thenearshore | [closed]

Much like Itachi, Sasuke's got pretty much zero clue what a 'yakuza' is, but he has a good bit of experience with shady things - the only perk to having been a criminal is that it makes it easier to pick out things that aren't exactly 'right'. Downside is that without knowing what a 'yakuza' is, it's not so easy to know what it is he should be looking for. Maybe they'd gotten in a bit over their heads with this one...

...but it's too late to turn back, so he'll stick with it.

Dropping down from his perch on a lamp post, Sasuke gives him a small shrug before stepping out into the street. "Unless you know what it is we're looking for, it probably wouldn't hurt to move a bit."

It's as close to saying 'I have no fucking clue what I'm doing' as he'll get.

"I read on a site called 'Wikipedia' on what yakuza members generally look like. They were suits that are a bit flashy and they also have tattoos all over their body..." He watched as his god elegantly descended from the lamp post.

"...I suppose since it is night now, we may have a better chance of locating them. Since people cannot see us it would be easy to follow someone... if we could get a lead." If, being the keyword. But he was willing to do anything, as long as he was able to help his god. He stood up a little straighter.

"I will do all I can not to fail you, Sasuke-sama."

"If we fail, we fail. It's not our fault that we don't know what they are." At the same time though, he'd really prefer that they not screw this up. He just has to keep an eye out for anything that could be out of sorts. That's all, right?

It's easier for him to get a better view from up above, but from that vantage point, it's also easy to miss the little things -gestures, concealed movements- that could give something away. "You said you read it? If it was out there for you to read, then maybe they'll try and do something different to avoid being seen or caught." Or maybe he's completely wrong since here isn't home, and these 'yakuza' aren't shinobi. Still, he did agree to tackle this one, so he can't come back empty-handed.

"Let me know if you see something, okay?"

"Yes, Sasuke-sama." With that, he started patrolling the area. This is where these 'yakuza' had been seen, after all.

It was as it finally grew dark that she spotted his first sign of promise: two men were huddled in a corner, looking particularly "shady" if he had to put a word to it. They were both in suits, but it was nothing like the businessmen that were around. They had flair: spiked, wild hair, sunglasses, suits that were Italian-cut and flamboyant or missing ties. Even the way they spoke seemed to be different: a little loud, and the accent was... new. They rolled their 'r's a lot. There was laughter, some rough housing... and then they began to make their way through the allies. Itachi glanced over to his god, sure the other had spotted them.

"They seem to fit the description."

Turning his attention in the direction Itachi had been looking, Sasuke wrinkles his nose as he looks them over. What the hell...? "That's what people in gangs wear here? And people are actually afraid of them?! They look like cheap weapons dealers!" Though to him, 'weapons' means kunai, shuriken, and other ninja tools, and he really shouldn't be dissing someone's clothing when he himself runs around with a purple rope tied around his hips.

A sigh and a shake of his head, and he waves to Itachi to follow him, trailing behind them as they wove through the alleyways. "If they split up, you take one, I'll take the other." Because Itachi can surely handle himself in a tussle, right? Right?

...or at least he can as far as Sasuke recalls, but it's easy to forget that Itachi doesn't have access to his memories to know what he's actually capable of. Fortunately, at least for the moment, they don't seem to realize that they're being tailed, so unless something happens to draw their attention, they should be in the clear.

"...Take--" He begins, but it's a shout from behind that has him halting in his tracks.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO PUNKS DOING?!"

Both the gang members in front of them turned around... and then the two Uchiha were trapped in the middle. Itachi pressed his lips together. This wasn't good.

Oh, that wasn't good. The sudden shout behind them has Sasuke frozen in place, half afraid that they'd just been caught... but when the two in front of them turn, he realizes his mistake. Aw hell. Even being very easily overlooked doesn't mean that they're invisible, and the alley is fairly narrow, so the places to hide are few and far between.

Glancing toward Itachi, Sasuke makes a slight motion with his hand to get as close to the wall as he can, get down, and don't move. There's no time for a transformation technique, so he has to resort to the same and hope they aren't noticed. Meanwhile, said punks are acting casual, insisting they're not doing anything wrong. Without proof to the contrary, any accusations leveled against them won't stick, and they know it.

