Chapter 12
Sakura Sake
―knock. Knock.
Both Shin and Sakura turned to look at the door, Sakura held onto Shin's hand, feeling the familiarity of the aura but he let go and slowly stood up, walking towards the door. He slowly opened the door and took sight of onyx eyes searching for someone in the house as some strands of raven hair cover them. He locked his eyes onto a person he still hated, Uchiha Sasuke. He wondered what he was doing here, at his house, and how he came to know where he lives.
'What are you doing here? How did you know where I live?' Shin whispered to him, he didn't want Sakura to know who was at the door. He knew how much pain she was in.
"I asked some people around, connections. I was hoping we could have a talk," Sakura heard a familiar voice say to Shin as she tried to look herself, curious who was at the door, but Shin's back was covering the doorway, he definitely didn't want her to know who was it.
Sasuke raised his hand and pushed the door in front of him to open widely, removing his hands from his pockets, his eyes locked with a pair of relaxing green ones, noticing that Sakura was sitting on the couch, looking straight at him. He lowered his eyes, as if he regretted looking at her, something on his face gave a way to Sakura that something was entirely wrong, and she knew what. He looked back at Shin with a frown across his face, "Y― You seem busy, maybe I should just… leave."
Sasuke took a step backward and slowly turned his back from Shin and started to walk away until he felt a firm grip on his wrist to stop him. He turned to look at furious dark green eyes piercing through him, "Maybe you should stay," Shin insisted.
"What?" he snorted.
"You should stay, Sasuke," was all Shin replied as he removed his hand from Sasuke's wrist and turned towards the door.
Sakura stared at the door, waiting for Shin; she was desperately hoping that Sasuke wasn't there anymore, that Shin would've asked him to leave, but to her dismay, Shin and Sasuke entered the room together and walked towards her. She saw Sasuke looked at her for a split second and looked away as he sat down at the opposite end of the couch.
Shin gave off a desperate sigh and looked at both of them, standing up, "Look, I'll got some drinks, and before I return both of you should decide talking with each other before someone decides to cut both your tongues out."
'Sigh… He always has a way to make things work out, now, does he?' Sakura quietly thought as she gazed upon Shin's back as he left the room and went in the kitchen.
Shin walked past both of them and lingered in the kitchen, standing by the door, silently listening to Sasuke and Sakura, he wanted everything of this finished, worked out, but he didn't know that it would happen this fast, like an unexpected turn of events that led to an "happily-ever-after" after all. His heart pained as he saw them sitting there, on his couch, in his house. He leaned on the kitchen wall, nearest to the living room, he didn't want to miss one word, he wanted to listen, though he knew very well the he didn't want to hear the words that make him feel weaker, feel defenseless.
'Why are you here, Sasuke?' Sakura silently whispered to the raven-haired guy beside him, not wanting Shin to hear their conversation, but what she didn't know, he could hear her, even in her weakest whisper.
Sasuke looked at the girl beside her, she was still looking at another direction, obviously avoiding his eyes, he wanted Shin to hear everything; he wanted both of them to know how he felt, "Right back at you."
Sakura shrugged as she turned to look at him, undoubtedly surprised at what he had said to her, 'What the hell is your problem, Sasuke?'
Sasuke returned her frustrated look, he could see from her eyes that she'd been crying, he wanted to tease her, he wanted to let her know how he really felt, how he realized that there was something more to life than friendship, but he just can't, he'd left her hanging on to him for as long as he could remember, "You are."
'What do you mean I'm your problem?'
He smirked at her, it just comes natural for him, "I'm your boyfriend, right?"
Sakura almost felt hysterical, she glared at him and was getting to the point of slapping him at the face but she forced not to, she would just make a stupid scene, a scene she didn't like Shin to witness or even hear, she just knew that he'd come running in worrying about her, 'You are definitely not!'
This was it. Sasuke looked away and started snickering a little, this was it, he had the chance to tease her, and he looked back at Sakura, fighting off laughter as he gave her a broad smile, "Yes, I am Don't forget you agreed."
