First of all, I'd like to mention that I am alive...in case any of you were wondering. I've just been...well to be completely honest in a slump. I also got really ill recently, involving several trips to the hospital for examinations and then getting tests done. I've felt horrid, and if my writing shows it, I am deeply sorry.
News on my other stories: Yeah...so basically...only "Life's Never Easy" is close to being updated. I just need some help with dialogue from a friend of mine who keeps disappearing at the worst moments. If you'd like to suggest what you'd like to see updated next, please do so.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I do own Sasuke's essay. That is what happens while sitting in a library pondering life from a Sasuke point of view.
Dedication: To Sasuke2006 who was also the lovely beta for this.
Warnings: Moody, broody, Sasuke. Some sadness and fangirl-ness. Other than that, nothing too bad I think. I honestly can't remember. I wrote this first chapter a while ago.
Save the Angels
Chapter 1: Significance
Uchiha Sasuke
Period 3
English Essay
There are so many people in the world. I've never noticed until now how lonely and vast this sea of endless people is. For all the people that die, more are always born. A never-ending cycle of death and life that my miniscule existence is part of. If I died, who would care? With all the people in this world there are too many of us for all of us to care about each human life. Some even ignore the fact that people die, they get rid of the memories of that person so they never have to feel sad about someone they knew and cared about dying. They get lost in their own little world where pain does not exist so that they can experience eternal happiness even at the cost of it being artificial.
My mother is like that. She used to be alive to the world and conscious of what was really happening around her, but now it's like she's barely even there. She's all smiles, but they've lost the warmth and comfort they used to give because there is never any difference between them. I've tried to get her back, but it never works. I feel like a failure at life. My own mother lost to artificial happiness. My father's death and my brother leaving us behind hit her so hard. Being abandoned by one of her sons and hurt by the loss of her husband, somewhere between trying to accept it and refusing to believe it was reality, she snapped. I remember it very clearly too. Exactly seventy-two days after my father's death and brother leaving she went to bed tired, angry, and depressed. Her tears like waterfalls, cascading down without an end in sight. Her warm hug had given me comfort that everything was going to be okay, and then she walked into her room without a word. I had been worried about my mother for she was still crying, but if she thought she could handle it on her own I was going to let her. In my family if you don't ask for help, you don't want it.
The next morning when I walked out of my room assuming I'd have to make my own breakfast, I came to find a hot omelet and rice sitting on the table with steaming green tea beside it. I looked over to see my mother humming happily to herself doing the jobs she had abandoned after my father and brother were gone, grinning with joy. It was hard to believe and accept that this was the same woman who just the night before had been in tears and barely able to control herself from breaking down in front of the one child she had left. I was not happy; in fact I was scared and confused. My mother was a woman who took time to change how she felt. If she was sad she'd slowly move back into being happy over the course of time. Never, and I mean never, had she done a complete emotional one-eighty. I knew when she looked over at me though and asked me why I wasn't eating that she was gone. Her smile didn't reach her eyes. It was like looking into a bleak and empty dark expanse. The mother I had known and loved was dead, lost in the world of fantasy that people create in their minds to escape from the horrors of the world. If she wanted to become one of the many living dead that surround us, then I would let her. Because who am I to try to change her? I'm just her son. I'm just one person in this enormous world. I will never even meet one percent of earth's population, let alone matter to any of them.
Next time you walk down the street you should try to look at each person's face and see whether they're really alive, or in an artificial world of happiness. No one can be so happy that they can deem their life perfect. Living is being happy and sad, loving and hating, whispering and yelling, everything, every feeling. Without that what substance and depth can a life have? It would be like watching a cartoon over and over again to the point of you memorizing it and having it is completely normal to be able to predict what was to be said or shown next. You'd have it so well memorized that you wouldn't even notice that you were no longer taking in what was said or shown. It would be too familiar for it to affect you. Another thing I could point out is the fact that perfection is an opinion. What one loves another could hate. What brings one joy could bring another sadness. A war being won by a country gives them great joy, but for the loser, all that it brings is sadness. That is not to say that people are happy that so many people they loved died, it's to say that their glad the war is over and nothing more is going to increase the sadness they are feeling. To the losers though, they have lost all those lives and yet they get to lose more which brings the sadness upon them and yet they could still feel happy and relieved that the war is over.
