Heyaa everyone o/
Okay so it's been a little while, but HERE I AM o/ With a chapter over, and WAAAYS too long (goddamnit I will never ever write anything that long again, seriously.)
And huh, it has a lot of things that I had a lot of trouble to write (never ever again.)(*remembers half or her others plot points*)(*cries*) so I hope it is less messy than what I think it is.
HOWEVER: Thank you to all of you, for reading and reviewing my fanfic: it means a lot to me!
So thank you: Killua17, Greymouser, Saku-ann, Jeamour and Letsusura for your reviews, it means a lot to me. Thank you to those who favorised or just put in story to follow, and to anyone reading this today. I hope i Won't disappoint!
(Special mention to Letsusura, who still does her work of managing to an insane level (I don't even want to start on what she did to force me to write this chapter =w=) and Jeamour who was super sweet with me to push me to continue the fic o/)
Warning: The Rating kinda explain itself on this chapter. It is not really graphic (I don't like graphic), but some parts are... well, really ajusted to the Mature Rating.
Warning 2: I still didn't turn as an english speaker between this chapter and the previous one (Why would you let meh like that, Fairy of the english speakers) so there are still probably a lot of misakes. Plus, it is probable that some sentence seems clumsy in english while it makes sense for my french brain... I hope it's not as much a problem as I think it is!
WARNING IMPORTANT: I can't believe I forgot to say that for TWO CHAPTERS already but here it is: the world they evolve in is TOTALLY fictional. That is to say the city, the streets, the politics... Everything is fictional. Gah sorry It took so long to be said!
ENJOY and see you later :D
3 - Let's play Murder.
The McDonnal's was crowned and Naruto was next to the window, waiting. He was turning his phone in every directions with his fingertips, looking at the window to see the street getting crowned minutes by minutes as Lunch Time was starting for everyone. Naruto always thought there should be different Lunch Time considering your job, so at least not everyone would rush in the same place at the same time.
He didn't start his burger yet, as he was waiting for someone. He turned on his phone, saw no notification and sighed before looking back at the window, playing again with his phone.
After two minutes of waiting, finally, a man sat in front of him and Naruto smiled.
"You're late."
"For once it is this way around I order you to stop bossing me!" his friend answered with a dog smile as he was putting his plate on the table.
Naruto shook his head and laughed. It's been a while since he last saw Kiba. His brown hair were still wild, his tatoos on his cheek were still as red as ever, and Naruto could spot a bandage near his wrist. Naruto rolled his eyes.
"Another tatoo, seriously? Which other compagny are you promotting now?"
"Oh fuck off, Ketchup is life and it was important for me to have it!" Kiba answered, bringing the action to the words by fulling his burger with Ketchup.
"And so this new Tatoo?"
Kiba took off his bandage for a few seconds, revealing a blue band with some snowflakes on it.
"... May I ask why?" Naruto questioned.
"This is a Frozen reference man."
"The Disney or the horror movie?"
"Do I have the face of someone putting a horror movie reference on my body?" Kiba answered, putting his bandage to place.
"I wouldn't say you have the face of someone putting a ketchup tatoo on his body and yet here we are."
"This is the Disney's one reference, jackass!" Kiba growled.
"You're telling me you made yourself a tattoo after a Disney?!"
"Man you ain't seen the movie, you can't know!" Kiba responded.
"I know the movie came out some monthes ago and it was enough for you to make a tattoo about it." Naruto pointed out, taking a bite on his burger.
"YOU AIN'T KNOW TRUE LOVE." Kiba shouted back, which brought people to look at him. "And Elsa is awesome you can't deny it!"
"I don't know, I didn't see the movie." Naruto rolled his eyes. "And stop screaming!"
"I'm gonna kidnapp you one day to make you watch this movie, period."
"Just try."
Kiba ignored him and took a huge bite in his own burger, while Naruto was rolling his eyes. Once again, he checked his phone out, before taking another bite.
"So despite those new ridiculous tattoos, how you're doing?"
"Bite me." Kiba answered with his mouth full before swallowing. "My boss is a bastard. I didn't stop working those last few days, this is tiring."
"Seriously?" Naruto chuckled. "So there IS someone out there that manage to make you work."
"Bite me." his friend repeated.
"You already said that, didn't know you got a kink." Naruto teased and his friend kicked him under the table.
"You can talk" Kiba answered. "You were the one with a bite mark everyday on your neck in high school."
Naruto blushed a bit. "That's not true!"
"Com'on, you always found yourself in relationship with vampires or whatever." Kiba snickered.
"Fuck off!" Naruto replied, playing again with his phone. "You're overreacting!"
"I ain't the one who was putting scarves around his neck everyday to avoid getting fired out of class."
Naruto hid his face with his hands,feeling like all those shameful memories were heating up his face. Why were they talking about that anyway?
"I hate you Kiba."
"And I love the fact I've befriended you when you were sexualy active. Man you used to be a man whore."
"So were you!" Naruto replied. "Goddamnit, are we really gonna have this conversation?"
"You brought that up!" Kiba accused.
"You brought that up!" Naruto sighed, before checking his phone again. "Man I often wonder if you manage to talk about something else than sex."
"Well if you were going out more we wouldn't talk about it. But you have no life."
"I do have a life, fuck off Kiba." Naruto replied.
"The only person you talk to those days is your cat!"
"You know I work with human beings right?"
"Okay we already talked about it, I can't believe for one second that this Sai guy is human." Kiba answered. "He's an alien and you know it."
"I thought we were supposed to not talk about it?"
"That's right, he may use us for human experiences if we figure his secret out."
Naruto shook his head. "I keep telling you he's a robot from the future. There is nothing to agrue here."
"Still sure about the Alien." Kiba replied, taking another bite.
Naruto smiled and continued to eat. It was something he enjoyed with Kiba. It was never serious. The McDonnal's was more and more crowned as time went by, and Naruto wanted to get out of it as soon as possible. He checked his phone again and then finished his burger, before eating his fries.
"Anyway," Kiba started, putting his burger down. "I was thinking..."
"That's a first."
"Shut up, I was thinking about going to the cinema tonight, for once that I have a spare evening. What about you to come with me?"
"I can't promise anything." Naruto sighed, checking his phone again. "I work a lot lately and..."
"It's a girl isn't it?" Kiba cut him off with a dog smile.
Naruto blinked. "What? No, I'm..."
"So it's a boy?" Kiba cut again. "Last time you dated a boy right? Is that a boy again?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Naruto asked, totally lost.
"It's like the fifth time you checked your phone since I arrived." Kiba answered. "So who is this? Who are you waiting?"
Naruto blinked and looked at his phone again before realizing what he was talking about. He didn't even notice anymore at this point that he was doing that. Naruto bit his lip, feeling a bit of discomfort he wouldn't even admit to himself.
"This is not related to a date, idiot." Naruto replied.
"Well for once I thought you'd get the D. Or the V. Whatever you want next." Naruto rolled his eyes and Kiba continued. "So who's this? Someone you want to fuck at least?"
"Can you think about something else than fucking, damnit."
"You know I can't. Soooo?"
"I don't intend to fuck anyone at the moment." Naruto grumbled.
"So what is it?"
Naruto didn't answer, as he decided to steal Kiba's burger and take a bite, as hecould definitly see Kiba's face covering in frustration as the silence was going on.
"COM'ON Don't let me in the unknown!" Kiba groaned, taking his burger back without a word on it. "If it's not that, what it is? Is that a dog? Are you going to date a dog?"
"Fuck off man, I'm not as crazy as you are!" Naruto replied.
"Then what is it? You cannot stay silent with me, damnit, you know everything about my sex life-!"
"Yeah, about that, I don't need to know which is your favorite position with the girl you date, FYI." Naruto cut, trying at least to change the subject.
