Disclaimer - I do not own...yes, yes, we know.
Author's notes - I thank so many of you who took the time to write me a nice long review for the story and let me know how you were feeling towards it. (Hopefully you'll keep it more then just an 'update soon' from now on, lol.) The last chapter had 57 reviews! (hugs all reviewers) you guys are amazing! And on a side note; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out! I was so excited, I stood in line like all the other Harry Potter freaks, lol. It was so fun! I don't care if Harry gets with --------- I'm still a big support of Pumpkin Pie. So (ahem) yes, erm, here's the next chapter. (Oh and Happy Birthday, Sasuke)
With much difficulty, Sakura opened her eyes. The white room she awoke in hurt her eyes and she immediately shut them again and made a small noise of discomfort before opening them more slowly. When her vision cleared up she saw three people sitting in front of her. Tsunade, Tenten, and Sasuke. Her eyes moved around the room and saw items that was familiar from television shows she had seen. A large window that was covered by egg-white blinds, two small chairs, minus the ones that her three visitors were in. A tall brown wardrobe and flowers on a nearby shelf. Somehow, she had landed herself in the hospital.
"Are you alright, Sakura?" Asked a highly concerned Tenten. "The ambulance took forever to arrive...we were afraid you wouldn't make it."
Sakura brought the bed up so she was sitting up and rubbed her eyes. "I'm alright. Could I have a glass of water?"
Tenten nodded and rushed out the room to find the nearest water fountain. She came back a few seconds later with the water and sat back in her chair uncomfortably. Tenten quickly glanced at Sasuke then back to Sakura. Her body shaking furiously
"If you two don't mind, I'd like to have a word with Sakura alone. You two can come back in when we're finished. It won't take long." Tsunade stood up and made a 'shoo' motion with her hands. Sasuke and Tenten left the room without any objection, and when it was certain they were gone, Tsunade sat back down.
"There are some things I'd like to clear up with you." She crossed her legs over one another and placed her hands in her lap.
Sakura pulled the foam cup away from her lips and swallowed the water. "L-like what?"
"Like your weight for example. You're getting too thin, Sakura. I like my models to look healthy and have at least some meat or curve. When I first met you, you were beautiful. Your face was still showing a look of innocence. Your body just needed to hit the gym once or twice a week to put some tone on it, but other then that, it was beautiful." She paused for a minute before continuing on. "Is this modeling too much for you? The pressure of being a teenager and carrying on a regular life is already hard enough. So I'm sure being a model only adds on. Unless..." Tsunade's light brown eyes ran up and down Sakura's body. "It's not the stress of being a model that's causing your weight loss...Can you explain your recent weight loss to me?" Tsunade raised one of her thin eyebrows and tapped her cherry painted fingernails on her skin.
Tsunade thinks I'm 'too-thin'? Are you kidding me? Ino weighs less then me and she's the exact same height. Why don't you go bitch to her for a little while! I'm sure she'd love the attention! Too thin...you make me laugh! "People loose weight." Sakura said confidently. "It happens all the time. Orochimaru thinks I look...fine. And I'm always getting compliments that I look 'just right.' There's nothing to worry about, Tsunade. I can promise that."
Tsunade cocked an eyebrow. "You are certain that there is nothing you're hiding from me? Weight related or not?"
She shook her head. "No, Tsunade. I can assure you that there is nothing wrong with me."
"You know that if there is ever a problem going on, as long as I'm not asleep, feel free to come in and talk to me." She patted Sakura's head and yelled for Sasuke and Tenten to return.
The two models returned back to the room as fast as they left. They sat with Sakura and asked how she was feeling at least a dozen times. Tenten soon had to leave, and as she wrapped her arms around Sakura's neck in a good-bye hug, she quickly whispered, "there was a bit of cocaine underneath your noise. Sasuke almost caught on...I covered for you." She thanked Tenten and waved good-bye to her as she left the room. Tsunade and Sasuke were the only two left, and were barely speaking. It slightly bored her and she sighed often for them to catch the hint of her boredom. Another hour or so when by before Tsunade's husband came by to pick her up for a fancy dinner, she left without 'get well soon' or recovery messages. A simple 'I'll see you at the fashion show' was given. Now, once more she was alone with Sasuke.
Sakura sucked on the foam cup given to her that was now empty and studied the room. Boredom continued to grow between the two. Several times she had thought of topic starters. Nothing he would ever be interested in though.
"How are you feeling?" He finally spoke.
