Story: Haze, Chapter 5

A/N: Sorry it's been so long… A lot of things have been holding me back, but I was finally able to write some more yay.

I hope y'all enjoy this chapter, because I really don't like how I wrote it.

…

After Naruto and Sai had left, which was about thirty minutes later, Sakura was once again left with the thoughts in her head. She wanted nothing more than to draw blood, but with Tsunade watching she knew it was impossible. Feeling agitation creep up in her in her chest, tears once again clung to the corners of her eyes.

If only she hadn't failed at killing herself, then she wouldn't even be here right now. As it was, she was just holding everybody else back.

Sure, maybe they'd be sad, but they'd all move on eventually, right?

"Sakura, is something wrong...?" Tsunade said softly, trying to get her attention.

"N-No, ma'am. It's nothing…" Sakura choked out, trying her best to wipe away her tears. Much to her frustration, they kept falling. Why can't I just stop crying already!?

Tsunade got up, pulling the emotional girl into an embrace. "You know you can talk to me, right…? I'm here for you."

"...Tell me… Why does it hurt so bad, Shishou…? I just want to make them stop… I just want these feelings to go away… What's so wrong about that? Why am I so bad for that?" Sakura melted into her embrace, her shoulders trembling.

"...I'm sorry… I know you're in pain right now, Sakura… But suicide isn't the way to deal with something like that… I'm sure you know that by now." Tsunade softly rested a hand on top of her head.

Sakura only found herself crying harder after that. Because down deep, a part of her knew it was true. But it was the only thing she could think of to make it go away.

She opened her mouth to say that, but was stopped when the door busted open and Ino stepped in, with wide and tear filled eyes. "Sakura…!"

"Ino…! I-" Sakura looked up, startled, quickly wiping her eyes to the best of her ability. She was immediately cut off by her friend.

"Kakashi-sensei told me everything. Why didn't you just come talk to me if you were feeling that way...? You have no idea how scared I was when I heard what happened..." Ino couldn't hold back from hugging Sakura.

"I really don't want to lose you." is what she wanted to say, just as Naruto had, but it was left unspoken, because Sakura got the message.

"...I'm sorry for worrying you, but, really, I'm fine now. It's okay…" Sakura said, pulling back a bit. However, Ino entirely disagreed.

"Like hell it is! You just tried to kill yourself! How in the world does that seem okay to you?" Ino retorted.

"...I'm sorry… I..." Sakura couldn't even bring herself to finish her sentence, pulling in on herself at hearing her sharp tone.

Ino immediately felt a bit guilty at seeing her reaction, trying her best to calm down.

"No, no, don't apologize… You didn't know how else to deal with what you were feeling. I get it..." She reached out and gently cupped her hands, trying her best to not notice the self-harm scars on her rival's arms. She immediately felt a sense of helplessness for not having paid closer attention before this. "...Listen, when you get out of here, I want you to come stay with me and get away from your mom for a while. All she's ever done is made everything worse for you, and right now, you need as much support as you can get, so please, just let me help you…"

Kakashi had told her how Mibuki had acted last night, and quite frankly she wasn't surprised, because her mother had always been like that, dismissing Sakura's feelings and invalidating her struggles entirely. That, of course, wasn't to say she wasn't any less disgusted.

But more than disgust towards Mibuki or anything else right now, all she could feel was an overwhelming fear and concern for the girl in front of her. She didn't know exactly what had caused Sakura to want to kill herself, or even really what was going on in her mind right now, but she'd do everything she could to make sure it didn't happen again.

"But I'd just get in the way if I stayed with you, Ino… I really shouldn't." Sakura quickly brushed her idea off bashfully, avoiding her gaze a bit sheepishly. She had already caused everybody so much trouble as it was, so that? It was just too much.

Besides, the idea of being under Ino's watch didn't exactly offer her any comfort.

"Stop cutting yourself so short, Sakura! I'm serious here! You're staying with me and that's final!" Ino had clearly made up her mind. Who was Sakura to shoot her down after that display?

"O-okay…" Sakura unintentionally stammered. "But I'll have to get some of my stuff from my place before I do..."

"Of course… I'll start clearing up some space in the house so you'll have a place to sleep at, and in the meantime, I just want you to get some rest, okay?" Ino smiled softly.

"Alright. Thanks, Ino." Sakura nodded, straining to return the gesture. It wasn't really like it mattered to her where she stayed, after all. It wouldn't change the way she felt. Sure, it might be harder to hide things, but she'd find a way to work around it.

"Don't mention it. I'll see you later." Ino hugged her once again, before she started to leave the room, briefly exchanging greetings with Tsunade while she was at it.

Tsunade couldn't blame Ino for being in such a hurry. Her bond with Sakura went all the way back to when they were little kids. If not for their shared feelings for Sasuke, she would have almost thought they were a couple or something by the way they the way they interacted sometimes.

"Ino's amazing, isn't she?" Sakura suddenly said, catching her attention. She looked down at her lap, rubbing one of her scars. "Not only is she beautiful, but she's always so confident... I really envied that about her back when we were kids. She kept coming to my rescue and telling me to think more highly of myself. I vowed to become stronger so I wouldn't be in her shadow anymore. But just look at me… In the end, all I did was cause trouble for her again..."

"Sakura… There is nothing at all wrong about needing help sometimes." Tsunade insisted, as Sakura looked up to meet her eyes. "It's completely normal. I know you probably don't see it in yourself, but I took you on as my student because I saw that strength inside of you. I already knew just by looking at you that you were the type to push forward no matter what obstacle you faced, and I believe in you. It's true that you've faced a set back, and it could take time to get back on your feet… Even so, you don't have to do this alone… You have so many people that are here for you, so, please... At least try to give yourself a chance… Can you do that…?"

Sakura immediately felt herself melt at her words. She would never say it out loud, but Tsunade was almost like a mother to her sometimes, more like one than her own mother, so hearing how insistent she was on getting her to trust them, something inside of her felt inclined to believe in her. "...I can't… make any promises, but… I'll try… for you, Tsunade-Shisshou..."

Tsunade couldn't possibly be more happy at her response.

…

A/N: It's not a lot, but it's been forever since I updated so I wanted to get something up. I'll also probably bring in Sasuke sometime in the next couple chapters btw.

And as for pairings with Naruto? It's still undecided because it won't really be that important, since it'll be more of a background thing, but I could go several different ones, like GaaNaru, SaiNaru or SasuNaru or something idk yet. Probably it'll be a gay pairing since I'm already doing one with Sakura as well. I'm basically okay with any of them? I guess time will tell since my main focus pairing is InoSaku right now?