Chapter 32: Tick-Tock.
Pairings: Naru/Sasu
Rating: M- NC17
Disclaimer: Don't own it...and really Masashi doesn't own it either...if he had he would have stomped his foot down and demanded that this is a straight up boy/boy romance and he'd have it no other way...instead he caved to pressure...spineless bastard.
Summary: Remember that 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, Sasuke, teenage delinquents, illegal alcohol, prescription drugs, annoying shrinks, escape plans, a shitzu from hell and new relationships...welcome to camp.
***9.00 am, 31'st, The Holding Cells***
"Uchiha." Ibiki growled striding up to the cell door, "I'm overjoyed to report that the council have rejected your application. You're being shipped out in the state prison in five hours."
No answer.
"Uchiha?"
Nothing; no shift, no budge, no smart-mouthed comment.
Something wasn't right. Using his key Ibiki opened the door and yanked off the blanket to face two stacked pillows.
"Son of a bitch!" Morino shouted, tearing out of the room at lightning speed. "We've got a runner!"
The alarm that blasted through the camp's P.A. system shocked everyone, some even tripped into tachycardia.
"ATTENTION! EVERYONE LEAVE THEIR ROOMS AND ASSEMBLE ON THE FRONT QUAD, IMMEDIATELY!"
"Show time," Naruto murmured getting out of bed, grabbed his boots and left the room. While walking towards the quad his eyes briefly met the knowing eyes of the other co-conspirators. The quad was half full when he arrived and lined up with the others.
The entire administrative faculty was there also, confused looks on their faces. Ibiki stepped up and lifting a bullhorn to his face he growled; "IF ANYONE KNOWS WHERE UCHIHA IS, TELL ME NOW!"
No one moved; Naruto looked up to find Kakashi staring at him; he stared back blankly.
"LET ME REMIND YOU PUNKS, AIDING AND ABETTING THE ESCAPE OF A PRISONER IS A CAPTIAL ONE OFFENCE; SO I'D ADVICE YOU TO SPEAK UP NOW!"
Again, nothing.
Ibiki stalked down the line and as expected stopped mere inches before Naruto.
"You, tell me where he is."
Careful to keep his face blank and slightly confused Naruto replied, "No idea Sir. If he escaped maybe you didn't lock the door properly."
Muffled snickers sounded from down the line. Ibiki went red in the face as he leaned into Naruto's space. "I don't make mistakes boy. I locked that door so strongly even a magician couldn't get in. Where is he?"
"Again Sir, I do not know."
Ibiki's hands shot out and grasped Naruto by his lapels, "I've been an army officer from before you were born; I know when someone is lying to me."
"Morino." Came Iruka's gentle voice, "This is not going to help, release him."
The man grunted and stepped back, eyes flicking over the rest of the line. "From now on till we find him this is declared a state of martial law. Everyone in the auditorium, now!"
People turned and filed into the auditorium silently. Naruto met the eyes of the group and shook his head, ordering them to sit as they usual would; Ibiki would be sure to spot some new arrangements.
Plunking down beside a nervous Kiba he massaged his temples. Kiba shifted and stared at something or someone rather in the far corner.
"Staring at Ino again?" Naruto asked without looking up.
Kiba grunted then sighed, "I'll never be able to get with her, will I?"
Naruto snorted, "Dude, chicks like that go for bad boys, you successfully break out of this hellhole and she'll be all over you like white on rice; it's called the skank reflex."
Amber eyes flew open. "Seriously?"
Blue eyes stared at him incredulously, "You don't know shit about attention whores don't you?"
The Inuzuka just stared. The blond rolled his eyes.
Kiba sidled up to him, "Dude, what do you thinks gonna happen...with your boy I mean?"
Naruto turned apprehensive cobalt orbs to his best friend, "Hopefully, he'll survive."
The hazel eyed teen shook his head, "I mean after this bullshit..." he squinted, "think y'all gonna be together and shit?"
Blue eyes turned to skim over the hall wordlessly. Seeing the uncertainty in the Uzumaki's face Kiba wisely went silent.
***Teacher's lounge***
In the teacher's lounge Ibiki grabbed the phone's handle so hard it creaked under his fist. Kurenai started at him and dared to ask, "Morino, what are you doing?"
"I'm calling MTAC(2)."
Cries of surprise and outrage filled the room. Kakashi stepped up and grabbed the handle from him.
"Ibiki are you insane?" the Hatake snarled, "Why in hell would you call the Multiple Threat Alert Centre?"
The scarred man started at him for a second, "You don't think this is a threat? Kakashi has been screwing the dolphin been fucking with your mind? Uchiha is a threat, you all know that; just like his insane ancestors, blood follows veins Kakashi. Now give me that damn ph-"
"That is not necessary, Morino." Gai said walking up to them, stress lines firmly grounded in his face. "I've called the local canine unit; if he's still somewhere in this camp we'll find him."
Ibiki snorted and stormed out of the room.
Silence. Kakashi stood there, one hand on his forehead massaging a throbbing vein. Pitying looks traced over the tense form from the remainder of the staff, each one of them knowing how hard it was to have your trust broken from someone so close to you.
