Common Delinquents
Chapter 12
A gun shot rings through the air, but Hinata can barely hear it through the ear muffs protecting her ears. She stares at her 'target', the large piece of paper a few feet in front of her—the image of a silhouette of a man with holes through his chest thanks to her.
She stares down at the silver gun in her hands. The killing device. A deadly machine. It feels heavy in her hands and slippery in her sweaty palmed grip—her arms are shaking. Every time she fires, her body is thrown back from the force as if it's rejecting the object and the nature of its use. It is a machine made for death, even though some may argue its use for protection. The metal feels cold against her skin and the trigger almost gives her frost bite. No, she resents this weapon and even more so the people who choose to use it.
"You're shaking too much," Shino says, he hands her more bullets, "You'll never hit the target like that."
My target…a fellow human being who I will inevitably injure or kill, Hinata cannot help but think. She fingers the bullets, tiny little heart stoppers, brain killers, flesh tearers. The cause of Chouji's hospitalization and her Uncle's untimely death.
"Hina, chill." Kiba says from behind the glass, he lies on his back tossing his phone in the air and catching it before throwing it back up again. He stops when he misses and the phone lands on his face. Akamaru is curled around his side, sleeping peacefully despite the noise. "This is training for your protection. We're not training you to become a murderer; we're training you to protect yourself against murderers."
"And then I shoot that murderer, and he d-dies and I become a murderer too! And then—and then, I'll—"
"Relax." Kiba says again, sitting up now, "It's just training. Just training."
Hinata huffs to herself and hands the handgun to Shino for them to reload it for her. She blinks at her new target, eyelashes brushing against the plastic of the eye-protector-glasses you were supposed to wear.
Shino hands it back to her ten seconds later and moves to join Kiba behind the glass.
Hinata fires a couple more times, getting nowhere near the target and still terribly shaken from the force. Eventually Kiba leaves the range, saying he had homework to do, and Shino sits leaning against the wall—he could be sleeping, it's hard to tell with his glasses on all the time.
Hinata shakes her head and lays the gun on the around. She curls and uncurls her fingers and puts her hair up in a tight ponytail. She will not let the gun control her, she will control the gun.
Wow, I sound like an idiot.
"You suck." A voice says from the door way. "Were you even trying?"
Hinata exhales and turns to see Sasuke's figure through the glass, he gazes at her stoically, "Well what are you waiting for? Shoot."
Hinata feebly glares at the boy before turning back to the target. She raises the gun and glares down her target before giving the trigger a little squeeze. Bang, her body his thrown backwards against the force but she catches herself before falling. She blinks at the new hole in target, nowhere near where she was aiming for though.
"Sad," Sasuke says, his voice suddenly close behind her. "Have Shino and Kiba been teaching you anything?"
She doesn't reply as she watches him take the gun from her. Sasuke pushes her out the way with a light shove and fires three times in quick succession. Bang bang bang. Straight through the bulls-eye or the heart of his victim. He has murdered the paper.
"Great to know that you're good with the killing machine," Hinata mutters under her breath.
"What?" Sasuke replies. He drops the weapon back in her hands and comes to stand behind her. "Keep your legs shoulder width apart," He instructs. He nudges her right leg with his right foot so that it would move the appropriate distance and then does the same for the left.
Hinata is bright red.
Sasuke lifts her arms, "You're new at this so both hands on the gun." His hand is on the small of her back now, "Back straight. Good. Arms straight. The force will knock you back for a while until you get used to it, but you can handle it."
The Uchiha moves again to put up a new target figure "Never take your eyes off the target and never underestimate your opponent."
"W-Why are you helping me?" Hinata peaks at him from the corner of her eye, scared to take her eyes of her target like he'd yell at her for it.
"You may be annoying and weak," He doesn't give Hinata enough time to feel hurt, "But everyone in my gang needs to know how to protect themselves because a death would be-" He doesn't finish.
They are silent for several minutes before Sasuke says, "Ok let's try again."
He comes behind her this time, his arms encircling her, he covers her hands with his and moves her arms in the right direct, "Now shoot."
Hinata's breathe hitches in her throat and her face feels as if it's on fire. She tries to ignore the feeling of his warm body against hers and fingers the trigger.
Bang.
Again, her body is thrown from the force, but Sasuke is there to steady her. Her arms remain straight this time instead of jerking upwards because his arms are there toholdhers. She looks at the target to see that she's hit the bulls-eye.
"I-I did it," She breaths softly, she steps away from Sasuke, a light blush dusting her cheeks, and smiles.
