Chains

                                                      C          H          A         I         N         S

It had been late when we got back to the house so I was able to avoid Sasuke’s questioning gaze as well as the onslaught of questions I’m sure I’ll face in the morning. I hadn’t realized just how much I missed my bed until I landed face down against the comforter inhaling my scent I left behind. I don’t know how the brothers did it. Just that minuet mission was enough to make me feel drained enough for a year.

I just wanted to forget everything and be absolved of any sins I committed this past month. By morning as expected Sasuke peppered me with questions. Itachi filled him in on everything while I remained content on being catatonic watching as the matter of spices revolved around the rim of my cup. The scent of the tea was strong and inviting yet all I could think about was disappearing into the dredges of my cup.

It’s my own fault. I was committed to doing my duty and now that its over don’t get me wrong I am relieved, but it feels like the further I reach the heavier the shackles on my feet become threatening to drag me down. He neglected to tell him about his confession.

It was a dirty secret festering inside me. How was Sasuke going to take it? No doubt there would be bruised knuckles, swollen skin, or worse, a dead body. Though I’m hardly worth that effort. I didn’t want to be the reason to be a rift that would wedge between them. In turn it wasn’t fair that I too was put into this position.

I want to turn the hands of the clock back to before visiting Hinata in her apartment. I want to tell her she can stay at my place and avoid the night of horrors.

But no. That wasn’t how it played out and now I’m here in this muddled spot stuck between a rock and a hard place and I don’t even know who I should glance at other than my hands.

Everything was black and I was thankfully on autopilot for the next few days. We had to wait and see how the men of Danzo’s battalion would respond and though it was kept purposefully out of the news, Itachi had resources to reach into the darker part of the web to stay updated.

According to the underground channels Itachi and I thus far had stayed out of the spotlight. Rumors of warring gangs and moguls were the attention in the headlines. Still, it didn’t stop the sickly feeling I got whenever Sasuke sucked air through his teeth and called his brother over to review the latest article depicting potential rival assassins.

I was waiting for the article to hint towards a female that left his room and possibly a bellhop who technically were the last ones to see him alive. Nothing. I noticed Itachi making a few phone calls and I wondered if there were divergents among Danzo’s group who were friends or loyal to the brothers instead of their employer. Maybe they too got tired of his shit and they were all in on it.

Just thinking about the conspiracy was enough to send me into a week of bed rest with a slight cold that went away with Hinata tending to me. I lived on soup and crackers as well as tea and honey for those seven days making a special request to Itachi to bring back from the store a rose hips brew. It was the best for colds as well as a natural medicinal given to us freely by Mother Nature herself.

Sasuke clung to me as well like a puppy without its toy. I was usually asleep or too bleary eyed to take in my surroundings with clarity and instead saw them as shadows and shapes but according to Hinata she said Sasuke often popped his head into my room to make sure I was on the mend. She called it “worried myself sick”. It hurt to laugh but gradually my lungs became clear and strong  and my nasal cavity used both openings effectively.

I figured she kept the worst of the news away from my plugged ears so when I told them to brief me on all that I had missed they exchanged glances to one another unsure of my vitality to withstand it.

Evidently, while I was down and out the rumors had turned to action and men were put in place to hunt down Danzo’s killer. Someone was going to answer for this crime and be made as an example. Someone was definitely going to hang and I could feel the knot of the noose tightening around my frail neck. At first it was a small coaxing of: If you turn yourself in we’ll go easy on you” that quickly spiraled into “you fucker are going to pay”.

No one cared about his loss. Maybe his shareholders who got screwed out of their earnings but other than that the four of us knew that while on the surface this was transpiring, beneath it was endless bloodbaths to see who would become top dog and take his spot. I could tell neither of the brothers wanted to vie for that position. Instead they were talking about possibly having to split up to make it harder for the others to track them down. They were masters of disguise and could disappear if they wanted to.

They could thrive in any country they wished, preferably one that they fluently knew the language of. So that left Hinata and I. We talked about going to the tropics for a vacation. From there while the heat died down and diverted to the brothers (should it take a turn for the worst that way) she could safely call her father to come pick her up.

She vowed not to implicate the brothers since on their behalf they turned against their master and put the lame dog down in order to get them out of the contract they were obligated to fulfill...while he was alive. In this way they would be able to go free without suspicion. Everything would be pinned on Danzo and hey, maybe even the Hyuga’s connections to the authorities would be an asset to keeping the bad guys at bay.

Yes. It all sounds so perfect when spoken or written on paper. All our troubles and cares wrapped up in a nice box with a bow on top. Yet, I know that’s more of how a story would go versus the hell of reality. I could see my dream of a children’s ward disappearing farther and farther away into the shadows out of my reach.

Even though we were all slowly untangling these ties it still wasn’t enough. I knew there would be interrogations by the police. I would be harassed. One of them would smell something rotten and the only way our story would stick is if we insisted Danzo’s goons kidnapped us. Yet they hadn’t. And I doubt they’d be willing to work with us and take the fall. So— we’re right back where we were before she and I were shoved into the trunk of a car and it only took one detective who didn’t buy our story to tear everything we all worked so carefully to build up, down.

And that detective is Uzumaki. We were planning everything with precision. We were making it bulletproof and flawless. Neji had known the detective when graduating from the same law firm as him and therefore pulled his own strings to assign him to this personal case. Apparently my friend and the detective were no strangers as well. The mere mention of his name brought a wave of heat to her cheeks and a stutter to her words.

