Two weeks.
Two weeks of paperwork.
More like two weeks of hell.
Those two weeks were finally over, and Sakura seemed even happier than I was that the pain was over with. Sakura and I were finally going to have a case, actually going to get to do something. Ibiki called us into his office, a pale folder on his desk that he handed to me.
Dallas.
A sniper spree.
From the report, at about 1 PM at a local outdoor cafe, a sniper opened fire and killed 7 while injuring 4 others. "Your flight leaves in three hours, get packed and find the bastard," he told us. I handed the file to Sakura and left to my desk to gather some of my things.
"This is serious stuff," she mumbled.
"Can't handle it?" I flashed a smirk at her.
"You wish, Sasuke." I drove home with her following and went up to my place to gather my clothes and custom weapons that I had left there instead of bringing them to the office for some reason. Two high powered Brownings, the one on the left having Sasuke engraved on it with black, while the one on the right had Uchiha engraved in red, my prized pistols. I threw a couple of pairs of clothes into my duffel bag along with toiletries and other necessities before leaving my apartment uninhabited.
I walked down to the lobby and waited for Sakura to come down with her own things. I passed the time on my phone for 10 minutes when she came down hauling a suitcase and a backpack slung over her shoulder.
"Packing lightly?" She asked me. I didn't answer, rather I walked to my car and waited for her to do the same. I threw my bag onto the passenger seat and quickly shot Naruto and Kakashi a text saying that I was going to Dallas for a case.
Without waiting for a response, I backed up and drove out of the parking garage with Sakura following closely behind. 20 minutes later, we pulled into the airport parking lot together. I got out and walked towards the entrance while Sakura ran up to catch up to me.
"Slow down!" She shouted, but I didn't like to wait. We quickly pulled out our boarding passes and walked to security, where she finally caught up to me.
"Why won't you wait?!" She practically screamed when she caught me. I just smirked at her briefly before turning my attention to my vibrating phone.
"Yeah?"
"Did you bring everything you need?" Kakashi asked.
"Hn," I replied.
"Good, see you whenever I see you."
"Tell Rin I said hi," I slipped in before hanging up so he couldn't respond to my little jibe.
"Who was that?"
"A friend," I replied, hoping she wouldn't press the issue. Thankfully, she didn't. It wasn't that I didn't trust her, but we had only known each other for two weeks, and I didn't like telling everyone about my situation and issues because I didn't want their pity. Having people pity me was one thing that I had no patience for, I didn't need anyone feeling bad for me and whatever other bullshit pity consisted of. I flashed my ID to the woman at the desk and Sakura and I were allowed past with our weapons. I was surprised to see her carrying a Smith & Wesson Magnum, a powerful pistol, one with a ton of kick, though I shouldn't be surprised since she had freakish strength for whatever reason.
We gathered our things and made our way through the airport while glancing at random stores and the painted walls that canvassed the place in an attempt to liven it up. Sakura broke off to look at one of the magazine's at one of the stands for a little bit and I waited for her to finish.
"I didn't know the Cowboys were the world's most valuable sports team," she said while walking to me.
"The NFL is the most valuable league in the world, so its not that surprising," I answered. She pouted and I did something that actually shocked me. I poked her forehead with my index and middle finger, a gesture Itachi did to me back when I was little. She was too busy rubbing her forehead to notice the shock on my face, thankfully, instead opting to scowl at me.
We walked away from the newsstand and towards our gate, which wasn't too far away. We took a seat at our gate, and all I could think of was what I did. It shouldn't have been that big of a deal, but I couldn't shake it from my head. It brought back memories of my older brother, of how he would play with me and teach me random things about nature that I still remembered to this day.
"Sasuke, are you ok?"
"He didn't kill them…" I whispered to myself, but Sakura heard me too.
"Sasuke?" I shook my head, clearing all thoughts that were running through me.
"Sorry, I was thinking about an old case," I lied. She saw right through me, I could tell from the look in her eyes, but she didn't push it.
