Chapter 10: Preparation

~All this time spent in vain.
Wasted years.
Wasted gain.
All is lost.
Hope remains.
And this war's not over~

A/N Thanks for all the reviews you guys, I appreciate them, so here's your reward, the next chapter if Let Me In

Recap:

"You can't possibly love me."

"I do, stop doubting yourself.

Sasuke's tears finally fell freely from his eyes as Sakura embraced him in a tight hug, only tight enough to where it wouldn't harm him with the injuries he had received before. He cried and didn't bother to stop; he needed this right now. Crying to shed the pain and wrapped in someone's arms to wipe it all away.

They remained in that position for about a good ten-fifteen minutes. Sasuke's tears had stopped for the time being; now Sakura just held him and for that he was grateful. She hadn't known what so say so holding him in her arms was really the only thing she could think of. It was silent until she spoke up in a soft voice.

"Are you all right?"

"I don't know," Sasuke whispered back as he sat up from her embrace and looked her in the eyes, "I don't know what to think anymore."

"You need to get some sleep, don't think too much on this right now. Let me get u a different shirt and maybe some bandages for your face."

"What do you mean?"

"You're bleeding."

"What? Where?"

"On the side of your head, on your temple."

Sasuke reached up and touched the spot she mentioned. He flinched when he felt the sting from his touch. He sighed before nodding his head and she went to her closet. Rummaging around she found a black t-shirt that she snatched from her father's closet not too long ago. She threw it to him before walking out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom. That was where she grabbed the first aid kit and returned to the room.

She stopped instantly when she saw Sasuke was shirtless, she always seemed to walk in on him when he was in that situation. Blushing a shade of pink that put her pink hair to shame, she walked in as he turned to her. A sudden jolt of pain shot through his abdomen and he fell to his knees. Sakura wasted no time and ran over to him. She knelt to his side, as he clutched the sore spot he forced back a yell. She was at loss about what to do so she rubbed his back hoping it would help.

"Sasuke, what's wrong."

"I don't know, I just got this sharp pain in my abdomen."

"Let me see," She ordered as she helped him to stand.

She looked at the spot he had been clutching and saw a very dark bruise. Reaching out to touch it, Sasuke flinched and hissed in pain.
But she didn't move her hand from that spot.

"Where did that come from?"

Sasuke glanced down and saw the bruise that she was talking about. He thought about what could have happened then realized that he may have gotten it when he jumped from the car. He gave a painful sigh as Sakura opened up the first add kit and tended to the wound on his head.

She went to put that away and decided it would be best to put some ice on the bruise that he had, so she went to the kitchen. Rummaging through the cabinets and drawers, she found what she was looking for and finished up her business and went back upstairs where Sasuke was waiting patiently for her.

"Here," Sakura handed him the ice pack, "You'll stay here tonight, maybe I can get up early enough to talk to my parents."

Before he had a chance to retort she pulled him over to her bed and pushed him gently down onto it. She walked over to her door and turned off the light switch before crawling in next to his side. Shaking her head she grabbed the ice pack from his hand and set it on his wound. Sasuke flinched from the chill that he felt before settling down. Sakura held it there as she rested her head on his chest and fell asleep soundlessly. Sasuke too went to sleep but it wasn't for long when the nightmares began to invade his mind.

Around two am, Sakura woke up; she seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Fear came to her mind when she noticed Sasuke was gone. Did her parents find him in here and kick him out? Jumping from her bed, she frantically searched for him, but stopped when she saw that her window was open. She walked over and looked out but saw nothing until she turned her head to the side. There was Sasuke sitting on the roof just looking at the sky with his knees to his chest with his arms resting on them. But the detail that caught her eye was the fact that he had tears coming down his face. She crawled out of the window and strolled over to his side.

"Sasuke, what's wrong?"

"Huh?" Sasuke glanced over as he wiped his eyes.

Sakura came over and sat next to him. She looped her arm through his and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Why aren't you asleep?"

"I've never been able to sleep, I always wake up in the middle of the night."

"Can I ask why?"

"Nightmares. I have night terrors about what happens with my dad. I don't sleep because I'm afraid I won't wake up if I do. It's always been that way."

"You don't have to feel that way."

"I wish what you said was true, but I do feel this way, its been like this for months. After the accident, everything changed."

"Sasuke come back to bed, I'll be here, nothing will happen to you. I want to make sure you get some sleep."

