Bleeding Roses
By Corruption Inc.
She stood up with sudden strength, pushing back the pain. She ran past the broken shed and stolen car, and straight out into the pouring rain.
Act 2: Faded Crimson Cloth
Iruka walked into his home through the open door and folded his brown jacket once again over a dining room chair, yet only to find it was occupied. He looked down. The blond teenager was actually doing his homework. He rubbed his eyes. "Naruto?"
He looked up, blue eyes locking with the brown of the older man's. "Hey Iruka!"
Still in shock Iruka blinked. Once, then once again. Then he peered suspiciously at the boy. "Naruto…what are you doing…?"
"Uh….homework?" The blonde boy looked up with wide blue eyes.
Iruka rolled his eyes. "Pft…yeah right."
Naruto glared at the brown-haired man. "Seriously! Sakura-chan has been helping me do it!"
Iruka glanced up, only to find that there was indeed a girl at the table, and… she had pink hair. He stood there for a few moments, gears clicking together in his mind.
Tick….Tick…Click.
This must be the girl Kakashi said was coming home!
Iruka blushed at his ignorance. Oops. That was pretty rude of him. He shuffled over to where the girl was sitting. "Sorry about that, you must be Sakura."
She opened he lips as if she was about to say something, but then abruptly closed her mouth and nodded.
He smiled as friendly as he could. "I'm Iruka, as you probably have guessed. I see you've met Naruto here."
She glanced over to Naruto who was staring at the paper scratching his head with his pencil. He looked extremely confused. She smiled at how silly he looked. "Yep."
He nodded, also smiling at the boy. "Well, if you need anything, I'll be in the kitchen." He walked through the dining room as emptiness swept through the air. He felt as if he should perhaps say something more. "Oh…and….uh….welcome home."
Sakura smiled as he walked past and into the kitchen. She'd like to call it that.
"Naruto! Sakura!" Iruka shouted out to the dining room, brown eyes focused on finishing the pasta he had being trying to cook.
The blonde boy sped into the tiled kitchen with Sakura close on his heels. Iruka smiled at them both, eyes bending into a curve. Sakura had been here for two days now, and even though she was very quiet, she was obedient (well, compared to Sasuke and Naruto, anyway) and hadn't gotten into any trouble.
"Set the table for me please."
Naruto groaned. "Again? You know, Sasuke hasn't done it in forever! Ever since Sakura-chan moved in he's been shut in his, our room, ignoring us!"
Sakura giggled gently. "I don't mind it Naruto, I can actually do it by myself now." She said softly, but they'd gotten used to her quiet tendencies.
The blue-eyed boy jumped in protest. "No no no, it's not that, it's just that Sasuke bastard hasn't done anything!"
The pink-haired girl rolled her eyes playfully and then delicately prodded him teasingly on the shoulder as she walked into the dining room, china plates carried in her arms, which remained hidden by the same long worn red sweater, pale fingers peeking through the cloth.
He sighed, defeated, and carried in the knives and forks. She set down the plates as he set the forks and knives around them. When she had put down all five plates (one slightly askew at the edge of the now-cramped table) she looked back at the wooden stand, watching the blonde haired boy set the rest of the table.
She parted her lips to say something and halted herself, observing quietly until he has finished his task. He sauntered over to where she was standing. They stood there for a few moments in silence, before Sakura hesitantly said, "Are…are the forks supposed to be on the right Naruto?"
He shifted his cerulean eyes over until they grazed the clothed table and another moment of silence fell upon the room. He turned back to her and scratched his head uncertainly. "I don't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure they're on the right."
She shrugged. "Okay."
As soon as that was settled Iruka walked past them from the kitchen and set the bowl of crème pasta on the table, rushing back into the kitchen to fetch the accompanying tomato sauce. Sakura sat down daintily at her seat beside the askew one (Naruto insisted he sit there) and watched as the blonde boy plopped himself down on the computer chair beside her.
Iruka, meanwhile, called up the stairs to Sasuke. "Dinner!"
No answer.
The brown-haired man sighed and as he did a silver haired man popped up from behind him, smiling kindly. "Hey Iruka."
The brown-haired man twisted around and smiled back, relieved and glad to see Kakashi. "Hey." He said before turning back to the stairs, shouting up to the closed bedroom door. "Sasuke! Get your ass down here!"
And still, no response.
The silver haired man let his eyes travel up the stairs, watching the silence until he felt Iruka sigh. He turned to the shorter man, eyes set into a determined gaze, grey locking with auburn. They stood there for a couple moments of comfortable silence before Kakashi smiled. "I'll go get him."
Iruka nodded, also smiling again. "Thank you." And with that he swiveled around walked back into the dining room. A few moments of silence passed by again.
"What?! Whaddoya mean we can't eat yet?!"
The sliver-haired man sweat dropped abruptly at the sound of Naruto's voice. He returned to his calm composure a few seconds later however, staring in deep though at the staircase. Sasuke had been closing himself in ever since Sakura moved in. Kakashi couldn't imagine why, but at dinner the previous nights Sasuke said absolutely nothing and only occasionally glared at the poor pink-haired girl, before returning back to holing himself into the room.
