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Author: xWrittenInBlood
The most amazing Beta: Destroyed Illusions
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"Since we've always been together
the space between us has become too big"
Yura Yura (Translated Version) - Hearts Grow.
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Chapter Seven.
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There was nothing harder than this.
Than that numbing feeling spreading through your whole entire body. Even to the tips of your toes.
It's still there, and your heart is set racing, thumping so loudly in your chest that you think everyone can hear it.
Thump, thump, th-thump -
And yet, no matter how hard you try to calm yourself..
Thump! Thump! Thump! -
It just doesn't work.
- THUMP!
She squeezed her eyes closed.
The pain is everywhere, it's not numb anymore.
But she wished it was.
A tear escaped the corner of her green eyes, a trail of black mascara following.
She looked at the grave.
Kin Haruno.
I'm so sorry.
Died September 26.
I'm so, so sorry.
Loving mother, dedicated worker.
Because after all -
She fell on the ground, the dampness seeping through her black jeans. She rested her arms on the grave stone, trying to hug her
mother's memory.
-This was her fault.
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Neji was not blind.
He could see Sakura growing close to the Uchiha.
No, he wasn't blind. He let it happen. Although it killed him, tore everything he had inside of him to tiny sharp, shards. Too tiny to pick up, but enough to leave a scar from piercing his skin.
He hated the Uchiha for what he was doing.
First Shikamaru.. Now Sakura.
He eyed the large bottle, mentally counting all the little white pills it held.
He poured them into his pale hand.
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Suigetsu was always the happy one.
He smiled wide, always showing his sharp teeth.
He loved seeing the terrified looks people gave him.
Call him evil if you must, but it was just so fun to watch those full grown men cower back and avoid his path.
He just felt so powerful.
There was only one person that held something over him.
His ex-girlfriend.
Karin.
Ex was supposed to symbolise the end of their relationship.
That they no longer held feelings for one another.
But that wasn't true. He knew she still loved him.
And Suigetsu would never stop loving her.
But they had to end it, for their own good. He was moving. And she wouldn't be able to follow.
It was for her.
And he was too blind to see that she loved him so much, she didn't want to let him go.
So he let her go, instead.
Oh, shit. School was coming into his view. He pulled out of his thoughts, slapping that fake happy-go-lucky smile on his face..
And he walked through the school like he was the king of the world.
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"I don't see why you're so caught up in this, Shika-kun." Shikamaru winced as Ino called him Shika, though it went unnoticed by her.
'Shika' was reserved for Sakura only. How had he missed that? It just felt.. wrong when someone else said it.
Even if it was Ino.
"It's nothing, Ino. Don't wory about it." He reassured her, looking out to his shadow. It stretched as he lifted his hand, bending to his will.
He wanted to laugh at all the memories he had with his shadow.
It sounded so stupid now that he thought about it. But he and Sakura used to play Shadow Tag. She would sprint, her lithe body cutting through the wind, and stomp on his shadow, before turning and sprinting toward a shaded area where he could not locate her shadow.
"Shika-kun?" Ino looked at him with curious cerulean eyes. "Why are you laughing?"
He couldn't stop laughing.
Because if he did, he would more than likely break down.
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"Mother?" Sasuke called. He recevied no reply.
"Mother?" He repeated his previous actions, moving through the rooms of the house. He just couldn't find her.
He stopped, and strained his ears to listen.
He could hear sobs. Not feminine sobs, but deep, throaty, broken sobs.
"Mother?" He was worried now. Especially if it was Itachi crying. Something in his gut told him it was.
He raced up the stairs faster than he ever thought possible, and threw the door to his parent's bedroom open.
He was not, in any way, ready for the scene that met him on the other side.
His father.. No, he couldn't call him that. Not anymore. Fugaku stood a distance away from Itachi and Mikoto. He held a small gun in his right hand.
Mikoto lay on the ground, Itachi holding her shaking form.
"Why?" He screamed at Fugaku. "Why would you kill mother?" Itachi only held her closer, burying his face in her hair. "Please don't go, okaa-san. Stay, I need you. Sasuke needs you.."
Fugaku said nothing. His face as white as a sheet. He shook, his mouth hanging open like he was gasping for air.
