Chapter 9
He will never have true friends who is afraid of making enemies.
Awkward…
"You," Sasori said with a threatening tone and a finger pointed at Nagato, "you promoted him," the finger moved toward Deidara, "and not me."
"Wow, Sasori." Nagato arched an eyebrow. "That's very mature of you."
Laughter vibrated across the room.
"You're biased. Your decision isn't based on a professional opinion. This is favoritism."
People went quiet after hearing this. Sasori was very serious. In fact, his entire persona screamed of strictness and coldness—his eyes were brown but they could've been ice blue and they wouldn't have been any colder. He wore the black reaper clothes. He wasn't very tall. Standing next to him in her red heels, Temari was a few inches taller. When she saw Sasuke glancing her way, she blew him a kiss. Sasuke smiled at her. What? It was either that or doing nothing and letting her think that she was intimidating him. Which she wasn't.
The silence was heavy. Sasuke supposed this party wouldn't last forever after all. They could hear the music playing from the floor below, but it was faint.
"That's a very serious accusation," Nagato said, his voice deep and calm.
"I'm well aware," Sasori replied. He had a hand on his sword, which was sheathed at his belt. Sasuke frowned as he noticed there seemed to be blood on Sasori's hand, and some more staining the hilt of the sword, too. He bet that blood wasn't Sasori's.
"I can assure you," Nagato was saying, "that my decision was strictly professional. I like the way Deidara works. We need more like him. Too many let their powers get to their heads these days."
"You like the way he works? Yeah, right. You like the way he pleases you in bed."
Nagato paled. A few people in the room stifled their comments. Deidara stood awkwardly, some of his pale hair hiding his face.
Sasuke had to give it to Sasori: Nagato and Deidara didn't look too credible standing together like this. With their shirts off.
Suddenly Naruto grabbed Sasuke's arm. He was looking toward Kiba and his dog.
"He's crying," Naruto said and Sasuke realized he was talking about the dog. "I think that guy's really hurt."
Before he could stop him, Naruto ran past the two party crashers and went to sit next to Kiba.
"He's bleeding," Naruto said, and now everyone turned their attention to him.
"Sasori must have stabbed him," Sasuke added. "There's blood on his sword."
Nagato stepped forward menacingly, his wings spreading a bit in a rustling of dark red feathers. His pale hand grabbed hold of one of the daggers at his belt. It was pure white with a single emerald-like gem embedded in the blade. It was small and delicate, but Sasuke's instincts told him this weapon was probably bad news.
There was a wave of whispers among Nagato's guests.
"You stabbed one of my friends with a reaper blade? You come to my party, and…" Nagato took a deep breath. He was pissed; not the alcohol kind, well maybe that too, but mostly the angry kind. "How dare you?"
Temari was stepping back, and she silently motioned for Sasori to do the same. But he held his ground.
Sasuke swiftly glanced to the side at Naruto, just to see what he was up to. It seemed he was tending to Kiba's wound.
"This isn't over, gentlemen." Sasori smirked. "This was just a warning."
"How impertinent," Jun said, "you should just kill him, Nagato."
Yes. That would be good.
But Nagato just held his dagger and did nothing. Damn it.
"He can't just kill me. I've got friends in high places, too. In fact, someone is coming back. Someone his father," Sasori now pointed directly at Sasuke, still with that annoying mocking smirk on his face, "was dumb enough to kill. But some people aren't that easy to get rid off. I'm just delivering the good news. But you probably knew already, right, Nagato? Trying to have one last party before someone comes in and puts you in your place? I hope you knew you couldn't just keep doing whatever you wanted and always get away with it. Let's go, Temari." He put his hand on her back as they turned away. And they left.
The silence broke. Everyone started talking at once, looking at one another, interrogating Nagato, wondering what was going on, and speculating.
"Who do you think it is?"
"Is it true, Nagato?"
"Someone Malachy killed? He's gonna have to be more specific…"
"Could he be bluffing?"
