Chapter 11: Abduction
Sasuke left the Snakes' current hideout and left through the main entrance. Kidnapping and killing Anko Mitarashi would be too easy. But, he knew that he couldn't let his guard down. That was what amateurs did. He took his .45 and a silencer along with his weapon of choice, a thin, razor-type blade. Kabuto was an idiot. The dark-haired assassin knew that he only had to do Kabuto's bidding for a little while longer, and when the imbecile finally let his guard down, he is the one who's going to take over the entire operation.
Sasuke drove the fifty miles to the Akatsuki's side of town, switched to a rental car, and then parked a mile away from the front gates of the current president's home. The security would have overwhelmed a normal man, but to a polished assassin, this was child's play. Sasuke walked around the building's perimeter and decided that the best way to enter was through the servant entrance. He charmed his way in by complementing a young maid on her newly cut hair. The girl flirted with him and took some time to get rid of.
"You're new aren't you?" she asked him with a soft, throaty voice.
"Yes," Sasuke had answered with a smile. "It's my first day. I got so excited to get here that I even forgot my key pass."
"Here I'll let you in," the girl smiled sweetly and fluttered her long lashes. "I hope that I'll see you again soon..."
"Hiroshi, my name is Hiroshi," Sasuke took the young maid's hand in his and shook it as she sighed in pleasure. "It was nice meeting you, and thanks so much for letting me in. I really needed this job."
"It's no inconvenience to me, Hiroshi." The girl seemed to sense some of Sasuke's impatience, "I'll let you go on your way now I don't want you getting in trouble with the boss. Since you don't have your ID card, I suggest you try to avoid the first, third, and fifth floor for the next hour, the guards are there for the rest of this hour. Then they change to the even-numbered floors. They'll kick you out if you don't have a key card; they're anal about it, even if they know who you are already."
It seemed the girl was talking from experience. And she had just saved Sasuke some grievances.
"Thank you," he said with a nod and turned to leave.
"Do you want to have breakfast with me, later after our shift?" she asked him.
"Sure," Sasuke said without turning back. He was going to be long gone when that time came.
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Anko couldn't sleep for the life of her. A feeling of dread wouldn't leave her and the fact that Kakashi was snoring away right outside her bedroom door, wouldn't allow her mind to stop thinking of him. She needed some fresh air, not the circulated, air-conditioned thing that passed for air around here. Uncaring of whether Kakashi woke up or not, she burst through her door, past her snoring guard dog, and into the hallway beyond. She would deal with security when the time came, but for some reason, she needed to be outside. She needed to prove to herself that she was not a prisoner, and that she was free.
Anko walked down the long hallway and was about to round a corner to the service exit when she heard soft footsteps. These footsteps were not the regular, heavy-footed gait of a guard, but of someone who did not want to be heard. Fear pressed upon Anko's chest and she slowly back away from the corner. She pulled out a compact mirror that her foster-father had given her; her initials were engraved into the titanium surface of the cover. Anko stood on her tip-toes and held it up as high as she could reach, so she could see around the corner. Years of being a spy made her cautious and suspicious of almost everything, and it taught her to trust her instincts. It didn't matter that for all she knew, the person around the corner might just be an employee trying to sneak in after being late for a shift. This could be why she felt so anxious before.
What, or rather who, she saw through the tiny reflective glass almost made her drop her compact. She caught the small mirror with her non-dominant hand at knee level just before it dropped to the floor. Sasuke Uchiha had infiltrated Naruto's fortress. Knowing that she wasn't safe, Anko silently made her way back to her room. Unlike her pursuer, her footfalls didn't make a single sound. Being a spy granted her such a skill.
Anko burst through her door and debated whether to wake Kakashi or not. She knew that Sasuke wouldn't kill him if he wasn't commisioned to kill the Resistance spy, and Kakashi would only die trying to protect her if she woke him. So, she walked past his sleeping form on the couch and proceeded to her room. She had to get out through the window. She entered her room in a flurry, and quickly spun around towards the bedroom door when she heard the unmistakable click of the suite door being picked open. Her blood ran cold for but a moment as she subconsciously backed into the narrow French windows in the room.
She gasped in surprise when she felt the muzzle of a gun pressed against the back of her neck. The cold, hard steel dug deeper into her neck preventing her from seeing the gun's owner. Then, there was a hand on her mouth which propelled her through the window. She only had one second to toss her monogrammed compact mirror back through the window as she was hauled out of it.
Once out of the window, the hand was uncapped from her mouth, but the gun now pushed against her back, pointed at her heart. Anko knew that she was dealing with a trained gunman and if she said a single word, she'd find a big, big hole in her chest. Her captor dragged her into the surrounding brush, the one she had so longingly stared at the morning before; hoping that she could go beyond its walls. Well, she got her wish after all. Thorns scratched and branches slapped her as they walked through thicket. The ground was uneven and she almost tripped twice, but the gun was unmoving against her back as if it were glued in place. The silence was unnerving, but not as much as knowing where the man was going to take her: to her death.