Her attention was caught and she felt a little bit of life in her body that wasn't there when Tenten and Tsunade were visiting. "Better...my head feels really heavy though." Sakura eyes were then drawn to the bouquets of flowers on the shelf. "Who brought me those flowers?"
Sasuke turned his head. "The pink daises are from Tenten and Kakashi and Rin gave you the Lilies."
"What about the Peach Blossom?" She admired the beauty of the Peach Blossom, and was hoping from deep down it was from him.
"Kakashi insisted that I gave you a flower..." He muttered.
So it is from Sasuke! "Thank you." She said happily.
He didn't reply and there was a long silence between them. Sakura sighed. She was growing tired of having long pauses between her and Sasuke.
"Have you ever fainted before?" She asked.
"No."
"Hospitalized?"
Sasuke brought his hands into fists. "Once."
"Why?" She asked, curiously.
"When my brother killed my family. I stumbled out of my house and wandered down the street, calling for help. The man that found me took me to the hospital and asked me what had happened. He then called the police after he had enough information and sent them over to my home." Sasuke glanced at the Peach Blossom. "My mother had somehow managed to stay alive, even with my father's corpse upon her. And we were both hospitalized for trauma and serious injuries."
Sakura's was near speechless. "Th-then what happened to your mother?"
"She died fifteen minutes after being admitted."
"And...they never caught your brother?"
He shook his head and stood up. "No. He's still out there."
Sakura sighed. "Sasuke...why do you always keep to yourself and hardly say anything at all? Are you afraid of becoming close to someone in fear of losing them? Is the...murder of your family...the cause of it?"
"Hn..." Sasuke looked away from her. "You're annoying."
There was a knock at the door and then a short nurse walked into the room. "Excuse me, the patient has a weigh-in now due to a parental concern." She reached her hand out for Sakura to grab on to for stability. "Your girlfriend will be right back, don't worry." The nurse winked, walking her out of the room.
At school on the following Tuesday, Sakura sat in her usual seat in the cafeteria. Hinata was reading her usual magazine which Sakura had stopped reading since she started modeling. Sakura had no time to read the magazines anyway. Finals were in a month and Iruka-Sensei had given them a pop quiz this morning to see how they were coming along. There wasn't any sign of Ino until lunch-break was half-way over. When she arrived, she sat down with a small salad.
"H-hello I-Ino." Chirped Hinata.
Sakura stayed silent and continued to write down the calories she ate in the one strawberry she ate for lunch.
Ino sighed dramatically and stared at her plate. "I'm so fat! Why am I thinking of eating? I'm just so fat!" Ino picked up her plastic fork and began to stab the foam plate where her salad was. "Fat, fat, fat! Did you know that just one cup of my salad is sixty-two calories!" Ino said loudly that the tables in the area could hear her.
Hinata's eyes grew to an alarming size and she sat in her seat stunned. Her body shaking all over. Sakura's attention was also caught to Ino. Her heart felt like it skipped two beats as Ino continued to critique herself and complain about the food. Other students were also stunned by this outburst from Ino and most of the girls in their class and more then half of the boys rushed over to their table to comfort her. Sakura and Hinata were instantly squished between other students who tried to comfort Ino and tell her that she wasn't fat and that she had to be the skinniest person in the entire school. With much difficulty, Sakura was able to slip underneath the seat where she sat and crawl out from under the table just before the crowd grew bigger.
She stood up and brushed her clothing off from the dirt that was on the floor below her. She didn't say a word as she walked away from the crowd, Sakura would rather not be crushed. It's all show...if Ino was really obsessed like that, she wouldn't share it to the world. As diet obsessed Ino is, she would never go that low, and if she did...she wouldn't say it for the entire world to hear her. What brought this on anyway? Sakura stopped in her tracks. My calorie counter! She must have seen what was inside it when I went to talk to Sasuke last week! That little...who knew you'd sink so low for attention, Ino! More then anything, you have no idea what it's like to wake up each morning and hate yourself!
"What's with the crowd?" Sasuke said, calmly walking over to her.
"Ino found a new way to get attention." She mumbled as she crossed her arms. "I'm going outside...I don't want to see her play it up."
Sasuke looked over at Ino, who was dramatically pulling at inches of her skin and critiquing herself. "And they don't know it's just for attention?"
"She's overacting the self-hate...so you'd think so..."
"How do you know she's overacting?" He asked.
