Chapter 4

I'll help you


"Sasuke-chan, are you sure you don't want to stay with us? They said this typhoon's going to be a big one."

"Yes, mother. I'm sure," Sasuke says before taking a bite of his roasted winter squash.

His mother had insisted that Sasuke leave work early so the two of them can go get his new tux, which Sasuke found a bit tight, altered. He told his mother that he was perfectly fine with wearing his old Armani but Mikoto wants to see her son look dashing in the new tux she ordered specifically for the charity gala happening in four days' time.

Sasuke didn't have the guts or the energy to refuse her after Mikoto hounded him for eating so much fast food the past couple of weeks. According to her, just because Sasuke works out doesn't mean he can fill his body with junk whenever he wants.

And now he's currently having an early dinner with his mother in one of her favorite vegetarian restaurants near the designer boutique.

"Why do you even have to live in that apartment all by yourself?" The older Uchiha asks, a frown marring her gentle face. "No one's taking care of you there. Don't you get sad?"

Sasuke puts his fork down and gives his mother a blank look. They've had this conversation many times before and Sasuke knows exactly where this is going. "Mom."

He sighs at the sight of his mother's eyes turning glassy with tears.

"Oh, my little baby. I remember when you used to crawl into our bed at night whenever you couldn't sleep." Mikoto sniffles. "Why did you and Itachi have to grow up too fast?"

"Mom."

"Oh, Itachi! Don't even get me started on that boy. He used to wake me and your father up in the middle of the night so he can perform whatever piece he learned during piano lessons. Why he couldn't do it before bedtime, I'll never know."

"Mom."

Mikoto, still very much oblivious to her son's attempts at getting her attention, waves her fork at Sasuke. "You know, I was pregnant with you at that time. I thought for sure—"

"Mom!"

"What?! Can't you see your mother is trying to reminisce?" His mother scolds, clearly irritated at Sasuke for interrupting.

Sasuke clicks his tongue and motions to the glass wall beside them. "It's going to start raining soon."

Outside, heavy rain clouds have started to form and strong gusts of wind cause the trees in the area to sway.

His mother sighs. "Fine, fine. Are you done eating?"

"Aa."

Sasuke waits patiently as his mother pays their bill before leading her out of the restaurant and into the parking lot where her chauffer is waiting.

"Make sure you have extra batteries ready, okay? And keep your phone fully charged. Do you have enough food at home?" Mikoto asks as they near their cars.

"Mom, I'm okay," Sasuke assures his mother. "You should go now."

"Okay, okay. Don't be late on Friday!"

Sasuke plants a kiss on his mother's cheek and helps her get in the backseat of her Audi. He waits until the silver vehicle is out of the lot before getting into his own car. Glancing once at the rearview mirror, Sasuke backs up his car and drives out of the lot.

Rain starts to fall in steady sheets and Sasuke relishes in the sound it makes as he steers the car to the direction of his home.

The drive back to his apartment is short and Sasuke finds himself outside the car park elevator in no time at all. Sasuke is watching the elevator floor lights change when the lights in the whole level start to flicker.

He knows better than to take the elevator when there's the threat of power outage but...

Sasuke looks at the emergency stairs and frowns. His unit is on the 21st floor which means that he has to climb sixteen flights of stairs to get home and, well, he doesn't really want to do that right now, thank you.

Deciding to take the risk, Sasuke continues to wait for the car to reach his level.

23, 22, 21.

The lights flicker again before going out. Thunder echoes outside.

Guess I'm taking the stairs, Sasuke sighs tiredly. He reluctantly heads toward the stairs, phone in flashlight mode, and suit bag in hand.

By the time he reaches his floor, Sasuke is drenched in sweat. Berating himself for lagging behind on his cardio, he drags his feet to the other end of the hall. He puts in his security code in the digital lock and pushes the door open as soon as he hears the familiar buzz. He makes straight for the living room and tiredly slumps down on the couch, lazily placing the black suit bag beside him.

"I am so unfit," he tells the ceiling.

The ceiling, thankfully, does not reply.

Sasuke stays like this for a few minutes, trying to lower his heart rate. When his heart finally stops pounding so loud, he lazily reaches for the end table drawer for a flashlight.

And a tiny flashlight keychain with Pikachu designs he recognized to be Naruto's.

He tries the bigger one first. It shines dimly for a few seconds before flickering three times and eventually dying. Sasuke tries again.

Nothing.

"For crying out—" Sasuke mutters exasperatedly. He shoots a dirty look at the Pikachu flashlight. "Don't tell me you're not working too."

Sasuke presses the on button and a yellow Pikachu appears on the wall, faintly illuminating the area the light beam passes. However, a heavy feeling settles on Sasuke's stomach. He hasn't taken his thumb off the switch yet.

His eyes narrow at the cheap plastic. Don't you dare.

