A/N: Hey ppl! I have made the executive decision to change this from Romance/Action/Adventure to Romance/Agnst after reading through what I'vewritten (these five chapters).I decided I would post this tonight, as my b-day is tomorrow (April 19) and I will NOT be on the computer tomorrow, so why not get reviews as gifts I thought to myself, so here's the last chapter of Part 1 (hides, a little scared)
Please don't hurt me! Please! (just knows she's going to get into trouble due to this ending...)
Disclaimer: Is on vacation until further notice...
Me: What? I didn't do anything (except throw him hog-tied in a barricaded closet)...
Uncertain Feelings
Part 1
By: Apherion
Chapter 5: Saving Me
"Sakura," she jumped, the voice startling her from her reverie, she just noticed that she was already inside her house as well. The voice whispered her name again, and she felt a stirring in the hallway. She caught the red gleam and her heart rate went through the roof. Not him, not him again. She pleaded a losing battle as the form of Itachi loomed out from the dark shadows surrounding him. She turned to head for the door and start running properly, but was put in a firm hold against his body.
"Do you want me to let go?" His lips brushed against her ears, and the readings from Icha, Icha Paradise rushed into her head all at once. She struggled as if to give an answer, but was held tighter against his firm body.
"Wrong answer," he said coldly and he turned her around to face him, her eyes darted to the sharigan eyes, and immediately she felt herself being pulled into the distant state of mind under Itachi's control. She heard something crash and shatter before she was completely submitted to the nightmare.
Kakashi let Kina come back and settle against himself in the position she had grown accustomed to a month and a half ago. The marriage proposal had been her idea, but hey, he wasn't getting any younger and she was something that could distract him from Sakura.
He knew she would come to call at some point, hell; even he was getting fed up with the silent treatment both were inducing upon the other. Yet, when she entered the room and whispered his name…
She wasn't too happy with you. You screwed up, Kakashi. You knew she would find out about the marriage at some point. Not telling her you were seeing someone, let alone engaged, was below the belt. He berated himself for his lack of thought.
It was the only thing that I could've done though. I couldn't stop thinking about her. She kept repeating her words in my head. 'Did you think you were playing out one of your outrageous books?' Did he? He remembered the punch she had thrown and the strike on the cheek clearly. Why did she do that? He had experience with women, plenty of it actually, but why would Sakura try and kill him for not…understanding?
Was that it? Was she trying to tell him something and he flat out ignored the subtle gesture? He was so confused by it and then tonight happened.
Kina explained to him why she was breathing so hard. Sakura had slammed her against the wall, explaining the huge thump and creaking of pictures from the door's hallway. Then Kakashi finished the rest of the story. Sakura had barged into the house, came into the living room looking livid. She spoke, icing his name with malice as it passed through her lips. He gave her a fierce look and told her to go home. She started crying, looking a bit woebegone. She then ran, hard and fast away from his little house.
As soon as Kina had settled herself properly however, Kakashi moved her off him. He gave her a firm look when she made a pouting face. He needed to understand Sakura. He needed an idea of what was wrong with her. He walked from the room, pausing only at the doorway leading to the door's hallway.
"Don't follow," he said darkly and was gone in a puff of smoke. Kakashi had made the trip to her house numerous times. Mostly picking her up and dropping her back off here, he even sort of helped Mr. and Mrs. Haruno out every now and then in the past. Now he was going to find out what was the matter with Sakura and try to make it better.
Movement from the house had shown that she had made it home, but why hadn't she turned on the lights yet? More movement indicating that there were at least two people in the house. Sakura with someone…now that seemed a bit strange considering she had shown no interest in Rock Lee or Gai or any other man, with the exception of Sasuke and now he's iffy on the whole 'who does Sakura like' category. Something he didn't expect to see was a flash of red, and he knew something was wrong.
Abandoning his normal tactics in contacting Sakura, he broke through the glass. He saw something that made his blood still. Itachi Uchiha was holding one petrified Sakura inside a death-grip hold. He had already used his sharigan on her, and he lifted his forehead protector to reveal his own. Itachi noticed, but still kept half his focus on her. He heard her whimpering and the tears coming down her face, knowing what he was doing to the girl was causing her much grief.
