Butterflies

~One-shot~

Hey! Yeah, I know I haven't updated anything in months, but school started and I'm a senior now and have loads of studying to do. I barely had time to write this one-shot. Sorry for not updating my other stories, but I kind of lost inspiration for the next chapters. I will, however, update them during winter holiday, I guess.

Flashbacks

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto!

I always thought I would, in the end, have a happy ending. It's what each and every one of us wishes to have, eventually, even if we admit it or not. Us girls, we dream of finding the perfect man with their perfect hair, handsome looks, brilliant personality; a man that can entertain us and love us and care for us for the rest of our life. We keep dreaming and dreaming and hoping with all our heart we will find him in the end. That's how naïve we girls are.

Throughout my life, I found out that such a man doesn't exist. We think we found him, when in fact, we didn't. Every new man that enters your life, at the beginning, you think of him as being the one. Weeks or even months later, you realize how wrong you were. But there is a time when you say 'it's enough' and you stop searching for him. You begin considering that you will be all alone your entire life, just you and a dozens of cats surrounding you. I know I was. But then again, you can't just give up on hope. And when you expect it the least, that's when your knight in shining armor arrives to save you from the world, or in my case, from a party, over three years ago…

"We're going to get something to drink. You want anything?"

Sakura turned her head from the loud crowd downstairs to look at her best friend and her boyfriend. The pinkette smiled and shook her head, pointing towards her glass. The blonde nodded as she saw it was still pretty much full.

"Ok, then." Ino exhaled as she took her boyfriend's arm and turned around to leave. Sakura smiled as she saw Shikamaru's dark eyes rolling in annoyance before his girl practically dragged him back inside the house. Returning her attention back to the crowd, Sakura took a sip from her drink before she exhaled. She had waited for the couple to leave her for some time now because watching them cuddling and holding hands and kissing was a torture for the freshman. It always reminded her that she was lonely and will always be. Placing the cocktail glass on the balcony's railing, she took her now free hands and neatened the crimson material of her 60's dress as she had nothing better to do. Finishing the task, she suddenly found herself admiring the beautiful evening sky, as the sun sunk deeper into the ground, delighting her with a wonderful and spectacular show of lights. The woman immediately jumped as she felt a pair of icy cold hands resting on her waist, a warm body pressed quite close to hers. She then felt a hot breath fanning on the back of her neck.

"Hey there, little red riding hood." Tightening the grip on her waist, he added "I love the way you look tonight."

The voice was low and masculine and sent shivers down her spine. However, she wasn't able to identify who it might belong to. Before this man spoke, Sakura thought that Ino was just trying to be affectionate; after all, she drank a couple of alcoholic cocktails in the last hour. The pinkette turned around, determined to see the man who was completely invading her private space. Her apple-green eyes were completely wide as she realized that this was the man she accidentally bumped into in the University's library. His onyx eyes fixed hers and they stayed like that for a while. She opened her mouth to speak, only to close it back again as words were too difficult for her to form when he was around. She blushed, embarrassed as she remembered the incident that occurred earlier that day. The dark haired man smirked in satisfaction, as that was the second time that day that he managed to leave her speechless.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" Oh, he was mocking her, and he enjoyed every second of it.

Sakura just blinked a couple of times before she replied. "No!" she started laughing nervously. "I was just…"She then felt the pressure of his hands left her waist and was a little disappointed. She saw him taking a pack of cigars from his pocket, lighting one, then taking a big breath of it. The woman watched almost hypnotized as the smoke exited his mouth. She smiled bitterly. "You know smoking is bad for your health, right?"

He looked at her amused before taking another breath. "Yeah." He let out the smoke, both watching it slowly disappear in the air as it performed its dance. "But I don't care. I know you will be able to fix me up."

"E-Excuse me?"

"You're a med student, right?"

Silnce.

"Yes. But how did you…?"

"Know?" he finished it up for her. He rested his forearms on the railing before smirking. "The amount of books on your table gave you away."

She did the same. "Still, mister smart-ass, you couldn't have figured that out only by the book number."

The man slowly leaned towards her before answering. "Wanna bet?" he whispered as his face came closer to hers. A state of panic took over her as Sakura saw his lips coming dangerously close, so she immediately backed away.

"Aren't you confident today?" She crossed her arms to her chest. "What made you think I wanted to kiss you?"

