Capitulum XII – A man so brilliant, yet so blind when it comes to women.
"Interest rates, account data, transactions… My God, Sakura, you have his entire financial footprint. How the hell did you get this?" An astonished Karin looked at all the papers Sakura had shown her. "Never mind that, what's really important about this-" – "Don't you never mind me. How did you get this?" Karin put down the files on the table next to her, resting her index finger on them and eyeing her opposite with a scrutinising gaze.
Sakura ran her fingers through her hair. With something akin to an apologetic smile, she answered, "I may or may not have hacked into his bank's website." She could hear the redhead in front of her snort. "Oh come on, Karin, we're both working for Uchiha Sasuke. He's the biggest criminal mastermind in all of Japan, so don't act like hacking is the worst thing we're doing here." – "Sakura, you have to be careful. Sasuke wouldn't mind if you hacked into the bank account of Japan's Health Secretary. But this man… He's a whole different story. If what you claim is true, we must be cautious as to how we deal with him."
Sakura let out a sigh and leaned against the desk. She watched Karin approach her and come to a halt directly next to herself, inspecting the files on the desk. "Regardless, what you found out is remarkable. It does look like your theory might be correct." Karin raised her head to look at the pink haired woman. A smile graced her lips when she spoke. "You really are a fascinating woman."
Sakura felt her cheeks heat up at that compliment. With an awkward grin, she replied, "Likewise. You know, I never got to ask about you Naruto. I thought he didn't have any relatives left." She watched Karin's smile spread as the woman turned to fully face Sakura now.
"Neither did I. You know Sasuke always does background checks on everyone. He did the same with me after we met and it turned out I'm Naruto's cousin from his mother's side of the family. We were both overjoyed, because we grew up thinking we were alone and that we had no family. But I do have a family now." Sakura could feel her heart warm up at hearing Karin's words. She knew what it meant to be lonely, and she was glad the two Uzumakis found each other.
Karin's eyes fell on hers again. With a soft voice she asked, "So, we know you're a hacker now. Is there anything you can't do?" Sakura couldn't help but chuckle at that question. "Cooking, honestly. I suck at it."
"That's true."
Both women turned their heads when a deep voice interrupted their chatter. Sasuke was leaning against the doorframe with an aloof expression.
Karin retreated a few steps, cleared her throat and adjusted her glasses. Sakura watched her straighten herself and put on a standoffish façade of her own. She's so different around Sasuke, she pondered, almost as if she was trying to impress him with her ability of being cold and distant. "I'll let you two talk." As Karin strut out of the room, Sakura's eyes fell on Sasuke.
"You found something." It wasn't a question. It was not even a statement. Sakura knew it was more of a silent command to show him the results of her research.
She walked around the desk and spread out the files she had printed out so that they were all neatly arranged. After Sasuke stepped into the room and came to a halt in front of the desk, she started explaining.
"I looked at the mysterious murders that plagued Tokyo the last few weeks. I thought it was nothing at first, but there was this symbol I kept seeing at each crime scene. I couldn't, for the life of me figure out what it was, but I knew I had seen it somewhere in the past, when it suddenly hit me. It's the symbol of Root. I checked the dates of the murders and compared them with money transfers that went to this account. They matched. So on the same day of each of these murders, the same amount of money was transferred to this bank account. And guess what the victims all had in common: They were trying to shut down all the business we know Madara has already established here in Tokyo."
Sakura expectantly looked at her ex-husband. His gaze was still fixated on the documents on the desk. He picked up the sheet displaying the information of their target's bank account.
"Danzo Shimura. Doesn't surprise me." Looks like she might be right, Sasuke thought to himself, but Root hasn't been active in years, why would he come out of the shadows now? Sasuke put down the sheet and turned to exit the room, when he heard Sakura's angry voice behind him.
"Hey, I worked my ass of the last few days to give you this information and you're not even going to acknowledge it?!" Sasuke turned around and looked at her with an arched brow and the same haughty expression he had before. "For crying out loud, you have to appreciate the effort of your people every now and then. I mean look at your poor personal assistant. All Karin seems to be doing is reading every wish from your lips, and you barely seem aware of her presence. I mean have you ever tried to get to know her, or just talk to her?"
Sasuke crossed his arms in front of his chest and deadpanned. "I don't talk to Karin. I just order her to do things."
"See that's the problem.", Sakura sighed as she shook her head. A man so brilliant, yet so blind when it comes to women. She rested her hands on her hips and looked at him accusingly. "Do you know why she always acts so cold and distant when you're around? She's trying to imitate you, because she wants to impress you, because she likes you." Sakura waited for the look of realisation to hit Sasuke's face. But nothing came. Instead, a grin.
Oh that's cute, she actually thinks Karin is in love with me, Sasuke mused. He had to suppress a chuckle, thinking of the irony of this situation.
"You got that wrong, Sakura. Karin doesn't like me. I think I would have noticed that." He watched her expression turn sour. Sasuke remembered what fun it was to tease her, when she was so sure she was right and was desperately trying to prove a point, when he knew there was nothing to prove.
"Ugh, Sasuke, I swear to God, you have no clue when it comes to romance. Honestly, I'm surprised you even managed to pull off marrying me, now that I've come realise the true extent of your incompetence concerning women. I'm telling you, she's into you."
