November

It is late and the more she looks at the clock the more worried she gets. Her fingers thrum against the steering wheel to the static coming over her radio. She's definitely taken a wrong turn...or maybe several. When she first realized she'd taken a wrong turn she had tried to double back, and that had only gotten her more lost.

Now it is dark; she can barely see the road in front of her, due to her dull headlights, and every tree looks the same. She knows she probably isn't going to be able to find her way out until morning. She curses and swears like a drunkard stumbling over the ledge of a sidewalk, and then she tries her cellphone once more. Useless. She tosses the device into the back seat. There is no signal here in the middle of nowhere.

This is an awful way to spend her vacation. She blames it all on Sasuke. He'd talked her into throwing Naruto a coming home party on Friday and, of course, left her with the majority of the work. She is supposed to set up the lake house and have everything cooked by tomorrow when Sasuke drives up with Naruto. The lake house is owned by the Uchiha family and Sakura has been there more times than she can count, but... that had been when she was a child. It has been years since her last visit, and she had been stupid enough to believe that she could find her way back without printing out the instructions.

From her memory it had only been off the freeway, a couple of lefts until she came upon a dirt road then another left. She has been on the dirt road for quite some time now, several hours give or take thirty minutes, and still no left or sign of human life, not that she is really expecting any.

With a sigh, she is almost ready to submit to the fact that the food in the crisper is going to go bad; and that she is going to have to spend the night in the middle of the woods, where any good kidnapper would probably take her and bury her where she'd never be found. She instead tries turning around once more and heading back the way she came, hoping that she might see the lights of a main road or perhaps another light besides the full moon in general.

As she turns the bend she slams on the brakes. A dirt bike without any lights on is several feet from her bumper. She swears multiple curse words at the driver behind her rolled up windows and air tight doors.

The bike rider's hand is raised, shielding eyes from the headlights before getting off and walking to Sakura's car.

There is both the relief that she may be able to find her way out and the fear that this may be a very bad person. The fact that they were driving without lights on meant they probably didn't want anyone to know they were here. She is a young female, alone in the woods; she is like a duck, quacking to the hunters to go ahead and take the shot.

The person pulls off their helmet, and a new worry makes her sick to her stomach. Sasuke's uncle isn't on her list to meet in the midst of darkness, with no one around to hear her scream. With hesitation she rolls down her window enough to let him speak.

"I am glad I was able to find you," his voice is so gentle and quiet that she has to shut off her hissing radio, which had only been adding to her 'this-is-going-to-go-bad' feeling.

"I'm glad to be found," she laughs awkwardly and then adds, "I'm really lost."

"For quite some time, I assume."

She can barely make out his features, or his mood, but she can see that from his hesitation that he is debating something.

"My house is right up the road," he points to the way his bike has come from, "the lake house is about an hour away."

She blinks. Clearly there were two choices, his place or the lake house; that had been where his discomfort had laid. She gives a weak grin, "an hour out?" She is a lot more lost than she thought... a lot more lost. "Is it just me or is this place a labyrinth?"

She can hear him chuckle lightly. "Only to people who have no sense of direction. Do you wish to stay at my place or continue driving?" He rephrases his original options.

"I need to get some cooking done and decorations up by tonight, if you don't mind pointing me in the right direction-" Spending the night at a man's house she isn't familiar with and alone is more than just a bad idea; it's downright guaranteed to go wrong, especially taking into account that he had, only just last month, brought a gun to her house. Even if he had apologized and brought food for breakfast on multiple occasions, there was a line when trusting people became stupidity.

He leaves her window and for a moment she believes he is going to get back on his bike, but instead he goes around her car. After he tugs on her handles and realizes that her door is locked, he knocks on her passenger window.

Stupidity.

She reaches across the middle and pulls the lock up. He opens the door and sits beside her and fastens his buckle.

"Alright, you want to turn around here and head back the way you came."

She stares dumbly in front of her. "What about your bike?"

His quiet laughter fills her car, and she realizes then how much silence there would have been without her radio on.

"If they can get this far, they can have it," he answers her and she begins to turn back around, "I would lead you, but as you might have noticed my headlight is out. I normally don't drive at night so, I felt no need to get it fixed. Sasuke called me about ten minutes ago, wondering if I saw any activity from the cabin. He said you were supposed to call him when you arrived. I was going to notify the ranger of your absence and perhaps take a look at the place, make sure there were no sitters."

