Title: A.I. Robot.
(A.I as in 'artificial intelligence, and AI as in love)
Pairing: Naru/Sasu
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: "Naruto", yeah I don't own it; not mine. I just borrow Masashi's characters and replace them in naughty positions, and I mean really naughty positions.
Summary: The year is 2259, Kohonagakure Japan. Naruto Uzumaki's life has never had it easy- school, work, friends (or the lack of) are already dragging him down but to fall in love with a robot... fate must hate him.
A/N: Sorry for the delay guys… work/school are predominant stuff. But like I say, no matter how long it takes I will update. Thanks to all y'all who read my stories. PS: you will be bullshitted by these terms.
Chapter Seven: Safe Haven... Or Not?
Previously….
Getting on his bike, Naruto biked home, mind racing a mile a minute. Something of Orochimaru's? Was Sasuke something of Orochimaru's? Was that why Sasuke was hiding on the train? That made sense. If Sasuke was Orochimaru's property, then the logical reason for him hiding from the man's enforcers was that. But why? Had Sasuke killed someone of his? The robot did say his reason for existence was to destroy.
He was trying to figure out a way to ask Sasuke about his connection with Orochimaru when he got to the apartment building and saw people milling at the ground floor. He got off the bike, curious himself.
"What's goin' on?"
"Uzumaki!" a loud voice shouted.
Naruto spun to see the landlord; a harpy named Koharu Utatane stormed out at him with fire in her dark eyes. "You! My building is destroyed because of you!"
"What?" Naruto asked, completely baffled. "What are you talking about?"
"Enforcers from Amaterasu trashed your place, dude," a teen named Konohamaru said. "They busted the door open and everything."
NO! FUCK NO! The one fucking day he had let Sasuke be alone was when this shit happened. Naruto dropped his bike and ran up the stairs, taking them three at a time until to his floor. He ran to the door, seeing the mutilated shreds of his door hanging off the hinges. The room was upended from roof to floor, bedding ripped apart, groceries scatted on the floor and clothed strewn all about. But Sasuke… Sasuke was gone.
Naruto slumped to the floor.
The place was destroyed. Utterly ravaged and destroyed. Gamabunta was in pieces, the table was broken in half, his schoolbooks were scattered and his groceries were strewn across the floor. He didn't care much about the stuff because it was just stuff, what he did care about and what truly shocked him when in truth it shouldn't have, was that Sasuke was gone.
"You have an hour to get out," Koharu Utatane said from the door, "Be glad your deposit covers the door or I'd sure you."
Naruto shot her a narrow eye as he stood. "This is a piece of shit apartment anyway."
Grabbing a duffel bag from under the remains of his bed, he yanked drawers open and shoved stuff into it. Jeans, shirts, and underwear went in haphazardly with his few textbooks and his last pair of shoes. He grabbed another bag and shoved the groceries out of the fridge and the cupboard into it. He paused to crack a protein shake and chug it all down before stuffing the rest into his bag. He looked around the room and felt a little sadness in leaving but at least he was not obligated to paying more rent.
Speaking of, he went to the hiding place, under the sink in the bathroom and tugged out the envelope of money and tucked it into his duffel. He slung the bag over his shoulder and traipsed down to the ground floor where his bike lay. His only option was to go to Iruka's and hope his old schoolteacher would not mind him bumming it on his couch for a while.
With the duffel over his shoulder and the bag of groceries balanced precariously on the handlebars, he rode to the train station and bought a ticket to the Hokage Head Planes and boarded. He stared blankly at the passing buildings until he felt the cell in his pocket vibrating. He took it out to see Shika's name flashing over the phone.
"Yeah?" He asked.
"Naruto," Shikamaru said, "Are you okay? There's a news feed streaming about a robbery in at your apartment."
He laughed, "There was no robbery at my apartment, Shika."
"Then what happened?"
"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me," Naruto said humorously.
"Try me."
"Earlier this evening I came out of my class and this man comes up to me saying I have something of Orochimaru Sannin. Can you believe that shit, Shika? What the hell would I have that belongs to a billionaire?"
The genius was silent and Naruto yanked the phone away to look at the screen to check if he had lost signal, he hadn't. "Shika? You there, buddy?"
"Naruto, there are a few rumors running around and…just lay low okay," the Nara said, his tone terser than Naruto had ever expected the guy with the stoner personality to have.
