Passion Fruit - By Imari Jade Page 0,3

fighting, Harper. I just want my normal life back."

He released her gently. "You know things are going to change in a couple of days. You have to be prepared to talk to detectives, the news media, and all the people in your life who have been wondering if you were dead or alive these last few months."

"I know. I'll end the drama soon. They won't find me for at least a couple of days."

"I need to get out of here so you can rest. I'll find out from the nurse what time they're releasing you tomorrow and the name of that anesthesiologist. And I'll come back to get you."

"Thanks," Shaundra said. "I don't know what I would do without you."

"You'd probably be the bride of some rich prince. Every man who has ever met you has fallen in love with you."

"It must be the cologne," she joked.

"But you don't wear cologne."

"Yes, I know but cougars have their own special scent."

He kissed her on the forehead and left.

Shaundra reclined in the bed, reached for the remote, and turned on the television, needing to find out what was happening in the world since she'd been asleep.

Satoshi Hayashi pored over the reports from the detectives he'd hired to find Shaundra. Everything they had brought him so far was useless. All he knew was that she was spotted in Miyagi Prefecture months ago. Everything pointed to the fact that she could have been killed by the earthquake or the tsunami, but deep down inside he didn't feel that she was dead.

They have always had this special bond. He knew when Shaundra was tired or feeling frisky. He could sense her presence anywhere in the farmhouse when she was home, and he even knew something was wrong with her just before he and Takumijo Yamazaki had found her unconscious in her bedroom a couple a months ago after she and Ichiro had a terrible argument. She wasn't dead, but she wasn't where he could put his finger on her either.

"What are you doing?"

Satoshi look up to find his bandmate and fearless leader Yori Morika standing in the doorway watching him.

"What are you doing here? Don't you have a home of your own now?" Yori and his wife Amaya had moved out of the farmhouse after Aomori returned from China. He pushed the stack of papers aside.

Yori continued into the room and over to the desk. He picked up one of the reports and read it. "Why are you torturing yourself?" He handed Satoshi back the report.

"Because I refuse to accept the fact that she's gone. Why are you so calm?"

"Because I have accepted the fact and made peace."

Satoshi sighed. "I wish it was that easy for me. What the hell was she doing in Miyagi? How did she get there?"

"These things we may never know," Yori replied. "We can't even be sure she was there. She is not the only African American female in Japan."

"Even if that is so, even if a mistake has been made, then where is she? People just don't disappear."

Yori nodded. "Yes, they do." He sat down at the table.

"Every day."

"Not Shaundra. I think she left on her own and for reasons unknown to us. Was she sick? Was she dying and didn't want us to know?"

Yori shook his head. "It is possible she left just because all of this had become too much for her. Or maybe some other man caught her fancy and she took off to be with him."

Satoshi frowned at him. "Dude, that's mean, even for you."

Yori shrugged. "But it could be true. Men gravitate to her like flies to a piece of meat. Maybe she found one younger than Ichiro."

"I don't believe that. She loved him."

"She loved me too, but she left me for Ichiro."

"When are you going to get over that? You were the one less than honest about your feelings for her. And I was stupid too. I should have spoken up. Then I wouldn't be sitting here going insane with worry."

"Okay, let's say for argument sake that she's still alive.

How did she manage to leave? Harper couldn't find any proof that she left Japan by plane or boat, so that only means that she left Osaka in a car. Who did she know in Osaka who could have arranged for her to leave here?"

"The only person I can think of is Harper, but didn't he hire an investigator to search for her too?"

"So he says," Yori replied. "What if he was lying? He