Dedicated to Mozelle.
{ Kidnap My Heart }
'cause i wish you were here—
CHAPTER IV
—Reveal
Sakura replaced the hard-bound book she had just read back to its proper space on the shelf she had in her bedroom. Her eyes lingered a little bit more on the spine of the book she just had — Cardiac Transplantation and Its Disadvantages — before she turned on her heels and faced her best friend, Yamanaka Ino, who sat on her bed lazily, her back pressed against the headboard.
Ino, in Sakura's opinion, was very beautiful, even more so if she lessened the make-up she placed on her face every hour. Her blonde hair was held up in a high ponytail, highlighting much of her baby-blue eyes.
"The idiot's actually getting married," Sakura heard Ino mumble for the third time in one minute. It was she who told her the news about Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Hinata's wedding plans, and she could not help but cringe upon the thought of a wilder response from her friend.
To let go of a little bit of the wariness she felt, Sakura laughed softly.
"Oh, come on," commented Sakura, pulling out yet another book off her shelf. As she headed back to her bed that Ino occupied, she continued, "They've been engaged for over two years already. It's about time they get married soon. I mean, after Naruto actually grovelled for Hiashi's blessing."
Ino snorted, and Sakura already knew what was running inside her head.
"I like to see him grovel some more."
"Ino-pig, you sadistic woman, you!" The roseate-haired doctor tried to giggle, but even to her own ears it sounded unreal. She gave a sideway glance on the blonde. "Say you've gotten over your breakup from senior year in high school."
Ino smirked and stared in thin air. "Like, duh. I don't want to get stuck with an idiotic man like him, anyway."
"But you still love him, right?" Sakura only flipped the pages on her book, but was not really reading. She was trying to sense Ino and she was almost certain that the temperature in the room relatively dropped.
". . . This is dangerous territory we're walking on, Forehead. You know it."
Sakura frowned and fully turned on her friend. She continued, willing to make Ino cave in, "That's why until now, you haven't been to any serious relationship —"
"Forehead!"
The two stared at each other, Ino's gaze growing in more intensity. Sakura courageously held her best friend's strong glare, but wavered later on. She sighed.
"All right, all right. I'm sorry. It's just that you haven't been happy since. And it's almost been ten years."
Ino still glared. "You're not supposed to tell me that. You've been faking your laughs and smiles since Sai's death."
"We're so not talking about that."
"So why dare talk about my case?"
"Because it's time to let go, Ino! Let go!" Sakura stood up from her bed and walked around so she could be on the other side of her best friend. She kneeled down in front of Ino and held her hands. "Ten years have been long enough and Hinata-chan, she — she — she needs you."
Silence perpetuated between the two of them. Sakura wetted her lips and gazed imploringly on her friend.
"I love you, Ino. So please, it's time you find the right man for you, give Hinata-chan and Naruto your blessing, and be happy."
Ino smiled, patting the space beside her so Sakura could sit there. Sakura could not figure it out clearly, but Ino did not really say if she was convinced or not. Instead, Ino said, "Then you should do, too."
"I knew you're gonna turn it to me soon," commented Sakura dryly. She rolled her eyes. "No. I have a lot in my head right now."
Ino giggled. "I'm going to try and find a serious relationship, and you, after your not-so-and-yet-very-apparent relationship with Sai, should do, too. Right now, one of the things that has to be in our heads is how to gain a boyfriend."
"Ino!" Sakura protested, her lips pouting sideways.
"You've been avoiding boys since Sai — at least, besides your patients — and I think you're getting paranoid by not —" Ino cut herself short when Sakura groaned. "Forehead, please. Try to be happy even just this once."
"I'll never be happy, Ino, don't you get it?" Exasperation laced Sakura's tone, and she felt as if everything was going downhill from there. It had only been a little past two months since Sai's death and she was not ready for any touchy conversations.
The doctor basked in the silence of her friend.
"I'll never be happy especially when I had to live this life filled with regret and sorry. So please, shut your mouth already."
Sakura never meant her words to be too harsh. She almost backtracked when Ino shot her a dry look that screamed plentiful of emotions.
"OK," Ino replied, standing up from the bed.
It was when her bedroom door clicked shut that Sakura realised she was not being fair.
Pocketing his hands into his coat's pockets, Sasuke entered the warm confines of the café he and his idiotic best friend, Uzumaki Naruto, set to meet at. He looked around the tiny place and instantly spotted the blond man who appeared busy with playing crossword.
It had been two weeks since he had seen Sakura — two weeks since their last appointment with each other, two weeks since they last talked. The only things that kept them connected were Sakura's text messages on him regarding his medications, messages he did not bother to reply on.
