02 | Closer
"I think we'll need more blood! Move faster!"
Tension was always present in Konoha Medical Center. It was never a surprise to a surgeon who seemed to practically live in the Operating Room (OR), but adrenaline rush was always involve upon arrival of patients with critical condition. At least that's what Keiko Masaharu has to live for everyday. Being a surgeon was a noble yet risky profession. There were tough decisions to make and saving lives has never been as easy as breathing.
"Please get out of the way!" Keiko shouted on the people passing by the hospital's foyer as they made their way to the OR with the critical patient.
It's been three weeks since she started working in Konoha Medical Center and she felt more motivated to devote herself in her profession.
"The operation went well. But we have to wait for the patient to gain consciousness." She told the patient's relatives on the waiting area.
"Thank you, Doctor."
She smiled and went to her office to get some rest. The operation lasted for two hours and it was her third operation since morning. She didn't even noticed that it was already seven in the evening. There was a knock on the door while she watched one of Sasori's surgeries on her laptop.
"Come in." she said, her eyes were still focused on the laptop screen.
The door opened and a blond lad in long white coat stood before her office table.
"Dr. Keiko." He greeted.
She glanced at him briefly and shifted her gaze back on the screen. "Hey, Dr. Deidara."
He pulled a seat across her table. "Have you seen Dr. Sasori around?"
"No." replied Keiko, "He must have gone home by now."
She decided to shut her laptop and hanged her white coat on the rack beside the window.
"How about dinner? Hm." Said Deidara out of the blue.
Her silver orbs darted his, as if she's going to tear his soul apart by just looking at her piercing eyes. Deidara swallowed the lump that was suddenly formed in his throat. She was frightening. But before he could say anything, someone knocked on the door and there came Sasori with a scowling face.
"Sasori! Sir!" said Deidara, quite surprised.
"Why are you ignoring my calls?" asked Sasori, his eyebrows were starting to twitch.
Deidara checked his phone and saw nine missed calls from his senior. He gave him a rueful smile. "My phone is in silent mode."
"Your patient in the ICU must be dying now. Pitiful human." said Sasori.
"Darn it." exclaimed Deidara and rushed outside the office.
Sasori and Keiko looked at each other and exchanged faint smiles.
"Are you going home?" he asked casually.
She nodded.
Sasori made eye contact with her and stared for a moment. Keiko gave him a puzzled look, tilting her head, as she waited for him to say something.
"I'll see you tomorrow, then." He finally said impassively and left.
She was left staring at the door with twitched eyebrows. "Okay." she mumbled and grabbed her handbag.
Sasori was muttering a muffled swear when he entered the elevator. But before the elevator closed, there came another flashback of memory in his head. He was wearing a black cloak with red clouds printed on it. He saw an old woman and a girl. They were on a dim cave and there seemed to be a fight between him and the two women. There were human-figure puppets with weapons attached to its bodies, invisible strings were connected to it.
"Granny Chiyo." He mumbled absentmindedly.
"Dr. Akasuna?"
He was pulled back from his perplexed thoughts when he heard a female voice. His sight scanned his surrounding and figured out that he's still in the elevator; Keiko was standing beside him, deciphering him with utmost curiosity. He looked at her, lost in thought.
"Are you alright?" asked Keiko with concern.
It took him several seconds before he nodded.
The elevator opened and they both walked out of it. There was complete silence between them as they paved their way to the parking area. Sasori was in deep thought about the old woman that he just saw in that sudden flashback. While Keiko couldn't help but think about the name that Sasori mumbled when they were in the elevator.
Granny Chiyo, is it? She mumbled while walking towards his car.
Sasori was about to open his car when he suddenly heard a loud curse. Turning to look at the direction where the curse came from, he saw a white car with vandals and broken windshield.
"You gotta be kidding me!" Keiko exclaimed both in rage and surprise. She was staring in horror before her car.
"How lame." He whispered, standing beside her with crossed arms over his chest.
She pasted her gaze at him. "Did this happen before in this parking area?"
He shrugged.
"Whoever did this will surely pay." she said, her voice was full of hatred to the world.
"You'll never understand antisocial people's antics."
She snorted. "I need to report this to the police station."
"I'll drive you there, come on." He said and started walking towards his red luxury car.
She mentally complimented Sasori's car the moment it responded when he pressed the button on the carkey he's holding.
Sasori was about to start the engine when he suddenly paused and looked at the backseat with a sullen vibe on his eyes.
"What?" Keiko asked innocently.
He let out a good natured sigh. "You don't want me to look like your driver, do you?"
"Oh. Right." She said and smiled. "Sorry." And she went to the passenger seat.
They were silent during the ride but Keiko kept on shooting glances at Sasori.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I'm just wondering if you live alone."
He shot her a brief glance. "Living with someone is troublesome."
She tilted her head slightly. Curiosity kicked in. "Isn't living alone more troublesome? Like it would be easier if you have someone to cook for you or do the laundry or clean the house-"
"I can take care of myself." he said bluntly, thinking that she was about to refer someone for housekeeping job.
