...

(take me down)
To Paradise City

...

II *Trigger

.

"Are you bleeding?!"

Ame City was a shitty place to die in.

"Iris—!"

"Just map the area, 'Ji!" panic crackled in between her words, filling the clogged silence in the darkened car. The woman's eyes searched the road wildly, looking for the familiar left-hand turn that should (will) save her life. Blood covered the entire left side of her face, coming from a wound on her forehead. She gripped the wheel tighter with sweat-slicked hands.

The streets were lit by yellow incandescent lights, everything was quieted by sleep. Definitely not the place she intended to die in. Now, where the fuck is it?

She glanced at the rearview mirror, trying to see if she was still being followed. There was only the empty road behind her. Glancing at her reflection, she saw her own stricken face, caked with blood and sweat. More blood dribbled down her neck and her ears rang with the aftershock of gunfire and adrenaline and Chouji's hysterical breathing through the com-line.

"The turn. You're near," Nara's voice replaced Chouji's frenetic breathing exercise, a cool salve against her throbbing head.

Iris squinted for the turn in the highway. Her visage was becoming hazy and it felt like her driving was gradually stooping. But even so, a light feeling overcame her panic, a sense of peace and relief. She tried to focus on the road before her, her mind wandering towards the cool and calming thought of rest—and almost jumped when she saw the left-turn with its large, shining sign ahead. To Konoha City, Fire Country.

Wait for it…Now turn! She steered sharply to the left, the steering wheel almost slipping from her grasp.

Out of nowhere, a pair of headlights flashed on the right of her peripheral vision. A scream tore the silence. Iris felt her heart drop down to her feet—

With a crushing force, the automobile hit her CCXR even before she had the time to turn and see it.

. . .

'Cause I found out there's no such thing as
a miracle, a miracle
And I know you can't hide
it's the shot heard 'round the world

Ame City | Ame Bus Station #3

.

Uchiha Sasuke hated Ame City for the fact that its rain never stopped.

The rain had slowed to a drizzle, which was still considered fucking rain, when the band arrived in Ame City, which was a full five-hour trip from Konoha.

Ame Bus Station no. Three epitomized the entire city with just a single, sweeping look over its white-washed walls. Dank, clean-but-not-quite and filled with achromatic light: if Konoha was the city of Lights, Suna the Sin capital of the world, Ame was the heart of rain. And fucking bus stations. And airports. And docks.

In some ways Ame was considered a large terminal, a pit stop for travelers. It is conveniently placed in the middle of Earth, Fire and Wind countries. Once upon a time it served as the bridge to the peace talks between the three great nations, now it was just a stopover where people come and then go but never stay, lest the desolation and continual rain appealed to them.

"Wah. I'm so hungry!"

"Me too!"

"Baka! You pigs are always hungry!"

Naruto Uzumaki and Kiba Inuzuka stepped out of the terminal's shelter and unto the rain-washed street (which was never dry), mouthing off about food. Again. Sakura Haruno's voice, which was shirll, contributed the salt to the almost-wounding noise.

Lagging behind his companions, Sasuke Uchiha fought off the irritation from seeping through his cool expression. The rain got to his hair, his guitar case, even through his clothes and these idiots were kvetching for food. He adjusted the guitar case slung over his shoulder, pondering on his daily dosage of the question, 'why the hell am I stuck with these idiots?' just to tune out the banter of his band mates.

But as always, the equation answered itself, quickly and succinctly. Oh, that's right. He had no other place to go, which was alright even if he was alone… but Naruto, Kiba and Sakura had no other place to go too. The Uchiha would never admit it out loud but he felt that without a sensible person (i.e. Uchiha Sasuke himself) to manage them, they will all starve and/or argue themselves to death. So somehow, with a friendly mutual agreement, they just kind of stuck together (chums of some sort, voila!).

Besides, their band, Black Harlequin*—who the fuck thought of that name, anyway? Must have been Sakura—was the closest thing Sasuke had to achieving fame and glory in the rock music scene.

*which wasn't really high off the ground…yet. Although it was a step up from shit-wallowing wannabes as Kiba once put it.

Tonight was just another ordinary night for Black Harlequin. A cheap-priced, all-nighter performance in some underground event. Being an underdog band, they didn't get much exposure; playing in fly-by-night clubs and events here and there. So when a flashy-looking man with an overused toothpick in his mouth came to ask them to perform in the ATX at Serpent's Tail, it was nothing new. The band didn't really mind whether they performed in unscrupulous places as long there was enough pay for rent and food. In any case, playing in gigs built reputation and spread good word; Black Harlequin was just following the traditional method of the most famous rock bands today. Perform everywhere, no matter how dirty or illegal, get spotted by managers and get signed into a label. Easy as pie, right?

