Liek no way! Feareth actually updated something! -everyone faints-
So, I'm sorry for anyone that read my other stories, and my lack of updates - I was on "Fanfiction hiatus" ...heh?
But I'm working on In Which Tenten Finds a Diary, and Special Moments, so no worries. Actually, IWTFaD is on hold. The writer blocks frustrates me...
Anyway, new story! It's obviously AU, if you read the summary P
Quick History: Konoha was taken over by the Sound, after a really long war, and now Konoha is in ruins, with everyone REALLY poor, and people being taken away and shot during the night, if the leader of Sound decided he didn't like them, or if he was just in that kind of mood. He loves to control, torture and humiliate Konohaians.
Summary: Konoha is in ruins. It's a dead city, with disheartened inhabitants. The only people that still remain truly loyal to the former capital are the small pockets of resistance, pockets that are getting smaller every day. The new goverment is hunting them down, one by one. Sakura Haruno just wants to get by alive this winter, hopefully without loosing any limbs. So how did she get mixed up in this hushed up war?
Pairings: SasuSaku, NaruHina, ShikaIno, NejiTen, (implied Jaraiya/Tsunade? KakaAnko?)
So...Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Me.No. Own.
Running a hand through her long pink hair, Sakura leaned against the wall of the bar and sighed, glancing around at the run-down building.
It wasn't that she liked working here- the place was full of drunkards, thieves, and perverts, all trying to score with her. It was just that she needed the job to stay alive. It sucked to be honest. Now that the war was over, the once rich capital city, Konoha, was basically just a pile of rubble. The few shops and businesses still standing were either infested with rats- human and animals-, were extremely low paying -who could even afford paying employees anymore?- or the worst.
Loyal to the bastards who had won the war and taken over Konoha.
Her thoughts were interrupted as a mans voice called out to her.
"Hey, baby, hit me with a beer."
She glanced over to see a scruffy looking man with blackened teeth leering at her. Her eyes narrowed in a glare, but she leaned under the counter to grab a glass. As she opened the cupboard, she let out a small shriek.
A rather large rat had just scrambled over her hand, and landed on the floor. It sat there for a moment, eyeing her beadily, before skittering off. Her lips twitched in distaste. Rats had to be the only things thriving after this war. Standing up, she filled the glass, and pushed it towards him. Coming around the counter, she held out her hand.
"Sir, that'll be three dollars."
"Now, sweetie, what makes yeh think I'm going to pay?"
Sakura scowled. "I think that you're going to pay because this is as damn close to a business as you're going to get around here, and we don't hand out our things for free. Now fork it over."
Instead of paying, the man simply grinned at her, his smelly breath washing over her face. She faintly wondered when the last he brushed his rotten teeth was. Oh right. They didn't make toothpaste anymore, because no one could ever buy it.
"Yeh're a feisty one ain't ya?" He said, looking at her. She glared at him.
"Just pay." she muttered, her face turning red. To her complete surprise, he handed over three crumpled bills.
Complete with a wad of tobacco on top.
Sakura's lip curled in disgust, but she stuck the bills in the register, and went back to thinking. It wasn't long uintil his voice broke through her reverie.
He motioned her towards him with one finger.
"What now?" Sakura asked irritably.
"I wash hoping for anosher drink." He slurred. Sakura frowned. That drink must be more powerful than I thought. Damn. "On the houshe." He continued.
"Too bad. If you want a drink, you're going to have to pay."
"You reall - hic- are shexy." Sakura's eyes widened as she felt something moving up her leg. His hand.
Instinct prompted her to drive her elbow into his face. Blood spurted everywhere. She had probably broken his nose, but she had already kicked him where the sun doesn't shine. He collapsed on the floor, whimpering. Sakura didn't care. She simply went on with her job. That is until her boss came storming in.
"Haruno! What the hell did you just do?"
Sakura was so mad, and it appeared in an icy calm. Without looking at her boss, she continued to wipe a glass she had in her hand, not noticing that she was wiping blood on it instead.
"I just broke a man's nose." She replied. Her boss's face contorted in anger.
"You...attacked...a customer!?" He asked, looking pissed. Sakura remained calm.
"I believe that's what I just said, sir. That is if you'd ever call this rat a customer." She answered.
"Damn it Haruno! Your fired!" He shouted. At this, 'Haruno's' anger receded. She gaped at him.
"W-what? Sir why-what? Why?"
"Get out Haruno." He glared at her. Sakura felt as if she was going to die- without a job, she probably would- but she held her head high, and strode out of the door, openly flipping off her boss, and the man that had tried to grope her.
Sakura pulled her thin coat tighter around her shoulders, torn between anger and helplessness. Winter was approaching, and without a job, she wouldn't be able to pay the rent for her apartment, or the heating bill. Chances were that she'd be dead by mid-winter, if she didn't find another job.
She sighed, glancing up at the night sky. The stars glinted coldly back down at her.
A woman grabbed her coat.
"Pl-please ma'am." She rasped. "Please; a f-few coins. My little o-one."
Sakura took a moment to study her. Her face was pale and drawn, her lips a thin line. Her hazel eyes were bloodshot, and her once brown hair was shot with gray. Sakura winced. She looked older, but she couldn't be much older than herself, nineteen. Which also qualified her as something else.
No one really had families or relationships. It was too much hassle these days, weddings were nonexistent. You're spouse would probably die the next day, so why bother? And most relationships ended in the middle of the night, with one leaving the other. They were just too poor, or there was too much to worry about.
That meant that any girl under, what, thirty? Well, any woman around twenty with a child was probably a prostitute. Sakura didn't feel any disgust towards the woman, though, which she probably would have before the war. It was probably the only job she could have gotten. Had Sakura not found the job at the bar, she would probably be working in a brothel about now.
Who knows, she might be working in a brothel in a few days.
Opening her mouth, Sakura started to say 'I'm sorry, I can't spare any money, no one can these days,' when a little face peeked out from behind the woman. A little girl, with dirty blonde curls framing her face, and huge blue-green eyes. Sakura changed her mind, and handed the woman some money.
"Get her a blanket, and something warm to eat." She said, looking away.
"Th-Thank you!" The woman looked close to tears. Sakura frowned.
"Please, don't thank me." She said, and walked away.
She had only wanted to make the child's last few days close to nice, for you could tell a few days was all she had left.
R/R
Wewt? lolz
-Feareth da Kittay