"Teme!" The idiot he called best friend seemed to have finally noticed him still on the doorway, and yelled his nickname.
When Sasuke managed to finally sit down across Naruto, he called back, "Dobe."
Naruto looked him up and down and grinned. "I see you can already walk. I heard that the transplant was too heavy for your body to get used to, so I wish I was here to see you unable to stand up on your own and needing that special whatnot chair to move around. It looks funny . . . I guess. But then again, you always look funny. Chicken hair."
Sasuke sent the blond man his fiercest glare yet.
"Cut it, Dobe. What did you call me here for?"
"Marriage," Naruto replied, taking a sip on the warm coffee he had purchased.
Only a few things could make Uchiha Sasuke's eyes widen, and one of these few things was the one word Naruto had just spoken. His best friend appeared to belatedly realise what the single word seemed to imply with just the two of them there on the table, so it was almost comical when he sputtered on his drink.
"No!" the blond yelled. "No — no! I mean, I'm getting married, dammit! I don't mean anything else — oh shit. Why did you even think that?"
Sasuke stared blankly. Seriously.
"I guess I don't want to know that you may have some hidden feeli —"
The glare Sasuke sent heightened.
Naruto seemed to feel the atmosphere run cold, so he did a double take. "All right, all right. Sheesh, Teme, I'm getting married in about six months, OK?"
"I should care because?"
"You're gonna be my Best Man." Sasuke's eyes, if it could be narrowed further, would have turned into slits by then. He did not like the sly smile Naruto sent his way.
"For all I know, you're going to match make me again and ask help from Mother," said Sasuke, settling on rolling his eyes. "So forget about me being your Best Man."
"What crawled in your ass and got stuck? And hyperventilated then died? And —"
"Dobe."
"Yes?"
"Shut your trap."
Naruto grinned — it was the kind of impish smile that Sasuke never liked Naruto wearing. "Oh, I guess you don't want talking about arses and stuff like —"
"I've had enough from Tenten a few weeks ago, now shut it," Sasuke told the blond, remembering the events two weeks prior. Upon recalling the memory, he felt his blood boil.
"Hm." The smile on Naruto was still intact when he commented, "Tennie did a great job on riling you up."
Sasuke's black eyes narrowed for the umpteenth time that Sunday afternoon.
The forensic investigator almost smirked smugly when Naruto seemed to realise he was nearing the end of his patience.
"Anyway, as I was saying, you're gonna be my Best Man, got that, Big B?"
Big B was nickname — Big Bastard. It was a childish name that Sasuke's friends in college used to call him when it appeared that he was completely impatient.
"No," came Sasuke's immediate response.
"Oh, come on. It's not one of my match making schemes, I promise," swore Naruto, holding up his right hand like the Boy Scout he wanted to be. "Like, it's my most important day and I'm going to be giving you a gift? And what's bad about being match made?"
Sasuke leaned in, narrowing his eyes on Naruto threateningly. "Gift? It's not a gift when I end up getting nearly raped. It's not something to be happy about when I end up crashing my favourite car. I end up wanting to feed you your toads, so stop now or you'll regret it."
"Errr. . . . Fine, fine." Sasuke knew Naruto loved his toads too much to concede. "But you're still going to be Best Man. So you'll help me in preparations, according to Hinata-chan. Then Maid of Honour will help the bride. Then Best Man and Maid of Honour work together, get together then —"
"Naruto."
"Right." The mentioned man cleared his throat. "Her name's Yamanaka Ino."
"Name doesn't ring a bell," commented Sasuke. He shrugged.
"There's . . . a problem with her. Between me and her, I mean."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Naruto was not one to hold a grudge against anyone, and he was not someone people despised and not get along with either. Having someone hate him was big news.
Naruto sheepishly grinned. "It's been more than two years since I last saw her, and I guess she's still mad from ten years ago."
"So?"
"I cheated on her with Hinata-chan ten years ago, you see." Naruto sighed, and Sasuke looked astonished, for a lack of better words. Sasuke did know that Naruto was a magnet for friends, but for girls to be fighting for him, that was another story. "And she's among Hinata-chan's best friends. And I ruined their friendship and Hinata-chan wants to reconcile and stuff. This is the best thing we can do to reconnect them both."
Neither spoke for a long time. It was then that a waiter came for Sasuke's order and came back with a steaming cup of coffee. It was weirder than Sasuke anticipated it to be.
Deciding to cut the silence, Sasuke asked, "How are you going to make her agree if until now she's still mad at you?"
