Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sama. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Pairing: ItaNaru and SasuNaru

Warnings: Slash: male homosexual relationships, violence, adult language, peril, and sexual situations.

Beta: Kamerreon

Playing The Hostage

Chapter One

Whistling cheerfully, the short blond man literally had a skip in his step as he bounced along the road towards his destination; his bright blue eyes were dancing. He nodded cheerfully to those whose eyes he met, receiving a few nods in return. It didn't deter the man as he headed towards the large building, pushing open one of the glass doors, making sure to leave a couple of hand prints on it, just for fun.

The large building that greeted his eyes was a familiar sight. The marble staircase that led upstairs in the centre, the large framed windows that lined the building with their velvet curtains, the polished wood desks in the centre of the room and smooth counters that held the tellers to the right, it was all familiar to him. He came in every week to transfer money from his work account to his savings account. He could do it online, but computers pissed him off. He got confused by the words and ended up giving up. Then nothing got done. So he found it much easier simply go to the bank.

"Naruto!"

Naruto grinned as he looked up at the waving woman. He saw Sakura every week, and liked to chat to the pink haired woman. He had given up hitting on her long ago when he found out she was engaged. He nodded to her and she smiled sweetly, picking up the phone. She would call ahead to tell Genma he was there – Genma helped him every week.

Naruto stretched slightly before settling into one of the comfy couches that lined the side of the large room. He glanced over at the couch next to his and grinned at the older man hulked over his own lap. His long white hair fell over his shoulder as he scribbled furiously in a notebook.

"Perv!" Naruto shouted, startling the man. "Good to see you again!"

"Naruto," he grunted, nodding his head. "Here as always."

"Of course," Naruto said. "You getting money for the hag?"

The man, whose name was actually Jiraiya, nodded. He came in all the time to withdraw more money for his wife to go gambling. He earned more from his perverted books that sold worldwide in many languages.

Naruto's phone buzzed silently in his pocket and he jumped slightly. Rather than reaching into his pocket he brought his hand to his ear, answering the call on the hands-free set that covered his right ear. He knew that he shouldn't wear it – usually only absolute tossers and wankers wore them, walking around talking as though there was someone next to them, but Naruto wore it anyway – it was useful. His long spiky hair covered it anyway.

"Moshi moshi!" he answered cheerfully, using the old Japanese that had gone out of style decades ago. He had learnt it when he was young, and was still fluent in it. He loved it.

"Hey, Naruto," it was his boss, Kurenai. "We need you to come in earlier tomorrow."

Naruto sighed before closing his eyes briefly. He had wanted to sleep in tomorrow, but work obviously had other plans for him.

"Sure thing," he mumbled. "See you bright and early."

"Around eight would be nice," Kurenai said. "See you then."

"Bye," Naruto mumbled as he reached up to end the call. He looked around the room, his good mood gone. His eyes skittered over a couple, the woman heavily pregnant, talking with another teller, Ino. A blond woman and her redhead partner were talking to Iruka, one of the bankers, Temari, another banker, was obviously restraining herself from strangling her customer as she tried to help him, seated at one of the fancy desks.

"Hands in the air!" a loud voice cut through the quiet murmur. "Drop to the ground!"

Naruto's eyes widened as a loud bang sounded through the bank. It was a sound everyone recognized instinctively, heard through movies and TV shows.

Gunfire.

--

"Why the hell am I the woman, un?"

The redhead tugged the blond woman on his arm closer, smiling falsely at the brunette who passed him with his pregnant wife. His 'wife' smiled at them as well, batting her eyes flirtatiously.

"Because, Deidara," the redhead murmured, "you're more girly."

"Shut up, Sasori!" Deidara hissed. "Let's just get this over with, yeah?"

Sasori looked up to see a brown haired man walking towards him, a large scar across his nose and cheeks. He was smiling warmly, the type of person that drew others to him instantly.

But not Sasori.

"You must be Mr. Hiruko," Iruka greeted. "I'm Iruka, we spoke on the phone."

"Yes," Sasori nodded. "You understood my wife's and my concerns?"

"Of course," Iruka nodded as he led them towards the tellers. "We are a very secure bank. We have our safety deposit boxes protected by the usual key-and-account number system. You need both to activate one. Our computers are protected by the strongest system available, and we, naturally, have a silent alarm."