"You can see the lake house from here?"

He laughs again. "You've made your way all the way to the other side of the lake and then some. My house is positioned at the top of the mountain overlooking the entire lake and valley."

"The place with the cage-thing."

"It's a pin for my falcons."

"You have-"

"Stop!"

Sakura slams upon her brakes. She can't see his face, but she can guess that he is smirking.

"You missed the turnoff," he tells her and he points to the right, out of his window, to what looks to her like just a grove of trees. "Unless you want to spend three hours going around the other side of the lake."

She puts her car in reverse, and then into drive, slowly creeping into the space. It is a sharp turn, but as soon as it is over there is a paved road. And then she lets loose several swear words most unbecoming of any lady.

"I have been driving on dirt roads for several hours, and there was a real road right here?"

She can hear him give a slight huff as he tries to cover his laughter, but he doesn't succeed. He chuckles away much to her displeasure and embarrassment.

"It's rare for people to come down this road during the winter, in the summer you would have seen car lights," he says as though to comfort her. "Take a right."

She does as she is told.

"I have several falcons," he continues from their previous conversation, "The large pin holds smaller pins where I house three Peregrine falcons."

"What do you do with them?"

"I would think that is rather obvious. I enjoy falconry...that is using birds to hunt."

"I know what falconry is," she hisses at his arrogant tone.

He laughs at her again and begins making small talk as they go down a pitch dark road. She is surprised that he is able to keep conversation the whole way to the lake house, his nephew would have long ago become silent. In fact, due to the distraction of driving, he had lead over the conversation.

The dark house is eventually before her, its shutters closed. She parks near the porch, opens her trunk, heaves a heavy crisper and makes her way up to the door, which is opened. She glances around, noting that her passenger has already gone inside, although he hadn't bothered to turn on a light.

She walks in and tries to flick the switch with her elbow. No light. She sets down the case with a sigh and as soon as she unbends the lights are on. She gives a squeak in surprise, realizing Madara is only several feet away, a circuit box open.

He shuts the small hanging door and gives a shrug. "The entrance circuit was blown."

"Thanks," she gives a smile, she would have been grappling around the dark for a very long time, trying to get something like that to work.

"Hm." he acknowledges and then walks back out the front door.

She hustles her stuff to the kitchen and turns to begin another trip when she notices that Madara is in the doorway, carrying the rest of her things.

"What do you need me to do?" he asks, and she isn't going to deny his help because she is in a time crunch.

"Plug in the fridge and begin putting in the food, if you don't mind," she adds, wondering if maybe he just offered because it was a common courtesy. "I'm going to start cleaning the kitchen."

He gives a nod and begins working on his tasks and she goes about her own. They finish about the same time and she begins cooking. He leans against the wall watching, keeping her company with conversation. It is like their breakfast talk, full of pleasantries and about their lives.

"So who is this party for?"

"Naruto," Sakura tells him, "He's coming back from his tour and we wanted to throw him a good get together and all."

"How many are coming?" he looks at the amount of food in the fridge and a bit cautiously at her.

"Some of his close friends. Sasuke, his girlfriend, Lee, Kiba, Gaara, some friends from the army, and myself. But the majority of the food is for Naruto, he eats a lot. He knows about the party, but we are helping him surprise his wife, Hinata. She thinks he has several more weeks of duty and that we are celebrating Sasuke's job promotion."

"Job promotion?"

Sakura smirks, "He hasn't gotten one."

"Hm. What about your boyfriend?"

"Huh?" She stops cutting vegetables and turns to look at him.

"Why isn't he coming?" The man's expression is serious and very calm.

She can't help it and she bowls over in laughter. "I'm not in a relationship."

"That's surprising..." his voice trails off and he looks to the side.

She cocks a hip, "What do you mean surprising?"

"You seem like a woman who has plans. I would think you'd have a boyfriend that you'd be ready to settle down with."

She gives a twisted smile and turns back to her cutting board. "Ah, that. Maybe once upon a time..." she doesn't elaborate though and begins chopping once more.

"What made you change your mind?"

