To love and to Love Again Chapter 4: Sora and Suki
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER AND AUTHORS NOTE: I do NOT own Naruto. The awesomeness of the Naruto Manga and World is the creation of Masashi Kishimoto. This is Purely Fanfiction. All things Medical in this entire fanfiction should not be taken as serious medical advice or facts. PLEASE CONSULT AN ACTUAL DOCTOR FOR ANY MEDICAL INFORMATION/QUESTIONS. THANK YOU AND ENJOY!
After his mother dropped him off, Sora walked toward the main entrance of his new school. The new school year had already started three weeks ago but Sora had only moved here last week. He walked past the entrance and went straight for the main office. He went up to the front desk and told the woman who was sitting behind it that he was new and asked where he could find his class.
The receptionist nodded and checked her file while Sora looked around the office for a bit. A large bulletin board was placed right above the couches and right next to the board was another corkboard with different pictures of kids on it.
One of the pictures stood out from the rest. It was a picture of a little girl with short black hair wearing a ballet costume. This picture was not taken in a classroom like the other students, but it looked like it was taken from a dance recital. She was holding a single rose and a little tiara above her head, but what made her stand out were her big green eyes. "They look just like Mommy's eyes," he thought.
"Sora, I have your class number," the receptionist announced as she returned. "It's Class 1-A. Your teacher is Kurenai Sensei. Just give her this note," she instructed while handing him a yellow piece of paper.
Sora left the office and walked down the hall towards his classroom. When he reached the door, he could hear the Sensei talking to the students about what they would be doing today. He opened the door and walked in.
The Sensei stopped talking and offered him a smile as the whole class turned to look at him.
"Hello there. Is this your class?" the Sensei asked. She had black wavy hair that was let down and red eyes. She was wearing the teacher version of their school uniform. She also wore a teachers badge around her neck that had her picture and name that read Yuhei Kurenai.
Sora went up to her and handed over the note from the office. She looked it over and then turned to the class, motioning for Sora to stand next to her. The rest of the class was sitting around the rug in the center of the classroom.
"Okay class, even though school started not that long ago, we have a new student joining us today. Everyone say hello to Sora Arisugaki."
Sora looked around the fairly large class as they all muttered a hello to him.
"Well Sora, why don't you tell us a little about yourself?" Kurenai suggested.
"Uh… I just moved here from Kyoto with my mommy. She's a doctor. I like to draw stuff and put them up in my room. Sometimes I paint put mostly I just like to draw in black," he explained. His eyes landed on one particular girl, who was sitting in the middle of the group. "That's the girl with the same eyes as Mommy,"he noted.
Kurenai smiled. "Oh so we have an artist in our class now. That's great, we paint every week here. You could start hanging your drawings here too if you like. You can take a seat anywhere you like on the rug and then after words I'll assign you a seat at the desks."
Sora sat down towards the side of the rug. Kurenai Sensei talked a little bit more about what they would be doing today. Then she dismissed everyone to their seats. Since Sora didn't have a seat yet, he had to wait until she chose one for him.
"Hmmm now where could I put you?" she mumbled while scanning the room. "Oh, you sit right by Akio," she said pointing to a boy in the backside of the room. "Akio please raise your hand so that Sora can see you."
The boy with spiky brown hair that was tied in the back raised his hand without even looking up from his work. Sora walked over to him and sat beside him.
"Hi, I'm Nara Akio," the boy introduced as he turned to face Sora. Now that he was close up, Sora could see that he also had very light blue eyes and a lazy demeanor.
"Hi… I'm Sora," he said putting his book bag down. "But I already said that," he added.
"I didn't pay attention. School is boring," Akio groaned before putting his head down on the desk. "But my sister really likes it. She over there by the front," he said indicating the direction with his eyes. Sora turned his head to see where he was pointing and saw a little blond girl with her hair in a short high ponytail and she was sitting next to the dark haired girl from before.
"How come you and your sister are in the same class? Did you fail?" Sora asked.
Akio's head shot up from the desk with an annoyance in his lazy eyes. "Akira is my twin sister so we're supposed to be in the same grade," he explained laying his head back down. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"
Sora shook his head. "No, it's just me and my mommy. But sometimes I wish I had a one," he confessed.
"I think you're lucky," Akio replied. "Sisters are so dumb. My mommy always tries to dress us the same and she always makes me take care of Akira. Plus people always get all mushy whenever they see us and Dad always compares us together."
"I think you're lucky that you have a dad," Sora mumbled quietly so that Akio couldn't hear him. He quickly changed his thoughts to something else. "Hey Akio, who's that girl sitting next to your sister?"
