1Title: The Proof
Warning: Possible Abuse, sexual situations
Disclaimer: God damn it, I DON'T OWN NARUTO. Kishimoto-san does. Geez.
Distribution: Under 'bio' and then 'Rach's Terms'
A/N: Ohayo. ;p What's good? Another unblocker cause Chapter 23 is HELLLL. Comedy is not my high point. I can be relatively funny, but I'm not a comedian. I should call my friend Boone. He's all with the sarcastic hilarity and random funniness. But then, that would ensue chaos because I'd have to tell him about my ANIME OBSESSION and that SasuSaku is life and yadda yadda yadda. He'd make lots of funnies... about ME! And I'm too much of a killjoy to let him. ;) So, y'all (including me) will have to suffer through my slow update for chapter 23. After that, the rest of it should go smoothly. After all, I have all the other chapters typed up and ready to go. Too bad I'm stuck on this one. Bleh. Anyway, BEHOLD: THE PROOF.
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"I don't," he said angrily, "So shut your mouth, dobe."
"Oh yeah, teme?" The blonde retorted angrily. "Prove it."
The dare was a tempting one, and Sasuke knew that if he backed down, Naruto would taunt him. And if he accepted, he'd regret it. Too bad for him, he couldn't take any more of Naruto's mouth.
"I will," the dark-eyed boy finally said, his emotional façade drifting back into place.
"How?" Naruto demanded, raising a blonde eyebrow, "There's no way you can."
"There are ways," Sasuke insisted.
"You'd better not hurt her in the process," Naruto warned, "Because there's only one way that I can think of to prove it, and it would break her heart. If you do that, I'll kill you, Sasuke-teme. Sakura-chan is an amazing person. She doesn't deserve the things you put her through. Just admit what you feel, and then you don't have to prove the opposite!"
Sasuke was glaring. How could he possibly admit to something that wasn't there? He would prove to Naruto he didn't love the pink-haired kunoichi. And he would prove it to himself.
"What did you think of?" Sasuke asked a few minutes later as they were walking towards the bar.
"Doing..." Naruto stopped, glaring intently at his friend. "I'm not saying it. If I do, you'll probably run out and do it anyway. Kami knows there are enough of those fan girls of yours who are willing to-" he slapped a hand over his mouth as Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "DAMN IT!"
"I see," Sasuke said, stoic tone.
"Don't you dare, Sasuke-teme!" Naruto shouted at him as if he wasn't three feet away. "I SWEAR ON MY CHANCES OF BECOMING HOKAGE! IF YOU DO IT I'LL-"
"Eh," the voice shut Naruto down. "What are you shouting about, Naruto? Oi, Sasuke, stop staring at me," Sakura said, one eyebrow arched at the both of them. She could see Naruto's distress and Sasuke's anger. "Guys..."She asked cautiously. "What's going on...?"
"Nothing," Naruto said, one arm going up behind him to scratch his head.
"Hn," Sasuke interjected and began to walk off.
"Teme!" Naruto shouted one last time, "THINK BEFORE YOU DO!"
At this comment, Sakura's eyebrows hit her hairline. "What the heck are you talking about, Naruto? Is Sasuke thinking about leaving again? I'll have to report this is ANBU and Tsunade-sama."
"No, Sakura-chan, nothing like that," Naruto said worriedly. "Nothing like that."
"Are you ok, Naruto, cause you seem a little... off."
"I'm fine Sakura-chan, really. LET'S GO GET SOME RAMEN!"
And even though Naruto was shoving down the bowls like water, Sakura knew something was up. Which is why she went to see Sasuke at two in the morning. It wasn't her fault she couldn't sleep. Damn men and their conflicts. Plus, she secretly wanted to see him.
She rapped on the door twice, knowing he either was asleep or not there. "Sasuke, it's Sakura, I need to talk to you."
When nothing happened, she turned, going around to the window she knew was in his bedroom and tapped on it. "Sasuke, hello??" She got nothing. "Aggrh."
Thinking that maybe she could just wait him out, she walked down to the corner and turned, just as Sasuke exited the bar across the street...with a girl hanging on his arm. Sakura, with the quick reflexes she had, dodged behind a building into the shadows and took off, up on the roof. Sasuke with a girl? Since when had he developed hormones? Kakashi-sensei had stuck that perverted book in Sasuke's face one day and the boy didn't even BLINK!
She watched with dread as they approached Sasuke's apartment. She could see the girl's mouth moving, they were both stumbling... drunk. Sakura noticed as she moved closer that the girl's eyes were green. Coincidence? Maybe. She glared down and watched as Sasuke fumbled (yes! FUMBLED!) With his keys and the girl. She was pretty. Really pretty. Okay, really really pretty.
And when they went into his apartment and closed the door, Sakura's head just about exploded. She jumped down off the roof and landed gracefully on her feet. Well, she could postpone the inevitable, she hoped. She took off with a running start and slid to a stop at his door. "SASUKE! I need to talk to you!"
