MinakoJupiter: Okay, I'm letting Inner-MinakoJupiter wirte this one becasue she's been bugging me for almost two weeks now.
Inner-MJ: MWAHAHAHAHA!! I'm free, I say, free!!!!
MinakoJupiter: For now, anyway...Besides, if you go emo on me again, my parents will get worried...
Inner-MJ: Yeah, yeah...
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but the poem at the beginning is my own creation.
Italics are ONLY used in the poem...
My heart and soul are empty,
No life within can I find.
For someone has taken it all away,
All feelings from my mind.
Yet he shows no mercy,
No care, no love,
I'm nothing more than a toy
For him to push and shove.
Kunai in hand,
I fight this plague that haunts.
Yet nothing can I do, I find...
My life, it always taunts.
And so, this kunai, becomes my friend.
An object I cannot replace.
Forgive me if you will no longer
Find my smiling face...
Sasuke stared blankly at the small piece of paper in his hands. A poem, yes, but something more...something sinister. Whoever wrote this might be planning on killing themselves soon. Who in Konoha could possibly write this? Then he remembered something from earlier, when Team 7 was getting ready to leave the training grounds...
FLASHBACK
"Sakura-chan!!" a certain loud-mouth shinobi exclaimed, running up to the pink-haired kunoichi. "Nani?" she questioned, sounding bored. "Well, I was wondering...if you'd like to go out for ramen with me?" Naruto asked, one of the most pleading looks he had in his arsenal on his face. "Gomen, Naruto...But I just don't feel like going anywhere today..." Sakura muttered, turning to leave. "Sakura-chan? Something wrong?" Naruto questioned, placing a hand on the rosette's shoulder. She slapped his hand away, something falling out of her hand in the process: a small piece of paper...
END FLASHBACK
The Uchiha started running to Sakura's house, remembering that it was his kunoichi teammate who dropped the poem. Upon getting there, he could tell from the absence of her familiar chakra signiture within the building. He immediately began searching everywhere he knew she would usually go trying to find her. After nearly three hours of searching, he was ready to give up when he sensed it; it was faint, but he could follow it to her. What really worried him was that said signiture was getting weaker by the moment. Forcing chakra into his feet, he sped up, knowing that if he was going to find her, he'd have to hurry.
When he finally found her, she was in a small pool of blood, and a kunai lay loosely in her hand. He saw large gashes on her wrists - obviously an attempt to end her life. Yanking the arm covers from his arms, he wiped the remaining blood from her wirsts and tied the white pieces of cloth tightly around her wrists. He shifted her weight into his arms and, as quickly as he had come, took her to the nearest place he could get her treatment: his home...
Sakura groaned a little as she woke up, a dull pain in her wrists and a headache forming. Looking around, she noticed one thing about where she was...well, two things really: One, she wasn't dead like she'd hoped; two, she wasn't in her home or the hospital. "You're finally awake?" she heard a distinctive, male voice question. "Sasuke-kun..." she whispered, not looking at the boy, but at her wrists. 'White cloth? It couldn't be...' she thought, glancing over to see the Uchiha's arms bare, without the trademark-arm warmers. Sasuke sat on the ground in front of the couch Sakura lay on, setting a smal box of basic medical supplies next to him. "When I found you...I knew I wouldn't have time to get you to your home or the hospital...So I brought you to my home..." he explained softly, untieing the make-shift bandages from the rosette's arms. She blushed slightly when he looked her dead in the eye, onyx-black meeting emerald-green. "Why did you do this?" he questioned, searching the kunoichi's face for an answer. "Because..." "Because?" "I couldn't take the fact that...I'd never be noticed by the person I love..." she murmurred, looking away from the raven-haired teen in front of her. Sasuke's eyes widened when he remembered one of the lines from the poem:
I'm nothing more than a toy
For him to push and shove.
He also looked away, ashamed that he never realized her feelings. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the poem he found. "I found this at the training grounds...This is what helped me find you before...before it was too late..." he said, holding the paper out to her. She recognized it instantly, and tentavely took it from his palm. "You read it?" "Hai...Gomen, but I thought it might have been something that blew there earlier...It was only after I read it that I remembered you had dropped it when Naruto grabbed your shoulder." he mentioned. An awkward silence followed the short conversation, and surprisingly enough, it was Sasuke who broke it. "Sakura...Gomen nasai..." Sakura looked at the boy, startled at his sudden apology. "For what?" Sakura questioned, looking at the boy. "For not realizing your feelings..." he whispered, glancing up at her. "I just wish...it didn't have to be you nearly dying for me to see it..." Sasuke muttered, finally re-bandaging her arms. He tensed a little when he felt her move closer. "Sasuke-kun..." she whispered, lifting her left hand to his face. "How do you feel about me?" Sasuke blushed slightly at her question. "At first...I didn't know what I was feeling...Eventually, I realized a liked you...Demo, I was afraid to tell you..." he muttered. "You mean...Itachi, don't you?" "Hai...I was afraid to let anyone get too close...because I was afraid he'd come after them and take something else precious to me away...So I pushed everybody away..." Sasuke continued, finishing up the bandage on the left wrist.
As soon as he finsihed, she brought both hands to his face, turning it slightly to face her's . Sasuke's hands went up to her own face. Slowly, they leaned in, their lips meeting softly. Sliding into the floor, Sakura snuggled into his body, relishing in the warmth of his embrace. Sasuke nuzzled into her pink hair, inhaling her scent. They stayed like that for a while before Sakura lifted her head. "Sasuke-kun? Can I stay with you tonight?" she asked, eyes meeting his. Blushing a bit, he nodded after a few minutes. "May I ask why?" "I don't want to go home right now...My parents might ask questions about my wrists...What am I supposed to tell them; that I tried to kill myself and someone saved me?" Sakura asked. Sasuke chuckled slightly, pulling the girl in his arms closer...
Naruto was ready with a hopefully-succeful line to win Sakura's affection when he saw Sasuke sitting next to said girl. Naruto hid quickly, as neither had noticed him yet. Sakura said something to Sasuke, and surprisingly enough, Sasuke smiled softly at the rosette, not a smirk, but a real smile. 'Well, whattaya know? Looks like Sakura-chan melted the ice-block we knew as Sasuke!' Naruto thought, smiling sadly because he had lost his chance for Sakura, but they were his friends, so he was happy for them. 'I'll go find Kakashi-sensei...They look like they could use some...' his thoughts were cut off when Yamanaka Ino ran up, shoving Sakura out of the way and sitting next to Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun..." she stopped when she noticed the icy-cold glare she had just received. Sasuke stood up and walked over to Sakura, extending a hand out to help her up. Smiling, she accepted the gesture and stood up with Sasuke's help. "Arigato, Sasuke-kun." Sakura said once she was up. Both moved to a different part of the training ground, away from the blonde-haired girl who was gaping at them like a fish. Ino turned on her heel and stormed off, grumbling about "losing Sasuke to that stupid forehead girl." Naruto figured he should go now and find their chronically-late sensei before he got there...And where said sensei was, Kakashi sneezed because of Naruto.
MinakoJupiter: O-o WTF?!
Inner-MJ: Nyan, I told you that ya should've let me out to write sooner!
MinakoJupiter: Let's just hope Itachi doesn't see this...He'll kill us 'cause we wrote a Sasuke-fic before we wrote one about him!
Inner-MJ: 00 Crapola, I forgot about that!!
MinakoJupiter: Anyway, before I have to pack up and leave the area, please review my inner-self's story...
BOTH: And we'll see ya all laters!!