Friendship Knows No Bounds (a sasusaku fan fic)

Chapter 22

"Sakura? What's wrong?" Temari asks, coming up behind me. "Shit." She says, noticing the package. I shoots a glance around before we look at each other. 

We quickly gather the fallen groceries plus the package and hurried inside. We threw the food on the counter and sat at the table, both of us staring at the package. 

I felt an intense rage bubble in my gut mixed in with an intense fear. 

"Well, we knew this would come eventually. I just hoped it wasn't so soon," I say. 

"What do you think they'll ask you to do this time?" She asks annoyed. 

"Only one way to find out," I reached for the package, she didn't stop me. I pulled at the paper and string that wrapped the package, it crumpled at my touch. 

I unraveled layers and it seemed to take forever. It was agonizing and even though I was the one opening it the anticipation just might be the death of me. 

The final product was a small measly box. I took off the lid and pulled out the small, neatly folded piece of paper inside of it. I unfolded it and smoothed it out on the table so Temari could read it too. 

We found you. 

Was all that it said in neat, bold, cursive. 

I sighed. 

"That's it?" Temari asked. 

"They just wanted us to know that they are watching. They know where we are and aren't afraid to use it to their advantage. It's their way of freaking us out. And it's working." 

Mysterious packages and letters aren't exactly knew to me. I've gotten them before and each one is just as frightening as the last. 

I've mentioned that I have done things that I am not proud of; well these packages are the reason why. 

Usually they come with instructions. Instructions to things such as steal an item from a museum to raiding a convenience store to even taking a certain target. If I don't follow through with what these packages ask of me, bad things happen; Either to someone I love or something to disrupt my environment. I never liked the outcome and it always weighed down on my conscience. Even though Temari was assigned to a secret organization to protect me, somehow it was impossible to protect me from these passages. They always had a way of finding their way to me. 

If we tried, or even thought about taking the packages to the agency to get help, again, bad things would happen. It could even go as far to people losing their lives so Temari would usually end up helping me instead so I wouldn't get caught. Neither of us like doing it and she didn't have to, but it meant a lot to me that she would go so far as to help me. She was a true friend and one of the few I had to rely on. 

She could lose everything by helping me. She could lose her job in the agency and she could lose her chance at being the kasekage. She could be cast out of her village and made to be an outcast forever. Her brothers would be in the same boat and it would all be my fault. 

I can't reveal who these people are, I'm not completely sure myself. I also can't reveal any information I might know. I've probably exposed to much already so already I am putting you in danger. 

"Well. . ." 

"I think that this is our warning. They are just letting us know that we are still under their control. It terrifies me, but I'm not going to worry about it until they actually assign me a mission. I said I was going to try and live a normal life and I want to fix things with the people of my past, although I'll have to be a lot more careful about it now," I say, I was determined no matter how badly my body was shaking.