Chapter 5 ----- Sasuke's Realization
The next day, the school started as usual. Sasuke was sitting in his seat and Sakura and Naruto walked in. He turned around to look at them. Naruto came to sit behind Sasuke and said, "Yo!" Sakura came to sit next to Sasuke and said, "Good morning, Sasuke-kun." She had her usual smile on and her beady eyes were beady again.
During the classes, Sasuke watched Sakura from the side as he rested his head on his arm. He was thinking of what had happened yesterday. He was surprised when Sakura suddenly brought herself to him and hugged him…and cried for a long time. His heart was beating fast.
The bell rang. The students stood up and started stretching and chatting. Sakura turned to Sasuke and said, "I'm sorry about yesterday. I'm fine now. You really made me feel better." She smiled. Sasuke just smiled with the corner of his lips. Tenten came over from the other side of Sakura.
"Where were you yesterday? I called you?" Tenten asked Sakura.
"Oh…nothing. I was just taking a walk outside," Sakura said and smiled.
"Taking a walk? In that rain and thunderstorm?" Tenten asked doubtfully.
"…Mm-Hmm, I just went to the bookstore afterwards," Sakura made up an excuse.
Tenten looked at Sasuke and caught him staring at Sakura with his head rested on his arm. She looked at Naruto and Naruto had been aware of that as well. Naruto suddenly poked Sasuke in the head and said, "What are you looking at?" Sasuke made a stern face and said, "Nothing," though he was blushing. He stood up and walked out to the hallway. Naruto was thinking that Sasuke might have feelings for Sakura.
Sasuke was walking down the hallway and he saw Neji and his friends. He hid behind the corner at the stairs and listened to their conversation.
"So, what was up with that yesterday?" one of them asked Neji.
"I don't know. She was giving me weird looks all the time and then finally yesterday she asked me why I was looking at her all the time," Neji shrugged.
"But you get those kind of looks from girls anyway, don't you?" another friend of Neji said.
"I guess…They're all the same," Neji said coldly.
Sasuke was gripping his fist really tight as he listened. Then, the bunch came around the corner and found Sasuke. Neji looked at him for a while said, "Hey, you were with Sakura yesterday, weren't you?" Sasuke glared at him.
"Wait. He's Itachi's brother!" one of them said.
They all back off.
"Are you Uchiha Itachi's brother?" another one asked.
"I can already see the hatred in his eyes, too," Neji said.
"No love, just hate. That's all you know, right?" another guy added.
"Well, I don't care what you do to Sakura," Neji went on, "It's not like she's mine anyway."
Sasuke did his best to keep his anger down and watched the bunch go down the stairs.
"It's not like she's mine anyway…" Neji's words were circulating in Sasuke's head. Something about it bothered him.
Sasuke walked back to the classroom and went back to his seat.
"Where were you?" Sakura asked.
Sasuke was somewhat relieved to see Sakura's face. He could not understand how such a sweet and individualistic person like Sakura can be the same as other girls. He could not forgive Neji for hurting Sakura's feelings. Even though she pretended to be normal, he knew that she was deeply hurt inside.
"Uh…school store. It was closed..," Sasuke asnswered.
"Oh, ok," Sakura nodded.
Sasuke could no longer ignore the uncontrollable feeling that seemed to eat him from the inside. For the last four weeks, his feelings for Sakura had been building up gradually. He had never liked anyone and I thought he would never. He was never interested in so devoted to a girl, but now he knew so sure that this was that was called "love." Neji's friend's remark, "No love, only hate. That's all you know, right?" was stuck in his heart like a glass shard. Maybe it was good to be honest and accept his own feelings like Sakura did for Neji. Though, in her case, her feelings were neglected and turned away, maybe he could be the one to catch and return them.
Author Note: That was Chapter 5. You are starting to get into the real part of the story! I hope you liked it! Please feel free to give me any comments!
