-CHAPTER 1- Entre Nous

His light steps were tapping along the concrete strolling through the heavily illuminated filthy streets of his deprived neighborhood, fine-combing a hand through the maze of ebony locks, keeping his stare steadily straight, eschewing from the lustful stares that he got from the bombastic prostitutes who were shamefully advertising their voluptuous bodies to his discompassionate eyes.

Keep going...

Nightlife in Konoha`s most deprived neighborhood Sharingan was lush and flamboyant at this hour, and unfortunately this is also the moment when all the most annoying of headaches will make a throbbing ache simmer inside his temples, and the young male released a heavy breath through his lips in exasperation when deleterious tall person with a nutty outward aspect, tarnished clothes similar to his own, an unruly bristling beard and disheveled spikes tapped his shoulder and squeezed him hard with a daring jerk.

Any sweet idea of letting his nape hit the comfortable headrest of his sofa as quick as possible have swooped from his mind when he stopped dead in his tracks, shrieked away from the bold touch of that impish male, dusting his old leather jacket that was cupping his lissome torso like he was getting rid of garbage and hissed through clattering teeth like a venomous serpent. "Move it or you`ll lose it."

Elfin olive orbs being glazed by intoxication and bleeding ruby red tried to focus on the taller than him silhouette, grinning while rolling a bong between his grey burned fingers, leaning against the frame of a cheap local mini market` s door, his general atmosphere mixing perfectly with the urban decadence of the deviant place, where no sane living would want to reside. "Why so touchy? Business problems, huh?"

"Why don`cha go and find some good relief for your constant sexual frustration, instead of brooding around all the damn time?" The heavy cheap smoke from his joint came in whirling spirals from his thick lips, while his interlocutor was burning him with an incandescent stare that was capable of melting concrete and slaying through the thick smoke that he rudely blew against his face. "People like ya kills the mooood..."

The slurring in his voice accompanied by the poignant stench of contraband alcohol betrayed his inebriated state of mind, thus explaining the heavy slurring. "You`ll fucking die sometime soon Kiba. Mark my words, I am trying to give you a friendly advice."

One of the inhabitants of that deprived Godforsaken place that was even being avoided by Police Cops for being notoriously corrupted and soaked with illegal business going down here, courtesy to all the most reputed social rejects who were making a living here, was Inuzuka Kiba. "Friendly advice you say, heh?"

He took a long drag from his joint, already feeling like the world around was smeared by an iridescent synesthesia of colors inducing the sweetest narcotized state of mind as he lost balance and tripped on his feet, stumbling two large steps froward to the stoic male, descending the concrete stairs, nearly bumping into his chest.

"There is no such shit as friendship here, dude," A trembling finger poked the chiseled planes of the male before him twice hard, making him tense through all his sturdy fibers as his atmosphere turned from dangerously stupendous to lethal and malice in a nanosecond. "and this is what is the best in places like this," Kiba let his muscled arm wreathe in a seemingly friendly manner around his companion`s sculpted shoulders, letting his glace orbs look around and pointing with his other hand that was cupping an empty bottle of beer.

"We are all traders and dealers," bitter irony, resignation, a tinge of dark humor all coated into the lurid idiosyncratic insanity and effervescence that one who has just been released from prison possessed were spilling from his stuttering lips.

"We are all fucking hypocrites, do you understand now?" He swayed on his own legs barely keeping himself in a proud vertical stance, being roughly pushed away off his person and he fell with his back against the stained dirty window of the shop, sliding down on his butt in a completely disheveled pathetic stance.

"There is no one to care enough for this Godforsaken place, Uchiha!" His head was rolling along with his shoulders as he was shouting out words that got him equally vitreous stares from the by passers, in vibrant, acquiesce and confirmation. "Look around ya and smell it, feel it! This is shit we are living into and it will swallow us all one day but you know what is the beauty of it? That we will all be going down together! And no one will give a flying fuck! And that will be pure deliverance!"

Those were the words that he kept on repeating like a self-mantra and a personal praying over and over again, every night at the same hour, making from that place where his now limp form drenched in the leftover of beer that rolled from his hand and leaked its content forming a small pool around his head, drenching his dirty hair.

Kiba was a drug addict to the core and a society reject, an orphan whose 'noble' lineage went back into the days when his parents have been bank robbers and died during their last 'performance' shoot by the cops, leaving him a deprived orphan.

He was living on the streets, just like many of the equally alienated rejects of the society, forgotten by the ritzy life that spanned beyond the horizons of their neighborhood, a place that was posing as the sublime salvation, a dream, an aspiration for a better life, something as intangible as it was deceiving -they could smell the taste of the vibrant city hear their never-ending life vibrating, taste the appetizing aromas, see the tall buildings exuding with prosperity and wealth, revel in the idea of walking beyond their ghostly Gehenna.

