Gaara picks me up promptly at six and hands me a loaded handgun and two clips.
"I thought we weren't killing anyone tonight?"
"We aren't."
I roll my eyes but put the gun in my coat anyway.
Sometimes it's better not to pester the crazed gun-toting insomniac.
Temari and Kankuro are waiting for us outside, both packing heat. Temari's eyes are as sinister as her brother's. I don't miss the dried blood around her nostril.
Shika really can pick 'em, can't he?
"Where are we headed?" I ask.
"A couple of our members are staked out around the problem areas. We're meeting them there," says Kankuro.
"'Problem areas?'" Sounds more like a rash than a bunch of idiot punks about to get their asses handed to them.
"Some fuckers from Kumo have been messing up the stores in our territory," Temari all but snarls. "We sent a message to their leader to get them out a week ago, but he hasn't done shit. Now they have to pay the price."
She flexes her fingers around brass knuckles and a thick chain clinks around her waist. Kankuro has a crowbar hanging on his belt.
Apparently guns aren't enough.
I don't think Gaara is the type to really need a weapon. His muscles twitch under his sleeves and his eyes shift like a child impatient to play. I know the feeling; Kyuubi gets like that around Sasuke.
"Will I have to join you guys if I do this?" I ask. Because I don't think I have time to commit to this properly.
"No," Gaara assures me.
"Consider this a test drive," says Temari. "If you like it, you can try and convince Gaara that you're worth the time it would take to watch your ass."
"And if I don't like it?"
She shrugs.
"Then we kill you or strike you with the fear of God."
"Ah. Great."
This corner is like a fork in the road. On the one hand, I can go right--back to my apartment and an easy association with the Shukaku family. On the other, I go left--align myself to violence and take risks I've never dared before.
The air is thick with waiting.
They look at me expectantly and I get the feeling Gaara's going to kill me if I don't make my choice now.
I take a breath a feel an evil anger unfurl in my stomach.
I smile cruelly.
Cock my head.
And say the stupidest thing I can.
"Let's get this party started!"
The Suna gang is a bit patch worked--members thrown together from whatever remains of the factions the Shukakus tear apart--but it's durable and efficient and most importantly, it's surprisingly loyal to its leader.
Seems I'm not the only one with a protective streak. Gaara may have a few screws loose, but he's earned the respect of everyone around him by fighting tooth and nail for anyone who follows him.
Kyuubi makes a nod in respect of that.
That's why we're here tonight. Three of the Kumo gang's members have been terrorizing Gaara's favorite sweet shop where the owner gives him free cookies.
They've moved on by the time we get there and I see a weeping man sweeping the glass away from his ruined business.
He looks at Gaara and points down the street.
"They went that way," he sobs, and Gaara nods. He slips inside for a moment and comes back nibbling on a cookie.
I'm slightly aghast that he would have so little tact. But then again, this is Gaara.
We move along, Gaara in front, Temari at his left, Kankuro and I behind them, the ten members invited to this shin-dig trailing behind us like a pack of wolves looking for prey.
"Stop."
Gaara's command is surprising, but everyone freezes on cue.
The sound of breaking glass, metal clangs, and male laughter--they emanate from the next block.
I randomly note that Suna territory is surprisingly vast.
Gaara moves left, towards a long alleyway that cuts to the next street and Temari and I follow with three others while his brother leads the rest to the right, around the block.
Temari leads me by my wrist through the dark ally, and I would protest if not for the fact that I'm somewhat blind in the dark. Gaara moves forward with the steady slink of a cat, and as we move towards the sounds, the rest of the group disperse into side lanes, supposedly to get into position to surround them.
The laughter of our targets gets louder--there are way more than three voices up there--and I wonder how sure Gaara is that the police won't come.
Suddenly the gun in my belt feels a whole lot heavier.
We ambush them just in time to catch them trashing a park playground--tossing garbage cans left and right, yanking chains from the tops of the swings, and spray-painting obscenities on the slides. It's too late out for children to see this, but I wonder who's going to fix this mess tomorrow.
Do gangs come with custodians?
Before he knows what's coming, Gaara jumps out and hits one hard in the back.
The others take that as a sign and attack.
There are seven or eight Kumos, but it's hard to count and eventually I just start fighting.
Kyuubi wakes up with a vengeance.
My blood feels hot in my veins, my heart speeding up to make a dull roar in my ears. My limbs move jerkily, because I'm not the only one moving them anymore.
My fist swings and clips one guy in the chin so hard he hits his head against a pole. I leave him and run up behind another guy. As he turns around I shove an open hand into his gut, pushing him out of the sandbox and onto the cement.
Before I know it, my mind is full of violence.
There's one! There he goes! After him quick, quick--like a rabbit!
