One last update before I am gone for the weekend! I'm going to Ottawa, to my sister's house. It's her boyfriend's birthday on Sunday and we're going to celebrate both his and mine (mine was on the 18th! :D) So yeah… lots of fun coming up! :P

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.


Chapter Ten: Broken Hearts

-

I can't fall asleep tonight; I don't know what to do,

I hold my pillow tight; but I want to be holding you.

-

"Oi, teme?"

A light exhale passed the lips of the raven haired man, but he didn't reply to his best friend's call. He shut his eyes slowly, holding back the urge to grip his chest at the area where his heart was as it tightened painfully at the thought of the rosette girl. It hadn't even been half a day when he'd last seen her, held her, and yet he already missed her.

All of her.

Those shining viridian pools of hers, those silky pink tresses, that small and soft pink tainted mouth, that cute little nose, that perfect and pale smooth skin…

Sakura.

"Teme! I'm talking to you!" The blonde's voice finally registered in his mind, the tone thick and edgy.

Sasuke opened his eyes slowly, something like a low and thick growl passing his lips in response to the blonde's barking. He shifted himself in a sitting position, his infuriated but oddly still calm eyes sharply clashing with Naruto's annoyed and angry ones. Naruto was taken aback by the look in his best friend's eyes; a look he had never seen before.

It was a mix of so many emotions, where hurt, betrayal and anger dominated at most.

Unable to return the murderous glare Sasuke had given him after that look, Naruto simply turned his gaze away from Sasuke's, feeling his heart straining a little as he recalled all the emotions he had seen in his eyes.

So much anger. So much betrayal. So much loneliness. So much hurt. So much love for another person.

He couldn't quite believe that Sasuke, the emotionless bastard who always pretended nothing ever fazed him, was willingly letting all those emotions show. He was letting other people see what they were putting him through. He was letting everybody know just how much this idea was affecting him.

After not even half a day had passed by.

Hearing a shuffling of sheets, Naruto's head rose, a frown forming when he saw his best friend lying on his bed again, his back facing him, his body relaxed. Too relaxed for Naruto's taste. The man looked more hunched than anything else. Like a man who didn't even have motivation anymore—although he had to admit he had always thought Sasuke never had any motivation. But this was just beyond normal.

"Oi, teme?" He questioned, his voice low and just audible enough so the other man could hear. No response met him, which made his frown deepen. Naruto sighed, bending his head down, surprised as he heard the shuffling of sheets again. He looked up, once again, raising a brow as Sasuke was now sitting on the edge of the bed, his back still hunched and his form still looking as unmotivated as before. Naruto sighed. "Teme, you know, we're only doing this to make sure—"

"You don't even have the right to interfere in our business." The other male interrupted, his voice thick but croaking lightly, making his tone slightly strange. Naruto jumped lightly in surprise, his eyes darkening when the response finally registered in his mind. "Sakura-chan is in love with you! She—"

"Was the one who accepted my offer." Sasuke interrupted again, his head jerking in Naruto's direction to glare at him. "Her choice was personal, and has nothing to do with all of you. She chose to become my fuck buddy— " He saw Naruto's eyes flash dangerously for a moment, "—and she chose to go along with all of this." He paused lightly, not failing one bit to notice the way the blue eyed boy had tightly clenched his fists. He waited until Naruto opened his mouth to yell before speaking up before him, once again. "We didn't think this would evolve into something more."

Naruto seemed to have frozen in place, the anger that was boiling in his blood just seconds ago now vanishing in a split second. The anger in his body was replaced with utter shock, every inch of his limbs freezing at it. His mouth parted, but nothing came out other than a blabber of incomprehensible words.

Sasuke turned again, figuring this conversation was over, and he exhaled quietly, bending his head to place in his hands, his fingers gripping his scalp lightly when he shut his eyes and let his mind wander to the pink haired girl again.

He missed her already.

So, so much.

She was crying.

She had been crying against him for a while. Her hands were fisted tightly in his shirt, her head buried in the crook of his neck, her tears rolling down her cheeks and down on his skin, her hair a mess and still wet from their hot spring adventure, her body trembling from her heart breaking sobs.

He knew that crying for something like this was simply ridiculous, but in a way he couldn't help but to somehow agree that crying for their situation was alright. He knew himself that it was already so hard to keep away from her now and that spending two weeks without being allowed to talk to her would probably slowly kill him.

