All she could think about when she followed her inside was how much she didn't want to be there and that she didn't want to do ‘this’ again.

”This is a robbery! If you do what we tell you to do, nobody will get hurt!”

-----

Everyone in the store was startled by the sudden appearance of the three masked people and the exclamation of one of them. It was as if time had stopped completely. Everyone was frozen in their place, just staring at the masked – and armed – people at the store’s exit.

Even though it felt like hours had passed until the man spoke again, only a second or two had gone by.

“We don't want to harm you in any way, but if you give us any reason to think otherwise, we'll not hesitate to do so. Just follow our instructions and everything will go smoothly. Understood?”

The robber got only a few dazed nods in response.

“Good. Now, everybody stay calm and move to sit in front of the check-out counter, please.”

Everyone that was not already there walked to the counter, still in a state of shock.

When they were all seated, the masked man continued to talk.

“I need someone to show me where the safe is.” He pointed a finger at Kiba. “You work here, so you must know where it is, right?”

Kiba nodded, a little reluctant.

“Okay, good. Get up and show me then.”

Kiba did as he was told and went to take the man to the staff room where the safe was. However, before they could leave, the masked man spoke again, looking at Naruto and the others.

“Don't try to play hero or do anything else as stupid while I’m gone. We truly don't want to hurt you, so just behave well.”

After this, he turned and motioned Kiba to go ahead. When they disappeared into the staff room, the other of the two remaining robbers went to stand near the people sitting on the floor.

The store became quiet, only light sobbing could be heard.

Sasuke was cursing his extremely bad luck. How did he manage to choose just the gas station that was going to be robbed? It wasn't like he couldn't have stopped earlier, but no, he just had to stop at this one. Just great. As if he needed more problems. First the death threats, and now this? He couldn't believe it.

‘Someone must really hate me up there.’

The silence lasted only about five minutes, until Naruto gained his bearings. After the initial shock wore down, he was actually more saddened by the robbery than scared. He didn't think Sarutobi deserved this; the gas station was already struggling. He didn't know what would happen to it if all the money from the last week’s sales was stolen.

Naruto was also very worried about the other people in the store. He looked around himself, at the people sitting in front of the counter, and decided that he should try and lighten the mood a bit.

He saw a blonde woman sitting her back against the counter. She was holding a shaking petite, black-haired woman in her arms.

“Is she okay?” He spoke, motioning at the shaking woman with his hand.

Apparently this had been a mistake because, right after Naruto had finished saying this, the robber keeping an eye on them was standing in front of him, pointing a gun at his face.

To say that Naruto was a little startled was a huge understatement.

“You should shut your mouth, brat, if you don’t want this – the robber wiggled the gun a little – to go off.”

Before Naruto could react in any way, his view of the woman was suddenly blocked.

Apparently one of the other ‘hostages’ had moved in front of him, shielding Naruto from the robber’s gun.

“Please, don't hurt him. The boy wasn't trying to act against you. He was just worried about the woman’s condition. There's no need to be violent. We don't pose any kind of threat to you or your partners.”

The robber’s mask covered her face, but the fact that she was annoyed was clearly evident in her voice.

“Fine, talk. But keep it quiet. And no funny business. I’m not afraid to use this.” Once again the woman wiggled her gun.

The man between Naruto and the robber nodded, smiling. “Thank you.”

The woman just nodded, going to stand a little further away from them.

Naruto was amazed that someone he didn't even know had protected him. He was touched.

The man turned to look at Naruto, giving him a kind smile.

Naruto smiled back.

“Wow... I can’t believe you just did that, mister...” He really wanted to know the name of the man who might have saved his life a minute ago.

“Yakushi Kabuto.” The grey-haired man offered his hand to Naruto. “And you are?”

Naruto took the offered hand and shook it firmly. “My name is Uzumaki Naruto. Thank you for what you just did, Kabuto-san.”

Kabuto smiled again. “There's no need to thank me, Naruto-kun.”

“Of course there is! You just saved my life!”

“No, really, I just did what anyone else would have done.”

Naruto was just about to object, say that not that many people would just jump in front of a gun to protect someone they didn't even know, but he was interrupted.

“Just be grateful, usuratonkachi, and stop arguing with the man.”

With great speed, Naruto whirled around. He looked at the owner of the very familiar – and taunting – voice. A vein throbbed on his forehead.

“Shut up, bastard. This has got nothing to do with you.”

The dark-haired boy just smirked and ‘hn’ed. This angered the fuming blond more, but before he managed to start shouting at the other boy, and anger their guard in the process, Kabuto spoke.

“Please, this isn't the time to start fighting. We have enough to deal with as it is.”

Naruto looked away in shame, while Sasuke did nothing. “Sorry.”

Kabuto smiled again. “It’s okay, Naruto-kun.”

Suddenly a worried look replaced the smile on Kabuto’s face and he started scanning the other people around him.

“Now, is everyone alright?”

The first to answer was a man with black bowl-cut hair, big round eyes, and huge eyebrows.

“My girlfriend is alright, and so am I. Nice to meet you, Kabuto-san. My name is Rock Lee, and this – he placed his hand on the knee of the woman sitting next to him – is the greatest love of my life, Sakura-chan.”

Sakura, who had short pink hair and green eyes, blushed a little at his boyfriend’s embarrassing words. She nodded.

“Nice to meet you all. Too bad we had to meet under these kind of circumstances, though.”

Kabuto smiled and then looked at the blonde woman holding the shaking black-haired woman.

“What about you two?”

“I’m alright, Kabuto-san.” The blue-eyed blonde glanced at the woman in her arms and continued “But I’m not so sure about Hinata.”

For the first time since sitting down, Hinata lifted her head up, looking at Ino with pale lavender eyes. She didn't like the fact that Ino thought she was so weak that she would break down so easily. The fact that she was shaking didn't mean that she couldn't handle herself anymore. Yes, she was afraid, but many other people would be afraid in this kind of situation, too.

“N-no, I-Ino, I’m a-alright, too. Thank you f-for asking, Kabuto-san.”

“No need to thank me, Hinata-san. I’m just glad you're fine.”

Kabuto turned his attention to the two men that hadn't answered his question yet.

“What about you two?”

“We're fine.” Sasuke answered for them both. Shino nodded to confirm it.

“Good. And I assume you are alright, too, Naruto-kun?”

Naruto nodded vigorously, smiling widely. “Yeah.”

When the others had started to speak to each other, Shino turned to look at Sasuke.

“I’m sorry, Uchiha-san.”

“Why?” Sasuke asked, a little confused.

“Because I'm your bodyguard, Uchiha-san. It's my job to protect you from everything and keep you safe. I-”

Knowing exactly what the man was getting at, Sasuke interrupted Shino before he could say anything else. He spoke in an indifferent voice.

“No, Aburame. First of all, I can very well take care of myself. And second, you couldn’t have prevented this from happening.”

Shino was grateful Sasuke wasn't blaming him, but he still wasn't happy with himself for letting himself and Sasuke wind up in a situation like this.

-----

Almost twenty minutes had gone by since Kiba had left Naruto and the other people, going to show robber man where the safe was.

The masked man had been trying to crack the safe ever since they had come to the staff room, but he hadn't succeeded in opening it yet.

Kiba, who was sitting quietly in a chair beside the masked man, felt himself become more and more anxious as the time went on. When will the robber finally get the safe open? And when will they finally go away and leave him and the others in peace? Kiba just wanted to breathe freely again.

A couple of minutes later, his train of thought was broken by a loud shout coming from outside the room.

“A man's coming towards the store!”

Immediately after hearing this the robber fiddling with the safe was up and running out of the staff room, towards the front of the store from where the shout had come from.

Kiba followed the robber out of the room, but stopped beside the check-out counter because he didn't want to do anything that could anger the robbers.

When Kimimaro reached the front of the store, he stopped next to Anko, who had been keeping watch at the doors, and spoke in an unconcerned voice.

“We'll pretend this place is closed. Lock the doors and hide yourself after you've done it.”

Anko nodded and went to do as she was told.

Satisfied with his plan, confident that it would work, Kimimaro walked away from his partner in crime, stopping in front of the people at the counter. He spoke with a threatening voice.

“You'll stay hidden, too, if you know what's good for you.”

He didn't wait for an answer and walked behind the counter. Kiba was already there, crouching.

Kiba hadn't seen the man that was coming to the store; he was too far away from the window. He had a very bad feeling about the whole thing, though.

When the man reached the doors, everyone waited for him to turn around and walk away after trying to open the doors and finding them locked.

But, to everyone’s surprise, this didn't happen. Instead, after a moment, the doors’ locks opened with soft clacks and the man stepped into the store.

At that instant, Kiba knew who the man was. He confirmed his suspicions by peering at the front of the store from his hiding place. He saw an old man with white hair and beard, a brown pipe in his mouth.

‘Sarutobi.’

-----

Sarutobi was in the middle of making his weekly visit to the gas station he owned.

He could see that the lights were on in the store, but when he tried to push the doors open, they didn't budge. Apparently the doors were locked.

‘Well, that’s odd. What on earth are the boys doing?’

Sarutobi fished his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the doors. After putting the keys back in his pocket, he pushed the doors open and stepped inside.

There was an ominous silence in the store.

Usually the boys would come to greet him, to ask how he and his family were doing, or, when the boys were busy with something, they would at least yell their ‘hellos’ to him.

When nothing of the sort happened, Sarutobi started to think that something was very wrong.

Cautiously, he walked a little deeper into the store. He stopped in his tracks, though, when he saw a masked man appear from behind the check-out counter.

“Who are you? What’s going on here?”

Sarutobi got no answers.

Before he could even begin to grasp what was going on, much less do anything about it, another masked person appeared behind him. He was trapped.

“What do you want?”

Finally the masked person, who was now standing beside the counter, answered his question in a mocking tone of voice.

“What do you think we want, old man? We're robbing this place, so I guess the answer would be ‘money’, of course.”

Sarutobi panicked. They were robbing the store? What would happen to his daughter, son-in-law, and grandson if the robbers managed to do that? They were already having a tough time as it was, but what would happen if, or when, they lost a whole week’s income?

And then another frightening thought flooded his mind. What about the boys? What has happened to them? Where are they? Are they alright?

