Pressure Game

Hidden Leaf Protection Agency is well known for being one of the more rigorous bodyguard training institutions in the city, but he's finally done it. Naruto has made it through training in one piece — maybe not top marks, but certainly passing ones — and is finally standing in Tsunade's office. Naruto can barely restrain himself from leaping into the air and shouting, overjoyed. He has an assignment!

That is, until Tsunade gives him the details of his new assignment.

"You'll be working under Shikamaru, and Kiba will be going with you. You leave in an hour. They both know already, so make it snappy, this is very important to reestablish our relationship with our allies."

"Wait, leaving? As in, a trip? Where?" Naruto stares at her in confusion. He's a bodyguard, sure, and you had to go to your client, that was pretty typical. But he was brand new! And especially for newbies, jobs are typically local. Makes it easier for the higher-ups to keep an eye on them their first time out of the nest.

Tsunade sighs, rubbing her temples. "You are definitely the wrong person for this," she mutters to herself, but of course all the regular veterans are currently busy, and she has no choice. "Naruto,” she says, leaning over her desk, “there was some kind of internal turmoil within the clients' usual security team. They have been trying to figure out where the problem is, but they are an affiliate of ours, and we help each other out when we need it. Try not to cause a diplomatic incident, won't you?” She leans back and crosses her arms, frowning. “In fact, let Shikamaru do as much of the talking as possible. All of the talking, actually, would be better. You're dismissed."

She cuts him off as he opens his mouth to protest, and shoots a pleading look to Shizune, who proceeds to shuffle him out of the room, despite quite a lot of flailing and sputtering of half-formed questions.

"How the heck are we supposed to protect people that no one will tell me about because of some big fight that happened over a year ago?!" Naruto is still shouting at Shizune even as they get to the trainee dorms, and Shizune sighs. "How in the heck can Tsunade call them affiliates with a straight face? All I remember is that Kakashi and everyone else seem to avoid them, and I sure as hell don't trust them!"

"That was a long time ago, Naruto," Shizune says, rubbing her temples and starting to dig around for clothes that Naruto can take with him. "They're our clients now, and there have been assassination attempts that were very nearly successful. You've been hired to do your job — does it really matter if you trust them?"

Shizune turns to him, her hands on her hips, as Naruto starts to deflate. "I'm pretty sure they don't deserve to be murdered, regardless of what happened between us back then."

Naruto shrugs. "I...suppose you're right." He can definitely do worse for an official mission as a bodyguard — it's real action! — and walks past Shizune to finish packing his own things.

"I'm glad you agree. Make sure to give us a call if you need anything, alright? You don't have a lot of experience yet, so be careful. Trust your instincts."

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto waves off her concern, and Shizune gives a hmph before returning to Tsunade's office, leaving Naruto to himself.

It sounds like this mission could take a while, so he tries to make sure he has all his essentials — a couple uniforms, some extra kevlar, his sidearm, his extra knife. He grabs a picture of the group he went through training with, even though he hasn't seen Sakura in months and hasn't been able to contact Sasuke since —

Naruto shakes his head, stuffing the picture into a pocket of his bag. There's an exciting mystery to solve! Naruto can definitely do worse as far as official jobs go, and he's not going to let his sorry excuse for a personal life get in the way of that.

His packing doesn't take him too long, which is fortunate, because it's exactly an hour later when there's a half-hearted knock on his door.

"Come on, time to go."

Naruto leaps up and flings the door open, revealing a drowsy Shikamaru. "All right! We leaving already?"

Shikamaru sighs. "Soon as Kiba catches up with us. He's meeting us at the car, let's go." He beckons Naruto to follow him, and Naruto races out the door after him once he's scooped up his traveling bag. He sprints down the stairs, skipping several along the way, and out of the Leaf trainee dormitory for the last time.

"Awesome!" Naruto hurries halfway across the parking lot before he realizes Shikamaru isn't right behind him, and backtracks.

"Yo, what's the holdup?"

Shikamaru grimaces. "There's no rush, why are you in such a hurry? How do you even have so much energy after the exams last week, you're making me dizzy."

Naruto lifts an eyebrow. "Was there not already an assassination attempt on our clients? Aren't we supposed to get there as quickly as possible?"

Shikamaru glares at him, but it lacks any malice, as that would involve actually caring enough to muster up the energy. "We can't go anywhere until Kiba gets back, anyway."

"He could be at the car already!" Naruto jumps around him impatiently, arms everywhere, and Shikamaru is almost annoyed enough to shove him away when they hear a familiar bark.

"We've got our first unsupervised mission already?" Kiba says, as he and Akamaru join them in front of the car. "We just graduated. Seems kinda fast, doesn't it?"

Shikamaru shrugs. "We're shorthanded, remember?"

“And you get to be the big boss! What are your orders, bossman?” Kiba smirks, teasing, and Shikamaru grimaces. “Don’t,” he growls, “Or this whole assignment is going to be a nightmare.” Kiba and Naruto laugh, years of training together giving them friendly camaraderie, even if they didn’t have quite the same rapport as they did with the teams they were used to working with every day.

They all climb into the car to go pay a visit to their supposed allies, determined that their first assignment be a success.

Which means they have an assassination plot to thwart.

-

"So why're you here, Naruto? This doesn't seem like your kind of thing."

"The heck is that supposed to mean?!" Naruto shouts, immediately leaning forward between the front seats so he can get right up in Kiba's face.

"You're always off working one-on-one with Jiraiya, this seems like a pretty far way to have to go, is all," Shikamaru says, trying not to let his irritation show. Why does he always get stuck with the loudest, most argumentative squads? He really, really wishes Choji were here, and not off with Ino doing important jobs for other people. He would've liked to have one or both of them along.

He tries not to sigh again at the thought, and fails.

"I'm not always training with the perv! I do other stuff, too," Naruto grumbles, leaning back, seeming to be somewhat mollified — or at least distracted — for the moment. Shikamaru suspects there is nothing that is going to keep Naruto from squabbling with people, and there's really no point in trying to avert it.

He tries to focus on their clients, to distract himself from the frequent bickering that Kiba and Naruto continually get into, either because Kiba says something insensitive, or Naruto won't shut up, or Kiba makes a tasteless joke, or Naruto decides he's bored and starts peppering Kiba with endless questions until he snaps and starts to play keep away with Naruto's knife.

It hasn't even been an hour, and Shikamaru is already wishing for an early death just to free him from being stuck in a vehicle with these two noisy, energetic idiots.

But Shikamaru keeps his lips pressed tight together, because asking them to be quiet will only ever yield the opposite results. So he's subjected to harmless bickering over stupid hotheaded nonsense for the duration of the ride, and ends up with a headache because of it.

-

After a night at a motel in a small town about halfway between their headquarters and destination, followed by another half day of travel, they finally arrive.

"Welcome, the President is expecting you," a short, dark-haired man with a tiny beard on his chin says, when he greets them at the front gates of Sand Security Solutions.

It's unusual that they'd send a welcoming party to the gates; Shikamaru expected to wait at the President’s residence. They either feel really, really bad about the whole conflict they got into over a year ago... or they're more worried about these assassination attempts than they’re letting on.

Shikamaru steels himself, and follows their guide to the office of Sand's boss.

"You guys can wait at the hotel or something," he says, trying to imagine the two of them sitting quietly through a briefing and grimacing, but of course he isn't that lucky, and his team can't take a hint.

"No way, I'm coming with you! This is my mission too," Naruto shouts, practically gluing himself to Shimakaru's side. Shikamaru sighs, and Kiba shrugs, falling in at Shikamaru's opposite shoulder.

Guess it's going to be all three of us, then, Shikamaru thinks. Wonderful. There’s no way this turns into a diplomatic nightmare!

Naruto and Kiba pepper their guide with numerous questions about the company and the boss and their clients the whole way to the President's office. To his credit, the man answers the questions with grace and patience, and if he is annoyed by deluge he doesn’t show any sign of it.

When the assistant mentions the clients and goes into details of their general activities, Shikamaru tunes back in. He suspects Naruto isn't interested in the logistics of their allies' schedule so much as he wants information about the people that, as far as he knows, assisted in the death of Hidden Leaf Protection Agency's old Executive Director.

Shikamaru wonders again how he got stuck with possibly two of the least subtle people in the entire village on their first diplomatic gig since having their affiliate status with Sand Security Solutions restored, and feels the headache throb between his ears, growing stronger. This mission is really starting to test him.

Shikamaru closes his eyes and tries not to groan aloud as they're led through a pair of large, ornate double doors. I really, really hope the people here aren't as easily offended as I'm afraid they are, or our alliance may not withstand this goddamned job.

"Mister Nara, I was told to expect you. Welcome. This is my assistant, Moru, be sure to ask him if there is anything at all you need during your stay."

"Thank you, sir," Shikamaru says with a nod of his head, addressing the President of Sand Security Solutions where he sits behind his massive desk, fiddling with a small, golden hourglass. "It's an honor to be here. I'm Shikamaru, these are my colleagues, Naruto and Kiba. I don't want to take up too much of your time, can you give us any details about the assassination attempts?"

"Not much, unfortunately," the old man says with a sigh. "They escaped before we could interrogate, and had no identifying marks or documents on them, and don't seem to use tactics that my men were able to recognize.” He picks up an hourglass on his desk, and starts flipping it upside down, and then right side up again.

“We've been unable to identify them conclusively, so we’ve had trouble narrowing down the list of possible financers or ask any after known associates,” Moru, the assistant, adds. “Even with the two attempts that have occurred already, there has been so little conclusive evidence. However…” Moru glances at the President, who sighs.

“Sir?” Shikamaru prompts, when he stays quiet for several seconds.

“I...suspect that Akatsuki might be behind it. The lack of evidence seems to indicate their level of skill, and there are few who could match them. Some of the methods were...eerily similar to other known Akatsuki assassinations. But I can’t prove it, and I don’t know who the actual members are, so it’s difficult to find any links."

"Wait, you think it was Akatsuki? But you've got nothing?" Naruto can't help the outburst, it seems, as he takes a step toward the President’s desk. "Are the clients okay? I thought the Akatsuki had an almost perfect success rate."

"Oh yes, they're unharmed," the boss says, visibly relieved. "Only some minor scratches, nothing to worry about." He sets down the hourglass and sags back into his chair.

"Minor scratches?" Shikamaru prompts, eyes narrow. If what he'd heard of their client was true, a scratch was not an insignificant detail.

The President hesitates, and then nods the tiniest bit. "Like I said, minor scratches, but—"

"But that's pretty significant, considering who our clients are," Shikamaru says, finishing the statement. "Isn't it?"

The boss looks at Shikamaru for a moment, but eventually, he nods again. "Like I said, we have little information, beyond the fact that they've managed to draw blood from Gaara. Which, yes, is no mean feat. However. I'm not convinced this means as much as you think it does — especially if we’re really dealing with Akatsuki. There's a reason we once held joint exams between our institutions, and made them so challenging. Professionals have to be well prepared to deal with a wide variety of situations, including supposedly impenetrable defenses."

Shikamaru stares at the boss, processing and sizing him up, mentally going over everything he knows about Akatsuki — secretive organization, recruits rogue agents with a high level of training and skill, rarely gets involved but when they do, almost always succeed in their goal, and leave no one alive to compromise them.

A terrifying enemy to face on his first gig, no doubt about it.

-

There is a lot of diplomatic bullshit to get through, apparently, for a simple loan of a couple company bodyguards to a recently re-allied institute in the next city over.

Naruto, Kiba, and Shikamaru attend so many meetings that day with various members of staff, introducing themselves to the different department heads and supervisors, in an effort to gather intel, but in reality, as more of an attempt to force socialization. None of them seem to know anything useful — neither of the attacks were caught on camera, no one saw anyone unusual that they could recall on the days that the assassins managed to break into the building, no one can come up with any meaningful leads that might indicate who would want the three clients dead — apart from the typical menagerie of company grudges, all of which are longstanding and well-known, and would have no reason to be focused on the clients, or Gaara specifically. No recent incidents that anyone can think of that might point to a motive of a more personal nature.

But then, most of the people they talk to seem keen to stay as far away from their clients as possible. They talk about them like an annoyance they have to deal with, an issue they’d rather avoid. One particular member of staff called Gaara a “freak” and pondered aloud how soon he hoped they’d be free of him, which made all three Leaf agents very uncomfortable, and they abandoned that interaction as quickly as they were able.

All in all, they don’t learn much of anything useful about the Sand Security siblings.

It's another reason Shikamaru finds all the diplomatic meetings frustrating — what they need is to meet the clients and start establishing a their routine, begin gathering information from the targets themselves, to initiate some kind of investigation. So why all the hoops and stalling?

What are their allies trying to hide?

"Shikamaru, when the heck are they going to let us do our damn jobs?!"

Shikamaru blinks at Naruto, who crosses his arms, pouting, as soon as the Sand employees have left the room after a particularly long and grueling meeting-turned-social-hour, in which no one knew anything, but they drank quite a bit of alcohol and tried to get the Leaf agents to follow suit, and their hosts seemed to want to know all about the new visitors and little else.

"I was actually wondering the same thing myself," Shikamaru says with a hum after he overcomes his surprise. Naruto voiced thoughts he’d been thinking himself, and it was unnerving. "We're certainly not getting anything done playing meet-and-greet with a bunch of building staff that don't know anything. It would be nice to at least have a perimeter set up..."

"Oh, Akamaru did that an hour ago," Kiba says with a grin. "Don't need the go-ahead from a bunch of useless jackoffs for that, and I was sick of waiting."

Shikamaru grins. Maybe this isn't going to be quite as impossible as he initially assumed.

"In that case, I think it's high time we forced a meeting with our troublesome clients," Shikamaru says, tapping his chin. "I happen to know where they're going to be in about five minutes, thanks to some very loud gossip I definitely didn't overhear on our way here."

Naruto blinks, and when Kiba and Shikamaru smirk at each other, he feels the excitement as a tingling sensation rushing from the back of his neck, all the way to his toes. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

-

It takes a little more than five minutes, and politely declining a couple more invitations, before the three arrive at their destination — the Sand Security Solutions sparring and training room, where three people are gathered around a large padded mat in the middle of the floor.

"Who the fuck are you."

It's not the warmest greeting any of them have ever received, but they can't say they weren't really expecting it, given everything they've heard so far about their clients. The three boys shrug off the rude question.

"New guards," Shikamaru says breezily, "from Hidden Leaf Protection Agency. We were hoping we could have a chat, start doing the job we were hired for. If it's all the same to you."

"Yeah, let us do what we're best at! We'll catch those assassins in no time, and then we can get the hell out of here," Naruto says with a wry grin. Shikamaru would be more frustrated with the lack of tact if he didn't feel the exact same way, and he suspects the same is true of everyone in the room, judging by the unimpressed expressions on the three faces across the mat.

"We don't need anything from you," one of the siblings says, a boy with lines of paint across his face, and a black zipped sweatshirt with points that resemble cat ears sewn into the hood, which is pulled up over his head.

"We've got it covered. You can just keep doing your shmoozing thing so the bosses are happy, we'll figure it out on our own, thanks," another of the siblings says, a girl with blond hair pulled into four bunches at the back of her head, and a small fan tucked into her belt.

"Interfere, and I'll kill you," the third sibling says, a redhead with dark rings around his eyes that could be sleep deprivation, eyeliner, or maybe both. The other two siblings glance briefly at him, an inscrutable look on their faces, but they quickly return their attention to their unwelcome visitors.

"Well, as appealing as that would be, that's not really our style," Shikamaru says with a lazy shrug. "It can't really hurt to have a few extra people working on it, can it? We'll be bored out of our minds otherwise. I hate socializing."

"Everyone here is fake as fuck, it's pretty irritating," Kiba chimes in, and Shikamaru would wince at the bluntness, but he wonders if the look that the two siblings flick at one another is surprise, or maybe — dare he hope — approval?

"I've lost interest in this conversation. Go away," the redhead says, and the other two glance at him again briefly before coming to some sort of decision. They jerk their heads in a come this way motion as they head for the door without another word, and then everyone exits the room save for the apparent target of at least two (narrowly) failed assassination plots, and who knows how many more.

"Is it smart, to leave him by himself? Isn't he supposed to be the primary target?"

"Oh, Gaara can take care of himself," the boy growls. "I'm worried way more about the safety of Temari and me when he gets into a mood like that than I am about any idiot assassins."

"I thought he'd attack you on sight, actually, I'm sort of surprised he didn't," Temari says, with a sneer. "But I guess this means Kankuro and I might as well show you some of what we've got, since it seems you'll just be even more annoying otherwise."

"Thanks so much," Shikamaru says wryly, "You're too kind."

"Shut up," Kankuro says, but he sounds bored more than anything. "Don't make us regret helping you."

"You do realize we're, like, all on the same team, right? There are people who want one or all three of you dead. We were called in to try to help stop it."

Temari snorts. "Three complete newbies were sent over by a company who until very recently were considered enemies to thwart an assassination plot? Yeah, right. You're a token gesture from reluctant allies who still don't trust us and, frankly, don't give a fuck if we live or die."

"Hey!" Naruto shouts, and Shikamaru rolls his eyes and yanks his jacket to keep him from launching himself at her. "Cool it, Naruto, we are new, and aren't exactly the most inspiring gesture of goodwill. She has a point."

"What are you talking about? We're pros!"

"Barely," Kiba grumbles, and Naruto pauses, seeming to realize he can't really argue.

