Tears in the Rain

AN: All Naruto characters are owned by Kishimoto and his people. This is an act of love and is for fun not profit.

Maya is my own little creation, and you should kind of recognize her from my other Neji/Gaara story.

Chapter One

Rain. It was always raining it seemed. Maya sighed as she lifted the collar of her jacket and rubbed the back of her neck, cursing at herself as she mourned the loss of her long dark tresses, as opposed to the horribly done cropped bleach job she had now.

Father won't find me if he can't recognize me, she reminded herself, and she fumbled in her pocket for her cell phone, ducking under an awning and pressed the button for the only speed-dialed number saved in the small machine.

She cursed as the automated message telling her the phone was out of service came up, "I should have never stopped turning tricks." It was loathsome and she hated it, but at least the bills got paid.

A shadow fell over her, "Lost little girl?"

She looked up and gasped, "Y...you..." Fear in her eyes, she turned and started to run.

He didn't even run after her, just walked with a steady lethal purpose as opposed to the small teenager's frantic attempt of escape.

An attempt that caused her to make a mistake, one she realized as soon as she turned down an alley and found it blocked by a high fence.

She kicked off her pumps and grabbed the chain links, I've run from pimps before like this, I can get away from him, she scrambled as fast as she could up and was almost away when her left foot was grabbed and she came crashing down.

"I'm getting paid a lot of money to make sure you never talk." the man grinned, "You should have stayed at home Miss Maya."

She groaned as she tried to get back up, to get away, anything that might save herself, "I wasn't going to talk about Father," she managed to gasp out, "I promise!"

"No. You're not." the man had a feral grin as she cowered from him, eyes darting around for something, anything, that she could use as a weapon.

But there was no time. The man drove a large sword into her chest, and she gasped at the pain as she slowly lost consciousness, life ebbing away from her in a large pool of blood.

Her eyes darkened and as she faded away from her life, she thought of the only person that she trusted and considered a friend in her insignificant existence, Please... don't let them find Gaara...

"How long has your brother been missing?" Tenten asked the blonde woman sitting across from her, "And have the police been on this case?"

"They have, but it's been over a year and nothing," Temari sighed, "Shikamaru suggested your agency, but I've used private investigators before and they weren't able to turn up anything. He doesn't want to be found."

"You haven't tried us yet," the brunette assured the taller woman, "Now why don't you think he wants to be found?"

The blonde chewed her lip, "Probably because he killed our uncle. But we found the tape that proves it was self-defense!" tears formed in her eyes, "I was away and if I had known what that bastard was doing..." clenching her fists she brought them crashing down on the desk, "A year! I come back home a few weeks ago and he was gone and that lazy ass Kankuro tells me he's been gone a year. What kind of idiot lets his brother stay on the streets for that long! Gaara was only sixteen when he ran away!"

A hand patted her shoulder reassuringly, and Temari looked up to find a man with long brown hair and pale eyes smiling softly at her, "We'll find him. Besides we owe Shikamaru for some ugliness. This one's on us."

"Won't pay any bills that way," Tenten grumbled, but shut her mouth when Neji shot her a look.

"You said there was a tape that proved his innocence?" Neji asked, "May I ask if the police have the only copy?"

Temari nodded. "I never saw what was on it, but the detective in charge of the case gave me the gist of it."

"And did Kankuro give you any reason why he didn't try and look for his brother?" Tenten asked, jotting down the blonde woman's testimony.

"He thought Gaara was troubled enough and would find it difficult to come home," she sighed again, "And personally, I don't blame him if he does choose to never comes home. I just want to know if my baby brother is safe."

"So find him and then what?" Tenten asked, "If he's on the streets there's no telling what's going on with him."

"There's a private account I set up. It's my money from the army and it's enough to set Gaara up so he won't want for anything," a small smile appeared on her lips, "When I had left for my tour of duty he had talked about opening a small book store, granted that was a few years ago, when he was twelve, but I just want him to be happy. Shikamaru said you guys could be trusted to get that money to him."

Tenten and Neji nodded and she placed a manilla envelope on the desk, "Thank you," Temari whispered as she left the room.

A few moments after she left, Neji picked up the envelope, "Seems like the information from her brother's trial is here too... it was thrown out of court, but because of the video it seemed, the boy had run away soon after it started."

"A murder trial gets thrown out of court?" Tenten raised an eyebrow, "That's odd."

"Not really, there seemed to have been a bribe from the corporation the middle sibling worked for" Neji whistled, "I had heard about her from Shikamaru, I wonder how well he fared when she had gotten home and realized the youngest sibling was gone."

"Not very I'm guessing," Tenten agreed, "Not if she's the same woman who pulled his ass out of the fire in Baghdad."

The office door opened and Lee came in then with three therma cups and packaged breakfast, "Gooood morning Gai Detective Agency! It is a beautiful day to be..."

"We got a case Lee," Tenten interrupted him, "Want to pass out the coffee so we can get started?"

"A case already! Wonderful! A great way to show our youth and determination!" Lee grinned as he set up the breakfast on the table in the corner of the office, "Tell me about it."

Neji sipped his coffee and looked over the files, ignoring the financial account for the time being, as Tenten filled in the third partner on the present case. Raising his eye at the police officer in charge of the murder investigation he smiled a bit. "We have our first lead it seems. He owes me."

