Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Summary: Between love and duty, an undercover agent finds herself caught in a dangerous game between three notorious gang leaders of Konoha. Alternate universe.
Kakashi. Asuma. Genma. X Kurenai.
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Shoot Me Down
By: kamenbutoukai
Chapter 4 – Kiken / Danger
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"…"
Both of her ruby eyes flickered to each of the men's faces. Slight anxiety increased as she felt the muted stillness of the corner in the bar.
None of them even bothered to answer her. Instead, they glanced at her with an array of various expressions written all over their faces. Just looking at them gave Kurenai a queasy and apprehensive urge to disappear from the spot.
She stood on the verge of her toes, ready to take off any second. They were just sitting there gawking at her like there was no tomorrow.
Kurenai resisted the urge to bring her nails to her teeth and chew on them.
'Did they already figure me out!'
Kurenai's eyes shot at the silver haired man. His black eye still punctured through her and his face was as deadpan as a blank sheet.
'He likes playing with people's minds.'
Hayate's words resonated in her head.
'So this is Hatake…' she thought.
Why did he have to be the one from the truck incident!
She gazed at the silvery haired man with equal fierceness in return, as if she was challenging him to some sort of staring contest.
He, however, didn't even blink nor seemed fazed that she was giving him a glare complete with killer intent. Instead, he shot up a delicate eyebrow towards her.
"It seems like you just made a new enemy, Kakashi."
Kurenai looked over at the man smoking. He offered a laughing grin. He extinguished his cigarette directly onto the table and stood up to his full height. His silhouette emerged over her like a tower.
Kurenai found it quite difficult to maintain eye contact with him. However, she kept staring, even though she was unable to even see his whole face.
The tall man noticed her concealed struggle in attempting to keep a straight glare. He slightly bent down to the equivalent stature of hers and watched Kurenai's reaction to his behaviour.
All in all, Kurenai was taken aback by this act of generosity, considering that the typical gang leaders were cold blooded and despicable. Although the Morino described them as notorious, Kurenai found them rather considerate.
She kept her composed facial expression as the tall man watched her attentively.
"You've got pretty eyes there, lady. Almost like Kakashi's. But apparently, yours are attractive."
Kurenai blinked a few times and tried hard not to twitch.
Without a warning, the tall man was shoved into his original seat and she felt a figure sweep next to her side.
"Don't take her all to yourself, Asuma. After all, I met her first."
A hand covered her eyes, preventing Kurenai from discovering who it was. But she recognized that voice. Unaware of what was occurring; Kurenai felt warm breath against her left ear.
"The name's Genma. Remember me, sweetheart?"
A hand held her left hand and then ran up her arm. His fingers traced her jaw line, almost agonizingly. Kurenai didn't even realize that her pulse raced faster than before. But she didn't want it. Kurenai refused to fall for his tactics. She was an expert at this. She was supposed to counter their antics with her own.
Kurenai took her right hand and placed it on top of the hand covering her eyes.
"Please refrain yourself from touching me."
Surprisingly even to herself, Kurenai's words sounded daring and fierce. There was a brief silence before the sound of rich laughter poured into the air.
Although the blazing candle set a mere speck of brightness, it still burnt her eyes as she removed the hand from her eyes.
As they both stood there, Kurenai immediately remembered the incident that happened in front of the convenience store. In the same situation, both of them stared into each other's eyes and their hands were held in a grip.
Kurenai sucked in some air as she noticed the similar proximity between the two of them and also the fact that the other two gang leaders were watching them with enjoyment of some sort. She shook her hand out of the man's own hand and placed in it her pocket.
"May I take your order?" she said in an unsteady voice.
"Take your seat, Genma. She doesn't know you."
"Oh…I'm sure she does…"
Genma winked an eye at her before sitting down in his chair.
"Just get us three glasses of water."
Her copper eyes shot at the man who just spoke. His words were spoken in a faint, yet low manner. Kurenai nodded at the man, who still at that moment continued stare at her with his single black eye and hastily left the table, and amazingly, she did so without stumbling.
