31Chapter 2: Trapped
~Who Knew~
I hope you enjoy!
9 Years Later
Sakura's POV
I can't breathe. No matter how hard I tried to force myself to gasp for air, I can't breathe. It felt like something heavy was crushing my chest, keeping all air from getting into my lungs. I clawed at my chest as darkness crept along the edges of my vision.
Am I dying?
I can't die now! Satoshi- I have to keep that snake from getting to him! I can't die now! I can't! I can't-!
My eyes snapped open as I jolted. Finally- finally- I could feel air painfully fill my body as I let out a choked breath. It was after a few gulps that it registered how tight my fists were gripping my bedsheets. Blinking, I slowly uncurled myself from the fetal position I placed myself into during my sleep to assess the damage.
I ripped my sheets again.
I let out a shaky sigh, rubbing a hand down my face. The feel of sticky sweat clinging to my skin nearly made me cringe.
I'll tell the bastard about it after I come back from the mission. He'll be less pissy.
Even though I knew what I was going to see, I peeked at the alarm clock I've never used since being dropped off here.
"Damn it," I whispered as the large red numbers dimly showed that it has, indeed, only been two hours since I attempted to fall asleep.
Another 3 am start to my day. If the missions don't kill me, then the sleep deprivation will.
Taking another shaky breath, I tossed the thin plain blanket aside as I made my way to my connected bathroom inside my room. I closed my eyes before cutting the light on to help my eyes adjust as I stripped and got into a boiling hot shower. As the water cascaded over me, scalding my skin, I welcomed the feeling as thoughts of the past nine years filtered into my consciousness.
If that snake hadn't killed my parents, what would I be doing right now? Would I be asleep? Or would I be trying to sneak out of the house to meet up with friends to go to a party? Maybe to meet with a secret boyfriend? Would I even have to keep it a secret from them?
That won't ever be answered now.
Sliding my eyes closed, I took another deep breath as I slowly bent until I was sitting in the tub with my knees to my chest.
It doesn't matter what could have been. That's a fantasy that will never become a reality anymore. What is my reality is something I wish stayed in my nightmares.
This hell began nine years ago. I don't know what exactly that snake did, but he somehow convinced a judge to give him custody of Satoshi and me. Just like he told me when he kidnapped me on that night, he began training me to be "useful" to him. At first, that meant constant martial arts training and conditioning for nine hours seven days a week. He pulled me from school and hired a tutor to homeschool me to keep up with it. That meant nine hours of training and three hours of schooling every day. My schedule was so rigid I was rarely allowed to see Satoshi, who was allowed to stay in school.
Looking back, he did it on purpose.
Satoshi and I were always close. That snake knew that if we were allowed to remain close that it would be a matter of time before I broke and told Satoshi everything he wanted to know. It's the same reason he kept me from speaking to the police. In fact, minus the day I spoke to them after that bastard let me go, I haven't had any contact with them. I'm sure he pulled some strings to make that happen, but it also didn't seem like the police cared enough to solve my parent's double homicide.
But that's a rabbit hole I don't want to go back down.
After the first year of that, Satoshi and I weren't nearly as close as we once were. Satoshi was still angry with me for not revealing who the murderer was and, now, for allegedly avoiding him because of it. The latter being a nasty seed planted by the snake to ensure his plan worked. After another three years, his hopes of destroying our relationship was a success.
Satoshi wouldn't even look at me when we passed each other in the halls by the time he was thirteen, not even when the bastard pulled him from school to be homeschooled for a more rigorous curriculum. It was also around the time my training also intensified.
I wasn't just learning katas or pretty weapon forms. My teachers then taught me how to kill.
The change was subtle. It was switching out my wooden weapons for the real versions to do my forms. After three months, it was then using fruits like melons as targets to practice slicing through an object. Then it was switched to human-shaped dummies. Six months later, I was forced to make my first kill.
