Just Call Me Cinderella
Chapter Sixteen
Sasuke was absolutely dumbstruck. That was all there was to it. He flopped down onto the couch and blankly stared in front of him.
He had know Sakura well before and hurt her? How was it possible that he had completely forgotten?
Sasuke raced over to his closet and pulled out a sleek, black box. His mother had made him keep important things in there like pictures of his friends and various awards he had won. He tossed off the top and flicked through the contents. He knew what he was looking for was somewhere near the bottom of the box. Pictures from middle school and pictures from his summer working under Orochimaru.
Working for Orochimaru was the absolute worst possible experience for Sasuke. His parents had agreed that he needed to go off somewhere and learn a thing or two about business from someone other than them. His brother had just run away to take time for himself by going to live with some friends. His parents were not pleased and Sasuke was even worse.
He ended up as an intern that made barely minimum wage and he had to work with three other teenagers who were in similar circumstances. One of them was Karin before she got hot. Now that he thought about it the two of them never talked about that summer. Sasuke scoured through various photos of the group of interns working or of him and Naruto doing who knows what. When he finally stumbled upon what he was looking for.
In his hands was a photo from the summer prior when he had attended summer camp. It was a camp designed to teach kids how to work together and learn to defend themselves should anything happened. In Konoha it was customary for all children the year they turned thirteen to attend. The picture was of his team. Kakashi as their sensei stood in the back with a smile on his face and his arms around Naruto and Sasuke glaring daggers at each other as they were always competing to be the best. There was also a brightly smiling, pink haired girl that Sasuke recognized immediately.
Sasuke froze as he flipped through more and more pictures of the three of them chasing cats, cleaning up trash, and practicing their new skills on giant practice dummies. Sasuke's favorite picture by far was one of Sakura laughing hysterically while Naruto looked to be telling one of his crazy stories. He couldn't believe that he had been so messed up he had blocked out this part of his memories.
That summer was tainted by the fact that as soon as he got home Itachi went insane and eventually left their house without any sort of contact for months. Sasuke was absolutely devastated and he didn't remember much from school after that.
Sasuke shut his eyes and tried to remember everything he could from that year. He remembered that was the year he got really close with Naruto. The two of them had always been rivals but that year they were able to finally understand each other and strike up a friendship. It was also the year that the fangirls got really annoying and pushy and were spearheaded by none other than Ino Yamanaka.
That was the year. . . the year that Sakura had caught him on a particularly bad day of missing Itachi, the company was doing bad, and he had just agreed to giving up his summer freedom by working for Orochimaru.
That was the year she poured out her heart to him and he was too selfish and stubborn to care that she was actually somewhat genuine compared to all the other girls. He was too upset and stuck on everything else that he didn't realize that there was a small part of him that really cared about her before that. That was the moment that Sakura still had an innocence in her eyes.
Tears streamed down his face as he stared at the picture of her laughing. What had he done? No wonder she did not want to get close to him again. Not only had he cruelly rejected her affections but he had severed the friendship that they had once had as well. He had hurt her. Hurt her deeply and he had acted like he had done nothing wrong.
When his summer program with Orochimaru was finished Sasuke had decided that he was going to be different. He had matured some while learning quite a bit about business and Itachi had decided to at least email Sasuke occasionally. Sasuke's life the year before was awful and he had blocked out whatever he could. That included Sakura anything that had to do with Sakura. To him she was just another fangirl who he didn't need.
His door creaked open but Sasuke didn't care to look up. The only people that dared to enter without knocking were Naruto and his mother. And Naruto was never that quiet. Gentle arms wrapped around him and he sobbed into her shoulder.
"What have I done?"
Mikoto looked down on him with a gentle smile and looked at the picture clutched in his hand.
"It doesn't matter. What matters is what you're going to do now."
Sasuke sat up and looked at her. "What do you mean?"
"You love her and I'm guessing from the photo in your hand that you just realized you hurt her a very long time ago so I think it's time to make it right. Don't you?" She smiled at him and he reciprocated.
"Thanks mom." Sasuke kissed her quickly on the cheek and placed all of the photos back into his box except the photo of Sakura and Naruto laughing. He took a frame sitting on his nightstand with a picture of him and the guys in it and replaced it with the picture of Sakura and Naruto. It was far too precious for him to put it back into hiding.