"Hn." Was his only response, "Maybe next time you'll be able to do it without my help?" Sasuke takes the gun away from her and looks at his watch, "It's late. You can practice more tomorrow."
Hinata nods and removes the earmuffs and glasses before following Sasuke out of the room. Just as she's grabbing her bag and contemplating on whether or not she should thank Sasuke, he's gone.
She stares at the direction where Sasuke disappeared, frowning.
That boy is confusing.
-:- -:- -:-
"Welllllll…..this is awkward."
Hinata cannot agree with Naruto's statement more as she sits across from him and Sakura in one of the 'chill rooms' at headquarters. Originally, Kiba and Ino were there too, making the whole thing 100 percent less awkward (The pair could make anything not awkward.) But now, there's just the three of them there, with Sakura glaring holes in Hinata's head and Hinata fidgeting nervously with the corner of the couch.
She really wants to leave about now, it's raining cats and dogs outside and she wants to curl up at home with some hot chocolate, but Neji is her ride home and he's somewhere on HQ flirting or something with Tenten. As much as she wants the two to get together already she wants to go home more.
Somewhere in the back her mind, she wonders why Sakura doesn't just leave, since she seems to hate Hinata so much.
"So," Sakura says leaning forward and towards Hinata.
Shocked Hinata leans forward and waits for her to continue.
She doesn't.
"Um, so?" Naruto speaks up.
"So I saw you with Sasuke earlier."
"Well…yeah we were discussing our next move…ouf!" Naruto is cut off when Sakura punches him in the stomach.
"Not you, her!"
They both turn to look at Hinata, She shifts, uncomfortable with the sudden attention and begins to sputter, "U-uh, h-he helped me s-shoot?" It comes out like a question and Hinata inwardly scowls at her stuttering. She didn't have to explain anything to Sakura, so what was her problem?
"Oh really?" Naruto grins, "How'd you do?"
"It was okay…I guess. I d-did better after Sasuke helped me…"
"Of course you did." Sakura pipes up. Her jade eyes are narrowed at Hinata in disbelief.
Suddenly, Hinata feels angry. She is so tired of Sakura's attitude and snarky comments towards her. Hinata's done nothing wrong and has barely had more than two conversations with the pinkette. If anyone should be angry at the other, it should be Hinata.
The former heiress bristles at the medic's glares, "Sakura…may I ask w-why you seem to have a problem w-with me?"
An indignant looks crosses Sakura's face as if Hinata is supposed to magically know why Sakura hates her, she crosses her arms and runs her fingers through her pink hair, "Naruto can you please…"
"Yep. Was already on my way out," He says, Hinata's head whips around to see him already at the door, looking sorta constipated like all the drama upset his stomach.
Meanwhile Hinata sits pouting at him like she needs him to be the mediator between the two girls. Please don't leave me with her, she'll eat me. But Naruto only disappears around the corner and into the rain.
"Look Hinata, Sasuke is mine."
Hinata stares openly at the girl before bursting out in soft giggles, "I don't…I don't want Sasuke…" Although Hinata is curious, what right does Sakura have to say that Sasuke is hers? From the looks of it, Sasuke doesn't like either one of them very much.
Sakura moves her gaze from her split ends she was picking at to Hinata's amused light eyes, "Everyone wants Sasuke."
Uh…Hinata frowns at her, is she crazy?
"Haha, just kidding! But seriously, stay away from him." Sakura stops playing with her hair and stands to her full height, "And besides, he's way out of your league. You couldn't handle a guy like him,"
Hinata shrugs, she doesn't it doubt it. She doesn't want to handle a guy like him…too much baggage. She thinks that their conversation is over, but Sakura just keeps going.
"And I've known him waay longer," False, but she doesn't know that. "We have a special connection, and I don't want you ruining it. 'Kay?"
Hinata blinks at her, "Umm, okay?"
"Good. I'm glad we got that all cleared up, Hinata!" Sakura smiles at her and pulls up her hood, "I still don't like you." She leaves the room.
Hinata collapses against the couch gapping at the wall in utter confusion. Then she buries her head into the couch, wishing Ino was there to help her figure out what the fuck just happened.
She thinks over their entire conversation and comes to three possible explanations for Sakura's behavior. One, she could be just insane, two, she feels like Hinata is a major threat and is jealous (Hinata has no idea why her), and three, she really hates the Hyuga's guts. (Again, why her?)
A couple minutes later, her phone vibrates and she blinks at the screen sleepily.
