Crossing Lines - Ch 1

Title: Crossing Lines
Rated: PG-13 (at this point)
Pairing: NaruSasu
Comments: Co-written with Lazzchan. AU (sort of). Random-ness, anyone? This is one of the many things Lazz and I have started. And still need to finish >_> At this point, perpetual WIP.

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Chapter 1

Lieutenant Sato stared at the body, bewildered. She had never seen anyone killed in such a way, and there had been no reports of a disturbance, nothing that would point towards a suspect. The person seemed to be no more than a normal civilian, but this… she shuddered at the body.

One of her officers paused at her side and asked, “What do you think, Lt?”

She shook her head and crouched so she could look more closely at the body. Sato frowned, brows drawing in.

“Well, we’ll have to have the medical examiner take a look and try to determine what’s going on here—but I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

The officer covered his mouth, unable to stand the stench of excrement and entrails any longer. The Lt. could pretend it didn’t affect her, but a person had to be a stone-cold killer in order to look at the scene and not be horrified by it. Even by police standards, this particular murder topped the scale of the most gruesome many of the cops present had ever witnessed.

The body from the torso up was laying perpendicular to Lt Sato’s crouched position while the rest of the body lay a few feet away, a trail of blood and bits marking its departure from its other half. Various trashcans nearby had been upended along the slick alley walls and several officers were staring, baffled, at what looked like scorch marks in the concrete.

Sato sighed and growled. “Bag him,” she muttered. “We’ll get this down to the coroner and see if we can figure something out. You can ride with him.” She smirked. “I’m going to see if I can find some information around here.”

Her officer valiantly held back a shudder and nodded obediently. She sighed as she pushed off her thighs to stand again. The body had been found in a dead end alley by an old homeless man wandering the garbage heaps. The strange thing was that the alley wasn’t even very deep. The death looked to have taken place only hours earlier, during rush hour, which meant a street full of cars and passing pedestrians had been no more than twenty feet away. How could such a fight—and she had little doubt there was a fight as there were signs of a struggle—go unnoticed?

This was one report that was going to haunt her for a long time unless she figured out a lead right away.

***

“How did you get a hold of that report, dobe?” Sasuke demanded. “You don’t know how this area works.”

“I saw a guy that was dressed like the policemen in those pictures we saw during our mission briefing. I followed him back to the department. It was easy from there to figure out who was in charge and where the files were kept. A simple henge and I was in.”

Sasuke didn’t comment; he was shuffling through the papers and pictures, frowning down at the photos from the crime scene.

Naruto scowled at him, but he was rather used to not having Sasuke acknowledge him, especially when he did something cool like infiltrate a police building in a foreign continent.

“You could say how cool it was that I got that…,” he muttered. “Anyways… looks like a crappy variation of that chirping bird jutsu you have.”

Sasuke sent him a brief glare, indicating that he was at least partially listening. “The chidori is a technique that works effectively only with an ability like the Sharingan. If this was something similar in form, it’s no wonder Yatsu was torn in half.”

“I wish we could see the body for ourselves,” Naruto murmured, snatching a photo out of Sasuke’s hand to inspect it himself.

It was gruesome, but it was something they had both seen before. Just… not so messy. Whoever did it had been in a hurry and hadn’t minded leaving such obvious clues, for those who knew how to look, that it had been committed by a ninja.

“What are we going to do about this, Sasuke?” Naruto asked, eyes serious. “The police here already know something’s going on. If they get involved…”

“These ‘law enforcers’ would barely be a match against genin much less an S-rank missing nin,” Sasuke said. He took the photo from Naruto’s hand and slipped it back into the file. “Come on. We’ll have to search the city for any left over traces of chakra to make sure he’s still in the area. If he isn’t…”

Naruto nodded grimly. If they didn’t find any chakra traces then that meant any chakra that had been there had already faded…and the missing nin was long gone.

