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Thanks to Nan203, Damp and LoverFromAnotherWorld. I finally got my stupid E-mail to work. If I missed someone who did review, I don't want to be rude, so if you PM me, I will pay homage to your R&R efforts.
Chapter 5: Collide
"I am getting really frickin' tired of waiting for this guy to show up!" The full moon's lavish light gleamed off the gunman's pale tresses as he leaned casually against the hood of his baby. Impatiently, Suigetsu punched the polished metal. The blood red sports car was brand new, with not even a speck of paint scratched off its polished surface. Sasuke had permitted his overzealous lieutenant to purchase the vehicle under the express understanding that the Hebi leader did not want to ever find Suigetsu being serviced inside of it while in front of 'Sound' which had unfortunately happened the last time the blond man had bought a car. Sasuke was still trying to banish that rather unfortunate image from his mind.
The raven didn't respond to his lieutenant's angry outburst. Suigetsu was just blowing off some steam, which was warranted. The three of them, Suigetsu, Juugo and himself, had been waiting for just over two hours for Kyuubi to arrive. Karin had been left at 'Sound' as per Sasuke's orders. He wanted it to seem as though Karin were truly afraid and wanted nothing better than to never set foot on the streets again. The subconscious stroking of the 'superhero's' ego might make him careless. But it was becoming increasingly difficult for the raven to keep his lieutenants in check as the hours continued to drag on in uninterrupted tedium.
They were set up in what was probably the strangest back alley in Konoha. It was an intersection of four separate alleyways, all merging in the center to create a chamber behind the buildings. It was a place Sasuke had conducted deliveries before, the location was open without being to noticeable to prying eyes. It offered plenty of natural cover from which Sasuke could watch the 'delivery'.
The raven wasn't worried about being seen, his position was perfect, his cover impeccable. No one would find him unless he wanted them to and he had no such inclinations.
Sasuke had arrived at his club just when he'd intended and had received his lieutenants in his office a few minutes later. He had carefully explained his intentions, laying out a trap and a plan to be carried out that night whose preparations were to be completed before that evening.
This drop off was fake. A large truck filled with several dozen large crates which were filled with nothing but imported sand. There was no reason to endanger the real shipment in Sasuke's mind. He would deal with the vigilante and tomorrow night make the real rendezvous. But Kyuubi wouldn't know that.
The basic set up was the same as Karin's drop off, which was just what Sasuke wanted. The Hebi leader wanted this to be as tempting a target as possible for Kyuubi.
"Don't be so impatient." Juugo's voice mumbled through the microphone fit to Sasuke's left ear as the man with orange hair attempted the ease the edgy gunman's nerves.
Sasuke watched as the two men relaxed against the hood of the car. They became less tense, at least, Suigetsu did; Juugo looked as though he could spend the rest of the night lounging against the hood of that sport car and come away as fresh as a daisy.
Sasuke melted deeper into the shadows, pressing himself so far into the darkness he doubted that someone could pass within an inch of him and notice he was there.
His current position offered a plain view of his two lieutenants as they 'supervised the operation' from Suigetsu's Ferrari. Suigetsu, was doing a fair approximation at yelling out instructions and insults intermittently whilst Juugo continued to sit, wait and look intimidating.
The stage was set, the character in place…except one.
Where is Kyuubi?
The whisper of a shoe sole brushing against concrete was carried to Sasuke where he crouched. Another came and then the raven heard nothing.
Sasuke turned his head, his movements so slow and even, they were undetectable in the deep shadows which encased him. A single figure stood in the alley…the one that they were waiting for?
The Hebi leader narrowed his eyes, trying to peer through the concealing shadows which hid him and also effectively veiled this man's identity. Irritatingly, Sasuke had to watch as the man pulled up an extra piece of cloth off the collar of his black shirt and eased it over the lower half of his face. It was like every bad episode of Captain Kakashi that Sasuke had ever watched had come back to haunt him. If the raven remembered correctly, the comic book superhero had worn his mask that way since the first issue in order to hide his secret identity from the world.
So that meant that this man, whoever it was, had read Captain Kakashi. It was a clue, although most of the population of Konoha had read those comic's when Sasuke was young. But it was something. The raven carefully tucked that piece of information away and continued to watch.
