Upside-Down

TK Grimm

Chapter Ten:

The End of Perfection

Sakura groaned, crossing her arms on the desk to make a pillow for her aching head. "Ow…"

Sasori sighed, looking through one of the desk's drawers to find the bottle of Advil. "This is what happens when you drink," he said as serenely as ever. "I hope you learned your lesson."

"Yeah," Sakura said, rubbing her head miserably. "No more freaky lime things with Ino. I don't remember anything from last night at all…"

Sasori found the bottle and handed Sakura two painkillers. "Now you see why I didn't go." Sakura gratefully accepted the pills and swallowed them with the help of her glass of water. "It'll take about fifteen minutes for them to start working."

"Thanks, Sasori," Sakura said, offering him a weak smile. "You're a life savor." She slumped back in her seat and propped her head up with her hands, her elbows on the desk. "I can't believe Deidara doesn't have a hangover… I could have sworn he had something to drink last night."

"He probably has a higher resistance than you do," Sasori mentioned, putting the bottle away. "Besides… I can't imagine eight drinks of green apple tequila could leave you completely unaffected."

"Good point," Sakura sighed. "Ugh, I feel so… dirty. I took an extra long shower today and then Deidara got pissy because there wasn't any hot water." She put her hands on the desk in a slightly irritated manner. "Kisame better have had a good birthday for all this trouble." Sasori smiled, patting her on the head once and then headed upstairs to the art room.

Sakura opened the file folder for that day and started inputting the data on the computer. It was exceedingly difficult to concentrate with the feeling of leprechauns doing in Irish jig inside her brain. The door opened, causing the little bells to chime. Sakura looked in that direction and saw Hinata walk inside. Sakura managed a smile and stood up, waving her over.

"H-hey, Sakura," Hinata said in her usual quiet tone. "How are you feeling? Ino told me about your drinking thing last night…"

"I'll survive," Sakura said weakly. "What's up, Hinata? Don't you work today?"

"Yes… I took my lunch break early," she explained. "I was going to ask about a painting, but, well, I had a question for you, too…" Sakura tilted her head to the side slightly, waiting for Hinata to continue. "I mean… well, do you know what's happening on your birthday, S-Sakura?"

Sakura shook her head once, "No, I thought you and Ino were planning everything."

"N-no… about Sasuke, do you, um, do you know what he's doing for you?"

"No…" Sakura raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Do you?"

"N-no!" Hinata said, panic clear in her voice.

Sakura took a step closer to her, "Hinata, come on… you can tell me. We tell each other everything. Please?"

"I can't!" Hinata backed towards the door. "I-I promised I wouldn't… S-Sakura just… think it over before you make any decisions… okay?"

Sakura gave Hinata a look of confusion, "Decisions? What do you mean?"

"I-it's nothing!" Hinata assured. "Um… I've got to go!"

"Wait, what about the painting?"

"I'll call back later!" Without another word, Hinata hurried out the door, leaving a stunned and confused Sakura just standing there.

She heard steps walking down the stairs and turned to see Deidara coming towards her, looking through a tan folder. "Hey, chick, can you put this in the computer for me? Finally finished that bird upstairs so I can sell it."

"O-oh," Sakura said, accepting the folder. "S-sure thing."

Deidara looked at her strangely for a moment. "You okay, yeah?"

"Err… yeah, I'm fine," Sakura replied. She walked back towards the front desk and sat down, setting Deidara's folder on top of the other one. She glanced at Deidara, seeing he wasn't convinced, and put her hand to her head. "Just still feeling the effects of all that alcohol," she said miserably.

Deidara chuckled lightly and walked over, leaning on the desk as he looked at her. "And whose fault is that?"

"Ino's?" Deidara shook his head, grinning. Sakura sighed, "Mine…" She gave him an accusing look, "How come you're not as miserable as me! You had a lot to drink, too!"

"Not nearly as much as you, yeah," Deidara pointed out. "I'd like to think eight glasses of tequila is a bit more potent than two beers."

