Step 15 - Conversations
It all starts with a simple conversation. You talk about yourself and learn about others. You get to know each other. It all starts with a simple "Hi". Friendships and relationships develop. Conversations can deepen friendships and divide friendships. Conversations can decide between war and peace. It can influence vital decisions and start an argument.
But in the end ... it's also the conversations that reunite us, that can make enemies to friends. There is a reason as why people keep saying; “Go and talk to him!” Because even the simplest conversations can change many things in our lives.
Tired, the Uchiha's eyes slowly open and blink at the ceiling above him. Sighing quietly, he looks at the weight that is lingering on his chest, but the weight is so light that he has no problems breathing. He gently caresses her pink hair. Monday has come. They slept together on the couch all weekend. Neither of them wanted to sleep alone in their guest room. After the wake on Friday, the traditional Japanese funeral continued over the weekend and the new week has now begun. The black haired man slowly looks to the television and to the watch sitting on top of it. It is still relatively early in the morning, but then again late. He should focus on work again. As one of the heads of the company, he cannot just leave the company to itself. The work will certainly distract his dark thoughts and do him good. Gently he caresses a strand of his wife's hair behind her ear, as she is still lying on top of him, sleeping calmly. By watching how she cuddles onto him like that, it seems that he is having a quite comfortable and cozy chest. He smiles a little amused and then rubs his tired face, wondering how best to wake her up. After a moment he then carefully pulls her up a little further, so that he can rest his cheek against her forehead. His left hand lies on top of her head and brushes through her soft hair, while his right hand lies gently on her side and tickles her slightly.
A few moments pass before the young Haruno starts moving on his chest and cuddles her forehead more against his cheek. Sasuke feels how she yawns before she moves her head and looks at him still a little tired. Totally sleepy and with the imprint of a wrinkle on his shirt, she blinks at him. "Good morning." It comes over her lips in a soft mumble and lowers her chin back on his chest. “Hey.” He smiles slightly, still playing with her hair. “You probably won’t like it at all, but we should go back to work today. At least I'll do so." He explains quietly. After all she is still tired and lies right next to his face, so he doesn't need to speak out loud. Otherwise he would probably only scare her with it. The emerald eyed woman nods slowly in response. "That's a good idea.” She murmurs softly, approving to his plans. He gently puts his arms around her and finally sits up so that she slumps down between his legs. Yawning tiredly, she rubs herself over her eyes. "Then we should both get ready for work." Sasuke suggests, the green eyed woman nods and yawns once more, before she finally gets up. "Thanks for waking me up." She utters and disappears from the living room, up into the guest room which she is still occupying. The Uchiha rises with a slight smile and follows her to the upper floor, going into his own to get himself ready as well.
Cool air and silence greets him in the room in which he has always slept until now. It almost makes him shiver a little. He shakes his head and takes some fresh clothes to shower and freshen up. The tiles in the bathroom are also cold when he walks barefoot over them and walks towards the shower. Still a little tired, he takes off his clothes and steps under the warm water of the shower. The last few days he has only entered these rooms to change clothes and take a shower. He doesn't like the thought of lying in bed alone. Somehow it feels so lonely. Left alone. Whenever his wife is laying next to him or is at least in the same room as him, he has at least some distraction. But when he is laying alone in these cool sheets, his thoughts will inevitably divert to the happenings at the weekend and he has no idea how he will react to that. All that is clear to him is, that it’s not going to do him any good.
To properly wake up, he turns the water to cold at the end of the shower and turns it off completely a few moments after. Sasuke sighs softly and takes the bath towel to dry his face, followed by his arms and upper body. He puts a towel around his neck, with which he partially covers his wet hair and dabs it dry.
Not quite as tired as before, he leaves the bathroom after a few minutes and puts on his usual work clothes over his boxer shorts, before he leaves his room with his work bag. As he steps through the door, his gaze falls on his wife, who is standing by the stairs with curlers in her hair and a bathrobe on and stares at the door to the actual bedroom. The master bedroom, which Mikoto had set for them before the wedding. He slowly approaches her and apparently pulling her out of her deep thoughts. Silently she looks around at him, smiles and then goes down the stairs. You can no longer see the tiredness in her face, which had tried to persuade her to go back to sleep only half an hour ago. A few minutes after her, Sasuke finally enters the kitchen. Somewhat surprised, he looks at the steaming cup that is already placed on the side of the table he usually occupies. Another cup placed on her side as well. The toaster is also there and in the next minute it lets two toasted slices of toast jump into the air. The young Haruno suddenly appears from behind him and puts the daily newspaper on the table before she goes back to the kitchen counter. Sasuke silently watches her as she puts the fried egg and the bacon on two plates and then returns to the table with them.
For a moment he looks speechless into her inviting eyes, before he goes and sits down opposite of her. The two of them have breakfast in silence, with the Uchiha occasionally reaching for the newspaper and reading through it, even after he has already finished his breakfast and drinks his cup of tea. He doesn't even notice his wife getting up, putting the dishes in the sink and leaving the room to get ready. A quarter of an hour later she re-enters the kitchen and makes him look up from the newspaper. "We can go.” She says while pulling the curlers out of her hair with ease. Sasuke watches her a little amazed as she pulls the curlers out of her hair without even looking at them, pulling out the plastic rolls on her finger without flinching, while most of the women would suffer in agony from it. “When you're done we can go. My car is still in the company." Sakura then utters and goes a few times with her fingers through her pink curls. "Then lets go." The Uchiha simply replies and comes up to her in order to leave the kitchen with her. He gets his car keys from the dresser and she takes their cell phones from the living room, before they get into their shoes and leave the villa through the side passage to the garage and lock everything up properly.