"If it wasn't for my sex talks you would still be a virgin today!" Kiba replied with pride. "So I'm not gonna apologize about teaching you stuff!"
"You know, usually friends share, like, other kind of stuffs."
"Glad we have this special friendship then."
Naruto rolled his eyes and finished his fries. Before he could even stop it, however, Kiba stole his phone.
"What the-"
"If you don't give me the infos I'm gonna take 'em." Kiba answered, trying to look at his messages.
Naruto sighed and crossed his arms, looking at Kiba's face going down.
"There is nothing in it!" Kiba complained.
"Because I'm not waiting anything." Naruto rolled his eyes again.
"You SURE are waiting for something! Don't tell me you've been girly enough to give your phone number to someone and now you are waiting for him or her to call?"
Naruto felt his cheek getting warmer in shame and he saw Kiba gasp right.
"Oh my god, you did that."
"Shut up." Naruto replied, grumbling, trying to take his phone back.
"HOW DID I RAISE YOU!" Kiba yelled. "NEVER GIVE YOUR PHONE NUMBER TO SOMEONE YOU WANNA DATE, ALWAYS TAKE IT."
"Calm your fucking voice down!" Naruto hissed, finally managing to tear his phone away from Kiba's hands. "It ain't for a date, so give me a break!"
"God damnit you're such a girl." Kiba replied. "Do I even know this person?"
"No you don't, stop asking questions!"
Kiba sighed and pushed his own back on the chair again, finally giving up. "You're a pain in the ass Naruto, y'know that?"
"You're the one invading my privacy."
"Privacy doesn't mean anything between us." Kiba smirked.
"And that's why you've never been in relationship for more than two weeks." Naruto grumbled.
"People can't handle perfection, what do you want?"
"Is Perfection the new name of your dog?"
"Bite me."
Kiba swallowed the last bite of his burger and looked around them. The place was so full with people that it was actually getting difficult to breath to stay in here. They didn't even need a look to agree and stand up at the same time in order to get away from the place. Once they arrived in the street, Naruto filled his lungs with air and Kiba yawned. Everyone rushed in restaurents and else, and despite the fact that the weather was good, the streets were almost all empty. This was often the case when they were away from the center of the city, and as Kiba couldn't move his ass to the main street, Naruto had to come in one of those streets that he could reach only by cab or tube. It was far from work, but at least he could see Kiba. Well, he could actually wonder why it was a good thing, but that was not the point.
He checked again his phone, and hearing Kiba's snickering, he actually realized that he did it quite a lot. It was a habit he started to take during the whole week. Kiba was probably right: he should have taken Sasuke's number, not giving him his.
On the first few days, he was only checking his phone from time to time, during their pauses at work, not much. Then he caught himself to do it again and again, ways too much, even during the night when he woke up for a few seconds. He was doing that so often that even Sai started to comment on it, which was the last thing Naruto needed on his back. Even Kiba was easier to handle than Sai.
Sasuke didn't call. Nor text. He didn't care for the slightest. Naruto should have expected it, as Sasuke ran away from him - like he always does, a bitter voice added in his mind. On the other hand, he didn't expect to care that much. He didn't speak for Sasuke for years, and when he found him back he was a man from the mafia that threatened to kill him. He had no reason to care at all. Or to give him his phone number.
But in the end, Naruto always ended up caring too much. Whoever Sasuke was nowadays, he wanted to now how, why. If he was to give up on Sasuke, he wanted a better reason than just he's a guy from the mafia. In the end, the silence was even worse. Naruto could rationalize why Sasuke didn't tell him when they were young, Naruto didn't know about the mafia so it was better to cut out any relation, and as angry as it made him, Naruto could understand why. But now, Naruto knew. And if Sasuke always had been in the mafia, there were no reason to believe a bond now wasn't possible. Or so Naruto thought. Then the nights passed by and he started to wonder if there were anything in Sasuke worth trying for.
Part of Naruto was disappointed - worse even, feeling betrayed - but even with all the worst cases scenarios in mind, Naruto didn't manage to think about giving up just yet. And he would have gladly call Sasuke to yell at him and tell him that, if he had Sasuke's number. Which he didn't have, since he foolishly thought Sasuke will call him and he will have his number thanks to this.
So now, like Kiba said with his all famous finesse, he just looked like a girl waiting for someone to call.
Naruto put his phone in his pocket, trying not to think about it, as he walked down the street with Kiba. This one was talking about his dog, then which tatoo he'll probably do next, and the conversation went on from that point for a few minutes.
Until Naruto felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.
Holding his breath, Naruto took it out, feeling Kiba looking at him with his eyebrows frown. But any kind of hope that came in Naruto's mind for a few seconds were shattered away when he saw the name of his partner on the phone. Sighing, Naruto took the call.
"Sai? What's the matter?"
"Where are you right now?" Sai's voice said, covered a bit by the traffic on his side.
"Huh, around the Valley Street, why?" Naruto answered after checking the place.
"Go to the post office, I'm coming to pick you up." His partner replied. "There's been a murder, we're asked on Trader Street."
Trader Street was somewhere between the Main Street and Valley Street, and it was well known for all the shops that were around. They got there quite fast, though Naruto totally blamed Sai's ways to drive when they had a case, which was halfway between "Sonic the Hedgedog" fast and "I'm trying to kill us" fast. When they got on place, however, they could see a lot of people, all around the same place. They made their way in the crowd, to the yellow band that was blocking the era between two building, and both showed their ID cards to a fellow policeman that let them pass. They went straight ahead to their boss, Kakashi, a tall man with grey hair who was wearing a mask hiding his mouth and nose, who was walking by them already.
"You've been fast."
"Sai almost killed us in the process, but yes,we've been fast." Naruto said, and he could feel Sai's glare on his neck.
"What do we have?" Sai asked.
Kakashi glanced at them, frowning before waving at them to bring them in the middle of the way. The smell took Naruto out of guard, and he covered his mouth and nose with his hand. In those kind of circumstance, he could understand why Kakashi never left his mask. Sai didn't seem to be bothered by that. It smelled like blood. They arrived next to the forensic, Shizune, a woman with short brown hair, who was croutching next to a box. Naruto felt his heart beat faster as he picked an eye into the box. Human limbs. He wanted to puke.
"It looks like she's looking right at us." Sai said casually looking at the head at the top of the box.
"Sai, It's time for a bit of human decency if you don't mind." Naruto replied looking at Shizune to not look at the box. "Do we know who she is?"
Shizune nodded. "Her name was Yurika. She used to work for us."
Naruto felt nauseous. "Used to?"
"Because she is dead, Naruto." Sai sighed. "Do you have a brain sometimes?"
"She was investigating on a family we had a few informations about. " Kakashi said before Naruto could answer. "She probably discovered something she shouldn't have."
"She got caught." Sai added. "She mustn't have been that clever."
"You're talking about someone who have been cut in pieces!" Naruto hissed at him. "Stop being that insensitive!"
"Emotions are useless on a case." Sai replied. "I already told you that."
Naruto grinced his teeth and looked at the crowd. That was the kind of problems he always had with Sai. If when they weren't working he was trying to at least understand others people, as soon as they were on the case, he was as cold as ice. Take a heartless guy to understand heartless guys, Kakashi would say talking about how effective Sai was at his job thanks to this. But Naruto was still not used to this.
"I thought mafias tried to stay quiet." Naruto said after a moment thinking. "Why would they let a body of someone they know was investigating on them in the middle of a popular street?"
"Guess IQ isn't what mafias are looking for anymore." Sai commented.
"It was probably a small new family." Kakashi ignored Sai. "They more than likely don't know some basics about hiding bodies."
"We know who they are, don't we?" Naruto asked.
"Mafias always hide themselves well." Kakashi replied. "Identities are the hardest things we could get, so we don't really know."
