A girl with shiny, long pink hair was skipping through the hallway, happily humming to the song booming in her ears through her bright green headphones. Her bright emerald green eyes shimmered with happiness and her lips were curled up at the corners in a smile. Anyone walking past would've assumed her the happiest, most naive girl in the world.
"Hey Sakura-chan!" a loud voice called, followed by hurried footsteps. The happy girl, Sakura, unfortunately, did not here the loud voice, and continued on in ignorance.
Suddenly a blonde teen crashed into her, enveloping her in an ever encompassing hug of epic proportions. Sakura gasped, surprised, then her eyes became devious as she brought down the headphone to hang uselessly around her neck.
"Naruto!" she growled.
Said blonde haired boy looked up at her nervously from his perch sprawled on her lap. He quickly helped her up and brushed imaginary dust off her shoulders. He kept muttering "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan!" at her, attempting to straighten out her clothes. If anyone else were to do this to Sakura, she would think they were trying to cop a feel, but Naruto is so refreshingly innocent that Sakura can't help but to laugh.
"There! All better!" Naruto exclaimed, a cheesy, yet pleasant grin displayed on his face. Sakura smiled and leaned in to place her lips on his cheek in an innocent peck.
"Thanks Naruto! You're the best!" Sakura giggled and waved goodbye, putting on her headphones and walking into her homeroom as the bell rang, leaving a blushing Naruto in her wake.
The clock was ticking, it's minute hand inching slowly toward the twelve to signal the end of the day. A dark haired boy was watching it closely, impatient for the end of class. His hand twitched toward the front pocket of his jeans, where his solace was contained. He could already feel where the slice would be, in the crease of his wrist. He could see the blood flowing underneath his skin, just begging for release. He felt goosebumps burst across his arms just thinking about the numb that would come and block out the pain. He smirked slightly.
'Maybe just a tiny cut while I wait.' He thought, pulling out the shiny, sharp, brand-new razor from his front pocket, the fluorescent lights glimmering on it. He pulled of his black wristband and looked around, to be sure that no one was looking. He then brought the razor down, preparing for the first cut of many.
But something felt off.
He looked up at the clock curiously. There was only five minutes left before the bell rang. He looked at the teacher, a big, white haired man who was giggling while he wrote some sort of porn in his notebook; Jiraiya. He had his student teacher leaning lazily against the desk, his head stuffed in the latest issue of Jiraiya's porn, the only thing visible of him was the gravity defying tuft of silver hair; Kakashi. They were both oblivious to what the rest of the class was doing. The rest of the class were divided into their respective cliques, gossiping and socializing. None of his fangirls were in this class, they all had some pep rally to rehearse for or something, which made this class abnormally small. Everything was where things should be.
Sasuke shook his head slightly and returned to the task at hand.
Then he noticed what was so off.
Someone was watching him.
He whipped his head around, a glare shining in his onyx orbs, only to meat a pair of disappointed emerald eyes. he looked away quickly, catching himself before his blush was too obvious.
Now, instead of feeling the burning urge to cut himself, Sasuke felt ashamed. The razor found itself back into his pocket, and the wristband back on his wrist. Sasuke looked up as the bell rang to see the pink haired, emerald eyed girl smiling proudly at him.
"See?" she said quietly," That wasn't so hard" She squeezed his hand encouragingly and skipped away.
Sasuke hid a smile as he walked out the room, right into the crowd of raving, screaming fangirls.
The moon was high in the cloudless sky, shining it's light onto the earth below. It was a pleasent Saturday morning-very early morning. A 21 year old silver haired man was walking throughout the streets casually, for not so casual reasons. With his destination in mind, and his favorite novel at hand, he trudged along, his shoes making shuffling noises. He walked through rusted iron gates into a mist covered plain, the only thing disturbing the mist were short, omnipresent bocks of stone. These stones were elegantly carved, with names of deceased loved ones and dates, numbers that are left with the deceased forever. A cemetery.
He walked through the rows with purposeful steps, disguised by laziness, passing by graves upon graves, passing by a mausoleum, even. His footsteps crunched over fallen leaves and branches, and the trees rustled with a new found breeze, smelling of early morning dew.
