Chapter Seven: Falling through the Cracks
Karui watched Choji from across the large countertop in the otherwise unoccupied kitchen in the Akimichi compound. He was carefully preparing a new breakfast presentation for her. Really, it was endearing to watch him so focused while she munched on the remains of his half-eaten bag of weirdly flavored potato chips. She would never have guessed she would be hanging out in the Leaf village on purpose, let alone voluntarily spending time with one of their annoying shinobi.
She had always admired the strong, powerful men in her own village like the Raikage and Bee. She saw no one like that in the Leaf until she met Choji and the Akimichi clan. They stood out like giants, powerful and immovable, among the other Leaf shinobi. Unlike the Raikage who was terrifying, and Bee who was self-absorbed, and Omoi who was vulgar and rude, Choji managed to be both incredibly powerful and incredibly kind. He was the perfect counterbalance to her hot temper. She leaned her chin on her hand as she crunched another chip. It felt weird to admit that she was, in fact, smitten.
He saw her golden eyes watching him and smiled, resisting the urge to reach his sugar covered fingers into her dark red hair. Instead, he leaned across the counter to steal a quick kiss but he stopped suddenly. His eyes were abruptly vacant and distracted.
Karui froze. "You've got to be kidding me..." she said to herself. She'd seen this look once or twice before—it was Ino. Karui sat back with a frown crossing the elegant features of her dark brown face. While it was weird to share her boyfriend's mind with another woman, she knew Ino wouldn't do this if it wasn't important. A moment later, Choji refocused on Karui, his dark eyes serious, "We have to go."
It was only a few seconds later when Choji and Karui barged into the Hokage's office. Ino had just arrived covered in streaks of blood and dirt, facing Koharu and An with a murderous look in her eyes. Lady Reina was nowhere around.
"Where did they take him?" Ino demanded, her voice was shaking with rage.
"We tried to reason with you both-" Koharu began. Ino stormed past Koharu to An.
An stood up defensively. "I have diplomatic privileges here in the Leaf. A Leaf shinobi cannot touch me while I'm a guest here."
As if in answer to the challenge, Karui stepped over and caught An around the neck, pinning her to the wall with the iron grip of her long fingers.
"Well it's a good thing I'm not a Leaf shinobi." She snarled. With another turn of her wrist she slammed An down to the floor. An struggled to breathe, her hands flailing, her eyes wild and terrified as Karui's slim dark fingers tightened around An's pallid white neck. Karui looked up at Ino expectantly.
"Is this position good?" she asked.
"Perfect." Ino replied venomously, never moving her eyes from An's terrified, choking face. Koharu screamed for them to stop and Choji stood calmly with his arms folded as Ino proceeded to rip Lady An's mind apart.
Sai woke up groggily, dimly aware of the dull ache in his chest. His breaths came slowly, ragged and painful. He felt the softness of a bed beneath him and pillows behind his head. He had no intention of trying to force his eyes open yet, but in the low, lurching tumult that defined the current state of his mind he heard a girl's voice calling his name; it was soft and familiar. "...Sai?" Slowly, reluctantly, he blinked up at the flushed face looking worriedly down at him.
"Thank goodness you're awake. I was so worried." Her dark eyes had an edge of sadness and her delicate face was framed by cascades of dark, loose curls falling just past her shoulders.
Sai glanced down at his heavily bandaged chest and winced in confusion and pain, sweat forming on his forehead. "Sai it's okay, you were attacked but my father's guards rescued you. You're safe now, in our infirmary. I'm so glad you're okay." Her voice was caressing like music. She reached her fingers to him and brushed the jagged fall of his black hair out of his eyes. The gesture was gentle but Sai found himself instinctively trying to pull away from her. Trying to. The sudden pressure against his right wrist jarred him to a new alertness. He realized his right hand was anchored to the bed by an iron shackle. The chain was long enough to only allow a limited range of motion. His left hand was similarly chained.
"Please don't move, Sai. Your wound isn't healed yet." Sai's eyes widened with distrust. "We had to keep you from thrashing around and injuring yourself further."
"Who...are you?" The pressure in his chest stifled his voice to a hoarse whisper.
"I'm Reina, your fiancée." That's why she sounded familiar.
"You are not my fiancée." Sai said hoarsely but the effort to speak exhausted him. He closed his eyes and turned his head away from her. She stroked the strands of his dark hair slowly, softly. He was powerless to stop her. His energy was spent and he needed to collect his thoughts to figure out how to escape.