The Best Days of My Life
By BlackRaspberryDaydream
Every time I look at you,
you always look so beautiful.
Driving on the road again, the Chevy's packed
and it is dusk.
And I will take some photographs
so I can dream of you.
"Do you remember?" She said feverishly, setting down a glass of hot tea by the bedside for him.
"Remember what? I...remember much..." His slim lips replied.
Little by little, he peeled the damaged and aching shell of a body he possessed from the supple cot which he had lain in for quite some time now to sip on the tea. It must have been rounding a week, not counting the days before he had awoken in the overcrowded hospital wing to find the person he had been longing to see since the ANBU had sent him away. In his absence, he missed enough to cause him emotional anguish, which he continued to feel even though he was with her at the present. He could not forgive himself for letting her linger in their own home alone in such a state, then stand by and watch her work with their spectacular gift consumed by furtiveness.
"C'mon! You remember. I know you do." She prolonged the conversation, running a gentle hand through his thin hair, helping him lay back again comfortably.
"As I said," he answered with candor, breathing heavily at her touch "I remember...much. Tell me...what is it that...you wish for me to remember... and I will...remember it."
She paused momentarily. She hadn't known he could summon all of their memories as though they were files logged away in some cabinet like the ones she skimmed through each day. There had been an occasion long ago where once she would have found this unsettling, but their relationship had altered agreeably, so her attitude towards his fixated love for her gladly changed with it. She studied him intricately, noticing points about him that did not give her mitigation from his injured being. His inhalations were unsteady, vision hazy, thoughts imprecise, dizziness, and stalled speech. All signs pointed to the worst, but she did not dwell on the negative and centered herself inside the core of the positive. He was improving. The gasping had ceased, the stalling had dwindled, and the focus in his eyes was increasing gradually. She exhaled a sigh of relief. He was alive, but barely.
"...Sakura..." he said breathily. "How...how is the—"
"What do you remember first?" she asked teasingly.
Sakura didn't want to talk about something he might not get a chance to see.
His ashen face weakly beamed.
Can't say I've felt such twisting
in my heart this way.
We pitch a tent and have one sleeping bag
to stay away.
The fires burning; softly singing songs
so close to you.
"I remember... meeting you...love...at first sight..."
"What else?"
"I...I remember...watching you..."
"I remember that too..." she matched his frail smile with one of her own.
She caught a glimpse of his eyelids drooping. His consciousness was weaving in and out again. No. That was not good. He wasn't allowed to sleep. Not yet. She had to keep him awake, or else. She loved him too much to have that happen to her for a second time. The excruciating pain of witnessing his deterioration yet again was becoming too much for her to bear.
"You know what I remember?" she said desperately loud and tone quivering.
"...What...?" he responded, gulping air lightly, fluttering eyelashes to keep himself from plunging back into slumber.
"I remember...our first date..." She told him tenderly, tears brimming in her eyelids.
Sakura couldn't, not now. To cry in front of him because she was afraid meant all the courage she had strived to attain indicated the flaw in her elaborate wall of strength. When he saw the water swell, he extended a feeble hand out to her, cupping her face in his palm and stroking the side of her cheek with a bandaged thumb. She kept her strong smile as the crystal tears cascaded down from eyes shaded like precious emerald stones set in clear sunlight, placing the remaining slender-fingered hand that wasn't in his hair over where he touched her. Speaking without sounds, lips or words; an act reserved for lovers and lovers alone.
"...I will be...alright...Sakura." He said confidently. "...I am strong...you can depend on me...above all others..."
She remained quiet, save for a sob or two leaking from her gullet.
"...Do...do you remember...when we...when I first said—"
"I'll...I'll n-never...forget." Sakura croaked through cries.
She spoke the truth.
With all of her heart.
Do you believe
in love at first sight?
I think you do.
We're lying naked under the covers.
Those are the best days of my life.
He kept his misty gaze on her, taking in all of her beauty in one blink. She still loved him, he could tell, after what they had gone through, after how they had been hurt and betrayed by others who scoffed and mocked them for being different, after all of the disapproval of their eloping, after the arguments between Sakura's family, after making huge decisions at such young ages, after the fights and disagreements between the two of them, and after all of the heartache of separating at one of the most important junctures of their lives. They were two amazing people who were so unashamedly enamored with each other that rays of unsullied hate could have radiated from all directions, and their love would act as the durable shield. She was so caring, so affectionate, so warm. She was gentle, kind, and mild, but wild, rough, and voluptuous.
