I have to say, this chapter hates me. I've had to rewrite parts of this story three or four times. And it seems that it the parts with Sakura that I have to rewrite the most. Maybe I'm trying to capture her personality better ((even though I think she's still a little OOC in this)). I'm not really very satisfied with this, but I think it's the best that I am capable of doing. I was thinking about putting off my update for another week, but I feel like I've already had to make people wait long enough for this.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If it were mine, I wouldn't have thought of the cool hitai-ate or the symbols… or the villages… You know what I think it's in its rightful place XD ha.
Warning: One-sided Boy Love, language and much drama. For the ones whom find this sort of thing to be "not their style," exits are indicated with glowing lights along the floor. Thank you for flying with us :smiles and waves: XD.
Sasuke had tried to contact Naruto over the rest of the weekend, but that was really hard considering he was working all Sunday and did not have much of a chance to call the blonde. The raven really wanted to know how he was doing, but try as he might, Naruto would not answer a single phone call the raven made to him. He had even gone to his house to pick him up for school, but his father told him that Naruto had already left.
Sasuke sighed as he made his way up the stairs that lead to the second level of Thomas Jefferson high school. He hoped that he would see Naruto in homeroom, and since the students were put into homeroom alphabetically by their last names that meant that they were in the same homeroom. He opened the dull green doors and walked down the hallway. He stopped at his locker to replace the binders he had in his bag with the ones in his locker. He closed his locker and slowly made his way toward his homeroom. He was surprised to find a familiar head of bright blonde hair sitting in its regular seat. A small smile slowly crept onto his face.
"Naruto." Sasuke said as he walked up to the blonde. He placed his bag on the desk beside the one the blonde was sitting in and sat down next to him. "Hey, man, what's up? I tried to call you yesterday, but you didn't answer—" Sasuke cut himself off there when he saw the sad look on his friend's face. "Naruto?" he asked slowly.
"It's official. They're getting a divorce." Naruto said sullenly as he hide his head in his folded arms that rested on his desk. "And my mom already moved out." Sasuke knew of what he spoke and gave his friend a look of sympathy.
"You okay?" Sasuke asked as he let his head rest on his hands.
"Not really." Naruto said honestly. He looked up at his friend and tried to put on a smile, but Sasuke could see it was completely forced. "My parents forced me to talk with them about it and they decided that it would be the best thing for all of us." Naruto practically spat out the last part of his statement and then grumbled as he tried to hide his face in his arms once again.
"Naruto." Sasuke said softly as he sat up straight in his chair. Naruto seemed to have not heard his friend at all though.
"And the worse part is that my mom is moving in with… that guy." Naruto paused to give his friend an annoyed look. "And she wants me to meet him."
"That's a little cruel. Especially after everything that's happened."
"Tell me about it." Naruto let out a loud groan and stretched his arms out in front of him. "I don't want to meet him, Sasuke!" the blonde whined. Sasuke rolled his eyes at his friend's childish mannerisms.
"Naruto, you do realize that you're going to be eighteen soon. Don't be such a child. You know you can decide for yourself if you want to meet or not." Naruto's expression turned to that of anger.
"I do want to see that son of a bitch, though. I really want him to feel bad for breaking up my family and putting us through such hell." The blonde paused for a moment. "I want him to be miserable."
"Revenge won't solve anything(1)."
"It'd make me feel better, though."
"All right. Let's make a compromise. Meet the guy and if afterwards you still think he deserves it, we'll both kill him. Sound good?" Naruto let a laugh escape from his lips and he gave his friend a smile.
"Thanks, Sasuke."
"Anytime." Sasuke returned the smile. There was a short silence, but then a thought struck the raven. "Hey, did you ever patch things over with Sakura?"
"I tried, but she's still angry at me." Naruto sighed and sat up, no longer feeling like he needed to hide his face. "She eventually stopped answering my calls and I eventually stop trying to call her after that. I decided to ask Ino if she would talk to her, but Ino said that I shouldn't waste my time trying to fix things with Sakura."
"Why would she say something like that? Aren't Sakura and Ino best friends?" Sasuke gave a look of pure confusion. Naruto was about as confused on the matter as his best friend.