'We were only pretending, Sasuke,' Sakura snorted, not aware that she had shouted the word "pretending" out loud. With worry, she looked at the direction of the kitchen, hoping Shin wasn't able to hear anything, but he did. He heard everything. A weak smile tried to form across his face; it wasn't true after all.
Sasuke gave off a mocking laugh, obviously amused of the flaring expression on Sakura's flushed cheeks. He looked at her and started smirking; he seemed to return to his old self, the cold and mocking person everybody knew, "…but I knew you liked it!"
Sakura's cheeks flushed, she could feel it burning. She looked away, ashamed. She could feel her heart beating harder and faster as seconds quickly passed by.
"What Sakura? Already admitting defeat?" She heard Sasuke tease her more; she knew this, his teasing. She turned to look back at him with furious eyes, her face still crimson red.
'Wha—'
—BLAG.
Both of them looked to the direction of the kitchen, hearing something crash on the floor. They both got worried as they clutched onto the soft surface of the couch, "Shin! Is there a problem? What's taking you so long with the drinks?" they shouted in unison.
In panic, Shin shifted and stared at his refrigerator, taking seconds before opening it and took anything his hands first settled on, he could feel drops of sweat running down his neck.
Both Sakura and Sasuke were looking straight at him as he went out the kitchen, he took out his hands and showed them the bottle in it. They all looked at it, their eyes widened, "Sake!?" they all shouted in unison.
'Shoot! Why did I bring Sake out?' Shin scolded himself in his mind, the sweat on his neck now increasing as he panicked and stared at the Sake in his hand, "Huh? Sakura, when did I ever have Sake in my fridge?" he asked Sakura, dumbfounded.
Sakura returned his confused look and shook her head, "How the hell would I know? Shin! We can't drink that! Go find something else!"
'And leave you here with him for a longer time? I don't think so,' he commented Sakura's orders. He gave them a nervous laugh and sat down in between them on the couch, looking at Sakura then Sasuke, scratching his head playfully with his free hand, "Now, don't be too picky! Let's just drink this. Besides, it's Friday, we're free for tomorrow," he said, "Maybe both of you can stay for the night! Let's watch some movies, the three of us."
Awkward silence filled the air as the three of them continued to stare at the TV, all hugging pillows excitedly. The air around them felt so heavy and awkward that Sakura felt uneasy, she was with Shin, so why were they quiet? Was it because Sasuke was with them? It seemed so unusual for Shin to be this quiet, and she knew that she couldn't bear talking to Sasuke for even a second, she leaned slowly to look at Shin who was gulping and gulping Sake in his mouth, while both Sasuke and she was drinking slowly, tasking the Sake gratefully. She stared at Shin, anxiety filling her body.
She raised her head and stared at Shin. Maybe this is what happens to people who drink too much, they just become the opposite of who they truly were, showing what they really felt inside. She felt so worried about him now, watching him like this.
She lifted her hand and let it slide on Shin's shoulder; he looked up at her and gave her a sarcastic smile. He slowly leaned closer to her and laughed foolishly, the smell of the Sake filling the air with his every loud breath. 'He's really drunk…' Sakura thought to herself.
"Shin, you're wasted, stop drinking Sake," she whispered to him as she took the bottle of Sake from Shin's hand. He leaned on her, his head on her shoulder as he struggled and reached for the Sake. She looked at him with pitiful eyes, as she was about to stand up when Shin dove at her, pushing her to lie on the cold, hard floor. He wanted to kiss her so badly, and the Sake only helped with his lust. Sakura closed her eyes, panicking. Time passed by but she felt nothing but weight pushing on her, too much weight. She slowly opened her eyes with caution to see Sasuke's right cheek just inches away from her face. She crawled away, observing the whole scenario.
Her eyes opened widely, processing the whole thing. She was in total shock as her mind pictured Shin's lips on Sasuke's left cheek. Shin was kissing Sasuke. Sakura looked away, the embarrassment all hers. She pretended that she didn't see anything.
—CRASH.
Chapter Ended.