So, as I promised, here's the next consecutive chapter! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! :D

And a HUGE thankyou to all those who have reviewed/alerted/favourited! It means alot to me! I shall try to update as quickly as I can, but don't expect another speedy one for a while now! Sorry :(

The walk to school was probably the most eventful part of Sakura's day.

It figures that the most private, expensive school in town had to be built on the other side of town. Away from the expensive housing estate where most students of that school lived.

Her walk to school was even sometimes dangerous. The shortest route to the school just so happened to take a shortcut through the most derelict part of town. It took her past shady alleyways and seedy old men that lingered on street corners. She never liked going through that part of town. But she had no choice. It cut at least twenty minutes off her walk, so it had to be done.

Her parents were never around to drive her to school. And there wasn't a proper bus route. In the mornings, they were the early rising, late returning workaholics that barely noticed she was even there—sometimes. And now that her parents were on their much-needed vacation, she was left to fend for herself—not that she wasn't used to that.

Sakura had to conceal herself from the seedy, perverted men lurking at every corner. So Sakura wore her oversized grey hoodie. It was large enough to conceal her pink hair and her alluring schoolgirl uniform. She thanked God that the hoodie did its job. She even wore it in the summer, despite it getting so hot.

"Sakura-chan!"

Sakura turned around. It was Naruto. He was jogging toward her, hand waving above his head. And that same, huge smile plastered on his face. His cobalt eyes glittered mischievously—even in the crappy, gloomy weather.

Sakura actually smiled. The blonde's smile was incredibly infectious. Feeling all her inner turmoil melt away, she could not help but smile in return.

"Good morning, Naruto!" she said sweetly, giving her best friend a hug.

Naruto Uzumaki.

Sakura practically owed her life to this boy. Once Sasuke left, Naruto had—surprisingly—been the one most attentive toward her dilemma. Besides her best friend, Ino Yamanaka.

Naruto had been there for her once she could take no more. Back then, Ino had gone on a three-week cruise. She had mentioned she would be unreachable during that time. 'Tech-free Retreat', Ino had said before she left. Her parents were workaholics too, and had gone on vacation in order to de-stress their lives. Something like that.

Figures that she had left when everything turned to shit.

In short, Naruto was the only other person who had put up everything she dished out. The mood swings, the crying, the yelling, the depression, the hurt and the frustration. She knew Naruto never once minded. He had this little, secret crush on her that enabled her to say and do whatever she wanted. Naruto would take it all without protesting otherwise.

"You look pretty today," he commented cheesily, releasing her from the hug. Sakura punched him in the arm playfully. She knew that every time he said this, it meant that she somehow looked like shit.

"You're a dick," she teased, trying to suppress a grin. "And I do not look like shit!"

Naruto broke out into laughter. He held his hands up as if in surrender. "Okay, okay fine, whatever you say!"

Sakura hmphed and began to walk. Naruto trailed close by her side, shoving his hands into the tattered pockets of his grey slacks. She could not help but sigh exasperatedly at his attire. His shirt was never tucked in and was crinkled. His buttons were never done up all the way. And the back rim of his pant legs were a little too long, and hence became tattered from being dragged across the pavement.

"Nice shirt," Sakura teased. She tugged at his creased shirt.

"And what's wrong with my shirt?"

"It's disgusting."

"You're disgusting."

"You disgust me."

"Then my work here is done."

There was no use arguing. Naruto was Naruto. Cheeky, playful, sincere, lazy, messy and extremely kind. He was one of the friends from the average public school that she had kept around. They used to be neighbours when they were kids. But Naruto had moved away with his godfather, Jiraiya, when he was ten. He didn't return until five years later, about a year before Sasuke had left. The two met at the local corner shop, and had rekindled since then.

"How's being home alone?" Naruto asked as he craned his head left to right to check for oncoming traffic before the pair could cross the street.

"Fine," she said simply. The image of Sasuke flashing through her mind. Her eyes slowly drifted to the sidewalk. The inner turmoil had returned.

Her best friend was back. He was finally back.

So why wasn't she happy? Why, the answer was simple.

She hated him.

But not for leaving her.

For completely shutting himself out of her life. Erasing any and every tie between them. Making it as if he had never existed.

As if they had never existed.

She felt like she had been dumped.

Thrown away.

Discarded.

Pushed aside.

