The Darkness Before Dawn

Arrest

Kakuzu squatted next to the body. A derelict, crazed homeless man found the body and alerted the police. Kakuzu took his pen, and with the end of it, lifted a flap of the man's face skin to try to ascertain its identity. He gave up when he saw the mess that was the rest of the man's face.

He stood, took a few steps back, and looked at the Jashin symbol on the wall. There was only one person he knew that had that symbol and he didn't believe he committed this crime. But with no alibi, Kakuzu had no choice but to issue an arrest warrant for Hidan. "Let's go" he said to the SWAT team.

The convoy of marked and unmarked police vehicles drove to Hidan's apartment building. Climbing the stairs to his apartment, the SWAT team arranged themselves near and around Kakuzu who insisted he be the one to make first contact with Hidan. Knocking on the door, Kakuzu called for his partner. He heard thudding and then thumping as Hidan made his way to the door.

He swung it open, standing in his boxers, his silver hair a mess and the sleep barely rubbed from his eyes. "Wha- who are- OI! Get the fuck outta- GET THE FUCK OFF ME!" Hidan yelled as the SWAT team moved in and pinned him to the floor. "KAKUZU! HELP ME!" He continued yelling and Kakuzu stepped into his apartment. It was disorganized chaos with clothes everywhere, dishes piling up in the sink, take out bags falling from an overstuffed garbage can. Disgusting, Kakuzu thought as he tried his best to not touch anything.

The SWAT team pulled Hidan to his feet and he looked at Kakuzu. "What the hell? What's going on?!" Kakuzu took out a small card and read Hidan his Miranda Rights. "Do you understand?" He asked him. "I understand" Hidan snarled back. Sighing, Kakuzu put the card back into his jacket pocket and put his hands into his pants pockets. "A body was found this morning, murdered and mutilated. Your symbol, the Jashin thing, was found near the body."

Hidan couldn't believe what he was hearing. His own partner thought he was capable of murder! Well, he probably was but that was besides the point. He had never felt so angry, so...betrayed! "I didn't fucking do this. You know this!" He screamed at Kakuzu as he was lead away. "I'M INNOCENT!"

Kisame groaned and opened his eyes. He looked around at his bedroom and closed his eyes, placing a hand over them. Images from last night flashed behind his lids: her kiss, her body against his, his lips kissing back. He had been caught up in the fantasy of a sexy woman desiring him and was about to give in completely until she whispered his name. It hadn't sounded right; it didn't have the right tone or pitch. His passion died when he realized why: it wasn't her, it wasn't Kay.

He had pushed his assistant away from him, rubbing his lips furiously as if to rub away the stain of infidelity from them. It was true that there was nothing official between him and Kay and he honestly didn't know how she felt about him, but he wanted more of her. She was an escape, some excitement, in his otherwise placid life. He had fired his assistant on the spot and her tears and frantic pleas to not lose her job had tugged at his guilt but he had remained firm.

His phone rang and Kisame fell out of bed trying to find it. He finally found it in his discarded pants from the night before and answered. "Get your overpaid blue ass to work or I'm going to KILL YOU MYSELF!" Pein yelled, his voice vibrating the speaker and forcing Kisame to hold the phone from his ear to preserve his hearing. Pein ended the call and Kisame hopped into his shower, getting ready and heading out the door in record time.

"Samples for you" Itachi said as he tossed the evidence bag to Kisame as he walked into his lab. "Didn't sleep well?" Itachi asked, taking note of the bags under Kisame's eyes. Kisame sat at his desk, ignoring Itachi, and opened the bag. "They're from the crime scene discovered this morning" Itachi informed him helpfully. Kisame grunted and began preparing his swabs for testing. Itachi sensed he wanted to be alone and quietly left the lab.

Kisame pulled out the bloodied knife, bloodied clothing and a small diamond encrusted lapel pin that was given to high ranking Party officials. He held the pin in his fingers, mesmerized as the light caught the diamonds making them sparkle. Except for one small diamond.

He stood and walked over to a microscope. He turned the machine's light on and placed the pin under the lens. A tiny drop of blood covered the diamond. It was so small, it was almost insignificant. Kisame grabbed a pre-soaked swab and lifted the blood from the pin, placing the swab in a vial and snapping the stem off the swab. He turned to hand off the sample to his assistant but then remembered he had fired her. Fuck.

"Congratulations! You've found a dead man!" Shisui sung into Itachi's ear. "What do you mean?" Itachi asked. "The photo you sent, the guy in it, he's been MIA, presumed KIA, since the Battle of Degarashi." "The Battle...Degarashi? Are you sure?"

"Yup! Tenno Hatake, Master Sergeant of an ANBU battalion. According to the after mission report he never returned from the Battle. The rest of his Battalion was found killed in and around Degarashi. He hasn't been seen or heard from until now, with your photo. Where did you see him? NIVC would like to question him."

Itachi fiddled with a pen on his desk, unsure of what to say. He didn't want Shisui to jump the gun and arrest Tenno and thereby ruin any chance he had with Yukiko. However, he couldn't just ignore the fact that the woman he wanted to see was in the company of a presumed dead man. "Let me handle it," Itachi said and hung up his phone before he could hear Shisui's response. He would have to tread lightly, not let on that he knew, and meanwhile pursue his burgeoning relationship with Yukiko. It was going to be complicated but he was a smart man and felt confident that he knew what he was doing.