Story: Memories don't fade

Author: zoikoiroi

Rate: M

Summary: Six childhood friends meet again after ten years in the little village where they grew up together. An old friend was killed and they have to solve the mystery before it is too late. Can they be friends again?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

7. A NEW BEGINNING

"Who are you?" This simple question is usually very easy to answer when you are older than two years old. But when the person who asks is a semi-naked slut who opens the door of your boyfriend's house at 8 pm, you easily forget you name.

Sakura stood still and speechless in front of Karin for almost ten minutes, until Itachi noticed her and ran to save the day.

"Karin, this is a friend of mine, Sakura. Go dress up now."

"Ok, big brother. I'm going back to Sasuke." Itachi of course couldn't save this.

"What did she call you?"

"…She is Sasuke's wife and she came to see the baby…"

"Wife? Isn't he divorced? She had dumped him."

"Now she wants him back. You women are crazy!" Itaci laughed in a failed attempt to make her smile, but she was stunned.

"Bye, Itachi." She turned around and returned home. He was back to his wife and yet he slept with her the previous night? This was the reason he left without saying anything. Last night was a goodbye fuck?

She decided to go to Hinata's house to talk about him and find an explanation.

Meanwhile Sasuke was trying to get rid of Karin.

"I told you we are divorced and I will stay here forever. Can't you understand?" She had sneaked in his bed at night and tried to make him fuck her in his sleep. Thankfully he woke up and stopped her in time. That made him realize that he felt nothing for her anymore and the only one he could think of was Sakura.

"But, Sasuke-kun, I want my child and I will take her with me." She moved to the crib, but Sasuke was faster and stood between her and the baby.

"We will solve this in court. I'm not giving you my child. You abandoned her and even now you only care for yourself. You will not make a good mother."

That stopped Karin, but she played her last card. "And Haruno Sakura will?"

"How do you know about Sakura?"

"She was at the door a while ago. At first I didn't recognize her, but then Itachi told me her name. She has fucked half male population of Japan. You should have seen her face when I opened the door in my underwear!" And she started to laugh like crazy.

"Out!" Sasuke's face was an emotionless mask.

"What?"

"Get out of my house, out of the village, out of my life!" Karin tried to protest, but he grabbed her hand and threw her out of his room. With his shouting he woke the baby up and now she was crying loudly. He took her in her hands and calmed her down, but there was only one thought in his mind. What did she tell to Sakura?

Fate…

Does such thing exist?

And how can you fight it?

Tenten was sitting on the roof of the bakery for a while now. The sun was up and the day was very hot, but she didn't move. She had climbed up there because the bakery was in front of Neji's house and she could see in the living room from there.

When she was young she used to climb up there and spy on him. He couldn't see her but she had full view. Of course she was a masochist for wanting to see him leaving with his fiancé, whom he was going to marry in two months.

She had seen until then Hinata returning home at 6 pm with Naruto. They looked very happy and Naruto kissed her like a million times before leaving her at her door. Two ours later Sakura also entered Hinata's house, but she looked far away from happy.

Tenten was so focused on Neji's departure that she couldn't think of anything else. She didn't care for what happened with the imprisoned man that Naruto and Hinata were supposed to guard or why Sakura was so sad.

At last Neji appeared in his front door. He was dressed casually and carried Ino's stupid pink luggage to his car. She came out a while later without looking at Neji's parents at all. Tenten could tell that his mother was mad. He kissed his parents and got in his car, but Ino forgot something and she went back to the house.

It was an once in a lifetime opportunity and Tenten wasn't going to lose her. Neji was alone in the car. She jumped down and fell on the ground Neji saw her, got out of the car and went to help her.

"What are you doing here…?"

He didn't get to finish his sentence and Tenten grabbed his shirt, pulled him to the side of the store, threw him on a wall and started to kiss the hell out of him. In the start he tried to protest, but then he just opened his mouth and let her have her way with him.

"Neji, where are you?" Ino had returned to the car and Neji's parents reappeared in the front door.

For one whole minute, which seemed like a century to Tenten, he looked at both of them. Then he remembered what had happened the night before, gave Tenten a butterfly kiss and went to his car.

The car started and left. Tenten got out of the shadow and watched the back of the car as it left. She wanted to run and scream for him, but her feet were stuck on the ground. He had chosen Ino.

"Tenten dear, are you all-right?" From the way Neji's mother was looking at her she understood that she was crying all this time. She nodded and ran in Hinata's house where Sakura was, too.

Hinata answered the door and when she saw her wet face, she understood immediately what had happened. The three girls ended up in the garden where nobody could hear them. Tenten cried for half an hour and then calmed down.

"And I thought I needed comfort because Sasuke's wife returned." Sakura was always the crybaby and Tenten used to be the tough one, so seeing her crying was odd.

"Wh-when he l-left last time I w-was crying for a m-month and it t-took me three y-years to start l-looking to other m-men. I thought th-that I wouldn't have to g-go through the same a-again." She whipped her eyes and nose with her sleeve and sighed. "Let's change subject. Who returned?"

