Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of its associated characters!

Summary: COMPLETE (new chapter up everyday - total of 29 chapters!). Some people are assholes. Some people are kind. It's when those are the same person that things get real confusing. Minor character death. A fic about grief, healing, and hope. Modern AU (office AU), Sasunaru/Narusasu.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who let me know I fucked up Kabuto's name in the last chapter! It's fixed now. I'm glad you guys liked that little twist! Onto the next one...

Something Good

Chapter 25: Serious

He was acutely aware that they looked like a couple.

Side by side, Naruto buzzing between people with Sasuke only a few steps behind—Naruto called someone's name and introduced Sasuke in the same breath.

He never once called Sasuke his boss.

He never once called Sasuke his friend.

He skipped over the silence—the pause in the conversation, where Sasuke's presence was to be explained—like it was nothing at all. And the discussions moved, too, like it was nothing at all—but Sasuke felt it, felt it on the tip of Naruto's tongue when he said—

"This is Sasuke."

Sasuke hadn't even registered the other woman's name. No, he'd been far too focused on the soft, aching affection in Naruto's eyes as he smiled back at him. He had years of formality to fall back on, though, as he automatically reached forward to shake the older woman's hand. (His arm brushed against Naruto's along the way.)

"Thanks for coming, Shima. Did you see all the pictures? There's that one of you and him on the mountain."

"And Fukasaku, yes," the woman smiled wistfully. "What different days those were."

Naruto, gentle and empathetic, reached out to place a hand along woman's shoulder.

It was so strange, to Sasuke, the way everyone came to offer support and received it instead.

No one else saw that flicker of fatigue in Naruto's eyes.

"Difficult," said the older woman, "to have our loved ones leave us."

And how did that help? How did that help? Naruto was—

"I think," Naruto said, taking a step forwards, "that they're already playing cards up there, waiting for us."

The woman placed a hand on his.

"I think these old bones still have a few more games left in them."

Naruto smiled.

"'Atta girl. Does the club still do bridge on Tuesdays?"

"They do, I think. I haven't been for…"

"Need a partner?"

The woman smiled softly.

"That would be lovely, Naruto."

"Tuesday, then. I'll call you, okay?"

"Thank you. I look forward to it."

"Me too."

Naruto smiled softly and slid away from the conversation at the same time as her—turning right to face Sasuke's gaze.

"What?" Naruto asked softly.

"You're an idiot." A stupid, selfless idiot who placed the needs of everyone else above—

"Yeah, maybe," Naruto shrugged a little, glancing behind him, "but she's alone, you know? Nobody should have to be alone."

And it took an alarming amount of restraint to stop himself from—from doing something, he didn't know what, reaching out in some way to provide any sort of comfort—Naruto bounced on the balls of his feet and they were in a crowd, but—

"Anyway," Naruto said, "I think this is everybody. I should probably start talking before people start leaving…"

"It's not everyone," Sasuke told him. He hadn't been in touch with them a huge amount, but it had been enough to know—

"What d'you mean?"

Sasuke didn't answer. He turned back to the entrance, as he'd been glancing at ever since they entered the room. He certainly wouldn't recognize anyone, but Naruto—

"Wh—hang on, that looks like—Gaara?!"

Naruto flew to the entrance, and Sasuke turned his gaze to the floor, and smiled.

It was everybody. It was everybody—Gaara and Inari and Konohamaru and Uncle Bee—that he'd lost touch with and had long thought he'd never—

"You—how did—"

"Iruka found us."

Naruto spun, exhilaration bursting through him—

"Iruka—"

"Well, I hardly did it myself," Iruka said, giving something over Naruto's shoulder a meaningful look—

Sasuke's gaze stayed firmly on the wall.

"But, Naruto," Iruka ducked down a little, speaking softer, "I—we—beyond our condolences, I wanted to show you—I hope you know that your family isn't lost."

Naruto's throat locked up.

"We may not have seen each other in many years," Iruka continued, "but you'll always be my little brother—and my top student, of course."

Naruto let out a small, wet laugh as he ducked his head. He'd been a fucking terrible student, but Iruka had always—

"And my big bro!" Konohamaru spoke up, Inari nodding along with him—

"We've missed you very much, Naruto."

Gaara—

"I—" Naruto's voice cut off before it had any chance to— "You guys, I—"

He really needed to stop crying into other people's arms.

That went about as well as it could have.

Long, emotional—they'd ducked out into the hall as soon as Naruto finally let himself go. And finally, Naruto had let himself go. Tsunade had been excusing herself regularly, but Naruto had been relentless, smiling, charming, supportive—

But tight. Restrained. Quick to laugh and distract and change the topic, unwilling to dwell on the pain.

He had dwelled on the pain now.

And then he'd sniffled and nodded and really, honestly, genuinely smiled—

So Sasuke leaned against the wall, back in the room, tucked behind a column, and waited.

"Hey everybody," Naruto said, "I figured better start talking before you all leave—and before you're too drunk to listen."

He paused for a moment, smiling as the room chuckled softly.

"And—um, I've been thinking about what to say, and I kept trying to—well, I ended up not writing anything down, so if this sucks—Tsunade made me do it so please direct all complaints to the old woman over—"

"Brat!"

