Yo-ho-ho! (sorry...bad pun!) Merry Christmas everyone either way! Here's the next chapter! Tis a bit longer and goes into morer saisaku as requested ;) lol! But it does jump around a bit...i apologise! I do write other fan fics so be sure to check 'em out when i get around to typing and posting them! Anyways! Enjoy!
CHAPTER SIX - DO YOU LOVE ME?
"Ok. My room, bathroom, kitchen, your room." Sakura said pointing to each individual door in the dark cream walls. "I'm usually up early so I can wake you if you need me to. There should be everything you need in th-your room…"
"I'll be fine. Eh…Thanks." he replied emotionless as always, looking around the main living room they were standing in. The place was surprisingly big and open and it seemed that Sakura had done a lot to make it her own. Soft chairs dotted the room and a large bookshelf stood in one corner stocked almost to the fill with medical books but still made way for several handsomely framed photos. One showed Sakura along with the other Konoha kunoichi and Temari, it was relatively recent too, they mustn't have been any younger than sixteen; and Sasuke couldn't help but notice how forced Sakura's smile seemed.
Another of the photo's showed Sakura and Naruto, both smiling. Naruto with a grin so signature and redundant, Sasuke couldn't believe how it still had any effect at all. He had his arm around Sakura and appeared to be the one holding the camera. Sakura's own smile seemed far more natural this time but pain was reflected in both her and Naruto's eyes. Had he meant that much to them?
The final photo was of Sakura, Naruto and Sai atop what appeared to be Konoha hospital where he and Naruto had once fought. Sakura stood in the middle with the two boys on either side. It seemed quite recent; perhaps not even weeks old. All were smiling, Sakura's seeming 100 true; Naruto also. He, again, had his arm around Sakura and seemed to be the one holding the camera. Sakura was leaning slightly towards Sai who was doing the same to her, smiling in his mysterious way.
"Good night, Sasuke." Sakura called from her door before closing it and gratefully, blotting Sasuke from view for at least a few hours.
Sasuke walked toward his new room and opened the door, stepping into what would be his home for god knows how long. The walls were painted a light blue and the bed was dressed to match. In one corner pushed up against the wall was a dark wood desk; upon it stood a lamp and a small potted plant. But there was something else…another picture frame lying face down. Sasuke walked over to the low surface and picked it up. His twelve-year-old self stared indignantly up at him, along with a giggling Sakura, happy to be near him, and Naruto, glaring at him, as usual. Kakashi stood behind the three genin smiling widely behind his mask, proud. That had been taken right after they had passed the bell test. He smiled involuntarily, almost scaring himself, and placed it upright on the small side table beside the bed before climbing onto it and lying flat his back, still fully dressed. He had changed out of his Sound nin attire as soon as he entered his black, empty home. Sakura had remained outside in the yard, not wanting to intrude. He almost wished she wasn't so polite; the air inside the house was heavy with dust and the and the despair that still remained even after so many years had passed. Though there was no physical evidence of it, the stench of death clung to the manor, not wanting to leave its post as a painful reminder for the last remaining Uchiha. For the first time, in he didn't know how long, he longed for company. If he had been anyone else he would have asked Sakura to go with him, but he wasn't anyone else, he was as forcefully solitary as always and hurried to his old room, passing the undisturbed door of his parents room.
The door to his room protested loudly as he opened it, and he walked in leaving clear tracks in the dust behind him. Routing through his old things he soon realised that most of the items were now ridiculously small. He sighed. 'Damn. Just what I didn't want to have to do!' He stood up and walked out into the hallway again closing the reluctant door behind him. He ran a surprisingly caring hand across his parents partially opened door as he passed. He had left it exactly the way he had found it when he returned to his home when he was eight. He walked farther back down the hall to a room he was surprised he hadn't burned or ripped apart. Itachi's old room was meticulously clean…even the dust seemed more in order.
Sakura watched Sasuke walk out of the house, dressed a lot more like his old self. Loose black shirt and loose black pants; hands in his pockets as they always had been.