"There are a lot of fingerprints on the box." Shizune said as she got up. "But it's more than probable that most of them don't belong to our killer. But we found this in the box."
She showed up a customized knife covered with blood in a plastic bag. Sai took it from her and looked at it.
"Music notes?" Sai frowned. "Where can you find knives with that on?"
"You don't." Kakashi replied. "It has been graved on it by a professional."
"So you mean they were idiot enough to leave a part of their identity on a crime scene?" Sai looked at the knife again.
"I still don't know if it's silliness or something else." Kakashi replied, putting his hand on his chin. "We can never know for sure."
"What else could it be?" Sai asked, frowning.
Kakashi looked at the crowd before answering: "A lot of things."
Naruto himself started to glance at the crowd, as Sai and Kakashi started to look around for clues. Talking about all of their theories out of the open wasn't a good idea. If there was a reason why this body was out of the open, then it wasn't safe. The fact so many people could see the corpse was a problem as well. They weren't supposed to be exposed at those kind of stuffs, and it was the best way to put spotlights on the brunch of policemen who worked on this case. There were too much people. Some of them looked horrified, others looked excited. Suddenly Naruto's heart stopped for one second.
Among them, there was Sasuke too.
Seeing him on a crime scene wasn't really the thing Naruto expected. The fact he was showing up when the mafia was the main suspect didn't mean anything good. He blinked a few times, to be sure he wasn't hallucinating him, and after a few time, their eyes finally met. Naruto's blood raced faster than usual seeing him. Nothing good could come out of it. Sasuke saw him and then he turned his back on him to move away from the crowd. There were no way Naruto could let him go like that.
" 'Comin' back." he threw at Sai without even looking at him, and he aheaded to the crowd, to Sasuke.
Once he moved in the crowd, he saw Sasuke walking next to a building on the other side of the road. Ignoring people asking him questions on his way out, he ran toward him, as he saw him going in another back alley a few buildings away.
As soon as he arrived in the back alley, however, he was pushed onto the wall right away, blocked by Sasuke's body.
"What the-" Naruto blinked in surprise.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Sasuke hissed at him, holding him against the wall.
"I could ask the same thing to you!" Naruto replied as he disengaged. "I'm doing my job, what are YOU doing here?!"
Sasuke bit his lips angrily. "Always finding a way to put yourself in unnecessary troubles huh?"
"Always finding a way to not answer my questions huh?" Naruto immitated and Sasuke twitched in anger.
"Same as you." Sasuke finally replied. "Doing my job."
"Are you involved in all that?" Naruto asked, quite anxious to know the answer.
Sasuke looked at him for a few seconds before answer. "If I told you I am not you wouldn't believe me."
"I would believe the truth!" Naruto exclaimed, and he could see Sasuke's eyes went wide in surprise. "And if the truth is that you're not invovled, then I would believe that. "
It took a little time for Sasuke to go back to his usual angry face. "Tch. I am not involved. There are more than one mafia in this town, this isn't the kind of things my family does."
Naruto wanted to trust him. He really did. But a voice in his head - that strangely looked like Sai's - was telling him not to. It wasn't the Sasuke he used to know. Or more likely, he didn't know Sasuke well back then. How could he be sure that Sasuke or his family wouldn't do that? He couldn't. And he couldn't be sure of Sasuke as well.
"If it is true..." Naruto started carefully. "Then do you at least have an idea of who it would be?"
Sasuke frowned, just like Naruto said the strangest thing ever. "You believe me?"
"I don't know if I do," Naruto honestly replied. "But I'm not gonna charge you without any proof. It's not because you're the only mafia's member I know that you are the only one doing crime out there."
Sasuke blinked, staying quiet, which made Naruto grumble. "You changed." he finally said, after a moment of silence.
"That's what people do in ten years." Naruto rolled his eyes.
"Nine." Sasuke corrected.
"Fuck off."
Naruto probably hallucinated it - yeah, he definitly did - but he could have sworn he had seen Sasuke smiling.
"What was on the knife you found in the box?" Sasuke asked, deadly serious.
"Huh.. Music notes. Why?"
Sasuke rubbed his chin, thoughtfull. It seemed like he had a tone of theories going around in his head, but as he stayed silent, Naruto guessed he didn't mean to share it with him - which made him also realize he did a terrible professional mistake by telling which proof they had to a member of a mafia.
"Hey, asshole!" Naruto called out. "What's the matter? Do you know who they are?"
"This is my problem." Sasuke answered, drawing a movement to get out of the alley. "Don't get involved into it."
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Naruto grumbled, forcing Sasuke to stay by taking his arm firmely. "I'm not gonna let you go like that! If you know somethin' about the case you better tell me!"
"Let the families deal with themselves." Sasuke coldly answered, but yet, to Naruto's surprise, he didn't disengage yet. "You're just a cop, you don't know what you're involving yourself into."
"The girl who had been killed was also a cop!" Naruto replied angrily. "I'm not gonna let a comrade's death without explaination, asshole!"
"And you might get killed as well!" Sasuke hissed.
"Yeah, thank you I know my job!" Naruto growled. "If you know something, just tell me!"
"Do you know how to stay away from trouble you idi-"
Sasuke stopped himself mid-sentence when they both heard gunshots, not that far from them. A lot of screaming followed, which froze Naruto right away. He looked at Sasuke, trying to see if it was as much a surprise for the raven haired boy than for him - and when he saw Sasuke's eyes went wide, some terror took Naruto over. Without second thought, Naruto rushed out of the alley. He didn't even hear Sasuke calling him out, as he ran straight away to the alley where his comrades were. As he ran, he saw all the crowd running everywhere, like a disorganised pack of threatened animals. His heart started pounding. Once he arrived in the alley, before his eyes could see anything in the mess people running everywhere made, he heard Kakashi's voice screaming.
"SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULANCE, SAI HAD BEEN SHOT!"
"I swear I'm fine, just leave me be!"
"Sai, would you shut up for one second?"
"I said I was fine, why is that hard for you to understand that?!"
"YOU'VE BEEN SHOT SO SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LET ME SEE THAT!"
However strong Sai wanted to believe he was, he still couldn't stand a chance in front of Sakura's anger. His back pushed on the wall next to the door, Naruto was silently watching - and mocking - his partner, sat on a hospital bed, getting yelled at. Sakura was watching worryingly to the bulletmark Sai had on his upper arm, checking if something important had been touched, while Sai was sometimes grimacing at Sakura's rudeness. Even someone as unable as Sai to feel something correctly was feeling pain after being shot like that.
"It is just my arm, Sakura." Sai finally said again. "It could have been worse. Could have been my head."
"Yes!" Sakura grumbled, putting desinfectant on the wound. "That's the thing, it could totally have been your head! You could have died!"
"But I didn't!" Sai answered, insisting so much on this last word that Naruto could have sworn he sang it.
"Talk to me like that once again and I swear you'd wish you did." Sakura replied irritated. "Do you even care for your own life?!"
"Do you even realize we are cops?" Sai answered in the same tone.
"I'm going to kill him." She turned to see Naruto. "Can I kill him please?"
"I thought you were yelling at him because he almost died." Naruto chuckled.
"Yes, but still." Sakura grumbled. "Someone who cares so lightly about his own life shouldn't have a problem with whom is going to kill him right?!"
"You know I can still hear you right?" Sai sighed and Sakura sent him a death glare.
"The only reason I'm not hitting you right now is because you are wounded." Sakura hissed. "So don't tempt me."
"Sai, seriously, don't." Naruto said seeing Sai opening his mouth again. "She might really end up killing you."
