Hey everyone! I know, I know, I just came out with a new story and then the next day a chapter got updated? Well apparently I wrote the next chapter without even realizing it.

So without further ado, here's the next chapter of Cuts and Bruises!

Sasuke woke up in pain the next morning. He sat up in his bed and groaned. He rubbed at his eye and hissed at the pain it caused. Throwing the blankets off of his body, he walked briskly into the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror.

"Son of a-" He cursed at the big, dark, black and purple colored bruise that was on his left eye. He gently prodded the bruise and once again hissed at the pain it caused him. He sighed before looking himself over in the mirror once more and then shaking his head.

He walked back into his room and got ready for the school day. Once dressed, with his hair brushed, he made one more stop to the bathroom, hoping maybe the bruise was just his imagination. He scowled at himself as the bruise was still there. "At least its not swollen." He mumbled to himself as he stomped his way down the stairs.

On the kitchen table was a plate of toast, eggs and bacon, waiting for him at his seat. His brother had his own plate, phone in one hand with the fork in the other. He didn't look up as Sasuke sat down across from him.

"Morning." Sasuke greeted him but received no answer back. He sighed and slammed his elbow onto the table, trying to get a reaction out of Itachi.

Itachi paid him no mind, continuing to scroll through his phone, eyes narrowed in concentration.

Sasuke gave his brother a frown before lifting his fork full of eggs to his mouth.

"Ready to go?" Itachi quickly stood up, dropping his fork onto his plate.

Sasuke nearly dropped his fork but then gave his brother a look of disbelief. "I just sat down! I only had one bite!"

"Well hurry up, I can't be late." Itachi placed his plate in the sink and left the kitchen, not saying anything else.

Sasuke watched him leave before shaking his head and quickly finishing his breakfast.

The car ride to school was silent and Sasuke felt upset that Itachi made no attempt to ask about the bruise.

"Bye Itachi." Sasuke stayed seated in the car as he waited for Itachi to say something.

He watched as Itachi continued to type on his phone. Itachi then looked up and raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you going to go in or do I have to kick you out?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He slammed the car door shut and walked towards the building.

He kept his head down as best as he could, hoping his bangs would hide the bruise on his face. A small group of girls quickly stopped him, a few feet away from his friends. He cursed under his breath and turned his head to the left.

"Hey Sasuke, how's it going?" One of the girls spoke up. She seemed nervous and the other two girls each gently nudged her in the side. "Stop it!" She hissed as they giggled. She turned back to him. "I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to grab dinner and a movie with me sometime?"

Sasuke turned his head a little, trying to look at her without revealing his face. "Look, I actually don't-"

"The answer is no, bitch." Sasuke groaned as Sakura came up next to him, linking her arm through his. "He has me, he doesn't need you."

The girl and her friends narrowed their eyes at her. "Get over yourself, Sakura. Nobody wants you. Especially not Sasuke. He's better than that."

Sakura returned the glare. "Listen, what's your name again? Stacy?"

"Lacy." Came the sharp reply.

"Sure. Whatever." Sakura rolled her eyes and leaned against Sasuke. "You're a nobody. You're not even on his radar. You're just a stupid, little-"

"Enough!" Sasuke shouted. He pulled his arm from Sakura's and rubbed at the sides of his temple. "I don't want either of you, alright?" He looked up to glare at them. All four girls gasped in shock and Sasuke once again groaned in frustration at the realization of what he did.

"Sasuke, are you okay?" Lacy asked. She reached out a hand but it was quickly swatted away by Sakura.

"My poor darling, what happened?" She stood in front of Sasuke and gently grasped his shoulders.

He turned face his away from her and gave her a gentle push so she wouldn't be as close to him. "Nothing happened."

Lacy stepped closer to him, elbowing Sakura behind her. "Was it your soulmate?"

Sasuke tensed at the accusation, staying silent.

Sakura gasped before pushing Lacy out of the way. "My poor Sasuke! You shouldn't be with such a brute of a woman. She shouldn't be getting into fights and making you suffer like this. She's a terrible soulmate and I'd treat you so much better." She huffed at him.

"Shut up." Sasuke spat out.

The two girls looked at him, mouth agape. "What?" Sakura questioned his outburst.

"I said, shut up." He gave them both a glare.

Lacy's eyes started to water and she turned her head away. Sakura, unaffected by his harsh tone, looked at him innocently. "Why are you getting so angry? I'm just being honest with you. You don't deserve this, a girl who gets in fights like this."

"You don't know what you're talking about." Sasuke started to raise his voice. "You don't know anything about her or what she's even going through." His voice getting louder with each word, causing a crowd to form around the three of them. He groaned and held his head in frustration. "How can you be so ignorant! A-and stupid?!"

"Alright, alright!" The crowd parted as Kiba came through, pushing people to get closer to Sasuke. Neji following behind him, apologizing to those who were pushed more roughly by Kiba. "Show's over people, move it along!" He threw his arm around Sasuke's shoulder as the crowd started to disperse.

"It'd be best if you ladies left." Neji addressed the girls.

Lacy nodded, tears were streaming down her face. She quickly turned and ran to catch up with her friends that she came with earlier.

Sakura watched her leave before turning back to the boys. She crossed her arms over her chest and smirked. "Glad she's out of the picture, right Sasuke?"

"I was also talking to you, Sakura."

Sakura huffed before giving Sasuke one last glance and heading into the building.

"You wanna skip first period and head to the field?" Kiba asked Sasuke who was now leaning against his shoulder.

Sasuke nodded.

Neji rolled his eyes. "Well, there goes my perfect attendance award."