"Look," Shikamaru says with a sigh, "we really just want our first gig to go well. I get that you don't trust us yet, we certainly don't trust you. But we don't have to trust each other to work together and figure this out, and while we may be new, we're no pushovers."

"Prove it," Kankuro says, coming to an abrupt halt in the hallway. "Let's fight, see who's stronger."

"Or," Shikamaru says, even as Kiba steps forward to meet the challenge, Naruto a half step behind him, "we can look at what you've got, and try to see if we can think of anything you didn't. That should be worth something. We can fight later, if you're still not convinced." When none of them budge, Shikamaru adds, "Besides, we just left the sparring gym, and Gaara's still in there."

Kankuro hadn't taken his eyes off of Kiba, both of them still looking like they'd be ready to throw the first punch any second. But Shikamaru is more interested in watching Temari, who is eyeing him thoughtfully.

"If you find anything we didn't, I'll eat my fan," Temari says, and Kankuro glances back at her as she shakes her head a tiny bit. He seems to deflate a little, and then continues down the hall with a grunt and a shrug.

Shikamaru feels like he's walking on a razor thin wire and it's exhausting, but so far none of them have cut their feet to ribbons or said anything they can't take back, so maybe they've got a prayer of getting through this job intact after all.

"Here we are," Temari says, opening the door with a flourish. "HQ for assassination plot thwarting."

The room is cluttered, with papers all over the walls — a map, printed photographs of people with data, including known aliases, history, and last known locations typed out next to them, weapons with diagnostics and ballistics reports, a couple shots of the scenes of the two break-ins, and a huge whiteboard with messy notes scribbled across every spare inch of space.

"Whoa, jesus," Kiba mumbles, wrinkling his nose in distaste. "Is there any organization to this at all?"

"Ugh, detective work," Naruto says, also openly grumbling.

"It’s kind of our job, Naruto," Shikamaru says, but he's not really paying attention, looking around at what they've got, noticing immediately that despite the information all over the walls and the table in the middle of the room and the folders thrown on the two chairs in here, there's one thing that is noticeably missing.

Any actual leads.

"I would rather go fight all three of you in the training room right now than spend another second with all this...this crazy, analyzing — stuff," Naruto whines, hands pressed against the side of his head as though it's about to explode and he's trying to hold it in.

What a baby, Shikamaru thinks, as he holds in a sigh.

"Well, I need another minute to try to suss out some kind of lead. You two can do whatever you like, just give me some quiet for a bit."

"Yes!" Naruto is out of the room almost before Shikamaru is done speaking, but Shikamaru doesn't notice as he stares at the wall, unmoving.

"I'm not leaving him in here alone. Kankuro, you're going to have to be babysitter," Temari says, pulling out a chair and dropping into it.

"Oh, joy," Kankuro sneers, and follows Naruto out of the closet-sized room.

"Okay, you don't like us, and we don't like you," Kiba growls, getting right up in Kankuro's face. "Great! now that we've got that established, and we're all in agreement — we're going to be working together for a while, so how about you quit the snide macho routine and run us through a typical day, so we can work out a plan and start to do our goddamned jobs? The sooner we know the drill, the less we'll all have to deal with each other."

Kankuro looks for a moment like he wants to argue, a muscle in his jaw twitching as he grinds his teeth together, but then he lets out a chuckle and shrugs, suddenly nonchalant. "Sure, sure, whatever you say. Quick rundown, and we can do our separate things. Sounds good to me."

"Awesome," says Kiba, not even trying to hide the sarcasm, but Kankuro looks more amused, not less, and proceeds to explain what a typical day is like for the three of them, leading them in the direction of their sleeping quarters, where most days begin.

But from there, it gets a little chaotic, because there's really no such thing as a typical day when you're an employee at a security company where work is gig-based, and reassignments can happen at a moment's notice.

"Mostly in the morning we start with breakfast, unless it's a target practice day, in which it depends on when our scheduled block is, sometimes it conflicts with the dining hall hours and we have to plan meals around it. And sometimes one of the instructors will give us an errand to run, and that takes priority, so we always have to leave gaps in the schedule to drop everything and do the assignment if we need to. And on thursdays—”

"Oh my god, this is useless!" Kiba shouts, scrubbing his fingers through his hair in irritation. "There's no routine at all, and you could have led with that. Just — give us the tomorrow’s rundown tonight, and if there are changes in the morning, we'll figure it out as we go. As long as we have time to ask questions when we get the schedule, so we can double check the details."

"Sure thing, buddy!"

Kiba shoots a scandalized look at Kankuro, who has a giant, shit-eating grin on his face, because he has just discovered a new favorite way to irritate Kiba. Naruto would usually laugh, but at the moment he finds all he really wants is to claw Kankuro's face off with his bare hands.

"Can you just — where the fuck are we staying, I'm too tired for this shit, I need to lie down" Kiba says, his hands pressed into his eyes.

"How the hell should I know?" Kankuro chirps cheerfully, hands shoved into his pockets, and Naruto very nearly lunges at him.

"They have been assigned to the third floor guest quarters," a soft voice calls from down the hall ahead of them, and Kankuro freezes, as Gaara turns to corner and comes to a stop, directly in their path, his eyes passing briefly over Kiba and Naruto, seeming to find nothing interesting or worth further inspection, and coming to rest on Kankuro.

"Uhh — yeah, I can take you there," Kankuro stammers, and Gaara tilts his head.

"No need, I can show them," he says, and turns to head back down the hallway, in the same direction he'd come from. "You can go find the third one and show him the way."

"Fine," Kankuro mutters, grumbling, but he says it very softly, in what he probably figures is a voice too low for Gaara to hear. Gaara doesn't react, and he starts down the hall in the opposite direction, back to the closet headquarters where he assumes Shikamaru is still holed up with Temari, looking at the evidence they've gathered.

Kiba and Naruto are both on edge the entire walk to the third floor guest rooms, especially as Gaara makes the journey in complete silence, and it's jarring after spending the afternoon being led around by Kankuro, who talks and makes loud jokes at their expense almost constantly.

Gaara doesn't speak, and even his footsteps are quiet — he almost seems to glide along the floor, making very little sound, his shoes made of a thick fabric, his steps light and his pace slow and menacing. It feels like Gaara is constantly ready to prey on whatever victim is unlucky enough to cross his path, prepared to pounce in an instant.

"These are your rooms," he says suddenly, and both Naruto and Kiba start, neither paying the least bit of attention to their surroundings as they walk.

Gaara stares at them until they eventually creep past him into the rooms, which are divided into a large common area with a small kitchenette, two bedrooms, and a bathroom down a small hallway.

"The sofa is a pullout, and there is a spare cot in the hallway closet," Gaara adds, pointing down the hall even as he remains in the doorway, not taking a single step into the room.

"Uh. Thanks," Kiba says, unsure, and Gaara just stares at him, unresponsive. "I'm going to — go take a shower, I guess. Long day."

He looks between the two, and when neither objects, he locks himself in the bathroom.

Gaara backs out of the doorway and starts to close it, but Naruto, feeling an impulse he can't explain, blurts, "Wait!"

Gaara pauses with the door halfway closed, and looks at him for the second time all day, his face expressionless.

"Uhh," Naruto says, rubbing his arm as he tries to think of something to say. He just wants — something, some kind of response, some confirmation that Gaara is aware he exists, and knows that Naruto has every intention of doing his job. He can’t explain why, but it’s important to him.

"We'll figure out what's going on, and protect you," he says firmly. "Whatever it takes, that's our job. And I always keep my promises."

Gaara continues staring for a moment, expression unchanging, and Naruto feels more and more on edge under his heavy gaze. "It doesn't matter," he says eventually, and gives the tiniest shrug. "My life is insignificant, I'm merely a convenient weapon. Whether or not you are successful, you will have served your purpose."

Naruto blinks, taken aback. "Wh-what is that supposed to mean?!" He shouts, a hollow feeling in his stomach. How could someone think that way about their own life?

(Hypocrite, he thinks to himself. Of course he knows exactly what that feels like, to be tossed aside as a useless irritant.)

Gaara's expression goes vacant, and his stare drifts away from Naruto as he seems to think about something else. "It's all a political game, and we're pawns," he mutters, quiet and sure, a statement of fact. "The President wanted to repair the alliance. There were assassins that needed to be dealt with, an outside enemy. Just strong enough to justify asking for help, and a safe target that might allow the two agencies to align against a common enemy, for a time. It was… convenient." He shrugs again, and lets go of the door, allowing it to swing shut as he turns to leave, his expression still a cold, unchanging mask.

Naruto feels a chill shudder through him, icing him over, and he feels sick.

This assignment sucks, and he wants very much to go home and never see any of these people ever again. He says as much to Shikamaru because he's still standing rooted to the same spot when Kankuro and Temari show up with him a few minutes later, only staying long enough to drop off the next day's schedule.

"I agree," Shimakaru says, still looking at the paper in his hand. "Let's solve this fucked up mystery as fast as possible, so we can all get the hell away from here."

Naruto is still thinking about what Gaara said, calling all of it a political game and himself a mere pawn — and more important, his complete lack of expression as he said it — right up until breakfast the next morning, when the President’s assistant, Moru, stops by with an updated schedule.

"There is not a single thing on this entire sheet of paper that is the same as it was last night," Shikamaru says slowly to the assistant, shaking the schedule in his face. "What the hell changed in the past six hours?! Everyone was asleep!"

The man shrugs, the expression on his angular face not apologetic in the slightest. “We’re busy people,” he says, and turns to retreat down the hall in his long robe without another word, not bothering to even come up with a plausible excuse. Any excuse. It almost sounds to Shikamaru like he’s insinuating they did it just to yank them around.

Naruto wonders how long it would've been before Shikamaru had the asshole in a choke hold if he hadn't left before Shikamaru had a chance to calm down enough to move.

"I hate this place," he mutters instead, frantically scanning the new schedule. "We can't use any of the rotations we planned last night, we're not even going to the same locations, some of these definitely weren’t on the rounds yesterday so it's a place I haven't even seen yet, how are we supposed to—”

"Shikamaru, breathe," Kiba says, laying a hand on his shoulder. "It's day two, we're not supposed to have every facet of the client's life figured out yet. We'll be briefed, and then do the best we can with the information we have, and make sure we’re better prepared for next time."

Shikamaru clenches a fist tightly for a moment, but then he lets out a long breath. "Yeah, you're right. Okay. One thing at a time, starting with breakfast."

But the first thing on the schedule is no longer, of course, breakfast.

-

"We can't very well guard a client when there are assassins after us, that would be putting the client in danger."

"Well no shit, I wasn't suggesting—”

"So we had to rearrange the schedule to account for the shifts, and that meant things had to get moved around. We have to prioritize—”

"Yes, I get it, but why was this not decided two days ago, when the first incident—”

"We'd just been attacked, Shikamaru, we weren't about to go rearranging schedules when there was a murder attempt on Gaara that morning, we had other things to worry ab—"

"Well no, but you have an entire company here, I'm sure there was someone available to make these changes before three am the day of—”

"We had all hands on deck to catch assassins, actually, or didn't you hear, I was just mentioning—”

"OH MY GOD." Kiba slams his hands on the table, cutting Temari off in the middle of her sentence. "Can we please move past the shitting schedule."

"Certainly," Temari says, and picks up her fork to continue shoveling her lunch into her mouth as though she hadn't just been in an extended argument with Shikamaru for the past ten minutes. Shikamaru's mouth hangs open in disbelief.

"I—that's it?"

Temari blinks. "Your colleague asked me to drop it. Why, did you want to keep going? Did you find it productive?"

"Fuck y—”

"Yep, okay, it's been a long morning, I think we can all agree on that. What's next on the docket?" Kiba says, loudly, glaring daggers at Shikamaru, who had been about to open his mouth to argue some more, but slouches down into his chair instead, rubbing at his temples.

"Going to the gym, then an interview," Kankuro chimes in for the first time since they all sat down.

"I am going to get changed. We will meet at the facility," Gaara says, rising from the table.

"Oh, I'll go with—!" Naruto starts to get up to follow him, but Gaara holds up a hand, and Naruto stills.

"No need," Gaara says, walking towards the door, and Naruto clearly wants to follow, and seems like he's going to anyway until Kankuro catches Naruto's eye, shaking his head. Naruto hesitates, looking between Kankuro and Gaara's retreating back.

"He does know there are people that apparently want him dead, right?" Naruto grumbles, pointing a thumb over his shoulder at the now-empty doorway, before finally dropping heavily back into his seat.

"He's usually the one doing most of the killing, I don't really think he's worried," Kankuro mutters darkly.

"Well, when you get treated like a tool, whose life doesn't even mean anything, that can be a side effect," Naruto snaps, thinking about Gaara's vacant expression yesterday, and what it felt like to be treated like a monster instead of a kid his whole childhood, and where he might be if it hadn't been for Iruka, telling him he mattered, showing him he wasn't alone.

Temari shrugs. "I guess, but he's just doing what he's good at. Gotta make a living somehow, right?"

"It's not his job to be some weird political chess piece for the higher ups to yank around however they want, unless your outfit here runs very differently than ours does," Shikamaru snarks back. "Was that in your contract? In the fineprint, down the bottom: 'Be a worthless play thing for the boss to throw away without a thought'?"

There is a small twitch under Temari's eye that gives away how close to home that comment hits, but other than that she doesn't react. "Risks come with the territory, children. This job gets a lot easier when you learn to acknowledge that."

"There is a huge difference between accepting some risks and throwing lives away when there are plenty of other options," Shikamaru says, his voice low and dangerous. "I would never ask anyone on my squad to do something dangerous if there was a safer way to accomplish the same task."

"That's not what we're doing here," Kankuro says, slamming his fork down on the table. "So this argument is completely pointless, anyway. No one's being reckless, just realistic."

"That's not what Gaara said yesterday," Naruto snarls at him. "He made it sound like it didn't even matter if he lived or died."

"What?" Kankuro flicks a glance to Temari, whose eyes widen slightly, and if Naruto didn't know better, he'd swear it’s a look of genuine surprise.

"He said it was a political game, and if your boss's goal was accomplished, whether or not he lived didn't matter. That it was...insignificant." Naruto spat out the word, disgust painfully clear in the way he clenches his fists and the tense set of his shoulders.

"That's..." Temari's voice trails off, a horrified look on her face as she stares at the food on the table in front of her, no longer interested in eating any of it.

"Yeah," Naruto says, shoving his chair back and rising from the table, his food abandoned long ago. "I swear, if I hear another word out of either of you about being realistic or accepting risks when you treat your own brother like his life doesn't mean anything, I will kick your ass so hard you won't feel so much as a cold toilet seat for a week."

Naruto leaves the cafeteria fuming, and the rest of them sit in silence for a couple minutes before they give up on eating entirely.

-

Shikamaru decides putting everyone in the gym together after breakfast would be a monumentally bad idea, so he sends Naruto, Kiba, and Akamaru to do perimeter sweeps and keep an eye on all the entrances while he sits in the corner and goes over the notes he made in the tiny closet headquarters the day before, looking for anything that might give him a lead on who the Akatsuki are, or who their mysterious financier might be.

He knows he's not going to get anywhere staring at the same information and hoping for it to miraculously give him new information, but it gives him something to think about other than the siblings, who were supposed to be training, but are barely saying a word to each other as they all do their own individual training exercises.

Temari spends most of her time whaling on the punching bags, while Kankuro works on flexibility with a lot of stretching and some weight training to build muscle.

Gaara mostly stands there while he waits for different machines to attack him — there are a couple ball launchers, and a boxing training dummy with arms that extend. Gaara stands in front of them as he alternates blocking with a metal gauntlet he wears on one arm, dodging projectiles, and allowing the glove-covered metal arm to repeatedly punch him in the chest and shoulders, mostly hitting his armored vest.

It's tough to watch, and Shikamaru much prefers poring over the same hopeless dead ends over and over, so that's what he does. He occasionally pulls out the schedule and switches to going over the rest of the day, trying to pinpoint the weakest spots where someone would be likely to attempt to get near his clients.

He keeps going back to the interview they have in a few hours — it's with a reporter Sand Security has met with multiple times, at a studio they've been to before, and are familiar with the layout, but Shikamaru hasn’t seen it. Temari managed to find him a map of the building when he asked after breakfast, but she hasn't had a chance to go over everything in detail with Shikamaru since the schedule was changed that morning, and it's making Shikamaru twitchy. He hates unknown elements, and having to trust other people, especially people he doesn’t particularly get along with, if the day he’s known them for is anything to judge by.

Temari makes the mistake of walking over in his direction to grab her water bottle, and Shikamaru decides to take advantage, and does his best to ignore the way her loose, cropped shirt sticks to her where her sweat has soaked through.

"Hey, Temari. Tell me about this interview again?"

Temari groans loudly, throwing her head back to roll her eyes at the ceiling. "We've been over this already. Publicity stunt. News station downtown. Hosted by the same guy that interviewed Gaara last month. I got you the map, what could you possibly want to know now?"

Shikamaru frowns. "The last one was a month ago? Is it normal for the same studio to ask for an interview every month? Seems like they should have more interesting things to holdtheir attention."

"Sure, when the the public is interested in what’s happening. We have a whole new graduating class, and there have been incidents here that made local news. No one knows it was an assassination attempt, of course, but you can't have a big shootout without getting noticed. And we've had some famous clients, so there’s always gossip."

Shikamaru rubs his jaw, thinking. "How did the last interview go?"

