Chapter Six: Sunshine
A/N: The song is Sunshine, by All American Rejects. And it is my favourite song! There's a part of the song that goes: "Today is gone/ I'm the only light that you see/ You need someone/ I know all you needed was me."
Beautiful.
Disclaimer: I do not own the song featured here, nor the manga/anime Naruto
Sleep never came easily for Sasuke anymore.
Most people would say it's the horrors of his past that kept him up at night. With his family gone, as well as the tragic demise of his brother and his girlfriend, would it be surprising if he had a few cracks along the edges?
Lying in bed with a pale, feminine, arm snaked around his torso, Sasuke knows that it never had anything to do with nightmares or grief.
What it is, is an amalgamation of more frustration at life than a normal person expects to have in a lifetime. At least, Sasuke thinks it is. How else would he explain the clusterfuck his life has become?
Frustration, huh?
But he is Uchiha Sasuke, and he isn't about to go crying about it. Whatever you got out of this life, you're supposed to take it like a man. Not that there's really anything else you can do about it.
Just try to let it go.
Sasuke eases the hand off him gently and sits at the edge of the bed. It's dark and even the wide open window failed to bring in enough light. Then again, it is raining, and maybe it's just the incessant, torrent of water that's keeping him up this night.
"Sasuke-kun? Why are you still awake?"
He looks back to the woman in his bed. Long, mussed up hair that isn't chocolate brown or soft pink, but red. Tired eyes that were the same shade as her hair, not amber or clear green.
"It's nothing. Go back to sleep Karin."
The woman, far too sleepy to do otherwise, concedes, leaving Sasuke back to ponder all the other contrasting features.
He sighs.
And tries to let everything go all over again.
It's been two days since Sasuke last saw her.
Not that he wants to see Sakura. In fact, he's gone out of his way just to not run into her. He's holed himself in his office which resulted in his decimating his paperwork to practically nil. Hell, he's even been avoiding Naruto in every manner possible and that is not an easy task.
He doubts she'd want to be anywhere near him anyway.
So when he got the text, a simple, one-liner "We need to talk," he was surprised. Seemingly innocent yet loaded with a billion reasons and possibilities.
And that's how, for the second time that week, Sasuke finds himself in his old highschool's defunct soccer field. He remembers, a hundred years ago some sweltering afternoon much like now, waiting here for the same girl in the very same place so they could go home together. Because of course, his mother did raise him to be a gentleman, and of course Sasuke you have to make sure she gets home safely, she's a girl. Or so his mother would often say.
He'd be lying if he said he isn't nervous. The reason why she asked him out there to talk could range from wanting to catch up to having a big shouting blow out, neither of which he wants to deal with.
And so he waits, for once.
When Sakura arrives, it isn't from afar where she could be easily seen, halo-ed by the setting sun or some other kind of fanfare. No, she approaches quietly, and sits beside him on the grass, like she's been there all along. Honestly, Sasuke thinks maybe she has.
"Hey."
"Hn. How'd you get my number?"
"Oh. I asked Ino."
"Oh."
They sit there, stuck in a game of who'll give in and talk first. Well it's not going to be him, as years of experience should've made clear. Besides, she initiated this.
"Look. So Hinata and I went to the hospital two days ago. She's pregnant, it's a girl."
"So?" Sasuke leans back, with his elbows supporting his body on the sloping ground. So? Did Sakura bring him out here just to talk gossip?
"So… Your bestfriend is the father! Tell Naruto to marry Hinata damn it." She says this while giving him a light slap on the back of his head; a habit that Sasuke thought had died in highschool.
The rest of her ranting is lost to Sasuke. It's the first time she's touched him in forever.
"Hey, are you listening to me?"
He turns to Sakura, radiant in her righteous anger at being ignored. She's huffing like she's out of breath, turning her cheeks a little redder. Her hair, a little bit disheveled. But none of those could take away from the fire in her eyes. Mighty Sakura; pity the man who falls in the path of her crosshairs.
Sasuke stands up and dusts off his pants. "Tch, a few days here and already you think you can dictate our lives?"
"Well at least I'm doing something about it, damn it! If it were up to you, you'd probably just watch along the sidelines."