"It's probably true…"
"But I thought we weren't letting anyone come back from Purgatory anymore."
"So does this mean there's gonna be a new higher demon?"
"Why didn't you tell us, Nagato?"
"Why didn't you tell me?" Deidara asked.
Sasuke's head hurt too much if he tried to make sense of it all, so he ignored them all—though he couldn't help being annoyed because he really was starting to wonder who the fuck his asshole demon father was, anyway—and he went to see how Naruto was doing instead. Or rather, how Kiba was doing.
"Are you… healing him?" asked Sasuke incredulously.
Naruto was bent over Kiba with his hands pressed on his wound. Sasori had aimed for the heart. There was a pool of blood spreading on the floor under Kiba, and it seemed he was clinging to life only thanks to Naruto. There was a warm aura around Naruto, pale gold and almost imperceptible. But Sasuke could feel it. It felt pure and comforting and safe, like… like something that didn't belong here, actually.
It was still a mystery to Sasuke—all of it. This other dimension that seemed like a dream—or a nightmare sometimes. And how people died and came here, but then could be killed again. Sasuke supposed people were given a second chance. And what Sasori had done—a cruel, meaningless thing—would have cost Kiba that second chance, if it weren't for Naruto. But how was he healing him?
Deidara came to stand next to Sasuke and they were both looking down at the scene before them, confused. Wondering if this would work. Nagato was glancing their way, too, but he was drowned in questions already. He had to deal with his other friends.
"I'd heard some fox spirits could do that," Deidara said slowly, "but I'd never seen it myself before. It's amazing."
Naruto seemed to be getting weaker, though. His hands and arms were trembling as he continuously applied pressure to Kiba's wound. And he looked like he was in pain. Sasuke hurried to his side and grabbed his shoulder, squeezing it.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I think I can do this. Just a little more…"
Kiba was waking up. He gasped for air. "I thought I was dead."
"You are dead," Deidara teased gently.
"You know what I mean." He sighed, and grabbed Naruto's arms. "It's okay, it's okay, that's enough. You saved me… Thank you. Oh, no, did Akamaru do this? I'm so sorry."
At once Sasuke saw that Naruto had quite a nasty bite on his arm. It was still bleeding, too; some of that blood on Kiba's chest and on the floor was Naruto's, then.
Sasuke glared at Akamaru. "That stupid dog—"
"No," Naruto said weakly, clinging to Sasuke. He was very pale. "It's not his fault. He probably thought I was going to hurt him. But then he saw that I was just trying to save him, and he let me."
Kiba sat up and put an arm around his dog protectively. "Yeah, he didn't know any better."
But now Naruto was hurt. He looked so weak. He looked up at Sasuke and tried to say something, but then he just fell in his arms. His body was all limp.
"Did he just pass out? Oh, I'm sorry…" With one arm still around his dog, Kiba crawled away like he was afraid Sasuke would hit him or something.
Sasuke looked up at Deidara.
"I think," Deidara said thoughtfully, "the fact that Naruto was bleeding is what allowed him to heal Kiba. A connection through their blood. It's a type of witchcraft. So either Akamaru was trying to protect Kiba like Naruto said, or, he knew, somehow, so he made sure that Naruto was bleeding so he could save him. Either way, Naruto didn't pass out from just the bite. Clearly he's too weak to perform this type of dark magic without his own body getting hurt in the process. Could be from just lack of practice, or… something else."
"What do you mean something else?" asked Sasuke.
"I'll tell you another time." Deidara looked over his shoulder toward Nagato worriedly. "You need to get out of here. Take Naruto home. Make sure he's okay."
"You don't have to tell me that."
"You can do it, right?"
"Yeah just give me your sword."
Deidara rolled his eyes. "You don't actually need to cut yourself open to do it, Sasuke. Enough people have been hurt already. Come on, look, isn't there enough inspiration for you?"
Sasuke considered the puddle of blood on the floor. Yeah, okay. He could do this.