Suddenly, Kakashi heard a sniffle, as if someone nearby someone was crying for a newly fallen loved one.
'That's impossible. This cemetery has been closed off from over population; no one has been buried here for ten years.' Kakashi thought curiously.
His curiosity piqued as he continued to walk, this time off the path, delving into the rows upon rows of unfamiliar graves. He walked, trusting his ears to find the source of the crying. He stopped suddenly as the crying crescendos, startling him to a stop beside an ancient tree with wood as old as this cemetery and it's residents. Kakashi looked throught the withered leaves, careful not to bother the leaves to much, or else his cover would be gone. After all, he was only curious. He pushed away the leaves as far as he would dare, to reveal a surprising scene.
A slight, pink haired girl was kneeling in front of an ornately carved grave, incense sticks lit up for prayer. Kakashi noted the incinerated remains of multiple of it's bretheren, still burning slight embers with surprise. However, instead of praying, the girl was crying sobs that wracked her body, and if Kakashi didn't know better, he would have thought that she would crumble at the lightest touches. She was talking to herself too, but in a way that made it seem she was talking to her deceased loved one. But what was really surprising to Kakashi was that he recognized this girl.
'Sakura?'
Kakashi thought of how unlikely it was that the happy, cheerful, carefree, spirited, sympathetic,-the list could continue- girl was harboring such pain.
"It's all my fault you died. All my fault. All my fault. That's why... I can't... move on. I can't, I can't, Ican'tIcan't! Ten years... ten years." She kept on hiccuping and moaning, her breathes stuttering in the midst of her sentences.
Those words struck a cord in Kakashi's dusty heart strings. Not only because Sakura, the picture of happiness was this agonized inside, but by the similarity to how Kakashi felt.
'But ten years? I don't think anyone can morn someone for that long...'
Kakashi himself only came to this cemetery to give respect to his father. However, five years ago, when he was in the army, for he had dropped out and joined at 16, he and his squadron of three, both being his best friends, were stationed in a small village for reconnaissance. There was a freak accident, a suicide bombing gone wrong, believe it or not, who tripped in the building of his own home, whee the squadron were staying for the night. Kakashi had picked this particular home, because of how suspicious the man was. Rin and Obito died instantaneously, while Kakashi was outside keeping guard. While they lost their lives, Kakashi only lost his left eye, a handicap that, apparently, was enough to relieve him of his duties. He still regretted that day terribly, and still grieved. Kakashi was going to visit their memorial after this, to beg, as he did everyday, for forgiveness.
'But would I end up like Sakura one day?'
Then, in utter horror and pain that made him clench his chest, he noticed Sakura was wearing her school uniform.
Kakashi took a step back in surprise. Could it be that Sakura has not gone home since after school yesterday? She looked so excited to go home too, since it was Friday.
Kakashi, all of a sudden, felt the stifling need to console her.
But he knew he couldn't.
In this situation, he could not emphasize with Sakura, and that fact pained him to tears.
"Such a freaky bastard!" one of the bulky jocks said, pushinga tall, red haired teen down.
The red head glared up at the jock with threatening, jade eyes.
"It would be wise to leave me alone now." he ground out through clenched teeth, remembering how stressed his family was, and how his probation was just finishing up with only a few days left.
The group of megalomaniacs guffawed.
"You eyebrowless freak! You don't tell us what to do!" the group continued to chuckle darkly. They started cracking their knuckles and were stalking towards the red head.
Hate bubbled up Gaara's throat.
"You guys better leave the guy alone!" a girl yelled out from the opposite end of the hallway.
'Who is this idiot girl think she is, getting herself involved?' Gaara thought incredulously. He paused in his thoughts, then smirked wickedly, 'Perfect distraction.'
The jocks turned around and chuckled at who they saw.
"Oh look. A freak defending another freak!" what seemed like the leader said, bellowing out a porcine laugh, "But this one is kinda cute. Wanna come home with me, pinky?"
