(Naruto) Moonlight III
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People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.
-Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
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Dawn
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Sakura stares at the person approaching her bed. He’s close enough for her to see him properly but she doesn’t think he’d ever be close enough for her to understand what she’s seeing. His face is still recognizable, still his, but she finds herself seeing a stranger.
That’s probably because he’s a stranger.
“Sasuke?” Sakura whispers and that makes the illusion a reality. It is Sasuke, there is no doubt about it.
“See?” Naruto says from beside her. “Surprise number two.”
She barely hears him, still staring at the boy-no, now he’s a man-that approaches her wheelchair. Naruto waves in front of her, regaining her attention.
“He’s going to be helping me take you around. Of course, I don’t need any help, but Tsunade-baa-chan thought that maybe I should get a little for stairs and stuff like that.”
Or maybe she knows that Sasuke is, no matter what he’s done, still more trustworthy in these sorts of things. Sakura notices the small collar around his neck, ankles, and wrists. It is dark, a deep black, and looks metallic.
It’s a chakra absorber, probably, and is the only thing keeping Sasuke from running away again. The only thing that’s keeping him here in this room, listening to Naruto and pushing her wheelchair like a nurse.
She stares at him a little longer before she remembers the promise she made herself. She wouldn’t turn back into the fangirl, wouldn’t turn back into that weakling. The wheelchair is beside her bed and she slips into it before anyone could say anything.
“Sakura-chan, we’re only allowed to see the hospital grounds today but tomorrow, we can go even further,” Naruto tells her as he steps around her to get to the door and open it. Sasuke moves to push the wheelchair when she pushes it herself.
“I can get myself around,” she says, pushing the wheels. She’s hesitant for a few moments before she figures out how to handle it and pushes it confidently.
She can do it herself. She knows she can. Sasuke will see this and know that she has changed.
Ignoring Naruto’s protests, she pushes herself out the door and down the hallway. Naruto hovers around her, worried, until she finally yells at him.
“You’re in the way, Naruto! How can I get out if you won’t let me move? Do you want to lose some toes?” Naruto relaxes for a moment, dodging the path of her wheelchair and finally just leading the way.
“The garden is nice today, with all the flowers and there’s this turtle that’s huge and there’s ramen of course, for lunch!” Naruto says as he holds open the next door which lead to a flight of stairs. He’s preoccupied by his thoughts of lunch that he forgets for a moment that Sakura’s in a wheelchair.
“And I think I’ll eat five bowls today because…” Naruto looks back and notices Sakura isn’t following him. “Why aren’t you-Sakura-chan! I’ll help.” He climbs back up the stairs to her but before he can get any closer, Sakura’s chair is picked up from behind and lowered down the flight of stairs.
It’s Sasuke and for a few minutes she fears she’s fallen into a trap where she’ll become the weak one again. Then, when she reaches the landing, he lets go of her and lets her wheel herself out into the hallway.
It’s a slight acknowledgment but it’s all she needs.
-x-
“There is something you need to know,” Tsunade says to the three men in front of her. “Sakura’s parents are away, probably will be for a while. They’re having a second honeymoon and so…she’s alone in her house.”
Kakashi listens silently, his eye barely peeking over the orange book in his hands. He knows where this will go.
“What? But how will Sakura-chan take care of herself?” Naruto cries, worried. Sasuke just remains where he is, leaning against a tree. This doesn’t really concern him, considering he’s waiting for his trial and can’t do anything anyways.
“That’s why you’re here, idiot,” Tsunade growls. It is just too early to be dealing with Naruto like this. She glances at the girl in question, sitting under a tree nearby. Her throat tightens a little when she realizes just how rare a sight that will be soon. Another person she failed.
She composes herself and continues. “I need someone to look after her. Kakashi would be best,” Naruto protests for a moment but is silenced by a hand rising up, “but it is not very practical to have just him in charge of her. After all, he has other missions and duties to do besides taking care of her until she’s adjusted.”
Naruto glances at Kakashi, glaring at him silently because he can clearly not be trusted.
“I’d prefer to have someone else who’s intelligent and mature there, but none of my nurses can help right now and the other teams will arrive after a few days, which is not soon enough. I’d even have Uchiha help, except he caused this and I’m not letting him be near her any more than he has to be.” Tsunade stares at Sasuke for a moment, tensely, before closing her eyes and rubbing her forehead. “As much as this pains me to say it, Naruto will have to help.”
Naruto grins enthusiastically, jumping around.
Tsunade sighs. She knows she’s going to regret this.