During the drive to work, neither of them speaks a word. Even if neither of them looks like that anymore, they are still tired and therefore stay silent. After a few minutes, Sasuke finally drives over the entrance of the company and into the underground parking lot, where he parks his car next to his wife's. When the two of them get out, they immediately notice that Fugaku and Itachi haven’t arrived yet, wondering whether they will even come to work today. "Then let's get carried away by everyday life." The Uchiha sighs briefly, taking his bag and locks the car, before making his way to the stairs together with his wife. Because even if he says that he wants to be caught up by everyday life, he still kinda wants to postpone it after all. Sakura just follows him in silence, while she plays with the handle of her handbag and lets the other hand slide through her curls. She likes to put these on curlers after showering, so that they are kept in shape and won’t get in the way while she is preparing.
When they enter the building and go through the hallway into the foyer, they pass the doorman. “Mr. Uchiha. Mrs. Haruno!“ The doorman calls out and draws their attention to himself, walking around his counter to approach them. The two stop a little surprised and turn towards him. "My condolences." The man begins and bows in respect, before he keeps talking. "The staff has planned something and will meet at 10am in the conference room on the 60th floor. We would be happy if you would join us too.” The black haired man nods, a little confused and taken by surprise. "Okay." He utters briefly. Expressing his thanks, the porter bows once again and returns to his seat. Sasuke and Sakura also start walking again and get into one of the elevators. The pink haired woman encouragingly strokes her husband's upper arm. "If there is anything you need, you can always call or send Ayame at any time and I'll be right there." The Uchiha examines his wife in silence at her words. Even today she is dressed in black. A black strapless business dress with ruffles around the waist and a blazer represents his wife's wardrobe today. He nods slowly and the next moment he gives her a brief hug, as if he wants to give her a kiss on the head. "The same goes for you too.” He says quietly and lets go of her when the elevator doors open and the two of them step out to the floor.
With a simple gesture, he lets her go first and finally follows three steps behind her. Sympathetic looks are given to the Uchiha while he is greeted quietly. The young Haruno is also greeted quietly with a short smile. Without exception, they all behave like this until the Kaseguchi stands in front of the pink haired woman in the hallway and looks at her expectantly with an evil look. "Where were you on Friday?" She asks bossy, because Sakura didn't call her in sick or anything like that. "She was released from me personally." Sasuke says coolly as he passes the two of them and puts his arm on his wife’s back, trying to get her to move on. "Will you get me later?" He then asks quietly when they are standing right in front of her office. "Of course." She nods and gives him an encouraging smile, as she goes into her office and he makes his way further through the hall way to go to his own office.
An hour and a half later, the emerald eyed woman is standing in front of her husband's open office door. Silently she watches him sitting over a document, working on it with concentration. She smiles slightly. If you look at him working so dedicated like that, an outsider wouldn’t even think that his mother died on Thursday. Going to work seems like it was a good idea after all. She reluctantly interrupts his concentration by raising her arm and knocking gently on the open wooden door. Sasuke is easily startled since he was so absorbed in his work. She smiles softly and approaches his desk. "Hey. It's 10am now." She remarks in a soft voice and stands next to him, runs her hand through his hair and looks at the screens and the documents. Sighing softly, he turns the page of the report and then puts the pen aside. "Okay." He says and gets up from his seat. "Then let's go." He gives her a brief glance before they start moving and leave the office. "This way." Sasuke shows her down the corridor next to his office, where stairs and an elevator lead to the lower floor. "The conference room on the 60th floor is the most important and largest meeting room of this company and in order for us bosses to be able to appear and disappear quickly, there is this elevator which brings us directly to it." The black haired man explains briefly and presses the button for the mentioned floor. The doors close slowly and the elevator starts moving.
"Have you already been able to do something productive for work?" Sakura explores after a brief moment of silence. "As expected, a lot of work has been left behind, but the most time consuming part will like always be the drawings.” He replies with a sigh and runs his fingers through his dark hair. "Shall I help you a little later?" She suggests and looks up at him from the side. "Let's see." Sasuke sighs again as the doors open. Silently she follows her husband who is walking down the hall and towards a large door. Loud voices from left and right hits the two of them as they enter the room through the door. The room is filled to the edge, every seat is occupied, no free space to be found. All employees are in the room. The young Haruno looks around briefly, discovering Itachi and Fugaku, who are sitting in the front row. She can also spot Naruto in the middle of the crowd. He stands between his colleagues with a sad look. Sasuke approaches his family in silence and the pink haired woman follows him. When they have reached the two empty chairs and greeted her father-in-law and her brother-in-law, she wants to stand at the back with her colleagues, but gets stopped by a hand. A little surprised she looks at Sasuke, who has wrapped his hand around hers. With a somewhat lost look, he turns to face her from the front. Hesitant, Sakura looks up and at the altar which is set up in front, in the middle of which she could see a photo of Mikoto. A lot of flowers and bouquets lie around the makeshift memorial altar. It seems that almost every employee brought their own bouquets. The pink haired woman silently looks around between her colleagues, who are all dressed in black. She gently squeezes her husband's hand back and sits down next to him. She gives him an encouraging smile and rubs his upper arm.
A few minutes pass before the room becomes quiet. Sasuke desperately clings to his wife's hand. A memorial ceremony. All day long he has not allowed any thought of his mother's death and so far he has coped quite well with it, but now, now the bitter truth is brought before his eyes once again. Actually, he came to work to be able to distract himself and now he is sitting here in this room and is forced to look at the picture of his deceased mother, which is also continuously shown on television to announce her death.