"Food?" She proposed.
I nodded my head and followed as she got up and walked to a nearby restaurant that seemed like it served pretty decent food. It was a small place, only had about 10 tables in the actual restaurant, but it served burgers.
Burgers had tomatoes.
Therefore, I liked burgers.
The wooden walls enclosing the place were decorated with various paintings of scenery from around the world, appropriate for an airport restaurant. I took my seat across from Sakura and awaited the waitress to come take our order. She caught my eyes and smiled seductively at me while batting her eyelashes. Usually, I might humor her, because the girl was sexy, but Sakura was right across from me, and all the sexual tension in my bones only ached for her, the pink-haired girl across from me, smiling at the menu.
"Can I take your order?" The waitress had unbuttoned the top two buttons of her shirt, flaunting her breasts at me, but my eyes never left the menu.
"One hamburger," Sakura stated.
"Make it two," I confirmed.
"Would you like to hear our specials before I take this back?" The waitress asked, still staring at me.
"No thanks," Sakura said for the both of us. The waitress nodded and took her menu before reaching across the table and taking mine, "accidently" brushing her hand over mine. I sighed and gave her a small glare as a way of telling her to back off, sending her back to the kitchen.
"Fucking girls," I muttered, earning a giggle from the one across from me. Her phone buzzed and she checked it before her eyes widened.
"Look!" She shoved the thing in my face so I could see whatever got her excited.
It read: "Jacksonville PD arrest Damien Larson for the murder of two men at the Hellion nightclub". I smirked at the news and pulled out my phone, dialing Naruto's number.
"Hey Sasuke! See the news?"
"Was it you?"
"Yep! I found him hiding out in one of his old girlfriend's place and called up Kiba and Shikamaru to make the arrest. It was great!"
"Good job, idiot."
"Thanks, asshole." I hung up and stared at a slightly shocked Sakura.
"You're friends with the homicide detective at the station, why am I surprised?" I shrugged in response.
"Let me guess, you two were the troublemakers at school without even trying," she guessed. I smirked in response, confirming her suspicion. Naruto and I used to do some dumb shit in school, from fighting other people to spray painting a huge dick onto the baseball diamond, which was pretty funny, by the way.
"Trouble always seemed to find you, huh?" She inquired further, earning a nod from me.
Our burgers arrived and I sized the thing up before taking a bite and savoring the taste of the meat combined with the tomato juice. Within a minute, I had finished the burger, leaving no remnants behind. I waited for Sakura to finish hers before departing the place and walking back to our gate to board the plane. I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder. Sakura did the same while dragging her other bag behind her. We handed our boarding passes to the lady in front of the gate before walking through the tunnel and getting inside the plane. I walked to the 19th row and sat myself down in the window seat while Sakura sat down in the middle seat.
I plugged my earphones it and got ready for the duration of the flight while Sakura repeated my actions. Within 30 minutes, we were soaring through the air and I was feeling slightly drowsy. I turned my music down a little and prepared myself to rest, but was stopped by a head on my shoulder. I turned to see Sakura sleeping peacefully, her pink head resting on my shoulder while her mouth breathed silently, her plush lips parted ever so slightly. I smiled at her, genuinely smiled, before leaning my head back and letting my drowsiness eat away at my consciousness.
…
I woke up with my cheek resting on something pink.
I lifted my head up to see my face was resting on Sakura's hair while she was still asleep on my shoulder. I found myself devoid of the comfortable feeling I had when I rested my head on the side of the plane, growing frustrated at my inability to rest, so I decided to give no fucks and put my head back on the pink hair that smelled like cherry blossoms. Strangely enough, my drowsiness came back, and in no time I was back to sleeping like a baby.
I woke up a while later to movement underneath me.
The pink-haired woman beneath me had roused, blinking a couple of times and staring up at me.
Our eyes met and we quietly looked at each other.
