Author's note: So this is something that randomly popped into my head this week and the stress of awaiting my exam results kind of turned this fic darker than I thought it would be? *clears throat* This might be one of the darkest fics I've written so far for this particular fandom so HEED THE WARNINGS.

Warnings: Dual pov; mentions of child trafficking rings; attempted child abduction; references to underage; alternate universe; murder; violence

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto owns it.

I hope you'll like this despite the rather dark themes.

Easy Catch

They had received the order from Kaguya, one of the highest ranking members of the organisation. They were to find a young child, preferably not older than twelve at most, with light coloured hair and eyes. The auction would start in five days, but some of the patrons had expressed their desire for a blond boy, wanting something a bit more exotic.

Toneri didn't care about the patrons' preferences. As long as he got paid he didn't care what the order was. Admittingly, though, finding a boy with these specific characteristics wasn't exactly easy.

"You know of any blond kids we can find in this town or do we have to look elsewhere?" he questioned his partner as they entered the more depilated part of the town.

He had spotted some blond boys earlier at the private school, but taking one of them would be too risky. Police would come sniffing around then and the organisation would be utmost displeased if that happened. No, they would have to find a kid very few people would miss or at least whose disappearance wouldn't register immediately. That meant sniffing around the poor parts of the town.

Momoshiki smirked. "As a matter of fact I do. I've got a couple of men on the lookout constantly, keeping track of available merchandise. I texted them and one of them got an address where a blond kid lives alone. He thinks the kid's around ten, eleven years old."

"Then he can't be living on his own," Toneri riposted sceptically.

"Think what you want, but my men don't lie. The address is in one of the poorest parts, so maybe he's an orphan that slipped through the system?" Momoshiki shrugged. "What does it matter, though? We can check it out and be done with it."

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to check out the place," Toneri muttered, frowning slightly.

It sounded too good to be true to be honest, but there was no harm checking out the address. Sometimes it happened that children slipped through the net and lived on their own, but it was rare. Still, it wouldn't hurt to stake out the place.

The apartment building turned out to be one of the most downtrodden he'd encountered so far. Most of the windows at the ground floor had been boarded up crudely and graffiti covered the majority of the walls and the front door. There was a large crack running through the glass panel of the door as if someone had repeatedly tried to kick it in.

"This is where a kid lives on his own?" he asked dubiously, eyeing an old man who was slumped against the wall, looking like he was sleeping off some booze.

Momoshiki shrugged. "According to my intel, yes. Like I said, probably was forgotten by the system. Works out for us, though."

"You got the apartment number?"

"Yeah, third floor, room twenty-seven."

"Let's go take a look," Toneri murmured, discreetly patting the gun he'd hidden in the inner pocket of his jacket.

The lift was out of service, which given the general state of the building didn't surprise him. The stairs were cracked and filthy and the air smelt stale in here. If he hadn't encountered the guy outside and hadn't heard people talking in some of the apartments, he would have thought this building was completely abandoned. It definitely wasn't a place he would expect to see a child living alone.

What had happened to the kid that he ended up living here of all places? Dead parents or a run away? Well, whatever. Didn't matter to him. If the kid was indeed alone and matched the description, this would be the easiest assignment they had got so far.

Apartment number twenty-five was occupied judging by the sounds of a talk show on the television, but number twenty-nine was empty and he and Momoshiki went inside, closing the door. They would use this apartment as their stake-out place, remaining here until they were absolutely certain that the kid was alone – if there was a kid in the first place.

Toneri was still sceptical about that, considering how much of a shithole this building was, but Momoshiki hadn't let him down so far. The guy had an eerie sense for locating lonely children and it was mainly thanks to him that they managed to complete their assignments every time.

"You know if the kid goes to school?" he grunted, sitting down against the wall which was shared between the two apartments.

The white haired man sat down backwards on a forgotten chair, bracing his arms on the back of it. "Don't think he does," he answered and scratched the bridge of his nose. "Schools require a home address and someone would have alerted the authorities as soon as they saw the address. He might be a runaway, but who cares? Makes the job a hell of a lot easier for us, I'd say."

