Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: SasuSaku
Summary: "So, we have your wife. You get her back for two billion yen. Cash." The caller's confident Sasuke will find a way to get the money. If he loves his wife enough. Sasuke does. He has sixty hours to prove it, and he'll pay a lot more than two billion yen.
Disclaimer: Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto. The Husband © Dean Koontz.
Courage is grace under pressure
– Ernest Hemmingway
Call #3: The Homecoming
One minute, and maybe never again
As usual, Sasuke had begun the day by picking up Naruto at his apartment. Now he had to return him. Naruto had eagerly wanted to talk about the murder and the police, treating the incident like an interesting piece of gossip that had saved him from a boring day of work. Sasuke had to pretend to be as naïvely excited by the novelty of the experience as Naruto was, when in fact his mind remained occupied with thoughts of Sakura and with worry about what might come next.
Sasuke would never forgive himself if something had happened to her.
Fortunately, as usual, Naruto's conversation soon began to loop and turn and tangle like a ball of yarn unravelled by a kitten and he was soon talking about his plans with Aburame Shino to get their hair permed on Friday.
Sasuke repeatedly checked the rear-view and side mirrors. A black Cadillac SUV had constantly been following a few cars behind them for the whole journey. Perhaps the driver had hoped that Sasuke wouldn't notice him.
Sasuke accelerated to cross an intersection before the traffic light phased to red. The black car changed lanes, sped up and made it through with them.
"Have you ever eaten fat-free ramen?" Naruto asked.
"… Is there such a thing?"
"Of course. There's fat-free everything now. But seriously, don't try it. It's nasty." Naruto pulled a face.
They had just arrived at Naruto's apartment. Sasuke stopped by the curb, and the black SUV went past without even slowing down for a second. The side windows were tinted.
Sasuke never expected it to be that easy anyway.
Opening his door, before getting out of the car, Naruto asked, "Yo, Sasuke, you okay?"
"Hn."
"You look like you actually have a few emotions on you right now, ready to come out. You know, a few."
"I just saw a guy shot to death," Sasuke reminded him.
"Yeah! Wasn't that awesome? I guess I know who's gonna rule the bar at Ichiraku's tonight. You should come. Be a lion again, man."
"I'll pass."
Naruto pouted.
"Wind beneath my wings."
"… Just stop talking, you dumbass."
"Whoa, that's harsh," said Naruto, flinging his right hand over his heart, pretending to look hurt.
Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"Go get wasted."
"Why yes, I do intend to get mildly polluted," assured Naruto. "Hey, I met this really hot girl the other night — Ino, I think her name was. She's gonna be at Ichiraku's later on. Bet you I can get her number before the day is over."
"I don't doubt it," Sasuke said drolly.
"Yeah well, see ya later. Tell Sakura-chan I'm still available when she realises you are asexual and was not meant for the fairer sex." With that, Naruto slammed the door and walked away, big and loyal and sweet and clueless.
Alone in his car at last, Sasuke let out a shaky sigh. Before, he had been impatient to be ride of Naruto and to get home. Now his stomach turned when he considered what might wait for him there.
What he most feared was finding blood.
"You know Donald Duck, right?"
Sasuke opened his eyes slightly.
"Hn."
"He doesn't wear any pants, right?"
Unsure of where the conversation was about to head, he grunted his ever-safe answer, "Hn."
"So then, haven't you ever wondered why whenever he steps out of the shower, he has a towel wrapped around his waist? I mean, isn't that just redundant?"
Sasuke did a double take.
"… Sakura, stop analysing children's cartoons."
Sakura giggled and then paused. After a while, she turned back to him and asked, "Hey, Sasuke-kun, when's your brother coming back?"
Sasuke glanced at her.
"He's out with some girl. If you're waiting for him, you might as well go back to your house, get some sleep and come back in the early morning."
Sakura winced.
"Ouch, Sasuke. That hurt. What makes you think I only came around here to see your oh-so-good-looking brother? Why can't I visit my good friend Sasuke-kun, whom I've known since elementary school?"
"… Just shut up and go back to watching Disney."
"Aye aye, Sasuke-kun."
The Cadillac SUV did not reappear, nor did any other vehicle take up pursuit. Sasuke thought he might have imagined the tail.
Their house was in an older, well-respected neighbourhood. The bungalow — pale-yellow clapboard, white trim, a cedar-shingle roof — stood behind a picket fence on which roses twined. Some larger and some nicer houses occupied the block, but none boasted better landscaping.
