M
I L K . M O O N
Pairing: Hatake Kakashi x Haruno Sakura
WARNINGS: Character death; MA warning for later chapters.
Comments: Previously Milk Moon was intended to be written under the same title, Tangled in Moonlight. After some thought and pondering of whether or not I should renew my personal archive's hosting, I finally decided that the pre-revamp version of Moonlight should stay on and the rewrite should be written under a different title. Also, I wanted Moonlight readily available to see the differences and (hopeful) maturity of my writing. Sorry for all the pain and trouble I've caused! However, I really hope that those of you who enjoyed Moonlight will enjoy Milk Moon even more, as I have high hopes for turning this into a decent story – essentially a fleshed out and plot-based version of Moonlight. Be prepared to see some of your favorite Moonlight scenes appear in Milk Moon!
Chapter
One
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There are many steps through the thought process of oh damn, I fucked up again.
There's Nervous Laughter, while one frantically thinks of excuses and what the hell just happened, and after that comes okay, who really noticed? Sometime beyond the hysterical shifting of eyes appear more violent scenarios, like throwing things at a wall, taking a sledgehammer to a telephone, tearing up all your previous notes and snarling at anyone who comes near.
Of course, this process may change from person to person, and in this particular case Sakura was somewhere between tearing someone's head off and spitefully kicking the plants she had carefully harvested earlier that morning. Hell, maybe she would feed the head of the next person to walk through the door to the fucking herbs, since they seemed to like playing with hers.
"Mush, you stupid piece of—"
Ow. Fuck. The mixture was hardening into something dishearteningly similar to rock, happily mocking all of her efforts for the past two hours.
Where was her squishy, glorious mush that would signify success? Where was her wonderfully smooth cream that would numb even the worst of wounds and cleanse bacteria before the healing process could begin?
Not here, obviously.
"Damn it!" Sakura gave up and kicked the leg of her working table, then promptly swore again when it proceeded to collapse. She hadn't kicked it all that hard, so there was no real reason for the leg that had been supporting one-fourth of the weight of the table to now be lying innocently on the other side of the room. She growled at it as the table collapsed in a spectacular amount of noise, bringing her oh-so-helpful assistant to her window.
"Is there a problem, miss?" Kotetsu inquired politely, like he couldn't see the huge mess where her table used to be and like she was a complete stranger. Though he was hardly helpful as an assistant, his talent at deadpan humor was getting better - much to her annoyance.
Baring her teeth at him in a sour manner, Sakura kicked a blameless tray (it went to join its friend on the other side of the room, a bit more mangled for the wear) and jerkily tugged her gloves off. "This is ridiculous! It's never going to come out right at this rate." She made a vague, jerky motion toward the bowls and mixtures and herbs scattered and upended on the floor, a sweetly sour smell wafting through the room.
"Are you sure you have all the instructions written down correctly?" Resting his arms on the windowsill, Kotetsu peeked over her shoulder, letting out a soft whistle at the mess. He had been "assisting" quite helpfully all day by standing outside the door and keeping anyone from bothering her (including Naruto, who had come and gone four times by now) when she kicked him out in frustration and anger, jerking the herbs from his arms.
"Yes." Sakura threw a dirty rag at him sourly and picked up her bottled water, still unopened even after four hours in her sad little corner of mad chemistry (as Tsunade often described it), with one window and a finicky door and horrible lighting. But it was Sakura's, all Sakura's, and only Sakura's - except when Tsunade decided to take it over every other month for her own mad scientist projects. "Yet they're all turning into rocks. Rocks!"
She leaned down to grab one the failures and shake it in his face. "See? Rock. I could probably kill you with one of these."
"Perhaps you could tell her that you founded a new biological weapon?" He took it out of her hand with a laugh, then dropped it mere seconds later with a startled curse. "What the hell?"
"What? What happened?" Sakura kicked it out of her way with a frown.
"My entire hand's numb. Shit, that's scary stuff." Leaning over the sill, Kotetsu looked at the ball of hardened numbing-ingredient-things warily. "You sure that you're doing it wrong?"
"Considering that it's coming out to work the way it's supposed to but looks like a rock? Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me it would work?" He rubbed his hand briskly against his vest, sounding half awed and half annoyed.
Sakura gave him a flat look and held out her hands. "These? You see these? Yeah. They're numb. You want to know why they're numb?"