Time to pop her bubble, Sasuke thought, grinning to himself.
"Sakura, you don't get it. Karin is not in love with me. Because Karin doesn't like me." Stressing that one important word, he prayed Sakura would get the hint. As he watched her eyes widen and her mouth open, Sasuke couldn't help but allow his smirk to spread ever so subtly. "Oh." Sasuke could see a blush spread across her cheeks as she turned her gaze from his eyes to the papers on the desk.
"Yes, oh. Now that we've clarified my personal assistant's sexual orientation, would the love guru mind following me to my office?"
He turned around and went ahead, hearing Sakura's footsteps behind him a few seconds later. After entering his office, Sasuke walked over to his desk and waited for Sakura to close the doors, before he raised his voice.
"It just so happens that I received intel on Danzo as well. I was informed he would be at an auction in Sapporo this weekend and we're going to kill him there." He grabbed his phone and strut over to the couch Sakura was sitting on. As he sat down, Sasuke put the phone on the desk between them and looked at Sakura.
"You're going to call Gaara now. He still hates me, I still hate him – it's a mutual thing, so he would never do me a favour. But we're going to need his help with this one, since Sapporo is his territory, and I remember he was fond of you so you'll talk to him." Sasuke expectantly looked at the suspicious face of his ex-wife. With an arched eyebrow she asked, "'You remember he was fond of me?' Are we going to have that conversation again? Because I've told you over and over again, nothing happened between Gaara and me. We were simply being nice to each other, which you clearly couldn't handle."
The light hearted mood from earlier had suddenly disappeared. Sasuke felt himself grow angry thinking back to that time. He had always been jealous and possessive, but Gaara was the only man during his marriage to Sakura who managed to make Sasuke feel actually worried. He was sure Sakura would never leave him for another man, but if, hypothetically, she would, Gaara would be the one to take her away from him. Sasuke clenched his fists and with a deep growl, added, "Just call him. And put him on speakerphone." Sakura pressed the button and leaned forward, waiting for Gaara to pick up, when she heard a familiar voice on the other end.
"Sasuke, what an unpleasant surprise. Whatever it is, I'm not buying."
"What if I told I'm the one who's selling?", Sakura threw in with a cocky grin on her face, while looking out onto the terrace in front of Sasuke's office. She could hear a deep chuckle from the other end, before he answered.
"Sakura. I heard about your return. Must be one hell of a favour Sasuke needs, if he has you call me." – "Oh, you know the usual. Just a little assassination we need your help with."
She was enjoying this, Sasuke realised. She knows I hate his guts and she's rubbing it in my face, that beast. Sasuke observed his ex-wife's expression while she was talking to the man on the other end of the phone call. She was smiling and laughing, almost as if talking to an old friend. Oh, how he wanted to reach into his phone and punch Gaara on the other side.
"Anything for you, little one." There it was, that stupid pet name he used to call her with. Sasuke had to force himself to keep silent. Gaara knew he was listening; he was flirting with her on purpose. But Sasuke would not give him the satisfaction of snapping on the phone.
"There's an auction in Sapporo this weekend the target will attend and we're going to be there as well. But since it's your city and you know your way around it better than anyone, we would like to ask you for your help." – "Of course. Have your husband send me all the details and I will pick you up at the airport. Oh, I forgot, ex-husband, sorry." Sasuke was fuming. Gaara said that on purpose to provoke him, he was sure of it. He actually couldn't wait to see him again, just to punch his face into a million pieces.
Sakura's soft voice tore him from his violent thoughts and he looked into her green eyes. "Alright, it's settled then. See you soon, Gaara." – "Can't wait for it, Sakura." She pressed another button to disconnect the line and leaned back. Her eyes met his.
Silence befell them for a moment, as Sasuke came to realise her deep pools of green still had the ability to calm his nerves.
He tore his gaze from her, grabbed his phone and stood up to head back to his desk. "What now?", he heard her voice behind him. Sasuke took a seat, and stared daggers at his computer screen. "Now you can see yourself out.", he answered coldheartedly. After he saw her leave and shut the doors, he closed his eyes and let out a groan.
"Great, now I can watch that bastard sweet-talking my wife all over again."
Sasuke's eyes went wide suddenly when he realised what he just said.
My wife.
He hadn't said that phrase in three years. Hadn't thought about it in three years. After the divorce, she had always been his ex, the beast, the liar. It felt strange allowing those two words to leave his mouth. But then again, everything was strange ever since she came back into his life.
She wasn't his wife, he had to remind himself. She wasn't the kindhearted woman he fell in love with. Whenever Sasuke was close to feeling something for Sakura, he had to conjure up memories of her betrayal, of how he felt the moment he realised she had lied to him all along.
But lately, not even those horrible images could help him hide the fact that the thought of her, the sight of her, hell, even the smell of her, left him… wanting.
Sakura was making him feel again, slowly but surely.
Post Scriptum: Last update for a week, maybe even two, because I'm going on holiday. Can't wait to come back and continue writing, though. I just wanted to thank you guys for all the great feedback I've received so far. As cheesy as it sounds, but you're my motivation to keep going (so you better keep those positive reviews coming muahaha). Sooo, enjoy your summer, or lack thereof, depending on where you live. :)
