Lithium

Chapter 1

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He was someone that was important to his work. Someone that needed to always be there so that things ran right, and the way that he wanted it. He wanted them to be perfectly done… But now, nothing was going his way and this particular male was furious to a point where he wanted to slaughter each and every one of them, slowly and painfully. He wanted to watch as their blood dripped off his hands and onto the ground, the way it sounded as he feet moved through the blood that was on the carpet, making a squishing noise as he did so. But alas, it wouldn't come true. He couldn't do that to the people that were working under him - he had to be… responsible. This was his inheritance from his god-forsaken father.

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She, was only someone of less importance, someone that didn't seem to make all the difference in the world; but brought much joy to the people surrounding her. She was one that was always happy, but held secret that were too hard to share, ones that would cause her to go into hiding, and become what she didn't want. The small work place she stayed at was one that wasn't really visited all that much; but had good enough business during the holiday season.

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Jade eyes glanced around the rather large office, large glass window's directly behind him, showing him that of the street underneath the building and the west side of the city, large buildings scattering themselves around in random places. New papers blew acrossed the window causing the red head to turn his head to watch as the paper flew past the window, dancing a small dance, as if it was free. Free from something he could never get away from.

The sound of the phone's ringing outside of the office caught the males attention, then the shattering of glass. Slowly, the male stood up, standing clearly at 6'1". Broad shoulders adjacent to his body. His office clothes, which he didn't really abide by the 'rules', hung off him loosely, as if the clothes were too big for him - but fit him all the same. His black jacket hung open, no tie in sight because it never did fit with him. His white shirt was undone down 5 buttons, open so his chest was a little bit seen. Black dress pants, baggie, and black shoes. He obviously wasn't one for dressing all… 'Good-mannered' like. It annoyed him.

Maneuvering himself around the pine-wood desk, his hand cupped around the doorknob to the glass door, turning it slightly so that the sound of a small 'click' was heard before pushing it forwards and walking out the door and into another large room, filled with cuticles and whatnot. People scattered around, trying to get paperwork finished and answering phones. It was a hectic day to say the least.

His building, his work, his inheritance. This building was the very thing that kept him here, alive in this world. He wasn't all hell-bent on trying to kill himself, but he was irritate with life - the way it was thrown at him and the way it was ending very slowly. The way he killed his very own mother at birth, the way his father disowned him, and left him to do whatever it was he wanted. The way his siblings had feared the youngest until only recently; after his father died due to being involved in a gang shoot-out on the east side.

He hated it. Hated it all. His life was only black and gray, and never will he see his life in color. There was no point in it. Of course, his older brother, Kankuro, had told him to get a girlfriend, settle down and get married, which would inevitably lead to children; and he didn't want that. Not now. Temari, though, had said the same thing. As a sister, she was concerned for her younger brothers, but not for him. Why would she care for the thing she feared when they were all younger? No one cared for him… Who'd care for someone who thrives off darkness? No One.

Demonic was something that people seemed to call him. Someone who worships the devil on his spare time, probably cutting his wrists to take away the pain. The male shook his head, fiery red hair moving back and forth, before stopping. Black-rimmed eyes closed for a moment, letting everyone and everything, slowly vanish away, to make him think clearly. But he always had a voice in the back of his mind - like a demon waiting to emerge at a certain time.

"Gaara-sama!" The voice, obviously carried by a female employee, shouted in his face. Arms holding stacks of papers, some begging to fall off the pile she was carrying. She was someone that everyone referred to as 'the whore of the company'. Apparently, she had slept around with every other male employee other than a few; one being Gaara.

Black-rimmed eyes opened, and jade eyes glared at the smaller female in front of him. Her face was covered in way much make-up. It looked as though she was literally wearing 5 layers of make-up. Her face, wasn't all pretty to look at, considering that her lips were covered in a bright pink lipstick, dark blue eye shadow and clumpy mascara. He never knew why men dropped themselves before her… How could they fall for this tramp?

"Gaara-sama. Here's the documents you asked for! Oh, and please, read this." The female smiled, trying to act seductive in her words, which made no impact on the 23 year old man. Gaara's hand reached out, taking the beige folder, that seemed to hold nothing but air and place it under his arm casually. Head turning, the female's lips turned into a smile, before winking at him and walking away; hips swaying as if she was going to dislocate them out of her hips. Oh, if only.

Eyes closed once again, getting the image of 'Tasha - as some people called her - out of his mind. He didn't need no other thing plaguing his mind and wanting him to go more insane than he already was. It was too late in the day to start caring, and manage to get a headache, just from one encounter of her. Life was too cruel on him.

His business was enough to cause anyone of his position to go crazy in a matter of days, quit and find another job or actually ended up in the nut-house. Of course, through movies and whatever, his job seemed to be the best thing to do - Boss people around, sit there and be lazy, letting everyone else work for you… No, that wasn't what It truly was. It was worse. You had flirty females, a couple of gay guys hitting on you, people getting into fights over the phones, making them lose clients and/or try and get sued. Firing people and having to put up with tears and yelling at the top of their lungs. Then you had competition with other companies to try and stay up above them as best as you could.

Glancing once more around the office, he could see many of the employee start to take their leave for the night. Turning around, he walked right back into his little.. 'haven' in a way. Door opening, he walked over to his desk and sat down in a large leather chair. Eyes absently running over the black words over the clear door.