Sasuke lifts his finger off the on button and Pikachu immediately disappears, leaving Sasuke once more in the dark.

Of course. The damned thing only lights up as long as the button is pressed. He glares at the flashlight, willing it to burst into flames. Sasuke presses on the little button repeatedly in irritation making Pikachu look like he's having a seizure.

"Fuck my life."

He is not ready for this typhoon. Or for any emergency at all. If the apocalypse were to happen at this very moment, he'd be dead in two minutes.

Sasuke pinches the bridge of his nose in annoyance. The backup generator would take at least ten more minutes to start working and he doesn't want to wait any longer in his sweaty clothes. Using his phone's flashlight, he trudges to the pantry to get some candles.

Maybe he should have accepted his mother's invitation to sleep at the manor.

Sasuke sighs. Too late, at least the fridge is stocked.

It doesn't surprise Sasuke anymore when the only helpful things he finds in his pantry are the two Yankee Candles Naruto had given him as a housewarming gift two years ago and a quarter box of matchsticks. One day, Sasuke vows, preferably in the near future, he's going to take a day off from work and raid two groceries and a hardware store.

His phone rings from its place in a shelf and Sasuke scowls at not being able to turn the light off first before answering the call. His phone battery is only at 25% and he really doesn't want to take the stairs to the car park again just to charge.

Putting the phone to his ear, Sasuke mutters an annoyed "What?"

"Sasuke!" Naruto practically screams in his ear. "Does your building have power outage too?"

"Yes," he replies. "Why did you call?"

"Ma and Pa are not home. I'm scared, man. Y'know I don't like the dark."

"You're a grown man, Naruto."

"What's that have to do with anything?" Naruto shouts. "I mean it, Sasuke! We don't have generators here like you do in that fancy apartment."

"Hn."

"I think this place is haunted. I fucking told ma not to bring home that antique vase. I swear that thing's—Oh shit—!"

"Naruto?"

"I think there's a monster in my house," Naruto whispers. "Oh my god, Sasuke. I can see its eyes. Fuck, dude, they're yellow."

Sasuke snorts.

"Teme, d'ya hear me? They're fucking yel-low."

"Maybe it's a basilisk," Sasuke suggests knowing full well the idiot won't get the reference. "Or not. If it were, you'd be dead already."

"A whatilisk? What the fuck you talking about?" His friend hisses. "Oh shit. It's getting closer."

A harsh sound reminiscent of porcelain breaking and a shrill scream meets Sasuke's ear.

"What's that?" He asks. "What happened? Naruto? Are you okay?"

Naruto's voice is shaky. "If I die, delete my search history."

Sasuke frowns, now getting worried for his friend. "Naruto! Should I call the cops?"

Silence.

"Naruto!" Sasuke tries again.

"I'm okay!" Naruto speaks a few seconds later. "It's just a cat. How the fuck did a cat get in here? Hey, you're kinda cute—no, don't scratch the sofa! Oh man, ma's gonna kill me!"

"Stupid."

"Wait, don't hang up!" Naruto calls. "Can I stay at your place?"

"No." And then Sasuke hangs up.

He isn't supposed to go out in a storm anyway.

Sasuke pockets his phone and with a match, lights both candles. He stations one on the kitchen counter and takes the other one with him to the bathroom. He's so ready for a nice long shower.

...

Sasuke's mind wanders to the past week's events. It's been five days since he had last seen Sakura and yet he still doesn't know what to make of the experience. He wonders if she's already found someone else to bother or if she's still haunting that forlorn flower field.

Deciding not to dwell too much on it, Sasuke turns the shower back on. The warm water pours out above him and Sasuke lets himself relax under the steady stream of the shower.

"Eep!"

Sasuke's head jolts up and he strains his neck in time to see Sakura's hands come up to cover her eyes. His eyes widen and he feels his blood drain from his face.

In the middle of the bathroom, directly in front of the shower stall, is Sakura, still clad in her little red dress, her face and neck flushed red.

"What the fu—Sakura?!" Sasuke yells, flabbergasted at the girl who literally just popped up in his bathroom. His eyes quickly dart to the towel rack, brain already thinking of the quickest way to cover himself, only to find it empty. Shit.

Cursing his luck all the while trying his best not to turn his body around, he growls. "The fuck are you doing here? Get out!"

"I'm sorry but it's where the light's at!"

"You couldn't have gone to the one in the kitchen?" Sasuke asks, flustered that the only thing shielding his very naked butt from Sakura's view is her fingers.

"There's no light in the kitchen."

Head hung and hands on his hips, Sasuke drags out the longest exhale in an attempt to keep his cool. What does he have to do to shoo the dead girl to the other room?

"Damnit Sakura—just—go wait outside please." He says, fed up with Sakura low-key staring at his butt through her fingers.

