Slow but steady, here we go. Again, my life is flooded with work, but it has been super exiting to write this chapter. With anything further. Enjoy. D: Owning the words.
W: Same as usual, you already know the deal.
DEADLY PLASURES
CHAPTER 8
As his eyes had gotten used to the low lighting, green orbs scanned the place with seriousness, even though he felt his surroundings crowding fastly, he tried to analyse just as his boss had told him in every investigation.
"Okay, here we have a good view of everything." Hinata finally let the pale man's hand go.
"We still need to be near Age-er...Sasuke if he needs something."
Getting to the other side of the place had been Hinata's idea, the redhead man admitted it had been a wise move but he was still worried his boss could need something and he wouldn't be near to help him, but after all, if Naruto was with him, he might be fine.
"H-He'll be alright. I-I just thought he needed some space with his.. date?" She finished with a doubt in the last word, finding Gaara's confirmation with a small nod.
"Naruto will help him if something rises up, he's smart." Gaara assured, finding luckily a high table just below the very graphic windows with nude people. Hinata took a seat beside him and they both faced the entire club, finding interesting how every person looking in their direction would direct their looks at the scene over their heads making their presence almost invisible.
"Had Sasuke and him been together for a long time? they look so good together!" the girl commented in a light chatty tone, trying to divert his attention since he had felt to overwhelmed by the erotic scene she just saw in the window over her head.
"Hum… I don't really know, he had been helping us. I guess that's why he invited him today." Gaara replied with seriousness, although he knew that was not the real reason because he indeed had his suspicions of his bosses love interest for the blond paramedic.
"M-maybe… although, they like each other. I-I can tell."
"He is never very obvious about it, but he had never been too cautious with that either... "
Gaara made a pause and both detectives looked around, after all the redhead man knew his superior quite well and maybe Hinata had done right, come to think about it… in this kind of place, it has been a great idea to give them some 'privacy', if that was possible here.
"So… As S-Sasuke said… I can clearly see a lot of things going on. " Hinata changed the topic. "Drugs...Money...Rich people, I get the words he said now about not taking action as officers."
"Is it? we have to observe, analyze and memorize." Gaara said, arranging his seat, feeling confident in his training. "Sasuke had taught me that in this kind of space, first we have to see the general picture and start to reduce and group information."
"A-Are we? Looks like every agent has its own methods..." Hinata said, looking around her.
"Well, firstly it seems that this is quite a private ambience, and also a very selective one, once because I tried so hard to find the place on line but no location was ever mentioned, but somehow Sasuke pulled his strings and now we were able to get inside this club." Gaara assessed her pale companion, she nodded understanding every word.
"S-So then all the people in here heard about this place because of a contact."
"Yeah, like a big net, word from mouth to mouth." Gaara nodded, feeling his mind starting to rile up, as his eyes saw how more people had gathered in the zone they had chosen. "And we might assume then that if this is a mouth to mouth thing, there might be a common benefit or attraction?"
"W-Well it's a club, party is assured. And I'm pretty sure the h-hook is the unreserved display of pleasure." The light eyed girl said, signaling the windows over them, where the dancers inside had changed for couples making out.
"Could be… That could give us a hint of the owners, according to our investigation, they might be related to all kinds of pleasure… we still aren't sure about it." The detective spoke more to himself that to his companion, but Hinata followed pretty well.
"I-In this kind of places the owners or managers tend to be present." Hinatta said to him, convinced. Gaara directed his attention to her words, feeling her intervention was still not over.
"What Age-I-I mean, Shikamaru has taught me is the logic deduction. L-Let's have a look at this place's structure. " The pale girl moved her high stool nearer to Gaara's so that they could share almost the same range of view. Even though the detective had always been stoic and reserved, he had to make use of much more force to stop his body from shaking lightly in an unknown nervous episode, as he had never thought it would happen, the ambience and the place was acting upon his primal instincts, all against him. Still he remained professional and clenching his fist over his thighs, he listened carefully to what the light voice of his companion was speaking over the blasting nose of the music.
"A-Alright, normally the bar would be the central spot of the place, but this bar is on one of the sides, that would mean that the primordial activity of this place is dancing, drinking is just a compliment. T-Then I kept on thinking about what the man asked us at the entrance"
"He asked if this was our first time here." Gaara responded with seriousness, although he had to shout even louder, since the owes and the shouts had started to rise, the amount of people inside was consistently augmenting and from the corner of his eye, from time to time he could watch the high tone of the scenes inside the windows and hear, a little muffled the moans that started to erupt.
"T-That's right. My guess is that even in this place there might be some sort of categories for the visitors."
"How 's that?"
"I-I've been observing the entrance every now and then, some people just wander around and settle. But there are some guests that know exactly where they are going. These people are regulars and this whole dancefloor is just a lobby, I-I can bet you, this club is bigger than what we think. Maybe behind the black curtain… or maybe there is still another floor and the more 'experienced' clients head to."
"That makes sense...I haven't worked that much with Mr. Nara, but now I really want to learn from him." The redheaded policeman said, taking out a small notebook and writing down everything, inviting Hinata had been after all, a great idea, the policeman thought.
"S-Sasuke had taught you even his habits…"Hinata said playfully watching the old school notebook where Gaara scribled. "I-I would like to learn from him too, but it seems that you are his favourite." Gaara tried to hide the imperceptible smile that formed on his lips.
"I think he would be pleased to teach you." he finished, putting off his notebook inside his jeans pocket.
At that moment he remembered his boss, so raising himself a little bit, using the height of the stool he managed to look to the other side of the place, just to see that Sasuke was not in the same spot he last saw him.
