This chapter is 10k words of family drama goodness, enjoy!
The jaguar glided over near empty pavement, the remaining hours of Halloween gone, replaced by the cold chill of November. Sasuke was behind the wheel, guiding the sports car downtown. Most of the festivities had died down, the remaining cars on the street consisted of drunken stragglers from parties across town and parents on a late night ginger ale run after allowing their children to eat too much candy.
Jordan rode shotgun and directed him where to turn. They passed the occasional cop, but Sasuke knew he had nothing to worry about. He was the least evil thing to worry about roaming the city this late at night.
Jordan sat back in her seat, seemingly sated and gratified. She directed him with slow, calm, heavy words. They were headed to a restaurant he'd never been to, and when he pulled into the parking lot, he could see why. It was a bar, more or less, the sign was minuscule and not easily noticed, but the lights were on and live music boasted from open kitchen windows as well as the sounds of a bustling, busy eatery.
"I used to come here a lot in college," Jordan started, fishing around in the glove box for a pair of sunglasses. When she found them, she got out, and he followed her lead. The sign over the door labeled the place 'Lenore's,' and it consisted of three levels. The bottom level was empty, probably some sort of take out waiting room, and the bathrooms were here too. Sasuke followed his mentor up the darkened stairs lit mostly by the lights on the top level and cheap glow in the dark stars stuck to the walls.
The main room was lit by two very large, green chandeliers and normal lights mounted on the walls over each table. They had been turned down to give the room a cozy, intimate feel, but there was no shortage of light to see by. The band was situated across from the bar, playing an indie song that Karin would have probably liked, a low, lazy, but upbeat resonance. There were probably about twelve tables on this level, and most were filled, as was the bar. Posters, paintings and photographs lined every open space. Ravens, black cats, newspaper clippings and movie posters from the nineteen nineties contrasted well with the antique bar and table chairs, which were refinished but kept their old looking charm. One wood grained wall was devoted entirely to showcasing budding photographers and painters. The room smelled like beer, cinnamon and espresso. It smelled good, and it was warm too.
Jordan lead him up another flight of stairs, he was so distracted he almost didn't see her leaving. The third level was more just a outlook over the first, six tables situated themselves up here, and all were empty. The pair seated themselves close to the railing, old wrought iron and ornate, so they could still watch the band. The table was decorated with a glass mosaic rose, covered in acrylic to soothe out the surface. He wondered how long this table had been here, at least though her college years.
A waitress was on them in seconds, bringing their menus and later their drinks.
"I used to come here all the time, isn't it cool?" Jordan grinned, taking a sip of her soda. Sasuke didn't respond, but yes it was cool.
"Have you decided?" The waitress buzzed, smiling and picking up the menus. Sasuke knew what he wanted after his first glance at the list of food, and Jordan didn't even bother to pick hers up.
"A steak please, medium," Jordan responded, curt but kind. The waitress nodded and turned to Sasuke.
"Roasted vegetable pasta please."
She was gone after jotting something down, leaving the pair alone again.
"Yeah, I used to leave Kakuzu at home and come party here all night long, well, this place closes at two, but you got the idea. They didn't used to serve food after eleven, I'm glad they changed," Jordan chattered, and then in her most smug tone, she asked; "but, anyway, how was it? Any questions?"
She meant his first time. Of course she was still on that, that was probably her crowning achievement. Sasuke let silence fall over them while his brain buffered. He didn't really have anything to compare it to, he couldn't really rate it. He did have a question though.
"Can I ask about the scar?"
"Oh, that," She grinned, swirling her drink around in her cup. She didn't sound particularly happy. She knew which scar he meant, and it wasn't from the bullet.
"Well," She drawled, "that scar is very private, the story behind it Is a secret. But seeing as you've literally seen every inch of my body and your going to eventually surpass me, I could probably enlighten you a little. I'm not going to tell you where I'm from or anything about my home life, but I will tell you how I got started. There is only one other person that knows this story, I'm sure you can guess who that is. If I find out you spoke a word of this to anyone, it won't end well for you."
She paused, resting her chin in her hand, waiting, asking herself if this was worth it, wondering if this was really such a good idea. It wasn't too late to back out. She'd threatened him, however empty the threat might have been, he wasn't worried. Sasuke nodded slowly, making stoic eye contact with her. He was ready to know if she was ready to tell.
"So, I'll paint you a picture," she began again, sitting up, "I was seventeen, I hadn't had my last growth spurt yet, and my hair was a little shorter too. I was walking down a street, a paved street, barefoot and pregnant with a suitcase in my hand."
"Whoa," he interjected, "pregnant? How'd that happen?" She hadn't started at the beginning of this story, and that annoyed him.
"How does anyone get pregnant?" She sneered, taking a sip of her pop, "but I know that's not really what you're asking. I won't answer that. Sorry."
Sasuke didn't say anything. He watched her press her lips into a thin line as if she was unsure if she should continue, but then she grinned again, in sort of a sinister way and then she continued.
"Anyway, so, I'm walking down the street, I was probably about six months along, and I'm leaving home. I get about two miles down the road and a mustang pulls up, and out of it climbs my knight in shinning armor. He was twenty five and a friend and employee of my father's, and with the first words out of my mouth I told him to fuck off. Eventually I got in to his car, he told me my dad fired him, and then he told me that he was in love with me. He was gonna help me raise that baby like she was his own, but she died a week after she was born, do to no fault of anyone else but nature. We got married anyways. I'm sure you know the rest."
It was silent for a while, Jordan sipped her drink and the food came. Sasuke's pasta dish dripped in a scarlet red tomato sauce, spiced perfectly and accompanied by chopped vegetables in the dish. It had him drooling, but before he could dig in, he had to have the answers to a question that now begged.