From: Naruto
Hey newbie, we have a mission 4 yooooooou! :3
Come 2 the meeting room to find out.
She blinks again. A mission. For her. No thank you. She'd rather sleep. As she's getting up, her phone vibrates again, she opens the message.
From: Naruto
put some pep in your step! Hurry up and get the mission dets. I hope you're not sleeping.
Hinata frowns and texts back that she's coming already. He can calm down.
From: Naruto
I am calm, believe it!
Somehow, Hinata does not believe it.
-:- -:- -:-
"Somehow, I don't think this is a good idea," Shikamaru says, "Just going out a whim here."
Naruto sits with Sasuke and Shikamaru in the meeting room, spinning around in the comfy swivel chairs and tapping away on his phone. "It'll be finnnne!"
"Why exactly did you choose Hinata for this? Don't you think Ino would be the better choice to go with Sakura? Or even Tenten for Kami's sake?" Shikamaru questions.
"They need this bonding experience. They practically hate each other; a mission will bring them together."
"Naïve." Shikamaru coughs into his hand.
Sasuke just shakes his head at the blonde, "If Neji ever finds out what kind of job you're sending his cousin on…he will castrate you."
"I don't think she's ready for this anyway," Shikamaru adds, "She's too…innocent. Plus this isn't something we send our girls out to do normally, so why now?"
Naruto waves his hand but becomes serious, "This is a necessary mission, no matter who we send. It's not like I like sending them to do this shit." He takes out a cigarette and lights it before tossing the pack to Sasuke. Naruto rubs her head while his frown deepens. He really hates this shit, he really does. It's degrading, it's terrible, and he doesn't want to send his friends to do it. "I told granny our issue and she said that this was the only way to get it done."
"Tsunade has never been creative with plans," Sasuke comments, taking out his own cigarette and tossing the pack to the Nara boy next. "We told you what happened to Rookie 9, right?" He asks the boy.
Shikamaru frowns at the mention of the dirty club, "No. What happened?"
"Akatsuki took it out. Heard from somewhere that Tsunade partnered with us. They did a number on the club though. Remember Anko? Yeah, she was undercover that night, and got injured pretty bad."
"Damn." Shikamaru closes his eyes for a long minute before sitting forward and opening them, "Did they find out that Tsunade's with us?"
Sasuke flicks his cigarette, "Not that we know of." He glances at Shikamaru again, "How's Chouji by the way?"
"Doing better," Shikamaru shrugs and flicks his away his ashes, "Could be worse."
"Alright, what do you want?" Sakura enters the room all soggy from the rain. She slams her bag onto the wooden table and glares the three men down. "I have a mission now?"
"Well, in a couple hours, yeah." Naruto answers plainly.
"It's Sunday night! I want to go home and sleep!" Sakura whines, she plops down in one of the swivel chairs and props her jean clad legs up on the table next to her bag. "So are you going to give me the details or not?"
"We're waiting to your partner." Shikamaru yawns out.
"Yeah?" Sakura yawns too-it's contagious, "And who's that?"
"Ano..I-I'm here." Hinata peeks her head into the room.
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me." Sakura sits up suddenly and connects her face to her palm, "her?"
Shikamaru and Sasuke look to Naruto to explain this one. The partnership was his stupid idea anyway-created for a noble cause- although the idea of 'instant friendship' itself was pretty cliché.
"You and Hinata-chan have been very...disagreeable when it comes to each other. A mission together will definitely strengthen your bond."
Hinata would rather die, and for once, she thinks Sakura agrees with her.
-:- -:- -:-
"I'm not doing this. I'm not doing this. I'm not doing this," Hinata repeats to herself over and over again because she can't seem to grasp the fact that she is doing this shameful embarrassing dangerous thing.
"Will you shut up already?" Sakura yells through the door, "You are doing this. It's no big deal; we're just posing as prostitutes."
Ohohoho. We're just prostitutes. Hinata wants to melt into a puddle of self-pity. The mission Naruto sent them both on was of the worst kinds to give but was important for the gang in the long run-Sakura understands this, but her partner hasn't seemed to have grasped it yet.
"Put on the outfit while I give you a rundown of the mission," Sakura says with a sigh. She might as well take charge of the situation now before it gets completely out of hand. "We're posing as prostitutes as a semi-infiltration mission-"
"What! I joined a gang not spies international-!" The timid girl yells out-apparently not so timid when afraid or something.
