Chapter eight

Edited by Innelle

Thunder

The news of Sakura and Sasuke breaking up the war somehow spread throughout the school within a matter of days. Life was always horrible for Sakura; the girls despised her while the boys stalked her. The only true friend that she had was Naruto. And the other one? According to Ino they were currently 'enemies'. What Sakura didn't get was why girls would go crazy over some good looking guy. What was so good about some good-looking shell with nothing inside? It was like looking at an empty bottle with no water in it. She was sad that she has lost a friend due to a stupid reason, but she knew that she didn't need a friend that would ditch her for receiving attention from some stupid good-looking guy. Having girl friends or not didn't matter to Sakura anymore because as long as she has someone that she can run to (Naruto), then there will be no problems with having no girl friends. At least that was what she thought.

Sakura and Naruto would always hang out on the rooftop to avoid the fan boys every single break time at school, mysteriously Sasuke didn't appear there any more even though that it was his area to begin with. Little did Sakura know that Sasuke was always behind the rooftop door listening to her and Naruto talking. She hasn't spoken to him since, although they sat next to each other in class there seemed to be a wall in between sitting in the gap between them. It was then that Sakura's life became stable. Every thing was normal. No more fan girls, and her fan boys? They started stalking Misaki, who adored the attention and used it to her advantage. Sakura mentally kicked herself for not using that efficiently, but now her life was normal, at least there was a gain from it. Right?

One Saturday after noon, after school

Sakura stood on the school steps staring out at the endless rain pouring down. Her mother once told her that when the sky rains, the angels are crying from the heavens above. Nonsense. It was all just a fairy tale. She watched as thousands heavy droplets hurdled themselves toward the ground just like a rain of dangerous needles. There were no thunders, just rain pouring down from the gray sky. It didn't take Sakura too long to decide to walk home in the rain. She was bored of staying there, watching the endless drizzle. Sooner or later her mind would just wander back into the past, those days that she would just sit on her balcony watching the rain as her parent talked on the phone dealing with clients after clients. She would just sit there, listening to the loud droplets of rain and the voices of her parents echoing down the hallways, when she finally got fed up she would always try to grasp their attention in any way that she possibly could.

Flash back

'Mommy? Mommy! Look I made this on my own'

The little Sakura looked up to see her mother's face not even filled with a slight bit of interest. She hugged the vase of flower; standing there she waited for her mother to stop talking on the phone and praise her for the wonderful job she did with arranging the flowers. It was a big improvement for her since little Sakura was terrible with feminine things like cooking or flower arranging. But it seemed that her mother didn't even notice her standing there tugging the bottom of her knee-length skirt, or maybe she was just ignoring Sakura. After a while, little Sakura sighed and headed to her room, it was not as if though this was her first time getting rejected. Her father? He wouldn't care less.

End of flashback

Sakura snapped back to reality as she felt the rain soaking her from head to toe. It was cold. She could hardly feel her legs as they were numb. She wrapped her arms around herself and slowly continued walking home. A car drove by splashing water at her soaking her even more. Sakura could no longer feel her arms; her whole body was completely numb. Her clothes were wet and were once again see through; she cursed herself for forgetting to wear a singlet under and not watching the weather forecast.

Now whoever drove past could see her undergarment clearly as it was, added with the white school blouse sticking to her figure showing her almost nude upper body. She could hear a car honking from behind, Sakura ignored it, it's probably for some one else. Sakura looked both ways before she took another step to cross the road, when a sports car stopped next to her. The window rolled down showing a random guy that she has never seen before. She stared at him blankly.

'You need a ride babe?' asked the guy, he looked around his early twenties. Seeing him talking to her that way, Sakura got scared. Who wouldn't when a random guy just popped up out of no where addressing her like that. Sakura used her bag to cover her see through chest, her pink colored bra shone clearly same went for her perfect curves.

'No thank you, I want to walk in the rain' answered Sakura politely, the smirk on the guy's face turned into a grim look.

'But you're going to get sick, I'll take you to wherever you want to go' His eyes scanned her and saw exactly what he was hopping to see, the girl in front of him was indeed sexy. Without realizing it he started drooling. Sakura stared at him in disgust as she saw the look on his face, men, they're dirty pigs.

'No thank you, my house is nearby' once again Sakura responded politely, she was taught with extreme manners and she was trying her best to keep her patience. She could feel her fist grasping hard as the control on her fist lessened. Within any seconds her fist could just swing and smash the guy's face which wasn't far from her.

