Hey guys! My favorite movie is the Korean movie "Sunny", so I was thinking of doing a Naruto take on it. This is VERY BASED off of the movie "Sunny", which I do not own. Please enjoy! This also takes place in AU our modern-day world. It's my first modern-day world story for Naruto too hehe. Anyway, please enjoy!
Six a.m.
Sakura Haruno dragged herself out of bed, quietly turning off the alarm clock singing Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" at an almost eardrum-bursting level. Sliding on her slippers by the foot of her bed, she scooted to her bathroom, turning on the faucet and splashing cold water on her face.
She peered deeper into the mirror. Were those crow's feet forming at the ends of her eyes? She put her fingers on the side of her cheekbones and lightly tugged. She scowled half-heartedly, then attempted to straighten out her face—scowling would only give her more wrinkles and make her age faster.
After brushing her teeth and throwing her hair back, the rosette tiptoed out of the bathroom and down the stairs and hallway into the kitchen. She could hear her husband turning on the shower water and the radio, blasting the morning news.
Sakura reached underneath the cabinets and took out various pots and pans, turning on the stove and pulling cartons of eggs and toast out of the refrigerator. She stretched for the rice maker, checking to see if there was leftover rice from the night before. She sighed. The rice maker was nearly empty. She'd have to make more for breakfast.
When the rice began cooking, she looked at the clock. Six twenty. She bounded out of the kitchen and up the stairs again, lightly knocking on her daughter's bedroom door before entering. She made her way over to the curtains and opened them, sunlight flooding into the room.
"Ren-chan, get up." She shook her daughter lightly.
Her daughter grumbled and turned in bed, covering her head with the pillow. "Kasan, do you really have to open the blinds? Seriously."
Sakura sighed. "Breakfast is almost ready. You have to leave for school in thirty minutes."
She exited her daughter's room before heading back to the kitchen. Tossing eggs in the frying pan, and pulling out various side dishes from the refrigerator, she neatly set the table. The night before she had bought a fish from the local market for a good price, and cooked it before she went to sleep. The lady who sold it to her said the fish was best served cold.
Her husband soon walked into the kitchen, fixing his tie.
"Good morning!" She greeted him brightly, placing a steaming cup of black coffee on his placemat. He grunted in reply. Sakura stepped over to him, cheerfully, reaching up to fix his tie for him.
"Here I can-,"
He swatted her hand away. "Leave it."
She bit her lip. She was dumb to think that after over sixteen years of marriage her husband would miraculously become a morning person.
Ignoring it, she set a china plate in front of him as he sat down to the breakfast table. A few moments later, Ren arrived, dragging her school bag with her. About the time Ren had begun middle school, she had dyed her hair from the pinkish rosette that belonged to her mother, and to the more familiar black that nearly every girl in Japan had. Ren had insisted that the pink color was "weird", and she was constantly made fun because of it and her extremely "large forehead didn't help either", and had begged her mother to let her dye it. After several days of nagging, Sakura finally gave in. Though it slightly hurt her that her daughter hated her hair—her mother's hair—who was Sakura to deny her daughter happiness?
Sakura set a glass of orange juice and a plate in front of Ren, smiling. Soon, Sakura sat down in her place at the table as well.
"Your grandmother called last night," she said to both her husband and her daughter, sipping her orange juice.
"Can you turn on the news?" her husband gestured towards the kitchen radio system.
"Ah." Sakura rose and turned up the news, something about the daily traffic, and sat back at the table. "Like I was saying before, your grandmother called from the hospital. You two should visit her sometime this week-,"
Her daughter rose from the table. "I'm leaving," she announced. Sakura stared in slight dismay at her daughter's empty plate.
"But you didn't eat yet-,"
Ren abruptly cut her off. "I'm not hungry." She didn't sound angry or impatient like Sakura did when she was a hot-blooded teenager, instead Ren sounded nonchalant and cold. Much like someone else she used to know.
Soon after his daughter's announcement, Sakura's husband stood up as well, eyes still on the newspaper. Sakura sighed at his untouched rice and fish, mimicking his daughter's actions. He had only drunk half of his coffee.
He bounded towards the door, picking up his suitcase. She followed after him, helping him put his jacket on.
"You'll be late," she chided him when he began slowly slipping on his dress shoes. She had been saying the same thing for the past sixteen years, but it never changed. He still moved in slow, steady movements. She used to find his patience endearing, but lately it seemed like his actions were merely slothful.
