Gravity Chapter 13 Trouble, a naruto fanfic

Thanks for editing goes to Sakura's Unicorn. She always helps me make the story even better.

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K&K

DNON

Gravity

Chapter 13—Trouble—

0o0o0

Two days after Suigetsu and Sakura made peace and Karin moved out of the Uchiha district, Sasuke sat trying and failing to read some old scrolls from the Uchiha vault.

He could not concentrate because Sakura was still gone.

Sasuke had a feeling she was deliberately avoiding him. He hadn't seen her since the night before last. She'd told him she would be working, but he knew she wasn't supposed to be putting in so many hours. He had no business telling her what to do, but he didn't think that she would openly defy an order from the Hokage.

Maybe she felt uncomfortable staying with him? Could that be why she was so anxious to transfer to an outpost?

Later that morning, Sakura came back to the house after having worked an unauthorized twenty-hour shift. She had a huge armload of files that she set down on the living room table before making some extra-strong coffee.

"What are you doing?"

She waved off the pile of work as if it was nothing. "Tsunade caught me working OT and sent me home. She found out I worked two shifts in emergency then I went to my office to start on paper work for a few hours afterward. She kicked me out of the hospital and has forbidden me to go back to work for three weeks."

"So now you're—"

"Gonna work," she scoffed matter of factly. "You think this stuff just gets done by itself?"

He frowned at her. "Didn't she send you home to sleep?"

"Pfft." She bent over the first file, ignoring his dark look.

"Are you gonna do that all day?"

"No. I have an appointment at three with the insurance adjustor about my house. Are you going to be around?" she asked, already distracted by the case she was working on. She started to make a note in the margin. "Do you want me to pick something up to make for dinner on my way home?"

"That's fine. I have to go check on my mission status," he told her.

Sakura waved him off without looking up.

0o0o0

Sasuke had received a summons to the Tower earlier and, since it wasn't marked urgent, he took his time, arriving there almost two hours later. Shizune smiled and told him to go right in. Tsunade was waiting at her desk.

"I read your report from Suna and I wanted to ask you a few questions." She pulled out a file marked Classified as he shut the office door behind him.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." He nodded and took the seat she indicated across from her.

"You had a skirmish with the Rising Sun after the lab was blown up. It says here that you were overmatched against a regiment of the Rising Sun and Sakura had to remove a Fuma shuriken from your chest."

"Hai."

"I appreciate the thoroughness of your report, Uchiha."

Sasuke's brow rose in surprise. Tsunade rarely used his name, usually preferring to call him boy or, when she was in a bad mood, brat.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama."

"It says here that when Sakura healed you, there was a flash of light and black lines running across her face and down her arms. Did she tell you anything about this technique?"

"No. She passed out after."

"How grievous would you say your wounds were?"

"Is something wrong?"

"Yes and no. First, answer my question."

"I was dying."

"You sure?"

He nodded.

"Sakura used Creation Rebirth on you."

He raised an eyebrow. That sounded suspiciously like one of the techniques Orochimaru had been interested in obtaining from Tsunade. Having experienced the amazing healing quality of the jutsu, Sasuke could see why the Snake Sannin had been desperate to know the technique. It had completely restored his health seconds before his imminent death.

"I see you've heard of it—perhaps from your former master?"

He nodded. There was no reason to deny it.

"God damn it, Sakura!" Tsunade growled, slapping her palm on her desk and making the whole thing vibrate. She picked up a large rock paperweight and hefted it in her hand as if she was considering throwing it at someone.

"You know why that is a technique I have forbidden Sakura to use except on herself, don't you, Uchiha?"

He shook his head.

"I taught Sakura that technique to save her own life if she was ever on the brink of death. It is a 'last resort' jutsu. The reason why I have forbidden her to use it is because it uses life force."

A muscle in Sasuke's jaw jumped when he realized just what she was saying.

"How much?"

"Five years, more or less, depending on the severity of the wound and how much of it is healed. I cannot judge unless I witnessed the procedure. Did she heal you completely? How did you feel after?"

Again he nodded. "I could have run all the way back to Konoha and not broken a sweat."

She clenched her fist and the rock in her hand was ground into dust.

"I'm gonna kill her."

0o0o0

When Sasuke returned from training with Naruto after his talk with the Hokage, Sakura had already left for her appointment with the insurance adjustor.

He had to go and train—if he didn't, he would have come home and blown up at Sakura.