Gaara stood up quickly and punched the lead jock hard in the head. Hard enough to knock him into the brick wall. As he stumbled in drowsiness, Gaara attacked the other jock left standing. In the seconds in which Gaara had attacked the head jock, the third and noticeabley weaker jock had run off somewhere in utter fear. Once Gaara finished beating the faceless jock into complete and utter submission, and enjoying it all the way, he turned around to see to the other jock, only to see a flash of pink and an amazing left hook that left the jock unconscious beside his buddy.
Gaara was shocked, to say the least.
The amazingly small and pixie like that was currently wiping her knuckles on her shirt looked to Gaara with the most shocking pair of wide, doe-like emerald eyes and an eye-catching mop of smooth pink hair. She smiled at him easily.
"My adoptive mom is the principal and will let us off the hook. You don't need to worry about a thing. This bully has been harassing me for a while anyway. Meh. What can you do?" she shrugged her shoulder and looked at Gaara with a casual glance, "And as you can see, anger management isn't my forte.' She held up her hand welcomingly, with new, warm smile on her face, "I'm Sakura, and you are?"
Gaara looked at her strangely and took her hand, his mouth moving into a slow, lazy smile.
"I'm Gaara."
'I like her already.'
"Hurry back! Sasuke, make sure Naruto doesn't forget the glue! We have to finish this project tonight before the presentation tomorrow!" Sakura yelled out the door as Sasuke drove off, Naruto waving out the window of the car and blowing kisses. She sighed silently and closed the door to the Uchiha's giant house/mansion/manor/Sakura&Naruto's second home. She walked off to her bedroom where her laptop was charging and opened the window to their written part o the assignment to find any areas of improvement.
Suddenly, the sound of the front doors opening woke Sakura up from her reverie.
'Are they back already?' Sakura thought, getting out of her seat and walking to the door.
"Are you guys-" a serious of violent paroxysms of phlegm and coughing ensued, effectively answering Sakura's unfinished question. Sakura gasped and called out silently in fear. "Itachi?"
His coughing continued. 'He was probably overworking himself again.' Sakura thought sadly, hiding around the corner from where Itachi was crouching down. She held back tears from her eyes and decided to go get his medications. She ran into the kitchen, looking through the fridge for the always continuous supply of medication. They weren't there. 'Why wouldn't they be there!' she panicked. "Wait a minute..." Sakura said out loud, "If I was Itachi, where would I hide my medication..." Sakura looked throughout the kitchen. "Aha!"
Sakura ran into the living room and looked to the giant bookcase. Looking through all the books, she found the most boring peace of largely successful literature Itachi has in his possession. A Seperate Peace. Ugh. Sakura pulled out the book and, behind it, found a bottle of pills and a plastic bag of sanitized needles and what Sakura could only guess were steroids.
"I guess Itachi thinks this book is boring and useless, too." Sakura spoke with a dark mirth as she ran towards the front door where Itachi was clutching at his chest and throat.
Itachi looked up with watery eyes. "S-Sakura?" he choked out, trying to straighten himself up, out of pride or of fear of getting found out I don't know. Sakura put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him back onto the ground. She pulled out the bottle of pills and gave him two of the oblong capsules. He swallowed cautiously.
"Where do I put the shot?" Sakura asked, the already prepared needle in her hand as she tapped it to get rid of any unwanted and deadly air bubbles. Itachi flinched slightly and rolled up his sleeves. Sakura gripped his arms and carefully inserted the needle into the vein in his arm. Sakura quickly disposed of the needle and sat across from Itachi. Itachi's breathe calmed and he looked up between his long, black bangs, his warm, onyx eyes meeting Sakura's worried green ones.
"You knew?" Itachi asked, rubbing his temples. He knew someone was going to find out eventually, he just didn't want anyone, especailly not Sakura, to find out this way.
Sakura nodded, a sad smile on her face. "I work as an intern at the hospital in the pharmacy. I organize the medications so they are ready for pick up. I happen to see yours and did a little researching. And as for the where abouts of your medication, it just so happens you and I have the same taste in literature."
Itachi sat silently a contemplative look gracing his features. He then looked up sharply, " You must not tell Sasuke-" Itachi stuttered to a stop. It seems like today he had lost all remnants of his perfect facade because of this girl. Sakura's face was glimmering with sorrow, tears glistening like stars on her long butterfly like lashes.
"Why are you crying?" Itachi asked, for once, at a loss of what to do.
