The Bagman's Direction

Chapter 5

Two, I was interested in men. More than interested, I was attracted, I was compelled to them, I was in love with them.

I was in love with him.

~

Sparrow didn't talk to me for a while, not that I cared. We didn't ever do missions together, he was never one of the soldiers to escort me on my bagman assignments. He was always by Sakura's side since the incident, even after she had healed.

Daddy had taken to Sakura and demanded she have security. She didn't speak English but Sparrow spoke Japanese and could translate. As well as being a translator for Daddy's crush, he protected her and escorted her places. For the most part she lived with Daddy as she didn't wish to return to Japan without Tachivana. She mourned his death and was cold towards all of us in the beginning. She soon realised she would not survive if she hated us and started to warm up. She bunked in the spare room but found being in their all day was a bore. Sparrow was paid to take her out, to the park, by the lake, to go grocery shopping, maybe even to dinner. Sparrow started teaching her how to speak English, starting with reading books and making her way through the classics. He got her to read, write and speak our language within eight months.

Daddy loved watching her learn. His eyes grew with fondness as she read to him. Every night at six o'clock her homework was to read a chapter of a book of her choice to Daddy. Daddy was so infatuated, her voice giving him goosebumps and taking his breath away. He would reward her with whatever she wished whether it was more books, more money, more makeup, more clothes...

One night Sparrow translated that she wanted an easel, canvas and paints. She got these one by one, it took her over a week to collect all she required. Sparrow took her by the lake every Sunday morning with her new materials and just watched her paint. Her brush strokes were insanely beautiful, that mellow mixtures of greens and yellows captured the environment around her completely.

This art paradise didn't last, sadly. Sakura had taken to painting portraits of Sparrow and when Daddy found these in her room he grew red with rage. He was jealous, envious. He wanted this woman to be his. He wanted her to fall in love with him as he had with her. She had brought colour to his life. She was the pink trapped in his cheeks that was prominent no matter how hard he tried to suppress his blush. She was the blue in his eyes that were as clear as a spring sky and held the same hope and bloom the season did. She was the whiteness in his knuckles that he clenched when she was near, that he hoped to caress her face with.

I couldn't imagine being in love with your captive. That's what she was. A prisoner they had claimed once killing her previous master. I couldn't imagine if she was in love with him, such Stockholm syndrome, such insanity.

On top of that English wasn't even her primary language and it was difficult for her to even communicate, for them to even communicate. The whole situation was difficult.

So Daddy took her belongings away and she screamed and she cried and she cussed and she called him a monster. As the soldiers stole her creative things from her room, she clawed at Daddy who stormed through the house to find Sparrow. Sparrow was in Daddy's office with me. We were both waiting to get orders with tension lingering between us. He still refused to acknowledge my existence since I couldn't kill Tachivana.

When Daddy entered the room we both turned around, curious to find Sakura sobbing as he tried to rattle her captor. Daddy firmly grabbed hold of Sparrow's shoulder and didn't miss a beat as he punched him straight in the eye. Sparrow stumbled back from the harsh impact, gripping onto the desk behind him to prevent toppling over completely. He cussed, raising a hand to his eye and staring at his attacker. He knew hitting Daddy back would get him as far as kneeling in the gutter with his hands cuffed behind his back with a gun to his head, so he restrained himself.