It was like another typical day going to the basement of the jailhouse of a mansion that snake forces us to live in. My teacher looked down his nose at me with the same level of disgust he always has. In previous sessions, that snake would sit in the corner of the room in a raised chair decorated as if it were a throne. He would watch my training for however long he wanted before leaving without a word. That time, he stayed for nearly the entire session.
That's when I knew something was wrong.
Whenever that snake changed his habits is when something terrible was going to happen.
The first time it was when he sent men to drag me from my classroom after dropping Satoshi and me off at school for the first time after the first week of us living with him instead of sending a driver.
The second was when he sat in on one of my class sessions. He stayed the entire session and waited until my teacher, a surprisingly sweet thirty-seven-year-old woman, finished teaching before he called in two men to bash her head into the wall before dragging her out of the room kicking and screaming. Something about her stealing is what I can remember being the reason through the terror. The next day, she was replaced by a short man sporting a buzz cut and multiple scars on his face. He was mean and took immense pleasure in terrifying me throughout my lessons.
This time, it happened in the form of two men dragging in a bloody and beaten elderly man.
He was gasping and weakly begging for his life as he tried to crawl away from the two men. One glance at their split knuckles and the blood splattered on their clothes told me they were the ones that beat him. Being nearly twelve and more innocent than I would have thought, given my caregiver, I was scared.
Were they going to kill someone else in front of me? Where did the old man even come from? Did the old man even do anything to them?
A million more questions flew through my head until it all was silenced by the cold, heavy hand of that snake landing on my shoulder. His bone-chilling smile that made my skin prickle looked down at me as his grip turned bruising on my shoulder.
"This man tried to steal from us." He turned his piercing gaze to the man who was now gasping violently as he laid limply on the ground. "Just like your teacher, he tried to take cargo from us. You know what the punishment for theft is, right?"
All I could do was watch in wide-eyed fear as the men grabbed the man by each of his arms and forced him to his knees. The elderly man's head lolled to the side as he went in and out of consciousness. I could barely breathe as that snake shoved a heavy leathery object in my hand. A panicked glance down showed it to be the machete I had just finished practicing with.
At that point, I could no longer hear what was going on around me.
My own labored breathing sounded like thunder. The cool air felt like needles as it brushed against the sweat dripping down my face, and the usual black gi I wore to training felt like a hundred-pound weight. My knees wobbled, my heartbeat painfully in my chest as the old man's terrified eyes met mine barely missing how that snake's narrowed.
He was pleading. He was begging me to spare his life. He wanted me to save him. I didn't need to hear him say it. His eyes were screaming the words.
"Help me, please!"
A harsh shake nearly knocked me off balance as I felt a cold, hard circle press against my temple.
The world rushed back to me as I saw the gleaming black metal of the pistol, chilling the skin just by my ear.
"Do it now!"
I don't remember what happened next. The few seconds that followed his threat were blocked from my consciousness. The seconds following hit me like bricks, just like the spray of the warm red liquid staining my body. A distant sound of something hitting the floor followed by another heavy object. It wasn't until I met the wide, horrified eyes of the elderly man's severed head next to my feet that I realized what I had done.
My first kill.
After that day, many, many more followed.
Twice a month, he would send anyone who tried to run away, rescue "cargo", or simply betray him into the dojo. Every one of them I was made to execute with the machete until I stopped hesitating.
That was when he sent me to "recentering training".
That is something I refuse to ever go back to.
On my thirteenth birthday, I was sent on my first mission. By then, I was the perfect little assassin no one would ever see coming.
Ever since then, I've been doing his dirty work and despising him more each day.
I don't know how long I stayed in the shower, but by the time I turned off the water, it was ice cold. When I got out, the tiled floor and large mirror hanging over the sink had a layer of water, making them glisten. Even my discarded clothes felt damp.
Tossing them in the hamper next to the door, I finished getting ready before stepping back into my room. The large space in my plainly decorated room made me feel nauseous as I quickly made my way to my equally as nauseatingly large closet.
I remember what I did that made that snake give me this room.
I remember the families I ruined to get every single item I woke up to.
