Str3ngth 1n Numb3rs

~Presented by

Sasuke Uzumaki 83

"Come on, this is too easy." The back door to the convenience store came open with an ominous squeaking as he made his way in.

"Okay, there's not even anybody here." The boy paused, his pale hand hesitating before placing the gun it held into the front of his black skinny jeans. He made his way to the register, opening it with a 'ching'.

"God, their security sucks. Not even a fucking guard here." His hands made work with grabbing some money, stuffing it into his back pockets with ease. His eyes wandered the store as his hands worked automatically, but they slowed as his eyes fell onto something.

"Ooh." He made his way over to the machine in the back. Pushing his raven bangs behind his ear he examined the machine. The flashing lights were definitely an attention grabber, but the machine itself was worthless. With a scowl he kicked it, the boot he was wearing doing nothing for protection, he cussed under his breath.

"Okay then..." The raven made his way back to the register. "Money..."

Honestly, he wouldn't use the money, he just took it. He looked at the time on the clock next to it; 5:30.

"Shit, it's getting late."

"And you would care?" The pale hands stilled, gripping the money they were holding. His obsidian eyes looked at the intruder. Well, honestly, he was the intruder, but still.

"The fuck are you?" He asked the blond.

"Doesn't matter. Drop the money." The blond pointed his gun at the kid.

"Fine." The pale hands let go, the bills falling helplessly to the floor.

"Why are you making yourself so obvious? I mean, there's security cameras in here."

"So there are." The pale man was obviously unmoved by the announcement.

"They're still hooked up."

"So they are."

"Anyone could see you on those, and, besides, what self-respecting thief wears that?" The man gestured with his gun at the paler man's garb.

"What?"

"Yellow plaid."

"Yes, yellow plaid."

"A half-shirt."

"Yes, a half-shirt."

"Black skinny jeans?"

"What are you getting at?"

"You look like you just walked out of Miley Cyrus' closet." The pale man narrowed his eyes.

"Are you insulting me?"

"Step out from behind the counter."

"Fine." He walked casually, as if he didn't have a care in the world. "There."

"Good."

"Aren't you a police officer?" The blond looked at his uniform.

"...yes?" He said, his cerulean eyes looking back up.

"So, aren't you supposed to order me to put my hands up?"

"Put your hands up." The boy chuckled but obeyed.

"Are you mocking me?"

"Revenge is a bitch, ain't it?" The tan man glared.

"Why would a beauty like you do this?"

"Beauty?" The man let out a sort of snort.

"Who are you?"

"You need to know? Who are you?"

"You need to know? I'm a police officer, you're a thief, I'll be asking the questions. Now, hands against the wall, spread your legs shoulder-length apart."

"Alright." The pale man smirked as he turned around, placing his hands against the wall and spreading his legs, though he made sure he leaned forward more than necessary. "Alright, check me, officer."

The blond officer gulped as the raven cast a seductive glance back at him. He walked up to the thief and began to pat him down. He pulled two guns and the money out of the man's pockets.

"Two guns? Don't you feel all safe and shit." What the officer wasn't expecting was the kick sent to his groin. He grunted, falling forward as the thief slinked past him. A gun was shoved into the spiky blond hair.

"Okay, listen up, officer, you're listening to me now." The man picked his guns up from the ground, stuffing them into his pockets. He grabbed the key to the handcuffs out of the blond's pocket and proceeded to place the handcuffs on him.

"You're going to abduct me?" He asked.

"Yes." The raven hauled the blond up and dragged him to the back of the store.

"Oi, I can walk."

"Shut the fuck up." The thief kicked the door open and exited the building. Shit, it got dark early...

"What car are you planning on using?"

"Whatever car I see fit." The man dropped the blond. "Get the fuck up."

"I got it, I got it." He stood up.

"Follow me." The thief kept the gun against the blond's head, reminding him of the consequences of trying to disobey.

