Marionette
Everyone noticed how he manipulated her, everyone but her. AU
Disclaimer: M for language, references to drug use and violence. If you are uncomfortable with these themes, don't proceed. Note that the initial draft of Chapter 10 was removed - the scenes were re-done to fit more cohesively with the tone and rest of the plot. Head back a chap if needed.
Chapter 11
"I texted you at noon that Karin was being annoying! You didn't fucking respond!" Suigetsu proclaimed.
"You texted me at noon that Karin—are you fucking kidding me? That was your way of trying to tell me that the entire fucking transaction server crashed?" Sasuke shouted back.
He had led them to the office on the first floor and slammed the door shut. Belatedly, he noted that some of Itachi's things were strewn across the wood of the executive desk he sat behind.
Suigetsu sat across from him in an oak chair, his combat boots on the ground. His shirt had ridden up from being seated and the gun tucked into the back of his waistband was now exposed.
"Yo Sasuke, one of your own ass backwards rules is to say as little detail as possible over SMS! What the fuck! Don't shoot the messenger here!"
The lull in transaction notifications at noon had not been routine, Sasuke thought to himself.
"Karin doesn't think it was random," Suigetsu added. He paused, his shark like appearance serious. He leaned forward in his chair, then said, "She thinks it was a hit."
Sasuke's expression darkened further. His white knuckled grip on the edge of the desk was so hard, he felt like the wood would splinter.
"Why would somebody hit at noon, right when the server refreshes? How would they know that's the time everything goes offline to reboot?" he asked.
Honestly, this was worse than the random body parts they'd buried the other day.
"How the fuck would I know?!" Suigetsu threw his hands up.
Shakily, Sasuke dialed the missing member of their crew and put it on speaker.
"Karin. Speak," he demanded.
He could hear the furious typing of a keyboard on Karin's end of the line.
She grumbled before barking out, "Sasuke. Where have you been?"
Suigetsu gripped the armrest of his seat, then cut in with, "He's throwing a fucking party at his house. That's where he's been!"
Sasuke eyed his associate with displeasure, then nodded at Juugo. Juugo, who had been standing guard by the door, stepped forward and clocked Suigetsu in the face.
"OW, what the FUCK?"
He told Karin to continue.
"The servers crashed. All balance transfers, ledgers, funds. Everything is offline. It's a fucking nightmare."
Sasuke furrowed his brow before asking, "How is that possible?"
"What do you think I've spent the past ten hours trying to figure out moron?!"
Suigetsu cradled his face in agony and muttered, "Why does she get away with talking to you like that?"
Karin grumbled, "Because I'm his best friend's cousin, asshole!" her voice carried on, "It looks like it was... intentional."
Sasuke tapped his fingers against the table top, his leg beginning to unconsciously bob up and down from the anxiety.
"Intentional?" he questioned.
"An intentional cyber attack," she clarified.
Sasuke's mind was racing. Their set-up was bullet proof. Secure. Everything was behind so many firewalls, he himself couldn't even straighten out the way to break it.
The ledgers, the encrypted currency— it was in the billions. For it to be wiped and turned upside down in less than 24 hours was unfathomable.
"Is…" he paused, taking a breath. "Is the money gone?" he asked quietly.
If it was, they were all dead. He was certain they'd be murdered execution style and piled into the same sloppy grave.
Not just a grave, he amended. A grave with concrete poured over it.
The people that were transacting on his website ranged from stupid college kids looking for cheap, quality drugs, to the literal evil incarnate. Scum of the earth. It was the scum of the earth that didn't take kindly to the spontaneous disappearance of vast amounts of money.
Karin was typing and continuously muttering under her breath.
"No. It's all still here. Just. The transaction codes and the encrypted exchange history have been wiped. I'm trying to recover it all now. But..."
More typing, and then a crash. She had thrown the keyboard.
"Ugh! But I need your help. This is all hands on deck. Get over here as soon as you can."
And then she hung up.
"Motherfucker."
He slammed the phone onto the desk. Eyeing it distrustfully, he knocked it to the ground. He proceeded to crush it beneath the heel of his shoe. He stared at the broken glass and jumble of wires for a moment in a daze, then looked up sharply at his associates.
