Bullet Proof

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters

A/N: AHHHH thank you everywhere! 11 reviews! The MOST I've ever gotten in a chapter ever (Besides oneshots) thanks! I'll continue the story even so muc h faster if all of you who reviewed, reviewed again… Keep them up there, because they inspire me to write! I love you all!

Chapter 21: Hurt

"What are you talking about?" She questioned harshly, "What bet?"

"The bet was for Sasuke and Itachi…" She shrugged, this time a bit nonchalant – Sakura's heart clenched, "To see who could make you all pretty and take you to prom… I'd say Sasuke's definitely winning… I wonder if you falling completely head over heels was part of this bet?"

She shook her head, "I don't believe you." She was lying to herself – there was something terribly suspicious now, about the behavior of the brothers a few weeks ago.

"It's true…" This time it was a new voice, and both swiveled to the door to see who it was. "I was, after all, the one who issued the bet."

"What?" Sakura blinked, "But Sasori –"

"Sasori is stealing my girl, Sasori is stealing Itachi's friendship from me –"

"Christ you're like a girl!" Sakura spat and stood, "I can't believe he's friends with you!"

"I don't think you understand what we're both telling you… You see, I hadn't a clue that Karin was going to come tell you this – like such a good person she is, until I met her on the way up here. I was going to break the news to you, I was getting bored of the bet…" He shrugged, "Itachi has simply stopped trying."

The girl froze in her tracks, and watched him, "Why would you do that?"

"It's nothing personal towards you, darling… Personally? I've always thought you were fucking hot…" He shrugged, "But unfortunately you were in the line of fire when I wanted to get back at your brother…"

"You're lying…"

"Why else would Sasuke go from calling you an insignificant bitch, to beautiful, and gorgeous, and all that is obviously not true. You're beauty from the last two weeks has been fake, Sakura." Karin glared, "Sasuke obviously needs someone who's beautiful all the time!"

When she thought about it, it was two against one right now…

Sasuke had hated her, as had Sakura to him when he had first moved here. Slowly though, awkward progression and physically charming nature turned into something a little more tolerable. She thought he genuinely cared about her… He had asked her on a date – they had kissed, he had held her hand and walked with her, been there for her at her weakest moment…

All of it was a lie?

"I know it seems like he cared… He's like that a lot though…" She smirked, "Just last week, me and him –"

"What?" She glared; there had been that period of about three days that she hadn't seen or heard from Sasuke at all…

Tears slowly began to form in the girls eyes. "No…" she mumbled – she was not going to cry. She wasn't going to cry over a stupid mistake. Was this going to be a yearly thing? Glaring, she stared right into the girl's eyes. "Get out."

"This is my –"

"Get out!" She screamed, and Karin scoffed and turned, walking out in her slutty bunny outfit. Kisame shrugged and followed her out.

Sakura stood, her fists clenching and unclenching, as she debated what to do – what to believe. She was so confused, and glancing around, she wondered if things would be okay… How would she react when she saw the boy again?

Well, it was time to test that hypothesis.

"I know you hate orange, so I went into that creepy pantry – I thought for sure someone was going to come out and rape me, so I had to find a kni – hey… What's wrong?" he handed her the drink, and noticed how her fingers turned immediately white when she gripped it.

Suddenly, a backlash happened like a flash before his eyes, and he ended up wet and smelling like fruit punch. She had thrown her giant cup at him, soaking his face and clothes, setting a stickiness all over him.

"You asshole!" She screamed at him, "You – you're… Stupid, and terrible, and how could you even take part in something like that!" She shoved him back, "I thought – I actually trusted you!" She yelled, shoving him back again, "You're nothing but a jerk, just like I thought in the beginning…"

She turned and stormed out, and left Sasuke's charcoal eyes blinking in confusion.

Where did this possibly come from? Partake in what? Suddenly he froze. Someone had told Sakura about the bet.

"Sakura!" He yelled, running out of the room.

Things quieted down quickly in their path, as they watched where the two were going. The most gorgeous boy at school, beating out all freshmen through seniors, and the most gorgeous and kick ass girl in school, beating out even people like Karin and Ino…

He caught up with her quickly and grabbed her arm. Suddenly a fist came around and nailed him in the side of the cheek, "Don't fucking touch me ever again!" She screamed, yanking her arm away, trying to flee once more.

There were murmurs and screams in the crowd, and once he tried to move again, suddenly Shikamaru was holding him back, shoving at him to make him leave her alone. Sasuke shoved, and punched Shikamaru, causing Ino and scream and try to bound forward.

