A Sasuke doesn't come home from Sound 'what if' fic.

Title: Take a Cup
Author: desolate butterfly
Genre: Angst/Drama
Pairings: NaruSaku, implied SakuSasu and NaruSasu
Rating: PG 13 for character death and dark themes
Summary: In which Naruto and Sakura say goodbye to their team mates without actually saying goodbye.
--

He found her in the bar after a few fruitless hours of running around Konoha. The place was pretty much empty, as it was nearing sunrise, but Sakura still sat, slumped over on the barstool, head buried in her arms, with Ino by her side.

As Naruto approached, Ino slid off her stool and walked towards him.

"She won't listen to me," she said, her voice hushed, although the pink-haired girl showed no signs of even acknowledging Naruto's appearance. "See if you can do something for her."

Naruto nodded and Ino patted his shoulder as she walked past him towards the exit.

"I'll check up on you tomorrow Forehead-girl," she called back in a much louder tone. Ino paused for a second before she left, one hand on the door, but no reply was offered and she left with nothing.

The barkeeper nodded to the newly appointed hokage and then discreetly moved off to the back room to fiddle with the cashbox. Naruto sent the man a grateful look and pulled up a stool beside Sakura.

He lifted the sake bottle beside her and weighed it in his hands. Half-full, and Ino didn't look like she'd been drinking at all.

Sighing, Naruto put the bottle back down on the table with a thunk and nudged his team mate in the arm.

"Hey, Sakura-chan," he murmured, "are you sleeping?"

A muffled "no" was all he got in response. Undeterred, Naruto tried again.

"Do you have a headache?"

Another muffled "no" sounded as he gently brushed the bangs back from her forehead.

"Well you're going to have one tomorrow. Do you want me to get you some water?"

Sakura finally raised her head at this and Naruto could see that her eyes were red-rimmed, but dry. She gave him a smile then that could rival Sai for fakeness. Naruto winced.

"Go home, Naruto," she said, voice thick with sake and unshed tears. "I'm fine."

"The hell you are."

Her smile twisted into a grimace and she regarded the half-empty sake bottle, fuzzily.

"Well," she slurred, "I seem to be picking up some of Tsunade-shishou's bad habits, but that's nothing new. You were late to your own inauguration Friday and I'm sure you picked that up from…from…"

Her face crumpled and a noiseless sob worked its way up through her shoulders, making them tremble. Naruto moved to embrace her but she shrugged him off, reaching for the small bowl she had been pouring sake into for the better part of the evening.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto put a restraining hand on hers, his voice hard. "That's enough."

"It's not enough," she yelled. "It'll never be enough. Ka…Kakashi-sensei is gone and Sasuke's never coming back and you…you…"

She turned away, biting her lip. The words 'you are not enough' hung in the air, unsaid.

Naruto swallowed past the lump in his throat, hands clenching into fists.

"Are you giving up?" he asked, voice wavering.

She looked at him, and he had to look away before the deadness in her eyes broke him.

"It's not giving up," she murmured, sliding her hand free of Naruto's and tipping the sake bottle over one last time into her cup. Her black yukata slipped down over her shoulder, showing a dark pattern of bruises leading up her collarbone to her neck where Sasuke's—no, Orochimaru's—hands had choked her.

"It's not giving up…it's letting go."

'That's the same damn thing,' Naruto felt like screaming, but he only lifted the bottle from her nerveless fingers and hefted it in his own hands, wondering how satisfying it would be to smash it against the wall.

"Can we just…for tonight…can't we just hold on a little longer? Sakura-chan. Please."

Something in his voice must have pulled at her; her expression softened into something that could almost pass for a real smile and her eyes gentled into a look of compassion.

"Okay, Naruto," she said, placing a hand on his cheek and patting it affectionately, like one might do with a frightened child. "We'll hold on a little longer tonight. For old time's sake."

She pulled back and raised her cup in the air. "Drink to it."

Naruto watched her bring the cup to her lips and toss her head back, then brought the bottle to his own lips and took a long swig. The overwhelming sweetness of plums cloyed in his throat and almost made him gag.

He swallowed anyway.

'For old times' sake.'

Closing his eyes brought forth an image of Sasuke—Orochimaru, dammit!—as he sliced through Kakashi's chest, blood in Sakura's hair and her wide open mouth screaming…

Naruto snapped his eyes open just in time to see Sakura start her descent off the barstool. He caught her around the waist and cradled her close to his chest. She didn't stir once as they made the trek back to her apartment, and only muttered fitfully when Naruto fumbled in her flower pot for the keys.

As he stripped her and folded her into her bed sheets, he felt a pair of eyes watching him, disapproving—'You were supposed to be taking care of her.'—but since they had agreed on pretending, he ignored them and crawled into the bed beside her anyway.

Hours later, Sakura woke to find Naruto wrapped around her so tightly, his nails were raking gouges in her skin. Her hands settled around his wrists and squeezed hard enough to break the bones of a normal man. She fell back asleep as bruises rose, flickered, and faded on his arms.

If he was awake, he never let her know it.

--

Should old acquaintance be forgot

And ne'er brought to mind?

Should old acquaintance be forgot

And auld lang syne?

fin.

Any commentary is appreciated.