Author's Note: I'm so happy; it reached the 300+ review mark! Since Chapter 20 until now, Chapter 24. Isn't that amazing? In just 4 chapters, it already shot up to 100. Thanks you guys! Also, I'm trying to improve on my writing, I want to become one of those writers who'll make it big in the New York Bestseller list or something like that. I just like writing, amateur or professional, as long as people read it and like it. Anyway right now, in Dangerously Sixteen, I have an agenda right now. For those of you, who are like me, I tend to plan ahead. So, if you don't really understand what I'm trying to say here, here it is:
I am five chapters ahead of you all; after all, I am the author! XD.
Basically, I keep up these little summaries of huge events in each chapter and then when I hit Microsoft Word, I just type it from there, using that sheet as my guideline for my chapter. Are you following me here? I don't know if you actually read my author's note, or if you're one of those who just get straight to the chapter. Anyhow, I pretty much know how the story is ending, all of my stories, I know how it will end. It's just a matter of time, that I submit that one last chapter on It's only a matter of time…
Happy Reading!
Previously on Dangerously Sixteen: The court hearing was held, Sakura is declared innocent, and Kaiya is declared insane.
Disclaimer: I own the characters that you have never seen or heard before until you have read this story. Yes, you know who they are!
NOTE: For a few chapters, I will focus on one character for one chapter, just to give you all an in-depth feed into each character's internal thoughts and obstacles, to make it come full circle in the future chapters you will be reading!
Title: Chapter 24
"It's over, Sakura," he whispered to her as he lifted his head to gaze at the doors.
Placing her hand over Sasuke's on her left shoulder, Sakura leaned into Sasuke and closed her eyes.
"It's finally over," she whispered.
Behind her, Sakura's parents approached their daughter and embraced her tightly.
"Let's go home, honey," Mrs. Haruno left salty kisses on Sakura's forehead, as the family went out of the courthouse.
On their way, Sakura caught a glimpse of Kaiya, with some officers heading toward the jail cells. The lavender-haired girl shot her a cold glare that sent shivers down Sakura's spine.
Sakura ignored it and followed everyone else out of the courthouse.
She was free, and finally coming home.
In the Hyuga dining room, Mrs. Hyuga was fixing up three courses for her family's dinner. The aroma of maki maki and warm vegetable soup permeated in every corner of the house. She went over to the counter and checked up on the vegetables and got out a wok and started stir-frying some carrots, string beans, and sprinkled in some garlic and pepper.
Mrs. Hyuga got out a chopstick and picked up a cooked carrot and tasted it with her mouth.
"Needs a little more pepper," she said to herself. Mrs. Hyuga grabbed a peppershaker from the cupboards above her and worked her arm in a circular motion over the wok and opened the lid of a pot that was boiling some water.
"Honey!" Mrs. Hyuga turned her head and called out to the living room.
"Yes?" her husband answered.
"Dinner will be ready in awhile, can you get Neji and Hinata to wash up and come downstairs to the diner room soon?" Mrs. Hyuga smelled the soup she was concocting.
"Ok," Mr. Hyuga closed his newspaper and placed it onto the coffee table. The man in his late fifties slowly walked up the stairs, holding onto the rail to keep him balanced.
"Neji, Hinata, go take a shower and come downstairs for dinner in fifteen minutes," Mr. Hyuga knocked on Neji's bedroom door.
Loud rock music blared out from within Neji's room and his dad could hear it from outside, and from the stairs.
"Neji," Mr. Hyuga knocked on his son's door again.
Neji opened the door and poked his head out from the slit.
"I know," he replied. Neji closed the door and let the music play loudly.
From across the hallway, Hinata opened the door and was in her pajamas. She had just washed her hair, and her hair was growing down to her shoulders. It's been awhile since she got that haircut at the mall, when she first got here.
She held out her hair towel and started wiping her head with it. Hinata saw her Uncle and greeted him, as he was about to go down the stairs.
A few minutes later, Hinata went back to her bedroom and got out a hair blow dryer and plugged the cord into the wall and started drying her strands of hair.
Kaede stood at the edge of her bed and held a pillow against her. Her long luscious blue hair was dimmed to a duller shade of blue. She hadn't eaten her dinner, and hadn't showered for the past few days.
Her mind was drifting into a daydream.
