Hiya guys! It's been a while, but here I am with another chapter!
I also would like to thank all of those who reviewed and added me to their favs, I'm forever grateful :)
Pairing: Same as usual.
Disclaimer: Noope
Chapter 21. The Stuff
It was a bright day despite the snowstorm that flew in just the night before which ended up blocking most of the streets of Konoha. Plus, it was still below zero, windy and the invisible layer of ice kept weary eyes alerted. However, this also meant the hospitals were easily filled up with ice-related injuries. Luckily, a certain pink haired medic had the day off for...special reasons.
"WHAT'S THE EMERGENCY?!" The blond cried as he slammed her apartment door open. His eyes showed intensity, the same kind of emotions running through his mind he only had during missions. His teeth were clenched as the ceruleans eyed the entire room.
Behind Naruto was another man, just as panicked as he was. He studied the apartment carefully. "Sakura?" Sasuke yelled, balling his fingers into a tight fist.
"Over here.." a weak voice stuttered – it came from the bedroom, drawing the two males to it (they were incredibly worried, though Sasuke wasn't going to admit it). After all, it wasn't like Sakura to call them over for an emergency; normally, she was the one who usually helps one of them.
"Sakura?" Naruto said her name when he and Sasuke entered her room. They saw her lay weakly on the bed in the fetal position.
"I tried calling Ino...and Tenten – they weren't home. Hinata's gone too," the rosette whimpered.
"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked. He noticed in the corner of his eyes that Sumi was still peacefully – it took off a load of pressure on him: there was a part of him that thought that something has happened to her.
Sakura licked her dry lips, silent for a moment as if she had to choose her words carefully. "I," she started slowly, "need you guys to get me...some napkins." She glanced at the two's reaction and was shocked herself when she had noticed neither of them were freaking out. Pursing her lips, she raised both eyebrows, hoping that would emphasized onto what she was trying to say.
"Uh," Sasuke was the first to make a sound. "Don't you have any?"
Sakura blinked.
"Yeah, I thought I some on your kitchen table, Sakura," Naruto said blankly. He scratched the back of his head, chuckling. "Geeze, I thought you said it was an emergency." He was about to walk out of the room when he said, "I'll go get you some right now, if you want."
Sakura mentally slapped her forehead, realizing she should have expected this from Naruto (even Sasuke). Especially considering the blond spent most of his adolescent years training with the frogs and Sasuke was with the snakes. "I meant I need.....I...," she paused, "I need....I, uh..toiletries." She tried to avoid their faces while speaking, obviously embarrassed. "You know...when a woman gets her...you know?" She had hoped the two understood without having her go into full detail.
Sasuke and Naruto stood still, more confused than they had ever been.
Finally, Sakura sighed. "I have my period," she said bluntly.
It took a moment, but soon afterward, Sasuke froze, unsure of what to say. He glanced over to look at Naruto's reaction, concluding that the other male didn't know what to do or say either.
"Oh...kay," Naruto finally murmured. He started to look extremely nervous and sweaty.
"So do you think you guys can... go get some for me?" Sakura angelically asked. "Please? Naruto, you owe me at least three years worth of ramen fees, and Sasuke, you owe me for ditching me in the middle of the night on a bench!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Sakura, for the past dozen favours, you've only used that excuse. I really think that we're even – "
"Tch, my ass, we're even," Sakura interrupted. "You have no idea how much it hurt me," she said dramatically, pouting her lips. She looked up at him with her puppy dog eyes.
Sasuke growled, turning his attention to the frowning blond.
"But Sakura," Naruto whined. "I don't wanna. And if we do this, we're going to have to go outside. In public. Where people can see us."
Her thin lips formed a line. Her scowling appearance suddenly made the two males across from her jump and her brows tilted downwards. "You will go buy me pads or I will break your arms every time I PMS – that's monthly, Naruto!" she threatened.
