Stale Mortality 1/?

[Splintered]

I wanted to make this a chapter fic but writing another chapter for this is hard.

As far as couples go... it's like NarutoxSakuraxSasuke and anti-NarutoxSakuraxSasuke. I've got a thing about writing Team 7 Sakura centric stories.

I don't know why this turned out slightly deppressing. I blame those years I grew up on an Army base.

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Stale mortality

Splintered

Chapter 1

It's been years passed the era in which Team 7 had split onto their own paths. Fewer, when their roads were woven together again and Naruto beat the sense back into Sasuke. And just a stones-throw away since the ex-traitor Sasuke could live a normal life.

Normal life? Normaler life? Team 7 was never normal, it was tangled mess of distorted emotions and complicated pasts. In the old days, it was a good source of topic gossip for the other genin teams on a Friday night when there was nothing else to speak of. And every conversation would end up with at least one person shaking their head, "for shame."

But it seemed that Team 7 might have tamed today, that is to those who only knew Team 7 from bits of conversation left by others. Today was the celebration of the union of Uchiha Sasuke and his beautiful new bride. Marriage.

Now that Itachi was killed, burned, and every trace of his body vanished from the earth, Sasuke could now settle down and continue with phase II of his plan. Settle with a wife and populate his estate with neo-Uchiha's. That was the way it was suppose to be, and that's the way everyone expected it to be.

But... the bride's hair wasn't pink and her eyes weren't green.

He had gotten some hapless fool kunoichi with a decent family heritage without a real profound surname. A common brown haired, brown-eyed girl that no one knew and was swept away with thoughts of romance and easily drowned in ebony eyes.

Haruno Sakura and Naruto were last minute witnesses. There was no real wedding, much to the new bride's disappointment. There were many more to come.

When Sasuke's ANBU squad had heard about the stoic matrimony, the first thing they did was place bets on how long they would think this girl would last. The highest anyone would venture was thirteen months.

Apart from Sasuke's already passive and cold demeanor, it was already established that love and ANBU could coexist. Tension from the job made members quiet and withdrawn to potential spouses. Time demanded them to be out of their house and killing at any given moment. They would come back to tired to talk, to jaded to love. Paranoia was the hardest issue to live with, when they weren't getting the little sleep they so much needed, they were alert and tense, to fearful to enjoy in what other people could call pleasant activities.

Kiba was once married to a pretty woman that was thought to be a nice catch. Loyal and beautiful. Every time he came home she would faithfully have dinner on the table, age-washed cold.

"How was work dear?"

"Fine."

He would be bloodied and tired, with quick healed scars cascading around his arms. But fine was all he would say, he refused to offer anything else.

One day on a particular long mission he got a message delivered by some chuunin. It was divorce papers; it lasted three months.

ANBU had little to no love life and it was twice as hard for those who had both partners in ANBU. Lee and Tenten had been 'going together' for over three years, going on two months. After a bit of trying they became little more than namesake. They saw each other at work, and caught a glimpse of each other when their time at home happened to overlap.

For children, ANBU were highly prestige and respected heroes. For anyone jounin level and above they were called the tragic elite's. Many didn't even stay for ANBU long, disenchanted by gruesome missions.

Thirteen months, gracious because Sasuke was good looking.

Haruno Sakura was a medic, non an ANBU. As important as they were, they weren't considered heroes like ANBU were. But that was ok, she didn't care to be called one.

xxx

There was a knock at Sakura's apartment door while she had busied herself with a medic book. She was fully into her studying but smacked the pages closed, she learned that it was never wise to not answer to door. She got from her comfortable spot of the couch towards the door and answered it without suspicion.

Lo and behold, it was Sasuke. He was battered and bruised, but mostly tired from life. There was no surprise or confusion, Sakura quickly deducted that he must just have come from an ANBU mission.

"Always look before you answer the door," it was as if he was trying to scold her but too tired to put emotion into his words.

Sakura ignored him and ushered him inside her tiny apartment, noting, when she touched his arms, that he was freezing. She led him into her bathroom and began to start a hot bath for him.

It wasn't unusual for Sasuke, or Naruto, to appear suddenly at her footstep knocking on her door. In fact, many shinobi's that made it to the elites often regressed back to finding comfort in their genin trio. There was a silent understanding and unconditional regard for them that wasn't there with new friends or other jaded coworkers. Most of the males sought out for the females of the group, because deep in the recesses of their mind there was feeling of maternity and comfort. Even Shikamaru and Choji would find their ways to the now teacher Ino, who they always complained as loud and brash.

Sasuke and Naruto were no different.

"Strip," she told Sasuke, and he did do so. There was no blushing and backwardness as he settled himself into the tub.