"Karin THE WIFE! She opened the door with only underwear this morning."

"Neji had promised that we would marry and buy the mansion in the forest."

"And she called Itachi her brother."

"He used to call my mother mum!"

"Do you think that after all that happened between us he will return to her?"

"He told me that he was in love with me, he gave me hope and then he returned to Ino!"

"She looked like a total slut! Who opens the door in underwear?"

"Ino always dresses like a Barbie doll. Everything is pink and…"

"Tenten! You said you wanted to change the subject and you only talk about Neji and Ino. You don't even listen to me!"

"I'm getting married." Both Sakura and Tenten hushed and turned their heads to Hinata, who was glowing with bliss. Then the three girls all together bursted out laughing like crazy. Ino and Karin didn't matter in front of Hinata's happiness.

"When did he ask you?"

"Well, we were in the tree house with Gaara- that's the boy's name- when he woke up and… he kinda caught us doing it in front of him…"

"What?"

"He actually is Shikamaru's brother in law and he has evidence to send Orochimaru and his gang in prison. Now he is heading to the government. Anyway, I told him about Shikaku and he couldn't take it, so he told us to adopt him. But they don't give single people babies, so Naruto asked me to marry him."

By the end of that little speech all the excitement had gone away.

"So that was the reason? I hoped that it was something a little bit more romantic." Sakura's disappointment disappeared as soon as she understood what Hinata had said. "You want to adopt Shikamaru's boy?"

"Hinata, are you sure? This is a huge responsibility!"

"I am sure Tenten. We want to take him and live with him here in Konoha!"

"Here? What about your job?" Tenten needed to know that Hinata had thought it through.

"We will get a job here. Naruto wants to make something on his own and I will help him."

"I can't believe you are getting married."

The rainbow comes out

Only after

A big strong rainfall…

Later this evening Sakura was returning home. The three girls had spent the day in Suna shopping for the wedding. "The sooner the better" Hinata had said and they wanted everything to be perfect. Sasuke had guessed that they would be shopping, when Naruto came to his house and he announced from the street – screaming out of his lungs- that he was getting married.

He expected Sakura to be late, but it was midnight when she finally returned home. The moment she saw him waiting for her she wanted to run and kiss him, but she decided to play cold and uncaring. Sasuke tried to kiss her and she turned her head away. That confused him.

"What happened, Sakura?"

"I don't have time for you. I'm going to be bridesmaid."

"They haven't even picked a date yet."

"So there is a lot of work to do."

Sasuke had started to freak out. "Is all this about Karin?"

"Oh, I forgot it already. Did you have a good time after you left me last night with your wife?"

"Are you an idiot?"

"Since I believed that you actually felt something for me, I guess I am."

"Karin slept in the guest room and I sent her away this morning. And probably I am the idiot who fell in love with a paranoid woman."

He turned his back to her and proceeded to leave, but she ran after him and hugged him from behind. The stayed like that in the middle on the street between their two houses.

"I knew that you wouldn't return to her. I just wanted to make you tell me that you love me at last."

TWO MONTHS LATER

Mr and mrs Yamanaka invite you

to their only daughter's wedding

to Honorable man Hyuuga Neji

at the Presidential Hall

in Saturday.

Formal clothes required.

"Formal clothes required? You've got to be kidding me!" Tenten had Sasuke's invitation in her hands and had red it like twenty times already. She sat in front of Sasuke, who was trying to comfort her a little. Next to them Sakura was holding Sasuke's daughter in her arms and played with her. Hinata laid in Naruto's lap and little Shikaku was asleep with his head on her lap.

"Who they think they are? Presidential Hall, blah blah blah… He wanted to get married in the beach without any formalities! And he didn't invite me!"

Sakura laughed so hard that she woke the baby up again. "You wanted to go?"

"Of course I wouldn't! But it was rude! He invited you all!" Sasuke hugged her from behind and she sighed. "So much happened the last two months that I had almost forgotten about Neji."

The truth was that nobody of them got any rest the past couple of months. First of all, Orochimaru and his gang got arrested and removed from Suna. Gaara returned and was elected the new major of Suna. Sasuke and Naruto were now working with him, since he owed them such big favor.

Sasuke and Sakura moved together and she started to get along really well with the baby. The whole village was anticipating for the wedding, but no matter how many times Sakura asked him, Sasuke always refused her and told that he would never marry again.

Naruto and Hinata got married quickly in the Town Hall and the whole village was invited. Right after that and with a little help from Neji they managed to adopt Shikaku and take him home with them. The boy was so similar to Shikamaru that everyone in the village loved him and accepted him as part of the family.

At that moment, only a week before Neji's wedding, Tenten was desperate. She hadn't stopped for one moment hoping that he would come back to her at last, but he didn't even appear in Hinata's wedding.

