When Lightning Strikes

celestia193's Author's Note: Happy Holidays everyone! In celebration of the holidays (and because we had this kicking around in our writing files) we bring you...a smashing together of science fiction and fantasy with a magitek future! Enjoy the Yuletide season with some of our favourite sexy Uchiha boys. ;)

Disclaimer: We don't own Naruto or make any profit off of our fanfics.

Chapter 1

Home. He was finally home. That fire had been almost mythological in proportions. The biggest Konoha had seen in at least a century.

"Well, at least I'm home now. Itachi is probably going half insane." Sasuke snorts as he open the mailbox. It didn't matter how old he got or how many fires he put out, his older brother fretted even worse than their mother. Apparently, the fact that fire was Sasuke's natural affinity wasn't enough to make his older brother's worries. There were days when Sasuke almost wished his magic was more ice based if only to force Itachi to chill. Damn it. Sasuke knew what he was doing.

"That's weird." Sasuke blinks, pulling out a letter stuffed so full it bordered on being preposterous. It was a miracle the damn thing hadn't been ripped apart. Shrugging, he heads inside as he rips the envelope open anyway. "Itachi, I'm home. Don't worry. I'm still fireproof."

"Yes, as you tell me every time that you come home from one of your disaster missions." Itachi appears in the doorway to the kitchen with a frown on his face and a sigh on his lips. "And what will happen when one of these days you find a fire that even your powers can't extinguish?" Itachi despaired for his little brother whenever Sasuke left the house on one of those calls he would get, sometimes in the middle of the night. How many times had Itachi woken up, only to find his little brother packing an emergency bag so that he could go on one of his trips?

"Itachi, even if I couldn't handle the entire blaze...I never go alone. We could manage until more emergency personnel arrived." He closes the distance between them and flicks Itachi's forehead. "So stop worrying so much. You'll go gray before Father at this rate."

Itachi frowns at the achingly familiar childhood gesture and catches his brother's wrist. "Yes…but how long until you're noticed? Sasuke…I told you time and time again, if you use your powers so openly and to that degree, you'll inevitably be noticed by all of the wrong people, instead of the ones who are grateful to have you."

"I'm always covered by my gear. I don't even wear a nametag and if they come...I doubt they're stronger than a wildfire." He sighs and hugs Itachi. The public's perception of their kind was mixed to say the least. Mercifully, it was only a small minority of prejudiced cowards they had to worry about. "Most people don't care to begin with. The vast majority of magic users don't have enough power to worry over and the ones that do, well everyone knows about the database. Sure, there are some freakshows out there, but I'm a big boy. If they wanna pick a fight, it will be their asses on the ground. Not mine."

"Sasuke…" Itachi Brushes back a few locks of his little brother's spiky raven hair. "I just don't want to see you get into trouble with the people that you can't just put on the ground, then accuse of being bigots and harassing you." If it were only those sorts of people then Itachi wouldn't protest so much. "You're on the news, you know. Not your face or your voice, but your actions. People know that you exist, if not who you are. And the last thing I want is for you to be found out and taken away to serve higher powers against your will."

Maybe, if Sasuke was lucky, they might try to recruit him into a public position, where Sasuke's powers could be seen and used for good things. But Itachi feared that with Sasuke's temper and raw power, that they might put him to work in secret places on darker agendas. If only he could have kept Sasuke's name out of that damned database…then maybe he wouldn't be so afraid of losing his little brother.

"Itachi, what's the alternative? To sit around on my ass and let the fires blaze longer? To let people die because MAYBE someone MIGHT do something to me?" Sasuke rolls his eyes at the thought. He wouldn't do it. It was his magic damn it and he'd use it as he saw fit. He finishes ripping apart the envelope a bit more viciously than was absolutely necessarily only to blink as he reads the contents. "Oh."

"Sasuke, what…?" Itachi's gaze falls to the seal on the envelope and his heart sinks into his stomach. "…They've found you." That seal was everything that Itachi had tried to warn Sasuke about for years now. The last time he'd seen a seal like that…his best friend in all of the world had disappeared from three years, only to resurface doing some sort of…secret security work that he couldn't talk about. That government seal was used, to Itachi's knowledge, only in cases of correspondence with their kind, those with the magic gene in their blood. And only the ones who were too dangerous to roam free.

"Itachi, relax. Our family is well known for producing powerful magic users." Sasuke tries to force himself to focus on the words of the page, but no matter how many times he read them.. the information didn't stick. Not when his brother was staring at him like a ghost. "They were going to make an offer to me sooner or later because my last name is Uchiha."