"Umm, sure," Naruto said as the call cut off. "Lay low… what the hell does that mean?"
He shoved the phone into his pocket and stared out the window until his stop was called. Maneuvering the bike out of the train and unto the ramp he got on and biked to Iruka's house. He was using muscle memory to get there, a part of his mind trying to figure out his next moves and fearing that Sasuke was in the hand of Orochimaru Sannin. How the hell had they found him anyway?
He kicked the stand down and heaved his bags up. He went to the door and just as he was reaching for the antique door knocker it was yanked open for him. Iruka looked frazzled and tugged him in. "Naruto, thank God, you're here."
Naruto frowned, "Were you expecting me or something?"
"We heard there was a break-in at your apartment building and when Sasuke came-"
"Sasuke's here?" Naruto dropped his bags and raced inside. The robot was standing at the window and spun to see him. Naruto rushed up and grabbed his face with both hands. Familiar dark eyes were a bit placid but had- and here Naruto felt like he was fooling himself- an emotion of relief was there too.
"I was so worried," Naruto said. "Are you okay?"
Sasuke nodded slowly.
Dropping his hands Naruto backed up and sank unto a chair. He raked his hand through his hair. "Sasuke, c'mere."
The robot sank unto the nearest chair while Iruka came in and dropped Naruto's bags at his feet. Thanking him with a nod, Naruto turned towards Sasuke, "Did the men who came to my apartment harm you?"
Sasuke shook his head.
"Did they find you in any way?"
Another shake.
"Why did you think to come here?"
Sasuke seemed to take in a deep breath though it was not logical for a machine to do so. "I…know… you… would… come… here… too."
Naruto sagged in his seat. "But why would they come to me?"
Iruka took a seat near him and he looked confused too. "What?"
"There was no break-in at my apartment Iruka-sensei," Naruto said darkly. "It was some of the men from Amaterasu Inc came to me to ask me to come with them. That was like ten, fifteen minutes tops before I went to my apartment and saw it smashed."
The door was pushed in and three heads darted up to see Kakashi coming in, his hair more chaotic than ever. "Naruto!"
"Yes?" He stood. "What's it?"
Kakashi came closer and all they saw an old-fashioned briefcase in his hand. He lobbied the case up onto the table and said. "I'm glad you're here or I would have Ruka call you. After you mentioned my dad I went and did some digging. This is one of the many he records my father left me, I'm glad you're here to see this. What made you just come over so suddenly?"
"You haven't heard the news?" Iruka asked.
"What news?" Kakashi asked, his lone visible eyebrow arching up. He looked around, "What's going on?"
"My apartment was crashed in," Naruto said. "Some guys from Amaterasu Inc broke in after a few of them cornered me in the parking lot of the University and asked them to come with them. I told them to get a warrant but clearly that does not work with them. They're above the law."
Kakashi shook his head, "Naruto, Amaterasu Inc is the law."
"But why me?" Naruto said. "What the hell- un sorry, heck, could I have done to get on their radar?"
Kakashi sat near him, "We'll figure that out later but you need to take a look at this," he said as he popped the briefcase open. "I went through my father's things and I found a few things that… honestly, scared the shit out of me."
Naruto leaned in as the lid flipped over and inside were files with numbers on them, 1, to 6. They were old paper files with watermarks on them and faded writing on top. "I found these buried at the very bottom of my father's things. He was very obsessed with merging artificial intelligence with the human body to make a read android."
"Did he do it?"
"No," Kakashi said as he flipped out a file with the number 1 on it, "He failed but he did make a lot of headway into it. He experimented with brain cells and an element called Chromastium, a lightweight metal found in meteorites, and found the exact amount of metal that can be fused with brain cells to handle electric signals. He then mapped out a neuro-network where the human brain cells can be fused with it."
Naruto whistled under his breath, "If he could do this with human brain cells what was stopping him from doing it with others?"
"That's the problem," Kakashi said, "There are over two hundred cells in the human body with different make-ups from the membrane to the plasma. The liver cell is different from and Epithelial Cells. Not to mention nerve Cells, muscle cells, stem cells… it would have taken him over a hundred years of trial and error to find how much of Chromastisum each cell could handle without it collapsing."
"So…" Naruto asked, "How does this help me?"
"Just that its possible someone did take his outline and follow up on it."
Kakashi pulled out another file, this one had faded words that read Project Shinobi. This file was damaged and when was opened only had a map of the Iwakagure and a faint red circle was made over a mountain range. Now, Naruto was more confused than ever. "What's this?"
