Warning: this story contains illegal activity and people with questionable ethics. It makes an interesting story, but I do not condone any of the following.
Sasuke stepped out into the street, pulling his hood up to deflect the rain from his charcoal hair. He shoved his hands in his pocket after throwing the wrapper to his dinner in the trash, leaving the fast food joint to try again to disappear into the night.
He was cold, wet, but at least he wasn't as hungry. After ten nights away from home, Sasuke desperately needed a shower, but he supposed there wasn't a chance of that tonight. At least the city lights were bright, he mused. Neon lit his way down town as he strolled down the sidewalk, buildings towering over him. He felt claustrophobic and exposed at the same time, but there was yet again, nothing he could do.
A car went by, splashing him with cold, dirty water from a large puddle, going over his head and soaking his clothes before the car's tail lights blended in with the others and disappeared.
"Great," he muttered, wiping his face with his partially dry sleeve.
From the corner of his eye he watched another car pull up, not bothering to turn on its four ways as it stopped in the middle of the street and rolled down the window.
"Hey! Where you headed?" A woman's voice shouted. He didn't have time to respond before a car, lying on its horn, went around them. "Hey, fuck you!" The woman shouted, flipping off the other driver. Sasuke got a look at her as she was distracted. This woman had long hair the same color as his, and wore a man's blazer but a woman's low cut, red wine colored blouse. She wore sunglasses even though it was night. "You gonna get in the car kid or do I gotta beg?" The woman shouted, flipping off yet another driver flying by.
"No thanks," Sasuke said, waving her on. He wasn't sure if she thought he was a prostitute or if she was just being friendly, but either way he was not interested, and began walking.
"Come on! I've seen you here every day this week, your homeless right?" She shouted, flipping on her four ways this time as the car crept forward.
"I'm not, in fact I'm headed home right now," Sasuke tried again to get rid of her, but she saw straight through his lie.
"Where's that? Main and thirty fourth?" She asked, a cocky grin set on her face. Main and thirty fourth was probably the worst corner fourth was a heinous place where criminals ran rough. "You're gonna get eaten alive out here kid, let's go, I don't have all night!" Reluctantly, Sasuke got in, sighing and shaking his head.
The interior of the car was nice, put together with wood and black leather. Only the dash glowed with light after he shut the door, he sank into heated seats that he quickly discovered were heated. The radio quietly played rap music as the car's driver reached to turn the heat on.
"Cold?" She asked, and she already knew the answer with that sly smirk set on her features. Sasuke nodded, looking out the window as the heat kicked on.
"Where you headed?" She asked, lowering her sunglasses down her nose to look over them, as if she had some kind of authority over him.
"Nowhere," the kid muttered, looking down at his dirty hands.
"My house it is, hold on," she replied, and slammed on the gas, cutting off two other drivers and running a red light before she reached top speed at sixty, barreling down the four lane road to the highway where she increased her speed again to ninety-five, cutting off more drivers and ignoring more traffic laws than were on the books. Once on the highway, she cranked the radio, a song by Kanye shaking the windows and threatening to kill the car's sound system as it shook with bass.
The car itself had remained incredibly quiet up until then, no road noise, and running his hand down the door panel, he realized he was riding in a very expensive car. a Jaguar, maybe? It was probably one of next year's new release models. Moments later they were off the highway, sliding down a street of expensive housing and into a driveway to a house made of stone. She motioned for him to come on, shutting the car off and locking it as they made their way up the front steps.
The house was large, incredibly large, for a city household and incredibly stylish, the new construction had apparently had very heavy modern influences. At ten at night, the neighborhood was quiet, a lot of the lights had already been shut off and people were inside. The rain had stopped but the smell of it was still lingering in the air. They escaped inside before any more chill could catch Sasuke's wet cloths.
She hadn't even needed her keys, the door was unlocked. As she let him in, she flicked on the lights, revealing a living space and a large spiral staircase. The furniture was white and the walls painted a chic gray, accented with pink roses and spiraling vines. The entire back of the house was made of glass and overlooked the city, and coming closer to the window panes, Sasuke realized this woman was more than he'd originally thought her to be. The flooring was clean, freshly waxed and without flaw, a staircase lead up to another two floors and a hall lead down to a kitchen. This woman didn't cut corners in her decorating, the house had a consistent, chic style that ran throughout and a color scheme of blues, oranges and whites to die for. Sasuke wasn't exactly sure what the temperature was in here, but it had to be near eighty, and he was thankful. He also thought maybe he, only vaguely, smelled spice and cider.
