disclaimer: don't own the characters.

notes: whoa, it's been a while, hasn't it? Well, I'm back, so I hope this has been worth the wait. Also I have no excuse for this lateness…it is summer vacation and I am incredibly lazy

Someday

Sakura was just lying on her side, tucked up next to Sasuke in his bed. She could feel the heat of his body against her back. His breathing was slow, measured and peaceful. Sakura rolled over and looked at his sleeping face. Between the closed curtains she could see the beginnings of sunlight creeping in. She felt a sort of quiet satisfaction when she looked at the smoothness of his brow and listened to the evenness of his breathing.

"What are you staring at?" he asked softly, eyes fluttering open. Sakura's stomach twisted pleasantly.

"Nothing," she said. "Just thinking that you looked like you were sleeping well."

"I was," Sasuke said. He rolled over onto his back and tucked him arm under his head. Sakura could tell he was bracing himself to ask her a personal question, probably about her parents. "Did you sleep ok?"

"Not really," Sakura said honestly. "Had a lot on my mind."

"Your parents?"

"Uh huh," Sakura rolled onto her back. Sasuke's ceiling was plain white and kind of boring. Usually she went to Ino's room with Naruto and the three of them would lie on Ino's bed and stare up at the ceiling decorated with silver and gold swirls and glow in the dark stars. Sakura missed that now.

"What is the deal with them?"

Sakura sighed. This conversation was one that she always tried to avoid because the outpouring of not-quite-sympathetic pity was always unbearable.

"They walked out on me when I was five. They left me at my Aunty Tsunade's for the night. They told her that they wanted to have a night with just the two of them. You know, like dinner, a bottle of wine, that kind of thing. What they were really doing was packing a couple bags, emptying their bank accounts and getting in their car and taking off. We found a note on the kitchen table the next morning when Aunty brought me home. Not a letter, a note. Like those little memo pads you have in your kitchen to write shopping lists and stuff on. Aunty gave me the note years later to read. It just said, 'We can't handle raising a child right now. Take care.'"

"Wow," Sasuke said. Sakura nodded. There wasn't really much else to say. "So they show up again after thirteen years. That's pretty rough."

"Yeah, and they show up with a kid. How did they expect me to react? Like were they expecting some sort of forgiveness or something? Because when you ditch your kid and then show up on her doorstep thirteen years later with another kid you don't get forgiven. That's not how it works. They don't get to use my little brother to make me feel guilty about hating them."

"You shouldn't say that," Sasuke said. He said it firmly, but not sharply. "You shouldn't say you hate them. Because you never really know when you'll get the chance to see them again."

"Yeah, that reminds me," Sakura said, turning on her side. She propped her head up on her hand and looked at Sasuke. He really had the most amazing bone structure. His profile in the dim light of the early morning was captivating. "What happened to your parents? I mean, Naruto mentioned that they passed away, but he never went into much detail."

"Yeah, he wouldn't," Sasuke said. "I was eight when it happened. I had my first ever science test and had done really well. I was so excited that when I got home my mom and dad sent me and Itachi off to the movies as a treat. When we got home Itachi gave me the key to the house to run in ahead. He was parking the car in the garage. So I unlocked the door and ran inside, shouting for my parents. I was yelling to my dad about how cool the action scenes were and telling my mom about how I wasn't scared of them like I used to be. I rounded the corner of the living room and I just found them lying there."

Sakura saw his eyelids flutter shut and his hand that was resting on his chest, curled into a tight fist.

"They were on the floor. My dad was on his side, facing away from me so I couldn't really see, but there was a big pool of blood soaked into the carpet around him. My mom was the worst. She was lying facing the door, on her front. Except they had cut her throat and when they dropped her on the floor her head stayed tilted back, eyes open. It took me a couple seconds to realize what was happening. When I did I screamed and cried but I could move or look away. Itachi came running in but he couldn't do anything. I've never seen anyone look so confused and angry and horrified and shocked at the same time. I don't think he knew what to do. One of our neighbours heard me screaming and came over to see what the noise was about. He called the police. His wife got me to quiet down and put me to sleep. I don't know what Itachi did. Our neighbours told me he talked to the police and then just walked off. When I woke up the next morning Itachi acted like everything was normal. He just pushed right on through. Dropped me off at school, went to his classes, dealt with some stuff from my dad's work, picked me up from school. To this day I don't know if he cried. He must have, he was only fifteen when it happened."

"You must have been lonely," Sakura said. She knew people were supposed to say that they were sorry or that it must have been hard to get through but that was so boring. Everyone said it so often that it lost all meaning. Words of sympathy and caring and kindness should always be heartfelt and genuine and honest.

"You must have been lonely too," Sasuke said.

"Not as lonely as you might think. I had my Aunty. I had Naruto and Ino and Naruto's Uncle Jiraiya. I made myself a new family because my old one didn't want me anymore."

"I had Naruto too," Sasuke said. "But I turned out to be more of a screw up than you are."