Just then Sarutobi saw Kiba come into view from behind the counter, too.

‘Thank god Kiba's alright, but where's Naruto? Have they hurt him?’

Sarutobi felt helpless; what was he supposed to do?

The robber at the counter was speaking to him, but he was too lost in his own thoughts to actually hear what the man was saying.

‘I can’t let them do this. I can’t. I have to try to get away, so I could go and get help.’

With that thought in mind, he quickly turned around, pushing the robber behind him, making her stumble backwards and fall down on the floor.

Sarutobi made a beeline for the doors.

-----

Kimimaro had been trying to convince the old man of the fact that, if he just did what he was told, they wouldn't have to hurt him, but it seemed like the man wasn't even listening to him.

When he saw the man push Anko and then start to run towards the doors, he let loose a colourful stream of curses.

‘What an idiot.’

If the old man got away from them now, their plan would have to be postponed. That just wouldn't be acceptable, so Kimimaro concluded that there was really only one thing that could be done.

He would have to use his gun.

Kimimaro wouldn't shoot to kill the man, though. He would make sure the gun wound wasn't fatal and that it only slowed the old man down.

Kiba had been watching the robber near him the whole time the man had been trying to talk to his boss. And, when he saw him raise up his gun and aim it at Sarutobi, Kiba moved before he could even think about what he was doing.

He lunged at the robber, trying to grab the gun from the man.

Kiba’s sudden attack made Kimimaro lose his balance. He had to take a few steps back, so that he wouldn't fall down. This made him lose sight of his target.

While the robber tried regain his footing, Kiba lunged at him again.

This time Kiba was able to grab the gun, but the other man had no intentions of letting go, so they ended up struggling for it.

A shot was fired.

-----

End of chapter three.

Chapter 4.

The Plan Gone Wrong

-----

Naruto couldn't believe what was happening; everything felt surreal. He was hiding, crouching behind a candy shelf, which was one of the three shelves lined in front of the check-out counter.

When he looked around himself, he noted that the Uchiha and his ‘babysitter’ were crouching next to him to the left, behind the same candy shelf.

Lee, Sakura, Ino, and Hinata, on the other hand, were all behind a shelf full of salty snacks; it was the next shelf to the left of the candy shelf. Naruto hadn't really seen where Kabuto had gone, but he assumed the kind man was also crouching behind something, somewhere.

Naruto regognized the voice coming from the person who had just come into the store.

‘Sarutobi?’

He didn't see Sarutobi from behind the shelf, but he could hear everything that was being said. His boss was talking to the robber standing in front of the staff room's door, at the check-out counter.

“Who are you? What's going on here?”

Sarutobi got no answer.

“What do you want?”

Finally, after a moment of tense silence, the robber answered with a mocking voice.

“What do you think we want, old man? We're robbing this place, so I guess the answer would be ‘money’, of course.”

Once again, it was quiet for a while, then the same robber was speaking again. Naruto didn't hear what he was saying, though; he wasn't paying attention.

Then shuffling could be heard, followed closely by a thump, and then quick steps going further away from Naruto echoed in the store.

‘What’s happening?’

Naruto really wanted to see, so he moved along the shelf’s front towards the aisle on the right side of him – the aisle that went straight from the entrance/exit to the check-out counter. He peeked around the corner, and saw Sarutobi.

Naruto didn't even notice when he stood up from his crouching position. The robber, who was now just a little way behind him, was still speaking, but Naruto could only concentrate on one thing: Sarutobi’s quickly retreating back.

When the robber stopped talking, Naruto heard a thump from behind him. Quickly, he turned around to look at where the sound had come from. What greeted his eyes was Kiba struggling with the armed robber.

He didn't even have time to react, everything happened so fast.

-----

A shot was fired.

-----

It was like everything happened in slow motion when Naruto saw Kiba fall down. He couldn't move, blink, or do anything except stare, not even comprehending what had happened.

When Kiba hit the ground, he finally snapped out of the trance-like state. His eyes went wide and he tried to run to where his fallen friend was. Naruto didn't even notice that he was shouting. And before he could even take one step forward, someone grabbed him from behind, hands going around his waist.

Naruto struggled, still shouting Kiba’s name. He tried to kick and punch the person holding him back, desperate, but the person wouldn't let go. Finally, when Naruto understood that it was pointless to struggle, he stopped. He slumped backwards, leaning heavily against the person holding him still. He went totally limp in the other’s arms.

He couldn't hear the other people’s horrified voices, some louder and some just mere whispers. He couldn't hear the calming words being whispered to his ear in a smooth, soft voice either. Tears were silently falling from his eyes – he was in shock.

-----

Sasuke had held Naruto back when the other boy had tried to run to his friend.

He had stopped Naruto because he had thought the robbers might think the blond’s running and shouting was a threat to them – they might have ended up shooting the boy.

While Naruto had been thrashing in his arms, Sasuke had noticed that the female robber with dark pink hair had started to walk towards them, a gun in her hand. Just then Naruto had, luckily and not a moment too soon, stopped struggling.

Now Sasuke had to sit down because the blond had gone totally limp in his arms, and he couldn't keep them both standing. He sat against the shelf behind them, placing Naruto to sit between his legs. The boy’s back rested against his chest and Sasuke had his other arm still around the blond’s midsection.

While Sasuke was whispering calming words to Naruto in a soft voice, he saw the female robber go back to where she had been standing earlier. He let out a breath he didn't even know he had been holding.

Relieved, Sasuke decided to check how Naruto’s friend was doing.

He saw the brunet lying on his back on the floor, clutching at his bleeding thigh with both hands. The boy’s face was contorted in pain, but he wasn't letting a sound pass his lips. The male robber was kneeling next to the hurting boy.

“I’m a doctor. The wound has to be wrapped up or he might die of blood loss. I can do it.”

Sasuke saw the man who had said this, Kabuto, emerge from behind the check-out counter. The grey haired man’s hands were raised in front of him as if to show the robber that he wasn't trying to attack.

“The wound probably isn’t fatal if the bleeding is stopped.”

Sasuke sighed in relief. He tightened his grip on Naruto.

“It’s okay. Everything's going to be okay.”

He felt Naruto tense in his arms as if just now noticing that someone was holding him.

The blond turned in his arms to face him, confusion written in his eyes.

-----

Kabuto stopped beside the masked man. “I'll need something I can stop the bleeding with.”

The robber pointed a finger at the door behind the check-out counter. “There might be something useful in the staff room.”

Kabuto looked towards the door and nodded. “Could I go there and search?”

The robber put the gun he had still been holding in his hand inside the black holster hanging from the belt on his waist. He motioned for the gray-haired man to follow him.

When the men had walked into the staff room, Kabuto spoke in a lowered, calm voice. ”What were you thinking?”

Kimimaro answered, apologetic. “It was an accident, Yakushi-san. I’m very sorry...”

“Don’t call me by my name, someone might hear you. And sorry doesn’t cut it. You ruined the plan and, believe me when I say this, he won’t be happy.”

Kimimaro’s shoulders slumped a bit and Kabuto continued. His voice was still quiet, so that no one would hear them. “You weren’t supposed to hurt any outsiders.”

The reason why Kabuto had protected Naruto from getting shot by Tayuya earlier was because the blond’s death would have, no question about it, destroyed their plan.

In Kabuto’s opinion, Tayuya has a bad temper and she is far too hotheaded for her own – and the other’s – good, but she has her strong points, too, and they out weight this part of her. Kabuto is very aware of this.

The incident between Tayuya and Naruto hadn't been all bad. By “saving” Naruto, Kabuto managed to earn everybody’s trust and, if the people planned to try to take action against the robbers – or run away – at some point, he would most likely hear about it beforehand. Like this, he would be able to warn Kimimaro, Tayuya, and Anko about it.

“First you tried to shoot the old man and then you actually shot the sales clerk on the thigh. And you actually let the boy ambush you. How could you have been so careless?”

Kimimaro stared at the floor, saying nothing.

“After I have taken care of the boy’s wound, you'll get the money and leave right away, understood?”

Kimimaro lifted his eyes from the floor. “But, what about the plan?”

“It would be too suspicious to carry out the plan now, so we'll have to postpone getting it done.”

“Alright. We'll take the money and leave.”

“Good. And lie low for a while – at least until the dust settles a bit. I'll contact you when it’s safe and inform you about how we'll proceed with the plan. Now, let’s find what we came here for.”

They searched for something they could dress the boy’s wound with and they found a first aid kit from one of the workers' lockers in the room.

Without saying another word, they went back to the brunet, who was still lying in the same place they had left him. The boy was still clutching his thigh, face showing that he was in pain, but he refused to shout, or even make a sound, because he didn't want to show his current weakness.

The man wearing a blue jacket and sunglasses was sitting quietly next to the wounded boy, apparently trying to comfort him.

Kimimaro went to stand next to the sitting man and Kabuto kneeled down next to the brunet on the floor.

Kabuto put the first aid kit down beside him, then he touched the brunet’s arm while speaking in a kind voice, “What’s your name?”

The boy opened his eyes, uttering his answer with a pained voice. “Kiba.”

“Okay, I'll put gauze around your thigh, so that the wound would stop bleeding as badly. Is that alright, Kiba-kun?”

The brunet closed his eyes and nodded. He was gritting his teeth because of the pain.

“Okay, I'll have to check the wound first. This may hurt a bit.”

After checking the wound, Kabuto turned to the first aid kit. He searched for some gauze, then lifted Kiba’s wounded leg to his lap. He wrapped the gauze around the boy’s thigh.

When Kabuto was done, he stood up and, plastering a sweet smile on his face, spoke in a loud voice.

“Kiba-kun will be alright for now. The bullet went right through the thigh and the wound isn’t fatal. I managed to restrain the bleeding. He'll still need proper medical attention, but it’s not urgent.”

-----

After hearing that his friend was going to be alright, Naruto covered his eyes with his palms. He sighed in relief.

‘Thank god.’

He doesn't know what he would have done if his best friend had died. He would have gone into a rampage, probably, and done something reckless, or downright stupid, like attack the robbers.

Naruto was still sitting on the floor, leaning against the Uchiha’s chest. He hadn't felt the need to move, and the other boy hadn't told him to get off him, so he had thought that it was alright to stay where he was seated.

