A/N: HEYYY! How are you all doing? I have a cold right now I hate stuffy nose...sorry I hadn't been updating lately...just to give you a heads up...this summer I'll be taking summer school...participating in a piano convention in SD, and taking a PSAT class (which I'm looking forward to) Please excuse me for my writer's blocks...I hope that I haven't spaced out in this chapter...it's been awhile since I updated this story...I already know what's going to happen next...I have a file of papers of rough drafts and stuff on this...I'm such a weird author haha...I play what's going to happen next and stuff. As for my other stories...yes I have finished all of them but haven't posted them yet Anyway, thank you for your honest reviews because they do inspire me to be a better writer. THEY DO! So...you know the usual. Happy reading and happy reviewing!

Disclaimer: sigh I own the characters that you have never heard of

Title: Chapter 13

"SAKURA! SAKURA!" the words of her father left a permanent mark in her mind. Sakura kept on running down toward the gates. Much to her delight, it opened before her, in just seconds, she ran out of her family's property...hopefully from her family history.

Beads of tears strolled down her pale cheeks as Sakura tried to hold the pain and suffering she had been carrying for the past 16 years. Her long luscious pink hair flew with the wind trailing behind her back like a dozen ribbons flowing freely in the air. She was wearing her denim jacket and her usual leather pants as she hid a black halter top underneath her jacket.

Who was she? Sakura thought hard as she kept on running. For 16 years...she hasn't discovered who she really was.

Her name panged against her mental consciousness. Haruno Sakura.

Sure, she is the rich daughter and only heir to her father's monopolizing company. Everyone in her school heard that she concocted a secret plan to bring her father's work down. But why? Of course...only the young Sakura, herself knows.

Her father is a cruel man...and inside he is just an ordinary man who fears that someone will do a much better job than him and in due time take over his position as CEO of his own self-made company. Many times Mr. Haruno has offered Sakura to work as his personal assistant, but she didn't want to. She wanted more than just an office that her father owned. She wanted to succeed by herself.

Poor Sakura, her father still does not understand.

Sakura passed a few grand mansions that belonged to some of her family's friends.

"Fuck them..." she whispered to herself as she made her way past the neighborhood. Sweat beads streaked down from her body as she stopped to take a breathe. Before she could continue on she saw a full shadow behind her, she turned around only to wish that she hadn't seen the person's face.

"What do you want? If you're here for just one of your stupid lectures well you know what? Save them for someone else. You have absolutely no idea what I'm going through!" Sakura harshly greeted her friend and then continued on walking away from him.

"SAKURA, wait," his cold and yet warm hand grabbed her arm. The young man felt a sense of feebleness in Sakura's arms. He could tell that she haven't eaten for quite awhile except sip on some alcohol perhaps, that is what she does when she is in a terrible state.

"What do you want from me?" Sakura flung her arm away from Sasuke and wrapped her arms together as if she felt a thousand knives piercing her frail heart. Short gasps of breathe emerged from her small mouth as she was waiting for the dark haired boy answer.

With a friendly smile, Sasuke held out his hand, as if offering her a hand to comfort her problems, "You wanna go somewhere to eat? You haven't eaten for three days, my treat,"

She knew that she couldn't give into him, he was always like this...trying to be the "knight in shining armor" and Sakura looked at herself. She wore a thin pale shirt and sweats, and her hair was tangled as it held loose from her hair band. Sakura felt in no position to be rescued, she felt worthless.

"Come on...I'll be you sushi to make you happy, and probably sashami all right?" Sasuke tried to offer her more than he could pay just to make her happy. He took a few steps closer to her and held out his hand, pleading her to come with him.

"But don't lecture me, I'm sick of you telling me what to do..." she placed her hand in his protective hand, and before the two walked together, Sakura stopped him and broke out a faint smile on her face, "no sushi...maybe some burgers would be fine for me..." the two gazed into each other's eyes and walked on.

Back at the house...

