Author: Miz Mizery
Rating: You all know it, M
Notes: Sorry it took so long... I've been on a writer's block for a while, and then I discovered the wonders of the internet (besides ff, that is), and then my internet shut off, so I have chapter eight already figured out, but it's nowhere near done. So, enjoi, I guess. I'll chat as usual at the bottom.
Sasuke stretched in bed, feeling the warm body pressed tight against him and groping for the half-empty bottle of beer on his nightstand.
"Go back to sleep, baby," came a tired voice from somewhere deep in the blankets. Sasuke smirked, looking down at the mussed blonde curls that were piled against his chest.
"Shut up."
Brown eyes met his, and a pout spread across the girl's face. "Don't tell me to shut up."
"I'll tell you what I want to."
"Sexy byotch," the girl murmured, causing Sasuke to chuckle softly. He settled back into his bed, smoking one cigarette after the other, one of his arms behind his head with the blonde whore curled into the space between his arm and his torso.
"Let me have one," the blonde said after a while, leaning over Sasuke to grab the pack of cigarettes on his nightstand. Her breasts swung against his chest, and he watched her move haltingly, a beautiful girl in her own way. He stroked her back gently as she lay there, propped up on one arm, blowing smoke into his face.
"Can you cut that out?" Sasuke finally asked, irritated.
She blew a stream of smoke into his face, and smiled. "Why?"
He lit a new cigarette and glared at her. She kissed him on the forehead and he pushed her away.
"Get dressed. I need to be at work in an hour." He started to get out of bed, letting the warm air in his bedroom settle around his naked body, but was pulled back by the blonde whore.
"You don't have to go to work, do you, baby?"
"Stop calling me that," Sasuke said, his patience quickly lapsing. "I expect you to be gone by the time I get out of the shower."
She pouted and huffed, getting out of his bed before Sasuke even could. She bent over the slinky black dress she had discarded the night before and stepped into it, leaving her undergarments where they were.
"You can keep those," she said, her eyes flashing cold anger. "You can tell all of your friends you finally lost your virginity, and actually have proof." She picked her purse off of one of the low chairs that sat around the elliptical table in the small living room area that was a part of his bedroom. Sasuke growled low in his throat and watched the whore take her exit. That's why he wasn't married yet; Girls were nothing but trouble. At any rate, that was what he wanted to believe. It was, of course, quite possible that his business endeavors had gotten in the way.
He showered quickly, removing the lipstick stains that covered the lower part of his body, realizing just how filthy he was and feeling terrible for it. He scrubbed until his skin was red and raw; the water turned so high up that it left welts on his porcelain skin.
After he had showered and dressed, he went down to the kitchen, pulling at the tie that adorned his neck, and made a small breakfast of blackened dry toast that crumbled upon touching it. He couldn't cook for shit, and Itachi fondly told him so at the table. The two stared at each other with identical eyes, Sasuke chewing on his toast and Itachi sipping at his coffee.
"Why must you always act like an asshole, nii-san?"
Itachi raised an eyebrow at the young Uchiha. "In a good mood this morning, eh, Sasuke? Got lucky last night, as I heard."
He glared at the elder man, finished his toast, and left for work without saying anything.
"What can I do for ya?"
Naruto grinned, shoving his hands into his leather jacket. "C'mon, Gaara, don't be so formal with me."
The red haired man scratched the tattoo on his forehead, his eyes sliding to slits in his smooth face as his confusion registered. Then his cerulean eyes brightened, the thick make-up around them almost making the look comical.
"Naruto?"
The man laughed. "The one and only, brah." They clasped hands in friendship. "It's nice to see that you're not dead, man."
"What?" He shook his head. "Doesn't matter. What the fuck did you do to yourself?"
Naruto ran a hand across his short hair, the fuzz tickling the palm of his hand. "Chopped it and dyed it."
"Well I can see that. Why?" Gaara laughed. "And why the fuck blue?"
The man chuckled again, and then became serious and settled back into the recliner that he had adorned many times before. "Someone's out to kill me. I disappeared in Virginia for a while, with Neji, of course, but yesterday he told me that they found us. Well, that they found roughly where we were. So I left Neji there and came back to get them away from him, and dyed my hair so that my blondness wouldn't give me away, as it usually does. And why blue? Because the way to fit in is to stand out. Plus, doesn't it just go so well with my eyes?" He batted his eyelashes as if to state the fact that, yes, it did go quite well with his eyes.
