Crash of a Star

Chapter Five: Hello, Operator?

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Death Note.

A/N: First off, super long chapter.

Second, about the chapter fix. You may be wondering, "Roseate, what happened?" Well, I've taken out the original chapter three and combined it with the next chapter. It was going to be in this chapter because I promised L, but it got to be over 6,000 words long. Sheesh! Anyway, not a big deal if you think about it. It wasn't that long, and after writing this chapter, I feel like it really belongs further ahead. Sorry for playing musical chapters, but it shouldn't mess up the order that much. In fact, it should make the rest of the story run a lot smoother. Timing is everything, you know ;3

Chapter fix occurred on 03/28/2014

Also, I'm really happy to hear some positive feedback about Suisei! I really like his character as well. He, along with his partner Arthur, will become really important in upcoming chapters.

Um, another thing I wanted to mention is that I'm currently looking for a Beta reader for this story. I seriously need one. If anyone is interested, just contact me I guess. I'm not entirely sure how it works. I think I do a pretty decent job at revising each chapter, but I get really worried about misplaced punctuation and grammar—stuff like that.

Guest: I guess she's a bit reluctant to engage other people in violence at the moment, let alone in an unfamiliar environment, seeing as the last fight she participated in ended in the death of someone she really loved. Sakura is in a pretty emotional state at the moment. Not to worry, though. It's not a constant thing, as you will see (in this chapter, for instance) Also, this is just my opinion, but I think Sakura would be a little reluctant to attack a 'civilian' even if they did lay a hand against her. To me, it doesn't seem like it would be the 'Konoha way' to engage in fights with civilians, and I'm going to assume that Sakura normally follows that unspoken rule.

EQ: Teehee. They are pretty cute, huh?

Guest and FairiesDescent: I'm glad you guys like Suisei! Yes, let's hope he survives. I'm saying this because I tend to throw out sudden, tragic plot twists. It's a really bad habit of mine. All in all, let's hope for the best, yes?

Thank you for your reviews, and enjoy.

Someone told me long ago,

There's a calm before the storm.

I know, it's been coming for some time.

"So, what else can you do?"

Sakura blinked and looked up at Suisei from the document she had just finished signing and sighed. From earlier this morning all the way to noon, they had been going through Sakura's release papers in Suisei's office. Between small discussions and the jotting of signatures on legal files, Suisei would pester her about her 'special powers'.

"They're not 'special powers'," she would tell him sternly. Civilians were really strange like this. Every shinobi could wield chakra in some way or other; the how-to was just common knowledge. Each time she would provide him with a similar explanation, and each time his face would lose its excited glow (she swore he was like an over-sized child with a shiny authoritative badge, and told him so) as if someone had yanked the plug from a Christmas tree and put out all the lights.

Whenever he was like this, he reminded her so much of Naruto.

The kunoichi clicked her pen repeatedly while letting her mind wander with such thoughts. Since yesterday, she had been trying not to think of it; her home, that is. It felt like only two days had passed, but was it the same for her own world? Bea never did answer her when she asked him about where she was. In fact, lately it seemed like whenever he wasn't devoting his damnedest to setting her up for a miserable experience, he was avoiding her altogether. She hadn't seen him since the incident in the cafeteria.

Was it just her bad luck, or had he somehow—

"Sakura?"

The pen fell from Sakura's hand and rolled across the desk. "Huh?"

It was only for a second, but the officer's eyes narrowed as if he were trying to read her. Rubbing his forehead with his palm, he leaned back in his chair and feigned a yawn. "You didn't answer my question," he reminded her.

Remembering their earlier conversation, the medic nin gave the man a dull look. "I already answered your questions, Officer Sotomoto. A lot of them."

"Suisei's fine." Suisei sniffed, looking slightly put off by her refusal. "Is this your way of saying you're reinstating your rights, then?"

Sakura stared at him incredulously with her eyebrows arched in alarm. "You never said this was an interrogation..."

"Well, I never said it wasn't." The officer replied coolly, a boyish grin twisting his lips.

