Requisition

AU. Brothels are businesses that are privately-owned, but government-mandated in the hopes of decreasing public crime. Anyone can be claimed for service and people can be sent there to disappear. Anyone can use them on a sliding-scale fee. Anything can be done other than murder. It's not a nice way to live. But it's a business. And a place to hold secrets.


Chapter 4: Entrance

Requisition Class A-14: Worker application. Qualified. Accepted to position. Specialty.

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1.

Sasuke was worried when Naruto hadn't returned after supper. Appointments simply didn't go until the end of the day. The fact that he wasn't back for supper was unusual, but the fact that afterwords he still hadn't returned was a bad sign.

He managed to get past his contempt of others enough to ask an attendant where Naruto was. The attendant said that they weren't sure and then immediately offered to give him a mild sedative.

Sasuke had panicked before. It was back when he was still fairly new and still unused to the schedule. All he knew was that he usually saw Naruto at least once throughout the day. But on that particular day their schedules never synced up. And he was with his final client who was being particularly vicious with him and bad feelings were continuing to resurface until he was crying almost hysterically.

Even when the client was finished and left, Sasuke still wasn't able to stop crying. The attendant had had to carry him back to the Block where Sasuke wasn't even able to make it back to his room. Instead, to his great shame, he just huddled in the common area and cried endlessly. One of the girls in the common area, one who knew Naruto really well, had walked over and asked him what was wrong.

He'd said something about Naruto and death.

She had gone and rang for an attendant and then thoroughly confused the attendant by asking if Naruto had been killed. The girl was upset as well, and in the end, both she and Sasuke had to be given something to calm them down. Naruto had been especially nice when he returned and he apologized for his schedule and for making Sasuke worry.

Since that time, the attendants would always watch Sasuke for any more hints of it. And he'd get nervous about Naruto from time to time.

Sasuke scowled at the attendant. "I don't want any sedatives, I want to know where Naruto is."

"I'm sorry, kiddo, but I don't know where Naruto is. I'll get you some tea, though."

Sasuke immediately refused it. They'd add some sort of med to the tea. They'd done it before when he had refused some meds.

The attendant frowned, but then smiled slightly. "Should we go check with the receptionist? We can find out where Naruto was."

Sasuke hesitantly agreed and he took hold of the attendant's hand. The receptionist was busy with a client, a tall and thin man. Sasuke could feel the man suddenly look at him and he ducked his head down. He didn't want anyone to see him anymore, he didn't want to meet any new people, and he didn't want any new clients. The receptionist looked at the attendant strangely at the mention of Naruto's name.

"Naruto finished for the day. He's in the infirmary."

The attendant turned to Sasuke. "See, he's just getting a bit of extra care before he comes back."

"Naruto," the man said, "Blondie?"

The receptionist nodded, "Yes. You have another appointment with him coming up in a about a week. Did you want to make another?"

The man looked at the receptionist for a moment before bending down to look Sasuke in the eyes. Sasuke was startled for a moment and cringed back. He didn't want to meet anyone new. No more.

"This one doesn't like clients, huh? Does he attack?"

"Not anymore," the receptionist said, "Though with the proper manipulation, you could get certainly get a rise if you wanted to."

The man nodded his head and then spoke to Sasuke. "You like your little friend Naruto?"

Sasuke didn't answer. His expression made clear his revulsion.

"You like to protect him, don't you?"

Sasuke still didn't answer. The man turned back to the receptionist, "He looks familiar."

"Yeah, I've heard that a lot," the receptionist said off-handedly, "Would you like an appointment with him?"

"I want to add him to my appointment with Naruto," the man said, "And upgrade it."

"Weapons?"

"Sharp and shiny ones," the man said with an amused smile. "Both at the same time."

"Okay," the receptionist said, "That is going to change the price-"

"How much from my account…"

The attendant was taking Sasuke back to the commons. And speaking. "So see, Naruto is fine. He just had to make a visit to the infirmary and he'll be back later."

Sasuke wasn't able to sleep. Even after lights-out, he just lay in the bed that he and Naruto shared, waiting for Naruto to return.

It seemed like hours before an attendant quietly walked into the room, holding a completely limp Naruto. Sasuke sat up immediately. "Is he dead?"

