Chapter 18- "That was a long time ago."
"Is she ready?" Of course not. Mebuki was never ready when Sakura came to pick her up from the hairdresser's.
"Ten minutes more under the dryer. We all aren't lucky like you. Good thing, or I'd be outta business! The hair dresser said. "Have a seat."
Sakura smiled politely and sat down. 'Lucky?' She'd been waiting for her mother at the hair dresser since she was two. While waiting for her mother one of the patrons tried to get her to buy a raffle ticket. She bought two but didn't bother filling out the stubs since a trip to Las Vegas was the last thing she wanted to win. Sasuke hadn't mentioned the horses, poker or any other kind of gambling for over a year. Sakura counted her blessings.
"So your mother was telling us how you all know Naruto Uzumaki." The hair dresser said. TMZ is running some kind of story about him tonight.
'What did Momma dig that up for?' "We went to school together, but that was a long time ago." Sakura looked at her watch and hoped she sounded casual. She still had to pick up Sarada from ChoCho's. 'I don't have time to sit her and gossip.'
"You and Naruto were more than classmates, and you know it!" Mebuki, out from under the dryer, pulled rollers from her hair and dropped them on top of the newspaper on her lap. "He was your boyfriend! For how long? Shoot, you were always wavin' your hand around showing off that little ring he gave you and telling us you were pre-engaged. Until you met Sasuke, that is." She moved to the styling chair, cradling the curlers.
"Whatever you say Momma." Sakura wanted her to get off the topic.
"That boy has been so good to his parents. Soon as he made it big he built them a brand new house in North Carolina. Now he's living way across the country in Hollywood."
"Malibu, Momma." Sakura had grown used to mother's meandering stories since the stroke, but this was getting on her nerves.
"Wherever. Anyway, he's doing beautiful, in them commercials and all. No scandals. "Kami, you know how your daddy loved the Mets but I rooted for Naruto and the Dodgers to win the championship this year. We should of gone! I know he could of gotten us tickets."
Mebuki bobbed her head so much that hairdresser couldn't comb it. "They're gonna beat Oakland in the series too, mark my words…"
"Momma, you have to hold still while getting your hair done."
"Hush Sakura, the programs coming on." Mebuki didn't want to miss a word, so she could add her own embellishments. The tv was turned up.
"He has it all, chiseled good looks, athletic prowess, fame, and lucrative endorsements, but according to exclusive TMZ sources, LA dodgers stellar first baseman and hammering hitter, Naruto Uzumaki, may soon be implicated in the tragic stabbing of his brother, Yahiko Uzumaki…"
Yahiko's eight grade class picture filled the screen, and Sakura was chilled by a cold blast from her past. 'What? What is she saying?'
"Kami, what mess are they trying to stir up?" Mebuki dropped her head in her hand.
"Uzumaki, 'The fox in the hat,' a high-octane sportsman and very eligible bachelor, first made his mark with the Chicago Cubs. But the tragic death of his brother take us back to 2000, when Naruto was a mere nine year school boy. Two decades have passed, but there is no statue of limitations on murder…
'Murder? There was no murder! What do they mean?' Panic silently engulfed Sakura.
The reporter continued. "The Konoha police Dept is reportedly working with the DA's office on the investigation."
'What if the police call me?' I'll be right back." Sakura headed for the ladies room to collect herself, but halfway there she stopped frozen by memory of the chain of events started by another unnecessary bathroom trip. She sat down at an empty dryer.
"Uzumaki declined questions today upon leaving the DA." The TV showed Naruto walking down the courthouse steps, eyes forward, jaws clenched like a steep trap, and Sakura knew it pulsing, like it always did when he got mad.
"We have no comment at this time." Naruto's attorney spoke. "I promise this witch-hunt will be over shortly and then Mr Uzumaki will answer your questions. Hopefully by then you'll get back to the real story, the dodgers' impending victory in the world series."
'Who would have talked to a reporter? Not Naruto. Hinata? She'd never do that. She couldn't and I never told any… Sasuke!' The thought chilled Sakura to the bone. 'I know he can't stand Naruto, but he wouldn't.'
