Chapter 11
The Woman in Limbo
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bones
Lab. Sasuke is trying to get Sakura out but everyone keeps stopping them
"All I ask is that you stop by the archeology section and identify the skull as a Syrian, Hetite or Egyptian." Jiraiya requested as he trailed behind me.
"I'm in court today. I need my notes."
"Well, there's a photocopy in the file"
"No. The last time I read from photocopies, the defense lawyer told the jury I was winging it."
"Ready? Chop, chop." Sasuke said.
"I can't find my original notes…"
"Photocopy in the file."
"No. The last time the defense lawyer told the jury that I…"
"It was a ploy. It failed. Let's go." He cut me off.
"I found glass. I found pollen. Which do you want first?" Shikamaru asked walking up.
"Pollen."
"Perhaps you could swing by archeology on your way to your ah..court.."
"No. No swinging." Sasuke said.
"Alright. Her height makes no sense and her spine length is..wacky." Ino said from the platform.
"Dr. Haruno?" Naruto called out.
"Okay. Calculate the height off the femur and assume that fire shrunk her spine." I said walking over to Ino.
"I don't think you should talk about other cases so much on court day. You might get confused." Sasuke said wrapping an arm around my waist and walking me towards my office.
"One simple question. A Syrian, Hetite or Egyptian?" Jiraiya yelled from where he was standing.
"Dr. Haruno?" Naruto called out again.
"5 Minutes." Jiraiya begged.
"Bones!" Sasuke exclaimed when I slipped out of his grasp and went to Naruto.
"What's up?"
"Buttercup. If you sign off on these tissues markers, Ino can finish the facial reconstruction."
"Why did you say "buttercup"?" I asked.
"What's up, buttercup is an amusing, rhyming, linguistic meme. This is the latest Jane Doe from Limbo." He pointed at the skull.
"How 'bout this for an amusing, rhyming linguini. See ya later, alligator."
"Please don't refer to bones storage as "Limbo". " Jiraiya told Naruto. "5 minutes." He said turning to me again.
"There are thousands of human remains down there waiting to be identified. Limbo seems an appropriate name." Naruto said.
"No sign of foul play." I observed.
"If you have time for this, you have time for my Hetite." Jiraiya continued.
"Tissue depth of the cheekbones and along the jaw line looks a little deep to me, but otherwise-"
" ..out of limbo, back on earth and on our way to court. Thanks." Sasuke said as he pulled me away again.
"Naruto if you eat ramen in my lab while I'm gone... Well you don't want to know what I'd do." I said with a sickly sweet smile.
"My notes Sasuke."
"No. Bones. We don't have time! Our – all right, listen. Uh, Three minutes. I'll wait for you in the car."
Sakura ran back into the lab heading for her office. She paused when she saw the image of the jane doe on Ino's hologram.
"Is something wrong?" Jiraiya asked seeing my face.
"What's this?" I asked angrily walking up to Ino.
"Naruto's Jane Doe. He said that you okay'd the tissue markers."
"No, that can't be right. That can't possibly be right. You did it wrong. It's a mistake, Ino." I said storming off.
"Alright, fine. Sweetie. I'll turn it off." She called after me.
"Naruto. The artifact bag from your Jane Doe – do you have it?" I asked while walking from Ino's office towards the platform. I ran onto the platform without swiping my security card which made the alarms start blaring. Immediately security guards started to run into the lab.
"Yes. I also have three – " I grabbed the bag and ran to my office.
"It was Dr. Haruno." A security guard said into his walkie talkie and the alarms turned off.
"...Three bags of soil samples from where the remains were buried." Naruto trailed off since I was almost in my office.
Ino's office
"Any of you see Bones? We're due in court, like –hello-Now." Sasuke said walking in and checking the time on his phone.
Everyone was standing around with confused looks on their face.
"What?" Sasuke asked.
"This.. totally freaked her out."
Sasuke immediately picked up his phone and dialed a number when he saw the picture.
"My theory. Caffeine intolerance." Naruto said.
"Yah. You're gonna want to take Dr. Haruno off the witness list today. No. She can't make it into court. Thanks." Sasuke said before hanging up his phone.