"We don't normally do that sort of thing here," Deidara waved his hand about, "because it's a bit impolite. Gets black smoke all over the place. But under the circumstances…"
"Yeah," Sasuke said, holding Naruto close, "we're leaving. I'll see you soon, okay?"
"Yeah," Deidara said back, "see you soon."
Sasuke focused on the blood, and it started to shimmer as everything else around blurred. He tried to remember as many details as he could from Naruto's bedroom; the mess of stuff on the bed, desk and floor, the piles of clothes on the chairs, the pale green and dark orange walls, but he couldn't really remember much else.
And they ended up on the street.
Well. But at least they were on the right street. Sasuke was kneeling on the cold sidewalk pavement with Naruto still in his arms. Thankfully there weren't any people nearby. It was still night. But Sasuke had a feeling the morning wasn't too far, unfortunately. He heard some cars driving by and looked behind, seeing the familiar street corner where the cab had dropped them off on that first night—only two weeks ago, but it felt longer.
Naruto was waking up. He moaned and pushed himself off of Sasuke, trying to stand. But his legs were very shaky.
"Are you okay?" Sasuke stayed very close to him.
He rubbed under his eyes and then ran his hands through his messy blond hair. "I'm fine. That was… crazy."
"Yeah."
"Seriously…" Naruto sighed, and shook his head. He looked at the buildings lining the street—some shops and stores with apartments on the higher floors. "It always feels like it was all just a dream afterwards. Like it wasn't real."
"We need to get you home," Sasuke stepped closer carefully, "and take care of your arm. Okay?"
Naruto looked at his arm and winced as he saw the blood there. He stumbled on a crack in the sidewalk and almost fell. But Sasuke steadied him. No way he was letting him get hurt again.
And Naruto just squeezed his eyes shut and wrapped his arms around Sasuke.
"I thought it wasn't real. I thought it was some sort of dream."
Sasuke sighed as he held him back. "It can't be a dream if we both had the same one."
"I don't want to go back there."
He felt a pang of guilt. Sharp. And it hurt.
But he had to admit that it was weird being back here, in the normal city street, with the lampposts casting a dull yellow-ish light. Sasuke shivered. The wind was unusually cold for the end of March, and it carried the scent of rain.
Naruto pulled away slightly, so he could look at him. As he tried to take off the leather vest so he could give it back to Sasuke, the pain in his arm made him wince. Sasuke stopped his movements, holding his arms, then his hands. Their eyes met.
"Keep it, for now. Let's just get you home."
He nodded, but he didn't move. He leaned closer, and he kissed Sasuke, just like that. It was soft, and sweet, and so brief, but it sent shivers all over Sasuke's body—a different kind of shivers.
The wind blew in their hair. Sasuke's eyes opened—he hadn't realized he had closed them. "What was that for?" he whispered.
"I… don't blame you. Don't feel guilty, okay?"
His hands slid from Sasuke's and they started walking, side by side, but without touching.
"You're very perceptive," Sasuke said quietly, "you know that?"
"I try."
They made it safely to Naruto's apartment, without anyone calling the cops on Sasuke for indecent exposure, and also without waking Itachi once they were in, which was great because Naruto said that he was really tired from working too much lately.
A few minutes later they were in Naruto's bedroom with some disinfectant and bandages, and Sasuke was taking care of Naruto's arm as they sat on the bed.
He tried to memorize as many details as he could from Naruto's bedroom this time. Just random things. He saw that in the corner, next to the closet—which was open and overflowing with stuff—he kept all his converse sneakers. He had at least five pairs, all in different colors.
Another thing he noticed right away, and he wondered how he had not seen this the first time: there were some plushies lined on the shelves over the desk, and some more also rested on the dresser. There were definitely some foxes there, and some dogs, cats, that sort of thing.
"My dad bought me those when I was a kid," Naruto said.
Amused, Sasuke replied, "It's okay, you don't have to explain."
