Well another story published today – I really have been trying to get all my ideas up. Not going too well though if I think about it; two out of at least thirteen different ideas. Sigh... I'll never get them all up at this rate! Well, anywho, this is a new story dedicated to all readers of my works. Enjoy xx
Assassination I
It was dark – there were no lights along the alley and it made the man nervous. Very nervous. He turned around briefly to catch a swish of a cloak and it made him cry out in fear. He wrapped his coat tighter around him as psychological protection and continued onwards to his destination. Having just left the bar, he now had to go back to his wife before she caught him out too late again. The downside to cheating on your wife was the fear of getting caught – but it was the excitement of being sneaky that made the whole notion of fear disappear.
However, tonight – fear had taken over.
Someone was indeed watching him, waiting to make their move. He had about a hundred cash on him at the most – he would give it all away to value his life. He couldn't risk getting caught; his political status depended on one little false slip up. He continued to walk until someone jumped down from the rooftop above, and landed perfectly in front of him. His face was covered but he could tell by the physique's slight shadow that he was a man.
"W-Who are you? H-here I h-have money – j-just take it and l-leave me a-alone".
"I'm not after your money", the voice whispered. It wasn't a voice he recognised. That made him more uneasy.
"W-what are you after then?"
The clocked figure let out a little laugh as he took from his cover a five inch knife.
"I want...your life Mr Nagasaki".
The man made to let out a scream but was stopped by a stab to his throat – his voice box shattered and his life gone in an instant. The killer removed the knife and watched as the blood spurted from the wound and all over the floor; the body no longer held up by the unknown figure collapsed to the floor in a sickening crunch. The stranger stashed the knife back under his cloak and in a whirl of his cloak had vanished.
The police found the body the next morning after several prostitutes had found it when journeying to fetch the morning paper. After several arrests and questionings, the police came to the conclusion.
Yep – the Cleaner had struck again.
- - - - -
Sasuke woke up that morning with a very big headache. He smacked the alarm that woke him up and began to get ready for school like any normal day. He was very tired as well, but that didn't surprise him. He eventually moved out of his bed and over to the desk he had worked late studying on the night before last. Picking up some tablets, Sasuke made his way to the bathroom to shove some ibuprofen down his throat to get him ready for another day.
After this he walked downstairs to see his miserable father reading the paper and his mother getting breakfast ready. His other siblings were nowhere to be seen.
"Hello hunny, how are you this morning? Still have that headache I see", she said; nodding at the packet of tablets that Sasuke still had in his hand. He nodded in response though this didn't help his aching head.
"Anything interesting going on in the news dad?" he asked as his mum put a plate of toast and a cup of juice in front of him.
"Well, the Cleaner has apparently stuck again. I swear the police these days are incompetent".
"Dad, you are part of the police".
"I mean the officers on the streets and in the services, not me. I'm not a field agent – I'm not one for a reason Sasuke".
"Well, continue telling me your thoughts".
"Well, the Cleaner only attacks at night which gives the opinion that night is the only time he/she can do it. Which moves on to my other point, I'm guessing that the killer is male".
"What makes you think that?" Sasuke asked.
"Well, the way he kills his victims makes it a guess. He only seems to attack those who have some sort of hidden crime. The latest victim is politician of the Liberal Party; Mr Hiro Nagasaki. He was apparently visiting prostitutes at night which turned out to be his downfall. The Cleaner also caught that other serial killer the other week. If the bastard had information on the guy then he could have turned it in instead of killing him. We might have got some more information on him".
"So, what are you going to do? Tell your co-workers this information you've uncovered?"
"Well yes – not that they will pay really any attention to it. But they are getting desperate now; how many victims have fallen at the Cleaner's feet? About 11 now?"
"Deary, don't get yourself involved in anything dangerous", Sasuke's mother interjected from the kitchen sink.
