Chapter Nine
Naruto cried out, for help, for Fang, for anyone that wouldn't just be a witness to the crime that was currently victimizing him. He pushed, kicked, and yelled for his release, nothing seemed to be effective against the goon that was holding him. His father seemed to be completely okay with what was happening to him as he stood pliantly in the other one's arms, the old guy from the store Naruto recalled. Guessing by the stench the smaller man from that day in the shop was holding him. A quick jerk of his neck confirmed it, the same narrow nose and sneer were in place, his face was covered in thick stubble now though. Naruto looked back at the old guy that was holding his dad and couldn't help but find the scene ironic, the old man was obviously a father, even if he didn't want to admit it. It's the eyes, he concluded, they met each others eyes once in a while and the old guy had this buried sadness buried in his iris.
They had rushed out the window, Minato first of course, he knew what was coming that night and hadn't warned Naruto about the upcoming escape plan no less than a minute before the two guys broke their door down and started to approach them. The scent of destruction filled the air, making a thick fog that blinded Naruto, adrenaline started to fill his veins and energy started to build in his gut. He rushed towards the window in the living room and lifted it, paint chipped off and stuck in his hair. Minato had all but shoved him out of the way and practically jumped out of the window, squealing like a rat being chased by cats. Naruto spent only a moment to glare at the retreating figure of his father then climbed out as well. The older guy had froze at that sight. He shot the blonde boy a sympathetic look that he didn't catch and gave them a few more seconds to escape before he too climbed out of the window and started trotting down the fire escape. His partner howled like a blood-hound and cackled as he followed behind his wall of muscle.
Their method of escape had been predicted, it was the only way out unless they managed to incapacitate the two guys that went through the door, that was the only way out other than the fire escape. Another man was set up at the bottom of the fire escape, that man was conveniently, Gato, the shark that lent Minato money, and the one who sold him the drugs. Minato seemed to freeze in his presence once they had made it to the last set of stairs, his head declined, refusing to meet the short man's eyes. "'Ey Minato, goin' somewhere?" Gato asked smugly, straightening his velvet pinstripe jacket to flatten over his bulging gut. "Gato..." Minato mumbled, glancing a look at the rails that prevented them from falling over the edge, or in this case, from jumping from the second story. They could have easily just pushed past Gato when they had the chance, but Minato was refusing to let Naruto advance, holding his arm to cover his son. Who glared at him with an unfathomable intensity, Minato didn't catch any of it though, he was too busy not looking at Gato to notice that his son was two seconds away from ripping his arm off.
The moments ticked by slowly and the moon seemed to be frozen in place above them, lighting their faces with pale glows. Naruto shifted his look to glare at Gato, oblivious to the approaching males until it was too late. The two men grabbed him and Minato, and not for the first time, they were trapped at the mercy of a crazy drug dealer. "Minato. Minato. Minato." Gato tutted, shaking his head in a patronizing manner "Did'ja really think you would be able to run? From me?" Gato chuckled deeply, holding onto his gut as it looked ready to burst if he laughed any harder. He wiped an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye, and adjusted his rose colored glasses. Then tubby man in front of them fell silent and a dangerous glint shone in his eyes as they ended up on Naruto, who was still glaring at him and had refused to blink. "This your girl, Minato?"
Naruto blanched.
Girl? Naruto's eyes narrowed to thin streaks of cobalt. He reached forward ready to smash the stupid pink glasses that Gato was currently cleaning. But strong arms pulled him from behind and held his biceps, a metallic flick occurred at the small of his back, then a sharp pain in his spinal column as the ratty looking man dug a knife into his back. At least he hoped it was the rat looking man and not another criminal that Minato had got a hook-up from. He strained his eye and saw the old guy holding Minato. He looked angry, or a washed down anger. It was tightly concealed, but the way his wrinkles seemed bunch up in the darkness was one of the signs. The other was his eyes. Holding an infinite darkness even with his bright iris. Naruto held back a shudder and ignored the way the rat-looking thug bragged to Gato about how easy it was to capture them.
