"Naruto," I wheezed as I struggled to haul the drunk blond man out of my car. After reluctantly agreeing to spend 3 hours at a bar with him— and to which he begged and whined for all day in order for me to say yes— regret was all I could think of. "Get a hold of yourself, you dumbass."
He was an adult now, and twice as large as I was. Carrying him was like carrying twenty thick and enormous fur coats piled on top of each other. I wouldn't have been low key babysitting this fully grown man if I had just declined.
"God, Hinata's gonna kill me for bringing you home to her like this."
"Hinataaaaaa~" the blond slurred with pure happiness in his voice. The entrance to his and the indigo haired female's shared house was just a foot away; too exhaustingly far away.
Ringing the door bell, I stood impatiently in front of the door with Naruto fondly whooping the name of his lover behind me. It was like watching a middle schooler love struck and high at the same time. It's actually astonishing how loyal he had been to the Hyuga for such a long time. This cute couple... they should just get married and have kids already.
"Hi-na-taaa~"
"I'm never going to a bar with you ever again." I shuddered as images of him ripping off his shirt and drunkenly flirting with everyone flashed in my throbbing head. Maybe I should tell Hinata about that, it would serve as good punishment for taking me with him to that horrid place.
Never again...
The door flings open and there stood the lavender eyed female, clad in her pyjamas.
"Na...Naruto!"
"Oh thank god you opened up," I shrugged the said male off and handed him over to her. "I'm sorry for not bringing him earlier. Things got...a bit crazy."
'A bit' my ass...
"Well," Hinata huffed as Naruto staggered and laid his whole body weight on her petite frame. "You should...should come in, Sakura."
Peeking inside their little humble abode, my eyes landed on a nearby clock. The hands ticked and landed on dreadful numbers.
Damn it's already 4:30 am? Since when?
"Ah, I don't want to intrude or anything. It's also 4:30." I pointed out and prepared to leave, when I heard Naruto disgustingly hurl out everything he drank and had eaten just a few minutes ago.
"N..Naruto!" Hinata gaped as the electric blue eyed male passed out after mumbling incoherent words under his breath. I suddenly felt obliged to stay and help out.
"Uhm," I hummed and stepped over the puddle of vomit. "I'll try and clean this up. You can go with Naruto."
"Thank you, Sakura." Mincing, she stepped further into the house and disappeared behind the door of their shared bedroom.
I groaned as I slowly took off my shoes. That idiot just kept on making more and more problems on this night.
"Rags...where are the rags?" I mumbled to myself as I wandered around. My bare feet entered into various rooms, but as I stepped into what seemed to be their living room, an old photo caught my attention and distracted me from my task.
"...is this...Konoha 12?"
It's been four years now that I've thought about it. All the days that we spent together— full of laughter and happiness— shattered into nothing once most of us unconsciously cut our ties with each other after graduation. Actually, we were already a broken gang after he left without so much of an explanation and Ino ran off with Sai like some Romeo and Juliet crap. The only people I've kept in touch with were Naruto and Hinata. Though, on some occasions, I saw Kiba wandering around with them; there's a drowning sadness found in his eyes that seem to eat him up everyday.
It's most probably about Ino.
"Why do they still have this...?"
The longer I looked at it, the more unwanted memories flushed in. I tried forgetting everything about him, even going through drastic measures of putting on a mask that pretended I never met or knew him. It was like I was struck with amnesia, but instead, I already knew what I had already forgotten.
Oh my God...
We were all too young looking and cringey. All those painted smiles on our small faces appeared so fake, Barbie would've called and asked for her rightful, plastic, position back.
"Sakura..?" Hinata's gentle voice called out.
"Sorry, I haven't found the rags yet." I apologized once I realized just how long I've been standing around, staring at an old photograph like some creep. She made her way towards me and lightly shook her head.
"I... I cleaned it up already. You seem busy with that... that picture."
"Oh I'm sorry," I coughed. "No uh, I just– just you know, yeah—"
What am I even doing..?
The Hyuga shook her head again. "How's your work going?" She questioned instead.
"It's going good." I answered. I had to pursue my family's business. It wasn't like I had choice since Sasori was... well gone. It left me as the new successor, but, I did have the option of working in a small office for a while under another big company that was also one of my family's business allies to gain a few years of experience, and to which I gladly took.
"My boss retired from old age just recently."
"Oh no, that's horrible." Hinata gasped as we both took seats on a nearby couch.
"Do you know who...who your new boss will be?"
"No, but apparently it's a man this time. For 30 years the company had only female bosses. Males weren't trusted as bosses since the last one molested thirty-seven girls in the building." My body instantly collapsed once I hit the comforting couch in an almost aggressive and tipsy manner. "Now they're suddenly letting a man become a boss. I don't know what's going on anymore."
"You...you should be careful then."
"Yeah."
Right behind her was the picture of the old Konoha 12, and I couldn't help but occasionally glance at it like I had when I was supposed to clean up Naruto's thrown up food and drinks. It was unsettling how his dark orbs were staring into mine. I knew that he was gone, and that I shouldn't care about him— or even glance at his old photo. Yet, his eyes still pulled me in deep; deeper than anyone else's in that group photograph. I still remembered every detail he had left me to suffer with.
Nasty memories.
-
"Well, I should really head out. You should get some sleep too, Hina." I bid farewell as I wore my shoes once more. Time had silently slipped through our fingers, and we both hadn't noticed that it was already 5:15 am. Exhaustion started to kick in my veins, and, though it was already five in the morning, the sun still hadn't awoken from its slumber, or even showed signs of doing so.
Hinata waved goodbye as I entered into my car and started on my journey back to my apartment. I started living alone once graduation had passed long ago and when I started working. I guess you can call it an act of independence and maturity. It also wasn't so far away from Hinata's and Naruto's shared home, so visiting them from time to time was something I could easily do.
Lamp posts glittered the dark edges of sidewalks and roads with its dull glow, and silence filled the thick air—in a way it was all eerie. Driving alone on a street that had no passing cars, it was the perfect setting to nearly kill someone.
Humming to get rid of the thickness, I relaxed. But of course, good things don't always last long. The relaxation flew away as a sudden bump jolted my awareness awake.
Holy shi—
I stomped on my brakes when my vehicle roughly collided with something— or rather someone.
"Wha—?"
I jinxed it. It really did become the perfect place to nearly kill someone.
I just committed a crime. Holy. shit. I JUST COMMITTED A CRIME. HOLY SHIT. I JUST— ohmahlord are they friken dead?
Frantically stepping out, I looked to see if whoever-I-had-crashed-into's soul escaped and left their body as a fresh new corpse. My blood was already running cold, but after seeing their face, my everything quenched.
It was him. The one who I always lied about not remembering to others: Sasuke. Fucking. Uchiha.
A/N: I tried ;v; how was the first chapter?
Unedited— Apr. 4 2018