"Fine?" Temari wrinkles her nose as she glances to the side, recalling the day. "From what I remember, they asked a bunch of stuff about graduation, and it was before we'd taken any pro gigs yet, so that was standard. There was also a question about our animosity with Leaf, I think, which was unusual, nothing new to talk about there for ages, so I’m not sure why they asked. Boss was annoyed, but other than that, nothing interesting."

"They asked about us?"

"Pfft, barely, don't get a big head," Temari scoffs, but then pauses, looking thoughtful. "I do remember it, though, so there must've been something about it that seemed off to me."

"The interview was recorded, right?" Shikamaru rises to his feet, staring at Temari so intensely that she takes a step back.

"Uhh, it was live, someone might have recorded it. We didn't bother, though. Why?"

Shikamaru frowns, thinking, and doesn't answer. Eventually Temari realizes he isn't going to, rolls her eyes again, and with a frustrated sigh, goes back to punching things. This time she drags Kankuro to the mat to spar with her, but Shikamaru isn't paying attention.

He wants to see that interview, and it sounds like the best way to get it is going to the source, and asking the studio if they have a recording.

At least I might have a lead, he thinks, but how am I going to get that recording without being suspicious?

-

The answer, it turns out, is very easily.

The interviewer is an excitable guy who bounces around on the balls of his toes as soon as they enter the building, peppering the three Sand employees with endless questions about their job and what it's like and who they've met.

He’s a very convenient distraction from the icy tension that sparks between the siblings and the Leaf team, the day of keeping their distance only having a minor effect on the animosity between the groups. Luckily, no one has said very much, and they manage the drive over to the studio without any physical violence.

When Shikamaru casually expresses disappointment at missing the last interview, the chipper interviewer immediately offers to grab a copy for him, and runs off to retrieve it before the interview starts.

"Keep an eye on them, I'm gonna go find a quiet spot to watch this," Shikmaru says quietly to Kiba, as soon as the Sand siblings and interviewer are out of earshot.

"What, now?"

"Sure, they've got a dozen cameras pointed at them, they're fine for at least the next half hour. I'll be quick, don't worry."

Kiba raises an eyebrow at him, but doesn't protest, so Shikamaru slips away from the group to find a quiet room with a computer that he can use. Eventually he finds an unlocked editing room that isn't currently occupied, and slips inside. The computers don’t seem to require a login, so he plugs in the storage device, and clicks on the file, and after fighting with the computer for a few minutes to find the compatible program, eventually gets it to play.

Temari was right, for the most part — the interview is pretty boring, nothing unusual, mostly a string of standard softball questions. Even the one where he brings up Leaf seems pretty uneventful, except the camera cuts over to the Sand siblings in the middle of the interviewer asking the question, which seems like an odd choice, and catches Temari's quick flicker of surprise, and slight frown.

But what is she reacting to?

Shikamaru watches the moment through a second time, and then a third, and doesn't see anything that might give him an idea of what is going on. He curses to himself, makes a copy of the recording and emails it to himself from the browser, slipping quietly out of the editing room to find Kiba and Naruto before the interview ends.

"So what the fuck was that about?" Kiba hisses at him when he notices that he's returned, which, of course, is instantly. Damn nose on that guy is incredible, Shikamaru thinks, with a mixture of annoyance and awe.

"Tell you later," Shikamaru mumbles, and if Kiba's frustrated expression is anything to go by, he doesn't like it. But he glances around at the extraordinary number of mics and cameras in the vicinity, and doesn't say anything else.

"Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us today," the interviewer is saying, rising to his feet, smiling wide and vigorously shaking both Temari and Kankuro’s hands, but noticeably skipping over Gaara. Shikamaru frowns. Wasn't the whole point of this exercise, according to what Temari had said, to get to know Gaara? Ignoring him now seems like a very pointed slight, if that's the case.

There is clearly something they aren't telling Shikamaru, and he's getting damn sick of it.

When it looks like several other reporters and journalists are getting ready to approach their clients, Shikamaru steps forward to cut them off, gesturing to the siblings. “In the car, let's go."

Temari blinks at him in surprise, but doesn't argue, and they manage to shuffle the three all the way to the car with minimal issue. Which is to say, dozens of questions coming at them from every side and more than one aggressive reporter who shoves microphones in their faces and reaches for them to try and slow them down or get answers. But between Naruto's very loud, in-your-face cheerfulness and Kiba's wolfish grin, they are unable or unwilling to get close enough to actually stop them.

They all make it into the car after only a couple minutes of delay.

"I think that might've been the smoothest exit from an interview we've ever had," Kankuro remarks with surprise. Kiba bristles.

"We're good at our jobs!" Naruto says with a proud grin. For once no one can say otherwise, and it diffuses the tension a little.

"What was with the insult at the end?" Shikamaru says, looking directly at Gaara, but it's Temari who answers.

"No idea," she says with a shrug. "We get that a lot."

"Insult?" Naruto says, shooting a confused look at Shikamaru, who suddenly feels like slamming his head into the side of the vehicle. Here he was, trying so hard to convince their clients that he knew what he was doing; leave it to Naruto to shatter that illusion.

"It is considered polite to shake hands with your interviewee at the end of a broadcast," Gaara says softly. "At least, it is when you're interviewing humans and not monsters."

Every pair of eyes in the car snaps to Gaara then, with a mixture of reactions. Temari and Kankuro look stricken, as though Gaara had violated some kind of taboo, and share a glance, panicked. Naruto looks horrified, while Kiba just squints at Gaara with something Shikamaru thinks might be suspicion, but it's hard to tell.

"No one thinks you're a monster, Gaara," Kankuro says, but there's not much confidence in his tone, and Gaara doesn't acknowledge him, turning instead to look out the window.

"What the fuck," Naruto mutters, disgust clear on his face. “Did he actually say that to you?”

“No, he’s not that careless,” Gaara says, and his tone is flat and uninterested in a way that makes Naruto’s heart ache. “But I’ve heard the rumors, and I’m not an idiot.”

No one really knows what to say after that, and the rest of the ride is uncomfortable and quiet, with no one looking at each other.

Shikamaru feels a headache coming on, and closes his eyes, trying to will it to go away.

-

"Alright, out with it. Where did you disappear to?"

Kiba whirls on Shikamaru the moment they're back in their rooms alone, and Shikamaru pulls out his phone with a sigh to show them the recording.

"I wanted to investigate something Temari said, about the last interview with that guy," Shikamaru says, "but I can't figure out what happened, it's not in frame. I'm going to ask her about it, but I want to catch her alone and in a good mood."

"When the heck did you disappear?" Naruto says, but both of them ignore him.

"They're not telling us everything, and I'm getting pissed," Shikamaru says, putting his phone away. "Let's try to split them up tomorrow. If they stick to their schedule, we might be able to manage it while they're doing inventory, or something."

"I guess we'll know in the morning, but I’m not holding my breath," Kiba scoffs as he flops onto the couch, sprawling across it.

"I still can't believe that guy," Naruto says with a frown, and the other two share a glance, not sure who he's talking about.

"Gaara?"

"No! The interviewer guy!" Naruto gives a frustrated yell, balling his fists tightly. "They were perfectly polite the whole interview, and answered every shitty, invasive question he asked, but it turns out the guy has the nerve to insult Gaara? What the hell! That's so — augh," Naruto scrubs his hands through his hair, letting out a wordless yell. "It just sucks! And I didn’t even notice! So shady."

Shikamaru frowns. "It does seem… unusual," he says, thinking. "It was an inappropriate response for the situation. But you seem pretty worked up for someone we just met and barely even tolerate."

"Maybe that was what happened in the video," Kiba mutters, tired, only half-listening to their conversation and cutting off Naruto as he opens his mouth to respond. "Some sort of insult, or something."

"Maybe."

None of them really believe it's that simple. Unfortunately, they won’t know for sure until they actually investigate and get facts, so they don’t have any more answers by the time they go to sleep.

-

The schedule changes again, every single item on it different than what they were shown the night before.

"Okay, are you guys doing this on purpose? You do realize we're the most trustworthy people out of anyone in this building because we weren't actually here for the first assassination attempts, right?"

Kankuro blinks at them, nonplussed. "We don't make changes to the schedule, we have no control over it. Bossman does."

None of them really know what to do with that knowledge.

"Alright,” Shikamaru says, the first to recover enough to put a sentence together, “the afternoon looks pretty hectic — what if we split up and try to do some of it at the same time? Kankuro and Kiba can review the list of suspects and continue verifying alibies, and Temari and I can pick up the ballistics report from the second attempt, while Naruto goes with Gaara to meet the President."

"Ooh, Bossman isn't gonna like us not tagging along — excellent, let's do it," Kankuro says with a smirk.

"Fine by me," Temari says with a shrug. "Gaara?"

"I don't care," he says, without looking up from the book he's reading.

"What a ringing endorsement. Alright, let's get this over with," Kiba says. Before they can split off and each corner their respective siblings for a little subtle intel-gathering, first, they've got lunch and another meeting to get through.

-

"I'm gonna do another sweep." Kiba jumps up from the chair he'd been sitting in, but before he can bolt from the room, Kankuro snorts, and Kiba pauses.

"You just did one like ten minutes ago. Is your attention span that pathetic?" He doesn't even look up from the folder he's leafing through. After their meeting was over they made their way back to the closet that served as their headquarters and pulled out a stack of files, and they've both been staring at one potential suspect after another, cross checking where they've been, and whether or not they have any motive or access to the assassins, who they know nothing about, which makes it very difficult to figure out who might’ve hired them.

Kiba slumps back into his chair, scrubbing at his eyes. They've been going over files for over an hour now, and he doesn't know a single name on any of the lists they've looked at, and the information all means virtually nothing to him. He feels useless here.

Kankuro glances up from the folder he has in his hands, then snaps it closed and tosses it onto the table. "Okay, yeah, there's nothing here. Nothing we’re going to find, anyway."

Kiba frowns. "You don't sound surprised."

Kankuro shrugs. "We've been going over these files for hours every day. We haven't been able to find a single lead, and nothing's changed. Why would I expect to find something now?"

"We’re three new pairs of eyes, we might catch something you missed,” Kiba says, pointed. “Just because you haven’t found anything doesn't mean there aren't any connections here," he says, not entirely sure why he's advocating for more research when he feels ready to crawl out of his own skin.

Something about Kankuro’s dismissive attitude rankles him.

Kankuro chuckles, seeming to be able to read Kiba's expression. "Yeah, that's what Temari keeps saying, and I get it, which is why I'm here. I still think we're not going to get very far without a starting place, something concrete we can use to cut down on the list or narrow the search."

Kiba looks at him, searching. "You're waiting for another attack?"

Kankuro bristles, glancing away. "I mean, I don't want there to be one, but we've got nothing. The more incidents there are, the more chances they have to mess up, to leave something behind. Or get caught."

"And if there isn't anything to go on next time, either? Or if they're successful?"

"That won't happen," Kankuro snarls suddenly, and Kiba is taken aback by the ferocity. Kankuro so far has seemed mostly amused but distant, like the whole thing was a childish game to him, something he personally wasn’t invested in. Interesting, Kiba thinks, and files the information away.

"Especially if we catch them before they have a chance to try again," Kiba says, offhandedly.

Kankuro just snorts. "Yeah, sure, no problem." He lays his head down on the desk. "I need a nap. I don't want to deal with this anymore."

Kiba frowns, thrown a little by the abrupt shift — just a moment ago, he seemed ready to fight, to take on as many people as he needed to in order to put an end to the conflict. "Well, we're definitely not going to find anything if you're sleeping," Kiba says dryly.

Kankuro doesn't respond. Kiba wonders if he hit a sore sport, or something, but after a moment of reflection, decides he really doesn't care. He doesn't like Kankuro much, anyway.

"Seriously? You're giving up after just an hour? You could take a break, grab a snack, and keep trying—"

"I told you," he grumbles into the table, "we've been at this for days. The fuck makes you think we're going to find anything now? Weren’t you leaving, anyway?"

Kiba's eyes narrow. "That's the job," he says slowly. "Sometimes it looks like a giant mess with nothing to go on, but you have to keep looking at it until you can find some kind of link. Shit's messy, it takes a while to get through. But people are also messy, and there's always some kind of trail, if you keep looking long enough to find it."

Kankuro waves a hand, dismissive. "Whatever you say, man. Because you're clearly so desperate to stay and keep looking for clues here." He clearly doesn't want to talk anymore, but Kiba is fed up. He thought he was finally getting somewhere, and now he just gets this — this blasé attitude? And blatant deflection? Screw this, Kiba thinks.

"The fuck is wrong with you? You realize this is your brother's life you’re trying to protect here, right?"

Kankuro doesn't respond, but he does go still. Kiba ignores it. "How can you be such a baby, whining about it being too much work, when it could be the difference between him being alive and being dead? Or you? That's a shitty way to treat people you care about."

"I never fucking asked for this," Kankuro mutters, so low Kiba almost misses it. Kiba sees red, feels fire ignite in his lungs and spread, consuming him.

"Yeah? Well, shit happens, figure out how to keep going anyway." he snarls. "Especially when your family needs you."

"Because he's my blood?" Kankuro snarls, and the word sounds worn out, used up, as though this is an argument Kankuro has been in countless times.

"Fuck blood," Kiba snaps. "You've probably saved each other's lives countless times, right? You've worked together for a while, been in danger so many times it's hard to keep track, and always gotten each other out of it. That's why. You have to be there for the people who matter, or what's the goddamn point?"

When Kankuro doesn't have a response for that, Kiba shakes his head, frustration wearing him out. "It's no wonder Gaara doesn't think his life matters," he spits out, "when the people around him don't seem to give a shit, either."

"Shut up! I never said that," Kankuro says, shooting to his feet. “You have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about!”

"Oh, I don’t, do i? Because you know so much about me and what I’ve been through. Maybe I know exactly what I’m talking about."

Doubt twists Kankuro's expression, and Kiba fumes. “Do you not see how what you say matters to him? Are you that much of a blind idiot? The way people around here talk about him, it’s obvious no one thinks of him as anything but a weird inconvenience, some sort of scary, violent ghost that’ll haunt them if they’re not careful. Have you three not discussed this, at all? After all that time doing research, trying to figure out a motive for the assassination attempts, none of you thought to consider what role the people at your own job are playing? How it might affect him?”

When Kankuro stares at him blankly, Kiba shakes his head in disbelief. "Jesus," Kiba says through his teeth. "Do you talk about anything?"

He can't stand to look at the guy any longer, so he leaves the room, storming down the halls and slowly expanding his sweep to the entire floor, carefully checking every single entrance and exit, just to have something to do, something to distract him from his anger.

Akamaru follows along close behind him, a constant presence that helps to soothe Kiba’s frayed nerves.

He is so sick of people that talk about being family, being friends, or partners, who aren't even going to do the bare minimum to be there for each other when it’s important. He’s so glad he has Akamaru, his best friend, and the most caring, reliable partner he will ever have.

But Kankuro’s attitude bothers him more than it should because of the guilt, knowing it was him, once, who would treat his own teammates like tools, a means to an end and little else, until they showed him how wrong he was. But he’s not going to think about that right now.

-

"This is new," Temari mutters, holding the photograph in her hand.

"Is it enough to determine the model?" Shikamaru asks the lab tech who'd handed Temari the picture, a shot taken at the scene of the second assassination attempt. They'd found a nick in the wall, and had been looking for anything they could find that might lead them to determining exactly what weapon was used.

"No, but we're pretty sure this mark was caused by a knife, and we think we know the size and dimensions — based on the marks, the type of cut left behind, and the shape of the nicks. It's not a short list, but not every assassin prefers knives, and we think it might narrow your search somewhat. Especially because the material is… uncommon."

"Uncommon?" Temari prompts the tech with a skeptical look. “What constitutes an uncommon material for a knife?”

"I think this was a glass knife," the tech says, "judging by the odd way the particles left behind react with light. I can't think of another type of material that might react that way."

"Glass, huh?" Shikamaru mutters to himself, mentally revisiting his list of potential suspects, but he doesn't remember knives showing up on the list of known weapons for any he's already looked at, much less glass knives. He's going to have to keep searching.

"What a weird choice of weapon," Temari muses out loud to herself, and Shikamaru glances at her.

"Ring any bells?"

"None," she says with barely a pause to think, and Shikamaru frowns.

"You're not even going to take a minute to think about it?"

Temari looks at him. "If I knew anyone who used glass knives, I would remember."

Shikamaru tries to refrain from groaning in frustration. "It may not be something they use regularly — you have to think about places you've been, if anyone has a collection, they might've been a weapon of convenience rather than a specialty, or maybe glass is a material that's easy for them to get their hands on and maintain? There could be any number of different explanations, and it warrants considering for more than a split second."

"I'm considering it," Temari says, irritable. "Just because I answered quickly doesn't mean I'm not still thinking about it."

Shikamaru sighs, shaking his head, unconvinced that she's even listening to him. "You could at least act like you give a shit about this for a minute here and there," he eventually grumbles, almost to himself. Of course it's plenty loud enough that Temari hears it, though.

"What the fuck makes you think I don't care?"

"Oh, I dunno, it could be your constant complete unwillingness to cooperate or offer up any information that isn't directly demanded of you, or your quick dismissal of every possible theory we’ve encountered so far, or your disregard for safety and precaution? Pick one, or let me keep going, 'cause I've got more," he snaps. "Should I continue?"

