SWEET
Synopsis: Sasuke finds a little sugar can make a bitter life sweet.
Chapter 1
Tsunade wore a solemn expression; the young woman sitting across from her appeared vacant. She- the young woman- was slightly early for her appointment she silently chewed bubblegum as they waited for the rest of the party to arrive.
As relieved as Tsunade was in finding someone, she also knew this would probably end up doing more harm than good. However, she also had to keep her council happy so that they would not interfere with the way she ran the village.
Still, something wasn't quite right with Reina Reiga. Why would she consent to this? Tsunade turned her gaze back to Reina and thought of something to say. Man, this was awkward!
"So- uh- will the sweets you brought me go with sake?" She paused a moment and looked at the box of wagashi in front of her. A bead of sweat dripped down Tsunade's temple as the girl nodded.
"Of course, Godaime-sama;" she answered the question the Hokage already knew the answer to but clearly the silence was a strain.
"I'm sure they'll be here soon." Tsunade carried on for lack of anything better to say. Once again the girl just nodded her head and went on staring out the bay-windows. It was like she wasn't even there but the same time Tsunade felt oddly unnerved by her. She appeared to be day dreaming and staring past her but it also felt like all Reina's attention was on her.
There was a knock at the door and then Shizune entered followed by Sasuke, Kakashi and Naruto.
"You're late;" the Hokage growled, although she was just happy they were all here and she didn't have to be alone with this weird girl anymore. "Come on Uchiha, let's get this over with."
Sasuke moved to sit across from Tsunade in the allotted chair to Reina's right. He looked her over. They had never met before although he knew enough about her on paper- name: Reina Reiga; age: 23; DOB: 5 March; civilian; single; store owner; property owner. Hair colour: dark green. Eye colour: dark brown. She was a Fire Country national, from an old ninja clan of which she was one of only two living members. Both were women; Reina being the only one young enough to breed. Pitiful.
She was as pale as he, her hair was shorter and darker than he imagined it would be, it was almost black and in a pixie cut. She wore gold stud earrings, a light dusting of blush, a pink lip-gloss and black eye-liner. She looked plain, Sasuke approved, the last thing he needed was a flashy peacock who'd spend all his hard earned money on a high street lifestyle. He also approved her cloths: powder-blue t-shirt, dark-brown hakama and plain wooden clogs. In fact the only thing he did not approve was the chewing gum she silently rolled around her mouth; chewing gum was a bad habit and he hated sweets.
He was happy that Tsunade had found him a woman; it took her two months where he'd spent much of the previous year trolling the village and surrounding areas. He'd found out very quickly that even fan girls would turn tail and run when he mentioned that he wanted to marry as soon as possible and start rebuilding his clan. Even Naruto was luckier with woman than him. However, the fact that Sakura had broken up with him, claiming he was a terrible boyfriend and threw herself into her work and training, was the last straw for him.
That had been a major blow to his ego, because he had truly tried to make it work with her. He didn't love in the romantic sense, but he valued and respected her as a teammate and she had grown beautiful in the years he was away from the village. But he could not blame her, she wanted more than he could offer and in all honesty she deserved all those things.
Karin had still not forgiven him for trying to kill her, she stayed away from him and refused to work with him, she was a career chuunin and senior nurse at the hospital. The few conversations they've had, have been icy and nothing beyond perfunctory message relaying or greetings. He heard her long-time boyfriend had just made jounin.
So, 19 year old Uchiha Sasuke was useless at finding himself a wife. It was inevitable the council would get involved, off course no one imagined they'd step in so early, least of all Sasuke himself. Marriage was a scary prospect; he would be 20 in a week and he had hoped to cut loose a bit- but now. A wife? His wife?
Tsunade placed the documents in front of them; he signed, she signed. Naruto signed as his witness and Kakashi signed as no one was available; which was fine because Kakashi claimed he knew her and her family.
Tsunade then signed, dated and stamped it and handed the pile to Shizune for filing.
Sasuke reached into his pocket and pulled out an austere gold band and gestured to her. She seemed shocked at first but then placed her left hand in his and allowed him to place the ring on her finger.
"Time for some sake." Tsunade sounded exasperated as she pushed a small cup across the desk for them to share. He drank, she drank; they did not look at each other. "I now pronounce you man and wife, at this point it's customary that you kiss- but I won't insist." They looked at each other briefly, they faces were expressionless and just like that they turned back to Tsunade. "Right, so if there is nothing else, I think we're done here." She had an apprehensive look on her face; the Uchiha was still a kid. He went from one life mission to the next accruing heavy responsibilities where ever he went. It was frustrating, heart-breaking even. As little as she cared for him, she was not blind to how much he really did try and how much his path had cost him.
