Blackmail and Betrayal

AN: Yes! I made it! Saturday deadline!! Sorry this was a little late in the day getting out, but had a monster migraine Thursday and didn’t get it finished when I had planned to.

My first piece of fanart for this fic!!! Big thank you and lots of huggles to elict for drawing this from chapter 8’s smut scene!! http://yaoi.y-gallery.net/view/341265/

Thanks for reading, everyone!!! I’m glad that you are enjoying the story!

Chapter 11


There was a gaping hole in his chest, but it wasn’t bleeding. He didn’t know how to fix it. He didn’t know how to repair it. The only thing that he could think to do was to try to fill it with all of his anger and rage and hope that it kept him alive long enough to kill those who had caused it.

Sasuke blinked as he looked down at his car in front of him. When had he walked over?

Like some distant buzzing in his ear, the officer in charge of the crime scene was yelling at the detective for tainting his evidence, demanding to know why he was here in the first place and threatening him that he had better see Sasuke down at the station for a statement.

He needed to know Orochimaru’s current location. He needed to know what rock that snaky bastard had crawled under so he could find him, drag him out and put a bullet through his brain pan. Repeatedly.

“Are you even listening to me, Uchiha? I’ll make sure Baki busts your ass down for this! You call yourself a professional?” the annoyance continued stridently.

That FBI guy, Ebisu, had obviously been keeping tabs on Orochimaru. His men had seen the bastard leave in his limo with his fawning sycophant at his side. He should know where they had gone.

Once again, he needed to find Kakashi.

He opened his car door and slid in mechanically. Still totally unaware of the other officer’s presence outside, he spun off towards the exit to the warehouse district, intent on finding the porn shop owner once more.

****************
Sasuke sat outside of The Toy Chest in his car. He really didn’t remember the drive there; all he could think about was his burning need to find Orochimaru and hope that with eliminating the crime boss he could also somehow eliminate the pain eating him from the inside.

From where he sat across the street, he could easily see that the closed sign was still flipped.

He got out, dodged the few cars in the street and tried the door anyway. It was locked and no amount of frantic pounding on the door changed that fact.

“Kakashi, you son of a bitch,” Sasuke growled out. He couldn’t help but feel like the man was deliberately avoiding him.

Scowling, he walked back to his car and made himself comfortable. Kakashi’s contact was the most reliable source he had and, if he had to, he would wait for him. It wouldn’t be his first stake out by a long shot.

He reached down and pulled out the small fox plushie that he had found at the warehouse and stared at it for a long moment, feeling that gaping hole open up once more. He gingerly traced the singed whiskers with a finger and settled himself back to wait.

Time was not Sasuke’s friend in this instance. Time slid into his mind insidiously and dredged up pictures from his memory with which to torment him. Images of Naruto’s vivid blue eyes, images of his warm smile, images of him staring at Sasuke defiantly. Images of him asleep in Sasuke’s arms.

He had lost all of that. Orochimaru had taken that away from him. He would kill the man to avenge Naruto’s death, he would kill the man for revenge for taking Naruto away from him and he would kill the man for destroying the life that they could have had together.

He wasn’t sure how long he had sat there in front of Kakashi’s shop but the sun had definitely moved on in the sky while he had done so. He wasn’t sure how much longer he would have sat there had it not been for the sudden flash of lights behind him.

His eyes immediately darted to his rearview mirror to see the police car behind him. Frowning, he watched as the uniformed officer got out of his car and walked up cautiously to Sasuke’s window, hand resting casually on his holstered sidearm.

Sasuke set the stuffed fox down in the seat next to him and then turned the key backwards in his ignition so that he could hit the button to roll down the window.

“Detective Uchiha?” the officer said with a slight questioning lilt to his voice.

“Yes?” Sasuke replied, his cold eyes staring almost burning through the man before him.

“Captain Baki wants you back at the station immediately,” the man said, swallowing a trifle nervously. “If you do not return willingly, I am to escort you.”

Baki, that traitor. Sasuke bet that he knew where Orochimaru was hidden. Not that he expected the man that was kept in the snake’s pocket to tell him. However, there were other men in the station. Not all of them could have been bought off. Maybe someone had a lead that he or she would share.

He cast another look at the closed porn shop, decided that it wasn’t going anywhere and then nodded at the policeman.

“I’ll head that way,” he said, his voice low and controlled.

The man half-jogged back to his car as Sasuke twisted the key in the ignition. He easily pulled out into traffic; the other car behind him flashing its lights to halt traffic so that it could do the same.

