Bonded Souls

Chapter 3: Assistance

The following day Sasuke built the fire back up from the night before, glad that the thermostat had finally helped bring more heat to the cabin. More snow appeared to be falling outside, though it was nothing to worry about; he would need to see if he could get the snowblower working to avoid having to shovel all of it by hand. That also meant finding more gasoline... and also taking the time to retrieve the snowmobile that had been left behind.

He knew it was time to make the call he'd dreaded having to make. He'd done the mental tally and knew which one of his old friends would be closest; Suigetsu was away at a swim competition as of last week, and Jugo had gone with him. They were both far away in Suna for the competition and weren't slated to return until next week.

Pulling out his burner phone, he hesitated. Authorities couldn't trace the phone, but would she answer? Hell... what would she even do if she found out it was him? Karin herself worked in law enforcement... sort of. Last he'd heard, she was in prison policing, which didn't bode well for either of them. He'd heard from Suigetsu that she was considering private security, but whether she'd done it or not was another question.

With Sakura still asleep, he dialled the number, half of him praying she wouldn't pick it up, the other half hoping she would.

"Hello?" Her familiar voice came over the other line. Sasuke was silent, contemplative. He had to be careful what words he chose. Cryptic was key. Something only Karin would figure out, just in case someone else was monitoring her phone.

"Miss Wonderley. The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon, which enables it to strike and destroy its victim." Without another word, he hung up, closing the phone without waiting for her answer. Karin would get it. Obnoxious and obsessed as she was, Karin was one of the most clever people he knew.

"Miss Wonderley?" Sakura's groggy voice interrupted his thoughts as she stood from the futon, rubbing sleep from her eyes. His heart stuttered at the sight. She was so adorable with her hair messed and sticking up, a sleepy look on her face as she staggered over. She was still exhausted, and her brain was struggling to wrap around precisely what he'd said. It sounded like a familiar, famous quote, but she couldn't quite understand it.

"Don't worry about it. It's a coded message." He slipped the phone into his pocket. He'd prepared for this day. If his brother had been smart enough to burn down their home, then he was smart enough to have built a following to protect himself all these years. The real question was, how in the hell had they managed to link things to him? More accurately, how had the DNA report stated the victim was related to Danzo Shimura and subsequently pointed to him as the prime suspect? His outburst in the precinct hadn't helped his case, nor had the fact that it was Sakura's old, uninhabited house... but whoever had set this all up knew more than they were letting on.

Something big was happening. Bigger than they'd anticipated. And here he was, on the run, while the rest of their friends were sitting in the eye of the storm like sitting ducks.

"Oh... coded messages," Sakura remarked. "It's too early to speak in codes. Wait, why are you up early?" She glanced at the time. "Disgustingly early, as you'd call it." Sasuke was the worst morning person she'd ever met. He griped and grumbled any time his alarm went off, and he'd had a lot less sleep than she had the night before. She reached for his hand, intending to drag him back to the bed, but he winced and drew away at her touch. Then she noticed his palm; she could see that the top few layers of skin had been ripped away, and there was dried blood on it.

"Your hand, it's injured," she said quickly, grabbing it but doing her best not to touch the wound.

"It's fine, don't worry about it," he reassured, trying to draw his hand away.