A man falls before me and I step on his leg so hard I hear it crunch.
Ooooh, those screams are nice! Blood, blood, make him bleed!
I jump on top of another one and start pounding on him until all I can hear is the sound of Kyuubi's cheers.
Yes, yes, YES! Bring him more, more pain! Make them all squeal like stuck PIGS--!
"Naruto."
I look up, my vision as red as Gaara's hair as he jerks his head for me to follow.
Some of the Kumos got away.
We don't want THAT, now do we?
Open mouthed and grinning like a pair of cats chasing mice, we leap and dash across the park after three screaming guys.
One runs faster than the others, veering to the right until a blond blur I recognize as Temari sprints past us and tackles him to the ground. The other two speed up and Gaara and I close in on them.
Hop the fence, past the dumpsters, over the debris, through the ally, around the corner and—
Dead end.
"Cooor-nered!" Kyuubi sings through my mouth.
Gaara's voice is higher--as it was in the ally with TenTen. "Little ones out to play...want to play with us?" he purrs.
Neither of us is standing up right now; we haunch a bit and tilt our heads to consider them. Our arms swing like pendulums and we slink closer and closer to our prey.
I'm certain we look downright horrifying.
"K-k-keep the fuck away you freaks!" one on the right yells, his voice breaking like mine did a few years ago.
"Young meat is good meat," Gaara hisses.
"I'm-I'm warning you!" They both draw guns and point them at us with shaking hands.
Gaara and I exchange happy glances and curl our fingers like claws.
Together, we pounce.
I don't think Gaara meant to kill them. The smell of blood and fear was thick in the air, and animals do tend to react strongly to both in fights.
I don't remember putting the other guy's arm into that shape, or bending his leg to that angle, because when one of the idiots' bullets grazed my face, everything went a bit...crazy. I think Gaara was the one who snapped his neck though, so I try not to worry about it.
The satisfied giggle in the back of my mind (still close to the surface, just in case) tells me that Kyuubi had fun.
We stand over both of our victims, looking at each other awkwardly. We're calm now, and it's become one of those moments when Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious might actually be an appropriate thing to say. Everything feels very surreal, and I don't think it's hit me yet that we just killed two people.
"So...what do we do with the bodies?"
Gaara doesn't answer, but looks at me for a moment, before grabbing one by the collar and hauling him up the ally way.
I follow suit, because I don't know what else to do, and I realize my hand is shaking.
It takes us a while to get them back to the park, and by then I can feel a slight panic rising in my stomach. I don't feel guilty--why should I? Gaara and Kyuubi did this, not me. It's that things have gotten so out of control that scares me more than I want to admit.
This was supposed to be a simple beat down. Now I'm an accomplice to murder.
And to think I could've been at home with a book.
Without prompting, four of Gaara's group collect the bodies from us and cart them off. One guy with several scratches on his chin approaches Gaara and he rasps, "We took them out behind Guido's Pizza. Bleach and purge the scene. Check for witnesses."
The guy nods, gestures to one other, and leaves.
I suppose, with a guy like Gaara in the lead, this kind of thing has become routine.
Kankuro leads us over to the pile of KO'd bodies, only one of them close enough to consciousness that he's twitching and moaning. Gaara wastes no time in grabbing the poor guy by the scruff of the neck and slapping him awake.
I can almost feel pity as his eyes go from closed to dazed to clear to terrified. A manic redhead with icy eyes is hardly pleasant to wake up to. Especially when you don't know that the bodies you're lying on aren't dead.
"Wh-wha-what are you gonna do with me?"
Gaara grins and I can see the blood vessels in his eyes bulge from here.
"What you've seen tonight--take that to your leader as a warning," he growls and grinds out. "My territory is off limits. Hear?"
The guy nods and Gaara shoves him away, satisfied.
Temari and a few others snicker. I sneer and try not to inhale the rank odor his crotch gives off.
He's pissed his pants.
Sirens cut the night and I feel my blood run cold.
For a moment we are all frozen but the second Gaara so much as flinches like he might run we are gone like a bag of coke at a halfway house.
I'm sorry. Was that uncouth of me?
Tough. I don't have time to breathe right now; screw manners.
I've lost Gaara and his siblings within about ten seconds of running. Unfortunately, there are no Sands in sight to follow through this maze of back allies and damn but those sirens are getting loud.
I round a corner and flashing lights shine on the world before me.
My feet feel like lead.
At least five cop cars are strewn around the stores we passed earlier as men in blue uniforms and dark suits point guns at people across the street.
"We have you surrounded. Drop your weapons and put your hands behind your head," someone calls through a megaphone.
I swallow hard; I recognize the logo on the plate of the Saturn in the middle and I'm grateful no one's noticed me.