He knew exactly where his sense of being followed came from this time as the car discreetly trailed him back to the local precinct. The man even had the audacity to park his car and wait for Sasuke by the door before escorting him the rest of the way to the back where Baki’s office lie.

Sasuke gritted his teeth in frustration. He had wanted a chance to talk with the other detectives before having confronted his deceitful captain, but it didn’t look like he would get the chance.

Straightening his shoulders and firming up his countenance, he approached the glass walled office even though the shades were pulled and knocked on the door.

“Enter!” a voice barked out in irritation.

Sasuke opened the door and stepped inside.

“Where the hell have you been, Uchiha?” Baki immediately shouted in demand.

Sasuke quelled the knee-jerk reaction to placate the man before him as he reminded himself that this man was part of the enemy.

“Working,” he answered succinctly. It was only then that he noticed two other detectives casually leaning against the wall on the other side of the door.

“Working?” Baki responded before replacing his dubious expression with a cold, hard glare. “Could you tell me what you were working on that required you to be at the docks when a building exploded? Could you tell me what you were working on that caused you to taint evidence at a crime scene? Could you tell me what in the hell you were working on when these were taken?”

He grabbed a couple of photos from under a file folder and tossed them towards Sasuke with a contemptuous flick of his wrist.

Sasuke looked down to see photos of himself and Naruto from that first night at the bar. If that didn’t prove that the young man was in the morgue, Sasuke didn’t know what did.

He lifted piercing black eyes up to his captain’s face. “What I do in my spare time is none of your concern.”

“It is when you are seen with a known prostitute,” Baki practically spat out. “It is when there are witnesses that saw money exchange hands! This isn’t Vegas, Uchiha! Prostitution is illegal here.”

“You’re going on suspension,” Baki stated unequivocally. “You are to turn in any case files you have as well as any information you have regarding them. You will not show up at the station, you will not talk to anyone at the station until I say otherwise. And last but not least, stay away from any other whores! We don’t need your deviant behavior to ruin the sterling reputation of this-”

Before anyone could react, Sasuke was moving forward with his fist swinging. Naruto had not been a whore and he was a more honest and purer man than Baki could ever dream of being! If anyone was a smear on the reputation of this force, then it was the man before him not him for loving the one that was probably even now being dissected on an autopsy table in a room below them.

His arms were grabbed by the detectives as Baki gingerly touched his jaw. His brown eyes glared up at Sasuke fiercely. He strode around his desk and quickly and efficiently relieved Sasuke of his weapon. A quick search of his jacket revealed his badge in an inside pocket which was then confiscated as well.

“That’s it, Uchiha. You’re through.” The captain seemed to both regret and be relieved by the pronouncement at the same time. “Where’s my case files?”

Sasuke glared at him for a long moment, but realized that he was the one at a disadvantage here. He couldn’t give Baki any opportunity to incarcerate him and keep him from his planned vengeance.

“They’re in my car,” he said coldly.

Baki looked over at one of his men. “Go with him. Retrieve the files.”

Sasuke was let go and given a slight shove in the direction of the door. After he had opened it but before he could step through, Baki called out to him one last time.

“It’s a shame, Uchiha. You were a good detective.” Oddly enough, the man sounded sincere.

Sasuke curled his lip slightly, wanting to give a scathing retort, wanting to impugn the captain’s own integrity but not wanting to give away what he knew. The more he kept secret, the longer he would have to hunt down Orochimaru. Right now they had no idea how much he really knew and he planned to keep it that way.

Instead he just stalked through the door and led the way to where his vehicle was parked in the police parking lot. Hitting his unlock button, he quickly opened the passenger’s side door and retrieved the file folders. He walked up to the man waiting on the sidewalk and held out the folders. However, when the other detective reached out his hand for them, Sasuke let them fall to the ground where they scattered.

“You son of a bitch!” the man cursed as Sasuke turned and went to his car.

He only got a mild sense of satisfaction that the idiot was still picking up papers as he drove out of the lot.

Realizing that the option to talk to the men in the station had been taken away from him, he was only left with the option of talking to Kakashi. First however, he needed another gun.

He wasn’t stupid enough to use the firearm that he kept in a lock box at home. Rather, he would have to go to one of those types of places that he used to curse for selling weapons illegally and try to buy one himself. For that, he would need cash.

He drove back to his apartment, intent on grabbing some of the money that he kept in a small two foot by two foot safe in the back of his closet.

He had totally forgotten about Sakura being home until he walked in to see her sitting on the couch holding a crumpled handkerchief in her hand.