"I wish you all the happiness and pray you have a blessed married life."
"Thank you Hokage-sama." They answered together. The group was dismissed and left. Tsunade sighed.
Outside the Hokage's office stood two suit cases a travel pack and box, Sasuke's life. He shouldered his pack and picked up the box, Naruto- who had been unnaturally quiet- helped with Sasuke's luggage.
"Well," Kakashi started, "I have patrols until tomorrow." He looked at Reina. "It was good seeing you again Rei-chan and congratulations on your nuptials." He waved to them and disappeared in a flash.
"Say, Reina-san," Naruto piped up, "how do you know Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke permitted the question because he too was curious; although it was probably too late to find out if she had dated the older jounin.
"He worked closely with my brother." She answered simply, her voice honeyed and mature, soft but as clear as a bell. Most of all, it was not irritating.
"And why does he call you Rei-chan?" Naruto continued as the stepped out of the Hokage Tower and walked in the direction of the market district.
"Naruto, it's impolite to ask people personal questions when you've just met them." Sasuke interjected.
"It's quite alright Sasuke-san," Reina spoke politely then blew the bubblegum as large as it would go and then loudly deflated it and rolled it around in her mouth. Sasuke blanched. Then she did something that he was sure he'd try to block out for her years to come- she aimed and spat the, now, pea-shaped treat at a bin on the sidewalk across the street. Dead on target. Naruto, having watched all this, took in his best-friends expression and nearly turned blue trying to supress his laughter. Sasuke turned to him, and looked utterly murderous. At that Naruto start laughing loud and long and his mirth could not be contained all the way to their destination.
Sasuke lived with Naruto when he first came back to the village and then moved into the jounin barracks as soon as he was eligible. As the Uchiha district had not been rebuilt after Pein's attack, Sasuke did not truly have a home. It had also not yet been decided if land would be set aside for him and that left him destitute. He was grateful that a woman could be found who was also a property owner.
They stopped at a small store building; it was three storeys high and took up three eighths of a block. It was wedged between an apartment complex and what appeared to be a loading area. Sasuke prayed this was just a short stop on the way to the actual building because he could not picture himself living here. The 'here' was a candy store: Jinjo No Okasi Shouten.
"Welcome home, buddy!" Naruto could barely contain his glee.
Sasuke went white as a sheet. Someone must have made a mistake; there was no way he could be expected to live here.
"Our loading gate won't open," she spoke, apparently nonplussed about his trepidation and Naruto's boisterous guffawing, "we'll have to go through the stockroom. Please, follow me."
Inside the shop was busy, there were people of all ages waiting in line at a display counter with a sign overhead which read order and pay here in bright printed script. It was manned by an old woman in a long sleeved version of Reina's outfit and apron. Others were cueing at the counter closer to the door manned by a civilian boy of remarkably plain looks.
Everyone seemed to know her, Sasuke marked how many face lit up with recognition or greeted or made light chit chat. The air reeked of caramel and cinnamon and mint and butter and melted chocolate. There were racks of freshly baked buns, muffins, syrupy dango, donuts and éclairs but most of all wagashi. Everywhere he looked was wagashi in every shape, form and colour under the sun. The shop was a sensory overload; he recognised some of the customers as shinobi, people he'd been on missions with. It was then he heard Naruto's voice.
"Hey, Sakura-chan… yeah, we're here now… did you see that pic I sent you? I know, right? Priceless." It was at this point he realised Sasuke was giving him a death glare, "listen, I gotta go." He said quietly before hanging up.
Sasuke just shook his head and followed Reina as she led them to back of the shop. She stood aside at the stockroom door and gestured they go first. After she stepped inside she locked the door behind them. The stockroom was a small larder with twelve large metal shelf-cases packed with boxes and sacks. She continued leading them to a door at the opposite end of the cool room. This one was not locked and opened to large, very clean kitchen that smelled heavily of bleach and ammonia. There was a breakfast booth in the corner in front of a large bay-window with terracotta coloured Roman blinds.
"This is our kitchen, sometimes we'll use it for work when we have to fill large or special orders, but that's not often." The more Sasuke found out about this place, the worse it got. "Breakfast is at seven am, dinner is at seven pm. Lunch is at twelve thirty and tea is at three. We close early on the weekend so Saturdays and Sundays we have light breakfasts at six am, high-teas at two pm, and late dinners sometime after 8 pm." With every passing word Sasuke's ears grew weary of her voice. They passed threw a long corridor, the floors were varnished hardwood polished to a high shine.
