Chapter 3
-When darkness envelopes you, then call for mercy-
"Talking"
'Thinking'
"Ino? What's up with this information? There's barely anything usable-" Shikamaru started but was cut off by the blond beauty.
"Stop chattering and tell me what you've got." Ino demanded and crossed her arms, waiting for an answer.
"Well, because most of the data are ridiculous things like the contents of instant ramen, there's nothing much I can tell you about him. We already know Naruto was dead last in the academy, is loud and kinda troublesome and has an addiction for ramen." Shikamaru lied.
Ino may have dug up some rather useless things, but there was some that hinted at a few things. One of them was the possibility of an Uzumaki clan.
Shikamaru, not liking mysteries, had sneaked into the Nara library and searched for allied villages of Konoha. It was just a hunch he had, but it was better than nothing.
If there´s a Uzumaki Clan then one of the allied villages should have them.
The Uzumaki Clan came up before, but had only said that the Uzumaki Clan was hunted down, causing them to vanish. It had taken a while and Shikamaru had to go back to the founding of Konoha but, as his documents stated, the Uzumaki Clan was well known for their long levity and for being masters at Fuinjutsu.
But much more interesting to Shikamaru was the relation of the Uzumaki clan to the Senju Clan and Uchiha Clan.
Because the Shodaime married a member of the Uzumaki Clan, Naruto must be somehow connected to this.
What bugged Shikamaru the most, wasn't the fact that the Senju had Uzumaki blood running through their veins, but the connection to the Uchiha clan. No matter what kind of book Shikamaru waltzed through, it was always the same.
"Never engage an Uchiha and Uzumaki together."
Strangely enough there was no reason written down as to why this was a rule.
Why would they especially mention this in a book that discussed the most dangerous Kekkei Genkai? The pages about the UU combination were even specially marked.
"Why?" Shikamaru wondered and decided to investigate further. „So troublesome."
However, even tough Shikamaru had not found out any valuable things, he was sure that there was more goinig on as he had expected. Not necessarily good things.
But he couldn't tell Ino anything about it. Certainly not. It was too dangerous.
That´s why she went home without any new information.
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Ino was wide awake when she glanced at her clock, the soft ticking noise making her feel restless.
It was already past midnight, but for some reason she wasn't able to calm down. Naruto still haunted her. Yes, he haunted her.
Whenever she turned around or looked at a dark corner, she expected to see Narutos usually blue eyes tinted in red, along with an insane smile plastered on his whiskered face.
Of course her mind was playing tricks on her. Her father made her feel like that. It was his fault that she thought of Naruto like that.
She covered her eyes with her hand, trying to ignore the lingering darkness that seemed to press down on her.
"This is utter bullshit!" She yelled, trying to get the small ounce of fear to go away.
Why was she afraid? Shikamaru had only told her things she already knew about, that Naruto is an oblivious freak with a weird ramen addiction.
This uneasy feeling that made her want to run until she got away, only became bigger and bigger until she was nearly unable to control it; unable to control this monster of fear...
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Shortly after 2 o´clock in the morning, Ino decided to leave her house. Beforehand she assured herself that her parents were asleep and thus continued to prepare for her secret self declared mission. She was still convinced that Naruto was just the idiot everyone thinks he is. (I though she wasn't convinced he was bad?)
After she gained some distant from her parents house, she turned left to follow the short cut towards the red light district. It took her almost twenty minutes of walking to arrive to keep a low profile. The Anbu members probably already spotted her, but as long as she didn´t cause any trouble things would be fine. At least that was what she hoped for.
The red light district was even brighter in the night. Ino still hadn't gotten used to this rough atmosphere and the skin that was on a constant display. Even though she liked to show off her body, especially her flat stomach, the whores were a little too much. During the day they pretty much wore nothing, but right now they were almost literally naked!
Suddenly an old man, probably even older than her grandpa, sauntered up and blocked her way.
"Oi! Lil' miss. Wanna come and play a little? Imma real nice." the old drunkard said while lurching back and forth, barely keeping himself upright.
His breath smelled like cheap whiskey. Ino gagged a bit and resisted the urged to puke. This man was really disgusting.
"No thanks. I'm not interested in an old pedo like you." she retorted, trying to keep her confidence. She wasn't sure where but she had heard somewhere that it was best to look confident and mature, which would help keep old creeps like this one away.
