A Life Interrupted
The First
Wazuka shifted slightly next to me. "I suppose," she began, tired now, "I should ask you if you--"
"I knew."
I looked away from her and out the window. The limo was moving through busy streets, and occasionally, I spotted the telltale white van of a news station. "I'm his mother," she began. And again, "I was their mother. Why?"
I didn't answer her question. It wasn't even my question to answer. It was Sasuke's. "When we get there," I said instead, and just as I said it, I realized that I didn't even have anything particular in mind to offer.
"The lawyer?"
"Actually, it's lawyers. They're--" I stopped, considering what I should say. Anko was more than willing when I gave her a call, and Kurenai and Asuma stepped up before I could even blink. "Friends."
"That's good. Will they be there?"
"Yes."
"That's--" She put her hand over mine, and I felt, suddenly, it's wrinkles, it's callouses, and all the damage that time had done to her. She shouldn't be in Tokyo, I told myself again. She should be in Jixi, safe from the press and far from all the chaos. But before I could suggest anything, the car rolled to a stop, and a few seconds later, the door to the limo opened. Outside, I saw that the steps up the MPD offices were littered with press.
"Let me handle them," I said, stepping out first, and taking Wazuka's hand. The minute the door closed, there were people around us.
"Mr. Uzumaki, would you care to comment on your husband's arrest--" There were six, bulky men surrounding me and Wazuka, clearing the way with just their presence.
"Mr. Uzumaki, over here--"
"Lady Wazuka, what does it feel like--" I had never been up the steps of the MPD before. Had, in fact, never been in this part of Tokyo.
"Mr. Uzumaki, did you know of Mr. Uchiha's supposed crime before you married him--" There were more steps than I had thought there would be. Almost as if the MPD was trying to prolong the shame that anyone felt coming up here.
"Lady Wazuka, what does it feel like to have both of your sons be murderers--" We were already on the last step and were about to make our way inside, but Wazuka stopped. When she turned to face the mob, I turned as well.
"My sons," Wazuka said, calmly, her usually dim eyes bright in the crisp afternoon light, "Are not murderers."
It was a lie, and we both knew it.
*
The room that they lead us to was white, crisp, and with a large, black window on one side of the room. Before we walked in, a lady in a tight gray suit assured us a great many things: that any conversations that took place inside were entirely confidential, that nothing said inside those rooms could be given in court as evidence, that we had as long as we needed--really, no matter what the press said, the MPD still respected Kakashi and Sasuke--that they'd do anything to make this easier for us.
I nodded my thanks, not even registering her name or face, and let myself be ushered in. Wazuka sat down heavily in the chairs. There were several placed about a large table, but I went to a corner of the room and looked pointedly out the window. There was nothing on the other end, just an empty room. A minute later, the door opened again, and the lawyers filed in. I heard them introduce themselves to Wazuka, Anko first, Asuma, and then, finally, Kurenai. I turned around, about to say hello, when the door opened and Kakashi sauntered in, Sasuke close behind.
Another man stepped inside behind Kakashi and Sasuke and undid their handcuffs. Kakashi thanked the man, by name, and the man left with a small smile in our direction. Everyone took their seats, except for Sasuke who remained standing by the door, staring at me. He was slighlty rumpled, still wearing the suit he had worn the day before, and I wondered--vaguely, just as I wondered about Haku now and then--how I'd even managed to fall asleep the night before without Sasuke's presence next to me, his soft snores, the weight of his hand thrown over my waist, the pressure of his legs tangled with mine, the tickle of his hair when I woke up with his head tucked under my chin, without...What if they took him away from me? What if I that was it--these three years--that was all I had of Sasuke for this lifetime...
There was silence in the room, a long, painful silence as everyone swiveled their gazes between me and Sasuke, and then, I felt Sasuke's hands around me--how did I miss his approach?--his voice in my ear telling me that everything was going to be all right, please, fuck, Naruto, I can't do this with you like this, please, please, please, everything will be all right.