"You ready?" she asked so softly he couldn't tell if she was trying to be nice or just uncomfortable.
"Yeah. Let's go."
Sasuke turned on his side and sighed deeply; he felt filthy just wearing Itachi's clothes. He couldn't stand it. Standing up he grabbed a towel out of the ominous chest of drawers in the corner and marched to the bathroom.
"Damn Itachi…" he whispered as he closed the door overly loudly.
"Damn Itachi." he said turning the handle of the shower.
"Damn Itachi." he said stepping under the stream of hot water
Sakura lay awake on her bed; eyes wide open and focused directly on the ceiling. She heard Sasuke slam the door and say something that came out only as a murmur to her. She scared herself, realising that she didn't find it strange that he was talking to himself.
'Maybe 'cause you talk to yourself so much…'
'Waddya mean?'
'Need I say more?'
'Fair point…' she digressed rolling over onto her side in an unconscious attempt to turn away from her inner self.
The white light poured in through the wide window, stinging Sasuke's sleeping eyes. A smell seeped through the door he had left slightly open the night before. It met his nose with hungered satisfaction, drawing him up from where he lay and out into the kitchen. Sakura stood stooped over the stove poking at something in a pan upon it.
"Morning, Sasuke." she said without turning around.
"Morning."
"Want some breakfast?" she chirped; a surprising morning person. "Pancakes!"
"Sure…thanks."
She passed him a plate of pancakes as he sat down at the small four-seated table. "Do you want anything with that? I know you hate sweet things but there's fruit and stuff in the fridge if you want it."
"I'm ok, thanks." he said, and a small pang of guilt washed over him. She remembered things about him, stupid little things, that mattered, but things that he hadn't even bothered to find out about her.
"Sasuke?" she asked, cocking her head to one side cutely, noticing the strange look on his face. "You ok?"
"Yeah." he said shaking it off. "Itikimimasu."
"Mm!" she smiled, nodding her head and turned around to the stove again.
"So, Sasuke-kun!" said an over-enthusiastic Iruka "Since the years worked out like they did…the only job in the academy at the moment is leading a group of genins! I already talked to Tsunade about it and she thinks it's fine seeing as you won't be going on any missions above C-class!"
Sasuke nodded, still hating the waste of his obvious skill.
"We're dividing the groups of genin up today so you'll have to wait around a bit, probably about an hour. Where do you want to meet your team?"
"Atop Konoha Hospital."
"Yosh! See you, Sasuke-kun!" said the eccentric man, running off to organise his students.
"You have gotta be kidding me!" Sasuke grumbled under his breath as he sped off the direction of Konoha Hospital. "Damn brats!"
He stood, arms folded, head down and eyes closed in deep thought. He leaned slightly against a lamp-post and had one leg crossed over the other.
"Ohiyo, Sasuke!"
He jumped slightly having not noticed the appearance of another''s chakra. 'Nani?' he thought turning around. The voice was to old to be his genin. "Ohiyo." he said seeing who it was. "What are you doing here?"
"On my break." smiled the pink haired kunoichi. "It's 10.30, why are you here? You never skive off."
"Waiting on my team…" he said, hating have to say that still.
"Well, they should be here soon, they don't keep 'em too long." Sakura smiled again and sat down next to where he stood, throwing her legs over the edge of the building. She closed her eyes, enjoying how the spring air rustled through her pink locks. She was beautiful. He closed his eyes and took a deep heaving breath, he so badly wanted to say something to her. But what? He was an emotional retard at this stage.
"Sasuke-sensei?"
'Oh no.'
Sakura looked up at him and smiled. "Looks like your genin are here. I'll leave you to it." She stood up and took a few steps toward the door. "Oh, and Sasuke? I'm meeting Sai-kun and Naruto later so I'll be back late, but there's food in the house. Just help yourself."
He nodded, trying to hide his shock. What just happened!? She had said something that hurt him. Damn it, why had it hurt him?!
Sai-kun.
'Oh no.' he thought again.
