Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Soup's On	By : OfFansAndFlames Category: Naruto AU/AR > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1793 -:- Recommendations : 4 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters mentioned. I make no money on this fiction.

Chapter List
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Sasuke only caught a brief glimpse of his weapon before he was forced to hide it. Stowing it in his jacket was probably safer than walking into some drug den with an unconcealed gun in his hand. He'd never even touched a gun, let alone fired one. He took a casual drag off his cigarette, subconsciously hoping to appear both older and more comfortable with his surroundings than he really was. What had he gotten himself into?

For an instant, Sasuke mentally retraced the events in his life that had led him up to this moment. It had started simply enough. He'd sell some odds and ends around school for several weeks, raise the money, and quit. Sure, this wasn't the star pupil behavior Sasuke had been known for in the past, but it wasn't that far from routine teenage rebellion either. Even Suigetsu and Karin were doing it. How had things gotten to this point?

He was fifteen years old. He should be at home playing video games or watching cheap comedies with friends over some microwaved popcorn. He didn't belong here. His mind quickly ran over every action movie or video game he could recall. There was something on the back of the gun you had to pull back… Then you pull the trigger. Wasn't the safety that thing you'd turn on to make sure the gun didn't fire accidentally? Where's the safety, and how do you turn it on and off? He concentrated on the nuances of the gun pressed against his ribs, trying to picture the details in his mind. The thought of having a deadly weapon crammed against his body thoroughly disturbed him, but true to form, Sasuke kept his cool.

He just prayed that he wouldn't have to use this gun. "Just in case"? What the hell did "just in case" mean? If it came to a quick draw and shoot, Sasuke could end up making a fool of himself in the best case scenario, and in the worst case scenario, dead. Kabuto placed the gun in his hand at the very last instant, knowing that the only way to get Sasuke to accept it was to take him by surprise. Was Kabuto trying to frame him? If only for an instant, he wished he could fire it at Kabuto. Maybe bust in his knee cap or something of the like. He was sick of being left in the dark, sick of Kabuto's mind tricks. It had been bad enough when Kabuto drugged him, but this was unprecedented.

The man behind the door was unhealthily thin, his face framed by long and greasy black hair. There were dark circle under his eyes, his chipped front tooth barely revealed through a smirk. He looked to be past forty years old, though it was difficult to judge his true age given how washed up he appeared. Sasuke stood a couple feet behind Kabuto, and Orochimaru's expression became guarded the instant he noticed Sasuke's presence.

"Who's this kid?"

Orochimaru cocked his head towards Sasuke skeptically, holding the door ajar with no more than a foot of space between. He clearly didn't want Sasuke seeing whatever lurked behind it.

"Sasuke. He's that new dealer of mine at Konoha with the Midas touch."

A dealer? He hated the way it sounded. Orochimaru's expression immediately flipped to a smile.

"I've been wanting to meet you, Sasuke. Come in."

Sasuke had half expected Orochimaru to say something generic like "welcome to the jungle." Well, this would make as good of a jungle as any. He only saw out of his periphery, assuming that blatantly staring, and presumably identifying the rooms' inhabitants, would not be well received. There was some…weird apparatus that looked like a chemistry set gone to hell in the room beyond, just close enough to make out the general form. The tubing had yellowed through use, and the flasks, some of which appeared to be substituted with pickle jars, were chipped and sullied with some kind of white residue. Sasuke had no idea what any of those beakers or burners did, and he was sure that staring would be a very unwise decision. What the hell was that?

Furthermore, the way Orochimaru so quickly recognized his name disturbed him. What did Orochimaru and his crew know about him? He was getting pulled into things he wanted nothing to do with. He'd gone from peddling weed, underaged drinking, and petty theft to getting stuck shadowing a meth deal in some sketchy apartment with a lethal weapon shoved in his jacket. The room was obviously unheated, a nervous sweat breaking out on Sasuke's body and quickly cooling from the brisk air. As if his fever weren't already giving him the chills… He was glad his jacket concealed the goosebumps forming on his arms. He was counting down the seconds until he could get this damned gun away from him, go home, shower, down some orange juice, and change into warm pajamas.

Sasuke walked in, standing quietly with his hands neatly clasped.

"You don't talk much, hm, Sasuke?" Orochimaru asked, his voice every bit as greasy as his hair.

"I talk when it's called for."

"That's good. I don't appreciate children who like to run their mouths."

