Story: Melancholia, Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Note: This chapter may seem SasuSakuish in some ways, but that wasn't the purpose behind it at all. This is meant as friendship more than anything. And considering this is going to be eventual NaruSaku, I don't want to do too much baiting for other pairings(even mutually canon ones). Even NaruSaku is gonna be slow build and the story is gonna be putting the most focus on Team 7 in general and those closest to them, like Tsunade, Shikamaru, Ino, Jiraiya, and the like. Also thinking of bringing in Gaara later too. :D
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The Keeper of Worlds on Chapter 1:
"...This will get messy before they get better."
- Yep, but things will work out for the best eventually! :D
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- I've been having fun writing it, so I hope y'all will all stick with me through this! :D
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- Makes me so happy, I hope you will continue to enjoy this! :D
Sasuke was the first one to arrive at the bridge. It was still pretty early though, so nothing surprising there. Hands in his pocket, he took a moment to look down at his reflection in the water beneath him. Immediately after, however, he scoffed, turning away. It seemed everything served as an unwelcome reminder of Itachi to him anymore, especially his own resemblance of his Older Brother.
He sat down, leaning against the railing of the bridge. Looking up, he took a long moment to take in the vibrant array of orange, red, and purple in the sky. And for just a little while, the aesthetic pleasing sight actually seemed to calm his nerves. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before his thoughts once again began to go rampant, ruining his mood entirely.
"You still don't have enough hatred…"
Itachi's haunting voice echoed in his head for the thousandth time that week, giving him a sickening reminder of his lack of progress. Over the course of the past few weeks, he'd been training non-stop, but he knew it wasn't enough, it would never be enough.
Revenge was what he had devoted his very life to at this point, it was supposed to be his only purpose, so why wasn't he strong enough yet? What had he been doing all this time? What was it all for? Had he-
"Good morning, Sasuke-kun." His teammate's voice interrupted his thoughts, drawing him out of his trance. He looked up, jumping a bit, startled by their close-proximity. He tried to ignore the heat in his face at the awkwardness when he saw her smile, turning away.
"Morning." He muttered.
"Took you long enough." Sakura said, lightly scolding him. Sasuke had been so distant lately. She was honestly surprised to even get that much of out of him. "I called out to you a moment ago, but you didn't even hear me."
He then glanced back up to notice a bruise on her cheek as she stood back. The placing of it was kind of peculiar. Had somebody hit her? Something welled up inside of him, making it impossible to just ignore. Without a second thought, he casually asked, "What happened to you…?"
It took a moment for Sakura to realize he was referring to her cheek, because he rarely ever voiced concerns for his teammates, but she was quick to dismiss it. Such a thing shouldn't have to be of concern to Sasuke or any of the others. They already had plenty of other things to worry about themselves anyway. "Oh this? It's nothing, really. I just had an accident earlier is all."
Sakura cursed herself. That act probably wouldn't have even fooled Naruto.
Naturally, Sasuke seemed even more suspicious at this point, but, much to her gratitude, he decided to drop the subject.
"Anyway…, you seemed like you were pretty deep in thought about something. Is there…" Sakura, who had sat down next to him and noticed his wounded fist, trailed off into a momentary silence, trying to think of the best way to broach the subject. She wanted more than anything for Sasuke to open up to her or at least somebody for once. He always kept people at a distance, and lately he'd seemed even distancing than ever. "…something bothering you…? If there is, you know you can talk to me, right?"
Sasuke almost seemed surprised for a moment, but looked away. He had no reason to get her involved with his problems. "…It's nothing to concern yourself with… Just focus on yourself, Sakura…"
His tone almost sounded cold, but it was not completely decipherable, so Sakura couldn't tell if Sasuke was just saying that as a means to get her off his back or if he genuinely was saying that because he wanted her to focus on her own problems instead of stressing herself out more. Maybe it was both.
"Mn…" She looked down at her folded arms. Why was Sasuke always so stubborn…? Why did he never let others in about anything? Naruto wasn't any better either. Both of them were always pushing themselves to their limit, and keeping her at a distance. She wanted to be there for them and help them through their problems, but they always told her to not worry and pushed her away. Even Kakashi… He hadn't wanted to get her involved with the matter about the mark on Sasuke's neck despite her concern.
She gave a small sigh but decided to push the matter aside for the time being.
"Naruto should be arriving soon… I bet Kakashi-sensei will probably be late as ever, though..." Sakura assumed, absentmindedly.
…
"There may be some people in this village who respects you now, but I'll never dream of acknowledging you. Once a demon, always a demon."
