ShinhaDojinshi Presents
Maybe 1st place wasn't a bad idea…
A Sasu x saku fic
There was silence, and then Sasuke's expression let up a bit.
"Don't talk about Sak-," Sasuke seemed shocked at what he was about to say, and he didn't let it slip any further,"…don't talk about girls like that, Naruto-teme."
He let go of Naruto's wrinkling shirt and left him there on the floor. He exited the ramen shop without another word to walk around a bit, perhaps?
"Baka Sasuke…always trying to show me up!"
Naruto got up and dusted himself off as his mouth formed into a childish grin.
"Well, at least I didn't have to get beat up too bad to find out the truth! What a sucker!"
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All was quiet between the four friends scattered around Sakura's apartment. TenTen was pacing back and forth in the living room as she tried to distract herself with her darts. Ino and Hinata were sitting at the kitchen table, trying to keep busy. Silence was present, except for a soft sobbing coming from the mouth of Sakura. She was neatly tucked away in her bedroom, eyes overflowing with tears.
'I don't even know why I feel so nervous…I already know that Sasuke doesn't…,' Sakura paused between sobs, 'l-l…love me anymore.'
She hesitated before stepping out of the comforts of her cozy bedroom. As she entered the living room, all heads turned to stare at Sakura's frail figure trying to walk through the hallway, which now seemed a mile long. Sakura kept her head bowed down to hide her depression, but she could tell that her friends saw through her thin mask. Hinata helped her into a chair and all eyes were on her.
"Were you crying?"
Sakura turned to TenTen who held out a dart to her. Sakura faked a smile and tried to answer back in her 'cheery' voice,
"Pssht! As if! Haruno Sakura doesn't cry for anybody!"
Even though Sakura played off her sorrow, everyone knew the truth. She threw the dart, and for the first time in her life, it was way off from the center. She sat down and pretended that it had hit the middle, like always.
"So, anyway. Anyone up for tea? Or do you want to go out for sushi or something?"
Apparently, Sakura was the only lively one in the whole room, even though she was faking it. As she turned to all of her friends, she could obviously read the pity mixed in with their facial expressions. Her smile then slowly formed into a frown as a slight knocking could be heard at the front door.
Sakura jumped up from her seat and grinned at Ino, who in turn, gave her another grin back, thinking that it was Naruto at the door with the information he had just found. She hesitated a bit before unlocking the door and turned the knob. The person who was at the door was someone that she hadn't hoped it would be. Her slight smile uncurled itself to form a straight line upon her lips. A cold breeze forced its way into the apartment and it sent chills down her spine. The moment seemed to be frozen in time as the two stared each other down. Hinata, TenTen and Ino could be scrambling into the view of the open door in the background. The silence was broken by Sakura's soft voice,
"What are you doing here, Sasuke-kun?"
Her empty gaze was returned by a glare that reminded her of the first time they met at the arcade. The love toward her that those onyx eyes once held seemed to be diminished with only a couple of days apart. Suddenly, his eyes softened and a smile was placed on his handsome face. Her heart melted as his grin broadened when she blushed.
"Sakura-chan…" Sasuke blushed a bit as he gulped. It was yet another re-enactment of when he had asked her out for the first time. But even though the mood was set to a joyful one, he knew what he had to tell her…
In Sakura's head, all thoughts of him being engaged to someone else were pushed to the back of her mind. A warm feeling was summoned from deep within her and brought a deep red tint to her face.
"What is it, Sasuke-…", dare she say it?
She paused, then feeling an ounce of security while looking up at his grinning face, added, "-koi?"
Even though she thought this would bring a smile to his face as well, she was surprised to see a sad look instead of his smile. And as if to add to the discomfort that Sasuke was feeling, TenTen started clutching the darts in her hand more tightly. He decided to end it quickly, before any more harm could've been inflicted upon Sakura.
