Author's Note: Written because my sister says I don't write enough one-shots.
Summary: "So the rumors are true?" SakuNaruSasu love triangle type of thingy sort of not really.
The lights are too bright, but Sakura isn't complaining anymore.
Just like she isn't complaining that the air is too thin or that the walls seem to be coming at her from every angle. The water isn't safe to drink anymore. And she's glad because she was sure that any drop would turn to acid when it landed on her tongue. And try as hard as she might, she just can't seem to get her limbs to move anymore.
She's standing, close to falling over; she's alive, but just barely.
The noise around her barely registers in her mind and the gleam of something in the distance clears the static in front of her eyes until everything around her becomes liquid, unimportant. She wills her lungs to fill or a leg to move forward, but she just stands there – almost lifeless.
She's not crying – for once. Not over something like this – something important, but she feels the wind burning her eyes and she shuts them slowly, a drop of moisture tasting the wind and making it's trail down her cheek. She barely has time to hide it and in minutes she is back inside the Hokage's office, looking into Sasuke's eyes, wishing he would go away.
That thought scares her because she knows Sasuke and likes Sasuke. He's been a good friend, even though she used to love him. Sasuke wasn't really the type that would let you know too much of him too quickly. But that day, sitting on the opposite side of the room next to Naruto, smiling at him, touching him, mocking him so openly, she thinks she is going to be sick.
The next break they have from the meeting Sakura runs to the bathroom and vomits into the toilet, her tongue bitter with the acid taste of betrayal. She doesn't come out for a long while and she only does because she knows Tsunade would fire her if she wasn't at the meeting, and from here, Sakura doesn't have much of anywhere to go.
The eyes she meets when she comes in are full of caring and concern, but they're different now. They're not hers anymore. And when Sasuke comes out telling them that the meeting starts, it takes her every fiber of her being to stop herself form tackling him to the ground, Naruto grabs her wrist and pulls her away.
And when the touch leaves her, and Sasuke and Naruto leave to sit on the opposite side of the room, she feels even emptier than she did before. Her lungs feel constricted of all air and her eyes burn, but from the lights above her not from the tears threatening to fall.
After it's all over, they all head out to their homes, Sakura stops Naruto by the door, a hand resting on his chest, her feet blocking his exit. She speaks in a hurried whisper.
"So all the rumors are true?"
Naruto studies her face for a moment, knowing that no time would be safe to answer, but Sakura was urging him so he has no choice but to comply.
"Yeah."
The word hangs for a moment before slipping out the door behind Sakura. She feels cool air hit her back and the door slams behind her.
The tears can fall freely now, but Sakura won't let them. Her thoughts are jumbled in her mind, racing in fragments. She feels almost numb, the only feeling being the sting of rejection from the person she never thought she'd feel it from.
The lights are her dim. She thinks she preferred when they burned her.