Inuzuka Kiba has been denied Paradise, just like all of them. "Fool... you are all such fools." Sasuke kicked the intoxicated male in his tarnished sneakers with the tip of his shoe, getting a sudden jerk of his left leg, signaling that he was not dead yet. "You will die here Kiba and you will die in vain."

All for nothing, for a dream, for a moment of pleasure, he refused to live, to find something better. He chose drugs, so he chose death by default. His bare arms were creased by bruises, burning red cuts from the shots he was injecting into his veins and street fights and covered in intricate tattoos with animals and tribal motifs.

Sighing, Sasuke tapped the bottom of his pockets with his hands in a peculiar manner, turning his back on the messy male that was drooling over the pavements and crossed the zebra without preoccupying himself with the color of the flickering stop. There was barely anyone in that area with a functional car to drive and even if it was, they will slam the brake to the floor upon seeing him walk around.

"Don`t listen to his bullshit, Sasuke," Orbs coated in the tinge of the deepest shade of charcoal shuffled to his left as he was following the sullen contours of the tall leafless oak trees spilled along the alley of a dubious park that he was supposed to traverse on his way to his home, to the source of the sultry practiced tone, not slowing down once. "you know how Kiba is when he gets high. Why don`t you take a break and stop by my place for a coffee and..." here is where her lips curled in a more seductive resonance, as she flickered a hand along her lush curves naughtily and winded her hips to him, coming to cross his path. "...maybe something sweeter and spicier?"

The vulgar perfume applied in heavy puffs behind her earlobes and pulse overflown Sasuke`s nostrils as she patted his chest with a practiced ghost of a touch with her bright red long manicured nails, letting a finger slide down the swells of his abdomen that was deliciously chiseled under the slim fit dark shirt, giving him a cheap look to complete the not so subtle sultry invitation. "You can trade your generous offers somewhere else, Ino. I am not interested."

Sasuke rudely sidestepped as Ino`s finger fell from his body, letting out a humorless giggle that was as childish and innocent as it was not matching her reputation of a high-class prostitute, or so she considered herself to be, because, in reality, Ino was one of the most reputed streetwalkers and definitely one of the most forward in her gestures and the phrase 'no inhibition' was part of the trademark.

"Why are you so afraid? I don`t bite... if you don`t ask me to. Or you consider yourself to be too royal and exquisite to sleep with deprived cheap whores like me, ne Sasuke-kun?" Said Uchiha`s heels tapped hard against the concrete as the fading dirty golden lights from the flickering bulbs were getting blurred and almost unable to penetrate through the darkest corners as she fell into steps with him.

For as long as she has known this mysterious Uchiha, Ino, as well as the other women around, mostly falling into the category of prostitutes have not refrained from being provocative, but he was as much as a dark horse as he was insanely sexy, even with his equally cheap and dirty look.

He was always refusing them and rumors erupted among their small community of socially rejects that he was having big issues but then again, Sasuke was not a man who anyone wanted to mess with if they knew what was good for them, they always kept the distance.

Of course, with some exceptions but Sasuke was hardly someone violent. He would rather not immix with anyone albeit he was living the same life of a nearly beggar, consuming the same out of date food from the local market, smoked the same cheap cigars albeit he never did drugs, refreshed his senses with the same energy drinks and alcohol and blended with the others through his messy torn clothes.

He whirled on his heel, coiled a toned arm around her waist and let his obsidian orbs skim along her bare model legs, her hips that were cupped by a glitter purple mini skirt and the mini top that barely wrapped her voluptuous breasts framed by no bra underneath and, as he breathed in her sluttish vestment, Sasuke dipped his head down to bruise her glossy lips in a heavy dark kiss, mashing his tongue with her own and suckling the life out of her through a heated indecent wet French kiss that left her breathless.

The Uchiha retracted his lips from hers before she started to enjoy herself and get foolish ideas into those glace azurite orbs, wrapping his digits around her bony wrist stopping her when her palm that was resting on his abdomen skimmed south between his thighs, kneading the bulge into his pants with the back of her palm, getting no reaction in response; like always, Uchiha was the epitome of self-control.

Keep going...

"Let just says that I found some other stuff to keep me heavily entertained, Ino." His magnetizing voice came in droplets of chocolate and rich wine as he breathed the words on her ear, hotly, sensually, making the blonde Yamanaka, former aspiring actress with an insane talent for Shakespearean tragedies and an inborn genius for romantic novels who has been tricked by a corrupted producer who left her jobless, bankrupt and broken hearted and current hooker, moan in delight.

