Caught in the Darkness

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: The Last Second Pt. I

Hanako finally reached the gates, 20 minutes later. Surprisingly, Kakashi was already there, resting his back against the large wooden door as he waited for her. "I recall you saying: 'Make it one hour Kakashi, please don't be late.' Or did I hear wrong?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her. "What's your excuse?" His eyes scanned her from head to toes, noticing her damp hair and shirt. "And why are you wet?"

Hanako looked at him and rolled her eyes. "You know...the usual. A black cat crossed my path, his name was Sasuke." Hanako shook her head. "We had to discuss something. It was important."

"More important than an A-rank mission?"

"I'm here now, Kakashi." Hanako sighed tiredly. "Let's go before it gets late."

"All right, start the timer. Let's hope you're dry by the time we finish this mission, 48 hours begin now."

* * *

Sasuke sat in Hanako's apartment, looking through the window. Hayabusa stood right behind him. "Are you just going to sit there all night?" Sasuke didn't listen to him, he was still focused in his thoughts.

"Are you busy?" he asked.

"I have a few minutes, why?" Hanako frowned.

"We need to talk." Hanako looked at him with a serious face and moved out of the way, inviting him in. Sasuke sat in her couch and looked at her with a serious expression. Hanako only smiled feeling uncomfortable with the situation as she closed the door behind her.

She had just met his brother, and she was aware that Sasuke wouldn't be too happy if he knew about it, but it couldn't possibly be that he found out, could it?

"I found this in my window, I think it's for you," he said, pulling a paper out of his pouch. Hanako looked at it with widened eyes.

"Did you read it?" The Uchiha girl asked as she took the paper from him. It was a letter from the Water Daimyo detailing the issues in the Hidden Mist Village about the revolutionary parties. The Daimyo didn't trust the Kirigakure Village so he would often resort to her for missions.

"You didn't tell me about your hobby." Sasuke pursed his lips.

"When you're a rogue, you need to get money by your own means to survive," Hanako said, leaving the letter over the coffee table. "This is the easiest way."

"So, is it true? Are you a criminal?" Hanako sighed and took a sit beside him.

"Yes, I was." Hanako looked at him. "S-rank, I was actually in the first page in the Bingo Book. Only the ones considered the most dangerous make it to the first page..." she commented with a dry chuckle. "In five years though, I eventually dropped behind until people finally believed I was dead."

"May I ask why you were put in the Bingo Book...?" asked the Uchiha boy as he looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Because I left without saying anything..." Hanako lied quickly. "So, I was considered a traitor." That wasn't a lie, though.

"I am aware of that..." Sasuke commented lowly. "You said you would come back. I waited for you. Hours. Days. Months. Until I realized," Sasuke looked at her. "That you weren't coming back. And five years later, you're casually living in the apartment right next to mine." Hanako looked away from him. She felt terrible about it, and even to that day she still questioned herself. What was going through her right mind? Sasuke was barely seven years old, Ryusuke and Hayato were only four. She should have stayed with them. She should have been the family they still had. But she abandoned them. She would never forgive herself for that, being alive and leaving them to their luck was far worse than dying and not being there at all. She disappeared when they needed her the most.