Itachi appeared from his bedroom and called out to his brother.
"Where are you going?"
Sasuke went downstairs and answered, "I'm going back to the bike shop, I'll be back by nine," Itachi sighed and went over to his bedroom window and gazed at his brother who went into his Blue Corvette and cruised down the neighborhood street.
"Dinner is ready!" Mrs. Hyuga proudly announced to her family as she went into the dining room. She saw that her niece was setting up the table, with forks, knives, spoons, and napkins. Hinata smiled and headed to the kitchen to help bring the pot.
"You might want to use the gloves, it's hot, Hinata," Mrs. Hyuga suggested. The mother brought out two dishes of freshly grilled vegetables, and steaming saucy fish with tomatoes and garlic on the side.
Hinata grabbed the pot and went over to the table as Neji and Mr. Hyuga sat down and waited for the two females to hurry up.
Mrs. Hyuga opened the refrigerator and retrieved a container of freshly squeezed juice she had made that afternoon before Sakura's court hearing. The woman in her late forties approached the drawers and set four glasses on the counter.
She poured the juice into the glasses and brought them over to the dinner table.
"I hope you like it, it's your favorite, Neji," Mrs. Hyuga grinned at her son, and around the corners of her eyes, there were faint traces of wrinkles.
Neji took the first sip of the drink and thanked his mother.
Mr. Hyuga started to eat a piece of the fish and got out a spoon to scoop up some of the sauce to make his white rice saucy and delicious.
"Thanks for the meal, Aunt Hyuga," Hinata took a bite on the diced tomatoes and drank the juice to give it a lasting taste on her tongue.
"Well, it's been awhile since I've made you all a nice dinner. And besides, I'm still working on my cookbook, I still have about twenty more recipes to write," Mrs. Hyuga informed her niece as she poured herself some vegetable soup.
Sakura's butler went up to Sakura's bedroom and asked her what she wanted for dinner.
"Anything is fine," Sakura beamed. Sakura laid on her bed and went under the covers and gazed at the pale crimson ceiling that had been painted two years ago. She noticed that she needs a new remodeled room, the ceiling was peeling from the old pink paint and Sakura needs to clean her room soon. It was a pigsty.
The young girl hadn't noticed that her room was the same she left it that night when Kaiya crept into her room.
The walls had holes punched in by Kaiya's bullets, and the lamp was ruined onto the carpet. Footprints were visible on the ground, and her television was a wreck.
Sakura tried to close her eyes. The maid and the other cleaning services will come and fix her room in no time. She needed to clear out her mind, and take a few deep breaths.
It's the first time she's had time to herself ever since she got bailed out of jail.
She shuddered at the memory of her inmates in the same jail cell as her. Sakura could still remember the stench of unclean orange jumpsuits and the horrible laughs her inmates coughed out and wheezed.
The thought of sleeping on a small cot in the jail cell frightened her. She had to sleep in her cell until the court hearing rolled around that Tuesday afternoon.
Finally, the young girl moved around in her bed with her blanket over her. She nestled her head against her soft pillow and cuddled on her bed.
She was happy at that moment, in her bedroom.
Mrs. Hyuga got up from the table and went over to put the dishes into the sink. She could hear her husband start a conversation with Neji in the dining room.
"So have you given any thought of what you want to do?" Mr. Hyuga finished his fish and drank from his glass.
"I don't know, a lot of things happened this past week. So I didn't have time to think of my future," Neji said.
Hinata poured herself some more vegetable soup as she listened into the conversation.
"Son, I do not mean to pressure you. How old are you?" Mr. Hyuga asked.
"I'm 16," Neji answered.
"Exactly, in just one more year, you will graduate, do you have all the credits required for graduation?" Mr. Hyuga badgered his son.
"I still need some more, and I'll get them next year when I'm a senior," Neji took three sips from the glass.
"What do you think you would want to do later in life? Are you sure you can get into a four-year college? How about the state testing and those advanced exams that you have coming up this month? Your cousin has been studying for them, are you?" Mr. Hyuga questioned.
Neji put down his eating utensils and shot up from his chair and marched up the stairs, ignoring every word his father had said to him.
"Uncle, I think you're a little too harsh on him," Hinata tried to stand up for her cousin.
"I am not harsh, I was just asking a few questions. Besides, are you going to a four-year college?"