"Alright. What's going on." Ino asked.
"That… Is Miyako Haruno."
"Good God."
"You just found Bones's mother." Sasuke sighed.
Sakura's office
Sakura sat there staring at her moms personal affects.
"I have to miss court."
"I know."
"I remember this belt buckle" I said showing it to him. "I borrowed it without asking first day of high school. My father had it specially made for my mother because she loved dolphins."
"Bones…I'm sorry."
"I always knew that for my parents to disappear like that... They – They had to be dead. I thought that when it was confirmed, I'd feel relief, but—"
"It's still bad news."
Naruto came to the doorway.
"You have the file, Naruto?" I asked.
"Jane Doe, Number 129-0998."
"Where was she found?"
"Bones, I –" Sasuke cut in.
"What does it say?" I asked harshly.
"In September of 1998, a grave-digging crew at the Sunset Memory Cemetery in Salisbury, Pennsylvania, uncovered human remains in a completely advanced stage of decomposition." Naruto read from the file.
"Is it from a grave?"
"No. It appears that somebody just dug a hole at the edge of the cemetery and…plopped the body in there."
"Naruto..." Sasuke warned.
"Sorry. The local coroner found no obvious evidence of foul play and sent the remains, a few artifacts and soil samples to the Jeffersonian, hoping we could identify her. Technically, you mother's been at the Jeffersonian as long as you have."
Sakura is visibly shaken.
"Dobe." Sasuke warned again.
"Sorry. But they both got here in 1998."
Jiraiya entered. "Dr. Haruno. Miss Yamaka has volunteered to drive you home."
"Sakura. Go home." Sasuke ordered gently.
Lab
"Adipocere and decomp residues in the bagged soil, indicate the body was buried at least five years." Shikamaru said.
"That's congruent with , uh, P.H. in the soil, climate and degree of decomp.."
"No. Seven years. It should be seven years." I cut Naruto off.
"I'm still going through the soil samples, but something in there might allow me to be more specific." Shikamaru said even though he new he was correct the first time.
"She was buried near Christmas 1991." I said.
Sasuke came in. "I need the room, guys."
"The whole lab? For what?" Naruto protested.
"It's a cop way of saying, "Get lost." Shikamaru said pulling Naruto out.
"What?"
"When you first gave me the file on your parents, I..I looked back into their lives three to four years before they disappeared. Jobs, friends."
"Okay…"
"I looked back a little further and I found that… Miyako Haruno didn't exist before 1978."
"What are you telling me? That – That this woman isn't my mother? I was born in 1976. Obviously, my mother existed."
"Do you know the most common way of creating an identity?" Sasuke asked.
"Getting the birth certificate of someone deceased who was born the same year you were…and take over that identity."
"I found a one, Matthew Haruno. Born and died, in 1948."
I gave Sasuke a look of disbelief.
"Do you understand?" He asked me.
"I don't know what it means. I don't know what any of it means."
"It means your parents weren't who you thought they were. It means that they were living under…assumed identities."
Town Carnival
"You licensed for this job?" Sasuke asked walking up to Gaara Where he was fixing a carnival ride.
"You're a cop." Gaara assumed.
"You know who recognizes cops?"
"Other cops." Gaara guessed.
"..and crooks. I talked to you a couple of days ago on the phone. I'm Uchiha."
"You gonna ask me some more questions about my childhood?"
Sasuke held up a picture of Miyako Haruno that Ino created.
"You found my mother?" Gaara asked surprised.
"Your sister did the I.D."
"What about dad?"
"No."
"What do you want?" Gaara asked.
"Do you remember being anyone else besides uh….Gaara Haruno?"
"No."
"You wouldn't lie to me, would you, Gaara?"
"Cops always think I'm lying."
"I want you to come back to D.C. and help out in this investigation."
"I got a job, man."
"You know, the alternative is I just cite you for performing unlicensed repairs on heavy equipment, get your parole revoked. Tell you what? You give me a call when you get into town." Sasuke stuck his business card on the railing. "Oh, and if you ask me, this –this thing here-" He pointed at the ride. "Is beyond hope." Gaara pulled the lever and the ride started. "Look at that. It works. I'll see you soon." Sasuke chuckled.
