The Art of Patience

The Art of Patience Ch. 25
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Madara surveyed the room in which he was now pacing. It was one of his many large open rooms that he liked to use for training purposes. But today, it was being used for a much different reason. He surveyed his group of ten or so slaves with an angry glare as he walked by each one; noting with a bit of satisfaction that all of them had frightened looks on their faces. "Now you all know why you’re here correct?" he asked smoothly watching as each head turned in his direction.

The group nodded, not daring to say a word. The dark man up in front looked like he meant business and they just wanted to get this over with.

Kisame stifled a yawn by clamping his teeth together and tried to look like he was paying attention to what his employer was saying to the assembled crowd of questionably clad people in the room. He was used to fetishes of all kinds, he participated in a few actually, but he'd never met a person yet with this large of a harem to themselves.

Behind Kisame and looking nearly invisible against the walls, the good doctor Orochimaru was surveying the crowd in a similar manner and noting that each and every one of the slaves had a healthy fear of their master; none of that lovey-dovey partnership that Naruto was poisoning his subs with. The slaves needed to know they were being dominated every second of every day!

Madara stood directly behind one of the more frightened looking subs and placed a hand on the back of the man's collar threateningly. "As you all know, one of you... is no longer with us, but I think…" He pulled backward on the collar so the man's neck was exposed and his head was pulled back. "…at least one of you knows where he is." He let go of the collar, shoving the man forward a bit.

The young man with soft looking brown hair tried not to lose his balance as he tried to calm his racing heart.

"You WILL answer any question Kisame and Orochimaru have for you and you WILL answer truthfully; if you don't... “He trailed off threateningly and strode back up to the front of the room and up to the two men he had entrusted with this task.”Take your pick gentlemen." He said calmly. "I'll be in my office... making a very important call." he said threateningly.

Kisame surveyed the room quietly; at least he wasn’t hacking his way through red tape to get what he was being paid to retrieve. "Whatever you say boss, if they know anything I’ll find out what it is."

The pale doctor hadn’t taken his eyes off the arrayed slaves and merely nodded at Madara's command. He was already picking out which slaves he'd pull the answers out of.

Madara headed off after his two interrogators had shown their willingness but paused right as he was about to leave. "Oh, Orochimaru, if I hear anything about you touching any one of my slaves, you'll have made a huge enemy of me." With that he closed the door behind him.

Making it to his office the angry Dom slammed his door shut behind him and stalked his phone as if it were the source of his problems. If that stupid blond had his slave, the thieving bastard wouldn't live long enough to regret it. The still aggravated Uchiha picked up the receiver of his phone and stabbed the numbers that would put him in touch with his nemesis

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Naruto was standing in a very long line at his favorite deli. He was on his lunch break and thankful for it. He hated his second job; his boss was on him like no other today. He always said that retail would eventually steal his soul...

The streets of Fifth Avenue, New York were extremely crowded and Naruto couldn’t blame all the people that were milling around. It was extremely close to Christmas and snow covered sidewalks were getting their fare share of feet as the busy shoppers made their gift purchases. The blond looked around outside of the deli. Everyone was in long warm coats, hats, and gloves. He had taken his own hat off upon entering the warm restaurant, but it sure was a nice thing to have. Luckily Saks gave their employees a twenty percent discount on all items in the store and a free meal once a week in the attached restaurant, not to mention the health benefits which included dental and vision. Alright, maybe retail had some advantages. But the shifts were a fucking nightmare.

As he was about to order his food his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He had turned the ringer off while he was working, company policy. He reached into his pocket and pressed the answer button. "Yeah?" he asked in a distracted tone, not glancing at the number.

Madara poured as much malice and hate into the next simple words. All he could think about was wringing the blonde’s neck to get his Sai back; that and his nephews, but that would be more of a bonus at this point. "God damn you Uzumaki, you always steal what's mine and this time I won’t just stand by and take it! Once I get my hands on you and Sai I’m going to make him watch while I make you wish you'd never been born!"

Naruto held the phone away from his ear and got out of line and away from the questioning looks. "What the fuck are you talking about? I don't have Sai; I don't even know where he is! And as for threatening me, there's a thing called a restraining order Uchiha..." He was lying about Sai of course, but he would never tell Madara where Sai was. "In any case, I'm glad he got away from you. I'm sure you've done nothing but horrible things to him. Now if you'll excuse me I need to get back to work!" He hung up by pressing the end call button harder than necessary.

Madara felt his fingers tighten around his phone and ground his teeth together until his jaw hurt. Damn that blond asshole; he always chose to make things hard! Now he had to go all the way to Naruto's place and tear it apart one room at a time just to make absolutely sure that Sai wasn’t there!

Naruto took a deep breath as he walked down the street, lunch finally in his possession. He was dialing very fast on his phone praying that the one he was calling answered. "Please pick up." he muttered as the ringing started.

