My Obsession, My Possession
~Chapter One – Ordinary~
~~~*~~~
Rain wasn't an uncommon event for the people living in downtown Tokyo. Coastal winds and warm fronts of air added to the high rate of precipitation and drizzle that descended on the crowded city streets.
High school, like many things in life, was a tedious and monotonous chore in Uchiha Sasuke's eyes. Life was slow; dreary as the rain that seemed to always be falling. He hated it, thought at the same time, he knew that he needed it more than the average sixteen-year-old boy.
Because the childhood trauma he experienced six years ago edged him towards social isolation. Forcing him to attend public high school was one of the best decisions Kakashi ever made for the boy.
And Sasuke agreed.
He'd be lying if he said that he didn't miss the perks of private school. But the things he had gained in the lower-class school system made up for it. His closest friend, Uzumaki Naruto, was the top of his list, but Sasuke would never admit that aloud.
Sasuke looked up from where he sat in his desk, staring out the window. As his eyes searched the grey clouds overhead he noticed a small but definite break, where the blue sky was spilling forth. And for some reason his mind told him, today will end in sunshine.
What is it about the rain, that convinces people it is sad? Why is sunshine the epitome of happiness? Why do children believe that sunny days are happy, and rainy days are sorrowful? As luck would have it, Sasuke's mind had long lost the naïve innocence of a child's. He no longer associated rain with sadness.
Why would he? Weather is just weather. It can't foretell the coming of events, nor can it predict a good day from a bad one.
Sasuke didn't believe in such nonsense. But he did believe in coincidences.
Ironic coincidences.
XXX
The car was sleek; a navy blue. It was clean, with dark tinted windows and shining silver tires. As it parked next to the high school building, the driver turned his head to stare at the man in the backseat; the man wearing a fine suit and adorning a pair of dark sunglasses.
The man beside him, in the passenger's seat, was large and brutish. He was the Enforcer – here to make sure things ran smoothly. But from the looks of it, the driver thought, this monosyllabic errand was going to take all day to fulfill. He was grateful, in this moment of unease, that his boss was paying him so much.
The man in the backseat –the one he was chauffeuring– took out a pair of binoculars and proceeded to scan the top windows of the school building beside them. After a moment he stopped, and fixed his gaze on a particular window. He stared for a moment, lingering on it, then lowered his binoculars to check his watch.
"Hidan-san," He said in a smooth, even voice. "Please drive half a kilometre ahead and make a legal u-turn. We're about forty minutes early." and he set his binoculars back in their nice little case, signifying an end to the discussion.
"Of course, your majesty." the driver, Hidan, spat with a mocking rudeness. His partner beside him sent him a warning glare, as their passenger narrowed his eyes in disapproval.
"Keep your mouth shut and drive, you bloody simpleton. They're paying us a lot for this," the Enforcer, Kakuzu, muttered irritably to his partner. Hidan didn't appreciate the criticism.
"What did you just say to me, you shithead?!"
"Quiet down," the man in the back said, darkly, silencing the other two occupants. "We're here on a covert operation."
"Right," Hidan said, mockingly again, "Operation Stalk-And-Kidnap some little punk who's too scrawny to be of any use to any of us. Unless of course, we sold him to the brothels. That'd give him some value."
The moment the words left his lips, Hidan regretted them. The man sitting behind him reached forward, past the seat, and latched onto his bare throat with a crushing grip. His nails, finely painted and sharp, dug fiercely into his flesh. As the air was squeezed from his lungs, Hidan let out a few sputtering breaths, and looked into the rear-view mirror and directly into the face of his attacker.
The man's other hand slowly raised to remove his glasses, letting his steely, piercing stare terrorize his victim. He glared, spitefully, into the mirror and grit his teeth together hard. Clenching his hand tighter, he took a deep breath and muttered, silently, malevolently, "I'd appreciate it if you kept your nose out of my business. What I do with my little brother and of what value he is to me," he clenched his hand tighter, for emphasis, "is none of your concern."
Hidan was gasping, quietly, trying to force air through his crushed windpipe. Beside him, Kakuzu surveyed the situation with a hesitant concern, before voicing his opinion. "Itachi-san, please, don't mind that idiot. His asinine beliefs don't matter anyway."
With a silent reluctance, Itachi released his grip on Hidan's throat and sat back casually in his seat; reclining like it had never happened. While Hidan struggled to regain oxygen, he sent his partner a crude glare and panted, "Who the hell do you think you are, calling my beliefs asinine?!"
Itachi, who was in not in the mood to bear witness to anymore pointless banter, iced his tone with a frightful warning and said, "Just shut up and drive."
