"Sakon." Gaara called for the boy.
The room was welcomed by a line of lights dangling from the left to the right side of the ceiling, casting a dark shadow in the four corners. A casino poker table lied in the centre of the room, with a deck of cards neatly presented in the middle. Behind it were paintings of women in a golden frame alongside leather chairs for relaxation. It was uncertain whether there were plants peeping out in the corners of the room as it was too dark to know for sure. Towards the left, a dedicated collection of drinks covered the wall and an unlit chandelier hovered over the light brown, bar counter. The unilluminated room formed a suspicious ambience and thin lips enveloped the oldest and the middle child. The youngest kept his composure; he wasn't visually expressive in comparison to his brother and sister.
A man had been sitting on the edge of the table with legs crossed and hands in his pockets. He had been looking at 'his' display of drinks before he turned towards the siblings with a threatening smile.
"The Gods have arrived." Jumping off the table, the trio appeared from the shadows of the room. Gaara stood in the middle with his hands to his side, Kankuro holding a gun inside his right pocket and Temari waving her fan with her left hand. This was their typical formation and anything different signified a big and bad problem.
"Welcome to my humble abode. Please, make yourselves comfortable." Sakon's open hands gestured towards a line of seats along the table facing towards the door. The siblings hadn't liked the tone of his voice nor his uncharacteristically nice words but complied smoothly. In a matter of moments, this would all be over anyway. Having seated themselves, Saton sat parallel to the three and closest to Kankuro, who was at the edge of the table (much to his annoyance). The trio couldn't see anything but other seats opposite the table, the door disappearing in the dark.
"Would you like a drink?" he pointed towards Temari, "Whisky? Two- no. Three cubes was it?"
"I'm not interested," she declined.
"The bullshit can stop. Where is it?" Kankuro was the first to spit in Sakon's face. The fake expression of shock only aggravated the siblings more. If you were going to act, do it more believably.
"Where is what? I don't understand?" he put a hand to his chest.
"Think back to our contract."
"Ah, that." raising his eyebrows forcibly.
The siblings remained quiet to give Sakon a chance to explain.
"Surely you'd like a drink first?"
"She said no and so do we. Get to the point." The middle child's blood boiled and boiled.
"Well if you insist," his smirk was playful, "but I have been caught up in a number of...affairs. Time flies when you have business to run." Sakon ascended from his chair to turn around, resuming his earlier stare at the presentation of drinks. A hand rested on his chin and he praised the work of art ahead of him.
"Is that an excuse?" Gaara questioned.
The figure he addressed turned around with a scarier smile.
"Of course not. I have been having to - how should we say - focus on someone else's needs rather than yours unfortunately."
"And who is that someone?"
Sakon silent chuckles slowly turned into a loud laugh that exposed his sharp teeth. The three furrowed their eyebrows and felt their jaws tense. This guy wasn't 'creepy', he was downright disturbing. As his laughs died down, his act faded and seriousness exposed his true, evil side.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Try us." Kankuro's grip on his gun tightened and he began to move his arm upwards, the scowl on his face remained.
"He's stronger than you three combined."
"How dare you try and test us," Temari kept her composure with her venomous words. Spinning her fan playfully, she was ready to unleash its second form.
"You are all WEAK. Soon, he shall overcome you all and-"
The three noticed immediately.
"Hold it."
They paid no mind to Sakon's empty words as Gaara raised his hand and Sakon stopped speaking immediately. Temari halted the movements of her fan and Kankuro's other hand dug into his pocket. The Sand Siblings stared dead straight into the darkness, knowing what lurked behind.
"We know you're there. Show yourself." Gaara commanded. Their impressive hearing caught the sound of three- no, four people entering the room. Sakon, who was completely unaware of the situation, continued to stare at the three with expanding eyes and mouth gaped open.
"Tch. That was slightly dramatic don't you think?"
The four showed themselves, the dim light on their figures. The boy with dark blue hair spoke first with hands by his side. A blonde with blue eyes stood in between the spokesperson and a man with brown hair with a long red claw on his cheeks. He was facing opposite some dude with...face paint. Weren't they for kids? That left a black haired boy with his round shoulders and ponytail standing at the end next to Sasuke. His posture wasn't at all professional, casting a bit of judgement from Temari and Kankuro.