The blond hadn't really talked with the raven haired boy after the shooting incident; they have just sat in a comfortable, companionable silence.

Now, after having calmed down a little, Naruto understood why the Uchiha had held him back. He hadn't been thinking clearly earlier, but now he realized that his actions might have been threatening to the robbers. Who knows what could have happened if the Uchiha hadn't stopped him.

Naruto turned around in the dark haired boy’s arms, wanting to face the other.

“Why did you protect me?”

The Uchiha looked away from Naruto, answering with an ‘it-wasn’t-a-big-deal’ voice.

“I just did. There's nothing more to it.”

Because of the light pink that dusted the raven haired boy’s cheeks, it was obvious to the blond that the other was embarassed. He smiled to himself.

“Well, still... Thank you... Uchiha wasn’t it?”

“Sasuke.”

Naruto brushed a strand of hair from his eyes. “What?”

Sasuke looked straight into the blond’s eyes. “Call me Sasuke.”

Naruto gave a small but meaningful smile. “Okay.”

-----

Anko, who had caught Sarutobi when he had tried to run away, was once again keeping watch at the store’s doors.

She had taken Sarutobi, dragging him forcefully by his arm, to where most of the other people in the store were; at the check-out counter.

Sarutobi had managed to run out the doors, into the yard, when he had tried to escape, but Anko had caught him easily, being a lot younger and faster than the old man. And having a gun had also helped.

Anko was certain that their plan couldn't be executed now that Kimimaro had managed to, accidentally, shoot the brunet in the thigh. She was actually glad that something had gone wrong. She was also glad the brunet was going to be alright.

‘Now we just have to get away from this place without getting caught.’

Just when she was thinking this, a car pulled out of the driveway and into the gass station’s yard.

It was a police car.

‘Oh shit!’

“Oi! A police car just drove into the yard!”

Anko ran to Kimimaro, who had just been about go and try to open the safe again. Tayuya moved closer to the two.

“What are we going to do?” Anko’s voice was anxious.

Tayuya made a hand motion towards the store’s doors. “Let’s just lock the doors. It’s not like they could have a key to this place.”

Anko shook her head. “No, it would look suspicious if we didn’t let them in. They must have already seen that all the lights in here are on.”

She looked at Kimimaro. “What’ll we do? It’s your call.”

Kimimaro thought about it for a second. “We'll let them in.”

Both women nodded.

Kimimaro turned to speak to the people at the counter. “Okay, go into the staff room, and don’t make a sound, if you know what’s good for you.”

Kabuto was the first to disappear into the room.

Shino had to help Kiba up from the floor because the boy wasn't able to walk on his own. He put an arm around the brunet’s waist and took Kiba’s left hand, putting it around his own neck. Slowly, they followed Kabuto's example.

Naruto moved away from Sasuke, getting up and holding a hand out for the other boy to take. He let go of Sasuke’s hand when he had pulled him up and they walked into the staff room side by side.

Ino and Hinata entered the room right after Sasuke and Naruto, holding hands.

“We need someone to serve the nice police officers.”

Anko nodded at Tayuya’s observation. “Yes, who's going to be at the cash register?”

Kimimaro followed the people walking into the staff room with his eyes.

He couldn't put either of the real sales clerks there; the brunet was obviously not up to it and the blond wasn't looking that good either, his face showing clearly that he had been crying. He himself, Tayuya, or Anko couldn't do it either because they would have to take their masks of, and thus reveal their faces.

‘It has to be one of the customers.’

Kimimaro looked around himself and saw a black-haired man who was just about to walk through the staff room's door with a pink-haired woman. The man wearing a green shirt didn't really look that shaken up or frightened.

“You with the green shirt,” Kimimaro said, pointing a finger at the man who turned around to face him with a questioning look in his eyes.

“Yes, you. You'll stay here and give the police what they want. Don’t try to signal anything to them if you don’t want anything bad to happen to your precious girlfriend.”

Lee looked at Sakura. She was trying to look strong, but Lee could see that she was afraid. He gave her a look that told her not to worry and that everything would be alright. Then he turned to face the robber again, speaking in a firm voice. “I’ll do it.”

Kimimaro walked to Sakura’s side, taking a hold of her arm as if to show Lee that he was supposed to obey him – or else.

Kimimaro walked into the staff room with the woman, while Anko kneeled next to the spot Kiba had been lying on. She was trying to wipe the boy's blood off the floor.

Finally Anko, too, had to go into the staff room, or she would have been seen by the police. She closed the door behind her.

She hadn't had enough time to clean the floor completely.

-----

Nara Shikamaru parked the car near the entrance of the gass station’s store.

His partner had insisted that they visit Naruto at his work place, saying that it was really important to him to ask the boy to come for dinner the next day. Something had apparently happened earlier that day. Iruka hadn't mentioned what, but it must have been something unpleasant, judging by the way he had been acting all evening.

Iruka opened the passenger door but didn't get out yet. He turned to look at Shikamaru.

“You can wait in the car. Do you want me to bring you a cup of coffee or something?”

Shikamaru turned off the engine.

“Nothing for me, thanks.”

“Okay, I won’t take long.” Iruka shut the door and walked into the store.

He saw a black-haired man standing behind the check-out counter.

‘Who's that? I thought Naruto and Kiba were supposed to work together tonight.’

Iruka stopped in front of the counter.

‘He doesn’t have a name tag.’

“Hello. What can I get for you, officer?” the man said, the smile on his face looking a little forced.

Iruka smiled back politely. “A cup of coffee to go, please.”

‘Something feels off.’

When Iruka got a bad feeling, usually something really was wrong; he has amazing instincts, and he has learned to trust the gut feelings.

When the man’s back was facing him, the man pouring him the cup of coffee he had asked for, Iruka noticed something from the corner of his eye; there was something on the floor next to the check-out counter.

‘Is that blood?’

Iruka thought that it looked like someone had tried to wipe it away but hadn't been able to get it off completely – maybe because they had been in a hurry?

The 'sales clerk' turned around, a brown paper cup in hand. He put it on the counter before the brown-haired police officer, smiling.

When Iruka took his wallet out of his pocket, the man spoke.

“It’s on me, officer.”

He stopped fiddling with his wallet.

“Oh, are you sure?”

“Yes. I appreciate the work you do, so this is the least I can do for you, officer.”

‘I bet he doesn’t know how to use the cash register.’

Iruka put the wallet back into his jacket pocket.

“That’s really nice of you. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Have a good evening, officer.”

“Yes, you too.” Smiling at the man, Iruka waved his goodbye and walked out of the store.

When he got to the car, he opened the door and got in.

Iruka looked troubled, and Shikamaru noticed this, giving him a questioning look.

“Something bad's going on inside. I think we need to call for backup.”

A sigh. “Troublesome.”

-----

End of chapter four.

Chapter 5.

Caught?

-----

Looking around the room from where he was seated, Shino noted, feeling oddly detached, that the place was a little crowded.

He noted that Ino and Hinata were sitting on the floor, leaning against the white wall on the left side of the room. Sakura, whose boyfriend was currently trying to play the part of a sales clerk, was sitting with them.

The blonde was sitting in the middle. She had her right arm comfortingly around the shoulders of her pink-haired friend, who was holding her face in her hands. Despite this, her blue eyes were concentraced on the black-haired woman on her left. She was holding Hinata’s hand in her own and they were gazing into each other’s eyes as if trying to convey something important. Shino noted that the shy girl had seemed to calm down a lot from earlier.

The male robber was sitting in front of the safe, which was in the southeast corner of the room, while the dark pink haired woman was leaning against the wall not far from the white-haired man. The other female robber was standing next to the door.

Kabuto was sitting in an uncomfortable-looking chair in front of a wooden table that was placed against the wall on the right side of the room. It seemed to Shino that the doctor was deep in his own thoughts, not caring about what was going on around him.

‘I don’t know why, but I don’t trust him. I just have a nagging feeling that something is off with him and that he is hiding something.’

The old man who had tried to run away earlier was sitting on a brown worn-out couch that was placed against the back wall of the room. The man was staring at his hands which were folded in his lap. He looked like something was troubling him.

Shino noted that his protectee was sitting on the floor, back against the same brown couch the old man was sitting on. The blond sales clerk, Naruto, was sitting next to the Uchiha. The boys were so close to each other that their shoulders were touching.

Shino has been keeping an eye on the Uchiha the whole time they have been in the store. He hasn't – not once, not even when he hasn’t been able to be by the boy’s side – let Sasuke out of his sight. The whole time, Shino has been ready to jump up to defend and protect the raven-haired boy if anything seemed to threaten him.

Shino had been right behind Sasuke, ready to protect him, when the boy had held the blond back. But he had felt that he could go sit next to Kiba because Sasuke had obviously been occupied with Naruto, and he didn’t think that anything would happen to the Uchiha at that moment.

He had felt that Kiba had needed him more than Sasuke.

Shino had – still has – a gun, so he could have protected Sasuke from where he had been sitting next to Kiba anyway. He has been alert to what has been happening around the Uchiha the whole time they have been separated.

Shino hadn’t used his gun to try to stop the robbery from happening because he hadn’t wanted to risk making the situation worse. It would have, no doubt about it, only complicated things.

He looked at the man whose head was resting in his lap.

The brunet was grimacing because of the agonizing pain in his leg, biting his bottom lip to keep from moaning from the pain.

Shino didn’t like it when people got hurt when he was around. He felt that he should have been able to prevent the shooting incident from happening. Being a bodyguard was his job, and it was his duty to protect people, whether the people paid him or not. It was in his blood.

Shino’s thoughts were interrupted suddenly when the room’s only door creaked, starting to open.

-----

When Kimimaro heard the door of the staff room start to open, he was in the middle of trying to open the safe before him.

In a flash, he had his hand on his gun, which was resting on top of the safe. He was ready to point it at the person coming through the door if necessary.

Kimimaro hadn’t been able to hear the conversation taking place outside the room’s door, so he couldn’t be sure who was entering; the man who had had the task of playing the part of a sales clerk or the cops.

To his relief, the door opened to show a man in a green shirt.

He immediately relaxed, letting go of his gun. He gave the man a look that told him to spill.