Sasuke waits for an affirmative reply but none comes. A soft thud and an oof! echoes in the room instead.

"I can't open the door."

Sasuke curses. "Turn around."

Sasuke walks, overly conscious of his state of undress, toward Sakura who still has her hands over her eyes and is now facing the door. The closer he gets to Sakura, the colder the air around him gets.

"Move." The girl shuffles a little to the side and Sasuke carefully reaches around her to push the door open.

With her eyes still covered, the rose-haired girl walks out the door. "You have a very pretty butt, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke closes the door behind her. Damn right he does.


After cutting his shower short and putting on some pyjamas, Sasuke reluctantly heads to the kitchen. And as if having a ghost in his home isn't enough, the candlelight in his hand is casting shadows on the walls, causing the place to look eerier than it should be.

Sakura, crouched down by his counter island, looks up the moment Sasuke walks in. She points to the Yankee Candle on the island, now knocked down and extinguished, and makes a show of passing her hand through the marble countertop. Sakura looks at him pointedly. See?

She then turns to look at the window, "You left it open. The wind must've knocked it down."

Sasuke frowns. Not bothering to respond, he rights the candle and walks over to the window, grunting at the puddle that has formed on the floor. He slides the panes together and locks them before taking some paper towels from the counter to wipe the floor with.

I'm sure that window was closed, Sasuke thinks. Besides, how the heck did the wind knock down a glass jar?

"Does your home always smell like a department store?" Sasuke hears Sakura ask.

Does it? Sasuke didn't really notice.

He motions to the Yankee Candle on the counter. "It's the candle."

"Midsummer's Night," Sakura reads. "Huh. Didn't take you for a scented candle kind of guy."

He's not.

"It was a gift." He says and then after a second, adds, "From Naruto."

Sakura smiles slightly. "Well, he has a good sense of smell."

Sasuke throws the wet tissue in the trash can. "You just said my home smelled like a department store."

"I didn't say it was bad. Although, you should try lavender scented ones when you're taking baths," Sakura says, trying to rest her hands on the kitchen counter and failing. "It'll really help you relax."

Sasuke's eyes narrow at the girl, the memory of Sakura popping up in his shower very much fresh in his mind. "Why are you here?"

"I thought you wanted to see me," Sakura says innocently, a smile playing at her lips. "I mean, you lit a candle and obviously, you thought about me 'cause I wouldn't have been able to show up here if you didn't."

Sasuke raises an eyebrow. "Well, quite obviously, I lit the candles because of the power outage."

"And you thought about me because…?" Sakura asks smartly.

His displeasure must be evident on his face because Sakura straightens up and loses her grin. Her eyes turn pleading.

"Please help me."

Sasuke eyes her from across the room, trying to compare the Sakura in front of him to his last memory of her alive. He frowns.

"Look, I already tried, okay? Maybe you were cremated and thrown in the ocean."

"You haven't even tried contacting my family!"

Sasuke raises an eyebrow. "I don't have to do anything."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry." Sakura, knowing she's crossed a line, relents. However, if the look in her eyes is any indication, Sasuke's sure she hasn't given up yet. He's proven correct when Sakura tries again. "How about this, you're Uchiha. You have resources—"

"No."

Sakura gapes at him. "I haven't even said anything yet!"

"It doesn't matter. I know what you're going to say and the answer is no."

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Sakura."

Sakura scowls at him and Sasuke, once again, finds himself in disbelief at how undead she looks. She looks so real and alive that he's almost sure that if he reaches out, he'll feel warm skin instead of biting cold air.

"You look like a spoiled child," he mutters.

Sakura crosses her arms over her chest and scowls even more. Sasuke notices the corners of her mouth starting to quiver—telltale signs that she's close to crying. For the second time since the day he saw her last in the flower farm, Sasuke wonders if ghosts can cry.

Deciding to push her a little more, if only to see what will happen, Sasuke saunters over to the fridge, his shoulder passing through Sakura in the process. He resists the shiver coming up his spine as he checks the contents of his fridge, purposefully trying to look cool and unaffected.

He pretends to look for something to drink and counts the seconds in his head.

At the sound of Sakura's sniffle, Sasuke closes the fridge and smirks triumphantly.

"Are you crying?" He asks, trying to keep the amusement from lacing his voice.

"No," Sakura denies, voice pitchy.

Sasuke bites the inside of his cheek to smother his laughter and turns just in time to see Sakura rub at her eyes, head low and mouth downturned in a frown.

This time, Sasuke lets out a chuckle. "You are."

Sakura whimpers then stomps her feet. "Sasuke-kun!"

"What?"

Sakura peeks at him from behind her fists and Sasuke really can't help but laugh again when she whimpers even more at the realization that he's playing with her.

