"Yo! It's the big man!"
"Hey! Bro! Come talk with us!"
"Bro! You gotta tell us everything!"
Sasuke had just come from one of the many training grounds, completely soaked in his own sweat. He'd skipped classes today in favor of clearing his mind in the training fields. He had just finished a major destressing taijutsu session and was hoping to go home and just stand in the shower for an hour or so.
Unfortunately, a gaggle of jackasses had swarmed him. He didn't know what they were yelling about, nor did he want to find out. They all sounded annoying as hell and he really needed a moment to himself. The people here were friendlier than those from Konoha and that was saying something.
A hand clamped down onto his shoulder. Sasuke held back the snarl he could feel making its way up his throat. Not only were these people friendly, they were naïve…and had a death wish. His head whipped around to face the idiot who dared to gamble with his life. A goofy grin adorned the stupid guy's face. All Sasuke could think of was how punchable it looked.
"How'd it happen? I heard it was really hard to even talk to her."
"Everyone knows Team Bee is some type of weird cult. Have you ever seen them apart?"
"I thought she was strictly a scissor sister. What'd you do to make her change her mind?"
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Sasuke snapped in the direction of the last idiot's question.
The guy didn't have the decency to at least look ashamed. He latched his arm around Sasuke in a friendly manner.
"Sakura dude. Don't you remember? Or do you usually have so many girls rotating out of your apartment that you forget?"
Sasuke felt his cheeks flush at the implication. He was many things, but he was NOT a whore. At least he never thought of himself as one. Every girl he had laid down with had an established connection with him. He never just offered himself up to anyone who propositioned him. He actually enjoyed having sex with people he was comfortable with.
Another guy slapped him on the shoulder playfully. "Be real, man. Would you really expect any less of an Uchiha? Girls would throw themselves at him off the strength of his name alone."
Sasuke felt the flush spread to his ears. That accusation was anything but true. The Uchiha may have a lot of prestige in the ninja world, therefore, easily garnering fans, but they were actually quite conservative. Chastity and virtue were prized by everyone in the clan regardless of gender. Being a floozy was a taboo. Most of them married within the clan. Being known for sleeping around and possibly spreading their DNA, especially their doujutsu to outsiders, was a big taboo.
He'd had enough of these idiots' bullshit. Sasuke tossed both idiots off of him and activated his sharingan. The group backed away a bit, startled by what they believed he could do.
"Shut the fuck up," he said in a low, menacing tone. "None of you know what you're talking about."
The bold guy from before held his hands up in mock surrender. "Chill. We didn't know she was your girlfriend."
Sasuke's eyes relaxed, returning to their natural ebony hue. These nincompoops weren't worth wasting his breath over.
"Keep Sakura and her teammates' names out of your mouths. Word of any more of this shit gets out, I will personally kill all of you."
….
Sakura stood at the kitchen counter dicing apples while humming a soft tune to herself. She thought of how liberating it was to just not work herself to death for once. Another day of not going back to the backbreaking labor of the hospital was nice.
Surprisingly, her staff members were sympathetic towards her when she finally came in to explain her absence. They allowed her to take a break and excused her for her missing days citing them as sick leave. She had more than earned them. In all her time working at the hospital, she couldn't recall one day she had missed work.
Sakura gathered her chopped up apple slices and placed them on a platter. She nibbled away at them slowly as she sat on one of the spare stools in the kitchen. They were one of her safe foods. Apple slices weren't filling in the slightest, but they provided that mind numbing distraction of pretending to eat just to satisfy others and your body's need for sustenance.
Avoiding the hospital proved to be a double-edged sword. Not only had she not been filling her work duties, but, as a result of this, she also hadn't been showing up to classes. It was unusual for her, anybody could tell that. But the fact of the matter remained that she was too embarrassed and ashamed to even chance being seen by Karui or Jinora. She'd made a complete ass of herself and she couldn't handle talking to either one of them right now.
Before her thoughts could become too clouded, she heard the familiar click of the door lock. Sasuke was home. Very early, she noticed. The day hadn't even reached noon and he'd already found his way back to his apartment.