"Not particularly." She wasn't listening.
"It's because I've been making those--" She pointed wildly in the general direction behind her "--all day. All day! And you know what that does?"
"Makes your hands numb." Smart guess, really.
"Exactly." Puffing out her breathe, Sakura glowered at her room, then at him. "Don't let anyone in there," she ordered, grabbing up a bowl of hardened failure and stalking out the door (she had to kick it twice to get it to open, then had to shove and grunt until it decided to close that last little bit behind her).
"Yes, ma'am," came his quick agreement. If she didn't hear the amusement in his voice, she would have assumed he was intimidated. As it was, she knew full well he wasn't – and though she could be cruel and 'forget' the numbing cream when she stitched him back together after missions, he could still use her as a mop across the floor.
So Sakura simply muttered, "Shut up, Kotetsu," and ignored his innocent protest of not having said a word, thinking instead that he certainly didn't act like the adult he constantly pointed out to her that he was (Hey, you shouldn't talk to me so casually! I'm your senior, you know! he would point out every so often, to which she would simply reply sweetly that he was - technically - her assistant until Tsunade-sama decided to reassign him).
Then she worked hard to ignore Naruto's too-cheerful company when he spotted her from across the street (damn, he found her) and dashed over, shouting her name excitedly and waving his hands as she stormed out of the building. She pretended he wasn't there even as she was given some odd looks for ignoring the person chatting cheerfully beside her; apparently someone couldn't look absolutely furious and frustrated when their companion was being friendly, which was absolutely unfair.
Unfair, damn it.
"You do know that you have powder on your cheek, right?"
"Shut up," she snapped childishly, having noticed the numbness spreading across the area a long time ago. Beyond being unable to turn the stupid thing into mush, she hated making the medicine because it always made her hands and various other parts of her tingle before she was done, even with the protection of her gloves.
"You're in a bad mood."
Sakura slid him a sardonic little glance. "Now, why would you say that, I wonder?"
"Well, you've been pretty snappy--"
"It wasn't a question you needed to answer, Naruto."
"And you've been avoiding me--"
She kept silent on that one, pressing her lips together into a frown. After a moment, Naruto simply shrugged and sighed. "Well, I know that I stood you up and all..."
"You didn't stand me up." Jerking to a stop, Sakura glowered at him and rubbed her hands together impatiently, like the feeling would come back by doing so. "It wasn't a date. You didn't stand me up."
He grinned that careless grin and said brightly, "Shizune-nee-san says that if I was going to buy the food--"
"Not a date," she growled as he laughed, before clearing her throat and saying more airily, "It was a meeting to help you study for your test."
"Date," Naruto agreed blissfully.
She shot him a flat look. "Meeting," she stressed firmly, and quickly changed the subject in order to win by default. "Why are you following me?"
"Ahh, how cruel, Sakura-chan." That annoying tone was back to his voice (she'd hoped he'd lost it completely after he turned fifteen and his voice changed), and he was still smiling in that obnoxious way that...
Well, it should have annoyed her, really, but made her laugh instead - turning her head to the side and lifting a hand to her lips to muffle the sound (then remembering she shouldn't touch anything until she washed them), her shoulders shaking. "Naruto, you're an idiot," she pointed out between giggles, then burst into fresh laughter when he simply grinned like it was a compliment.
"No, really. What did you need?" she asked, rubbing her cheeks a bit and trying to keep the amusement from escaping again, despite how welcome it was after the frustrations of her morning. "Is something wrong?"
He beamed at her, careless and casual and just a bit strained with effort. "Is there something wrong with coming over to say hi?"
"Four times? Yes." Stopping in the middle of the street, Sakura wrapped her arms around the bowl she carried and tilted her head, faintly worried by the forced cheer that she almost hadn't seen through. "I heard you each time you came by, you know. Ever hear of discreet silence?"
"Nope." Naruto shrugged, seeming a little restless and uncomfortable, as though he had expected something else out of her and didn't quite know what to do. "Just. You know." Looking almost apologetic and certainly warily, he asked, "Hey, you're going to see the old hag, right?"
It was hardly a question to look sorry or hesitant over, and Sakura had the urge to push him into explaining - yet, at the same time, she knew that it would open a door left alone for long months. Acquiescing to the change in subject, she shrugged slightly. "I've been having a problem with the recipe she gave me."
"Recipe? For food?"
