Chapter 16
Uchiha Sasuke
"You stinking assholes! Are you listening?! I said LET ME OUT!"
Sakura winced for the nth time, her eardrums pulsating. Because her hands were tied from behind, she couldn't cover her ears against the onslaught of screams from Karin. Even if she could, there was no escaping that mind-numbing noise contained in the room.
Seriously, are most Uzumakis this loud? "Just leave it, Karin. It's no use. They won't listen to you anyway."
Karin whipped her head to Sakura's direction, eyes red from continuous crying and face smeared with washed down mascara. "What do you suggest we do? Just sit here and wait for some miracle to happen? No way." Then she turned back to the door. "HEEEY! YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS!"
Sakura wrinkled her nose and gritted her teeth. "Stop it! You'll just piss them off."
Aside from being gagged inside the van, they had also been blindfolded while the kidnappers snatched their cellphones. When the two of them were dumped into this room, the blindfolds were taken off. The white-haired man, who they called Kabuto, elaborated there was no other means of escape; and that no one else could hear them if they tried to shout, so their gags were removed to prove his point. But if Karin wouldn't shut up this instant, the kidnappers might just reconsider putting them back.
The said Uzumaki glared at her. "You stop it! Don't you want to get away? If you're such a know-it-all, then tell me how we can get out of here!"
Sakura stared at the far door, before shifting her focus back on the redhead. "We can't."
Karin threw her a disgusted look and snorted. "Didn't expect you to give up so easily."
But Sakura was telling the truth. They could never outsmart those kinds of people. She had learned it before, even saw it with her own eyes: Kidnappers were the masters of deception. They could say they'd go right and then sprint to the left. They could scowl in your face and then smile at your back. They could let you think you'd live for one second, and then kill you with a bullet at the next. They could.
They had…
Karin faced the door and resumed screaming, while Sakura eyed the surroundings. Four unpainted walls enclosed the room they were dragged into. The space was more or less the size of a typical classroom. It was dim, since there weren't any windows around. The only source of light was a bulb suspended at the center of the room, while a maze of air ducts at the high ceiling provided the ventilation.
Piles of used lumber and scattered pieces of plywood occupied almost half the room. At the other half, she and Karin both sat on the dusty unfinished ground, each had her wrists bound at the back and her ankles tied together. They stayed at one corner, where she leaned against a wall in right angle with the one behind Karin.
Sakura bowed her head to her knees and sighed. Even if they found another way out, the kidnappers could easily capture them again. She didn't know just how many those men were, and she had no clue if they were still in Konoha or not. So unfortunately, all they could do was wait for a rescue. Again.
She had told herself that she could now manage a fight against them. Almost half her life, she had been training to avoid this event from reoccurring. But the actual scenario was devastating. They were just too many… and too strong.
The series of screams from the other teen drowned the room, until the door burst open, freezing Karin at mid-inhale and blurring the surroundings for Sakura. A bearded man barged in, stomped over to them and loomed before the redhead.
"Shut your mouth or I'll make you!" He barked, flapping the hem of his open jacket and revealing a pistol at the side of his waist.
Sakura swallowed the sudden shock, along with the memories associated with that gun. She had overcome this before. And she didn't plan to go back.
Karin managed to raise her chin and glare at the man, her trembling form giving away her own fear. "You can't hurt me! You want my dad's money too, right? Well, you can't have it without me!"
The man smirked in both amusement and irritation. "Oh, I can hurt you if the situation calls for it. I just can't fucking kill you… yet."
Karin shivered. "W-we… We'll double the money! Just let us out! Our parents will pay as much money as you want. If you just send us home right now, we'll talk it out with them personally and –"
The man roared a deep laughter, interrupting Karin's speech. "Tsk. You think we'll take that shit? We're not as gullible as you are kid." He laughed again, the gravely sound louder that the former. "Paparazzi. You're killing me. Never thought you'd buy Kabuto's disguise, but hands down to 'yah, 'cause we caught the Haruno anyway… better than that guy's plan."
Karin's face contorted into a scowl, any trace of fear dissipated. "You good-for-nothing liars! YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!"
The kidnapper sneered at the ear-splitting shriek, mirroring Sakura's reaction.
"Shut the fuck up!" He stepped forward, eyebrows furrowed above narrowed eyes.