"Doubt that," Sakura said. She reached out and brushed a loose strand of hair off his forehead. "You're almost finished with your Master's, you have a good job waiting for you, sure you smoke and drink and have awful nightmares and a slightly estranged relationship with your brother, but you have friends who care about you, a roof over your head and food in your stomach. Plus, you've got me which shows that you have excellent judgment in character." Sasuke stared at her, eyebrows high on his forehead. "Not as much of a screw up when it's put to you like that, isn't it?"

"Naruto was right," Sasuke said. "You are really smart."

Sakura laughed. "We're all screw ups in our own ways. How we deal with our problems doesn't mean we suck at life, it just means we need a bit more practice at it."

"I've got you, huh?" Sasuke asked. Sakura felt a light flush of blood surge up to her cheeks.

"What, did you think I went around sleeping with every guy who asked me to chase away his nightmares?" Sakura yanked the blankets up over her face so that only her eyes showed. Sasuke wasn't grinning, but the corners of his eyes crinkled slightly and Sakura knew he was enjoying teasing her.

The Christmas morning rush hadn't started yet when Karin and Suigetsu left the Hyuuga residence. Karin knotted her hands together as she looked both ways across the street.

"You going home?" he asked, looking in the opposite direction. Karin nodded then realized that he couldn't see her because he was looking away.

"Yeah," she said. "Gonna catch the bus. You?"

"Taking a cab. Heading out of town for the day. Have some stuff to deal with," Suigetsu said. Karin nodded again.

"Right, well, bus's this way. See you," Karin gestured vaguely off in the other direction. Suigetsu still didn't look at her and sort of nodded and raised his hand, half waving. Karin shrugged, turned and walked away. She shoved her hands in her pockets and flicked up the hood of her bright teal wool coat. The early morning December air was making her nose cold and freezing her bare knees. She regretted not bringing a change of clothes to the party but didn't really care enough to change the direction she was walking in to go home and get a change of clothes. She had a long trip ahead of her. Getting out to Oto was going to take a couple of hours at least.

Karin got off at the bus depot and bought a ticket for the 118 to Oto. Then she wrapped her coat tightly around herself and sat down to wait. Her hands were practically numb by now but at least she could still feel her toes. It was early, only eight o'clock on Christmas day. The station was practically deserted. Karin spotted the 118 pulling up and walked over to it, lining up behind the three or four other people who were making an early trek out of the city. Karin got a seat right in the back next to the window and toed off her shoes. She set them down on the seat next to her and curled up, resting her head against the window. The bus ride was long, as she predicted, and she spent the time shaking from the cold and watching the cement-and-snow landscape outside flash by. She got off the bus at the depot and caught a taxi to the local Oto cemetery.

Her heart was pounding. Now that she was standing there she couldn't bring herself to walk through the gates and search out the grave of her parents. She just stood there, in front of the open iron gates, staring at the graves beyond. Finally, after several minutes, Karin turned and started to walk away.

"Karin? What are you doing here?"

She looked up. Suigetsu was standing in front of her, bundled up against the cold, holding a small potted poinsettia in one gloved hand. Karin felt herself flushing and turned away.

"None of you business," she snarled.

"Sasuke mentioned you were from Oto originally," Suigetsu said, clearly just recalling this fact. Karin rolled her eyes. "Are your parents here?"

"Oh go to hell," Karin shoved past him and started to stomp back down to the curb to hail a cab.

"Is this your first time coming here?" Suigetsu asked. Karin stopped mid-step. "You're braver than I was. Took me three years to haul my ass up here and another six months to actually go through the gates and visit my mom."

Karin turned so that she was facing the graveyard, not looking at him. She rubbed her hands together and blew on them. Suigetsu gently placed his pot on the ground and tugged his gloves off.

"Here," he held them out to her.

"Why are you being nice to me?" Karin asked. She hugged her arms around her middle and leant away from him.

"Because we're standing outside the graveyard where our parents are buried at ten in the morning. And it's Christmas. If it bothers you that much I can make it a New Year's resolution to be more of an asshole to you when January rolls around."

Karin sneered and snatched the gloves from him. She yanked them on and stormed toward the cemetery gates.

"Are you coming or not?" she growled over her shoulder. Suigetsu picked up his pot of poinsettias. He noticed that Karin paused before the gate and clenched her hands into tight fists. Then she stepped across and stomped down the drive.

Karin stayed a couple steps ahead of him the whole time they walked through the cemetery. He noted, with some amusement, that she would walked further away from him and then sort of veer back over and then away again like she had realized what she was doing. He was a little flattered that she had to make a conscious effort to stay away from him. When she got to the row of headstones that his mom was in he called out to her.

"My mom's down this one. You going to find your folks?"

But she didn't answer. She just dug her hands deeper in her pockets and followed him down the row. Suigetsu stopped about halfway and reached out to brush snow off the top of the headstone. Around them was almost deserted, except for a few people who had either already opened presents or had no presents to open.

"Hey Ma," Suigetsu said. He stooped and knocked snow off the base of the headstone so that he could leave the flowers for her. "Merry Christmas. Brought you something festive. It snowed this year on Christmas, for once. I was actually pretty excited. It reminded me of that one Christmas, you know, with Dad and everyone, and it started snowing exactly at midnight. You were even more excited than I was and I was seven."