Sakura only rolls her eyes, "I'm pretty sure 'spies international' isn't even a real thing. And yes, you joined a gang. I warned you, didn't I?" Well she did-but not in a clear way. "Anyway, the goal is to get some dealer to talk; we want to know who keeps setting up our traders, and taking our money. Understand?"
There's mumbling on the other side. "S-so is there like..an official plan?"
"Nope," Sakura looks down at her leather skirt and tank top before applying a coat red lipstick, "I wing it."
Great, Hinata wants to die. She wings it. Hinata is going to die. She looks down at her own outfit, really revealing and lacy and strappy and weird and flushes from embarrassment. She feels faint. Nope, Icannotdothis. I think I'm going to-
"You better not puke." Sakura replies. She comes over to look over the girl in front of her. "Hm. You need more makeup. You can't look like a prostitute without makeup."
"I-I-" Hinata's words fail her. Her fingers come to tug the skirt, desperately trying to make it longer. It only budges a quarter of an inch and Hinata wants to fall over from defeat.
Sakura puts on a pair of knee-high leather boots before shoving Hinata down into the chair. She takes out a makeup kit and begins to assault Hinata's face.
"So," Sakura is saying while blotting Hinata's face with blue eye shadow and an eyeliner pencil, "The guy we're targeting is some popular drug dealer by the name of Ming Hitoshi. The guy has been dealing with our personal dealers-oh don't look at me like that, our personal dealers are just people we pay to help us sell our crap." Sakura says in response to Hinata's confused look.
Sakura sighs, "The reason why we're doing this is because our personal dealers have been targeted and taken out. Ming Hitoshi, our, like, rival in the drug world, is a main suspect." Sakura yanks the brush through Hinata's hair harshly and she winces, "Understand?"
"Yeah." Hinata replies, although she didn't really understand at all. Why would this Ming guy, go out of his way to kill The Leaf's dealers (and why does The Leaf need dealers?)
"-Speculation is that he's working for one of our rivals too. That why we need to get information out of him. It's a threat to you, you know? Getting our dealers taken out." Sakura slips a knife in a boot and manages to hide a gun somewhere on her personale. "Here." Sakura tosses one to Hinata.
Hinata hums in agreement but still doesn't see the need for major altercation-or her posing as a prostitute. Hinata frowns as the killing device enters her hands again. She pulls up her dress to reveal a pair of short shorts, and tucks it into the waistband. And now she is carrying the killing device for protection. She resents it, a little. But now, she can only blame herself. She joined a gang for God's sake. It's her own fault.
She still can't say she regrets the decision.
"So...you really don't have a plan?"
"Oh, I have a plan. We stand there and look sexy."
-:- -:- -:-
It becomes obvious real soon that Hinata has more difficulty 'standing there and looking sexy' than Sakura does.
For one, Sakura doesn't turn bright red every time a guy in the club even looks at her. Sakura even told Hinata to act more prostituty. Like Hinata knows how to do that. She fidgets with her dress as she sits on a stool in a dark bar, trying to look 'casual.' Sakura just told her to drink the dirty martini and shut up while she searches for their target.
The bar is full of sleazy looking guys and sleazier looking girls with low music playing in the background with a bass so heavy it's almost hypnotic. The bar itself is a bit sleepy and slow, with no real action and people talking in low tones and voices. The low lighting only makes her want to fall asleep but the deep bass is beating along with her heart and sending adrenalin through her system. She feels heavy, sitting there staring into her drink. Like her heart is waiting to drop into her stomach like the beat will drop and a chorus of noise will follow.
"He's here," Sakura whispers into her ear, "Chill." She flips locks of pink hair over her shoulder and sends the sweetest smiles to man who's just entered the bar.
Ming Hitoshi. He certainly looks like a drug dealer. He's wearing all black with sunglasses perched atop his head. He walks in a way that practically screams confidence. He has brown hair to his shoulders, broad shoulders, and dark blue eyes like the evening sky.
"He's hott," Sakura says, "Hotter in person than the picture anyway. But he's not cuter than my Sasuke."
Hinata chooses not to comment but rather, rolls her eyes in Sakura's direction. "S-So now what?"
"We seduce him, duh."
Right. As if it was that easy.
Five minutes later, Hinata finds out that it is indeed that easy. Well...if you're Haruno Sakura and have massive levels of self-confidence. Sakura had walked over to the man and charmed him just with her smile. And, now, she's waving Hinata over.
"Oh, you have a friend too?" The guy-Ming, is saying as Hinata walks over to the two of them.
