Chapter 9

Naruko was changing in the small locker room, after finishing her morning shift at the hospital, she was taking her time, waiting for Sakura to meet her, oso she could finally talk to her friend, who had looked glum all morning, barely smiling, and obviously distracted by something. Naruko didn't need to be a genius to figure out it had something to do with Sasuke, who hadn't been answering his phone for the last couple of days. His attitude concerned the blonde girl was almost tempted to go to his house, and give him an ass whooping for making everybody worry about him.She was just closing her locker, when Sakura finally walked in, letting out a sigh as she passed her, barely noticing her standing there, as she got out of her uniform, her brows knitted together as if she was deeply thinking about something, that was clearly bothering her greatly. Her lips stretched into a grim straight line, as she nervously played with a loose strand of her short pink hair, a nervous habit she had picked up as a child.Naruko closed the locker behind her, pulling her bag out, making noise on purpose, but Sakura didn't even flinch, too immersed in whatever was on her mind, that Naruko could have been flying around the room and she wouldn't have noticed, distraught as she was.Naruko gave her a questioning look, as she evaluated the best way to confront her friend, knowing Sakura, she would probably just brush her off if she asked her what the problem was so directly, so she would probably have to go around it a little bit, and get the answers out of here subtly. Yes, that was the best way she could go about it. Satisfied of her reasoning, because despite what everybody said, she wasn't as dense as she came off, and she would prove that to everyone, using her newfound sensitivity to help her best friend that was obviously in pain.Determined, she walked over to where her friend was fumbling with something into her own little cabinet, unaware of Naruko's resolve, she didn't even notice the blonde girl had moved at all, and that she was just a few steps behind her now."Sakura-chan?" Naruko called quietly , trying to get attention from the girl, voice low and soft, slightly laced with worry. Seeing as she didn't get a response, Naruko impatiently nudged the pink haired girl on her right shoulder, who finally turned to look at her, surprise clear on her face, as she met the blonde's wide blue eyes.Naruko smiled brighter once she realized she had her friend's attention, and lifted her arm to rub the back of her head with her hand, elbow up in the air, in a typical Naruko pose."Hey Sakura-chan! Are you okay?" she asked, her grin spreading wider as she rocked on her feet, unable to sit still.Sakura's eyes narrowed on the blonde for a couple of long seconds, which preoccupied the Uzumaki, who tilted her head on the side with a puzzled expression as she waited for her to say something , She finally let out a sigh and slumped her shoulders in defeat."It's obvious I guess, isn't it?" she answered, her voice slightly cracking as she spoke, avoiding the blonde's gaze, as she flicked back a strand of pink hair that had slipped from her red headband."Your face looks terrible, you look like you haven't slept for days!" so much for Naruko's sensitivity, to think that she had been doing so well.Sakura grunted hearing her friend's words, it's not like she expected anything else from the blonde, it was Naruko after all, everyone knew that she had no filters when she spoke, always saying the first thing that crossed her mind, and, to her defense, she did look like if a train had ran her over, the Uzumaki couldn't be fully blamed for pointing it out.Deciding to just ignore Naruko's dumb observations, she pulled her bag out from the locker closing it with a loud bang, and sighed, hinting for the other girl to follow her out, so they could talk on their way to the bus stop.They were out of the hospital, when she finally spoke."Sasuke doesn't answer his phone. We haven't talked since the night of his fight with his brother, and I am terribly worried for him"Sakura was obviously holding back tears, and she hid her face behind her hair on their way to the bus stop, doing her best to make it less noticeable. Naruko could tell though, and instantly felt guilty. If she hadn't forced Sasuke to go with her at the bar that night he wouldn't have met his brother."Have you tried going to his house? Maybe his phone has problems or something…" Naruko knew that she was just trying to find some excuses, she knew the Uchiha was simply ignoring everyone around him, he hadn't been answering when she called either, and she had been trying to hold herself back trying not to call him twenty times a day.

