Note:This style is very different from what I usually use. This one is disorganized but not really.
‘He will come back. It was his promise. He never broke a promise.’ was a mantra she recites over and over, while day by day she waits; her omnipresent hope lies before her, unrelenting in its belief.
Every day, the despair slowly creeps in. It is news blackout; no phone calls, no letters, no newspaper articles and no radio announcements; her anxious heart recites the lines she had long ago engraved onto her soul: ‘He will come back. It was his promise. He never broke a promise.’
The war ends. Soldier after soldier comes back to once dreary homes. Neighbors celebrate. Friends rejoice. But dutifully on that wooden chair by the front porch she remains, every day, just like any other day, whilst her fragile heart thundered. ‘He will come back. It was his promise. He never broke a promise.’
One year turns two and two turns three. Her desolate spirit doesn’t expect but doesn’t lose hope either. On the chair by the front porch she still sits like the past years.
but not alone. Anymore.
‘Will dad return? What does he look like? Will he really fulfill his promise?’ her three year old son’s questions cut a path of tears from her eyes to her chin, the salty liquid soon falling in torrents.
‘Shina, He will return. He looks like you. He will fulfill his promise,’ Sakura replies but doesn’t believe her own words anymore.
A red album with yellow swirls all over the cover was on the table. Sakura, who sat beside Naruto on the couch, asked permission before reaching for and opening it.
There was an abundance of photos of the original team seven members on the first page. Sakura pointed to one of her favorites, a picture where she stood in front of a beaming Kakashi and between her two bickering teammates.
“Hey look at this one. You and Sasuke-kun looked like you’re about to fight each other.”
“He called me dead-last seconds before that picture was taken.”
Sakura knew their ‘fights’ weren’t serious and somehow she missed those carefree days when she would just sit under a tree waiting for their teacher to arrive while the two bicker endlessly. It feels as if it were only yesterday that it happened.
She turned another page. On the second one were pictures after Sasuke left Konoha. She pointed to the New Year photo taken years ago. Naruto was in his blue yukata while she was in her pink kimono, her hair tied upwards by a fancy ornament.
“Naruto, this is the first time we went to the festival and watch the fireworks together right? I could still recall how beautiful they were,”
“I remember we even got separated before the fireworks viewing but thankfully, we found each other.”
They beamed at the picture. Sakura turned to the third page. This time, there were lots of photos of Naruto with various people. Naruto with Iruka, Naruto with Kakashi,with Tsunade, with Shikamaru, with Sai, with Yamato and others who became an important part of his life.
A few pages later and Naruto and Sakura reached the middle where majority of the photos were mostly of them in different places-at the park, at the shrine, near the Hokage office, in the hospital, at the Ramen Stand and in Naruto’s apartment. There was also a picture of them with Kizashi and Mebuki and one of Sasuke when he finally returned to Konoha. While looking at the different photos, the pair reminisced and talked about their precious moments together.
However, in the last few pages, everything changed. The people, who Naruto used to be with, were no longer there. There were only pictures of Hinata and him together with their children in different places. It was as if she took the place of everything and everyone in Naruto’s life and erased them from existence.
Sakura reached the last page and pointed to the couple’s wedding picture. “Hinata looks so beautiful and happy here,”
“She is.”
She glanced at the family picture with Boruto and Himawari beside it. “Your kids are so cute,”
“Not only that.They are also sweet."
There were no more pages left. Sakura closed the album and put it back on the table.
“Naruto, I think It is just fair that I show you our family pictures too when you visit the house sometime,”
“Sure.” There was no enthusiasm in his voice. Sakura detected it right away but wisely chose not to say anything.
“You know what? I plan to buy a new album because Salad is growing up and I need to take more pictures of her, Sasuke and our family,”
“That’s a good idea. Hinata just bought a new one the other day for us. Same reason”
Silence resided in the room and for a long time no one said anything. Both of them were preoccupied with one and the same thought.
In the future, they will have little to no more spaces in each other’s family album.