"That stuff about your father dying and you inheriting his fortune, was that true?"
"It was, yes. Though, I suspect that money was left to me just to spite his fourth ex-wife, he hated me, but on the other hand, I was his only child," Jordan huffed, picking through her own food. The sirloin in front of her looked positively delicious too.
"What inspired you to create KMA then? You don't act like your life events scared you, besides in the literal sense," He continued. She was already ungodly rich, why would she need or want to start a company and work?
"Remember when we first meet, and I told you that admiration was the same as lust? It's that idea. These events all happened within a year of each other, all except my divorce, and that was all the time I needed to decide what I liked and by extension what I wanted. I wanted the largest company in the country, in the world and I'm almost there. "
"You did this all to show up your father? To make a more money than him, because he hated you?" Sasuke tried to read between the lines, because that was certainly the way she was making it sound. She laughed.
"No. No not at all. I did this because I found it enjoyable. Big business is fun, and breaking the law is even more fun. I do this because I love my job," she had a chunk of her steak on the end of her fork and the sinister look on her features now made her look positively wicked.
Sasuke decided that she'd told him more than she'd wanted to. Her story sort of reminded him of the way they'd meet. Had she really gotten the idea to pick him up off the street from Kakuzu all those years ago? He realized, if the baby hadn't of died, neither he or Karin would be in the picture.
He watched her move the meat to her mouth and chew and then move to cut up the rest of her steak in between bites of his own food, stabbing up halved cherry tomatoes with each mouthful of pasta. He chased a few sprigs of asparagus off to the side and rounded up a cut of zucchini to grab in the next mouthful.
He thought back to the last time his family had gone out to dinner. He didn't want to, but it was worming its way into his head even though he tried to ignore it. It hadn't been for any reason in particular, but it was the first of the month and there was money for once. Sasuke, his mother, and his father had gone out, Itachi was absent at college, and the fighting had been held off until they got home. It was pleasant. It was happy. His father wasn't drunk or hungover, that's what made it most pleasant. His father's happiness was the house's happiness.
It wasn't, however, better than any dinner he'd shared with Karin and Jordan.
He remembered exactly what he ordered, it was the same thing they all ordered, a patty melt and fries. He remembered the way his mother smiled, the way she joked with his father about having food on his face and the way he hurriedly wiped it off. He remembered the fullness to their eyes, the yellowed-white of their teeth as they smiled. He remembered the drunken rage they'd both flown in to later that night.
At the time he'd been indifferent to the fight, it was normal, a month ago he was indifferent, but now, thinking back, he was angry, he was angry they drank, he was angry they fought, he was angry they ruined the first decent night he'd had in a long time.
He should have been angry all along he realized, he should have been angry they drove his brother away, they drove him away, out of his own home. He should have been feeling all along.
"You look sort of disturbed," Jordan's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he realized he'd been staring at his plate for the last five minutes, unmoving, "my turn to pry," she purred, her grin reminiscent of the slyest fox, "so, tell me."
"Tell you what?" He asked, taking a drink of his cola to water his dry mouth.
"Whatever you want," she replied.
"I was thinking about my family, just now, if that's what you meant," he answered, when she gave no indication of replying, he carefully continued, "I had a very significant relationship with my family, especially Itachi before he left for school. We used to go everywhere together. I love my mother very dearly. She's soft spoken, especially when it's more than just her and I."
"What about your father?"
Why was he spilling his guts to her? He didn't need to get this off his chest! It wasn't any of her business and it was all in the past anyway. He shouldn't be thinking about it, he shouldn't care. But he did. He did care and he was hurt. Whatever had broke inside of him, whatever made him realize that he was a human, a living, breathing, feeling, human, needed to go away. He didn't want to be angry, he didn't want to be sad, or upset, he didn't want these things to bother him. He didn't care to open up to her or anyone else. But he would, because he wanted her to know. He wanted her to coddle him and tell him he was doing well. He wanted her to continue praising him, telling other people how good he was because neither of his parents ever bothered to. He wanted her to know more than any other person. So he continued, very slowly.
"My father isn't an easy one to impress."
She rose her eyebrows, the expression in her face just as calm and unreadable as the one on his, "What does that mean?"
He didn't have a response for her. He didn't even know what to say so he let silence linger before he answered, "Significant relationships come and go. It's a part of life."
"Not if both parties involved are trying," she sipped her drink, "are you telling me your doing this because of your father? Like you just suggested I was?"
"I don't know," he answered finally, "at first it was about money but..."
"I see," she said, considering his answer, "Well, let me tell you something. Don't let relationships you want to keep around dwindle. But," she accentuated, "but, known when enough is enough. Sometimes things you want to stay don't want you."
"Like Kakuzu?" He blurted the first thing that came to his lips.
"...Yes," she paused," What's that old bastard saying to you?"
"Nothing," he muttered, regretting what he'd said immediately.
"Spill it. I know he blabs to everyone who'll listen about how I don't want him around, and this, that, and the other thing, come on, spill it," she seemed very angry all of a sudden, he wasn't surprised.
He didn't want the tan skinned man to know he was with Jordan, he didn't want him to know anything about them and tonight, and he most certainly didn't want her confronting him, "Nothing, really. I haven't spoke to him much since the night of your... Accident"
"What did he say then? Just out of curiosity." She visibly relaxed into her chair and nursed her drink further. The waitress cut in and dropped off a refill and the check, letting the situation calm further.
"I can't remember," he relied, stirring his pasta sauce once the waitress was gone, "I can't remember much from that night either. I remember he said something about me being the man of the house but, other than that..."