An older man emerges from the now calm crowd, to the lectern, which is often used at company presentations. “We all gathered here today to commemorate the death of Mikoto Uchiha. Each of us has had the pleasure of getting to know her in the course of our time here at the Uchiha Corporation. We were never allowed to experience how Mikoto Uchiha was as a loving wife and mother, but each of us was allowed to experience her kind, friendly manner, felt her warmth and also her love for her husband. We owe a lot to Mikoto Uchiha. On one hand, she saved her husband from being overworked not only once and supported him in his actions as the managing director. She has given her husband two sons, who are now running the company and leading us with the same dedication. All this time she has not only supported her husband but also the company and therefore us. She motivated us with her words so many times and yes you can say that she was like a good spirit who walked through the corridors of this company. Even if she may be dead now, we don't want to forget her and believe that she will continue to walk through the corridors as a good spirit." The man takes a short break. Sakura looks worried at her husband, whose eyes wander from the speaker to the flowers and the floor in front of him. She gently caresses his cheek and cuddles a little against his arm, so that he can feel that she is there with him.
“So that we never forget her and that she will remain as a part of this company forever, her picture should find a place in the entrance hall with the permission of the managing directors and motivate the employees every morning. I stand here today to express our condolences and sympathy on behalf of the whole company’s staff.” He now addresses these words directly to the Uchihas and he also gives Sakura the same look. "Thank you Jiraya." Fugaku's depressed voice sounds and the man at the lectern nods briefly before turning to his colleagues. “Finally, I would like to ask you to remain silent for a minute. That each of us can think one more time of Mikoto Uchiha and the lovely words she always had for us.” After those words, he moves away from the lectern. Like in the Army, the entire work staff lowers their heads towards the floor and suddenly a song can be heard softly in the crowded room. Amazing Grace reaches the pink haired woman’s ears and the grip on her hand increases. She gently runs her thumb over the back of her husband's hand while she too has to fight back a tear.
When the song has stopped, a muffled noise breaks out shortly afterwards, as the employees, in silence and whispering, push themselves out of the hall and return to their offices to work. Fugaku and Itachi also get up after everything has calmed down again. Sakura smiles softly at them and after both of them have taken a deep breath, they return it and leave the conference room right afterwards. The pinkhaired woman gently rubs the back of her husband, who slowly lifts his head and looks at her. Smiling encouragingly, she puts her right hand on his cheek and caresses it. “Are you okay?” She asks thoughtfully. "Yeah...” He says with a deep sigh and then takes a deep breath. "Okay." She whispers back softly and lets her thumb run over his cheek again. "Let's go back.” He then says quietly. She just nods in response, drops her hand and stands up with him. The way leads them back to the elevator and up to his office. "You should have a drink first.” Sakura advises when they arrive at his office. The Uchiha just nods and takes out a bottle of iced tea from his secret refrigerator. Smiling gently, she watches him sit down and open the bottle and fill his glass. She stands silently next to him and lets her fingers run through his hair once more. "Shall I stay with you a little longer?" Sakura asks cautiously and briefly looks out of the window into the cloudy sky. “No, it's okay. You just go back to work. I also have a lot to do. I or Ayame will get in touch with you if something should be." The dark grey eyed man whispers with a sigh and picks up his pen again. "Okay." His wife whispers back, running her fingers through his hair one last time and then walks quietly towards the door.
"Should I leave the door open or close it?" She explores and looks around at him. "Please leave it open." He replies, looking at her with that lost look. She leaves the office with a nod. Of course she immediately understands what he's trying to say with that. This door is currently the only connection to civilization for him, the open door is the only thing that keeps him from completely sinking into solitude.
Ayame gives the Haruno an encouraging smile as she leaves the office and walks down the hall in the middle of her black-clad colleagues. They are all upset about the death of Mikoto. Apparently, everyone except for one person. Pressing her lips together, she turns around the main corridor and into the side corridor that leads to her office. Closing the office door behind her, she rubs her hands over her face. "Are you okay?" The Hondo inquires. Surprised, Sakura looks up and at her office colleague. With a slight smile, she nods and lets her hand wander through her hair. “Yeah, I'll be fine. Sasuke worries me more.“ She explains with a sigh and lets her hand drop to her side. She slowly goes back to her desk and collapses into the armchair. Natsuki nods in understanding and gets up to take a bottle of mineral water from a cupboard. “I've been through this before. And Mikoto she... she was such a kind hearted person.” Haruno presses her lips shut again and breathes deeply in and out. "And Sasuke... his mother was so important to him... it's like he's suddenly a different person. It's... It’s so painful to watch.“ The green eyed woman grabs her head in despair and pulls gently on her hair. "I'm so sorry, Sakura." The brunette says with a whisper, puts the glass down in front of her and gently puts her hand on her shoulder. "Thank you. It'll be fine. Just give me a few minutes... we didn't plan that with the memorial ceremony." The pink haired woman explains softly and takes another deep breath.
When she puts the glass back on the table, she smiles slightly and looks out the window at the sky. "The weather isn't getting any better either." The Haruno remarks casually, but looks down. "Yes. It’s predicted that it would be a very rainy and thunderstorm-rich September." Natsuki replies and also directs her attention to the clouds, which already announces the next rain. “It's generally so muggy at the moment. Actually the perfect basis for a thunderstorm." The brunette grimaces. Sakura turns to her colleague with a slight smile. “You probably don't like thunderstorms.” She then states. A tormented smile falls on the Hondo's lips as she looks around at her. "No not really." The blue eyed girl confirms the assumption of her colleague. Sakura nods and smiles. "During the day they don't bother me and I have nothing against thunderstorms, only at night I don't like them at all." Sakura explains her point of view as well and finally takes one of her many pencils up. "But at least you have Sasuke." The brunette replies. Sakura nods with a smile and gives her colleague an encouraging look before they both concentrate on their work.
For a moment, Sakura looks at her previous drawing, which she had already started on Thursday and dealt with it again before the commemoration ceremony. Her gaze returns to her screen with the data and then turns back to the paper before she places the pen and draws another line, another one and some more. She observes each line with concentration and then the overall picture. Sighing, she stretches after a while and looks around at Natsuki, who is putting her pen aside and looking at the clock. “Wanna have lunch?” The brunette asks. "I had a, for my standards, quite extensive breakfast and actually am not hungry, but thank you." The pink haired woman refuses with a smile and looks for her sharpener in her desk drawer. "Okay." The Hondo says, before leaving the office with her handbag. When the door closes behind the brunette, the pink haired woman sighs out loud and runs through her hair, where she lingers with her hand and supports her head against it. Her eyes wander out to the clouds. Thick raindrops are falling from these.