"Guy left his keys in his car. Needs to learn a lesson." He then kicked out the driver side's window. The officer flinched as the glass broke. The pale man unlocked the door, wrenching it open only to shove the blond man in. He got into the driver's seat, starting the car.

"You sure you know how to drive?"

"Shut the fuck up and strap in." The gun was pointed at the officer's head once again.

"Fine, fine." He sat up, then looked at the seat belt.

"What is it now?" The man growled out.

"I'm hand-cuffed." Obsidian eyes rolled as he leaned over to buckle the other man in.

"There." He sat back up and began to pull out of the parking lot.

"How old are you?"

"No questions." There was that damned gun again.

"Alright."

The drive was quiet, for the most part. There was no conversation between the two men, and no one was screaming 'That's my car!' In fact, no one was on the road. Curse his luck, working in a small town only to be abducted by some petty thief...

"-Uzumaki? Uzumaki, do you read?" The blond gulped as he found himself under the coldest glare he had ever received.

"What's that?"

"It's my- uh... radio." The blond gestured toward the radio attached to his shirt, then jumped in his seat when the thief used expert aim to shoot it, not harming the officer.

"Hey! That's expensive!"

"Why would you care?"

"Because they're expensive to replace!"

"Who said I was going to let you go alive?" This shut the blond up.

The drive was quiet once again.

"You Uzumaki?"

"Huh?"

"I said are you Uzumaki?"

He gulped. "Y-yeah."

"First name?"

"Na-Naruto."

"Naruto Uzumaki." The thief whistled. "That's some name."

"What's your name?"

"Didn't I say no questions?"

"Right, right..."

"Um... I was wondering, are there any rooms available? We'd really like a room high up, we want to see the city." The raven fluttered his lashes at the receptionist.

"Yes, of course." The man behind the counter looked at Naruto.

"Oh, he's my boyfriend." Naruto almost jumped out of his skin when he felt a soft hand enclose over his.

"He looks scared."

"Oh, don't worry, he's just afraid of new places." The raven leaned forward and added in a whisper, "He's anti-social, too."

"Oh, I understand. You will be room 825." The receptionist handed the raven a key. "Enjoy your stay. And... tell me if you get bored of blondie."

"Oh, stop it, you." The raven giggled, dragging Naruto along with him. As soon as they were out of ear shot the thief sighed.

"God, I hate doing that." He said, un-buttoning his yellow-plaid shirt.

"Then why do you do it?"

"Because I have to." They entered an elevator, and Naruto found himself praying for someone to get in with them, but as the door slid shut with not as much as a ten-year-old joining them, Naruto figured that God hated him for being gay after all.

The elevator ticked the floors away. The raven tapped his foot, his boot banging noisily on the carpeted floor. Naruto looked into one of the mirrors and was met with a frightened expression. He was paler than usual, his blue eyes wide, his mouth slightly open. A plan started formulating in his mind. So, when the elevator stopped moving, Naruto got ready to run.

The doors opened, and Naruto took off.

"Hey!"

Naruto kept running, and, miraculously, there was no one to see them, not even the room that had it's door slightly ajar had anyone in it. Naruto's heart was beating fast; couldn't there be at least one person to call the police for him? The thought almost made him laugh. Police? He was the police!

Okay, so maybe he didn't give the thief as much credit as he should have. He was thrust against a wall, yelping when the butt of a gun made contact with his head. He was smacked a couple more times, kicked in the stomach, thrown against the wall once again before the man stopped. He crouched on top of the now trembling blond and whispered the words that made Naruto cringe.

"Don't try to run away again, babe."

The pale man dragged Naruto to their room, shutting the door behind them.

"What the fuck was that, you idiot. Get up." Naruto groaned with he was nudged in the side with a boot.

"J-just give me a minute." Gun. "Okay, okay."

Naruto got up, placing a hand on the wall for support.

"Clothes, off." Naruto looked at the man.

"What?"

"Clothes. Off." The thief repeated.

"Just making sure I heard you..." Naruto began to take his clothes off.

