Diamond in the Dirt

Warning: Rated M for sex with prostitute, swearing throughout the entire story

Author's notes: Welcome to Diamond in the Dirt. I hope I can pull this story off, as it's been nagging at me for weeks and I'm writing up chapters so fast my fingers hurt. Inspiration like that has gotta be worth something (hopefully). Thanks for reading. This chapter was beta-d by Anime Yaoi Lover and revised on the 12th April 2008.

Chapter one

Streets, slags and snobs

Naruto's forehead crinkled and he tucked his arms in tighter to his stomach. He brought his knees up to his chest and pressed his cold nose to the bony joints of his leg. The drumming on the metal trashcan a few metres away grew louder and Naruto's temper stirred to life.

"The fuck?!" he yelled out hoarsely at whoever was responsible for the metallic cacophony. "We're trynna sleep 'ere, ya bastards!" He pulled his grubby blanket over his head, shivering wretchedly in the freezing morning cold. He was furious that he'd been woken so soon. Nobody appreciated how hard it was for him to get to sleep out on the streets.

He felt a sharp tug at his blanket and hung onto it fiercely. He popped his head out of the makeshift tent and bared his teeth fiercely at the thief. It was one of the little brats that hung around the food shops on the next street thinking they were cute enough to wangle scraps from gullible shopkeepers. Naruto knew that food was not in short supply with the brats – they worked as a unit and had accumulated quite the pantry. It was just a shame that it was so well-hidden.

"Come on, chief!" The kid pleaded, giving Naruto a gap-toothed fleeting smile. He was holding the edge of the blanket pitifully. "It's freezing and my little sister won't live through this winter without something to keep her warm. She's got a killer bout of flu. Come on, chief." He gave Naruto the puppy eyes. Naruto was a sucker for puppy eyes.

"Have it, kid." Naruto released his end of the blanket and rubbed his arms when the freezing air met the skin the blanket had been covering. The kid scooted off without so much as a word of thanks. He was as fucking gullible as those shopkeepers, being duped by the kid. Naruto cursed after him.

Still, he couldn't waste away mourning a lost blanket. Judging by the light, it was about five-thirty and the markets would be opening soon. He'd have to grab a bite to eat while the stallholders were still unloading their vans. He glanced around the pile of black plastic bin-bags that had served as his bed for that night, searching for his belongings.

His bag was wedged into his hip – he'd slept on it to keep his more desirable items safe – and his scarf was buried beneath one of the bin-bags by his feet. He gave himself a grim smile of approval for the hiding places as he started winding the dirty orange scarf around his neck. He pulled holey gloves out of his bag and rammed a hat on his head, tugging it down low over his forehead and ears.

Naruto heaved himself to his feet, testing his weight on both legs to see how quickly he'd be able to run if he had to. They were fine – a bit stiff because of the cold but that was nothing a bit of walking wouldn't fix. He slung his bag over his shoulder and swaggered down the street towards the square.

He stopped by old Kiba for a spot of the gin he carried around with him to warm up and gave Akamaru the dog a kibble as an exchange. He told Kiba he'd lost his blanket and asked if he knew of somewhere warm he could spend the night. Kiba told him regretfully that they'd be on the streets a while longer as the lodging houses were being police-checked for the next week. Kiba swore that Orochimaru had tipped them off.

"I'm off down the market," Naruto told Kiba. "Want me to get you something? I've been storing up some running in my legs." He winked and nodded in the direction of the market. Kiba bared his sharp yellow teeth in thought and made a low growling sound.

"You'd better have some run, friend, because they're all for getting us lot. There must be someone awful important around for them to be this fussed about us. You don't need to do me any favours today; I don't want you caught." That worried Naruto, but he was too hungry to go without food. He nodded again.

"You don't want any gin?" he asked. If Kiba didn't have any, he wouldn't get any tomorrow. Kiba shook his head.

"I've got a good deal with Tsunade. She'll give me a dose of the ol' medicine and I'll keep the business running smooth. The whores aren't getting much business with this whole police thing going on, I'll tell you that for nothing." Naruto got a lot of his news via Kiba. The boozers were always in the know, just like the hookers always got the dirt and the druggies always knew when cash was coming. Naruto floated between the groups, dabbling, so he never got much of anything.

"Alright. Take care, Kiba. God bless!" Naruto tipped the peak of an imaginary cap and grinned at his savvy buddy, ruffling Akamaru's fur as he went. He ducked his head as he neared the market, making himself as unremarkable as he possibly could with his blond hair. He saw the wary looks stallholders were giving him and he thought with a sinking feeling that today would be a hard day to get food.

