Chapter 4: Bait.
Parings: Naru/Sasu
Rating: K-T (first) M-NC-17 (later)
Disclaimer: I do not own the sheer genius "Naruto"; Shippuden of other. The honours go to Masashi Kishimoto and his genius brain that created this masterpiece.
Summary: Remember the summer camp you went to; that quaint place out in the woods, by a lake, sitting around a campfire telling ghost stories and eating s'mores? Well this summer school, sure as hell, isn't that. Three months, a military camp chock full of teenage delinquents, illegal alcohol, pharmaceutical drugs, annoying shrinks, escape plans, a Shitzu from hell, and new relationships; welcome to camp. NaruSasuNaru.
A/N: Sasuke is such a paranoid bastard.
He was right; damn it.
His muscles were spectacularly stiff the minute he woke up at the Cali call; he shifted and the bloodcurdling scream that almost escaped his throat was sure to shatter eardrums but with a quick chomp on his bottom lip it didn't. A mental rote of every expletive he knew in Japanese and English (and some Russian) quickly ran through his mind.
He released the abused lip and groaned; trying to think of anything but the throbbing pain in his major muscle groups. His mind flitted to last night at the chess room. Turned out Gaara wasn't that bad, even though he exuded an air of collected calm and consistent creepy with his habit to stare blankly at things unceasingly for hours.
The matches, (yes all five of them) had turned out stalemate; and even though there were seldom things he hated like a tie, he had to admire the redhead's strategy; bold, daring, offensive but fully cohesive and thoroughly planned.
The blare ripped through the air again and he retained the urge to smash things. Heaving off the bed he got dressed surly and made his way to the quad. He was in no mood to suffer fools and this morning it seemed like he was surrounded by them. The blond, who had actually struck up a friendship sorta thing with the Kiba guy,(who Sasuke knew showed symptoms of chronic destructive paranoia, like those people who thought aliens were sending messages to their teeth fillings) were chatting inanely within two feet of him.
His left eye twitched.
Cali, again, was the ten mile trail run and the obstacle course and even though his muscles screamed at the exercise the built-up of lactic acid was lessening with every step and by breakfast he wasn't so sore anymore even though the residual pain was still there. Breakfast was almost the same as yesterday but with the inclusion of green tea and fresh bananas.
"Good morning recruits!"
"Okay..." Naruto asked blue eyes narrowed, "...what the hell... is that like your cousin or something?"
What?
Sasuke glanced up; Gai was in the room about three tables from them, with the damn bullhorn again but this time beside him was a guy that, aside from the black cropped top that showed his flat midriff, was almost a mirror image of the striking visage that Sasuke saw in the mirror every day; short spiky black hair, black eyes, pale alabaster skin, angular face, svelte limbs and cocky smirk.
"Hell no." Sasuke grated annoyed. "I don't have cousins."
"This is the newest addition to our family, his name is Rumino Sai."
''Family'...this guy is a nutcase.' Sasuke thought acerbically. 'This isn't a damn family; it's a box of dynamite just waiting for a spark."
"Please welcome him." Gai said with a slight push towards a table. Sai did a quick scan of the room and his gaze met Sasuke's. The Uchiha glared enough to start a fire but Sai just smirked slightly and sat down at another table with mainly occupied with girls.
"I wonder what he's here for." Naruto asked absently. Sasuke though was busy noting the painfully detailed rainbow dragon tattoo that was wrapped around his left arm and the three piercings adorning his left ear and when he realised he smirked; Sai was, obviously, an artist.
"Couldn't care less." He said shoving up from the seat and made his way to class.
***Teacher's lounge***
"Iruka?"
"Yes." The sable haired psychiatrist answered tersely shuffling a stack of papers around.
"What's wrong?" Kakashi asked placing a cup of coffee between them.
"A student," Iruka ground out, "...Uchiha Sasuke."
Kakashi went very, very still.
"-kashi I swear I have never been more confused in years; he puzzles the hell out of me."
He regrouped and sat down across from the brunet and asked; "How?"
Iruka sighed, while palming the cup, "When I entered the room I found him standing, I asked him to sit and he said, quote, "I'd prefer to stand.' I asked him the standard screening questions like his hobbies and such; he said chess and playing the violin. I'm not going to lie, when I heard that I thought 'so much potential' and 'why did he end up here'. He struck me as such a sensible person but then he went and ruined it."
