Randomness: Rammstein, "Mutter"(This is one seriously scary song... shudder)
Hey all! Here we go!
Took me a while, but ... yeah, it's up now.
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Suit Square
Naruto very rarely went shopping. Unlike Ino and Tenten, he didn't wear lace to work, and his outfit always stayed pretty simple. T-shirt, jeans, sneakers.
Ino and Tenten both had favorite stores that they went to – Tenten a bit reluctantly, she didn't have much patience for shopping – and sort of knew where to get cheap stuff. Naruto didn't. Theoretically he could always ask them, but he really didn't need lingerie and skirts. That kinda wasn't his thing.
So he was pretty much stuck with the big stores.
Naruto despised shopping with every fiber of his fourteen-year-old being. One hour in the big underground mall he always went to – a glittering, neon-lit cavern of blinking shops, stuffy dry air, and greasy food places that lay beneath Suit Square, in the steel bowels of one of the skyscrapers -- , and he'd feel like Ino acted whenever it was her time of the month, the effects of which not even the hormone injection all the female whores got every few months could suppress. He'd snap at anyone whose plastic bags even dared to brush his leg while passing, start sweating suddenly and without warning, and develop a monstrous headache that would vibrate through his sinuses and out toward his temples in a steady pounding beat.
Naruto reached up and rubbed the bridge of his nose, then massaged both temples roughly. The recycled air down here was dry as a desert, and stale. The smell of old frying grease floated over from a sausage stand to his right, and mixed nauseatingly with the scent of perfume from the boutique behind him. The floor was a speckled linoleum, and fake wooden benches with plastic potted plants next to them were placed at regular intervals in front of the stores. A dissonant mixture of different songs and music styles sounded from the closest shops. The lights overhead were a stark yellow neon, casting a greenish sheen on the passerby's faces.
He needed a new jacket; the leather one of the past two years had suddenly and inexplicably developed huge gaping holes in the seams, and was very close to useless. What with the temperature at two-hundred sixty and steadily falling, he needed something new.
So far he'd found exactly zero jackets that even came close to what he was looking for. He had a plastic bag slung over one wrist, cutting into his skin, with a new t-shirt, a pack of condoms – the cheapest and the largest box they had had – and a few new tubes of lube inside. Most of the crew mooched off of Kakashi whenever they ran out of whoring stuff, and Naruto usually did that too. But the drugstore had had sex items on sale, and he'd snatched up what he could among the crowd of housewives and whatnot.
Naruto wanted to leave, now. He glared at the sign of the last clothes store he had to check into. It was pick with gold trim. A new trash-rap song was pounding from the shop's speakers, the bass vibrating even outside of the store, up Naruto's legs.
Ugh.
He stepped inside, slipping between one of the two pairs of steel poles that x-rayed every person that came in for weapons and such. The light in here was even brighter, more white than yellow. Racks of clothing stood all around, and Naruto headed straight for the jacket section. He didn't want to spend anymore time here than was necessary.
He looked through the coats, nearly glaring holes into the fabrics. Damn, he wanted to fucking get out of here! Fuck Sasuke – if the other kid had stayed at Whore instead of going off to wherever he always left to, Naruto would have had something to distract himself from the dire need for a new coat. As it had turned out after Sasuke had left, Ino had gotten drunk enough to fall close to unconscious, Tenten had gone to sleep, Kiba and Shino had had a sex session under their blankets, and Shikamaru...
Well, anyway, Naruto had been stuck alone and had decided – against his better judgment – to go shopping.
Leather slithered under his hands, all of a sudden, and he looked down. It was a loose jacket, a brown so dark that it would count as black in the flashing madness of the night on Whore, and was lined with a warm, dark red fleece-imitation.
He found the price tag, and frowned. It was way too expensive, but he had the money, so he took it off the rack and hurried to the cash register. It was hot, dry, and he felt disgusting. The light was too bright and the music too loud. He'd pay, get something to drink for tonight, catch a quick meal at one of the eastern food places, and go.
