a/n: I'm so sorry! Not only I'm really bad at keeping promises, this chapter turned out too long and barely edited. May contain grammar mistakes. Well, the next chapter is almost done, so I'll try to update as quickly as possible.
Additional note: I'm using the trial by jury system, which apparently returned to Japanese courts in 2009. I apologize for my poor knowledge on trials and courts, Law&Order TV series are like the only reference I have (let's just assume Japanese trials are the same).
And I hope none of you have a degree in Chemistry.
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Sasuke couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing.
Yes, Itachi is a criminal lawyer. Yes, his job is to defend people accused of committing a crime. But it had never, ever, crossed his mind that Sasuke could face him in a trial against Orochimaru. He never imagined – not even for a bit – that Itachi could, consciously and willingly, defend Orochimaru.
He was defending Orochimaru. He was his lawyer. His fucking, expensively paid, defense lawyer. After everything that happened between them, it was as if the gods were trying to give him a lesson that he did not quite understand yet.
Shizune asked him some questions, but he could barely concentrate on his answers. He couldn't take his eyes off of the defense table, as he watched with disgust Orochimaru whispering things in his ear, and Itachi nodding in silent agreement. Itachi would barely look at him, too busy writing whatever he was writing in his notebook. For the strangers sitting in the jury box, there was nothing out of ordinary happening that day; nobody in that court room could tell the defense lawyer had been sexually involved with the witness. Itachi acted as if nothing had ever happened between them; as if they had never seen each other before that day.
As if they never existed together. He was Orochimaru's defense attorney. Sasuke was the prosecution's witness. He was barely overcoming the shock of the sharp realization of this current reality.
Was there a meaning behind this? Something he didn't know? For how long was Itachi Orochimaru's criminal lawyer? Did he know about Sasuke, or was he just as surprised as Sasuke was seeing him in court that day? Shizune said she kept Sasuke's testimony a secret while he decided if he should testify or not, and he doubted Orochimaru would mention him to Itachi if it wasn't necessary. But then again, Itachi didn't look all that surprised. In fact, he looked disturbingly calm. He looked as if this was yet another normal case in his life.
There was something very wrong in that picture.
"Does the defense have any questions to this witness?" The judge asked.
Sasuke barely noticed Shizune had already finished her interrogation, and now it was the defense attorney's turn to question the witness. He watched Itachi calmly reply affirmatively to the judge's question, and stand up, bringing with him his heavily scribbled down notebook. For a brief second Sasuke actually thought he was going to say no.
This was the moment he dreaded the most. He almost forgot about the presence of Orochimaru; watching the only man he ever developed serious feelings for defending that villainous creature had a far more torturous effect on him. Itachi seemed to avoid eye contact with Sasuke. The boy tried to search for some kind of sympathetic emotion on his face – he found none. Donning a completely apathetic expression, it was as if this man in front of him was a completely different person from the Itachi that had once seduced him.
"Can you describe what kind of relationship you had with the defendant?"
Itachi eyed him for a brief moment, before he turned his attention back to his notebook, seemingly finding it more interesting than Sasuke's presence.
"He was… my adoptive father."
His voice came out hoarse and weak, almost cracking in the middle. He cleared his throat. He couldn't afford to be all emotional at a time like this. Maybe Itachi will conduct the trial in order to incriminate Orochimaru. Maybe he regretted accepting to be his attorney and will spare Sasuke of the psychological anguish. Maybe he'll do the right thing.
"I know who he was. I asked you to describe your relationship with him."
What… he didn't know what Itachi was asking exactly. What the hell was he supposed to answer? He looked at Shizune, but she was also frowning at Itachi's questioning, probably also trying to figure out what he was planning. Better go for the neutral answer.
"…normal I guess."
"Normal you say? Even though you claimed he tortured kids in front of you?"
He gasped. The bitter irony in Itachi's voice caught him off guard. He couldn't believe… was Itachi attacking him?
"Objection your honor!" Shizune slammed her right hand on the table as she quickly stood up. "The witness never had a father-figure before, he can't respond to such a question with objectivity!"
"But he can respond to it subjectively, considering he has been living with a foster family for about five years." Itachi pointed out, nonchalantly skimming through his notes. Arrogantly, he didn't even bother to turn his head to face the judge.
"Overrule." The judge said. He looked bored and uninterested in what was going on in the trial, as if he'd rather be somewhere else and the state was cockblocking his rights to an early retirement pension.
Sasuke bit his lip. Itachi was being very crafty with his questioning. Not that he expected less from an Uchiha, but…
"Would you say Orochimaru, as a normal father, played favoritism?"
That was a tricky question. He could feel it.
"I don't know if normal fathers do that, but yes." Sasuke snorted.
He would still barely look at him, treating him with apathy and disdain. Though truthfully, the unconscious side of his brain, always detached from his rational functions, kept convincing him that Itachi was just doing his job. Maybe he couldn't reject Orochimaru's request. And the questions weren't that bad…
"Were you among his favorite sons?"
A cold shiver ran through his spine. If Itachi's plan was to make him uncomfortable, he was already succeeding. He hated the fact that he had ever viewed Orochimaru as father, but knowing he was also favored by the man didn't make him proud either.
"Yes." He mumbled.
"Who were the other favorites?"
The way he was leading the questioning did not promise to be indulgent. Definitely not.
"I think Sakon was a favorite too. And one other guy named Ryo."
He didn't really remember well all the kids that enjoyed special favoritism and protection from Orochimaru, but he remembered that Orochimaru never punished Sakon for anything, unlike his brother Ukon, even though they shared the same rotten DNA: both thieves of no regrets and violent blockheads. They were also among the alpha males that enjoyed beating and sexually assaulting the younger ones.
"Would you say my client was overprotective of his favorite sons?"
Sasuke couldn't hide a grimace. "In his own way."
Itachi skipped some papers on his hand, his facial expression unchanged.
"Kaneshiro Sakon…the forensics team has positively identified him as one of the corpses found in September 26 after your police testimony. Sakurai Ryo… filed as a missing child since 2003. You told in your testimony that you witnessed Orochimaru beating to death Sakon and his brother Ukon, who is also listed among the corpses found by the police. Is that also what happened to Ryo?"
Ryo was dead too? He doesn't remember him very well. He used to stay locked on his own room, glued to his books. Orochimaru would always let him be. Sasuke could spend days without seeing him. He could've as well run away, nobody would notice him. Probably he did run away.
"I don' know what happened to Ryo."
"Really? Because I'm rather confused as to why, out of the defendant's three favorite sons, whom you have confirmed to enjoy the father's protection, you're the only survivor."
In the prosecution table, Shizune jumped like a rabbit that has just heard a shot. "Objection, assuming facts not in evidence! We don't even have a proof that Sakurai Ryo is dead!"
But Sasuke interrupted her, glaring Itachi furiously: "Are you implying that I killed them?"