"I want to." The corners of his lips twitched into a smile. "It was the funniest thing. He really liked those sorts of things. As long as I was a kid, he had an excuse. And then when I wasn't a kid anymore, he kept buying them anyway. He just told everyone I really liked them. And we all played along. I mean, how am I supposed to get rid of them now?"
Sasuke finished bandaging his arm, and looked up at him, to see if he was crying or something. But his blue eyes were dry. And he was staring right back.
You said something about my eyes earlier, but yours are just—
Naruto let his hand slowly climb up to Sasuke's neck, and he pulled him into another one of those sweet but somehow really intense kisses. Another one of those short-lived moments. Sasuke felt something break inside him. He wanted to throw himself at Naruto. He wanted to lash out somehow, to rip his clothes off and to turn the whole bedroom into even more of a mess and to just be with him, he wanted it so badly that it hurt.
"You know," Naruto said, "I really like you." He pulled his legs up and folded them under himself, rustling the sheets.
"I'm starting to get the hint that you do."
"I lied to you," Naruto's eyes wandered down, "on the first night. When I said it would be my first kiss… I have been with someone else before, kind of, it's just… I wanted to forget. About that. To pretend like it never happened. Cause it wasn't great." His tone was somewhat desperate, like he really needed Sasuke to understand this.
"Whoa, was this person such a bad kisser?" Sasuke said teasingly, on a light tone. But it felt forced, so he stopped, and cleared his throat. "Thanks for telling me the truth."
Naruto looked like he might want to say something else, but then he checked his cell phone.
"What is it?" Sasuke asked. He checked his phone, too. Might as well. The first thing he saw was that he had about fifty texts from Suigetsu. What the fuck? Had something happened?
He panicked at first, but then he saw that they were all just stupid texts.
'Where are you?' 'I'm bored.' 'I miss you.' 'When are you coming home?' 'Where are you, anyway?' 'Are you with some guy?' 'Are you with Naruto?' 'Tonight was fun. Gay clubs are so much better than straight ones. You were right!' 'Of course you were right. You're always right. You're the best!'
I am so never bringing anyone back from the dead, ever again.
But Naruto was freaking out for a different reason. "I have to start getting ready for work, like, right now. I don't even have time to sleep."
Sasuke checked his phone again—he had checked it without really checking the time just now; that always happened. It was 6 am already.
"Shit. How early do you work?"
"The first class is at eight. But I have to be there early."
"Are you gonna be okay? You look so tired." He reached up with a hand to brush Naruto's hair away from his face. His eyes were a bit red.
"I'll be fine. I'll just drink a shit ton of coffee, or something."
"I'll let you get ready, then. I should probably go home, anyway. I have to work too. I'm not sure I'll have much time to sleep, either."
"Do you work at your two jobs today?"
"Yeah."
"Me too," Naruto said.
"How do you even find time for homework?"
"I don't," he admitted, laughing.
"Oh. Wow…"
"Hey don't you dare lecture me! I already have a big brother. Who also happens to be your brother. Huh. This'll be really weird."
"Let's not… bring that up now."
"You're right. Text me today all right? Let me know if you don't die from exhaustion or anything."
"Same to you."
He got his vest thingy back, and put it on, and then Naruto walked with him to the door, and… Yeah, well, this was the boring part, wasn't it?
"You look really depressed," Naruto said.
"…"
"Would… one last one… make you feel better?"
"It might…"
So they kissed one last time.
And then one more time.
…
Suigetsu was seriously starting to annoy him. On Sunday morning Sasuke was just minding his own business, making some tea in the kitchen. He had some time before going to work; despite his extreme tiredness he hadn't been able to catch up on his sleep properly. He just kept making weird dreams he couldn't even remember, then going back to sleep, then waking up again and looking at the time and seeing stupid annoying numbers like 3:36, 4:05, 4:41, and so on… Followed by an episode of sleep paralysis, during which his demon father, whom apparently his subconscious pictured as some kind of freaky alien with big black eyes—he blamed his overly creative brain—came to threaten him and torment him and stuff.
