"When I first saw you standing there,
You know, it was a little hard not to stare…
So nervous when I drove you home,
I know, being apart's a little hard to bear."
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"Love, via Subway"
By Uchiha-Griffin
_I don't own Naruto_
Chapter 10 anniversary! Special Extra to follow!!
.: CRAZY STUFF AHEAD! HOLD ON TIGHT!!!:.
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Sakura awoke to a soft glow from behind crimson curtains. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and turned over, away from the window and mooshing into the down comforter. She was in Kiba and Shino's apartment, in Kiba's bed. He'd offered it up for the duration of her stay.
She hugged the pillow, which she vaguely noted as having the masculine, woodsy smell of Kiba. She took a deep breath. Her favorite scent from high school. She opened her eyes quickly and blinked, turning over. She should be thinking about the naturally alluring, musky scent of Sasuke.
No need to dwell on things of the past, like her crush on Kiba.
Knowing she wouldn't be able to sleep anymore following that train of thought, she got out of bed and pulled on some shorts, yawning and walking out to the kitchen, where Kiba sat on the counter reading the newspaper, shirtless. Shino was working at the stove in a beater and his boxers.
"GOOOOODDDD MORRNNIINNNGGG!!!" Sakura called out, breaking the silence. Both the boys jumped before realizing Sakura was the one yelling at them. "Ah… Sakura! Good morning." Shino said with a smile, looking over his shoulder. Kiba grinned, peeking over the top of the newspaper. "Morning, Saku." Sakura could've sworn her heart randomly skipped a beat at his wide smile.
"What's for breakfast, Shino?" She asked, mentally slapping herself for thinking of Kiba like that. "Eggs." He answered. "That's it?!" She asked, shocked. "Well, I usually make more, but… I don't really know what you like anymore." he said pathetically.
"Oh, come on, Shino!!" she cried out. "I'm still your Saku! My tastes haven't changed!" Shino raised an eyebrow. "So you want your eggs with paprika and chipotle powder, right?" "That's right! Bring on the spicy!" Sakura said with a smile. Shino smiled and rooted through the cupboards.
Sakura then turned to Kiba, who was completely immersed in the paper. "Hey Kiba. Whatcha reading?" She hoisted herself up on the counter next to him. He turned the paper to her. It was the story about what had happened the night before… Sasuke being stabbed.
Sakura sighed. "I was an idiot to think Itachi would stay out of all this." Kiba sighed as well. "Well, Itachi is the 'revenge' type of person. Trust me, I know first-hand." He gave one of those 'don't EVEN ask' looks. Sakura smiled then broke into peals of laughter.
They boys looked at her questioningly. "Ah… I'm just so glad to be able to see you guys again… I've missed you so much!" She wiped a happy tear away. Shino smiled. "Anytime you need us, we're here, Sakura." "I know." she grinned. Then she smiled sadly. "I just don't know what we're gonna do about Itachi." Shino patted her on the head. "Don't worry Sakura, we'll think of something."
"I sure hope so." she sighed.
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Sasuke yawned as sunlight streamed through the hospital window. He hoped that's how it would stay… the hospital lights were blinding, so this natural light was a welcome change. It seemed to have gotten cloudy overnight…The sky was blanketed with thick gray clouds that threatened rain.
Naruto walked peeked into the room, presumably to see if Sasuke had woken up yet. Seeing him awake, the blonde threw open the door. "Morning, Sasuke!" he grinned, a Starbucks coffee in each hand. "I hope one of those is for me!" Sasuke practically begged.
Naruto laughed and handed him a tall black coffee. "Ahh, heaven." Sasuke breathed. "You have no idea how gross the food here is. They don't let me have coffee because they're afraid I'll get up and run around the corridors or something!" Naruto smiled. "Hey, that's what friends are for!"
The room was pleasantly quiet for a moment before Sasuke spoke up. "Naruto… what are we going to do about Itachi?" Naruto sipped his Carmel Macchiato. "Hm… to be honest, I'm not sure. What I do know, though, is we need to stop him soon. He's gone way too far, and now all of our lives are endangered." Sasuke's eyebrows creased as he went deep into thought.
Naruto sighed. "I mean… Itachi has never pulled a gun on you before now. But something seemed wrong, Sasuke." Sasuke looked up from his thought session. "What do you mean?" He asked, confused. "Well… Itachi is a very high-ranking Mafioso, as I remember. Those shots he made at you… they were meant to kill you, right?"
"Most likely."