"Hm? What's wr-"
Before she could continue, he captured her lips in his and Sakura blushed as they both shared an intimate kiss.
'Awws!' could be heard all over the living room of the apartment as Sakura's friends squealed as if they were taken back to when they were sixteen.
When they both let go of the kiss, Sasuke held out a bouquet of daffodils to her, trying to restrain the heat rising to his cheeks the whole time. Sakura took them gratefully, but before she could thank him, Sasuke's warm voice suddenly turned ice cold.
"I'm leaving tomorrow. Anko-koi's decided to get married in America."
'Damn woman won't make up her mind,' Sasuke thought bitterly.
Then, it hit the pink haired girl. She automatically thought that he was here to stay.
Yet, he only came to visit her to say goodbye.
His last final words…
He had only softened the blow a bit so she wouldn't act so irrationally when he broke the news to her. It was all just a setup…and Sakura definitely fell for it. Her head fell to gaze down her shoes immediately after the words finally registered in her brain.
"Y-you…didn't come here to tell me about a broken engagement…did you?"
Sakura found it hard to spit out the words, even though in her mind, she was shouting them loud and clear.
Sasuke shook his head and mouthed a simple 'no'.
"You…lied to m-me…"
The majority of her words got caught in her throat as she struggled to hold back her incoming tears. But, in her head, she had expected this to happen, even though she had been hoping and wishing that her foreshadowing wasn't correct. But, her worst nightmare had unraveled itself directly in front of her: Sasuke leaving her forever.
"Sakura-chan?"
Sasuke held out a hand to shake Sakura's shoulder gently. She swatted it away violently and he took it as an incentive to not lay a finger on her.
"What's wrong, Sakura-chan?"
"N-noth-thing."
'Oh god! I'm stuttering more badly than Hinata-chan!' Sakura thought awkwardly.
"Are you sure?"
She nodded her head and in the process, let her tears flow from her eyes.
Sasuke's expression softened and he frowned.
"…don't cry Sakura-chan…"
He wrapped his arms around her gently and her tears fell more freely from the prison in which they had been kept. Sasuke patted her head supportively and kissed her forehead.
"I didn't mean to act like such a jerk before…This whole thing is just a mess!"
Sakura summoned up the courage to lay her head on his shoulder as he tightened the embrace. It took them back to when they had first fallen in love. The moment played over and over in her head, and she was starting to regret it.
Inner Sakura: …why did I ever have to meet this stupid jerk!
She frowned and Sasuke caught the change in her expression as he watched her while laying her head on his shoulder.
"I don't want to just up and leave you in a situation like this…but my step-father wouldn't be so 'pleased' if I backed out now."
Sakura's frown only deepened and he yet again, took note of it.
"But remember Haruno Sakura…"
He cupped her chin and forced her to look at him, attempting to add depth to his words.
"…you are my true bride."
The slight downward curve in her lips finally formed a smile, and the heat rising to her cheeks made her turn a deep red. Sasuke loosened the hug and gave her a light kiss…probably for the last time. But before she could chase him down the hall, he had disappeared.
As Sakura stood there dumbfounded, her friends started moving around again. They slowly sat her down in a chair and Hinata picked up the bouquet of flowers that Sakura had dropped absentmindedly. Her gaze seemed to be fixated on the door, half-expecting Sasuke to burst in and yell "Psych!" But instead, there was no knock at the door or turning of the doorknob. She sat as still as a statue as her friends bustled about. They ran around making tea, preparing food and tidying up a bit. Occasionally, they would pause in between their duties to pat Sakura on the head and give some comforting words as if she were a child who was left alone in a corner. It was only when Hinata fully sat down to talk to her that she replied with actual words.
A solemn,"He's gone…" came out of her mouth.
Hinata hung her head with sadness as she silently agreed.
"He is…but you shouldn't be worrying about that now. Be grateful of what you have, Sakura-chan."