***

They were careful as they moved around the scene where Yatsu had been killed. Naruto, more sensitive to the traces of chakra, smirked when they moved over a particular spot.

“Got it,” he murmured. “It’s still pretty strong so I doubt they’ve gone far. Plus, if they knew what Yatsu’s purpose was for being here, they’re probably still close by. This chakra matches the one I felt back in Fire Country. I think—”

“Someone’s coming,” Sasuke said, standing quietly and slipping the folder under his long black civilian jacket. The two of them moved back behind the yellow police line as he eyed the busy street and wondered if anyone might see them jumping onto the roof of the building. They had been told not to draw attention to themselves. A moment later, however, it was too late to decide as a tall woman turned the corner into the alley and paused when she spotted them.

“What are you two doing?” she asked

Naruto made a face and shook his head. Sasuke would kill him if he opened his mouth and gave both of their positions away by saying something stupid.

Sasuke gave her a bland look. “We have business in the area.”

“Is that so? And what kind of business involves the scene of a murder?” she asked lightly. Sasuke’s gaze didn’t leave hers but he could see her hand moving slowly up her thigh towards her weapon. He almost smirked.

Naruto couldn’t believe that an adult, even if she was in some type of law enforcement, could be so blatant in her attempt to go for a weapon. Then again, he thought, the people here were far inferior in skills to ninjas.

“An acquaintance of ours died here,” Naruto said carefully. “Do you know what happened?”

She seemed to deduce that Naruto was the more favorable of the two because her hand relaxed and she said, “You knew the victim?”

Naruto nodded and, just to prove he was telling the truth, said, “His name was Yatsu and we were supposed to meet him today.”

“Yatsu, huh?” She arched an eyebrow and stepped closer. “We haven’t been able to identify him so we figured he must be a foreigner.” She eyed the two of them, gaze sharp. “You two don’t seem to be from around here, either. Out of town business meeting?”

“We worked together actually,” Naruto said, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his black wind breaker.

Sasuke spared the jacket a brief look of annoyance. There were bright orange stripes running down the length of the sleeves. He had told Naruto that wearing orange was not considered being inconspicuous but Naruto had insisted that if he was to pretend to be a civilian, then he should dress as he would outside of duty. He had conceded to not wear the completely orange jacket, at least.

“We were just wondering how he died,” Sasuke said curtly.

Her eyes narrowed at his tone. “I’m not at liberty to disclose that information,” she said shortly.

“He doesn’t have anyone else,” Naruto said gently.

She watched him carefully, clearly debating if he was sincere or just trying to play her for information. “How about you guys come back to the station with me and we can talk some more?”

After a brief pause, Naruto said, “Sure. Lead the way.” They didn’t want to appear too hesitant. Too much indecision meant they had something to hide.

Sasuke was calm as well, not concerned in the slightest about what the police officer was thinking. These so-called law enforcers were painfully obvious in their movements, so he had little to worry about if she chose to pull anything.

She gestured with her hand for them to walk beside her rather than behind her as she had little reason to trust them. They obliged without comment, pretending not to notice the significance.

“So, what kind of business do you do?” she asked, turning to Naruto as they reached the sidewalk.

As she wasn’t heading for a car, it seemed they would be walking. That was fine with Naruto, because his limited experience with the large, noisy vehicles had left him longing for the dirt roads of Konoha.

Naruto shrugged and smiled. “Just low level company stuff, you know—pretty boring most of the time. We’re given the weirdest things to do.”

Sasuke snorted with amusement as Naruto listed some of their more basic genin jobs.

“I see,” Lt. Sato said. “Then you’ve never seen a murder victim before?”

Sasuke didn’t react, but he wondered what she was trying to get at. Naruto shook his head, eyes widening in a convincingly innocent look. Sasuke was tempted to smirk.

“You’re a detective so I understand you’re suspicion,” Sasuke said, leveling the Lt. with a steady but utterly blank stare. “But you’re pushing paranoia.”