"How did someone of such high ranking miss that shot? It should have been easy!"
"Maybe he missed on purpose?"
"Sasuke, think about it." Naruto placed his pointer finger on Sasuke's bandaged shoulder, tracing a straight line right to his heart. "This is only about four inches off. Four inches and you'd be dead." He pointed at his side. "That one? A shot meant for your stomach, just incase the heart shot didn't work."
Sasuke was bewildered. "Shit, Naruto. You're right… I could be dead right now…" "And you almost were." Naruto pointed out. Sasuke nodded. "Yeah…. Well, whatever Itachi's game is, he's not messing around anymore. This has just turned into a fight to the death."
The room was quiet while the two thought for a few moments. "Sasuke, we need a gun." Naruto finally decided. "What kind of gun?" Sasuke asked . "We have a pistol already." "Yeah, but I'm talkin' something big and intimidating. Like… a shotgun!"
Sasuke sighed. Naruto grinned, excited. "Come on, Sasuke!! Think about it!" Sasuke finally nodded. "Fine. But you can do the gun shopping. I don't want to chose the weapon I kill my own brother with. Just nothing too big, okay?"
Naruto looked extremely excited and ran out the door. "And don't bring it to the hospital!" Sasuke's last warning fell on deaf ears as the excited blonde ran at full speed down the hall, scolded by nurses all the way. After he was gone Sasuke settled in to drink his coffee. He was enjoying the quiet until someone walked in the room.
He looked up to see someone carrying a bouquet so big it covered their entire face. The flowers were brought down to reveal a girl with glasses and tacky magenta hair. Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "I thought fans weren't allowed visits." The girl looked taken aback. "Sasuke! I'm no fan! I'm a fellow singer!"
"I've never seen you before." Sasuke replied, drinking his coffee with a bored expression. "Well my name's Karin and I'm in the band Paranormal Rain!" she set the flowers on a nearby table and turned around, taking off her glasses and blushing. "And… I love you!"
Sasuke stared at her, bored. "Is that so?" he asked monotonously. "Yes! It is very so!" She replied enthusiastically. "You're so beautiful Sasuke! Please date me!" Sasuke stared at her for a moment. "Look, I'm really tired, so can you leave?" Karin's grin faltered. "You just drank a Grande coffee! How can you be tired?!"
"I'm not that physically tired. More just tired of you. Can you go, please?" Karin huffed and headed for the door. "You'll want me someday!" she yelled at him. "Doubt it." Sasuke muttered to himself as the door slammed shut.
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Hinata sighed and twirled her finger absentmindedly around the curly phone cord. "Come on, Naruto… just pick up, already…" she mumbled. Finally the blonde's ever-excited voice filled her ear. "HEEEEYYYY HINATA!!!" he said cheerfully. She smiled despite the situation and said, "Hi, Naruto. I have good news and I have bad news. Which one do you want first?"
"The good news." He said, with underlying concern. "Well, Sakura and I made it home safe and everything last night." "Oh, that's good. I'm glad you're both safe. Bad news?" Hinata fidgeted. "Well, you see… Sakura's kind of up and disappeared again…"
Naruto cursed and Hinata's expression hardened. "She said she was preparing herself to face Itachi." "What?! That's crazy! Why can't she just leave that to Sasuke?!" "I don't know. But she's gone off somewhere, but I have no idea where." Naruto huffed. "This will not make Sasuke very happy."
"No!! No, don't tell Sasuke! He's still healing up and doesn't need to loose rest over Sakura. I mean, I love her, but sometimes she blows things way out of proportions and takes extremely desperate measures…" "Yeah… do you think she'll come home soon?" Naruto asked. "…Sasuke misses her."
"I'm not sure, Naruto." Hinata said, frustrated. "I'm just not sure." the other end of the line was silent for a moment before Naruto spoke up again. "Hinata, do you have any gun suggestions? I'm out buying one and…" "Buying a gun?! For what?!" Hinata cried, frantic.
"Sasuke sent me to get it. Or… more like I said I was going to. But we might need it… y'know." Naruto hinted. Hinata grimaced. "Nothing to big or obvious." she said gravely. "Come on, Hinata! It's just a gun for self-defense. I won't use it unless absolutely necessary." "You promise?" She sounded more hopeful than before." "I promise." Naruto replied.
Hinata breathed a sigh of relief. "Naruto… please come see me soon, Sasuke isn't the only one missing people." Naruto's eyebrows creased in worry and sorrow. "I know, Hina… just… hell, things have been so stressful lately. I'll be over later, okay?" "Okay, see you later, then." "Bye."