Well, not so these days. These are the dog days of Black Harlequin.

"They say ATX is some sort of elite racing convention… Oh, I hope I meet Keiichi Tsuchiya there!" Sakura cried as she turned to Sasuke. A blush painted her cheeks, "But really, it's enough that I'm with you, Sasuke-kun."

In front of him, Sasuke could almost see Naruto and Kiba roll their eyes in mock-disgust. If he can, he would, too. But self-preservation is an ingrained trait when it came to Sasuke's façade. All of them knew that Sakura was a diehard fan of the Uchiha—and having no choice on the matter, they put up with Haruno. Good practice, the men silently reasoned among themselves, for the fan-girl riot days to come.

"Geez, Sakura!" Kiba scowled, turning on the female bassist, "You'll wake the whole—"

You know where you are
you're in the jungle baby
you're gonna die

Everyone stopped and looked at Naruto. It was the loud ringing tone of his cell phone. The blond fished out his phone from his pocket and looked at the beeping screen.

"Eh?"

Seeing a confused look on his face, Kiba and Sakura gathered around Naruto to see the caller ID.

In the jungle
Welcome to the jungle

Watch it bring you to your shun, k-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-nees, knees
In the—

Seeing their current inability to comprehend how cell phones work, Sasuke silently moved forward and took the phone, pressing the answer button. He switched it to 'loudspeaker' for all of them to hear.

"Hello?"

It was the toothpick-flashy-looking man from ATX. He spoke hurriedly, "Show's cancelled. If you're in Serpent's Tail, get out immediately. Ya hear? Don't get involved in any way. You lot don't remember my name, if anyone asks a'right? …Or maybe you do, you just don't remember who."

There was noise in the other line and as quickly as it came, the line went dead.

"What the…?" A chill ran down Sasuke's spine as three pairs of eyes looked at him anxiously.

All of a sudden a thundering sound reverberated behind Black Harlequin. They all turned just in time to see the accident. The impact was tremendous. Different lights converged into one another. Glass shattered and metal crumpled as a blue truck crashed headlong into the side of a black sports car.

Sakura screamed.

—

Uzumaki Naruto stared dumbly at the scene before him (thoughts of eating ramen all gone with the wind). Sakura's earsplitting scream still lingered in the air, just as shock and fear laid a paralyzing mantle over them. Shards of glass and metal bits were scattered on the wet asphalt, glittering against the phosphorescent streetlamps. The blue truck had skidded towards one of the dark buildings, toppling over on its side. On the other hand, the black car had taken several spins across the road, before finally stopping a good five meters away from the sidewalk where Black Harlequin stood.

After a long while, all of them just stood there, watching. It seemed like the logical thing to do, really.

Naruto's gut tightened into a knot. He was firm on his feet, but it felt like the ground beneath him was giving away. A sinking, floaty feeling. And then he realized two things in five consecutive seconds. First was that it had stopped drizzling—when did it stop drizzling? Or was it muzzling? Right now it was really hard to think. The second doused him like cold water, making his toes curl in into his socks—Do something.

He must do something, uh, anything. Jolting from his spot, as if electrified with sudden energy, he walked—still half-dazed—towards the nearest vehicle.

"We must help them," his throat was dry as he whispered the words weakly. Naruto looked at his friends, whose faces bore the same expression of trauma (well, except Sasuke's, but since when did he ever have a proper facial expression?)

All of them gaped back at him with obtuse incomprehension.

"C'mon guys," Naruto shot Sasuke a look that was both half-commanding, half-pleading. His ears started to ring.

Sasuke regarded him blankly for a moment, as if gauging his will, before nodding once. "Kiba. Follow me. Call for an ambulance, Sakura."

Then he moved towards the black sports car, his pace brisk and steady. Kiba snapped from his trance and staggered to follow Sasuke.

Haruno Sakura was left standing on the sidewalk, her hands trembling as she started to rummage through her bag for her cell phone.

