Men of the Sea
Chapter 4
"Stay strong, Sakura."
Dull green eyes opened. Ino had shaken her awake. She must have fallen asleep on the cab ride back to the hotel.
For a moment, she dreamed of her Dad.
Sakura tiredly blinked the sleep from her eyes.
"We're here," Ino said softly.
Sakura nodded with a small smile. The doorman opened the car door for them. He had an umbrella held high over his head. She hadn't even noticed that it was raining. The two businesswomen exited the cab and made it inside the hotel.
"We need to be on our way to the airport within the hour. Meet you back at the lobby in about forty-five minutes?" Ino asked while looking through her phone. Her eyes were focused on her phone's screen as she typed a response to someone. Probably within their department. With the Lithium deal going through there was going to be a lot of changes. Sakura felt tired just thinking about it.
Uchiha enterprise was adding to their arsenal of suppliers to accommodate their growing demand in products. The culture of technology was changing and now almost everyone in the world had a phone or smartwatch or computer. It didn't matter if you lived in a remote village in Africa, or if you were on the front lines within a civil war. Technology was now a necessity for everyone. Which meant Uchiha Enterprise had to keep up with the demand.
That meant they needed more raw resources.
Which kept her and her department busy.
Ino was her right-hand woman. Where Sakura went, Ino followed. She was grateful to the blonde and her services. "Forty-five minutes," Ino absentmindedly reminded her as she went onto the elevator, not bothering to look over her shoulder to see if Sakura was following.
The pink haired woman watched as the elevator doors closed.
Forty-five minutes.
And she'd more or less be on her way back to Japan.
She was not excited.
With a sigh, she followed Ino's footsteps to the elevator and eventually made it to her hotel room. She needed to re-pack her suitcase and grab her bearings. While Fugaku was pleased with the success of attaining the deal, he scheduled an important meeting with her the following morning. She knew that this meeting would be more than just a discussion of business, even if he didn't indicate as much.
Fatigue sat heavily on her shoulders.
Inserting a plastic card into her metal door handle, Sakura entered her hotel room. She carelessly threw the card onto the wooden desk by the door and sat at the edge of her bed. By now she usually would have checked her phone.
But it hadn't turned up since she lost it.
She told Ino and Sasuke that she left her phone in a cab. She knew that more likely she left it at Kisame's. She did not lie to Sasuke when she told him she had a passcode on important accounts and her work email. But she left her personal email, social media, and contacts open for anyone to access. She would not at all be surprised if Kisame looked through it.
The good news was that nothing associated with her engagement to Sasuke was on there. No pictures or intimate texts. While everyone knew she was engaged, not a single person besides those within the Uchiha clan and her family knew to whom. After a decade, she knew that countless people had equal speculation and doubt. But the diamond ring on her finger was to above her pay grade for it to be fake.
She knew of the rumors that it was one of the Uchiha clansmen. Well, they weren't wrong. Just, no one knew for certain that it was Sasuke she was engaged to. She wanted to keep it that way just a bit longer.
Sakura kicked off her heels and ran fingers through her hair. Her scalp was still sore from where Eriko had pulled it. A small price to pay to secure a deal between MR and Uchiha Enterprise. She just hoped there wouldn't be a repeat of such a situation in the near future… or ever again. Sakura stood and began to rummage through her things and pack them away. No use in wasting time.
It was time to prepare for the journey back home.
Ino was sitting in the lobby by time Sakura made it downstairs. A small pastel green suitcase trailed behind her. "Ready?" Sakura asked. Ino nodded and stood upright. A large cerulean suitcase was beside her bodacious form. "Always."
The two walked side by side towards the exit. "Any new messages I need to immediately attend to?" The company was alerted of Sakura's lack of cellular device. Ino, as a result, had an additional load of emails, calls, and messages on her behalf. Sakura, admittedly, felt somewhat remorseful for Ino's predicament. "Hatake-san asked for you to call him when you have a chance. Sasuke-san also asked for you to call him." Sakura nearly halted mid-step. "Sasuke?" Ino nodded.