"That's where the other best friend comes in. She's supposed to convince her and stuff. Oh" — Naruto grinned as he checked on his wristwatch for the time — "and she's supposed to be here riiiight about now."
Naruto's blue eyes looked past Sasuke and smiled blindingly.
Out of curiosity and surprise (for he did not know they would have someone with them at that meeting), Sasuke looked over his shoulder and toward the door that led to the inside of the café. He raised his eyebrows in disbelief upon taking in the figure of the newcomer.
Sakura.
The woman did not seem to see him first and instead saw Naruto. She hurried to where they were and lightly shrieked, "Naruto! I'm so sorry! Ino-pig and I argued about things and I" — she saw Sasuke — ". . . I failed."
The two adults stared at each other, taking in each of their presence. Sasuke raised an eyebrow while Sakura's mouth hung. Naruto, on the other hand, looked at each of them back and forth.
"Dudes, don't say this is what they call love at first sight?" asked Naruto, almost laughing at his friends' expressions.
The blond cringed when Sasuke shot him the look. Sakura chose to ignore him.
"Sasuke? What are you doing here?"
Sasuke thought it was supposed to be his question. "What are you doing here?"
"No, no! What are you doing here?" Sakura was already smiling. She pulled the seat out on one side and looked at him and Naruto. "I mean — Naruto? You know each other?"
Naruto looked like he caught on and asked, "Wait — you guys know each other?"
"You know each other?" came Sasuke's same inquiry.
Naruto and Sakura started laughing, and Sasuke nearly smiled.
Sakura shook her head at the irony. She and Sasuke had more connection than she cared to admit. It was almost laughable.
"I'd really, really love to know all about our histories, but back to business." Sakura's smiling face dimmed. "I failed to inform Ino that you're choosing her to be Hinata-chan's Maid of Honour."
"But why?" was Naruto's immediate question.
"I'm so sorry, Naruto," said Sakura softly. She pursed her lips, trying to carefully word her thoughts. "Our conversation, after telling Ino-pig that in six months' time you're marrying off, turned to this and that and then . . . we somewhat fought."
Sasuke scoffed. "That's just rich."
"Aw man."
It was a failure, but there was hope for Sakura. She smiled again and told Naruto, "But we still have six more months to get her to agree. And it's not like it's going to take her that long."
Naruto nodded then slyly smiled at the doctor. "So what do you say that you, Sakura-chan, take Ino's place for a while and be with Sasuke in helping us prepare?"
The aforementioned man's eyes narrowed yet again. "Did I agree yet, Dobe?"
"But duh, seeing as you're rather" — Naruto cleared his throat far more tauntingly than Sakura would like — "familiar with Sakura-chan, why not?"
"You have got to be kidding me."
Sakura giggled. "Oh, come on, Sasuke-kun." She paused upon noticing Sasuke's coffee. "What the hell are you drinking?"
Sasuke and Naruto blinked simultaneously.
"Coffee."
"You idiot!" Sakura screeched, relatively paling.
Sasuke glared. "What now?"
Sakura felt there was no other person as insensitive as the black-haired man with her that day. "You're actually taking in caffeine! That's not good for you!"
"I've been drinking coffee for a long time now, why would today make any difference?" spat Sasuke.
"Because I'm here. Because I'm your doctor and I say you can't keep on taking caffeine until I say so."
Sakura noticed he was not on wheelchair. Her thoughts drove her wild when she realised that Sasuke did not inform her when he began standing with no support. He had to have told her so she could refer her to a physical therapist and—
"And you didn't set an appointment or called me upon having been able to finally stand up again! Are you really trying to kill yourself?"
"Sakura-chan, calm down," Naruto intervened.
"No, Naruto. This guy —" Sakura groaned and harrumphed. "Sasuke, you're sooo incorrigible. Come on."
Sakura stood up, taking her handbag with her.
"No."
Naruto blinked furiously and thought that his friends were actually planning on leaving. "Uhh, guys? We're in the middle of planning."
The two paid him no heed.
"Come on."
"No."
"Come on."
Sakura thought she won jackpot when Sasuke glowered dejectedly at her and yielded. ". . . Fine. Bullshit."
Sasuke stood up and wore his coat. Sakura started towards the door, leaving with Sasuke for the hospital, and leaving Naruto gaping at them behind.
And Naruto thought they were supposed to be his friends.
—i'll watch the night turn light blue
{ to be continued }
author's note. obviously hurried. i still have to study for an exam tomorrow so i'll upload a much better (read: edited) version sometime. for now, let's do with this. :P thank you for the reviews and love!
p.s. questions? random questions? ask me on (exclude the spaces): ask . fm / serachan011