Past the brush, there was a fence. She knew that the fence was live with electricity and alarms would sound once they reached it, but Anko found no choice but to head straight for the shock-fence.
"Please," she gasped pitifully as they approached without any hint of stopping. Yet, moment later they halted less than a foot away from the fence; she could hear the crackling of electricity run across the mesh gate. Then, there was a faint beeping noise before a pregnant pause.
Her abductor reached around her and pushed a gloved hand against the fence. He—judging by the size of his hand she assumed so—grunted as a crackle and flash of light came from the fence. But, the man was unharmed. He then pushed against the gate until it moved like curtains on a window. The thick brush hid them from being seen by the cameras. She was certain that no one in the President's house knew that there was even a fence hiding here.
The man then pushed her down low so that her head would not touch any part of the gate. She did as she was forced to do, hoping to survive just a little longer. Through the gate, they passed more coppices until they reached a dimly lit side street. Across the narrow street was a sleek, black limousine. The license plate indicated that the car was from the Akatsuki's turf.
Anko numbly straggled ahead of the pistol on her back, and rounded the back of the limousine. The door laid open in a frightening invitation. Would she be killed now or taken elsewhere to be killed later?
Using her peripheral vision, she could see the tall, unmasked man who had kidnapped her. He allowed her to see his face, indicating that she didn't have much time left. He obviously didn't care if she could identify him or not. And, he didn't make a move to blindfold her either, thus sealing her fate.
"Please come in," a voice called from the back of the limo.
Anko bowed her head once more and entered the car. Immediately, the door shut behind her, and she was forced to sit and face her enemy. The car started and cruised swiftly through the streets.
"I hope that we didn't interrupt anything when Zetzu took you to see me." A rail-thin woman with hair a lighter shade of purple looked up at the ex-Snakes spy through heavy-lidded eyes. "We saw Kakashi Hatake enter your apartment." She added to indicate exactly what she meant.
"You didn't interrupt anything," Anko replied stiffly, almost cankerous. "Who are you and what do you want from me?"
"You may call me Konan, and I don't want anything from you," The woman kept her expression neutral. A white flower broach on the lapel of her tailored suit was the only thing brightening her appearance. "It's my boss that wants you."
"Where are you taking me?"
Anko didn't receive a reply until a few minutes passed. Konan only stared out of the window until Anko started to do the same.
"Well, you're a smart woman, I'm sure you've already figured out who we are and I'm sure that not being blindfolded has allowed you to see which direction we're headed." The woman then held up a glass and a bottle from a side cooler. "Would you like some?"
"No," Anko answered. "I just want out of this rollercoaster ride."
"I'm sorry, I can't help you there." Konan went back to watching the shadowed cityscape pass her window. "Maybe my boss can grant your demand."
Konan knocked on the tinted partition between the back of the limo and the front when the car entered a side street. The car then stopped abruptly as if the knock was a command. Anko watched as the woman before her pull out a white piece of paper from her purse. Konan then folded the square piece in half once, then twice, as Anko looked on. She folded the paper a few more times until a paper flower emerged from the many folds. Anko then noticed that the flower looked like the one by Konan's heart.
"Here, this is for you," she said as she deposited the paper flower into Anko's hands.
Anko laughed at the whimsical sentiment. "What am I supposed to do with this?"
"It's called a favour." Konan explained. "You may ask me to do anything for you, except to spare your life."
"Why are you doing this for me?" Anko questioned as she absentmindedly stroked the flower's crinkly petals.
"I like to see that the people I kill are peaceful when they die." The woman spoke in an emotionless voice as if her attention was divided.
"So, you're that one that's going to kill me?" Anko smiled at her imprisoner. "If you are, you're the kindest assassin I've come across."
"Thank you, I appreciate you words," Konan nodded before taking a sip from her glass.
The Akatsuki assassin knocked once more on the tinted partition and the car started to move again. Anko lays back against her seat, thinking about how she could use her favour from Konan. The two purple-haired women sat across from each other in silence until the limousine reached its destination and Anko was ripped from her seat to be brought to the leader of Akatsuki: a man known simple and formidably as Pein. Zetsu, her guard, hauled her up against his side, his gun digging snuggly into the back of her head.
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Sasuke Uchiha was not a happy camper for he didn't find Anko Mitarashi in her room. He had checked the room that she was supposed to be in. And aside from rumpled sheets and a man on the couch, there was no sign that the woman was there. If he returned to Kabuto empty handed, there would certainly be some repercussions in his plan.