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Kakashi smiled as he sent the woman on the other side of the counter away with her purchases. As the manager he really didn't have to work the registers but when things were busy, he was short an employees or he just got bored he went to work in the store, the change of location really helped him not want to climb the walls and chew on something in his boring office. To his right was a very nice girl fresh from High school of average height and complexion with brownish red hair and a dimple on one cheek. If she weren’t so young he'd be tempted to ask her out; she was just that good looking.

It was at that moment when his phone started vibrating for all it was worth in his work pants. There were only a few people who knew his number and most of them didn’t call him while he was working. "Hey April, this might be the call I was waiting for from our supplier about the Christmas shipment. Think you can hold things together until I get back?"

The teenager nodded and smiled brilliantly at her boss. She didn’t talk much but that was fine by the white haired man.

Quickly the middle aged man hurried through the bookstore, making the obligatory greetings to his costumers and making his way to his office and the solitude and quiet that would allow him to answer this call before the person hung up on him. "Hello?"

Naruto sighed in relief. He really had no desire to leave a message, this was too important. "Kakashi, I'm glad you picked up... It's Naruto; I need a huge favor if you could."

The older man’s eyebrows shot up almost into his hairline. Well this was definitely a surprise. "Naruto? It’s been a while since I heard your voice. What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into this time?"

Naruto glared at nothing in particular. "Hey, you know last time was a total misunderstanding... But seriously. I was kind of wondering if you could... help me hide someone." He wasn't going to give all the details yet, he would wait until the man asked. The man was an ex military soldier, if anyone could help, he'd be the best source.

"Sounds like you really stepped in it this time. All right what do you need done? Short of killing I'm ready for anything!" Kakashi smiled at no one in particular. He could just imagine what Naruto was doing right now, looking stressed and not wanting to get caught. If only he could see it with his own two eyes!

Naruto sat down on a nearby bench to start on his lunch. "Ok, so you remember Itachi and Sasuke right? I think you've met them once before." He took a bit of his sandwich as he waited for confirmation.

"Yeah I think I remember them; brothers right? One of them built like an Olympic athlete and the other with the hair on the back of his head sticking straight up right?"

Naruto didn’t even bother finishing to chew and continued with a full mouth. "Yeah, well their uncle is a real fucking pain in the balls and he’s this total abusive shithead. Anyway, you remember my previous sub Sai don't you? Of course you do, well Madara, that's Itachi and Sasuke's uncle, he got him when I let him go and he ran away apparently to my apartment. Oh and he ran away because of this bullshit party deal that I'll tell you about later. But the bottom line is that Madara knows he's missing and will probably raid my apartment looking for him... so, yeah I need you to just keep him with you and possibly hidden until I figure something out..." The blond took a deep breath. He had continued to eat throughout his whole explanation; surely Kakashi was either disgusted with him or amused. Damn, now that he thought about it, this whole story was a bit weird, even to him.

The store manager ran his free hand through his hair and leaned back in his office chair causing it to squeal in protest. He really should get that oiled or something. "If it wasn’t you talking I’d say this was total bullshit and to stick it up your ass." The old marine looked at nothing and quickly tallied up all the things he'd have to do with another mouth to feed and what was needed to keep said person from being found. Naruto sure knew how to make things interesting, that was for sure. "When's he coming over?"

Naruto sighed in relief once more. "God you're a lifesaver. Um, I'll probably have Kiba drop him off at Itachi and Sasuke's place tonight. Why don't you come over and get him around eight, I’ll text you the address. I'll of course be giving you some money for clothing and food and all of that."

Kakashi silently thanked whatever god was listening for the fact that his young friend was offering to pay for Sai's rent if you wanted to call it that and tried to ignore his conscience’s little voice saying that he shouldn't take that money at all. "I'll pick him up but you don't really have to pay me for it. I'm sure he won't be a problem from what I’ve heard about him.”

Naruto threw his lunch wrappings away and continued to walk back to Saks. "No it's no problem; it's my fault that this has to be done anyway. But I have to get back to work. I'll see you at eight then and thanks again." With that he hung up, not waiting for a response, he wasn't allowed to be seen talking on his phone while in the store; employee policy.

Kakashi took the phone away from his ear and looked at it while the phone droned on saying that Naruto had hung up. Wow this must be pretty bad for the blond and as a friend it was his job to see the little dreamer through this rough time. Now where was the number for that supplier? He was suppose to have gotten that call an hour ago.

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Madara paced his office anxiously, for Christ's sake, how long did it take to interrogate a few low life slaves? He looked up sharply as Kisame sauntered into the room followed closely by Orochimaru. Madara noticed with a hint of amusement that the good doctor had a look of sulkiness to him.

Kisame managed to suppress his smile to a mere quirk at the end of his mouth as he stopped a respectful distance from Madara and waited. People like the old Uchiha liked to think they were in control over everything including free-range contractors and it was just easier to let them believe it if it made the job easier. "We just finished interrogating the subs you have."

