Heist
Callista Miralni
Disclaimer: I do not own Heist Society by Ally Carter or Naruto.
For the sasusaku LJ Valentine's Day gift exchange. Thank you to sadira22 for organizing this event!
One: The Porsche
The alumni of the prestigious Konoha Institute said things had taken a turn for the worst.
Some blamed the shift from an all-boys school to a co-ed institution to keep up with their rival, Suna Academy. Others cited the decline in respect for their elders in the younger generations.
In the "good ol' days," Konoha did not admit just anybody. There was a waiting list three miles long and every single individual on that list came from a wealthy family as old as the United States. And back in the "good ol' days," no one would have ever dared to give up their precious admission into the Institute. Yet this year, someone did and the infamous three-mile waiting list oddly consisted of one person, one slip of a girl.
Oh but the school's lawns were still a deep green, smooth as velvet. The dark red brick buildings still shone with old world charm, the ivy neatly trimmed. The fountain, installed by the school's third Headmaster in 1892, still spouted water from a rather large pineapple but for the last two days, that flow was directed through other means besides the concrete fruit.
Construction crews spent the last two days dismantling and untangling the intricate bond between fountain and Headmaster Danzo's 1958 Porsche Speedster. Someone—a very clever someone—had snuck in a crane behind the ivy walls (leaving behind muddy scars to prove it) and hoisted Danzo's convertible atop the fountain before wiring it in such a complex manner so that water spouted from the head and tail lights of the vehicle.
In the good ol' days, the perpetrator of such a malicious act would have quietly taken his or her leave of the school with his or her head bowed in shame.
They would have NOT continued to profess their innocence and walked around campus with their head held high as if they had done nothing wrong.
To Danzo's relief, the perpetrator was already known and scheduled for a meeting with the Student Advisory Board in fifteen minutes. What happened to the good ol' days where students behaved and were overly self-conscious of their reputations in high society?
And as fate would have it, the said suspect happened to be that slip of a girl who somehow breezed her way into these ivy covered walls at the very last minute.
Haruno Sakura.
"That's her!"
The boy whipped his head around to stare at the passing girl.
There is no way any normal person would have been able to see Haruno Sakura on the streets and not stare. For starters, she had pink hair. That alone caught attention.
Of course, nobody actually knew her hair was naturally strawberry blonde but with that last job before Konoha, Sakura was forced to bleach her locks in order to distract the security guards while her father...
Another time, another life. It seemed so far behind her even though was only three months ago.
The other things about Haruno Sakura that attracted attention was the fact that no matter how much she denied it and stood next to Ino, Sakura was gorgeous. And her name, that name that caused a handful of people to wax poetic about the "Zen essence" of her name, definitely drew attention.
Some students speculated she was a distant relative of the Royal family. From which Royal bunch though, was always debated. Others said the only reason why she got into Konoha at the very last moment was because her father was a highly successful businessman overseas on the main continent and in Europe. Still others said she was nothing more than a freak of a pauper.
Sakura could have stirred up more rumors about herself but she didn't bother putting forth the effort. Even if she told the truth—about her background, her lineage, her possession of an incredibly precious chrysanthemum hair pin only the Japanese princesses wore before democracy—no one would have believed her in the first place.
"No way. How'd you think she did it?"
They were, of course, referring to the Headmaster's Porsche. The Porche-gate, after that famous American scandal.
"No clue. I'd kill to know though. It's too bad she's..."
Sakura didn't bother to stop and ask the boy what was in store for her. Her stomach already knew what her mind adamantly denied.
She turned a corner and walked down a near lifeless hallway. The squeak of her shoes echoed in the space, making the girl wince. In these last three months, Sakura turned into the girl who wore squeaky shoes. What would Sarutobi-jii-chan think? He'd call her an utter disgrace for starters.
Opening the door, Sakura took in the room's finer details. The curtains were half drawn over the glass windows, allowing in the November afternoon light. The walls were paneled in dark cherry and a single chair sat in the middle of the room with several other rows of chairs surrounding it.
Sakura had never been in a courtroom but she had the sneaking suspicion it would look a lot like this only less comfortable.
"We will begin the disciplinary hearing of Haruno Sakura, aged fifteen and a current sophomore at Konoha Institute." The Student Council President, an Aburame Shino, began the moment she sat down in the solitary chair.