Stupid subconscious.
In the kitchen Suigetsu was pouring himself a bowl of cereal.
"Why are you up so early?" Sasuke asked.
Heavy sigh. "I need to study…"
"So you're playing online with your friends later and you're trying to fit in some studying before they get up?"
"Exactly. Hey, that's dangerous. Let me do it for you."
Suigetsu pushed him out of the way and grabbed the kettle so he could pour the hot water for Sasuke.
See? Annoying.
"Do you want to carry it for me, too, while you're at it?"
He was kidding, obviously, but Suigetsu did it anyway. Sasuke rolled his eyes.
They had a tiny round white table with two matching chairs in their kitchen but they never ate there. They either ate in the living room in front of something they were watching on Suigetsu's laptop, or in their respective bedrooms. So Sasuke made a weird face when Suigetsu put down both the cup of tea and his bowl of cereal on the table.
"I want to talk to you," Suigetsu explained, and motioned for him to sit.
"Sounds serious. Are you pregnant?"
"Ha, no." But he wasn't laughing. He just looked nervous. Also he wasn't eating his cereal.
"If it's about the pack of gum and lighter you stole from me Friday night, I already know. It's no big deal."
"Oh yeah… sorry about that."
"I just hope that doesn't become a regular thing again."
Suigetsu had developed a tendency for kleptomania when he was a few years younger and his parents had paid for therapy, which had seemed to work. He hadn't done that kind of thing in a while, anyway.
"No, no… I mean, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."
"Then what?"
Suigetsu stared at his cereal. "I've been feeling very… I've been having… feelings… about you… I mean, I've been thinking about you, a lot, and—"
Oh God. "Suigetsu, stop…"
"No, you don't understand. I'm very serious. I know you're into this Naruto guy, and everything, but I had to tell you." He started talking really quickly. "I just—I know it's weird, and completely out of nowhere, but I can't stop thinking about you, and I know how you always say we're like brothers—"
"You say that."
"But we're not actually blood related. So if you could just give me a chance. I know you better than anyone. And I've always been very supportive. I helped my parents come to terms with you being gay, remember? So I think—"
What was he talking about? "Your parents never had a problem with me being gay."
"I think you should really give me a chance, because—"
"I think you'll find I was the one helping them come to terms with you being a brony."
"Sasuke please stop interrupting me. I'm trying to tell you something important. I think I'm really falling in—"
"Shut up! Stop. You're not falling in love with me, damn it. I'm going to tell you the truth…"
He had no choice.
And besides, Suigetsu had a right to know.
Right.
This wasn't the easiest thing to explain, though. Now he understood Naruto better for just tossing his mother's journal at him that time. Now he wished he had Kushina's journal. He bet Suigetsu would read the whole thing, too, if he asked him to.
Whatever.
Sasuke took a sip of tea. Ouch. Still too hot.
"I told you that was dangerous," Suigetsu said.
"Shut up." He sighed and dropped his arms across the table, trying to think. Suigetsu took his hands.
"Whatever it is, you can tell me…"
"Ew, Suigetsu, stop…" Sasuke pulled his hands back, and put his head in them instead, massaging the back of his neck.
"Okay, listen, the thing is… there's something supernatural going on here. The feelings you have, they're not real feelings. They're an after effect. Of something I did. Well, I had no choice…"
"I'm not really following."
"Of course you're not." Okay. He had to go for a more direct approach. "I'm a necromancer. And I'm friends with this idiot reaper who thought it would be a good idea to kill you so I could bring you back to life by using my powers for the first time. Now you're obsessed with me, but he said it would fade." Sasuke looked up. "Any questions?"
Suigetsu was making a very confused face. Like he wasn't sure if he should laugh or freak out or scream.
"Are you a vampire?"
Ugh…
"No. Necromancer."
"A necromancer?"