Sasuke opened a side gate in the picket fence and crossed the lawn to the front steps.
The porch was deep and cool. White wicker chairs with green cushions stood beside small wicker tables with glass tops.
On Sunday afternoons, he and Sakura often sat here, her chattering aimlessly, he reading the newspaper, both watching hummingbirds flit from one crimson bloom to another in the trumpet vines that flourished on the porch posts.
Sometimes, they unfolded a card table between the wicker chairs. She crushed him at Scrabble. He dominated the trivia games.
They didn't spend much on entertainment. No skiing vacations, no weekends in Rome. They seldom went out to a movie. Being together on their front porch offered as much pleasure as being together in Paris.
They were saving money for things that mattered in life. They saved to allow her to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor. They saved to enable him to do some advertising, get another garage somewhere and expand the business.
They were going to have children too. Maybe two, but three was ideal. Sometimes, even four didn't seem like too many. They didn't want the world nor did they want to change it. They just wanted their little corner of the world, and the chance to fill it with family, love and laughter.
After he had stepped inside the house, he closed the door and locked it behind him. The hallway was dark, but he could still see that everything was in place. There were no signs of a struggle.
The silence was deafening. If Sakura had been home, there would have been music.
Sasuke looked through a door on his left into the living room. Nothing was out of place there as well.
He continued to make his way to the dining room, straight ahead of him. Everything was neat and tidy there, so he made his way to door that connected the dining room and the kitchen that stood ajar. Someone had left the lights on.
Here, he found signs of a struggle. One of the barstools that stood under their breakfast-bar was overturned. Broken dishes littered the floor.
The cabinets were painted glossy white. Blood spattered a door and two drawer fronts.
For a moment, Sasuke closed his eyes and stopped breathing.
One their white refrigerator, a small bloody handprint that Sasuke knew could only belong to Sakura cried havoc as loud as any voice could have screamed. Blood spotted the terra-cotta tiles on the floor. It looked like an ocean.
The scene so terrified Sasuke that he wished he could let out the appropriate emotions to express his fear. But he wasn't raised like that, so he couldn't. He wanted to close his eyes, but he had the crazy idea that if he closed his eyes twice to this grim reality, he would go blind forever.
The phone rang.
"Hn."
"It's me, Sasuke-kun. They're listening."
"Sakura. What have they done to you?"
"I'm all right," she said, but she didn't sound it.
"I'm in the kitchen," he said.
"I know."
"The blood—"
"Don't think about that now, Sasuke-kun," she cut in. "They said we only have one minute to talk, just one minute."
Sasuke understood the implication behind her words: One minute, and maybe never again.
He collapsed into the nearest chair. "Sakura, I'm so damn sorry."
"It's not your fault, Sasuke-kun."
"Who are these people, are they crazy or something?"
"They're vicious creeps, but they're not insane. They're very professional. But, Sasuke-kun, I want you to make me a promise. If anything happens to me—"
"Nothing's going to happen to you."
"If anything happens to me," she insisted, "promise me that you'll keep it together."
"I'm not going to let anything happen to you."
"You'll keep it together Sasuke-kun, and move on with your life."
"You are my life." He was starting to sound desperate now, something he had never done before.
"Keep it together, Sasuke-kun, or I'm going to be way pissed at you."
"I'm going to get you back."
"If you don't keep it together, Uchiha," Sakura warned, "I'll haunt your ass. It'll be like that Poltergeist movie, cubed."
"Sakura."
"I love you, Sasuke-kun. And I'm only sorry we didn't get married sooner."
"Sakura."
"We should have married each other when we were twelve."
"Sakura."
She didn't reply.
"Sakura?"
The silence electrified him.
"Sakura? Sakura, do you hear me?"
"I hear you, Sasuke-kun," said the kidnapper he had spoken to previously in a mocking voice.
"You sonofabitch."
A/N:
Added SasuSaku interaction especially for fisah, who I was afraid might get an aneurysm from the lack of it XD
AND SO THE PLOT THICKENS.
I… couldn't NOT add Shino in this chapter. Although I almost pissed myself laughing imagining him with perm-ed hair. Oh, that Naruto.
… Yes, I know my sense of humour just… doesn't exist.
Um. Review please? They make meh happeh :D
Lessthanthree.
PS: I USED THE WORD REDUNDANT SOMEWHERE THERE! HO YEAH. I just hope I've used it in the right context.
