Author's Note: Please review. I would really like to improve as a writer, and your reviews would help me out a lot...
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Sakura had avoided Sasuke as much as she could throughout his stay, however, it was harder to avoid his teammates, who were far more persistent.
"Sakura-san, do you need help carrying your groceries?" inquired Juugo politely.
"Oh, it's alright," laughed Sakura.
"That pile of shit is bigger than you," snickered Suigetsu.
"Shut up," growled Sakura, "or I will drop these groceries and punch you back to that tank where you came from."
"I am Aquaman. You have pink hair. My white hair and Aquaman powers nullify your Superman powers and pink hair," said Suigetsu, childishly sticking his tongue out at Sakura, who was fuming with anger. Oh, how she wished to punch him.
Dear Diary,
Life couldn't be any better. Notice the emphasis on the last word of that sentence. HE has invaded my life, without even asking if I was okay with his sudden appearance! That impertinent, impudent, jerk-faced, UGLY (I will NOT admit he's good-looking, because that will lead me back into fan-girling), cruel, egotistical, Uchiha! At least he brought a few teammates…I like Suigetsu and Juugo, but Karin? If I weren't trying to emit an air of kindness when I do see him, I would've kicked her into outer space and back.
He brought them back as if to shove it in our faces that he's replaced us. I'm done with him. DONE. Gaara is so kind. He's been so understanding about my feelings on the topic of HIM. Gaara and I don't talk about him much though, because 1) I don't like bogging him down with my "horrible" past and 2) Gaara seems to inwardly fume whenever I mention him. Anyone else sensing a bit of jealousy? Anyway, I'll write later!
Sakura, Ino, and Hinata met at Sakura's apartment to view a few Korean romantic comedies and more British romances. In their opinion, those two different nationalities had the best sorts of romance stories. In the middle of, "She's on Duty," when No Young and Jane were kissing outside their apartments and all three were, "aw,"ing, Sakura heard her doorbell vaguely ringing. Then an impatient knock.
Sighing frustratedly, Sakura went to the door, unlocking it and opening it. There stood Sasuke Uchiha, staring at her expectantly. Sakura was about to slam the door in his face when he pushed it back open.
"I see you have guests." A smirk played on his lips. Sakura, unbeknownst to the raven-haired avenger, was itching to wipe that smirk right off his face. Forever.
"Yeah, I do. Now will you please leave?" she retorted.
"Not until I talk to you."
"Well then, you can talk to me in hell. Out." She shoved him out of her apartment, but once again, getting him to leave proved troublesome. No, I'm becoming Shikamaru! thought Sakura, concentrating once more on the matter at hand.
"The thing is, problems don't get resolved in hell," Sasuke pointed out, leaning on the doorframe with his foot on the bottom of her door to keep her from closing it.
"While I'd love to stay and chat, I really want to see how this movie ends," Sakura scowled, eyes glancing over at the television.
"What movie?"
"Like I said, leave."
"I'll only leave if you meet me at the old training grounds in forty-five minutes." Sakura hated his persistence. She didn't want to have any awkward conversations with him. She didn't want to hear him apologize. And her last, most important reason was that she didn't want to risk falling for him again. She had an affectionate, kind boyfriend. She didn't need scum like Sasuke back in her life.
"Fine," growled Sakura. Smug that he'd won the battle, he left. Sakura shut the door behind him. He may have won the battle, but she would win the war. She returned to her place next to Ino, and continued to watch the movie, immersing herself in it as to forget that Sasuke ever visited or existed, for that matter. When the movie finished, Sakura checked the clock. She would have to meet Sasuke in a matter of minutes. "I gotta go," she told Ino and Hinata apologetically.
"And meet Sasuke-kun," Ino mocked Sakura. "Make sure you hold your ground!"
"Right," nodded Sakura, leaving her apartment after bidding her friends farewell. She strolled to the training grounds at a leisurely pace, feeling a sense of foreboding with each step she took. If only she could run away from this engagement…She breathed a heavy sigh. She was going to have to listen to what he had to say, or she'd never hear the end of it from Naruto about rejecting Sasuke's attempts at reconciliation. She noticed Sasuke standing on the bridge, leaning over and staring down at the stream below. It was such a nostalgic sight that Sakura half-expected Naruto to yell,
"You're late!" And Kakashi to appear out of nowhere. However, neither of these events occurred, much to Sakura's disappointment.
"Hey," she greeted him nervously. He looked up at her and nodded, translating to, "hey." "Sasuke, what did you want to see me for?"
"Is it so wrong to ask a teammate to hang out?" inquired Sasuke flatly. Sakura slapped her forehead.
"Let's just get straight to the point. Why did you call me out here?"
"You think I want to fight?" Sasuke's eyebrows were raised. "I asked you to come here because I wanted to see how you were doing."
"A bit talkative today, aren't you?" observed Sakura, leaning over the bridge next to him, a safe distance of three feet away from him.
"Hn." Sasuke sighed. "Look, I'm sorry-"
"I can't listen to this," Sakura told him, standing up straight, "not now."
"Then when will you?"
"When I decide to let you talk to me again. When I decide that you're worth keeping around," retorted Sakura. She was about to turn away when Sasuke grabbed her wrist.