Gaara smirked, and shook his head. "Yes, Naruto, it looks quite nice. What about Neji?"
Naruto sniffed. "What about him? He's fine where he's at. He doesn't need to be where it's three times as dangerous for him to be."
"Oh." The red head nodded sarcastically. "So is this new Naruto into caring about people he likes too?"
The once blond-haired, but now blue-haired man frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that Kiba called me. And told me what a shitty job you've been doing at keeping everything on the D.L."
"Is it my fault that everyone wants this sexy body?"
"No, but it is your fault that you can't keep your addictions to yourself."
"Well, look who's talking. Look, I didn't come here to fight. I came to ask for help. I need to talk to Kiba, but the police are still at his house, tapping his phones… At least I'm guessing. I'm right, right?"
Gaara nodded somberly. He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to tame the mess of red spikes to no avail. "I can't help you."
Naruto's face fell almost imperceptibly, but his friend saw the change and went to sit next to him.
"Do you have anything good?" Naruto mumbled pathetically, tilting his head against Gaara's chest.
"Yeah. Come 'round back to my office."
Neji's eyes flashed dark with anger and he hurled a stone at the cold, gray water of the ocean, the waves crashing against the gray beach and leaving gray stones and sea fishes behind. The sky was gray; the birds' calls were gray, just as Neji's attitude was. Hunter watched silently, the only color in this world of dark in the bright yellow raincoat his mother had forced him into before he could go out. He wiped a rubber sleeve against his face, but it did nothing to relieve the chill.
"So why did he leave?"
Neji couldn't control his mouth. "Because he's a mother fucking dick and is in even more trouble with the law than he has ever been in his pathetic, shitty, fucking life."
Hunter's eyes went wide. "Oh. You must be pretty pissed then."
The man had to laugh. The statement was so blatantly obvious that it was comical, and he caught Hunter's small smile from the corner of his eye. "Yeah, I'm pretty pissed. All he left was a letter." He threw another stone at the ocean.
"And…?"
Neji frowned. "And he said that he had to go back to New York before he got into more trouble, which is stupid, because that means he's just going back to where his problem's originated."
"I don't think they actually started there, Neji."
The man paused mid-throw, and nodded eventually. "Yeah, you're right. He's had a bad life. His problems started at birth."
The boy bent to pick up a small, smooth red rock, and held it in his hands, staring at it intently like it held the secret to Naruto's life. "His mom, my aunt, she was a… a slut. She always slept around. Naruto's not an only child, you know. He knows it, but won't acknowledge them as his siblings. His dad was killed in a car accident. His mom…"
"Died sad and alone in a flat in London after she had been beaten, raped, and robbed of everything she had. I know the story. I forced it out of him over a year ago." Neji frowned. "I didn't think you'd know it though."
"Oh, I do. My dad told me. We all went to the funeral, but I was too young to really remember it."
"Naruto was only twelve. So you were only one?"
"I was almost two. But it doesn't matter. I don't remember her."
"Naruto barely does."
Hunter stared at the ocean for a moment, then thrust the small red rock into it, watching it until the dark waters swallowed it up.
He was the only one on the road. Abnormal for inner New York, but not so much on the outskirts like Sasuke was now. He dreaded the traffic he would soon be coming upon, and dreaded the night that he was forced into working. He could see the strings of red lights up ahead, saw the headlights moving past him in the murky gray of twilight, and he too stopped shortly. Irritated, he pressed random buttons on his radio, finally settling on a station that played a little bit of everything. He hummed along with the songs, and this passed his time until he pulled up in front of the towering building where he worked at night, and shut off the engine of his new cherry red Ferrari, his early Christmas present to himself. He thought he deserved something nice and this was his way of showing it.
Kakashi was seated at his desk in his office, like he usually was when Sasuke arrived.
"Sit," the man said, not even looking up from his paperwork. Sasuke did as was expected of him. "How are things at home?"
This took the young Uchiha off guard. Kakashi wasn't one to care about his employees. Although, Sasuke was a special employee, to say the least. The old man had always treated Sasuke like his own son, seeing that the young man had little father to speak of, and supported his whole family on his own income, which was much to put on one so young.
Sasuke answered slowly. "Things are fine. Is this the reason you called me in?"
Kakashi grinned. "No, it's not. But you seem stressed, and you wouldn't go to Virginia like everyone expected you to."
