Author's Note: So this update has been a long time coming. I hope it meets expectations. Expect the next one to come shortly after this. Please read and review. I appreciate it :)
Chapter 11: It's Hell on Earth Somewhere
Karin was nervous, and wondering just how she got herself into such messes sometimes. Her role was nothing major even, just wait on guests and follow orders. But, she supposed that working for people like him, made such mundane activities ever more dangerous. She swallowed, feeling strangely like she was imposing, an awkward third wheel to the shit storm brewing before her. The basement door, metal and heavy closed ominously. Karin wondered if she really needed to be here, her role was complete: she had brought Sasuke to where she was supposed to. Sasuke was angry, but hey no surprise there. More importantly, he was furious at Sasuke Uchiha's insubordination. And Sasuke, Karin thought, seems so unaffected. Her gaze lingered as she shamelessly ogled him. The broad shoulders, just-got-out-of-bed-don't-give-a-fuck hairstyle and chiseled face of a god, ah! She may have been drooling, but that was where the fangirling stopped. She may have been taken, there was no shame in looking though, but Sasuke was a total dick with a shit personality that deviated little from his holy crusader mentality, or for whatever it was he was seeking vengeance. Karin sighed, knowing a lost cause when she saw it.
In her periphery she saw Sasuke stiffen and Karin glaced up as she saw a projection displayed on the wall. Pictures? she thought, confused. People she was unfamiliar with: a girl with lavender eyes, a boy with face tattoos and a dog…and Naruto! The boy with the blond hair and thousand watt smile, sitting at a café, talking with a pink-haired girl...Oh her, Karin groaned internally, little Miss Rain Cloud with the mopey aura. And said pink-haired girl seemed to take precedent in the following pictures: walking to work, sleeping on her couch, making dinner, crying herself to sleep, and talking to the lavender eyed girl. The projection came to an end.
"Do you understand now Sasuke?" said a man. He sat in the shadow, voice quiet but firm; the tension increased. His eyes bled red in annoyance at the lack of response. However, he seemed to calm after a moment, the color receding just as quickly as it came on.
"Of course you understand though," his voice was soothing almost, conversational. "You are an avenger who seeks the destruction of those who ruined you and your family. Furious, dark-hearted and bloodthirsty for vengeance right? No one will stand in your way. Not even these people," he gestured to the people projected on the wall, "I suppose it is a family trait that we share."
The level of eloquence and superficial conversation were uncommon for this man, it made Karin even more on edge. It was concerning. Dangerous, like when a cat plays with its prey, knowing it cannot escape. She swallowed again, internally hoping to be dismissed, even Sasuke seems agitated, especially by that last comment. He knows the seriousness of the situation, he can't be that dense.
The man continued, "I seem to remember a year ago, a young man came to me, desperate in his anger and refusing to leave my presence until I agreed to accept him into my…organization. If I remember correctly he said, 'I need to find the truth, by whatever means necessary,' or something along those lines. Is any of this ringing a bell Sasuke?" Silence followed the question.
Oh come on Sasuke, panic filled Karin, concerned for the boy. Don't be such a dick. This is not the time Sasuke to –
"Hn." That's it?!
The shadowed man seemed to find the response adequate though. "Ah, well I am glad that we are on the same page because," the man stood up, walking toward Sasuke at a leisurely pace, "in exchange for my assistance for your cause you were to obey Each. And. Every. one of my tasks without question." His voice rose suddenly, all semblance of calm gone," And look where your disobedience has led! Every lie, every misstep! DID YOU NOT THINK THAT I KNEW NOTHING OF YOUR PAST? OR ANY OF YOUR PRECIOUS PEOPLE YOU LEFT BEHIND?"
"These people are nothing to me. She means nothing to me," burning hatred seared Sasuke's response and Karin had to wonder if he was able to maintain his default emotionless express.
"Oh?" and that's when the shadowed man stepped out of the shadow, and his voice was soft as velvet again. His eyes were bloody, wild and euphoric-looking. It was as if he had caught something in a trap. Or in a lie, Karin thought, unease creeping down her spine. Sasuke, you shouldn't have said anything at all.
"Then how about this?" the man said, walking to projection, setting a new reel to play. It ran. And he let it sink it as he himself viewed it.
