Greetings and salutations to all, how be you? I have had this chapter on the writing board for a very long time and it has been driving me nuts! I do hope it doesn't disappoint; it's more orientated away from the Uchiha mansion then in it, but I do hope that's alright :) enjoy! xx

Killing Spree

SUMMARY: As a mass murderer, you tend not to spare the people who watch you in the act. Not this time, no; Sasuke decides to take this one with him... SasuNaru

Chapter Eight

Kiba washed his face at the sink in the men's toilets of the police station. Water strewn everywhere, and despite it not being the cleanest of places - Kiba welcomed the silence. He looked in to the mirror, dusty and unclean as it was, and was disgusted by what he saw. Not just by the appearance of someone who was worrying about his best friend being abducted by murderers (who had therefore not taken care of himself and his general appearance particularly well) but by the person who had insulted, yelled at and accused the one person who was trying to make his life easier, and may never have the opportunity to retract that.

Kiba hadn't once gone back to the house since news of Naruto's disappearance became a new case for the police to handle, on top of all the others. He had stayed in that office, sat with Hinata, and talked to her about Naruto - how great of a friend he was.

What if he never saw him again?

That was what was eating away at him inside. It was painful…excruciatingly so…

Kiba once again began to replay their last conversation in his head. He had accused him of betrayal, brought up his sister's death and accused him of something that, even if it might have been true, had no effect on their relationship; but sounded as if he was entirely bothered by it.

The amount of bills that they had to pay and how to go about paying them wasn't something that he knew really anything about, and wasn't able to easily understand - so why did he kick off about it? He knew that that ticket was going to set them back with money that they didn't have, and he knew the stress of the assignment was getting to his friend, so why didn't he just shut up? Why did he antagonise him? Why had he allowed something like this to happen?

He truly was an idiot.

He felt his stomach rumble, stabbing at him, trying to force him to eat.

But he just didn't want to eat. Another part of him - the guilty part - was not allowing him to eat. The very thought of it made him sick. He wasn't allowed anything until Naruto was found.

Kiba turned the taps on and splashed the water, washing his face again; the cold, colourless liquid against his skin was one of the simple pleasures that stopped him feeling so awful. It made him feel more refreshed and less guilty - not that he did not deserve those feelings.

After all, if they were both there doing the job, like they were supposed to, then none of this would have happened. And he just couldn't over look that. And it was just too much to take.

He looked in to the mirror once again and sighed. He clutched his stomach and willed it to shut up. He stared at his watch and realised he had probably spent more than was necessary in the toilets. After all, Hinata was waiting for him outside the door, probably with another hot drink to make him feel better.

He thought about her. She was a wonderful woman - kind and thoughtful. And she was especially beautiful in the unique sense that winter was beautiful; snowy white and blue tinted. She had followed along with him, she had stayed with him as long as she could, before she was forced to rest by her superior. And as soon as she had had the minimal, she returned to his side. He wondered how she was feeling at this situation. Did she think he was guilty as well?

Kiba was beginning to feel a little weak, leaning on the sink for support. He felt his knees collapse on to the floor, the water soaking in to his trousers, and left his arms to rest on the white porcelain. He couldn't move, though he desperately wanted to. Maybe it was time to sleep; after all, he hadn't been able to since the worries kept him awake.

He felt…so…heavy now…

The scruffy brunette lay kneeling at the sink, his eyelids falling; everything was hazy and everything was turning black.

Ten minutes later Hinata burst in, favouring the gun in its holster on her right leg. She saw him passed out against the sink, on his knees as if he was begging for forgiveness. She walked closer towards him and put his arm around her neck. She then single-handedly pulled him out of the men's toilets, and with a little assistance with some of the on duty staff upon reaching outside, made sure that he was taken to a place where his body could sleep comfortably - even if his mind could not.

The blonde woke from his sleep, rubbing it from his eyes and yawning. He looked to his side, to see a sleeping raven next to him and inquisitively stared at him before his mind raced over the events of the previous day.

The truth… and the kiss…

Sasuke wasn't a bad person after all. Yes, killing was wrong, but killing those who had ruined the lives of others with the selfish criminal actions was something that Naruto was sure not going to chastise him for.

After all, thanks to him, Natsuki's killer was in hell - where he belonged.

He sat up ever so gently as not to disturb Sasuke sleeping next to him. He walked over to the window and looked out over the view. It was raining; heavy drops of water splashed the glass that separated him from the elements. He could still make out some of the scenery surrounding them. The suburbs looked a lot more inviting than the city indeed.

Naruto reflected back to his family; something that heavy rain always made him do. It wasn't a perfect family by any means, and he knew that. His parents were never on the best of terms. They fought quite a lot, but they stayed together for the sake of him and his siblings.

Even though it was obvious that the second something bad happened, they would go their separate ways. Sometimes Naruto wished they did anyway - it was painful to see them argue, to be in the company of someone it was clear that they didn't enjoy being with. All four of them understood that, yet they still thought that being together would have been easier. In some ways, Naruto could see but in other ways, he couldn't.

