Warnings: Mafia AU (i am trash) also, alcohol, swearing, the usual, violence, drug use. Thank you heaps!!
*#?
SasuSaku Month 2017 – Day 8 – Heartbreak Hotel
Loud vomiting and actually horrendous sounds of the small pinkette emptying her stomach have Uzumaki Naruto, who is high as a plane, laugh in a moronic display of friendship and drunken and drugged payback for unrequited love.
“Saaaaaku – hic! – cha-a-a-n. Get ouuut. Wanna piss.”
“BAKA NARUTO! AIN’T GONNA GET ME OUT OF HERE!” Another loud belch and Sakura is nearly half-dead on the floor, Naruto laughing and forcefully trying to enter as Sakura cleans her mouth on the dirty motel floor.
It’s a party after all – you get to live there only once.
And the circle of heartbreak never ends.
“Shit, Sakura-cha-an, c’mere.” He notices the spent strawberry haired girl clutching at her stomach on the floor, as he goes to the heart of the party after leaving her in his car and grabs a bottle of water, neverminding the sleepy bartender.
The Moon is clear and Sakura Haruno is somewhat of a nuisance in this moment even to herself, as she starts loudly sobbing, Naruto’s calm and calloused hands reaching over to comfort her – always Naruto’s.
Because the circle of heartbreak never ends.
Shino loves Kiba, but Kiba loves Hinata, and Hinata loves Naruto, who loves Sakura. And Sakura loves Uchiha Sasuke.
It’s like a curse, his name. And he looks like one of those proud samurai as he exits his class, never stooping so low to talk to anyone from their Konoha University. Black is his hair and eyes and jeans and wallets and watches and soul. Black. There is nothing there, but Sakura loves him. So, so much. Needs him. As if air she breathes isn’t enough she would rather breathe the poison that comes near with being with Sasuke.
It’s ironic, that Hinata’s birthday party is in the Heartbreak Hotel, hotel known for the most suicides in the town. She wanted to be one of those numbers on the platform which counts. Yet she really doesn’t want to know that Mebuki cried. As Naruto drives, she skates once more over what she knows is real, not figment of her imagination, about her Dark Prince, her Uchiha. Pathetic, she thinks, but thinks at least.
He hates sweets, especially hanami dango.
Despises the human race.
Would rather be dead himself.
His family is the most powerful mafia in Asia.
And he’s so harsh towards anyone who tries to come near him, who tries to help. Because ever since her father, Kizashi, died on a raid together with Madara Uchiha, they have not even to pass each other a single glance on the busy street. Fugaku Uchiha’s orders. And love each other they did? Did they? Or is Sasuke that good at playing heartless? He doesn’t even try to sneak her a letter. To wire some connection, or accidentally touch her in the hallway, to pass drunkenly after her at a party.
Fuck.
She starts crying again. And Naruto stops driving, halfway to nowhere and moves over to hug her. Because Sakura is weeping, wailing, and she can’t stop. She just cries, cries her heart out because she thought she was loved, wanted, needed. And Sasuke obviously didn’t any of that.
But how can it be that hard for her – whom only lost Kizashi – when Naruto lost both Minato and Kushina when Obito Uchiha gone rogue? She doesn’t want to hear any of that, because she told Naruto that the Boss, Madara, executed Obito himself for breaking one of his rules. No civillians dead on a job.
Sakura was already stopping to shake with harsh sobs, when they heard loud bangs on the back of the car, Naruto getting his gun out and low, as someone presses their hand in the harsh flash through the car window. Naruto is as fast as the other man, who wields a same gun.
And the only man with a gun like that is Sasuke.
She doesn’t realize she said his name out loud as he hurriedly enters the car and shouts at Naruto to start driving, somewhere, anywhere, ignoring Sakura completely.
And she felt like a high schooler again.
