EDIT (8-8-18): Edited for clarity and format
Part III of the Convention Center arc.
Chapter 5: Bang Bang Bye
Ichigo checked his watch.
It was four-ten and still no sign of the usually early Haruhi or the normally late Rin and Naruto. The latter two were no surprise, but Haruhi… Ichigo leaned against the ebony column behind him, ignoring the loud shouting surrounding him. His guess was that Haruhi ran into the Host Club.
"Ichigo?"
The red head turned at the sound of his name and saw a ruffled Yukio pushing his way through people before stumbling out of the crowd and landing before him.
"Hey, what's up?"
"Where is everyone? I thought Ranka wanted us all to leave at four so we could have dinner at six-thirty…"
Ichigo nodded.
"That was the plan but…"
The duo glanced over toward True Cross Convention Center's main doors.
"I doubt Ranka could have predicted the stupidity of the Uchiha Police."
"Itachi-san…" Hissed Kisame in a whisper. "How are we going to get out of here?"
Surrounding the duo was a mob of angry shoppers, all banned from exiting due to the one person in their midst who pissed off the Chief of Police. They weren't even at the front doors yet but locked in traffic a few aisles away from them.
"You'll know when it happens," Murmured the Uchiha.
"Where'd you disappear to?" Asked Sasori as he, Tobi, and Hidan headed toward the exit.
Hidan shrugged.
"Bathroom."
Sasori's eyes narrowed but he said nothing. He really didn't care. However, he did care about how the hell they were going to leave the convention center.
"The hell did Itachi do…" The redhead muttered, irritatedly scanning the ever-thickening crowds.
Hidan scoffed.
"And you were worried about me."
Sasori ignored him and finally halted, stopped by the crowd. Despite his short frame, he could make out the True Cross Convention Center's front doors a few yards away with the silhouettes of patrol officers standing in the doorways.
The dollmaker crossed his arms before turning on his heel.
"And where the hell do you think you're going, Suzy?" Drawled Hidan.
"This way," Called the red head. "We'll never get out over there."
"So… What is this?" Haruhi asked as she stood with the Rich People's Association, staring at a sea of people.
Renji appeared from within the crowd.
"Seems like the Uchiha Police Force," he glared at an indifferent Sasuke, "has sealed all the exits to this place. Windows and emergency doors included."
All remaining plutocrats shot glares at the Uchiha.
Sasuke looked up from his scanner and raised an eyebrow.
"What? Itachi's on the loose in here, you know."
Neji stared hard at the younger orphan.
"You know what your brother looks like, right? Why not just monitor the security cameras and-"
"Don't underestimate him!" Snapped Sasuke.
Neji sighed, giving up with the rest of the elites.
"Far be it from me to want to protect the public from your psychopath of a brother, rather than keeping them in the same vicinity." He added under his breath, earning a nasty glare from the police chief.
"But we're done voting, so how are we gonna leave?" Innocently asked Honey-senpai as he clutched Usa-chan in thought.
"Sasuke."
Ciel Phantomhive stared at the older teen through narrowed eyes. The raven-haired officer rolled his eyes.
"I guess I could get them to let you guys out… But the poor girl stays."
All eyes fell upon Haruhi, whose relieved expression dissolved into a frown.
"Why me…"
Meanwhile, Deidara stood in line before the LME recruiters. The girl in front of him left, and he walked up to the table.
"Fill this out, please," Said the man sitting there, tapping a pen on a blank form.
Applications were on the spot, so Deidara quickly began to write down his information while standing there. After a few minutes, the recruiter picked it up and glanced it over.
"Special Effects division, huh? We are pretty short there. Seems like you've had a lot of experience…" The man trailed off, reading through Deidara's work history.
Finally, he looked up.
"We'll be in touch."
Deidara fought back a smirk and nodded. Special effects? How easy was that compared to blowing up centuries-old buildings? As he sauntered away, his happy thoughts were quickly dispelled by the loud screams coming from the entrance.
"What now…"
"Shit! It's Kisame Hoshigaki of the Wave region and Itachi Uchiha! Run!"
After that uncharacteristically loud line, Itachi had yanked Kisame away and had barricaded themselves behind the counter of a vacant face painting stand. The two men sat huddled to the counter, attempting to stay out of view while a stampede resounded outside of their hideout.
"But did you really have to yell my name, Itachi-san?" Glared Kisame.
The Uchiha remained stoic.
"It added more depth and panic."
Kisame sighed. He really was paired up with some kid.
"Oh, Ichigo!"
Ichigo looked up from his phone and saw a redhead elbowing her way through the crowd, hurrying in his direction.
"Kyoko? I thought you were signing autographs or something."