Ignored.

"Watch out!"

Sakura felt something grab her by the scruff of the neck. She was yanked backwards, hard. Then, the loud sounds of skidding tyres and honking horn of a huge semi-trailer pierced the air before fading away.

"Sakura, what the fuck was that?" Naruto was surprised at her lapse. Sakura was always an attentive person. Extremely aware of her surroundings, especially in this part of town. Never had he seen her so distant. Naruto did notice that she was a little quiet today. Not that she was completely quiet, but before she was almost road-kill, it dawned on him that she was paying absolutely no attention to him and what he was saying.

Naruto scowled at her.

"Sakura! Are you okay?" Naruto asked, putting his hand on her tiny shoulder. She didn't respond. "Sakura…? Hello?"

Sakura blinked.

"Why weren't you looking where you were going, Sakura-chan?" Naruto questioned again firmly. His scowl softened into worry.

Sakura's mind finally clicked back on track. "O-Oh, Naruto, sorry," she quipped, brushing his had aside and reaching back to fix her collar.

"You okay?" he asked, scanning her with his cobalt eyes.

She nodded. "I… I'm just a little tired, that's all," she lied, forcing a strained smile.

It was quiet.

Sasuke rose up from the couch. He hated sleeping on couches. For one thing, they were never large enough. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. It was just as quiet as it was when he had fallen asleep. He glanced across the room, through the foyer and into the kitchen. The huge clock on the wall above the wooden table depicted that it was near lunchtime.

Well, his stomach could have told him that.

Stretching his arms above his head, he waltzed into the kitchen. His stomach growled impatiently. He realized he hadn't eaten properly for days. He decided to cook himself some lunch. And a big one at that.

As he passed the front door, he noticed his belongings had been tossed by the front door. He felt a pang of annoyance, but dismissed it. He was going to stay here, no matter what Sakura said. There was no way he was going back.

A rumble of thunder gently, but purposely, rattled the house. Sasuke sighed. How long was this crappy weather going to keep going on? It had been raining ever since he had arrived back here.

Yes, it was wintertime, but the winters here—he remembers—were actually quite pleasant. It never got too cold to the point where it would be completely unbearable. It just got a little nippy outside during the day and no more than a shower or two. Mother Nature would then unleash all her fury during the night, when nobody was out. But now, she seemed utterly pissed, and was shitting all over the town—so to speak.

"Sa-kuraa!"

Said pinkette craned her neck. Ino was running up to her, hugging her books close to her chest. Her long, light blonde ponytail whipped gracefully behind her as she came to a halt in front of her. Those baby blue eyes were alight and sparkling, as they always did. The artificial light from the gloomy hallway shone against her skin, making her skin look soft and smooth to the touch. Sakura became jealous. Ino always looked good. And she knew it.

Ino was basically beautiful; there was no doubt about it. Boy after boy came and went, and she didn't seem to mind. She dated a lot of guys, but from what Ino had told Sakura, she had only "fucked a couple of guys".

But how many times, was the real question.

"Ack, when are you gonna cut off that ratty mane?" Ino teased, taking a strand of Sakura's long link hair in the tips of her fingers. She then let it drop, as if she were fingering spaghetti.

"Good to see you too, Ino-Pig," Sakura shot back.

"I was getting to that, Billboard-Brow!" she sneered, giving Sakura a little shove. "So, ready for class?"

"Fuck no," Sakura spat, not turning to look at Ino as she rummaged through her locker.

"What's the matter?" Ino asked, her voice taking on a serious tone—a real effort for her.

Sakura paused. For a moment, she was tempted to spill her guts. She wanted to tell Ino that Sasuke was finally back, that he had shown up at her door, that he had hugged her, and that he had fallen asleep on her couch.

That he came finally came back.

"Just tired," she grumbled. Ino just shrugged and the two headed off to class.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Class on a Monday was death.

All of her most hated subjects were on a Monday; Mathematics, Geography and English. All double periods. All torturous. Six whole fucking periods of absolute torture. For one thing, she was failing Math. Not failing it, just doing really badly. Linear Graphs and Quadratics were not her strongest point. Geography was just a subject picked during selection to fill in the gap. She had no real interest in the subject, and has so far never proved to be useful in the least.

And English?

Oh, don't get Sakura started on English.