'Chairman Sabaku no Gaara'

Chairman of the largest, thriving business places in the world. It was borderline Economics, stock-exchange and Human resources. It was a complicating business, and you needed a lot of knowledge to run and manage this business. Of course, there was only one in this city, and country; hence it being large and busy.

Letting his thoughts trail back to him, he let his right hand move to the folder the woman gave him, as well as the small letter that was slipped into his pocket. Letting the folder hit his desk with a 'smack', he opened the piece of paper, eyes scanning over the contents…

To Gaara-sama,

Hey! Me and a couple of my girlfriend are going out tonight… To have a little… fun.

We wanna know if you want to come! It'll be fun, I promise! It'll be a bonding type thing and we can get to know each other.

It'll be at the bar on 29th street, the one called 'Exotic Flavors'. you know the place, right?

Well, anyways, we'll be there around 9:30 tonight at the bar. Hope to see you there!

Love,

'Tasha. 3 3 3(1)

She couldn't be serious, could she? Asking him, to go to a bar… on 29th street? How much of a whore could she be? 29th street was notorious for the hookers, sluts, tramps, whatever you could think of that affiliated with whores, was there. Pimps, drugs and random shootings were lively down in that part as well. Gaara remembered what his brother had called the place.. 'Ghetto' a place where most black people lived (A/n: I'm not racist. So don't worry I have nothing against people. If I do, I voice it.) and the gangs ruled down there.

Usually, anyone who lived there, were mostly poor, or the rarity of having good jobs, but still living there anyways. A soft, barely audible sigh escaped the 23 year old's lips. He'd have to go there; there was no way he was going to put up with a female ranting on him for not going.

Tonight was going to be a long night…

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Tri-colored eyes glanced around the small shop and outside the window. Own reflection staring back at the small female. She stood at about 5'4", very short for her age; but she didn't really care. Long dark blue hair shimmered lightly in the limited amount of light was in the small store she owned. She wasn't one for much class, seeing as how she didn't have enough money to get anything very good for herself, other than an apartment building, which was slowly starting to fall apart, and the occasional rodent problem that seemed to arise as of late.

Turning around slowly, she looked around the small store. Just a small music store that held everything from Rap to Opera and everything in between. Bins littered themselves in the middle of the store, on the sides and up against the barred windows. Of course, usually barred windows would mean that this store had been broken into once before, and sometimes kept people at bay, knowing that it was already done.. There was no way she wanted to be robbed. She was usually the only one in the store during the weeks, and a friend coming in during the weekends - who eventually drags her into helping her. Which meant 7 day week.

This didn't go unchecked. Working from 6 in the morning till 9 at night, everyday took a large toll on the small woman. She never really did get enough sleep. Usually about 3 each night, which dragged her down each morning, but she managed to keep her job still going, and greet people like she always did.

Pink lips formed into a smile, as the females eyes turned to shift towards the door, a small bell indicating that someone was entering. A couple of gangsters, as she had come to known very well, always looking for the same Cd's and whatnot.

"Hey boys. I'm sorry but Ja Rule isn't in yet. I'm still trying to get them to order it." She could see one of the male snap his fingers, grunting lightly before crossing his arms over his chest, his 'bling' being hidden by the large puffy black jacket.

"Yo, Whaddup Tsuyahra? We be chillin in da hood, and we have been waitin' foreva for dat Cd, Yo!" The bigger male, she had come to known as Darious, turned his ball cap around. Which, to her signaled as if something was going to happen.

"I know Darious, but like I've said, I've called in a order. It'll probably be a week or 2 at the most. Alright boys?"

That earned her a grunt, the smaller male turning and leaving the store, standing in front of the door as if he was a bouncer. The older male smiled darkly, walking over to her, using his right hand to pull out a 9 millimeter pistol and holding it to the females face, causing her to stiffen and look at the gun as if she was going to die. Her eyes widened. Darious pushed her back against a wall, slamming her into it like she was a rag doll. His breath was hot on her face, the cold barrel of the gun on her cheek and moving farther into her face.

White teeth was shown before her eyes, his black skin causing his teeth to show more. Of course, she knew right off these two were Gangsters when they walked into her store, and she had absolutely no problem with them, and never discriminated against white, nor black people, Asian or natives. Everyone was people, no matter what they did in their lives to cause themselves to have a title.

"Listen. I wont kill ya. But to let ya know. I get what I want.." His voice was dropped to that of a normal speaking without the slang. It made him sound all the more better than the acting he used. "If it's not here soon, I promise I'll kill you."

Killing over a Cd. Something that wasn't really common, but it happened anyways. Suddenly, she felt the barrel of the gun move away from her face, before something hard came into contact with the side of her face, causing her head to turn with the impact, creating a sicking 'crack' before falling into the darkness of oblivion.

As the female was knocked out, due to this Darious pistol whipping her in the face with the back of the gun, he watched as her body moved at the impact and hit the wall, knocking her head against it hard. The male laughed lightly, putting the gun back into his baggie pants and grabbing her shoulders, dragging her out of the store and onto the sidewalks. The darkness slightly hiding her body against the building.

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R i d 3 r: Another story, another AU… that'll hopefully be better than the whole high school thing. I'm debating on taking it down or not. Anyways, this was something I've had stuck in my head for a while now, and need to write it up so it would stop poking me. Yeah. Anyways, review please, and tell me what you think.

(1)-- Those are hearts, if you didn't notice. I kinda had to.. Put it there? I don't know. But yeah.