Naruto rolled his eyes. Trust Sasuke to make an enemy of a prospective ally.

He brushed Sasuke’s hand for a brief instant, glaring at him. “Look, we’re all at a loss here,” he said finally, reaching out a hand to Lt. Sato. “I’m Naruto, and this is Sasuke.”

The Lt. hesitated before taking his hand and shaking firmly. “Lt. Sato.”

They had reached the department and she held the door open for them. Naruto nodded his thanks. She led them to her desk and gestured for them to sit although there was only one chair so Naruto sat and Sasuke stood, looking around with interest.

After a moment, another officer approached them and requested their ids. As they had both been given identification cards for the mission, they handed them to the police officer. Lt. Sato rejoined them after their cards had been checked for legitimacy.

“Where are you guys from?” she asked.

Sasuke tucked his id back into his wallet and said, “It’s a long ways from here.”

Naruto nodded, grinning broadly. “I can’t wait to get this all over with and head back home.”

She sighed at their evasive answers and ran a hand through her hair. “I’ll be straight with you if you’re straight with me. We’re not entirely sure what happened,” she said, watching them carefully. “I’d like to show you the body.”

Sasuke’s eyes narrowed just a fraction, just enough that Naruto could tell he was wary of her sudden cooperation although the Lt. had yet to notice the change.

“If you two really do know him, then you can identify the body and,” she said, punctuating her next words carefully, “tell me more about what you three were doing here.”

Naruto nodded solemnly. He was willing to go along with whatever the Lt thought she was doing if it meant seeing the body firsthand. He brushed up against Sasuke, wondering if he dared to speak to him in their native language.

She didn’t wait for any verbal confirmation. She left the room, glancing back to make sure they were following.

The instant Naruto saw the body, it further confirmed what the photos had—that it was a shinobi kill. He grimaced over the state of the corpse.

“Poor Yatsu,” he murmured. “What an end to you…”

“You say you didn’t know him that well?” Lt. Sato asked, watching not Naruto but Sasuke.

Sasuke shook his head, frowning down at the body where it was severed rather messily. Those were definitely chakra burns. “He’s a mess. What the hell happened?” he murmured to throw the Lt. off.

Naruto grimaced as he thrust his hands in his pockets, moving away. He’d picked up enough of a feel of the lingering chakra, both at the crime scene and on the body now, to have a definite hold on the enemy nin. “Is that even normal?” He paled and made himself turn a shade of green.

If Sasuke hadn’t known Naruto had seen worse, he would have believed the nauseous look that came over the blond.

“Well, it’s definitely Yatsu. I’m going to hate telling his superior,” Sasuke muttered, turning away.

Naruto kept his eyes averted from the body as he spoke to the Lt. “Is there any way that we can arrange for his remains to be taken care of?” he asked. “Since I would hate to put the burden on the … area.”

“Unless you know how to get in touch with Yatsu’s family, I can’t just hand over the body to a coworker.”

Naruto looked at Sasuke. “I think we could do that. His superior would know, in any case.”

Sasuke nodded. “We’ll get you the proper forms.”

She wondered again just what they did, before she finally shrugged it off. She would have plenty of time to figure out things. “Well, Naruto, Sasuke…if you’re going to stay in town long enough to make the arrangements, I’d like it if you gave me a contact number so we can talk again.”

In not so blatant terms, it meant ‘don’t leave town’.

The two men agreed and followed Lt. Sato out of the morgue and back to her office where they left her the number to the hotel they were staying at. They didn’t know how long they’d be in town, but there was little chance the Lt. would discover something before Naruto and Sasuke did.

Once they returned to the hotel, Naruto rubbed his head. “Stupid town with all these cars,” he muttered. “Give me Konoha any day.” The smells of the city were starting to give both him and Sasuke headaches, since they weren’t used to it.

“Kiba would probably die from sensory overload,” Naruto muttered, moving to stand by the window so he could glance down at the busy street. “Why do you think the ninja continent tries so hard to hide from the rest of the world?”

