Home

Silently closing the door behind her, Sakura turned to it, pressed her palm against the cool wood and forced her chakra through, activating the booby traps and seals set all around the apartment. You couldn't be careful enough, not even when you were a ninja in a peaceful and safe village like Konoha. Shit happens, and she really didn't want to be one of those people shit happened to, so she took precautions.

Soundlessly, taking off her boots, she glanced towards the end of the hall where two doors could just be made out in the darkness. No light coming from beneath either door. Letting her eyes adjust to the darkness, she leaned her pack against the wall by the door, took off her pouches and belt, dropped those on the top of the dresser she kept in the hall for various reasons, mainly though to always have her weapons and scrolls close at hand, either coming or going from the apartment. Again, shit happens.

She padded silently through the hall and opened the door to the left, walked in and closed it behind her. She could make out the shapes of her living room/dining room/kitchen in the weak light from the streetlights and moon coming in through the half-closed blinds. It was tidy. Way tidier than it had been when she'd left two weeks ago.

Itachi. The man was as tidy as she was not. She needed to keep her head organized all the time, couldn't allow even a thought out of place or it could cost an innocent patient their life. To avoid the tight leash, she had on her own thoughts driving her absolutely insane, she let chaos seep into almost every other aspect of her life. Her apartment often looked like a bomb had gone off inside. Her office looked like a paper factory exploded there. In her office it was organized chaos, she knew where everything was despite the mess, in her apartment, not so much. Before Itachi she used to lose everything. Now all she had to do was ask if he'd seen something and he'd find it.

He was her polar opposite. Said that the mess in his own head was driving him insane so he kept his surrounding absolutely tidy, needing at least something to be in place.

How they managed to live with each was a mystery. But they made it work. Mostly because they still didn't live together. He still had his tiny little hole in the wall that she still refused to step foot into, and he only rarely slept at, but when started overwhelming or annoying each other, he'd spend a night or two there. Though that hadn't happened in more than a year, now. Why he still paid for that ridiculous closet with attached toilet was anyone's guess, not that it cost all that much. In comparison, the rent she dished out every month would absolutely cripple a lesser ninja. She liked space, she liked nice space, he said it didn't matter it just had to be quiet. And tidy. Men.

Not turning on any lights, she walked to the fridge and opened it to take a out a bottled water. Twisting the cap off, she took a couple of swigs of the cool liquid and snickered at the thought of what Itachi would say about her drinking it straight from the fridge. He was adamant that drinking cold things was bad, more like dangerous to her health, he never drank anything that wasn't at least room temperature. To his credit, cold beverages weren't healthy, but she wasn't about to admit he was right, or stop drinking them for that matter.

Taking the bottle with her, she padded out the door and crossed thee narrow hall to the other door. Opening it quietly she stepped inside and smiled. Here, the blinds were fully up, he never lowered them at night, and he was asleep on his stomach in the middle of the bed, the sheets around his waist, his back deliciously bare.

She walked to her side of the bed, put the bottle on the nightstand and took off her clothes, letting them drop on the floor, not bothering to pick them up to drop them in the laundry basket by the closet door not five steps from the bed. He'd do it in the morning anyway. She walked in only her panties to the dresser, opened the lowest drawer and took out one of his high-necked shirts. This one was old, washed so often the black had become a soft grey, and it was softer than anything she owned. She adored it. He hated it, said it was unsightly and attempted to toss it out several times. The last time he'd tried she'd threatened she'd toss him out if he touched that shirt again. It was an empty threat, but he didn't need to know that.

She pulled the shirt over her head, let it fall to the tops of her thighs and walked to the windows, pulling the blinds down, closing the room in total darkness. She got to the bed without incident, she'd lived in that apartment for so long she could walk through it blindfolded and never bump into anything, tidy or looking like a bomb had gone off.

She slipped between the cover and pressed herself against his back. She pressed a quick kiss to his shoulder blade and settled, arm wrapping around his waist. He stirred, but didn't wake, simply pressed closer to her heat at his back. She lay there for a few minutes listening to his steady breaths before sleep lulled her under, too. It was good to be home.


AN: Another oldie from 2017. I think I still got some stuff from 2013 somewhere, but I'm not gonna post that, lol. When I read stuff I wrote even three years ago and compare it to now, I'm honestly surprised at how different some of it is. But good to know that I've gotten at least a little bit better at writing through the years. Tell me what you guys think.

Oh, and The Realities of Life is gonna be updated by the end of the week and I'll try to have the next chapter for Through the Ages out first week of December.