Heaven's Postman
How far away the stars seem, and how far is our first kiss, and ah, how old my heart. –William Butler Yeats
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Guide To Becoming Heaven's Postman
Number 23:
Never develop a strong relationship with a living human. Consider the fact that you are only to remain doing this job for two weeks.
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Chapter 6 – An Old Heart
"I know her," she whispered, moving only her lips.
"Who?"
Tears stung her eyes painfully. "She's the girlfriend of my deceased ex-boyfriend."
It was like everything that had happened over the past three months gathered up and hit her in the face—a hit so painful that she cried until she felt like a faucet that won't stop dripping no matter how much someone tightened it with a wrench. Seeing that woman's face broke the wall that kept her emotions about her ex-boyfriend, Daisuke, under wraps. She remembered every false kiss, every time he lied when he said "I love you," as she fell for his game…
Daisuke used to always cancel dates between him and Sakura to drink with his friends. Sakura recalled when she had to drive him home, passed out on the car seat. Then things got worse when he would never call her whenever he would be late. She went as far to stand awake until three in the morning to see his safe return. Whenever he came to her apartment late, Daisuke always smelled like perfume. Strangely, Sakura never wore perfume.
Her best friend, Ino called her one afternoon and told her to drive to her house as fast as possible. What Ino showed Sakura was a picture of Daisuke's arm around a woman she had never seen or met before in a nightclub. Sakura denied it at first but when she summoned all the suspicions she had on him like his perfume scented clothes at evenings, and how he never had to time to meet her anymore, or how he skipped dates, she realized her boyfriend was a cheater.
Sakura confronted Daisuke about it a few days later. She had called earlier and all she received was his voice mail, although when she visited his house, she saw flickers of shadows coming from inside, a sign tht he had only been ignoring her calls. She pounded on the door when he would ignore the doorbell.
A woman had answered it, and strong perfume came off her skin that was very similar to the scent Daisuke caught. Sakura's knees almost buckled when she saw the roundness of her belly. The girl was pregnant. Before she could ask any questions, Daisuke came and shooed Sakura away.
"Get out of here, Sakura!" he yelled, veins bulging from his temples.
"What about us?" Sakura had asked tearfully.
He spit the words, "There was never an 'us,' Sakura."
She had gone into depression for a long period of time. Sakura would hide in her apartment and ignore phone calls from her friends that made an attempt to comfort her. They thought she was simply ingnoring their helping hands. Later, she heard news that Daisuke died when a car skied on the ice and squashed him against a brick building's wall. Sakura didn't come to his funeral and wished the woman and her baby bad luck. She thought that he deserved it.
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Fighting off the flowing tears, she exhaled, trying to collect herself because she knew Sasuke was beside her. Sakura wiped the tears away with her sleeve before he turned to look at her.
"If she's your ex-boyfriend's wife, who's the child?" he asked.
She cleared her throat. "Maybe… it's her child," she managed to croak.
"So then at means that she isn't his girlfriend, but wife."
Sakura raised her fist and held it in the air, hesitating. Gritting her teeth, she swung her fist in the air. Sasuke had safely managed to dodge it as he stepped back, not even moving his hands. His emotion didn't give anything out.
She pursed her lips.
As the pain quickly subsided, Sasuke emptied the mailbox and gave half of the bunch to Sakura. "Anyways, back to our previous topic," he said. "Do you want to go to the coffee shop to read these letters?"
Sakura shook her head. "Can we read them here? I don't feel like walking the whole way." Though they both knew it was just five blocks away.
He snickered before he found a comfortable spot on the grass. Sakura mimicked and lay with her back on the grass, facing the sun above her face. Sasuke wisely chose to read the letter in his head, even though it wasn't necessarily the letter from the woman who had just passed by. She blocked the blinding rays of the sun with her palm above her eyes and let the rays seep through between her long, thin fingers.
"Heaven…"
Sasuke glanced at her with weary eyes. "Hm?"
"Is Heaven really there?" she asked, feeling as though she was touching the sky.
"It has to be somewhere, doesn't it?"