"Ha!" Jordan scoffed, "man of the house! He's always been that way. Don't let him poison your brain. Man and woman share a house equally. Honestly, why does mr. Macho think I divorced him in the first place?" She shrugged her shoulders and sighed, sipping her drink from the glass and taking a cube of ice into her mouth.
When it was time to leave, Jordan left a hundred dollar bill on the table. She said anyone working on Halloween deserved it.
"I was wondering if maybe I should have gotten food for Karin, but she's probably too drunk to care right now," his mentor said matter-of-factly as she strode across the parking lot.
"Are we going home?" He asked, climbing into the driver's seat of the car. Jordan agreed, going home was best while doing up her seat belt. So they headed home.
They didn't go to work the next day, the entire top office was too hungover to function. Karin didn't return until that evening, her hair up in a knot and her makeup smeared. She locked herself in her bedroom and didn't come out until Thursday morning when everyone returned to work. Friday went by and then Saturday and Sunday were spent at the movies and the video game store with Naruto, and the next week flew by without a hitch.
November eighteenth was a Thursday, and began rather unexciting. He ate breakfast with Jordan and then drove them to work, parked the car, and then rode the elevator upstairs. Friday was tomorrow and the office was ready for the weekend. Things were moving fast today, Sasuke hardly had time to drink his coffee while it was still warm.
Jordan was downstairs working on the taxes with Kakashi, Kakuzu was locked, seething, in his lair of an office as always, and he had no idea where Nagato was, though, he wasn't sure he wanted to know. The secretary outside the white French doors brought in stacks of paper every so often and took a stack he'd already gone though. This is what he wanted to be doing all along. This was calming, relaxing almost. Sasuke liked busy work.
The paper in front of him was discussing packaging and marketing plans of the shower curtains that didn't really exist. It needed checked and edited for corporate satisfaction and it was not up to his satisfaction. In fact, he was going to demand to see the head of marketing here as soon as he got done and the CEO trainee planned to have a little discussion with him about the illegal activity. He rejected every paper related placed in front of him, it made him angry that they'd even try to pass it though. Jordan probably wouldn't mind, probably.
The intercom on his desk buzzed, pulling him away from his thoughts, the secretary's voice came over it seconds later. She was the new hire, the next one to get the job after Jordan fired the last.
"Mr. Takashiro?" She addressed and it took him a second to remember that He had introduced himself as Jordan's nephew.
"Yes?" He responded, pressing the button to talk. Why hadn't she just come in like every other time before?
The line was quiet a moment before she cleared her throat and spoke, "The second floor conference staff is on the phone. There's a man down there saying that he's your brother and that he needs to speak with you."
"What does he want?" Sasuke asked, suspicious.
It was quiet for a long time and he thought maybe the receiver had broken until her voice came back, clear as a bell, "He says it's an emergency."
"Tell them I'll be down in a minute. Tell them to get him a coffee and seat him in a room while they're at it," Sasuke rushed through his speech and then across the room. He passed the secretary on the phone on his way to the elevator and punched the button to the second floor as fast as he could. The elevator was fast, luckily, and it gave him butterflies as he shot down.
Itachi had been seated in the smallest conference room, with coffee and donuts and a box of tissues. Sasuke could see right away his brother had been crying. This was grave. He closed the door and stood near it, unsure if he should approach the older Uchiha.
He held his brother's gaze for a moment before looking down and fixing his tie, "what happened?"
When Sasuke looked up, Itachi was the one looking down. His expression was mournful and tears dammed in his eyes. He didn't look like he wanted to speak, he didn't want to tell, because if he told, then it'd be real. When he finally did speak his tone cracked, "Dad died."
"Of what?" The younger asked, his eyebrows raising, his knees locked for just a moment to prevent himself from falling. He had to sit down.
"Heart attack," the older replied.
Suddenly it hit Sasuke like a ton of bricks.
"Oh god," he drew in a ragged breath and exhaled, trying to draw fresh, calm air into his lungs. He put his face in his hands and rubbed, his fingers could feel the heat rising to his cheeks, "oh god."
"I found him this morning on the kitchen floor. Mom was asleep upstairs. She didn't see anything, don't worry," his brothers breathe came in a halted sort of labored, "mom said that the night before last his chest had hurt, and it hurt worse after he got home from work yesterday, and,"
"Itachi stop!" The younger commanded, he didn't want to hear anymore, "This can't be happening," he denied and then went on to accuse, "Why wasn't mom doing anything? How could she just be sleeping?" He huffed and pushed his bangs out of his face, brushing his fingers through his hair, "isn't there anything we can do? Is he at the hospital?"
"He was pronounced dead when the paramedics came this morning."
He wasn't at the hospital, he was at the funeral home.
"Oh my god," he muttered, his shoulders slumping, his body going lax.
"Sasuke," Itachi tried to reason, but his jaw went slack and no other words followed his name.
"Why didn't mom take him to the hospital? Why? Why didn't he call 911?" The younger demanded, almost shouting. His eyes were burning, tears threatened to leak, so he allowed his fists to ball up to rub the irritation away. Itachi didn't have an answer for him. He was starting to feel nauseous as the initial surprise faded to shock and dread. Itachi paled more than usual. He wanted to cry too, but instead he took a drink of the black coffee in the styrofoam cup next to him. It must be as bitter as he felt.
"What are we gonna do?" It was Sasuke's turn for his voice to crack.
"Um," his brother said, unsure. Sasuke had never been around his brother when he didn't know just what to say. "Mom wanted me to wait until you got out of work to tell you, but then the funeral home called and they need a deposit. Mom and I don't have the money."