Dishes fell on the floor startled Mr. Haruno in his study room. He walked over to the kitchen to where his dear wife was and quickly dropped his newspaper and ran to pick up his frantic wife. He tried to hold her up but she only fell hard spreading her hands over the broken glass as blood trickled down her palms. Mr. Haruno quickly headed over to the cabinet where the first aid was stored and immediately bandaged his wife's arms.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? You could have killed yourself," he kissed his wife's wounded hands, but she turned around facing her back towards him, "what's wrong? Is it what I had just said to our daughter? Look...it is for the best, our company is in a need of money, we need our daughter to marry as soon as possible so we could inherit some money all right? It is all for the best," he tried to console Mrs. Haruno but it did not work on her.

Sasuke and Sakura walked towards the closest restaurant and sat down at a table for two as a waiter approached them writing down their orders. Sakura knew that people were looking at her...they were at a fancy restaurant and she guessed that she was not wearing the appropriate attire for the evening...but she didn't care.

Mrs. Haruno stood up and fiercely stared at her husband. She held her fists together and blood from the bandage began to bleed through and a few drops of red stained the tile floor on the floor.

"You know that the only reason why you are marrying off our daughter is because you never wanted her in the first place! How could I have been so naive? Showering her with shopping sprees only to get her away from home...giving her her own wing in the house so she wouldn't bother you or me, why? WHY?" tears furiously rolled down his wife's bloodshot eyes.

Sakura laughed happily as she had heard a joke coming from Sasuke. The two couldn't help but look at each other but Sakura broke the gaze shyly. Sakura awkwardly cleared her throat and took a drink from the glass as Sasuke gazed at her move. The young girl blushed as she took a bite out of her burger and Sasuke opened a package of some dressing for his meal. Carelessly he opened it and some of the contents spilled on his white shirt.

"Honey...that is not true," he slowly held his hands up as if surrendering just to hold his wife.

"Don't you dare take a step! We are talking about our daughter! OUR DAUGHTER! What does that mean to you? Just one little obstacle for your devious plan for earning blood money from your rivals' companies! Do you know that for 39 years of marriage I am not blind to your bloody work? Do you know that I only stayed with you so that our daughter will see that their parents love each other and that she will feel loved...but no, you and your ridiculous long hours only separated you and I...even our daughter apart. This family that was once whole and together is now falling apart...all because of your absurd obsession with the Amano's Enterprise Company! Do you know how many years I had to endure just to watch our daughter grow up...without you watching over her and teaching her? I had to teach her alone, although I loved telling her what is right from wrong, however I guess she just inherited your stubbornness and rejection from everyone around her except for her friends! What went wrong Satoshi? WHAT WENT WRONG? TELL ME WHAT IS IT THAT TORE OUR FAMILY APART!" Mrs. Haruno fell hopelessly down onto the cold floor as the blood stained her dress. Cold regretful tears flew down from her eyes...the eyes that has seen everything.

Sakura laughed hard as she got out of her chair and walked over and wet a napkin and wiped the mess from the shirt. As she stroked his chest trying to clean off the stain, the two looked at each other. Sakura looked away and went back to her chair and ate quietly for the rest of the evening as the two looked at each other from time to time.

"Keiko..." a small whisper emerged from his mouth. As he listened to his wife's words he couldn't help but feel remorse for what he had done...however it was for the best.

"What is it that you want me to do? Do you want to be poor? Do you want to lose this grand mansion that has been so dear to us for the past 39 years? I have worked my ass off just to support this family. I have worked endless hours for the very best just to land as CEO for my company...and you are telling me that I am selfish and greedy? Woman, look at your clothes and the furniture and everything that is inside this place. I earned the money just so we could have a stable roof over our heads, food on the fucking table, and nice fashionable clothes for all of us and you are telling me that I have no heart and soul? THEN WHAT THE HELL DID YOU MARRY ME FOR?" His chest moved furiously up and down as he took huge puffs of air furiously as his nostrils flared with anger.