The man hesitated a bit before speaking. “I saw the police car drive away from the yard.”

Kimimaro nodded. “Did the cops seem suspicious about anything?”

“Only one was in the store, and, no, I don’t think so.”

Kimimaro thought that the cop’s partner must have stayed in the car, 'which is probably a good thing for us; one cop snooping around is already too much, two would have been much worse.’

“You don’t think so? Well, which is it, yes or no?”

“No.” The man’s voice was firmer than before, certain.

“Good. Now, go sit next to your girlfriend.”

Kimimaro watched the man walk to where his girlfriend was. He saw her sigh in obvious relief and then smile when her boyfriend took her into his arms and kissed her reassuringly.

Tearing his eyes away from the couple, he spoke to Anko, who was still standing next to him.

“Go and check if the car's really gone.”

Anko nodded, exiting the room quickly, not running but not walking either.

Kimimaro had to wait only a short moment before she came back. She walked straight to him and spoke.

“He was telling the truth.”

Kimimaro nodded and then turned to face the people in the room. He spoke in a voice that was reassuring and threatening at the same time.

“Everyone, you can relax now. Talk to each other all you want. This won’t take much longer.” A small pause. “That's if everyone behaves.”

When many of the people in the room started to talk to each other Kimimaro motioned for his partners to get closer to him. He needed to tell the women about the change of plan – he hadn’t had the opportunity to tell them earlier. He spoke very quietly, not wanting anyone else to hear.

“It would be careless for us to execute the plan now. Two people getting shot accidentally by us would seem too suspicious, so we'll retreat and disappear for a while, until Kabuto contacts us again. Now, we'll take the money from the safe to keep up the appearance of us being merely robbers. Then we'll get out of here.”

Kimimaro gave Anko and Tayuya questioning looks and both women nodded, showing him that they had both heard and understood what he had said.

“Okay. You,” Kimimaro pointed a finger at Tayuya, “go and keep watch at the store’s doors. And you,” he pointed at Anko, “keep an eye on these people.”

After this, Tayuya walked out of the room and Anko went to stand next to the open door, so that she could do what Kimimaro told her to do.

When both women were gone from his side, Kimimaro turned to face the safe and continued to try and open it.

-----

Naruto felt warm. Not just physically warm; there was something else, too.

The raven-haired boy, Sasuke, was sitting next to him. Their shoulders were touching.

Naruto didn’t really know why, but, even in this horrible situation, he felt like smiling. Not grinning like a fool, but really truly smiling. It felt confusing and weird – but not necessarily in a bad way.

Naruto glanced at his side.

Sasuke was looking straight ahead, his eyes unfocused, not really seeing anything.

Naruto glanced away, but quickly found himself looking at the boy again.

This time, though, as if sensing that someone was looking at him, Sasuke turned his head.

Bright blue met obsidian.

They looked into each other’s eyes for a moment. It felt like a small eternity to Naruto, but in reality it was only a couple of seconds.

He blinked his eyes and turned his head around, feeling embarrassed.

When, after a while, Naruto glanced at the other boy again, he noticed that he hadn’t been the only one to look away before; Sasuke had also turned his dark eyes away from Naruto.

But now their eyes were locked again, both having turned towards each other at the same time.

Naruto couldn’t help but smile warmly at Sasuke.

Said boy blinked and then, slowly, a small, almost shy looking smile formed on the boy’s lips.

“What are you smiling about, dobe?” Sasuke murmured.

Naruto ignored the insult because Sasuke obviously hadn’t meant it to hurt. Letting out an awkward laugh, he scratched the back of his neck. “Eh? Nothing.”

Sasuke gave the blond a sceptical look. “Nothing?”

Naruto laughed again, a slight blush creeping onto his cheeks. Averting his eyes, Naruto answered, “Yeah.”

Sasuke’s smirk went unnoticed by the blond.

The boys’ moment was interrupted, however, when someone near them spoke in an agitated voice, “Naruto?”

Naruto turned to look at the man that had called his name.

It was Sarutobi. The old man was looking very tired. It felt wrong to Naruto.

The man spoke in a coarse voice, leaning forward in his seat on the couch.

“I’m so sorry, Naruto. I didn’t mean to get Kiba-kun hurt. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

It took a moment for Naruto to process what Sarutobi had said.

‘He feels like it’s his fault that Kiba got shot?’

It hadn’t even crossed his mind to blame the old man about what had happened. The situation had been so confusing that no one was probably at fault – except, of course, the man who had brought the gun into the store in the first place.

“It’s okay, old man. Kiba's going to be alright, so don’t blame yourself. I’m sure he doesn’t.”

Naruto smiled reassuringly at Sarutobi, who seemed to relax a bit. He still felt guilty, but not as much as before.

The old man leaned back into the couch, seemingly lost in his own thoughts.

Naruto let out an inaudible sigh. There was no use in feeling guilty about anything that had happened. They – Naruto, Kiba, Sarutobi, or the customers – haven’t had control over a thing since the robbers came into the store.

‘I hope this is over soon.’

The warm body beside Naruto shifted slightly and he couldn’t stop his eyes from wandering to the raven haired boy.

-----

An old man with a head full of long, white hair was sitting behind a wooden desk in a crammed office full of paper, files, and cardboard boxes. The man had his feet propped up on the desk. He was writing something in a sketchbook he had in his lap. The man’s cheeks were dusted with a light pink colour, and from time to time a – manly? – giggle could be heard coming from him.

Suddenly, the door of his office let out a small creaking sound, startling the man and telling him that someone was about to enter.

With a start, he tried to take his feet off the desk in front of him – to look like he was actually working – but, with an undignified squeak and a big splat, he found himself lying on his back on the floor.

‘Ouch.’

A not the least bit surprised voice echoed through the room. “The mayor is here to see you, captain.”

Collecting the pieces of his, once again, shattered self-dignity the man now known as ‘captain’ rose from behind the desk.

He dusted his clothes, making a shooing motion with his right hand. “Alright, send her in.”

“Yes, sir.”

When the young man had closed the door, the white-haired man looked around himself, trying to find the sketchbook that should have been right there in front of him. But, as fate should have it, it was nowhere to be seen.

His eyes widened and he started to search for it frantically.

‘No. No! Where the hell is it?’

He was crouching under his desk when he heard the seemingly calm, but he knew better, voice speak to him.

“Looking for this, are you now?”

The white-haired man rose from under the desk with a sheepish grin on his face.

“No?”

“No?” echoed the seemingly calm voice.

He let out a nervous laugh, noticing that he was also sweating a little.

“That's not mine.”

“Oh, I see.” The blonde woman with a huge bosom took a step towards the cowering man, placing the sketchbook on the desk between them.

The man looked a little sceptical, ‘She believed me?’

Just then a fist connected with his head – and hard, too, might I add.

“I see you're being an irresponsible ass, as always, writing that sorry excuse for a book when you should be working, Jiraiya.”

Said man held his poor, aching head with both hands and whined.

“That was unnecessary violence, Tsunade. And I’ll have you know that all my books are pieces of art.”

Tsunade rolled her eyes, “I should have you fired, Jiraiya.”

Grinning, the man stopped nursing his head. “Nah. You know I’m too tallented to be fired.”

He leered at Tsunade and continued. “Well, what brings the mayor of Konoha here today? Couldn’t stay away from the great Jiraiya, huh?”

She made a show of looking Jiraiya up and down, and then she answered, sarcastic, “Yes, exactly, ‘the great Jiraiya’.”

Jiraiya glared at Tsunade, while she just stood there, smirking at him.

The man made an annoyed sound in his throat, picking up his fallen chair and seating himself at his desk once again.

“Fine. Why are you really here?”

Tsunade sat down on the chair before the man’s desk, speaking with a serious voice, “I’m here to discuss about the --”

Before she could finish the sentence, the police radio on Jiraiya’s desk made a short crackling sound and a man’s voice drifted from it.

“This is car 24-D. There's a possible robbery going on at a gas station near the border of Konoha and Suna. We're requesting for permission to take action inside Suna borders. We're also requesting for backup.”

Jiraiya recognized the lazy voice immediately. He reached for the police radio, taking the rectangular microphone into his hand. He held it to his mouth, pressed an oval-shaped button on its side, and spoke.

“Hey, Nara, this is the captain. How near the border are we talking about? Would it be better, I mean faster and smarter, for us to handle it?”

“Yes, I believe so, sir. Our police station is closer to the gas station than Suna’s closest one. It would definitely take more time for them to get there than us.”

Jiraiya had a feeling he was missing something important.

“Alright. What were you and Umino doing at a gass station in Suna, anyway?”

“We were on a break and decided to go see Naruto at his work.”

“Naruto?”

It was silent for a short moment before everything clicked in Jiraiya’s head. His face went pale. A small gasp informed him that Tsunade had also reached the same conclusion.

Jiraiya and Tsunade have known Naruto for years now and they think the world of him – they probably wouldn’t admit it, though. They both met him at the police station when the boy had been visiting Iruka.

The first time Jiraiya had seen the twelve-year-old Naruto, he had immediately taken a reluctant liking to the loud rascal. Tsunade had met the endearing blond when the boy had just turned fourteen. She had been having a meeting with Jiraiya at his office when Naruto had barged in. The boy had gotten into a shouting match with the white-haired man, and it had been hilarious to see Jiraiya get so very angry all because of a teenage brat.

“Are you telling me the gas station where Naruto works is being robbed, and he's currently there?”

“Unfortunately yes, sir.”

Jiraiya let out a colorful string of curses, while Tsunade looked worried.

It was quiet for a moment again. Shikamaru was waiting for Jiraiya’s orders, while said man was weighing all the possible courses of action they could take.

It didn’t take long for him to come to a decision, seeing as there weren’t many options for him to choose from.

“We'll handle this situation because the gas station is closer to us. It would obviously take Suna more time to get there, and it might already be too late when they finally arrived. I'll inform the Suna officials about the situation right away and I believe they'll agree with this arrangement.”

“Yes, captain.”

“Inform the communication centre of your location and stay put where you are. I mean it, don’t do anything until the reinforcements get there.”

”Yes, captain. Copy that.” The police radio crackled again.

