Just a reminder that the sequel to 'Thunderstorm' is posted. So far it's not doing too well so it may not stay here. Anyway from where this story last left off, the pink reincarnation of evil was waking up on the couch after Sasuke and Naruto were about to taking kissing to another level. I own nothing but the plot and the adorable Komori. Everything else belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
"Sakura, just relax and stay still. Do you know what happened? Can you tell me who I am?"
Naruto ran through the usual questions you ask somebody when they pass out or have been unconscious for a long period of time. Stuff like, what day is it, can you feel this part of your body, what color are your eyes, are you feeling any pain and so on and so forth. Sakura answered the questions correctly for the most part but understandably she didn't know where she was and she couldn't remember much of what had happened. As far as what day it was and if she could feel everything, she was fine. Sadly for me that meant that I hadn't caused her any sort of physical pain. Not to sound horrible in front of Naruto but she should have at least gotten some frostbite or some degree of pneumonia but I'm not so lucky. She looked around the room and finally saw me and I felt my stomach drop in disgust as her eyes lit up and she pushed Naruto aside. My darling had gone through the trouble of opening his home to her, lending her his couch, warming her up from the cold and making sure that everything functioned properly and he gets shoved aside! I wasn't tolerating this anymore!
"Sasuke-kun! I didn't know that you were taking care of me!"
"I'm not taking care of you. I still want you hauled away in chains."
"But…I don't understand; why are you here then? You must love me if you're by my side in my time of need."
"Look closer, bitch, I'm over here. Naruto is the one beside you."
"But I don't love Naruto, I love you!"
"I don't like you, let alone love you. I love Naruto."
"And I love Sasuke and I'm really starting to hate you," Naruto finally spoke his piece and I couldn't begin to describe how happy I was with his statement.
"Sakura, what the actual hell?! I have my fox rescue you and you shove me aside as soon as you see Sasuke!"
"Oh please Naruto, I know that you're just covering up for Sasuke-kun. He's so shy he just doesn't want me to know that he cares."
"Please wake up from whatever delusion you put yourself in, banshee. It's nauseating."
"You do love me; what happened at your house in your living room proved it!"
"I proved my hate for you by tossing you out in the snow with nothing but MY MOTHER'S LINGERIE ON!"
"Speaking of, that's just wrong. Why the hell would you want to wear someone else's lingerie in the first place?" Naruto caught on that that must have been a sore spot for me.
"You don't understand, Naruto, you men don't have to wear lingerie. We women put it on so that you men can take it off. And I see that Sasuke-kun has already done that for me, so you can leave the two of us alone. You're not needed here anymore; Sasuke-kun and I have some 'business' to attend to."
"No we don't, you're wearing clothes, I didn't take the lingerie off of you, and I want to throw you out again for being a bitch. Naruto brought you to his home so that he could make sure you were okay and to tell you that we're dating and you just continue to delve in the fantasy you have that the two of us are happily in love. Newsflash, you banshee, it will NEVER happen! You treat others like you're better than them when they want to help you out and you trample over other people's feelings like they aren't worth the ground you walk on. You think that just because you claimed you 'love' me for the better part of your whole life it entitles you to something. All it's done is make me hate you, make you a horrible shinobi, and made you an even worse 'friend' to the people who care about you! Naruto has risked life and limb for you so many times that it makes me sick and all you do in return is fawn over somebody who doesn't think anything more of you than he would of a speck of dust! Not only that but if Naruto even remotely says ANYTHING that offends you, you bash him over the head with enough force to put somebody in a coma! That is not how you treat someone who has done what Naruto has done for you!"
"S-Sasuke-kun…why are you saying these things? Why are you being so mean? Naruto must have done something to you!"
"You're doing it again! Look around you; do you see the Uchiha fan anywhere? Do you know what position you're in right now?! Because of your sick obsession with me, you nearly froze to death; and I would have let you if Naruto hadn't wanted to bring you to HIS HOUSE!"
"Sasuke-kun, this isn't Naruto's house. He has a run-down, probably condemned apartment on the outskirts of town. This is lush and well-kept, not to mention very expensive looking. This is probably a place you built for the two of us to live together where no one else can hear us at night."
I stood in disbelief as she continued to spout off things about how we would be married and have pink-haired Uchiha babies. The images that flashed through my head were enough to make me collapse to my knees and I could feel the exhaustion coming. I had no more will to deal with this person. I was drained both physically and emotionally not only from the sex earlier but from this conversation as well. She refused to listen to facts – she lived in her delusion and she was quite content with herself there. I couldn't do it anymore…I couldn't stand to be in the same space as her but my legs couldn't move from how tired I was of the whole thing and my body just felt so heavy that moving up from the floor seemed like fighting Itachi when I was thirteen – pointless. Naru-baby came up to me and wrapped his arms around me, cradling my head in his chest and placing light kisses on the crown of my head. Sakura yelled at him to let me go and that I belonged to her but Naruto let out a sudden burst of chakra. Komori cowered in fear and retreated to hiding under the couch; I couldn't blame the little guy, I wanted to hide from an angry Naruto as well. I looked up to see that his eyes had become red and the whisker marks on his cheeks had darkened. This was bad, but I couldn't or wanted to do anything to stop it.