Toneri hummed thoughtfully, settling down as comfortably as he could on the floor.

Now they just needed to wait.

The sun was already setting, painting the dreary grey walls red, pink and yellow when a pair of footsteps shuffled their way into the corridor outside. Toneri sat up quietly and he met Momoshiki's eyes for a brief moment.

Was this the kid they were looking for?

The footsteps halted in front of number twenty-seven and then a door squeaked open and a child's voice called out, "Tadaima!"

"I thought you said he was alone?" Toneri hissed, scowling at the other man.

"Might be out of habit, the fuck do I know?" Momoshiki rolled his eyes, but his entire posture was tense, proving that he didn't like hearing the traditional greeting either.

There was no audible answer, but Toneri could hear the boy walking further into the apartment, chattering rapidly about his day.

"I found new clothes! The shop was throwing them away and I managed to get them out of the bin before they got too dirty, how amazing is that!"

"Alone, hm?" Toneri levelled him with an unimpressed look. That sure as shit wasn't sounding like the kid was alone.

Light coloured eyes looked back at him with irritation simmering in their depths. "Do you hear anyone replying? I don't."

Which was true, Toneri begrudgingly admitted. Even though the boy was still chattering a hundred miles per hour, he couldn't detect a second voice, unless the other person was talking really softly. Could they really risk it, though? It definitely sounded like the kid wasn't alone and while he would have no trouble shooting the other person in the apartment, that would definitely attract the wrong kind of attention, even with the building being in this horrid state.

He didn't need the cops after their arses all because they had misjudged the situation. Perhaps they should follow the kid when he went back outside and take him there?

"The balcony connects," Momoshiki announced out of the blue and Toneri stared at him bemused before he understood the significance of the comment.

"Well then, let's find out whether this chatter bug is alone or not," Toneri mumbled and rose up, following the other man into the kitchen.

The kitchen was so small it couldn't even fit a decent table inside, but it had a door leading to a balcony outside which was cracked open. He pushed against it cautiously, but when it didn't make that much noise, he pushed it open further and stepped outside. He grimaced at the disgusting smell of rotting garbage hitting him smackdab in the face, but ignored it and shuffled to the left, careful to keep to the wall.

Cautiously he peeked into the small window of the door leading to the kitchen of number twenty-seven, ready to pull back the second it appeared as if he would be caught. His eyes widened slightly when he caught sight of the child ambling through the tiny kitchen.

He was goddamn perfect.

His hair, while wild and definitely not having seen a brush in ages, was like spun gold, and when he briefly looked up, he caught sight of bright blue eyes. If he was any sort of a poet he would go as far as to claim those eyes looked like sapphires and glittered as brightly as diamonds. The kid was thin, but not emaciated looking, so that should be fine. Not like there weren't kinky fuckers out there who kicked on too thin kids anyway.

As he stood there watching, the boy placed two bowls on the very small table he had somehow managed to wriggle between the door and the counter. Toneri frowned, definitely not liking the sight of that. The boy divided some instant ramen between the two bowls before leaving the kitchen.

"Time to eat!" Toneri heard him call out and the man bit back a curse.

Fuck, yeah, they would have to wait until they could get him outside the apartment; taking him here was clearly not going to –

The blond boy entered the kitchen alone, a smile on his face. He sat down at the table and clasped his hands together briefly before he dug in eagerly.

Yet nobody entered the kitchen. There was nobody following the boy, not one person heeding the call to eat dinner, no matter how long Toneri stood there watching.

The sight of the boy watching his dinner alone made him grin and he shuffled back to the other apartment, excitement bubbling up in his stomach. Momoshiki's man had been right after all: the kid was alone. He probably talked that much to stave off the silence, but he was definitely living alone, all right.

This was definitely going to be the easiest assignment he had ever received!

"And?" Momoshiki demanded when he stepped back into the kitchen, perking up when he noticed Toneri's grin. "Kid alone?" he asked knowingly, his eyes glinting.

