939The Light in the Fifth Floor Bedroom
Warnings: This is part 2 of the new update - don't forget to read chapter 18 :)
Chapter Nineteen: We are the Akatsuki
There were three things you needed to know about Itachi Uchiha. He kept to himself, he had no friends, and he was as elusive as a cat. Some time ago, he received a call as Sasuke's last adult relative, that his brother was dead. A man whose name he couldn't remember now, spoke to him in a grave, calm, and pitying voice, reluctantly – albeit methodically – describing the state of Sasuke's severed head in a duffel bag found in the room of a mid-range downtown hotel.
The man had gone on to express that he'd been trying to reach Itachi for weeks. And that they needed a relative to identify him. Itachi complied, but it was days later when he made it to what was like a morgue. He was thoroughly checked, then guided through the facility to a basement where there were metallic drawers stacked against the walls. A man in all white had opened one of those drawers, and atop a clear white sheet was the frozen and decapitated head of his baby brother.
His eyes were wide like saucers, but without pupils. His mouth was formed in a tight, deep scowl, like a grimace – not uncharacteristic of an expression he often made when he was alive. His skin was a pale blue, with deep purples spanning various splotches of skin on his cheeks and forehead. The hair on his head had mostly shed, leaving bald patches of blackening skin. What should have been a young and supple face was now a wrinkled yet taut, decaying mass of flesh.
Itachi had taken a thumb to the severed head and ran it across the skin under the right, agape eye socket. He felt the cold and porous elasticity of rotting flesh – and it took all he had not to chuckle.
This, he had thought, was a work of art.
And now, months later, he was receiving another call from the same man. Itachi was sipping tea in his kitchen when his landline rang from the other room. He didn't have a cellphone. He let it go to voicemail, sipping his drink all the same.
Itachi Uchiha. I've been trying to reach you. We have some news. Not going to say it over voicemail as it might be…troubling. It involves your brother. We…we found….Anyway. Call me back as soon as possible.
Itachi thought about calling back, but decided he would read a bit first. He was on the last few pages of Haruki Murakami's 1Q84 and had barely been able to put the book down since he'd started.
An hour, two hours, three passed before he made his way to his phone and returned the call. Four rings before the man on the other line answered.
"Itachi. Glad you reached out. Any chance you can come to the station?"
"I'm afraid that won't be possible any time soon. You see I'll be going on a trip – for work – and am actually running a bit late. Can we speak over the phone?"
There was a long pause on the other man's end before he let out a disgruntled sigh. "I'm afraid you won't be as much help if you aren't here to actually…Also this is pretty sensitive information. I'm afraid your brother's…"
Itachi let the man struggle with his words for a bit before he interjected. "I've long since dealt with the loss of my brother. I understand the investigation is ongoing and sensitive…but you don't have to worry about insulting me, or offending me. I'd like to help the best way I can."
Another long pause on the caller's end before he spoke. "Like I said, not sure how much help you will be over the phone but…We found…another piece of your brother. His torso. At the suspect's house. I'm really sorry to be the bearer of the news. He had…markings…A map."
Another long pause, and Itachi hummed for him to continue. "Markings?"
"Yes. But you know what. This just isn't something to be talked about over the phone. Again Itachi, I'm so sorry for your loss. I've heard stories of when you were still in the force. You are a great man, a true hero. Such a shame about Sasuke. Really. Such a shame."
Itachi let the silence between them grow for some time before an awkward cough came from the other line.
"Anyway. Please – if at any time you can come back to the station so we can run a few things by you that would be much appreciated. Again, so sorry for your loss. Goodbye."
Itachi hung up the phone and looked up at the clock that hung on the wall of his living room. It was a little past 4:00PM. He really did have to go soon. He had an hour to make preparations, and there was no point in delaying any further.
He walked into his bedroom and made his way to his closet where there was a dark briefcase. He bent down to unclasp the locks and took said briefcase to his bed and sat down. He opened it and inside was an industrial laptop, seemingly attached to the briefcase it came in. The keys jutted out like a typewriter, and when he turned it on with a series of coded buttons, the screen revealed what looked like a map. Before he could go any further the system asked him for a code which he typed in, then another code which he typed in – and another code. All passwords were a series of letters, numbers, and symbols – at least 15 characters long.
After bypassing the security codes the screen turned black before coming on again to reveal the map once more. Several blinking red marks glowed on various positions on the map, but there was one that blinked green. Itachi zoomed in on the location.
He recognized the area immediately. It was about 45 minutes from the city – a dreary ex-factory town in Stone County. There was only one reason they would be there, he thought. Stone Hotel. A click and the map turned into a kind of grid, and he was able to detail the location into exact coordinates that he then saved and uploaded into the relevant server. Just then a light ping sounded from the laptop, and a camera icon jumped at him from a hidden taskbar. Itachi clicked said icon and watched it open and take up the top left corner of his screen. It opened what looked like a photo of a small room, save for the time stamp that showed the passing time. 4:11:45, 4:11:46, 4:11:47…
Just then he could see shadows in the room, until finally three figures entered and a familiar blonde sat on the bed. Itachi narrowed his eyes. So they had Hyuuga and Akamichi on surveillance detail? That was an odd choice. The department must have spread themselves very thin in that case. The three in the room spoke to each other. Itachi raised the volume on the laptop to see if the video came with sound byte. He heard some muffled white noise before he realized he could make out a few words if he listened carefully.
But he couldn't waste time on this just yet.
Only the location was important, and like always, the police were predictable in their choice of hideout.
Like always, they were slow to act, slow to put the pieces together.
He closed the window with the video and shut the laptop suitcase.
He had to hurry.
It would take 30 minutes to get to downtown Mushroom, and he couldn't run late.
By the year 1100, the hundreds of villages, cities, and towns that partitioned the northern and southern sects had almost all fallen under the united rule (or rather siege) of the infamous General Satoshi and his army. Satoshi ruled with an iron first, indiscriminately claiming land as his own, forcing a united language and system of currency that effectively overwrote prior beliefs and turned the dozens of self-ruled villages into sovereign states and servants of the new self-proclaimed King. They had to relinquish their resources – their iron, their gold – they had to unveil their scientific achievements – irrigation systems, astrological observations – all to the King.
By the end of the decade, the northern and southern districts were profoundly changed, and the quasi-globalization of Satoshi's vision paved the way for shared customs across the land. Village after village, town after town, fell to the service of the King, and the ideals they might have held, the culture that came to define and differentiate them, washed away with the changing era.
The small village of Akatsuki was supposed to be no different. Named after the Akatsuki line who founded and claimed the small area hundreds of years prior, the land was scarce of resources but rich in culture. The village people heard news of the changing times, the conquered lands around them, the forceful adherence to a new and common culture, and they feared they would be next – not because they were afraid of the General, but because they were afraid of losing themselves.
It was years after Satoshi began his quest for domination when notice came to the small village in the form of a messenger – one of the King's men on horseback – that his army was coming "with good faith, to demand allegiance of the Akatsuki people to their new and rightful King." The implication was clear. Bow to Satoshi, or die.
