Chapter Eleven
A deal with the Devil

The sun set early this time of year. Rush hour took place amongst the shadows, only the constant flow of head and tail lights illuminating the city like bioluminescence in a saltwater stream.

The first time Sakura had seen the organic shimmering lights had been in the Mediterranean. Only seven years old, she remembered thinking someone had dumped glitter into the ocean and wondered why they would do such a thing. Tsunade had laughed good-naturedly when Sakura had asked her that very question.

That was one thing Sakura hated about New York City. The absence of color. Color that wasn't artificial and beamed harshly on LED screens. Everything was that same, bland grey - the streets, the sidewalks, the tall buildings.

The back alleys.

Shadowed between two, tall buildings where the streetlights couldn't quite reach, they melted into the darkness. Sakura cut the engine of her car, the gentle purr fading into nothingness. Naruto stepped out of the passenger seat and gazed around, his eyes lingering on the only door in the alley.

"Want me to go with you?" he asked.

Sakura shook her head, her fingers briefly lingering on the trunk of the car like a lover's caress. "Give me a couple minutes. I'll text you when I'm ready."

With Naruto guarding the vehicle, Sakura approached the single, metal door. She knocked twice and waited only a few moments before it swung open. The man on the other side eyed her with interest but stepped aside without comment. The door itself led to a tight hallway. Not even wide enough for two people to stand side-by-side.

Once inside, Sakura leaned towards the guard to whisper something in his ear. She tucked a crisp bill into his breast pocket before she smiled sweetly and continued down the hall. She must have been below a restaurant for the muffled clanking of pots echoed above as the smell of something delicious filled her nose.

Those scents and sounds faded the further she ventured inside. She followed the hall until she reached a staircase. It dropped down into the belly of the building and opened up into a large, underground bar. The room itself looked like something out of the 1930s with its polished, wood walls and vintage furniture. Everything was bathed in deep reds and browns, from the gleaming wooden floors and bar counter to the lush, leather chairs.

In the center of the room was a billiards table. Two men were alternating shots while a handful more looked on. Off to one side of the room was Hashirama and Madara. They sat across from one another in a pair of high-backed, leather chairs. The kind that made one sink back and look small. But not these two men.

The bartender looked up when Sakura entered the room. He said nothing but eyed her as she crossed the floor. Her boots thudded against the wood in a manner that disturbed the strong masculine presence. A girl in the boys club.

Hashirama noticed her first. Whatever conversation he and Madara were engaged in ended abruptly. "Sakura," he greeted.

The corners of her mouth turned up. "Hashirama, you said you needed to see me," she said not unkindly.

Hashirama didn't immediately speak. His gaze fell past her, to the other occupants before he waved his hand. "Clear the room."

Without a word, the other patrons stopped what they were doing. Those sitting at the bar slipped out of their chairs and the pair playing billiards set down their cue sticks without finishing their game. Without question or hesitation, they they filed out.

Sakura watched with muted interest. She'd have to learn that trick.

The bartender was the last to leave. As soon as he was gone, Sakura turned back to Hashirama. He sipped the dark amber in his glass before he set it aside, the ball of ice clinking quietly against the crystal. "I heard an interesting rumor that one of your clients is the Hyuuga family. Is that true?"

Sakura didn't outwardly react, but her instincts went on alert in an instant. There was no tone in his voice - he was simply asking a question - but she didn't miss the look of something lingering behind his eyes. She glanced at Madara, but his stare even more unreadable.

"It is," she admitted, knowing Hashirama already knew the answer. He was just looking for confirmation.

A low hum rumbled deep in his chest. "Then it appears we are in a small conflict of interest," he said calmly. "Are you aware that the Hyuuga and Uchiha have a history?"

Sakura nodded slowly. "Yes, something about Madara double crossing Hyuuga Hiashi."

Other than the drawn-out pause, there was no indication from either man that they were surprised by her knowledge. When she was young, Sakura had thought she could read Hashirama so well. Now that she was older, she got the impression all his smiles and words of comfort had just been for her child eyes. She could see nothing in his face now.

"Then you see that we have a problem," Hashirama said easily, like they were simply discussing the weather outside.

Sakura canted her head. "You told me that securing weapons for you was my only job. I am under the impression that still holds true," she said, her voice taking on a firmer tone. "What I do outside of that is none of your concern."

"Except you are in league with my enemy," Madara finally spoke.

For the first time, his voice wasn't flat. There was something heavy in his tone. A quiet rage. A rising tension. The build up of pressure before the storm unleashed its fury. There was no real expression on his face, but neither was it passive. Like an angry snake waiting for any excuse to strike.

Sakura didn't back down from his silent warning. She set her shoulders and fixed him with an unwavering stare. "Need I remind you that I don't work for you."