"Shhh," the attendant said soothingly as she made her way to the bed. "He had a bad scare earlier and now he needs some rest."

Sasuke watched anxiously as she placed Naruto gently onto the mattress. "Shizune gave him some medicine, so he'll be asleep for the rest of the night."

She adjusted Naruto so that his head was perfectly on the pillow and then pulled the blanket up. "Now Sasuke, keep an eye on him. If he makes any noise, or looks like he's in pain, or wakes up, then press the call button immediately. Okay?"

Sasuke nodded mutely. The attendant took a long look at Naruto. "Okay then, goodnight boys."

Sasuke watched her leave and then he got to his knees over Naruto and pressed his ear to Naruto's chest. It was a relief to hear his heart beating, though he noticed how much slower it was than his own frightened heart.

"What happened?" he whispered.

There was no response. Naruto was truly unconscious and deeply asleep. Sasuke quickly checked him for injuries. There were lots of signs of cuts on his arms and near his collarbones. But they'd already been treated by Shizune, so they were very faint.

It was confusing and Sasuke was too tired to put anything together. He wrapped his skinny arms around Naruto's skinny body and went to sleep.

It still wasn't time for lights-on when Naruto woke up.

Sasuke was startled to hear the scream and when he finally opened his eyes it was to find Naruto crying hysterically into their bed. "Naruto, what's wrong?" Sasuke asked. He took hold of Naruto's arm and felt something wet. It was blood. Naruto was scratching his arms.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked, appalled.

"He killed… dead dead dead," Naruto managed between hysterical sobs.

He gripped his short, sharp nails into his arm and tore. "Stop it!" Sasuke said and fought to hold Naruto's arms down.

He didn't even really hear Naruto's loud screams. "Stop hurting yourself!"

"Kille-" Naruto broke into heavy sobs, unable to form words anymore.

The overhead light was extremely bright. Mona stood at the door and blinked once before striding in and grabbing Naruto's arms and holding them firmly in place. "Sasuke, hit the call button," she said as Naruto fought her.

"What's wrong with him?" Sasuke demanded, frightened.

"Hit the call button!" Mona repeated, trying to stop Naruto's struggling.

"I've got it," a voice said.

It was one of the girls from the neighboring room. "Good girl, Abby," Mona said as the girl ran to the wall and pressed the button.

Mona gasped as Naruto managed to bite her. Abby ran over, her bare feet light against the cold floor. "Naruto!" she said, "Quit fighting!"

Abby reached out to touch his shoulder, but Sasuke slapped her hand away. "Don't touch him!" Sasuke snarled at her.

There was another voice at the door, another of the girls. "What's going on? Mona? Is Naruto alright?"

"Lindsay, go back to bed," Mona said, her voice unusually tense.

Lindsay opened her mouth, but Therese stood behind her, and pulled her out of the way. "Mona?"

"He woke up," Mona said.

"Oh!" Therese said and hurried to Mona's side. "Where's the blood from?" she asked.

"My hand and his arms," Mona said. "Give him a tranquilizer, we need to get him back to the infirmary."

"This is what we didn't want," Therese said as she left the room, intent on getting the tranquilizer.

"Don't give him anything, leave him alone!" Sasuke cried and he hit her in the side.

Mona flinched, but skinny six-year-olds didn't hit very hard. "Sasuke, you are not helping the situation," she said.

Therese returned and looked at Sasuke's panic-stricken expression. She ignored him and went to Naruto's side, holding his shoulder down as she quickly found his vein and injected the syringe. Naruto's scream turned hoarse in its sharpness, and the boy simply never cried at injections.

"Shit, this is worse than before," Mona said, willing Naruto to stop fighting.

"Quit hurting him!" Sasuke cried again and he tried to shove Therese away.

Therese caught Sasuke. Abby watched from nearby, her big eyes wide and uncertain as Naruto's screams faded away and he lay limp. "Sasuke!" Mona said sharply, "Stop that now or else you'll get an injection too!"

Sasuke was horrified to realize that he was crying. "What are you doing to him?"

"We're just making sure that he doesn't hurt himself anymore, honey," Therese said as she kept her arms locked around him and rubbed his arm.

"Why is he doing that?" Abby asked.

"Abby, baby, I need you to go back to bed," Therese said.

"Is he going to be okay?" she asked worriedly.