He passed the fishmonger with a flash of a smile and a whistle of awe at his prize catch. He had to make the stallholders feel at ease. Deception. He passed the bubbly lady unloading fruit and vegetables and commented on the quality of the bananas. He stroked fine fabric at the imports stall and helped the elderly man at the sweetshop stall unpack his boxes. That earned him a toffee chew and some trust. Now all he had to do was pass back through and get what he wanted.

With a wave at the sweetshop man he watched the imports guy get into his van and sauntered casually to the stall. The man waved back and turned away to count change. Glancing from side to side, Naruto's hand flashed out and pulled a soft blanket off the tabletop of the imports stall and shoved it into his open bag. He stroked a scarf appreciatively once more, just for show.

He moved back to the fruit stall and pulled out a pouch of coins from his bag and started counting out a few pennies. The woman looked pityingly at him when he asked for one of the 'scrumptious-looking bananas' and put three in a bag for him. Figuring he didn't want to spend his money or want anything from the fishmonger stall, he simply snatched the proffered bag out of the kindly lady's hand and ran.

Her assistants were behind him in seconds. He could hear their feet pounding mere paces behind him as he breezed past people and stalls. The market was busy already and Naruto swore when he realised it was the weekend. The place would be teaming with police.

Naruto veered to the right, in the direction of the red light district. Any clever assistant would know to stay away – the pimps didn't take too kindly to unwanted attention being drawn by 'normal' people. Naruto was safe there, though. He wore his rags like a uniform.

He'd never been so happy to see the roads of pleasure houses and sleazy 'cafés'. His followers had given up streets ago but reaching the inner streets of the red light district was like getting to 'home' in a game of tag. He felt safe. He stood in the middle of the street, panting and clutching his bag of bananas jubilantly.

"Naruto!" A shrill voice brought him out of his happiness and a smile found his face automatically. Sakura, bursting out of an obscene pink dress, was coming towards him. "How are you doing?" Naruto walked the final steps towards her, cupped her face with his two hands and kissed her, ramming his tongue into her mouth. He felt her sigh wearily into the kiss before tonguing him back and pulling one of his hands down the front of her dress. She was a hooker who got down to business. Naruto broke away, but left his hand in her dress, cupping her breast.

"I'm as fine as fuck," he said cheerily. Sakura smiled coyly up at him and took his hand out of her dress to hold it. Naruto grinned down at her. "What's that look?" he asked her.

"How about you pretend to be my customer and we go back to the house? They've done up my suite." Sakura bit her lip teasingly. God, she was a hot little thing. Naruto got hard just imagining her leading him into that room. She pressed her chest to him.

"I can't pay you much," he told her, running his eyes hungrily over her chest. "Will a banana do? No dirty connotations, mind you."

"Aww," she pouted sexily, pink lips swollen from a night of work, "just as I was going to say I want your banana, Naruto." She pulled him towards a nearby pleasure house called Pulse. Last time Naruto was here it was under other management and was called the 'Yamanaka Florists' and the whores all had flower names. It was pretty seedy then, but now there was erotic pink lighting and posters of each hooker in every window. The concierge was in a string bikini with a long overcoat to keep her warm. She ran her hands appreciatively over Naruto as he passed her, earning herself a possessive glare from Sakura. Nice – they really knew how to make him feel wanted.

Naruto was dragged up a flight of stairs, into a spacious top room decorated with cutesy red décor that should have been sickly but looked really hot with Sakura there. She pushed him towards the bed and locked the door, and they ran their eyes over each other eagerly. Sakura didn't even wait for him to undress her – she pulled the dress over her head and exposed the flat plane of her stomach and full breasts. Naruto stepped toward her and pulled her to him, sucking at her pulse point so that she moaned.

She pulled his head down to suck on her breasts almost immediately. Force of habit, Naruto guessed. If customers were going to get what they wanted in their allotted time she had to be quick, didn't she? His tongue circled her nipple lazily and he teased it with his teeth when it grew hard. Sakura ran her hands down his sides and slipped one into his trousers, feeling out his cock and cupping and squeezing the shaft and balls. Naruto sucked harder at the contact.

Sakura removed her hand and pulled down her panties, indicating that Naruto should do the same with his trousers. He was conscious, for a second, about how dirty his rags would look against the plush red carpet of the suite, but soon dismissed the thought in favour of the task at hand. He removed his trousers and grinned wolfishly at Sakura when his cock bounced out of its cloth prison. Sakura rolled her eyes before pushing her arms through his and hooking her hands on his shoulders.

Naruto cupped her ass and maneuvered them over to a wall for support. If they were gonna do it standing up and all, he wasn't about to let balance mess it up. He lifted her up and positioned himself at her opening, lowering her onto it. She cried out as she was impaled and bit down on his shoulder, wrapping her legs around his waist. He was sweating as she began to roll her hips, urging him to push into her hard.