But when the men came, weeks after the warning, it was to a land of absolute horrors. The earth had been torched and scoured, animals lay strewn in the street, their throats cut with dried blood soaking the ruined land beneath them. In every home, children and women alike lay on the floor aghast with grimaces of horror and stricken yet lifeless eyes.
A vial of poison was always nearby.
Even the village leader was found in his home, dressed in traditional extravagant garb, slumped in his chair, slain by his own hand, the vial of poison perched neatly on the dinner table in front of him.
The Akatsuki were a fiercely proud people, and the thought of the King's men coming to their property, fully expecting them to surrender themselves and their land, forcefully claiming what their ancestors had fought so hard to build…
History says it was an easy decision to make. The people of Akatsuki, knowing they stood no chance against an army of savages, chose death over conformity, treasuring their identities so wholeheartedly that they left absolutely nothing for the King to claim.
There was only one parchment left on the table of the village leader, and it was the only physical, salvageable thing left behind. It said but four words.
True to our name.
Blonde brows furrowed above tired eyes. Naruto didn't understand. So Akatsuki was a village that eventually orchestrated a mass suicide, so that a rampaging King could not benefit from the land? He supposed it was an interesting tale, maybe even admirable. But why would Sasori be so fascinated by this story, enough to write Akatsuki so many times in the little black book Chiyo let the police take into evidence?
Sasori Akasuna. What a strange man. Barely a man though, because even after all this, Naruto truly couldn't be so sure that this person was even alive – or real. There was something about the word "real" that made the hairs stand on the back of his neck. Sasori was like an entity, floating in a shroud of mystery that had eluded them for the past several months.
The four words on the parchment came to mind.
True to our name.
He did a quick search on the PC they allowed him to use. What did Akatsuki even mean?
The results came quickly.
Cleanse.
Naruto narrowed his eyes at that and felt a chill go down his spine. He imagined that word, repeated over and over in Sasori's little notebook. Cleanse, cleanse, cleanse.
But cleanse what? Cleansing, neo-ebalming. He couldn't see the connection. Was there a connection?
Naruto stopped himself from falling down the rabbit hole of questions he couldn't possibly answer and looked up from the computer. There were about eleven people roaming this floor and the majority were folks he had never seen before. They came in and out of the "tech" room he was in, essentially a hotel room with no beds, just monitors and wires laid out on desks next to each other. For now only one man sat in front of a computer next to him, effectively typing away without glancing once at the blonde. Naruto liked being in this room more than he did his own room. He felt more productive around the busy bodies and the relentless sounds of machines, and keyboard keys was a calming droll compared to the sometimes deafening silence of his room, especially since Chouji and Neji had left him to attend to some disturbance off-site.
The person next to him stood suddenly and went to grab a piece of paper from the printer at the corner before leaving the room in a hurry.
They were planning something and once again, leaving him out of the conversation. But this time Naruto wasn't angry.
I know the X that marks the spot.
That was all Kakashi said before Haku and a few others followed him out, with the intent to keep Naruto and Chiyo and her lackey out of the conversation, no doubt. They'd returned several minutes later, deciding to wrap things up and promising to keep in contact. One car drove Naruto back to the hotel while the others took one in a different direction.
He stared at the screen in front him. While they figured things out, it didn't mean he couldn't do research on his own. He typed Gaara's full name into the search engine, looking for anything that might have made it into the news in the past week. He saw a Northern Times article dated a while back, with the headline, "Uncle of Child Murderer Confesses to Heinous Abuse". Naruto scrolled past the words, ignoring the uncomfortable pangs of memories that Yashamaru's shameless confession brought him. He paused when he was about halfway down the page. It was a thumbnail of an image that Naruto clicked to enlarge. It was a portrait of Gaara standing in front of Mushroom high school with his other classmates. They stood in three rows, with Gaara in the middle row. He looked forward, eyes emotionless, brown hair framing a thin, almost gaunt face, and the thin line of his mouth marking his expressionlessness.
But what was more curious, what made Naruto's hair stand on end, was the teen that stood right next to Gaara. Short and tidy red hair framed a lively, almost flushed face, a winning grin bared all teeth, and welcoming eyes squinted to accommodate a beautiful smile.
And why didn't Naruto see it before? Something he himself had practiced in the mirror time and time again.
A mask.
A beautiful mask. Impeccable, natural. Perfect. So much so that cheerfulness even reached his eyes.
But it was a mask. Only a mask. And what lay beneath that mask was something cold, cheerless, and evil.
"Sasori Akasuna…" Naruto whispered.
What are you—
Three loud pops – so loud it felt like they'd ignited right by his ear – sounded outside the room, and Naruto, startled out of his train thought jumped out of his chair to face the door.
In the time it took to inhale one sharp breath, he saw a man he faintly recognized from the hallway struggle to stand with his back sliding against the wall, scrambling to remove the gun from his holster before a silent shadow of an object rushed to his head, throwing it backwards and leaving tendrils of red splatter on the wall behind him.
Naruto watched the body go limp, crumpling pathetically on the ground until the head lolled to hide the horror that struck his face.
Naruto felt like if he looked down he would see his stomach physically fall out of his stomach and into his hands. His knees buckled, his fear paralyzing his joints, as he heard footsteps encroach upon the dead man against the wall.
He saw black boots first, squeaking as it took another step in front of the crumpled body, then saw the thin frame follow suit, stopping right in front of the open door of the room Naruto kneeled in.
Naruto didn't know what he expected to see.
But it wasn't the person before him. Long blonde hair flipped in its ponytail as the stranger faced Naruto, and from his position on the ground he could see the gun in his hand, adorned with a silver silencer that extended the nozzle of the weapon. Which meant that the loud shots Naruto heard came from the men already on the floor, not from the stranger that stood before him now, who just wiped out the ten – no eleven – men that had patrolled this floor.
Naruto inhaled once. So this was how it was going to end. He was going to die by the hands of someone he had never seen before. Ending up a useless piece in a grand puzzle that had ruled his life since he'd seen the light in the fifth floor bedroom.
"Hmph."
The scoff, as quiet as it was, caused him to start, and he fell backward on his behind as the stranger pulled a flip phone out of his pocket. The stranger grinned down at Naruto and blue stared into blue as he spoke into the receiver.
"It's done. The place is beat. They barely put up a fight. You'd think they'd have learned not to underestimate us by now...Oh, and Itachi was right. He's here too. Say the word and I'll put a bullet through his head."
And Naruto didn't even know where to begin.
Itachi? It couldn't be the Itachi? It couldn't be the Itachi he'd known almost his whole life. The man who let him him into his home, made him tea, gave him money in his time of need—
"Haha, Yeah, I know, I know. You got it."
The stranger put the phone away, held the gun with both hands and removed the silencer – and Naruto wondered why his life wasn't flashing before his eyes in the half second it would take the bullet to sear through his brains with ease.
But the stranger surprised him when he clicked the safety on and put both pieces into what had to be his back pockets.
"Okay Mr. Special, this is how it's gonna go." the man said, and the grin was still on his face, condescending, authentic and delighted. "Looks like you and I are gonna go for a nice drive."
If Naruto was sure of anything it was this.
He was going to die.