While he scanned the place in the same position, Hinata started to talk again, feeling how the ideas poured out of her brain,
"S-So now… about the people that come here… we were not asked for any information to come here...so it's not like a selective place. Maybe there is a future filter… maybe we have to look for people like Z-Zabuza, entrepreneurs, directors, heirs..."
"CHIEF OFFICER." Gaara murmured and Hinata stopped her rambling looking at the man.
Gaara returned to his seat, lowering his body with a fast movement. "The Chief officer is here."
"Tsunade-sama?" she said with a high squeaky voice.
"I just saw her in the middle of the crowd." Feeling out of place both detectives tried to decide inside their heads if this was a planned movement by their superiors or not.
Gaara was sure that if Tsunade was going to be part of this investigation visit, he would have been informed, but Sasuke hadn't said a word. And he was sure his boss hadn't told Tsunade about this kind of mission, since she never approved Sasuke's methods on a daily basis, and also Gaara knew his boss, he would rather ask for forgiveness than ask for permission.
"W-Was she coming as a support?" Hinata spoke, making a small effort to see over the crowd using the stool as leverage. Spotting after a while the blond silky hair of the chief officer of the police force. She was of course not wearing her usual formal attire, she had a beautiful white dress that helped her cleavage show off much more than it always did.
She was also using more makeup than the normal days, just her hair was similar as she always uses it at the office, two low pigtails.
"I don't know, maybe if we make contact with her… if she acknowledges our presence that would mean that she knew about all this...If not, well… we can always fake a coincidental encounter."
"O-Or maybe just ignore each other." Hinata suggested feeling a small blush on her cheeks just by thinking about the situation.
Soon they found themselves walking between the crowd, making their way to the place they last saw the woman. But the luck was not on their side, since her superior was nowhere to be seen, roaming around the place, looking in every direction, searching for the known face. Until finally Hinata spotted the back of the woman, who disappeared behind a black curtain at the bottom of the place.
Following her steps, both detectives made their way inside, feeling how the atmosphere was way different from the clubbing ambience they were a few seconds ago.
The moment Gaara's eyes got used to the lower light of the place, a door swung open before his face and a couple strolled out carelessly, laughing lightly while apologizing to the detective that almost took the hit with his face.
Both detectives continued walking awkwardly around the strange shaped place, while witnessing all kinds of carnal desire, to say the least, Gaara was trying to focus all his attention on finding the white dress, although he felt his inner instincts creep up his determined mind, diverting his attention from time to time.
Hinata walked slowly behind him, taking his hand from time to time to his mouth, as if protecting herself from the images before her eyes and even at some points she had covered her eyes or turned around her face. Still the black haired detective kept the steady pace and Gaara noticed how, just as him, the only thing they were hoping was to find as quickly as possible the woman they were following and faster, they didn't even dare to think of finding her in a very much compromised situation.
Arriving at a large space, different from the cabins they had walked by and the opening rooms, they saw a much more 'quiet' place, some loveseats and couples were scatered around, as expected, some of them were publicly having sex and both detectives found themselves in the decision of chosing between left and right to continue their way.
From the corner of his eye, Gaara spotted a blond hair that he identified so well, there, against a wall was Naruto, with his eyes closed and his lower lip trapped between his teeth. His very respected boss was devouring his neck while the shirt of the paramedic was open completely, displaying the firm muscles he didn't even though a paramedic would need.
Choosing to not look in that direction, Gaara took Hinata's hand and pulled her quickly to the left path, feeling quite nervous about everything all of a sudden.
He had seen his boss in compromising situations, but of course he didn't even wanted to imagine if he had to witness the full display of love between the paramedic and his beloved superior, it would just be awkward and he would replay it over and over without control every time they saw Sasuke and Naruto together, no thanks, he didn't wanted that in his pupils. And then the nightmare was to find none other than the Chief officer of the police force in a very much equal situation.
When they continued walking, the openings and rooms continued in a long hallway until they reached what seemed to be some sort of lounge with lower seats and lited tables. A bar stood proudly on the center and there, finally, was Tsunade. Luckily just ordering a drink to a very naked barman. Not a surprise at all after their journey to this space.
The bar was a perfect square so Gaara and Hinata placed themselves in one of the angles, looking from time to time to the busty blond woman that rested her back on the bar, and from time to time, reached her elegant hand to take a hold of her cup. She was energetically talking with a man, Gaara and his companion ordered whatever drink the bartender recommended.
Waiting for the perfect opportunity to make any contact or signal, Gaara calculated that the moment she finished her drink, she would have to turn around and see them.
But the talk she had with that man, prevented her from taking long sips from her drink, making the wait excruciating. Both detectives waited long and watched how little by little the fancy cup depleted and finally the woman turned around, with a smile on her face, she ordered a similar one to the barman.
Gaara and Hinata looked at her intently and, as if throwing daggers in her direction, the blond Chief officer directed her eyes to the other side of the bar, the not very common smile on her lips vanished completely.
As if coordinated, both detectives raised their drinks, as if telling her 'Hi we've seen you.' without words.
But Tsunade frowned and turned around, making her way, to another part of the room with her drink in hand.
"M-My guess is that she didn't know we were here on duty." Hinata commented, seeing how her superior walked to some other tables where the man accompanying her whispered something on her ear that made her laugh and disappeared the frown of her face.
"Should we leave her alone then?" Gaara asked, taking a sip of his drink, finding the emerald liquid too sweet for his taste.