They separated almost as soon as news reached them of Natsuki's death; if they couldn't get on normally, in grief it would have been worse. They both lived in different cities - both of them offered to house him, Lorellie and Kazuya but the older two decided to band together and create a new home for the three of them away from their parents, remaining in the city that they were born in.

And the city that they wanted to die in.

The last time he had a call from his mother, she had been seeing this new guy for a while and they were engaged. He had kids from his first marriage so they were going to meet their new step-siblings soon. That would be an interesting experience.

As for their father, he had already remarried and they had a half sibling - Erika - who he had seen once. She had only just turned two, barely able to distinguish between things. He had already met his other step siblings from that side of the family and they were all pleasant enough - probably because he wasn't living with them. They were all younger children, whereas Naruto being in his early twenties was the youngest out of

Naruto breathed on the glass, seeing the steam collect on the window, and drew a smiley face in it, and wondered if his parents had been told he was missing… and whether they cared… well… he knew they cared, but he wondered if they would bother coming to the city to see him, whether he returned or not.

The last time they came to the city, the two of them had bumped in to one another, and had gotten on better than Naruto had ever seen them when they were married. It was funny these things. But Naruto was happy - it was better than seeing them fight.

Naruto turned to look at Sasuke and remembered that his parents were dead - killed in cold blood, just like his sister had been - and he wondered what they were like. Families interested him - probably because his own had been so dysfunctional. But a family that had been this well off before they were killed, there had to be a story behind it, a story that Naruto wanted to hear.

It wasn't wrong to want to know about the people dearest to the one you care about, right?

That was another thing that had been going through his mind. What was going to happen between the two of them now? Everything had carried on as normal - interesting choice of words there - as if it had never happened. But both of them had been pondering over it, it was obvious.

But what future did they have together? A serial killer and his captured witness?

Actually if he wanted to be crude, it sounded like some bad sexual role play fantasy but that was besides the point!

Naruto sighed and tore his gaze from his potential lover to that of the rain drenched scenery that lay just beyond his grasp. He touched the window, the cool condensation dripped on to his hand and down his arm; Naruto did nothing to stop it. He was lost in his thoughts. What if everything turned out alright? Itachi, for some unfathomable reason, let Sasuke leave the killing circle and allowed Naruto and Sasuke to return to society as long as they kept the secret - which he knew they could. Or would it result in the worst and end up with both of them being killed? Naruto because he was not ever supposed to have been there - Itachi had made that clear when he had met him - and Sasuke for protecting him?

What was going to happen?

Naruto again returned to his view he was thinking of just the day before:

It was the unknown that kept the fear in everyone…

And this situation, Naruto thought, was a lot more threatening than some others were at that point.

Naruto jumped as he felt the touch of the raven from behind him; caressing his arm.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Fine".

"What you thinking about?"

"The end".

"Huh?"

Naruto smiled and turned to face the slightly confused Sasuke. "Never mind".

Lorellie sat in Kazuya's office alone and stared around the room. It had been a while since she had returned with the locket, but she had not let the relic out of her hand once. It was still in her palm as she sat in the office staring at nothing. She was getting fed up of the pity and attention she was receiving from other officers and since Kiba's collapse earlier, she had decided that now would be the best time in which she could have a little time to herself.

She didn't know what to feel. She didn't know what to think. All she wanted to do was just sit and decide what would be the best option for her to do to find her younger brother.

Kazuya was with forensics to see if they could pull any evidence from the abandoned car. Hinata was with Kiba after the kid finally fell asleep. She didn't want to be surrounded by nameless, faceless people she didn't care about. A quiet place to think. That's what she needed.

Her mind reflected back to her confrontation with Mann and she smiled - it was the most fun she had had in a while. She punched the air with a smile at the thought of kicking some more butt - especially in the pursuit of her brother. Looking around the office once again, she began to stare at the many certificates, photographs and trophies that decorated the office of the man feared as Kyuubi. It made her happy that both of them were so successful in their field, though Naruto's talents had still been unrecognised by the stupid Editor of the paper - the one that had put him in the mess in the first place.

She rolled her eyes and sighing, she thought it was about time she phoned some of her contacts. Scrolling through the numbers on both sets of phones, she rolled the chair over to Kazuya's phone, picked it off the hook and began to dial numbers.

"Hello? Anran here, listen I need some help regarding the disappearance of a journalist by…I think his name was Naruto… Uzumaki? Do you reckon you can get me some info about it? Sweet! Thanks, I'll be up to see you again in the summer some time and we'll play a round of golf then. Alright bye".

"Heya, its Lorellie here. Listen, do you reckon you can use your contacts and start researching about the missing journalist - his name is Naruto Uzumaki. Yeah, he is a relative of mine, so please do the best that you can. Cheers, I 'll love you forever and I'll bake you a cupcake. Bye-bye for now".

"Its Lorellie here. Hi, long time no speak. You been alright? I've been better, my little brother has been abducted so if there is anyway you can use the you-know-what to find anything about where he might have gone, can you please tell me? I just want to get him back alive. I know its quite hard, I didn't want to have to use some of these contacts but I have to. Well, I'll be off to visit you soon once my Lowtown mission is complete. Yeah. See you soon, bye".