"Medicine." Nodding slightly at the bowl in her hands, she said, "This one."
He glanced at it for a moment, having no real interest. "It stinks. Did you screw up again?" His tone said that it was hardly a surprise.
Again? Bright eyes darkened with annoyance as she frowned. "I don't mess up that often, Naruto."
"Well, there was the time on the roof--"
"It doesn't happen every day!" she interrupted, embarrassment coloring her cheeks.
"And the time you blew up part of the classroom--"
"Naruto!"
"What?" Linking his hands behind his head, he grinned. "I'm just remindin' you, that's all."
Jerk. Scowling, she pointed in a direction far away from the Hokage's office. "Go remind somewhere else, then, because I'm leaving."
"Oh, yeah, and then there was that one time--"
Her fist connected with a satisfying thunk against the top of his head. "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear. What were you about to say?"
"Ow ow ow - Sakura-chan, that was totally not nice!" Rubbing the now sore spot and forced to his knees, Naruto grimaced at her. "Just 'cause I was telling the--" Oof. "Ugh. Not the stomach!"
Repeating herself sweetly, Sakura knelt beside him with a false air of concern. "I still couldn't hear. You were saying...?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." Naruto shoved to his feet, carefully holding his stomach and wincing against the pain as he decided that further teasing wasn't worth the escalating hurt. "I'll just, uh, head that way. To... do things. Eat! Right, going to eat ramen now, wasn't saying anything bad about Sakura-chan at--"
She smacked the back of his head, and he yelped. "All right, all right! Leaving! I'm leaving, already!"
Bowl tucked snugly against her hip, held in place carelessly by one hand, Sakura made a face at his retreating, bright-orange back. She'd long ago come to the conclusion that he would never fully grow up - and certainly never admitted to acting a child around him, for that matter - and could only reinforce that opinion as he dashed away.
He was probably muttering about how she never held back and abused him far too often - it was practically a ritual at this point - and she found herself smiling at the thought, her frustrations successfully beaten onto him and lightening her mood. "Such a child," she sighed, with the utter authority of someone a whole seven months older.
Shaking her head slightly, she continued her way to Tsunade's building, her steps now more assured and thoughtful than angry and stomping. A brief and polite nod to the guards had them stepping aside for her to enter - it had a busy air, as though some sort of news had just been brought in from the field - and she headed up the steps with a vague feeling of dread.
Izumo stood alone outside the double doors to the Fifth's private office, and Sakura gave him a slight wave and smile. "It's weird seeing the both of you apart, you know."
"Yeah, I've gotten that a lot today." Leaning against the wall, he crossed his arms and grinned at the mixing bowl she carried. "Success or failure?"
"Failure, big time." She grimaced, holding it up for inspection. "Not that your partner was much help."
"Oh?" Raising both brows, he gave the lump in the bowl a dubious look. "I thought I saw him carrying three big baskets of herbs--"
"Gathering them was about the only help he was." Shrugging, Sakura once again set the bane of her morning at her hip. "What's going on?"
Friendly chatter gave way to shuttered eyes and a deliberately casual, "What do you mean?"
She frowned, not liking Izumo's evasion. If it was to the point he couldn't feel right about chatting with her (not that she was all that important, but she usually heard everything eventually), it was something too big to allow into the general grapevine. Acceding to the demands of the situation with good grace, Sakura murmured, "I must've been mistaken. Is it all right to disturb her?" Unless a meeting was in progress, she could usually slip in without asking, being treated much like Shizune in that fashion.
"One moment." Just as formal to the demands of secrecy, he knocked on the door.
Hearing Tsunade's voice calling harried permission, Sakura flashed a smile at his go-ahead nod, tugging open one of the heavy doors and slipping inside. She hardly blinked at the mess that met her eyes; papers and musty books were scattered across the desks and floor, the only clear spot being the faint trail meandering toward the front of Tsunade's desk.
"It's Sakura," she announced unnecessarily as the door closed behind her. Sharp eyes had been watching her the moment the door opened.
"What is it?" Tsunade opened the record in front of her, apparently at ease enough with the situation to continue her research beneath Sakura's watchful gaze. "Are you done already?"
"No." Setting the bowl on her teacher's desk, Sakura crossed her arms with a frustrated sigh and sat on the chair provided there. "No matter how many times I try, it keeps coming out like this. Was there a mistake in your recipe?"
