Chapter 19- "…don't go in the basement."
Heart hammering against her ribs, the phone's brittle ring yanked Sakura from sleep. 'Sasuke knows it scared me to death when he calls in the middle of the night! Like I don't know he's going to be late.'
She rolled over and snatched the receiver.
"Yes!" She didn't try to hide her irritation. 'Hasn't been home at a decent hour all week, and when he's here he's been nasty.
"Mrs Uchiha?"
The strange voice alarmed her. She turned on the lamp. 'It's after five!' "Who is this!"
"I'm calling from the Land of Fire Hospital.."
"Oh Kami, what happened?"
"Your husband was brought in a couple of hours ago. He's …"
"A couple of hours? Why didn't you call me before now?" Hands quivering, Sakura carried the phone with her to the closet.
"Our priority is the patient. He was unconscious when he was brought in and now the he's stable.."
'Unconscious!' "What do you mean, stable? Was it a car accident?" Her brain locked and she stared at the rows of clothes, trying to figure out what came first. 'A bra. I can't go to the hospital without a bra.' She pulled one out the drawer, then reached for the sweater.
"No. It appears he was mugged or assaulted…"
"I'm on my way." She dropped the phone, finished dressing in a fog, then woke her mother, told her what she knew.
"Get Sarada up and ready for school for me."
"What should I tell her when she asks where you are?"
"I don't know, Momma! Make up something, but don't scare her! I'll call when I can."
Sasuke had been moved by the time Sakura got to emergency. She raced through pages of forms presented to her to fill out and sign, then rode upstairs, holding her breath against the fear of what she would find.
When Sakura saw him through the glass door panel she wanted to up and run. 'The monitors, the IVs…Its just like Daddy..but Sasuke won't…" Sakura shivered. Sasuke couldn't die. She braced herself, stepped inside.
Sasuke's head was swathed in gauze. His face was swollen and bruised. Stitches held together a gash above his brow. 'Who could do this?' Tears seeping down her cheeks, Sakura edged next to his bed, generally rested her hand on his bare shoulder. A sheet covered his lower body, but exposed his ribs, which had been taped from waist to armpit. His left arm was in a cast to the elbow. 'He looks so helpless.'
Not once in ten years had Sakura entertained the notion that Sasuke might not be able to handle any situation that came up. He was her own personal superhero, who would always save the day. But now she had to be the strong one. Even when her mother had the stroke, Sasuke was there. 'I don't know if I can do this.' As she wiped her eyes, shallow, staccato quivers of air trembled past her lips.
The doctor on call told Sakura that Sasuke had suffered a concussion and some brain swelling. Sakura felt faint, but she shook off the dizziness and listened. There was no skull fracture, and the doctor expected him to regain consciousness in the next couple of days.
"Days!" Sakura figured he's be awake and talking in a few hours. Tiny fingers of panic tightened around her throat.
"Could be less, maybe more. When he wakes up, don't be alarmed if he's disoriented, or had some memory loss. Those are common results of head trauma."
'I wanna wake up. This has to be a nightmare.'
Hour by hour and day by day Sakura willed herself to get thru this ordeal. She stayed by his side while Mebuki stayed with Sarada. She was visited by a detective whom asked if he had any enemies, any idea who would do this. Sakura said she had no clue as to who would do this. The detective left her card and told her to call if anything comes up even if its small. Sakura then phones his office and spoke with his assistant and informed her about what happened. She said she will make sure things get done in his absence. He was eventually moved to a semi private room since he seemed to be improving some.
Because she needed to hear the sound of hope, Sakura put a positive spin on the news when she called her mother.
"This is a real good sign. He could wake up anytime now. 'But what if he doesn't? What if he stays like this for weeks. What will I do if he doesn't wake up? How would I take care of Sarada and Momma? Sakura ventured out to the florist and brought back a vase of white roses to brighten up her own spirits and the dreary room, but terror was never more than a heartbeat away.
Midmorning on Tuesday while looking out a window, she turned to look at Sasuke. Sasuke's eyelids fluttered. He blinked, then squinted and turned his head away from the light.
