קгєץ 🕷 [ⲛⲁⲅⳙⲏⳕⲛⲁ]

Sweeter Than Ramen

Chapter Seven

Sweeter Than Ramen

✧༶☽-ˋˏHιɳαƚαˎˊ-☾༶✧

March 22, 2012

"Fifty-two year old congressman, Hiruzen Sarutobi, has officially been reported missing. Officials say video surveillance revealed that he left his office at 5:43 Tuesday evening but never made it home. His wife filed a missing persons report early the following morning, stating her husband of nearly thirty-four years would never stay out all night without letting her know and told on-scene reporters that she fears for his safety. For nearly a decade, the congressman has been under fire by many in the community, accusing the lawmaker of engaging in a number of illicit activities-"

Hinata breezed by the tiny TV perched on the wall inside the break room or rather, break 'closet' as her co-workers called it.

Hinata couldn't help but quietly agree.

Nobody 'breaked' in the break room, there just wasn't enough room for more than two people to take a load off, and not just because there was only two chairs. The room was small, boasting barely enough square feet to cram in the beat-up faded blue, five by five stacked lockers against the far wall opposite the single entrance, and the two warped metal fold-up chairs facing the microscopic television.

Hinata wasn't claustrophobic but even she felt as though the walls were closing in when she stepped inside.

"-prior to his disappearance, Hiruzen Sarutobi was under federal investigation in connection to alleged, shady dealings with a violent gang out of Iwa, though no formal charges have been filed at this time."

Her locker was top right, fitted with a heavy silver padlock.

She reached for it, arching slightly on her tiptoes to input her combination. She twirled the dial right to twenty-two, then spun it left to five.

"In other news, an unidentified male has been found dead on the side of highway 11. Konoha police say the man was stuffed inside a barrel discarded a few feet into the dense woods a few yards from the highway guardrail."

A frown painted her lips as she spun the dial to thirty.

Sometimes it felt like the news stations only had bad news to share with it viewers.

Death, doom and gloom on a twenty-four hour cycle.

She knew it was more so a flaw of the world they lived in, rather than a complete fault of the news network, but she wondered if there were happier stories that could find the spotlight now and again.

Still.

Though she wished for brighter broadcasts, her heart went out to the family of the unnamed man in the barrel, and to the wife of the congressman that was missing her husband.

"-department has declared the incident a homicide, going so far as to state it was quote: 'one of the most gruesome and disturbing murders the city has seen this year'. This is the fifth murder in which the victim was found along highway 11, and many in the community are beginning to speculate about the possibility of a serial killer active in-"

The padlock clicked and fell open.

Swinging open the little door, Hinata placed her phone and house keys inside, closed and re-secured the metal box with her lock, then unfolded the white apron she'd swiped from the kitchen. Holding the drawstrings, she placed the wide, pocketed front on her lap, then tied it securely at the small of her back.