"Is that how you deal with your competition?"
If he was still having doubts about Itachi's true intentions in that trial, Itachi made sure to annihilate them in the most chilling way. Sasuke was appalled. Itachi had just indirectly accused him of being the murderer. His eyes were cold, like the metal of the invisible sharp blade stuck in his back. There was no doubt of his position in the court at that moment, and it took a painful while to finally hit Sasuke.
Itachi was planning to win the case. Barely five minutes had passed since the interrogation begun and he already showed his goal with Sasuke – to crucify him as a suspect.
"Your honor!" Shizune yelled.
"Sustained!" The judge grunted, Shizune's screaming voice waking him out of his day dream, and loudly knocked on the table with his gavel. He turned to Itachi, with half-opened eyes and a grumpy stare. "Mr. Uchiha, I suggest that unless you have solid proof of your beliefs, you'd keep your assumptions to yourself."
"I'm sorry your honor." Itachi bowed an apology. Still unfazed, he then proceeded, seemingly now more confident in his role of discrediting the witness. He returned to his table, picked a piece of paper wrapped in a plastic sheet and came back to Sasuke, putting the item on top of his stand.
"Recognize this?"
Sasuke looked at the piece of paper with a heavy frown. He eyed Orochimaru angrily. He looked serene and comfortable in his own seat, but could tell that bastard was laughing hysterically inside. How did he manage to keep that?
The guy sitting behind Orochimaru, who Sasuke recognized to be a former mule, was smirking. Right. It was him.
"Yes..."
There was no way Itachi didn't know about Sasuke's involvement in this case and the possibly of him testifying before. Orochimaru must've told him beforehand. He was too well prepared. That piece of paper was consciously kept and reserved for that trial.
"That is a death threat you wrote to the brothers." Itachi insisted.
"That was only because-"
"One more time and you're dead. Both of you."
The defense lawyer cited out loud to the court, the words an eleven year old Sasuke once wrote. The jury whispered. It was so out of context. Itachi was taking everything out of context and building a fictional case against him. This was so wrong.
That death threat wasn't even intentional. It was very common for them to use that kind of language with others to protect themselves. It never meant they were being dead serious.
"What was that you meant with 'one more time', Sasuke?"
Sasuke closed his eyes and took a deep breath. For a moment he felt dizzy with all the emotion swirling inside him, as if his hot sweaty body has been pushed into a bath of icy cold water. The reality of witnessing Itachi turning against him for money, without a spark of an emotion, was already hard to digest; but being forced to tell him details of his own bitter past that he didn't even tell Shizune was going to be specially hard.
He didn't want to talk about that part. He never told Shizune for a reason, and he didn't like to remember it.
Damn.
"The production team had a minimum amount of packages to produce each week. Sometimes the mules stole part of the product and blamed the production team, and we ended up being punished."
Shizune seemed surprised upon hearing that. Sasuke didn't even tell the whole thing, but he figured it wouldn't be necessary in his testimony.
"The production team? Your testimony states you weren't part of it."
He sighed. He should've told the whole thing from the beginning. But he didn't think that would matter. Actually, no; he was ashamed of confessing it. "I was asked to supervise it."
He wasn't technically part of it. But Orochimaru asked him to supervise the production once. For about six months. Supervising as in, reporting to him directly who wasn't doing their job right.
Supervising as in, punishing those who made mistakes.
Itachi was silent for a moment, as if he was analyzing Sasuke's newest information.
"Is there anything else you omitted previously that you'd like to add now? Because you won't have many other opportunities to alter your testimony."
"I'm not altering anything! I just didn't think it was important."
Some memoirs are not meant to leave the room they belong to. What happened in that basement stays in that basement.
"You didn't think it was important…"
Really, Itachi's obnoxious habit of repeating his words and drag them out in a condescending tone was getting on his nerves. He silently vowed to never become a criminal lawyer, because those must be the most obnoxious creatures on planet, not to mention professional back-stabbers.
"You claimed in your previous testimony that didn't take part of the – according to your words – 'drug production system', yet now you are stating otherwise as a way to explain this death threat-" He stopped, this time, to slowly lift his head from his notebook and look Sasuke in the eyes. Coldly. "You can't have it both ways Sasuke."
"Objection your honor, Mr. Uchiha is making suggestive claims!" Shizune complained.
"I am not claiming anything other than the simple facts: the witness is stating something which is contrary to his previous testimony to justify evidence."
The judge sighed in boredom. "Overruled."
"Let's talk about Akira, them. The third victim."
What? He's changing the subject just like that?
"You said in your previous testimony that Akira was trying to be close to you. Would you like to change that as well or can we stick with this statement for now?
Sasuke gritted his teeth. "Yes."
"Yes what?"
"It's what it says." He grunted. "In the testimony."
He didn't know what Itachi was planning by bringing Akira, and he didn't like it. Akira's memory should not be corrupted by a corrupt lawyer like him that protects the criminals and blames the victims after fucking them.
"Ergo, you were not friends of the third victim, but he was trying to get closer to you."
Why the fuck he kept repeating everything he said? The jury wasn't deaf and they weren't certainly retarded, otherwise they wouldn't be selected to verdict on that trial. And the judge was already asleep with his torturously delayed questions.
"Why was he trying to be close to you?"
Sasuke glared him. What did he want? Was he planning on using Akira's homosexuality to prove a point? Because it wasn't like it was a secret, even Orochimaru knew it. The guy that was sitting behind Orochimaru, shooting dead glares at Sasuke, knew it. It's not like he was going to lie so Itachi could have the pleasure of discrediting again for a minor stupid detail.
"He had…." He swallowed hard. He didn't like talking about Akira. It brought him memories; made him feel uncomfortable. "…feelings for me."
"What kind of feelings?"
"Objection your honor, the question is irrelevant!" Shizune stood up. She also didn't like the direction of the questioning.
"The question is relevant to my theory." Itachi plead. The judge eyed him doubtfully, before he said: "Overruled. You better make it quick." He said, voicing everyone else's opinions certainly.
Itachi nodded, and turned to Sasuke, repeating the question. Sasuke sighed.
"Hormonal feelings, I guess."
"Did he have a crush on you?"
"Yes."
"How did you know?"
Sasuke frowned. "He confessed to me."
Itachi paused for a while, as if he was still thinking over his next question.
"Did you defend him against Sakon and Ukon's bullying?"
Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise. He never mentioned that detail in his testimony. Shizune was equally confused.
"Another detail you decided to omit?" Itachi smirked.
"Objec-"
"The defendant will testify that he was aware of the internal quarrels between the witness and the two victims." Itachi explained to the judge, getting ahead of Shizune. "The defendant states that most of those quarrels were majorly motivated by the harassing behavior of the first two victims."
"Bullying my ass." Sasuke grunted. Unfortunately he was heard by the devil's advocate.
"I'm sorry Sasuke? Would you like to add something?"