Iruka, despite his warmth and demeanor, his characteristic shyness and calm, was a man of conviction, fortitude, and impenetrable loyalty. He was also very curious. It was one of the reasons Kakashi had fallen so hard and so quickly for the man so different from the slew of men and women he'd knocked heads with in his younger years. Iruka had truly taken his breath away. An honest, kind, but also infuriating man.
"What do you mean you're still there?" Kakashi hissed at his partner, turning to face the corner away from the group that had assembled at the police station. Zabuza and Haku were across the room, gathering papers and adjusting the images projected onto the wall with the projector. He could see Zabuza give him a look from where he stood, undoubtedly suspicious of the conversation he was having on the phone.
"We need to make sure everyone understands the procedure for an emergency evacuation." said Iruka on the other line, and his voice echoed so Kakashi knew he was on speaker. "The last time something to do with this investigation involved our building, an entire floor was destroyed. Our residents could have gotten really hurt."
Kakashi could feel a headache coming on and brought two fingers to rub his forehead. "Okay," he began slowly, "But we have to be careful here. We don't know what could trigger the next...event."
"But we know something is coming and we know it has to do with our basement." Iruka said, panting.
"No, we don't. For all we know this could be some kind of distraction or – where are you right now?" he asked, taking note of his partner's breathing.
There was a long pause on the other line, and before Iruka could answer Kakashi felt his heart sink. "Iruka...I swear to God, if you're going to the basement—"
Iruka chuckled from the other line. "I'm not, I'm just..." There was a pause from him before his movements seemed to stop on the other line. Iruka sighed. "I won't have blood on my hands, Kakashi. I'm not going to my mother's. I'm not leaving here. If there's anything I can do to protect these people, to save lives, to warn them…"
Kakashi was glad Iruka wasn't there to see his expression, his furrowed brows, his tired frustration. He could see Zabuza approaching him, and said hastily, "Listen Iruka, I need to go – text me. And don't do anything stupid."
"Kakashi—"
Zabuza and Iruka uttered the name at the same time, only he was hanging up on one as he turned to the other.
"Care to join us in the front?" he asked the ex-detective. Kakashi followed the man to the front of the room, where Haku was speaking.
"There's just no other way to see it." Haku was saying to the group. "Something this straightforward has to be a trap." The gruesome photograph of Sasuke's mauled back was projected side by side with a printout of the basement blueprint Kakashi requested from Iruka. There was no question about it. However crude and jagged the lines on the spongy skin, it was indeed the same lined structure of the blueprint. Only for the X that ravaged the bottom right corner of Sasuke's back.
"A trap, a trigger, a message. It could be anything. What we do now is critical."
Kakashi could tell Haku's stress levels were high. She was in deep thought even as she addressed her team.
"This standstill we're forced to be in," Zabuza began, "feels like mind games more than anything else. Only someone stupid would rush into that building right now. Gaara has to know this. And we have to think about who the message is for. Was it meant for the boy? Is he meant to find the x that marks the spot—"
"We don't know if it was meant for him." Haku said quietly. "We also don't know if Gaara left the message." She closed her eyes in thought. "We risk lives if we take action, we risk lives if we do nothing. I think you're right, Zabuza. This is a game. We can't win, and the person – the people – who might be behind this, know this. They've cornered us."
There was silence around the room for a long period before it was interrupted by the click of the door.
All eyes turned to the man who ushered in with an enormous rolled paper. "We've found something." Zetsu declared as he entered, his partner Kimimaro trailing not far behind. Zetsu strode into the room like he owned it and went straight to the board. "Turn that thing off, will you?" he directed at Zabuza, nodding at the projector. He went on to display the rolled sheet on the white-board, holding the corners up with magnets that were on the tray.
Kakashi saw Zabuza's very unimpressed face at Zetsu's demand but still went on to shut off the projector.
What Zetsu hung was an aerial black and white layout of the entire city.
"If your lot had half a mind to do your research you'd know that this map is not only reflective of the basement plan in Building 1312 and 1313" he circled the area with red marker. "But actually the master blueprint for—" he began to make rounds through the sheet, circling seven more spaces on the map before he turned to face the rest of them. "We counted fourteen buildings." he said. "All of which—"
"The Power-Equity Act." Kakashi interrupted out loud, the realization hitting him like bricks. The room turned to him, putting him on the spot. "After it was passed, every low-income housing unit in Mushroom City had to be internally rewired to the city's failover system – the power source that would serve as a backup in case of a blackout. Residents fought years to get this done..." He remembered the protests, he remembered seeing the case on TV as it made it to the courts. His mother was still in charge of leasing the apartments when the bill was passed. And for years there was an influx of construction sites as various buildings were finally connected to the city's main source of power.
"Funny how we have to do the work for you before you can figure it out." Zetsu turned back to the map, drawing a line between the circles to connect the dots. The bordering shape was a triangle, located in the center of the city.
The map, the buildings, the area inside the triangle shape—
"It's like they're laying out their plan, and they want us to figure it out for ourselves…" Haku whispered, taking a step back to view the entire map. "Whatever this is...it's sinister…"
"Here's headquarters." Zabuza said, going forward and pointing to a spot within the center. "Here's the judicial district...the financial district...the Mayor's office..."
He pointed to spots all within the triangle, and Kakashi felt his stomach churn. What was this?
"Get me in contact with every police chief in the northern district." Haku said suddenly, turning back to her team. "I need covert surveillance near all buildings circled on this map. Six unmarked cars, twelve officers—" she turned to Zetsu and Kimimaro. "I have little doubt that what we are facing is an incoming act of terrorism."
"That's why we're here."
"Can we count on your resources to—" Haku was interrupted by a phone ringing. She continued when she saw it was only Zabuza who was now taking his phone out of his pocket. "Ammunition, personnel – we don't have enough to take this on ourselves. And in the case of—"
"Speak, boy."
Kakashi saw Zabuza look at his phone angrily then put it to his ear again.
"It's Naruto." Zabuza said to Haku, his ear to the receiver. He waited impatiently for a moment before putting it on speaker. "Is this a mistake?"
From the speaker came what was like muffled singing and a strange whooshing sound – like wind.
"Take me with...C'est la vie, baby… love in…air—"
"That's not Naruto's voice." Kakashi said, narrowing his eyes. "Could they still be driving to the hotel after all this time?"
"I got intel that they arrived more than an hour ago." Haku explained, shaking his head. "This can't be—"
"Don't you…this song?!" exclaimed the voice on the other line.
"What the hell—"
"CHIEF!" The shout came from outside. A woman came rushing through the door towards Haku and Zabuza, speaking fast, "Hotel 95 is unresponsive, reception says there were gunshots. Something is very wrong—!"
"This is a 10-93 we need a CSU to Hotel 95 stat—" Zabuza was already shouting orders into his radio while the room shifted with him and Haku in the lead, making a brisk exit from the room. Kakashi followed suit, hardly believing what was happening. Suddenly they were all speaking at once—
"Aiko trace Naruto's phone location. We need—
"Already on it, Chief. The phone pinged twelve cell towers in eight minutes. He must be in a car—"
"Chief!" Cried someone else. "Tech Team at Hotel 84 is unresponsive. Reported shots fired—"
"Damn it that's our team!" And that was Zetsu, taking his own phone out of his pocket as he followed everyone quickly down the hall. "This is what happens when you put this much trust into a suspect. Your little blonde led the enemy right to—"
"Naruto didn't do this." Haku countered, stern. "He's in trouble. Zabuza," she looked at her partner.
