Many weeks had passed; Sasuke had lost count. His work was grueling and uneventful, not to mention the toll it took on his spine. His back ached from the heavy, woven baskets of fruit that burdened him everyday. The upside to it, though, was that he had enough yen to make the trip back to his family; however, he didn't have enough to support his siblings when he brought them back to Konoha.

Gerdie was making Sasuke work harder, now, than ever before. Not only did he have to pick and transport the fruit, but also had to wash them and tend the stand for some-odd hours. Sasuke thought that the elderly woman was getting lazy, assigning all the hard work needed to be to him instead of even helping out a little.

But he was wrong; very wrong. He would figure this out soon enough.

One night after the back breaking jobs Gerdie had assigned to him earlier in the day, Sasuke found his employer, nay, his friend lying on the cold and dusty wood flooring. Her face was pale and looked almost as if it was plastic leather, for lack of a better term. Gerdie's eyes were still open, stale from the life that was unreasonably taken from her grasp.

Gerdie was holding a pen in her bony fingers; a message was scribed onto the floor next to her. Scattered around the floor and counter were note cards filled with recipes and some blank ones waiting to be written on.

It must have been sudden; otherwise her eyes would probably have been closed.

Sasuke ruefully inched himself closer to the corpse of Gerdie. He could start to feel the sorrow well up inside of his body; similar to that he felt when his father left them, similar to the feeling when he first saw his mom out of control.

Sasuke lifted the corpse off the floor. Gerdie's body was heavy, stiff, and frail.

She should have lived longer…

Gerdie was healthy over all. Very stocky, good health, no diseases. An infection had began growing a couple months ago in some of her internal organs, such as her liver, kidney, and pancreas; this will not be determined, though, until later, after her autopsy.

A single tear dropped from Sasuke's deep red eye, gliding down his cheek and staining a dehydrated floor board.

He carried the woman to a wooden wagon he had been using the couple trips to her little fruit farm, trying to make it somewhat easier on himself. Sasuke pulled the wagon, a sheet covering the corpse, to the city morgue two blocks away.

(Two Days Later)

"We are gathered here today…" started the preacher. Gerdie's coffin was closed, cream colored lilies lying on top of the glossy lid. Ten or so people stood around the coffin, their heads bowed in respect for the woman. Sasuke stood at the foot of the casket, his hands folded in front of him, head bowed with tears in his eyes. An elder put her hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him.

After the funeral, he went to her rickety, old house and sat down in Gerdie's old favorite chair. He rested his arms on his knees, his shoulders arched and head still bowed. His body shook with tremors as he softly cried.

(One Week Later)

"She left everything to you, son. It said here that she updated her will about two weeks ago. She had about 20,000 yen in her account. Now, you inherit her earnings, her concession, her home, and processions."

Sasuke didn't say anything to the lawyer; he didn't even look at him.

"Well, I have other people to see about other wills and such. I am deeply sorry for your loss, and take care," said the lawyer, in a routinely manner.

He left with his heavy, leather briefcase, shutting the wooden door behind him.

Sasuke looked out the window and saw a line of people at the concession, waiting for their day's fruit. He sighed, but on his plain apron, and walked out the door. He put out a sign that said "HELP WANTED" out earlier that week.

The first person in line, a grumbling woman, murmured something about getting her fruit before she turned fifty; Sasuke just ignored this.

"Can I help you?" He asked the woman.

"Five apples, three pears. Can you make it snappy?" she asked.

Sasuke remained emotionless and got the fruit.

"Thanks," she sneered.

Next in line was a short, blond spiky-haired boy with three whiskers on his face.

"Hi, I saw your help wanted sign. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I want to be your assistant!"

Sorry this is SO short. I wanted to stop here. I thought it was a good place to stop. Plus, I'm ubberly tired, LOL. Hope you like the 3rd chapter and I'm trying to get back into the habit of writing more.

Mj