GUILTY
Tsunade leaned back in her chair and sighed heavily. Being Hokage was, without a doubt, a difficult task: negotiating with the other angry village leaders, supervising legions of deadly assassins, making all the right decisions…but she never expected having to deal with a mystery like this: the slaughter of innocent women and children and the word "SIN" written in red. The discussions around her office revolved around only one thing: what did 'SIN' mean?
"I'll bet SIN is a person who is dealing out judgment on all the people who deserve it," Shizune had said firmly that morning when bringing the newspaper to Tsunade.
"Oh Shizune, really," Tsunade responded, slapping her forehead. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."
'But it's the only guess I've heard all morning as to what it means,' Tsunade thought as she picked up a photo from her desk.
The photo depicted a mangled body of a young woman, no more than twenty-five or so, with her intestines hanging out her ripped stomach and her throat slit open. Tsunade squinted, taking a closer look at the piece of paper next to the body, and noted that the word "SIN" was written in Romaji.
"Does that have any significance?" She wondered out loud, tapping her other hand on the polished wooden surface of her desk.
She set the photo back down and picked up another one. This picture showed a young boy with his head completely severed from his body, and the same three letters written in crimson on a piece of paper. Tsunade set that aside as well and bit her lower lip, still tapping her hand loudly on the desk.
'SIN…S…I…N…'
Tsunade hesitated, but called out to her assistant. "Shizune, come here for a sec."
Shizune's head appeared around the office door. "Yes, Tsunade-sama?"
Tsunade motioned to the pictures on her desk. "We'll definitely need some help with this…case."
Her assistant nodded her head vigorously and stepped into the office. "Are you thinking of someone in particular?"
The Hokage pulled at one of the loose strands of blonde hair that was hanging by her shoulder. "Somebody who's helped us before…like with the cat thief and the ordeal with all the graffiti…"
Shizune smiled knowingly. "You mean Sasuke?"
"Precisely."
Later that afternoon, the Uchiha was standing in front of the Hokage's large, oak desk, feeling as though he was put into the spotlight, in the middle of a huge room with the menacing woman staring at him. He knew why he was here; he just wasn't sure how'd he answer her questions.
Tsunade cocked her head and smiled. "Coffee? Tea? Anything?"
"I'm fine," Sasuke replied coldly.
She smiled and sighed, shaking her head. "Oh, Uchiha, you've always been a bit of a dick, haven't you?"
Sasuke smirked in return. "I'm sure you didn't summon me to tell me that I'm a dick."
Tsunade leaned back, resting her hands behind her head. "I'm sure you've seen the papers."
"You mean the thing about SIN?"
Tsunade rolled her eyes. "No, I'm talking about my horoscope," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She slammed her hands on her desk, frustrated. "Damn it, Sasuke, of course I'm talking about SIN!"
Sasuke shrugged. "Why'd you get me in here? I'm sure the ANBU are perfectly capable-"
Tsuande silenced him with a glare. "No, Sasuke, we need you, too." She looked down at her nails. "And ya know, we could pay you pretty handsomely if you helped us out here."
The man raised his brow. "Bribing me, Hokage-sama?" He asked, saying her name with malice.
Tsuande flicked some grime from under her fingernail, cursing silently when it didn't hit Sasuke in the face. "No, just offering some money in return for your help."
Sasuke stretched his arms and yawned. "You're lucky. I happen to know someone you can question."
The Hokage leaned forward, now interested. "Oh yeah? Who?"
Sasuke smiled as an image of a blonde-haired girl flashed through his mind. "I'll bring her by tomorrow." He turned away from her desk and waved his hand. "Trust me, you'll simply fall in love with her."
Tsunade hesitated, but raised her voice. "Uchiha?"
He stopped before he got to the door. "What?"
"How are you and Naruto doing?" She asked nonchalantly.
It took a minute for Sasuke to reply. "We're over. Been over for a while."
And with that he opened the door and left, leaving a confused Fifth Hokage in his wake.
Michiko was, unfortunately, very horny. As the storm clouds rolled in throughout the course of the afternoon, she laid on her bed, reliving every second of her night at Sasuke's house. Just thinking of his body, his sweat, his heartbeat, and the many times he said her name lustily as their bodies connected physically was enough to make her heart and hormones race. Michiko didn't care about a pregnancy or Naruto anymore: all she wanted was to be with Sasuke again, to see his beautiful body and hear him moan "Oh god, Michiko" in her ear as he moved above her.
