Hearts and Strings (Sasori Love Story)

Chapter 14 - The Choice

Chapter 14 – The Choice

[Ina’s POV]

“Are you making me choose between you and my life?” I cleared, not quite believing of what I was just hearing.

He looked at me for a minute before muttering, “Can’t I just be your life?”

And that left me speechless. I admit, Sasori was part of my life, but what about me? What about my own life? I wouldn’t want to depend on him. I needed him to depend on me too. And if we ran away from here, I would now be considered as a S-Rank criminal too because I was with one. The Tsuhickage would send a search team to bring me back.

And who knew what he might do to me?

“Not this, Sasori,” I shook my head. “Don’t let me choose,”

“I already am,”

“No…”

“Please…just choose,” his eyes pleaded for me to choose him instead of my job. His eyes showed full of emotion. I now wondered if he was the same Sasori that I just revived before. The Sasori standing in front of me now was different, way too different.

“I c-can’t…” my voice cracked but I continued. “I can’t choose you, Sasori. You are a great factor in my life but without my life, my job, I am worthless,”

“Thank you for answering,” he smiled a weak smile and opened the door.

“Where are you going?”

“Away from here,”

“You’re leaving me?” I looked at him desperately, hoping for him to say no, but instead, he just nodded. “You don’t have to do this, Sasori. You can stay, with me,”

“I can’t,” he mimicked my reaction earlier, but his voice didn’t crack, mine just really did. “I can’t ruin your life, Ina. Your life is way more important than mine. You’re right in every way possible, you can’t choose me. I am not your life, but you are mine,”

“What?”

“You are my life, Ina,” he stated. “I want the very best for you, and with me staying with you, it’s going to ruin your life. I’m Sasori of the Red Sand, a S-rank criminal, a missing ninja, and a former Akatsuki member. Everytime you’re with me, your life would be put in danger, and I don’t want that to happen, especially to you,”

“The Tsuchikage will keep it a secret,” my voice was pleading, pleading for him to stay. “Just stay, Sasori. I want you to stay,”

“You didn’t want to stay with me,” he whispered. “What’s the use?”

“I want to stay with you,” I pointed out. “But I want to do that without leaving my life,”

“As a saying goes, Ina,” he then looked straight ahead. “You can’t have two lives. One is enough,” and then he vanished into a black smoke.

My eyes were widened at the sudden turn of events. I fell down on my knees and felt useless for once.

The first time I fell in love with someone, I learned that he was a S-rank criminal and he lied to me about his past. The second time that I fell in love, I already knew that he was a S-rank criminal from the very start but he left me.

I thought that the two of us would have a future together, but how could something be so unclear?

Was it my fault?

Was it my fault for choosing my job?

Of course it was.

Even without my job, we could have survived. Sasori would have thought of a way for us to be happy.

Why didn’t I depend on him more?

Why didn’t I trust him enough for me to choose him instead of something that I believed was my life?

I woke up and for the first time in twenty-one years, I felt empty and hollow. It was like nothing mattered to me anymore. I knew it wasn’t a dream, if it was, why didn’t I wake up if that dream was already categorized as a nightmare?

I already changed my clothes just in time for a knock on my door to snap me out of my thoughts. I used my chakra to immediately answer the door. When I opened it, Tama—Hiroto greeted me with a smile on his face. “Good morning!” when he saw the look on my face, his smile faltered. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” I mumbled. “Let’s train now,”

“At least tell me why you look unhappy…” he insisted but I just glared at him.

“It’s none of your business!” I snapped then realized what I just did. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to shout at you. Many things are just clearly bugging my mind,”

“Like that red-head?”

“How’d you know?” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Because I didn’t sense his chakra inside your apartment,” he explained. “Did he leave?”

“He did,” I whispered but with a ninja’s ability, he was able to hear that. “He made me choose between him and my job,”

“Your job is your life,” he pointed out.

“That’s what I told him,”

“And you made the right choice,” he immediately added. Even with Hiroto’s words, they weren’t enough to make me feel better. My heart was filled with so much sorrow because I knew right from the very start that all of these were my fault.

I knew I made the wrong choice.