If he has to, he'll use his rinnegan to get himself and Itachi out of there, but he's hoping it doesn't come to that. "I knew I should've treated this like when we tailed Danzou..." His voice is a whisper, meant only for Itachi, but with his heartbeat pounding in his ears, that whisper is a little louder than he'd intended.

They were only supposed to sniff out the den and alert the local authorities, but if they get caught and the group moves, then it's all for naught.

Itachi pushed himself against the wall with his god, staying quiet as possible as the thugs all met in the middle. There was so talk that they "swore they saw someone else", but after a quick glance around and seeing no one, they started to talk.

"You headed to the den?" One asked.

"Yeah, just got the package an hour ago."

"We'll go with you."

"What, think we can;t make it round the corner without you? Hahah!"

So they were close. Itachi pressed his lips together, watching the small group with wariness. He hoped they didn't wise up and spot them, but luckily, the group began to head off again. He glanced to Sasuke.

"...They didn't see us." Luckily.

Most nerve-wracking thing he's ever done in his entire life. Even sneaking into the Five Kage Summit had been easier than this, though that was largely in part thanks to Karin, who'd been able to pick out the presence of those around them, and Jugo, whose animal friends had led them to an unoccupied entryway. But doing all of this in broad daylight and having to cross fingers and hope that they went unnoticed?! Drinking is not a thing he does, but after this, he might need to!

As the group began to venture back out, Sasuke lets out the breath he'd been holding, releasing his god power, massive wings fanning out behind him.

"Follow them from the ground. I'll take the air."

Seeing him transform was always a strange thing, and for the briefest moment, his eyes showed it. But then he nodded his head, obediently.

"Yes, Sasuke-sama."

That was that, and he turned away, heading off after the group.

The men continued down the alleyway, and from the earlier spook, continued to glimpse behind them. Itachi continued to duck behind trashcans and press his back against the walls as to not be caught.

It was only a few minutes later that some more men came into view, all loitering around a building that seemed to have a basement level. A flickering sign called 'Cricket' was there as well. Itachi glimpsed around in the sky for his god. This must have been the hideout.

Wings aren't the most useful thing in the world, but they're great when it comes to getting up above everything for a bird's eye view. Luckily there are enough power lines and outcroppings that as soon as he's able to get to an area that makes it easy to see the group from above, the wings can be retracted and transformation released. He's still not too keen on holding it for any longer than necessary, and now that he's high enough, chakra alone will be enough to handle pursuit.

It's when they stop that he could just kick himself for missing something here: how are they supposed to alert the authorities without becoming suspect themselves? This isn't like Konoha where you just wrangle 'em up and as long as you're still on the village roster instead of in a bingo book, you're clearly a good guy!

Moving from ledge to ledge until he's able to drop down and meet up with his shinki, Sasuke drops his voice to barely above a whisper. "Tell me you have something you can use to prove that they're here?"

Guess who rarely carries a phone!

He did, at the very least, so Itachi was there, pulling out his own phone in order to catch a picture of them.

"I can just use this," He said quietly. "There is a sort of camera on here."

Itachi was silent as he finally figured out how to open the camera. He lifted it peeking around the corner in efforts to capture a photo. Just one or two, that was all he needed, and then they could be out of there, easy. Only...

Things don't always go as planned, and when he finally took the picture--

CLICK!!!!

The sound echoed off the walls, and suddenly all eyes were on him.

Whoops.

"GET HIM!"

Of course. The absolute worst possible outcome for this, and it would happen to them. What else could go wrong?

He'd thought them to be just your basic street punks, figuring this would be a simple get-in-get-out thing. Indeed if they weren't a fairly mismatched pair, it might have been, but Itachi's nowhere near the level he used to be and it still hasn't hit home yet, because Sasuke's fairly certain they can take them on without a problem...

...except they sure did just rush right past him as if he weren't even there, leaving him momentarily confused. Did they think he wasn't a threat? Did they only go after Itachi since he was the one with the phone? Did they not see him?