Kyuubi had come up to the end of the alley, not five feet from where Sasuke crouched. The light was better here and offered a more complete picture of the man Sasuke had come to meet.
He was as tall as Karin had said, lean and muscular. The ripple of lean power in Kyuubi's lower half was showcased beautifully by the tight leather pants the man wore. His feet were encased in black boots, also leather. Sasuke was close enough to see the tred on the soles was new.
Interesting…
Kyuubi's torso was covered in a black under-armor type material which had been modified in the collar to accommodate the coverage of the man's nose and mouth. Over the shirt was a worn black leather jacket, no decals or tags of any kind evident on the old hide. This man was smart enough not to give the gangs he terrorized any clues as to his true identity. At least, no direct clues. He'd already given Sasuke several.
The man's hair poked up in all directions: spikes that refused to be tamed or repressed. Kyuubi's hair was blond…? Red…? Sasuke blinked and watched in odd fascination as the man's unruly spikes shifted from bright yellow to an iridescent red. The color shifted once more before it settled into a stable tint, it wasn't red, but it was no longer blond and certainly not orange. It was a color the raven could no longer identify which irritated Hebi's leader.
Something gleamed in the moonlight, a dark bloody tint of something that peeked from the side of Kyuubi's face.
Sasuke, his movements still imperceptibly slow, leaned forward to get a better look at the man's face. When he did however, he felt his stomach clench, not in fear, but with an odd interest. The crimson glow was coming from the man's eyes, if it truly was a man, for Sasuke was no longer certain. The eyes were exactly as Karin had described: a bright bloody red whose hue defied any more definite a description. The pupils were nearly nonexistent, slit and terrible. The man's eyes were not that of a human being, they belonged to a great hunting beast, one who stalked and killed and took pleasure in both.
The man seemed to tense, his muscles ready to spring upon the unsuspecting score of men who lay just beyond the mouth of the alley where he crouched.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. It was time.
.:xXXx:.
He'd been watching, waiting. For what seemed like ages, but what must've been only moments, he had hidden himself in the shadows and patiently observed his prey.
Naruto wasn't a fool. He wasn't going to simply rush into this place blind. He'd sit and wait for the opportune moment, just like he had the night before. Ant that plan had gone smashingly if he did say so himself…
Heh, smashingly.
It was just like every other one of the countless drug runs he had seen. Eighteen men walked about the back alley, twenty if he counted the two men who were currently reclined against the hood of a pristine looking red Ferrari. They were here to supervise more than likely. The blond studied the pair intently. The first to gain his attention was a thick man, not fat by any means, but heavily built. The powerful of play muscle was obvious even under the man's heavy jacket. He carried no weapons that Naruto could make out, which meant that the man either could conceal a gun or knife better than the blonds' incredible vision could detect, or he preferred to fight with his hands. Naruto opted to believe the latter. The man's companion was easier to read. He was tall, whippet thin, sported a head of limp, bleached hair and a wicked looking fully automatic machine gun. The blond had seen people like him before: a young punk with an itchy trigger finger, ever ready to prove himself to anyone and everyone. Naruto idly wondered what kind of a person could control such a person enough to trust him to supervise a drug drop-off.
The hired labor seemed about done with unloading the crates. It was about time for him to make his appearance.
Naruto stood nearly upright, his legs slightly bent in preparation for his initial leap. He would have to take that car out first. He'd have to extinguish the headlights at least; that went for both vehicles. He'd get the gunman after that; take his machinegun out of the picture before getting rid of the bigger man. The little underlings wouldn't be much of a problem after their supervision disappeared.
The blond felt his muscles coil, his stomach flipped in anticipation as adrenaline began to flood his system. He allowed his unnatural senses to expand, to overcome him the way he always did before a fight. It was what kept him alive night after night. He took a deep breath…
…and smelled something that should not have been there!
Naruto moved to turn, to swat aside what he knew was coming, but he was far too late.
He felt the prick of the needle the instant before his legs gave out. Naruto hit the unyielding concrete with a wet 'thud', the impact jarring his teeth. He tried to roll over, to crawl away from whoever had him, but his limbs refused to respond to his commands. He was helpless, lying face down in the muddy alley, at the mercy of…he didn't even know who.
