Adherence

Summary: I remember you. You used to be my whole world. SasuIno.

Because in one snap, everything can be different. People change and more often than not, it sucks when they do. One moment they care about you the next they just ignore you. Relationships are only great at first and when time progresses, they usually just turn south.

Hell and broken. That's how it exactly feels when the relationship has ended. Everyday is a bad day and you don't give a damn about other fish in the sea because the fish you'd caught has just given you a really bad tummy ache. It is painful, painful enough that you even consider the idea of not fishing anymore.

But you disregard that thought once you see him with someone else. A new girl that makes you feel insecure about yourself even if you have nothing to be insecure about. All you see is the ugly traits of the new girl friend. You become bitter.

Nastily bitter because what hurts the most is the feeling of being replaced. It makes you feel crap and no matter how many times you tell yourself it's okay, it's really not. So suddenly you'll be desperate and find someone...a rebound. Hoping that when he catches you, he'll hold onto you until you feel secure again.

Though, most cases rebounds don't work because they're never good enough. You always long for something better than you'd had and the rebound gets hurt undeservedly. So when you breakup with the rebound, you realize two things: you're horrible for using him and you're really still in love with the guy that cruelly broke your heart.

I am Ino Yamanaka and that is the unfortunate story of my life.

My boyfriend broke up with me almost three months ago and I'm still utterly bitter about it. "It's not you, it's me," bullshit every guy comes up when they've gotten what they wanted and is ready to move on to another girl is his reason when he terribly broke up with me. On the phone, when he was out of the country at five-thirty in the morning on a freaking Monday (the worst day of the week) four days before my twenty-first birthday.

My twenty-first birthday was supposed to be fun because that was the day I was supposed to be getting wasted, dancing on a pole, and living my life at a club in Las Vegas. Okay, let me just say this: I am not a stripper or an alcoholic, never was and never will so don't get the wrong idea – I just like to party.

But on contrary from what I planned, my birthday was horrible. Like really horrible. I stayed at home eating chocolate all day while watching When Harry Met Sally and I Walk To Remember over and over again. I even remember telling myself that I would never fall in love again, that was until I got a phone call from my best friend Temari and told me that Sasuke updated his Facebook status – he went from "single" to "in a relationship".

And that of course angered me to death. I even made a fake account with fake profile picture because he deleted me on his friends' list after we broke up; after making a fake facebook page, I added him and our friends just so we had "mutual friends" together and it wouldn't be too suspicious if he asked me how I found his profile. It didn't end there because I also added that bitch he'd replaced with me.

She's unattractive and not sexy. Her forehead is huge and has no curves. Yes, she might be a pre-med student at a neighboring university but I am way better than she is. And it still baffles me what he's seen in her.

Two months ago, I bumped into them at the mall – okay, that was a lie. I knew they would be there thanks to Facebook. And that was a really bad idea because it hurt like hell seeing them holding hands that all I wanted to do was to punch them in the throat while telling them that they should die for hurting me this much.

But I didn't do that. Instead, I pretended as if I was okay. As if it wasn't killing me. And that's when I realized I needed a new man. And this was where Kiba entered the picture. He was a great guy but I wasn't happy. I wasn't contented. I broke it off about a month later because he wasn't who I wanted to be with. I wanted to be with Sasuke.

And I still do. Yes, he left me for another woman; yes, he made me unhappy; and yes, he destroyed me. But I feel like not fighting for this is throwing away the five years we had together. Five years of mostly happiness and feeling loved.

I stare at my cellphone, his number on the screen. All I have to do is press the green button to call him – to ask to come back; to have him in my life once again. After a couple of inhales and exhales, I press the green button, still unhesitating.

A few rings later, he answers. More worried than surprised.

Ino?

I'm wavering. "Yeah."

Is there something you want?

"Mmhm."

He keeps silent, waiting for me to continue.

"I need to talk to you. Preferably in person."

There's a pause then he speaks, sounding very unsure. About what, Ino?

Then tears start falling from my eyes. I can't help it. This blows, I want to say how much I want him to come back to me but I have no idea how. "You know what, never mind."

I hang up, telling myself talking to him was never a good idea in the first place. Where's my vodka? I need it. To suppress this urge to break anything breakable in this house. I hate myself – I hate myself for not being able to say that I want him back. That I want him to love me again.

Along the third bottle, I've lost the count of how many vodka shots I've taken. But I can tell it's one too many. Before taking in another shot, I find myself hearing a couple loathsome knocks. I can barely stand up to open the main door but I still do. I open the door and see him. It's Sasuke, I think. My judgment is weak, considering the fact that I've been drinking since I hung up on him...which was three hours ago.

"S-Sasuke?"

Before he retorts, he enters my house, almost forcibly. He scans his surrounding and sees the opened bottles of alcohol and a couple of shot glasses. He turns to me with the hint of angst and worry. "How much have you drank!"

