Chapter One: Remembrance
Author's Notes: I know you all are readying your knives and stones, but hold them for cliff hangers and when I'm in a bad mood. This is a gift fic for my one of two wives, Taylor. I hope, somewhere, this does some justice to the free reign you gave me. And just maybe gives you inspiration.Chapter One: Remembrance
The cherry blossom festival is going on in DC, and it's…amazingly beautiful / amazingly fucking crazy. Seriously. Inspiration struck, and thus, a gift was born.
For Taylor – my artsy wife, my other muse. Be jealous.
"Teme~!" The blonde sang out with a skip to his feet.
The other male hung his head with a long sigh, his raven bangs hiding the scowl on his face while his free pale hand ran over the spikes on the back of his head in a ruffling manner.
The skipping feet settled with a resounding smack on the concrete sidewalk, coming to a halt next to the taller man, before a bright tan face turned with a screaming smile.
"Hey, Sasuke!"
Sasuke turned, glaring his hard midnight eyes from underneath his long bangs before grounding out his greeting from between his clenched teeth. "Dobe."
"So…Are you going?" The blonde rocked back and forth on the soles of his sneakers, impatiently waiting for the crosswalk to signal them to go.
"Naruto, what in the hell are you talking about?" Sasuke's forehead wrinkled slightly as he stared forward and thought about it absently; worrying about the fact that he might be stuck at the light forever.
The blonde reached a hand over and traced a few fingers up the pale forehead gently, erasing the lines sweetly, "The Cherry Blossom Festival. We go every year."
Sasuke immediately stepped onto the street as soon as the signals changed and called over his shoulder, "Then why in the hell are you asking?"
The blonde took a few long, quick strides to catch up, "Because you try to make an excuse not to go…every year."
Sasuke turned right as he stepped up on the curb of the sidewalk, easily weaving in and out of pedestrians with his hands safely holding his bags and his eyes looking like they were closed.
Naruto on the other hand, tripped on the curb, ran into three strangers, and then stumbled into Sasuke's back still yammering on like nothing at all happened; ignoring Sasuke's threatening growl like he was an innocent puppy.
"-then you try to dodge me and come up with some hasty excuse!"
Sasuke make a quick left down a pathway, cutting through a set of apartment buildings with hastened paces, leaving Naruto to jog to keep up with him.
"Naruto…is it that big of a deal?"
The blonde huffed as he stepped off the pathway and into the parking lot, dodging a parked car quickly after noticing he wasn't paying attention with each step he took, "Yeah! Everyone is going! It's wouldn't be the same without you teme!"
Sasuke sighed harshly as he turned right again and approached his apartment block, the blonde following after him still as he walked up the cement steps and quickly opened the glass door in a rush.
"Hey, Sasuke? Why are you in such a rush?"
The raven took the steps two at a time, digging his keys out of his jacket pocket before reaching the second landing, "I still have to get to work, dobe."
Naruto followed suit as Sasuke entered his apartment, the raven immediately turning right into his kitchen and the blonde flicking on the lights too. Sasuke sat down his groceries on the counter before walking right back out of the other side of the small strip of a kitchen; the blonde sighing in annoyance and amusement before busying himself with putting away Sasuke's food.
"You know, teme, your food would spoil if it wasn't for me! Going to the store at nine in the morning…You're crazy!" Naruto called after a few minutes of prolonged silence as he grabbed the last items to put away.
"No. It wouldn't." Sasuke said in a dead voice from behind the blonde, making Naruto jump.
"DAMMIT!" The blonde spun around and clutched at his shirt over his chest, letting his eyelids flutter shut while he tried to still his erratic heart beats.
Sasuke let an amused smile play for a split second before he set his face in a scowl, "I can put my own food away, dobe."
Naruto's eyelids snapped open, his aquamarine eyes locking with Sasuke's nighttime glare, "Just say thank you."
"No."
"Say it." The blonde growled playfully with a smile.
Sasuke rolled his eyes before reaching around the blonde and grabbed the milk and eggs, turning to the fridge and putting them away. "No."
The blonde pursed his lips before following the raven out of the kitchen, "It's not hard. Just say thank you because I was nice enough to put away your groceries. Then I'll leave
you alone and I'll see you tomorrow."
Sasuke approached the coffee table in the living room, lifting up a stack of magazines and peaking underneath them before setting them back down with a frown.
"And why would you be seeing me tomorrow?"
Naruto huffed, "The festival, teme!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes as he began to lift up cushions from the couch, glancing quickly before setting them back in place, "Why are you forcing me to go?"
"Because you can't ruin the glorious repetition we have set in place."
The blonde grabbed the badge that sat idly by on the lamp table and waved it sweetly in the air with a light wave. "Say it."
"No." Sasuke righted himself with a glare and crossed his arms defensively.
"Come on."
"No."
"Please." Naruto wined with an air of teasing.
Sasuke sighed and approached the blonde quickly in three short strides in the tiny living room, coming toe to toe with him. The raven leaned down just barely as he leaned in to have his nose almost touch the small tan nose of the teasing blonde. Their gazes locked; onyx eyes intensely glaring, and azure eyes sweetly waiting.
"Thank. You." Sasuke ground out with a quiet hiss.
A bright smile bloomed on the tan face, crinkling the bright blue eyes shut for a fraction of a second before they opened once more, "See, was that so hard?"
The blonde reached forward and clipped the ID badge onto the caller of the button up shirt quickly before throwing his hands behind his back with another blinding smile.
"Now. You go have a nice day at work."
Sasuke's glare hardened, "And you go get the hell ready for work yourself."
The blonde turned for the door, "I'll pick you up tomorrow!"
"For-"
"You know what for. I'll see you tomorrow at eight."