"Of course not. Shizune wrote it." Tsunade didn't bother looking up, flipping a page as she continued to read, a frown between her brows.
"But it's not working," she insisted, pushing the bowl on top of the book and blowing strands of hair out of her face. "I've done it over and over, and it keeps turning into this big lump."
Forcefully distracted, the other woman took the bowl gingerly, running a critical eye over the contents. "How long ago was this made?"
"About an hour ago?"
"Is that an 'I don't know'?"
"Definitely an hour ago," Sakura corrected herself, shifting uncomfortably in her seat as she bit her lip. She had avoided coming here for exactly this reason - she hated the feeling of inadequacy an dfailure when she couldn't quite live up to her mentor's expectations. When she respected the teacher as much as she did Tsunade, the feeling was just that much worse.
"I don't see what the problem is." Touching the lump with a finger, Tsunade shook her head and tossed the bowl carelessly back toward Sakura's end of the desk. "The shape's a bit off, to be sure, but it does what it should. In another hour it should be fine for grinding."
The bowl clattered to a rest right in front of the girl, who blinked at it warily. "Nothing wrong? But it's complete rock!" She picked it out of the bowl, careless of her numbed hands. "Isn't the recipe for numbing cream?"
"What are you talking about? I gave you the recipe for the powder." Turning her attention back to the book, Tsunade added calmly, "The cream is a much more delicate mixture than this."
Sakura couldn't quite get the words out of her mouth as she stared blankly at the woman who had blithely given her a duty half-explained. "The powder? I didn't even know we had a powder version of it."
Sounding a little impatient, Tsunade glanced up from the words that so engrossed her. "The powder," she enunciated clearly, "is the basis for the cream. Did you not pay attention during our lectures?"
"You didn't mention it," Sakura snapped, "especially as you've never even breathed the recipe for the cream before."
"Oh." Closing the book at this little fact, Tsunade frowned. "How careless of me. Well, it is." Waving a hand in the direction of her bowl, she added, "The shape definitely needs work - molding it helps with the grinding - but you did well without much explanation."
Knowing that mentioning - again - that Tsunade's recipes never had the full instructions written down wouldn't nudge the woman into doing so, Sakura simply blew out a breath and took the compliments with a frown. "Thanks."
"The powder," her teacher continued blithely, as now was as good a time as any for the lesson, "is the easy part. You remember how strong it was, don't you? To make the cream, we need to dilute that strength. In this case, we use water and a few other ingredients, but..."
"But?"
"It has a tendency to separate, instead of smoothing into cream." Pointing at the bowl, Tsunade frowned. "Give it too much water and it'll turn into nothing more than garbage; add too many herbs and it can blow up on you. They don't always mix well with the chemicals you used for the powder."
"The herbs can make it explode?" Sakura repeated dubiously.
"No, of course not." An impatient hand waved that question away. "It simply won't work, ruin everything you've done."
"I see." Considering that this was Sakura's first lab-oriented medicine, it was hardly surprising that she was confused by the utter illogical mess. Wasn't science supposed to be chemistry and physics, not herbs and water? Of course, she'd created those mixtures earlier that would probably account for the more chemical base to the--
"When it becomes thick and smoother, you'll know you've done it right."
Thick and smoother? Well, it certainly explained the texture and feel of the medicine; though they called it a cream (for it was often smoothed onto wounds), it wasn't quite cream-like as much as used as cream is. "I see," she repeated slowly.
Tsunade frowned at the look on her student's face. "Well, ask Shizune to show you what to do. She created the recipe." With that light dismissal, she returned her gaze to the books, feeling relieved when Sakura walked out without ever having asking what today's fuss was about.
She could barely handle hearing Sasuke's name; news of Itachi could only go badly.
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Cold wind curled at the nape of her neck, announcing his entry just a bare moment after she heard the window open. The records were pushed aside the moment Sakura had left her room, and she perused a recent report carefully. "Come in, Kakashi."
He couldn't help but give a lopsided smile as he closed the door behind him, making his way in front of her desk to stand at attention. "Fifth," came his soft acknowledgement.
"Have you heard anything on the streets?"
"Nothing in regards to this matter, no."
"Good." Finished with the last paragraph, Tsunade leaned back with a long sigh. "We've managed to keep it as quiet as possible, though I have the feeling Naruto's sticking his nose in as much as possible."
