Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Last Airbender.

Bodyguard of Azula

Chapter 56: Hell and Horror

"Talking"

"Thinking"

"Bijū/spirit talking"

"Bijū/spirit thinking"

(Location: Masu)

Azula and Suki quietly down the street. It was almost noon, and they were in charge of getting lunch. Anko and Jiraiya had given them a list of food to get, while pointing out about the delicacies that Masu offers for its visitors and residents. Although not everyone was thrilled about the unusual taste that their intended target had they knew too well that failure of this mission would mean a potential breakdown of relations between Konoha and Kiri.

"How is Sokka holding up?" Azula asked Suki as they passed a store that apparently held the finest furniture in Masu.

"As best as he can," she replied as her eyes skimmed over the store. "For the past two nights, he's come to bed and just held me in his arms, whispering that he was so glad to have me as a girlfriend."

"Naruto's been doing the same thing. I know this might sound a little selfish, but I'm glad I'm not the one who's getting a crash course in seducing a guy." As far as she could tell, the last two days have been hell for the male members of the group, except Jiraiya. Apparently, the Toad Sage was a Fucking Sadist even when it came to seduction, and they were learning everything they could in the space of two days.

"I don't blame you," Suki assured her. If the target preferred girls over guys, they would be the ones getting the crash course. June would probably have been okay, but they weren't so sure about the rest of them. So they were a little glad that the guys were getting the short end of the stick now.

"Do you think they'll be okay tonight?" Azula hadn't really seduced anyone before, and her brief attempt at flirting with Chan back on Ember Island was something that she wanted to forget. She preferred to display her power and abilities in order to impress people enough to win them over, but she didn't count Naruto, due to the fact they were had been together in one way or another for the past three years. But she didn't know if the guys didn't really have any seducing skills. At least she knew Sokka and Naruto didn't. Until last winter, Sokka had chauvinistic ideas about women and Naruto still believed that he wasn't anything special in the looks department, and his fear of fangirls was rather legendary.

"I honestly don't know. We'll have to find out ourselves. That is, if Jiraiya lets us go," she commented as they walked past a large group of people who walked right down the middle of the street.

"Are you planning to go so you can watch them suffer?" Azula asked the Kyoshi Warrior. She knew that Anko, June, and Karin would try and go just to get a kick out of it. They enjoyed watching stuff that made a guy squirm, especially June and Anko, more than Karin.

"…Maybe a little," she admitted. It was a little entertaining to watch the confident Sokka do something that he was absolutely horrified of, and this was probably one of the things he was most horrified of. "But I'm also hoping that if Sokka sees me, he'll feel a little more confident about himself during the mission. Kinda silently cheering him on, you know?"

"I can see where you're coming." It was a good idea to show silent support to their boyfriends. Who knows what they would have to do tonight. A thought crossed Azula's mind and made her smirk. "I just realized something," she said as they walked into the hotel. "If Zuko had come with us, he would have to do the same thing. That would be entertaining."

"I think Katara would've felt the same way about her brother if she had come as well," Suki remarked as they made their way over to the elevator. A look of slight disgust came onto her face as she realized something. "You know, if everyone had come, then Aang would have to do the same thing as well."

They both shuddered at the thought as they entered the elevator. Despite him being the Avatar, nobody really wanted to see him do stuff like that and for two reasons. The first was because they were fairly certain that he wouldn't be able to pull it off. The second one was because they still weren't sure if he had hit puberty yet (though his "lesson" with Jiraiya helped a little).

They rode up the elevator in silence, not wanting to continue that conversation in front of the operator. When he reached their floor, they stepped off and walked to the suite door. Suki thumped on the door three times. "Food's up!" she shouted through it.

"It's about time," June said as she opened the door. "Did you decide to take a swim while you were out?"

"Hello to you too, June," Azula replied, walking past her and into the room. "Have the guys finished up yet?"

"Go out to the balcony and waft the smell of the food up, that'll get their attention," the bounty hunter told her before walking away.

Both the Kyoshi Warrior and the former Fire Nation princess shared a look with each other. "I'll get their attention if you set up the food," Azula offered.

"Okay." They split up, Suki went to the kitchen and Azula made her way over to the balcony door. She passed Karin, who was reading something (she didn't pay close enough attention to it to find out what it was) and walked out onto the balcony. Holding the carton of food up, she bent the heat of the spices on the food up to the balcony above.

It took a couple of minutes, but it got their attention. "Is that food I smell?" Jiraiya asked from above her. She couldn't see him. She could only hear his voice and that was distinctive enough for her.

"Yes, it is. If you aren't down in five minutes, we'll start without you," she answered before turning around and walking back into the suite. She joined Suki in the kitchen and helped finish setting up the food. Within five minutes, everyone had arrived for the food. There was no gathering at the table, they just found a comfy spot in the general spot in the area and ate there.

For a good ten to fifteen minutes, the only sounds in the suite was those of eating and someone asking someone to pass them something or if they could try that food. It would've looked very picturesque if someone had taken a picture at that point.