An apprehensive silence filled the stuffy office, until Tsunade let out a deep sigh.

“Oh, brat.”

-----

An exasperated silence stretched in the car.

A woman, who had brown hair that was in two buns on top of her head, was staring expectantly at the young man sitting next to her.

After a minute of total silence, she finally seemed to give up.

“Oh, come on, Neji. Could you be any more unsocial?”

The man who had been addressed, Neji, had long brown hair and light coloured, almost white, eyes. He just gave the chatty woman a blank look.

Just when the woman was about to speak again, a crackle sounded from the police radio in front of the two officers, and a female voice began to speak.

“Car 26-B, there is a robbery going on at a gas station. Two officers are already near the location and they are waiting for backup. Are you free?”

“Yes, we're. Just give us the address and we'll be on our way.”

-----

A crackle sounded through the police car, followed by a female voice.

“Car 23-A, there is a robbery going on at a gas station. Two officers are already near the location and they are waiting for backup. Are you free?”

“Yes, we're free! We're as free as the birds flying in the sky! Ah, the youthful birds, what fine creatures they are!”

The person behind this booming exclamation was currently pumping his fist in the air enthusiastically.

The plump man, who was sitting on the passenger seat, spoke after stuffing a doughnut in his mouth.

“Calm down, Gai.”

It seemed that Gai hadn't heard the other man, because he immediately started the car engine and began to drive. He continued to talk – shout – loudly about youthfulness and how they were going to catch the bad guys.

Chouji interrupted the energetic man, “Gai, you might want to get the address before you drive anywhere.”

-----

Finally, after about half an hour or so, Kimimaro managed to crack the safe.

He took a black fabric sack from the bag he kept his tools in. As quickly as he could, he stuffed everything he took from the safe in it.

When Kimimaro was done, he rose from his seat. He glanced at Anko to convey that they were finally ready to leave.

When the woman nodded and walked out of the door, he turned around to regard the people in the room. At first, when he spoke, his voice was neutral, but towards the end it turned threatening.

“Wait for fifteen minutes until you get out of this room. Don’t try anything stupid.”

Kimimaro stood in his place, regarding the people silently, trying to see if anyone was going to try to stop them from leaving. When he was satisfied with what he saw, he turned around and walked out of the room.

He walked straight up to Anko and Tayuya, who were at the front of the store in front of the doors.

Kimimaro stopped in front of the two women, but there was really nothing to say, so they just headed out of the doors.

Just when they opened the store’s doors and walked outside, they saw three police cars drive into the gass station’s yard.

All three backtracked their steps immediately, walking quickly back into the store, shutting the doors behind them.

“Oh shit.”

-----

End of chapter 5.

Chapter 6.

Suspicious Much?

-----

It was dark except for the headlights of their patrol car. Shikamaru and Iruka were leaning against the car, waiting for the backup to arrive, whoever they were going to be.

It was silent; both men were deep in their own thoughts, thinking about the situation at hand. Iruka was worrying about Naruto and Kiba’s safety, while Shikamaru was trying to think of what they should do, how they should proceed once the others arrived.

It wasn't long before a patrol car not unlike their own pulled over next to them. Shikamaru saw a plump man – who he instantly recognized to be his friend Chouji – get out of the car. Chouji walked up to the two men, Gai only a few steps behind him.

“Oi, Shikamaru. What’s the plan?”

Said man waved lazily at his best friend. “Hey, Chouji. Gai.”

Gai smiled blindingly. “Why hello, Shikamaru. Iruka. It’s lovely to see your youthful faces again!”

Iruka nodded his greetings at the pair, smiling politely. The others could clearly see that the man's smile was more than a little strained, though.

Shikamaru turned to face Chouji, to answer the man’s earlier question. “Let’s wait until the others are here, so I don’t have to repeat myself.” ‘That would be too troublesome,’ he added in his mind.

The plump man nodded, understanding immediately. ‘Repeating is too troublesome, huh?’

After only a short moment of waiting, another patrol car came into view in the distance. When, only a few seconds later, it reached the place where the others were, it stopped, pulling over next to Chouji and Gai’s patrol car.

Two people got out of the car. They walked up to the four men, Neji greeting them with a small nod of his head, while Tenten waved at the men.

While Neji and Tenten were receiving Gai’s enthusiastic greetings, Chouji took notice of how differently Iruka was acting. Usually Iruka was cheerful – not Gai cheerful, but cheerful nonetheless – and ready to participate in friendly banter, but now the man seemed distant, like he was a thousand miles away.

Iruka’s out-of-the-ordinary behaviour sparked the plump man’s concern and he decided to ask his friend about it. “Is everything okay, Iruka? You don’t seem well.”

Said man was silent for a moment before he looked at Chouji, his eyes clearly showing how troubled he was.

“We have reason to believe that Naruto is at the gas station.”

Immediately after Iruka had said this, everyone swiftly turned their attention to the brown-haired man.

Chouji, Tenten, and Gai stared at Iruka with wide eyes while Neji regarded him with a blank expression. All of them knew Naruto – some better than others – and they all thought that the boy was a nice enough guy. However, what really made this situation different for Iruka was that Naruto was like a son to him, and everyone knew it.

When Chouji got over the initial shock, he spoke, sounding disbelieving. “What? Why?”

“He works at the gas station and I know for a fact that, yes, he was supposed to be working today.”

The only thing that passed Chouji’s lips after Iruka stopped talking was a dumbfounded ‘oh’.

There was a moment of silence, until Gai spoke, shouted, patting Iruka’s shoulder a bit roughly.

“Don’t worry, Iruka! Naruto will be alright because we’ll rescue him for sure!”

Standing beside Gai, Chouji threw his right fist in the air, shouting a loud ‘exactly’. The others nodded their heads in agreement.

Iruka smiled a little, thankful that everyone cared.

Neji, always one to get straight to the point, turned to Shikamaru.

“So, what’s the situation exactly? How long has it been since you left the gass station?”

“Fifteen minutes.”

Neji nodded, waiting for Shikamaru to continue.

“We suspect that someone has already gotten hurt, but we don’t know for sure. It’s fair to assume that the robber or robbers are armed. We have to be careful because we don’t know how many innocent bystanders there are in the gas station’s store.”

Shikamaru paused to sigh.

“We couldn’t do anything when we were at the scene earlier because there was a high chance that we might have made the situation worse. The robber, or robbers, might have panicked if they had noticed that the patrol car hadn’t left, and they might have done something immensely stupid, which, no doubt, would have been bad for us.”

Chouji nodded, “Okay, what'll we do then?” He looked expectantly at Shikamaru, sure that his friend had already formed some kind of a plan.

Said man rolled his eyes good-naturedly at the plump man. “We’ll go there and check out the situation. We’ll all drive with our cars’ headlights, and all other lights, off. Like this, there's at least a small chance that we won’t be noticed right away.”

Shikamaru yawned a little, already tired of talking.

“Then two of us will walk to the store, take a peek through the window, and try to see what’s going on inside. Others will stay back and act as backup if anything unexpected or unfortunate happens. When we know what’s going on inside, we’ll inform Jiraiya and then decide how we'll proceed further.”

Shikamaru glanced at everyone lazily. “Is everything clear?”

When everyone nodded, or otherwise showed that they had understood, Shikamaru continued, “Alright, shall we go then?”

-----

Immediately after the robbers had exited the room, Naruto had begun to fidget.

He didn't want to let the robbers run away with Sarutobi’s money. What about the man’s family; his daughter and grandson? Will they be alright? Naruto knew that the gas station was already struggling financially. Things were bad enough without the robbery, but what will happen now that Sarutobi has lost a whole week’s income? Will the gas station go bankrupt? What would happen to Sarutobi and his family if it really were to happen?

Finally, only after a minute or two, Naruto couldn't take it anymore. He just had to do something.

The blond sprung up so fast that he startled the dark-haired boy next to him.

“What are you doing?” Sasuke asked, sounding, and looking, sceptical.

Naruto turned around, wiping his hands on his pants in a manner that screamed ‘anxious’, eyes darting to the boy who was still sitting on the floor, leaning against the brown couch.

“We have to call the police,” Naruto stated in a calm voice that did not match the way he was acting at all.

Sasuke sighed. “I know we have to, but we can’t do it yet.” He didn't, for obvious reasons, have to state the reason why. “We’ll just wait for the fifteen minutes to pass, and after that we’ll call the police right away, okay?”

“No, now,” Naruto bit out, sounding on edge. He didn't have the time for this.

Sasuke stared at the blond, incredulous. “What? Don’t be an idiot. Leaving this room now might be dangerous.”

He reached for the blond's hand, but the boy took a step back, out of his reach. “Just sit back down, Naruto.”

Naruto gestured at the door with his hand. “No, we have to call the police now or they’ll get away. Sarutobi’s family needs that money. They need that money!”

“Do you want to die?” Shino asked with a straight face, completely serious. He was still sitting with Kiba, the brown-haired boy’s head in his lap. Sakura had kindly offered to give the boy a few pain killers she had happened to have in her bag. Hinata, on the other hand, had gotten up to get the boy some water from the tap in the staff room, so that he could swallow the pills. It was more than probable that the pills wouldn't make the boy’s pain go away entirely, but maybe they would at least alleviate it a little, so that he wouldn't have to hurt as much as he was hurting at the moment.

Shino was ignored completely.

“Naruto, --” Sasuke started, but before he could finish, Sarutobi interrupted him.

The old man put his hand gently on the blond’s shoulder, speaking softly.

“It’s okay, Naruto.”

Sarutobi couldn't let Naruto do anything that might put the boy in danger. No matter what, his family would manage somehow. It was more important right now for everyone to stay alive.

‘I don’t want anyone else to be hurt because of me.’

Naruto turned to look at Sarutobi. The blond had a worried look on his face. “Are you sure, old man?”

Sarutobi nodded, smiling. “You don’t have to worry about us, we’ll be fine.”

The blond just continued to look at the old man, not knowing what he should do or say.

“Calm down, dobe.” Naruto’s eye twitched. “There’s a high change the police will catch them, so you shouldn’t do anything rash.”

Sasuke patted the spot the other boy had occupied previously. “Sit down, Naruto.”

