Capitulum V – My grim reaper has finally come for me.
Undoing her seatbelt, she stepped out of the cab and paid the driver, before turning and looking at the Tokyo airport. The song on the radio of the cab could still be heard, as it drove past her. I'm like a bird, I always fly away, I don't know where my home is… Grimacing at the irony of the situation she found herself in, she thought, Oh Nelly Furtado, you have no idea.
Clutching the suitcase that was chained to her left wrist with a pair of handcuffs, she made her way through the buzzing crowd towards the lounge reserved for First Class passengers. As soon as she entered the room and heard the door close behind her, the lights went out.
"Sakura."
Oh fuck. The dark voice stopped her dead in her tracks. This can't be happening. She could hear her breath quivering. She could feel her muscles tensing. Her heart pumping. "You've been quite a nuisance."
He switched on the light of the lamp right next to him. She didn't need to turn her head to see who was sitting in the leather chair, facing her. Oh God, please just let him be on the other end of the room, she prayed silently. She closed her eyes and tried to even her breath, when she heard his cold voice again.
"Look at me."
Sakura sighed in defeat and turned to face her ex-husband.
As he sat there in the dark, dressed all in black, with his left hand holding a glass of Scotch and his right one resting on an all too familiar baseball bat, he looked into her eyes with sheer revulsion. My grim reaper has finally come for me.
One look from his cold eyes and he sucked away all of the confidence she usually prided herself with. With the little courage she had left, she managed to say only his name, "Sasuke."
He tore his gaze from her and instead looked at the baseball bat he was swirling in his right hand. "I thought I made myself perfectly clear the last time we saw one another. You were to never set foot on my territory again, or else I would break each and every one of your bones and feed you to Kakashi's dogs. Yet here you are, in my territory, alive and well. And with a suitcase that, by the way, belongs to me." He threw her a menacing look while taking a sip from his drink. She didn't dare speak. She knew he was not yet done. Sakura had witnessed him lecturing people on their mistakes prior to killing them when they had still been married, she knew his tirade of accusations was far from over.
He put the glass down on the table to his left and leaned back in the brown leather chair. "But it seemed everything has worked in your favour once again. You get to leave the country with every hair on your pretty little guileful head untouched. And to Bolivia, of all places. I hope you packed a swimsuit." The last sentence was practically oozing sarcasm. Clenching the handle of the suitcase, she answered, "We both know I'm not going to Bolivia. He will kill me as soon as my jet makes one of those conveniently timed unscheduled stops."
A deep chuckle could be heard from the other side of the lounge. "Ah yes, your mysterious contractor. I must admit, that part of your fairytale made me laugh."
I knew it, Sakura thought, he doesn't believe me. With a smirk he leaned his head back and looked at the ceiling. "Madara Uchiha. Now that's a name I haven't heard in quite a while." After a short pause his eyes fell on Sakura again, but the smirk has disappeared. "Do you know why I haven't heard my great-grandfather's name in quite a while, Sakura?" He grabbed the glass to his left and propped himself up on the baseball bat.
"Because he's dead."
As he took another sip from the Scotch, she realised he was approaching her through the dark. Panic hit her, and she tried to back away. When she felt the cold wall touch her back, she knew there was no running away.
"Sasuke, I know you want me dead, but this is neither the time, nor the place for it. You can shoot me from afar, but do not come any closer to me." – "Why, Sakura? Are you afraid you will blow us both to bits?" She watched him swing the baseball bat in his hand as he looked at her with an arched eyebrow. "He told you about the bomb." – "He didn't have to, I was listening to your entire conversation. I must say, you're as good an actress as ever. But the show ends now."
Sakura's heart was beating so fast she was sure Sasuke must have heard it. She had difficulties concentrating on his words and calculating the distance between them at the same time. All she could think about was there were only 3, maybe 4 steps left before the entire lounge would go up in flames. "Sasuke, please…" She closed her eyes and could hear a quivering breath escape her lips. Any moment now, she thought. She twisted her arm to check for any lights, but before she could look down she felt the baseball bat pressed against her throat. She looked at the wooden racket in front of her and followed its shape until her eyes met Sasuke's.
