Chapter 12: The Distraction


Sakura felt like she had just gotten closer with Sasuke.

After all the things that happened last night, and with the things which Sasuke shared, Sakura felt that no matter how strong she guarded her heart against the idea of falling in love, she couldn't help but break those same walls only for Sasuke to enter.

She had never felt such strong feelings of affection towards another person. Even the idea of falling in love to an extremely powerful human being terrified her...

However, she saw everything with her eyes that night. She saw Sasuke's gentleness, warmth, and vulnerability; and despite how horrible his past may have been and how cold of a person he may have become, there was still a considerable amount of goodness in his heart that only she could see.

Sasuke was only hiding the pain brought by his past that's why, he too, had built an impenetrable wall around his heart... Sakura understood that, and for him, she was willing to throw her previous life away. She was willing to stay. She just had to tie some loose ends back home before she could finally settle with Sasuke like how he said he wanted.


It was after breakfast when Sakura decided to broach the topic. She followed Sasuke with her eyes as the latter was getting ready to leave.

"Uhm, Sasuke? You see… I left some important things back in Kirigakure? So if it's possible…"

"Prepare for your flight back to Mist. Your plane will be leaving at 1PM. For the meantime, you can utilize my men as you wish. You will be under their protection until your plane arrives. Good bye, Sakura."

"Huh?!"

"As for the debts which your family left back home, everything's been taken cared of."

"What?! Sasuke, wait!"

But he was already out the door before Sakura could even make a step forward. She tried to run after him but she was stopped by Sasuke's men who were guarding their bedroom door.

Wha—what the hell just happened? Did I do something wrong? Was I too full of myself? Did I get my hopes too high up? Was it a mistake for me to fall in love?

Sakura was screaming Sasuke's name. She demanded for answers, but he never made an effort to look back. Instead, she was left with a memory of his back towards her, until eventually, he disappeared.


Sasuke had just closed a business deal and was back at the family mansion with his brothers.

They were all individually wealthy enough to afford to lounge around the liquor bar in the middle of the morning when everyone should be off to work.

This was the life of a mafioso, and the five of them were lucky enough to have been adopted into such family.

"Seems to me like you didn't bring with you your little poochie." Genma teased Sasuke as he fixed himself a glass of jack and coke. Sasuke only gave him a stern look when Sai decided to answer on behalf of his brother.

"Seems to me like you're doing a lot of drinking when you should be helping out at the university."

"Puh-lease. Each of us know that we're only staying at our posts in the university in order to protect 'the prince'" Genma huffed as his eyes rolled over to Sasuke, when Naruto interrupted.

"But where is Sakura anyway? Did you leave her at home? Won't she get bored?" He asked.

"I'm sending her back." Sasuke quietly replied.

"What?!" Genma and Naruto asked in unison.

"That's a surprise." Genma said as he walked over to where Sasuke was seated and propped himself on the armchair of the sofa beside his brother.

"Why'd you send the girl back? Lousy lover? Not good enough in bed? Doesn't know how to—" Genma made a circle out of his other hand and moved it back and forth towards his face while his tongue protruded at the side of his cheek. That's when he received a resounding smack at the back of his head from Kakashi.

"Ouch! That hurt!"

"Quit bugging him. He has his reasons." Kakashi stated.

"But I thought, you…" Naruto started as he stared intently at Sasuke.

Sasuke knew what Naruto was thinking. He also thought that there was something. Hell! He thought that she was the one. Actually, Sasuke knew that she was the one. It was the reason why he was letting her go! Because she was too pure to belong to him. He'd only taint her with his hands, and Sasuke didn't want that.

But as the clock ticked closer to 1, Sasuke felt more and more restless by the minute. Was it right to let her go? Would it be selfish of him to ask her to stay? What if she realized that she made a mistake?

Sasuke saw the warmth and understanding in her eyes despite everything he did to her so far. He wasn't sure if Sakura just failed to understand that he belonged to the most powerful mafia in Konoha, and what it meant. She just simply treated him differently.

She had no ulterior motives, no deceit. She didn't ask for money, fame or power even when he could easily give it to her with a snap of his fingers-and it just made him feel things that no woman had ever made him feel before.

They simply laid in bed, basking in each other's warmth...and to Sasuke, he felt complete.

Dammit! What's happening to me?! He asked himself. Then he heard Kakashi speak.

"It's good that you're learning to get rid of the distractions in your life, Sasuke…but you know… there are instances when those things that you think are distractions…turn out to be the ones you actually need. You just never know until it's already too late."

Sasuke's gaze narrowed at Kakashi as he tried to decipher the meaning behind his words.

"Kakashi?" He called.

"Hm?"

"Can I borrow your car keys?"

Kakashi brought out his key from his pocket and threw it towards Sasuke who caught it with his left hand as he stood up. Sasuke then grabbed his coat and stormed out, leaving his brothers stupefied, except for Kakashi.

"I thought you hated the girl?" Genma suddenly asked.

"Yeah, you were even prepared to dispose of her if need be. So why?" Sai added. But Kakashi simply shook his head towards his brothers in dismay and shrugged.

"Our father had always told us to take care of the business and let it grow. Have you seen the look on our brother's face?" Kakashi asked. "Yes, the girl was a distraction. But if he didn't get her back, Sasuke would be even more distracted, and that's really bad for business."

The three other men simply shrugged as they refused to make sense of things. After all, if there was one person who knew Sasuke the most, it would be Kakashi.


A/N: For those of you who were kind enough to ask how I was during the storm, I'm happy to say that I'm fine, and so is my family. Though a part of our roof flew off, and our heavy, metal gate was knocked down by the wind (I really don't know how the wind did it. Our metal gate was removed from its hinges...), we're still fine.

#GuardianOfTheThunderStorms

Unfortunately, our city may suffer a two-week power outage because of the damage the storm has done.

Thank heavens for our generator and my mobile data!

Have a safe week everyone!


TBC