I put my arms around his shoulder and hugged him, nodding to every one of his murmurs and swallowing on the tight lump in my throat, gulping down huge amounts of air, wondering how long it would be before we could be alone again, without the oppressive presence of the MPD all around us. He pulled back and tilted my chin with two persistent fingers under my chin. I stared up at him, smoothing his tie, his shirt, and his jacket, because the gods only knew, Sasuke was not one to look rumpled, never in public, only when we were alone together. "Kiss me, you jerk."
"Yeah," he muttered, and then, his lips were on mine, drier than usual, but still him in every way that counted. "I was thinking," he said, when he pulled back. "I was thinking that for our anniversary, I'd take you to Venice."
Venice. I closed my eyes, smiling at the fact that Sasuke, no matter how hard he tried to be otherwise, was an incurable romantic. "You remembered?"
He scoffed, his fingers brushing lightly over my cheekbones. "If I'd forgotten, you would have skewered me alive and then fed me to your staff for lunch."
I chuckled at that, and moved into his hug again. My glasses were in the way, so I turned my head and let him tuck me under his chin. "No. I would've eaten you myself."
I felt his cheek press against my hair. "It's going to be okay, dead last."
"Bastard." I pushed him away and looked up at him, defiant. "Don't tell me things I already know, UB. What do I look like to you? An idiot?"
He took me by the elbow and began to lead me towards the table where everyone had respectfully averted their gazes to give us our privacy. "Actually, dead last, yes."
"Says the person who burned the eggs--"
"It's the effort that counts--"
"Weeds don't count as flowers, UB. Even on my birthday." I saw the small tug of Sasuke's lips, and let myself smile as well. "Next time," I said, sitting down, "At least get me fresh weeds."
"Right." Sasuke sat down next to me, and as inconspicuously as I could, I reached over and rested my hand next to his on the table so that our fingers were touching. Normally, Sasuke would have shrugged me off, but now--
"You killed him?" Anko's voice was sharp.
"Yes," Sasuke said.
"How?" Asuma had a pen out and was taking notes. Kakashi was slouched, bored and lazy like a cat, but I saw that his eyes were a sharp, sharp gray.
"I tracked him down, found him in Italy, and killed him."
Wazuka stiffened visibly at Sasuke's confession, and I saw Kakashi lightly put his arm around her shoulder. She leaned into the touch a little, but her face got paler. "We'll need details on the kill. The MPD will look into it, but we want to be the first to know. If it's bloody, the prosecutor will go after it and get your sentence prolonged." Kurenai's voice was soothing, but her words snapped me to attention.
"Prolonged? So that means that he'll--"
"I killed my brother, Naruto," Sasuke began. He leaned back in his chair. "I'm going to jail for it."
"I wonder," Kakashi began, "Why I didn't know that Kabuto was undercover."
"Kabuto..." I trailed off, tasting the name. "I met him--" My second day at work as Sasuke's secretary, Kabuto was in the elevator, and we talked, however briefly.
"So they knew the entire time," Sasuke said.
"Odd." I wondered what was bothering Kakashi the most at this point--the fact that he was in jail or the fact that he'd been caught. "They shouldn't have been able to know."
"Kabuto," Asuma began, slapping a file down onto the table in front of Kakashi, "Is a lot like you. His record is almost as impressive as yours. I think, he was just waiting for the chance to break something big."
Kakashi fingered it. "Well, then."
"How did you kill him, Uchiha?" Anko again.
"I shot him."
"Where?"
"Stomach."
"The body?"
"I left before he actully died. Paid for it to be taken care of."
"Most importantly, is the date--" Asuma pushed forward another file towards Sasuke. The manila was stark against the metal of the desk. "Correct?"
Sasuke didn't bother opening it. "March 12, 1998. Brescia, Italy. 17:00, exactly, Italian time. Hotel Cristallo, room number 234." Sasuke paused, and tilted his head. "It was sunny that day."
"Sasuke," Wazuka's voice was cold, colder than anything I had ever heard.