"Oh," the younger huffed, more out of apathy than distaste his brother had only come here to ask for money. He drew his black leather wallet out of his back pocket and opened it. "How much do you need?"
"Fifteen hundred." The elder brother replied.
"I've only got six hundred on me," he muttered, taking the cash out of his billfold, "there's an atm downstairs, I'll get the rest."
"Just bring it with you, mom wants to see you tonight." Itachi wanted his mother to have some pride left after this was all over, he'd make the money seem like a gift.
Sasuke wasn't even going to fight it. He'd go to his mother's house tonight, stay for dinner if she made it, and then leave. He didn't want to be around either of them right now, but he would. He'd take the money to them, tell his mother to bury his father any way that made her happy, and then see her at the funeral.
He nodded, giving his brother the affirmative. "Tonight at Six?"
"Yeah."
"I um," he said, standing and putting his hands awkwardly down at his sides, "I have to go back to work. You can stay here a while if you like."
Itachi didn't reply, and when he didn't Sasuke choose to linger a few minutes longer than he wanted to. When it became clear his brother had no more words, he decided to just leave. He didn't actually have to go back to work. Yes, he was busy, but he was the boss. He could take as much time as he wanted with those papers. He caught the elevator back up after deciding that work was better than sitting around with his brother. When his secretary asked if everything was alright, he told her he was fine and shut the office door. He worked all day and he didn't think one bit about what was going to happen when he left the building, but he could feel the mounting stress it caused.
He felt it especially when he called the meeting. The merchandise head was a tall man, with a flat face, pointed nose and glasses. His clothes looked to be a size too big and the way he walked suggested that his shoes were a size too small. He looked comical, like a clown almost. Sasuke was not laughing.
"I didn't imagine you'd be so young," the man grinned, scoffing and trying to jokingly blow him off, "it's nice to finally meet you. The whole company has been talking about you since you took over for Miss Takashiro while she was away. I'm Ken Matsumori."
Sasuke had seen this man once before, at the staff meeting on his first day. He apparently hadn't remembered the kid sitting next to the CEO, or maybe he did and he was just being a prick. "This isn't a meet and greet, I hope you know. Let's get down to business, shall we?"
The smug smile the other man wore fell from his face.
"This is about the factory, the one we own. I'm going over these numbers and I can't help it think they look fake," Sasuke continued, stealing the smooth voice, relaxed expression, and intimidating but silently convincing body posture from the many times he'd watched Jordan work. He had to look cool, he had to look confident, he had to let go of any thoughts about his father if he wanted to come out of this on top.
"Yes, Miss Takashiro asked me-" the man started, but Sasuke cut him off, his tone still level and emotionless.
"I know what she told you. My problem is these numbers aren't even believable. Do you want to lose your job?"
"Well no, but," the older man stuttered, the look on his face contorting from confused to dumbfounded.
"But nothing. You see, I don't want to loose my job either, and the company is under a lot of suspicion. Is there a current lease on the facility?" The younger pressed, knowing full well from reading reports that the last tenant had vacated and the building was now empty.
"No." He replied harshly.
"I want you to take some money out of that little 'rainy day' fund you siphon money out of every third week of the month and give it to your manufacturing head to buy some actual machines. I want a test run on the factory. I want real numbers on a revenue sheet on my desk next month. Don't cut corners, don't fudge anything, do it quick and clean with a full staff and no trouble. Are we clear?"
"Crystal. It's just that I've been told differently from day one when I started here," he sounded threatened and frustrated, maybe even angry. Sasuke was sure somewhere down the line someone had told him not to do what Sasuke had just instructed and made it very clear not to listen to anyone suggesting it.
"To your knowledge, Mr. Matsumori, does anyone ever actually read these reports?" He asked, in his most persuasive tone. It wasn't hard to see what was going on downstairs under all the bureaucracy in the reports. This was all in plain sight, no reading between the lines needed. This man had even outlined his own money laundering in his paperwork. If the ethics committee was doing its job at all they'd be having a field day.
"I think you're the first," he replied. Sasuke nodded. It was time to bring out the ace up his sleeve, big scary mama Pitbull, Jordan.
"In the next five years this company is going to be completely mine," the junior CEO lied, but he lied well, "I'm doing my best to make the transition smooth. We're just going to try this, if it doesn't work out, then we'll go back to the way it was. My aunt is trusting me in this office to make the best decisions for the company. You wouldn't be putting up this sort of fuss for her, would you?"
"No," Ken swallowed, "No, sir."
Sasuke smiled, it wasn't a nice smile, and he could see the stranger's face contort into distaste, "you're dismissed."
The man left, his tail between his legs and Sasuke was alone for a few more hours. Victory was his. He wasn't gone five minutes though, before he remembered the events of this morning and he was back on edge. His face fell as hard as his morale, and being alone was both soothing and discomforting.
When Jordan arrived at four fifty four to tell him it was quitting time, he literally dropped what he was doing and left. The pen rolled off and fell to the floor as he stood up and walked away from the desk without bothering to push in the chair, he didn't even look back as be meet her in the doorway.
When he'd gotten home he immediately changed his clothes. He fished out an expensive sweater from the middle of his closet and put it on. It was brown with a beige stripe running horizontally across the chest and was made of a thick knit cashmere. It was warm and soft and he loved it though he'd never worn it before. He was unplugging his cell phone from the charger and getting ready to run a brush through his hair when someone rasped on the door. He went to the door and answered it, intending on leaving soon anyway.
He figured it would be Jordan standing there and he was right. She wore a sweater too, and held two cups of hot tea in either hand, grinning one of her all knowing shit eating grins. Usually he would have ignored it, but today it had him a little irritated.
