Day to Day

A Naruto Fan-fiction

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any bands mentioned, with the exception of Star Pirate Ship.

(I took votes, and here are the poles: two for Neji and Tenten, two for Hinata and Naruto, one for Ino and Shikamaru, and TA-DA four for Sakura and Sasuke! So, guess what? Yea, another chapter on those guys. Enjoy!)

IMPORTANT: The italics mean a memory, but the second one is dream, but still a memory. You'll get it when you read it!

Chapter 11: Come Clean

Moonlight spilled over her face like a beam of stage light, and she closed her eyes, as if taking it all in. She sat with her legs to the side, her feet curving without shoes, one hand gently touching the ground, and the other pushing her hair behind her ear. It was like looking at a gorgeous angel, taking in the skies with gentle look, lashes curling around her eyes and a small smile gracing her lips.

He had just pushed the tent door to the side, and peered into the darkness, and there she was. His eyes widened a bit and he stopped cold, watching her silently.

Soon she looked down, dropped her hand, and lifted her kunai and rag. One hand held the kunai, and the other moved the rag around it, cleaning it of the fresh blood that was one splattered on it. Next to her laid a pile of them on top of a ragged bag, and he knew she was just cleaning her weapons before the next day's events. Without another word, he slipped back into the tent and laid back down on the sleeping bag. He closed his eyes and sighed. What as that? Was it just a coincidence?

Rubbing his eyes, he turned to the side, and heard Naruto smack his spit in his sleep and flop his hand onto the Uchiha's head. With a growl, he threw off the fox boy's arm and rolled over to the other side. Some how, that simple act of annoyance brought him back to Earth, with his thoughts off of the girl who sat outside on the dirt ground, cleaning kunai now gone.

The snow had let up, and a warm front was coming in with fierce winds in preparation for a storm. Although the snow still lay all around, it hadn't fallen in days. Uchiha Sasuke looked up at the cloudy skies, his eyes scrunched against the wind and his hair whipping around his face. Without a sound, he hefted the abandoned snow shovel that Misunagi had left outside. It had been Misunagi's turn to shovel the apartment's sidewalk last week, and, naturally, the man had left the shovel outside. He had always had a very short-attention span.

Sasuke sighed as he trudged back into the apartment and shoved the snow shovel into the closet packed with jackets, vests, masks, hats and cleaning utensils. The slam sound of the door echoed in the hall a moment, and Sasuke ran his fingers through his hair, glaring at everything around him. He kicked off his snowy boots and trudged into his bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

He flicked on his stereo and then collapsed on his bed. Closing his eyes, he drifted off to sleep.

"Itachi! Itachi! Wake up, it's Christmas!"

As always, the older Uchiha was never in a happy mood. Even during the best day of the year, he hardly cracked a smile. His younger sibling, however, was beaming and jumping on his brother's bed.

Sasuke's face was lit up, bounding up and down on the mattress, laughing and smiling so wide, it filled his face. He was only five, and his older brother was ten.

Itachi rubbed his eyes and scowled. With a sudden movement, he grabbed his younger brother's ankle and jerked him down onto the bed. Sasuke shouted, but that was quickly replaced by a laugh and a smile. Itachi always picked on Sasuke, but it was in a gentle way. He had known that pulling Sasuke down wouldn't hurt him; they were on a mattress, after all.

"Come on! It's Christmas, Itachi-kun!" Sasuke shouted. Then he grabbed his older, stronger brother's hand and attempted to drag him toward the main room.

Itachi would have none of this. Instead, he smirked and watched his brother tug and pull until he comically dropped to the ground, his tongue lopping out of his mouth in defeat. Itachi cracked a small smile at the scene, and got out of bed. He stood over his brother and smiled, poking him with his foot.

"Look at you, laying down when it's Christmas!" he joked calmly, and then began to walk out of his bedroom. Sasuke quickly scrambled and slid to his feet, and began racing toward and then past Itachi.

"YAY! It's Christmas!" Sasuke shouted so the whole house could hear, and soon both of the parents were up. Sasuke's father walked into the room, rubbing his eyes and smiling lightly at his excited youngest heir. Soon followed the boy's mother, who walked up and leaned on her husband's shoulder.

"Look at them." She said as Itachi walked in. "Our boys."