The man nodded at her, speaking gently into the phone's receiver. "Boy...If you can hear us...Stay on the line for as long as possible…"
The muffled wind and strange singing continued until—
"Where…where…you taking me…"
Naruto's voice. They all came to a sudden halt, tense and waiting.
"He speaks!" the strange man's voice sounded much further away than Naruto's and they had to strain their ears to hear. "Why don't…that be a nice surprise…?"
The chiefs looked up at each other, then at Kakashi who was running a desperate hand through his hair. This was just chaos.
"Kakashi," Haku said, turning to walk again and fully expecting the ex-detective to keep up with her pace. "I need you and Zabuza to follow the tracking on Naruto's phone. Even if he hangs up we'll have his exact location. Zabuza has the tracking application—"
"I'll need at least two more guys." Zabuza began, "If my hunch is right—"
"Then that phone is going to lead us right to their headquarters." Zetsu chimed in, something like astonishment in his voice. "Kimimaro and I will join you. I'm alerting the bureau that we're closing in—"
"No," Kakashi countered, finally a getting a hold of himself. "Everything about this needs to be covert. The fact that both Hotels are compromised prove someone's been feeding them information from the inside."
"Kakashi's right. We can't even be sure that everyone in this room can be trusted. Background checks be damned. Zabuza keep your radio off. We contact each other by burner phone only. And I don't need to tell you to take an unmarked vehicle.
"In the meantime we need to acquire all intel on exactly what happened." They entered the main room, where people were scrambling, undoubtedly aware of the situation. "I want my surveillance team to retrieve any and all footage they can salvage from 84 and 95 and the surrounding area." Haku spoke loudly. "I want to know who went in, who went out, what they were wearing—"
"Come on." Zabuza nodded to Kakashi and the SBI agents as he put on a jacket from a chair behind him. "Let's find the kid."
Naruto remembered when he was six or seven years old, his mother was getting horribly physical with a man she was seeing at the time, to the point the man was bleeding from his forehead and his mother's lips were swollen from where he had punched her. Naruto didn't remember how or when his tiny hands had grabbed a knife. All he knew as he watched his mother, tears falling, face red and wretched with anger as she screamed at the man, was that he had to kill him.
He never got to use the knife. The man had said something along the lines of it not being worth it before retreating to the living room, sitting on the couch and turning on the TV. And Naruto remembered it clearly, his mother exhaling generously, fixing her hair, going into the kitchen and silently taking the knife from her son. She'd seen him standing there, blade bared and ready to attack. She took a cold pizza that had been laying on the kitchen counter, brought it to the living room and sat next to the man, put her head on his shoulder, and they laughed all into the evening as they watched prime time television.
The confusion he'd felt as a child witnessing that violence, only to watch his mother cuddle, smile, and kiss the person she wanted to see dead moments before, was the same confusion he felt now, in the backseat of this person's car.
"You know it just doesn't get any worse than this right here." The man was saying, pointing to something outside the window. He was always cheerful, the smile never leaving his lips despite witnessing his bullet glide through the skull of another human being, despite having to walk through the limp and bloodied bodies he had left at his wake on the fifth floor…
"You'd think they'd have more respect for the trees here. I mean, it's oxygen – am I right?" He was always turning his gaze to look at him from the rear view mirror.
Naruto had not known what to expect as he was led to the car outside the hotel. It was a two-door sports car with a low top and a luxurious black sheen. The stranger had pulled the front seat forward and insisted Naruto get in the back, where he sat now, free of restraints.
And that's what was odd about all of this. He was a prisoner, he had to be, but why wasn't he being treated like one? The man didn't even make Naruto walk in front of him. He let Naruto follow him up the hall, past the dead bodies, down the stairs and through the back door. And granted, Naruto knew he didn't have a choice. Because he was just one man taking orders from an armed murderer. But Naruto always imagined kidnapping being rougher, with his hands bound and mouth covered in duct tape. If not for the bodies and recent events…the two of them could pass for two friends, out on a nice drive.
A pop song began to play on the radio and the stranger began to sing along obnoxiously, going as far as to take his hands off the wheel to wave them around, closing his eyes when he hit high notes.
Naruto couldn't take his eyes off of him.
This was…it was just so surreal. He leaned back in his seat, never looking away from the driver, and carefully reached for the phone in his right pocket. He was hidden enough that he didn't think the man would see, and he seemed so distracted by his duet with the radio that Naruto was sure he could remain unseen.
He swallowed once as he carefully flipped the phone open by his right leg. He prayed it didn't make noise as he pressed the buttons. Thankfully it was silent and he made it to his contacts list without a hitch. There were only two numbers on the list.
He pressed one of the numbers quickly, his eyes darting from the rear view mirror in front of the car to his phone in quick succession. The screen showed the call going through and when he could faintly hear the gruff sound of Zabuza's voice he nearly shat his pants, quickly shoving the open phone back in his pocket.
He took several moments to gather himself, swallowing thick globs of nervous saliva as he watched the driver. He didn't seem to notice anything, singing along here and there as the song came to an end. Looking out the window of the passenger side – there were none in the backseat – he could see they were going towards the city.
"Where…where are you taking me?" He forced out. His voice came out like he hadn't used it in days.
"He speaks!" the man exclaimed, looking at Naruto and smiling. "Hmm, why don't we let that be a nice surprise?" he suggested, winking. "You like surprises don't you?"
Naruto felt his eyes narrow. Of course this man wouldn't tell him where they were going. "Who are you…What – what is this?"
"Name's Deidara." The man replied easily. "And you're Mr. Special." He laughed then, shaking his head and tapping his hands on the wheel. "Uzumaki Naruto."
"How do you know who I am…?"
"We all know who you are…" Deidara murmured. He grumbled something about how terrible the next song was and changed the radio station. "You know," he began again, looking into the mirror. "I expected…more." He shrugged. "The way he protects you…thought gold shits out of your ass when you talk or something." He laughed again, shaking his head. "But I should have known…" he trailed off quietly.
A soft guitar song without lyrics played through the speakers and the man seemed to match the music's energy. As he drove a tiny wooden doll spun underneath the rear view mirror, held by four thin white strings connected to various parts of the contraption. Like a puppet.
"The way…" Naruto began tentatively. "The way Gaara protects me." He risked. It was clear to him now, more than ever, that the assumptions they had made in that conference room days ago were right. This was so much more than just Gaara. It wasn't one person – it was people. They were stupid to think that this could all fall on one disturbed man.
"Yeah, yeah, Big Red!" Deidara suddenly shouted, like he was remembering a friend he hadn't seen a long time. "Strange guy, ain't he?" he asked. "Honestly a fucking retard if you ask me. But does that matter? Nope! Talk about special treatment. He always get away with—!" he was shouting again, slamming the wheel of the car of his hands. But before he could finish he let out a long sigh. "…everything." He rolled his eyes at the road. "You know what I mean." He declared, smiling into the rearview mirror again.
