Chapter 7 – You Broke It, Now Fix It
She was Fall–of–the–Blossom.
Her.
Not for the first time, Sasuke demanded to know how the hell that was even possible. They weren't alike in the slightest. From what he could remember of her, Sakura was the kind of girl who demanded all attention be on her. She was needy and dependent. Smart, yes, but she had never put that brain of hers to use. Not in a way that mattered.
At least, not until he broke her heart.
Sasuke continued to watch her from his place in the corridor, leaning casually against his locker while she rummaged through her own.
By the looks of things, she hadn't been getting much sleep. Also today it seemed Sakura had forgone wearing makeup, deciding instead on a natural look. Even though her eye colour didn't appear as dramatic without all that black eye makeup around her eyes, they were still a nice shade, Sasuke decided after a few moments. From his place across the corridor, he couldn't see any blemishes on her pale skin. All she really had were dark circles around her eyes. He couldn't remember the last time Sakura hadn't worn any makeup. Not recently, anyway. Her short hair was thrown up into a high ponytail, the shortness of it and the layers in her hair causing the ponytail to be spiky, though it seemed to bounce with every step she took. That was something he'd noticed when she first made her way over to her locker.
But still…
This was Fall–of–the–Blossom?
This was the woman – or girl – who'd told him so many private things over instant messenger? This was the girl who–
It took everything to force down Sasuke's sudden need to blush. How could he have forgotten all that they'd done over video chat? Not just that, but… Taking out his phone, Sasuke glanced over his shoulder, making sure that nobody was behind him before he was searching through his images, stopping when he reached a certain collection.
The nail varnish.
In all of the pictures Fall–of–the–Blossom had sent to him, she was wearing green nail varnish – the shade matching Sakura's eyes. Every time he crossed paths with Sakura, she was also always wearing the exact same shade of nail varnish. Right now she was. How could he have missed that? Well, he hadn't. It had bugged him for quite a while before meeting her in person.
Sasuke's eyes drifted from his phone, nonchalantly looking Sakura up and down.
How could he have missed those legs? They were long yet toned, making it obvious that Sakura worked out or at least went for a run to keep fit. Then again, Fall–of–the–Blossom had told him that she took self-defence classes, so perhaps that would be the reason behind Sakura being in such good shape. It was so… surreal knowing that he had seen her in one of her most private moments, knowing how her back arched and her hips bucked and her legs quivered when she–
Those thoughts had to stop.
Locking his phone, he shoved it into his pocket.
It had been four days since their meeting. In that time neither of them had attempted to contact the other. Hell, Sasuke hadn't logged into his instant messenger once. The only reason he'd used that stupid account in the first place was to talk to her. Yes, the account had been active for years but until he met Fall–of–the–Blossom on their online game, it had been unused. Sasuke simply didn't see the point in it since he grew bored of conversations quickly.
So… What happened now?
Pushing his hands into his trouser pockets, Sasuke continued to watch Sakura, even as a dark haired girl appeared beside her and glanced over her shoulder, like those pale eyes didn't even need to actually look at him to know that he was there and watching them. Considering the colour of her eyes (for they all had the same, strange eye colour), Sasuke was guessing that she was a Hyuuga. Probably one of Neji's cousins, since he had no siblings. Neji also had a creepy sixth sense and he also knew when he was being watched, or anything of the sort.
The female Hyuuga murmured something to Sakura when she turned back to face her and instantly, Sakura's head snapped up, green eyes meeting dark, before she quickly looked away and hurriedly closed her bag. She was saying something to the Hyuuga, looking angry as she did so and then a second later, she was slamming her locker door shut, causing the other girl to jump.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
Why was Sakura always angry?
Without making eye contact, without even acknowledging Sasuke's existence, Sakura turned on her heel and stormed down the corridor, her friend a few steps behind her.
Whenever he heard something about Sakura around school, it always involved her being angry. That, or getting angry. It made it seem like she was never calm. Why? It hadn't always been like that. Sure, when they were younger and during their year of friendship, she'd called Naruto a few names and had hit him over the head a few times, but the blond was an idiot. And they were the only times she ever got angry.
It took a lot to hide his frown.
Had he done that to her?