His wife looked up at him and stood up confident and coldly answered, "It was an arranged marriage,"

Sakura looked up as she finished up her meal and saw Sasuke walk towards the waiter and gave him a check. He then walked back and held out his warm hand and the two walked out of the dining area.

Mr. Haruno's eyes were gaped open as he remembered that he and his wife were married only for business and not for love but a devious smile was displayed on his face, "But we learned to love each other didn't we dear?"

"We did yes...however under the circumstances of our daughter I dare not to repeat history in our family, look at what this is doing to her! I feel so guilty that for the past 2 years she has not for once come to me for some guidance but instead she went to her friends..." her voice quivered with guilt, she only wanted what was best for her daughter, and now she is nearly tortured inside because of what her husband had brought up for dinner.

The two teenagers walked out into the night and Sakura felt a cold chill and shivered slightly. Seeing her cold, Sasuke offered her his leather jacket and placed it around her small shoulders. The two walked together.

"Her friends are nothing but imbeciles filling ridiculous thoughts into her head about us, Keiko...those people she has been with for the past 5 years are not her friends, they are influencing her to go against us," he tried to persuade her with his gruff voice.

Silence was among the couple. Only the audible sound of the old grandfather clock was heard from the foyer and the cold wind that came in from an open window. Mrs. Haruno took a deep breathe and walked slowly up to her husband as they stood face to face within a few inches away from each other.

The teenagers approached a small home in front of them and Sasuke opened the door and Sakura stepped in smiling. She had been to his home many times last summer before he went out with Kaiya. Sasuke told her that she could spend the night, if she wanted to.

"Do you love me?" her soft voice sent a chill down Mr. Haruno's spine.

"Yes, of course I do dear...I love you so much," his hand took his wife's wet hands into his and caressed it softly.

Sasuke told her that Itachi was out for the night with probably Kaede because the two have been awfully close ever since the beginning of the school year. Sakura always thought that his brother had been annoyed by the girl but Sasuke laughed. Sasuke answered that she was probably right but Kaede and Itachi had been going out every night somewhere together and Sasuke didn't really take notice. Sasuke then again asked Sakura if she wanted to spend the night at his house, of course she could sleep in his room and he could spend the night downstairs on the couch.

"Do you love our daughter?" his wife's voice sent a sense of fear down his soul, if he had one.

"Yes..." he answered. The couple looked at each other and were caught up in the moment and felt that they were young again when they married each other. Feelings of joy and love filled him as he held his wife's hands...the ones he had touched and kissed. He felt young again and looked at his wife's face. She was beautiful...he could see the fine lines across her face, even if she has aged for the 2 and a half decades they have been together she still remained an angel before him.

Sakura suggested that he sleep in the same room as her...but on the floor of course. She told him that she did not want to be alone for the night. Sasuke nodded and asked her to make sure she wanted to sleep her.

His wife smiled and told him, "Then call off the engagement...for us Satoshi, if you love our family, then do what is best...call off the engagement," Coldness erased his warm memory of his marriage, and his eyes were once again cold and sharp.

He released his wife's hands and took a few steps back. "I cannot,"

Sakura smiled and agreed. She will spend the night.

Mr. Haruno walked off from the kitchen and into his study room and slammed the door shut behind him. His wife was left in the kitchen as she couldn't help but clean up the mess she had made. Mrs. Haruno couldn't fight back the tears she had for her own daughter. As she was cleaning up the mess, the butler came in and offered to help her. She smiled and nodded as a few frightened maids who clearly had overheard Mr. Haruno and her argument from the living room.

"Thank you," she told them and all the could do was comfort her and hope for the best.

In the study room...

Mr. Haruno furiously ran through all of his paperwork on his desk. Piles of endless contracts and papers crowded the mahogany desk. He finally found it and headed over to his phone and dialed the number, no answer. He walked back to his desk and opened all the drawers and immediately searched through folders until he found another paper he was looking for. He went to the phone and dialed the number, someone answered it. He greeted the person with a smile.

A/N: PLEASE REVIEW!