XXX
Sasuke slammed his locker closed, hoisting his backpack over his shoulder. The school was filled with apprehension as summer break was soon to begin, and although Sasuke was not necessarily excited, he was pleased with the idea of relaxing for a while away from all the drama of high school. And by drama, he meant Naruto, who would probably show up any minute and—
"Sasuke!"
Instinctively, Sasuke tensed when Naruto wrapped his arms around his neck from behind in a tight embrace. His weight pulled Sasuke backwards, arching his back against Naruto's body in a very awkward and misleading way.
"Naruto." Sasuke hissed, flatly. "Why," he gripped Naruto's hands, trying to pull them off his torso, "are you mounting me in the middle of the hallway?"
Naruto didn't seem to notice Sasuke's discomfort. Or if he did, he didn't care. Sasuke was used to this, anyways. It was daily routine.
"Because I just missed you so much," Naruto drawled in a fake, high-pitched tone. "Sasuke."
"This," Sasuke pointedly stated, finally succeeding in unwrapping Naruto's arms from around him, "is why people think we're gay."
As if on cue, a couple of girls passed them in the hallway and giggled, chatting to each other about what a great 'couple' they were.
"You say that like it bothers you or something." Naruto replied, wrapping his arms around Sasuke again, only this time around his waist. "Since when did you care what people think?"
Sasuke sighed, dropping his backpack and therefore letting Naruto press completely against his back. "You know something," he said, resting his forehead against the cool metal of his locker. "I don't like you anymore."
"Well I never liked you," Naruto countered, placing his chin on Sasuke's shoulder casually. Sasuke just turned his head and stared at Naruto, straight in the eye, who was grinning playfully. "I can see that,"
"What are you two doing?" A female voice broke the moment, capturing both boys' attention. Sakura looked at them, suspiciously, although this was not new to her, either. They had always been like this; ever since Sasuke transferred here over five years ago.
"What does it look like?" Naruto asked innocently, though his smile was devious. Sakura raised her eyebrow, hands planted firmly on her hips, and her book-bag dangling loosely from her shoulder. "Anal rape." she answered, advancing on them. "Dry anal rape." she pinched Naruto in the stomach, who yelped and promptly jumped away from Sasuke. "Public, dry anal rape."
"We get it," Sasuke said, bending over to grab his backpack and once again swing it carelessly over his shoulder with a sigh. "What are your guys' plans this weekend? Or are we saving the celebrating for next weekend, after our last week of school."
"Well, Kiba's having a party tomorrow night." said Sakura, walking beside Sasuke with Naruto on his other side. "If you wanted to go."
"I can't believe it's almost summer!" Naruto beamed, gripping the straps of his bag. "I can't wait. It's going to be so awesome," he looked between Sasuke and Sakura, widening his smile. "We have to party, every single day!"
"Get real," Sakura said, narrowing her eyes. "I plan on getting a summer job. And maybe starting my college application folder."
"Oh my god," Naruto whined, dramatically. "You can't be serious. You're such a prude!"
"I am not!" she interjected, "I just happen to care about my future. Unlike you, you lazy ass."
"But you can't work all summer long," Sasuke added, quietly. "You're supposed to relax. Otherwise the whole thing becomes pointless."
"I will relax," she replied, smiling, "I have a ton of books I want to read in my free time."
Naruto made a face like he was going to be sick, as the trio made their way through the crowded entrance of the school and out into the parking lot. Buses and vehicles crowded against the sidewalk and hordes of anxious teenagers climbed into them, barely keeping a civil line formed.
Sasuke walked Naruto and Sakura to their bus, and said his goodbyes as they climbed in; Naruto following Sakura.
"I'll call you later," Naruto said, and Sasuke nodded, turning away when Naruto disappeared up the bus's stairs. The further Sasuke walked away from the buses and afterschool traffic, the thinner the crowd became, until eventually he was walking on mostly a deserted street, save for the occasional car driving by.
Unbeknownst to him, however, was that a single navy car had been shadowing him the whole time, keeping an extended distance.
XXX
"Is that him?" Hidan asked, driving forward slowly, trying to follow where Itachi had previously pointed to when he said, 'there he is'. A kid with baggy clothes and black, spiky hair was walking at an even pace in the direction that no one else seemed to be going. Carefully, Hidan drove a couple hundred feet behind him, intent on not losing his target.
"That's him," Itachi said, in his usual monotonic voice. There was a hint, however, of something more – deeper, huskier. Almost lustful.
"He looks just like you," Kakuzu said, looking through the binoculars. He lowered them and handed them back to Itachi, who took his turn in examining his little brother from afar.
