Categories > Anime/Manga > Naruto > Deceit
Suspicious Much?
0 reviews"This is a robbery! If you do what we tell you to do, nobody will get hurt!" AU. SasuNaru/NaruSasu.
0Unrated
Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto.
'Thinking'
[Edited 5.17.2009]
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Chapter 6.
Suspicious Much?
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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.
'Thinking'
[Edited 5.17.2009]
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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.
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