Review Replies:

123: Silly kitty, staying away from fanfiction so long! That's like throwing a steak to a dog who is a vegetarian. It just doesn't happen; kitties need catnip end of story!

Clover71: How did you choose this name? Anyway, yes you can trust Temari she wont do anything, if you read pulse of the party you realize that she has to many other things to deal with at the moment. I hope that this story answers some of those questions!

Chapter 10: Cake

March 8th, Friday: Day 24

He really can't do it anymore.

Nothing is the same, and yet, nothing is different. He still really likes Naruto, he still is in a relationship with Sakura, he still wants his Father's approval above mostly everything-well except one thing, but that's where the different part comes into play.

Because the difference now is, he's realized he can't have his cake and eat it to.

That is something that has never made any sense to Sasuke, he always thought, well of course I can, it's my cake.

But now he really understands. At the beginning of his life, Sasuke only has one single piece of cake to enjoy, cut it in half and enjoy the rest on a later date was always his mother's motto; however, life was simply not so, well, simple.

Because eventually the other half of the cake, which is not his father's approval but Naruto's love, will come to spoil, rotting away into nothing. You can't cut cake into half's; you can't really have it and enjoy it all in the same setting either? So what do you do with it?

Now he was just confusing himself.

"Sasuke is something wrong?" chimed Sakura from beside him. On a Friday after-school, Sasuke didn't seem to have a lot of things to do. So he ended up here, at a bakery of all places, with a bright happy Sakura and a piece of cake on his plate that he didn't even like.

"Sakura….." would it really happen if he just said it? Would words truly have the power to do what actions didn't seem to achieve? "Let's break-up."

"W-what?" her fork stood in mid-air, poised on her fingertips as she stared at him with her green eyes wide and he mouth gaping. Slowly, the fork drifted back down toward the plate, tapping it with a light sound as it rested on the surface. "What?"

Sasuke didn't say anything as his eyes roamed around then bakery, no one was there but them and the baker who was mysteriously mopping the floor at a vigorous pace while humming loudly a few feet away from them. Maybe it was the guys attempt at giving them privacy that was almost impossible in such a tiny space, "You heard me."

"Sasuke….." That was it, his name, floating through the air in a light whisper escaping from her now trembling lips. The truth was, there was a part of him that really did like Sakura despite his best efforts, that was why he eventually broke down and took her as his girlfriend. Seeing her cry was never an easy feat, something he didn't like to do even when he did it on purpose.

Like now.

Without saying anything, Sasuke simply rose from his chair and left the bakery, a crying Sakura shaking in a booth all alone behind him.

She would just have to get over it.

(Later that same day)

He stared at the number glaring up at him from the screen of his phone, wondering if this is something he should really do. Would Naruto choose Sakura over him?

"Sasuke!" echoed his mother's voice up the stairs and into his room, causing her son to jump out of his skin, "Dinner is ready!"

Of course, it just had to be ready in the middle of his personal struggle to not call or call Naruto. Why not?

Groaning, he stalked down the hall, nearly running into a bemused Itachi on his way down the staircase. "What do you want?"

Itachi only snickered, irritating Sasuke who shoved him lightly only to receive a bump on the top of his head. "Don't be so sensitive Sasuke; I was just thinking of how foolish you are."

"Foolish? Who the hell is foolish, outcast?" Itachi waved a dismissal in the air before continuing his trek up the stairs, leaving Sasuke to pout in his own thoughts. What right did Itachi have to tell him what to do? If it weren't for Itachi, Naruto would still be his and none of those other things would have had to happen.

It was all Itachi's fault.

"Sasuke?" His mother called up to him, concerned about her son's shaking fist's as he stood five stairs from the first floor with his brow crinkled and his lip pinched white by the force of his teeth. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah." Sasuke recollected himself; he couldn't be this way during dinner. After all, his father will be there, eyeing him for any hint of rainbow glamour shimmering through his son's façade.

And sure enough, the second Sasuke's butt pressed against the hard wood of the chair, his father's eyes fixed on his son with an intent stare. "So are you doing anything with Sakura this weekend? You were home early today."

Telling his mother wasn't a problem, she never really liked Sakura to much anyway. But his father….that was a whole different story. In the end, nothing changed the fact that lying would be pointless, "We broke up."

Silence embraced the table with a tight squeeze, squishing the family together in a heavy cramped awkward state.

Sasuke's Mother bit back a smile while refocusing her eyes on her obviously displeased husband who in turn was glaring a hole into Sasuke's face. And Itachi's seat remained empty as usual, because the asshole just wanted nothing to do with this family when he wasn't wreaking something.

Enough was enough, Sasuke was through playing games. Maybe his father could keep things with Naruto hushed up, maybe his father could disown him from the family, and maybe his Father could yell and scream until the roof toppled on their heads and the Earth turned its axis changing the seasons and effectively destroying the ecosystem along with mankind as a result.

But he could never, not ever, tell him to date anyone.

Or marry, or love, or kiss, or hug.

In the end, Sasuke decided that it was Naruto or nothing. That was the deal.

So when his Father pressed the fork into the table with a tightly squeezed hand, and gave him a look that said nothing but the usual flicker of disappointed remarks, Sasuke did not react.

He just ate silently.

Sasuke was back at it again.

He was staring at the screen of the phone, with those pretty numbers gazing up at him teasingly as if saying, "What are you going to do Sasuke? Do you have the balls to dial me?"

Why yes, yes he did. With a new found confidence from the evening's dinner, Sasuke pressed on that green button and pressed the phone to his ear. He would not hang-up.

"Hello?" Sasuke's stomach swooned; it had been a long time since he'd heard that voice. Too long. "Do you have the wrong number?"

"Don't you pay attention to phone numbers Dobe?" There was a silence that seemed to still any sense of activity in the area in waves. There was a faint breathing sound, a sigh maybe, before Naruto started to talk in a voice barely above a whisper.

"What are you doing Sasuke?" He sounded tired….tired of Sasuke, tired of the whole mess that Sasuke's package came with, and that alone sucked away the growing confidence swelling in the raven's heart.

"Naruto, I broke up with Sakura. I want to be with you."

He tried not to flinch at the bitter harsh tone echoing through the cell, it was so real he could almost picture the fuming Naruto standing in front of him, "Be with me how Sasuke? You mean you want me to sneak around with you right?"

Sasuke said nothing, to be honest even though he did want to be with Naruto and no one else, he hadn't planned on not hiding it. He just wanted things to be as they were, before his Father found out and Itachi stalked him.

Naruto continued on, "I threw away the necklace Sasuke…..it's too late to go back, what's done is done and I'm moving on!"

The phone beeped in his ear with a hang-up, leaving his right hand to squeeze the small fox that was his keychain.

This was….loneliness.

hey! So ff did some weird stuff when I loaded this, I tried correcting as much as I could but if you notice anything wrong let me know! As usual review!