Don't Let Me Down (Mafia! Sasuke x OC x Mafia! Gaara)

Part 26: Grave

(Noriko's pov)

After leaving the Subaku home I began to stomp down the sidewalks. Their father's words really did hit me. I've been told that all my life and I didn't need to be told again. However, a feeling of sadness also settled into my nerves. I allowed my feet to carry me wherever they wanted to go.

'People keep repeating the same thing. I already know.' I thought grimly as I kicked a nearby pebble while walking on a sidewalk. I continued kicking it, keeping myself occupied by it. I decided to keep following the sidewalk I was on since I wasn't feeling like going home or bothering Sasuke.

 It was still only 7:45 p.m.

The streetlights and a few stores' lights remained on as I passed by. While walking I saw an elderly woman selling flowers but no one bought any. She smiled while holding out flowers saying, "A dollar for a flower?" 

Couples kindly rejected her offer and walked away. I smiled slightly as I walked up to her and bought a dozen tiger lilies from her.

"Keep the change, Obba-chan (grandma)" I said kindly with a closed eye smile. Her old wrinkly face smiled back at me as she bowed while I walked away. I decided to go to one of the few places I knew I could get my mind and feelings out.

I walked and walked, till there wasn't a store in sight. All that was left was the street lights that were overhead.

I opened a small, rusted old black gate that had vines crawling up it and began to walk up a few stone steps, going down an aisle or two till I finally reached my destination. I got on my knees and placed the flowers on the granite.

I clapped my hands twice, closed my eyes and silently said my greeting before separating my hands and smiling. 

"Hey mom..." I muttered quietly and gently with a smile. Her tombstone had a picture of her smiling when she was 29, and pictures of me and my brother with her was on the bottom. There wasn't a picture of my father because he was never there for any.

 There was burning incents and candles already lit. I raised an eyebrow when I saw a single peach colored rose already there. I gently rubbed my fingers on the petals. It looked fresh as if it was bought today.

'Did somebody put this here by mistake?' I thought mystified. No one besides me brought my mother something since there wasn't any family left to come and visit, but I just shrugged it off as I looked at her tombstone.

On the tombstone it said in Japanese:

A loving mother

A loving woman

Peace be to her soul.

They never put wife since my father ran away from us after their divorce. He left when I was younger and died in a car accident caused by drunk driving. My mother died due to a heart attack. However, that heart attack wasn't caused by just my father's death.