Dear Readers
This is a fanfic based off of the song "This Ain't Nothing" by Craig Morgan. It is a very good country song. Even if you are not into country, I encourage you to listen to it and watch the music video. It's very touching.
Please note that all the lyrics to the song are incorporate into the text and are in bold print. Also they are not in exactly the same order as they are in the song nor are all the words in the story.
Okay, that is all I have to say right now except PLEASE ENJOY.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto or any of it's characters. I do NOT own "This Ain't Nothing" or Craig Morgan. I only made up the Character Kei and the story.
Kei couldn't believe his luck. After four years of working overtime, underpaid, underappreciated, he was finally out in the field. Working for ANBU network was any aspiring reporters dream. He did everything the company asked of him: working holidays and double shifts, running errands on his own time, giving up all time with his family and friends, all for this one chance.
The field reporter called in sick and ANBU needed someone to cover the tornado that hit just outside Konoha. Kei jumped at the chance and volunteered to the director as soon as he heard.
Flashback
The news room was a buzz of activity. Every employee running around trying to put finishing touches on the set before the 5 o'clock news started. One individual in particular was busiest of all. Tsunade, the producer, was yelling orders at anyone in her line of sight. The fifty-but-looked-thirty year old was the best in the business and ANBU was lucky to have her; despite her slight drinking problem.
Kei was fortunate to get within speaking range before Tsunade noticed him.
"You there! Kei, right? I need cameras 2 and 3 moved into position for Izumo and Kotetsu now," yelled Tsunade, her mind and eyes already drifting to the next problem.
"Ms Tsunade, ma'am. I heard Anko called in sick." Kei tried to casually mention.
"What," questioned Tsunade, trying to re-route her brain from planning a set to a sick coworker. "Yes, yes. She has the flu and is puking or something. Now move those cameras."
"Have you found anyone to cover her yet? Called the weekend guy or sent out one of the regular reporters?"
"No, nobody is answering their damn phones and now I'm trying to fill ten minutes of air time without that human interest piece. I'm going to fire one of their asses; whichever one I see first gets the can!"
Kei interrupted her scarily detailed plans on how she was going to exact revenge. "Ma'am, I don't want to overstep my bounds but I did study to be a reporter at university. I could go do the field report for you."
Tsunade finally paused in her hectic planning and looked Kei straight in the eye. "YOU want to do this piece? You expect me to send an untried newbie out in the field and to fill 10 whole minutes of air time?"
The disbelief in her look was embarrassing to Kei but he knew that this was his one shot. So he took a deep breath, looked her dead on with a steady gaze and said," You will not regret it."
Kei held his breath, kept her gaze and nearly passed out when she nodded and said," Ok. Take a camera crew with you and go. Now. We can hold that piece off until the very end of the show, the last thing. You'll need that much time to get there. Take a few clips as you're driving and we can use it to introduce you; buy you a few more seconds. Find a farm or house you think will be good, but make it quick. You'll need all the time…"
Kei barely comprehended all that Tsunade was telling him. All he knew was that this was it. He was finally going to have his chance in front of the camera.
End Flashback
The next hour had been a blur. All Kei knew was that the van carrying him and his crew was slowly picking its way through the piles of debris that made up the outer edges of Konoha after that horrible tornado. He was looking around, trying to find that perfect home to conduct his interview at.
Oh, don't worry, Kei wasn't heartless. He felt bad for the people that had lost their homes but it made a great first story. The viewers would remember him for this. They would send in to ANBU to request to see him on the air again. It would be wonderful, thought Kei.
"There. That's the place," Kei said to the driver. He pointed over at a completely demolished house with one old man sifting through the rubble.
"It's about time," the driver muttered under his breath. One hand was steering them through the debris up to the house and the other was holding a cell phone to his ear. Kei could faintly make out Tsunade's voice yelling through it. "We're almost atta time. We'll grab the equipment, you ask/demand an interview with the old geezer. We don't have time to find anyone else."
"Right," Kei nodded. The van stopped and he jumped out. "Excuse me, sir. My name is Kei and I'm a reporter for ANBU network. Do you have time to conduct a brief, live interview with us for the 5 o'clock news?"
"Sixty seconds!" Yelled the cameraman.