"That's what I thought. Maybe they had a fight or something. I don't know. Girls are too complicated. Why do they have to be so bi-polar all the time?" Sasuke laughed at his friend's comment and nodded in agreement. Then, as if on cue, Sakura made her way into the boys' homeroom. The homeroom teacher stopped her before she could get very far into the classroom though.
"Miss Haruno, the bell will be ringing soon. You should be in your own homeroom now, or you'll be marked tardy." He warned the pink-haired girl. When Sasuke and Naruto heard the familiar last name, they both turned around to see if it really was Sakura.
"I know. I'll only be a minute." Sakura gave the teacher a sweet smile that made him flush. He let her do as she pleased and Sakura came running over to Naruto. "Naruto!" She said as she hugged the blonde tightly. "Confused" would not cover the complete feeling that Naruto felt at the moment, but he was a little too preoccupied to think of a better word for it. "I'm sorry, baby. I overreacted the other day. Forgive me!" Sakura whined as she snuggled her head into the blonde's back. Naruto gave her a surprised look, but then smiled at his girlfriend.
"Ah… sure, Sakura." The pink-haired girl gave the blonde a small peck on his tanned cheek and then let him go.
"I gotta go now, love. See ya after school."
Sakura smiled at Naruto and glanced momentarily at Sasuke who was ignoring the whole situation. She smiled and rushed out of the classroom. As the two boys sat there in bewilderment, Sakura ran down the stairs and headed toward the room where TJTV, the school's morning show that featured students reading off announcements for the day and the rest of the week as well, was filmed. She was always down there since she was an announcer, but she was not always doing the announcements. Sakura saw it as a way of avoiding spending a boring fifteen minutes in homeroom. Besides, Ino was always down in the TJTV room as well.
"Hey, Ino-pig." Sakura said with a mocking tone. "How are thin—" Before she could continue on, Sakura was then cut off by the blonde.
"I can't believe what you're doing to Naruto." Ino said not looking up from her computer screen. She was currently working a few graphics that would be seen right before TJTV started. "It's just cruel to play him like that."
Sakura looked wide-eyed at the blonde girl sitting before a computer, which the glow from the monitor made Ino's back look more like a silhouette of her body rather than it was actually her. "Wh… What?" Sakura asked as she stood frozen in her spot. The pink-haired girl's body began to shake and she could feel her heartbeat increasing with her fear and anxiety. "I'm doing nothing of the sort."
"Don't lie to me." Ino said forcefully as she continued to stare at the computer screen. The blonde's hands had stopped moving and were clenched tightly as she placed them at both ends of the keyboard, which was placed in front of the monitor. "I over heard you talking to that group of girls at the mall on Saturday. I was about to go up and ask you why you weren't with Naruto when I heard you say, and I quote, 'It's not like I really like him. I mean, I'm going to dump him soon anyway. Besides, I still like Sasuke.'"
Sakura's expression became completely and utterly shocked as she heard those words come from her best friend's mouth. She was sure that no one she knew was around when she had say that. Sakura remembered that after she had hung up on Naruto, she had decided to look around the mall on her own for a while, but had run into a group of close acquaintances of hers. They did not think very highly of Naruto and the pink-haired girl had accidentally revealed that she was not in love with Naruto and that she did still like Sasuke. Not that she had meant to, but the annoying girls were bugging her to no end on why she continued to date the blonde-haired boy.
"It's wrong!" She said forcefully. "It's wrong to lead him on like this." Ino finally stopped what she was doing completely and turned to face Sakura. The bell for homeroom rang loudly throughout the school. The two girls glared at each other and the sound of the Pledge of Allegiance could be heard. No one in the TJTV had to stand and place their hands over their hearts during this time, because no one was ever around to force them to do it.
"I don't think it's any of your business what I do to Naruto." Sakura narrowed her emerald eyes at the blonde. She knew that Ino would not believe her if she tried to lie about it and that the blonde would only bitch and complain more if she tried to avoid the subject. A student standing by the door that separated the TJTV computer lab and the actual set of TJTV set quietly scolded them to be quiet. After silently nodding to the student they returned to glaring at each other.
