Artheph's Note: I really like this chapter. Basically because Shikamaru's in it. And the metaphor that Shikamaru says. Yes, I DID think of it on my own. I so did not steal it from anyone. So…if anyone has the same metaphor…sorry…but I SOOOO did not steal it from you…or whoever. And the first scene in this chapter makes me happy too. You could say there are all these symbols and such…if you are of the analyzing type. But I really didn't mean to. It just came out that way. Anyway, enjoy!

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Sasuke found Neji musing in a field of flowers. Rather out of the character for a stoic man like Neji. But even Neji needs the atmosphere of nature to aid in sorting out jumbled thoughts.

Neji turned around. "What are you doing here?"

"A field of flowers, Neji? What's next? A skirt?"

Neji gazed at him coldly. "I repeat, what are you doing here?"

"Che. To talk some sense into you, I suppose."

"I know where this is going. Others have already tried. What makes you think you could make a difference?"

"Cause…well, let's just put it this way. I can kick your ass."

Neji raised an eyebrow. Well, what else was he supposed to expect out of Uchiha Sasuke?

"We'll see about that."

The two men jumped at each other, flinging kunais and various other weapons.

Drop. Slash. Throw. Block. Up. Right. Jump. Dodge.

A kunai pierced straight through the middle of an innocently standing flower. It leaned back under the weight of the kunai and was about to split neatly in half.

The battle abruptly stopped. It was as if the splitting flower was a sign, or a signal. The two men watched the flower as it split to its very roots and begin to brown.

"I know what I should do, what I should have done long ago," Neji acknowledged, dropping his shuriken onto the ground. "I guess…I'm afraid of hurting her."

"As if rejecting her in the first place didn't hurt her?"

"Well, at least I will only hurt her once. Can you not see the logic in that?"

Sasuke sneered and was about to reply with a scathing remark when he realized: that before, this was his logic as well. He sighed.

"It seems we are more alike than previously thought. But at least you didn't have to go through something as drastic as I had to in order to realize the truth."

"What are you talking about?"

"Never mind. Just go to her."

"Thanks." Neji stooped down to pick a flower, unmarred by their sudden battle. He then plucked a petal off and released it into the wind.

"No problem."

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Sakura decided to stroll through the forest to get her mind off what had happened in the café. She watched two birds teasing each other in the sky. The male would playfully peck the female on the back, beckoning her to chase him as they flew. The female mockingly scolded the male and proceeded to fly after him. The two twisted and turned about in the air. Sakura closed her eyes, remembering when she and Sasuke had acted exactly the same. They were running through a grassy field. Sasuke would tap her shoulder, and Sakura would turn around to find Sasuke vanishing and reappearing behind her again. A never-ending cycle of circling around, running, and laughing. At the end, the two ninjas collapsed onto the ground, out of breath, and watched the clouds swimming in the blue atmosphere above them.

Repeating dull thuds disrupted Sakura from her memories. She walked around a tree to find Tenten viciously hurling kunais at the same spot on another tree. The force of the thrown kunais had created a huge hole as in the tree, and the poor, innocent thing looked as if it was about to collapse upon itself. Though Sakura didn't know what was going on between Sasuke and Tenten, she couldn't stop her female instincts to comfort Tenten, who was obviously experiencing some sort of breakdown.

"Tenten?"

Tenten turned around. "Oh, hey Sakura." She resumed her throwing. "Just letting out my anger."

Sakura sighed. "You shouldn't vent your frustration on vulnerable plants."

Tenten twirled a kunai around her finger and looked wistfully at the hole she had created. "I know…"

Sakura took a wild guess and hoped it was right. "Is it Neji?"

"Isn't it always?"

"It'll turn out okay…"

"I've already argued about this with myself thousands of times, and nothing has happened."

Sakura rubbed her friend's shoulder, reassuringly. "I guess it's our role to be patient then."

Tenten looked at her questioningly. "Sasuke?"

Sakura half-smiled. "Isn't it always?" she asked, repeating what Tenten had said seconds ago.

"What happened between you two anyway?"

"Well..."

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"So what's happening between you and Sakura anyway?"

"Why would you care?"

"Hey, you're the one who decided to meddle in my affairs."

"Fine. But there really isn't much to say. We were on…then off…then on…and now off."

"Yeah, I'm SURE that's all there is," Neji responded, sarcastically.

"Well, if you insist…"

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They were happy together. Everything felt right. Until that one night Shikamaru shared some advice about women with Sasuke.

"Oi," Shikamaru greeted Sasuke, seating himself down on a stool at the counter of Ichiraku.

"Hn."

Shikamaru and Sasuke had become better friends as they were currently jounin teammates. Plus, Ino and Sakura often met up and left their boyfriends to their own devices.

Shikamaru sighed as he watched Ino and Sakura bicker about petty feminine things.

"How troublesome. But you know, women are kinda like mirrors."

Another one of Shikamaru's brilliant deductions, Sasuke thought to himself.

"How so?"

"They reflect everything about you, everything you've done. You make one mistake, then a little crack forms on the precious glass. They reflect your flaws, the pain you've caused them. Your image becomes imperfect, flawed. Too many mistakes, the whole thing shatters."

"Do they ever reflect the good things?"

"I'm sure. But the bad times are what is always remembered."

"Shikamaru, let's go!" Ino called out.

"Coming." The two left.

Sakura came to sit next to Sasuke. He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer.

"What're you thinking about, Sasuke?"

"You."

"Aww, you're so sweet."

Sasuke was indeed thinking about Sakura. How he couldn't bear to hurt her and watch those little cracks form, until the mirror eventually shattered. He couldn't do that to her. She was too fragile. She would break too easily. No, he definitely could not do that to her. But how could he stop the cracks from forming?

Two weeks later, he broke up with her. At least this meant only one crack on the mirror, right? Right? Sasuke told himself it was so.