"He killed your husband, mother," Sasuke said, leaning forward, his face twisted into a sneer. "In cold blood, he killed father. He stabbed him. Seven times in the back, and then, he shot him in the mouth. And I'm telling you--" He sat back again, "It was sunny the day I shot him."
"It was not in your place," Wazuka bit out. "It was not in your place--"
"You forgave him?" There was disbelief in his voice. A silence settled, and Wazuka turned her face away. I glanced at the others and saw that Anko had a angry look in her eyes as she considered Wazuka, as did Kurenai. Asuma's face was carefully neutral.
"You forgave him," Sasuke said again, voice soft now. "You. You forgave him, but not--"
"Sasuke." I put an arm on his bicep. He stilled at the touch, and I could feel his muscles clench underneath the fabric. He turned to face me, his lips pressed into a thin line, and his eyes dilated.
"I need to talk to Naruto alone."
There was silence. Then, with a chorus of chairs scraping against the floor, everyone got up and left, Kakashi after getting cuffed again at the door. I watched Sasuke's profile, the rise and fall of his chest, the pull at his eyes. "I killed him, Naruto."
"I know."
"You should--you should." He stopped, fumbling for his words. "You don't deserve this."
"It's not a matter of deserving this," I said, slowly.
"You bed with a murderer." He reached out towards me, uncertain. His hand hovered for a few minutes before he grabbed me by the collar and roughly pulled me towards him. "Every night, you bed with a murderer." he said, eyes hard. I put my hands over his to steady myself. My chair was tipped now, balancing only on one leg. He hadn't let go of my collar, and I didn't try to undo his grip. This was Sasuke thinking that I would be better off without him, this was the Sasuke, I realized, who would stumble and stutter around the words, I love you. "I killed him. I purposefully tracked him down--hunted him down and killed him. I knocked on his door, and we fought, and I took his own gun, and killed him, and his blood, Naruto, his blood, and--"
I leaned forward, unbalancing my chair. Sasuke caught me, as I knew he would, and drew me towards him until I was straddling his lap. Up close, I realized just how terrified he was. His pupils were small drops of black in a sea of white, and his face was pale, paler than usual. I traced a milky blue line on the side of his throat, just shy of a taut tendon: a vein. He caught my wrist. "I don't deserve you."
"Shut up." And since I knew he wouldn't obey, I kissed him. When we broke apart, there was the smacking sound of our lips, startling in the silence, so I kissed him again and again, and again.
When we pulled away from each other, Sasuke stared at me for a second. "Oh."
"Oh," I mirrored, and leaned in for another kiss. And that was the end of our conversation.
Sasuke was biting down my neck, one hand tucked neatly in my back pocket, kneading the muscle there lightly, and the other hand moving up and down my thigh. It was, I thought foggily, comfortable enough. When Sasuke shifted me a little to make our hips meet, I realized exactly what was on his mind. "We shouldn't," I breathed, and heard his replying moan. He buried his face in my chest, breath ragged, bucking up a little.
"Sasuke, we shouldn't." He hitched my shirt up a little and dug his fingers into the small of my back. When he dragged his nails along the edge of my pants, and grunted, "Move, Naruto," I reconsidered my options. "Maybe--nhh--maybe we should."
"Yeah, we should."
*
When I walked out the door, I felt my blush returning full force. I felt Sasuke's presence behind me, and for a brief moment, I wondered how I ever let him convince me into doing something as utterly stupid as--"Well, get me the handcuffs." Sasuke's hand was resting lightly right on the curve of my back. I slapped it away, and heard his soft, low chuckle. "We're done with the room."
I felt myself blushing even harder, if it was even possible. "Right," a man said, and made a motion to come towards us. I moved aside hurriedly and watched as he handcuffed Sasuke. "You don't have to come to the meetings with the lawyers," he said, keeping his eyes on me even as the man handcuffed him. He looked more relaxed and less pale than when I'd first seen him.
"Don't be stupid," I said, moving aside. Typical. Sasuke needed sex to clear his mind. I heaved a sigh at this, but it trailed off into a gasp when his hands came up, and one finger pressed lightly against the side of my neck. A hickey. He'd given me a hickey?