"How?"
Iruka looked up, "I asked why he ended up in this place; he started saying something about the fire that his parents died in and then, in a second, he switched from morose to...glee when he mentioned his parent's death. It was like he didn't care that they were gone at all!"
Kakashi was silent just listening to Iruka rant, "How can a child not be aggravated by his parent's deaths?"
The silver haired man sat tossing an idea around his mind. "Iruka," he said slowly, "Have you ever though that, maybe, he was messing with you?"
Brown brows furrowed, "No... I mean... why...how...he doesn't know anything about me."
"Not you specifically...maybe he knows how we work?" Kakashi baited while mentally timing how long it took for the dots to connect.
"That's preposterous," Iruka scoffed, shuffling some papers around, "There is no way a seventeen year old knows what we do; he's a kid for god's sake."
Blocked. Try again.
"I've seen his academic results, up until the last three years they were stellar, then they plummeted." The silver haired man said, "...he's smarter that you think; maybe he does know." Kakashi said.
"Yes, so, but that would take years of study or some kind of a mentor to te-..." Iruka said, Kakashi has had just reached twenty seconds when brown eyes flew open;
"You KNOW him, don't you!" he accused slamming his hands on the table, "DON'T YOU?! And you didn't say anything to me. Kakashi, I walked into a minefield without any armour. How could you!"
"'Ruka," Kakashi soothed, "I don't know him per se, I know about him. Sasuke Uchiha is the second son of my past behavioural psychology professor, Uchiha Fugaku. When I enrolled into university on the scholarship he was became my mentor and a father figure to me."
It connected. Iruka slumped.
"His father...psychology... so he knows all the tactics and the answers." He murmured dully.
"Possibly." Kakashi said, "If that's the case we're going to have to devise a unique program for him. If he's anything like his father, and I seriously suspect that he is, he can twist your head into knots and then laugh about it."
"True; but still," Iruka glared, "You could have told me."
"Yes. I should have," he admitted, "... but Iruka, I need you to do me a huge favour, keep doing your sessions with him as long as possible... test him...feel him out."
"Why don't you do it?" Iruka asked hand wrapped around the cup, "Since you know about his family."
Still so naïve. "Tell me, if I walk in there and tell him I knew his father, what do you think will happen?" Kakashi asked.
"Total shut down." Iruka grumbled, "Fine, I'll do it. But you owe me!"
"How about dinner this weekend?" a blue eye 'U'd', "Your favourite; grilled lobster and chocolate éclairs for desert."
A burnt red blush flushed Iruka's cheeks, "You're never going to give up on that aren't you."
"Ummm, no."
Iruka pushed away from the table, "And my answer is still 'no.' I'll figure out another way to pay me back."
A devilishly spark sprung into Kakashi's eye, "Like se-"
The slap that resounded in the hollow space made some heads turn and stifled chuckles resounded at the usual antics of the duo.
The English language; a convoluted hybrid monster but necessary for global communication; Sasuke slumped in his seat while the teacher was calmly explaining the basic structure of the language; nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives and so on.
Thirty percent of his focus was listening to the man (who was teaching something he leaned when he was six) while the other seventy was observing the rest of the class. His gaze strayed to the girls. The majority of them were huddled into one corner of the room except the one girl with the knee length hair named Tsuchi Kin; she sat by herself, three rows away from him and flush up against a wall; her dark eyes blank and hooded. She didn't speak unless spoken to, and she moved with surety and a lanky grace used by dancers.
The class ended and while turning in his writing materials, (the pens and such were kept by the respective teachers, didn't want a sharpened pen to find its way in someone's neck) he glanced up in time to see her hair shift and tattooed in the side of her neck was a small blue crescent moon.
Sasuke stopped dead and mentally gasped. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Somebody shoved into him and he snapped out of it, laid down his pen, walked out of the room to retrace his steps from yesterday while furiously thinking.
It was supposed to be a myth; fiction; hogwash, total urban underground paranoid crap. A league of professional assassins named 'The Root,' whose sign was the blue crescent moon. The government had said three years ago that the organization was fake and was a tactical tool used by the surrounding countries to scare them.