"Hmm? Oh that's Suki. She's my sister's best friend."
"I'm so excited about our recital next week," Akira squealed to Suki. "My mommy said that she could make wings for us to put on our backs. That way we could actually look like the swans," she gushed while gathering up her crayons in the crayon box.
Suki smiled. "Really? Cool I can't wait to get mine. I want lots of glitter on it so that my daddy can see me right away!"
They were currently sitting at their desks and happily drawing whatever they wanted. Suki was in the middle of drawing her and her daddy. Now Suki, being the five-year-old that she is, was not the best artist so it ended up looking more like stick figures with giant heads and defined hair.
"There!" she exclaimed as she finished her drawing. She picked up a black crayon and wrote "Daddy and Me" on the bottom as neatly as she could. Then she held it up for inspection. "What do you think Akira?" she asked as she showed her best friend the picture.
Akira giggled. "Are you sure that's your daddy? He looks more like that new kid sitting with my brother," she observed while pointing to the back of the class.
Suki turned around to inspect the new kid once again. She saw that he was busily drawing something with a black marker and talking to Akio at the same time. When he showed Akio the picture she saw Akio's eyes grow wide.
"That must be a really good drawing,"she thought since Akio rarely showed any interest in anything.
Suki focused her attention on the new boy. Now that she paid attention, he really did look like her daddy. He had the same black hair she had but his was a little spiky like her daddy, only not as much. His eyes looked really dark too. Suddenly this new kid became more interesting.
She must have been staring because Akira had to shake her to get her attention. "Suki! What's the matter? I called you and you didn't say anything!" she huffed looking slightly annoyed.
"…Nothing," Suki muttered as she heard the bell signaling lunch go off. She and the rest of the class started packing up their stuff in their little cubicles and started bringing out their lunches. Some kids would get lunch from the cafeteria so the whole class had to walk there together with Kurenai Sensei leading them in two straight lines: one line for boys and the other line for girls.
Suki was one of the kids that had to buy lunch. So as soon as they entered the cafeteria, she and Akira went to the lunch line. Akio and Sora were a little behind them. Suki picked out a grilled cheese sandwich with some tomato soup. She also picked out a carton of apple juice. After she and Akira paid for their lunches, they both took their trays to a table in the center of the room.
"Mommy said that she's going to pick us up today after school instead of Daddy," Akira announced as she was chewing on her sandwich. "Then we'll go to ballet practice. She even said that we could help make the wings for the recital."
"Yay I can't wait," Suki squealed, almost knocking over her soup in her excitement.
"Can't wait for what?" asked a voice from behind. It was Akio and next to him was the new kid. They both sat down on the opposite side of the table across from the girls.
"For the recital," Suki answered. "We get to help make the wings!" she said as if it was the most exciting thing in the world. Akio sighed.
"That's boring," he deadpanned to Suki before turning to Sora. "I always have to go to their ballet practice. It's too troublesome. That's what my dad say's anyway. This is Sora," he said to the girls. "Sora this is my sister Akira and that's Suki," he said pointing to her. Sora looked at both of them and said hello.
"Hi Sora. Do you like our school?" Suki asked.
"It's okay, but I don't like these uniforms," he said, tugging on his collar.
Suki and Akira chuckled. At least they got to wear skirts. It was August, so the weather was still pretty warm. Sora took his coat off and put it behind his chair. Akio did the same thing claiming that the coat was just a bother.
The four of them began to chat animatedly with one another. Akio and Akira would often get into arguments about who was loved more by their parent, in which Akira would win because her brother would give up soon after they started. Suki and Sora would laugh every time Akio would call his sister "troublesome" in which she would reply that he should stop copying their dad in saying that everything is troublesome.
The topic of conversation inevitably shifted to their parents.
"What do your parents do?" Sora asked the twins.
"My dad's a Scientist," Akio answered. "He studies stuff and then makes medicine to give to the hospitals. It sounds really boring."
"I think Mommy has a cool job," Akira said. "She's our ballet teacher. She's really pretty and she can dance really nice," she added. At the mention of mothers, Suki's face became a little depressed.
Sora nodded before turning to Suki. "That's cool I guess. What do your parents do Suki?"
"My daddy is the boss of a really big hospital. He said he's called the C. E. O. but I don't know what that means," she admitted before hesitantly adding "And I don't have a mommy… so it's just me and my daddy," she finished. She tried to smile and she did, but it was forced.
"But I also have Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Itachi and Uncle Naruto and Aunty Hinata and Uncle Neji and Aunty Tenten," she added happily as she listed off all her supposed aunts and uncles. Sora recognized the last two as his own godparents.