"Let her go," Kakashi growled, getting into a fighting stance. Itachi spared him half a glance.
"Yeah, and lose to you, I suppose." He chuckled evilly and drinking in every expression he was putting Sakura's face. Most facials were made of fear, pain, or a combination of the two. A wicked smile played his features nicely.
"One day I'm actually going to do this to you," he whispered to his victim, who squirmed with trepidation. Kakashi wondered what it was that Itachi was doing to her. Something horrible no doubt, he thought, getting fed up with being ignored, but he waited. Sakura then mouthed, 'no', but was kept from saying anything else, her whimpering and silent screams starting up again.
"What are you doing to her? Let her go!" He said each with brutal force and actually attacked him. Itachi couldn't dodge quickly enough with Sakura in his arms and was it with the blow coming his way. His eyes moved from Sakura to Kakashi back to Sakura and a blood-curtailing scream shrieked in both men's ears. It was silenced once again. It was unnatural, that was for sure.
"Like I'd tell you, besides," he grinned maliciously, "I think this is good for her. Experience for the inexperienced, or at least that's what I'm using to plead my case. Shame Sasuke didn't do this; you know he talks about her all the time." He made a feeble attempt at light-hearted conversation. "I just couldn't resist the way he framed her." Kakashi ground his teeth. He began to focus chakra into his hands, light-blue lightning forming there almost instantly. Itachi finally paid him the mind that Kakashi deserved. Sure, Itachi had defeated plenty of people and killed a ton of them, but Kakashi didn't care.
"Let her go, or all three of us go down," he threatened and Itachi gave way, surprisingly. He dropped Sakura to the floor, her body crashing to the ground with a muffled thunk. Itachi glared once again before disappearing into thin air. Kakashi dropped to his knees, letting the Chidori dissipate from his hands, back into his chakra stream. He stood and walked over to Sakura's still out of it form. Her breathing was labored, but that was one of the after effects from falling victim to the sharigan.
Kakashi sat down Indian-style on the hardwood floor, pulling Sakura into his lap. He cradled her against his body, holding the girl's figure tightly to himself. Everything that just happened didn't seem to matter anymore though. This woman in his arms was as perfect as he could have imagined. Somehow he felt he understood her with her head leaning on his shoulder. Who cared if they hadn't spoken for two months?
Sakura awoke in Kakashi's arms. He was leaning against the wall, coincidentally underneath one of the few family photos she had. She smiled, he was sleeping softly and she didn't disturb him. She laid her head back down on his shoulder, snuggling a little closer. Who cared if she had the worst experience of her life? Kakashi must've come to her rescue last night, and for that she was eternally grateful, yet she only hoped that he was around when Itachi decided to drop in again. She drifted off into a deep sleep.
She felt something begin to stir beneath her relaxed form and knew Kakashi was under her. He stopped moving in fear of waking her. She smiled and leaned into him a bit closer than she had before. A sound was made and then that sound became her name.
"Sakura," he whispered and she could feel the butterflies filling into her stomach as he said her name. She opened one eye and looked at him coyly, savoring his face as much as possible. She only got to see him without his forehead protector off during battles and she liked to be able to see what she could of his face.
Later that day, Sakura met up with Ino at the flower shop to tell her about the whole incident and how Kakashi decided to come to her aide. She would edit the story so as to not have to truly think about what happened. Ino offered her a chair as soon as she entered the shop.
"Ino, I need to talk to you about these strange occurrences that have been happening lately. I can't make heads or tails of them and Kakashi is being more distant than ever before." Ino, being the good listening friend-who was always quick to judge, give out gossip at top speed, and was slightly a hypocrite-told her to sit down while she got finished up with a customer. It was fairly quick, the woman leaving in a huff and ranting about incompetence.
"What's up?" She asked in an off-hand voice, not sure how to take Sakura at the moment.