"Well, if you don't mind I think we'll sit down." If Shikamaru could sleep in this moment in time he would. To sit opposite the reason why millions of people slept with their lights on seemed too troublesome.
"I do mind very much."
"We weren't speaking to a dick like you Sakon," Naruto sneered as the four settled themselves down. Looking straight ahead his heart stopped. He sat directly opposite the legend himself, the boy with the unique love tattoo and dark red hair. No way. It was him. It was actually him! The excitement inside him was so so so difficult to contain, his eyes gave it away. Damn it was him in the flesh! In real life! Not just in the stories but he was only several centimetres away from each other. This guy...so he was part of the Sand Siblings?! Oh my god, he needed to shake his hand or something after this was over. Oh oh! Or take him out for a drink, he'll pay for everything! He needed to pay his respects to the guy himself one way or another and it was going to happen.
"Always nice to see you too Naruto."
Naruto? Kankuro and Gaara recognised the name. From the Uzumaki clan? They heard about that story. One of tragedy: a young boy was protected in the dead arms of his parents as they were shot, when the animal inside him wrecked havoc upon the sight of his loving, caring parents no longer in the same world as him. The innocent little boy had brutally murdered those who killed their parents in a matter of minutes. If the stories were true, then this blonde guy was the real deal. This guy was dangerous and blood thirsty.
The same blonde who was trying to hold back his fidgeting smile as he looked at Gaara. Was he always this friendly? Or did he perhaps swing the other way? The Konoha people were always weird in the eyes of the Sunagokure-born trio.
Temari resumed to fan herself very, very, very slowly.
"How awfully brave of you all to disrupt us."
Shikamaru had stared dead straight towards the pair of teal eyes, aware of the sort of monstrosity she was capable of with simply herself and her 'fan'. But she didn't intimidate a guy of his nature, oh no. He had come across petrifying women before, it was bad enough that he used to live with one, like his mother. So what could be so scary about her?
Of course, none of those scary women were from a gang. So it turns out Shikamaru actually knew very little of the woman's skills and strengths, let alone her name. After all, the Konoha Four hadn't known for certain that the Sand Siblings consisted of a female until several minutes earlier. There was no such thing as a female gangster in their society, not until now. The closest they had come across were the girlfriends or wives of the men they had businesses with (or killed). But they've never seen one actually as a part of a well known gang.
"Well someone had to find him first. Turns out, we're in the same situation as you." Kiba explained the reasoning behind their presence.
"Are we supposed to care?" Kankuro's unbothered expression hadn't changed at all.
"Damn right you should care, he's fucking all of us over." Naruto's fist hit the table, resulting in Kankuro to lean forward and almost pull out his gun if it weren't for his younger brother's hand on his arm. There was a violent silence in the room. The cute looking blonde's face now changed to one of anger and his clenched teeth was exposed. This guy really was the real deal, Uzumaki Naruto.
"Naruto." The man with brown hair next to him rested his hand on the blonde's shoulder, calming his tense body. It was enough to let him return to his professional state.
"Hmph. You're a bit lucky brat," he relaxed back into his seat and Gaara's hand left his arm, "I would've cut your head for that if we weren't so preoccupied." Kankuro threatened. In the meantime, Sasuke and Gaara's sharp eyes hadn't left Sakon's whereas the rest all scowled at each other like children. Kiba and Naruto snarled at Kankuro whereas Shikamaru eyed the mysterious woman and her fan. God forbid what that fan could do if it was made out of a very powerful alloy.
The siblings stared back at the men, Kankuro's eyebrows pulled down together and Temari's lips narrowing.
"Sakon. I don't know how long you've been putting off their money," he eyed each of the siblings, "but it's been long enough for us. You say you're not prioritising them but for someone stronger. Who?" Sasuke questioned.
"Like I said, you wouldn't believe me if I said." Sakon chuckled.
"Say it anyway," Shikamaru was the last to speak. But the man wouldn't budge.