"My housekeeper is on her way to get you some alternate clothing, want something to eat or drink?" She asked, handing him a water bottle anyway. Having lost her sunglasses in her short trip out of his sight, he could see the color of her eyes now, a deep, dark chocolate, so dark, they almost looked black. "Like the house?" She was quick to follow up, "old money, my friend, not to mention, I own K.M.A corp," she boasted, obviously confident in herself. Wasn't she worried he'd steal from her? It was quite clear this woman was loaded, K.M.A corp was not only the largest company in the area, but it also had the largest presence, occupying the second tallest building downtown, beat out only by a radio tower.
"It's a lovely house," Sasuke remarked, looking up to study a chandelier overhead. Lovely didn't begin to explain it. The lady that'd brought him here went into a long winded speech about her father and a divorce which yielded her even more money which she used to start the corporation, trading penny stocks and investing in various fields, including energy, medicine and agriculture. She hadn't been too far into the company history when her maid approached, carrying a bag with a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt inside as promised.
"If you'd come with me," the red headed girl said politely, a soft blush dusting her cheeks. She was shorter than him, by a lot, and her pink glasses framed her face nicer than her strangely styled long hair, she wore it long, with some sort of gel spiking up a few strands near her shoulders. She escorted him down a hallway to an immaculate bathroom where he was instructed to take a shower, change and hand over his cloths to be washed. Sasuke did exactly that, scrubbing his skin, his hair and his worries clean. For tonight he was safe at least. When he returned, the strange woman was watching a baseball game.
"Hey kid," she greeted, "come watch this with me, I got a bet on the game." She patted the couch next to herself, smiling and looking quite friendly with her legs folded up under her. Sasuke obliged, though for the second time that night he felt claustrophobic. "You know how this works? He throws the ball and if the other guy hits it, they got everything between the bases to get him out," she babbled. Sasuke knew how it worked, but he didn't want to be rude. They watched a while longer, her explaining little things he already knew until something surprising happened. The man standing on third base was quick, and Sasuke was sure he'd make it to home plate, but as a ball was hit into to left field, the man took off, suddenly tripping and giving the other team enough time to throw the ball around and get him out. The stands erupted and Sasuke realized that had broke a tied game. "Yes! Yes!" The women yelled, and not three seconds later phones began to ring. The maid got both of the house lines, and the woman started pulling cell phone after cell phone out of her pockets to answer them, chattering on and on about the game, money, and some name calling. "Here," she said, handing him a large disposable phone, "answer that and tell them they'd better have the money tomorrow, say that every time it rings," and then she stood up and walked out of the room, leaving Sasuke sort of puzzled.
"Hello?" He answered tentatively.
"The dog got the bone," a man's voice came over the speaker, and it was clear it was code, but what it meant Sasuke had no idea.
"They'd better have the money tomorrow," Sasuke repeated, exactly as it had been told to him. The man on the other end grunted and then hung up, but no sooner was he off the line did it ring again. The more times he retreated himself, the more times he heard strangers telling him that a dog got a bone, the more Sasuke realized he was in over his head with this. He didn't know what he was getting involved with and he didn't want to know. Eventually, when the phones stopped ringing and the woman that brought him here returned from wherever she had gone, he stood up.
"I really should be going, thank you for your hospitality," Sasuke tried to be polite, as polite as he could to avoid this woman's bad side. He suspected organized crime, and he suspected he was in trouble.
"Oh? What for? Come on! Stay the night!" She urged, but Sasuke shook his head and held out the phone for her to take. She looked between him and the phone before she burst out laughing, holding her stomach and nearly doubled over.
"Oh god! You probably think I'm a mafia boss or something! Oh God no! No, I swear it was just a harmless little bet on the game. No harm done, you're not in any danger," she reassured, using his shoulder to push him back down on the couch as she took her spot back up. She whipped a tear from her eye and laughed a little more, asking her maid to bring some chips for her and her guest.
"How old are you anyway kid? Oh, wait, what's your name? I can't just keep calling you kid, can I?" She asked, stifling a few more giggles.
"Sasuke, I'm nineteen," the boy replied, running a hand through his bangs. The maid brought the food in two separate bowls and the woman dug in.
"What's a young kid like you doing on the streets? Your mom a whore or something?" She asked, mouth full.