So he didn't say anything to stop her weeping.

On the contrary, he held her tightly against him, his hand buried in her wet pink tresses, stroking lightly. His head was pressed against the side of hers, his eyes shut tightly, his teeth clenched for some reason he couldn't explain. His heart ached, and felt like it was breaking like that one time before, where he ended up stumbling in her room to ask her what was wrong with him.

But the sensation was stronger now, and it hurt him more.

Although he didn't have to wonder why. Not like that time where he spent countless sleepless nights trying to figure out why his heart hurt so much and constricted every time he saw her. But just recently, he had figured out why.

And Kami he still had a hard time believing it. Still had a hard time accepting it.

The ice around his heart was melting, there was no denying that. She made him feel so many confusing emotions, made him feel so much. He felt something for Sakura that he had never felt for anyone before, and it certainly wasn't meaningless. All those feelings were too much for him, squeezing his heart almost painfully, but warming his soul in the same time.

But he wasn't supposed to feel anything for her. Trying to suppress those feelings and trying to push her away added so many emotions, and it hurt him this time. All those emotions were suffocating him, squeezing so tightly around his heart he felt he could hardly breathe. He thought Sakura was only in this for the sex, just like he was, and tried to tell himself he could not ruin their intimate relationship with feelings that would not be returned.

It broke him, slowly.

It broke him, but he denied it. He pushed those bitter feelings away, feeling uncomfortable but managing to hold up well. He would tell himself every day that she did not love him and that he did not love her, and that it did not affect him.

Those lies only helped to break him more.

And one day, it just hit him.

"Don't cry Sakura…"

He was surprised himself that the sentence had been hushed by no other than himself. He felt the girl flinch slightly against him, and then she gripped him tighter, pressing her face deeper in the crook of her neck, her tears streaming down faster. He found himself tightening his embrace, his heart constricting again, so painfully he found it hard to breathe.

"I'll miss you.." He heard her breathe through a sob, pulling back to look at him with her green orbs slightly red and puffy from all the crying. He didn't know why he felt the need to wipe her tears away, but he did, his hands still cupping her face gently when he finished wiping her tears. "Sakura…" He sighed, noticing how she started to tear up again. "Don't do that… don't cry.." He hushed, in a voice almost too soft for the cold man he was.

Both felt the chakras of the others watching them from the window of their apartment, but they didn't pay much attention to it.

But before she could even open her mouth to speak up again, he dipped down and brushed his lips against hers softly, taking her so off guard that she froze completely. She was blown away. Sasuke had never kissed her that softly.

And when he broke the kiss, he still kept their lips a breath away from each other, his hot breath fanning on her skin, making a shiver run up her spine. He wiped away a single tear that had fallen from her eyes once more, his coal orbs containing those same soft and passionate emotions that they always did after a passionate session of theirs, and his mouth almost turned into a small smile.

She launched at him to hug him tightly after that, stealing his breath away for a second, but he returned the hug nonetheless. They held each other like their lives depended on it. Like this would be the last time they could hold one another. Like they never, ever wanted to let go.

It was hard for the both of them to pull away, but the voice of their former sensei had made them do so.

"It's time."

His heart broke a bit more.

And damnit he couldn't deny it anymore.

He was in love with this woman.

"Sakura-chan, you're going to work?"

The pink haired kunoichi turned, her eyes questioning yet holding a clear sparkle of hurt that even Naruto didn't fail to notice. She blinked a few times before she nodded silently, her lips stretching itself in a fake smile. "Yeah… they've been pretty busy lately at the hospital." She explained, her voice soft but breaking lightly at the end, her head bending when she started to pack her medical things in her small bag.

Naruto frowned as he inspected her figure, watching how her movements seemed rather slow and sluggish, and how she her face seemed to express a deep hurt he had never really seen before. It was deep, but she was trying to hide it so hard, which gave Naruto the slightest idea of how hurt she was.

Naruto knew that Sakura had never really struggled to hide her hurt in the past, except if she was extremely and deeply hurt.

Today seemed to be the case.

"You know…" The blonde's head snapped up at her soft, shaky voice, and his eyes widen slightly when they clashed with her glassy emerald orbs. "…I never asked you guys to take care of me. I knew what I was doing." She said, swallowing hard when she looked down again to finish packing.