"Not really."
"But you do agree with the defendant's statement?"
Sasuke glared at Orochimaru. He was trying to look serious and concerned, but Sasuke knew he was smirking inside.
"Yes."
"Can you describe what kind of bullying they did?"
"What do you mean with describe?
"Give us some examples, if you please."
Sasuke shrugged. "They tried to beat him every time." He stopped. He decided not to add more. Not the rape attempts part.
"Why did they do that?"
"Because they were douchebags."
"Douchebags?"
"Do you have a hearing problem? Stop repeating everything I say." He snorted, but he regretted immediately of saying that. He sounded a bit more irritated than he wanted to, and Itachi was sure to use it against him.
"You do have a short temper, don't you Sasuke? I only have to imagine how would have you responded after watching your friend being violently harassed multiple times."
"Objection!" Shizune shouted again. "Your honor, he's leading-"
"As the defendant will explain in his testimony, the two victims engaged in a particularly violent and obsessive behavior against the third victim and the witness, to which the witness always responded with violence. The witness possesses criminal records involving street violence and delinquency, and a past conviction of battery for which he was given the option to complete an anger management therapy program in exchange for prison. There are also several reports from the witness' Junior High School of bullying complains against him."
"Your honor, those records-" Shizune was, again, sharply interrupted by Itachi.
"-Are relevant as they establish a consistency of violent behavior and psychological disturbances, that will also be corroborated by the defendant's and the defense witness' testimony."
The judge seemed a bit lost, not knowing if he should allude to an objection that Shizune never managed to finish because of Itachi's obnoxious interruptions.
"Well…just go on with it." The judge groaned, boringly. He gestured Shizune to sit down.
"Now aside from your relationship with the Kaneshiro brothers, what was your personal relationship with Akira?"
Sasuke didn't really know what to say anymore. In less than a minute Itachi accused him of being violent and implying him again in the murder of the brothers, and then went back to concentrate on Akira. He didn't even give Sasuke a chance to defend himself.
Bullying? That was new to him. He never harassed weaklings to steal their lunchboxes or shoes. There were kids that did that on a daily basis and never got punished. What he did was occasionally punching the smug smirks off of some seniors' cocky faces. Okay, he also did break a guy's teeth for trying to kiss him – but he admitted he overreacted that time. It was a bit too much. But he heard the guy got his teeth fixed and ended up with a celebrity-worth smile, so it wasn't all that bad.
"Sasuke?" Itachi insisted, waking him up from his silent mumblings.
What was the question again? Oh right, Akira.
"Akira was as a friend."
"A friend? Yet just moments ago you said he wasn't your friend."
He couldn't believe he felt for that trick. Itachi was doing this on purpose. He should've already noticed the way he worded 'personal relationship', to mislead him on purpose.
How could he answer honestly his relationship with Akira? He wasn't a close friend, but at the same time, Akira cared for him as if he was a friend. And Sasuke did defend him against Sakon and Ukon, but…
"I always tried to keep distance from Akira, but every time I look back, I think he was the only friend I had in that place."
"Was his homosexual feelings the reason why kept your distance?"
"… yes."
"How do you feel about homosexuality?"
He cringed at the question. Itachi was staring at him a glimmer of amusement in his eyes. It was as if he was provoking him. As if the true meaning behind the question was "how do you feel after I fucked you raw and made you orgasm like the true faggot you are". How do you feel about me, defending the man you hate the most like I don't give a shit, after claiming your heterosexual body and your heterosexual feelings?
Inadvertently Sasuke blushed, turning his head unable to face his shame, as feelings of wrath and resentment engulfed him. He felt so… humiliated. He had to fight back tears of rage.
Fortunately, Itachi didn't wait for his reply; he turned around, and walked to this desk. He grabbed some papers, then returned to Sasuke and showed it to him.
"In my hand I have your Japanese literature subject exam. Can you confirm it?"
Sasuke eyed him confused. For a brief moment he was grateful that Itachi didn't insist and now was changing the question. He calmed himself down a bit and grabbed the paper sheets Itachi gave to him and glanced at the front page. Yes, that was his handwriting. He had an A- in that exam.
"Can you turn to the second page and read your answer to the question 'Do you think Genji shows skills of leadership'? Only the underlined part is necessary."
He turned the page around and that's where he knew it. That bastard. How the hell did he find that? Oh, of course, Orochimaru. Orochimaru kept all his exams too. Orochimaru kept everything from him, apparently.
Shit, shit, shit. He was just a kid! If he knew that stupid remark would be used to jeopardize the testimony of his life, he would never have wrote that. Considering it was even that minor remark that caused him the minus on his A. Pro-gay rights teacher apparently.
"Sasuke?"
"However regardless of his natural leadership skills, Genji is unable to fight against his immoral desires by engaging in condemnable homosexual activities." He read fast. He hoped the jury didn't really understood what he said. He could almost hear Shizune face palming herself, even though he was trying to not look at her.
"Your writing skills and your knowledge were very admirable for a 12 year old. No wonder you were put in an advanced class. But, was homosexuality even part of the Tales of Genji in your Japanese literature program?
"No." Sasuke brusquely replied. His voice was still a bit hoarse.
"Then how did you know such detail?"
"Internet?" He answered sarcastically.
Itachi raised an eyebrow in disdain, eyeing with such coldness that it took all of Sasuke's self-control so he wouldn't jump out of his seat and punch him. How dare he? He tricked him, made him believe in things he never believed in before only to know spit on his face and try to nail Orochimaru's crimes on him. Was that how a lawyer is supposed to be? Renounce all his remaining sense of dignity and humanity in exchange for more zeros in his bank account?
"…'condemnable homosexual activities'… " Itachi said, slowly, letting the full impact of that sentence resonate in the jury's hears.
Itachi turned around and walked to his seat to pick up a small softcover book that was on the table; then he returned to Sasuke, still donning the same apathetic expression as ever.
"Do you know this manga?" He showed the cover to him.
Oh, that's where he was coming from. Where did he dig that -oh right, Orochimaru. The manga was once a present from Orochimaru, though Sasuke never finished it. That old man honestly thought Sasuke would identify himself with the main character, but Sasuke only found the book a bit too uncomfortable to read and sometimes boring. And the main character was a narcissistic asshole. Sasuke was nothing like that.
I mean, not entirely.
"Yes."
"Volume II, Page 38." He opened it and started reading it. "He says he wants be my friend, it's sickening. Trying to seduce me with his condemnable homosexual behavior. If he keeps likes this I'll have no choice but to kill him." He read. "And in page 45, we have a reference to the homosexual part of the Tales of Genji".
Yeah well, that didn't sound very good. He didn't really remember that part. Years with Orochimaru made him constantly pissed off with the world. He was too angered to know where his morals came from.
The jury whispered.
