That Porcelain Smile
Chapter 7
A/N: Hiya readers! How are you all doing this fine day?
Readers: HOW DARE YOU FORGET US FOR SO LONG!!!!!
Amori: -gulp- hey now, at least I'm updating!
Readers: NO EXCUSES! YOU TAKE FOREVER!
Amori: ehhhhhehhhhhhh well that's because I'm coming up with so many better ideas for the story?
Readers: YEA RIGHT! WE KNOW THAT YOU MAKE THE WHOLE STORY UP AS YOU GO ALONG! DON'T LIE TO US!"
Amori: oookay, put the pitchforks and torches down. I promise to be mildly better at updating.
Readers: YOU HAD BETTER! HUMPH!
Sorry guys. I has been on hiatus for ever b/c I have kinda lost my muse until lately. I was super busy with my job and school. That's all changed now though! I've quit my job to be able to update better! Not really but be glad because that comes as part of the package!
I don't own Naruto and co in any way, shape, or form except plushie.
Italics mean either thoughts, letters, or dream sequences. Bold italics are inner Sakura.
CHAPTER 7: The Things Left Unsaid
Sakura soaked in her bath with a sigh of relief. The day had gone by gently after all the mayhem of arriving. After Sai and her had broken the news to the others, except Naruto (who still doesn't get it) they had went out for dinner. It was a pleasant evening out with Sai…and everyone else. Apparently the gang decided to join their date. It was…interesting.
Kiba and Naruto had started a bet over who could eat the most ramen in an hour and Ino kept saying how she was going to surpass Sakura in the medical field. Sakura always knew Ino had been taken in as Tsunade's third apprentice, but knew that Ino was never going to beat her. Sakura would make sure of it.
Sai and Naruto got into another argument. Sai calling Naruto 'dickless' and Naruto trying to beat up Sai. Kurenai and Kakashi were talking about their futures and whether or not Kakashi would be adopting her son as his own, or keeping his last name the same as Asuma's. Kakashi and Kurenai eventually decided that they would keep her son's name Sarutobi Asuma, named after his father.
After a long and high-energy dinner, Sakura parted ways with the rest of the group to go home and rest for a while. Sai walked her home, occasionally remarking or laughing at something Sakura would say. She kissed him goodnight and retired into her home.
Now here she lay, soaking in a wonderful, hot, herbal bath. "This was an eventful week." She mumbled, a smile placed delicately upon her face as she leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. A pale blush swept over her face as she realized just what happened this week. She fell in love, lost her virginity, and met up with her old crush that had apparently gone insane.
"Seriously. An eventful week." She laughed to herself and brought her head under the water, soaking her hair.
When she resurfaced, Sakura washed her hair and then decided to go to bed. After changing into her dark red pajamas, she crawled into her large bed and snuggled under the down comforter, falling asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Sakura's dreams were not near as peaceful as she'd planned. She tossed and turned in her bed, sweating with the fear she felt.
Running through the village of Konohagakure, Sakura felt her lungs scream for oxygen and tears run down her face. He was right behind her!
The world around her was just as it normally was in Konoha, except no person wandered in the street, and all the color was drained from the scenery. The only color Sakura could see was herself, Sasuke, and the red blood that flowed from Sai's heart.
Sakura had witnessed, with horror, as Sasuke shoved his sword though Sai's chest brutally. Sai crumbled to the ground, the red liquid spurting out over the three bodies. Sakura screamed in horror as she felt his blood on her face, running as far and fast as she could from Sasuke.
"Sakura..." Sasuke's voice echoed through her mind, shaking her to the core. "It's no use. He's gone. They're all gone. This is your fault, you know." He chuckled darkly. "NO!" Sakura whirled around on her heel, fear forgotten, and anger seeping out of her as if, like Naruto, the kyuubi's chakra were rolling off of her. She snarled at him and whipped out a kunai.
She screamed at him, "No more of your selfish lies! You did this! Not me! If you had loved me then, if you hadn't have left me! Everything comes down to you, Sasuke! You are the center of the universe," she laughed cynically, "GET OVER YOURSELF! If it isn't about you, you make it about you! You can't STAND it when someone else is happy, can you? Do you think 'if I can't be happy, no one can'? I WILL NOT TAKE IT ANYMORE!" She lunged at him, kunai held out in a sword-like fashion.
Before her kunai touched him, he grabbed her wrist and twisted it, causing her to fall to her knees in front of him, her back to him and he smirked. "You just don't know the half of it." With that she felt his arms wrap around her from behind, and then a sudden, sharp, horrible pain in her chest caused her looked down.
His blade had been run through the both of them, straight through their hearts. He smiled, blood trickling from his mouth and kissed her cheek, before whispering softly, "Our hearts are one. When I die, you will die. We are connected, you and I."
Sakura sat up with speed only a shinobi could posses, screaming. Panting, she turned on the side lamp and stared down at her hands before burying her face in them, tears flowing freely. She'd never dreamed such a frightful and worrying dream before.
Try as she might, Sakura couldn't seem to fall back asleep again, and dressed for the day. She made breakfast and decided to clean the house as it was only 4 A.M.
She had just started mopping the floor when a subtle knock on her door caught her attention. She opened the door and saw, on the welcome mat, a brown envelope with her name one it. Obviously whoever left it knew she was awake. Sakura looked around sharply before shutting the door and locking it before opening the letter in her hand.
"Our hearts are one. When I die, you will die. We are connected, you and I. Don't forget this, Cherry Blossom. I will be watching you."
Sakura felt her heart slamming in her chest as she read the words. It was from Sasuke, there was no doubt. "So it wasn't a dream…" Something about her whispering that sentence to the empty room around her made her shiver with fear.