"So, how are things coming?" June asked Naruto. "Do you think that you'll be ready for tonight?"

The blonde glared at her. "If we're not ready, I will gladly kill myself," he declared. He probably had every single seduction technique that dealt with guys crammed into his head, whether he liked it or not (although there were a few that worked on girls too, which some of the guys filed away for later use).

"Please don't. I rather like you living," Azula told him.

"Same here," the Kyūbi told him, albeit with a big grin. For the past two days, the fox had either been laughing his furry rear off or doing a running commentary as they practice the techniques. Needless to say, the blonde hated the Bijū and wished for him to die in several horrific ways.

"You can't kill yourself, gaki," Jiraiya told him bluntly. "You're going to be the main attraction if the others don't get Nezumi's attention." The guys had actually been given roles to play for tonight. Sokka was to be the sarcastic cynic, who has supposedly been in the "business" the longest. Chōjūrō was going to be playing the role the others had taken to calling "The Virgin," meaning shy, quiet, and very nervous when it came to the bedroom. Suigetsu was the bad boy while Raimu was the dominator, meaning that both were not supposed to be gentle.

"Don't remind me," he replied in a half-growl. Naruto had the role that was most likely to get their target's attention; it was known as the "Mysterious beauty." He was supposed to be on the run from a noble who he was supposed to "serve" and had the aura of someone who wanted to be saved, while also being mysterious and hauntingly beautiful. Naturally, the very idea horrified him because, according to Jiraiya, that was probably the most likely to Nezumi's attention.

"Get over it, Naruto. We need to find out where the Underground Auction is and doing this is our best bet," the Toad Sage reminded him.

"That's easy for you to say, you're not doing this. Your entire part in this was spreading the story around." During the first day of their "lessons" Jiraiya had visited Ryōshi again and started a conversation about the "Mysterious beauty" and the fake backstory he had, right in front of Ryōshi's workers. Within the space of a few hours, about half of Masu knew the story while some had claimed to know the guy personally. But it was generally agreed on that he now worked at the same place Nezumi usually goes to.

"Naruto, relax. You're not the only one in this, remember?" Sokka said to the blonde. Even Jūgo was still a part of the training he had just been regulated to the post of "kissing dummy." Jiraiya had stated that he was extremely stiff when it came to the seducing, so he wouldn't be convincing. Plus, with all the people looking at him and possibly talking about him, there was a chance that he would go berserk and they didn't need that.

"It could be worse," Suki pointed out. "Aang could've been doing the same thing if he had come." While most of the people there had no idea who Aang was (or at the very least, had a vague idea), the ones who did felt slightly disturbed at the thought and image.

Naruto, who had just swallowed of his food, fought the urge to spit it back up when he imagined the Airbender doing what they've been trying to do. "Suki, I'm trying to eat here!" he shouted at the Kyoshi Warrior. "I didn't that anymore then I need to hear about Anko and Iruka-sensei!"

"That reminds me, I haven't told you about the time Iruka walked in on me when I was in the shower and I let him join me," Anko said to him with a cheerfully sadistic grin. He looked like he wanted to kill himself at that point.

"Anko, please stop tormenting him," Jiraiya told her. "But in all seriousness, Suki, please don't ever mention that again."

"The only person right now who is interested in seeing him the way he came into this world is my sister," Sokka reminded his girlfriend. By the time they had left the Bending Countries, Aang and Katara were so much in love it was almost sickening to watch them in public (of course, only Toph publically made gagging noise, mostly because she was the only single person left in the group).

"Aren't you worried about this Aang guy doing something to your sister?" Chōjūrō asked. He knew if he had a sister, he'd be watching any boyfriend she had like a hawk, while keeping his weapon ready at all times.

That question made everyone who knew Aang laugh. "Are you kidding?" Azula asked. "The kid doesn't even know the meaning of the phrase 'taking the initiative.' The only way he would get lucky if Katara stripped naked in front of him and took it from there."

Sokka made a gagging noise at those words. "That's my sister, Azula!"

"She's still right, Sokka," Naruto told him. "I mean, he didn't even know what rape was until Jiraiya 'educated' him." He smiled at the memory. It had given him a deep satisfaction listening to Aang practically begging the Toad Sage to stop his "lesson."

"Okay, fun is over," Jiraiya declared, placing his empty plate on the nearby table. "It's time for the final review." Every guy in the room groaned, they were hoping to get a few more minutes of peace and relaxation before going back to the torture. "Stop whining. This is for the mission and you all know it," he told them sternly.

"We know that. We just don't like it," Suigetsu replied.

"I hear that," Raimu agreed. In the past two days, his hatred for Suigetsu had been put to the side as they now shared a common hatred for Jiraiya. This had led to them backing each other up whenever he criticized and/or insult one of them. Chōjūrō hoped that it would be enough for them to actually have a friendship, but he wasn't placing all of his money on it.