Kyoko meekly smiled and scratched the back of her head.
"Well, I was but since I'm a still an amateur I wasn't needed anymore."
"Harsh."
Kyoko looked around.
"Where are the others?"
Ichigo shrugged.
"Who knows. I texted 'em but no one replied. Yukio went to find them"
Ichigo's phone flashed.
"Wait, nevermind. Okumura just sent me a snap of him and Naruto in front of some cops. Caption's 'totally lost but still havin' fun.'"
Ichigo's face fell.
"Damn it, this is useless."
He pocketed his phone and crossed his arms, surveying the crowd along with Kyoko.
"Think we'll ever get out of here?"
"Not at this rate."
The two looked to their left where they saw a disheveled Haruhi panting, victorious from getting through the crowd.
"Did you run into the Hosts?" Ichigo asked.
"Yeah, and some other rich bastards." Haruhi mumbled. "The main bastard being Sasuke Uchiha."
Ichigo groaned while Kyoko donned a serious, menacing facade.
"Should I curse him and his family until their thousandth generation?"
"Uh, no. He's already the last of his clan so…"
"That's beginning to sound like a good idea." Haruhi agreed with dead eyes, causing Ichigo to eye the two girls warily.
"Listen. If I see him, I'll just punch him. He can't get away with misusing his powers like this."
"I agree."
The trio turned and saw Yukio with Rin and Naruto trailing behind.
"Where were you two at?" Ichigo asked the last two members of their home.
"We were playing some games and then got lost in the crowd." Rin explained.
Sure enough, the two were clutching plastic bags of souvenirs and prizes from their earlier activities.
"I'm surprised games are still running with the panic going on in here." Ichigo observed.
Yukio nodded.
"Really. I think it would be a wiser course of action for the police to evacuate civilians, if Itachi Uchiha really is in the area."
"You think Itachi might not be here?" Kyoko asked.
Yukio shrugged.
"Someone would have seen him by now, right? The only logical options are that he left earlier or was never here in the first place. The current development could be from any idiot shouting his name."
Ichigo groaned, a drained expression on his face.
"You're kidding me, right? 'Cuz if that's the case, there's no one stopping me from getting rid of the guys at the front entrance."
Ichigo jabbed a thumb over at the police blocking the front doors.
"That's not a viable option either." Yukio disagreed.
The screams around them increased in volume and frenzy, the crowds pushing closer to the door.
"Listen, if Itachi Uchiha's here, you gotta let us leave!" A man yelled.
"We can't do that. Itachi could escape." A police officer in front of the doors explained.
"Like hell! We could die!"
Yukio sighed.
"Well, it looks like the crowds are pretty close to beating the cops up for you." He said to Ichigo, who was already rolling his shoulders, loosening up for a fight.
"Hey, what just happened? It got a hell of a lot louder at the front of the center." Hidan pointed out, looking over his shoulder.
The trio was heading to the back of the main room, where the crowds were thinner.
"Tobi, go find out what happened." Sasori ordered while staring at a map of the building plastered to a portable signboard.
"Right!"
The masked man ran off, leaving Hidan to stare dumbly at the map with Sasori.
"Should we cut the power?" The Jashinist asked.
"No, that would only cause more panic. I predict that very soon, the people will riot against the police. Actually," Sasori began, turning to eye Hidan, "I've thought of a very good idea thanks to Itachi."
"Idea?"
As Hidan attempted to think of anything good Itachi delivered out of the pandemonium, Tobi returned with a guest.
"Lost?" Deidara asked with a raised eyebrow upon finding his co-workers around a map.
"Hey, Tobi. Sasori told you to find out what the hell happened up there, not to fetch Cinder-fucking-rella here." Hidan angrily chastised, gesturing at a narrow-eyed Deidara.
"But Deidara-senpai knows what happened!"
Sasori and Hidan turned to stare at Deidara.
"Well? What the fuck happened?"
Deidara rolled his eyes.
"Itachi-sighting. People are, as you would say, freaking the fuck out."
"Did people actually see Itachi?" Sasori asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Hm… I dunno. Someone shouted that they saw him and Kisame, I think."
"Just fucking great. Now they're both going to get caught."
Hidan crossed his arms and leaned against a nearby stall.
"Hm…"
Sasori put a hand to his chin in thought.
"Idea, senpai?" Deidara asked.
Sasori nodded.
"Yes. Do either of you happen to have a knife?"
Deidara, Tobi, and Hidan looked around at each other. Stares landed on Hidan who rolled his eyes, scowled, and pulled out a switchblade from his pocket before handing it to Sasori.
"This will do nicely," Sasori announced as he checked the blade, "Thank you."