"What's up is that I haven't a clue what's going on. Kakashi saves my ass from Itachi, who just so happens to be coming onto me physically strong, and this morning I woke up in Kakashi's arms." Sakura stopped herself to breathe and to think of anything she missed. "And Kakashi seems to be getting married, yet he…I feel that he is harboring feelings for someone other than the fiancée." Ino caught practically all of this, but spluttered when Sakura came to her conclusion.
"What, who do you think has him tied around her finger?" Ino finally got out, not necessarily yelling. She was just projecting a little too loud, that's all.
"Shush, Ino, please! I don't want the whole of Konoha to hear about this. Only Tsunade knows about Itachi coming to call. She hasn't heard of last night yet."
"You're planning on telling her? Jesus, Sakura," Ino whispered fretfully. "Why do you think that Itachi's so interested in you?" Sakura, to tell the truth, didn't know either, what she had, had been just a theory, but it worked pretty well at any rate.
"I think a certain male has been filling in his brother about me. I think that someone's giving the wrong impression." Ino just shook it away like it was nothing.
"Oh, wait; it probably has something to do with you killing your parents for attempt at murdering you when you were ten." Ino covered her mouth in shock. The look on her face could not have been clearer, 'I didn't just say that, did I?' Sakura could have cared less. She no longer had to search for what her alleged accident had been. Certain memories filed into place once more, still unclear, but at least she had the blueprints to them.
"I killed my parents?" Sakura asked out of pain, blinking back tears.
"No, I mean, yes you did, but I wasn't supposed to tell you. Oh Sakura," she put a hand on Sakura's arm, but Sakura pulled away from it, disgusted with her friend for being deceitful to her. "Please don't be mad at me. I wasn't the one who issued that we weren't allowed to discuss it with you." Ino looked desperate, completely not acting like her usual self.
"When were you going to tell me? If not when, were you even going to?" Sakura's voice turned cold as she felt depression sinking into her, destroying what she had. Ino didn't say anything. Sakura stood up, furious.
"Look, Sakura, I swear, Tsunade-sama told us not to tell you. She said it would worsen your condition." It was the wrong thing to say at the moment.
"Oh, now I have a condition. Look everyone; Sakura Haruno has a condition! I have a condition and it's my ability to pick false friends who don't tell you important things that would help you remember your past." Sakura held up a hand to silence Ino's almost let out words.
"I don't want to hear it. You could've lied. You could've told her that you didn't tell me, when you have. Do you even realize that I have been thinking that my parents were alive for the past eleven years? No, I didn't think so," and before Ino could even argue or even get a word in, Sakura stepped out, fuming that her friends had betrayed her trust, tears rimming her eyes. I know it was foolish tothink they were still alive, but to find out that I killed them? She thought frantic, desperately trying not to cry. Then a hand touched her shoulder. Sakura spun 'round glaring at the person who had dared to place his hand on her shoulder.
"What do you want?" She asked, hysterical and testy, on the brink of tears. It was Kakashi that had quickly removed his hands from her.
"What's wrong with you Sakura?" She didn't even try to pretend. She wanted everyone to know. She wanted every one of the backstabbing, so-called friends to know.
"I know about what I did." Her voice was ice cold. She felt like tearing someone into pieces. She felt like she needed something to release both anger and frustration on.
"I know that you and all of my other 'friends' didn't even bother yourselves with telling me the truth. The exact same truth that I was looking for, the closure I needed." Kakashi looked at her; she had finally broken the dam on the tears that were welling inside both heart and soul, only they were cried through her body (to put it simply, she was crying her eyes out).
"Sakura, you've got it wrong…we couldn't have told you about it. Tsunade would have our heads if you found out, she said it would be better if you didn't remember, but if you were told she would banish you, and I couldn't handle that." It took several minutes for this to sink in.
"I couldn't handle that."
Sakura felt the flow of tears stop momentarily until she heard his next words. Why did he have to try and joke? She needed someone serious with her at the moment and yet Kakashi wasn't holding her there.
"Who would I give a hard time to?" He added a chuckle, stopped like he normally did and Sakura swallowed her tears.