"I guess these are the places she frequents when she is off work. A-After all it's not a secret her gambling...hobby. " Gaara digested the words of the girl, assuming that was possible. Then he raised his hand up to his lips, feeling the cut he had, still a little sore, produced by the fist of that blond woman.
"How did she know about this place?" the redhead man whispered, taking his sweet drink in one go and walking straight to the table where she had sat.
"G-Gaara wait!" Hinata urged, feeling quite skeptical about his companion determination.
But the pale green eyes were solely attached to his former superior, he still had an assignment to take care off, and this might be the best moment to make his move.
"Good evening." Gaara spoke right in front of Tsunade, who once again looked at him with displeasure. "Can I have a word with you?".
"Ugh… Go away kid." she mumbled, raising her palm in front of the guy to make her point crearer.
"Tonight you are the center of attention Tsuna.." the man she was sitting with joked, pushing her lightly while laughing, he was clearly drunk. Gaara looked at the man displeased and insisted with a look that got the busty woman more annoyed.
"I'm sorry, but I won't leave… please hear me out."
"Look kid, it's better if in HERE we don't know each other, go to attend your issues and let me attend mine." she finished, taking in her hands the deck of cards placed on the table.
"As I told you, I need a favour and since we casually encounter each other here… what if we trade my silence for your help." The seriousness of his voice attracted the attention of the woman, who left the deck again on the table with a loud noise.
"Do you think I'm stupid?"
"Not at all… I'm just trying to accomplish my bosses orders." Gaara managed to maintain his firm voice, although he was starting to fear another hard punch on his face.
"Fucking dammit Uchiha… What does he want? Tell me what it is so you can get out of my view!"
"The pass to a poker match at JSH Gambling House, I believe you could be acquainted with the place."
"Acquainted? she lives in that place… don't you Tsuna..! HAHAHA" the drunk man again striked with her loud interference.
Rolling her eyes, she threw the man the deck of cards, signaling him to start the game.
"Yeah Yeah… whatever, if that is all I 'll find you some seats. Now go away before I punch ya' pretty face again Sabaku."
"I appreciate it" The young guy bowed lightly, taking two steps back, but stopping completely remembering something. "Wait...how did you find this place?"
Tsunade smiled lightly and Gaara found it terribly creepy between a small laugh she answered "Oh come on… the same way every person in here had arrived..." and with that, Tsunade returned her eyes to her cards, ignoring the presence of the young cop beside her.
Gaara made her way back to the bar, where Hinata received him with a worry look.
"I-I seriously thought she was going to hit you."
"Yeah… me too. She really had no idea the reason why we are here." the detective signaled the barman to serve him some other drink.
"T-Then she is a regular from this place. Do you think she knows the owners?" Hinata pointed out and Gaara just exhaled a big breath, feeling his luck completely depleted and doubting that making another attempt to push the Chief Officer for more information would mean any good chance, it would rather be more like a suicidal act.
"It's a good cover that she does not know we are here under Sasuke's orders…we should keep our mission as a secret, even if it is Tsunade-sama." Gaara mused, while fishing for his phone in his back pocket, writing fastly a message to his boss.
To: Agent Uchiha
SIR, I'VE GOT THE RESERVATION AT THE POKER MATCH.
/
Naruto stretched on the bed, feeling his muscles in delicious tension as he opened lightly his eyes, the weight of Sasuke's head over his shoulder reminded him that he should be cautious to let the man sleep.
After all, their night had been pretty moved, and when the clock reached around 4 in the early morning, the blond was huffing heavily over the policeman's body, feeling how sleepiness and tiredness reach their maximum level, taking him slowly to slumber.
When the sun had risen he felt that warm and cozy feeling of early morning, Naruto refused to move much, fearing that he would awake completely, he closed his eyes, feeling the soft exhales of air over his shoulder, Sasuke was still in dream land, and he intended to join him again.
His shift… well, Ten Ten or Sakura might have a good excuse on his behalf.
With closed eyes, he felt Sasuke's warm hands surrounding his torso while his head moved to a more comfy space lower on his chest, how he loved this mornings, the blond thought losing himself on a soft unconsciousness.
The next time Naruto had opened his eyes, the soft humming of water boiling reached his ears, he felt the empty space on the bed and sitting on the mattress, he saw the chaos they had made last night, starting for the multiple clothes discarded on the floor.
After a stop in the bathroom and a quick search of Sasuke's wardrobe to steal some pajama pants, he made his way to the kitchen, finding the pale policeman, reaching for some coffee cups from the counter.
"Hey… I was about to take you some coffee."
"Thanks..."Naruto said, leaving a soft kiss on the other's jaw. "I.. humm... borrowed some pants" the blond said, walking a few steps back so Sasuke could turn around with two full coffee mugs.
"Take whatever you want." the man responded with a sincere and uncommon smile on his face.
"You are very compliant this morning..." the blond commented, taking a sip of his coffee.
"hn...enjoy it while it lasts." Sasuke responded, taking his own mug to his lips, feeling the scented species of the coffee blend reach his senses. "Don't you have to cover a shift today or something?" he said after a big gulp of black liquid.
"Yeah… apparently, but I don't really want to." the paramedic responded, taking a seat on the kitchen table.
Sasuke looked at him seriously while leaving his mug aside and walking near his body.
"Lately I've been thinking...that I should tell you things plainly. Instead of making a big fuss in my mind before telling you anything."
"I'm all ears." Naruto said, leaving his mug aside.