Itachi and Sasuke seemed like hot and cold in the room together. Sasuke beamed and held a present in his hand. Itachi stood regally, staring blankly at his brother and the Christmas tree and presents behind him.

"Look Itachi-kun! This one's for you!" Sasuke jumped up and began to run up to his brother, but then, suddenly, he stopped. Awkwardly, he planted a firm frown on his face, stood straight and tall, and then handed his brother the present.

"Um, this is for you."

The boy's mother laughed. "Looks like your brother wants to be just like you, Itachi."

Sasuke made a face, and Itachi had a sudden glint in his eyes. Like his father, Itachi tended to be very reserved, but unlike his father, he hardly showed his emotions. The boy's father was smiling lightly, his fingers woven partly though his tangled black hair.

"Dad, can I open a present?" Sasuke asked, trying to keep down his excitement like his older brother.

The man nodded, and Sasuke began to race off, but then stopped, walking slowly like Itachi would. Itachi gave a small laugh, and kneeled down next to his brother, who had given in to a smile. He took a present, and began to open it while his parents looked on.

Sasuke jolted awake, and ran his fingers through his hair. He was so sick of that dream! He growled and sat up. Time to train. Ripping his jacket from the hook, he threw open his bedroom door and then walked down to the front door, throwing it open. Behind the door was Sakura, her hand poised to knock. She swallowed, and dropped her hand. A smile came upon her face, but Sasuke was unfazed. All he could think about was training.

"Merry Christmas." She said, "I was wondering if you wanted to go see a movie."

"No thanks. I'm going to go train."

"You went training yesterday."

"So?"

"So you always train every other day."

"Well, I'm doing three in a row."

He tried to push past him, but she just planted her hands firmly on either side of the doorway. She could tell by his eyes, his actions and poise, that something was wrong.

"What's going on?"

His eyes seemed unfocused and he usually quickly accepted plans to go somewhere with her when he was home and it wasn't a training day.

"Nothing."

"So why are you acting so weird?"

"Maybe I just want to go train?"

"Maybe you're hiding something from me."

Her voice rang out like a silver bell, and he froze. Should he say something? No, it's weak.

"I just want to train."

"And I want you to come be with me." She said firmly.

"Well, I can't be in two places, so just let me go-"

"Sasuke, tell me what's wrong."

He froze again, and then sighed. "You're going to torture me until I tell you, won't you?"

"Yes."

He glanced inside, and then looked back at her. "Let's go to your place."

Sasuke lay on the couch with Sakura on top of him. He twisted strands of her hair around his fingers, and looked around the apartment. It was bright, clean and warm as always. He loved to be in her apartment-it smelled like her, a clean, sweet, soft smell, and had touches of her everywhere you looked. It was calming for him, and nice. Her head lay on his chest, and her hand was on top of his, their fingers intertwining.

"So where are you going for Christmas?"

"No where."

"You don't spend it with the guys in your apartment?"

"They go home with their families."

He hadn't spilled. He just lay there under her silently, playing with her hair, watching, as the strands of pink would fall like a waterfall over his fingers. Sakura sighed, and began to stroke his free hand.

"Well, why don't you spend Christmas with me?"

Sasuke stopped, and her hair fell from his fingers.

"Aren't you going home to your family, like always?"

"They can stand a year without me. I'll go see them on New Year's." she looked up at him, and smiled. "Sasuke-kun, if all you wanted was not to be alone on Christmas, why didn't you say something?"

"That wasn't it."

"Oh really?"

She twisted around to her stomach was lying on him, and she put her arms around his neck. Smiling, she whispered, "I have a suddenly feeling that that's exactly what you want, Uchiha. But I also have a feeling that you just want to spend the night at me house again."

He smirked at her, his arms wrapping around her. "Maybe. But if I do, I need a little more influence than that."

"To spend the night at me house?"

"Yea."

She smiled and kissed him. "How's that for influence?"

"Hmmm…close." He replied, and kissed her again, but sweeter. She just rolled her eyes once their lips parted.

"It figures that you would have the divine kiss." She replied.

"What can I say?" he replied, and then asked, "So, you know, since tomorrow's Christmas Eve, I could just spend the night tonight and then just stay until Christmas is over…"

"Eventually until New Year's is here and I'll go home to visit my folks, right?"