"Nobody but him," Toneri confirmed with a smirk. "Kid apparently likes hearing himself talk. We'll go get the stuff and we'll come back here during the night. Your men aren't that shit after all."

"Told you," Momoshiki smirked. "Let's go, I want that payment; could use a new motorcycle."

They returned to the apartment under the cover of the night. The cloudy night on top of it being a new moon ensured they could enter the building without being seen. They carried handcuffs – rope had a too high risk of causing damage to the skin – and chloroform with them.

All they had to do now was get into the apartment, sedate the kid and take him with them. They would drop him off at the headquarters and would get paid, simple as that. This had to be one of the easiest jobs so far and Toneri couldn't wait to feel the weight of all that money in his hands.

It took him exactly one attempt to pick the lock and he scoffed inaudibly at how shit the lock was. Well, had he really expected anything else from this place? He probably should be surprised there had been a lock in the first place.

One more cautious look around the deserted, dark corridor and then they slipped inside. The layout of this apartment appeared to be the same as the one they had been in earlier today, so he and Momoshiki walked further into the apartment, knowing they had to pass two doors before they encountered the bedroom.

There was only the sound of their soft breathing and the quiet, almost inaudible sound of a bottle being uncapped and a cloth absorbing the sharp smelling liquid. The curtains weren't drawn, causing light from the opposite building to spill through the window.

He nearly missed it.

For just three seconds the beam of light was broken, interrupted as if someone had walked past the window and he came to an abrupt halt, frowning.

"Momoshiki, did you see that?" he whispered, barely moving his lips.

When no immediate reply came, he turned his head, wondering what was taking the guy so long to answer. He stilled when he saw the empty room.

"What the fuck?" he murmured underneath his breath, looking around carefully. Where the hell had that idiot gone to? They literally only had to open one more door, where was he?

"Momoshiki, you fucker, where are you?" he hissed, trying to keep his voice as low as possible.

He froze when there were some sniffling sounds in the bedroom, but relaxed when the boy kept sleeping. Pursing his lips together, he retraced his steps, his hand resting on his gun. Was Momoshiki that much of an idiot that he had somehow managed to get lost in this tiny arse apartment?

He peeked into the kitchen, but that one was empty as was clearly the living room. He'd gone into the apartment first, so it wasn't like Momoshiki could already be in the bedroom and that door was still closed regardless. That only left two more doors and he pushed down the doorknob of the first one, cracking it open.

"You in here?" he asked annoyed, retrieving his small torch. "What, you desperately needed to take a piss?" he said sarcastically when the thin beam of the torch danced across a toilet and his ears caught the sound of liquid streaming down.

He pushed the door open further, uncaring whether that could be impolite, shining the torch around and getting ready to ream out the fucker for suddenly disappearing like that.

"Holy shit," he breathed out horrified when the torch illuminated the shower.

He'd found Momoshiki, all right. The guy was strung up by his wrists and his long hair to the shower rod and his throat had been slit from one ear to the other one, making him look like he had a second gruesome looking mouth. The cut gaped widely and blood gushed out of the wound, painting the bottom of the shower a dark red.

"Fuck this!" Toneri decided immediately, backing out of the bathroom hastily.

Shit, shit, had they misjudged this situation that badly? Had an adult returned to this apartment during the evening? Fuck, he knew he should have stayed the night to make certain. How could he have made such a careless, dumb mistake?

But how had this person know they would come back? Had they seen them? This person had to have been lying in wait for them, after all. How else could he have killed Momoshiki that easily? A shiver ran down Toneri's spine. He hadn't even heard anything.

Whoever had just killed Momoshiki had managed to do that without making one fucking sound. What kind of psycho was capable of doing that? Especially with a fucking kid nearby!

Right when he snatched the doorknob, ready to bolt out of the apartment – fuck the money, this wasn't worth losing his life over it! – a hand clamped down on his shoulder and pulled him roughly back, slamming him against the left wall.

Before he could even utter one sound, another hand clamped down across his mouth, squeezing his cheeks cruelly together and a choked whimper escaped him when he stared right into swirling, blood red eyes.