Naruto was beginning to think this man was bipolar.
"Are you going to kill me?" he asked quietly. The strings on the guitar stuck a sudden loud chord before descending back into the quiet melody.
Deidara didn't speak for a long time. He looked almost serious as he thought about the question. "Tell me something Mr. Special," he began finally. "What makes you think…you deserve to be alive?"
Naruto blinked, taken aback by the question. Deserve to be alive? Even the way it was worded…such an off-putting question. Deserve, he thought, looking down at his lap.
Deserve.
No one deserved life. It was a gift. A gift that was so easily taken away. Taken away by people like the man who drove this car.
"I don't deserve to be alive." He responded finally. "And neither do you. What makes you think the people you killed deserved death." He glared back.
He was only half surprised when Deidara replied with a bark of laughter. "There it is! Feisty." The laughter continued on for some time, to the point the man was wiping a single tear of mirth from his eyes. "But what if, Mr. Special…what if death is the gift?" he asked as he reclaimed himself. "What if life as we know is hell, and death…is paradise?"
"You have no way of knowing." Naruto said quietly back. This man was clearly off his hinges.
"Ah but one does wonder…Death sounds so freeing…" he trailed off quietly.
Naruto almost said, then die, but he stopped himself. He didn't know this man's story. He didn't know what brought him here or what warped his mind so savagely he could take the lives of people without batting an eye.
The drive continued with the man asking rhetorical questions, singing along to pop songs on the radio. He was constantly taking his hands off the wheel, waving his fingers to the music as if he was a composer of an orchestra. Today was just another day for this man. This murderer who had an unbound victim in the back of his car.
Naruto thought about the phone in his pocket. He was too scared to check if he was still on the line, and maybe by now the phone had died. He looked out the window of the passenger seat, and when he thought about it, putting him in the backseat was so smart. No one could see him here, no one would have a clue he was in the back of the car.
So then what was he supposed to do – just let himself be driven, possibly to his death? What was he supposed to do, what was he supposed to do—
Naruto felt his panic rise as they sped
on the highway and bore right towards an exit. Naruto could see the sign for uptown.
"Where – where are you taking me!?" he shouted then. He felt like the drive was coming to an end, and thought of the unknown terrified him.
The man who had been so cheerful the entire ride said nothing. His face was expressionless as he made his way down the streets. Naruto rarely ever came this far uptown. The area was much rougher than his own neighborhood. He wondered how odd they looked in this sports car, riding around the streets filled with garbage litter and plastic bags with smiley faces floating like tumble weeds across the sidewalks. But the pedestrians paid them no mind. They all walked to their destinations, ears or eyes to their phones, not offering a second glance to the sports car that came to a stop in front of a building that was not unlike Naruto's own apartment.
Deidara had his ear to his own phone when he turned back to him.
"Yo. Fishface. Tell me something." He had completely shut off the car and even though Naruto could hear a voice on the other end, he couldn't make out the words.
Deidara hung up without a replying and took off his seatbelt. Naruto braced himself, looking at the surroundings outside the car frantically. Were they really going to step outside in broad daylight, for everyone to see?
Deidara stepped out of the car and put his hand behind the driver seat. But instead of pulling it forward to let Naruto through, he tossed something to the back seat.
In the time it took to blink the car was filling up with smoke and Deidara was shutting the door behind him. Naruto's shock was acute, and before the protests could leave his mouth, before the terror could let him scream, his body stiffened, as if paralyzed, and his eyes rolled back as he crashed to sleep.
"We reached Akamichi, Hyuuga and Kiyame, chief. They weren't in the building during the attack. They're doing recovery detail until the bureau's unit arrives. It looks like nothing was stolen..."
"But lives were lost." Haku replied back quietly. She stood in front of not one but three screens. She could see the live pointer of Zabuza's location in relation Naruto's. They were closing in. "Do we have any witnesses?"
"Reception says surveillance cut off around 5:15 PM for twelve minutes. We have the call log to confirm she called tech to report the malfunction."
"Was she the one who heard the shots?"
"No, it was someone on the fourth floor who called into reception to report. By then surveillance was back on and we suspect the killer was already out of the building."
Haku narrowed her eyes at the screen in front of her. "…And nothing was stolen." She repeated mostly to herself.
"Nothing, chief. It's like they came for Naruto and left."
"But Naruto wasn't at both hotels…" Haku shook her head. "So why kill everyone there? It doesn't make sense."
"Maybe they didn't know which hotel he was in."
"I think they knew exactly where he was…" the chief murmured, deep in thought. It didn't make sense. Was this just an attempt at showing off? Letting them know that even with the SBI at their disposal, they would still be one step behind?
Haku's burner phone rang and she put it to her ear, knowing only Zabuza could be calling her.
"We have recovery detail on site. Three officers weren't at the scene at the time of the attack. They're alive."
"Well that sounds like good news."
Haku started, pulling the phone away to look at the screen. No Caller ID.
"Who is this? How did you get this number?" She excused herself from the officer reporting to her.
"I'm calling because we are running out of time." Said the voice on the other line. He sounded calm, almost bored. Haku thought she recognized it.
"Who are you?" she whispered cautiously into the receiver. "How—"
"It's exciting isn't it?" the man continued, ignoring the chief. "Knowing that you've been cornered at all sides. That you're dealing with something beyond the scope of your reasonable imagination. It makes you think, what will I do now? Or even better, what have I been doing this entire time?"
The hand that held her phone shook, and Haku had to swallow. She had walked into the hallway away from the others so as not to cause a panic. "Is this…Sasori?"
There was a soft chuckle on the other line. "You can call me…an olive branch." He offered finally. "I'm at the corner of West and Madison. Two minutes and I'm gone. I don't think I need to tell you to come alone."
The line cut before Haku could utter a response. West and Madison? That was two blocks away. She looked at the time on her phone.
Two minutes.
Come alone.
But how could she leave now when –
She looked into the room where her team was busy at work, scrambling to keep up with incoming transmissions. Twenty seconds had already passed—
"Lee!"
The man who'd been walking up the hall stopped in his tracks. "Yes, chief!"
"I need you to take lead on the recovery detail in Stone County. I also need you to monitor Zabuza's location as he closes in on Naruto—"
"Uh – oh my God, but chief I—"
"I need to check on something. If you don't hear from me in twenty minutes report a 10-19 on your radio—" She was already speeding down the hall, ignoring Lee's protests. An entire minute had already elapsed – would she make it?
She took to running when she was outside, making a beeline for West and Madison. When she was almost at the corner she tried to assess her surroundings as quickly as possible. For all she knew this could be an execution. It was perfect. The sun had already set, there were only so few people in the streets. Someone could be waiting, just to take their shot.
But instead of a person standing in the corner, she saw a black car, its lights blinking once as she approached.
Haku stopped in her tracks. What? Was she meant to go inside this strange car? She couldn't even see who was inside.
The lights blinked again, and Haku had to fight with herself. What was she doing? This was a trap, clear as day—
The car turned on, and the vehicle began to pull out from the curb. Haku's feet worked before her mind did, and in seconds she was blocking the car with her gun aimed.
And she couldn't believe the person who looked back at her from the driver's seat.