'Are you sure, its raining really hard, I'll make sure you have the ride of your life time'

Sakura sent him a dangerous glare; he was implying a dirty thought, Sakura has finally lost it. She's finally lost the patience to stop herself from smashing the guy's face. As she was just about to swing it towards the guy's face a voice from across the street stopped her.

'You don't know how to give up do you?'

The one and only Uchiha Sasuke was sitting in his midnight blue sports car looking as blank as ever, his tone gave the impression of a cocky bastard, Sakura frowned. Without a single slight of interest he stared at the guy in the red sports car, it seemed that he looked down upon the guy as if though he was some dirty thug. Sakura just stared at the Uchiha blankly, her frown disappeared, and she was afraid, afraid that he might save her once again. Afraid that she will owe him once again.

'And who are you?' asked the guy in the red sports car in annoyance sending a glare towards the good looking Uchiha, his eyes scanned the new sports car with all the modification signs. He sent a glare towards Sasuke but received one straight back. The glare that he sent was straight out of jealousy and Sasuke knew it.

'A classmate' answered Sasuke with his normal tone. 'Haruno, I'll give you a ride home' he called over to Sakura who was stunned at what was happening. The Uchiha Sasuke was offering to save her from a pervert, should she take the chance and escape or find some hard way out? Her mind went blank; Inner Sakura had no suggestion or any rude remarks. Just blank like a white sheet of paper. An image of Sasuke dressing in a superhero costume popped up into her mind, strangely enough it didn't take Inner Sakura too long to kick down that image. 'What the hell are you picturing? He almost looks like Gai-sensei dressing in that tight suit'

After a few seconds he sent her a look, a strange look giving the message, if-you-don't-hop-in-you'll-regret-it-for-the-rest-of-you-life. It took Sakura a while to receive the message, she nodded and ran across the road. She opened Sasuke's car door and hopped in. The guy in the red sports car was speechless as Sasuke drove off into the distance in godlike speed; his car gave the loud roaring rotary sound making the guy's car seem like old junk.


Sakura sat in the warm car shivering, she could hear her jaw jittering. A blazer was thrown onto her, she turned to Sasuke who was just driving and looking into the distance as if though nothing has happened. She quickly wrapped herself around the warm thing as she could smell the cool smell of male perfume. It was one of the sweetest things that she has ever smelt before. It wasn't long before the car heated up as Sakura realized the was heater turned on without her noticing. He sure is fast! Commented her inner self.

Sakura's apartment block

Sasuke stopped in front of the block. The rain was as heavy as before and the sky was as dark.

"You want to come in for a while?"

Why did she ask? Sakura didn't know, she just did it. No reason could explain her actions. She expected a no from him, judging from the blank expression of disinterest, at least she assumed it was disinterest than it was a no and she was expecting a no from him along with some kind of insult.

"Okay, do you know any parking space around here?"

Sakura pointed towards the garage. She was shaken by surprise, now that she thought about it what were they going to do at her place anyways? The thought made Sakura kick herself mentally, realizing what deeper thinking could lead to. 'You dirty minded girl' snorted Inner Sakura whose nose was bleeding. She quickly snapped out of her thoughts to answer Sasuke who was staring at her strangely noticing the weird looks once again appearing on her face. 'What the hell is she thinking about?'

"I got two parking spaces for my apartment"

Sasuke nodded and drove in the driveway; Sakura took out her keys and pressed onto the remote to let the garage door up.


Sakura's apartment

Sasuke walked into Sakura's apartment, once again he was inside the living room, her house still smelled the same, the faint perfume smell was addictive, one sniff could make him go crazy and want to stay forever. It's like smoking, just that it was a lot more addictive. He took a seat on the cold couch, Sakura's place felt warm, Sasuke rested his head onto the couch and closed his eyes. He wished that he would never leave this warmth…

And he got his wish. A loud sound of thunder stroke a tree nearby making it burn, the heavy rain from before turned into a storm, and there was more, hail started falling out of the sky in giant pieces. Sasuke was glad that he had parked his car inside and not outside and he regretted making that wish. The sky darkened even more making it seem like night.

Another thundering sound came from the sky followed by a high-pitched scream coming from the other side of the apartment. Sasuke shot up off the sofa and dashed towards the direction where he heard the high-pitched scream come from. A strange feeling came from inside him.