"33449009. Yes that is the right code now put me through. J-san? Thank God I got through, I'm not disturbing anything important am I? Listen, I need some help regarding a case of a missing person. Name is Uzumaki, Naruto Uzumaki, he is a journalist for the Konoha Times. Yeah, its part of a new case that I'm investigating regarding the Sound Gang - we cannot afford rivals to be off throwing a journalist that I have connections with, it would make future projects harder in the future. Thanks for your time, any information, you can get your assistants to phone me, or if you want to personally phone I will be honoured to accept your call. Thank you very much. Good bye".

"Alright mate, its Anran 'ere. Listen, you got any word on the disspeerence of Naru'o Zmaki? If you get anything, let me know on this mob and I'll get back to ya. Cheers".

Lorellie put the phone down to take a break; five people down, a fair few hundred left to go. Well, she wasn't going to phone everyone, only the people she knew could access information that would be relevant. Though Kazuya had almost forbidden her to use her contacts with criminal gangs and all sorts, she knew she had to because the legal system was almost pointless when it came to locating missing people.

She began to search through her brother's drawers until she found what she was looking for; a small glass and a tiny bottle of whiskey. Her brother had always been a big drinker, and it looked like that tradition of drinking in his office hadn't changed. She poured herself a drink, let it slosh around the glass before taking a sip, leaving her mobile phone on the side, readying herself for the rest of the phone calls she was going to have to do.

Kiba awoke to the dimly lit overnight stay bed at the police station, reserved for those who were working long shifts or needed places to sleep in between them. Hinata was reading a book at the end of his bed, looking so absorbed in its contents, he didn't want to disturb her. He hadn't moved an inch, and for some reason believed that he couldn't even if he tried. His whole body felt heavy, assisting in carrying the burden that his mind had been shouldering since his arrival from the media offices that they worked at.

He hadn't heard from Jiraiya yet; he wondered what the old perv was thinking. Both of his employees had now gone A.W.O.L. Maybe he should email him, and let him know how the investigation was going? After all, they were going to need their jobs once Naruto came back safe and sound. And part of that job was to report on this case - an inside scoop may save them.

He didn't know what had changed, maybe his mind just needed a rest from all the guilt, maybe he had just uncovered what he really was feeling all along, but Kiba was a lot more confident that they would find his housemate and best friend now. Maybe it was the dream he just had? Maybe he just needed to regain his positive outlook - after all, that was one of Naruto's strong points. He wouldn't die.

After all, lightening doesn't strike twice.

He looked back towards Hinata again and marvelled at how serene she looked reading. He realised that him feeling sorry for himself had meant she had barely any peace or time to herself; she was shouldering a burden she didn't need to. He had to apologise to her for his behaviour; but from what he had learnt from her by spending the past few days side by side, she was just going to smile, and say that he didn't need to apologise - that it was her job.

But in his mind, she was a lot more dedicated than the average person. She was like Naruto in that sense - a sentiment that made him smile.

Again, his thoughts returned to his best friend. The dream that he had during his slumber had stirred his sense of justice and positivism. He was ready to take down the son of a bitch who had abducted his friend. He moved his leg a little and Hinata turned around noticing that he was awake.

"Heya, you okay? You gave me quite a shock when I realised that you'd been in the bathroom for a while".

"I'm sorry, if there is one thing I didn't want to do, it was to scare you".

Hinata smiled. "It's okay, I'm a big girl - I can handle myself".

Kiba chuckled. "Whacha reading?"

"I'm reading a novel by Sidney Sheldon called The Doomsday Conspiracy. It's very interesting; just reading the prologue would get you interested in this story".

"Seriously? Why don't you read it to me then?"

"The witnesses standing at the edge of the field were staring in horrified silence, too stunned to speak. The scene that lay before them was grotesque, a primeval nightmare dredged up from some deep, dark depths of primitive man's collective unconscious…"

Kiba stared at Hinata for a bit. "Wow - kinda feels like something Naruto might have seen".

Hinata's face saddened at the statement; "Yeah, you're right".

"Well, Hinata, I've decided to do everything in my power to make sure Naruto is going to return home, so what can I do? What can I do to get this? I'm determined to get everything I want".

"Everything?" Hinata looked puzzled.

"I want Naruto to come back…and I want to do this".

Kiba leaned in and kissed Hinata on the lips. But to his surprise, she didn't push him away. She kissed him back. The two stayed like that for some time, before Hinata broke off their embrace and smiled at him.

"You know, it killed me to see you so down-heartened. I want to get to know all sides of you - but for the moment, you've shown me that you really do care. And that is remarkable. So after Naruto has been found, you and I shall go on a date, if that's what you want". Hinata blinked a few times and watched as Kiba nodded and kissed her again.

"This is just what I need - the most beautiful, interesting, dazzling and kind-hearted woman I have ever met, here by my side. I can do anything".

The two of them sat in the room, alone, for a few more minutes, before Hinata pulled Kiba out of the room and off to find Kazuya.

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Reviews would be oh so welcome :) I love you all, please continue to shower me with your good thoughts, I'd be happy to hear anything you would like to say. Beezelneff would as well :D xx