"I don't have time for tea right now. Do you mind if I borrowed the car?" He asked, more than a little short with her. She'd say yes, he'd push past her and leave. She'd never say no to him.
"What's going on?" The smile fell from her face and her eyebrows rose in disbelief. She could be short too, in almost a 'how dare you' sort of way. Sasuke clenched his fists into tight balls and sighed. His lips pressed together and his chin quivered, his body threatening to tremble into tears. He tried to hold himself together. He tried not to think about it, but he was failing miserably and hardly standing. He wondered how he'd managed to hold himself together all day.
"What's wrong Sasuke?" Jordan asked, voice softening and her tone lowering.
"My dad, he," the boy choked, and then all of a sudden the floodgates opened again. He shut his eyes and gritted his teeth.
He heard Jordan's tongue click and then he felt her arms wrap around him, the hot mugs pressing into his back. He could feel their warmth over hers,"I'm sorry."
He didn't return her embrace but he let her touch him. Tears slid down his cheeks and off of his chin, dripping on to her shirt. His shoulders quaked and he hiccuped once, but he refused to allow himself to break down again.
"I know I made it seem like they were horrible, like they were good for nothing drunks, but I loved my dad. I can't believe that he's just gone, just like that," he shivered as he spoke, but he spoke, uninhibited. It took a lot to hold it back but he did. Suddenly, just today, his father wasn't the mean drunk, he wasn't the falling down mess, he was let's stay up late and watch scary movies, he was finding the perfect tree in the lot for Christmas, he was what your mom doesn't know won't hurt her, and Mr. Nice Guy when his boys were in trouble. Sasuke loved him, regardless of everything he'd done and failed to do. "I can't believe I never called him back, or even said goodbye. I haven't seen him in two months."
"You had no way of knowing," she pointed out. He nodded, his lower lip still quivering.
"I don't want to go alone," he confessed. In not so many words he was asking her to come with him. He isn't thinking straight, he shouldn't be driving. Jordan drew away from him and held him at arm's length. She brought one cup to her lips and took a long drink and he knew she was trying to think.
"Sasuke, how old is your mother?" She asked, offering him the mug she'd brought to him. This time he took it, sipped, and gave himself a second to think too.
"I think she's around," he paused, "Thirty nine, why?"
"Do you know how old I am?" She countered.
Early thirties he surmised, but he didn't reply. He saw where this was going. She was almost old enough to be his mother, and not only was she feeding, clothing, and employing him, but she'd slept with him. No one had to know about that last one, but it wasn't like people couldn't tell they were involved. These two women were born in the same decade, and one of them was doing a much better job at parenting him than the other.
"I don't think I should go," she smiled softly, rubbing his back gently with her now free hand, "the keys are on the hook. It's raining, so drive slow okay? Do you need anything else?"
"Yeah, uh, could I borrow some cash? I forgot to go to the ATM. My, uh, my mom can't pay for the funeral," he didn't feel bad asking. He knew she didn't give a shit about money except for making it.
"Oh, Sasuke, sweetheart that's so sweet of you to do that for your mom! But here," she said, walking off briskly her to the kitchen, where she'd left her purse on the island. She returned with a credit card and her checkbook, "I'll get it. Does twelve sound good? I'll sign it and you can fill it out, is that okay? You can just hand it right over to 'the home' to pay for the service."
"Thank you, I'll pay you back," he droned. If he felt any better it was maybe only a little.
"Oh, don't worry about it. It's only money right?" She grinned as she ripped the check from the book, " I know you already have a card, but use this one instead."
He took them both and pocketed them. Before he slid it into his pocket, he got a look at what was printed on the red plastic card. It was his name on her account number, meaning she'd put the account in his name too. Karin's was probably on it as well and he wondered if she knew something he didn't.
It'd make him look good, whatever the reason was.
So he took the car keys and the box of tissues from the coffee table and got in the car. He switched off the CD Jordan was listening to, quieting the rapid fire of lyrics and switched on his favorite radio station. He didn't need the tissues once on the drive to his mother's, but when he got out, he stuffed a few in his pocket for good measure.
The house he once did lived in hadn't changed in the short time he'd been gone. It had once been a nice house in the suburbs, it still was nice, but lately with the condition of his parents the house wasn't kept up as it was when he was a kid. The siding was dirty and the lawn needed mowing, on top of that they needed a new driveway and a new front door. The jaguar's headlights illuminated the front of the house, the porch lights either hadn't been turned on or were burned out. He could see a few things Itachi had tried to do, the fence around the backyard had been painted and he'd fixed a loose board on the front porch. It no longer threatened to flip upwards when he stepped on it while on his way to the door.
He knocked on the door and then stood to wait, putting his hands in his pockets. He'd lived here his entire life but tonight the little blue house made him feel alienated. This was not a new place but it felt foreign. This wasn't his home anymore. Foot steps come to the door and his brother let him in, illuminating the cracked front walk just long enough for him to walk inside.
Inside the house was a little better. Itachi had been doing some major clean up by the looks of it. The wood floors had been waxed, the furniture had been polished and the majority of the beer bottles had been picked up. He wondered absentmindedly if the bottles that lingered had been left on purpose. Maybe they had been his father's.
The house smelled like pumpkin pie, his mother's famous pumpkin pie, and warm, spiced cider. His mother however was not in the kitchen, instead she was in her usual spot, in front of the tv with a drink in her hand. When the woman turned to see who it was her son had let in, her face lit up.