"And," She crooned appealingly between gasps of air, trying to charm the always phlegmatic Uchiha, without luck. Those sable eyes were too deep to pierce, too cold, too dangerous and fast to catch, speaking of anything and yet nothing at all, playing with her, while they took a sharper glint. "what would that be?"

Here is where his sensuous lips pressed into a firm line as he strengthened his hold on her wrist and effortlessly he bent her hand painfully so as to whirl her around like a puppet and slammed her back against her chest, keeping her a captive, snarling darkly to the blonde in a lethal resonance which was so opposing to how his hot gestures were. "Now now Ino, haven`t you heard that curiosity has killed the cat?" And by that emphasize on the word, Sasuke also pointed to her shameful job.

"We don`t want to ruin our friends` dream business by leaving you in a pool of blood to make the headlines now, do we Ino?" A subtle tilt of his head so as to make his ebon locks collide with the frisky frolicsomeness in his eyes turned the air around electric in both danger and sexiness.

Ino`s orbs followed the same line of vision as Sasuke`s as her rococo baby blue eyes downcast in sadness upon seeing her rather disappointed boss Asuma Sarutobi playing with a sharp knife and glaring at the blonde for taking a slack instead of working thus depriving him of dirty money and they all knew what that male was capable of when displeased. The bruises and cuts on her arms and legs that she concealed under tons of makeup were evidence enough. "Please..."

Her smile was strangled, forced and seeping with smothered tears, appealing to the Uchiha to at least keep appearances but he was not listening to what she was saying, rather than held Asuma`s stern glare with one of his trademarks one, making the grown up adult shriek away from those horrible eyes and look away then he whispered. "Go plead with a priest and not me or get a goddamn decent job that is... if you have any fragment of decency left in your stained body."

Mumbling a vicious annoying through clenched teeth, Sasuke pushed the blonde roughly off his person and making those high heeled legs stumbled two steps front and she almost tripped on the broken pavements, shouting after him. "What the fuck is your problem, huh?! You are not better than any of us, you cheap prick!"

Sasuke didn`t return her insult nor did he turned his head around to acknowledge her threat.

Keep going...

A gang of messy hooligans eyed him smirking and grinning as he passed the school`s old and decaying outline, taking a sharp detour to cut the distance short by crossing the back yard where delinquent youths were using the place as an improvised basketball court.

They watched his lithe form ripple along the shadows of the poorly illuminated street with fear, fascination and a pang of jealousy and chagrin that he dare to intervene into their intense game with such an arrogant nonchalance, not sparing them any single glance. They wisely backed away off his path, leaving him be without engaging him in a fight like they normally would.

Not after he took on Aburame Shino`s gang of drug dealers last mouth alone and armed with only his distinctive combat knife with split edges, in less than ten minutes, coming victorious without a single scratch on his body. And he also burned down their entire marijuana production with a single flicker of his lighter and gasoline that he took from their leader`s ravaged old Mustang.

Uchiha Sasuke was on a league of his own. Orbs were following him weary, they were smirking with wicked crazy intent at him but never approach him or look him in the eyes -a grave mistake for those who wanted to engage him in a fight and provoke him, women were lusting after his looks of danger and filigree sensuality but not many were daring enough to tempt him -Ino was an exception because they were tad more on friendly terms with each other since they were some kind of neighbors, the most badass gang leaders who were stupid enough to insult him in a deviant way to defend their blown ego, were never actually keeping the traits to beat him to a pulp or kill him.

Everyone in the Sharingan was both fearing him and respected him. Uchiha was a demon in disguise, an anfractuous enigma, they knew nothing of his past except for some horrible rumors circulating about his family being murdered in cold blood in a night and his older brother committing suicide by jumping off the Great Naruto Bridge, no one knew what he did for a living, albeit he always left his apartment at dawn and came back late and he was falling into the category of badass characters who was going into the city -the place they looked at with hope and aspiration, like Providence.

What he did there was a mystery; whispers were fluttering behind his lissome steps that he was dealing drugs, or he has involved with underground gangs of illegal street fights or even guns trafficking but no one has been daring enough to follow him. He was famous for being more than mentally and physically capable of killing them in a blink of an eye.

The combat knife dangling on his loose ripped tarnished Jeans` leather belt was evidence enough and he has been wicked enough not to have it cleaned by the stains of dry blood along the sharp blades. His general aura was making people stop in their tracks like struck by lightning in both fear and fascination.

"Have you heard that?" Konohamaru, a drop out from school and currently involved in car thefts prompted his orange basketball under his armpit, whispering to a skinny tomboy looking female with peculiar ponytails poking her head low so as not to be heard by the Uchiha. "I heard it from Kiba who heard it from Ino who heard it from a dude from Aburame clan who heard it from a client of Anko Mitarashi that lives in a shit expensive flat on the city that Uchiha works for a strong criminal family of Mobsters."