It only reminds me why I despise that bastard.
Quickly taking out a pair of plain black leggings, a white flowing tank top, and a leather jacket, I quickly got dressed. Tugging on my lightweight boots with my hidden weapons in the soles and sides, I nearly ran out of that suffocating room and towards the meeting room on the first floor. Heading towards the stairs, I mentally began to count the steps it took to make it from the third floor to my destination.
"Let me guess- our dear uncle is sending you on another vacation for good behavior?" My blood ran cold as I froze.
Tilting my head to the right, I saw Satoshi laying on one of the many chaises that lined the hall. He hugged the stiff throw pillow as he used his left arm as a pillow. Despite his relaxed position with his feet crossed at the ankle and his eyes closed, the subtle tension in his jaw gave way he had something heavy on his mind.
Probably wasn't expecting to see the shame of the family this early.
"Too good to speak?" I swallowed, my fingers digging into my thighs as I stood pathetically before him, my head lowered.
"It's not like that." I finally responded; my eyes never leaving his form. That's when I caught his eyes half opening, an unreadable expression clouding his face.
He never used to be unreadable to me before.
"Are you going to finally tell me the truth after how many years?" I bit my lip hard, chewing on it until I tasted blood.
I want to tell him. I want to tell him I would do anything not to go on this next mission because it's the kind I hated the most. The kind I hated far more than the assassinations.
"I'll take that as a no." He tossed the pillow on the ground as he sat up and rose to his feet. He didn't look at me as he dusted himself off and turned in the direction I came from. "If you're happy with all your exotic trips around the world for your "class field trips" then, by all means, enjoy yourself. You'll just have to excuse me for not sharing in your happiness given it came at the cost of allowing our parent's murderer to roam free."
"It's not like that," I said firmer, my nails digging into my palms.
"Then who did it, Sakura?" The coldness of his tone, the shadows casting ominous over his features as he stared at me from over his shoulder with emotionless eyes made my heartache.
"I don't know." I couldn't stand lying to his face anymore as I dropped my head, biting my lip harder until the skin was raw.
"Then tell me how it's not like that?" When I stayed silent, he let out a low disappointing grunt. Without another word, he left.
A sharp breath left my lips as I felt the air become heavy and thick. My chest tightened to a painful degree as my knees started shaking.
Not again.
Closing my eyes, I tried my best to take deep breaths to calm myself but nothing worked. The panic was setting in making the world feel like it was caving in on top of me.
Sinking to my knees, I stayed in the middle of the hall, waiting in agony for the episode to pass.
It took about an hour before I was able to continue on my way to that snake's office. By then, the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon. I knocked softly hoping I wouldn't get a response until I heard that bastards slimy muffled voice. A shudder ran down my spine as I pushed the door open and entered.
Like my room, that snake bastard's office is obnoxiously large. The walls were mostly barren except for four large landscape portraits. If you didn't know any better, you'd think they were just random pretty paintings he liked and decided to hang up. If you did his dirty work, you'd recognize them as the places he conducts his "business". Like the painting of a darkened city only lit by street lamps as rain poured. Random citizens rushed by, holding umbrellas as they tried to avoid the downpour. If you didn't know any better, you'd think it was supposed to arouse emotions or something. If you knew better, you'd recognize it as the underbelly of the city where he sold his live "cargo". Due to the restaurant and bookstore operating as a front, no one knows about the sex trafficking that happens in the hidden basement. No one knows how many men and women are trapped down there doing who knows what.
I swallowed mutedly as I looked away from the painting.
I remember the first time I went down there. I remember the floral scents masking the musk that permeated from the closed doors. More than that, I remember the screams.
Blinking hard, I ignored the other three paintings: one of a warehouse, another of a school, and the final of a hair salon, as I walked down the short runway to the large oak desk that the snake sat behind.
He was watching me - had been since I walked in. He does that whenever he's about to assign me missions like this.
Always looking for reasons to torture me.
