A/N: I don't own any of the characters or places in this story
The continent Begrose was a sand covered landscape, understandable seeing as to how it was just one big island. And it almost made it seem as if it was meant to be an unhospitable environment if it wasn't for the towns with neon lights and all the fancy music playing and what looked like high-class hotels and casino. But this all a front to hide a more corrupt and dangerous whores every 10 to 20 yards and if you listened hard enough you could hear the gunshots in the back-alley ways', a truly detestable town by any measure of human morality
A town Machi knew to well. In all honesty her and her partner were probably in one of the seediest places in the criminal under world.
Coming out of the corner store with 2 bottles of water she approached her companion that she had been on the same job as for the past month. He was wearing a dark bashe colored poncho over grey pants that came up to his mid-calf but was taped down to his ankles and black sandals, along with a high colored black shirt He also wore an odd dark purple head wrap. She went to offer him his bottle to his left hand before he moved with is right to take the offered bottle
"I dint know how you expected someone with no left arm to grab something with they're left arm" Sasuke said as he thumbed the top off the bottle and knocked it back and finished the entire bottle in a few seconds
"A thank you is usually how the people of this world show their gratitude when someone stops them from dying of dehydration," Rolling her eyes and ignoring his attempt to rile her up she noticed him looking at her out of the side of his right eye. The red star Shaped one. And she internally shivered, but she would never show it on her face
"What are you looking at Star eyes?!" having stopped drinking her own water in order to address her visual stalker.
"I could have kept going if I had to" He said before he started to walk down the neon light covered street.
Sighing Machi just started after him. Traveling with the same person for an extended amount of time tends to give some insight on the person. But not sasuke. Her mysterious traveling companion had let next to nothing slip when she had questioned him about his life and abilities. She had even questioned him about how he had gotten such odd star shaped eyes and that was the only question he answered with more than the smallest amount of sarcasm and emotion.
"I took them for myself through personal sacrifice"
Those words still confused her till this day. But the one thing that she was not confused about was his power, without ever seeing it for herself directly she knew this man was not to be trifled with. The man had done things that she thought would be impossible for any other nen user. For example, when they had stopped a few towns over Machi had planned to sleep in one of the many abandoned buildings that were scattered around the outskirt of the city. But as soon as sasuke walked in the entrance he turned saying that this place was unsuitable for them. He then proceeded to walk up to the largest hotel and ask for their best room and to her shock the man behind the desk just smiled and called him some name she had never heard before and given him the key to the room.
"You think too hard about things that concern you too much" Sasuke had broken their silent walk with his emotionless and cold statement
"So, you can read my mind?" There was no use trying to veil her words with sasuke. He was not one for word games and whenever he tried, he would just reveal to her what she was truly tying to communicate and then afterwards would refuse to answer any questions she asked for whatever reason he deemed responsible.
"of course not. Your just not very good at hiding what's on your mind" Sasuke responded never once slowing down or breaking his stride that Machi had to consciously increase her speed to match
"Can you tell me why we are going to the operation center of one of the 10 dons?" She asked hoping to gleam some form of information as to why she was hired to escort him around like he was some sort of child that needed to be protected.
'well someone did take off his arm so maybe he's not as strong as he seems.' Machi thought as she glanced at his arm and mentally reassessed the person, she was protecting
"I have business with him that needs to be handled. And no, nobody took this arm as no one is capable of taking it from me"
'He can definitely read my mind, but why is he lying' She thought in her head hoping that he would answer her unasked question in order to prove her theory right. But she was sadly mistaken when sasuke spoke next about an entirely different topic.
"Hey, is this the place?" Sasuke said throwing her out of her thoughts. Not showing it on her face she flawlessly checked her surroundings while nodding to not display that she has been in deep thought just moments ago.
"… Would you like to accompany me on this one?" Sasuke asked as he tilted his head looking at the door. They were in front of what looked like a large courthouse. The only building on the street that didn't have neon lights on the side of its promotion some kind of way for people to lose money. Instead there was around 10 men sitting on the courthouse steps All of different shapes and size.
"Well looks what we got a here. An idiot and his hot ass girlfriend."
Machi simply blew air at a strand of hair that had fell in her face at the attempted barb to cause trouble with them
"Is Hidetaka Mikuzawa in his office right now?" asked as if he had not registered the insult thrown at him
"What is it to you?" One of the men said as he stood up, causing the rest of the men to follow suite.
Machi wasn't sure if it was the steps that they were stepping on or if her eyes were laying tricks on her because the man was insanely tall and muscular. To the point where sasuke had to tilt his head upwards to look at him
Sasuke then calmly reached behind him to one of his pouches. All of the guard iniatlly started to sweat thinking he was going for the sword that was horizontally across his waist. He pulled out a card that had a large H on it.