Inside, she heard.. Nothing? What? Well, maybe they were.. Uhm.. Damn it! She couldn't think of anything they could possibly be doing. Sleeping? She doubted it.
"Uchiha SASUKE! Hello? Deaf person, I need to speak with you so get off your ass and open this door before I break it do-" The door was ripped open revealing the girl. Thankfully she still had all of her clothes on. Okay, good sign.
"WHAT do you WANT!?" The girl screeched, obviously pissed to be interrupted doing.. Whatever.
"I OBVIOUSLY want to talk to Sasuke, so if you don't mind."
The girl opened her mouth to protest but Sakura pushed past her and sped straight to the bedroom. Where she found him rubbing the bridge of his nose, shirtless. Bad sign. Well, on the other hand...
"Sakura, what are you doing here?" Sasuke practically growled.
"I want to know WHAT THE HELL your problem is, you bone head," She shrieked at him. The girl stood in the door way. Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"Get out," he said to her, and she immediately glared at Sakura.
"Sasuke-kun," the girl cooed, gliding over to him, "we don't have to stop just because of her."
The girl touched his face and that's when Sakura left the room. She ran, as fast and as far as she could, depositing herself into a heap in the woods, trying her best to calm herself. But her best wasn't enough. Seconds later, she found herself unbelievably hysterical. On the outside, she was completely passive. But on the inside, she was screaming, and she found herself on her hands and knees, gagging. Damn that Uchiha. Why did she love him again? She sat up, determined to calm herself, to not let the tears spill. It was only a girl. And it's not like they were dating. Or even friends really. So why was she this worked up? Oh right. Love.
Sakura sat in the woods until sunrise. She knew she had to leave. She knew that leaving meant betraying Konoha. But she had to. Did they want her to die? If she couldn't stop loving him, and she had to be around him, she was going to end up killing herself.
She stood up taking a shaky breath. Maybe she'd come back one day. The rest of her thoughts were cut off as her body was smashed up against a tree. She felt a hand wrap itself around her neck, squeezing, squeezing... pain in the shape of red stars exploded behind her eyelids. She forced them open. Only to squeeze them shut again.
"Sasuke..." she rasped out. He was killing her. Literally. His eyes were blazing red with the sharingan, a face of anger painted on. "Why a-are... you...?"
"You need to stop this," he said calmly, glaring still.
She wheezed but managed a small chuckle. "S...stop wh..what?"
"Stop doing this to me," he replied evenly, lifting her off the ground. "I can't even prove it to Naruto..."
Her hands went up to his, weakly, gently pulling, but not really fighting. She'd be alright to go out this way. At the hands of the one she loved? Yeah, she was okay with that.
"P-prove what to N-Naruto...?"
"That..." he paused, loosening his grip, the sharingan stopped spinning. "I don't love you."
She gasped in a breath and he then squeezed tighter.
"He'll kill you, in worse ways you know," Sasuke informed her. "If he knows I even remotely care about you, he will kill you just to spite me. So it's better this way," he finished.
She smiled through her numbness. "Bett..better thi...this way? How wi...will you r...revive your cl...clan if you k...k...kill the person yo...you lo..l-love?"
It was then that he dropped her. She was gasping for breath, coughing at the same time. "Why.. Why did you stop? Why didn't you just end it, Sasuke-kun?"
She didn't notice that the -kun slipped out before it was too late. He looked surprised and the sharingan was replaced with two onyx eyes, looking confused, surprised, disoriented.
"What the fuck is going on?" She stood up and stumbled away from him, letting out a small whimper, still clutching her neck. "Sakura...?" Her two green orbs stared at him, emotions swirling about. He could recognize one as fear... and another as hurt. "What happened...?"
"Are you joking?" She stuttered, her voice raspy. "You almost killed me."
His eyes widened in shock. This was a surprise to Sakura and she stumbled back again. Uchiha Sasuke show emotion? He stepped forward and she flinched. He looked sorry. "Let me see," he demanded in the nicest tone she'd ever heard come out of his mouth. Cautiously, she removed her hand from her sore neck and he saw the red hand mark, becoming a bruise. She looked pale, like death. "Sakura," he said quietly, "Come here." She stared at him like he was delusional. "Please."
Another shocker. The Sasuke she knew would never ask nicely. She gingerly moved forward and when she thought it couldn't get any weirder, he embraced her and that's when the tears fell. She began to shake, to sob, to break apart in his arms, and he held her, watching with sadness as he knew it was all his fault.
And the world Sakura knew, ended that day. For life was suddenly fresh, and just beginning.
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-random snarl- I kind of hated it. Damn Uchiha. I'm still going, 'Why'd he strangle her, damn it? Couldn't he just fall at her feet and cry? We all like emotional Sasuke, ne?' and I'm the retard who wrote it! Mrfghf. R & R. Kindly.