"You're up early, flower." It was hard hiding the shudder that ran down my spine at the nickname. A smile slowly stretched his lips as he leaned forward. "Didn't sleep well again?"
Sick bastard.
"You had a mission for me?" He tsked, relaxing back into his executive chair.
"Always so serious." Picking up a white envelope from his desk, he held it out to me. "You already know the objective, right?" I swallowed, stepping forward just enough to take the package. He licked his lips, his yellow eyes nearly glowing as he practically salivated over my torment.
"Find and acquire more cargo for the new client. He prefers cargo between fourteen and seventeen." I robotically stated, a disgusting feeling making my throat dry as I said it.
He only smiled wider.
"Such a diligent flower you are." He laughingly stated as he motioned for me to open the envelope.
I didn't hesitate anymore as not to entertain his sick fetish any longer. I was expecting to find everything I needed for the mission inside like a passport, money, and IDs. Seeing my student profile next to an entrance acceptance letter was not what I was expecting.
"Isn't the mission taking place outside of the country?" He actually laughed as the office door opened and slammed shut without a knock.
I didn't have to look to know who would be so bold as to do something like that here. There's only one that can without being severely punished.
"What do you want?" Satoshi's voice dripped with malice despite his uninterested demeanor. That snake merely smiled as he waved it off.
"That hurts, Toshi-kun. After all the money I put into your dream of becoming the next governor you treat me so coldly." The feigned hurt was half-assed as the smile never left his face.
Would he keep smiling if I strangled him?
I can imagine it. As his devilish eyes watched Satoshi with masked contempt, he wouldn't be able to react in time for me to lunge across the desk. I'm close enough as it is. I've been through years of reflex and speed training while he's gotten slower in his older age. All I'd have to do is stun him with a jab to his throat before he could alert his underlings. If I can flip the chair over, I can get him into a chokehold from behind if I can wrap my legs around his waist and-
"-Sakura?" I blinked, my mind slowly coming back to reality. That snake was still smiling at Satoshi but his jaw was tense at something Satoshi had just said.
"It's a high school and undergraduate college. You'll also gain access to their network of alums that currently work in the political world. Plus," the full sinister grin was back as shadows fell over his face, "wouldn't you want to be able to spend more time with your precious sister?" I didn't miss how that snake's eyes cut to me for half of a second.
Bastard!
"Since when did you have interest in our bond, uncle?" that snake's smile slimmed, the gleam dimming in his eyes as he rolled his eyes and leaned fully back into his chair.
"Such an icy nephew I have." He dramatically mumbled to himself as he glanced between us. Thankfully, he seemed bored of messing with us as he opened a side drawer to his desk and held out another white envelope to Satoshi. "You leave in twenty minutes to head to your new home for the remainder of your schooling."
"What about packing?"
"I had the liberty of the attendants to handle that." That snake answered easily as he watched Satoshi with a bored expression.
Now that wasn't a good sign.
Whenever he was bored, it meant he was getting annoyed. Usually what was annoying him didn't stay alive long enough to correct their error. Usually, people never go there with this bastard. However, Satoshi isn't like the usual people the snake deals with.
Satoshi isn't afraid to let him know he hates him and he definitely isn't afraid to defy him openly. So when Satoshi's eyes narrowed slightly as his shoulders squared, I knew nothing good was about to happen.
"And what if I refuse to go?"
The snake frowned.
Damn it Satoshi!
I held my breath, my body tensing in anticipation.
I don't care what happens to me, but if this rat thinks I'll stand by and let him hurt Satoshi then he's in for a-
"Your sister has been such a good girl lately that I'll ignore that little outburst." Satoshi's eye twitched minutely causing Orochimaru's to start shining once more. "However, why would you want to waste such a good opportunity for misguided pettiness?" The frown eased off of the snake's features, that disgusting smile returning. "Isn't that rather petulant?" Satoshi grunted, tucking his envelope under his arm.