"So, you are Kyuubi." The voice was masculine, but seemed to be coming from a long ways off. It echoed oddly and Naruto had to concentrate to make out every word. His arms and legs were tingling, like he'd sat on them too long and the blood was just beginning to re-circulate. His mind was floating, in a haze, a fog that he couldn't seem to find his way out of.
"I know that you can hear me," The voice held no trace of impatience, speaking as casually as one would discuss the weather or the best way to get to a restaurant. Naruto could feel himself being turned over, but not with hands, and just barely, as if it were all just a dream of a sensation.
"Suigetsu, Juugo, that's enough, you can leave now."
"Wha-t do you…want?" The blond man panted.
"To talk," Came the simple reply. But Naruto wasn't buying it.
"Talk…" The blond mumbled weakly. "What could you, a black-hearted, self-serving bastard like you have to say that would interest me?"
He felt the man's fingertips brush along the edges of his mask and the blond fought down panic. The voice held a hard edge this time. "I don't care about your vaunted goals superhero. I care about the bottom line."
Naruto wanted to open his mouth and curse at the man, to stand and rip this cold hearted strategist into small pieces so he could no longer damage the blonds' beloved city with his cold calculation. But he could do nothing, only lay there on the cold pavement and wallow in his mounting fury.
He heard the voice sigh, or at least, the blond thought that he did. The noise had been so soft, like the rustle of leaves on an autumn wind. When the voice did at last speak, it carried none of the harshness from before.
"I have a question for you, it is simple and requires a simple response."
"What?"
"I am from an organization known simply as Hebi. We dabble in many things: drugs, prostitution, extortion…"
Naruto's laugh lacked any real humor. "If…you are t-trying to generate…sympathy for your pithy little organization, you're doing a…r-really great job."
The voice seemed to ignore his comment and went on. "There is another group, worse than Hebi. What if I said that they killed for the simple pleasure of causing terror? What if I told you that they kidnapped children from their front yards to supply their trade in slave labor and black market organ donation?"
"I'd say that you needed to get to the point before this drug you've pumped into me wears off and I pull your legs off like an insect." It frightened Naruto just how much he meant it too.
Sasuke continued, unfazed by the man's threat. "I would help you take care of this organization, rid Konoha of their taint. What do you say now, Kyuubi?"
Naruto's mind spun. Out of all the possible conclusions his drug muddled mind had conjured, none had even come close.
"What's…the catch?" He heard himself say. "You expect me to believe that you're going to team up with someone who's sworn to destroy you just out of the blue?"
The man made no comment, but Naruto was far from finished.
"And, for the sake of argument, I do agree. When it's all over you and your gang are going to what; just walk away? I won't stop trying to destroy every single one of you."
He was recovering. The tingle had lessened slightly in his limbs and it took less effort for Naruto to form the words he wanted.
"I hold no such illusions." The voice was becoming more distinct, further proof of the blonds' recovery. It was still bleary, but distinctly less so. "I hope that you will see the wisdom of quitting this two front war you have blindly thrust yourself into. Once the larger threat is eradicated, I have no doubt that you and I will collide once more."
The fuzzy image of a head floated before Naruto's eyes. He couldn't make out anything, another frustrating effect of the drug floating around in his bloodstream.
"Think on this Kyuubi…" The sensation of a hand on his mask returned. The blond involuntarily jerked when his cowl was pulled, sliding down his cheeks a quarter inch before the hand stopped.
"In this state, I have complete power over you." The cold fingers which had settled on his cheekbones and mask were enough to illustrate the point. "I am offering you the opportunity to accomplish a goal of yours. I all that I ask is that until you have dealt with this social enemy, you let Hebi alone."
His vision was becoming clearer. Naruto could make out shoulders and it looked like the speaker's head actually rested on a neck instead of sprouting directly from the dark lump of his torso.
Naruto's lips pulled back to reveal his elongated eyeteeth, though he knew that they could not be seen, hidden behind the mask. This man was using him, but he had few options at this point. With one tug, his identity would be exposed. The drug was wearing off, but his control was nowhere near what it could be, or what it ought to be if he had a hope of stopping this man if he decided to stop toying with the blond. With one motion everything could be undone.
The growl that emerged from the back of his throat was dangerous, but did not seem to frighten his captor who continued to stroke the supple material of Naruto's mask with sure fingers.
"Think about it."
Naruto's mask was yanked unceremoniously back into place and the vague image which had hung before his unfocused eyes disappeared.