"I don't care. Now get moving!" Jiraiya barked. They grumbled but they went out to the balcony and climbed back up to the suite above. That left the girls to clean the plates they had been using and to throw away the rest of the food (which wasn't very much).

"How much longer do they have until they head over to the club?" Karin asked. Tonight, what had been forced into their heads would be put to the test. And they needed to succeed; this was probably going to be their only chance to get information on the Underground Auction and what is being auctioned off.

"Probably an hour or two," answered Anko. She had helped Jiraiya train the guys on some points (after Jūgo had made her promise not to use any of her snakes), so she kinda knew how they were doing. "If you're worried about your boyfriend, he'll be fine."

"Suigetsu is not my boyfriend!" she yelled at her sensei.

Anko smirked. "I didn't say anything about Suigetsu."

She couldn't say anything in response. Her face was already showing how flustered she was. "…ARRGH!" she suddenly screamed, walking away from the room.

"You really enjoy doing that to her," June noted. She wasn't accusing the Snake Mistress, just stating the fact.

"Of course I do, it's really entertaining. She's so stiff sometimes I have to tease her so she can loosen up. It's almost hard to believe she's related to Naruto."

That statement made everyone else in the room stop what they were doing and look at her. "She's what?!" Azula demanded, almost shouting.

"What? You never knew?" Anko asked, actually surprised. "Her full name is Karin Uzumaki. She's Naruto's cousin."

They were actually surprised by that. Due to the fact that Naruto didn't really talk about his past and that his parents died, they had more or less assumed that he didn't have any family left.

"Does she know?" Suki asked.

"Of course she does. We discovered their relationship after we released her and Jūgo from jail and enlisted them in the Konoha shinobi forces. We were surprised too when she told us." No one was quite sure how many jaws had been dropped when the redhead told them that (although there was a tie between Jiraiya and Tsunade in how long their jaw had been dropped). "Does Naruto know?"

Azula shook her head. "No, I don't think he does." It would be something he would be surprised about, that was for sure.

"Well, if he doesn't, it's none of our business. Let him find out on his own," June stated with a shrug of her shoulders. When it came to family things that didn't involve her, she stayed out of them. Both Suki and Azula wordlessly agreed with her.

Night had fallen as Nezumi walked through the streets to the club. His hands were shaking slightly. He wasn't nervous, he was excited. He was always excited when he went to the club. There, if he paid enough, he could have any boy he wanted. Nobody publically said that his sexual preferences were disgusting, mostly because he wouldn't hesitate to point who exactly had been lying when it came to their sex life (married or not).

It was true that Nezumi preferred boys. It had started when he was a teenager. He had seen a younger boy pass by in the street and was filled with a hunger for him. That hunger was satisfied about two weeks later when he dragged the boy into a back alley and raped him. The boy had later committed suicide, but Nezumi didn't care. He had discovered his taste in carnal pleasures and he wasn't one to let that go to waste.

Since then, he had experimented with his sexual preferences to see how far they went. He discovered that he mostly preferred them to be in their teens or early twenties, although he wasn't closed to the idea of sleeping with older men. While he could seduce any of them, he wasn't a very patient man and those took time. So, he went to the club and got his kicks there, as he got a show before taking his pick for the night, he couldn't see anything wrong with that.

If people had to describe Nezumi, they would say that he was a living definition of his name. He was a bit short and his face was slightly pinched, making his eyes bulged out somewhat. His dark hair was thinning and his nose looked like it could poke someone's eye if he wanted to that. Because he claimed that he had ties to one of the crime families, he always clothes that looked to be at the very least semi-fashionable. Despite what he wore, they always seemed a little ratty and always had one stain somewhere on it. He always looked like he got the clothes second-handed; like one of his crime family friends gave him their old clothes when they didn't want them anymore. Personally, he didn't care what they looked like. It showed that he had connections.

As he walked up to the entrance of the club, he stopped to look at it. Despite of what was inside it, the front of the club was actually quite modest. The sign above the door was of medium size and had no flashing lights surrounding it or silhouettes of girls on poles around it. The building itself was only three stories, barely standing out from the other buildings surrounding it. If you weren't looking for it, you would've walked right past it.

He walked through the front door, closing it behind him as he entered. "Good evening, sir," the receptionist greeted him.

He didn't know this one, so he just acknowledged her with a nod of his head and walked past her. After walking through a small corridor, he entered the showroom of the club. At one end of the room, the stage and poles were found. The poles were currently empty, due to the fact that they were in-between shows at the moment, just the way Nezumi had intended. Had he arrived earlier, he would've been watching the girls perform and he wasn't there for them.

He found himself an empty couch and sat down. "Would you like to something to drink, sir?" someone right beside him asked, sounding a little nervous.

He turned his head to see who was talking. It turned out to be a blue-haired kid with black glasses. He held himself nervously, like he wasn't sure what to do or if he was going to be selected for a night. The main rule of the club was that if the entertainers were not working on the stage, they would also double as waiters. If Nezumi had to guess, it was most likely that he was a virgin. He could tell if you were a regular customer at the club and you knew what to look for, you could tell if someone was a virgin or not.

