10. The Smile
The frigid wind beating on his bare chest didn't affect him; it almost tickled, really. From across the gorge, the cities lights of Section 2 twinkled like stars in the night sky…except for the strip clubs and bar signs that glowed neon purples and pinks. Eh, someone could mistake those for U.F.O lights, he guessed.
What the hell was taking this guy so long?
He shifted his weight to his other leg and sighed, watching his breath appear in a cloud of hot air. Just as his breath disappeared, he could hear the hushed, careful footsteps of his client approaching from behind the boulder he leaned on.
"Before we start talking: one, you're fucking late, you dick. Two, it's not like I'm scared or anything, but do you really think having a meeting outside the Hokage's office is a good idea?"
His client leaned against the rock, breathing in deep heaves as if he ran to this particular meeting. He doubted it, knowing his client would make him wait for days if he didn't know his head would be sliced clean off.
"You're an hour late," he repeated, readjusting his bulky weapon to his right shoulder.
His client straightened up once he caught his breath. "I have far more important business to attend to."
He sighed, knowing this man would say something about the more important businesses to take care of. He just remained quiet, examining his fingernails and picking the dirt from underneath them. When his client began to shift from one foot to another and fidget with his hair, he said the routine statement, "Then, you can forget our—"
"No," his client—always—interrupted. "Before we can continue, I have a problem we need to fix first."
"You and your damn problems!"
"Can you stop being so impatient and let me share the plan?"
"This happened last night?" Minako asked as she eyed the checker pieces on the board. She inwardly groaned when she noticed Sachiko's pieces doubled the amount of hers. Briefly, she caught of glance of Sachiko nodding. "You weren't terrified someone broke into your room?"
"Worst things have happened."
"What could possibly be worse than that?"
Through her brown bangs, Sachiko gave Minako a pointed look, reminding Minako of whom she spoke to. Minako clicked her tongue at her. Knowing Sachiko for the nearly three years, Minako realized Sachiko isn't one to be surprised. Jumping a game piece of her opponent's, Minako continued the conversation. "Anyway, what'd he want?"
"He said he planned to take Ino and bring her back home."
"You didn't tell me it was her friend." She remembered him from the night he tried to convince Ino to go back home. After that, she hasn't seen his face for almost a month. She thought he gave up on Ino and went back home. "That explains things now."
Sachiko took her black checker piece and made it jump over Minako's red piece, which she quickly seized and cast it off to the side of the playing board. "She's not the same anymore, huh?" Sachiko never spoke to Ino when she first arrived at the pub, so she didn't know who or how Ino really was. Minako, however, roomed with the other blonde and shared the same shift.
"No." Minako sat still for a long moment with her eyes glued to the checkered board on the table. "When we went shopping, I kinda ran into her dressing room, and…she…," Minako paused, wondering if she should tell her news to Sachiko. Those scars she saw… They weren't hers to tell. "She had…these scars all over her body…." She rubbed her shoulders to show where the scars were. "All over her shoulders and back. She has these cuts around her thigh."
Sachiko traced a finger across the scar that plagued her face, reminiscing of the time she obtained it. "Where do you think they're from?"
Minako shrugged. Nothing she guessed seemed logical.
Everything fell silent except for the tapping of the checker pieces they moved around the board and the ticking of the clock until Minako leaned back in her chair, taking a break. "Do you ever wonder how she got away from him?"
Sachiko glanced at the sleeping Ino, who loudly declared she would play winner but fell asleep seconds after their game of checkers began. Her head rested against the tabletop while her arms wrapped around her stomach.
"I wonder every day."
"Help me."
"Help me."
"Help me."
Women's voices chanted in Ino's mind. The voices were soft and melodic. When Ino opened her eyes, she immediately closed them again, blinded by the brightness of the white room she found herself lying in. Ino squinted, attempting to ignore the intense light and search for the source of the hypnotic voices.
"Don't let him get us."
Three black figures stepped into Ino's visions. They blurred around the edges and up close, they appeared to be nothing but translucent blobs.
"Don't let him get us." Ino looked up. Solid red eyes stared at her.
The figures released a high-pitched scream as a giant scythe sliced through them, ripping them in half and splattering Ino's face with a warm liquid. Among the shattered shadows, he stepped through the discarded figures and grabbed Ino face, forcing her to stare into his devilish eyes. His fingers pressed hard against her cheek, withdrawing painful tears.
His calloused fingers slid down her cheeks, smearing the liquid down her cheeks and when he raised his hand, she saw the scarlet that stained his fingertips.