Just like the first time, emerald met onyx in a battle to see who would back down first, and just like the first time, we looked away at the same time.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are about to land, so please fasten your seatbelts," the captain's voice echoed across the intercom.
"Finally," Sakura muttered.
"Hn," I grunted in response. We sat in silence for the next 10 minutes while the plane landed. Once it did, we were finally able to get up and gather our bags from the compartments atop our seats and exit the aircraft. I reached up and pulled Sakura's suitcase down for her and exited the plane with her. We walked out, still a little groggy, but focused, nonetheless. We had a job to do.
"We got a rented car waiting for us at the Avis nearby, let's go get it and drive to the station," I told her. She nodded and followed as I walked out of the airport and to the car rental place. We found the big Avis sign towering over the other car rental signs and walked to the front desk.
"Uchiha and Haruno," I told the man behind the counter. He handed me some paperwork to fill out while he got the keys to the car, so I sat down and did it while Sakura played on her phone.
"Need some help?" She asked. I shook my head, filling out a car rental form wasn't really much cause for concern.
First name, last name, address, apartment number, phone number, the usual stuff. I finished and handed the clipboard back to the man in exchange for a pair of keys with a Ford logo attached to them.
"Your car is in spot A7," he told me, to which I nodded in return while Sakura gave him a "thank you". I walked to the spot while Sakura rambled on about something in the NFL Draft, much to my surprise.
"You watch?" I asked in mild shock.
"Yeah. Am I not supposed to?" She stumped me, and she knew it because a teasing smirk covered her face.
"Wow, so because I'm a girl with pink hair, you're saying that I shouldn't be watching football?" She crossed her arms under her chest, and for obvious reasons, I wish she wouldn't do that.
"Annoying," I muttered, earning a victorious grin from her.
I poked her forehead just like I did at the airport, but this time I wasn't shocked by myself. Itachi did it to me to show that he cared, so I did it to her, because I couldn't hide the fact that I cared about her.
I sound so cheesy right now.
She rubbed the spot and glared at me, to which I chuckled in response.
"I hate you," she said once she sat down in the passenger seat.
"No, you don't," I answered simply, smirking at her. She returned my smirk with equal vigor and engaged me in a staring contest, unsurprisingly, we both averted our gazes at the same time.
"We should probably head to the station now," I declared while backing out and driving out of the car rental place.
"Wow, wise decision," she remarked sarcastically, causing me to scowl at the road, much to her delight, damn pinkette. She connected her phone to the car's bluetooth and started blasting some of her music, which to my shock, contained more than a few songs that I was familiar with. I stared at the road silently while she nodded her head and sang along perfectly, her delicate voice changing from high to low whenever the song required. She was serenading me, and she didn't even know it. She sang some of the songs better than the actual artists, and I wasn't even exaggerating, this girl was something else.
We stayed like that all the way to the station, her singing and me listening. When we arrived, I was a little disappointed that the concert ended, but we had work to do. We made our way inside the two story building and were met with a strangely designed place.
Numerous desks and cubicles littered the ground floor behind the receptionist's desk. Paper stacks were everywhere, my mortal enemy. Officers were sitting at their desks, filling out paperwork, typing away on a computer, or on the phone. Others were standing by the coffee machine, chatting and by my guess, taking breaks. There was a lab at the end of the floor, most likely where all the forensics work was done. Evidence lockup was to the right of the lab, with one cop sitting in front of it like a guard dog. There were stairs that led to a much smaller second floor, presumably where the detectives worked. Sakura and I made our way upstairs and were greeted with a large office, where the department chief sat with the lieutenant.
"You two must be the FBI Agents," the department chief greeted, extending his hand. He was a bald-headed man in his 50s, nearing retirement most probably, and he reeked of Jack Daniel's. Sakura shook his hand first and I followed suit.
"Sakura Haruno, this is my partner, Sasuke Uchiha," she introduced.
