The Wave

The Phoenix

Neo was in the middle of a conversation with Laini as they walked towards the employee entrance to the public safety building and across the parking lot with Sarah.  Her friend was being rather quiet, and she almost cast her eyes back at her, but refrained from doing so.  She could well imagine why.  She had been shocked by the confession her friend had given her the night before, but it ringed of truth and she believed her.  It made her own heart leap a beat and a half as she thought about how out there somewhere Itachi lived and breathed.  It almost made her drool just thinking about the ways in which she would have him if she ever got her hands on him.  Neo knew, though, it was Sarah's thoughts on her son that was keeping her quiet as they crossed the parking lot.  The boy was still angry with her and had been giving her almost death glares as she drove him and his brother across town to school.  She had tried to engage him, but he had crossed his arms in front of himself and turned away, refusing to participate.  That was not going to be an easy battle, but she was confident Sarah would win in the end.

A loud rumble echoed on the air and all three of them stopped on the sidewalk, turning towards the sound.  A moment later, a motorcycle came into view that none of them recognized.  "Ten bucks says it's the new hot shot," Neo said as he pulled the motorcycle around into a spot to park it.  The helmet he was wearing completely concealing his features still.

"I'll take that bet," Laini said.  "Mmm, but look at that body."

Sarah rolled her eyes behind them.  She had to admit, Laini wasn't wrong.  Thick thighs beneath the taunt black slacks, trim narrow waist which was emphasized by the way his polo was tucked into those slacks, muscular arms, firm chest.  He reached up to pull the helmet off and she held her breath - fuck they all were holding their breath in anticipation.  Very short black hair was the first thing they saw before the helmet cleared his head.  Now she could see a liberal dose of silver in it, indicating he was older than his body indicated.  She almost gasped as she saw the scar over his left eye and for a moment, she thought he was actually Kakashi, before she then saw the other scars on the right side of his face.  She flinched, knowing how he got that.  She didn't wait to see what color his eyes were before she turned and continued on into the building as memories of that day long ago rolled like a nightmare through her mind.  She couldn't deal with it at that moment, she needed to be better prepared when she met him later.  She almost wanted to kick her own ass for thinking even for a moment that had been Kakashi.  He was gone - most likely dead - and he wasn't going to be showing up ever.

Several hours later, Sarah's head was throbbing as she moved around the boxes on top of the massive shelving cabinets.  The stress between knowing she was meeting the new guy and the drama going on with her son, it had caused her head to slowly start to roar.  She absently rubbed her temples, trying to will it away.  She really wanted a cigarette but she'd be damned if her coworkers found out she was smoking now.  Perhaps she should try vaping.  It didn't leave that smell around and she could quickly puff when she needed it.  God, she felt like she was about to break.  She shook her head after the brief pause to focus once more on the task at hand.

Her Lieutenant would have had a fit had he seen her up there as she was in that moment.  She had set her phone down on a box at the opposite end of the shelf, her "Drive Like a Badass" playlist wailing out the sounds of the music that usually had her putting her foot down a little harder on the accelerator.  Normally the evidence specialist would be doing what she was doing - moving boxes around to accommodate the need to shift for more space - but theirs had quit so the criminalists were taking turns filling in until the position was filled.  Today was her day and this was something she had been wanting to do for a while.  However, she was not going to be moving the tiny lift back and forth to rearrange when she could just pull herself on top of the shelf and move things around in one go. It was a major safety violation, and she didn't give a shit.  She was nimble and heights never bothered her.  It was very doubtful she would fall. These shelves were very wide after all, wide enough that she actually had a little trail between them as she walked back and forth shifting.