"Perhaps, but what do you call pampering a child that refuses to reveal her parent's murderer?" His bored tone didn't dampen the daggers he shot. "Isn't that called grooming, uncle?" The snake's lips tightened as Satoshi turned and left the room without another word.
The sound of the door closing sounded much louder than it actually was.
I can't say I don't deserve it.
"He's rather moody today, wouldn't you agree?" I slowly blinked at the snake, his eyes still glued on the door.
"It's early." His yellow eyes slowly slid to me. He didn't look happy at all.
"Do you think a willful hostage has any use?" My blood chilled as I tightened my hands into fists. My knuckles ached as I glared down at the snake. "I'd say a hostage like that is better served as an example. Besides, it wouldn't be good if they keep snooping into things that should be left in the past." His eyes were hard and his lips were in a thin line as he stalked me.
"We have a deal." I snapped. He merely blinked at me. "I keep my mouth shut and do your dirty work. You leave Satoshi alone. That's the deal."
The room felt as if it was collapsing as I glared down at him, my resolve evaporating by the second as thoughts of what this snake has turned me into swirled in the forefront of my mind. He never wavered.
"Such a serious niece I have." He finally said, a wide grin cracking his lips. "I remember our deal very well, my little flower." My eyes twitched. "That's why you're going with him as a cover for your mission. You will be assessing which high society brats will make good cargo. I have a potentially lucrative deal I want to seal, but I need high dollar cargo as an offering. However, you will also take out any opposing operatives that have been stuck in there. Since this will be the first time you'll be away for this long, I've already sent a handler to keep… track of you." As my eyes narrowed, the gleam in his eyes brightened.
"I've never needed one before."
"You never had these circumstances before."
Where Satoshi isn't held hostage here and we could… run.
I swallowed at the thought as the snake's eyes became nearly blinding in amusement.
No- we can never run as long as he's alive. For some reason, my parents tried to run from him. Look how well that turned out for them.
"Any more questions?" I shook my head once. "Then enjoy your new school, flower."
Two hours later, Satoshi and I were in one of the many black SUVs the snake owns. A nameless guard and an emotionless lawyer smoking out the window sat in the front. In the back, Satoshi and I sat on opposite sides of the car, each staring out our respective windows. No one spoke. No even looked at each other besides the side glances I would take towards my brother.
When did he start growing facial hair?
It's been so long since I sat this close to him that saying the stubbles on his chin was a little startling. Has it really been so long that I hadn't noticed anything like this?
What else will I miss if things continue like this?
I repressed the loud sigh that wanted to escape as I turned back to my window.
As the trees passed, the usual thoughts popped into my mind that made me cringe. The "why me" and the "why my family" began to creep up. Closing my eyes, I willed those thoughts down before they could consume me.
Nothing good ever comes out of thinking about it because the reality of it means admitting heinous truths about my family. Like how my parents even knew that snake.
I saw the documents and family photos of my father and that snake together with, who I assume, is the snake's parents. It was frayed and covered in dust from where I found it stuffed in the bottom of a draw in the snake's office. They didn't look like they hated each other. On the contrary, they looked like they loved each other. That means this nonsense of that snake being our uncle is legally true, but what about that stuff about that snake and my father falling out over a woman?
Another picture I found in that same drawer was even more decrepit and hard to decipher. What I could make from it was my father, that snake, and a third man with spiky white hair sitting in front of an old warehouse as teens. Though the faces were pretty much destroyed from time and abuse that the photo had gone through (clearly that snake had tried to destroy it a handful of times before changing his mind), I recognized that warehouse. It was the same one I was taken to that night and it's the same one memorialized in a painting in that snake's office.
If my father was in a photo with that snake in front of one of the places that snake is known for conducting his business from, then what does that mean for my father's involvement? What does that mean for my mother? A part of me wishes- hopes- that my father met my mother outside of all the horrible things that probably happened to start this mess. That my father wanted out so he didn't have to involve my mother in this toxic life. The realist- the part that knows that snake knew better.