Sakura ground her teeth together and stared at him silently. She was tempted to put that paperweight back together just for the purpose of chucking it at his head.

Suisei saw just how upset the comment made the young woman and quickly decided he'd better end this charade before she did something awful, like trash his office—or shatter all the bones in his body.

After all he had learned about her, he had little doubt she was capable of performing the latter...

"Look, it's not an interrogation..." he told her, and to his relief, the angry look on the kunoichi's face lost some of its intensity. "I was just trying to lighten the mood a little. You look upset, is all. Like you've got something on your mind." He watched her unfold her arms and let her hands fall into her lap as she looked away.

"Who wouldn't be upset after spending two days in jail, and then getting attacked with lunch trays and silverware by some chick and her under bitches?" she replied jokingly. There was still an edge to her voice, but the words clearly opposed the tired look in her eyes.

Sakura could tell he wasn't buying it, but she wasn't about to give the police a real reason to put her in jail. Her heart ached immensely and her throat burned and constricted painfully at the idea of simply confessing. It wasn't so much fear of the judgement she would face, but hearing the words pass through her own lips. Once said, she would be forced to realize them and she knew the truth would snap her fragile sanity in two, irreversibly.

She couldn't lose herself—not in this unknown world.

No, Sakura swallowed over the tightness in her throat, steeling herself. The punishment for her most severe crime was reserved for her own world, and she refused to talk about it until she returned.

There, she could break.

There, she could cry.

There, she would be given plenty of time to think about the cruel, unjust things she had done.

Suisei cleared his throat, causing Sakura to glance up slowly. She realized she must have been quiet for a long time, because he was staring at her expectantly. Had he asked her another question and she failed to notice?

Shaking his head as if reading her thoughts, the officer rose from his chair. "I'm gonna go get lunch. There's a little place across the street that makes really great chicken salad sandwiches. Sound okay?"

Sakura began to reply...but it seemed her body wanted to speak for itself because at that precise moment, her stomach gave an impressively loud growl.

Suisei laughed outright. "Alright...I'll take that as a yes," he said with a grin.

Embarrassed, the pastel-haired girl placed a hand over her middle and nodded as her face went red. She hadn't been eating much lately, and jail food gave her a stomach ache. She watched him pick up a set of keys from a small glass dish on his desk.

"Okay, then. I'll be back. I'm sure you understand, but I'll have to leave another officer to watch over you in my place while I'm gone."

"I understand," Sakura agreed, and then she followed him out of his office and to another one down the hall.

Suisei knocked twice, and when Sakura caught the name on the golden plate embedded on the door, her heart dropped into her stomach like a ball of ice.

Quinn, Arthur it read.

The young policeman noticed the discreet look of panic on her face and gave her a reassuring smile. Leaning close to her ear and lowering his voice, he said, "Don't worry. Arthur's an old fart, but trust me, he's not that bad. Just smile and bat those pretty eyes at him—he's a sucker for smart, attractive women. We've been partners for five years, so I know how he operates."

Suisei winked at her, but Sakura had no time to reply because the door swung open.

"I heard that, you little shit." Arthur stood in the doorway with an agitated scowl that seemed to be permanently carved into his slightly wrinkled face. He glanced at Sakura and stared at her for a moment with calculative calm.

Sakura stared right back with the same passiveness, and then Suisei swore he saw dangerous, green sparks flying between them.

For a few intense seconds, he glanced worriedly back and forth between the girl and his partner. He considered calling in extra guards to watch over Sakura—for Arthur's sake.

But then, Sakura stuck out her hand and smiled brightly. "Arthur, I don't think we've really had the chance to speak. My name is Sakura. I promise not to be too much trouble to you until Officer Suisei returns from his lunch break."

Arthur shot Suisei a look without shaking Sakura's hand as if asking whether this was true.

Rubbing the side of his head, the younger partner just sighed. "Please, it's just for a while. I'll be back in about ten minutes, fifteen at most."

Arthur glanced at the pinkette and frowned distrustfully, but the youngest officer could tell he was winning the battle.

"Arthur..." Suisei pleaded once more, noticing how Sakura still held out her hand.