People are so hard to group together. Stereotypes group together small groups of people, but it's not as if their all the same. In that way stereotypes can't be used to describe a person. You can't just assume things by what kind of clothes they wear or friends they have. Feelings and opinions on things can't be seen right away. How people think and feel is much more private. Even honest people keep some of their opinions and feelings on things at bay. You can never really know what a person is like until you get to know them. You can gain a lot from first impressions, but never truly get a grasp on how they think and feel until you get a little more into knowing them personally. That is why I believe that even people as a race can't be grouped together so often. Sure, we all eat, sleep, and breathe, but that is so vague. We'll never all think or feel the same about anything. Nothing at all. The world will never be perfect and contentment can end as quickly as you find it. Yet, the world feels the need to border itself off and have all sorts of different countries and different political ideas and feelings. This builds structure for our world, but at the same time makes it so that each place seems to only have one opinion about something. They make it as if everyone in that country feels the same about everything, and even if that's not the case and they don't do that they still blame all the people in that country. If something bad happens that most people in the country really had no choice in. People in countries, even ones with democracies that make it so the people choose their leaders and vote to make certain laws real or not, don't really have much say in what happens. It's the leaders that are responsible for what happens; they're the ones who make the decisions. It's a hard job for them, never knowing the outcome of what will happen when they do something. They may not even really have much choice themselves, yet their people will blame them if anything goes wrong. Though can you really blame them sometimes? I mean in some cases it's their entire fault and they did something extremely idiotic, but they're only human. Humans make mistakes; the ones they make are just a much larger scale and affect a lot more people. But then, as soon as their not the leader anymore and they fade away from the people's eyes they cease to matter as much.
They only begin to matter again if you think of something they have done or something they caused to happen, but never do they stay on your mind for long. It's like meeting a person and being their friend in a college class but after the class is over you forget about them and all memories of them seem to vanish because nothing significant ever seemed to happen while you were with them. Their existence didn't matter all that much. Which brings me to the end of my point, that there are so many people in this world that it's hard to make a difference. Few people ever do, but for those who do. Those few will be remembered, but as time goes on memories fade and people die and new things happen so new people begin to matter more and those ones who had done something to change the world are forgotten a little more and fade a tiny bit more into the back of your mind. I feel that never in life will there be a person that matters and is significant to every person in this world. I don't even think that I will make a difference or matter all that much, because we're all just a bunch of different people living our own lives in this large earth never really going to matter.
The pen held in the pale hand fell from his fingers as he relaxed his whole body closing his eyes and trying to get into a meditative state of mind. Sasuke would always do this to control his emotions and keep his mask of indifference. After a few moments of deep breathing he opened his eyes a fraction and peered disinterestedly around the classroom watching all his classmates work on their essays. A few others were already done and working on the next assignment or sitting around waiting for the time to be up for this essay so they could take a break from thinking. His eyes stopped on one person though sitting in the seat in the far left corner of the room right next to the door. He could see half of the blond's face, the other half covered by the arm wrapped around his face. The other was draped lazily across the width of his desk with his head rested lightly on it. The boy's body rose and fell rhythmically; he was asleep.
Normally Sasuke wasn't interested in other people's business but generally people don't sleep through an entire essay period when the essay is worth a fourth of their grade. Now, what was normal for Sasuke was doing people easy favors so he could hold it over them if he ever needed their assistance in the future. Seeing that he had never been able to do anything for the energetic blond he smirked as he raised his hand and the teacher walked over.
"May I go to the bathroom?" He asked staring up at the teacher as his eyes scanned Sasuke's paper and once seeing that he was done he nodded. "Thank you." He stood and walked to his left making sure to go to the aisle right next to the blond and scanned for someway to wake him up without the teacher noticing. He stepped on his shoelace and let it untie itself before walking a few steps hearing the clicking of the laces hitting the tiled floor a couple times before bending down next to the tan boy's desk and tugging on his leg as he went. While he began slowly tying his shoes the boy sleepily looked over at him. "I'd start on your essay if I were you," Sasuke whispered as he stood to leave the class glancing back to see bright blue eyes widen as the boy frantically started writing on the paper in front of him.
He smirked as he slid the door shut softly behind him. Slipping his hands into his jean pockets he walked to the bathroom just to make it seem less suspicious for the teacher by actually taking the trip.
