A threeshot. This one's heavily influenced by Supernatural.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Supernatural.
Pairing: ItaSaku
Rated: T for Language
He glanced out the window as they finally exited Suna City, or as he'd dubbed it, Hell, and pulled a map out of his pack.
"So, what now?" His partner asked as she drove towards the highway. "Kusa?"
Itachi's eyes zeroed in on the circled name on the map, and he nodded while going through Kisame's notes once again. "Yep."
"Anything special?"
"Haunted Temple, from the looks of it. Missing people, screams at night."
"What do you think?" She asked, eyeing the burger joint up ahead.
"I think it probably is a ghost. A pretty violent one at that." He told her as she pulled over next to the joint.
"Hold that thought. Be right back," she sang and hopped out of the car, rushing into the building to grab their lunch.
"Jashin, huh?" Sakura murmured as they entered Kusa. It was a big city, but nothing compared to Konoha or even Suna. "I guess we should prepare ourselves then. Who's our contact?"
"A good friend of Kisame's, apparently. Name's Kakuzu."
"What-Stitches?" Itachi turned to look at her in mild surprise.
"You know him?"
"Yeah, I met him once or twice as a kid. A total grump, that one. I'm surprised he's still alive." Her partner snorted at her blunt comments but his phone rang before he could say anything. She grimaced when he took one look at the screen and groaned, pulling over without a word. Itachi got out of the car and took a deep breath before answering.
"Hello?"
"Son." He flinched at the harsh tone before squaring his shoulders once again.
"Father. How are you?"
"When are you coming home? Your Mother is worried."
"This Christmas. You know I always visit during the holidays."
"You know that's not what I meant, Itachi."
"And you know my answer won't change, Father. This is my job-this is my life now. I'm not going to change my mind."
"Driving around in that beat up mini-van is your life now?" He could almost hear Sakura's indignant response to that. She really did love the mini-van.
"No-hunting monsters, saving people. That's my life." He clenched his jaw when his father snorted at the reply.
"The offer won't stand forever, son. And you will get bored eventually." Not likely, but his father didn't seem to understand that.
"Goodbye, Father." He wasn't surprised when his father hung up instead of responding.
"I see your old man's still got a stick up his ass," Sakura drawled as she leaned against the side of the car.
"Seems like it," he muttered and brushed his bangs away from his forehead irritably, missing the softening of his companion's expression.
"He'll come around, Tachi. Don't worry about it." He nodded but couldn't bring himself to say anything.
"You've grown up, Sakura," Kakuzu stated as soon as he opened the door. "Still a midget, though."
Itachi coughed as Sakura's brow twitched, fists clenching in an attempt to restrain herself from punching him. "Kakuzu. Good to see you," she choked out, reminding herself to be nice to old people. Even if they were total dicks like the one in front of her.
He eyed Itachi for a full minute before taking a few steps back. "Come in."
"Thanks. This is Itachi, by the way." Itachi gave him a nod and a polite smile, which became a little strained when Kakuzu scoffed and walked into what looked like the living room. They shuffled after him, feeling a bit lost and trying not to make faces at the hideously cheap wallpaper. They'd seen worse, but what the hell, are those blood stains? In his house?
"Look like shit stains, really," Sakura muttered, before plastering an angelic smile on her face when Kakuzu glanced at them suspiciously.
"So what's up with the Haunted Temple? Who died a horrific death?"
"No idea. Place has been boarded up for years. No one goes in except for moronic teenagers looking for adventure. Too bad most of them don't make it out alive."
"Most of them?" Itachi asked.
"Yup. One escaped. Scarred for life, but alive. Kid's name is Rock Lee-you'll find him at this address."
"Please, you have to believe me," the seventeen year old boy with a bowl cut and unbelievably thick eyebrows wailed into Itachi's shoulder. Sakura raised a brow before clearing her throat loudly. She wasn't the least bit surprised. Anyone could sense that Itachi was more...understanding when it came to crying kids. Must have something to do with having a younger sibling.
Her partner placed a hand on the teen's shoulder, trying to calm him down enough to tell them what happened. The kid sniffed a bit as he finally stepped back and sank down onto the couch.
"I…My friends-Kiba and Chouji-and I were playing in the park near the Temple It was a daily thing, we played there almost every day. But that day, Akamaru-Kiba's dog- took off suddenly, went straight to the Temple. We had no choice but to follow; Akamaru is-was never that disobedient. We followed him right into the Temple, we thought someone might have been in trouble. But when we arrived…" He paused to give a small sniffle and Itachi nodded encouragingly for him to continue. "When we arrived, he wasn't there. All we could find was a…a small pool of blood in the hall. It was awful. We decided to split up and look for him. After a few minutes, I heard a scream. I ran back towards the main hall."
"And?" Sakura prompted after a few seconds.
"It was Chouji. We, I-um," He seemed to pull it together and continued. "We found his…arm." The three of them processed this information before he spoke again. "Kiba and I decided the best thing to do would be to get help. We'd almost reached the entrance when we saw him. He was carrying this huge scythe and he went for Kiba first and I…I didn't know what to do. I ran." He seemed to curl in on himself, as if he was ashamed that he didn't stay and try to fight it off.
"You couldn't have done anything else. We'll take care of this. Don't worry," Itachi murmured softly. Sakura nodded in agreement.
"No-it-whatever it was, it wasn't normal. It wasn't human. It's too dangerous!"
"Dealing with this shit is kind of in our job description. We do it every day. Don't worry about it kid," she told him, smiling reassuringly when he looked at them in awe as they walked out of his room.
Sakura parked in front of the Temple and they got out quickly, opening the trunk of the van to grab their equipment. Shoving an extra rifle into the bag, she went to stand next to Itachi as he stood and stared at the huge building.
"Shall we?" She asked him with an excited grin on her face. He laughed and started walking up the stairs.
"Let's get this show on the road."