"Have you ever thought that maybe it's not your decision to make? Has Hinata even told Naruto yet?"
At that, Sakura seems taken aback. She inclines her head to the side and whispers that Hinata's too afraid of what Naruto might think and how he'd react. "She actually believes Naruto would be mad."
Sasuke scoffs at that. Nothing would make Naruto happier than having a family of his own.
He sighs. "How do we do this then?"
Sakura, deep in thought, crosses her arms and bites her lower lip. Then, all at once, her eyes brighten as she looks at him.
"Let's call the others."
Sasuke stands at the edge, his leather boots nearly touching the waters.
The Uchiha family was— is, an illustrious family. They're one of the richest in Konoha, owning many lands along the outskirts of town. One of Sasuke's favorite is the massive Lake Okugi, with its small islet in the middle, levelled and sprouting towering pine trees. The lake itself is beautiful, calming if he has to admit it; with waters so clear, you could see through the very bottom.
It's always been a place where, if he found the whole world too tedious, he could just escape to.
Unless it's being hijacked by his so called friends.
"Finally, they're here," Sakura mutters while looking at the opposite bank, chin propped up with one hand.
Sasuke looks on ahead to where she's pointing. From afar, he could just make out Yamanaka yelling at the ever lazy Nara and Akimichi as they try to row the boat faster. Behind them, one by one coming out of Hyuuga Neji's van, are the other members of their highschool group.
"Why? Why did it have to be out here in the middle of nowhere Uchiha?" the disgruntled Shikamaru tosses the oars back to the small boat when the three get off. From afar, Neji and Kiba pull the nylon rope attached to the hull of the boat, pulling it towards them in the bank.
Sasuke's long made sure that there was only one way to the islet.
"Don't ask me, it was her idea," Sasuke says, pointing to Sakura.
Sakura's reunion with Shikamaru and Chouji is decidedly tamer than the one she had with him and Naruto. No awkward tension, no angry crying. Just smiles and a 'hey'or an 'I didn't know you were back.'
Of course, to Shikamaru or Chouji, Sakura was never more than a passing friend. She never made them any fucking promises… She was never a constant.
Even the others, when they crossed over, greet her the same. Tenten and Kiba seem more excited than the others, sure, actually hugging (or in Kiba's case, nearly tackling) Sakura. And Lee… Lee is just a whole other story.
"My fair Sakura! Have you permanently come back to grace us with your youthful presence?"
What the fuck do you say to that? He almost wants to laugh at Sakura's obvious discomfort. Almost.
As Sasuke watches all of them interact, he feels the overwhelming urge to leave quietly. Shikamaru, as expected, finds a spot where he can lie down and disregard everybody else. Chouji sits beside the genius, having a one-sided conversation about what he should have for dinner.
Neji and Shino, probably the only other people in the group he can stand to be with for a short while, find their own spots and proceed to make perfect imitations of statues. Ino, for some reason, seems to be mad at Sakura about something, judging from the way she keeps scowling at her direction.
Tenten and Kiba are planning some kind of welcoming party for Sakura while Lee's still making a complete ass of himself.
You can't escape highschool can you?
The only ones missing are of course, Naruto and Hinata. And if the stupid blonde was there too, then screw it all, he would take the one boat and get the hell out of there. Consequences be damned, they could all swim to the shore for all he cares.
But like clockwork, after a few minutes, they all manage to sit in a circle, with Sakura sitting opposite him.
"I'm sure you're all wondering," Sakura begins as she stands up, "why I've come back to Konoha. Well, it's about Hinata. And by association, Naruto."
"What's that idiot done now?" Kiba asks, fangs barred. The dog lover, along with Shino, had always been close to the Hyuuga heiress. Hinata never could leave an injured animal well enough alone so she was a regular at the Inuzuka veterinary clinic.
Sakura blushes as she tries to explain. How do you explain such a thing as your friends fucking? "They're a couple, and uh, they do couple stuff so—"
"Hinata's pregnant. Stop fucking around Sakura."
The look everyone throws at him— shock, disgust, and annoyance, amuse Sasuke. He'll never get why people want to dance around before getting to the point. This never made him popular with the group; in fact most of them have openly expressed what a bastard he is.