"Sasuke? Oh thank Kami!" She rushed to him, took his hand, and the tiny fingers relaxed their grip around her throat and Sakura could actually breathe. "You don't know how good it is to see you looking at me." She touched his hand to her cheek and blinked back a flood of tears. "I'll ring for the nurse!"
"What day is it?" His voice was weak, like he didn't have enough air in his lungs to push out the words.
"It's Tuesday afternoon. You've been here since they brought you in Friday night."
"Yeah…Friday." Sasuke's head lolled on the pillow and his lids wavered closed, then reopened. He stared at the wall. "Friday…"
Sakura wanted to ask what happened, but held back because she didn't want to upset him. "You gave all of us a big scare."
"Us? Who?…Damn!" Sasuke gasped when he shifted his torso.
"Sarada and Momma…who else? Be careful, you have cracked ribs and a broken arm!"
"Glad to see you awake." The nurse stood at the door. "I'll be back with the doctor."
"Damn, my head hurts." When Sakura placed her hand on his forehead he wrinkled his brow. "Would you stop it?"
The nurse and the doctor marched in. "Excuse us, Mrs Uchiha. This won't take long."
Sakura paced the hall during the examination. 'He just woke up from a coma. Of course he's grumpy.' After several minutes the nurse beckoned Sakura to return to the room.
"If his vitals stay normal we'll start him on liquids tomorrow. He can probably go home by Thursday, Friday at least." The doctor scribbled on Sasuke's chart, then handed it to the nurse. "The ribs will have to stay taped, and he'll be in the cast at least six weeks. The stitches can come out next week." She turned back to Sasuke. "The nurse will get you up later, and I'll check on you tonight." With that, she and the nurse left.
"I can't wait to get you home! And as soon as you feel up to it, you'll have to call Sarada, She's been so…"
"Sakura, where's my ring? I don't feel right without it."
"They gave it to me a couple of days ago. Here." Sakura slipped the diamond ring off her middle finger and onto his pinky, then kissed the back of his hand.
Sasuke noticed the flower arrangements on the table. "Where'd those come from?"
"The plant came from church, the roses are from Sarada and me, the arrangement on the end is from Jugo. Wasn't that nice him? Mrs. Banks sent that…"
"Jugo? He's been here?"
"No. Nobody's been here but me." Sakura straightened the covers, sat on the side of the bed. "Sasuke, what happened? The police asked me questions, but I couldn't help them."
"I don't know. I was in the back, at my desk…"
"I bet you had that door unlocked."
"Maybe. I don't remember."
"It's lucky a policeman found you outside by your car. At first they thought you'd been mugged, but you still had you ring, and they said no mugger would have left…"
"I already told you I don't know what happened! I'm not going to talk about this anymore! I'm tired." Sasuke closed his eyes.
Sakura went home that night for the first time since Sasuke had been admitted. Mebuki welcomed her with dinner and Sakura wanted scold her for cooking. After the time Mebuki let the water boil out of a pot of eggs and the exploded all over the kitchen, Sakura made her mother promise not to cook unless she was home to keep an eye on things. But the food tasted so good after days of cafeteria food that Sakura let slide. The last few days had been an ordeal she wanted to put behind her, and when she dragged up the bed she looked forward to her life returning to normal soon.
Next morning Sakura phoned the hospital, and they reported Sasuke's condition as "good". She got Sarada off to school and started planning his homecoming. She put her mother in charge of making sure their housekeeper did everything right especially cleaned upstairs in their bedroom, since that would be Sasuke's only territory for a while. While Mebuki followed the housekeeper, Sakura roamed the aisles at the grocery store, choosing items for a special dinner. She dropped the groceries off then headed back to the hospital.
Sasuke was sitting up in the bed when she arrived. He stared into space, the newspaper abandoned in his lap. "You look like a man who's ready to go home!"
Sasuke flinched. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"
"I'm sorry." She kissed his cheek and examined the cut above his eye. "This looks better everyday. Here. From Sarada."