Naruto had tried so hard to simply forget the drunken man's statement, but receiving further glares and whispers since then had only reinforced what he had said, and his spiteful words kept echoing in his head. He had slowed his pace at this point, holding a hand up to his stomach, looking everywhere but at the crowd around him, and their judgmental eyes. He suddenly felt nauseated.
Considering how open people were being about their feelings towards him right now… What would happen if Sakura and Sasuke found out that he had the Nine Tailed Fox inside of him? Would they hate him? Most people would…
And he was sure they already had an inkling that there was something different about him, considering how he had released the Nine Tail's chakra in the Forest of Death, during the Chuunin exams in his fight with Neji, and especially during his fight with Gaara. Even if Sakura didn't suspect anything at this point, Sasuke definitely did.
There was already enough tension between them at the moment, Sasuke finding out that he had a literal demon inside of him would probably only make him hate him even more. Despite how much they fought and butted heads, Naruto thought of him as not only his rival, but also his friend, and being hated by him… That was the last thing he ever wanted. In fact, it was the opposite. More than anything, He wanted his acknowledgement, to be respected by him, not shunned by him.
And Sakura too… He valued her opinions of him so much it hurt sometimes. She did occasionally scold him for various things… Often, he didn't know what she thought of him, and, in the beginning, she clearly used to not like him that much at all, but they had become much closer over the past year, so the thought of her genuinely hating him or being disgusted by him… it terrified him to his very core.
For that matter, he clung to the opinions of both of his teammates(even Kakashi), more than he would have ever liked to admit.
He sighed. No use overthinking it, he supposed. It looked like he'd just have to deal with it when or if it came to that. There was no use worrying over it now, or at least that's what he tried to tell himself in a poor attempt to soothe his anxieties.
He looked up to see his teammates sitting on the bridge, and ran over, with a large, partially fake, smile. "Morning, Sakura-chan!"
"Morning." Sakura responded, looking up, and right after, Naruto took note of the bruise on his face and grew defensive, jumping to conclusions.
"What happened to your face? Don't tell me… Sasuke-teme, what did you do to her!?" He was immediately ready to start a fight.
Sasuke immediately glared at him over the accusation, and Sakura jumped up to diffuse the situation. Normally, Naruto probably wouldn't have blindly blamed Sasuke, but it could be said that the tension between them as of late was almost solely enough for him to base his suspicions off of, and Sasuke's injured fist didn't help reduce his concern in the slightest.
"Hold on, Naruto!" Sakura stepped in between them, keeping Naruto back from attacking Sasuke before he got too close. "He isn't the one who did it! He had nothing to do with it. So, please, calm down…!"
"But Sakura-chan…" Naruto stopped resisting after a minute. He desperately wanted to do something about her injury, but decided to trust Sakura. If she said Sasuke wasn't the one who did it, then he had to believe her.
Sasuke gave her a suspicious look. "Earlier, she claimed it was an accident, but just now… She almost seemed to imply somebody was behind it…"
Despite his questions, he decided to not probe the subject, instead turning his attention to Naruto.
"Hn. It'd serve you well to think things through instead of jumping to conclusions next time. Dobe." Sasuke muttered, emphasizing the last part to express his irritation.
"What was that?" Naruto demanded, giving into the provocation.
"Both of you-" Sakura started to say, but was cut off by Sasuke.
"Hard of hearing? Do I have spell it out for you? You were always pretty slow in the Academy." he glared.
"Okay, that does it, I-" Naruto started to advance towards Sasuke, who had stood up, fully ready to take their dispute to the next level.
"Stop arguing already!" Sakura shouted this time, cutting Naruto off, and startling both of them. She bit her lip before continuing. "We're supposed to be a team, aren't we?! We're friends…!"
A family, she wanted to say, but held back. "What good has fighting each other ever done for us?!"
They all had their own family issues, and she was all too used to arguments like she had with her blood-related family, but there was no reason Team 7 should have to go downhill as well.
Naruto and Sasuke both grew silent after that. Deep down, they knew she was right.
"Neither you nor I can be called lucky... That's for sure. But we're not the most unfortunate either. You and I both have found precious friends, haven't we?"
Kakashi's words to Sasuke from weeks prior echoed in his head, reaffirming the point Sakura had just made. Since Sasuke's family had been massacred, Team 7 had become the closest and most important bond he'd had in years, and he never wanted to risk losing that again.
And to Naruto, who hadn't had a family or any friends growing up… Aside from being acknowledged by Iruka, becoming a part of Team 7 was probably the best thing that had ever happened to him.
Team 7… It wasn't something any of them wanted to lose.
Naruto smiled after a bit. "…Yeah! You're right, Sakura-chan…! We have to stick together no matter what!"
"Right." Sakura smiled a bit herself.