When she got to the counter, Kurenai felt a loud ringing in her head and her breathing was hard as if she ran three laps on a track under a minute.
"Are you ok?"
Kurenai looked up to see Jiraiya with a very pleased expression set on his face.
"What," she asked with a blank face.
"Nothing. Nothing at all…" His eyes twinkled with delight.
Kurenai scowled at him and turned around to face the pearl-eyed bartender.
"Hey, can you get me three glasses of ice water?"
But Hinata didn't seem to take notice of the order. Her concentration seemed determined on the sun-kissed haired man, Naruto. She flushed often and looked away. Kurenai smiled at herself as she watched Hinata watch Naruto tenderly. When was the last time she experienced young love like that?
Jiraiya waved a hand in front of her face though. This brought Hinata out of her dreamy trance and made her quite startled. Kurenai once again told her the order and she nodded. But as she started reaching for the cups placed in a cupboard, Kurenai could see that Hinata was blushing furiously.
"It's kind of odd that they only wanted water. Genma always has a thing for getting wasted."
Kurenai stared at him curious eyes.
"Why?
"He just likes getting drunk and making out with girls. He's a womanizer. And when he sees a challenge, he'll go for it." The glimmer in his eyes shone vividly. "But that also goes for Asuma and Kakashi. They're a bit…competitive. I must say though, Kakashi is a bit more fierce, and Asuma conceals his desires skillfully."
Kurenai turned her attention to the table where she was supposed to serve. The three men were grouped together, appearing like they were discussing in a serious conversation. Suddenly, Genma looked up at her and winked. Kurenai hurriedly switched her concentration to the other female waitresses.
Apparently, Ino and Sakura had something for the young man with scarlet eyes she was watching earlier that night. They kept stealing glances at him and they threw murderous looks at each other.
'Are they really best friends?' she thought as she caught them giving each other dirty looks.
It would have gotten messy if they were serving the same table. Sakura was serving the boy, while Ino was serving a different table next to Sakura's. It was quite amusing to see Ino 'accidentally' brushing against the man's side.
Kurenai looked over at Tenten's table. She watched Tenten closely and noticed that she was trying to avoid eye contact with the man she was serving. The man who sat there had long coffee hair which was held back by a low ponytail.
She studied him with suspicion. From the looks of it, he had some interest in Tenten because the stare that was pointed to her face did not waver a bit nor did he blink even once. As Kurenai continued to watch him intently, he turned his head at her and raised an eyebrow. They both attentively examined each other, looking for possible signs of threat.
When she looked at his eyes, Kurenai almost knitted her eyebrows together. Fortunately, she didn't. His eyes, however, were shockingly similar to Hinata's, but a deeper shade of a pearl-silver.
The eye contact broke after Tenten tapped on his shoulder to invite him in the conversation she had with another young man in the company of also a dog sitting atop of his head.
This man was also loud, by all means. However, he was not as deafening as the Naruto kid, who sat at Ino's table. Ino was apparently about to burst out in anger at the blonde man for spilling some beer onto her uniform. But of course, she was not allowed to do so to a customer and certainly not to a gang member. The sun-kissed hair man merely laughed it off and continued to have strange, little competitions with a barely audible man, who hid his face with the high-collar jacket and sunglasses he adorned.
Kurenai laughed inwardly and then looked at the table that seemed to isolate itself from the rest, other than the leaders' table.
Instead of entertaining them, Temari sat down at the table with a man with striking red hair and a man with intricate purple designs painted across his face.
It struck Kurenai to be somewhat odd for Temari to have a discussion with these people. She would just have to find out later. There were several things she still needed to learn about this gang.
Kurenai felt a hand on her shoulder, which broke her train of thoughts. On reflex, she held onto the hand and swiftly turned around, twisting the wrist a bit. When she was fully turned, she placed her other hand on the person's neck. But it was just Hinata, who seemed dumbstruck by Kurenai's actions.
Realizing what she just did, Kurenai hastily dropped Hinata's hand.
"Oh, Hinata-chan! It's just you! You scared me for a second there!"