If they could maybe just stop saying that word…
"It's pretty recent."
"You can bring people back from the dead?"
"Apparently."
"Have you done it to other people?"
"No. You're the only one."
"Don't you want to bring more people back? Your parents? I don't know… How about Naruto's parents?"
"I haven't really thought about it. I don't think that's how it works… It's been too long, so there's the issue of explaining to everyone else how they're alive…"
"Oh, yeah… So you have a reaper friend?"
"Yeah."
"Does he look like the shinigami from Death Note?"
"Not exactly. You've met him. It's Deidara."
"The British shemale?"
Ha! Nice.
"Yeah."
"How?"
"What?"
"How is he a reaper? How are you a necromancer? I don't—"
"From what I understand, Deidara died and eventually got this gig. And I… My father was possessed by a demon so… I seem to have some unusual… powers."
Suigetsu's eyes were really big, but he seemed to be taking this rather well, considering.
"How come you only know about this now? Or did you know before?"
"No… Itachi and Naruto were keeping the whole thing secret. They wanted me to have a normal life. Until it got too difficult to… hold on to those powers for me. So they had no choice but to let me have them. So far I'm doing okay, I guess. I haven't turned into a demon, as far as I know."
"Shit…" Suigetsu leaned back in his seat.
"Yeah. How do you even believe me? It all sounds so insane, even to me."
He blinked. "You're right. It does. But I don't know. I just believe you."
"Oh, okay. Well that's convenient, I guess."
"Maybe it's due to this whole bond between necromancer and…" He waved his hand back and forth between them. "What am I, anyway?"
"I'd rather not use a word for—"
"Minion, like in Diablo? Servant? Underling? Slave? Oh, should I call you Master?"
"No, what the fuck. Might as well buy you a leash and start going to fetish events while we're at it…"
Suigetsu shrugged. Like he wasn't completely against the idea.
"You're my friend, okay. Just my friend."
"Okay." He looked a little disappointed.
"This is weird. I'm going to work." He would just grab a bagel later or something.
"Wait!" Suigetsu followed him to the bathroom. Sasuke slammed the door shut, but he didn't let that stop him. He just yelled through the door. "What happens now? Are you bringing more people back?"
"No." Sasuke leaned against the sink counter. He had dark circles under his eyes.
"You should! You should bring back famous people. You could bring Heath Ledger back. And that guy from Glee, that was so sad."
"Suigetsu… No."
…
Konan was done for the day. And Yahiko had left a bit early. Sasuke had to wait about an hour, in case some more people came by for piercings, and then he could close the shop.
It was so boring without those two. Plus Yahiko had taken his laptop with him so there was no music. Sasuke sat at the chair and looked around the place. It was clean enough. The tattoo design books were neatly placed on the coffee table in the waiting area. The curtain was drawn on the separate space they always kept very clean and tidy for piercings. Sasuke had already helped Konan clean her tattoo stall earlier.
His eyes hurt.
All those tattoo designs on the walls seemed to be glaring at him from all directions. Sasuke folded his arms on the desk and closed his eyes, resting his head just for a few moments.
Eventually he was poked awake by someone.
"Hey, are you okay? The door was open, you know." A masculine voice said.
Sasuke had been in the middle of some freaky dream again, so when the guy poked him repeatedly and woke him up, he was still somewhat scared from the dream—in which he had been running away from something, but that was all he could remember—so he fell off his chair like an idiot.
Fucking hell.
He scrambled up to his feet and cleared his throat, replacing his shirt—which he now noticed he was wearing inside out.
Man, he was such a mess today. Honestly.
"Can I help you?"
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Perfectly fine, thank you."
The guy didn't look too sure, but he didn't push it. He was an athletic looking guy with very short brown hair and really dark, almost black eyes.
"I just wanted some information."
"Okay, no problem."
He asked some very strange, and useless questions, like if their tattoos were really permanent, and if they guaranteed that it would heal properly or his money back, and if he could go swimming right after getting it.