He moved against her, shoving her back against the wall and moving his head to find her lips. They kissed deeply, breaking apart to pant as Naruto's thrusting became stronger and climax grew closer. Naruto could feel her walls tighten around him and he drove into her deeper and more aggressively. She clawed his back with her sharp nails as her orgasm came, making her shudder and roll her hips faster in an attempt to ride it out. Naruto came soon afterwards inside her, throwing back his head and swearing a string of curses raggedly.

She was good because she was fast and fulfilling. Clients probably got two or three goes with her. Four if they came quickly. Naruto pulled out of her and set her on her feet.

"Nice one, Naruto. You don't disappoint." She pushed sweaty bangs off of her forehead and tipped her head back, still catching her breath. Naruto let out a chuckle.

"Shouldn't I be saying that to you? I'm not the hooker." Sakura frowned at him and he thought, perhaps, that he shouldn't have called her a hooker. She was sort of his friend.

"All I meant was that you're a good one to get at the end of the day. It gets old having to fake all the time." This honest admission embarrassed Naruto. He didn't like Sakura much more than as a hooker who treated him well and gave him a free go every now and then. Naruto pulled a tissue out of the box on a cabinet in the corner and cleaned himself up. He put his trousers back on.

Sakura still stood, naked, watching him. "You're not going, are you?" Naruto grinned apologetically.

"I've got to run some errands," he lied, ignoring the guilt that blossomed in his chest when Sakura looked sad.

"Oh… okay," she said, picking up her dress and putting it back on. She sat down on the bed and smiled at him. "Well, bye. I'll see you around, won't I?" Naruto nodded.

"Of course. Bye." He kissed her, pressing his lips hard against hers and stroking her hair. She clutched at his top for a bit when he released her, but let go with a sigh.

"You watch out, okay? There's a family in town looking to hang people like us. Be careful." Naruto hugged her because he felt sorry for her.

"I'll be okay, Sakura. God bless."

Walking out of a pleasure house was quite embarrassing. The whores gave you looks and you knew they were going to discuss you later and compare you to other clients. Naruto wasn't too bothered, though. When they looked at him, he winked. When they whispered, he made a thrusting movement or made a moaning face. That was the way he thought you had to act at a pleasure house. He saw no point in going in there all hyped up about getting laid and then leave blushing. That's what the rich folk who didn't get any at home did.

Out in the street again, Naruto pulled out one of his bananas. This would be his breakfast. He ignored hookers calling out their rates as he munched on the soft yellow fruit and looked around. Where to next? To Orochimaru's turf, to see what he could blag? Or to find a place to crash? He could wile away some hours in the warmth of the pleasure district's many arcades – built as porn for minors who couldn't fake their age to get some.

Yeah, that sounded good.

The noise level in the arcade was near deafening but the heat generated by the machines and large crowds of people plus the central heating was blissful. Naruto unwound his scarf and dumped it in his bag, wandering around and watching people play. Rounding the final corner into the last row of machines, Naruto encountered Gaara. Gaara was a close friend who practically lived in the pleasure district arcades. He had multiple addictions that he kept under control by playing arcade games.

"Yo, Gaara," Naruto clapped his friend on the arm. Gaara twitched and turned black-rimmed eyes to Naruto. He suffered greatly from insomnia, too.

"Hello," Gaara greeted, giving Naruto the once over before returning to his game.

"How are you holding out?" Naruto slid onto one of the plastic stools beside Gaara. Gaara shrugged, eyes darting across the screen of the gaming machine.

"You smell like a brothel."

Naruto wasn't aware that brothels had distinguishing smells. Gaara hung around brothels constantly, though – maybe it was something you learned to smell. Naruto sniffed his shirt and blinked. "What does a brothel smell like? I mean, besides the obvious."

"It smells sweet and of cheap perfume."

"Oh." Naruto watched as Gaara's character pummeled a werewolf. Gaara had tired of Grand Theft Auto, then. Naruto commented this to Gaara.

"GTA isn't satisfying. I want to fight, not kill and steal." Naruto nodded in agreement even though he didn't really understand. He didn't have enough money to become a real gamer like Gaara, nor the interest.

"Have you won any money on the other machines?" Their time together was always a question and answer session. Gaara wasn't a big talker.

"Yeah. Take some." Gaara knew of Naruto's money difficulties. Gaara had a home and a family and a shitload of money – he was a street person only in his pastimes. Naruto rooted around in Gaara's rucksack and found a small bag of coins. He took ten coins, which would buy him dinner.

"I owe you one, really, I do."

"Yeah."

They lapsed into silence. Naruto hadn't felt this unsettled in a long time. He couldn't seem to stay in one place today. He didn't want Sakura for company; Gaara wasn't very entertaining; Kiba would be wasted all day – he didn't really want to be alive at all today. He thanked Gaara again and said goodbye, exiting the arcade. Outside, he wrapped his scarf around his neck again and rubbed his hands together in the biting cold.