"Get out of here," he demanded. "And grab Nara on your way out and take him with you."
Suigetsu stood up, "Aren't you coming?"
Sasuke stood as well and signaled at Juugo to give him another cigarette. As the larger man took one out, Sasuke changed his mind. He shook his head and said, "Just give me the whole fucking box."
Juugo nodded in acquiescence as Sasuke snatched the pack out of his hand.
Sasuke lit the square, took a drag and responded to Suigetsu, "I need to clear out the house and get my… get my girlfriend out of here."
Despite the circumstances, Suigetsu smirked and whistled.
Sasuke's face was set in stone. He blew smoke in Suigetsu's direction.
"Do you want to lose your front teeth? Shut the fuck up and get to work."
With that, he pushed past them, trusting them to know the way out.
Ino and Sakura were dipping their toes in the pool. The pool lights below the water surrounded its perimeter, making the water sparkle in the dark. Sakura was shaken, but tried to quell the feeling. She would just ask Sasuke what was going on. Simple.
Shikamaru sat behind them on a chair, puffing a cigarette and eyeing the manicure on Ino's fingers. One of her hands was placed behind her on the brick, the varnish on her nails shining. He'd missed the altercation outside, and had stepped out again shortly afterwards. He had a decent buzz. Uchiha's house was a bit too grandiose for his tastes, but he could admit that it was a good backdrop for an impromptu graduation party. If Ino had tried to stuff this many people into their apartment he would not have been happy.
He looked up as footsteps approached.
"Hey man."
Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. The guy in front of him was the definition of slime.
The girls perked up and turned around.
Suigetsu nodded his head in their direction, "Ladies."
"What is it?" Shikamaru asked suspiciously.
Ino shared a look with Sakura. This guy knew Shikamaru too?
"I'm having... an after party at the... old place. The girlfriend," Suigetsu scowled here as if the word girlfriend made him want to vomit. "She wouldn't mind if you joined. She could use your help recovering for lost time."
"Shika, who the hell is this guy?" Ino belted out in confusion.
Shikamaru dropped his cigarette to the ground and put the butt out beneath his foot.
He stood up, maintaining eye contact with Suigetsu. He grabbed his light jacket from the back of his chair and then lazily looked at Ino.
"You guys head home without me. I'm going to catch up with some old friends. Don't wait up."
Sasuke's eyes swiveled around the people left in this room of his house. Outside of a couple stragglers, it thankfully wasn't much.
Finally, he spotted the idiot lounging on the white sectional of the main living room. He was nursing a Coca-Cola and looking overly comfortable.
Fucking clown.
He approached him quickly.
"Bastard! Where the fuck did you run off to? You were there," Naruto pointed, "and then you were gone!"
Sasuke sat next to the bozo he reluctantly categorized as his closest friend. He lit another cigarette then asked, "Are you drunk? How much did you drink tonight?"
Naruto side-eyed the cigarette. He took a sip of his Coke, then reached over and grabbed the stick from Sasuke's long fingers. He took a drag. Sasuke glared at him until it was back in his hand, then made a face of disgust when he'd taken a subsequent puff. Naruto's lips had wet the entire filter.
Ugh.
Naruto coughed as they watched a couple people making the trek towards the front door.
"Nah, I'm not drunk," he started. Dramatically, he continued, "I mostly just got blown to the dome with you, when we were playing pool. I'm super stoned."
He took another sip of his soda and adjusted himself on the couch cushion before talking further.
"Don't tell anyone," he added for emphasis. "You know how judgey Ino is about that shit, I don't wanna deal with her."
Sasuke nodded in agreement. He stood up, finished his cigarette and dropped it into the can in Naruto's hand. They heard it sizzle and stared at each other from the sound.
Naruto looked down to his tainted drink in disbelief, letting out a shocked, "Wow."
"Get the rest of these people out of my house and then take Sakura home."
Naruto placed the can on the coffee table and then stretched his arms with a yawn before getting up as well.
