See! That wait wasn't so bad right? Kidding. I took way too long to update this. Anyways! Just like I promised, the next chapter update! Here you go! Thanks for the extra push best frienddddd!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.


Chapter 12

With the silence that followed her words, I could hear each thunderous pound of my heart in my chest. I backed away slowly, eyes staring right through her. No words existed that would be able to describe how much damage that one blow took. I could only remain silent as I put as much distance between the two of us as possible. Soon enough, my back collided with the wall and my legs gave out a second later forcing me to the floor.

Every inch of my body was trembling, a rush of cool air running along my skin eliciting goosebumps. The bed creaked with each shift of her body. Inch by inch, she worked her way closer. Swinging her legs over the side, she moved until she stood right in front of me. Falling to her knees, she reached for my arm, setting off several panic sirens in my head.

"Don't," I told her.

It disturbed me, to hear how different I sounded when I had forgotten how to function. My voice, the one that was calm and rational, smooth and strong had been reduced to the softest of murmurs and staggering speeches. It was so unusual to hear myself in such a way. It was a harsh reminder of how I was in my younger years. Quiet and soft spoken, fragile to the touch.

She obeyed, pulling her hand to rest in her lap. I could see the light leave her eyes as she stared blankly down at the floor. Silent tears began rolling down her cheeks but she didn't bother to brush them away this time and neither did I.

I could feel myself slowly starting to recover. Piece by piece I began to ease myself into a higher state of consciousness. As soon I was able to utter words into complete sentences and piece together coherent thoughts, I asked her, "How did it happen?"

She didn't answer right away, which was probably for the best. If she answered too quickly, then it would only tease the burn further. If she already had an answer sitting at the tip of her tongue, then I would know that she'd been preparing for this far longer than I wished to know. But no matter how fast or slow she responded, I knew that it would still hurt.

Broken voice seeping through the silence, she croaked out, "I...I don't know."

How laughable. How pathetically laughable. Of course she didn't know. You don't just happen to be pregnant. But despite how humorous I found her response to be, I wasn't exactly in a laughing mood. Quite the opposite actually and though I looked calm on the outside, I was so desperately struggling to cling to the last bit of sanity I had within me and things were slowly starting to look grim.

"You don't know huh," I asked, not expecting a response back. I forced my eyes to her again but she didn't return the look. Her eyes remained solely on her clenched fists in her lap, staring at them as if all of this was their fault.

I scoffed, shaking my head as I licked my lips. No way had she expected me to buy such a sorry excuse. Sorry but no, I wasn't about to sit here and let her toss me some bullshit answer like that. My voice low and dark, I asked again, "How did it happen Rin?" And I couldn't help but notice the bitter taste lingering on my lips after I uttered her name.

Shyly, she worked up the courage to look me in the eyes. Her lip was caught in between her teeth as she tried to force back the tears stinging the corners of her eyes. Her eyes were pleading and desperate as she pressed again, this time with more fire behind her words, "I told you I don't know!"

"How do you not fucking know Rin‽" I snapped, words ice cold. She flinched at my tone and instantly spiraled into more tears. But instead of the sympathy I should've felt at the sight, I only felt angrier, blood boiling beneath my skin with each menacing second that rolled by. Hand gripping my knee, I pulled myself onto my feet, arms hanging loosely at my side.

I took another step closer to her which resulted in a nervous flinch at the sound of my approaching footsteps. I was close enough that the tips of my shoes connected with hers and I slowly crouched down simply to observe her. My heart tightened at the sight but I couldn't bring myself to pull her into my arms like I was so accustomed to doing. I could only watch, trying to convince myself that I was still calm despite my little outburst.

I reached my fingers towards her, the tips just barely catching her chin. I guided her face to look at me but she fought me along the way. "Look at me," I commanded, voice leaving no room to argue. I wouldn't have to ask again before seconds later, her solemn brown eyes were meekly peering back into my own.

"Whose is it?" I found myself asking because obviously that was the number one question on my mind. I needed to know just who to release my fury on the second I got out of here. But first, I needed my answers. I urged her with my eyes, for her to tell me the information I didn't want but needed to hear.

"I don't know," she whispered, but not soft enough to slip past my ears. Confused, I tugged her chin again when she tried to look away. "You don't know?" I repeated slowly, face a mixture of confusion and silent rage. "You don't know, as in you don't want to tell me? Or as in…" I allowed the rest of my words to trail off because I'm sure she knew what I was beginning to hint at. Her only answer was to look away, looking nothing short of guilty.