Another gun rested on the living room table, unwatched and strewn indifferently as the couch's occupants fixated on the television. Sasuke took note of this, in the words of Kabuto, "just in case."

"In that case, you won't mind if we get down to business," Sasuke answered.

He wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible, and the less information he shared, the better. He wouldn't be rude, but he forbade his vulnerabilities to render him a pawn or a sitting duck. He would not hesitate to assert himself, which was a difficult task given that he had a cold .45 stuck on his body that he had no idea how to use and was in a room with seasoned drug dealers twice his age.

Orochimaru stared back at Sasuke expressionlessly, and it seemed as though he analyzed every feature of Sasuke's face. Sasuke wouldn't rattle that easily. Driven by Orochimaru's intense gaze, several other pairs of eyes watched the business casually. Sasuke exuded both confidence and much more experience than he really possessed, and if anything, that image would `be the thing to see him through.

Now Orochimaru clucked his tongue, appearing both impressed and amused at Sasuke's audacity.

"Here."

Orochimaru offered Sasuke one large bag of white crystals. It was just several sandwich bags of translucent shards combined into your standard gallon zip lock bag, which seemed awfully informal considering the quantities and finances at stake here. Still, Sasuke felt better off not knowing exactly what was in that bag. He would have rather avoided seeing it altogether.

"Kabuto will take it," Sasuke answered, gesturing to his "partner."

Like hell was he getting near that stuff. For all he knew, Kabuto would try to make him carry it the whole way home. It wouldn't be so different from the stunt he had just pulled with the gun.

"C'mon, Sasuke. This is a good learning experience. Orochimaru taught me everything I know."

"With all due respect, I'm alright with not knowing."

He was inexperienced, yes, but he didn't want to seem totally clueless. And he certainly wouldn't come off as a stuttering, wide-eyed little kid, and thus vulnerable to attack. If he expressed anxiety and doubt, Orochimaru and Kabuto would see this as an opportunity to pressure Sasuke into joining them. Maybe he was in over his head, but Sasuke was no coward. He would hold his own the best he could. Again, Orochimaru's eyes locked with his own.

"Then why are you here?" Orochimaru asked dangerously.

Well hell. This certainly wasn't good. What was he supposed to say? That he was Kabuto's fifteen-year-old bodyguard? He was under pressure, and he found that these were the times during which his brain worked the best. Currently, this was proving to be a very fortunate trait. He would not fluster.

"Kabuto wanted me to meet you, and I have."

He sounded a great deal more confident than he felt. He couldn't remember the last time he felt so entirely out of his element. Other than Kabuto, he had to be the only person in this room under the age of thirty. He wasn't dealing with bored students with too much time on their hands anymore. These were the people who made this stuff their career, who used it to feed themselves and pay the rent. Some of the people in this room could have been doing this for longer than Sasuke had been alive. If that weren't enough to remind him of the severity of his situation, the cold metal on his trunk would take care of matters.

"Well…"

Orochimaru's face seemed to shift from skeptical and guarded to obligatorily courteous, "It's been pleasant, Sasuke. Here."

He handed the supplies to Kabuto, who stuffed them in his backpack. He didn't know the difference between the two chemicals they were picking up, but there seemed to be a hell of a lot of both them. Sasuke wondered if that bizarre looking chemistry set in the adjacent room was responsible. Kabuto gave Sasuke a precounted wad of cash. Sasuke handed it over to Orochimaru, the man looking up at Sasuke closely as their hands met over the money. Orochimaru overextended his palm just slightly, the calloused meat of his palm dragging over the back of Sasuke's.

"I am interested in you, Sasuke. You've got talent, and I need someone… Someone young, particularly. You'd be surprised at the money you can make."

Why would he need someone young? Most likely, he was trying to sell to high school and middle school students. They'd be more likely to buy from a fellow student than they would be from someone like…well, Orochimaru.

"I'll take your word for it."

This guy had a knack for giving him the creeps. Orochimaru nonchalantly ripped a page out of the paperback book on the coffee table and scrawled his name and number over the text. It was definitely odd behavior, but he was at least glad that Orochimaru hadn't asked for his phone number.

"I'll give you five hundred bucks for your first sale. If you need the cash, call."

Five hundred bucks? It was like he was being barreled towards his goal. With an offer like that, it wouldn't be long at all. On the other hand, things appeared to be getting dangerous very quickly. Even if his mind totally malfunctioned, which it had not, his gut would have made the decision for him. He had to get out as soon as possible.

