A/N: I got this idea off a side story of Golden Girls, and thought it would be cool for a story! I mixed it up a lot, so... yeah! :) Plz read, review, but most importantly... ENJOY!!!!
"Muffins," - talking
'Muffins,' - thinking
The muffins were attacking... - Flash back, short memory, or stressed words
Muffins - Author's Note
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Wind blew the leaves in the street, making them dance, as limbs were shaking in the cold from being bare. Children's laughter was heard in the middle of the park as they were jumping into the crunchy piles of dead leaves. The sounds of cars in Tokyo, Japan, roared in annoyance.
Sleek black boots clicked the sidewalk that they walked on, as the wearer wrapped her long black coat tighter around her body.
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She walked into the bad part of town, hands in her pocket. She was trying to act innocent, but she was a regualr around these parts, and the men that gazed at her knew it.
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Her shoulder length hair, a light brown color, flipped in the wind. Her honey-amber colored eyes looked at the building in front of her. She flicked her eyes left to the name of the the building.
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Her pink hair, tied in a long ponytail, was greasy, from not having a bath in a couple of days. Her emerald green eyes were bloodshot, and dull from sleepless days. They looked at the neon sign in front of her, and read each word.
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"Tokyo's Universal Bank," she said aloud to herself.
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'Dominic's Pawn Shop,' she read in her mind.
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She opened the door, and took a deep breath of the fresh smelling bank. Her hands ran across the fabric of the couch as she walked towards the receptionist's desk.
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She looked around the foul-smelling shop, and scrunched her nose when she smelled something dead. She went to the counter, and rang the bell.
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"Hello! May I help you?" the lady at the front asked, her face aching after smiling all day. She looked at the posters behind the straining woman. They all advertised long term payments, identity theft, and intrest ratings. Her lips curled into a small smile.
"Yes," she answered with ease, "Yes, you may."
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"What do you want?" a gruff, Italian voice asked behind her, making her jump around, holding a hand over her heart. She took a good look at the man, and noticed his jet black hair on the side of his head greased back with globs of gel. His muscle shirt wasn't long enough to cover his stomach, and his cowboy boots had many scuffs.
"U-uhm," she started, trying to get her words right. She cleared her throat, and began again, "Y-yeah, about that... You see, I used to be Gerald's customer until he had that unfortunate accident." She made air quotations with her fingers, indicating it was more than an accident.
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"Well," the secratary said, "would you like to take money out of your account?" The appointed woman shook her head, smile never leaving her face. The desk clerk's face fell into a tired frown.
"Do you even have an account?" She didn't want to stay on the computer, asking simple questions that the person can't answer, and then coming to a conclusion that they don't have a social sercurity number because they just remembered they're illegal aliens. Oh, it's happened.
"Oh, of course," the brown headed lady stated, "But I just want to check my balence."
"Oh," taken aback, she opened her note pad, and pen, "Well, what's your name?"
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"Oh, yeah. I heard about that." The man, who she assumed was Dominic, laughed at this information, but stopped when he spotted her staring at him with boredom.
"So, as I was saying..." she continued, "He told me to come here while he is getting well, and that you had... what I came for." Dominic's eyes narrowed. He walked to his desk, and picked up his reading glasses. He flipped through a notebook, and stopped when he came upon a picture of the girl in front of him.
"Remind me again what your name is?"
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"Tadume Uehara."
"Sakura Haruno."
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"Okay," the lady said, "Let's see... oh. It says you don't have an account."
"O-ohhh!" Tadume faked suprise, "I-I know I don't have one here, but... I do... at another bank." The receptionist's face truned sour as she beat her head on the desk in front of her.
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"Look," she began, becoming more anxious, and her eyes darting around, "I just want the goods. Do you have them?!"
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't." She started to grind her teeth, and clenched her fist. Dominic chuckled, and took a breif case out from under his desk. Her eyes got really big as her twitching hands reached into her worn purse, getting the correct money. Oh, how she longed to put that unused needle in her arm once again. She knew her nose couldn't take anymore, but that didn't mean her arm couldn't...
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A bell was heard, and footeps were heard behind Tadume. Her eyes widened as she saw the figure in the mirror behind the receptionist. Said lady tilted her head, obviously confused.