"How many?" Deidara asked, speaking up for the first time. "And where, un? What if someone comes in and points a gun at the one teller by the silent alarm, yeah?"

"We have more than one," Iruka reassured. "I'm unable to tell you where, obviously, for bank security." He indicated to where a pink haired woman was chatting to someone on the phone and then he indicated to another woman with two buns on the side of her head. "All this area, the bank, is protected well."

"Oh?" Sasori asked as Deidara wandered down towards the pinkette.

"Yes." Iruka nodded, as Deidara looked the woman over critically. "Is there a problem?"

Sasori strode up to the brown haired woman, reading her nametag that proclaimed her 'Tenten'.

"Yeah there is," he chuckled, "for you."

In one smooth, synchronized movement, Sasori and Deidara drew guns at the exact same time. They aimed them straight at the tellers as the glass doors burst open, four men striding in. The tallest pointed his gun at the ceiling, firing off a couple of shots as his clear voice rang out through the bank.

"Hands in the air! Drop to the ground!"

--

Naruto shuffled awkwardly, ignoring the elbow he received in the ribs, courtesy of Sakura. He hadn't sat cross-legged on the floor in years. He'd sat on the floor at his apartment many times, but never cross-legged.

The tall man was standing over them. They had grouped the hostages all together to one side of the room where the tall, bluish man was watching over them. He had a slightly frightening look about him, with his dark blue hair and light blue skin, obviously a full body tattoo. On each cheek were three gill tattoos, running up his cheekbones. He had already given the hostages a full flash of his sharp teeth.

That's what they were. Hostages.

Naruto's eyes swept over to where the blond 'woman' and her 'husband' were standing. The redhead was watching as the blond man tore off the dress, revealing non-descript black clothing. The redhead handed him a black cloak, covered in red clouds.

Oh yeah. They were all wearing those.

Naruto glanced to the left to where another heavily tattooed man stood. He was entirely black and white, his hair a light green. He was talking with a normal looking man who had simple black hair and dark eyes. He seemed to be cheerful.

Another two men had appeared out of the back of the bank earlier, entering with a man and woman. The first had slicked back silver hair and a mouth like a sailor, the second a weird headdress that left only his eyes bare. They had already left to attempt to open the safe.

The other two people… they had to be the leaders. One had orange hair, an incredible number of facial piercings, and odd striking eyes. An aura of authority and power surrounded him. The woman that accompanied him had stunningly blue hair with an intricate flower in it. The other two had vanished while the woman and man were standing over the managers of the bank – Iruka, Kotetsu, Izumo and Raido.

The last man was on his own, sitting against the wall where he could watch the hostages. He, unlike the others, was wearing a large straw hat. The others had them when they entered, but had long since removed them. The long white strips hanging from them covered most of his face, hiding him from view. He was twirling a knife idly while watching the hostages, his eyes barely visible.

Naruto was trying to remember as much about them as possible, knowing it would be helpful when the police arrived. He would need to give them as many details as possible.

"Phones!" the cheerful dark haired man shouted. "Come on! Cough 'em up!"

The hostages grumbled amongst themselves as they pulled out their mobiles, handing them over to the happy man. Naruto blinked down at his, still on silent, remembering his hands-free, still hidden by his hair. He handed his phone over, biting his lip as he twiddled with his hair. They didn't know. They didn't know that he had it. That was good.

The man lined their phones up on a table, looking them over and comparing the models. He continued his loud exploration until shouting filled the building. All heads turned towards the hallway where the noises seemed to come from, growing louder and louder.

"Fuck!" it was the silver-haired man. "We have a fucking problem, leader! He called the cops!"

The man was dragging another person along by a tight grip on a handful of hair. Naruto recognized the man grimacing in pain – it was Genma. He was tossed at the feet of the orange-haired man, the other man still swearing loudly.

"Rook," the man, 'leader' presumably, had an ice-cold voice, "calm down."

'Rook' fell silent. He glared down at Genma who smirked up at him before wincing as he advanced.

"Go back and join Bishop," Leader commanded. Bishop had to be the man with the headdress. "And hurry up."

Rook turned on his heel and stalked off, muttering to himself. Leader turned back to look down at Genma before looking over at the tall man.

"Demon shark," he growled, "check outside."

