New chapter! And only four days past the date I set! Much better than a year right? Thanks to everyone who messaged me on the 19th. I appreciate the accountability checks. And thanks for all the reviews as well. Anyway, I'll set the next update date for Wednesday July 8th. Enjoy!
At the far edge of training ground three, Sasuke packed his few belongings while attempting to ignore the obnoxious humming assailing his right ear. It continued as he stood, arms crossed in wait as his companion packed at an excruciatingly slow pace.
"Sometime today please."
Naruto looked over his shoulder, grinning widely. "Sasuke maybe you better lay off the talking, hmm? I know your jaw's already sore and you don't want to make it worse." Knowing that explaining to Naruto again that he had in fact lost the match wouldn't affect much change, Sasuke simply glared in response and allowed Naruto to continue to garner satisfaction from the one solid hit he had landed, in spite of his own numerous injuries.
The sessions had begun unexpectedly, with a frowning Naruto appearing one day at his apartment door muttering, "Let's spar. The normal place." before exiting as quickly as he'd come. Despite his silent anger, by the fifth match or so, he had begun to lose his cold demeanor and regress into his naturally boisterous self. Now, on their third week, Naruto was as cordial with him as he had been before the incident, though Sasuke was sure the success of their reformed friendship was completely contingent upon how long they could continue interacting without discussing the events of last July.
It took Naruto ten minutes to lose interest in gloating so that by the time the pair passed the administration building, his focus had shifted from fighting to food and he rubbed at his stomach in accordance. "Hmm. Time to refuel. Wanna go get Ramen?"
"Not particularly."
"That's not a no!" His fist shot up into the air triumphantly before he burst forward with incredible energy for someone who had just lost a sparring match. "Let's go!"
Naruto never explained what motivated him to reach out to him, albeit begrudgingly, that day weeks ago but Sasuke was certain Sakura had been involved. Hadn't she always stressed that having at least one person to talk to was beneficial to positive mental health? With no other candidates, Naruto was that one person. And despite his excess energy and tendency to yell, Sasuke was appreciative of Naruto's presence, more than he would ever readily admit to him.
In the listless space of time between missions, there always existed a chilled numbness, one that billowed and swelled within him as time passed. A byproduct of the Uchiha massacre, it had never entirely quelled, simply lying dormant for periods of time before resurfacing periodically with unwanted thoughts and memories. As a child, it had frightened him, the dark chilled feeling, and he had smothered it with training and rage and thoughts of vengeance. But achieving revenge had snuffed only the anger, not the numbness, and as he had trudged back to the village with legs weighed down by goalessness, he had succumbed to it. He had sat in a cell as the quiet emptiness festered; slinging images of his bloodied hands and dead brother before him. By the time he had begun his house arrest sentence, the sensation loomed like a large void behind him, constantly promising an existence devoid of emotion, motivation, purpose, sensation. It was darkness. And all he could do was exist within this shroud of black nothingness with only the sound of his breathing to confirm his life.
And then one day, Sakura had come to visit. He hardly knew what she said, so thoroughly cloaked was he in his despondency. But she persevered, returning time after time with the same patient warmness, slowly filling his empty house with life, chasing out the silence with her words. It wasn't long before the numbness ebbed slightly and he found himself talking with her, looking forward to her visits, and Naruto's too, once she began lugging him along. Gradually, the emptiness continued to recede and he found that if he actively tried to dispel it, if he reached towards his company, they would eagerly work to free him from the chilly grip. An emptiness caused by the lack of people, filled by them; such a simple solution and it hadn't occurred to him.
Following his falling out with Sakura, the blackness had quickly stirred into life. Missions had distracted him temporarily, but not enough. When he was home, he was alone. Winter had been hard, both mentally and physically. Even he had to admit that he had stretched himself too thin—always physically spent, living in a constant state of soreness and never fully healed wounds. It could hardly be a coincidence that Naruto reluctantly showed up and demanded to spar the day after Tsunade forcibly placed him on leave. He could feel Sakura's hand in this, coaxing Naruto towards his door with pleas and promises. Why though, he wondered as they approached Ichiraku, did she bother? After everything that had happened—
"Hey! What are you guys doing here?" Sasuke blinked as he disentangled from his thoughts, his eyes focusing on the two people Naruto was addressing. He recognized them as two members of team 10: Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji. Despite running in the same circles—if his ties with Naruto and Sakura could be considered that—he knew very little about them, hardly enough to carry conversation outside of a head nod of acknowledgment.
Chouji grinned happily to himself, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. "The old man's tweaking his broth recipe so I came to test it. I can hardly wait!"
Shikamaru raised a tired hand. "I was pulled along."
"Well ramen is always more fun to eat with a friend!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Is that why you brought Sasuke along?"
Chouji leaned, back, peeking around Shikamaru. "Oh hey Sasuke! Are you here to try the new broth?"
"Hardly." he scoffed as he took a seat on the far stool and Naruto hopped on the seat beside him.