Sasori grabbed her shoulders, and then her waist to hold her back, so she didn't get caught in the physical fray. Shikamaru shoved him against the wall and punched him, only getting a kick to the stomach. Even though the breath was knocked out of him, he elbowed Sasuke in the ribs, digging the point of his elbow as violently into them as he could, and shoved his palm against his nose. Luckily, to avoid a break, Sasuke dodged sideways, Shikamaru's hand putting a hole in the wall altogether. The raven haired teen knocked Sakura's defense on the ground, and straddled him, starting to beat his face as hard as he could – he was taking it out on Shikamaru as though he were the one who told her.

It didn't last long though, because Shikamaru had him flipped, and being the great thinker he was, it was by the stairs leading down to the sitting area. He shoved him down them, causing Sasuke to be dazed. When the boy leapt up in an attempted pursuit, Naruto grabbed him around the waist, along with Kiba, and a couple other people, to try and hold the two back.

"What the fuck did you do to her?" Shikamaru demanded. Him and Sakura weren't as close as perhaps they could be, due to him dating her best friend, but he still cared about her and would protect her with everything he had.

"I didn't do anything!" He screamed back, causing people to jump.

"We all know that's a lie," Karin stated, almost seductively – ridiculous in this situation. "Come on Sasuke, you've been playing her in that ridiculous bet for about a month now – don't tell me that you're suddenly going to pretend you liked her."

He froze. Everyone stared at him. That's when the people involved discovered that actually not a lot of people in the school knew about it. People liked Sakura, and though Sasuke was gorgeous, all the guys were jealous – someone would have told her.

"I'll hold him, Shikamaru go ahead and punch him again," Naruto spoke ominously, and sounded much older than he truly was. He was pissed.

"What bet?" Sasori asked, allowing his hands to slip off the blonde's shoulders, so she could run to Shikamaru, and help him sit down.

"The bet!" Karin shrieked, "Did no one know about it?" She laughed, "Who could doll up Sakura Haruno and take her to prom? Who would win over her sour attitude, and change her from a man to an actual girl… Sasuke, or Itachi?"

Sasori turned on Itachi faster than a fly on a horse, as he lunged. He only landed a punch before people stopped him as well. Itachi did nothing to fight back – he wasn't angry, he was ashamed that this had happened.

"Why would you do that?" Some random guy piped up from the crowd.

"Why wouldn't you tell her sooner? How could you be so mean about it? What if that happened to you?" People shot at Karin. Suddenly, large amounts of accusing questions shot towards the main part of the crowd.

Sasuke allowed himself to hang limp on the other's arms. In the past couple of weeks, he had tried to get to know them to a certain extent, to make Sakura happy, and to fit in with people a little more – to make everyone a little happier. He finally, was starting to let go of the bitterness, especially when he noticed that Itachi had laid down the bet, in order to allow Sasuke what he wanted…

But now, everything was messed up, and he didn't know exactly what he should do…

?

The sound of the water was calming. Back and fourth, back and fourth. She wished she lived on a beach. She could just lie there all day, in the warm sand, and stare at the beauty of the water. It would be peaceful, and nothing would bother her.

Things like this wouldn't happen…

Her shoes dangled on two of her fingers, and she wouldn't be surprised if they fell from the dock and into the water. Though as she glanced at the beautiful blue heels, she realized she didn't care. In fact, she retracted her fingers and let them slip into the cool liquid. That wasn't her… It's not what she wanted.

She suddenly felt bare, her arms and legs exposed far more than she was comfortable with. Her hair was pinned, and she began to yank at it, trying to get all the pins out. The lovely clips had sparkling jewels attached to them, fake, but beautiful nevertheless.

She watched them sparkle as she threw them into the water as well. If she had other means of clothing, she would have thrown the whole dress in the water. It was time she went home… She didn't belong at parties, or in revealing clothing… Make up didn't belong on her fake, and her hair wasn't meant to be shining. She wasn't meant to be her mother's daughter – rather, her brother's best friend when no one else was around…

Slowly, she figured she should pick herself up and get home, but she didn't have the energy to physically do it.

Quite frankly, she was a mess.

She wondered what kind of havoc she had left in her wake, but she didn't care. Slowly, her eyes closed, shielding her emerald orbs from the beauty of the night sky. The starts twinkled and winked at her, as the trees whispered in a slow, warm breeze. Her fingers dangled in the water, barely touching it, but enough where the soothing feeling washed over her tired body.

Taking in a deep breath, she opened her eyes, and adjusted herself. She was laying on her back on the wooden, creaking dock, her hand dangling into the very water she had just thrown her accessories into. If only she could get up and walk, she wanted to be home in her bed.

She wanted to go back to wearing her skinny jeans and sweatshirts, so she could pull up her hood when it was raining, instead of trying to shield her long legs with the tiny jacket she wore that day.

