Chapter Text
January 2008
The clock had hardly reached 5pm, yet the sky was pitch black. The street lamps lining the wet pavement flickered with life but did nothing to fight off the never ending darkness. Biting back a shiver, Sakura trudged along bundled in her winter coat, eager to get home. There was a bottle of wine in the kitchen waiting for her that made her pace quicken. The road seemed to stretch on for a lifetime but soon enough she was turning the key to her apartment door. The emptiness hit her first, and then came the silence. It felt endless in her apartment. Dropping her handbag lazily at the door, Sakura leaned against the wall and she kicked off her shoes before padding into her bedroom.
The whirring of a computer filled the room followed by the rapid clatter of keys and buttons on the mouse being pressed. Each keystroke punched through the air like a drum, with only the distant hum of the fridge its accompanying instrument. Sakura groaned and leaned back in her desk chair defeatedly, the screen on her computer had been loading for nearly two minutes with no sign of change. She hated the internet in her apartment building, always slow and always annoying. But there wasn’t much she could do about it, complaining wouldn’t solve much. Conceding defeat for the moment, she made her way to the kitchen reluctantly. A rather sad, half-empty fridge greeted her, but who needed food when you have wine?
Sakura huffed a laugh, she was starting to sound a bit too much like Dr. Tsunade and that definitely wasn’t a comforting notion. Shaking her head firmly, the kettle flicked on as she placed her mug on the counter. The wine was a reward for surviving the week and a motivator to get her to tackle the mountain of studying she had to crunch through. Lost in the spiral of procrastination and tea making, the soft ding from her computer startled her.
“About time,” she muttered to herself as she settled back infront of her computer, reaching over her desk she turned her speakers on and music filled her apartment. Something melancholy filled her home, with words she couldn’t understand and a voice she didn’t know.
“Huh, he’s playing Russian songs. Guess his day was just as shit as mine then. ” She said softly, foot tapping along to the steady beat.
It had been a rough week, a really rough week and she was glad it was over. Thank god for Fridays. Leaning over her desk, she cracked her knuckles and began to type.
SleepyCherry: good evening!!
It took a few moments to get a reply, enough time for her to change out of her work clothes into something much cosier, and just enough time to grab her stack of textbooks too. Settling back into her chair, Sakura’s green eyes scanned the chat box of the livestream she was watching.
SputnikSweetheart: evening, how’s the studying going?
Sakura laughed awkwardly to herself as she typed, feeling the creeping heat of embarrassment on her neck. She had a mountain of work to do and knew if she didn’t crack on with it over the weekend she’d regret it come Monday morning.
SleepyCherry: haven’t even begun yet :’((
The reply came almost instantly — just like it usually did.
SputnikSweetheart: what topic tonight, more chemistry?
SleepyCherry: I wish :”’((, it’s anatomy tonight
SputnikSweetheart: anatomy bad?
SleepyCherry: it’s the worst -.- human bodies are complicated as hell
The viewer count in the bottom left corner flickered, six viewers. More than usual, normally she was the only viewer — not that there was much to view when it came to SputnikSweetheart’s stream. A still frame picture of a gloomy window scene filled her computer screen, Sakura found the picture quite miserable and oddly reminiscent of the horrible weather she had to walk through this evening. She really didn’t want to do the anatomy work, hell she couldn’t even bear to pick up her textbook and open it. The computer dinged.
SputnikSweetheart: bummer, I’ll play something motivational for you
Through her speakers the melancholy Russian song stopped abruptly and the faint clatter of plastic keys could be heard, the noise left as soon as it came, giving way to the opening notes of a very familiar pop song that Sakura loved. Fingers dancing across her keyboard, she could hardly conceal the grin breaking out across her face. It was uncanny really, how he seemed to know what she needed without even knowing her.
SleepyCherry: BRITNEY!!!!
SleepyCherry: you’re the best @SputnikSweetheart
SputnikSweetheart: :-)
Sighing to herself, she knew she had no excuse now. Grabbing her notebook and flicking open her textbook, the upbeat noise of Britney Spears became her study soundtrack for what felt like years but could have been no longer than a matter of hours. Time always warped in these moments, as though she were light years away and most of the time she desperately wished she was. January in Tokyo was miserable, the cold seeped into her bones even when she was inside and no amount of fuzzy socks or thermal vests could keep her warm or cosy. But tucked away in her bedroom, with nothing but dusty pages and an amateur radio show from another continent, she felt it — the warmth.
Sakura yawned loudly and checked the time on her watch, “shit, midnight already?”
SleepyCherry: got lost in my own world there, it’s bedtime
Instead of him typing as usual, SputnikSweetheart did something he rarely did unless he was doing the one thing Sakura hated more than anything— smoking. The soft inhale from the man behind the screen bled through her speakers as she grimaced in disgust.
“How was the wine?” He asked, he sounded tired. That wasn’t quite fair to him though, he tended to sound tired every time he spoke but this evening there was a heaviness to his voice. Doing some mental calculations, of it was midnight in Tokyo then it was, what…6pm in Moscow?
SleepyCherry: never drank any :// too caught up working
Sakura swore she could hear the smouldering sound of a cigarette but that was ridiculous, it was probably just her imagination.