Sakura donned a lacy headdress and a fancy, frilly maid costume. It was a one-piece black dress two inches above her knee. A white, lacy half-apron with ruffles was tied to her waist and black, thigh-length socks with white ribbons adorned her legs.
Naruto almost choked on his morning coffee upon seeing her appear at the dining room wearing the outfit. His jaw slackened. “S…Sakura-chan…Why are you wearing THAT”
“It’s a maid cafe costume for Ino’s part-time job that she accidentally left the other day. I became curious and decided to try it. So, what do you think?” she stood before him, awaiting his comment.
“It’s beautiful as long as you don’t wear it outside,”
She scrunched her brows. “What do you mean?”
Naruto rose from his seat, grabbed both of her cheeks and squeezed them gently. “Cause I am a selfish person who wouldn’t want to share the view of my beautiful and tempting wife to the world.” He pushed his hip towards her to emphasize his point.
Heat colored her cheeks and she freed them from his hands. “You’re insatiable! We just had a long one last night,”
“And were you satisfied? or do you want more?” he grinned teasingly. His right hand went down to caress her ass under her skirt, his soft touches sending shivers down her spine. She let out a moan and grinded her derriere against his large, warm hand, wanting more of that delicious skin-to-skin contact
“N…Naruto…” His name, unbidden, came out of her lips. She grabbed the neckline of his shirt and pulled him down to her, their lips meeting each other in a frenzied kiss, tongues darting out to taste each other. But it wasn’t enough. She wanted to feel more. Taste more
When they separated, Naruto placed his forehead against hers and watched her flushed cheeks with hazy, lustful eyes. The sight of her, still fully clothed but moaning with need for him made him harder than he already was.
Bolt asks what it's like to be in love. Naruto says he wouldn't wish it upon his greatest enemy.
Note: I don’t support Borusara in any form so I will leave the name of the OC to the readers. For this drabble, the OC will be referred to as “Bolt’s wife” or “Bolt’s teammate”
==
Bolt was unable to figure out why he was drawn to his teammate like a helpless metal to a magnet.
Was this love? His young, naïve mind had no idea. However,if the symptoms of being in love included having butterflies in your stomach when talking to someone, craving for the attention of a person and wishing time would go slower when you are alone with him or her and doing things you wouldn’t normally do for an individual, then he figured it has to be it.
The problem was, Bolt wasn’t sure if his conclusion was right. All signs point to the raw emotion but he sees no indications of those from his own father. He seldom goes home and whenever his mom asks him to take some time off from work, he would always reply in the negative.
If his dad truly loves his mom then wasn’t he supposed to fee lan urge to come home because he wanted to see her no matter how busy he was?
Bolt shook those stray, treacherous thoughts away from his head. No, definitely not. His dad wouldn’t have married his mom if he doesn’t love her. It was just that he had been immersed in work so he had no time to spare these past few days. His mom told him so and his dad confirmed it one daywhen he patted him on the head and told him that he had to endure everythingfor he was also a ninja.
Satisfied with his own reasoning, he relaxed and chose tocontemplate about his own feelings. Once again, he asked himself if what he wasfeeling for his teammate is friendship, love or just a fleeting admiration.
He wasn’t able to come up with a definite answer.
====
Normally, Bolt would hesitate to talk about these kinds offeelings with any of his parents especially his father but the fact that he wasin so much turmoil and was helplessly conflicted left him no choice.
So one evening, while waiting for his mom to go home, Boltpopped the surprise question.
“Dad, what’s it like to be in love?”
Naruto threw his son a suspicious look from across theliving room table. “Why would you want to know?”
He shrugged. “I’m just curious,”
Naruto paused in contemplation and, with the wisdom of a manwho had experienced a lot in life, he answered, “Love is something I wouldn’twish upon my greatest enemy,”
Bolt frowned in confusion. He tried to make sense of thewords. An enemy is a person you dislike or hate. When you dislike or hatesomeone, there is a tendency for you to wish all sorts of unpleasant things tohappen to that person.