"I just like young girls, ya know. They are so much fun. Imma sure you´ll like it. Imma be really gentle." the old man insisted and tried to grab her wrist to drag her down the alleyway.
Of course she didn't let him, instead she raised her leg and kicked his balls. Always a good defense against perverts.
"Leave me alone, damn it!" she yelled, her voice unsteady from the shock. Even though she was a kunoichi, it´s still scary to face a potential rapist.
She turned around and quickly ran up to the main street where she hoped she would be safe, or at least as safe as she could be in this district. She tried to calm down, yet the adrenaline still rampaged in her body, keeping up a fast heart beat. Somewhere off to the side Ino could hear a women trying to convince a costumer to stay for a night.
She shook her head trying to focus. First of all she needed to find a place to start her research. But simply thinking about a run down bar, filled with drunken old man made her sick.
Why was she doing this? After all it was just Naruto. Plain old Naruto. What could possibly make him dangerous enough to place him with the most insane shinobis?
A part of her just wanted to leave things as they were but the other half, her curious side, wanted to know about him. That blond haired enigma.
Which is why she mustered up her courage and strode forward towards the center of the red light district.
Thanks to a friendly woman that was working one of brothels she passed by, Ino knew exactly where she had to go to get information.
The Second Life was the most popular shop for...certain kinds of people. It was actually a higher class establishment for every individual that had enough money or a name.
Sadly Ino had no idea to get in. Even though she counted as a legal adult, she still wouldn't be able to enter because she barely had any money with her. She probably wouldn't even be able to afford a simple drink!
She finally decided to hide behind a neighboring house and make a reasonable plan to get the information she needed. First of all, she had to approach the right person and then make sure this person spills the beans. Luckily her father was a member of the I&T Department and showed her some "tricks" if you wanted to call it that. She would get what she wants eventually.
So she sat down and waited for someone who looked like a mental push-over to leave the establishment.
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Ino guessed it was already 4 o´clock when someone suitable finally exited the shop and staggered outside. He was clearly drunk, barely able to walk and stumbled into a wall more than just once.
His body was a lean build.
"He's just a civilian. It should be easy to get him to talk." Ino mumbled under her breath before she stood up, ready to go. Her plan was almost fool proof. As she got closer to him he noticed her and started to smile like a madman.
"Oiii, schweety. Whatcha doing here? Come to see me?" he asked, his arrogance pouring out of every little pore. Ino almost cringed in disgust, but maintained her supposedly seducing smile.
"Of course, I always wanted to see you. Sadly I was just a bit to shy to talk to you." she answered and brushed her hair aside. The man laughed loudly as if she made the best joke ever. Stupid moron. Didn't he think this was a little strange?
"Oh Babe. There's no need to be worried about that. I'll forgive you. After all I am the great Marume-sama." Forgive me for what exactly?, Ino wondered but shrugged it of, but she noticed that something was weird about this man. How was it possible that he had trouble to speak earlier, but was now able to talk like a sober human? Unconsciously she moved back trying to gain a little bit more space between them.
"I'm so glad you forgive me, Marume-sama." she played along, but had actually no idea what was going on. This was so fucked up right now.
"Well then, come with me. You belong to me from now on. Don´t disappoint me, girl." Marume mumbled and grabbed her wrist hard. Ino flinched when the pain flashed through her. How could she misjudge this guy so much? He was dragging her towards him, without Ino being able to ask any questions. Who was this guy anyways that he could hold himself in such high regards?
"Marume-sama, please wait a moment. I have a question to ask and I hoped you would know. After all you are the most knowledgeable man here in Konoha."
He turned around and watched her cautiously.
"What do you want to know, girl?" his voice hinted mistrust.
Ino silently cursed herself.
"Well, a friend of mine had some trouble with a certain Naruto Uzumaki. She plans to have revenge against him, but she still needs some information to hit where it would hurt him the most." Ino explained. Of course everything was made up, but she thought it would be a good an idea to approach the topic that way since everyone in Konoha seemed to hate the blond kid.
"Huh? The demon brat? Your friend wants revenge? Wish her good luck from me if you ever see her again. That demon brat is gonna kill her long before she's even able to lay a hand on him." Marume smirked like a sinister monster every time he mentioned "demon brat".
Ino felt seriously uncomfortable, if that was even the right word to describe what she felt.
"Now come on. I don´t want to spend any thought on that thing anymore. By the way I know a very nice place to go..." he was interrupted when something came crashing down.