"I doubt it's worth saying to the likes of you all."
"Teme. Don't FUCK with us." Naruto snapped as he pulled out a gun to aim towards Sakon's head, instantly followed by Kankuro kicking his seat away from him and pointing his right gun towards Naruto.
"Don't shoot him unless you want to die, punk."
"Not on my watch you fuck." Kiba was next, standing up and aiming both his guns towards the guy with purple paint. He'd gladly use his rounds from both his guns on this idiot, any day, any time. Temari shot up from her seat with large eyes and a growl, pointing her fan towards Kiba and ready to transform it into its second form until she saw a gun pointed in her direction. Teal eyes scowled and her mouth snarled at his gun, his eyes, and his stupid group of friends.
"Don't spin your fan. I know what it can do."
"Please refrain your idiocy." Gaara remained seated with his left gun directed towards Shikamaru and the right towards Sasuke, who at the same aimed one towards the red head and the other at Sakon. The two had no personal issue with each other because - quite frankly - they didn't care for each other. But you couldn't risk leaving one person unexposed, it was the unspoken rule of being a gangster. Some of the people in the room had their other guns unexposed, hiding in their pockets but Sasuke, Kiba and Gaara were the exceptions. They had both their hands occupied but the rest hadn't for very good reasons:
- Naruto had a grenade in his other pocket rather than a gun, only to use in emergencies; this wasn't the time.
- Kankuro had his poison gun resting in the left pocket of his blazer. That too was only used in emergencies and could only be used when having to kill someone who was running away. Sakon was still in the room so there was no need to use it.
- Shikamaru rested his other hand on a lighter and ignored the other gun inside his pocket. The Konoha Four had more guns on display than the Sand Siblings in that current moment so there was no point exposing another one. Analysing his surroundings, he noticed he could burn the room rather quickly by throwing his lighter towards the vast amount of drinks. Again, there was no need for that right now.
- Finally, Temari didn't carry guns in her pockets. They were wrapped around her thighs, hidden by her knee length dress. Plus it had been established that she wasn't very fond of such weapons and only used them as a last resort. This meant that she heavily relied on her fan, the pins in her hair and the extra fan and knives hidden beneath the red sash around her waist. If the Konoha boys had known better, they'd know that she was the best knife user in the room.
The tension in the room was alarmingly high and a simple move could've easily end the lives of all 8 souls in the room.
"It seems we've reached an impasse," Gaara eliminated the silence.
"And it's his fault." Naruto's eyes stayed planted towards Sakon.
'This brat is childish' Kankuro thought.
"A name is all we need. It's not that difficult Sakon, a toddler would know better."
The light blue haired male laughed at such preposterous statement.
"I don't think so. Toddlers can't do this:"
Ready to face the end, he grabbed the gun from Naruto's hand and shot himself in between his eyes.
"JESUS." Naruto screamed as the horrifying sight of blood and brain exploded from the back of his eyes. All the remaining gangsters lowered their weapons and looked at the sight of Sakon's bloody, lifeless body. His back hit the cold, hard ground and the blood from his head flooded his open eyes and slithered down his skin. Kankuro and Kiba stepped back and disgust twisted their faces as Sakon's blood stained half of their blazer. Shikamaru and Temari showed no indication of disgust but their tense shoulders said otherwise. Gaara looked back towards his body with an emotionless face, similar to Sasuke's. The smell of blood was revolting and some of the gangsters needed alcohol badly. Right now would have been preferable.
"Now what?" Kankuro sighed.
"Find somebody else," Temari answered. The three were about to move towards the door until they heard the sounds of people rushing in the distance. The click-clacking of high heels disappeared as strippers and customers were leaving the club but the loud stomps of men entered the scene, loading their guns and cracking their knuckles.
"Temari." Gaara spoke.
"I got it," she nodded. "You two," she pointed towards Kiba and Naruto with her fan, "I suggest you both move out the way unless you want a knife in your head."
"What?"
