Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its affiliates. Anything that you recognise is property of its respective owners. Any relations to persons living or dead are purely coincidental.
Base/s: Naruto
Title: Missing in Action
Summary: There are some things you don't miss until they're gone.
Music used for inspiration:
"Don't be so daft Naruto."
Sakura frowned at him as he grinned.
"But it makes you smile, doesn't it?" He said, knowingly.
She almost flushed at being caught, she had to admit, his antics did make her smile.
"I should have just left you."
Sakura watched, concerned as Sasuke hung his head and muttered under his breath.
She opened her mouth to protest but was cut off before she could by another voice.
"What have I told you about that Sasuke?" Kakashi asked in his usual drawl.
The Uchiha scowled and looked away. Kakashi sighed good naturedly and got up, making his exit.
Sakura saw a smile work its way onto Naruto's face. She frowned.
"Naruto! Don't laugh, this isn't funny!" she scolded.
He dropped his smile.
"Sorry Sakura, I was just thinking..." he trailed off, his eyes unfocused.
"You can think?"
Sakura blinked in surprise as Sasuke spoke. Naruto's lips twitched and he couldn't keep the grin off his face.
"You have a sense of humour?" he retorted.
Sakura was about to scold him again but saw that Sasuke wasn't facing away from them anymore and there was a tiny upturn to his mouth.
Her eyes flicked from one boy to the other and she fought a smile of her own that threatened to spread across her face.
"You're not worth it."
Sakura watched, stepping back as Sasuke regarded the blonde with dispassion. She saw an outraged look settle itself on Naruto's face.
"What the hell do you mean by that?" he asked loudly.
"Just what I said," the Uchiha said, as if speaking to a small child, "You aren't worth it."
She watched as Naruto clenched his fists and bared his teeth in anger.
"You bastard!"
She felt anger of her own thrum inside her when he shouted at their dark haired teammate.
"How dare you!" she said, staring the blonde down. "Sasuke has better things to do with his time that train with you."
She watched as a sliver of hurt crossed his face before he returned to anger.
"Fine," he spat, and she was taken aback at how venomous his voice sounded. "some team you are."
"Naruto?"
He rubbed the back of his head with one hand, the other held a brightly wrapped package.
"I uhh, got you this." He said and thrust the package forward. She looked at it. It was wrapped with yellow paper and tied with a crudely tied green bow. She accepted it and tore the paper off, revealing a new set of elbow pads.
She stared from him to the gift, a look of confusion on her face. Seeing it, he rushed to explain.
"You said you needed new ones so... here it is. I think I remember you saying today was your birthday..." he trailed off, looking hopeful.
"It is." she said softly, examining the present. It was of good quality and in the right colour, she smiled. "I mentioned that ages ago and only in passing! You remembered it all this time?" she asked, incredulous.
He rubbed the back of his head again, looking both sheepish and embarrassed.
"Yeah, well. I wanted to get you something you were sure to want."
She look at her teammate and gave a small smile.
"Thanks Naruto."
"Sakura!"
The next thing she knew, the kunai that had been heading for her open side was intercepted by a flash of orange. She heard Naruto grunt as the knife entered his flesh and she froze for a moment. Yanking the weapon from his shoulder, her blonde teammate threw it back. It struck true and their opponent went down in a bloody heap, the knife lodged in his skull.
She heard Naruto swear and clutch a hand to the wound. Before she could thank him or tend to his wounds, a cry had them both spinning around. Sasuke was on the floor, clutching his upper arm. With a quick fireball, his opponent was immolated and he allowed himself the luxury of cursing.
He glared at them both.
"Naruto!" he barked. "What the hell did you leave for? You were covering me!"
Sakura was surprised and it settled I into anger.
"What the hell were you thinking you idiot?" she shouted.
He looked like a deer in headlights.
"I had to do something, that kunai would have hit your lung!"
She fumed.
"You let Sasuke get hurt!" she gestured furiously towards their teammate who was up and walking towards them, a stony expression on his face.
The blonde frowned.
"Sasuke can take care of himself, we all can. Besides," he defended himself, "his wound isn't all that deep anyway."
"Don't you dare." She growled and stalked off to heal her other teammate, leaving Naruto standing there on his own.
It wasn't until much later that she realised that he was injured too.
"Like I'd ever stoop so low."