"Well, since you want me to, sure."

"Uchiha Sasuke, you are so conniving."

"Until I die." He replied and kissed her again.

"Movie?"

"Sure."

Rain tapped the glass and then slid down it, wind jostled leaves, and dark clouds blurred the sky. It was cold, wet and dark, but inside her apartment, it was warm and lit by a single lamp on a table. She was already asleep, curled up under the blankets next to him, breathing steadily and softly, while he just held her close to him, leaning his forehead against hers. With every breath and movement, he made sure to not stir her, and he just watched her sleep until he felt his own eyes become heavy, and close. Then, he was just enveloped in the sound of her breathing, and he felt content with it. His own breathing began to fall in step with hers, and they fell asleep, curled up under warm blankets while rain fell outside.

Hey Ya'll!

I know, I haven't updated in forever-and do you know why? Because I have until January eighth to have two monologues ready and memorized, two cello pieces perfected, play lines to memorize (that has to be done by the first day of school), and at least seven to ten more pieces of artwork done. It's a lot to do! The reason for all of these projects is because I made my school play and I'm auditioning for Governor's School of Arts in the categories of visual arts (drawing, painting, ect.), instrumental music, and performing arts (acting, in my case). So don't expect updates very soon, or very long ones until all of that is over!

Also, I was wondering about this story. Will I ever stop? Who knows? Either way, I'm working on another story, starring Gaara and Sakura. I did A LOT of research for this, so I should be in step with the characters. There's a spoiler or two on Gaara's part, but since it takes place when they're older, I had to. I've already decided that I want to write the whole thing before putting it up on fan fiction, so look for it! It'll probably turn up some time in January or February.

I GOT 14 REVIEWS ON CHAPTER TEN!!!! OMG!!!!!

AND I HAVE 77 REVIEWS IN ALL!!!!!

Wow…this must be good or something!

Thanks to my reviewers:

NejiTentenLove4Ever (Thanks for the idea…um, I'm not sure if I'll use it, but we'll see! Thanks for reviewing!), taiki-kun (I'm glad you like my style of writing! I actually tried to conform it for each couple so they would have a different feel. It means so much to me that you like my stories!), Chibi Kitty6030 (I'm glad you like my story!), Bianca (I'm so happy that you like my story!), Little Minamino (I'm happy you like my story!), war prince (I love you, but you really should expand you vocabulary!), UNKIND (I'm glad you liked the Neji Tenten. There are lots out there, you know. Did you like my interpretation of the couple?), Smiling-Fox (I love you too! Here, have a hug! Lol…I'm glad you like my fluff. Sometimes I sit back and wonder how I can come up with such romantic stuff sometimes. And if I'm so romantic, how come I don't have a boyfriend? Lol, either way, thanks!), AkiaBinZaid (I love you to death, and if you want to warn me about something, do it! I'm blonde, I need it! But at the same time, I like to joke on people. I was just picking on you again, I promise! Thanks for explaining what glomp means. I was totally lost on that one.), nonengel (issues? Um, the beginning of chapter ten was about Tenten. I was warned that I was straying too far from their profession as ninjas, so I wanted to make this a bit more centered on the fact that they were ninjas. Did you still like it, though?), Little Hinata (Thanks! I'll see if I can get a Naruto and Hinata up later!), BitterSweet Destiny (I'm glad you like this!), sephynarutocloud (I'll see what I can do about a Naruto Hinata, as long as it gets a majority vote!), Fwoggie (Glad you like this fluff! As for Ino and Shikamaru, well, vote and try and get everyone else to vote!).

Anyway, I don't particularly like this chapter, but I didn't have as much time to revise it or anything, so here it is! Also, guys, when Sasuke wants to spend the night, they aren't doing "it". I explained that in what…the second Sakura and Sasuke chapter? So please, don't even try to believe that I write or even imply stuff like that. Let me know what you think and vote, please!

Some of you guys didn't understand what I mean about reject chapter. When I write, sometimes I don't like it, but I still keep it. I just rewrite the whole chapter until I like it and then post it. I still have all of my rejected chapters and bits and pieces, so I thought it might be fun to post them so you can see how much work I put into this. I think I have about fourteen pages of reject chapters! Let me know if you want to see them!

Thanks,

Review,

Merry Christmas,

IHearVoices