Meanwhile, love is pleasant. Love makes a person happy. Wishinglove upon an enemy is like wishing happiness for him or her. When he puts itthat way, his father’s words make sense.
“Does that mean love is pure happiness?”
“Maybe?” Naruto said in a tone that clearly meant his sondidn’t get the message.
Bolt frowned and scowled. “I don’t understand,”
Naruto smiled a bitter smile. “And I hope it remains thatway son,”
====
It was only years later, when Bolt finally had a family ofhis own, that he was able to fully comprehend the meaning behind his dad’s words.
As a father, Bolt comes home every day no matter how busy hewas. One smile from his lovely wife and his only daughter obliterated his tirednessfrom the long day of work. He had never been absent to any of his child’s schoolactivity because he knows how lonely it was to be neglected by a father whoprioritized his work over his family.
Once he started comparing things, the ugly truth resurfacedand hit him hard, shattering everything he had ever known about his parents’relationship. Slowly, as he got accustomed to family life, he had begun to discoverwhy his father doesn’t seem to smile often, why there are always bottles ofwhiskey under his office desk and why he prefers eating ramen somewhere than goinghome to have a taste of his mother’s home cooked meal.
And then there were other occurrences during his early,childhood days that he pushed at the back of his mind and refused toacknowledge because of fear. The signs had been there all along. He recalledseeing his dad looking tenderly at his aunt Sakura whenever he thought she wasn’tlooking. How his dad smiled fondly whenever he told stories about her and howhe seemed to have a faraway look in his eyes whenever he talked about anything connectedto love.
His eyes widened as his memory flashed back to that oldconversation with his dad.
“Love is something Iwouldn’t wish upon my greatest enemy,”
Everything finally fell into place. There could be no otherconclusion.
To his father, love was equivalent to a pain greater thanmultiple stab wounds or broken bones and because the pain was so great, hewould not wish it on anyone, not even to his enemy.
No wonder his dad told him he’d prefer that he didn’tunderstand anything
====
It was during his early adulthood, when Bolt brought up the old topic.
“Dad, I think I finally understand what you mean,”
Naruto looked at Bolt’s tired eyes which mirrored his own.He could no longer see the vibrant Bolt from before. It was as if all traces ofhim vanished and he was talking to a hollow shell devoid of the good things inlife. His gaze settled at the five empty, bottles of whiskey and two glasses onthe circular, wooden table between them.
“Son, you’re drunk,”
Bolt ignored him and continued.
“It’s so painful. I don’t know what to do. I miss them. Imiss them so much and I think I am sinking. I think I’m falling into darkness.”Recalling the accident that happened to his wife and his seven-year olddaughter brought a pain so tremendous it made his head spin. It felt likesomeone was squeezing his chest, almost suffocating him to death.
“You’re still young. You could still start over,”
“It wouldn’t be the same,”
Naruto stayed quiet.
“Dad, do you love mom?”
“She loves me. She had been there all along.”
Bolt wasn’t surprised at all.
“Do you think being unlucky in love could be passed downfrom generation to generation?”
Naruto remembered Jiraiya and his unrequited love, Obito,whose beloved was unintentionally killed by his best friend before his veryeyes and his dad, who was able to marry the one he loves only for both of themto die early.
He smiled a bitter smile. The misfortune didn’t end thereand instead, continued down to him. He wasn’t able to marry the woman he lovesand Bolt, whom he thought had finally succeeded at what his predecessors failedat, was not spared.
“I think so,” Naruto finally answered.
“Perhaps there will come a time when the next generation finally surpasses the previous,” Bolt said hopefully.
“I don’t really know. All I know is that we’re on the vergeof breaking.”
“Or maybe we are already broken,” Bolt pulled a sixth bottleof whiskey under the table. Naruto grinned.
For now, they would share another bottle of whiskey and forget theirworries.
Note: I have always written from Naruto's perspective so this time, I would like to try Sakura's. I am also trying different writing styles. I believe that given the opportunity, Naruto would run from his own wedding with another woman and Sakura would at least try to stop it. Hence, the drabble for this word prompt.
