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Chapter 15: Crying Over Spilt Milk

Damn. It was noon on that Sunday morning, err, afternoon and Sakura had just woken up. And she was extremely hungry too. She threw something on from the pile of clothes that seemed to build up in the corner of the room, and went downstairs after taking her daily medication. Her parents were both out, of course. Now, what was there to eat? She rummaged through the cupboards until she'd found a box of KD Mac and Cheese. She began to read the instructions; I'd been awhile since she'd made this stuff.

It read: Microwave Instructions.

Okay, next idea.

Luckily there were also stovetop instructions to follow that. Stoves were after all, much simpler then a microwave would ever be. By God, she was paranoid.

And to make matters worse, school would start tomorrow. Well, she liked school and all, just that she wasn't in the best of moods lately. The sleepover a few days past was still bothering her. The whole Tenten and Neji thing. Speaking of which, she hadn't spoken to him since she'd come home…

Maybe she'd walk over there today.

Turns out that he wasn't home anyhow. Hinata had told her that he was at practice. What was all this practice anyway? Martial arts of some sort, but it must have had some sort of twist. Or, at least whoever taught Sasuke and Naruto. They'd come to school sometimes with bandages all over them and write it off as "practice".

If there was one thing she was sure of, it was that she was going to be a doctor some day. Sakura always seemed to be treating injuries of some sort. Well, she wouldn't get into that with certain people around.

"Tell him I dropped by, will you?" Sakura asked Hinata on her way out, bundling up in her parka, and set out onto the snow-filled terrain. Darn, it was especially cold today. Not to get Sakura wrong, she loved the snow. But why did cold and snow have to go together? Couldn't it be like, nice and warm outside and then just when you'd get too hot, you could dunk your head in a pile of snow? That'd be great.

Reality sucks. Sakura wasn't too fond of this new attitude she was picking up. Couldn't things just go back to the way before any of this weird complicated love-triangle affair began? That's what was really the problem, right?

"Give us your strongest stuff, and make it snappy, boy," a middle aged man banged his hand on the table for emphasis. These types of people always made Sasuke frustrated. There was no question about it. But patience was a virtue…yes…patience…

"Right," the Uchiha resisted the urge to roll his eyes and was ever so thankful to just be out of that area. On the bright side, only about 3 more hours left of work. If only he was 18 already. He'd be out of this hellhole and actually do something useful with his life. Like…

"Hey, kid! Bring us an order of fries will you?" another table called. He nodded and once again disappeared behind the kitchen doors.

"Old man, I'm taking five," Sasuke said not waiting for a response and heading towards his locker. Today he was unusually tense. It was like a feeling, even intuition, that something was going to happen. That something may or may not have been important, however.

He stepped outside for a moment. It was cold, just how he liked it. Cold was everything like him. It was like when the wind blew by, leaving its mark, yet always remained invisible. Yes, he always felt that wind. Cold and windy never went together, he'd say that much.

His watch beeped, marking the next hour, as well as his five-minute break was well over. Thankfully, school was close. Oh so close. That was good. He'd get some tranquility from this place that he'd spent every day for the past two weeks. But that also meant seeing everyone again. Especially her. He'd acted so strangely last time, and wasn't feeling the least bit better. She made him sick, honestly, she did.

"Sakura-chan!" an extremely bubbly-acting Naruto ran up, opening his locker right beside hers. His hands were wrapped tightly in bandages, and had a cut on his face. "Long time no see, huh? I guess I'm kind of glad to be back."

Sakura smiled, then her face turned hard, "Naruto, where'd you get those wounds?"

"These small things? I was in a competition over the break. Oh, you should have seen me Sakura-chan! I kicked some serious ass there! Listen, listen! It was the final round…and the crowd that was there hushed. It was amazing, Sakura-chan! And before they knew the match had started, the final punch had been thrown."

"And you lost instantly," a voice said, bursting the blonde's bubble. His blue eyes darted menacingly at the Uchiha prodigy, as he coolly dumped some books from his bag into his locker. "Don't sound so heroic, moron."

"Humph! Well I was second! Next time I'll definitely be first though. Just you watch!"

"Ah…hello, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said once they were done bickering. He made no reply in return. "Uh, well we'd better get to class then."

"There's no rush," Naruto said putting his hands behind his head, "Kakashi-sensei is always late."

"Well then I'm leaving," she said following the direction Sasuke had just departed.

Naruto sighed, catching up to the two of them. "Like I'll leave you guys alone together. We never know what you'll do." Surprisingly, they both made no comment about it, Sakura looking at the floor, Sasuke his head tilted slightly upwards. An awkward silence loomed over, neither one of them daring to break it. Was it simply because it was the first day back? No, it was something bigger. Even Naruto knew that much.