"You're sacrificing so much for Sasuke, only to receive and except his hostility." she spoke softly, looking down so that her head was angled in a way that made her bangs a curtain to her emotions.
"Why are you crying?" Itachi repeated. Sakura let out a sad little giggle that unexpectedly made Itachi's heart jump.
"Someone has to cry when you won't do it yourself."
A young blonde walked through the hallway, laughing rowdily at his friend.
"Okay, later!" he spoke.
"You're going to that art club again?" the friend said in a disgusted tone.
"Yup." The blonde grinned, brushing away the lock of his blonde fringe from his eye. Deidara waved and walked away. Once he went around the corner, his grin dropped into a smirk. A maniacal gleam entered his visible teal eye.
He entered the art room silently, tightening the tie on his hair, and clipping his long fringe back, revealing another teal eye as he went to retrieve his smock. There were already four people in the room: his best friend Sasori, a raccoon faced boy hanging out with a pink haired girl by the easels, and a pale faced boy sketching with Japanese ink and a brush pen in a large sketchbook. As he passed by the easels to get to the buckets of freshly made clay, he noticed what the pink haired girl was painting. The girl herself was an exotic beauty, with pastel pink hair and shiny, clear, emerald green eyes, a true window to her soul. She was petite and curvy at the same time. All together, very pleasant to look at.
Her painting, consequently, did not disappoint the preconception he had developed. She had created an exotic ocean scenery, the ocean being composed of shades and values of blues, purples, and greens, with the sun high in the sky above it, made of warmer colors, a direct contrast with the reds, oranges, and yellow, against a backdrop of cloudy gray and blue. Deidara noticed the pale, colorless liquid that the girl was mixing with the paint on her palette, and noticed the familiar scent it carried. He dismissed this thought. The painting was surely beautiful, but not art in his eyes. Not true art. 'Not my art.'
Deidara approached his seat beside Sasori, who was tinkering with whatever puppetry he was creating that day. Deidara started sculpting, carving, and molding his masterpiece. Almost near completion, Deidara smirked and took a small device from his pocket and inserted it into his sculpture of interlocking hands.
"The bang is almost to come." Deidara whispered. He got up to go put away his smock and wash his hands. On the way back to his seat, he spotted the curious pinkette circling around her painting, almost as if she were judging what angle it looked best in. She stopped immediately and pulled up the camera that was hanging around her neck. She lifted the lens to her eyes and began snapping pictures. The flash of the light blinded Deidara temporarily, and by the time that snapping ended, the pale faced raccoon boy had already picked up the wet painting and was walking toward the exit to outside. The girl hung back, walking around Deidara, reaching a piece of wood, a good sized block, actually, from the table where Sasori was working at. Sasori looked up questioningly, but said nothing and looked away.
Before the door closed behind them, Deidara made a quick decision and followed them, catching the door swiftly and stealthely caught the door and swept through to the outside to find that the pasty faced emo boy had already posted up the painting up against the block of wood, and was holding... a torch lighter? The pink haired girl walked around the painting, quickly planting herself infront of the painting and tilting her camera up, prepared to capture any image that came to her. Her red haired companion mumbled something inaudibley, to which she nodded. He tilted the lighter towards the bottom corner and lit it up.
The effect was magnificent enough to arouse a gasp from Deidara, to which the red head reacted almost immidiately, glaring silently, yet menacingly, at him. But Deidara, and apparently, the pink haired fairy, who kept taking photos of her painting disintegrating to the ground uninterupted.
The painting was effectively burning, but burning in the most majestic way. The liquid that was fed into the paints was, Deidara realized, sea water, which kept the stench of burning paint almost nonexistent, and created a beautiful and glorious blue green flame surrounding her painting. It was...
'Art.'
Burgendy eyes followed the blonde out the door with curiousity burning in his eyes. 'What was so interesting about that pink haired girl?' Thought Sasori. That was the first time Sakura had caught his attention. But that first day, he payed her no mind. It wasn't love at first sight, he supposed. He didn't even notice her again, until the next week; that was when he really fell in love.
