Breaking The Habit
CHAPTER 7
"How's your leg?"
"Huh?"
"How's your leg?" Sasuke was standing a meter away from her, hands in his black jeans' pockets wearing a white t-shirt with a leather jacket on top. He looked exactly like every bad boy does, so no wonder she was actually startled by him.
She was so startled by him that it took her a moment to get rid of the fog that had blurred her mind because of the shock of seeing the dark haired boy. She hadn't expected to see him, in fact she had not expected to see anyone from their skiing group, even if she was aware that Sasuke wasn't in the mountains anymore. But what is the chance even meeting him in a mall?
Shaking her head to clear the fog out of her mind she stumbled with her words, "I-it's o-okay."
"Okay?"
"Yeah, okay."
"Hn," a sudden glint in Sasuke's eyes made Sakura furrow her brows.
"W-what?"
"Nothing."
"O~kay."
"Mind if I sit?"
"N-no, go ahead."
He sat down on the other end of the bench. Sakura fiddled with the leg of her shorts. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to say to him, of course she wanted to thank him, but all the things she had planned on saying to him didn't come out. Her brain was literally stuck and she had no idea what to do.
"I heard you had a surgery." Sasuke suddenly asked looking at Sakura's leg in a cast.
She had to swallow hard to get some words out of her mouth, "Yeah, the bone was too shattered to be able to heal on its own, so the doctors said it would be better if I had surgery. Otherwise I would have gotten out of the hospital sooner, but since they needed to keep an eye on me for a few days I was stuck there." She turned to him, finally regaining some of her courage, "What about you?"
"Hn?"
"Were you in hospital for long?"
"No," he shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest, making Sakura gulp at the sight of his impressively looking biceps, "I got out the next day, after they were sure I didn't suffer from any brain damage due to lack of oxygen."
"Were you awake when they came for us?" she wasn't completely sure where that question had come from. It wasn't something she had thought about for she herself couldn't remember anything except the small part of the drive on the snowmobile after they were rescued.
He was quiet for a while, looking down at his legs stretched in front of him, "I think I was."
"How come?"
"I remember sounds, and I think I remember someone pulling me, but that's it. What about you?"
"None, except a small portion of the drive back to the skiing center."
Sasuke brows furrowed in concentration.
"By the way, thank you." Finally! She screamed inside her head as Sasuke turned to look at her lifting his brow in question.
"For being the sane one in that trap." Sakura blushed in embarrassment, she was still feeling uncomfortable because of the situation down there. She was a real baby and Sasuke probably got tired of her at the time.
"People react their own ways to different situations." Sasuke's words caught her off guard. "But, nonetheless, no problem."
"Well at least we now know I'm much suited for becoming a doctor than a police or firefighter." she giggled at her own words. She honestly couldn't believe she was saying these thing to Sasuke. They weren't even friends to be honest, so they shouldn't be talking about things like that.
"You want to be a doctor?" he looked openly surprised.
"Yeah, my dad's a doctor, too and also my godmother." This was much more comfortable topic than the accident one, because Sakura was really proud of her father and godmother, who was a well known doctor around the world.
"Hn."
"If I may ask, what are you doing in here? As in here, at the mall?"
"My mom." he simply replied and pointed at the same exact shop Sakura's mother was shopping. Enough said, because as far as Sakura knew boys didn't enjoy shopping one bit. Well maybe gays but Sakura didn't know anyone who was gay, as far as she knows.
"Don't you like shopping?" he suddenly asked.
"Sometimes, but I get tired really quickly because of," she pointed at her leg with both hands, "this and those crutches are like hell to my palms."
Sasuke smirked at the way she seemed to exaggerate everything.
"Sasuke-chan?" a middle aged woman walked out of the shop, wearing the most high-class clothes Sakura has ever seen in her life. Her deep blue sheath dress went just below her knees and the nude high heels made Sakura feel really under dressed. She was dressed in a simple top and shorts, so she was nothing compared to the lady that came walking to them.
The woman's long raven hair was in tight bun as she looked at Sasuke, while holding a two shopping bags.
Sasuke didn't say anything and just stared at the woman now standing in front of him whereas the woman sighed clearly a little annoyed before mumbling, "Boys.."