With a minimum of facts skillfully arranged over well-drawn innuendo the report suggested possible gang or drug involvement. "Uzumaki's chances for another World Series win could be dashed if formal charges are brought…"
"Yahiko was playing recklessly with that Kunai and stabbed himself. Those weapons are extremely dangerous. There is nothing more to that story. Mebuki looked over to Sakura. 'My poor baby! They can't put her through this again.' I'll tell you why they're picking on him. He's good looking, rich and everybody likes him." Mebuki snorted. She wanted to redirect the side conversations in the shop sorry she had ever mentioned knowing Naruto.
"Momma, we have to go. Sarada's waiting." She had to get out of here. 'Why now? After nearly twenty years? What difference does it make?'
"Can you imagine having such a hateful job? Looking for other people's dirty laundry, and if you can't find any, then you claim they must be hiding it." Mebuki handed the hair dresser some folded bills and slid off the seat. " You ready."
"Am I ready?" Sakura held the door for her mother, then headed for the car. 'Sasuke?'
"Are you all right, sweetie?" Mebuki took Sakura's hand.
"I'm fine, Momma." Her mother's blood pressure couldn't stand for it to be otherwise.
"Kami, what if the police come looking to talk to you and Sasuke finds out?!"
"Momma, nobody's coming for me, and I have nothing to tell them if they do. You should stop watching that nonsense in the first place." Sakura unlocked the car. 'There's nothing to say. Yahiko was already stabbed by the I came in the room.'
"Well I guess you're glad you didn't marry Naruto. You'd sure be in the middle of this mess right now." Mebuki climbed in. "Poor Naruto. What kind of Godforsaken soul would have brought this up now?"
"I don't know, Momma." Sakura drove in silence, trying to keep from pointing the finger of blame at Sasuke. 'It doesn't make any sense.'
Times had been tough. The economy stalled, landscaping was a luxury, and Sasuke was forced to close the New Jersey and Connecticut branches of the business. Sakura tried to comfort him, but he came down hard on himself for letting the company grow too fast and get out of his control. Mebuki offered to let Sasuke use the money he had invested for her, the profit from selling the house in Hidden Village, to tide him over, but said it wouldn't be necessary.
Shopping had been Sakura's pastime, her sport, but Sasuke had stopped gambling for her, so she curtailed her hobby, too. Of course she still bough things for Sarada, but except for an occasional clearance sale she had stopped shopping for herself, and they hadn't taken a trip since last year. She offered to let the cleaning woman go and suggested they not open the pool this year, but Sasuke said it would look bad, and he wouldn't cut back on things people might notice, like there was anyone paying attention to them now.
After the Derby Day TV incident, Naidam's mother waisted no time getting the story of Sasuke's outburst on the wire. Car pool moms were even more standoffish with Sakura than before. The three musketeers now consisted of just Sarada and ChoCho with Naidam an occasional visitor and only at Chocho's house. For the first few weeks kids at school teased Sarada about UFO's landing in her tv. Several of the girls in her dance class would stare and whisper when she came in but eventually all that quieted down.
Sasuke wasn't making any big contributions these days, so Sakura's social calendar was nearly empty. Now and then Jugo would have extra seats at his table for some event, but Sasuke liked being the host, not the guest, so they usually didn't go. Sasuke's father passed away a few years back and he distanced himself from his brother cause of a dispute over the will. According to Sasuke he didn't get much of anything. So we were really on our own.
Sakura turned the guest room into a makeshift studio and spent a lot of time sketching and painting. She had done a number of watercolors, and even thought Sarada protested she was too old for More adventures and pretended to read the stories only under protest, Sakura kept producing them. As a last minute decision, Sakura contributes two of the colorful, hand made books to the previous school Christmas Bazaar. She was thrilled when the owner of a local children's store asked if she would consider offering the books through her boutique.
Sakura knew Sasuke was opposed to her working, but this was different. It could be an opportunity to start her own business. But when she finished her sales pitch, Sasuke looked at her like she had suggested they join a nudist colony.
"So people can say my wife peddles junk?" She never mentioned it again.
Sakura hoped he'd turn it around this summer. With the consolidation, Sasuke saved on overhead and he had a good feeling about a bid he had in on the landscaping and maintenance contract for a brand-new hotel convention center. "If that comes through, we'll be sitting pretty." 'Why would he tell somebody about Naruto? Who would he tell?'