Temari rounds on him, holding a finger up in his face. "You don't know me, or my methods, or my mind. You have absolutely no clue what I'm thinking or how I'm dealing with this situation, so don't you dare tell me what I do or don't feel. You got me?"

Shikamaru shrugs. "Never said you didn't care, I said you didn't act like it, and that you were dismissive. Purely factual statements."

"Fuck you," Temari snarls. "I know what you were implying."

"Do you? So you're going to tell me what I meant, now? Are you saying it does matter to you whether Gaara lives or dies, because that would be news to both him and me!"

Something in Temari’s eyes snaps and she winds up, punching Shikamaru square in the jaw. “Go to hell,” she hisses, spinning around and letting out a wordless yell, stomping away from him and cursing to herself. Shikamaru stumbles back a few steps, and he lets her go, rubbing at his aching face. He knows he said some really shitty things, but he wanted to know what kind of people he's dealing with, and intentionally goading someone — figuring out what pushes their buttons — is the best way he's found to do that. That kind of reaction is very hard to fake, and he has to know if the two siblings are in the clear, or the whole investigation could be compromised.

Luckily, he's reasonably sure the outburst told him everything he needs to know, and he thinks he might finally be able to start making progress on this infuriating case.

It was worth a sore jaw, especially considering he’s pretty sure she held back — he saw what she could do to those punching bags in the gym, and he knows he’s lucky his jaw isn’t broken. He would’ve deserved it.

-

"So what's the boss want?" Naruto is walking down the corridor a few steps behind Gaara, his hands behind his head.

"No idea," Gaara says, and Naruto waits, but he doesn't elaborate.

"None at all?" He prompts, jogging to Gaara's side so he can see his expression. Gaara's eyes flick over to him briefly, acknowledging his presence, but he doesn't respond, which Naruto decides is probably an affirmative.

"Isn't that kinda weird?"

"I'm his best weapon, he likes to keep tabs. I’m used to it.”

Naruto frowns. “You know how messed up that is, right? You’re a whole entire person, not som— object for him to use as he likes.”

Gaara doesn’t answer, and Naruto isn’t sure what to say, so he just pivots to chattering on about nothing to fill the heavy silence the rest of the way to the office.

“Ah, Gaara, thank you for coming,” the President of Sand Security says with a smile when his assistant leads them in. “Where are Kankuro and Temari?”

“Doing their jobs,” Gaara says, and Naruto has to clamp his mouth closed to keep from laughing. He never expected such a flippant answer from Gaara, he always seems so serious and moody, and it catches him off-guard.

The President frowns. “Tell them I expect them here, next time.”

Gaara opens his mouth to answer, pauses, and then seems to change his mind, saying, “You sent the message to me, and did not inform me of the purpose of this meeting. If I knew what it was about and thought it was relevant to them, they would be here.”

Naruto can’t help staring open-mouthed at Gaara. Was he openly defying someone? To their face?

Damn, that’s badass, Naruto thinks, a wide grin on his face. And… not really how I’d expect someone who thought they were a ‘tool’ to behave.

The boss’s mouth twitches, but he quickly schools his face into a veneer of calm. “From now on, when I summon you, they will accompany you. Is that clear?” His words are sharp enough to cut, scolding and harsh.

“Yes, sir.” Gaara’s expression goes flat, and it’s only a minute change from what it had been before, but Naruto catches the shift and all his mirth evaporates.

“There, that wasn’t hard. Now, the three of you have some damage control to do after your interview yesterday, so I’ll need you to address it this afternoon.”

“Damage control? I thought the interview went well,” Naruto says honestly. “I mean, except for the interviewer being an ass.”

Gaara’s glance flicks over to Naruto for a brief moment before returning to the President.

“I don’t know what interview you watched, young man, but it was hardly a good representation of our outfit here,” the assistant says from behind them, circling the desk to stand beside the President. “You’re going to need to learn how to be much more careful about your responses, Gaara,” he says, shaking his head.

“Careful about what?” Naruto blurts.

Moru pinches the bridge of his nose, his tone growing irritated. “Careful about what you say on live television,” he says.

“But what did Gaara say, specifically, that was a problem?” Naruto continues. “He didn’t say anything that would breach contract. He didn’t talk badly about you or mention us, he didn’t even rise to the bait when the guy asked nasty questions about his past, which he answered honestly. I don’t understand what he should have done differently. How could he have been more careful?”

“Gaara understands,” Moru says, turning to him. “Don’t you, Gaara?”

Gaara looks at him for a moment, unmoving, and then slowly nods.

Naruto stares at Gaara, brows drawn together in confusion.

“Good. You’re dismissed.”

Naruto is speechless, following Gaara as he gives a small bow and leaves the office. He makes it to the end of the hallway before he can’t hold it in anymore.

“What the fuck,” he shouts, throwing his hands into the air, “was that?!”

Gaara glances at him, still expressionless, and doesn’t say anything.

“What was he even talking about? You didn’t do anything! And you started off so good, telling him off. What happened?!”

“It doesn’t matter,” Gaara finally says, staring straight ahead. “It’s easier to just agree with them.”

“That’s stupid!” Naruto says, shrill in his outrage. “He can’t just order you around, tell you you messed up when you didn’t, for no reason. He was just — making it up!”

“He’s my boss,” Gaara says.

“Fuck him! I don’t care who he is, you don’t treat people that way. If he has a problem, he can explain it. And fuck ‘easier,’ anyway! Just because it’s easier doesn’t mean it’s right. The right thing is never easier. Next time, you should tell him to shove his shitty fake criticisms up his crusty old ass.”

A soft, “hmm,” is Gaara’s only response. Naruto groans, and continues to insult the old man and his annoying assistant with a wide array of colorful descriptors all the way back to their suite, where they find the others.

He doesn’t notice, because he’s too busy elaborately explaining the depth of the President’s lack of intelligence and vast ineptitude, but Gaara’s eyes follow Naruto the entire time.

“Oh my god you guys, I’m so bored.” Naruto flops dramatically on the couch in the main room of their suite as they wait for the siblings to be dismissed from yet another meeting. The morning had started with going over the files again, all of them together this time, so they could talk it through and discuss what they’d found — or would have, if there had been anything to discuss.

The Sand siblings all said very little and didn’t stay long, as they were soon summoned to the President’s office.

Kiba mentioned Kankuro’s proposed strategy of waiting for a third incident for more to go on. Shikamaru and Naruto agreed that would suck, but no one could think of a better option, and they all knew they needed more information. So they kept looking, the mood solemn, their hope of actually finding anything lower than ever.

They were about to head for the training room to get some much-needed practice and work up a good sweat, when one of the President’s assistants stopped by and they asked about the meeting, but the assistant had no idea how long it would take.

Feeling on edge, they all went to the training room, but were too distracted to get much practice in. That was two hours ago.

“We should’ve kept looking over the files,” Shikamaru says to himself, chewing on a nail. “Sitting here doing nothing is a waste of time.”

“Looking for what? Kankuro’s right, we need a lead,” Kiba says.

Shikamaru throws his hands in the air. “So we wait for one of them to almost get killed again? There has to be something else we can do, that plan sucks.”

“I’m all ears,” Kiba says, without moving from where he’s laying on the floor, his hands tucked behind his head and his eyes closed.

Naruto springs to his feet, and starts walking in circles around the mat. “I dunno, what if we set some kind of trap? That would be less risky than just waiting for them to attack on their terms, right?”

“Is it?” Shikamaru says, speculating out loud. “If they’re professionals, and we give them an opening, even a planned one — it might be all they need to be successful. It’s a huge risk.”

“What if we set a trap, and the bait is fake?” Kiba says. “If it doesn’t go according to plan, we still won’t have failed. We tell no one where they really are, so there’s no chance of a leak.”

“There’s always a chance of a leak,” Shikamaru says, “but it’s worth thinking about. Not here, though; we need somewhere we know for sure is secure.”

“Shikamaru, I’ve done like eighty sweeps of this place with Akamaru. There aren’t any staff in hearing range, they’re all posted at the ends of the hall. It’s as clean as we’re going to get around here.”

“I hate this,” Shikamaru says. “I’m on edge, all the time. Nothing is certain. Any step I take could be a disaster. And I can’t even plan ahead when they keep rearranging the shitting schedule.”

“All the more reason to make a move, try to lure them into making a mistake first, on our terms.”

Shikamaru glances at Naruto, who is still circling the mat. “You’re being uncharacteristilly quiet.”

Naruto keeps pacing for a moment, then stops and walks over to stand in front of Shikamaru.

“I don’t like the way Gaara talks about — all of it,” he says with a vague wave of his hand. “But I think he would agree to that plan, if we asked him. And it might mean we can solve this.”

“Hmm,” Shikamaru hums, searching Naruto’s face, thinking about everything Gaara has said up to now, and finding he agrees. He hates that he agrees, but… “I guess I’ve been outvoted, then.”

Naruto grimaces. “We’ll be careful.”

“As long as it gets us out of this damn useless holding pattern, it’ll be worth it,” Kiba grumbles. Shikamaru hates how frustrated they all are, and is worried it’s making them impatient. It sucks to get yanked around at the whims of an unpredictable schedule, and feel helpless to wrangle recalcitrant clients. It’s tough on all of them, and he tries to remember that when they’re being impulsive.

He has to wonder, though, why Tsunade picked these two to be here, for this assignment. Surely there had to be other choices? Any other choices? Instead, she chose the two least patient, least tactful members of their entire training group. It makes Shikamaru’s skin itch.

“Come on, let’s get that training in. They’ll find us whenever they’re done,” Shikamaru says with a sigh, hoping physical activity might cut down on some of the boredom, and the other two leap to their feet, eager to do something active, and start to stretch their legs, warm up their muscles.

It’s what they’re best at, after all.

-

They’ve barely even worked up a sweat when their three Sand allies show up at the gym looking grim.

“Whoa, who died?” Naruto says, and both Shikamaru and Kiba cringe, shooting him what the fuck is wrong with you looks, which he, of course, completely misses.

“We’ve got an idea,” Kankuro says, ignoring Naruto. “But it sucks.”

“We finally have something after spending days with nothing at all, and it’s not even good? What is up with this job,” Kiba growls, and Shikamaru tries to ignore him, but can’t help secretly agreeing.

“What is it?”

Temari looks at him, gaze heavy, and he’s not sure what he sees in her expression but it puts him on edge.

“We want to talk to Tsunade.”

“Boss lady?” Naruto says, incredulous. “Like, the person who assigned us here? She’s super scary and strong, and real good at medicine, but she definitely has nothing to do with the whole assassination plot. I mean, she’s been at our headquarters, same as us. Why on earth do you want to talk to her?”

Kankuro and Temari look at each other, and seem to come to some sort of silent agreement, Temari dipping her head in a nod.

“We’re going to check in on our allies,” Kankuro says, with a cavalier grin. “We haven’t found anything here, and there’s something we want to ask her. It might give us some information we need.”

“You’re not going to elaborate?” Shikamaru studies them, trying to guess what angle they could possibly have, but he doesn’t have enough to go on — he can only guess.

“Not yet,” Temari says. “Meet us back here in an hour, and we’ll head out.”

Shikamaru doesn’t like this. Protecting people on the move, out in the open, is so much harder than protecting them in a place with walls and security and cameras and cover. But if there’s some kind of lead —

“One of us could go instead, and not put you at risk. Unless you don’t trust us?” He asks, watching them carefully.

Kankuro just continues smiling, cavalier. “Nah, it’ll be fun! A little field trip. Besides, it’s completely unplanned. There isn’t enough time to set up an ambush.”

“Famous last words,” Shikamaru mutters, and then shrugs, because they’re clearly not going to back down. “Alright, but let’s leave in fifteen minutes. And we don’t tell anyone we’re going, no one at all. Only the President knows?”

“And his assistant, who was there when we discussed going,” Gaara says, speaking for the first time since they all got back.

“This is really risky and I don’t like it,” Shikamaru says, “but you’re the clients, so we’ll do what you want.”

“Your concerns have been noted,” Temari says, but her tone is still chilly. “Fifteen minutes.”

-

They’re at the front gates in ten.

Apparently everyone is as eager to leave as Shikamaru is, because Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari are all waiting for him when he gets there. Naruto and Kiba aren’t far behind. Wordlessly, they all share a glance, and then climb into two cars, pulling out onto the road for the long drive back to their home city.

For once, they’re not divided up by their teams, and Shikamaru finally has an opportunity to talk to Kankuro, who climbs into his car after Kiba and Akamaru.

“You’re not sticking together?” Kiba says, a small grin playing at the corner of his mouth. Kankuro smiles back, sharp and lethal.

“Can’t take us all out at once if we’re split up, y’know,” he says, his voice almost a purr, and Shikamaru feels a chill run up his spine.

“I thought there was no way anyone could know about this trip,” he says.

Kankuro shrugs, arms held out wide to either side. “There’s always a possibility. Nobody’s perfect! Think of it as an abundance of caution.”

Shikamaru wishes it was that simple. Every instinct in his body is screaming turn around, go home, but he can’t think of a plausible reason to make them all stay put.

They really, really need a lead.

“You think Naruto can handle Gaara and Temari on his own?” Kiba muses quietly to Shikamaru, but the car is not big, and Kankuro’s eyes lock on him, clearly able to hear him just fine. Kiba seems unbothered.

“I think they’ll manage,” Shikamaru says noncommittally, eyes darting between Kankuro and Kiba, willing Kiba to stop trying to start trouble.

“Don’t trust your loud-mouthed little buddy?” Kankuro says with a sneer, and Shikamaru bites back a groan.

“I trust Naruto just fine, it’s the idiot duo he’s stuck looking after that I’m more worried about,” Kiba bites back immediately.

“Kiba,” Shikamaru warns, but Kiba, of course, isn’t listening.

“Oh no, let him talk, this is great. Can’t get enough of the denial and useless posturing! It’s quite effective, I must say. Bravo!” Kankuro begins to clap obnoxiously, and Kiba’s scowl deepens.

“Posturing, my ass. I learned to trust my team a long time ago, I’m over being an asshole who treats his friends like dead weight.”

“Oh, is that what I’m doing?”

“I was talking about myself, but if you’re making a confession—”

“Oh my god,” Shikamaru says, cursing to himself, letting his head rest against the glass window.

Then he glances outside, and feels his stomach sink.

“We’re taking the highway?”

Kankuro cocks his head in a question. “It’s faster! You want to take back roads, and leave ourselves exposed for even longer?”

“That would be a lot less visible,” Kiba says, catching on. “Who planned the route?”

Kankuro’s browns pinch together in a brief frown, and as soon as he opens his mouth to respond, they hear a loud screech of tires and the revving of an engine, and they all twist to look out the back window.

“Pursuers!” Shikamaru shouts, leaning forward to address their driver. “Pull off the highway, right now!”

The man does, careening over to the exit ramp and flying through multiple red lights to get some distance between them and the large, black SUV following them, but the lead they gain is negligible.

“Turn here!” Shikamaru shouts, thankful that he’d spent some time looking over roadmaps of the city on their first day, able to recall them with almost perfect clarity. They hadn’t yet left the city limits, which gave him an advantage. “Next left!”

The driver hesitates, but follows his directions. Shikamaru silently vows never to allow anyone he doesn’t know to drive him anywhere ever again.

“They’re gaining,” Kiba growls next to him.

“Where’s Gaara’s car?” Kankuro says, voice going shrill as he looks to both sides and doesn’t locate the other vehicle.

“Fuck,” Kiba swears, pulling out his phone. “Pick up, you dumbass,” he says, as Shikamaru hears the ring tone through the speakers.

Shikamaru has to concentrate on giving directions, but tosses his phone to Kankuro. “Try Temari or Gaara,” he says, eyes never leaving the road in front of them.

“Naruto! Where the fuck are you?!” Kiba shouts, and Shikamaru yanks the phone out of his hand.

“Road names, now,” he barks, and just manages to make out a, “Little busy!” from the other end, before the rustling of fabric, and then Temari’s voice. “We’re on Eighth, just passed Dune,” Temari says, sharp, before grunting, presumably as the vehicle swerves, judging by the screech of tires he can hear in the background.

“Shit,” Shikamaru says, “you went the opposite way. Turn on Javier, take it west towards the intersection with Oasis. I’m aiming for the bridge,” Shikamaru says, thinking fast. “Take detours, try to lose them. If you can’t, I’ll make sure to get there first.”

Temari hangs up after agreeing, and Shikamaru is thankful that they don’t seem to be fighting him, or asking how he apparently knows the city better than they do. He’s sure it’ll come up later, but first, they have to survive long enough to argue about it.

“Make a loop here, see if you can get enough distance to lose them in the garage down the street. Go!” Shikamaru shouts, and Kiba leans out the window with his sidearm, aiming shots at their tires, trying to slow them down.

“Stay low,” Shikamaru says, holding up a hand as Kankuro reaches for the button to roll down his own window. “We don’t know who their target is yet.”

“Could be you,” Kankuro says, but he leans back.

“We’re the ones being paid to make sure you stay alive, so we’re going to have to take that chance,” Kiba shouts from where he’s still leaning out the window, before diving back inside as the back of the car is riddled with bullets from their pursuers, who are close enough to pull out weapons of their own.