Reaching into his inner jacket pocket he took out his wallet. He pulled out a few hundred bills. "Here. Go buy your mom and yourself purses."
She looked up at him and tentatively took the money, sighing. "I have money."
In a flash Ren appeared her side, staring at the money in her mother's hands, then back at her dad's wallet.
"What, you want some too?" He said, face expressionless.
"I love you, dad."
He handed Ren a few bills and walked out the door, his daughter following his lead.
Sakura waved goodbye to her husband and child, before shutting the front door. She walked back to the breakfast table, looking at all the untouched food.
"Itadakimasu!" She said softly. Her voice echoed throughout the empty house, but she didn't flinch. She was used to it. Picking up her spoon, she scooped some rice and fish into her mouth.
The lady who sold her the fish lied—it tasted terrible cold. Knowing she'd clean up later (after all, what else was there for a housewife to do?) she picked up a piece of toast and moved to the window seat, staring to the outside.
The streets of suburban Tokyo were still busy with people, and she grinned at a group of schoolgirls and schoolboys walking together. The girls were laughing and twirling their hair, and the boys were hooting and shouting obscenities at each other.
She felt a sense of dejavu wash over her. Then quietly to herself she smiled. Those were the good old days—the younger days. When youth and time seemed eternal. She knew now that was less than true.
"Wow, this is a nice bag! Chanel!" Mrs. Haruno exclaimed from her hospital seat, waving the bag in the air. Sakura grinned.
"Of course Kasan. Your daughter has to take care of you now that you're… older."
"Ehh?" Mrs. Haruno rolled her eyes. "I don't need anybody to take care of me! Your father… your father knew that too."
It amazed Sakura how strong her mother still was. Though Mrs. Haruno was always a strong and bold woman, Sakura had thought after her father's death part of her mother would fade away. But no, the rosette still remained bolder and more vivacious than ever.
"Everyone look!" Mrs. Haruno called to all the other patients in the room, who were staring at the television watching the latest drama. "My son-in-law bought me Chanel!"
Her hospital mates grunted in approval, some clapping even. Sakura grinned. Her mother had made herself right at home.
"So how is Ren?" Mrs. Haruno bit into a slice of an apple Sakura had peeled for her, expectantly.
Sakura pulled a faint smile, almost a fake one. She was taught by the best. "She's… distant. Children are so troublesome."
Mrs. Haruno let out a wild laugh. "Now you know what I went through, ehh?"
"Ehh? Ren is nothing like what I was like in high school," Sakura grumbled. "Anyway, I wasn't troublesome at all."
"You're right," Mrs. Haruno nodded in what seemed to be agreement. After a beat, she deadpanned, "You were very, very troublesome!"
Sakura laughed. She glanced at her wristwatch. "Oh, Mom I really have to go. You need to rest, okay? And feel better."
Mrs. Haruno nodded. "Yeah, yeah. I'll see you later my dear. Give your husband and my granddaughter my greetings."
Sakura gathered her things and one foot out the door, she nodded. "Yeah, see you!" After walking out of the patients' room, her stomach grumbled. A piece of toast did not satisfy her hunger well. She looked to the left, and saw a vending machine calling her name. She had been on a diet ever since college and vowed to never eat junk food again. She wanted to keep things whole, and simple. After all, longevity and health was key to living a long lift, right? She could have all the instant ramen she wanted in the afterlife.
Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard a scream come from one of the hospital rooms she was passing. Curious, she secretly peered in as doctors rushed through the doorway, pushing her out of the way. A male thrashed and writhed on the bed, crying out in pain as doctors tried to hold him down.
She cringed, and was about to leave when the name sign on the door caught her eye. It read under Patient's Name: Uzumaki Naruto.
She peered into the room again. She thought she saw a flash of blond hair and sapphire eyes on the person, whom had since calmed down, being knocked out with anesthetics. "Naruto?" she whispered. She began to step in when her phone began beeping.
It was her husband. She took the call. "Oh, hello?" Listening to her husband's needs and requests on the other side, she began walking away from the hospital room. She'd visit another time—she'd see if that was the Naruto Uzumaki she had known so long ago.