"This manga is called 'Naoki in Wonderland' written by Fujimoto Tetsuo." He said, waving the book widely in the air, for the drama effect. "Reputed manga-critic Yonezawa Yoshihiro describes it as 'a tale of glorified violence with an alarming desensitizing factor'. The main character, an orphan child, is adopted by a corrupted politician who sheltered abandonment children in exchange for obedient handwork on his illegal drug factory. The story focuses on the journey of Naoki through the underworld and the loss of his innocence, as he slowly grows into an irredeemable sociopath that follows the footsteps of his progenitor."
"I didn't even finish the manga…" Sasuke mumbled, but Itachi interrupted his speech, raising his tone of voice.
"What I find it curious, Sasuke, is how the details of Naoki's home resemble so much your testimony. From the number of children living in this so called drug facility, their assigned tasks, the logistics of the business, his relation with his homosexual friend…" he paused, staring at Sasuke briefly. His eyes were empty slots. "…to even killing his own adoptive brothers."
"Objection!" Shizune shouted, but Itachi quickly intervened:
"Your honor, as our witness will eventually testify in this court, this extremely graphic manga was the witness' favorite and we have reason to believe that the witness' perception of reality had been highly influenced, or even if I should say, distorted, by the graphic contents of the book. Not only this drug factory the witness describes appears here in detail, but the descriptions of the deaths surrounding these three children share also striking similarities with the characters of this manga. The defense also plans to bring a renowned child psychiatrist as an expert witness to confirm our theory."
What?
He couldn't believe the fuck he was hearing. That was a load of bullocks! Favorite? What the hell? He didn't even like that manga! Heck, he didn't even remember what was half the manga all about, it was so boring.
Orochimaru was staring at him with a smirk of victory. He planned this whole thing. He kept that book; he even kept that completely unrelated death threat. He's trying to cover his ass against Sasuke's testimony by making him look like a deranged child that gets killing urges after listening to a heavy metal song. The 'Violent manga influences the youth to commit crimes' kind of propaganda. For fuck's sake, what kind of idiot believes in that shit?
The jury, apparently. Damn, he should've never ever testified. Even if that manga theory the defense was using was utterly ridiculous, the jury looked like they were buying it. Itachi cited the case of Yokamoto Eki, a otaku who was caught him his own lie after "concocting" the killing of his mother in a similar way a manga character did. Itachi's word, not his.
Fucking Japan and its otaku culture. Now Sasuke was accused of being a killer and an otaku. It can't get worse than that.
Shizune tried to contest it, but Itachi kept talking over her. Orochimaru smiled. He was getting away. That bastard was getting away and Sasuke was going to get pinned with his crimes.
His heart drummed in his ears.
"My client is a loving father who welcomes his home to unwanted orphans, and his only crime was trying to protect his sons. He never knew about the fates of these children, after he reported their missing status to the police, and always believed they remained as such"
Sasuke didn't know how Itachi could 'concoct' those words without throwing up.
"But before he had time to mourn the recently discovered deaths of three of his children, he's accused of being the mastermind of the crimes and dragged into this ignominious circus. The prosecution is relying on a finical scriptwriting and a single witness with precedents of violence, delinquency and mendaciloquence, with a falsiloquent storytelling that could've have been as well written by a manga novelist. Your honor, the defense suspects the prosecution is here on a mission of famicide, to slanderer a man's reputation built on probity and hard-work by concocting a sensationalist yet clichéd tale of child abuse to inveigle the jury into responding with feelings of commiseration. Thus, the defense asks at least for chance to prove the truth."
It wouldn't be an overstatement to say that nobody in that court room understood exactly everything what Itachi just rambled on about. He talked too fast and used too obnoxiously long words. Certainly nobody knew what the fuck 'mendaciloquence' meant, that's for sure. Probably the last person in Japan that pronounced a word of that size without gagging died before the 20th century began. Shizune was too confused to object, and the judge, who didn't look more enlightened than the rest of the audience, opted to just overrule in favor of Itachi and spare him the trouble of asking for a translation in human language. And again, Itachi got what he wanted with his untranslatable 'pretentiousloquency'.
"Now, Sasuke." Itachi started, facing him again with that arrogant smug of his. "Care to tell to describe to the court how exactly the victims Sakon and Ukon died?"
He opened the manga book he was still holding in his hands on an intentional page. Sasuke couldn't see what page that was, but he could already tell what was Itachi's plan.
What an asshole. How could he… do that? If it was already difficult for him to forgive Itachi's attempt at accusing him as a murder (especially after that 'homosexuality' question), now he definitely stepped out of the line when he came with that otaku shit. There is no way Sasuke would let the strangers in jury box mistake him for a looser whose concept of a hobby includes organizing figurine collections by purchase date and having romantic dates with anime hug no, no – Sasuke will prove to the court that, not only he is a completely sane guy with great chances of reproduction, the defense lawyer is the one 'concocting' those absurd fantasies and in dire need for a dictionary published after 1965.
"Is that it?" Sasuke glared, defiantly.
Itachi rose and eyebrow.
"What?"
"Your best theory." He uttered sarcastically. "That a 12 year old kid like me, killed two older and stronger guys like Sakon and Ukon, buried them in a 15 miles away place, without nobody noticing, all because I read a fucking manga?"
The judge immediately reprimanded him for his choice of words, but Itachi almost interrupted him. "How… do you know the place was 15 miles away?"
"Because the police told me, what else!" Sasuke snorted. "How about a better question Mr. Uchiha, are you really a lawyer or just a licensed clown?"
"Order!" The judge hammered hard on the table, as some young girls in the jury box giggled, already seduced by the witness' unconventional charm. "Miss Kato, if you don't control your witness I'll have him arrested for disrespecting the court rules and offending the defense attorney!"
Shizune struggled to hide her smile as she tried to apologize to the judge. Sasuke had already calmed himself down. He was still feeling a bit hot-tempered, but he knew better to not anger the voice of authority further. He was confident he succeeded in both exposing the ridiculousness of Itachi's argument and discredit the lawyer at the same time.
But Itachi didn't look pleased. He was still holding the book firmly, eyes telling he was not going to give up yet. No, he was not going to drop that shit any time soon.
Suddenly, he smiled. A very unpleasant smile. And Orochimaru-style of smile.
He couldn't believe he had sex with this guy.
"As a top student from Kyoto's Law School, I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Sasuke."
The boy eyed him distrustfully. "Don't patronize me."
"I won't. Using the deductive method to render the premise as an informal fallacy is classic counter-argumentation taught in first year's Lay school, but you're forgetting a minor detail." He paused. For suspense, Sasuke guessed. "I never said you killed them."
"You said…"
"You are making the assumption on your own. In fact, you already justified on your own why you, in a hypothetical scenario you may be deem as the prime suspect, wouldn't be able to hide the bodies, alone, without help. But that is not what I want to know" he paused, glancing over his shoulder at Shizune, "because, you see, that's the prosecution job. Not mine."