The blond heard the crunch of concrete underfoot somewhere in the distance and the voice called out, travelling farther away.
"Akatsuki won't wait long though."
.:xXXx:.
Naruto woke to rain pattering against the window. He stretched and rolled, turning his back to the gloomy gray image outside the dirty square of glass. The foggy images of last night still clung to his mind's eye. The blond rubbed his eyes and stretched again, trying to shake the last hazy images of the encounter from his brain.
It had been bad enough that he had to carry the memory of his total incompetence, but the memories had continued to plague him even as he slept.
He had been caught 'dead to rights' as the saying went and to his great surprise and continued befuddlement, systematically released.
Resigned to his state of awake, the blond got up. It figured, on the one day he didn't have to work was the one morning that he couldn't sleep. The clock beside him glowed a bright 7:43 back at him. Naruto had another three hours before he had to even think about getting up at all.
The blond rose, pushing a hand through his unruly hair. He kicked aside a pile of clothing on his way to the dresser and opened the ancient fiberboard furnishing.
It was empty.
Naruto sighed heavily and pinned a surly gaze on the piles of stagnant clothes littering his bedroom floor. They seemed to look back and laugh. That settled it, today was laundry day.
Gathering the widely scattered garments and tossing the offending clothing into three large black garbage bags had taken less time than the blond had assumed. Twenty minutes later, dressed in one of his fresher smelling T-shirts and a pair of old orange sweatpants, the Uzumaki was out the door.
The nearest Laundromat was four blocks away so by the time Naruto had hauled the two huge black garbage bags through three intersection crosswalks in the pouring rain whilst being jostled every step of the way by the hundred or so people who were too busy texting to say 'excuse me', he remembered why it was laundry day happened so infrequently.
Naruto eased into the Laundromat's dry interior, holding the door open with one of the overstuffed bags and somehow squeezing the other two through the impossibly undersized opening. Thankfully, the establishment was nearly empty, affording Naruto an entire row of washing machines.
Dumping his clothing into the available contraptions, loading soap and feeding in the appropriate amount of quarters was a task as sadly familiar to the blond as coming home to an empty apartment. He sat on a nearby bench and watched his clothing begin to swirl.
His mind travelled back to last night in the alley. He was laying immobile and at the mercy of that man.
He had been completely under. At that moment, Naruto wouldn't have been able to lift a finger in protects if the man who had drugged him had decided to pull off the mask.
But the man had not; using the tease to demonstrate just how completely in his power Naruto truly was.
A washing machine across the room began to rattle and vibrate. A stream a growling curses erupted a few moments later, either the customer or the proprietor who realized he would have to pay for damages and a new appliance. Neither option really concerned the blond, who continued to watch his clothing churn.
It was safe to assume that this Boss Hebi had had little interest in the blonds' secret identity, at least for the moment. The man had simply offered Naruto his ultimatum and walked away, leaving the superhero with a name.
"Akatsuki…"
Naruto had not heard of the gang before. But that meant little, he had only recently come back to Konoha from his travels abroad with Jaraiyah. His plan hadn't been very thoroughly thought through; he'd just crashed the first gang deal he saw go down. It wasn't like he'd done massive amounts of research or anything like that. For all he knew, the Hebi leader had made up Akatsuki just to get Naruto off his case. But if this organization was real; if half of what the voice had claimed of them was true…how could Naruto have not known?
Of course the answer was obvious. All he knew of the suffering on the streets was what he saw, what he had seen every night as a child growing up. The cruelty, the apathy, the misery, the same disgusting lechery that crawled along the back alleys that had run rampant all those years ago flourished now.
All that Naruto cared about was flushing this cesspool of stagnant waste before it could infect the small group of decent people who struggled on, wishing for the Konoha that they remembered: a city filled with charity and love and spirit.
But what if the voice had told the truth? What if Akatsuki was a bigger threat than Hebi ever could be?
Could he afford to wait and watch?
The washer in front of Naruto panged and stopped. The blond knelt and pulled open the front loader, taking up an armful of the sopping wet clothing to deposit in a nearby dryer.
Either way, he couldn't afford to rush headlong into any situations. He needed proof, solid evidence that Akatsuki was real and worth his full attention.