"Then are you going to try to convince them that putting out fires is all that your powers can do?" Itachi had done something of the sort. He hid his powers to the best of his abilities, pretended that his abilities were solely in the mind, that he was best suited for academics. He'd kept up that facade his entire life, even with his family. Their family was also known for producing geniuses, and some of his talents he'd managed to pass off as natural skill and intelligence. But Sasuke…his powers were loud and overt. And if they knew about the others… "Or…what have they offered you?"

"Whoever wrote it essentially says that I've been spotted. Right now I'm on the gold list for potential recruits." Something that Sasuke knew could end really well for him if he played his cards right. It meant he was a top priority for recruitment and he'd likely get at least some choice of which position he'd like. Perhaps even just get to decide what he wanted point blank. "But I could end up on the red list if I'm not careful. So either tone down the heroics to fly under the radar or meet him at the Eternity Nightclub to talk about my future. It's got an official insignia." No one would dare forge THAT. Whoever wrote this was working for the government. Pure and simple.

It was exactly what Itachi had dreaded would happen. Being on the gold list could be a huge benefit or a fall from grace. Sasuke's powers had been spotted and his little brother had been acknowledged for the strength of those powers and the dominance of his magical genes. But if he wasn't careful…he could end up on their danger list. The one that usually ended with imprisonment or just…disappearing entirely. Like his friend had…for a time. "You're going to meet with the sender, aren't you?"

"I kinda have to. It says 'THEY'VE' had their eyes on me for awhile. Even if I didn't use my powers at all, there's a chance someone else might approach me later." He looks at Itachi almost apologetically. Sasuke understood his brother's fears. He wasn't blind to the dangers. He just refused to spend the rest of his life hiding. "Right now, I'm on someone's gold list and the only thing they know about me is I put out wildfires. They have no reason to be mad at me. If anything, I've been doing them a favor. It's better to go while they think of me as a 'good boy.'"

Itachi's heart thumps heavily in his chest, filled with fear for his younger brother. "…If you go, make sure to keep me on your speed dial. If anything goes wrong, call me. If you text, I'll know that things are fine. If you call, I'll be there in a heartbeat." And he had no qualms about using his powers to destroy the mind of anyone who tried to hurt his little brother.

Sasuke nods, hugging his brother once more. "Got it. Text, good. Call, emergency. It's going to be alright, Itachi. There are a lot of our kind who actually enjoy working for the government. Maybe they'll just have me put out fires, but be a public face for them."

"I hope that you're right, Sasuke…that all they want is to use your pretty face." Itachi wraps his arms tightly around Sasuke, but still it felt like his little brother was going to disappear, and he would never see Sasuke again. "…Let's have dinner before you go. I started the curry simmering before I left for the university and I've been putting the rest together after I finished teaching for the day."

"I do not have a pretty face, but that's probably all it is. They likely just want to make sure I'm not going to start fires and want credit for the ones I put out. Put my face on recruitment posters." He sighs, tightening the embrace. Sasuke had only seen Itachi this way once and that was when Shisui went away. "Dinner sounds great. No one cooks like you and Mother."

Itachi truly hoped that was all it was. If he could take this bullet for his brother, he would do it in a heartbeat. "I'm glad you think so. And I made sure to give it a hint of spice just the way you like it."

Eternity, a nightclub smack in the middle of downtown, surrounded but activity at all hours of the day and night, and famed as a hotspot for food and drinks and music. The outside display's elegant purple theme stops at the doors, shifting into a sleek, silvery steel interior accented all over with blue and pops of gold. It was everything that the modern nightclub should be in the twenty-third century.

Within the club, a long, oval bar stands in the center, with stools dotting the counter and booths lining the walls. Beyond it, the dance floor sings with live music and a dazzling light display. Citrus liqueur hangs in the air in five flavors, suffusing the club with a tantalizing sweet and sour scent.

Sasuke had never been much of a nightclub person, but even by his standards this place was enchanting. There was something almost otherworldly about the way Eternity could spellbind anyone's senses. It was a feast for the eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and well...yes, definitely for the hands if you were trying to find a dancing partner. It was also too damn crowded for his tastes. "How the hell am I even supposed to find him?"

The letter had included a date and time, even a map to the nightclub, but no name, no description. It had been left so incredibly vague that any one of the patrons could be his contact. On purpose, no doubt.

Four bartenders circle the bar, waiting on the drinking needs of the nearly two hundred patrons already in the club that evening. But not one of them looked like a government recruiter. Not that it would make sense for them to look like one in a place like this.

