Blackmail and Betrayal

AN: No evil cliffhangers of doom this time, I promise!! Thanks so much for all the wonderful reviews last chapter! I hope this one lives up to expectations! Enjoy and thanks for reading!!


Chapter 15


Naruto groggily woke up as the screams pierced into his unconscious mind. A hazy blue eye opened, the other unable to do so due to the gauze covering, as the sound continued while picking up in intensity and fright. He tried to sit up but found that he couldn’t use either of his arms and his ribs burned with each subtle shift. Unable to move, his head jerked to the left from where the noise was coming.

There were two men in dark suits on either side of a hospital bed exactly like his upon which a thrashing and screaming Ino lay strapped down. He could hear the attempts to soothe the distraught girl, but his cousin wasn’t responding to their tone.

He heaved his legs off the side of the bed, gritting his teeth and using the momentum to pull himself into a sitting position. He shakily stood just as a woman wearing a white coat over a purple shirt and khaki slacks stormed into the room.

“What in the hell do you two think you’re doing?” the brunette demanded as she shoved one of them men out of the way. “You’re not supposed to be in here without a female nurse or myself accompanying you! Can’t you tell she’s terrified?”

“Doctor-” one of the men started in irritation.

“I don’t want to hear it. I know you need to interview her, but you do it by my rules! This girl has gone through too much shit to have you dimwits add to it!” she interrupted angrily, trying to make herself heard over the noise that was still emitting from the struggling blonde.

Naruto stumbled forward, trying to get to his cousin to comfort her and try to calm her down.

“And just what do you think you are doing out of bed, young man?” the woman, who couldn’t have been more than a decade his senior, demanded.

Naruto ignored the woman as he stopped at Ino’s bedside. He couldn’t move his right arm at all since it was strapped down tightly to his chest to prevent him from moving the shoulder that had been dislocated. However, the left arm, which had several stitches where Kabuto’s blade had sunk in, was in a typical sling and he was able to shrug out of it albeit rather painfully.

He immediately began to tug at the buckles holding his cousin’s arm down. “Why is she strapped down?” he growled. With the removal of the men from her immediate vicinity, her screams had finally broken down to sobs. At the sound of his voice however, she focused in on him.

“N-Naruto,” she cried, fingers stretching in futility to reach him.

“She’s going through withdrawals,” the doctor explained in a quieter tone. “We took the edge off with medication but we didn’t want her to hurt herself. Either from the periodic convulsions or… other means considering her ordeal.”

Naruto glanced over at the doctor, intuitively understanding that they were worried about suicide. Her name tag caught his eye as she turned back to the two suited men, but he could only make out the name ‘Shizune’ before it was out of sight.

“Come back a little later, gentlemen, when our patients are ready for you.”

The first of the two looked a little put off by the comment. “We’ll inform Agent Ebisu that they’re both awake now. I’m sure he will want to talk to them immediately.”

“You do that,” Shizune said rather patronizingly.

Naruto finally got the wrist cuff off of Ino and awkwardly hugged the girl. Her one arm wrapped around his neck tightly, almost painfully so, as she quietly cried into his bandaged shoulder.

“You were so still,” she whispered. “They said you were fine, but I was so afraid. It seems like I’ve been afraid for so long.”

“Shh, it’s okay now, Ino,” he said soothingly, his hand awkwardly patting her head of lank pale blonde hair.

This close to her, he could see the bandages around her throat and he had the sudden burning, irrational desire to find some way to bring Kabuto back from the dead just so he could kill him slower and more painfully than the prick had experienced the first time.

“Naruto, please…” she said quietly, so quietly that he barely heard her. “I just want to stop hurting…to stop feeling. Can you get me something…to take the pain away.”

Naruto held her closely for a long moment. “I can’t do it, Ino. We’re in the FBI’s custody. And even if I could, I wouldn’t. This is your chance to kick it. To get it out of your life forever.”

She curled in on him as much as she could. “I don’t care,” she whimpered. “I just want it all to stop. I just want everything to go away.”

“You’re strong, Brat. I know you are. I’ve seen it,” he told her, his voice softly confident. “You have it deep inside of you and you have to find it again and embrace it. Never let it go.”

She let out a hard sob before struggling to get control of herself again. “They hurt me.”

“I know they did, Brat,” he reassured her, “but they can’t ever do it again.”

“It’ll just be somebody else next time,” she predicted, her breath hitching as tears glistened in her eyes.