Hidan rolled his eyes once more.
"Yeah, but what do you want wi-"
Sasori walked toward Hidan, raised his knife hand, and quickly stabbed him in the chest.
"So since Itachi's at the front…"
"Allegedly." Yukio added, interrupting Rin.
"Right. So since Itachi's allegedly at the front, they're telling us to move to the back?"
The group of roommates were being ushered to the back of the room, which to them made absolute zero sense due to the probability of them passing the alleged criminal on their way back.
Yukio groaned.
"Yes. That is exactly their reasoning."
Naruto ran his fingers through his hair.
"But wouldn't we just give him a better opportunity to change locations?"
Yukio groaned even louder.
At the back of the group, Ichigo had his hands shoved in his jean pockets, a frown etched onto his face. Haruhi and Kyoko walked in front of him, one slouched over and glaring, the other surrounded by negative energy and muttering under her breath.
Suddenly, more screaming broke out before them.
Ichigo darted to the front of the group, looking around.
"What is it now?"
Yukio, Rin, and Naruto peeked around him. People were fleeing from the back of the room.
"You're kidding me. Did something happen over here?" Yukio asked, looking around. "Hey! Wait!" He yelled at people fleeing past him.
Ichigo grabbed a man's arm as he ran past, causing the man to scream.
"Let go, you idiot!"
"Hey, what happened?" Ichigo demanded.
"A killer… That psychopath Itachi Uchiha's at the back of the room! He stabbed a man and disappeared!"
The man broke free of Ichigo's grasp and fled back to the front of the arena.
"What the…"
"There has been a confirmed sighting of Itachi Uchiha at the back of the True Cross Convention Center's main floor!" Shouted a police officer into his radio as he ran past the group. "All personnel report to the back pronto!"
"So Itachi is back here…" Murmured Yukio.
"Sh-shouldn't we head back to the front then?" Asked Kyoko weakly.
Ichigo nodded.
"Yeah, let's get going."
"You fucking stabbed me!" Shrieked Hidan as he pressed Deidara's sweatshirt to his wounds. "You fucking stabbed me six fucking times!"
Sasori shrugged.
"Yeah. Hurry up and dry off so we can leave out the front. I diverted all the police attention to the back of the room."
Hidan's mouth hung slack. Deidara wished the priest's jaw would break so he would quit his incessant tirade.
"Dry off? You diverted the police? Like fuck! I was the one who got stabbed! If they hadn't fucking seen me, I doubt anything would have happened!"
Sasori sighed.
"Yeah, exactly. Now hurry up and cover up your wounds, brat. We need to leave."
Sasori tapped his foot impatiently, his brow furrowed.
Hidan growled.
"Here, Hidan-san!"
Tobi appeared with rolls of bandages in hand.
"Thank fucking Jashin for someone with common sense."
The priest shoved the sweatshirt into the blond's hands, allowing Tobi to quickly wind bandages around him.
Deidara grimaced and tossed the sweatshirt in a nearby trash can.
"We can't have Hidan's blood here." Sasori piped up. "That sweatshirt is evidence and if found could lead to the Akatsuki's discovery."
Deidara blew air at his bangs, rolled something in his palm, and tossed it into the trashcan which promptly burst into flames with a small bang.
He looked at Sasori with a pointed gaze.
The doll maker sighed.
"Just hurry up."
When Ichigo and the others returned to the front of the building, people were desperately fighting past the few remaining officers while others past them were kicking and throwing objects at the locked doors.
"Guess we'll just have to-"
"Right. Time to break 'em down." Ichigo announced with a grin, cutting Haruhi off.
"Oh God, please don't." Yukio moaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Naruto and Rin grinned, one cracking his knuckles, the other backing up to run at the door.
"I can't tell if I'm supposed to be helping or disapproving." Kyoko admitted as she watched Rin run at the locked automatic doors and kick them, causing a crack to appear.
Ichigo followed after him, casually toting a baton an officer dropped. He swung at the cracked glass three times. No give.
"Hey! Move!"
Ichigo and Rin looked up to see Naruto and a few others from the crowd carrying a table their way. The two moved as the group ran at the door and used the table as a battering ram.
Nothing.
"Damn it, nothing's working." Rin growled as he kicked the door once more.
"I wonder if Sir Pheles constructed these doors with you in mind…" Yukio absently pondered.
"Yukio, c'mon! Now's no time to be standing around! There's a killer around!"
Yukio sighed and walked off.
"Eh? Yukio?"
"Where's he going at a time like this?"
Kyoko and Haruhi followed his frame as far as they could before he disappeared into the angry crowd.
"What's his problem?" Rin asked as Ichigo and Naruto tackled the door.