"So what's the plan again?" Hidan asked, keeping his voice quiet even though he knew that there was no way the target could possibly hear him.
"We'll corner him," Itachi replied, putting away the binoculars again. "When he realizes we're following him, he'll try to take a shortcut home where a car cannot follow. I know all the roads and alleyways in this area, so when he chooses a path to take, I'll know exactly where to go to cut him off."
"Sounds good to me," Hidan muttered, driving carefully ahead. Next to him, Kakuzu pulled out a cloth and a bottle of chloroform, readying himself.
Itachi watched in anticipation for signs of Sasuke deterring from his usual path; acting in any form of suspicion.
This was it.
XXX
Sasuke turned his blank, aloof stare up at the darkening sky. Although the weather was quite warm, it had been raining a lot recently. Diligently, he searched the sky for the same break in the clouds he had spotted earlier, but he had no luck in finding it. The clouds had darkened to a foreboding shade of grey, almost ready to spit down on him. Absentmindedly, he pulled his hood over his head to prepare himself for the downpour.
As he looked back to the road in front of him, he noticed how barren the street was. This was a bad neighbourhood; nobody ever really loitered in this area for long. He began to bask in the solitude of the place, listening to the gentle sounds of his footsteps, the whir of traffic a few blocks away, and the gentle rattling of his pills inside his backpack, bouncing as he walked.
And then, he heard it. Quiet. Hushed. But still noticeably there. A soft humming, like the sound of a car engine running. And it was close, much closer than the sounds from a few streets away. Sasuke waited patiently for the car to drive past him; for the sound to either increase or decrease in volume, but it didn't. It stayed at a constantly low decibel, shadowing him.
He was being followed.
Cautiously, Sasuke turned his head to the side, slightly, to peer into the window of an abandoned retail store. Sure enough, several dozen feet behind him, a navy car with black tinted windows was quietly rolling along, keeping a steady distance behind him. He watched it for several minutes, until at last he was convinced that he was being pursued.
'Perfect,' he thought, his mind racing to form a plan of action. 'this is just perfect. Why me?'
His first thought was to stop and pull out his anxiety medication, but that would be giving his stalker(s) and opening. He needed to find an alleyway of some kind – somewhere a car couldn't follow him. He was fast enough, and far enough away, that if his pursuer tried to chase him on foot he could make it to safety in time.
Then, thankfully, his chance came. A dreary maze-like passage that he knew from previous curiosity. It would lead him one block closer to the nearest highway, which was about three blocks away. It was an advantage. A slim advantage, but an advantage nonetheless.
He had only taken this route once, when he was still exploring the area. He hated the cramped feeling it gave him; all the walls were impressively close together. But if it got him away from his chasers, he would live with it. With that goal in mind, he made an immediate pivot into the mouth of the narrow passageway and began the long decent through the grey, damp, dark path.
'Just breathe,' he told himself, quickening his pace. 'You have the advantage now. Just calm down.'
When he though he heard the car racing towards him, he broke into a dead-fast sprint. He dodged trashcans and cardboard boxes narrowly as he raced through the tight corridor; the rain began to fall, and his hood fell from his head, revealing his face to the freezing moisture. The whole scenario was noisy; the splash of his footsteps as he ran, the sound of his ragged breathing and thundering heart, the rain pattering violently on the pavement, and the excessive rattling of his bottle of meds inside his bag.
He thought angrily for a moment, that if he was being followed on foot, he wouldn't be able to hear his pursuers following behind him, not like this.
One constricted turn after another, and Sasuke saw the end of the maddening tunnel. There, at the exit, he saw the empty sidewalk, the deserted road, and the invisible line where the rain was pelting against the soaked cement.
He bolted towards it, emerging at last, and halting his pace altogether. He hunched over, gripping his bent knees, as he heaved from the exertion. When his breath was regained, he straightened himself, and then felt the presence of someone very close behind him.
Without any time to think, a hand, holding a damp cloth, clamped firmly over his mouth and nose. He yelled into it, inhaling the pungent, bitter scent. He thrashed against the body behind him, as his own went lax; his limbs began losing strength very fast.
Desperately, he dug his nails into his captor's hand, but he did not have enough strength left to do any good. He tried to shout – to make someone hear, see, anything, but the energy was gone, and his vision was darkening.
He looked at the sky, as his body began to fall into the arms of his attacker, and ironically, the last thing he saw was that same break in the clouds; the tiny ray of sunshine that seemed to reach out for him now. And then, without warning, he lost consciousness completely.
~~~*~~~
Author's Note: I think I delayed this long enough, hm? What did you think? As you can tell, this is quite different from my usual writing style. I hope I can pull it off. Thank you for reading!