The panicked sounds of the pedestrians in the area registered in her brain. She put away her gun, hesitating once, before going forward and getting in the passenger seat.
"What the hell is this, Itachi?" she demanded the minute she shut the door behind her. "What the fuck is going on?"
The man smiled back at her, not at all phased by the weapon that had been aimed at him moments before. "Aren't you supposed to be the calm one?" he asked as he pulled from the curb.
"Wait! We go nowhere until you tell me what this is!" Haku still couldn't believe she was seeing the man who sat beside her now. Her mind was reeling. She had so many questions.
And to her frustration Itachi paid her no mind at all, pulling out of the curb completely and driving ahead. "We have a very small window of time." Itachi explained casually.
"To do what?!" Haku couldn't remember the last time she had been so frazzled.
"To save his life."
Haku paused, taking in one slow breath at a time. Finally she relaxed, moved to sit properly in the seat and fastened her seatbelt. "How long have you been on this case." Her tone was accusatory. She didn't care. If Itachi knew that Naruto had been taken, if he knew Haku's burner number, if he knew exactly where she'd be—
"I guess you could say…since the beginning."
Unsurprisingly, they were driving uptown.
"I need to know Itachi." She began quietly. "I need to know if you're the one who's been betraying our intel to the enemy."
"The enemy." Itachi repeated, chuckling softly. "It's sad that after all this time you still have no idea what you're up against. Even after all those clues I left behind..."
Haku's next intake of breath was sharp. The pieces were slowly coming together in her mind. "You're undercover. You're SBI. So the rumors about a deep undercover operative are true." There was buzz that it might have been Sasuke, even more so when his head had been found at the hotel—
"This goes much deeper than SBI..." Was Itachi's quiet response. He drove slowly, without rush. That was odd to Haku when he was the one who implied that time was of the essence.
"Deeper than…are you SIA? NSA? Who are you working for?" Haku couldn't help the impatience in her voice. She felt so thrown for a loop and almost disgusted with the man next to her. It was clear as day now, an old tale. Ex-detective exchanges one badge for another, works with high ranking intelligence agencies to consistently undermine the efforts of police for a "greater" cause.
Itachi seemed amused, above all else, at Haku's probing. "I'm more of a…freelancer." Was all he offered.
"What does that even mean—"
"We're here."
What? Haku looked out the window. But they were still downtown.
"Where is here?" she pressed, getting tired of Itachi's elusiveness.
The man was easing into a parking space. When he shut the engine he reached behind his seat and pulled a backpack from the back.
"Wai—"
But Itachi was already exiting the vehicle, shutting the door in Haku's face who now had to scramble to get out the other side. "Itachi! Tell me what's going on!"
"I already told you." His voice was infinitely calmer, almost pensive as he crossed the street and looked up at the building ahead. He pointed up. "There. On the fifth floor."
Haku looked up, going after the man. The apartment building in front of them was old. And she didn't need to count five windows up to see what Itachi saw. Four blacked out windows in a row stuck out like sore thumbs, as if the apartment had been boarded up.
When she turned to look back at Itachi, he was looking at his watch. "Right on time."
"On time for wha—"
A deafening boom, followed by a – shattering of glass almost took Haku off her feet. She let out a cry, ducking as debris began to fall from the sky. Almost by reflex, she took the radio from her holster, ready to call in the explosion as people screamed in panic.
But Itachi's hand went to hers in the next moment, gently pushing the radio down and away from her mouth. "Not yet." he said. And he looked completely unbothered by the chaos that was beginning to unravel around them.
Haku looked up at the fifth floor, and found that only two of the four windows had been shattered.
"Let's go." Itachi said suddenly, running towards the building.
Haku cried out to him, afraid he would be struck – but realized that the slew of objects already ceased to fall from the sky.
Haku followed him inside.
"Itachi!"
"Here."
Haku used her ears more than her eyes to follow the man whose footsteps pattered quickly up the staircase in the corner of the dark lobby. They passed cracked floor tiles, murky walls and flickering lights, battling the current of panicked residents quickly making their way down, shoving and crying out.
When they reached the fifth floor Haku was panting, her heart racing in her chest as she followed Itachi through the door.
This was all wrong, so very wrong, she thought. No protocol, no backup, no answers. Residents were still rushing out as they went down the hallway, not giving them a second glance. In no time at all police would arrive at the scene to access the situation. What would Haku say when they arrived?
Itachi stopped at the very last door at the end of the hallway. Haku knew this was the focal point of the blast right away. The door stood slightly ajar, barely clinging to what looked like six or seven locks. Itachi startled her when he brought a foot to the door, slamming it with great force, but to her surprise it didn't give right away, resisting once, twice, until Itachi's third stomp flew it open.
Itachi was inside before Haku could stop him, and an unexpected flush of smoke burned her eyes and nose so thoroughly that she was choking at the door for twenty seconds before she could follow Itachi in. She tried to shield her eyes and nose with her forearm as she approached what looked to be a living room and kitchen, completely stripped of cabinets or furniture. The walls were charred and various debris littered the room. She thought she would see broken wood and cotton-ripped cushions scattered about, but instead he saw—
Limbs.
Arms, legs, torsos – but no blood. Haku bent down, coughing once as she put a hand on an arm that was right beside her feet. She thought she would feel something hard, almost wooden, but was so taken aback by the firm yet supple, porous and freckled skin that her hand darted back.
It felt so real. But she knew, she knew it was a fake.
She rose, scanning the area and adjusting her eyes. As she walked into the living room she noticed to two things.
The first was that Itachi was nowhere in sight. And the next was the small, barely audible gasping breaths of a man who was sprayed backwards, like a splatter, against the living room wall.
Haku felt her stomach churn. She could easily put the pieces together. On the opposite side of the man was what looked like the remnants of fridge, all that was left was a base, seemingly fused to the ground with a black box that had haphazard wires flailing about.
A bomb.
This was a trap.
And Itachi had set it.
"B-b-b-hah-b—"
Haku turned back to the sputtering man. His head was smack against the wall and his arms had almost completely disengaged from his shoulders, barely hanging by its wet, sleek tendons as his chest rose and fell to the sound of his gasping breath. And his legs…
Haku shut his eyes. He wasn't going to make it out here alive.
"B-b-b-basste-er-uh-d." the man stuttered. His eyes, half open, stared blankly ahead. The tendrils of blood against the wall behind his body made for a gruesome effect. Haku had seen so many things during her time on the force, but this…
A clank in the distance made her start. She left the man and walked passed the enclave in the wall leading to another room.
She felt a shiver make its way up her spine. The room, though faring much better than the one she'd just left, was a mess. Two steel bloodied tables were toppled over and a litany of papers and books were scattered about. It was like a scene from a Frankenstein horror show. She saw heads faced down on the ground, some staring lifelessly at the ceiling, their ravaged necks showing no sign of blood but holding an uncanny similarity to ragged, torn flesh. And limbs. So many limbs.
What went on here?
She heard another clank, and saw that there was a door, slightly ajar and connected to the room she was in. She could hear the blaring sirens of ambulance and police cars in the distance, and as the wind from an open window blew the smoke further away from the room that had been mostly spared, she felt she could take her forearm away from her face.