"How am I supposed to do that? Fucking put her on the handle bars of my nonexistent bike?"
"Take one of the cars," Sasuke stated.
Naruto noticed Sasuke's fingers twitching erratically, but disregarded it as his eyes gleamed from the proclamation.
"No shit? Sick bro! Which one?"
"I don't care, take whichever one you want."
Sasuke started walking back down the hallway. He needed to get upstairs and change. This fucking sweater was suffocating him. Just. Everything was suffocating him.
Naruto followed after him and was rubbing his hands together excitedly. They approached the bottom of the staircase and Naruto spotted the back of Shikamaru's head as it disappeared through the open front door.
"Wait, why can't you take Sakura home?" he questioned.
Sasuke could feel his main phone vibrating a hole through his pocket and saw Sakura through a large window, sitting in her tight blue dress at the edge of the courtyard. She was texting furiously. After washing the dye out, she'd styled her hair in waves that cascaded down her back. The color was now a jarring hot pink from the fresh job. He knew it would fade a shade with time, but he was thrown off by the change regardless.
"I'm going to an after party," he responded, turning his focus back to Naruto.
"Sweet, why don't we all go with you?"
"You guys are not invited," Sasuke replied.
Naruto looked at him with suspicion.
"What sort of ratchet shit is going on at this after party that you can't take us with you?" Naruto questioned.
Sasuke ran a hand through his dark hair and then looked Naruto in the eye before opening with, "We're going to…"
He was thinking quickly, sifting through his brain and then he had it.
"We're going to drop some acid."
Naruto's eyes widened.
"Remember the last time you did that?" Sasuke continued.
Sasuke noticed the tips of Naruto's ears begin to turn an angry shade of red.
The blond looked behind him in paranoia and then harshly whispered, "Hey man! You said you'd never tell anyone about that."
Sasuke could feel his own neck getting hot. He gritted his teeth.
Fucking. Fucking. Naruto!
"Dude, just get the fuck out of here," he said exasperated.
Naruto gave him a look, then pulled out his phone to keep his hands busy.
"I'm serious, you better not have told Sakura that story."
Sasuke shook his head in annoyance and then made his way to head up the stairs. Why would he fucking do that? The memory was just as embarrassing for him as it was for Naruto. He was certain neither of them had touched the hallucinogen since.
It had been freshman year, before he dropped out of his program and before he had begun dating Sakura. Naruto had obtained the LSD from a frat house across the street from his apartment and had roped Sasuke into trying it with him.
"I love you man."
"Yeah," he replied, absently.
Sasuke's eyes couldn't seem to choose what to stare at. The floor was swimming. The wall was swimming. He was cradling a pillow to his chest to keep himself grounded to the couch.
"No, like I really love you."
His head snapped towards Naruto, who was edging a little too closely to him on the sofa.
He felt a snake, crawling along his shoulders, slithering up his arm and over his legs. Then he looked down and realized it was Naruto's hand caressing him over his shirt and his pants.
"Dude. WHAT THE FUCK!"
He'd shoved him angrily aside and to the ground. He'd then proceeded to glare at him for five minutes straight, before they both laughed uncontrollably for the rest of the hour.
"Stop. STOP. You're remembering it!" Naruto shouted while pointing at him from the landing.
He looked around again before continuing in a conspiratorial whisper, "I didn't come on to you, you came on to me!"
"I'm exiting this conversation now moron," Sasuke tossed, as he disappeared up the stairs.
"All right ladies, I am your designated driver this evening. If you'll follow me, your chariot awaits."
Naruto was being corny.
Ino snorted as she sipped on the end of her margarita. She looked up at Naruto, who had approached them in the courtyard.
"How are you going to take us home? I don't think walking us there counts as giving us a ride," she said smartly.
Sakura looked up from her phone.
"I saw you through the window talking to Sasuke, where did he go?" she demanded.
"Sasuke..." Naruto recalled the damning acid trip and felt his ears getting hot once again. "Sasuke went out!" he proclaimed.
Sakura's eyebrows came together and she looked down at her phone again. No new messages.
Ino noticed her friend's agitation and redirected the attention back to Naruto.