"I suppose I wouldn't mind too much."
Someone--Kurenai--started to choke on the coffe she was holding. Anko rubbed circles into her back, smirking at me--they knew. Sasuke turned around with a flourish and a smirk. "Next time," he said, pausing at the lady in gray who had lead me into the room, "A room without any windows will do, please." I felt my entire body heat up with embarrassment when I--and everyone else--heard Sasuke's farewell comment, muttered under his breath, "Even my kinks have a limit."
*
"You, ah..." Kurenai paced the room. "Can't, you know..." She gestured vaguely. "Well. There were windows."
My head shot up. "You looked?"
"We, ah," Kurenai stopped talking and sat down at the dinner table suddenly.
"Were wondering what was taking you so long, so we peeked inside, and lo and behold, you were give him a lap dance," Anko finished, putting down her wine glass. "And a good one, from the looks of it."
My face felt hot at the memory of Sasuke's hot little gasps against my neck and my own moans. They could have heard that in the adjacent room. "I--uh--erm. Right."
"In court, you can't stutter, you know."
"Right."
"What I'm wondering," Anko went on, without skipping a beat, "Is how you two got in the mood when you were in prison."
"Uh--" I remembered the no stuttering thing. "Spur of the moment thing." Which really meant: Sasuke has the sex drive of an entire population of teenage boys.
"Spur of the moment, right." She gave me a long look, up and down, grinning. I looked away from her scrutiny. "Uchiha Corps shares are going down by the second."
I put down the plate I was drying with a loud clink. "Uchiha Corps are not of my concern, and neither should they be yours--"
"Your husband. You know what his net worth is? You know how much you're worth?"
I looked up at Anko, her bright, bright eyes, and wondered how Iruka even fit into her life. She had put aside her marriage for this case. Had put aside her career at Kyoto University. Had put aside everything for this case, and came to Tokyo between one breath and the next, taking the press by surprise, smiling sharply at each paper that dared to take her picture--the best lawyer in the East had come to defend Uchiha Sasuke, murderer, accused of fratricide.
"No. And I don't care." Which was the truth because Sasuke never told me, and I never cared enough to ask. The things I wanted, even the things I didn't need, were brought before me by the staff. There were some things that I didn't question--like the security that Sasuke hired for me, like the limo that dropped me off at work, like the expensive gifts and getaways that Sasuke gave me...
"Your husband's net worth is actually nothing, comparatively. Maybe ten and some odd million or so." I stared at her. Wasn't that a lot--
"You, however," Anko continued, "Are worth close to nine hundred thousand million American dollars, nearly a billion. There's a loop hole in Sasuke's finances so that his money stays in his banks only for a few seconds before being transferred over to yours. Approximately sixty five percent of that money sits in different bank accounts all over the world and grows, and keeps growing, and will keep growing, regardless of what happens to Uchiha Corps. The rest is available to you in cold cash, diamonds, gold, what have you. If you want, you can buy all of New Zealand's tourist islands with it. You, Uzumaki Naruto, are the richest man in Japan. Bar none."
I stared down at the sink, unable to even comprehend the numbers that Anko had told me. I was rich? Since when? "If you think," Anko went on, "That the jury will take to you kindly despite this fact, you have something else coming. A lot of people will jump on this opportunity to bring down Uchiha, and they'll succeed if we don't act well." She looked determined, happy, almost, in these moments of strategy.
"Several years ago, when he was sixteen, Uchiha sat in on the first board meeting with Kakashi," Kurenai explained, her voice soft. "He dropped out of high school to take over the company. By the time he was nineteen, Uchiha took over control. He built it--"
"I know how much he loves it," I cut in, quietly. He loved what he did, loved it so much that at times, he purposefully lost money in reckless gestures just so he could have the chance of making it all over again. Sasuke, I knew from the instant I met him, was born for this kind of work. But there were times when I knew Sasuke wondered about what he missed out on--getting a high school diploma, a college education. He was never a teenager, never had the chance to be one. He gave it all up in the blink of an eye to redeem his father's name. I looked up to find Anko and Kurenai looking at me oddly, so I added, "I know him."
