Chapter 4
Hinata screams my name. I come and go. Nothing makes any sense. Hinata screams my name. I came and go, rising out of it then sinking again, drowning, and drowning in something as think as pea soup and as black as death. Hinata screams my name. With an old man's arms I climb my way back up. "HNH?" I spit out the pea soup and let the headlights chase away the black spots. "WHUFF" KUWK SCREEECHH! KUNK HONK!
SCREEEEH! The monster in my gut uncurls itself and erupts from my throat with an endless bloody roar. They can't take her away from me not this time. I know exactly what to do. I know exactly this time I don't fight the smells or the memories. I suck it all in like nectar, letting it make me strong and mean and sure. A voice that's made of out ratty speakers, singing something about bourbon and patriotism. It's so loud I feel the beat
like a punch in the chest. Sakura's got the crowed worked up to a near-drool. She maybe showing off everything she's got in a joint filled with horny drunks, but Sakura's the safest gal in the world. Everybody keeps their hands to themselves. They know what happens to you if you don't. I try to be patient I try not to think about what Kabuto Yakushi is doing to Hinata right now. "I was a big deal! GLAKK" "Well, will you look
at whose back from the dead!" "Hi, Ino. It's been awhile." Hold on, baby. Just hold on. I'm coming for you. I'll carry you out of that mansion if I have to burn the place to the ground. But I can't do it alone. I need somebody bigger and meaner than me to run interference and to take Kisame down the hard way. "It's been six moths, Itachi. Six months and not so much as a lousy phone call." "Yeah, I guess I'm a real jerk sorry." "I
wasn't expecting flowers or anything, but a phone cal would've been nice. Your loss, wild man." "Sorry I'm a real jerk." "Cut off? In this is dive? I don't see you cutting off King Kong over there!" "He doesn't ever get cut off. And watch what you call him." "It's okay, Chiyo. He's from out of town. He doesn't know nothing." "Tell her man!" "We'll back you up!" Tourists this could get ugly. "Buddy maybe you ought to take some friendly
advice and haul on out of here. You've had a few too many. We all know what that's like. But you're headed for trouble, mouthing off like you been. Go get yourself some sleep." We'll back you up!" "Tell him off!" "I'm not taking any orders from you or from that cow, either big guy!" Zabuza's in altogether too generous a mood tonight. I'll have to do something about that. "You shouldn't ought to use like that. Not when it's a lady you're
talking about." "LADY"? "I don't know. She looks more like a cow to me!" "There's no call for getting nasty." It's okay Zabuza. Stay out of this one." "She smells like a cow too! But maybe that turns a guy like you on! If I looked like you, I'd settle for a cow!" "You are really pushing it." "Hell, I bet cows are great! You get all those extra hooters to play with!" "You better shut your trap and get lost." "Show him, man! Show him!" "I got
something that makes me bigger guy than you, ugly!" "Now that there is one damn big gun. Cool speed rig, too. Must've set you back a bundle. I got to tell you, I'm impressed. I really am." "He's begging for it man! Blow him away! We'll back you up!" "I will! I'll do it! I'll blow your damn head off! Now set 'em up, cow!" "Okay another round on the house. It's okay, Zabuza. No trouble." "Yeah, we all have a few too many
sometimes. It just gets my goat when guys talk about dames that way." "MOOOOO" "You're really starting to honk me off. "MOOOOOO" KRAKK! KRUNCH! "Bunch of pansies…" "I could use some sleep." "Owe the wife a call." "Get a good start in the morning." "Zabuza I need your help." "Itachi! I didn't even see you there, buddy! What can I do you for?" "It's bad, Zabuza. It means going up against a lot of guns." "Count me in.
Boy, that Sakura sure is something…" Every body keeps their hands to themselves. They've seen what happens to you if you don't. Sakura's got a guardian angel. Seven feet plus of muscle and mayhem that goes by the name of Zabuza. Most people think Zabuza is crazy, but I don't believe that. I'm no shrink or anything but "crazy" just doesn't explain him. Not to me. Some times I think he's retarded, a big brutal kid who never
learned the ground rules about how people are supposed to act around each other. But that doesn't have the right ring to it either. No, it's more like there's nothing wrong with Zabuza, nothing at all except that he had the rotten luck of being born at the wrong time in history. He'd have be right at home on some ancient battlefield, swinging an ax into somebody's face. Or in a Roman arena taking a sword to other gladiators like
him. They'd have tossed him girls like Sakura, back then. And now all he can do is watch. So we watch Sakura and we finish of the bottle, its liquid darkness fill us both. When I'm sure he'd enough to make him good and dangerous I tell him about Hinata and his eyes go killer red. I know he's willing to die for me, if that's what it takes. The poor slob. I'm using him. So I'm using him. So what? So he breaks the faces I want him to break
instead of some body's else. So he helps me get Hinata back in my arms instead of sleeping it off in a flop-house or a gutter or a drunk-tank. His life isn't worth a damn anyway. If I don't get him killed, the world will, one or the another. It has to kill him. It's got no place for him. The Poor slob. I hate myself.