"No shit!" Moegi`s orbs narrowed mischievously as she was chewing from her grapefruit lollipop, tapping her feet on the concrete, she too looking after Uchiha but unlike the other females she was absolutely unfazed by his gorgeous looks; because she was lesbian. "I always had a hunch that this guy ain`t funny business."

"Then why is he still living here like a beggar?" Udon, they childhood friend and another of the three famous orphans whose parents have gone bankrupt overnight and committed suicide leaving the kids without parents and money, eventually ending up in the streets finding shelter in the Hell that was Sharingan, closed in to the group, whipping the sticky mucus dangling from his huge nostrils with the back of his palm, fixing his glasses that were way weaker than his huge myopia, barely seeing anything clearly. "I heard someone saying that he is loaded and everything he does is just an act."

"You can never be sure when it comes to this guy but I do know fo` sure that I wouldn`t want to get tangled with him. I heard that he has killed people before and no one knows what he did with their bodies afterwards."

"Fucking scary." Moegi took the ball from his hands when Konohamaru let his orbs shuffle from the Uchiha`s shadow that went around the corner to a brisk movement sneaking behind his back without being seen. "C`mon, we ain`t over and you still owe me the next meal if I whoop your asses."

Konohamaru grinned silently before whirling on his heel and joining the gang resuming their game. Moegi was the only girl who refused to go into prostitution and instead, she joined the local dirty garage for helping Jiraiya the Head mechanic with his job, rapidly becoming one of the best. The payment was definitely not as high as a whore or a dancer`s in the clubs tip, but it was definitely more decent and she was fine with that. It did not mean the fact that she was not equally poor and almost went to bed starving but Jiraiya and the rest were just as penniless.

They helped each other and cared for each other like family. This was Sharingan -a living Hell where all of them were brothers, sisters and sharing the same fate.

Keep going...

He knew he was being followed, his high alert senses were running haywire drumming into his vessels but he remained disimpassioned and the same stoic calm bastard that made people pull the hairs off their heads at how annoying his personality was, fingering the keys into his pocket as he took the stairs to the third floor of that building with peeling walls, scurrying rats and kitchen bugs wandering around, single young moms with crying children running along the hall screaming and making his goddamn head pound, couples eloping here to entangle into a dreamy marriage against their families` consent now living in poverty and misery shouting obscenities and reenacting Romeo and Juliet, hipsters and rockers roaming around high and happy in their own illusion away from reality, nearly bumping into him, but Sasuke kept his hand in front of his face, shoving every high fucker who might collide with his form out of his way.

The last wooden scratched door with questionable marks written in graffiti on it was his Gate to Paradise. He exhaled deeply as he avoided a shoe that has missed the targeted to hit his face as he twisted the key into the lock and kicked the door open with his leg, sighing heavily in exasperation.

The words 'you fucking traitorous cheater', 'you were fucking that slut into our bed' and 'you never work while I am the one supporting you and you spend the money on alcohol and cigars' echoed along the hall. Sasuke slammed the door shut behind him, revealing into the silence. The interior of his 'cave' was soundproof albeit no one could guess since it looked just as ghostly and abandoned as the rest.

"Fucking idiots..." Not even bothering to turn the lights on -were they still functional, Sasuke kicked his sneakers off his feet aimlessly, in the same place where the equally worn out jacket landed heading to the small kitchen. There was no word to describe the place he lived in, except for a mouse hole.

His apartment was, in reality, a single small room, separated by a single wall where an improvised kitchen was and the toilet was at the end of every hall, sharing it with the other neighbors and it was worse than any toilet in any horror movie or students campuses, being dirty, leaking, smelly and never unoccupied; the words hygienic and sanitary were as ridiculous as they were nonexistent in a building that no one would even start to imagine living.

Yup, definitely NOT Paradise. "Don`t tell me that idiot..." Opening up his mini fridge, a vein poked on the rim of his temple when realizing that he only had one beer left and a leftover of a chicken sandwich and tomatoes. His home was filled with tomatoes like he was a gardener having an obsession with them.

Racking an embittered hand through the mash of inky locks removing them from poking his onyx eyes, Sasuke grabbed the half empty beer and the sandwich, mumbling under his breath as he rolled his shirt upwards to slide it from his torso, while unbuckling the belt of his Jeans freeing his sculpted body from the hinges of his regular attire, remaining nude except for his dark boxers that hung low against the outline of his defined waist, throwing his ass on the sofa, a remote control playing between his fingers.

Lazily he zapped the channels until he found a bloody Western movie, skipping through the ones with hot news and politics, putting the volume up to cover the pounding of his escalating headache, sinking into the couch and munching on his improvised dinner.