The older grimaced. "I don't know."
Plucking the folder with 1 on top, he read faded notes that read more like lab experiments. Chemicals he had never heard off and apparatus he did even know existed were mentioned. It all felt like he was having an out-of-body expense when his eyed dropped on a name that made him pause, "Uchiha? Hey Sasuke, wasn't that the name Shika used about some man, a crazy dude that was the head of the umm, Uchiha Cybernoptics? Cause this file says something about that."
The robot came to sit beside him and grabbed the file from him. "Hey!"
Sasuke ignored him and spun the pages so quickly Naruto was getting a headache. In the last page, his finger dropped on a name, "Itachi."
"Huh?" Naruto asked. "What's an Itachi?"
He spun to look at Kakashi who was a befuddled as he was. "Itachi," Sasuke said again, "001." he then pointed to himself. "003."
Naruto's eyes darted up. "There are more of you?"
"Six," Sasuke said. "Six of us."
Looking back at the briefcase, Naruto yanked number 3 out and spun to the back page. Quickly he read. "Sasuke…subject 003, I'll be damned." Tugging 2, 4, 5 and 6 out he read, "Obito subject 002, Shisui subject 004 Izuna, subject 005 and Kagami. subject 006."
Taking the map out the put it under Sasuke's nose, and pointed to the circle, "Do you know what's here?"
Sasuke shook his head.
"Shika did say Madara had a lab that no one knew about…could it be here?" Naruto mused out loud. "Kakashi, did your father ever say something about working with Madara Uchiha?"
"No," Kakashi said as he eyes Sasuke, "But there is something you should know about that man." he tugged out his phone, typed something into it and a second later showed it to Naruto. For a moment Naruto swore was looking at Sasuke. He even spun to look at the robot the back at the phone. Madara Uchiha was a carbon copy of Sasuke…or was it that Sasuke was a carbon copy of Madara? They both had dark hair, pale skin, dark eyes, and similar face structure. Fuckin' identical.
Shaking his head, Naruto ran his hands over his face, "This is way to freaking freaky for me. I need a break. Iruka-sensei, I bought a bag of foodstuff. I dunno if we can cobble some kind of meal out of it or somethin', but I'm hungry, damn near starving."
"I can make you a sandwich while I get dinner started," Iruka offered and Naruto nodded as he went back to searching the files.
Naruto kicked back and took up Sasuke's file, hoping to God there was some kind of cheat sheet inside to let him know what kind of programming was running through Sasuke's head. There was nothing about Sasuke's programming but there was a lot of ideas about what abilities to give Sasuke. Naruto went down the list and checked them off: camouflage systems, that silver shimmer of his, check, rapid mobility and reflex systems, check, retina scan and DNA assimilation to the owner, check, but the one named RCT to IDA had him stop. "Hey Kakashi, what does RCT to IDA mean?"
"I have no idea," the silver-haired man shrugged.
Sasuke then grabbed a pen and wrote on the file; React to immediate danger approaching.
"Huh," Naruto said, "Would have never thought of that."
Them the robot- the motherfuckin' goddamn smug robot- rolled his eyes and grunted, "Hn."
"Cocky asshole," Naruto mumbled under his breath and then went back to reading. Iruka dropped a thick sandwich off on the table and Naruto absently thanked him and reached for it. Some of the systems like holographic projection and levitation felt unbelievable but x-ray vision had his mind flitting back to when Sasuke's eyes would go purple looking at the ceiling of the university cafeteria just at the drone was passing by; that shit was real.
Then it hit, like a lightning bolt to his head. The scan of Sasuke's arm into the University's system nearly had him launching out of his seat. If Sasuke was dodging the drones and the people from the Amaterasu Inc- if the cloaking in the train and looking through the fucking roof when the drone passed was any indication, and hell they were a damn good indication, Sasuke was something the company was looking for.
His eyes shot over to the robot who was looking very serene and had a hunch that they wanted Sasuke because of his abilities. But that made him wonder, was it right to give Sasuke back to them? If Sasuke was that important to him, how the hell could they have lost him? And how did Sasuke end up in that alley? He had indicated that he was not going back to his owners before so….
"Dinners ready," Iruka said and all his through derailed.