"Just get me some sake," he told the kid.

"Right away, sir." He bowed his head and quickly scampered off.

"How've you been, Nezumi?" the owner asked him as she walked up to him. Even though he had been coming to the club regularly for years, he was not on a first name basis with the owner. If he thought about it, no one actually knew her name. She was just known as the owner or ma'am. The basic rule about the club was if you hurt her people, she would hurt you worse.

"I've been fine," he answered. "Are there any new features I should know of?"

"I've gotten a couple of new guys. You've already met one of them." She pointed at the kid, who was getting the sake from the bar. "Apparently, he's a virgin."

"Thought so," he thought triumphantly. "Is there anyone else?"

"Well, I've got an old pro, a dominator, a bad boy, and the apparent talk of the town," she said with a small smirk. "Have you heard about him?"

"Yeah, I've heard of him." He had heard the stories about the mysterious stranger who had come to town. From what he heard, the stranger was either on the run from a noble because he didn't want to be his lover, or he was hiding from an obsessed stalker who decided that if he couldn't have him, no one could.

"Tonight's his first night. I watched his audition. He's quite good if you're interested."

"I'll judge him for myself, thanks." He liked to choose for himself and hated it when someone tried suggesting someone for him. He alone would decide if the person was worth the talk.

"Very well, he should be starting up soon. Enjoy your evening." She walked away, leaving him alone.

He sat in silence, even as the kid came back with his sake. "Here you are, sir," he said, carefully placing the cup and the bottle down in front of him. "Will there be anything else?"

"No." The kid bowed his head and began to walk away. "Wait." He stopped and turned back to face him. "You came here with the one everyone's talking about, right?" Nezumi asked him.

"Um…ye-yes sir," he answered. "I don't know much about him, however. We only met up while on the road and he usually kept to himself."

He would've kept talking, if Nezumi hadn't held up a hand, silently ordering him to stop. "I asked if you came here with him, I didn't ask you for details," he told the kid. "Now beat it." The kid scurried away, leaving him alone with the sake.

Chōjūrō quickly walked away from the target and made his way to backstage. He kept his appearance as a nervous virgin until he arrived at the room they were given. Due to the fact that they went to the club and had auditioned together, they had been given their own room until they were more used to the place.

He walked in and closed to the door behind him. "He's here," he declared to the others.

The others all turned their attention to him. "Are you sure about that?" Sokka asked. He wore a set of non-descriptive clothes and looked older than he actually was.

"Considering I just gave him sake, yes I am," he replied, slightly sarcastic.

Raimu chuckled slightly as he fiddled with a kunai. It was the same kunai he had pulled out the first night the three teams had camped together. He always played with it whenever he felt on edge about something or was simply nervous. To anyone else, it would've been a simple kunai. To him, it was the kunai his father gave to him when he became a student at the Academy and the only thing to remember him by.

"Did he say anything to you?" he asked. He wore a robe and if he were to take it off, it would show that he was wearing skintight black leather with a riding crop and whip attached to the belt.

"Just that he wanted sake. He also wanted to know if I came into to town with Ruto." He gestured over to Naruto, who was sitting against a sofa. He wore the bare minimum stage make-up (which covered his whisker marks) and wore clothes that looked to be easily taken off. "But that's all he wanted."

"Sounds like he's a man who forms his own opinion about something," Sokka remarked. "Looks like you'll have to work extra hard to get his attention if we fail to get it, Naruto," he told his fellow Paragon.

"Sokka, I'm already planning to kill F.S.-sensei for making me do this," the blonde growled. "You keep this up and I'll kill you too."

He held his hands up in a surrendering gesture. "Sorry, sorry."

"Hey, Uzumaki, remember you're not the only one who has to do this," Suigetsu told him, wearing a costume that looked like it was based on baggy clothes. "The only one who got to do that is Jūgo, and we all know why that is."

Someone pounded on the door, surprising them. "Hey, guy with the weird name! You're on in five!" that person shouted through the door.

Sokka rolled his eyes. "Alright, I'm coming!" he shouted back. He stood up from he sat. "Well, wish me luck guys."

"We'll wish that you don't make an ass of yourself out there and blow our cover," Naruto told him with slight smile. It was enough to make the others to relax enough to not worry about the mission for the moment. It was also a rather good stroke of luck that Jiraiya knew the owner of the place. Apparently, they went way back.

"That's a point to you," he conceded. "But that's a good wish too." He walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"Well, there goes the second-best pole dancer among us," Suigetsu remarked.

"Please don't remind me of the fact that those two actually ranked us on things," Naruto told him with a small shudder. He was still couldn't believe that Jiraiya and Anko had done something like that to them. In his personal opinion, he didn't really need to know that he had the third best strut of the five of them.

"This is coming from the best pole dancer among us?" he asked in return with a small smirk.