Naruto knew the other boy had a point, and that he should listen to him and Sarutobi, but he didn't want to just sit still and let the robbers get away.

However, even though it was against his nature to just sit back and do nothing, he listened to the two and, albeit a bit grudgingly, sat back down next to the dark-haired boy.

-----

The headlights of the three cars had been off and, even though the gas station’s lights weren't that bright, they had been able to clearly make out what kind of cars they were.

Police cars.

Tayuya’s first reaction – and probably the others’, too – had been 'Oh shit'. She was the only one to express her mind verbally, though, cursing out loud.

It would be pointless for them to just try and leave; the police obviously already knew they were there, knew what they were doing. What other reason could they – the cops in not just one but three cars – have for driving with their headlights off in the dark? It couldn't be just a freak coincidence, and, even if it was, the masks covering Kimimaro, Tayuya, and Anko’s faces were a dead giveaway to what was happening. No doubt they looked more than a little suspicious – barging out of the store's doors like they had and then going right back in.

After shutting the doors, the three had speed-walked behind a shelf full of different kinds of soft drinks. They had had to get away from the doors and the windows, so that they wouldn't be seen from the outside.

Kimimaro had seen no other option. If they had tried to run to their car, they would have gotten caught for sure. Like this, they at least still had a small chance of getting out of the pinch they had gotten themselves into.

“What the hell's going on?” Tayuya was breathing heavily, and she sounded very frustrated. “There’s no way this could be a coincidence. We have been found out.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that.” Kimimaro was trying to think about what their next move should be, and Tayuya wasn't helping the situation at all by shrieking in his ear.

“That’s just great! What the hell are we gonna do now?”

“Be quiet.” And quiet she was; she definitely didn't want to anger the man, lest he decide to dump her here.

‘What can we do?’

Kimimaro thought about it for a small moment. He closed his eyes and breathed out slowly. Then, all of the sudden, it hit him.

‘This could actually be a good turn of events for us.’ It could be very good indeed, but only if they didn't get caught.

Kimimaro opened his eyes.

“We don’t have much choice,” he said calmly with a confident look on his face. “We have to take hostages and try to get out of this mess by bargaining our way out of here.”

‘Hostages?’ Anko didn't like the sound of that at all.

“That sounds like a plan to me!” Tayuya smirked deviously to herself. ‘And, not to mention, fun.’

-----


The handle of the door shook roughly and everyone in the room turned towards the door, startled.

‘Maybe it’s the police --’

The door opened to show a very familiar figure, mask firmly in place on the man’s face.

Naruto just stared at the robber, shocked. ‘Wha-what the hell? Oh man… you have got to be kidding me. Why is he still here?’ Naruto drew in a deep breath and then released it slowly. ‘Good thing we didn’t leave this room earlier.’

An oppressive silence reigned in the room, until the man standing at the door broke it.

“We're going to take three of you as hostages.”

Silence engulfed the room again, but this time it wasn't just oppressive. The atmosphere was extremely tense and choking – horrified.

-----

A young man with short black hair and very pale skin parked his car next to a black SUV.

‘I recognize that car.’

The man saw two people get out of the SUV, the other a blonde woman wearing a black pantsuit, her hair tied back in four ponytails, and the other a brown-haired man, his short hair spiked up with gel.

The black-haired man smiled, eyes squinting shut.

‘Oh, and them I definitely do recognize.’

The man got out of his car, locking the doors with an electronic key. He walked over to the duo, putting on a polite smile that screamed – very loudly – ‘fake’.

“Oh, hi, if it isn’t the Suna siblings. Nice to see you again.”

Temari turned to face the black-haired man. Her expression immediately turned sour when she recognized him.

“Not you again.” The smile on the man’s face widened. “Go away, Sai.”

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Always the same thing. I know you’re here to do your job, but why do you have to come and talk to us every single time we are in the same place. We don’t like you and you don’t like us, so why, oh why, do you insist to keep on bothering us?”

Sai’s face took on a confused expression, but Temari knew better. The man answered her question with a completely straight face, “I like you.”

Temari scowled, glaring at the man standing in front of her. She growled, “Oh for fuck’s sake --”

“Don’t bother with him, Temari. We need to concentrate on doing our job. Just ignore him.”

“Oh, that’s cold, Kankuro.” Sai put his right hand over his heart. “You wound me.”

Kankuro crouched down, lowering his bag to the ground. He took out a camera and a microphone, ignoring the other man completely.

When Kankuro stood back up, he spoke to Temari.

“Come on. Let’s go and see if the cops will tell us more about what’s going on.”

Temari threw a final glare at Sai before they started to walk away. The black-haired man smiled – infuriatingly – at her and she ground her teeth together to keep from hurting him.

Temari cracked her knuckles. “I swear that one day I'll slug that smug smile right off his face.”

Kankuro held out the microphone he had taken from his bag to Temari. “Calm down, Temari. He’s not worth it.”

She took the microphone and sighed, “Yeah yeah, I know.”

-----

Shikamaru, Chouji, Gai, Tenten, and Neji were standing on the passenger side of Shikamaru and Iruka's patrol car.

Iruka was in the car, talking with the police chief.

There was no need for them to check the situation, to see if there was really something going on or not, anymore. This was because they had already witnessed three very suspicious people – wearing masks and all – come out of the gas station’s store and then retreat back inside a moment later, when the three had, no doubt, seen the police cars drive into the parking lot.

Iruka was explaining the situation – that, yes, Iruka’s instincts had been correct, it most likely really was a robbery and that there were at least three perpetrators, who were still inside the store – to Jiraiya.

Neji noted that the press had already arrived.

He was really not that surprised to see the blonde woman, Temari, her brother, Kankuro, or the dark-haired man, Sai. When something news-worthy happened, they were, without a fail, always there.

When Iruka was done, he stepped out of the car and regarded the people standing near it.

“Okay, Jiraiya will get someone who has experience with hostage negotiations to come here. But it’ll take some time, so we have to try and solve this situation by ourselves first.”

Everyone nodded.

Tenten raised her hand a little. “How should we proceed then?”

“Well, first, someone should call for an ambulance, just in case anything happens or someone really is already hurt.”

Chouji nodded. “Roger that.”

The plump man took a few steps away from the group and turned his back to them. He took the two-way radio that was attached to the belt of his uniform in his hand, brought it to his mouth, and started to talk to it.

Meanwhile Neji looked around the yard.

“Not counting the reporters' cars, there are four cars here, so I think it’s fair to assume that there are at least a few other people in the store, I mean, in addition to Naruto and the other sales clerk who was supposed to be working tonight.”

“Ah, yes.” Iruka paused a little. “And I think at least one of these cars belongs to the robbers because it’s highly unlikely that they are travelling on foot.”

“I agree,” said Neji, his eyes once again scanning the surroundings.

They fell silent for a little while, only Chouji’s voice could be heard in the background.

The silence was broken, howerer, when Iruka spoke again.

“Two of us should walk around the store and check if there are any ways other than the front doors to get in or out of the building.”

“I’ll go,” said Tenten. She looked at Gai, who was standing next to her. “You come with me?”

Gai gave her the thumbs-up, flashing his very shiny, white teeth.

“Okay then, Gai, you go from the left side and, Tenten, you go from the right.”

The two nodded. Together they started to walk towards the store, and when they got closer to the building, they separated, Gai going to the left and Tenten to the right.

Neji, who had been keeping an eye on the surroundings, took note of the fact that the three reporters he had noticed earlier were now approaching them, the black-haired reporter of the Konoha Times walking a few metres behind the Suna siblings from Konoha News Channel, KNC.

He looked at Iruka, who seemed to be deep in thought again, and spoke. “I’ll go talk to the reporters.”

“Oh.” Iruka shifted his eyes momentarily to the approaching reporters and then back to Neji. “That’s a good idea.”

Neji nodded, then taking off in the direction of the three. When he walked past Chouji, who had just finished calling the ambulance, they inclined their heads to each other.

Chouji attached the two-way radio back to his belt. Then he walked to where his best friend and the partner of said best friend were standing.

“An ambulance is on its way. It’ll take ten to twenty minutes for it to get here.”

“Good,” said Iruka, while Shikamaru nodded.

Before Iruka could say anything else, for the first time in quite a while, Shikamaru spoke. “Iruka,” he put his right hand on Chouji's left shoulder, “we’ll go and check the cars with Chouji, just in case.”

“Ah, yes, that would be good.”

It wasn't long after Shikamaru and Chouji had walked away from Iruka, leaving the man alone with his worried thoughts, that he felt he a tap on his shoulder.

Iruka turned his head around to see a man with dark skin and dark hair drawn back into a ponytail standing behind him.

“Sorry to bother you, officer, but is there something wrong here?”

‘Where on earth did this man appear from?’

Iruka hadn't seen any cars other than the reporters' drive into the gas station’s parking lot while they had been there.

“Where did you come from?” A bit rude, yes, but that wasn't what was important at the moment.

“Ah, I was in my car. I arrived here just before you did. I was just about to go into the store, but then I saw your cars. So, is there something wrong here, officer?”

‘I would definitely have noticed if the man had really been sitting in one of the cars – unless – he might have been hiding deliberately.’

Iruka regarded the man suspiciously, but decided not to question him any further, because if the man had something to do with the robbery, Iruka didn't want to scare him away by interrogating him.

“Yes, there’s a robbery going on at the store.”

“Really? That’s awful. Good thing I didn’t arrive here any earlier, or I might be in there.”

Iruka nodded, “Yes.”

The man was definitely suspicious. Why on earth did it take so long for him to approach them? Iruka wasn't sure he believed the man at all.

“Since you are at a crime scene, you are a witness and you might have seen something even if you don’t think you have. We’ll have to question you, so could you not leave this site before we have done that, please?” It wasn't really a question. “What’s your name?”

“I understand, officer. My name is Haruki Iwai.”

“Thank you, Haruki-san. Sorry, but I have to ask you to go sit in your car and stay there until this situation is cleared. You’ll be safe there, I assure you.”

“Yes, officer, I’ll do that.” After having said this, the man who had dubbed himself as ‘Haruki Iwai’ turned around and started to walk away from Iruka.

The man had only managed to take a few steps before he, with a smile on his face, turned back around to face the brunet police officer. “Oh, and good luck.”