He didn't quite know what to reply, so he just swallowed hard as well, trying to formulate a right sentence in his mind. She looked up again when she strapped the bag to herself, and she smiled a sad smile. "I'm a big girl now, Naruto. I don't need your protection anymore." She paused, biting her lip before she went on, "Right now, you're not mending my heart. You're breaking it." She breathed, patting the area where her heart was before she passed him quickly.

Naruto didn't breathe before he heard the door of their apartment close.

It was at that moment he suddenly regretted making the deal with them because quite obviously, the both of them were hurt deeply.

This wasn't what two fuck buddies would have done.

This is was two people in love with each other but forced to break apart would have done.

This is what they were doing.

Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke were in love with each other.

"Kami-sama the world is going crazy these days." The blonde muttered, putting a hand on his numbing mind.

"Kakashi-sensei…?"

"Naruto, you really need to drop that habit. It has been over five years that I'm not your teacher anymore."

"Sorry, sorry!"

Silence.

"…Kakashi-sen—uh, Kakashi?"

Sigh. "Yes, Naruto?"

"I think—"

"Naruto, Yamanaka Ino requested to see you."

"Eh? Why didn't she just come here? And why would she want to see me?"

"I don't know, but she seemed pretty pissed."

"…Shit. Awe, damnit. Can't I switch shifts with you then and keep an eye on Sasuke? I don't want to get a freak out show."

"Naruto, just be a man and face it."

"What—HEY KAKA-SENSEI THAT'S NOT FAIR!"

"NARUTO! THERE YOU ARE! I NEED TO TALK TO YOU!"

"NOO! INO I'M BUSY! I HAVE TO KEEP AN EYE ON SASUKE!"

"THAT'S SAI'S JOB!"

"DAMNIT! WHY DID YOU TELL HER THAT?!"

"You and I are going to have a nice little talk."

Everywhere.

He saw her everywhere.

One second he'd be lazily looking around, and then a pink blur would catch his eyes and his head would jerk in the direction, only to find that there was not even a tinge of pink anywhere. Sometimes he'd be talking to someone—or someone would be talking to him—and he would see those emerald green orbs of hers for a split second. He'd shake off the feeling, and the person would look at him weirdly and would ask him if he was alright.

Neji had been witness of this incident numerous times, and he would smirk at him at first, a hot glare being his only response, but then after a fair number of times, Neji would start to frown.

The fact Sasuke was hallucinating Sakura anywhere was certainly not such a great sign. It pretty much meant she was constantly on his mind and he actually missed her so much that he started having hallucinations of her.

When Neji actually started to worry (NEJI? WORRY?) was when Sasuke was training. He seemed so angry but so something else in the same time. His punches and kicks on the dummy's, trees or simply in thin air were just so hard—like he was trying to waster away his anger and his agony on other things. Neji didn't fail to see the way his body shook at times, or the way his teeth were clenched together so tightly at times—as if trying to hold back something.

And then there was the time he'd gripped his heart and fallen on the ground, coughing madly for a few minutes, alerting Neji enough to have him run over to the fallen Uchiha. But Sasuke pushed him away angrily, stumbling to a half broken tree, letting himself rest his back on it while he clenched at his chest harder. Neji could only watch helplessly as the Uchiha let himself slide down the tree trunk, panting heavily, gripping his heart tightly, looking as though he had had some sort of attack.

Neji knew that this was far from okay. But Sasuke simply refused his advices to go at a hospital.

…Because each time he thought of the hospital, he thought of her.

Thought of Haruno Sakura.

And he didn't want to, because his heart ached even more when he did.

…and imagines of the times they had together back then just kept flashing in his mind.

The second time they ever had sex was at 8:32 am. At Sakura's office.

She had barely even heard him enter her office, but all she knew was that one second she was bending over, retrieving files from her desk, and then the next second, she slammed against that same desk, her blouse opened, her mouth attacked by his, one of his hands fondling with her breasts while the other ran under her white skirt to slip down her underwear.

She barely had the time to react to it all, because the next thing she knew after that was that he was ramming into her from behind, a hand on her desk while the other held her tightly against himself. His mouth was running up and down her neck, ravishing her mouth at times, occasionally smirking when she threw her arms back to snake them around his neck, her head tilting to the side to look dazedly at him.