Sasuke sighs at that knowledge as moves to the bar. Finding an empty stool, he sits down. If the recruiter was here...Sasuke couldn't think of a more likely place for him to look. He'd find him. Right? There was no way the recruiter would go through all that trouble just to cave that easily.

A pretty bartender with bright mint-green hair smiles at Sasuke as he sits in front of her. "What can I get for ya? We've got fifty-two beers on tap, every hard liquor you can think of, and a few surprises on the menu for the brave."

"A shot of vodka. Thanks." Sasuke offers her a polite smile. He didn't want to be a jerk, but the last thing he needed was for the bartender to think he was flirting. A drink did sound good, though. His alcohol tolerance was high enough even a shot of the hard stuff wouldn't cloud his judgment. It might calm his nerves, though.

"Coming right up." She pulls out a crystal clear shot glass from under the bar and turns to grab a bottle from the top shelf.

"Make that two shots of vodka and your special Sunset cooler, Fu. On me." The once vacant seat to Sasuke's left finds itself full of six feet of tall, dark, and handsome when a man with dark, curly black hair and pale moon-like skin seats himself cheerfully next to his innocent victim.

Sasuke glances at the man beside him. This time there was no need to force a polite smile. Sure, the circumstances were far from ideal, but that was a gorgeous man. One who had just bought him a drink and any other night, well he might try his luck. Unfortunately, he was still waiting for the recruiter. "Thanks, but I'm waiting for someone."

"Aren't we all…" He flashes a smile at the bartender and rests his chin on his hand. "I'm here to meet someone as well, someone I haven't seen in a long time."

Fu slides them a pair of shots across the bar, along with a gold, orange, and red drink in a tall glass. She winks slyly at the mysterious man. "It's nice to see you Raven. Are you here to have some fun tonight?"

"Maybe, but first I have business to attend to." Raven picks up both shots and the cooler and moves to stand. He catches Sasuke's eyes and nods towards one of the booths. "Come on, let's go have a chat, Sasuke. It's been a while since I last had the chance to talk to my cute little cousin."

He blinks as the pieces clicked into place. It couldn't be. It'd been years, but Sasuke could remember the cousin who hung around Itachi. One with a warm smile...just like that. "Shisui?"

It was just his luck. Oh no. The hot guy that bought him a drink couldn't just be a handsome stranger trying to flirt. It was his cousin. Well, his third cousin four times removed cousin or was it the other way around? Sasuke always got those mixed up. Never mind. It didn't matter. It couldn't be a coincidence. "Yeah. It's been awhile...didn't expect you to be a recruiter." Even with the music muffing conversation, Sasuke more mouths the words than anything as he follows Shisui to a booth tucked away into the corner of the club. Whatever the outcome of their conversation, he sure as hell didn't want random clubbers to overhear it.

Shisui smiles wryly and sets their drinks down on the table within the booth, next to a plate of breaded fish, a pan of tomato-laden pizza, and a sharing sized bowl of pasta. "And I didn't expect you to end up going so public with your magic. You're lucky that I was keeping an eye on you long before anyone else was." He seats himself on one bench and motions for Sasuke to take the other as he flicks a finger and closes a curtain across the booth's entrance. "There, now we'll actually have some privacy and won't be overheard."

"If I didn't know what your job was now and if you weren't my cousin, I'd accuse you of trying to seduce me between the drinks and the full course meal." Sasuke shakes his head, sarcasm being his primary coping mechanism of choice. "Anyway, I haven't broken any laws. Not even close. They can't seriously be upset that I put out wildfires. It's my side job. I get paid to do it. Everything about it is legit."

"And I know that. But that's because I'm your cousin, and I know you better than anyone else keeping an eye on you." Shisui couldn't say the same for others, though. "But what stops someone with the ability to absorb fire from setting fires that devastate entire cities? You've been seen putting out wildfires spanning ten square miles, Sasuke. That…frightens some people."

"They could use that logic on anyone or anything powerful. I guess the fact I've been putting them out somehow doesn't prove anything?" Sasuke shakes his head. They both knew the answer to that. It was up to him to make himself sound as unthreatening as possible. "I'm twenty-four years old. If I was going to destroy a city, wouldn't I have already done it?"

"Maybe, maybe not. For all most people know, you could have already set places on fire and no one would have figured it out." Shisui was well aware of the suspicions that floated around about his cousin. "I don't want to scare you Sasuke, but I'm saying this for your own good. With your powers…all it takes is for someone who hates our kind to set a fire and point the finger at you. And then you end up on the red list unless you can prove that someone else set the fire."