Sasuke's pale lips reached the other's with a soft but decided intention, blending and finding the exact place where they belonged. Tanned hands held Sasuke's sides with warm care as they kissed each other on the sunny morning. Finding Naruto's arms, Sasuke held the paramedic's wrists tightly, coming closer as the blond opened his legs to make space for the other's body to fit in, deepening the contact for a while before letting their lips go to take some air.
"Okay, I'll take that for a: don't go to work today." Naruto said, feeling Sasuke's closeness and his hands caressing the skin of his arms.
"Actually, I was going to say that as much as I hate the idea of you going, I don't want you to have trouble at work, I have already put you in so much trouble..." Sasuke stated, leaving some small chastised kisses on the blond's lips.
"The thing is, I prefer to spend my sunday morning here with you, than in an office waiting for an emergency call while thinking about you."
Sasuke smiled seductively at those words, while Naruto pulled him to another hungry kiss, letting his hands roam the pale torso of the policeman.
"Let's do it again..." Naruto whispered against his lips, feeling a hot boiling fire hitting his body..
"Aren't you sore?..." Sasuke asked with a tint of fun in his voice.
"Does it matter?" the blond said, pulling with his legs the policeman's body, making their crotchs collide with each other, making Sasuke moan lowly with the bold contact.
"...But not in the kitchen." Sasuke said, taking Naruto's arm, pulling him to the sofa in the living room and pushing him not so softly.
From his sitting position, Naruto held the pale hips, preventing the man from moving any further, caressing the skin with his thumbs, making the black pyjama bottoms slide lower and lower with each touch.
The Sunday morning light that seeped through the window illuminated Sasuke's belly and the blond felt the urge to kiss every part the sun was kissing too.
His warm lips caressed the skin feeling how the flesh reacted to his contact and Sasuke's hands immediately reached his cheeks and neck, pulling him closer and closer to him.
The soft breath of Naruto's kisses awoke the policeman's desire with such force that he felt the time slipped from his hands and he could easily forget what day or even year he was living on. He just needed to satiate that strong flame of desire that Naruto knew too well how to ignite.
He helped the tanned hands to finally remove the pyjama bottoms, with only his boxers, he pushed Naruto's mouth far from his body, to his disgrace. Allowing the man to rest his back on the couch and making space for him to straddle the blond's hips, feeling their awakening erections come to life in the narrow space that was left between them.
Tan hands roamed from his back to his ass and back to his shoulders, their chests moved quickly and lips caressed each other, dancing around with no rush or thought, just the feeling of each other enjoying themselves.
Sasuke grimaced and Naruto stopped his ministrations, looking down to see how below his palm Sasuke's leg sported a very visible purplish bruise staining the white skin. Crossing the stain a red line that marked the place where the flesh had been damaged.
"It still hurts..." Naruto said to him, caressing the wound, now with care, and returning to the abandoned lips to kiss them again.
"I overdid myself yesterday… " Sasuke answered feeling how uncomfortable it was having his and Naruto's clothes between their now full erections. "But… right now I really don't care." he continued, guiding Naruto's hands below his boxer, feeling how the strong hands held his hot flesh firmly and pumped from time to time.
Resting his head against Naruto's shoulder, he closed his eyes, letting his body navigate the sweet sensation of having this man below him, feeling his caresses and listening to the soft moans now and then he let out near his ears, managing to make his erection harder, if that was even possible.
"Tough cop huh..." The blond murmured, as he pumped harder Sasuke's erection making the man moan loudly against his shoulder. Naruto's own clothed erection was leaking and the wetness of the fabric and warm essence collided with the pale man's skin.
Recovering some sanity, the lift himself up, releasing himself from the blond caresses, and allowing him and the other to free themselves from the little clothing they had still on.
"I want to ride you again..." Naruto whispered against the other's ear, while Sasuke's cold fingers traced lightly his shaft, burning with his eyes from toe to top, every ounce of Naruto's body in front of him.
"What if I ride you now..." Sasuke answered seductively.
Naruto pushed him back to the couch, making sure that he would not move from his sitting position and straddled the man, locking the position with his lips over the other's. "That… sounds tempting… but I can't have enough of you inside me." he said against his mouth and Sasuke smiled, returning his ministrations, "Fine… I'll have to settle for your fingers inside me from time to time while I fuck you." the policeman said, finding the other's butt, squeezing it.
Naruto laughed at the comment while taking the other's erection, directing it to his entrance and rubbing the tip a little inside of him. "We can always get ourselves some weird dildos like the one of yesterdays."
And with the comment, Sasuke laughed hard, "Shut up idiot."
"I'm serious," Naruot's words got interrupted when Sasuke filled him without mercy and his words were substituted by a low grunt, after some small hip rolls, he arranged himself and taking a slow pace with help of his legs he continued his blabbering. " ...I-I got really curious after seeing... how people used it...after you get that one to the police station… can we try it?..."
Sasuke responded with a quite hard bit on Naruto's lower lip, with small laughs between the two they enjoyed the soft and delicious pleasure of mutual satisfaction.
After what felt like an eternity away from his desk, Sasuke made his way to his old chair more out of duty than will.
Gaara was patiently waiting by the side, reading with deep concentration the board that stood proudly behind his place.
The last time they had visited that board, it had had some traces and names, but now, a connected web was starting to form and more information was finding its place and Sasuke liked that.
"Gaara… I see you had updated the traces." He announced his presence with a firm voice.
"Good morning Sir, I did. I guess everything is in place now… unless you have some more information apart from what you told me in yesterday's phone call." The young man responded and Sasuke felt quite relieved to hear the usual 'Sir' addressed to him.
"We have one more clue to fit in here." Sasuke said, leaving the package he had been carrying over his own desk.