He reached the garden and crouching down he examined the length of fence. Hooking fingers through the links he felt rust. The iron was corroding here.
There was no way a girl, a teenage girl, could have been inducted into the group. Then again his mind ran over her attitude; calm, collected, observant and very reclusive; she moved like the wind and seldom spoke; the very characteristics of an assassin. Maybe she was but still, it was way too fantastic...but then again maybe she was just a normal teenager and got a silly tattoo.
Glancing up at the stretch of bare land his eyes narrowed; he was still puzzled as to why ninety percent of the place was dense foliage and this stretch was a veritable desert.
Decision made he got up and made his way to the Admin centre where he added "gardening" to his list of activities and left mind still pondering about Kin.
And bumped into someone.
Neji freakin Hyuuga.
"Watch where you're going, Uchiha."
Sasuke stopped, glanced around; the corridor was empty so he stared the two timing bastard in the eye. "And where are you going Hyuuga, to score some more herpes laced cunt?"
Neji leaned on the wall arms crossed and sighed, "You never got over that, did you. For the last time, I didn't have sex with her."
Sasuke scoffed and pushed him out of the way, "Yeah right, tell that to some naïve idiot who believes you. You disgust me."
He suddenly found his back against the wall with Neji pressing fully into his body. Ephemeral grey eyes bore into his while tendrils of cinnamon hair brushed his collar while a husky voice whispered into his ear; "No I don't Sasuke...admit it."
A small caustic smile crossed the Uchiha's face; he leaned in and wrapped a hand around Neji's neck, leaned down and whispered into his ear, "Yes, you do!" And kneed him in the crotch.
"Stay the hell away from me Neji... I'm bloody warning you." He hissed at the doubled-over Hyuuga and walked away.
(*)(*)(*)
The history class this time was done in the library; a wide stone creation with a high vaulted ceiling and huge windows and this time Naruto happened to be present in the class. They were going over the various dynasty's of Japan's history when the pink haired secretary something-or-other came in the room and handed a message to the teacher.
"Thank you Sakura," the man replied warmly after swiftly reading the note, "I'll look into it as soon as possible."
Sakura smiled and as she turned to leave her eyes met Sasuke's and a violent blush flooded her face while she hurried out of the room. It was less than three seconds but it happened.
"She's going to be so disappointed." Naruto mumbled beside him, messy blond head perched on his fist while fiddling with his pen.
"What?" he asked.
The blond glanced up under his bangs. Blue eyes bore into his and small caustic smile crossed the tan face. "Ya know... them...the type, they fall for bad boys and when they get what they want they can't handle it. She's going to expect you to turn into Santa Claus for her when actually you're the Grim Reaper...she's going to be disappointed."
Sasuke snorted outwardly when actually a devious idea just sprung up. How to piss of a certain Hyuuga and it was about damn time he messed with somebody's mind; he was really missing it. He glanced at the clock, ten minutes left to lunch. A serpentine smile crossed his face.
Ten...nine...eight...
'To catch fish you have to use..."
(*)(*)(*)
The small stone bench that Sasuke found himself under in the courtyard was shady with small bursts of breeze fluttering his bangs. He allowed himself to slump down on the table and under hooded eyes watched for Sakura to emerge from the Admin building.
He had just passed five minutes when the white clad form stepped out of the structure and after quickly saying something to someone in the room she made her way across the manicured spit of grass. She looked up and saw him and stopped.
Like a wary deer she approached him, "Sasuke?" she asked timidly.
'Now for the hook'. He looked up under his bangs, eyes hooded and sleepily looking, "...Sakura, right?"
The light that shot into her eyes at the mention of her name was so quick and so damn pathetic. "Yes."
He sighed and laid his head on his folded arms, "...I...is everything alright?" she asked.
'Now for the line,'"Yes," he snorted crushing a blank piece of paper, "...If you count my girlfriend leaving me."
"That's terrifi-," she caught herself, "...That's terrible."
He sighed, "I guess, her parents didn't like me anyways...so I guess they're glad I'm gone."
It would have been too if the covetous light wasn't overflowing in her eyes. "That's sad... you seem like a great person."
Sasuke stopped for a minute to wonder what level of obtuse this girl was. He was in a remand centre for psychotics, and she assumed he was a 'great person.' Buddha save him from some females.
