another day another reason to hate his life, well not as much as usual today, it had been unusually peaceful today, no crazy woman, no need for him to perform daredevil levels of escape measures that usually ended with him having to go to the clinic to get class shards removed from his arms an the ocational blood transfusion if he accidentally cut a vein.

Nope nothing like that at day.

Most of the day had him traveling mostly in civilian populated area's that never seemed to end up on his list of places to deliver to in the past an it was completely different change from his usual hectic missadventures.

The simple nice an most importantly sane civilian residences he delivered to had been completely calm an nice him in a purely honest non Couger way that felt completely new to him.

The wife's didn't making him feel nervous an the husbands didn't seem threatening, hell even the children that he usually though we're all brats to deal with were practically angles compared to the one's from the shinobi districts.

Was this heaven?.

Did a stray kunai from a desperate wife finally killed him an sent him to nirvana?.

All day there was no incidents or mishaps what so ever, he didn't even need to search for escape routes when dropping off packages inside their houses as on every street no one even looked at him twice after they signed for their packages an waved him off with a smile as he left.

It was just a simple normal day on the job.

Which left him into a near nervous wreck by noon.

this was unpresented in his correer as a delivery man!, every day atlest SOMETHING emotonaly draining happened, hell at this point he would take a crazy woman chasing down his automobile just to calm his nerves.

Yeah he knew exactly how insane that sounded. But you can't blame him the day was just too... Too.. Perfect!.

It was near one in the afternoon before he was at his last stop before taking his lunch break, luckily it was nothing heavy just a small box that fit easily In his satchel an felt light to carry, he pulled up to one of the last civilian house's next to the forest an marveled at how calm everything was, he had never been much of an out doors man an prefered to stay in in konaha's upper central city where all the comforts of the lazy modern age kept him sane after a long day but now even he could see the appeal to wanting to live in the outer ring of the village close to the forest. It was peaceful.

Better view than what his two room apartment had that's for sure.

Getting out of his truck he walked over to the door with his trusty pad an pen in his hands an rang the door bell an waited.

Almost immediately that very second before he could get his thumb off the buzzer the door was ripped open by a pink haired woman her looked around excitedly only for her eyes to dim as they gazed him disappointment at him an sighed.

Apparently she must of been expecting someone else.

"what is it? " she asked him tiredly as she looked behind him to see if anyone besides him was near by completely egnoring he had her package In his hands.

"Eric ma'am I'm just making deliverys",he said getting her attention making her turn to him puzzeled.

"package?, but I didn't order anything? " she said in wonder staring at the box as the delivery man looked at the writing on the package.

"well ma'am it says here on the side that it's a express package all the way from the land of snow from someone called, sasuke u-" ,he didn't even get a chance to finish his sentence as with speeds that my as well be inhuman to a normal civilian like him the pink haired woman spared in front of him with the package in hand already ripping it apart to see what was inside.

She pulled out a wad off case that made his meager life savings look like chump change found on the ground. (oh his pride)

An a folded up letter.

She quickly unfolded the letter an froze after scanning trough it.

Because she was so close from where he was standing he could see everything that was in the box with ease, yes this was violating her privacy as a citizen of konaha to be ease dropping on her on her mail but after seeing her go stiff suddenly like that his curiosity was peaked.

So against his usually better judgement, he snooped.

Sakura,there's been a change of plans, I've still have much to do on my journey, I feel I've still only scratched the surface of my redemption an have decided to spend atlest another 6 months in solitude training myself to new heights, the world may be experiencing a time of peace now but new dangers could always come.

In conclusion, I won't be coming this month, here is the money I've saved from my travels,it should last you easily a year, I don't know what our daughter like's but buy her something for her birthday so naruto will get off my back about not spending enough time with her.

Baka,what does he know,we both grew up with out parents around an we turned out... Acceptable, in the end.

Her birthday is on October right?

Sasuke.