"Yes," Hinata nodded.
"That's my girl, at least you have a vision of what you want to do later after high school. But look at Neji, he hasn't a clue, and that's what worries me. I want this family to live up to the expectations of our ancestors, and I want him to make them proud, just as I have for my parents, I hope you would do the same thing, Hinata," Mr. Hyuga grinned.
"Yes, I will," Hinata obediently concurred.
"That's good," Mr. Hyuga grabbed his plate and went into the kitchen to help his wife wash the dishes.
RING! RING! Kaede's phone rang. She didn't pick up the phone.
RING! RING! Her phone rang again for the fourth time. Still, no one picked it up.
Itachi placed his phone back to his desk, and looked out toward the window.
"Where is she?" Itachi asked.
Sakura closed her eyes and listened to the rhythm of the cars moving back and forth on the streets, and the tapping of her window.
Opening her eyes, Sakura was confused for a moment.
Why would someone tap on her window?
The pink-haired girl rose up from her bed and spread the blanket away from her and rubbed her eyes.
It was late.
She went over to her sliding window, and found out that her dad got it fixed.
Sakura peered from the window to see whom it was that was throwing rocks at her window.
Kaede gloomily walked over to her bathroom mirror and pulled her hair back against her head and gazed into the mirror.
She looked at the sink, and then pulled out her drawers.
She heard the phone ring again.
Kaede closed the drawers and walked over to the phone.
"Hello?" her raspy voice answered the phone.
There was a dead tone on the phone.
Sakura opened the sliding window and walked toward the balcony and smiled when she greeted the visitor.
"Sasuke, what are you doing here? It's late," Sakura leaned toward her balcony. Her long hair flew in front of her face, as she looked down at him.
"I just wanted to check up on you, after everything that's happened this week," Sasuke smiled.
Sakura could feel her cheeks go pink; she looked around her backyard from her balcony. There was no one there, and she found out that her dogs weren't there.
"Did you do something to my dogs?" Sakura asked.
Ever since she was raped, she bought some German Shepherds to guard her, and keep her safe.
"I don't know, your dad probably returned them," Sasuke shrugged, "come down here, I want to show you something,"
Sasuke went up and climbed up and reached the tip of the balcony and held out his hand toward her.
"Come here," a smile crept on his face. It was a smile full of mystery.
"What are you going to do?" Sakura hesitated.
"Come on, I won't hurt you. I want to show you something," Sasuke tilted his head toward her backyard and climbed down.
Sighing, Sakura, who was in her pink nightgown, climbed down after Sasuke.
Sakura massaged her bare arms to keep them from freezing in the cold night.
"Come here," Sasuke went over and embraced her.
"Are you in your nightgown?" Sasuke asked. He gazed at Sakura; she was wearing a gown that was crimson in color.
Near the neckline, there was a white lace that circled around the gown. The silk of the fabric glistened in the dim light, and it smoothly maneuvered around Sakura's thin figure, as she walked around the backyard.
"Bad memories?" Sasuke asked.
"Yeah, I still remember what happened. It's weird, you know? A week ago, I was here, fighting for my life, and now here I am…back home," Sakura looked around and walked toward Sasuke, who was a few feet away from the pool.
Sasuke wrapped his arms around Sakura, and placed his head on hers.
"Don't worry about it, don't even think about it. It's just a horrible memory, just forget about it. You have tomorrow for you to think about, not something that happened awhile ago," Sasuke whispered his comforting words to her.
Sakura tightened her hold on Sasuke and closed her eyes. She could feel Sasuke walking backwards, and Sakura, in his grasp, followed him.
Sakura looked up into those dreamy eyes, and felt his hands caress her pale cheeks.
Sasuke worked his hands up to her forehead and softly pecked her forehead with her lips.
"You still have a big forehead," Sasuke joked.
"Gee, thanks, Sasuke!" Sakura smiled.
Sasuke held her hands and quickly pulled her into the pool.
"Sasuke!" Sakura screamed as she felt water land on her.
The girl floated up to the surface and waved her hands in the air. Sakura felt her gown float up to the surface, and she tried to keep it down. She knew that Sasuke was under the water.
Sakura took a deep breath and went under the water and tried to find Sasuke. By then, she felt something pull her up to the surface.