"Yes. We just need to take him back to the infirmary."

Mona finally released her grip on Naruto's arms and she examined the bite on the outer edge of her hand. It was deep and bleeding heavily. "Lindsay stop crying!" she said, and the girl at the door uselessly pressed her fist to her mouth, "Both you and Abby go back to your bed now!"

Abby hesitated, but she was a compliant nine-year-old and soon both she and Lindsay were out of sight. Mona yanked the pillowcase off of the pillow that Sasuke and Naruto shared and she pressed it to the bite. "What are we going to do with him?" she asked, gesturing to where Mona was still holding Sasuke.

"Give him a sedative. We need to get Naruto back to Shizune. And get ahold of the receptionist. He can't take clients like this."

"Yes he can."

"No. They've been aiming him for the more consensual clientele, they won't be able to deal with this."

"He's still been having some of the other business. It's too much for just Sasuke to handle."

"Let's just get him to Shizune first."

"We can't. Shizune left after she finished taking care of him tonight."

"The other one then."

"Sasuke," Therese said, looking down at the boy who was still breathing hard and staring at Naruto. "Sasuke, will you stay still if I let you go?"

Sasuke nodded and Therese slowly let her arms loosen. "Okay, Sasuke," she said, looking him in the eyes, "We are going to take Naruto to the doctor, to make sure that he gets some help. I'm going to call for another attendant to stay with you, but please wait here until then. Okay?"

Sasuke nodded again, but his eyes filled with tears as he watched Therese carry Naruto out of the room as Mona followed. After a few seconds, Abby snuck back into his room. "What happened, Sasuke? Is Naruto okay?"

Sasuke ignored her.

Lindsay was back at the doorway. "Is he gonna be okay?" she asked and her voice was quavery.

Abby glanced at Sasuke and then walked back and gave Lindsay a big hug. "He's not dead. He'll be okay. Go lay down and I'll be back soon."

Lindsay was barely eight years old and so Abby had become her caretaker. It was a very strange relationship. As were all of the relationships in the brothel.

Lindsay nodded trustingly and headed back into their room. Abby walked over to Sasuke and asked in a very soft whisper. "What happened to Naruto? Is he going to be alright?"

There was a silence as Sasuke waited for her to get the hint and leave. She didn't. She stayed right next to him, waiting for an answer. He finally gave a jerky shrug. Abby stared at him for a moment and then gave him a hug, which he didn't respond to at all.

"Abby get back in bed," a stern voice said at the door, startling the girl.

Abby scurried out of the room. There was an attendant at the door. Sasuke didn't know the attendant's name. And he didn't care. All he saw was the little cup of light brown liquid.

The attendant knelt next to him on the bed and grasped the back of his head. "Drink this," the attendant said before tilting the little plastic cup into Sasuke's mouth.

Sasuke drank it. He didn't care. He would have swallowed poison if that's what they had given him. His world had become nothing but an echoing darkness and he had decided that he would rather drown than try to fight.

"Where's Naruto?"

"Therese already told you, he's in the infirmary. Now you need to get to sleep, you have an appointment in less than three hours."
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2.

"Wait, you're saying that because I had already gone home, you sent Naruto to him? Did he give him a freaking lobotomy already?"

"Shizune, calm down. We had to-"

"Shut up, Sherry! I told you to call me if something happened with the kid. That's my purpose here, remember? I'm supposed to try to fix all of the damage that is constantly being done. And this one is just a kid!"

"Shizune, please-"

"I'm reporting this to Iruka Umino. You went against the specific orders of a government worker as to the aftercare of a fulfiller. I told you-"

"Go take care of the boy, Shizune. Our contacts with the government are strong enough to withstand any complaint you file."

"…Be careful of what you are saying, Roberts. I know who's hidden here."
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3.

Naruto wasn't awake and he wasn't asleep. He was heavy in a painful middle place and there might as well have been a stake running through him for all that he could move. There were electric shocks so intense that he imagined he could see their white flare beneath his eyelids.

"Feeling better?"

Naruto took a slow, deep breath- his chest felt so heavy- and opened his eyes. He was in the shiny place again. The place that gave him shivers.