He stepped closer and ran his fingers over her flushed cheeks. "The blush on your cheeks?" He sensed her shiver under his touch so he continued. He saw her face turning a much darker shade of red.

"I..I'm not blushing because of you!" she lied. "It's because of…that!" she pointed to the glass resting on the railing. The raven haired arched his brow as his gaze landed on her glass. "That's not even alcoholic."

I was caught under his spell that night. I thought he was the handsomest man on earth, that he was an angel sent to me from above. I was stupid enough to believe that Sasuke-kun was brought to me because of my fiery praying to find someone who deserves me. I was kind of excited after that night, knowing that I will be seeing him again soon, since we were both studying at the same University. A week after the night we met, we went on our first date. It was perfect. A little too perfect. It was as if he was trying to maintain a façade just to make me happy. Back then, I thought I had found my own McDreamy. I was willing to do anything and everything for him. Anything and everything just to make my Sasuke-kun happy…

"You need to come with me, Sakura."

"But I have courses, Sasuke-kun!"

"We never get to spend time together anymore."

"And what do you want me to do?! Skip my courses?! You know pretty damned well that I can't."

Silnce.

"Sasuke-kun? Where are you going? Sasuke-kun?... Come back here!"

But sometimes I was thinking if it was worth it. I wanted him to stay. I was afraid I might lose him, and that was not my intention. I wasn't going to be lonely anymore. I loved him with all my heart and soul…

"Hello, mother."

"Sakura, darling! I wanted to call you later. Is something wrong?

"I…I just wanted to say that I won't be home for the summer."

"Why not?" On the end of the other line, her mother could hear her sorrowful sobs. "Sakura, what happened?"

But was it really worth it?

"You have to retake your exams?!"

Sitting on her bed, Sakura couldn't help but cry as her best friend continued yelling at her. She knew Ino would be angry when she found out. Wiping her tears away, Sakura got up and tried to explain the whole situation, but the blonde already knew what the cause of it was.

"I told you not to skip your courses Sakura! You realize that the teachers won't be looking at you the same way again?! You knew perfectly well that attendance is very important, but still you ran away almost everyday with that fucking Uchiha!"

"It's not because of him!" she barked back, trying to sound as convincing as possible. Ino stopped and looked into her friend's eyes, knowing that she was lying. She honestly pitied Sakura.

"Isn't it?"

The pinkette's cell phone vibrated frantically on the nightstand, making the two girls jerk their head towards it. The jade eyed woman took the phone and looked at the caller-id. By the look in her best friend's eyes, Ino figured out who it was. She saw her answering the phone and cursed under her breath.

"I hope you know what you're doing." the blonde whispered as she exited the scene.

Everyone who saw us said that we were made for each other. They confessed that they thought we were the perfect couple. We made them believe that our happiness was constant, when in fact it wasn't anything like it. The first three months were like a dream, a dream from which I never wanted to wake up. But eventually, everybody wakes up, and the man I once thought was my soul mate, was making me have my doubts.

In my free time, I usually hung out with Sasuke, or go have a girls' night out with Ino. And sometimes, when my childhood friend was in town, I would usually spend my whole time with him. Since we were young, we had a special connection between us that kept us close all these years. Overtime, we had developed a sister-brother kind of relationship, since neither he nor I had bothers or sisters. When we hung out, we would usually flirt with each other for the fun of it or practice lines on one another. It was fun, but fun wasn't what Sasuke-kun thought of our relationship.

"Naruto!" Sakura squealed as she jumped into her brother's arms. "I haven't seen you in ages!" she confessed as she kissed his tanned cheek before messing up his golden locks. "What are you doing here?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the scene before him. Who was this man his lover embraced so tightly and warmly? He felt his blood boiling within his veins every time he saw Sakura laying a finger on him, or that guy on her.

"You know my grand-ma lives here, and now, she's kind of sick. I'm taking care of her."

"Oh, Tsunade-sama is sick? I'm so sorry…" she embraced Naruto in an attempt to comfort him, which made Sasuke lose his mind.

I noticed the way he looked at me when I was with him, or the way he had knives instead of eyes when he looked at Naruto.

"How was that guy?"

"Who? Naruto? Oh, he's just a friend of mine."

But I never thought he would consider him a threat.

"You spend too much time with him."