The white room disappeared, replaced by absolute darkness. Ino sobbed, picking at her skin in attempt to peel the women's blood off her tainted skin. Beyond her sobbing cries, she could hear his voice chanting and occasionally his insane laugh, followed by her own scream as he tortured her. Ino leaned over, placing her forehead against the cool floor and covered her ears, trying to block out the terrorizing sounds.
His voice ceased suddenly. Ino tentatively looked up. Her eyes met his lavender eyes and his maniacal grin.
Ino jolted awake, screaming. She opened her eyes when a loud crash rang through her ears. Her wide, frightened eyes met the concerned and shocked gazes of Minako and Sachiko. The checker pieces and board were scattered along the floor along with the table she involuntarily flipped over.
Sachiko was the first to move, breaking the long moment of awkward silence. She stood from her seat to flip the table back on its feet, then picked up the scattered game pieces while Minako still stared at Ino with worry in her round, hazel orbs. Ino stared back, but not for long.
She turned away from Minako's gaze. "Sorry," Ino apologized quietly. "Did I mess up your game?"
Sachiko places all the game pieces back in its box. She smiled. "No, you just saved Minako from getting her ass whooped."
Ino jumped slightly when Minako latched onto her arm and rubbed Ino's shoulder with her cheek. "My hero!" she exclaimed, but Ino noticed the detachment in her voice.
The front door burst open and banged against the wall, causing pictures to shake and threaten to drop to the floor. "Ladies, get ready! Customers could be coming in any second now!" Jin announced as he raced to the kitchen with plastic and paper bags in his arms.
"I'm going to take a nap before my shift. I'll see you girls at midnight." With that said, Sachiko took the game box and left, leaving Minako and Ino to wipe the tables clean and to set up for the next several busy hours ahead of them.
Her glow in the dark clock ticked loudly, echoing through the dark, empty hallways throughout Sakura's apartment. From her bed, she stared at the clock and watched dull minutes tick-tock away. Occasionally, Naruto's snore pulled Sakura out of her trance, but she soon watched the minute hand again.
Naruto soundly slept, curled up in a tight ball with his arms locked around her fluffy stuffed bunny her mother bought Sakura for her seventeenth birthday. Whenever he slept at her place, usually he cuddled with the stuffed animal rather than her. Dating him for almost a year, she grew used to it, no longer jealous of the bunny.
"Naruto, are you awake?" Sakura shook the young man awake.
"What is it, hm?" he mumbled, grabbing her hand that rested on his shoulder and enlacing his fingers through hers. Sakura smiled and tightened her fingers around his, giving his fingers a quick squeeze. The warmth of his hand quickly warmed her body. She loved how warm he always was.
Sakura scooted closer to Naruto, keeping their fingers joined. "Remember that letter Shikamaru sent to Tsunade?"
Naruto glanced over his shoulder. "You didn't."
"I did."
He sighed. "Well, what'd it say?"
Sakura pulled closer to Naruto's bare back and leaned her forehead between his shoulder blades. "Ino is missing," she announced. Naruto tensed at the news. "Breathe, Naruto." He released a long breath, easing the tension.
"Is that why Shikamaru left?"
"Mhm, but I guess Ino doesn't want to come back to Konoha."
"Why?"
"It didn't explain."
Naruto turned to look at Sakura again. "You're not thinking about going over there are you?"
"I've thought about it."
"It's Shikamaru's job to bring her back. If Tsunade wanted you to go then she would have sent you instead of Shikamaru. Have some faith in him." Sakura repressed the urge to stick her tongue at him. Since when was Naruto the mature, reasonable one in this relationship? Sakura's good, mature habits probably rubbed off on him…
Maybe, as the next Hokage, he thought in the aspects of what a Hokage would do. After a year's apprenticeship with Tsunade and a rigorous lecture from the village elders, Naruto wasn't the impulsive young man who jumped into an exciting adventure the second it presented itself. He actually thought about the impact the "adventure" would have towards the village.
He really was assuming the role of his father, the great Yondaime. Sakura just hoped Naruto wouldn't face the same ending as his father.
"Did you fall asleep?" Naruto whispered, making Sakura giggle. She pulled her hand away from his and wrapped an arm around his stomach.
"For a second…then you started talking."
"It's what you get for waking me up first."
"I had a serious issue to discuss with you. You, on the other hand, just woke me up out of petty revenge."
She felt Naruto tighten his grip around her stuffed bunny. "Sakura, go to bed. Shikamaru will bring Ino back. There's no need to worry."
"Right." Sakura closed her eyes but behind the dark curtains, she tried to picture her life without Ino, but she only conjured her life to be lonely and shattered, like Ino's life at the moment, but Sakura didn't know that.