I visit Takeo again after work that night. He's just as friendly as the other day, but he seems so tired today. It doesn't really make sense; he should be getting better, but I never really get the chance to look at him closely enough to determine anything. I shouldn't really be inspecting him anyway; I'm sure his doctors do a fine job of taking care of him. It's the perfectionist in me that won't let it go.
I only stay a little while today, since he's too tired to stay awake anyway. At one point while we were talking he dozed right off in the middle of a sentence. He woke up again moments later, embarrassed and apologizing for having fallen asleep. I tell him it's fine, that I understand, but there's something I don't understand.
When he fell asleep he looked so peaceful, so innocent. I don't understand how someone who has falsely accused a country of treasonous actions, who is trying to start a war, can look so innocent. How can he even talk to me like this if it's true?
I don't understand.
As I'm leaving I meet his partners on their way in to see him. They're talking with is nurse, and as I get near them I can hear her telling them they shouldn't bother him now.
"He's very tired," she tells them, "so please come back later, or just wait outside if you'd rather. It would be best not to wake him now."
The woman frowns and puts her hand to her face, an almost delicate gesture that seems out of place on a ninja. She turns to the man with her, and leans into him to say something quietly. He leans towards her as well, and they confer in quiet tones.
That's when it clicks. I realize where I've seen them before.
They both turn towards me at that moment, in perfect synchronization. I nearly cry out, the effect it produces is so unnerving. Somehow though, I manage to keep my composure and nod to them calmly.
The woman smiles thinly and walks towards me, but the man stays behind her, watching me with an unreadable expression.
"You're Sakura Haruno aren't you?" she asks me.
I nod. "I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting before." I say, holding out my hand.
She shakes my head, but without much force. "No we haven't. My name is Kimura Amaya, and he's Sato Rei." She indicates the man behind her with a tilt of the head. "We're Takeo's teammates. I've seen you visiting him before haven't I?"
"Yes. I came by yesterday to see how he was doing."
"That's very kind of you." she says, "We never really got the chance to thank you for saving us. We would probably have died if you hadn't found us and brought us here so quickly. I know Takeo would never have made it." She looked down t her toes as she spoke about Takeo, and I half expected her to start crying. "You really did save us."
I'm tempted to agree with her, to throw it in her face, and tell her she owes me. Takeo at least is a good actor, if that's what this is about, but I just don't buy what this woman is trying to sell me. "Please, it was your doctor who had to do all the real work." I answer. I would much rather be walking out the door right now, but I put on my best face.
"I really don't know what we would have done without you." she says again. If I didn't know better I would have been so convinced of her sincerity at this moment. An involuntary shudder shakes my body. "Are you ok?" She asks.
"I'm fine." I say, turning so that I can get past her better. "I just had a sudden chill. I'm not used to this heat, you know, it still gets to me."
"You take care of yourself." She tells me. I nod and wave goodbye and then get out of there as quickly as I can without looking suspicious.
Once I'm out of sight I hurry to Seri's office as quickly as I can. I knock on the door and walk in without really waiting for an answer.
Seri looks up at me from her papers, but she hardly looks surprised at my sudden intrusion. She actually just goes back to whatever she was looking at before I barged in after murmuring a quiet 'hello' to me.
I stand by the door a moment to organize my thoughts, deciding the best, most sane way to tell her what I know. I realize as I'm standing there that she's not actually writing anything; she's looking for something.
"Is there something missing?" I ask.
She looks up at me, frowning, and nods. "How did you know?"
"A few days ago, when I was here for my check up," I start, and she makes a small noise, as though she has something to add to that, but I plow right on. "I walked into your office before you got there. You saw me coming out." She nods, and I tell her what I saw there, and what I've finally realized. "Those two in your office, it was Takeo's teammates. I thought they were… well, that doesn't matter now, because they must have been looking for something – for whatever you're missing." I finish, proud of myself for putting the pieces together like I did. If that isn't enough to get them, I don't know what more I'll have to do.
Seri stares at me in silence for a little while. "You're telling me they stole my coffee mug?" she asks.
"Your coffee cup?" I repeat in disbelief. How could that be? I've just made a complete fool of myself, haven't I? I sink into the chair across from Seri's desk, completely deflated. "But I thought…"
"Well, even if they didn't steal my coffee cup, and though I do wonder where it went, it is very interesting that you should have walked in on them in my office. I wonder, what could they have been doing?" She asks, stroking her chin thoughtfully. I would find the action comical, if I wasn't too depressed.
"I guess it was too perfect wasn't it?" I ask quietly, more to myself than Seri.
"Maybe." she says, answering my question anyway. "But maybe not. They could have been searching for something when you came in, and maybe you're the reason they didn't get it. And maybe they did take my mug. It is a very nice mug."
"How can you joke about something like this?" I ask, annoyed with her for making light of the situation, though really I guess I'm feeling more annoyed at myself for making myself look so stupid. That's what really causes me to lash out at her, I think. "This is a serious situation; we could be facing a war, and yet you sit there and crack jokes about your coffee mug!"
She doesn't say anything. She just looks at me levelly for a while, and then she sighs. "The sad part is that you could very well be right. This is a serious situation," she says, and then looks at me, pouting, "but that is no good excuse to yell at me. I don't function well without coffee. It's important to me, even if you don't care about it."
I sigh, and rub my eyes. "I'm sorry Seri. I'm just… I'm frustrated, and I'm tired. And I'm worried too. I don't want any of this to be happening. I keep thinking that it can't be real, the last few months; they can't really have happened. But they have." I nearly start crying as I realize the truth of my words. Everything that's happened; it's real. Everything. "And I wish it wasn't."