A/N: Hey all. OH MY GOSH I HAVEN'T UPDATED THIS THING IN LIKE ALMOST 2 MONTHS! D: I am SOOOOOOOO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY YOU GUYS! Honestly, though, I've never gone this long without updating a story but I have this thing called a life and sometimes it gets in the way of other priorities :)
Enjoy the chapter my humble readers!
AND REVIEW DAMN IT!
Out of Reach
She crept through the halls like a panther stalking her prey, blending in with the early-morning shadows whenever she heard a slight noise, jumping to the ceiling when a tree branch scraped against a window.
Sakura was nothing more than something of your imagination, the slight sound you thought you heard, but when you turn around no one was there.
She searched through the upstairs first, finding everything in order, not a speck of dust out of place. She continued downstairs, skipping the squeaky step and landing soundlessly on the balls of her feet.
She felt something wrong as soon as her feet touched the hard wood. A light, to her left in her study. She narrowed her eyes slightly. That little son of a bitch…
Sakura floated to her study and found Sasuke sitting cross-legged on her floor with a pile of books around him, one sitting in his lap. He spoke, not looking at her. "Why do you have so many books, Sakura?" She was taken aback by the question.
"W-What?" She croaked, her voice unsteady. His dark eyes slid from the page to her form.
"The books, you have a lot, I want to know why." She glared suddenly, taking a step forward.
"Why are you here?" She demanded, her voice dripping with malice. Sasuke smirked.
"Don't you remember, Sak-ur-a?" He taunted, making Sakura glare even harder at him and a light pink blush dust her cheeks.
"Of course I do," She replied bitingly. "What I want to know is why you feel the need to stick around." Sasuke stood, cautious of the books around him and walked over to Sakura with his hands in his pockets, looking down on her.
As always…, Sakura thought bitterly.
"And why would you think that?"
"Because I can take care of myself." Sakura snapped, not missing a beat, annoyed with the smug smirked that spread across his face.
"Really?" His hot breath fanned across her face, Sakura stepped back.
"Yes," She hissed. "Really. I'm not helpless Sasuke, I would have made it just fine without you. I can take care of myself and I don't need you or Tsunade or Naruto or anyone else telling me otherwise!" She was shouting now, rising on her toes and bellowing in his face, anger pulsating through her veins.
"Sakura…" He said calmly.
"WHAT?"
"You still haven't answered my question." Sakura's hostile posture changed. Her shoulders slacked a little, her fists uncurled, her eyes became a little less threatening and she leaned slightly away from Sasuke.
She breathed heavily for a moment before completely pulling away and walking around him, rummaging through her desk.
"Sakura, what are you doing?" He asked, slightly exasperated.
"You wanted to know right? Well, I'm showing you," She pulled out several tattered, clearly abused, notebooks and went to retrieve almost half of the books on the shelves, dropping them to the floor along with the notebooks.
"There." She huffed. "I'm sure that will answer all the questions you have," Sakura crossed her arms, glaring again. "I have a hospital shift, I need to go." And that was it, she grabbed some clothes and was out the door without another word.
Sasuke grabbed a notebook and flipped through the first two pages, his eyes skimmed over Sakura's neat scrawl, occasionally Naruto's sloppy handwriting as well, and it didn't take him long to realize that all the notebooks were recordings of his sightings and recent information at that time. He gulped, a lump lodging in his throat. He picked up one of the books and saw that it was a document about the Sharingon, old and worn. He saw the others had to do with the curse mark and the different stages and such things like that. All the books and notes had to do with him.
Sasuke stood, gingerly stacking the notebooks back on her desk and putting the books back on the shelf. He turned off all the lights before leaving, shoving his hands in his pockets and walking back to the Hokage Tower for yet another meeting about the Chunine Exams.
Sakura had so many books because she was looking for him. Learning about the curse-mark, taking notes on how to cure it or even just stem the effects. She studied the Sharingon and wrote down where he was, or where Konoha thought he was. She never stopped trying to learn, he guessed, every book telling him something different about her.
But, Sasuke also noticed how the entries abruptly stopped in the very middle of a notebook. She didn't look for long, he supposed. Sasuke dragged his feet his whole walk, feeling dejected for a reason he didn't know.
Again, really sorry for such a LATE update, life's been sorta hectic (As it tends to be)
REVIEW AND THE NEXT UPDATE WILL BE MONDAY!