"No, you can't…"
"All right, well, I don't think I'll get one. But thanks."
"Sure…"
He stared at Sasuke with his creepy black eyes, and then left. Sasuke yawned and stretched his arms. What a waste of his time. Still, that could've been dangerous. Someone could've just walked in and stolen a bunch of stuff.
Sasuke carefully checked all the jewelry in the glass displays before closing the store. Nothing seemed out of place.
And off he was. On to the next job. He was teaching Ino this evening. Great.
…
Well, Ino wasn't that bad. She was getting better. But the problem with a one on one class like this was that they had to take turns if she was ever going to learn to be a good belayer. That was part of the sport.
Now it was Sasuke's turn to climb again, but he was getting really bored with those beginner walls.
"You know what? Do you mind if I do one of the more difficult ones?"
Ino beamed. "Of course I don't mind! If you trust me."
"Sure, you can do it."
So they moved to the higher walls. The ones with a bunch of overhangs and ledges, and barely any holds at the top. It was tricky, but he had done it before. Besides, if he fell, it would be good practice for Ino. He wasn't that heavy. She would be just fine.
They made sure the gear was all set, and Ino gave him lots of slack at first because he was climbing rather quickly. The silence was annoying. Not enough music in his life today. And Ino wasn't very strong on conversation. She mostly just stared at him and smiled at him.
"Is it okay if I keep going?" he asked, looking down at her. "You're not too bored?"
"No, no, it's fine!" she smiled. "Keep going! I want to see you reach the top!"
"I'll try, at least," he smiled back. She was all right, he supposed. And she was a good belayer, actually. She had picked it up rather quickly, giving the rope either slack or tension when needed. Maybe he was actually good at teaching this thing.
At some point she kept the rope locked as she saw that he struggled to find a hold. There were almost just really small crimps left this high up.
But he managed. He was almost at the top, way up in the last quarter of the wall. He was okay to keep going now, but she wasn't giving him any slack, even though he had already asked for it.
"Ino, what are you—?"
He winced when he heard her scream—a horrible, high-pitched, blood-curdling scream—followed by a gun shot.
Panicked, Sasuke looked down to see what was going on. He almost lost his hold on the wall, but it was a good thing he didn't, because no one was holding that rope now.
Ino had been shut in the chest, and now she lay on the floor with blood all over the place. The young man who was holding the gun—clad in some neat black suit—was awfully familiar.
Temari's brother. The tall one with the brown hair. Kankuro. What was he doing here? How had he found him? Was he being stalked now?
The cleaning staff was supposed to be at the gym tonight. Where the hell were they? Had Kankuro shot them, too?
Fuck… Ino. Sasuke really wanted to be angry, but right now he was just panicked, and frozen. He had a gun pointed at him for the second time in a week, and the feeling wasn't great. In fact, he felt rather incredibly sick.
He couldn't move. Kankuro, all happy with himself, had taken the rope out of Ino's now useless equipment and he was holding it. He kept the gun aimed at him the whole time and warned him not to move. Sasuke was about thirty five feet up in the air. He had no idea if Kankuro was a good enough shooter to get him, but he wasn't particularly eager to find out.
Sasuke's muscles were really aching and trembling, though. Despite the chalk dust on his hands, they were about to slip. He wanted to start climbing down—he had no choice. But Kankuro threatened him again. His voice resonated through the empty gym.
"Don't move. I don't want you to climb down, got it? Temari said not to kill you, but she didn't say a thing about shooting your leg."
"I can't hold on any more," Sasuke said.
"Then let go," Kankuro taunted, "I want to see you dangle in the air."
Oh, great. Not humiliating at all. Sasuke held onto the wall for as long as he could. But soon enough his hands slipped.
Kankuro got what he wanted. That seemed to make him really happy. He was laughing, anyway, holding the ropes with one hand to keep Sasuke up there, and aiming his gun with the other.