Sakura moaned in her misery, begging for her hangover to just go away. "You're not helping…"

"Did you take anything?"

"Sasori gave me two Advil," she informed, giving him a pathetic smile. It slowly changed to a goofy expression that made Deidara raise an eyebrow. "I have the strangest feeling I had a dream about you last night, but I can't remember what it was about. I think we were on the couch again and like fell off or something."

Deidara's expression immediately turned into slight panic. He quickly masked it with a nervous laugh, "You sure love to dream about me, don't you, yeah?"

Sakura playfully punched him in the arm. "Don't flatter yourself," she teased. That was when she remembered, "Oh, yeah. Hinata stopped by a few minutes ago and mentioned something about my birthday. Do you know if Sasuke's planning to do something? Hinata gave me the whole 'I promised not to tell!' thing."

Deidara frowned slightly but quickly plastered a fake smile on his face. "I'm not exactly Sasuke's buddy, cherry chick. I wouldn't know."

Sakura sighed, "Oh, all right. I guess I'll just have to wait and see."

"Yeah…"

Deidara closed the door to the art room and leaned his back against it, blue eyes glued to the floor. Sasori looked at him for a while, a hidden suspicion of what was going on, but said nothing of it. The blonde walked over and sat down cross-legged in front of him. "That Uchiha brat is gonna propose to Sakura."

Sasori's face remained completely impassive as he took in this information. "I see. When?"

"On her birthday… yeah."

"Well, I'll have to congratulate her," Sasori said.

Deidara scowled, "How do you know she'll even say yes?"

The slightest of smiles crossed Sasori's lips. "Does she have any reason not to?"

This shut him up for a while. Deidara searched his mind for a reply to that that could make the conversation turn back in his favor, but couldn't come up with anything. After a few more moments of silence, he turned away. "No." Without another word, Deidara returned to his side of the room and started molding clay into something. He didn't know or care what he was making; he just had to do something.

"How are you doing now that you've quit smoking?" Sasori asked casually, making a few new brush strokes with the mountain painting. It was almost complete.

"Surviving," Deidara grumbled. "Sakura's got me on those stupid patch things, yeah."

"Is it working?"

"For the most part," he replied half-heartedly. "I haven't touched a cigarette since."

Sasori looked at him, an unreadable expression on his face. It amazed him to no end how oblivious some people could be of their own feelings and yet insist that they know everything. Without another word, he returned to his painting, again choosing not to interfere.

"Hey, guys!" Sakura said, sitting down in her usual spot at the café. It was March 26th, a week and a day after Kisame's party. Ino and Hinata greeted her with smiles. Rather than meet for breakfast, they met after work. A waitress soon appeared, taking their orders and heading back to the counter. As they waited, Sakura's mind reflected back on the past week.

She had been spending more time with Sasuke, which was certainly nice. It was difficult at times, too, because she had to constantly ignore the suspicion that he was hiding something. Whatever it was, she could never figure out.

Deidara had been acting stranger lately as well. It didn't bother her at first, but it was getting weird. He seemed a lot more distracted than he used to be, smiling and joking with her a bit less. Whenever she asked him if he was all right, he just smiled and told her not to worry. During their free time, they watched movies on the couch in their usual spots or played pointless little games to pass the time. He was still fun, but something was occupying his mind, Sakura was sure of it. Sakura never found out what it was, though.

Hinata was acting differently, too. Sakura was sure that she and Ino knew something she didn't, but whenever she pressed the issue, Ino denied it and Hinata insisted she couldn't tell after apologizing dozens of times. Every other day, Hinata would talk to her and remind her not to make any rash decisions without thinking about it, but that only served to make Sakura even more curious.

The waitress returned with their drinks, and as they sweetened them, Sakura was the first to speak. "Well, my birthday is this Friday. That's in two days. I want you two to tell me what's going on."

Hinata immediately looked away towards the window so she wouldn't have to make eye-contact. Ino, however, held strong in front of her best friend. Instead of going in denial like she usually did when the topic came up, Ino shrugged. "Exactly. You'll find out in two days. In the meantime, we need to talk."

