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Dissolving

By: KrickItat
folder Naruto › General
Rating: Adult +
Chapters: 3
Views: 1,188
Reviews: 31
Recommended: 0
Currently Reading: 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
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Thursday is a Good Day

took a little bit longer then I thought to get this chapter out.

but hey I'm doing better then I was
review replies at the end ^_^


Dissolving
Chapter 2: Thursday is a Good Day
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Tragic things happen, you think you do everything in your life to prevent tragedy but in reality you don’t. We don’t like to think of the tragic things that can happen to us so we do nothing to prevent them. Sometimes its just common sense, if you do this then something tragic will happen. But we forget as adults that common sense is rarely something children are born with, it’s our job to teach it to them.

Maybe they have no common sense because we lack it ourselves…how can you teach someone something that you know nothing about?

“A tragic accident….Sakura san…it was an accident……there was nothing we could do.”

The words that had been repeated over and over for the last three days were finally drawing to a conclusion. They stood hand in hand pretending to be a family as the small coffin was lowered into freshly turned earth. All Sakura could remember was the overwhelming scent of cut grass and churned earth.

She stepped through the door and stared down at her hands, the dirt and sweat had left her palms smudged. She forgot to take of her shoes at the door Her heels clomped across the clean kitchen floor as she placed them under the sink…washing the dirt away. She heard knocking at the door and she reached for her apron pulling it over a sensible black skirt and a dark grey shirt. She heard Sasuke greeting guests as she twisted around to turn the faucet off, she went into the living room to see her mother setting dishes of food out on the dinning room table. Teichi sat in a chair to himself in the corner staring at the pictures on the mantle, Sakura placed her hand on his shoulder and squeezed reaching up to fiddle with the ribbons of his new hitae-ate.

Again she heard those words “A tragic accident……the boy couldn’t swim……I heard it took them two days to find the body.”

She shut out the voices as low murmurs in the back ground, she looked for Sasuke but he had disappeared probably into his study to sulk with a glass of sake. She had seen him here so likely they were commiserating together, sharing sake and secret kisses for comfort. So Sakura stood in the middle of the room shaking hands and thanking relatives and neighbors for their meager comfort.

The scent of flowers was overwhelming and she felt herself getting faint and headachy in the late afternoon heat. She sat down by Teichi her hand in his hair comforting her more then him, she had a good view down the hallway and she stared at the closed study door the sound of late afternoon cicadas buzzing around the room. She heard her mother at the front door promising to return plates and dishes. Why do people always bring food to a wake? Is it supposed to be some form of comfort? She supposed they thought they were sparing her the need to cook,Sakura had no appetite for food or anything else so it would be giving her no comfort.

The final mourners left but Sasuke stayed in his study and Sakura sat staring at the door. Her mother took Teichi by the hand and led him to bed closing the door softly behind them, this must have been Sasuke’s signal because the door to his study opened and the two of them stepped out.

She had heard that the night of her birthday that two of them had fought. Naruto had been seen around his usual haunts sulking and pouting and not his usual chipper self, Sasuke had spent more time at home. It had surprised her she had never really noticed either one of them acting like this before, but she really didn’t want to know what they had fought about.

But it was obvious now that they had made up. Naruto walked past her and said goodnight. Sakura waved dispassionately and turned away biting her thumb as she gazed into the heart of a flower placed on a side table. She heard Sasuke come up behind her. She flinched when he stroked her hair. He smelled like Naruto and she thought she would gag.

“The heat is getting to me, I think I’m going to go lay down for a while.”

She left Sasuke staring at the chair where she had been sitting.

She stopped in the door to their bedroom, then moved on two doors down the hall, she pulled back blue covers with kunai printed across the cover, slipping between cool sheets that still smelled like the shampoo she used to wash his hair every night before bed.


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Life goes on, no matter if you want to roll under the covers and die, life continues its march onward and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Work still has to be done, the wash on the line needs to come down before it rains, patients need to be seen, and papers need to be filed. She rolls over in a bed far too small for her ignoring the horrible pain in her neck. She replaces the covers just so, tucking them into the side making a perfect seam. Taking the time she righted toys and took out the trash…for the last time, she closed and locked the door.