That was new.
"Do you mind if I use your phone for a moment?" Ino shook her head and handed over her silver smartphone. Sakura stepped aside and called Sasuke first. Mostly because she was curious.
"Hello?" He answered immediately.
He sounded breathless.
"Is everything alright?" "Sakura?" "Yes, I'm using Ino's phone. Is everything alright?" she repeated again, somewhat expecting the worst. This was definitely not normal Sasuke Uchiha behavior. "Has Father told you yet?" "Told me what?" "He hasn't told you?!" She put a hand on her hip, "Obviously I have no idea what you're talking about. What's going on?"
"The engagement is off."
Sakura froze.
"What?"
"The engagement is off. We're not getting married."
Sakura felt the walls close in. She stumbled back a few steps. "Was it because of how I handled the MR deal?" she asked, immediately thinking of that horrible encounter. "No. Which, by the way, are you okay? Father told me about the details."
"I'm fine," she snapped. Sakura was confused. Why was the engagement called off? Thoughts of her missing phone went through her head. Did Kisame have something to do with it? No, that wasn't right. He didn't know Sasuke was her fiance. But she couldn't think of anything else. Sasuke and she had been engaged since they were fifteen. Ten years later Fugaku suddenly decides to break it off?
Correlation or causation?
Saura felt dizzy.
"I'm sure he'll discuss it in detail with you once you get home."
He sounded excited. Of course he'd be.
"But the gist of it is that you're engaged to Itachi now."
She froze. "Itachi? What!?"
"Yea. Dad doesn't think you're a good fit for me or something like that. Itachi, though, seems to like you." Sasuke snorted. "Good thing we never fucked, huh? That'd be weird, Sister-in-law." She put a steadying hand to the closest surface she could reach.
The wall.
What did Itachi have to do with anything? What was this now about him expressing interest? Sakura felt her stomach somersault. Not exactly the best timing considering she was on her way to the airport. "The promises our dads made was for you to become an Uchiha, right? Doesn't matter which of us you marry for that to happen."
He seemed so carefree over the phone.
Sakura desired nothing more than to punch his pretty boy face in.
What was she? An item to be tossed around?
"I'll see you around, Sakura."
She imagined him smiling, relieved, free.
While she, on the other hand, was still bound by their fathers' promises to each other. She hung up without saying goodbye.
Next, she called her brother, Kakashi Hatake.
He answered right away.
"Kakashi?
"Sakura." His voice sounded bored. But something seemed amiss.
"What is it?"
Kakashi rarely reached out to her.
"It's Dad."
She felt the dizziness intensify tenfold.
"What is it? Has his condition changed?"
"Yes."
His voice indicated that it was for the worst.
"When will you be home from your trip?" "Later on tonight. If everything goes well, I'll be home around 3 am." "Come straight home?" he asked. She nodded with closed eyes. "Of course." And they left it at that.
Shakily, Sakura returned to Ino's side and handed her blonde coworker back her phone. "Sakura, you look pale. Do you need water? To sit down?" The pinkette shook her head. "No, let's make it to the airport."
After a ten hour flight, they made it from Melbourne to Tokyo. Sakura had not slept at all. She kept thinking of Kisame, MR, Sasuke, Itachi, and her father, Sakumo Hatake.
Only Fugaku, Kakashi, a few hospital staff members, and she knew about his condition.
Sakumo Hatake was in a coma. It was a result of him trying to commit suicide.
It was Fugaku that had found him. Her father was found convulsing at the base of his bed with an empty medicine bottle nearby. Thankfully, the hospital pumped enough of the poison from his system to keep him alive. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. He hadn't woken up. That was five months ago.
Not many people questioned his absence. Sakumo was known to be introverted. And even in his most social moments, he kept to himself as he walked about the neighborhood or ran small errands. His family and Fugaku were the only ones he chose to spend his time with.
Sakura never learned why this was the case. In old photo albums, he seemed to be quite the socialite in his youth. But something changed within him. It was after Kakashi was born and before her adoption. She never saw the vibrant smile displayed in the pictures. Her dad seemed like a different person than the man that lived within those old dust covered albums.