Sakura clutched at her hair as she sighed for the millionth time. Kakashi had given everyone a free day since tomorrow was going to be their final before Christmas break. He had told them that he didn't care if they studied, talked, or slept but they needed to keep the noise down. Honestly, none of them were surprised. Last night the latest volume in Make Out Paradise was released and he was wanting to do nothing but read.
Naruto kept glancing at Sakura every two minutes and it was driving her insane. "What do you want Naruto?"
"Uh. . ." he chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm okay. Honestly with my burn scabbing over my skin feels really tight and wearing clothes feels like an absolute chore."
Naruto nodded and smiled slightly.
"Okay, what's with you I mentioned not wearing clothes and instead of some perverted comment you just nodded?"
"Eh? Oh. . . sorry. I'm just a little out of it I guess. Have you talked to Sasuke recently?"
Sakura furrowed her eyebrows. "No, why? Is he looking for me or something?"
"Something like that."
"Naruto, none of this is any of your business so don't get involved." Sakura leaned forward so she was right in his face. He had turned around so he was straddling the seat in front of her.
"Sak, this involves my two best friends. Of course I'm going to get involved. Do you ever stop to think about the fact that what happened after middle school effected me too? The three of us were close that summer and for a year you spent more time with Ino and I spent more time with Sasuke but after that everything went to crap. You were so angsty and Sasuke came back a total douche bag. Do you know what that was like? I know the two of you are better when you're together and I would love nothing more than to see you two date. So don't tell me it's none of my business."
Naruto stood up and sat back in his seat facing the front. Sakura sat bewildered while she tried to figure out what to say.
"Naruto, look-"
"Save it Sakura. I'm not in the mood right now." He shoved headphones on his head and blocked out anything she was going to say. How dare he!
Well, he's got a point. Sakura slumped in her seat and tried to remember what the first year of high school had been like. Sakura had started the year after fighting with Ino and severing their friendship. They had fought over Sasuke. Sakura was determined to hate his guts for the rest of forever. Their fight had only lasted that summer since Ino witnessed the rude way Sasuke had ignored Sakura and Sakura had opened up about her rejection. Ino stopped hanging out with the fangirls and the two of them formed a bond with Hinata, who ahd previously been too shy to talk to anyone, and Tenten who was a new student from a different city.
The three of them had banded together and Sakura remembered seeing Naruto only sporadically that first year. She used to complain to him about his favoritism to Sasuke. That must have really stung him. Sakura was not a very good friend to him back then.
The bell rang and Naruto ran out of the class. Sakura grabbed her things and headed into her next class. Come to think of it, why was everyone missing from their first period class? Hinata and Neji had gone to a martial arts competition and here excused but Ino, Tenten, Sai, and Sasuke were definitely not. Was there something going?
The rest of the day progressed without Sakura seeing anyone else. Naruto avoided her at lunch so she headed to her fifth period class and ate there. Were was everyone else? Was she missing out on something? Sakura had texted Ino and Tenten a billion times but hadn't gotten any sort of reply. Weird.
School ended without a sighting of any of the rest of her friends. Sakura hurried to work and got busy so she wouldn't have to think about the weirdness of it all. She dusting the living room that overlooked the backyard when hundreds of twinkling lights turned on. Sakura dropped her duster and moved for the windows. It was like a winter wonderland scene in a Christmas movie.
Every square inch of vegetation was draped with lights that sparkled against the stark white of the remaining snow on the ground. There were mainly white lights but the pillars of the house were wrapped in a pattern of red and white like a giant candy cane. Sakura's breath caught and she started wide eyed at the beauty.
Her phone suddenly pinged. She pulled it out to see a message from Itachi of all people.
FROM: Itachi Uchiha
Would you please come to the backyard at the end of your shift?
Sakura looked down at her phone confused. Why would he want her to meet there? Was he proposing to Izumi or something? Sakura suddenly got very excited at the prospect and typed that she would be there. She couldn't wait for her shift to end in two hours. She desperately wanted to know what was going to happen.
Sakura readjusted her lime green beanie and made her way out the back door to the porch. The lights were even more magnificent in person. It was like walking in a fairy land. Sakura now understood why Naruto had strung so many lights at the water front for his parents. It was a beautiful sight.