"Object-"
"No need for that." Itachi uttered, harshly. He kept his eyes fixed on Sasuke, as if defying him to the next round. "Let's talk about something else."
He turned around and walked back to his table, where he grabbed a pile of printed papers and then returned to start distributing copies among the judge, Shizune, and the jury. He did not give a copy to Sasuke, but instead gave him a piece of white paper and a pencil, and asked:
"Basing on your testimony, can you draw a blueprint of your methamphetamine factory?"
Sasuke did not have a good feeling about this and he hated the way he worded his question. Asking him to draw was to distract him on purpose and make him look confused as he remembered the things. Typical defense dirty trick. But he had no choice, it would be worse for his credibility if he didn't do it.
"Please include a legend and a drawing of each industrial equipment."
Shizune attacked. "Objection your honor, the proposal is ambiguous. The witness may not remember with certainty what he is being asked to do."
"You honor, the witness is only being asked to draw what he already confessed in his written testimony, as he had already described the factory to the prosecutor. I'm not asking additional details the witness may not remember."
"Overruled."
Tsk..his memory wasn't that good. He didn't describe the lab with detail and Itachi was indeed asking more than what he told to Shizune. Meanwhile Shizune was trying to find his written testimony in the middle of her huge mess of papers on her table. He sighed. Her obvious inexperience was becoming really frustrating.
He made a quick sketch of the lab with the location of all the equipments. Since they were all installed in the basement and the area had no divisions, it was relatively easy to remember where the main machines were. The two giant reactors were the chemicals were sintethyzed were located in the right side of the room. The purification section with the distillation columns was in the northwest side… Problem was the rest, especially the equipment that was non-related to the meth production. He was never asked to supervise that area.
"How many kids were working there, exactly?"
"About eight. And two supervisors." He quickly replied. He couldn't let Itachi disturb his concentration.
"All for methamphetamine production?"
"Four were in the shabu production, and the other four in the ecstasy and GHB."
Ecstasy and GHB weren't the main production, but their equipments were also installed in the same space of the shabu equipments. He didn't remember their design and exact location very well, because they only started being used in the last month he had to supervise. He remembered the rotary tablet press were they made the tablets were close to the reactors.
"Oh, so you also made ecstasy and GHB?"
The tone of his voice was irking him. He made it sound like Sasuke was describing a children playground.
"I did not make anything. I only supervised." Sasuke felt the need to underline that part again.
He put down the pencil as he scrutinized his drawing now full of scrawls, trying to see if there was anything else he forgot. What a mess. It looked like he had been trying to draw the Guggenheim Museum instead of a meth lab. His drawing skills were really bad.
"You finished?" The lawyer asked, as he observed Sasuke putting down the pencil. He nodded.
Itachi took the drawing and scrutinize it. "A rotary tablet press next to batch reactors?" He questioned. "Isn't that a bit dangerous?"
Everything was dangerous in that place. Resident chemistry Kabuto wasn't exactly concerned with safety regulations.
"I don't know."
"And why there is also a distillation column when the batch reactor can also process distillation and crystallization?"
He puzzled. How the fuck should he know that? It was Kabuto who mounted the lab and designed the procedures, not him. They only used the reactors for dissolution and mixing, not the rest.
Shizune, realizing Sasuke's puzzlement, quickly intervened:
"Objection your honor, the witness does not possess knowledge of the mechanics of industrial chemical equipment."
"Sustained." The judge turned to Itachi. "Mr. Uchiha, is there a point in all of this?"
"Yes you honor." He explained. "It is exactly as Miss Kato stated. This paper," he showed Sasuke's drawing to the judged, and then to the jury "describes a fictional laboratory that does not exist in reality, due to the witness' lack of knowledge in real methamphetamine factory."
"Obje-"
"The papers I distributed to your honor, the jury and Miss Kato list examples of diagrams of different methamphetamine dismantled by the police in different countries, provided by crime laboratory analyst Dr. Fujiwara, whom the defense is also planning to bring as an expert witness. There is logical different between the diagram drawn by the witness and the diagram of actual laboratories."
What? That wasn't made up. He looked at Orochimaru. He was smirking. No, Sasuke did not imagine that lab. It existed. The reactors weren't used for distillation.
They produced meth in that place. Sasuke saw it. He saw Orochimaru asking his mules to taste it and he saw kids getting high and doing insane things because of the shit they produced in that lab.
Why? Why the distillation was a different process operating in a different part of the room? Why does it matter?
"However, there are significant resemblances between this diagram the witness drew with Fujimoto's manga, which also describes a drug laboratory containing two batch reactors and a distillation column. An incongruence perhaps, but very common in fiction authors who never experienced the reality they imagine in their manga's. It's a rather interesting coincidence that the witness repeated the same mistake in his testimony."
No… no, this wasn't happening. Sasuke was sure of what he saw. He worked there for six months! He knew the process. That book… he didn't remember the story well. If the manga draws a similar laboratory as Itachi was saying, than that's because Kabuto copied it! Seriously it was Kabuto who constructed that lab, not him!
"Finally we're getting somewhere." The judge snorted, approving the direction Itachi was going for. He signed Shizune to sit down with his eyes, and gave order for the defense lawyer to continue.
That was a real meth lab. Wasn't it? Or was it… just another one of Orochimaru's experiments? Like Oskar Schindler's gun factory that did not make functional guns. No, Orochimaru wasn't like that. He liked his experiments, but loved his profit even more. He would never hire Kabuto if he didn't know what he was doing.
"Can I have one of those papers?" Sasuke asked, pointing to the photocopies of meth labs diagrams the jury was holding. Itachi looked a bit surprised, but he eventually complied.
"Sure." He gave him the ones he had left, removing them from the clip that kept them attached to his notebook. He also gave him back his drawing. "Here, if you also want to correct your mistakes." He smiled cockily.
Fucking asshole.
"Now, I talked to some criminal mind experts" Itachi resumed his argument "Whose statements I have printed with me, and all of them seemed on the opinion that using children as both producers and distributors in the illegal drug trade logistics not only is extremely atypical, it also can reveal too many risks and costs for the operator. Why do you think Orochimaru would build such a system?"
"Objection, argumentative!"
"I'll rephrase," He quickly said "have you ever talked to any of the distribution mules that might've have explained how their job worked?"
"Orochimaru didn't have just children working for him." Sasuke snorted, without taking his eyes out of the papers.
"So, there were adults as well?"
"The mules worked alongside with professional drug dealers and these did most of the shipping."
He tried to keep himself focused on studying the papers. He did not have much time.
There were only three diagrams, all of laboratories busted in the last five years. One in Indonesia, one in Mexico and the other in America. All of them looked fairly simple in design, functioning around one or two batch reactors. Comparatively, they made Kabuto's lab look like it had too much unnecessary industrial equipment.
"Oh really? Care to elaborate on that, Sasuke? Because I vaguely remember reading something along the lines there…." He pointed to the manga.