Sasuke ignored him, he fell to his mother's side. Itachi glanced up at him worriedly, but Sasuke shook it off.
"Sasuke-chan.." Mikoto smiled. It was a genuine smile. She reached out, brushing his dark hair out of his eyes. "I love you, Sasuke-chan."
She kept smiling. "I wanted you to know." She closed her eyes, her breath becoming more ragged.
"Mom, you can't go yet. You said we would be a family again. You can't just leave, not now!" Sasuke whispered loudly.
"I'm sorry, my son." She cracked an eye open at Itachi. "My two sons." She smiled again. "Know that I will always love you."
Her breathing had stopped now. And the silence was all too much.
Sasuke broke down, Itachi didn't know how to comfort him.
After all, how would you comfort your younger brother you supposedly hated? He did it anyway.
Itachi moved to grab Sasuke, pulling him into an embrace. The younger Uchiha sobbed, his tears staining Itachi's grey shirt.
The gun threw another round from the barrel. A loud bang echoing through the house. Followed by a thud.
Without looking they both knew.
Fugaku was no more.
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"Life isn't fair, Sasuke." Suigetsu placed a hand on his shoulder. Sasuke remained still, looking down at the floor. It was suddenly so
interesting. So much more interesting than Kakashi-sensei's lecture.
Suigetsu removed the limb from Sasuke, pulling it back to his side.
Sasuke, still unmoving, stared at the floor.
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Red.
It was quickly becoming his favourite color.
He couldn't help it, it just looked so.. alluring. The way it seeped through is skin, dripped down his arm, falling from his fingers onto the
hard, moist ground.
"You could say something, you know." Sasuke called out. He knew she was there.
Sakura turned to look at him from her swing.
She shrugged, "There are times when sympathetic words only make it worse."
Sasuke stared at her for a long while. "Why.." He paused, looking for the right words to say. "Why do you not seem surprised?" He held his freshly cut arm to her.
He had expected her to push his arm away. To look away in disgust.
But she didn't.
She just sighed, removing her black tank top, revealing a grey strapless top underneath. She bit into the material of the tank, tearing a long shred. She grabbed Sasuke's arm, wrapping the wound in the clothing.
He couldn't form words. He was too stunned. He hadn't expected her to show such affection.
Finally tying the make-shift bandage tight, she slung the now ripped tank top over her shoulder.
That wasn't the end of it.
She pulled off her long black fingerless gloves, removing the jelly bracelets and any other jewellery adorning her arms.
He watched her arms closely , eyeing all the scars that littered the fine porcelain. They went in every direction. Horizontal, vertical, diagonal. Words were carved in. Fat, ugly, forehead, hate.
His heart was frozen in place.
"You.." But his voice was gone. "You.." He was stuck on repeat.
She nodded. Her voice soft, "Tried to kill myself. Cut myself. Yes, I did."
"But.. Why?"
She just shook her head.
"The pain of being alone is not an easy one to bear." She pulled on her gloves and bracelets. Turning her head away from him and up to the sky. It was strange, but she couldn't meet his eyes. "But, I feel I can relate to yours. I already have a precious person," This time she met his eyes. They seemed so cold and hollow. They had his breath caught in his throat. "..Yet, you're becoming one of them." She closed her eyes.
He felt like he should be dancing for joy. He was one of her precious people? He blushed heavily, his heart hammering. He was sure it was going to shut down from the stop-go, stop-go, sprint it was doing.
"There may not be a meaning to life." She started again.
He finished her sentence, "But we can find one." He held his hand out to her.
She hesitated, before slowly putting her hand in his.
This time, the smile couldn't keep from his face. A small one on her own.
"Thank you.. Sasuke."
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Neji couldn't help the pain he felt ripping through his entire body.
He didn't know whether it was because he was losing his last friend, his best friend the same way he had lost one already. Or if it was some dark psychosis spreading through his body.
He closed his eyes tightly.
It seemed everybody was abandoning him these days.
An empty, broken smile placed itself on his lips.
He took out a piece of paper from his pocket.
'Today I will jump off of the bridge and end my life. If she stops me.. I will stop myself.'
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Gah, last chapter I wrote 'Chapter 5' Instead of 6!
I'm a loser.
Ooh, you have to leave a review, Neji's fate depends on those reviews !