"Things are fine," Sasuke repeated. He couldn't very well tell him that he hadn't been sleeping recently; every time he closed his eyes another worry popped into his head, or the guilt of killing his best friend would crowd into his mind and would prevent the merciful sleep from descending upon him. Lately, he had resorted to drinking enough in the evenings to pass out soundly.
"You know, Sasuke, if you need a vacation, just tell me. We can find someone else to do your job for a few weeks or whatever."
"Like I said, I'm fine. But the thought is nice."
Kakashi smiled kindly, taking in the man's disheveled appearance. His lightly colored red tee shirt was anything but professional beneath the heavy, black wool trench coat, and he hadn't shaved in at least a couple days. His hair was flat and it fell on either side of his face as if it had given up the will to live. The old man found it almost comical, yet he knew that Sasuke was worse off than he let on. It disheartened the man, because he had thought that the young Uchiha could come to him, though this proved him wrong.
He sighed and tossed a manila folder in Sasuke's direction. "Only one tonight. His name's in there, as is his estimated address and hangouts. Drug dealer. Doesn't seem all too dangerous, but you can never tell with his type. If anyone gets in your way, mow 'em down."
Sasuke nodded and gathered himself to leave, but Kakashi stopped him for only a brief moment to inform him that they couldn't find Uzumaki, and that if he gets any new leads, to take them down and report back. The young Uchiha said that he would, and left, not opening the folder to read of his prey until he was in his car and had shed his jacket of his lean frame.
"Gaara, huh?" he said to himself, running his finger over the glossy photo that was paper clipped to the man's information. The light blue eyes stared back at him, and it made him shiver. He closed the folder so that he wouldn't have to look at those eyes anymore.
"Where are we going?" Naruto asked softly, staring up at the high walls of the alleyway on either side of him. It felt as though, at any given moment, these walls that appeared so strong could crash down on him and Gaara and would steal both of their lives. The thought made him shiver and it only stirred his claustrophobia.
"Just to a friend's. I think he can help you."
"Are you trying to make me into a pity case?"
"I don't know. Do you want to get out of this damn hole you've dug yourself?"
Naruto looked as if he were about to retaliate; yet a sharp look from Gaara stopped him, and he nodded slowly instead. A light from overhead cast his friend in a sallow glow, and it was almost revolting if not for the love that he held for him. With it, he could see past what to most would be odd or ugly: his friend's naturally abnormally bright red hair, his pale and cerulean eyes that were almost frightening, the ironic and morbid sense of humor that Gaara had had as a teen and still had, nearly ten years later.
The red head smirked to himself when he caught Naruto staring out of the corner of his eye. It wasn't every day that he would get so much attention from his best client. Not at all that he would ask for help too. Naruto was cold and impersonal. It surprised Gaara greatly that Neji had stuck with him for so long.
Snow was coming down in flurries, short, spiraling clouds that couldn't decide whether they wanted to blizzard or stop completely. It disfigured the pair's sight, and neither could see the tall black figure until it had seen them.
"What the-" was all Gaara could make out before a gunshot ripped through the night air and a bullet ripped through his shirt, flesh, and bone. Naruto stood by his side, frozen in horror, and watched the blood that bloomed across his friend's shirt pocket in a sort of sick fascination. He had never seen someone die in this way. He had never seen one of his best friends he had ever had… die.
"Don't move," came a voice that seemed too loud in the silence that followed the gunshot, and Naruto tore his eyes from his friend's dying body.
"Like I would," he said shakily, his survival instincts kicking in. Right now, he was all that mattered. The person lying on the ground next to him was not his friend. The person pointing the gun in his face, suddenly too close to be considered safe, was his new friend.
The man was shorter than Naruto by at least two or three inches, and he had to angle his arm up to have the barrel of the gun pointing directly between Naruto's eyes. His pale face was tinted pink in the cold, and his breath escaped from between his dark pink lips in sharp white puffs, like he had been running hard. His black hair matched his eyes, and they matched his jacket, which was littered with snow on the shoulders and was building up on his raised arm. He didn't look threatening; yet, Naruto knew not to trust this.
The look in this stranger's eyes was one of confusion, then, suddenly, his dark, thin eyebrows raised slightly and he breathed Naruto's name out in disbelief.
"Uh, yeah, that's me. And you're a hottie with a gun pointed in my face." Naruto smirked and moved forward slightly. "Why don't you move it?"
He shook his head, and ground his teeth together. "Don't say anything."
