The lights made her skin shine like the softest leather; the smoothest gold. Her hips swayed and rolled as she rose and fell against the pole. The stainless steel was cold against her warm skin, and sent chills down the back of her neck. She tossed her jet-black hair and sent him a wink.
All the stages were empty and dark, all except for one. The bar was vacant and all the seats were upturned atop the tables. The vixen's only observer was the head hitman himself, Hidan: Akatsuki.
"You think you know what you're doin' Bitch?" Hidan pointed at the woman's platinum heels on the stage. "Your feet are still on the floor."
Upon request, she groped the pole high, and hoisted herself into the air and sent herself spinning, flexing her stomach to remain in motion.
"Oh damn." Hidan took another gulp from the bottle of vodka in his hand. His deep magenta eyes watching her every move.
When her arms were about to give out, she let herself drop, and licked the gleaming metal pole, revealing the stud in her tongue. Hidan stood up from the black velvet couch, bottle still in-hand, and beckoned her down from the stage.
"Is that your stage uniform?" He asked, eyes aimed at her bubbly breasts.
She nodded and giggled, reaching behind her head to untie the halter to her glossy black bikini. Her breasts fell exposed, and Hidan set the near-empty bottle on the stage, leaning into her. He stroked the sides of her hourglass frame and took in her scent.
His touch was so light, the way his fingertips brushed her skin made her weak. She leaned her elbows on the stage, and let her head fall back, as his lips pressed to her collarbone.
The double doors across the room swung open; in walked a greasy-haired redhead with a facefull of piercings. His arms swung heavy at his sides- fists clenched. He felt uncomfortable in the suit he was wearing.
"Hey, asshole." Pain called, heading for his subordinate. "Don't you have work to do?"
Hidan ignored him, for the moment- murmuring sweet, seductive words into the performer's ear. She bit her lip hungrily.
"I said-" Pain reached Hidan, and gave his shoulder a shove, "You have work to do."
"What the fuck, man?" Hidan growled.
"Kakuzu's waiting. Make it quick, our window isn't as large as it was last time." Pain eyed the topless stripper before him, scoffed. "She's not supposed to play with customers."
"Who says I'm a customer?" Hidan smirked, "I'm a friend."
Pain rolled his eyes, "Get to work, dickbag." And left as quick as he came.
The girl Hidan had been toying with helped herself to the remaining vodka. Hidan watched her, and sighed.
She puckered her lips, "You have to go?"
"Yeah." He ran a hand through his slick silver hair. Then, from the pocket of his silk shirt, he pulled a folded hundred-dollar bill. Taking a few glances around him, he slipped it to her hand, and whispered, "Don't tell nobody, or you're a dead bitch."
He swiped his jacket from the couch, and headed out the double doors, around the corner to the elevator. Thoughts of what the next few hours could bring made Hidan's head throb like mad.
Fuck it all. Those asshats don't need me for this job. This is such bullshit.
From the inner sleeve of his jacket, he pulled a cigarette and a lighter. As the elevator doors closed behind him, he let off the first breath. The fresh smoke cooled his head.
From F.13 to B1 the elevator slid, and with each passing floor, more grey clouds shrouded the air around him. Hidan tapped his foot anxiously. His cigarette was already half gone when the doors opened to the basement. It wasn't so much a basement, as it was a parking garage. Guest parking, employee parking, and of course, their loading dock.
Kakuzu's windowless black SUV was waiting at the exit of the garage. As Hidan stepped out, and sucked back the last of his cigarette, Kakuzu and Itachi climbed out of the SUV.
Itachi crossed his arms across his chest tightly, and eyed Kakuzu. Kakuzu was a big man. Easily 7 clicks above Hidan. The scars around his jaw and lips puffed out when he clenched his teeth.
"Hidan, you-"
"Shut your fuckhole, I'm here. Let's just get it done." Hidan threw the end of his dying cigarette to the concrete, and smashed it with his shoe. "Where are we going?"
Itachi replied, "Eastern district. We have to make it quick."
"What are we moving?" Hidan asked as they all loaded up into the SUV. The other two took the front; Kakuzu at the wheel. Hidan cupped his hands around his eyes in attempt to check out the cargo past the tinted glass behind the back seat.
"It's an exchange. Madara doesn't want to pull out another loan, so we're trading booze." Itachi was just as thrilled to be there as Hidan was.
"The cheap shit, I hope."