And I felt the rest of my heart crumble in my chest, leaving me feeling emptier than ever.

"There was more than one," I mumbled, hand falling to my side. The realization of it all was nothing short of suffocating. I was in denial, refusing to believe that the silent implications of her promiscuity were real. "It was an accident," she finally whispered, hand quickly reaching up to brush away a tear that had managed to sneak away.

"An accident?" I asked in disbelief, eyes narrowing as I growled out, "You don't fuck around and sleep with someone else on accident!" I hissed, rising to my feet and taking a step back lest I made a bad judgement call and let my rage get the best of me. I didn't know if I could take much more of this but there was still the question of who the soon to be dead bastard was. "Who Rin?"

"Sakura, I swear I don't know," she finally stood, reaching for me again but I pushed her away. There were a lot of things I didn't like. I didn't like when people were too happy all the time. I loathed excessively bright colors. Watching innocent people get hurt made my skin crawl uncomfortably. But one guaranteed surefire way to get me pissed off was to sit in my face, look me in the eyes and still have the audacity to lie to me.

In all honesty thought, I had to admit that I was proud of myself for not blowing up like I thought I would. I was raging but in a silently brooding and annoyed kind of way. I took the opportunity to run my fingers through my hair, my lips parting in a frustrated sigh. I was hurt beyond comprehension and I still couldn't find it within me to understand why she of all people would betray me this way.

But suddenly, her voice caught ahold of my attention once more as she admitted, "I know...Sakura." Her voice heavy with sadness as she flashed me a weak smile. "What do you know?" I asked, under the assumption that she was about reveal the answer to my previous question. But I was left shocked and nervous, perhaps even the slightest bit guilty when she said, "I know you fooled around with someone else."

Mouth agape and eyes wide, I shot my eyes to her quickly. She continued to watch me with that heartbreakingly sad smile, hand reaching up again to wipe away her tears. Some mangled combination of a laugh and a sob left her lips as she shook her head.

"Rin," I breathed her name, taking a cautious step towards her only for her to move away.

"Just an accident right?" She chuckled brokenly, shaking her head as she folded her arms over her chest. She took a second in between her tears to release a shaky breath, clutching her head between her hands as she stared at the floor before looking back up at me. "Tell me," she started soft and slow, "Was it her?" And of course I knew she meant Ino.

Before I got the chance to answer, she spoke for me. "Mmm, couldn't have been her right? That would've been too easy," she muttered in clear disgust. "No, it had to be that Tenten girl, am I right? She seems more up your alley. She's a lot like me." This time I decided against answering her altogether. I had already waltzed right into her trap and I couldn't quite pull myself out just yet.

She must've been able to pick up on the trapped animal vibe I was giving off in waves. With that same smile from before she said, "It's alright. It's all over your face but I suppose given the circumstances, who am I to judge?" She rubbed her eyes tiredly but it didn't appear that she planned on crying anymore. If anything, she looked drained.

"Looks like we both fucked up huh," I found myself saying.

"Looks like it." She answered back.

And I'm sure we were both thinking the same thing. Running the same question along the tracks of our minds.

What were we going to do now?

A sickening realization dawned upon me. Somewhere deep down, I'm sure I felt like I should be way more torn up about this. That I should feel broken because this girl I'd been with for so long had messed around behind my back. I think that in spite of all of that however, that I knew I had no right to be upset with her. That probably in some sort of way or another, this was my fault.

Scratch that, who was I kidding?

Of course I had brought all of this on myself. I had made the smart decision not to get too involved with Ino. I had stuck to my guns and kept my hands and my lips (for the most part) to myself. Tenten was a mistake. That's all there was to it and I'm sure it was harsh but coming from me I guess it should've been expected. Temporary moment of weakness on my behalf and I promised myself that I'd never let it happen again.

During the entirety of our relationship, I had actually remained entirely faithful. Minus the obvious situation that had transpired. I never bothered with other girls, figuring that it would lead to a situation just like the one we were currently in now. But I guess my efforts to remain loyal were in vain. We both had the opportunity to taste sin and of course the temptation had been too much to resist.

But I had more control than she did. I held up my end and the incident with Tenten was a simple moment of weakness. I didn't care about her in that way and I didn't think I could. Rin was right. They were a lot alike. That's probably why I figured it'd never work simply because Rin was already enough of a handful on her own and the last thing I needed was two of her.