Sakura bit her lip, realizing the thought of Daisuke could not erase even for a second. Angrily, she sat up. "I don't like it! Just because he's dead, he's acting like nothing ever happened! Even if you're dead, a lie is a lie. What you can't forgive, you can't forgive."
"Then say something. Not a letter," he pointed to the sky, "but personally now."
Looking up, Sakura felt as though she had a chance to talk to Daisuke as if he was alive—no one else but herself and her ex-lover. "You idiot!" she shouted with all her might so that he could hear past the thin clouds until heaven. "Why did you have to die? Why didn't you tell me about your child?" Bowing her head, she was overwhelmed with emotions and cried once more, not caring about Sasuke's presence this time.
She let everything out; every tear that she held back when it was for Daisuke. She hoped that if she cried, everything would rewind until she would refuse to go on that first date with him. She hoped, most of all, that he would realize his mistake and apologize.
Sasuke carefully shuffled closer to her until his hip was touching hers. He felt awkward in this position. How was he supposed to comfort her? Is he supposed to pat her back and tell her everything was okay?
"Wh-What are you doing?" she asked, sniffing and glancing at him with teary eyes.
"You're crying," he said bluntly.
"I know that, Sasuke."
"Are you okay?" he questioned as if she was rather injured than emotionally stricken.
She didn't answer. Words didn't seem to heal her.
"Me being here… Is it okay that someone is watching?" For he first time, Sasuke was at lost for words. He hoped that she understood his ramblings.
"I don't like it… but it's okay, because it's you," she answered without thinking first. Sakura was surprised at the truth of her words.
Sasuke exhaled through his nose, absorbing what she had just slowly.
"I feel better," Sakura said, straightening her position. "I felt like a movie character when I shouted at the sky."
Finally, Sakura had solved the question she had fought to piece together. The puzzle that made her wonder why she wanted to stick to Sasuke's side. Daisuke took more than half of the contents of her soul, but Sasuke replenished it until her body overflowed. She had searched for someone in the world who could rebuild her being. Sasuke was the one who did it himself. She could smile even after she cried, because Sasuke was beside her. Ever so slightly, she was realizing that she was in love with him.
"Sakura."
"Hm?" she muttered without turning.
A long pause followed. The whole world seemed to have gone quiet, waiting for Sasuke's next statement.
"Now… Right now, I want to kiss you."
Sakura lifted her head and looked at him silently as if she had suddenly gone deaf. He looked the other way after a second.
"Never mind." He uneasily moved around and scratched the back of his head unconsciously.
"You're good at saying it. You're good at saying anything, Sasuke," the emerald-eyed girl told him. "I can only do that once in a while." Waiting until he said anything, she realized that he wasn't going on with it. "I think it's best if we forget it then."
Sasuke nodded. "Yes, let's forget it."
Carefully, as if the ground would crumple underneath her, she got to her feet. "It's a bit sad isn't it?"
He jumped to his feet and casually stretched. "Aren't you the one sad about it?" He grinned.
Sakura laughed even thought she thought it would be impossible to even giggle for a while after seeing the woman's face. "I don't feel kissing anymore since you said that," she joked.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
He stuffed his hands in his pockets and Sakura examined her fingernails, the atmosphere growing awkward.
"I…" Sasuke started again, and then trailed off. "I want to keep hearing your stories. From now on, I'm going to listen to them."
The pinkette bowed her head again, staring at her shoes.
"Sakura, are you crying?" he questioned.
"No one ever listens to what I say. Even him. The one who died didn't listen to me at all. Not even once. He just thought I was… negligible I guess." She brought her head up to stare at the sky again. "I already knew from that start that his intentions where not my feelings. Even when I cried, he was never by my side once."
"Then how about… being by my side?" Sasuke carefully said, choosing the right words.
With her breath caught in her throat, she laid her eyes on his glassy onyx orbs. As he approached, she closed her eyes, waiting. Sakura felt his hand at her shoulder. With his breath ticking her lips, he kissed her once for a second. Taking her cheek this time, Sasuke grabbed her face and crushed his lips against hers. He kissed her like it was the last day he was ever going to see her. Like it was the last day he would feel Sakura's presence next to his. Sakura laid her hand on his neck's base, feeling his smooth skin as she kissed him back with her thumb. Slowly, the thought of Daisuke drifted away like smoke.