There was something he was missing there…
"It doesn't talk about shipping there." Sasuke blurted. He wished Itachi would shut up about the book and let him concentrate.
"So what it talks about?"
Sasuke gasped. He raised his head. He wished he remembered what that stupid manga talked about, it would make his fucking life so much easier. Itachi was taking things out of context, and leaving others that could disprove his argument. He was sure of that. "I don't remember" He replied.
But he didn't know what was missing. He looked at his drawing again. Then he looked back at the diagrams. Out of the diagrams, the one that presented a more complex construction of a meth lab indicated that the factory also produced ecstasy and ketamine.
Ketamine…also known as Special K… the factory had two giant vessels in the corner, and the legend said one was a batch reactor and the other…
"How convenient." Itachi continued "Do you want to talk about production schedules, teams arrangement, formula testing, unsafe security measures, inventories, and all the procedures related to drug production? Maybe we can draw more literature comparisons."
That's it. That's what he was missing.
"Object-" Shizune was going to slap again, but this time Sasuke interrupted her:
"I never said the factory had batch reactors."
"What?
"Here, in the diagram, this reactor" he pointed to it "it says CSTR reactor. This is the kind we had. Not batch reactors. That's why we needed separate distillation columns-"
"It's a bit too late to rectify your drawing Sasuke."
"I never wrote that in my drawing!" He shouted, grabbing the piece of paper he drew and showing it too Itachi. "You're the one putting words in my mouth!"
"Sasuke, it doesn't matter how hard you try to explain when at the end of the day the blueprint, the logistics and the manpower of your imagined factory resembles too much a work of fiction. Why do you think that is?"
"I don't know, maybe because fiction books are based on reality? But, bottom-line, this-"
"So in your opinion, Naoki in Wonderland tells a realistic portrayal of drug production?"
"As I said, I don't really remem-…" He shut up.
It hit him. It finally hit him. That one, that little – GIANT – detail that will help him to refute Itachi's book theory.
Special K.
"The manga talks about Special K production."
It took him a while, but he finally remembered the damn main topic about that damn book.
Itachi frowned. "That's not what I ask-"
Sasuke didn't even let him finish. "I don't remember the manga very well, but I know it was about a Special K factory. I don't know how to produce Special K." He uttered. He stared at Itachi. "But I know everything about shabu."
Itachi turned to the jugde, "Your honor, the witness-"
Sasuke wasn't letting him go this time. He was stressed, anxious and really, really pissed off. Nobody could shut him up at that point. Too much pain. Too much humiliation. He was sick of Itachi. Just looking at him, accusing him of lying and calling him delusional was making him nauseated.
So he slammed his hand on the table, hard and loudly, as he furiously stood up and shouted, letting all his accumulated anger uncontrollably fire through every pore of this skin. "Why don't you ask me instead Orochimaru's formula? Do you think you'll find it there in that book?
"Your honor, the witness is uncooperative." He plead to the judge, but the old man has just been woken from his daytime sleep by the sudden explosion of loud expletives blurting out of the witness' uncontrollable mouth, and was still taking his time react.
"C'mon, ask me the fucking ingredients, Mr. Uchiha! I can make you a list of every fucking step, every fucking procedure, every fucking milligram of red phosphorous, iodine, anhydrous ammonia, lythyum-"
A wave of excited murmurs run across the room, as Sasuke kept listing all the ingredients and the necessary measures and mixtures needed to make Orochimaru's special meth formula, as if it was an ordinary culinary recipe.
"Your honor!" Itachi yelled, losing his composure altogether as he was clearly now visibly distressed.
The judge seemed a little too caught in surprise to react in time, as Shizune joined the storm to prevent Itachi having his way and started arguing loudly with him while Sasuke let everyone in the court room know how to make thirty tons of 94% pure Shabu, in case they don't find an equally satisfactory youtube tutorial.
"And you know how the fuck I know about shabu production, Itachi?" Sasuke screamed, slamming his hand on the stand again. He was so fired up he didn't even realized he called the defense attorney by his first name. "Because your fucking client taught me, that's why!"
"Order now, order!" The judge's gavel insistent banging echoed across the room, as he finally found himself doing the job he was assigned to. His head then turns to Sasuke, who is still standing straight and shooting defiant glares to the defense lawyer. "The witness may sit down." He ordered.
Sasuke obeyed, though with reluctance. He still kept his glare fixated at Itachi. Itachi was glaring back.
"I'm going to give a 15 minute break for you to control your witness Miss Kato. If your witness misbehaves again or disrespects the court rules", the judge proceeded, talking about Sasuke as if he was an orphan raised by monkeys in a jungle "I will have his testimony permanently interrupted and you have to make the rest of your case without him. Is that clear?"
Shizune gulped "Yes your honor."
"The trial resumes after break." The judge hammered twice, instructing the presents to leave the room.
Two guards came to fetch Orochimaru and guide him through a different door located on the left side, and Sasuke watched in anger Itachi following the man until both of them disappeared from his sight. He was still fuming over Itachi's outrageous accusations; lucky for the Uchiha, that place was heavily guarded. Sasuke counted six guards only inside the court room, save the ones outside guarding the entrance. Wasn't it a bit too much?
The guy that had been sitting behind Orochimaru, the one whose name Sasuke couldn't seem to remember, slowly stood up from his seat and skirted the bench while staring intensely at him, with spite in his eyes. No doubt, he was definitely going to be used as a defense witness to discredit Sasuke's testimony. Too bad Sasuke didn't remember him. Maybe Suigestu knew who he was. He also noticed two other guys that had been sitting in the defense side, currently leaving the room for the break. They had been sitting in the end row seat, on the corner. He hadn't noticed them before. Were they kids from the farm house? Sasuke couldn't clearly see their faces from where he was standing. They quickly disappeared outside the main doors.
Now that thought about it, what happened to the others? Orochimaru had so many loyal children who admired him greatly. Why only that guy with spiteful eyes, and possibly the other two, were there? Sure there would be more willing to sit on the witness stand to testify in Orochimaru's favor. Unless…
"Did you like so much being a witness that you don't want to get out of there?"
The mocking tone in Shizune's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, and he realized he still hadn't move from his spot. The room was practically empty now, only the guards remained.
"Not really."
"I'm sorry, it was a tasteless joke." She said. She was smiling brightly. "You did great. Come, you deserve a break. You should eat something too."
"I'm not hungry."
He followed her through the room, heading toward the exit. Outside, Naruto and Sakura were still waiting; Sasuke had thought they had gone home, but seeing his friends there somehow made him feel a bit happier. The feelings of anguish and anger that he had felt so vividly moments ago were softened with the presence of people that (actually) cared about him.
Sasuke would rather stick his fingers in a triturating machine than admitting it out loudly, but it was really great he had friends like them. Really.