Should she tell the Hokage? Sai? Naruto? No, he'll be watching her and now she had no doubt that he had cast an unbelievably strong jutsu on her. He could kill her by killing himself.
She slid to the floor, and felt tears come to her eyes. "Why me?" She whispered. This was just impossible. There was another sharp knock at her door, and Sakura jumped nearly out of her skin. Carefully, she withdrew a kunai and held it behind her back as she peeked through the peephole and relaxed instantly when she saw the covered face and crinkled eye smiling at her through the door.
"Ohayo-gozimasu, Kakashi-sensei, do come in." Sakura let him in after storing her weapon safely on her thigh. "Ohayo Sakura. I came to see how you were this fine morning."
The pink haired girl in question raised an eyebrow doubtfully. He never just stopped by to chat. His apartment was on the other side of the village, after all, and he was so lazy. There had to be a reason he stopped by, and his exposed eye didn't hold the happy light as it normally did.
"What's wrong?" She asked as soon as she had shut the door, relocking it. "Ah, well Sakura you're as sharp as ever." He dropped the fake smile he held and sighed sadly. "It appears that…" He sighed and sat down on the love seat in her living room and held his hand out in a gesture that told her she should sit down and she complied, not liking the look or aura he was emitting. "Sakura your parents…they were killed last night by one of the Akatsuki."
Something deep inside her broke. She felt the world around her turn completely black and break away like a mirror that was shattered. Her face was stoic as the weight of his words fell on her shoulders and began choking her as if two pale hands, cold as death itself, wrapped the boney fingers around her neck and squeezed. She blinked as took a deep breath. She found it hurt to breath, but she stood up and nodded. "Thank you, Kakashi-sensei for telling me. I'd…I'd like some time alone please."
The white-haired ninja nodded solemnly and stood, too, taking one last worried look at Sakura, who smiled and shook her head. "Don't worry." He nodded again and left.
She didn't know how long she had just stood there, drinking in the reality, before she just couldn't take it anymore and pulled on her shoes. She was determined to get away from home, and she took to the roofs.
Once she arrived at her destination, she dropped from the trees and glided across the field to the small swing set. The sky was clouded and heavy and Sakura found it fitting for her mood. She sat down on the small, blue plastic swing and let herself sway back and forth as she stared at her feet.
He didn't know how long she'd sat there, but the sight made Sai feel as if the world itself were dead around him. He walked across to where the girl sat, and stood behind her a moment before he spoke. "There you are." He hated that even his voice held sympathy. All she would hear for a long time when people spoke to her was sympathy. Her head snapped up in surprise before she turned and looked at him with dull green eyes.
"I'm sorry." She said, sniffling and wiping her eyes. Sai didn't know what to say, or do, but he felt compelled to hold her, so he did. Sakura's eyes widened as his arms came down around her and he pulled her close to himself. Not a word was said, but in that time Sakura felt safe for the moment.
It was that safety that she felt which allowed her to finally break the wall in her heart and let the tears flow freely. Sai loved her, and he was there for her. She felt her body shake with every sob, racking breath, and tear that escaped her. After a few minutes, the crying got worse and she clutched Sai's shirt and screamed. She screamed out the pain, the sadness, and the hurt and Sai just continued to rub her back and whisper sweet nothings to her.
When the crying lessened and she found she could speak again, she told him something she regretted not saying. "I fought with my parents before I left with you. They were saying I shouldn't have become a kunoichi, that they were let down by the way I lived. I said I hated them and that the only redeeming quality from them was that they still let me become one. I told them I was better off orphaned, so that I could finally feel how the rest of my team felt, and be there for them more. I…I told them I hated them…I'm an awful daughter and now they're gone! Forever!" Sakura began sobbing again and Sai held her tightly.
"Forgive me, Sakura, but do you not think that they were just angry? If you ask my opinion, I would say that they just worried about you and wanted you to be safe. It is in my experience that people sometimes try to say one thing, but it comes out in an offensive way. I believe, Sakura, that you're parents were proud of you. Maybe you were telling them in your own way, or trying to, that you appriciate their worry and that you love them?"
Sakura felt the tears well up again and she snuggled her face closer to his chest. "I wish I could tell them I'm sorry…That I love them…"
Sai got an idea and grinned. "But you can!" With that statement, he grabbed her hand and in a flash of black smoke, disappeared only to reappeare in the market.
Sai ran over to one of the vendors and purchased a large, helium balloon. Before Sakura could ask, he grabbed her hand again and they were back in the field.
"Here, write what it is you need to say to your parents to get the closure you need on the balloon!" He tossed her his ink brush and the quell of ink. She blinked but did as she was told. Mom, Dad, I'm sorry about saying such awful things. I love you, I appriciate your concern and I will always miss you.
"Now!" Sai pulled her close and looked to the sky. "If you're parents are in heaven, then you should send your farewell wishes to them! Let go of the balloon, and your sadness, and watch as your message floats to them. Guided by your love and devotion to them!" Sakura laughed at Sai's childishness, but as she released the air-filled plastic, it was like a huge weight was floating up with it.
Sakura turned to Sai and smiled through her tears. "Thank you Sai. You are wonderful." She leaned up and kissed him. Sai wrapped his arms around her small frame and smiled. "I'm just happy to see you not sad anymore. You're ugly when you cry like that."
The rest of Sai's day included being in a Sakura-induced coma for thirteen hours.
END OF THIS CHAPTER!
Sorry it's so short pplz but I updated and this was suuuuuch a sad chapter for me!!!!!!! sniffles
Next chapter will answer any "wtf with sasuke" questions, promise.
Until next time: REVIEWDAMNIT!
-Amori :D