Sai grumbled and rolled his eyes, while Sakura put a bandage on the wound again. Sai was right: it could have been worse. Actually he had been really lucky that the bullet just passed in the flesh and was easy to get off his arm. The fact Sai fainted because of the pain worried everyone, especially because of how much he bleed, but in the end all of that was just a reaction due to the pain, and wasn't as serious as they might have thought. Nevertheless, it didn't stop Sakura to worry like crazy seeing them arriving in the ambulance with Sai still unconscious.
"It's crazy you've been the only one to get touched." Sakura said after she finally fixed the bandage. "How is that even possible?"
"We won't talk about it." Sai answered. "It is linked to the case we're working on and you shouldn't get invovled."
Naruto felt his lips twitch as he heard Sai say that.
"It is not because I know something like that that I would get in trouble." Sakura grumbled. "You've been shot. Naruto could have been shot as well. I want to know why!"
"You don't have to know." Sai replied. "As for Naruto, he wasn't even here when it happened." He moved his glance to his partner and Naruto suddenly felt uncomfortable. "I wonder why, actually."
"I was checking something on the other side of the road." Naruto lied, as he prepared this lie on the road to the hospital. "Didn't want to miss a single clue."
"Did you find anything?" Sai asked, and Naruto tried to hide how bad the following lies were making him feel.
"Nothing really. My intuition didn't work well."
Sai nodded. "It at least worked to keep you out of trouble this time. That's probably a first for you."
"Thank you Sai." Naruto sighed.
Out of trouble. As if Naruto could even be out of trouble with all of that. The job he chose wasn't one to keep him out of trouble, and having a friend - or so - that worked in the mafias they were hunting was making it even worse. The only thing that wasn't a trouble that happened today was the fact that Sai's wound wasn't serious. That's it. That's the least problematic thing that happened today.
If the universe was pulling a joke at him, Naruto wanted to tell it its humor sucked just as much as Sai's.
"I'm going to take a coffee." Naruto finally sighed.
"Go to the cafeteria then." Sakura replied. "The coffee machine is broken."
"And try to be careful, in case someone wants to kill you on your way out." Sai added.
"Your optimism is going right to my heart, Sai." Naruto answered, before leaving the room.
He walked down the hospital, wandering in the corridors, looking at his feet. Now they couldn't exclude the fact that someone tried to kill one of them. None of them were safe now. And as Sai had no sense of humor, the seriousness of his sentence was just pounding in Naruto's head, repeating itself like a broken radio. Staying out of trouble wasn't an option anymore. Moreover, now, Naruto had to deal with the fact that he ran from the only person that could give him an answer and that he had absolutly no way to contact him. Next time they see each other, if there is a next time, Naruto should take his phone number at any cost. He'd wish that this priority was the one of an old friend, but in the end, the fact Sasuke was a mafioso had more weight into this priority than the friendship they used to share. If only it had been different.
To go to the cafeteria, he had to go out of the hospital's main door, as it was in the other building. But when he got out, another thing caught his attention. Like, having Sasuke Uchiha sat on a bench in front of the doors. Naruto was sure he would have ran away - like he always does. Why was he still here?
"Sasuke?" he called, and Sasuke raised his head to see him.
Getting up, he went right to Naruto. "How's your friend?"
"He's fine." Naruto frowned. "What are you doing here?"
Sasuke reminded silent for a bit, before answering. "Just trying to know what's going on."
"Well at least it makes two of us." Naruto grumbled. "Do you even have an idea you're not telling me about?!"
"You don't have to know." Sasuke replied. "I already told you to-"
"Not get involved, I heard the first time y'know?!" Naruto cut him off. "But my friend just got shot so there is no way I stay out of it!"
"It is more serious than you think, idiot!" Sasuke hissed at him.
"If you really want me to stay away from it, you gotta tell me everything!" Naruto exclaimed. "Can't stay away from a trouble I don't know shit about right?"
Sasuke bit his lip furiously, as he put his hands in his pockets. Naruto was sure that, whatever he was hiding, Sasuke knew something important and possiblely dangerous. But Naruto meant it, he couldn't stay out of it. Sakura's conversation with Sai rang in his ears and he did his best to not show it out. He wasn't Sakura. He was right into it, it was his job, and his friend got hurt, more people could get hurt soon, and Sasuke... Sasuke was just standing silent. It pissed him off.
"Alright then" Sasuke brutally sighed. "You're in danger. All of you are. The people who put this body in place did it on purpose, they try to reach you and your.. team or whatever. Your friend is lucky he survived."
...wait, what? "AND YOU'RE TELLING ME TO NOT GET INVOLVED?!"
He shouldn't be here.
The huge cafeteria was empty, as the afternoon was going by, and Sasuke really regretted to have let himself being dragged into this. He should have listened to his first instict and let his brother checks the crime scene instead of him - he shouldn't have been curious about this bad feeling and he shouldn't have come in the first place.
Yet here he was, cursing himself to be dragged into all that.
He was sat at a table, as Naruto was taking some coffees. Watching him, Sasuke's feelings got mixed up. When he heard about this corpse, so batlantly signed by the mafia, found in one of the most frequented street of the city, he assumed that the police they were going to send will be mafia's related police. Even if he thought about the possibilities to find Naruto on the crime scene, he didn't take it seriously - by normal standarts, he was too young to be sent on the field by the police. Yet it seemed they lived in the only alternative universe where it wasn't the case. It didn't matter that they had the same age: Men of Honor were killers since birth, they grew up too fast, they were used to danger and as a result, in Sasuke's eyes, Naruto was still just a child that had no idea what the hell he got himself into. He wasn't a member of the mafias. He wasn't broken, he wasn't dead inside, and he wasn't a killer. For the first time, Sasuke thought, he saw a cop working against him as a human before seeing him as a threat. Naruto had no place on this case - he wasn't ready for that.
And yet, he spent those last ten minutes asking so much questions that Sasuke was surprised his throat didn't go dry yet.
Sasuke didn't know what he could or should tell to Naruto. If it depended on him, Naruto wouldn't know a thing, and they wouldn't even have to talk. But some parts of the argument Naruto gave him couldn't be ignored: what Naruto didn't know could kill him. If it was what he thought Naruto was in much more trouble than he initially thought - and he was definitly involved. His main purpose shouldn't be to protect a cop, however, and yet it was everything Sasuke was thinking about since he first heard the gunshot. He didn't want to think about why, though. He should focuse on what was going on - and protect Naruto in the process to at least give himself good conscience.
Waiting at the table, Sasuke was mindlessly taping the table with his fingers, thinking about what he could or should tell, and what he should keep silent. Naruto came back with the two coffees and he sat in front of Sasuke.
"So, let's get it straight: Someone wants to kill all the policemen, that's it?"
"Not all of them." Sasuke sighed. "And could you be any louder?"
"Don't tempt me." Naruto rolled his eyes and Sasuke could feel the irritation growing in his throat. "Why would they do that?"
Sasuke sighed. "Your police section has put a lot of trouble in many of our families. Seems that one of them decided to get ride of you all."
"So everything was just a trap?"
"That's it." Sasuke nodded. "And as it was in a popular street, it was easier for them to hurt you or just see your face without you to find them, right?"
Naruto bit his lip. "Our boss tried to investigate from the side where the gunshot came from, but he didn't find anything. So I guess, yeah."
"They're smarter than you." Sasuke said, putting his elbows on the table. "Though if your comrades have the same brain as you it wouldn't be that complicated."
He should have, but he didn't see coming the kick Naruto gave him under the table. "Stop thinking I'm stupid, you bastard!"
"Start acting like you weren't, then, idiot."
To his greatest surprise, what answered to him wasn't an angry upset reaction, but a pouting baby face as Naruto crossed his arms. which confirmed what Sasuke thought in the first place: Naruto couldn't face what this life could do to him.
"Look, the people that are after you? They are determined to kill you." Sasuke growled. "They are professional killers, and they won't let you any chance to survive. Do you get this is not a game?"