Sakura was on the floor wearing only a singlet and a warm pajama pants. Her hands were covering her ears and she was shivering. Her eyes were blank and she looked terrified. Sasuke frowned and slowly moved towards her. She was shivering and…crying? The sight in front of him confused him; the first question that popped into his head was…Why?

Sakura pushed her palms harder on her ears, a few more sounds of thunder jolted out which made her tremble more. She hated the sound; she remembered all the rainy nights when she was living alone in that apartment in Osaka. There were many nights that thundered non-stop, she just clutched her legs and hid under her blankets. She hated everything about thunder, it's loud, scary, and it made her felt lonely. Slowly Sakura somehow became terrified of the sound; every time she heard it she would start trembling non-stop.

Tears started streaming out of her eyes, the sound was just too horrible for her to handle, and she hated it. Soon all she could see was darkness surrounding her. She was once alone on a rainy thundering night. Darkness swallowed her up, the temperature decreased making it harder for her to breathe, let alone sleep. She held her teddy bear tightly in her arms wishing that it would come to life and accompany her, but it was lifeless, it didn't move or budge. She grasped the little teddy bear harder every time she heard the daunting sound.

Sakura felt two strong and warm palms on both sides of her shoulders, they started shaking her vigorously. She could hear her name being called out many times, she slowly lifted her head up, it was Sasuke, his face was different, he was…worried? She stared at him, she knew that he was calling her name, but she just couldn't get herself to react. Blank thoughts took over her mind as she snapped out of the past. She just stared at him with blank eyes, she didn't even know what she was doing, just lost, lost in the confusion of the past and reality.

"HARUNO, what the hell is wrong with you?"

Sasuke tightened his grip on her shoulder. She was just staring at him blankly, Sakura let out a loud cry, more tears came out. She tackled him hard, so hard that he landed bottom flat on the floor. Sakura hardened her grip on his waist and cried even more, she didn't care who it was, she just needed someone beside her, any kind of moving thing, anything that has life. She hated the darkness that has always surrounded her, the cold temperature, the feeling of being left out, the feeling of loneliness.

Sasuke stared down at her. The thunder roared outside Sakura's balcony making her tighten the grip around his waist. 'Oh, so she's scared of thunder'. Sasuke couldn't help but soften his eyes a little and put his arms around her. An indescribable expression took over his face as he gazed his onyx orbs down on her, shaking, he could tell that she was crying, silently, crying. They stayed like that on the floor for a few hours, Sakura finally agreed to let go half an hour after the thunder fully stopped, and all she could hear was rain.


"So tell me, why are you scared of thunder?"

An uneasy look was shown clearly across Sakura's face, her eyes twitched as she knew that there was no way out of it.

"Well, do I h-"

"Yes, or else I'll tell everyone in the school and especially those fan boys what you're scared of" Sasuke cut her off, he knew that she didn't want to show her weaknesses, but it was for the great of his curiosity.

"That's blackmailing" Sakura frowned in annoyance. Sasuke's personality really pissed her off at times.

"Yes and?"

"That's mean! I don't care if you tell them!" Sakura lied, she did care, and she cared so much that if he told, she was going to rip the pieces out of him with her bare hands. Sasuke stared at her with confidence. He drew out his camera from his pocket and smirked.

'Its either you tell or I publish these around the whole school, I'll make sure that everyone sees it.'

Sasuke flashed the worse image of herself that she's ever seen, she was all messed up covered in cake, chalk, her hair was sticking out all direction and she looked as if though she's just been to the dump. Sakura quickly jumped across the table to steal the camera from Sasuke's hands, but he was too quick for her. He lifted it up before she managed to grasp it.

'Nice try, tell and I'll delete this picture'

The smirk on Sasuke's face grew wider; Sakura who was very photogenic looked beat up in that photo. She bit her lips out of anger, as her expression changed she told him in a soft voice.

"I'm just scared of it okay, ever since I was little; I would just sit in my bed and shiver all night long until the thundering stopped, there happy? Now delete that stupid photo!"

A light thundering sound emerged from the sky sending a chill down her spine. She let out another high-pitched scream.

"I see"

Sakura was expecting him to laugh at her, but his response made it look as if though he has understood her fear fully. Sasuke pressed the delete button on his camera, within an instance the picture disappeared. The camera automatically switched off right after the photo was deleted.