"Sasuke!" Sakura called out to him.
Sasuke playfully pushed her head under the water, and Sakura pushed him in the pool.
Sakura waded in the water, and made a few strokes over to the side of the pool, while Sasuke swam after her.
Sakura squealed as Sasuke grabbed her waist and pulled her against her.
The girl floated in the water, with only her head out of the water. They were in the 5 feet range of the pool.
Her hair was drenched and pulled back.
Sasuke swam before her and his face was wet and had drops of water on his face.
In the night, the pool's inner lights in the pool shone in the dark, and glistened on Sasuke's bare body like shimmering blue diamonds, as if reflected against the water.
"Shhh," Sasuke leaned toward her and smiled.
Before he got closer to her, Sakura playfully splashed water at him.
Wiping some water from his face, Sasuke laughed.
"You're going to get it!" Sasuke dove under the water and pulled Sakura's legs under the water.
"Hey!" Sakura got up and cried out. She lunged after him and the two were underwater.
While they were under, Sasuke wrapped his hands around her face, pulling her close to him, and the two opened their eyes in the pool.
In the water, Sakura could feel her skirt go up, and she pulled it down.
Sasuke's hand reached Sakura's right hand and pulled it near to his face and inclined his body toward Sakura's.
Before the two could come in closer contact, a bright light broke between them in the water. Sakura and Sasuke swam to the surface and breathed for air.
Near the pool, Sakura saw her parents standing in front of them. Her father had a flashlight with him.
"What is the meaning of this?" Mr. Haruno sternly asked.
He certainly was not pleased with the sight of his daughter, who was half naked, in her nightgown fondling around in the pool with a young man who only had his boxers on.
Mrs. Haruno turned behind her and gasped when she saw Sasuke's clothes on the ground. She quickly looked into the pool and took in a deep sigh. Sasuke still had his undies on in the pool.
"Good heavens, child! Get out of the pool!" Mrs. Haruno ordered Sakura.
Sakura quickly got out of the pool and Mrs. Haruno retrieved her robe and wrapped it around Sakura.
Sasuke emerged from the pool and walked over to them.
Mr. Haruno held his flashlight into Sasuke's face and had a frown on his face.
"What were you doing with my daughter?" he asked.
Sasuke, who was slightly shivering in the cold, ran his hands through his wet dark hair.
"I was…" Sasuke couldn't manage to get his words out in front of Sakura's dad.
"Daddy, it's nothing. Come on, let's go back inside, it's getting cold out here," Sakura went over and tugged on her father's arm.
"Keiko, get Sakura inside and lock the doors behind you, I'll be back in a few minutes," Mr. Haruno motioned his wife.
"Come on, Sakura," Mrs. Haruno hurriedly rushed her daughter into the mansion.
"Sasuke!" Sakura called out to him, as her mother forced her back into the mansion.
Sasuke stood still and looked at Mr. Haruno.
When the flashlight went in front of his face, Sasuke held up his hands and blocked it from his face, to keep it from blinding him.
"What do you want with my daughter, Sasuke?" Mr. Haruno asked with a strict tone in his voice.
"We were just fooling around…sir," Sasuke didn't know what to call Sakura's dad.
Sakura went into her bedroom with Mrs. Haruno.
"Mom, it's not that big of a deal!" Sakura said as her mom dried her up.
"Not that big of a deal? Sakura, you were in your nightgown in a pool with that young man who was wearing nothing but his UNDERWEAR! Child, if your father and I were not there, you would…he would…" Mrs. Haruno didn't want to think of the worst possibility of why the two teenagers were fondling in her pool.
"MOM! It was nothing. It was just playing around, we weren't going to…you know, and forget it mom, you don't need to be so tense about Sasuke. You know him, mom," Sakura explained.
"Fooling around? Then why are you in your underwear, while you're fooling with my daughter?" the man walked up toward him.
"I'm sorry if I offended you, sir," Sasuke apologized.
"Do you understand how old my daughter is?" Sakura's dad asked.
"Yes, sir, I am fully aware of her age," Sasuke nodded.
"You are only 16, Sakura. Don't throw it away for this young man! You can do so much better than this!" Mrs. Haruno put her hands on her daughter's shoulders.
Pulling away from her, Sakura shook her head.