Madara's fingers twitched minutely, so slight she almost missed it. Across from him, Hashirama was the epitome of composure. One leg crossed over the other, his hands resting casually in his lap. As if he could sense a fight was about to break out, he stepped in.

"But you do work for me," Hashirama interjected smoothly. "And you are dealing weapons to our enemy."

Sakura held Madara's gaze for a long moment before her eyes shifted to Hashirama. His face still that composed mask. His statement only made her more curious. Made her wonder what the relationship between the two men was, business and otherwise. But that was a question she would have to find out on her own. If she pressed any harder, she risked angering Hashirama. And she needed to remain on his good side.

Losing the attitude, Sakura shrugged. "Except I'm not supplying the Hyuuga with guns. I do work with them, but not in arms dealing, so we have no conflict."

She had thought her answer would burst the bubble of thick tension surrounding them. Only it seemed to have the opposite effect. A minute frown appeared on Madara's face, the only indication of his displeasure. She expected him to say more. To her surprise, he remained silent. His eyes leaving her to fall to Hashirama.

Sakura followed his gaze.

Hashirama stared right back, quietly studying her. She got the impression he wasn't overly pleased with her answer but couldn't find any fault with it either.

Sakura lifted her chin. "If you have something to say, Hashirama, say it," she challenged.

He was quiet a long moment. Then the corner of his mouth twitched. "You sound like Tsunade."

"I am Tsunade."

She saw his smile widen briefly before it disappeared behind his glass. When he lowered it, that look was gone, his face cool and collected once more. "So long as we are clear that your other business does not interfere with my own. I need not warn you what will happen should you oppose me."

"I wouldn't have offered you my services otherwise," she said.

The beginning of a smirk crossed her lips as the tension faded. Well mostly faded. Madara seemed seemed to be silently steaming.

Things turned civil after that. Hashirama requested a few orders from her and she added them into her phone, at the same time she shot Naruto off a text. Madara didn't speak the rest of the time. He simply observed as she and Hashirama discussed business.

"I'll make arrangements to get your boys to the south some weapons before the end of the week," Sakura concluded.

Hashirama nodded before he finished his drink and set it aside. "Anything else?"

She smiled as footsteps thudded on the stairs. "Just one more thing."

Hashirama arched his brow in interest but it was Madara Sakura studied as Naruto entered the room. Behind him, he half-dragged a disheveled man, a gag in his mouth and his hands zip-tied behind his back. No one spoke as Naruto shoved the prisoner towards them until the blond stood beside her, their captive a pace in front of him.

"I believe this belongs to you, Madara," Sakura said pleasantly.

Hashirama glanced at Madara but the oldest Uchiha brother continued to watch her. To her surprise, the corner of his mouth lifted in the faintest of smirks.

Like a light switch, her mood flipped. Sakura glared in response. "I don't appreciate being tailed," she told him sternly. "This is my only warning. The next one will be delivered to you in pieces."

Madara neither confirmed nor denied that the man was his, but judging by the fact he didn't order the immediate execution of the bound man was confirmation enough. If Hashirama was surprised by Madara's activities, he didn't show it. Just continued to watch like a spectator at a most interesting sport.

Sakura had half a mind to shoot Madara's man anyway, but refrained. This was a rather nice establishment even if the company was rather lacking and she would feel somewhat guilty for making the owner clean up such an unpleasant mess.

Without anything further to discuss, Sakura turned to make her exit, Naruto right behind her. She had barely made it two steps when she stopped again, a sudden thought occurring to her.

Grabbing the cue stick from the billiards table, Sakura turned, her arm swinging with as much strength as she could muster. A sickening snap sounded as the polished wood made contact with the side of the man's knee. He collapsed to the floor with a loud cry, the sound muffled by the gag in his mouth. His leg landed at an awkward angle.

No one moved say for the unfortunate man. Sakura watched him writhe in pain a moment before she raised her gaze to Madara. She thought his smirk may have widened but she couldn't be sure.

With her point made, she dropped the pole back onto the table and left, Naruto trailing a pace behind.

The car was silent as Sakura navigated them through the city. Only once they pulled into the parking garage where they had left Naruto's jeep did he finally speak, "I'll reach out to your contacts and see what guns I can gather for Hashirama."

Sakura stopped the car but didn't put it in park. Just kept her foot on the brake. "Let me know if you run into any issues."

He nodded and pushed the passenger door open but Sakura stopped him before he could climb out. "And Naruto, make sure you're not being followed when you run shipments."

His brow arched curiously. "You think Madara is going to put another tail on you after that?"

"I would be disappointed if he didn't."