"So what happens next?" Hayate spoke up glancing around the room.
The silver haired man looked up, an idea clearly sparking in his eyes. "Give me twenty minutes." He said walking out of the room and made his way to the raven's room.
Using his master key he went inside walking instantly to Sasuke's side of the room; opened the closet door and started rifling through the contents. Nothing. Next he went to the Uchiha's study desk and searched that as well.
"Sasuke." he whispered in frustration while filing though some blank papers in a folder. The second he was about to replace them something caught his eye.
One the extreme left margin of each and every one was a row of letters; but they made no sense whatsoever. Spreading them out fan-form the letters formed into vertical words; which read:
"When you find this Kakashi, please understand, I did what I've done to save us all. In time you will understand." S.
The silver haired man slumped on the nearest chair, hand trembling on the folder. Flipping it over he saw a small Micro SD card taped in the highest right corner of the folder; the same kind of card used in his recorders.
Gently removing the card from the slot he peered at it, "Uchiha...what have you done?"
***The Office of the Public Prosecutor, 8:00 A.M. Iwagakure Judicial Centre.***
With a few clicks on the keyboard office intern and personal assistant to the public prosecutor opened the man's email account, sorting through the files, dumping the spam mail into the trash and organizing the important one to be printed when he came across an email with a private address.
Squinting at it the man, a twenty-four year old graduate from the Satoshi University of Technology clicked the message and was immediately slammed in the face with a time lock and a caption:
"It will be opened in three Days. Essential."
Pulling up some latent skills he tried to break into the email, he tried backdoors, rerouting the message and even some blackhat tricks he had, ashamedly, picked up from some hacker friends of his.
The only thing he could find was that the email was bounced around halfway around the world but with a strident effort found out that it originated from the Maito Gai's Rehabilitation Centre. Other than that; nothing.
Transferring the email to the prosecutor's personal tablet he got up, knocked on the man's gold name plated door and called out.
"Dr. Samuto, Sir, I need you to take a look at this."
"Enter." The inside voice called out.
The intern approached the greying man and his half-moon glasses which for some strange reason strongly reminded him of Albus Dumbledore. Shaking himself out of the haze he silently handed over the tablet.
The man took a quick look at it and went back to striking something through the paper set before him. "Son, I should remind you I have no idea what that is."
"Oh," he stuttered nervously, "It's an email from the Rehab centre in your constituency; the only problem is that it's locked, I can't break through it. The only thing it says it that it's essential and it will be opened in three days."
The man pulled off his glasses and peered at the screen, brows lowered in curiosity. After a second he handed the device back to the intern and replaced his spectacles. "I suppose we will have to wait then; just notify me when it opens."
"Absolutely, sir."
The staring contest between them was reaching epic proportions. Sasuke had to give the animal his props though; the thing never wavered from looking him the eyes.
Until the puppy shifted, raised his nose in the air, sniffed and growled. Sasuke glanced up concernedly. He opened his mouth just as Kit shot out of the kennel and stood stiff-legged at the door. It was in that moment the raven heard the barks of dogs.
"Motherfuck." Sasuke swore realizing they had pulled out the canine unit to find him. Pressing himself right against the last wall in the kennel, he closed his eyes tightly, hoping they would just pass on.
The sound of footsteps neared, Sasuke's heart skipped a beat. Then the most mysterious and shocking thing happened.
Kit placed himself at the doorway and put up the most vicious round of snarling, sharp teeth glistening with saliva and hair standing on edge.
"Whoa little buddy." Someone called. "We're not gonna harm y- motherfuck!"
Beside himself Sasuke snorted, apparently some idiot had tried to touch the animal and had gotten himself torn with those sharp claws of his.
Someone guffawed. "Leave him alone Gerry, you must've waked him from his nap or something."
"Bastard." The afore-name Gerry swore, "Let's move one. I need to get some antibiotics or something."
By degrees Sasuke's breathing returned to normal. He waited ten minutes alternating between shock and gratitude then Kit re-entered the kennel looking amazingly smug.
"You really are and alien life form, aren't you?" he murmured, reaching out to rub at one ear. "Thank you."
The puppy snorted and hunkered down to actually take a nap.
Sasuke glanced at his watch in the gloom; "Five hours to go."
Kakashi placed the card in his card reader slot on his MAC and after waiting a minute for the file to be downloaded a part of him, a naïve part of him, was praying that whatever Sasuke was referring to wasn't dangerous but he knew better.
Sasuke wouldn't have gone through all this trouble if it wasn't important on a massive scale. His mind reflected on the Uchiha's behaviour for the past few weeks. He seemed distracted, unfocused, tense, anxious and extremely cautious, bordering on paranoia.
The file loaded. Kakashi's eyebrows arched on seeing it was an audio file. Clicking play he listened, each moment passing made something tight and ugly settle in his stomach, by the end of the recording Kakashi felt sick to the soles of his feet.
So this was what Sasuke was dealing with.
"Sssasuke."
"Orochimaru-san...What can I do for you?"
Wait...why was Sasuke being visited by the regional proctor?
"You can assure me that everything will be going as planned."