Time after time he popped her bubble about all that she'd projected onto him. Sasuke, the perfect boy, was skipping classes. How much more normal could he be?
He opened the door, a frown settled on his face. She hid a giggle behind her hand. Was his only setting grumpy? He nodded in her direction as he stomped over to his bedroom. Sakura could see that he had been training hard by the way the fabric of his shirt was so saturated that it hugged his body like a fitted dress.
She fought the blush that rose to her face. After all these years, he seemed to only grow more attractive by the minute. Had Sasuke ever had an ugly duckling phase?
He shut the door behind him with more force than was necessary. She jumped at the loud sound it made. Today must not have been a good one for him.
Sakura listened to the pipes for the running water started up, their creaky chorus a detriment to her hearing. Thankfully, the water was now running smoothly.
She finished off the rest of her apple slices and placed the dish into the sink. She flipped on the faucet and filled the sink a quarter way before shutting it back off. Washing dishes proved to be therapeutic for her. She felt herself reorienting to the world. Every scrub or droplet of water running down a dish pulling her back to reality.
Before long, Sasuke exited his room without a shirt, a towel lazily held over his shoulder. Sakura fought the blush that crept on her cheeks. Some people were obviously the creator's favorites. The blush further rose on her cheeks when he moved to stand next to her and dry the dishes.
The domesticity of it all was not lost on her. In all her imaginations of this moment, she'd never have thought it'd come true. Here she was in Sasuke's apartment, standing next to him while wearing an oversized sweater and he without a shirt, acting as if they were a couple. She smiled, reminiscing on her preteen self. That girl's dream had come true. If only it had happened under better circumstances.
She sighed to herself. She'd have to stop living in this self-imposed haze that she'd been in for the past almost two weeks and confront reality at some point. She didn't want to impose on Sasuke any longer. She was sure that he'd make his feelings known sooner or later. He'd only ever been able to tolerate her shenanigans for so long.
"Are you going back to work?" he asked nonchalantly.
Sakura almost dropped the dish that she held in her hand from the shock. Not only was he doing chores alongside her, he took it upon himself to engage in friendly – well…as friendly as Sasuke got – banter.
He gently slipped the glass cup out of her hand and wiped it down with his towel. Sakura shook herself awake and took a deep breath. Now wasn't the time to lose herself. Everything was going so well, no reason to ruin that by returning to her fan girl days.
"Yeah…," she answered slowly. "I'll be going back tomorrow as a matter of fact. School too. I'm gonna go back to our apartment, too."
Her word vomit had left an awkward silence. He arched his brow in confusion. Sakura knew she was probably donning the stupidest, nervous smile she'd ever mustered. Sweat collected in the middle of her back.
Oh god…she looked like an idiot. She probably had been gesturing awkwardly while she was talking, too. She bowed deeply.
"Sorry for the intrusion. I bought some tomatoes to thank you – I know they're not much! I'll bring you something else once I leave, but I'm really grateful to you for allowing me to stay here," she said all in one breath.
If she had looked up for one moment, she would've seen the light pink that colored his cheeks.
….
As Sasuke bit into one of the juicy, red tomatoes from his well-kept refrigerator, a warm, fuzzy sensation settled over his stomach. He covered himself with his comforter as he snuggled into his couch, the tomato bringing a strange euphoria to him.
….
Karui stood at her locker gathering her materials needed for her lessons today. Her taijutsu class would be working with nunchucks and she didn't want to be the one oddball out.
Home life had been hectic. Staying with her parents had been a cathartic experience. They were gentle with her without being overbearing or annoying. She forgot how nice it was to have a home cooked meal. Her mother's shrimp gumbo was a great comfort food in the midst of all the madness that the ninja world was becoming. It was nice to just spend an afternoon laying in her mother's lap as she braided her hair or stroked her head.