"That's not even true! Sasuke-kun, what's the matter with you? Ever since he moved into town you're not acting like yourself."

…

"I want you to stay away from him."

"He's just a friend! Why do you feel threatened by him?! Are you jealous?!"

"It's either me or him."

Chuckle.

"You're joking, aren't you?"

I knew by the look in his deep black eyes that he was true with his words. But losing one of my closest friends for love? Was I so desperate for a happy ending?

"I'm sorry, Naruto."

Yes, I was. I was selfish enough to give up on my brother for love. The one I had fallen in love with had changed, but still, I held on. I kept my mouth shut to stay by his side, I obeyed every order he gave me.

"I'm going out." He kissed her. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Almost every order…

Walking by Ino's side, the pinkette couldn't help but smile as they were heading towards their favorite pub. A girls' night out was something they would usually do one night per month, and that night, with Sasuke's sudden change of personality, that was all they needed. A drink and good music. And why not break the rules?

Suddenly, Sakura stopped in her tracks as she saw a blonde man standing before her, a wide smile on his whiskered face, his arms wide opened. She immediately turned to Ino for an explanation, not that she wasn't happy to finally have the chance to speak with her old friend face to face and not exclusively on the phone.

"I thought it would do you well, since you're so down lately."

It did her well, but the thought of Sasuke finding out and dumping her like she was some kind of used toy was enough to bring tears to her eyes.

Once upon a time, I was falling in love…

"Sakura!"

The three of them turned around to see a kind of stumbling Sasuke heading towards them. The woman standing in the middle had feared this might have happened. She stood there, her lips parted, but no sound came out. She feared the worst is yet to come.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?! I told you to stay away from this piece of shit!"

Biting her lip as hard as she managed, the pinkette set loose the stream of hot tears that rapidly traveled her cheeks. She felt her heard thumping fast and there wasn't anything she could possibly do to stop it.

"Don't call Naruto like that!"

"You didn't listen to me, Sakura!"

"I don't care, he's my friend! I love you both, why don't you understand it?!"

…

"You love him?"

"I love him! You and him both!"

He looked at the blonde standing behind her and chucked. He started walking passed the pinkette and towards him.

"Sasuke-kun, leave him alone!" she grabbed his arm.

But now, I am falling apart…

The sound that filled his ears was a cry of pain. Her cry of pain. He looked down and saw his lover lying on the pavement, both her hands placed on her cheek, her friends standing beside her. He hurt her. He had hurt his lover, his angel, his everything.

Wanting to kneel beside her made Ino scream and yell. She helped Sakura up and left with her, letting Naruto deal with him. Instead of hurting him like he hurt his friend, Naruto said the most painful words Sasuke heard in his life.

"You don't deserve her."

After all he had done to me, hurting me both emotionally and physically, I did not hate him. Not one bit. He was the love of my life, and I knew he didn't hit me intentionally. That was the alcohol inside him. His mind was blurred by it, and he acted as his body commanded. He wasn't thinking.

I told Ino the same thing, but she thought I was crazy. She believed I was obsessed with loving him. But maybe she was right. Maybe loving him was indeed my obsession.

I tried to talk to him after the incident, but Ino wouldn't let me. I heard from her that Sasuke-kun had called several times, and even came to visit, but she wouldn't let him in. In her eyes, he was the enemy, the one she must protect me from. She was like a mamma bear, protecting her cub from danger.

I couldn't stand not talking to him, not being with my Sasuke-kun.

"I'm sorry." He embraced her tightly.

I tried hating him, I tried not trusting him. When we saw each other at the University, I would pretend I didn't hear his calls, or didn't see him. Obviously, he knew that I avoided him, and for some weeks, we never spoke to each other. That was the hardest part. I thought he had let me go. I prayed so much that that wasn't true. So when I heard my phone ringing and Ino was nowhere in sight, I took my chance and answered.

"I know." She smiled as she returned the gesture.

I hope you enjoyed reading this one-shot of mine. I had the idea after hearing the song "Butterflies" by Lana Del Rey. The whole 'I know I shouldn't stay with him because he's no good for me, but I can't help it 'cause I'm so in love' really inspired me, and I believe that many relationships out there are running on this idea and it's not necessarily a good thing. But, I won't discuss this matter here, even if I am both for and against it.

Review :D

~Sakura2cute4u~