(no subject)
Okay, again, boredom strikes. Here goes. Chapter three:
Chapter Three
All the Things That Money Can Bring
Sakura and Ino grinned across Shikamaru, mentally patting each other on the back. It had been hard enough dragging Naruto here and both had thought more ‘persuasions’ were in order. That seemed hardly necessary now, if only by the look on Naruto’s face.
“…and now we’ll start off at $45,000. Any-” The announcer barely finished before offers came pouring in.
“$50,000”
“$70,000”
“$120,000”
“$240,000!!”
Naruto gave a start as he heard Sakura’s shout. No way could they afford that, even with those ludicrous allowances! And he was not going to own anyone!
//Not even that beautiful, tasty-looking--//
‘You shut up!’ Naruto mentally berated Kyuubi, who all his friends knew as Mr. Bunny.
//And whose fault was that?// Came the acid statement.
‘Well, I had to stuff you in something. What would everyone say if they knew I had a fox living in my apartment!?’
//Disguise me, sure. But a bunny suit?! A BUNNY SUIT?!?!//
Naruto decided this was a testy issue for the all-powerful demon fox at the moment.
Ino, Shikamaru and Neji stared at Sakura silently. Giving them a ‘what?’ look, she glanced back at the announcer.
“Alright people. $240,000. Anyone? Anyone? Going once!”
Sakura knew she had shocked many people at the moment, putting so much down at once and knowing she looked like a girl just out of middle school. She was counting on this to keep anyone from betting higher.
“Going twice!”
A few people stirred and made motions as if to bid. Sakura glared at them.
“Going three times!”
Closing her eyes and praying to whoever that was listening, she mentally willed the announcer to finish.
“Gone!”
Breathing a sigh of relief, with inner Sakura doing their victory dance and war-cry, she grinned at her friends…to receive blank stares and resigned looks.
“Oops?” She offered.
Itachi was slightly disorientated as he was led off the stage, not quite remembering anything solid with the scorching spotlight and itching wounds. The man he was following stuck him in one of the waiting rooms, informing him his master will be along in ten minutes. Left alone, he sifted carefully through his memories till a hazy picture of a pink-haired girl came into mind…which was immediately replaced by a startlingly clear image of a pouting blonde with spiky hair and clear, blue innocent eyes. Beautiful, pure…
Shaking his head to dislodge such ridiculously thoughts - when had he started becoming a pedophile? - he just barely caught the sand of approaching footsteps, presumably of his new master. Chatting voices drifted through the door.
“Damnit Sakura! How can you even think of bidding that high?! How are we going to get $180,000? (1)” A shrill-toned voice shouted in anger.
“My college funds. I can take out $60,000 without my parents noticing.” Another girl, Sakura he assumed, answered impatiently.
“I can manage up another $60,000.” A male voice this time, cold, calculating. Itachi silently hoped his owner was not one of previous three.
“Well, that leaves us with $60,000.” The sentence was spoken in a long, lazy drawl.
“Why are you guys doing this in the first place?!” An annoying grumbling voice cut in. “It’s not like I need a slave or someone like that!”
“Says the one who burned down his own kitchen.” The first voice taunted sarcastically. “Oh, well, if I sell some stuff…I can come up with $30,000, tops. You guys know how tight my parents watch my money.” She sighed.
“Don’t forget about the school fair in two day’s time. If we win, that’s another $40,000, more than enough.”
Great. Just by buying him, his new master was already in financial issues, not to mention none of them sounded like they were out of school yet.
“Whatever. Naruto, you don’t need to worry about any of this stuff - it’s your birthday present after all. We’ll get the money!”
“Yeah. After all, you have a lot of people in your debt - OW!” The doorknob turned and Itachi stood up in one graceful motion. At least he knew his master’s name now. Naruto.
The door opened, showing five teenagers who piled into the room. Just by appearances, he could match them to their voices: Sakura, annoyed, assuring was the pink-haired girl - her name a dead give-away, Cold and Calculating was the Hyuuga that was leaning oh so casually against the door, Shrill and Annoying the only other girl and Lazy was definitely the bored boy with earplugs half fixed in his ears and rubbing his shin. So Naruto must be… Itachi’s breath caught. The blond from his memory frowned up at him, full lips pouting with a childish sullen look to his face. Blond hair stuck out at impossible angles, three lines on each cheek that looked like old scars, blue eyes that were more trusting than wise and a school headband hastily tugged on, though waging a losing battle with his hair.