After a while Sakura gets up slowly and stands at the window, which she opens and supports herself with her forearms on the windowsill. With her face turned towards the sky, she stretches a little towards the fresh air and the clouds. A smile settles on her lips as she takes a deep breath of the fresh, rain-soaked air. Scattered raindrops land on her face and she just enjoys the air and the light, steady pattering on her skin. Whenever a few drops have dried, few more fall on her skin. The pink haired woman just smiles slightly, not thinking of ending this cycle. But the weather seems to be of a different opinion and a sudden gust of wind pushes the rain towards her and soaks her face.
She seems to have been standing at the window for some time, because when she has just finished dabbing her cleavage dry, Natsuki enters the office with a smile. "What did you do?" The brunette explores with amusement and sits back on her desk. "I just got a load of rain on my face from the wind." Sakura replies, no less amused, and keeps drying her face. “Nothing has gone missing from my makeup, has it?” She looks briefly at her colleague before looking for a mirror in her handbag to check it for herself. "No, no everything is still wonderful and you are once again a hundred times prettier than Karin." The Hondo assures with a grin. The pink haired woman laughs softly at her statement. “Thank you, Natsuki. You too." The Haruno winks at her colleague and then throws the wet handkerchief into the trash can.
With a critical eye, she looks at the drawing and takes another pen with which she now wants to put the right shades in the right places. "I’m going in now." She whispers softly, as if she were a surgeon and puts her hand on the handkerchief, which she always has under the heel of her hand to avoid blurring lines that have already been drawn. Natsuki laughs softly. “Should I stand next to you and dab your forehead?” She asks, amused. "No, thanks. That’s not necessary. Maybe the next time i roast Karin.” The pink haired woman says with a smile and then puts her pencil on the paper. Again she can hear the amused giggle of her colleague and has to smile too, while starting with soft lines and when she’s pleased with her sketched shadows, she draws the lines a little thicker.
Her critical gaze sweeps over the drawing again, until the ringing of the company phone’s sounds through the room and makes the two women look up. Natsuki briefly throws a scrutinizing look at hers before she smiles at the Haruno. A little confused, Sakura blinks at the phone station, wondering ever since she started working here, why there was a phone in the first place. So far only Naruto, Fugaku and Itachi have called her, but apparently it is part of the office equipment. Sighing silently, she looks at the number display. Somewhat surprised, she reaches for the phone, while a certain concern immediately spreads within her. "Haruno?" She finally speaks when she has placed the receiver against her ear. "I’m sorry for the disturbance, mrs. Uchiha.” The voice of her husband's secretary sounds through the line, as she continues to talk, “But I think it would be good if you checked on your husband for a moment.” Towards the end of the sentence the woman becomes quieter. "Has something happened?" Sakura immediately asks worried and thus attracts the attention of her office colleague again. “I don't know. I mean, not directly. It's... he's just sitting there rigid for an hour now. Ayame explains quietly and worried. The pink haired woman smiles a little relieved. "Okay, thank you. I'll be right there.” With those words, Sakura hangs up and slowly gets up. "I'll be with Sasuke for a moment.” She explains to her colleague who also stands up. "I'll accompany you for a while and get myself a coffee." The brunette smiles at her as she’s already standing next to her.
In the next moment, the two of them leave the office and walk down the hall to the main corridor. As they enter it, the Kaseguchi immediately approaches them and looks sternly at Sakura. “Haruno, what are you walking around in the hallway again? You should be working. After all you were already absent on Friday." The redhead stops in front of her and crosses her arms across her chest, acting all bossy again. “What was that supposed to mean earlier? How did you get the idea to just sit down with mr. Uchiha and comfort him?” Karin then snorts pissed. "I wouldn't let you comfort me either, Karin, so don't worry." Sakura shrugs her shoulders and walks past her. But two steps later the redhead stops her again. “I don't care what you want. It was planned that I would be at mr. Uchiha’s side and comfort him, since his wife doesn’t seem like she can do it. At least I wouldn't have seen her.“ Karin says snippy and snooty. "If you have no idea Karin, then just shut up." The pink haired woman hisses at her and turns back to her. "Besides, he wanted me to stay with him." "You're daring to go quite far out of the window again. Stop forgetting that i’m your boss. Besides, why would he want that? What is so special about you that you could comfort him better than me?” From the voice of the Kaseguchi, Sakura can hear that she didn't like her answer at all.
“Perhaps you should read other articles in the magazines too, than just the ones about Sasuke. Then you would know what makes me more suitable than you could ever be." A malicious grin settles on the lips of the Haruno. "Why should I want to read something about you in a magazine?" The Kaseguchi simply replies, annoyed. “You can also look for me on Wikipedia. Although I would recommend that you read it up at my brother's, because you wouldn’t find me under the name Haruno anymore.“ Sakura looks into the eyes of the redheads with a grin as she says those words. "Why should there be anything about you in a magazine or on the Internet at all?" Karin grins cocky and confident in victory. “Because the news only covers people that journalists or people are interested in. So as you may have noticed, nobody is interested in you.” The Haruno answers with a shrug and wants to finally leave. It doesn’t surprise her at all that the red head hasn’t understood a single thing, even though she even went as far as to give her a hint. That’s what you call brain dead. "As if you were so in-" Karin begins but is interrupted by a gray haired man. "What's going on here? Kaseguchi, why are you being so loud here?” The middle aged man raises his voice and looks back and forth between Karin and Sakura, but then looks at the red haired woman critically. "It’s nothing. I just told her to go back to work. After all, she was already missing on Friday.“ Justifies the Kaseguchi. Silently, Sakura observes her department head, mr. Hatake, and Karin. “Yes, after all she was released on Friday. I don't know why you care about things that don’t concern you. Besides, I haven't seen her in the hallway since the memorial ceremony this morning, unlike you. And what are you wearing there anyway? It is one thing that you disrespect the Uchiha family and don’t mourn over the death of mrs. Uchiha by wearing such a thing, but your clothes aren’t appropriate work clothes either, so I honestly don’t understand in the least why you are trying to draw so much attention and have the nerve to play important.“ Kakashi corrects the redhead with a strict look, who is once again wearing her red lacquer pumps, with the barely 12 centimeter heels that make her wobble around. In addition, she is also wearing a bright red strapless dress, which pushes her breasts together and up - a miracle that they haven’t jumped out yet - and also ends just below her bum, over which she simply pulled a faded blazer.