"Tell that to them," he snorted, "Maybe they'll believe you."
"SAKURA!" was yelled across the lawn. She glanced up at the person screaming her name and scowled, but she smoothed it out half a second later. "Sasuke...do you want to ... I don't know...hang out sometime?"
'Hook, line and sinker.'He managed a small smile on his face, "Yeah sure."
The bell rang. Time over; back to class. He heaved himself up and shot her a small smile while walking away thinking; '...You have to use bait.'
(*)(*)(*)
Evening calisthenics was over and Sasuke had made a quick run to the room wash off all the grime that the exercise produced. The slight steam from the water was moving upwards; he glanced up and saw a vent above the shower. The vent was almost as long as the shower itself but wasn't as wide.
His brows knitted together.
Shutting off the water and bracing himself on the rim of the tub he reached up and ran his fingers over the rim. It was screwed down tightly with a very small screw in each corner. Pressing his face against the small slats he could see the space in the vent was enough for a small extremely dextrous body could fit in there; the problem where did the vent lead to?
Hopping back down he made a mental note to find out as soon as possible.
(*)(*)(*)
Supper was something of the noodle and ground beef persuasion but he opted for some noodles paired with leftover apple and a glass of water.
"So what's with you and that Neji guy?" Naruto asked twirling his fork.
"Why'd you ask?" Sasuke grunted muscles still kind of sore; first thing tomorrow; a trip to medical to get some DSMO (1) to pair with his muscle relaxant.
The blond perched his head on a fist and said adroitly, "Because, he's staring at you so hard I'm surprised you haven't spontaneously combusted."
The first reaction Sasuke had was wondering how the seemingly dull blond knew words like 'spontaneously combusted' and second what else did he suspect. Time to be very, very cautious.
"He was friend of mine a long time ago."
"You sure about that," Naruto asked again, not even looking up, "his glare suggests something else."
"Like?" Sasuke said stabbing at the mound of ketchup doused noodles.
The blond shrugged. "Did you steal his girlfriend or something?"
"No."
Another shrug, "...were you his girlfriend?"
Sasuke paused; he was hallucinating again wasn't he. Diversion; immediately.
"Girlfriend?" he sneered, stressing the 'girl' part, "Girlfriend...really now, baka?"
"Yea...get some extensions, a decent rack and you could fool anyone. " he shrugged, "Doesn't matter to me either way," Naruto said darkly, "but his stare is making me want to break something."
He couldn't resist, "Make it his face and I'll give you the answers to next week's history quiz."
A small smile flittered over his tan face; Sasuke paused for a second, the usual blank eyes just had a spark in them, rendering the usually serious face to a malleable and slightly cute one.
"Are you serious?"
Sasuke marvelled; sarcasm it seemed went right over his head. "No usurotankachi, are you crazy?"
The mischievous light hadn't left his eyes; "Just checking."
He snorted, got up and made his way to the chess room; seeking the redhead who could challenge him. He stepped into the seemingly empty room; Gaara was absent but lounging beside a window was the loner guy with the high ponytail and half-masted eyes. This was curious; his large red-haired shadow wasn't there.
The boy glanced up with dull sleepy hazel eyes. "Who're you?"
"It is customary to introduce yourself first." Sasuke said tersely and suspiciously.
"Shikamaru Nara."
"Sasuke Uchiha. Damn it..." he slumped into the seat across from the Nara. "I was hoping for Gaara."
A small smile flittered across the others face, "So you want to knock heads with a murderer?"
"As long as he doesn't try anything with me, we're fine." Sasuke said eyes narrowed, "what are you in here for?"
"So troublesome," Shikamaru muttered nudging a pawn two spaces forward, "B class felony... grand larceny...I hacked into N.A.S.A.'s surveillance satellite...twice."
A/N: DSMO; is short form Di-methyl-sulphide-oxide, it's a chemical used to increase absorption of certain medicines like rub-on pain killers and such.
So, I'm gradually letting you know who my main characters are in this. Not gonna lie this is waaaaay more fun than I thought it would be.
And:
Mystery between the littlest Uchiha and Neji huh...-smirks-
Oh and;
REVIEW DAMNIT!
-smirks again-
***P.B***