I apologise profusely for the wait! It was certainly unintentional, I've just been so ridiculously busy with… well… everything haha. Finished Strength, so now hopefully I'll be able to update this one faster. That's the idea, anyway. Not a huge chapter, but an important one nevertheless. Thank you for such lovely reviews last chapter, they were more appreciated than you could possibly know.
Chapter Five: a hold on release
I don't pay attention to where I'm going, just keep moving. One foot in front of the other, twisting through labyrinthine streets. Not many people here, and those who are are from the lowest of low classes, covered in rags and sweat and grime. Most of them are half mad with memory and experience, sitting on the cracked path, begging for a coin.
I keep walking, head down, no one notice me. I don't know where I am anymore, helplessly lost, and I feel like I can finally breathe a little easier. Surely they can't find me when I can't find myself.
But they do. They always do.
He's well dressed, Itachi Uchiha. And a handsome man by most people's standards. Older than me, taller than me, an air of confidence that should be arrogance oozes from his skin. Kisame, his back up (Itachi doesn't need a bodyguard. No one is that stupid) stands two feet behind him, a towering mass of muscle and weaponry, smirking like that's his job, which it might very well be. As far as necessity goes, he's all but useless when Itachi steps in.
I purposefully avoid looking above their chests. I know that the numbers will be rising above their heads like smoke, and there are some things that people are just better off not knowing. When your bosses son and heir is going to die is one of those things.
"How's your head?" Itachi asks me, and I shouldn't be surprised that he knows about my fall. Of course he knows. There's nothing Itachi Uchiha, prodigy of the Uchiha Clan, doesn't know.
"Been better," I reply, itching to get away and knowing I can't. That's why they sent Itachi. He's probably the only one who can outmatch me out of the entire corporation. It's not a lack of confidence thing. It's an I-know-this-to-be-fact thing. I would've tried running on anyone else. But not Itachi. He'd catch me, and they know that. Smart fuckers.
"Father's not pleased that you attempted that without his permission. You know how it works, Gaara."
"I'll try again," I say. "It'll work next time." It's not a threat. A statement of fact, more like.
"We know. But until you get father's permission you also know he won't let you. It wasn't just chance that there was a car directly beneath you to break your fall and an ambulance on speed-dial. He won't let you die without his permission. You know that. You're too important to the Organisation. You helped lay the foundations. So you'll get that reward eventually, but now you've got to atone for your attempted suicide."
"How so?" I ask, wondering what they'll do next. Nothing they haven't done before, I can pretty much guarantee that. Apart from actually killing me, they've done just about everything else, and not always as punishment, either. Most of them are training exercises. The weak are weeded out quickly. Only the strong survive.
"One more hit and then you're done. Father will hand you the gun himself, if that's what you want. But this one's probably your most important hit yet. Father was very pleased to see that you've already met her. Wasn't very pleased that you stopped that truck, however."
He walks with certainty in his steps towards me until we're side-by-side, and then we start walking down the near-deserted street together, stark out of place in the city's underbelly of shit and depression.
"Hinata Hyuuga, you mean?" I confirm, keeping my eyes on the sidewalk lest Kisame start looking for an excuse to gouge my eyes out, and so that I don't risk looking at the wispy numbers. Maybe having my eyes gouged out wouldn't be such a bad idea after all. Unfortunately Kisame's strong but slow and clumsy, so he'd fail, and it'd be loud and messy and annoying, so I avoid the confrontation.
"The daughter of the great Hiashi Hyuuga, and heir to his empire. Hiashi challenged father, and so father intends on sending them a very clear message. You don't fuck with him. Hiashi was stupid. The Hyuuga and the Uchiha have very clear territory lines, and not only did Hiashi cross those lines, he parked himself right in the middle of our territory. He should have known what the consequences would be."
I keep stride with him, thinking on what he'd said. I'd heard little of Hiashi Hyuuga, preferring to keep my nose out of other people's business. Helps with the detachment. I did know that he was powerful, I just didn't care. It was never any of my business. Dead men don't have business.
"Is there a time limit for the hit?" I ask, hoping there's not. I hate being constricted by time. I rush it and that leaves room for error. Errors are mistakes and mistakes come back to bite you in the arse. When it's done at my own pace, there's no error. Never has been.
"Within the week would be preferable," says Itachi calmly, and anyone watching would never know that we're talking about an assassination. It's slightly surreal. "But you can take longer. Father doesn't care how you do it, just as long as you get it done."
"And should I fail?"
"Then your job will get a lot harder," Itachi says, not one to dish out threats of his own. With any and all humans there's room for human error. I've missed shots before. Everyone has. It just leaves one hell of a mess for you to clean up, and no one likes doing that.
He disappears as quickly as he came, as ethereal as the numbers steaming above his head, and I disappear once more into the crevices of the underworld. One more hit and then I'll be granted the sweet release of death. I have to kill Hinata Hyuuga.
You all probably saw that coming. But also maybe not. *shrugs*. I've really started planning this story out, tossing up between a few ideas. Anything you'd like to include, let me know! I'll see what I can do!
Happy New Year's everyone! Leave me a little review? They're wonderful to receive, I love knowing your thoughts.
All my love, Alia xoxo