"Haruno-san, you are charged with the willful... theft of personal property on the night of November 13th. By committing this act, you are also found violating the school's curfew and destroying school artifacts. Do you understand the charges?"
Sakura paused to check if they really wanted her to respond. "I didn't do it." She finally said.
Headmaster Danzo, looking in worse condition than she had ever seen him in before, slammed his hand down on the table. "The question, Haruno-san, is if you understand the charges, not if you agree with them."
"Oh I understand Headmaster." Sakura frowned. "I just don't agree with them. What evidence do you have that I'm the one who stole your Porsche like you said?"
"And she asks for evidence! Very well, we shall-"
"Headmaster." One of the senior members of the committee placated the flustered man with a smile. "Usually it is customary for us to review the student's academic history before passing judgement is it not?"
That comment distracted Danzo. "Oh well... yes... but since Haruno-san has only been with us a few months, she has no substantial academic record for us to go off of."
The inquirer, a thin woman Sakura would later learn to be Nan Shizune, bounced back with, "But surely this is not the first school Haruno-san has attended. What about her records from her previous schools?"
Feeling smug as she watched the old man fumble with words, Sakura couldn't help but mentally pat herself on the back. This was her biggest job yet, one that had taken months of planning and preparation.
"Er... well... Suna Academy's computer crashed and they lost all their student files over the summer. And Hong Kong Prep's records' building caught fire last March and they haven't finished recovering anything. Haruno-san has no records that we could retrieve."
Shizune looked impressed with the name-dropping. "Those are some of the finest schools in Asia. Tell me, what does your parents do?"
If anything, what your parents did and didn't do mattered very much at a place like Konoha Institute. Sighing at the typical question, Sakura answered, "My mother's dead."
Sympathy played her worst card. The people in the room sighed in pity.
"And your father?" Danzo pressed.
At this, Sakura grinned wolfishly. "He... deals in art."
The head of the Art department perked up. "Collecting?"
The teen's grin grew wider. "More like... distribution."
"That's nice." Danzo interrupted any further discussion. "But it does not pertain to my... I mean, the matter at hand!"
"Haruno-san!" The Headmaster barked, on full inquisitor mode. "Where were you on the evening of Friday, November 13th?"
She knew the answer to that one. "In my room studying."
"And that in itself is a lie!" Danzo cried in triumph. "Why would a student on a Friday night be studying instead of out socializing?"
The girl shrugged. "Hey Konoha's a difficult place. I have to study all the time to keep up."
Shino cut in. "Can anyone prove it? Did anyone actually see you that night?"
"Well no..."
"Oh but someone saw you Haruno-san! Or did you not know about the cameras?"
As a matter of fact, Sakura did know about the cameras. All 358 of them. She knew their field of vision, their maintenance schedules, the model number, manufacturer, and the blind spots. Sakura had the feeling she knew more about Konoha's security that most of the administration.
Not that she would tell them that.
Too many witnesses—her father would say.
The lights dimmed and the curtains drew themselves as a section of paneling slid back to revel the projector screen hidden behind it. Everyone watched the security tapes as they played a fifteen minute video of a girl in a black hoodie streak across the courtyard in front of the dormitories with a pair of keys in hand. The video abruptly cut to the camera positioned by the fountain where a large crane was lifting the 1958 Porsche into the air and situating it atop the pineapple fountain.
"We have further evidence! At 2:27 am, your key card was used to open the door."
Sakura's student ID came up next and the girl inwardly cringed. Ino would have a fit if she saw that.
"And a search of your possessions yielded this."
The sight of the once-crumpled license plate forced Sakura to reconsider the evidence.
"Yet Haruno-san insists she is innocent!"
"Look." The girl was practically desperate. "I know it seems like there's evidence against me, but I swear I didn't do it. This has got to be some kind of mistake. I'm not that stupid."
The tick on Danzo's head would have been comical if it weren't for the trying situation.
If you took the back stairs out the dorms, there are no cameras there and it's a shorter route to the fountain. And if you had enough bubblegum to cover the sensors, you wouldn't even need to use an ID to open the doors again.
That was how Sakura would have pulled off this stunt—if she had actually done it.
"Here at Konoha, we follow the rules. We respect each other. We honor and value the ideals of our forefathers."
The teen cursed her upbringing for being able to so easily lie when the truth is what she needed to save her sorry ass.
Damn it.