"How many times do I have to tell you guys? I was seven and I was bored. It looked like fun when the girls were doing it." He explained with a scowl on his face. He also couldn't believe that Jiraiya had told them that time he spent at the Meat Bar.

"You keep saying that. We might believe you one day," Raimu replied as he put the kunai in his hands away. The blonde growled at the two of them, but he didn't do anything. They had to stay focused on the mission.

The dance number was done and the man on stage walked off. Nezumi watched as he came down the stairs. He was an older fellow with a few gray hairs on his head, which he tried to keep out of sight by brushing his hair over them. Even though he walked with a sway in his hips, it didn't reach his eyes. He looked like he had done it enough times to stop caring. Without a word, he came over and sat down in the divan next to Nezumi. "Go away," Nezumi ordered him.

"What? A guy can't sit down and get a drink?" he asked, taking the sake bottle and taking a swig out of it.

"Not where he is not wanted."

"Kami, just give me a minute." He stretched his back, trying to get the kinks out of his back. He had also left his shirt open (on purpose) and showed off the muscles he had. While Nezumi was willingly to admit he had some nice ones, he still wasn't interested.

"Ah, that's better," the man said with a relaxed sigh. "Anyway, my name's Hahn," he introduced himself.

"I didn't ask for your name nor do I care about it," Nezumi snapped at him.

"Yeah, I'd figured you'd say that. Relax. I'm not here to seduce you," he told him in a bored tone. "I'm just here to sit down for a few minutes."

"I'm sure you have a room backstage for that."

"I got saddled with the newbies, so I figure I relax down here." He signaled the kid to bring him a cup. The kid nodded and quickly walked over to the bar. He got the cup and swiftly brought it over to them, placing the cup on the table and then walking away.

"I would've thought you were a newbie too, considering you're sharing a room with the rest of them."

He snorted. "Just because I'm stuck with newbies doesn't make me one. This isn't the first place I've shaken my ass for people." He poured the sake into the cup and drank it all in one gulp. He shuddered slightly as the drink raced down his throat. "Sometimes I wonder if I went into the wrong profession."

"I take it you're the old pro the owner got?" Nezumi asked as he poured himself another drink from the sake bottle and drained the cup.

"How did you know?" he asked sarcastically in return. The lights dimmed down and amidst the hoots and catcalls, another boy came out onto the stages. He walked with a slouch and held a mock-scowl on his face. "And here's the new bad boy," he announced.

"If you're going to give me a running commentary on each person who comes onto the stage, piss off. I don't need it."

"That's fine by me," He got up from the divan and walked away.

Nezumi briefly watched him walked over to a group of four girls and a boy. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another boy dressed in a skintight black leather seat talking aggressively to a woman wearing a trench coat and a white-haired man. "Must be a dominator," he thought before turning his attention back to the stage.

The bad boy was still going on stage. Apparently, he was doing quite well, if the whistles and shouts were anything to go by. Personally, Nezumi didn't think much of bad boys. In the bed, they were the same as any other boy he had done. After a few more minutes, the bad boy was done. He walked off in spite of the applause he got.

He snorted and reached for the sake bottle. "Can I pour that for you?" a quiet, husky voice asked from behind him.

He turned around and looked upon a dream. He was taller than Nezumi, and the latter could not shake off the echoes of snide remarks other people would make when they're pointing at him. He had blonde hair that looked untamed, casting shadows over his eyes in the shifting lights. He wore clothes that seemed to be too tight (in his opinion at least), which highlighted the muscles he had. But the thing that had his attention was his eyes. They looked like two pools from the ocean, with the shadows making it look like they had hidden depths.

"Uh, yes, yes you can," Nezumi told him as he walked around the couch, suddenly a bit nervous. "You…um, you can have some yourself if you want some."

"Thank you." The blonde took the sake bottle and pour drinks into the cups. He placed the bottle down and took one of the cups. "To you," he said, raising his cup in a salute.

Nezumi could only watch in fascination as he drank. While that Hahn had poured the sake down his throat in one big gulp, this man seem content to drink slowly and torment him by making him watch his throat move with each gulp. The only thing that he could think at that point was that the person in front of him was perfection carved into human form. "My name is Nezumi," he introduced himself. He didn't know why, but he felt like a teenager in front of a crush.

"It's a pleasure. My name is Ruto," the blonde greeted him as he sat down on the divan. While Hahn had just sat on the divan, he lounged on it, spreading his entire body out to see.

Nezumi's breath hitched, and his nether regions began to stir. "What is wrong with me?" he briefly wondered. He focused back on the beauty lying before him. "Are the stories about you true?" he blurted out before he could stop himself.

Instead of being offended or angry, the blonde only mysteriously smiled. "I wasn't aware there were stories about me," he replied. "I am no one special."

He couldn't believe those words. "He couldn't be more wrong." The very fact the blonde considered himself to be no one special was something to be considered blasphemous. Nezumi was fairly certain that if the man in front of him had been born female, men would go to war over her. "I have heard that you ran away from a noble or an obsessed stalker."

