Summary: ANBU is the division responsible for rescuing people from human trafficking, finding homes for those subdued to a hopeless life to feed crime and drug-lords. Sasuke Uchiha was the best agent of his time and he had a mission he couldn't fail: save a boy named Naruto Uzumaki, the key to a past he couldn't unfold.
General Warnings: violence, prostitution, abuse, alcohol, drugs, sexual intercourse, death, human trafficking, age gap, my first attempt of Drama.
Betaed by ~breather s2
Chapter 1 – The silent plea.
Naruto gave up.
A strangled groan left his lips when his body was hit with a crowbar once again. He knew it would happen to him someday; after all, an orphan street rat like him wouldn't survive for long.
The kid didn't feel his body, just pain and dullness, he was losing his consciousness. He felt relief when everything stopped and the dark consumed him. He no longer had to ache.
The tears were fresh on his dirtied face, trails of frustration and anger.
The rain had stopped and the night sky was bright with the stars rivalling the city's lights.
No one would look two men carrying a kid's body, not in that part of town. People had to survive, little ones depended on them to eat, and it was already hard enough to care for themselves.
The police force was weak and wrecked with corruption, unable to survive on its own. Rich people in downtown needed protection more than the poor souls on the suburbs.
Every other day, a child would disappear from the streets they lived in. It was relief to those who suffered from their crimes; one less pair of hungry eyes begging them, no need to worry with the brat that pickpocketed their wallet or their phones. They were old enough to understand their actions and pay for their crimes, so dying because of their lifestyle was almost a blessing to the city.
…
Blue eyes opened again.
A growl of pain when his body protested to move.
He was inside a cage, like the animal he was.
Naruto embraced his fate without struggling, differently from the crying kids on the other cages, yelling and banging the steel bars like it would give them a chance to escape. Naruto knew what they would get from all that noise: a shot in the head and a ticket straight to hell.
He didn't flinch when a gun was fired.
Silence.
Living on the streets for as long as he remembered provided Naruto the chance to know things about the world people assumed were tales. He knew what was going to happen to him.
If he were lucky, prostitution.
If he wasn't, ripped open to get his organs and then left behind to bleed to death.
The little kids could still hope to be taken to a rich family, live a worthy life and pretend they didn't remember about that. It happened to one in every few thousand, but it was a better hope than for him, a 14 years old brat.
Naruto was feeling optimistic at the moment. A life as prostitute would give him a few years before he died of a STD or was murdered on the streets. He could still hope to get some rich bastard's attention and live like a personal sex slave. It was his best shot. There was no dignity, but he would survive. He could take a bit of pain in the ass for a warm plate of food and shelter against the rain and drunkards.
The smell of blood and vomit and death didn't upset his stomach. He had lived in a box in an ally that smelled the same. 'It is almost like home,' he thought sarcastically, feeling his body rocking with the movements of the vehicle that transported them.
He was no more than one of a load of animals, ready for slaughter.
Closing his eyes and letting his body rest, Naruto had no thoughts about future, past or present.
He knew this would happen to him, sooner or later.
…
When his final destination came, three days later with minimal water and no food, the children were divided in lines and chained to each other. The older kids knew what awaited them, but the younger ones still cried and pissed themselves in fear.
It was obvious to Naruto which group of children was fated to death and which group was fated to a beautiful lie. The inferior ones, those missing limbs, those blinded, those rejected and defected, died first. The plain ones, like himself, who could do one thing or another, went into prostitution, child pornography, or slave work. The better-looking ones, toddlers and babies, who had been fed and changed were the lucky ones going to a home.
The moment he was chained into the middle group, Naruto knew his fate was sealed, no hope, no dreams, no illusions.
He patiently waited for the gates of the trucks to open so they could be transported to their final destination. A brothel, a pimp, a field, an owner, it would all mean the same in the end. Naruto knew he would have to bite his tongue if he wanted to survive, to drop his head and obey.It shouldn't be that difficult.
A gun pressing against his back shoved him inside another truck that would bring him right to the person responsible for himself and a few more kids. A few would die on the way, others killed for disobedience, and yet more by the labor itself.
Naruto didn't care. He denied the tears rolling down his face, denied his fears, denied his trembling body, denied his dark thoughts, the shadows, the silence. He denied it all.
He would be dead on the inside the moment the cart was reopened.
The bright lights of the day would burn his eyes and his soul, making him a living corpse.
And he was right.
When the doors opened and the strong rays of sun invaded the dark box, he waited for the yelled commands, some from other languages, shoving him to what awaited the boy. He waited and waited, but only silence greeted him.
He opened his eyes and saw a mass of people in black uniforms, masks of animals on their faces. Naruto wondered whether he was dead, dreaming, or hallucinating with fever or any other disease he might have. It couldn't be true, his eyes had to be lying.
A man with a fox mask destroyed his chains and helped him to his feet, dragging him out of the dark box that had confined him for hours. His legs hurt and he could barely stand on his own, but he followed the man to another area.
There was a mess of dead corpses on the ground, blood, bones and the smell of gunfire in the air. His body shook as he felt more tears coming to him.
The man removed his mask and wrapped the boy's small body in a blanket, his black eyes promising things Naruto refused to believe. Big lies like 'everything will be fine' and 'nothing bad will happen.'
Naruto jerked his gaze away, refusing to look into those dark eyes any longer, horribly familiar eyes that he shouldn't, couldn't, remember, but somehow did. No, he was crazy and delirious, high from the hunger and herbs.
The man held his shaking body close to him, lifting him over his shoulder to carry him out to a secluded area. The other people continued their work, feeding and saving the children from their confinement and cruel ending.
Women and men carefully took the children, wrapped them in blankets, fed and held them, and then placed them on a small truck, where they were cleaned and treated with the few resources they had.
Naruto didn't let the man go, not even after being treated and cleaned. He needed someone and that man with dark eyes was the right person for him. His blue eyes begged him not to let go, not to leave him.
Traveling to an unknown destination, Naruto sobbed with the other's arms around him.
For the first time in all his life, he hoped.
A silent plea begged for his world to change.