“So they won’t be overloaded with morons and situations like this one?” Sasuke asked dryly, pulling off his coat and hanging it up in the closet. “We have to report to Hokage-sama right away about the Yatsu situation.”

Naruto suddenly grinned, and Sasuke shot him a look for the unexpected humor. “What?” he asked.

“Oh, nothing…just thinking about how one day you’ll be calling me Hokage-sama.”

Sasuke smirked. “Hokage-sama hasn’t guaranteed you the position yet, dobe.”

“Well, she might as well because it’s obvious I’m the most logical choice for the next Hokage,” Naruto said, closing the curtains of the single window in their room and turning to face Sasuke.

“Logical isn’t the word I’d use,” Sasuke muttered as he fiddled with a coffee maker. “I wonder if they serve good tea here.”

Naruto rummaged in his pack and threw Sasuke a packet of tea—Sasuke’s favorite kind.

“She did say that this is part of my training,” he pointed out. “You heard her before we left.”

“Naruto,” Sasuke said, holding the packet in one hand as he paused to give the blond a completely straight face. “Regardless of whether or not you become Hokage, you’ll still be beneath me.”

Naruto stared at the man, puzzled. Then his eyes cleared and he threw his head back, his loud exuberant laughter filling the room.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and went back to opening the container.

“Man, you’re scary when you try to be funny.” Naruto smirked and tossed Sasuke another packet of tea. “But if you’re up for playing tonight…” He sighed and then rested his hands on his duffel bag. “But that Lt. person is awfully nosy, isn’t she?”

“She’s a detective, Naruto. It’s her job to be nosy. She just isn’t as subtle about it as we are.”

Naruto snorted. “She’s not subtle at all. Too many laws keeping her from doing the things we can do.”

Sasuke gave Naruto a curious look. “You actually read the text Hokage-sama suggested to prepare for this mission?”

Naruto grinned cheekily. “I skimmed it.” He took the mission seriously, even when it changed unexpectedly. “That Yatsu had to die alone….” His hands clenched in the cloth of the bag. “That was always my fear.” He stared at the contents of the bag, eyes not revealing anything. “It’s different dying alone, and dying alone.”

He looked up when a cool hand touched his shoulder. He hadn’t even heard Sasuke move. He lowered himself to the ground, eye-level with Naruto who sat on the bed. There was a silent message in his eyes that he could never say in words just because of who he was. Naruto smiled, used to Sasuke’s peculiar ways.

“Eh, enough moping about stupid stuff.” Naruto sat up abruptly and pulled out a cup ramen, outwardly brushing away the feelings. He wasn’t alone now—Sasuke being there was proof of that. “We need to figure out what that Lt.’s next step is going to be.”

“Who cares what the Lt. does. She doesn’t have a clue what she’s up against,” Sasuke said, standing up and returning to his tea.

“Yeah, well, on the off chance that she finds something out—about our mission or who we are—we have to know right away. She seems like the tenacious type.”

Sasuke shook his head but didn’t argue further. “The file on our missing nin said he’s always had a weakness for sake.”

Naruto grinned and waggled his eyebrows. “You up for a night on the town, Sasuke?”

Sasuke gave him a disgusted look. “I hope you don’t think that we are going to drink on the job, Naruto,” he said, a bit of acid creeping into his tone. “You’re too much of a dobe even without the alcohol.”

Naruto scowled back at him. “I wasn’t saying that we were going to drink, dumb ass,” he muttered. “I was going to say how we could pick up more about this area by listening to the locals.”

“The mission report lists a few places. We can check those places out first.” Naruto reached into his bag again and pulled out a file. He flipped it open and sighed as he skimmed its meager contents. “It’s too bad Yatsu couldn’t find out more about the city and what the missing nin was up to before we arrived. Yatsu must have spotted and confronted him against orders. Or Yatsu was spotted first,” he said, thinking that was probably more likely. He put the file they’d found in Yatsu’s room back into his bag.