As soon as Naruto was out, Sakura drove up another floor. She left the car in an empty stall, the keys on the seat and her fingerprints wiped clean before she took the stairs to the top of the parking garage to find herself another vehicle.

xx

Later that night, Tobirama showed up on her doorstep. Or rather less on her doorstep and more through her door. She heard the slide of the heavy metal open and close before those familiar shoes clacked against her hardwood.

Sakura didn't move from where she stood at the kitchen counter, her fingers flying across her laptop as she typed off an email. "Your shoes are obnoxious. Have I told you that before?"

Those shoes drew to an abrupt stop a few yards behind her. "No."

"Well they are," she said with a faint smile she knew he couldn't see.

Sakura finished sending off her message before she closed her internet browser and shut her computer down completely. When she finally turned to Tobirama, there was a slightly disgruntled look on his face. He had obviously just come from the New York office, still in his three piece suit. It was grey today with a red tie. A power color.

It made the glare on his face that much more fierce. At first she thought he was going to grumble about her complaint but then his scowl faded. Sorta. "What happened to your BMW?"

How he knew she no longer had it, she wasn't sure. Perhaps he had noticed it was no longer in the garage, but she supposed it didn't really matter. With her arms crossed over her chest and her lower back resting against the counter, she shrugged. "I had to dump it."

"Dump it where?" he asked, frowning.

"The Hudson River."

A long pause followed before he sighed. "Because of Madara."

"So Hashirama did tell you," she murmured almost to herself, not really sure if she was surprised or not.

Sakura had her suspicions but she still wasn't completely certain of Tobirama's relationship with his brother. She had half a mind to ask but decided against it before the words could roll off her tongue. Instead, she leaned the small of her back against the counter as she eyed Tobirama.

"Is that why you came here?" Sakura suddenly asked.

Tobirama shrugged, his hands in his pockets. "I couldn't care less about Madara and his brother," he said indifferently. "Though I do find it interesting he's following you. What did you do to piss him off?"

"You mean more than burning down his pier? Or constantly antagonizing Izuna for the hell of it?" she listed.

Tobirama didn't bother to hide his smirk. "Good point."

He looked like he had something more to say but changed his mind. Instead, he dragged his eyes over her form, obvious appreciation in his gaze. It had been a week since the last time he had come to see her. Already she could see how much he had missed her during their time apart.

Tobirama approached her slowly. Predatory. Those damn shoes echoing against the floor until he stopped in front of her. That familiar smirk curved in the corner of his mouth up as he bent his head until his mouth hovered over hers. "I did have one other reason."

Sakura's laugh was muffled by his mouth. He kissed her hard, his fingers tangling into her hair and his weight pressing the counter sharply into her back. She gripped the jacket of his suit, using it as leverage to pull him closer. Already the fire between her legs was growing. Maybe she had missed him a little too.

They likely would have had sex right there if Sakura's phone hadn't went off at that moment. So caught up in the moment, she nearly missed the message notification and normally it would have gone ignored until later, but three alerts back-to-back had her tearing her mouth away from Tobirama.

He continued to press hot kisses to the column of her neck as she fished her phone out of her back pocket. A groan rumbling low in her throat when his teeth sunk into a sensitive spot.

Turning her face away, Sakura unlocked her screen and pulled up her messages. Her brow furrowed when she saw they were from Shikamaru.

'911'

'Ino's'

'Now'

Blooming concern killed Sakura's arousal. With one hand, she pushed Tobirama away while the other sent off a quick reply that she was on her way. Tobirama eyed her with a mix of desire and confusion.

"Something came up. I have to go," she told him vaguely, stepping around him to collect her jacket and car keys from the table. "Will you lock up behind you."

Without waiting for a reply, she was out the door, leaving Tobirama standing alone in the kitchen. His expression bewildered.

Less than thirty minutes later Sakura was knocking on Ino's door. It was locked, leaving her to wait under the small awning that didn't quite protector her from the slight drizzle. It didn't take long for Shikamaru to answer and let her in.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked as she stepped through the door.

There was a sobering look on his face that worried her. Shikamaru usually ranged from bored to slightly annoyed. To see such concern made her stomach churn with anxiety.

He got right to the point. "Ino's parents were murdered."

Sakura stared like he had just punched her in the face. "What?"

"They were found a couple of hours ago by the police," he explained in a hushed tone. "They just informed us."

A million half-finished questions raced through Sakura's mind. The whos and whys were a given. Followed by how was Ino and what was she going to do now. It was then that she realized her blonde friend was nowhere in sight.

"Where is she?" Sakura asked, looking around.

Shikamaru gestured towards the stairs. "In her room. She locked me out."

Without another word, Sakura bolted up the stairs towards the bedroom, taking them two at a time. Her boots thudding with every step. Sure enough the door was sealed shut, but she made quick work of that, picking the lock in only a few seconds.