Yes, Sasuke knew for a fact that he'd hurt her by kicking her out of the group, by ending their friendship and leaving her all alone. And yes, he knew he'd broken her heart. But just what exactly had his actions done to her? For a while after that day, Sakura had stuck to herself. He hadn't seen her around much (which at the time had been a blessing, since he hadn't wanted to see her), not in the hallways, not in the cafeteria and not outside on the fields. Later Sasuke had discovered she stuck to the library, throwing herself completely into her studies.
That was all he knew, really. Well, that and she made friends with Sabaku Gaara, though Sasuke had believed that to be because she was lashing out, trying to make him jealous, especially when he heard of their relationship. Apparently, that wasn't true. Why? Because on Sabaku Gaara's last day, just before he moved back to Suna, he'd passed them in the corridor and Sakura had been crying in his arms, telling him how much she was going to miss him. The part that surprised him the most, the part that told him the friendship was real, was Gaara's reaction, how instead of being the guy he usually was around school (violent, intimidating and downright unpleasant to have a conversation with), he held her tighter, whispering something in her ear that Sasuke hadn't been able to make out.
Sasuke's eyes fell to the ground when Sakura disappeared in the sea of students, turning onto a different corridor. For some reason, it felt strange thinking of her in the arms of another. Was that because she was Fall–of–the–Blossom? It certainly couldn't be because she was Haruno Sakura. Sasuke would remember feeling this… weird sensation in the pit of his stomach, wouldn't he?
"Sasuke."
His eyes lifted from the ground, grey-black clashing with blue.
He'd been waiting for this conversation and was surprised it took so long.
"What do you want, Naruto?"
"Don't…" The blond shook his head, seeming angered yet keeping himself in control. "Don't play dumb. You know what I'm going to ask."
Sasuke sighed in response. There was no use in trying to get a rise out of Naruto. It would only lead in their conversation becoming violent and the last thing Sasuke needed right at that moment in time was the headmaster contacting his father. "I didn't set all this up, if that's what you're asking," he told Naruto. "I was just as surprised as Sakura was."
A pause. Blue eyes narrowing as blond eyebrows furrowed, before Naruto also sighed and turned to face forward, leaning back against the lockers and staring ahead of himself instead of at Sasuke. "She's really hurting, Sasuke," he murmured quietly. "Her mom said she hasn't seen Sakura this upset in years, not since her dad left."
Her father.
Fall–of–the–Blossom's father had been violent with her, with her mother.
He also leaned back against the lockers, though for an entirely different reason. While Naruto was feeling exhausted and worried for his friend, Sasuke was stunned, nearly breathless. Sakura's father had… How could he have forgotten such a thing?
According to Fall–of–the–Blossom, the night her father attacked her mother (that she'd witnessed and had also been struck), had been around her thirteenth birthday. Extremely close to the day Sasuke had more or less told her to get lost. He felt sick. Not only had Sakura lost all of her friends, but she had also lost the man she'd admired growing up. No he hadn't died or gone missing, however, her father had turned out to be somebody completely different to the man she'd idolised.
And nobody at school had noticed a thing.
How could that even be possible? Surely somebody must have noticed the difference! Maybe that was why Sakura was so angry? Because of all she'd been through? And the fact that the only person she could confide in, was her mother?
"I still don't get what happened." Naruto sighed. "Kizashi always seemed like a good guy to me, you know? They seemed like a happy family. Lived in a big house, always going out together on family days and holidays. They had a cat, too! But now they're living in some small apartment and can just about afford it with her mom working two jobs. I don't get what happened."
Not even Naruto knew, Sasuke realised, refusing to show how shocked he actually was. Sakura used to tell Naruto everything.
Was he the only one who knew?
Naruto's head fell back against the lockers, turning ever so slightly to give Sasuke a frown. "She's going to Suna in a few months, you know."
"…I know."
"Her mom thinks it'll be good for her. Plus, Gaara's out there, so it's not like she'll be alone."
He remained silent.
"Sasuke," the blond growled. "What are you going to do?"
What was he going to do?
"Sakura-san…"
"I'm fine," Sakura muttered, glancing over her shoulder and sighing in relief when she didn't spot the Uchiha. "I just… I feel so angry when I look at him, Hinata. The things I told Avenger–S… What if Sasuke uses them against me?"
Frowning, Hinata looked around them before pulling Sakura to the side of the corridor, away from any eavesdroppers. "Why would he do that?"
