Neji watched as Sasuke went back to work, putting on his professionally emotionless face and ordering various people around. No one would guess the man had been trembling over the side of the toilet bowl at lunchtime. Sasuke had stormed back to his office, as soon as he stopped heaving, and thrown the rest of his bento in the bin.
"When was the last time you ate properly?" asked Neji, breaking the silence in the office.
"None of your business," growled Sasuke.
Neji sighed, it seemed as though Sasuke would never give him an easy answer.
"It is my business if that's how you behave at the sight of good sushi."
"It wasn't good, it was cheap and nasty. Besides as you can probably tell I'm not feeling very well. In fact," Sasuke glanced at his watch, "I'm allowed some more painkillers now." He gave Neji a nasty look and pulled a bottle of water and the tablets out of his top drawer. Sasuke made sure to wave the 'recommended dosage' at Neji before downing them.
"Have you been sick recently, other than today?"
"No, maybe you set it off."
"But you've been having headaches?"
"No, they're your fault too."
"So I made you ill?"
"Yes."
"And when was the last time you ate properly?"
"Last week-" Sasuke looked up from his work when he realised they had returned to the original question. "Why all the questions?"
"It's my job to learn more about you."
"Hn."
Neji allowed the conversation to end there, taking in what he had learnt. So Sasuke's partner had died last week and he had not been taking care of himself since then. Was he so lost in grief that he couldn't bring himself to eat? But that did not seem likely; he managed to function enough to fool others into believing their respected 'Uchiha-san' was unaffected by anything. Sasuke was a strong guy on the outside but that was obviously not really the case, his secretary seemed to have picked up on that. She was clearly a clever girl... or was it simply that she had too much time on her hands to observe and admire him?
The one thing that was clear to Neji was what he needed to do first. He could deal with Sasuke's mental state only after he had helped his physical well-being. First he would get Sasuke eating properly and for that they would need to go shopping because there was certainly not enough to eat in the cupboards at home.
At half past five Sakura came to say goodbye to Sasuke. He wished her goodbye in his usual grumpy manner before going back to work and she cast one last worried look in his direction before closing the door.
At six O'clock Sasuke showed no sign of finishing up for the night and Neji decided it was time to intervene.
"Let's go, we should go to the supermarket before we go back to the apartment."
"Why?" asked Sasuke not looking up from his laptop screen.
"Because you need something more than coffee and ramen noodles to eat."
"How do you-" he looked up and scowled at Neji. "Did you go through my cupboards?"
"Naturally, I was curious."
"Nosy son of a-"
"Calm down, I didn't find anything... incriminating." said Neji gently.
Sasuke made a growling noise in the back of his throat that sounded oddly like 'Asshole'. But never the less he closed his laptop and slipped it into his bag along with a pile of papers and his diary. Neji followed him down the hallway, past the old cleaner and into the elevator feeling quite smug.
"Where is the nearest food shop to your apartment?"
"We're not going shopping."
"Yes we are. I want some tea," insisted Neji.
"This shopping trip is just so you can have tea?" asked Sasuke incredulously as the lift doors slid open.
"No, you need fresh fruit and vegetables. You know, real food."
"I'm not hungry!" snapped Sasuke.
The security guard at the front desk looked up in surprise. "Erm, don't eat then?" he suggested uncertainly.
"I wasn't talking to you!" said Sasuke before realising the security guard thought he was the only person in the foyer. "I was talking to... nevermind. Sorry. Goodnight"
The security guard nodded looking rather shaken and Sasuke strode out through the revolving doors with a scowl on his face. He walked briskly down the street at a speed that made Neji glad for his own long legs. He entered a small supermarket Neji was sure they hadn't passed on the way to work. Grabbing a basket he started throwing in random pieces of fruit and different vegetables. Then he moved down another isle grabbing a box of brown tea bags.
"Surely you can't expect me to drink that trash?"
"You wanted tea!" Sasuke hissed exasperatedly.
"Green tea." Neji corrected.
"Green tea? That stuff's horrible! We get normal tea."
"Either you pick up that green tea or I do it myself and have it float around like some spirit has hold of it," threatened Neji reaching for the shelf.
"Okay, okay I'll get it!" He reached out automatically knocking Neji's hand away.
Even though his hand moved to knock Neji's away, his brain expected to feel that tingly sensation again. So he was surprised to feel cool flesh meet his. Snatching his hand away he looked at Neji with wide eyes.
"You feel human!"
"Briefly, yes. I needed to become solid to pick up my tea. Here," Neji reached out and lay his hand on Sasuke's frozen one. "Solid," he reiterated as though talking to a child. "Not solid." He said simply, letting his hand slide through Sasuke's.
The cool touch of Neji's skin was replaced by the bizarre tingling of an angelic form. Sasuke shuddered and withdrew his hand quickly. Being careful not to make contact with Neji again he picked up the angels preferred tea and hurried away to the checkout. Neji followed silently.
As soon as they reached the apartment Sasuke dumped the shopping on the kitchen counter and walked down the hall. A few minutes later Neji heard the shower start up and sighed in relief; maybe Sasuke would feel better after a shower.