Garment by garment, his clothes fell to the ground. The air in the room was cold, making Naruto hiss when he removed his pants, which fell to the floor along with his over shirt, under shirt, and shoes, Naruto having lost his hat in the convenience store.

"Off with your socks."

"Alright." Naruto removed his socks and then stood there, clad only in his black boxers.

"On the bed. Go." Naruto sighed as he walked over to the bed, crawling onto it.

"On your back." Naruto groaned and flipped over.

Blue eyes widened as the thief crawled over the blond, straddling him. Was the guy trying to make a move or something? He gulped. He sure hoped not, he wasn't going to sleep with a thief. The thief clicked the hand-cuffs around the tan wrists.

"You're not trying to seduce me, are you?"

...

The raven pulled back, looking at the blond with just this... look. It was a look of complete astonishment.

"No."

"You sure make it seem like that."

"No, I don't." The raven climbed off the bed, sitting on the floor.

He began to rummage through the blond's discarded clothes, one by one. First the socks, then the shoes, then the pants, and, finally, the shirt. He grimaced as he pulled off the radio, flinging it behind his shoulder.

"Hey!"

"We've already been over this issue, so shut the fuck up before I decide you don't need your leg anymore." Naruto closed his mouth.

After more examining and silence the blond sighed.

"So, are you going to let me know who you are?"

"You mean you couldn't guess?"

"Uh... no?" Was this thief more infamous than he initially thought?

"Just wait, I'll be back." And he left the blond to lie there and wait.

Naruto looked at the window. There was no chance he could jump through there, they were on the eighth floor. Damn, the prick had thought of that already. Naruto looked at the room door. Well, he said he was coming back, might as well risk it...

Naruto struggled against the handcuffs. He had to be able to get them off somehow.

"And- what are you doing?" Naruto looked at the raven.

"Where did you get that?"

"What, this?" The raven asked, glancing at the lap top. "Oh, some dick left his room open. Fucking idiots..." He sat down next to the bed.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking something up." The raven stuck his tongue out in concentration. Naruto found this oddly cute, the look of complete concentration on the flawless pale face.

"Here." Naruto's eyes widened as the lap top was plopped unceremoniously on his stomach.

"What?" Naruto looked at the web page.

"This." He circled the title of the page.

"'The Splinter'?"

"Yeah, I know, fucking lame." The raven began reading the page out loud.

"'The Splinter is a shady character. He seems to steal things for no reason and no motivation what-so-ever. No one knows who he is yet, but he seems to steal things everywhere. Somehow his trail is covered behind him, and whether he does that himself or he has an accomplice with him is a mystery. He has no history of hurting people, though there are a few accounts of encounters, though the descriptions never seem to match up.'"

"How do you know that's about you?"

"Because it is. They just don't realize it's me."

"How would they not? You do seem pretty obvious."

"Oh, please. I'm all over the country. If they can't connect dots then it's not my fault."

"You seem really confident."

"I am. Whoa, that's new. 'There are reports that he is a cunning and surprisingly seductive character.' I like it..."

"You like the fact that they say you're a seductive character."

"It's amusing enough."

"Why do you look this crap up?"

"Because this is all about the name I make for myself." The thief made his way around the bad and sat next to the blond.

"Why is it all about the name?"

"Shut up." The raven wasn't amused about something, because he scowled, and then proceeded to open the window and throw the lap top down.

"What did you do that for?!" Naruto asked when the window was securely shut.

"I didn't like that particular comment."

"You just stole someone's lap top just to throw it AWAY?"

"Keep your voice down." The raven turned off the lights.

Naruto jumped when he felt a weight on the bed next to him.

"You're going to sleep... in the same bed as me?"

"Do you see another bed in here?"

"Uh... I don't see anything."

"Exactly." The room fell silent.

"You know what?"

For Naruto, everything went black with a 'thunk'.

"There we go." The thief settled next to the blond and quickly fell into a peaceful sleep.