Preview: Chapter 3 – The Night Market<\/b><\/p>\n
Naruto moved slowly through clogged streets of the night market. At nearly 1 a.m. it still pulsed with sounds, smells and people. At the edge of the market, down in a seedier set of streets where the warehouse and shopping districts overlapped, Naruto came to a corner where a man was plying knock-off designer handbags on a card table. Nailed to a building behind him was a faded, peeling sign for a tea shop. It was half covered by a poster for band that had played six months before and pointed down a dark lane that looked completely abandoned. But Naruto turned right for it and, crossing quickly into darkness, the noise of the night market fell away.<\/p>\n
As Naruto\u2019s eyes adjusted from the glaring neon of the market to the dim lane. Down at the end of a long expanse of a brick warehouse wall was a single street lamp, lighting a dented old metal door and short set of steps.<\/p>\n
The silhouettes of two men melted out of the shadows beyond the door. The tip of a cigarette suddenly burned cherry red in the darkness. He\u2019d been seen.<\/p>\n
Naruto stepped off the sidewalk and walked down the middle of the empty lane toward a circle of light on the ground. Satisfied, a thick-armed guy moved back to the doorway, followed by the sound of scraping stool legs on the concrete. But the smoker stepped forward.<\/p>\n
Cold light reflected off his long ponytail, making his pale hair almost glow white.<\/p>\n
Naruto snickered to himself in the darkness. That drama queen. How many times has he stood under that lamp? Basking in the light as if he was some kind of \u2018chosen one.\u2019 Like his ego needs that.<\/i><\/p>\n
The man shoved a hand in his pocket, letting the tailored black suit open just so and tilted his head in a rakish pose. \u201cTook your time, didn\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n
Naruto couldn\u2019t stop himself from grinning. Without giving away his movements he slid the jade disk seamlessly from his pocket to the cup of his hand as he walked. In the next step he flipped his wrist, flashing the object he\u2019d worked so hard to get, and closed the distance between them. \u201cDid you ever doubt me, Dei?\u201d<\/p>\n
A curl of the lips and the man\u2019s angelic face turned devilishly handsome. His ice blue eyes flickered with amusement. \u201cNever\u2026Little Fox.\u201d<\/p>\n
Naruto smirked at the nickname and shook his head once out of habit. Shaggy yellow hair fell forward and tufted out of the edges of the hood, hiding the scars at the edge of his face.<\/p>\n
Naruto stepped into the light and with a single handshake the ancient treasure was transferred. It caught the light as it passed from hand to hand, and they paused to look at it with the respect it commanded. The light shining through the disk turned the green areas milky white, and the dragon carvings swirling around the hole in the middle came alive, just like the hook he\u2019d stolen the night before.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny trouble this time\u2014\u201c But before the sleek man could finish he caught sight of the bandage on his forehead. \u201cWhat the\u2014\u201c<\/p>\n
Naruto ducked away from his reach, but he was saved from answering him by the approach of footsteps. The disk disappeared into Dei\u2019s suit pocket. Naruto angled his head to keep the shadow of his hood over his face.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeidara,\u201d a deep voice drawled.<\/p>\n
Deidara nodded with cool respect at the figure stalking forward out of the dark. \u201cKisame\u2026..\u201d<\/p>\n
At the name, Naruto relaxed a notch and glanced over. A big, broad shouldered man, Kisame nearly filled up the sidewalk. Two curvy women hung on each arm in practiced carelessness, their touch light enough not to leave a wrinkle on his gunmetal grey suit.<\/p>\n
\u201cKyuubi,\u201d he grunted at Naruto. Naruto nodded back, making sure to keep his eyes respectfully locked on Kisame\u2019s cold grey ones, never straying to the edge of his full-body tattoo that peeked from his cuffs or collar, or to the rings that fit like brass knuckles when they came together in a line.<\/p>\n
The girls smiled sweetly, and though Naruto actually knew them from the club, he didn\u2019t dare let his eyes stray. Bigger men than him had lost a finger for ogling Kisame\u2019s arm candy.<\/p>\n
Kisame grinned at Naruto\u2019s wary behavior. Where Deidara was handsome, Kisame was monstrous. His lips parted to reveal teeth sharpened to vicious points. And when he turned to usher the two girls through the metal door, even the back of him was threatening.<\/p>\n
