Falling Together
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. The words in bold were said Marilyn Monroe.
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"I think the reason we sometimes hang on to something so long and so tight is because we fear something so great won't happen twice." –Anonymous
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I believe that everything happens for a reason.
People change so that you can learn to let things go.
Temari looked at her brother carefully, watching his movements. It was a habit now that whenever he was in the room, Temari would watch him to see the hundreds of changes. Gaara never liked tea leaves, preferring tea bags, but these days, whenever Temari came down in the morning, she would see the redhead making tea, leaves steeping in the cups as he would watch the morning sunrise. And the part that Temari appreciated most was that Gaara already had a pot of coffee going.
Gaara used to never get cold either. A difficult thing to happen in Suna, true, but during winter and the nights were a little longer and colder, Temari would come in after a mission to see Gaara huddled in a blanket on the couch, crimson hair a sharp contrast to the worn browns of the blanket.
Temari would see these things and smile, because Gaara wasn't his old self anymore. He didn't glare as much, and he never got much sleep, but Temari figured that was a work in progress. His smiles, tiny as they were, would come a little more often and Temari never ceased to get a little amusement from seeing Gaara napping on his paperwork.
Things go wrong so that you can learn to appreciate them when they go right
Anyone who knew Team Gai knew that Rock Lee could not cook. He would try and await you eagerly when you tested it, but it was never good. Far better than Gai's attempts, as the food was, in fact edible, but not good.
Tenten could never deny Lee when he asked her to come over because he'd found a new recipe he wanted to try. She had to admit that he was (very slowly) getting better, but nine times out of ten, something got burned. Today was one of the many days that Tenten was over. Lee was trying to find something called basil. Neither had any idea what that was, but Lee had asked Ino and the blonde had handed him a small plastic bottle containing the herb. The problem now was that Lee couldn't remember where he put it.
Now, Tenten never minded coming over. She actually rather liked it. The apartment was homey and smelled of sandalwood, honey and pine. It was a familiar smell; one Tenten had come to constantly associate with Lee and his exuberance. They would talk about everything and nothing while Tenten would help with chopping the vegetables or understanding a certain instruction.
Lee came to her with a pot of steaming beef stew, something that he'd tasted once and loved and wanted to be able to make it for himself. Tenten, a little reluctant, ate a spoonful and smiled at him. Not a fake smile or a half-smile, half-grimace, but an honest-to-Kami smile. Lee grinned back delightedly before hugging her tight.
You believe lies so that you can learn to trust no one but yourself
The street vendors in the small marketplace in the slightly larger civilian village were always desperate to sell their wares. Sakura understood this of course. It was the source of income for their family. But having been cheated one too many times, Sakura would usually inspect from afar, carefully checking the fruits for bruises and rot, the bread for any mold or signs of age. Shinobi usually preferred to shop in the civilian villages because of their low pay, but the shinobi markets had fresher foods and the vendors weren't foolish enough to try to lie to a shinobi.
The pinkette turned a corner, finding nothing in the fruit stalls and decided that she could at least find some decent spices. Those didn't go bad. The spice stalls were stocked high, the vendors smiling. It was quite the difference from just around the corner where the smiles were false. But then, Sakura knew all about false smiles.
And sometimes, good things fall apart
Things were more awkward between the two best friends than either remembered. Had it always been so difficult to break the tense silences between them? There were sometimes comfortable silences, like when they sat and watched the sunset reflect off the water, their bare feet brushing the surface.
They couldn't really be called best friends anymore, could they? Even calling them friends was pushing it.
So better things can fall together
Those things hadn't been helped when Tsunade assigned Naruto the ANBU mission of watching over Sasuke. Instead of the quiet awkwardness between them, there was an edge to the silences now, like a stronger barrier had come between them. This only served to make Naruto angrier, because he missed the ease of conversation and the familiar presence of his best friend.
The anger usually made its way to frustration and that frustration was let out when Naruto jerked off the ivory fox mask and pressed his lips firmly against Sasuke's. The blonde feared that Sasuke wouldn't respond. Hell, even if the brunette got angry, it would be better than any of the monotony of the previous months.
Sasuke was startled when he felt the warmth of Naruto's lips against his own, but smiled into the kiss and pressed his own lips back, disappointed when Naruto pulled away, studying him with a slight grin forming.
"Thought you would've been mad."
"Me? Mad? Wrong guy to kiss, dobe." Sasuke smirked and pulled Naruto into another kiss.