"No," he answered. He wasn't sure why he was telling her anything, she didn't need to know, it was his business and his business alone. She nodded.
"Kazuki Takashiro," she replied, holding out a hand for him to shake, "call me Jordan."
He shook it, and she continued talking.
"I'm in need of an assistant Sasuke, what do you say? You can live here and you'll go to work with me in the mornings." Sasuke couldn't understand why she was interested in him, a kid she'd picked off the street three hours ago, how could she trust him? As if she could read minds she answered him.
"I need somebody young, somebody I can teach the way I want them taught. Young kids like you are perfect, no college education feeding them with useless junk, I bet you're still in high school right?" She nodded, a smile spread on her face, "you look innocent, you look smooth, and you're a need to know kinda guy, it's perfect." Sasuke still wasn't sure. He supposed a job was the first thing he needed if he wanted to get off the streets, not to mention it was late fall and cold. He brought his bottle of water to his lips, taking a drink give himself a second to think.
"You're going to be making six figures," she sneered, and Sasuke almost spat out his drink.
The next morning Sasuke dressed in a pair of dress slacks and a blazer he'd been presented with. The maid had brought them from Jordan's closet, and at first he'd been resistant. These were women's clothes, but they fit surprisingly well and didn't look bad on. He'd also borrowed a starched white shirt from his new housemate and standing in front of the mirror, he compared now to last night when he wore a dirty hoodie and a pair of ripped jeans.
Wandering down the hall he found Jordan stepping out of her room, dressed much the same way. She carried two ties, one she put over her own neck, a navy blue and decorated with roses, and a plain red tie, which she handed to him.
"I can't tie a tie," he replied, but she only smiled and looped it around his head for him.
"I guess I'll be teaching you a lot more than I thought hm?" She asked, making a knot and pulling it tight around his neck, "come on, we've got to get to work," she pulled away before she could see him blush.
"Karin!" Jordan screamed though the house, "you're gonna run to the store today and pick up some cloths for Sasuke!"
"Yes ma'am," the red haired girl responded, peeking around a wall her hair tied up and a jug of bleach in her hand.
"Good girl," Jordan smirked, giving the girl a hug before she left for work. He would later find out that Karin came from less than he had, Jordan had found her after she'd been kicked out of her parents house and taken her home. The girl hadn't cared for business, and that was fine as long as the house stayed clean. Besides, it kept the both of them from living alone.
The car was in the same place they left it, and nothing in the cool fall morning looked out of place. Jordan drove much the same way as she had the previous night, but Sasuke was prepared. What he wasn't prepared for was the jerk they took to the right, almost unseating him as she drifted the car into a parking garage. She raced up three levels before slamming on the brakes. A young man ran from a valet booth and Jordan motioned for Sasuke to get out and they left the garage to go inside.
A man opened the front doors for them and people parted to keep from Jordan's way. Girls smiled at him and men glowered in jealousy, all eyes were on him, and he hated it. They took a glass elevator up, passing floor after floor of people working until they reached the top office.
The floors were white marble and the walls to the outside were made of glass. A receptionists desk sat in the middle of the room and beyond it was a pair of white french doors. Behind the doors was Jordan's office, large, rectangular and bright, the walls as bleach white as the flooring. An executive desk sat in the back of the room, a Victorian style, floral printed chair sat behind that.
"You're going to be observing a meeting today," Jordan smirked, pulling the chair out for him and pushing it in once he was seated. She draped her arms around his shoulders and instructed him to flick on the computer, leaning on him and the back of the chair for support. Did she have a problem with personal space or did she do this simply to make him nervous?
"Send an email to the first ten names on the list," she instructed and he did just that. He pulled herself off of him and rummaged through a desk drawer until she found a pen and a pad of paper.
"Take some notes okay?"
He nodded and a large table was wheeled into the room not a second later, butting up against the desk, and chairs brought in after, filling the room. A while later nine men filed into the room, dressed similar to himself. Jordan kicked him out of the desk, asking him to sit in the closest chair to her right. A red haired man sat across from him, thin and sickly looking, Sasuke thought him to be anemic, or deficient in something at least. This man carried nothing with him, and sat straight in the chair.
Another man sat to his right, tall and dark skinned, he had a deep voice that commanded respect and a judgmental gaze that always seemed to settle on Jordan. He had a large presence and spread out, forcing him closer to Jordan and sandwiching him between the desk and the larger man.