Kankuro watches them fire shot after shot at their pursuers, who aren’t slowing down at all, but instead seem to be gaining on them. “Step on it, or we’re all going to die!” Kankuro shouts at the driver, whose speed hasn’t been increasing nearly as quickly as they’d all like. The driver hesitates, glancing into the rearview mirror, and then passes by the parking garage without turning in. Shikamaru frowns, shooting a quick look at Kiba, who meets his gaze and silently nods in the direction of the driver, mouthing, Mole?

Shikamaru looks to Kankuro, who shakes his head in an I don’t know. Shikamaru feels his stomach drop. They don’t know this guy? He turns his weapon on the driver, leaning around the back of the seat, and growls, “Pull over. Right now.”

He sees the moment the man decides to stomp on the gas a second before he does it, his muscles tensing and expression set in defiance, and before he can do it Akamaru jumps from the back seat and sinks his teeth into the man’s arm. Shikamaru takes advantage of the distraction to knock him in the side of the head with the butt of his gun, and when Akamaru releases him and moves out of the way, Shikamaru climbes into the front of the car, trying to squeeze into the driver’s seat beside the unconscious man.

He may not be able to shoot them, but the man is almost as much of a problem as he would’ve been were he still awake, because Shikamaru can’t reach the pedals with the man’s long legs and limp feet in the way. The car swerves erratically across the road as Shikamaru grabs the wheel, and gradually the vehicle continues to slow as Shikamaru is still unable to get his foot on the pedal.

“Kiba!” He shouts, shoving the car door open. Kankuro lets out a quiet, “fuck this,” as he leans out the window to give them cover fire. Together Shikamaru and Kiba manage to shove the man out onto the side of the road just off the sidewalk, the car still slowing down, before Shikamaru yanks the door shut and finally drops fully into the driver’s seat, stomping on the gas.

“Hold on!” He yells, and the car fishtails nauseatingly as he takes a hard corner, their pursuers flying past them down the street, missing their rear bumper by inches.

Shikamaru takes another turn and then another, weaving his way through the city, trying to put distance between them.

He sees a small alley off to the side and, when the other vehicle still isn’t visible behind them, swings the car to a stop in the shadows just off the street seconds before a vehicle screeches around the corner in the direction they’d come from and goes speeding past them down the road.

All three take a moment to catch their breath and make sure their tail doesn’t immediately turn around, and then quietly pull out onto the road and head for the bridge.

-

They were too slow.

Kiba smells the smoke moments before they turn the corner and see the other car on its side, hood wide open and the corner crumpled, shattered glass scattered across the street from one sidewalk to the other in a mosaic of sharp reflections, the sunlight glinting off the shards of broken glass.

There is gunfire from the other end of the bridge, and they see movement by a large statue near the source of the shooting.

Shikamaru can’t see who it is, but someone is crouched behind the twisted mountain of metal and stone at the far end of the bridge, and there are quite a few more figures on the far side, quickly advancing toward them. In less than a minute, they’ll have the statue surrounded.

“Let’s go!” Kankuro shouts, jumping out of the car and sprinting directly across the bridge, Akamaru leaping out after him, with Shikamaru and Kiba not far behind. They’re too slow to catch Kankuro and suggest he not run straight towards a shootout, but also not sure what better options they have.

They pass several bloodstains splattered across the bridge as they run, and their stomachs twist, unable to tell who the blood belongs to, hoping desperately that their friends are all right. They pass two unfamiliar bodies lying on the cobblestones, dressed in dark colors without any identifying marks that Shikamaru can spot as they dash past.

Akamaru makes it to a small barrier at the end of the bridge first, and barks an all clear to Kiba, who slides around the corner after him, panting, with Shikamaru and Kankuro right behind him.

Naruto is leaning up against the statue a short run from the end of the bridge, peeking around the side of it, aiming at the figures closing in on them from the other direction. Gaara is crouched next to a haggard-looking Temari, who is clutching her shoulder.

“Tem?” Kankuro says, his voice cracking at the sight of the blood seeping through her clothes as he runs up to them, staying as low to the ground as he can to make himself a smaller target while they run across the open to duck behind the safety of the statue.

“It’s not bad,” she says through clenched teeth, her attention fully on Kankuro as she tries to smile, but it ends up as more of a grimace as Gaara tightens the fabric he’s wrapping around her wound.

“Find us a way out of here!” Naruto shouts, ducking back behind the statue just before the loud crack of gunfire precedes the ping of several bullets hitting the statue where he’d just been.

“On it,” Shikamaru says, glancing back the way they’d come.

Their vehicle is already surrounded by several more that have caught up since they abandoned it in their rush to make sure everyone was okay. “Shit,” Shikamaru mutters, realizing how stupid it was to leave their best means of escape behind, but shakes his head and tries to focus on the present, rather than dwelling on mistakes. The car wouldn’t have been able to drive over the bridge, anyway, and they never would have made it back across without getting themselves surrounded.

“Over there,” Kiba says in his ear, pointing down a side street to a shop not too far away.

“Think we can make it that far? That’s a long way to run out in the open,” Kankuro says from where he’s crouched next to Temari, his hand clasped tightly on her uninjured shoulder.

“Got a better idea?” Kiba snaps at him, and they both glare silently at each other for a moment.

“I will provide cover,” Gaara says, pulling back from Temari as he finishes wrapping her wound. “Run on my cue.”

“I’m not leaving you behind,” Naruto snarls from behind him where he’s still leaning around the corner to shoot wildly at the ever advancing enemies, attempting to slow them down. “So don’t even think about doing something stupid.”

“That would be pointless,” Gaara agrees, and then, with no more warning, “Go.”

Kankuro hauls Temari to her feet and they dash for the store, too accustomed to Gaara to question him. Kiba only hesitates for a moment before running after them with Akamaru at his side, but Shikamaru hesitates, keeping an eye on Naruto and Gaara, just as unwilling to leave anyone behind as Naruto.

“Go, we got this!” Naruto says, and he finally pulls back from his corner, watching Gaara. Shikamaru shakes his head, following after Kiba.

Gaara raises his gauntlet, and Naruto watches in fascination as the bulky material wrapped around it expands into a small shield, with an hourglass symbol etched in the center.

“I told you to go,” Gaara says, giving Naruto a shove as he runs past him out of their cover, his small shield up to protect his head and chest. The loose fabric of his coat hangs where it’s connected to the gauntlet, billowing loosely around him, obscuring his form a little and making him harder to hit accurately. A couple bullets ting ineffectively off his shield and the armor sewn into his clothes, but each one knocks him off balance, and must hurt like hell.

“Dumbass, I’m not leaving you here by yourself,” Naruto says, firing on their pursuers, forcing a couple to dive behind the statue they’d just abandoned and giving them a moment to run freely for the store.

Naruto makes the mistake of looking ahead to check how far they have to go, and when he looks back, he sees a man with his arm drawn back, something small clutched in his hand.

“Shit!” He yanks Gaara behind him, and Gaara stumbles several steps back as Naruto shoots at the small projectile flying toward them.

The first two shots miss by a hair’s breadth, but the third lands, and the small canister explodes in a burst of flame and smoke and shrapnel.

“Down!” Naruto shouts as he dives at Gaara, his weight bringing both of them down to the pavement, hard.

Everything goes black for a moment, or several, until Gaara blinks, dazed, and realizes he’s on the street, trapped under the weight of Naruto where he’s landed on the pavement. His ears ring from the explosion, sounds travelling to his ears through cotton, distant and muffled.

“Get up, we need to move,” he growls, trying to get up as everything in his body aches, and it takes a second before Naruto responds, and Gaara’s eyes snap to his face.

Naruto’s hands shake where he’s holding himself up over Gaara.

“On it,” he says, but it comes out strangled, and he looks like he’s barely able to hold his own weight.

Gaara grabs him, pulling him up against his side as he rises to his feet, trying to take most of his weight while ignoring the large, dark stain spreading across his back. He shuffles them as quickly as he can into the store, where Kankuro and Kiba are shooting through the broken windows to hold back their pursuers long enough for Gaara and Naruto to stumble inside to safety.

They hear the screech of tires as more vehicles come screaming around the corner, but some of them are accompanied by sirens.

“About fucking time,” Kankuro says, and Gaara realizes he’s made it to the storefront, and Kankuro is helping him drag Naruto into the building. While the police have never been remotely helpful to Gaara, they also tend to be a deterrent for assassins, and at least might be a convenient barrier between himself and his enemies.

But Gaara doesn’t spend long thinking about it, as he has more important things to deal with.

“We need to get back, right now,” he says, turning to Kankuro. “They both need medical treatment.”

“Okay,” Kankuro says with a sharp nod. “I’ll find a car.”

Gaara stumbles after Kankuro leaves, the weight of the day catching up with him, and also the explosion that very nearly killed him, and he slides down the wall to sit on the floor, eyes locked onto Naruto, who is laying flat on the ground with Shikamaru and Kiba pressing down on his wound, trying to slow the bleeding. His eyes are closed, and his breathing is labored.

Temari is slumped off to the side, and she doesn’t look good, but Gaara watches her chest rise and fall gently, and her responses to Shikamaru and Kiba are quick and sharp, coherent and irritated, and Gaara focuses his attention on that until Kankuro gets back with a car.

-

The ride back to headquarters is a blur, as is the process of dragging Naruto onto a stretcher and running him into the medical center of their base. It had been closer than any hospital, and none of the Sand siblings really trust anyone, but there is a medic here that has treated each of them in the past, including a few serious injuries, and they’re all still alive. So right now, they’ll take it.

“What the hell happened?” A voice says, and all six of them — the Sand siblings, Akamaru and Kiba, and Shikamaru — turn to face it from where they’re all gathered outside the medic’s room.

“Ambush,” Kankuro says. “They attacked us almost as soon as we’d left. Like they knew.”

The President’s eyes snap to Kankuro at that, and he scowls.

“Are you accusing me of trying to have the lot of you assassinated?” He says, his voice near shouting, incredulous. “You can’t be serious.”

“Who else knew we were leaving?” Temari snaps, looking pale but alert.

“No one. They must have access to our cameras, or a spy—”

“Look, it doesn’t matter right now,” Shikamaru says, holding up his hands in a peacemaking gesture. “We’re all exhausted and pissed. Can we do this later?”

Temari looks at him, furious. “Are you serious?”

Shikamaru turns to her, his gaze sharp. “We’re not going to get anywhere right now. And Naruto is still unconscious.” He stares her down, and she’s plainly still livid and takes a breath to argue, but before she can say anything the door opens.

“Ah, good, you’re all here,” the medic says, removing his glasses and wiping them on his coat.

“How is he?” Kiba says immediately, stepping right into the medic’s space, Akamaru yipping worredly at his side.

“He is stable, for now,” the medic says, giving them all a small, tired smile. “You may go in if you want, but he is still unconscious at the moment, and I would ask that you keep it down, and preferably limit it to small groups.”

Shikamaru and Kiba share a glance, and move past the medic to go through the doors, not willing to wait any longer.

The rest follow after them, pausing a little way back from the door to Naruto’s room, which is just a short walk down the hall.

Kiba and Shikamaru go through the door, and approach Naruto’s bed slowly, cautious, as though they’re afraid any small disturbance might hinder his recovery.

“Way to keep a guy waiting,” a barely audible voice mutters, and Shikamaru and Kiba share a startled look.

“You’re awake already?” Kiba says, and lets out a relieved bark of a laugh. “Should’ve known a grenade would barely slow you down.”

“Pfff,” Naruto says, with a limp wave of his arm. He’s clearly exhausted and still in some pain, but he’s coherent, and Shikamaru feels something in his chest loosen its vice grip at the sight of him talking and moving, to replace the horror scene of him lying blood-stained so still in the tiny shop.

“What even are you, you freak,” he mutters with a soft huff of laughter, and they all grin at each other. Kiba and Shikamaru both find themselves reaching for Naruto’s hands, one on each side, and holding tight, needing the reassurance of his grip, weaker than usual but there.

There’s a soft tap on the door, and Kiba pulls away to open it, revealing a worried Temari. “Um, we heard voices. Is he—?”

“Awake,” Shikamaru says with a smirk, stepping to the side so Temari can see him. “Come on in, see for yourself.”

Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara all shuffle in, gathering around Naruto’s bed. Even the President hovers near the doorway, peeking through.

“Geez, didn’t realize I was so popular,” Naruto mutters. “Glad to see you’re all okay.”

“Thanks to you,” Temari says, reaching forward to flick his ear. “You reckless idiot.”

“Hey, that’s no way to treat your allies,” Naruto says with a grin.

“Why,” Gaara says from the corner, his voice a little strangled, and barely audible.

“Why did I do my job?” Naruto says, trying to lift his head to look over at him but not quite able to get it high enough to where he can make eye contact. Shikamaru moves forward to adjust the pillows, allowing him to sit up a little.

“Why did you—” Gaara says, but he cuts himself off, hand pressed against his mouth, and doesn’t finish the question.

“I’m relieved that everyone seems to be alright,” the President says from the doorway behind them, and they all look up at him abruptly, having forgotten he was there. He casts a long shadow over the room from where he’s looming at the edge. “I apologize that this mission has put you in such peril, that was not my intention when I requested for Tsunade to send assistance. I hoped having you here might be enough of a deterrent.”

Kiba shrugs. “It’s not like you planned it,” he says, watching the President closely. “Besides, like Nauto’s always saying, the job comes with risks. We knew what we were getting into, and what we signed up for when we graduated.”

The President smiles, and it doesn’t come close to reaching his eyes. “Still, I’d hoped to avoid more injury. Gaara, you’re going to have to do better. We can’t afford to lose any of our allies.”

Shikamaru frowns. “Are you saying our lives are more important than figuring out who hired the assassins?”

“Of course they are,” the President says, eyes going wide. “You were never meant to be in any danger, I should have known better than to let you stick so close to Gaara. He attracts death and danger like a magnet.”

“What?” Shikamaru says, bewildered.

“I’ll be requesting that you return home immediately, so rest assured. Our mistakes will not be repeated, and I will make sure my subordinates refrain from gambling with others’ lives in the future.”

An icy chill falls over the room, and Shikamaru wants desperately to break it, but has no idea what to say.

Luckily, Naruto has never had trouble finding words.

“Bullshit,” he says, quiet but firm, from where he’s propped up against the pillows on the bed.

“Excuse me?” The President says, cold.

“The fuck is the point of asking us here, if you’re gonna chicken out now? We’re staying until we solve this, we don’t leave jobs unfinished,” he says, glaring at the man.

“And don’t you dare blame this on your subordinates. You made the decision to ask us here, not them. You sent us on a bogus trip back to Tsunade, when all of us knew it would be safer to stay here, where it’s more secure. This is on you, not them. Gaara saved my life today. You should be giving him an award.

“Now get out of my room, I’m going to pass out,” he finishes with a soft sigh, shifting lower under his blankets.

“Shikamaru,” he mutters, all the steel gone from his voice, “you better help me get some ramen when I wake up or I’m gonna be so mad,” he mutters, already halfway to sleep.

Kiba and Shikamaru share a surprised glance, then turn to stare at the President, whose expression is carefully flat.

“Very well,” he says, sweeping out of the room with a flourish. “I will discuss this with you further tomorrow.”

“Like hell you will,” Naruto mumbles, but luckily he President has already left the room, and Shikamaru hopes it was too quiet for him to catch. Somehow, he doubts it, but thinks he probably doesn’t actually mind very much.

“Damn, when did you get badass, twerp?” Kiba says, ruffling his hair. “Nicely done.”

“Guy’s a dick,” Naruto mumbles, and promptly falls asleep.

“Alright, let’s clear out, let him rest,” Shikamaru says, and the rest file quietly out after him.

None of them really know what to say after that. Kiba offers to keep an eye on him for a while, but Gaara stops outside Naruto’s room and leans against the wall, and looks settled in to wait. Shikamaru shrugs, deciding he’ll come back to check on them in a couple hours, and saying as much to the rest of them.

Temari and Kankuro are both unusually quiet as they leave, barely saying a word since Naruto scolded their boss.

Shikamaru hopes Naruto didn’t get them in too much trouble by mouthing off; after all, they’re the ones that have to continue to work with the man, not his team. They get to leave when this job is finished, and go back home to Leaf, where they have superiors that respect them and don’t yell at them for almost dying.

Shikamaru never really considered how good he had it, before, but he’s certainly thinking about it now.

He’s still thinking about it when he gets back to his room, changes into sleep clothes, and collapses onto his mattress.

He’s exhausted, but he doesn’t fall asleep for hours, and judging by the rustle of sheets he can hear from the next room, Kiba doesn’t, either.

-

Padding barefoot down the hall with Akamaru at his heel a few hours later, Kiba is almost silent as he heads for Naruto’s room. He wants to check in on him — he’d woken after an hour of fitfull sleep, where flashes of blood-soaked clothes and red-splattered cobblestones played across his vision — and needs to check. He knows he won’t sleep until he does.

When he gets to the medical wing, Gaara is still in the same spot he’d left him, hours earlier, staring vacantly at the opposite wall. He pauses, thinking about how little he wants to disturb Gaara right now, and decides that if something was wrong there would be more commotion. He turns around to find something else to do with the excess energy and stress he needs to burn off.

He turns around and almost walks directly into Kankuro.

“Whoa,” he says, holding his hands up as he takes a startled step back.

“Oh, sorry, wasn’t paying attention,” Kankuro mumbles, and Kiba notices the dark circles under his eyes. Kankuro shifts, peering around Kiba’s shoulder in the direction of Naruto’s room. “Is Gaara still…?”

“Yep, hasn’t moved an inch. That guy is unreal,” Kiba says, a wry grin twisting his mouth, and Kankuro chuckles.