There was comical sense of drama that swirled around them in the darkness, a stand off between a drug lord in exchange for something. The only thing was, the drug lord and the exchange were all on the same side, and the victims were the only ones that would get hurt. "What's so funny, kid?" Gato spat, spots of spit flying in random directions. Naruto realized he must of have slipped, and was actually smiling, he gulped, suddenly nervous and held balled his hands into fists. He was ready to run, hopefully Minato could get out as well, but if was going to ditch his own son, then Naruto was willing to repay the favor. What goes around comes around obviously. However, the thug must have sensed his tense muscles and practically stabbed him as he readjusted his hold on Naruto's bare arm. A mild burn waved over his skin as the man's coarse hands gripped and kneaded his flesh. "So Minato..." Gato began a short time later, "Got my money?" Gato smiled like a shark at the way Minato visibly flinched, but the old man held him tight, refusing to let the blonde man budge.
Kiba listened to Naruto's screams, and tried to locate him in the darkness of the city. His voice was close, followed by a deep thrum of noise that he couldn't make out. He crossed the street quickly, his arms cutting through the darkness that surrounded him like dense fog. The lights in the store were off, but the voices were closer, he could almost make out the voices of the deep voices. Were they... Above him? Kiba looked up, and only saw more darkness, the grating of the fire escape blocking his view of the dark sky. Glimpses of pale light converged with the darkness above and that's when Kiba spotted it - it being long blonde hair whipping back and forth on the second floor fire escape - his eyes narrowed, trying to adjust to the accumulating darkness that kept gathering in his view of Naruto.
"...One more time Minato, Got. My. Money?" someone asked, now that Naruto's dad was brought up, Kiba could make out a glance of Minato's twitchy body. Kiba knew what he had to do. Or so he thought. His strained ears tingled as the ladder to the fire escape was lowered to the ground, small sparks fluttered around the point of contact on the concrete. It was followed with small consecutive clunks as the loan shark came into view, his short legs followed by his bulbous gut. The scarred teen scooted forward silently, attempting to hide in the shadows of the first floor entrance and thanking any higher power that he worn black, mostly black anyway. He tried to push the front of Naruto's beige over coat to his sides and back before it was too late. More clunks and an equally short male joined the loan shark on the ground, looking suspiciously like a rat - he wondered if he had wronged Ino as well - and then by Minato, who was grabbed by the rat-looking thug, an elderly man who's thinning hair glowed in the moon light came down slower than the other three. His eyes were half-lidded as if the whole situation bored him endlessly. Naruto came last, looking tense as his neck jerked in every direction as if he was about to pull of a heist.
The old guy grabbed at Naruto's arms, looser than Kiba thought a kidnapper would. Kiba blamed it on fatigue and continued watching waiting for his moment of glory so he could jump in and attack the two guys and get Naruto and his dad away, then maybe the curse would be broken. With that motive in mind, he tensed his muscles, trying to prepare himself for the battle that was about to arise. He knew that he could probably win against the old man, he was barely holding his eyes open and would no doubt fall asleep holding Naruto before he knew what hit him - preferably in the throat - the other two would be a challenge. He supposed he could take on of the younger guys, probably rat-face seeing as how he was the one holding a captive and not gloating about anything at the moment. The loan shark would be a waste of his surprise attack, he was busy yelling into the city, gloating about how amazing, rich, and powerful he was compared to his two blonde captives. Suddenly breaking that dudes nose, and stupid glasses, didn't seem like much of a waste, but he knew that he had to think this out before he just rushed in. The two guys would probably take Naruto and his dad off if he just attacked the midget.
They two couples and midget loan shark were approaching a car someway down the road, probably towards the dark colored rape van parked against the curb. Kiba sighed silently, this... was going to be challenge. He crouched his knees and skimmed down down the road, attaching his shoulder to the sides of vehicles as to maintain incognito. He increased his pace, trying to keep his shoes from scraping against the sidewalk, each noise he made felt exponentially louder in the night. Gulping down his nervousness sounded like a garbage disposal, the near-silent steps elephants marching down the street. His heart paced, like someone pounding on his insides, trying to get out. Kiba wanted to get out, but he knew that was a stupid thing to do. Trying to leave would most likely result in getting himself captured as well. Killed probably, the loan shark didn't have any business with him - other than the possible bribe he could get from his 'father' - but the short man that he was stalking didn't seem like the type to like witnesses.
