The girl pushed her beer glass aside before stubbing out her cigarette on the heavy oak bar top. The pub was heavy with the scent of sweat and alcohol, the lingering smoke on her breath not enough to detract from the sticky sweetness of it. The place was rammed, full of middle-aged men, all of them shouting at a six-inch television screen in a far corner where the sound of a football match blared. Did her contacts always have to meet her in such fucking seedy settings, she wondered as she, in vain, tried to prevent the foul stench of the place from penetrating her lungs. Her hand itched to pull her revolver from its holster under her clothes as she felt yet another clammy hand pinch her bum. One more swig of beer did nothing to calm her frazzled nerves. She hated to be kept waiting. Especially in such a public place. She had chosen a seat at the bar nearest the doorway but if anyone recognized her, escape was unlikely with so many people around. The girl reached again for the cigarette packet in her coat pocket before remembering it was empty. When the hell, she asked herself, was this bastard going to show? She couldn't afford to wait much longer - the football match was almost over and the crowd would likely pay more attention to the pretty young girl drinking alone at the bar.
"Sakura? You're Sakura, right?" She jumped in surprise, whipping her head around to find the source of the noise.
The man shouting her name over the noise was nothing like her usual contacts, she thought, as she struggled to keep her jaw from hitting the floor in surprise. People in his line of work weren't often blessed with such startling good looks - and in a line of work where blending in was crucial, the attractive ones didn't often make it far. His bright blue eyes and shock of messy blonde hair had him marked as a liability. Sakura needed to make this as quick as possible.
"Keep your voice down, idiot! Do you want every greasy pig in here to know my name?"
He grinned, flashing perfect white teeth, and continued to talk to Sakura like she was at at the other end of the bar, projecting his voice so far and wide she could have sworn he was doing it on purpose.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Naruto!", he yelled, before taking her hand in his with a vice-like grip and shaking it violently, "and you must be Sakura! You're pretty hot for a contract killer, is that pink hair natural? What brings you into this line of work? Not exactly the best career choice for a chick like you, is it?" His goofy smile stretched a mile wide, but there was something behind it, a look in his eyes, that she didn't trust. She couldn't read him, and it was unsettling. Infuriating. Anger she had been holding back for the last half hour as she waited for him to arrive expanded in the pit of her belly, driven by her fear of being recognised. And this homecoming king, fucking jock douchebag was about to feel the brunt of her fury.
"Hey, prick," Sakura exuded rage through every pore in her body. "If you don't shut the fuck up right now, I'll pull out my revolver and blow you a brand new, gaping wide asshole. I don't give a shit if you have information I want - right now you're this close drawing attention to us which is the last thing on this god-damned earth I need right now! So sit the hell down, get yourself a drink, tell me what I want to know and then kindly leave me the fuck alone before I kick your perfect teeth in. Got it?"
Her loss of temper didn't have the desired effect. Naruto sat down on the stool next to hers and ordered a gin and tonic, but he was grinning like a jack-o-lantern as he did. He took a few small sips of the drink before turning to her. The grin still hadn't faded.
"I underestimated you, Sakura!" His voice was quieter now, but he still shone with enthusiasm which made her bristle with irritation. "You've got a real attitude, don't you?" His smile widened. "That's a real turn-on, you know?"
"So now you're trying to pick me up?" Sakura scoffed, looking at him with disdain. "I'll tell you now, I'm not that kind of girl. My business is my life, and I certainly wouldn't want to jeopardise my professionalism with a misogynist dickhead like you."
"Okay, okay, I can take a hint. You're not that keen on me. No need to rub it in though. Rejection stings, especially from a hottie like you." Naruto chuckled. "So down to business then. What sort of information do you want?"
Sakura skulled the rest of her beer, resisting with all her might the temptation to smack this narcissistic asshole upside his head before answering his question.
"Tell me, Naruto. You ever heard of the Rogue Shinobi?
Sakura sat at her desk, hair pulled back from her face in a tight bun. It was a quiet day at work, and with an hour to kill before her lunch break, she was at a loose end. She reached into her top drawer and took out a bottle of dusty pink nail polish, preceding to carefully varnish her nails with it. The date she had planned for that evening was wrecking havoc with her nerves, but Ino insisted she had to play the field more, and Sakura knew better than anyone that Ino never took no for an answer. The guy, a friend from the gym who Ino insisted was "the hottest thing since cowgirl style" would likely be all brawn and no brains, but Sakura would give it a go. If she had to sacrifice her dignity by pretending to be interested in another sweaty, muscly metrosexual for one night, she could do it, much to her chagrin, in the name of friendship. Ino was the only true friend she had, and Sakura couldn't find it in herself to let the bossy blonde down.
The phone rang, startling her out of her reverie. The nail varnish bottle slipped through her fingers and flew across the keyboard, staining it with sticky pink fluid.
"Motherfucker!" She cussed in a brief loss of self-control before pulling herself together, grabbing a few tissues and rubbing them frantically at the keyboard as she picked up the telephone.
"Hello, you have reached Konoha Advertising Agency's presidential secretary, Sakura Haruno. How can I help you?"
The line was bad - she could hear crackles and a faint echo of her own voice before the caller began speaking. "Could you put me through to the president?" A scratchy, breathy male voice that made her skin crawl. Unsettled, Sakura took a moment to compose herself before replying.
"Certainly. Can I have your name, sir?"
The man breathed a loud sigh before answering. "Is it really any of your business, girl?"
"Yes, I'm afraid I can't put you through until your name is approved on my reference list, sir. It's company protocol."
"Screw company protocol. I need to talk to the president right now, it's a matter of urgency. So hurry up, you stupid girl - make it happen. I'm a very busy man."