The sounds of him walking echoed in the empty hallways made the fact that he was alone all that more noticeable. He watched his feet as they moved in perfect time with each other. The longer he watched the more entranced he became. It came to the point that all he was concentrating on was his feet moving one than the other over and over again. He didn't notice how far he had walked straight down the hallway until he hit a wall. Rubbing gingerly at his abused forehead head he looked around him noticing that he was at the other side of the school. A creeping fear welled up in his stomach at knowing how long he had been out of it and he ran down the hall back to his class. In his ears his breathing was almost as loud as each of his footsteps when they hit the floor. He stopped abruptly still on an adrenaline rush in front of his classroom and composed himself taking a deep breath before entering. He returned to his seat without even taking a detour to look at the blond's paper.
He sat in his seat and glanced at the clock, which let his body relax from relief. He had only been gone about ten minutes and the teacher didn't really seem to care that it had taken a little long. After he closed his eyes and reveled in his close escape he remembered why he had left in the first place. He inconspicuously looked over at the blond and was met with the sight of him biting on his pencil while tugging at his hair from stress. Then the pencil was yanked from his teeth as he wrote a thought that had come to his mind before it was placed back in between his teeth until he next needed to write. Sasuke found this disgusting yet humorous. So he watched in amusement until the essay time was up and was forced to tear his gaze away from the blond and put it on the teacher.
"I'll have your essays graded by next Monday, now then we'll move onto the book analysis of…" After those few words Sasuke felt his mind move away from what the teacher was saying and slip into thoughts of the essay he had just written. He had told him unnecessary information about his family life, but at the same time it'd sound odd if he didn't use examples. His eyes darkened from the unpleasant thoughts as he glared unconsciously at the space before his eyes too caught up in his thoughts to notice anything going on around him. It bothered him that he let such personal information go into his essay, but his teacher had been marking him down on how impersonal all of his former essays had sounded. What did it matter if they sounded personal or not? Did the reader have to make sympathetic or empathetic connections with the writer?
He snapped out of his thoughts as the bell rang signaling the end of class. Knowing he had lunch next he took his time in gathering his things and leaving the class. It wasn't in his nature to be in a rush anywhere or feel like he needed to hurry. As a child he may have had those traits, but most children do. However, things that happen to a person over time change how they act and feel. Just like his mother turning to pretending everything was okay all the time, he changed into being more calm and levelheaded.
"Sasuke!" A voice called out to him as he walked at a leisurely pace down the hall. He paused in his walking turning only his head slightly back to see who was calling to him. A girl with pale pink hair was running up to him with a smile on her face that reached all the way to her jade green eyes. He felt his lips try to twitch into a smile at the thought of seeing his friend with the same kind of smile his mother used to wear. "Phew, I didn't think I'd be able to catch up with you," She said panting slightly as she fell into the slow walk beside the tall raven-haired boy.
"It's not like I was walking that fast Sakura," Sasuke pointed out with his toneless voice. Usually it would be unnerving to hear someone talk like that but Sakura had grown used to it. Her smile faltered for a moment as she thought of how he used to be. When he'd actually let some smiles through and express how he felt by conveying it through tones and expression rather than just empty words. She sighed as she shook the thoughts off and looked up at him brightly once more.
"Let's just go eat lunch because we have some very important things to discuss!" She said with a wink as she quickened their pace forcing Sasuke to speed up slightly in his walk. He had to stop himself again from smiling once more; Sakura really did have a personality like what his mother's used to be.
-
"So…you liking a boy is important to me how?" Sasuke questioned dully staring at Sakura whose eyes were tinted darker from the intensity of her look.
"Because…" Sakura paused as she tried to think of the right way to phrase her sentence. "Sai is your cousin and I've heard rumors that he is having an arranged marriage so I need you to help me out." Her face was masked with false confidence and he could see the underlying worry that was present in her eyes and body language, as he stayed silent studying her. Sakura felt the fear of losing all chances to be with the guy she liked growing slimmer with each passing second that Sasuke stared at her seemingly uninterested.