“You’re telling me,” he says with a shake of his head. “I’ve never seen him… react, like that. The way he did to your teammate in there.”

Kiba snorts, turning to look in the direction of Naruto’s door. “Yeah, Naruto has that effect on people. It’s kinda inspiring, sometimes, but others I really wonder whether or not the idiot has a deahwish. He sure seems to have a habit of throwing himself in front of people, and he isn’t nearly good enough at dodging for that to be a viable tactic.”

“I don’t think dodging is in either of their wheelhouses,” Kankuro mutters darkly, his gaze a thousand miles away. “Don’t think it even occurs to Gaara to try, most of the time. Fucking idiot.”

“Fucking idiots,” Kiba agrees.

Kankuro stares for another moment before shaking himself out of his reverie and saying, softly, “Hey. Um, about — what you said. Before,” he says, halting, stumbling his way through the words. “I think you may have had a point, and — just, thanks.”

Kiba blinks, thinking back, and recalling geting angry and maybe calling him a baby and accusing him of not giving a shit.

“Yeah, I think I could’ve worded that a bit better,” Kiba says, cringing. “You kinda hit a nerve.”

Kankuro grins. “What can I say, I’m talented.”

“At being an ass? Definitely,” Kiba says, grinning back. “Speaking of asses, what the fuck is up with your boss?”

“Ugh,” Kankuro says, waving a hand dismissively. “He’s — always like that.”

“Why do you put up with it?” Kiba says, incredulous.

“Don’t really have a choice, I guess,” Kankuro says, thoughtful. “We’ve got nowhere else to go.”

“Bull,” Kiba says. “I’ve seen you guys spar, and now I’ve seen you in action. You could get a job just about anywhere you wanted.”

“All together? No way,” Kankuro says. “No one will take us as a package deal, and I’m not willing to abandon Temari. Or Gaara.”

Kiba hums, acknowledging the point.

“C’mon, let’s get out of here. I need to hit something,” Kankuro says suddenly, changing the subject in the least subtle way Kiba has ever seen. Kiba has a lot of energy to burn, though, so he decides to allow it.

“Spar?”

“You in the mood to get your ass kicked?” Kankuro quips with a grin.

“Try it, buddy, see what happens,” Kiba says, and they head off for the gym, gaining speed until they’re both sprinting down the halls in the middle of the night, racing to get there first.

-

Shikamaru hears Kiba leave the suite, and gives up trying to sleep, taking off down the hall in the same direction he heard Kiba go. He doesn’t turn down the corridor to the medical wing, though — his thoughts are racing, and he goes instead to their closet headquarters to look back through the evidence they’ve gathered, and see if anything he noticed from the chase gives him new ideas.

When he gets there, he opens to door to see Temari already sitting at the small table, several folders open in front of her, her hands buried deep in messy blonde hair. She starts and draws in a sharp breath when he opens the door, but then relaxes as soon as she recognizes him.

“You look awful,” Shikamaru says, dropping into the chair across from her and dragging one of the files closer.

“Eat shit,” she says, but it’s mostly tired and without any real animosity.

“I can’t sleep either,” Shikamaru mutters as he looks over the file, feeling his mood plummet further when nothing stands out to him. It’s the same file he’s looked at a dozen times already, nothing new or interesting about it, and he throws it down to the table and grabs for a different one.

“I don’t know what I’m doing here, nothing has changed,” Temari growls, her frustration clipping her words short and giving them a sharp edge.

“Yeah,” Shikamaru says with a sigh, and closes the folder, crossing his arms and dropping his head down on them. “But being here is better than tossing around uselessly in the room.” He glances over at the board, looking at all the locations and names pinned up, the diagrams and photos and statistics. So much information that says absolutely nothing.

Temari shifts in her seat, and Shikamaru ignores it at first, assuming she’d reached for another folder, until she says, quiet and stiff, “You may have had a point, yesterday.”

Shikamaru glances over at her as his eyebrows go up. He hadn’t expected her to bring it up, but he’s glad she did. “Maybe,” he says, slowly, “but it was still a pretty shitty thing to say.”

Temari huffs out a laugh. “Yeah, sure was. But it woke me up, so.”

She doesn’t continue, and Shikamaru gives a small nod in understanding because she doesn’t have to.

“I was so — pissed,” she says a few minutes later, eyes on the board but gaze unfocused, her thoughts far away. “I couldn’t believe I let you goad me like that, but I just… couldn’t stop myself from getting angry. I hated it.”

“Yeah, well, it’s lucky for me you did, because I don’t think I would’ve trusted you if you hadn’t gotten mad,” Shikamaru says with a yawn. “Not sure how we would’ve survived yesterday, otherwise. Still wish I could’ve thought of a less shitty way to decide, though.”

Temari glances at him, frowning in thought. “Speaking of yesterday,” she says slowly, “you seemed to know out city remarkably well for only being in it a few days.”

Here we go, Shikamaru thinks, and rubs at his temple. “Uh, yeah. I looked at a map.”

“You looked at a map,” she repeats, her skepticism obvious.

Shikamaru shuffles in his seat, uncomfortable, but knows dodging the question won’t do him any favors right now. They’re trying to built trust, not destroy it. “I, uh. I have a really, really good memory. I see a thing once, and can remember it exactly. So… yeah, I looked at a map, once. And now it’s up here, and I’ve got perfect recall” he says, tapping his temple. “I try not to let everyone know about it, when I can avoid it,” he says with a shrug.

“That sounds… useful,” she says, and Shikamaru snorts.

“Yeah. Useful.”

“It isn’t?”

“Oh, it’s useful. It’s also utter hell, because once I see something, I can never forget it, no matter how horrible. In this line of work, it can be a curse.”

“Ah,” Temari says softly. “I hadn’t considered that. That sounds… awful.”

Shikamaru shrugs. “I’ve gotten used to it. It takes a lot to get to me, now.”

Temari frowns. “You say that like it’s a good thing.”

“Maybe not, but I think it’s worth it,” he says, looking at the photos pinned on the board. “My memory helps me protect people better, and figure out cases more quickly, so I wouldn’t give it up even if I had the option.”

Temari hums, staring at her hands. “You all seem… so committed. If I were in your shoes, or Naruto’s — I’m not sure I would do the same. Keep a painful ability like that, or jump in front of someone you barely know.”

Shikamaru studies her, notices her hunched-over posture, the intent way she’s looking at her hands, the furrow between her eyebrows. “I know you would.”

She looks up at him, shocked.

“Your family is important to you, that much is easy to see. You’d do it for them, no question. I’m sure of it.”

She huffs out a laugh, more surprise than amusement, and closes her eyes. “You make it sound easy.”

“Of course it’s not easy. But you’re their big sister, of course you’d do it.”

She goes quiet for a bit, and Shikamaru turns his attention back to the files for a while. Eventually, she looks back at him, and opens her mouth, closes it again, goes back to the files.

“Is… he okay?” Temari asks eventually, her eyes on the photo in her hands, trying for nonchalance and missing it by about a mile.

“I think he’ll be fine, guy’s the most resilient human being I’ve ever met. Not sure about yours, though, he looked pretty shaken.”

Temari hums, dropping her head onto a fist. “I always thought… that nothing bothered him, I guess? That he just — did what he was told, and hurt people, and it didn’t affect him. Because I couldn’t see it. But… I guess that was pretty awful of me, to assume that.”

“Maybe,” Shikamaru says. “So now you know better, what are you going to do about it?”

Temari’s eyes flicker up to him, and she blinks, caught off guard. “Uh.”

Shikamaru shrugs. “Everybody fucks up, you know. A lot. Speaking from experience, I mean. The important thing is you figure out what you did, learn from it, and do better. Make sure you fuck up differently next time.”

An indecipherable expression crosses Temari’s face briefly, as she shares a look with Shikamaru, before her gaze drops back to the photo in her hand and she clears her throat. “Next time, huh?” she says, with a quiet chuckle. “I guess I’ve heard worse advice.”

They spend another hour or so pouring over files before Shikamaru decides he’s hit his limit, and with a large yawn, gets up and tells Temari he’s going to check on Naruto and then go to sleep.

Temari nods without looking up at him, absorbed in whatever she’s reading. Shikamaru considers telling her she should get some sleep, but thinks twice about it, and decides she can figure it out for herself.

He’s met his quota on unsolicited lectures for the year, probably. She definitely doesn’t need any more from him.

Naruto sleeps for almost a full twenty-four hours.

When he finally wakes up again, it’s to a crowded room. Kiba and Shikamaru are sitting in chairs against the wall, and Kankuro and Temari are both hovering by the door, talking amongst themselves, softly but animated.

“What’s so exciting?” Naruto mumbles as he scrubs at his face and stretches his arms as high over his head as he can reach. His shoulder is still pretty sore, but he thinks moving it might make it feel better, not worse, and he wants more than anything to stretch it out a little. He’s had quite enough of laying in bed and sitting still.

“Hey, took you long enough, you lazy dork,” Kiba says, getting to his feet to stand next to Naruto’s bed. “You napped the whole day.”

“Wow, no wonder I feel so gross. Can I leave? If I have to spend another minute in this bed I’m gonna explode.”

“I’ll ask,” Shikamaru says with a grin, and leaves to find the medic, Kiba hurrying after him.

“Hey, where’s—?” Naruto starts, and Kankuro and Temari both glance toward the door. Kankuro pokes his head out to look around the corner but stops, frowns, and ducks back in.

“I guess he left. He was just here a minute ago, he’s been in the same spot the whole time you were out.”

“What?” Naruto says sharply. “Did he get medical attention, is he okay?”

“He’s totally fine, thanks to you,” Temari says quickly. “I mean, physically, anyway. I’m—not quite sure, about, uh. The rest. He doesn’t exactly talk to us.” She shoots a worried glance at Kankuro, who shrugs.

“Not like we haven’t tried, but he’s... y’know, Gaara.”

Naruto frowns, but doesn’t say anything to that, and neither do Temari or Kankuro.

Luckily, the awkward silence is broken when Shikamaru and Kiba return with the medic, who runs a few tests and tells Naruto he is free to go, provided he takes it easy for a couple days.

Naruto whoops in delight, springing from the bed like he’d never been injured in his life, to an exasperated look from the medic. But he doesn’t say anything else, even when Naruto announces that he needs a serious workout.

He can probably tell it would be pointless.

The three of them don’t see much of the Sand siblings for the rest of the day, spending it recovering from their eventful downtown adventure and stretching out all their aches, treating small injuries that the medic and his limited staff didn’t have time to patch up. Temari and Kankuro stop by just long enough to tell them they’re going to be stuck in strategy meetings for the day and to enjoy their little break.

The next day, however, is another story entirely.

“So, what’s the plan?” Naruto says, cheerful and exuberant, running up to hover next to Gaara at breakfast. Gaara doesn’t have any food in front of him, and just watches Naruto quietly, but it’s without the same thoughtless disdain he seemed to have for them before. Now his eyes follow Naruto, intent and focused.

Naruto seems entirely unperturbed by his lack of response, and turns to Temari when she speaks up to answer instead.

“There’s still a lot of cleanup to do, so we need to help out with that. I also want to discreetly interrogate some of our staff, see if I can narrow down where our leak might be. I started to yesterday, but kept getting interrupted.”

“I would like to observe, if possible,” Shikamaru says, and Temari nods without any hesitation.

After that’s decided, they all go talk to Moru, to review the cleanup process and determine where they would be most useful.

“We still need to assess the damage and arrange for repairs to the shop and vehicles that ended up caught in the crossfire,” he says, looking through a file on his tablet, his narrow face pinched in concentration. “The injured have all been given treatment or transportation to the hospital, the scene has been swept for evidence and preliminary damage assessments — the most important next step will be upgrading security to account for the gaps we’ve discovered.”

“I can look over security,” Kiba volunteers. “That’s kind of my specialty.”

“I can help with repairs!” Naruto says, hand in the air, and looks to Gaara. “I bet you’d come in handy there too, right?”

“Are you not concerned about being out in the open—”

“Nah, there’ll be people everywhere! We’ll be fine, come on, let’s go!” Naruto grabs Gaara by the wrist and hauls him out of the office, bounding down the halls, leaving a set of matching stunned expressions in his wake.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone drag Gaara around like that,” Kankuro mutters to himself, and Temari shakes her head with a quiet, “no kidding.”

They both shrug, figuring if Gaara hasn’t gutted anyone yet he isn’t likely to, and then split in opposite directions to start working on their tasks for the day.

They all have a long day of hard work ahead of them, but mostly they’re just glad they’re not stuck in the tiny closet-sized room beating their heads against the same information without gleaning anything new out of it.

Compared to that, cleaning up seems almost like a holiday.

-

“And then, if you hold it like this, you won’t hit your own hand, see?”

Gaara nods, mirroring Naruto as he holds up a nail so they can hammer them into the wall and re-hang the frames that had fallen in the shootout they’d inadvertently caused during their big chase through the city.

Both of them manage the day without seriously injuring themselves, which is definitely an achievement, and will probably also make the medic happy, Naruto thinks. He grins to himself, because overall, he would deem today a complete success.

“Anything else we can help with while we’re here?” He asks the manager of the store, who was called back in to work after only being home for a few hours and has been managing the cleanup efforts almost nonstop due to the extent of the damage. He looks about two minutes from collapsing.

“Oh no, you’ve been a great help, thank you so much. Although…”

“Out with it! It was our fight you got caught up in, it’s our job to make sure everything is good as new!” Naruto grins at the tired, flustered manager, who smiles fondly at him. Gaara watches the exchange silently, standing off to the side.

“It’s just, we still have quite a lot of stock to replenish, if you’ve got any suppliers who could help us at a reduced rate, or who might be willing to wait a little for payment, that would help me a lot. I don’t think our usual guys will cut it, this time.”

“Sure thing! I’ll ask around for you, I’m sure we can figure something out!” Naruto waves cheerfully as he leaves the shop, which looks significantly better than when they’d arrived just a few hours ago. Most of the cleanup had been cosmetic, sweeping up and throwing away broken merchandise and fixing the windows, as the infrastructure had luckily survived with minimal permanent damage, and the more significant repairs were handled yesterday.

Naruto likes checking in on people, helping them get back to work. It makes him feel a lot better about all the destruction they caused, and reminds him of the type of people he’s dedicating his life to trying to protect. He greets and talks to everyone as though they’re already friends, and Gaara watches the whole time, caught somewhere between complete incomprehension and admiration.

“Man, helping people is the best! Don’t get me wrong, being your bodyguard is exciting and all, but I just like getting to actually do some work that makes a difference to folks, you know?” He muses, walking back towards Sand Security’s main gate, with Gaara following close behind. They’d elected to make the trip on foot, having ended up only a few minutes away, and deciding it wasn’t worth waiting for a ride.

“What do you like to do?” Naruto asks suddenly, turning back towards Gaara, who blinks at him.

“Like… to do?”

“Yeah, what’s your favorite part of the job! There’s a reason you chose it, right?”

“No,” Gaara says, after thinking for a short moment. “I was told this was going to be my career, and had no reason to object, nor an alternative, so this is what I do. I haven’t — thought much, about whether or not I… like it,” he says, staring at the buildings as they pass them, most of which he doesn’t recognize. He hasn’t had a reason to leave their facility in a while, and hasn’t explored the city much at all. He’d never needed to.

“Well, what would you do, if you could do anything?” Naruto asks, still looking at him inquisitively.

Gaara hums in thought. “I do not know,” he says, eventually. “I cannot really imagine doing anything other than this.”

Naruto sticks out his tongue. “That’s no good! You have to think about it, and then tell me when you figure it out. Promise me, okay?”

“...Okay,” Gaara says, unsure why he feels the back of his neck getting hot. He gets the sensation that his skin is suddenly the wrong size for him, both too large and too small at the same time. It’s very uncomfortable, and he wonders if he is getting a sunburn.

“Good!” Naruto says, and his smile is back in full force, bright and honest, and this time Gaara feels like it’s his stomach that is the wrong size, or maybe his ribcage has suddenly shrunk, and he wonders why his body seems to be so conflicted about what shape it should be.

He hopes it figures itself out soon, because it is very unpleasant, and he remains disoriented for the rest of the walk back home.

-

Temari finds Gaara in his room that night, zoning out at the wall.

“Everything okay, Gaara?” She asks, tentatively, and is only mildly surprised when Gaara turns to her, no anger or malice anywhere in his expression or posture. She realizes she’s been expecting both from him, all the time, for the past — well. Way too long. And realizing just how messed up that is.

She hopes seeing it now, and trying to change it, is enough.

“What would you be doing right now, if you could be anything?” He asks, and Temari blinks, stunned for a moment into stammering nonsense.

“I, uh. Wh— I mean. Why? Are you asking?” She says, her words a jumbled mess.

“...Naruto asked me the same question, and I did not know how to answer. I was curious if you had one,” he says, eyes losing focus as he recalls the conversation.

“Um,” Temari says, cautious. “I guess… I like strategy? So something where I could plan a little more. I think I’d make a way better Head of Security than the current dumbass that’s in charge here, but he’s got seniority and the President’s trust, so.” She shrugs, waving her hand in dismissal. “I think being a coach might be fun, too.”

Gaara nods, thoughtful. “You would be good at either. A better Head of Security than our current one, certainly.”

Temari’s eyes go wide. “Oh. Um, thanks. Does… that help at all? With you?”