"You don't know him, like I do. He's not like that, he's different," Sakura defended Sasuke.
"For what it's worth Sakura, just drop it. Your father is not pleased with you, and neither am I. For heaven's sake, child, you were in a pool alone with a boy your age, in the middle of the night!" Mrs. Haruno showered her worries.
"Then tell me, what are you doing with her, in the middle of the night, in my pool?" he asked.
"Sir, I am sorry," Sasuke looked down.
"I want you out of my property or I will place charges on you for trespassing my home," Mr. Haruno warned him.
Mrs. Haruno dried the robe and got out Sakura's other nightgown and told her to wear it.
Just then, Mr. Haruno went into Sakura's room with his flashlight in his left hand.
"Sakura," he addressed her.
"Leave me alone," Sakura stood on her bed, facing her back toward her parents.
"I am very disappointed in you tonight. What you did with that young man was unacceptable and inappropriate. I demand of you to never do this again, and I do not want you to see him ever again," Mr. Haruno walked out of her room.
"You can't tell me what I can do and what I can't!" Sakura went out into the hallway.
"Sakura, listen to your father," Mrs. Haruno pleaded her daughter.
Furious, Sakura ran to her bedroom and slammed the door shut. It was starting all over again, she thought.
Down the street, Ino was sitting behind Shikamaru on his motorbike. The two were cruising down the street.
When Shikamaru drove toward Ino's home, Ino got off.
"Thanks for the ride," Ino got off the motorcycle. Shikamaru helped Ino take off her helmet.
"Anytime, babe," Shikamaru smiled.
Just then, an ambulance swerved to Ino's driveway. The paramedics jumped out of the vehicle and went inside Ino's house.
"What's going on?" Ino looked around her.
Shikamaru got off his motorcycle and went to Ino.
"Hey, what's going on?" Shikamaru stopped one of the paramedics, as she was making her way to the door.
"The lady of this house is in critical condition, it seems to me that she is intoxicated with too much alcohol, excuse me sir," the paramedic told Shikamaru.
Ino went over to the ambulance and saw the workers pull out a stretcher and went inside her home.
"A neighbor called in after he saw your mother falling onto the floor in her living room, from his bedroom window," one of the paramedics informed Ino.
Ino slowly walked over to Shikamaru, who held her in his arms.
"I don't know what to do, Shikamaru," Ino was worried about her mother. The last time she talked to her, the two were not on their best terms with each other. Ino stormed out of her mother's house after she found out of the affair with her coach. Ino hadn't stepped into her house ever since the fight.
"I always knew she had a drinking problem, but this? I don't know Shikamaru, I really do not know," Ino's voice quivered.
"It's all right, things will be all right," Shikamaru comforted her. He pulled her head close to his chest and tightened his embrace on Ino.
Ino rested her head against his chest, and felt comfortable in his soft grip.
In the near distance, Ino tilted her head and saw a taxi pull up on her street. Ino released her embrace from Shikamaru and stood still, with her eyes on the taxi.
As the vehicle stopped in front of Ino's driveway, a man, who appeared to be in his late forties, was dressed in a tight and crisp suit. He held his two suitcases, one in each hand, and when he arrived, he set his luggage down on the cement sidewalk.
His short blonde hair was cut short, and he wore his best brown shades.
Ino slowly took a few steps. She squinted her eyes to take a good look at who the stranger was.
The man took his shades off and placed it into a pocket in his suit.
Her eyes gaped open, and Ino dropped her jaw open.
She couldn't believe it, not in a million years. Just the sight of him made her eyes well up in tears.
Ino wiped a few tears from her face with her hands. She couldn't describe the feeling inside of her in words, but she knew that it was something good.
The man saw her and smiled. He held out his arms wide open and Ino let out a gasp of happiness.
Ino started to run into the man's arms.
Shikamaru stood near the door and watched Ino run to the man.
"Daddy!" Ino cried out to the man as if she was a little girl.
"Daddy!" Tears streamed from her face. When she reached him, his warm arms wrapped around Ino, and she stood still and wept.
"You're home, daddy! You're finally home…" Ino whispered as her father ran his hands through her hair and hugged her tight.
"I'm finally home," he answered as the paramedics brought out Ino's mom who was unconscious on the stretcher.
Ino was happy.
Her father was finally…home.
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review!