A slither of sunlight crept in from behind the curtains, threatening to wake the two cuddling ninja. It had been a couple of days since the events of the chunin exams, and today was the Hokage's funeral.
Sasuke was already awake, gently caressing Rinn's hair as she slept softly on his bare chest. He hadn't been sleeping very well lately. The nightmares had not yet returned, but he felt constantly anxious and agitated. His mind was ticking over and over, and he was unable to fully switch off and let sleep consume him. He was thankful he had Rinn, at least for some sort of comfort, and had committed her face to memory during his last few nights lying awake, spending hours watching over her as she slept.
She looks so beautiful when she sleeps…
Sasuke smiled to himself. This was a special part of her only he got to see. The vulnerable, peaceful side.
Remembering what day it was, he gave Rinn a gentle rub on the shoulder.
"Hey… Starfish…" he whispered gently as he tried to wake her, earning him a groan of annoyance.
Sasuke chuckled to himself.
"Little Starfishhh," he sang at her, giving her a heftier shake than before.
No response.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow in amusement as he realised she was playing dead.
"Hey, I know you're awake Rinn," he stated bluntly, this time shaking his whole arm and shoulder on the side she was lying on.
"Stoooooop!" she groaned, reaching further around Sasuke's waist with her arm to cling to him even more tightly, burying her face into his chest.
Sasuke blushed a little at this, both from her closeness and from how cute she was.
He sighed, then sat up and quickly picked her up bridal style, getting out of bed. Rinn squeaked slightly, her arms flying out to grab Sasuke around his neck so she wouldn't fall.
"Sasukeee!" she whined in annoyance.
He smirked in response.
"Hey put me down! Where are you taking me?!" she demanded.
"You're going for a shower. Right now." He stated simply.
"PUT. ME. DOWN."
"Nope."
"I SAID PU-"
"Now now, little orange one. We have to be at the ceremony in an hour, so you need to get ready… Besides, you make me shower all the time," Sasuke said, having now made it to the bathroom door.
Rinn glared at him, before squirming out of his grip so she was now standing.
"Sasuke, I make you shower because you're a stinky boy, and I do not want my bed – or my house in fact – getting super gross because you're too lazy to wash yourself after training," she said, pointing at him accusingly.
Sasuke rolled his eyes, reaching over Rinn's head to push open the bathroom door. He was actually very clean. Obsessively clean in fact. His house was spotless, and he liked everything to be tidy. Rinn on the other hand would probably be living in a bomb site if Sasuke didn't clean up from time to time. Her creative personality was certainly reflected in her messiness.
"In you go," he said, holding open the door and tipping his head to gesture towards the shower.
Rinn folded her arms and stayed put.
"No." she responded, glaring at him defiantly.
Still holding the door open above her head, Sasuke took a step closer to her and leaned towards her threateningly.
"What was that?" he asked her, activating his Sharingan to try and look scarier.
Unfortunately, this had the opposite effect on Rinn, who was starting to find these new eyes of his quite…. Appealing?
"He looks so hot with his eyes like that…."she thought, biting her lip slightly.
Sasuke's eyes darted down in a flash, watching this action with great interest. He took another step closer.
"I said… What was that?"
He took another step closer so that their bodies were almost touching.
"Don't make me come in there with you, Rinn," he said huskily, causing both his and Rinn's minds to go to ungodly places.
I wouldn't say no, Sasuke…
Rinn quickly got a hold of herself.
"Argh Ok, OK! Move out the way," she said grumpily, pushing Sasuke back out of the doorway, slamming it in his face and locking it with a loud *click*
Sasuke sighed to himself, before walking downstairs to make himself a coffee. He'd brought his funeral attire over the night before - it was too wet and miserable outside to go between their houses in his pyjamas (i.e. sweatpants and nothing else).
Deep down he knew why she didn't want to get up. It was the same reason he didn't. Going to the Hokage's funeral was the final admission that he was gone, and it was causing reality to sink in for the young ninja. After the attack on the village, they were both worried about what was going to happen, and who would lead them out of this mess.
Sasuke plonked himself down on the sofa taking a long sip of his coffee, the tasty liquid trickling down his throat bringing life to his tired cells. He let out a long yawn, rubbing his eyes slightly. They were sore again from lack of sleep – he was now being kept awake by a different kind of nightmare: his own self-worth.
As much as he tried to hide from Rinn, he was still seething at how much more powerful Naruto had become, and how useless he was in the fight against Gaara. He needed to get stronger.
Sasuke quickly realised that this wasn't just normal peer to peer jealousy – his obsession with becoming more powerful ran far deeper.
Itachi.