Sasuke took the slight crumpled envelope with "Daddy" carefully printed in blue marker on the front.
"The cops were here again. Have they been bothering you at home?"
"No. Why would it bother me? I want them to find who did this. You know, Sarada made the card herself in art class," Sakura offered proudly. "Go on. Open it." After reading the card he said , "Tell her I said thanks."
"You can tell her yourself. Tomorrow this time you'll be home." Sakura propped the card on his tray table so the rainbow Sarada drew on the front faced him. "Did you remember anything that might help? The police, I mean."
"I'll tell you like I told them. I don't know what happened! If I remember anything, you'll be the first to know," Sasuke snapped.
"Okay. Okay. Nobody's blaming you."
"For what? I'm the one in the hospital! And I have to get back to work. Nobody is minding my business."
"Mrs. Banks said to tell you everything is copacetic, to use your word. I brought you clothes to wear home." She hung them in the closet and set his shoes on the floor.
"What happened to the clothes I was wearing?"
"The police have them, evidence or something. If you'd rather wear something else, tell me and I'll bring it in the morning. Can I get you anything?"
"You can hand me my robe. The doctor says I have to walk, and I'll be damned if I'll parade down the halls in this nightgown!" He sat on the side of the bed, legs dangling, while Sakura helped him into the robe, then he eased himself to a standing position.
"Here , let me help…"
"I'm going to the end of hall and back. I think I can manage that!"
"I was only trying to…" 'He's just upset about the attack, that's all.' She held her breath and watched as he inched his way down the corridor, using the wall for support.
When he returned he went directly to sleep and napped while a nurse's aide explained the discharge procedure to Sakura and gave her instructions for his at home care. Sasuke woke up, and she helped him with his gelatin and broth, then he insisted she leave.
Sakura straightened his covers and held his gaze for moment. "I'm so glad you're all right. You really frightened me, Sasuke."
"You shouldn't have been. It takes more than a few punches to get the best of me."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah… I'll see you bright and early. Love you." She blew him a kiss.
"What do you mean he's gone?" Sakura yelled at the nurse. "Where would he go? He was supposed to be discharged at nine! He knew I was coming for him!" Sakura headed for Sasuke's room, followed by the nurse and a security officer.
"Mrs. Uchiha…we…"
"Have you looked for him? He's probably right in this hospital! What if he's fallen, or he's been hurt?" She stormed into the room, but the bed had been stripped, and there was no sign of him. "How could he just walk out?"
"He was a patient, not a prisoner." The officer shrugged. When Sakura glared at him, he adopted a more official manner. "The night nurse said his bed was empty when she made her last rounds before going off duty. That was about six, Roommate didn't hear or see a thing. It's nine-fifteen now." He tapped a small black notebook with a stubby pencil. "We've been looking for you husband for over three hours. He isn't here."
The fingers were back. Sakura felt her chest tightened, and she groped for the chair. "Did you call the police?" 'Something terrible has happened.
"There's no indication of foul play." The officer said.
"The man was brought in here on a stretcher because someone beat him up, and the police don't know who! What kind of a hospital is this?"
"Mrs. Uchiha? I'm sorry to bother you. I'm from the billing office." A slight, rumpled, middle-aged man whose shirttail hung out of his trousers entered the room.
"What?" 'Maybe it's me. I'm losing my mind.'
"I wanted to speak with you before you husband is discharged. Uh..you, see, there's been a problem with your insurance." He rubbed his earlobe between his thumb and forefinger while he talked. "I spoke with Mr Uchiha yesterday, and he assured me there must be a mix up of some sort. Promised he would take care of it." The man adjust his tie. "At any rate, he guaranteed his bill would be paid. Could you perhaps…?"
Sakura gaped at the man. "I have no idea what you're talking about! Of course there's nothing wrong with our insurance! My husband is a well-known businessman in this community. None of this makes any sense."
"We know who your husband is, Mrs Uchiha. He did the landscaping for our new wing last year. That's why when he assured us the bill would be taken care of we…perhaps a check?" He tugged his now reddened earlobe again.