“I’m going to be Sakura-chan’s husband,”
Sakura could still remember the exact words and how he said them. He had been so adamant back then and there was no mistaking the determination in his eyes. Every single person around them could tell that he truly and honestly loves her from the bottom of his heart.
But something happened along the way and now, he’s getting married to another
To make matters worse, the wedding was moved to March 28
Her birthday
Today
She was one of the reasons why it happened. Convinced that she doesn’t deserve such a person, she helped him and Hinata get together.
Big mistake
The wedding was scheduled to start in thirty minutes and she was supposed to be in her cocktail dress and on the way at the exact location where the couple will soon recite their wedding vows.
Instead, she was lying with her back on the bed, while staring at the ceiling. She was only in her casual clothes and had no plans of getting up to fix her hair or even don a dress for the occasion.
“Naruto’s happiness is you,”
Ino had said this over and over again even after Naruto and Hinata became an official couple and she refused to listen because she had convinced herself that she was doing the right thing.
Was it really worth getting them together? She had always believed she doesn’t deserve him for she had made him cry and suffer. Hinata is a sweet girl and she had devoted her entire life to him. She deserves him.
But then, was it worth losing him forever?
Is love even about who deserves or does not deserves someone?
At the end, after her silent contemplation, it was Ino’s exact words that made her rush out the door. Never mind that her hair was disheveled and she wasn’t wearing the appropriate clothes. Never mind that she would probably suffer scorn from some people afterwards.
Never mind everything and anyone
At that moment, all she thought of was him
She ran out of her room, into the living room and out of the house.
It was who she sees that made her stop. There standing outside, looking all handsome and wearing his black tuxedo was him.
“N..Naruto,”
“I..I’m so sorry Sakura-chan, I couldn’t do it. I know you love Sasuke but please, just let me stay by your side,”
She stared and blinked her eyes thrice. The image remained. It was indeed him. He was here and not at the wedding.
“Naruto! You idiot!” she ran towards him and he prepared himself to be hit on the head but what he felt were her warm and soft arms around him.
“I thought I’ve lost you forever. I’m so sorry. I wouldn’t give you away anymore,” She rested her face on his chest and just savoured the moment,”
His arms remained at the sides as he tried to assess the situation. “S…Sakura-chan…..is this what I think it is?”
“It is,”
It was just two words but they were the sweetest he ever heard. He hugged her back, lifted her and spun her around.
The sound of their combined laughter drowned all their worries and doubts.
They were together.
And, truthfully, that’s all that matters to them at the moment.
Prompt: Naruto visits the Uchiha household and gives Salad a gift
“Mama, Uncle Naruto is here,”
Salad’s voice came from outside the house. When Sakura opened the door, she saw her daughter with Naruto by her side, both of them laughing.
Her daughter held up a small gift in an orange wrapper with a ribbon and a birthday card on it. “Look mama Uncle Naruto gave me a gift.” She said proudly before running into the living room where she plans to open it. Sakura and Naruto remained at the doorway and stared at her retreating form.
“You should refrain from spoiling her too much.”
Naruto grinned. “But she’s a sweet girl and she deserves it. Besides, I promised Sasuke I would take care of the two of you whenever he is away so I’m doing everything I could,”
“Yeah you’re doing such a good job she talks about you more than her own father.”
“What if I told you I’m enjoying it?”
“Then I’ll tell you to pay more attention to Bolt. He deserves it. He’s doing all he could just for you to notice him. Salad and I could take care of ourselves just fine. You don’t have to be pressured by any promises you made,”
He looked straight into her eyes. “Even if I didn’t make a promise, I’ll still be here,”
Silence settled between them and Sakura’s expression turned serious. “I know and that’s why I think you should stop coming here often,”
“Would you want that?”
“Just…do this for me okay,”
“But Sakura-chan, we are not doing anything wrong.”