Just then Sakura decided to give Sasuke a side way look and her eyes almost popped out of their sockets as Sakura realized the resemblance between the two of them. That woman had to be Sasuke's mother for there's no other way for them to look so closely alike. Sasuke looked like a man version of the woman.
"You're not going to introduce me to your friend?" the woman asked sweetly tilting her head.
"So you can start planning our wedding?" Sakura was surprised how sarcastic Sasuke could sound like, but couldn't help the giggle that bubbled from her throat. The woman only gave a loving glare at the teenager. Then she brushed his comment away and turned to face Sakura, only to stretch her hand to her.
Sakura offered her hand hesitantly and warm hands indulged her hand as the woman smiled down at her, "I'm Sasuke's mother, Uchiha Mikoto."
"Hi," she said biting her lip, "I'm Sakura. Haruno Sakura."
"Oh! You're the Sakura?"
"Um.. I guess." Sakura shrugged her shoulders.
"Well if you're the one who was trapped under the snow with Sasuke then you must be her." the was a tint of playfulness in Mikoto's voice as she gave a small laugh. Sakura couldn't help but think how in the world can someone look so clean and literally amazing even when laughing.
"That's me then."
"Good! I've been dying to meet you."
"Why would you want to meet me?"
"Sasuke here doesn't like to talk to anyone about the incident, and I would very much like to know what exactly had happened that lead for you two to be trapped under the avalanche."
Sakura smiled awkwardly at the woman, "It was nothing special. I just fell down because of the rumbling and broke my leg," she again pointed at her leg as Mikoto listened carefully and obviously really interested, "which lead to me falling and Sasuke stopping to help me."
"And that's when the slide got you?"
"Yup."
"Oh, Sasuke never mentioned why he got trapped with you. He only mentioned helping you, but everything someone tried to ask him about he just ignored them and said it wasn't important. Really typical for the Uchiha boys." Mikoto was a lively talker her hands making a point, even though otherwise the woman was the epitome of put together.
"Hn." Sasuke grunted annoyed.
"Stop looking so sour faced, Sasuke-chan. You'll get wrinkles." Mikoto teased her son.
Sakura really liked this woman.
Sakura's mother appeared on the front of the shop waving at her to come for apparently she was done for the day.
"I should get going, my mother's waiting for me." Sakura started to get up, taking the crutches with her. Sasuke stood up, too.
"It was really nice to meet you." Sasuke's mother smiled and offered her hand for a shake which Sakura accepted, "It was."
"I hope we meet again sometime." Mikoto continued with a glint in her eye, as Sakura turned to give a small wave at Sasuke before hopping to her mother and not seeing the look Mikoto gave to her son.
The raven haired woman gave a glance at the retreating mother and daughter, "I really should have invited them for a tea."
"No, mom, you shouldn't." Sasuke replied, too looking after the small family.
"Why not?" she grinned up at Sasuke.
"No." he just shook his head.
Sakura was waiting for the taxi to come on the front steps of her family's house. Her leg was pounding painfully for she had fallen off her bed during the night and hit it pretty badly. She took a painkiller but it hadn't yet started to work. But that didn't stop the excitement she felt for today, because it was Monday and it meant school and finally seeing Tenten.
Her phone buzzed in her sweatpants pocket and she took it out to see a texts from Tenten. According to it she was already at the school waiting and wondering what was taking her so long. There was still a good thirty minutes before school started so Sakura was a little surprise to find out Tenten already waiting for her.
She quickly texted her back saying that the taxi had yet to come, and when she pushed the send button the taxi came to a stop on the road.
A man in his thirties jumped out to open the back door for Sakura, who as fast as she could with the crutches made her way to the car. She still wasn't used to getting in cars for her leg was always on the way, so she thanked the heavens that the taxi driver only smiled politely, as Sakura struggled to fit in the backseat. iT could be much worse if the driver was one of those asshole who cared more about the money than the customer.
It wasn't a long trip to the school and Sakura was glad to be able to get out of the small car. Her family had an SUV in which she could fit properly without a problem with her annoying cast, but average five passenger cars were a real pain in the ass.