Uchiha was about to exit the room when he noticed that the window didn't look right. The window was ajar and when he pointed a light at the bushes and trees a few feet away from the opening, a discrete path leading away from the compound was revealed. Could it be that Anko Mitarashi chose this night to escape? Well, if she did, it would be a lot easier for him to kill her without a witness. The assassin hopped out of the open window to investigate the path.
Using his skills in hiding and hunting, Sasuke covered up the blatant tracks so that Naruto's band of nitwits would have a difficult time finding his dead victim in the woods. As he neared the edge of the Uzumaki property, he noticed a gate hidden in the brush that was left wide open. This must be how Anko escaped. The young assassin smirked menacingly and continued to walk through past the gate cautious of the electric fence. Once through the gate, he caught sight of a limousine driving past in the narrow street. The plate numbers showed that a company tied to the Akatsuki owned the car. So, Anko was abducted by his brother's group. The younger Uchiha wondered what could be so important about Anko Mitarashi?
The assassin quickly ran to his awaiting car in the adjoining street to follow suit once he was certain no one would see him move through the shadows. This time, he wasn't going to allow his victim to get away even if it meant that a family reunion was coming up sooner rather than later.
"Itachi, I will make you pay," Sasuke muttered to himself as he reached his car. "Along with Orochimaru's whore."
The young assassin made an illegal U-turn to follow the woman he was going to kill. At one point, he almost lost the Akatsuki car, but caught a lucky break when the limousine stopped suddenly. Sasuke quickly took this opportunity to pull out a sniper rifle from the compartment under the passenger seat and started to re-attach all the connecting parts together. This was Orochimaru's old car, and the assassin knew that the old boss always drove in a fully-loaded car. Sasuke also had the same compartment in his recently destroyed car but he had kept an assortment of hunting knives there instead. Once his rifle was assembled, Sasuke got to the back seat by wiggling between the driver and passenger seats and propped the butt end of the assault weapon on his shoulder and using the passenger-side headrest as a prop for the barrel. It wasn't an ideal setup in a compact car, but if he could kill Anko tonight, or scare her out of her wits, it would bring him one step closer to his goal.
The Snakes member watched through the telescopic lens and was able to see two shadows in the back of the seat of the limo which was conveniently parked under a street lamp. He almost couldn't suppress his grin at this opportunity. He aimed his weapon until one of the shadowed figures, the one he believed to be Anko, was in the center of the crosshairs. He took a slow breath in, steadying his aim, his finger controlled on the trigger. Just as he was about to add the little bit of pressure it took to release his shot, the limousine lurched forward and drove away.
Sasuke swore aloud and drove after the car at a safe distance away. The jinx of Anko Mitarashi struck again. There were many rumours back in the day of Orochimaru's leadership. One cautionary couplet was: "whoever tried to find Orochimaru's spy would always die". Sasuke even remembered that before he had known that Anko was the Snakes leader's spy, and he had forcefully asked the deceased gang leader who his spy was. Orochimaru had chosen to be tortured instead of giving up Anko's name. Afterwards, Sasuke was forced to kill the him without any answers. It was only a month later that he learned that the woman who had clumsily tried to seduce him during a mission in France was the same woman who had kept Orochimaru alive all of these years and kept those who wanted him assassinated six-feet underground.
What was so special about this woman? There had to be a reason why she was kept alive after all she'd been through. What made this detestable woman so invincible? The assassin thought to himself as he stalled his car long enough for the limo to turn the corner before following suit. He had shut off his head lights a few streets away and was now focused on killing his mark.
The limousine driver knew that his car was being followed, but continued driving to the Akatsuki fortress; and it certainly was a fortress filled with nasty traps for interlopers. Zetsu even slowed his driving so that the black car couldn't be lost. He will personally deal with the stalker at a later time. Anticipation and bloodlust made the Akatsuki member antsy with joy. It had been a long time since anyone challenged the Akatsuki.
Sasuke kept his car half a block away when the limo turned through a tall set of gates. This must be their destination. Sasuke backed up into the shadowed surroundings and exited his car. There weren't many trees to hide in or climb to look over the iron fence, nor were there nearby buildings to use as vantage points. The Akatsuki fortress looked impenetrable and foreboding as the only building past one story in a five-mile radius. Yet, Sasuke knew that there was always a way in. He simply had to wait and watch for a weakness in security.
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Kakashi woke up from another uncomfortable night on the couch, and he didn't find Anko in her bed. He gave the suite a quick search, but found no trace of her. He thought that she might have left to find breakfast in the dining room, but instead found everyone else except the woman he was looking for. The uncomfortable feeling in his gut spiked when another half an hour passed and Anko hadn't made an appearance.
The resistance spy finally gathered enough nonchalance to ask Kurenai if she'd seen Anko, to which the gate-keeper answered in the negative. Kakashi started to worry, Anko wasn't one to disappear.
"They'll kill you and you disappear as if you were erased from history."
