Heaven's Postman

Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust on the earth, overlying our hard hearts. –Charles Dickens

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Guide To Becoming Heaven's Postman

Number 17:

Part of a day's job is to bring hope to the living that had lost a loved one. Do what that person could have done if they were still alive.

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Chapter 2 – And My Heart Swells

The next morning, Sakura had woken up at five in the morning and soon realized she could no longer regain sleep. With her ex-boyfriend in mind, that was normal, though that morning she found herself thinking about Uchiha Sasuke. After getting up and showering, she took her bike and rode it through the bare and empty streets. Sakura had only seen joggers and dog-walkers. Other than that, the whole country was still asleep. As she biked, she was thinking about Sasuke's disappearance last night…

"Where are you going?" Sakura asked as Sasuke walked toward down the road where the lights could not reach and illuminate the side walk. Only the street lamps above them lit the night since the moon as hiding behind thick, dark clouds.

He glanced at the sky quickly. "I have to get back," he said without turning around to face her.

She made a face at him. "What?"

He returned to walking silently, his footsteps not making a sound. "There's no time for questions," he muttered.

Sakura watched as the darkness enveloped him. She felt as though someone was pulling him away. "Sasuke?"

Silence followed. Then she realized that he was no longer there.

"He's really a ghost," she thought aloud.

Sakura shook her head, clearing her thoughts. For a while there, she thought that she had been tricked by him. Oh, no one could trick Haruno Sakura that easily. It was simply… too dark to see him walk toward his house. She kept telling herself that Sasuke was stuck in a world where he believed he was Heaven's Postman.

Biking down toward the park, Sakura's eyes were caught on a bright sheet of paper hung by tape on a door. Skidding to a stop, she quickly read the piece of paper. ALIBI ART FACTORY. STAFF NEEDED. HIGHLY SKILLED. She remembered thinking that she needed a job. Though she did not know what an Alibi Factory was, she shrugged and tore the paper from the door and crumpled it in her pocket. She was not highly skilled, but she figured she could fake it. Everyone fakes it now-a-days, she thought.

Parking her bike next to a stop sign, she climbed up the steps leading to the store. Once she was inside Sakura could not help but notice the poor designs of the walls. Torn wallpaper that was browning with age coloured her view. Even the floor was wooden and filthy. She noticed a machine next to the front door that was entirely made of copper metal. The machine wheezed and produced a thin piece of bread that fell in a basket. A man in a white lab suit came and munched on the newly made bread. He acknowledged her with a nod.

"Excuse me. What kind of factory is this?" she questioned.

The man wagged his finger toward him and her, telling her to follow him in further. As they walked through the mess of crumpled paper on the floor, Sakura spotted machines like the one she saw earlier. One of them looked like a small, keyboard piano with a tube attached to the back. Another was a pen that stretched a foot long.

"Here are things I created. I've been on this subject for seventeen years now. You could say I'm the founder," he explained, gesturing to the different machines and objects around him. "Over there is the list of things and services you can purchase." He pointed to a large poster on the right wall.

He wandered over to a small, wooden box. He pressed a button and it automatically played realistic airplane sounds, he pressed another button and it played the sound of traffic in New York. "Over there is a book giving you ways to pass a test for school, guaranteed." He pointed to the object beside her.

Picking it up, she flipped through the pages. The read one sentence from a random chapter: "…write down the answers to your palm with a light coloured marker…" She wrinkled her nose. "That's cheating," she mumbled aloud.

"Cheat. This is what this place does," he said.

As the man took a seat in what she thought was his desk, Sakura approached him after setting the book down. "Misuta, how much is the salary of the highly skilled staff?" she finally asked. [Misuta: Mister]

He sat back on his chair and rested his feet on his desk. She noticed with disgust that his shoes had holes, exposing the soles of his feet—probably another one of his inventions with a no good reason behind it. He scrutinized her for a brief moment. "I think you're too young, miss. Maybe I could—"

"I'm twenty-four, Misuta," she said bluntly.

"I'm sorry. I'm expecting someone a few years older than that." He shrugged.

She pursed her lips. "Sorry to bother you. Bye now." Sakura waved before leaving the store and taking her bike. Despite the wave of disappointment that washed over her, she collected herself and peddled. She had only one place to go to now.

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The pink-haired girl pulled her bike along with her up the familiar hill, begging the angels that he would be there that day. Something about Sasuke pulled her closer to him. She understood that his duty—the reason why he hunted her down—was to discipline her about the cruel letter had had addressed to her dead ex-boyfriend. Yet why was she the one hunting him down now? It was a question she was determined to solve.

Nearing the mailbox, her lips stretched across her face in a bright smile. There he was again, emptying the mailbox and sorting through all the envelopes.

"Yo," Sakura greeted as she approached.

The postman glanced at her for only a second. "What? Did you come to send those evil letters again?"