Marume got squarely hit in the jaw and fell like a corpse to the ground, obviously knocked out.
A figure, a little bit taller than her, stood in front of Ino who was still shocked and unable to progress what just happened.
"Stupid brat! What do you think you were doing? One step more and you would have become a prostitute in Mist for the rest of your life!" the attacker yelled, obviously angry as hell.
Ino blinked a few times before she registered the person who just rescued her. At the same time, shame washed over her as she realized how stupid she actually had been. Yeah, sure she was an awesome kunoichi, she mocked herself silently.
(Is Kejoro the nice lady that helped Ino find the place to get info? If that'e not true then it might be good to leave a flash-back saying who she is and how Ino met her. If it IS her then it might be good to properly emphasis it.)
"Kejoro." she whispered before her legs lost the power to stand. That one stunt had been scary as hell.
"Come on now or we'll could get in even more trouble, princess." the lady, who helped her already the last time she visited the red light district, demanded and dragged Ino with her.
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Kejoro guided her through the maze of streets and led her to the Lotus6. The neon signs were dimmer compared to the other shops and there was no woman waiting outside to try and get some costumers. Ino took a glace at Kejoro who was maintaining a stern face. For some reason there was barely any make up on her face. Something Ino never though she would see.
"My husband died today twelve years ago. I don't feel comfortable to wear too much make up on his mourning day, don't ya think so too, little princess? Ya know, he always told me I had the most beautiful face he had ever seen." Kejoro explained after she noticed the curious glance Ino had gave her. Slowly Ino nodded. So even Kejoro had a sad story to tell. Somehow she felt guilty even though she was clearly not responsible for the death of Kejoros husband. She sighted slightly and followed the whore in the shop.
"Sit down lil' princess, I'll get something for your wrist." Kejoro told her and disappeared into one of the back rooms leaving a confused Ino behind. She looked at her wrist, which was blue and swollen to twice the original size. She knew Marume had grabbed her wrist quite rough, but she never expected to have taken so much damage.
"Weird..." she breathed out and sat down on a bar-stool. Her mind was still in chaos. This whole situation was so weird. If someone had told her three days ago that she would end up in the red light district, she would have him declared as a mental hospital patient. Normally she would buy some new clothes, eat the new diet ice cream, spread some gossip or try to get Sasukes she was sitting in a run down shop and tried to understand why she felt so uneasy.
"Here we go." Kejoro announced before she sat down next to Ino and started to wrap a bandage around Inos wrist. "You had better go to the hospital after this."
"Yeah." she responded slowly and stared at the white wrapping, but yelped when she felt a stinging feeling at her cheek.
"That is for snooping around! How could you go around like a blonde bimbo and get yourself into a human trafficking attempt! With the son of a mafia boss no less!" Kejoro screamed, her face changing into an unhealthy red. "I told you last time already to stay in your perfect little world! Children do not belong here! Especially not a lil' princess that knows nothing about this part of the world!"
Ino had no idea how to react. What was she supposed to say? Should she apologize?
"But I wanted to know about Naruto..." she muttered, looking away, since she blushed slightly.
She knew that she should just drop her insane idea of discovering Narutos great secret, but all those incidents made her even more curious.
Suddenly Kejoros face looked pained. "Can´t you just leave it? It will only get you in more trouble, Naruto too, for that matter."
Ino shook her head. There was no way she could ignore the things she heard about Naruto. No matter what she knew herself enough to understand that she wouldn't give up, until she knew.
Kejoro sighed loudly, looking older for a few seconds before she regained composure.
"Fine. I will tell you about it in the afternoon. But right now I'll walk you home. You look tired."
Ino agreed, happy being able to go to bed. She really needed it. For a moment she even forgot about the promise Kejoro made with her. Tomorrow she will finally know why Naruto has a sick mind. Why she was not permitted to enter it. Tomorrow...
But Ino will never know what happened at the same time somewhere else...
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"Oh Hinata, have you heard? Naruto is back. Won´t you go and greet him? I am sure he appreciate it."
Done. I am sorry for taking my time, but first I had to deal with broken fingers and after that I was just to stressed out to do anything...On top of that I had a mayor slump. You might notice it at the beginning. So I Just say sorry and try to write more often. None the less, I hope you still like the chapter and look forward to the next. After all Naruto will finally make his appearance.
Yay!
Well then, over and out
Buddycomplex
Special Thanks to gunslayer12 (You're welcome! :D)