He heard her earlier statement over and over in his head. There was something definitely wrong. Kakashi hurried once more to Anko's room.
There wasn't a note on the side table or anything that would hint that she had left on her own accord. But, as a fellow spy, Kakashi knew that Anko would have left some sort of clue if she was abducted. It bothered him to no end that he couldn't find her. She was only missing for an hour, but something in him told him that there was something amiss with the entire scenario.
He finally decided to get the others to start looking for the missing woman, they had to find her. She was his only hope; his only hope in stopping the Snakes, his only hope in ending the gang wars, and his only hope in having a shot at a happy ending.
"Did you find her?" Asuma came up to him. "There's no trace of her anywhere."
"Apart from her bed, it's like she wasn't even here." Kurenai announced as she emerged from Anko's suite.
Kakashi pushed past Kurenai and entered Anko's room. He quickly scanned the room with a critical eye. He took in every detail of the room: the flipped bed covers, the shoes on the floor, and the crinkled area rug by the window. Kakashi walked to the window.
"They got her out this way," he stated before asking Asuma and Kurenai. "What's behind the fence outside this window?"
"A back alley," Kurenai said absent-mindedly. "Damn it, Asuma, we should have thought of this before."
"We're really sorry, Kakashi." Asuma said solemnly. "If the Snakes got to her, then she'd probably be dead by now."
Kakashi nodded. If only he didn't stop her from telling him everything. If only he got more information out of Anko, then at least he would know where to look for her. Now she was gone. He had to steel himself; he'd always known that a guy like him couldn't win.
"What's this?" Kurenai picked up a compact, gold mirror from under the bed. "It has Anko's initials on it; maybe she threw it when they kidnapped her."
Kakashi grabbed it out of Kurenai's hands and started examining it like a man possessed. He carefully opened the mirror and pulled out a Swiss Army Knife from his pocket. He used the sharp, thin end of the blade to trace the perimeter of the mirror. He felt a small hitch on the mirror and started to pry the mirror out. When the piece of glass fell out, a piece of paper fell out with it. Kakashi picked up both items off the floor. What looked to be a formula covered both sides of the paper.
The PI tried to put the paper back behind the mirror, but with no success. It appeared that even Anko didn't know that she had this information in her possession. The formula must be of the enhancing drug that Anko had said that Orochimaru had founded: the proverbial fountain of eternal youth.
"What is it?" Asuma asked, interrupting Kakashi's thoughts. "It looks like a formula of some sort."
"This could be a formula of a drug that would destroy lives as well as save it. It's a drug allows a dying man to have the strength of a healthy twenty year old man for the duration of the drug's effects. Orochimaru was a geneticist who wanted to create this drug so people can live longer in good health. But before he was able to produce it, major pharmaceutical companies who made money from the illnesses of people, went after him. He was forced to go into hiding, his mistake was that he hired a crooked doctor—Kabuto—to help him out and instead fell into the drug ring."
Kakashi walked around the bedroom one more time to make sure he didn't miss any other details.
"We'll go tell the others, Asuma and I will check the video footages of the perimeter to see if anything sticks out. I'll get Sakura to analyze the formula, maybe we can use it as leverage against the gangs." Kurenai voiced before dragging her husband out the door. "Kakashi, don't lose hope yet. If this is what the enemy is looking for, we still have a chance to save her."
The fair-haired man smiled grimly and nodded in understanding. There was no point in shedding a tear for a woman like Anko, only a fool would. Kakashi opened the window and exited through the gates to the narrow alley, the street was completely dark; certainly no camera footage would be taped in this area. But, if the intruder came from the hallway, there should be a shot of him getting in. Kakashi walked out of the room, intending to do what he did best: spy. He was going to find out whom or what caused Anko to leave.
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A/N: Hello everyone! I am happy to present you with the next chapter of Target. This chapter focuses mainly on Anko and her ill-gotten relationship with the Akatsuki and White Snakes gangs. This is probably one of the shorter chapters of the story mainly because of the fact that it preludes to the next chapter which will reveal the reason Anko is so special in this story. In this chapter, Sasuke asks the questions "what makes Anko Mitarashi so special?" and "How does she somehow avoid being killed?". This is where the next chapter: Story of a Deadman (cool title, huh?) will answer these questions, at least in part.
For those who have read and reviewed, I am very thankful that you have taken the time to share your thoughts. And, for those who have stuck with this story since the beginning, I thank you for your patience and forgiving nature.
I really do wish that I could write all day and finish this story for you, but my day job is mentally demanding so when I get home, I usually don't have the brain-power to write. Or, if it's not that, my schedule gets in the way. Although, I must say that I am my father's daughter, and thus, am stupidly stubborn. This is why I know that I can, and will, finish this story. If not for my readers, then for my satisfaction.
Please read and review, and stay tuned for the answers in the next chapter: Story of a Deadman.