Sakura accepted that for the moment. Ino's tone of voice suggested that what she needed to talk to her about was important, so Sakura decided that she would mention the birthday thing later. "All right. What's on your mind?"

"How do you feel about Deidara?"

Sakura promptly dropped her sugar package in her coffee. "Damn it," she cursed, getting her spoon and fishing it out. As she tried again to sweeten her drink, she said, "He's a really great friend."

"That's not what I asked," Ino said, her voice showing that she wasn't backing down. "Saying how you feel doesn't count as cheating on Sasuke, so just let it all out. You've been holding it in way too long."

Sakura clenched the sugar packet in her hand tightly, her green eyes glaring at Ino. She counted to ten in her head and resumed her sweetening process, calming herself down. "What do you want to hear?"

"The truth." This time, it wasn't Ino. Beside her, Hinata was looking at her, determination showing through her usually shy pale eyes. "Just say how you feel, Sakura…"

"I care about Deidara…" Sakura said softly, pouring the small amount of sugar from the packet into her coffee. "He's very important to me; I'm at the point where I can't imagine him not being there. Happy now?" She sighed, setting the wrapper in a small pile with the others. "But I can't love him… I can't love Deidara. I love Sasuke, not Deidara."

"Are you sure you don't love Deidara?" Ino asked. Her voice wasn't stern; she was just asking a question.

"I can't," Sakura said, slowly stirring her coffee. "Sasuke means so much to me… I can't lose him."

"But what if you lose Deidara?"

Sakura unlocked the door to her apartment and walked in slowly, hanging up her coat on the rack to her right. Deidara was sitting on the couch, watching some MTV Rock Music Video Countdown. Sakura saw him sitting there, feeling her heart begin to tie itself in knots. She slipped out of her shoes and walked over, sitting next to him in her usual spot.

"Hey, chick," Deidara said in his usual cheerful voice. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and said, "Just in time, yeah. I can continue Operation Brainwash-Sakura-Into-Becoming-A-Rocker."

Sakura chuckled, resting her head on his shoulder. "If you turn me into a rocker, I'm cutting your hair shorter than mine."

Deidara glanced at her with a raised eyebrow, "You wouldn't dare…"

"Yeah, I know," she said in a teasing voice, twirling a few blonde locks around her finger. She frowned slightly, remembering what her friends had talked to her about after work. "Deidara…?"

"Yeah?" Sakura felt her eyes start to water, so she took a deep breath and blinked several times to keep the tears from falling. Deidara saw she was about to cry and immediately set the remote control down, turning to face her. "Hey, whoa, wait a minute, what's wrong?"

"I'm sorry," Sakura said immediately. "It's nothing; I-I'm fine." She looked up at him with the most convincing smile she could muster. "Don't worry. If it was serious, I would tell you." He stared at her for a while, contemplating her answer in his mind. Finally, he seemed satisfied and resumed watching the Metallica video on the television.

Sakura took hold of his left hand in both of hers, absent-mindedly playing with his fingers. Deidara vaguely registered what was going on, but didn't say anything. She smiled slightly, running her index finger down his and around his hand, giggling when he shivered. She locked her fingers with his, smiling sadly when he did the same. I don't want to lose you…

She felt her heart start to break.

But I can't lose Sasuke, either…

Thursday came and went. Sakura spent Wednesday and Thursday nights crying in her room. Deidara heard her and came in, not bothering to knock. Both times, he hugged her and offered support. He didn't ask what was bothering her or making her cry. Sakura was aware that he didn't know, but all the same, he never asked. He knew she wouldn't tell him. They stayed there for hours until Sakura finally managed to fall asleep. Deidara would put a blanket over her and turn out her light before going to his room and trying to fall asleep himself.

Now it was Friday, and after two nights of barely any sleep, Sakura didn't feel her usual happy self. She looked in the mirror in her room and couldn't even manage a smile. Come on, Sakura, she thought. It's your birthday! Smile!