Naruto swerved up the highway, there was no one actually chasing them, yet they all felt something strong and inevitable pull them into unknown and uncomfortable silence. In car were two men – once brothers. Two people – once lovers. Sometimes Sakura disagreed with reality, and as she would frantically search for Sasuke’s frowning forehead and kind yet hardened eyes in the small mirror she would find peace, and that was the most important in that moment even if the circle of heartbreak never ends, not really.
“What the fuck did you do this time, teme…?” Naruto’s voice is still laced with the afterthoughts of weed, but Sasuke ignores the endearment. “It doesn’t matter-”
“OF COURSE IT FUCKING MATTERS TEME.”
Sasuke just shuts up, his eyes falling back to the bottom of the car, his legs becoming very interesting all of a sudden. “We had orders. We killed Kawarama and Hashirama Senju. Also-”
“YOU DID WHAT?”
Sakura couldn’t stop the amazement in her voice. Not really. Hashirama. The Hashirama – Madara’s sworn enemy, and Sasuke just comes in and sweeps him off his feet. How?
“That is a story for another time.” He says, ignoring Sakura’s obvious wish for storytelling. As the last syllable leaves his mouth, Naruto harshly spits, “What also, Sasuke?”
“I also murdered Hyuuga Neji and am running away in your car as far as I can, since I think they didn’t see me leave. I ran too fast, stole a bike beforehand.”
“You are a piece of work, Uchiha. You murder Hinata’s brother on her birthday.”
“I don’t care. I killed Hashirama and Kawarama in one night. That is one Hyuuga and two Senju. Nothing more.”
“Were you always this heartless?” Sakura can’t stop it after she hears the robotic coldness that migrates in the air back to the surface of Sasuke’s mouth. “Did you always kill people with such ease?”
A long silence. Only the thin night air, chilly and relaxing, as it enters the lungs of the corrupted youth, and revving of Naruto’s quality engine, the dark black Kitsune with its blaring orange lights is a true beauty.
“Dumb. It’s just another job. I do as Madara says.”
They don’t say anything for a long while, except Naruto, who breaches the wall first by simply saying that he will guide Sakura-chan home, and then the two of them will talk. Sakura protests, but shuts up quick as Sasuke’s cold eyes whip hers, she feels like a banshee at the hands of a deaf man, cannot haunt him or harm him.
“Here we go,” the blonde whispers softly, in some way affectionatelly, since Sasuke has no words to spare. But actions he has lots. As she exits the car, Sasuke does too, before Sakura bids Naruto her goodbyes. Sasuke stops her in her tracks, and she melts, the foreign warmth that his touch brings, the feeling of being alive when everything around her dies. She can’t fall into him – there’s no time to waste at four AM.
“Pack your things if you want to leave tonight. When I say leave, I mean that you are dead to Mebuki. Details will be written on the fridge in twelve hours. Itachi and Shisui will pick you up and if you don’t want to return without you. If you do, know that we will never set foot in Asia as long as we live. I give you twelve hours to think. You game or not?”
Without thinking, without any kind of heartbreak as she waves to Naruto and kisses Sasuke’s forehead without a single regret she whispers, “I’m game.”
Tag: fanfic
SasuSaku Month 2017 – Day 6 – Thank You
AU in which Sasuke travels for a year than comes back to Konoha for the Ootsutsuki mission
*****
Long, brutal winters. Sakura spent them all alone. All at once, she cracks.
Tears flow. The world is white.
Is it snow?
More like artfully replaced sanity with other people’s presence. She passes the street, Ichiraku shining brightly among the moonlight, warm lives talking to each other. Small ripples in the calm lake of hers disturb her.
She cries small tears without sobs and returns to the lonely apartment she lives in. Some days that apartment is not so lonely, filled with laughter of Naruto’s, Yamato’s and Kakashi’s bickering and Sai’s horrible jokes (which get better by the day) and Ino’s nagging.
Some days even the Shadow Hokage visits her.