The girl behind the counter was wearing a pink and gold uniform that looked like it had been left in a barrel of starch and forgotten there. Her red hair was teased up into a scraggly bun, and her make-up was just short of two miles thick, great big globs of mascara literally gluing her eyelashes together. She looked up at each customer, muttered something in a monotone, took their money, gave them change, and practically threw a bag with their bought wares at them.
Naruto watched her – there was a long line, and he needed something to take his mind off of his discomfort. At least, in his job, he had some fun times. And there was no real routine; he had regulars, sure, but there were always guys who only came once, or wanted weird things that ended up being really hilarious. And he had friends around him while he was working. All in all, it was a good job.
He paid and got a new plastic bag with the jacket stuffed inside. He left the store and went up to the next level of the mall, to the only food place he ever ate at in here. It was a small, smoky eastern thing, with oily noodles and wilted vegetables. But their ramen was divine.
Naruto got himself a bowl of the noodles with miso, and sat down at one of the rickety plastic tables.
He was so busy with his ramen that he didn't notice the man coming closer until he sat down across from him, shaking the table a bit. Naruto looked up, glanced around the 'restaurant', and turned back to the guy.
"There're a lot of free tables, you know." Naruto said. He was irritated, and there was a bit of a growl in his voice.
The man was sort of tall – maybe around Gaara's height, but much bulkier in a muscular way. He had hair so white that it gleamed blue in the smoky air of the room, and his eyes were a murky grayish green – at least, Naruto thought so. He couldn't be sure, what with the miasma of smoke and grease and shit that hung heavy between them.
The dude shrugged, and his lips turned up into a disturbing grin. "I know. But I would much rather sit with a pretty boy like you."
Naruto finished his ramen. "Good for you, but I don't really want to sit with you." He stood up, and gathered his bags and old jacket. He still had to get some booze to share with the crew, and the ache in his head was growing more pronounced with each passing moment.
The man reached out and caught Naruto's arm just as the kid took his first step away from the table. "Tch, you really have to learn some manners."
What came next happened way too fast for Naruto to react on time. The dude practically stuck his tongue down Naruto's windpipe, and the blonde froze for a second before struggling out of his grasp with all of his strength. The man let him go, and grinned his slimy grin again. "See? You liked it."
Naruto stared at him. "You – fucker! What the hell is your problem? Goddamn psycho!"
The man laughed lightly. "Oh really? You think so?" His eyes went weird, narrowing and dilating. "I'm Mizuki, and I know where you live and work. I'll come visit you tonight, how about that?"
"How about not. Asshole. Get away from me – let me go, for fuck's sake --" Naruto managed to free his wrist from the guy's grasp. He was fucking scary.
Naruto hurried out of the food place, muttering a pissed-off farewell to the owners. He could feel Mizuki's eyes boring into his back, and an unbidden memory rose to the front of his mind.
The man's gaze felt just like --
The snake-eyed guy's. Like Gaara's, heavy – but slimy and dirty in a way that the redhead's stare never achieved.
Naruto shivered, just the slightest bit, before pushing the memory away – he'd already finished with those thoughts and images long ago – and moving towards the liquor store.
Fuck. He wanted Gaara. Maybe he'd leave work early today.
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In the absence of any sun, the sky was simply and swiftly darkening form a gray-blue to a black-blue. A few stars shone up in the darkness, and the moon was a weak little slice of misery. It wasn't late enough for the whores to start working, and the cold kept them under their blankets and in their many layers of clothing.
Tenten's scratchy throat had developed into a full-blown cough, and she knocked back some of the few gulps still left in Ino's vodka bottle. The blonde girl was snuggled up close, her body curled around Tenten's and her mouth half-open in sleep.
Tenten snorted inwardly. Sleep. More like coma.
The blonde girl had downed three-quarters of the bottle within ten minutes, and had gone out like a light right afterwards... she'd been muttering something about cold and Russians and home remedies. Maggots had also made an appearance.
Tenten pulled her blanket a bit tighter around herself. Sasuke and Naruto were both gone, Naruto shopping and Sasuke who-knew-where. Shino and Kiba were talking – well, Kiba was – in their nest. The Konoha was quiet, what with Kakashi at Iruka's. The signs blinked and glowed forlornly.