"What would you say if they called you?" Mebuki asked as Sakura merged onto the expressway.
'That I remember that day like it was yesterday.' "Don't be ridiculous, Momma. I wouldn't talk to them."
"Even to be on TV?"
'That it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't…'
"Momma, I don't want to talk about it. And don't start in with this when we get home." Luckily Sarada got in the car jabbering nonstop.
Sakura didn't realize how much she was hoping Sasuke be there until see felt the disappointment of not seeing his car in the driveway. 'I have to ask him if he knows anything about this.' "I have to go back out. I forgot something." She said.
"What you forgot? Can I go too? Please?" Sarada asked.
"I'll only be a little while. You can stay here and look after Gram. Okay? I won't be long, but you stay up until then."
"Yes!"
She kissed Sarada's forehead and felt her heart tug when she realized she didn't need to bend over to do it anymore.
Sakura didn't go to Sasuke's often. Sasuke's car was parked by the loading dock, surrounded by trucks, trailers and other equipment, so she knew he was still there. She parked around front, got out, and tried the heavy steel fire door. 'This ought to be locked.' Humid air greeted her inside. The thick scent of fertilizer, gasoline, and sick sweet insecticide always made her feel like she was breathing through a wet washcloth. The ghostly hum of fluorescent lights filled the warehouse as she picked her way past the riding mowers and sacks of grass seed and cedar chips, heading toward the rear. Sasuke's office carpeted appropriately furnished and accessorized with Sakura's artwork on the walls was up front, but unless he had an appointment, he preferred his old battered desk in the back, next to the loading dock. He told her he could see what was going on from there.
From far away Sakura couldn't make out the conversation, but she heard Sasuke's chuckle bouncing off the cinder-block walls, loud and hollow, like canned laughter.
"Yeah. I know, but this has gotta hurt him no matter what else happens. You talk to Suigetsu. He'll tell you. They need him 100 percent or they have no chance." He sat on top the desk, the phone pressed to his ear. "I'm looking to rake in some serious cash." He looked up and was started to see Sakura. "Listen, Jugo, I'll talk to you later. Uh-uh, No problem."
'Okay. She's heard the story already. He figured he'd have deal with this when he got home, but now was as good a time as any. "What brings you down here so late? You know I don't want you in this neighborhood after dar. It's not safe." He stuffed some papers in the right-hand drawer and stood up.
"Rake in some serious cash from where Sasuke?"
"I was just on my way home to tell you the good news. I got the west center contract today! Things are looking mighty good, baby. Mighty good!"
"That's great, honey…I knew it would work out." Sakura tried to sound enthusiastic but it came out lame.
Sasuke pecked her on the cheek, then went to the locker across from his desk and got out his suit coat. He had been wearing khakis and a work shirt when he left this morning, but in case he had to meet with a client or go to a job site unexpectedly, Sasuke always kept extra clothes at work.
"Sasuke?" Sakura spoke to his back. 'I don't want to ask him. If he doesn't know anything about it, I don't want to the one to start the whole Naruto thing again.'
"Huh?" He closed the door, snapped the lock shut, and slipped his jacket on.
'Why would he tell?' "Did you…have you ever told anybody…you remember how you used to go on and on about Naruto and I told you… you know… about how Yahiko got stabbed?" She knew he was looking at her, but she inspected the milky window behind his desk.
"Yeah, sure I remember." Sasuke patted his pockets. "You don't thin I could forget a thing so terrible that happened to my Pinky? Do you?" He removed his keys.
"I guess not. But what I mean is… there was a story on TV today…about Naruto and Yahiko." Sakura looked down at the toe of her red shoe. 'I must own fifteen pairs of red shoes.' "Did you.. tell anybody what I told you?" She finally looked at him.
"What? Who would I tell?" His reply was nonchalant. "I'm parked out back, so I'll walk you to your car and lock up on my way out."
Their footsteps echoed loud and gritty on the painted concrete floor. "I, "I, I don't know but…how did they know that stuff?"