Arthur grunted and finally took Sakura's hand in a firm shake. "Arthur Quinn..." he introduced himself. "Get inside and don't touch anything."

As he gestured Sakura into his office, he fixed his partner with another look. "If you're not back in fifteen minutes, she's standing in the hall."

Suisei just chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. I'll be back soon." He began walking down the hall, and then abruptly turned just as Arthur began to close the door.

"Hey, Arthur?" he called out. "Try not to piss her off, okay?"

Arthur's fingers paused on the door handle; he rose a brow at Suisei curiously. "What do you mean, boy?"

Suisei just shook his head. "Just don't, alright? She's, uh...got a really mean hook."

"Whatever..." The elder agent just shrugged, chalking his partner's behavior up to his over-exaggerating personality. He closed the door, leaving Suisei standing in the hall.

Suisei groaned and pulled his sunglasses down onto his face as he walked out of the building. He really hoped Arthur would remember his advice; if not, the stubborn man would soon be discovering the origin behind it.

Suisei knew there was something wrong with Sakura—aside from the fact that she liked to cause massive traffic accidents. No, it was apparent in the way she had gone completely quiet for the remainder of their meeting. He wondered what it was that she was thinking about. Perhaps she was homesick? That didn't sound too farfetched...if he didn't think about the supposed fact that her home was in another dimension.

He still could hardly believe it; but he really wanted to—really wanted to, probably more than he really should, actually...

As he stood at the counter while waiting for his lunch in the little cafe-bakery called Bee-Bum's, he recalled an early conversation with her.

The one where she agreed to tell him everything.

"What, really? Geez...I told you to say something." Sakura slipped out of her chair and started gathering up the crumbled bits of the hockey puck paperweight. Suisei, still reeling from shock, could only sit in his chair and watch her as she tossed what she could pick out of the carpet into the trash.

"Well, sorry..." he began lamely, still dumbfounded. "I wasn't expecting you to do...whatever that was."

The kunoichi clapped her hands together, dusting them off. Transfixed, Suisei gazed at her as she rubbed her dainty fingers together, noticing the lime green nail polish she wore. He was by no means an expert in the beauty department, but it was painted on so perfectly, it almost seemed unreal.

"I did it myself."

The officer lifted his eyes from the young woman's hands and blinked a few times, trying to look attentive. "What? Nail polish?"

Sakura gave him a funny look. "What...? No. You wanted to know how I crushed the paperweight, right?"

Suisei nodded his head as she slid the trashcan back under his desk and took her seat. She rose a hand in front of her for him to see and then, just like before, that soft green light slowly enveloped it. "This is my chakra," she explained as if she were a teacher informing a student. "It's the essence of physical and spiritual energy, obtainable through training and experience."

As he listened, she went on to explain what chakra was for and how it was utilized in her world. She told him how chakra could be used for various things, such as manipulating elements, enhancing senses and even casting very realistic illusions. It could even be used for non-combat purposes like healing, which was apparently her forte. Suisei was surprised he wasn't having too much trouble keeping up with her extremely detailed explanations. Perhaps, it was because he privately knew he was actually quite open-minded about such things that he was able to accept what she told him with slightly more ease.

He supposed he had Mai to thank for that.

"So, wait..." The officer stopped Sakura at one point, confused about something. "You said that this chakra can be used for fighting and healing, right? If each ability requires a considerable amount of skill, then that's one thing. But didn't you mention that stuff like healing takes extreme precision?"

Sakura nodded, smiling a little. "I had specific training in that area. My mentor recognized my affinity for controlling chakra precisely, and acknowledged my determination when I asked to be her student. Not only that, but she's also responsible for my enhanced strength," she said, referring to the way she had crushed the paperweight.

"I see..." Suisei muttered, more to himself. He smiled as she continued to talk. Sakura was an intelligent girl, after all. Unique, but certainly capable. Albeit strange, it didn't feel like he was seeing her in such a different light.

Well...unique had never a bad thing by any definition in his book, he supposed.

