AN (Important So Read It.): This starts out as NaruSaku, but it's mostly just mentioning it. No, I will not be bashing Sakura in this. Just because she.. can't fight very well and started out as a damn tool in the beginning of the series doesn't mean she deserves all the shit she gets. But, uh. This story is set in the good ol' USA. I dunno, whenever I try to write something set in modern times with no ninjas it just seems awkward to name the town/state/country/school/whatever Konoha. I also don't know enough about Japan to put the characters in their own place of origin. The town is fictional, though. I just made it up, but it's based on the town I grew up in. This is just to help me get comfortable and everything. So, with that out of the way... Second story, ho!
-The Good Stuff-
Naruto stared blankly at his past due water bill. He was in some sort of shock, even though he had seen it coming. After all, his phone had been cut off and the electricity was probably next. He could have easily lived without those for a while, but water was.. Well, it was just a necessity. He sighed and slid the bill across the table away from him. He tapped his fingers lightly against the wooden surface, thinking of what he should do.
Obviously, money was tight. His job wasn't cutting it anymore, but he couldn't just quit. Work was hard to come by and that was especially true for the tiny town he lived in. The place didn't even have a damn Wal-Mart. The man sighed and leaned back. He could probably pay the water bill if he did a few odd jobs, but rent was just around the corner. Stress was taking its toll on the blond. Things weren't always so hard. He used to live with his ex Sakura. She took care of most everything. All Naruto had to worry about was the Internet and cable bill, and the girl was surprisingly fine with that. Hell, she wanted it that way. That just meant Naruto could stay home more than her and take care of basic household chores, something he was pretty damn good at.
But Sakura had bigger dreams than Naruto, who still had no idea what he wanted to be in life. Sakura was gonna be a big-shot doctor and cut people open and save lives. Naruto was a question mark. So it was an easy decision for Sakura when she got a letter of acceptance from the University of North Carolina: go.
It wasn't like she was ready to just leave Naruto, though. In fact, it was almost like she wanted to stay. The blond had encouraged her to go. He wanted to see her go and become a famous... whatever she wanted to be. He honestly wasn't sure. The girl would often babble on about things he didn't understand. Hell, when he went to damn doctor, she did most of the talking for him. All he ever did was point to where he was hurting. But that was one of the grounding reasons Sakura was so hesitant. Yes, she loved Naruto. Yes, Naruto was an idiot. Thus, she pretty much mothered him. He wasn't so childish or clueless that he couldn't function, but the blond ignored a broken arm for a whole week for Christ's sake.
He fell on barbed wire and asked for a goddamn Band-Aid.
She also had been born and raised here. She had never left for too long and when she did it was for family visits or holidays; nothing that was even the least bit permanent. She felt like a baby bird being shoved out of the nest. She was scared, but excited.
Still, she tried to make excuses to stay, all of them being centered around Naruto. The blond would merely shake his head, refusing to argue. Sakura needed to go. There was nothing big around where they lived. The doctors that were there had all come from bigger cities with fancy degrees from places like Harvard and Johns Hopkins. But Sakura needed to cut ties. She knew already that communicating back and forth was going to be difficult. Letters would take too long, phone bills would skyrocket. Physical interaction would be damn near impossible. She'd be far too busy for any social activity, near or far.
So she sat him down, and to Naruto's surprise, she dumped him.
Well, “dumped” sounds a bit too harsh. More like, she put him on hiatus. Naruto had been shocked. He was hurt, but he understood. He had scratched his cheek and looked down at the floor, skipping ahead a few years to see what it would look like. Sakura would be gone for... a while, and since communication would be slim to none, he could see why she would make the choice she did. But Naruto decided he himself needed some middle ground rather than making things seem so gloomy for the both of them. After all, a relationship couldn't exactly work out when both parties included weren't even speaking to each other. Rather than the relationship being on hiatus, he ended it entirely. Sakura was about to protest when he explained himself.
“You'll be gone for, what, four years? Maybe even more? As much as I love you
now, I honestly can't say I'll still feel the same after years of not even talking to you. So we can't exactly just press pause here,” he had said.
Sakura felt like crying when he had said that, but she knew he had been right. For once.
They had decided to be friends and nothing more. Sakura paid for two months worth of rent, which was all she could do to help out the blond, and left the next day. Naruto had watched her drive off that morning, arms crossed over his chest while he leaned against the door frame. It hurt them both, but it had to be done.
And now, here he was. Alone in an apartment that used to be lively and full of noise. No real direction in life and no clear idea of where he should be going. He almost felt like a loser, which by social standards, he probably was.
