HEARTACHE

Sasuke took a small sip from his usual morning mug of pure black coffee and leaned back in the wooden chair, his legs still numb with pain. So he was still in a bed sheet and hadn't even showered yet; so what? If Michiko decided to finally stop sulking, come out of the bedroom, and join him at the table, she probably wouldn't mind seeing him half-naked and sweaty.

"Women," he muttered spitefully, burning his tongue on the hot coffee. "All they do is bitch, whine, and complain." He set down the mug on the table. "But goddamn are they fun to fuck, especially when they're so tantalizingly innocent and loud."

Sasuke smiled as he heard tumbling footsteps behind him and rested his elbows on the table. "Decided to come down, eh?"

Michiko's legs wobbled as she walked slowly into the kitchen, wearing a long baggy t-shirt that she had obviously found in his closet, and leaned against the nearest wall. "Y-yeah, I guess."

Sasuke peered over his shoulder and gestured to the chair next to him. "You know, if I were you I'd wanna sit down."

Michiko looked at the chair suspiciously before hobbling over to it and slumping down on the hard wooden seat. She glanced at Sasuke and cleared her throat, deciding that it was best to start a conversation after what had happened earlier that morning.

"How's your…coffee?"

"Awful," Sasuke replied lightly.

"Oh…would you like me to make you some?"

"Don't bother."

Michiko looked at him desperately. "Sasuke-sama, please, you aren't helping at all!" She lowered her head. "I want to be of use to you."

Sasuke chuckled. "Oh trust me; you've been extremely helpful to me. I mean…" He winked. "I've wanted to sleep with you for a while now."

Michiko felt as though she had been smacked across the face. "I…You mean…all you wanted to do with me was have sex? You-you didn't want to try to make this a meaningful relationship, even if it was forced?"

Sasuke looked her square in the eye with a rather amused look on his face. "Doll, sex lost it's sacredness a long time ago. It's not uncommon for two people who don't even know each other's names to do the dirty."

Michiko stared at him open-mouthed. This couldn't have been the man she practically worshipped on bended knee talking about how she had only been a thing to screw around with. It had to be a joke. He loved her…right?

She stood up from the table, her legs still shaking. "I…ummm…I'll get the newspaper."

Without looking back at Sasuke, she slowly made her way out of the kitchen, through the front door, and onto the porch, walking bowl-legged the entire way. She grimaced as she bent down and picked up the newspaper.

"Maybe sex really isn't worth the pain." She stood back up and rubbed her inner thigh. "The media really bull-shitted me good with all those romance books and dirty movies."

Michiko unrolled the newspaper and held it up to her face. She gasped and gripped the paper tightly, for the second time that morning being thrown into shock. "Oh…my god…" She glanced back at the house. "Sorry, Sasuke-sama. This is urgent."

She dropped the paper back onto the ground and ran off the porch and into town, not caring that she was still only wearing a baggy t-shirt.

Sasuke drained his cup of cold coffee and leaned back, not at all surprised that Michiko hadn't come back in after an hour of 'getting the newspaper'. "My my, she didn't even bring me the paper like a good puppy." He stood up and carelessly dropped the empty mug into the sink. "Maybe I shouldn't have been so brutally honest."

He tightened the sheet around his waist and lazily dragged his feet out the front door. He shook his head and clicked his tongue as he picked up the unfurled newspaper lying on the porch.

"She sure is misbehaving today."

Sasuke leaned against the cold wall of the front of the house as his eyes scanned over the article that had been causing waves of fear and anger across the village. He groaned and let the paper slide out of his hands.

"God, Naruto. Please say this isn't you."

Sasuke rubbed his temples and walked back into his house, knowing that trying to talk sense into Naruto would be useless.

Naruto fumed silently in the corner of his bedroom, both legs and arms crossed tightly. He couldn't believe that before he could get to work on his masterpiece of a plan, he had fallen asleep.

"Humph…all that racking my brain for nothing," he pouted. "All those all-nighters finally took their toll."

Naruto looked out through the window across the room, which didn't help his temper at all. He gritted his teeth together as Michiko ran past his house wearing one of Sasuke's shirts and nothing else. Why was she even wearing that? What had happened to all her slutty clothes?

"Yeah, hussy, you better be running," Naruto hissed under his breath. "Looks like someone else isn't too happy with your organization."

A/N: Sorry for the short and late chapter. Certain…setbacks have kept me from being able to write a decent-length chapter.