Disclaimer: If Naruto belonged to most of us, it most certainly would not be rated for kids.
Title: Humanity
Author: curtainsfall
Genre: Angst
Pairing: not really one, but if you want to believe there is
Rating: M for death and mature themes(?)
Summary: ANBU should not get sidetracked on an assignment. They might forget what it is they're really trying to protect.
Neither of them really knew the man's name. Or any other information besides the target marked on his head.
Well, of course Sasuke did, but he memorized mission scrolls like Naruto slurped miso ramen: religiously.
So when Naruto delivered the fatal blow that severed the man's body in two and blood began pooling at his feet and all over the little cottage beside the river, he didn't feel anything. He didn't see anything else besides the accomplishment of a mission and an end to a weeks' worth of following a nameless face around with a frigid partner.
Speaking of which...
Naruto wondered where Sasuke was as he dragged the body—what was left of it—outside for disposal. He'd been on enough of these missions to hear Sasuke's "wood-cottage-plus-fire-equals-bad" lecture enough to make him scream. Naruto disposed of the body, taking care to conceal any flame or smoke that may have slipped into the cloudy sky.
Quietly, he slipped back into the cottage, scanning for a familiar pulse of chakra. He found Sasuke standing in front of the pool of blood, staring at it intently. Naruto took notice of the Sharingan spinning languidly. He didn't think it was out of relaxation.
"We should head back before the rain hits." Naruto spoke softly, silently stepping behind his friend. He realized Sasuke was holding some sort of a picture in his hand, the wooden frame threatening to fall from the loose grip.
Naruto grabbed the picture and couldn't help but feel his chest just slightly tighten when he saw the dead man, healthy and smiling, with his arms around a woman and child. I guess he had a family. Naruto noted, but kept his mind from wandering too far down the path of sympathy or regret. He tried to remember what little he read from the scroll. Terrorizing travelers. Killing children. Starving the parents.
Sasuke was still unmoving in his spot, Sharingan still spinning. Naruto wasn't sure what to make of the stoic male; it wasn't as if they hadn't done an assassination before.
Finally, Sasuke's head turned to meet Naruto, who barely reacted when he saw blood splashed on the side of the ANBU mask that had been previously turned away from him. Naruto narrowed his eyes when he realized the blood wasn't from the drying clumps on the wooden floor.
"Was there someone else here?" Naruto asked quietly, arm barely moving as he reached for his katana again. Sasuke barely shook his head and brushed passed the confused blonde, walking further into the cottage. It seemed small on the outside, and Naruto didn't get the chance to see the other rooms; he saw the target and went for him.
Naruto could barely see anything that wasn't Sasuke's white vest as he followed it down a small hallway into the bedroom. The windows were painted over, but there were lines of light showing through that Naruto first thought were due to a poor painting job, but upon closer inspection, realized the lines through the paint were made by fingernail scratches.
He grunted when Sasuke tossed something at his gut. He instinctively caught it as it bounced off, glaring through the holes in his mask. Wordlessly, Sasuke nodded at the object.
It was a packet of blood.
It was the kind of plastic packet that hospitals used for transfusions, and by the feel of it, hadn't been refrigerated. He looked up and found five more or so piled in the middle of the room at Sasuke's feet. One had apparently been squeezed too tightly and was ripped open. Naruto guessed that was how Sasuke was half covered in blood. Again, Sasuke nodded at the packet.
Naruto looked back down at the container of blood. He flipped it over, trying to read the dirty label.
"A pint of blood and an extra week every time I see a dead child reported.
One pint from: Shizuka"
Naruto was still confused, but slowly beginning to formulate a sickening theory. He looked back up at Sasuke, who tossed him another packet. The label said the same thing, but the name was different: "Ichiro."
Sasuke held up a piece of paper in his hand, and Naruto quickly stepped across the room to take it. He placed the packets of blood back on the pile. The same picture Sasuke had been holding earlier was now printed on the sheet of paper, followed by a note addressed to "Hiroyuki," which Naruto dimly registered must've been the target's name.
"For squandering your family's money on gambling, let's make a bet: if you can kill enough families, I'll give Shizuka and Ichiro an extra week to live. Their blood will give you hope."
And that was it.
Naruto vainly scanned the short letter again for anything else. He looked at the back, turned it around, upside down, and tried to read it backwards for anything else. He looked up to meet Sasuke's still-spinning Sharingan and felt his stomach drop.
There was something else.
Naruto wasn't sure if he wanted to know, so he clenched his eyes shut and shoved the letter back into Sasuke's hands. He turned away and clenched his fists at his sides, trying to force air back into his lungs. He wished Sasuke hadn't shown him any of this. He wished Sasuke didn't have that fucking keen sense of his to snoop around the cottage.
A cool hand cupped the back of Naruto's head, fingers rifling through the tangles and sweat-soaked clumps. The humidity was rising and there was barely any ventilation in the cottage at all. They could've been halfway home by now; at this rate, the rain would slow their progress and flash floods were common in the area.
The hand suddenly jerked Naruto's head back, and he opened his eyes to glare at the figure before him. Sasuke still retained that sense of apathetic calmness, but the Sharingan was spinning faster now, making Naruto dizzier the longer he glared at them. Sasuke held out his bloody hand, palm facing Naruto, and shoved it in his face.
Disgruntled and getting more and more pissed off, Naruto lifted an irritated eyebrow. He was debating whether or not to just leave Sasuke behind and go back to Konoha without him.
"Smell this, moron."
It was the first thing he'd said since entering the cottage, and it was the strangest. Naruto was going to give him the finger just to spite him, but nevertheless did as he was told. After a moment, he drew back, face scrunched up in thought.
The blood didn't smell right.
Granted, blood rarely ever "smelled right" when it was presented before him, but Naruto couldn't quite say why this particular blood smelled even weirder than usual. It felt like when he woke up from a dream; he could barely hang on to the traces as it was disappearing. It reminded him of the barbecue house everyone would party at sometimes, whether after a successful mission or for someone's birthday. It kinda smelled like...
"Pig's blood?!" Naruto nearly screeched as he clamped down on the realization, eyes wide as he stared at Sasuke's retreating hand. The other wordlessly glared back down at the pile of packets at their feet. Naruto followed his gaze, mind reeling and gut churning. "Wha--"
"They're probably already dead," Sasuke said tonelessly, "but I found disturbed piles of dirt outside in the back. That's probably where he buried the travelers."
Naruto turned to the painted windows as if trying to see past the inky panes and into the forest outside.
Burying a body meant remorse.
Regret.
And the man—Hiroyuki—had continued to kill people in the blind hope his family was still alive.
The rain was beginning to come down in heavy drops, signaling their need to depart. There was nothing else they could do, even if Naruto thought—wanted—otherwise. The finality of Sasuke's voice confirmed it. Naruto cast a lingering glance outside the windows he couldn't see through and wondered if he could continue doing this job.
Silently, the ANBU slipped from the house and into the pouring rain.
End.