Kurenai chuckled nervously as Hinata perplexedly stared at her.
"Um…I've been c-calling you for about…f-five minutes now. You d-didn't seem to hear m-me…" She let her voice trail off while she refused to connect her eyes with Kurenai.
"Really? I'm terribly sorry Hinata-chan. I'm just in my own little world here..."
Hinata nodded slowly as she slid a tray with three glasses of water towards her. Kurenai thanked her as she took the tray and walked towards the dreaded table once more.
They all slumped in their chairs as they observed her coming down the aisle towards their table. She stared at the tray as she placed the three cups onto the table. Droplets of ice water bit through her skin, but Kurenai ignored the coldness of it.
"Why don't you take a sit with us, honey?"
Kurenai raised her head a bit so she didn't seem rude.
"There is no reason for me to sit here," she responded calmly, despite the racing of her heartbeat.
"I'm sure there is. Genma wants you to sit here."
The man made a dance of smoke-wisps around her, while he dragged out a chair for her to be seated. She hesitantly sat down in the chair as she felt their eyes rip into her body.
"Name?"
Kurenai slowly raised her eyes to find the man who pulled out the chair for her leaning towards her with interest.
"…Yue Kurenai."
"Kurenai. It suits you. I'm Sarutobi Asuma, and I bet Genma has already introduced himself to you."
Kurenai turned her head to find the man named Genma waving his senbon at her and then blew her a kiss. She gave a smirked and then gazed forward to the masked man as she expected an introduction from him. However, it was silent between the group until he bent forward towards her.
"Hatake Kakashi."
Bowing just a bit, the gears in Kurenai's head started turning.
"Do you know who we are, Kurenai-chan?" asked Genma.
"Is there something I must know about you men that I have yet to find out?" Kurenai lied as she placed her chin on her fist and crossed her leg over the other. "I've just started working here."
Genma also leaned to her face and smirked.
"We may seem like ordinary people here…" He threw the senbon towards Asuma.
With the cigarette in his mouth held by his left hand, Asuma raised his right hand to reveal the senbon tightly secured around his index and middle finger. He took a puff and breathed out the fumes into the air.
"…But we're the leaders of a gang," Asuma finished. He focused his concentration onto the senbon and threw it at Kakashi.
Kurenai didn't even see a sign of body movement. But he sat there with the senbon twirling in his fingers.
"You guys shouldn't be throwing these things around randomly," he quietly said. Kurenai's eyes widened as he took aim at Kurenai. "It's a dangerous tool."
It seemed like time froze as he thrust the sharp object towards her. Kurenai didn't even blink when she felt it gracing by her cheek. The sound of a 'thud' was heard after it hit the wall on the other side of the room. But no one seemed to notice.
Kurenai looked at Kakashi with an incredulous look. She felt a large hand envelop her lower jaw and guide her gaze to her left.
Asuma had a smirk on his face and there was a perilous intent in his eyes that read if she dared to say anything against him, she would to pay for it.
"Looks can be deceiving, don't you agree?"
To her right, Genma gave a dark laugh and reached over to twirled strands of hair from her ponytail between his fingers.
"We are more aggressive than you expect."
It seemed like there were many pauses throughout that evening because they were once again in one of those silent moments where no one talked, but merely stared at one another.
At long last, Asuma removed his hand from her chin and continued smoking.
"But it's much more different with attractive women."
Kurenai felt chills go up her spine as the Genma finished his statement. The men looked at each other intently.
Indeed, it seemed much more different with women. But it also seemed much more dangerous.
"You may leave us now."
Kurenai nodded at Kakashi and got up from her seat.
As she walked towards the counter, she heard a clink of a cup and Kakashi announced that they start the meeting.
Jiraiya led them to a private room and closed the door.
It was quiet in the bar as the younger females cleaned up the tables from the glasses.
"Jiraiya! Why do I have to serve Naruto's table? He's so infuriating!" Ino whined. She glared at Sakura. "Why can't I serve Sasuke's table?"
Jiraiya only sighed and ignored her.