Sasuke reach a frustrated hand up to the back of his head to ruffle the pleasant spikes, his hand trailing to his face and running down in a flustered manner.
He didn't want to go.
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"The damn train is late." The brunette whined.
"Kiba, the Metro is horrible this time of year. A bunch of tourists are going into town, what do you expect?" Naruto turned to his left to give his friend a look.
Kiba shrugged his shoulders before shoving his hands in the pockets of his jacket, "For them to drop everything for me."
Naruto heard a chorus of soft giggling on the other side of Kiba, "Hey Sakura? Ino? Karin? Hinata? Anyone? Did you guys bring something to drink?"
The group of girls shook their heads before continuing their conversation on where they were going and what they were going to look at before the blonde turned to the raven to his direct right.
"Did you?"
Sasuke gave Naruto a look, "Dobe, do you think I could carry a drink?"
The blonde looked at Sasuke's jeans and jacket and frowned, "You're no fun."
Sasuke rolled his eyes with a sigh as the train approached while he listened to Kiba and Naruto yell.
"Shino! Haku! Zabuza! Juugo! Move it!"
Kiba poked his head out of the doorway just as Naruto passed, "Neji! Tenten! Let's move it before the train moves without you!"
The large group ran down the escalator quickly, a few lagging behind leisurely while everyone got settled in their first pick of their seats.
"It's nice, you know…" Naruto flopped onto the seat next to Sasuke's, "being closest to the first station."
Sasuke turned to the blonde with an impassive face, "You say that now. Then at the end of the day when you're exhausted, you'll be whining."
"Naruto Uzumaki does not whine."
"Sasuke Uchiha says that is bullshit."
Naruto huffed, "And why is that?"
"Because I hear that nails on the chalkboard noise all the time."
"So why am I going to be whining at the end of the day?" Naruto's eyes drifted over the seats that carried his cluster of friends to see the new train operator board before he walked into the operating room.
"Dobe, you'll have been walking around all day. We're going to have to most likely wait for the train for an hour like every other year, and then stand nearly the entire way home on the train and then I get to hear about 'your aching feet'. Then you'll be hungry and tired."
The blonde stuck made his bottom lip protrude then in a prefect pout, "No."
Azure eyes watched onyx eyes roll with an annoyed huff, "Then why are you giving me that look?"
The blonde shrugged his shoulders when he felt the train jump to life and ignored their group of friends light chatter pick up excitedly. Naruto rested his head gently on Sasuke's shoulder lightly, leaving the raven to try and shrug the weighted and pesky thing off and swat away the ticklish strands of hair that were prodding his neck lightly.
"Dobe. Get. Off. Me." Sasuke growled as he tried to roll his shoulder again to get the blonde to move his head.
Sasuke sighed not two seconds later when he heard the soft snoring escaping the blonde's lips and just took to staring out the window.
Damn it all.
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"I'm going to go see the Japanese Stone Lantern." Kiba said looking down at the newspaper clipping that was more of a map and tour guide for everyone.
It showed the few surrounding memorials, which types of Cherry Blossoms were where, and what events where taking place along with a bloom calendar.
He always made sure to get the same clipping out of the Post.
A few of the heads in the group nodded along with him, while Ino spoke up, "I want to walk the Kutz Memorial Bridge. Then I'll find you along the pathway."
Naruto piped up next to Sasuke, "I want to see the Pagoda."
The group turned towards the blonde, "Dude..." Kiba started, "Start off at the top with us."
The blonde shrugged, "I never get to take a picture of it because you bastards look at the first planting stone, look at the lantern, walk the two mile bridge, and then complain about being tired. I'm going."
The group started shifting around to the three destinations after Naruto's determined speech before the blonde looked to Sasuke who was standing with his hands in his pockets, looking over his shoulder at nothing.
"Where are you going?"
"Home."
The blonde snorted, "Fine. You'll come with me."
Sasuke instantly threw his head back before he felt Naruto grab at his elbow and tug him along, and he reluctantly decided to follow.
The Tidal Basin was surrounded by a glorious color display of different shades of pinks and a few lingering whites. The two walked at a usual pace while the blonde wrestled to get his camera ready to take pictures of the wall of trees that where surrounding them.
The branches of the trees shivered with each new passing blow of the wind, petals from the trees being caught up and plucked to be taken away to dance leisurely before fluttering gently to the ground. The walkway was crowded with clusters of tourists, workers who drifted over to chance a glance on their break, and couples enjoying a romantic stroll.
Naruto ran before Sasuke again, the raven leisurely walking along with his hands in the pockets of his jeans while Naruto snapped pictures of everything twice. The line of trees, the buildings, the Japanese Pagoda, the water, a random bird, the petals being chased away angrily by the wind, a scowling Sasuke, a quarter of his own face – everything.
Sasuke's shoes shuffled on the damp tattered petals already scattered on the pathway, and instantly sensing a few unlucky ones stuck to the soles of his shoes like the ones stuck in his hair. The raven let himself enjoy the chilled, early spring breeze on his skin while he ignored the angry dark clouds hovering over his and Naruto's heads, threatening to cry out once more in protest.
"Hey, Sasuke…do you remember this place?"
The raven turned to the blonde who was a few feet away underneath the one tree that stood out amongst the rest. Not because it was a rare type of cherry blossom amidst the cluster of most common, no. Not that at all, but the reason made his heart pound.
The blonde stood underneath the falling petals that blew loose from the harsh early spring wind. A few scarce petals were stuck in the unruly locks of blonde hair awkwardly while his sky blue eyes stared in a daze toward the raining trees.
"This is the place…That time. The day you told me you were in love with me."
Author's Notes: I know people are like, "Is she going to go left, right, backwards, forwards?"
To an author…that makes sense.
And here I go again, taking one big giant leap out of my comfort zone-y zone. Oi