The man standing not even an inch away from him smiled, his handsome features twisting cruelly. "You really thought you could get away scotch free?" he asked, his voice unearthly deep and gravelly like it was coming from beneath the earth itself. "You didn't think I would allow that, did you?" He shook his head with a disapproving cluck of his tongue.

There was so much raw power rolling off the man, power that made Toneri hysterically think that this guy couldn't possibly be human, that he trembled, all the strength leaving his limbs abruptly. He wanted to demand who this guy thought he was, but the blood red gaze utterly terrified him and when he whimpered in fear, the guy only squeezed his face brutally, the blinding pain making dark spots dance across his vision.

"You really should have been more careful," the man smirked and out of nowhere he drew a fucking katana; the blade gleaming dangerously.

"Let me guess, you thought he made an easy target? Thought he was all alone and that this would be an easy job?" the man smiled cruelly. "You scum are all the same, aren't you? All so easy to kill too."

Before Toneri could even try to twist away, hot blinding pain suddenly assaulted him and he choked on his scream, looking down in horror to see the katana cutting him in half; the silver blade sinking down into his stomach as easily as if it was a hot knife carving through butter.

Shock settling in, he could only watch dazedly as more and more of his blood started pouring down, covering the man's pale hand and getting soaked up by the ratty carpet.

A door opened somewhere in the apartment and soft footsteps treaded closer, coming to a halt just around the corner.

"Sasuke? You coming? It's cold and I'm sleepy," the boy whined.

The guy – Sasuke – pressed his finger against his lips as he stared down Toneri and grinned. "Yes, I will be with you soon. I just need to finish something up quickly."

"Oh okay, don't take too long, okay?" The boy yawned audibly before he shuffled back into his bedroom.

The door shut softly, but the click rang in Toneri's head as loudly as a gunshot.

"You heard him, got to finish up quickly here," Sasuke smirked; dark lines swirling together in his eyes, creating an intricate pattern.

"Wh-who-who ar-are you?" Toneri coughed out blood as soon as the guy lowered his hand.

The last thing he saw was a bloodthirsty grin and the black patterns in those blood red eyes spinning like wheels. "I'm your worst nightmare."

Then a clawed hand thrusted forwards, ramming straight through his ribs. He was dead before the demon ripped out his heart completely.

Naruto turned around when the mattress dipped down, sighing contently when he burrowed himself against Sasuke's warm chest. Strong arms wrapped around him, pulling him close.

"Were you doing your guardian angel stuff again?" he inquired sleepily.

He knew Sasuke was some kind of special being and sometimes he disappeared for a bit. He never said what he did during that time, only that he was doing something to protect Naruto. Being forced to grow up alone after his parents had died in a car crash, it made the boy feel very fuzzy and warm inside to know that Sasuke cared so much about him that he was doing everything in his power to protect him.

And boy, did he have a lot of power! Naruto had seen with his own eyes how Sasuke could create flames just by breathing out, how amazing was that?! He could do a whole lot of other things as well, but he'd told him that he would have to wait until he was older before Sasuke could show him the rest.

It disappointed him a bit that he couldn't know yet all Sasuke's amazing powers, but he was already more than happy that the man was willing to stay with him.

"Yeah, I was doing some guardian angel stuff," Sasuke chuckled and Naruto smiled happily when slender fingers ruffled his hair. "Have to keep you safe, don't I?"

Naruto tightened his hold around the man's chest. "You're staying with me, right?"

"Always," Sasuke promised him like he did every time and Naruto relaxed.

He knew not everyone could see Sasuke – another one of his powers, the older man had explained a while ago – but that was okay.

Because he still had Sasuke, his own guardian angel.

The End

AN2: As several times before I have no idea how the hell I came up with this plot, so don't ask me. My brain has got into the weird habit these past several months of spewing out one random plot after the next.

Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.

I hope to see you all back in my future stories! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Cuddles

Melissa

P.S. For more information about my upcoming and posted stories, please visit my profile.