"He's been found and yes, everything will be going as planned." His eyes narrowed, "But I'll require the same thing from you though, so please assure me that our agreement is still in place...you know about having a place in your gang, the new identity, fortune."
Who's he?
"Sasuke, no offence child, but please remove your hands from your pockets."
"Why... don't you trust me?"
A beat...
"Satisfied."
"Immensely...I will answer your concerns; first off all, please do not term my organisation as a 'gang' that is a crass, unsightly word. Yes, in reality we do things the majority of society would term illegal, but the reality is, crime actually helps the country. I'm basically doing my civil duty to this country."
"And making a profit off it, right?"
"The revenues from the various subdivisions I have are profitable, yes."
Kakashi sat back, eyes wide and shocked to his core. This wasn't possible. Orochimaru was in the mob?
"Tell me again...what part of your organization would I be fit for?"
"Extortion and embezzling...You might even be adequate for my escort services."
"Escort... services?"
"Not that kind of escort...even though you would be a beautiful asset for paid entertainment...but no...I meant security escort."
"So ...organized murder."
"Again...crass."
"Jesus Sasuke." Kakashi swore, arms wrapped around his torso to control his breathing.
"Potato, potato. Nevertheless, you will get Pein, make sure to be at No Man's Land, at the thirty first at eleven pm... and bring transportation."
"Already done."
"Sir...when you knew my father...did he mention anything to you about any living relatives of ours?"
"No, I don't think he mentioned anything like that...why do ask?"
"Just curiosity...Since you were so close."
The recording ended.
Then a serious ethical problem snapped up before him; he could blow this all to smithereens by making this known to the whole camp...but then again, Sasuke wouldn't have left this...done this, if he didn't have a master plan.
Then it hit; the kid was the key factor in organizing a major takedown that would send shockwaves across the country. He was going to expose Orochimaru.
Kakashi weighed the balance: he could do the right ethical thing that would result in a minority or he could allow this to play out, and see this majority come to pass. It was one or the other, take down Sasuke or take down Orochimaru.
A second later he shook his head, "Sasuke, I might lose everything but this is more important than me...do what you have to do."
It was pitch black when the kennel door opened and a hand reached in to drag him out. Everyone was there; dressed appropriately and sombre. TenTen walked up to him and silently handed the EMP device to him and the control.
"You need hurry." She told him.
Looking at Kin he said, "You need to put this on the fuse box of the central post, on the quad, I'll go get Pein. Meet us the admin basement entrance in three minutes."
She nodded took the thing and slipped off into the night.
Sasuke glanced over to Naruto and jerked his head to the right, "Let's go."
The blond nodded and they both silently made their way to the basement. Pein was up and waiting; the minute he saw them he got up and walked over to them.
You have the wire cutters and the canteen?" Sasuke asked Naruto.
The blond silently held up a knapsack. The raven sighed in relief. Glancing down to the wristwatch he murmured.
"Pein," Sasuke said, "The minute we get to No Man's Land you're going to have to drink this; it'll knock you out but it's not so concentrated it will kill you."
The man nodded. Making their way back up to the surface he saw everyone there, Kin nodded to him that everything was in place.
So far, so good.
"The generator kicks in fifty seconds; we have ten seconds to get to the quad and from the eight to garden and ten to No Man's Land."
He stared thinking and praying that Itachi deciphered the message and would make the call on time.
"Everyone ready?" he asked looking them in the eyes, there wasn't even a bare hint of uncertainty in any of them; Pein most off all.
"Okay then...five...four...three...two...one!" Sasuke pressed the button, the timer in the EMP activated and in three split seconds the whole power grid sparked out. Complete darkness enveloped the whole camp.
Sasuke grabbed the laser optical sight Kiba had managed to smuggle out of the weapons room; crouched down facing the gathering.
"Let's go."
***Itachi's Apartment building***
Itachi stared at the clock, pale hand clenched around the store bought cell phone he had purchased five hours ago.
"You're going to do it?" Kisame asked watching the older Uchiha with apprehensive eyes.
Itachi didn't even deign to reply to him. Ten thirty...ten thirty-two...ten-thirty-eight...ten-forty...ten forty-five...
Itachi pressed the number he had dialled on the screen half an hour ago and put it to his ear.
"Iwagakure Central police station; what's you emergency?"
Itachi swallowed, the words he had rehearsed through the whole day seemed to be stuck in his throat.
"Hello...is someone there?"
Itachi glanced up to Kisame's steady supportive eyes and suddenly his throat released.
"Yes," his dark eyes trained on Kisame's. "I was walking by the Maito Gai facility when I heard a gunshot, I think someone is trying to escape."
I am such the QUEEN OF CLIFFHANGERS. MUAHHAHAHHHAHHAHHHHHAHHHAHHHAAAAHHAA!
Sooooooooooooooooooooooo not apologetic. Go ahead, cuss me out. It just makes me happier.
Vocab
MTAC(2): it's a real military section people, Multiple Threat Alert Centre, usually found in the Navy section of the armed force, and y'all can thank NCIS for this titbit of info.
Again muahhhahhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhahhhahhha HA!