"You destroy every ounce of feeling that I have. You always cause me some kind of pain. Can't you help me with it without having to crack a joke off? Can you not understand me, what I want? Even after all these years?" Kakashi's jaw seemed to become unhinged from behind his mask.
"Yeah, don't say anything. It's just your normal answer to everything anyway," she said it bitter-sweetly. Turning away from him, she ran to the house that had never been a true home to her.
Furious tears rolled down her cheeks as she made it home. She opened the door with an exceeding amount of force, and then slammed the door behind herself even harder.
It was too difficult to understand, to comprehend. She stared impassively at the wall across from her, her back leaning heavily against the wall opposite from across from her. She slid down the wall, running hurried hands through her hair. The feelings, god she wanted them to disperse. Did any of her friends know what they were doing to her? Did Kakashi know? Did he care?
She felt the ever-present tightening of her stomach due to the dry sobs wracking her body senselessly. She wrapped her arms around herself to try and recuperate the comfort she once had in someone's arms not too long before now. How could he do this to me? Misleading me all of those years, does he even realize?
Iruka lied to Naruto for the longest of years. Inner Sakura had made her appearance finally, just so she could argue with herself, no matter how true the words were, she wasn't going to let that stop her rant. She ran her fingers through her already disheveled hair.
God, I don't care! It was me he lied to! Kakashi and my friends all lied to me for eleven years. I was betrayed; they all turned their backs on me. Now I know how Naruto must've felt when the adults shunned him.
My parents tried to kill me. Itachi must've had something to do with it because now he's after me. After me in a sense I never even thought of with Sasuke, let alone the psycho older brother!
Calm down, they won't take you. Don't let them know they've gotten to you.
Gotten to me, gotten to me? Does it look like I haven't already jumped off the cliff? Tears squeezed out form her eyes, red and a tad bit swollen. Her true personality didn't say anything in response. I'm never going to know what's really happening in my life, she laughed bitterly. Isn't that funny? No one even wants to bother with telling me about the things that I need to know. Her other half didn't respond; probably a good idea now that Sakura was full-out crying.
The door opened cautiously, but Sakura didn't look up. She didn't even bother with the whole ordeal of getting into ninja stance just to fight this person off. She'd rather be killed, but,
"Sakura," the voice was quiet, barely overriding the sobs coming from her. She didn't even look up at him.
"Go away," she cried, muffled. An arm draped over her shoulders and pressed her into a very warm body. She turned into him, flinging her arms around his neck, crying on the shoulder he had offered. His masked lips whispered into her ear, tickling it from the air.
"I wish you wouldn't cry so much," he said softly, touching her on the back hesitantly. It took Sakura a moment to realize he was hugging her. Kakashi was actually hugging her. She wiped her face off and looked him in his black eye.
"I don't have any other way to make me feel better. This is the only thing that"-her words were cut off. Her eyes widened with shock, but settled into a relaxed closed position. The kiss was over in a matter of seconds. She felt his lips press against hers through the bit of cloth that stopped the kiss from being a true one. She felt like crying again, but one of his hands cupped her cheek.
"It'll be all right, I promise."
A/N:EEP!(ducks the flaming emails, torches, and pitch forks) HA! (gets hit with a Diet Coke can playing Diet Pepsei's stunt-double and is out of it for a few minutes...wakes up to see herself tied to a chair) GAH! I can explain (looks at the mad people)...well, no, actually I can't. Part 2 will be coming at you soon, I've got it mapped out and ready to 'explore'
-excuse the 'lingo' play I'm having...English 2 work for clepping out will do that to you (I don't want to take english 2 cuz english 1 was just wasting my time as english 2 will be doing).
I love you all, and remember! I let Kakashi kiss her! I could have just ended it at the hug, be thankful I had xXAngelic1ZXx (my muse/beta) to tell me not to be that cruel-cuz I'm sure you all know I would've done it, LOL.
Read, Review, I take Flames as well. I do not bite, so go ahead and send a shout out to me. It doesn't take that long to jot down 'Update soon' or something around that.
LUV YA,
$!# Apherion