"Is the package of Zabuza's home… is it?" Gaara asked but didn't wait for any response further than a nod from his boss. "It's quite particular…" he continued after opening the box and seeing what resided in there.
The Agent took a seat on his chair, analyzing what was up the board "We need to track the provider of these toys, they are not common and we need to know why they are important, why someone is guiding us to them?"
"Sir, have you thought that maybe this secret lead is fake?" Gaara's words captivated Sasuke's ears. "...What I meant is that, Isn't it too perfect? like being guided to evidence? we still don't know who this person is and to be sincere I don't trust Momochi Broadcast."
Sasuke thought for a while his portegees words, he was for sure intrigued on how much time the kid took to think on all this argument and quite impressed "Interesting that you said this…what would be your plan?"
"I will…." Gaara doubted for a moment, changing his position from time to time and reading over and over again the information he already knew. "since all the leads this person had given us had result on some other connections I would still play this game, there are just two outcomes out of it; one the person behind the notes is trying to distract the police attention with fake leads, and therefore we should put a lot of attention on Momochi Broadcast or Zabuza's closer circle. The second scenario is that someone inside the broadcast station knew something fishy was going inside but is not able to show himself maybe because of a cover or other reason."
"RIGHT, ...then what?" Sasuke answered, taking the package on his hands and putting it on the red head's hands.
"If the packages are important… Do you think The Pleasure Palace has something to do with these deliveries? or the casino?"
"That's the connection we need between these two…" Sasuke stood up, pointing the written sticky of JSH GAMBLING HOUSE and THE PLEASURE PALACE that were standing side to side but there was no line connecting them properly. "and you know what is more important and would prove our secret informant is on our side?... that these providers might have a connection to the other cases. After all we already have the names Naruto gave us."
Gaara nodded frantically as he writed down every word Sasuke blurted. Of course the lead was good, the young policeman thought while writing everything, he had to be more cautious of his suspects, but still he managed to overcome Sasuke's small challenge so he felt a bittersweet emotion that would not leave him alone, for sure, he had make sure he did not disappoint his boss during his visit to The Pleasure Palace, after all he and Hinata had spent several hours after the encounter with Tsunade, chatting with some of the people inside there, he had made himself with some 'friends' if that was even possible to say, and hell he was going to track those dildos down. It was time for him to put his Saturday's hard worked interrogations to good use.
"Now, about the poker match." Sasuke stated and the boy redirected his eyes to his boss.
"Tsunade arrived early today… she was… not pleased to see me, I reminded her we had an agreement and she said so many curses to my face, but she kept her word and gave me the time and seats. She told me our names would be on the list. " he extended the man a paper where there in black ink was written the time, date, location and seats, as Sasuke expected… it was just the casino he wanted to visit:
JHS Gambling House
Thursday, 21:30 h
SECOND FLOOR 10- 11
/
"Welcome…"
"Welcome Good night."
"Nice seeing you again, have fun." A deep raspy voice welcomed every guest that crossed JHS Gambling House entrance, the extravagant door adorned with Golden chains that simulated a golden cascade from top to bottom gave every guest the idea of what was inside.
Sasuke nodded at the man and woman that received them on the entrance, and with Gaara following behind they both made their way inside, crossing the golden cascade.
"I'll be right back..." the deep voice said to the woman near her ear and disappeared behind the golden curtain, seeing the back of the red head man with heavy eyes.
He watched how both men dressed in nice suits made their way to the poker salon where the big match would take place.
After losing sight of the two men he directed his steps to his well known staircase that lead to the upper and private floors. Knocking two times on the door he was granted access and all of a sudden he started to feel a deep rage inside of him.
"Yeah? why aren't you on the entrance?" Hidan asked, hanging his phone and looking right in front of him to the man who came in.
"The police are here..."
"Is that so…?" he asked, taking his hand up to his head to comb his sleek hair, more out of habit than of necessity.
"I saw that red head cop, Detective Gaara..."
"Calm down, calm down, he might be here for entertainment, after all that Tsunade lady is her boss isn't it?" Hidan's confident voice settled the agitation, but his look was still serious. "Still… we have to make sure that our friend doesn't lack anything. Keep an eye on him."
"I'll be like a shadow."
Before the man could leave the office Hidan stopped him "Hey!... remember what we have to protect and what we need to achieve… do whatever is needed." and without further words Hidan was left alone. He still had more calls to do, after all, a lot of new callers had found their way to Jashin Love Line and he was anxious to register all of them, much more to the ones who had lots and lots of money.
/
The poker venue had all types of people, from the newbies to the old acquaintances. The curious and the gambling enthusiasts. Gaara and Sasuke found their way to their places after navigating around different groups of people, they were all excited about this match, apparently because the contenders had had a rivalry for a long time and this night things would finally settle.
Their places, as Tsunade had explained reluctantly were in the upper floor, Gaara have expected to find himself in a regular casino around a poker table watching from above some other person shoulder, but no, this was a full scenario, destined to witness these sole game, a roman like theatre unfolded below his eyes.
"It's like waiting for an opera to start." Gaara mumbled as he took a seat on the red velvety seats marked with their numbers.
"I know, quite extra right?" Sasuke answered back, feeling out of place as well, but trying to remain in his 'I have been here a hundred times' character.
Fortunately, from their place they were able to see the whole venue, even though the poker table was a little bit too far and it will be a little hard to see the cards, the height of the second floor allowed both cops to register the área with ease.
The match started and even though the players had started with a big bet, Gaara and Sasuke couldn't be less interested in what was happening over there.