The nose of an enormous shark, nearly the same grey color as his suit, surged out of the back of his collar. The tattooed creature rode an inked wave of blue-green water strewn with torn petals \u2014 all white except for the blood-red tips \u2014 that curled masterfully up over his skull until it faded into his shaved scalp. From the front, only a few licks of water were visible on his neck. From the back, it looked like the open-mawed beast was going to lift off and devour anyone who had the misfortune to come up behind Kisame unawares.<\/p>\n
Naruto could never decide if the shark had just finished tearing through something lower down in the tattoo or if it was preparing to devour Kisame himself. From what he knew of \u2018The Enforcer\u2019 and his affinity for sharks, cold-blooded killers who, like Kisame, would destroy their own kind to survive, Naruto thought it could go either way.<\/p>\n
The hefty bouncer stood and pulled open the door. Smoky air and loud music spilled out, and the girls sashayed into a crimson interior to a chorus of catcalls. They waved back happily as the door swung closed behind them.<\/p>\n
Kisame turned back to Deidara at the foot of the steps. \u201cYou coming?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah,\u201d Deidara said, then flicked his cigarette into the gutter where it sizzled out.<\/p>\n
Kisame\u2019s shark eyes slid to Naruto. \u201cDid you get it?\u201d Somehow he made the question sound like a threat.<\/p>\n
Naruto nodded once.<\/p>\n
Satisfied, Kisame disappeared into the club, Deidara right behind him. But Deidara turned back on the landing, surprised to see Naruto wasn\u2019t following him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe meeting\u2019s about to begin. You can wait inside you know\u2014.\u201d<\/p>\n
Naruto shook his head. \u201cI\u2019ll just wait out here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSuit yourself,\u201d Deidara said with a shrug and went up the steps to the metal door. \u201cDon\u2019t go anywhere though. He wants to see you too. I hear he\u2019s got a new gig for you.\u201d He narrowed his eyes at Naruto\u2019s bandage. \u201cAnd I still want to know what happened to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Naruto rolled his eyes and waved him off. The bouncer shut the door behind him, then dropped back onto the stool. It creaked under the man\u2019s weight, but didn\u2019t give way.<\/p>\n
Naruto sunk his hands deep into his hoodie and leaned back against the dark wall, taking Deidara\u2019s spot beside the bouncer. The moths returned to the triangle of light, circling endlessly. Going nowhere fast.<\/i><\/p>\n
Eight years before Deidara had brought him to this spot, pointed to the very same street light and said, in that dramatic way that still had the power to intimidate the twelve-year-old, that Naruto had a choice. Either come with him, or stay out on the sidewalk and go nowhere. Because there wouldn\u2019t be another chance like the one he was offering.<\/p>\n
The thing was, Deidara was right. And as an orphan growing up in Konoha, Naruto knew that better than anyone\u2026.<\/p>\n
Preview: Chapter 3 – The Night Market Naruto moved slowly through clogged streets of the night market. At nearly 1 a.m. it still pulsed with sounds, smells and people. At the edge of the market, down in a seedier set of streets where the warehouse and shopping districts overlapped, Naruto came to a corner where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-night-market","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5hctF-Ey","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swirlingpetals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swirlingpetals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swirlingpetals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swirlingpetals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swirlingpetals.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2514"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/swirlingpetals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3163,"href":"https:\/\/swirlingpetals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2514\/revisions\/3163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swirlingpetals.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swirlingpetals.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swirlingpetals.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}