"Whoa!" Sasuke turned to her. "I don't even know what stuff you're talking about. But, hell you can find out anything about anybody if the right person's digging."
"Sasuke, no one knows about that day but Hinata and Naruto and me and now you. We never told another living soul…"
"So you decided that I called up a tv program and told them I knew a dirty secret about Naruto Uzumaki and they said 'great, we'll put it on the air!" Just like that? Because he use to be your boyfriend? Come on, Sakura. You watch too many day time dramas."
When she reached the door Sasuke was holding it open, his hand pressed firmly against the release bar. She hesitated a second then lightly place her hand on top of his. "I wasn't accusing you. I love you. It's just that…" 'It's just that I know you hate Naruto.'
"I'll see you home."
By the time Sakura got home, she was convinced Sasuke was right. 'Of course he is. I probably do watch too many day time dramas. What would Sasuke gain by hurting Naruto?'
"It's raining and fifty-three degrees at five-forty-five. Traffic in ten minutes… This just in. Beleaguered baseball star Naruto Uzumaki was airlifted to Konoha Hospital earlier this morning following a motorcycle crash in the highway leaving Konoha heading toward NY. He is currently undergoing surgery…" Hinata sat straight up in bed.
She could see Naruto lying in the road. 'Still bleeding. Just like Yahiko.' "…no other vehicles were involved. The motorcycle was registered to supermodel Shion, who is out of town and unavailable for comment…" She grasped her knees and rocked herself to a quiet the ache.
Ever since Curacao, Hinata felt Naruto was cruising for disaster. 'So now he's hit pay dirt on a back road! Why the hell does he keep torturing himself?' She angrily flung the covers off and turned on the light. 'Its like he won't be satisfied until..' When the whole Yahiko mess came out she figured he'd let the secret slip during pillow talk with one of his hoes. 'Maybe the reporter. A story is a story.' It was hard to imagine he would actually tell anybody. From that horrible day to this she had never spoken the words aloud, not to another living soul. Now she overheard it being discussed on the street, and people in the agency asked if she knew about the incident. It seemed like sacrilege.
Hinata called Naruto's agent for days. When she finally reached Kakashi, he gave her a standard line, promised to pass her good wishes on to Naruto, which he did but Naruto wasn't seeing visitors.
"I don't need people trying to cheer me up cause I got nothing to be cheerful about."
"How about you're alive?" Kakashi dumped a stack of cards on Naruto's bedside table.
"Don't preach to me man." He's met with premier orthopedists and plastic surgeons.
The upshot was he'd need more surgery to repair the damage done to his limbs in his three-hundred-foot slide weighted down by
A thousand pounds of motorcycle. Then he could look forward to months of physical therapy. He'd have use of both his arms and his leg, but they told him he shouldn't expect to charge around the bases or hit four hundred foot homers. Naruto didn't care what they expected. He knew better than anybody what he could do. Had to do.
Mail and presents accumulated in the corner, unopened. He watched television all day and most of the night, anything but the news and sports and kept busy teaching himself to write left handed, just for now. His request for free weight, so he could exercise his good arm and leg, was vetoed by his doctors, so he had to be content with visualizing himself, lifting weights, swinging a bat, and running, flat out, fast as ever.
A week after the accident Naruto's attorney phones to let him know he'd been cleared of any culpability in Yahiko's death. His legal cloud had been lifted, but it didn't lighten the heavy load in Naruto's heart. He still didn't know why Hinata started all this, and it ate him up inside.
The next day nurses and doctors streamed into his room, congratulating him on the dodgers five game world series win, but Naruto was sullen.
"Why are you so sad? You won." An aide put Naruto's dinner tray on his table.
"They won. I ain't even started fighting yet." But he decided it was time. "Would you set my phone on the table where I can reach it?"
Naruto started typing, like intended to break the screen. A listing for OSA appeared in google. Naruto clicked on the phone number. Proceeded to call. He had to know.
Hinata sent something to the hospital everyday, flowers, cards, fruit, notes. The day of the DA's announcement she even walked to the medical center and stared up at the brick building, hoping somehow Naruto could feel her vibes. So when he called she figured it was because he's finally gotten one her messages, but sounded so remote.