"You seem to be the only one to think I think it's a game." Naruto grumbled, and he tried to look serious again. "Does it have anything to do with the knife with the music notes on it?"
"I don't think so." Sasuke sighed. "I know the family that own this knife. They don't do much murders, or at least, not let the police finds the corpses. They don't want you guys on their heels. Plus, if they wanted to trick you, they wouldn't use something that belong to them. Just like those guys did actually - they used something that didn't belong to them."
Naruto frowned. "So you mean that those professional killers -whoever they are- tried to incriminate others professional killers -that you won't tell me more about I presume- while they tried to kill us professionally?"
"... You're giving me a serious headache right now."
Naruto shrugged. "Just want to know what I'm involving myself into. You won't tell me more, will you?"
"You're a cop." Sasuke replied simply and clearly. "Your world is the clear opposite of mine. Put that in your head." After a moment of silence, Sasuke continued. "You should be carefull and stay as far away as possible from this."
"Like I would do that." Naruto grumbled.
"Glad to know you don't care about your own life."
Naruto sighed, and then focused on his coffee. Sasuke then remembered he had one to drink to and started to put it on his lips, when he realized with horror that Naruto put not one - which was already a crime in itself - but TWO sugars in his coffee. His shock must have been visible on his face because Naruto frowned.
"What's that?" Naruto asked.
"You're not gonna drink that." Sasuke replied, focused on Naruto's cup of coffee.
Naruto gasped in shock. "Don't tell me you're one of those purist that won't allow anything in their coffee."
"This isn't coffee anymore if you put that much sugars!" Sasuke heard himself being louder than he expected.
"OFCOURSE it's still coffee you dumbass!" Naruto answered on the same tone. "Anyway sugarfree coffee is WAYS too bitter otherwise!"
"That's what coffee is about!" Sasuke replied. "It is not supposed to be sweet you idiot! Sugars in coffee is disguisting!"
"NOT putting sugar in coffee is freaking disguisting you freak!" Naruto answered and he drank this monstreous abomination.
"Y'know what, I wonder if I shouldn't let you be killed just because you DARE twisting your coffee." Sasuke grumbled to himself as he drank his own cup, and he chocked onto it as Naruto kicked him again. "You ass-"
"YOU DESERVED IT!"
This lead to them drinking their coffees in silence, sending each other death glares. Sasuke thought for one second that his own reaction was kind of immature, but then he didn't care - he meant it, putting sugar in coffee? Goddamnit, it was the worst thing anyone could possibly do. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that arguing on that kind of things wasn't something Sasuke was used to. Even if it was a terrible thing to do, Sasuke never ever called someone out on this thing, and yet, it came out extremly naturally when he was with Naruto. Which wasn't a good thing. Before he could sort everything out, Naruto put his cup down, looking a bit more confused.
"I wanted to ask you something..."
"It's better be "can I apologize for drinking this disguisting coffee" or I swear I won't answer it." Sasuke heard himself grumble like a child and this time he managed to avoid and to block Naruto's leg with his.
"You're a freaking asshole." Naruto grumbled. "I hope you know that."
"I think I'll deal with it." Sasuke sarcastically replied and Naruto pouted again.
"Why didn't you call me?" Naruto finally said, trying to act like he didn't care about it. "Or text me?"
"Oh no." Sasuke sighed, and he could see Naruto's confusion rising in his eyes as Sasuke stood up. "I'm not going to have this conversation."
"Why not?!" Naruto replied, this time, without hiding how he felt as he raised as well. "What is that about?!"
"I'm not going to have this conversation with you." Sasuke growled, and he then aheaded himself to the outside. "Goodbye."
"You freaking- WAIT A MINUTE!" Naruto caught up on him and Sasuke could almost see again the same angry and determined man from the other night. "What was that?! Not even trying to hide it behind a "I didn't have the time" or anything, you asshole?!"
"I shouldn't even be talking with you in the FIRST PLACE." Sasuke heard himself almost yell. "So just.."
"You're a fucking coward, you know that?!" Naruto cut him and Sasuke stopped immediatly. "You alway run away. Always! When we were kid, when we were at the pub, and NOW again! What's wrong with you?! What's fucking wrong with you, is that how you deal with the issues in the mafia too?! I bet you do, it's the only way you deal with things!"
"Don't ever talk as if you knew how it was!" Sasuke hissed at him in anger and hurt. "Don't even talk to me like you knew anything!"
"The only thing I said was that you were a FUCKING COWARD!" Naruto yelled again and Sasuke wanted to reap his throat. "I just fucking asked you one thing, one FUCKING thing and you're running away, AGAIN, like you always do!"
" You want to know why I didn't call?!" Sasuke replied with the coldest tone he was capable of. "You really want to know?!"
"YES!" Naruto replied with determination.
"I don't want to have to deal with YOU!" Sasuke threw at him. "You're talking about a friendship that doesn't exist and you're acting like a freaking BURDEN! I have no point in doing anything with you!"
He knew he had been harsh on purpose, but seeing how hurt Naruto looked really made him feel much more guilty than he expected. It wasn't the truth. He wanted to tell the truth. How he didn't call because he didn't know what to say, because each time he saw those numbers on his hand, he wanted to call while everything told him to not call him, because he had no reason at all to wish for it. The truth on how he thought about it everyday, coming up with a dozen of excuses to not press those numbers he now knew by heart on the phone. But he knew he couldn't let it being said. His pride wanted him to shut up, and as a man of honor, he was taught to always listen to his pride. He decided to not let it show, to keep being strong and hateful, as he left Naruto right here, keeping as much effort to be away from him and his fucking face.
"You're not even trying." He heard Naruto's faint voice behind him before he closed the door, and without turning back, Sasuke left the place.
"This is disguisting."
"Make an effort."
"I don't want to make an effort, this thing isn't even eatable."
"You do realize Sakura will kill you if you don't eat?"
"I survived being shot, I would survive her being angry at me."
Sai sighed and pushed his plate, as Naruto snickered a bit. Sakura insisted to at least keep him one more day, even though Sai could easily move his arm - this guy was insensitive to pain, Naruto thought - and Kakashi agreed, saying he would be in better shape after resting a bit. Sai had fought to say that he wasn't feeling that much pain, and that he wanted to find the asshole that shot him, but nothing could be done about it, neither Kakashi nor Sakura would let him come out of the hospital today. Seeing how frustrated it was making him, Naruto decided to spend his lunch time with him - and so he could appreciate Sai's face as he was eating a good sandwish and that his partner was forced to eat some unrecognizable food. After he finished his sandwish, however, Sai was still pesting against this terrible thing that people in hospital called food.
"You know what, I wouldn't even be surprised if they were putting poison in those things." Sai finally said. "So they would get money from the life assurance after killing people."
"Woah, Sai" Naruto chuckled, surprised. "Where did you learn this joke?"
"It's not a joke, I'm serious, this is a way to kill someone!" Sai replied.
"Hospitals are meant to save people's lives, Sai." Naruto rolled his eyes, disappointed to finally face the humorless of his friend.
"That's why there is more deaths in hospital than everywhere else."
"Are you sure you're not trying to be funny right now because this would make a hell of a joke." Naruto chuckled seeing Sai so frustrated to not be taken seriously.
"Instead of being an idiot, tell me what we got on the case." Sai said, as he put his hand on his injuried arm.
"Still not much." Naruto shruged. "We're kinda sure this was an isolated act against our section, but we don't know much more. Kakashi asked us to stay at the office if we can, he wants us to be safe before anything else."
"It's not by acting Safely that we will find who's after us." Sai sighed.
"That's what I told him, but it seems you're the only one he listens when it comes to be emotionless."
Sai nodded. Naruto on the other hand, really didn't like this plan. He didn't want to stay at home locked up when everyone could be in danger. Kakashi told him to care about himself first, but it sounded so much like what Sasuke told him the previous day that Naruto didn't want to do this just by spirit of contradiction.