"Nice," he said, "moving target." Then he tugged at the rope to mock him. "So if I drop this, you're pretty much dead, then?"
Sasuke was working on that. If he could just get a little closer to the wall, he could grab those crimps again, untie the rope, and climb down without it. That was dangerous, but still better than this… Kankuro might kill him anyway. Might as well die with as much dignity as he could.
His attention was brought elsewhere, though, as a familiar dark smoke curled in circles around Ino. The next instant Temari stood there, wearing bright red clothes with her blonde curls all wild and free, like a halo around her head.
She bent over Ino and Sasuke couldn't really see what she was up to, but he had a pretty good idea.
"Afraid of the dark," Temari said flatly, "can you believe it? So dull. I wish people's worst fears were more creative."
Then Ino woke up.
"It's all right, sweetheart." Temari caressed Ino's hair and helped her to sit up. "You're okay now. You're with me."
Oh, no… No, no, no…
Sasuke must have said one of those out loud without realizing it, because Temari looked up at him. She laughed, much like her brother had done earlier.
"Oh, Sasuke, look at you up there, all helpless."
Yeah why don't you rub it in some more you bitch.
"Well done, Kankuro. Just tie the rope somewhere. We're leaving. Let someone find him like this. Sasori doesn't want to kill you, Sasuke. No offense," she smiled, "but he finds you cute. You know, like a puppy. You're not exactly a threat. We have fifty people, oh, make that fifty one now. And you have one. It's much more fun to just play with you, for now."
Fifty people sucking up to her? No wonder her ego was bigger than even her wild head of hair could contain.
Kankuro tied the climbing ropes to some hooks at the bottom of the wall. His knots didn't look very solid, actually, even from up there Sasuke could tell. He wasn't sure those would hold very long.
They left. Only Ino looked back.
"But will he be okay?"
"Hush, sweetie. Forget all about him, all right? That's my first order."
Fucking Temari.
But at least Ino was alive… This was all so messed up.
Okay, now to get out of this predicament. They were morons if they thought he was just going to stay like this all night and wait for someone to rescue him. Did they think he was a beginner at this, or afraid of heights, or what?
Idiots.
Adrenaline rushed through his veins. He was completely infuriated and he couldn't believe what Temari had just done. Now he saw Deidara's point very clearly; they couldn't let Sasori get what he wanted. To let Sasori and Temari be in control of New York City would be the worst crime he could possibly imagine. They were out of their minds.
The anger and indignation were giving him strength. He felt like there might be something else involved, too. Some kind of power deep within him, restless and limitless. So he managed to give himself momentum, and his fingers closed in on some holds on the wall. He untied himself to the climbing rope with one skilled hand and threw it away. Then he started climbing down.
He wasn't even afraid. He just felt upset and angry at himself for not being able to see this coming. Whenever he glimpsed at the blood on the floor he felt his heart tighten with guilt. Why would Temari do this?
Fifty fucking people.
Didn't she have enough already? Why did she have to put Ino through this? She was just some teenage girl, who had absolutely nothing to do with this. And now this.
He barely gave it any thought, but he realized later that he had probably never climbed down this quickly and this skillfully before. In spite of it all, he still felt the thrill of doing it without any protection. It was reckless, and stupid, perhaps, but he was so focused on thinking about everything else that he didn't pay much attention. But the rush of adrenaline was still there. When he was close enough to the floor, he jumped, and landed in a semi crouch, his hands clenching into fists.
All this blood… Temari would pay for this. He didn't know how yet. But she would pay. She couldn't get away with toying with people like this. Even her brothers. It just wasn't right.
The silence weighed on him. Sasuke sighed, and after putting the equipment away he went to see if he could find a mop or something.
He needed to clean this up.
Author's note: I think Sasuke's life is getting a bit crazy. If you have questions or stuff you don't understand send them my way and it'll help me create a better story. I've made a few changes thanks to some of you guys' comments already. Sometimes it's hard by myself. Love you guys^^