Affinity
Prompt: Ransom
Rating: M
Title: A Life for a Life
Summary: After hearing her voice again, he knows that he will risk everything to save her.
"Sasuke!"
The sound of the frantic, yet familiar voice over the phone causes the raven-haired man's heart to skip a beat. That strong voice tears down all the mental blocks that he had put up in his mind.
He remembers the long shifts together in the cruiser, the early morning coffee, and most prominently of all, the late nights they spent in each other's arms.
All aspects of her race back to him causing his mind to reel; the feel of her soft skin pressed flush against his body, the sound of her soft moans as he would fill her with himself, but most of all, the look of pure love on her face whenever she would see him in the morning.
Hesitantly, he raises the speaker to his mouth and manages to choke out a word that holds so much meaning to him.
A word, that for the past month, he has uttered over and over again. A word that he cursed. A word that he mourned for. A word that shattered his entire life.
"S-Sakura?" His voice shakes, daring to hope. "Is that really you?"
"Yes!" she shouts in relief. "Yes, it's me. Sasuke, don't do anything stupid, they won't-"
Then she is gone along with the memories, and the menacing voice that the young cop has come to loath returns.
"I told you she is alive," the masculine voice over the phone practically purrs. "What do you reckon a life is worth, Sasuke?"
Sasuke remains silent, opting for watching the knuckles of his tightly clenched fist turn bone-white.
The other man waits for a moment before answering his own question. "A life is worth another life, and I want yours."
"Name the time and place," Sasuke bites out with no hesitation.
"So eager to give your life away for this… charming woman. I get the feeling that you two are more than just partners," the man taunts.
"Time and place," the Uchiha states more sternly, obviously sick of the criminal's taunting.
"Tenchi Bridge, two hours. You will drive to it with your personal car, which you will park on the north side, leaving the keys in the ignition. You will then exit the vehicle and stand on the end of the bridge. Once you see Officer Haruno standing on our end, you will both walk towards each other. After she's in your car, you will leave with us. Do you understand me?"
Sasuke makes note of the instructions, knowing full well that a slip up on his part can end in both Sakura's and his own death.
"Yes, I understand."
With those words uttered, Sasuke hears the click of the phone line ending followed by the continuous lull of the dial tone.
He doesn't care about the sacrifice or the risk, because his partner and lover, whom he thought to be dead the past month, is alive.
She is alive, and in two short hours she will be out of harms way. She will return to her family. She will return to her friends, but she will have to wait for him.
He slows his car as the bridge comes into view, taking in the sight of three large, black vans waiting at the opposite side.
She's in one of them.
She's waiting.
She's alive.
That last word plays through his mind as if on a continuous loop.
Alive, alive, alive.
He thinks back to three months ago when he entered their trashed hotel room.
They had been investigating a big time crime lord who specialized the dealing of drugs, people, you name it. They had a few close encounters, a threatening letter, a small shoot-out, some scandalous photos, but Sasuke and Sakura never imagined that they would go as far as kidnapping her.
That night, after a petty fight, she had stormed off to their hotel room while Sasuke settled for easing his frustration in the lobby bar. He tried to shake the feeling of unease with a glass of scotch, which quickly turned into two, and then eight.
It was almost five in the morning when he eventually stumbled to the elevator, sloppily pressed the button for their floor, and wobbled to their room.
His mind instantly sobered once he saw the door ajar and chain lock cut. Bloody handprints adorned the walls, furniture was upturned, and various pictures of criminals with Sakura's scribbled handwriting on them scattered the floor.
Needless to say, he was furious.
Angry at Sakura for kicking off with him.
Enraged with the crime lord for going this far.
But mostly, he was absolutely livid at himself for abandoning his partner when she needed him most.
After going on a rampage and almost killing himself, he was restricted to desk duty. He practically lived in his office, obsessively researching anything having to do with Orochimaru and his known subordinates, and only going home when Kakashi or Naruto forcibly removed him from the station's premises.
He was waiting for a call, an email, anything that the captors might use to contact him. Only complete idiots would execute somebody as precious as Sakura.
A month went by when a blocked number called Sasuke's cellphone. He answered it with a grunt of his name, struggling to keep his voice passive.
That was the first time he heard the snake-like voice of Orochimaru. He prattled on, cooing over Sakura's beauty, bating Sasuke to react, and react he did. After a threat of epic proportions and angered growls, they finally reached a negotiation, one that traded Sakura for every file that the police had on the crime lord's dealings.
The deal went south when the police force, who had bugged Sasuke's phone, showed up. That night, Sasuke witnessed a bullet penetrate his partner's skull.
The next two months passed in a blur. Sasuke left his job not quite sure as to whether he quit or was fired, whittled away at his inheritance at shady bars, and forgot his partner by jumping from bed to bed each night. He had accepted offers from faceless woman after faceless woman, allowing them to lead him to their apartments where he would have his way with them before sneaking out and doing it all over again.
