The Target

A/N: This is my first post, so please be nice! And I'd really appreciate any comments and reviews. Thanks for reading~ Poppyseed

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Naruto! Put that stupid video game down and get your ass in here.” Orochimaru yelled at the boy.

Naruto grumbled and paused his game and went into Orochimaru’s office. Sai was sitting in an extra chair in the office, with a black eye “I didn’t do it.”

“Didn’t do what?”

“Whatever that asshole says, I didn’t hit him this time.”

Sai shook his head, “I never said you did. I got this failing a mission.”

Naruto raised an eyebrow. Sai had never come back empty handed before. And that meant a job for Naruto. Naruto sighed and sat down in the chair. He hated having to do this. Granted, he appreciated Orochimaru adopting him and taking him out of that awful orphanage, but he didn’t approve of the “family business.”

The family business was run pretty low key. The only people who knew it existed were the elite perverse millionaires. If some unfortunate guy or girl caught the eye of said rich pervert, that pervert would call Orochimaru and pay him to find out all the information on the unfortunate person, have that person kidnapped, and then trained for whatever purpose the pervert had intended. Some of their clients just wanted a slave broke to the point where they wouldn’t try to run away, the type that could be sent on errands and would actually return. Others just wanted a slave they could keep locked up in some basement and used for their sexual pleasure. More often then not, it was the second kind. Some wanted their slaves trained for amazing sex, and some wanted the experience of doing all the sex training themselves. But in either case, it was up to Orochimaru’s business to break that slave’s spirit so they could be trained.

Most of the time, Naruto could turn a blind eye to the whole thing. Sai was usually sent out as recon and kidnapper. And Orochimaru had employees and Kabuto to do all the training. When Naruto had first found out about the business he had done his best to sabotage it, to help the slaves escape, but he had been caught and beaten so close to the edge of his life, that he hadn’t tried it again.

“Naruto…are you listening?”

“I…uh…no.”

Orochimaru didn’t say anything, but threw a folder on the desk in front of Naruto. Naruto flipped it open. There was a picture of a pale, serious looking boy. Below it was physical information, eye color, age, weight, height, the school he went to, and his classes and grades. But there was nothing else. Usually the folders were full of information. Naruto set the folder down, “There’s no information here that I can use.”

Sai made an indignant sound, “He’s the most private person I’ve ever met in my life. It’s like he’s expecting somebody to try and find him. He’s obviously had karate lessons. He defended himself pretty well.”

“So what do you plan on having me do?”

“We’re signing you up for classes at his school. You’ll become his friend, and when his guard is dropped, you’ll bring him here.”

“How?”

“Use your imagination. Drug him, knock him over the head, or get him drunk, I really don’t care, as long as he ends up here.”

Naruto opened the folder up again, “Sasuke Uchiha. What do they want from him?”

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, “Naruto, I know I don’t need to tell you this, but I will anyway. Do not get attached to him. You are to get him here. That’s it. Do I have to remind you what will happen if you interfere?”

Naruto winced. “No.”

“Sakon will take you clothes shopping and will sign you up for classes. You will only be in three of the target’s classes. Since this target is highly paranoid already, we can’t have you in all the same classes. But I do expect you to know where he is at all times of the day. Am I clear?”

“Yeah.” Naruto took the folder and stepped out of the office, all the while silently cursing Sai for not being able to pull this off himself.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Naruto cursed his luck when he turned the corner and actually found Sasuke near his locker. He had almost hoped that in such a big school, he wouldn’t have the opportunity of seeing him outside the classroom. But now that he had him in sight, he knew he had to do something. “Well the run and crash works pretty well. It’ll at least start a conversation.”

~*

Sasuke snickered as his locker combination once again didn’t work. He tried a third time, and it actually unlocked. He flung the locker door open, and grabbed his school book. He stepped back to close it, when there was a loud smacking sound, and the locker door slammed shut. Sasuke stared at the locker for a second, before he looked down and saw a blonde boy on the ground, rubbing his forehead and nose.

“You should be more careful.” And with that he turned and stepped off.

Naruto growled and stuck his tongue out, “Jerk, he could have at least offered to help me up.” He was feeling less guilty about what was going to happen to that jerk.

“Here.”

Naruto looked up to see a pale hand. Maybe the bastard had come back. But when he looked up he was looking at a red haired boy. Was everyone in this school hot and pale? He was feeling really out of place with his tan. He took the offered hand and was quickly jerked up. Immediately he realized that this guy was strong. He wondered how badly Sai would get his ass kicked by this guy.

“Even if you hadn’t hit the locker instead of him, that move wouldn’t work. He’s mine.”

Naruto blushed. Was the move that cliché? “Sorry, I wasn’t trying to hit on him; I just wanted to start a conversation with someone. I’m shy and I’m new and…”

He was slammed against the wall of lockers, but instead of getting punched, like he thought he would, the boy crushed his lips down on Naruto’s. Naruto’s eyes widened. He wasn’t sure, but he had the feeling kissing the target’s boyfriend was not the way to get into his little circle of friends.

The red haired boy pulled away and started to walk off.

Naruto blinked a few times to clear his head, “Hey, what’s your name?”

“Gaara.” Gaara didn’t even bother to turn around.