Tenten was instantly attacking her with a hug and Sakura had to use all of her free muscles not to fall down on the pavement. Neji soon noticed Sakura's unease and came pulling his girlfriend off. Sakura completely understands Tenten's reaction since they haven't seen each other yet after the accident. The last time they had properly talked to each other was before they started skiing down the mountain just before the avalanche started.
"I missed you so much," Tenten started sobbing and Sakura had to pull her back to hug her.
"I'm okay now," she rubbed her hand to Tenten's back trying to console the crying teen.
"I know! I just-"
"Shh, It's okay." Sakura pulled away to wipe the tears away from Tenten's face.
Few students that passed them gave the curious looks, but Sakura ignored them.
"Come on, let's get to class." Neji took Tenten's hand and pulled her closer to him so they could start walking to the school building, but not before he make sure that Sakura was following after. However Sakura didn't notice this small act for she was strapping her school bag on her back.
All the teacher so far has been concerned for Sakura. Everyone of them had asked if she was in any condition to study yet, but Sakura assured every one of them that she was physically and mentally fine. Well mostly mentally since she still had to suffer from a broken ankle, but nonetheless she made sure that everyone knew that she was alright.
Unfortunately, her biology teacher seemed to be a much harder case for it didn't matter how many time Sakura said that nothing was wrong Mr Rena was adamant in making sure that Sakura did absolutely nothing during the class. It was a miracle that she was even allowed to open her text book. Mr Rena had decided that he would make notes for Sakura so she didn't have to wear herself out.
It was annoying because the teacher seemed to hover around her table the entire class and Sakura felt like yelling at him. He was her favorite teacher but this was just going overboard. Luckily when the school bell rang and the teacher had told everyone else except for Sakura what to do for homework, she was able to leave the class room.
They had promised to meet by Sakura's locker which was a minute walk away from the biology class, and when taking account that she had to use crutches and make sure no one pushed her down in the crowded hallway, it took her over five minutes. She relaxed visibly when she arrived at the locker for most of the student body had already left for the cafeteria or outside. Only few students remained digging through their lockers or just walking by.
Sakura opened her bag and put her books in on the top shelve before she put two books - math and physic - into her bag. She zipped the zipper closed and when she shut the door she yelped in surprise when Karin was standing there leaning against the locker with Ami next to her. Neither of the two were Sakura's favorite persons in the world for both were know for being really shallow and Karin was the president of Sasuke's fan club. Sakura felt sorry towards the dark haired teen for she can't even imagine what it would be like if someone stalked you every second when you're in school.
"What is it, Karin?"
Karin's face was twisted in a scowl that only deepened when Sakura opened her mouth to ask her question.
"I heard you were the reason why Sasuke-kun got stuck under a snow slide. Is that true?"
Sakura rolled her eyes, she wasn't in a mood to handle with Karin's obsessions.
"I don't understand why I should answer to your question." she replied back.
Karin took a step closer to her, but Sakura didn't back down and instead she kept her place. The red haired girl lifted her finger and pointed it at Sakura, "I swear, if it's your fault that Sasuke-kun almost died, I'm going to rip out you eyeballs and feed them to you."
"Was that a threat?" Sakura asked sweetly with her eyebrow raised.
Karin crossed her hands, "Yes, it was. And you should take it seriously."
"You do realize that a threat is a serious offence in which can cause you some serious trouble if I told the police."
"Like a nobody like you could do anything." she openly laughed at Sakura, who didn't mind the girl at all. "But seriously if you ever even touch Sasuke-kun you're-"
"Karin." The said girl whipped her head around at the familiar voice of Sasuke, who was standing behind her looking rather annoyed.
"Sasuke-kun!" Both Ami and Karin squealed happily, but the scowl on Sasuke's face only deepened.
"Leave her alone."
"We weren't doing anything!" Karin pouted and stomped her foot.
"Hn." he rolled his eyes and walked to Sakura, "Let's go."
"But Tenten-"
"Told me to come and get you." he immediately answered her question and looked into her eyes.
Sakura felt a little awkward standing there with Sasuke looking intently at her while Karin and Ami were glaring daggers at her. It wasn't actually ideal position to be in and definitely not something Sakura preferred, for she would much rather have Tenten come to get her instead of Sasuke. She had no problem with Sasuke, for he was a good guy as far as she knew, but they weren't friends.