"Can I say 'something' then?" The gun clicked rather audibly in the still night air. The snow had stopped again. "I'll take that as a 'no'." He put his hands in his pockets and stared into the stranger's eyes. "You know, you really are cute."
The pink in the man's cheeks darkened. "I'm not gay."
Naruto shrugged. "And neither am I. I'm just saying, you're pretty good-looking. Kinda like a girl. Are you a girl?"
"What?" the man sputtered, confusion creeping into his eyes again. Naruto nodded.
"Nah, you're no girl. A girl would take the 'cute' thing as a complement, I guess… And she wouldn't say 'I'm not gay.' Are you sure? I know a lot of people who say they're not, but as soon as you get some whiskey into them, they're gayer then Moulin Rouge."
The stranger cracked a small smile, and Naruto rejoiced in this. He glanced down at Gaara's body, and felt a bit sorry for the man. He had lived a good life. If he made it out alive tonight, Naruto would tell his mother the news tomorrow. The old bitch would probably just blow smoke in his face and say 'It's about time.'
He returned his attention to the gunman. "So what do ya say about letting me get off free, cutie?"
--
Sasuke stared at the man in front of him, trying to control his shaking. This was it. His moment. He should just kill the fool and get over it. He couldn't believe that he had chanced upon Uzumaki during his assignment. It was too good to pass up. He had spent the last month and a half tracking him down, trying to get him, and now he was just standing there like an idiot. Adrenaline, he thought, and chastised himself for letting it get in the way.
He tried to squeeze the trigger, but found himself incapable of the act.
"Well?" Naruto asked, his voice soft and on the lusty side. Sasuke scowled and lowered the gun just a centimeter. "That's right. You don't really want to hurt me."
He had never come across someone like this. Someone who stared directly into his eyes and showed him what he wanted through that medium, who made it clear what he was asking for. It made him nervous. What kind of person was this Naruto that could make even the great Sasuke Uchiha, Assassin, Business Tycoon, falter under a single look?
Naruto stepped forward only slightly, and reached up slowly to lower Sasuke's arm so that it pointed towards the ground. He let him, his eyes still trained on Naruto's. There was something about him that he couldn't pinpoint, and it wasn't his new hair color or the sexy pout that reminded the Uchiha of a girl's, that made him want to listen to the blond. Naruto smiled softly, his eyes still trained on Sasuke's, and his hand still on the man's forearm. "Hm, I think you need to loosen up a little," he murmured, glancing shyly down at Sasuke. Naruto's other hand that had previously been in his pocket moved toward the front of the Uchiha's pants. His stomach tightened and he stepped back, but Naruto came with him.
"Don't be scared, Mister. I don't bite." Naruto smirked seductively. "Unless, you know, you want me too…" His hand had found it's target and Sasuke sucked in a sharp breath, fighting back a small whimpering moan that had crawled up that back of his throat. He leaned back against the wall behind him, feeling the cold stone react almost violently with his warm skin, and let his eyes flutter shut. He could hear Naruto giggle softly, and it embarrassed him.
"Seems as if you like that, huh?" His voice was so close to his ear, causing Sasuke to swallow comically. He pressed his palms flat against the wall behind him and watched Naruto intently, not participating in this, but not pushing the intruding man away either. Naruto licked his lips, and then pressed them against Sasuke's for only a brief moment before he dashed away, leaving the Uchiha cold against the brick wall and very confused.
A/N:
And so the romance begins... Kinda. Tell me what you think, please. I wasn't sure about this chapter... I actually deleted the ending before I came up with this one, and I think this is better. I'm not even gonna tell you how it originally ended, because that'd spoil the next chapter. Hehe. And I've been thinking, this summer when I took that long break (some of you know what I'm talking about) I wasn't just slacking around. Oh no, I was still thinking of my story. So I wrote a short kinda one-shotty thing... That better depicts Sasuke's and Naruto's 'relationship' (I have to wonder, am I giving things away or did everyone see this pairing? Oh wait, it was in the summary. Haha.) from Naruto's point of view. But I think I'll wait until the end of this one to put it out, or maybe I should just put it in the bottom of each A/N that goes with the story at that point. It's only two or three pages long, so it shouldn't take up too much room... Okay, I talked myself into it. Starting next chapter, you'll have a special little treat to go with the entree.
But until then, review away, mes petits choux choux (I changed cause the next day we covered the conjugation of it. Haha, ironic, huh?) J'taim, et au revoir. (I'm learning French.)