What I didn't know was that I was the richest man in Japan because Sasuke decided that all his money was better with me than with him. "You'll have to do whatever you can to make sure it doesn't sink under while he's in jail. This will be a long trial." Kurenai patted the seat next to her with a comforting smile. "A few months, if we're lucky."
"What do I need to do?" I walked out of the kitchen and towards the dining table. If I turned my head slightly, I could see all of Tokyo through the glasses of the loft.
Anko took over. "Good press. Lots of it. You'll have to take on the role of grieved partner, and look good while you're at it. If investors start backing out of Uchiha Corps deals, then there's no telling what will happen. Another slump for Uchiha Corps might be irreparable. Your Uchiha worked miracles the first time, but it might not happen again if he's carrying a bad verdict on his shoulders."
I nodded, and felt Kurenai's hand on my shoulder. Out of nowhere, a glass of bourbon appeared before me. "You'll continue working as usual, of course, but you'll be monitored every step you take. The clothes you wear, the expression on your face, the comments you make, the things you do." Kurenai paused to let her words sink in.
"Even," Anko said, her voice low and controlled. "Even the coffee you drink will be analyzed for any symbolic meaning. Tomorrow, I'll introduce you to someone named Genma Shiranui. He's going to do the PR for us while we go through this. But most importantly--"
"He's had enough for today," Kurenai said, standing up. Anko considered her coldly, and without being told, I knew that this was a familiar argument.
"He needs to know. Now is not the time for him to be held in the dark. If the press gets a hold of this--"
"He's had enough," Kurenai said again, more forceful.
"No, it's all right," I said, quickly, before Anko could respond and make this a full blown fight. "I don't--I don't want to do anything that could jeopardize this case."
Anko gave me a tight smile and reached down next to her seat where Asuma had left a briefcase. She snapped it open with a flick of her wrist, and after a bit of shuffling pulled out a manila folder and slid it across the table towards me. I opened it, dreading what it might hold, but then came face to face with a picture of a brown-haired boy staring out a window, a pencil in his mouth, looking bored. He was wearing a school uniform from what I could tell, and when I leaned closer, I recognized the angle in his cheekbone. "He's..." The words died in my throat. An Uchiha.
"His name is Raidon. Age six. Location is currently in Saitama, but he's moved around a lot. He lives with his uncle and aunt, for now."
I stared up at Anko, who had her hands crossed. "He's Itachi's son. Half Spanish, half Japanese. Born a few months after Itachi died. Sasuke found him, and then placed him in under a caretaker. He's been living in Spain for the past few years."
I stared. Another one of Sasuke's secrets, I realized, a tight knot forming in my chest.
"I--"
"You're going to adopt him," Anko said, not giving me the option of catching my breath. "In fact, by midnight tonight, there should be records saying that you and Sasuke filed a joint request for adoption five months after you got married." With Raidon's strange mix of European and Japanese looks, he looked like a feasible blend of me and Sasuke. Would fit right into our family, almost.
"I--"
"You'll be meeting Raidon in four days, after we make a press release detailing the facts of this adoption, with the claim that Raidon will be under your care while this entire fiasco happens. In a few more weeks, when the press gets ugly--which it will--you can send him over to Jixi to be with Wazuka."
I nodded dumbly. "Of course."
"Get some rest for now. You have a lot of work ahead of you."
I didn't bother to show her to the door, and sat, for the rest of the night, unmoving. Sasuke had his secrets, I knew; I had my secrets. We had our boundaries, lines that we never crossed, but when did secrets--Sasuke had, somehow, given me all his money; he knew of a child that we had a responsibility towards. Just how many more secrets did he have that I didn't know of?
I got up and went to our bedroom slowly, realizing that now would not be the time to start analyzing the limits of our relationship. At the door, I paused, wondering if I could take another night of sleeping in our bed without Sasuke. Deciding, I headed for the living room couch.
Now was not the time, I told myself again, and turned on the TV to TNT for a late-night movie.
End of the First
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