Their eyes clashed, each pulling away and holding the other with their gaze. As if on cue, an annoying melody of a cell phone broke the trance. A few hurried words later and the blond girl excused herself, dragging Sakura along with her. With a murmured ‘women are so troublesome’, the lazy boy strolled after them, not bothering to catch up with them.
Closing the door softly behind them, the Hyuuga continued staring. Itachi ignored him and refocused on the boy, no, his new master. Knowing what he should do, and yet despising himself for it, Itachi kneeled at the blonde’s feet, lightly tilting his hand to press against his lips. His new master seemed in shock.
Naruto was in shock. This was going a bit too fast for his taste. He never wanted to own another person, ever!
//You might as well accept this you know, considering he’s already paid for. //
‘Hell no! I’m in permanent denial!’
Naruto twitched as Kyuubi snickered in his mind.
“Naruto. Step away from him.” Neji’s clear but freezing cold voice shocked him back. Stunned, he did what he was told, snatching his hand back as he jerked back a step.
“Uchiha Itachi, isn’t it? First-degree murder, kidnapping, illegal importing.” Neji’s stares turned much colder.
“Don’t worry about it. He’s completely safe now.”
Naruto’s head snapped up, eyes full of fire. “How did you get in?!” Neji coughed slightly and gestured to the right, to a side-door. “I saw that.” Naruto replied, chuckling nervously and scratching the back of his head guiltily.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Itachi jerked back involuntarily, not having heard his approach. A hand snaked into his hair, yanking his head back to stare into dead-fish-eyes. A finger wondered over his face and Itachi felt unexplainably dirtied.
“He’s completely harmless. You can do anything to him and there would be no complaints.” Resisting the urge close his eyes, Itachi shivered at some of the memories these word invoked.
“Of course, if there’s any problem, feel free to contact me. I’m sure I’ll be able to fix him.” Itachi flinched and closed his eyes, as if by making himself smaller, the nightmares of his dreams would somehow sweep past him. He could feel Orochimaru’s anger and braised himself for a blow…that never landed.
“Don’t you dare touch him!” The blond’s angry voice and that Hyuuga’s cold emotionless droll stated at the same time. Upon looking, the glaring blonde was gripped unto Orochimaru’s arm, holding him in a death grip.
“It’s alright.” The snake smiled icily. “He is yours after all. Wouldn’t want to have damaged goods after all.”
Naruto growled.
Chapter Three
All the Things That Money Can Bring
Sakura and Ino grinned across Shikamaru, mentally patting each other on the back. It had been hard enough dragging Naruto here and both had thought more ‘persuasions’ were in order. That seemed hardly necessary now, if only by the look on Naruto’s face.
“…and now we’ll start off at $45,000. Any-” The announcer barely finished before offers came pouring in.
“$50,000”
“$70,000”
“$120,000”
“$240,000!!”
Naruto gave a start as he heard Sakura’s shout. No way could they afford that, even with those ludicrous allowances! And he was not going to own anyone!
//Not even that beautiful, tasty-looking--//
‘You shut up!’ Naruto mentally berated Kyuubi, who all his friends knew as Mr. Bunny.
//And whose fault was that?// Came the acid statement.
‘Well, I had to stuff you in something. What would everyone say if they knew I had a fox living in my apartment!?’
//Disguise me, sure. But a bunny suit?! A BUNNY SUIT?!?!//
Naruto decided this was a testy issue for the all-powerful demon fox at the moment.
Ino, Shikamaru and Neji stared at Sakura silently. Giving them a ‘what?’ look, she glanced back at the announcer.
“Alright people. $240,000. Anyone? Anyone? Going once!”
Sakura knew she had shocked many people at the moment, putting so much down at once and knowing she looked like a girl just out of middle school. She was counting on this to keep anyone from betting higher.
“Going twice!”
A few people stirred and made motions as if to bid. Sakura glared at them.
“Going three times!”
Closing her eyes and praying to whoever that was listening, she mentally willed the announcer to finish.
“Gone!”
Breathing a sigh of relief, with inner Sakura doing their victory dance and war-cry, she grinned at her friends…to receive blank stares and resigned looks.
“Oops?” She offered.
Itachi was slightly disorientated as he was led off the stage, not quite remembering anything solid with the scorching spotlight and itching wounds. The man he was following stuck him in one of the waiting rooms, informing him his master will be along in ten minutes. Left alone, he sifted carefully through his memories till a hazy picture of a pink-haired girl came into mind…which was immediately replaced by a startlingly clear image of a pouting blonde with spiky hair and clear, blue innocent eyes. Beautiful, pure…
Shaking his head to dislodge such ridiculously thoughts - when had he started becoming a pedophile? - he just barely caught the sand of approaching footsteps, presumably of his new master. Chatting voices drifted through the door.