"Sasuke!" She exclaimed, standing up. She seemed so surprised, apparently Itachi hadn't told her he was coming. She bumped herself on the arm of the couch, laughing a little to herself and checking to see if she'd spilled her drink. Itachi left his side and his mother replaced him, wrapping her free arm around him and pulling him into a lazy sort of half hug."Sasuke you are just in time! Your brother is making dinner and wheel of fortune is on!"
He could smell her hair from her place under his chin, and she didn't smell clean. Her eyes were a little red and still puffy, either that was from her sinus problems caused by the hops in her beer or from crying, but Sasuke couldn't tell which.
"I can't believe you finally showed up, I just can't!" His mother elaborated, her mood quickly switching, "so nice of you to drop by after running away like that. Not that I'm not glad to see you."
Oh. Right. This had been why he'd left home in the first place.
"Sasuke!" His brother called, followed by a clang of pots and pans, "would you come here?"
Gladly, Sasuke left the entryway in the living room for the kitchen where his brother was trying to drain a pan of pasta.
"Would you get a strainer?" He asked, mitts on both his hands and both his hands curled around the pot handles. Sasuke fished the strainer out of the cabinet and put it in the sink for his brother. Itachi then poured the pot's contents into the strainer. Steam rose and fogged up the window over the sink.
"She hasn't set foot in here, you're safe," his brother murmured, barely audible. His brother was referencing his mother, and then Sasuke realized this is the same room his father had died in. He wasn't sure how he felt about that so he tried not to feel any way at all. He knew now why his mother wouldn't enter the room.
Sasuke watched his brother shake the pasta free of water and then pour it back into the pan. Itachi took it back over to the stove and turned the burner on low before he poured in two jars of tomato sauce to the noodles. He watched his brother stir a pan of heating green beans, probably from a can, and then he got a two liter of pop out of the fridge. Sasuke made himself useful and got two glasses and ice before returning to pour the soda. He took a sip and it was mostly flat, but that was okay.
After watching Itachi work, Sasuke realized he was reenacting a pattern, operating on auto pilot or muscle memory. He was probably the most torn up out of the entire family.
"What ever became of you and that woman on Halloween?" Itachi asked after a long while of stirring and spicing and adjusting burners. His tone was as low as his voice.
"What happened with you and Shisui?" Sasuke replied in the same way. They both had something to hide and their mother may or may not be eavesdropping.
"He went home. Said it ruined the moment."
Sasuke snickered, smirking. Wasn't it the younger brothers job to ruin the older's scores? He shrugged it off right after because his brother was sharing more than usual. This was what he called sibling bonding? Oh right. He was a nosey fucker.
"It involved a blindfold," Sasuke replied, referencing his own escapade that night. His voice hinted cockiness. The smirk lingered on his face as his brother turned to look at him with pure amusement and confusion and subsequently burnt himself.
He went reeling to the sink to run it under cold water and didn't make eye contact with him again that night.
Regardless of who was getting action and who wasn't, the night went on. Itachi made his mother up a paper plate of spaghetti and vegetables and Sasuke carried it along with his own into the living room. His mother was still watching wheel and asked Itachi to get her another drink right after he sat down. Of course Itachi got up and got it.
The person spinning on wheel was incredibly stupid. He'd guessed letters that were already up twice, and the only one with any brains kept hitting bankrupt. He'd forgotten how often they used to sit just like this every weeknight and watch this show. He'd forgotten the normal of this household. He let his eyes drift, however, and they settled on his father's empty armchair.
The front room was arranged with the front door on the far right, and directly in front of it was the steps leading upstairs. The old school TV was on the far wall to the back of the house, behind the wall the entertainment center was on was a computer room that was used mostly for shoving shit they didn't need, and the kitchen was to the left. The couch he and his mother were seated on was angled, from his spot he could see into the kitchen and the TV. Itachi was in an arm chair across from him, angled the opposite way, and between them was the mate to it. The old leather armchair had long been claimed by his father, who reserved the right to kick anyone out of it and steal the TV.
The chair, surrounded by empty beer bottles and fishing magazines, was empty now.
It would always be empty, from now on. Yeah, sure, other people would sit there, but they wouldn't own it like he did.
He blinked, hard, a few times and chased those thoughts out of his head. He decided right there he was all done crying.
"Sasuke," his mother began after a particularly long sip of her drink, "Itachi was telling me all about the office you work at, but he wouldn't tell me where. You'll let him come visit you but not me?"
He shifted in his seat uncomfortably, and avoided looking over, but he had to to talk to her, "Itachi wasn't allowed to visit me, my boss chewed me out."
"Oh, that woman? He keeps talking about some woman," she sneered. Her mood had gone foul, that much was clear.
"In fact, your father, bless him, tried to call you at her house. And do you know what she said?" His mother paused, eyebrows raised and her gaze disproving and sour, "she said you weren't there. Where do you live Sasuke?"
He looked to his brother for help but Itachi was looking down. He opened his mouth and stammered out a few "I, well I,"s but he couldn't think of a lie fast enough.
"How could you do this to me? I raise you, feed you, I gave you life Sasuke, and you won't even tell me where you are? How could you do this to your own mother?"
"Mom," Itachi started.
"Not now! Mommy is talking!" She snapped. Itachi didn't give any indication he was offended. He must be used to it. Sasuke was not, anymore.
"I can't tell you where I live, mom. I can't tell you where I work," he replied, trying to win her pleasant mood back over. He remembered describing this very woman to Jordan as soft spoken. He'd forgotten to add when she was sober.
"Sasuke how could you!?" She was near shouting.
"Mom I have to. I'm working with highly sensitive material." It wasn't a lie. The fraud that went on in that building was running rampant, and with her as a policeman's widow, he knew he couldn't say any more than that. " I promise I'll come visit more often."