When he walked into his living room and saw her huge stack of paperwork on the table, he was reminded of Tsunade's annoyance at her for working so much when she needed to recover from her chakra exhaustion in Suna.

So, he decided to do something about it.

Sasuke took her paperwork and hid it under the bed in his room. She was going to listen to her Shishou's order even if he had to make her. After she had properly rested for a few days, he would let her have some of it back.

0o0o0

When Sakura showed up empty-handed a few hours later, Sasuke was surprised. Hadn't she said she would bring something home for dinner? It wasn't like her to forget a promise.

Sakura walked past like she hadn't seen him. She didn't even say hello or ask him why her paperwork had disappeared.

He had planned on confronting her about trading years from her own life to save him. Tsunade was right—she should save that technique for herself and he was angry that she had even tried it. Using Creation Rebirth on others would waste her entire life away in just a matter of just a few years. He wanted to shake her for being so foolish. He was determined to make her realize that she couldn't do that again—no matter what.

But she was acting strange.

Curious, he followed her down the hall to her room.

What would turn Sakura from the cocky workaholic of this morning into this somber girl who didn't even acknowledge him, he wondered.

He watched her from the doorway, which she'd left open. She collapsed bonelessly onto her bed. He wanted her to rest, but this didn't seem like resting. She seemed to be…severely depressed.

"Sakura-"

"They denied my claim," she interrupted him.

"Denied?"

"For my house being destroyed by fire."

"Hn."

"Since it was clearly arson, they won't pay one sen on the claim and I still have to pay the full mortgage. I also have to pay fines for safe removal of the burned structure. And submit a request to the Building Commission and Zoning Board to put up a new house. But that hardly matters because I also need permission from my neighborhood association to rebuild a house there because it's considered an historic neighborhood—one of the few to survive the First Great War. Since it's predominately a civilian neighborhood, the adjustor doesn't think they'll allow my rebuild because of my dangerous occupation and the likelihood of 'future mischief.' The property's basically worthless—for me anyway."

"You're not serious."

"That's not all. He warned me that the bank would be coming after me soon for the property lien. No value on the property makes me a loan risk and they'll want some assurance that I'll pay what I owe them."

"What does that mean?"

"They think I torched my own house to get the insurance money."

"Doesn't insurance just pay to rebuild what was already there?"

"Mostly, but the fire was suspicious' because it was started with a fire jutsu and accelerants were used. They couldn't tell who did it, but they don't pay claims on arson. If the arsonist were caught, they would be forced to make remunerations, but there was no evidence of a break in and nothing was stolen that I could tell and no witnesses. He said it looked even worse that I was out of town while it happened—like I had created a false alibi."

"They think you wanted new stuff?"

She nodded without lifting her head off the pillow. "The things that I lost weren't valuable…except to me." She sighed. "It was a small, older house in a really nice neighborhood, but if I rebuilt it, I could easily sell it for twice what it was previously worth…maybe more.

"They told you that?"

"Yeah," she mumbled cynically under her breath. "It doesn't help that my Shishou is a heavy gambler who owes everyone money, either. You know the apple never falls far from the tree…oh dang, I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun! I forgot to bring food home to cook for dinner." She made to rise and Sasuke put a hand on her shoulder, surprising her. When did Sasuke come into the room? She was sure he was just at the doorway.

"Why don't you get some sleep? I'll go get something to eat."

"Uh…ok." She sighed. 'Idiot!' she admonished herself. 'All you had to do for free room and board was bring back a little food. It's not like he was looking forward to having dinner with you.'

"Sorry, Sasuke."

"Forget it." He slid her door shut, her shuddering breath telling him she was probably near tears.

He had fucked up big time.

By not telling his suspicions of Karin's actions to the authorities, Sasuke had left Sakura open to losing everything. He sighed. There was no actual evidence, from what Sakura told him, but he just knew Karin had a hand in burning down her house. No matter what Karin claimed, Sasuke didn't believe her. But she hadn't been stupid enough to get Juugo or Suigetsu to help her in her dastardly deed. They had no idea what she had done.

Now, he had to figure out a way to fix everything for Sakura.

If he paid off her mortgage, she would be furious. She didn't like big favors from anyone, especially one of her teammates.

As he left to get some take-out, Sasuke mulled over how best to help Sakura—without her knowing.

0o0o0

Things you probably already know:

One Sen=1/100 of a one Yen=0.01 of 1 dollar US—basically nothing in today's world.

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