It was three in the morning but Kiba knew there was nothing waiting for him at home. After everyone else had stumbled back to their apartments, he drove up the strip to clear his head.

Stopping at a sign, his attention was drawn to his left where he saw several people chasing each other on the sidewalk and breaking out in a fight. Instinctively his hand went to his gear shifter but then he saw the man with a camera filming them. Watching them for a moment Kiba found their style of taekwondo rather interesting. But to film at 3am might mean they were filming 'Guerilla style' without a permit. After a couple of takes, he decided to park close to their filming and find out the name of their project.

Sure enough the director, an enthusiastic Korean gentleman, was trying to make the movie on the cheap and this was the best time to film fight scenes on the streets. Not wanting to waste his time and won over by his attitude, Kiba decided to not report the production of "Konoha Connection" and left them to their unauthorized, but amazing work.

Between this evening's party and his recent find, things felt slightly better after the blow Inspector Sarutobi gave him. And to top it all off the old man was even mad that all this time he had called him "Inspector Hiruzen", like it made any difference if he used the man's first or last name as long as he had the right title. Some people got touchy if they felt you were being too familiar.

Back at his house Kiba grabbed a beer from his fridge and sat down on the couch. By now it was approaching 4 a.m. but he was feeling conflicted. The suspension made no sense, especially after the last couple of cases he and Shino had handled. A buzz on his waist reminded him that he was wearing the pager from the office. The number though was not one from the office he recognized. Picking up the phone, Kiba decided to return the call, as all the stations were showing the same program, the "off air signal" show, riveting television.

"You called?" Kiba asked as soon as he heard the phone pick up on the other end, beating whoever had paged him to get the first word in.

"Quick to the start as always Inuzuka." The voice was disguised by something, but there was a tone that was unmistakable.

"No games Nara, I know it's you."

"Are any of your senses human?" Whatever effect was altering Shikamaru's voice dropped and he spoke normally.

"My mom might say it's genetic, I might say it's from training, the truth is you paged me at four in the morning the day after I got told I was fired. So are you calling to chat or are you wasting my time?"

"Something came up, something we're keeping off the books and we need an officer off the books to handle it. The Chief may have been the one to suspend you, but I'm the one who told him to."

"You son of a" Stopping himself, Kiba realized that the usual insult 'son of a bitch' wasn't necessarily an insult coming from him. "What's your game Nara?"

"Blackmail, not you Kiba, someone in a fairly high position is being blackmailed and we were called in to handle it quietly."

"So you get me fired so I can fix this problem 'off the books'? What kind of garbage are you trying to pull here?"

"One you are very good at. We're arranging a cover for you to infiltrate a gambling ring and bring down the ones doing the blackmailing. It'll get us in good with the, 'person of interest', and help us break a ring we've been trying to bust for decades."

"You going to give me specifics or do you want to keep me in the dark on this one?"

"Remember that slimy used car dealer you busted a couple of years ago?"

"Mizuki? Made a plea bargain and only got six months, yeah I remember."

"You're going to his office tomorrow at 3 p.m., dress up and wait in his office for someone to contact you with your cover and case information."

"And I assume I'll recognize my contact?"

"Trust me, there's no mistaking him."

"I don't want to but I don't think you're going to give me a choice." Kiba at least wanted to make sure Nara knew he didn't like this case from the start. "What's the situation going to be when I'm done on this case?"

"Sorry to say but a lot of that depends on your performance. I'm sure you'll do well though." There was a mocking tone to his voice that caused Kiba's blood to heat up.

Waking up to the sound of thumping feet and rhythmic music meant that Sakura was doing her usual "morning after a party" routine. She was burning off the hangover by hydrating and exercising to the Flashdance soundtrack; despite all the times she had been told not to, she always said it worked for her. The song was not lying, she was indeed a Maniac.

Hinata sat out of her bed with a yawn and got up herself. It was just past nine in the morning and it still felt too early to do anything.

Coming in at the end of a song, Sakura took off her sweaty shirt and dried her sweat with a towel on her bed before draping it around her neck and over her breasts. "Oh!" She started with a shock, "Good morning Hinata."

"Good morning." Sitting back down on her twin bed, Hinata stretched some sleep out and asked, "Everyone got home safe last night?"

"Yeah, Sai and Shino were solid, Sasuke doesn't drink, and Kiba only had a couple of shots at the club. Ino was a bit of a wreck though. Doesn't surprise me the way she was hollering at the lead singer of the band last night, wanting him to take off more than his shirt."

Hinata laughed, but tried to suppress a bit of a blush as she was thinking the same things Ino was saying.

"You got a call from Hanabi this morning actually, said she wanted you to give her a call. I wrote the number by the phone."

"Thanks hon." Hinata got up, "Go take a shower now you Maniac." Giving her a pat on the bottom to speed her to the bathroom made Sakura give out a small yelp.

The number written by the phone was a local number, not just that but it was the number to the house her father kept downtown. Why was Hanabi in the local area? Frantically ringing up the number Hinata was worried with every dial tone before Hanabi finally answered.

"Hello?"

"Hanabi? What are you doing in Konoha? Shouldn't you be up in college?"

"Spring break was two weeks ago, but you must have read that story in the papers about the William & Mary student who died down there crossing the State Road while drunk. Being on the Student Affairs committee I had to handle a lot of paperwork for that as we had administrators out of town. Long story short, I didn't get a Spring break, so I talked with my professors and I'm taking a few days off, thought I'd come down to see you."

It was more than just the slight headache running through Hinata's head, but thankfully there was no reason to worry. "Well you missed a party last night, but I'd be glad to spend some time with you. Let's start by grabbing brunch."

