Saving Me
His life had been a mess. Shikaku had tried, Yoshino had tried, Choji had tried, ino had tried, Tsunade had tried. He'd listened to none of them. Retreating alone to a hole in the wall, he'd smoked his days away, not just with cigarettes, but drugs too. He'd known that Asuma wouldn't have wanted it, he knew that Kurenai didn't want it. But he was what he was. And then she came.
He propsed to her a year ago, and she'd disappeared from his life, after refusing. But one day, she'd appeared and destroyed his drugs, his cigarettes, and given him what he'd really needed, a shoulder to cry on, someone who didn't care whether he ruined their clothes with his tears. She'd promised nothing. He'd asked for nothing. It was enough that she had saved him.
Then, one day, she'd overcome the fear inside her and finally said it.
"Lazy?"
"Yeah, Temari?"
"I..."
"What?"
"I love you."
"I know."
"Well?"
"I love you too, troublesome woman."