Somehow he couldn't help but bring it back to Sasuke and how unhelpfull he had been. He was the kind to keep secrets and run away, and at the moment, it just pissed Naruto off. The last conversation they had left a bitter taste on his tongue, and he didn't even want to think about it. When he was just working at the office, it was the only thing he was thinking about, and therefore, he wanted to do everything to get busy.
After some minutes, Sakura entered the room and cheerfully said hi to Naruto. But as it was to expect, she didn't appreciate seeing Sai's plate full.
"What's that?" She asked.
"Your disguisting food." Sai replied without even second thought.
"This is good for you!" Sakura sighed. "There is everything in this to make you feel better!"
"Well, EVERYTHING is then freaking disguisting!"
"Com'on, stop acting like a child, it's not that bad!"
"Taste it then!" Sai challenged. "Let's see if you manage to eat it!"
Naruto was interested to see if Sakura was about to actually do it, but his phone started to ring. Sighing, he left the room before knowing the outcome, while he picked up the phone.
"Hey?"
"Heya guy!" He heard the really recognizable voice of Kiba over phone. "How you doin'?"
"You actually forced me out of a fight between Sakura and Sai." Naruto shrugged.
"Outch, who's winning the point this time?"
Naruto picked an eye on the room and saw Sakura disguisted, putting the plate away, while Sai was proudly telling her "I told you so!"
"It seems Sai made his point." Naruto nodded.
"WHAAAT no joke!" Kiba exclaimed. "He actually managed it?"
"Miracles do happen." Naruto laughed, hearing Kiba do the same on the other end of the phone. Sakura and Sai were always bickering so much that Kiba and Naruto loved to count the points of their fightings - but they stayed careful to not let Sakura knows about it, as they both cared about their ribs and didn't want them to be broken up.
"Okay, man," Kiba finally said, as Naruto started to walk in the coridors. "We couldn't see each other yesterday, shaaaame. So here, what about tonight, video games party, at your home?"
"I thought you hardly had a night off?" Naruto wondered. "Now you're telling me you managed to get two in a row?"
"What do you want, I actually do my job so well that they let me out."
"... Who did you pay for this new night off?"
"... Okay, I asked a friend to take my shift." Kiba said and Naruto started laughing again. "Oh stop mocking me! He was owing me one anyway! Plus, for once I'd like to share an evening with my best friend!"
"That's so thoughtfull of you!" Naruto teased.
"Yeah, I know, I'm the best friend you would ever have." Kiba commented, which make Naruto laugh again. "So, deal?"
"I'll try to get free tonight." Naruto nodded. "I need a break too."
"WONDERFUL! So, see you at 7pm, your flat? I'm bringing food if you want, what about chinese? And I mean, chinese food, not actual chinese, we won't eat human flesh tonight, that would be for another night."
"I'm cool with chinese food." Naruto chuckled.
"So that's a deal here!" Kiba exclaimed. "Finally! See you tonight!"
"Yeah, see you tonight." Naruto smiled. "Bye."
The call ended and Naruto sighed. Yeah, a cool evening like that will be relaxing. Well as relaxing as being with Kiba can be.
He realized that he walked quite a lot in the coridors, and he didn't even know where he was at this point. Sighing, he decided to go back to Sai's room, clearing his thoughts a bit in the process. In the end, he couldn't help but be worried. Sai had been the only one to get attacked so far, and they didn't even finish the job right. The fact nobody else had been attacked should be a relief, but it was actually what worried Naruto the most. There should have been more attack, more people hurt. This made no sense at all to suddenly stop, especially since no one got hurt. They pulled the attention on them, and now they weren't moving. Naruto was worried, and the more he thought about it, the more anxious he was.
The worst part is that they didn't know anything about the people trying to attack them. Their only lead had been said to be useless, and they couldn't know what to believe. To be realistic, they didn't know much on the mafias to begin with. So those kind of actions didn't help them to figure out what was going on.
Naruto's thought were interrupted as he heard some noises, not that far from him. Glasses shattering, screamings, a ponding noise. Gunshots.
He froze right away before managing to run to the direction of the noises - or at least to Sai's room, which seemed to be the same thing. When he arrived the room, as he thought, he saw the window broken on the floor, and Sai and Sakura on the ground. From what it seemed, Sai jumped on Sakura to put her behind the bed with him and be protected from any projectile. Naruto rushed to the window, not listening to Sai telling him to keep away from it, and he tried to see where did the bullets come from. Luckyly enough, he saw one man with a red sweatshirt running on the opposite direction, not that far from the building, and Naruto was sure he got a lead. He had to go after him now.
"Naruto, don't!" Sai yelled, helping Sakura to stand up with him. "Call Kakashi or something but don't go yourself!"
"If I don't go now we'll loose the track!" Naruto replied, running to the door.
"Naruto, WAIT" Sakura called him, but he already rushed out of the room, running to the hospital exit.
Something Naruto was proud about was his speed most of the time. In Police school, he always had been the fastest one. He easily reached the place he saw the guy, and rushed to the direction he saw him run to. He hoped he didn't lose the track, hoped the shooter didn't go that far. He ran to what seemed the most logical direction, until at one point, he saw him - the same guy, with the same sweater running on the streets. Catching his breath, Naruto hid himself behind a wall and tried to see this guy's progression, hiding his presence, but trying to follow him as well.
At some point, the man started to get slower, to stop running, looking in every direction to be sure he hadn't been followed. Naruto kept his distances, but didn't want to let him go. He could hear the man swear, as he started to walk into the back alleys, going as far as possible from the hospital. Naruto was careful to not be seen, and he followed him for what seemed to be hours. Something started to take Naruto's breath away, as he realized that they were going further and further into the empty parts of the city. Trying to keep quiet as much as he could, he kept some more distances to not get noticed.
Suddenly, he felt someone catching him from behind, putting his hand onto his mouth and locking him against his chest with one arm. Naruto started to feel panic pounding in every inches of his body and he tried to fight against this hold, until he heard a familiar voice at his ear.
"I told you to stay away from trouble, you goddamn idiot!"
Naruto never felt that much relief to hear Sasuke's voice. He released a breath he realized he had been holding since the panic took over as he stopped fighting the hold. He put his hand on Sasuke's on his mouth to get it away, and turned his head to see him. He didn't think, however, that Sasuke would be that pissed off to see him here.
"You scared the shit out of me!" he whispered, trying to disengage from the arm on his chest but Sasuke didn't let him go.
"You shouldn't be here!" Sasuke shuttered angrily. "You didn't even look out for yourself, and you came alone?! Do you want to get killed?"
"Stop asking me that!" Naruto replied in the same tone and tried again to go away from the holding. "Let me go!"
"If I let you go you have to promise me you'll go back right to your home and not turn back!" Sasuke hissed at his ear.
"There is no way I'm going to do that!" Naruto replied. "This guy tried to shoot my friend again and.."
"And you rushed after him without any backup?!" Sasuke asked with his low voice, in what seemed to be a shock.
"I would have lost him if I didn't do that!" Naruto tried then again to get away from Sasuke's holding, but as he was fighting against it, Sasuke was holding him tighter.
"You should have asked for backup you idiot!"
"Then be my backup!" Naruto heard himself whisper, and he was actually surprised of his own words. So were Sasuke apparently, because suddenly his arm around him became numb and Naruto could get away from it.
"What?" Sasuke asked in disbelief.
"You're working on that case too!" Naruto heard himself continue. "You want to stop it just as much as I do, right?"
Sasuke blinked for one second. "How can you not think I'm on those guys' side?"
"Because you told me about them!" Naruto said, and he was actually surprised to realize he actually believed what he said. "Because you tried to protect me, because you were legitimely worried!"
