Chapter 9
Her business had started off slow. Considering the shop was at the corner of the shopping district, she supposed it was quite natural. For now they were managing to have enough profits to keep the shop afloat.
"What is it, Hisako?"
She looked up at Hana who was staring at her with unhidden curiosity. She slightly smiled when a new idea came in her mind.
Her shop had been facing a small problem. Her customers were all Uchiha. She, and the government, would not have minded such a thing if the shop was in the Uchiha district. But her shop was in Konoha's official shopping district. It caused her more tensions and strained the relationship she had tried to build with the civilians as they didn't trust the Uchiha. She needed something to attract more civilians, or even civilian clan members, to her shop to avoid future problems.
"Could you do me a favor Hana?"
"Of course!"
She smiled once again and told her friend of her new plan. The Inuzuka were a friendly group, and if their civilian members could visit her shop then her shop's reputation would increase. There was a slight chance of her reputation as an Uchiha decreasing but she doubted Mikoto would let that happen. Rather, Mikoto would see this as an opportunity for the Uchiha to interact with people outside their clan.
Hana was quick to agree when she got the gist of what Hisako was implying. She had been worried about her friend, especially since a lot of civilians tended to think of Hisako as 'weak' and 'foolish' and would try to haggle with her to the point of Hana almost wishing that she could strangle them with her metal wire to death, and was thrilled to help her friend out. Her dogs had also agreed with her thoughts.
"By the way, I wanna know your opinion on this chain mail I was looking at."
Hana looked at her friend, knowing who she was asking this for, and sighed. Hisako was absolutely love sick in her eyes.
"See ya later!"
Hisako smiled and waved at her friend who was shouting her 'bye' to her for the third time from across the street. It was really a wonder how the two of them were still friends.
Humming a little tune, she went back to her house. This could have been seen as a day off work for her ever since she had started out her business. She had brought over the small amount of paperwork she needed to do to her house so there was no need for her to visit her shop for today. She would be able to finish in 2 hours and enjoy the rest of her day.
There was something wrong.
The police force was tense and was constantly running around in search of someone. Cases of missing people were not particularly common but, this kind of a tense atmosphere was unusual.
Shisui slightly tilted his head in confusion as he observed the number of people on patrols. It was most likely that it was not a single person who had gone missing then. He wondered for a second if he should inquire more about this before noticing Itachi heading in his direction.
Itachi was panicking.
He frowned and found himself straightening up for the news. It was likely that something big had happened.
"Hisako-san has been nowhere to be found for a day now."
And Shisui's world cracked at that moment.
Itachi's frown increased and he leaned closer. His voice softer and quieter than before.
"Cat. Calm."
Cat instinctively calmed his nerves and looked Itachi in the eyes. Itachi's eyes flashed red before returning to their dark color. Cat took in a deep breath and paused.
His presence was faded and if it weren't for the fact that he was standing in front of Itachi, he doubted he would be able to tell he was there.