Sasuke hated their engagement.
Sakura never cared much for it either. After a few weeks, the two teenagers had decided to fight their fathers on it. But Sasuke later admitted he didn't have the strength to refute his father's wishes. In Sasuke's eyes, Sakura didn't need to earn Sakumo's love. She already had it.
"Please, do this for me."
Back then, Sakura wanted to make Sasuke happy. And it wasn't like she still had her crush on him. Besides, he had started sleeping around. He wasn't exactly on the top of her list of guys she wanted to settle down with. That was the thing about best friends, you knew more than you'd care to about their flaws.
And so, one random Sunday afternoon she determinedly marched to the sitting room, where her white-haired father often sat to drink tea and stare out the window. Sakura meant to tell her dad off and demand he take back his promise to Fugaku. But she couldn't do it. He sat in his go-to armchair with a genuine calmness and happiness about him. The wide smile she saw in those old photographs wasn't present. But he was more cheerful than she'd ever seen him be.
It didn't take a genius to connect the dots of her being engaged to his best friend's son was the reason.
She left before he saw her. She self-proclaimed that she'd marry Sasuke a hundred times over if it made her dad happy. Even if Sasuke was an annoying brat sometimes, she could think of worse guys to marry. And surely Sasuke would understand, right?
Wrong.
Sasuke wasn't pleased with her failure.
He'd been a jerk ever since.
Naruto didn't understand the rift that had settled between the two of them seemingly overnight. "Guys, what's gotten into you two?" he asked during lunch hour one humid sunny day. Sasuke glared daggers at Sakura from across the table. The hate was still fresh. Back then, it burned her. Why was he so upset? He couldn't go against his dad either! She outwardly didn't react and simply continued eating the contents within her bento.
Sasuke didn't understand her perspective. He only saw that Sakura had failed. And as a result, they were stuck with each other for basically their entire lives. She thought he'd stop hating her after a while. He couldn't stay angry at her, right?
Well, she was most definitely mistaken.
They went through the rest of the year at odds. Naruto, clueless and stuck in the middle, eventually chose Sasuke over her. Not that she was surprised. They had a bond she could never replicate. Naruto saw Sakura as a close friend. Sasuke was a practical brother to him.
Whatever.
She did better on her own anyway.
Sakura stuck her head in books. She excelled in school. She worked hard. She graduated early and entered college at age seventeen. Years later Fugaku offered her a generous position within Uchiha enterprise. She took it without question. Might as well start in the family business, right?
Right.
Her days have been filled with work ever since.
Work and worry and wondering if today her father would finally pass.
That is, until one dreary day she stumbles in a bar off the pier. She's in Australia for business but doesn't see the harm in getting a few drinks. She bellies up to the bar and orders a beer. That's when Kisame appears. All ripped muscle and sunshine. He asks if he can buy her a drink. Obviously, he's hitting on her. Sakura isn't a stranger to the tactic, and she usually turns whatever man she has attracted away.
Not this time.
Sasuke is sleeping around and she knows it. Besides one guy she drunkenly slept with in college, she hadn't been with anyone else. Didn't she deserve a little affection too? Something to take the edge off of life with? A happy distraction? Some easy attention?
With Kisame, she only meant to do a little easy flirting.
She hadn't expected to be so charmed by him.
She sighed.
Who knows? Maybe she would see him again?
"Madam?"
She is once more pulled from her thoughts.
The driver slowed at the curb to her house. It was the smallest house on the block within their luxurious neighborhood.
"Thank you."
The driver helped her inside with her suitcase and went on his merry way. Kakashi greeted her at the entrance.
"Brother."
"Sakura."
It used to bother her that he never referred to her as "sister". She used to think she wasn't good enough. But she since long ago let go of such petty desires or needs. Friends and family were temporary. She was only a pawn in everyone else's life. She didn't suit the role of sister to Kakashi. Big whoop. They weren't blood-related. She shouldn't care. She taught herself not to care.