"Oh we know all about Mr. Uchiha," the lieutenant, a woman in her 40s, stated. "Yes we do, Ibiki said you were his best, even though you've only been at his command for 5 months," the chief praised.
I felt kind of awkward receiving all this praise so I just nodded in acknowledgement, hoping that they would stop and we could get down to business. They did, to my relief, as the chief pulled out a file and placed it before me. I picked it up and read over it while he talked.
"1:03 PM, a sniper opens fire at Hardwire Cafe, killing 7 and wounding 3 more. Eyewitnesses claim they never saw the gunman or gunmen." I nodded after reading the file, which basically contained the same information as he had just stated and handed it to Sakura.
"Come on," I beckoned Sakura out while she read the file. We sat down in the car and I put in the directions to Hardwire Cafe, as she finished reading the file. The place was about 10 minutes away, 6 if we were green all the way, which we weren't, so I just activated the siren the department provided us with and sped to the place.
"Wow," Sakura breathed as she observed the city of Dallas. There were a good amount of skyscrapers and no shortage of restaurants and other exotic buildings, this place definitely differed from Jacksonville in more ways than one. People were flocked everywhere, in the restaurants, the numerous clothing stores, even some of the buildings, which seemed to be tourist attractions. But when we neared the scene of the attack, the people disappeared like ghosts. Only yellow tape was there, as well as police cars and some officers.
"Hi, I'm Detective Holder," a man in his 30s told us. He shook our hands, but his gaze lingered on Sakura a little too long for my liking.
"Have you found anything?" I asked, turning the man's attention back to me.
"We've found some bullets, 7.62x63mm."
".30-06 Springfield," Sakura recited. I didn't let the surprise on my face show, but even I didn't know which gun it was that quickly.
"U-uh yeah," Holder stammered, clearly even more surprised than I was, "Nice work." He turned around to answer a phone call and left me and Sakura to gauge the crime scene ourselves.
"Weapons expert, huh?" I asked. She smirked at me in response, taking a page out of my book. We walked around and observed the various markings on the scene. Shattered glass, bullet markings on the floor and tears in the umbrella.
"He had to have fired at least 20 bullets, Jesus, he must've been a terrible shot," Sakura noted.
"We should look at the dead bodies back at the station to see where he hit them, maybe we can pinpoint if he really was a terrible shot," I explained.
"Isn't all the proof that he's not that great right here?" She motioned all over where bullet markings were everywhere.
"Yeah, you're probably right," I agreed, the bullet markings were literally all over the place.
"Did you find his vantage point?" Sakura asked Holder, who had just returned from his phone call. He shook his head to our disappointment.
"Let's go," she beckoned me to follow. We looked around to see any nearby vantage points. "There," Sakura pointed to a building that was actually quite far away, but getting on top of the roof would provide a clear vantage point as well as sufficient cover so the shooter didn't have to worry about being spotted.
"Hey, have your men check web histories for any hits about Springfields or the type of bullets that they use," I told Holder before following Sakura to the building that we pinpointed.
It was 6 stories, a business building for some company called HR & Donald, a marketing firm. It had clear glass windows on each floor, but judging from the lack of broken windows, the shooter had to have gone on top of the building. "FBI," Sakura waved her badge at the receptionist on the ground floor, who looked surprised to see us. We found the stairs and walked all the way to the top, dodging a couple of bugs and spiders on the way. Eventually, we reached the door to the roof, but it had a lock that seemed to have been put there recently.
"Weird," I muttered.
"Very perceptive, Sasuke," she said in that sarcastic tone.
"Are you making fun of me?"
"Again, very perspective."
"Annoying," I mumbled before kicking the door down.
"Um, that's one way to get in," Sakura said. We walked around the roof to see if there was anything there, only to find a bird's nest and some graffiti. "What the hell?" Sakura muttered in frustration, trying to see if anything was of use. I laid down on my stomach and looked at the cafe from where I was.