The large, master bedroom was spotless just as Ino liked the keep it. Nothing was out of place. The bed was made, the vanity was neatly organized. There wasn't even a stray article of clothing on the floor. But no Ino.

Venturing further inside, Sakura found her in the bathtub. She was fully clothed in a pair of jeans and a flowing tank top. The tub itself was empty, the faucet off. In Ino's hand was a half-full bottle of tequila. It trembled slightly as she raised it to her lips.

Without a word, Sakura slipped into the large tub across from her. Ino's eyes were red and puffy, and there were fresh tear tracks down her face but she made no move to wipe them away. Simply sniffed as she swallowed down another mouthful of liquor.

Neither of them spoke. Only after Ino had tossed the bottle back two more times did Sakura press quietly, "What happened?"

The bottle echoed loudly in the otherwise quiet bathroom as Ino set it against the tiles. "My dad told me a few weeks ago that he and mom were offered some money to watch this laundromat next to the flower shop. They'd done it before for some of the black market runners in the city. Those guys always want to know who's moving into their territory," Ino told her, staring blankly at the label on the liquor bottle.

"I guess mom and dad got caught though," Ino said shakily. She wiped her face with the back of her hand only for more tears to fall. "The shop was ransacked and they were...strung up. Like a fucking banner."

Sakura's stomach twisted in sympathy at the image Ino painted, but she kept her face in check. "Do you know who your parents were watching?" she asked as gently as she could.

Ino shook her head. "No, but they were good at what they did," she said, her voice hardening. She raised her gaze to look at Sakura, that ferocity that always seemed to linger in her eyes flaring briefly. "They've been doing it for decades. They were smart. They knew how to see and not be seen. Whoever killed them has to be someone big. Someone who already knew they were being watched."

That information troubled Sakura but she kept the frown off her face. Ino was still trembling.

Instead, Sakura simply sat with her longtime friend a while longer. Until her legs began to cramp and her butt started to lose feeling from sitting on the hard porcelain. Ino didn't say anything else as she sipped from the bottle until the alcohol began to numb the hollow ache in her chest.

"I'll find who did this," Sakura eventually said, breaking the silence. She sealed her promise with a kiss to Ino's forehead before she finally stood and left the room.

Shikamaru was in the living area when Sakura made her way back downstairs. He was behind his computer, but he stopped typing the instant he saw her. "How is she?" he asked, standing.

"Not good," Sakura said grimly. "Ino said her parents were being paid to watch someone. Do you know who?"

Frowning, Shikamaru shook his head. "No, but I'll look into it."

"No, I'll do it," she told him. "I need you to stay with Ino. Make sure she's okay."

He hesitated for a long minute before eventually nodding. "Alright. Be careful. And watch where you snoop around. The police have opened up an investigation."

Sakura nodded and waited until Shikamaru had slipped away upstairs before she dialed Kakashi. She had him call his contacts and pull as many favors as he could. Three hours later, he had new information for her.

"You're not going to like this," was his opening comment.

Her eyes narrowed as she wrapped her arms further around herself to fend off the cold. Down the block, police lights bounced off the old brick buildings, red and blue, red and blue. Yellow police tape secured a perimeter. She had tucked herself into the entrance of a small shop where the streetlights didn't quite reach. Able to see and not be seen, as Ino had put it.

"Tell me," Sakura demanded.

"Ino's parents were watching a man named Sasori. He's a part of Akatsuki."

She ground her teeth together as she absorbed that information. "What can you tell me about him?"

"Not a lot. He's Egyptian, but he stirred up some trouble in Israel for a little while before the Sand Siblings took over. He went underground after that," Kakashi told her.

"Until he showed up in New York," Sakura said quietly, her thoughts rolling.

He made a noise of agreement on the other end of the line as he typed away. "No one else knows anything about him."

"I can think of one person that might," Sakura murmured.

The clicking of keys stopped abruptly. She could feel Kakashi's frown through the phone. "What are you planning?" he asked slowly.

"Something incredibly stupid," was all she said before she hung up.

The sun was an hour off the horizon when Sakura arrived at her destination. The streets were empty but she checked them again anyway to ensure there were no lingering shadows before she rapped on the door. She didn't fully expect him to answer on the first knock. She waited a minute before she banged again, this time louder, and waited patiently until she heard the faint slide of the deadbolt.

Itachi blinked at her. Judging by his wrinkled shirt and shorts she had obviously pulled him out of bed. His hair was down and disheveled but he made no attempt to smooth it out. He didn't ask her how she had known where to find him. Only eyed her pointedly. "It's four in the morning, Sakura. What do you want?"

There was no hesitation as she struck her deal: "I will give you Madara. If you give me Akatsuki."

to be continued...

Cliffhanger, whoops! Now it's getting interesting. Thanks for reading - don't forget to drop a review!