A flinch. Sasuke was lucky that the man's back was turned. At least, as lucky as a man can be when his girlfriend is being creeped on hardcore, Karin was sick with unease. The man turned to walk to Sasuke again, and while Sasuke's face gave nothing away, the concern in Karin's was enough to show that the Uchiha had reacted.
"Karin," he addressed her suddenly.
"Yes, sir!" she responded, her voice strong and solid.
"You have been a loyal and faithful employee. In fact, I place enough trust in you to understand the gravity of this situation. So I must ask that you speak to no one of my discussion with Mr. Sasuke Uchiha here," he nodded in said Uchiha's direction, "you understand the importance of discretion. Correct?" His eyes sharpened at her in threat.
"Of course sir. I have the greatest respect for your actions and judgment," Karin recited, terrified of what would happen if she answered any other way.
The sides of his lips upturned, in one of the most horrific displayed of a maniac's smile that had ever been witnessed.
"Now," and just like that , his attention was back to Sasuke, "This…girl. Sakura Haruno. Age 19. Student of University of the Land of Fire. College of Biomedical Sciences. College GPA 4.0. Home address: Will of Fire Complex, Apartment C. Employment: part time junk mail stuffer and night cashier at the local grocery. The past lover of Sasuke Uchiha. And the latest unsuspecting victim of Hashiro Hana, swine and decay of the seedier section of my organization –,"
"What the fuck does any of what you said have to do with me?" Sasuke cut in, his voice low. His hands clenched in fists, knuckles white.
A smile spread on the face of the man before him, "I'm glad you asked," and from the back of his pocket produced a pistol, its black coat gleaming menacingly in the dimly lit room.
"This." He shot at the projection on the wall. Through the image of Sakura Haruno's forehead.
"I listen. I hear and I know everything. And little shit like you can't escape me. This unfortunate girl can't either . I have spent years building this organization from the ground up and you dare hinder its progress? So," the man growled in disgust. He examined the pistol in his hand, almost as if he was seeing it for the first time before slamming it forward, squarely across Sasuke's face. The boy's expression was defying, eyes unyielding, grunting in pain, refusing to fall. The man hit him again across the face again, before sucker punching him in the stomach. Sasuke fell to his knees, spitting blood from his mouth. Karin, was frozen in fear, terror, unable to move, to help, knowing that she should, but realizing any action could mean her death.
"So," the man said, unaffected by his actions, "stay here for a bit. Think about what you're going to do," he left Sasuke to struggle. He stopped when he reached Karin, turning around suddenly, the euphoric glee in his voice again, "I almost forgot. The sound, no movie is good without sound. And, now that I think of it, there's another reel that I think you will enjoy as well…"
Sasuke didn't respond, whether out of inability or pride, Karin was not sure.
Just as he was about to leave, he said, "Sasuke, enjoy. Karin," his eyes narrowed at her, "remember, loyalty." The door locked behind them.
And with the closing of the basement door, the two individuals in the room heard the reels played again. A voice watery and terrified filled the room whispering his name, "Sasuke!" as she discovered the incriminating photo of them with the disturbing note.
Karin approached Sasuke slowly, when she heard him whispering to himself, "Damn it. Damn it. Damn him!" He refused to look in the direction of the projection. Anger was etched into his face, loathing filled his voice. "I will destroy you, you –,"
And that's when they heard a much different voice.
"Miss Sakura…I want you so badly," a man's voice. Sasuke's face contorted. "So it was true, it wasn't a threat," Karin said to herself, horrified at what she was about to witness, "Sasuke…" she looked to him, but he didn't seem to see her. His pained face bruised, eye bleeding, transfixed on the projection, on Sakura's tears, her pleading, her screams.
"I will destroy you, you and your organization. No one will stop me. Do you hear me Madara?" Sasuke whispered, eyes crazed, completely unaware of his surroundings, "My vengeance will be soaked in your blood! And then you will understand…" His eyes drooped, and the fight went out of him.
Karin left him be, retreating to the locked door, waiting to escape when the door unlocked. Tears gathered in her eyes. Monsters, she thought, you both are monsters. Uchiha through and through.