Sasuke sighs. Shisui wasn't the enemy and more importantly, he wasn't a liar. "What's the best case scenario for me?"

Shisui stares at Sasuke for a good, hard moment, then nods and pushes the pizza towards Sasuke, taking a piece for himself along with a piece of the breaded fish. He stacks the fish on top of the pizza and takes a bite, giving himself time to decide precisely which approach to take. "If you want to live a normal life, then the best case scenario would be toning down the heroics so that I can get your story out of the news. I respect what you're doing, I do, and I understand why you do it. You've used your powers to save a lot of lives. Being in the news is what's drawing the attention to you. I can direct attention away again, but that won't do a thing if you bring it back on yourself. Realistically…do you think that you could stop being a hero?"

It was beyond twisted. The government was trying to 'protect' people by having Sasuke not use his gift to save lives. "You mean live with the knowledge that someone is burning to death and I let it happen? It'd be...hard. Even if I did it, we both know that wouldn't actually be enough." Sasuke looks his cousin up and down, committing every detail to memory. His body language was composed, but nervous. Shisui was sincere. He'd try, but Sasuke knew the end result would be the same. "Even if I was a 'good boy,' another recruiter would find me. You came to see me personally because you care. They sent you because they know we're related. This is the carrot approach, but I'm not oblivious. Sooner or later, they'll try the stick if I say no. This isn't like Itachi. His powers are academic in nature. Mine...aren't."

"Actually, I know the full extent of Itachi's powers, and they would be quite useful if my superiors knew about them. But Itachi said no and I respect that. Not everyone can be as controlled and as lucky as he is to have less…visible talents." Shisui had never betrayed his friend's confidence and he'd long since vowed that he never would. "But you're right, this is the carrot approach. I got the stick, and I would rather spare you that if I can. I actually came here without notifying my superiors. Call it striking preemptively. I wanted to get to you before anyone else could."

Sasuke searches his face for signs of lies. It was one thing for them to send his cousin to recruit him. It was another for Shisui to do so of his own free will. That changed things drastically. "Itachi is a brilliant professor who is blessed with magical genius. That's it." Still, Shisui or not...he'd make sure Itachi's cover story wasn't 'blown' even if Shisui knew the truth. "It worked, though. You got here first. So, what options can you give me that won't get you into trouble? You stuck your neck out for me. I don't want to burn a helping hand."

Shisui laughs softly. Sasuke really was exactly what he'd hoped for. "Alright, then best case scenario for recruitment. I got here first, which means I can recruit you directly into my division. My colleagues and I…we specialize in magitek surveillance and crime detection. We monitor those people who are on the gold and red lists, as well as those who could end up there the moment they do anything even remotely impressive. Not everyone uses their powers the way you do, Sasuke. And it's my job to make sure that the ones using their powers to hurt people are brought in or…neutralized, if need be."

"Well, it makes sense they'd have a division like that. I don't see what that has to do with me. Fire magic doesn't really have anything to do with surveillance or crime detection." He shoots Shisui a genuinely confused look. Wouldn't he be placed in another division? Hell, Sasuke wasn't even sure what division powers like his would fall under.

"True, your powers would probably be better suited for sending to places where an 'accidental' burning of a building might conveniently take out rivals and other targets of interest or cause a lot of collateral damage to their allies and assets." But Shisui didn't want to put his little cousin in that sort of position ever… "That's where I started when they caught me, in the tactical sabotage unit. I could use my mind to hack into security systems and rig up any sort of structural collapse I needed to. A building with an internal stabilizing core suddenly wouldn't be so stable anymore. Then they discovered the full range of my technokinetic abilities and they transferred me to the detection division. I've been there ever since, and now I run it."

Sasuke frowns. He honestly wouldn't have been able to recall what Shisui's magic was like if he tried, but the image he painted was a vivid one. It was no wonder why his cousin had been recruited so young.

He had to figure out what he was going to do. Shisui was offering him a hand, but Sasuke didn't really know where it would lead him. What was the alternative, though? Look over his shoulder for the rest of his life or be recruited what into amounted to an assassination unit? "In other words, you want to give me a slot on your team to keep me out of the other divisions. As long as I'm working for the government and they know I'm being a good boy, they'll humor you. Probably assume you're doing it because I'm your cousin and you have a soft spot for me." Which was...probably exactly what was going on actually.

