So, Second chapter up.

Though it's actually the first chapter seeing as I don't count the introduction as a chapter. More characters join our hero, and more are to come. Hope you'll like =) It's a bit longer than the introduction.

To blugirlami21:

That is also why I first wanted Sasuke as Bones, but after much consideration they switched places. I hope it will prove to work out and that you'll see why I did that, the characters will also be OOC as they've left the Naruto world but I hope to still keep them as much in character as I possibly can.

Let me know what you think.

To Kabuto-pants and KuroTenshi:

Yes, I love the combination too and hopefully this will work out ^^

A Bone To Pick pt1

The Hokage Institute lay on the east side of Konohagakure, a short drive away when you finally get off of the main street and found quite easily as it spread out in between the many tall buildings and nestled in the middle of a lush park. The building itself looked older than it actually was, though it'd been around for a long time and originally lay on the outskirts of the town, built in resemblance to the more ancient structures. It was an attractive building, with a welcoming facade and well tended to garden and park area in the front.

It was only three stories high, not counting the large basement or many attics, but what it lacked in height it made up in width and depth. The building stretched out across the square shaped green area and managed to hold over four thousand square meters of space for the many scientists and researchers and other staff working there.

The inside of the institute was much more modern, most parts of the different work stations having recently renovated and replaced old with new state of the art tools and equipment. A sterile and hard surface was built upon the original structure, the different sections designed to best fit the need of the work to be done there.

The heart of the Institute was the medico-legal lab, where any sensitive work was executed and concluded, be it either a case for the D.A. or a high priority case for the scientific world, and that was where Dr. Uzumaki had his office, as well as the rest of his small team of researchers. The main doors swished open as Naruto and Sakura entered, the low pressured room sucking in air before the doors glided shut once more.

The sound of the ventilation security was very familiar to the blond and he couldn't help but to see it as a welcome from the place, a faint smile spread across his lips as he headed over towards the raised platform resting in the fluorescent light. A few heads turned their way, some giving small nods in greeting before they turned back to their work. Sakura waved in a general direction, probably to some co-worker she socialized with. Naruto was known through the place but he didn't actually know many of those he worked around and with except for those in his tem. Sakura had stuck with him since they met and only because of her stubborn personality not letting the blond slip away were they still friends. He'd found he didn't mind her pleasant personality at all.

"I'm heading to my office for a bit." Sakura called from behind him, not waiting for a response before disappearing from the main room, and Naruto grunted out some confirmation that he'd heard before he came to the top of the stairs and slipped of his satchel. Placing it on the closest examination table before dragging two fingers across the cool metal surface in an almost tender fashion. There were some new instruments and equipment added during the time he'd been away he noted silently, blue eyes sweeping over the work area and taking it all in. Though most were still same. Good to be back.

"Uzumaki-san?" a hesitant voice asked, and Naruto turned in direction of the sound. "You're back." This time it was a firm confirmation of the undeniable fact that he was indeed back. Down the stairs to the side stood the blonde's graduate student Sai Satoshi, a dark headed young man with pale skin looking as if it'd had never felt or seen sunshine. His dark eyes were widen in apparent surprise for a short moment before the face turned neutral again.

"Hello Sai" he greeted the young man, not much younger than himself he reminded himself, and offered a smile "Yes, I arrived just now. What are you doing here? I thought you were off on a vacation with your family." The grad student placed a small tray he'd been carrying on a nearby table and headed up to the platform, settling a few feet away from the other and crossed his arms over his chest. A pair of glasses rested low on his nose as he carefully studied and took in the image of Naruto and whatever had changed or stayed the same.

"I was. However, due to some unaccounted for weather anomalies we were forced to return earlier than planned, and back in Konoha I headed over here to see if my skills were needed. In fact, the administrative director had use of my knowledge and thus I am here today." Sai ended the short story with a soft sigh, pushing the dark glasses up in an unconscious move he did every once in a while. "I think that answers your questions Dr. Uzumaki."

Indeed it did, and Naruto told him so, letting the other get back to his work telling him they'd go back to their actual work tomorrow as it was originally planned. Watching the dark clad man walk away he took a moment to ponder about his student. Sai was very intelligent, well above genius level, and much in the same category as himself, but where the blond was bad at social relations and socializing with other people Sai lacked those skills almost completely. Naruto and him got along perfectly, speaking in the same terms and jargon and using the same literal, honest way of conversing with others, but it had caused some tension between Sai and Sakura in the beginning. Apparently he didn't find girls attractive.

No matter. The young man had improved, having received and studied some books about relations to other people from Sakura who'd gotten over their initial conflict.

Picking up his satchel again, he turned and made his way towards the stairs leading to the second floor. Most of the offices were located on the second floor, with the exception of a few such as Sakura who had a combined workstation and office, and his was just down on the left of the large balcony overlooking the lab. It was a good office, and he had a very comfortable chair in there.