He gave a slight nod; the boy still had an unfortunately keen nose for anything involving Sasuke, even this long after the events of two years ago. "He seemed to think Sakura was aware of the situation."
"Hmm." She used her foot to gently swing her chair, raising a hand to her forehead to rub at her left temple. "So, the last one has disappeared."
"Yes. The death of Kisame was confirmed two weeks ago, on the border of Wind." All the reports that had come flooding in repeated that information, some with a bit more detail and some with barely any at all. "There are those who claim seeing Itachi in neighboring cities, though everyone has a wildly different story."
She nodded slightly, motioning for him to be silent for a moment as she thought it over. "What is your story?"
"It would be conjecture," he immediately stated, staring over her shoulder.
"Conjecture," she ordered sharply. "We have nothing but fog and mist to our reports. I want something to move on."
He inclined his head slightly at her words, unsurprised by her shortened temper. For a year now, events had spiraled far beyond their control, under the guidance of someone always faster. "It would begin with the Uchiha massacre several years ago."
She gave an unladylike grunt, wishing that she hadn't sent Shizune for the autopsy. "Am I correct to assume you have had a theory in mind for some time?"
"Yes."
"All right, then." She didn't like the idea; going from a seemingly random start of murders to something planned years ago was taking on a monster far too big for their current power. "Go ahead."
"I am unaware if this has been mentioned in the reports, as I have not been privy to them," he cautioned, and she reigned in her impatience to a short nod. "Apparently one of the reasons the massacre occurred has to do with the true reason for the Uchiha existence."
"Which was never brought to light, yes."
He half-closed one eye, and her brows shot up. "Or has it?"
"The duty of Uchiha is to destroy Konoha when it becomes weak, in order to rise strong." He nodded slightly as the implications had her eyes widening. "They are the fire to our forest."
"Even the elders do not know of this. How did you...?"
"ANBU," he informed her quietly, "reports directly to the Hokage, and this matter was under close scrutiny - though, as ancient history, it never reached your ears upon your promotion." She frowned, then nodded slightly for him to continue. "The original agreement was between the First and the Uchiha leader of the time."
"Shuuei," she supplied, distaste readily apparent in her tone. She hardly questioned his knowledge of ANBU's movements around that time, knowing how often they had attempted recruitment of a certain young prodigy many years ago, to the disapproval of the then-current Hokage.
"Former head of the war council." His voice was flat and cool the entire time he spoke, though it became a bit cooler at this point. "Our great hero had an agreement with the First; if Konoha were ever to weaken, that the Uchiha clan would bring it back to power."
"But Grandfather would never--"
"Shuuei," he continued, interrupting her, "was a reckless and hard man." She nodded slightly in agreement. "In war, he made a great commander - harsh and unyielding. Unfortunately, that very same nature of his brought about a certain interpretation to the First's words."
"And passed down as law to the next generation head," she finished bitterly, crossing her arms with a frown. "Which would be why Itachi would know of this."
"Indeed." Kakashi pulled papers from his vest; she recognized them as copies of reports of the first few murders. "Sasuke was, after Itachi, the last surviving member. Perhaps Itachi saw him as the one to continue to carry on their family duty, or perhaps he loved Sasuke in his own way; we are still uncertain as to why Sasuke remained alive. Whatever the reason may be, the truth is that people began to die after he did."
Damn. Grimly, Tsunade took the copied reports, flipping through them as though little pieces of information would jump off the paper. "So it is revenge?"
"I don't believe so."
Startled, she glanced up. "Then what is it? Does he care about Konoha? I was under the impression he'd thrown his heart away years ago."
"Duty."
Ah. "Go on."
"Sasuke was supposed to be the one to grow stronger. He was supposed to be the one to kill Orochimaru and the Akatsuki - yes, possibly even his brother. When he died, those plans changed."
"He had to do it himself," she guessed - though the guess had already been made long ago, when Itachi was identified as the possible killer of his own companions.
"Exactly."
"And now that the last is dead? What is his next aim?"
He had to shrug, shaking his head slightly. "We don't know."
Tsunade sighed at that, frustrated; hearing that their enemies were demolished shouldn't come with this many problems. A year ago, it was simple; kill Orochimaru, kill the Akatsuki, keep world peace. Now they weren't even sure who to go after and what their objectives were. "Renew the order to search for him, and pass on the news to the ANBU divisions."