"Because… Because he's Uchiha Sasuke!" Despite her attempt at staying calm, Sakura snapped and she regretted it instantly when Hinata flinched, moving back ever so slightly. She took a deep, calming breath. "I'm sorry. I feel so stressed and–"
The Hyuuga offered her a small smile. "I–I understand, Sakura-san. But you should remember: people can change."
Not always. Not everyone had the ability in them, the strength, to change. Just looking at her father told Sakura that. Just thinking of him brought forth the memory of the night she saw him hurting Mebuki, of the night he hurt her. It also reminded her of the incident not too long ago, when Kizashi had come to visit them and tried to get Sakura to meet his new woman. He'd been rough with her then, too.
But… Sasuke was not her father.
But that didn't mean he could change.
Once more, Sakura sighed. What was she supposed to do? It was horrible having to see Uchiha Sasuke every day, especially after all she'd shared with Avenger–S. Not only what she'd said, but what she had done and… Oh Gods, it made her feel disgusted with herself. How could she have stripped on video chat to him? How could she have touched herself and watched him touch himself and just–
"Sakura-san," Hinata spoke softly, frowning ever so slightly, "it does no good to overthink. You are only upsetting yourself."
She was right, but it was impossible not to overthink.
Hopefully, Sasuke had at least a tiny shred of decency within himself and had listened to her. Hopefully, he had deleted those pictures she had sent to him. Sakura hoped more than anything that he had, and that he wouldn't be like other guys who had no problem with sharing those kinds of pictures of their ex.
Wait.
Was Sasuke her ex?
No, no he wasn't. They weren't in an official relationship. She and Avenger–S had merely messed around on video chat and sent nudes, had told each other what they wanted to do to the other. At the memory of those words, Sakura's cheeks burned with shame and embarrassment. Surely, Sasuke would not share those pictures and messages with others? Surely, he would just do as she asked (demanded) and delete them?
There was no true way of knowing until it was done.
She just hoped it wouldn't happen.
"I'm hungry." Sakura demanded herself to stop thinking about Sasuke and about Avenger–S. Whatever had been going on, or had been growing, was now dead to her. It was over. She couldn't risk being hurt again like last time. Last time, it was like Sasuke had so much power over her and his words had shattered her childish, innocent heart. How could she trust somebody like that? Somebody she would have given everything and anything to, only to have them turn around and tell her to get lost when they were bored of her? "Are you?"
Hinata paused for a moment, surprised by the randomness of her words, before smiling at Sakura and nodding once.
"You're going to fight for her!"
Narrowing his eyes with annoyance, Sasuke glanced up at the blond idiot who was bouncing around. They had spent another couple of minutes in the corridor after Sakura left before also leaving themselves to go outside. Sure, it was quite cold, but they had half an hour to kill and there was no way Sasuke was staying in the hallways until lessons started. It was already packed and would only continue to grow more so when other students began arriving.
"What?"
"Sakura-chan. You can fight for her!"
Fight for her? For Haruno Sakura?
"Sasuke," Naruto growled and dropped beside him on the stone bench he was sat on. There was the instinctual flinch when he sat on the cold stone, but after a moment, he hesitantly sat back down, relaxing after a short while. "Sakura-chan really liked that Avenger–S guy and I can tell that you like Fall–of–the–Blossom. What's the difference between you both?"
The difference was that every time Sakura looked at him, it was obvious she wanted to punch him in the face. However, when they were talking online and didn't know each other's identities, she'd had no trouble with opening up to him, opening up her heart to him. That was the difference. She wanted to hurt Uchiha Sasuke, but she wanted to love Avenger–S.
Maybe love was a bit over the top? Who knows. From what he could remember of the younger Sakura's personality, she'd been a hopeless romantic and was always spewing some crap about falling in love.
"You haven't even given each other a chance," the blond muttered to him, his brows furrowing. "That's a bad habit of Sakura-chan's, I know. But you… Well, you're an Uchiha. I guess that sort of explains it all."
Sasuke scowled.
"First there was Gaara. Sakura-chan thought he was a troublemaker and didn't want to waste her time on him. She didn't want to acknowledge that he was my friend and instead blindly followed you. Since you hated Gaara, Sakura-chan supposed she hated him, too. They were friends as soon as she got to know him and saw he's a great guy." Naruto paused and leaned back, looking up into the grey sky. "Then there was Rock Lee. She didn't like him at all. Not only because of his obsessive crush on her and his need to protect her, but also his appearance. Sakura-chan refused to be friends with somebody who had eyebrows as big as he does."