He lay back onto the couch in frustration, grabbing the bridge of his nose with his free hand as he felt a headache coming.
Sasuke, we've been through this you IDIOT. You can't have both. It's either kill Itachi or stay with Rinn.
It's always such an easy decision for him when she's around, but the second he was left alone with his thoughts, the disappointment of his strength and abilities plagued him. All he could think about was Itachi.
He hated himself for it, and he knew it was wrong, but he just couldn't switch it off. It was like a cockroach had buried itself into his brain, and it was scratching to get out…
"Sasukeeee?"
A call from upstairs snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Yeah?" he yelled back, too lazy to move a muscle.
"Can you do me a favour please?"
"Yeah, hang on a minute I'll be up in a sec," he replied, his motivation to move completely escaping him. He was so very tired…
A minute or so passed before Sasuke eventually managed to drag himself up to the bathroom, finding much to his surprise that it was now empty.
"Rinn?" he called, grabbing the door frame and peering into the bathroom just to make sure.
"Rinn?" he called out again, wandering aimlessly into her bedroom.
"It's OK, you took too long," she said, appearing in front of him wearing only a towel, her wet hair hanging around her face. It covered the areas of her body that it needed to, but barely.
Sasuke gulped, stopping dead in his tracks.
He looked her up and down so slowly that it was almost animalistic, lust beginning to cloud his eyes.
"Fuck…" he thought to himself as he took it all in, from her perfect hourglass figure to her thighs, that looked like those of a goddess. And he could only imagine what was underneath that towel…
And boy did he imagine.
"Earth to Sasuke," she said, as his eyes quickly darted up to her face again.
She watched him, as his body finally untensed. He swallowed very slowly, shutting his eyes and exhaling quietly as if trying to push something from his mind.
"Sorry… What did you want?" he finally replied.
"You shoved me into the bathroom before I had a chance to grab my clothes, so I was going to ask you to pass them to me," Rinn explained, shooting him an accusing glare.
"Sorry…" he said vaguely, still not fully back in the room.
Rinn tutted.
"Never mind just go get ready - I need to change," she said, throwing his clothes at him and pushing him out of yet another door, closing it so she could put on her clothes.
Sasuke blinked at the door a couple of times whilst his mind caught up with the real world. Wandering to the bathroom he locked the door and quickly stripped off, jumping into the shower. As the hot water caressed his body an image of Rinn in her tiny towel flashed across his mind.
NO Sasuke, you don't have time for this right now!
He cursed at himself, leaning an arm on the tiles next to the running water, sticking his head underneath the showerhead. He was so worked up about Rinn that he was desperate for a release, but they had to leave soon. Besides, he only ever did that sort of thing in his own home anyway. Sasuke valued his privacy and also respected Rinn and her home.
Groaning woefully at his predicament, Sasuke squeezed out some of Rinn's strawberry scented shampoo into his hands, lathering it up and rubbing it into his raven locks. He scrubbed his scalp almost a little too hard, as if he were trying to wash away his thoughts too.
Once he was washed and dressed, he towel-dried his hair and wandered back into the bedroom. Rinn was now dressed, much to his displeasure, and her fiery hair dripping onto her black kimono. She was sitting on the side of the bed, looking blank. It was like she had gotten dressed and spent the rest of the time staring into space whilst Sasuke was showering.
"Hey Rinn? We need to leave in 5 minutes…" Sasuke gently pressed, eyeing her closely to gauge her reaction.
"Hmm?" she hummed absent-mindedly, her green eyes looking up at him innocently.
"Your hair – you're going to get your clothes all wet," he said, leaning forward and picking up a strand, tugging on it slightly.
"Oh yeah…"
Sasuke stood there perplexed for a moment, before trying again.
"Aren't you going to…. dry it?" he asked,
"No time now," she replied glumly, reaching for a hair tie and piling it up on her head in the messiest bun that Sasuke had ever seen.
He smiled at how sweet she looked, but he couldn't let her go to an official ceremony like that.
"Come here you," he said, sitting down next to her on the side of the bed, gesturing to her to sit in front of him.
Rinn didn't argue, sitting on the floor in front of him in between his legs as instructed. Sasuke very carefully (and skilfully) removed the tangled hair tie from her crazy hairstyle and reached across to the bedside table to grab her comb. Gently, he combed through her hair removing any knots she had created. Splitting her hair into two, he started to French braid her hair for her – something he used to do when they were children. He had always found it very relaxing to plait things, and, looking at Rinn, she seemed to be enjoying it too.
Sasuke's fingers felt like heaven running through her hair. She sometimes forgot that he could be so very gentle, as he was so strong the rest of the time. As he braided her hair, Rinn found it very soothing, and, once he had finished, she got up to admire his handiwork.