Five minutes later, someone has jumped right through his opened window like a feline and if he wasn`t used to this by now smartly leaving it open so as not to have the glass broken again, he would have slept with the cold wind blowing on his naked ass. A loud reprehensible voice shrieked. "Oi Bastard, watcha doing? Already brooding and it`s like what? 1:45 a.m.? C`mon, this is the time when all the fun begins and all the homies are back in town, believe it!"

Now THAT was something that almost had Sasuke quirk a finely carved eyebrow up in annoyance, but he was plainly too lazy and tired to do that so he merely sneered not removing his eyes from the TV. Two rival cowboys were shooting each other and fighting for a piece of land full of cows and horses. "Man I`ve shouted at you but you didn`t hear me! What the hell Sasuke?"

Said Uchiha could hear the blonde approaching him, and with an easy feline push up against the headrest of the sofa, he propelled himself beside Sasuke, grinning brightly from ear to ear and screaming in his ears. "Oi, why are you ignoring me for? You`re such a crazy Teme, you know?"

"What do you want Naruto?" Sasuke`s response came as half of his thin lips curled down in a scowl. This was the most obstreperous person that the Uchiha has ever met. Uzumaki Naruto was his self-proclaimed best friend, who was kindly transgressing the privacy of his quiet home by jumping from his window at the same hour to annoy the fuck out of him, always raiding his fridge because the money he earned from being a cashier at the local Ramen shop -because Moegi was faster than him to steal the job of a mechanic right from under his nose, were insufficient for decent booze and blabbering about things that Sasuke was not listening to him.

At all.

Then he disappeared at some point to wander aimlessly through the streets until the morning. As he didn`t have a home of his own, he usually slept under the bridge, or the sinister dirty metro station or a bench in the park, sometimes sharing the same space under the twinkling stars with Kiba the druggie addict. Yup, his life was far from a good one, but this male was unique.

The bizarre creature with his eternal ostentation orange shirt with the label Kyuubi ebbed on the chest and bright eyes was always smiling, oozing of a contagious optimism and never ever gave up; he swore to make it to the city one day and start anew, fighting for a better life.

He refused to rent or buy a room because he was saving money. What money, Sasuke had no idea and nor did the care. Naruto was annoying, his implied friendship with him was annoying, his obnoxious voice was annoying, his habit of drinking his beers and eating his food was equally annoying as barging into his room on the window, his grinning was annoying and everything they had in common was a street fight that they have been on the same side, stomping on their rivals.

But that was all. Ever since then, Uzumaki claimed that they had some sort of eternal bond between losers going on, except for the fact that Sasuke seemed to tolerate him more than acknowledge him and they were completely antithetical in personalities. "...Can you believe it?" The blonde finished with a shriek leaning towards Sasuke, snatching the sandwich from his chest as the Uchiha was busy changing channels and chewing on it, speaking with his mouth wide open.

"What?" Of course, that Sasuke didn`t bother to listen to him because seriously, when has Naruto said something useful for him to be interested in? "Why are you still here for dobe? Fuck off, I`m damn tired and... why are you eating my food? Don`t you have any shame?"

"Nah, I am just doing it to annoy you," He sputtered between large bits of food, shrugging indifferently. "I was saying that Tenten got arrested yesterday night." That made Sasuke`s lips tap against the bottle without angling it to let the content overfill his burning sore throat.

"No shit? What for?"

"No idea," Naruto pressed his index finger under his chin, crossing his legs atop Sasuke`s small coffee table. "something about illegal possession of arms into a club and smoking weed in a club that prohibited it. They asked for one hell of a bail otherwise, she will spend some months in prison."

"Sucks." The Uchiha shrugged the topic of indifferently, knowing it all too well that Tentenhad the money to trade them for her freedom because she was part of the illegal gang of street fighting between women and she waste current champion.

Huge bets were made there and thus she earned a fair share of the money. Tenten was a reject with money, but she remained down on earth, an independent woman being part of the new wave of the feminist movement promoting the women`s worth and emancipation and she was friendly and kind with everyone. A contradiction -sweet on the day and lioness on the night. And she was another female like Moegi who didn`t become a crack whore.

And her criminal record was thicker than the Criminal Code itself, not that she minded it. Almost every one of the Sharingan inhabitants was part of the Police Database 'collection'. They were people who the society considered to be dangerous and set a bad example and that was the reason why they were outcasts rejoicing.

"Meh, she will just pay for the bail, show them the middle finger, throw a tantrum, insult them for being racist pigs and return to business."

"Last time I heard, she smacked a cop and she got fined and took two weeks of community service."

"Yeah, it makes me shriek to imagine Tenten collecting garbage or cleaning the dirt from the rivers. Yuk."