The tall man strode towards the doors immediately, eyebrows drawing down. Naruto watched him go, his brow furrowed.

What was with the weird names?

--

Once the building was completely locked down Iruka and the others were herded over by the blue woman. Naruto watched as Iruka sent him a shaky smile, settling next to Kotetsu. Naruto turned his gaze back to the two men standing closest to him: the black-and-white man and the overly happy man.

"But Reed!" he cried. "Who cares about the plants? We're not going to be here long…"

"It doesn't matter, Spot," Reed replied calmly. "I like plants and wish to care for them. They are in horrible condition."

"Leave him be," the redhead droned as he passed with the blond. "If he wants to waste his time then let him."

"Yeah, un!" the blond chimed. "Listen to Scorpion!"

"Shut up, Chocobo(1)," Scorpion said in his monotone voice. "Let's go. Small South will be annoyed if we don't do as she told us to."

Naruto frowned as he looked over to the blue woman. She was obviously Small South. Weird…

Small South crossed to Spot, looking the hostages over. Naruto followed her gaze, frowning as he saw the pregnant woman smiling at her worried husband, a hand pressed to her stomach. He looked back up at the criminals before shifting. Naruto was a natural people-person and he didn't like seeing people in pain or discomfort.

Small South turned to Spot, her blue eyes disinterested.

"You know what to do," she said. Spot nodded.

"Who do you think the 'leader' is?" he asked, as he looked them all over.

"Excuse me!" Naruto called, not having heard them. "Um, can we move the pregnant woman to a couch? She looks uncomfortable."

Small South looked him over before turning back to Spot with a shrug. "He is," she said simply. With that she turned and left, disappearing deeper into the bank and out of sight. Spot turned to look at Naruto, who squirmed under the scrutiny.

"Maybe," Spot said slowly. "Why should we care about her discomfort?"

"Because she's pregnant!" Naruto snapped. "She looks pretty far along as well! You can't seriously make her sit on the floor."

"Actually I can," he replied, "unless you convince me otherwise."

"Look, asshole," Naruto growled, getting fed up. "Just let her lay on a couch-"

"Why should I after you spoke like that to me?" Spot argued. "Just for that I should make her-"

"Spot."

Both he and Naruto stopped, looking over to where the voice was coming from. The man with the hat reached up to remove it, revealing long dark hair in a ponytail, pale skin and beautiful features. He looked up, straight at Spot, his voice ringing with authority.

"Drag one of those couches over," he ordered. Spot didn't even hesitate. He looked around before rushing to the nearest couch, a dark green in colour, and pulled it over to the hostages. They all made room until it was in the middle of them, Naruto hurrying over to the pregnant woman to assist her husband in helping her up. The brunet nodded his thanks to Naruto who smiled at him before helping her sit. The pale-eyed woman blushed prettily as she reclined on the sofa.

"Anything else, Weasel?" Spot asked the sitting man, obviously eager to please him. Weasel shook his head.

Naruto looked over to him and their eyes met. Dark, onyx orbs locked onto Naruto's sapphire and something jumped between them. If Demon Shark had pointed a gun to his head then, Naruto still wouldn't have been able to look away. He was captivated. He was drowning in black. He was being swallowed up by it, consumed by it.

The dark eyes blinked suddenly and Naruto was released from the spell. He looked down at the floor, his eyes wide and breath coming short.

'Oh, that is not good.'

TBC…

And we have a new story! This one is honestly just to distract all my readers from The Cheshire Cat and Moving on. And, of course, to help spread the ItaNaru love.

(1) Okay, as you may know I tried to use 'code names' that were the meaning of the Akatsuki member's name, e.g. Sasori becomes Scorpion. However, Deidara's name has no real translation. The best I got was from here: http ://forums (dot) narutofan (dot) com/showthread (dot) php?t (equals) 86631

But without the spaces and all that obviously.

Also, some of the others may not be correct, but I tried to find the correct ones. Of course, the internet kept telling me that Deidara meant both 'bat' and 'mouth' so it was a bit hard to be sure which names were correct or not.

Also, concerning Tobi. Tobi doesn't have a translation, but Madara does. I like happy, bouncy Tobi too much, so happy bouncy Tobi will be using Madara's name. Don't like it? Well, it's my story – get over it.