"I won't love I promise. I'm fine in the position I'm in. and plus, I want to be here for my loving family. You, Sasuke, Itachi, Motoko, Kagura and little Sachie and the new one on the way need to be looked after". Sasuke's dad smiled before turning to his shocked son.
"What?"
"Oh that's right – we hadn't told you. Well, your mother is pregnant".
"What?! Again?!"
"Shut up now Sasuke – we planned on having a big family. And anyway, Itachi feels worse than you do because he is the oldest".
"But he barely lives here anymore!"
"Well, he still visits doesn't he?"
Sasuke sighed and then tutted at his parents. Another bloody sibling was bad enough – what if it turned out to be twins? Or triplets? Or worse? Sasuke shuddered slightly and continued on with his toast.
"Well, dad, maybe some day soon, I will be able to join the police force to help catch this serial killer".
"No you won't Sasuke. You will continue on with your studies. I want you to promise me that, whatever shall happen – you will work to support your family by staying in school".
"That's Itachi's job. I'm the fighter, I'll do it".
His father sighed and smiled slightly as he turned his attention back to the newspaper article he was reading. It wasn't long after when a crying six year old ran in to the kitchen followed by a very disgruntled teenager with messy hair. She walked up to the kettle, poured herself a coffee and left the room, slamming the kitchen door. Sasuke muffled a laugh at his younger sister, Motoko. She was going through an 'awkward adolescent phase' and it was funny watching her. Sasuke was seventeen and passed that – soon to be eighteen in just a week and half's time. Sachie was slightly annoying but adorable as she was only a small thing. Itachi was the oldest, about to turn twenty in a month and was partly living at his girlfriend's house and partly at home. Kagura and Motoko had to share a room but Sasuke got his own, after a string of good test grades.
Sasuke soon left the kitchen to get ready for another day at Rasendori High and to meet up with his best friends Naruto, Kiba and Shikamaru. They had much to discuss after another body left by the Cleaner was found. Getting ready didn't take him too long and soon he had given his mother a kiss on the cheek goodbye and he had patted his father on the back for good luck and said goodbye to Sachie who gave him a kiss, Kagura who gave him a wave as she was ill in bed and his other sibling ignored him. Itachi had been out late and wasn't home – as per usual.
He walked out of the house and down the road and spotted a disgruntled Naruto trying to do up his shoelaces on someone else's wall. The blonde was looking slightly tired, like Sasuke was and his bright blue eyes were narrowed as he failed again to do his shoelaces up properly. He spotted his best friend and waved. Soon they were both walking down to school together and discussing the newspaper article that Naruto had taken from a house along the street about the Cleaner's latest attack.
"I really think this person will be unstoppable soon. I mean, they haven't left a trace of evidence at any of the eleven murder scenes! How could they have done that?"
"Hey Naruto, my dad thinks that the killer is male because of the force and style of killing he uses. So from now on, we will call it a 'he'".
"Okay then. Your dad is smart – he should be fronting the investigation", Naruto beamed.
"No. My dad loves sitting at his desk and doing that kind of work. Kinda weird really; people usually join the police to get in to the action instead of doing all the paperwork. He doesn't want to hurt mum or us kids by getting hurt. Speaking of which, my mother is pregnant AGAIN!"
"Really? Oh that's wonderful news".
"Not really", Sasuke said annoyed.
"Well, it's nice to have a big family isn't it?" Naruto tilted his head slightly to the left and looked up at his taller raven of a best friend. Sasuke's skin was pale and his hair a contrasting jet black, stuck up in odd style. His eyes were almost as dark as his hair but when talking to him, he still managed to radiate some kind of coldness about him even when he was being perfectly nice. It was the opposite of himself.