"Sounds perfect, I'll meet you at that local place." Despite being one of the city's rightest young women, Hanabi always preferred eating out at this one dive she affectionately called "the local place" despite it being miles away from their father's house.

Soon as Sakura finished her shower, Hinata got herself ready to head out. "Going out to see Hanabi, sister stuff." I'll help you clean up when I get back."

"No worries."

When getting dressed the realization dawned on her that despite it being Sunday, the day she loved lounging around in her sweats, she was in her dark purple suit dress as though she was headed into work. It was nothing to be bothered by; late night parties have a way of throwing off the usual routine.

Thankfully the diner was only a few minutes down the road, meaning she didn't have to drive to that stuffy mansion today. The relatively peaceful drive was interrupted rather suddenly though when a violent explosion went off in a derelict building a block ahead of her. Looking up in panic, her hand instinctively went to the phone and dialed 911.

Eyes glued to the scene and phone pressed to her ear, Hinata stopped her car and got out to get a better view as the Dispatcher picked up on the other end. "Konoha Emergency Dispatch, what is the nature of the emergency."

"There's a fire at the corner of…" A man ran into Hinata's view that caused her to freeze mid-sentence. Blond hair, dark tan pants, and his shirt was coming off as he ran into the burning building.

"You idiot! That building's empty!" A familiar voice yelled from behind the young man. The dark hair was unmistakable, Sasuke Uchiha.

"Maam, maam!" The Dispatcher's raised voice went unheeded in Hinata's ear.

Bursting through the boarded-up front window, flames shooting behind him, the blond fireman went into a roll clutching his shirt wrapped against his chest. Standing upright, with smoke coming off of his body, he unclenched his shirt as the orange head of a kitten popped out of the bundle of cloth.

"You are on fire." Hinata read Sasuke's lips, as the din of the building crowd was too great to hear anything.

"I know right? Saved her!" The fireman responded excitedly, smile beaming across his face.

"I mean literally." Sasuke declared, seemingly uninterested in either the fireman or the cat.

"Are you still there maam? Where's the fire?" The frantic tone either meant the dispatcher was genuinely concerned or was frustrated at the thought of a prank call.

"In my heart." Hinata declared not realizing her thoughts were on the young man and not the burning building she had called about. "No wait, I'm sorry." Pausing to get the cross roads, "SW 9th Street, between 6th and 5th, I'm sorry I have to go."

Without another thought to the 911 call, Hinata dialed up Shino. Once was circumstance, twice was coincidence, three times was the start of a pattern, and the fact he was speaking to Sasuke meant something.

"Officer Aburame, how may I help you?" Shino answered his phone with his usual monotone.

"Shino, I need something personal. The lead singer from last night, I need whatever you've got on him, and I need it yesterday."

"I won't ask, consider it done. But you will owe me one." It was not visible, but Hinata could feel Shino smirk on the other end of the phone.

Ending the call, Hinata couldn't see anyone through the crowd of people, the smoke, or the onrushing fire engine. As she returned to her Porsche she sat down and remembered about the brunch she had planned with Hanabi. "What am I going to tell her?" Then it dawned on her what she had just asked Shino to do, "What did I tell him to do?" Covering her face with her hands she felt like it was a hundred degrees hotter outside than it actually was and hid her face by pressing it into the steering wheel.

Mizuki was too nervous around Kiba to stay in his office, so he had free run of the air conditioned portable. Not that it was hot outside, but it was comfortable. Just before three a black Chevrolet Caprice pulled into the parking lot and a man in a black suit stepped out and walked towards the office. Sure enough, there was no mistaking who it was even though the window even with Venetian blinds obscuring his vision. Black hair in a bowl cut and eyebrows three sizes larger than normal were features only one other human being possessed.

"Mr. Inuzuka, it's a pleasure to see you again." Extending his hand, he smiled, "I look forward to working with you on this assignment."

"Mr. Lee. What trouble are the two of us going to get into?" Kiba returned the smile, though it was partly out of nervousness.

Placing a folder down on the table, Lee laughed. "Mr. Inuzuka, if I learned anything from my Mentor, it's that there's nothing like a little trouble to make you feel young and alive."

Author's Notes:

I don't actually know when Y.K. Kim filmed Miami Connection, only that it was during 1987, film was released in theaters for two weeks in 1988 before disappearing for 24 years). I thought it'd be a fun tidbit to include in my story though. I seriously love that movie. Changed the title to "Konoha Connection" for reasons...

I'm trying to be subtle about the exact nature of Sakura and Hinata's relationship. They share an apartment, sleep in the same room (but different beds), they are comfortable around each other, very friendly room mates... Were they "girlfriends" or just girl friends? I could go into some more stuff, but I think it's best to just leave hints and develop the characters at the point of the story they currently find themselves at.

Lastly, this coming case is going to be interestingly divided between Kiba and Shino (but more focus will be on Kiba). I do want to eventually give Shino and arc where he is the main detective (I've tried to be fair, but it's mostly been Kiba's show), there is plenty of time though. We're just at the end of March 1987, and I plan to carry this story through the rest of the year (1987).

I've been wanting to include Mizuki in a token role as a slimy side character for a while. Think used-car salesman who owes the cops a favor, is a great role for him :P

Oh and final note, I did make reference to the death of John Newmann Griggs, a William & Mary student who died March 14, 1987 in Daytona, Florida while on Spring Break. Left the bar intoxicated and died while crossing a busy road. Kind of a sad way to bring Hanabi into the story, but I want to have her be a regular part of Hinata's life, and this was a good way to bring her in for at least a scene before we reach Summer break and she'll be around more often.