The first floor of the venue was a large space surrounding the poker table where small tall tables with seats were scattered around, the attendants roamed around the packed place, and Sasuke didn't fail to notice that a very large number of them couldn't care less for the match in front of them. Sure there were gambling enthusiasts who were absorbed in the match movements and bets but there were some other people that prefer to immerse in deep talk, drinking or smoking what seemed to be very expensive cigars.
Then, between all that people the black haired man settled his eyes on a very well known face from his visits to the broadcast offices, for sure that was none other than the blond secretary of Zabuza Momochi, laughing and chatting with guests around him.
His blond bangs move lightly with every turn his head did. Was that damned blue haired driver around here too?Sasuke asked himself feeling a bolt of rage on his throat. That sneaky rat had been playing them since day one, after the vigilance they had over her, she had just attached to a routine that had made any police believe that she was just another common citizen. But Sasuke was no common policeman, no sir, he was about to prove himself that the most persistent were the ones who reached the truth. So he forced his eyes scanning with speed the entire space, feeling in his guts, as it has been since day one, that Konan had been lying to him all this time and now it was the time to prove it.
Gaara looked at his boss from time to time, feeling how his attention was completely immersed on the scenery, and how his eyes appeared to almost turn red due to the intensity of his look, it might be just the reflection of the casino lightning but he was sure Sasuke's mind was working like a train. So he felt the urge to keep up with him and scan again every assistant, he hadn't recognized anyone until now. Aparto from a glimpse of Tsunade's back, that didn't surprised him at all, he had seen just strangers in the sea of people, but feeling how his superior was now moving his eyes fastly surrounding the venue, he knew there was something fishy and his own pride was preventing him to ask Sasuke who had he saw or what.
A big "OHHH" from the public diverted the attention from both cops, as they directed their looks to the poker table, seeing how one of the players had opened his hand to show a pretty bold move, taking all the plastic coins to his side of the table.
"Almost two hours already..." Sasuke said looking at his wrist watch and rubbing his eyes lightly, "alright Gaara, observations." standing up and stretching a little he talked to his protegee in a low tone so Gaara was the only one who could hear him, although he was sure that was the case since the ambiental music was persistent and the babbling noise of the people filling the place had raised its volume.
Following him behind, Sasuke and Gaara leave their seats and walk to the main hall, stretching their legs and seeing how a fair amount of seats from the second floor balconies are now empty.
Gaara lowered his head, looking at his polished shoes "I haven't seen anyone I recognize so far, only Tsunade-sama"
"Yeah, I saw her. It's creepy to see her so happy, she never smiles that much at work." Sasuke shuddered a little bit.
"I noticed that a lot of people here are regulars. What I meant is that they are familiar with the dynamics, and what is allowed."
"Very good Gaara, there are a lot of those people around." Sasuke said, glaring at a man that happened to walk by and dedicated an intense look to his persona. What was he up to?
"People seem to go somewhere..."The Agent continued as he saw the man rounding the corner of the hall, and taking the steps to the first floor.
"That's why the place looks more empty isn't it? I saw that. But isn't this match the highlight of the night?"
"Well, it appears not. Lets go look around shall we?" Sasuke said and Gaara nodded as he followed his boss down the hall towards the main staircase.
Down at the first level the casino entrance looked more packed than a few hours ago. Managing tho make their way to around the big fuss at the Currency Exchange counter both men arrived at the actual casino, since this was an open place where no one asked them if they had or not a reservation or seat, both men walked freely around the lucky spins slots and the big wheel of prizes that rolled once every hour, they were able to recognize the actual attendants of the match, since they tend to dress more formal that the other clients and between all the fuss, there it was! between two columns Sasuke and Gaara managed to see how a fairly well dressed woman and a man disappeared between the marble. Looking at each other with knowing decision they both made their way to the marble columns of one side of the saloon.
When they arrived they watched how indeed two marble columns overlapped making a fairly big space for a person to fit in.
Taking a few steps inside, Sasuke's internal alarms started to shout to him. He could hear laughs, music and smell the characteristic scent of tobacco and alcohol mixed in the somber hallway. His eyes scanned the place with attention while walking what appeared to be an endless and curved corridor. Out of nowhere and after taking a turn, a velvety curtain, way too similar to another he had seen, cut their way and both men halted.
Sasuke looked over his shoulder to find Gaara with a decided look on his face that only confirmed what he had been thinking from the moment they found that opening on the walls between the two columns; they were absolutely certain that the Gambling House and the Pleasure Palace were absolutely and undoubtedly connected.
"Are you coming in, sir?" a melodious voice reached Sasuke's ears, taking him by surprise since he thought there was none else aside from Gaara with them. After a few seconds a slim hand appeared from behind the curtain pushing the fabric aside and revealing a beautiful woman dressed in a 'traditional' kimono, altered to show a big expansion of his legs and cleavage.
"I… Yes, we were about to." Sasuke miraculously recovered from the small shok, taking a step further, but the elegan hand stopped him, bumping on his chest.
"I'll need your code, sir." she said with a playful tone.
"Oh… my code." Sasuke mumbled, biting his lower lip. "I'm quite new here, I must have forgotten it."
Gaara started to swear internally, trying to figure out how to help his boss, although he knew Sasuke too well not to think that he had some ace below his sleeve. But this was quite an unexpected situation from where he didn't see any good outcome.
"I'm sorry, but I can only grant access to the members of any sort of level " the woman said still in a melodious and polite voice. "Now, if you excuse me, there are some other guests I need to attend." she spoke again, glancing behind and making a gesture with her hands.