"Naruto is my friend too." Ino said in a hushed voice. "And I'll be damned if I let you hurt and use him." Sakura began to panic. If Ino would tell Naruto, then he would surely dump her. And for some reason, even though the pink-haired girl had told herself and those girls at the mall that she was not in love with Naruto, she did not want to break up with him. She quickly tried to turn the tables on Ino.
"Are you… Are you jealous?" She asked after noticing how protective Ino had become of the blonde boy. "You are, aren't you? Oh won't it be funny to see the look on his face when he hears that little Ino has a crush on him." Sakura laughed softly as she stared at the blonde girl in front of her. Ino blushed, but thanked some greater power that it was dark in the room so that Sakura could not see it. Her light blue eyes narrowed into thin slits and she growled under her breath.
"I'm going to tell him what you're doing."
Sakura had to think quickly. She had to think of something to say to stop Ino from telling Naruto anything. Sakura thanked God that she was as smart as she was, for she was able to think up something very quickly. "And you think he'll believe you. I control that boy. I can just twist your words so that he'll think that you're simply trying to steal him away from me." Ino's glare was filled with hate for the girl standing before her. "So go ahead and try. I'll enjoy the competition." Sakura then walked away from the blonde and stood by the window in the wall that divided the computer lab and the set.
Sakura herself was surprised at the cruel words that escaped from her mouth. She hadn't meant to sound so cruel, but she needed to say something in order to stop Ino from telling her boyfriend what she had said. The pink-haired cursed at herself for having ever said those things about the blonde-haired boy. She didn't mean to say them, but at the time she did not want those girls to mock her because of Naruto.
Ino continued to glare at the pink-haired girl. Her elegant hands were clenched tightly into fists. Her manicured nails were digging into her skin.
"He deserves so much more than you." Ino whispered to herself. She decided that she would have to wait until after school to tell Naruto about Sakura's horrible scheme. Hopefully she could get to him before Sakura did.
The last bell of the day rang. The students of Thomas Jefferson ran through the halls, thankful that the horrid Monday was finally over and done with and that they could go home. Naruto made his way to his locker and saw Sasuke already at his. He sighed as he leaned against the dull green locker beside his friend's.
"I don't want to go home." Naruto whined as he ran his fingers through his unruly hair. "My mom is going to pick me up and take me to meet that… guy."
"I'm sure it won't be too bad." Sasuke said as he closed his locker and gave his friend a small smile. Before the blonde could respond to the raven's kind statement Sakura came up behind Naruto and attached herself onto him. The action almost caused Naruto to fall into Sasuke but luckily he was able to stop himself before that happened.
"Naruto!" Sakura almost sung. She gave the blonde a smile as he turned around to face his girlfriend.
"Sakura." He said in an unenthusiastic tone. "You've got to stop doing that. One of these days I'll fall."
"I keep telling you, Naruto. I'll fix you up if you get hurt." She then made circles with her index finger on the blonde's chest. Before Naruto could reply, Ino stopped a few feet in front of the group and stared wide eyed at them.
"Oh, hey Ino!" Naruto called out to her with a smile. Ino was somewhat revealed to her his voice and see his smile. She knew that Sakura had not had a chance yet to screw with the blonde boy's head. Sakura stared wide-eyed at her best friend. She had to stop Naruto from listening to Ino. She then moved her gaze from the blonde girl and then turned back to Naruto as she thought of what had happened in the morning.
"Naruto. I wouldn't do that if I were you. You'll give her the wrong idea." Sakura said to her boyfriend in a loud enough tone so that everyone in a mile radius could hear her. Both Sasuke and Naruto gave the pink-haired girl a look of confusion. Ino froze in place. She knew what Sakura was going to do and she needed to stop it.
"Naruto! Don't listen to her!" She shouted as she walked closer to the couple. Sasuke saw Sakura smirk and he immediately knew that she was up to something.
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked after glancing up at Ino once more.