Oh. Wait. You have to try to be noticed or do something to single yourself out enough that you catch someone's attention, which would be fine, except the entire point of this mission was to get information to the police, and they may have scre-- no, there's still a way to salvage this, they just have to get out of here intact.

The thoughts come and go as quickly as the guys that had run right by him, and it's only reflexes that cause his hand to snap out, grabbing the last of them by the back of the collar before yanking the man back to slam him into the wall. It's the sound of the guy's body hitting brick that makes the ones toward the back turn, finally taking notice that Itachi's not alone. Not that it dissuades them, still shouting and more than a little intent on getting rid of these interlopers through whatever means necessary.

A basic substitution jutsu to confuse them, some well-placed taijutsu, and his sharingan on one guy who seemed more like a ringleader type and less like a peon... this is entirely child's play.

Now if only he'd thought to keep an eye on his shinki...

He takes several step back, but when a guy reaches him, he managed to block the swing that comes with. Not in a very skillful way, mint you--he just threw his hands up in efforts to not get him. Another one comes from the side.

"Sasuke-sama!" The cry is probably the most panicked he would have ever heard Itachi's voice.

Sorry--your brother, in this life, cannot fight. He jerks away when one of the guys grabs hold of his long ponytail.

The tone is unfamiliar to him, but the voice itself is not, and because of that, his head snaps around just in time to take a fist to the jaw -though that guy ends up on the ground in an unconscious heap a moment later.

This is not good. This is not good at all. "...oh you've got to be kidding me." He hadn't counted on this, that Itachi's missing memories would've wiped out his ability to defend himself, but here it is clear as day and he can't ignore it anymore.

His field of vision on one side goes red, anger building inside him at these bastards who would dare lay a hand on what is rightfully his, by blood and by bond. The crackle of electricity can be heard, like a flock of birds chirping all at once, and he wastes no time in stepping in, his chidori nagashi sending an electrical current through everyone he comes into contact with, hand reaching out to rip them away from his shinki. There are no words -he doesn't trust himself to keep that secret if he speaks- but his actions speak for themselves: Get the fuck away from him.

The guys touched by chidori find themselves dead on the ground--one takes off running in the opposite direction, and there si frantic screaming from them. Itachi, however, hits a wall when he is tossed to the side, and he slides down in a crumpled heap. Dizzy, but otherwise unharmed. His red eyes lift up, wide, seeing how his god had come to save him instantly at the shout of his name.

"..." He can't help but stare at him, and the look on his face is a mix of shock and reverence.

"Sasuke-sama..." He let out. "...Thank you..."

But his eyes, red, just like his...

What kind of bond did they share together?

Despite the thanks, he's not about to leave just one of them. His own sharingan can easily take care of that lone straggler. It doesn't take him long at all to hunt him down, and while genjutsu isn't his specialty at all, this doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to fool him into not believing what actually happened. Catching the man with a glance is all it takes, then he becomes the only survivor of a fight that began as a dispute within the group.

As soon as it's done, Sasuke returns to where he'd left Itachi, his right eye no longer red. He hadn't meant to kill anyone, but he's used to fighting people much more resilient than these guys were. "We're leaving. This might be salvageable, but we'll see. Bring your phone."

Though, more important than a perfect finish to a prayer that they completely made a mess of, he'd learned that Itachi is in desperate need of some sort of self-defense training. Even if he can't fight, he needs to know how to protect himself in the case of an emergency.

Luckily, his phone wasn't damaged during the whole thing. But he remains seated. Because he has to ask.

"We have the same eyes."

The words make his blood run cold, and he freezes in his tracks, afraid to move for fear of Itachi putting the pieces together. He'd been trying so hard not to say anything that could screw things up and get Itachi killed, and yet the thing that could potentially do him in was the one thing Sasuke couldn't help.

The Sharingan.

"That's..." How does he explain this? He can't tell Itachi the truth, because that would literally kill him, so-- ah. There's something he can say after all, that wouldn't be a lie, because Itachi is the one who gave him those eyes to begin with. "...because they came from you." Alright, time to weave an elaborate lie. "It happened after I named you. I guess it's just this place's way of saying we're compatible or something." In more ways than one.

"Ah..." That made sense. Sasuke had managed to evade skillfully. Itchi nodded slowly. "I see."