"And where did you want to go?" Kakashi asks the Haruno after sighing softly. "I was asked to go to mr. Uchiha's office." Sakura replies obediently and grins cheekily at Karin as she stares at her with big eyes and when Kakashi turns back to the Haruno, she smiles obediently once again. "Okay then, Kaseguchi, you go back to your workplace and you mrs. U-" The gray haired man begins and bites his tongue, while Sakura throws him a panicked look when he tries to address her with Uchiha. “Err, mrs. Haruno, please take care of mr. Uchiha." Kakashi instructs the two women and then smiles at Sakura apologetically. Outraged, Karin turns around and stumbles, or rather wobbles, into her office, while Sakura turns around and continues towards her husband's office with an amused laugh.
She knocks softly on the door and enters the room at the secretary's request. She looks at her with a slight smile. Sakura looks briefly at the woman and then walks towards her husband's open door. For a moment she watches him from there. Just as Ayame said, he just sits there staring at a picture frame on his desk. Other than that he doesn't do anything. Silently she enters the room and closes the door behind her before slowly walking towards him. Coming to a halt next to him she looks over his shoulder at the document, which still looks the same as in the morning when she dropped him over. She gently puts a hand on his head and strokes his hair. "Hey. Are you okay?” She asks quietly and bends down slightly, but lets her hand continue to run through his hair. "Suddenly, all the times come to my mind when she called, or suddenly stood in the door..." He begins softly and touches the office phone, before his eyes move towards the door and the armchair in front of his desk, only for his gaze to return back to the picture on his desk. Minutes go by in which he doesn't say anything and Sakura just pet his head. “She is no longer here. She'll never come back." Sasuke suddenly whispers with a broken voice. In the next moment she can feel how he presses his head to her stomach. She smiles sadly. The memorial ceremony totally threw him off his feet. That's why everything in this room suddenly reminds him of his mother.
"Sasuke. Let's go home." She begins carefully. “Staying here any longer won’t help us now either. Let’s just go home where we are undisturbed." She says and lets go of his head to kneel down next to him. She gently takes his face in between her hands and runs her thumb over his cheek. “We'll try again tomorrow." She smiles encouragingly at him. He looks briefly at her and then at his computer and back at her. “I don't want the staff to see me like that.” He then refuses with a shake of his head. "It’s okay. Then why don't we take the elevator to the 60th floor and go through the meeting room to the other elevator? With that one we can drive way down into the underground parking lot and I'll take you home. How does that sound.” Suggests the pink haired woman and lets her thumb keep stroking his cheek. He nods gently. "Okay. First of all have a drink. I'll go and get my things, then i'll make sure to get you home." She says, straightens up and refills his glass with iced tea, which is still standing untouched on the table, like it had been in the morning. She briefly looks at the time, short after 2pm. He was sitting there rigid for almost 4 hours and did nothing. She swallows briefly and holds the glass out to him. When he has taken it and emptied it in one go, Sakura smiles slightly at him and walks towards the office door. Through this she re-enters Ayame's office, walks through it and approaches her office at a fast pace.
"Is everything okay?" Natsuki explores when Sakura closes the door behind herself and immediately starts to put her things away. “Yeah, Sasuke is just not doing so well. I'll bring him home.” The pinkette explains with a deep sigh and shuts down her computer. "Ah okay. Too bad. Then I'll be sitting all alone in the office again.” The Hondo sighs aloud, with gloom sounding in her voice. "I'm sorry, I hope that I at least made your afternoon sweeter back there." The pink haired woman looks apologetically into the blue eyes of her colleague. "Oh yes, the fact that Karin was put back into her place like that by mr. Hatake definitely was the best." The brunette girl agrees with a grin on her lips. "Well then i wish you a nice afternoon. See you tomorrow.” Smiling, the young Haruno waves and disappears through the door again. Clutching the handle of her bag, she returns to her husbands office, who is leaning over a folder and has another pile of folders laying next to it. "I can't go yet." He then says with a sigh, when he notices her entering and looks up at his wife. Confused, she looks at him and then approaches his side. "I still have to revise all those sketches so that the others can continue working. I can’t leave those here all unchecked and risk the productions getting delayed because of me." He explains and looks back at the drawing through his gloomy eyes. "Okay then, lets do it quickly." Sakura smiles attentively at him and stands next to him again. Just like back at his birthday, she briefly looks at the drawings with a critical eye and can already say exactly what’s wrong with the drawing. Only this time Sasuke doesn’t measure anything to make sure that she’s right. He’s just happy that she helps him with the time consuming and nerves wrecking drawings and labels the post-its without any second thoughts.