She thought about pushing a dresser in front of it just to be sure.

She was thankful her mother had done the dishes the night before; she padded into the kitchen and realized that she had been wearing her shoes this whole time. She pulled them off and threw them into a corner and decided to start breakfast for the day. She set the last table setting just as Sasuke came back from his early morning run.

He walked past her, grabbing a water from the fridge, then headed off to their bathroom for a shower. She heated the coffee and left out a cup for him, sitting down to enjoy her fruit and yogurt while Teichi walks in blurrily shoving food into his mouth with no seeming concentration.

She leaves out a plate of food for Sasuke and makes sure the coffee is on one last time, passing Sasuke in the hall as she headed for her own shower. She was grateful to take off the clothes from yesterday, her bra was sticking uncomfortably to her skin and the black fabric was wrinkled horribly as the day began to heat up even at this early hour.

She took her time getting ready knowing that Teichi would get himself out the door, Sasuke had insisted that he keep going to school after the funeral was over. A week off was more then enough he said, and anymore would just ruin his grades and make it harder for him to catch up. She had left money on the counter for him to buy a lunch this afternoon, so she had no worries.

She herself would be going back to work although Sasuke had said nothing on this front, She would be working the mission desk which promised long boring hours of shuffling papers, for a break she might go up to the rookery and check on the messenger birds. She served as a quasi vet for the avians, most of her training had been done with animals so this was a small chore for her.

She stopped in the kitchen and grabbed a box removing some of the carefully covered dishes from the refrigerator and putting together her weekly package. She was just thankful that she didn’t have to cook it this week, with so many people bringing food yesterday it was a relief to get rid of at least some of it.

Every Thursday started this way, But today she took more time getting out the door. It was only a half day for her anyway and she doubted any one was expecting her too soon at headquarters if at all after yesterday. Putting on her shoes and grabbing her things She headed over to a somewhat seedier side of town. Houses were patched as well as possible instead of repaired correctly, the alleys were a jumble of junk and old refuse, graffiti covered the walls but he had always called it home and refused to move away even though he could afford better now.

She walked up the steps that creaked horribly and wobbled for just that one terrifying moment every time then settled back. She had been urging him to get his landlord to fix it for the longest time but he didn’t want to cause a fuss so he just used the window or ignored it. It didn’t really matter anyway.

She knocked on the door unsurprised when he opened the door half asleep, even though he knew to expect her. He did it every time, always shocked that she would come by to see him, maybe some of his disbelief came from the fact that she no longer lectured him when he opened the door clutching a cup of instant ramen, or screamed at him to get ready or that he was sleeping too late.

He stared at her when he opened the door smiling weakly at her as he squinted in the bright morning sunlight. She offered the box to him silently knowing he would know what it was by now. He smiled and stuttered trying to draw her into a conversation asking her inside, offering to share and have breakfast but she just waved and walked away. Again he stood outside the door in his bare feet staring at her as she carelessly waved to him over her shoulder, the box clutched tightly in his hands.


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Naruto had always liked Sakura’s cooking, he had never really cared much for “home cooked” meals before. Most of the time when he bought the boxes that said Homemade they usually didn’t taste that good; either too salty or over cooked, so after the first few times he became somewhat skeptical as to the validity of “home cooked” meals. But buying homemade food at the store and getting a meal cooked especially for you by someone who loves you were too different things.

No, Naruto had no illusions, what Sakura brought him were leftovers lovingly cooked for her family, not him; carelessly tossed his way like scraps of unused love to a dog.

It tasted like dust.

He ate every bite.

When Sasuke left in the early morning hours he would sit at his small kitchen table and pick at this treat shoving large bites into his mouth as he stared down at the table top. All this food for just one person meant he could make it last for days. He chewed slowly savoring every last bite of the sweet dumplings, curry, or tiny red sausages whatever meal she had made that week and still had leftover’s when it came time to bring him some.