He increased his pace, closing in on the group of men like a silent killer, hopefully he wouldn't have to delve into the actual killing part, but a man had to do what a man had to do. Another gulp, just to calm his nerves, and he pounced. Reaching forward, he slammed the flat of his fist into the curve of the rat-man's neck. He hoped that had managed to get a pressure point and knock the dude out, with no such luck. The man stumbled forward, loosening his hold half-way, but his arm was still wrapped around Naruto's arm and took them both to the ground. Kiba reached down and made a grab at the blonde, trying to get him free before they decided to make a run for it. The old thug, as predicted, did nothing to inhibit Kiba from taking his partner down, almost like he wanted Naruto to be free. He did however pull Naruto's dad closer to his chest, silently telling the two teens that they could run, or they'd all be captured. Naruto didn't see it that way though, he pulled on Minato's arm, trying to free him from the surprisingly strong old man. He choked out a sob, he knew what would happen if he couldn't get his dad too. He gulped and tried pulling harder on Minato's elbow, he was pretty sure he was close to ripping the limb off, but he didn't care, he had to get his dad free. Fang was making that impossible as he continued pulling him away from Minato. The four pulled and yanked on limbs but nobody budged, that is until a resonating click sounded near them, following by a similar noises that clearly wasn't the echo. Naruto looked up from his dad's panicked face at Gato, his pinstripe suit was stretched as he spread himself out, trying to appear as large as possible, he didn't need to. He had a gun.
A gun.
Rat-face snicked behind Kiba and pulled on the teen, practically jamming the knife in Kiba's side, the scarred teen growled at the rat-faced thug and pulled himself away from him. Naruto stood frozen, a deer in headlights expression distorted his face. His eyes glistened oddly as the moon illuminated the shadows across his face. The barrel of Gato's gun met up directly with his iris, he was sure if it was brighter he could see the bullet settled in the chamber, ready to blow his face off. The gun shook in Gato's hand, clearly not used to the weight of the firearm. Naruto gulped, releasing his dad to hold his hand up in a sign of surrender. A wetness trailed down his nose and over his lips. He couldn't just leave his dad, and he couldn't die here. Stress and indecision pounded in his head along with adrenaline, fogging his decisions. He didn't know what to do. He glanced at Fang, who wasn't paying the gun any attention, he held the wound on his side lightly. He hoped that it hadn't hit anything deep, his dad, or his friend. The friend would be the easy choice, but he wasn't ready to give his dad up. Not without a fight. He didn't know what to do.
Naruto wiped his eyes with the palms of his hands, they tightened into fists against his cheeks and he had made his decision. There was only way that they'd get out of there. It wasn't like they wouldn't just kill Fang and him after they had their fun. He wasn't going to put Fang through that, but he didn't want his father to suffer either, he was weak like that, he hoped for both of them that he could be strong. Naruto let his eyes drift back to Minato's, nervous blues mixed into impossible hues of emotions between them. He sent his dad a silent apology and glanced up at the old guy holding him, a final plea before he took off. There was iron in the old guy's eyes, he wasn't going to let Minato go, but he would let them escape. The old man's eyes practically screamed "RUN!" He waited for the kid to take the hint and winked at him, or at least Naruto thought he did, he picked up the serious expression once more.
Kiba gripped Naruto's hands, ready for whatever was going to happen to them. He was shocked when Naruto looked at him, giving him the look. He held down a grimace, and nodded imperceptibly. He shifted on his heels and got ready to take off, ignoring Gato and Rat-face as they ranted together, laughing so hard they almost dropped their weapons or injured themselves.