The two were confused by her statement but as the door behind them kicked open, Sasuke grabbed his friends towards him and all three fell to the ground. Temari swapped her fan for two small blades from her sash, sharp on both ends. Kankuro and Gaara softly smirked as they crossed their arms and awaited for what was to come. The figures of two males stumbled at the sight of the dead manager. However before they could react, twin blades flew across the room and passed through their throats. Her weapons landed on the wall, dripped in blood and the two lifeless figures simply stood.
One blink and you would have missed the cause of death of Sakon's guards.
With a thud, they collapsed towards the ground with a bleeding throat. People would always say that it was impossible to throw knives at such speed and they'd always dismiss Temari's skills. Well, those people were unwise and would almost always found out through first hand experience that she had the ability to throw a weapon pass the throat of a traitor.
For an intelligent guy, Shikamaru had never been so incorrect in his life. This stranger before him (Temari as he heard) was definitely intimating and perhaps the most horrifying of all women he had come across, and that was only because of two small blades. The two men Sasuke had pulled saw the bad guys fall to the ground, sharp objects literally appearing out of nowhere. Shikamaru along with Kiba and Naruto's eyes were large in shock, probably even larger than her latest victims. Sasuke's facial expression hadn't changed but he was secretly impressed, he also sort of disliked how she was far more experienced than the Konoha Four were. Temari's talents were all thanks to Tenten's training, who she hoped to exceed one day.
"More are arriving," she pulled out her fan and spun it to its second form, blades reflecting the light from the ceiling. Looking towards her brothers, they also pulled out their weapons.
"We haven't had a shootout in while." Kiba wiped the dust off himself as he straightened his back. "Oi Naruto, first one to get 5 head shots in a row has unlimited sake for a week." Kiba challenged with a smirk.
"Sake? Forget it." The blonde pushed himself up with his knees. He wasn't incredibly interested in alcohol, contrary to popular belief. He winced at such a nasty fall, why was Sasuke so unnecessarily forceful?
"Fine, ramen."
"ALRIGHT GET READY TO LOSE KIBA!" Naruto loved his ramen like Sasuke and Kiba loved their alcohol, words weren't enough to describe their passion. This had motivated Naruto to such extreme he noticed another guard entering the room from a hidden door next to the bar. But with the biggest grin he could fluster, Naruto killed him with a perfect head shot in a second. The rest were surprised as no one realised the other door whatsoever. Although when he was pumped up, Naruto somehow knew more than anyone had expected. It was his fox instincts that helped him know about the secrets of the room. For example, he had noticed the light switch next to the other door.
"4 more to go!"
"Shut up dobe I said in a row. If I shoot someone, you start again."
Naruto's gave a dirty look towards his friend as he shot towards the switch and the lights in the room brightened. The chandelier by the bar lit up and the darkness in all four corners of the room disappeared. They could actually see for a change.
"I'm going to count that as a shot. Start over."
"Bite me Kiba."
Meanwhile, his two friends rolled their eyes and the Sand Siblings looked less than interested at the commotion.
"You bastards!" Crowds of men shouted at them from afar as a small ball bounced past the main door. In a flash, Sasuke flipped the casino table over and the Konoha gang jumped over it to crouch down. The Sand Siblings ducked behind the table and braced for impact, the two gangs covering their ears and closing their eyes. The impact of explosion from the grenade created a high pitched beep that stung all of their ears. Parts of the chairs, deck of cards and the dead body parts flew across the burning room and the vibrations shook expensive bottles of drinks towards the floor. Next came a flood of bullets aiming to hit the table and the people behind them. Such stunning paintings that decorated the room now swayed from left to right, soaked in blood. The insanity and devastation of the red, gory scene suddenly relaxed as the convenient fire sprinkler released a hail of water from the ceilings of every room towards the floor. The spread of the roaring flames ended and the vibrant colours of the red walls, floors and tables shifted to a cold blue.
"I bet the sprinkler was built in for other reasons, not for a stupid fire." Temari hissed as the water drenched her hair and she pulled out a knife. She knew the water was there for the strippers to dance whilst soaking wet. Now that was a new meaning to the phrase 'make it rain'.