There was a soft knock on her door, so Sakura walked over and opened it. Deidara looked down at her; he wasn't smiling either. He was checking on her, making sure she was all right. Neither one of them needed to say anything. Their actions and facial expressions spoke for them. Without warning, Sakura wrapped her arms around Deidara, holding onto him tightly for support. He immediately hugged her back, but still didn't say anything.

Sakura didn't cry. She had been doing enough of that the past two nights for the both of them. Deidara never intruded on her privacy and asked what was wrong, and for that, she was grateful. She couldn't tell him she was crying because she had to choose between him and Sasuke. The thought that helped her pick Sasuke was the fact that Deidara wasn't interested in a relationship with her.

Ino and Hinata constantly told her otherwise; every time they were together, they would tell Sakura just that. And every time, she told them it was impossible and that Deidara deserved better. When she asked about her birthday plans the day before, Ino told her that Sasuke would have her busy all day doing something with him. She said that she and Hinata would celebrate it with her by going out to eat on Saturday instead.

Sakura pulled away at last and finally smiled at Deidara. "Thank you…" she said softly. "You have no idea how much you help me… in everything. I don't know what I'd do without you, Dei."

Deidara hesitated, but nodded after a while. He took her hand and led her down the hall. "Let's get some breakfast, yeah?"

"Okay. What sounds good?"

"You're not gonna cook on your birthday," he said, looking at her like she were crazy. "I'm taking you out for breakfast… yeah."

Sakura chuckled, letting him lead her to the entryway. "All right," she gave in, slipping on her shoes. "Where to?" she asked as she put on her white coat.

"Definitely not a place where you can fall or some other klutzy thing."

"Hey!" The two of them settled on a family-oriented restaurant. To Sakura's delight, Deidara took her to the non-smoking section. Her mind reflected back on the day he had quit smoking; she wondered if her influence in that matter had anything to do with it.

After placing their orders, the two of them looked at each other with similar expressions. Deidara was resting his chin on his hand with his elbow on the table, grinning at her like he usually did. Sakura's hands were in her lap, and she gave him her sweet smile. Finally, Deidara broke the silence, "So… do you want your present now or later, yeah?"

Stopping herself from saying 'now' Sakura instead turned to modesty. "Oh, come on… you didn't have to get me anything…" Deidara raised an eyebrow, silently telling her the act wasn't working, so she shrugged and grinned. "Can I have it now? Please, please, please?"

He chuckled, "Well it is your birthday…"

"Uh-huh…" she sang happily.

With a defeated sigh, he said, "Oh, all right, yeah." Deidara reached under the table and brought up a white rectangular box that he set in front of Sakura.

Sakura gave him a quizzical look and then opened it slowly, peeking inside. Her eyes widened, and she quickly took the lid off and set it next to her. From the box, she pulled out a long black trench coat with an all-too-familiar red cloud design. It was the same one Deidara and Sasori had. "Oh, wow!" she exclaimed, running her fingers over the cloud design. "I've always wanted one of these for myself!"

Deidara smirked, "I had a feeling. Anyway, you'd better hope one of your friends gets you a new purse, yeah. You need it."

"Gee thanks," Sakura giggled, even if she knew it was true. She carefully folded the coat back up and set the white box beside her. "Thank you," she said, smiling at him. He returned their smile, and they stayed like that for a while, just gazing into each other's eyes, perfectly comfortable.

Sakura met Sasuke at their favorite restaurant after work. They picked a booth and sat facing each other. Sakura was smiling happily, excited to maybe find out about this mysterious thing for her birthday. On the other hand, Sasuke seemed to be fidgeting with something. "Are you all right?" Sakura asked with a light chuckle.

"Err… yeah, I'm fine," Sasuke replied, putting both of his hands on the table. "How has your day been so far?"

"Really great!" Sakura said happily. "People kept calling me every few minutes and wishing me a happy birthday!"

"That's great," he said, smiling at her. The waitress stopped by long enough to take their orders before heading to the kitchens. Sasuke looked at his glass of wine, a stoic expression adorning his face. Sakura wanted to ask what was on his mind, but wasn't sure if it was work-related or not. She didn't like to press work issues.