—

There was pain in every-fucking-where. The space around her was too little, too stifling. Her back was plastered to the leather seat. Something annoying was poking at her leg. The seatbelt pushed against her chest, it was like being strangled in a freaking underwater sauna. There was fire in her lungs. Her jaws felt like they were sewed shut, her tongue stuck to the dry roof of her mouth. Her ears rang, her eyes stung. damnit.

Rationality, mixed with foul language, passed through her brain with a kind of drunken sluggishness. But it left a bright, burning thought after its wake:

Kami, am I dying?

A bubble of panic rose from her gut as she tried to move her legs and arms, tried opening her eyes… but every attempt only seemed to add to the torture. Move, move, move. Drops of liquid trickled down her skin—sweat? Tears? Blood?

(shit, I hate blood.)

...

Let the pain pass, until you can move.

(just wait until my fucking brains rot out?)

Well, sure. The idea seemed brilliant.

Coldness started to creep up her fingers. See? It's going away already.

You don't say.

Yes, it's going away. Prob'ly means—…what? What does it mean?

As if in response, warmth blossomed on her dead-weight arms, tugging gently. The cold receded from her digits and now Iris could hear vague voices. The warmth encircled her by the waist, hauling her from her position. Cool air blew on her back and the tight space she was in became a little wider. The pain that stabbed at her eyes, ears, fingers, legs and head became a dull throb. What's happening?

And then a faint: "Sa…ke?"

"She's breathing," she heard someone say—surprisingly clear this time—close to her ear. Huh. I am?

I am. The thought and the warmth provided enough comfort to lull her into the darkness of sleep…and peace.

—

She was turning cold by the minute.

Sasuke sat in the passenger seat, holding onto the arms of the bleeding woman as gently as he could. It took a huge amount of effort just to enter the badly distorted vehicle even with Kiba's help. Pulling the woman out of the driver's seat was another hard undertaking.

"The truck driver's dead…" it was Naruto, his fearful voice hollow from outside.

Fortunately for them, the midsection of the car was the part that received most of the impact or else the driver's legs would've been crushed between the interior. Kiba was outside on the driver's side, helping the Uchiha tow her out through the passenger's side. Little by little, Sasuke pulled until he finally succeeded in dragging the woman out of her seat.

That was when he saw the gun. A revolver, placed in a holster that was strapped in the woman's thigh, caked with blood.

This knowledge triggered a gut feeling in the Uchiha: danger.

"Sasuke-kun…?" Sakura's weak voice penetrated through his concentration.

Sasuke pried his eyes from the gun, releasing a long breath. He hoisted the driver by the waist until she was seated in front of him, nestled awkwardly on his legs.

"Sasuke…"

"What is it?" he growled, inhaling the sweat and leathery scent around him. The smell was irritating, clingy. Even the woman smelled of leather.

He saw the flashing red lights even before he heard Haruno's drawn-out reply: "...ambulance."

With the vehicle parked a few meters away from them, he saw two men emerge from the ambulance. One was wearing the standard paramedic uniform while the other man wore an all-black garb. The paramedic ran to them with a gurney, his eyes intent upon Sasuke and the woman. His companion followed in a much slower pace and surveyed the scene with mild interest.

"Is she breathing?" the paramedic politely asked as he, along with Kiba, lifted the woman off of Sasuke's lap and onto the gurney.

Sasuke made no answer and stepped out of the messed-up car; his pants and shirt front were all bloodied. He watched the black-clad man approach them with a frown on his face.

The man's unsettling gaze was settled on Kiba, Sakura and Naruto standing around the black car, their clothes stained with pinpoints of half-dried rain. He noted the wide, anxious looks on their faces as if deliberating. Then after a quick glance to the woman being rolled away he fixed his stare at the only female in the group.

"Are you associated with the … patient?" His voice was quiet, unreadable.

Sakura nodded, evidently still rattled. "Ah! No… we, uh—" she looked helplessly at Naruto.

Naruto jumped in to Sakura's aid, "No, no we aren't. We saw the whole thing and—"

"The whole thing?"

Naruto nodded. For some reason Sasuke became uneasy. There was something about the man's question that seemed off. He glanced at Sakura who was staring at him, the same question in her eyes. They have been living in the city full of liars and deceivers long enough to sense it.

"Then you'll need to come with us," the man smiled reassuringly which didn't really assure any of them, "For questions. And food."

Apparently Naruto and Kiba haven't learned the first thing about strangers offering food, because they nodded vigorously at the mention of 'food' without even the slightest doubt.

In the pit of his stomach Sasuke had a feeling that this was going to be a long, long night.

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