He was walking home slowly, going through the neighborhood park in order to get home quicker. He passed the deserted sand covered lot and saw someone he hadn't particularly wanted to see. She was sitting on the top of the slide, facing the sunset with a peaceful and content smile on her face. She seemed to have noticed him, based on the flicker of her emerald green eyes towards him.
"It's beautifull, isn't it?" she said quietly. Sasori looked at her questioningly.
"I suppose. But is it real art?" he mumbled back. Sakura looked at him curiously, asking him with her eyes to elaborate.
"Art should be eternally beautiful. It should be admired through many generations. It's not meant to be a one-shot deal. In order to really appreciate it, it should be encountered and experienced over and over, not just a whisper of a memory at the back of your mind and easily forgotton. This sunset, although beautiful, will end soon, so there fore is not art."
Sakura hummed, as if contemplating his theory. She turned and smiled at him.
"Well, what if you look at it this way: This sunset will end quickelly, but it will reoccur over and over for eternity. And even if it is a one-shot deal," she giggled here, a quiet, soothing sound " our memory is a very strong thing. If the art is truelly glorious and awe-inspiring, then it will be imbeded into our memory for eternity."
She slid down the slide, the darkness swallowing her as she walked away, yelling a goodbye that Sasori heard, but did not understand. At this moment, Sasori truly felt a connection with the pink haired artist, and then and there, he knew he was in love.
Naruto looked up from slurping up numerous noodles with a giant smile on his face, thinking of how his precious Sakura-chan was goin to react to his gift. He was eating his lunch at his favorite ramen stand, waiting for his best friend and rival to arrive.
BzzzzzBzzzzz
Naruto looked toward his phone, vibrating away on the table. He put down the bowl and chopsticks and grabbed the phone.
" If it's the teme trying to cancel on me again, I swear..." Naruto's voice trailed off as he read the text.
Walking through the streets, mumbling and sulking about idiotic dobes was Sasuke, his hands in his pockets. He smiled, a small tilt of his lips as he saw a case showing a cherry blossom bracelet, reminding him that today was Sakura's birthday. He walked inside the shop, immediately approaching the balding jeweler.
"Excuse me sir, may I buy that bracelet in the showcase?" Sasuke asked him kindly. The man looked up from polishing a stone, looked like aquamarine, and smiled at him.
"Of course, young man!"
Sasuke left the store, very satisfied, with a small gift bag in his hand.
BzzzzzBzzzzzz
Sasuke looked annoyed and pulled his cellphone out violently.
' It's probably the dobe...'
Sasuke flipped his phone open and glared at the text there. His eyes widened as the phone slipped through his fingers.
Kakashi sighed wearily. He has had a bad feeling all day. When he has bad feelings, it's always foreshadowing what's to come. He was walking through the streets of a local shopping district, looking through the vendors for a simple gift for his favorite, and even a little more then that, maybe, student. It was her birthday. He frowned slightely as his heart seemed to feel heavier at the thought of the pink haired girl.
' Why would thinking of her bother me?' Kakashi asked himself. He began to doubt his instincts, why would something horrid happen the day of Sakura's birthday? Nothing could possibley-
A black blur ran passed him, pushing him aside. His sharp eyes found a very disgruntled Sasuke.
" Sasuke, what happened, calm down." Kakashi said calmly. Sasuke shook his head furiously. That's when Kakashi saw the glisten in his eyes. Unshead tears?
" Sasuke," Kakashi repeated, this time, the feeling of something about to happen increased ten-fold. " What happened?"
Sasuke paused in his shaking and looked at him with grief-striken eyes.
Gaara was sitting at the playground, waiting for his best friend to finally get there, glaring at everyone that passed and gave him wierd looks.
" Where is she...?" Gaara wondered out loud. She was late before, but not for 3 hours. And if there ever was an instance where she couldn't come, she would have contacted him.
BzzzzzBzzzzzz
Gaara smirked, thinking of how she finally bothered to tell him she could not make it. It soon slipped away into wide eyes and a gape mouth, and fear.
Itachi sat calmly at the meeting, sureptitiously taking glances at the clock till he could go home. A slight vibration in his front pocket alerted him to a text.