Sakura walked down the stairs and toward the gazebo. She looked around at the lights and to see if there was anyone around. Itachi had told her to meet after her shift. Maybe he was running late? Or maybe he had given up and asked Izumi already?
The closer Sakura got to the gazebo the better she was able to see the lights that snaked up the sides and around the tops. They were also red and white and it made the gazebo look like it was glowing a faint pink color. Sakura climbed the steps and realized there was someone in the gazebo waiting.
Sasuke turned around wearing a navy blue beanie and scarf of his own. His hands were shoved in his pockets. Sakura was startled to see him and not Itachi. What was going on?
"Sasuke? I'm confused."
"I know." He took a step towards her and she didn't move. "Sakura, I owe you an apology and I think it's three years late."
Sakura furrowed her eyebrows and looked up at him. "What do you mean?"
Sasuke took a deep breath and a step back. He looked behind her for a few minutes before he started speaking.
"I'm sorry for the way I rejected you after middle school."
The air felt like it had been sucked out from Sakura's body. She didn't respond. She just kept watching him.
"Back then I was dealing with a lot. Itachi had suddenly left to try to figure himself out and my parents were upset and putting a lot of pressure on me. I agreed to spend that upcoming summer working under Orochimaru."
Sakura gasped and quickly placed her gloved hands over her mouth. She had heard rumors that he had worked under that awful man but to hear it was true was horrible. Orochimaru was a serious creep and he did some shady things. He was a shrewd businessman but scary.
"I was dealing with a lot and that summer camp seemed like too happy of a memory. I had blocked out everything before high school in an attempt to move past it. Which included you. I honestly did not remember being close to you at all or breaking your heart."
Tears started streaming down Sakura's face. She had no idea that he had dealt with so much stuff. His life always looked picture perfect on the outside. Itachi and him seemed pretty close despite their bantering. Now their bantering made more sense. Sasuke was still healing. It still hurt to think about his rejection all those years ago but she was starting to understand it a little more.
"Honestly, I only remembered because I found a bunch of pictures. This one is my favorite." Sasuke reached behind himself to a table and picked up a photo frame. He held it out to Sakura who took it with curiosity.
It was a picture of Naruto telling a wild tale and flailing around as she laughed hysterically. Her eyes were clenched shut and the first sign of tears was showing in the corner of her eyes. Sakura couldn't help the tears that started falling faster now. Why was this his favorite?
"Why is this framed?"
"I wanted to see the happy faces of the two people that mean the most to me besides my family everyday. Sakura," Sasuke put his hands on her cheeks and wiped at her tears with his thumbs. "I rejected you because you meant something to me I didn't understand at the time. You were so important to me and I couldn't handle it with everything else going on so I forgot about it. I am so sorry for the hurt I have caused you and I don't want to make that mistake ever again. Please, give me the chance to be different."
Sakura blinked up at him. There was sincerity like she'd never seen before in his eyes. He truly meant every word. Sakura pulled away slightly and Sasuke dropped his hands. Sakura wiped furiously at her face and took a few steadying breaths.
"I think I'll need some time to fully forgive you but I can't deny that I never got over you. I love you Sasuke Uchiha and I have for the last few years. I'm not sure that I can fully trust you or date you or anything else just yet but I wanted you to know that I am so grateful that you told me all of that."
Sasuke smiled gently as he pulled her into a tight hug. "That's good enough for me right now."
Sakura hugged him back and looked out over the shimmering lights. She blinked and pulled back. "Did you do all this for me?"
Sasuke looked around. "I had some help."
Sakura leaned back against his chest and smiled. So that was where everyone had run off to today. Everyone but Naruto. She really needed to apologize to him too. He was just being a good friend and she was rude to him. She had no idea what was he was dealing with either. She really was a selfish idiot that needed to work on her awareness.
"Let's go inside and warm up a bit then I'll walk you home."
Sakura nodded and followed Sasuke into the house. She wasn't sure what they were now but they were good. For the first time in years they were good.
A/N: What even is this chapter? Pro tip: Don't write the first half of your chapter one month and then the second half like three months later. Chances are you'll forget where you're supposed to be going.