She had always called him a human trash compactor.

He smiled wryly setting the dishes down and pulling back the cover; he was surprised at the assortment but dug in happily. He hadn’t expected her to stop by this week after everything that had happened, he had lain awake at night thinking about it, but she had been there just like always. Sakura would never let him down even on her worst day.

Thursday was always a good day.


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Naruto stood outside the admin. building clutching his latest mission report in his fist unwittingly crumpling the paper as he checked through the screen to see if she was there today.

Fuck

It seems some people found solace in working and Sakura seemed to be one of these people, she sat ramrod straight in her chair, looking steadily at the jounin in front of her as he stumbled through an explanation as to why his report was not yet ready. Naruto snickered briefly remembering when Kakashi had first found out what a Nazi she could be when it came to filing the reports. She had glanced through his report, taken out her red marker and started marking up the whole page where he had misspelled and forgotten to include what she considered vital information.

She had then handed it back to him and told him he had till five o’clock to bring it back in……he hadn’t been pleased.

Everyone by now knew what days Sakura worked the mission desk and had to come to fear them, Naruto’s stance actually was not that unusual, just over his shoulder two captains were going back through their paperwork hurriedly fixing any mistakes. He had also seen many ninja stroll up to the front door today thinking she wouldn’t be there, then just as quickly turn right back around. There were some who were unlucky enough to have been caught in her glare, and she motioned them over before they could escape.

Naruto wasn’t worried about her grading his reports, after messing up horribly the first few times he had learned to do them right. It had helped that Sakura had stood directly over his shoulder several times correcting him while he glared and grumbled.

“Tsunade-sama does not have much time on her hands, we were wasting so many hours trying to figure out all of your mission reports and file them correctly. If the captains would just do it right in the first place it would save us time that we could use doing CONSTRUCTIVE things like requisition orders for new weapons, and funding paperwork for aid groups and research, and making sure you ass holes get paid.” She had punctuated this speech with many light ‘taps’ to the back of his head as she emphasized her point.

That had been years ago but that didn't mean she didn't expect him to do a good job on his report either and that she would chew him out just as viciously as all the others.

Sakura seemed to be of the opinion that the back-up to the whole system seemed to be the fault of the individual captains so she had initiated a new filing system then used her brute strength and scary demeanor to enforce it. She had made some bad enemies……but most people were just terrified of her.

He stood there and watched as she finally dismissed the poor fool in front of her, taking a deep breath he came around the wall shuffling up to the desk with one hand in his pocket. He slapped the now wrinkled and sweat stained form in front of her grinning widely at her as she glanced over it. With her head down he let his eyes roam over her, Her hair was pulled back in a pony tail and her bangs lay over her face gently caressing her high cheek bones, he frowned when he noticed the dark marks under her eyes and the gaunt look to her face. She hadn’t been eating well.

She stood up and walked to the filing cabinets on his right pulling out a drawer without talking to him, he leaned close and pretended to look over her shoulder, doing his best to get a scent of her hair. She always smelled so good.

She waved him away when she sensed him getting too close, glaring at him over her shoulder her lip stuck out in that way that told him she was irritated with him. He wanted to bite her lip, rub his thumb over it and feel how soft it was.

He had asked Sasuke about it once without even thinking about it, he had been lying in bed and it had been on his mind and without even knowing what he was asking it had popped out of his mouth. Sasuke had rolled over and glared at him before lifting his foot and roughly kicking him out of bed.

Naruto had rolled himself out of the covers on the floor to watch Sasuke pulling on his shirt and reaching for his shoes. He sat on the cold floor in his boxers and pouted, regretting what he had said but unwilling and unable to apologize.

Sasuke had stopped with his hand on the doorknob; Naruto could feel the burn of his glare even though he didn’t turn around. “How the hell should I know!?”

He had further punctuated the end of his sentence by slamming the door behind him, rattling the wall. Naruto flinched when their last team picture taken together fell off the shelf, breaking the frame.