She was everything.
She protected and defended him.
She knew him better than anyone else.
She listened when his words fell on deaf ears.
She knew how to treat him and make him happy.
She made love to him when he wanted to start a fight.
With her assistance, he pulled her face closer to his own, lightly brushing his skinny lips over her full red ones, recollecting the first time they had kissed one another; his chest distended with desire for her to lie beside him again like they used to what seemed so long ago. Smoothly, he snaked his other arm around her waist, pulling the rest of her on top of him. Brief throbbing flowed through his limbs and muscles, but it ended promptly at the familiar sensation of her body on his. Oh, the nights he spent...the things he had done...the things she had done...
"Do...you remember?" He whispered somewhat seductively into the ear nearest his mouth.
"I remember..." She responded dreamily, forgetting every trouble that she'd contemplated earlier.
Can't take away those times
we stayed up and talked all night.
Chain smoking cigarettes and
three bottles of red wine.
Falling asleep together;
holding your body so close to mine.
Sakura halfway giggled. Oh, she recalled it well. He had been so panicky, and she had been so reckless. Perhaps it was her fault that they had gotten discovered, even though she had blamed him for it. A twinge of guilt ran up her spine, leaving her with more tears than she had bargained for. Sakura had been so cruel to him at times; petty quarrels about things that, in the end, mattered nothing by any means. He had only shown her utter devotion and endless adoration by giving her what it was she yearned for; she had chastised him for his efforts.
"I'm sorry..." she whimpered like a kicked puppy.
"For what?" he said roughly; as though he wasn't getting any oxygen.
"For what I did when we...we, um...we first..."
"Ohhhhh," he replied, smirking and fumbling with pink hair in his fingers. "You mean...shouting at me...when Naruto appeared...and we were...occupied..."
"You...remember that, too?"
"...That is one moment...I will never...ever forget...Sakura..."
Suddenly, a barrage of horrid coughs erupted from his mouth. Straight away, Sakura leapt from his wounded body and stood silently by his bedside; hands folded together over the lower half of her face, waiting to fetch him more hot tea. Once the spell had finished, she scampered to the opposite side of the bed where she had placed the tea and thrust the still hot cup into his grasp. His breathing had become heavy once again; why had it been so light when she was settled on him?
"...How are you?" Sakura asked hesitantly.
His first response was a meager wink.
"Must be...remembering too much...too fast..."
Sakura bit her lip hard to keep herself from laughing.
And in the morning
your eyes opened so innocent.
The sun is blazing; we are sweaty;
you look lovely.
Nothing else matters anymore 'cause you're
in my arms again.
She needed to stop; this was no laughing matter. Or was she being too serious? Telling herself that he was not currently dying would be a lie to Sakura and to him. It would also end up hurting her more if she pretended to have hope although he believed. His breathing had switched from heavy to ragged leaving a faint blue ring bordering his maw. The remaining blood that left normal peachy skin colors drained into a pallid yellow-green; it could have been mistaken for jaundice to the untrained eye. Sakura felt lucky he was still animate enough to stay conscious and spend some time with her.
"...Sakura..." he wheezed as though trying to catch his breath. "...How...how is the—"
"Let's not talk about that now..." she interrupted in a hushed voice "Soon...ok?"
"...No, Sakura..." He gasped firmly. "...Now..."
"That's not important now." Sakura insisted "The only important thing is your—"
"...Sakura..." He shakily snapped. "...Now."
She recoiled from him a bit, not used to hearing terror and anger in his voice at the same time. Sakura had dreaded this subject since the day she found out about it. It wasn't like she could tell anyone; if somebody knew, they'd send her from the shinobi camp and away from her fading husband. There was no way she wanted to speak about this now, in a place where the walls had eyes and ears so meticulous that even the smallest whisper could be perceived. In addition, she didn't want to have him look forward to something that he might not even get the chance to be around for. Another part of her craved to spill it all out; explain to him ever last detail, but the intelligent half of her knew it would only break his heart in two.