Her comment made him gulp. "Come on, teme," he uneasily walked the door. "Lets go get her...the stuff."
XxXx
"Pst, Sasuke," Naruto whispered the moment they entered the convenience store just a few blocks away from Sakura's apartment. He studied the entire store, looking at each of the aisles "I see a lot of junkfood...and ramen, but none of whatever Sakura needs."
"Hn," the Uchiha gave an upside down smile. "We'll just have to look," he seethed through gritted teeth.
The two males looked in all corners, scanning the shelves (not as carefully as they should have) and gave up by the time they went through half the store. Obviously, neither of them liked being inside a store for too long, unless it was to choose what kind of instant ramen should be for dinner that night – at least, for Naruto it is.
"Go ask her, dobe," Sasuke nudged him, eyeing the receptionist at the front. "She's female. Maybe she will know."
"NO!" Naruto screamed, causing attention from other customers. He lowered his head, attempting to hid himself from public eye. "They'll just laugh at me and tell all their friends. Then their friends will tell all their friends who will tell all their friends who will tell Hisashi who will kill me and take Hinata away, make her die of a broken heart because she lost me and then it will make me depressed and – "
Sasuke gave a long sigh, rolling his eyes and trying to zone out all of Naruto's ranting.
"– and that will ruin my reputation, so they won't let me be Hokage and – "
"Shut. Up." Sasuke muttered, rubbing his tired eyes. He was exhausted from the lack of sleep during the past few nights. "I'll do it. Anything is better than listening to you," he concluded, leaving.
"Thanks, teme!" Naruto grinned from ear to ear. He took a few steps back and hid behind a few boxes. The blond didn't want to look like the guy who came with the other guy buying...feminine products.
"Excuse me," Sasuke breathed out, clearing his throat.
The girl at the counter who was sorting the back shelf, turned around. She took a moment to gaze at the beautiful man in front of her and then gave a cheery grin. "Good afternoon, how may I help you?" Normally, convenient store workers would never be this polite to a customer. Sasuke Uchiha, however, was an exception.
"I was wondering...if you could help me," Sasuke temporarily froze, searching for the right words, "to find something."
The girl stood there, still beaming with joy that Sasuke needed her help with something.
"I need to get, well, you know, what women get?" Bright whites were shown as he bit his lips, still trying to come up with the proper vocabulary. Finally, he found an easier way to make him sound less creepy yet still make her understand. "My girlfriend's time of month has come."
"Oh," the girl muttered, "I know what you're talking about now!" She gave a small chuckle, angering the already embarrassed Uchiha. "They're in aisle three. I'll show you."
"Aa." He followed. He noticed in the corner of his eyes that Naruto was giving a thumbs up, but then turned around to go through the packages of ramen.
"Here we are. Do you know which brand she uses?"
With those few words said, Sasuke took a deep breath to try to calm himself from hyperventilating. He had never seen so many different brands of one product before (other than ramen, which Naruto was the cause of). He glared at the girl, hoping she would have a kind enough soul to help him in his time of need.
The girl gave a friendly smile when she saw Sasuke look at her. However, she remained standing silently.
Sasuke furrowed his brows, begging for some sort of savior to come and help. His eyes shifted back and forth, scanning the mysterious packages he had never seen in his life – tampons, pads, big, small, Always, Maxi.
"Uh, excuse me?" the girl said after receiving no reply.
"Hn," Sasuke replied quietly.
She gave a small smirk, obviously laughing at him on the inside. "If I were your girlfriend, I'd choose this brand; it's one of the more popular choices for women."
"Aa." He quickly muttered. "I will take it then." He grabbed the package and followed her to the register. He waited for her to scan the item and punch the buttons on the machine so he could pay and leave.
She handed the bag to him and smiled. "It's great that you're doing this for her. I guess she must be in a lot of pain if she couldn't get these herself."
"Hn – what?" Sasuke looked back at the girl. "What did you say?"