That seemed to satisfy her for just a moment. She sipped her drink again as Wheel Of Fortune ended and the seven o'clock evening news came on. In just moments her mood did change again.
"You know," she muttered, "I'm gonna miss him. We were married for twenty one years."
He could hear his mother's voice tremble like his had that morning and he knew she was on the edge of tears. He'd offer her his hand, that would be the thing for a son to do for his mother, but he kept his hands to himself. She spoke like her two son weren't going to miss her husband at all.
"You know, I came downstairs and there he was. I couldn't believe it," she snuffled and turned her head away to wipe her eyes. When she turned back, She sighed and dropped her cleared plate on the coffee table, a sudden smile appearing on her face, not bittersweet at all.
"All I need is my boys," she said, and pulled her youngest son into a hug. He hadn't wanted it, in fact he looked very uncomfortable, but he didn't push her away.
"Mom," Sasuke muttered, patting her back in an attempt to get her to release him, "I think it's time I went home."
"You've only been here an hour! Come on, stay. Oh! I know! I haven't touched your room, stay the night!" She urged, dropping one arm in favor of her drink, the other still firmly around him.
"I borrowed the car I drove," he replied, clearing his throat. His mother's remaining arm dropped off of him like he was on fire. She lowered her head and her long black hair, the very same he'd inherited, obstructed her face. She'd pulled him close, pushed him away, pulled him close again and now she was going to push him away once more. That was okay.
"I'm going to see him out," Itachi spoke carefully.
"Good," his mother shot back. This time Sasuke winced. Both brothers stood up and went to the front door, slipped on their shoes and left. Suddenly it was like a heavy fog had been lifted off of Sasuke's shoulders.
"I'm sorry," Itachi apologized, leaning his back on the door and taking a single deep breathe. It wasn't his to apologize for.
"Are you gonna go back to the house across town?" Sasuke asked, brushing it off. The older shook his head.
"No. Probably not. After all this happened, I can't leave her. She needs me more than ever," Itachi explained. It translated to: " I can't let what happened to dad happen to her." Not that he let on, but Sasuke knew his brother probably blamed himself. If he'd of still been living here then he would have been able to get him to the hospital. But he wasn't, he was across town. His mother had probably been trying to guilt trip him too. Itachi was just the kind of person to fall for it.
"Good night," Sasuke droned, stepping off the porch.
"Night," his brother responded, and headed back into the house.
It wasn't until Sasuke got back into the car and sat down did he realize just how exhausted he was. His brain felt like it was about to short circuit and he felt a headache coming on. His shoulders slumped. He'd been carrying the tension and exhaustion for so long. His eyes drifted to half lids and he couldn't deny that today had taken more out of him than he liked to admit. The car wasn't scary anymore, it hadn't been since he'd gotten comfortable with driving and for a while he'd been indifferent, but now he just felt safe. He started the engine and shifted it in to drive and let the sports car take him back to his guarded home.
When he arrived home, Suigetsu's car was in the driveway and the white haired jerk was in his house. Naruto was there too, sitting on the floor and holding Fuji as she tried earnestly to get away from him.
He really wasn't up to this, he sighed, but he took his shoes off, picked them up, and tried to walk through the living room to his bedroom anyway. He was stopped, as he predicted.
"Sasuke! You bastard! Where have you been?" Naruto shouted and Sasuke watched his cat squirm under the volume.
"I went out. Calm down you moron," he countered, his insult was half hearted. He shoved his free hand into his pocket and looked down at him. Naruto picked up on it right away.
"You're late for the movie! Come on, you hard ass! Sit!"
"It just started," Karin emerged from the kitchen with a bowl of popcorn in one hand and two cups of pop in the other, pinched together and dangerously threatening to spill on Jordan's white furniture.
"He's not that late," Suigetsu commented, sipping his own drink out of a straw. Naruto rolled his eyes and resumed his attention to the cat. Karin sat down in the middle of the three man couch with Suigetsu on her left. She patted the empty space to her right and smiled at him. It took him a second to think about what was going on. He could leave now. He wasn't being forced to stay with them. An idea crossed his mind as he glanced over at the flat screen and then he decided he'd join in.
"Karin, do you have any of those white pills on you?"
She looked over at him with her eyebrows raised as he settled down but she didn't comment.
"Suigetsu, will you hand me that box over there?" She asked, turning away to point at a decorative, little junk box on the end table closest to Suigetsu, but the comment was largely ignored by the white haired boy.
"Suigetsu!" Karin shouted, but he continued to ignore her. She decided then to climb over him, using his face, and grab the box herself. After a brief shoving match she sat back down in possession of the box. From the box Karin produced a prescription bottle filled with the little white pills and she shook two out of it, one for him and one for herself.
"What are these?" He asked, already packing it into his mouth and stealing a sip of her drink. It took longer for her to reply because he passed the cup to her and she downed it, all while handing Suigetsu back the box. He'd taken a few from time to time and she ate them like candy, but he'd never actually got a name for them.
"Muscle relaxers? Mood stabilizers? I don't know," she replied, shrugging.
Okay. Well, that was just great. But whatever, he decided, shrugging.
"Where's Jordan?" He thought to asked, laying back to relax, honestly relax, for the first time since this morning.
"Dunno, she said she was going with Nagato. She said she'd be home late," Karin replied, shoving her face full of popcorn. Suigetsu grabbed a handful too and the longer Sasuke looked at it the more his mouth watered. So he grabbed some for himself, never minding the germs in the bowl. Jordan wasn't coming home until later? Okay. So he put his feet up on the table. He could feel his heartbeat slowing and he could feel himself sink into the sofa. His head loled backwards, his eyes drooped, and the stressed scowl he harbored faded from his face into a noncommittal, blank faced frown.