"Dead or alive?"
Her lips twisted. "I don't know." Then she leaned back into her seat with a long sigh. "This is all conjecture, of course."
"Of course," he agreed, as though his track record wasn't damn near perfect.
"And no matter his reasons, he is still to be treated as our enemy." He'd killed enough to never be forgiven, after all, and he would never be trusted again.
"Dead, then," he stated, knowing it was beyond questioning.
"If at all possible, yes." She leaned over to pick up the sheaf of papers once again, frowning. "Is it coincidence that the latest murder is mere weeks from the anniversary of Sasuke's death?"
"In all probability." He shrugged at her questioning look. "You know as well as I do that, no matter his reasons, he is likely far from sane."
"Damn."
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It was the knocking that did it, startling her awake. Jerking her head off the textbook she had fallen asleep reading, Sakura rubbed her eyes and glanced toward her veranda doors, unsurprised to see Naruto's face. She'd expected him hours ago; it was out of character for him to leave without asking the questions bubbling inside of him.
Unlocking the door and pushing it open, she asked dryly, "Finally decide to ask anyway?"
He shrugged, averting his gaze. "How are you doing?"
Well, that was slightly unexpected. Leaning against the glass, she gave a half-shrug. "Fine. Busy."
"Yeah, I figured," he muttered, scratching at his head and still unable to look straight at her. "Still working on all that medicine stuff?"
"Of course." She shivered slightly at the cold wind; the sun had set long ago, and winter was happily settling in now that autumn was beginning to fade. "I don't know anything recent," she finally said, pitying him a bit. Naruto always came to her first for information the grapevine never quite managed to produce. "Tsunade hasn't mentioned a thing and nobody's talking."
"Oh."
"Yeah." Sakura frowned; he still seemed to fidget a bit too much, like he had something else to ask or say. Usually he only bothered her when he thought something Big and Great was occurring. "What is it?"
Silence.
She sighed, rubbing her arms impatiently and hating the cold. "Well, if you're not going to ask, I'm going to bed."
"Wait." His hand shot out, gripped painfully at her upper arm to keep her from leaving, apparently without thinking of what to say next. "Um. How was the medicine?"
"It's a long story." It also took her ages just to even attempt grinding the stupid things that had, at one point, been considered failures. Next time she would mold them into something long and straight and thin, not lumpy and all balled up.
He glanced away, then at her again, intense and focused and just slightly guilty for bringing it up. "It's his anniversary in two days."
She should have known. Sakura saw the calendar every day, knew it was coming up, knew her apparently high spirits had her friends and family worried. Of course Naruto would come over with worry. Last year she had broken down for a week, refusing to eat or talk or even walk out of her home. This year, though, she was better. Eating, drinking, living like nothing was wrong. But to those who cared for her, this was abnormal.
"I know that," she snapped, a little too late. Shrugging her arm out of his grasp, she glared at him. "What did you expect? To see me crying myself to sleep?" Sakura hated the words and the vicious tone that came from her, but didn't let that guilt show in her face. Better to be angry, to deny it all, to put everything into a box. Yes, a box, locked away never to be opened again. This way was better. This way she could act like a normal person – because she was normal. Four months ago she had been shopping and laughing with her mother; three months ago she had tripped Ino on the street out of gleeful spite. She functioned fine. She functioned normally. It was ridiculous that one little date on the calendar could take that away.
So she put it all into a box and lifted her chin stubbornly.
"No, of course not." The look on his face, of course, said the exact opposite.
"I'm fine," she insisted, feeling the hysterics bubble up in her chest. Damn. Damn. She'd been doing so well. Life moved on, like everybody told her. Normally, she wasn't like this. Normally, she could go there with a smile and tell that lonely marker about her day. Normally, she didn't relive the past. "It's not like I'm going to mourn forever." The box, Sakura. The box.
His next words were quiet and pointed, breaking all of her denial. "You still don't talk to Kakashi-sensei."
"That's enough." Slamming her fist against the frame of the door, she glared at him, pretending like her shoulders weren't shaking. "That's enough, Naruto. Was that all you came for?" The box, the box…
He hesitated, biting his lip and taking a little step back. "Yeah, I guess."
"Fine. I'm going to bed." She pulled the door closed, locking it with shaking fingers.
Two days.
She just had to get through two more days.
Close the lid, turn the key.