"HEY PERVERT OLD MAN! You shouldn't ignore me!"
"Ino…stop whining. Next week you can serve Sasuke's table," Sakura resignedly said as she wiped the table.
The other girls turned to look at Sakura with stunned expressions.
Tenten hurriedly ran towards her and placed a hand on her forehead.
"Are you feeling sick? Do you want me to get you some medicine?"
It was a mere joke to lighten up the mood, but it seemed to have made things much worse.
Sakura pushed Tenten's hand away and looked down, letting her hair hide her eyes. She stood there with shaking shoulders and then suddenly ran to the dressing room.
Temari looked at Ino, and then pointed her head towards the direction of the dressing room. Ino nodded in response and dragged her feet to the room.
Jiraiya cleared his throat loudly as he got the females' attention.
"After the meeting, the gang will be staying here for another half hour. Since Ino and Sakura won't be able to serve, I want Tenten to serve the leaders and Temari to serve the rest."
"…But what about Kurenai?"
"I want Kurenai to stay here and help Hinata-chan with the drinks because after the meeting, they're going to be asking for a lot of drinks." Jiraiya turned to Kurenai.
"I believe Tsunade told me you have had some experience with mixing drinks. Am I correct?" he asked.
Kurenai nodded as she remembered the assignment in which she had to work as a bartender. Shikamaru and Hayate were there too, but as customers. It was a success, but with many problems involved. It was quite complicated to satisfy the objective. After all, he noticed that the drink did not have alcohol, but poison as an alternative.
"Good. Temari and Tenten, finish cleaning up, and Hinata-chan, I want you to show Kurenai the places where all the drinks can be found."
After half and hour of setting up in silence, the door to the private room opened. The faces of each member seemed solemn as they each stepped out. But as soon as the blonde male walked out there, he threw fists into the air and cheered.
"It's time to get wasted!"
Hinata and Kurenai hurriedly made shots as Tenten and Temari came back with orders of alcoholic beverages. Hinata even accidentally broke a bottle of wine and Kurenai spilt a large amount of cocktails. Despite this, the four females had entertainment making mistakes, while the gang members had a strange idea of pleasure.
Despite the lack of care Kurenai put into making drinks, she always managed to put the precise alcohol amount in each drink somehow. Hinata seemed dazed at watching Kurenai make drinks with expertise far greater than her own.
"Hey Hinata-chan, can I ask you a question?"
Hinata looked at her as she wiped sweat on her forehead. She nodded for her to continue.
"You know that man there?" Kurenai pointed at the coffee haired man who stoically sat there, refusing any drinks offered by his companions. "Is he related to you? He has the same eyes as you."
Hinata looked around cautiously before acting in response.
"He's my cousin. There were some serious problems within my family. It's hard to explain…My father considered me a weakling and apparently, my younger sister, Hanabi, is a much more suitable successor to the clan than I am," Hanabi said, as she averted her eyes to her feet.
"I left the clan about three years ago and continued to study medical. My cousin held resentment against my family ever since he was a child, and he had already abandoned the clan. So when I moved out, he helped and let me live with him. He thinks it's not safe for me to live alone."
"So…you live with him, even though he's part of a ruthless gang?" Hinata closed her eyes and smiled.
"Neji is my cousin…Even though he's a gangster, I'm not that scared to live with him. I'm absolutely confident that he wouldn't do anything to jeopardize my life or his own. After the first few days I lived with him, he wasn't too happy with me, since he hated my side of the family. But now, I feel we are close enough to be called siblings. Once you get to know him, he's just an ordinary person," replied Hinata. "Just overly protective."
"If you don't mind me asking…what is your family name?" Kurenai asked without sounding curious.
"I'm regretful to be called one, but we're from the Hyuuga clan."
"I see…"
There was a pregnant pause between the two of them. Hinata raised her head at Kurenai, which translated into that she wish to no longer talk about the issue. Kurenai nodded as she understood. They both carried on with the ordered alcohol beverages.
Kurenai took notice of a peculiar static in the room somewhere. But no one appeared to be aware of it
"Damn it Hayate! How can you mix up the wires?"