"Dr. Naruto Uzumaki!"

The loud call caused the blond to freeze in mid step, shoulders tensing briefly before he forced himself to relax and turned to greet…

"I needed you in the office two hours ago" the blond woman who'd called cut off his line of thought, staying in sight long enough for a glare before sh disappeared in through the doorway she'd poked her head out of. Naruto hesitated for two heartbeats, having preferred to sink into his comfortable chair and check his mails and send of his reports, but decided it was better to get this over with seeing as he was wanted.

The room was one of the conference rooms on the second floor, a standard equipped meeting-room, inside it the blond found what was left of a such a meeting. A few half-empty coffee cups, some napkins, and other remains of what he mentally concluded was at least five people in total. Two of them were still there, one being the blond woman having called him in and the second a silver haired man he'd never met before. The woman was Tsunade Senju and his boss, the director for this part of the institute.

She turned to him, standing at the end of the table, and smiled in a way that made him feel ill at ease. The silver haired man sat in his chair, looking over at him with mismatched eyes but making no effort to introduce himself.

"I'll cut right to the chase here Dr. Uzumaki since you missed the meeting" Tsunade started, not caring if the blond had no idea what was going on but figured him being a genius would catch up quick enough. "We're going to continue our cooperation with the ANBU so we can continue to be funded in our institute and research. We'll work together in the same manner as before and aid them with the forensic work of their cases where it is needed."

She paused to see if he followed and hearing no objection continued.

"Also, I'm putting you in charge of this to make sure it'll be done properly. And your team of course."

Naruto frowned, he'd realized before he'd left that there'd probably be more work with the ANBU after their previous work together. It had proved fruitful despite the many problems and administrative issues they'd stumbled upon. But he hadn't looked forward to this, he wanted to do the work he was hired for. His bones.

"Tsunade, I won't do it." He declared, raising a hand to silence the woman as she was about to object before he could continue. "The work we did before was always compromised by the ANBU crime technicians, remains almost desecrated to the degree we had a hard time to make out what was caused by the ANBU staff or from the actual crime."

The remains, whenever they'd been found, were first processed by the ANBU crime scene investigators, then their own coroners and doctors and after that finally shipped to the Hokage Institute for Naruto and his team to work with. They were more than often missing critical information or particulates or clothes or other pieces as the remains already had been compromised by other people more than once. It made their work hard.

"As it is you can take any of the forensic anthropologists here and they'd conclude as much as I do with what we work with." The two now listened to his reasoning, the silver haired man looking troubled or perhaps constipated with a slight pained expression on his face but stayed silent. "And then you have this Special Agent Uchiha, calling up and demanding impossible information at odd times night and day." The agent always expected the team to have the answers to his questions, questioning their skills and from time to time almost being rude when they couldn't answer. Despite never meeting the agent Naruto had found that he didn't like the man, a strange thing as the blond seldom disliked anyone and had more acceptance in him than most other people.

"I have other work that needs to be done. You could always use Kiba Inuzuka, he's more than enough to meet the ANBU's standards as they are now."

Tsunade rubbed her temples, the silence following his speech seemingly almost heavy between the three individuals in the room. Naruto shifted to his other foot, holding back a sigh as he waited for the judging to roll in. There was a speck of what appeared to be coffee on the directors white blouse, just above the right of her sternum.

"Fine, I'll talk to Kiba for now." She decided, letting out a sigh, and giving up the possible verbal disagreement she'd have to have with him if she wanted him to work this. "Though you're not off the hook just yet. I just have too much of a migraine to argue with you right now."

Naruto was fine with that and happy to be out of the room, giving the two a pleased grin before he snuck of, and headed to his office to get some work done before heading home.

-----------------------

Ten hours later found Naruto at home resting in his couch and deep into one of the many books from his filled bookcases in the living room. The couch was of a dark red color he'd found attractive, large enough for four average sized people to fit in it, and it was the centre of the spacious living room. Bookcases covered two of the walls, spilling mostly with books and a few odd items from his travels. A rock, a pair of boots, old instruments. There were a few pictures on the other walls, mostly abstract, that his decorator had picked out to fit his personality. The blond had no idea if it fit him but figured the hired decorator had known what she talked about.

It did feel like a home, though he wasn't so sure it felt like his home but that may just have to do with him spending more time away working than at home settling in. Still, right now, after a long shower and washing away the grime of having had to clean up in wash basins for a few weeks in the desert it felt like pure bliss, and curled up over a good book and in his favorite pajamas he was very comfortable to say the least.

Sipping from a cup of green tea he was pleasantly relaxed, the only sound being the every now and then clink of porcelain or rustle of paper as he turned pages. This is nice.

The pleasant atmosphere was interrupted however by a loud knocking at his door. Knocking and not the sound of the door bell. Frowning Naruto placed the book on the coffee table and stood from the couch, toeing barefoot across the wooden floor. Whoever was on the other side knocked one more time before he managed pull open the door.