"Is this it," Rin asked me, no longer afraid to look me in the eyes now that everything was out in the open. I pulled my eyes to her and for a while all I did was stare. Content without words to disrupt my thought so that my sole focus was on the girl in front of me. There were no more tears in her eyes, only what resembled guilt and an empty apology.

She didn't need to apologize. This wasn't something as simple as an emotional scratch that could be mended with a band-aid and kiss. I didn't think we'd be able to come back from this. I suppose it was wrong for me to not even bother to try to fix it. But what would be the point of trying to fix it?

Even if we did try to work it out, things would never go back to the way they used to be. The spark would be gone. The kisses wouldn't linger and the touches wouldn't strike fire with even the gentlest of touches. And now, we had an even bigger rift. Now in a matter of months, there'd be a child here. I could only imagine the toll that was going to take. Then there's always the chance that whoever was the kid's father could be a deadbeat.

This might be the end of things for us but she was still important to me. If the dude was bold enough to sleep with her behind my back, then he should be able to take responsibility and raise his kid. Whatever. I'd continue to do what I could to help but for now, I needed to figure things out.

"Yeah...yeah this is it," I found myself answering finally. She nodded, fingers tangling themselves in her hair. A long sigh slipped past her lips as she stood. The bottom of her hand dragged across her eyes to stop the tears but I knew that they'd fall anyway. It was just a matter of when. But with the way her lip began to tremble and the red tint near the tips of her ear, I knew it was too late.

Shaking my head, I moved to place my hand on her shoulder. I let my lips brush her temple before turning and taking my leave.

X

A knock on my door caught my attention. Though I already knew who it was, I was still a bit shocked to see Ino of all people standing there.

Her timing couldn't have been worse. With me having just left Rin a little while ago, I really wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone else today. But I'd have to chalk another loss to the scoreboard because she didn't appear to be leaving anytime soon.

She gently shut the door behind her, stepping over to me slowly as she sat at the edge of my bed. Lying down on her side, she simply watched me in silence as I tiredly stared back. When she reached her hand towards my cheek, I narrowed my eyes, shifting away. "Don't," I told her, rolling over to face the wall.

She was silent for a while and made no attempts to move. Assuming she'd taken the hint, I closed my eyes, drawing in a tired breath.

God I was exhausted.

Such a huge blow in one day had taken so much out of me and if I could just manage an hour of peace then it would be a miracle. But with Ino's hand sliding over my waist as she pressed her nose against my neck, I knew the moment wouldn't come any time soon.

I reached my hand to pull her's away but she only used the opportunity to lace our fingers together. "Ino," I warned softly.

"What's wrong?" She asked worriedly, tightening her hold and pressing herself further into my back. How she had figured something was wrong so quickly was beyond me but I knew that I needed to quickly pull myself together because God forbid she found out about any of this.

I quickly pulled myself up, scowling as she continued to lay there. Her eyes held my own for a moment before she threw the question at me again. I shook my head, throwing my legs over the side of my bed, halting in my movements as her hand locked around my wrist.

I stared at her fingers, sigh slipping past my lips as I tugged my hand away. "Ino please," I mumbled, rising from my bed as I looked around the room for my shoes. If I allowed myself to stay in this room for too long then I was risking being trapped when she began to pry like I knew she would. She'd have an absolute field day when she found out me and Rin weren't together anymore and just thinking about it made me feel sour.

"Look," I mumbled, voice low as I slipped my feet into my shoes and tugged my new jacket I'd purchased, over my head. "I need some air and some time to think, we can talk later," I commented dryly, already outside my door, not bothering to lock it as I headed for the stairs.

For a brief second, I was alone. Just like I had wanted, or at least that's what I'd been telling myself. But of course, the blonde I was so desperately trying to shake was at my side in no time, hands in her pockets as she silently strode along with me. She didn't speak to me but I could tell she wanted to speak. Figuring it'd be best to remain silent for now, she followed behind me with small quick steps. She stopped when I stopped and moved when I moved.

I didn't know where I was going, I just knew that I needed to find somewhere to clear my head.

The pouring rain did little to help with navigation, making it hard to see when everything looked the same. Streams of dirty gray and black blocked my vision as I trudged through what I assumed to be the forest just outside the precinct. It wasn't exactly after curfew but going too deep into the woods was prohibited.