"They've lost my husband, and now you're talking to me about money? What kind of people are you?" Tears threatened. 'I can't cry. Not here.' "Excuse me." She brushed past them and went down the hall to make a call away from them. 'Maybe he went home.' No answer. Sakura had dropped Mebuki off at the red cross on her way to the hospital, and Sarada was in school. 'He could be upstairs sleeping.' She raced home and searched the house, attic to basement, but there was no sign Sasuke had been there.
Sakura called the office. Mrs Banks hadn't seen him, but his car was gone when she got to work this morning, it had been parked in back since the night Sasuke was found, so she figured Sakura had stopped by for it.
'Gone! He's on his way home! I'll give him a piece of my mind for worrying me like this. He should have told me he wanted to leave early. He shouldn't even be driving.'
By noon Sasuke hadn't shown up. 'Maybe he went to one of the job sites. He was worried about business.' Sakura called Mrs banks again.
"No, honey, I haven't talked to him since yesterday."
"Yesterday?"
"Uh-huh. He wanted to know if I'd done the time cards and cut the payroll checks. I asked him if it was Wednesday." Mrs banks laughed. "I been doing it every Wednesday for the last twelve years! Takes up my whole day. I tried to get him to pay the guys every other week, but he wouldn't hear it. Said a workingman needed his pay every week. It's easier now that the summer crews are laid off."
"He didn't say anything else? I'm so worried, Mrs Banks. How could he just walk out of the hospital? He could be hurt. So you think I should call the police?"
"Maybe. Somebody could have stolen that nice car of his. It's been sitting out back here for almost a week. Crooks notice things like that."
Sakura knew Namida's father was the police chief, and she toyed with calling him, but since Sasuke wrecked the TV the Suzumeno's treated them like escaped lunatics. 'Sasuke will have a fit if I give them something else to talk about.' She phone the detective she spoke with at the hospital, but she wasn't on duty. The officer she spoke with informed Sakura that Sasuke hadn't been gone long enough to file a missing persons report. He did take her information on the missing car. "My guess is your husband will be home in a few hours. You know men and their cars."
Sakura was wanting in the kitchen by the phone when Mebuki came in the house complaining. "The volunteer supervisor told me they only need me one day a week. They already have me counting supplies, like I'm simple or something!" She got a tea bag from the cabinet, dunked it in a cup of water, and put them in the microwave. "How's Sasuke? He must be glad to be in his own bed! Believe me, I know how they do you in the hospital. Waking you up to give you a sleeping pill!"
"Momma, he's not here."
"What are you talking about? You didn't let him go to work?"
Sakura explained the whole ordeal to her mother.
"Sarada will be home any minute. I don't want to upset her, at least until I hear something, so I'm going to tell her they wouldn't let him come home. I know he'll call me."
The next morning, Sakura greeted the sun with sleepless eyes. Sasuke hadn't come home, or called, but Mrs banks did, just before noon. The bank was refusing to cash paychecks because there was no money in the account.
"I made the regular deposit myself, so I called to straighten them out, but they told me the account balance is zero. Isn't Mr Uchiha home yet? You must know where he is. There'll be checks bouncing from here to kingdom come."
Sakura's hands trembled as she ended the call, and the overloaded wires in her brain short circuited. 'What the hell is happening?' That's when she remembered. The pages of names, the columns of numbers, pressing through the pages of Sasuke's notebook like Braille. All that money he gambled away. When the image sneaked up on her, she danced away. 'He wouldn't. That was before. I would have seen it.'
By Sunday she was crazy with worry and exhausted from lack of sleep, but she pasted on a confident front to calm her mother and prevent Sarada from getting suspicious.
ChoCho's invitation for Sarada to spend the day with her and her mother came like an answered prayer.
"ChoCho says she had a surprise to tell me! Tell Daddy I love him!" Sarada gushed as she kissed Sakura on the cheek. "See ya!'
Sakura shut the big front door and leaned against it. Mebuki was standing there with her arms folded across her chest. "I know, Momma. Don't say anything."