He is busy with his travels – she knows – but her heart is more selfish than that. It yearns and hurts and Sakura can’t take it some days, but she will wait. The world is more important than her. The pain of knowing it is another story, yet as the soft shimmer and the waft of ramen call her grumbling stomach after a late shift in the hospital, she ignores it as she leaves home, to spend her New Year’s alone. Kakashi’s inauguration will be taking place in the spring, leaving her lonelier for one friend. Naruto married Hinata, but the good thing is that her Master is going to share the Hokage seat and the office with Kakashi, the future Rokudaime.
The state of affairs is mingling constantly. Shikamaru and Temari are to be married soon, leaving Sakura, Chouji and Tenten the only single ones. As Sakura tramples the snow, she is lightly smiling about the fact that Sai is now a taken man, courtesy of her loud blonde friend.
The dark-skinned Kumo kunoichi is eyeing her chubby friend, so Sakura wonders how much will pass until only she and TenTen remain the only single ones who are not taken or married. TenTen will never get over Neji, the beautiful kunoichi training day after day, looking wistful at the weddings of her friends.
And Shino.
How did she forget Shino.
Her house awaits her like she left it, a bottle of wine in the cooler, perfectly clean. In some part of her brain, a strange loneliness appears and a wish for her apartment to be even messy or visited by someone is stronger than ever.
The fireworks will begin in an hour. It’s a New Year, after all. Another year of peace, without a pesky war or some other issue that would disrupt the Alliance. An ocassional missing-nin or a dramatic criminal who tries to make a name for themselves. Nothing special, really.
She takes the wine glass, filling it to the verge of spilling, slams the bottle down her throat instead. She doesn’t drink to get drunk – always had a too good of a tolerance for that – only for the sweet sourness on the back of her throat as she thinks about Uchiha Sasuke, the rebel, the shadow, a ghost of Konoha. Somebody who thanked her at the gates, seen only a few times after, breaking her heart over and over.
Thank you.
It meant;
I love you.
I’m sorry.
I will miss you a lot.
I am so lucky to have you.
She aches to tell him, no, to shout to him and to scream and yell and kiss and be prideful of, because I love you Sasuke!
Chugs the glass down. Pours another. Fireworks go off, and she doesn’t bother looking at them – just starts crying, and small, cold body is now overcome with sadness why am I like this she begs why am i so alone, and nobody screeches back to her.
She sobs, scared and small, and something whooshes past the cold air of the opened window – too fast for her to open her eyes and register it.
If he was an enemy, she’d be dead. But instead a gentle, calm hand guides her face upwards, to his, voice soft, yet raspy and deep as fresh as if it were straight from her memory.
“Wipe those tears.”
“Sasuke…” He stands before her, the dim room not doing him justice, his coat still covered in a small array of shiny snowflakes and afterthoughts of mud. He closes the window, murmuring something about her carelessness as she wipes her eyes harshly. “Sasuke-kun… you didn’t mention anything about visiting! Why now?”
“Hn. Do I need a reason to?”
“I guess not.” She whispers softly as he settles himself a few decimetres away from her. She physically aches to kiss him and hold him, ask him all about his journeys and other questions she has, there is too many…
“Why were you crying?” He is blunt and on point, piercing her expectantly – it hurts him to see her cry but alas, if she wants not to tell him he will respect that. “Haha, Sasuke-kun, how silly of me! I was just, crying for no reason! Maybe I have drunk too much…”
“You can choose not to tell me, but you don’t have to lie.” As always, defeat. Sakura can never deceive her black-haired companion. “I came to ask you something… very important. Can I?” He is overly cautious with this question, which is out of character for him.
“Of course, Sasuke, what is it?”
“Will you come to travel with me?”
Her heart stops. She has expected many things, but not this certainly. She is certain that yes of course she does but what about what Tsunade and Kakashi say? What about the hospital and-
“I know you are thinking about your duties in Konoha and such. But I have already spoken to those above you. They approve.”