It was only nine o'clock. He supposed he could find some paid work to do. In this kind of cold people usually agreed to let the poor run errands for them. They didn't want the street people not doing the job and running off with their money so they let them work on the basis that they did the job first and then got paid. Unfortunately this system worked the same way as paying first – they could refuse to pay, the nasty bastards.

Life was about taking risks, and it wasn't as though he would let any conning pass him by. A brick through a window or taking a dump on their doorstep was good vengeance.

He changed direction and started in the direction of the posh side of the city, where there were huge mansions. There would definitely be somebody who would want him to tend to their garden or wash their windows. Snobby bastards.

Naruto hopped onto the back of a van out on the main road, holding onto the backdoor handles to stay on. The van protected him from the worst of the wind but his fingers were still numb when he jumped off in the rich area. He tipped the peak of his imaginary hat again at an affronted-looking woman who had seen him jump off the back of the van. People around here didn't do that kind of thing – they got taxis or drove cars.

"Good morning, ma'am," he said cheerily, and she turned away from him. For all the schooling they got, the rich still needed lessons in manners.

He knocked at the first house and got no answer. The second and third were the same. The fourth didn't answer either, but Naruto saw somebody peer at him through the curtains. He swore loudly and kicked their door before leaving. A nice maid opened the fifth and told him regretfully that their windows had been cleaned the day before and that there were no job vacancies going.

The sixth house was notably more extravagant than the first five. It had an extra floor and a shiny car parked in the driveway and there was a regal air to it. Naruto felt a strange feeling of awe knocking on the door with a brass knocker and was almost ashamed to bring his filthy self to the door. Except, Naruto didn't do ashamed and 'almost' was the key word. A friendly-looking lady answered the door.

"Good morning, ma'am," Naruto grinned, bowing. "If you'll excuse my appearance, I'm here seeking work, ma'am. I can run errands for you on this cold day, or simply tidy up the exterior of your house and your garden." He spoke with flourish, hoping to impress the lady. She let out a laugh, which Naruto thought was very rude of her.

"I do have some jobs that need doing, sir. What are your rates?"

"I'll let you decide. Well, within reason."

"Very good, sir. Please, come in. I'll need to speak to my husband." She stepped to one side and showed him in, something that surprised Naruto. Nobody in this area had ever shown courtesy to him before. "What's your name?"

"Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto, ma'am."

"I'm Uchiha Mikoto. It's a pleasure to meet you, mister Uzumaki."

"The pleasure is all mine, ma'am. And, please, Naruto's fine." He gave her a wide smile. He was not accustomed to being treated so equal to a person of her social status. 'Mister Uzumaki'? That was a first.

He was led into the kitchen, where two well-dressed boys and an older man were seated, eating breakfast. The elder of the two peered at him, running his eyes over his clothes and smirking condescendingly. Naruto felt a rush of loathing for him but suppressed it with a small smile in his direction. The younger boy glowered at him. Jeez, and he thought these people would be different.

"Dear," she ran her hand up her husband's arm, "this is Naruto. He's offering to do odd jobs for whatever price we set for him."

"Whatever price we set you, eh?" he said gruffly to Naruto. "Will you do a half-assed job, boy?" Naruto was surprised to hear somebody who lived in a house like this one say the word 'ass'. He thought only poor people used that kind of language.

"No, sir. I always do the best job I can, sir. In fact, I'll let you decide whether to pay me or not at the end of the day. You can judge my work for yourself, sir." The younger boy was still glowering at him, and he was itching to glare back. The older one was smirking at how he was sucking up to his father.

"What's your name, boy?"

"Uzumaki Naruto, sir."

"Well then, mister Uzumaki, it seems you have found work. I'll hire you for a day. If I like your work, I'll pay you. If I like your work a lot, I'll hire you again. How does that sound?" Naruto couldn't stop the wide smile creeping onto his face.

"It sounds excellent, sir. Thank you very much." The man coughed and nodded his head. Both of the boys were smirking now. Naruto guessed they'd found his happiness amusing. Bastards. They were the ones who would grow up to con him and pour water on him when he was sleeping on the road.

"Naruto, these are my sons, Itachi and Sasuke." Mikoto was introducing him to the two boys. He inclined his head at them.

"It's nice to meet you, Naruto," the older one purred, extending a hand over the table. Naruto shook it quickly. He didn't miss Itachi wiping his hand afterwards on his trousers with a look at Sasuke. Sasuke ignored him completely.

Paid work may be paid work, but he didn't know if he'd be able to work in a house with those arrogant little fucks around. As Mikoto ushered him out of the kitchen to tell him what to do, he saw the younger one flip him the bird. He grit his teeth. The bastards.