Haruno Sakura had been framed.
Her bags were packed in record time; there wasn't much to begin with and her stay hadn't been long. As Sakura hauled her meager belongings across the mud scarred lawn, she heard a few giggling voices behind her.
"Um..." An eighth grade boy stopped her. "We were wondering... how did you do it?"
Sakura gave the boy a wry smile. "That," She said as a limo pulled up to the front of the school and stopped before her. "-is an excellent question."
She climbed in the backseat without a second thought, allowing the driver to load her baggage into the trunk.
The biggest con of her life—blown up in her face. By forces she had nothing to do with and couldn't manipulate to her bidding.
"Well. I guess that's over."
"Actually..." Another voice—seated at the other side of the car—broke through her thoughts of self-pity. "This is just the beginning."
And the girl balked.
"Sasuke?"
In her world, there were many things that could be taken but some things had to be willingly given up. The sad history behind one Uchiha Sasuke was one of those things.
Oh God knows Sakura tried. She guessed everything from the plague to a plane crash, from orphanage to abandonment. From Bruce Wayne to Dick Grayson. From murder to sheer dumb luck.
Sasuke denied the plane crash and dismissed the plague. But he always skirted around the other possibilities.
And so, Sakura kept guessing.
"What are you doing here Sasuke?"
The other teen put a hand over his heart. "I'm wounded Sakura. Here I am, out of the goodness of my heart, to give you a ride. I thought you would appreciate it."
The girl frowned. "The headmaster called a car for me so you didn't-"
Suddenly, she was pulled out of the limo and back into the interrogation room. Hitting herself on the forehead, she internally wailed, Why didn't I think of that before?
"Really Sasuke? Isn't the headmaster's car a bit much and cliché of you?"
The teen smirked. "I thought it was fitting. After all, didn't Danzo ever tell you that Uchiha Sasuke the Fourth bought that as a gift for Uchiha Sasuke the Fifth, who in turn, gave it as a gift to Headmaster Danzo at the start of the spring term when he heard his childhood friend was going to con her way into his school in the fall? Technically Sakura, I trashed my car so it's all good."
She was pretty sure that was all bullshit Sasuke pulled out of his ass and told him so.
"It's nice to see you too Sakura." Sasuke rolled his onyx eyes at her.
What was she supposed to say to that? Hey, nice to see you too? Or—I appreciate you rigging my expulsion from Konoha? How about: Sasuke, have you gotten hotter? Then there's the cliché I missed you?
"Look." Sakura's fists were balled up at her sides. "Did Tou-chan put you up to this because I swear to God if he did-"
Sasuke chuckled. "He hasn't called me since Beijing. Probably still upset with me."
"Huh." Sakura threw him a withering stare. "I guess that makes two of us."
"Hey!" Sasuke returned the look with one of his own. "We all deemed that monkey to be perfectly trained at the time."
"It doesn't change the fact that you still got me kicked out Sasuke."
At the other end of the limo, the sixteen-year-old billionaire gave her his trademark smirk and a cocky bow. "I try."
Her mouth dropped open in disbelief. "You're unbelievable!"
"Au contraire sweetheart,"—and Sakura suddenly felt uncomfortable with the endearment that sounded strange coming from Sasuke's lips—"I'm perfectly believable. That's why I haven't been caught."
"So why'd you do it?" Sakura countered, too tired to argue with Sasuke further on the subject.
"You don't belong there."
"Sasuke..." Her viridian eyes narrowed. "I'm serious. Why did you do it?"
The teen threw up his hands—in exasperation or surrender, Sakura wasn't too sure of—and combed his messy raven locks with his fingers. "I have a job."
She opened her mouth to give him the same reason she left.
"One only for you. And a message."
"I told you I quit the family business Sasuke." Her pink lips were set in a narrow line.
"Okay fine." Sasuke relaxed into the expensive leather upholstery of his limo. "But are you out of the family?"
The immense estate on the outskirts of Tokyo was the only place Sakura ever heard Sasuke call home. Although the Uchiha family owned several properties including a gorgeous beachfront property in the Philippines (too sandy), a luxurious flat in Singapore (too hot), a palatial apartment in Hong Kong (too noisy), and mansion in Tokyo's Edogawa ward (too stiff), the ancestral estate was Sasuke's favorite.