The man rubbed his left eye absentmindedly, before setting his shoulder back and lugging his tired body up the stairs. There were a lot of stairs tonight. More than Kakashi recalled being there. If only he could just poof himself up there.
After what seem like fifty slow, agonizing stairs later Kakashi had finally reached the top of the staircase, feet planted in front of a closed bedroom door. Why was he here again? All of a sudden he heard the faded noise of a guitar soloist pumping through worn speakers, and then he remembered. Sasuke.
He knocked on the door, only as a polite measure. There was smaller than a one percent chance Sasuke would open the door at this moment in time, about as slim chances as Iruka going to work dressed as a pink, polka-dotted seven-legged elephant with a top hat and a moustache; or even as slim a chance as Naruto doing his homework.
Which was about as small of chances as they got.
And as he suspected there was no response. So, he casually turned the door knob, opened the door and slipped onto the faded red striped covering on the bed beside the window. The bed that was no longer spare.
He sat there, watching the ebony-haired boy lie in the top bunk, listening to his CD player. After a few minutes, the younger boy broke the silence with a glare to the ceiling. "What do you want?"
"Why aren't you coming down to dinner?"
"Is that all you wanted?"
"Sasuke." Kakashi said sternly.
"…"
"We can do this all day."
"Fine."
"Okay."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Still here you know."
"Hn."
"Take your time."
"…"
"…"
The silver-haired heard a faint sigh.
"I don't like the new girl."
"Why?"
"She's hiding something."
Kakashi sighed. "Sasuke, just because all teenagers aren't completely loud and outgoing like Naruto doesn't make them suspicious."
"…where did you find her?"
"The park beside the subway."
"Hn."
"Why, may I ask?"
"She reminds me of a girl I saw on a missing poster the other day."
"What?" Kakashi paused. "Wait, you were looking through the posters again?"
"…"
"I told you, you're not going to find anyone."
"The fire can't cover up everything." Came the determined reply.
"Sasuke, everyone was there, no one was left."
"…"
"And taking out your anger on this girl won't help-"
"No! Kakashi, it's not like that. I guarantee that was her on the poster."
The silver-haired man regarded him for a few moments. "Fine, bring it to dinner tomorrow."
"Fine."
"And Sasuke?"
"…yes?"
"Please, just let them go."
Two sets of ebony eyes locked, one pair restraining tears.
Sakura stepped back into the dining room, faded socks sliding against the wooden floor. Naruto looked up. "Sakura-chan!"
Iruka smiled. "So, what did they say?"
Sakura opened her mouth to speak, the stopped abruptly, regarding the words in her head that continued to repeat.
"…beside the subway."
"Hn."
"Why, may I ask?"
"She reminds me of a girl I saw on a missing poster the other day."
"What?" Kakashi paused. "Wait, you were looking through the posters again?"
"…"
"I told you, you're not going to find anyone."
What did they mean? Had her parents put out a wanted poster?
"…they were talking, and I didn't want to interrupt them." She felt the words spilling out, slightly louder than she'd dared to speak before.
Iruka didn't seem to notice the volume change; he just frowned to himself, thinking, before looking up with somewhat of a forced smile. "Okay, why don't we eat then, I'm sure they'll join us soon."
Naruto shouted, "YOSH!" and almost literally dived into his plate of food.
The brown-haired twenty-two year old shook his head and sighed, starting on his own dinner. He stopped abruptly, and then shook his head, switching the fork in his hand for the knife. "The silverware is the wrong way again Naruto. Why didn't you tell him the right way Sakura?"
Sakura shook her head and muttered a quiet apology. She loathed apologies.
"I am sorry for all I have done. I won't do it again."
She regarded the wooden floor as she paced quietly over to her chair and slipped in beside Naruto. The food looked great, but she'd lost her appetite.
Did her parents want her back? Well, of course they did…but…she didn't think they'd call attention to the family like that…with a missing poster…dad must really want her home…which strangely didn't surprise her in the least. He was probably afraid she's run to the police. But…a missing poster? It seemed such a reckless thing for him to do…
She was called back to her dinner with a sudden gentle nudge to her arm. She looked to her side and saw Naruto watching her with worried cobalt eyes. "Sakura-Chan? Are you okay?"
She smiled weakly and nodded, pursing her lips together. "Yeah…just lost my appetite." She smiled sheepishly.
He gave her a worried glance, not completely convinced and then suddenly grinned, trying to cheer her up. "Oh okay then. Sorry, I guess my bad eating habits must've put you off your dinner, eh?" He put a hand behind his head and laughed.
She smiled, and he stopped laughing to look over, and smiled back.
Iruka glanced up from his dinner and watched the two, smiling kindly at one-another. He smiled.
"What did we miss?"
All three people at the table looked up to the doorway where Kakashi and Sasuke stood, one with a jovial expression on his face. Iruka smiled back to the silver-haired man. "Oh, not much."