His life was pointless, and she was gone…
Or so he thought until he received that call from the same sickening voice.
Coming back to the present, Sasuke turns off his car, but leaves the keys in the ignition before stepping out and onto the bridge.
He eyes three men with machine guns standing at the opposite side. They don't take aim, but hold the weapons in a way that lets him know they will in a heartbeat.
One of the van doors open and a man with silver hair and glasses steps out. Sasuke recognizes him as Kabuto Yakushi, Orochimaru's right hand man. He comes to stand in front of the armed men before cupping his hands around his mouth.
"Put your hands in the air and begin walking forwards, slowly," he shouts.
"I'm not moving until I see her," Sasuke yells back. These guys have already played a dirty trick once; he would not put it past them to do it again.
After pushing his glasses up his nose, he gives a jerky nod and the back door to the van he just exited opens.
Sasuke has to restrain himself from running forward when a woman with a distinctly pink head of hair and arms bound behind her, is shoved from the vehicle.
She collapses to the ground on her knees and Kabuto hoists her up, none to gently. Her head lulls forward and her knees tremble below her as if her body simply cannot support itself anymore.
Sasuke begins trembling with anger as he imagines what types of torture she has undergone the past three months while he has been acting like a prick.
Kabuto reveals a knife, and with a wayward glance at Sasuke, cuts away the restraints wrapped around Sakura's arms. When she realizes that she is being released, Sakura looks up to see Sasuke standing there.
Her distinctive emerald eyes widen and she begins struggling in Kabuto's grasp. Those eyes, a pure green that he never thought he would see again, send a jolt through him as if restarting his heart.
He takes a step forward, and all three machine guns are raised.
"Hands up," Kabuto yells.
Sasuke does as instructed and waits for the guns to lower before trying to step forward once again.
Kabuto nudges Sakura forward who shakily begins walking, never diverting her eyes from Sasuke's.
Even though the bridge is no longer than 100 meters, Sasuke feels as if it is miles before he and Sakura meet in the middle. She stumbles slightly causing him to catch her.
The guns are back on them, but he doesn't care because she is in his arms, trembling, but breathing and safe.
She buries her face in his neck, crying his name over and over again as his arms securely wrap around her, anchoring her body to his. He cups her face in his hands and stares into her eyes.
"I saw you get shot," he says, still disbelieving that she is real.
"It was some other girl," her voice is broken and sad as she struggles with the words, tears running down her cheeks. "I-I was being held in a different car."
"I went out of my mind, I thought you were dead," he wipes away her tears with his thumb, "I thought you were dead."
At his repetition of the words, she takes in his full appearance. Dark circles shadow below his eyes, his body is more scrawny as if he hasn't been eating, and his eyes… his eyes look dull and broken, as if all the happiness in the world was gone.
She cuts off the rest of his words by using the last of her strength to crash her lips against his. He responds vigorously, taking all that she gives and more. The sweet taste of her is now tinted with the metallic taste of blood from a split on her lips. Sasuke touches her firm yet delicately, worried to disrupt any of her injuries.
The sound of a gun being fired in the air causes them to break apart, but Sasuke keeps her within his arms, shielding her fragile and malnourished body with his own.
"Time's up," Kabuto says, a machine gun still poised in the air.
Sakura's eyes widen in realization. "What did you trade for me?" she hesitantly asks.
Sasuke looks down at her. "The keys to my car are still in the ignition and my cellphone is on the passenger seat. Get in, call Naruto, and drive right to the station. Don't look back and don't even think of doing something stupid."
Her jaw drops, "Sasuke, you idiot. Why would you trade yourself for me?" her voice is demanding now as fresh tears stream down her face. "You idiot," she mutters again before giving him another deep kiss.
Sasuke regretfully pulls away from her arms, which ensnare him in an unforgiving grip.
"Sakura," he mutters into her hair, "you have to let go."
"Don't leave me," she cries.
It breaks his heart, but Sasuke turns towards Orochimaru's men and walks away. He does not risk looking back, knowing that if he sees her retreating form he will run back after her.
No matter how reluctant she was, he knows that she will continue walking to the car, he knows that she will do just as she said, because above all else, she is still a cop and she knows how these types of trades work.
The moment he reaches the men, the butt of a gun is thrust into his gut, causing him to fall to the ground. He surrenders himself to their beating knowing that it only takes one defiant move and the pull of a trigger to end Sakura's life for real.
He wants to look back at her one last time, but a thick blindfold is tied over his eyes and he is roughly shoved into the back of the van that she previously occupied.
As he feels the vehicle lurch forward, he exhales sharply, not regretting the choice he just made.
A life for a life.
A/N: I watched the movie "Man on Fire" and was instantly inspired. I also think I might make this into a full-length story in the not so near future, so think of this like a preview. :)