"Sasuke's my pull along. Isn't that right buddy?" It was easy for Sasuke to see the intended trajectory of Naruto's arm and even easier for him to grab it before it fell heavily around his shoulders. Personal space wasn't something Naruto respected much.
"Oi Teuchi-san! How about two bowls over here to start? And one for Sasuke too."
It took ten minutes for the bowls to be prepared, all the while Naruto and Chouji discussed the complexities of flavors in broth and noodles. Shikamaru added brief commentary occasionally while Sasuke looked on in silence and disbelief that a conversation like this was actually sustaining itself. Barely had the food been served and the first noisy gulps taken before an irritated voice interrupted their evening.
"Gosh Shikamaru, the one day I need to find you and you're not in the only two places you ever are in the village."
Already knowing who was addressing him, Shikamaru closed his eyes and spoke slowly, his words sounding like a lengthy sigh. "Hello Ino. To what do I owe this pleasure?"
Her face immediately folded in annoyance but just as she was about to begin lecturing him on proper greeting etiquette, she restrained her emotions with a calming hand motion and a deep breath. "You are lucky I don't have time to properly ream you out for using that tone with me. But anyway, your mother is looking for you. Something about assembling a headboard or something."
"I know." he said as he stretched. "She's been trying to get me to help since this morning. I thought if I stayed out long enough, she'd give up. What a drag."
Ino, who was never one to keep her thoughts to herself for anyone's sake, did a quick sweep of the group and quite immediately discovered a sight at the far end of the counter that narrowed her eyes into hard slits. And so naturally, she made sure to let her displeasure be known. "Well Shikamaru," she began, running two fingers slowly underneath the edge of her bangs before flipping them out of her face, "helping your mother is a much more noble task than spending time with some of your present company." Her glance darted sharply in Sasuke's direction, pointedly and unabashedly.
When Shikamaru's murmured requests to leave it alone and stay out of people's business was answered with "I just didn't realize it was fine to have dinner dates with the village scum. Is that a thing now?" Sasuke thought it was best to say something, lest he spend the next ten minutes listening to Ino's indirect insults.
"I see you haven't changed much Ino."
"And I see you're still a pretentious selfish ass." She began her departure, speaking as she walked but slowing with sly intent right behind the stool Sasuke was seated on. "While I'd love to stay and 'catch up', I've got to go meet the girls at my place. And we sure have a lot we need to discuss now that Sakura is dating." She made sure to annunciate that last word with deliberate slowness as if to allow time for it to register, to elicit the sting she so desired it to. Devilishly, her eyes glinted, matching the vindictive smirk that remained on her face even after waving goodbye.
In Ino's wake, uncomfortable silence swirled around them and Sasuke could nearly feel them holding their breaths, waiting for him to lash out or grimace or at the very least furrow his brow at this revelation.
He continued to eat, not faltering as he brought the chopsticks to his mouth. Naruto coughed in an effort to move the moment along.
"If Ino is anything, she's forthright." Shikamaru stated in resignation, resuming his prodding of his bowl. Slowly, the flow of conversation began again, punctuated by Naruto's laughter or Shikamaru's complaints or the call for another bowl. Sasuke paid no attention, remaining quiet. He did not finish his meal.
Afterwards, he paid his bill and parted ways with the group.
He walked home.
He brewed some tea and drank two cups.
He wrote a short reminder list of tasks for the next day.
He wiped the table clean and put away his few dishes.
He showered and dressed for bed.
He lay down and waited for sleep.
He felt warm and peeled back one of his sheets. When the feeling persisted, he removed his shirt. Restless, he kicked away the final sheet.
Laying in the darkness, staring blankly at the ceiling, he waited for his skin to cool, for his head to stop swimming.
After a moment, he realized that the burning was from within.
They kept a slow pace on their trip back, the joined knot of their hands swinging gently between them. Sakura knew TenTen and Hinata were probably already at Ino's apartment awaiting her arrival, but she couldn't bring herself to rush. Not when the night felt so…refreshing. Through her peripherals, she watched Hiroshi's profile and their eyes briefly met before both their faces softened into smiles.
In fact, she almost wanted to stop walking entirely.
The extent of their conversation fluctuated between quietly exchanged words, laughter, and silence. In those periods of wordlessness, when the breeze and the sounds of the night filled the air with a woven melody, she'd turn and find him observing her with such gentleness reflected in his eyes that biting her lip was all she could do from blushing.
They approached the Yamanka flower shop, the center of the informal Yamanka district. It was directly across from Ino's apartment building where, if she knew Ino—and she did—a pair of curious eyes would be peeking between the curtains of one of the front facing windows. She made sure to shift strategically so that they were sheltered by the overhang of the door.
Sakura sighed, as she always did on the doorstep when it was time to say goodnight, and he smiled slightly at her habit. Of course, it was just a temporary separation, but there was something solemn about whispering goodbyes in the moonlight that always puckered her brow, something he never missed. He squeezed her hand encouragingly. "Well, this is where I leave you."
