Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Loveless Suna ❯ Chapter 33

Silvertwilight88 has beta-ed this chapter!

I'm so sorry for the wait, I know it's been long, but I'm starting to think my beta has disappeared from the side of the world. Sorry for the mistakes again.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

“Shizuka, wake up!” Shikamaru popped his head into the guest room. With half open eyes I looked up, noticed it was still dark outside and with my glare, called him nuts. “If you want to visit Naruto's grave you better get up.” He said disappearing again, leaving me wide awake. I quickly got up and ran into the bathroom to get a shower. Refreshed I walked to the kitchen where my fake boyfriend was reading the newspaper.

“Good morning!” I sat down and got a nod over the paper while I grabbed a slice of bread. “Who's accompanying us today?” My slice of bread got some topping before I took a bite.

“Sasuke, Sakura and Sai.” He answered flipping a page and the doorbell rang when I took my next bite. Shika got up to open and I quickly finished my breakfast. Sakura had come to pick us up, saying the two other boys will be waiting at the gate. I noticed she was caring a bouquet of chrysanthemums.

“Ino said these have the most meaningful.” The pink nin smiled seeing I was eying the bouquet.

“What are the meanings?” I knew we always put chrysanthemums on graves, but what did they actually mean?

“The red one means: I love you and the white one: truth.” Sakura explained and I couldn't help but think that was sweet. “But let's go before Sasuke-kun and Sai kill each other.” I raised my eyebrows upon hearing this.

“I thought they got along.” I mumbled quickly hencing while Shika pushed us outside, so he could lock his apartment.

“Have you actually seen them talk to each other?” My pink friend asked and I had to admit I haven't. “My point exactly… Sasuke-kun doesn't really like Sai, being his replacement and everything.” I let an `Oh' escape my lips. It didn't take long before we were at the gate where we found the two ravens ignoring each other completely. Sasuke stood like a statue leaning against the right pillar while Sai was talking… more smiling and listening to Lee, who for some reason was present. The Uchiha came to life when we stopped before them and got a youthful greeting from Gai's student.

“What are you doing here, Lee-san?” I asked and to my surprise he looked shocked at me, before bursting out in tears.

“Since when is it Lee-san again and not Lee-kun, did I do something wrong?” He dramatically dropped to his knees, clenching my kimono for forgiveness.

“S-sorry, Lee-kun, I'm still sleepy.” I forced a yawn and smiled apologizing. He seemed to buy it, giving me some more dramatic tears before he turned to Sakura.

“Sakura-chan, my beautiful flower, you're just as lovely as always.” He bowed over and kissed his ex-girlfriends hand. For once I actually thought he looked like a cool, sweet gentleman.

`Probably something Sakura taught him when they were dating.' I glanced at Sai and noticed him observing again, but without the slightest hint of jealousy. `Why doesn't he get it?' I looked back at Sakura and her ex-boyfriend and noticed a small blush on the pink's cheeks.

“We need to go.” Shikamaru interrupted the romantic atmosphere.

“Of course, I don't want to keep you up and I need to continue my morning exercise anyway.” Lee smiled before saying his goodbye's… dramatically of course.

-

After an hour of jumping from branch to branch, Sasuke had said I could drop the hence, since we were far enough from the village. I was a little hesitant at first, but Sakura assured me they would warn me if they sensed someone. It was impossible for me to keep it up the whole way anyway and I wouldn't be very helpful if I fainted from chakra shortness again. I watched the Uchiha's back jump up and down before me and turned to my pink friend on my left.

“When did Lee turn into Lee-kun for Temari?” I asked curious. I had been wondering since we left, but couldn't come up with a decent explanation. The pink nin looked surprised at me before answering.

“Temari is a good friend of mine and since Lee was my boyfriend…”

`That explains it!'

“Is it normal that someone gets along with his or her partner friends?” Sai joined our conversation from my right. His interest for the love topic had seemed too be sparked.

“Not always…” I said carefully and looked at Sakura for help. “Most of the times they do get along, but there are always exceptions.”

“You were good friends with Naruto, but Sasuke-kun doesn't like you.” The medical nin gave as example. Sai nodded glancing at Sasuke's back before looking back into green eyes, asking her to go on. “I think you just have the opportunity to get to know those friends better than before.”

“But it doesn't necessary turn out into friendship?” I continued. The raven seemed to digest this new information.

“So, you have the opportunity to get to know the friends, but it doesn't necessarily mean you'll end up being friends yourself.” We both nodded and Sai seemed to be happy with the explanation.

“Actually that example between Sasuke-kun and you isn't really that good. Sasuke-kun almost doesn't like anyone… except the girl next to me of course.” Again I got that warning look.

`I can understand she is concerned, but this is getting irritating… If only I could tell them the truth.' I sighed, making the look change into an unreadable one. “We just get along well… that's it, really!” I defended my daddy and I. `If Gaara was here they wouldn't even consider it.' I glanced backwards at Shikamaru, hoping my change of attention made clear I didn't want to continue this conversation. Sakura seemed to get it and respected my decision, even if she still had that strange look in her eyes. I didn't have to worry about Sai since he wasn't giving us attention anymore. He was probably thinking about the answer we had given him.