"I suppose…" Sasuke began watching as Sakura got a hopeful look on her face at just him speaking. "I could invite you over to dinner on Saturday when his family is visiting and you could meet his parents. I can't help you get them to like you though."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Sakura said jumping up and running around the table that they were sitting at to hug her best friend. After a few moments Sasuke had to unlatch the girl's strong grip and push her away to get her off. She smiled happily and sighed looking at the ceiling with a dreamy look in her eyes. "I may have a chance to be with Sai…"
"You acting like this could ruin our perfectly structured friendship you know," Sasuke stated teasing the girl who now looked shocked.
"It's not my fault that I like someone! These things just happen, and one day you'll like someone too. And when that day comes I'll fully support you and not question our friendship. Besides, if you end our friendship I'll be forced to rebuild your fan club." An evil glint reflected in her eyes as her sweet smile turned into a slightly twisted one. Sasuke's eyes widened a barely noticeable fraction at the mention of his old fan club. Those girls had driven him insane. Sakura and their other best friend Ino had been the ringleaders of it and had given him some of the worst memories of his life. From stealing his clothes to threatening to kill themselves if he didn't go out with them, his fan girls drove him crazy. Which is why he constantly pondered how the two girls who should be most responsible for his years of misery happened to become his closest friends.
"While we're on the topic," Sakura said interrupting his memories. "I just have to ask…" Her voice trailed off and she looked around to make sure no one else was listening as she leaned forward with a completely serious expression on her face before speaking in a whisper. "Are you gay?"
This caught Sasuke off guard. He'd never actually questioned his sexual orientation before, simply because he'd never had a crush on someone. Nor had he ever been attracted to someone. Sure he considered people beautiful, but it wasn't the same as lusting after them. Which is why he had to sit there dumbfounded at her question. Although it didn't show on his carefully masked face at all, to Sakura it just looked like he was thinking of what to say.
"I don't know," He finally answered looking over at her.
"Whaaaaaaaaaat? Are you kidding me?" She asked fully disappointed. Her face dropped to her hands as she shook her head. "To think that the smartest kid in our school can't even figure out his sexual orientation…it's rather sad don't you think?" She peered lazily through her fingers at her friend who now seemed to be slightly annoyed with her.
"You're the sad one," Sasuke said glaring at his friend. "You like the strangest guy. Sai isn't normal at all."
"Hey! I used to like you and you're not normal either," Sakura said in the defense of her crush. "In fact I think you and Sai have a lot in common!"
"Then why don't you still like me?" Sasuke asked smirking slightly.
"Because-" Sakura stopped herself and bit her lip nervously. She didn't want to further anger he friend by what she was going to say, but she could tell already that he was getting annoyed at having to wait. He usually wouldn't get annoyed so easily, but it was at times like these when he was sitting with his best friend that he'd forget that he was supposed to have changed. He'd forget that his mother was completely fake and that he wasn't supposed to get annoyed or irritated as quickly as he was now. "I think you're gay."
Sasuke's eyes widened and then narrowed into a glare as soon as the words left the girl's lips. She placed her hands in front of her and smiled nervously at him.
"I'm sorry, but you're the one who asked-"
"And why would you think that? Just because I'm unsure of it myself doesn't mean you can automatically assume I'm gay," Sasuke said interrupting her apology. His eyes were blazing as he looked at Sakura now extremely irritated. Did he seem gay? It wasn't like he was girly at all. In fact tons of guys wished they could be him. They wanted his good looks and intelligence. They wouldn't want to be like a man they'd suspect to be remotely gay.
"It's just that…I heard from Ino that you were staring at a guy in your English class today." Sasuke's face darkened as he remembered his other gossip-loving friend. She sat behind him in English so it'd be easiest for her to notice if he was looking at someone. He couldn't believe that his friends would jump to such conclusions.
"Why would that mean that I was interested in him in that way?" Sasuke questioned now less angry with them. He had to remember that they lived to talk and try to find any amount of drama within their lives.
"Because apparently after you helped him out with waking up so he could work on his essay which he had been sleeping through, you were gone for ten minutes to use the bathroom which is right next door to your class. Then when you came back you seemed a little flustered in Ino's opinion and were tense for a little bit and then tried to look over at the blond boy nonchalantly so that no one would notice. But you have to remember, me and Ino are very talented at noticing the beginning of relationships. We're not called the Master Matchmakers for nothing!" Sakura said proudly as she pumped a fist into the air. A few people glanced her way but she completely ignored them not really caring what they thought about her for she was way too distracted by finding out about Sasuke's possible love interest.