"I am GATO!" the short man yelled, breaking up the silent conversations between his captives and employees. Kiba snorted, "Look at that, the guy knows his own name." Naruto held down a nervous giggle at the stupid joke, mostly because he didn't want to get shot. "Hey," he pulled on Naruto's hand, bringing the attention to the stifled blonde "I bet he can tie his own shoes too." Oh, God. Fang wants to die! Naruto shot him an incredulous look, and questioned what happened to Fang's brain, he looked at Gato, who's face had heated up in anger. "You little-!" He roared, throwing his arms into the sky with explosive rage, Kiba took this moment to pull on Naruto's hand and rush them towards the alley where they had first met. Their shoes crunched on broken glass, and Kiba was pretty sure he stepped in poop, but he didn't care. He heaved himself to the other end of the alley. He wasn't exactly sure where they were headed, but he did intend to get their as quickly as possible. Naruto tripped constantly as he led them out of the alley and into the street, he was half-tempted to let the blonde go, but he wasn't going to give it up that easily. He had just become notorious with a loan shark and murderer, he had no intention of getting hunted down for no reason.
They stopped on the other side of town, fortunately by a bench. Naruto broke down. He fell unceremoniously onto the wooden bench and buried his face in his outstretched knees. He sobbed, his back wracked in emotional turmoil. Kiba wanted to soothe him, he was making this awkward. He wasn't used to this, the crying and emotions, he had no idea how to deal with it. His mind brought him back to when Hana and.. mom, were around. It seemed so long ago since someone stroked his back and told him that he was loved. He tried that approach on Naruto, excluding the love part, their sides touched as Kiba ran his palm down Naruto's shaking back deftly. His limbs stiff with awkwardness, his eyes drooped with exhaustion, the adrenaline no longer keeping him fully alert. His crying faded ages later it seemed, the moon was still high in the sky, so it couldn't have been that long. But it felt like that for them both. That had been the most difficult decision of Naruto's life, the awkwardest of Kiba's, the scared teen pulled his arm off of Naruto's back and set it on the back of the bench. "I'm sorry..." He mumbled softly, trying to continue soothing the blonde, who had tears constantly rolling down his face. Naruto didn't react to his words other than looking at him, a miserable expression buried in his eyes.
"Where do we go?" Naruto asked some time later, after his voice returned to him, it sounded weak though, tired. He leaned a little too close to Fang as they walked down the sidewalk. Kiba thought about it, his dad owned commercial business all over town, but nobody would let him in. He had forgone his identity, leaving all traces of his old life - ID, credit - anything that linked him to Kiba Inuzuka. He leaned his head back, staring at the stars.
It came slower than he thought it should have, "I know a place..." he said simply after another five minutes of silence. "It's my- my.. old place..." He mumbled uncertainly, it wasn't fully a lie, it was his place, but it was his mom's house once. He sighed. There were too many memories in that place, but it was pretty much the only place that nobody could find him unless they weren't trouble, except for his dad. His dad was always trouble. Kiba cocked his head towards the corner of the street they were about to cross and tried to figure out where they were.
Too far away, they were too far away. Thirty blocks away from where Naruto had broken down, Kiba mumbled unintelligibly the whole way and practically dropped onto the porch and just died when they made it. He told the blonde of the key in the pot and sent him to unlock the door. Naruto watched Fang, his face still depressed, but a smile was released. Kiba didn't pay too much attention to the blonde's face, in favor of crawling inside of his mom's old house and onto a soft rug. He sighed contently once his face was cushioned under the thick material. Naruto snorted, then decided to take a look around, hopefully to find a bed, or food. Either was fine with him, as long as it soothed the ache he felt in his muscles and heart.
Apparently a couch was close enough for a bed, he assumed the bedrooms were upstairs and after finding an empty kitchen his best course of action was to pass out on the softest available surface, which was the couch in the room across from the kitchen. He curled up in a ball and tried ignoring the stench of the dusty couch, it reminded him too much of home and home meant... Naruto shuddered, it was cold in the house, and he wondered if Fang had closed the door. He would check, but the body heat he'd already made was so warm.
He'd check in the morning.
Wellp, that was Chapter Nein. I shall be expecting a few more reviews since I updated so quickly. XD or not, whatever works. Love you, BYE.