"No, that's not what I meant." her eyes were a bit wide, quite surprised that he cut her off in mid-sentence, and realised that he was getting the wrong idea.
He let out a sigh of resignation. "How about you?"
"What about me?" she asked to confirm what he was actually asking about.
"Are you living alone?"
She shook her head. "I live with my grandma back in Suna, but we're not really blood-related."
He remained silent. After a moment of silence, she sighed.
"It's a long story." She said and leaned her back on the seat. "Let's just say, I'm adopted."
The car halted due to the heavy traffic. Lights flickered on the long road of Konoha's capital. Suddenly, there was lightning flashed on the dark sky. Sasori remained silent as he contemplated with her revelation about her being adopted.
"Looks like it will rain soon. Aah..." Keiko mumbled. I don't have an umbrella.
Sasori tried to ignore her mumbling and stared blankly on the dark sky ahead of them when he was suddenly reminded of his conversation with Keiko three weeks ago.
"So what brought you here in Konoha Medical Center?" he asked while pouring tea on her teacup.
"It's something personal."
He snatched a brief glance on her and found out that she was staring at him absentmindedly.
"Keiko." He said.
She wasn't responding.
"Keiko." He repeated, this time, louder.
Still the same. She wasn't even moving an inch while spacing out.
He shook his head and pressed the horn to startle her. She went back to her senses and was extremely surprised.
Oh. What have I… she gazed back at him with a harried look on her face. This is embarrassing!
"Are you hungry?" he asked in order to re-live the dead air hovering around them.
"Uh, I'm fine." She answered awkwardly.
"We should eat dinner after reporting to the police station."
She chose to be silent this time. It was strange but she was feeling like butterflies were inside her stomach.
The traffic flow was loosening and the car in front of them started moving. It didn't took them long to reach the police station.
"We'll investigate on it as soon as possible." The police officer in-charged told Keiko.
She nodded. "I urgently need to know who did that to my car." She stood up and hit the police officer's table with her hand hardly it caught the attention of everyone in the office. "Whoever did this will surely pay."
Sasori pulled her arm and forced her to sit back down. "Itachi, I'm counting on you."
The police officer nodded. "We'll take immediate action to it."
Keiko was frowning when they left the police station. She invested all her income to buy that car, much to her grandmother's disapproval.
"I…" she started when Sasori was about to hop in his car, "will take the taxi."
He halted and looked at her. "How lame."
She gave him a rueful smile. "I've been causing you so much trouble, Sir. And to be honest, I don't like being indebted to anyone."
"Women's logic really sucks." He said and opened the driver's door. Now I understand why Hidan never stick to one woman.
He maneuvered his car and stopped when the passenger's door was in front of Keiko.
"Hop in. It's still raining."
She hesitated. "But I…"
Sasori rolled his eyes. "I won't insist."
But before he rolled the window up, she stopped him. "Wait!"
He shot her a bored gaze and arched an eyebrow. She gave him a sweet yet meaningful smile and hopped in. They were both quiet on their way to nowhere as Sasori absentmindedly drove on the wrong lane.
"Sir?" asked Keiko, her eyes were darting the road, but Sasori didn't respond which made her twitched her eyebrows. "You're on the wrong lane."
He seemed not to hear anything, his gaze was nailed on the road ahead until they almost hit with another car.
"Shit!" exclaimed Sasori when he realized that Keiko was tightly holding his hands and taking control of the steering wheel.
When she noticed that he went back to his senses, she immediately drew back and cleared her throat. "Modesty aside, you're out of your mind." She scowled.
His words were trapped in his mind he couldn't find the right words to say. "Tch."
"I'll prepare dinner tonight." She said, brushing the incident out of her mind, "You can spend your dinner in my house, if you don't mind."
He casted her a brief glance before nodding.
Her apartment was located in the outskirt of the capital. Sasori was wondering why it has to be that far from her workplace until he realised that the area was near the rural settlers, pretty much like that of Suna's which reminded him of his old place.
"It's clean. I don't always go home since I started in the hospital." Said Keiko as they entered the living room.
Sasori sat on the couch, his silver orbs were scanning the warm and decent living room until his sight halted on an antique picture frame. He went to look at it closely.
"Granny Chiyo?" he mumbled, quite confused.
He was about to ask Keiko about the old woman in the picture when his phone suddenly vibrated from his pocket.
"What do you want?" he asked Hidan who was walking on the streets of the capital.
«I want a fucking comfortable space instead of wondering in the streets for three weeks now.» said Hidan. Tobi's voice could be heard in the background agreeing on Hidan's statement.
"Then get a life, idiots."
«Damn, readhead. Won't you give us a hand?»
"No." replied Sasori and hanged up.
"What do you want me to cook, Dr. Sasori?" asked Keiko from the kitchen counter.
"I don't have food preference." He replied but his interest was nailed on the old woman posed with a child Keiko on the photo.
"Okay. Got it." She answered and started to get busy preparing their dinner.
He proceeded to scan the other frames and was surprised to see a picture of red hair and green eyes beside a doctor Keiko, prompting him to mentally ask himself.
Gaara?
to be continued…