"FOLLOW THAT FOUR EYES AND GO TO HEEELL!"
Pure rage radiated from the man, drifting over to Sakura and sending her pulse in full volume. The rigid jaw and the tight veins around his neck told her the kidnapper was beyond pissed.
"Tsk. You asked for it." He muttered, before lifting his right arm across his shoulders and swinging it full-force towards Karin, whose eyebrows flew up and mouth hung open.
Maybe she used her knuckles for leverage, or she sprang forward on her toes from her sitting position, or she leaped in the air using her upper body strength; because Sakura managed to move Karin sideways, Sakura was able to push Karin out of the man's reach, and Sakura felt the man's backhand attack on the right side of her face.
Numbness spread out from her cheek to her entire head, while a long high-pitched beep sounded in her ears. When the beep faded, Sakura opened her eyes to a pair of snakeskin cowboy boots. She looked up, and there was the bearded man, starring at her with widened eyes.
He shook his head. "Unbelievable. You just saved the very person who set you up."
Then he massaged his left temple, wincing slightly as he touched it. Sakura figured he was the guy she'd elbowed back in the van.
The man shrugged. "Guess that makes us even. Tell your friend here to keep her voice down, will 'yah? Unless you want to save her ass again."
Slowly, Sakura sat upright as the man strode back to the door. She realized she had been leaning against Karin, who had chosen to keep quiet. Just as the door slammed shut, Karin turned to her with a scowl.
"You're a total idiot!"
She gave a small smile at that, remembering a set of annoyed dark eyes looking straight at her. "So I've been told."
"Why did you do that?!"
Sakura stared down at the pieces of sawdust scattered on the floor. "Because… you're just dragged into this. They were after me and me alone. You aren't supposed to be here."
Three seconds of silence spoke for Karin, before she took back the spotlight. "Bullshit! Why aren't you mad at me?! I was the one who plotted something with that four-eyed guy. I tricked you into coming with me. I brought us here! Quit acting like the good girl and curse me or despise me or something!"
Sakura shook her head. "It's not your fault. You didn't know Kabuto's one of the kidnappers."
Karin shrieked in her throat while keeping her mouth closed, producing a noise which resembled that of a toddler in tantrum. "I hate you! I've always been bad to you, haven't I? That was your chance to get back at me and laugh at me in the face. You should've just let him slap me! Why do you have to play the hero and get in the way?!"
"Believe it or not, Karin… I never hated you to that extent. You've never been kidnapped before, and I don't want this to be any more traumatic for you than it already is."
Sakura understood that feeling well. Although Karin tried to cover it with angry shouts, as opposed to her eight-year old self's non-stop crying, the underlying despair was there – the helplessness one was forced into, the knowledge that you couldn't save yourself even if that was all you'd die to do… the recognition of your own weakness.
A choke of sob escaped Karin. "Dammit! Why are you being nice to me, when all I ever did is make you miserable?"
Sakura turned to meet Karin's eyes – full of confusion and unshed tears. "Because you're one of the people who made me realize what I'm capable of. Thanks to our little fights, I learned how to protect myself emotionally and stand for my rights. If you hadn't involved those people around me, I wouldn't have known how much I cherish them – my friends, your dad, some bodyguards, and my own dad… So, yeah. In some twisted kind of way, you helped me get strong, and that's enough for me to show you some concern. But I'm not saying I don't hate you, don't get me wrong. Just… not totally."
Karin's mouth curved into an inverted smile, her eyebrows mimicked the sides of the letter A, and lines of spilled tears raced down her cheeks. The sight was foreign to Sakura. If her right cheek didn't sting so much and if Karin didn't look so emotional, she could've laughed at the bitter expression right then and there.
"Ghaaawd!" Karin sniffed. "This is exactly why we're not friends! You just got to be the nice girl in everyone's eyes and make me feel unwanted."
A crease appeared between Sakura's brows. "What? When did I do that?"
"All the time! You started it at elementary when all the kids were awe-struck with your abnormally pink hair. Everytime I tried approaching someone, you just got to be there and be a distraction until they forget I was even there! So I thought about insulting you in front of them and make you look like a freak, instead of the 'unique kid' they always chat about."
"That's the reason for your bullying in the corridors?"