Lab
"What is it?" Ino asked.
"A clump of cellulose. It came from soil samples collected at Sakura's mom's burial site from the same depth as her bones."
"You said you had a giant problem."
"I used the laser scanning confocal microscope."
"Which one is that?" Ino asked confused.
"It looks like an espresso machine. Now it showed that this is mass-produced cardboard. Now electron dispersion spectroscopy indicates that the cardboard is coded with ethylenically unsaturated monomers, which kept it from completely deteriorating…"
"Shikamaru. What's the giant problem?"
"It's a movie ticket. A little U.V. analysis, some guesswork..I come up with "The Fugitive"
"So what's wrong? You don't like Sakura's mom's taste in movies?"
"The Fugitive was the third top-grossing film of 1993."
"Sakura's parents disappeared in December of 1991."
"Yet, mom's going to Harrison Ford movies almost 2 years later."
"Oh, god. This IS giant." Ino sighed.
"What do I do? Pretend I never found this?" Shikamaru asked upset.
Ino was speechless.
Lab with Sakura
"Dr. Haruno?"
"Yes, um. Did you find something in the soil?"
"Yeah, uh.. this was in the soil samples alongside your mother's remains."
"A movie ticket?"
"Rialto Theater. 9pm showing of "The Fugitive". September 22, 1993."
"Well, how did it get there?"
"Either your mother had it in her possession when she was buried, or it was
somehow buried with her." Shikamaru said awkwardly.
"Either way, it dates the burial." Ino added.
"No. That's..that's impossible. My mother disappeared in 1991."
"Sweetie…"
"It's possible mom was buried somewhere else, for a year and a half, then moved."
"No. That's not possible." Shikamaru bluntly said.
"Maybe it is." Ino said glaring at Shikamaru.
"We decided to tell you the truth..and this is the truth." Shikamaru said.
Sakura walked back to where she was examining her mother's skull.
"You alright?" Ino asked.
"I'm pretty sure I just found cause of death. Naruto?"
"Yes. Dr. Haruno."
"See the discoloration on the inside of the skull." I showed him the inside.
"Left side, extending from the coronal suture, crossing the superior and inferior temporal lines to the squamosal suture. Subdural hematoma. Whoo! A big one. Dr. Haruno?" Naruto asked because I was no longer paying attention as I noticed Sasuke walking in with Gaara.
"Probably fatal." I said returning to Naruto.
"There are no indications of a blow to the outer skull." Naruto said.
"Scan the outside of the skull. Look for histological changes, microscopic modeling." I said getting up and walking to Sasuke.
"I don't want to talk to him." I whispered in his ear before brushing past him and Gaara.
"Bones. Bones. Alright, listen, Naruto. If this guy moves, shoot him with a tranquilizer...dart or something…"
"I don't actually have a tranquilizer gun…" Naruto trailed off before giving Gaara a goofy grin.
"Hey, Bones. Come on." Sasuke said jogging after me.
"My mother died of a subdural hematoma. Bleeding in the brain."
"You want to proceeded rationally, correct?" Sasuke guessed.
"Chances are the subdural hematoma was caused by a blow to the head."
"Great. You got the how. Now let's get the who. You just told me that your mother was murdered. I mean, who better to help us than – than your brother?" Sasuke suggested.
Sakura's office
Gaara was looking through their mothers affects.
"Mom loved dolphins. This was mine!" He picked up a marble. "My favorite marble. What was she doing with that?" He chuckled.
"Where did Uchiha find you?"
"It's not hard for an F.B.I Agent to find a parolee." Gaara said.
"I didn't ask how. I asked where."
"Moorehead City, North Carolina. I call every year on your birthday. You never pick up."
"Take a hint." I sneered.
"Can I have this, please?" He asked holding up the marble.
"It's evidence."
"Of what? It's a kid's marble."
"It's the rules. I can't let you have it."
"Same old Saku. Never met a rule worth breaking."
"Same old Gaara. On parole."
Garage- Jeffersonian
"That's our old car, all right." Gaara said circling it.