Not now though. They're too busy yelling what an asshole Naruto is, yelling at Sakura, yelling at each other.
Curiously, Neji is silent. He sits, with eyes closed and arms crossed. If Sasuke didn't know any better, it would look like the Hyuuga is meditating. That seems like something he would do, drown out the racket around him.
Maybe he should give meditating a try. Between the angry voices at night and the daily, nagging, worrying, and all around drama the people in his life provide, he is in desperate need of quiet. But right now, all he can do is stare out into the waters, turning everyone into background noise.
"How long?"
It's Neji.
He talks, calm and cool, like someone just asked him if he didn't mind waiting for his order (oh I'm sorry sir, can you wait while we wrap that up for you?) effectively quieting the rest. His face is void of emotions, like it normally is. Doesn't he care, Sasuke wonders. No, most probably he's just accepted his cousin's pregnancy as a product of fate.
"She just found out the gender of the baby, so I'd say around four to five months… It's a girl by the way." Sakura supplies, probably fishing from years of stored medical knowledge.
"A girl… she's going to be a spoiled little shit." Kiba says out loud, more for himself than anybody else, "And I'm personally gonna make sure of that."
"Look, the baby isn't the problem. It's Hinata and Naruto. She's too scared to tell Naruto because she's afraid that he'd leave her." At that, like him, everyone scoffs. "Yes, yes, Naruto would never do that. But the faster he finds out, the faster he marries Hinata."
"Damn well he should!" Ino cries indignantly from Sakura's side.
"So what are we doing here? Are we planning a baby shower?" Shino asks, his voice, too serious to be sarcastic.
Sasuke sighs, they weren't getting anywhere with this.
"The problem isn't so much Naruto not marrying Hinata, it's Hinata's father not allowing Naruto to marry his daughter. Neji, what's the worst case scenario?"
The Hyuuga closes his eyes thoughtfully. "Hiashi-sama may disinherit her and cut off all ties."
Sasuke notices Sakura cringe. She always did believe the best in people. "That's harsh. What would be the best case scenario?"
"Best case scenario, he might throw Hinata out," Neji says surely, gravely.
A hush falls over them, the reality of the situation setting in.
And here Sasuke thought his father was strict.
In the end, they decide that Hinata has to be the one to tell Naruto. How weird would it be if one of them just went up to him in the streets and said, "Hey dude, your girlfriend's pregnant. See ya.'"
Naruto would have a heart attack.
Sasuke chuckles as he imagines his bestfriends would-be bewildered expression. The idea does have its merits, and what Sasuke wouldn't give (okay, there are probably a lot of things he wouldn't give) for that.
About Hinata's almost certain state of homelessness, she's probably going to stay with the dobe anyway. And even if that doesn't pan out, like for some fucking reason Naruto flakes out on her, well then there are ten people in town who'll be willing to beat reason into his head.
This left one problem Sasuke's already foreseen from day one.
"Is that offer to stay at your house still open?"
The others left first (though Ino did so grudgingly), leaving the two of them still rowing to the other side.
Sasuke looks at Sakura, her arms crossed as if to guard herself, her eyes deliberately looking away, and of course, that tell-tale blush on her cheeks. He knows he shouldn't be her first choice.
Yamanaka would've gladly taken her on— if she wasn't living with Shikamaru. Naruto would, in a heartbeat, but then with Hinata, it would've been too cramped. Still, there were others. Tenten, Lee, maybe even Shino, if she could live with his outdoor insect farm.
And there is the case of the boyfriend. He definitely could help.
But she asked him first.
Him.
She needed him.
And Sasuke knows that. He exults in that.
"When should I pick you up?"
A/N:
Oh, but well, you know.
I whole heartedly thank everyone who took the time to review. It really made me write faster! True story.
Thanks to LilyVampire, Wrathan, That Guy, annesthetique (cool name, btw), phy, and ElevatedJewel. Thanks for the love, the fluffy love! Thanks also to this one person who reviewed and didn't leave a name so I can't give him or her a shoutout. Thanks though!
Anyway. As usual, leave a review people. Keep the love going.