"Handcuffs"
by: S. Schumaker

Standard Disclaimers Apply

(AN: What have I been thinking? Leaving this story unfinished for so long. Man! I'm sincerely sorry everyone! I hope this next chapter fulfills any desires for more that you may have. Enjoy! Also, I apologize for the extreme lack of knowledge about the guns used in this chapter . . . please forgive me . . . I'm not a hunter/gun handler and probably never will be one.)

Chapter Two

After Akito turned the lock on the door behind him, he turned and gazed around the room. A large smile erupted over his lips at the sight of his room. Every inch of the walls was covered up by weapons. Guns, knives, axes, swords, and even a couple grenades. He moved over to his desk, dropping his briefcase down on top of it and moving toward a gun nearby. He picked it up, a 9-mm hand gun. Dusting it off, he tossed it from hand to hand, turning around to point it at an invisible target behind him. He smiled briefly before replacing it on the shelf.

Pulling out the desk chair, he sat down and opened up his briefcase, removing Sana's file from it. He flipped it open and was immediately greeted by the picture of her again. He scanned over her face in it quickly before tossing it in his briefcase and slamming it shut. He couldn't distract himself from this case. It was simply another case, another kill. Even if they knew each other ten years ago, he would eliminate this target. He began to read her file carefully. She currently was living about twenty minutes north of Nice, France and had really made a name for herself. She was now a world-known actress and her popularity couldn't have been greater.

Akito began to wonder about the main that hired him. Why would he want such a beautiful, famous, popular actress killed? Well, it didn't really matter and it certainly wasn't Akito's place to even question his new employer. He was contracted for this job, and there was nothing in the world that would stop him from carrying it out.

He scanned over her history in France. She had never married, had no children, and was currently dating a French actor named Jacques Pinot. She lived in a large mansion in the country, alone. Akito flipped into the file a couple of pages and found the layout to Sana's house and yard. This would definitely be a tricky job. He looked over the blueprint. His eye was scanning for a potential weak spot in the security, but lost hope when he read more about the system.

She had a large fence surrounding her land, the only way inside the gate was through a steel fence which was guarded by a guardhouse with two guards waiting inside. All guests had to be called into Sana before they could pass through that gate. Once inside, two watchdogs roamed the yard, and six more guards walked around the fence and pathways, often checking the guest's ID again. After passing through the yard and reaching the front doors to the house, cameras were set up so that Sana could again confirm the identity of her guest and allow the automatic doors to unlock and allow them entry. Only the password spoken by Sana would unlock those doors and allow Akito the chance to get inside. After successfully being confirmed by Sana, he would have to step through a body scanner that would scan his body inside and out for potential weapons before he could actually step a foot inside the house.

Akito leaned back in his seat, running over the possible options he had. He could either take a sniper shot from a nearby tree to eliminate her, or he would have to reconnect with Sana in the hopes that she would invite him inside her home. After contemplating how to structure his plan, he decided the best way to figure if the sniper shot was possible would be to do some reconnaissance at the house first. He truly hoped that it was because having to get personally involved in a case was one of Akito's main rules he held for himself.

He packed up the files, quickly memorized Sana's address, and walked out of the room, locking it tight behind him. He made his way down to the main hall of the Château and picked up a telephone near the front parlor. "Oui, Monsieur Ackerman?" A man answered on the other end.

"Would you pull the car around, Luc? Merci." Akito spoke into the phone, no trace of the Japanese accent he held when he knew Sana. He thought back on their time together. It really felt like an entire lifetime ago, not just ten years. He wondered how she had changed. She couldn't still be the spazzy, cheerful, overly dramatic girl he once knew. She was grown up now and he began to wonder just what she was like.

Akito stepped outside into the castle grounds and began walking down the path toward the driveway. He noticed Luc pull up in the black Mercedes and step outside of the car, moving toward the rear door and pulling it open for Akito. Akito got closer and walked passed Luc to the front seat. "I think I'll drive myself today, Luc. Merci beaucoup." Akito smiled at his driver before sliding into the seat and driving off toward Sana's home.

Nearly a half hour later, Akito found himself driving down a dirt road, the mud spraying underneath his tires. In the distance, he could see Sana's house. It was nearly the size of his Château and certainly was protected as tightly as his was. Akito slowed down, noticing a swarm of media vans and reporters blocking the front gate. They were all standing around waiting for something, cameras up and running, and facing his car. Akito pulled to a stop at the edge of the road, a few hundred meters away from the gate and began to scan around the property, looking for the perfect place for his sniper shot.

Akito glanced back toward the reporters to see them all racing toward him, he leaned back in his seat in shock. What were they coming over here for? He reached for the keys in the ignition to start up the engine again when he noticed something, or rather, someone in his rearview mirror. A woman was running, clad in black spandex capri running slacks, a black sports bra, and a grey zip-up sweater. Her auburn hair was pulled into a high ponytail and was whipping left and right as she ran toward him. Akito turned in his seat to gaze out the back window, his eyes transfixed on the beautiful woman.

"Sana! Sana! Over here!"

"Sana!!"

"Ms. Kurata!!"

Akito heard outside, he flipped back toward the front of his car to see the reporters nearly on top of him, racing toward the running woman. Akito's mouth dropped open, that woman was his target? She was even more radiant in real life! He looked back to her and saw her slowing down to a walk to greet the reporters and have her picture taken. Sana began to answer one of the reporters questions as Akito started up his car, in the hopes of simply driving off without being seen. However, the engine revving up caught Sana's eye and see looked in at the driver, walking away from the reporters to see who it was.

Akito slowly began to pull back onto the road, waving off reporters that were blocking his path. He looked back and saw Sana's eye on him, trying to catch up to him. He needed to get out of there. He was one of the world's greatest assassins simply because he could get the job done without ever being seen! "Wait, please!" Sana called, racing toward Akito quickly. She easily caught up due to the blocked road and walked up to the passenger side window, knocking on the darkened glass. "Excuse me, monsieur?" Sana called. Akito refused to turn toward her, his eyes on the road in front of him, Sana's sweet voice infiltrating his car. "Akito-kun?" She asked, her sincere eyes sparkling.

Akito blanched. She recognized him? He slowly turned his head to face her, a large smile covering her lips as she realized it really was her childhood lover. She ran around the car, pulling open the driver side door and nearly wrenching the startled Akito out of his seat and crushing him with an embrace. An embrace that made the reporters surrounding them go wild. Camera flashes were blinding Akito, a video recorder was nearly pressed against his cheeks.

"Who's the mystery man, Sana?"

"Tell us your name, kid!"

"Look over here, Sana!"

Akito just stood there, the beautiful actress wrapped around him, cameras flashing. He didn't know what to do. His identity had been revealed to the entire world and to his victim. Pictures of him would appear on the TV, in magazines. He was finished. The job was simply impossible now. They were linked together. They were linked because of his own stupidity. His career as a world-renowned assassin was over, all because of one woman and his damn curiosity . . .

To Be Continued . . .

(AN: Well, after such a long break from this story . . . it was hard to get back into it . . . But, I'm really glad with how this turned out. If you didn't know it about me . . . I rarely plan stories. I just write and see where it takes me. I guess this story took me here. What did you think of it? Please review it. For me? Thanks!)