That snake wouldn't have argued with my father over a random girl he fell in love with. However, he would have done so vehemently if the woman was his "cargo". If that's true, then my father had to have known something absolutely heinous that the snake had done in order to keep that bastard from executing them on the spot. Since I've never seen the third guy in the photo before, he had to have played a large role in my parent's defecting. But, if any of that has any merit, then it means my father had an active involvement in forcing people to become "cargo". It means that he may have even forced my mother to become "cargo" at one point.
And that's why I don't dwell on it.
"Have a nice chat with uncle after I left?" the sound of Satoshi's voice startled me out of my thoughts. I turned to him with a questioning look, but he kept his gaze out the window.
"Not really."
"Then what did you talk about?" It was then that I noticed he was watching me through the reflection in the window. His sharp dark green eyes were unwavering as they stared at me passively.
"Nothing important. Just went over some enrollment details."
I can't tell him that the bastard threatened to kill him for talking back.
That would cause a firestorm I don't think I could protect Satoshi from.
"So you weren't plotting on what to tell the school about our deceased parents? Or how you still refuse to identify their murderer?" That caught the two men's attention up front.
The driver stared at Satoshi through the rearview while the lawyer side-eyed him, his lips thin as he dragged on his cigarette slowly.
Damn it Satoshi- they're going to tell that bastard!
"I told you, it was just enroll-"
"I didn't ask for a lie, Sakura." He finally turned towards me, his face still carefully blank while his eyes blazed with rage. "I don't care what that man says- I will hold you accountable for that until it's resolved. I won't allow you to keep spitting on our parent's grave by keeping your mouth shut." That made me bristle.
"I'm not!"
"Then how is staying silent honoring them?" His hard eyes weighed on me, melting my anger as I turned away.
Not like I can tell him the truth with the two lapdogs watching.
"You don't have to keep other people's secrets, Sakura." The softness in his voice shocked me. Looking back to him, I could easily see the determination in his eyes. "No one in this life is untouchable. Everyone bleeds red."
Is… is he saying he'll kill that snake if I tell him the truth?
For a split, naive moment, hope sprouted in my chest.
Maybe… maybe Satoshi could help me if I just-
"Hey kid, stop being a pest. It's unbecoming of a future politician to make empty threats towards his future constituents." The lawyer duly warned, his eyes glued on Satoshi. Satoshi grunted, shifting his eyes towards the lawyer with a bored expression.
"Isn't it unbecoming of a lawyer to assume something without evidence?"
The lawyer sneered but turned forward after the car pulled through a pair of iron gates with the name "Konoha Academy" written above it.
"That mouth is going to get you into trouble one day, boy."
"Not minding your business and doing your job will do the same for you, boy." The lawyer whipped around, face red as he bit down hard on his dying cigarette, but the driver grabbed his shoulder.
"Leave the kid alone, fix your face, and get your ass inside. I have other shit I want to get done today." The lawyer seethed as he flicked his cigarette into the cup holder while glaring at the driver. Huffing, he flung the door open and stormed out the car and inside the building. With him gone, the driver turned towards us, an annoyed look covering his face. "Keep your mouths shut." With that, he got out and started unloading our bags from the trunk. With the two hostile figures gone, I slowly relaxed as I let the hidden switchblade in my pocket go.
That wouldn't have been good.
"Until you decide to help me put our parent's murder to rest, keep your distance from me." Satoshi calmly stated, his eyes looking straight ahead. My heart sunk as I dropped my gaze to my feet. "We wouldn't want our dear uncle to think less of you because of me." With that, he got out of the car and headed inside.
I took a deep breath as I felt a familiar tightening start in my chest. Gently rubbing it, I allowed myself two more calming deep breaths before getting out.
This is going to be hell.
I hope you all enjoyed it! Let me know what you guys think in the comment section! I'm a little swamped with grad school and work at the moment but I will try to get the next chapter out within the next month. Also, I'm halfway done planning out the sequel to Save Me. I hope to have that out between October and November while also continuing this story. Anyway, thank you all for reading!