Back when they were together (though not together-together), Sasuke had a guilty-pleasure in making her cry. It amused him to see her face turn red with frustration and her lips curve down like the perfect sad face emoji. Her chin would wobble and then she'd hide her face behind her hands so he wouldn't see her burst into tears. The moment she lets out any crying sound is when he'd pull her close and hold her tight.

And then she'd cry even harder when she feels the rumble of his chest because she'd know that he had intentionally made her cry. She'd call him mean and then Sasuke will sit her in his lap and tuck her head under his chin until she stops crying.

And then he'll do it again the next week.

Looking at her now, Sasuke feels the tiniest bit melancholic. Whenever he made her cry, for his amusement or not, he always made sure to comfort her after. He wonders if he can still do that now.

"Sasuke-kun, you're so mean!" Sakura sniffs.

Sighing, Sasuke walks from his place by the fridge to a kitchen stool across the still crying girl. "I'm sorry," he says. "I just wanted to see if you can cry."

Sakura looks at him with distrust.

For a second, Sasuke feels the urge to hug her. And he would have if not for two things. One, he can't touch her and two, while he's forgiven her for ghosting him, he has no idea where they stand now.

And she's dead, his brain reminds him. You forgot to add that she's dead.

Right.

Still, Sasuke can't help but feel like he just kicked a puppy and left it to wallow in its pain. Especially when said puppy is starting to hiccup like crazy.

Sasuke suddenly feels bad for making her cry.

"I'll help you," Sasuke rolls his eyes. "Stop crying now."

Sniffle. "Promise?"

"Yes," he says. "But this has to remain private. And you can't expect me to spend all my time on your case."

"Okay," Sakura nods timidly, wiping her hands on the skirt of her sundress. She reaches for a kitchen towel but her hand just passes through the white roll. Sasuke thinks she might start crying again but sakura only wipes at her eyes with the back of her hand.

"And no making me do weird shit anymore. No lighting candles in deserted fields," Sasuke tells her. And then as an afterthought, adds, "and no seances. Or ouija boards. If my father gets word, I'll never hear the end of it."

Sakura only picks at her nails.

"I mean it, Sakura." Sasuke reiterates, eyes narrowing at the girl. He knows that fidgeting. "He'll send me to a looney bin."

Sakura tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. "I can promise to no ouija boards but Sasuke-kun—"

"No." Sasuke says firmly. "I already agreed to help you. Now either you agree to my conditions or you go solve your own mystery."

"Don't you think I would if I could?" Sakura sighs in defeat. "I can't express how grateful I am to you but see, I'm highly dependent on candlelight at the moment."

Sasuke frowns in confusion. The fuck does that mean?

"It anchors me here," she explains.

"Anchors?"

"To the mortal world," Sakura says. "Oh, don't look at me like that. The land of the living doesn't sound any better."

"Sakura."

"Okay, look. I don't really know how to explain but it's kinda like calling someone on the phone. Instead of dialing a number, you light a candle and think of the person you want to see. It only works for people who're still in The Middle though, and if they want to see you too, of course."

"The Middle?"

"I guess it's kind of the place between 'alive' and 'rest in peace'," Sakura says, now back to passing her hands through the counter. "I don't really remember much about it when I'm here."

"Here?"

"Did you suddenly turn into a parrot? The mortal world, the land of the living, whatever you want to call it."

"You said before that you couldn't leave the farm. How are you in my apartment? Can you appear wherever now?" Sasuke asks, slightly terrified at the thought of Sakura popping up at his workplace.

"I—I'm not entirely sure." Sakura tilts her head. "I guess...I—Well—You know what? I don't even have any guesses. All I know is that you 'called', and I showed up."

They stare at each other, neither of them speaking and Sasuke suddenly becomes hyperaware of the tiny details in the candlelit room.

"The voicemail," Sasuke begins after a while. "How were you able to leave that?"

"I—" Sakura starts. "Did you feel that?"

Sasuke frowns. "What?"

Outside, lightning flashes, causing Sasuke to turn his head from Sakura to the window. Thunder cracks a second later.

"Nothing. I thought I felt something," Sakura shakes her head. "Doesn't this place have a generator?"

"I—yeah."

Picks up the wireless telephone from its perch on the wall. He dials the front desk and a man picks up after a few rings.

"Hello, how may I help you?"

"Hi. Why isn't the generator on yet? It's been forty minutes already."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Uchiha but the generator has been on for over twenty minutes now."

Sasuke frowns, crossing the room in six long strides to peak out the door.

"I still don't—" True enough, the lights in the hallway are on.

"We'll have someone check on your unit, sir."

The moment the man on the phone says that, the lights overhead turn on and Sasuke hears the quiet hum of his unit's centralized air-conditioning.

"Nevermind, power's back on," Sasuke mumbles. "Thank you."

He hangs up the phone and trudges back to the kitchen only to find the candle on the counter extinguished and Sakura gone.


How are you all doing? :)