The last man of interest had very premature grey hair, silver almost, and a scar over his eye. He looked cheerful in a sad sort of way, his blazer jacket the color of his hair. Within the man's things, Sasuke swore he'd seen one of those erotic novels, but it was quickly shoved away into a leather bag, so he couldn't have been sure.
There was no time for pleasantries, Jordan commanded the meeting to begin right away. The tan skinned man stood up, cleared his throat and began speaking.
"So, the numbers on the expense reports I sent you are less than satisfactory. As you all know, expenses are subtracted from the overall worth of our company. To get more people to invest, we need to look better, and to do that, this debt needs to go away, and it needs to stay away," he finished, seating himself and pulling out a pen to take down ideas.
"And just how do you recommend we do that Kakuzu?"'the red haired man asked, "everyone incurs debt, even if you're just out for lunch."
"If I knew we wouldn't be having a meeting," Kakuzu sneered, seemingly discussed.
"It's not like we can just sell the debt like a mortgage, investors will see that too," the silver haired man pointed out, earning a groan.
"Just what else is there?" The red haired man spat.
"Sell it to ourselves!" Jordan piped up.
"How?"
"Very, very simple Nagato," it was Jordan's turn to sneer, "make somebody up! Somebody that works for us that isn't on payroll, we'll hide them in paperwork. We'll call him M. Yass."
"M. Yass?" Kakuzu echoed.
"Yeah! My ass!" She shouted, and the conference room burst into laughter. Kakuzu copied down a few things and the men spoke a while longer about the baseball game the previous night.
"That's why they pay me the big bucks," Jordan smirked, leaning over as the room emptied out. The maintenance men returned and took away the table and brought him the mate to the Victorian chair Jordan sat in. She asked for his notes and started reading them after he handed them over.
"See what I just did there?" She asked, a rhetorical question as always, nose down reading, " I weaseled the system around to fit my needs. A good businessman always will. Let me show you something else, this is the most important thing I'm ever going to show you."
Sasuke came around the desk to watch her pull a thin drawer out, a paper shredder built into it, and pull the waste paper basket from under the desk. She then promptly fed the small page of notes into the shredder and they were gone in seconds.
"Never, ever let anything from this room outside," she instructed, a very stern look set on her features, "shred everything, and if you don't want it stolen, don't put it in an email."
"But isn't all this, I don't know, illegal? Or at least unethical?" Sasuke thought to ask, walking around to sit down back in his chair.
"Of course it's unethical, it's also partially illegal, but no one will ever figure it out, can't be getting in trouble now can we?" Jordan leered, a strange smile on her lips.
"Just because you don't get in trouble doesn't make it right," Sasuke pointed out, she laughed.
"Hoe," she muttered, giggling and looking down to type up an email, send it and put her trash basket back in place.
"Knowing right from wrong makes me a hoe? Why's that?" Sasuke asked again, tilting his head a little in attempt to loosen his tie. He was losing patience.
"Ohh! No reason, I'm just kidding with you," she laughed, leaning back in her chair, "but really, there are two kinds of people in this world Sasuke. Those that make the money and everybody else that works for them. Which do you want to be?"
Dinner that night was peaceful. The formal dining room behind the living room, a hallway connecting the two with the kitchen. Karin had made some kind of pasta and set the table with a beautiful China set decorated with roses. Sasuke wasn't surprised, the entire house was roses.
The dish was very simple, and dinner didn't last long, allowing Sasuke to retire to his room for a little peace. He had a television mounted on the wall, a on demand movie program, and soda, meaning there wasn't a reason for him to leave the room again. He was in the middle of an action movie when something in the next room fell onto the floor and distracted him. He would have passed it off if he hadn't heard Jordan screaming.
He opened the door just in time to see a man walk down the hall, shirt unbuttoned and pants slung haphazardly onto his hips, and Jordan behind him screaming profanities, wrapped only in a white sheet.
"And don't you dare show up to work tomorrow!" Jordan screeched. She huffed then and pulled the sheet up closer to herself after noticing Sasuke.
"Sorry about that," she smiled, "go back to bed kid, it's nothing."
The raven haired boy cocked an eyebrow. She didn't even seem bothered that he'd caught her after sex with a mysterious man from work. He was about to turn and leave when he heard her footsteps coming to stop him.
"I'm sorry, I really am," she murmured, her default smile spread on her face, "I'm glad you're here to put up with me."