He asked her more about her world and what it was like, and then eventually they wandered away from the topic of Sakura's origins altogether. They talked about different things like the city, different cultures, the people that lived here. Then, somehow they ended up back on the topic of how Sakura got here in the first place.

Sakura was now seated more comfortably in her chair with her legs crossed and her fingers drumming against her legs. Susei couldn't help but notice how the simple, pleasant conversation was enough to bring out a more animated side of her. He decided he liked seeing her this way.

"You said during our first discussion that a shinigami brought you here to the Kanto region, right?"

Sakura's face fell a little and it was obvious the newly introduced topic had taken a chunk out of her good mood. "Yes...He said his name was Bea. But he seems to be avoiding me for some reason. At first, I thought he was just going to dump me here and leave, but then he stuck around for a while. He seems to get some kind of kick out of watching me get into trouble." She scowled, remembering the death god's little police car confetti party on the day she had been arrested.

Suisei flipped the little ring at the top of his ear around with his index finger. "Are shinigami a common entity in your world?"

"No," the kunoichi answered immediately with a shake of her head. "It's weird..." she continued softly, dropping her hands and staring into her lap with unfocused eyes. "I was..." she paused, shook her head, and then began again. "Back in Konoha...that's where I should have stayed." A hint of anger gleamed in those bright emerald eyes that Suisei felt like he wasn't entirely understanding. "I just...I just don't know why he brought me here."

There seemed to be more to her last words—something she left unsaid. Even now, Suisei still thought about the pause in her voice, and wondered what thoughts completed that undisclosed frustration in her head. He was sure that if he knew, he would know what was truly bothering her.

And if he knew what was bothering her...maybe, just maybe he could find a way to help her.

"Your order, sir!" A cashier happily set a warm paper bag containing Suisei and Sakura's lunch on the counter in front of him. Having already paid, he smiled, thanked her and then left the small cafe. As he walked across the street, Suisei found the sense of mind to move a little faster. His thoughts had been so focused on Sakura this entire time, he completely forgot about where she was.

He hoped he wasn't about to return to a fist fight.

Sakura really wanted to hit this guy.

The way he kept giving her those 'I'm-watching-you-so-don't-try-anything-funny' looks from over his newspaper was really starting to aggravate her. He told her to find something to keep herself busy because he had work to do and didn't have time to entertain her, (though, she had no idea how sitting at a desk and reading a newspaper was considered 'doing work') so here she was, looking around boredly.

Earlier, apparently after he was certain she didn't plan on breaking anything in his office—he was still upset after learning about the hockey puck incident, she guessed, though apparently Suisei hadn't given him all the 'details'—he allowed her to walk around the room. She found a Wha cabinet—a short bookshelf that sort of resembled a question mark stacked with various books at the far side of the room. When she expressed interest in the books on the shelf, he gave her permission to take and read one. The book about the history of Japanese law enforcement now laid across her lap half open, but she had lost the desire to read it several minutes ago. The gold-framed, owl-shaped clock on Arthur's desk read one twenty-five pm.; Suisei had left exactly twenty minutes ago, and he still wasn't back.

Alright, so maybe he got held up in traffic. It wasn't that hard to believe, what with the way those cars piled up on the street. Moreover, Sakura was sure he said he would be walking to the restaurant. Was that really okay? What if he was run over on the way back?

Sakura paused her thoughts when she realized just how ridiculous she sounded. Suisei was a capable man; he didn't get this far in this world by being reckless.

"He'll be back." Arthur must have noticed the kunoichi staring at the clock with an impatient look because he spoke up. When Sakura peered up at him over her knees which were pressed up to her chest, he was looking at her over his newspaper. "He's never arrives on time like he says he will. Don't worry, I know how he operates, too." He informed her, repeating Suisei's earlier words with a low chuckle. He flicked the paper in his hands and then went back to reading.

Sakura stared at him wonderingly, and then smiled slowly. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all, she decided. Wrapping her arms around her legs, the pastel-haired girl leaned forward and attempted to speak with the older officer a bit more.

"What are you reading?" she tried softly, gesturing towards the paper with a nod of her head.