The cell phone in his pocket began to buzz. The blond hastily shut the dryer and pushed his change into the machine, trying to drag out his phone from its place in his back pocket.
The caller id glowed, the word: Dad displayed above the picture of a smiling man with a scar across his nose and dark brown hair tightly tied up in a very short ponytail. It was Iruka.
Naruto accepted the call and pressed the phone up to his ear in an attempt to filter out all the rumbling machinery around him.
"Hey, what's up?"
The man on the other end sounded surprised. "You're up early."
"Laundry waits for no man," The blond grumbled, half kidding.
Iruka laughed, his gentle chuckle always seemed to put Naruto at ease. It was so honest and kind, you never had to wonder if it was a polite laugh, it was just, calm.
"I was expecting to get your voicemail, but this works better. I was going to invite you over for dinner tomorrow."
"Dinner?" Naruto felt his eyebrows twitch. "What's the occasion?"
"There's someone I want you to meet." Was all the answer he got, which did very little to slake the blonds' vapid curiosity.
"I can't, I'm sorry," And Naruto really was. "The café's short-staffed so I work all day everyday for the next week."
"Oh," Iruka really did sound disappointed. He hated upsetting his Dad, and it had been a week on the inside since he'd seen the brunette, so the blond offered an alternative.
"I don't work today though. Could you maybe get this 'someone' over tonight?"
"Hmm…That might work. I'll have to ask."
"You know how to reach me." Naruto said dryly and listened to his foster father laugh again. Kneeling on the floor of the small Laundromat with his cell phone pressed tightly against his ear and the buzz of large appliances around him, life was good. And for a moment, he felt as though nothing could ruin this perfect peace.
.:xXXx:.
It was raining.
He like the rain.
Even though it was currently soaking through his clothing and matted his red-orange hair down. Even though it slicked his skin and coated his bones with icy fingers. Even though it struck the many metallic pieces which jutted from his visage and created an unpleasantly chilly tingle which seeped into the fleshy bits of his face.
He like the rain. It was not the rain's fault that he sat out in the midst of its wide torrent, unwilling to move from his place atop the ruinous building where he could see the city spread out before like a bloody offering.
He liked the rain. It reminded him of home.
"Pain," He did not turn to look at Konan. He already was very familiar with her face. She was always the same. Her hair, dyed a light purple, would be damp with moisture already. It would be pinned up in a bun with the single flower tipped stick she seemed to favor. She wore the black full-length coat of Akatsuki, red clouds emblazoned upon the sturdy ebony material. What she wore under it he did not know and had cared even less. She was not his partner in every sense.
"Konan,"
"You're getting wet." The simplicity of the statement struck him, well, as much as anything really struck him. He mulled absently over the woman's choice of words. She might've told him to come inside, but she held no authority over him, a fact they both knew well. She could've said that he was going to catch a cold if he stayed out in the rain, but that might've revealed an unnecessary sentimentality that neither party truly felt. It emphasized a troublesome condition that she knew he was aware of, just in case he might deem the annoyance worth leaving the rooftop.
He did not.
"Look at them." He said, ignoring his right-hand's comment, his weird purple eyes roving about the dark streets far below his perch.
"Those ants, those simpletons who scurry about, trying not to get wet in the rain; they have no idea what is to come."
"They will learn." Was Konan's answer.
For long seconds neither moved, Pain staring down at the city below; Konan staring at her partner's hunched shoulders and dangling feet; watching him as he watched them.
Pain rose, temporarily appeased by his partner's answers. He brushed past the woman with purple hair, his distant murmur directed to the rain swept sky than Konan herself. That the woman had heard his musings was happenstance, it was not required that she understand this man, or his plans, this Konan understood well.
"Yes," Pain's whisper mixed with the crisp impact of a thousand raindrops upon rock. "They will learn."
Author's note: Okay so we have the second collision of secret identities: Boss Hebi and Kyuubi. I will get to the Yaoi soon enough, don't worry; I want the progression to be as natural as possible.
I just bought the 8th Naruto Shippuden box set and I'm almost finished 'tear'. I'm not sure how I'm gonig to survive the next three to five months until the next one comes out. Oh well, thank heaven's for Hulu.
Anyway, not sure when the next chapter is going to be uploaded, midterms are starting to get hot and heavy. Although, reviews always help with my insperation...
Until next time.