An hour later, he finally shuts down the computer and stows his tablet away into his bag. "So now I'll take you home and cook something, so that you can get something into your stomach." She says with an encouraging smile at him and takes him by his hand to get him up. She gently strokes the back of his hand and takes the stack of folders in order to hand them over to his secretary. "I'll bring him home.” She explains to Ayame, who nods in understanding and smiles encouragingly. "Come on." Sakura carefully takes her husband's hand as they already start moving. "See you tomorrow." Sasuke says quietly and briefly looks at his secretary, before he follows his wife out the door and straight down the aisle to the elevator in which they go. Taking and leading him, as previously discussed, through the conference room to the other elevator and drive directly down to the underground parking lot. "Give me your car keys.” The green eyed woman then says carefully and holds out her hand. Without hesitation he gets out the key from his pocket and puts it on her palm. The elevator doors open and the two of them get out while still holding each other’s hand. Only a few steps separate them from the Uchiha's car, which they get into and make their way home.
The journey home goes by smoothly. Again and again Sakura throws a concerned look at the black haired man, who just leans his head against the window and looks outside at the wet and dark road. It is as if the memorial ceremony really broke a dam in him, when he saw the photo of his family on his desk, all the memories shot in at once. He couldn't even stop it. The car stops and the man looks around through his dark grey eyes, confused. It takes a moment for him to realize that they have already arrived at their home. Sighing tiredly, he gets out of the car and takes his bag out of it, before he goes around the car and enters the villa through the side entrance together with Sakura and booth of them take off their shoes. “Just sit down and relax. I'll cook something for us quickly, then you'll feel a little better too.” It comes over her lips, while she puts her handbag on the kitchen counter and gets out the ingredients for a hot and heartwarming meal.
Sasuke thought that it would be a good idea to go to the company and distract himself with work, especially since he can't just suddenly do nothing for a whole week. Most of the processes in the company run through him. If he doesn’t check the drawings as soon as possible, there will be errors in the productions and that again would only damage the company largely. Sakura had also encouraged him to go on with this idea. After all, it would be good to get back to everyday life quickly so that he won’t have to think about his loss and pain all the time. Before he got home that evening, he didn't want to give thought to his mother's death, but this memorial ceremony completely threw him off his feet. Of course it was a nice idea from the employees and they couldn’t help it, but somehow this ceremony and especially the song left a deep crack in his heart. And when he saw the photo on his office desk, showing him with his parents and his big brother, when he saw her smile, the dam was completely torn open and all the memories crushed him. All the times she suddenly appeared in his office reproachfully, exactly because he wanted to skip lunch again, he relived it all again and again in his head.
The faint sound of ceramic hitting wood makes the black haired man look up. He didn't even notice how he let himself sink to the table in the kitchen. His wife approaches him with a gentle smile and puts a glass with a brown liquid next to the plate. "Enjoy it." She says caringly and goes back to the counter to get the second plate from there and sits down opposite of him. Sasuke examines the food briefly, vegetables, rice with egg and chicken, before he reaches for his cutlery and does the same as Haruno does.
Tired, the Uchiha rubs his right eye while he follows his wife’s movements with the left, who is putting the dishes in the dishwasher with a satisfied smile, as well as the dishes from breakfast which were still laying in the sink. "Let's watch a movie." She suggests, turning towards him when she is already at the door and he is still sitting in his seat. He shakes his head cautiously and looks at the glass of iced tea in front of him. "You should get some sleep, Sasuke." She then advises him with a caring look and then leaves the kitchen to go into the living room. He follows her silently with his gaze. Did his mother choose the Haruno on purpose? Of course she knew about the story of the Haruno’s deaths. Sasuke turns his gaze to the glass in from of him. His mother knew what was going to come. Maybe she didn't know that it was going to happen so badly, but she knew it. Did she choose Sakura because she knows what it feels like to lose a loved one so suddenly? Of course, no one would be better suited to be at his side than her. She knows how he feels. She can understand and read him like an open book.
He shakes his head slightly at his thoughts. This wasn't the only reason his mother chose Sakura. He knows that. She had a much bigger plan than just having him comforted. But he will probably never know what her plan, her idea was. With a deep sigh, he rubs his hands over his face and then through his hair. At least all those memories have stopped crushing him. But despite everything a little more distraction would definitely do him good. So the youngest Uchiha gets up on his feet and slowly walks towards the living room. When he arrives in the hallway, he leans against the door frame of the living room and silently observes his wife from afar. She too hasn’t changed into anything more comfortable yet and is sitting on the couch in her black dress and blazer and looks at the television with a slight smile on her lips. Suddenly he feels the need to kiss her. Shaking his head at his silly thoughts, before a gentle smile curls up on his lips and slowly starts walking towards her.
After a few steps, she finally becomes aware of his presence and looks at him again with that caring gaze. He slowly comes to a stop in front of the couch and watches Sakura move to the other side of the couch and pull her legs up to her upper body. “What are you afraid of, Sasuke?” She asks out of the blue. He looks perplexed into her emerald eyes, while he doesn't know what kind of answer she wants to hear and what the question relates to. What should he be afraid of? "I'm afraid of heights." She confesses and looks to the side as if she had realized that she asked a stupid question, but to cover it up, she turns the sound of the TV lower. “Oh, you mean that. I suffer from claustrophobia. But why do you ask? ”He explores and raises an eyebrow. "Well, those are the important little things when you...“ She begins, but becomes quieter and quieter towards the end and then falls silent. He looks at her somewhat surprised, while he doesn't quite understand where this sudden shyness comes from. He notices how she suddenly lowers her eyes and begins to cross her fingers and then loosens and knead them again. “Well… we've been married for four months now. We have settled in well and have come to terms with this roommate life and have become friends. But your mother wanted us to have a relationship and a happy marriage." She explains to him visibly nervous, which kind of irritates the black haired man. "That is why I am of the opinion that we should slowly pursue this wish and start having a relationship." She finally says and shyly peeks up from her fingers, into his dark eyes. Surprised, Sasuke looks at his wife and before he can even think about it, she continues. “I don't mean that we should suddenly fall head over heels with each other and sleep together out of a sense of duty, just because it is part of a real relationship. I mean it more like that we, for example..." she explains and blushes slightly while she acts like she’s in an extremely embarrassing situation. “Well, I think it would be nice if we could spend more time together in the evening. I don't mean that you should stop working, but... whether it would be possible that you sit down with your work next to me in front of the television? Or maybe just watch TV with me for once? And when our dates no longer just go the way they did before, that we make up a day where we go out and pretend we're in love. But that we also go on real dates and ask each other about a date beforehand and also think about what the other person might like." Still quite nervous, she lowers her eyes back down to her fingers after her long explanation.