"Dobe," The rather serious and lower tone in Uchiha`s voice had a pair of azurite orbs shuffle to him. It was one of the rare moments when Sasuke seemed truly interested in engaging this idiot into a conversation. "why are you chasing after me?"

That was a question which was both unexplainable as it was easy, so Naruto simply cracked a beam that overshadowed the sun and sung like a canary. "Because you are my best friend."

Sasuke glimmered once like pondering what Naruto was saying. "I`ve heard this more than your favorite Rolling Stones vinyl. What does this mean to you?"

"Ain`t ever really thought about this really," Embarrassment took the manifestation of a rub against his nape as Naruto seemed to work his neurons hard to concoct a coherent answer. "it`s just that when we fought, I had this feeling that you were alone and needed someone to feel this pain but at the same time, you don`t want the others to see how miserable you are and so you make them be scared of you and sulk here alone." This is when Naruto became deadly serious and it was scary to see this man so seemingly wise. "And it pains me to see you suffering."

Like expectedly, Sasuke was completely unfazed about his words. He was not denying them but either accepting them. The fact that he was not telling him off was evidence enough for everybody ton consider the blonde as Sasuke`s best friend, but if they were scared shitless of Uchiha and his dark background, Naruto on the other hand easily passed as mentally deranged.

Some people considered him to have been completely nutty ever since his parents died on a plane crash when he was a baby boy. Some were saying such things about him was because of his deviant behavior and impossible dreams. But who knew better?

It was not fazing Sasuke in fact, he was silently praising Naruto for keeping on his dreams, as illusory as they were and thus never giving up. It took a lot of courage to never give up and continue hoping and dreaming. "Bullshit. You just want me to beat the crap out of you. I think you are a masochist dobe." But he was funny to see; a ray of sunlight amidst those crepuscule streets. Somehow, it made Sasuke`s gloomy boring life tad better.

Keep going...

"Now get out of my home. I want to sleep."

"Can I sleep here?"

"No."

"Can I have another beer?"

"This was the last one, courtesy of you who never buy me another to replace it." He was joking of course. Sasuke knew that Naruto was poorer than any of them, maybe with the exception of Kiba because he never stole or did anything illegal. He was honest, humble, kind and stupidly correct. So he was a notorious beggar.

"You are such a bastard. Where do you get your money from anyway? I know that it must be some serious shit but man... some say that you are involved with Mobsters. Is that true?" It was not like Naruto was an imbecile constantly high and in cloud nine and rumors circulated fast into their neighborhood.

Plus, he trusted Sasuke and claimed to know him better than anyone else but the Uchiha had the same laconic response for everything, saying so much nothingness through a word that encompassed everything. "From here and there, nothing much. Just enough to have me keep on going." Which meant that he only got money for drinks and food, because no one paid the rent to an abandoned building.

Naruto got up abruptly brushing his fingers through his bristle spikes, sighing and heading to the door. Naruto had this paranoid habit that he was respecting religiously. He got inside through the window but always left on the door, like following a karmic cycle which broke the bad omen. He was full of questionable manners and someone as intuitive as Uchiha Sasuke caught it easily analyzed it and easily depicted his character.

"One day when you are ready Sasuke," He lingered one more moment in his doorsteps while whipping the grease on his hands off his ripped sweat pants speaking in a tone that was not matching his goofy personality. "I will be here to listen."

He left with those missives lingering behind his frame, while Sasuke only blinked slowly once, pondering his words but never saying anything more than his peculiar silent manner of responding to everything using reverse psychology; his quietude was his most expressive way of saying anything and yet keeping his life coated in mystery.

Naruto wanted the truth from him, but Sasuke will never open up to anyone. Somehow, the blonde dobe was able to sneak inside his mind and plant the seed of camaraderie, brotherhood, and friendship into his head, but Sasuke will never fall for such cheap psychology, because in reality... he was an expert.

"Tch, how annoying." It was not Sasuke`s nature to be an antisocial paranoid prick with questionable criminal behavior and laconic mannerism or standoffish tendencies, only someone who had a good reason to keep his life as a secret from anyone else.

Riiing Riiing

A hard rock tune buzzed from his phone that he, unfortunately, kept in the chest pocket of his jacket -the same that he tossed on the other side of the room, landing atop a shelf with a single cactus plant. Eying the ID of the caller, he couldn`t help but let his orbs hit the back of his head in exasperation sighing and running a hand through his messy locks. "You do realize that I have been working my ass for the past two days without having a single hour of sleep and only worked on caffeine, right?"

An equally sarcastic husky voice graced him from the other side of the line, making the Uchiha`s nerves sink in exasperation. "Maybe, but I do realize that you are so conveniently paid for overworking your lazy ass so stop complaining Uchiha and hear me out, this is important. I wouldn`t have cut my sake break short just to hear you mop if it wasn`t."