"So? How are you giving us a ride again?"
Naruto pumped his hands in excitement.
"That bastard said I could borrow whichever one of his cars I wanted!"
Ino squealed, "Oh. My. God! I've always wanted to drive in a Rolls-Royce!"
After Naruto had cleared the house of the last of the guests, he and Sakura did a lap around the estate to ensure no one was loitering around in any of the rooms.
Naruto whistled, "Geez, once in a while this place reminds me of a tomb."
Sakura looked sad as they came back down the grand staircase to retrieve Ino, her face drawn.
"Tell me about it."
Ino stood up and yawned. She was crashing. It was close to 4:00 a.m. at this point.
"Let's get a move on, the ride of my dreams is waiting!" she proclaimed.
"Which way's the garage again?" Naruto looked pointedly to Sakura.
She led them through the house and down through the lower level. As they descended the stairs, the darkness of the garage was stifling.
"It's—it's really dark..." Ino said unsurely.
Sakura, unbothered, kept stepping forward.
"The lights have a motion sensor!" she supplied.
As she hit the stone landing, sure enough, the fluorescents in the ceiling came to life.
"Holy shit!" Naruto explained.
Ino put her hand on her hip and messed with the handle of her purse before she began a rant.
"Really? Does he really need like thirty cars? This is like a crowded downtown parking garage, on a weekend. What the fuck?"
Sakura shrugged her shoulders, "Don't look at me, you guys know he's got a few screws loose."
Naruto ran up to the key closet, opened the metal door with a resounding bang and sifted through the various keys.
"Shit. I need to pee," Ino exclaimed. "But isn't the nearest bathroom like five miles back upstairs?"
Sakura laughed, "No there's a den down here. Come on, I'll take you."
"Naruto!" she yelled across the garage. "We're going to the bathroom!"
He waved them off, not paying attention. His eyes shined at the options. This was too cool. Next time he saw Sasuke he was going to demand that they have a long overdue bro date to test drive all this shit together.
The acid trip memory prickled at his brain again. Well, maybe he wouldn't call it a date to Sasuke.
Ino stumbled after Sakura in her wedged sandals.
"Seriously, Sakura. He lives here alone? This place is MASSIVE."
Sakura led her through the modern basement lounge and shrugged a sleeved shoulder.
"He's spoiled. Besides, his brother's been staying the past month."
She pointed the bathroom out to Ino and then sat herself down on the dark grey of a nearby suede sofa to wait.
Ino kept the door open and dropped her bag on the edge of the trough sink within.
Sakura could hear her peeing.
"Where are their parents?" she yelled out.
Sakura yawned and adjusted the cross body of her bag.
"I dunno. Like Bermuda or something?"
Sakura could count on half a hand the amount of times she'd even seen Sasuke's parents. It was always Itachi in place of a traditional guardian.
She could hear Ino washing her hands and turning the light off.
"That bathroom was bigger than my room at the apartment," she complained.
Sakura smiled.
Ino gave her a sassy look, then said, "Is this why you're always over here? You're playing house in a palace?"
Sakura shoved her playfully, "Oh, shut up!"
Once they'd entered the garage again, Ino froze at the headlights that were glaring at them.
"He told you to take any car you wanted and you— you picked a fucking Mini Coupe?!" she asked, outraged.
"Fuck yeah, baby!" Naruto yelled from behind the steering wheel.
Sakura made a face.
"I bet you didn't even know he had this, did you Sakura-chan?!"
"Can't say that I did," she supplied.
She approached the passenger side and opened the door. Sloppily, Ino clambered into the back seat before Sakura pushed the chair back and sat down in the front.
"This shit is sick. Look, look it's a convertible," Naruto exclaimed. He kept pressing the button to pull the roof on and off repeatedly, as if that would help illustrate his point to the girls.
"You sure you're not drunk?" Ino asked suspiciously.
Naruto's hand froze on the roof button.
"Drunk? Nooooo, I'm definitely not druuuuunk."
Sakura tamped down a smile. She knew a stoned Naruto when she saw one, but she wasn't going to throw him to the wolves.
TBC...