Neji then thought about his plan for tonight. At the store he had only briefly pulled his hand into a solid state, taking very little effort, but tonight he wanted to make sure Sasuke ate a proper meal so he had decided to eat with him. To cook and eat he would need to be completely corporeal which would take a lot of energy to maintain. As angels and demons did not belong on the mortal plain there was always the pull of their own plain acting on them and this pull took energy to fight. It was this same pull that made travelling to the mortal plain so tiring and the demonic plain almost impossible for lesser angels, but getting back to the angelic plain fairly easy. Whilst incorporeal Neji was as close to the angelic plain as he could be without actually being there. But to be physically felt by mortals would mean fighting harder against the pull of the angelic plain and would take a lot of energy. Neji knew he had the energy, but still, he would need to sleep better tonight than he had last night. It wasn't as though he needed to be visible to anyone other than Sasuke, that would surely exhaust him.
Closing his eyes he concentrated hard on making every part of his body as 'human' as it could be considering he wasn't human. He took a deep breath as he opened his eyes feeling the heavy weight on his chest and extra gravity that begged him to let go of this corporeal form. It was as though he had just gotten out of the water where he was light, flexible and at home. The pull was as unpleasantly tempting as always but Neji ignored it and set to work on dinner.
*
Under the spray of the shower Sasuke leaned against the tiled wall. Today had been unendingly stressful and the thought of who waited for him in his apartment gave his rattled mind no solace. Having Neji around had only been a constant reminder of him.
"An angel... eh?" Sasuke muttered pressing his slick skin against the cool tiles. "As in from heaven..."
It was only now occurring to him that this angel, Neji, was proof that the dead didn't just disappear. So did everyone become angels? But that wasn't possible... some of them obviously went to hell. But he wouldn't be in hell. Sasuke had never known anyone as loving, kind and genuinely good. Even if he had been annoying he always meant well.
Memories weighed down on him of the good times and the bad. All the times he had been cold and hurtful towards the man he had loved more than anything. The years Sasuke had wasted pushing him away and denying both of them. But his friend had never given up on him. He had been the first person to persist for so long that Sasuke had given in.
"He promised to save me," muttered Sasuke.
His legs giving out, Sasuke slid down the tiles to fall in a broken heap in the bottom on the shower. The tears he had held back today fell in a moment of shameful grief Sasuke knew he could never show to anyone. It was a weakness to love and his current situation was proof of that. Uchiha's do not show weakness; that was the key rule in the old Uchiha household. But Sasuke had broken it... he had let someone past his guard and now he paid the price for it. He deserved this pain.
"Save me?" Sasuke opened his eyes, water droplets collecting on his lashes. "How did you plan to do that?"
His friend's words had always puzzled Sasuke. What exactly did he need saving from? Sasuke wasn't even sure if he had really known.
"I'll save you!"
"I don't need saving."
Sasuke had always replied with the same answer. Yet he hadn't stopped the man from trying. Sasuke had never seen his company to be saving him, but now he was gone Sasuke had to wonder. Even though the loss of a loved one was causing him pain on a level Sasuke had never before experienced he wouldn't trade those years with his friend and lover for anything. That realisation about his priorities shocked Sasuke and he now saw how different he was as a man from the boy his mother and father had begun raising.
Staring blankly at the shower wall something bright caught at the edge of his vision. Bright yellow! Scrambling to his knees, Sasuke reached over knocking the shampoo bottles roughly away. Behind them was a familiar item. A bright yellow rubber duck. Shaking fingers closed over the toy and Sasuke brought it close to his chest. He ran his finger slowly around the spiral penned on the duck's chest in orange Sharpie.
Sasuke clutched it tighter as his body tensed with renewed sobs. But the toy slipped from his fingers skidding across the shower floor. He crawled over quickly to pick it up but stopped with his fingers reaching for it. On the bottom was more orange writing that Sasuke had never noticed before. He picked it up again, tentatively this time, and turned it over to read the inscription.
"Sasuke,
I promise.
Naruto."
Sasuke almost dropped the duck again. Why had he not noticed this before? But of course he'd never bothered to pick up the duck before, it was Naruto's stupid toy, not for adults. But why would Naruto have written something like that? It was almost like a message from beyond the grave... but that was silly. Sasuke was on the verge of telling himself that there was no way that was possible when he remembered Neji. In his apartment right at this very moment was proof, of live after death, himself!
Was it possible for Naruto to have delivered a message? But if he had been here why hadn't he just shown himself? Was there some heavenly rule that prevented him? But Naruto had never let rules get in his way before.
He had so many questions that needed answers. He needed to know whether it was possible for the dead to visit the living and the one person who might have the answers was in his apartment right now!
Sasuke quickly replaced the duck to where he had found it. He had hidden away all relics of his lover to avoid being reminded of him but apparently he had missed this one. He replaced all the bottles, effectively hiding the toy again, and climbed out of the shower.
As he dried himself he thought about how best to phrase his question. It was not going to be very easy considering he had to bring up the relatives Neji had been forcefully parted from. Neji must have loved ones somewhere in this world...
Or did he? Sasuke paused, when he thought about it he had no idea how old Neji was; he didn't look that much older than himself but that meant nothing if he was dead. So, Sasuke supposed, it was quite likely that Neji no longer had any living relatives. Well, that was something Sasuke was all too familiar with.
A few minutes later, now fully dressed, Sasuke opened his bedroom door to the smell of cooking fish. All thoughts of being nice to the angel, in the interest of getting his questions answered, immediately evaporated.
"Damn angel," he growled stomping into the kitchen.
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Chapter notes: [disclaimer:i dont own these brilliant characters] Tada! Update! Oh yeah nobody cares... TT______TT Oh well the people of FF.net love me! XP
Chapter end notes: You don't have to but reviews are nice. ^^