Sasuke reluctantly nodded as they both crawled back into her room. They lay down again to go to sleep, Sakura hugging him to give him some comfort; he closed his eyes and soon drifted off to sleep. His nightmares didn't return for the rest of the night. And for that he was grateful, sleep actually felt good for his deprived body. All the months that he lost sleep, this was what he needed, especially with someone holding him close, someone that actually cared for him.

Sakura groaned as she sat up in her bed, glancing at the clock on her wall she noticed it was seven o' clock. Her eyes widened as she hopped out of bed and ran down to the kitchen. She knew her parents were gone; they had to have left early. But she froze in shock when she arrived in the kitchen to see them sitting at the table drinking tea. Now there was something she wasn't expecting to see, she was expecting to see them gone, not sitting at the table drinking tea like nothing was ever supposed to happen. Though it was a relief to her, she was actually happy they weren't gone yet.

"Uh, I thought you guys had to leave early?"

"The meeting got cancelled so we don't have to leave as early as we thought."

Sakura nodded at her dad's response before realizing this would be a perfect time to talk to her parents. Slowly she walked over to the table and sat in the available seat. The two adults looked at her as she nervously played with her hands.

"Um mom, dad?"

"What is it sweetie?"

"You remember Sasuke right?"

"Yeah, poor thing. If he didn't have his dad who knows where he would be."

"Well that's what I want to talk to you about. You see Sasuke is in my room an.."

She didn't get the chance to finish when her dad slammed his hand down onto the table. He was angry and his face showed it.

"He's been in your room all night?!" He asked angrily.

"Yeah but dad, listen to me."

Keiji stood from his seat and left the kitchen, he bounded up the stairs and into Sakura's room. Sasuke was already up when the large man came into the room. His eyes widened when he saw the angry look on his face, he didn't look too happy to see him. Sakura and her mother came running in only seconds after.

"What the hell were you doing in my daughters room?"

"Dad stop, please."

Sasuke stood from the bed, but he must have moved the wrong way because when he got to his feet the pain from the bruise stung again. The ice pack didn't really help it last night. His knees buckled as he placed his hand on the bruise. Sakura wasted no time and ran over to him. Keiji seemed to come out of his angry state and he too went to his side with Mana not too far away.

"Sasuke are you alright?" Sakura questioned, her tone full of worry.

"No, it hurts."

"Sakura what is going on?" Keiji demanded calmly.

Keiji helped Sasuke to stand and had him sit on Sakura's bed. Mana looked to her daughter waiting for an answer as the young girl took a deep breath. Now was the time, since they would actually listen and not have her dad get any angrier then he already was. She really couldn't blame him though, a boy in her room just sent the wrong message to him, what else was he supposed to think.

"Well um, you guys, Sasuke's dad isn't who you think he is."

"What do you mean?"

Sakura looked to her father as tears came to her eyes. This was the moment that the two teens had been waiting for. They would finally be able to get Sasuke some help and away from his abusive father. But would they even believe what she was about to say. Even to her, it seemed like it was a lie, even though she knew it was true. It had to be because she has never faced something like this before and she was confident on how to handle the situation at hand.

"He abuses Sasuke."

"What? Sakura that's ridiculous."

"Its not, he does."

"We talked to him last night, he seemed nice and really cares about Sasuke."

"That's a lie. He hurts Sasuke everyday, I saw it happen with my own two eyes."

"Sweetie, this seems all far fetched."

At this moment Sasuke stood from the bed and began to walk towards the door. The three looked at him as he stopped and turned to them. His eyes held a certain look, one neither of them could explain, whether it was sorrow, loneliness or some other form of emotion, it clenched at their hearts.

"Just forget it Sakura, I already told you what I was going to do. And you know what you're going to do today when you go to school. I'm sorry for being a burden to the three of you."

"Sasuke no," Sakura said as he made a move to leave, "There is a way to prove it. Take off your shirt."

He glanced at her before shifting his gaze to her parents. Sighing he moved his arms and slowly took off his shirt. As it came off, the two adults gasped, the bruises and scars made their eyes widened in shock. They had never seen anything like this before; they've never had to deal with anything like this for that matter. The matter at hand was not something they had to rush. Sasuke's dad was an abusive man and seemed he would be irrational at any point, which at any rate would cause him to do something that no one would be able to stop if they went about this the wrong way.

"Oh dear god."

"This is what happens when your father blames you for everything, and doesn't care what happens to you," Sasuke struggled to say as his voice cracked; he was about to cry again.