"I'll do that, thanks."

And with that, they were out the door. Sasuke felt the temptation to take a deep breath and sigh, but he refrained. He wouldn't let his guard down around Kabuto either. Kabuto turned back at Sasuke, patting him the shoulder and smiling.

"Holy shit, well done. You really kept your cool. I was right about you."

Sasuke glared back at Kabuto.

"What? What's wrong?" he asked innocently.

No. could have gotten him imprisoned, or worse, killed. Sasuke pulled his fist back and slammed forward full force. His heart beat loudly, jaw grit shut in anger. It was coming back to him. This is exactly how he had felt when he'd broken Sai's nose. His knuckles connected with Kabuto's face. Crunch. His glasses hung, partially bent with one lens falling to the ground. Kabuto appeared nothing short of enraged. And that's when he drove his fist into Kabuto's stomach, followed by a swift uppercut.

Or at least, that's what Sasuke had imagined. It had flashed behind his eyes in a blur, but the sophomore only stood rigidly, his teeth clenched. Every muscle in his body desired to act upon his imagination. But he had to keep his options open, and beyond that, he had no idea what Kabuto was capable of. Sasuke didn't even know how to use the gun in his jacket. Though Kabuto may not have been aware of this, he'd at the very least know that Sasuke would be reluctant to use it. So Sasuke would use his brain this time around. Scanning the area for onlookers, he noted that the streets were completely empty.

"Take your fucking gun back."

Sasuke shoved the weapon, point down, at Kabuto's stomach. The safety was still on (or so Kabuto had claimed). Still, he took care with the trigger. One could never be too careful.

"Easy. Don't go whipping that thing out."

When Kabuto took the gun from him, Sasuke literally felt as though a weight had been lifted off of his chest. He'd heard the expression before, but only now did he really understand what it was referring to.

"The hell were you thinking? Does anything other than bullshit ever leave your mouth?"

Kabuto rolled his eyes.

"Alright, Sasuke. I'll be understanding and let you accusing me of lying, which I never fucking did, slide. I'm sure this has been a stressful night for you. But has anyone been hurt? Are you getting arrested now?"

Sasuke kept his silence. Of course Kabuto had lied to him. How else could he have gotten Sasuke in that situation? Sasuke combed over all relevant events in his head, searching for the point where Kabuto had fed him false information. He found none. He supposed that this was the really scary thing about Kabuto. He had gotten Sasuke to barge into a drug den, armed with a gun, without uttering a single falsehood. His only tool had been manipulation, and Sasuke had been played expertly.

"You're damned lucky we're not dead, because if people had started shooting, we'd have been fucked. It doesn't seem too bright to enlist a fifteen-year-old bodyguard."

Kabuto sighed, shaking his head, "Age has nothing to do with it. There's safety in numbers, and I've seen you fight. You're a good fighter, but even more than that, you have this intensity about you…"

Sasuke deadpanned. Was this guy for real?

"'Intensity' isn't going to teach me how to fire a gun."

"Intensity and a few minutes with me, and you'll be able to shoot the .45 you just shoved at me well enough for what you'd need it for. Don't doubt yourself so much. You and I both know you're a violent person. In the situation, if you really had to, I know you could pull the trigger. I can't say that about our other friends."

He hated when Kabuto talked to him like this. Like he was trying to understand Sasuke, or identify with him. He knew that the two of them were nothing alike. But perhaps he really was a violent person, as Kabuto said. He could only attempt to hide this, for the sake of the things that really mattered to him.

"How about not putting me in situations where I really have to shoot someone?" Sasuke snapped back.

Kabuto chuckled, as if Sasuke were just being obstinate.

"C'mon, Sasuke. The gun was just a precaution. Everything's fine!"

Sasuke didn't see a point in distinguishing what happened from what could have happened. He was sure that there were many things about this situation which he still did not know, but he knew enough to realize that this uncomfortably brisk Thursday night could have been his last.

"Give me the money."

Kabuto crossed his arms as he pulled out another wad of cash.

"Don't be mad. Look, next time I'll fill you in, okay?"

Sasuke shoved the money in his pocket.

"Who says there's a next time?"

And with that, Sasuke parted ways, storming off into the brisk night air with four hundred bucks in his pocket and goosebumps still speckling his arms.
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Soup's On