“Never again,” Naruto promised. “Never again.” Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Shizune inserted a needle into the catheter taped to Ino’s hand. A few moments later the soft crying stopped and the girl drifted off to sleep.

“She needs some rest,” the doctor said quietly, tucking a strand of her dark hair behind her ear. “She’s had a rough twenty-four hours.”

Naruto gave his cousin a kiss on the forehead before standing up, his ribs protesting every inch of movement. He took a moment to breathe through the pain before he turned and faced the woman. “Will she be okay?” he asked, knowing how lame the question really was, but unable to stop himself from asking it.

Shizune came over and fixed the sling over his left arm again and then guided him back to his bed. “She’s going to need a lot of help. Help that you can’t give her.”

“What kind of help?” Naruto asked rather suspiciously.

“Professional,” Shizune stated firmly. “She needs help from someone who will not only sympathize with her, but help her work through it.”

“I can’t afford that kind of help,” Naruto said with a slight frown. He wasn’t totally convinced of the validity of psychiatrists, but he would do anything to help his cousin.

“There’s always programs to help people out,” she said as she gently pushed him to sit back onto his bed. “Besides, if Agent Ebisu is as hot for you as I think he is, then you could probably work out something for your cousin.”

“Hot for me?” Naruto asked with a lift of an eyebrow.

The doctor blushed slightly. “I meant eager to get your testimony.”

“Ah,” Naruto said, a little relieved. He really hadn’t been looking forward to fucking some FBI agent but he would have had it been beneficial for Ino. He’d had his body used for many lesser reasons.

“Now, as for you,” she said, suddenly in professional-mode, “you’re to keep your right arm immobilized for at least six weeks until your tendons and ligaments heal from that dislocation.

“Your ribs are bruised pretty badly and you have a crack along one of them. We have them wrapped pretty tight, hence the reason you probably can’t breathe too deeply. You have stitches in your eyelid where it split open as well as numerous other little bumps and bruises and lacerations all over you. Your other arm we’ll keep still for a couple weeks until the flesh knits enough to take the strain of movement. I don’t want you pulling the stitches. ”

She reached behind him and unlaced the hospital gown enough to pull it down to expose his left shoulder. She then pulled the tape back on the gauze covering the wound. “The blade missed anything vital, but it was deep. So make sure you don’t move around too much. No jumping jacks for a month,” she added with a smile.

Naruto returned the smile, meeting her eyes with his visible brilliant blue one.

The doctor blushed again and quickly reattached the bandage before pulling herself away. “I’m sure Ebisu will be down here soon to start asking you questions. While you’re in the FBI’s infirmary, it doesn’t mean that I won’t boot his ass out if he starts to wear you down. So don’t hesitate to let me know if you want him to give you a rest.”

“We’re not in the regular hospital?” Naruto asked in confusion.

“No, they didn’t trust you’d be safe enough there. Apparently you’re the key to a very important case and they don’t want to take any chances with your life.” Shizune glanced at her watch. “I need to finish some work elsewhere, but if you need anything, signal one of the nurses even if it’s to ask for me.”

“Thank you, doctor,” he said sincerely.

“Call me Shizune,” she told him before heading out the door.

Naruto shifted around slightly to try to figure a way to lay back down when he realized that the doctor had never retied his gown. He gave a small laugh before it slowly faded.

He realized he had to piss.

*********************
Naruto was once again maneuvering himself carefully back onto the bed. He had alleviated his earlier problem by slowly hiking up the hospital gown with the fingers of his left hand and straddling the toilet backwards. Awkward, but it had let him do his business without too much mess.

There was a knock on the door which was then pushed open and two men walked into the room. Naruto’s eyes immediately lighted upon the familiar upper portion of a face.

“Kakashi!” he said in relief.

The man’s one visible eye crinkled up to denote a smile which was hidden by the zipped up high collar of his windbreaker. “How’re you doing, Naruto?”

“Not too bad, except for my nose itches like crazy,” the blond replied, happy to see the man.

Kakashi laughed quietly, trying not to disturb the sleeping girl, before walking over and scratching Naruto’s nose.

Naruto let out an interesting little noise that was reminiscent of a totally different itch. “Thank you!”

“Naruto, this is Special Agent Ebisu. He’s an old friend of mine and he’s handling this case. I need you to be honest with him and tell him everything,” Kakashi said casually as he took a step back from the bed and gestured to the other man who was, rather incongruously, wearing sunglasses inside the building.

All childish traces vanished from Naruto’s demeanor almost immediately. When in the hell had Kakashi made friends with an FBI agent? His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Where’s Sasuke? He was handling the case and I’ll only talk to him.”