She looks at him small and wide eyed, and breathes out a ‘yes’ because this night was such a rollercoaster for her – it was like out of a fairytale, the dark, cloaked figure strikes up the deal of the maiden’s life. Somehow, Sakura didn’t know if she was hallucinating because of the alcohol. She begged life not to.
“Then good. Pack yourself tomorrow, and I will sleep on the couch.”
He moves lithely, setting his cloak and boots away, settling away from her eyes, and before he can smooth out now shoulder length hair she begs, “Would you sleep next to me tonight?”
They look at each other impossibly long, Sasuke’s face seemingly passive as he nods. She jumps immediatelly to put away the wine and her glass as he murmurs about getting the bed ready. She is blushing furiously – they have kissed once, many things have happened, yet Sasuke always kept her waiting with the thank you, and as the words were not his way of showing love, he could not have said I love you more properly.
“Sasuke-kun, I’m ready to go to bed,” she declares once she is all dressed up, comfy pajamas covering her entirely, warm and fluffy as the blankets she will sleep in tonight. Sasuke is already perched casually, his lean form overwhelming her strangely as she is silent on the top of the matress. He shuts the lamp out and it starts being slightly uncomfortable from there.
Sakura fidgets as if someone put a stick in her butt, maybe closer to Sasuke, as if he was a magnet of the opposite pole. He flutters farther away, or perhaps even he gravitates closer? It doesn’t matter in the next moment since they are both starved for both physical contact of each other.
He drags her to himself, terribly so, so she is capable of feeling all his yearning and warmth – so when he murmurs the epic, earth-moving thank you in her heair she knows that his kindness is rare but more brilliant than a waterfall of diamonds. He murmurs more now than he talks through the day, speaks of his gratefullness and apologies. And wishes her a happy beggining of the upcoming year. Her heart full of him, as she leaves for the last boat to dreamland.
SasuSaku Month 2017 – Day 7 – Love You Goodbye
Dear old angst people – no warnings except for Sarada’s cuteness and heartbreak
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SasuSaku Month 2017 – Day 7 – Love You Goodbye
Sometime around noon, she knew that it was time. Time for him to leave for his mission. Sakura feels a heaviness in her stomach – one she didn’t feel ever since she was pregnant with Sarada. But this heaviness is different, unlike the pleasant, happy one she had when she was carrying her daughter this is like a mortal wound. The pit, voidal and heavy opens up and closes on its own accord.
It’s as if the grimness of Sasuke’s departure can be sensed in the house itself. Sarada cries more, begging for Papa, and Sakura eats less, Sasuke cowering on the old grounds of the Uchiha compound more. The old graveyard he shall see in a long time now. His daughter is almost always with him – asking no questions, she is nearly three, but nevermind that. Even when he was three, he would have loads of questions for Fugaku and Mikoto. Their graves have gotten old, Sasuke left a lot of money for Sakura to build a mausoleum, one his clan always deserved, nevermind what kind of people they were.
Sakura Uchiha would, after such a visit to the graveyard, bring lunch for Sasuke and Sarada, both entwining their hands happily to the giggle of their only child. Sakura feels her womb could carry more – Sasuke doesn’t even want to hear about it. He doesn’t want to even think about the possibility of Sakura and Sarada having to take care of another, alone.
At night they curl up to each other, last throes of passion they will allow to themselves before he departs.
Sasuke readies himself in the morning, and Sarada wakes up crying, from a nightmare, he supposes. He relates, night terrors of a different kind holding him wide awake.
()
Front gates. Dawn. A cloak and his dark, thick hair of equal color. Rinnegan bland and purple as always, but his Mangekyo Sharingan is activated, shining bright, reflecting the Sun and putting it to shame. Sakura’s throat is heavy and constricted as they come. Sarada is tired a bit, but it is as if she can feel the pain of her Papa leaving, even through too young to understand. Her bright red and orange clothing that Naruto gifted to her (saying it was too big for Hima) clings to her as she to her mother.