He rubbed his forehead, staring at the closed curtains, imagining the skyline just beyond. As much as the mission and the area they were stuck in for the time being annoyed him, he didn’t voice it out loud. Missions, any mission, were always important. He’d changed a great deal from the twelve year old genin he’d been. He’d gone from dead-last brat to potential Hokage.

“Well, first things first,” Sasuke said. “We’ll have to get the papers for the body.”

Naruto nodded and, leaping off the bed, shouted, “I’ll do it!” before disappearing into the bathroom.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Naruto insisted on being alone when he performed the jutsu Hokage-sama had taught him to communicate with her across great distances. The specialized jutsu only worked for Naruto so Sasuke didn’t understand why the blond wanted privacy. Maybe it made him feel special. Sasuke didn’t think on it for long. He didn’t really care.

There were a few moments of quiet before an outraged ‘YOU OLD HAG!‘ tore through the silence of the room. Sasuke growled in annoyance, both at Naruto’s loud words and the Hokage’s likely insinuating comments.

A few moments later, Naruto emerged from the bathroom, scowling. “Stupid old hag and her perverted mind,” he muttered. “She’s as bad as Ero-sennin.”

“What did she say?” Sasuke asked, mildly curious.

“Nothing I’m going to repeat!” Naruto shouted before flopping on his back onto the bed.

“You’re so immature,” Sasuke muttered.

“No, that old bat is immature,” Naruto grumbled.

“So? The papers?”

“Yeah yeah, she’ll have them sent asap.”

“How?” Sasuke asked. He frowned at Naruto’s prone form lying over the bed, legs splayed.

Naruto pushed himself up on his arms to look at Sasuke. “Slightly modified version of the communication jutsu.” He looked proud for a moment, then for an instant—unsure. “I worked it out and managed—for a short time—to hold it open so that something can come through. It’s… it’s really cool and only papers and other small stuff can come through … but…” He smiled. “It’s really helpful.”

“Must use a lot of chakra,” Sasuke mused.

Naruto nodded. “But it takes chakra evenly from both sides and I’ve got lots of chakra so that’s not really a big deal. It’s the concentration part I’ve got trouble with.”

“I can imagine,” Sasuke said.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at Sasuke. “I modify a completed jutsu and all you can do is insult me,” he muttered, flopping back down on the bed. “Stupid Sasuke.”

Sasuke smirked and rose from his seat. A moment later, the bed dipped under his weight as he spread out beside Naruto. Naruto watched him warily.

After a long moment of silence, Sasuke finally said, “Stop sulking. We should get ready to leave.” He rolled away and stood up again.

Naruto sighed at Sasuke’s annoying habit of showing he cared without really showing anything. He stuck his tongue out at him, still slightly perturbed. He’d worked hard on that jutsu and he wanted something more than a ’stop sulking’ from Sasuke.

“Asshole,” he muttered under his breath as he pulled out his ‘civilian’ clothes, this time opting to dress in the all black that Sasuke wore.

Sasuke chose not to change anything except for his shirt, pulling off his t-shirt for a black sweater that clung nicely to his broad shoulders. Naruto pursed his lips as Sasuke disappeared into the bathroom briefly to glance in the mirror.

“You’re such a girl,” Naruto muttered to himself. He ran one hand through his tousled hair, perfectly content to go out with it mussed as it was. “Would it kill you to say something nice once in a while?”

“You say something, dobe?”

“Just saying what an asshole you are,” Naruto said, making sure everything was on hand before walking to the door. “If you’re done primping, then let’s get going already.” Naruto scowled briefly. So much for trying to impress him. Of course, if I do anything remotely cool, he gets all offended.

“I think I saw the first place listed on the file while we were scouting earlier,” Sasuke said, ignoring Naruto’s irritated glare.

“Then lead the way,” Naruto said, giving his partner a mocking bow.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but didn’t give Naruto the argument the blond seemed to be fishing for.