"Shit. I need to think of something," Shikamaru stayed still behind the table. It was too difficult to think of a plan when bullets were piercing through the goddamn table and he didn't know about the brothers' capabilities. They all knew about the red haired's talents but they never saw it in action so how could they know if it wasn't all a lie? Although given the likelihood of the gun he held and frequent rumours they heard, he was a long range shooter.
With a peep over the table he saw several guys at the very far back of the room, hiding behind the counter Temari was at earlier. One of the guys was a large figure with a recognisable silhouette. A groan escaped his lips as he hid his head back beneath the table. Why him of all guys? And that thing he was holding definitely looked like a shotgun.
"Jirobo's here." the Gang registered Shikamaru's warning. Taking action, Sasuke turned to Temari.
"You. Come with me, you're a short range user." Temari was taken back by Sasuke's command. No one referred to her as 'you' how dare he say that?!
"Who do you think you are? Don't tell me what to do."
The Sand Siblings knew of the Konoha Four, but given their nonchalant attitude towards them, they hadn't bothered them in the slightest. Although the rumours about them were occasionally a topic of interest, it seemed that the two groups hadn't scared each other in the slightest, or even liked each other.
One could say that they despised each other.
"I have a plan so unless you and your brothers wish to die then go ahead and stay hiding behind the table." As he growled, she knew now wasn't the time to be angry so she pushed it aside. Perhaps she can slap him later for such disrespectful manners.
The woman followed him with a growl as he led her towards the opposite corner of the room. They were away from the men's shooting range and were temporarily safe. As he brainstormed plans, she nodded and took off her heels. They were such a pain to run in, let alone wear.
Back to the table, the brothers spoke.
"Gaara stay here, I'm going to the other corner. Do me a favour and get more head shots than them," Kankuro gave one last sneer towards the two Konoha boys before dashing behind the bar counter. The pair heard the purple faced guy's remark and clenched their fists.
"TEME WE'RE ON THE SAME SIDE RIGHT NOW."
Then, there was an idea. Crawling towards the red head, Shikamaru gave his plan a try.
"Hey do you think you can-" a bullet narrowly missed his face when he ducked, "-shoot several people behind the bar counter at the back?"
"How many?"
"Oi Shikamaru! Leave that to me! I bet I can do it!"
"Naruto not now," he turned to his friend.
He felt the rejection and energy of the sulking blonde behind him drastically decrease.
"There there Naruto you can cry later." Kiba teased, shooting a guy in the heart as he comforted Naruto. Wait. Ah fuck that was the heart, not the head. He had to start again.
"Last I saw was two. But there's a lot of space behind so more people will come and go." Shikamaru tilted his head lower to avoid another bullet hitting his ponytail. "On my call, shoot."
The face staring at Shikamaru was blank.
"Erm...please?"
The face nodded.
Why does he have no facial expression? He creeps me out.
The second door by the bar broke as it was kicked in half. Before Sakon's back up could reveal itself, Kankuro had shot the guy in the throat and the person behind was shot in the head by Kiba.
"Fuck!"
"Keep up Naruto!"
"Shut up teme!"
A series of bullets shot past the wall and almost hit Sasuke and Temari. Both ducked towards the floor and crawled towards the entrance. They were directly behind the stage in next room and were safe from the bullets as long as they didn't stand. Temari could see scattered tables and chairs but they would be destroyed by a hail of bullets within several minutes. If they wanted to enter the main floor and quickly finish the shoot out once and for all, they would need to move fast. They couldn't stay trapped in the room forever.
"Jirobo's coming." Temari told Sasuke before they both returned to the corner of the room. Of all things they had to do, they had to keep Jirobo alive and make sure his hands weren't touching that shotgun. Shikamaru saw the two retreat towards the corner and heard them mention Jirobo's name. Right. It was time for the plan.
3.
"Kiba, Naruto, you," Shikamaru pointed towards the guy with purple paint on his face, "shoot anyone that goes through that door. We got the main entrance."
2.
"Woah! I'll get more head shots at this rate."
"For every shot I get, you both lose." Kankuro smirked as he ruined Kiba's streak of 3 head shots.
"When did this guy decide to join the game?!" Kiba snarled but complying, starting again from 0.
1.