Tension was high. The stakes were well done. The table was completely silent except for the obnoxious chewing noises spewing from Naruto's mouth. Sasuke regarded the silver-haired adult sitting beside him in silence. He had brought the poster today, and confirmed, it was the Sakura on it.
Who in hell's name did she think she was, anyway? Some goddess who's life at home wasn't good enough, so she had to come and invade his private home? She had to free load his adopted parents? Was that good enough for her?
He hated runaways. Their life isn't good enough…drama blah, blah, blah. Bullshit. They had parents, they had a home. So why not just be fucking grateful for it?
He shot a hateful glare towards the pink-haired girl across from him and they locked eyes, her green orbs filled with dread. She bowed her head and returned to picking at her food, refusing to make eye contact with him.
He was about to expose her, and he knew Naruto absolutely hated runaways, even more than he did. That was one thing they both agreed on, and Iruka and Kakashi knew. He smirked. "So, you'll never guess who I saw on a missing poster."
Kakashi pursed his lips. Shit. This wasn't going to end well.
Sakura froze instantly. Naruto looked up from his dinner, his mouth still half full with food. "Who?"
Iruka looked up moments later with a thoughtful expression on his face. "You were looking though the posters again Sasuke?" He sent a worried look to Kakashi, who shrugged in return.
Sasuke rolled his obsidian eyes. "Yeah. But anyway, this little pink-haired bitch was on a missing poster. Her parents are looking for her."
The whole table froze. Sakura had her jade eyes connected with his dark pair again, and the look she gave him told him she was on the verge of tears. Her eyes were filled with so much terror he almost felt sorry for her.
"Liar." Sasuke looked to his side and saw Naruto glaring at him intensely, scarlet dotting his cobalt eyes.
The ebony-haired boy shook his head and reached into the pocket of his jeans, pulling out a neatly folded piece of white paper. He unfolded it and handed it to Naruto. The blonde looked it over, fury and sorrow veiling his face. Sure enough in the center of the page was a picture of Sakura at age twelve.
Naruto let out a small, animalistic growl, and turned to Sakura. "So it's true. This-" He pointed to the pink-haired girl in the picture. "-is you."
By now, all eyes were on the pink-haired teenager, and her emerald eyes were brimming tears. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Then, she closed it and sheepishly nodded.
At this, the enraged blonde growled again and then all of a sudden uncharacteristically leaped out of his seat, plunging at Sakura headfirst, tackling her to the floor.
All the wind was knocked out of the pink-haired girl as she fell to the floor, but when she hit the tiles she cried out in pain. Naruto had landed on her with each hand gripping her upper arms tightly.
By now Iruka and Kakashi were at the pink-haired girl's side, trying to pry Naruto off the crying girl, while Sasuke was at the side, watching intently. He hated to admit, seriously loathed it, but seeing Naruto on top of Sakura was sort of…invigorating. He shook his head. Damn, he was messed up.
By this time Kakashi had successful pulled Naruto off the pink-haired girl and was currently holding him by the arms to prevent him from pouncing on Sakura again. Iruka was begrudgingly tending to the tear stained girl.
"Sakura, by having you here when your parents were still alive…still wanted you, you could have gotten Kakashi and I put in prison on kidnapping charges. We didn't file any papers on adoption."
She still refused to look up at him, eyes locked with the granite floor.
"Now, we could offer to take you home but I-"
"No."
Everyone watched, startled, as the pink-haired girl stood up, wiping away the tears in her eyes. "I have already caused you enough trouble. Thank you eternally for your hospitality. I am so very sorry." She bowed.
Everyone looked at her in wonder. Iruka noticed that a dark liquid seemed to be seeping through the red fabric of the upper sleeves, right where Naruto had grabbed her. It was extremely hard to see however, the burgundy fabric masked it to seem no more than water.
Then she stood up, a solemn look plastered onto her face. "I am sorry for all I have done. I won't do it again." And then she abruptly turned herself around and headed to the front door.
Iruka hesitated for a slight moment, and then called after her.
"Wait! Do…do you want me to tend to the injuries on your arms?!"
She paused, halting her stroll for a few moments and she stood there, staring at the cold oak door, before she looked back to the group with an inexplicable smile on her face.
"No thank you, I'll be fine."
And like that, she walked out the front door and into the cold February night.
Kakashi let go of Naruto as they watched the girl walk out the door. Various expressions dotted the faces of the males still in the room. Awe. Shame. Worry. Disbelief.
But the most dejected expression of them all was the little expression of the twelve year old in the copied photograph. Sitting on a scarlet sofa in a violet party dress, the girl sat there gazing emptily at the camera lens.
The look on her face was of absolute misery.
Sorry for the long wait guys, June was really busy for me.
Thank you for the reviews. Everything you need to know (ie ages) has already been mentioned or will be revealed as we go, no worries.
Also to get more reviews I'll mention now that the 50th reviewer get's one yes/no question answered of their choice about the story. :)
Next update should be within a month. Thanks for the support!