"The name of my school is scraped off, Woodside Elementary. They said they didn't find anything in the car." I said looking at the bumper.
"There was a bloodstain. Front seat. Passenger side." Sasuke said. "I had N.C.I.C. database check for a married couple who disappeared in 1978. Meet Ryo and Kuri Arasake." Sasuke said showing pictures of them.
"That's mom and dad alright."
"The N.C.I.C. database? That's ..that's criminals. My parents were on the list of Federal Offenders?"
"How do you like that? I guess a criminal nature runs in the family." Gaara chuckled.
"You were seven years old, Gaara. Old enough to remember. What – What is your real name? What is MY real name?" I half yelled at him.
"Bones, it's right here in the file."
"No! No! I want him to tell me! What is my real name, Gaara?"
"My name was Kyle. Your name was Joy."
"You are not my brother." I sneered.
"Bones!"
"No! He lied about that! What else are you lying about? What else are you not telling us?"
I said before storming out of the room.
Lab
"Now, these two DNA charts are from the blood in the car. These two are from Dr. Haruno and her brother. These three match, and this one, does not." Shikamaru explained.
"These three people are related?" Sasuke asked.
"This is mom, me and Gaara." I told him.
"But this chart – A male, but it's definitely not your father."
"So we'll just run it through Codas and the Convicted Offender Index and see what pops up, all right?" Sasuke asked.
Ino's office
"So you describe someone to me and I draw them. That's the drill."
"Who do I describe?" Gaara asked.
"I don't know yet. Sasuke put us together so I could charm you into telling me the truth."
"Trust me. I got no more truth."
"You know, your sister is my best friend, so when she says you can't be trusted, I trust her."
"This is you being charming? Does Saku really hate me that much?"
"Gaara, she loves you. It'd be easier if she hated you. Hate is a lot easier to deal with than love. Especially, disappointed love."
"You know what's ironic? Saku doesn't trust me because I keep a promise."
"What promise?"
"Seven years old. Dad and me in the backyard, this was in Ohio. My dad tells me. "You're not Kyle anymore. Forget about Kyle. You're Gaara." He says, "If you ever tell anyone – the police, anyone – you will be killing your mother and your sister. Swear" he says. "You swear on your baby sister's life you won't tell" He makes me say my new name a hundred times – Gaara Haruno, Gaara Haruno, Gaara Haruno. He says it with me. Gaara Haruno. Gaara Haruno. Gaara Haruno."
"Around that time, when Kyle became Gaara..Maybe you saw someone. Maybe you saw someone who scared you? Someone who scared you because you had instincts. The instincts of a frightened kid. Was there someone like that?"
"Yeah. A man came to the house one , my dad said if I ever saw this guy again, to grab my sister, and hide."
"Well, when you're ready, you'll describe that man to me."
"All right."
Lab- late at night
"Dr. Haruno, is it morning?"
"No, I couldn't sleep. Why are you still here?" I asked Naruto.
"We're all here. No one's leaving until we figure out what happened to your mother."
"Thank you." I said with a genuine smile.
"Don't thank me. I'm failing. I've gone over every millimeter of the skull and found no evidence of remodeling., which makes no sense because any wound that results in a subdural hematoma that big should leave a mark on the living bone."
"What if the subdural hematoma, started out much smaller?"
"And grew over time?" He asked.
"Over the course, of say, a year. That might explain the gap between the time my mother sustained the injury and the time she was buried."
"And the blow itself might not have left a mark on the bone."
"Show me the surface of the skull directly above the center of the hematoma."
"Hundred times magnification?" He asked.
"Go to 500? Oh. See here?" I pointed out to him.
"Microscopic fractures of the osteons and is that the result of bleeding into the interstitial spaces? I can map the fractured osteons. That might lead us to the weapon." Naruto said already getting to work.
Sakura's office
"Caught a break on the DNA in the car." Sasuke said walking in.
"You know who is it?"
"Not exactly. See it's a closed file. Whoever it is, is in Witness Protection. I'll make a request, but they're pretty tight over there."
"What if you had a face?" Ino asked from where she was standing at the door.