Kakuzu started the vehicle, and took the up ramp to the street parallel to Dawn's Rise. If it wasn't for Konan's business upstairs, they'd still be operating out of the dank Warehouse 6. Which was right next to Warehouse 7. It was better for everybody that the Akatsuki relocated to the inner city.
Hidan was starting to feel neglected, sitting in the back seat as he was. His foot started to bounce and his fingers tapped restlessly against the padded leather seats. Another three blocks passed. The high rises and corporate towers were soon replaced by short, dull, manufacturing plants and crusty brick complexes as they approached the edge of the city. It was familiar territory, but that didn't mean it was safe.
"Why isn't the shark coming along?" Hidan asked.
"Said he wasn't feeling friendly today." Kakuzu puffed, shifting to a lower gear as the SUV creeped through the chain link fence to the docks.
"Fuck him, seriously? Jashin help us all."
"I thought your god wasn't the helping sort." Itachi snickered.
"It's worth asking every once in a while. Damn, especially going on jobs with you two." Hidan rolled his eyes, pushing back the images of their countless mishaps and unexpected negotiations.
They're just too stubborn. Hell, I can be stubborn- but there's a time to be smart about shit and let the other guy have it. At least it's only an exchange this time. Dealin's already been done.
The headlights' glow illuminated three figures in the night, just outside of Warehouse 7. Two men and one woman. Zabuza, Jinpachi, Ameyuri. Kakuzu stopped the car, and made sure to turn off the interior lights before sticking a handgun from the console in his back pocket as he stepped out. Itachi almost always went without a gun, but Hidan knew better. He reached into the console and pulled out another semi-automatic, and stashed it in the secret pocket inside of his leather jacket.
Hidan stepped out, and stood beside his comrades at the hood of the car. It was dark, but not impossible to see. A street lamp ten feet away and a dinky old light on the warehouse gave fair visibility.
"Can we make this quick? I have a bed I'd rather be in." The girl, 25, decked in denim spitefully requested.
"Got a fuck waiting for you or something?" Hidan chuckled, imagining the curvaceous redhead between his own sheets, only for an instant.
"No. Sleeping, you pervert." She snapped.
Itachi coughed, but Hidan could tell it was cover for a chuckle. Kakuzu took no humor. He never did.
One of the others spoke, "Before we do the exchange, I have a few inquiries."
It was Zabuza, the most social of the 7 Gunmen. All negotiations went through him, and his orders were stone solid.
"What questions do you have?" Kakuzu's hoarse voice broke the momentary silence between the parties.
"Have any of you heard anything about the Sound 5lately?"
Hidan scrunched his face; it wasn't the sort of question he was expecting. The clients weren't interested in the merch. But he honestly knew nothing.
Itachi looks to both Hidan and Kakuzu. Receiving no response, he replied, "Not really, no."
"That's the concerning part, am I right?" The third voice, Jinpachi, finally spoke up.
The Akatsuki three stayed quiet. Hidan shifted his weight under his feet, smearing the gravel below.
"No activity. For 2 months." Jinpachi continued, "Odd, isn't it?"
"Ain't my business-" Hidan hissed.
"You're right- it isn't your business, but it might be. We've heard rumors." Ameyuri's voice burst.
"What kind of rumors?" Kakuzu scoffed. He never was one to believe gossip. It was a petty pastime in his mind.
"They're gone."
"Gone?"
"Gone."
"Like…" Hidan smirked in the dark, "Somebody finally ganked them all?"
Ameyuri flared her nostrils back at him, "Listen to yourself. All of them? Who would be able to pick them off all at the same time?"
Kakuzu had been contemplating the idea, "You think maybe mutiny?"
"No, they're too collectively driven." Zabuza, shirtless as always in a pair of rugged jeans, leans away from the side of Warehouse 7, "We think there's a bigger fish out there."
"Why are you asking us?" Itachi asked. "You think we did this?"
"Not at all." Zabuza was quick to answer. "Just think we should keep our ears open."
The questions were cut short after that. I occurred to Hidan, Itachi, and Kakuzu, that some other force was at work. The Sound 5 were consistent with their work. Never any unusual breaks or sprees. Odd was… the softest way of putting it. It was unsettling. The most notorious team of killers- just… vanished.
This story is something I've never done before, both in POV style and in category. Never completed an Alternate Universe Fic before, but this one has me really excited. First Chapter is the Beta test. Yay or Nay?
~NaomiSpice