The girl missed long, random talks with Naruto in the ramen shop, laughing and not worry about the troubles of the idiotic world. She missed Sasori and her going to the mall simply to make fun of those who spent thousands on clothes all the time. She truly pitied those people, and yet she became one of them in a matter of two days.

Shaking her head she sluggishly stood up. The water glittered calmly, and she remembered how her brother and she used to jump into the water with crazy posture and wiggle around when the fish came near. Turning her back on the dock, she slowly walked away.

When she was almost at the end, she whipped around and took off at a dead sprint, until she got close enough to the edge to spring off the dock. A giant splash engulfed her ears, as water blurred her vision. Shooting back up to the surface, her hair clung to her, and she felt the dress material soak up water like a sponge.

Kicking slightly, the coolness washed over her like a wave, and she floated on her back for a while, as she watched the sky from a different perspective. Now it danced, as she floated, never staying still.

The stars twirled when she moved, not a cloud in sight. That was something wonderful about the girl – she was never scared of what would come – never backing down from a challenge, and she did things that normal girls would never do in a million years. Smiling, Sakura knew she wanted things to go back to the way they were, and though she was hurting, and though the pinkette knew she would be for a while to come – she wouldn't show it. She would be strong…

Turning over onto her stomach, in a few quick strokes, she was back to the shore, pulling herself out again, and onto the dock. It was warm against her now cool skin, and she laid back down on it to dry off.

Though that got old pretty quickly. The later it got, the more the breeze waved, blowing over her and sending chills down her spine. Sitting up, she looked around at her new sanctuary for one last time, and pushed off the wood, slowly moseying away.

She felt calmer – not any less hurt, but calm enough to go home and to sleep without crying her eyes out. She promised she wouldn't cry, and she intended to keep that promise.

?

Sasuke dragged his feet up the steps to their house. Itachi yanked open the door and held it for his little brother to walk inside. The two collapsed on the steps down into their living room and sat together, though stayed silent.

It seemed like it was them against the world – just as it had been that terrible night… Only this time, Itachi didn't know what Sasuke would do…

The older Uchiha got up and walked into the kitchen. When he came back he sat back down and turned to his brother. "Ice?"

Sasuke took it gratefully and laid back, dropping it on his face. Itachi sat and fiddled with his hands, equally as exhausted about what had happened.

"That definitely wasn't the way I expected the night to go…" Itachi remarked softly, in an attempt to get the sophomore to talk to him.

"Hn…" Sasuke retorted, muffled by the bag of ice. That was the way the younger boy agreed with him.

The senior rubbed his tired eyes, "You fell in love with her, didn't you?" he wanted to know for sure – he wanted to know his suspicions were real, and he didn't make a mistake.

Sasuke lifted the ice pack and glared at his brother. Itachi shrugged and glanced away. "Don't push Naruto and Sakura away, like you did to me…"

It was quiet in the room for a moment, before Sasuke sat up and glared at his brother. Through all of the years of Itachi's attempts, the only thought in the boy's tunnel vision mind was 'Itachi is wrong.' Coming back home began to open up the tunnel, to see people like Naruto in his own habitat and Sakura, and the others – and right now, he was the most optimistic he had ever been since he was seven years old…

Itachi was right…

And that's what caused him to get up, pissed as hell, and stomp up the stairs. He didn't want to admit that the older Uchiha was having an influence over him again. He didn't want to think about it…

Walking into his room he flopped onto the bed and forced his eyes to stay shut. He wanted to lift away from this wretched world, and have time to himself.

He would try to fix this – he just had no idea how…

?

Sasori quietly knocked on his sister's door. When there was no reply, he very slowly creaked it open, and saw her inside.

She was sitting by the window with her Ipod on, headphones in her ears as she mouthed the words to her favorite songs. She brushed quick strokes against the canvas, and he smiled, quite surprised that she wasn't angry.

Sakura had always had the mind set not to cry. It was just something about her that she persistently wished not to let people see her weaknesses. Now was most likely one of those times. The girl was strong, and no doubt was Sasori's sister. They were both so alike in the very ways of calm anger, though sometimes Sakura had to fight to keep hers in check.

He was undoubtedly proud of what she had did tonight – punching that Uchiha loser in the face before he could woo her back into submission. She would definitely get a pat on the back for that. But he tilted his head as he watched her paint, wondering actually how hurt she was, even if she wouldn't let anyone know it.

Shutting the door almost silently, he walked down the hallway to his room, and began rubbing the make up off of his face. He was tired, and no doubt, everything would have to wait until morning… He just hoped she'd be alright the rest of the night.

?

A/N: Well! What an interesting chapter! I feel sort of bad for Sasuke, but that's totally overrun with the amount of irritation I feel towards him and Karin. What a bitch she is. Lol anyways…

Please leave me your comments, questions, and remarks! :D

-zesty-