The foyer spanned the entire height of the building—all three stories—and stretched for another twenty feet out. One of the features Sakura loved the most was the curving staircase on either side and the crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. On sunny days, the single pane of glass above the door warmed the room.
Sasuke ushered her past the foyer and down the hall, not even stopping to glance at the Hanabusa Itchou painting hanging on the wall. Sakura grinned when she saw the scroll but continued to follow Sasuke into the study.
"I had Iruka put you in the blue room." Sasuke said as he rummaged around his desk for something. "Do you want something to eat?"
"I want you to tell me what the hell is going on and whatever message you've got for me."
Sasuke gave her a funny look but said nothing as he picked up the phone and dialed his butler's extension. Taking advantage of his preoccupation, Sakura wandered around the study, stopping at a painting hanging above the fireplace.
"It's a Monet." Sasuke called over the phone.
"I can see that." The girl murmured, captivated by the work of one of the Old Masters.
As a thief in the art industry, Sakura learned to appreciate the finer aspects of art. She learned to appreciate its value and asses its worth. Most of all, she learned to know when-
"You stole it."
Sasuke smirked. "What can I say? The guy in Mecca challenged me and I tore his entire security system apart in two minutes."
Unbelievable. Here was a guy who could afford to buy a Hanabusa Itchou with pocket money who chose to steal a Monet. How many of those could you meet?
Sprawled out on one of the leather couches in the study, Sasuke tore her attention away from the painting. "So... you miss me?"
Sakura sank down into the chinz armchair opposite of him. "No." She growled, rubbing her temples.
His smirk only grew wider and the girl held back her groan. A big part of a thief's life depended on the ability to lie. Hours ago, she was cursing herself for being so gifted at lying but now Sakura felt so amateur.
"Right..."
"You might want to remember that I'm the one who taught you everything you know." Sakura snapped.
"You might want to remember everything you taught me then Sakura." Sasuke scoffed. "So you were happy playing schoolgirl at Konoha?"
"I would have been normal, that's for sure." She shot back.
The teen snorted. "Normal. That's a good one. You'll never be normal Sakura. Your hair's a good indication of just how normal you'll ever be."
She was furious. After two years, two measly years of knowing each other, Sakura hated the fact that Sasuke knew her better than she knew him.
"I could've been happy!"
"Could have." Sasuke pointed out. "But they kicked you out."
She glared. "Who's fault is that?"
Sasuke shrugged. "Point taken. But I had my reasons."
"A job."
"And a message." Sasuke reminded her.
"Don't you own a cell phone company?" Sakura asked in her exasperation. "You could have called instead of framing me."
"Only a small one. And it only services the rural Hokkaido area." Sasuke surveyed her again. "Besides, the message has to be given face to face."
And suddenly, Sakura understood.
"So how's Sarutobi-jii-chan?" She sighed in defeat.
Trying not to be too pleased with her easy defeat, Sasuke answered, "He's fine. He says he loves you and that Konoha will turn you into a mindless clone."
The girl groaned. Her great-uncle told her the exact same thing before she left for Konoha.
"But that's not his message."
She perked back up.
"He says he's got to give them back."
At that moment, Umino Iruka, Sasuke's butler and the only other living person she had ever seen in the estate, came in with a platter of sushi. Picking up a pair of chopsticks, Sakura daintily set a few pieces on her plate and poured a bit of soy sauce into the built in dish on her platter. The conveniences of contemporary dining.
"So why doesn't he?" Sakura asked after the first roll. "I don't see what that has to do with me."
Sasuke rolled her eyes, amused by her lack of understanding. "Idiot. That is Sarutobi-jii-chan's message. He's got to give them back."
Taking another two rolls, Sakura looked at her friend in confusion. "I don't get it."
Sighing, Sasuke leaned forward on his knees. "Look. Last week, there was a job in Hong Kong. High value artifacts. High risk job. High security. You know—the works. It would probably take two or three crews to do it. And your dad-"
"Say what? Who else is on the suspect list?"
"There is no list Sakura."
Suddenly, the implications crashed down on her. There was a lot more at stake than just her father being paid by his employer.
"So? We're thieves—that's nothing unusual." Sakura put her plate down on the table and stood up to leave. "You don't need me."
Sasuke moved faster and closed his hand around her wrist, pulling her towards him to prevent her from walking out the door.
"It's not the what but the who. See, the bad guy wants his paintings back."