One gigantic figure took a step forward into the room. With a starting run, Temari ran across the wet floor to kick the figure towards the floor before he could point his shotgun towards her. Performing a back flip from her kick, she ducked and let Sasuke shoot Jirobo's hands before he could land on the ground. He let go his hold on the shotgun in response to the indescribable pain and Temari snatched it away from him with her sash. Holding the heavy weapon, she aimed it towards Jirobo's head whilst running past the hail of bullets to seek refuge in the corner opposite Sasuke's.
"Do not move. At all." Her collection of knives and fans were by her feet. No one could touch her or them no matter what.
"Now!"
On cue, Gaara's guns peered over the table and he released a series of bullets targeting the men at the very back of the main floor. For a moment, Naruto stopped to look at Gaara perfect shots, something he called 'aesthetically pleasing'. His bullets had hit in between various pairs of eyes, blood splattering behind their heads as their lives vanished in the thin air. The water hadn't distracted his vision as every bullet collided with the flesh of the enemy's. For a moment he stopped. There was no one left. His guns felt strained, as signalled by the smoke emerging from them. What could only be heard was Jirobo groaning from the torment in his hands and the burst of water darting towards the ground.
"I believe you owe my brother unlimited ramen for a week." Kankuro teased the boys from the corner of the bar. He took the first move of standing up and peeking towards the main floor. There was no one left standing except the two gangs and Jirobo (well, he's technically lying down he thought). Finally, the water had stopped falling from the ceiling but the cool air left shivers down their spines.
"That was like 8-"
"No that was 10 shots. 5 from each gun." Naruto counted and corrected Kiba, his mouth open in pure shock and admiration. Gaara continued to look straight ahead with the guns in his hands before he knew it was fine to stand up, place his weapons away and wipe the water away from his face.
"Not everyday you see somethin' like that." Kiba lifted himself up and shook the water away from his hair. Great, his suit was wet. He was going to be sneezing for months.
"It isn't over though," Sasuke reminded the group as he walked over Jirobo, who stared at the raven haired boy with more than just disgust. He was repulsed by him, and his stupid gang, and the stupid Sand Siblings. Jirobo damned them all to hell with his bleeding hands and bruised chest.
"Hell isn't so bad for people like us." Shikamaru stood over him as he lit a cigarette. Thank fuck, he'd been craving for a smoke since they sat down to talk to Sakon.
"Are you going to tell us what Sakon wouldn't or are you going to meet the same destiny as him?" Gaara crossed his arms, standing next to Shikamaru. Water dripped from their hair and they hadn't look so amused by it. The males formed a circle around the body on the ground, so that meant Naruto HAD to stand next to Gaara. He was so cool for crying out loud! Gaara felt a figure push past Shikamaru to stand next to him, leading the smoker to roll his eyes.
Temari re-adjusted the sash around her waist and stood by his feet with the shotgun.
"My words still stand. Don't even think about moving."
"Oi pass me that, you're not even holding it right." Before Kankuro could realise, he slid and his back hit the ground as a pair of pissed off eyes threw the shotgun at him with more force than necessary. Clearly she didn't want the Konoha boys knowing her lack of experience with guns. The weapon may have been in his hands but now he lied on the floor with humiliation and pain.
For fucks sake Kankuro.
"You FOOLS. You'll never understand true power like we did. ROT in hell and burn in your flames!"
The Sand Siblings sighed.
"What's the point?" Temari rolled her eyes whilst retrieving her heels.
"You all can do whatever you want." Gaara stated as he and Kankuro (who got up in shame) stepped over Jirobo's body and Temari slid past the door, each approaching the different bodies from the main floor. They flicked through their blazer pockets for anything they could find. Anything would do. A picture, paper...why did Temari always find condoms in the pockets of men she approached? Fucks sake, she really knew how to pick guys.
Pigs.
The Konoha Four all looked at each other with hands in their pockets and an expression of uncertainty before looking down at the ghastly sight of the huge male.
"This is too troublesome." Shikamaru walked away with his cigarette and joined in with the Sand Siblings. He looked through the pockets of the guards in the current room they were in as opposed to the main floor.