"Okay."
Everyone had already left the school building when Sakura walked out towards the gates. She had just called the taxi to come and pick her up, and she seriously hoped that it would come soon. It was a rather chilly day and Sakura had to pull her jacket a little closer as she waited for the taxi.
The sudden roar of a car, followed by a crash made Sakura jump in her skin. She hadn't expected anything that loud and her heart was pounding inside her chest like a drum as she pressed her hand on it to try and calm it down. Her hand was shaking in mild panic as she recalled the side-effects of the pain medication prescribed to her by her doctor; and if she remembered correctly one of them was getting a bit jumpy.
Near the exit gate of the school's parking lot two cars had crashed, and one of them seemed to be Sakura's taxi. Instantly making her way towards the accident site Sakura was confirmed as the same taxi that had brought her to school was rammed on the side by her biology teacher's white Volvo.
"I'm so sorry!" her biology teacher bellowed as he climbed out of his car, his hair in disarray.
The taxi driver looked shocked in his own car, gripping the steering wheel was if his life depended on it.
While quickly making his way to the taxi Mr Rena noticed Sakura looking at him, with worried look on her, he shouted at her, "Call 911!"
"O-okay," she mumbled more to herself and grabbed her phone. She quickly dialed the emergency number and soon a calm female voice answered asking what was the emergency.
It took a moment for Sakura to find her voice, for she was still in a bit of a shock, but after a moment of stammering she was able to explain the situation and soon the ambulance was on its way along with police. Sakura wasn't allowed to hang the phone until she was able to see the ambulance turn a corner and drive towards them.
She felt a sense of relief as the two paramedics jumped out of their vehicle and went to check on both her teacher and the taxi driver. But she only faintly recalled when a police officer came to direct her further away, only to realize that Sakura was in a state of shock. Suddenly a loud voice became roaring in her ears making them ache painfully as a cold feeling washed over her.
She involuntarily shivered. The image of show heading towards the overwhelmed all of her senses and her chest started to hurt. Her breathing was becoming more and more labored and before she knew she was laying on her back while one of the police men was over her shouting something. Her fingers dug into her palms.
A small part of brain realized that she was having a panic attack, but that small rational part of her was too little to do anything to stop the fear wash over her. Everything became pointless around her and she just wanted to leave, but her body was so tense that she couldn't do anything else except press her hands into fists. She had closed her eyes, tears falling down her cheeks as the sound of snow burying her grew.
A warmth suddenly spread around her neck. She was shaking her head hard to get rid of it. She felt too uncomfortable to feel anything good. Her body was in a state of panic, but something pierced through everything.
"Sakura!" her name was shouted by Sasuke's voice.
She was still holding her eyes closed. However the warm feeling around her throat and neck didn't leave and neither did Sasuke's voice, "Sakura, open your eyes." his voice demanded.
"Open. Your. Eyes." she felt a odd sensation of complying and she opened her eyes Sasuke burning onyx ones were looking deep in to hers.
"Sa-Sasuke?"
That's when she took notice of Sasuke's hands on either side of her head.
"Is she okay?" a man wearing police uniform leaned over the two teens his brows furrowed in worry. Sakura felt her hearth start to slowly calm down. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Sasuke was still holding her head in place, but he seemed to come to the conclusion that she was in control of herself. He backed away a little but still not too far away so that he could take her hands and help her to sit up.
The first thing Sakura took notice after sitting up was that the cars had been pulled apart and one of the two ambulances had already left while the other one was still parked near her biology teacher's car.
Mr Rena was sitting in the ambulance as one of the paramedics seemed to be checking on him. However he seemed reluctant as the paramedic tried to tell him to come with them to the hospital. He was every once in a while glancing in Sakura's direction but she brushed it off and turned back to Sasuke and the police officer next to her.
"Can you stand?" the police asked and motioned for Sasuke to help him. Both men helped her to stand and Sasuke offered her, her crutches.
Mr Rena was suddenly next to the trio looking worriedly at Sakura, "Are you okay Ms Haruno?" The paramedic, who had been treating him was closely after him looking annoyed.
Sakura gave a smile at him.