Officer Quinn's gold-flecked green gaze lifted from whatever article he was reading once more. He took a moment to study her, and then his eyes crinkled in a way that suggested he might have been smiling—or smirking.

"An article about a serial killer," he answered finally. "I don't know how well you're familiar with Japan's current news, but a serial killer named Kira has been targeting select groups of people over the past couple months. The police have no idea who it is or how they're doing it..." Arthur paused and scratched his chin. "It's very frustrating."

"A serial killer..." Sakura frowned thoughtfully, leaning back in her chair. While civilian murders weren't entirely uncommon in Konoha, serial murders weren't something that normally occurred. "Are there no leads or suspects at all? How are the victims murdered?"

Arthur watched the way her lips pressed together as she considered the information he was giving her, and a small smile quirked approvingly at the corners of his mouth behind his newspaper. "There were a few people the police pulled in for an interrogation, but in the end it amounted to nothing." The officer informed her. "As for how the victims are murdered...well, it's pretty simple to explain if you're asking how they die. But as for how they're murdered..." he trailed off.

Sakura tilted her head, waiting for him to continue. "I'm not sure I follow..."

Arthur sighed and set the paper down on his desk, still open. Folding his arms across the desk, he set his chin atop his palm. "Well...the first victims were some inmates. They all suffered acute heart attacks and died instantly. It was really bizarre, because according to the detention center's supervisors and doctors, they were perfectly fine the day before."

Sakura's brow furrowed into a frown. "Hm...Well, I agree that does seem really unusual, but with that information alone, how can you be sure that it's really a serial killer? If it was just among the inmates it's not entirely impossible, but it's not the only way they could have died."

"I can't," Arthur replied simply. "I can't tell you much more than what the papers say, because the police here quit after a few FBI agents were killed off in the same way. I hear a world renown detective is currently working on the case now."

"A famous detective?" For some reason, that made Sakura anxious. Things like that only existed in her novels at home...

Poking the tops of her knees with her short nails, the kunoichi tried to imagine what a detective might be like. Tall and mysterious, to be certain. He would wear a trench coat (made of the finest material, of course, but it had to be functional) and carry around a microscope on his person at all times. He was bilingual, capable of communicating in up to at least twelve different languages fluently, and loved to travel. He was very intelligent and devastatingly handsome—but alas, his heart belonged to justice.

Sakura covered her mouth with her hand to stifle an obscene giggle. Okay, so maybe she had been reading a little too much of those mystery romance novels...

"Is something funny?" Officer Quinn was looking at her as if she had just started bouncing off the walls of his office. He gave her no time to answer as he got up with a ceramic mug in his hand and headed toward the door. "I'm going to warm up my tea in the break room. This place better still be in one piece by the time I get back, understand girl?"

"I understand," Sakura answered with a small smile.

Satisfied, Arther grunted and pulled the door closed behind him.

Alone in the room, the pinkette got up to move around the room and stretch her legs. She brought the book back to the Wha cabinet and began to search for another book to read. Arthur had a lot of books at his disposal, she noticed, and they weren't all just on crime. There were cookbooks, (when did he read those, she wondered) biographies on various famous people, books on science and even a few books on historical fiction. Sakura picked up a particular one of that genre—a novel titled, The Snow Empress. It had a beautiful white cover depicting a woman in an elegant silk white kimono decorated with deep blue snowflake and flower patterns. She stood before a small army of men posed outside a gorgeous, oriental fortress with her back facing the reader. Over all, it was a lovely scene, aside from the mysterious blood that stained the woman's sleeve and dripped across the smooth snow...

Sakura carefully opened the book and began to walk back to her seat as she read the inside flap, when she suddenly bumped into a solid wall of... warmth. Startled, she glanced up and saw that it was actually an officer standing in front of her.

He didn't look too happy.

"Um...are you here to watch over me while Officer Quinn goes to the break room?" She asked calmly, despite the man's unsettling glare. He was definitely glaring at her; the dark purple bruises beneath his eyes didn't make it any less obvious or intimidating.

Actually, he looked kind of familiar...