She blinked a few times before responding. "Her cramps. They must be really serious."
"Oh, right," Sasuke said, clearing his throat. He vaguely remembered the Hokage talking about that during one of their health sessions at the academy just weeks ago. At the time, Sasuke didn't really care, so listening wasn't a big part of it.
He turned around, seeing Naruto talking to a few men.
"Sasuke," he called out. Naruto stumbled over to the Uchiha, waving off the men who was just talking to him. "Tell Sakura that I'm sorry, but I gotta go over to Hinata's." Before Sasuke could say anything, Naruto had already dashed off.
XxXx
It didn't hit Sasuke until he had reached Sakura's apartment that Naruto was suddenly so busy with his life. In fact, everyone was; it was just him who didn't have to work for anything – except for maybe a few simple missions for his probation and taking care of the baby every now and then. He frowned, remembering that the only reason he came back to Konoha was because he had nothing to do with his life in the first place. Even now, his life was just a dull wasteland where everybody had things to do and he got to walk the streets freely everyday.
Sasuke leapt up the steps, opening the unlocked door and calling out Sakura's name. Although there would normally be a reply, the room was silent, so the usually unperturbed man called her name again. "Sakura?" he repeated, grasping tightly onto the bag.
"Yeah?"
Much to his relief, the rosette had replied, but weakly. Her voice was unusually quiet and her reply wasn't followed by multiple sentences.
Remembering what the lady at the store had said, Sasuke went into Sakura's room, finding her in the same spot she was in when he left. His hold on the bag loosened slightly when he saw her smiling face. Her head was resting on a few dozen or so pillows, so it looked like she was sitting rather than laying.
"You got them!" It sounded like she was congratulating a child for accomplishing a simple task. "It wasn't too much trouble, was it?" She gave a sly smile, enjoying Sasuke's well known frown. She kicked both legs over her bed, getting up. However, both hands clutched onto the side of her tummy.
Sasuke's lips parted slightly, taking a step forward at the same time. He placed the bag at the end of the bed and walked over to Sakura.
"Are you okay?" He quietly asked, as if shy from asking such a question.
Before Sakura could answer, Sasuke bent down, putting his arms under her knees and lifting her up easily. He turned around, ignoring the stuttering and blushing Sakura. He grabbed the bag with one free hand on the way out.
"There," he said, letting Sakura down just two rooms away from the bedroom in front of the washroom.
"Uh." Sakura breathed out. "Thanks.."
Xxx
After Sakura was done with her business, she shifted back to the multiple shades of red when Sasuke carried her back into the bedroom. She laid back onto her bed and stared back at Sasuke. Pressing her lips together, she finally spoke up, "Do you want to say and keep me company?"
Sasuke was startled by the question and truthfully, he didn't know what to say. "Uh," he murmured.
Sakura smiled again. "You don't have to, if you don't want to."
After hearing that, it was only right to say 'no, it's okay, I'll stay." So, Sasuke shook his head. "Hn. I'll stay."
"Yay!" Sakura smiled. "I have someone to watch movies with now." Sakura never liked being at home with no one to talk to, so the fact that the Uchiha was willing to stay made her happy.
Sasuke looked around, pulling a chair from the other room. He placed it not too far from her bed, but still at an appropriate distance.
XxXx
The next day, everybody's usual routine came back, so Sakura – pain free – was back at work, Naruto was with his fiancee.
As for Sasuke, his day was a little different. Instead of being at home or training like he would normally do at that time, he received a call from the Hokage, asking him to see her in her office. When he arrived, he was greeted, not only by the Godaime, but the elders too. His mouth curved downwards, only guessing that his visit concerned his probation.
"Sasuke Uchiha," Tsunade started, "we found a second part of your father's will. Please take a seat."
Just so I know...how many of you readers are male? Not that reading romance fics is bad, but I just want to know...for future chapter references....Wow, I should've asked this last chapter before I wrote this one. Hehe....
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