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Sasuke rested his head against the bus seat and studied the inside of the vehicle. The only people who were still taking the bus after doing a fifteen minute route were Sasuke and Sakura. The bus driver occasionally glanced at the mirror, possibly wondering where the two were headed at the late hour.
Thinking back an hour ago, he had realized he had broke an important rule…
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Number 23:
Never develop a strong relationship with a human. Consider the fact that you are only to remain doing this job for two weeks.
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Their first kiss zoomed them ahead on their relationship, only tightening it. Though Sasuke was deeply pulled into a trance, a part of him regretted kissing Haruno Sakura. What would she think when he'd have to tell her that he was only going to stay with her for less than a week? Especially after making her believe that he would stay by her side for long. She would tell him that he was exactly the same as Daisuke.
Rolling his head to the right, he studied the pink-haired girl beside him who stared outside the big window. He had said that he was taking her to a special place and it was a surprise. Not once did she ask where they were headed. Sasuke thought she was the kind to constantly demand such things. Maybe she was just deep in thought.
"Hey… This job will end one day… won't it?" she muttered in low volume.
"Yes."
"When?" Reluctantly, she met his eyes.
Sasuke winced. "When we get caught by the people who sent the letters. When they find out what I'm doing and realize it's a lie. I will get discharged."
He sighed. A week maybe, he should have said. He was still telling the truth.
"Dis…charged?" She cocked her head to the side in wonder.
"It means I get fired," he explained.
She pouted, looking away. "Of course I know what 'discharge' means."
The corner of his mouth pulled up in a crooked smile. "Hn."
"Where do you think I am now?" Sakura questioned.
He blinked twice. "What do you mean?"
Suddenly the bus halted, signalling that the bus was at its final limit. Grabbing Sakura's arm, Sasuke hurried out of the bus and nodded the driver a thank you. Behind them, the bus huffed and drove away further to the east.
Sakura could hear the sound of waves crashing onto rocks. She automatically figured that Sasuke had taken her to the ocean. Up ahead, there stood a tall and mighty light house that was painted red and white. It grew rust and it was obviously decaying from weather and age. Suddenly excited again, she ran ahead of Sasuke with her arms up in the air, yelling "Whooo!"
"Hurry up!" she turned to shout, meters away from the postman.
When he showed no energy to run, Sakura caught up to him, grabbed his arm and pulled him forward. "Run, run run!"
She practically flew up at steps when they finally walked through the long, concrete path. "It's the ocean!" she shouted at the view of the greyish-blue water. Full of energy, Sakura ran around the perimeter of the lighthouse until Sasuke had made it up the steps too.
They both stopped to stare at the ocean a little while longer. Sasuke inhaled the water's scent. He had never gone to such a place when he was still alive. In that second, he realized that his life was wasted and centered on money and he missed out on the best things about life.
"It's so pretty," Sakura muttered.
"This will be our workplace from now on," he said.
She quickly turned her head to stare at him with a hanging jaw. "Wh-What? Are you serious?"
Sasuke smiled, his signature crooked smile that Sakura loved to see. He folded his arms on the banister and leaned forward. "How is it? You said that you didn't like the coffee shop and the busy city."
She pondered for a moment, remembering the exact words he had said to her before. "Fine, next time I'll take you to a really nice place." Sakura was glad that he remembered something like that. She, herself, had forgotten about it even. "Thank you, Sasuke!" she exclaimed.
Author's Notes: I bet some of you just though "Finally!" Haha. I'm not sure what I think about this chapter. Did I properly display Sakura's pain and emotions? And if you didn't notice, I put a little bit of foreshadowing here about Sasuke's life when he was alive: In that second, he realized that his life was wasted and centered on money… Review me what you think his past story should be. I also appreciate suggestions! Review, review, review. They make me become a better writer :)