Kei nodded, grabbed his mike and was turning to the old man when he spoke. "Cutting it a little close, are you not?"
"I can do this," responded Kei. Then he remembered that he didn't actually get a positive answer from the man. "I-I mean if you're willing to do the interview," Kei stuttered with a not so hidden plea in his voice.
"Might as well. There's nothing around here that can't wait a few more minutes," replied the old man.
Kei gave a sigh of relief.
"25 seconds!"
"What's your name," Kei asked the old man while fixing his shirt and tie.
"Sasuke Uchiha."
Kei finally really looked at the old man. He looked about early 70's and was fairly tall. His hair was a deep gray but still had a little bit of the black of his original color. His eyes were a compelling black. All in all, Kei figured that the man was quite a looker in his younger years. And if that wasn't enough to draw suitors, the man was an Uchiha; he would have drawn a sizable crowd in his teens and twenties.
The Uchiha Investment Corp. was the biggest and most influential company in the whole of Fire Country. It owned almost half of ANBU and many other successful and very profitable companies. The Uchiha family was next to extinct, the last Kei heard. There is a board of directors running the company and they only keep the name for the prestige. That the old man was an actual Uchiha was even better for Kei's story. The last surviving member of an historic clan, whose house was just destroyed; Kei was almost beside himself.
"5…4…3…2…"
The cameraman pointed at Kei to queue him. "Thank you Izumo. I am Kei Matsumora reporting from just outside Konoha city limits where a devastating tornado has ripped through the surrounding area. I'm here on the farm of Sasuke Uchiha to get his reaction on this horrifying event. Tell the folks please mister, what are you going to do? Now that this twister took all that's dear to you."
Kei pointed the mike at Sasuke, eagerly awaiting the hopelessness of his response. Kei expected a couple different responses crying, a hopeless shrug, a sigh while looking away. Sasuke had lost his home and everything inside; Kei just knew he would give some kind of depressive response. Just like Kei knew he was going to be promoted for this.
But then something happened that Kei didn't expect at all. Sasuke just smiled at him. "Boy, let me tell you something, this ain't nothing."
Kei just looked on, frozen, confused. How could Sasuke think that all this garbage that used to be his home was nothing?
Sasuke slowly sat down on a small bench that had survived and then he started talking. "I lost my daddy, when I was eight years old. He wasn't a very affectionate man but he was an honorable one. He worked hard to provide for his family. Every investment that company made, he, as the president, was "duty-bound to see if it was worthy of on Uchiha." His words, not mine. The last investment he made was to a mine in Kincaid. He deemed it worthy and signed the deal. They invited him down one last time to see the front where they were digging new tunnels. He never came back up. In my first eight years of life, my father had never told me he loved me nor that he was proud of me. So That cave-in at the Kincaid mine left a big old hole, So this ain't nothin'."
Kei was moved by Sasuke's words. He thought of his own father, who told Kei that he loved him every time they talked. Kei hadn't returned the sentiment in years. He decided that he was going to start saying it again.
Kei mentally shook himself. He had to talk for a least seven more minutes. He had to get back to his job. "I could see how this would pale in comparison to your father's death."
Sasuke nodded and stood. He looked around at what used to be his home.
"But surely you feel horrified to have your house and farm taken from you so suddenly?" Kei said, trying to get an emotional response from the man about the tornado.
Sasuke just shook his head and said," I learned at an early age, There's things that matter and there's things that don't. So, if you're waiting here for me to cry, I hate to disappoint you, boy, but I won't. You know, I fought in the Desert-Leaf war. It was a Hell on Earth. Both my brother and I joined the military. We just wanted to protect our home and what was left of our family. While there, Itachi and I were in separate regiments but I was lucky to be with my best friend, Kakashi. We made the war bearable for each other. Our company met up with Itachi's for a big battle against Suna. I lost my Elder brother, my best friend and my left hand, In a no win situation in a place called Vietnam, that small village near the capitol. It was a big, bloody battle and the last one I fought in. I lost so much that day, So this ain't Nothin'."