To his right was a columned-arch which led into an ornately decorated dining room, there were two great paintings on the walls; one showed a harvest seen in kaiga style the other a, rich oil of a countryside estate in a far of land in the high impressionist style. There were two dark oak display cabinets with sand-blasted windows, decoratively littered with porcelain and crystal crockery; silver, stainless steel and gold-washed cutlery and high varnished and lacquered chopsticks some carved from stone and inlayed with gems others were masterfully carved from cedar or oak with scenes on them. Yet the most astonishing part of the room was the twelve-seater ornately carved, monstrosity of solid, dark oak, standing on a richly woven silk mat in red, brown and black. The chairs were carved from a the same wood and had cushioning on the back and seat, covered in royal blue velvet, a star crested crown embroidered on the top of each chair- back and front- in silver thread.
"Holy shit!" Naruto remarked in an awed whisper.
Sasuke's reaction was intense; first he was not expecting such wealth from an orphaned civilian woman who lived hand to mouth and second, she did not appear to be at all comfortable with so much ornamentation. Reina really was a Plain Jane in every sense of the term, which made her the perfect spouse for him… on paper. Sasuke was now wondering if he would ever feel comfortable here; he started to wonder if he could go back to the futon at Naruto's. He spied his best friend's wide eyed and opened mouth visage; he envied his friend's easy expressiveness, especially now. The idiot could walk around with a female body builder on his shoulders and no one would think any less of him, but the Uchiha had a reputation to uphold, he cannot let on that any of this bothers him; hence, his mildly interested yet icily stoic countenance.
"Dining room," she pointed out unnecessarily and led them back into the corridor.
The corridor gave way to a spacious entrance area with beautifully engraved door facing the street and the loading area gate which was 'broken'. To the left was flight of stairs with an aged gilded-iron balustrade and to the right an elegant antique elevator. Behind them was an open columned archway which led into a highly decorative and lavish lounge.
"This is our sitting room." She explained, again, uselessly. Sasuke marked this; though she was succinct in her descriptions she seemed to have a hopeless way of pointing out the obvious. He would have chopped it off to a lack of common sense, but when was something that simple ever the case, even the idiot had more to him than his blond hair and whiskers.
No, Reina was nervous. Although her face was the very picture of vacant calm, her shoulders were tense and slightly hunched in an abdominal stress position. She held her arms close to her body and held her hands in front of her. Despite the polite, passive act she put on; her body painted a very different picture of her personality.
Or she could just be nervous of being a lone civilian woman in a room with two of the village's most elite ninja. They got that a lot, the looks of awe and fear and trepidation and terror. Perhaps not all of them could describe the looks all of them got, but those were definitely the looks he got.
He realised that she may be nervous about him and his past. There was no way to escape it, as a grown man he would need to accept the fact that he was who he was, and, is who he is. As painful as his past is to him, he accepted what was done to him, for he could not change events that were beyond his power to change. And he felt remorse for what he'd done wrong, especially since what he had done had not taken away from his pain. It would take a long time for him to be fully accepted and he knew that; but, he would that his new wife could be at ease in his company.
He looked about the room, once again, it was overly decorated in antiques and pomp and nothing at all like the plain girl who lived here.
It was even bigger than the dining room. There were sandblasted French doors directly across from the front door and the columned archway. The doors glass panels were framed by newly re-varnished wood and the door handles were polished bronze. The pleated, embroidered, glossy champagne drapes were pulled up and apart- they were a type of curtain/ Roman blind- and the morning sun shone through the heavy cascade of cream lace netting.
There was a black grand piano in the far corner, surrounded by four chairs and a chess table from the Victorian era. The actual lounge part looked early 1900s: two cane shellback settees with heavy woven cushions in cream and beige; an ornately carved bench with lion paws, the frame was enamelled in white embellished with gold the back had panels of woven lattice and the seat was a thick powder blue cushioning quilted and studded with buttons; and an absurd chaise lounge in beige velvet quilting, the frame was a glowing cedar wood, with carved flowers and lion paws.
There were expensive mats even more expensive looking fixtures and the art work that looked priceless in their reserved places of reverence on the walls, stands, tables and desks and in display cabinets. All in all, it was cat burglar's paradise.
However, the only thing that looked to be worth any mentioning to Naruto was the ceiling and not because of the incredible crystal chandelier but the ceiling itself. "Wow, is that gold on the ceiling?!" At the incredulous pitch in his friends voice Sasuke had to look up and agree with awe. The ceiling was high and… gold, or at least looked like gold.
"Tinted mirrors, actually;" Reina answered simply and with obvious detachment and quietly led them out of the room and up the stairs.
The second floor landing was much the same in the way of flowery displays of wealth, although it was a little more comforting in the way of traditional aesthetic. There floors were still hardwood but the ceiling was lower and the walls were made of wood.
"Did Yamato build your house?" Naruto asked, with obvious confusion and a half pout. "Cause if he did, he's been holding out on us!"