If Sasuke had really wanted to contact them he would have, and, knowing the Uchiha he was probably just sitting in his room brooding, offended and ashamed of what had happened, and had retreated into his apathetic self.Sakura nodded sadly "Yeah…he asked the cleaning lady to lie and tell me he wasn't home. I heard his voice in the background, I'm sure he doesn't know I heard him." she explained with a sigh. She knew Sasuke well enough to know that it was a lie even if she hadn't heard him, but it still hurt. She had figured that if someone could goad him to open up, it would be her, since she was the closest person to him, except for Naruko, but she wasn'thaving much success either.

"That damn Teme" Naruko groaned, unaware of Sakura's thoughts, her hands balled into fists as she felt rage towards her stubborn dumb dark haired friend,shr she had simply had enough, it had been almost two weeks now since they last heard from him.

"I'm going to drag him out of his damned room and knock some sense into his thick skull! Even if I have to knock down the gate and bring down the door!" she muttered, as she started to march in the direction of the Uchiha's mansion, but was stopped by Sakura, who unexpectedly grabbed her by the shoulder.

"No! Naruko… I know you care about Sasuke… but.. I think we should give him some more space, at least another two or three days to ponder on his feelings and on the situation , he might reach out to us on his own once he figures things out."

Naruko's eyes widened and she scowled at her friend, unhappy that she had stopped her from her intent of beating some sense into the Uchiha.

"it's already been two weeks!" the blonde protested,

"I promised that I wouldn't let him go down into his path of self destruction again! You know how's that going to end! You already told me what happened the first time!"

Sakura forced a smile, trying to reassure the blonde and give herself a little bit of strength. For how much she loved Sasuke, she knew that the best solution was to try and give him some more time, at least she hoped it was the best solution.

"You know how Sasuke is, sometimes he just needs time to think"

"Still, you shouldn't let him treat you that way, Sakura-chan! Every time something like this happens, you accept it. You should really confront him about it." the blonde sighed, too many times she had seen Sakura act this way because of Sasuke, and despite him being her best friend, she still didn't approve of the way he treated Sakura in his bad days. He would ignore her for days, and she would always justify him, ignoring her own hurt feelings. To the blonde, it was toxic, the type of relationship those two had was, well, very peculiar. Sasuke was a difficult person to be around, especially because of all his unresolved issues with his brother, and not so unveiled problems in his family.

Meeting Itachi again, after all that time, hadn't done any good to the young Uchiha, that much was obvious to the blonde, who felt a bout of anger, as she relived the fight she had witnessed between the two brothers, it was as if it was happening again, in front of her eyes.

She couldn't forget Itachi's apathetic eyes and emotionless expression during his brawl with his younger brother, or his smirk when she had confronted him outside, and the delusion she still felt when she learnt he was the same person who had saved her so many years ago, she couldn't believe it, and it had made her really want to punch that stupid smug grin off his pretty face.

He would deserve it, it was his fault if Sasuke was in that state, his actions were causing grief to both her best friends. She really hoped he could rot in hell, that's where he deserved to be. She was surprised of herself, she hardly ever hated people, always trying to find a justification or good in people, but with Itachi… she couldn't avoid but feel anger when she thought about him, especially after the other night, when he had so casually insulted her and acted as if nothing had happened.

"I know he's difficult to be with…" Sakura started, eyes watering as she thought about her black haired boyfriend, who at that moment was probably locked in his room, ignoring everything and everyone. His parents were probably too wrapped up in their own problems to bother with him, and probably hadn't even realized he was suffering. How could she give up like that and leave him face all that on his own?

It made her stomach twist in discomfort as she thought about it. She couldn't leave him alone…even if he didn't want to see her.

"You're right you know.."she suddenly said, arousing curiosity in the blonde girl, who held back a gasp, her face expressing her surprise perfectly.

"Right about what?" Naruko was confused, it was rare that someone said she was right about something, and to be honest, she had no idea what Sakura was talking about, and the pink haired girl chuckled at her funny expression.