"There's more!" Karin argued back, defensive. "You made my dad favor you over me! Ever since you showed up at our house, you're all he talks about. You became the nice ideal daughter he said I should be like. 'Sakura's like this… Sakura's like that… so you should hang out with her more often.' I'm sick of it! I thought if I made it seem like we're friends, I can be perfect in his eyes. But it only got worse! You made it worse! I'm always compared to you and I hate it!"
Karin was blaming her for issues that weren't even disclosed to her until now? That was just plain unfair and irrational. That didn't make sense! How could she have addressed a problem she didn't even know existed? …but then, hadn't Sakura done the same to her own father?
Is this what he felt yesterday?
Sakura refocused on Karin. "So… you decided to put me on the receiving end of that hatred. Lucky me."
"You deserve it! It's all your fault for getting in the way when I tried making more friends, when I thought I'd finally get Suigetsu to notice me, when I wanted my dad to –"
"Hold on. Did you just say you like Suigetsu?"
Karin turned her head away. "I never said anything like that."
"Yes, you did." Sakura found herself smirking. "Oh, I get it… So that's why you bully him! Poor guy. If only you had a different approach."
"What the heck are you saying?! That's the– I don't– He's a girl-face loser!"
Sakura kept her teasing smirk on. "Aa… You find him pretty. I have to agree with you on that one."
Karin adapted Naruto's horror movie look, before her shoulders sagged in defeat. "Okay, you want to hear it? I have this little crush on Suigetsu since kindergarten. There's just one ginormous problem I can't get rid of – you! Like I said: You're. In. The. Way!"
"Oh. Right. I… didn't mean to be?"
"Intentional or not, doesn't matter. I still got my revenge for that time you embarrassed me right in front of him inside the library."
Sakura remembered that day. But what revenge was Karin talking about? They had a fight back then, with Suigetsu present. Karin walked out. Suigetsu followed not long after. And then Sasuke and Sakura were left behind until…
Sakura gasped. "You were responsible for that black out?"
Karin shrugged. "Technically, Ami did it. I told her to. It's not as long as how I want it to be though; that meddler school janitor checked for the fuse box right away. Oh well, you did looked pretty scared from my view outside. I was peering through a window."
She wanted to get mad at Karin for doing that. But after remembering what happened further in that black out, Sakura concluded it wasn't that bad. Sasuke's image brought another question out, so she turned to Karin with a frown.
"Aren't you also interested in Sasuke?"
Karin rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure he's hot, but he's a full-fledged jerk. I was trying to make you jealous, okay? It's one of those revenge things."
"Why would you do that?"
"I sort of thought you have a thing for him, since you ogle at him any time you got the chance. You have this zoned-out look when he's around. Turns out I'm wrong; you just look naturally dumb. Everytime I make a move on him, I don't get the reaction I want from you. You practically ignore it."
Holy cow… I don't ogle at him! Do I? All this time, Karin's advances towards Sasuke were designed to make her jealous? How could Karin go so far as to involve Sasuke in their fight? Sakura's temper rocketed.
"You were really into that revenge thing, huh?"
Karin pursed her lips, appearing like she was about to cry again. "Look, I was desperate! My old methods don't work for you anymore, so the first time I saw that Kabuto guy who's disguised like some paparazzi, I took the chance. I thought I'd spread some rumors about you and he can easily do that for me.
"This morning, he called me, said I should meet with him alone downtown for some matters about you. So I went. I got into the van with him and that other guy sitting in front, whom he introduced as a journalist by the way. I swear there were only two of them when we got to Ino's. He explained what you did – I don't even know how he knew that, it's like he follows you every minute or something like that – and he told me to make up some excuse for you to come out, so they can take pictures and maybe get some interview 'cause, you know, 'The Runaway Haruno' will sure make an interesting headline.
"We had a deal that once it's done, we'll drop you off at your house. But obviously, that didn't happen." Karin looked down at the floor. "They were my last chance to make you feel pathetic and miserable – like how I feel everytime people choose you over me. I wanted to believe they're the paparazzi until the last second. I guess I only saw what I wanted to see."
Sakura stared at Karin's dejected posture. Now she felt guilty for making Karin feel guilty. She didn't mean her question like that. She was just disturbed about Sasuke's involvement.
"I don't blame you, Karin. It's okay. It was me who started all this madness anyway."
"Stop it." Karin muttered, still not looking up. "Stop saying it's okay, 'cause it clearly is not."