"Who's that?" I asked seeing her drawing.
"Somebody your father pointed out to Gaara when he was seven. Somebody he's still afraid of."
"Hey, know what? I'm gonna play hardball with Witness Protection. If they don't cooperate, I'm gonna put his face in the paper."
"Wouldn't you get in trouble for that?" I asked.
"Well, we'll find out." Sasuke said before leaving.
"You know what? Sometimes, he is just – Whew." Ino said staring at his butt as he left. "What?" She said with a sly grin.
Lab
"This is the pattern of fractured osteons." Naruto showed me.
"It suggests a blow from the front that grazed the skull." Ino added.
"A bullet?" I asked.
"There would've been particulates left behind by a bullet. Especially fired from a short range." Shikamaru explained.
"I Isolated the most fractured osteons and this pattern emerges." Naruto showed us a pattern on the screen.
"It looks like the business end of a tire iron."
"No, the size is wrong. Too small. The weapon was actually chasing the skull when it landed. I believe that the victim was pulled away at the last second so that most of the force was lost leaving only the slightest impression." Ino said.
"Bones. I got what I need from Witness Protection. Let's go for a drive." Sasuke said form the entrance of the lab.
I walked off but then turned back around and said, "Everybody. Thank you. I... Thank you."
Pig Farm
"Okay, Bones. Just listen to me. This guy, Zetsu, he might be a pig farmer now, but he used to be a mechanic with ties to the strong-arm crew that your parents ran away from." Sasuke said as we got out of the car.
"A mechanic? Like Gaara."
"Not like Gaara. Gaara, fixes things. This guy, he used to kill people."
"Can I help you folks?" The man asked walking up.
"Yeah, put your hands up. Do it." Sasuke said drawing his gun.
"Sasuke…"
"Check him for a gun." Sasuke ordered.
"What's going on?" The man asked.
"He's got a .45" I scoffed showing it to Sasuke.
". 45. Check his ankle."
"He's got a .38." I pulled the gun out.
".38. I'm always right. I'm FBI. I know who you are." Sasuke said.
"Stever Beers, Pig Farmer." He said.
"Zetsu. The pig farmer, huh?" Sasuke said his real name.
"You want to talk to Zetsu. You do it through the Federal Marshals."
"I do it through the Federal Marshals, I'm gonna have to tell them about a pig farmer who carries two concealed weapons."
"Three. .22 in the small of his back." I said pulling out another gun. I tucked the other two into my pants.
".22. I'm always right."
"No you're not." I said.
"Yes, I am. Bones, will you put the gun down." He said as I waved it mockingly.
"What do you want?" Zetsu asked again.
"I'm Ryo Arasake's daughter."
"Joy? You're Joy Arasake? Yeah I can see that." He chuckled.
"They found your blood in the car." I told him.
"You hurt lots of people, Zetsu. You bashed in their heads." Sasuke added.
"Well, they never proved that, or I wouldn't be in Witness Protection."
"Yeah, we know how it works, Zetsu. You rat out your crew. Everybody loses interest in a few old murders…"
"My mother was hit on the head."
"Yeah, I know. I was there." He showed a scar on his forehead. "Thirty-two stitches."
"She fought back, huh?" Sasuke smirked.
"Kuri fought back, alright, but not against me.
"Then against whom?" I asked.
"Your father."
"Why did he attack you?" Sasuke asked.
"Think about it a second, all right?"
"You and my... my mother?" I asked disgusted.
"Me and Kuri had run off together. Ryo caught us pulling into a motel outside of Champaign, Illinois. We were nuts about each other, Kuri and me. Crazy in love."
"Okay, let's just skip that part, okay?"
"Well, he hit Kuri first."
"With what?" I asked.
"Tire iron. Hit my arm, caught me a roundhouse to the head. Lights out, baby. I came to, Kuri and Ryo were gone. Never saw neither of them again. You ask me, Ryo killed Kuri and buried her somewhere and vanished. Our plan, once we set up – most likely in Florida – was to bring you down. Your father is a hard man, Joy."
"My name is Haruno. I'm Dr..." I sighed. "I'm Dr. Sakura Haruno."