"...Lee...I...I..." She stuttered, not knowing what to say.
"...Sakura..." he muttered at a snail's pace "...Is it even...true?"
His pink haired wife tried to swallow the knot in the pit of her throat, but it was vain. She knew the right thing to do was to lie, tell him that it wasn't true so he didn't have to feel remorse when, hopefully it was more an 'if', he died. Sakura ogled the profound ebony eyes of her one and only husband; she could sense that Rock Lee did want her to confirm the legitimacy, and Sakura found it impossible to fib to those eyes of sheer love and concern.
"Yes, Lee..." She cried "I'm...I'm pregnant..."
Vibrant light of his youth and exuberance instantly returned in a blaze of joyful glory to those eyes that had been on her since she was an adolescent.
He was going to be a father.
Do you believe
in love at first sight?
I think you do.
We're lying naked under the covers.
Those are the best days of my—
Those are the best days of my—
Those are the best days of my life.
"...Why...?" he cried with her "Why...did...did you...not tell me...before?"
"...Be-because..." she paused to take a breath in order to stop her blubbering "I-I didn't...I didn't..."
"Did...did not what?" he said as though he was begging her.
"...I didn't want...want you to get..." –she made a erratic gesture with her hands—" you know...happy...in-in case..."
"...Happy?" his fuzzy black eyebrow slightly tilted incredulously.
"Well, I want-wanted you to be happy but..."—she sniffed and brought a tissue from her pocket to her cherry red nose—"...I didn't want to...to dis-disappoint you...if you...you know..."
"...If I...do not live?" he finished for her.
She could tell by Lee's tone of voice that he was starting to be distant from her. Perhaps now he had discovered that his chances of survival were depleting rapidly because of his jaundice-esque epidermis, shallow breathing and sore body; however, the fire of vigor that had reignited in those eyes of youth and passion that he owned gave her newfound optimism. Rock Lee's determination and fortitude had guided him, albeit narrowly, through tighter fixes than this previously; death had been in the picture. Enduring ridicule, vowing to improve, relentless training that destroyed parts of his body, exchanging blows with a demon, temporarily losing his dreams, surviving a grave surgery, and still managing to come out a winner with the love of his life on his arm and a infant, fathered by him, growing inside of her.
He had made it through more complicated things.
"...I will not...leave you..." Lee said calmly. "...Do you...not remember...what I said?"
Sakura stared at him blankly, knowing what he meant, but awe inspired by his tenacity in spite of that.
"...I protect you...until death..."
"Lee..."
"...It is not...my time..."
Why did she think he was wrong?
Oh, I never want to be without you.
So just stay with me.
I will love you endlessly.
Ooooooooh,
Oh darling, darling,
Ooooooooh,
Oh darling, darling
Luminous, gleaming rays of butter yellow and amber orange dissolved from the intoxicating shades of twilight into the obscurity of nighttime. Stars with usually healthy glowing dimmed with the purple-black sky; their pallor even fainter with the planets sizable brightness consuming their minute radiance. Sakura, frozen and forlorn, clutched protruding her stomach apprehensively; delicately cradling the child within. It was his baby, she could tell by the tiny movements as it wiggled for warmth. He or she was strong for only four months; thank god Sakura wore a big coat when she worked in the intensive care wing. In the bathroom mirror, it appeared to her as if she had engulfed a whole watermelon on her own and it was refusing to digest.
'...I really shouldn't have left him alone...'
She shouldn't have, but being pregnant was torture on your bladder.
With lightning speed, Sakura dashed back from the bathroom and into the short hallway. Thank goodness that Lee's room was first in the IC unit, or she could never make it there with good time. He had sworn an honest vow that he would try to fend off his own drowsiness, but his wife knew that he didn't have much strength left on his own...
'...God, I shouldn't have left him alone...'
Sakura could sense calamity looming like a humid fog above her head; whenever she took a breath, it felt as though nothing was going in but water. A lump the size of a paperweight mutated like a tumor in the pit of her esophagus; blocking what air she could fine from entering her lungs. Cold beads of sweat dripped from her brow and temples where the line of her hair met the skin of her skull; a panic attack. They transpired recurrently now that she was pregnant with her dying husband's child. It was certainly a fate almost as worse as the child dying, but Sakura could tell the baby was alive and well; a strong right kick, just like it's father.
