Hinata awoke at four-thirty in the morning, groggy and confused as to where she was. She tiredly sat up, wincing at the soreness in her muscles and the dull aches that throbbed throughout various parts of her body. After sitting on the couch a moment realization began to dawn upon her and she took in that this space was now her apartment. Standing now, Hinata changed into her clothes from last night, folding the borrowed clothes and neatly placed them on the coffee table.

She rifled through her bag for a brush and hair-tie before heading to the bathroom to throw her hair into a ponytail. She stepped up to the mirror and in foreboding lightly ghosted her cheek with her hand, the movement being reflected in the mirror. The area was still bruised and looked horrendous on her pale face!

Hinata pulled herself away from her reflection, starting to worry about what she should tell the others if they inquired as to what happened. Hinata wasn't very good at lying, never really was. Of course she told lies like all children, but they were easy to see through. It was both a gift and a curse to be honest, but that's why she was better with telling half of the truth. That way there isn't any lying involved, just exempted details.

Deciding to worry about it later, Hinata grabbed her purse and shoved her wallet inside before heading towards the door. Her uniform was at work along with most of her things. They all were shoved inside a book-bag that she had stashed there to avoid it being stolen while walking the streets. However, Hinata now had a place to stay where she could house her belongings. A smile etched itself onto her lips at the prospect that she would no longer have to dodge around her coworkers or make excuses in order to wash her clothes at work.

Hinata walked out of the apartment, locking the door behind her before heading down to the foyer. She knew things were rather sudden, especially with all that had happened, but she wanted to just go with it for once instead of fighting it. She had a feeling that this was all too good to be true, but she just wanted to bask in what she was feeling when she looked down at the keys to her apartment. It drove away most of the negative thoughts that centered on just where she had gotten the extra money from. However, there was more stashed away. The simple thousand that she had been saving was for apartment searching, but she had a few other stashes which she deposited into a bank account.

She was crossing the foyer when she was called out to by the landlord. "G-Good morning, Mr. Hatake."

"Kakashi's fine. Where are you off to so early in the morning?" Hinata felt a little uncomfortable with his tone. It seemed too nice compared to the lazy manner he had exhibited the night before.

"I was called in for the morning shift and I should be back sometime after five this evening. Is that alright, Kakashi." It wasn't a question and Hinata was having a heart attack on the inside from her rudeness. Oh Kami, why did she say that? Why she was even upset in the first place she didn't fully understand!

Kakashi played off his shock with a small laugh and awkward rubbing of the back of his neck. He wasn't too surprised that the young lady hadn't stuttered, which he caught to be normal for her speech patterns, as she hadn't done it once while going over the lease. It seemed, to his observations thus far, that the bluette spoke with confidence when discussing legal issues and when asked double edged questions. However, this part of the observation was subject to change if future evidence doesn't support the initial observation.

"Some boarders just wake up and realize what they did and try to run away." Kakashi watched as her attention refocused on him and she nodded, assuring him that she would be staying awhile before quickly excusing herself, the stutter coming back with a vengeance.

Kakashi moved back to the reception desk once she was gone and elevated his legs on the wood casually. 'Why does she look so familiar?' the masked man leaned his chair back and pulled out his perverse book to read. He was interrupted a mere moment later when someone entered the foyer from the main entrance.

"And where were you, Sasuke?" Kakashi called out, not bothering to look up at the teen as he passes him to get to the stairs. He quickly took notice that the ravenette was limping heavily on one side, "Should I call Itachi or Naruto to come help you?"

Sasuke muttered a nasty retort before surrendering and walking over to Kakashi. He leaned against the desk and took the bandages that Kakashi handed him along with the healing salve and began to go about bandaging the cuts he had.

The room was silent save for the ripping of medical tape and band-aid packages. It was Kakashi who broke the silence first. "We have a new boarder. She just arrived late last night,"

The young Uchiha scoffed, "Great, another fangirl."

"Gaara brought her." Kakashi watched as Sasuke grew silent, mauling what he had just been told over. After finishing the first-aid he shrugged, "Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?"

The young man's voice was cold and uncaring with just a spark of interest. Kakashi turned back to his book, playing the whole thing nonchalantly, "Not really, just a little worse for wear and had a rather large sum of cash fall out of her purse."

Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets and pointedly made sure to look sideways so that they could see each other, "Is it connected with that organization?"

"Can't say for sure, but I was going to ask Gaara about it. For all I know he's keeping his enemies close to keep an eye on them. I'll keep you posted." Kakashi stated, signaling that the discussion was over. Sasuke che'd and continued up the stairs to the second floor, his limp not as pronounced as before.