Zetsu scoffed and walked away.
"I work at the Jeffersonian Institution. I'm a Forensic Anthropologist. I specialize in identif.." I started to break. "in identifying... in identifying people when nobody knows who they are. My father was a science teacher. My mother was a bookkeeper." I started to cry. "My brother... I have a brother. I'm Dr. Sakura Haruno." I said wiping my tears.
"I know who you are. Hey. I know. It's okay. Shh. It's gonna be alright." Sasuke said pulling me in for a hug while I cried.
Sakura's apartment
"No way dad hits mom. No way." Gaara shook his head.
"If he caught them together.." I trailed off.
"No way mom cheats on dad. No way."
"Men like Zetsu, he lies the way you guys take a drink of water. He killed people, then snitched to save his own ass." Sasuke said.
"You don't believe him?" I asked.
"No. I don't believe him."
"Give me one piece of evidence that doesn't back up his story." I said.
"You're school sticker on the back of your parents' car – it was scraped off."
"What does that prove?" Gaara asked.
"Well, the only reason to do that – to keep you guys hidden, safe."
"From Zetsu." I realized.
"Zetsu performed hits for the crew your mom and dad ran out on."
"What else?" I asked.
"Well, there's a story that tracks for me, but without evidence, it's – it's just a story."
"Tell us." Gaara said.
"Your parents go out Christmas shopping one day. They spot Zetsu, the hit man. Alright? They lead him away from your home."
"Scrape off the name of the school so he can't trace it back to me and Gaara."
"He takes out your father.."
"..and my mother gets away with a head wound."
"She leaves the car a thousand miles away, finds friends, but she can never go back to see you guys because the crew is still looking for her. It's just a story." Sasuke ended.
"Fits the evidence."
"Alright. You know what? The weapons that Zetsu had on him, they're a violation of his agreement with the Witness Protection Program. I'm gonna take him into custody. I'm gonna get a warrant. I'm gonna search his farm."
"Search for what?" Gaara asked.
"Zetsu liked to bash in people's heads. Maybe we'll get lucky and match the weapon he used on your mother."
"It's unlikely."
"In that case, we'll still ruin his day." Sasuke smirked before walking out.
"Saku, that theory explains why mom never came back for you during that year and a half before she died."
"What's your excuse, Gaara?"
"You're the one that left me. You needed someone to blame. You chose me."
"I was fifteen years old."
"I was nineteen! My parents were gone. My sister hated my guts. Everyone's telling me that she'd be better off in foster care." He threw his hands up.
"You didn't even ask me." I looked him in the eyes.
"I tried, Sakura. You wouldn't talk to me. You still wouldn't be talking to me if mom's bones hadn't shown up. And I kept trying. Every year. Every year on your birthday. You're the on that gave up! You turned your back on me and you made yourself a new family." Gaara then left leaving me alone.
Lab
"What's going on?" I asked shrugging on my lab coat and walking up onto. The platform.
"The FBI delivered all these tools and weapons from the pig farm guy." Shikamaru explained.
"We went through them to see if any of them match the mark on your mother's skull." Ino said showing their findings.
"We got 20 hammers, a dozen hatchets.." Sasuke said showing all of them.
"Man loves his blunt instruments." Shikamaru jokes.
"Seven tire irons. None of them match the wound, even allowing for shrinkage." Naruto showed me the tire irons,
"It was 15 years ago. Even if Zetsu killed my mother, what are the chances he hung on to the exact weapon?"
"Uh, It's always like this with Zetsu. Alright, ya know, some mook is found with his forehead bashed in. The FBI goes in the basement, collects about 40 hammers and nothing matches."
"Always the forehead?"
"Yeah. That's his signature kill, yeah. Not that anyone could ever prove it." Sqsuke sighed.
"You said guys like Zetsu get comfortable with a way of killing…" I trailed off thinking.
"Yeah."
"Where did Zetsu grow up?"
"He grew up a farm kid in Iowa. Why?"
"How do you slaughter a pig?" I asked looking up at Sasuke.
Zetsu's farm
"Why is he here?" I asked looking at Zetsu who was standing with the police.
