"We must try not to sink beneath our anguish, Harry, but battle on." Albus Dumbledore
His mother's trunk turned out to not be nearly as important as some other things in Sasuke's life. Like the spectacular blowup that occurred that night at the Nara house. He was, at that point, very glad he had made the last minute decision to not bring that over. The last thing he wanted was to bring more emotional upheaval anywhere near Shikako without being able to help her sort her own out first.
Ok, that was only most of it, while Sasuke's worry about Shikako dominated his mind for the rest of that night and the next morning, he would grudgingly admit to putting off opening his mom's things. He had the itching feeling that when he opened it he would end up finding things that would reduce him to gross, snotty, sobbing. He was not looking forward to it.
Then Shikako threw him another loop. Of course she did.
"Special Jounin." He said again dumbly over dinner at his apartment. "How do things like this always happen to Team 7."
"Honestly, that was just a bonus." She pointed out, poking at her rice, chicken and stir-fried green tomatoes. "I'm just glad I was able to escape the clutches of R&D once and for all."
"Naruto is going to flip when he comes back and finds out that 'Shikako-neechan' became a Special Jounin while he was gone." Sasuke sighed, shaking his head.
Shikako grinned and reached out to pat his cheek. "Don't sell yourself short, we've got three years. You'll make full Jounin as well." She took a bite of the rice and tomatoes. "Also, 'nee-chan'? I'm honored."
"
Not mine, Naruto's." Sasuke pointed at her with his chopsticks. Whatever warm and jumpy feelings he was starting to experience in his stomach whenever she laughed at something he said or whenever she hugged him, they were not of the sibling kind(he still hadn't really got over her leaning against him after her fight with Gaara) . Not that he knew exactly what they were, nor was he particularly eager to figure them out just yet, he had an idea they'd throw him for another emotional loop. He was still kind of dizzy from the last one he'd been thrown. "You'll have to settle for being the best friend I could ever possibly have from me."
"Same response."
"Thank you."
Shikako pointed back at the soft body armor vests with the blue-shuriken-and-Uchiha-crest on the back. "Find anything else interesting when you found those?"
Well damn it, so much for not opening that up yet. Sasuke nodded, "Yeah, I found a trunk that belonged to my mom."
Shikako's eyes shot up to meet his. "You okay?"
"I'm fine, I haven't opened it yet." Sasuke answered, placing a piece of tomato in his mouth.
"Do you want me there when you do?" She offered.
"Well, you'll have to be. It's locked with a seal that's beyond me, and you're the only one who can get it open that I don't mind touching it." Sasuke answered blandly, "Besides, it's not a priority at the moment." He got up and placed his empty dishes in the sink.
Shikako was taken aback. "What is that supposed to mean? It's your mom's stuff. Why isn't it a priority?"
Well, this could go horribly, as it had last night, mostly Shikamaru's fault in his humble opinion, or it could go relatively well. Probably all a matter of not being a career-murdering jackass, or at least not acting like one. "Because you are occupying that position." Sasuke answered, walking around to the opposite side of the small table and sitting beside her. "This thing with… him targeting Naruto, and Orochimaru is really getting to you isn't it? Shikamaru doesn't get it, but it's only going to get worse before it gets better, way worse, and as much as he might want to you can't escape it by staying out of the way. You're one of the few our age who actually gets it and is preparing for it. There's no avoiding it, only choice we have is to get good enough to kill them before they get us. They're S-class, and we only have three years to get good enough before Naruto comes back and they come looking, and you think that no one seems to realize it but you and you're scared. You don't want to lose anyone."
Shikako was staring at him and rigid as a board.
"I'm not going to suggest that you stop. I'm on your side, I understand what you're doing and why. But you're my best friend,you're the best friend I'll ever have," Sasuke pleaded, voice choking up a little bit, and dammit he hadn't meant to get like this. "and I want you to be okay before any of my stuff gets taken care of, because that's what you've done for me, so If you ever want to talk about it-"
And then she was hugging him, and he was busy pushing that currently distracting jumpy feeling to the back of his mind again because he needed to make his best friend the priority.
"Thanks." Shikako murmured. "I needed to hear that. Shika doesn't get that."
"No problem." Sasuke replied, hugging her back. "That's what best friends do right?"
She squeezed a little tighter before letting go and standing up. She wiped her eyes and looked out the window. "I probably need to go home now." She announced, throwing her jacket and vest on. "But we are getting that box opened, soon. You help me, I help you." She poked him in the chest when he got up to follow her to the door.
Sasuke nodded, and opened the door. "Yeah, we'll deal with all this together, right?"
She agreed and they hugged again, and Sasuke watched her leave. Her back just a touch straighter than when she'd arrived, and as Sasuke closed the door and filled the sink with water and soap he couldn't help but think hopefully that maybe he improved things a little for her. He might still be coming to rip away everything he had and Orochimaru might still be looking to possess him, but maybe Shikako was being crushed under all the weight she felt because of it just a little bit less. And if there was one thing Sasuke understood it's that you deal with your fear and despair in small little increments, one day at a time, because if you face it all at once, all it does is send you right back into an endless black pit.
AN: So yeah, the big argument between 'Kako and Shikamaru finally broke, finally. That's been needed to be gotten over with for both their sakes and now it been done. That's good. Right time, and right place where Shikaku could pick up the pieces and Sasuke could learn that Shikako needs some help dealing with the weight of the nightmare that's going to be unleashed on them in three years. I hope I got their characters right. Thanks for reading and please review!