"And I could be tricking you." Sasuke answered in confusion.
"I trust you." Naruto conclued and he could see Sasuke's eyes went wide.
He could also hear some voices in his own head screaming against that, but Naruto didn't even manage to listen to them. He had a thousand of reasons to not trust Sasuke, and yet it was the easiest thing to do - the most natural thing that was coming to him. Now that he said it out loud, it just made sense in his head why. Since the begining of the case, the only thing Sasuke tried to tell him more importantly than anything was to be safe. Under those crappy changing of mood, Sasuke actually did his best to keep him safe. It filled Naruto's heart with some joy he didn't even manage to explain. Sasuke kept silent for a little bit, before looking down and bit his lip.
"You're not going to come home safely right?"
"Nope." Naruto answered, feeling a smile getting wide on his face "So what about we deal with it together?"
Sasuke raised his look at him, and it seemed like he was looking for something on Naruto's face, before he bit his lip again.
"You listen to everything I will say, I command everything that will happen, and if I tell you to run, you fucking run, is that clear?"
"Roger that!"
Accepting to bring Naruto along was probably the worst idea Sasuke ever had.
At first, Sasuke managed to have enough informations about what he was looking for. His connections with different families, and having many others members of his own family on the case, lead him to a definitive conclusion. From what witnesses saw, from the informations he got, he managed to find the way to this part of the city, who was almost deserted due to the buildings under constructions that were left over because of budget restrictions some years ago. From what he heard, some members of some mafias hid there, mostly for ugly works. It was more than probable that in fact, some members of a family decided to act without their bosses's accord - or at least, every bosses of the families that had good relationships with the Uchiha were all determined to stay as far as they could from the police.
He didn't expect however to see Naruto down here, and seeing him not only confirmed what he thought about this place, but also worried him beyond mesures. He told himself multiple times to not care that much about this freaking idiot, but since this case began, Sasuke was worried about what could happen to Naruto, and that, even while he was trying his hardest to not think about it. It didn't even make sense. Did he care because he was a childhood friend? Because of this damn smile that was always taking Sasuke out of guard? Or the fact that even with all the reasons in the world to keep himself away from him, Naruto was still holding up to him?
Whatever this reason was, it leads him once again to put his mission in danger for the sake of Naruto. If it was meant to be heard... Sasuke didn't even want to think about the shame it would put on him, and his whole family's name. But yet he couldn't think about something else to do. Especially after Naruto told him he trusted him. Instead of yelling at him to not do that, to not trust anyone, Sasuke just accepted it. Even worse, he started to like this idea, and he didn't want Naruto to stop thinking that.
They both moved their ways toward one of the building under construction, and Sasuke caught himself to mostly watch out for Naruto's back that to look for the people he was supposed to find there. And it happened it was much better to do that, as Naruto almost walked into objects that would make a lot of noise and give their positions right away, and the only way to avoid that had been to catch him right before anything happens. In the end, Sasuke didn't even let go of Naruto's arm, that he held tight in order to be more reactive, as his other hand was carrying the gun to protect them if any trouble was meant to happen.
After some minutes walking in the corridors, they finally heard voices coming from what seemed to be a hall. Sasuke pulled Naruto a bit to keep him behind the wall with him and Naruto didn't even protest. Their two heads then were looking into the room, and they tried to be as quiet as they could.
In the middle of the room, they saw two men, one of them with a red sweat shirt that was the one both him and Naruto followed into this place. The other one was wearing a blue jacket and he looked exasperated. They were in the middle of a conversation and they had to lead a bit to hear everything that they were saying.
"... you couldn't even shoot him?!"
"I miscalculed okay!" the guy with the sweater said. "He was quick and he went under the bed and..."
"Couldn't you concentrate on one of the other ones? We have more than one man to kill!"
"We couldn't even kill him first, I figured out it would be better to kill them one by one that to hurt them all at once."
"Yeah it would be better if you managed to KILL them all at once! Do you even realize that if our boss find out about it..."
"I don't know what you're expecting anyway! I thought it was clear we shouldn't attack the police or something like that?"
"Because no one in our family has the nerves to pull them down! They don't even try!"
"And you think only two men will be able to do it?!"
"Well if you managed to shoot straight, I would say yes!"
It was all the informations Sasuke really needed. Those two were doing it without any support of the others members of the families, and they were making a mess. So it was time to clean the mess. He pulled Naruto to him, and when the blond's boy raised his eyes in surprise toward him, he realized that they were so close that their bodies actually touched. Not fond of that little personal space, Sasuke stepped back a bit.
"I'm going to take care of it from now on." Sasuke said. "You go away and I can swear it's going to be-"
"The fuck are you talking about?" Naruto whispered. "We can arrest them right now and..."
"That's what I intend to do." Sasuke replied. "But you're not going to like my ways. So go away."
Naruto's eyes went wide, and Sasuke was facing how much of a child he stayed. "You mean you're going to..."
"This is what I have to do. Go, now."
"They have to face the law!" Naruto pled. "They almost killed a friend of mine, they..."
"They deserve to be killed at the strike." Sasuke answered. "They didn't only go against your laws, they went against our codes. I can't let them alive."
"Sasuke, no!" Naruto shook his head as if the mere idea of knowing about a murder was too much for him to take.
"Go. Away."
Naruto didn't seem ready to go, however, which was making him in a troublesome situation. Sasuke thought about knocking him over when one of the two guys said: "Did you hear anything?"
"I think there's someone." the other guy replied, and it became an emergency to keep Naruto away.
But Naruto didn't react the way Sasuke expected him to do. Instead of running on the opposite direction, he stood right in the way.
Before he could even have the time to come with a plan, the guy with the blue jacket arrived in front of them, gun ready to shoot. Sasuke reacted right away by pushing Naruto on the side, far away from the bullet that torn the air. Sasuke kicked the guy's gunhand and put his own gun out, ready to shoot as well, but he didn't see the guy with the red sweater had his gun pointed at him.
"Stop moving or I shoot!" he said, his voice trembling.
"Don't talk and act you idiot!" the man with the blue jacket answered.
Sasuke could shoot, and he was totally sure the guy wouldn't shoot - he looked like a kid who had no idea how to use a gun, and it was no surprise to see he was the one who missed shooting Naruto's comrade. But he hesited, as he couldn't be sure the gun wouldn't work on its own and hurt, say, Naruto. The hesitation was all the man with the blue jacket needed to take back his own gun, and before Sasuke could shoot on him, the guy with the red sweater shot and missed Sasuke only from a few inches. The man with the blue jacket put his gun on Sasuke's head, and would probably have shot if...
"Drop the gun, NOW."
Naruto immobilized the guy with the read sweater, and considering the blood that was flowing on his face and the fact he was barely standing straight, Naruto probably hit him when Sasuke didn't notice. He put his gun on the guy's head, and Sasuke must admit it, he looked terrifying and ready to shoot. Anyone could be fooled by this face, and for one second, Sasuke wondered if Naruto really didn't kill anyone before. He would be surprised if Naruto did, but something about this face was managing to make him doubt.
The man with the blue jacket however only snickered.
"Like I'd care about him."
Naruto looked surprised, and Sasuke's anger rised right away. The good thing was that Naruto at least did a good diversion, and Sasuke was able to kick the man and push him away.
"And you'd call yourself a man of honor." Sasuke said coldly, as he saw the man on the ground. He put his gun on the man's head and was about to shoot. "A Man like you who would sacrifice a brother doesn't deserve to live."
He was ready to pull off the trigger, but Naruto got in the way.
"Sasuke, please!" he exclaimed.
"Get away from my sigh, Naruto." Sasuke answered coldly, his gun still on the man with the blue jacket, and from the corner of the eyes he saw that the guy with the red sweater was holding his face on the ground.