"Right end goal, wrong motivation. Because I have to tell them the opposite, in fact. Selling it to them as me having a soft spot for you will make them more inclined to reassign you somewhere else. No, you have skills beyond your fire that I'm interested in. You're an Uchiha, Sasuke. Now, think of my division as…the secret magical police. We use some of the same techniques as detectives in order to root out magical crime. Then we go in and either detain or eliminate the target, depending on how dangerous they are. I know that you've been tinkering with lightning magic lately. Imagine how convenient it would be if we could have someone sneak in during a distraction and use lightning as a stun grenade. We could complete a mission without a single casualty, maybe even without a single injury."

It wasn't what he was expecting. "So, I'd basically be a magical cop?" Sasuke tilts his head as he considers it. Definitely not something he would have thought of doing unprompted, but realistically it was his best chance. "Say I took the job, no disappearing? I'd still be able to see my family?"

"Yes, you could come visit them." Though Shisui could see why Sasuke was concerned. "I…know that I disappeared for a while. Before my transfer, I was being moved around a lot for my work. When they finally allowed me contact again, when they felt they could actually trust me…it had been four years since they took me. I reconnected with Itachi first and let him know…vaguely what I was doing. But I couldn't risk telling him everything that had happened. And he'd feel guilty if I told him exactly what got me caught and arrested in the first place."

"I'm not going to ask. That's between you and him." There were some rabbit holes that Sasuke knew better than to jump down. "Wait. What do you mean visit them? I'd be moving?"

Shisui nods slowly. "Our unit gets deployed all across the Konoha, but we have a central office that serves as our headquarters where I do most of my work and where all but our sleeper agents live. If you accept the offer, I'd…prefer it if you moved in with me. That way I could 'keep an eye' on you and make sure that no one else is. Being that close to you also means that if anyone did try to bring any sort of accusations against you, I could vouch for your good behavior. It's…not ideal, I know, and I know that you wouldn't do anything to break faith with me, but I'm not the one of the ones that need convincing."

Shisui was just full of surprises. Now, he was asking Sasuke to move in with him. "I see the logic in it. If you don't mind, yeah...sure. It'd probably help Itachi feel better about everything too. Knowing I was with you." He bites his lower lip as a thought occurs to him. Damn it. He'd screwed up. Sasuke should have denied the lightning magic thing. "...How'd you know about the lightning magic?"

"Because I arrived here three weeks ago and I've been keeping an eye on you, just in case." Shisui holds out his hand and opens his palm. Above it, a blue, holographic orb appears and plays a recording of Sasuke moving a tiny ball of lightning between his fingertips in the living room of the house he and Itachi shared. "Don't worry, I always made sure to turn the surveillance off whenever the bathroom or changing was involved." Except maybe the first time, which was entirely by accident.

"Honestly, I would have felt less exposed if you had caught me in the shower than practicing magic." Sasuke had never been shy. He didn't run around naked or 'flaunt it' as Suigetsu might say, but he didn't bat an eyelash at nudity. Magic on the other hand was highly personal. Private. Sacred and he felt like an idiot for having been caught without realizing it. "I appreciate the sentiment, though. So...what happens next?"

"Well, what happens next is up to you. If you take my offer, I can arrange travel for us by the end of the week." If Sasuke didn't…then Shisui would still do his best to keep Sasuke off the red list and try to get Sasuke off the gold list as well. Still, he finds the strength to smirk slyly. "And if you come with me, then I promise I'll try not to catch sight of your gorgeous ass in the shower again."

"You might have saved my life. It doesn't bother me that you saw me in the shower. I'm not some blushing coed." Mercifully, Sasuke had never been an easy blusher, but his heart was beating faster than it should have at the comment.

His mind suddenly at war. One half going 'cousin' over and over and the other going it didn't REALLY count because there were a lot of branches separating them on the family tree. "Anyway, I'll take the offer. I'll need time to pack and tell Itachi. What about in the meantime though...what if someone else spots me?"

"If they manage to approach you, tell them that you're reporting in to the Raven's Nest. Though I wouldn't worry too much about that. I would see them coming ten miles away if anyone I work with was getting close to finding you." That much, Shisui could guarantee. "But it's too bad that Itachi never taught you teleportation. That's a good way of getting out of sticky spots without hurting the wrong people."

He knew in theory if you had the right genes, you could expand your magic significantly. Sasuke had just never experimented that much. Fire had always fascinated him and lightning was a new marvel. "Maybe you can teach me then. If I'm going to be a cop, it sounds like a handy skill then."

Shisui smirks as he raises his shot of vodka and pushes the food towards Sasuke. "There's a lot I plan on teaching you, Sasuke."