The most important thing about being in Year 12, English was the most important subject, regardless of the other four. In short, if you failed English, you failed Year 12.

English determined the score you obtained in order to determine which university you were allowed in to. The study score you received in English determined the fate of said score. If you received pretty good, average scores in all five of your subjects, you received a good score. Also, the average study score of each of the five classes you undertake influences the score. If the average study score for one of your classes was extremely low, it simply dragged your score down—if it was a high one—to level the playing field.

So, if your classmates did poorly, you suffered too.

And the most irritating thing about her English class was that her teacher was a complete and utter dipshit who didn't know his ass from his elbow. He was the type who waffled on about anything and everything about the topic. When asked a question, his answers never made sense. And when he would set homework, he would not keep reminding the class of what assignments were due and on what date.

In short, Sakura knew she was going to bomb English.

Her teacher last year, in Year 11, was simply amazing. Even though she repeated a lot of the stuff the class went through, the text and topics become so stuck inside your head that you remembered everything when it came to SACs and exams. She even rewarded her students with little chocolates if they had completed all the work that was due. No wonder she aced that class last year; everyone just wanted a bloody chocolate.

Sasuke fingered the little, oval locket around his neck while glancing at the big kitchen clock. It was still two hours before Sakura would arrive home.

What the fuck was he supposed to do until then?

It wasn't like Sasuke had been alone in Sakura's house before. He had been, plenty of times. But not completely alone. There was always another in the house, whether it be her parents or the weekly maid. But then again, he realized that he was never alone. He always had Sakura around.

Finding himself at the top of the huge wooden staircase, he walked aimlessly around on the top floor. He passed door upon door and window after window. The rain was still belting down mercilessly outside, and didn't look like it was going to let up anytime soon.

Sighing, he turned a corner and came face to face with a familiar door.

Sakura's room.

Sasuke had only ever been in Sakura's room once. He had come over after school as he'd learned she'd copped a nasty case of food poisoning. Her mother had asked him to take some medication up to her, as well as an ice-cold washcloth. Sakura's room—from what he remembers—was pink and extremely girly. The walls were an extremely pale pink. It was so light, and was sometimes confused as off-white. The bed was also pink, along with—you guessed it—pink curtains. Photos—mostly of her and Sasuke—littered the walls and jewellery was scattered over every bare surface.

Cautiously, Sasuke pushed open the door and walked inside. He stopped short.

This was Sakura's room?

What happened to all the pink? Where were the pink bed sheets and pink curtains? It was completely different. The bed was striped with thick lines of different shades of deep blues—with the exception of a silver one every few lines. The walls were painted white. The curtains were simple and a deep blue—the same shade as a few of the stripes on her bed.

Sasuke casually strode around the room, picking up little things, giving them a once over and placing them back down again. His eyes scanned over the photos that littered her walls and dresser. Letting his curiosity get the better of him, Sasuke let his eyes examine the photos.

He saw many photos of her with that blonde brat—what was his name again?—with funny faces plastered on. Both happy, displaying cheesy grins. Another few hundred photos depicted her with that Ino girl. Both girls looking all dressed up and ready to hit the town. Most photos were of Sakura and those two, while a few were also with that shy girl that liked Naruto—ah, yes, that's his name—and a few more with girls he didn't recognize.

Where were the photos of him and her? The last few photos were only of Sakura and that punk Kiba. Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed. Since when were they friends? If Sasuke had bothered to look any harder, he could've sworn they were holding hands.

Finally, he found a photo of him and her. He plucked it from the wall, but was met with disappointment. It was not him and her. It was Sakura and Kiba. Sakura was wearing a lacy, red corset outfit with heavy makeup and frizzy hair, while Kiba's hair was darkened to the exact same colour as his. It was messier than before—if that was even possible.

Again and again, Sasuke scanned the wall and shelf of photos. But the harder he looked, there were none of him and her.

That can't be right.

But it was.

There were no photos of Sasuke and Sakura.

Yay for another chapter! Bit heartbreaking at the end, which is what I wanted to leave you guys with, hehehe. The next one shall be up in a few weeks; I have a three-week holiday coming up, so I shall be typing away! You lovlies will be getting a lot of updates in the next two months!

AND, I hope you all took note of what Sasuke had seen because they're very important! And will definitely pop up very soon! Mwuahahahaha!

R&R please!