At least the library's greatest mystery had been solved, the missing book no one could account for could finally be marked as stolen. Come, come paradise hadn't been lent out and its disappearance was not due to 'staff error'. Head librarian Chiyo always said 'Staff error' but she always looked at me in the meetings. Ok, seventy percent of the time it was most likely me but not this time! I just happened to be associated with the man who had the book. Not that I told them that, my story was along the lines of perverted guys in the bar bragging about being book thieves.
"What are doing after work today, Emiko?" Miyu, a bubbly coworker shuffled over to my desk. She was roughly my age but alot prettier and really popular, I hated her.
"Spending the evening with my Grandma, how about you?" I asked politely through gritted teeth. I knew what was coming.
"It's friday, duh! I'm heading to the bar to hunk hunt, like we used to do together before you got all weird. Hope you have fun with your Grandma though." She had been saying the same thing for months now, starting around the time I met Sasuke. I'd stopped going out with my friends at all, in fact I'd stopped alot of things, like eating regular meals and sleeping during the night.
Miyu must have caught the hesitation In my eyes because she added, "Why don't you come with me? I don't know what's going on with you but I think it'll cheer you up." God, it sounded fun. Just for one night getting drunk, dancing and being hit on by guys instead of sitting alone wondering if Sasuke was alright and if he was coming back….
"No thanks." I huffed.
At Grandma's life was no easier. She was halfway through a third bottle of wine when I got there and stumbling around the dining room trying to set the table. I kicked of my shoes, tied back my hair and wrestled the china plates from her scarily strong hands.
"I'll do it, ok? Just sit down." For other people it was probaly strange to have an alcoholic grandmother but since my parents died during a violent ninja raid over ten years ago it was normal life. She nodded and returned to her shabby red chair, a piece of furniture I'm sure was older than her, with a defeated look appearing between her wrinkles.
"Emiko, love, set three places, please." I opened my mouth to question the extra place but she took my hand in hers and clasped it tightly. Affection wasn't something she showed usually even when she was drunk.
"Don't ask…just trust me." I had no reason not to, an eighty year old woman couldn't be up to anything to devious anyway could she? I shrugged throwing a blanket around her shoulders, If I was going to have a challenging night I should follow her example!
In less than an hour three plates of creamy mushroom pasta were steaming on the table and I was pretty drunk. Who said drowning your sorrows with alcohol didn't work? My lovely buzz had kept Sasuke from forcing his way back into my head and my aching heart.
Right on time for dinner there was a determined knock on the door that didn't stop until I opened it, my mouth dropped open for a man, a big mistake that I knew very well, he bent down to kiss me on the lips without even saying hello. He was tall with long flowing hair that draped down the back of his suit like a silky yellow curtain, a narrowed pair of grey eyes sat above a long pointy nose staring intently at my scowling mouth. At last he got the message, no I wasn't going to let him put his mouth anywhere near mine.
"How I've missed you,Emiko" Shinji grinned menacingly. He marched straight past me and made himself at home on the set I'd unknowingly laid for him.
"Oh, Ueda-san, I'm so pleased you could make it." Grandma topped up her own wine glass, aswell as his, conveniently missing mine. She must have known that I would have thrown It at him.
"What can I say? I couldn't pass up an opportunity to see the woman who has ignored me for the last nine months." he replied smugly, making a lunge for my thigh under the table. My chair practically scooted out of the room. We had dated for less than a month before I found him and his cronies beating one of the workers from the rice field that he owned in our village, because of arthritis the poor guy wasn't filling the rice orders ln time. Ueda Shinji was a snooty, rich asshole that didn't know anything other than the missionary position.
"Emiko, don't be so rude to Ueda-san!" Her scold wasn't meaningful and her yellowing eyes were full of guilt. She looked between me and Shinji quickly and unfortunately for her that gave her evil plot away.
"You're trying to marry me off to him?!" She was always commenting that the village held nothing for me, that I should move away to a big city and then maybe I wouldn't look so depressed all the time. Shinji lived in such a city, in a big house all by himself during the day, surrounded by bar skanks like Miyu at night.
She stood unsteadily from her chair, "It's for your own good." she slid the chair back under the table neatly and left the room.
"Aww, I'm not that bad. I'm willing to give you another chance after all. Your Grandma practically begged me to take you off her hands. " Shinji's hurt look didn't fool me and neither did the ring he was brandishing. To be fair it was a huge diamond looking up at me from the blue velvet box, it captured the light amazingly well and cast its own rainbow onto the wall.
"No thank you." I refused the jewel through gritted teeth. If only it was Sasuke standing in front of me asking to spend our lives together, I would never say no to him, so far I hadn't! I couldn't imagine that Sasuke would be too bothered if I said no but Shinji on the other hand took my rejection as a personal insult, he wasn't used to being told no. Before I could react to the purple veins bulging on his steamy red face I was being pinned against the wall, his creepy long fingers curled around my neck.
"It's not a choice, you're coming back with me. I told you I loved you and you dumped me, ignored me, labeled me as a bad guy because I taught one of my workers a lesson. Now you can spend the rest of my life making it up to me." Me shaking my head was only making him angrier but I couldn't stop, I didn't want to go, I had to wait for Sasuke like I was supposed to. I gasped for air like a fish out of water but his grip was so tight I couldn't fill my lungs. Those evil grey eyes trailed down my trembling body, his fingers followed the same path.
"S-stop…" I croaked trying to push him away. Grandma must have heard my tiny cry because she came hurtling back into the room, cane in hand, battering him until his hold loosened and I fell to the floor. In the blink of an eye his rowdy gang of men, that had been waiting for their boss somewhere in the village, burst into the house screaming.
"Boss! Some asshole's attacking us! Three of the guys are already dead!" Shinji threw me over his shoulder, pushed my frail Grandma aside and made his way to the door before breaking into a sprint. I watched my old home disappear from on top of his shoulder, I didn't know what exactly was going on but we started to move faster away from his men that he'd left behind, their blood spraying into the moonlit sky was the last thing I could see in my village before we cleared the border into fire country.
But the pursuit wasn't over, someone was still hot on our trail.
"Boss, leave the girl. Killing her will give us more time to escape." I prayed that my ex boyfriend would listen to his subordinates words and just leave me to die. We ground to a halt. I looked into the looming darkness behind but there was no one. Why had they stopped?
"Who are you?!" Shinji bellowed, slamming his fist into my back in a fit of rage. The pursuer had caught up but I couldn't see who it was, I waited as anxiously as his victims for a reply.
"Never mind that. Put her down." I recognised the voice instantly, the tears I had been holding back suddenly sprung from my eyes. He had come for me.
Shiny gold star if you can guess who it is! :p