"A series of shock treatments can help the behavior of anyone behaving poorly. I'll have to implant a couple of your teeth back in. You broke them from biting down too hard. I'd have thought that after all of this time here you'd have learned not to bite."

"It hurts," Naruto barely managed.

All he had to do was tell a worker that he was in pain and they'd give him something to make it better.

"That was the point."

Naruto blinked slowly and looked towards the source of the voice. It was a man that he only vaguely recognized. A familiar glint.

"The metal grafts on the bones at your joints. They always feel worse when you get near the perimeters of the building as the metal reacts with sensors we've placed. Every joint will eventually break. All I have to do for the shock treatments is activate the grafts."

There was an incredible pain. His very bones felt like they were vibrating and splintering into thousands of individual strands that were scraping together like metal on a chalkboard.

The stimulation had already ended but Naruto gagged on the force of his screams. It felt like he was going to vomit but he was too out of breath.

"Are you finished then? With all this drama?"

"Stop!"

Naruto recognized Shizune's voice. Good. Shizune would make it better.

"You want to take over now? That sounds fine, I was getting tired."

There was a quick hiss of anger from Shizune and Naruto could feel the cuffs on his wrists and ankles being quickly undone. There was another sound of anger from Shizune as she saw the bruises where he had struggled.

"Oh please, like you haven't seen him in worse condition."

"You know that you are not to be involved in aftercare!" Shizune said as she carefully gathered Naruto into her arms.

"Did you want me to let him lay on the floor and scream and hurt himself? I did you a favor. You should be thanking me for taking over your job while you were at home asleep."

Shizune cradled Naruto's head to her shoulder. "It's okay, I'm going to take care of you now," she murmured.

"Don't forget his teeth," Kabuto said gesturing to the silver tray and smiling.
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4.

"What happened to him? When did he start reacting like this?"

"It was after his last client, James Sutherland."

"James Sutherland? He's a violent client, he should have been with Sasuke."

"He requested Naruto specifically."

"He must have mentioned something."

"Mr. Sutherland?"

"Yes. He's the one who killed Nalee, after all. Did he have weapons with him?"

"Yes. He brought in a scalpel and a razor."

"What was Naruto's condition when the appointment ended?"

"He had lost a great deal of blood and without the immediate intervention of Shizune, it is possible that he may have died."

"Shit, that's vicious."

"The behavior is completely within the limits of allowed conduct. Naruto made it out of the room alive. Mr. Sutherland has done it before. He's only had the one offense."

"…"

"The only unusual thing was his request for Naruto. Mr. Sutherland is much more of a fan of girls than boys. He's never requested a boy before, actually."

"Maybe that's what did it."

"Maybe."

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0.

"Fucking faggot little boy. Sucking men off for a living. If only your daddy could see you now."

"Y-you know my daddy?"

"Stupid little brat. Your daddy gave you up and sold you. Weren't you on the streets before this? And now…"

"You knew my daddy before he died?"

"Ha! Oh fucking hell, what a stupid piece of shit you are. Just like your stupid fucking piece of shit father and your whore of a mother."
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5.

Naruto couldn't stop whimpering. Shizune had furthered her healing of him and there was no longer any trace of cuts on his skin. She had carefully realigned his teeth and inserted them, using tiny pins within to keep them in place. It didn't need to be permanent. He was due to lose his baby teeth soon.
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0.

"I've been feeling the urge to kill again. I'd put my knife here and press it in. Just a little bit deeper and you're in hell, suckin' off Satan himself."

"Don't kill me. What do you want me to do? I'll do anything for you."

"I want you to bleed."

"Stop-"

"Last one I killed was a little bitch. She knew how to please. God, I hate sluts. That's what you all are. So I cut her over and over and over again. See, just like this. And with this very same knife."

"Killed? You-"

"I killed a worthless little slut. She'd only grow up to be a whore, I was doing her a favor."

"N…Nalee?"

"Why the fuck would I remember her name?"
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6.

Sherry had come through the door earlier. She had a copy of the day's schedule and she looked worriedly from Naruto back to the calendar. She didn't want to be the one to push this, she wanted to give him more time to heal.

The receptionist and Roberts had both angrily demanded that she sort everything out. It was her job, after all.

"When is he going to be able to take clients again?"

Shizune's eyes flashed dangerously, but she reigned in her anger and turned away to pointlessly recheck Naruto's vitals. "He hasn't even woken up yet."