“Listen. There’s no problem with you. It’s me. It’s just that the way you talk to Salad makes me yearn for things that I wouldn’t be able to have and I know it has to stop but I found myself dreaming of it more and more. I hate it and I hate myself for even thinking of these things,”
Once again, there was another silence and it was Naruto who broke it.
“Sa..Sakura-chan I also…
“Mama, look! I got a book from Uncle Naruto and it’s one of my favorites too,” Salad came running to them from the living room while clutching a book in her right hand. Oblivious to what just transpired, she held up the object and happily showed it to her mom. Then, she turned to the blond. “Thank you Uncle,”
“No problem. Happy birthday,” Trying to hide his earlier reaction, Naruto patted the child’s head and smiled tenderly.
And again, Sakura was torn between hating him for causing her heart to flutter involuntarily when it wasn’t supposed to and loving him for the way he’s treating her daughter like his own child.
Maybe she could allow herself to enjoy this one moment where she could pretend they are one big happy family.
Just one moment. A minute
And maybe, probably, hopefully, who knows,
In another life the longing might end and they could finally have it all.
Naruto lost his phone. He was sure he placed it in his bag right before his first class for the day started but when he rummaged through its contents later that afternoon; it was nowhere to be found. He went back to all the places he had been to that morning hoping to find it somewhere. When he finally exhausted all efforts with no success, he decided to stop by the Lost and Found Section of the school located inside the Student Affairs’ Office.
There were at least three to five students in-charge of the section and they take turns every week depending on their schedule. That afternoon, Naruto felt that luck was on his side for it was his classmate, Haruno Sakura, who was sitting in front of the desk that day.
In normal cases, the person who lost something describes the object first so that the person in-charge could look for it among the things returned by students. But when Naruto approached, Sakura had stood up, opened the drawer beside her and pulled out a black mobile phone with an orange case that has ramen designs all over it.
“Someone surrendered this to us this morning. Is this yours, Naruto? She held up the phone for him to see.
Naruto gaped. “H…how did you know?”
She almost rolled her eyes at his expression. “Because it’s orange and has ramen designs. I’d recognize it’s yours even from afar.”
“Sakura-chan, I didn’t know you were looking at me all this time. You even know my favorites,”
“Everyone knows that you love both orange and ramen,” She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Then, she pointed to the logbook on the desk and asked him to sign.
“But I’ve got to admit I’ll still know it’s yours even if it has a different case. After all, your home screen wallpaper is me,”
Prompt: Naruto drinks Sakura's bitter herbal medicine
Note: I'll do the other requests this weekend. Also, you may SEND ME PROMPTS too.
Naruto looked at the harmless green liquid in the cup as if it were an enemy he has to conquer. The recipe for the herbal drink was concocted by his wife and was made up of multiple herbs guaranteed to take care of his vital organs and improve his immune system. She makes it every time he goes out for long missions with his health in mind. The scent was enough to make him cringe but he still held the cup and downed the contents all at once before returning it on the table with an accidental slam.
Sakura, who witnessed everything, promised she would add something to change the taste once she has her day off. When she got the empty cup and walked over to the sink to wash it, Naruto had stood up, wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder, his warm breath fanning her neck.
“It’s all right Sakura-chan. Just use your time off to rest. I’ll drink it no matter how unpleasant it tastes. After all, you made them for me,”
“Are you sure?”
She felt his chin moved on his shoulder when he nodded.
“Of course, After all, I get to taste something pleasant after that to make up for it,” Her eyes widened when she felt Naruto’s tongue move all over her earlobe and down to her neck, all the while licking and sucking her skin. She always smells and tastes good and he loves hearing her wanton moans too.
Sakura was about to give in to the pleasurable sensations when all of a sudden, Naruto removed his arms around her and stopped what he was doing.
“Sorry Sakura-chan, It’s time for work. I promise I’ll make up for it,”
Sakura faced him, disappointment marring her face but he tilted her chin up, pecked her on the lips and gave her a long kiss on the forehead before going out of the house.