"T-That's obviously an angry statement, not a question." I look at him and it burns – I miss him. This moment all I want to do is run to him and hug him as tight as I can...but I can't. "W-What are you d-doing here?"

"You called my phone and then suddenly hung up!" Apparently, he's worried of me. "I tried to ignore it and a few hours later, I couldn't sleep because I was scared that something had happened to you!" His expression tells me that he still cares. "So I came to make sure you're..."

I don't know how to say it but what the hell. "I called to say I want you back." After this conversation, I will never be able to look at him in the eyes. "To tell you that I haven't moved on...to tell you how much hurt you've put me through but I still love you."

"The last few months we were together was hell for both of us." Sasuke knew that, so did I. "All we did was fight about the most trivial things," Sasuke points out and he doesn't have to since I remember. "If I come back to you, it's not going to work out."

And then the question I've been wanting to ask since the breakup flies out of my mouth. "You don't love me anymore?"

In a heartbeat he says, "I will love you. Always."

I know the statement doesn't end there. "But?"

"I don't want to hurt you anymore; I don't want us to hurt each other anymore." He's so sincere that he's making it so hard for me to completely let go. "I promised myself that the breakup was the last time you'd cry because of me." He walks towards me and tightly wraps his arms around me. "I miss you so much that there's not a day ever since the breakup I didn't think of showing up at your doorsteps, asking you to come back to me."

Hearing him like the this, my tears start streaming and they are unstoppable. "You're lying."

"I wish I were," he whispers so sadly. "Cause then moving on would have been easier for me."

He's lying cause Sakura wouldn't have been in the picture if he isn't. I push him away from me. "But you've moved on – right after we broke up I might add! Does Sakura Haruno, third year pre-med at the university couple blocks from ours, ring a bell?"

"I was hoping if I entered in a relationship right away, I would be able to move on from you!" Once he calms down, he sighs. "But that wasn't the case. She and I split up right before I came here. She was with me when you called and she saw how worried I was because you just suddenly hung up. She said if I chose to come here then it'd be over for both of us."

I'm shocked, so shocked that tears stop from falling. "...What?"

"Our breakup – it was as painful to me as it was to you. I decided to break it off when I was out of the country because I knew I wouldn't be able to do it if I was in front of you...I understand how unmanly that was but it was the only way I could ever let you go."

Thinking about it now, I've just realized that this is the first time he's talked to me since we broke up. We had no communications for three months except for my fake Facebook account. No texts, no calls, no anything. "So we can't get back together because you don't want us to hurt each other anymore? Are we going to be total strangers then because we both know we can't be friends." I gulp as I feel my inside burns – we don't know what each other's place in our lives. "Exes who still love each other can never be friends."

That makes perfect sense. If we were friends and started dating other people, we would be aware of it and it would just be downright painful. Say that's okay or whatever the hell you want but time doesn't heal all wounds. Some wounds just stay there forever and you can't really anything about it.

"Think about it, Ino," he begins as I suddenly become more nervous about what he's going to say. "If we became together again and it was just as the same as the last few months we were together, the good memories we had together would be outshone by all the tiresome fights and arguments that we're bound to have."

The last four months we were together were emotional agony for both of us. We could hardly stand each other and small misunderstandings became huge fights that we'd said some things to each other that we still regret to this day. And when it's given some thoughts, bad memories do outdo good memories because realistically-speaking, bad always dominates. Bad memories are harder to forget and easier to remember.

Extending my arm, I offer my hand to him, forcing to smile at. "So strangers?"

Who would have thought that is by far the most hurtful gesture I've done my whole life? Asking the only man you've ever loved to be a nobody in your life. I would take slitting my wrist repeatedly over this.

Uneasy, he takes my hand and breaths out as his eyes start to water. He's crying and it's heartbreaking. "Strangers."

Nine years have passed and we meet again. Plain accident but we've always known it's going to happen eventually. And it took nine years for such thing to happen. Moving about three-thousand miles had most definitely helped.

I had moved to another city about eight years ago, after I graduated college and is back in town for a high school teacher's funeral.

Our senior homeroom teacher, Asuma. Sasuke and I had him so here it is in front me. In the flesh. He doesn't look too different from before.

I've taken the liberty to greet him first. "Hey."

"You remember me," he replies almost positively. "I'm glad."

"I remember you." I insert a sad smile. "How can I not? You used to be my whole world."

A/N: It is a tradition to post something on my birthday, usually a one-shot. So here it is cause it's my birthday and forgimme that Sasuke's kinda out of character. This seems just a similar idea to my other story 'Reconstruction' (or not really), you know it's about a breakup. Although, this seems more realistic take because most breakups don't end good like it did in 'Reconstruction'. I think those who got their heartbroken need no explanations as they already understand.

Have a nice day, you all. And please review. I'd like to know what you think of it. The good and the bad.