Sasuke gathered the money in stacks and carefully placed it in a silver suitcase. He made sure that there was 2 million dollars before sliding it to the other man.
"Now, are we clear on the plan?" Sasuke asked him.
"Yes we are. We'll meet at Kirk's club around 10 pm and then I will give you back this suitcase and fake a deal. It doesn't take an advanced course to understand the plan, dude" Suigetsu sarcastically replied, humour in his voice.
Sasuke knew he could trust him. After all, Suigetsu was the one who supplied him all the pharmaceutical supply he needed to do his silver pills for more than four years. He wasn't ready to say they were great friends but it was fair to say they were good acquaintances. As long as he would follow the plan, Sasuke couldn't ask more.
"How much are we talking about?"
"One million dollar…"
Her jaw dropped.
"Each" He announced.
Sakura looked at him as surprise flitted across her face. She then frowned, suspicions replacing her consternation.
"Stop screwing around. Not less than one minute ago, you insisted in protecting me. Now you want me to follow you in your dangerous lifestyle?" She asked, sceptical.
Sasuke folded his arms across his chest, a shimmer of challenge in his black eyes.
"Are you afraid?"
"No!" She immediately replied, high-handed.
"Then, are you in?"
She sighed and glared defiantly at him.
"Damn right, I am" She accepted.
"That girl must be very important, seeing all the trouble you went through" Suigetsu noticed, impressed.
"She is" He simply acknowledged, his lips curling into a discrete smile.
The guy leaded him to his loft's exit and shook his hand.
"Oh, and sorry for my indiscretion, but how did you manage to gather all this money? I mean…I know you're making a lot of money considering your job, but that fast?" Suigetsu wondered.
"I sold my recipe" Sasuke briefly replied.
"Of the silver pills? To Danzo, to Akatsuki?!" He shrieked, one hand covering his mouth.
Of course not, Sasuke thought. That would have been the stupidest move. Might as well as shoot himself. If he had sold his recipe to Akatsuki, Danzo wouldn't have any reasons to let him alive. He was the only one who knew the recipe and as long as it stayed that way, he will be safe.She will be safe. The only way he could ever be free would be to quit the country and go far away. But he didn't want to let her by herself here. Especially with them lurking around her…
"No, to one contact I have in the Philippines's market. No way they will ever find out"
"That's better" He replied, relieved.
Sasuke nodded. Despite the fact that he would probably never succeed to escape the drug-dealing world, he was grateful. Starting from tonight, Sakura will now have enough money to quit her job. He couldn't be more relieved.
"I thought that I was essential to your plan!" Sakura shrieked, annoyed. She tried to pull her black dress down as she walked in an attempt to cover more of her legs but it only made her bra more apparent. It must have been one of the reasons why Sasuke specifically instructed her to wear that dress.
"You are. Without you, I couldn't even enter the club. Every guy must be with at least one girl."
"C'mon, this requirement doesn't apply to you. Clubs apply this rule only so that there won't be a huge ratio of ugly guys crawling onto the dance floor and scare away the few girls the club managed to attract." She said, not realizing the significance of her statement.
Sasuke's lips stretched into a grin.
"Are you admitting that I'm attractive?" He slyly smiled.
She turned flush red, recalling her previous sentence.
"Who's admitting to what!" She squealed as her voice edged up a few octaves.
Unfortunately, Sasuke didn't get the chance to continue his argument with her. The doorman stamped both of their hands and invited them inside.
The music was so loud that he couldn't properly explain the rest of the plan to Sakura. He showed her the stairs to instruct her the way upstairs. He led her to one of the VIP rooms where the music was less strident.
"Ok so now, I need you to stay outside this room" He explained.
Sakura's expression turned hard.
"Sasuke-kun, I feel like you don't need me here at all. Am I a charity case to you?" She asked as deception filled her voice.
He looked at her in the most honest way he could in this situation. Because she was partially right. He didn't need her for the purpose she thought, but he still needed her in the larger sense of the expression.
"Sakura, your presence is crucial. I need you to keep a close watch on anyone that looks suspicious to you. We are not the only ones that wants this deal" He lied but it didn't seem to show. Sakura was looking around with sharp emerald eyes, taking this new mission very seriously.
"Ok, I get it." She replied, already prepared to counter-attack.
"If you're in trouble, text me. Oh… by the way, what's your number?" He innocently asked, seizing the opportunity to get her number.
"I applaud your strategy, but…I'll be okay without your help" She replied.
Sasuke sighed, defeated. But he knew he would surely have other occasions to ask her.
"Ok, so be safe" He said before closing the VIP's door behind him.
Every thing was going according to his plan. The guy with the suitcase was here, just like he asked him.
"So, your girlfriend isn't having doubts right now?" Suigetsu asked after he gave him back the suitcase with the money.
Sasuke's heart skipped a beat at the sound of this descriptive word:girlfriend. But he decided to ignore it.
"I hope not" He simply replied as he walked in rounds into the room in order to leave Sakura under the impression that the deal was long.
After deciding it had been long enough to be credible, Sasuke waved him goodbye and left.
"It didn't take time." Sakura said, almost reproachful.
It wasn't good. If she believed that the deal wasn't dangerous enough, Sasuke wondered if she would accept the money. There was a strong probability that she would declined, thinking that she didn't earn it. He had to come up with a plan.