"Ah yes, you mean those stories." The smile faded from his face as a small look of pain crossed it. "They're both true and yet false."

"What do you mean?"

He looked at him with a question in his eyes. "Why do you care?" he asked quietly.

"I just want to know the truth. To see if I can find the person in the mystery everyone keeps talking about." He wanted to be the one to solve the mystery, to have the person inside of it.

The question disappeared from his eyes as he laughed. It was a rich, sensual laugh that shivers down to his bones and made his regions stir even more. "Perhaps I may tell you," Ruto said to him, standing up from the divan and slowly walking over to him. He leaned down close, almost face-to-face with Nezumi. "If you really want to know that is."

"I do. I really want to know." He wanted to know so badly, it almost hurt.

The blonde slowly leaned forward. It almost looked like he was about to kiss the man, but instead he leaned into his ear. "Then maybe I'll tell you, if you want me enough," he whispered. He leaned back up and walked away. Nezumi could stare at him as he walked backstage.

"Well? What do you think?" the owner asked as she stood behind him.

"He is…um…something," he admitted. He wanted to say more, but he had to look like he hadn't fallen so easily. He had a bit of a reputation to protect (even if it wasn't a good reputation).

"Oh, don't worry. He had that same effect on everyone he met when he came into the audition," she told him with a smirk. "So, do you want him? I can have him ready in a room within minutes."

"N-no, I'll watch him for a bit longer."

"Very well, but you might not want much longer. I'm fairly certain that as the night goes on, more and more people will want him. Who knows? One of them will be brave enough to ask for him."

He fought down a surge of anger and jealousy. "I'll wait until after he dances," he said with a forced calm voice. He couldn't show that he already wanted the blonde. If he did, the owner wouldn't hear his price until she heard the other prices.

"Very well, fine by me." He poured himself more sake and drank it. The owner smirked to herself and walked away.

Naruto kept his slow walk back 'til he got backstage and entered the room. Once inside, he saw Sokka sitting at mirror. "You give him the pill, right?" he asked, sitting down in one of the chairs.

Sokka nodded as he turned to face the blonde. "Put it in the bottle after I poured a drink for myself." He shuddered slightly. "Don't drink sake in a gulp," he advised.

"Duly noted."

"So he's taken with you?" That was the important question. They were placing most of their bets on that pill.

(Flashback)

Anko had stepped out, leaving the seducers-in-training with Jiraiya. The Toad Sage stood over them like a master over his servants as they all sat on the floor. "Do you guys want my honest opinion on your seduction abilities?" he asked them.

"We crave it," Naruto said with tired sarcasm. The others agreed, glaring up at him.

"You all would probably be able to pull this off, if we had a few more weeks."

"In case you haven't notice, F.S.-sensei, we barely have a day," Sokka told him. His back felt like it was filled with knots after he had been on the pole and spun the wrong way. He was having murderous thoughts about the man in front of him, and may have felt the same way about Anko, but she wasn't present with them at the moment.

"I know that, Sokka. And I know a way to help you lot out."

Their attention perked up. "How can you help us?" Chōjūrō asked. He, as well as the others, wanted to make this training easier or go faster in any way they could.

Jiraiya smirked and pulled out a small pill. "With this," he told them triumphantly.

They all stared at it with some disbelief. "It's a pill," Raimu told him. "How in the name of Kami is a pill going to help us?"

"This isn't just any pill. This is a love addiction pill. This was one of the few good things Orochimaru ever created," he announced, ignoring the scowl that appeared on Naruto's face. Even though the man was dead, the blonde still hated him.

"And how exactly does this help us?" Sokka asked, looking the pill over from where he sat on the ground. It wasn't a big pill, but neither was it small. It was cubed in shape and was also red in color.

"If someone was to add their chakra to this pill and then feed it to someone, that someone would become hopelessly in love with them." He explained. "So, if Naruto was to add his chakra to this pill and give it to Nezumi…" He trailed off as Naruto slowly had an expression of horror come onto his face.

"He would become hopelessly in love with him," Suigetsu finished with an almost sadistic grin.

"Oh no, no, no, no way in hell or for the love of Kami am I doing that!" Naruto protested immediately. It was bad enough that he had to learn this kind of stuff, but he didn't want to be the one who led the charge in this part of the mission.

"Face it, Naruto. You're the best one for the job," Sokka told him. It bothered him a little, but out of all the males of Team Avatar and Team Paragon, the blonde was the best looking.

"Besides, you're already the 'Mysterious beauty,'" Raimu pointed out, earning a glare from the blonde.

"You make it sound like I volunteered for the spot," he growled.

"That's enough, Naruto," Jiraiya told him. "Nezumi likes boys and he never could resist a mystery. To him, you're the ideal package and this will help you get him easier."

