Disclaimer: Naru not mine.

diamonds they fade

i. tennesse waltz

Music floods the apartment, the beautiful vintage sound of an old vinyl record. Unplayed and untouched for years, the record had been forgotten in the attic, cast aside in a flimsy cardboard box attacked by dust and cobwebs. Though the track was damaged, catching and stumbling over notes meant to be fluid, the needle doesn't stop trying to rewrite familiar grooves—the ambiance of old, broken memories trying to slip into order once again.

Sakura stands in the center of the open room, uncharacteristically dim considering its floor-to-ceiling windows, and stares at the grainy hardwood panels of the floor. The song is a waltz, and she feels the urge to move. She wants to move across these worn panels like they used to, so close their legs tangled and their hands everywhere at once, she couldn't tell whose were whose. She even chuckles in remembrance—they didn't even really know how to dance. They clumsily wobbled around; always in a buoyant dance no matter how mellow the tune.

The music struggles on. Sakura makes up steps across the room; her feet agile and light, yet still causing the floorboards to creak louder than she remembered. Sakura closes her eyes and can see him and feel him, intense dark eyes smoldering and a strong hold enveloping her. She imagines his long navy locks tickling her face like they had a million times before, whenever he leaned his tall frame over her. She must look silly twirling around with her arms held up, as if supported by an invisible man, and when she realizes this she is flustered. She shakes her head and graying hair falls in her face, and then it occurs to her—it's been years.

Suddenly her moment of solace is interrupted, and Naruto is holding her from behind.

"Sakura..."

Sad songs seem strange with him. The aging woman steps out of his half-embrace and quickly cuts the record. "I'm sorry, Naruto. Was the music too loud?"

Silence passes between them, and both know that noise is not the issue. The forever-boyish man hides his hurt behind bright blue eyes and tells his wife that it wasn't, and instead asks if she would like to dance with him. She laughs full-heartedly now and calls him silly. "I can't dance, Naruto, I never dance. You know that."

There is another pause, and again both know that her heart and her hand were never meant for him.

ii. superman

When word came, he was at her doorstep within minutes. Maybe even seconds. He rapped the door only once, sharply; despite his bubbling attentiveness, he knew when to be patient. It only took one knock to tell her that he was there, and he would wait until she needed him.

He was her superman then, when she thought maybe she was drowning. The door to her apartment opened almost immediately, and two shaking arms shot out into the open and desperately latched on to this makeshift hero, dragging him into her abyss.

The first few days were almost easy. Kleenex. Ice cream. Back rubs. Naruto dutifully waited by the pinkette as she mourned her lost fiancée, their lost teammate. Naruto himself was most deeply humbled by his best friend's death; the feeling littered more with tints of regret, resentment, and utter loss. But he grieved on his own time; his responsibility was the woman who had long since chained his heart. Sakura spent most of the time curled up in blankets, sprawled across the hardwood floor in the center of her apartment. Some nights, Naruto stayed over to keep an eye on her—sitting behind her as she leaned into him, both facing the room's famous floor-to-ceiling windows. Windows left unadorned for Sakura to always look out at the sparkles in the sky.

These nights Naruto wanted to fly her out the stars and back, just to make her forget.

As weeks passed and became months, the love-strangled man was feeling more forward, believing it was time for Sakura to move on. He deliberately lingered his kisses on her forehead and deliberately kept her hands warm in his whenever they were outside, making sure Sakura was aware of his long-standing feelings.

One night in the apartment, lying on her back in the center of the room, she was soft and sad, "Naruto…you can't be him."

"I know." He was dead last, up against number one, after all. (First in more ways than one)

"Then why are you…"

"I can't be the superman you want me to be, I can't fix it all. But I'm here, just the way I am, as I have been from the very beginning. For you. All for you."

iii. sideways

It is just days before his wedding day when Sasuke is called for a classified S-rank mission.

"Your timing is impeccable, Tsunade."

"That's Hokage-sama to you, Uchiha. And I really am sorry, please tell Sakura. You're all we have right now. With the Akatsuki threats, the Elders won't even let Naruto leave the village, much less send him marching on a mission straight into their den. We need you."

Later, when the groom-to-be is stalling from telling his bride-to-be of the looming implications of this new mission, he is intercepted by his best-man-to-be. Naruto had been more jubilant than usual the past few weeks, helping the couple plan their wedding day as extravagantly as possible—flower colors, cake flavors, music styles—but the whole village could see through his cheery façade. (Everyone but her)

Naruto approached his friend hesitantly, knowing what needed to be said. "Teme—"

"Save it, I know."

The sheepish nin became serious, "Time won't take my feelings away. If something happens…"

Sasuke looked up from sharpening his weapons, navy bangs no longer masking his nearly livid eyes—he understood what it meant. If he didn't come back, Naruto would take his place. The somber assassin rose from his work and turned his back to his rival and oldest friend. Oddly, his parting words…

"Thank you."

.

OMG. I'm so sorry this is so angsty and overly dramatic. Like, i think it's a chronic condition for me to write dramatic pieces. So it's Mooncake's first post in THREE years! Haha, sophia and i have grown quite a bit, i guess. we're about to go off to college and somehow i found myself back where we started-dreaming up moments between our favorite characters!

Stories to come: I'm working on a chapter AU, a medical AU centered around SakuSasu (of course) that i'll probably work more on in the coming months, and except more from this drabble series type thing! The next chapter will be three more drabbles like this, and hopefully a little more light and fluffy?

Hope this is a passable attempt at a story, haha... I'm glad to be back, ff!

-Linda

edit: took out the lyrics