She lost herself in his deep gaze for a second. It felt like time stood still and it was just the two of them, for a fleeting moment. His eyes were so cold. So distant. So emotionless. Almost as if they had lost their light. And Sakura was the one who had taken it away. It doesn't matter anymore, she thought regretfully as she watched him move closer ever so slowly, it will all be over any second now.
That's when it hit her. She didn't hear any beeping sound. She couldn't feel any heat emitting from her arm. Her eyes widened as she looked into Sasuke's aloof expression. "Surprised to still see me in one piece?" Sakura stared at him for a moment, shocked and happy at the same time.
"Turns out your story wasn't entirely made up. I had my foot x-rayed just to prove Juugo you were lying, because he actually seemed to believe you. Imagine my surprise when they found the very same tracking chip you were talking about."
"Does that mean you believe me?" Sakura's words seemed to anger him. His expression turned even darker and she could feel the pressure on her throat rise. Her hands circled the bat in front of her, trying to push it away a bit. "Is this… how you will kill me, then? Suffocate me… with your wedding anniversary gift?", she panted. Sakura could see a faint grin spreading across his lips. "Oh, I will not be the one to kill you, Sakura." She gasped for air as soon as Sasuke removed the bat from her throat. He took another sip from his drink and placed the racket on the table to his right. "So you do believe me." – "Just because one tiny detail of your story proved to be true, doesn't mean I'm buying this whole Madara bullshit, so don't even bother trying to persuade me. Your annoying little games are not worth my time, I actually came here for the suitcase you stole from me." He looked at her with an ice-cold expression.
I was so good at reading him once, Sakura mused, but he's so guarded now. There's nothing giving him away.
She raised her left hand and put down the suitcase on the table with the baseball bat. Unlocking the handcuffs and the suitcase, she felt herself growing nervous again. This was the only thing that might have convinced Madara to let her go despite her failed mission. But Sasuke was apparently going to spare her life now, and in exchange for that, handing over the suitcase was the least she could do. Let's just see this as a tiny redemption for everything I did to him, Sakura thought to herself. After all, the chances of Madara actually leaving her be, even with the contents of this suitcase in his possession, were slim to none to begin with.
As she lifted the lid, she could suddenly feel Sasuke move behind her. He looked over her right shoulder onto the flash drive in the suitcase. "So this was going to be your way out, huh?" A shiver ran down Sakura's spine when she felt the breath of his voice so close to her ear. She closed her eyes in hopes of enjoying this fleeting moment of intimacy between them. His hand suddenly found its way to her waist, lingering there for a second before rudely shoving her out of the way. Sasuke downed the last sip of his Scotch, left the glass on the table and took the flash drive. Grabbing his baseball bat, he turned around and was heading for the exit. Just as his hand was about to reach the handle of the door, he heard her voice behind him.
"Is that it? This is how you will leave me, no goodbyes, no nothing? That's no way to treat your ex-wife now, is it?"
She hoped the little note of sarcasm would make her seem a little less self-conscious than she really was. Sakura saw his head turn in the dimly lit lounge.
"Whoever you're working for, you must be scared shitless of him. You're more afraid of what he will do to you than of what I would, and that's saying something. Especially now that you no longer have any leverage. So I'll allow you to leave Tokyo unharmed today, because I'm sure, whatever he's got in store for you will be much more satisfying than anything I could ever come up with."
He broke his eye contact with her and turned towards the door to open it. As Sasuke was about to leave her, Sakura could hear his last words.
"And I'm sure I'll revel in watching you suffer from a distance."
The doors closed. Everything went silent. Sakura felt a single tear roll down her cheek.
Her end has come.
