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Title: Floodgates
Chapter: 21/26
Chapter 21
The summer heat was kicking in with renewed force, making the air thick and heavy past when it should. The turning of the seasons was upon them, but the heat was hanging on with ardent tenacity, pushing the cooler weather later and later into the year.
Sasuke could feel the aberration all over his skin like an infection. It set his teeth on edge.
The assignment went well enough, smooth and without any mentionable hitch, a routine, exactly the same as he had done many times before. There was nothing particularly special or memorable about it.
But he'd heard the squelch of blood and flesh when his sword sliced through the man's body. He'd felt the shudder in movement the instant the blade hit the bone of the woman's vertebra. And he'd noticed the weight of their heads in the bag at his side.
None of these sensations were unfamiliar. They were white noise without purpose or significance.
Until now.
The leftover crust of blood dappled the edges of his fingers. He wanted to wash it off.
He still felt the weight of cut off humanity, though he'd dropped the heads off hours ago.
Perhaps all of this was why he didn't notice the danger until far past when he should have.
A prickle ran up his spine.
He blinked, though he had no vision to clear and turned his senses outward. Someone was following him. Someone was watching. It wasn't a signature with which he was familiar. But it was too controlled, too smart, and too heavy with death for an ordinary person.
No, having been on the other side of the equation enough times, he recognized the signs.
He was being hunted.
Sasuke frowned.
Then he continued walking, calmly as though nothing had changed. He circled one way and back and backtracked to a busier section of town.
The presence remained.
Sasuke slipped inside a bustling pub to lose himself amidst the crowd.
A couple of women attempted to flirt with him, but he brushed them off like annoying flies. They couldn't help him; they'd only get in the way.
Disappearing. That's what he did best and what he needed to do now. He finally managed to find the bathroom and ducked inside. After washing his hands free of the offensive crust, he splashed a little water on his face. He could tell by the heat and sound of the room that it was dark. In a place like this, of men and women, no one would have noticed him in the bathroom anyway. He combed his fingers quickly through his hair, letting it absorb any extra moisture. He took a few breaths and straightened.
Calmly, he exited the way he came. Once in the street, he maintained his leisurely stride, weaving his way deeper into the shuffling throng.
The menace was still there, but Sasuke could sense its confidence faltering. The street was packed and buzzing, which was exactly what Sasuke needed. He dropped his chakra as low as he could, centering it, pushing it down until it was almost indistinguishable from a lowly human with no ability at all. He did this in slowly progressive increments so that his chakra vanished as though gently carried away by the wind. He stooped his shoulders, drooped his head and made himself more level with the general populace.
Once he'd completely disappeared, the menace didn't at first notice. By the time it realized Sasuke wouldn't be resurfacing, it was too late.
Sasuke had already made his way to the gates of town, out into the forest and the wilderness beyond.
And once he was there, no one would find him.
--
Na-chan mewed an angry protest when Sasuke usurped his seat without warning on the couch. The cat hissed, baring a row of tiny fangs and dug its claws into the fabric of the cushions. Unimpressed, Sasuke pushed the feline off the furniture before any further damage was done. The cat landed softly, growled at its enemy and sauntered off with his tail in the air to stake his claim on the bed.
Sasuke stared at the cat and the cat stared back with an uncanny knowledge in its unearthly emerald eyes. Almost as though he could see that, Sasuke frowned.
Then he got to his feet and left.
--
Kirigakure had never exactly felt like home, but it was comfortable in its way, which his house at present was not.
He went for a drink to steady his head.
The establishment was mostly empty, but on his third glass, a boy took the seat next to him, sliding his stool objectionably close. He tried to entice Sasuke, to lure him away, but the assassin would have none of it.
It was stupid. Sasuke knew that the boy was exactly what he would normally need at times like this, something hard and quick to take off the edge.
Just not with him.
Not him.
With a curse and a sigh, Sasuke stood and left the boy there, and with him any promise of that sort of relief.
Instead, he walked out the door, down the street, turned a corner, and headed to Hiro-san.
--
Although there was a glass in front of him, Sasuke didn't drink. He could tell there was an assignment beneath it, but he refused to pick it up.
Sasuke screwed the glass down deep into the bar, hoping to shred the assignment to pieces and thus make it nonexistent. The edges of his mouth turned down tight.
"I quit."
Yoji kept his calm, not moving and not shifting his heavy gaze. "You have an assignment."
"I don't want it." Sasuke twisted the glass again.
"You try and get rid of that," Yoji said matter-of-factly, "And it'll just show up again."
Sasuke pursed his lips and held still.
Yoji took the glass, downed the contents, and slammed it back to the table. Then he refilled it and shoved it into Sasuke's hand.
Sasuke's fingers carefully closed around it. The glass nearly cracked under the force of his grip. "I don't like colleagues spying on me."
The bartender snorted derisively.
"The other day," Sasuke elaborated, trying and failing to hold in his irritation, "In Tea Country, one of your friends was following me."
Yoji's hands dropped and pressed hard into the wooden shelf behind him. Sasuke heard the squeak.
"I haven't sent anyone." The bartender sounded as though he would murder the next person to cross his path.
Sasuke slackened his grasp on the glass. Yoji had no reason to lie about this. That was one good thing about him; if he were gong to kill you, he'd be upfront about it.
Sasuke lifted the glass and removed the paper, crumpled and partially ripped, but still decipherable. He recognized a note from Saitou when he felt it. "No," he said flatly. His eyebrows pulled together and he pressed the paper to the bar under his widely spread hand.
Yoji shifted his weight and the wood creaked again. "It's your choice."
Sasuke fingered the paper for a minute and shoved it into his pocket. It was his choice, whatever Yoji thought. Sasuke knew how to vanish into thin air, as present yet invisible as water vapor.
He just couldn't do that anymore.