Sasuke felt her laughing at him. "Not like that. Not like how Sarutobi-jii-chan and your dad are bad guys. Not like how I'm a bad guy. This guy is... pure evil. This guy's name is Rinnegan Pein and he won't rest until his paintings are returned."
Sakura stopped laughing. She had seen several expressions on Sasuke's face before—cocky, arrogant, smug, playful, teasing, bored, cold—but she had never seen him look so terrified in his life. Well, as terrified as Uchiha Sasuke could get. The guy was a freakin' rock.
And he had the abs to prove it.
Resting her head on Sasuke's chest, Sakura whispered, "What happened? Tou-chan used to be a lot more careful than this."
She could feel Sasuke's chin on her head and his arms wrapped around her. "Your dad used to have you Sakura."
"I've put you in Uchiha-sama's room." Iruka opened the bedroom door for her.
Obviously, the old butler meant Sasuke's elusive mother. "Is that okay?" Sakura voiced her concern. She didn't want Sasuke's mother to think she was stealing the room.
"Uchiha-sama will not be needing the room Ojou-san."
"Iruka-" Sakura sighed for the billionth time that day. "Will you ever call me Sakura?"
The butler smiled at the familiar query. "Not today Ojou-san, not today. If you ever need anything, I'm on extension 4."
Iruka closed the door softly behind him and Sakura flopped down on the blue bed of the mysteriously absent Lady Uchiha. Resting her arm over her jade green eyes, Sakura couldn't help but notice just how large and empty the room was. The silence wasn't helping her relax; all she could think about was her dad, Sarutobi-jii-chan, Porsche convertibles, and the Hanabusa.
Sasuke's words kept haunting her in the silence.
Your dad used to have you Sakura.
The clock on the bedside table read two am but Sakura hadn't slept the entire night. Her convoluted thoughts were like Sasuke's Monet, the ideas running so closely together that they looked like chaos when she was up close. Sakura needed to take a step back and distance herself from her emotions so she could see the whole picture.
Rifling through her bag, her fingers found a stack of thin books. Pulling them out, the girl opened the first and saw her face with a midnight black wig covering her scalp. Todai Anna—the name read.
She opened another. Wu Meilin.
She kept going through the books until she found herself.
Haruno Sakura.
"Iruka?" The teen picked up the phone.
"Hai Ojou-san? The butler was too chipper for two in the morning.
"I think I need to see him."
"Of course Ojou-san." Iruka said with patience and understanding. "If you look on the table, I've taken the liberty of purchasing you a ticket."
That's when she saw it hiding underneath the phone. Sliding the envelope out, Sakura looked inside it and smiled.
"You are unbelievable Iruka."
The butler smiled. "I am Bocchan's butler. And you are his favorite guest."
Seven am: first class ticket to Singapore.
Sakura used to love visiting Singapore. When she was four, her parents first took her to the Singapore Art Museum and they spent the day together as a family. They bought her ice cream, a souvenir bear, and a heart-shaped balloon to commemorate the rare occasion. It wasn't until later that Sakura realized her parents were actually casing the place, planning to steal a particularly fragile sculpture.
The memories of her mother made her heart ache and wish the woman was still around. If anyone could help her, Haruno Rin would be the one.
Still Sakura visited her favorite tea shop right after the plane touched down. Sipping the cool milk tea and chewing on a soft boba pearl, Sakura hopped on the subway and proceeded to wander around the Central Arts District until she found him. Asking for his name and residence from the police or municipal offices was useless; as a thief, his identity and address were forever changing.
But Sakura felt confident that she could find him. Her father was in the very place she expected him to be at eleven am. Even though her father was a world class thief and obeyed every principal of their craft to the letter, some things—like personal dining favorites—were hard to keep distant from.
"Hello Tou-chan." Sakura murmured as she took a seat across from him in the busy outdoor cafe.
"Is that for me?" Hatake Kakashi asked after he swallowed the last of his lo mein.
Rolling her eyes, Sakura handed over her bubble tea and leaned back in her chair. "You don't change."
"That's what you think." Kakashi's one visible eye (the other was scarred to near uselessness when he was a teen and covered by an angled headband) twinkled mischievously. "Singapore's quite a distance for a trip. Aren't you supposed to be at Konoha?"
Her ears burned. "It's fall break—I wanted to see you." The lie sounded awkward coming from her mouth.