Sasuke looked down at Naruto and didn't really know what to say. He knew the blonde lacked a family, after having many of them killed off in various drug raids. His parents weren't the nicest of people and even once injected their son with the lethal substance called heroin. Naruto was in hospital for three days afterwards and when he was released, he found his drug dealing parents had been knifed at home and his twin sister had been kidnapped. She was found a few days later in a river close by; having been raped repeatedly and hung. Naruto never did recover properly from that. It was only a few years ago that it had happened now, when Naruto was fourteen. After about two years, Naruto was almost back to his old self, being a very optimistic person. Now though, he was slowly going backwards in his recovery which his therapist had said was probably a temporary lapse of some kind, now that their exams were approaching. His other family members were either in prison or eventually going to be led there – another was in a psychotic ward at a hospital nearby to where Naruto lived. Oddly though in a psychotic ward, she was the only member of Naruto's family who actually cared for him so Naruto visited her a lot.
Sasuke inwardly sighed – he didn't want to cause the blonde next to him to go backwards on recovery.
"Well, I guess it can't be too bad. Unless its twins and then you can have one", Sasuke turned and half smiled at the blonde. Naruto smiled in response and moved on to another topic of conversation. Sasuke glanced at the blonde at random moments to see that he looked quite sad. Sasuke made a mental note to beat the shit out of himself later on in the day.
They reached school and were greeted by Kiba and Shikamaru in the usual ways. Shikamaru would lazily wave and Kiba would shout and yell and be generally hyper – that was until he saw that Naruto was looking a little worse for wear.
"Hey Sasuke – what did you do?" Kiba asked as Naruto walked in front of the pair talking to Shikamaru about homework.
"I told him I'm getting a new sibling but I didn't sound overly thrilled. I think that might have triggered something; something not very nice".
"Ahh I see", Kiba looked from Sasuke to the blonde in front of him and shook his head slightly. "We really need to get somebody to help that kid. I wish his family weren't such complete assholes".
"Same".
The day didn't go very fast. Sasuke, angry and very frustrated, watched as six hours went by so slowly. Even lunch wasn't a very happy occasion as the blonde looked slightly sad and wasn't being his normal self. Sasuke continued to watch the blonde throughout the day and knew that it was his fault that the blonde wasn't so happy. The lessons were boring and Sasuke couldn't wait to get home; all the teachers talked about were the upcoming exams and he couldn't stand to listen to them. Yes he was already studying and revising for them and he was fed up of being yelled at for trying to relax some what. And also, he wanted to talk to Naruto and see what was bothering him; also to see if it was he that caused it.
Eventually the day ended and Naruto and Sasuke began to walk back.
"Wanna come back to my place to play on my new game?" Sasuke asked to break an almost uncomfortable silence.
"Can't. I've got work tonight. I'm working so much overtime now it's not even funny", Naruto replied. He seemed slightly worried and the sadness was still evident in his eyes. Something was definitely wrong and Sasuke decided this was the chance to get him to talk about it.
"But you have exams! You shouldn't do that?"
"Well, how else am I going to pay my bills? Living doesn't come cheap Sasuke".
"Is that what's getting you so down? You didn't seem yourself today".
"Yeah and plus its coming up to another death-day reunion so I'm not going to be happy over the next few weeks".
"Oh".
There wasn't much of a conversation after that. Anytime that the blonde mentioned anything to do with his family, Sasuke always closed off. It was hard because Sasuke had such a big family and he couldn't bear the thought of any of them dying like Naruto's family did. He also didn't see how strong Naruto was afterwards. It would be twenty years and Sasuke would still be broken over his sister, without the added burden of the rest of his family.
"I also am going to see Tsunade tonight. She wants to know how I am. Apparently she's healing quite well so they may even release her soon. That would mean she could come and live with me".
"That's good news right?" Sasuke asked tentatively.
"Well, yeah – the company would be nice and also the added bonus of some more benefits. But I don't know if I can handle some of the fits she has and then there is school so I can't always look after her. I don't know. This is all just suggestion anyway – I don't know if she will ever get the chance to leave the place. Soon as she gets off her drugs she will be fine".
"Why was Tsunade placed in there anyway?"
"She's mad".
"I mean, how did she become like that?"