“Not really,” Gaara says, looking down at his hands. “I’m not any closer to having an answer. But I’m not sorry I asked,” he adds, looking up at her.

Temari nods in understanding. “I think you’ll find something. It may take a while, but it’s not like there’s a rush.”

“Yes,” Gaara says, starting to space out again.

Temari waits, but when it doesn’t seem like Gaara is going to say anything else, she decides to throw caution to the wind and keep prodding. “Is there… something else on your mind?”

Gaara’s focus slides over to her again, and then down to the floor as he frowns. “There is something I… don’t understand. Why…”

“Why did he jump in front of you?”

“Yes,” Gaara says, frown deepening.

Temari hums. “Well, I can’t read minds, and he was hired to protect you, but… If I had to guess, I would say there’s a little more to it than that.”

Gaara looks up at her, head tilted in a question, and Temari has to stuff down a grin. Now is so not the time to laugh at her baby brother.

But she also isn’t sure Gaara is quite ready to hear the whole truth, yet.

“Let’s just say he’s like a reckless idiot, and I’m not sure he thought about it at all,” she says, chuckling. “I don’t think it was a decision he made, or anything. It seemed… instinctive.”

“Instinct,” Gaara says, gaze shifting as he processes, turning the word over in his head, examining it from all angles. “Maybe.”

Temari smiles. “Come on, let’s get some sleep. You must be exhausted after running around all day, huh?”

“Not really,” Gaara says, but Temari can see his eyes starting to droop, and leaves him to his thoughts.

-

The next day, Gaara looks like he hasn’t slept at all.

“Gaara?” Temari tries at breakfast, but Gaara flinches away, and doesn’t answer her. She has no idea what prompted the change between last night and this morning, but she’s afraid to try to pry it out of Gaara when he seems so on edge, so she doesn’t ask.

“So what are we doing today, more cleanup?” Naruto says, loudly, as he approaches their table with his food. Gaara startles, and then gets up and heads for the exit, as though he can’t stand to be in the room anymore.

“Whoa, what’s up with him?” Naruto says, staring after him, concern creasing his brow.

“No clue. Whatever, we’ll catch up with him later,” Kankuro says, but his eyes are also glued to Gaara as he crashes his way through the doors, and breakfast after that is a somber affair.

“Another meeting? Do you really need them every single day?”

“That’s the Prez for you. Freakin’ helicopter boss, I swear,” Kankuro mutters, kicking at the pavement under his shoe. “Some day I’m just gonna take a day off, without saying anything, and see what happens. It’s obnoxious, and such a waste of time to be in his office, day in and day out, to update him on absolutely nothing.”

Kiba and Akamaru are walking with him around the perimeter of the facility, checking in with some of the guards stationed around the place and discussing possible weak points in their defenses and points of entry that they might’ve missed. Akamaru has already found a couple gaps in the fence that will need to be mended, and they’ve been able to locate more than one blind spot in the cameras. Overall, it’s been a very unsettling morning, learning about the gaps in security that have been there for who knows how long, waiting to be exploited. Or worse, the gaps that Kiba swears weren’t there when he was going over them the day before.

“Is it concern?” Kiba says, picking the thread of conversation back up. His his tone is skeptical, and Kankuro scoffs, shaking his head, as Kiba expected he would.

“Hell no, that guy doesn’t give a fuck. I mean, he cares when it’ll cost his precious company, but that’s it.”

“You think he knows there’s some kind of leak?”

“He’s gotta, otherwise I can’t think of why he’d be so focused on the whole assassination plot. He hasn’t shut up about it, wants constant meetings, seems hell-bent on us getting to the bottom of it.”

“You think he could be the leak?”

Kankuro stops, taking in a sharp breath. “Could he — wait, that doesn’t make sense,” he says, frowning. “What’s in it for him to assassinate his own staff? That just seems like a huge waste of effort, knocking off the employees he’s spent time and resources training, especially if he’s gotta pay some pricey assassins on top of it. What’s his motive?”

Kiba hums, thinking. “Well, if he wanted an excuse to restore the alliance with us, it’s been effective so far. But you’re right, probably not worth the price tag.”

“Yeah, I don’t buy it,” Kankuro says, but neither of them have any alternative theories yet, so the conversation peters out.

When they make their way back inside, they find everyone else in the Sand siblings’ suite.

“We ran out of space,” Temari says with a wry grin, as she and Shikamaru are carefully reorganizing a large portion of their crime board from the closet headquarters between a couple windows along the wall. They work quickly, with each of them reaching for pieces almost before the other asks, discussing their theories and the data they’ve been over and over as they go.

Gaara is hunched in a corner, keeping to himself, looking even surlier than usual. Kiba makes a mental note to avoid his corner, at all costs.

Naruto, on the other hand, is pacing the room in circles and running his mouth constantly.

“I’ve got an idea!” He says, excited, and practically climbs up Shikamaru’s side. “What about the jerkface assistant?”

Shikamaru sighs. “You mean Moru? We’ve discussed that already,” Shikamaru says, slapping the board, dislodging a couple pins, sending pages and photographs fluttering to the ground. “He doesn’t have any kind of motive, it’s all in this section right here, which you would know if you’d read—anything.” He picks up the pages, and Naruto shuffles back a step, pouting.

“Geez, you know me and studying. I’m trying, okay?” Naruto says, hopping from foot to foot, and twisting his fists in his jacket. He continues darting around the room, opening a cupboard and closing it again, grabbing the remote for the TV, tossing it in the air a couple times before throwing it back on the couch, wandering to the fridge, going back and forth without actually doing anything.

Kiba empathizes. Neither of them are very cut out for the detective work stuff.

“Let’s run some laps,” he starts to say, but before he can get the words out, Naruto is approaching Gaara.

“Hey, Gaara, what do you think abou—”

“Fuck off,” Gaara snaps, and Kiba feels his veins freeze over, and takes a couple instinctive steps back.

Naruto, of course, doesn’t.

“Hey, what’s that for? Come on, you’ll feel better if—”

“Don’t touch me,” Gaara says, on his feet in an instant, slapping away Naruto’s outstretched hand, which had been reaching for his shoulder until a moment ago. Naruto’s eyes widen in surprise as realizes the severity of Gaara’s mood.

“Whoa, what’s the problem? You’ve been weird all day, what’s up?”

“You heard me,” Gaara growls, and his eyes are cold and empty, and Kiba shudders at the dark, murderous expression.

“But why?” Naruto asks, and Kiba could choke the life out of him, it’s so obvious, what is he doing.

“Naruto, leave it, come on,” he says, reaching to pull Naruto back, but Naruto shoves him off.

“No, I want Gaara to answer me. What’s going on? What’s wrong?”

“Stop it. Just stop pretending,” Gaara snarls, and he tenses, and he takes a step back, crouching low, and drops back into a defensive stance.

Or, with just the slightest shift of weight, a position that would be easy to strike from.

“Pretending? What am I pretending about, exactly?” Naruto says, taking a step forward, and Kiba is very acutely aware of the fact that Naruto has no protection, no body armor, no weapon on him — nothing. He’s completely vulnerable.

“Pretending you give a shit,” Gaara shouts, voice raw. “Stop trying to get to know me. Stop insisting on doing everything together. It’s sickening and transparent.”

“Gaara,” Temari says, her throat tight, emotion choking her words, unsure how Gaara could misunderstand the situation so profoundly.

“No,” Gaara says, shaking his head sharply, and he turns toward the door, throwing himself through it in a rush to get out of the room as quickly as possible, his feet nearly tripping over each other as he stumbles into the hallway.

“Hey!” Naruto shouts, and goes tearing after him. “Stay here!” He shouts, holding up a hand as Temari and Kankuro start to follow, and they both pause, and then Naruto is gone, sprinting down the hall after Gaara.

Naruto runs through the facility, past the gym and the closet headquarters, past the cafeteria, and sees Gaara throw his shoulder into the doors that lead to the grounds. He stumbles out into the open air, and that’s where Naruto closes the distance, reaching for him again, and this time, clamps his hand firmly on Gaara’s upper arm.

Gaara’s reaction is sudden and violent, raking nails across Naruto’s forearm and fingers where he’s clinging to Gaara, and Naruto cries out in pain, letting go as blood wells up in new scrapes on his arm.

“I-I—” Gaara pulls his hand in, crushing it against his chest, horror flickering across his face. “I didn’t—”

“I know,” Naruto says through clenched teeth, “I knew when I followed you, I get that you’re upset, but you have to stay and listen to me. Listen.”

Gaara’s eyes are fixed on Naruto’s arm where he’s holding it, Naruto’s other hand pressed firmly over the wound, and Gaara holds unnaturally still except for the occasional tremor that passes through him.

“Gaara,” Naruto says, and tries to breathe and unclench his jaw, doing his best to ignore the pain. “I’m not pretending. I realize you have no reason to trust me yet, but I’m not going anywhere, and I’m gonna keep at it until you believe me.”

“I—I hurt you,” Gaara is saying, eyes still on Naruto’s arm. “I hurt you, you almost died because of me and I’m still hurting you, and why aren’t you angry,” he says, and the words twist a knot in Naruto’s lungs because he knows those words, has thought them so many times.

“You didn’t mean to,” he says, taking a slow step closer, and turning so his injured arm is blocked by his body, breaking Gaara’s line of sight. “I know you weren’t trying to hurt me, why should I be mad? It wasn’t your fault.”

“Yes it was,” Gaara says, the words agony as they leave his mouth because it was his fault, it was, it was his hands that hurt him, that drew blood, he’s the reason Naruto is here at all, and why doesn’t he see that?

“Nope,” Naruto says, tone light, but eyes deadly serious as Gaara finally glances up at him. “I grabbed you when you told me not to, that was my fault. I guarded you because I didn’t want you to get hurt, that was my decision. Only mine. You didn’t make me do anything. Okay?”

“I don’t—”

“I can think for myself. I’m not a puppet, or a pet. Got it? I make my own decisions, and I deal with the consequences, and none of them are your fault. None of them.”

Gaara is mortified when he feels hot tears well up in his eyes, and the words Naruto is saying don’t make sense to him, they can’t make sense, because everything has always been his fault because he’s a m—

He’s. He’s so tired, and confused, and suddenly he isn’t sure he has the strength to argue or think or stand anymore, and he digs his hands into his hair and hopes that if he pulls hard enough maybe he can push and pull all the things in his head until they line up in an order that he can follow.

“I don’t believe you,” is all he manages, and he’s still shivering, and Naruto is taking another step toward him, and none if it makes any kind of sense.

“Yeah, I thought that might be the case,” Naruto says gently, and he’s holding his hands out in an offer, and Gaara stares at them, and there’s some dried blood on one where it was pressed to his sleeve, and it must still hurt like hell, but all of Naruto’s attention is on him, and he doesn’t know what to do with that.

“Hey. Can I?” Naruto asks, and raises his arms, and Gaara isn’t quite sure what he’s asking, but he’s so tired, and he isn’t sure he really cares anymore, if he has the capacity to care about anything, and so his head droops in the tiniest, most exhausted nod.

Naruto takes one last small step and wraps his arms around Gaara, loose but warm, his palms pressing into Gaara’s back and all Gaara can think about is how warm his hands are, and how much they must hurt, and how badly he wants to sleep.

His head drops one last inch onto Naruto’s shoulder, and he stays like that for a while. He has no idea how long because time stops having any meaning, it might’ve been a minute or a day, but Gaara closes his eyes and stops thinking for a bit.

-

“Holy shit,” Shikamaru says, head snapping up from where he’d been resting it on the table, trying to tune out Kiba’s pacing and Kankuro’s incessant tapping as they waited for Naruto or Gaara to get back.

“What?” Temari says, instantly alert, pushing off of the wall she’d been leaning against and turning her attention to him.

“The fabric. The fake detour to Leaf. Recruiting us, of all people, a bunch of recent graduates, to come all the way here. The weird interview.” Shikamaru counts the seemingly unrelated things off on his fingers.

“Yeah?” Kankuro prompts.

“Oh,” Temari says, and slaps a hand to her forehead. “I can’t believe I didn’t—”

“That’s not surprising, you’re too closely involved here, it was a long play. Their mistake was thinking I wouldn’t notice.”

“What the fuck are you two talking about,” Kankuro says with a growl, fists clenched tightly at his sides, until Kiba steps up to him and rests a hand on his shoulder.

“He’s getting there, give him a minute to gloat,” he says quietly, with an exasperated shake of his head. “He always does this.”

“Oh fuck,” Temari hisses, and Shikamaru looks at her, his train of thought interrupted.

“We have to get to Gaara right now,” she says, and bolts from the room, Shikamaru turning pale and following right behind her with an emphatic curse.

“Guess the explanation’s gonna have to wait,” Kiba says as he runs out the door after him, Akamaru on his heel and Kankuro close behind.

“I am so sick of this,” Kankuro mutters, leaving the door open as he sprints after the rest to find his little brother.

They run down the halls as fast as they can, not quite sure where Gaara ran off to after leaving the room just minutes ago with Naruto bolting after him, but Temari and Kankuro know there are only so many places Gaara would go.

They check the training room first, because it’s nearest to their suite, but it’s empty. They keep moving, past the now-empty closet headquarters, and through the gardens on the way to the President’s office.

They find him just off the pathway, almost running right past him until Akamaru barks, and they follow the dog to the other side of a small hedge, where Gaara is crouched on the ground.

“Gaara!” Relief washes over Temari as she drops to his side, and starts checking him over for injures. “Are you alright?” She asks, worry creeping back into her voice when Gaara doesn’t say anything.

“Where is he,” Gaara says, voice gravely and ice-cold.

“Who?” Kankuro asks, dropping to his other side, sharing a glance with Temari.

“We thought he was with you,” Shikamaru says, the first to realilve they’ve only found one of the people they were looking for.

“He was here, and then — they took him,” Gaara snarls, getting to his feet. “Someone jumped me from behind, and when I got back up, they were already — where are they,” he says, looking around as though there might be some kind of trail he can follow.

“Who was it?” Kiba asks. “Did you see them?”

“They — my vision wasn’t clear, all I saw was black clothes. Nothing useful,” Gaara says, grinding his teeth. “They were gone before I could focus on their faces.”

But then Akamaru barks again, and Kiba grins. “This way,” he says, and they all follow Akamaru as he picks out Naruto’s scent and goes speeding off after him, lightning quick. Akamaru finds a staircase and takes them down to a lower level that none of the Leaf agents have seen, but Temari and Kankuro both hesitate at the top of the stairs for a moment before heading down, sharing a nervous glance.

They don’t stop, but both Kiba and Shikamaru slow down a little, concerned when they notice the hesitation. The lower level is dimly lit and colder than above, and there’s a faint, tangy smell of iron in the air.

They really don’t like it, and all have a bad feeling, but they’re not about to turn around now.

“So what’s the likelihood that the Akatsuki have a secret dungeon in the middle of your base of operations?” Shikamaru murmurs quietly, voice heavy with sarcasm. He shoots a look at Temari, who snorts, and it breaks the tension a little.

“That would be some security breach,” Temari says, her tone dry. “More likely our enemy was trying very hard to make it look like it was the Akatsuki who wanted Gaara dead.”

“You think?” Shikamaru mutters as they both come to a stop in front of Akamaru, who is circling the floor at a four-way intersection, sniffing furiously, but eventually looks up at Kiba and whines.

“You did great, buddy, we’ll take it from here. I know this place stinks,” Kiba says, leaning down to scratch his ears. “I’ll take the left,” he says, and takes off down the hall with Akamaru.

“I’m going this way,” Gaara says, and steps forward to continue straight down the hall.

“I’m following Gaara,” Temari says, running after him.

“Whose bright idea was it to split up, again?” Shikamaru mutters, and goes to the right, and Kankuro, after a moment of hesitation, follows him.

“Didn’t want you to be the only one on your own,” he says with a shrug when Shikamaru shoots him a glance. “Tem and Gaara can handle themselves, and I’ve seen the results of an Akamaru bite. I pity anyone that’s dumb enough to try and fight the two of them.”

Shikamaru shudders. “Yeah, they aren’t pleasant.”

Kankuro smirks. “You speaking from experience?”

Shikamaru narrows his eyes at Kankuro before slowly opening a door along the hall, peering carefully around the corner until he confirms that the room beyond is empty, and moves on to the next one. “Of course I am, we’ve been training together for years. Besides, learning how to fight against animals is useful, we’ve run into lots of people who think guard dogs make great pets.”

“You have a point!” Kankuro says with a laugh, checking the rooms on the opposite side of the hall, going quiet while he listens at the door before opening it and peering inside, and once he’s confirmed that this room is also empty, continues talking as though there had been no interruption. “I think I’d still prefer to avoid getting bit at all, though.”

“Easier said than done,” Shimakaru mutters darkly, as they reach the last two rooms at the end of the hall.

“Well, let’s hope the others have better luck than us,” Kankuro says, turning around after a quick look into the room in front of him reveals that it’s just as empty as every room they’ve checked so far.

“I’m not sure that would be a good thing,” Shikamaru says, sweeping the final empty room and they both pick up the pace now that they’ve cleared the hallway and know the path they’re retracing is vacant.

-

“Gaara?” Temari asks, tentative.

For once, she realizes, it’s not Gaara’s wrath she’s afraid of.

“Hurry up, we need to find him,” Gaara says, and someone who didn’t know him might mistake his tone for even and calm, but Temari can hear the emotions boiling just under the surface, and she winces.