She never said a word besides breathing his name and pleading him to go harder, faster. She hadn't even asked why he so suddenly decided to fuck her in her office, and why he didn't just wait until she got home. She never asked why he picked to fuck her when she was working, instead of picking a girl that would have been just as willing.

She never said anything.

And he was just so content that she didn't, because another girl would have most certainly bombarded him with questions through her moans, which he would have just disregarded and continued pumping without saying a word.

And what was bothering Sasuke was that he never really kissed any of the women he fucked. He would just tear off the clothes and get this over with.

But with Sakura, it was like a must to kiss her, touch her, tease her.

He didn't know why he had grown more and more addicted to her in a simple night. He didn't know why he was simply irking to go to her office and take her right then and there. He didn't know why he didn't just pick another girl. He didn't know why he loved hearing her moan his name while pumping into her at this very moment.

And he especially didn't know why he promised himself he would always take her while she was facing him, from now on. He always wanted to see her face, to have her touch him, to have her kiss him. He needed to look at her. He needed her to look at him while he was doing this to her.

But he just didn't know why.

He shook the thoughts away from his head, gritting his teeth tightly, thankful he had bothered to put on very loose pants right now or everyone would see his embarrassment. He tried to think of other things, but he just couldn't stop thinking about their previous times together, making him ache down there. He would certainly need a cold shower when going home, both to wash away his dirty figure from the training today, and to fix his 'problem'.

Had it never been for the deal, he'd probably be dealing with it right now, making love to Sakura. Wherever she was right now, he would have taken her, knowing she would have just as gladly accepted it.

He jumped lightly when he turned around a corner, a person's head bumping into his chest, earning a small squeal or surprise. He looked down with an irritated stare, only for his eyes to widen and his breath to hitch when he saw the pink haired girl looking back at him with eyes just as wide and as shocked as his were.

Her mouth parted to say something, but she shut it back, swallowing hard and resisting the urge to throw herself in his arms and kiss him. Resisting the urge to tell him that she loved him. To tell him to take her.

So they just stared at each other, both as stiff as stone, their eyes holding so much longing, hurt and pure love. Both holding back their urges to hold each other to. Both trying so hard not to talk, because they just weren't allowed to.

The girl with brown hair pulled up into twin buns who was watching over Sakura was watching the scene with slightly shocked but mostly sad eyes, feeling the pure need both had for each other. Feeling the hurt they felt because they could do nothing while they looked at each other.

She could almost feel her own heart breaking.

Neji, on his part, was still the one keeping an eye on Sasuke, and was watching rather intently as the two supposed lovers met for the first time that day. Watching their reactions and the way they seemed to feel. Watching the way they tried to react, or tried not to react.

He had seen Sasuke's hands twitch after a while, lifting slightly, as if wanting to bring her to him and to hold her, but his movement had stopped in a flinch and he had balled his hand in a tight fist. He could clearly see Sasuke's jaw was clenched intensely, and he could even bet if he clenched it any tighter he would probably break his own teeth.

Sakura, on her part, seemed to be on the edge of crying, her face revealing the hurt she was trying to hide, her hands tightly fisting the hem of her shirt to keep herself from touching him. Neji guessed her heart was hammering out of her chest, just as Sasuke's probably was as well.

He had to admit it was hard to watch.

Sakura was the first one to snap out of their gaze, and she bit her lip before she excused herself and passed him, her hands still tightly clenching around the hem of her shirt. And then she broke in a run, and TenTen followed, calling out to Sakura softly.

Both of their hearts were evidently breaking at the sight of each other and not being able to do anything.

-

Look at the stars; can you count them?

I miss you that much

-

end of chapter ten.

Hope you enjoyed :)

I actually didn't get to finish this update before I went to my sister's house but anyway.. xD At least you get it this weekend! :P My weekend over there was extremely fun, by the way! I loved it! :D

I would have put this up earlier but stupid fanfiction won't let me login. Technical glitch or whatever. –sigh-

So, yeah, it's kind of sad about this whole thing you know…

…and Sasuke actually admitted he was in love with her! WHOO! ONE BIG STEP SASUKE! Now let's wait another year before you actually tell her you love her… :P

Haha, I'm kidding :P He'll tell her, eventually.

ONCE AGAIN I HOPE YOU ENJOYED! NOW I'M OFF TO DO HOMEWORK!

Please leave a review!

:D

CommitedToKiba