She smiled as she closed the door to her locker. That smile soon dropped when the locker door closed to reveal a face she'd rather not have chosen to see. Sakura stood there awkwardly holding the straps of her bag biting her lip nervously. Karui rolled her eyes. She had no time for this. The red head started walking away.
"Wait! Karui! I want to talk to you," she shouted, shame written all over her face.
Karui heaved a heavy sigh. She could hear the familiar whine in her former girlfriend's voice. If she ignored her now, she'd waste time trying to avoid her for the rest of the day. Sakura could be very persistent when she wanted. Reluctantly, Karui turned to face Sakura. She folded her arms over her chest.
"You've got five minutes."
She watched as Sakura's eyes widened sadly, but then returned to their normal size in understanding. Karui's eyes squinted, scrutinizing the girl's every move. She wouldn't be getting off so easily. Karui could hold a mean grudge.
"I'm sorry, Karui," Sakura said, all the energy seeming to drain from her body with the words. She shifted to move closer to Karui who, in turn, backed away to keep the distance between them. Sakura tried not to show how much that affected her.
"I know that I can say it 'til I'm blue in the face, but I truly am. I don't expect your forgiveness, what I did was truly despicable, and I can understand if you never forgive me. But I want you to know that from the deepest depths of my heart that I apologize for indulging myself at the expense of your safety."
Karui watched Sakura carefully. The tenseness of her jaw, the straight line her mouth pressed into her face, the nervous ticking of her eye and knew that Sakura was telling the truth. Karui unfolded her arms and took a step forward. Sakura perked up at the sudden change in demeanor, curious at what this could mean.
"I can tell you're being sincere. I dated you long enough to know all of your little quirks," she humored.
Sakura felt the corners of her lips quirk up in the form of a smile. The redhead coughed to take focus off of the blush pooling on her cheeks.
"I don't completely forgive you. Only time will tell if you're really telling the truth…but I do want us to get back to the team we used to be. I'm sure Jinora is running herself ragged trying to get us to talk amicably with each other again."
The tension between them broke as Sakura's laughter filled the air. It was so contagious that Karui found herself unable to hold in her giggles soon after. They stood across from each other, holding their bellies as they doubled over with laughter, unaware of those passing by and staring at them in confusion.
Sakura righted herself and held her hand out for Karui. The redhead took it, slowly and with scrutiny, and with that they both felt that it was a small start to something new.
….
Killer Bee sat in a damp, dark underground cellar surrounded by rats gnawing away at whatever they could find. The smell of shit was potent. It made him dizzy and unable to function mostly, but it was the hunger that really did him in.
He was lucky if the guards provided him with meals. He was even luckier if they didn't throw it in so that the rats wouldn't huddle around the slop and steal it from him. He hadn't become so feeble minded that he'd fight rodents for a scrap of food, but he was approaching his limit.
Killer Bee had no concept of time. He hadn't seen the sun in ages. There were no windows, only steel walls with steel bars encaging him from the outside world.
He should be used to this treatment. Before he'd really become close with the raikage, everyone around him had treated him like a pariah. They'd do vile shit because they knew that he was unprotected and vulnerable. But that all changed with Raikage A. And for a while under his leadership, Bee had become disillusioned.
Being back in this cage had resurfaced all those memories of a time before A had come along. The villagers would throw things at him, call him names, and the lewdest of all would try to coerce him into devilish acts. He'd kept a good head about it through all of it. What point was there in getting upset when nothing would be done?
But A had changed that. He'd changed so much in his time as leader. But he couldn't change everybody. No matter how valuable to Kumo Bee was, he'd never be seen as an entire person with feelings or needs, only a fleshy vessel with which people could use to their disposal.
In his time underneath the village, he'd re-experienced the sneers, jeering, and overall cruelness that humanity was capable of. He found that it was not something he could grin and bear this time around.
He could sense the guard coming along now. Probably perched to provoke him to an animalistic rage. Bee smirked to himself. They'd get exactly what they wanted. The door opened to a shadowy figure. Bee was consumed by the chakra of his bijuu as he listened with a deranged smile on his face to the screams of the cruel guard.