Regret. It was another ruthless visitor in the room, mocking them both as it stared at them in the face.
Sakura wondered how Karin would explain her actions to Mr. Uzumaki. In her objective to be superior, Karin ended up destroying herself. If only she had been honest with Mr. Uzumaki from the start, she wouldn't have gathered this much anger. If only Karin voiced out her bullying reasons at an earlier time, Sakura could have helped her disclose them to Mr. Uzumaki. If only Karin had continued approaching Suigetsu in a friendly way, she could have gotten him to like her too.
Sakura frowned. She found it easy enough to point out what Karin should be doing, yet she herself had no idea how to deal with her own life. She had her own set of mistakes and she even had to run to Ino for some advice. Maybe because she couldn't grasp exactly how Karin was feeling, so it was easier for her to evaluate things; the same way Ino had been to her. Did it always have to be like that?
Now that Sakura thought about it, she and Karin had more things in common than she would have imagined. They both buried insecurities that grew over time.
"You know, I think one reason I agreed to our 'friends charade' back then was because I didn't want my dad to worry about me." Sakura exhaled a humorless chuckle. "Funny how I achieved that now in a different way."
Karin frowned and blinked her eyes a few times. "There you go again. Don't make me cry too much or my lenses will get fuzzy."
"You wear contacts?"
"Yeah, so?"
"Nothing. I just never noticed that before… Hey, um, do you happen to wear glasses, too?"
Karin made a look that said 'are you serious?' "What kind of question is that?"
"Just answer it."
"Well yeah, sometimes."
"I see… Remember what you said to that guy a while ago? The sentence with 'four eyes' and 'H-word' in it?"
Karin scrunched her eyebrows in thought, before rewarding Sakura with a murderous glare. "Fuck you."
She couldn't help it, Sakura broke into a fit of laughter, making her shoulders shake and reminding her of the discomfort on her right cheek.
Karin's gaze softened as she tried to hold back her own smile. "You lost it. How can you laugh at a time like this?"
Sakura shrugged. "I'm sick of feeling sick, I guess."
Karin eyed her cheek and frowned again. "Does that still hurt?"
"A little. Thank heavens this side took the hit, 'cause my left cheek has yet to recover from my dad's hand. I'm prone to slaps lately, I think Ino jinxed it. I just hope there won't be two more."
She didn't get a reply after that, so Sakura took that as the end of the conversation. Silence fell upon them for a minute or so until Karin blasted it with a whisper.
"I'm sorry."
It was mind-blowing how time appeared insignificant in a quiet dim room with no windows. There was nothing to do. They had just been sitting on the ground for hours or years or decades, and Sakura had no way of telling if the sun was still up or gone. She couldn't be sure what time it was, but judging from the protests of their stomachs: it was time to eat.
A decade ago, the kidnappers had been considerate enough to feed them lunch. The same bearded man had freed their hands, watched them eat – in case they tried anything funny, he said – and tied their hands back. Sakura had begun thinking if the kidnappers weren't as bad as how they look like. But then she remembered she was being kidnapped, and she was isolated with Karin, and she was hit in the head, and she must have really lost it to come up with such a thought.
At this time, she didn't know if Karin had fallen asleep; but Sakura didn't want to check and lift her gaze from the floor, because she was keeping herself extremely busy. She was on the 751st piece of sawdust when the door knob rattled and the rectangular wood creaked open.
The hunger left her stomach and was replaced with a boulder, heavy enough to make her tremble and start sweating. She glanced at Karin, who appeared to be in the same state as she was.
A man in business suit crossed the threshold. He had long black hair that reached a few inches past his shoulders and slanted eyes of the same color. His pale skin made him look younger, but the faint lines on his face suggested he was more or less her father's age. Something about him was familiar though, but then maybe that was just another one of her ridiculous thoughts.
The man sauntered towards them. "Ah. I chose the right time to check on them, it seems. Our guests have gotten quite bored."
Sakura didn't dare utter a single word, and she was thankful that Karin chose to do the same.
He flashed a too welcoming smile that didn't reflect the cold look in his eyes. The man halted in front of them, with Kabuto and the bearded guy three to four steps to his back.
"I apologize for our lack of hospitality." His gaze moved from Karin to Sakura, and then his smile faltered. "Manda, what did I tell you about treating our guests nicely?"