“Anata… I…” she cannot even finish the sentence, because if she does she will disturb Sarada, her small, yet incapable daughter needs her – strong, unbowed, unbent and unbroken.
Before all of her family, duty, honor came she.
Now it will have to be even before Sasuke.
“I have-” he struggles too. The look on his face is concentrated pain, like pure acid, eating all the present hearts alive and unsettling them with a scar. She starts crying because again. He is leaving again. He finally loves her back, comes back home, settles, has a child, and oh my god why is it that the most beautiful things in life were always defied to him, not to Sakura, she no longer cares for herself.
She put no makeup on her face this morning – so there is none to smudge; he told her not to, not in the haste of his departure but because he wanted to see her and memorize her fresh from bed, smelling as a morning rose, dragged her and the sleepy child out of their house in the break of dawn, Sarada sipping orange juice from her bottle, Sakura hadn’t even brushed her teeth.
But it was all his will and how he liked things – raw and real. He has dwindled all too long between illusion and reality in his life to be able to choose only one and pain seemed as a reasonable choice at the time, making him blind to the choice of the subtle life in Konoha with Naruto and Sakura.
He doesn’t regret it, even now, as his pink haired wife wails, chest heaving and hands shaking as he takes Sarada from her arms only to bring all three of them into a strong, strong hug. He wished he would never have to let go. He wished to tell the world to piss off so he could have his peace with his wife and daughter, but no. He was the Shadow Hokage, the protector from the dark, where Naruto couldn’t reach he had. So he lets go of Sakura, tears deep within him, waiting to fall when provoked and away from all humanity and Konoha, away from Sarada who, through the leaky pipes of memory must remember her father as someone who protects. He kisses both of their foreheads, doesn’t poke – not anymore, because he is certain. In everything.
That he will find out the truth about Kaguya. That he will come back to his family. That he will make it all okay. Voice heavy he wants to scream out how much he loves them both, how unfair this is, even if for a shinobi of his caliber it would be unheard of. He is drained, yet still breathing and alive. He will succeed. He has to, he reminds himself, as he wavers so, so much in this moment, as Sarada’s big, black eyes threaten to swallow him alive, then spit him out asking what kind of a father leaves their child so young?
Murmurs in Sakura’s tears and hair, wiping them, of his love, I love you and I am truly grateful. For everything. As her mother’s tears weaken and then gush over the eyelids in the aftermath of her emotion, Sarada waves her head, slightly unproportional to her body, and Sasuke wants to weep at the perfection of the imperfection. He doesn’t want to miss a second, and how much will he miss when Sarada changes day to day? He can’t bring himself close to the thought.
He picks up Sarada, who is tracing and even slightly pulling his hair and collar. She wants him to stay, or is it just Sasuke’s sick imagination?
“I love you both. And don’t you cry.” Sullenlly tells his hotheaded wife, as she clings to him, heartbroken. “God, Sasuke. I love you too. Do not forget it!” she reaches on her tippy toes to kiss his forehead, but he throws her off with a powerful kiss. He holds Sarada in that arm of his, his left non-existent as she caresses his face gently.
Please, Sakura, take care of yourself, too, not just our daughter.
He turns around to leave, kissing Sarada’s forehead with intolerable sadness. It will be a lot of time, this mission. He hopes to come home even before he has left, and as the doting eyes on his back mirror his family crest, forming a memory he emblazoned into the walls of his brain – soft footsteps his only company on the lonely path to justice.