Hinata stood outside her workplace nervously, unsure of what to do about her conflicting feelings. She wanted to go to work, but another part of herself was self conscious of the large bruise on her face. While on the bus she received many curious and piteous stares, a woman even slipped a hotline number for abusive boyfriends into her hand. Even children were peeking at her and started asking their parents questions that they were uncomfortable in discussing. It was suffocating! Hinata could feel her self-esteem draining with each whisper and stare directed her way.

Now, as she stood outside the restaurant and bar, she couldn't help fear that Kurenai would react the same way. Maybe they wouldn't even want her to work here anymore! It had been sheer luck that she had even scored this job, finding another would be even worse and the pay probably wouldn't be enough to cover her new rent requirement! She tried to calm down as she grasped the door handle. Taking a deep breath she counted to three, skipping one and two, before pulling the door open and forcing herself to go inside.

Hinata took a quick glance around and, after deeming the coast was clear, hurried to the employee locker room. She hurried to undo the lock and change into her work attire, a white button up blouse with a crimson name tag attached, a black skirt that fell to the lower part of the thigh, and a crimson apron that tied around the waist.

She shoved the clothes she had been wearing into the locker before heading out towards the kitchen. She made a detour to punch in her timecard then proceeded to the kitchen where she could hear Kurenai cutting some article of food on a board. Taking a deep breath she walked in and did her normal greeting, but her eyes stayed glued to the ground as she prayed that the bruise would just disappear.

Silence met her, giving Hinata a chance to glance up. Kurenai was staring at her with widened crimson eyes, her mouth open as if she was going to greet her back. Hinata shifted and moved over to the other cutting board and picked up the knife to start peeling potatoes, wanting to play the whole thing off. She felt embarrassed and frustrated tears started to form no matter how much she tried to choke them down. She really looked up to Kurenai and didn't want her to be disappointed with her or see her with something so controversial on her face.

Kurenai, though wanting to jump Hinata and demand to know what happened, composed herself and went back to prepping for the morning meal. She worked faster than normal, wanting to get all of the work out of the way so that she could sit down and have a proper conversation with her employee. She shouldn't jump to conclusions but her mind was racing with the possibilities of what could have happened from the time Hinata left work last night to now. When she had called her after eleven the girl seemed fine if not a bit worn out.

The brunette went to flip the eggs, leaving Hinata in charge of the salads and adding cut up fruit to the homemade yogurt stored in the fridge. The smells wafted through the air and would have normally made Kurenai smile, but not today. Instead of the sweet smell of fruits mixed with the sizzling cheese for the eggs, the whole room smelled bitter and like cough medicine. Was she the only one who noticed it? Perhaps her emotions were messing with her sense of smell.

Now that she thought about it, Hinata never talked about her home life. It was a taboo to even mention it as the room would get rather awkward and Hinata would find some excuse to leave or do something else. Kurenai wasn't stupid. She knew that Hinata kept a spare bag in her locker, that she listed a P.O. box for all her mail, and that she made excuses to wash her clothes here instead of at home, wherever that was. The girl had written an address down on the application, so perhaps she was just in a difficult situation with her family. Or she lied.

It was a sour thought to the woman, the prospect that Hinata had lied to her, or even could lie at all. She had known the girl for many months now and knew from the start that she was an honest person who just happened to be very shy due to a low self-esteem. It wasn't rocket science.

Kurenai was just finishing up when she noticed that Hinata was already done. The bluette was trying to leave the room without drawing attention and stiffened when called out to. The woman washed her hands and dried them on a hand towel, "Hinata, where did you get that bruise on your face?"

Hinata suddenly found her shoes fascinating and stared at them intently as she started to grope for a response, her stutter giving away any lie she may have tried to utter. She could feel the tears start to bubble up again as her frustration and embarrassment skyrocketed. "Y-You're not g-going t-to fire m-m-me r-right?"

Kurenai's eyed widened and she placed her hands on Hinata's shoulders, "Kami, no, why would I do something like that? You're a diligent worker and you're always on time, you've only broken three plates, and I can't find anything to complain about. I won't fire you for something un-work related."

Kurenai led them over to the break table and sat across from Hinata, but still held one of her hands to symbolize that she's here for her. "Now, Hinata, I really need to know what happened; not because I'm your boss, but because I worry about you."

Hinata used her free hand to rub away her tears, trying to formulate what she would say. She couldn't outright tell Kurenai what happened, she couldn't tell anyone…it was too embarrassing and shameful. Oh, if her father were to see her now he would have a field day! Hinata shifted, feeling the ache of her limbs and injuries she'd sustained. She felt more tears bubble up but swallowed them down. This whole thing was her own problem, not Kurenai's.