Period C, which happened to be right after lunch, also happened to be when Sakura and Sasuke and the rest of them had spares. Sakura, deciding not to bother Sasuke again, went off to find Neji. They needed to talk. She'd found him by his locker, sitting alone, reading over a textbook. They sat down and chatted for a moment, (she doing all the talking, of course). "Uh…there's also something I want to talk to you about. Not here, preferably."

"Sure," the Hyuuga paused, "as do I."

"So how's tomorrow at Fire Country? I'd go today but there's an important tennis practice for the match next week." Neji nodded, and that was the end of their little conversation, as she waved goodbye, and headed back to her locker. No, wait, Sasuke would be there. And for some reason, she didn't feel too much like seeing him at the moment.

They'd entered together. Of course, how else would it have been? For some reason, it annoyed the hell out of him. Out of all possible places to go, it had to be here. God, it made him sick…for unknown reasons of course. No, he wasn't quite sure what this irritating feeling was that he swallowed as he prepared to greet them.

To his luck, however, another coworker took the liberty and did his job for him. Great, now the only thing Sasuke was doing was avoiding. That wasn't how he worked, now was it? Uchihas weren't cowards. They were far from it. Yet they were also smart. They knew when it was best to stay away. There was a difference.

At the table, the two sat in uncomfortable silence. Sakura was preoccupied with her thoughts on the sleepover. "Congrats, Sakura-chan. You must really be something special, catching his attention so fast. Want to let me in on your secret?" and "Wrong idea? You have to be kidding me! What's not to understand? Weren't the signs obvious enough for you? Don't women usually have intuition about these kind of things? What a joke. This is all a joke…"

Then she looked at Neji. He definitely didn't see much with her. Just a debt, or maybe a friendship even. But there was no intimacy between the two. She knew that everyone was starting to get the wrong idea. Hell, if Sasuke started to comment on it, then it was big.

She sighed. How was it she the one who had to start the talking? "Sakura?" she was actually surprised that he had been the first one to speak up. She looked up from her thoughts, and waited. "This has caused trouble for you."

Damn, was it that intuition from those eyes of his? That statement seemed as if he knew everything that was going on already. Either that or maybe she was just really stupid to think that no one noticed these types of things. "Well…"

"What you want to say is that seeing so much of each other is creating a big misunderstanding and you aren't too fond of this."

Maybe he should take up a psychic as a future career opportunity. "Well…yes, exactly," Sakura sighed once again, pushing some stray locks of pink hair from her face. They fell back instantly. The table plunged into silence again. "I'm sorry, it's just…I don't know. I'm not sure you appreciate the rumors going around either." He nodded in agreement.

Well, then that was that. "You know, even though this stirred up the attention of some people," not mentioning any names in her head, "I kind of enjoyed the time. Like, it was nice to find someone that seemed to understand me away from home. Maybe I denied it to people, but I guess the thought never crossed my mind that we were 'dating'. But, I did know, well, now I know anyway, that I really like you, Neji-kun."

He lifted his head so that the pale eyes were fixated on her. "Sakura…"

She continued as if never hearing him. "But I'm not right for you. I can already see it." Sakura lowered her voice and leaned into the table, "There'll be someone else who'll like you for who you are. Bloodline or not."

Neji placed one hand over both of hers. "Thanks. That means a lot, really."

She gave a small smile, "It was no big." Then she rose up from the table, "Well, I need to use the restroom and then I'll be on my way. Don't worry about walking me home," she said as his mouth opened, "I'm meeting someone later."

That went relatively painless, as she bent down to give him a peck on the cheek, and with out looking back raced into the ladies' room.

Well then, that left Neji alone sitting at the table. They hadn't ordered anything so he was about to go and leave, when someone else sat down in Sakura's previous spot. It was a female, her brown hair tied in a single bun, and she had on the brightest of smiles. "Well look who it is," she said.

"Tenten, how long have you been here?"

She bunched up her face into a childish pout. "What's your problem today? I just walked in two seconds ago." He gave her a suspicious look, which she ignored. "Well anyway, you waiting for someone?"

He was silent for a moment. "No…not really."

"Good then," Tenten said smiling and standing up, "I say what you need to let go of this stress is a good Lee-bashing. That always made you feel better." She took his hand and practically dragged him out of the café.

"You seem in an awfully good mood today, Tenten. Anything happen?" Neji asked as he let himself be pulled down the busy streets.

"No, why ever did you think such a thing?"

He gave up. Tenten was too stubborn for his liking. "No reason."

"But, I did know, well, now I know anyway, that I really like you, Neji-kun." That line played over and over in her head as she looked at her face in the mirror of the restroom. Shaking her head of pink hair, she splashed the cold running water on her face. This wasn't supposed to happen like this. For gosh sakes, it wasn't as if they 'broke-up' or anything.

Then why did it hurt?