Apparently calm and composed, Sasuke listened to the woman talking, waiting for her in practiced patience to nourish her addiction for her favorite beverage by sipping from it, before she spoke again. "I will do my best to appear like I am listening."

"You are such a conceited bastard," She mirrored Naruto`s words with a frightening precision before resuming her speech. She was always a drama queen and liked to exaggerate everything to the point it became ridiculous and seemingly harder than it was. At least for someone of his caliber. "But then again, this makes you my best man so hear me out. I have a mission for you."

"Now that`s a line that I hear it more often than good morning greeting."

"It`s an S-Class Mission. A top secret one." Limber shoulders tensed in an involuntary reaction to the news that he was hearing and immediately his attention has been focused on digesting every word.

"I am all ears."

"Our men found out about a top notch Mob setting his eyes on Sharingan and apparently, he and his men will get there by tomorrow morning. We have a suspicion that he wants to start a new black market using the Sharingan as some sort of HQ if you know what I mean."

"Aa."

"We must catch this bastard before they take over the underground world and control the black market." That was plainly obvious, Sasuke mentally added. "Understand that it is highly imperative for us to throw those assholes in jail as soon as possible."

"Who might those fuckers be? Do I know them?" Because his vast knowledge in the world of Mobsters and reputed criminals was Sasuke`s specialty.

"I doubt you do. They have been keeping a low profile until some months ago when they took over the Sound and the Sand and now they are targeting Konoha. They usually operate from the shadows and have their own trained faithful lackeys to do their dirty job and take over the most deprived places first, then aim for the biggest cities. And so they manage to control the entire illegal markets and have every single illegal shit under their umbrella. They operate like one big corporation which is perfectly legal only on paper because,in reality, they use it as a shield for their illegal activity. And they have many adepts and connections. The organization is almost impossible to penetrate. All our men have failed and some have disappeared without a trace while trying to get information with no success. All we have are speculations and rumors and blurred messages, so this naturally makes this job even more difficult."

In reality, it was more than difficult what she was asking him to do. So basically Sasuke had to penetrate a hermetic criminal organization and break it from inside out by stealing Intel and not only that, but he was also required to blend with them and then came the hardest part -gain their trust.

And the notion of trust and the concept behind this entire phenomenon was seemingly unapproachable in his world or did not completely mold on his personality, but then again, Uchiha Sasuke could be very versatile and potent when it came to operating with the people`s minds and work on their emotions, rather than focus on something as superficial as trying to blend in.

Because he has learned a valuable lesson during his journey alone as an orphan who has been a tormented witness of his clan`s massacre -the one who comes successful from manipulating the darkness inside their hearts, then he will stand atop of the world.

Now question was, what was the darkness of an already dark organization? Those mind riddles, analytical, psychological and philosophical ideologies were exciting for Sasuke and thus his job was never boring. "I accept. What are the details?"

"I expect you tomorrow morning into my office and I will hand you all the data we have with further instructions. They are already inside the country and heading here, I suppose with their private jet or limos. Keep an eye open until then and be cautious. They might have spies already implanted there to scout the surroundings and know the waters they are swimming inside. I am sure you understand it."

Immediately a list of various names which had familiar faces attached to it rippled along the flow of his flawless memory -Naruto, Ino, Kiba, Shino, Asuma, Kakashi or... Naruto. That dobe has always been someone who made suspicion turn Sasuke into a bigger paranoid than he was. "I do in fact. I am not that stupid as you make me be, Tsunade." She was a proud representative of the feminist movement and pretty much like Tenten`s headstrong personality, the name Senju came with praise, notoriety, credibility, fame and reputation.

She knew when to be stoic, strict, serious and work in a professional climate, and also when to be alluring, sensual, seductive and appealing without being vulgar or less tactful and elegant. And she was his boss which was highly inconvenient because getting orders from a woman, no matter how admirable and more than capable she was, was bothersome.

And not because of some preconceptions of his regarding women because Sasuke respected women and was more polite towards the female sex than with the men, but because she was volcanic, temperamental and emotional and she was venting her nerves on him.

And she was a top notch Kung Fu black belt with a harder punch than a male`s.

And she liked to use those punches not only to crush on her desk or windows.

Then she sulked and drown in alcohol and he ended up carrying her home or finish her job that her secretary who was a sweet kind hearted woman, who had a good word for everyone and never offended anyone, but she was also a foreigner who didn`t speak English and thus he ended up both taking care of Tsunade and doing her paperwork.