"I'm sorry to dash your hopes then because I was just helping him out so I could use him later if need be," Sasuke said relaxing once more. He closed his eyes as a silence met him from Sakura thinking about something or other. He wasn't really hungry so he was willing to just sit there the rest of lunch while Sakura finished eating.
"…Then what about looking at him after you helped him?" Sakura asked, as Sasuke didn't even bother to open his eyes again. "It's not as if you need to stare at someone to make sure that they know you owe them. You did something completely unnecessary." Sakura had a big superior grin on her face at being able to figure all of that out. "By the way, I don't care if you are gay. I have Sai, remember?" Sasuke sighed and opened his eyes once more. It looked as if Sakura was unwilling to give up on this.
"Let's get this straight. I don't like him, I don't even know his name-"
"Uzumaki Naruto." Sasuke felt a twinge of annoyance go through him at being interrupted but continued anyway.
"Well today was the first time I've ever spoken to Uzumaki-san and I don't plan on doing it again unless I need him to do a favor for me. That and Sai isn't yours yet," Sasuke pointed out watching anger slip into Sakura's expression causing her pretty face to contort into unflattering wrinkles.
"He will be mine, just you wait Sasuke," Sakura said before relaxing her face muscles once more and moving on to eating her lunch. "So what did you guys do in English anyway?"
"We're just working on essays and have a book analysis project coming up." A thoughtful look came onto her face as she chewed on the piece of sandwich in her mouth.
"Do you have a book you're thinking of doing already? If not we should go to the library together with Ino after school. That way we can give her the details on you and Uzumaki-san while getting work done." It was true that Sasuke was the top student at his school with Shikamaru and Sakura coming in as close seconds. This only due to the fact that Shikamaru got lazy about doing his homework, and Sakura actually had to study to keep her grades high unlike the two others who were geniuses of sorts.
"There is nothing going on between Uzumaki-san and I," Sasuke bit back icily. He'd had enough rumors going about him when the fan club was still around and he didn't need more. Sakura had to hold back a smile; Sasuke was acting just like he used to. It made her happy to see him annoyed even if he wasn't happy with it. "But yeah I have to go to the library to pick up the book I want. So I'll go with you guys."
"Great! Well I'll meet you after school by your locker and we're inviting Uzumaki-san! Bye!" Sakura said quickly getting up and walking away quickly before Sasuke could protest. He just sighed knowing that until he dispelled these thoughts from the two girl's minds he'd have to put up with these kinds of things. At least they aren't locking us in a closet together to see if anything happens.
-
"Uzumaki-san I'm so glad you could make it!" Sakura said happily as the blond boy walked up to them.
"I was actually really surprised that you guys would invite me," Naruto said smiling wide as he scratched the back of his head lightly from habit.
"I was too," Sasuke said coolly as he glared at Ino and Sakura who completely ignored it. Naruto looked a little taken aback at seeing the guy that had been so nice to him only a few hours earlier talk so coldly. Ino sighed seeing the look of discomfort on Naruto's face.
"Just ignore Sasuke," She began as they started walking off school grounds towards the library. "He's always like this unless he wants something from you." She patted Naruto on the head lightly and gave him a sweet smile. "So no worries, 'kay?"
Naruto just smiled and nodded back not quite sure how he was supposed to respond to being treated like a child. He didn't mention it though since he didn't want them to get mad at him if it was completely normal. Ino glanced behind her and grinned.
"Oh my gosh, Sakura! I totally forgot that we were supposed to help Kabuto-sensei with grading papers," The blonde said wheeling around and grabbing Sakura's arm. The green-eyed girl looked confused for only a moment before she realized what Ino was doing.
"Oh yeah!" Sakura said feigning a worried look. "We better hurry back! Don't worry Sasuke we'll meet you and Naruto at the library as soon as we finish." With that said the two girls began quickly walking back towards the school leaving the two boys alone with each other. Sasuke watched them hurry away before sighing and looking over at Naruto through his bangs. Naruto's eyes locked with his and he got lost in the deep blue of his eyes before shaking his head to straighten out his thoughts and beginning to walk.