"He gets nervous, we know we're getting close."
"Found this in the barn." The agent handed it to me. "This is a spring-loaded captive bolt stunner. The animals restrained. It's pressed to the forehead."
"Hmm." I examined it before pressing it to the fence and pulling the trigger. It blew out a section of the fence.
"Oh!" Sasuke exclaimed.
"What kind of person could use this on a human being?" The other agent asked.
"What kind of person could use this on a pig?" I asked looking at it.
"It's the perfect dodge. Blood, flesh – it can all be explained." Sasuke said.
"I think I just became a vegetarian." I said disgusted.
"So what do you think?"
"Yeah. Same shape as a tire iron, but smaller. This could be a match." I answered him.
"Before you decide anything, we should talk." Zesty yelled from where he was standing.
"I'd call that nervous, wouldn't you?" Sasuke smirked.
"There's no way to prove that's the exact weapon that killed your mother or anyone else." He called out again.
"You'd be surprised what she can prove."
"I need to speak to you alone." Zetsu said looking at me.
"Forget it." Sasuke said pulling me back to him.
"Sasuke, it's alright."
"No."
"It's alright."
"You got two ways to look at this. One is, you score a private chat. The second one is, you attack her and I'll drill you through the forehead." Sasuke said pushing his jacket back to reveal his gun.
"How could I possibly attack her." Zetsu lifted up his handcuffed hands.
"I'll decide what is and isn't an attack –like say, a hiccup."
"Sasuke. Come on." I put an and on his arm reassuringly before walking off to Zetsu.
"You killed my mother."
"Gonna be hard to convince a jury."
"I'm pretty persuasive. I'll put you away."
"Here's the thing, Joy. Two people know what really happened that night. Me and your father."
"You killed him before you attacked my mother."
"Then how did I get this scar on my head? You got a choice, Joy. You drop the bolt stunner down the well, and you'll know what happened. You put me in front of a jury, not only will you fail to convict, but you'll never know the truth. You can't live with that, Joy. You can't live not knowing."
"I found out what happened to my mother. I will find out what happened to my father, too. We're done." I said walking away.
"You will NEVER know what happened to your father." He seethed before the police pulled him away.
Sasuke and Sakura driving
"Why are you letting me drive?" I asked.
"It's your reward.."
"For what?"
"For totally pissing off a hit man. Can I read your book?"
"After it comes out."
"Not before?" He pouted.
"No."
"I let you drive."
"Just let it go."
"Where are we going?"
"I'd like to make up for a little lost time."
Town Carnival
"I have something for you." I held the marble up and gave it to Gaara.
"Thanks, Saku."
"Gaara. You were right. You were only 19, but at the time, I didn't understand what that meant. Sometimes people need to explain things to me, I guess."
"Then, you have to let them talk to you."
"If you can maybe come back and stay a couple days longer? Please? At my place, I mean."
"Sure."
Sakura's apartment
"Anybody thirsty?" I asked going into the kitchen.
"You got beer?" Gaara asked.
"Ah, I gotta go. You know, I'm Picking up Parker for the weekend." Sasuke said as he spotted Sakura's manuscript of her new book.
"You have boy?" Gaara asked.
"Yeah." He lifted up the page of the manuscript and saw "This book is dedicated to my partner and friend, Special Agent Sasuke Uchiha."
"The woman I'm seeing, she's got uh, two daughters." Gaara said with a smile.
"Nice. Girls are nice." Sasuke said looking at Sakura and smiling after he put the page down.
Sakura came back into the room and handed Gaara a beer. "I'd love to meet your son sometime Sasuke."
"Yah of course. I'm sure Parker would love you."
I smiled and went to play the messages on my home phone.
"New message recorded today. 3p.m." A female voice said.
"Sakura? You have to stop looking. Y—You have to stop looking for me right now. This is bigger and worse than you know. Please stop now." A scared male voice said.
"Who's that?" Sasuke asked.
"That was my father."
An: So there was some of Sakura's history! A lot about her father is soon to come. So about Kakashi I was thinking about keeping him around. In Bones he's only there during the first season really but I'll have him stay.
Review?