"We should go to church. Ask them to pray for Sasuke…couldn't hurt…"
"I have to stay here in case he shows up or calls. Besides, I would never bring this up in church! Anyway, I have to call the police today."
"Humph! Don't sound like much of a church to me."
Sakura listened to the shush-shush of her mother's slippers as she shuffled to the back of the house. 'She sounds so old. Kami please let Momma and Da…Sasuke…be all right.'
Before she called the police again, Sakura tried to reach Jugo. As far as she knew he was the only person Sasuke was friendly with. 'Maybe he'll know something. But she didn't leave a message when the voicemail picked up.
'I can't do this.' Her whole life, somebody had taken care of the difficult tasks; now there was nobody but her. Sakura's holding her phone when it started to ring. It was the detective.
"I was just going to call you." Sakura was relieved. Somehow it was easier not having to dial the number.
"I saw the stolen car report when I came in."
Sakura told the detective about the empty business account.
"This is starting to sound like a kidnap." The detective took notes for the missing person report. "Are you sure you can't think of any enemies, rivals, no bad blood with anybody?"
"No! I told you that already. This can't be real!"
"What about any family of his would he be with any other relatives"
"As far as I know its was his father and brother. His mother died when he was a kid and his father raised him and his brother. His father passed away a few years ago and he hasn't spoken to his brother since around that time."
"OK, I'll keep this information in mind. I'll stop by later to get a photograph. You call me immediately if anyone contacts you about ransom. No matte what they say."
'Kidnapped?' The idea never crossed Sakura's mind but now she could think of nothing else. She went upstairs and got the framed eight by ten from Sasuke's 35th birthday that she kept by her bedside. She replayed the last day she saw Sasuke, turning every word he said over in her mind, but nothing stick out as unusual. Then she scoured the house, not knowing what she was looking for. Went thru draws, pockets boxes in the garage, but she found no clue to Sasuke's whereabouts.
'There's gotta be something.' Sakura called Mrs. Banks, apologized for disturbing her Sunday, and asked to meet her at the Office. She hoped the office might hold an answer, or at the very least something that would help the police.
They used a crowbar to pry open Sasuke's locker. Empty. The warehouse odors mingled with dread, and Sakura felt like she was suffocating. Sasuke's battered rolltop desk loomed in the corner, and they used the crowbar to pop the locks. The drawer bulged with papers. She grabbed stacks of them at random and shuffled through bills, loan documents, second, third, and final notices from creditors and collection agencies, unopened envelopes letters from banks, each piece a revelation, more frightening than the one before.
"You know, seven— eight months ago he said he thought somebody was tampering with the mail, so he got a post office box. He's pick up the mail every day or two and bring it in."
"I…I don't understand." Sakura stared at the the pile of papers in front of her and couldn't hold back the tears any longer. 'What happened to all the money?' "I swear to you it's over… I promise…" Sakura sidestepped the thought before it hit her head on.
"I only say what mail he gave me. Now that I think about it, he was getting calls from some of our suppliers and the banks. Told me he was looking into expanding the business again." Mrs banks tried to comfort Sakura.
"Well, it doesn't look too good right now. But Mr Uchiha was always so fair, he was a real smart businessman and …"
"Was? You talk like he's dead!"
"No.. I mean to say…"
"I'll take this stuff home." The tremble started as Sakura reached for a handful of papers from Sasuke's desk. Before she had a grip on them, her whole body was shaking. 'What am I supposed to do?' Sakura sank down in Sasuke's chair.
"I'll tell the boys to take a few days off. Maybe Mr Uchiha will show up by then. Anyway, the busy season is over. You rest a minute, and I'll find a bag to put these in."
Neither woman spoke while Sakura filled the shopping bag Mrs Banks brought her almost to the top. They walked to the door, and Sakira remembered just a couple of weeks ago walking this same route, with Sasuke assuring her he had nothing to do with the story about Naruto. Now she didn't know what to think about anything he'd ever said.