From behind him and Gaara two men walked past them, forcing them to step aside and move backwards so that the fat men walked past the curtain that closed after the girl let go of the fabric, disappearing behind it.
"Damit, let's go." Sasuke stormed out of the hallway to the casino saloon.
"There must be another way to get in." Gaara suggested, trying to think what kind of code was needed.
"It's not an option now." Sasuke mumbled to his insides, making a plan inside his head."Gaara I need you to stand guard at the entrance of this hallway." the Agent said to his subordinate, pointing at the opening that was right in front of their eyes and was visible the marble column that hid the entrance.
"Yes Sir, what's the plan?" the detective arranged his bow and frowned.
"We are making our way in." Sasuke said with determination, walking back and forth on the dark hallway at an erratic pace.
"H-How exactly, Sir?"
"You have to be more observant Gaara." Sasuke said stopping in one side of the hallway, pressing his head to the surface next to him "This wall is fake. Do you hear the loud voices?" the Agent asked the redhead man that proceeded to make the same action as him and 'hear' the wall and nodded.
"There is also a light smell of tobacco seeping from this wall, I think there might be an opening here." Sasuke said, putting his knees on the floor and trying to look at any cranny that would be visible. "Is someone coming?" he asked his companion, who looked between his boss and the visible entrance that was about 20 steps before them.
"Negative." Gaara's voice gave Sasuke green light to incorporate himself again, taking again a look around the most thin wall, or at least the one he thought might be their own entrance.
Pushing his shoulder against the surface, Sasuke heard how the material creaked, the wall seemed to be made of assembled parts, united very poorly by nails or staples.
With another push, harder this time and taking some impulse the material cracked revealing a small opening that Sasuke knew he could pull to make an opening.
Gaara arrived at his side, hurried. "Someone is coming." he alerted, halting any action from Sasuke. The Agent took his hands out of the opening he had managed to do by pulling the stiff material.
"Come here..."The black haired man said hurriedly, taking Gaara's arm and pulling him against the wall covering with his body the clear division of the material that formed the hallway's wall. Sasuke heard clearly how some steps approximate their location and without any other thought he pressed his body against the redhead man, putting his pale hands against the wall just beside Gaara's face, trapping him between his arms.
"Don't move." he whispered near Gaara's face, who just managed to close his eyes and stayed very very still.
Sasuke's breath reached his cheek as he stayed still and listened to everything around him. The black haired policeman was so close to him that he could feel the rhythmic pace of his heart against his hand that was trapped between their chests while the other lay limp beside him. Whas he supposed to hold Sasuke from the back or something?, the thought crossed his mind as he heard how the two women he saw approaching the overlapped columns approached step by step.
The steps came closer to them, walking past them, "Can't people wait until they are inside?..." came a femenin voice followed by small giggles from another high pitched voice. The steps lost themselves on the corridor and so the laughs.
Sasuke then took a serious space between them, discovering that his unannounced movements had taken Gaara by surprise, since in the dark space he could see clearly how his always pale face was now covered with what appeared to be a deep blush.
"Sorry about that." Sasuke apologized, not knowing if squeezing the boy's shoulder as a sign of comfort would be correct due to his previous invasion of personal space.
"Don't be… that was very smart. I just didn't see it coming." Gaara responded, turning around, facing the fake wall that now had a clear unevenness.
"Alright, let's do this before someone else comes." Sasuke said, finally tapping Gaara's shoulder in a friendly way. "Help me with this, on three we pull, when you see the wall is separated enough, you seep inside alright?"
Gaara nodded and both men pulled the material apart, as said, the young policeman fit his body in a big enough opening and from the other side, they took again the material making a bigger space for Sasuke to trespass the opening too.
Once on the other side, both men push the material to make the wall fit again in its place.
Taking a look at their surroundings, they found themselves in a limbo between the fake corridor wall and some makeshift paper walls, from the other side the laughs, voices and music was now very much audible. As Sasuke had predicted, the small space where they were standing was filled with tobacco smoke and a rancid smell of alcohol.
Walking sideways, they managed to cover all the distance that appeared to reach the black curtain entrance at the other side of the fake wall.
Fortunately there was an exit, and stumbling between piled chairs and other junk, they managed to leave the small corridor in between walls and reach what appeared to be the continuation of the hallway, on the other side of the black curtain.
They both walked the rest of the way until they reached a lobby where a wall with directions was displayed. Arrows pointing right, left , up left or up right directed the guests, no name or destination was written on the arrows, the only thing written in gold were numbers separated with commas.
"It's like... going to the movies?" Sasuke said to Gaara, thinking about how the theaters were designed to easily find the right room where your movie would be screened.
"It's weird...they are a lot." Gaara commented, seeing how the numeration was over 30 different ciphers.
"This place is huge. We must not separate." Sasuke said again in a low voice as he saw how people come and go, not minding at all their presence, some of them rested on the couches filling the lobby and the others just took one of the corridors, losing between more damned black curtains.
About an hour after their entrance, Gaara and Sasuke had managed to walk between diverse rooms and corridors, feeling again the burden of meeting with all sorts of diverse scenes, from time to time they witnessed some sexually explicit scenarios, involivng a big crowd of people, something out of some erotic cheap novel and in some other cases they found themselves on a very intense play of roulette.
Like a house of lunatics, Sasuke felt himself navigating on a different reality where each door would have its own citizens: like the big bar found in one spacious saloon where people were way too drunk to even walk or talk straight or the big buffet with overflowing plates of all kinds of specialities, was this Saturnalia?