"Ino's in love with you, Naruto. You'll make her think she has a chance." Ino held out her hand about to grab onto Naruto shirt but froze in place when Sakura said those intentionally cruel words. Ino's pale blue eyes glance down at the ground: they were as wide as they could possibly be. Her body began to shake as Naruto's gaze turned back to her. She could not handle his stare. She glanced up at the blonde-haired boy only to run away from the group a mere second later. As she passed Sasuke, he could see the tears in her eyes.
"Ino!" The pale boy called after her as he ran to catch up with the blonde girl.
"Ino! Wait!" Naruto called as well. He had full intent to run after her as well, but Sakura grabbed tightly onto her arm.
"Let her go, Naruto." She said forcefully. "I don't want you giving her the wrong impression. You're my boyfriend!" Sakura said those words with some real emotion behind them. She surprised herself once she had finished speaking them. It was very confusing as to why Sakura did not want to give Naruto up.
"But Sakura—"
"'But Sakura' nothing!!" Sakura shouted as her grip tightened. "You love me don't you?! I don't want you to be taken away from me!!" Sakura was indeed a very good actress, if her being cast in lead rolls in the past four plays and musical said anything. Naruto fell for her fake tears like a ton of bricks. Sakura smirked as she buried her head into the tan boy's chest.
"Sakura. You know I do. But she's your friend. You should apologize to her."
"I… I will, Naruto." Sakura then ran in the direction that Ino and Sasuke had run off in. Naruto then realized that Sasuke, who was his ride home, had left and that he did not know where he went or when the Uchiha would be coming back. He then realized that he his only other option for transportation, which happened to be the school bus, was going to be leaving any second now.
"Shit! I gotta catch the bus then!" The blonde then ran down two flights of stairs and out the back door and was thankful that he just made it to his bus. He had not taken it all year so he was very glad that it was still at the same stop as it had been last year. As he took his seat on the big, yellow bus he hoped that everything would be sorted out with Ino. He took a mental note to call her after he got back home from visiting his mom and that guy she was with.
"Ino! Stop!!" Sasuke shouted as he grabbed onto her wrist. The athletic girl had run all the way to the Auxiliary Gym on the first floor and did not seem the least bit tired. Sasuke on the other hand was breathing a little harder than normal. Ino was lucky that she was on the soccer team. It helped her keep in shape and made her able to run without being exhausted afterward.
"…" The blonde-haired girl kept silent as she stood in place. She did not know what to say. Part of her had wished that Naruto had run after her, but Sakura has been right. Naruto was wrapped around her finger. She clenched her fists tightly.
"Why did you run off? Was Sakura telling the truth?" Sasuke asked as he still tried to return his breathing to normal.
"…" Ino let her head droop down slightly and her shoulder shook. "Yes. It's true." She paused; her voice was shaky and Sasuke knew that she must have been softly crying at this point. "I like him. I really like him."
Sasuke was shocked to hear those words come from the blonde girl. Ino turned around to look Sasuke in the eye and the pale boy let go of her thin wrist. Tears were streaming down from her pale blue eyes onto her cheeks. "But… I thought you like Shikamaru." Sasuke stated slowly.
"Shikamaru is my best friend. So I was a little concerned when Temari started liking him… but that was only because I know him and she didn't seem like his type." Ino paused to wipe the tears away from her eyes. "I really like Naruto. That's why I wanted to talk to him before Sakura could." Sasuke did not understand why that was important, but he felt that he was about to find out something very important.
"Why did you need to talk to him?"
"Because… Because Sakura's playing him!" Ino blurted out. Sasuke's dark eyes became wide with shock. "And he deserved to know. I needed to tell him before Sakura could have a chance to say something like that to him, because now… now he won't… he won't believe me." Ino began to sob again.
Sasuke put his pale hands on Ino's shoulders to comfort her. "Ino, how is Sakura playing Naruto?" The blonde-haired girl looked up at him with her light blue eyes.
"She… She's trying to get to you by dating him." Ino said slowly. Sasuke's dark eyes showed his obvious surprise. He had known that Sakura had liked him at one point, but he thought that those days were over. Itachi suspicions of the girl seemed to have more proof behind them than Sasuke had realized.
"Me?" Sasuke asked in shock.