"My apologies honored guest please follow this way." The man's entire personality changes as he and the rest of the men bowed at the waist at the sight of the card.
"I See your master has trained you dogs well" Sasuke said in his voice that was devoid of emotion.
"Why you!" One of the men went to swing his fist at sasuke in which Machi caught his wrist and then before she could slam her right fist into his Solar Plexus sasuke's leg came up in a high arc and clipped the man's chin putting him soundly to sleep.
After seeing how flawlessly he reacted to the man the rest of the men took two steps back as the group continued up the steps.
Following the man through a series of hallways that was most likely meant to confuse any unwanted individuals and lead to there demise. But the further the pair walked into what they could only call a labyrinth. The more they saw the darker side of humanity. As certain hallways had glass viewing windows and you could see all types of human depravity in the rooms.
One room showed a woman being sawed in half and that was the end of Machi's curiosity. But she had no right to feel as if she was higher than the men and women committing the act for, she had done crimes of similar and higher magnitude. She noticed never once did she sasuke look into a window. It was like he was a man filled with determination. The suffering of others meant nothing to him it seemed as long as he finished what he set his mind out to do. Every step was sure and planned it seemed. The way he moved without wasting any extra energy reminded her slightly of her troupe leader, Chrollo.
"this is his room, Honorable Guests" The man that was there guide through the hallways said as he bowed in front of a door then started to walk back the way they came. But he looked t turn right down the hallway when they came from the left.
Opening the door, sasuke took in everything in the room with his sharingan. It looked like the traditional office of a businessman who enjoyed reading as could be ascertained by the large number of bookshelves on both walls to his left and right. There was also one singular window behind a large desk that had obviously been recently placed there and the window which because of his sharingan Sasuke could tell it was just recently replaces as this one was not sitting correctly in the window frame, almost as if the window was the wrong size. His sharingan allowed him to see everything. From the blood stain on the floor that was just barely leaking out from under the desk to the elevated heart rate that the man had after seeing his partner. Sasuke internally raised an eyebrow at his last observation
"Ah I have been expecting you for a while Uchiha-San. Please take a seat" the man behind the desk had a light skin tan and a bald head on top of a very slender frame and glasses that say on the bridge of his skinny nose.
"As have I Mikuzawa-san, but I will choose to stand with my associate. I'm sure my employer has contracted you with the terms and agreements I am merely here to make sure you agree to the deal nothing more and nothing less." Sasuke was speaking in his emotionless tone again. Every word had the temperature of an iceberg
Mikuzawa started to rub his chin in thought. While it was true that someone had called his office, a woman from the sounds of it, and had informed him that the man in front of him would be arriving to finalize a deal.
'If you can even call it that' Mikuzawa internally scoffed the woman had wanted him to pledge fealty to her and in exchange he would be allowed to keep his "displeasing" Hobbies and continue to live the way he choose. The alternative was a fate worse than death she said. And she must have had some form of swing in the criminal underworld to get his number.
But Mikuzawa was one of the 10 Dons and was never one to give in so easy. Death was the only alternative positions. He would not be intimidated by children not even half his age so easily. That's when his eyes met Machi's and a plan started to spawn in the dark reaches of his heart
"Sweet Machi please due tell me what has gotten you evolved with such wolves who would attack an old man after pulling this country out of the worse financial crisis in decades." He smiled at her,
'yes, she will do just fine' he mentally smirked
"I'm not here for our bullshit talks Mikuzawa I was simply hired to bring him here. I don't know any more about the situation then you do" Machi shrugged
'damn it, but I might be able to find a way back to my seat' Mikuzawa thought as that was not what he wanted to hear from the only other person he knew in his office.
"Then I will agree on one circumstance." Mikuzawa said lifting one finger in the air. Taking Sasuke's silence as his cue to keep speaking
"I only agree on the terms that this deal stays out of the light and no one knows of it but your employer." Sasuke nodded to this slight stipulation and the man stood up to shake sasuke's hand
"I've seen the business your running here. I will not dirty my hands further by touching filth" Sasuke said to both the surprise of Machi and Mikuzawa
"Ah young man I see you are still filled with youth so I will allow that insult against my character to go unchecked but be sure it never happens if you would like to keep the deal between me and you r employer in good standing" Mikuzawa said out of slitted eyes and venom in his tone. The first time he had shown any real negative emotion.
Sasuke merely engaged him in a staring contrast before Machi Felt a small spike in Aura from sasuke and Mikuzawa suddenly sat back down in his seat and went to filing paperwork while sasuke simply turned around and started to leave the room.
In the hallway Machi would no longer keep a tight chain on her curiosity.