This was the place, no doubt. The only other building that was as tall as this one was a newspaper place a couple buildings away, but the sniper's view would've been obscured from an H&M store by the cafe. This spot gave the sniper a perfect view of the cafe, nothing obstructing it. Whoever this was had to be smart, though, because there were not bullet casings or fragments in sight, the person cleaned up after themselves.
"I'll see if I can get some camera footage," Sakura said before disappearing down the stairs.
I lay there, still looking through my figurative scope down at Hardwire, imagining the scene inside my head. I loaded the gun and took a deep breath.
Bang. My first victim falls.
Bang. I hit the umbrella.
Bang. I wound someone.
Bang. Another one dead.
Bang. The window shatters.
Bang. Another window shatters.
Bang. I hit the ground.
Bang. Another person wounded.
Bang. Another kill.
Bang. Add one more to the death count.
Bang. Miss.
Bang. Miss.
Bang. Miss.
Bang. I hit someone in the leg.
Bang. Kill.
Bang. Kill.
Bang. Kill.
Bang. Miss.
Bang. Miss.
Bang. Kill.
Judging from the power of a gun the caliber of the Springfield, the suspect had to have been pretty strong, and was most likely in the age range of late 20s to late 30s, maybe early 40s if you really pushed it.
"We got something, Sasuke," Sakura called. I got up and followed her down to the 6th floor, where we went to the CEO's office. "They have footage of a hooded man walking up the stairs with a suitcase at 12:58 PM, 5 minutes before shots were fired. There's a hidden camera right where the door leading up to the roof was," she explained. The CEO nodded before flipping his computer to us and playing the footage of a man in black opening the door and closing it. He came back out about 11 minutes later at 1:09, after fire had ceased, meaning this had to be our guy. Unfortunately, he never revealed his face to the camera, so facial recognition was out of question.
"Judging by this angle, he's 6'1, maybe around 175 pounds," I concluded. He was wearing gloves and as mentioned before a hoodie that concealed his face, so I couldn't determine what his skin color was.
"You keep records of your visitors, Mr. Patel?" Sakura inquired.
"Yes, but I don't feel very comfortable sharing that footage, so if you would please-"
"We could always come back with a warrant if that would make you happier," I interrupted in a bored tone.
"T-that won't be necessary," he stammered before pressing a button on the intercom. "Sarah, bring me the visitor records from the day of the shooting, ASAP," he told his secretary. Sakura and I shared a glance as well as small victorious smirks.
In 30 seconds time, a woman walked in and dropped off a file with two pages in it, all of their visitor records from that day. I pulled out the first piece of paper and scanned for the times around 12:45 to 1:20.
"Can you eliminate any of these name, Mr. Patel?" Sakura asked.
"Yes, these two are paper delivery boys, this woman is the wife of one of my workers, and these two were representatives of another business, they were both meeting with me at the time of the attack." That left 3 names that were unchecked.
"Thank you, Mr. Patel," Sakura acknowledged as we took our leave. Once we made it to the safety of the elevator, Sakura turned to me. "Why didn't he go to the police with this? He had the camera footage, so why not?" I looked down at her and sighed.
"Probably thought it was bad for business, having businesses think that you were aiding a terrorist like this is damaging, especially for a marketing firm," I explained.
"Still, you would think he would care more about catching a murderer than some business," she looked downwards as she said it.
"World isn't a great place, Sakura, people are selfish more times than not." She looked up at me with wide eyes before looking at the wall.
"I don't believe that, Sasuke, people are better than you think."
"Believe what you want, Sakura." I said with finality and a surprising amount of conviction. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it before anything could come out. I instantly felt bad for trying to corrupt her still pure mind with my own darkness, just because I viewed the world differently because of everything I had experienced didn't mean I had to force it onto her image.
"I'm sorry, Sakura, its just on this job...the people you meet, the things you see...it gets to you sometimes," I told her.