He froze just inside the door, his mind taking in all of the clues before him. Sakura, dressed in her usual sweats that she wore on her days off, was looking down at what appeared to be several large colored photographs on the coffee table. A small ripped open manila envelope was lying carelessly to the side, a sticker with a local courier’s address on it. Her eyes and face were reddened as if she had been crying and she had yet to look up at him.

She knew.

A part of Sasuke just wanted to walk on through the room and get what he came for before heading back to Kakashi’s shop. He had already been through the wringer today and didn’t think he could handle any more emotional turmoil. He had something important he had to do, but suddenly realized that he may not have another chance to talk to her if something went wrong.

Taking a deep breath to push his impatience aside, he calmly walked into the room to sit down. As his eyes drifted to the chair, his thoughts were immediately consumed with what had happened in it. Swallowing thickly around the sudden pain, his hand automatically sought out the fox which was back in his pocket once again. He sat on the other end of the couch, facing Sakura and waited.

“Were you ever going to tell me?” she finally asked quietly.

“Yes,” he said simply.

“Is this… is this because I won’t do what you want in bed?” she asked, her voice vacillating between angry and hurt.

“Maybe at first, but not anymore,” he answered honestly.

She glanced up at him, her green eyes bright with the beginnings of new tears which she tried to hold back. “Are you… are you … gay?”

Sasuke shifted uncomfortably, not sure if he was ready to put a label on his feelings for Naruto. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” she asked incredulously. “Sasuke, this is a picture of you and another man having sexual intercourse! I think you can do a little better than ‘I don’t know’!”

Sasuke couldn’t bring himself to look at the picture that she had grabbed and was now waving around. It hurt too damn much to think about Naruto in any other way than as that blackened thing that had been pulled out of the building.

Sakura’s anger began to seethe as Sasuke remained silent. “You brought him here. You brought him here to our home, Sasuke.”

“He was helping me on a case,” he said quietly.

“Is he even a cop?” she demanded, tossing the picture back onto the table with a snap of her wrist.

“No.”

She was silent for a moment, pinching the bridge of her nose and trying to retain control of her emotions. “Did you have sex with him here?” she finally asked, not looking up.

Sasuke was once again silent, focusing his gaze past her shoulder.

“Did you?” she snapped angrily, not accepting his lack of response as an answer.

Sasuke met her eyes once more, his gaze unapologetic. “Yes.”

She choked on a sudden sob, crushing the tissue over her mouth to stifle the sound. The tears finally fell from her eyes, following the same tracks as the ones from earlier had. After a few deep breaths, her eyes flashed angrily at him.

“There are so many things I want to say,” she said in a low pain-filled voice. “So many things that would make you hurt as much as I do right now. But I’m not going to let you do that to me. I’m not going to let you drag me down to that level.”

She lifted her head even as she tried to push her anguish down, tossing her hair almost defiantly out of her tear-stained face. “It’s time to choose, Sasuke,” she said firmly, “and there’ll be no changing your mind later. Is it going to be him or me?”

Sasuke met her gaze unflinchingly, any feelings that had been generated by his first view of Sakura’s pain already fading into that black hole where his heart had once been.

“Him,” he said without any discernable inflection.

She blinked a few times rapidly as she looked away, trying to stop the tears from falling over someone who obviously had already replaced her. She nodded a few times almost too quickly, feeling everything inside of her clench and twist and turn inside out.

She shakily stood to her feet, smoothing down her pants repeatedly in some half-assed attempt to comfort herself.

“I’ll be at my parents’ house. I’ll send for my things in a few days,” she said thickly.

He didn’t stand as she walked to the door. He didn’t look over at her retreating figure and he didn’t try to stop her. He did, however, slowly close his eyes as her sobs broke free as she was closing the door behind her.

He sat there for several long moments before his hand moved to pull out the fox toy once more. He held it close to his chest as he concentrated merely on breathing in and out with some semblance of steadiness.

Once he could breathe without all of his emotions clogging his throat, he carefully set the stuffed animal on top of the coffee table, effectively covering the pictures scattered there. He then stood and made his way to the bedroom where he pulled back the double sliding doors of the closet.

He quickly moved a few shoe boxes and uncovered the small safe that he had stashed away. Twirling the combination, he turned the handle and opened the heavy door. Inside he saw a small bank bag where he kept some emergency money hidden along with the lockbox which contained his firearm.

He stared at the box for a long moment, his mind conjuring up the almost cynically amusing idea that his life could easily have been written up as a soap opera. He had lost his lover, his career and his fiancé all in one day. All it would take would be a single bullet and then they could go ahead and roll the credits. Just get it the fuck over with and hope… hope that he somehow saw him again.

No one would be surprised. It would make for interesting gossip for a few days before they found someone else’s tragedy with which to entertain themselves.