Naruto had crawled back into bed, rubbing his lips, wondering what it would be like to be the one to kiss her.

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He was finally sent over to the new mission desk, talking Tsunade into giving his team a harder mission then the C-class they had been doing recently, using all of his boyish charm to get his way. When he passed by Sakura again he waved and said good-bye but she just stared at him and turned away as if she hadn’t seen him.

Naruto was dismissed from the administration building, a new B class mission scroll in hand. He paused on the last step and lifted his hand to his eyes to block out the sun. He saw Sasuke coming around the corner and before he could see him and come over Naruto turned away and headed in the opposite direction.

It was just the glare in his eyes that made his eyes water up.


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Review replies!

Raeishi: Thanks! And yes kids do pick up on those things they are pretty canny that way. And I figure Sasuke has always been pretty obtuse when it comes to love. I think you saw this chapter that the relationship between Naruto and Sakura is a fairly odd one.

Bookword51485: Sasuke does know that he is missing something BIG in his life, its not that he isn't trying it's that he doesn't know where to start or if it will be the right thing to do so he doesn't try at all. Most of the problems between sakura and sasuke are miscommunication. I'll get more into the relationship between sasuke and naruto in later chapters. But as you can see its not like sakura has NO feelings for naruto, she hasn't completely turned against him.

and your right alot of it is her fault, but then again like i said no one is blameless maybe sasuke regrets things now and wants to try to make it better but he did some pretty terrible things. Its hard to get over that kind of hurt, even if sakura can still admit she loves him.


D: Being an adult and being told i can write adult themes is actually a big complement. I know thirty year olds who post here and write like 15 yr olds. I'd like to think i add a little something profound to naruto fanfiction, i want people to be able to read my stories and look at a character in a way they never could before (sakura bashers I'm looking at you)

Thats why i have tried very hard to make everyone at least a little bit guilty here, when it comes to love more often then not it isn't just any one thing that you do wrong. Can we say that sasuke obviously loves sakura? But he wonders why he should have to chose. Naruto obviously wants something that he thinks he cant or shouldn't have.....is he torturing himself because he dosn't feel he deserves sasuke or does he really want sakura? sakura Is making herself a martyr but does she really need too? yet its obvious she still loves both sasuke AND naruto

and as for Sai *wink* i think hes gunna be just a friend in this one. might try to throw some action in there though so look forward to that.

Poornmiserable: i love it whenever you review....but you know how much i love you and want to have your babies. Sasuke is clueless....he can't figure out his boyfriend and his wife is totally in another time zone. He doesn't know what he is doing wrong so he just keeps fucking everything up...poor guy i ought to give him a break at some point.
Ahh you knew i wouldn't let it end at that point...i'm addicted to happy endings...well happy enough.

Raysha: Glad you like it ^_^
Taskinst: I like you too

JennJenner: Glad you started reviewing again, see i told you just give me enough time and i will give you GOLD. Don't worry i wont make it TOO sasunaru-ey. Cause remember this is a sasusaku fic. -_*
And i will try to keep the angst to a reasonable level...thats what's different i'm not usually an angst dealer.

J-pop princess: *fangirl squee of doom* ok now that that is out of the way *gazes adoringly* Yes i thought it was about time we had a more grownup story with real characters instead of two dimensional...i mean those can be fun and the romping sex is a blast. But quiet pieces can be nice...plus this story was begging to be done....well done right.

Zannen: i don't know about thought out.....just kinda sat down and typed it out. As for well written...mwa ha ha ha ok my beta would tell you a totally different story.

Itarishun: ahhh the experience of being in many bad relationships FINALLY comes in handy

Dirtyangel: i tried not to make narutos POV too tear worthy...after all he is a pretty sunny guy. He would smile even if his heart was broken. I swear its just the sun in my eyes. Sakura seems to be a character that comes easily to me, i have always related better with her.
I actually used to really REALLY hate her.

To everyone else: thanks for reviewing, I love you too and here is your update.
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