Chapter Three

continuation... reckless streak of which Itachi had never approved. He preferred the steady, cautious course and seldom acted on impulse. The few times he had, he'd later regretted it. Might he regret asking his partner to fetch back a young woman to be his mistress? While the Swedish captain considered his terms, Itachi dover that question.

When the south-west monsoons had signalled the arrival of ships from the West, he'd begun to have second thoughts about his plan. It would be good to have a safe outlet for the desires he had not entirely managed to stifle with long hours of work. But what kind of woman would willingly journey halfway around the whole of Japan to serve as a hired bedmate? Only one with an unsavoury past, he feared. How could he risk taking a woman like that into his home?

Then Shisui captain gave a deep rasping cough that jolted Simon out of his troubled thoughts. "What is it you people say—'a bird in the hand…'?" "…is better than all your birds in the hands of pirates.' That's what we say here in Osaka." Itachi extended his hand to seal their bargain.

Few things gave him as much pleasure as making an advantageous deal. Unlike affairs of the heart, he knew where he stood in a clear-cut matter of business. That was the sort of relationship he'd had in mind when he asked Zetsu to find him a mistress—a straightforward exchange of things they wanted from one another, without dangerous sentiment to complicate matters.

Now he wondered if such a thing would be possible. As he and the captain shook hands, one of Itachis Malay workers appeared, leading four people who looked quite distressed. "Master, these boys say they came from Northern part of Japan to work for you."

"This is the first I've heard of it." Itachi eyed the four suspiciously. "Captain Shisui, if you'll excuse me, I must see to this. Hidan, send some boats to begin unloading the iron."

As Hidan and the captain headed away, Itachi was rounded on the boys, who were growing more agitated by the minute. "What is all this about? I didn't hire any of you."

"Please, sir," said a sturdy, handsome lad who looked to be their leader, "Mr Northmore sent us. He said there'd be work for us with his company." Before Itachi could reply, a gangly lad with a shock of orange hair cried, "The boat let us off on the wrong side of the harbour!"

"And we've lost Sakura!" added a third fellow. "She was right behind us and then…she wasn't."

They all started jabbering at once, so that Itachi could not make out what they were trying to say.

"Quiet!" he ordered at last, silencing them with a fierce scowl. "You say Mr Northmore sent you. Why didn't he come with you?"

"I don't know, sir," admitted the leader. "Perhaps he explained it in the letter he gave Sakura."

One of them had mentioned that name earlier. Could she be the mistress Deidara had engaged for him? "But she's lost!" The rusty-haired lad pointed back toward the quay ."We've got to find her!"

"So we do." Itachi marched towards the quay, his heart hammering this ribs. "This part of town is no fit place for a woman alone."

"Where did you last see her?"

"I thought she was right behind us when we crossed the bridge," said a lumpy lad name Choji. "But now I'm not sure." They'd reached the quay by this time, heading for the bridge with as much speed as Itachi could muster. "You left her on her own in Chinatown? If any harm comes to her, none of you will be working for me, I don't care what Northmore promised you!"

Work? Itachi fumed. They'd be lucky if he didn't have them all flogged. Though Osaka was a place of great opportunity, violence always lurked beneath the surface. Piracy had been a way of life in these waters for centuries and it wasn't much safer on land. Since coming here, he'd witnessed riots outlaw raids. Murderous rampages were common enough that there was a for them in the Japanese language—such attackers were said to run amok.

As Itachi marched across the bridge and on to the south bank of the harbour, crowds of labourers parted to let him pass like waves cloven by the sharp-angled prow of a ship. The four lads scrambled along in his wake.

"Where is the woman with pink hair?" he demanded, then again in mangled Cantonese. "Did anyone see which way she went? If any harm comes to her, there will be bad trouble!"

Answers came hurling back at him. "She was accosting strange men on the quay." "She ran after Lee, shouting at him like a savage with no manners." "She chased him into the kampong," one of the speaker informed

Then Itachi replied, "up Oxcart Road."

What sort of brazen harlot had Hana procured for him? Itachi was half tempted to let the hussy face the consequences of her scandalous behaviour. But he could not bear to have another woman's death on his conscience. One of the lads tugged at his sleeve. "Please, sir, what did they say? What's happened to Sakura?"

Itachi could not deny the genuine note of concern in the young fellow's voice. He and his friends obviously cared about this woman. That did not tally with what he'd just heard of her actions.

"This way." He charged up the wide dirt path, which lead away from the south end of the bridge, pausing only to seek further information. People were eager to talk, venting their outrage over the woman's forwardness. Itachi sensed a gloating satisfaction at their being free to criticize a member of the small but powerful South Asian community. He and the boys followed her trail down a side street rife with gambling houses and opium dens. Simon had supported the efforts of Sir Orichimaru ban such places, but Orichimaru's more pragmatic successor had insisted on licensing them as a source of revenue. Itachi shuddered to think what could happen to an unprotected woman in this part of town.

Then he glimpsed a billow of ruddy hair amid a sea of straw-sedge hats. Curls of that colour did not belong to any true native of Asia. Itachi waded intothe crowd, shouldering the gawkers aside, issuing all manner of dire threats about troops being summoned. At last he reached the woman.

There she stood, backed against the timber wall of a gambling house, surrounded by a crowd of angry Chinese. Her bright hair had come undone, tumbling over her slender shoulders. She held a wide-brimmed bonnet in front of herself, like a flimsy shield. Her face was flushed bright red and misted with sweat. Her eyes were wide with fear. She was the perfect picture of a damsel in distress.

Distress she had brought upon herself with her brazen behaviour. And yet…As he got a closer look at her, Itachi found she was not at all what the onlookers' reports had led him to expect. There was nothing coarse or common about her features—indeed, they were uncommonly delicate. Her nose was dappled with freckles that lent her an air of wholesome innocence. Her lips, full and pink as hibiscus petals, looked as if they had never been properly kissed. That thought sent a bolt of heat surging through him to settle in his loins, where it smouldered. An ominous silence jolted him out of his dangerous distraction. He needed to get this woman and her four young friends back across the river before this unfortunate incident turned even uglier.

There you are." He seized her by the arm and began to scold her loudly in Cantonese, for the benefit of their large, hostile audience. "Have you gone mad to act so shamefully? Come with me now or you will be sorry!"

He must make the onlookers believe she would be harshly dealt with. Then they might leave her punishment to him rather than taking matters into their own hands. If he made sufficient fuss, it might distract the crowd long enough to get her and the boys to safety. Itachi's left leg was beginning to throb with familiar pain, but he ignored it, hoping it would not slow down their retreat.

In this situation, any delay could be very dangerous.

Author Note: Okay so this was the longest change I've written. Thank you for you support xoxo