"So you think I'm not worth your time?"
"Not right now." Sasuke let her go, watching as she walked away. His mouth set into a grimace. She always had been annoying.
"I don't know what to do," Sakura admitted to Gaara, who was watching her with a bored expression.
"Sakura, frankly, I'm growing tired of giving you advice about what to do about Sasuke. Call me when you want to do something that doesn't involve him," Gaara drawled out, standing and exiting the hospital cafeteria. Sakura ran a hand through her hair, biting her lip. Sakura had listened to him talk about his apprentice, Matsuri half the time they had been eating together. Why had he suddenly become so cruel when she started talking about her issues with Sasuke? He of all people knew that she had given up on him. Sakura realized that she was now thinking using his name. That was a step backwards in her campaign to forget him and move on.
When Sakura went to visit Hinata, who'd called her in the middle of her shift, she wasn't expecting Hinata to be beaming with happiness, or Naruto to have his arm around Hinata's shoulder, grinning. She wasn't expecting the whole, rookie twelve to be there, either.
"What's going on?" Sakura asked Hinata, excited.
"Naruto and I are engaged!" exclaimed Hinata, hopping in place and giggling. Naruto watched his fianceé with a tender expression.
"How did you get Hyuuga Hiashi-san to agree to it?" inquired Sakura.
"I attended a lot of dinner parties and was on my best behavior. It was all worth it," Naruto told her with a happy grin. Sakura bounced around along with Hinata, genuinely happy for her friends. Then she felt a pair of eyes glued to her back. She turned and saw Sasuke conversing with TenTen. How odd. Sasuke and TenTen had never been close before. Maybe they were flirting! TenTen did go for quiet, prodigal ninjas after all. What about Neji? Sakura's thoughts went into overdrive.
She quieted her thoughts, assuring herself that she wasn't jealous, nor was Sasuke flirting with TenTen. They were simply talking, that was all. Considerably calmer, Sakura found Gaara in the crowd of well-wishers. However, Gaara's expression was far from pleased when their eyes met. Sakura was confused. What reason did he have to loathe her? She approached him.
"Gaa-chan, what's wrong?"
"Don't call me that," growled Gaara, "I'm sick of this." Sakura raised her eyebrows.
"Why?"
"Because Matsuri's ten times better than you will ever be, bitch." Sakura lost her cool when Matsuri sneered at her, glued to Gaara's arm. She kicked Gaara to the floor and smirked down at him.
"If I'm a bitch, that makes you a manwhore," countered Sakura, kicking Gaara in the area where it hurts. He howled in pain as she turned on her heel and left him at the mercy of the amused partygoers. Sakura pushed past person after person, biting her lip to stop the tears from brimming in her eyes. She had actually been foolish enough to believe that Gaara actually cared.
Dear diary,
I am giving up men. They are far too troublesome to keep around, and when they say they care, they really don't. I am GLAD to be rid of Gaara, because it's taught me a lesson: All the men who're interested in me are liars. After all, at least HE was honest about what he thought of me. They all must be after me because of my reputation as Tsunade's apprentice, intent on using me for their own gains. I've had it up to here with men! Hinata was lucky. Naruto's a good guy. Ino's lucky. Sai is a gentleman, even though he fails to understand any social concepts. Temari's lucky. She has a genius boyfriend by the name of Shikamaru, the nicest guy ever. TenTen's lucky. She has Neji, a funny, sarcastic, understanding boyfriend. Me? I'm unlucky. I've had an unrequited love and a love that I thought was working. God, I'm such an idiot.
PS- Send another suitor my way, fate, and I WILL MURDER YOU WITH A FREAKING AXE! :3
Sakura slammed her diary shut, falling onto her bed. She was angry. So angry that she could wipe out an entire forest. With that idea in mind, she dressed and went out to the training grounds, determined to unleash all of her anger on the unfortunate foliage. She yelled as she punched straight through a tree, causing several trees to fall in a domino effect. Panting, she realized that her knuckles were bloody. She paid no heed to the pain, choosing to kick straight through boulders, use a chakra scalpel to slice through branches, flip into the air by use of the trees, and continue to destroy the wildlife of the area.
"And you say that I'm training-obsessed." Sakura whirled around to face - Big surprise - Sasuke.
"No, I'm just angry," replied Sakura in a sugar-coated voice, "Now will you leave me alone? Or I'll object you to my wrath as well."
"Try me." Sakura charged towards him, sidestepping when he aimed a kick to her face and kicking his leg out from underneath him. He backflipped, skidding backwards.
"You've improved a bit, Sakura." Sakura looked at him. She couldn't train with him. It didn't feel…right. Finally submitting to her exhaustion, she yawned. Sasuke approached her, lifting her into his arms.
"Wait, what the-" began Sakura.
"Shut it," interjected Sasuke, his cheeks pink. Sakura smiled at his change in complexion. He let her down at her apartment door.
"You're getting back into my good graces. But you're not at the point where I'll let you apologize," Sakura told him. Sasuke looked away, ignoring her statement. He walked away, hands stuffed in his pockets. Sakura watched him go, seeing the younger version of him in his place for a split second. She shook her head. No, he wasn't the same person she'd fallen in love with as a child.