"I...I watched a documentary on low-self esteem. If she hated the way she looked, she wouldn't be sharing it out to the world unless it was a desperate cry for some attention." Sakura said matter-of-factly and then shrugged her shoulders. "That's Ino for you though."
Sasuke glanced back over at Ino again and turned around. "Annoying..."
Sakura smiled. At least he agreed with her on that.
After lunch, school went on regularly through the rest of the day and nearly everyone had forgotten about Ino's little 'self-hate' moment, including Ino. Iruka-Sensei had began handing out the tests and Sakura waited impatiently for hers. She didn't feel to confident on this test and was certain she had at least five questions wrong. Iruka-Sensei turned over Sakura's test on her desk and bent down. "Sakura, I want to discuss your grades with you after school..." He gave her a reassuring smile before standing back up to finish handing out the tests.
Scared as could be, Sakura flipped over her test and saw her grade. F. Her first failing grade ever, and on something so simple to. F? How did this happen? Iruka-Sensei must have graded my paper wrong...there's just no way I could have failed this test. Maybe it's just a joke...like he's testing me or something, I couldn't have failed this! She glanced over to Ino's desk, who's smug facial expression only declared that she had to have a B or A grade. Hinata even looked please with herself. I'm sure even Naruto has a C...this isn't right. I can get every answer on this test right. Why did I fail?!
When the ball rang for the end of school just a few minutes later, Sakura stayed in her chair and watched everyone leave. When Naruto finally left the room, Sakura timidly walked over to Iruka-Sensei's desk. Her failing test in hand.
"Sakura, I'd like to discuss your recent grades with you." Iruka-Sensei pulled out a small pile of papers. "You used to be one of my top students...now...well, you're worse then Naruto." He handed her a test. "This test is from five months ago. A+. Here's another from three months ago...C. Sakura, why are all the things you hand into me failing grades?" He handed a few more papers and tests she had completed and failed.
"I don't know why...I've been having friend problems with Ino. Could that be a cause of it?"
Iruka-Sensei thought for a moment. "It could...but her grades have stayed still since the beginning of the year. I know you're a model, do you think that the stress from working could be more of the cause then friend problems?"
She shook her head. "No. It's not the modeling. My friend problems are the only thing I can really think of...I'll work on improving them before finals. I promise."
"Finals are one month away...do you think you can bring your grades up by then? Mitirashi-Sensei also says your P.E. grades have dropped slightly. You're taking more time to catch your breath then do the laps, she says."
"I'll study extra hard and I do a lot of working out a week...the energy is drained from me so quickly now because of that. I'm just at the stage of weakness by doing a simple task. In no time I'll be running in front again." She said confidently.
Iruka-Sensei put her papers into a folder. "I'm always here in case you need a tutor and Mitirashi-Sensei she'll gladly help you after school in P.E. as well."
"Thank you for your concern, Sensei." Sakura bowed her head in respect and stood up. "When do teachers find the time to discuss their students anyway?" She added with a small giggle.
"Wha?!" The familiar blush appeared of Iruka-Sensei's face. "Mitirashi-Sensei and I talk in the Sensei's Lounge just like all the others!"
"In the Sensei's Lounge?" Sakura covered her mouth and continued to giggle.
"Miss Haruno!" Iruka-Sensei held up a finger in warning.
Sakura turned around, still giggling like mad and began to walk away. "Of course, Sensei."
"What are these?" Sakura asked, examining the plate of chocolate sweets Sasuke held in front of her.
"Brownies...Rin baked them and wanted me to give them to you..."
She smiled and took the plate, setting it down on the coffee table beside them. "Tell her I say thank you. That was very thoughtful of her." She brushed her hands together and glanced at the brownies, then to Sasuke. She was less then thrilled that he had given her sweets, and hopefully a change in subject would put her mind off of them. "Would you like to see a movie after the show? There's...that new horror that just came out last weekend...I heard it was good...I think you'll like it."
"Sure..."
Sakura's smile grew and picked up a newspaper that had been left on her table. "Um...it looks like we can make it to the ten o'clock show if we don't make any side trips." She looked back at Sasuke and folded the newspaper without looking back at it. "What's wrong?" Sakura studied Sasuke's stern face.
"Nothing." Sasuke glanced at the brownies and then to Sakura. "Rin wants the plate back as soon as possible..."