"I-I made a m-mist-take and d-did something I shouldn't h-have," Hinata nodded inwardly. She hadn't lied, just left out most of the details that she didn't want Kurenai to know. Knowing just what she had been doing would warp Kurenai's view of her, she would hate her, fire her, and Hinata couldn't live with that. Kurenai was like her second mother, someone that she looked up to and she didn't want her to hate her.

Would Kurenai hate her? Maybe she would sympathize and nothing would change. What if. What if. What if. What if. What if. What if. What if. What if they all knew? No, they couldn't find out! What would they all do? What would they say? Just how far would it spread? They'd hate her. Hate. Hate. Hate. Despise. Spurn. Laugh at. Whisper. Glare. Pity. No. No. No!

"Hey, Kurenai, I moved into an apartment last night after work. The building is a little rundown, but I'm really happy about it. The rent is a lot, so if you ever need someone to work overtime or double shifts don't hesitate to let me know." It felt like a robot was talking instead, but Hinata did feel a bit happy, it just wasn't computing correctly. Her mind had shut off that part of her brain and now she just wanted to work and get it over with.

Kurenai nodded, recognizing the switch. It was something that was rather obvious to most. In this mode Hinata barely stuttered when she talked due to any conversation relating to work and her voice lacked its usual brightness. These switches don't happen often, and Kurenai never really understood why they happened, but she had an idea that it was caused by something dealing with Hinata's emotions.

"Well, let's get back to work."

Hinata nodded as she got to her feet. It was time to start working.

Ino paused to take a glance around the docks. The whole area was rather lax, which was normal for this certain dock at this time of day. She continued on down the boardwalk, staring down the whole time. The salt rolling in off the coast filled her nose with its scent in a welcoming manner. Ino would have enjoyed the smell, but the rotting fish a few boats down currently made her feel like gagging.

Very few people waved to the girl once they vaguely recognized her due to her increasing visits. They hadn't thought much of it at first, but now it was becoming normal to see the blonde lady. Ino sighed inwardly, knowing she'd have to either find a different route soon or start wearing disguises so that no one would start recognizing her. She wasn't supposed to be here. Well, that's not correct. Ino could be at the docks, but it was just unusual for her to go out of her way and make the thirty-minute drive down to just visit. No, she would have just gone to the beach if she wanted to see the ocean.

The boardwalk ended, giving birth to a trail that would loop back around to the docks. On either side was foliage, still moist from dew, and rustling from the wind. This walkway was for hikers and joggers alike, marathons were often held on these straits, and it usually is very populated on warm days. The young woman jogged for about ten minutes before veering off path and heading in-between the overgrowth.

Sometime ago Ino had once been a young, adventurous girl with a big mouth, which still holds true, and would often walk the path. One day, she had gone of course to wrap around and beat Sakura at getting back to the docks, but had gotten lost instead. While lost, said girl happened to stumble upon a small section of beach, nothing big, just remote. Hidden within the shadows of a low bluff that rose above the small mass of sandy ground was a stilt-house. It was old and unused, desolate, but savable to the young child who took to it instantly, though it was no Barbie dream-house. It required elbow grease and a lot of begging for her parents to take her to the docks to feed the starving fish so that she could slip away to check on it.

It had been ten months ago when she had finally made the elevated house livable again. Ever since she had received her license she visited more often, but the once every two week visits had increased over the last year to nearly three times a week, give or take a day. Of course, as a child the whole thing had been her own way of trying to grow up and find her own space, but her reasons now differed.

Things had changed for her once she turned fifteen. Her mother was killed in Shubuku under classified information and her father, head of the investigation bureau, wasn't allowed on the case due to his own ties with one of the victims. For three years since that night, Ino had been digging into the case, stealing documents under false pretenses of doing some made up research project, tracking down anyone in Shubuku who was there at the incident (many of which were on the photograph in the paper when the story was first published), which lead to both dead ends and new leads. No matter how small or nearly unimportant, she collected any details she could get. For awhile she had kept all her research hidden in her room, but her father almost found the stash, which would lead to him telling her to drop the case.

Ino couldn't do that.

She was going to track down the ones who murdered her mother and bring them to justice. Nothing, not even her own father, was going to stand in her way. This was something she had to do.

She arrived at the stilt-house and limped her way up the old, rickety steps. The wraparound porch, also known as the balcony, gently cried under her tennis shoes when she pressed on them, a few boards even being elevated mere millimeters. Ino made a mental note to find someone that could fix it later on, which would likely lead to a huge lie on how the place was hers and what-not. She opened the wooden door after giving pause to undo the deadbolt. Once inside she relocked the door and turned to greet the room for another unknown amount time.