Once again, Kei was frozen. He couldn't imagine what Sasuke went through that day. To lose your brother, best friend and a limb fighting for something…well, we'll just say Kei had never believed or wanted to protect something that much to risk everything for. He was close to tears for all that Sasuke had been through. And also for himself. Kei had given up all his friends and time with his family to further his career. In the end, what was Kei doing that was so important as to blow off the people that cared for him? Viewers wouldn't tend to him when he's sick, they didn't raise him, they wouldn't die for him. What was so great about being a reporter that it stopped him from living his life?
The cameraman cleared his throat, bringing Kei back from his thoughts. He was supposed to be getting Sasuke's emotions on camera, not his own. He tried to think of something that could change this around. "Mr. Uchiha, if you don't care about this, if this is all nothing, what does matter to you?"
It wasn't what Kei was supposed to report on but he had to know what drove this man, what got him through all those tragedies. What was in his heart that mattered so much more than the tragedy right in front of him?
Sasuke gave a sad smile and looked up at the sky for a moment.Then he reached down in the rubble and picked up a photograph, Wiped the dirt off of it with the hand that he still had
He put it to his lips and said," Man he was something. But this ain't nothin'. This ain't nothin' time won't erase, And this ain't nothin' money can't replace. Last year I watched my loving husband, of fifty years waste away and die. We were holding hands when his heart of gold stopped pumping. So this ain't nothin'."
Sasuke paused to gather himself before tears fell. Kei almost got what he had started out wanting but now he couldn't hold back his own. And he wished he stopped at another farm just so Sasuke wouldn't have had to relive his husband dying again. The pain must have been excruciating.
"Naruto and I met in high school. I was top of my class and he just transferred. He was loud, annoying and brash. Always starting fights with me and challenging me to ridiculous competitions. I always beat him. He was such a dobe*. Then at the beginning of senior year, he became my dobe. We married right out of high school. Our family and friends thought we were crazy, thought we'd never last.
"But we did. I think it was because of Naruto's golden heart. He was such a giving person. I went to school for business administration and he went for social work. For Christmas, he always had us pool our money together and purchase gifts for families in need. He said it made him happiest to give to others and that that was my present to him. Seems we always had someone staying in our guest room. Naruto liked to bring his work home with him. He was a genuinely good person.
"Then about three years ago, he was diagnosed with cancer. He didn't respond to treatment and it slowly began to spread. The last year of his life, Naruto decided to stop treatment and let nature run its course. He said he didn't want to be so sick and so weak to not enjoy the last moments of his life. Said he wanted to remember me as I was when he passed. Heh, he always said he'd be waiting on me this time. That I would be the dobe and he would win, just this once."
Sasuke's words caught in his throat for a moment. "Figures he had to win this time, in this challenge. Such a dobe. I couldn't do a thing but sit there and hold his hand until the end." Sasuke's face was streamed with tears, remembering his love.
Kei was almost sobbing. He didn't even have a prospect for love and here was Sasuke who had to say goodbye before he was ready. Kei knew then that even if he did get promoted he wouldn't work overtime, wouldn't work underpaid. He would make a lot of changes in his life. He wanted the kind of love that he saw Sasuke still had for Naruto. He wanted love that outlasts death. It's ironic, thought Kei, My dream is now just my job, but my job helped me realize my dream.
"W-wrap it up." Kei startled at hearing the voice through his earpiece. It was Tsunade. She was crying. She had been just as impacted by this story as Kei had been. But they were running out of time.
Kei asked Sasuke one last thing. "So this is all nothing." He said it more like a statement of realization than a question.
Sasuke said one last thing and turned around to dig through his houses remains once again. Kei ended the report, got in the van, and returned to ANBU. On his way back to the set, everyone congratulated him on a job well done. When he walked on set, everyone stopped and started to clap for him.
As Kei looked around at all these people he noticed all their eyes were red and he knew that nobody was unaffected from the old man's last words.
He said "You sit and watch your loving husband of fifty years fighting for his life. Then you hold his hand til his heart of gold stops pumping. Yeah boy that's something, So this ain't nothin'. No this ain't nothin'."
*Dobe- Dead Last
So there it is. I encourage you to listen to the song, it is much more moving than anything I could write. But all the same I hope you enjoyed it. You can review or you don't have to. I appreciate feedback but it's not a demand. If you do review, please tell me if I have chosen the correct rating, main characters, and genre. Thanks!
Have a wonderful life,
Kaysblue