"Hey, you hungry?" Convinced that Sasuke had deleted the photo Sakura asked. 'Why did she even bother asking?' he asked himself. He knew that she knew his answer would always be the same.

"No"

His stomach betrayed him and gave a loud roar. His eyes twitched in pure annoyance as he glanced at something else in the room to avoid Sakura's gaze, his face blushed lightly, although to herI didn't know what else to use besides "to the normal" it looked like his normal skin color.

"Just watch TV or find something to do, I'll cook up something to eat" before Sasuke got to say anything Sakura already dashed out of the room. He sighed and walked towards the living room.

Sasuke had no choice but to do what she said, since he doubted that he could get home because the weather was bad. It was hailing in spring, this was way too weird. He looked at the clock it was already 6:00pm, yet it looked so dark. He sat there and watched TV for the next half an hour.


Sasuke took at bite of the food that Sakura had made.

"Not bad, actually it's good"

Sakura was surprised to hear that entire line coming from the one and only Uchiha Sasuke. As expected of a spoiled rich kid, he would had eaten heaps and heaps of good tasting food before. Sakura blinked as her jaw dropped slightly, she quickly regained her neutral face and asked herself.

"Did I hear that right?"


The rain was still heavy outside, along with the hailing. The two were watching TV in the living room. another lightning roared outside Sakura's window. The storm outside was heavy, the rain seemed endless. Once or twice Sasuke would stare at the window hopping that the storm would end, for once in his life he wanted to go home. Sasuke turned back to the plasma wide screen TV, but his mind wouldn't let him pay any attention to it. His mind wandered through the past, the unchangeable.

Images flashed through his mind, the smiles, the tears and blood. Those terrible images played over and over in his mind in an endless cycle. It flashed through his mind like the unstoppable rain outside Sakura's apartment. The blood mixed with the rain, those images just kept flashing and flashing. He just wished it would end, he wished that this stupid rain would end.

"UCHIHA!" Sakura's voice snapped the images out of his mind, his face automatically turned towards her. It was in a strange expression. One that he had not seen before, Sakura was…worried?

"Are you okay? I called your name out for almost 7 times now"

Sasuke struggled to answer.

"I was thinking…about how I'm going to get home with this weather"

Sasuke was glad that he actually figured something smart out, it was a good save.

"Hmm, I was thinking about that too. But at this rate-"

A thundering roar made Sakura jump on to Sasuke, once again she started shaking, her palms automatically covered her ears.

"At this rate I can't go home right?"

Sakura nodded, her eyes were watery, she looked as if though she was about to cry again. Another thunderous sound exploded outside Sakura's window, she jumped and Sasuke caught her in time, they stayed like that on the couch for quite a while.


The thundering continued in a crescendo style, every time it got louder Sakura would tighten her grip on Sasuke. They've been on the couch for almost an hour already, and Sakura still haven't let go of him yet, Sasuke was slowly finding it hard to breathe. 'Great, what else can go wrong now?' A very loud thundering sound made Sakura yell out, the TV then switched off along with the lights and the heater, now they were in the dark. 'Why did I ask myself that?' Sasuke was loosing his temper with the weather.

"Do you have any candles in the house?"

"In the kitchen cupboard" Sakura weakly answered.

"Can you let me go for a sec? I'm going to get some candles"

Sakura slowly let go of Sasuke. He dashed towards the kitchen bumping into a few things on the way, he took out a few strawberry shaped candles with a teddy bear half taking out a bite from the oversized strawberry compared to itself. 'Why the hell do women buy cute stuff?' Another thunderous sound came from the sky. Sasuke dashed back to the living room, Sakura sat there on the couch her palms were covering her ears. Sasuke took out the lighter in his pocket and lid up the candle.

"Let's go to your room, its warmer there"

Sakura made no attempt to move. She just sat there on the couch shivering, her eyes were shut closed, she could feel herself being lifted, and she wasn't sitting on the couch anymore. She slowly opened her eyes to see Sasuke carrying her bridal style, she was shocked.

"Take the candle"

Sakura nodded, she took the candle on the table and held the warm thing in her hands. She automatically rested her head on Sasuke's shoulder without realizing, not so long after that she slowly closed her eyes. It was peaceful and warm now even though the thundering was going on outside. Maybe this is how it feels like not being alone on a thunderous night. Maybe this was how it feels like not being alone at all. Sasuke put her down on her bed waking her up; he took a seat near the balcony on Sakura's floor, he stared at the rain for the next few hours, it was endless, the thundering was endless, and the hailing was endless.