"Tenten, it's time for you to move on. You lost your chance with Neji, but you are still young and beautiful. You will find someone else."

"Sasuke, I would like to see you if Sakura was married to someone else. But don't worry about me. I will find a way to feel better."

Naruto opened one eye and looked at Sasuke. "When are we going to leave?"

"We can leave on Friday, sleep two nights in Tokyo and return on Sunday. But you would have to take your own car."

"I want to come, too." Everyone's heads turned to Tenten as she spoke these words. Even the baby looked at her. "I mean in Tokyo, not the wedding."

Everybody sighed relieved. "What do you want to do in Tokyo?"

"I have some unfinished business."

Life is a big party.

You need company; it sucks when you're alone.

If you give up, you miss all the fun.

"This tie will choke me if I need to bend." The big day has arrived and Neji didn't have the perfect mood for his wedding. He was blabbering about everything and cursing all the time.

"But it's loose! Tell him Sasuke." Naruto and Sasuke were his best men and they had spent the whole morning in his house.

"I will tell him to shut his mouth or I swear I will hit him. It's not our fault that he decided to get married to Ino" Sasuke had gone through Tenten's blabbering all week and he wished to find Neji in a better mood. Needless to say that he was worst.

"It's the fact that the clothes don't fit me."

"It's the fact that the bride doesn't fit you."

Neji fell on a chair and put his face in his hands. Naruto sat beside him and patted his back, but he remained in that position for a while. "I don't know what to do."

"You are getting married, Neji. If you didn't want to, you had to say it earlier. Now the guests are here and the bride is in her way. You can't do anything."

"This isn't how I had dreamt this day."

Flashback

"Tenten, Will you marry me?"

"Oh my God! You can do anything for sex, Neji!"

"No, I'm not kidding."

"But we are sixteen! Are you out of your mind?"

"I know it's early, but I also know that I'm not going to feel the same for any other woman in my whole life."

"If you are trying for a third round, forget it. We are going to be late!"

"I will make a lot of money and renovate this mansion. Then we will get married in the chapel with all our friends…"

"I never said I would marry you."

"…and live here together with our ten children!"

"How many?"

"At least ten!"

"Ok, let's have another round."

"Ok, we don't need any more details!" Sasuke stopped his mind travel and returned him back to reality. "Neji, take my advice and leave Tenten alone. She has suffered enough already!"

"You are not my friend!"

"I am, but I am hers, too."

"Guys," Naruto interrupted them "This is not a time to talk about Tenten. Neji, Ino will be here in a minute! If you didn't want to marry her, you should have told it earlier."

The three men got out and took some pictures. Neji had a face as if his tooth ached. In Sasuke's opinion this marriage looked a little like circus. There were more that five hundred people in the church and all of them were dressed ridiculously well for the occasion.

Hinata and Sakura were in the front seats along with Neji's family. His mother happened to have the same expression as her son, the toothache. Hinata's sister couldn't control her laughter for the huge silver hat the lady next to her wore. They were the only normally dressed people in the crowd.

The music started and the bridesmaids walked down the aisle followed by a stunningly beautiful Ino, whose dress looked like a gigantic cake. As she began to walk the door closed behind her. Her face was a mixture of pride and triumph as she showed off her gown to the guests and completely ignored the groom. Neji felt like vomiting.

In a brief moment the door reopened with force and hit her back making Ino fall on the red carpet with her face. The music stopped and everyone hushed as the saw another girl behind her. Tenten had waited long enough.

Neji gulped unable to react, but as Ino turned her head and saw her, her face lost all the beauty and became a mask of hatred.

"Security, help!" Tenten jumped and sat at her back like people sit in the back of the horse. Then she pressed her face on the ground and the gigantic dress muffled her screams. With Ino unable to move and talk, it was now Neji's choice.

"Hyuuga Neji, I claim you as mine and forbid you of marrying this Barbie doll." She sounded secure but she was scared to death that he would tell her to leave and continue his wedding. "The first takes the price and I was in your heart far before her. I lied to you; you were always the one and I'm not willing to let go. Even if you marry her, I won't."

Neji looked at her stunned. She wore jeans and a T-shirt with a ridiculous stamp, but she was more beautiful that the ruffled cake she was sitting on. She had made 500 people look breathless at her, when not even Ino's parents noticed that she was straggling above her.

Sasuke gave him a little push in the back and Naruto smiled approvingly. Neji grabbed the microphone and announced his decision. "Dear guests, thank you for coming here today, but there will be no wedding. You see, I promised this crazy woman that I would marry her long ago and I am a man of my words."

Tenten let Ino go, but whatever she screamed was lost in the loud applause of the people. Neji ran to her and hugged her in front of everyone, including Ino, in the middle of the church. Tenten squealed and kissed him lightly on the lips.

"Now let's do get rid of this hideous tux!"

END

I think that this is the end you all wanted! I want to thank everyone that red and reviewed this story! It was long and tiring, but I already have a new idea! See you…

zoikoiroi