"Sakura, that's enough. I've heard all that I can stand. What Sasuke said is true. He and I are dating now. My fox Komori can attest to that and if you want more proof you can go upstairs to my bedroom to get a good, long look at the sheets. You're a sad, pathetic, lonely individual who can't bear the sight of the one you claim to love with someone else. If you really loved him, you would let him be happy; but you don't bother to see what exactly you do to him. Look at him, Sakura! Look what you've done to Sasuke! He's on his knees, tears on the edges of his eyes, and so drained of energy that it's all he can do to lift his head up! Love isn't supposed to do this to someone! Love is supposed to feel like you're floating; to feel like you can do anything in the world as long as you have that special person by your side! Love is meant to fill you with emotions that, sometimes, you don't know what to do with! The love you claim to have for Sasuke suffocates him, makes him feel heavy and tired, and leaves him empty and hollow! That. Is. Not. Love. What you have is obsession and an unhealthy one at that! You fawn over him and choke him with your confessions of affection and cries for attention! It makes you blind to the ones who really love you, though right now I can't see why anyone would! You're so absorbed with what YOU want in your life that you can't or won't notice what OTHERS want in life! Sasuke wants happiness and pure love, not a life of taking care of someone that can't take her head out of her own ass! I wanted to bring you here, I cared for you, I nearly died for you so many times, I took care of you when you needed it, I brought Sasuke back, and what the hell have you done for me?! All I've gotten was 'Sasuke-kun would understand me', 'Sasuke-kun would know what I'm feeling', 'Sasuke-kun loves me, you wouldn't get it,' me, me, me, me, me; THAT'S ALL I'VE EVER GOTTEN FROM YOU! It always has to be about what you want, what you need, what you don't have, what you deserve; it was never about a team, it was never Sasuke, it was never me, it was always you! For your information, NOBODY'S day begins and ends with SAKURA HARUNO! I've had all I can stand of you for now, but as much as I hate you at the moment, I'm not so heartless as to throw you out in the snow again after the trouble my fox went through to get you here. So make yourself fucking comfortable because once this snow clears, Sasuke and I are going to the Hokage to request separate teams away from you. Sasuke and I are going to bed now. Good night."
This is the happiest day of my life. I was so happy that I wasn't on the receiving end of all that but even more than that I was happy that Sakura had finally been told the truth about herself. She deserved to know the truth, and the truth hurts. Although I was still tired, hearing Naruto say all those things made me lighter and happier. He had to help me up off of the floor but we both walked upstairs together in silence. Sakura made no move to try and stop us or come up after us and I can only hope that she doesn't try at some point in the night. Once we were in Naruto's bedroom, he made a clone to stay downstairs with her in case she needed anything. He may have been angry as fuck with her but it didn't take away his caring nature. Naruto was quiet and his movements were robotic and it worried me. I hugged him from behind and he laid his head down on my shoulder. I kissed his temple and he put his arms on top of mine.
"Are you okay?"
"Are you? I didn't think you would collapse like you did."
"She's exhausting to deal with. I think the events of today were all collectively exhausting."
"It's been a long-ass day."
"Too long. But we have each other."
"If we have it our way we'll have each other until the end."
"I'm happy to know that we're thinking on the same page. Your eyes haven't gone back to blue yet. Are you still angry?"
"I'm just thinking about it all. I didn't realize that she was so deep in her fantasies of you."
"She needs help. I'm cold and heartless but even I know when somebody needs intervention."
"I'm just sorry that we can't be friends anymore."
"Although I'm happy with her staying out of my life, I know that you value her as a sister you never had. Maybe if she can get over me, you two can reconcile everything and get back to normal."
"I don't think it's going to happen, koi. She won't let go of you and I'm not letting go either. I hate having you caught in the middle of this."
"I'm not in the middle if I'm running towards you."
"You know I love you."
"And you know I love you too."
As we began to lean into each other for a kiss, we could suddenly hear hysteric crying coming from downstairs. Naruto rolled his eyes and I groaned in disappointment. We both climbed into bed and buried our heads into the pillows to try to drown out the noise. I guess the clone that Naruto sent down wasn't doing much good to comfort her or it just didn't care. We stayed like that for almost an hour before the wailing stopped and we waited another twenty minutes before we thought it was safe to cuddle.
"God, I thought she would never stop!"
"At least now we can sleep. Come here baby, let me hold you."
"Okay Sasuke."
I wrapped my arms around him and intertwined our legs so that we were both comfortable. Naruto rested his head on my arm and I knew that by morning I wouldn't have any feeling in it but for Naruto I didn't care. His arms came around me as well and he breathed in my scent and sighed happily. I kissed his head and started running my fingers through the soft flaxen strands and soon we were both asleep and on our way to dreams.