He looked at his genin, small, stupid and undoubtedly annoying. Two boys and one girl, the usual. The girl had a dreamy look in her brown blue eyes, framed by short locks of straight brown hair. One of the boys had unruly blonde hair and determined blue eyes. The other, spiky black hair and dark eyes, and seemed to be as equally determined as the blonde. A copy of the original Team 7.
"So." he said crossing his arms "Tell me about yourselves. Names, loves, hates, aspirations."
"Kimini Shoji." spoke the dark haired boy, as Sasuke pointed at him. "I don't love many things and I hate a lot of things and my aspiration is to better you…"
Pushing back the flaps of cloth, Sakura stepped inside the wood-panelled Ramen shop. "Hey, Sakura-chan!" exclaimed Naruto, spotting her. "Hey, Naruto!" she smiled. "Hey, Sai." She looked over at her still friend who grunted a response, his eyes remaining closed. She sat down between the two, which seemed to be her unsaid, official position.
"Ramen for the pretty lady?" asked Ichira teasingly (I think that's the dudes name! lol), talking more to Naruto more than Sakura. Naruto nodded, unable to talk with his mouthful of food.
"No, no. I'm fine." she smiled sheepishly, hands up in front of her as if in defence. Ichira frowned but continued on serving his other customers.
"Are you not eating either, Sai?"
"Not hungry." he said opening one eye slightly and giving her a small smile. She opened her mouth to ask a question that had been burning away in the back of her min all day but a loud yell from Naruto cut across her.
"Hinata-chaaaaaaan!"
He stood up suddenly and ran after the undoubtedly red-faced girl. "I wonder what that's all about." she giggled, knowing perfectly well what it was about "Poor girl.".
"Waddya mean, 'poor girl'? Poor us! That hurt!" said Sai clutching his ear. "He needs to learn how to be quiet!"
"I know." she laughed handing in some money for Naruto's food. "Is there much point in staying here?"
Sai stood up with a shake of his head. He stood with his hands in his pockets waiting for her. "Wanna go on a walk?"
'What are we? A dog?'
'Shut up!' she thought furiously. "I'd love to."
She walked beside Sai, hands clasped behind her back. Both his hands were in his pockets and he was looking away from her but in no other manner than innocent disregard. Sakura looked at the ground, never finding it more interesting than just then. The silence was truly deafening.
'It meant nothing to him…I knew it.'
'You sure can pick 'em. The first one abandoned you now it's the emotionless one who only does things because he reads them in books. Nice.'
'And of course you have nothing to do with this…?'
'Nope! '
'I hate you.'
'No shit!'
"Eh, Sai?" He turned to her without a word, but raised a questioning eyebrow. "This is my house…so I'm gonna go inside…so g'night." she smiled awkwardly and turned into the porch. She fumbled for a moment, trying to find her evasive keys when she felt a strong hand on her arm. It spun her around roughly and feverish lips met hers with increasing earnest. The same strong hands that had grabbed her, cupped her face and wound around her waist as before, pulling her closer. Sai couldn't get close enough. He pressed her smaller frame up against the wall of the porch and kissed her deeply, not even bothering to wait for her to allow his tongue entrance. He knew she would comply anyway.
"Sai…" she whispered breathlessly as he pulled away. She smiled up at him. "Sai…I…"
"I love you." he blurted out in a hasty whisper. She smiled again, not only at his words but at the amusement of seeing Sai…nervous? "Sakura…I've loved you for a long time. I do not even know if I'm using the right words. But I do know you make me feel. You made me smile for the first time…so tell me, do I love you? And do you love me?"
"I love you, Sai." she said holding a caring hand up to his pale face. "And I can only hope you love me." He leaned his head down to hers, resting his forehead against hers as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for another awe inspiring kiss.
Hey-yo! Snappy and abrupt ending I know but this is quite the slow story and I didn't want to drag it out too much! Lol! A 'lil bit of onesided sasusaku in the next chapter I think so there is something to look forward to! Heehee! Thanks again to my reviewers and readers! Love ya all! R&R! xx