Iruka nodded at the man, forcing a small smile on his face.

When the man turned around again, walking away, Iruka followed his slowly retreating back with narrowed eyes.

After only a few seconds of almost-glaring, Iruka was jolted back to reality by a question.

“Who was that man you were just talking to?”

He turned to face Neji, who had just walked back to him after having finished talking to the reporters.

Iruka chanced another quick look in the direction of the suspicious man’s car.

“That was ‘Haruki Iwai’. We apparently missed him earlier. He says he came here just before we did and that he had been sitting in his car.”

Neji looked doubtful. “Really?” He took an inconspicuous glance at the man’s car. “I don’t understand how we could have missed him.”

Iruka smiled wryly, “I don’t believe we did.” He took a deep breath and sighed. “I have a bad feeling about him.”

Neji agreed with Iruka; they couldn't have just simply missed the man earlier. He understood perfectly why Iruka was suspicious of this ‘Haruki Iwai’ person.

“Oh, what about the reporters? Will they get in our way?”

Neji shook his head briefly. “No, they won’t. I told them to at least go further away from the store, back to their own cars.”

“That’s good,” Iruka said a bit distractedly, chancing yet another quick look in the direction of the suspicious man’s car.

Just a few seconds later, Shikamaru and Chouji already having joined Iruka and Neji again, the group saw Tenten and Gai appear from around the store’s corner. The two jogged over to Iruka, Shikamaru, Neji, and Chouji.

Tenten spoke, a bit out of breath. “There was no other way in or out, so they are definitely still inside. They can only escape through the front doors.”

Iruka nodded, looking thoughtful.

“We checked the cars with Shikamaru. There was nothing suspicious or unusual about them as far as we could see. Not one of them was reported stolen or anything of the like.”

Iruka nodded again. He decided that now would also be the time to inform the others about the suspicious ‘Haruki Iwai’.

“Don’t look now, but there’s a man in the dark blue Volvo that’s a little way behind me. He claims that he had been sitting there when we got here, but I didn’t see him earlier. I’m willing to bet none of you did either.”

The others all shook their heads, no.

“I think he might have been hiding from us, and if he really was, then it could be that he's here with the robbers. One of us should, definitely, just in case, keep an eye on him.”

Shikamaru nodded lazily, “I can do it.”

“Okay, good. Then we should probably get started.”

Iruka looked around the group.

“We’ll stay right here with Shikamaru. Chouji and Gai, you take your car and park it near the left side of the store. Neji and Tenten, you move your car near to the front doors, but not too near, because we don’t want to make the robbers feel like they're totally trapped. Like this, we’ll be able to stop them if they decided to try and make a run for it.”

Chouji, Gai, Neji, and Tenten all nodded. They walked to their cars, but, before anyone could get in, Iruka’s voice sounded through the yard.

“Be careful.”

-----

A few minutes later, when Iruka saw that the others were in their places, he looked sombrely at Shikamaru.

“I guess we should really start then.”

Iruka took the megaphone Shikamaru was holding out for him. He put the box-shaped microphone in front of his mouth and pressed the button on its side.

The device made an unpleasant sound.

“This is the police. You should surrender now, before anything more serious happens.”

-----

End of chapter 6.

Chapter 7.

Call 1

-----

‘We're going to take three of you as hostages.’

After that the room had gone deadly silent.

Even though the silence had lasted only for a few tense seconds, it had felt a lot longer.

A cough immediately followed by a groan of pain broke the silence.

Everyone’s attention shifted from the robber to the brunet lying on the floor with his head rested on Shino’s lap.

Naruto’s worry for his friend raised its head the instant he heard the pained sound. His eyes lingered on the grimacing Kiba only for a short moment, before he turned his frantic eyes to the man holding his friend. When he spoke, his voice came out sounding very anxious, “Is he okay?”

Shino took an assessing glance at Kiba. The boy was breathing heavily, most likely because of the pain, but other than that, he seemed to be doing fine – at least considering what had happened to him.

“He's right now, I believe, but he definitely still needs to get to a hospital.”

This answer calmed the blond down a bit, but it didn't make his worry go away. He felt horrible because there was nothing he could do to make his friend feel better.

‘Wait... or is there?’

He had nothing to lose and everything to gain, so he could always try.

Having made up his mind, Naruto turned pleading eyes to the male robber, who had been watching them silently from his place in the doorway.

“Please, let Kiba go.”

“That’s not going to happen.” Kimimaro wasn't going to take any unnecessary risks.

“But there’s no reason for him to be here! You have the rest of us, you don’t really need him!”

“I don’t like having to repeat myself, so I’m only going to say this once more; I’m not letting him go. Period.”

Naruto jumped to his feet again, anxiously gesturing with his hands, “But why? He’s suffering! It’s not like you’d get caught because you let him leave! Please!”

‘You can never be sure,’ Kimimaro thought, but before he could give Naruto his answer, another voice joined the conversation.

“I think Kiba-kun is perfectly capable of bearing the pain for a little while longer. It’s more important for this situation we are in to be over as fast and as smoothly as possible.”

Kabuto felt that he had to stop this before things could get out of hand. He could sense Tayuya, who was standing beside Kimimaro, become more and more annoyed by the blond sales clerk, and he didn't want her to do anything rash that would make their situation even worse. Something bad must have happened for Kimimaro, Tayuya, and Anko to have come back for hostages.

“What?” Naruto looked scandalized. “Are you serious, Kabuto-san? He’s in pain!”

Kabuto looked at Naruto with an apologizing expression, which, of course, was fake. “Naruto-kun, Kiba-kun will be alright. I know he’s in pain right now, but he can handle it, I’m sure of it.” Kabuto lowered his voice a bit, sounding pleading but firm. “You shouldn’t make things more difficult.”

Naruto just looked at Kabuto, feeling irrationally betrayed by the man.

After another tense moment of silence, Kimimaro stepped further into the room.

Naruto noticed this from the corner of his eye and turned to look at the man.

“See?” Kimimaro said, looking at the blond, while gesturing with his hand at Kabuto. “The doctor agrees with me.”

Naruto looked from the robber to the grey-haired man and back again. “No, don’t listen to him! I’m begging you, let Kiba go!”

Tayuya had had enough of the blond’s whining. “Shut it, brat. Now. I mean it.”

“But ---,” before Naruto could finish, someone elbowed his side lightly.

Sasuke couldn't just watch the blond put himself in danger anymore; he had to do something. “Stop it. There’s nothing you can say that’ll change their minds. You’re just making her angry,” he said, whispering.

Naruto turned to Sasuke – it showed clearly in the blond’s eyes that he wanted to fight, do at least something, anything, for his friend. He looked desperate.

“I understand, Naruto, but there’s nothing you can do for Kiba right now. He’ll be alright.” Softening his voice, Sasuke held Naruto’s gaze. “So calm down.”

Naruto stared at the raven-haired boy, not knowing what he should do, but then, after having made up his mind, he sat down next to the other boy silently, lowering his eyes to his lap.

Kimimaro coughed into his hand, succeeding in gaining everyone’s attention. “Okay, now that that has been sorted out,” he said, sarcasm dripping from his every word. “As I was trying to say earlier, we’ll take three of --”

But before Kimimaro could get any further, he was once again interrupted, this time by a voice coming from outside. The voice was muffled, but everyone could still make out what was being said.

“This is the police. You should surrender now, before anything more serious happens.” A small pause. “We are going to call the store’s phone line and you should answer, so that we could talk about what is going to happen next.”

‘So this is the reason they came back,’ Shino noted in his mind. He had been sure that something had happened for the robbers to have to resort to taking hostages, but there had been no way of knowing exactly what it was.

Kimimaro was feeling surprisingly calm after having been addressed like they just were. One would think that one would be feeling a bit more anxious in this kind of a situation, but he was not even a little worried. He only shared a look with Anko and Tayuya, confident that they would get through this ordeal and maintain their freedom.

Approximately thirty seconds after the “announcement”, a phone started ringing in both the staff room, on the table at which Kabuto was sitting, and the store, on the check-out counter.

Kimimaro decided that he shouldn't speak with the police in front of the people who were now officially their hostages, so he pointed a finger at Anko, “You stay here and keep an eye on them,” and then turned to Tayuya, “You come with me.”

The two robbers walked out of the staff room, Tayuya closing the door behind her.

Kimimaro walked straight to the phone, picking it up and answering with a simple ‘Yes?’.

There was a second of silence on the other end of the phone, then a voice drifted into his ear, “Hello, this is Umino Iruka from the police department of Konoha. We want to solve this situation as smoothly as possible. We know you have hostages inside, so could you, please, tell us if anyone has been hurt?”

Kimimaro answered in a level voice, “Everyone’s all right.”

It was a lie, of course, but he wasn't going tell the cop about the shooting incident and possibly end up making things more difficult for himself, Tayuya, and Anko.

There was a moment of silence, which he interpreted as hesitation; it was as if the cop didn't believe him.

“Good. Could you tell me how many hostages you have there with you?”

“No,” Kimimaro said, voice still level. “They're fine, that's all you need to know right now.”

“Alright, I understand.” There was silence again on the other end, and then the voice continued, sounding firmer, surer. “You should let the hostages go now and surrender yourselves. If you were to do this, it would be a lot better for you all.”

Kimimaro smirked inwardly, wanting to laugh. “We have to think about this, so call us again in ten minutes. If we don’t answer, wait for another ten minutes and then call again.”

After having said this, he hung up the phone.

There was no way they were going to surrender, but this would give them at least a little more time to think about what they should demand from the cops in exchange for the hostages – time to think about how they could save their own asses.

-----

End of chapter seven.

Chapter 8.

A Bump on the Head

-----

Temari didn't like being shoved aside. She needed to be close to the action, closer than standing behind a car – a car that was, for her liking at least, a bit too far away from said action. She understood that it was for their own safety, but that did not mean that she liked it one bit. Although she wasn't willing to do anything for a story, she was willing to take quite large risks. She loved her job. She loved to go after stories, especially when things got exciting – just like now. It gave her such an adrenaline rush, and it kept her from being bored to death. It made her feel alive.