Naruto laid his head down on the table, sulking in every sense of the word.
He figured he would have to sell some of the things he owned and get a cheaper apartment, but he was very seriously against the idea of doing that. Too much of Sakura was in that apartment. The girl left most of the furniture she had bought for the place. The sofa, the bed... Even the table he was sitting at. There was no way he was going to be able to move everything out. He couldn't afford to rent a moving truck and the only transportation he had was an old 1997 Honda Civic, which he's had since he was sixteen.
Naruto closed his eyes and decided to let silence settle in. He wasn't sure he was even able to think at that moment. Too much was happening at one time. A few months without Sakura and things were falling apart. His own insecurities were getting the better of him. The only thing he could do was try to get another job and just try.
- - -
Naruto awoke to complete and utter silence the next morning, which was odd. He did set his alarm clock, after all. So when the blond turned over in bed to check the time, he squinted.
Nothing.
A black screen with no numbers.
He tried to think back before assuming the worst. He definitely set the alarm, and he didn't accidentally unplug it or turn it off. Quickly, he tossed the blankets off of himself and grabbed the clock. He shook it for a second, then began mashing random buttons. When nothing happened, he yanked the cord and unplugged it, obviously not caring for safety procedures.
Naruto stomped into the living area and began furiously plugging the alarm clock into several different outlets. None of them worked. He dropped the clock on the couch and began flipping switches and pressing buttons on everything that was electrical, and when none of them responded, he groaned. “You gotta be shittin' me,” he muttered. “I didn't even get a damn notice.” Despite his own statement, he drew back all the curtains and searched through the small box in the kitchen Sakura kept important mail in, a tradition he decided he would continue himself. He pulled out several bills and, sure enough, there it was.
He looked over the bill, trying his best not to rip it apart. Instead, he slammed it on the kitchen counter and straightened himself. He stared at it a bit longer, then reached over for the sink and lifted the knob. When water shot out from the faucet, he sighed with relief. “At least the water company is merciful,” he muttered to himself, turning off the water. He got a shower after hanging up the electric bill on the refrigerator with the water bill and got dressed. He had work, but only until noon. As soon as his shift ended, he would begin searching around for another job.
- - -
“Why are we
here? There's
nothing here.”
Suigetsu tried to ignore his friend's complaining. That was all Sasuke did lately. Maybe the brunette was getting tired of his job, or maybe he was just tired of the current situation they were in. If it were the latter, Suigetsu couldn't really say anything. He hated it, too. When it came to movies and who he was going to be working with, Uchiha Sasuke was annoyingly picky. Scouting for talent usually took a long while, but it was dragging out this time. The funding was there, the equipment was ready. All they needed was the love interest.
Tons of actors and actresses stepped up to the challenge, but Sasuke turned them all down. Whoever the person was, they had to look a certain way. Act, move,
feel a certain way, and Sasuke just wasn't seeing it anywhere. Even though this made his job harder and pissed him off, Suigetsu didn't hate Sasuke for it. Sasuke called the shots, even though he was just an actor. He provided over half of the funding and helped with paper work. Hell, scouting was the difficult part and the Uchiha obviously did all of the work there. All Suigetsu had to do was drive.
“We've looked every where else. Why not here?”
“No one here is going to want to play this part.”
“Why? Because it's a sleepy little town that's mostly trees?”
“Yes.”
He understood where Sasuke was coming from, but they had already spent a little over two months searching. It wouldn't hurt to look.
“You know, Sasuke. You gotta dig through the dirt to get to the diamond.”
“How horribly cliché.”
Suigetsu laughed and turned into a parking lot for a fast food restaurant. Once parked, he pulled the key from the ignition and leaned back. He looked over at Sasuke with a blank expression, watching as the man pinched the bridge of his nose. Sasuke hated his job, but he did it. Suigetsu didn't bother to ask why anymore. Sasuke always said he didn't know. The bright haired man could feel the other's stress roll off onto him, though. When Sasuke was stressed, so was Suigetsu. He assumed it was a silent agreement between the two of them. Suigetsu was paid more than anyone else and that was probably because he had to double as Sasuke's counselor.
With that thought in mind, Suigetsu scratched the side of his nose and unbuckled his seat belt. Reluctantly, Sasuke did the same, and both men stepped out of the car and closed their doors. Sasuke wasn't too thrilled about eating what is basically a heart attack, but he was hungry enough to overlook it.
