Despite my condition that I only upload a chapter when I have one or more up my sleeve has failed. After uploading the last chapter, I got around 547 views! Which, logically, sent me flying over the moon. However, that did not result in the amount of reviews I expected. I only got 4 reviews for that last chapter. So PLEASE GUYS, can we be generous?
Otherwise, I won't update. I would like at least 7 reviews :)
Anyways, prepare for way more shit to go down! Not right this second, but it's gonna build up to something BIG! So please keep reading! And a HUGE thankyou to all those who have reviewed so far! I really hope this gets like, a hundred reviews haha. I know that seems a bit much, but let's try and get it there, okay?
I though there should be some Sasuke/Sakura scenes in here (nothing like that, mind you) but something to keep the story going along. A lot more of Sasuke's memories are being revealed from now on in, so keep reading!
GOOD! Now, here you go:
Sakura was, by now, in complete and utter turmoil.
It was almost two weeks since Sasuke had arrived. All the feelings she had let go of long ago had come right back. She was always jumpy, irritable and sad. Ino pestered her constantly, knowing her sudden change had something to do with Sasuke. Ino still didn't know he was here. And Sakura was thinking it was about time to tell somebody, anybody.
Sasuke had been rather difficult—to put it lightly. He was still the same, impassive, colourless and brooding boy she'd known her whole life. Sakura was peeved and upset that Sasuke still hadn't confronted her the way she would have liked him to. Rather, he hadn't confronted her at all. They would sometimes meet each other's gaze, but that was it. Apart from confronting her prior to her date with Kiba, Sasuke hadn't said anything more to her. He just sat and watched TV, ate and slept.
Now, Sakura was getting worried. It was like there was a wall between them. Neither knew how to approach each other properly. Sakura would spend all of her free time in her room, racking her brain of how to approach him. It was so frustrating. Even though it was only February, her stress levels were through the roof. She had assignments to complete before her finals. Then, she had to study and prepare for her finals. And the gloomy weather wasn't helping to cheer her up in the least.
Ever since he had arrived, it was raining twenty-four seven. Rain battered the windows. Wind whipped through the trees. Winter was supposed to be coming to an end, but that end seemed an eternity away. For now, thunder and lightning graced the skies in a colourful display of raw power. By now, Sakura was used to the storms. No longer would she jump at a loud crack of thunder.
And if that didn't make matters worse, her parents would return home in the next few days.
Sakura sat at in her wooden chair, facing the giant mirror above her dresser table. She was brushing her hair after a long, cold day at school. The wind had been merciless, whipping anything and everything, causing her hair to knot. After ridding her long, pink locks of the last knot, she ran her fingers through it and sighed.
What was she to do?
How was she to break it to her friends that the boy that she loved, who caused her so much pain and suffering, had returned? More so, how was she to break it to her parents? More questions riddled through her mind. Did Sasuke's father know he was here? Had he sent him? Was his father here on business?
As the thoughts raced, they grew worse.
Had Sasuke run away? Did something happen that caused him to leave? Had something happened to his father? Did the company go bankrupt? If it did, then why wasn't there anything about it in the papers? And what if—
Stop.
Just… stop it, Sakura.
She breathed in, held it, and let it out in a big whoosh. She had to calm down. After all, there had to be a perfectly good reason for Sasuke to suddenly show up at her door. There had to be a perfectly logical circumstance behind his return. Something must have happened, she knew that much.
But what was it?
Sakura sighed and leaned back in the wooden chair. It creaked under the strain. She closed her eyes. There was no use putting all of her effort into why he was here. Sure, it was pretty much number one on her top priority list, but other things came first. School and family were tops. Next was friends, and maybe then Sasuke's dilemma.
The pinkette placed her hairbrush down and looked at her reflection. Her hair was frizzy from the rain, and her skin was blotchy and pale from the cold. It took a while before the heaters would heat the entire house, and upstairs was always cold.