"But its not that is it? That's just what you tell other people. There's something else that's happened to you that made you think of the world like that, isn't there?" She read me like a book. No one could read me, not Naruto, not Kakashi, no one, and she just figured me out within a little over 2 weeks. I looked away and pursed my lips, ending the conversation, though I could feel her gaze still on me, hoping for an answer, but I never gave her one, so she settled on staring away and making my stomach swirl with a little guilt.
The car ride back was quiet, made bearable only by some music, but Sakura wasn't singing along like she was before, making me feel even more guilty for kind of being a dick. Although, I was impressed with Sakura's intuition, all it took was a couple of sentences for her to figure me out. She definitely earned her spot in the FBI, that was clear to me. We made it to the station, but before we could walk in, Sakura grabbed my arm and used that strength of hers to turn me around.
"I'm not asking for you to share anything that you don't want to, just know that I'm here for you, and please don't view the world like that, at least give it a chance." I could see how sincere she was by one look into her eyes, the emerald was shining with mirth and hope, like my eyes used to when I was a child, before everything happened.
If it was Naruto, if it was Kakashi, or anyone else, I probably would've shrugged them off and told them about how I had given the world enough chances, and how it had failed me every time. But her, the pink-haired girl staring at me, the one I met at a cafe, the one that I loved being around, the one I felt so attached to even though it had only been a little over 14 days, the pink-haired girl staring at me with her emerald orbs shining with hope. I took her hand in mine and squeezed it.
"Ok," I whispered softly as I lost myself in those eyes and the feeling of her skin meshing with mine. I could feel the warmth radiating off of her, and I could hear my heart telling me to give in, to take her, but my head was telling me not to, that she deserved better than the broken boy standing in front of her. But I didn't have a choice when she stepped towards me, aching for the same thing that I wanted. I inched closer and saw her repeat the action, and for that second, everything froze, all I saw was me and her. My heart was pounding so loudly I was afraid that she would hear it.
"Sasuke…" she whispered softly, leaning in even closer so that our lips were inches apart.
Bang! The sound of a weapon went off, ringing through the Dallas air. Cops poured out of the station in the direction of the shots, swarming the area that the gunshot rang from. Sakura and I pushed ourselves to the front of the crowd and found that the man had already been apprehended. It wasn't our sniper, just some guy attempting to mug another one in a suit.
"We got it," an officer said from near our location, dragging the guy to the police station while his partner took his gun. I let out a sigh of relief while Sakura looked up at me before doing the same.
"Come on, we have victims to look at," I beckoned her back to the station where we went to the morgue to examine the dead bodies.
They were all lined up in alphabetical order according to their last names. The mortician came in to identify the killing shot for each victim.
"First one, headshot, pretty straightforward," the middle-aged man explained. "Second one, severed brachial artery. Third one, severed caratoid artery. Fourth one, femoral artery severed." Sakura and I exchanged looks. From all the victims' wounds that he had listed, the guy knew what he was doing. He knew that he hit the victims' vital spots, so why did he miss so badly on all of his other shots? "Fifth one, another headshot. Sixth one, shot through the neck, severing her esophagus. Last one, shot straight through the heart, severing his Aorta and Pulmonary artery."
"Thank you, we'll be out in a couple minutes," Sakura told him as he dismissed himself. We immediately looked at each other, knowing fully well what happened. "He's no bad shot," Sakura said.
"He's an excellent shot," I agreed. He had misfired some shots on purpose to make it look like he was a novice, but this guy was no joke, he knew that all of the victims he had hit in the vital spots would die.
"Let's call it a night," Sakura declared with a yawn.
"Tired already? Here I was thinking you could keep up," I teased.
"I can keep up just fine, its you that I'm worried about," she shot back. I scoffed before leaving the morgue with her next to me.