"Stop freaking –cough- out! It's your mistake for leaving so many colored wires in one spot…."
Kurenai piercingly stood up straight and searched around the bar. Where did those voices come from? Hinata twisted around from the tequila she was presently making to glance at her with concern.
"Is something bothering you, Kurenai-san?"
"Um…nothing, Hinata-chan," she replied as she knitted her eyebrows together.
"We're coming from your earpiece, woman."
As if a light bulb in her head just set in motion, Kurenai immediately remembered about the equipment she was given.
"Hinata-chan. Where's the restroom?"
"Just follow this little hallway. It leads you there. There only one restroom though. The waitresses would generally use the lavatory in the change room, but seeing as Ino and Sakura are in there…I believe it's better for you to use the public one," Hinata replied as she pointed to a corridor by the dressing room.
"Thanks…I'll be back shortly."
While finishing her tequila shot, Hinata nodded her head as Kurenai left to a hallway that guided her towards the restroom. When Kurenai entered, she locked the door and bent forward with her back against the wall.
"Way to come at a fine moment," she sarcastically said.
"You can't blame us. Hayate mixed the wires."
Kurenai took notice of a few punches and hushed arguments, and the repetitive phrase, "It's your fault!"
"It was Shikanaru's fault -cough- He arranged the wrong wires for me to connect," Hayate said breathlessly.
Kurenai heard a low murmur of "how troublesome" in the background. Hayate coughed a number of times before talking,
"Did you discover anything yet?"
"Mostly that these people are more like womanizers than people made up of a gang," Kurenai mumbled.
"Gangs gotta have that stuff. It's all about drugs, sex and money." Shikamaru whistled.
"…Besides that, I discovered just some minor things about the other members. There is one young man named Sasuke, who has raven hair and red colored eyes. Another suspicious man has lengthy dark, brown hair and silver eyes named Hyuuga Neji."
"Red and silver eyes? Abnormal people, don't you agree?"
"It is reasonably rare. But the Sasuke boy has eyes comparable to Hatake's Sharingan."
In the background, there were the clicks of the keyboard and added murmurs.
"There was a clan annihilated about ten years ago. It was called the Uchiha clan, and every single one of the descendants had a special eye skill called Sharingan. According to this information, Uchiha Sasuke is the only surviving person of the clan after the massacre," Shikamaru said. "Apparently, his older brother Uchiha Itachi was responsible for the massacre, and is currently in charge of another gang. Perhaps Hatake is related to them?"
Kurenai pressed her lips together.
"I'll check it out. What about the Hyuuga?"
"Not much information about them. But rumor has it that they were even stronger than the Uchiha clan. They also have a special eye technique called Byakugan, which surpasses the power of the Sharingan. You should watch out for him especially. The Neji boy left the clan because of some controversy involving the main branch of the family. "
"Alright."
Kurenai heaved a sigh as she massaged her palms together. She fixed your eyes on her reflection in the mirror.
"Well, now that I have had contact with them. What do you want me to do?"
"Just gain their trust for the time being. We still require the approval of some things from Morino and Tsunade. We can't be too intolerant."
"I'm leaving now. Over and out." She turned off the devices and sighed again.
Kurenai pursed her lips again as she retied her tresses into a ponytail. As she straightened her insufferable uniform, Kurenai unlocked the door and took a footstep outside the restroom.
Without a warning, Kurenai's body collided into another figure. Every part of it was vague to Kurenai, but she was convinced that she misplaced her footing and had already lost her sense of balance. Just before her head collided with the faucet, Kurenai became aware of a pair of slim, but muscular arms enveloping themselves around her waist.
There was the echo of breaths and footsteps. Just when Kurenai thought she was saved, she felt that something else more dangerous than smashing her head was standing right in front of her.
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First of all, I just wanted to sorry for such a late update. There were several problems going on with my internet server and my schedule with school is hectic. So in return for my tardiness, I managed to write TWO more chapters for all you guys who actually like my story! Enjoy!
kamen
Constructive criticism, reviews, and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!