A/N: Again, I apologize for the late update. :( thank you all who reviewed :D I love you..all. and I mean I'm not a review whore or anythin' but I like to hear people's comments (or read) constructive criticism is the best kind. It helps to improve one's writing, as much as the alerts flatter me a review saying if you loved or hated makes me improve. :D

The Fear

By Aimie

…Cuz I'm killing em' all on my own little mission…

Chapter 14: "Everyone's At It"

She tapped her pencil on her desk furiously. The nerd was back, she never did like her anyway. She had worked so hard to get her out of the school it just wasn't fair. Ino knew that if Sakura came back she wouldn't be the smartest, prettiest girl in school anymore. She knew that Sakura was smarter than her, and she hated Sakura for it. Ino wasn't the 'popular girl' but she was well liked for her intelligence as well as beauty and Sakura, in the intelligence department, kicked her ass when she came along.

Ino sighed. She had worked so hard to get her to leave, she thought maybe Sakura would like Japan and stay there but she never once thought she'd go and get a boyfriend. Her father's spies, as she called them were sent by Ino to take sure Sakura stayed there and didn't come back. It seemed like Sakura's dad's heart didn't agree with her. Ino's thoughts scrambled about in her brain searching for an answer to her dilemma.

"She can't come back." Ino said out loud. Ino then thought of all her possibilities. What if she, and she was the prettiest, smartest, richest girl in school, stole something from Sakura to make her never want to show her face in any of the sister/brother schools of "The Gifted Children"? What if, she got the son of the Uchiha family to fall for her?

She never once thought that Sasuke Uchiha, self-pronounced bachelor, would fall in love with a destitute girl such as Sakura. Ino had purposely sent her to the Uchiha family so that she would feel inferior not capture the son of the richest man in Japan's heart.

Ino wasn't going to stand for this and she had a plan.

Sakura ran up three flights of stairs not bothering to take the elevator. She was in the hospital searching for her father's room in the ICU. She stopped and opened the door to what seemed to look as the waiting room. Sakura immediately saw her mother with her hands in her face.

"Mom…" Sakura walked over to her and sat down. "How's dad?"

"Well the doctor said he has to stay "Her mom sniffed. "Apparently, aside from the heart attack, he's had a dysfunctional artery they have to fix and his surgery is tomorrow."

Sakura sighed. "Will he be alright…after the surgery?"

"I don't know." Sakura's mother burst into tears shaking violently.

Sakura's mind reeled. She didn't know life without her father if he was gone. She wouldn't be able to live with the guilt that she didn't see him in his last moments of life.

Tears welled up in Sakura's eyes at the sudden thought. "He...he's gonna be okay Mom. He's…gonna be okay." She said softly as one by one the tears fell down her cheeks.

Sakura's mom didn't say anything the whole 3 hours she had been back. She just cried and cried, inconsolably.

Some hands stuffed into their pockets nosily." So you're back."

Sakura's eyes widened and she looked up. "Scott…"

He smiled at her sadly and sat down next to her. "Who else?"

She smiled, tears flowing down her cheeks and wrapped her arms around his neck tightly. "I'm glad you're here."

He wrapped his arms around her tightly. "I've been with your mom since it happened."

She burst into sobs hugging him tighter. "Thank you Scott. "

"It's alright Sakura. It's okay. He'll be fine." He rubbed her back. "Shh…it's okay."

"No it's not." She shook sobbing. "What If he dies?"

"He won't Sakura. He won't. He's a strong man." Scott sighed sadly stroking her hair.

For Scott and Sakura their friendship had never been on the rocks. He was not they guy that she would have a love triangle with, no. He was Scott and as her best friend, an extension of herself. And she was, as his best friend, an extension of himself. They found comfort in each other and love but not the romantic kind.

Ino stepped out of a limousine and the first thing that could be seen was her Prada 9 inch black heels. Her fabulously plump and red lips shone in the light as she looked up from her white and black Chanel hat. She grabbed her purse and walked in front of a large mansion. She breathed in regally and pressed the doorbell.

The butler, Haro, opened the door. "May I help you?"

"My name is Yamanaka Ino." Ino smiled. "My father is the owner of Yamanaka Corporations and he wanted me to mingle with the Uchihas."

"Aah. Yes Ino-sama, we've been expecting you, please come in." Haro bowed as he let Ino walk in, her heels making a clicking noise with the marble. She looked around.

"Thank you." She smiled standing tall.

Fugaku walked in from the other room and looked at Ino. "Miss. Ino, we've been expecting this visit" Fugaku bowed.

Ino smiled forcefully and curtseyed. "My father wants to do business with you I hear."

"That he does. Please come in to our living room." Fugaku lead her to the living room where the whole family sat, including Sakae.

"Hello everyone." Ino smiled beautifully taking her hat of and looking Sasuke in the eye.

He smiled back and the whole family chorused "Hello."

"So how old are you, Ino?" Fugaku asked. "If I may,"

She smiled widely. "I'm only 16 and here for the weekend."

"Aah and you're here to do business with us." Fugaku sat down and she sat down as well, politely.