It felt easier this year, talking to her. Maybe it was just because he could feel Karin glowering at the back of his head, but he felt better coming here than he did in previous years. This year was the first time he had come to the cemetery with someone else and it felt nice to not be alone for once. He chuckled to himself as he used his bare hands to brush frozen bits of dirt off the surface of the headstone. He slowly trailed his fingers across her name:

Kana Hozuki

And below it a short inscription:

Beloved Mother and Wife. May you rest in eternal peace.

"I switched my major. Yeah, I'm still in school. I know we had a running bet on how long it would take me to drop out, but I'm finishing up my law degree and I'm looking at some internships. It's tougher than I thought it would be. I have a lot of days where I don't even want to get out of bed, or I don't' sleep at all, but I'm sort of used to that by now. Anyway, I know I haven't been out here as often as I should be. But in my defense, I've been out with friends a lot recently. I'm betting that's making you pretty happy. Juugo and me are still buds, but I've got a couple new friends too. There's Ino, who's really nice. She's a bit loud though, in the mornings. And her best friend, Sakura. Sakura's got pink hair and she's really smart. She's going to be a doctor. And there's this crazy chick, Tenten, who is kind of like Kimihiro's mom. She's trying to become a professional fighter or something. And I met this one girl, Karin, who, honestly, can be a bit of a bitch sometimes. But her parents just died recently so I'm giving her a pass. I don't think she thinks anyone notices, but she's lonely, so I'm trying to be nice to her. I know, I know, I'm not nice to anybody. But when you're lonely it's not as bad if someone is nice to you. You taught me that mom. And now, because I'm a mature adult," Suigetsu paused to laugh at his joke, "I'm starting to take your advice. Well," he said, standing up. "That's you cleaned up. Karin's here right now. We're gonna go visit her parents now. I'll stop by soon to bring you some more flowers."

When he turned to look at Karin she was glaring at him, as usual, and had one eyebrow raised. Suigetsu knew she had heard everything he'd said and was, frankly, pretty embarrassed. He hoped she would chalk his flushed cheeks down to the cold and let it go. But in typical Karin fashion she just had to get the last word.

"You know she can't actually hear you, right? 'Cause she's dead."

"Jesus," Suigetsu raised his eyes to the sky in exasperation. "Can't you have a little tact? Especially in a cemetery?"

"Not my style," Karin said.

"Of course it's not. Ok, let's go find your folks and say hi."

Ino was lying on her back in Kiba's bed. Kiba was down stairs, in his living room, arguing with his mom and her boyfriend. Ino listened to the two men shouting and the occasional quiet, unintelligible word from his mother and felt an odd sinking feeling in her stomach. She normally hated arguments of any kind because that's the only thing her parents did prior to their messy divorce. She knew what Kiba's circumstances were with his mom. He was her son, trying to protect her, and she was too proud or scared or stubborn or blind to admit that she needed help. Ino grabbed the sides of the pillow and crushed them up against her ears, rolling onto her side to muffle the sounds of the argument.

More shouting. A muffled thump. A quiet shriek. The front door slamming.

The pillow didn't really muffle anything at all.

Ino tossed her legs over the side of the bed and stood up, tugging the hem of one of Kiba's old, worn t-shirts down over her thighs. She tiptoed across the room and eased the door open slightly. She crept to the top of the stairs and listened to the sound of Kiba swearing quietly and his mom crying. She moved slowly down the stairs, stepping lightly so that she wouldn't get caught. Kiba was sitting on the coffee table, head tipped back, hand over his nose and mouth. Blood was seeping through his fingers. Kiba's mom was crouched on the floor next to him, sobbing quietly into her hands. Ino clenched her fists and her stomach twisted unpleasantly. How was it possible that one person could be responsible for so much misery? She turned and went back up the stairs to Kiba's room. She closed the door quietly behind her and slipped back into the bed, pulling the covers up to her chin. When she heard Kiba climbing the stairs she shut her eyes and pretended to be asleep. He came into the room and got into the bed next to her. His hands and feet were cold but Ino didn't mind. She rolled over and rested her head on his shoulder, her hand on his chest, still pretending to be asleep. Under her hand she could feel his heart racing a hundred miles a minute. She stayed still until his breathing slowed and his body relaxed and his heart was beating slowly, rhythmically, calmly. She tilted her head up and opened her eyes. Kiba was asleep. Slowly (everything was slow tonight), she leant forward just a bit and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

His sleeping face was peaceful, unlined by grief, anger and misery as it had been earlier. Ino didn't know how, but she was going to find a way to stop him from ever feeling that way again.

extras: hola, amigos! Well, I mean if anyone is still reading this. I went on an unintentional hiatus due to the fact that I'm a lazy bastard and an awful person. Sorry about that. But I have actually updated this story! So we shall all hope that I'll get my shit together and figure out how to update on a regular basis.

Your Reviews:

LadyMartel4000: I AM SO SORRY THAT I DID NOT UPDATE SOON! I feel really bad about that.

Hay Gurl Hay: OMG THANKS! I hope that fact that I can't update properly does not drive you away!

sakulover: AWWWE : ) thank you! You're so sweet! I hope this chapter is as good as the last one!