[Closed]

[sucker_punches]

Who: Riza Hawkeye (firebornfidelis) and Sakura Haruno (sucker_punches).
When: Preeeetty backdated to after this.
Where: Riza's pad.
Format: Paragraph.
What: Two women who are too alike for their own good.
Warnings: Not sure. Will add as the need arises.

Comments

[firebornfidelis]

Hayate barked once at the knock on the door, and Riza started. She still sat on the bed, hands on her Forge, as if no time had passed since their conversation. And as far as she was concerned, it may not have. She wouldn't have known how to answer if she had been asked how long it had been since she'd sent that last message to Sakura.

She stood, body heavy, and moved to the door. Mumbling a halfhearted command to Hayate to be quiet, she did not look down at the dog as she pulled open the door.

"Sakura." Riza knew she wasn't strong enough yet to attempt to put on a smile, as much as she would have liked to convince both Sakura and herself that she was well, so she kept a neutral expression. She could do that at least. "You didn't have to come." Her voice was weaker than she would have liked, but she tried to ignore it as she pulled the door open a little wider to allow the other woman into her apartment.

[sucker_punches]

Of course I had to come, she thought.

She didn't say that. What she said was, "It wasn't any trouble," because responding to a distressed friend never had been, to her. Never would be.

Sakura took the implied invitation inside, didn't bother to ask. Some things required a more delicate touch, required decorum and asking for permission and deference. Other things required a heavier, more forceful hand, and Sakura believed that this case required the latter. Riza hadn't been taking care of this, and Sakura only regretted that she hadn't done something earlier.

She turned to the other woman. "You're not fine," she observed, with soft certainty. A belated continuation of their previous conversation.

[firebornfidelis]

It was harder to pretend with another person in the room. Over the Forge, she could keep her voice fairly level so long as she wasn't asked any direct questions about him, but with Sakura's eyes on her in the dimly lit apartment, Riza couldn't really even bring herself to argue. She knew she was not fine, but she didn't really want anyone else to know that.

She looked at the younger woman for a moment and then looked away, closing the door for an excuse not to meet her eyes.

"I'll manage."

She held onto the doorknob, fingers tensing, squeezing the metal as if to break it in her white-knuckled hand. But after a moment she let go and faced Sakura.

"Would you like something to drink?" She turned away from the younger woman and moved toward the little cabinet to see if there were any clean cups. "I could make tea."

[sucker_punches]

Sakura watched Riza's movements around the space carefully; watched the valiant attempt at normalcy, tracked it like she'd track the movement of an opponent. Perhaps it was, in this case. "I'm not really thirsty, but I'll have some if you are."

It wasn't that she couldn't understand it, the act of going through the motions, of performing 'fine' for everyone else. Acting, every instant, trying to believe it herself because if she didn't believe it, no one else would. She'd been like that for weeks since Sasuke disappeared. Maybe she understood it too well, maybe she was something of a hypocrite for being here right now, but because she knew it so intimately she was easily able to recognize it in Riza. Maybe she didn't know how to correct it in herself, but she'd be damned if she wouldn't try to help Riza now.

"I don't think you're managing right now," Sakura remarked. Not pointedly, not a jab, just a simple observation.