Thanks for the Memories
Chapter 2; A clean break between us
The doorbell rang exactly when the red numbers on the clock turned 17:00. Sakura jogged over to the door, knowing fully well who the visitor was. She opened it, there standing right outside was the redhead she expected.
"Come in." Sakura gestured as Sasori smiled wryly and entered the house, his face immediately fell lax when he noted the blonde sitting on the sofa, focusing on filing her nails. He rolled his luggage in and left it there at the corner.
"Someone's feeling confident." Ino uncrossed her legs and chuckled when she raised up her head to see Sasori bringing his things in.
Sasori dryly laughed and Sakura cringed at how fake that laughter was as she sighed inwardly and trudged to her seat. Both Ino and her sat on the couch while Sasori sat on the lone chair before the TV screen. Sakura then brought their attention to the paper on the table as she tapped her fingernails on it. "Here's the agreement I've made yesterday. Take a look."
He bent forward and took the paper, skimming through it quickly. His eyes darted around the first page before proceeding to the second page in less than five seconds. In just ten seconds, he lightly threw the paper and it landed right on the glass table.
"That's fast, you sure you read everything?" Sakura gave a skeptical look.
Sasori pointed at the paper. "Most of your requests are fine. For example, you don't have to worry about rule #4. I won't be bringing any women back here to do whatever you are expecting me to do. And also, most of your rules mentioned about respecting each other privacy and I'm very glad you agree on that part as well."
"You said: Most of your requests are fine. Does that mean you don't agree with some?" Ino smirked.
"I just want to add several things that you left out." Sasori fished out a folded paper and lay it flat on the table. The other two strained their neck to see what it was written.
"The clothes are to be washed separately. And clean your own dishes." He tapped two of the of the sentence out of the entire list.
Sakura scooped up her own contract. "I thought I mentioned about washing our clothes separately."
"No. You only wrote no mixing of different colored clothes. Look at #12."
Ino glanced over Sakura's shoulder and nodded. "He's right. It's totally two different meaning."
Sakura stood up with both her contract and Sasori's contract in her hand. "Alright, I don't mind the two extra rules given. And since we are both agreeable, I suppose you can move in today. I'll edit it now so you can sign it."
Sasori crossed his arm with a tiny smile that went unnoticed to the two other women. He finally felt satisfied and a little happy about something today.
A minute passed after Sakura left the room and Ino couldn't resist the curiosity in her anymore. She snapped her fingers, trying to get his attention and she succeeded as he gave a bored look at her.
"It's been bugging me for a bit but how the hell do you read all the rules within ten seconds?"
He continued staring disinterestedly at Ino, contemplating whether he should say the reason or not. In the end, he just shrugged. "It's one of the basic things I need to learn for my job."
Ino leaned forward with a curious look. "What is your job?"
On the cue, Sakura came back with a new piece of contract and a pen, handing it over to Sasori to check and their conversation was put on hold. Sasori signed it quick and passed it back to Sakura for her to sign it as well. After everything was settled and the deposit was given, Sakura gave an extra copy of the agreement to Sasori while she kept the other.
Sasori then stood up, sighing with a hint of relief and approached to his luggage preparing to bring it to his room. Sakura then took the chair back to the storage room while Ino rushed to Sasori side as he gave a withering look.
"What do you want now."
Ino frowned in disgust. "You didn't answer my question."
Sasori clapped his hands in realization, making an 'oh" shape with his mouth and signaled Ino to come closer. Ino blinked before she did as she was told. Finally, he softly whispered into her ears.
"Why should I tell you?"
Ino gritted her teeth and turned to face the redhead who was staring peacefully at her.
"You-!"
Sakura pulled Ino away just in time before she could react and turn violent. "I don't want a murder to happen in my house!" She exclaimed.
Ino pointed a finger at Sasori before turning to Sakura. "This man is dangerous! You can't let him move in."
"What are you talking about?" Sasori smiled, all fake and innocent. He lifted the copy of the contract and fanned himself before turning away, lifting his luggage up the stairs.
"Yeah, what are you talking about?" Sakura huffed.
Ino paused for a while before continuing. "He's...mysterious! He could read the entire rules in ten seconds flat, don't you find him suspicious? I now officially conclude that he's running from some murder in another country and decided to take cover by living here."
"You're thinking too much, Ino. Be rational. If he's a murderer, how can he live in a hotel so openly without being caught?"