“We will be, absolutely,” she says, firm, and Gaara flicks a quick glance over at her, and gives her a small nod.

The hall is full of twists and turns, and Temari hates how narrow it is, and more than once she flinches when she feels a cold drop of water land on the back of her neck.

It’s barely wide enough for Temari and Gaara to walk down it side by side, and as a result, they often walk close enough together that Temari’s arm brushes against Gaara’s, and she can feel the tension in his shoulders, his fists clenched so tight his hands are shaking a little.

“He told me — it was his decision. To get hurt. For me.”

It’s a moment before Temari can get through her surprise enough to realize that Gaara is talking to her, of his own free will, about Naruto.

Temari hums, thoughtful. “I don’t think he wants you to blame yourself. You can’t control what other people do, you can only control what you do. He’s trying to say it’s not your fault. And he’s right, it’s not.”

Gaara glances over at her, studying her face, but turns forward without responding, and keeps walking.

Temari glances down, and sees his fingers start to unwind from their fist, little by little.

As soon as there is enough space between his fingers and his palm, Temari reaches out a hand and wraps it around his, squeezing a little, and he holds on, tight.

They continue on that way, even though some corners are a little hard for two people to squeeze through with joined hands, but they manage it anyway. After a few minutes they get to a heavy stone door, with muffled noises coming through from the other side, and they both pause.

“Should we wait for backup?” Temari asks, knowing it’s pointless.

“No time,” Gaara says, and shoves the door open.

-

“Do whatever you want, he’s not an idiot. None of them are, they’re gonna figure you out.”

“Hah! You underestimate the effect you’ve had on them, I think. Do you pay any attention at all to what goes on around you, child?”

“A hell of a lot more than you do, asshole,” Naruto says, spitting out a mouthful of blood. His cheek stings pretty badly, and his wrists chafe where they’re cuffed to the wall because he refuses to hold still or make it easy on his captor for a single moment, but he knows he won’t have to endure it long.

He trusts his friends, and every single one of them is way smarter than he is, so he knows they’ll be here soon.

“I find that hard to believe, with the way you carry on. I think you hear whatever you want to hear, and refuse to acknowledge anything else, and you just keep throwing yourself at the world until it either breaks you, or reshapes itself into what you expect of it,” Moru says, his narrow face sneering down at Naruto as he towers over him.

“That sounds like a bunch of fake philosophical bullshit to me,” Naruto says, shrugging as much as he can with his hands chained behind his back. “I think you want people to think you’re a lot smarter than you really are.”

The man’s eye twitches a little and he sniffs, his nose lifting into the air as he looks down it at Naruto.

“You talk to much,” he says, turning away and attempting to feign boredom, but Naruto can hear the anger simmering underneath and his mouth twists in a satisfied smirk.

“Yeah, I get that a lot. From my friends, who talk to me and tell me when I’m being annoying, because that’s what people do when you’re friends with them. But you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you? You don’t have anyone important to you, because everyone who went anywhere near you is either dead or hates your guts.”

The man’s eyes flash with fury. “You little—” He spins around, furious, but then seems to stop himself and take a breath. “Nice try, kid, but I’m not that easy to taunt.”

Naruto laughs, loud and sharp. “Could’ve fooled me! You looked pretty pissed for someone who’s pretending he’s in control of himself,” he says, scornful, his mouth curved up in a nasty grin.

“You have no idea what it means to have control,” the man says, icy. “You could never keep your boss happy, managing the entire company single-handedly, while simultaneously figuring out how to discreetly get rid of a PR problem that would ruin everything. You’ve never had to hold back anything in your life, you just do whatever comes into your head.”

“I’ve also never murdered anyone, so it’s working out alright for me so far,” Naruto snaps back.

“I’ve never harmed a single person,” the man hisses. “My hands are clean.”

“If you think hiring assassins to do your dirty work for you means you’re not responsible, you’ve got one fucked up moral compass there, my guy,” Naruto says, shaking his head.

“Someone had to get rid of that monster before he took the whole company down with him in one of his tantrums,” the man spits out, furious. “I was protecting people.”

“By killing a recruit you couldn’t figure out how to manipulate?” Naruto says in disbelief, shock momentarily delaying his fury, which crashes down on him in a tidal wave of molten, searing heat. “A person who felt all alone, who tried so hard to get others to like him, to acknowledge him, just because you couldn’t train him to do exactly as you wanted? The only monster here is you, you massive piece of shit.”

The man stomps across the room and grabs Naruto’s shirt in one fist, pulling back with the other, ready to hit him again.

“Thanks!” Naruto says, kneeng him hard in the stomach, and then kicking him in the side of the head. “I couldn’t reach you from all the way across the room, it was very nice of you to come within range like that.”

He takes the opportunity to kick at the man’s coat, and the tiny key to his cuffs tumbles out of the pocket it’d been stuffed into a few minutes earlier.

Unfortunately, Naruto is still wearing a bulky pair of shoes that he can’t take off without the use of his hands, and the key bounced just out of his reach, anyway.

“Dammit,” he mutters, as the man pries himself off the floor and shakes his head, but he didn’t hear Naruto’s muttered curse, because there’s a loud bang as the stone door flies open, and two people burst through it.

“Gaara! Honestly, I’m a little surprised you managed to beat Shikamaru here, I was sure he’d figure it out first. Hey, can you hand me that?” He says, cheerful, as Gaara glances from Naruto, chained to the wall, to the man sprawled on his hands and knees whose eyes still seem unfocused, and slowly relaxes into a casual stride as he steps over to the key and picks it up.

Temari moves to the man, twisting his arm behind him so he can’t escape, and holding him there while Gaara frees Naruto.

“Should’ve guessed you’d annoy him into submission,” Gaara mutters, and Naruto cackles.

“Yep, that’s me! Most annoying bodyguard on the planet, accept no substitutes.”

“You’ll have to pass on that title soon, then, you obnoxious brat. I hope you have a worthy heir!”

There’s a loud bang from behind Temari, who flinches and loses her grip on Moru, who runs for the smoke billowing from the doorway.

“Don’t let him get away!” Naruto shouts, and Temari dashes after him. Gaara, however, hesitates.

“I’m fine, go after her! She needs backup,” Naruto says, and Gaara glares.

“Idiot. You’re handcuffed to a pole, and there is an assassin in this room.”

“Yeah, I know, but Temari needs your help,” Naruto hisses, trying to shove Gaara out the door with his foot, but Gaara isn’t budging.

“Kankuro and your friends wil help her. I’m not leaving.” Gaara plants himself at Naruto’s side, the key clenched tightly in his hand, but he can’t take his eyes off the other man in the room to free Naruto.

“Well? Are you here to assassinate me, or not?” Gaara taunts, drawing a strangled groan out of Naruto.

“Don’t be an idiot,” Naruto breathes out the side of his mouth, as quietly as he can manage. Which, unfortunately, is not terribly quiet.

“Can’t help it. You’re a bad influence,” Gaara says quietly, his expression flat, but Naruto could swear his eyes are laughing, somehow.

“Your stupidity has gotten both of you killed,” the assassin, now visible in her long robe stitched with stylized red clouds, says from across the room.

“I’m not dead yet!” Naruto shouts back at her. “You sure talk big for some hack assassin who hasn’t succeeded yet. What is this, your third try?”

The woman sneers. “I do not fail. I cannot, of course, speak for my cohorts. But it was all part of the plan to get you here, so in reality, the only failure is you, for allowing yourself and your ward to be trapped in this situation, with me.”

“I think we can take her,” Naruto says, “especially in a fair right.”

“Nice try, but I don’t play fair,” the woman says, drawing out a knife from behind her back. “It’s not in my contract.”

“Yeah, I’ve never been much for playing fair, either.” There’s a loud bark, and then a scream, as Akamaru leaps into the room and sinks his teeth into the woman’s arm, and she drops her knife.

A glass knife, Naruto notices, but he’s not surprised.

“Nice timing, Akamaru,” Naruto says with a grin. “Where are the others?”

“Helping Temari chase down assface. C’mon, we’ve gotta catch up.”

“Not a chance!” The woman grabs the knife with her left hand and whips it toward Gaara, who had just leaned down to unlock Naruto’s cuffs again, and just barely leans back in time to avoid the knife.

“Shit,” Naruto curses, hearing the knife shatter against the wall behind him, but he can’t see Gaara behind him. “You alright?”

“Fine,” he says, and finally there’s a click and the cuffs fall away. Naruto turns to look at Gaara, who is wiping at a bloody cut across his cheek, and his hair looks uneven now, some strands on one side of his face looking a little shorter than they’d been a moment ago.

“You’re dead, lady,” Naruto says, reaching for his gun, and then cursing when re remembers he hadn’t left the room with it when he chased after Gaara earlier.

But guns aren’t the only weapon Naruto is trained to use.

“No, this fight is mine,” Gaara says, wrapping his hand firmly around Naruto’s arm and tugging him back behind him.

“It’s my job—”

“Don’t care,” Gaara says, and launches himself at the woman, throwing a rapid succession of punches that she dodges deftly.

“Go find Temari,” Gaara says to Kiba, “we’ve got this.”

Kiba glances at Naruto, who nods, and dashes out of the room without another word.

“i’ve been waiting for this,” Gaara says, voice low and lethal, his gauntlet expanded into a shield, and when he’s close enough he smashes it against the side of her head.

But she’s too quick, and manages to duck to the side, retaliating with a punch to Gaara’s side, which lands.

Luckily, Gaara is still wearing his heavy, armor-stitched clothes, so her hits don’t do too much damage. Gaara takes a step back, wiping at a new trickle of blood from his cheek, and glares at her.

“You’ve made my life hell, and you almost killed my family,” Gaara growls, slowly advancing toward her. “But now it’s over. You’re done.”

The woman smirks. “Yeah?” She dips her fingers into her boot, pulling out another knife. “Maybe, maybe not,” she says, throwing it.

But she doesn’t throw it at Gaara, with his shield and heavy armor.

Gaara reacts without thinking, throwing his shield, and it collides with the knife mid-air, throwing it off course, and then he’s tackled violently to the ground as the woman throws herself at him, her hands wrapping around his throat.

“Gaara!” Naruto shouts, and Gaara tries to tell him to stay away, that she’s probably ready for him, but he can’t get the words out past her hands on his neck.

“Die already, you piece of—”

There’s a loud metallic clang, and Gaara’s shield crashes into the woman’s back, and her grip loosens just enough for Gaara to take a breath, and then he twists sharply and manages to throw her off balance, getting his knee up between them.

Then Naruto tackles her from the side, and they get into a wrestling match, each fighting for the upper hand, putting at each other’s clothes and hair, all of them now weaponless. They exchange punches and the woman tries to knee Naruto in the stomach but he twists to the side, disloging her grip, and then kicks at her, trying to put distance between them.

Gaara hovers nearby, not wanting to interfere and risk hurting Naruto, as well. Then she gets free of Naruto’s grip for a moment and shoves Naruto back into Gaara and they both crash to the ground, and she uses the opportunity to grab Gaara’s shield, abandoned to the side.

Naruto, panting and with several new bruises blooming on his skin, curses.

“That doesn’t belong to you,” Gaara says, snarling. “It’s for protecting people.”

“Yeah, because you’re so good at that,” she says, grinning cruelly, and backing slowly toward the exit.

“He’s way better at his job than you are.” There’s a soft thud, and then the woman sways, dropping to her knees, and then the floor, Shikamaru standing behind her with his weapon in his hand, gripping the top so he could use the hilt to knock her out.

He pulls out a zip-tie, immediately ducking down to restrain the woman. “Not taking any chances,” he mumbles.

“About time!” Naruto says, still out of breath. “Moru?”

“Temari’s got him, and Kiba is helping Kankuro up to the medic. He’s fine, just some cuts and bruises,” he says, when Gaara’s attention snaps to him. “Speaking of which,” he says, glancing at Naruto. “You’ve looked better.”

“Wow, rude,” Naruto says, swaying on his feet, and then Gaara is at his side, pulling him up against him and supporting his weight.

“I’m gonna go get her in a cell before she wakes up,” Shikamaru says, throwing the unconscious woman over a shoulder and heading back the way they came.

“Thanks,” Naruto mutters to Gaara, who reaches up until his fingers hover inches from Naruto’s cheek, which is still bleeding. He studies the redness and slight swelling across his skin that was there even before their fight with the assassin, which will undoubtedly turn into several nasty bruises tomorrow.

“He hit you,” Gaara says, voice quiet, but Naruto knows what his tone means.

“Barely, that Moru guy’s weak as fuck,” he says, scoffing. “The lady hit way harder,” he adds with a shrug, willing Gaara to calm down.

Gaara is still staring intently at his cheek, though, so Naruto reaches up a hand and rests it on top of Gaara’s, where it’s still hovering near his face, and presses his cheek into it.

“Seriously, I’m good,” he says with a soft sigh. Then his lips curl slowly into a smirk. “If you really want to help, you could kiss it better.”

“Hmm,” Gaara says, and Naruto’s smirk drops as Gaara considers him briefly, instead of rapidly retreating like he’d expected him to. Instead, Gaara leans in, and presses his lips to Naruto’s in a brief, chaste kiss.

“Wh—uhh,” Naruto says eloquently, when Gaara pulls back.

“I realize you were joking,” Gaara says quickly, a slight pink tint to his cheeks. “I chose to ignore it.”

“Oh,” Naruto says, eyes wide.

“Did—Should I not have?” Gaara says, taking a half step back.

“No!” Naruto shouts, following him and grabbing onto his shirt, holding him there. “I mean, yes, you should have.” He grins, huge and dazzling, and Gaara sags in relief.

“Uhh, guys? This is touching, but we really need to get out of here,” Shikamaru says, and Naruto and Gaara spring apart, both turning scarlet.

“Right!” Naruto says, and then wobbles again, and Gaara pulls his arm over his shoulder. “Um, right. Sorry. Thanks.”

Gaara stays silent and refuses to make eye contact with either Shikamaru or Naruto, so he misses the small grin Shikamaru gives Naruto and the brilliant red Naruto turns in response, and he’s still pink when they get back up to the ground floor, where Temari is waiting for them, and helps Shikamaru carry the still-unconscious assassin to a holding cell.

-

“What the fuck, Gaara.”

“Yeah, he knows, pipsqueak.”

“What the fuck, Gaara.”

“Narut—”

“UGH WHAT THE FUCK?!”

“Excuse me, could you watch your language plea—”

“Stuff it, lady, I’m not in the mood! What the real, actual fuck, Gaara?!”

Gaara smiles.

Naruto immediately goes quiet, throat squeezing closed and choking off his air supply.

“Whoa,” Kankuro says, voice full of awe. “Do that again.”

“No,” Gaara says, without looking away from Naruto, whose ears are rapidly turning red.

“Yeah, okay, we’re leaving. I’m going to go—clean—something,” Temari says, dragging Kankuro with her as she turns down a hallway toward their rooms. “Come on, big guy.”

“He made the sound stop! Gaara has a superpower,” Kankuro says, tone still awestruck, before devolving into cackles. “Behave!” He calls back over his shoulder, but no one is listening to him.

“I’m gonna go check in with the boss,” Shikamaru says, and follows after Temari and Kankuro, and Kiba just grins wolfishly at Naruto before trailing after them, Akamaru barking happily at his heel.

“Seriously though, I cannot believe you have to work for that guy,” Naruto says, his voice finally working again. “I hate him. He sucks. Akamaru would make a better President than him.”

“True,” Gaara says, smiling again as he watches Naruto rant from the bed in the medical wing, where they’d all been forced to spend the night for observation. Everyone except Naruto was just discharged, and Naruto was just waiting on one more set of test results, but they expected him to be cleared to leave soon.

“He actually didn’t believe you, after all of this. All six of us told him the same thing, I heard that jackass admit to hiring actual assassins, we brought one to him, and he still wouldn’t listen to you. I’m—augh. Even when that shitty talk show asshole admitted to being in on it, purposely trying to make you look bad! I’m so—” Naruto proceeds to devolve into meaningless noises of frustration as he claws at his face in impotent rage, and Gaara knows it’s inappropriate but he really, really wants to kiss his nose.

“Thank you,” he says instead, and that effectively cuts off Naruto’s tantrum.

“For what?” He asks, raising an eyebrow.

“For keeping your promise. And standing up for me, both today and when you were in the hospital, barely awake after jumping in front of an explosion for me.”

Naruto smiles, but it’s tinged with sadness. “I shouldn’t’ve had to,” he says, staring at his hands. “I hate that you’ve had to be around people like him for so long, and were all on your own.”

“I can’t do anything about yesterday,” Gaara says after a pause, shrugging. “But I have Temari and Kankuro now, and I know they’ll be there to help me next time. I’ll be fine.”

Naruto pouts. “I know you will, but I still want to drag you back to Leaf with me.”

“I know. I have to do what I can here, first. I have a responsibility to try and make things better, especially after how I’ve treated people. I have to make sure the President keeps his word, and helps repair all the damage Moru was responsible for. But we’ll see each other soon.”

“Damn straight, we will! I’m going to visit every single vacation I can, I promise! And I’m going to work really hard until I can take over as boss, and then do whatever I want! I can demand you come help us with every job, or assign myself as your personal bodyguard forever, or quit and come kidnap you and we can leave and go on an adventure, anywhere you want. I’ll figure it out.”

Gaara gives a tiny smile and rests his hand on Naruto’s arm, a solid, reassuring weight.

“I believe you.”