“Sad,” the voice said softly, “drink it tomorrow instead. Relaxing is important.”
SleepyCherry: and so is sleep!!! I’m off to bed now, you should try sleep too
A dry laugh, then a deep sigh, “sleep? No, work time now. Goodnight SleepyCherry.”
SleepyCherry: goodnight @SputnikSweetheart
Powering off her computer, Sakura flopped onto her bed as the exhaustion washed over her in waves. Her head hit the pillow and in the blink of an eye, she was fast asleep.
—
Birds tweeting, cars honking and a blue sky. Wait, what? A blue…
Sakura shot up out of bed, hair impossibly messy and her pyjama shirt halfway off her shoulder as she flung her bedroom window opening and craned her neck out. The blue sky and crisp winter morning air was better than any cup of coffee, each breath she took revitalised her even though the chill made her lungs burn. Her arm was covered in goosebumps as she shut her window before jumping back into her warm bed. If her alarm clock wasn’t deceiving her it was only 8am and it was Saturday, she deserved a slow morning in bed. Rolling over, sleep soon found her once more but not before her thoughts did.
Her mind wandered back to him, the faceless nameless figure she had become so familiar with. She wondered what he could be doing on a boring Saturday in January, maybe he worked in healthcare too. She knew all too well how cruel hospital rotations could be, having been victim to them for the last few years and no doubt the rest of her life. But she could lament about it all later, for now it was time to go back to sleep.
“Can’t say I’ll miss this place, but it’s not been all that bad but nothing really compares to home. Next to Japan, well Russia is so depressing.” An irritating voice droned on.
Sasuke stubbed his cigarette out with more force than necessary, his black boots crunching the frozen earth below. Professor Orochimaru was, amongst many things, an irritating and strange academic and unfortunately, Sasuke’s responsibility. There wasn’t much he hated about his job, but being a glorified babysitter set his skin alight.
“The weather I can deal with but the food? Absolutely terrible, I don’t know how you survive here. And don’t even think about getting good quality wine out here…”
Sasuke zoned out for most of Orochimaru’s complaints and focused on the delicate flakes of snow that were beginning to fall. January always had the most snow.
“Oddly silent Uchiha. Cat got your tongue?” Orochimaru teased.
“It should get yours,” Sasuke grumbled under his breath, jaw twitching.
“Oh Sasuke, let’s not be that way. For the last few months you’ve been so… how should I put it, mellow? No that’s not it, I’m not sure what the word is. But you’re back to your usual angry ways today, I wonder why?” A slimy grin plastered itself across Orochimaru’s face and sasuke had to fight the urge to gag.
“Time to go back inside, Professor. You have a job to do. Your contract isn’t finished quite yet. ” Sasuke sighed, already wishing the day would be over, or that he would finally crumble and shoot himself in the head.
“Of course captain, mustn’t keep the experiments waiting much longer. You military men are all so impatient. ” Orochimaru said with a dramatic flourish as he swept back inside the secure facility.
Rubbing his face wearily, sasuke moved to walk back inside as he caught sight of his reflection on the glass door. A tired, stony face peered back at him with dull black eyes and clenched teeth. Great, not only did he feel miserable but he looked it too. Maybe Orochimaru had a point, though sasuke would never admit that out loud. Night shifts weren’t for the weak.
Still, there were a few more hours till noon and then he’d be off work and actually be able to sleep.
—
Today was a good day, after coming home and getting ready for bed, Sasuke had actually managed to sleep. Five hours for most was on the lower end of the spectrum but to the dark haired man, five hours was practically a full night of rest — a rare luxury these days. He wasn’t sure what time it was now, maybe it was early evening, maybe it was past midnight. Either way it didn’t matter, it would still be just as dark and miserable outside like it always was this time of year.
The dim glow from his computer was the only source of light in his bedroom. The eerie blue glow cast over him like a siren pulling him into the deep water. Ten minutes later he was out of bed, sat in front of his computer, ready to broadcast.
He couldn’t remember when it began or why it began, all he knew was that music made even the worst days better. The biggest issue however wasn’t his constant stream of shitty days — it was the radio stations. Sasuke hated them with a passion. He hated the shallow commentary, the celebrity gossip panels, the same repetitive soulless pop music. He hated it all. So when he stumbled upon a live-streaming website, well it seemed only sensible to start his own amateur radio broadcast, and so ‘SputnikSweetheart’ was born.
“What to listen to, choices choices. So many fucking choices.” He said flatly, scrolling through lists of downloads on his computer.
Sometimes it felt crippling, having an ocean of media infront of his eyes. Other times the decision felt as clear as day, but today was not one of those days. Today was one of those days, those mindless days where sasuke spent more time deliberating over what to listen to than actually listening to anything.
He supposed he could always start streaming and ask for song requests, he scoffed at the thought. Asking for song requests meant he had an audience, which he hardly ever did. Just one. A single loyal listener.
Her. Whoever she was.
Sasuke didn’t know much, not her name, not her face. Nothing that really mattered. Just that she was a medical student in Tokyo, a hard worker, a dedicated worker, maybe even an obsessive worker if he was being honest. And that was it. No more, no less.
Just a username in the chat box he looked forward to seeing every evening.