Ebisu spoke up before Kakashi could explain the situation. “Detective Uchiha was let go from the NYPD a few days ago but has been working under the auspice of the FBI since then. He was shot on the raid of the warehouse where you were being held and is currently in the hospital.”

Naruto jerked up to his feet, ignoring the way his body screamed in protested. “Sasuke was shot?!”

Kakashi held out his hands placatingly. “He’s alive and well right now, Naruto. There’s no need to worry. Ebisu is heading up the FBI’s investigation into Orochimaru’s activities. If you still want to put him away, then you need to cooperate with him.”

Naruto slowly sat back down. “Sasuke was going to make sure that Ino wasn’t involved. She doesn’t need to go through this shit,” he said, eyeing both of them warily.

“It may not be possible to do that. Not only did she shoot Kabuto, even if it was in self defense, but she also played a large part in your involvement with Orochimaru according to Kakashi,” Ebisu said calmly. “If she can testify to that and back up your story, it casts your involvement in a better light.”

“I don’t care what kind of light it casts me in,” he growled. “I don’t want her to have to go through that if she doesn’t have to.”

“Why don’t you let Ino make that choice, Naruto?” Kakashi suggested. “The FBI is willing to make a deal with you. Reduce any sentencing that you might have to probation that will be served out as you testify in the series of trials.”

“Series?” Naruto asked in confusion.

“We weren’t just after Orochimaru, but also after the officials that were in his back pocket,” Ebisu explained. “With the files that we found on your flash drive, we can put away a lot of corrupt people that are in positions of power in the local area. The files, along with corroborating evidence coupled with your testimony will make it happen.”

“You want me dead,” Naruto said flatly.

“We would protect you,” Ebisu argued. He glared at the flagrantly incredulous look. “We aren’t as inept as all the popular TV shows make us out to be, Uzumaki.”

Naruto looked over to Kakashi as if asking him to verify the assertion.

“You can trust him, Naruto,” the silver-haired man reassured him. “He’ll do everything humanly possible to keep you and Ino safe.”

Naruto looked over at Ino, his inner conflict readily apparent on his face.

“If no one’s willing to step forward, these people will be free to hurt other people; people who don’t have the means to see them punished for their crimes. Can you live with yourself knowing that you could’ve stopped it and didn’t?” Kakashi asked him quietly.

Naruto shot him a sour look, already knowing he was defeated. The bastard knew him well enough to know that Naruto would never want this to happen to someone else. Besides, he wasn’t so stupid that he didn’t realize that if he refused the FBI would bring charges against him as well and toss him in a cell until he either rotted or gave into their demands.

‘Bastards,’ he thought sourly although not hatefully. “So, were you just using me the whole time? Pretending to be my friend?” he asked, his lips thinned out grimly.

“No, Naruto,” Kakashi said gently. “I’m still your friend and have always been. I funneled information to Ebisu that you shared with me, but I never involved you until you decided on your own to put Orochimaru away.”

Naruto felt some of the tension ease of his shoulders, glad to know that the man hadn’t betrayed him. There had been too much of that going around for him to take much more.

“So, do you agree?” Ebisu asked while studying him as if trying to peel back all the layers to see what was inside.

Naruto gave a rough snort and then winced as it jarred his ribs. “As if I have a choice,” he growled. “But, yes, I agree.”

Ebisu seemed to come alive as if energy suddenly filled him. “Excellent. We need to go over the files and get you to tell me everything that happened both on and off the camera. I need to go over your testimony, find holes in anything and fill them in before the defense has a chance to tear it apart.

“I’m going to warn you now; this isn’t going to be easy. They will try to tear you down, cast you in the worst possible light and get the jury to discredit everything you say. You better have a thick hide for this.”

Naruto lifted blank blue eyes up to Ebisu. “Don’t worry, Special Agent Ebisu. I’ve learned how to not feel.”

“Yeah,” Kakashi spoke up, “but they’re not going to be fucking with your body, Naruto. They’re going to be fucking with your mind. And there’s a big difference.”

Just as Naruto was about to retort, an electronic ring tone sounded from Ebisu’s jacket pocket. The man pulled out the phone, looked at the number and quickly answered.

“Ebisu here,” he announced without ceremony.

The agent was silent a moment while the person on the other end of the line spoke.

“What? When? What’s his condition?” he demanded rapidly. His face relaxed slightly as his questions were promptly answered. “Keep an eye on him and get a hold of the surveillance footage. I want to know who in the hell that woman was.”