She entered the other room rather cautiously. She knew Itachi was inside, and it sounded like he was tinkering with a machine with a wrench—
But it wasn't a machine at all.
And Haku stood frozen, her hand gripping the doorway to steel herself from the impact of what she was seeing. "That's...this isn't possible..."
Itachi was kneeling over a bathtub, the backpack he'd brought from the car splayed open beside him as he worked to unclasp a metallic contraption wound like tendrils around the chest and mouth of the lifelessly pale, emaciated body of—
Ch-chink.
Haku started as the metal fell, clanking onto the bathtub under the bony body. Itachi went into his bag and pulled out what looked like an oxygen mask, gently sweeping long dark hair from a battered face as he carefully adjusted the mask.
And Haku watched him. Handling the body as if it was glass, first removing the metal contraption from the tub completely so he could lift it ever so slowly. And the look on Itachi's face. Haku couldn't describe it. It was nonchalant, almost passionless, but the light tremor she could see running through his fingers, the mouth that was firmed in a tight frown, the eyes that seemed to stare blankly at nothing—
Pain, fury, devastation—
"Here."
Itachi stood in front of her now, extending the body for her to hold. She didn't hesitate, though afraid the weight would cause her to stumble, but was horrified by how light—
The sirens outside were unbearably loud now. And Itachi was organizing the contents of his bag, putting things away. Haku took to leaving the bathroom then, careful with the weight in her hands. The smoke from the second room was still insufferable as she left the bathroom, and she couldn't help but cough. When she was at the front door she turned to see if Itachi was behind her, and she caught the moment when the man sheathed something from his left pocket in a swift motion and pointed it to the body that lay splattered and gasping against the living room wall.
Three shots, quiet – but sharp – like a spear gliding through a metallic rod.
Haku recognized the gun model and the silencer. Military grade. She turned back around, making it to the hallway, her arms already tired from the weight she carried in his arms. The hallway was empty now, the residents mostly having evacuated.
"Take the elevator." Itachi walked ahead of her, pressing the button to the elevator once before the doors came open. He held the door open for Haku as she made her way in. But when the chief turned around again, the door was closing, and Itachi had not gotten in with her.
The lobby was chaos when Haku came down, police and firefighters alike turning to her as she came out, rushing to her side to take the weight from her hands.
She ignored the onslaught of questions as she made her way outside, taking the deepest breath of fresh air then doubling over to cough. A hand came behind her to pat her on the back.
"Chief?"
Haku shook her head, waving a hand to say she was all right. When she looked up she saw the body she had carried being rolled on a gurney and onto the back of an ambulance.
"The explosion came from the fifth floor." She finally said, standing up straight and nodding to the newbie next to her. "Floor is now clear. One man is deceased. He attacked me and I shot him. I need recovery detail from the room where the explosion originated – we retrieve everything from that room intact."
The officer ran back inside with his orders, and Haku took another deep breath, her lungs still straining from the smoke.
Twenty minutes.
It had taken all of twenty minutes from the time she got into that car to the moment she stood in now.
Itachi had timed this to his own perfection.
And she didn't need to investigate to know that he, along with the car he'd parked across the street was long gone.
Now she had to call Lee to cancel the 10-19.
He was in the twilight zone.
There really was no other way to put it. This situation was…it wasn't real. Couldn't be. It didn't feel real. He didn't feel real.
He wasn't real.
He wasn't real.
He laughed then, softly. Because it was true. He wasn't…here. This was – it was a dream within a dream within a –
"Please, Naruto. Make yourself comfortable."
The man who stood in front of him had a twin. A twin who modeled his kind expression, his subtle movements. But when Naruto blinked the twin was gone, and only one person stared back at him.
Deep brown eyes and a gentle smile.
"You're…" Naruto grimaced, a painful zing ran along the back to the front of his head, like a migraine playing ping pong.
The person before him split into two once more, and though he stood still his body danced in circles before Naruto's eyes.
Naruto winced once again, groaning as the pain in his head came to a peak, then disintegrated to the point he felt bliss.
"Do you like it?" said the voice across from him, sounding genuinely curious. "I call it Caopella. It's not deadly – if you were wondering. But it will take some time before you come to your senses."
Naruto put his head down and brought two hands to his forehead, grunting.
"Yes, it comes in waves, doesn't it? I remember experimenting with that. Pain and pleasure, pleasure and pain."
The migraine feeling ebbed away again, and Naruto let out a long sigh.
He felt so…nice.
So nice.
He was a pillow. Soft and filled with goose feathers. He—
Winced again, moaning as his head split open in pain—
"I really didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to look at you." The voice said.
He sounded like syrup.
Naruto felt safe. "
I wanted to meet the man who could give meaning to life." A soft chuckle followed.
"Tell me, Naruto…How did you do it? How did you make someone like him…" he trailed off. And his body, which had split into three now, walked towards the blonde. Three hands came forward to touch his face. But he only felt one palm on his cheek. "How did you make him feel again?"
Naruto smiled. The hand was warm. "Gaara…" he murmured.
The man laughed. "Yes," he sounded genuinely delighted. "Gaara. My most prized possession."
Naruto tried to pull away from the hand angrily, as pain seared through his brain. This was death, this felt like death—
Then bliss.
"Before I knew him…" the man began again. "I'd already known that the world deserve to burn." He confessed casually. He took Naruto's chin and held it. "I was involved – but I mostly observed – in humanity. In filth. Then he came. Like me, but unlike me. Still a child but he knew, like I knew, that life was a disease of captivity, waiting to be set free, put out of his misery." He squeezed Naruto's face as he spoke, the force squishing flushed cheeks to the point he couldn't help but bite his tongue.
He took his hand away suddenly and forcefully, letting Naruto's head drop, leaving bruises on his cheek.
"Hey, we've got a problem." This second voice was familiar, it came from behind Naruto and walked in front of him. "Look at the news. That's territory. And Hidan's dead."
Naruto looked up to see four figures – no two figures – in the distance, facing each other.
There was a long pause. One person showed another something on a screen.
"Hmm…Shame. I thought we had more time, Naruto." Like syrup. The voice was like syrup.
Naruto felt safe.
"We need to go." said another voice behind him. It was low, deep, and calloused, like a snake with rocks in its mouth.
"We do need to go." The first man resigned. He looked back, and even from this distance Naruto could see his warm smile. The man nodded to him. "I hope we will see each other soon, Naruto." he said. "And when you see your friends, please do tell them, that we'll be expecting them."
Naruto felt the sting of the headache crescendo from the base of his neck to the top of his face and moaned, miserable. "We..." he moaned. "Who's we..."
"Why... we are the Akatsuki. Tie him up." The man said to someone behind him. Naruto felt something like regret as he watched him walk away.
Two hands were on him now, wrapping his body with something scratchy and hard.
When Naruto looked up it was with a smile. He saw the man with a body double walking away. "He's not." he murmured, his head lolling backwards.
Footsteps stopped, and brown eyes looked back for a moment. "Hmm?"
"N…not," Naruto had to grind his teeth as another wave of pain took him. With his arms now bound he shook insufferably in the chair. And then—
Bliss.
He smiled. "He's not your possession."