She bites her lip, thinking of how to answer. She looks down at the board, wondering whether it is better to answer specifically or more generally. She remembers who she was with then, this man was practically a stranger and meeting with him several times did not make him a close friend. In fact, what happened between her and Sai wasn't a conversation she'd even had with Ino. It's a personal matter and she'd given clues that she hadn't wanted to continue the conversation. This man isn't blind nor does he really care, he wants an answer for his own curiosity.

"I've learned you don't plan on other people..." ever. She sighs, and focuses again on making her chops even.

His clothes rustle at his shifting and then his footsteps grow close. She turns and looks up, straight into his black eyes. He is close, his breath light upon her skin. She holds his gaze.

He gives a sad smile, "This world makes us very callous, doesn't it?"

He takes a step back away then, realizing his close proximity. He doesn't return to the wall though, instead he leans against the countertop to watch her work. There is silence between them, an uncomfortable silence.

She turns back to her work, but she can see in her peripheral vision that he is staring at her with intensity, as if judging her. She wants to say something, but can't think of anything to say. Eventually after a minute, he is the one that speaks.

"You're too naive."

She blinks at him, worried that he would whip out a knife and cut her into pieces. But he makes no move. His black eyes continue judging her though.

"Excuse me?"

He starts, using a reprimanding tone. "People use you all the time don't they? Your way of trusting people and helping them is pathetically naive. What kind of person allows someone like me into their car in the middle of the woods at night?"

She rolls her eyes, and turns back to her work. "It's not naivety," she grumbles. "Just stupidity."

He clicks his tongue, "You didn't answer my question. And stupidity is a pathetic excuse from someone who received their master's degree."

She cuts the celery with more force than necessary, "I told you, I don't leave my clients due to their actions."

"Don't think that just because the gun wasn't loaded-"

She cuts him off, angry, "Whether the gun was loaded or unloaded; it doesn't matter. You asked for my help." She says it with determination, as if that alone is enough reason. They both stare, unmoving on their position.

He finally laughs, breaking the tension in the room. "You make me feel like a worse person than I think I am."

She tries to question him, but he has already turned his back and walked out of the kitchen.

"I'm going to check out the rest of the house," he tells her.

She wants to press him further, but instead she turns back to her duties. She has too much to do and little time to do it.

When he returns, she is working on the stovetop. He diverts from their earlier conversation, as much as Sakura wants to continue discussing it. She'd been wanting to know why the gun was empty, why he'd said the things he'd said. But she holds her tongue. Everything comes out eventually, sometimes like an avalanche and sometimes like a trickling stream. There would be a moment where she'd get her answers.

So, she lets him talk about comfortable subjects. He is animated about his birds, and she can hear that he holds them in high esteem. By the time he is done discussing a rabbit hunt, she truly wants to see one of the creatures in flight. When she mentions it, he offers for her to come up to his cabin.

He is back to being demure, and pacifistic. He doesn't condemn her or challenge her for the rest of the night. He continues to help with small tasks, chopping onions or stirring a rue, at her asking. And once the cooking is done, he helps her decorate.

When all the tasks are done, the light of morning fills the land.

"Would you like for me to take you home?" She asks.

"No," he replies, "I'll have Sasuke do it. Serves him right for him having you do all this work." Before Sakura can interject, he continues with an Uchiha famous smirk, "Also, I'd be fearful of you getting lost again."

The real reason. Sakura narrowed her eyes and snorted, "I'm not going to get lost again."

The man makes an uncommitted hum as he grabs two beers from the fridge and extends one to her. She gives a sigh, but takes it, glad to take some time to relax before people arrive. They both settle on the couch, keeping light conversation.

They tell old stories of their own days at the lakehouse. Being a generation apart, it was odd that they had close to the same childhood memories here. They both had kayaked to the ominous cave on the other side of the lake, marking their names on the rock walls at how far inside they'd gone in. Sakura was surprised to know that Mikoto claimed to have made it all the way to the back (a two hour journey), although neither of her little brothers (Madara and Izuna) had ever verified. The fort Sakura had played in had been built by the three siblings. The strange wooden signposts, them as well.

She prefers his stories over her own. The child Mikoto reminds her of Itachi, and there was a hint of idolization in Madara's tone when he spoke of her that was all too similar of how Sasuke spoke of Itachi. When she comments on it, he laughs doubling over while denying it.

"She's a good person," He says when he stops and his face becomes rather serious. "I wish I was more like her." He raises his drink as if to toast to it, but Sakura does not raise hers.