-x-
Sakura’s waiting under a tree, staring up at the cerulean sky and forest green leaves. When the world is disappearing, colours jump out like they never did before.
“What’s taking them so long?” she wonders aloud as she stretches on the emerald green grass. They were only supposed to be getting her release forms.
“Sakura-chaaaaaaan!” Naruto yells and she sees him running quickly to her. Sasuke is trotting behind him, looking bored as he follows him. “Guess what?”
“What, Naruto?” She looks at him so she won’t have to look at Sasuke. Staring is a fangirl thing and she doesn’t want to fall to that level again.
“You’re going home tomorrow and I’m going to be taking care of you!”
Sakura stops talking, eyes wide and mouth open. She stays like that for a few moments before Naruto adds, “Well, Kakashi too…”
Sasuke glances at her, noticing her frozen expression.
“Sakura-chan?” Naruto finally sees her expression. “What’s wrong? Kakashi won’t hurt you! I’m here.”
That’s the problem, she thought, that’s the problem.
-x-
She stares at her mirror before she goes to bed, staring at herself.
No she realizes, this is not Sakura. She isn’t staring at herself but at a stranger. The Sakura she knows isn’t going blind. That Sakura doesn’t get confused or lost, doesn’t not recognize teammates-turned-strangers.
Instead, she is seeing a girl who has no idea who she is or what she will be. She’s staring at a girl that she now has to discover and relearn.
Sakura stares at herself in the mirror and wonders who she’s turning into.
-x-
Naruto comes late in the morning because he always leaves late in the evening. “It’s because I want to spend as much time as possible with you,” he tells her, grinning, when she asks. “After all, my Sakura-chan shouldn’t be home alone, when it’s dark.” What he doesn’t tell her is that he visits Sasuke every morning before visiting her.
Kakashi comes every now and then, early in the morning or late at night. Apparently he’s “busy doing something else-it’s a secret.” Sakura doesn’t quite believe he’s doing anything important-he might just be reading his porn again.
Between the two of them, her day is mostly filled. Occasionally, she has some alone time on her hands. When she finds a moment to herself, she catalogues things. Her room is purple and silver, green and blue. These are the colours she imprints into her mind, onto a fresh page of her memory, and with them goes her room. In that corner there’s a chestnut teddy bear, one that she’s had for years and her father gave it to her. In the other she has a small mahogany table and her floor is made of cherry wood. There’s a picture from her gennin days, with an album beside it.
While she tries to memorize everything, she doesn’t open the album or look at the picture. Sakura can’t bring herself to do it yet. Those sunny smiles and carefree grins might blind her eyes even more.
-x-
It’s a week after she’s returned home that Naruto brings Sasuke with him again. Tsunade is also there and she explains it.
“The council decided that because of his unique lineage and his skills that they would let him return to Konoha as long as he did some disciplinary work.” The blonde Hokage scowls as she says this, showing her disgust.
Naruto narrows his eyes, trying to take in the information and Tsunade sighs.
“Basically they just want him to remain a ninja-albeit one with a collar-because he’s the last Sharingan user there is and it would be useful to have him around. I decided that if they were going to be like that, then Uchiha would have to do a lot of work around to the village to make up for it.”
“That’s not fair for the teme! He’s not a pet!” Naruto grows angry. “Don’t worry, Sasuke, when I’m Hokage you won’t have to do what they want.”
Tsunade raises an eyebrow. “You want to go against the very people keeping Sasuke alive?”
Sakura turns to look at Sasuke. He is leaning against the wall, arms crossed and eyes trained on the ground. There is no anger in his stance. It’s almost as though he doesn’t care about his fate.
And for all she knows about him, now that he’s done his avenging, he probably doesn’t.
-x-
The first day they end up together, it’s awkward. Sasuke is deathly quiet, while Naruto is too loud. He’s trying too hard to keep the silence away.
They are sitting in her living room, Sasuke on a firm chair separate from them while Naruto’s sitting beside her on the couch.
“You should have seen it! Kiba was flying through the forest, crashing into trees, while I was still fighting the guy with the weird mustache.” Naruto punches the air, demonstrating his moves. “I was awesome, kicking him and then throwing a kunai and pinning him to the tree.”
Sakura watches him reenact the whole fight before nervously getting up herself. Her living room isn’t that large, with only enough room for two couches, a table, two lamps, and a small side table with a vase on it. He could easily bump into something. “Naruto, be careful, you’re going to-”
Crash!
“S-Sakura-chan…” The white vase lies shattered on the ground, the small fragments lying everywhere. She gapes at it for a moment before turning to Naruto angrily.