"How's Dad?"
He took her coat and hung it in the closet by the front door. "His heart is failing." She nodded. Sakura's face was placid but she still felt her throat tighten. "Anything else?" "The doctor doesn't think he has long. I was thinking… Maybe you should move back home for the time being?"
"Absolutely."
"Maybe, with you here, his condition will improve?" His voice held a strange foreign hope to it. Kakashi didn't talk much to her, but she knew he experienced a lot of tragic loss in his life. Sakura didn't really count herself as someone important to Kakashi. By the time she was introduced into his life, he was on his way to College. They hardly spent much time together. She was sure, in Kakashi's mind, his Dad was all that he had left in his life.
"I'll call my assistant later on today and make the necessary accommodations."
Kakashi nodded.
"Are you hungry? I can make you something." He offered awkwardly. "It's fine. I ate on the plane," she lied. Her stomach had been a mess ever since she gave Ino back her phone. She didn't trust anything she put in her body, at the moment. "Well, I'm going to go to bed."
It was late, she should be going to bed too.
"I'm going to stay up for a while."
Kakashi shrugged and slowly made way to his old bedroom. Sakura paused, taking in the familiar scent of her childhood home, and walked straight to her father's room.
Sakura never met Kakashi's mom. And she never asked about her. Once, she remembered hearing someone mention that she died. But she couldn't remember who told her as much, so it wasn't reliable information. There were no pictures of her within their house. She didn't even know her name! So she was as much of a phantom to Sakura as her own parents.
Sakura only knew of Sakumo.
That was her Dad.
The Uchiha was as close to a family as one could get. But a lot of that changed when Sasuke stopped inviting her over. The only Uchiha Sakura saw in her daily life was Fugaku. He was like an Uncle to her. He was who she turned to now n days with Sakumo in a coma.
But… It wasn't the same.
She opened her father's bedroom door. It was dark in his room. She turned on the small lamp that was by his dresser. And there he was, hooked to a million machines. The sound of his heart monitor was weak within the quiet early morning.
Sakura sat on the edge of his bed and held his hand. "Dad," she whispered as if scared to wake him. Even if that's exactly what she wanted him to do.
Wake up.
"I'm home," she says with a smile, her lower lip trembling. Fugaku never told Sakura the details about the ambulance or the hospital. He didn't even tell her about his suicide attempt. Kakashi did. The young pink haired woman lifted his hand and placed it on her cheek. She couldn't help it, she felt her eyes water.
"I miss you."
She missed talking to him. She missed his hugs. She missed sitting side by side with him, watching the sunset within the sitting room. "Another day is ending… Another day done!" Sakumo would say with a slight chuckle. As if it were an accomplishment to witness such a thing. The setting sun. To witness another day finishing. Was it because he wanted to die? Even back then? And instead, he managed to live? Was that the source of his humor? Why hadn't she caught on?
Why hadn't she noticed that he was in pain?
Oh, right. She was focusing on school. She was trying to forget about her own stupid problems.
The day was just something for her to get through too.
"I'm engaged to Itachi now."
It was a promise between best friends. "We'll be related!" Sakumo said with an arm around Fugaku's broad shoulders. "And you'll have a family bigger than you can handle!"
He smiled back then. It almost reached his dark eyes.
She kissed Sakumo's palm.
"Dad, I need you still."
Only his heart monitor beeped.
"Wake up. Please?" she whispered.
He didn't wake up.
"Sakura?" It was Kakashi. He must have heard her talking. She didn't lower Sakumo's hand. She didn't turn to acknowledge him. "You should probably get some rest."
"I will… Later." she choked.
She could not hide the emotion within her voice. She didn't want to. It had been an exhausting twenty-four hours.
Kakashi didn't press her.
She closed her eyes.
He closed the door.
"Another day done."
'Please,' she prayed within her head, 'Give my Dad more time.'
Author Note:
GUYS. I appreciate all of you! Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to read and review my story! Also, check out my other Story if you'd like, "Deadly Girls like Me"!