As Tsuande-sama has proclaimed, anyone coming from an A class mission or above were to report immediately to the hospital for examination, much to the annoyance of shinobi. Sasuke and Naruto (along with Kiba and Shino, special thanks to Hinata) managed to bypass that rule, along with the Hokage's rage, by going to Sakura instead. Sakura had seen them bare many times over what people would call scandalous.

She did a few quick hand seals before hovering her hand a few inches from his body and tracing it down from head to foot.

"No sign of any life threatening poison."

She cradled Sasuke's forearm in her hand, examining the cuts and bruises. None of them were particularly severe but some of them seemed to have been there for awhile. It must have been a long mission.

"Looks like a couple of them are infected."

Sakura moved toward her medical bag and brought out a strange chilly green cream, which she smeared over some of his cuts before healing them completely. That seemed to be it. No illnesses, no life threatening wounds, no shortage of blood, and no need for replication of cells for damaged organs.

Sakura placed her hand on Sasuke's forehead to check for a fever. It was thoroughly unscientific and unreliable method- many medic nins frowned at the old wife's technique, but it made Sakura feel better if she did so. Despite him still being chilly, his forehead was a bit warm. Nothing to be frightened of but she would be at ease if he took the next day off to rest. She would tell Tsunade-sama that, Tsunade would do that for her.

The examination was over but she let Sasuke be to relax. A long time ago, Uchiha Sauske would scoff and think that relaxing in baths was beneath him. As a masked ANBU, he quickly learned that no relaxation was to be taken advantage of.

Sakura left the bathroom to go to her room and fish out some clothes for Sasuke. Since both Naruto and Sasuke often appeared unannounced, she had taken the liberty of rummaging through their house and keeping a permanent set of clothing for them in her drawer. Sakura noted, with a frown, that the "Sasuke section" was alarmingly close to empty. Most likely because after his marriage he still came by regularly but she couldn't exactly waltz into the Uchiha estate and ask his wife for clothes.

Sakura never felt jealous of his wife, knowing what her situation would be like. But the same couldn't be said about her. She sighed, more drama was not what she needed at this time.

There was a loud splash from the bathroom, signaling that Sasuke was done and that he now needed his clothes. She grabbed a pair of his pants and a shirt from Naruto's drawer. Naruto was a bit shorter than Sasuke, but stockier so it was always an awkward fit, but it would have to do.

He was drying himself with one of Sakura's blank white towels when she found him. Her mother once tried to convince her to buy some pretty pink floral towels to beautify her bathroom but Saukra insisted that she needed white. It just seemed appropriate for a medic nin to have white everything. Her mother pointed out that Sakura could be quite an eyesore in her own apartment, a brilliantly pink bundle of hair in a sea of bleached emptiness.

Sakura didn't mind it at all. Nor did Sasuke, and Naruto usually doesn't pay attention to it. That's all that mattered.

She placed the clothes beside him as he struggled to rid his hair from the wetness, it's getting too long for his comfort. Sakura resisted the urge to help him, Naruto liked the assistance but Sasuke found it demeaning. Instead, she returned to retrieve her medic book on her three man coach (she ditched her favorite loveseat because there were times when both Naruto and Sasuke would arrive together) and stared at the pages for a bit. She had lost her rhythm in her studying and couldn't return to it.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sasuke slink to her room in a tired march, so he was going to sleep at her house after all. Sakura discarded the book and retreated after Sasuke, it was a good time to call it a night. Naruto was probably on a mission anyway.

"Are all the doors locked?" he asked he flipped the covers over himself.

"And double bolted."

"What about the windows?"

"All secured."

"Good."

With that she flipped off the light and crawled under the blanket with him.

ANBU bring security to the general population to Konoha. They are heroes. But it was people like Sakura who brought security to the anbu. Heroes of heroes.

---End Ch 1

[wicked]

Intriguing to say the least. I'm interested in seeing where you're going to take this. I can also see why you would find it hard to continue this, in that it would stand well on its own as a one-shot. Although it makes one wonder what all occured that have yet to be revealed (if there is anything) about Team 7 in their younger days for others to utter, "For shame." Unless you're merely referring to Sasuke's moment of stupidity. ~_^

But boy howdy, I wouldn't want to face Sasuke's wife (poor thing doesn't even get a name, ah well). Jealousy can make so many do strange things. Why am I on that subject? Meh, it's just me so don't worry to much about it.

Please continue!

~Wicked

[csmlee]

I read this on your LJ but never got around to review it. >_<

I must say I love it! It's not the usual sappy or comedy stuff that I love to read. But it does seem plausible. And though it's uber angsty, I find the unspoken trust Sasuke has for Sakura awfully sweet (even though he is married to some nameless OC).

So you plan on writing more? Yah!

[Pikachu]

ANBU bring security to the general population to Konoha. They are heroes. But it was people like Sakura who brought security to the anbu. Heroes of heroes.

I loved that line, especially since it basically summarized the whole chapter, also bringing it to its conclusion. Can't wai to read more.