"Who?" Tenten asked as Neji grabbed his long coat and fedora, "And why do you insist on wearing that lame hat!"

"Because I make it look good," he smirked, "You two see if you can find our street contact and see if they've seen our little red-head. I'll be back after talking to the police and getting what they know."

Lee flashed him a blinding smile, "Wonderful! We'll have this case solved in no time!"

Itachi groaned as he saw the all too familiar fedora cross the police lines and make a bee-line straight towards him, "What the hell do you want?"

Neji gave him a crooked smile as he handed the raven haired detective a cup of coffee, "I have a new case today and I think you have information for me."

"I'm in the middle of a homicide and you come to me for this," Itachi sighed, "Haven't you even noticed the dead girl that the coroner's in the middle of checking."

"Certainly a lot of blood," Neji looked lazily up at the fence, "There's a piece of ripped cloth up there, it seemed like she was trying to get away from whoever it was. Who was the girl anyways?"

"Maya St. Claire... and yes, those St. Claires." Itachi closed his eyes for a second, "She had been missing for a long while, about two years it seems, and she turned up dead."

Neji whistled, "Seems like an awful odd family to run from, I wonder what her reason is."

"You always side with the runaways, even when they turn out to be nothing but spoiled punks looking for attention," Itachi grumbled.

"I brought him back home," Neji reminded him, "And I have good reason to side with the runaways." he knelt down and peered across the fence, "Hey... there's a phone over there it seems."

"What?" Itachi bent down and looked, then pulled a glove from his pocket and reached through the bottom chains and pulled it out, "Odd for a runaway to have this. Usually they find a place to squat or turn to drugs or prostitution." his eyes darkened, "That might have been what the phone was for actually." he flipped it open, "So what is this information that I might have for you."

"I'm looking for a boy that was accused of murder a year ago," Neji started.

"Gaara Sabaku?" Itachi asked.

"Well, yes." Neji asked surprised, "I suppose he wasn't that hard to remember..."

"Because Gaara is the only name listed in this phone," Itachi held up the small screen for him, "I don't like coincidences. They usually mean something." he glanced over at the forensics team, "You and I will continue this conversation in my office."

"Temari mentioned there was a tape that proved his innocence, but she didn't say what was on it," Neji flipped his fedora in his hands, "I don't suppose you still have the copy of it."

"It's in forensics but I can give you the gruesome details," Itachi folded his hands together, "It's a little snuff film starring the missing boy and his uncle. The twist comes when the boy finally lashes out and the uncle's the one dead. Personally I was very happy to see the case thrown out, but then you know exactly how I feel about pedophiles."

"I imagine some form of therapy was deemed necessary," the private eye mused, "But by then he had already disappeared."

"Right. And the sister didn't even find out about the murder trial until she came home. She was in here a few days ago chewing my ass out until her boyfriend came and got her."

"It seems your new murder victim had something to do with the boy though... I almost wish you guys had found her before she got killed."

"Her father had loads of expensive private investigators looking for her. Something about her bothers me... and this is strictly off record though," Itachi looked around the police station and leaned closer to Neji, "Her wounds. I've seen them before," he whispered, "Back when I was special forces."

Neji's eyes widened, "What are you saying?"

"It was a hit. You need to find your boy and fast, because if they have any inkling that he was connected with little Miss St. Claire, and it won't take much," Itachi's eyes darkened, "They'll target him next."

He had hidden himself when he saw the police officers leave the scene, covering his head with his black jacket's hood and watched quietly as the coroner took the body away, following the silent ambulance with sorrow filled teal eyes, gripping the handle of the violin case, one of the few possessions he had taken with him when he ran.

Maya. he thought sadly, Was this why you always seemed so scared?

He walked away from the alley and found himself in the bustling market place, sighing he counted in his pocket for a small amount of change to buy some coffee to warm up his hands so that he could get to work. She was going to call me... and I couldn't even pay the bill to keep the phone on.

He sat for a moment, drinking his small cup of coffee and scanned the area for the best place to set up. Thinking of the girl who had found him a year ago when he had first gotten to the streets brought a small smile to his face, She cheered me up when no one else could. Damnit... the smile faded away, he felt a twinge of guilt in his gut. He was the one who convinced her to give up prostitution and try and make a honest living.

Which admittedly wasn't that easy either, but you could look at yourself in the mirror and not hate what you saw.

Was that how she was found? But she didn't go to any of the regular places for a job... He chewed his lip as he thought for a moment, That diner she worked at wouldn't have given her up. She even had a false name for them... No that couldn't have been it, the owner was well known on the streets for taking in runaways that didn't want to take the easy way out through crime and prostitution, he wouldn't have given up Maya for anything.

Hell, he was trying to get Gaara to come in too, but the boy couldn't face people, let alone serve them food, and he didn't trust himself to cook.

I need to head over there and tell him about Maya though. And he does have good soup...

He shook his head, he wasn't going to take the man's charity. He would go over there for the soup, but only after he had made enough to pay for it.

Sighing he rose and went over to the spot he had picked out. Bending down, he took the violin from the case and making sure his hood was still covering his head, began to play.

Certainly he wouldn't make that much money this way, but what money he did make he could live with.

And if anyone noticed the silent tears he cried for Maya, he didn't care.