"You have an Uncle Neji and Aunt Tenten? Me too," he cried with surprise in his voice. "Are they doctors?" he asked. Suki nodded. "So they're your aunt and uncle too?"
"…Um I think so," she mused. "I'll ask my daddy. But right now I'm confused."
Sora chuckled. "Me too. Maybe my mommy will know something about it."
Suki tilted her head. "Your mommy is a doctor huh? Then maybe she works at my daddy's hospital. Daddy says that it's the biggest hospital in Japan," Suki said wondrously. Somehow, the thought of having someone else's mom working at her daddy's hospital sounded nice.
"You guys have the same aunt and uncle?" asked Akira. "So does that mean that you're like, cousins or something?"
Sora shrugged. "I don't know. I'll just wait until I see my mom. Then I'll ask her."
Lunch ended after that and everyone went back into their classrooms. The rest of the day went by pretty quickly and before they knew it, it was time to go home. Akio, Akira, Sora and Suki all walked out together along with the rest of the class that was guided by Kurenai Sensei.
Students searched for their rides and one by one, everyone started to leave the school. A blue van pulled into the front of the school and honked to get the kids attention. Inside the van Sora could see that there was a woman with really long blond hair tied in a high ponytail just like Akira.
"That's our mommy," Akio pointed out. "We have to go to their boring dance practice now. Girls are such a pain," he whined. "See you tomorrow Sora!"
"Yeah… bye Sora," Akira said as she and her brother started walking towards their mother.
"I'm going with them so I'll see you tomorrow too. Bye Sora," said Suki as she ran to catch up with the others.
After they were gone, Sora sat on the steps in front of the school and pulled out his sketchpad. He flipped through the pages until he found the picture he was working on earlier today.
It was a sketch of a ninja warrior holding a sword. Although it wasn't the most perfect picture, it was still a very good drawing considering that he was only a child. He showed it to Akio who thought it was the coolest thing ever. He continued to draw on it since he wasn't finished with it yet.
Not long after he settled down to draw, Sora recognized his mother's car pull up in front. She parked the car and stepped out. She scouted the area until she spotted Sora sitting on the steps in front of the school with his sketchpad out.
Sakura finished getting all her errands at the hospital done. She had met a few nice people on her first day. One of them was a lovely nurse named Hinata. Hinata was amazing in getting her set up at the hospital. Later on she found out that Hinata was actually Naruto's wife. They were newlyweds and have barely been married for a few months. As if the world wasn't any smaller, Hinata was also Neji's cousin. The resemblance was obvious.
It was nearing 3:00 and Sakura had to get going in order to pick Sora up on time. Her baby was done with his first day of school and she didn't want to be late picking him up. Since the school was so close to the hospital, it didn't take long for her to get there. She pulled into a parking spot and stepped out. When she saw her son sitting on the steps absorbed in his sketchpad, she couldn't help but recall a pleasant memory.
six years ago…
Sakura was sitting under her favorite tree on campus reading from one of her anatomy books. She was on a chapter that consisted of the female reproductive system. Sakura had just started her final year at Tokyo University where she aspired to become a doctor. Her boyfriend Sai was supposed to meet her here after classes ended but he never showed.
"Where the hell is he?" she mumbled to herself as she looked around the campus. There was no sign of him anywhere. Sakura was starting to get annoyed. Sai was supposed to be here two hours ago. What could he have possibly been doing? She tried calling him but it just went straight to his voicemail.
"I'll be there by 3:00 pm my ass!" she huffed angrily as she repeated what he had promised her. "You'd better have a good excuse for being late," she said as she opened her book again and tried to concentrate but to no avail.
She was just dying to know where he was. He must have gotten caught up in one of his drawings again. Being in love with an artist isn't always as romantic as it may seem. They tend to get caught up in their own little world and "shut themselves out of reality" as Sai once told her.
But what if it wasn't his work that got him caught up? What if something happened? What if he was hurt? Now she officially freaked herself out. She grabbed her phone and was about to try to call him again when she heard her name from across the street.
"Sakura!"
She turned to the sound and saw Sai running up to her with that stupid smile on his face. For a brief second she felt relieved that nothing had happened to him but that soon vanished when she saw that smile. "What the hell's he so happy about. He just kept me waiting for two hours!"
"You were supposed to be here by three Sai. Where were you? I thought you might have been hurt or something but you seem to be fine," she noted.
Sai came up to her and pulled her into a hug. "I was here at three. I just didn't walk up to you," he answered as he inhaled her scent. Sakura quickly pulled away from him.