You know that saying 'if you can't beat them, join them'? The rest of the Konoha gang took that seriously and began to find any hidden clues in the piles of dead bodies. Of course, they took all weapons off Jirobo and they shot him in the legs so he couldn't stand up.
History was in the making: the 7 most popular gang members were now working alongside each other, looking through bodies after bodies.
"Nothing here."
"Nah looked at him already."
"Who's going to clean this up?" Naruto's simple question earned a chuckle from his friends.
Sasuke stood up straight, the room in the back was no use.
Gaara approached a body behind the bar counter Temari occupied earlier. His pale hands searched through his outside and inside pockets until he felt the wrinkled texture of a folded paper. Grabbing it, he unwrapped the white paper with the splatter of blood. Two figures in the picture stared back at Gaara, one figure being the body currently on the floor and the other of a familiar, dark haired woman smiling towards the camera. Fingers that held the paper began to shake and his other hand formed into a fist. Eyes closed in guilt, he sometimes thought that their job was utterly shit.
"Temari," he called for the chartreuse haired woman who hopped over a body on the floor. She took the picture from his hands and felt her throat turn dry. Sadness twisted her features and her eyes dropped in remorse. The picture was partly ripped in between the couple in the picture. Oh the irony.
"We have to." Reminding her, the youngest condemned himself.
"Mm." She slowly nodded.
"Huh? What's up?" Kiba turned towards the two with his hand grabbing the collar of a dead body. "You found something?"
"EHH? Why didn't you say so earlier?!" Naruto released his grasp of a man's blazer and carelessly wiped the blood on his suit; he was going to throw it away anyway.
"She," Temari showed the paper to the rest of the gangsters and pointed towards the female, "is still alive and is a good friend of mine."
"That implies you know where she lives?" Shikamaru asked. Her slow nod made him pity her. In the gangster life, if you needed to interrogate someone who was a good friend, it was horrible. The chances of the friend surviving were low, way too low. Ripping the paper, she let the pieces fall to the floor.
"We're done here. Let's go," she took her first steps towards the exit with her brothers behind her.
"You seem to have forgotten that this situation applies to us too," the siblings stopped walking when they heard Sasuke.
"What are you insinuating," Gaara turned to a pair of onyx eyes, "that we join forces?"
"Couldn't have thought of a worse idea," Temari resumed walking.
"Oh no way," Kiba pointed towards Kankuro, "the guy with the face paint creeps me out."
"The feeling's mutual dickhead." If looks could kill, the two would have died from each other many times already.
"Why does this all have to be so complicated?" Shikamaru complained as the two took turns throwing insults back and forth each other.
"Men like you always look at the world through a half empty glass." Temari paused in her tracks to face him, spinning her fan with the tip of her finger.
"Tch. It's not everyday you see a woman in this sort of business."
"Oh? What's wrong crybaby?" He earned her undivided attention. "You never seen a female gangster before?" her tongue licked her luscious lips as she opened her fan with a smooth swipe, her other hand on her waist. In the very pit of his stomach, Shikamaru hadn't encountered such an uncomfortable feeling. Throughout all the doubt, all the drugs he took, all the alcohol he drank, all the cigarettes he smoked and all the women he had been with, she was the most dangerous of them all. There was no doubt that she was incredibly attractive. Not to mention that her navy dress was wet, so it accentuated her thin waist and hourglass figure. Her legs were thick from her intense training, but they were sexier than the plain, thin, unrealistic model legs and her smooth, delicate skin were envied by Greek Goddesses.
The biggest threat to himself, his friends, his dignity and his life was only several centimetres away: the eldest of the Sand Siblings.
The shuffling of a figure in the distance caught the attention of the Sand Siblings and the Konoha Four. They all turned to see Jirobo with a gun in his bloody hands, a finger pulling the trigger towards anyone, anywhere. Three bullets flew and aimed towards Gaara. In response, Temari rotated her fan twice to enter its third form and charged towards her youngest brother. From the corner of her eyes, the blonde threw himself towards Gaara, pushing him away from the bullets. Kankuro's eyes flew wide open as the bullets hit her sister's fan with three clanks and deflected towards the ceiling. It rained sparks as the bullets hit various lights.
