The Bucket List
Sakura's hands were shaking. Okay, not just her hands, her whole body was shaking as she exited the hospital. She supposed this was a natural reaction to the news she had received. At least, she guessed it was. Her situation wasn't normal, so how could any reaction to it be classified as normal.
She wasn't just shaking, she was also numb. Numb with sadness? Fear? Lonliness? She didn't really know, but she thought that the numbness was preferable to the consuming grief that would grab hold of her later on.
The news hadn't entirely sunk in yet, she supposed. The break down would come later on of that she was certain. People didn't go through something like this without having an eventual breakdown. It could be in five minutes, a day, a few months... She wasn't sure when it would hit, she just knew it would.
She tried to smile at the familiar faces she saw as she walked down the street, but she just couldn't bring herself to. She couldn't even lift her eyes from the ground lying before her. Not only was her body going numb, he mind was as well.
"That's okay," she told herself. It was either that, or dwell on dark thoughts.
"What's the verdict?" Sakura asked smoothing out her skirt. She hadn't realized until now that she had been crumpling it in her fists the whole time Tsunade had been gone. The little bit of hope that Sakura had at just having a little head cold vanished when she saw Tsunade's eyes.
Sakura closed her eyes and shook the memory out of her head.
"Don't dwell on it," Sakura muttered under her breath like a mantra as she curled her fists and tried to walk back home with confidence. She could collapse later, but not right now. She wasn't going to cry for two years. She held her head high and marched towards her apartment. She wasn't going to breakdown in the streets in front of everyone. The tears could at least wait until she was in the darkness of her own home. The she would succumb to the heart-wrenching pain developing in her heart and gut.
"Sakura-chan!" a familiar voice called in the crowed freezing Sakura in place. "How did your check up go?"
Sakura turned around, and as soon as she saw her blue-eyed, blonde-haired friend all thoughts of keeping her head held high were thrown out the window. She rushed to Naruto and wrapped her arms around him, her body shaking more violently.
"What's wrong?" Naruto asked. "What happened, Sakura?"
She shook her head into his shirt. She wouldn't tell him here, not in front of all of these people. Vaguely she thought that she was already making a scene, what difference would shouting her news in the middle of the street make?
All of the difference. Everyone would know and look at her with pity. She couldn't wouldn't have that.
Naruto, her precious Naruto, seemed to understand and started to guide her towards her apartment and in the blink of an eye she was in front of her door waiting while Naruto put the key in the lock. When had she given him the key? She entered and her footsteps seemed to echo through her empty apartment as she went to her living room and fell to the couch.
She let out an exhale when Naruto sank onto the couch next to her. He would wait patiently for her to tell him. Maturity prevented him from shouting and demanding an answer from her. Sakura counted to a full minute before finding her voice again.
Tsunade was tearing up. Tsunade was tearing up. Tsunade told her the news the tears leaking from her eyes. Tsunade tried to collect herself. Doctors - much less Hokages - weren't supposed to show such emotion when giving the results to a patient.
Sakura felt the numbness engulf her body. Her stomach dropped and her mouth dried out. If she was the fainting type she was sure that at that moment she would have. She nodded before asking a question. She opened her mouth to ask it but nothing came out. She swallowed and licked her lips before trying again. "How long?" she hardly recognized her own voice.
"A year and half. Two years tops," Tsunade managed to work out. Sakura nodded again. "Sakura, I promise I'll do everything I can..."
Sakura looked up at her with a watery smile, "I know you will," she nodded a few times. "I know you will shishou..."
Tsunade wrapped Sakura in a hug and then Sakura stood up and left.
"Sh-She told me I'm terminal, Naruto," Sakura finally told him. She could feel him freeze. For once he was speechless, but what were you supposed to tell someone that found out they had a terminal illness? There were no comforting words, no reassuring glances, no anything that could be done.
"You know what?" Naruto suddenly exclaimed in the silence that had settled wiping at his eyes. Naruto had shouted, he had beat his fist into the couch, he had collapsed hyperventilating with dry sobs, and more than anything, he had cried until they both couldn't anymore. No words had been spoken, they didn't need to be, and they both knew that they were going to live normally. They didn't want her to live her last two years with regret. "You should write a bucket list!"
Sakura let out a shaky laugh. A suggestion only Naruto would make at a moment like this; she loved him more for it. "What would you say if I started one when I was twelve?"
"I would say you had a grim outlook on life," Naruto responded. Sakura smiled and pinched his arm. It was already like nothing had happened.
"I'll go get it," Sakura said getting up off the floor and running to her bedroom. She returned shortly with an old looking piece of paper in her hands. "I may have to change some of them..." she made a face at the paper before sitting down next to Naruto.
"Nonsense, what's number one?" Naruto asked leaning over.
"Marry Sasuke Uchiha," Sakura said. There was a silence before Naruto burst into laughter.
"If that one hadn't been number one I would have questioned if this list was actually made when you were twelve."
Sakura shrugged in agreement while Naruto wiped a tear from his eye. "Number two: Have Sasuke's children." Naruto and Sakura sweat dropped before moving on. "Number three: Become a respectable Kunoichi
"I think you can check that one off," Naruto said getting up to grab a pen. Sakura took it from him and checked it off.
"Number four," Naruto read aloud, "Beat Ino-pig in a fight." He couldn't hold back the laugh that built in his chest.
"Hey, I was twelve," Sakura said.
"Well, it's not as bad as number two," Naruto said bursting into laughter before even finishing his sentence.
"Shut up," Sakura said nudging him. "Number five: Travel to all five nations with my boys."
"Am I one of those boys?" Naruto asked.
"Of course," Sakura smiled.
"Number six," Naruto read, "See underneath Kakashi's mask."
"Doubtful, but we can still try," Sakura laughed. "Number fourteen: Meddle in Kakashi's love life AKA. Get him a girlfriend."
Naruto laughed quite loudly, "That'll be the day!"
"Hmm, I don't know. I'm quite skilled in the art of match-making. I am the one that finally got you and Hinata together."
"Which brings us to number fifteen," Naruto pointed out. "Making Naruto aware of how painfully obvious it is that he likes Hinata and she likes him back."
"Check," Sakura said crossing it off the list.
"I'm going to add one!" Naruto said taking the paper from her and scribbling something at the bottom of the list. He handed it back when he was done and Sakura's eyes skimmed over it before she read it aloud.
"Eat every flavor of ramen, in one sitting, at Ichiraku with Naruto..." She burst into a fit of laughter before grabbing the pen and paper from him and adding to another agenda. She said what she was adding as she wrote it down, "Watch Naruto get his butt whooped by Konohamaru..."
"Hey!" Naruto shouted. "That would never happen!"
"It's on the list now!" Sakura shouted picking the paper up and running away with it, so Naruto couldn't change anything.
After Naruto left - it had taken her a full thirty minutes to convince him she would be fine by herself - Sakura felt the sadness wash over her again. She placed the list on the table and read the ones that weren't read aloud. Share my first kiss with Sasuke, make Sasuke smile, be told by Sasuke that he loves me. Bring Sasuke home... Her breathing hitched and she moved the paper away before the tears could ruin it.
Just an idea I've had for a while, but to keep it going I need you guys' help! I want this to have a main story line but it'll be kind of like a collection of one-shots at the same time. That may not make any sense but hopefully it will as the story progresses.
So, send me in some prompts! It could be a bucket list idea, a sentence, a word, a song, anything!
The Fuzz