"Because you had feelings for him," a nagging inner voice piped up. With that point, she didn't argue. It was probably true anyway. Her eyes stung with salt, yet she refused to cry over such a trivial matter. Well, that's what Sasuke would call it. Speaking of him, she wasn't really in the mood to talk to him. It was best just to leave now. Crap, her coat was still at her chair.

Walking out of the bathroom near the back of the café, it was only fate that she should run into him on his way out of the kitchen. Sakura really, really needed to stop bumping into him. "Watch it, klutz."

"Oh, sorry," she replied without a comeback, which he found unusual. She didn't move from her spot on the ground.

Sasuke sighed; this girl really was hopeless. It was a miracle she wasn't dead yet. He was about to brush off the whole situation and get up, when he felt something cold on his hand. It was cold as well as wet. His onyx eyes gazed to the woman sitting next to him, her face to the ground. She was…crying? He mentally cringed. Great. "Uh…hey, hey. What's the matter with you?"

"S-Sasuke-kun…" her voice quivered quietly. He was about to tell her to grow up and quit her complaining when out of nowhere she'd thrown her entire weight on him, her arms around his neck. "I'm so stupid!" she said into his shirt. "Tell me I'm stupid. Have your laugh!"

For anyone that walked into that hallway now, it would definitely be a strange sight. Two teens sitting in the middle of the floor, one completely drowning in sorrow, the other casually looking at the ceiling. "You are being stupid, Sakura," he said prying her loose, and lifting them both back onto their feet. He pulled them both to the back room where all the lockers were. The location was a bit more…private. "Crying doesn't suit you."

She sat silently now, with the occasional sharp inhale, the aftermath of her two-minute sob. "So what's wrong? If you aren't going to tell me then I'm going back," he said. When nothing more was said, he rose to his feet, only to be grabbed by the sleeve of his shirt.

Her green eyes still admired the ground, "I…we…"

"Broke up with you boyfriend?"

She winced at his words. Bingo. "You don't have to say it so bluntly…" she spoke softly.

"Well then what would you rather me say? 'I'm so sorry that you and that bastard were together in the first place but I'm still sad for you that you broke up'?" maybe that was another bad choice of words. He folded his arms, "Listen because I'm only saying this once. What in the world are you crying over? Wasn't it you that told me 'he wasn't your boyfriend'? It isn't the end of the damn world. It's not like you'll never see him again? Tell me, what are you crying over?"

Her bottom lip quivered. One thing was for sure, Sasuke wasn't a good source of comfort when in lousy moods. She jumped from her spot and attached herself to his neck for the second time in the past 10 minutes. "Thanks, Sasuke-kun. Thank you."

"For…" he was cut short when he felt her bring her lips to his cheek. What the hell?

"I guess I should be going now," Sakura sighed, releasing him, and turning to leave.

"Um…hey. I'll walk you." She gave him a questioning glance. "Going home by yourself in this state is like sending you to an early death. You'll end up getting hit by a bus, or something." Sasuke grabbed his coat.

She smiled at his kindness. Sasuke sure had been acting strange the past few months. Perhaps the change was for the good. Or maybe it was just the cold. Maybe Sasuke liked it when it was cold outside. It seemed to balance out.

AN: This chapter wasn't quite as evil to write as the last one was, but it was kind of on the short side. (Or maybe that's because the new story I'm working on averages about 9 pages…) But yes! I finally wrote the ending to the NejiSaku relationship! That took way too long. Anyway, I hope that wasn't to OOC from any of the characters. But then Sasuke has odd ways of making things better!

Now…I really haven't done this before but I really felt like replying to a few of the reviews:
anime-obsessedP: Yay! You were my 200th reviewer! You deserve a star! Like Watanuki from xxxHolic!
amwong88: haha, don't worry. It takes more then that to make me mad. And I couldn't agree with you more. I don't really like how I portrayed Sakura's character with Neji. And now she can totally focus only on Sasuke!
psychedelic aya: hyperventilate? Wow, I'm touched! I never knew such a plot-less story made people so happy! Thanks so much!
PrincessChii: did I come off of last chapter with the vibe I hate school? That's not entirely true. I just hate mountains of homework. And history. And French. And I shall forever laugh at Tenten's crazy face!
ArishaGinkaze: it's so nice to see another Canadian around! Especially one who can sympathize saying you've gone (or are going) through learning whatever happened in our history (which again is nothing!) But try having to do all that in French! (I just brought this upon myself…French immersion…T.T) oh, have a good long week-end, since it's Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend!
mitchigirl: haha! I didn't even notice my OC Mitchi until you mentioned it! I think she pops up here and there.
To everyone else who mentioned something about school: again, it's just the homework issue, for the most part. It makes my chapters harder to write…but anyway, I pull it off!

Thanks all for reviewing! Each single review always makes my day :D

So, next time: Konoha goes to the sports! Tennis, basketball…revenge? Hey, I never knew revenge was a sport! Especially rivalry in between two angry females. Where is Sasuke when she needs him, huh?