After reviewing her school yearbooks the previous night, she had indeed found the name "Naruto Uzumaki", underneath the picture of a bright-eyed blond boy grinning from ear to ear. Clutching against her chest, she entered the hospital room she had seen him in before. "Hello?" she called out. The door was open, and the room was empty. She looked around and saw random IV tubes set up and heart monitors not attached to anything. She wondered where he could've gone.
"Sakura-chan?" She spun around, seeing a confused looking man staring at her from the corner of the room, rubbing the back of his neck. After a few seconds, he grinned, his eyes pulling into the shape of crescent moons. "Sakura -chan, it is you!" He leapt over to her and pulled her over to the window seat.
"I-It's been awhile." Sakura stumbled for words, taken aback by Naruto's sudden hands-on-ness. Had he been this bold in high school too?
"How are you?"
She suddenly caught herself. Of course this was Naruto Uzumaki. Here he was in the hospital, and he was asking her how she was doing. She let out a light laugh, startling herself. Her laughs hadn't been that free in a while.
"I'm… good," she said, half-heartedly. She saw the scars from various shots lacing Naruto's hands. "How… why are you here?"
Naruto took a seat next to her, his face turning slightly solemn. "Well… I guess I have two months left."
Sakura gaped. "T-two months?" she repeated.
Naruto nodded. "Mmm. I guess you could say this is a terminal illness?" he shrugged. "The doctors were using too many big words that I couldn't understand. But I got the gist of it—I'm dying."
Sakura felt her stomach twist and tears well up in her eyes. That surprised her as well. She hadn't cried since she graduated high school. She hadn't even cried on her wedding day. She had been too exhausted to shed tears at her daughter's birth.
"Ahh, anosan! Don't cry, Sakura-chan. You used to cry all the time back then, ehh?" he chuckled. "I suppose some things don't change."
She watched as the smile faded from his face. "You're… not punching me?"
She gave him a half-grin for his own sake. "I guess I did change—for the better, at least."
Naruto smiled again, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly like he did when he was at a loss for words.
After a few moments of silence she asked, "Does it hurt?"
Naruto tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Mmm… It feels like… a thousand needles are pricking your body all at once!" He shoved her lightly, causing her to jump.
"Let me know… you know, if you need anything." Why were her words so awkward? She tried swallowing the lump in her throat, but she couldn't. This was Naruto Uzumaki from high school. Her best friend from high school. The super positive, number-one-unpredictable-boy she was talking about. The one that always smiled and tried his hardest in everything, even though he wasn't naturally talented. And he was dying.
She decided than that life was not fair.
Her phone suddenly gave off a ring again. She looked at it. It was her husband. "Excuse me, one second." She turned away from Naruto and picked up the phone, pacing part of the hospital room.
"Hello?" she whispered. "Oh, I'm with a friend. Uh huh… what? When? … Today? Okay… I'll talk to you soon then. Goodbye." She hung and turned back to Naruto. "My husband's going on a business trip for two months."
Naruto's face was dark for half a second, but it brightened so quickly if she blinked she could've missed it. "Oi, so you're married now?" he teased. "Who? Hmmm… Kiba? Lee?"
Sakura was taken aback by the sudden mention of her old friends' names. She hadn't heard from them for nearly twenty-five years. "No, I haven't spoken with them since high school… actually since I've spoken with you."
Naruto nodded. "Ahh."
Sakura motioned towards the door. "Well, I've got to go meet my husband before he goes to the aiport. He's leaving, so…"
He nodded. "A-ah, of course. I wouldn't want to… yeah."
She smiled half-heartedly at him. She felt bad for abandoning him like this. She had met with him, and he was dying, and she was leaving him in the dust for her husband. He had always been there for her, and it hurt her that she couldn't be there for him. But she had priorities now. Priorities that weren't from high school or dying or Naruto Uzumaki.
"I'll visit," she promised. "Let me know if you need anything, okay?" She turned on her heel, ready to walk out when Naruto's voice stopped her.
"Sakura-chan!" He paused, then continued slowly, "There is, actually one thing."
She spun around. "What?"
Naruto's smile twitched, and his eyes glassed over. "I… I miss them," he said in almost a whisper.
She stepped closer to hear better. "Who?"
He grinned crookedly and hesitantly at her. "The Konoha Twelve and Sai. I want to see them again before I die."
There it is!:) Hehe I hope you guys enjoyed it! Please review and tell me anything I can improve on!