Assembling around the table Naruto sat as Iruka settled a large bowl of beef ramen in front of him. The noodles looked hand cut too. The beef slices, noodles, vegetables and egg-halves topped with spring celery and sesame seeds looked delicious. He snapped his chopsticks in half and dug in while Kakashi and Iruka shared bowls of Negimaki.
"Naruto," Iruaka asked. "Does this thing with your apartment have any adverse effect on your scholarship or school at all?"
"Nope," Naruto shrugged as he picked up and egg half. "The Uni could have less to do with me and my personal life, well not really. There's this dick Kiba who keeps getting on my case about being Bi."
"It's the twenty-third century," Iruka shook his head. "People have Zoomorphic animal inserts now; they have cat ears, dog fangs, and panda tails… why are they still harping on sexualities?"
"Hell, if I know," Naruto sniffed, he took his bowl and drank the rest of the broth. "But that bastard is on the down-low. He's hooking up with Hyuuga Neji while dating his cousin Hinata."
"Ouch," Kakashi grimaced. "Does anyone else know that?"
"After I blurted it out in the middle of the hallway, I'm sure the whole school knows," Naruto added then squinted. "And probably the lawyers in the Hyuuga family too."
"Naruto!" Iruka gasped in horror.
"What?" Naruto tried to pull off an innocent look, "He started it, you know I never back down from a challenge."
"Still," Iruka gave him his patented mother-hen look. "That was not nice of you. You need to apologize to him. Be the better man and take the higher rode."
"I would," Naruto added, "If I wanted Kiba's fist in my face,"
Iruka sighed and stood reaching for his and Kakashi's plate. Naruto did the same and took his plate to the sink. He stood a few inches over his old caretaker and deposited the bowl in the sink. He spied something he had never taken notice of before; a thin golden ring on Iruka's ring finger. "So, you and Kakashi are a thing? Like married?"
A soft red line crossed the man's cheek. "It's just a promise ring… we're still working some things out."
"Like what?" Naruto asked, taking a dish and drying it.
"His job," Iruka said, "His job is kind of demanding and he's on call at odd hours of the night. He wants a stable job before we do anything permanent."
"What does he do?"
"He's the head of Programming and Design at Chidori Corp," Iruka said.
"Are you kidding me?" Naruto gawked. "He's the guy who gets all those awesome systems into the Oculus and Winglyft cars? Dude, how much does he make like, in a day?"
"Not as much as you'd think," Kakashi added his slow easy-going smile curving his lips. He leaned on the wall with his legs crossed at the ankle. "Advanced hydraulics and measuring the exact quota of magnetism to the cube density of a three-thousand-pound car to form perfect levitation is not as attractive as you think. The work hours are crazy and the benefits are just an extra cup of coffee and a trip to the aquarium."
"Whatever," Naruto snorted, "Sound way better than dealing with asshole professor and fifteen-hour labs."
"Fifty-hour labs a two-year dissertation on hyper N-3OQ Hydraulic Systems what was got me this job," Kakashi sighed. "I wished I had gone into dentistry instead."
Shaking his head, Naruto traced Kakashi's eyes to Iruka and sighed. "I'm gonna check on Sasuke."
"Naruto," Iruka called over, "You don't have to go."
"Oh yes, I do," he grinned, "I'm not gonna stand here and see what I don't have yet. You two lovebirds need to kiss or whatever."
Dropping the washrag he went back into the living room as Kakashi slipped inside the kitchen. He went back to see Sasuke looking at his file. He sat beside him and looked at the impassive look on his robot's face.
"You alright?" He asked even though it made no sense to ask a robot that question.
Sasuke's head tilted to the side, "No."
Naruto jaw nearly dropped. " 'Scuse me?"
Sasuke then did something Naruto should be expecting but never did, he dropped his head into Naruto's neck and snuggled close in. The warmth of his fake skin was nearly enough to fool Naruto again but the lack of breathing stopped it. Having no other options, he wrapped his arm around Sasuke and buried his nose in his hair. "It's gonna be all right. We'll figure out what you are, okay."
Nothing came from Sasuke but Iruka and Kakashi then walked out and their jaws dropped. Naruto, red in the face spluttered, "Um…it-its not what it l-look like. I swear!"
A salacious grin crossed Kakashi's face, "Are you sure 'cause it looks like Sasuke wants to get busy with you and-"
Iruka slapped him. "Pervert!"
"He just does this sometimes," Naruto said. "I don't know why but he does."