There were open statements addressing the kidnappers from press conferences Uzumaki held and always that cold blue stare was directed into the lens of the camera burning through the screens we viewed him upon, boring it to the brothers.

He was our kryptonite. The problem towhead with a sunshine smile and tanned, weathered skin. I knew him only at the Hyuga galas or gatherings and he bluntly seemed like an idiot. Yet his instincts were sharp and despite his caviler laid back attitude and goofy demeanor, he was terribly good at his job.

He took the time to question things that others often overlook and goes above and beyond to get samples of the smallest fibers just to solidify a case. He was the type to line up all his ducks before taking them down so the criminals had no way of wriggling off the line once he set his hook.

Once upon a time I’d gladly welcome him to come and save us, now I fear for Sasuke and Itachi with him on our trail and on the adjacent side the monsters in the shadows gnash their teeth and roar threatening to tear mine and Hinata’s flesh apart given the chance.

It became to much when I got my cold so I suppose Hinata wasn’t off base about the expression after all.

It was another month before the brothers, Hinata and I were all ready and poised to go through with our plan. They drove us to the outskirts of a private airport where the plane would escort us somewhere near the Galapagos.

It had been a terribly hard goodbye parting from Sasuke and even Itachi. I felt ashamed at my burning need for them both to touch me one last time before we left. The ride was smooth, the skies becoming bluer with each crossing of the mass of land below us. I had no idea where we were exactly but as I glanced at Hinata asleep in her plush seat strapped in and safe my thoughts unfettered from the present drifted back to them both.

I felt a pang in my heart when I recalled Sasuke’s timid expression yet his eyes couldn’t lie, I saw them swimming with sadness and hurt and that in turn hurt me. Itachi tried to remain placid as ever yet when he embraced me in goodbye I could feel his hands shaking, just slightly.

It feels strange. Utterly enigmatic that I had wanted for so long to run and scream to someone for help the first chance I got, yet here we were in a swelled crowd of tourists and civilians yet the only thing I could think of was the brothers and wanting to erase the distance between us.

Our hut was quaint yet vast on the inside smelling of sandalwood and beechwood with a mixture of sunshine and salty sea air. This was the first time I’d ever been far from home as well as on the other side of the continent. It was like a slice of paradise poised in the outer reaches of a mystical floating island.

I leaned against the sill of my room overlooking the ocean thinking how perhaps this land was meant to be seen but not touched by man yet I was happy that we transgressed taking a bite out of the apple to get kicked out of the garden and thrown to the tropics.

There were heavy accents. Haitians, Barbados, even some occasional fisherman with a thick Cajun accent held bravado in the surrounding areas. Hinata was more than happy to drag herself out to the crystal blue waters peppered with bright fluorescent fish swimming this way and that. They scattered as she strolled in waist deep avoiding stringing coral and keeping an eye out for lemon sharks and lion fish.

I was enjoying just watching her camped out on my towel in the sand. She giggled with delight when a sea turtle bigger than a Rottweiler emerged from his spot beneath the break of the waves. I thought he was a boulder but when Hinata nearly stepped on him he took flight avoiding her small stomping feet.

The mouth of the water foamed at my feet brushing piles of colorful shells toward me which I diligently plucked from the sand and set down upon my collection of other varied ones. A few white sand crabs scuttled towards me, I used a stray piece of driftwood to keep them at bay as they clacked their snappers as me and rolled their little beady black eyes up at me moving away.

I warned her to be weary of jellyfish and eels tossing in a joke about not wanting to pee on her leg today. She let the lull of the waves cradle her as she floats upon her back being guided by the lazy current back to the beach where we both took refuge in chairs fixed next to a dug out fire pit. I filled the charcoaled center with paper and once we got the flame going I fed the fire logs and debris I found lying about on the beach though the driftwood didn’t take. It was too damp.

If only I had my camera. The sunsets here really are vibrant. I cant even describe the colors because pictures don’t do it justice. No amount of high quality pixels on the smartest of televisions cant compare either. You have to see it in person. It isn’t meant to be captured by glass lens. I pin it to my memory as sky meets ocean and the two reflect like glassy surfaces kissing goodnight before the arched moon takes her place in the sky.

My thoughts drift back to the diamonds in Sasuke’s eyes. I shake my head. Hinata told me she was going to call her father tomorrow and tell him everything. I understand why she wanted just a little time to herself before she would have to talk him down from his panicked conversation.

I make us something light to eat, the exertion from today as well as the time zone change has left us jet lagged and we can worry about getting the appropriate nutrients tomorrow. I know we’ll need plenty of fluids and fruit so we didn’t dry up like prunes being here. And I knew the vacation would be short lived once she made that phone call. Her father would send his fastest private jet to pick his beloved daughter up, hell if he could, he would send a fleet of ships on the wind if it could get him there.

Something is ringing. I raise a brow glancing towards my pack in my room rummaging through until I find a little pink phone waiting for me. The number is unknown as well as the object since this isn’t mine...yet I hold it up to my ear. I can hear someone on the other line sighing. Relief? Angry?

“Hello?” I utter.

“Sakura.” Already I can feel the tears welling up in my eyes.

“Sasuke...”