"Yes. She wants you. And she doesn't care if Naruto gets hurt in the process. She just wants to have you all to herself!" Ino sniffled and wiped her eyes once again. "You should talk to him, Sasuke. He'll believe you."
"He would believe you too. You're his friend as well, Ino."
"Not after that act that Sakura pulled on him. He'll never believe me now. Sakura's already twisted his mind to believe that I would say something like that to make him like me. That bitch."
"That's not nice to say about your friend, Ino-pig." Sakura said as she walked into the Auxiliary Gym. She slowly made her way toward the center of the gym to where Sasuke and Ino stood. The blonde did not look the girl in front of her in the eyes. She chose to look at the ground and avoid eye contact; Sasuke glared at her through the thin slits that his dark eyes were narrowed into. "Oh Sasuke. That's such a cold stare. Please don't tell me that you believe her lies?" Sakura said in an overly sweet voice.
"I do. She's telling the truth." He snapped.
Sakura flinched slightly at his harsh tone, but recovered quickly. She looked at the pale boy with a determined expression and rubbed her shoulder with her small hand. Sakura knew Sasuke was too smart and too loyal to Naruto to ever believe a single word that she could think of to say to him. She sighed and frowned at Sasuke. "You have to believe me when I say I don't want to hurt Naruto."
"Why should I?"
"Cause it's the truth!" Sakura shouted as she let both of her hands drop to her sides.
"How can I believe that when I know that you're going to hurt my best friend because you still like me?"
"…" The pink-haired girl paused when she heard those words soaked with hatred coming from Sasuke's thin mouth. She had hoped that she would have found the two of them before Ino had a chance to tell Sasuke about that. "Sasuke… It's not like that. You have to believe me. I would never hurt Naruto. I really do like him." Sakura said in a pleading tone. Sakura continued to walk closer to the two until she was standing right next to them. She reached out her hand to touch Sasuke's arm, but he quickly smacked it away from him.
"Don't touch me. You make me sick." If looks could kill, Sakura would have been incinerated that very moment and then slowly skinned alive until she was dead. Sakura stood there dumbfounded for a moment.
Sasuke then began to lead Ino away from the pink-haired girl. Ino then grabbed onto the pale boy's hand that was still on her shoulder.
"Thank you." She whispered to him. He nodded to her and continued to walk away from Sakura.
"Wait! You two haven't won yet! Naruto will still believe me! He loves me! I can't manipulate him to do anything for me! I could tell him that you two are plotting to get me away from him and he'll hate you both soon!!" Sasuke then stopped dead in his tracks. Ino looked up at him in confusion. Sakura was a bit surprised at her desperation as well, but the pink-haired girl was stubborn and she did not want to lose this battle, sort to speak, or Naruto.
"Stay here." He said quietly to Ino.
He then slowly walked over to Sakura and she had a triumphant smile on her face. That is until Sasuke punched her right on her left cheek. The raven put so much force behind his punch that Sakura was actually sent flying a few feet back before she landed on the ground. Sakura slowly sat up and held her left cheek tenderly with her hand. She looked up at Sasuke in horror as he walked closer to her. Her whole body began to quiver in fear that she would be hit again.
"Stay away from him." Sasuke warned the pink-haired girl. Sakura could have sworn she saw his dark eyes turn red for a moment. Sasuke was about to walk away when the door swung open again. The gym teacher came through the door and saw Sasuke with a clenched fist and Sakura on the floor, almost in tears.
"What happened here?!" he shouted at Sasuke.
"He… He punched me in the face!" Sakura yelled as she ran up to the gym teacher in tears. "He was jealous that I was dating his best friend instead of him and when I told him that I didn't want to date him, he became crazy and hit me."
"That a god damn lie!" Ino shouted as she ran up to the others.
"Watch your language, Miss Yamanaka!" the teacher shouted. "Mr. Uchiha, come with me to the principal's office. Miss Haruno, Miss Yamanaka, you two come as well." The teacher then pulled Sasuke by his wrist gently and pushed him in the direction of the door slightly. Sasuke looked back at Sakura who was smirking viciously behind the teacher. Ino also glared at Sakura as her fists hung at her sides. The four made their way to the main office and then the teacher made Sakura and Sasuke go into the principal's office first. Ino stayed behind.