A very attractive man stood on the other side, maybe in his late 20's or early 30's, dressed in a suit and hand raised to knock again, dark eyes wide in surprise as they shifted to Naruto who was scowling. It was rather late.

"Yes?" he said hesitantly, not being able to remember the man from anywhere but knowing he might have met briefly some time ago and simply forgotten. He met a lot of people and very few stuck. "Can I help you?"

"Bones, it's me." The other smiled, snapping out of his surprise, lowering his hand and seemingly pleased with himself as he hooked both thumbs behind his belt. The smile now turned more into a smirk showed off perfectly white teeth, a few laughter lines crinkling in the corner of his eyes. Naruto took note of the squared jaw, the nicely proportioned shape of his skull and the impossible styled dark hair and decided he had no idea who this was. He'd remember such an attractive male. Simply the almost black eyes should've been enough to specifically remember this person.

"I'm sorry, I don't know who you are." He confessed, feeling slightly awkward, before adding. "And don't call me Bones." This person obviously knew him enough to use the disliked pet name he'd acquired through his work.

"What, you don't remember me?" the other questioned, as if such a thing was impossible. "It's me, Sasuke Uchiha from ANBU. We've talked on the phone a million times about cases you've been working on, for us." And the blond found that the smooth sound of the other's voice did sound somewhat familiar.

"I doubt we've actually talked a million times" Naruto corrected, snickering briefly at the thought "Maybe three times per case, which equals closer to thirty or so." Yes, he decided silently, that sounded more accurate. "And how could I remember someone I've never met?"

"Hn...that's not important right now" Sasuke dismissed his question, inviting himself in by pushing past the now more or less stunned blond. "I need your help, we've found some remains you need to look at." The special agent took a few steps into the hall and turned, glancing around the place as he did, before looking back to the blond. Naruto resisted the urge to point out the time and the rudeness of this whole situation.

"You have Kiba, he's more than enough to work with the remains you give us." he argued and shut the door unless some other stray agent might find its way inside his home. "Take him."

"I don't want Kiba, he smells like wet dog... I want you Bones."

"I've already said no, Agent Uchiha, I can't work with you as we do right now. And he's a good anthropologist no matter what he smell or doesn't smell like."

Sauske sighed, brushing a hand through dark locks, and took a moment to breathe while looking at the blond. Outside on the streets below the building an ambulance passed by, sirens echoing up the walls and sounding strangely muffled in the room they stood in. Despite this being the first time the blond met the stubborn Agent he couldn't help but feel comfortable around him, as if they'd done this countless times before, but maybe that was the many phone conversations they'd had.

"I don't want good, I want the best." The dark haired agent said, followed by a brief pause where they just looked at each other. Naruto counted to six beats of his heart before... "Fine. What will it take for you to work with me?"

Naruto stared, surprised at the sudden offer, and couldn't help but feel a little flattered by the previous statement. Still, he knew he was the best so he smothered the look of surprise over the fact that the other thought him as the best. Trying to look unimpressed.

"I want to be on the location of the crime, first to examine the remains, and I want my team to be the first to process them as well. I decide what to do with them." This way he'd be able to actually work with the bones as he wanted and the team would be able to do their thing without worrying about what other people had messed up or what clues might've been destroyed.

"Okay, done. Now come on."

"...And I want to be out in the field, with you."

"What? Why?" the agent asked, seeming about to object and turn him down, but the blond raised an eyebrow in a challenge. "Fine, okay. Follow me around, got it."

"And I want a gun."

"No. No gun. I don't want to worry about you shooting me in the back if I'm chasing some suspect or something. No can do." Sasuke protested, shaking his head as if the verbal no's hadn't been enough for the doctor to understand.

"I know how to handle a gun... I've got a hunters license, dattebayo..." Naruto argued, almost but not quite pouting "...but I'll make do without, for now."

"Sure, now let's go."

"And don't call me Bones."

"Fine Dr. Uzumaki, just get going." Agent Uchiha ushered the blond, pushing lightly at his shoulder, dark eyes sweeping over the flannel material of his blue pajamas. A faint smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Nice bunny pajamas there Bones."

Naruto glanced over his shoulder as he headed towards the stairs leading up to his bedroom, appearing generally surprised once more. "Thank you Agent Uchiha" and at the first step he paused and added in afterthought "You're much nicer in person than over the phone."

"Sure… and call me Sauske. Now change your clothes, I got a case to crack,"

So the first actual chapter of Naruto Bones. *snicker*

I just had to squeeze in a dattebayo in there. =)

Anyway, The characters are coming along... I'd originally planned Sai in Angelas role but figured he's not much of a warm people person. Hopefully this will work =)

So far so good? Feel free to let me know what you think of the characters, too much ooc? Any idea how to better descript them? And isn't Sai hot in glasses? =)

Later