Sasuke's scowl deepened. Why was Naruto trying to make her sound like a shitty person, with a shitty personality? Sakura wasn't like that at all.
"But because Lee's persistent, because he can take a few insults without batting an eye, they eventually became friends. He got under her skin just like Gaara did."
Rock Lee was… Sasuke thought back on the faces he knew. Vaguely, he could recall Hyuuga Neji being friends with a guy called Rock Lee. They were in the year above them, though, so had obviously left school now considering this was Sasuke's last year.
"I'm not sure how she became friends with Hinata, though," Naruto said after a minute or so of thinking about it. "All I know is that Hinata has anxiety problems that make her stutter and nervous and–"
"And anxious." Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"Yeah! And I think Sakura-chan said that Hinata sometimes has fainting spells if she gets overly anxious. That or some kind of attack." Shrugging, he then said in a much quieter voice, "I think they're all the friends Sakura-chan has. Not including me, of course."
That was… Only three friends? But… Inwardly, Sasuke frowned. When he'd been friends with Sakura, she was like a social butterfly. Always so kind and friendly with so many people drawing towards her because of that personality. Sure, her anger had probably put quite a few people off, but not everybody would have been that uncertain of her. What about Yamanaka Ino? She and Ino had been best friends for years! Was Sakura no longer friends with her?
Then again, Ino was a little… unusual, nowadays. Too much drama had gotten to her head, Sasuke presumed. Like Sakura, Ino no longer followed him around as one of his many persistent fan-girls (it was immediately after he'd told Sakura to get lost, most likely realising that he wasn't as great as she'd thought he was). No, she instead stuck rather close to Sai, who was held back a year for some reason (none of them really knew why, although Sasuke had a feeling it was due to his inability to interact like the rest of them). Ino was now one of those girls who had all their hair in their face and wore heavy eye makeup and lipstick. Like Sai always wore black, she always wore purple. There was also a look in her eyes when she stared you straight in the eye, like she knew exactly what you were thinking, even if you weren't fully aware of that fact yourself.
No. Sasuke inwardly chided himself. This was why it had been boring when Naruto left, but also good. When with Naruto, his mind had an awful habit of doing its own thing. For example, coming up with absurd things such as Ino's apparent ability to read minds.
Anyway! What had he been thinking about?
Ah. Sakura and her friends.
It seemed that, as well as stripping her of her 'popular' title, Sakura's anger had also played a part in people avoiding her. It was true that nobody wanted to be seen with a reject, with somebody who was once fairly close to Uchiha Sasuke, only to be thrown away when she proved to be useless, but also, nobody wanted to hang around with a girl who clearly had some unresolved anger issues.
He hid his frown.
She really needed to work on that anger of hers.
Sasuke was still able to fully remember the feeling of her slap, of having his head snapping harshly to the side, of almost losing his damn balance, and a horrible, bright red mark was left on his face for hours. That red mark soon faded and thankfully, there was no bruising. It still hurt, though. Not that he'd admit it out loud, but to himself, Sasuke would admit that the slap hurt. Enough so that his cheek had still been throbbing the day after.
"You kissed her."
His eyes immediately met Naruto's, widening a fraction as they did so. Could the idiot read his mind now or something?
Naruto leaned forward with a knowing smirk, one that only continued to grow wider with his next words. "Uchiha Sasuke kissed Haruno Sakura!"
"Shut up."
"You kissed Sakura-chan!"
"Shut up, Naruto!"
The smirk slipped away and Naruto tilted his head to the side, frowning at Sasuke. "Do you regret it? I mean, if she didn't slap you and actually kissed you back, would you regret it?"
He refused to answer. Instead he stared Naruto down until the blond sighed.
"Just tell me one thing."
Reluctantly, Sasuke nodded once, already knowing that he was going to regret it.
"Would you fight for Sakura-chan?"
"Naruto–"
"Forget the whole Avenger–S and Fall–of–the–Blossom mess – or whatever the hell it actually is. Admit it! You guys managed to have real conversations, where you actually connected and shit." Once more, Sasuke reluctantly nodded. "And you enjoyed those conversations." Again, he nodded. "Sakura-chan's… Yeah, she's scary and has really bad anger sometimes, but… She's still Sakura-chan. She's still the girl you hurt. She still has that big heart. The one you broke. Twice."