"I should go see Sasuke" she explained with a smile, and the other girl opened her mouth in understanding as if wanting to say something before shutting it again to give Sakura one of those heartwarming smiles of hers that could lit up a room.

"I knew you would do the right thing Sakura-chan, just let me know how things work out" she said, holding back the impulse to offer her help. It's not like she didn't want to go see Sasuke, actually, she really wanted to go to give him a well deserved punch in the face, but, she knew that this was the time to step back and let Sakura deal with the moody Uchiha, she could always punch Sasuke later, once the air between him and the pink haired girl was cleared.

"You don't mind waiting for the bus on your own do you?" Sakura asked, she felt slightly guilty for abandoning her friend, but she couldn't wait another minute, scared that she would lose her determination to pull through with her plans, Naruko, on the other side, was sure of Sakura's success.

"Not a problem, it should be here any minute now anyway, go to your Sasuke-kun, and tell the bastard to call me when he's done being a asshole"

The blonde answered with her typical grin and Sakura blushed at Naruko teasing her, using the formal way she used to adress Sasuke before they got together.

With a bit of a frown, she shared a quick hug with the blonde before running off to where her own car was parked.

Naruko waved with her free hand as she slipped the other into the pocket of her purse, fishing for her phone so she could check the time. The bus was running late, it was hot that day, and she couldn't wait to get home to eat something and rest for a couple of hours, before heading out to work again.

She huffed, her stomach was rumbling and her legs were bothering her, and she wished she could sit down on the edge of the burning hot sidewalk. Sweat was starting to stick to her orange t-shirt, and she wished she had asked Sakura to give her a ride home.

"It's so hot!" she groaned, wiping a layer of sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, wishing she had brought with her a bottle of water, she was getting thirsty standing under the hot sun, and started fanning herself with a piece of paper she had in hand. It helped relieve the heat a little bit, and she was so engrossed in what she was doing, she didn't realize someone was calling her until

she felt someone tap their fingers softly on her left shoulder.

She froze, turning around so quickly she barely tripped but luckily this person grabbed her by the shoulders steadying her.

Naruko was grateful for that, she would have really hated to fall on her face.

She finally raised her gaze, to see who had scared

her to death and saved her at the same time, and blinked when she met worried sea foam color eyes looking back at her, and she took a breath, as she recognized the guy she had met not too long ago at Ichiraku's, and suddenly Sakura, Sasuke and everything that had been going on slipped to the back of her mind.

"Gaara?" she blinked again, surprised she could even remember his name, usually she didn't have very good memory.

"Are you all right? I didn't mean to scare you"

He looked mortified, and Naruko felt sorry for her outburst,

"I'm so sorry, I called you and-" he tried to continue but she chuckled, covering her mouth with her hand.

"No need to apologize, see? I'm ok! I should actually thank you for keeping me on my feet!" she smiled brightly rubbing the back of her neck with a hand, which made both of them notice his hands were still gripping her shoulders.

Realizing his mistake, Gaara immediately pulled off with a murmured sorry, and cleared his throat to fill the awkward silence, looking down, towards his shoes.

"After I almost made you trip" he precised shyly, but blonde just stared at him with a raised eyebrow, wanting nothing more than to forget the almost accident

"So… what were you doing around here?" Naruko could feel the tension coming from the boy, so, she decided to break it, and get him out of his reverie.

"Oh… my brother Kankuro lives close by, he's working right now so I was about to go and look for somewhere where I could get some lunch" he explained with his quiet tone, and just a slight hint of a shy smile.

His voice really had a soothing ring to it, he seemed so calm as he spoke, despite his face and body showing that he was everything but.

"Oh, there's a very good restaurant close by you should really go there and try! Or the ramen place is close by, you know, the one where we met!" she suggested, she was so hungry herself, she was actually drooling just thinking about food, and her stomach decided to make everyone aware of it rumbling loudly.