The afternoon sun felt mean and cruel to Sakura. Long after Mrs banks had driven off Sakura sat in her car in front of the business , the loaded shopping bag next to her on the passenger seat. She didn't want to go home. Home meant having to explain to her mother and Sarada. 'Explain What? What do I know?'
When Sakura turned onto he street and the house came into view the usual "there it is" flashed across her mind, but this time she began to sob. She pulled off the road, folded her arms across the steering wheel, and cried until she was drained. 'I have to get myself together. I can't let Sarada and Momma see me like this.'
"You all right?"
The question flung her back in time. Sasuke? That's the first thing he ever said to me. She whipped her head around, but when she focused, it was a neighbor from down the road.
Sakura wiped her cheeks on her sleeve, lowered the window. "yes, Thanks I'm fine."
"Just checking. Take care now." He touched his hat and quickly returned to his walk.
Sarada came in an hour later with a long face. "Cho Cho is moving. Her mother got a promotion."
"That's nice…" Sakura answered distractedly.
"It's not nice! It's terrible1 I hate it!"
"You can go and visit! Won't that be exciting?" Mebuki intervened and launched into the virtues of having friends in different places.
Sarada didn't buy it. "How's Daddy?" Sakura concocted a story that Sasuke had to go to an out of town hospital for a while to help him get better.
Sakura saw her mother's eyebrow arch, but she didn't address her until Sarada was out of earshot.
"Why get her all riled up, and shows up tomorrow…
"And what if he doesn't?"
"Just give me a little time, Momma. That's all I ask. I promise I'll tell her if… if he doesn't…I don't want to talk about it anymore now."
'What if he doesn't?' Which everyone else asleep, Sakura sat in her bed, surrounded by the papers she had taken from Sasuke's office. It took hours to read them all and put them in chronological order. Some of the documents made sense, others were mumbo jumbo, but together they painted a grim picture.
Over the last couple of years, it looked like Sasuke mixed their personal finances in with the business. 'He took a second mortgage on the house to get a business loan?' Sakura couldn't breathes or swallow. 'Everything we own is in his name…'
Credit cards were delinquent, life and health insurance premiums hadn't been paid in months. 'Canceled? That awful man from the hospital was right?' Sakura let the notices from the IRS threatening liens slip out of her hands. She lay for a long time staring at the ceiling and trying to catch her breath. Sakura felt like the girl in the horror movies who ignores the warning "Don't go in the basement." Dumb. But she descended another step.
Sasuke had fired both his lawyer and accountant months ago, but he owed them money too. When she found the bank statements for investment saving, CD's money market, annuity, she prayed that at least one of them might contain the silver lining she needed. 'Momma's money!' But instead she ran smack into a new storm front. Sasuke had invested it, but last January he made him self or the business, Sakura couldn't tell which, a loan, and from there all of Mebuki's money seemed to have disappeared. 'When Momma offered to lend… He'd already used it!' A scream hovered in her throat, but what bubbled up and out was a low, pleading moan that came from much deeper. 'Oh Kami help me…help us…'
Sakura hugged her pillow and rocked. She didn't want to believe he'd been gambling again. 'He promised. "Learned my lesson." He said that. People only get beat up or disappear because of gambling debts in the movies. I would have known if…'
But the list of things she didn't know about her own life grew longer, paper by paper. 'I know my car is paid for. I didn't even know where he kept the checkbook until now. Checkbook! How much money do I.. Sakura sat straight up, grabbed the phone, dialed the twenty-four-hour bank number she used to keep track of her account and waited- - $7,219.11. 'How long will that last if he doesn't come back? How much is the house note?'
Using the tiny calculator she kept in her purse, sakura punched in numbers. When she finished she did it again, just to make sure. 'If I make just one payment on every bill that's overdue, it will cost more than twice what I have, and that doesn't leave anything to live on now.' When Sakura put on her nightgown, took off her rings, and turned out the light, it was nearly six A.M. She pulled the covered over her head. 'What am I gonna do'
AN: Thank you for reading , tell me what you think.
