C̶r̶i̶m̶s̶o̶n̶ ̶B̶o̶n̶d̶s̶ | | ᵤcₕᵢₕₐ ᵢₜₐcₕᵢ

Ch.9- Paid Debt

What welcomed me was an unfamiliar ceiling i never saw before. Gone was the rocky ceiling i always wake up to. Where am I? I got up but for some reason my body felt weak and heavy and a throbbing pain pulsed in my head. I let out a low groan as i hold my head squeezing my eyes shut for my eyes feels like it'll fall out any moment. And on top of it, I'm in an unfamiliar room. The room was fairly decent for a person to live in but it was barren and doesn't have much furnitures.

"What happened? Where am I?" I muttered to myself while massaging my temples. "Is this hang over? I don't remember drinking last night tho."  Well yeah i drink. Sometimes. After a mission, especially assassination and sometimes when i misses my family to wash the sorrow away. Sake has been my partner, the one who knows my problems and sorrows. Or maybe the bartender of different stores i drink to. Meh, doesn't matter. Its not like they will remember when they have tons of drunken people blabbering in front of them everyday.

But what exactly happened to me? The last thing I remembered was talking to Itachi who was with a big blue guy and a hunchback. "Aha!" I shouted, snapping my fingers when the memories came rushing back to my head. The last night's fighting. The devastating news,the letter i got, the meet up at Tenchi Bridge, Zōsui and his company. How Zōsui's face crumpled with fear. With the memories, anger also made its way back in my system. I gritted my teeth and slowly got up the bed. Checking myself, I'm still wearing the same clothes, except that now its tattered and my wounds and injuries are wrapped in a bandage.

My bare feet touched the cold floor as i slowly tiptoed around the house. I stopped when the delicious aroma of food whiff in my nose. Following the scent,my feet brought me to the kitchen.  A sunny side egg was sitting in the table with a bowl of rice and miso soup. My stomach immediately growl upon the sight and with that i realized i hadn't eaten anything yet.

Contemplating whether i should eat it or not,i heard some footsteps behind me and before I could run away, a man spoke behind me. A familiar voice in which i confirmed who owns it the moment i turned around.

"Itachi?" I gaped at the half naked man in front of me who from the looks of it, just got out of bath for a towel is draped around his shoulders and water dripping from his long hair. My eyes wandered to his ripped abdomen and before it would go further down, i tore my eyesight away from him as i felt my cheeks heat up.

"You're awake i see. We're even now, I've paid my debt to you." He said.

"Debt?" I repeated out loud. "Oh that." I exclaimed when i realized what he is talking about. "Thank you for taking care of me. I should go now, i have an unfinished business to tend to." I said excusing myself before walking away. I halted when i realized something. Turning back to him, my eyes landed on his breath taking side profile that made me stare for what felt like an hour until he look at me and jolted me back to reality. "What? Staring is rude you know?"

"I-- ehem". I cleared my throat and composed myself, crossing my hands on my chest. "I've got some questions for you." I said. He look at me without saying anything before nodding his head. "Go ahead."

"What happened to that man? Are you his accomplice? Where did you hide him? Where---"

"One question at a time. But I've gotta answer all your inquiries." He said, cutting me off.

"First of all I'm not his accomplice nor working for him. We only have one leader and it's definitely not him." I felt a breath of relief when he said he's not with him maybe because he's my friend and it would break me to know he works for the person who destroyed my family.

"That's relief. I know the mighty Itachi would never work for that trash. I'm so gonna finish him." I said, clenching my fist so hard that the veins showed. Itachi just gave me a quick glance before sitting in the chair.