`What would Gaara be doing right now?' I wondered staring at the Uchiha's back. `And how is Temari keeping up acting like me?' Just trying to imagine them playing intimate put a smile on my face. `I miss him…' Again I sighed. `Actually now I think about it, he must be doing something to find the person who's trying to kill me.' The whole way I kept thinking about my redhead until a little after noon Sasuke suddenly changed course.

“We're almost there!” Sakura informed me with a smile. She was clearly happy to visit Naruto, even if it was just his grave. We jumped down on grass and in front of me I saw a black stone engrafted with white letters with the Konoha symbol underneath them. “Wait here for a sec.” Sakura smiled while Sasuke were already surrounding the stone. He started some kind of ritual and when his hands hit the ground, the grass in front of the stone started to disappear.

“A genjutsu…” I said surprised staring at the hole. A closer inspection showed stairs going underground.

“You didn't really think we would keep him here unguarded, did you?” Sakura asked sarcastically.

“Well…” I answered hesitantly, making the other woman sigh in disbelieve.

“When we decided to keep his body and bury him outside the village, we knew we had to protect the secrets his body held.”

“Secrets?” We were walking towards the hole that had already absorbed the guys.

“How am I going to explain this? Do you know about the Kazekage's past?” She asked carefully.

“Gaara's past? You mean the whole Shukaku thing?” She nodded and I was starting to get.

“Naruto also had a demon inside him and since Kyuubi, the nine-tailed fox died with him there's probably a lot of change the fox left some evidence of his presence behind. He would be an interesting test subject, which we would never allow of course.” We walked a small room in and I noticed Sai and Shika light torches while Sasuke was staring at a coffin that occupied the centre. My heart started to beat like crazy when I looked at the casket. `Naruto's body is lying inside…'

Together with Sakura I walked over to the Uchiha, both stopping on opposite sides of him. Sakura started to decorate the coffin with her flowers while I glanced at the raven to see his approval. I noticed his eyes were full of emotions. Sadness was the dominant one, but also a little anger and disappointment. He probably didn't even notice the flowers. I grabbed his hand and gave it a little pinch as sign he wasn't alone. He rewarded me with a small smile and I couldn't help but feel like we were visiting the missing part of our little family.

`If Sasuke's my daddy… I guess Naruto would be my mommy… or my other daddy, better go for daddy.' I sighed staring at the coffin again, ignoring Sakura's look on the entwined hands. All five of us surrounded the casket, but we didn't say a word. Everyone was in his own thoughts with Naruto.

-

An hour later we were sitting on the closed hole. Sakura was talking to Sai, Shikamaru was cloud watching, leaving Sasuke and me alone. We were sitting comfortably beside each other in silence. One point I picked up his hand and started to play with his friendship bracelet. He allowed it all without a word, until he suddenly stood up and picked something from the grass.

“What did you find?” I asked curious while he dropped back down next to me.

“An earring.” He gave it to me and me eyes almost fell out of my head.

“This is mine!” I said surprised and the Uchiha's eyebrow actually rose. “How did it get here?” My eyes looked expectantly at the raven. I knew that he was the only one who maybe had an answer.

“Maybe…” I noticed he lowered his voice. “…it got caught in the jutsu that brought you here?” He suggested.

“But that would mean that Naruto… dropped me here?” I said for lack of better words. My daddy raised his shoulders, not really helping. “But I woke up in Suna… wait Temari had said that Gaara had found me on a stroll.” My eyes ordered the Uchiha to fill in the blanks.

“It's possible that he found you here…, he was present at the funeral.” I nodded taking this in.

`Gaara knows where Naruto's buried.' “And maybe the only reason he took me all the way to Suna was because he found me here.” I continued to brainstorm. It did seem likely, the kitsune would probably have been the only person who he still respected during his `exile all love' period even if he was dead. `Of course, if he found me somewhere else he wouldn't have left me there to die, he would probably take me to the nearest village… maybe Konoha…' My reasoning actually seemed to fit, only one thing was missing. “Sasuke…” Daddy turned towards me. “When you… and Naruto copied me, I… the real me was awake, right?” He nodded. “Then why is the last thing I remember going to bed?” He seemed to think this through before answering.

“Maybe he altered your memory to avoid confusion?” I wasn't really convinced. “When you summon a clone, she'll be in to same state as the original. So, you were conscious after you were created and would have seen the original.”

“And that would have freaked me out…” I ended the reasoning myself. `Who knows how dangerous that jutsu actually was? Complications were probably not welcome.' “Now I have at least an idea of what could have happened before I woke up in Suna.” I mumbled to myself. I twirled the earring between my fingers and got up. I walked over to the black stone and dropped down before it to read the inscription.

“Uzumaki Naruto. A hero.” I smiled a little remembering that was what his father wanted him to be when he sealed Kyuubi inside him. I laid the earring on the stone before caressing it lightly. “You can have this…” I sighed sadly. “I guess I have to thank you… for giving me this life... giving me the opportunity to meet everyone and at least I know nobody misses me at home, since the real me is still there. That makes it easier, you know… I miss them, but I know my place is here… beside Gaara.” I smiled to the stone and had the feeling Naruto was standing next to me, smiling his usual fox-grin. “Bye daddy.” Smiling I got back up and walked over to my other daddy, who was waiting with the others to return home.

Stephke23: I miss Naruto in my story, but I guess it can't be helped. And he is the other daddy. Two people made Shizuka. Next chapter it's Ino's and Neji's turn to play bodyguard. Review please.