"Yes, but… Even unconscious there are still things that he could…"

"You're all sick. You're sick, disgusting people."

Sherry was tired of hearing it. "As much as everyone hates me, there is a reality to deal with here. And the reality is that as long as Naruto is out of commission, Sasuke has to take all of his clients. And as close to him as you are, I'm sure you don't want to see him even more often."

Shizune stopped. Sasuke always came to infirmary with some of the most grotesque injuries. In the past he'd spent days, completely doped out from the constant anesthesia she used to help healing. It was heartbreaking to see the kid wander aimlessly along, his wide eyes glazed over.

She suddenly realized the time. "Where is he? And everyone else? I should have seen people by now."

"Dr. Lawrence is doing what she can."

Shizune's eyes widened. "She doesn't have my skill. What she does will scar them."

Sherry nodded.

There was a moment of silence before Shizune cursed violently. "I hate all of you. Find someone to stay with him. Not Kabuto. When he wakes up, let me know."
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0.

"I'm going to kill you too."

"Why?"

"Because I want to. And then I'm going to kill that faggot friend of yours."

"W-what?"

"The other one. They'll find more little boys to replace you."

"Don't hurt Sasuke!"

"Is that his name?"

"Don't-"

"It's time for you to shut the fuck up."
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7.

Sasuke felt so close to unconsciousness that he could barely feel what was being done to him. Even the feeling of blood was nothing more than a light sensation spreading across his skin. He just wanted to sleep, but he couldn't.

Why couldn't everyone and everything leave him alone? He just wanted to be with Naruto. He'd even stopped wishing for his parents or his grandparents or any of them. He'd get Naruto and they'd leave this place and they'd go to their home and be happy. Maybe they could go to school, to that school that his mother had found. It was a bit frightening now, the idea of it, with so many people, but he'd have Naruto there too.

And he'd show Naruto a garden. Naruto had whispered to him in the dark once, asking if Sasuke had ever seen a garden. There'd been such a longing in his voice that Sasuke tried his best to explain it even though he was clumsy with words. It had ended up making Naruto cry quietly into his shoulder.

Naruto woke up shortly before the evening meal. He was subdued, but responsive. He shrugged when asked what happened and after Shizune gave him a thorough examination and packed him with enough pain pills to make sure that he wouldn't feel anything for awhile, she sent him back.

Sherry waylaid him and took him to eat his meal alone. He picked at it which Sherry decided to ignore just this once, but she recorded it as something to watch for later. It was vital that all fulfillers eat. She didn't take him back to the Block until it was time for lights-out; there had been far too much commotion in the past two days.

She led him to his bed and waited while he climbed carefully onto it. "Naruto," she whispered, "If you need anything at all, even if you're just scared, you press the call button and I'll come take care of it."

Naruto stared at her dully for a moment and nodded slightly. He shrugged off her attempt to help pull up the blanket and lay limply until she walked away.

Sasuke sat up and stared down at Naruto. "You're alive."

"So are you," Naruto managed.

And then they both started crying.
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8.

Two days later, nine-year-old Abby was killed by her client. Her death made James Sutherland's murder count move up to two and he was taken away for treatment.

At the end of the week, a new girl arrived. She was a blonde-haired seven-year-old named Ino Yamanaka.

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A/N

Just a guess...Bet you didn't see that one coming.

This chapter was particularly terrible (in content anyway), but please stick with me, the next couple are not going to be this bad. And I want to make a note now that the derogatory terms that James Sutherland used are horrible and unacceptable in the context of day-to-day life. I don't condone it.

Thank you all so much for the reviews. The quality of the reviews was mind-blowing to me, and endlessly interesting. This fic seems to have struck a deep chord and I am absolutely fascinated by everyone's views and opinions of who is at fault and what this is doing to the boys. Please continue to review, I love hearing from you all.

Everyone guessed correctly about Tsunade, but there was a pretty even division of opinion about who Naruto reminded her of, namely Minato or her brother. And as for character requests...we all kind of like the same people ;) .

I'm sorry for the unpleasantness of this chapter, but once again, please stick with me. It's not going to be this bad for awhile.

Thanks to my beta, the wonderful: Laughing Fool

Review please! And thank you!

-CR