And even Sasuke couldn't help but laugh, along with everyone else—

"Okay, okay, sorry, sorry, sorry, I'll be serious...'cept I won't, 'cause Jiraiya hated serious." Naruto smiled a little, shuffling his feet. "We're talking about the guy who helped me skip class to get a tattoo, after all. Helped me pick out flowers instead of doing homework so I could put them all over in Sakura's locker—hey, Sakura, sorry about that."

"I knew that was you! They were all dead by the time I got to them!"

Naruto laughed—

"I know!" he said, ducking forwards a little— "I know—we ruined them before they even got there. But, um—that's what I—Jiraiya knew fuck all about flowers. And he helped me make that disaster anyway. And that tattoo meant something to me. Jiraiya did that stuff, you know? That's who he was. He also wrote porn for a living, so if we're trying to be serious—"

Naruto paused, as chatter erupted yet again—

"What, did you expect me not to mention it? I brought one of his books."

And there it had been, in Naruto's back pocket this whole time. Sasuke resisted the urge to put his face in his hands.

"Yeah, you're really regretting asking me to do this, huh? Want to hear my favourite description of boobs ever?" He flipped the book open, grinning all the while. "Her billowing mounds thrusting through the—"

"Naruto!"

But everyone was laughing, now—everyone was smiling, or had actually put their face in their hands (like Sasuke had finally done), and the tension had lifted until it was almost nothing at all—

"Yeah," Naruto grinned, book still in hand, "take that mental image home with you."

He paused, again, to let everyone settle.

"He talked about home a lot," Naruto continued, leaning against the table a little, "with me. About finding home, since he'd travelled so much...and how home—to him, home really ended up being about the people around you. Some people are just...home. And that's...when he said that, it always kinda stuck with me."

Sasuke stood a little straighter.

"I think Jiraiya was home, for me. He was like that, wasn't he? Like—like open, and—and comfortable and honest. And he never—he was, like, an...unapologetically," Naruto laughed a little, "flawed person. He wasn't perfect and he never tried to hide any of it. He drank and gambled and had way more sex than I wanted to grow up knowing about—"

He paused as the room laughed—

"But that was who he was. And you knew that—right from the start. I always admired that part...maybe you guys could tell that, though."

Naruto ducked his head, this time, as everyone laughed again. Sasuke turned his gaze down to hide his smile.

"Jiraiya taught me a lot. About family, and love—not that kind, perverts—and humour, and...honesty. Somebody way smarter than me reminded me that there's a lot about him I want to remember."

Sasuke's head jerked up.

"And appreciate. So that's what I want today to be."

Naruto straightened up a little.

"If you've got a story—if you've got a memory, or a picture, or anything—send it to me. Tell it to me. Write it down for me. Please. We've got a book at the front, too, and a pen—and we'll bring it tonight. We're meeting at Rasengan for some—some booze and games and general debauchery—"

The room laughed again, and Naruto smiled.

"Get drunk enough to write down the stories Jiraiya said I'd have to bribe him millions to hear, 'kay? Thanks everybody."

He hopped off the little platform, shaking two, three, four hands before—

"Hey," he breathed, bouncing his way close to Sasuke, "I can't remember anything I just said. I do okay?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, taking in Naruto's relief with a rush of his own.

"You've officially told the room I'm smarter than you."

Naruto's smile widened softly.

"That doesn't sound like me," he said, scrunching up his nose as he shook his head. Sasuke sucked in a breath and swayed on his feet, just barely stopping the response that had nearly been automatic—

"But I mean, you did—you thought I did okay, right?"

...Stupid Naruto.

Sasuke grabbed him by the shoulders and firmly turned him around—

To face the crowd of people patiently gathering around them.

"You did great," he said, leaning forwards just enough to let Naruto hear him. "Go greet your admirers."

"I—" Naruto laughed and ducked his head. "Okay."

And as he moved forwards, Sasuke stayed firmly behind him.

Very few of them stayed for the burial.

Sakura wasn't actually sure, now that she thought about it, that everyone had known it was happening here and now. Naruto had only mentioned the dinner, so perhaps this was...meant to be more private.

She looked around her, in the silence, at everyone's tired, tired faces.

Yeah. Definitely meant to be private.

It was a quiet few moments. No speeches—not anymore. Just a few moments to stand here and silently say their own goodbyes.

Sakura let out a small breath. Tsunade, beside her, let out a bigger one.

She let her head rest on Tsunade's shoulder. It was good, sometimes, to remind her that she still had people around her. The woman always struggled with showing her hurt, but Sakura would be here to catch her if she fell.

She scanned over Naruto, too, who so often needed the same reminder...his gaze stayed still on the dirt in front of him. She had barely had a chance to catch him tonight. Nothing more than a word or a resilient smile—he'd been with person after person, constantly involved in some conversation or another—

Sakura wondered if he'd had any chance to rest at all.

And Sasuke's thoughts were somewhere similar, she thought, from the way his gaze stayed firmly to his left. And he must have noticed something she didn't, because—

There it was. The subtle shift as Sasuke grazed Naruto's fingertips, and Naruto squeezed Sasuke's hand so tight his knuckles went white—

"It's time, I think," Tsunade said.

Yes, Sakura thought to herself.

It was time.

A/N: Bit of a shorter one today! Tomorrow will be similar, but it's actually one of my favourites. We're going by feel, now! Hope you enjoyed :)

See you tomorrow,

- Kinomi