Sakura snorted and turned to walk away, mentally counting down to when her teammate would regain his voice and shout after her. But he never did. She almost faltered in her steps, but she didn't, shrugging it off. She guessed he would find her later to pester her some more. But he didn't.
When Sasuke told her 'no' once again and she felt that little twinge of hurt that came with such a blunt refusal, she didn't stop to think that maybe she wasn't the only one who felt that way.
"Where the hell were you?"
She blinked and grimaced when she heard Naruto talking to her. She turned around.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, Sasuke standing beside her.
The blonde looked irritated.
"We agreed to meet up for my birthday today, remember?" he said, reminding her.
She looked faintly chagrined.
"Sorry. Sasuke wanted to train today."
Naruto looked incredulous.
"But we train every day!"
She shrugged.
"Sasuke wanted to." She said as if it explained everything.
Naruto opened his mouth to retort when he was cut off.
"Leave it alone, idiot." Sasuke said, bored.
Naruto deflated.
"But, "he protested weakly, "it was my birthday today. I wanted to spend it with you guys."
"Get over it. You'll have other birthdays won't you?" he said as if it was obvious and walked away. Sakura stood, torn between going after Sasuke and staying with her other teammate who had a sad look on his face.
Making up her mind, she turned and ran to catch up with the Uchiha, shooting a brief apologetic look over her shoulder.
"So where are they?"
Naruto asked, confused.
Tsunade eyed him lazily before responding.
"They've gone on a mission."
The blonde was disbelieving.
"What?
Tsunade frowned.
"They didn't tell you? They got a B-Class in Wave a few days ago."
Naruto scowled.
"No, they didn't bloody tell me. Why aren't I going too?" he asked, angry.
The Hokage shrugged.
"Dunno. I guess they thought four was too many."
She felt a brief flash of concern as the blonde swore and stalked off before calming herself and shrugging.
It would be alright, they would be back soon.
Sakura stood in the Hokage's office, delivering her report, Sasuke stood beside her as stoic as ever. She had expected Naruto to be there when they returned, most likely to rant at them for leaving him behind. Something felt off when she didn't see any flashes of orange at the window.
She noticed the Hokage was a little preoccupied but shrugged it off. She kept speaking until Sasuke interrupted her, drawing her and Kakashi's attention.
"Where's the moron?"
She noticed Kakashi looking intently at the Hokage and gave the woman her full attention.
She refused to meet their eyes.
"Lady Hokage?" Kakashi prompted.
Tsunade took a deep breath. Sakura idly wondered what was wrong.
"As of two weeks ago, Naruto Uzumaki has been labelled as missing in action."
And then there was silence.
Sakura's breath hitched as she sat on the floor of the training grounds.
Sasuke was standing still next to her and Kakashi had his head in his hands, sitting on a fallen tree.
"I can't believe it." She said, trying to keep her voice steady. "I won't."
Kakashi stayed silent. His shoulders shook.
A sob wrenched itself from her throat and she heard Kakashi draw in a shuddering breath. Through watered eyes, she looked up to Sasuke and saw him still standing, as unmovable as stone.
She wanted to yell and shout at him, but then she glanced up at his eyes. It might have been her own distorted vision, but she thought she could see wet tracks on his cheeks.
But those black eyes were also guilty. So very guilty. And she knew, without looking at her teacher or her own reflection , that hers were exactly the same.
Then he spoke, quietly.
"What can't you believe? That Naruto's gone, or that we didn't bother to say goodbye?"
As she stood, her team beside her, she didn't bother to hold back her tears.
The gravestone was unremarkable, and very unlike the ninja whom it signified.
The grave was empty, no body was ever found.
She felt a hand on each of her shoulders, both from the most important men in her life. There should have been a third.
They had been advised to take another shinobi into their cell, but they had refused. Tsunade didn't ask again.
She wanted to say sorry, to scream it to the world. But she couldn't, the world was not enough. The one person who needed to hear it was out of her reach forever. The lump in her throat made it hurt to swallow and her inside twisted themselves painfully.
She felt a hand sqeeze her shoulder and it's owner's breath hitch. She knew what he was remembering.
'Get over it. You'll have other birthdays won't you?'
It hurt to breathe.
There truly were some things you didn't miss until they were gone.
Wow. I need to stop putting out new stories/one-shots before I finish the others. Oh well. I should really be revising right now...