A bright red disk with three comma marks chasing each other around a hole glares at me from the center of the PDC-124 that would deter any joy rider.
I force myself to take several steps back into the shadows--I'm too exposed at the mouth of my little ally.
What the fuck is Uchiha & Company doing paying for cop cars?
The place I hide in is a bit higher than the square where the Kumos and Sands are cornered, and it reminds me of a cave--hard to see anything from the outside unless something moves while the occupants (bats, or in this case, me) can watch the world with an uninterrupted view.
A heavy hand clamps over my mouth and I try to turn to attack but before I can move another hand grabs my arm and twists it against my back.
Oh god I've been caught!
"Don't make a sound or we're both screwed." I almost melt in relief. Yay for Kankuro! Is my irrational thought. He drags me back until we're around the corner and hisses against my ear. It tickles.
"We have to wait until they're done here--there's more where I just came from and we need to know where these guys are headed before we so much as sneeze."
I wiggle my arm a bit against his hold.
"If I let you go, you better not even think loudly. Get it?" Got it, I nod "Good."
He releases me and the renewed circulation makes my wrist tingle. Guess no one ever taught him to play nice with allies.
We watch from the darkest of shadows as those ahead are rounded up and frisked, and (god knows why) I find myself following one cop in particular, the line of his shoulders and superior air catching my attention even with his back to us.
"I'm going around the corner to check on our other exit," Kankuro breathes. "You stay here and keep an eye on things."
I nod and he's gone.
Although I know I'm so doomed if I get caught by Kankuro, I move up the ally a bit, fascinated by this particular cop. He's got slightly gray hair in a pony tail that reflects the siren lights better than Sasuke's would.
Sasuke...Uchiha...
Where did that come from?
His coat is slung over his shoulders like a cape and I note the ornate ring that glitters in the night and the dark nail polish that seems a little juvenile, even if he's gay. Next to him is a man easily six-feet-plus with skin the same blue color as a corpse that looks flaky and rough despite my distance.
The blue guy turns to say something to the enigmatic cop and I'm struck by how...pointy his grin is.
Guy looks like a fucking shark.
If fish-boy's partner says something, I can't tell, but it doesn't matter, because there is someone behind me, and Kankuro's grip on my arm returns with a vengeance.
"What the fuck are you doing you idiot?!"
I swallow and refuse to answer, letting him come to his own conclusions. His gun is pressing against my back where it hangs on his belt.
Better hope it's his gun, Kyuubi snickers.
Not now you bastard!
"They've cleared out behind us. We're going that way."
There is no room for argument and although the presence behind me is gone, I can feel his eyes on me peering around the corner.
I have a suspicion Gaara is there too.
My eyes watch carefully for any sign that the Shark and the Poof are looking my way as I back up slowly.
"Freeze!"
It's not either of the duo that says this, but another cop to their right.
I spin on my heel and start running, and I hear the idiot call again, "I said FREEZE!"
Yeah. Right.
I bolt down the alley and around the corner, following the fleeing heels of Kankuro and (I guessed right) Gaara, all the while cursing my hair color for being so noticeable and trying to ignore the lack of following footsteps.
Those freaks were close to me. I should hear them coming pounding pavement on the edge of my ass.
A gun barrel snaps out of nowhere (or, a rather tiny connecting ally) to press against my temple and I freeze, trembling.
"Caught you, Little Guppy."
Oooh. Yay. I'm going to be arrested by a guy who sounds more trigger-happy than Gaara.
I want to be miffed at the "Guppy," comment (I'm not that scrawny!), but it's hard to focus on that when a cold voice says, "Turn around slowly," with all the emotion of an icicle.
I comply, and I swear to god I should be having convulsions.
I know why the Village People Cop caught my eye.
Pale skin. Dark hair, dark eyes. Perfect features that leave women wet on contact.
Sweet Mary, Mother of Christ.
Sasuke's older brother is pointing a gun at me.
Ha-ha!
"Naruto Uzumaki."
He states it like a question. Sasuke must like to rag on me at home if he knows my name.
"Itachi Uchiha."
I state it as a reluctant fact, making it clear that I'm not glad he's him and I'm me.
"And Kisame Hoshigaki," 'Jaws' inserts, sounding impatient. He pushes my head with the dark muzzle and I grit my teeth, knowing instinctually that big blue would really rather shoot me than arrest me. "Now that we're all well acquainted and shit--" the clink of hand-cuffs is loud in my ears "--hands on the wall and spread 'em, Shrimp. Just like the movies."
The ally wall is rough brick that scrapes my palms as he systematically pats me down, removing the gun and ammo and pulling my arms back one at a time to cuff.
If I ever see Gaara again, I'm taking a knife and cutting pretty shapes into his skin until his flesh matches his hair.
