Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Life Without Her ❯ Chapter 3

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

A month had passed since the anniversary, and Naruto was back at work. He never did manage to have that talk with Anko; no doubt she knew what he wanted to discuss and just didn't feel like it. He decided to just let the matter drop.

At the moment he was looking through the inventory, making sure what they had matched what was on the list. This task could be boring sometimes, but it was his way of eventually getting his next promotion. With his anniversary no longer looming over him, he could focus more on his job, and on eventually running the company.

"Hey, Naruto!" said Sasuke. "We've just been assigned to deliver a package to one of our clients."

"Why us?" said Naruto.

"I don't really care for it either, but we're the only ones here with nothing important to do."

Before marrying Sasuke, Ino would've done this. But she'd since left the company to be a stay-at-home mom.

Naruto and Sasuke got into a company car and left for their client's office. On the way there, Naruto noticed that Sasuke seems a bit tired.

"What's up?" Naruto asked. "You not get enough sleep last night?"

"I fail to see how that's any of your business," Sasuke replied, "but if you must know, the police paid us a visit last night."

"What for?"

"It should probably wait until we're done with our client."

Minutes later, they were at their destination. A woman came out to greet them.

"Hello," she said, "I'm here to receive the package."

Sasuke presented a box to her. She took it then signed the form he handed to her. From the look on her face she was no doubt as bored with this as they were. After it was over, they went back into their car and headed back to the office.

"Okay," Naruto said, "now what was this you couldn't tell me earlier?"

"The cops were following up on possible leads," Sasuke said, "regarding your wife's abduction."

"Are you kidding?! They think you took Sakura?"

"They didn't think anything. They were just checking it out. In the end they decided we couldn't have had anything to do with it, and apologized for taking our time."

"That's good to hear."

There was nothing else said between there the rest of the way back. Once back in the office, Naruto went back to finishing up that that list check he was doing earlier. To his surprise, it was already done.

"You don't have to worry," said Shikamaru, "Once they realized your other job wasn't done I got stuck finishing it."

"Yeah, I know, 'What a drag'." Naruto replied.

"You know, mocking people like that could get you trouble someday."

"Yeah, okay." Naruto realized his shift was over, so he left.

Once home, he soon found a message on his answering machine. He pressed play.

"Hi," the recording said. "This is Anko. As you might've guess by now, I've sort of been avoiding you this last month. Sorry to be rude, but it's taken this long for me to work up the nerve. I'll be over in an hour. See you then!"

Just then, Naruto heard a knock on the door. As he guess, when he opened it Anko was there.

"Mind if I come in?" she asked. "I have a feeling you wanted to talk about Sakura, and what happened to me as well. That is, if you're still up to it."

He nodded, as he let her in.