On second thought, perhaps it wouldn't kill her to ask him. "Sasuke? What's up?"

"It's nothing," Sasuke said quickly, returning his midnight blue gaze to her. "Your friends get you anything today besides that coat?" He absent-mindedly gestured to the black trench coat Sakura was wearing.

She blushed slightly but quickly recovered, "Sasori gave me this beautiful mountain painting that I wanted for a long time; it was really nice. Oh, and Temari stopped by to give me this," Sakura showed Sasuke the charm bracelet Temari got her. "I haven't seen Ino and Hinata yet. We're going to lunch tomorrow for my birthday. They did call though."

Sasuke nodded in approval, "I see."

Sakura looked towards the ground, subconsciously wiggling her toes for a moment. She bit her lower lip in concentration, trying to think of something else they could talk about while they waited for their food to get there. Sasuke wasn't exactly an easy conversationalist. "So… how was work?" You could have done better than that, she scolded.

"Manageable," Sasuke replied with ease. "I was able to get the big things done earlier so by the time my shift ended, I could leave without too much fuss. Karin told me to wish you a happy birthday on her behalf as well."

Sakura looked at him with a fake smile plastered on her face. She hoped her tone didn't sound forced, "Oh, that's… nice of her."

"I agree," Sasuke said, seemingly unperturbed by Sakura's tone of voice as he casually took a sip of wine. Their food arrived, and they ate in mostly silence. Every so often, Sakura would bring up a simple topic of conversation, but whatever she could think of would end within minutes.

When their meal was finished, Sakura contemplated on desserts while Sasuke again fidgeted with the small box in his pocket. Sakura looked at his hand from the corner of her eye, wondering what it was he was holding. With a sigh, she set down the dessert menu and looked at him. "Sasuke, are you sure you're all right? You've been… I don't know, distracted all night. And you keep messing with something in your pocket!"

Sasuke masked his emotions quickly and looked into Sakura's eyes, mentally contemplating something. To her utmost surprise, he spontaneously said, "I love you."

Sakura blinked several times before reaching over and gently taking hold of his free hand. "I love you, too; you know that. Sasuke, if there's something bothering you, please tell me what it is."

"There's nothing bothering me," he told her. "Not anymore. Sakura… we've been together for a little over a year now, but that's more than enough time to help me make this decision." Sakura froze; was he doing what she thought he was doing? Before she could contemplate further, he continued.

"We've been through a lot, the two of us. Sure, we don't agree on everything and have our moments, but who doesn't? Sakura, I've never been more sure of anything in my life…" Sakura's eyes widened when Sasuke finally revealed the small black box he had been holding with his other hand. "And… I want us to stay together… forever." He opened the lid, revealing the most expensive, sparkling diamond ring she had ever seen.

Sakura's green eyes were glued to the ring in absolute shock. Her mind didn't register anything else Sasuke said, much less the fact that she had finally found out what Ino and Hinata had been refusing to tell her for the past few days. Her cheeks were tinged with crimson as she brought her trembling left hand up. "I want nothing more… than to stay with you forever…" she managed to whisper.

Sasuke smirked at last, his signature look, and carefully slid the engagement ring on Sakura's left ring finger.

Ino's teal gaze slowly drifted past Hinata to Deidara. Deidara was sitting on the floor in the art room, molding clay into some lopsided object. She was certain he didn't have a clue – nor a care – as to what he was doing. Hinata was sitting on her knees beside him, watching with a look of admiration. Every so often, she noticed Sasori's amber gaze wander to his partner and then back to his scorpion. However, the room was mostly quiet.

Ino sat down between Deidara and Sasori, leaning back on her hands as she looked towards the ceiling. "I wonder if she'll say yes," she thought out loud. From the corner of her eye, she saw Deidara's thumb accidentally sink into the clay. His facial expression remained impassive; his thoughts were elsewhere.