His eyes widened slightly, and his fists clenched tightely on the phone after reading the text. He quickely forwarded it to Deidara and Sasori, his best friends, and whom he also knew were very close to Sakura as well. He jumped out of his seat and ran out the door, leaving the fellow company employees gaping in his dust.
" COME ON, SASORI, WHERE THE FUCK IS YOUR CAR, WE HAVE TO FUCKIN' GO!"
" YOU THINK I DON'T FUCKIN' KNOW THAT! I'M IN THE CAR, HURRY THE HELL UP!"
There were anxious eyes all around the waiting room, some hardened, some soft and shining with unshead tears. They were all thinking why this would happen, of all the people in the world, to Sakura.
They had been waiting for hours in the waiting room outside the surgery. They all had bags under there eyes, and had all broken down in some form or another.
Naruto, who was the first to show up, was shaking slightely, tears streaming down puffy red eyes, sniffling and awaiting for anyone to confirm that Sakura was ok.
Sasuke was beside him, there shoulders almost brushing, with Sasuke holding a cracking facade, tears already falling from seemingly dead eyes. The two were worrying away from the others in the room, the best friends understanding that they needed each other.
Kakashi was on his own ,sitting in one of the numerous unoccupied chairs in the waiting room, his head in his hands, covering his one visible eye, which was filled to the brim with sorrow.
Gaara was also on his own, but he was the only one with no emotion on his face. The only indication that he was anxious at all was the fact that he was pacing all around the room.
Itachi and Sasori were sitting, anxiousness visible in their eyes, while Deidara was wringing his wrists and messing with his hair.
Finally, the doctor, sweaty and blurry eyed, came out, removing his face mask with gloved hands. The boys couldn't help but notice the numerous blood stains scattered around his scrubbs. He wearily eyed the croud awaiting his words.
" The crash was very serious, she had numerous lacerations, broken bones, a concussion, torn muscles, peirced organs, and not to mention the burns she had gotten from the explosion. Thankfully, she was injected far away from the crash before the car exploded. She has also mlost permanent use of her left eye, due to the placement of the concussion, affecting her optic nerves. The surgery we have done on her currently has left her in better condition then when we found her, but she is still in critical condition and is in a coma now. For now, our biggest fear is that the concussion may not allow her to ever wake up." the doctor spoke in an all knowing tone of someone who has had to relay bad news to everyone everyday of his career.
Weeks passed, with no sign of Sakura coming around. The only injuries that hadn't been heeled was her blind eye and the casted arm and leg. The boys decided to look after her in shifts. Her hair soon grew passed her shoulders, and seasons began to pass with no sign of her.
Months.
Months.
Months.
And yet the boys never lost faith in her, never doubted that she would soon return to them. As long as her heart kept beating...
But one day, it stopped.
The boy was startled awake as nurses and a doctor came rushing in, trying to start her heart back up again. They tried, but they didn't succeed. The boy shoved the nurses away, and got close to Sakura.
" SAKURA! DON'T GIVE UP ON ME! Please..." His voice cracked. He collapsed on top of her, shaking in despair.
His voice echoed in the silent room, the nurses were silently crying, their shoulders shaking in sorrow at what they had jsut witnessed. The doctor looked away in respect, his heart clenching at his failure. The only sound was of the sobbing boy and the heart monitor.
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-beeeeeeep-beep-beep-
The nurses and the doctor gasped in shock, and the boy jumped of Sakura, looking down at her, newly kindled hope in his eyes.
"S-Sakura?"
Green eyes fluttered open, one a sightless look. The girl gasped and weekly held her hand to her left eye. She gripped the lids, stretching them open, but for nought. She started gasping sobs, tears welling in her eyes.
The boy looked at her with the utmost adoration. He hugged her tightly, his eyes also holding back tears.
" Don't worry Sakura, I'm here for you, I'm here." He kept comforting her, rubbing her face, her hands, every inch of her that he could reach without hurting her. Her sobs subsided, slowly, but surely.
"T-Thank you..." She whispered hoarsley, before going back to the dark obyse of sleep. This time, she had a reason to come back to the real world.
' People are waiting for me, and so is love...' She thought before slipping into herself.
Soooo! What do you think! I let you guys choose who she ends up with at the end :D
Read and Review please!