"Um, is something the matter?" she asked, curious to have the lastest gossip in town. The appointed girl shook her head violently, excusing herself to the restroom. As soon as the door into the small lavatory was closed, Tadume shakily turned on the faucet, splashing the cold water against her flushed face. She looked at her reflection in the smudge-free mirror, and saw the pathetic girl from over four years ago.
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Sakura watched as her hand holding the money got closer to Domanic's, seemingly in slow motion. Before they reached, a vast light swept through the small shop, blinding them both. Sirens went off, and the grimy man cursed under his breath, piling his stuff clumsily into the case, scurring before he was caught. Sakura was left standing there in shock, wondering how she ever got caught. Her eyes stung, as tears threatened to fall, but she ran down the cluttered hall, towards the small bathroom. Once in, she searched for a window, soon finding one, and trying to open it. Once opened, she crawled through the tiny hole, making her getaway.
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She pulled her knees against her stomach as she curled in a ball on the toliet's lid. It was a habit of her's, to run away from the police. It was almost sub-conciously, because she knew that her name was never permanent.
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Guns pointed straight at her body, never leaving, nor wavering. She was almost as still as the weapons, frozen from fear.
"Well, well," she heard a voice come through the crowd of men, "Seems we finally found one of his many customers." Sakura squinted her eyes to see past their flashlights, and watched as they parted in two, letting a small man past them. He was wearing a smug look, teeth flashing whiter than the lights around her. Her breathing became fast, and her world spun, before it went completely black.
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As Tadume opened the ladies' room door, she poked her head out, checking both ways before sliding out, back against the wall. Her stomach churned inside of her as she walked past the curious secretary and police officer with her head held high. She wanted to make it look like nothing was wrong, because was anything? She was jerked back by her elbow, and she did the only reflexive thing she could. She screamed.
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As Sakura opened her eyes, everything was blurry. Slowly, she opened her eyes fully, adjusting to the florescent light above her head. She sat a long metal table, handcuffed. She scanned the room, only to find a large black window. No one came to explain to her where she was, and no one had to. She already knew the answer.
After she had noticed a few of the boring things around her - like the tiles on the floor having a messed up pattern in the middle, or the wall having brown splotches on the walls - the door on her right opened, revealing a man who seemed to be in his late 30s. A handkerchief slid across the sleek table stopping in front of Sakura. She hesitantly picked it up and looked at the man. He coughed and gestured to his nose. She blushed, realizing that she had been crying , and her nose was now running.
Minutes that seemed like hours passed before she moved. Her body was unusually stiff, and Sakura stretched as best she could to work out the kinks. She soon saw his back relax as well, and they both sat in tense silence. Thirty seconds later, they both opened their mouth to talk.
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"Whoa!" The man quickly let go of her arm, putting his hands in the air as if he a gun were pointed at him. Unsettled by his quick movements, she staggered towards him, not having him to lean on. She fell on her knees, and saw a fairly large hand extended out to help her. Hesitantly, she took it.
"Sorry about that," he apologized, blushing, while pulling her up on her feet. She crossed her arms over her chest nervously, and looked at the tile on the ground.
"I forgot how jumpy you were, ya' know, on your profile." His chuckled echoed throughout the room. It was a warm laugh, but Tadume didn't dare look up, afraid to meet the pity look in the officer's eye. She knew all along that this day would come. A sigh came from her parted lips.
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"Where am I exac--"
"I'm sure you're wo--"
Both questions lingered in the air. The man smiled, then began again.
"Sorry about that," he said, "Most people who come in here have a tendency not to talk. But since you were going to, please continue."
Sakura felt like she was under a microscope. Now she was interesting because she talked? This was all too confusing.
"U-uh. Well, I just wanted to know..." she hesitated, trying to decide how what to ask, "where am I?"
'Nice question, Sakura,' she thought sarcastically to herself. The man took a deep breath, and made his face serious.
"Well, you're in the Sopporo Secret Service Office," he said the name proud, and let it hang in the air for a long second. Sakura's heart began to pound, and her mouth ran dry.
"Why?" was what she wanted to ask, but wasn't it kind of obvious. She swallowed - or at least tried to swallow- the lump in her throat, and asked a different question.
"What do you plan on doing with me?" she whispered fearfully, sqeezing her eyes, a weak attempt to stop the sting in her eyes. She had anticipated this day would come, but she hoped it would've taken longer. He sighed, long and hard, and she immediately was afraid of the answer.
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She just hoped it would've come later.