She shivered, grabbed the hairbrush and opened the drawer. She threw the brush in and slammed it shut. She looked at the contents strewn across her dresser. Photos of her and Naruto, her and Ino, her and Kiba and her and Hinata were stuck in every frame and over every bare surface.
She remembers how much of her life had depended on Sasuke. About ninety-nine percent of the photos she owned were of her and him; from the first day they became friends to the most recent taken before his departure. The hurt formed a pinch in her chest. The day after she tore all the photos down from her walls and dresser, she desperately wanted to re-pin them up. Ino had come over the next day to comfort her after being called by Sakura's mom.
Ino had found Sakura lying in bed, consumed in her bedcovers, sobbing lightly. Her gaze fixated out the window. It was raining.
And Ino had spotted the pile of photos stacked up on her dresser. Sakura could tell that hurt pinched inside of Ino's chest too. She knew all too well how she felt for Sasuke. She hated seeing her best friend hurt. She hated it even more when she saw her sobbing pitifully in bed.
Sakura remembers she wouldn't speak that day. So, Ino had left Sakura to her quiet sobbing and inner turmoil. Sakura knew Ino was desperate to help, but she had absolutely no clue as to how to approach her. She felt as if Sakura was a ticking time bomb waiting to explode at any given moment.
A few days later, Ino came by again to check up on Sakura. This time, she was out of bed. She remembers standing by her dresser, sifting through the photos of her and her departed crush. Ino also saw that a few photos of him and her were pinned back up.
She marched up to Sakura and grabbed a tight hold of her wrist. She demanded Sakura not put the photos up again. She explained that if Sakura was to ever move on and get her life back on track, she couldn't have constant reminders littered everywhere she looked. Sakura reluctantly agreed, but could not bear to part with the photos. So, to agree to Sakura's compromise, Ino grabbed an empty show box and placed the photos in there. She then taped the box shut and placed it on the bottom draw of Sakura's bedside table.
A sudden crash from downstairs tore Sakura from her inner thoughts.
She leapt off the wooden chair and flew down the stairs to the foyer. She whipped her head back and forth to try and figure out where the crash came from. First, she checked the kitchen.
Empty.
Next, she ran into the next room that would have the most glass in it; the lounge. There, she stopped dead in the archway. She gasped.
Sasuke was lying there, face down on the shattered remains of the glass coffee table. His onyx locks splayed everywhere. He was unmoving and deathly still. One arm was stretched above his head; the other was tucked in underneath his torso. Sakura could not help but stare in shock. Sasuke's sudden moan of pain triggered her mind again.
She was by his side quickly. "Sasuke?"
Another moan.
Forgetting that she was supposed to be loathing him, Sakura gently placed her hands on his shoulders. Ever so careful, she pulled Sasuke up into a sitting position bedside her. He winced and tried to pull away from her. But the shards of glass sticking out from his arms, cheek and torso caused him to cringe in pain.
Sakura caught him before he could fall onto his side.
"Come on, get up."
Sasuke agreed, but did so on his own terms. He pushed himself away from her and shakily got to his feet. Then, he stumbled across the foyer into the kitchen. Sakura groaned. Of course, it was just like him to do everything on his own.
She got to her feet and went in search for the First Aid kit.
When she couldn't find Sasuke in the lounge where she had left him, Sakura found him in the kitchen. He was standing infront of the sink with a box of tissues resting next to him. She heard the soft plink, plink of the shards of glass landing in the stainless steel sink. As well as a few uttered curses escaping Sasuke's lips.
Despite loathing him, there was no doubt he needed medical attention. She quietly crept up next to him. She then placed the First Aid kit on the black marble bench. Sasuke paused momentarily, but resumed picking out the shards.
"Here," Sakura said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Let me."
Sasuke refused to listen. He pulled out another shard, then another. Sakura sighed exasperatedly. She wasn't about to put up with his silent bullshit any longer. She slapped his hand away from the glass. This offered a glare in return. But Sakura glared back, then proceeded to rummage through the kit for a pair of tweezers.