"There must be another way!" Naruto pled. "We can put him in jail, don't stain your hands-"
"Shut the fuck up." Sasuke replied with irritation as he pushed him on the side. He didn't need Naruto's savior speech at the moment.
Naruto was looking at him with those big confusing eyes, and Sasuke didn't care less about it. This was the right thing to do, Naruto just had to face it. At least, he was glad that Naruto seemed to understand, because, even if he looked like it was hurting him deeply, he started to move out of the way. However, focusing too much about Naruto's reaction, Sasuke didn't see the man moving to catch Naruto from behind and pulling his own gun in Naruto as he was immobilizing him.
"NO BODY MOVES!" the man shouted, putting his gun on Naruto's head. "MOVE AND I KILL HIM."
Everything in Sasuke's brain stopped to work when he realized in which situation Naruto put himself into. He couldn't even think clearly about what to do.
"Drop the gun." The man yelled. "Drop the gun NOW."
Naruto wasn't a friend. He wasn't a member of his family. He was a cop and Sasuke should have killed him the first day they met again. If he'd let Naruto die today, all trouble would be whiped away.
And yet he didn't think about it twice when he put the gun on the ground.
The man seemed relieved, and Sasuke could see his hand on the gun trembling. He couldn't help but look at Naruto, and he wanted to be angry at him, so pissed off, but he couldn't. The only thing he wanted was to pull him away from the one that kept him hostage. Naruto looked scared or shocked, or any valid feeling he could have at that moment. The man started to laugh, and he decided to put his gun on Sasuke, his arm still around Naruto's chest.
"Goodbye, "Sasuke"!" he said with a visible panic. His hand was still trembling, and Sasuke knew he could avoid the bullet, and knock the gun off. However, he didn't need to get ready for that, because before he even saw that coming, Naruto crushed his agressor's foot, which seemed to take him by surprise, and Naruto didn't let him a moment to rest, as he turned to punch him in the stomach and tear the gun away from this man's hand, then, put it on this man's head.
The man looked frightened, Naruto looked just as much shocked about what he just did. On the other hand, Sasuke caught himself to stare at Naruto ways too much, surprised. What he just saw, it recalled him a bit of when Naruto and him met, on that port. He realized that, since he recognized him, he only saw him like the child he used to know, the chubby smiling innocent teen, with a big smile and big dreams. Now, he was finally seeing the man.
"Naruto..." he called, still surprised about it, picking up his gun on the process.
"DON'T SHOOT ME!" the man put himself on his knees. "DON'T SHOOT ME!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes and knocked the man up by hitting him on the head. He fell on the ground and Naruto took a deep breath of relief, putting the gun down, and he may had been a bit numb by all this pressure because he lost a bit of his balance. Sasuke caught his shoulder to keep him up.
"You're alright?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto answered with a nodd. "Okay. I'm going to call you a cab, you'll go home okay?"
"What are you going to do?" Naruto asked.
"You don't want to know." Sasuke just replied, and he saw Naruto's energy being drained away from his eyes. "You're not used to all that, are you?"
Naruto shook his head. "It's rarely got that intense on field yet."
Sasuke nodded and took his phone out of his pocket. He called a cab right away, and he looked at Naruto who seemed to realize what he just lived.
"You never killed anyone before, did you?" Sasuke asked a bit out of the blue when he finished his call.
Naruto shook his head. "And I don't intend to."
"You're a fool if you believe you can do this job without even pulling the trigger."
"I'm just good at being a fool, thank you." Naruto grumbled as an answer, and it seemed his thoughts were being a bit clearer.
Sasuke couldn't help but smile at such a childish anwer, but he managed to erase it from his face right away.
"Go back home, okay? You had enough for one day."
His flat looked darker than usual. The lamp that broke the night before was probably the reason, but Naruto couldn't help but see his whole day summarized with this darkness.
Lied on the sofa, he was patting the head of his cat, who himself found his place on Naruto's belly. The purring of the animal was the only thing that made Naruto feel comfortable.
Sasuke probably killed the two guys after he left. He told him he was going to do so, after all. Naruto was a good man. He thought that everyman could deserve to live, and that their punishments should be jail over death. Sasuke didn't have the same morals, and he saw it in his eyes today. He was faced to what Sasuke had become, to the member of the mafia that he was now.
It should have been enough for Naruto to stop reaching for him - just like the fight the other day was a bother. The day had been so blurry that Naruto didn't even manage to make it have sense in his own head, but what was coming back all the time were the same things. If Sasuke was obsessed with doing his job, he spent most of the time to protect him, either from the guys that were supposed to attack them, or from being accomplish of those killings. Naruto remembered when he was hostage, and his whole panic about the possibility of dying wasn't even as big as the one he felt when Sasuke put his gun down. Most of the fightings could be summarized by Naruto not knowing what to do until Sasuke was probably in danger in which case his body moved on its own.
Sasuke Sasuke Sasuke Sasuke. In the end, it was the only thing that was making sense in his head. He could think about how it meant that his teammates were safe from any attacks, or about the call he gave Kakashi about the fact he lost a lead - and how he got yelled at to not have called backup right away. He could think about how Sakura yelled at him for one hour over phone, telling him how reckless he had been and how worried it made her and Sai, and how Sai who was with her agreed with everything except this last part. He could think about all the lies he had been forced to tell his team lately, but no, that wasn't what was in his mind. What was in his mind was Sasuke, how he changed, and how even those changes didn't make Naruto want to loose him. Instead, he wanted to know him more, like a new person. Sasuke lived in a different kind of world than he did, that was a fact he established when they were at the cafeteria. And Naruto wanted to know more about it instead of taking it for granted.
Whatever he wanted, Sasuke wouldn't let it happen, anyway. He didn't want Naruto around nor involved. There was a wall between them, built around Sasuke, and it wouldn't let Naruto in.
Someone knocked at his door, and Naruto carefully moved Kurama on his side - which provocked the cat to put his claws out right into Naruto's belly which made him grimace. Once the cat decided to ignore his master after such a bad treatment, Naruto went to the door and opened it to his best friend, who had his hands full of food and video games.
"Tonight is Zombie night!" Kiba said as he showed up his Resident Evil's games. "Ready to get your ass kicked?"
"Don't think so full of yourself." Naruto felt his lips went wide into a smile as he let him come inside.
He took the food from Kiba's hands and put it on the table in front of the sofa, as Kiba was already concentrating on putting on the video games.
"Sometimes I wonder if you don't come over more for the console or to actually see me." he joked.
"Definitly coming for the console." Kiba answered and Naruto threw him a pillow as a reply.
Actually he definitly forgot that Kiba was supposed to come over, but he was glad it was the case. An evening with Kiba was the best thing that could happen to change his mind.
Kurama came back in the living room, and Naruto had to put him away from the table as he was trying to put his nose in some of the boxes. As an answer, the cat decided to cling at his arms and not let him go until Naruto put the cat on his knees.
"Told you that dogs were better." Kiba snickered seeing this mascarade.
Naruto stuck his tongue out and grumbled as he felt his phone vibrate again. It was probably Sakura again, who was insisting for one hour now to come over to check if Naruto wasn't hurt.
Instead it was a text from an unknown number, which made Naruto frown but as soon as he read it, a smile came on his lips and was determined to not leave his face.
"So we play or you're afraid of me?" He said to Kiba as he was registering the number.
"Pfft - like I'd be!" Kiba replied and he threw one of the controller to Naruto.
For the rest of the evening, Naruto didn't care about anything that happened today. The only things on his mind was how to beat Kiba's ass, and this text that was coming back in his head, forcing his smile to stay, every couple of seconds.
"Hope you got home safely.
-S"
And it was enough for Naruto's stupid smile to stay for hours.
Author's note: Here it is! I hope you enjoyed it and that it was less heavy that I think it is! See you next chapter!