He scowled but understood the advantages of the pill. He might not like it, but he would still do it. "Alright, fine. Give it here," he told the Toad Sage, holding out a slightly shaky hand. The pill was dropped into his hand, and he concentrated. A small amount of his chakra latched onto the pill. For a mere second, it looked it was covered in blue fire. Then the chakra faded away and the color of the pill was now purple. "There, it's primed," he said as he tossed it back at Jiraiya (who caught it with ease).

"Good. Now since I'm doing you guys a favor; you'll have to do one for me."

"And what would we have to do?" Chōjūrō asked JIraiya. They had to be careful when it came to favors with him, because odds are they involved a lot of angry women.

"You'll just have to help me prove an urban legend true."

"…Would this be the same urban legend you and Ryōshi were talking about?" he asked with suspicion.

"Yeah, talking about it reignited the urge to see that it was true. And now, I have help." He smiled evilly at them. "That is, unless you don't want this." He held the pill out for them to see.

"Alright fine, we'll help you with your legend thing," Naruto told him, desperate to have that pill.

"Good, is there anything else?"

"Just one thing: why the hell would that bastard of a snake create such a pill?" The fact that Orochimaru did create that pill wasn't computing inside the blonde's head.

(End Flashback)

"Oh, yeah, he's taken with me," Naruto confirmed. "He hasn't asked for me yet. But he's taken with me." It felt a little nauseating to say that about a guy.

"Why hasn't he asked for you?" Sokka asked him. "I would've thought he'd do that the moment he laid eyes on you."

"Either it takes a while for it to fully take effect, or he is very stubborn. Either way, it just means more work for me."

"And a pole dance."

He shuddered. "Don't remind me."

"Just be sure to put on a good show," the Tribesman said with a big grin. When it came to making the blonde squirm and be unnerved about things (which were very few), he took great pleasure in tormenting him.

"Sokka, I'm about to kill you. Hold still."

Every moment Nezumi didn't see the blonde was agonizing. Both the bad boy and the dominator had come over and tried to seduce him, but he didn't want them. He wanted Ruto and the mystery he carried with him. He all but ordered them to leave him alone.

When the lights dimmed down and Ruto stepped out, everyone fell silent. There were no catcalls and no hoots as he walked to the pole, a mysterious smile on his face that dared people to try and figure him out. When he reached and took hold of the pole, the music started.

Nezumi couldn't tell what kind of music was being played because, quite frankly, he didn't care. The dancing of the blonde completely enraptured him. Every move he made seemed to be poetry in motion. When he slowly and sensually took off the shirt, Nezumi had a small part of his brain ordering him to get up onto the stage, rip the blonde off the pole, throw him down to the ground, and take him right then and there. When the blonde's hands teasingly played with the collar of his pants, many people in the crowd were praying to Kami for him to take it off. But he only gave them a naughty smile and pulled his hands away, making them silently groan.

"Kami above, he's beautiful," Nezumi thought to himself as the music finally ended and Ruto sauntered off the stage, throwing the crowd one last teasing glance before disappearing behind the curtain.

"I take it you want him now?" the owner asked him as she walked over to him.

"Yes…yes I do," he said breathlessly.

"Alright, go up to your usual room and I'll send him up soon. We will discuss price afterwards." She walked away towards backstage. He got up and made his way towards the stairs. He climbed them until he got to the third floor and entered the door on the left. It was a room that only had a bed. It wasn't a room for romance, just sex.

He didn't have to wait long. Within five minutes (which felt longer), the blonde stepped through the door. "I'm here," he announced. "I guess you really wanted to know my story."

"Of course, I do." Nezumi stood up from the bed and approached the blonde. "You couldn't think that I would simply leave you alone after you left hanging like that?"

"Perhaps I was curious on how far you would go for me. To see if you actually wanted me."

"Oh, I want you more than you could ever know," He reached up and pulled the blonde into a kiss. It was a rough, harsh kiss. His hands trailed down behind the blonde's back and gripped his rear tightly, making Ruto hiss and allowing him to thrust his tongue into the blonde's mouth. "Tell me your story," he said after he finished the kiss.

"I will, if you will tell me something first," Ruto said in reply.

"What do you know?" Before he knew what had happen, he was shoved up against the wall and had a kunai lightly resting against his crouch.

"I want the location of the Underground Auction." The blonde's voice changed, becoming harsher and more terrifying. In an instant, the mysterious man who had teased him was gone and in his place was a man who was willingly to kill him. "That is unless you wish to lose what makes you a man." He pressed the kunai a little harder, emphasizing his point.

"What? Wh-who are you?" Nezumi asked, snapping clear of the lust-filled haze that had engulfed him. His voice had become higher-pitched (if that was possible), both due out of fear for his life and his balls.

"That is none of your concern. I want to know everything about the Underground Auction, its location, the people who will be there, and what's in the catalog. You have five seconds to start talking before I slowly make you a eunuch. Five…four…"

It was at that point Nezumi spilled the beans. He told Ruto everything about the Underground Auction that he had been told. As he listened, the blonde's eyes only showed emotion at point and it was brief (he wasn't quite sure what he had heard, he was speaking too rapidly to remember everything he said).