Temari was practically leaning over the roof of their car; she was trying to spot something, anything, that would help with the story. She was feeling very impatient. Her brother was standing next to her, not looking very happy either. At least the headlights of the three police cars were lighting up the place, so it wasn't as dark as before, but that didn't change the fact that they were still too far away from the store. It would have been good if they had been allowed to stay behind one of the cop cars. That way they could have gotten at least some information on what was happening, but that had been denied from them as well.

Temari cursed in her mind, frustrated. Her eyes shifted away from the store to the car parked next to the gas pumps in front of the store. She paused, a fine eyebrow lifting. ‘That car looks awfully familiar...’

She squinted her eyes, trying to have a better look.

A very expensive looking car, mostly black in colour with a bit of dark red and white on it.

‘Could it be?’

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't see well enough. If it really was Uchiha Sasuke’s car, it should have a small Uchiha fan on its hood.

She needed to get a bit closer.

If her hunch was right, the story would definitely be a good one – a lot more interesting. Why? Uchiha Sasuke was very well known in Konoha. He was extremely popular, especially among young women – although Temari didn't understand why. Well, maybe she did, but she personally didn't think that being gorgeous and rich was enough – the guy was obviously personality-challenged. She had had the misfortune to interview the man a while back, and he did not leave a good impression on her. She thought that the young man was, among other things, arrogant, stuck-up, and quite rude.

Kankuro watched as his sister bent down a little and started to slowly move away from their car.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Swiftly, Temari turned her head toward her brother, putting a finger to her lips.

Kankuro lowered his voice a little, “They told us not to go any closer.”

She rolled her eyes, speaking in a whisper, “That hasn’t stopped me before, now has it?”

Kankuro frowned, “Temari --”

“I’ll be okay. I’m just going to check out a hunch I have. If I’m correct, this could turn out to be a big story.”

Before Kankuro could object, Temari had already turned away and started to move away from him.

-----

Hatake Kakashi was lounging on a worn-out couch in his modest apartment at downtown Konoha. He was flipping through the channels of his very much outdated television. He didn't care much for television, not at all really. He didn't even know why he still had the damn thing.

So it goes without saying that he was very bored. It was a little after two o’clock at night, but he wasn't ready to go to bed yet. He wanted to go to sleep with his partner right next to him, but the other was currently at work.

The thought of his partner made him smile gently. Damn, he felt like such a sap – but he was so happy, the happiest he had felt in a long time. He would definitely wait until the other got off from work and got to his place, and then, together, they would go to bed and, in the morning, they would wake up together, right next to each other. After breakfast, he would take his partner somewhere nice – the zoo, maybe? Or would it be too cheesy? What about ice cream in the park? A bit of cheesiness was good once in a while, right? Kakashi smiled to himself. They both have the day off, which is rare, and he was planning on making the best of their time together.

Every time he pushed a button on the remote, the screen went black for a tiny moment, then another anonymous show popped on. Random shows came and went, but he paid them no heed.

That was until something caught his attention. Kakashi shifted his eyes to the television screen. A blond woman was doing the news, a microphone to her mouth.

“-- Yes, we are reporting live from the scene here at Sarutobi’s gas station.”

‘Sarutobi’s? Why does that sound so familiar?’

“We don’t have details, but we know that at least three people are being held as hostages in the store. It’s likely that the number of hostages is higher. We also believe that Uchiha corporation’s young CEO, Uchiha Sasuke, is among them.”

Kakashi’s eyes widened. “Sasuke,” he breathed out.

He listened to the rest of the newscast, feeling very worried for the safety of his friend.

“This is Sabaku Temari, reporting on the hostage situation at Sarutobi’s. We’ll keep you up to date on this situation as it unfolds. Now, back to the KNC studio.”

‘Shit.’

Kakashi picked up his phone and started dialling; if Sasuke and Shino didn't answer their phones, there was no doubt about the fact that the two were in trouble.

-----

A few minutes had gone by since the phone had rung and two of the robbers had left the staff room to answer it. The robber who had remained in the room with the hostages had been alternating between keeping an eye on them and eying the closed door. She seemed on edge.

It was very quiet and Naruto was deep in his thoughts, still just as worried about his friend as before.

Suddenly, a ring tone echoed through the room, sounding very harsh after the silence.

It made Naruto jump in his seat, his eyes widening. Slowly, he turned his head to his side. His eyes landed on a very startled looking Sasuke. The boy’s back was as straight as a board and his eyes were impossibly wide.

The robber, and every single person in the room, had turned around to look at where the sound was coming from – to look at the three people sitting on or near the old, worn-out couch. The tension in the room had, once again, skyrocketed.

Then, all of a sudden, without a warning, the robber lunged towards the three; Sasuke, Naruto, and Sarutobi. “Whose is that?”

At the woman’s shout, Sasuke snapped out of his shocked state.

Quickly, with a hand that shook a little, he reached into his pocket, intending to get the still ringing cell phone.

This, it seems, was not such a good idea.

When the robber saw Sasuke’s – very sudden – movement, she quickly jumped to her own conclusions. She jumped on the boy immediately, hitting him on the side of the head with the butt of her gun. The force of the blow and the weight of the robber forced Sasuke's body to tip over and he fell to the floor, hitting his head on it. He groaned in pain, shutting his eyes.

A bit disoriented due to the blows to his head, Sasuke didn't realize that he should just stay still and let the woman have the phone, so, blindly, he tried to push the woman off him.

Naruto had had no time to react, it all happened so fast; one second Sasuke was trying to get the phone out of his pocket, and the next the dark-haired boy was lying on the floor, the robber on top of him.

When Naruto’s brain finally caught up to what was going on, he leapt to his feet, “Hey!”

He grabbed both of the robber’s shoulders, wanting to pull her off the other boy, but before he could do that, she elbowed him in the face. Alarmed, the robber also hit the boy under her, splitting his lip. Having received yet another hit to the head, Sasuke went still.

After the elbow to the face, Naruto had fallen to his backside, clutching his abused nose. With an angry shout, he got up and lunged at the robber again, but the second his hands touched the woman’s shoulders, a loud sound – a gunshot to be exact – reverberated through the room. It made Naruto freeze and snap his head towards the door.

The two other robbers were standing in the doorway; the woman had her gun pointed towards the ceiling and the man was pointing his at Naruto. The horrified shrieks of some of the hostages had alerted Kimimaro and Tayuya to the fact that something wasn't right in the staff room.

Kimimaro ordered the blond in a cold voice, “Let go of her.” And that was just what Naruto did, so fast that it was as if his hands had been burned.

“Sit down.” Again, the blond did as he was told, chancing a quick glance at the boy on the floor, to check if he was still conscious.

Anko had taken the phone, which had stopped ringing at some point, from an unresisting Sasuke, who was lying on his back, eyes closed, clutching his head in pain. No doubt the boy was feeling a bit out of it, woozy.

Shino had also gotten up from his place on the floor, ready to help Sasuke, but then he had seen the two other robbers enter the room and he had decided that it would do no good to anyone to jump into the situation. He sat back down, lifting Kiba’s head back into his lap.

Kimimaro shifted his eyes to Anko, “Now, what’s going on here?”

The woman stiffly jerked her head towards Sasuke, “The kid’s phone started ringing and we got into a little scuffle.” She had acted purely out of reflex, out of instinct, when she had seen the boy reach into his pocket so quickly, but now that she thought about it, she didn't think that the boy had really been trying to answer the phone – that would have been idiotic.

Kimimaro shifted his eyes from Anko to the boy lying on the floor, “May I presume that no harm was done?”

“Yes, the phone stopped ringing on its own; it was not answered.”

Kimimaro shifted his eyes back to Anko, “Good.”

Anko nodded to no one in particular, deep in thought, looking at the phone in her hand, ‘How could we have overlooked such a thing?’

These same thoughts echoed in Kimimaro and Tayuya's minds, too. They had been careless, and even though it was somewhat understandable, taking into consideration the fact that they were under a lot of pressure – what with being surrounded by cops and all – it wouldn't have been good if the hostages had managed to give information about the situation inside the store, the specifics, to an outsider – an outsider who would have, for certain, delivered the information to the police.

Kimimaro wasn't about to let this situation repeat itself, “Check them all for cell phones. Pat everyone down to be sure.”

Both women nodded.

After a minute or two of groping, everyone in the room had been checked. Only one other cell phone was confiscated – Shino’s. Everyone else had apparently left theirs in their car, and Kabuto had gotten to keep his own, of course.

Tayuya shut off the phone she had taken from Shino, putting it into her pocket. Just when she had done this, the two phones in the store started to ring again; apparently the ten minutes had already passed.

“Keep an eye on them,” Kimimaro instructed Anko, then he turned to Tayuya, “You come with me.”

The two robbers left the room again, leaving Anko alone with the hostages and Kabuto.

A little time, maybe a minute or two, passed before Naruto, worried about the boy still lying on the floor, broke the silence that had once again engulfed the room. The blond’s voice was quiet, soft, “Are you alright?”

Sasuke scoffed, opening his eyes a little, peering at Naruto. He was still holding his head in his hand. “I was just trying to give the phone to her, I’m not an idiot.”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Naruto’s lips twitched into a little smile. “And I just made it worse by attacking her, didn’t I?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, “Yeah, you did. Dobe.”

Naruto blinked, “Hey! You don’t have to be so brutally honest about it, bastard. I was trying to help you.”

“You said it yourself, dobe, not me.”

“Shut up.” The blond was pouting.

Sasuke smirked, sitting up next to Naruto again. He tilted his head back, leaning against the couch behind him. He crunched his eyes shut – god, his head hurt, and he felt dizzy.

“Hey,” said a voice gently. It made the dark-haired boy open his eyes and look at the boy next to him again.

Sasuke’s eyes widened as he saw Naruto lift a hand as if the boy was going to touch his face. Midway, the blond seemed to change his mind, though, lowering the hand back down after letting it hover awkwardly in the air between them for a moment.

Naruto looked away from Sasuke, embarrassed, “Your lip is busted.”

Now it was Sasuke’s turn to blink. He brought his fingers to his lips, “Apparently it is.” He looked at Naruto again, “Your nose is bleeding a little.”

Naruto grinned, touching his nose, “I’m not surprised; it hurts like a bitch.”

-----

End of chapter 8.