Naruto ran a hand over his lips. Well, at least he had more information than Sai had been able to get. He pushed away from the locker. His first day, and he already decided he hated the things. He rubbed his forehead, wondering if he would get a bruise there.

He managed to find the classroom. Of course he got put in the hard classes with Sasuke. He hated chemistry. He stepped into the room, and saw that the class had already started playing with chemicals. The teacher looked over at him, “New kid?”

Naruto nodded.

He looked around at the tables, and of course, Sasuke was the only one without a partner. Naruto cursed his good luck as he stepped over next to Sasuke.

The teacher came over, “Sasuke will explain everything to you.” And then he walked off.

Naruto stood there and watched as Sasuke poured and mixed chemicals, all the while ignoring him.

“Um…are you going to tell me what we’re doing?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because, it’s obvious you’re an idiot.”

Naruto scowled, “How do you know that? I haven’t even done anything yet!”

“You ran into a locker.” Sasuke stated as he started to pour his concoction into a test tube.

Naruto gritted his teeth, “And you just walked away. Luckily, your boyfriend helped me up.”

Sasuke’s hand jerked and some of the chemical fell on the table. But that was the only sign that he even acknowledged the statement.

“Come on, let me do something.”

Sasuke sat the beaker down. “Shut up. You’re distracting me.”

Naruto crossed his arms, “You’re a jerk.”

“Then why are you still talking to me?”

Naruto stuck out his tongue for the second time that day, “Fine. I won’t say a word to you, asshole.”

Naruto sat down on one of the stools and watched as Sasuke continued to work. The more he watched, the more he decided he hated Sasuke Uchiha. Maybe he would even go in and watch one of the training sessions. “I bet he won’t be so pompous then.” He muttered quietly to himself. He continued to sit and mope until the bell rang. Sasuke walked away without even bothering to look at Naruto again. Naruto wadded up a piece of paper on the table and ran after Sasuke, who was now in the hallway. He threw the paper at Sasuke, and hit him right in the back of his head. Sasuke turned around, and glared dangerously at Naruto. Naruto flipped him off.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Naruto had Sasuke in calculus as well, but they had sat on the opposite sides of the room. So it wasn’t until athletics at the end of the day that Naruto even had a chance to speak to him.

“Alright. Today we’re going to have some sparring matches. Do we have any volunteers?”

If there was one thing Naruto thought he was good at, it was fighting. He raised his hand.

The coach smirked, “Looks like the new guy wants to prove himself. Who would like to show him his place?”

Sasuke raised his hand. Both boys stepped into the ring and put on their sparring gear. Naruto watched Sasuke put on his gloves, “I’m going to pound you.”

Sasuke grunted in reply, “Nobody gives me the finger and gets away with it.”

Naruto only smiled, “Vengeful, are we?”

“You’ve no idea.”

The two boys stepped to their respective spots and got in their starting stance.

The whistle blew, and the fight began.

Naruto charged first, swinging without any form, just eager to hit something. Sasuke easily dodged and blocked all punches that came his way. When Naruto tried to kick him, he caught Naruto’s leg, pulled him closer to his body, and then kicked Naruto’s other leg out underneath him. Naruto went down on his back, his one leg still in Sasuke’s grasp.

Sasuke brought out his leg to smash down on either Naruto’s stomach or groin, Naruto didn’t know which, but he managed to use his free leg to knock Sasuke to the ground before he could land his kick. And then suddenly both boys had their legs wrapped around each other’s neck.

Naruto managed to crane his neck in a way that he could bite down on Sasuke’s leg. Sasuke hissed and pulled his leg back. Both boys quickly got up.

“You cheat.” Sasuke snarled.

“Speaking of cheating, you might want to speak to your boyfriend about pushing people up against lockers and kissing them.”

Sasuke looked mildly surprised.

“Okay guys, that’s enough. Next up!”

Sasuke and Naruto quietly stepped out of the ring and took off their gear. Sasuke looked over at Naruto a few times before he finally spoke, “You’re talking about Gaara?”

Naruto rolled his eyes, “Got a lot of boyfriends?”

Sasuke seemed to be thinking something over, before he finally answered, “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Well then Gaara is pretty confused.”

“He’s not confused, he’s paid.”

“Paid?”

“So he’s all yours, as long as the school doesn’t find out about it.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Naruto threw his backpack on the floor as soon as he got inside.

“How did it go?” Sai asked from his chair.

Naruto sighed. Sasuke had been able to get under his skin so badly that he forgot he was supposed to be befriending him.

Sai gave him a fake smile, “You blew it, didn’t you?”

“Not entirely. I know he pays a guy to be his boyfriend.”

Sai frowned, “He didn’t look like the desperate type to me.”

“I don’t think he is. I’m not sure why he’s doing it.”

“Don’t get other people involved, Naruto. I don’t like having to go out and kill witnesses.”

Naruto grimaced. “I’ll make things work better tomorrow. I promise.”

Sai shrugged, “I heard Orochimaru on the phone. If we lose this kid, he loses millions. He’s killed for less than that.”

“Before the end of the week, I’ll get him in some situation where we can kidnap him.” Naruto felt sick at the words. But he had promised his loyalty to Orochimaru that day at the orphanage if Orochimaru would take him away. He couldn’t go back on his word, even if it went against his morals. His word was the only thing he ever had that was worth anything. He wouldn’t give that away for all the Sasukes of the world.