Sasuke sat down at a table beside the door while Suigetsu went to order for them. A headache had found its way into the Uchiha's head, and he sighed. He slid his sunglasses on and leaned against the window, trying to recall a day when his head didn't hurt. The sound of kids laughing at the other end of the restaurant and people chatting all around him only worsened his headache, and he considered going back out to the car, but Suigetsu tapped his shoulder before he even finished the thought.
“What? Where's the food?” the man hissed, glaring at the other through his shades. Suigetsu sat down and pointed at the front counter. Sasuke let out an aggravated sigh and turned his head to looked towards the front of the restaurant.
His face softened, and he could almost hear Suigetsu's smug grin.
He was naturally blond, or so his eyebrows indicated. He also had blue eyes, bright enough to catch anyone's attention. His skin was tanned, but naturally. Sasuke could tell these things. The only real flaw were the scars on his face, but even those managed to make the man more attractive. Yep, no two ways about it. He was definitely what Sasuke was looking for, and as said Uchiha rubbed his hand over his chin in though, Suigetsu spoke quietly.
“Think he'll say yes?”
“I doubt it,” Sasuke said gruffly. “He looks kinda... I don't know. Innocent?”
Suigetsu made a confused face and looked back to the blond at the counter. He did have a certain childish nature to him, but books couldn't be judged by their covers. Either way, it wasn't easy to get someone to agree to a part, especially if they weren't experienced actors. What if he was too nervous or shy? What if he just simply couldn't act? Suigetsu pressed his lips together and looked back to Sasuke. He rested his cheek in his palm and smiled.
“We'll just have to ask him and act like it's no big deal.”
“It is a big deal, though, idiot. That's like saying the Hindenburg wasn't a tragedy.”
“Fine, fine. You got a point. But money is a big deal, too.”
Suigetsu had a point. Everyone wants money. Considering where the blond was working, money could play a big part in the matter. It always did, but when it came to inexperienced nobodies, it was what tipped the scale in Sasuke's favor.
After giving it some thought, Sasuke stood from the table and took off his sunglasses. Suigetsu blinked and watched as the Uchiha laid his shades on the table. “I'll talk to him and ask when he gets off,” the brunette said. Suigetsu nodded and leaned back, draping his arms over the back of his seat.
- - -
Naruto handed a bag of food to a customer and quickly turned to grab another bag of food from the cook in the back. He set it on the counter and looked up. It was almost out of nowhere, but a dark-haired man was leaning against the counter, smirking rather confidently. The left corner of Naruto's mouth tugged upwards into a small sneer, one golden eyebrow lifting questioningly. A few awkward seconds passed, and Naruto looked at the receipt on the bag.
“Are you the one who ordered the number six--?”
“Yeah,” the man said. He straightened and grabbed the bag as Naruto slid it towards him.
The blond waited for the man to walk away, but he didn't.
“Uh, the food's already been paid for,” he said, smiling nervously. The other seemed to be studying him, sizing him up. Just as Naruto was about to ask him if he had heard what he said, the man reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. Naruto frowned.
“It's been paid for. By your friend, I think.”
“I know,” the other said, a bit of annoyance in his voice. He pulled out a card and slid his wallet back into his pocket, but didn't give the blond the card just yet. “Are you interested in making some extra money?”
Naruto's eyes widened for a moment. He stared at the dark-haired man for a moment, then nodded. The other smiled and leaned on the counter once again.
“When do you get off work?”
Naruto glanced at his watch.
“In about an hour.”
The man nodded and held out the card for the blond. Tentatively, he grasped it and brought it closer to himself to see it only had a name and number. No company name or employer or job position. Just a name and number. The man spoke.
“My friend and I have to go check into a hotel. When you're ready to talk, just call and we'll meet up somewhere.”
Pale fingers gripped the bag and removed it from the counter top. Naruto, unsure of what to think, slid the card into his pocket and watched the man for a moment. The brunette merely smiled once again and turned, walking towards the door. The other, his “friend,” stood and shot a grin towards Naruto, then followed behind the darker haired man.
Naruto adjusted the visor cap on his head, scowling. God, he hated that thing. It was sketchy, but money was something he wasn't able to turn down at the moment.
He sighed and handed another customer their food.
AN: Sorry it's short, but Chapter 2 is on the way. Also, tell me. I am new here. How does one acquire a, how you say, BETA? I'm not illiterate, but when I write and type I tend to skip over words and make spelling mistakes. That's what a BETA does here, right? Fix the author's fuck ups?
Rates and reviews are greatly appreciated.