"So? How did it go?" Naruto asked impatiently. Shizune almost screamed in joy, praising Sasuke's performance in the witness stand with such enthusiasm it caught all of them in surprise.
"He completely destroyed the defense attorney's arguments! Oh my god I wish I could've filmed it! I've never seen an Uchiha so embarrassed in my life before!"
She looked like a squealing teenager who had her first trial in life. It was almost embarrassing.
Then suddenly, as if she spotted someone she was looking for, she quickly blurted a "be right back" and left the three of them to disappear in the corner.
"Wait, what did she mean with an Uchiha?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke sighed, already mentally picturing Naruto's reaction once he revealed the identity of the lawyer defending Orochimaru.
"Itachi is the defense attorney."
Sakura's eyes widened in shock. Naruto apparently needed more time to fully understand the meaning of that sentence. "What do you mean with that?"
"Geez Naruto!" Sakura complained, giving him a friendly slap on the head. "Itachi is defending Orochimaru!"
"Wha…no, that's impossible!" He shook his head, refusing to believe such fact. "I thought you guys were like boyfriends!"
Automatically Sasuke slammed his hand over his friend's open mouth, mashing his fingers against his teeth. Naruto had always been unable to control the volume of his voice since he learned how to speak.
"Keep it quite you idiot!" He grunted. "We're not boyfriends. We never were, and never will be."
Naruto removed his friend's already salivated hand from his mouth, but before he uttered something else, Sasuke shot him a warning glare. Still, he had to say it:
"But you were like, involved, weren't you? It's that like against the rules or something? If he's the defense lawyer and you're the main witness…"
"He has a point." Sakura said.
'I know he has a point', he thought to himself, angrily cleaning Naruto's saliva by rubbing his hand against his jeans.
"Nobody knows about it." He said. He guessed there was no point in trying to deny that he had something non-heterosexual with Itachi to his friends. "And I wasn't on the witness' list until yesterday, so it's not like it matters."
"But if you tell Shizune what happened, maybe she can speak to the judge to have Itachi out of this case." Sakura suggested.
"And then what, have his far more experienced father representing Orochimaru himself?" Sasuke reasoned. His eyes narrowed and his teeth gritted as he remembered again Itachi's cold expression and his cruel attack against him. "No…I want Itachi to stay in this case. I want him to feel the humiliation of defeat."
Sakura cringed slightly upon seeing her friend and ex-lover suddenly so angry, with the muscles of his neck all tensed, when just moments ago he looked so happy and relaxed.
"That's the Sasuke I know!" Naruto cheered. "Arg, I can't beleavie Itachi is really defending that creep! It makes my blood boil! I swear to you, if he wins this case I'm personally going after him to kick his privileged white ass-"
"Don't say that, Naruto! Itachi is not going to win!" Sakura uttered.
As his friends argued excitedly with each other, Sasuke took the moment to completely cool his emotions down and to think. There was a lot of things he didn't tell Shizune, but there were also a lot of things he didn't know either before this trial. Like Ryo being missing. Probably dead. How many of them survived, after all? Shizune will need him to be involved in the investigation if she wanted to win the case. He knew both Orochimaru and Itachi better than her or anyone involved in this trial. And no one else desired Orochimaru's conviction and Itachi's defeat more than him at that moment.
He also needed to convince Suigetsu to testify. It was crucial. He could back up everything Sasuke said, because he also worked in the basement for far more time than Sasuke did, and not only that, he had also been a mule. Unlike Sasuke, his record was pretty clean. There was nothing relevant the defense could use against Suigetsu to discredit him. Save from the… 'indecent exposure' incident, but the charges were dropped he presumed.
Oh wait. The dead brothers. Suigetsu had also some problems with Sakon and Ukon if he recalls. But then again, everyone had problems with them, so there's nothing he could do about it. If they prepare him well in advance for every question or accusation Itachi might pin on him, then he should be okay. There are more advantages than disadvantages in bringing him to the witness stand.
Yes… They're going to win this case. He'll make sure Orochimaru will rot in jail for the rest of this life. The death penalty would be better. Unlikely though, since he's being defended by an Uchiha. Well, as long as Orochimaru gets convicted by his crimes.
And Itachi… he did not want to think about him right now. There was a vengeful desire swirling inside him that craved for his utter humiliation and the destruction of his career.
But deep, deep down - very deep down – he did not really want that.
::
Ibiko was waiting for her near the coffee machine, drinking a plastic cup of cheap decaf. His other hand was holding a plastic sheet protector, with a small piece of paper and an envelope tucked inside.
"The forensics found nothing." He said, giving her the item he was holding. "No fingerprints. Vulgar pen ink. The envelop also had nothing. Apparently the sender used glue on the postage stamp."
Shizune grabbed the transparent plastic sheet and gazed at the inside. The paper in question was a piece of a torn yellowed journal, with a written address in it in a clean handwriting. Someone had sent it to the police, in a white envelope addressed to Shizune specifically; someone that clearly wanted to remain anonymous.
"And the newspapers?"
"It seems to be an ordinary Chinese newspaper. Most probably from Mainland China. It would take months to indentify the publisher and edition, and I doubt it would serve any good."
She sighed, "You're right. But at least this confirms my first suspicious. And the address? Did you check it?"
"My insider says it's an old dealer's residence, but he has long retired himself from business. His house is just outside the Kyoto borders."
She scrutinized the handwriting in the piece of newspaper. When she first received that white envelope, with nothing but a torn piece of some Chinese newspaper inside where a strange Japanese address was scribbled down in clear black ink, she immediately suspected it was from someone connected to the Orochimaru's case. Most likely from one of the children that fled with Orochimaru to China, and that eventually returned to Japan, considering the postage stamp. Shizune had no other cases she was working on currently, and she had no past cases that involved drug crimes. This info must've come from someone close to Orochimaru, or at least from someone who knew Shizune was the one in charge of the case against Orochimaru. Someone who was too afraid speak. The length he went to conceal his identify was proof that this person was afraid of possible reprisals.
"And old dealer…" She mumbled, thinking. "Our mysterious sender is definitely one of Orochimaru's mules. Maybe he's trying to tell us who was the main dealer of Orochimaru's product when he worked in the Kyoto territory."
"I doubt we can extract anything from him." Ibiki said, referring to the dealer of the address. "He's very crafty. There's a reason why he always managed to escape from the claws of the national police, even though he's a zainichi (1). Plus he seems to be no longer active in the field."
"Tsk, that's because our national police has more cowardice and corruption than honesty and bravery…"
Her partner's forehead drew a heavy frown, and his lips curved slightly in disdain.
"As a former police agent, I find your statement not only a grave misrepresentation of the people who serve this country's citizens every day, but also highly offensive." He grunted. And he added, bitterly: "Especially coming from someone who has half the age and experience than myself."
Her cheeks reddened in embarrassment. "You're right, I'm sorry." She apologized, bowing her head. "I sometimes talk without thinking. But I'm not half your age."