Sakura's mouth formed an 'o' shape. She closed the book and took a startled step back as realization hit her. Mirroring her movement, the police officer took a step toward her and his gaze turned utterly menacing as he reached for her throat and slammed her against the bookshelf.

"You little bitch," he growled harshly next to her ear, his voice sounding coarse like sandpaper. "Look what you did to my face!"

This was the man she had jabbed in the face the other day in the cafeteria. Judging by the bandage on his face and the blackened eyes, her wild punch had broken his nose.

Sakura squirmed beneath the man's grasp, though his grip wasn't unbearably tight. She was sure that she loosen his hands if she used some of her strength, but she didn't want to hurt him. "I'm sorry," she gasped, attempting to calm him. "You just...startled me...I didn't mean to hurt you."

"I could have lost my job!" The man smacked the book out of Sakura's hands, and she watched it tumble to the floor. His abrasive voice caused her ears to ring sharply as he yelled too closely to her face and she winced.

"Because of my 'irresponsibility'—because of you, I could be out of a job right now." Sakura observed the glazed over look in the officer's eye and felt uneasy. This man was clearly not stable. "A lot of my friends in the police force have dropped out on their own already because of what's been going on. They're all sitting at home and looking for new jobs. They aren't providing for their families, because they're too scared for themselves..."

Sakura arched her back against the wall and let out a shallow breath as the hand around her neck twitched and tightened its grip. Strong fingers pressed harshly into the column of her throat, and she carefully tried to pry his hands away. Even if this man was a normal person, however desperate or upset he was, she wasn't about to just stand here and let him hurt her. If Arthur or Suisei didn't return soon, she would have to forcefully remove him and depending on his next response she may or may not be too gentle about it.

Sakura tried to be civil one more time.

"Please...I'm asking you to let me go—"

"Hey," the man interrupted. He was speaking so close to her face now, she could smell his foul coffee breath. "You know about him, right? Kira, that is. I hear he normally only kills criminals. You're a criminal too. So, maybe..."

Sakura's eyes went wide.

"No!" she cried out in alarm, horrified. Panic-stricken, she slammed her hands into his chest and forcefully shoved him back. The officer flew back and nearly hit the wall with a surprised curse she didn't hear as she quickly ran out of the room.

In the hall, other policemen noticed her running past and began pursuing her. Her heart raced wildly inside her chest and her breath came out in short, desperate pants, but she easily escaped their grabbing hands. She was afraid. She didn't want to fight; she didn't want to hurt anyone, but without Arthur or Suisei, it felt like she was left with little choice.

She was still considering engaging the persistent officers when a loud bang echoed throughout the building. Shocked, the medic nin glanced behind her to see a smoking hole just an inch above her shoulder.

An officer stood a few feet away from her, aiming a weapon at her in both hands.

They were trying to kill her, she realized—or, so she thought.

The important cry that the bullet was only fired as a warning shot was not heard.

Another shot was fired at her as she tried to move. This one grazed her hip and it stung incredibly like a round from a katon jutsu. Doing her best to ignore the blood seeping through her clothing, the kunoichi charged forward and kicked the weapon from the officer's hands. He tried to snatch her ankle, but she managed to twist her body away in time

Just as she did, Bea appeared before her.

A moment passed between them where time seemed to slow. The shouting of demands, the sounds of running footsteps lost to the image of him floating past her and the swarm of police, grinning at her crudely. More bullets flew past her, hot lead licking at her skin, but she felt nothing. In that moment, Sakura was reminded of who was responsible for this situation in the first place.

She only had a breath of a second and then more officers, men and women both, were on her, attempting to grab her by the waist or shoulders and tackle her to the ground. Furious, the pinkette swung her fists at them expertly, pulling them toward her and sending them flying, or knocking them away as they came at her. The officer that had fired a weapon at her first tried to sneak up behind her, but she surprised him by whirling around and smashing her fist into his face so hard she felt the bones crack beneath her knuckles. He fell to the ground while holding his hands over face and didn't get up again.

The whole building was upturned in chaos.