He read the last line just in time for her to crush the note in her trembling arm hand's that grapped down on the paper to hard it ripped apart an trembled even more.

Seeing as the clearly pissed off woman was no doubt about to blow a fuse he knew he needed to get the hell out.

"h-ic he... pro-mised hic"

He was completely expecting angry rants an cursing from the woman upfront of him, after reading the note himself he even he thought shot was gonna go down.

But he didn't this she was gonna cry.

Even on his wildest miss adventures he had never seen one of recipients cry before infront of him, sure there were the occasional crocodile tears he would get from spoiled child who saw the types of awesome package's he usually delivered to the shinobi district, be it deadly weapons or deadly video games, those little brats would pull out movie star level performance's in hopes he would sneak a few of the goodies to them.

Snort.

Tuff luck brats.

But this was different, the woman was clearly distraut as her probably hours worth of make up ran down her face due to her heavy tears an her whipping her flowing tears in vain as all it was doing was smearing the make up,making her almost look like a abused clown with depression..

OK maybe he was stretching it, but she still looked bad!.

Standing there silently watching the woman all but break down in front of him the delivery man looked on with a visible look of concern in his normally cautious eyes, he bit his lower lip an did so he swore on his mother's grave he would regret.

Salutations felt a hand on her shaking shoulders an stiffened in surprise.

"ma'am.. ",he croaked out feeling uncomfortable even addressing the woman beyond his usual professional scripted tone he had worked so hard for month's to perfect.

"it's... Gonna be... ok"

That's it?, that's all he could come up with!, for God or Kami or kishi-whatevers sack! ,was that really all he has to confront an crying woman!.

Swallowing the was of nervous spit in his mouth an holding down his usual fearful anxiety when dealing with emotional woman he found the will to continue as he got her to turn her head to him.

He had her full attention.

Great.

"you ah.. Still have... Your daughter ",he said after scrambling his mind for anything he could use an briefly remember her husband mentioning something about a child they shared, if it was family bonds she was missing atlest she had it in flesh an blood.

Yeah even he thought it was lame.

"oh",she said with pain still in her voice but atleast managed to get enough control of herself to quit the water works, they were even making him feel bad.

An he waved present's in the faces of crying children an pulled them out of their reach as petty revenge for the crap some of their mothers put him through,the drive off laughing as they try in vain to catch up on foot.

Huh,maybe that's where his bad karma was coming from.

"I didn't mean for you to see that, see me like that ",she said with her green eyes down as if ashamed to meet eye contact with the person who saw her at her most vulnerable,"you don't have to worry... This it's the first time he's cancelled ",she said again with another wave of gloom flooding her making the woman's eyes tear up again, she reached to wipe away a tear only to stop.

Sometimes else was already doing that.

He didn't know why he had do it, just holding her shoulder in support took a tremendous effort especially since his usually accurate senses were going crazy the moment she read the note, but seeing more tears form in her eyes made what little left in him of the once care free human being he once was react without thinking of the reprocutions .

Standing shell shocked at his own actions his fingers an thumb had swiped clean any traces of the liquid off her face,even clearing off the running makeup bringing out her natural light skin.

All the while salutations just stood there wide eyed an practically let his wondering hand down as it pleased on her face as if she too was stund.

When the final bit of runny mascara was rubbed off his hand was covered black an red, the red coming from cleaned off lips that before had lipstick smeared all over the side's.

Why so serious.

But now that all that junk was mostly gone she looked..

"better"

He almost swallowed his tongue as the word escaped him mouth, it wasn't necessarily a complement, before with all that runny make up even a transvestite probably looked more presentable,the cleaned up version he saw now could at the very least be described as better.

But why did he get a deep feeling of dread after saying that?.

"you should stay like this, without make up" he said pulling his shacky,sweaty,dirty hand away.

'you look average at best with it normally an when wet you look like a botched lab experiment gone horriblely wrong' ,he thought honestly while washing his hand in the bird bath next to him much to the irritation of the birds perched on it.