Plenty of people had gone missing out there, very few came back and when they did they'd usually wished they hadn't. And though the consequences of being caught out here was extremely high, I was long past the point of caring. I just kept walking, that was, until Ino tugged me to stop. "Sl-slow down Sakura," she panted, using the sleeve of her shirt to wipe the rain from her face.

Snatching my hand back, I hissed, "I didn't tell you come. If you can't keep up then just go home and leave me the fuck alone!" She flinched, obviously not expecting my sudden outburst but she only glared back coldly. "I wanted to fucking come because something's obviously bothering you and I wanted to help!"

"Well to be honest," I snorted, running my fingers through my damp hair, "I didn't ask for your help or your sympathy. Therefore, you can leave me the hell alone!"

We were both seething, more so with me shaking while she just glared holes into my head. "Here we go again," she sighed, brushing past me to head into the forest deeper. Finding refuge under some heavily treed area, she wrung the water from her hair as she continued with her little speech, "You think that I still don't actually care about you. That all of this is in my head. Well fuck you too then Sakura! Because despite what you think, I didn't follow you all the way out here in the rain just because I thought I'd get something out of it. I did it because you honestly looked like something was wrong and excuse me for being a fucking decent person who actually gives a shit about you!"

I tried, desperately so, to ignore the pounding in my chest at her words. They sounded far too familiar. Almost as if I'd only heard them so many times before from the one person who used to whisper seemingly genuine promises on nights like these.

Nights when I was so far wrapped in my thoughts that I couldn't so much as function on my own. Nights where I let my guard down and she would hold me until I fell asleep. But I couldn't allow myself to fall back into such a familiar sense of comfort. My peace never lasted long and surely the next time I got my heartbroken would leave me with nothing left to go on.

Ino.

My eyes landed on her, watching as she hopelessly tried to squeeze the last bits of water from her hair. My chest tightened and before I could stop myself, the pitiful stinging of tears began to form in my eyes. I sucked in a quick breath, hand darting over my mouth when I noticed my mistake.

Unfortunately for me, Ino had noticed too.

In a split second, she was moving in front of me, eyes wide with worry as she reached for me. But I was afraid. It was too soon and I didn't want to subject myself to the same torture as before. So I moved away, stumbling back until I had nowhere else to run.

I clenched my eyes shut and grinded my teeth together to stop myself from looking any weaker than I did now. I didn't want to give in. I wanted to continue doing what I was best at and keep pretending that I wasn't hurting on the inside. To act as if I was okay and that the fact that I had lost the one person who I had thought was going to be by my side forever didn't bother me in the least.

But I couldn't do it. I…just couldn't do it.

My legs gave out and I slid to the ground, hands clenching my head tightly as I fell apart. Ino was there, almost instantly, arms tugging my hands down when I began digging too hard. Before I could do it again, she was in my lap, arms around my neck with her cheek rubbing against my own.

Fingers tried effortlessly to push her away only to stop and latch painfully against her waist. A sharp intake of breath caught my attention and I realized that I was hurting her. But her only response was to hush me with soft whispers, gentle scratches at my scalp and running her nose along my neck.

Thankfully, the tears had stopped but I was still feeling empty. I didn't want to go back. I didn't want to have to face her again. I just wanted to stay out here and drop off the face of the earth for a second. I blankly stared out at the rain as the heavy pouring dwindled to light drizzle.
Lips parting, I mumbled into Ino's shoulder the only words ringing in my mind, "It's over."

I think what had originally amazed me the most was that she knew exactly what I was talking about. However, what amazed me so much more was that when she pulled away to look in my eyes, there was no smile. No smirk or playful grin. She didn't say 'I told you so' or throw it back in my face.

Instead…she looked torn. Absolutely shaken up. Her hands fell from my shoulders but she didn't move from her position. Her eyes searched my own for answers but I could only give her a broken smile in return. "I guess," I started with a bitter frown, "I guess that you were right. I shouldn't have trusted her."

"What happe—"

"She's pregnant," I answered before the question could pass her lips fully. And her eyes were wide again with shock. "She…doesn't even know who the kid's dad is," I admitted, the truth crushing my soul all over again. I shook my head, leaning further into the tree as I stared blankly up at the grey skies.

It was a while that we sat there. Basking in the silence as cool air rushed over our wet skin. It was another while before Ino's hands gripped my shoulders before sliding over to wrap around my neck once more. She pulled me closer, nails gently scratching my neck as she whispered over and over again that she was sorry.