As ever, Sasuke was a perfectionist. It reminded her of when they had last made bracelets for each other as kids – hers being an absolute mess and his being a meticulously crafted item. She smiled to herself in the mirror as Sasuke waited expectantly for her verdict.
"Well?" he asked, looking at her nervously.
"Thank you Sasuke! This looks so much better," she said, her grin growing bigger. As usual, it was infectious and Sasuke soon found himself smiling too.
She walked over to him and planted a tiny 'thank you' kiss on his unsuspecting cheek. Sasuke turned as red as the tomatoes he loves so much, muttering a quick 'yourewelcome' before getting up and making a break for the door.
"Wait one more thing!" Rinn said, looking in the mirror once more. She pulled a few strands out of the braids to frame her face, as Sasuke looked on in horror.
Rinn giggled as she saw his expression.
"Hey you can't be meticulous all the time. Add a little flavour to it! There's no need to be so straight-laced," she told him, scooting past him and running down the stairs to put on her shoes.
Sasuke hated to admit it but she was right about one thing – she looked much cuter once she made the hairstyle her own.
- X -
As they stood silently at the funeral, Sasuke was watching Rinn intently. Something was off, and she seemed in a daze. They queued quietly, joining the procession, and picking up a delicate white flower to lay down for the Hokage. Rinn scowled as she picked up her offering, earning her a sideways glance from both Sasuke and Shichiro, who was a few ninja behind them.
Once it was her turn, however, whatever had disgusted her so much evaporated, and she let out a quiet sniffle as she lay down her flower, bowing her head in respect. Sasuke followed closely behind, and before they knew it everyone had paid their respects and were back in formation. As the sun reappeared from behind the clouds and illuminated Rinn's bright green eyes, Sasuke recognised that she truly wasn't herself. He gently grabbed her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze with his rough fingers, not letting go even when they left the ceremony.
As her feet went on autopilot back home, Sasuke dragged her in a different direction.
"Come on, let's go for a walk," he said, tugging on her arm a little. Not having any energy to fight him, she obliged and followed along beside him until they reached their destination.
Sasuke had walked them to a very beautiful meadow, full of wildflowers, and sat down on a stone bench around the edge of the meadow. Motioning her to sit next so him, he pulled her arm gently to encourage her. He still had not let go of her hand since the funeral.
They sat in silence for a few moments, before Sasuke spoke up:
"Rinn, please tell me what's wrong?"
"…."
"Rinn?" he pushed again, nudging her.
"I'm just sad the Hokage is gone, that's all," she responded, looking into the sky blankly.
Sasuke sighed. He knew when she was lying, simply because she was so utterly terrible at it.
"No, there's something else. I know you better than anyone, so please, I'm worried… You asked me to be better at expressing my feelings and I'm really trying, but I need you to do the same," Sasuke reasoned.
Rinn started sobbing, very quietly.
"No no no, shhh, no don't cry," Sasuke said desperately, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close.
"I'm sorry," he said, feeling guilty.
"No don't be silly it's not you… It's just…" she sobbed again, "Funerals… they just make me so… so angry."
"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, rubbing her back comfortingly whilst still holding her.
"All these people… they get closure… they know where their families are, however awful that might be, at least they know."
Sasuke paused for a moment, unsure of where she was going with this.
"Sasuke… Did your parents have a funeral?" she asked innocently.
Sasuke felt a pang of pain in his heart as he thought about his parents, but then the penny dropped.
"Funerals make you angry because you don't know where your parents are? If they're dead or if they're alive?" he asked.
Rinn nodded.
"And I feel so guilty that I feel this way, it must be so awful for people to lose their families… and that makes me sad too…. Am I a bad person Sasuke?" she asked, searching for some feedback from her friend.
"What?!" Sasuke replied a little more curtly than he meant to, "Of course you're not a bad person Rinn. You're the best person. You're…. my person," he said, poking her gently on the nose as he said his final point.
Rinn giggled slightly through her sobs as they sat quietly for another few minutes, holding each other and enjoying the beautiful colours of the meadow flowers.
"We'll find them you know," Sasuke said, bending his neck down to look at her directly, "Your parents."
Rinn smiled weakly.
"No, I mean it – once we're done with all this training stuff and we can do what we want, we can go searching for them. And we'll find them and bring them back to the village. Together. I promise," he continued, trying to give her hope.
Rinn hugged Sasuke tighter.
"Thank you, Sasuke," she said, feeling comfort that maybe, one day, she would finally find out the truth.
A/N: Thank you to any readers that have left reviews - your words are always very encouraging and I really value your feedback :)