"And that's all I know. I swear!" Nezumi finished. He was now actually terrified for his life. he had realized that since he had given everything he knew about the Underground Auction, his life was now forfeit. "Are you going to kill me?"

"No, I won't kill you." Before he could even speak, he felt the pain of a needle entering his neck. "I'm just going to make you forget this night ever happened." He lost strength in his legs and collapsed to the ground. His eyesight began to grow blacker as he watched the legs of the blonde (which were amazing in his honest, non-hazed opinion) stroll out of the room. The last thing he heard before succumbing to unconsciousness was the blonde saying "Now for a very cold shower and to never speak of this night again."

The minute that Naruto had gone upstairs was the same minute that everyone else began to leave the club. They left at their own pace, those who had been working left through the backdoor that led into the alley. They didn't need to worry about people wondering about where they had gone, Jiraiya had already paid the owner to tell everyone that they had left after only one night because they didn't like it there.

When they got to the hotel, they pretended to go to their own suites (Akela had lifted his head once from the couch to make sure it was actually Sokka and his teammates who entered the suite, then went back to sleep). But once they were inside, both Anko's team and the Kiri team entered Team Paragon's suite via the balcony.

"I gotta say, boys. That was an impressive show tonight." Anko said with a grin.

"Please don't remind us," Chōjūrō all but begged her. "I've lost count of how many times someone felt up my butt as I walked by."

"You weren't the one who had to be on stage three times in a row," Suigetsu told him.

"I had to do that, Suigetsu. Remember?" Sokka asked him rhetorically. He gave a tired sigh and continued. "Look, I think we can all agree to never speak of this night again."

"I'll drink to that," Naruto said as he walked through the door, getting everyone's attention.

"Well, you boys might try to forget about tonight, but we're not going to," Karin said with a smirk that seemed triumphant.

"I figured you'd say that." While he said those words, he knew that might not be the case. If Jiraiya's plan actually succeeded, the boys would have enough blackmail material to keep the girls quiet about tonight. "Now, if you all don't mind, I'm going to get out of these ridiculous clothes and go drown myself in freezing cold water after throwing up in the toilet."

"Naruto, wait!" Jūgo called out, making the blonde stop in his tracks. "Did you get anything out of Nezumi?"

"I did. I was hoping it would wait until I'd purged myself of tonight's memories. But I guess it's best to get it all out now." He turned to face them all, the expression on his face. "Okay, I've got two pieces of good news and a very big piece of bad news. Which would you all like to hear first?"

"The good news," Jiraiya told him. To him, it was always better to hear the good news before the bad news. That way, you had something to cheer you after hearing the bad news.

"Alright, the good news is that I've managed to get the location of the Underground Auction out of Nezumi as well as confirm the fact that the four lost swords of the Swordsmen will be there." The faces of the three Kiri shinobi lit up when they heard that news. If he had told them that the swords were not going to be there, odds are they would've left right then and there. But they weren't, they were sticking around to get them back.

"And what's the bad news?" Sokka asked him, preparing for the worst.

He looked at them all for a quiet moment. "…The bad news is that Kakuzu isn't the only Akatsuki member that's coming to the Underground Auction this year," he finally told them. "Kisame is with him too."

Everyone in the room fell silent when they heard that piece of bad news. And yet, no one had missed the fact that one of them thought that Naruto had given them not bad news, but very good news.

Although the group didn't know about it the next few days, one of Ryoshi's new hires had caught something surprising and horrifying at the same time. The mangled corpse of a man who resembled Nezumi had apparently been fished out of the beach, and there were clear signs of physical tortures and beatings in his body. Though no one knows who was responsible for his death, it was clear tha Nezumi had powerful enemies. Some of them were from the run ins that he had with rival gangs, and others were of a more personal nature. Ryoshi simply talked to the new hire who caught the corpse and gave him a few days off to get over his trauma.

End

Author's note: Thank you for all the reviews you've sent me.

In case any of you were wondering, Naruto was trying to be a male Femme Fatale. They're the ones who always get your attention, whether they're trying or not. Besides, I don't think we've ever seen the male version of it, so I hope I did a decent job.

Now there were some of you who had told me that if this became Yaoi, they would stop reading the story. I don't know about the rest of you, but my definition of Yoai is two guys going at it in the bed or anywhere else. And I was careful not to show any of that in this chapter.

I put that mention about Raimu's kunai being a memento from his father in on purpose. It would be important to him. Plus, I also plan on having it used later to give him comfort.

If you think that it's weird that Orochimaru was the one who came up with the love addiction pill, please remember that he was a Konoha shinobi before he fled. He was bound to create a few things that benefited the village. As for the pill itself, halfway through this chapter, I realized that this kind of seduction usually takes a little more time than just one night. So I had to come up with something to speed it up.

I'll see you all next chapter!