Ebisu snapped his phone shut and practically glared at Naruto. “We’re going to move you to a safe house. Now.”

“What about Ino?” Naruto immediately demanded, knowing his cousin wasn’t up to a lot of upheaval at the moment.

Ebisu was silent for a long moment before turning to Kakashi. “Why don’t you go take a look at your other boy, Kakashi. He’s going to need to know his part when he wakes up.”

Kakashi lifted an eyebrow. “I thought he was already awake,” he murmured.

“Apparently someone tried to rectify that tonight. He’s alright though. His fiancé was there and she’s a trained nurse,” he replied. “He needs to know what to say and what not to say before he opens his mouth. I’ll be busy relocating our friend here.”

Naruto’s eyes widened as the pieces of the puzzle fell together. “Someone tried to kill Sasuke? Is he alright? Where in the hell is he? I want to see him!”

Ebisu shot him a look that was heavily laced with exasperation. “He’s fine, as I just said. He’s at the City Hospital under guard.”

“Some guard,” Naruto muttered.

“Luckily his fiancé has been there with him the whole time and knew what to do when he went into cardiac arrest. He’s in ICU, but he’s stable,” Ebisu concluded.

“I want to see him,” Naruto said firmly, trying not to feel jealous over the fact that Sasuke’s fiancé was with him but failing miserably.

“You can’t,” Ebisu said adamantly.

“Why not?” Naruto demanded irritably.

“Because no one is going to know where you are. Not Kakashi, not former Detective Uchiha, not even your own cousin. You are too valuable. Every person that knows of your whereabouts increases the danger you are in exponentially. And I’m sure as hell not going to risk your well being by taking you visiting.”

“I need to see him,” Naruto said, hating the almost desperate tone in his voice.

“You need to live more,” Ebisu pointed out. “If you’re alive, you can always see him in the future. If you’re dead, there is no future.”

As the two other men engaged in a glare-down battle of wills, Kakashi shrugged slightly, settling his jacket more comfortably about him. “Well, I will see you two gentlemen later. I’ll be sure to give Sasuke your love, Naruto.”

Naruto’s eyes jerked over in surprise and the beginnings of panic and embarrassment as the porn shop owner casually strolled out of the room. “Kakashi? Don’t you dare!”

The blond barely saw the hand that lifted casually in parting as the man passed beyond the view of the doorway.

Once Ebisu was sure that Kakashi was out of range of hearing, he again addressed the stubborn young man in front of him. “Shizune said that your cousin was in need of rehab and therapy. It is possible that, with your consent as her next of kin, the therapy reports could be used in lieu of her testimony. This way she gets the help she needs and we get the testimony as given by professionals so that it becomes more valid in the eyes of the jury rather than the broken testimony given by a junkie and a possible prostitute.”

“She’s not a prostitute,” Naruto said angrily, his fists clenching.

“Perhaps not, but the defense is sure to try to paint her that way. Luckily we did a SOEC, that’s a Sexual Offense Evidence Collection, as soon as she was taken into custody so we have proof that she was raped by at least three different men on the day of the raid. It will work in her favor,” he explained. “It will help validate the rest of her testimony either given by her or the therapists.”

“Tell me what part of being raped is favorable,” Naruto said through gritted teeth.

Ebisu sighed and pushed his sunglasses up on the bridge of his nose. “Look, Uzumaki, I understand that this isn’t easy for you or her, but if you want to put this bastard and all his flunkies away, you are going to have to stop taking offense at every damn thing I say.”

Naruto deflated slightly and sat heavily onto the bed. “Fine,” he muttered, wishing he could rub his aching temples.

“Look, this is a federal case so we can move your cousin outside of state lines to keep her safe,” Ebisu explained. “After the trials, we’ll move you into the same area so you can readily visit her in whatever facility that the doctors deem appropriate.”

Naruto’s brows furrowed in confusion. “Why would I want to leave after the trials?”

“Because it would be the best for you and for her. It wouldn’t be safe, even afterwards. There’s no telling if Orochimaru would hire a hit from inside prison or not. Or if one of the many people that’re going to be going down because of this would. You have to think about all possibilities.”

Naruto gave another sigh even though he was determined to go through with everything. Kakashi was right. If he didn’t stand up, who would?

“Look at it this way; it will be a chance to start over,” Ebisu pointed out encouragingly.

Naruto nodded as he stood up. “Alright, but I want some real clothes before we leave.”

Ebisu gave a slight smile. “I’ll see what I can arrange.”


tbc