Sasuke 'tch'ed, but it was hard to tell if he was being sarcastic or not. Sakura wanted to believe that Sasuke got the message. Yet it was still hard to tell, and this likely wouldn't be the end of this matter.
For a long time, nobody said anything. The sun had rose, and it was long past the time Kakashi was supposed to have arrived.
"He's late…" Naruto growled.
"What else is new…?" Sakura muttered sarcastically.
"Where the hell is he already…? I'm tired of waiting!" Naruto started going into a tangent. He had to distract himself and hearing his own voice was honestly better than sitting and doing nothing. It was especially better than being left alone with the thoughts in his head that made him want to rip his arms to shreds.
"It's not like complaining is going to make him appear any faster, so keep it down, you idiot…!" Sakura sighed, making it clear she too was on the verge of losing her own patience. Besides, they could probably get in trouble if he continued making so much racket.
"But Sakura-chan….! I-"
In that moment, Kakashi appeared in a cloud of smoke, holding up a hand and eye-smiling."Yo."
"You're late!" Both Naruto and Sakura shouted in unison, accusingly pointing a finger at him, all politeness gone from both parties. Sasuke was clearly irritated as well, but opted to stay silent.
"Sorry about that…" Kakashi caved a bit, pretending to not notice the bruise on Sakura's cheek, or the wounds on Sasuke's knuckles. "You see, there was an old lady who-"
"Just can it with the lies already!" Sakura shouted, in irritation.
"Yeah, just hurry up and give us our mission already!" Naruto stomped a bit, his fists pumped.
Kakashi barely held back the urge to chuckle. Despite everything, this was still his team…
"Patience, Naruto. The mission details will be relayed to you through Lady Fifth. I came to let you three know to meet be at her office in fifteen minutes. Don't be late."
With that, Kakashi poofed away.
"'Don't be late'." Naruto mocked, folding his arms and pouting. "Says the person who made us wait two hours past the arrival time... He should have just told us that before…"
Sasuke chose not to voice his agitation. "Let's just go…"
"I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind when I see him later. That'll show-" Naruto started to say but was interrupted when Sakura grabbed his arm, pulling him along.
"Quit fussing and come on..." She scolded, a bit surprised when she heard him hiss as if she'd hurt him. She certainly hadn't grabbed him that hard, had she?
"What's wrong now? Don't tell me that hurt." Sakura scoffed and rose an eyebrow, giving him a suspicious look, alongside Sasuke.
Naruto felt a wave of nausea rise in his stomach. No matter what, nobody could find out about his habit, especially not Sakura or Sasuke. Normally, he'd be all for physical contact with Sakura, but there was just too much of a risk involved at this time.
"N-no, it's nothing like that, Sakura-chan." he lied sheepishly. "You just surprised me is all."
Sakura didn't know if she entirely believed that but decided to ignore her whim, changing the subject.
"If it's nothing, then hurry it up already. We don't have all day." Sakura rushed him, tightening her grip around his arm above his sleeve, ever so slightly pulling him along with her.
"I know, I know… You don't have to be so rough, Sakura-chan…" Naruto playfully wined, causing Sakura to let out a sigh. Sasuke too, had long since push his brief suspicion to the side.
A sense of nostalgia hit them all in that moment. This… It somehow felt right. This is how it was supposed to be.
And something deep inside of them, hoped that maybe, just maybe, everything would work out for the best.
Or… Things could get much much worse.
…
A/N: This took me forever, and I'm super worried that this was out of character or something. It's been at least five years or so since I wrote anything for Naruto, and I only just got back into the fandom, finally finished Shippuden. I haven't seen part one of the anime in a long time, but I went and recently read the first part of the manga before the time skip and I thought it was really good. Plus, Sakura's actually not that bad at all in the manga, or at least there isn't nearly as much slapstick in the manga as there is in the anime, and you can tell she genuinely cares for her teammates. Not that the anime is bad, but there were quite a few added scenes that, in my opinion, actually put Sakura in more of a negative light than the manga did. Like the anime scene after she thinks she should be nicer to Naruto, where she got mad at Naruto for running off… That scene wasn't in the manga(and honestly I'm glad because that was where she was meant to start developing into a kinder person who isn't just about Sasuke.) But please don't misunderstand. The Naruto anime was my childhood, it's the first anime I ever watched and I saw it at like seven years old, so it will always hold a very special place in my heart. One of my purposes of this story is just to explore in further depth the human parts of their characterizations that was touched on in both the manga and the anime, as well as extra stuff that I haven't properly been able to go into before with previous Naruto stories. I've gotten much better at writing(at least I think so), and I hope that people will genuinely support me on this to the end. J