On one side of the room stood Sakura, her fists burning fiercely with chakra and her eyes narrowed in dangerous slits, daring anyone to attack her directly. On the other side were several agents, looking back at her with mixed looks of fear and wariness.

"Stand down!" An agent ordered. Sakura would have followed the instruction, but for some reason she couldn't seem to lower her fists. Another bullet whizzed past her head and Sakura turned her head away in time as it took out a strand of her hair.

From the far side of the room, Bea chuckled at her dispense. Sakura's eyes found him and she let out an enraged, unintelligible scream.

Suddenly, there was a shout from behind her; it sounded suspiciously like her name. Before she had the chance to turn around, however, something hard came down on and smashed against her head. Pieces of something sharp and white tumbled to the floor.

Darkness flickered at the corners of the kunoichi's tilting vision, and then she felt her body pitch sideways before losing consciousness.

Suisei released the paper lunch bag and let it fall to the floor with a soft crinkle. His mouth opened and closed without words as he tried to process what he was seeing, but all he could manage in the end was a muted gasp of disbelief.

The entire front lobby of the police station was completely destroyed.

Desks and chairs were overturned, laying haphazardly in the hallways or near the front doors. Papers were scattered everywhere—in fact, he could barely see the floor. Appliances littered the floor in broken pieces, ripped from the walls. He made a conscious effort to watch his step as he moved further into the lobby to avoid the shards of glass that had been shattered in one go from office doors with what appeared to be an extremely intense force.

With each step he took, he had the incredibly uneasy feeling that he already knew just what that intense force was.

When he got there, he saw her almost immediately.

Her body was tense as if she were ready to spring at any moment, and her clothes and hair were smudged with the dust of debris. Her green chakra seemed to flame around one tightened fist, while her other hand pressed against a bleeding wound on her hip and sent that same energy into her body.

Suisei glanced toward the other side of the room and saw several agents lined up against the wall, aiming their guns at Sakura. It was obvious the two sides had just been fighting. He wondered if the injury was what had caused them to stop.

"Stand down!" He heard an officer instruct. Sakura moved slight, and not a second later a bullet whizzed past her. It missed her face by just a few hairs.

"Sakura!" Suisei yelled, trying to get her attention. He tried to warn her not to move, but she acted like she hadn't heard him. Though it was questionably close, he knew the firing officer had missed on purpose.

It was a warning shot, but does she know that...?

Arthur appeared, then. Suisei's mouth fell open, and he tried to call out to his partner as the man made his way toward Sakura with a cup in his hand. Not a sound passed through the room as he walked up behind the woman. Suisei had a hard time believing she wasn't aware of Arthur's presence at the time, but even as he stood directly behind her she didn't move.

Arthur calmly poured the tea out of his cup—and then smashed it over Sakura's head.

Almost instantly, the coral-haired girl swayed, pitched sideways and collapsed onto the floor.

Suisei let out a startled gasped. "Sakura!"

Every able gun in the room was turned on him in alarm, but he ignored the other agents as he ran across the room. Arthur was staring down at the unconscious girl as if he had just witnessed something interesting, but when his younger partner reached him, he turned and grabbed onto his shoulders.

"Arthur—!"

"Stay back!" Arthur growled, steering him back from the scene with jarring strength. Suisei could only swallow nervously and watch as his fellow officers quickly closed in to apprehend Sakura. His eyes flitted desperately between his partner and the wall of people behind them, but Arthur stood in his way. One look at severe look on Arthur's face and he knew he was not going to move.

Arthur's grim expression softened when he saw the torn look in Suisei's eyes. He had seen this look once before. Sometimes remembering it haunted him; made him feel like one of the worst people he knew, even. His grip on Suisei's shoulders loosened as the other occupants eventually cleared the room and left them alone.

"Suisei, listen..." he began gently, lifting his hands.

"...I'm going outside for a smoke." Suisei informed softly, tilting his face from Arthur's view and shoving his hands in his pockets. As soon as he was released, the young officer turned and quietly walked away.

The paper lunch bag was forgotten on the floor as he left the building.

TBC