The bearded guy answered. "Tsk. I had to do it, or else the Uzumaki'll be the deaf of me. Heh, get it?"
The freaky long-haired guy dismissed Manda and shifted his gaze back at Karin. "It didn't occur to me that Kenshin's daughter can be a trump card. I'll give you that, Kabuto."
"I was merely at the right place and time, Orochimaru-sama. A little bit of luck also did the trick. Although I have to say, it's more efficient than the original plan."
"Indeed, but the fact remains that you made a move without my consent. I'll let this pass, since you caught the Haruno; but you should know better than to disobey me."
Kabuto's proud smirk vanished as he bowed. "Forgive me. This won't happen again."
"I beg to disagree. I'll gladly entertain the idea of replaying this game some other time." Orochimaru laughed at his own twisted joke, the sound rooting from his diaphragm and emphasizing the chilly quality of his voice.
Sakura's spine stiffened. She knew that laugh. That was the same laugh she heard inside a dark old dusty closet. That was the same laugh included in her nightmares. That was the sound she formerly termed as the 'evil laugh'. That was why this man was so familiar.
His hair wasn't this long back then, and he looked so much younger; but she could recognize it now – his resemblance to that man, especially that voice…
'You are a walking bank, do you know that? Oh, and say 'thank you' to your daddy for me, if he were able to find you, that is.'
Sakura gaped at Orochimaru. "Y-you… you're the one who took me to that old house…"
His sickening smile returned. "Aw, I'm touched… You do remember me, Sakura-chan."
Damned that Kabuto.
A pair of charcoal eyes narrowed; their owner striding down the length of a paved ramp. He had the mission under control, but in one single blink, everything was ruined. Their plan was put to waste just because that Kabuto acted on his own and kidnapped Sakura behind his back.
He should have insisted on keeping watch until midnight, but then that would raise more suspicions about him. That brought no significance at this point, what's done was done. Blaming anyone wouldn't alter the previous events, but getting revenge would definitely alleviate its effects.
The plan had been rushed. This wasn't supposed to happen yet. And not like this. He did try to avoid the kidnapping earlier, but he was too late. He had found out too late, he acted too late, and Kizashi was informed too late.
The hell if I'd be late this time…
He strode faster and headed to the emergency staircase. Sakura was down at the fifth basement of this unfinished building, and as he was told, Orochimaru was currently with her.
He raced down the rough concrete stairs, a flashlight in one hand. Lighting fixtures were not yet installed in the building, except for some rooms and corridors occupied by Orochimaru's men. At dusk, the floors above ground were already dark, so he expected worse lighting conditions at the basements.
Just the feel of the cold railing under his hand made him sick – he was a part of how this building was constructed. This structure, along with a few more within the compound, was a product of Orochimaru's illegal businesses. The whole construction site was located on the outskirts of the Central Business District, making it blend in with the neighboring office buildings and proving it easier to conceal illegal transactions. He contributed in making this happen. He had no other choice.
Finally, he arrived at one corridor and caught sight of a spilled yellow light from one open door. He paused by the threshold and steadied his breathing first before stepping inside.
"…like it was only yesterday, wasn't it?" Orochimaru was saying, his back to the door.
At the sound of footsteps, Orochimaru turned around and met his eyes with a smile.
"Oh, there you are. I assume you're done with your task?"
He tipped his chin upward in a nod, staying close to the door and near the shadows.
"Excellent. From now on, you take Manda's place and guard these two. He happened to have limited patience for them." Orochimaru turned back to the two girls and resumed talking, ignoring Manda's defensive remarks.
He glanced at the pink-haired girl on the floor, whose eyes were transfixed on his direction, before he shifted in place and allowed more shadows to conceal his face. Sakura shook her head slightly as if erasing some thought, and then brought her gaze back at Orochimaru.
He released an inaudible sigh at that. He wasn't recognized. He may have owed it to the poor lighting.
After a couple of minutes, one of Orochimaru's men – Kimimaro – walked inside the room and carried news.
"Orochimaru-sama, the money's here." He said.
"Good."
"They're waiting for you at the first basement."
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed. "They? Kizashi's not alone?"
"I'm afraid not. He brought someone with him."
"Who?"
"The girl's bodyguard… Uchiha Sasuke."
A/N:
*evil grin*