"Idiot," Sasuke bit out in exasperation.
"It's alright," she spoke told Sasuke in the tone of voice he found pleasing to his ears; "my great-aunt is quite wealthy, she hired an outside construction crew for the rebuild after the attack." That explained so much now. Sasuke was relieved Reina did not have a shopping addiction or a penchant burglarising museums (he hoped), she really was a plain girl who just happened to live in opulence. He was worried there for a second.
They stopped in front of a sliding door at far end of the corridor.
"This is your room," she remarked as she slide the door open and gestured them inside.
Sasuke stepped inside and realised this was the largest room he had ever had all to himself. Every room his had since was a boy in the Uchiha district to his time with Orochimaru and then with Akatsuki, to his time living with Naruto and eventually his last home at the jounin barracks; everyone paled in comparison to this one. He'd not even stayed in hotels, inns or bathhouses with rooms to rival this one. He'd once shared a cave larger this one with Shino and broad of bats, but that's hardly the same thing; besides, they had both agreed they would rather sleep on a bed of sheep dung than do that again.
In the centre of the room was a low four-poster double bed with a thick, white mosquito-net draped to the floor. There was a large bamboo-paper and lattice –pattern screen behind it.
She pointed in that direction. "Closet and washroom," and almost as if she had to muster all her strength to do it, she strode directly across his room to the dark-blue floor length to ceiling curtains; drew them apart and revealing glass double doors opening them to reveal wooden double doors and opening them to reveal a balcony. Naruto was immediately drawn there, like a moth to a flame. Sasuke followed shortly with a sharp intake of breath preceding him.
"Is that your garden?" Naruto asked, spellbound. Reina just nodded. Sasuke looked around, and marked the serene traditional garden and then the fact the all the building in the radius of this one had windowless curtain walls facing it offering maximum privacy. That was a bit excessive to the Uchiha, but he would accept it happily. Privacy is a rare commodity in Konoha's present economy and him being an impoverished and destitute orphan, married off before his twentieth birthday.
She pointed to another open wooded double door, "We share a balcony and a wall that separates your washroom from mine." She turned to head back inside, but stopped and turned to them as something came to her, "these doors do not open from the outside." She left them to surmise the implications: 'don't try to get inside my room, without my permission' and the equally obvious and embarrassing 'don't lock yourself out'.
She waited for them to come back into the room and handed Sasuke a set of keys. "Being that you are a ninja, you'd probably travel via rooftops, so the large bronze one will get you into the patio door downstairs, the steel one is for the roof but, be quiet if you use that door." He nodded his understanding, already tired and his day had yet to begin. "Then I shall leave you to get settled, if you will excuse me, I must attend to the shop. If you need me for anything I'll be there."
"Thank you, Reina-san." Sasuke answered mechanically, eyes a little glazed over.
"Rei-chan," she corrected, "please, it would be so very strange for my husband to address me so formally when the rest village regards me so familiarly." She continued softly, looking away from them.
"Thank you, for showing us around, Rei-chan." Naruto spoke finding it easier to speak than to be uncomfortable. "Oh, and congratulations on your marriage thing." At that Sasuke elbowed him in the gut, but they both saw how Reina blushed before disappearing into the expanses of that expansive house.
Naruto relaxed his stance and picked his ear with his little finger, "you always were a lucky bastard;" he remarked.
"Yeah, a regular ace;" he muttered darkly and dug his hands into the pockets of his jounin pants.
"I just knew you were gonna flip out when you saw your new home;" Naruto grinned, "you had to see your face when we walked into the store!" He hugged his middle as he laughed at his best friend.
"Yeah, well at least the cake comes with all the trimmings;" Sasuke waved his hand around in a gesturing move; "this is a very comfortable place."
"Yeah, tell me about it! I can't believe how your ass landed in the butter with this one. Not bad; I just hope you can learn to enjoy and appreciate all this."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" He asked coolly.
"You have this way of not being satisfied with what you have," Naruto suddenly raised his hands in placation, "don't get mad! Everybody has a thing, being cantankerous just happens to be yours."
"Tch, I am perfectly normal, besides, can you even spell cantankerous?"
"As a matter of fact, I can. It was last Tuesday's word of the day."
Sasuke gave an amused sigh, "you still do that?"
Naruto's expression became sad as he smiled, "yeah, I do," he said softly, and then immediately shook it off, "besides, what kind of Hokage would I be if I couldn't spell?"
"Whatever," Sasuke mumbled and blew an exasperated sigh; he looked around the room again, the furniture was sparse but it had everything he needed: bedside tables and lamp and a writing desk on the other side of the room. "I'll take care of unpacking later; let's just… let's just go."
Naruto shrugged and they left his room, Sasuke not forgetting his keys.