He took a breath and grabbed the bank bag out of the safe. Not yet. He had something that he had to do first. Something that had to be done so that in whatever life was after this one he could look Naruto in the face and, even though he had failed to protect him, at least offer up this act as a form of redemption in the eyes of his lover.

He had just put the bank bag back after pulling out the amount that he believed that he would require when there was a knock on his door. Frowning, he pushed his fingers into the slot under the lid of the lockbox and pressed the buttons required to unlock it. He quickly pulled out the gun and slapped the loaded clip into place. He pulled back the slide to chamber a round before making his way cautiously out to his living room.

There wasn’t anyone that he could think of that would have a good reason to be at his home. The only people that would seek him out at this point would be the ones that wanted him out of the way.

Leaning against the wall to the side of the door, he raised his voice. “Who is it?” There was no way in hell he was putting his face to the peep hole to find out.

“A hit man here to do you in,” came the slightly muffled reply.

‘What the hell?’ Either this was the most honest assassin that he had ever heard of or… He suddenly recognized the voice. Scowling at the door, he opened it up as he thumbed the safety of the handgun.

“About fucking time you showed up,” Sasuke growled at the silver-headed man.

Kakashi’s eye crinkled up as he smiled behind his scarf. “Good to see you too, detective.”

“Ex-detective,” Sasuke corrected as he stepped aside to let the man in. “So, where is he?”

“Who?” Kakashi asked innocently as he walked into the living room.

“Orochimaru,” Sasuke practically growled, getting annoyed with the older man’s antics.

Kakashi bent over and picked up the fox. “Cute. I didn’t know you played with toys.”

Sasuke stalked over and snatched the fox away from Kakashi’s hand. “You have a lot of room to talk.”

“True,” he acknowledged. He then saw the pictures that had been beneath and whistled. “Wow, you two were really going at it.”

“Kakashi,” Sasuke said harshly.

Kakashi looked up at him and then smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, who were you looking for again?”

“O-ro-chi-mar-u,” Sasuke said slowly and distinctly, his faced flushed angrily.

“Oh, and here I thought you would rather know where Naruto is,” he mused out loud.

Sasuke practically swayed as the shock of Kakashi’s words hit him. “N-Naruto’s alive?” he asked numbly.

“Well, that is what I am here to find out actually. We managed to swipe what they are claiming to be his body from the morgue and have done a DNA test on it. Now we just need something to compare it to. I figured if anyone had a sample of Naruto’s DNA it would be you.”

Sasuke ignored the leer directed at him as his mind tried to assimilate the idea that Naruto might still be alive.

“Why would he still be alive,” he argued, trying to look at the issue as objectively as he could under the circumstances. “Naruto was a leak and was trying to betray Orochimaru. Why wouldn’t they kill him?”

Kakashi tilted his head in a nod that seemed to say that he could understand Sasuke’s point. “Yes, but Orochimaru has over ten years invested in Naruto. Not only that but he has always had a rather unhealthy interest in the kid as well. I don’t think Orochimaru would get rid of him that fast.”

Seeing the half dazed look still on Sasuke’s face, Kakashi decided a little prodding was in order. “The sample?”

“You… you don’t have a sample?” he asked a little breathlessly; the idea that Naruto might still be alive slowly taking root in his mind.

“Nope, that boy is worse than a hazmat team when it comes to cleaning up after himself.” Kakashi puffed out his chest a little. “I taught him to do that.”

Sasuke wracked his brain trying to come up with something. There might be a few hairs on the couch or on the chair. The blond had a habit of never leaving his condoms behind and usually brought his own cloths with which to clean up. The dishes from yesterday had been done.

The image of Naruto’s dripping cock in his black silk boxers suddenly came to mind.

Shit! Sakura usually did laundry on her days off!

He suddenly took off from the room and down the hall, throwing open the doors that covered the alcove that served as a utility room. Both the washer and the dryer were empty.

He ran into the bedroom and almost laughed in relief when he saw the full clothes hamper. Apparently she hadn’t gotten around to it yet today. Probably something to do with the delivery of the pictures that were currently on the coffee table.

He quickly dug through the dark clothes until he pulled up the silk boxers, the shiny evidence of Naruto’s excitement still visible on the inside of the fly. He turned to Kakashi, who had followed him out of curiosity, and handed him the garment.

Kakashi pulled out a medium-sized sealable baggie and let Sasuke drop them inside. “Ah, to be young again.” He tucked the baggie away somewhere in his clothing that Sasuke didn’t quite catch before looking up at the former detective.

“Shall we?”


TBC