“You…idiot! Why were you running around in a room!” Slowly, she approaches the trembling boy. “You will buy me a new vase, right?”
“Y-yes.” Naruto nods furiously, terrified of his female teammate.
“Now, get the dustpan.” Without another word, he disappears into the kitchen and Sakura sits down on her seat again.
She glances at Sasuke, curious to see his reaction, and it almost hurts to see him staring blankly at the wall.
He really has changed.
-x-
“Kakashi-sensei,” Sakura asks, “Why do you keep disappearing, leaving me with Naruto?”
“You still have Sasuke, right?” He’s smiling again, something she hasn’t seen in a while.
“Yes, but he doesn’t really help. He just sits in the house all day, staring at the wall and letting Naruto destroy the house. Sasuke’s changed a lot…I think he’s only here because Tsunade would give him something worse to do otherwise.”
“Hmm…” Kakashi finishes putting on his shoes and stands in front of her. He’s still tall, so very tall in comparison to her and she has to look up to see his face. “Well, then, I guess this is what being a teammate’s about, right? Helping each other out?”
Sakura frowns, realizing what he’s implying. “I…I guess…but…” Helping Sasuke will take a lot of time. And effort.
She isn’t sure she can do that when she herself needs some help.
Kakashi leans down, until they are face to face. “You know, you’ve really grown up. All of you have. And you’ll continue to grow, so take your time. There’ll always be time.” He pats her head before leaving the house.
“And I,” he tells himself, “have to do my part.”
-x-
It’s still uncomfortable in the house after a few days. There are silences that can’t be filled and sharp-edged sounds. When Sakura realizes she has to go grocery shopping, she is almost relieved.
“Hey, I need to go buy some food,” she announces when they open the door at eight. Her black leather purse is hanging off one arm and she’s wearing her pale yellow sun-dress.
“Sakura-chan, you look pretty today!” Naruto glomps her, almost choking her, and she tries pushes him away.
“Are you trying to kill me?” She coughs a little, her hands on her knees, when he finally lets go. Straightening up, she looks past Naruto and sees Sasuke. “…hi, Sasuke.”
She doesn’t know how to talk to him any more. When she thinks about it, she never did in the first place.
“Can we buy ramen?” There is a hopeful look in Naruto’s eyes and Sakura sighs. It’s hard to refuse him when he looks at her like that.
“Fine, but only a little. You eat enough of it as is and it’s unhealthy.”
“Ramen could never be unhealthy! It’s the perfect meal.”
“Naruto, I’m a doctor. I know better.”
“But Sakura-chan-”
“Do you want me to not buy it?”
“So, what else do you want to buy?”
As they talk on the way to the market, a friendly banter going between them, it’s almost easy to forget that she’s going blind and Sasuke’s still with them. Maybe that’s it, the cause of the tense mood in her house. Naruto is someone she can get along with easily enough now days, considering they’ve gotten closer over the years. Sasuke, on the other hand, is someone they aren’t used to any more and he isn’t trying to reconnect with either of them.
Naruto just kept trying to bring Sasuke into their conversations and that is why, she thinks, the house is so awkward.
Yet, she hasn’t been trying to connect with Sasuke either.
When they reach the store, she turns and asks Sasuke “Is there anything you might want? Prison food probably doesn’t taste very good.”
He doesn’t say anything in response and she sighs. “Well, if you do want anything, just put it in the cart.”
Naruto’s already in the store, choosing flavours of ramen he wants. She follows him, putting fruits and vegetable into the cart so she eats something healthy every now and then. “Yes, Naruto, you’ll be eating vegetables. No, it’s not going to be some parsley on your ramen. And please go and get some bread-fiber is good for you.” When he doesn’t make a move, she tells Sasuke to go and get it.
It’s almost frightening that he does without saying anything.
When he’s out of earshot, she whispers, “Naruto, he’s scaring me. Just a little.”
“But he’s Sasuke…” Naruto notices her stare and changes his words. “That’s why we have to make him less scary. Do you think anyone else can do it?”
“Wow…you’re being awfully mature about this.”
“When he’s the teme again, he’ll owe me.”
She knew there’d be a catch. “Right, right…”
“And to make sure he turns back to normal, he’ll be doing all sorts of things that’ll annoy him.”
“Like what?”
“Just wait and see.”
When they are leaving the store, Sakura realizes that Naruto’s plan probably involved Sasuke doing all the chores. That’s why he had Sasuke carry the groceries.
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A/N: I think there should be about two or so chapters left…
*sighs*
Chapter Three