Purpose and Expectation

Chapter 4: Allies

Hinata found herself at a loss for words when she was left alone with Naruto. She knew who he was a little too well; he was the guy known for asking many girls out around the office. Most of the time, if you saw a girl, she'd been asked out by Naruto at one point or another.

Except for Hinata.

Then again, she was sure there was a reason for that. Working as Ino's secretary, they ran into one another frequently, and Hinata was one of the only people who knew about the... unique situation between Detective Uzumaki and Miss Yamanaka. Ino had, in the past, requested that Hinata ensure nobody bothered them in her office, and once the door was locked and she drew the curtains, Hinata learned not to question what was going on in there.

It was the kind of thing she might write in one of her books, though.

"Yeah, I just forgot something in the office. I also wanted to say hello to Miss Yamanaka. I made sweets last week and promised to save her some." Hinata lifted the bag, which had a small container of cinnamon buns inside. She'd intended for them to be a snack for herself and Neji at the convention, but the better her cover was, the less suspicious she'd be. "Have you seen her?"

"Mm... No, I don't think she was in today, sorry." Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. "Last night, she made some kinda stink about taking a day off because she's forgotten what holidays are like, and she said Sai dressed like a stuck-up jerk, and she was determined to change that. I think they went on a shopping trip." It was something Naruto had come up with on the fly and something he hoped was at least somewhat believable. Ino would drag someone out for a shopping trip like that.

"I see." Hinata's brow furrowed in suspicion. That story seemed... too on-the-nose. There was Ino, and then there was exactly Ino, which in itself was nonsensical; Ino outside of a courtroom was flamboyant, impulsive, and did things on the fly, but there was a certain finesse to it. Naruto's description lacked that finesse, and it sent off alarm bells in the bluenette's head. "Well, I should hurry. Neji and I are headed to the writing convention today since he has the day off. Maybe... I'll see you later?" She smiled at Naruto, who gave his goofiest smile back, chuckling and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Writing convention, huh? Sounds like fun. Yeah, I'll see ya when you're back from holidays. Have fun!" With her departure, he took off for his car, knowing he needed to talk to Sai promptly about Hinata. Something had to be done about how much she was looking around and how suspicious she was getting. That was twice now she'd asked about Ino, and the lie was only growing bigger.

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Naruto had rushed to the hospital once he was freed from his conversation with Hinata, nervous as ever. Hinata was... asking way too many questions, as far as he was concerned. The point was to try and keep her out of what was going on, not get her involved! Yet Sai had managed to do just that by acting sketchy. Damn it, why couldn't he have handled that better? It was becoming more and more challenging to keep Ino's condition on the down-low from everyone around them. He was just glad he didn't have to worry about telling Sasuke and Sakura; he had a feeling Sakura, at least, would have grilled everyone even harder for answers.

As he came in, he nearly ran into Dr. Senju, giving her a sheepish wave. Oh, no. She looked like a woman on a mission, and she was headed straight for Ino's room. He followed behind her, suspicion rising even higher as the blonde doctor walked right into the room.

"Agent Gaka, may I have a word, please?" Naruto met Sai's gaze from behind Tsunade, shrugging his shoulders. He hadn't the faintest clue what Dr. Senju wanted or why.

"Anything you have to talk to him about, you can discuss in front of me." And there was the old Ino that Naruto loved hanging around with; when she wanted something, she could be straightforward as hell about it. Naruto suspected that Sai had talked Ino through everything that had happened and that she was likely still processing what was going on. Nevertheless, Sai seemed just as surprised as Naruto at how blunt Ino was; he wondered if she felt almost too overwhelmed by the situation.