Sasuke examines his wife briefly and then smiles gently. She seems to have really thought about taking the next ‘step’ and to help him fulfill his mother's wish. Quietly and unnoticed, he walks up to her and watches as she nervously and shyly pulls up her legs and bends her head slightly until she reaches her knees with her forehead. He slowly sits down only a few centimeters away from her, making her look up at him in surprise, straight into his face as she is sitting sideways on the couch. Slightly her lips part again as she looks back into his eyes. “I would also be happy if you let me know whenever you leave or when you come home. I don't mean that I want to control you, I just want to know when you are back, and... and…" The Haruno suddenly becomes even redder than before. Sasuke looks at her questioningly. “And that with the kissing. That we no longer limit it to the public, but also kiss each other when we feel like it or something... If you understand what I mean by all that stammering." The Haruno whispers softly and looks down at her fingers again.
Sasuke’s lips curl up into an amused smile. “Yes.” He then utters softly. Surprised, she looks back up into his smiling face. “Yes?” She repeats, amazed. "Yes. I think it would be nice if you are ready to take this step. I have no idea how to lead a relationship, but if you want us to behave like the last few days, then I have nothing against it." He says truthfully, looking at her through his dark grey eyes. She could swear she could make out a small glint in his eyes as he said those words. "Don’t worry about that. I have no clue about relationships either, but we can find out together and use our parents's relationships as a role model, maybe even ask our families and friends.” She suggests, relieved and then again shies away. "We'll manage somehow." Sasuke then too says and smiles confidently, gently grabbing her ankle to stretch her legs and place them over his own legs and pulls her onto his lap. He puts an arm around her and hugs her close as she slowly relaxes in his arms and leans against his chest. "You were really cute right now.” He then whispers into her ear, making her divert her attention from the movie to him. A little red on her face, she looks him in the eyes. "Didn't know that such a topic would make you so shy and embarrassed." He whispers with a smile and puts a hand on her cheek. "Well... I...” She starts and shyly lowers her eyes. Smiling, he leans over to her and finally puts his lips gently on hers. Just for a moment, but savors it to the fullest. "I've wanted to do that ever since I came into the room.” He whispers against her lips and then presses her to himself once again.
"Sasuke." The Haruno silently begins when the credits of the movie are running an hour later. "Hm?" He hums softly in response next to her ear. "The bedroom that your mother decorated so nicely.” She continues, looking up and back into his eyes. He too looks interested in her eyes and waits for her next words. “I think we should use it as our bedroom from today on and sleep in it. After all, we don't want to sleep alone in the guest rooms anyway and your mother made that room especially for us, so we should finally use it as this. It will also do your back good to sleep in a bed again and without me on your chest." She finally explains to him when she has found the right words. The Uchiha things briefly about what she told him. Sighing softly, he begins to nod. "Yeah, you are probably right." He finally agrees and runs his hand over her back.
She slides silently down from his lap and then slowly gets up on her feet. Confused, Sasuke watches her and only lets go of her slowly. “What are you doing?” He asks after a moment's hesitation. He had actually planned to spend the rest of the day with her, because for some reason she distracts him from his grief so easily. Sakura looks back at him with a gentle smile. "Going to put my belongings into our bedroom." She then turns back to the front and walks out of the living room. He looks after her for a moment. Meanwhile, the pink haired woman goes into her room, opens the wardrobe and takes the first stack of clothes to carry it into their bedroom. When she tries to step through the door, she stops in it. Slowly and reverently, her gaze wanders over the rooms furnishings. Since the door to the room is embedded in the sloping wall, when she looks straight ahead, she can see through a window onto the balcony and into the garden. On the wall to her left is a chest of drawers made of dark wood. The wall opposite her also contains a door, which after a few meters merges into a window front with a door that leads to the balcony. Light laminate decorates the floor up to the bed, where it is replaced by a dark one, shaped like a rectangle, which is made of the same dark wood as the furniture. The wall behind the large bed is covered with white wallpaper, which has a wave pattern. On the right the wall of the room is covered by a large dark brown box which extends over the entire side. The king sized bed is a real eye catcher, in the middle of the dark wood, covered in beige bedsheets.
Mikoto really put a lot of effort into furnishing this room comfortably, you can tell from all the details. The young Haruno sighs softly and then slowly starts moving again and opens the box doors of the furnitures to get an overview of the compartments and clothes rails before putting down the first pile. Just as she has brought the third one to the bedroom, the door to the room opens and Sasuke is standing in it, some hangers in one hand and a pile of shirts on the other arm. In silence, he looks around like her earlier and then comes up to her to have her show him where he can put his belongings in. Smiling, she takes the stuff from him and puts it in one of the boxes. She also takes his shirts too. Smiling slightly, he leaves the room to get the rest of his clothes, just like her. They walk past each other for half an hour, almost bump into each other in the door and empty the wardrobes into their room. After an hour, their bedrooms and bathrooms are finally empty and everything is housed in their new shared bedroom.
Sighing softly, the pink haired woman looks through the window, to the balcony and the garden. Rain keeps falling from the clouds. Sasuke closes the doors to the wardrobe and then turns to her. He silently overcomes the steps between them and then carefully puts his arms around her. Somewhat surprised, she turns around in his arms and looks up at him. He smiles sadly at her. "Thank you.” He suddenly whispers. Surprised, she looks him in the eyes and then smiles too. "What for?" She asks quietly as she puts her hand on his cheek. "That you are there for me.” He simply replies, still hugging her and lowering his head onto her shoulder. She gently puts her arms around him and strokes his hair. A sad smile settles on her lips as well as she hugs him a little closer.