"You were here but you didn't tell me? What the hell were you doing for almost two hours without telling me?" she shouted. Sai was really toying with her and she was about to snap. She almost lost it when he just kept smiling at her.
"I was watching you," he replied. That caught Sakura off guard.
"…What? From where? I didn't see you anywhere. And more importantly, why?" she asked hesitantly. It's kind of creepy to know that someone was watching you for a while, even if that someone is your beloved boyfriend.
"I got here on time like I said I would, but then… I saw you sitting by that tree," he said as he glanced in that direction. "You looked too peaceful to interrupt so I went behind that tree and watched you for a while. That's when I decided that I wanted to draw you. I couldn't resist," he admitted as he pulled out his sketchpad from his book bag and showed her the drawing.
Sakura looked at the picture and was amazed. It was a very well defined sketch of her sitting by her favorite tree except in the picture she wasn't wearing her regular clothes. Sai had incorporated a very beautiful dress on her instead. On the bottom he wrote "The Love of My Life". Sakura started to tear up a bit. All her anger and irritation from before seemed to vanish right then and there.
"I had read that romantic gestures help diffuse anger," he stated. She chuckled at his random sayings.
"Being in love with an artist is more romantic than I thought," she whispered as she kept her eyes on the picture. She couldn't help but smile. Sometimes Sai could be the most insufferable person ever, but then other times he could just be surprisingly passionate and unintentionally sweet.
"I told you once that an artist lives for his art. He absorbs himself into it and closes off from the outside. But when that world is you, Sakura, I can do nothing more than make you the focus," he said as he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.
Sakura let herself be held by him. Who knew that he was such a softy? She circled her arms around his neck as she held the drawing in her hand. They stayed like that for a while. She could hear his heart beating as she rested her head on his chest. It was the most beautiful sound she could hear because she knew that his heart beat only for her.
The sun started to set. Now the sky was a pretty bluish purple color and a few stars could be seen. The campus was pretty much deserted, and only Sai and Sakura remained. They started to walk back to their apartment. They had decided to move in together only recently. Even though they were still young—nineteen at the moment—they knew that they were meant to be together.
On the walk home, Sakura flipped through Sai's sketchbook. He was such a talented artist. He had the most creative mind imaginable and skillful hands that created beautiful works of art. Sai was also an accomplished photographer. Whenever he wasn't drawing, he would be snapping pictures for graphic designers, landscape architectures and Sakura but that was on his free time.
"We're home again," he announced as they reached their apartment door. He unlocked the door and they stepped inside. Sai immediately went into the kitchen saying that he needed a glass of water. Sakura made her way to their bedroom to put her books away and to get changed.
She walked into their room and dropped her books at the sight before her. There were rose petals scattered everywhere and their entire room was illuminated by a bunch of candles. There was a trail of white rose petals that lead up to their bed and at the center Sakura could see a small velvet box with a small note card attached to it.
She slowly walked up to the box and picked it up. The card read a simple 'I Love You'. Her hands were shaking. She opened the box and gasped. She was looking at an engagement ring. It was nice and simple. It was a gold band with a single princess cut diamond. She was so shocked that she didn't even notice Sai walk into the room just then and stand in front of her.
He took the ring from the box and he actually got down on one knee. Sakura couldn't stop the tears that were pouring from her eyes.
"I know were young. But life's too short to wait around. I want nothing more than to have you be my wife, now and forever. I love you Sakura Haruno. Will you marry me?" he asked with the grace to blush as well.
Sakura threw her arms over him and started crying her eyes out. "YES! YES! Of course I'll marry you Sai. I love you so much!" she cried.
He stood up and slipped the ring on her finger, before crashing his lips onto hers in a sweet but passionate kiss. Sakura wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her weight against him. She was so weak at the knee's right now that she felt she was about to fall.
Sai picked her up and lead her to their bed where they wasted no time in ripping their clothes off and devouring each other. After they exhausted themselves out, they lay asleep in each other's arms.
Sakura's head was spinning. She was getting married! And she was getting married to SAI! She didn't think anything in this world would ever make her happier than she was now. Absolutely nothing!
Sakura couldn't help but smile at the memory. Back then she thought that nothing else could make her as happy as Sai did.
"Oh how wrong I was," she thought as she smiled at sight of her son running up to her. Sora: the light of her life.
"Hi Mommy," he greeted as he ran right into her arms. Even though he pretends to be a big boy, he still loved his mommy more than anything.
"My baby…," she whispered as a single tear slid down her cheek.
The love between Sakura and Sai brought forth the greatest gift imaginable; their precious baby boy. And even though she lost the love of her life, she will always have a part of Sai with her, every time she looks into her son's eyes.