"Oh...I'll eat them after the show. You know...that way we can save some money on sweets at the movies since I'll be full, and my stomach won't look bloated when I'm on the runway!" She laughed lightly and gave a nervous smile. "I should probably go change...Tenten will want to get some chatting down while we're backstage and she can talk for a really long time. I'll see you afterwards." She walked away, waving one of her hands.
"Be safe..." Sasuke mumbled.
With Tenten, Sakura was talking constantly and fast as their hair and makeup was done. Changing and talking as fast as they could was no problem at all between the girls. Exchanging compliments and denying the way they looked was easier. Sakura didn't spot Sasuke among the men in their changing room and was upset to find out that he would not be participating in this show.
Music started playing and Sakura lined up behind Tenten. She pulled for the jeans to rest around her hips as she waited in line and exhaled deeply with each step she took to be closer.
"And let's have a round of applause for Miss Haruno, who is wearing Tsunade's latest Denim design for Fall." The announcer said in commercial tone of voice.
Sakura placed one hand on her hips and swayed down the runway. She kept a light bounce to keep up with the music and feeling of the clothing and at the end of the runway she struck two poses and saw Sasuke only inches in front of her. She turned around and headed back down the runway, embarrassed as could be knowing that Sasuke could see the fat on her ass squish between the jeans.
The second outfit she wore was a pale pink summer dress with a matching hand purse. She adored the dress, but hated it when she saw she was wearing a size three. When announcer called out Sakura again, she walked down with a more elegant walk. She gave a flirtatious smile at the end and twirled around twice when she turned around to head back to the changing room.
Unlike her first fashion show, this one was short and she only had to wear two outfits. The final walk was quick and everyone had finished in no time. She grew wise from her past experience and changed in the back with Tenten and a few other girls.
"It's been a while since I've weighed you, Haruno." Orochimaru's familiar chilling voice crept up and down her spine. She felt his fingers reach up and play with her hair, which made the chills run faster and faster. "Sasuke will understand that you need to hold off the date for just a few more minutes...come..."
Sakura bit her lip and followed Orochimaru to what looked like a Mother's Nursing Room. In the center was the usual scale and with fear, she stepped on.
"What does it say?" He whispered.
"98lbs..." She said with slight happiness in her voice.
"98? Oh, Sakura, I'm so proud of you. I can almost call you beautiful...but we can shed a few more pounds, can't we? 95 is all the better...and if you don't slip up tonight at the movies, you might just make that weight in a few days."
"I...I went today without eating." She whispered. "I know we're only seventeen hours into the day, but if you count from how many hours I did not eat. It totals to twenty-four hours."
Orochimaru smiled and walked over to a nearby desk, pulled out his checkbook and scribbled down Sakura's name and the sum amount he was going to pay her. "Good girl." He said as he handed her the paper. "Put your clothes back on and enjoy the film...just don't pig out while you're there."
She took the check and folded it in half before shoving it into her pants pocket. Stupid Sakura...She told herself. You'll pig out...and you know it...When Sakura returned to the room where Sasuke had given her the brownies, she was more then tempted to try one. No! She screamed at herself. You don't need it! Remember all that hard work you put in to finally reach 98 and make Orochimaru so happy! Sakura picked up the brownies and walked over to the trash can and dumped everything on the plate inside.
"Ready?" Sakura asked when she found Sasuke leaning against a wall near the exit of the building.
He nodded and opened the door for her. "Where are the brownies Rin baked?"
Sakura gulped and smiled. "Sorry. I ate them with a few of the girls. I'll go get the plate right now."
Author's notes - Ugh, this chapter was impossible for me to write! But, all in all, I'm very happy with the outcome of it. Sasuke is really starting to show that he cares for Sakura, which means any chapter now he'll confess his love for her and with Ino acting as a 'Wannarexic' Sakura will crack and start yelling at her for her fake act in no time. You'll just have to wait until chapter fifteen to see what happens to our lovely couple. Also, thank you to those of you who write the nice long lovely reviews. They made me feel good about my writing for a change.
In thanks for nearly sixty reviews in a chapter and almost hitting fivehundred...
" She cocked an eyebrow. "What have you eaten today?"
"I didn't have breakfast, but I ate a chicken sandwhich and...had a coke with it as well a brownie from Sasuke." She quickly lied. Sakura was proud of herself with how well her lies were now flowing from her mouth.
Tsunade crossed her arms and frowned. "I'm going to start weighing all of my models in front of me every other week to see if they meet my standerds. If you weigh too much below the required weight, you know that you'll be forced to take a leave of absense." "
Thank you for reading.