"You wanted to know if it's true."
Damn. Caught in the act.
Kakashi handed the rest of his daughter's drink back to her and relaxed. "So who spilled the beans? Sarutobi-jii-chan?"
"Sasuke actually."
Slate gray narrowed. "I'm going to kill that kid." Kakashi muttered.
Sakura frowned. "It's not his fault."
"Yeah like how Beijing wasn't his fault?"
"Hey." She found herself echoing Sasuke's words. "We all agreed that the monkey seemed perfectly trained at the time."
Her father scoffed and waved the waitress for the bill.
"Tou-chan..."
"Sa-chan, would you believe me if I said I didn't do the Rinnegan job last week?" Her father suddenly said.
That caught Sakura off-guard. "What do you mean?"
Kakashi smiled at the waitress (who blushed so hard that it made Sakura uncomfortable to know that there were still women hitting on her father) and signed off on his credit card. She could see his alias for this job on the receipt—Murasaki Obito.
"If I told you I had a solid alibi, would you believe me then?" Kakashi clarified once the waitress left.
Eyes narrowing, Sakura hissed, "Prove it."
A businessman with a newspaper passed by their table and the man easily slipped it out from underneath his arm. The businessman continued walking down the street completely unaware.
That's the mark of a seasoned pro. Sakura thought enviously. Was I ever that good? Will I ever be that good? Not that it matters—I put that all behind me.
Or least, she thought she did.
"Here."
In Mandarin Chinese, the bottom front page article read, "MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF THE 'FALLEN ANGEL' FROM THE SAM: INTERPOL HAS NO NEW LEADS."
"Wait a minute..." Sakura's eyes widened as she read the article completely. "You mean...?"
"Yup." Kakashi answered. "There's no way I could have done the Rinnegan job because on that same night, I was doing this one."
Things didn't add up. If her father was in Singapore that night, then there's no way he could've been in Hong Kong.
"Tou-chan." Sakura asked slowly. "If the SAM job was last week, why haven't you left yet?"
"Ah..." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
Sighing, Sakura took a good look at the square. She spotted them easily—the markings of a surveillance team four days on the job. There were the plainclothes men drinking iced coffee in front of the square's fountain facing their seat in the cafe, the rumpled clothes of a street vendor across the square and the piercing mahogany eyes of a woman who watched them too intently from the steps one one of the other buildings.
"Complications huh?" Sakura answered herself. "So where is she?"
"The Angel? Safe. But she's not on me and that's why they can't arrest me."
"Hn."
God. She'd been spending so much time with Sasuke that she started picking up his mannerisms.
"Anyways." Kakashi swiftly changed the subject. "How about doing your old man a favor?"
Raising a blonde brow, Sakura took one look at the square and sighed. "Fine. But you owe me."
Parting ways, Sakura walked up to the nearest police officer clutching her purse and wearing a hysterical expression.
"Oh my God Officer!" Sakura cried out, the tears leaking from her eyes. "Those men... those men... oh God!"
The policeman sighed and asked, "What men?"
"Those ones!" She shrieked, pointing at the plainclothes men preparing to follow her father. "They tried... oh my God... they tried..."
The officer gave her an impatiently glance. "They tried what?"
Sakura motioned for him to come closer and whispered in his ear. The man's eyes widened before he took out his gun and chased after them.
"OI!" The policeman yelled. "STOP!"
Sakura didn't have to check and see if her father had gotten away. Amid the frisking, identification checks, and Chinese swears, Sakura too made her exit.
Just as she was about to board the subway, a limo stopped behind her and the door opened. Two men emerged and grabbed her by the arms, dragging her inside.
"HEY!" The girl yelled indignantly. "What gives?"
"Hello Sakura."
Sarutobi-jii-chan was the only person who ever said her name in that serious tone. But the voice was too deep to be Jii-chan's.
Oh shit.
"I don't suppose you'd let me go back to catching my flight would you." Sakura said to the man seated at the other end of the limo.
He chuckled and the sound sent shivers down her spine but she keep her cool mask up. "I've been told..." He said slowly. "That you have your father's wit and your mother's eyes."
The mention of her mother caught her off-guard. "You know my mom?"
"I know of her." The man corrected her. "I've been told she was a brilliant woman much like a cat. One of the greatest thieves of our time."
Sakura looked at him again, only this time, she tried to figure out a way of escape.