"What's going on?" The principal asked as the gym teacher made Sakura and Sasuke sit down in the two empty chairs before the principal.
"It seems that Mr. Uchiha hit Miss Haruno." The principal's expression turned from annoyed to surprised. He then glared at the Uchiha boy.
"Is this true?" he asked.
"…" Sasuke did not answer at first. He was too angry at everything that had happened. "Yeah, but she really deserved it! She—"
"I don't care what she did. This is serious, Mr. Uchiha. I'm afraid that I'll have to suspend you from school for the rest of the week."
"But—!" Sasuke was cut off before he could reply.
"Do you want me to extend the suspension?!" Sasuke said nothing and the principal nodded. "Very well. You may leave." Sasuke then stormed out of the office, but Sakura lingered. She made sure to fake a sniffle and hold her very, very red cheek tenderly. "Are you all right, Miss Haruno?" he asked softly.
"I… I'm fine. Thank you." Sakura then exited the office, but did not let her act drop until she passed by Ino and Sasuke. She paused to look at them and she was chilled throughout her entire body when she saw the glares they gave her. She turned away from them and then quickly ran out of the main office and into the lobby. Sasuke and Ino glared at the door in which the pink-haired girl exited.
"I'm sorry about this whole thing, Sasuke." Ino said as her gaze returned to her feet. "You got suspended because I had to make such a big deal out of something she said."
"It's not your fault. Sakura deserved everything she got and more. I'm just glad that you showed me what she was up to." Sasuke gave the blonde a small smile, but as Ino stared up at him, she found it hard to return the smile. The gym teacher then came out of the principal's office and handed Ino a slip of paper.
"You'll be attending detention tomorrow and Thursday for cursing at a teacher, Miss Yamanaka." The gym teacher then left the main office and Ino stared down at the slip of paper. She crinkled it slightly as she held onto it a bit too tightly. Sasuke patted her shoulder.
"Do you need a ride home?" I know that Sakura usually drove you home." Ino nodded and then stood up from the chair she was sitting in. Sasuke took his cell phone out of his pocket and pushed a few button, attempting to call Naruto.
When no answer came, the raven glanced down at the phone with a concerned glance, but sighed and put his phone back into his pocket. He figured that Naruto was probably afraid that his mother was calling him and refused to answer or he still had his phone on mute, since students were not really allowed to have their cell phones in school (but most of them did anyways and just kept them on silent to fool the teachers).
"I guess he already went home." Sasuke mused mostly to himself. He had then realized that Ino was patiently waiting next to him for the sign to move and, with another sigh, he then lead her out of the main office and down to his car. The two both remained quiet the rest of the way, since both of them were so angry and for the fact that neither of them had really ever hung out before.
Though after this whole experience, they both thought that they would be seeing a lot more of each other.
(1) HYPOCRITE!! XD ha, ha. Sorry. Having Sasuke say that line is such irony. I'm good now.
Dun, dun, dun… Did anyone see the Sakura thing coming? She's a bit… confusing in this fic. I'm sorry Sakura and Sakura fans. I don't hate her much anymore. I like her a lot more than I used to and please do not take this fic in any way as Sakura Bashing. I'm not. Sakura is very important in this fic and all of her actions will be explained when the time comes. Forgive me Sakura! I'll make it up to you. You'll start having a super huge role in Nothing But Air!! Ha, ha… bribery XD.
And one-sided NaruIno. I guess the pairing isn't too crack. Well nevertheless, I think it's a cute pairing. Poor Naruto. Everyone's after you. Sakura, Sasuke, Itachi and now Ino. I feel for you XD ha, ha ((actually, I'm a little jealous)).
Yeah… I didn't get to Kushina's new lover like I said I would. This chapter was just going to be way too long with it in. Don't worry it will be in the next chapter. So I was thinking that I would write an oneshot for whomever can guess who her new lover. I had one of these contests in my last story, Give Me That Sunshine, and I wanted to do another one. Clue: He's a character in the Naruto series and he is older than Naruto. Have fun guessing :hearts:!!