Ibiki sighted, and smiled briefly. "Nevertheless I agree with you that there are some immoral and unworthy agents that do nothing but a disservice to this country. After all, that's how Orochimaru got away with his last conviction."
Shizune widened her eyes, surprised that her partner, who she had always assumed to be the biggest apologist of Japan's national police body, admitting that the system had flaws.
"I may be proud, but I'm not blind." Ibiki smiled slightly.
The evidences apprehended with the Orochimaru's child mules that were caught in Nagasaki mysteriously disappeared few days after he was arrested. One of the kids, named Hikaru, snapped and confessed everything, but he committed suicide afterwards, and the prosecution was only left with a signed confession in a paper as a proof. The other boy, older, sided with Orochimaru, and the defense used him to accuse the police officers of leading Hikaru to suicide, after forcing him to confess things against his will and using brutal methods of interrogation. In the end, Orochimaru was only convicted for tax evasion and money laundering.
One of the most revolting aspects of the trial was that, what the defense witness told about police interrogations wasn't exactly false. Three years latter a scandal was generated within the media and fed by sensationalist left-wing newspapers, accusing police officers of abusing human rights in interrogation rooms. An investigation ensued, and the discoveries led to three agents from the national police force who were charged of abuse of power. One of them had supervised Hikaru's interrogation. To make things worse, some of the media newspapers began speculating about corruption inside the Japanese police, which included evidence disappearing, forging new evidences and corrupting investigation for obscure purposes. Although none of it had been actually proven, the arguments were enough for the court to rule in favor Orochimaru's appeal when he asked his sentence to be nullified after serving four years. Because of that appeal, the prosecution was now forbidden to bring Orochimaru's last sentence to this trial, even though it was related to their case.
"I guess I'm just mad because if it weren't for some dirty police agents this case wouldn't be so difficult." Shizune sighed. She searched for some coins inside her pocket, hoping she had enough change for a cappuccino. "We don't even have a sample of his meth. There's no physical evidence."
"Maybe we can get some." Ibiki said. "I know Orochimaru's product is no longer circulating in the streets of Kyoto since he moved his production to China. I have third party information that he stopped exporting his product from China after the Nagasaki incident, and there is no information that his production in China continued after his imprisonment. His product may have now become a 'rarity'."
She puckered her eyebrows. "You're making it sound impossible to trace our evidence."
"On the contrary." He smirked. "Some old dealers store small doses of a product once they hear the production might cease. Once a product becomes a rarity in the streets, they start selling the reserves at absurdly high prices per dose. The meth circulating in the streets in Kyoto now is weak and extremely impure. The situation is perfect to arise a demand for old-school quality meth that is no longer circulating."
He grabbed the plastic sheet that Shizune was still holding, to look again at the written address in the piece of newspaper. "I have a feeling that the person who sent this to us knows that this dealer still has some stashes of Orochimaru's meth. The only thing we need is money, and I can have my insider buy us an individual dose for testing."
"But you said he's very crafty…" She said.
"He won't suspect from guy that is willing to spend lots of money to buy an individual dose of a product that's off the market. Dealers know how the police works. These inside operations cost a lot of time and money to the state, and the police is not willing to waste any extra money nor jeopardize months and years of hard-work only to accuse big profile dealers of petty crimes like selling an individual dose of drugs.
Her eyes brightened at the sudden realization. If they could get a sample of Orochimaru's meth, they could run a test to confirm Sasuke's testimony today. She still didn't know how they would manage it without bringing the dealer to trial to justify the obtained evidence, but she wasn't worried about it now.
"Tell your insider to ask for a gram of the old meth from Kyoto and inform me of the price!" She exclaimed, almost jumping in joy. "I'm going to work on my authorization requests… damn, I didn't bring change."
Ibiki reached his pocket and introduced some coins in the machine, so his partner could have her coffee.
"Thanks." She smiled, clicking on the bottom for a cappuccino, with extra sugar.
She needed her caffeine dose so much. She had been working on this case non-stop since it started. Not even a single moment of rest she allowed herself. It seemed a strikingly obvious case at first; everyone at the police knew Orochimaru was guilty from head to toes, but proving it was a different story. There were no physical evidences, and barely no witnesses. When her colleagues heard Uchiha Itachi was to be Orochimaru's defense attourney, they thought she was doomed to lose the case.
But…
"Ibiki…" she said pensively, as she waiting for the machine to finish her cappuccino "…remember the judge forbid us to bring Orochimaru's past accusations in this case? I think… the Uchiha just opened the door for us by talking about meth labs."
Ibiki smiled. "His mistake, our gain."
"Yes… a rather strange mistake."
"…what's wrong?"
The coffee machine halted; the green indicator lightened telling the coffee was ready. She opened the plastic door and removed the hot cup inside.
"I can't shake this feeling off my head that something is not quite right about the way the Uchiha conducted his interrogation."
"Why? It seemed normal to me. The manga argument seemed a bit far-fetched, but Sasuke handled it well."
"Exactly. It was too far-fetched. It's not a theory I'd imagine him to resort to. We can easily contest it. I've carefully read his previous case and the one he wrote for his father, and that's definitely not how I'd imagine him to proceed."
Her partner put his hand on her shoulder, in a comforting manner. "You're thinking too much. In my eyes, he behaved like a normal defense lawyer."
"Yeah, but he's supposed to be the best, not average."
"You're complaining?"
She brought the cup to her mouth and moaned when the hot liquid touched her lips. It was still too hot.
Yes, why she was complaining that the Uchiha wasn't doing an impressive job? Maybe because, deep down, she was a bit disappointed. She had devoted sleepless hours to study every single detail of the case, and imagine every possible angle of interpretation the defense could use to dismiss the facts. She read and re-read the previous cases of Uchiha Itachi; even though this was only his second official trial, he had written two cases for his father. And it was enough to convince her he was the best. Scary, even. Better than his father, and his father had already a reputation for being the best salvation to the worst criminal. Even in cases with astonishing amount of evidences, they always managed to get shockingly reduced sentences for their clients. Admittedly, she thought her chances of convicting Orochimaru with the death penalty were less than 1% when he heard the man hired Uchiha Itachi.
But strangely though…the trial wasn't revealing to be that bad. Was really this the best Uchiha Itachi could do, or did he have something else up his sleeve?
::
::
(1) Zainichi: Japanese somewhat-degrading term that equates to 'second-class citizen', mainly used to refer to Korean immigrants that never acquired Japanese nationality and are often accused of being involved in criminal gangs (although most of them are just normal victims of Japanese xenophobia).
An (optional) question to my reviewers: Do you watch action movies, or violent anime/manga? If so, do you have pet peeves about typical yet unrealistic plot devices that tend to be common in action/heroic-themed movies/anime/manga? Like when the main character/villain is shot five times and is still able to walk or other stupid things like that.
It's for my opening in the next chapter. I need inspiration.