Mistakes
Sasuke is trying to come up with an idea for Sakura's birthday and asks Ino for help. She gives him the perfect idea and helps him prepare for it until they do something that wasn't in the plan… (Sasusaku and Nejiten, slight Shikaino)
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters.
Chapter 7: Broken Hearts
Neji walked Tenten back to her apartment but there was an awkward silence between them. They had been silent ever since they left the restaurant. Everyone decided to call it a night after the whole Ino, Sasuke incident.
"Well that was…tense." Tenten spoke up. Neji remained silent the entire way back. Tenten unlocked her door and went inside, Neji followed after her. He sat down on the couch while Tenten went into the kitchen to make tea for the both of them. As the water boiled, Tenten thought about what happened at the restaurant, the entire confrontation between Sasuke and Neji was completely unnecessary. If they hadn't clashed heads Sasuke's secret wouldn't have come out. She had yet to realise that her hand was too close to the stove, and reacted too late when the searing pain spread through her hand from the hot plate. She cried out in pain as she removed her hand from the stove.
"Tenten, are you alright?" Neji asked from the other room.
"Um…yeah I'm fine." She replied as she ran her hand under cold water to ease the pain. Knowing Neji Hyuuga he would probably figure out she got hurt in less than five minutes. She poured the hot water into the cups and placed them on trays.
"You sure you don't want anything with your tea?" she asked
"No thank you." he replied
Tenten emerged from the kitchen with the tray of tea and placed it on the table. She took her cup and sat down on the couch with her legs crossed. They sipped their tea and talked for more than an hour. They'd been talking for longer than they thought as it was already 22:30. Both of them had fallen asleep on the couch. Tenten was sleeping against Neji while he had his arm around her shoulder. Neji slowly opened his eyes and looked around, he had no idea he had fallen asleep. He looked to his side and found Tenten asleep against him along with his arm around her. She was fast asleep and had her hand over his. There was something unusual about her hand, it was red.
"She must have burned her hand while she was making tea." He thought. He glanced at the wall clock and saw how late it was. It was a good time as any to get going, but he couldn't leave Tenten on the couch. He picked her up and carried her to her bedroom and placed on the bed before he put his blazer around her. Just as he turned around to leave Tenten spoke up.
"Neji, wait. Could you stay a little longer?" she tiredly spoke with her eyes closed. He looked at her for a moment before he walked towards the bed and sat next to her. She smiled as soon as he was next to her. Neji brought a sense of comfort and protection to Tenten. Even on his most serious days, she always smiled when she was with him. She definitely wouldn't say this out loud but she developed some strong feelings for her partner over the years.
"You got burned making tea today." He said as he took her hand and gently stroked it.
"Yeah, but it wasn't that big a deal." She spoke with closed eyes. She leaned into him again and felt him put his arm around her. They talked about nothing in particular for a few minutes, until Tenten fell asleep again. Neji was more exhausted than he thought as he too fell asleep.
Xxx
It was well after midnight; Naruto had searched the village for Sakura after he took Hinata home. He finally found her on the training grounds, sitting high up in one of the trees. She was still wearing her dress from her date with Sasuke. All of that seemed so long ago, so much had happened, so much had changed. Naruto climbed up to the branch Sakura was sitting in and sat next to her. She had been crying for a while as her face was stained with tears. She wiped the tears from her face before she spoke.
"This was some birthday; I got hit with two surprises. Sasuke bought me this necklace and he kissed Ino without telling me." She sighed as she looked down. Naruto took in a breath before he spoke.
"Listen Sakura, you can't let this get to you. Ino said it was a mistake. She seemed really guilty about the whole thing." He started
"She probably feels guilty because her secret got out. I know it was a mistake, but it was one that shouldn't have happened."
"I think you're being too hard on them. I think if Ino and Sasuke could erase that mistake, they would." He continued
'If it was just the matter of Ino kissing Sasuke, it would be a different story. But the fact that he kissed her back makes me feel so…" she trailed off
"Betrayed." They said in unison
"Now I find myself asking the typical questions when you get betrayed. Why did he do it? Was there something missing in our relationship? Was there something wrong with me?" she teared up again.