"Let's go back down." Sasuke whispers after a few minutes and lifts his head off her shoulder again. She gives him an encouraging smile and nods before following him. Arriving on the ground floor, he immediately heads for the living room, while she briefly goes into the kitchen, warms up the leftovers from lunch and goes to him with two plates into the living room. They sit in silence by the television and have dinner while they watch the end of the episode Scrubs. When the credits are running, Sasuke gets up to put the plates into the kitchen and comes back with two glasses and a bottle of peach iced tea. "What's coming next?" He asks, interested, while he sits down next to her and leans back comfortably on the couch. “Let's see, I Spy, Madagascar, The Expendebles, Cars2 and The Yes Man are running. Which one do you want to watch?“ With a questioning look she turns from the TV, where she has opened the program, to him. "I Spy?" He asks a counter question to find out if she wants to see that too. "Okay." She responds with a slight grin and switches off the program to watch the movie. After a sip of her glass, she leans back on the couch. She puts her legs up on the couch and lets her head slide to the side onto Sasuke's shoulder. "Are you tired already?" He asks quietly and looks at her head. "No, no." She waves her hand with a smile before snuggling up closer to him. Sasuke smiles amused and then puts an arm around her back so that her head is not laying on his shoulder anymore, but on his chest.
When the end credits of the movie are running an hour and a half later, Sakura yawns with relish. “Tired?” He asks again, gently stroking her side up and down. "Yes." It comes tiredly from her before she cuddles closer to his chest. He laughs softly, which makes his chest and therefore her head shake. "Then let's go to sleep." He exclaims amused, because earlier she said that he should sleep in a bed again and here she is, still using him as a pillow while sitting on the couch. "Okay." She agrees with a soft sigh and gets up. Tired, she paddles into the hallway, checks that the front door is locked and then goes upstairs to the bedroom. Sasuke follows her quietly after he has locked the side entrance. When he enters the bedroom, Sakura is pulling the curtains shut and then approaches the closet from which she picks out a shirt and shorts. The tiredness is already weighting on the Uchiha's lids when he too turns to the wardrobe and looks for sweatpants and a shirt to exchange it with his suit. While Sakura tucks her shirt over her head and goes barefooted into the bathroom, he lies down in bed and briefly looks at the remote control, which is laying on the blanket. Confused, he looks at it, because it looks exactly like a television remote control and presses the red button, when nothing happens, he presses the green one next to it and a television suddenly pops out from the back of the dresser. Amazed, he presses the red button and switches on the television, immediately turning on the weather forecast for the next day. "Where does the television suddenly come from?" Sakura asks in surprise when she comes back from the bathroom.
With a slight grin, the black haired man switches off the television and then pushes the green button so that it disappears back behind the chest of drawers. Understanding, his wife nods and walks towards him and the bed. He watches her doing so, noticing that she has removed her make up while she, gently rubbing her eye, slips under the covers next to him. She sighs with relish when she has put her head on the pillow and immediately closes her eyes. "Good night.” She then says softly and loving into the silence. Sasuke looks at her for a moment, as she lies there and looks so peaceful, although she is not even in the land of dreams yet. "Good night." Sasuke then repeats with a smile and looks briefly at his hand, in which he is still holding the remote control. He quietly puts it aside and then sets the alarm clock on his bedside table. "I set the alarm clock to 6am. Is that okay?” He asks into the silence. "Mhm." Sakura hums next to him and makes him smile before he turns off the light and the room turns completely dark.
Silently he looks up in the darkness where the ceiling is. Silence has returned once again to the room. He can hear his wife breathing next to him, softly and regularly, as if she were already asleep. He can also hear the rain pattering softly against the window from outside. He slowly closes his eyes and then turns to the right and thus to Sakura. He can feel her warmth. A sudden loud crack, like a tree breaking in half, and a low rumble break the silence. Suddenly the young Haruno is sitting upright in bed with a loud gasp. Annoyed, she groans and falls back into the pillow just a few seconds later. “Seriously now?!” She asks still a little shocked into the darkness. “Are you okay?” He asks concerned. “I don't like thunderstorms. I can never sleep in such nights. The thunder always keeps me awake. Besides... I'm afraid of it.” She confesses in the end in a whisper. He smiles slightly and searches with his hand for hers underneath the cover. He gently rubs over the back of her hand and feels his way to her stomach, in order to wrap his arm around her waist and pull her against his chest. “Is this better?” He asks quietly. "I don't want to use you as a pillow again.” She replies quietly. "That didn’t bother me before either, so don’t worry.” He whispers truthfully and pulls her even closer. "But? I was lying on your chest!" It comes once more over her lips, making him huff in amusement. "And?" A quiet laugh resonates in his voice. "Ryosuke always said that I'm so heavy that I squeeze all the air out of his lungs." She mumbles softly and sounds like before, as she looked at her fingers in embarrassment. "You are so light, that I barely even felt you lying on top of me." He whispers into her ear with a shrug of his shoulders, which she only slightly feels but can’t see. "But Ryosuke, said that I’m way too heavy!" She whispers back, obviously confused at whom’s statement she should believe now. Chuckling in amusement, he turns completely on his right side again, only to push his nose into her hair and close his eyes. "Didn’t he just say that to annoy you?" He asks with a grin on his lips. He knows what he’s talking about. After all he does have a big brother too.
Again there is a deep rumble of thunder and crashing, which is why Sakura flinches in his arms. Sasuke automatically pulls her even closer and rubs her back, reminding her that he is here with her. "Good night.” He then whispers after a while into her ear as he leans his cheek on her temple. "Good night, Sasuke." She replies with a gentle moan, obviously feeling more relaxed, and cuddles herself more to his chest.