"You should call your parents to come and pick you up." the police officer advised her.
"I can't, they're both at work."
"I can make sure she gets home safely. I can pay for a taxi for her." Mr Rena butted in.
"Mr Rena, we need to take you to the hospital. You might have internal injuries and we need to make sure everything is okay with you." the paramedic insisted his voice stern.
"I'm completely fine!" the teacher exploded even making Sasuke flinch for no one was expecting such a reaction out of him. Sakura was slightly baffled since she's never seen her biology teacher lose his temper.
"I can take her, my car is just around the corner." Sasuke said looked sternly into the police's eyes.
"But-" Mr Rena tried but the police didn't pay attention to him.
"Okay, then it's settled. You're going to the hospital," the police pointed at Mr Rena, before turning to Sakura, "and you're going with your friend here. OKay?"
"Okay." both Sakura and Mr Rena said at the same time.
"Come." Sasuke motioned Sakura to follow him. Her muscles felt oddly week and all she wanted to do was have a nap. Luckily the walk to Sasuke's car wasn't long and soon she was settled on the front seat of black Hummer, as Sasuke closed the door behind her.
"You want some tea?" Sasuke asked when he had finally settled on the driver's seat and was igniting the car.
"I don't want to hold you, if you have things to do. My mom gets off from work in few hours, so it's not a big deal." Sakura felt already uneasy enough since it seemed that Sasuke was always there when she was in trouble. She was thankful for it, but it made her seem so weak in his eyes, or at least that's what she thinks. She always either falling or otherwise in trouble every time the dark haired male appears.
"Hn."
Sasuke wheeled the car in to the underground parking lot under his apartment building. He had to tap a code in to get in and to Sakura's surprise that the entire parking lot wasn't filled with cars like she had expected. Only on one side there was a bunch of different black cars parked closely each other, whereas some cars were parked here and there.
Last time she was here with Naruto, she hadn't noticed the odd placing of the cars for her attention was solely on Naruto's Camaro. It literally was like a sun shining right before your eyes and you just can't turn your head away.
He parked the car on the space closest to the elevator which was also closest to the black cars.
"Are those yours?"
"Yeah."
"That's awfully a lot of cars for one person."
Sasuke shrugged his shoulders and spared a glance in their overall direction.
The walk into Sasuke's spacious apartment was silent. Saura didn't know what she should say so she stayed quiet. He unlocked the door and kept the door open for her to walk in first, but just as she went over the threshold someone unfamiliar to her spoke, "Hello, there."
"Itachi-nii?" Sasuke's surprised voice achoed from behind Sakura and she turned her head to see him, before turning back to the man sitting on the large couch with a book laying on his lap. Sakura blinked a few times and it took her a moment to realize what Sasuke's words had meant. Her eyes widened at her realization and indeed the man sitting in front of her looked similar to Sasuke, except he was older.
He stood up and walked around the couch his eyes never leaving Sakura's. An amused look on his face he came to stand before the teens before offering his hand to Sakura, "I am Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's brother. Who you might be?"
She was too surprised and shocked to say anything so Sasuke answered for her, "Haruno Sakura."
"Well, Haruno Sakura it is a pleasure to meet you."
"Like wise."
With a nod he turned to Sasuke, who was closing the door, "I'm sorry, if I interrupted your date. I was hoping to have a dinner with you, but since you already have company, we'll have to go some other time."
"Oh, no! We're not dating!" Sakura shook her head, her cheeks blushing. How can someone even imply something like that? They were just friends, or at least that's how she thinks since he's done nothing but helped her. So, of course they are friends.
"I apologize, it's just that Sasuke rarely brings any girls into his home."
"Itachi-nii." Sasuke warned his brother.
"Calm down, you foolish little brother." the older Uchiha grinned and poked Sasuke on his forehead with two fingers. Sakura felt like giggling because a small blush appeared on Sasuke's face, and the tender look in Itachi's eyes was just so heart warming.
Big thanks for everyone who followed or favorited this story! It means a lot to me that there are people who want to read more. And as you can see we're getting more and more SasuSaku.
Thanks for reviewers:
Guest666
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Childofthecosmos
ohsoblue
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and three guests.
- Jakura