Sakura got difficult clients from time to time. It was something she didn't look forward to, especially while she was desperately dabbing pink goo off her keyboard. Her adoptive parents had given her a reserved upbringing - it was in her nature to be calm and easy-going. Situations that required her to be assertive were always difficult to handle. So Sakura did the only thing any meek personal secretary would do in her situation: she called out to her boss for help.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was a force to be reckoned with in the business world, but he also had a granddaughter about Sakura's age, which had given him a soft spot for the young secretary. He had a tendency to cater to her every beck and call. Sakura was unaware of the power she had over him, and always appeared surprised when he was so compliant with her requests. This time, though, she seemed a bit distracted. Sakura was wiping at her keyboard as she held the phone to her ear, telling the person on the other line to hold before covering the receiver with her tissue-filled hand as he neared her desk.
"Sarutobi, I have an apparent international man of mystery on the phone who needs to speak with you but is unable to give me his name. And now he's even resorting to abusing me! Take him off my hands? Please?"
"Put him through to my office, Sakura." Sarutobi couldn't fight back a smile. "I'll deal with him."
"Thank you so much!" She beamed radiantly at him as he retreated back into his office. "Cry out for help if he's too vicious with you?"
Sarutobi was still grinning as he closed the door. Sakura was a sweet girl, he thought wistfully. Christmas was closing in and he reminded himself to pick up something nice for her - perhaps chocolates - before letting let out a deep sigh, preparing himself for the voracious ear-bashing he was likely to recieve from some self-important windbag.
"Hello, Hiruzen Sarutobi speaking".
"Hello, Sarutobi."
The raspy voice of the man on the other line sent shivers down Sarutobi's spine. This was a call much more dreaded than any self-important windbag. This was a call from the devil himself. Sarutobi steeled himself.
"What an unexpected pleasure, Orochimaru."
"The Rogue Shinobi, huh?" Naruto's cheeky disposition seemed to vanish into thin air. "Yeah, I know about him. Who doesn't, in this business. What do you want me to tell you?"
"I've heard you're an expert on tracking. How can I find him? Can you help me?" Sakura fought to keep the desperation out of her voice.
Naruto cackled before turning to look her in the eye. She sensed a hint of pity in his voice as he answered. "Because you want to take him out? Don't be stupid, Sakura. So many people have tried and died in the process. A girl like you wouldn't be able to do anything on her own." A sigh escaped his lips before he took another drink from his glass. "He must have hurt you in the past, right? But the chase isn't worth it. Go home. I'm telling you this for your own good."
The anger she had tried so hard to restrain since her previous outburst exploded in Naruto's face. Sakura's hand gripped the front of his shirt before he could evade it, and she pulled him down to her level, ready to spit words of venom at him until he gave her what she wanted most. But a hand, which forced its way between Sakura and Naruto, roughly taking hold of Sakura's wrist, stopped her in her tracks.
"Is everything okay here?"
The man whose hand wound around her thin wrist like a snake stared down into her face with a knowing look in his eye. A glint of recognition. Sakura started.
"Everything's fine, man. I got a little fresh with this hot little lady and she didn't take kindly is all." Naruto drawled. "Thanks for having my back though, I appreciate it. But we can sort things out between ourselves like adults."
"With all due respect sir, I don't think you're quite aware of who you're dealing with." The man replied, removing his hand slowly from Sakura's wrist. A red hot mark lingered, and she rested it against Naruto's gin glass to cool the sharp sting. Her heart was beating at a mile a minute. This guy knew her. And Naruto hadn't a clue what was going on.
"This little lady isn't any ordinary girl. I'd watch your back if I were you, blondie."
"She sure is a firecracker, isn't she." Naruto was smiling, but it didn't reach his eyes. The thick shit was finally catching on. Poor guy was out of his depth here, thought Sakura, reminding herself once again to cut him loose first chance she got. If they made it out of the pub in one piece.
"She sure is," the stranger began again, and he was enjoying making Sakura squirm - she could see it in the way he grinned, showing yellowed teeth, before licking his lips, a wolf ready to devour her. "She's been plastered all over the news for the last three months. She may look like a beauty queen but she's in fact a notorious femme fatale."
"Oh yeah?" A nervous giggle escaped Naruto as he looked back and forth between Sakura, staring at the red mark that still ran around her wrist, and the stranger, who leered down at both of them like they were naughty kids caught in the act. "Why is that?"
"Hasn't she told you? I guess you wouldn't, in her situation. Isn't that right, girly?" The man's shit-eating grin grew wider until it spanned his entire face, twisting his waxy features into an eerie expression."I wouldn't tell a soul if it was me. But I'm certainly not that savage."
Naruto frowned in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"Blondie, this beauty here is wanted on three counts of first-degree murder."
It all seemed to happen in slow-motion after the revelation. Naruto's mouth opened wide enough to catch a fly as he stared at Sakura incredulously. Sakura reached down her front to pull the silver revolver from the hidden holster under her baggy white sweater dress. The stranger stood there basking in his own cleverness, his own perceived intelligence, grinning oafishly, until three bullets penetrated his abdomen. Blood spread over the front of his white shirt as his knees buckled under his weight.
"Run! Naruto!" He hardly had time to shut his mouth before the pair of them were up like a shot, exiting the bar through the front door, and breaking into a run through the thick, heavy snow that covered the earth outside.
It was Christmas Eve.
hey guys :)
This is my first ever published story so please review and tell me what you think :) I intended it to read like a classic Tarantino film - the timeline flits back and forth between different events. I think this really adds to the suspense and mystery of a story and that's why I love Tarantino so damn much.
The present-day Sakura is a bit OOC but this will be explained later on - her character changes because of a series of events in the past.
There is going to be a romance storyline later on but no spoilers ;)
I hope you guys enjoy xoxo