Naruto sighed at the back of Sasuke’s dark head. He had known how Sasuke was from the start of their…whatever it was they had. Most of the time, it was enough. Naruto had told himself often enough that knowing Sasuke felt the same way as he did, even if Sasuke rarely expressed it, would have to be enough.

The two men left their room, taking the elevator down to the ground floor. Naruto watched the little lights flicker, counting down the floors. As it passed number three, Naruto reached over, fingers curling into the hair at the nape of Sasuke’s neck. His hand lingered there for a moment longer before falling back to his side.

Sasuke gave Naruto an annoyed look before visibly caving and reaching up, returning the gesture. He tugged harder at Naruto’s hair than necessary but Naruto didn’t mind. He grinned goofily as the bell sounded and the doors to the elevators opened on the hotel lobby.

As they stepped outside, Naruto’s nose wrinkled at the smells and he wanted to block his ears from the noise. While his senses weren’t as attuned as Kiba’s were, it was still harder for him than Sasuke. “This place sucks,” he muttered under his breath, shoving his hands in his pockets as he walked next to Sasuke.

“It’s a few streets down this way,” Sasuke said, turning left at the first set of lights.

Naruto watched what the report had called ‘traffic lights’ change colors, amused that people needed to be herded like cattle in order to maintain order. Ninjas were taught discipline and control from an early age. True, Naruto wasn’t one of the ninjas who had adhered to those lessons, but he didn’t need bright flashing lights to tell him when to stop.

They waited with a group of other people for the light to change. He supposed it would be calling attention to them if he were to just move across the street (dodging cars would be child’s play for a ninja) since he and Sasuke were supposed to be civilians for this little mission.

Once they crossed the street and turned another corner, they came across the brightly lit neon signs, proclaiming “Hot Tot.”

Naruto, unable to suppress a grin, practically leered at Sasuke as they pushed open the old-fashioned wooden doors. At the same moment, a tall man with light brown hair was making his way out. The two collided, Naruto cursing under his breath as his head bounced off the taller man’s shoulder.

“Whoa there,” the man said, steadying Naruto with a hand on his arm at the same time Sasuke reached out to steady him with a hand at the blond’s lower back.

Sasuke glared at the other man’s hand touching Naruto.

“Heh… sorry about that,” Naruto said with a wide grin. “I guess I wasn’t watching where I was going.” He didn’t push the hand off straightaway—he was already mentally calculating the strength and feeling for the chakra. Gauging chakra level was second nature to a ninja, but it came much more easily and accurately through contact.

“Nah, that was my fault too.” He smiled easily, his eyes taking in Naruto’s form in one quick glance.

If Sasuke hadn’t been staring hard into his face, he would have missed it. As it was, he didn’t. Pushing aside his annoyance, he focused his energy on the people passing on the sidewalk behind him as he waited for Naruto to push the man aside so they could enter the bar.

“I’d buy you a drink to make up for it, but you’re already leaving.” Naruto gave him a bright, innocent smile. The guy looked like he could be a frequent customer. Maybe he’d know if anyone new had been by recently.

“Well, I could…stick around a little longer,” the man said, something like a blush rising in his cheeks.

Naruto grinned and nodded enthusiastically. Behind him, Sasuke made a small sound of annoyance before shoving Naruto aside and brushing past the stranger. Naruto blinked.

“Uh…was he with you?” the man asked, glancing behind him in the direction Sasuke had stalked off.

Naruto shrugged, eyes following Sasuke. “Well, he’s supposed to be with me,” he said with a frown.

Sasuke sat down at a small table, eyes dark as he stared at Naruto, who continued to flirt obliviously with the stranger. Sasuke knew, of course, what Naruto was really up to, but even so… He snorted and ordered something light before turning his focus on the rest of the bar.

By the door, he could hear Naruto and the stranger still chattering away. Sasuke suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. He could already tell that it was going to be a long night.

To be continued…