"Well, it's getting late," Iruka said, "I can put you in my guest room if you want."
Naruto tried to shift but Sasuke was unmovable, "Ah…I guess I'll stay right here. I'm fine with the couch."
Iruka snickered. "Not by choice I see."
The damned robot only came in closer. "Obviously not."
"Come on 'Ruka," Kakashi wiggled his lone eyebrow, "Let the kids have some fun while we have ours."
Naruto groaned, "Not too much fun. The walls are very thin!"
The door closed behind them, and Naruto managed to shift his body so he leaned back on the couch's pillows. Sasuke was still clinging to him like a barnacle on a ship and his head was just over Naruto's heart. His eyes lowered; what would he have paid to have Sasuke be real and feel his heart thumping in time with his. His arm wrapped Sasuke close and allowed his eyes to drift with regret. He wanted this man to be real…be the reality is he was not.
His dreams were hazy, nothing was in solid in the blurred canvas of his mind. But what drew him out his sleep was his phone vibrating like an earthquake in his pocket. Sasuke sat up and looked up as Naruto dragged the cell out. He was half asleep when he said. "'Ello?"
"Naruto," Shikamaru nearly yelled. "Naruto, wherever you are you need to get out of there!"
"What?" He said he stood. "What you mean?"
Sasuke was up, his eyes were swirling purple and just as Shika yelled: "I hacked into the Amaterasu system, they're moving in on you! Run now!" Sasuke was grabbing him and yanking him out up the chair and grabbing his bag and a folder.
"Iruka!" Naruto said as he heard the drone coming on with the sound of a tsunami. "Iruka!"
The man stumbled out as Sasuke shove him out of the house and they ran out into to backyard. The strobe lights from the drone were flooding the house in blinding white light while he and Sasuke huddled behind the corner of the house. Sasuke was scanning the ground and then he was grabbing at something and yanking it up.
It was a latch to something that Naruto did not know but Sasuke yanked him towards it and inside. Naruto slipped down the corroded iron ladder and sank into ice-cold water. It was an underground tank for water supply. The city had ordered all homeowners to have a supply of water in case of drought or water cut off. Naruto briefly wondered is Sasuke with his metal body could survive being submerged in water.
Sasuke joined him in the water with his eyes still swirling purple. His fist was clenched and his body was poised to attack. Suddenly, Sasuke pressed his hand on Naruto's head and he softly pushed. Naruto took the hint and sucked in a deep breath. He sank down the water while Sasuke joined him. Sasuke's body was shimmering too as the lid was yanked up. Through the blur of the water, he saw a device possible a scanner. The device moved torturously slowly over the face of the water, back and forth, back and forth, back…and…forth.
Naruto's lungs began to burn when the device was pulled away and the lid closed. Naruto waited until his lungs were on the verge of erupting when he pulled himself up. He gasped in a deep breath while Sasuke joined him above water. He leaned his forehead on the cold metal ladder and sucked in deep breaths.
Oh. Fuck. Now he had gotten Iruka and Kakashi into his mess. Wonder-fucking-ful.
Sasuke's hand were cold under his chin and he turned to the robot. Sasuke's dark eyes were so close to him. "Sasuke?"
Cold lips were pressed on his in a closed-mouth kiss, and Naruto nearly opened his mouth but Sasuke pulled away. Naruto, however, licked his lips. "Sasuke…did you just kiss me?"
Sasuke turned away and his eyes flashed purple once more before he reached up and pushed the lips open. He climbed up with a gentle grace Naruto wished he had. All his sensibilities had spun upside and gone berserk when Sasuke's lips had touched his. He clambered up and as his wet clothed dragged him down. He got out of the tank and flopped on the dirt. His heart was hammering so hard it was a miracle it had not lurched from his throat and was beating on the ground.
A hand, a real warm hand helped him up. It was Kakashi while Iruka was holding his duffel bag, admittedly pale. "N-Naruto," Iruka stammered, "There's a warrant out for your arrest. You need to go."
Kakashi slapped the folder in his hand and said, "This is not a game at all, these people want Sasuke and they want him bad for something I am sure about what but I am damn sure I'll find when I go through those files. Get changed, lose all the technology you have, here are some cash and directions to a safe house I know of. Take Sasuke and run! Now!"
TBC
I did warn you about the bullshitting. I do not know a damn thing about hydraulics or levitation technology. I'm just a writer with an imagination into overdrive. Ps. review damnit.