The older Uchiha picked up his phone. He rose slowly to his feet beside Sasuke.

"We must be a good pair together, then... if such a thing happened." And he leaned into Sasuke, close to his face, trying to peer into his eyes, curious. Inches away. A hand came up, and he touched the barest hint of his fingertips on Sasuke's chin to tilt him ever closer.

"...Do you see things differently...?"

He'd succeeded. Itachi had believed his lie, and now he didn't have to worry about accidentally killing him just because they had the same eyes. Not that he'd ever explain how 'same' they really were.

"Different...ly?" However, he really hadn't expected him to get up close and personal like that. The last time Itachi'd been that close, he'd been an Edo Tensei fading away. "I...I don't know what you're talking about." With that, he jerked his head back, blinking owlishly.

"I think we need to go before someone shows up." Best to finish out this mess of a prayer and get home before he ends up even more confused by all of this.

Oh, he pulled away...

Itachi nodded. "All right." He supposed there was nothing left to do than go to the police. "Let's go to the authorities, then." Which meant that, after that, the prayer would have been a success. That was good.

"...I am sorry I could not be more useful to you, Sasuke-sama."

"What? No, you're..." Did he seriously just say that he wasn't useful to him? Alright, best to correct that line of thinking right now. "I was my fault. I wasn't thinking, and I'm sorry." He'll just have to make sure to teach him some basic taijutsu at the very least.

It couldn't be helped. He'd killed a handful of people that he hadn't meant to, he'd messed with someone's mind to make them believe that it was their fault, and now his own shinki was believing himself useless to him. There had to be some way to make up for all of this, even if it ended up costing him in the long run.

Though, he's still learning what constitutes authority figures around here and how to distinguish them. Maybe he should start spending more time on this side of things? "You might have to lead. I'll follow."

"Perhaps after we alert the police, you can make it up to me with cake." His eyes were in faint half-moons, a sign of a mix of pleasure and mischief. "A slice of strawberry shortcake would suffice.

"And perhaps at some point, Sasuke-sama can better teach me how to defend myself." He might also consider asking Zero or Ichiru. They looked capable, and there was no harm in being pit against different techniques.

"...You and your sweet tooth. That stuff shouldn't even exist." And yet he actually forced himself to make a small exception for the candied cherry tomatoes that Ouka had bought for him. But if that's what Itachi wants, then it looks like Sasuke's buying it in the near future. Not waiting for Itachi to take the lead, he heads out from the alley into the street. Putting some distance between them and the aftermath might be for the best.

The comment about teaching him to defend himself stings a bit though, because it's been on his list of things to do, but he got distracted by other things and it had fallen by the wayside. If they're to be a pair, they need to be able to work as a team, which means Itachi needs to be able to fight. "Alright. Then I guess it's a question of when do you want to start and how hard do you want to get? I can take it easy on you, or I can work you 'til you beg me to stop, doesn't really matter to me."

There was a bit of silence, before Itachi paused in his walk towards the nearest police box. He looked back towards Sasuke for a moment, face neutral... but it slowly worked its way up into a small smile.

"Work me until I beg?

"Does that mean Sasuke-sama is eager to hear his name from my lips?" Oh come on, it was far too easy. "What a dirty young god."

Edited 2017-04-06 23:10 (UTC)

"That's not what I meant!" Okay, so maybe he could've phrased that a little better. Still, that Itachi can say that so nonchalantly leaves him flustered and kind of embarrassed. He hadn't meant it the way it sounded, it's just how it had come out. Really, it had sounded so much better in his head.

The sooner they finish this, though, the sooner they can get on with their lives and focus on moving forward. "And don't try to get out of it, either. One way or another, you're going to learn some self-defense."

"Yes, Sasuke-sama." And there was a nod the head. "I will do my best to learn." Sasuke, of course, would find out (unsurprisingly) that Itachi would be a natural.

"For now, let's just concentrate on finishing this prayer. You owe it to your followers to help whenever you can. It is part of being a god, after all."

[closed]

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as I stereotype yakuza ALSO FEEL FREE TO ADD TO THIS IDK WHAT I'M DOING

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