Sakura smiles brightly and wraps her arm around Hinata's waist, jostling the weapon hidden under thin layers of fabric. Hinata shifts. "This is Hana. We're like sisters, we do everything together." A wink and Hinata goes bright pink.
"A package deal," Ming's grin widens displaying yellow teeth, he leans towards Hinata and lifts her chin, blowing stale breath in her face. "We'll I'm Ming. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."
And suddenly he's not so attractive. He touches her hair and grins again, "You're...quite squeamish for someone who...does what you do."
Sakura glares at her from the corner of her eye, "It's this little act she likes to do." Sakura gives Hinata a fake little playful shove and Hinata lifts the corners of her mouth in a failed attempt at a smile, "She likes to place innocent, when we both know she's not."
"Hm," Ming hums, but Hinata can tell that he likes the idea. "Well, my place is right down the street. Why don't we go there and...have some fun."
"Sounds great," Sakura purrs while Hinata feels vomit crawling up her throat. She swallows it back down and allows Sakura to pull her towards the strong man's house. She's actually glad Sakura's there, pulling her along, and pressing her sharp nails into her side, if not, Hinata surely would've fainted by now.
-:- -:- -:-
As expected, Ming's apartment is small and dirty. Clothes litter the floor along with old food wrappers and sheets of paper. The leather couch is more stuffing than leather, with the sides ripped and peeling. Hinata trips over a pair of shoes as she enters, wincing at the state of the apartment and the rather loud choice or color scheme. The place is bright red and orange, and yellow. It gives her a headache just looking at it.
Ming grins at them fully, "Welcome to my humble abode," He wraps an arm around each of their shoulders and begins to walk forward, "Now it's time to see the master bedroom,"
Sakura giggles girlishly at him and places a hand on his chest, muttering something into his ear.
Hinata wonders if she should try to do the same thing but feels a spout of vomit come up again. She swallows it back down and distracts herself by picking at her nails; she only finds her hands shaking instead. The former Hyuga heir is not built for acts such as these, even if she is not going to actually go through with it.
She's never ever imagined herself being led into a room by a strange man with her kinda-sorta-friend. She's never imagined having to bring a gun with her 'just in case.' And she's never imagined her joining a gang just to keep the few friends she's made.
These things build character, feeble reassurance is her specialty, so she continues her mantra in her head, It's for the good of my friends, my gang. And I will protect my friends.
The words don't calm her though, she feels dizzy all at once as the man lays on the bed and prompts them to get started.
"I-I'm going to-" She takes a deep breath. Sakura gives her a look. Continuing the act is important. "I'm going to ready myself for you. One moment." She rushes into a room to the left, what she noticed was a bathroom.
She slams the door shut and leans against the door. Her breath comes out in short gasps. She leans her forehead against the wood, tracing the peeling white paint with her fingertips. After a couple more minutes of standing there, she staggers over to the nasty looking sink and splashes cold water on her face.
She hears an appreciative moan from the other room. Her face fires up before paling considerately. She just left Sakura in there with a strange man. She wants to go help, she really does, but the vomit is coming back up and she just reaches the toilet in time.
As she's there, puking her guts up, the hairs raise on her neck and she turns to see Ming standing behind her. He kneels next to her, brown hair tickling her cheek and looks her in the eyes, "Are you alright?"
"Y-Yeah..." She manages, as another wave of sickness overcomes her. His hands move her hair from her face and behind her right ear, they slide down to her neck and he holds her there.
Hinata goes red as his face nears hers, mouth suddenly very close to her ear, "I know who you are and what you want, Sakura and Hinata of The Leaf."
Hinata's blood runs cold as the hand slides up to her hair and gripping her skull. Hers eyes widen in panic when she feels her head moving but not by her own accord. Her eyes close before she can feel her head being slammed against the rim of the porcelain toilet bowl.
She feels him leave her there. She says a silent prayer as dots dance in front of her eyes, her vision clouds, her senses dull.
The darkness envelopes her, like a warm hug from death itself.
A/N: This wasn't originally going to be a cliffy buuuuut I changed my mind!
I know this is a week late, and I apologize but school can take over your life quite easily.
Shout out to Animal Crossing music for helping write this chapter. It made my creative juices flow for some reason.
Also, for those five or six chapters that's formatting was weird and made the chapters hard to read-I've fixed most of them. I have two or three left to edit. Thank you guys for letting me know the problem-I probably wouldn't have noticed as I'm on my iPod most of the time.
Review please, it makes me happy,