Michiko inhaled deeply and wrapped her arms around herself, imagining that she was with the man she loved. After that night, Sasuke had been, without a doubt, quite horrible to her. Not that she cared. If he treated like that, that was fine. She was a slave for him, would do anything to him, whether he valued her as a goddess or an animal.
'And besides,' Michiko thought, her hands sneaking down between her legs. 'The more we make love, the more he'll forget about Naruto-san.'
The rain started by nightfall. Sasuke was sipping some tea and sitting on his couch, flipping through an old nature and geology magazine. He knew he should've been looking for Michiko and telling her that he absolutely needed her to talk to Tsunade and that if she did so, he'd love her forever.
'Women,' Sasuke thought, resting his teacup on the arm of the couch. 'When they're desperate, they'll believe anything.'
He tossed the magazine to the floor, thinking for the first time in a while, about Naruto. How was he doing? Was he handling everything alright? Did he have any connection to the murders? What was he doing? How did he feel about Sasuke? Did he find anyone new? These questions flooded Sasuke's brain.
He stared at the steam rising from his cup, listening to the pitter-patter of the rain outside. Damn, he missed that blonde-haired man. He still loved him, which was why he couldn't see or be seen with him. He had made a deal with that bastard (what was his name again? Nao-something?) that if he dated Michiko, Naruto would be safe. What a lame deal.
Sasuke squinted his tear-filled eyes. The world was harsh, cruel. He knew that after he lost his family. But after he and Naruto had started their relationship, he thought he could be happy again, have something to love and cherish for the rest of his life.
What a bunch of bull shit. Now all he had was this girl that he had no feelings towards.
…
Well, almost no feelings towards, anyway.
His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a soft knock on his front door. Wondering who it was, he got up off the couch and dragged his feet to the door. He opened the door, readying his good punching arm in case it was someone from SIN.
"Yeah, what-" He stopped and lowered his arm when he saw who it was.
Michiko took a deep breath and tried to smile. She was soaked to the bone. Her normally bright, shiny blonde hair hung limply by her shoulders; her face was shining, with drops of water falling from the bridge of her nose; and, Sasuke was glad to notice, her white shirt was nearly transparent, with the soft outline of her breasts visible and her nipples poking out like pebbles.
Oh god, he could've fucked her right there.
Michiko's face flushed and she looked down, away from his staring eyes. "I…I came back."
All of Sasuke's resentment towards her vanished. She was just so pathetic-looking, all he wanted to do was take her in his arms. Any worries or doubts left, replaced by white hot passion and mad desire for her body.
Sasuke weakly smiled back, feeling his loins stir. "I knew you'd come back for more."
It was the wee hours of the morning, yet Sasuke couldn't get to sleep. Maybe it was because his heart was still pumping violently, even though he and Michiko had quit their love-making some time ago. It had certainly given him a rush, that was for sure.
He glanced down at the girl lying next to him, who was peacefully sleeping and had her arm draped over his bare chest. She wasn't homesick; that was good. Sasuke brushed a strand of hair away from Michiko's face and surprised himself by kissing her forehead. She looked like a little angel; there was no doubt that she was going to get into heaven.
He gently lifted Michiko's arm and quietly slipped out from under the sheets and off the mattress, being careful not to wake her. He grimaced as he did so and gingerly touched his upper back; the girl had certainly done a number on him with her nails.
Sasuke tip-toed over the pile of clothes that he had discarded hours earlier to his bedroom window and looked out at the street below. The rain had stopped, but everything was still wet. The orange light of a street lamp reflected off the damp surface of the road, and a stray dog ran stealthily across the sidewalk. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Sasuke shrugged one shoulder and turned away from the window. Unbeknownst to him, a dark-clothed figure ran across the street and out of sight, sunshine blonde hair whipping behind it, a golden cross hanging around its' neck, and a murderous intent on its' mind.
A/N: Nothing much to say, really, except that I'm probably going to focus a lot of my attention on this story and hope to finish it by the end of July.