"I know that guy" Sasuke pronounced, trying to look suspicious as he gazed at a random dude.
Sakura turned around to see the suspect. Things were looking great, she seemed to be on her guards.
"We're not the only ones who wanted that deal. I think he's here for the money" He invented as he went along.
Without further thinking, he took her hand and started to run downstairs. He didn't know if it was just for an excuse to hold her hand or to make his act more credible.
Regardless of his real motives, she immediately freed herself from his hold.
"Running isn't the solution!" were her words. She turned around and ran towards the guy he falsely accused.
Sasuke had no time to react. Before he could grab her, she had already pinned the innocent guy firmly to the ground. If it were only him, Sasuke could have managed to clarify the situation. But the odds of that didn't look that great. Just when he walked towards the hostage of Sakura, he noticed four immense guys, probably the dude's friends, coming from behind. They weren't standing a chance against them.
At the same time, Sakura came to the same conclusion. He quickly ran towards her and grabbed her hand for the second time.
"Now, running would be the solution" He stated, leaving her no chance to reply. But the approval in her green eyes showed him that she was thinking the same way.
They ran down the flight of stairs, ignoring the protests of the four guys. Seeing the panic, the doorman tried to stop them from running away but Sasuke knocked him over with the silver suitcase.
They raced down the streets, trying to put as much distance between them and their pursuers. It wasn't easy. Considering the fact that they were massive, it was hard to believe that they could ran at this pace. Eventually, they managed to catch a yellow light, which luckily turned red for the others. Despite the reasonable distance, Sasuke estimated that it would be better to hide than to continue running. He drew Sakura in a small alley.
"D-Damn, t-that was close" She panted out of breath, her pink tresses were messy. Sasuke prepared himself to reply, but he heard running footsteps coming from the main street. As a result of an automatism, he pushed Sakura against the closer wall, behind a big container. They listened to the footsteps, anxious. A while later, the footsteps faded and their short breath were the only sound filling the silence of the alley.
Her glance met his, and he saw himself reflected in the wide mirror of her eyes. That was when he realized their physical proximity. He urgently distanced himself to avoid an awkward moment, especially after what happened between them. But she didn't seem to be offended as he noticed her incontrollable laugh.
"I can't believe they got fooled!" She cracked up. As she crouched, breaking into laughter, Sasuke realized that he had never seen her so happy. She looked radiant.
He took an empty box and sat beside her to split the money in his silver suitcase.
"One million dollar, as promised" He said as he offered her stacks of money.
Please accept, please accept…
She cautiously took the money, suddenly embarrassed.
"I feel like one million dollar is a high prize for the few things I did" Her voice was choked.
"Consider it like a fair prize for the degree of potential danger"
He prepared himself to counter-attack another argument, but she silently put away the money in her bag.
"T-thank you" She stuttered, unsure. He felt like she wasn't use to thank people.
"With this money, you did more for my family than anyone did in many years" She continued, in a clearer voice.
There was moment of silence where they just looked at each other.
"Beside paying for your grandmother's dialysis, what will you do with your half of money?" He asked, hoping that she wouldn't answer something lame and would actually spend a little money for herself.
"I will clear other debts that we have"
Of course…
"Ok, but I assume your debts do not total more than one million dollars. Don't you have a guilty pleasure?"
She paused, pondering his question silently.
"Like I told you before, I want to go to university, and continue my education. Preferably to law over medicine school, but... I'm not sure yet "
It wasn't the type of guilty pleasures he had on mind, but it was far more righteous.
"So that you could put criminals like me behind bars?" He teased her.
Her lips twitched, fighting a smile.
"Not exactly. I'd like to be a defense lawyer and represents the accused party."
Sasuke smiled, curious about this choice.
"Can I ask you why?" He wondered.
She evaluated his demand, puzzled. She seemed to struggle about her choice of words.
"So that I could prevent innocent people to go in jail, I guess" She finally replied but a discrete pain looked tightened her face.
"You know that the majority of cases is a debate on the time of the sentence? Most of the defendants are guilty for the crime they are being accused of."
She bit her plump lips and clasped her hands together in order to calm herself.
"I know. But still, few can be innocent for a crime they haven't commit, and be set up" She replied with a discrete frustration.
He was slowly starting to guess her real motives to become a lawyer. It had something to do with a personal experience and he had to know why.
"Why do I feel that you're not only talking about the usual story plot of crime books?"
She glanced at him with unreadable eyes.
"My father" She simply stated. "My father is in jail right now and got a sentence of 20 years. But he has been set up, and I know it" She said, convinced.
Sasuke stayed mute, not knowing what to say. Every words seemed superficial compared to what she was going through.
"Anyway, thanks again for this opportunity" She said as she stood up with the bag containing her money.
"Let me know if I can do something in exchange" She continued, looking sincere. This money meant the world for her, Sasuke realized.
"Actually…" He smirked, still seated on the empty box.
"As long as it's within limits" She replied.
Despite the fact that he considered many things, Sasuke had something else to propose.
His boss was still a threat for her life. He was scared that something could happen to her. No matter what was the solution he found, it always came down to one thing: Sakura had to leave. It was the only way she'd be safe.
"Can you study abroad next year…and leave Japan?"
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