The pale skinned doctor bared his teeth and shot a seething glance Kisame's way. The black man had no idea how to properly handle slaves yet HE was the one to get all the information this worthless lot had to offer! There had to be some kind of trick, that or the private investigator was lying? Yeah that was it. He made it all up.

Madara leaned forward, hands on his desk. "Did you manage to get any information? Any at all would be better than what I've been able to accomplish." He looked first to Kisame to answer.

"I got only three things from your personal harem. It’s not much but it's at least something." Kisame ticked off on his fingers what he'd coaxed form the terrified people he'd interrogated and kept it professional since he really didn't have any background to make conclusions from. "One; seems Sai left before midnight and never went back to wherever he sleeps. Two; he was seen heading toward your office with a determined look on his face. Finally; they noticed that a sheet was missing this morning from the cleaning rooms, might not be related to your missing person but the timing fits well enough."

Madara nodded. "Well that concludes that he's indeed gone. And he wouldn't go anywhere else but that fucking blonde's house..." He turned to Orochimaru. "What did you find out?" he asked as he started to look through his desk, trying to figure out what Sai could have wanted from his office.

Orochimaru glared at his ‘former’ friend. "Absolutely nothing! They either didn’t know how to speak or you cut their tongues out for all I got form that worthless lot."

Madara looked up sharply. "I will not tolerate any badmouthing of my slaves." he growled out. He may treat his subs in a manner that taught them discipline, but he wouldn't let anyone speak ill of them... that was his job. "Thank you either way Kisame. I'll be paying you now for your next few weeks of work." he said, dismissing Orochimaru completely and handing a hand written check to the dark skinned man. “There are other things that I need to do, so both of you may go." With that he turned around, therefore closing the conversation and started to sort through his desk once more.

Kisame nodded and pocketed the check before leaving the room. It was bad taste to check such things out while the employer was still in the same room as you. Now to get back to the real business of either getting breakfast or continuing to dig up dirt on this Naruto person, whichever came first.

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes and stormed out of the room with murder on his mind. Here he was, helping Madara pro bono just so he could get his hands on Naruto and the old slave-driver wouldn’t even give him the respect he deserved! These thoughts and more, preoccupied the surgeon more and more as he got into his car and drove to work like a drunken bastard before finally getting pulled over by a cop. This was really turning out to be a bad day.

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Itachi took a deep breath and looked over the figures for the quarter and frowned. It wasn’t that the information was bad, in fact it showed a definite growth in the company, but he'd thought they'd be farther along than they were. Maybe that's just the longing wishes of being the boss of your own company. The long haired man put the papers down on his desk and rubbed his eyes. Some days the paperwork just seemed to bury him alive and leave him wishing he'd just stayed in bed.

Sasuke looked up from his laptop at seeing his brother removing his reading glasses. "I can do some of that if you want. I'm not too busy over here." he said as he saved his work and closed the laptop. "Plus, you look like you need some more coffee."

"Damn straight I need coffee, that and a new brain. This paperwork is going to kill me one day. If you think you can survive it then please take a crack at it." The eldest brother stretched until his shoulders cracked and slumped in his chair gratefully at the sudden release of pressure there. He really needed to take breaks a little more often to avoid this kind of thing.

Sasuke stood up and walked around Itachi's desk until he was behind the older raven's chair. He placed his hands on his brother's shoulders and started to put a bit of pressure on the strained and cramped muscles, massaging the knots away.

Itachi closed his eyes and leaned into his brother’s fingers as they worked the knots into smaller knots that would eventually go away as the massage continued. Sasuke knew just how to make him feel better in any situation. "Thanks. You've been practicing haven’t you? It feels like your making the knots just melt away."

Sasuke didn’t say anything. It was true, Naruto had taught him a few useful techniques for times just like these. He leaned down and placed a small kiss just under the older raven’s ear. “Go get some coffee, I’ll finish this.” he whispered as he placed another kiss in the same spot.

Itachi sighed gratefully and reached his hand up to hold Sasuke’s head in place. He turned to face his brother and pressed his lips to Sasuke’s soft ones for a proper kiss. “Thank you.” he whispered just as quietly and released Sasuke.

The younger of the two stepped back to let his brother out and watched as he left the room. Fuck he wanted the work day to be over. There was nothing better than going home after a day cooped up in the office. He strode over to the floor to ceiling windowed walls and looked out at the white sky; it would probably start snowing soon… Just as he was about to sit down in Itachi’s vacated chair to start on the paperwork, his older brother’s cell phone began to ring. Sasuke picked it up and looked at the caller ID… Naruto. He knew his brother had no problem with him answering his phone so he opened it and put the receiver to his ear. “Hello Master.”

TBC
…Done! Please review!!!