I drove us to our hotel, rather motel. It was a rundown facility with only two floors. We walked to the receptionist and got our room key and pulled our bags with us. Our room was on the second floor, all the way at the end. I lugged my duffel bag over my shoulder while Sakura took her bags with her. I had offered to carry them, but she refused, saying her pride would be too wounded. The room wasn't anything spectacular, with its two beds and small television along with a simple bathroom. It wasn't anything like my room in San Francisco, but it would have to do.
"I call first for the shower!" Sakura yelled. She took a change of clothes in with her and shut the door. Within 20 seconds, the shower turned on, along with an audible, "aahhhh". I chuckled to myself and unpacked my bag while pulling out a tank top and a pair of shorts. I turned on the TV while Sakura showered and watched some basketball highlights to pass the time.
"The Lakers are really building for the future here, Shaq, they have assembled a fine class of young talent, and I can't wait to see this team in 4 years," one of the guys at the desk said. As far as I was concerned, I didn't really have a favorite team in basketball, in football I was a Jaguars fan, obviously, but I didn't watch enough basketball to invest my interest into any specific team. It was fun to watch from time to time, though.
My brother's best friend, Shisui, was really into basketball, and he was really good, too. He played on the high school's varsity team for a year, but he moved away after Itachi was accused of murdering my parents. I think he went in Salt Lake City, though I wasn't sure if he was still there or not. I sat up with a jolt, maybe he knew where Itachi was! I decided that I would look him up sometime in the future and visit him to see if he knew anything as well as to check up on him. Shisui was always nice to me, so I owed him somewhat.
I heard the shower turn off so I turned the TV off and got ready to take my own shower. She stepped out, hair wet and wearing a tank top and shorts, pretty much what I was going to wear except my clothes were made for males. She looked stunning, so I averted my eyes to prevent myself from doing anything. I walked past her and closed the door. I leaned back and let out a deep breath.
"Damn," I breathed out before taking my clothes off and stepping into the shower. I washed my own spiky black hair with shampoo and conditioner before washing my body. It was a quick shower, only 3 minutes, but it did the job.
I walked out fresh and my bangs fell over my forehead and around my face like they usually did. I slipped into my black tank top and shorts. I quickly brushed my teeth and walked out right to my bed. I fell onto it face first without even putting the blanket on and instantly felt tired, but not too tired. I noticed that Sakura was nowhere in sight until I heard a creak outside. I walked out and into the black night, the stars littering the sky and the moon shining brightly. Sakura was staring at the night sky, adoring its beauty, losing herself in it even. I stood next to her, inhaling her cherry blossom scent silently while closing my eyes and focusing on the noises of the night. The crickets chirped a rhythm in perfect coalition with each other while you could hear some of the people downstairs talking. The TVs provided more background noises, I could hear the news and someone watching Spiderman 2 by us.
"I remember watching that movie a long time ago," Sakura said, still staring at the sky, "My dad took me on opening day, he was so excited, Spider-Man was his favorite ever since he was little."
"I always liked Batman," I replied.
"Figures, you're always brooding in silence, sometimes I really do wonder if you sneak off at nights and beat criminals up," she joked.
"You don't know me," I shot back.
"Uh-huh, sure, Sasuke."
"I've never met a more annoying girl," I muttered to her.
"I've never met a boy I've hated more."
"Lying is a bad habit." She went quiet after that before looking up at me and smiling.
For the first time in I don't know how long, I mirrored her smile with my own, sharing my feelings without saying a word. She laid her head on my shoulder, her damp hair cooling my bones, still sporting that smile that got me so weak. I stared up at the night sky, wondering if I should even try with her. She was too good for me, I didn't deserve someone like her, someone happy. All I was, what I represent, is nothing but pain and loss, of what a life of tragedy can do to a person. I shouldn't, I shouldn't put her through being with me, so I would enjoy being her friend, being her partner, but that was the most I could be without breaking her heart. "Let's go sleep," I whispered to her. She nodded and followed me back into the room. I laid down on my bed and turned off the lamp. "Good night, Sasuke," she said softly. "Good night, Sakura."