"Do you honestly believe that there's something wrong with you? Or is this how you deal with betrayal? You make up a reason to justify his actions to yourself because you don't want to believe that he would do such a thing, to save yourself from the pain." He answered as he looked at her in the eyes.
"How else can you explain why he did this?!" she half yelled
"Moment of weakness maybe." He answered
"Have you ever known Sasuke Uchiha to be weak?" she raised an eyebrow at him
"Physically and mentally, no. But emotionally I think he's really…tortured. He knows pain and loss a lot better than others. Despair, loneliness and all the other negative emotions, he knows them like the back of his hand. But he's never truly experienced happiness and love. When he started dating you, although he didn't show it, he was truly happy." He smiled before he carried on. "You came up in a lot of our conversations, Sakura. There's one in particular that I remember…"
Naruto and Sasuke had just finished sparring for the day. Sakura didn't spar with them, she just watched. When they finished she stood up and took her bag to leave with them .They just finished gathering up their things and meant to head back to the village. Sasuke and Sakura had only been dating for two months.
"I'll see you guys tomorrow." She said before she gave Naruto a hug and kissed Sasuke on the cheek then turned around and began walking on her own back to the village. Sasuke stood on the spot with his hand on his cheek where Sakura just kissed him.
"Naruto…why me?" he half whispered
"Huh? What are you talking about Sasuke?" Naruto turned his attention to Sasuke.
"Sakura, why is she with me?" he asked as he looked at the ground
"Because she loves you." he answered as though it were a dumb question. Why would Sasuke ask such a thing?
"Even after everything I put her through. She still chose to forgive me." He spoke softer
"Sasuke, where is all of this coming from? Why are you suddenly doubting yourself?" he asked in a concerned way.
"I left the village; I hurt her for so long and despite all that she welcomed me back with open arms." Sasuke looked up when he spoke. Naruto still had trouble understanding where the problem was.
"You probably thought she'd be furious, but the truth is that she was never even angry with you to start with. She was worried about you the entire time. Worried that she might never see you again." Naruto took a step closer to Sasuke as he spoke.
"I don't deserve a second chance. I don't deserve her."
"What's going on with you? Why do you see it as such a bad thing for something good to happen to you? Don't you think you've suffered enough to deserve a little happiness?" Naruto's voice got louder with each sentence.
"I just don't want to hurt her anymore."
"What makes you think you will? You're back in the village and you're with Sakura. She couldn't be happier if she tried. But that's not the point. The point is that you may not have forgiven yourself for what happened, but she has. She hasn't forgotten about it but she's moved past it. You keep saying that she deserves better, and maybe she does, but you can't choose who she dates; you're going to have deal with the fact that she chose you. Deal with it, trust it and believe that she chose you out of love because it's true. Sakura really cares about you Sasuke, unconditionally. That should be enough for you."…
"You see Sakura, Sasuke's been trying his hardest to make you happy. The last thing he wants is to hurt you." he put his hand on her shoulder.
"You're really trying hard to get Sasuke and me together. Why is that?" she looked at him with a grin
"Sasuke's my best friend and I want him to see that he does deserve this. He deserves to be happy. And when it comes to you Sakura, if there's one thing I'll never get tired of, its making you smile." He finished his sentence with the biggest smile. She couldn't help but smile back.
"Being with Sasuke…I don't think I've ever been happier. Sasuke making a mistake is so rare to me. I guess I'm just not used to it, because he's so perfect…well perfect to me. I guess that just makes it a lot more genuine. I know he'd never hurt me intentionally, but back at the restaurant I was just so surprised that I ended up believing it." She ended her sentence with a light chuckle. "I guess I should talk to him. But I guess that will have to wait until the sun is up. There's no way he's up at this hour." She sighed
"Hn. Well now I wouldn't say that." Sasuke's voice came from a branch above Naruto and Sakura. She looked up and saw Sasuke sitting on a branch just above them with his eyes closed. He jumped down and landed next to her. Naruto smirked at Sasuke and knew it was time to go, so without another word he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