Instead she comments quietly, "We always want to be someone else that we never get to be ourselves." How many of her clients all wanted to be like the other kids, to be skinny, to be popular, to feel more human? Even when she was younger, she'd struggled with who she'd wanted to be.

His lips twisted up slightly and he tips his head in acknowledgement of her statement. "Then, to being ourselves?" he extends his drink once again.

"To being ourselves."

By the time Sasuke arrives with Naruto, the two of them have switched to the outdoor patio. They point out places and the tales that come along with them. Naruto hitting his head on the small deck, forcing the Uchiha family to drive to the hospital to get him stitches. Sasuke, falling into a hole and spraining his ankle. The two of them picking her up and tossing her in the lake, where they learned she couldn't swim.

"I almost drowned too," Madara confesses. "Although it wasn't because I couldn't swim. Izuna and I were competing on how far we could swim, doing laps across the length of the lake. I wouldn't give up. Even though Izuna was on the swim team, I wouldn't let him beat me. I pushed myself past my limit and just went under. Luckily, he came back for me, and was able to flag down one of our uncles on shore."

The story surprises her. Madara does not strike her as a competitive person. He seems demure and non confrontational. She sums it up to sibling rivalry...but there is a determined look in his eyes, as he reflects on the incident.

His gaze flickers off to the side as Sasuke pulls up.

Sasuke immediately jumps out of the car to tell them both off. He hadn't received a call from either of them and had been extremely worried. Although, Sakura notes, he hadn't bothered to call the ranger's station.

Madara just shrugs him off, and says something about the phones being down and no reception.

Sakura hadn't even bothered to check, but it shuts Sasuke up.

"Thanks for the conversation," Madara says to Sakura.

She laughs, "The pleasure was mine. Thanks for helping me find the way to the cabin, and for helping out."

Madara walks to the passenger side, and pulls out the half asleep passenger. "You're taking me home," he tells Sasuke. And Sasuke, being respectful of his uncle, complies.

The blonde haired passenger blinks before becoming fully energized. He leaps upon Sakura and holds her in a tight hug. "Goodness, I've missed you!"

She laughs and hugs him back. "I've missed you too!"

They are quick to catch up and she is happy to find that while Naruto had changed slightly with the tour, becoming more responsible, he hadn't stopped being the kid she'd grown up with. She is happy he is home safe.

When they make their way inside, Naruto begging for some food to hold him over before the party, she stops by the phone. Curiously she picks it up, wondering if what Madara said was true. She puts the phone to her ear and there is the normal hum. Perhaps Madara hadn't bothered to test it or he'd wanted Sasuke to be quiet. She puts the phone back and continues to the kitchen to make sure her blonde haired friend didn't eat everything.

Eventually most of the guests arrive, and then there is only one left. When Hinata enters, she looks a bit surprised at the amount of people. Being timid and having all eyes on her, she backs up. That is until her eyes rest upon the one person the crowd parts for.

A gasp of disbelief comes from her mouth and they both rush for each other. The party continues late into the night with the joyous reunion. But throughout the rest of the party, Sakura never sees the two further than two feet away from one another.

She catches herself wanting the happy relationship of the married couple before her. She almost scoffs aloud. She could preach all she wanted too, but she is just like Madara, like her clients, like the rest of humanity. Deep down she is a jealous person, craving happiness, attention, love. The envy she carries is quite monstrous. She turns her head away from the partiers, knowing that to continue thinking such thoughts would lead down a dark path. When she feels more in control, she turns back and joins the others.

By the time she gets home the next afternoon, she feels dead on her feet. She collapses on the couch, her head full of thoughts. We always want to be someone else that we never get to be ourselves. She'd claimed, so then who is she? She closes her eyes, thinking hard. A therapist, a friend, a daughter who is always willing to help.

At first she is content with that answer, but then another question comes to mind. Why is she so helpful?

To her dissatisfaction, it isn't for noble reasons. She wants to be wanted. She wants to be seen as someone who can provide, who can do it all. She rubs the bridge of her nose, slightly annoyed at her childishness. She is tired, that is all.

She turns on her television, giving up her thoughts for some random sitcom. But she doesn't laugh, and there is a sense of guilt that doesn't go away. The thought sticks. She's thought of herself as a good person now, but in reality she isn't. She hasn't changed at all; she's still selfish.

Last Edit: 7/28/22