Demons Have Tears Too.
Fifty more days.
Unfortunately for Kimiko, she had to miss eight days to work in the hospital. They were running short on nurses and even though Tsunade insisted they didn't need her to work, she was persistent on staying.
All the while, she kept thinking about Sasuke's outburst from a week ago, trying to figure out what he really meant. Sure she wanted to save lives in the hospital, but she was still worried sick about what she would do about Sasuke's case.
"…Ko? Kimiko!"
Her head snapped up, forgetting about her notes for now.
"I've been calling your name for a while now." She lightly bowed at Tsunade, which made her blond eye brows knit together. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine, why do you ask?"
In those two years that Tsunade took care of her, this was the first time she bowed to her like this. Sure she showed her respect but not like this, not in public.
"Never mind that, we have a big operation to follow through."
The solemn girl stood up, dragging her feet over to the operation room.
Then all of the information she gathered on Sasuke poured into her head. They latched onto her, not willing to let go.
'Fifty more days.'
She was too focused on being an interrogator that she didn't even notice she was in the emergency room now. As much as she wanted to push everything out of her head, they crowded around on tightly, not willing to let go without a fight.
"Here are your gloves." One of the other nurses handed her a pair of latex gloves, glaring at her as she did so.
Kimiko ignored it and pulled them on, wanting to get this over with.
But all the while, not only did the information on Sasuke bother her, but something else did too.
"We're treating Takashi Shizuka. He has coronary heart disease and we're planning to open the blocked blood vessels." Tsunade informed everybody in the room, which wasn't too many.
Angioplasty might be tedious operation but it was a fairly safe one too.
"Kimiko, keep a sight on the heart monitor."
"Yes ma'am." She tugged her dark locks behind her ear, trying to keep her attention on what's going on on the heart monitor and not what's going on in her head.
Immediately, the legendary medical-nin cut open the man's chest carefully.
Her star pupil watched, wondering why she wanted to savor this moment so much.
She felt all sorts of things she hadn't felt in a long time.
Hopelessness. Thankful. Maybe even a little sad.
What was her body trying to tell her?
"Kimiko!" The loud roar snapped the ravenette out of her trance. Her eyes widened when she looked over to the heart monitor. "Help me now!"
The taunting sounds of the racing heart beat sent her in a panic. He was having a heart attack.
Kimiko looked down to the patient's blocked blood vessel, forgetting how to do anything for a second.
"Kimiko, place the wire in now." The blond lady said with a stern voice, trying to bring this girl back to this world.
His heart beat faster, acting as a clock. Time was running out, and it was against her.
Just as she reached out to place the guide wire in, something stopped her.
Beeeeep.
Her whole body froze and nobody moved in the room.
She was both in shock and helplessness, everybody knowing very well why too.
"…Kimiko, why don't you take the day off?" More than a question, it sounded like a command.
She peeled off her gloves and turned to leave the room. Even though she tried hard to reject it, tears formed in her eyes quickly.
It was always easy for her in the operation room. Her body naturally moved and acted like it was supposed to, resulting to a happy and healthy patient. Today wasn't supposed to be any different, but something just bothered her enough to throw her off.
Once she was outside, she wiped her tears away. But she didn't make any progress when more formed in her crimson orbs.
This was the first time she had let someone die.
"I might not know how long it has specifically been, but I know it's been a while." Somehow, this boy made 'I'm tied down to the ground and haven't showered in days' look good. "Why didn't-…"
When she clicked on the flashlight, he could see her eyes were blood shot. Kimiko didn't seem like the type to cry, or show emotions at all. But here she was, openly approaching him even when she was like this.
Before he could ask her what's wrong, he stopped his self.
She was an interrogator, he was a criminal. Why should they care about each other in any way?
"…I can basically see the burden weighing down your shoulders."
There was a tiny smile that formed on her lips, but it left as fast as it came.
"What do you want me to do?"
It sounded more like a plea then a question.
"What are you talking about?"
"I just don't get you. You don't just want to die, there's another part to it." Finally, she looked up to him. He felt her eyes digging deeply into his, hoping for answers. "Are you ever going to tell me?"
The despair in her eyes made him look away in shame. Was it his fault she was crying?
"Look, I don't even know why I'm still in here. Why haven't they killed me by now?" The raven haired man heard her lightly sniffling. "You're an interrogator right? Don't you people have a deadline for things like this?"
"You don't even know the half of it."
It wasn't just a deadline to saving him, it was also a deadline to saving herself.
"Look, we're hooked together right now." She pointed to him and then back to her. "If you go down, I go down with you."
He squinted, letting her know he was lost.
"There's…" She didn't know whether or not she should tell him about the contract. The troubled girl worried that maybe he would think she was selfish for wanting to save her own butt. Plus, he wants to die right? Why would he waste his time saving her? "Somewhere I don't want to go."
She couldn't call it a home, it was far from it.
"And if you don't start talking soon, I'll be sent back to hell."
"Hell huh? Maybe that's why the ANBUs guarding outside call you the devil's child."
Kimiko scoffed, not surprised by the insult. "Trust me, that's nice compared to what others call me."
The handsome convict tilted his head a little, wondering what this girl was all about. They never really talked before, so it was hard to know anything about each other.
"If you tell me what I need to know, you can start over." The question was, did he even want a second chance in Konoha? "Think of it as a reset button."
"And what makes you think I even want that?"
"You have people that love you here Sasuke." Quite frankly, Kimiko was jealous of him. He had tons of people here that wanted him back, they would even fight for him. "Why would you throw that away?"
"I never asked for it."
"But they're giving it to you anyway. You actually have a decision to let it go or accept it." She looked down at her dark red fingernails. "You don't know how lucky you are, do you?"
"Well I have no interest in wasting my time with people."
"That's been your motto all your life. You wanted happiness, right Sasuke?" Her stare hardened but they remained focused on her short nails. "Your friends here, that's where you'll find it."
"Friends?" He whispered quietly and then smirked. "What makes you think they-"
"They are your friends Sasuke. They want to save you so bad, and I don't get why you wouldn't just willingly come back!" Kimiko raised her voice, feeling a little angry at how dense he was.
"And when did you pick my friends? You don't even know me, Interrogator."
"Your family died right?" She saw him immediately inhale deeply. "I get it, I know, they were the people that always wanted to see you when you got home. And you went back because you wanted to see them too right? That's where happiness was for you Sasuke."
"Don't try to tell me those kinds of things, you don't even know me."
"I never had that, I didn't have people that wanted me back. Even if I ran, nobody would chase after me." Fuzzy pictures of her parents flashed through her mind. "At least you had a family that loved you. And now you have other people that want to be close to you."
"Don't put them on the same level as my family." He was really the epitome of stubbornness.
"Whether you like it or not, I'm not going to let you die. What would they do if they found out that I'm the cause of your death?"
"They already hate you right? I guess you have nothing to lose."
Even if it was true, it still hurt to hear it out loud. Actually, she was surprised at his bluntness but smiled lightly anyway. "I would lose you."
That sure shut him up.
"I already let someone die today." There was a bomb ticking away inside of her, every second being a step closer to hell. "I'm not letting you die Sasuke."
She knew she was walking down a path towards the devil's den, she just didn't know how to turn.