SasuSaku Month 2017
Day 15: The Slug and The SnakeSarada hated Parents Day at the academy. And it had just
gotten worse since her Papa had come back home. Her parents, along with Boruto’s
father were spoken about in the academy as if they were legends. If only she
could tell them all how much of a dork her father was and how silly her mother
could be, they probably wouldn’t even believe her.She took a seat beside her mother and remained silent
throughout Shino sensei’s whole speech. She could feel more than half of the
classroom’s gaze on them, more glaringly obvious because of the Hokage’s absence.She was glad when lunch hour was over which meant that
parents were starting to leave. She didn’t know which was worse, her mother’s
loud kiss of goodbye or her father’s hug and endearing tap on her forehead.She groaned as they walked away. What did I tell you two?! No public display of affections, I am twelve
and it’s embarrassing. She kept from screaming at their backs.She could hear as Boruto chuckled behind her and turned to
see Chouchou a dreamy gaze as she stared after the Uchiha’s. “They’re so cool.”“My parent says they’re probably Konoha’s number one power
couple.” Mitsuki chimes in and Sarada can’t help but turn around and stare at
him in disbelief.
For SasuSaku Month 2017.
Title: Through the Seasons [ FFN ; AO3 ]
Synopsis: At first, the distance was two-sided. However, through the months… That invisible border between the two of us is disappearing little by little. I hope that someday, we can be close to each other. I hope that someday, I can save you from the darkness you’re in. I hope that someday, I can see you smile.
Word Count: 4,528
It was raining back then.
Title: meant to be something
Summary: Fate brought them together again in the form of conjoined
apartments.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto.
Prompt: Something More
Rating: T or T+ (just for that little nsfwish smidge in there)
A/N: So some time ago my friend @mika213 brought this sort of
situation up for when Sasuke would come back from his road of redemption… and
this prompt just immediately reminded me of it. Could you imagine??ALSO I KNOW IM LATE BUT SHHHHHHHHHHH.
“S-Sasuke-kun? What are you doing here?”
Blinking, Sasuke’s hand fell from the
doorknob he’d only just reached for, turning to his side to meet the unexpected
sight of his long-time pink haired teammate—whom he hadn’t really gotten the
chance to see much of since she’d welcomed him back from his two-year journey a
few days prior. His brows furrowed lightly.“…I live here.”
Sakura’s mouth parted at this, eyes
snapping wide open. “What, really?”
she exclaimed, brows shooting up high. “Since when?”“Four
days ago,” he replies without much delay, frowning all the while. Then, he
blinked again, understanding finally dawning on him. “You live here too?”A slight blush tainted her cheeks at that.
“Yeah,” Sakura replied, moving to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. She
smiled at him, bright, though a little shy. “I’ve been here for the past three
years. And I guess I’m… also your new neighbor, apparently.”
SasuSaku Month 2017 – Day 14 (Even Just for a Moment)
Title: Belonging Place
Summary: Immediately
post-war, once the Infinite Tsukuyomi has been released, Team 7 has a fleeting,
heart-felt reunion. Flash fiction.
Song: Palms – Allman Brown
Genre: Romance / Hurt&Comfort
Rated: T(Teen)
Words: 1403
A/N:I
wanted to write something that has Team Seven feels. I had a blast writing this
and practicing a new tense. I hope you like it. 🙂
Disclaimer:All
characters belong to the great Masashi Kishimoto
SasuSaku Month 2017
Day 14: Even Just for a MomentSasuke’s parents didn’t live long enough to talk about girls
and back then his priorities were more focused on revenge. Almost out of his
teenage years Sasuke didn’t know how to ask a girl out.Even Naruto has had more luck with Hinata in the two times
he’d been able to speak to her without her fainting. And Sasuke who spend more
than half of his free time around Sakura couldn’t even manage to ask her out.Pride kept him from asking Naruto or Kakashi how to go about
it. Naruto would probably never let him live it down and Kakashi would hand
over his perverted book; and Sasuke didn’t think he was yet quite ready for the
advice his book had to offer.Ask her on a date, shouldn’t be so hard.