"And how do you know he slept in a hotel? He could be sleeping in an alley or something."
Sakura sighed and pointed at the papers left on the table. "The paper that he wrote his own rules on belonged to a hotel nearby. It has the logo on it."
Ino sighed as well and gave an exaggerated shrug. "Fine, if you insisted that he's a safe person to live with." She cleared her throat and rushed to the bottom of the staircase, facing upwards and screamed. "If something ever happens to you, Sakura, I'll never forget that murderer's face!"
There was a faint sound of the door being slammed shut.
0o0
It's been two weeks since that day Sasori moved in.
Everything was fine and things were going quite smoothly for both Sasori and Sakura. They followed the rules and both minded their own business, never once prey about each other's personal matters or whatsoever and Sasori had never been so glad to find a place like this. Though they still greet each other good mornings or strike up some light conversations whenever they were in the same area such as the kitchen or living room, it mostly ended within two minutes.
Sakura was never at home from morning to evening since she went for her work. And because of her busy work schedule, Ino would sometimes drop by, her main purpose for coming over was to check up on Sakura's front yard.
She never had the time for this whole planting idea, but Ino still insisted that she should spice up her small garden even although Sakura proved her point about her bad habits of forgetting to water the plant when the flowers Ino asked her to take care in a week wilted the third day.
Every time Ino came over, Sasori was at home. She would give Sasori a glare or two when he was either watching the TV or having his own lunch in the kitchen but they often ignore each other most of the time. But once they started to talk, their argument could last for hours, and there was once when Sakura was called back home by a neighbor because she thought there was a murder going on.
"Why do you like to argue with Ino so much?"
Sasori shrugged, his eyes focused on his shoelace as he was sitting down on the steps. "She reminds me of a friend of mine. And I just couldn't stand it."
"What do you mean you couldn't stand it?" Sakura opened the door with a bright orange watering can, something that Ino bought for her so she could easily remember to water the plants whenever she saw that bright colored can. She stepped out and stared back with a puzzling frown.
He stood up and patted on his sports shorts, jogging out of the house and to the yard. He turned back and looked at Sakura as he continued jogging on the spot. "I don't know how to explain. It's just like that." He then whirled around and began running out of the yard and towards a garden near by.
Sakura sighed and walked towards the flower bushes. It's not like she hated the bickering. Her other friends always quarrel a lot, the patients in the hospital also complain and argue about many things. She was already used to people squabbling but this was between her tenant and best friend. It really sucks to be in the middle sometimes.
In a few seconds, she could hear loud steps approaching. At first she wasn't bothered by it, thinking it might be a neighbor passing by, but a hand grabbed her shoulder and it shocked her that she almost karate-d.
"Sasori?" Sakura blinked rapidly when she realized who the person was.
"Haruno. If there's a man asking for me, say that you don't know such person." Sasori in a serious tone before glancing back at his shoulders. He then turned back, muttering incoherent curses and dived behind the flower bushes. Sakura gave a small surprise squeak before she could hear another person approaching to her direction.
"Excuse me."
Sakura twirled around with her watering can in her hand. There standing in front of her was a tall man, his age seemed quite unpredictable. Probably in his forties or fifties? He seemed to be in a business class, with that professional look and clothes.
"Can I help you?" Sakura smiled.
"Do you know this man named Sasori?" The man asked before he put his hand in his chest pocket, fishing out a photograph and showed it to Sakura. It was Sasori standing and facing the camera, but his eyes were on something else, like an audience or something. His hand was pointing onto a huge board of different colored paint splashed on it.
"Uh." Sakura glanced around the streets and purposely took a glimpse of the bushes. She turned back and shook her head. "Nope, never."
The man grumbled and flapped the photograph, a little pissed in Sakura's opinion. "I heard he came to this town and checked into a hotel two weeks ago but left after a day. He must have rented a room somewhere so he wouldn't be so easily tracked down." He scoffed. "He might be a genius but I'm not that dumb to not figure that out."
That was actually correct. Sakura laughed nervously before giving an awkward smile. "May I know the reason why are you searching for him?" She asked.
He stared at her for a moment before taking out a card from another pocket. He handed it to Sakura as she stared at it with a raised eyebrow.
"My name is Kakuzu. I'm Sasori's manager."
Author's Note: I'm totally fired up to write this story for some reason LOL. And here it is, the second chapter! Hope you guys like it :)
Reviews are appreciated!