More high-pitched, frenzied screaming came from the back of the center.
"Fire! Fiiirree!"
Haruhi and Kyoko looked at each other.
"What, there's a fire now?" Haruhi spat, attempting to disassociate from the scenario that came from the Uchiha Police Force's stupidity.
More people pushed toward the doors, joining Ichigo, Naruto, and Rin in tackling, punching, and kicking the glass.
"Everyone! Stand back." A loud, clear voice ordered.
The roommates faced the crowd and saw Yukio at its edge a few feet from them, a gun in his hands aimed at the door.
"Hey, wait!"
Ichigo and Naruto yelled as they dove to the floor, alerting those around them and closest to the glass to get down as well.
Two gunshots sounded before the sound of shattering glass greeted the crowd's ears.
There was a brief pause in the crowd's desperation which Ichigo and Naruto used to get to their feet and jump out of the way of the instantly surging crowd, all fleeing from the single exit point Yukio created.
Rin grabbed Yukio and Naruto before pushing his way into the crowd and out the hole in the doors.
Ichigo hefted Kyoko and Haruhi, doing the same.
The two ducked behind a statue of Mephisto, watching desperate people flood out of the building.
Shouts in the distance cued them in to the remaining police's feeble attempts to control the situation.
Rin mimicked Ichigo and put Naruto and Yukio down.
Naruto breathed a heavy sigh.
"We're out."
"Let's hurry and get out of this area. The police are getting desperate." Yukio noted as the saw officers attempting to grab and detain civilians fleeing the center.
Haruhi sighed and began trudging off.
"Agreed."
"Someone please give me a short summary of today's happenings."
The Akatsuki members sat quietly in their living room. Pain stood behind the sofa, arms crossed and ringed eyes narrowed into an ugly glare.
Hidan sat on the couch in front of him, applying ice packs and frozen pizzas to his wounds, which were actually pretty shallow considering the circumstances. He'd have to wait for Kakuzu to get home and stitch them up.
"Well…" Deidara began, pausing with his mouth open as all gazes in the room fell on him. "Uh, well. Today I put in some job apps."
Pain ground his teeth in anger, attempting not to lose it.
"Also, Kisame and I gathered some useful intel while tracking the Nine-Tails."
Pain was growling as he slowly turned to face Itachi, the key troublemaker of the day.
"Hurry and say what it was, Uchiha!" Hissed Deidara. "I'm scared he's going to kill us!"
Itachi impassively blinked.
"There are others possibly interested in the Tailed Beasts."
Pain's jaw slackened, his expression relaxing into intrigue.
"Who?"
"True Cross Academy. I believe I saw quite a few people affiliated with them tailing Naruto as well."
"Really…" Pain murmured, thinking this over.
"Hey!" Hidan exclaimed. "Those shitheads! Yeah, they're the ones in the black jackets, right?"
Itachi nodded, causing Hidan to grin.
"Yeah, they said if I wanted to hunt demons I needed to join the Order."
"Hidan, you told people you hunt demons?" Growled Pain.
The priest shrugged.
"The guy didn't believe me, anyway. Kept trying to get what branch I worked for or was interested in. Like I care."
"I see… This is valuable information indeed. Good job, Itachi, Hidan."
Kisame frowned. He did work too...
"So...about that panic you caused, Itachi…" Deidara began, eying the man curiously.
"Yes. I started that panic to make it more difficult for the others to follow Naruto and for Kisame and I to move about more easily. Sasuke's not very good at organizing the police force, unfortunately. Also, he usually has a few officers on the lookout for Naruto. Naruto didn't attract any police attention in this situation, so we were in the clear."
"What about the panic you guys caused?" Asked Kisame to Sasori, who was sitting indifferently on the couch to Pain's right.
"Right. I stabbed Hidan a few times and blamed it on Itachi. The police were frantic. We got to leave."
"No one fucking bothered to check my pulse, damn it." Grumbled Hidan. "This shithead made me lie on the disgusting ground. I could have diseases!"
"I'm sure you already have plenty of diseases, Hidan." Sasori murmured.
"And the fire?" Pain asked.
Deidara shrugged.
"A happy accident, you could say."
Pain sighed.
"Well, despite Itachi's dramatic scheme, we did learn a few useful things. Others may be interested in the Tailed Beasts. We had best be even more careful from now on."
The Akatsuki members absently nodded while thinking that, for them, staying under the radar would be as likely as Naruto giving up Ichiraku.
x
And that's the end of the Convention Center arc!
Next time...
Everyone's schemes are revealed when the plot officially launches into orbit. Demons, reapers, and Tailed Beasts are apparently hot topics amongst the highest echelons of the neighborhood.