Who Am I?

Chapter 3: Dinner

She hadn't realized a good hour had passed of her daydreaming before there was a final knock at the door, followed by Sai poking his head in. "I hope I am not interrupting," he said politely. "I am done with what I wanted to accomplish for today if you are ready to get something to eat."

"Oh, yeah, sure, I'm more than ready," Ino said quickly as she packed her things up. No way was she going to miss this opportunity. Not in a million years! Quickly shoving a handful of files into her bag along with her laptop, she slung the bag over her shoulder and grabbed her coat and keys and headed for the door, turning out the light and locking the office.

"So, this place serves, by far, the best pasta, so I hope you like pasta." It was a lace that she and Sakura frequently went to when they were out together. It was a nice little restaurant; it was casual enough to go with a group of friends and not feel out of place, but formal enough that you could go dressed up for a date or semi-formal party and still feel like you fit into the atmosphere. Their food was wonderful, and they were well-known for their local ricotta cheese ravioli.

"Pasta is acceptable. It is quite nutritious," he commented. "I believe it will suffice."

"Good, because it's one of the best local places I know of." She led Sai to the parkade and her car, hitting the button to unlock and letting him slip into the passenger side. She tossed her laptop bag in the trunk and her jacket in the back seat and turned the vehicle on, pulling up her GPS to make sure she knew where she was going.

Their ride was in silence, Ino turning on the radio to a pop station and humming softly along to the lyrics. Sai didn't seem to mind, though she couldn't help but notice how much he seemed to observe her. Perhaps he did think she was cute. It wouldn't be the worst thing. She could live with that much.

"And here we are," she announced as she pulled into a parking space, grabbing her jacket and draping it over her arm. She led Sai and got them a table for two; they managed to get a small booth off to the side where it was quiet and away from the crowds. Perfect for getting to know somebody.

"So," Ino began as she took a bite of the complimentary bread they were given. "You were here for some sort of case, right? Something tells me if you're here for that, then we'll end up working together a lot, so is there anything I can help you with?" Ino tended to get a little too deeply involved in the cases she was working on at times. She'd tempered over the years, but there was still the occasional case where she got involved and found herself assisting more with the investigation than was necessary.

"It is nothing you need worry about. The prosecution is not likely to be handling the case here. It is a case of a much larger scale than what one city can handle." Sai had inadvertently given more information than what he realized; by that statement, Ino was confident that it was something to do more with a larger terrorist group--the kind of group that would pose a threat to more than one city, not just Konoha--and that it was linked to something going on around here.

"Oh. I see." She nodded and took a sip of her drink before taking another bite of bread. "So essentially, you're here because something big's possibly going to happen. Well, that much is good to know. If anything seems hinky about any cases that are being investigated, I'll be sure to let you know. I'll let Uchiha and Uzumaki know as well--they're our two best detectives." She knew that the most recent case was the biggest one they were working on, though not much had been figured out yet. Until they found their one missing person of interest, they were stuck at a standstill unless new evidence presented itself.

"Tell me," Sai asked as he nibbled on a piece of bread. "What do you know about Akatsuki?" Ino had heard of the group but only heard very little.

"Akatsuki, huh? The most we've heard is that they're a little-known gang with a few members. Each member is identified with a tattoo on one of their fingers, sort of like a ring, in the shape of a red cloud. We've yet to identify any members. Wait, no, that's not exactly true. There's one member we were able to identify." An event that Ino didn't want to go over; the moment she thought about it, she could feel the discomfort in her chest and stomach.