Namely, he worked overtime without being extra paid for it. to that Sasuke was to being highly paid because that would be hypocrisy. Adding it to his Uchiha fortune which was placed safely on a bank account in Switzerland that was getting rusty and long forgotten because he didn`t touch a single penny of it, Sasuke was fairly wealthy, but money was his last point of interest.

He plainly didn`t give a shit about money. He lived in poverty just like his neighbors without having a problem with that and occasionally he offered money to orphans like him, making generous donations to orphanages of course, without anyone to notice it.

And this is why they all thought that he was involved in illegal stuff. That was a good source of private entertainment for Sasuke and his colleagues who knew the truth and jokes were overflowing about that topic.

"I know I know Jeez. I am just trying to take care of your brat. God only knows what a pain in the ass you are all emo and always brooding at everything that moves and did you no harm," This is when Sasuke let out a humorless snort. He was a pain in the ass? She was working him a a her slave and she was the one complaining. Women... "just... be here on time ok? I want to see your ugly face in my office tomorrow at 7:00, not a single minute later or I will name you as a rookie trainer."

The Uchiha nearly hit his head against the armrest as he drew a blanket over his naked form, slipping his unoccupied hand under the elastic band of his dark boxers, letting them slide down his toned thighs and threw them in the washing machine, lying on his tummy on the couch that served a double purpose, still hearing the woman blabber being half in this world and half of the sweet sake mirage.

His lids were feeling heavy and his orbs dusty and stinging. Damn he was so SO tired! Then her last threat has been dominated inside his brain and he nearly crooked an eyebrow up -because Uchiha was famous for never reacting in any situation and that smart approach made him a guaranteed winner from every psychological confrontation.

Always being in control over his emotions was part of his arsenal and apart from the emotional intelligence, his intellect was on par with the other honed skills. Of course, waking up earlier than 10:00 was taboo for him but seriously... dealing with the rookies was too low even for Tsunade. But so was his task of a high importance. "You wouldn`t dare."

"Don`t you dare to provoke me brat because I have no problem in kindly reminding you what I am capable off. Be here on time or I will personally come after you to drag your ass here and you won`t like it, of that, I promise."

And she meant every part of it. Tsunade had that seductive unpredictability which both stunned and shocked the audience and she once dragged one of her subordinates from the shower because he was half an hour late for an urgent briefing. And he was still naked and only dropped into a shower curtain, dripping hair with bubbles of shampoo foam atop his head and an embarrassed expression on his flushed face.

"I`m hanging up. Good night, you old Hag." Tsunade absolutely abhorred any word addressed to her that might emphasize or refer to her age –one that was not nowhere near her physical beauty and seemingly younger appearance.

"Why you little-"

An almost limp finger tapped on the End button, cutting the blonde half-drunk woman short, knowing that she finished off what she had to say and was important and she would start to blabber and use him as a punching bag and the patient listener that he was... not.

"Annoying."

Sleep came to him short after, while his phone aside from his fingers on the carpet soundless and symbolically. He was worn out, exhausted and now another hard tiring mission has been given to him. The reason behind his actions, that seemingly pathetic life of indulging into a boring uneventful life with the same routine was simple -he was paying homage to both his deceased father and a childhood dream, but the fact that he accomplished the last one didn't mean that it healed the wound caused by losing the first one.

He was empty on the inside, the hollow inside his chest was deep and so was his obscure heart. He was a broken torn young man with no other expectations in life, rather than simply continuing living his life with no emotion or passion poured into it.

Keep going... was the only motivation he had, unlike Naruto whose creed was comprised of a very inspiriting line never going back on my word. It made Sasuke`s motto look pathetic.

A round full moon shone through his half-closed window as its pale rays spilled across half of his dark room. A small lucent of a golden object was reflecting the light as the words carved in relief become visible from the badge that was concealed under his leather jacket. It wrote-

Federal Bureau of Investigation, Special Agent.

Uchiha Sasuke was the greatest FBI agent working undercover for ten years and his current mission was to infiltrate into one of the high ranked Mob families in the Five Nations.

The Haruno family.

He was yet to learn all the details by tomorrow morning about how exactly will he infiltrate into the family and collect enough data to throw them in jail once and for all.

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A/N: Yes I know that this unexpected new story is puzzling and totally r. a. n. d. o. m, but if it looks a little bit familiar know that this is a new story that I imagined a little while ago, but published it on newer account of mine: ChocolateMasquerade. Do not ask me for the reason why I made another one... point is, I could not delete it so I will only leave it inactive for now and thus deleted this story from there and uploaded here for convenience because I do not plan to leave it unfinished and... merely written on a crochet of mine. No worries because it is not going to affect my other stories. So in case that anyone recognize this story -and hopefully likes it- know that this is not plagiarism of any sorts, that account also belongs to me and has been removed from there.