"At the door of Ino's apartment, the site of my ambush. Do you know how many questions Ino can ask in a minute? And TenTen will only be slightly less relentless. And they're going to want to know everything…"
As he laughed, his hand released hers and found a resting spot on her waist. "If I could be a fly on a wall…"
Her hands cradled his face, guiding it towards her. "You wouldn't hear anything you don't already know."
"I suppose. But it would be nice hearing it aloud, all the same. You know, confirming my suspicions." he drew her closer against him and she smirked.
"A suspicion such as?"
"Such as…" he repeated slowly. His voice had lowered and looking into his eyes, Sakura could feel the warm anticipation cloaking her skin. "The idea that you like me as much as I like you." His lips pressed against hers lightly and she wrapped her arms around him in response, threading her fingers through his hair. It didn't take long for the simple goodbye to escalate, for the light touch on her waist to become clutching, for her loose hold around his neck to tighten the longer his lips moved against hers.
After a moment, or several, Sakura pulled back slightly, spurred more by the passing time than her desire to. "Hiro?" She murmured, his lips moving with hers.
"Hmm?"
"I've gotta go. The girls are waiting."
Hiroshi considered this fact for a moment and then shrugged as much as he could with her body pressed against him. "A few more minutes won't hurt them." He reasoned before quickly replacing the beginnings of a protest with his lips. Of course they would be fine but Sakura wasn't so sure about herself, kissing him amidst the growing heat in her chest and the quick jolts through her core.
Somehow, she unwound her arms from his neck and rested them against his face, her thumb gently rubbing the pale rose residue of her lip gloss from his skin. Her fingers lingered there on his lips and he watched her with his gentle hazel eyes, blinking through the auburn strands of hair beginning to fall into his line of sight. "Goodnight Hiroshi."
His hand slid from her waist and encircled her lingering fingers, pressing them lightly against his mouth in a final kiss. His whispered goodnight and his accompanying smile was enough to send her insides into a warm disarray, so much so that by the time she made it upstairs and Ino opened the door, her shy smirk had unfurled into a wide grin, one that Ino wasn't going to ignore.
"From the way you're grinning at the ground and touching your lips, I assume you just had a very sweet goodbye."
"Hello Ino." she stepped around her and into the light of the apartment, hoping her cheeks weren't red enough to catch Ino's attention. Hinata, sitting cross-legged in the armchair, looked up from her book and smiled at Sakura's entrance. TenTen, positioned in the center of her scattered weaponry and scrolls, waved a partially cleaned kunai. "Hey Sakura. What happened to 10 o'clock?"
"Didn't you know that it's hard to tell time when you're busy sucking face?"
Rolling her eyes was the safest way to deal with Ino's antics, Sakura decided as she sunk into the couch, plucking a pastry from the tray on the side table. "So, how is everyone?"
"I'm well Sakura-chan." Hinata began, carefully placing her bookmark between the open pages of her book. "Yesterday—"
"We're all healthy and prosperous and doing well: same old same old." Ino waved off the question like a burden and took a seat in a chair pulled from the dining room, a bowl of ice cream wedged between her legs. "Give us the details."
TenTen placed the final polished kunai in its proper location before resealing one of the scrolls with a quick handseal, giving her more room to stretch out on the floor. "Ino's right: let's cut right to the chase. How's dating?"
Thoughtfully, Sakura looked upwards, chewing and pondering her answer. "Well, dating is…nice."
"Whoa, don't overload us with description."
Sakura rolled her eyes at Ino's quip and thought of what exactly to say. "I don't know! It's…good. We've spent a lot of time together the past few weeks and he's really sweet, funny, and kind. I can tell he really likes me a lot…and I think I really like him too." Immediately, the warmth in her stomach that she associated with Hiroshi swirled at her verbal admission and she attempted to bite back the reflexive grin.
Noting the buoyancy in Sakura's face, Hinata smiled. "You seem very happy Sakura-chan."
With her spoon, Ino pointed in Sakura's direction, saying, "You bet she does. You see what a spring time romance can do for your complexion?"
"It's not just that. Hiroshi of course makes me laugh and I really like him—a lot. But I'm not just happy because he's here. I'm happy with myself, where my life is." Stretching, she reached upwards before falling back into the couch cushions. In the blankness of the ceiling, she traced her memories, visualizing her journey from that day at the dining table to now, joy rolling from her heart to the far reaches of every limb. "This process of getting to know someone, being open and vulnerable, it was the last step in healing I think. I mean, in order to share yourself with someone, you need to know who you are and I really feel like I finally found myself again. I just—" she grinned to herself, shaking her head in lieu of words and shrugging.
"I like where I am right now."
I know it seems super short compared to last chapter but Chapter 9 was a behemoth and this is actually the average length for most of the other chapters. I'd love to hear what you thought so let me know in a review.
Finally, happy belated birthday to reader and reveiwer, shkh4ever! Hope it was a good one :)