This time, Sasuke shook his head and finally broke eye contact, instead choosing to look at absolutely nothing. Other than themselves, there weren't too many other students outdoors and it was mostly due to the weather. It was only a bit chilly, but the grey sky was enough to make them stay indoors just in case rain began to lash down on them. There were a few others like himself and Naruto, though. They stayed away, however, choosing to stand in their own groups and leaving the two of them alone.
When Naruto didn't continue, the Uchiha took the chance of looking at him, only to wish almost instantly that he hadn't. It was rare when the blond was being serious, when he had that pained, serious look in his blue eyes. It was the sort of look that made you feel like a terrible excuse of a human being if you argued with him, because for some reason, when he had that look in his eyes, Naruto was never wrong.
That thought was secretly terrifying.
"She cried for hours, you know," he muttered and the look in his blue eyes pinned Sasuke, refusing to break eye contact. "Both times. When she was twelve years old and only four days ago. Well, I think she cried a hell of a lot more when she was twelve, but it only shows that she's hardened, right?" He received no answer, prompting him to continue. "Look, Sasuke. You're my best friend, but so is Sakura-chan. And she's hurting so much right now and it's killing me that there's nothing I can do about it. I get that you didn't mean to hurt her this time, but that doesn't change the fact that she is hurting."
He narrowed his eyes to the point of them being near slits and when he spoke again, his voice had a shake to it, absolutely stunning Sasuke. "Hinata and I tried to calm her down, but she couldn't even get up the stairs by herself. We had to help her up them and from there, things only got worse. She couldn't open the door. Couldn't take her own shoes off. Hinata had to do all of that for her. The only thing Sakura-chan could do, was run to her mom like she was just a kid. A lonely kid who's just had her heart broken again by the same guy. And after that, she just… All she could do was lay there." Naruto shook his head slowly, appearing distressed. "I'd take Sakura-chan's violent and explosive anger over that state I saw her in any day."
It took a lot to try and disguise the hard lump he swallowed.
He'd done that to Sakura? To Fall–of–the–Blossom?
No. They were the same person.
"You broke her heart twice, Sasuke." Naruto narrowed his eyes once more. "Now, you're going to fix it, even if it kills you." There was still a bit of Naruto in there, for he suddenly smirked. "And it probably will – well, Sakura-chan probably will. You just have to be persistent!"
Fight for her.
Fight for her.
"You have to get to know her again! I swear, Sasuke, Sakura-chan's a really good person when you get to know her. She really cares! All you have to do is…"
Sasuke tuned him out, thinking back on all the things he knew about Haruno Sakura, using all the information he acquired while speaking to her when she was Fall–of–the–Blossom. What could he do to make her speak with him, or to just hear him out? Talking to her over instant messenger was no use, for she could simply block or delete him from her contacts – or at the very least, ignore him. It also wouldn't be sincere enough for a girl who was as hopeless a romantic as Sakura was. There was also no use in approaching her in person, considering her reaction earlier.
What could–
His eyes widened as an idea struck him.
There was something Sakura couldn't resist, something that made her so unbelievably angry that she had to get involved.
It was risky, but…
He had a plan.
A/N - You're all amazing. Seventeen reviews for the last chapter? Wow. Thank you all so much!
Like some of you suggested, I spoke to my mum about feeling stressed and she said she's noticed that I haven't been eating as much and that she's been keeping an eye on what I do eat. Apparently, if it got to a really worrying stage, she was going to speak with college about possibly allowing me a few days off, just until I'm feeling less stressed. She seemed glad that I spoke with her about it, too.
Also, since I went back today, me and my friend joined a few things at college where we can catch up on work with the tutors there, so they can help us if we're stuck on anything. According to them, they hadn't even realised I was stressed since I'm doing so well with my work. For my finance, ICT and enterprise, I'm doing really well, so all I really have to worry about is my maths and making sure I keep my grade by revising more and asking for help when I need it.
Good luck to the people who said they have exams this week! I'm not sure if it was this story or B,B&H, but for the people who said it's their birthdays on Friday and Monday, happy birthday!
Again, thank you all for your kind reviews and messages! They really mean a lot to me and I'm very grateful for all the tips and advice you left for me.
All of you should go and watch this (/watch?v=8Tc7MH5ZXbg)! I feel like it describes me so accurately hahaha!