Hinata hung up the phone and laid her head down on the counter. Since when did life have to be so damn stressful? Why couldn't everything always just work out the way we planned?
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Sakura was sitting on the roof of Kiba and Shino's apartment building, her pink iPod hooked into a mini magenta portable speaker she'd brought along. She was singing to herself as she watched the city move around her. She couldn't see the street, but the tall buildings surrounding her were enough. The dark clouds threatened rain, but she didn't care.
"Baby how can you sleep, how can you breathe! Baby tell me how, how you love me now…" she sang softly, watching a man busily run around his office a little ways away. She heard the room door open. She turned to see Kiba coming toward her with a smile.
She smiled back. "Heya, Kiba!" "Hey, Sakura. Aren't you freezing out here?" he asked, shivering and snuggling down into his scarf. "Naw, I love the cold, besides, it's really peaceful and good for singing up here!" She took a deep breath then exhaled slowly. She could see the clouds her breath made. Maybe it ws just a tad bit cold up there…
Kiba walked over to her, enveloping her in his arms. Sakura tried to push him away. "Kiba, what are you…" "Hey, it's cold. I'm just trying to keep you warm." He unzipped his jacket, pulling her inside. She blushed and gripped his t-shirt in uncertainty.
There was a peaceful silence before Kiba spoke up. "Sakura… can I tell you something? It's really important… oh, and you're not allowed to laugh at me!" Sakura looked at him inquisitively. "Sure ,Kiba. What's up?" Kiba fidgeted nervously, trying to place his words correctly so he wouldn't sound like a total idiot.
"Listen, Sakura. You're everything I could ever want. Everything about you is like home to me. Your caring smile, cheerful laugh, those beautiful green eyes…. I've… always loved you. And I always will. I want you so bad… and it's tearing me apart to know that you never have… or will… feel the same." He watched her reaction carefully. At the moment, it was a stunned stare.
It was quiet up on the rooftop, and Sakura had nothing to say in response. She looked at him, then down at her toes,. "Kiba…I'm so sorry." she finally lamely replied. "It's just… I'm in love with Sasuke. I've fallen for him so fast, and I barely even know him. I don't know how things are going to turn out yet." Kiba looked at her with a hard stare.
"I know… it may not be the best choice. But… I'm so happy with him. So, Kiba… I love you. But it's much more like a brotherly love. So… I'm sorry. I can't return your feelings." Kiba looked down at her with an extremely stoic expression. "Kiba, don't look at me like that." she whispered, tears gathering in her eyes. She turned and grabbed her iPod speaker, walking toward the door.
"Kiba…" she stopped when she was halfway to the door. "For the record… In high school…" She looked over her shoulder. His back was still turned to her. "…I really loved you. And that was no brotherly love." She turned to start walking again, but heard Kiba running closer to her.
She stopped and turned around. Kiba grabbed her shoulders and she dropped her iPod onto the ground, but she paid no attention. She stared at him wide-eyed and he scowled and gritted his teeth. Before Sakura could really figure anything out, Kiba pressed his lips to hers harshly.
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"Augh!" Itachi yelled, throwing a glass lap across the room, hearing it shatter against the wall. He gasped for air. "God dammit!!" he yelled, finding some other breakable object and crushing it on the floor. He pressed a palm to his eye, wincing. He collapsed to the floor as the door to his room opened.
"L-lord Uchiha… please try to control yourself!!" a maid requested, her voice shaking. "Shut the hell up!" He growled at her. "S-sir, if you just tell me what's wrong, maybe I can find you some medical---" Itachi whipped up to stare at her. "No doctor can cure blindness, bitch!!!" He yelled at her, Whipping out his gun and shooting at random.
By the scream and thump, he could tell he'd hit his target. He stood up from the floor and stumbled around until he found his dresser. He opened the top drawer and pulled out the Ak-47 that was resting there. "Here I come, Sasuke!!" He yelled for anyone that was listening. With that, he stepped over the dead maid in his doorway and ran out the front door with a crazed look. Tonight, this would be settled!
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO MEEEE!!! :3
Thanks everyone for supporting LVS! Love you all and enjoy the extra (if you don't like Nejiten, I'm sorry)!!
I am Griffin, hear me rawr!
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How You Love Me Now © Hey Monday
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I just realized… this is like a soap opera, isn't it??