The third and final form of Temari's fan was revealed. Pure steel in a shining silver colour, it was only used in emergencies. The design consisted of only three purple circles in a line and the fan deflected any bullet of any velocity from any direction. Although the fan had its limits and she could only use this form three times before the steel would shatter. Therefore, the was a heavy emphasis on what classified as an 'emergency'. Unfortunately, today had to be the day the components of her weapon crumbled in her hands and the furious face hidden behind the fan was exposed to Jirobo. What rarely anyone even heard of, the Konoha Gang saw the third form and saw it crack. The thuds of steel fell from her hand and damaged the ground. Before Jirobo could muster the physical strength to pull the trigger, Kankuro ended it with several shots to his head. The hole in his head increased in size for every shot Kankuro took and oozes of liquid covered his eyes, mouth and the floor around him.
"This is for breaking my fan." Temari brought a knife to her hand to violently throw towards Jirobo's neck, decapitating him.
Kiba and Shikamaru almost showed a visual expression of disturbance and Sasuke seemed unmoved by the situation when that was not the case, he was ever so microscopically intrigued. It wasn't her skills that made him feel this way, but her unpredictable nature. Men like the Konoha Gang and the brothers of the Sand Siblings were easy to understand. Women, however, were another work of art they hadn't known anything about. What they thought they knew, they didn't.
The two figures on the floor groaned as the impact of Naruto's throw surprised them both. Sitting up, he rubbed his head and hissed. Naruto was sure he could even see the growing bump from the very top of his eyes. Wait. Was Gaara okay?! Shaking his senses into him, he looked downwards to find him holding the back of his head.
"SHIT you okay?!" Naruto stood up and offered his hand to the pale skinned male, who sat up with his eyes planted towards the floor until he noticed Naruto's hand. Before he could process a response, his siblings took each his arm and lifted him up; they responded for him.
"Yeah." Gaara nodded but still winced at his injury. He thanked the support of his siblings before his arms left their shoulders and he straightened his back.
"Don't touch my brother."
The boys began to snarl at him again.
"My friend just risked his life to save him. A 'thank you' would suffice." Sasuke eyed him and it was almost as if his eyes turned from dark blue to red. The red appearance of his eyes was genetic in his family. Stories were told about men and women with red eyes who had the abilities to create the most frightening illusions and see through the lies of any living soul; Sasuke shared this talent when approached by unfaithful and lying men. His eyes were enough to call their bluff and his gun would help reduce the amount of liars in the world.
"My sister took care of it so she was the one who risked her life, not you. This no longer concerns you and we are leaving." Kankuro began to turn around until he felt a gun ghost behind the back of his head.
"The fuck you are. I don't think you remember us saying that this concerns us too."
"Guess you'll have to find your own clues." Kankuro gave a smirk before speaking the last sentence of the night. "See ya."
Shikamaru and Kiba marched towards the other two siblings with their guns pointed until everything was a blur. The three had missed what happened but Naruto somehow saw the entire thing. It happened way too quick for the other three to comprehend but Naruto was the bystander; he was like a ghost overlooking the scene. Kiba was about to approach Gaara until the red head's bullet shot towards an box of coloured wires on the wall in the distance. The moment the bullet destroyed the wires, the scene turned black and the sounds of breathing and footsteps were all that was heard. Shikamaru felt a strong force hit his neck before his heavy eyes shut and his body slammed the ground, as with Kiba.
Guns were a gangster's best friend and worst enemy. In the case of Sasuke, when he felt the heavy force of a gun hit his head, he stumbled towards the darkness until he landed on what seemed like a broken table, unconscious. Naruto saw through the darkness as Kankuro, Gaara and Temari had successfully injured his friends and were by the door. The red head looked back towards the remaining figure with what looked like a frown until he turned away and his brother threw a glass bottle at the blonde's head. The bump on his head grew tenfold and his back hit the floor with tremendous pain.
They may have lost the first battle, but it would not be their last. It was simply round one.
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This was the defying moment that begun the war between the Sand Siblings and the Konoha Four.
A/N: Hope y'all liking this so far x