Gracefully, as if she'd done this a thousand times, she began pulling out the shards from his upper right arm. Silent moments ticked past, albeit the plink, plink of the tiny bits of glass landing in the sink.
Realizing how close she was to him, Sakura was tempted to confront him. Her willpower that was holding her back from being the first to break was faltering. She had promised to wait until he would break first, but alas, she wavered. There was no way her gnawing conscience was going to let her rest easy until she found out why he was here. She ignored her women's intuition and prepared herself. But, she needed to break the ice first.
"How did it happen?"
Sasuke's onyx eyes flickered to her, then down to the floor. It happened so fast, she didn't even know if it actually happened. He didn't answer. They both knew what had happened.
Sakura wasn't about to give up. She even tried to stifle a smile.
"You fell?"
She watched as Sasuke shut his eyes and arched his eyebrows up, and then down, as if to say that yes, even the greatest of us all trip over and fall sometimes. Sakura actually giggled. Imagining Sasuke trip and smash a glass table was like watching the President fall offstage during a rally.
"You're paying for that." She roughly plucked quite a large piece from his shoulder and flicked in into the sink. Sasuke's lip quirked into a slight smirk, his way of ignoring the pain Sakura had inflicted on purpose.
For a while, neither said anything. They quietly enjoyed each other's company as Sakura carefully, but quickly, plucked out every piece of broken glass. Sasuke actually seemed more relaxed, Sakura noticed. She smiled inwardly. One brick was finally pulled down from the wall between them.
Once she had plucked every shard out, she rummaged through the kit once more. She pulled out a bottle of antiseptic cream and a bag of cotton balls. Sasuke watched her intently. He remembers Sakura always dreaming of one day becoming a nurse. She loved to take care of others. She even put others health before her own, sometimes.
He remembers an instance where he himself had come down with a nasty case of the flu. He was bed-ridden for a week and a half. Ignoring all his text messages that repeatedly told her to stay away or else she'll get sick, Sakura had come over. Standing in his bedroom doorway was said pinkette. In her hands was a steaming bowl of her mother's famous chicken noodle soup.
For three days, Sakura had come over and fed Sasuke the soup. His muscles were sore from the illness, so the pinkette had helped him eat. He loathed being fed like a toddler, despite the fact that he could well in fact use his arms. But somehow, he didn't mind when it was Sakura feeding him. The next day, Sakura wasn't at school. She herself had caught Sasuke's flu. In order to repay her, Sasuke brought over his mother's famous red rice. But he refused to feed her and risking getting sick all over again.
He hadn't realized Sakura was done applying the cream when he found her to be staring at him intently. Her expression was serious. Her words were slow and cautious.
"Why are you here?"
The desperation was alive and raw in her tone. Sasuke tore himself away from her gaze. There was no way he could tell her the real reason he was here. She would get mad. She was already confused and hurt. He didn't need a third emotion mixed in.
"Why won't you answer my question?"
Sakura sighed irritably. She knew this was coming. Cleverly, she had avoided any conversation with the Uchiha until he was ready. But now, she knew he had to talk sooner or later. Methodically—and quite huffily—she picked up the soiled cotton balls and placed them in the bin. Sasuke watched her move around the kitchen, obviously annoyed. He noticed she was avoiding any eye contact with him. She stopped.
"Look, if you don't want to answer me, Sasuke, that's f—"
Sakura was cut off by Sasuke abruptly exiting the kitchen. He avoided any eye contact with her as he turned the corner. She sighed. Deep down, she could not ignore the fact that Sasuke was hiding something. It was not like him to keep anything to himself. He was rather blunt and was not afraid to tell someone off, be the situation correct and his mood in a certain way.
She had known Sasuke for a long time. Despite being apart for three years, he was still the same; impassive, cold, and indifferent. Sakura had changed, though. For the better, she reminded herself.
However, she was still determined more than ever to find out what he was hiding.
Hope you all enjoyed that!
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