"Are you kidding Sasuke? What else do the rest of my family have? What have they always done? What is the only thing that has destroyed my family?"
"Drugs?"
"Yeah, she was force-fed them by some dealer called Orochimaru. He's in prison now though but if he gets out I will make sure that he gets some kind of punishment by a fist in the face", Naruto glared at nothing as he talked.
"Well, I turn here. You sure you are gonna be okay? Mum says you can come over and eat with us anytime you want", Sasuke stated in an attempt to cheer the blonde up.
"Well, maybe sometime during the week I'll visit for the free food and company but I'm working tonight and tomorrow. I'm sorry I can't and I'm sorry I haven't been so happy today. It's just starting to get me down again. I'll talk to you more about it soon enough and then as soon as the exams are over, I should be fine. I don't have to be so worried about my future by then".
"Well, you can come over at any time remember that. And don't worry about Naruto. You have the right to be sad and you have the right to be worried if you want – though I don't want you to be. I guess I'll listen when you want to talk". Sasuke said with a smirk. "I do mean it", he added.
After spending a little time talking about his new game, Sasuke waved to his best friend and then turned off towards his house. He saw Naruto sit down on the same person's wall as earlier and caught a tear trickling down the blonde's face. Sasuke wanted to run back and drag the blonde to his house but respected that the blonde couldn't. He looked down at his phone that he took from his pocket. He contemplated whether or not to send a text. He decided against it as he didn't want the blonde to think he was overly caring – despite the fact that he was.
It didn't take long before Sasuke was home. Everything as like it should be and everything was normal. Kagura was well enough to get out of bed and to say hello to her older brother which made Sasuke happy. Kagura was usually so upbeat and for her to be so down was abnormal. Then again, the flu can do that to people. Itachi was also home, away from his girlfriend for the first time in a week and ready to challenge Sasuke to a game on the Nintendo Wii he had bought as well as to help him with his revising. Itachi was much better at dealing with the kind of pressure as he had been through it more recently than any one else that Sasuke knew. Plus Itachi was a genius and took almost exactly the same subjects as Itachi because they both wanted to join the police force like their father. Motoko was her usual grumpy self so there was nothing new there and Sachie was fine.
The rest of the family were told about the pregnancy. It wasn't much of a surprise as it used to be for most of the siblings except for Sachie who was confused about what it was.
"For God's sake! Can you to stop making this house full of more people to annoy me?" Motoko had replied.
Despite the fact that everything else was normal, there was one big thing that wasn't. Their father wasn't home.
"Mum, where is dad?" Sasuke asked after an hour from his usual home arrival time. Everything was routine at the Uchiha household so this was odd and a little bit worrying.
"He said he had to work late and don't worry. He should be home soon", was the reply. But even Sasuke could tell that his mum was worrying and worrying was not good for pregnancy.
The rest of the night continued until one o'clock in the morning when Sasuke decided that he couldn't sleep and slipped down to the kitchen for some more tablets. The headache was persistent and it was beginning to annoy him.
As he walked in, he turned on the light to see someone crying at the table, making every effort to be quiet.
"Mum?"
Sasuke's mother was sat in the kitchen and she was crying.
"Oh, Sasuke. Your headache still hurting? Maybe I should take you to the doctor?" His mum tried to fuss over him but this time he would not be distracted.
"Mum? Mum, what's wrong? Why are you crying? Is there something wrong with your pregnancy or something?"
She looked at him; a fresh flow of tears started and her voice choked.
"No, no, nothing like that. This is not going to be easy to say and I wanted to do it tomorrow morning. Actually, I never wanted to say this".
"Mum, what is it? Please tell me, you've got me really worried", Sasuke couldn't bear to see his mother like she was.
"Y-your father is dead. Th-the Cleaner killed him".
- - - - -
Reviews would be welcome! Any sweets, biscuits, cookies, any sort of candy of any kind is welcome for the review monster to eat! :) xx