"Come on let's go," He said inclining his head forward listening until he heard Naruto fall into step behind him. Sasuke didn't mind the silence between them, and Naruto didn't seem to want to break it so they ended up going to the library together without a word being said.
-
Sasuke was just about to reach for a book when someone else's hand made it to it before him and he looked over to see Naruto flipping through the book. He felt his eye twitch once in irritation. This was the seventh time they had gone for the same book, and it was really starting to get on his nerves.
"…No," Naruto said softly to himself as he put the book back and looked up finally noticing that it was Sasuke standing next to him. "Did you want to look at it?" Naruto asked with a bright smile grabbing the book once more and holding it out to Sasuke. Sasuke sighed and shook his head; it really was like dealing with a little kid.
"I'm pretty sure if you don't want to read it that I won't either," Sasuke said skimming the shelves for a different book to read. Naruto looked down a little disappointed and Sasuke ignored it as he grabbed a book from the shelf.
"Sasuke you're so mean!" Sakura said loudly and a series of warning looks were sent her way from other people close by. "Whoops…" Her voice dropped to a whisper as she continued. "You could at least have the decency to look at the book he offered to you."
"You could learn to mind your own business," He replied back putting the book back on the shelf in front of him before walking on to a different aisle ignoring the fact that Naruto had followed him.
"Do…" Naruto began but quieted once he saw Sasuke turn his attention upon him. Dark eyes seemed to pull him in as he stared into the endless depth of black. The blond boy unconsciously moved closer to the raven-haired boy and Sasuke backed up to get away but hit a wall of books. This is when Sasuke had to consider his options.
He could move back more and knock over a shelf of books that would almost certainly cause a domino reaction with the other ones and hurt people who were stuck between them. There was also the possibility that he could punch Naruto and keep walking like nothing happened. Neither option seemed pleasant as he thought of being banned from the library or having Sakura and Ino punch him for punching Naruto. But there was also the option of waiting to see what Naruto was doing. He chose to wait and see.
A tan hand reached up and lightly touched his cheek making Sasuke flinch away.
"Do…you ever cry Uchiha-san?" Bright blue expressive eyes made him forget that he was supposed to despise the close contact that he was receiving from the boy and he blinked confused. Of course he has cried before…but when was the last time he actually did? A wave of memories flooded over him like a dam breaking setting loose pictures of times of him as a child. His hand flew to his head to help relieve the headache he could feel forming.
"Why do you ask?" Sasuke asked a dark tint to his eye as he asked this glaring slightly at the blond. Naruto smiled a little and looked down now snapped out of the spell he had seemed to be under.
"Because…" He began and then a sad and lonely look appeared on the sunshine boy's face. "I read your essay…Iruka-sensei lets me help him out during lunch so I can get some extra credit and he let me read yours when I asked him. I had thought that you…" Another pause and he bit his lip, afraid to keep speaking.
"Thought that I what?" Sasuke asked now impatient and slightly annoyed. He didn't like others knowing about his family situation, but his teachers already knew so it hadn't mattered if he wrote about it.
"I had thought that you would have a much better view of life," Naruto said looking away. "You were so nice by waking me up so I could write my essay, and I thought you were a really kind person. Yet now I see that you hide how you really feel…you're just like the people you wrote about in your essay. You aren't really living! At least your mother tries to be happy!" Anger made his blue eyes look electric and Sasuke found himself angry too. "Hah! Artificial happiness? That's such a joke…" Naruto shook his head in disappointment and looked up at Sasuke.
"And I thought you were smart. I'll set things straight for you though. Your mom," He paused for emphasis. "She is trying to be happy for you. She's probably realized that even though she is still sad that she needs to try to be strong and happy for you. But you're just too selfish and cruel to realize that! She loves you so much that she's willing to try to hide her pain and forget about the other ones that she loves just for you." Naruto looked like he was close to tears at this point. Frustration filled his voice as he tried to keep it from cracking. "You're so cruel to make it her fault that you're unhappy and unfeeling."
"What do you care?" Sasuke said icily. It was whispered which made the impact even more threatening. His eyes had narrowed dangerously and his posture was rigid as he moved forward and pushed Naruto back causing him to hit the wall that they had moved towards during Naruto's rant. "Don't try to understand something that you know nothing about." Naruto's head, which had been dropped down as he stared at the floor, rose up and Sasuke could see the tears that were sliding down his face and it shocked him a little.