Lee's death would ruin the plans they had laid. Both of them had agreed on the night of their engagement they desired a large family; they had set the bar to eight children. Sakura had been reluctant at first, but with the promise of motherhood and at least eight nights where Lee would do the favor of impregnating her, which was her favorite part, she found no valid excuse to bicker. They would both get all children and the sex they wished for. A win-win situation. Neither was left unsatisfied. Her husband was simply elated Sakura was willing to have his children in the first place. What a riot he was...
Prominently, having Lee die scared her. The feeling was mutual by many, yet Sakura had more of a reason to dismay than the others. Being a single mother didn't sit well with her. Rising while the baby wailed with no one to hold her or give her a break, no one to help warm bottles, change diapers, bathe, or sooth the babe, no 'parents', no 'mother and father', no 'our son-slash-daughter', nil. Zip. Nothing. The baby would grow in awe of the father it never could hold or cry on, and Sakura refused to remarry after the angst brought by Sasuke and Naruto. Sakura had already decided on the names in Lee's absence; Hasu for a boy because the name meant lotus, and Sayuri for a girl because of its meaning; 'little lily'.
She just didn't want to have motherly solitude with her Hasu or her Sayuri.
As Sakura sauntered in the room where her husband lay, she felt the heart that had become delicate in her chest.
His eyes were closed.
...And he was ghost white...
...Again...
Do you believe
in love at first sight?
I think you do.
We're lying naked under the covers.
Those are the best days of my life.
"Lee!!" she shouted loudly, causing nurse bystanders to gawk at the tiny IC room.
At his bedside, Sakura switched on her trained medical shinobi mode. Her hands found their way for his neck to check his pulse; faint, but beating. There was still a chance.
But if he slipped back into that coma again...
"Lee," She said firmly, shaking his shoulders "Lee? Lee, listen to me! Wake up!"
His dry lips mumbled something incoherent.
"Lee! Open your eyes! Now!"
His breathing turned into silent pants; he couldn't get air.
"HEY!" Sakura bellowed with all her power to the lazy nurse attendants. "Someone get me oxygen, NOW!"
She then turned back to her husband and began to shake him harder, urgently, and called out to him with a trembling plead.
"Lee, please!" she began to weep "Don't you remember? We're-we're married now! Remember our-our wedding night!? What-what we said?!"
There was no response; the blue circle around his lips darkened in color.
"GET ME SOME DAMN OXYGEN, NOW!!" Sakura howled to no one.
Lee was mumbling. Something important, she could tell; the motions and movements executed by his mouth were the same over and over again, but his voice died without air to breathe.
"ROCK LEE!" she screamed in tears "You-you can't DIE! I-I..." –Sakura shook him ardently—"I-I can't...can't do it alone..."
The nurses still did not return, so Sakura tried her own CPR; bewailing and yelling as she kissed life into the man she had loved practically her whole life, even though she wasted costly time to realize it. Eventually the nurses did arrive with the oxygen tank and mask, and Sakura prayed it wasn't too late.
Three of her hired hands stared at them both, then bustled away.
His eyes remained shut.
The blue ring had gone from a dark periwinkle to rich navy.
"LEE!" Sakura painfully sobbed, dropping to her knees, beseeching him "Remember when-when we first-first met?! What y-you prom-promised me?! Don't you remember your-your child?! Don't you re-remember?!"
Silence.
"Don't you...remember...anything..?"
Sakura progressively stood, placing one hand to his hair, ready to hear that flat line murder all of her motivation to live...
A hand reached out to touch her stomach bulging with pregnancy.
Then that all too familiar voice rang strongly in her ears.
"...I remember...Sakura..."
Sakura collapsed back to the hard linoleum floor.
"...Those were...the best days...of my life..."
They were the best days of hers too.
And there were many yet to come.
Do you believe
in love at first sight?
I think you do.
We're lying naked under the covers.
Those are the best days of my—
Those are the best days of my—
Those are the best days of my life.
Yep so this was my first real one shot. I kinda got bored, haha. So tell me what you think I guess. I love this song and I think about Sakura and Rock Lee whenever I hear it. Read and review, I'll appreciate it!
Song: Best Days by Matt White