I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.
This is just a short drabble that i wrote out by hand when my computer crashed. I should have been doing my homework, but i didn't, and this is what came out of it.
At The End Of The Day
Sakura was not at all fond of the rain. As a child, she had feared the little drops of moisture would cause her hair to frizz. As an adult, she feared them for resembling tears.
But she would always be here, once a week for an hour, and every time she was, it rained.
Presently, she had been standing under the constant drizzle for much longer than an hour, staring at the slab of stone before her. On it: a name, a date, a line of words infused with neither love nor hate.
One hand was wrapped around the handle of the umbrella that shielded her from Kami's watery mood, the droplets of water sliding against the umbrella and to the ground. The other hand clutched a piece of crumpled paper.
'Ten years,' he said, so she had waited ten. She had placed the note in a secrete corner of her wardrobe, and had barely remembered to take it with her when she had moved house. She knew she should have burnt it, discarded it, destroyed it. Its mere existence, a constant reminder of him even though he had ceased to remain in a physical body… it bore down in the pit of her stomach as if she had swallowed bricks.
But she couldn't bring herself to rid it, so she hadn't.
Just this morning, ten years since that day – Sakura remembered that it had been raining then, as well – she had sat down at her desk, smoothed out the creases, and read it slowly and fearfully, and then read it again. And again.
It began, I shouldn't have written this and given it to you… but I couldn't really live with myself if I didn't.
It was horribly ironic.
I want you to know that I was happiest only when I could see your face, it said, and on the line below, it admitted to being corny.
I love you, Sakura, it said further down. I suppose it's the only thing I ever did right.
That day Sasuke came back, I was going to ask you to marry me. And out of the envelope appeared a ring, plain and unadorned yet blatantly beautiful.
And also: I told myself that it was good that he came back – and don't get me wrong, it was.
But I could see it see when we were together.
You weren't happy.
You still loved him.
Beside an unmistakeable tear stain, it read, I didn't want to hurt you. I just wanted you to be happy.
It said I'm sorry three times.
I'm sorry I made you cry that day.
I'm sorry I was selfish and stupid.
I'm sorry I'm not the one to keep your heart.
It continued, Kiba's such a nice guy… letting me borrow his fiancé like that.
But, it said, and she could almost picture his smile and his hand, warm against her cheek. At the end of the day, I just want you to be happy.
Love,
Naruto Uzumaki.
P.S. Please don't hit me the next time you see me.
She wanted to touch him, to see him, to hit him and tell him that he was such an idiot.
For some reason, the tears wouldn't stop coming.
ANBU had found his body lying in a ditch, alone, and smiling.
Sakura wiped at her face, doing little to halt the profusely flowing tears.
She turned back to the gravestone and lightly brushed her fingers against the name that brought another torrent of tears to the front lines. "You're an idiot, Naruto," Sakura whispered, choking. "You're the kindest, stupidest idiot in this world." She laughed softly. "I suppose that's why I love you."
She laid the letter down on the soil, next to the ever-present flowers that adorned the gravesite. She set the umbrella over it, shielding the paper from the moisture that would destroy it, and tilting her head back to let the rain wash over her, mixing with her tears.