Sasuke snorted as the three of them headed towards the soccer field. "This isn't elementary school. When was the last time you've ever gotten that award?"

"Before I was friends with the two of you."

Kiba gasped in mock surprise. "Did you hear that Sasuke? He called us his friends!"

"This must be the greatest day of our lives!" Sasuke looked at Kiba excitedly before they started to laugh hysterically.

Neji's mouth started to twitch as he tried his hardest not to smile. "You two are idiots."

Kiba threw his arm around Neji's shoulder. "But we're you're idiots!"

Neji rolled his eyes. "Unfortunately."

The three of them reached the soccer field and climbed up the bleachers.

Sasuke went to the top of the middle row and lied down on the bench, staring up at the sky.

"Is everything okay?" Neji sat down next to him and quietly asked him, concern evident on his face.

Kiba threw himself face down on the bench below them, mumbling to himself.

"You haven't had a bruise on your face in a while."

Sasuke sighed and covered his eyes with his arm. "Why do I have to have the soulmate who gets abused? Why can't I have your soulmate? She breaks an arm once and now barely gets a scratch? Or even Kiba's? His never gets hurt." He sighed and sat up and shook his head. "It's just so frustrating. I can't do anything about this."

Neji gave him a frown and lightly patted his arm. "I know it sucks, but she's your soulmate for a reason. You're one of the strongest people I know, if anyone can do this, it's you."

Sasuke darkly chuckled. "You sound like my mom." He paused and frowned at his words. "Sounded."

"Well then she's right." Sasuke and Neji looked down at Kiba who was now lying on his side, watching the two of them. "If you can't get through this, no one can. That girl is lucky to have you."

"I'm not too sure." Sasuke mumbled under his breath, lightly rubbing his arm.

"What?" Kiba leaned closer to him.

Sasuke quickly shook his head. "Nothing."

Neji gave Kiba a smirk. "Look at you being all sentimental. Who knew you had it in you?"

Kiba closed his eyes and stuck out his tongue. "Shut it, pretty boy. My friend needed some cheering up and that's exactly what I did."

Neji rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to respond, when the sound of the bell for the end of first period rang throughout the campus. "Let's go, guys. We're not going to skip anymore classes."

"Aw, boo! Neji you're such a bore!" Kiba whined. He still began to gather his stuff as both Sasuke and Neji looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

The three of them walked back to the building and went their separate ways.

For the rest of the school day, Sasuke would be stopped and asked questions by his fellow classmates who were concerned about his well-being. He brushed off most people, not bothering to encourage their interest in him. Of course, Sakura was always close by him, assuring their classmates that he'll be okay and that she'll take care of him.

It wasn't until the final bell that Sasuke could finally stop feeling smothered. He headed to his bus, saying a quick bye to Neji and Kiba.

He got off the bus and walked home. After dropping his bag off in his own room, he headed into his mother's.

Today she was turned, facing the doorway. Her eyes were closed, Sasuke assuming she was sleeping. He quietly shut the door and pulled the chair close to her bedside. He gently threaded his fingers through her hair. Her eyes fluttered open and looked straight ahead at nothing.

"Hey mom," Sasuke smiled sadly at her. She made no other movement and he sighed sadly. "School was the same as always. Well except for the fact that everyone at school asked if I was okay. My soulmate got into some trouble yesterday, cause now I have a black eye. It was actually kind of annoying to be bothered by everyone." He scoffed lightly and watched her.

Her eyes slowly moved and looked at him and Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise. He watched as her own eyes got wider as she registered the black eye that marred his face. Before Sasuke could even react, the look was gone and once again her eyes showed a void.

Sasuke quickly stood up and leaned closer to her face. "Mom?"

There was no further reaction and Sasuke sat back down, disappointed. He ran a hand through his hair, feeling frustrated before he left and went back into his own room to begin his school work.

Three hours later, Itachi called Sasuke down for dinner. He walked down to the kitchen to see pork chops and potatoes on the table. Itachi was sitting in his own spot, on his phone.

They ate in silence at first until Sasuke decided to share his experience.

"Mom responded to me today." Sasuke carefully watched his brother.

Itachi looked up from his phone and gave a curious look to Sasuke. "Really? What happened?"

"I was telling her about my day, like normal, and when I mentioned my soulmate got a black eye, she looked up at me and was surprised."

"She looked at you?" Itachi rose an eyebrow and Sasuke felt a little excited that his brother was actually having a conversation with him.

"Yeah. I mean, it lasted like two seconds but I saw it."

Itachi sighed before looking back down at his phone. "She looks at me all the time, it's nothing special."

Sasuke stared at him in disbelief before glaring. "But she was surprised! She's never shown emotion before!"

"Her eyes were probably just adjusting to the light near you. It's nothing special."

Sasuke growled at him and stood up quickly, slamming his hands on the table. "It was something special! Mom is still in there and that reaction proves it!" He took a deep breath and stepped away from the table. "Maybe she's even getting better."

Itachi placed his phone on the table and gave Sasuke his full attention. "Sasuke, don't let your hopes get so high over something as silly as that. You need to be realistic. Mom is not coming back from this. The sooner you can accept this, the easier it'll be."

Sasuke stared at him, once again in disbelief as Itachi picked up his phone once again. "How did you become so fucking jaded, Itachi? You can't even believe in our own mother who did so much for you! You're terrible!"

Itachi waved him off, not bothering to reply.

Sasuke stomped away and into his room. He slammed the door shut, locking it. He turned on some music and sat on his bed. He stared at his nightstand before reaching over taking out the razor that was tucked away inside.

So, how did you guys like it? I'm curious to know what you guys think!

As aalways, if you liked it please favorite and review!

~tachiequillsluv