She frowned. Her morning was not going any better and he wasn't helping. "No. I don't send those anymore. You're going to look at them anyway."

"Then what?" He tucked the envelopes in his bag and leaned against the mailbox, doing the same gesture as yesterday. She realized it was his way of saying "I'm all ears."

Sakura picked up a stuffed, brown bear off the grass that once had a letter attached to its belly. Silently, he waited for an answer as she fiddled with the toy.

"You've decided to work with me, haven't you?"

Sakura laughed. "Ha! No way!" She crossed her arms with the bear wedged against her side. "I came to blackmail you. Pay me five hundred thousand yen an hour. How about that?"

He rolled his eyes. "'I cannot forgive you. I really, really cannot forgive you. You told me you liked me. Was that all a lie? As I stroked your face, you told me you liked me so much. Was everything a lie from the start? You should throw your soul away into a dark black hole!'"

Even though Sakura knew he was quoting a paragraph from her letter, she made no reaction to it. "Are you writing a poem? Or are you writing lyrics for a song?"

"Did you already forget what you wrote in your letters?" he questioned.

"Oh, this guy!" She balled her fists and exhaled. "That's foul play! That's cheating! I'll punch you and I'm not joking!"

Sasuke got the reaction he wanted to see and grinned. "Since you threatened me, I'm posting them on the internet."

"No!" she exclaimed. As if nothing had happened, he went back to opening an envelope. "Such a nasty heart," she muttered.

"Look who's talking," he muttered. Sasuke got to his knees to inspect a something square and plastic on the grass next to the mailbox's stand.

"What is it?" Curiously, she approached him.

"It's a lunch box." Opening it, they both saw its contents—sushi and egg rolls.

"For a lover?"

He briefly read the letter that was once attached to it with tape. "A mother who lost her five year old daughter… She made a lunch box for her child." Sakura sat on the ground while he continued reading. "'Inari, Since I was a beginner at cooking when you passed away… Since you couldn't try the yummy things I make, eat the egg rolls and sushi I made inside the lunch box. Are they yummier than before? Now I can make sushi without making to seaweed too loose, like so…'"

Sakura's eyes watered and her vision blurred. She realized with shock that they were tears. Hugging the bear close to her heart, she soaked in the words written on the letter. "Are you crying?" she asked him.

He tilted his head, watching her glistening eyes her. "You're the one crying, Sakura."

The letter made her think of her own mother and how they haven't seen or contacted each other in years since she had a job transfer and Sakura had refused to move to Chicago with her. Sakura would only receive money from her once a month. Before she had also received letters, but after her mother learned that she would never take the time to reply, she stopped sending them. She wondered if her mother would come back to Tokyo if she passed away. Would she cook her daughter something too? Would she write a letter for Sakura and put it in the mailbox? The fact that people were already suffering that kind of emotional pain moved her.

"But I'm Heaven's Postman, not Heaven's Delivery Service." Unwrapping the wooden chopsticks from inside the plastic, he picked up an egg roll with it.

"Are you going to eat it?" she asked.

"I'll feel bad if it rots. Want some?" He had a feeling she didn't have breakfast yet.

Sakura carefully nodded her head, her body, feeling fragile. "Yes, I want some." With her fingers, she took the egg roll from him and ate it bit by bit, savouring the flavour.

"Is it good?"

She nodded.

"Is it salty?"

"Yes."

Looking up at the blue sky, Sasuke shouted, "Inari!"

Sakura was surprised by his action. "What are you doing?"

"Inari!" he yelled at the sky again. "The egg rolls our mom made are really delicious!"

The birds scattered and the wind howled as he yelled. Sakura smiled at him, regretting everything cruel she said to him in his presence.

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After Sakura had finished all the egg rolls and sushi from the lunchbox, Sasuke placed a small, violet flower on top of it. He explained that it was a reply from Inari that she ate well.

"That's a lie, though," she stated.

He nodded. "It's a lie, but… if she was alive, she would have done this." He stood from his spot on the grass, and she mimicked him. He had been debating whether he would still ask her about the job. "Do you want… the job?"

"Can I ask you something?" she said instead.

"Yes."

"Is the pay really two thousand yen?"

"Yes, it is. Why would I lie about that?" he questioned, frowning.

She simply smiled and stuck her hand out to him. "My name is Haruno Sakura, nice to meet you." She greeted him as though they had just met.

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke, nice to meet you too."

Sakura shook his cold hand with eagerness, grinning at her new "boss."

Author's Note: I thought it was a good idea to put some sort of emotional part where the girl cries in front of the boy :) The reason why Sakura is drawn to Sasuke will be revealed sometime. Maybe you already know it… Plus, information about Sakura's ex-boyfriend! Keep posted and subscribe! Thanks for reading. Reviews will be appreciated. Next chapter will be out sometime next week!