Embarrassed, Naruko blushed up to the tip of her ears, trying to hide her shame with a nervous grin

"Sorry….I didn't eat much today" she rubbed her flat belly as she said so, hoping Gaara wouldn't notice how truly famished she was.

"You didn't have lunch either?"he asked, looking down at her with a concerned expression, that made her feel weird, and her cheeks probably felt like they were burning up because of that look.

"Uhmm… no, not really, I just finished working actually…"

she explained as she fiddled with her fingers, kicking herself mentally for feeling conscious about herself so suddenly. Usually she didn't care much about her looks, but now, she wished she had at least checked her appearance in a mirror before leaving the hospital,

Gaara though didn't seem to mind, he found her beautiful with her unruly hair and blue eyes shining so bright they could probably lit up a room.

Her eyes widened and her expression turned into a serious one as she thought hardly about something, and Gaara could only patiently wait for her to speak up again. He wasn't good with casual conversation, especially when it concerned the opposite sex.

"We should go together! You still haven't had lunch and neither did I"

Gaara blushed, as he stared wide eyed at the excited girl, just slightly ashamed of not having thought about inviting her himself.

"I'm not taking no as an answer" she cleared with a small wink and a toothy grin, and he could only nod not really sure of what to answer.

"O-of course" he finally said, rousing another bout of excitement from the blonde who immediately grabbed his right hand and dragged him behind her towards the small ramen stand. Apparently it was all the confirmation she had needed and Gaara could only smile at her enthusiasm, it was terribly contagious after all.

"Good! We will have fun! Believe it!"

Sakura was in front of the Uchiha's gate, just staring at it, unsure of how to proceed from here.

She had felt so sure of how to handle the situation earlier with Naruko, but now that she was here, all her confidence she had felt had vanished.

The truth was, that she had hoped that giving Sasuke space, he would be the one to reach for help when he was ready to talk, and she would have been ready

To listen to anything and help him the best way she could. Unfortunately though, Sasuke didn't work that way, and maybe for once her blonde friend had been right. Sasuke needed to be shaken up, to be pulled out from that abyss he had let himself drown in.

The problem was, that she wasn't sure she could be the person to do so. She couldn't understand what Sasuke was feeling. Her life hadn't been marked by tragedy, unlike Sasuke's and Naruko's. Her family was overbearing and maybe a little extravagant, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Naruko having gone through a much tougher path than even Sasuke, could empathize with him in a way that she couldn't.

"Maybe this was a mistake…"

She bit her bottom lip, for once she wished she really listened to her friend, although she couldn't hide behind the blonde forever, she needed to be stronger, and be the one to face Sasuke.

"Sakura?"

The pink haired girl gasped hearing her name, and turned towards the source of the voice, blinking at the beatiful black haired woman who was smiling sweetly at her.

"Mrs Uchiha?" She asked, her eyebrows shooting up for the surprise, she should have probably expected to meet Sasuke's mother in front of the family's ouse.

The woman tilted her head to the side, her soft motherly smile still on her thin lips, and made her way towards the gate, pulling out a key from her purse , and only then did Sakura notice she was holding grocery bags in her other hand.

"It's nice to meet you here, come in, It will be good for Sasuke to see you"

She invited her in with a soft nod of her head, her expression gentle, but Sakura could see the wrinkles on her forehead that indicated her worry.

"Of course, let me help you with those bags, Mrs Uchiha"

She walked up to her and took some of the bags from her hands, the woman letting her do so without protest.

"Maybe you can tell me the reason why Sasuke has been acting so… well, he's been very depressed lately"

Mikoto sighed as she opened the door to the house, walking through it quickly, Sakura behind her, trying to figure out her thoughts, and especially how to explain the situation to the woman. She wasn't surprised Sasuke hadn't said anything , but how could she tell to

Sasuke's mother that the reason why her younger son was acting so strangely was that Itachi, who she believed to be innocent and still the gentle boy she had raised, had beaten him up for no reason? Making him relive the terrible experience of four years ago?

This wasn't going to be easy at all.