The movie was some such thing from the nineties about a park full of dinosaurs, that of course, all got loose, and of course, ate everyone. Because, of course (once again!), no one listened to the guy making sense. Once it went off and the over dramatic theme music played over the end credits, he almost groaned out loud to see that it's two sequels were playing next. As the theme song began again for the second movie, Sasuke reached back into the popcorn bowl only to find it empty.
He huffed. He'd like his own bowl of popcorn actually, and he'd get up to get it too, but the couch was so comfortable. Honestly, what were those pills for? Sedating bull elephants? He'd taken them before and he'd never felt like this."Popcorn's gone."
"Oh," Karin mumbled, pretty relaxed herself, "I'll go get some more."
She was up and gone in an ultra slow second, but she was back much faster. She'd ditched the popcorn bowl for a paper bag. When she plopped back down on the couch she dumped the bag out on the table in front of them and all of its brightly colored, individually packaged contents dropped out.
It was all the leftover Halloween candy from the party. Jawbreakers, suckers, life savers, gummi worms, everything sugary and salty, hard and gummy, and everything in between. He saw his favorite right away, a package of sour patch kids, and then snatched up a sucker, a couple strawberry hard candies, and a little bag of pretzels. He'd pretty much eat whatever as long as it was made of sugar and not chocolate.
He put his stash in his lap and started munching as soon as the dinosaur scientists got to the island. It wasn't long until the first person got eaten and it turned in to a shit show. Between the repetitive motion of shoving candy in his mouth and eyes glued to the screen, he lost a half hour before he even realized he had no idea what was going on.
There was a T-Rex chasing the people on the movie, and then there were some velociraptors, and people were getting killed left and right. The movie panned over their camp, a shadow of the thing cast over the tent, and then suddenly it's nose was in the tent, sniffing cloths and their blankets. Twenty years ago it probably would have been really suspenseful. Suddenly someone in the camp screamed and then it was chaos. The Rex jerked it head out of the tent, the canvas stuck on its head, and it roared.
He'd heard somewhere after watching these movies a million times when he was young, that the T-Rex roar was actually an elephant noise. After all those school nights staying up too late with his brother, he wasn't afraid anymore, but when more lights flipped on and a figure walked quickly into his line of view, his heart did speed up a little. His brain was slow, he didn't react he was so tired, but the realization quickly calmed him.
"What's up, children of the candy corn?" It was only Jordan.
"Movie," Karin mumbled, her eyes not leaving the screen
"Cat," Naruto offered.
"Mm, I see," she said, in an amused sort of way. She sat down on the arm of the couch next to him, almost touching him, and he held his breathe. He didn't want to smell it if she'd been drinking. The stale, musky smell of the beer and the sharp sting of the alcohol assaulting his nose. He watched as she took off her two inch tall heels and dropped them to the floor next to her. He watched her lean down, run her foot where it was sore, and then stand up again. "Are you boys spending the night?"
He was forced to exhale just after she spoke, and when he inhaled again, he could smell the must from the bar she'd been at, the cigarette smoke on her cloth, but he didn't smell booze. He was happier about that then he should have been.
"Guess so," Suigetsu replied
"Suigetsu you can take the couch, Naruto you can sleep in my room. I'll sleep with Jordan. That way we won't disturb Sasuke," Karin instructed. He was glad she'd said that, but it made him wonder if Jordan had mentioned anything about his night to her.
Jordan didn't say anything, not even about his feet being on the table. She was probably as tired as he was. Neither Naruto or Suigetsu made a response either way so that was how it was decided. He watched Jordan slink off down the hall after a moment of watching the end of the mindless movie and he heard her door close. Karin got up next and left, but he didn't watch her leave, he was too busy watching the backs of his eyelids. He continued watching them too until Suigetsu gave him a rough shove and kicked him off the couch. Naruto was gone too, the whole house was going to bed.
He drug his feet just down the hall to the first door on the right and pushed open his door. He flipped on the light, because even if it did hurt his eyes, he still needed to see to put his pajama pants on. His finger went to the switch and the room lit. There was his bed, his nightstand covered in pop cans, the rug that picked his feet every morning when he got up, and one extra thing he wasn't planning on seeing.
Karin was laying on his bed, one hand fisted in his his dirty T-shirt and the other, well, he probably didn't want to know. She held his shirt near her face, which held the most surprised and horrified expression he'd ever seen.
"Sasuke, uh, I," she sputtered, " I'm gonna do laundry tomorrow, yeah, that's it, laundry, I just wanted to know if these were clean."
Hold on. That wasn't a shirt he realized, it was a pair of his underwear. Oh fucking shit.
"Karin," he pauses, thinking, of what he should say and what he should do, but the gears wouldn't turn, "I'll stay with Jordan."
So he left, thinking he's got to stop walking in on people that that. The walk down the hall was short, and the door was open. The lamp at the bedside was on, and she looked like she was changing a sheet or fixing a blanket.
"What?" She asked, standing up straight to look at him.
"Karin," he huffed. She didn't say anything, but with the smug smirk on her face she didn't need to. She thought it was funny.
He'd lost all ability to care though, and he stripped off his shirt on the way in to bed. He invited himself on to the unoccupied side and settled in right away. He felt her lay down shortly after.
"How was your mom's?," she offered and he contemplated that for a second before he decided himself too tired to answer. His eyes drifted shut seconds later. He could feel the warmth from her body, the plush of the mattress, all three of her soft blankets, and then he could feel her arm, pulling him closer to her body. He didn't fight her, he wanted to but he didn't.
This was home, he decided, and it too came with its ups and downs.