There was a visible pause from the figure in front of him. Then soft, pleasant laughter. "This is why you're still alive."
Naruto didn't have time to utter a word before something struck him and he once again, passed into oblivion.
He woke up gasping for air, a strangled scream tearing his throat raw. He tried to pull his hands towards him, but found them bound to the sides of a bed with cuffs, his wrists cut and bloodied as he tried to pull free—
"H-h-hey! HEY!" And he could barely recognize the sound of his own voice. It was cracked and hoarse, like a smoker out of air. He was startled when two faces he didn't recognize looked in through the door of the brightly lit room.
They wore police uniform.
One nodded to the other and left the doorway, and Naruto, heaving and blinking rapidly, tried to take in his surroundings. He was in a bed and he was in cuffs, why was he in cuffs—
But this – his eyes darted from left to right – he recognized this. The white walls, the florescent lights, the incessant beeping of a machine that connected to the IV fluid in his arm.
He was in the hospital.
But why was he in cuffs.
"Naruto!"
He looked up, and the relief that filled him almost brought him to tears.
"Kakashi, Kakashi—"
The ex-detective was on him moments later, taking out a key and removing the restraints on both wrists.
"Kakashi, Kakashi," Naruto's eyes were crazed as he took hold of the man by his arms. "I saw him, I saw him, Kakashi I saw him, I saw him—"
"We know, Naruto. We know." The man, who Naruto had known to be so cold before, took Naruto in his embrace.
"Naruto," he said softly. "You need to calm down."
Naruto pulled away, his chest still heaving—
"I—"
"You're still weening off what they injected in you." He continued. "Methamphetamines…other unknown substances in your body. You've been in the hospital for days."
Naruto put his arms down and stared back at the man. "I…methamphetamines?"
"Amongst other things. We found you on the street, Naruto. Tied up. I can't…" he paused for a moment, closing his eyes and looking away. "We came too late. And I can't…I can't imagine what you've been through."
Naruto looked down at his lap and saw his bloodied wrists, the scratches on his arms. "I…I don't remember…them doing this to me." He said finally.
Kakashi saw him looking at his wrists and shook his head. "You did that to yourself, Naruto. We brought you here – to the hospital. And when you came to you were out of control. Screaming – attacking anyone who tried to touch you. We had to sedate you, restrain you."
Naruto let Kakashi's words dawn on him, and as he spoke little snippets flashed in his mind. He remembered screaming, he remembered being scared.
"You were under so much physical trauma. What they injected in you…the effect it had on your mind…"
Naruto continued to stare at his bloodied wrists. He remembered the sweet smile, the deep brown eyes, the warm laugh.
He'd felt safe.
Naruto clenched his hands into fists. That man…
Was a monster.
"It was a gas." He confessed, when silence reigned the room for several moments. "I wasn't injected. I was in…the car and he – Deidara – he threw something in the car...and smoke—"
"Naruto," Kakashi interrupted, putting a hand on top of the two clenched fists. "We don't have to do this now."
"But I remember," the blonde insisted, determined. "I remember what the car looked like. I remember the names. Deidara, Fishface—"
"I know, Naruto. And in due time you can tell us everything. But we need you to rest. Nurses said it would take another few days before the drugs completely leave your system. Look at your hands, Naruto."
Naruto looked down, and was startled to see said hands shaking, so much so that the one Kakashi had put on his for comfort vibrated with the touch. "I…"
He suddenly tore his hands away, forcing Kakashi to take his own back, but another came shortly after, to rest on Naruto's back. Kakashi seemed pensive, as if he wanted to choose his words carefully. The hand that rubbed his back now was comforting. The touch was comforting.
"…It's because of you, Naruto," he began finally, "that we are so close. You're the reason we've gone so far in this case. They know that now. You will never again be treated like a suspect."
Naruto's mouth worked, but he couldn't find the words to say. He couldn't define his emotions. He felt – scrambled.
Someone else came into the room then. Another familiar face.
Iruka was at his bed in the next moment, embracing him.
He felt so soft and the blonde felt himself melt into his arms.
He felt safe.
"Naruto, I'm so glad you're okay, I was worried sick." He squeezed the blonde once more before pulling away from him. "I…I think there's someone you need to see."
Naruto couldn't understand the look in Iruka's eyes. He let him take his hand, and pull him from the bed, and started when Kakashi took the other. They walked out of the hospital room guarded by two officers and walked down the hall, four doors down. He saw Zabuza standing by a room, Haku by his side. Naruto didn't know if he imagined it, but he thought he saw even Zabuza's eyes light up.
"Naruto," Haku took a hold of his forearms, and her smile was strained and grateful. "How are you?"
"He's doing much better." Kakashi answered for him, when Naruto only stared back.
Haku pulled him in for another embrace. And like Iruka, she was warm.
"Come on, kid." Zabuza said. He was pushing the door to the other room ajar so Naruto could step inside.
Naruto stared at the people around him, unsure of what exactly they wanted him to do.
"You were the first person he asked for when he woke up." Haku confessed, squeezing Naruto's arm as she led him inside.
And at first Naruto didn't understand what he was seeing.
A pale, gaunt face lay in a sea of black hair. Machines beeped and burred as various fluids were linked to a thin, ghostly arm.
It was only when he almost hovered over the bed, that he recognized the man who lay before him.
And Naruto trembled, his knees almost buckling under the weight of his body as he stared, utterly astonished, at the rise and fall of the man's chest and the black eyes that slowly appeared under thin, veiny eyelids.
Naruto collapsed onto the stool by the bed, his eyes wide as saucers as his shoulders quivered.
"We...we thought…we thought you were gone." His voice came as a broken gasp, and the lump in his throat was so massive he couldn't swallow.
"Dobe. That's what they wanted you to think."
And it was a relief, hearing the condescending edge to his voice.
Something in Naruto's chest fluttered with unexpected intensity, and he could feel the sting build behind his eyes.
"Sasu-ke." His voice broke, and he let his head down as the tears began to fall freely, rolling down sallow, sunken cheeks, falling to their doom from his chin and onto the clenched fists on his lap. "Sasuke."
He heard the rustling of sheets, and if he looked up he would see his old friend putting a hand over his own face, covering dark eyes and most of his nose, but not the mouth that was now caught in a grimace, teeth clenched as sobs escaped and tears squeezed through pale scarred fingers and onto the pillows of the hospital bed.
And they cried.
Both men, unwilling to look at each other. Separated by a chasm of untold truths—
Yet bound by an unfathomable bond.
End of Chapter
12,800 words
Story Notes:
There might be a few inconsistencies between this chapter and previous chapters. For example I don't remember if I made Haku a trans female or if I used "He" pronouns. I also don't remember if I mentioned Itachi's occupation before. If there are inconsistencies let me know and I'll go back and edit previous chapters.
Author Note:
About 44K words in total...Not that that's enough to make up for a 7-year hiatus... Life has been so busy and I'm so different from the person who started this story, but fanfiction will always be my love. This year has been shocking, devastating. But I've found a little light: free time. Free time to do the things I used to love. I want to finish this story. I also want to work on The Burning Mines and Dance Macabre.
Anyway wish me luck and stay safe out there.