"Yes. My father is in Germany right now and couldn't see you face to face but he e-mailed you about this and I think it's a great and wonderful idea." Ino smiled and flipped her hair to the side.

"You really think so?" He nodded.

"What's this about?" Sasuke asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well Sasuke-kun, my father, thinks it would be a good idea to merge our companies." She smiled sweetly at him.

"I think so too, to be honest." Fugaku said. "We could be making more money than we are now."

"Fugaku." Mikoto started. "It's very unfair, your plan for this."

"Well Mikoto, it's not set in stone." He said with a sigh.

"What's the plan?" asked Sasuke.

Itachi narrowed his eyes at Ino. 'I don't like her…' he thought. "Little brother, Father, Mother,…Ino, if I may…" he began.

Ino nodded looking at him, knowing he didn't like her.

"I think we're getting along just fine. We have enough money to bathe in already…do you want to sink in money too?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"Itachi-" Fugaku started.

"I think he's right Fugaku." Mikoto stated shaking her head.

Ino glared at Itachi. "I think it's a great idea. It's a good way to merge our companies without any…trouble from the media. And if we get any trouble or media coverage it'll be because it's a good thing."

"What's going on?!" Sasuke stood up.

"Sasuke-kun….my father. He suggested we get married to merge our companies." Ino said looking at him.

"What?" Sasuke's hands balled into fists. "No. Father you know how I feel about Sakura."

Ino gritted her teeth. "You can't deny, Yamanaka-san is very beautiful" Fugaku said pointing at Ino.

"Sure. Yeah that may be. But I don't…I don't…" he sighed. "Mother?"

"I'm trying Sasuke." Mikoto said with a sigh.

"Just don't accept it." Itachi stood up. "Sasuke should be able to marry whoever he truly loves." Itachi rolled his eyes and walked out of the room wanting to hear no more of it.

"Sasuke, if you would just think of the wonders it would do to our company." Fugaku said. "You can't be so selfish."

"SELFISH!? I'M being SELFISH!?" Sasuke screamed.

"Sasuke don't raise your voice at your father." Mikoto scolded.

"Sasuke in the end, this is my decision. I will do whatever I see fit." Fugaku said sternly. "I know it's hard. But promise to think about it."

"No…I don't want to think about it." He said, his voice cracking in the slightest.

Ino stood up and put a gloved hand on his shoulder. "Sasuke-kun please do—" she said in her sweetest most honey like voice.

Sasuke shrugged her hand off. "No. And that's final. I'm not going to marry her."

"Sasuke-kun…" Ino put a gloved hand over her red lips in surprise. Anger boiling in her veins.

"I wasn't going to force you into this Sasuke." Fugaku said very sternly. "I want you to think about it and if you don't come to terms with what I decide…I'll—"

"Fugaku…" Mikoto began eyes widening in the slightest.

"I'll disinherit you." Fugaku said slowly.

Sasuke blinked once. Ino smirked behind her hand. Sasuke blinked twice and Ino licked her lips thinking of how good of a job she'd done. Sasuke blinked for a third time and stomped out of the room.

"I'm sorry for the rudeness of my son." Fugaku said to Ino.

"Quite alright. It's what I expected." Ino smiled at them.

"We will discuss this at another time Miss. Yamanaka." Fugaku said. "He'll come around."

"I do hope so. For your company's future of course." She smiled said goodbye and strutted out of the room with her Prada heels clicking against the marble.

She was an elegant woman with a way of speaking her words. Sasuke would give her that much, but she was no Sakura.

Sakura and her mother stood up watching the surgeon come closer to them. Sakura was mentally praying for her father's life.

"Mrs. Haruno." The surgeon addressed Sakura's mom.

"Yes?" Sakura's mom asked holding a handkerchief to her nose and sniffing.

"Your husband is going to be fine." He smiled. "He just can't work in construction anymore. He's got to find another, more calming job."

Sakura's mother nodded and Sakura smiled. The tears of joy were sliding down both their cheeks.

"He's not going to wake for another half hour, but when he does you can go see him. I suggest you both go home, you look tired." He said smiling at them.

Sakura nodded and wiped her face. "Thank you." She said looking at him.

"It's my job to save people's lives." He said.

Sakura sniffed and smiled walking with her mother out of the hospital after they thanked him again. Sakura couldn't believe how lucky she actually was.

Though all her luck was about to turn.

Fugaku knocked on Sasuke's door.

"Don't come in." Sasuke said in a muffled voice, his head on top of his pillow.

"Son…" Fugaku walked into his room anyway and sat down on his bed.

"Leave." That was all Sasuke said not looking at anything in particular.

"I declined the Yamanaka's offer. But I've decided on something else." Fugaku said softly.

"What? You're going to marry me off to someone else?" Sasuke said bitterly.

"By the end of next month, you'll be going to a school in France." Fugaku said carefully. "I think a change of scenery would do you good."

…

A/N: Who else cried when Michael Jackson died? I cried hard and when his daughter spoke at his Memorial I was bawling. He was such a good guy and Wilma has a purpose and isn't based on anyone.

Xoxo, Aimie