Mana noticed this and as if her motherly instincts took over she approached him and then embraced him in a hug. Sasuke wasn't crying but he was pretty damn close. She held him in a way that reminded him of his mother and that alone was enough to bring the tears to the surface. Lately all the hugs he received from Sakura and the one just now from her mom, were actually helping him, if just a little bit.

"You will stay here; we're not letting you go back to that house. Keiji you'll need to go to his house when his father isn't there, he's going to need some clothes."

"But what about the rest of his stuff."

"We'll worry about that later, clothing is the most important right now."

Keiji took Sasuke to his house as Sakura stayed behind to get ready for school. Sakura's dad was a strong man and could fight against Fugaku if necessary. Luckily for them Fugaku was gone, they knew mostly because his car wasn't in the driveway. They only grabbed Sasuke's necessities plus his backpack and poetry book that was due today in creative writing. They left when Sasuke realized he didn't have his journal.

Naruto and his friends were standing out in the courtyard of the school waiting for the bell to ring. But they were also waiting for a certain pink-haired girl to arrive. Naruto simply wore a pair of black pants and a dark green shirt with a pair of converse. Neji also wore black pants but he wore a blue shirt with black and red shoes. Shikamaru was the different in the bunch since he wore a pair of dark blue jeans and a brown shirt and black shoes.

Ino and Hinata were both wearing shorts, Ino in a pair of tan ones and wearing a white shirt with white flip-flops. Hinata had black shorts with a gray shirt and black flip-flops. Tenten on the other hand, just wore a pair of blue jeans and a pink shirt and blue sandals. They didn't really want to be all dressy today, so these are the outfits they chose to wear. No need to be perfect for anyone but themselves, so they dressed they way they felt comfortable.

"Where is Sakura?"

"I don't know," Neji answered Tenten's question.

Sakura was later than usual and they were a little worried about their friend. Those worries were soon wiped away when they saw a car pull up and they spotted pink locks on the person that got out. They smiled as she stepped out the car dressed in black shorts and a pink shirt with pink flip-flops. She had to have some things match in her opinion. The teens were soon surprised when they saw Sasuke climb out of the car as well as the person who was driving drove off. He wore a long sleeved black shirt with a red shirt over it, his usual black jeans and converse as well. He didn't have his snakebites today; they hurt when he tried to put them in. That was no surprise, he's been hit in the face a lot lately.

"So Sasuke are you ready?"

"I don't know. Does feeling like I want to hide under a rock seem ready to you?"

"No it doesn't, but we'll talk to them at lunch okay?"

"All right, I'm going to head to class then. I need some time to think."

"It'll be ok Sasuke."

"I hope so."

With that being said, he walked away and headed to his first period class. Sakura made her way over to the group just as the bell rang. Their eyes each burned with the same question, a question Sakura would surely be forced to answer. He was their friend after all, and they had the right to know, even though Sasuke really didn't want anyone else to get involved, he wouldn't be able to hide it much longer.

"Sakura, why was Sasuke riding with you?" Ino asked instantly when the girl stopped when she was close enough.

"Um, you guys, there are some things you need to know about Sasuke, but he has to be the one to tell you. He and I agreed that he would come talk to you at lunch today."

"Wow really? He's actually going to talk?" Naruto questioned happily.

"Yeah, and you guys be easy on him, you'll know what I mean later on today."

None of them knew what to expect Sasuke to say, but Sakura knew, she knew all of it. The question that was on her mind throughout all her classes was, would he go through with it and tell them? He became a quiet person and didn't really talk to a whole lot of people. That could definitely cause him to struggle with this whole deal entirely, but she would make sure to be there to help put him on his feet if he felt he wouldn't be able to continue on. To make sure he was able to finish his story and finally allow his friends to come back into his life. The wall he had built was starting to crack.

Lunch came fairly quickly and the group met up at a table set further away from the other students at the school. This was at Sasuke's request; he didn't want eavesdroppers to cut in on this conversation. He needed this to just be within the small group that they had formed years ago, no more no less, well including Sakura that is. Now was the time, the time he would share his story with the very ones he pushed out of his life. And it was all because of the one girl he met, the one girl that began to heal his heart. He came forward to the table where all of them sat. Sakura was at his side and gripping his hand tightly with her own. She was there, he knew, there was nothing left to do.

'Well, there's no turning back now.'

A/N Alright that's finished, whoohoo ^^ please read and review and let me know what you think.