Not one word Hinata had said made any sense to her. She was wandering around blindly in her thoughts ever since he had left. All seemed hopeless without Sasuke there beside her…
Ino waved a hand in front of her face and snapped at her a couple of times to get her attention. When Sakura finally snapped out of it, Ino had a smug look on her face.
"You've been like that for hours already. Are you okay?"
She turned to Ino and tried to answer her question, but no words came to mind.
"Y-yes...? I mean…no…?"
Sakura stuttered helplessly and looked at the expressions placed on her friends' faces.
"Ugh…I don't know!"
She slumped back in her chair and TenTen stared at her viciously.
"Why don't you just get over that baka? He was such a jerk!"
"He wasn't such a jerk, TenTen-chan. And what about Neji-kun? Didn't he treat you like dirt all the time?"
The bitterness in Sakura's voice could have brought death to everyone in the room. Her eyes were narrowed and they bore into TenTen's skin like knives. TenTen looked as if she had regretted saying anything at all. She continued throwing darts at the dartboard with a sour look placed upon her features.
Sakura's sudden outburst of hatred toward everything brought a sudden stillness in the room. It wasn't until there was a soft knocking at the door did everyone get up and go about their own business again. The pink haired girl hesitated before answering it. She was afraid of seeing Sasuke standing out in the hallway again, but something told her that it wasn't he who was standing on the other side of the door.
She unlocked the door slowly, and the person on the other side jerked it open hastily. A bubbly voice answered Sakura's sudden gasp. Tears erupted from her eyes and Naruto looked at her confused.
"Sakura-chan! It's me!"
All that came from her mouth was a sob and he hugged her tightly.
"Aww…what did that mean jerk do to you this time?"
If everyone in the room had known that Sakura was crying over the loss of her boyfriend, they could have sworn that she and Naruto were an item. She was crying on his shoulder sadly and he was stroking her hair comfortingly. The picture had resembled what had happened with Sasuke just moments ago. Everyone knew that Naruto would kill to be with Sakura, if the chance was ever presented to him. But, Sakura had been too preoccupied with Sasuke to even notice them in their previous highschool years.
"H-he di-didn't do a-anyth-thing…"
Sakura was obviously lying, and Naruto obviously knew.
"Oh come on! I know that he must've done something!"
As their conversation dragged on, Sakura's friends gradually decided to leave the two alone. They slowly trickled out of the apartment while Naruto took over what they had started. He finished up making the tea and the food as Sakura lay down on the couch, trying to distract herself with something. Eventually, she fell asleep as the darkness from the window consumed the room…
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"Wh-where am I?"
Sakura awoke the next day from a bright light shining in her face. It took her a while to notice that she was lying in her own bed and a few trickles of sunlight were peeking in through her closed curtains. She got up from bed and made her way to the living room. As she entered, she saw Naruto's sleeping figure on the couch. Beside him was the bouquet of flowers sitting neatly in a vase on a table.
She neared the flowers, desiring to sample their scent just a bit. But, as she leaned down to take a closer look at them, she finally noticed a piece of paper wedged in between the petals of one of the orchids. With extreme caution, she picked out the odd-looking flower and felt its texture. It seemed to be made out of…plastic?
Her excitement began to build as she gently took out the piece of paper. Sakura unfolded it, expecting to see some kind of romantic message. Instead though, she saw an address scribbled on it in what seemed to be Sasuke's writing. It was only until she saw the word 'America' within the address did she finally figure it out. It was an address of where Sasuke was going to.
"Thank you so much!"
For the first time after he visited her, she finally felt happy. She rushed into her room and pulled out a large suitcase. All articles of importance were placed neatly into the bag as Sakura started singing joyfully.
Her loud voice had finally awoken Naruto, and he stood at the entrance of her door, leaning on the frame of it.
"Where you headed to, Sakura-chan?"
His voice hadn't startled her at all, and she grinned widely while replying with a,
"I'm going to go see Sasuke-kun!"