“Damnit Sakura! How can you even think of bidding that high?! How are we going to get $180,000? (1)” A shrill-toned voice shouted in anger.
“My college funds. I can take out $60,000 without my parents noticing.” Another girl, Sakura he assumed, answered impatiently.
“I can manage up another $60,000.” A male voice this time, cold, calculating. Itachi silently hoped his owner was not one of previous three.
“Well, that leaves us with $60,000.” The sentence was spoken in a long, lazy drawl.
“Why are you guys doing this in the first place?!” An annoying grumbling voice cut in. “It’s not like I need a slave or someone like that!”
“Says the one who burned down his own kitchen.” The first voice taunted sarcastically. “Oh, well, if I sell some stuff…I can come up with $30,000, tops. You guys know how tight my parents watch my money.” She sighed.
“Don’t forget about the school fair in two day’s time. If we win, that’s another $40,000, more than enough.”
Great. Just by buying him, his new master was already in financial issues, not to mention none of them sounded like they were out of school yet.
“Whatever. Naruto, you don’t need to worry about any of this stuff - it’s your birthday present after all. We’ll get the money!”
“Yeah. After all, you have a lot of people in your debt - OW!” The doorknob turned and Itachi stood up in one graceful motion. At least he knew his master’s name now. Naruto.
The door opened, showing five teenagers who piled into the room. Just by appearances, he could match them to their voices: Sakura, annoyed, assuring was the pink-haired girl - her name a dead give-away, Cold and Calculating was the Hyuuga that was leaning oh so casually against the door, Shrill and Annoying the only other girl and Lazy was definitely the bored boy with earplugs half fixed in his ears and rubbing his shin. So Naruto must be… Itachi’s breath caught. The blond from his memory frowned up at him, full lips pouting with a childish sullen look to his face. Blond hair stuck out at impossible angles, three lines on each cheek that looked like old scars, blue eyes that were more trusting than wise and a school headband hastily tugged on, though waging a losing battle with his hair.
Their eyes clashed, each pulling away and holding the other with their gaze. As if on cue, an annoying melody of a cell phone broke the trance. A few hurried words later and the blond girl excused herself, dragging Sakura along with her. With a murmured ‘women are so troublesome’, the lazy boy strolled after them, not bothering to catch up with them.
Closing the door softly behind them, the Hyuuga continued staring. Itachi ignored him and refocused on the boy, no, his new master. Knowing what he should do, and yet despising himself for it, Itachi kneeled at the blonde’s feet, lightly tilting his hand to press against his lips. His new master seemed in shock.
Naruto was in shock. This was going a bit too fast for his taste. He never wanted to own another person, ever!
//You might as well accept this you know, considering he’s already paid for. //
‘Hell no! I’m in permanent denial!’
Naruto twitched as Kyuubi snickered in his mind.
“Naruto. Step away from him.” Neji’s clear but freezing cold voice shocked him back. Stunned, he did what he was told, snatching his hand back as he jerked back a step.
“Uchiha Itachi, isn’t it? First-degree murder, kidnapping, illegal importing.” Neji’s stares turned much colder.
“Don’t worry about it. He’s completely safe now.”
Naruto’s head snapped up, eyes full of fire. “How did you get in?!” Neji coughed slightly and gestured to the right, to a side-door. “I saw that.” Naruto replied, chuckling nervously and scratching the back of his head guiltily.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Itachi jerked back involuntarily, not having heard his approach. A hand snaked into his hair, yanking his head back to stare into dead-fish-eyes. A finger wondered over his face and Itachi felt unexplainably dirtied.
“He’s completely harmless. You can do anything to him and there would be no complaints.” Resisting the urge close his eyes, Itachi shivered at some of the memories these word invoked.
“Of course, if there’s any problem, feel free to contact me. I’m sure I’ll be able to fix him.” Itachi flinched and closed his eyes, as if by making himself smaller, the nightmares of his dreams would somehow sweep past him. He could feel Orochimaru’s anger and braised himself for a blow…that never landed.
“Don’t you dare touch him!” The blond’s angry voice and that Hyuuga’s cold emotionless droll stated at the same time. Upon looking, the glaring blonde was gripped unto Orochimaru’s arm, holding him in a death grip.
“It’s alright.” The snake smiled icily. “He is yours after all. Wouldn’t want to have damaged goods after all.”
Naruto growled.