Author's note: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. I simply borrow them to use in my own sick, twisted fantasies. ^^ I also don't own the song "Remembering Sunday." That belongs to All Time Low and their record label. I do, however, own the plot and the characters of Junko, her parents, and the minor characters that Naruto talks to in a later chapter. –Nira

Remembering Sunday

Chapter One: He woke up from dreaming…

"Naruto-kun!"

I turn around to see who is calling me and smile, seeing a cute girl with layered blonde hair with the longer bottom layers dyed black. She smiles at me, holding my hands and kisses me before she runs off, looking back at me with her black-rimmed silver eyes to see if I'm following her, the purple flecks catching the light as she runs. I smile back and chase after her.

Every time I think I've caught up to her, she runs farther away, her facial expression darkening a little more each time. I'm getting tired and I'm out of breath, so I stop to catch it, my eyes never leaving the girl ahead of me. My breath catches in my throat when I see wet streaks glistening on her cheeks and that her eyes seem to be confused on what they want to tell me. I run after her again, ignoring the tightening of my chest. I need to comfort her, but she runs away again, not letting me get close to her. She's still looking back at me and calling me toward her, but her actions keep drawing her farther and farther away from me. She looks more and more desperate for me to reach her as I struggle on.

The tears are cascading down her face as she looks ahead of her and away from me for the first time since she's called out to me. She runs, but this time she doesn't pause or look back at me. I run faster, my stomach and chest tightening and my eyes widening. She's given up and is running away from me. A sinking feeling like a dry, too-large chunk of bread being swallowed hits my stomach.

She isn't coming back.

"Junko!" I call out, desperately reaching out for her, silently begging for her to turn around and reach back out for me as she had just a few short moments ago, but she doesn't.

I shoot into a sitting position, my eyes wide open and my arm extended. I'm panting heavily and covered in a cold layer of sweat. I look around the room with confused, electric-blue eyes and sigh, bending my head and running my fingers through my spiked golden hair. It's just a dream again, but it leaves me feeling empty inside.

Empty.

It's all I've felt since she really has left. How long ago has it been? Days? Weeks? I can't remember. The days and nights have melted together and I can't tell the difference between two days ago and last night. I take a swig from the bottle of sake on my nightstand and make a face. It burns and tastes gross, like acid being poured down my throat, but I don't care. I've gotten used to it and the numb, burning feeling and sense of everything being topsy-turvy it leaves behind. It makes me feel something aside from the emptiness. I pick up the pack of cigarettes next to the bottle, put one to my lips, and light it, taking a long drag and letting it out in a sigh.

The alarm clock distorted by empty liquor bottles reads 2:00 AM, so I get out of bed and put some pants on. I know I won't be able to get back to sleep for a while, so I decide to go for a walk. I put on my shoes and walk up the stairs of my apartment building to the roof. The sky is clear, the moon, full, and the stars are shining bright in their seemingly infinite black blanket. I walk to the edge and lean against the chest-high wall. A cool summer breeze sweeps by and a slight smile creeps onto my face as I remember the last day I'd seen Junko.

It had been a Sunday, clear, warm, and breezy and she'd come over and knocked impatiently at my door. When I finally got out of bed and answered, she greeted me with a tackle hug and a huge smile on her face.

"Naruto-kun! Good morning, sleepy head," she smiled up at me. "Are you hungry? You better be because I'm cooking breakfast for you."

I laughed and let her in, apologizing for how messy my apartment was. When she walked in and looked around, she turned to me with her brows furrowed.

"What?" I asked, confused as to why she looked so angry.

"Do you ever clean? I'm not cooking in a dirty kitchen, and I'm being nice when I'm saying that it's just dirty. This entire apartment is a health risk, Naruto!" she scolded.

"Then help me clean?" I suggested nervously.

"Fine…" she huffed after a pause. "But only because I know you won't do it unless I help or babysit you into doing it."

She made her way into my bedroom and dug through my drawers, looking for something, so I watched her in curious confusion. She pulled out a muscle shirt and smiled before turning her back to me and taking her own off-the-shoulder blue and silver sakura-printed shirt off and replacing it with my muscle shirt. I blushed and looked away and she faced me again with a smile.

"Let's get started!"

We started cleaning the kitchen first and she sang and danced as she worked. I couldn't help but to smile and stop to watch her sometimes. She was so cheerful and had so much energy. It was intoxicating. We cleaned for hours, pausing only for something to drink every now and then. When we finished, we stood in the middle of the apartment and looked around. Everything was spotless and the whole apartment smelled like cleaning supplies.

"We did it," I smiled wide in excitement. It had been ages since I'd been able to see my floor.

"Now we can eat! Are you gonna help me cook, too?" she inquired.

"I'll do what I can," I chuckled.

She smiled and skipped to the kitchen. She made French toast, bacon, and eggs cooked over-easy and I helped by grabbing whatever she asked for. Cinnamon, butter, paper towels, milk, vanilla. Everything that she did— walking, dancing, cleaning, moving around the kitchen—had a sort of hypnotic grace to it and I found myself caught in its spell often enough to realize that I was staring and blushing almost constantly. I didn't mind, though. I loved being around her.

When she'd finished cooking, she made a plate for each of us and set one in front of me at the table with a glass of orange juice, and then sat across from me. She refused to take a bite before I did or until she knew what I thought of it.

"Well?" she inquired impatiently when I'd taken a bite of the eggs. I hadn't even had a chance to chew once, yet.

"Jun-chan, this is great!" I smiled and took another bite, so she smiled and dug in seeming satisfied with my reaction.

When we'd finished eating and washed our dishes, she paused and stared at me and I could see a sad, lonely darkness hidden behind her caring eyes. It gripped my heart, making me wonder what had happened to make her look so broken, but I also knew she wouldn't tell me. She'd shut herself off from me more than she had when we were younger. Back then, she'd have told me anything, but something had broken her down over the years that we were apart.

"What is it?" I blushed, not showing to her that I saw that she was hiding something from me.

"You know… I really like you, Naruto-kun," she smiled. "Thanks for breakfast. I had a lot of fun."

"I did too, Junko. Thanks for coming over," I smiled back, my heart fluttering and wanting me to tell her how much I loved her.

I wanted her to tell me what was wrong and why she sounded like she was saying "goodbye," but I couldn't bring myself to ask or to confess anything, myself, either.

My strength leaves me, having remembered that day and I slide to my knees, my hands futilely pressed to the wall to try to keep me standing. My chest feels like it's going to implode and my throat burns with suppressed sobs as tears force their way from my eyes. I miss her so much that it hurts.