Finally they reached the second floor and after walking past a room where moans were way too loud, both policemen averted a door painted in the same tone that the walls, as if someone didn't want to make very evident it was there, opening the door they arrived to an emergency exit, and feeling the fresh air of the night, both men felt as if a spell had been lifted and they returned to planet earth, they had reached some exit that leave them on fire escape exit, standing on the metallic surface both policemen stay still on the makeshift balcony, over them the building next floor window was visible and from one of the opened windows the talking inside reached their ears.
"...Thank you for calling Jashin Love Line sweetheart… what's your wish for today?!" whas heard from a feminin voice.
"...Oh, did you miss me? what do you wanna do today?" a male voice was heard on some other pont.
"Jashin Love Line…."Sasuke whispered to Gaara, feeling how his eyes opened immensely. "This place…. is the central operation...if our theory is correct, then Zabuza might have called this place a thousand times and that killed him, as well as the other people."
"Let's have a look, we can climb the emergency ladder to that window" Gaara said serious, pointing with his finger the trail they could follow to peak at any of those windows where surely a sex call center was being held there.
"Alright, let's do it." and with Sasuke's clearance, Gaara rounded the staircase and started to climb up, feeling how the strong air of the night hitted his body.
Not letting the rail go, he climbed another step until his eyes were capable of seeing inside the window, being as careful as he could so no one could spot him and Sasuke saw him from his spot below.
But before he could have a good look inside, the sound of air being torn apart crushed his ears. Gaara knew the sound damn well, someone had shot a gun in his direction.
Pulling his body as close as possible to the rail, he tried to locate the origin of the shot, then again the sound broke the silence.
"GAARA, GET DOWN! NOW!" Sasuke ordered frantically as he took his right hand to his back, pulling from his back his own gun. The clouded night obscured the moon light and the Agent was having a hard time trying to locate the shooter who luckily didn't have a clear vision of them either since nor he or Gaara had been hired, or at least that was Sasuke's first thoughts were.
Jumping the last three steps, Gaara reached Sasuke in a flash, and they both rested their bodies on the wall, looking to the sides, up, down, sides again, up and down.
Two new shots were heard and one impacted on the rail beside Sasuke, they had to get out of there, and quickly, Sasuke thought, exposing immediately the thought to his protegee who nodded at the order.
"I'll cover you, GO!" And with that, Gaara bolted down the emergency ladder, jumping two steps at a time, hearing how Sasuke too began to descend at a quick pace.
One shot.
Two more.
Silence.
Gaara jumped the last steps, missing the floor and falling on the sidewalk. Rolling his body to move out the way and standing up in a flash, he saw how Sasuke with his gun in hand ran down the stairs, jumping the last two steps and incorporating quickly from the rough landing.
"Are you alright?" the Agent asked, seeing how Gaara's hair was messed while he nodded and his white tuxedo was now stained with dirt, but no blood apparently.
Another shot came from nowhere and both policemen jumped to guard themselves behind two cars parked on the small street they were.
"Aghhh..." Sasuke grunted as he landed on his side, feeling his flesh being turned.
"SIR?" Gaara shouted, feeling a sting of despair and impotence from his position where he could not see the person attacking them and neither could he move. Looking to his side he saw how Sasuke arranged his sitting, and his back was resting against the back wheel of the car. "SASUKE?" he tried again.
"I'm fine…" he mumbled, trying to calm the young cop. He inspected his hand seeing how the bullet had just burnt the side of the palm, luckily the aggressor had the same challenge of visibility as them.
Gaara moved closer to Sasuke's position, guarding himself behind the side of the car trunk. Seeing how indeed Sasuke hadn't been hitted. "I think he is out of bullets."
he whispered, then a cold shudder freezed his spine as he heard how someone had jumped from the emergency ladder to the floor.
"At my signal… run to the main street." Sasuke whispered, pointing at the corner that was a few steps from them. Gaara nodded, doubtful on the next actions of his boss.
The sound of the cartridge reloading was heard and Sasuke knew this was their own and sole chance.
"NOW!" he shouted and Gaara bolted to the corner, not looking behind. Two shots were heard and his blood freezed, just until he reached the main street he looked back
As Gaara made his escape, Sasuke stood up with gun in hand, pointing at the man that was facing the car he was hiding behind, his fingers over the trigger didn't hesitate to pull as he saw how the hole of the gun barrel from the man was straightly directed to his head.
His gun resonated on the street and he saw how two bullet holes appeared on the brick wall beside the man's head, as he immediately crouched to protect himself, at that moment Sasuke took the opportunity to run to the main street to rejoin Gaara.
He knew his shot was going to mis, he just intended to divert the attention to make his escape. Because he didn't know if he was the only one trying to kill both of them and he doubted the man was that bold to attack them on a busy street.
Once he reached the main street both policemen ran to the first 24 hour coffee shop they saw, making their way inside, and feeling how their lungs demanded lots of air, Sasuke put away his gun in a fast movement, trying to catch his breath.
Coughing, Gaara began to speak "We should call... reinforcement."
"No," Sasuke said, coughing again before continuing " we have just confirmed... that there is something they don't want us to see…. if police close the place, we would not be able to investigate further. We need to return to the office, now."
Gaara nodded and with strange looks from the few clients inside the local, both men left the place, stopping the first cab they saw.
"To the Special Investigation Unit Building." Sasuke said to the driver that nodded in silence.
/ / / /
So this is it! Was it worth the wait? thaks to eveyone that has been reading this story, it gives me so much joy.
Until the next chapter.
URBAN L.C.