"All I know is…I'd give anything to know the love of someone who loved me unconditionally like your mother does you." With that said he ran off leaving Sasuke standing alone to think over what had been said. Angry he punched the wall and cursed lightly before walking back over to where Sakura and Ino were. Each of them looked angry as well and he assumed that they had seen Naruto run past crying.
"What did you say to Naruto?" Sakura questioned angrily. She was about to say more before she saw the slightly homicidal look on Sasuke's face and backed off.
"I'm going home," Sasuke said walking off without either of the girls trying to stop him.
"Ino…"
"Yeah, I know this looks bad."
"So…what should we do?" Sakura asked with a worried look on her face.
"I don't know…just give them some space?" Ino suggested. "I think we should just watch for now and hope for the best.
"Eh, I just feel so guilty now," Sakura, said sighing.
"Don't worry, you were just trying to help two people be happy together."
"Wait."
"What?"
"They aren't together yet," Sakura, said.
"Well…even if they never hook up they could still be happy as friends," Ino replied as they walked out of the library.
"What if they don't make good friends though?"
"Sakura."
"Mhmm."
"He's going to have to start making new friends again, we may not always be able to be there for him."
"I know! It's just so-" Sakura screamed a little in frustration. "It's just so unfair that Sasuke had to get hurt so badly! I mean...if it had been me…I don't know if I'd even be able to be happy again."
"Yeah…but Sasuke's a tough guy, he'll make it." Ino gave Sakura a supportive smile and swung her arm around Sakura's shoulder. "Don't worry so much, you'll just get more wrinkles on your forehead." Ino's face became one of amusement as Sakura growled and shoved Ino's arm off her.
"Thank you for making this conversation even worse."
"You're welcome," Ino said with a wide smile. "So…have you told Sasuke yet?"
"Told him what?" Sakura asked before she remembered. "Oh…no I haven't."
"Well I was going to tell him today while we were at the library…but that happened."
"I wonder how he'll take it…" Ino pondered shuffling her feet in impatience as they waited for a light to change.
"Probably badly, but he'll hide it with that annoying indifference mask of his," Sakura said furrowing her brow slightly annoyed at the thought of it.
"Sakura…"
"Hmm?"
"I just got a brilliant idea!" Ino said gleefully.
"Which is?"
"Sasuke's birthday is coming up right?" She waited for the pink-haired girl to nod before continuing. "So, why don't we go to the beach overnight as a birthday party for him?"
"Sure, but how is this so brilliant? Oh wait…you are going to invite Naruto aren't you?" Sakura said raising her voice at realizing the plot.
"Yep, and guys and girls can't sleep in the same room together. So they will be alone…in a bedroom…all night long!" Ino finished with her and Sakura bursting into girly squeals of excitement.
"You're a genius Ino," Sakura said smiling happily.
"Of course, if I wasn't, you probably wouldn't talk to me."
"True," Sakura said laughing.
"So, want to go hang out at my house?"
"Sure," Ino said. "We can work on homework together!"
"More like you copy my homework!" Sakura said in mock anger before her and Ino broke into laughter. They quieted down and she spoke again. "You know…I can't help but miss the times when Sasuke used to joke around like this with us."
"Yeah, and maybe, just maybe, Naruto could open that stubborn guys eyes," Ino said looking a little worried herself.
"Don't worry, Naruto has to be one of the most optimistic, look-on-the-bright-side, silver-lining, happy-go-lucky, guys I know."
"Sakura…you made Naruto sound like a weirdo," Ino said giggling.
"I never said he wasn't," Sakura said smirking.
"Excuse me, can I speak to you for a minute?" A person asked stepping out into their path.
Sakura and Ino both looked at the person and their faces went pale.
To be continued…
Things for the reader/reviewer to think about:
What do Sakura and Ino need to tell Sasuke?
Who did the girls run into?
Why did Naruto get so upset at Sasuke?
Please review and tell me what you think of this!
I don't know if I should continue working on this or not.
And for loyal readers/reviewers...please do tell me which story of mine you'd like to see updated next.
I have no idea, and I need some motivation.
Go add me on my messengers and make me feel the inspiration I once had for my stories!
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