But this wasn't her fault. Whether she had wished such a fate upon us or not, it was our own foolish actions that had brought us here. Now it was time for us to deal with the consequences and right now, heartbreak would just have to be one of them.

But Ino's warmth soothed me if only a bit.

I wanted to indulge further but I was fighting as to whether I should or not. She cared, or at least if she was faking it, it sure as hell seemed real. What felt even more real was the faint brush of her lips against my cheek as she whispered sorry one last time.

And the shiver that raced through me shortly afterwards was too intense to miss. But before I knew it, she was pulling away. She was grabbing my hand and tugging me up.

I didn't let go this time. I allowed her hand to hold onto my own as she guided us back to our building.

X

When she stopped outside my door, fingers still laced with my own, I shook my head, refusing to go in. As expected, she understood. Tugging me along, she pulled me along to her floor as we made our way to her room.

My body was on autopilot and I'm sure without Ino guiding me, I never would've made it back. I followed her closely, almost like a child. My hand clung tightly to hers but she didn't seem to mind. She simply brought us to her hall and as we rounded the corner, our hands dropped at the sound of a voice.

"You didn't tell me it was her!" I heard a familiar voice scream in a combination of frustration and fury. Another voice, though not nearly as familiar screamed back, "I didn't know she was here! I had to keep up the act babe, she already saw me!"

"Who is…" Ino started carefully, taking a cautious step down the hall. I made a quick attempt to grab her hand but I missed as she kept walking further down past her room. A door was open just down from hers which had originally been closed. I nervously followed her down, taking much slower steps as we neared the noise.

As we drew closer, one of the voices became more recognizable.

"Does she know?" I heard Rin ask whomever the other person was with her.

"No…no I don't think so," the mystery boy responded.

And before they could say anything else, Ino was there. Her eyes were wide as she took a step back, hand covering her mouth in the similar manner I had done.

"Ino! Hey wait…I can explain–!" The other voice called, stumbling out of the room as the boy from earlier came into view. Rin slipped out into the hall, smirk on her face as she leaned against the doorframe. "Looks like you just can't catch a break, huh blondie?" She teased, earning a scowl from the boy.

"Ino look, I'm sorry alright," he mumbled, unable to look her in the eyes. But Ino's only response to the boy whom she introduced me to as her boyfriend, was wide eyes and a gasp of disbelief. But no tears or words were exchanged.

Me on the other hand, well I couldn't fucking believe it. Not in a million years could I have predicted such a thing to happen. I took a step forward and suddenly all eyes were on me and I swear the smirk on Rin's lips dropped so fast you'd thought it was never there in the first place.

"Sakura?" She gasped, making her way over but one icy glare forced her still. I ran my eyes to the boy, Kankuro, who was looking at me with a cross between nervousness and loathing. I looked between the two of them for a second. Mind reeling as the last few pieces of the puzzle clicked together.

With a scowl, I turned to face Rin and nodded my head towards Kankuro, "Is it his?" I asked, teeth clenching as I narrowed eyes at her. She didn't speak, quickly looking down at her hands as she ignored my question.

"Hey man," Kankuro mumbled, releasing Ino as he strode confidently over to me. His first mistake. "Back off. She doesn't have to explain shit to you." He told me with a dirty glare and a step closer than he should have. His second mistake.
But even though she didn't answer, her guilty look was enough to prove my suspicious. And with a smirk of my own, I scoffed, "I thought so."

Silence. That's all there was.

Then there was a burning pain in my hand, followed by a sharp crack.

And then afterwards, another sharp pain in my hand, this time followed by a loud whimper of pain.

Ino's hands were around my waist, tugging me back. Eyes wild, I could only glare at the two of them on the floor. One cursing and holding onto his bleeding nose as the crimson fluid seeped through his fingers. The other, eyes wide and filled with tears as a hand pressed against the developing red bruise on their cheek.

I didn't feel the slightest bit guilty about it. For either of them. They got what was coming to them and honestly, I couldn't deny how good it made me feel.

And how badly I wanted to do it again.


Didn't like the ending of this chapter so much but it's whatever. It's finished and now I can move on to bigger and better things. Like more chaos! Because, it's like a great feeling and such and yeah. Anyway, if you're reading this, you might as well review too. The button is right there. Just DOOO ITTTTT!