"It's fine," he returned. His first instinct was to back off, he wanted to just go back inside and lay back down but she had other ideas. Jordan wrapped him into a loose hug, putting both her hands on his back and pressing her face into his chest. Sasuke felt obligated to return the hug, he'd been raised with good manners, so even though he didn't want to, he wrapped his arms around her too. She was warm and the sheet felt smooth, much to his surprise, but it only took a few seconds for him to realize he wasn't touching the sheet, he was touching the bare skin of her mid back.
"The sheet fell," she giggled and pulled away, folding her left arm to shield her breasts, "remember, eyes are up here," she smirked, putting her finger under his chin to tilt his head up.
"Sorry about this too," she laughed, harder than she should have as she picked up the sheet, "okay, well, I'm going to get some cloths on and make tea, wanna join me? "
Sasuke wanted to say no, but she cut him off before he could so much as speak.
"Oh, come on, go sit at the table I'll be out in just a second," she insisted, so he took his not so happy ass to the dining room. When Jordan joined him, she'd found a pair of pink pajama pants and an old t-shirt he suspected had belonged to her ex-husband, seeing as it hung off of her like it would a clothesline. She spent some time making the tea and set his in front of him.
"Big surprise right? The cups match the everything?" She giggled, and in fact the cups were also decorated with roses.
"I like roses. There's so many different kinds that symbolize so many different things. Do you know what this light pink means?" She asked, thumbing over a beautiful blooming rose on the cup, her finger reddening with the temperature of the porcelain.
Of course Sasuke did not.
"A lot of people say it means admiration, but do you know what admiration really is? It's lust. Pink roses are my favorite, and they should be your favorite too," she sneered, taking a drink of her tea. He was sure she burned her tongue.
"Why do you say admiration is lust?" Sasuke asked, looking up from his steaming cup.
"Because when you see something beautiful, do you think 'my gosh how lovely!' Or do you think, 'my gosh! I want it!'? You're human, you say the later, maybe not right away, it might take you years, but one day, you find yourself remembering it and you always do remember it," she mused.
Jordan talked a lot but spoke very little. She was social and friendly, but crewel all the same. She seemed so unsuspecting, she smiled all the time, because what did she have to be sad about? But seconds later she'd be running around the law and commanding a group of men, no, a company, twice her size. Whatever she wanted, she got.
"Even more so, Americans equate beauty with want. I don't want to look at a new house unless I want one, I don't want to look at flowers unless I can buy them. People don't speak beauty to appreciate it, they seek it to buy it. People don't want to admire things, they just want them, and that is lust."
Sasuke considered it all for a moment and giving it time to sink in and think about it before he spoke, "I disagree."
She raised her eyebrows, as if to provoke him to speak.
"Just because I can appreciate snake skin doesn't mean I want a snake," he pointed out, but she only shrugged her shoulders.
"You'll understand, eventually," she said flatly, taking another sip of her tea. It wasn't that he didn't understand, he didn't agree, but keeping his mouth shut was better than telling her that.
It was his turn to sip his tea, letting silence settle over the dimly lit home.
"You remember Kakuzu from the meeting?" She asked, rhetorically this time, "would it be okay if I set you up to work with him tomorrow? I need to do something outside the office."
"That's fine," he returned, knowing she'd already done it. He didn't want to, but now he had no choice. Chalk it up to experience he decided.
"Try and leave me out of conversation, okay kiddo? He's my ex-husband, and he's still pretty sore about the 'ex' part," she laughed, downed the rest of her tea and took care of her cup. She returned briefly to give him a tight hug from behind, pressing her breasts into his back and letting her fingers linger on his chest. Her last move was to give him a sloppy kiss on the cheek, and then she was gone, leaving him to wipe the saliva from his skin.
Jesus, she irked him! This was all fine and dandy but the streets had been far less annoying than his housemate. She was forward, loud and overly affectionate, not to mention all the annoying questions she answered herself. Why bother? Why would be so touchy feely with him? Unless...
Of course girls in his school years had thrown themselves at his feet, asking for him for a date, a relationship and so on, but Jordan wasn't asking. Jordan was telling him. And he was completely uninterested in all of it.
Sasuke finished his tea and took care of his cup, almost fallowing in her foot steps as he made his way to her door. No light shone from the crack underneath. He took a hold of the knob softly, not wanting it wake her but he seriously doubted she was asleep. Slowly and without sound, he turned the handle and found it unlocked. She was waiting for him inside, but he wouldn't give her the satisfaction. With a smirk, he headed back to his own room and locking his own door.