The room was medium sized and a complete organized disaster. The furniture consisted of a desk, a chest or two, a weathered chair, and a hammock in the far corner across from all the old crates and boxes that were here before she ever found the place. The three windows in the room (two on opposite sides and the last on the back wall) were covered by tarps to keep out the elements and any prying eyes. Decorating the right hand side wall were clusters of overlapping papers that had notes written in the margins, faces circled, words underlined, scribbled out words, and other news articles both from the newspaper and online. Many were sorted in a complex array that linked to other events or people, some even starting to overlap. The long drawer of the desk held a thick manila folder brimming with articles that had yet to be sorted through for possible connections.

Ino pulled off her knapsack and drew it open in order to take out a fresh newspaper and a few articles she'd found recently. She also pulled out a pack of markers and a few rolls of tap to replace the dead ones in the drawer. Plopping into the chair, she rubbed her sore ankle while perusing the front page, but the only eye catching thing on the front page was the logo.

Her thoughts started to drift as she continued to look through the paper, centering on the events of last night. Her ankle throbbed, an indicator that it wasn't all just some dramatic scene her brain cooked up. She had seriously lost her cool and even let Hinata protect her! Well, that sounded kind of wrong to her. What she really meant was that she was supposed to be the one to get them out of trouble, not Hinata, her shy best friend who had already been attacked by a sleaze-bag.

It was the damn shoe's fault! Ino knew that the price was too low for them to be durable, but she had worn them anyway. It was like wearing flats without coverage to protect against the backs rubbing against the skin, which would result in blisters and some blood. Kami, she was such an idiot! Though, she had to admit, using the shoe to stab at those assholes was both funny and fabulously deadly. Combining a deadly shoe stick with shy Hinata was nearly surreal, but scary. Ino jokingly made a mental note to never anger Hinata while any stilettos were present.

The blonde dejectedly tossed the newspaper on the desk, knowing that it was futile to try and read when her thoughts were elsewhere. She felt almost guilty for feeling relief at getting away and leaving her friend behind. It was a horrible thing, but she had panicked last night and ran away instead of insisting on staying. She hadn't even called Hinata to make sure she was alright! Instead she had gone home, put ice on her ankle while elevating it, and then fell asleep to old reruns of The Fashion Police. When she awoke this morning she had checked her phone for messages; there were two with one from Temari and the other from Sakura, letting her know that they were alright. Ino had responded that she had injured her ankle but made it out otherwise scot-free. The two never inquired about Hinata.

A sick feeling churned inside her lower abdomen at that. The two never asked about Hinata's well being though Ino only used words such as I and my. Did they already text Hinata and receive a notice or did they just assume that because Ino herself made it out then Hinata did too?

The internal pain encroached upon the rest of her body until Ino had had enough. She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Hinata, asking her if she was alright and what had happened after she had left. Her frustration escalated as the minutes ticked on without a reply. She groaned and kicked the desk before laying her head on her arms. Honestly, Ino only knew bits about Hinata, such as she didn't talk about her home life, ever wanting to visit her at home was forbidden since her father's apparently super strict, she likes cinnamon rolls, she works at Shushuya, and she can only be reached through phone if she can't be found at work.

Ino knew other little facts, such as how Hinata wasn't very violent, she tended to stutter unless talking about things that interested her, business, or when in robot mode. The latter was never a very good sign. Ino also could tell that Hinata didn't like what she was doing, but couldn't very well back out of it. It was cruel of them, but it was the rules to hold penalties. Each of them had their own reasons for being there every Friday, some were private, such as Hinata's and her own, while others were more obvious, like Tenten and Sakura. Temari was more of a mystery. Her reasons seemed layered, but she was always there too. They had all created the pact. Back then, before everything was finalized, they could have pulled out like most of the others, but they didn't.

The blonde didn't consider herself to be ruthless. She just followed the rules she set in place to guide her. It may be a dick move, but she was using the others, but not in the same way they were using their clients. Each of the girls is more important to her and they play a very prominent supporting role in the grand scheme of things which, in this case, is Ino's master plan. She made friends with them, and it's hard on her when they want to quit. The rules were meant to be followed so that it deterred them from trying to leave. The beatings were her own way of punishing her pieces for leaving her side; her regret was for doing something so horrible to someone she considered a friend.

Ino glanced down at her phone in anticipation. Tenten had already left, leaving just the four of them left. She couldn't lose another one of them. She wouldn't allow it. Ino placed her phone on the desk, the hollow thunk echoing through the space, before picking the paper back up. She would give Hinata until five o'clock before heading out to Shushuya.

AN: In the first chapter there is a typo! Rule number one is supposed to read: Don't have sex.

Anyway, this is the last prewritten chapter from the summer. I'll try to update, but I'm really trying to finish my Ib fanfiction, White Roses.

Thank you for reading! How about a review?