She chalked it up to pain killers and the enormous burden he'd been dragging around. 'Maybe having Yahiko's death out in open will lighten his load.'
The guard posted in front of Naruto's room opened the door for Hinata, who carried a shopping bag full of dinner. Even in a luxury room, it was still hospital food. Inside, the room was dark. Flickering light from the TV cast eerie shadows on Naruto in the bed.
"You awake?" Hinata whispered.
He pulled the chain and turned on the light above his bed. "Are you happy now?"
"What should I be happy about, Naruto?" Hinata walked toward the bed.
"Don't come any closer. I can't even look at you."
"What the hell do you mean?" She sat the bag on the floor, too stunned to hold it.
"You show up outta the past like a damn ghost, talk me into a contract for one of your clients and for what? So you can inform the whole damn world I stabbed my brother!"
"No! You don't think I had something to do with that TMZ story! I know you have better sense than that."
"Don't lie to me!" Naruto hurler his water pitcher across the room. Hinata ducked and it exploded against the wall, splashing her back. "Was it the money, or do you think I didn't suffer enough?"
"Is something wrong, Mr Uzumaki?" The guard poked his head in the room.
"No… Nothing," Naruto said. The door clicked shut.
Naruto turned his face away from Hinata, but she marched to the other side of the bed.
"If I wanted to punish you, Naruto, does it make sense i would get you involved with one of my client? Huh? Do you know how many meetings I've been to about what to do with the Naruto Uzumaki problem? Do you know how hard it is to sit there without yelling that I don't give a shit about how a scandal will affect their market share? That what I'm worried about is you? Then I hear you ran your bike off the road, and I'm thinking did he do it on purpose? Or doesn't he even realize he's acting like he wants to kill himself? Nobody had to punish you, Naruto! You do too good a job yourself!"
"I was not trying to kill myself!"
"You coulda fooled me. Last time I saw you, you'd been drifting toward South America without a boat. When you shot the first damn commercial you were taped up from something you sprained or cracked. What have you done since then I know about?"
"Just cause I like adventure don't mean I'm trying to off myself, ya'know!"
"Don't even try it. You been doing it since we were kids. You broke som many bones, I don't know how you can walk much less run."
"So where did the story come from, the damn grave?"
"I don't know." Hinata looked out the window at the red and white lights of car crawling along the street. "When I heard it, I felt for you the most. It was you stick in the spotlight. But I felt trapped, too." She turned to face him. "If you'll remember, my life changed on that day too. It's not a memory I care to visit."
"But I ain't seen Sakura since the day we broke up."
"And I saw her the year after that but not since. You don't know where the story came from and neither do I. Maybe Sakura has something to do with it. Maybe there's another source we're not thinking about. We were just kids then Naruto." Hinata came to the end of his bed. She could see the pain Naruto tried to hide.
"Damn…"
"I got pork Ramen, and other food in the bag. You interested in dinner?"
"You cook?"
"You kidding?"
"Yeah. They're about to bland me to death."
Hinata perched on the end of the bed while Naruto ate. The meal went slowly. He could pick up the food, but he was clumsy with a fork in his left hand. Midway through the meal he put his fork down and laid his hand on the bed.
"Damn, I can't wait to get outta this cast all these bandages. I'm sick of this bed."
Hinata covered his hand with hers. He stroked her fingers with his thumb and they sat a while without talking. His hands were big with wide, flat nails and she could feel a scar that traced down from his middle finger almost to his wrist. She'd never felt his hand before, never held it.
"Your dress still wet?"
"A little, but I won't melt. Im not that sweet."
"You're lucky it was my left arm. I don't miss with my right." He smirked, and the dimple dotted his whiskered cheek. "If it's ruined, I'll take care of it."
"No need. Next time I'll wear a wet suit."
No need. Thanks for dinner. Next time I'm buying."
"Gimme a buzz and I'll come hungry." Hinata stood up, and the old awkward space threatened to come between them, but Naruto caught her hand and pulled her to him.
"I apologize for the things I said." He kissed her hand and laid it on his chest.
Blushing Hinata leaned down and kissed his cheek.
"See ya."
AN: Thank you for reading. Sorry for the long wait was caught up in other things. Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter. Let me know how you like it.