Screw you birds.

Yet still it seemed the little water in the bath wasn't cutting it like salty tears were as the makeup stuck to his arm.

Sighing he scratched his head an looked towards the womans home with probably working indoor plumbing such as sinks an then to the far off distance in the Forrest an weighing his options in his head before nodding an turned to run to his automobile.

If he hurried he get to a lack by sun down an wash it off before it drys!.

Rule number 6,never use a recipients bathroom!

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Sakura's pov

Again, he cancelled again

Was the thought in my head as i read the note in her hands.

I should of known, it shouldn't of been a surprise really, he hadn't been in the village in years an the last visit was long ago sarada was too young to remember.

But even still... I really thought this time he...

"ma'am "

I snapped my eyes to the man behind me, in my sadness i had forgotten the delivery man was still there an was surprised to see him,along with that Odd look on his face, I couldn't help compare him to a frightened baby deer.

"it's... Gonna be... ok"

What?

He looked flustered now, as if his inner frightened deer was now staring at a pack of hungry lions.

"you ah.. Still have... Your daughter "

Did.. Did he see it, did he read the note?

"oh",i said finally getting it, he got the gist of what the note ment.

An now he pity's me.

I didn't want to be pitied, i still had my pride an dignity as a kunichi after all, but then again I was sobbing like a child in front of a civilian. Not much of my pride could be salvaged from that.

"I didn't mean for you to see that, see me like that ",I said with my head down refusing to make eye contact an feeling even more childish for it.

What's wrong with me?, I've stared down Ninja's, demons, demi-God's an space demon ninja demi-gods...

Still can't get over kagura being a alien.

Yet being seen so weak by this man who wasn't even a bug in comparison made her feel smaller than she ever had in years.

"you don't have to worry... This it's the first time he's cancelled ",I admit sadly, unable to hid my feelings about it in my voice, just thinking about it was making my eyes water up again.

Suddenly out of nowhere his hand was on my face touching me, my first instinct was to snap his arm in five places,an that was just to restrain him. But something about his harmless baby deer look made I hold down my instincts an only flinch slightly at his tentative touch an stood still there not certain what was happening till i felt his thumb wipe under my eye.

Was he... Comforting me?.

He kept this up algorithms several more seconds, in that time it slowly stopped feeling awkward as I relaxed into it, his warm hands were oddly pleasant as whatever method he was using to calm me down was actually working.

Then he removed his hand

I was embarrassed when I realized it irritated me when he did that without warning me first.

It felt nice

"better" he asked snapping me out of my thoughts staring up at his brown honest eyes.

Why do my cheeks feel warm?

She wanted to answer him, tell him she was fine an didn't need his pity, that she didn't appreciate being looked down on, especially by a random civilian that looked atlest 5 years younger than her!.

Yet why was the thought of his warm hands on cheeks the only thing she could focus on instead of her anger at being treated like a child?!.

"you should stay like this, without make up"

Her cheeks definitely felt hot now.

He was complementing her looks?.

She hadn't remember the last time anyone's done that, not since she rejected naruto for the millionth time almost 15 years ago, then he immediately afterwards married hinata.

It always bothered her how quickly she missed it when he stopped greeting her with his usual endless string off pick up lines .kami knows she wasn't getting any of those from sasuke.

So pardon her for heating up like a nun when she thought the delivery man was showing signs of affection towards her.

She was about to open her mouth an say something ,probably along the lines of 'I'm a happy married woman! ',but couldn't for 2 reasons.

1,because That was bullshit

An 2,he suddenly ran off into his truck an drove off.

Leaving her both blushing an confused

Xxxxxxxxxxxxcc ccc

"who the heck was that ",said a mysterious figure as they sat on top of a roof watching the two a frowned the entire time with their hand folded clearly not liking what just happened.

"what's that creep trying to do with mom?"