"You have excellent sources." The girl said slowly.
"I must have the best of everything." He shrugged. "I am Rinnegan Pein."
She knew that just by the aura of evil surrounding the man. Sasuke was not kidding when he said Pein was evil.
"He doesn't have them." She blurted out. "He couldn't have them."
Pein smiled at her as if he thought she was the most amusing thing. Which to him, she probably was.
"Now, now Sakura. It's only out of respect for your mother that I am being so generous. I'm giving Hatake Kakashi two weeks to return my paintings to me. Two weeks. Or something we'd both regret will occur."
The limo stopped in front of the airport.
"Why are you doing this? I told you—he doesn't have them!" Sakura yelled as the guards pushed her out of the car and threw her bag at her.
Pein smiled at her and tossed something in her direction. "Two weeks Sakura."
The door shut and the limo sped off down the street, leaving an extremely frustrated fifteen-year-old girl on the curb with a calling card in her hand.
The terror she felt in the car finally made itself known. With shaking hands, Sakura turned over the card and bit her lip.
Two weeks.
"Sasuke."
Sakura leaned against the doorframe of her host's room. The teen sat up quickly, surprised by her stealthy entrance at eleven o'clock at night.
"What the hell Sakura?" Sasuke groaned. "Knock first! What if I was naked?"
The girl in Sakura tried not to stare at his bare chest but the thief in her took over before she made a fool of herself. "We have a big problem." She said as she sank into the duvet at the foot of Sasuke's bed. "He didn't do the Rinnegan job."
Running a hand through his messy hair, Sasuke asked, "What makes you so sure? Your dad's a habitual liar, on or off the job."
Shoving the newspaper her dad stole in his face, Sakura answered, "Normally, I'd doubt him myself. But he's got a solid alibi, a news article, and an Interpol tail to prove it."
Sasuke took the paper and read the article quickly. "You mean..."
"Yes." Sakura waved her arms. "He couldn't have done it because he had another job that same night."
Suddenly, Sasuke grabbed her flailing wrist and slipped something out of her hand. It was Pein's calling card. She completely forgot she had it with her.
"Where did you get this?" The boy demanded, throwing off his covers and glowering down at her.
He moved so fast Sakura hadn't realized Sasuke left his bed until he was towering over her. The girl in her couldn't help but notice he was wearing tomato printed pajama pants.
"Nice pants." The comment slipped from her mouth.
"Sakura, where did you get this?" Sasuke asked her again in that deadly soft voice.
The girl sighed. "I met him in Singapore. I think he wanted to talk to Tou-chan but he got to me first and figured I'd make a good messenger since Tou-chan keeps giving him the slip."
Clenching his jaw, Sasuke threw the card down beside her. "So you were alone with him."
"He insisted on giving me a ride to the airport."
"You were alone with him!" Sasuke snapped. "Sakura, when I said this guy was evil, I meant it! Even Sarutobi-jii-chan said he was not a person to cross."
"Sasuke, what am I supposed to do? Pein's giving Tou-chan two weeks to give back paintings he didn't steal. And if he doesn't..."
Sakura didn't have to say what would happen if two weeks went by and Pein didn't get what he wanted.
"Did you tell him he's got the wrong guy?"
"It's not like Rinnegan Pein was going to take my word and a Singapore newspaper for it." Sakura rolled her eyes.
"So this guy really wants his paintings back."
She wanted to tear her hair out; hadn't this been what she'd been telling him all along? "Right. And we're going to give them back."
"Oh that's a great plan." Sasuke said sarcastically. "Except for the fact that we don't have them."
"Oh we will." Sakura smiled deviously as she stretched her body out and made her way to the door. "Just as soon as we steal them."
Author's Notes:
I will release the next chapters as they get typed out. I'm aiming for one every two days but... that's unrealistic of a college student. :/ Definitely done by the end of the month though.
Please tell me what you think! I've tried doing something similar like this before but... I lost interest after the first chapter. And it's so hard to write Sasuke as being a little arrogant and... well... nice while still being so... Sasuke. XD Also, I know it's following the original book pretty closely. As the story progress, I will definitely be injecting more of me and less of Ally while still keeping the same basic story. It's just...well... it's the first chapter guys and that's the hardest one to change because it sets up the entire world this fic takes place in.
Ja ne-
Callista Miralni