Shikamaru was lying as always. He looked healthier now, his paleness receded a bit and his eyes no longer as bright. Tenten looked past him onto the street, where the dry cold lay like a heavy invisible blanket. The wind was still there, icy and hard.
She could vaguely hear the trannies laughing about a joke down the Street, coughing interrupting some in their merriment. Damn, the cold hadn't started this early the year before --
The scratch in her throat built up to an unavoidable irritation, and she covered her mouth with one hand in order to cough. Her head fell forward a bit, and her ribcage ached after each new spasm.
Fucking hell! Damn weather!
What had Temari said... something about this year being a repeat of another year, like fifty years ago? Something with the weather system screw-up, the programming and some loop of repetition --
Tenten hadn't understood half of it, but she liked to hear the woman talk – she had a biting, slanted way of saying things, and her voice was sharp and angry, the sound of the wind that was slicing through Tenten's clothes and digging into her skin.
They didn't meet that often. On the weekends, usually, and sometimes on Wednesdays. They'd cook something together – Tenten would, actually; Temari was completely clueless in the kitchen – and talk about stupid stuff while watching virtvision. Then they'd go to bed.
It was a casual like and lust that made Tenten's heart go kind of warm whenever she thought of it. Temari wasn't big on sweetness and niceties, and Tenten would rather die than turn into a lovey-dovey little attention-slut. They had friendship, maybe a bit more, it was a comfortable thing. No weird long silences that begged to be filled, no fights – up till now -- , no stress.
The blanket got adjusted again, and Tenten let out another few coughs. Another sip of vodka slithered sharp down her throat.
She looked down the sidewalk, and saw Sasuke moving towards the Konoha. The kid was dressed warm as he'd been when he'd left, and there was a cigarette in one hand. His left.
He stepped under the awning, nodding to her. Tenten said hi before doubling over in another coughing fit.
She raised her head afterwards, her eyes tearing up and her lungs screaming their anger at her, and looked straight into a bottle of clear, viscous blue liquid.
"What's that?"
Sasuke took a drag of his cigarette and moved the bottle towards her hand. "Medicine."
His voice sounded much better than it had in the morning, Tenten realized. She took the bottle, and Sasuke flipped her a spoon. Not any old plastic thing, but a real cutlery spoon, the kind that belonged in a real kitchen. "Take two."
Tenten looked at the medicine sceptically before nodding and unscrewing the cap. "Thanks. Do you want vodka?"
Sasuke glanced at the bottle, and shrugged. He tilted it back and swallowed a substantial gulp.
Tenten swallowed the first spoonful of the medicine, wrinkling her nose at the artificially sweet taste. Bubblegum?
She watched Sasuke put the bottle down. Something was different about him --
The other kid turned his head a bit and took another drag of his cigarette, and Tenten realized what it was.
He wasn't wearing his little half-smile.
"Uh – Sasuke? Is something wrong?"
Sasuke started a bit, and turned to her. His skin was pallid in the gray air, and the weird swirls in his eyes were moving jerkily. The cigarette hung from his lips. He was squatting, his forearms resting on his thighs and his hands relaxed between them.
Tenten swallowed the second spoonful. Ooh, that felt good. Calming. She studied Sasuke again, and said, "Just – you know, you seem kind of unhappy." Ew. She sounded like some kind of bad virtcom actress.
Sasuke shrugged and finished his cig. "Were your parents married?"
Tenten barely kept her jaw from cracking open on the sidewalk. Sasuke – asking – a personal question!
She watched a steel-toed boot grind out the cigarette butt, and answered, "Yeah. They separated the year before I left. Yours?"
Sasuke didn't make any sort of reply. Instead, he asked, "Did you leave because they separated?"
Tenten shook her head, a little bitter grin spreading on her lips despite all her efforts to keep it away. "Nah. My dad got a bit touchy-feely."
Sasuke nodded and got up. He moved to where Naruto and his mattress lay, and lay down.
Tenten stared after him, her throat feeling smooth and no longer hurting.
That had been fucking weird.
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Erm. Yeah. Anyway.
I kinda like this chap...
So. Please review, dudes!
Randomness: Rammstein, "Mein Herz Brennt."