He sat across from her watching her, she had her head buried
in a medical text. He hadn’t noticed he’d been tapping his fingers on the table
until she turned to him with an annoyed expression on her face. “Could you stop
that?”He did, and absentmindedly turned to tapping his foot under
the table instead.Her annoyed expression turned amused with a small smile
gracing her features. “Something on your mind?”“Yeah, I…” He trailed off, what was he supposed to say? I’m trying to ask you out, but I don’t know
how to go about it. This was already to a bad start. “I’m hungry.” He
blurted out without thinking.“We just ate. And I know watching Naruto eat like five bowls
of ramen can drive away your appetite, but you managed to eat an impressive
amount of two bowls.” She set her book aside and turned her full attention on
him.“I know, I mean later, I’ll probably have to eat.” He
mentally cringed at the sound of his own voice, he sounded like an idiot. “You’ll
have to eat too, maybe we should eat together.” That was close enough, right?“Are you trying to ask me on a date, Sasuke?” The amusement
was clear in her voice.“No-” He denied before letting out a sigh. “Yes.”
Flirting with Death: Opposite Sides
Summary: First of several connected prompts. See below for notes.
Word count: 215
Read it as part of my Shades of Konoha: Onyx and Jade series on FFN or AO3
Flirting with Death
1. Opposite Sides
She opened her office, and did her best not to collapse on
the floor. She’d just finished an exhausting shift, and she was certain that
even her hair follicles were tired.She sank in her chair gratefully and closed her eyes
“Long day, Doctor.”
“You have no idea.”
“But I do” – she doesn’t have to open her eyes to know he is
wearing that familiar smirk of his – “I was watching the whole time.”“Nothing else to do?”
“Plenty. But less than I had to do before you finished your
surgery.”She let her head loll toward his voice before opening her
eyes. Her eyesight was bleary with fatigue, and it took a moment for him to
come into focus. Sharp, aristocratic features. Pale, too-perfect skin. Eyes and
hair blacker than obsidian, and the regality of a king.“I’d say I am sorry,” she offered, “but we both know I am
not.”He arched one curved brow.
“You do seem determined to defy me at every turn.”
Her own lips twist into a smirk.
“Until the day I draw my last breath,” she challenged.
“We’ll see.”
And then he was gone.
And Sakura found herself wondering what psych ward they’d
commit her to if she told anyone about the conversations she had with Death.
Last year for SS month, I had several ideas for the Necromancer prompt. One became my Detective!Sasuke/Medical Examiner!Sakura oneshot ’Necromancer’ (FFN AO3 Tumblr)
and the other later became ‘At Death’s Door’
“At Death’s Door” was originally titled “Flirting with Death,” but I saved that title for this series of divergent scenes that didn’t fit into either AU. This is the first of at least three, maybe five connected scenes.
The Private Audience
SSM day 13 prompt: In Another World
Rated K+
Available on FFnet
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The Private Audience
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“No!”
After the violent exclamation, the Hokage’s office became as
silent as a grave. The slender figure who spat out the word so
categorically pinched her brow.“I am not going to bow down to the Uchiha clan’s every whim. I
am the Hokage and my word is final. Uchiha Kazuto is going on the
probation. Six months of community service will teach him humility.”The young chunin in question caused a diplomatic incident with the
visiting son of the Sea Country’s feudal lord. The Hokage and her
advisers managed to contain the damage from the incident and secured
the continued income of missions from the Sea, but Kazuto still cost
Konoha a blow to their reputation as gracious hosts. The punishment
was necessary for both retaining the discipline in the ranks and for
the appearance’s sake.“The Uchiha won’t be pleased,” Neji cautioned. The clan’s
proposition was to keep the boy under house arrest, which was way too
lenient. He’d have probably spent the time in the Uchiha private
training grounds.“I know,” the Hokage replied with a tired sigh.
“What a drag,” Shikamaru said. “You’re the one who’s going
to tell this to the Uchiha.”“Don’t worry about it. I can deal with him.” The Hokage turned
to look out of the window pensively. The russet glow of the sunset
bathed her profile, softening the edges. “I want to be alone now.”“Will you really be okay, Sakura?” Tenten asked. “Is he
still-”“I’ll be fine. You can go.” Sakura gave them a reassuring
smile and waved them off.
SasuSaku Month 