"Looks like I can't go home tonight" Sasuke turned around to face Sakura, she nodded.

Sakura realized that she somehow stopped shivering, maybe because she paid all her attention staring at Sasuke staring at the rain, she didn't know why she couldn't take her eyes off his back, she just couldn't. Something inside her made her get off the bed; with the bedspread wrapped around her, she went and sat next to Sasuke. They both sat there staring at the rain, Sakura didn't even notice that the thundering had begun to subside; she just sat there next to him.

"Ne, Uchiha, how do you know Yamamoto in the first place?" the question just popped out of Sakura's mind. Sasuke didn't say anything or move an inch for a while.

"My family knows her family" Sasuke answered her simply; he paid close attention to her sharply with the corner of his eyes.

"I see, she said that you two are childhood friends, how did you two meet?"

Sakura wasn't interested in the relationship between Sasuke and Misaki, its not like there is any judging from the way he treated her.

"Through family" answered Sasuke sharply.

"We went to the same school, I don't know why or how me and her hate each other so much, but things just turn out like that"

those words just came out of Sakura, she didn't know why but she felt like she could trust Sasuke now. Maybe it was just instincts, maybe, after knowing that he was not that bad of a person, or maybe, he was the closest to being a friend to her other then Naruto of course.

"What do you mean you don't know why or how?" spoke Sasuke.

"There was a little incident in that past, when I woke up in the hospital, I hated my life so bad that I smashed my head against the wall just to forget everything, you can say that I forced myself to forget" Sakura smiled bitterly, her gaze was fully fixed on the rain.

"I see, so up until this day you don't know what happened?"

Sasuke was rather interested in this topic, but Sakura didn't take notice, it was not like her to notice everything.

"Yeah, I've forgotten everything; my childhood is like a blank picture. It's all just a stupid accident from what my mother told me. She never answer whenever I asked her about my past"

"I see"

A really loud thundering sound lightened the dark room, it made Sakura jump, she managed to ignore the others but this one was too loud. Another jolt lightened the room once more, Sakura let out another high-pitched scream, she could feel too arms wrap around her, she slowly gave in to the force that was pulling her. Sakura leaned against Sasuke's chest, it was so warm, for the first time in many years Sakura found comfort, and she actually felt safe. The thundering continued outside, but in Sakura's mind it somehow disappeared, she could once again see light instead of darkness surrounding her. It was warm.

"Sasuke" Sakura called out his name very softly but he could still hear it.

"Yeah?"

"Let's be friends"

"Aa"

Sasuke closed his eyes and rested his chin on her head, maybe things were meant to be this way. But at least they're friends now. Sasuke closed his eyes and let out a long sigh, he felt as if though he's been holding a breath for a very long time. Friend…she was his first friend, now he could see clearly why Naruto went after her. Sakura indeed was different from the average airheads. Sasuke was tempted to knock onto her head a little to make sure that the sound of emptiness didn't come from it, but he realized how stupid he must have been to even think that up. Even the genius can be stupid at times. Not every one was smart no matter how smart they seem to be in front of others, they too made mistakes, after all, they're only humans. He slowly closed his eyes and this time he was able to rest in peace, no more nightmares, just comforting darkness and the warm feeling of no longer being alone.


Preview for chap 9: Evil fan girls returns

'SASUKE-KUUNN!'

The sound of Misaki's fan voice tone and Reyka's made Naruto and Sasuke's face pale. Sasuke quickly got up and managed to dodge the two bone breaking hugs, but a pair of arms was suddenly wrapped around his neck. His eyes diverted to the direction where the two fan girls were to realize that they were there standing about a few meters away from him. But if they were over there, then who was hanging on him? His eyes slowly turned around to see blonde hair, blue eyes. It was Yamanaka Ino who hasn't done that in a long time. Sakura wasn't surprised, she was shocked. When did Ino start doing the typical fan girl hug? Wait, was she even a fan girl?


This chap was edited by my new beta Innelle (thanks Innelle!). I was looking for one and one just came to me, I think its my lucky month. I will update soon. Just need to rearrange a few things. ...thanks for the support every one. See you all soon. Next chapter is a long one.

Shiro