Hinata tried her hardest to keep a pleasant smile on her face and opted for changing the subject. "I'm glad you guys let us come up here a-after work…"

Ino nodded in agreement, "Yeah, it's neat, really. Seeing all the things you guys do here and stuff."

"It's no problem," Sasori said, carefully detailing the back of the scorpion with a carving knife. He glanced at Ino briefly before returning to his work, "You haven't spoken with Sakura then?"

She shook her head, looking at him. "No, I haven't. I'm expecting a phone call any time now; she always tells Hinata and I everything first."

"To be expected," Sasori replied nonchalantly.

Hinata looked from Ino and Sasori to Deidara, who was trying to fix his mistake with the clay sculpture. He hadn't said anything since they got there, but as she thought on it she didn't expect him to, either. Her pale eyes wandered back to Ino, who was watching Sasori carve into the wooden scorpion as if it were as simple as combing one's hair.

Ino was quiet for a while before she finally asked, "How has she been the last few days?" The question was directed towards Deidara. "We saw her for breakfast a couple times, but for some reason, she feels the need to act strong in front of us."

Deidara's hands stopped for a moment, his gaze staring at the clay before he finally resumed shaping it. "She's been crying," he said after another pause, his usual 'yeah' absent.

Hinata put her hand to her chest, all traces of a smile replaced with a look of sadness. "Why?"

"I didn't ask."

"It should be obvious," Ino said, sitting up straight. She crossed her legs and looked at a particular unfinished painting of the ocean on a canvas towards the back of the room. "She cried out of confusion." There was a pause before she continued, aware that she was the only one who understood. "I've known Sakura since we were four. She thinks she can hide things from me by putting up a strong façade and whatnot, but I know her better than anyone else." Tilting her head to the side, she looked at Deidara, who hesitantly met her gaze. "Sakura cried because she has feelings for both you and Sasuke."

A lot of things happened at the same time after she said that. Hinata's gaze averted to the floor. Deidara's mouth opened, looking at Ino shocked and surprised. Sasori momentarily paused from the scorpion to look at her with a blank expression. To top it off, Ino's phone rang. The ring tone was Kelly Clarkson's 'Breakaway.' She answered it with a simple, "Hey, Forehead! Sap?"

The room was extremely quiet, but Ino had faint traces of a pretend smile on her face. "Oh, he did, did he?" There was a pause. Sakura was presumably speaking. "Yeah, Hinata and I knew about it." Another pause. "Well, what did you say?"

Two seconds later, Ino dropped her phone. When it hit the ground, the back opened, causing the battery to tumble out of it, effectively shutting it off. Her eyes were slightly widened, and her lips were parted.

Words were unnecessary.

Sakura hastily opened the door to her apartment and shut it. Quickly slipping out of her shoes and hanging up her new coat, she rushed over to the couch and wrapped her arms around Deidara. "He proposed!" she exclaimed, out of breath from haste and excitement.

"Congratulations," Deidara said, trying his hardest to make his tone sound convincing. He kept his blue eyes on the television set, knowing he couldn't handle too much of Sakura, especially that night. From everything that had happened, he knew she would say yes. But now that she actually had, it was still a shock.

Sakura pulled away, noticing three important details. One, Deidara kept his eyes on the TV and didn't even look at her. Two, he didn't hug her back. Three, though she didn't want to sound nitpicking, his tone didn't sound all that happy for her. She sat down next to him but turned to face him, "Deidara, what's going on?"

"Nothing, yeah," he replied, still not looking at her. If there was a list of things he couldn't deal with at that exact moment, Sakura would be at the very top.

Naturally, Sakura was completely confused. Feeling her temper rise slightly, she tried to push it back down but found it difficult to control. Why couldn't he be happy for her? It was her birthday and now, she was engaged. Feeling frustrated, she took the remote control from his hand and turned the TV off, dropping the controller on the floor.

Deidara stared at the blank screen for a while before finally turning his eyes towards her. He still didn't smile. He just sat there, waiting for whatever else it was that she wanted to say.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Sakura asked, completely bewildered as to why he was acting that way.

"Nothing."

"That's a lie!" He finally turned his head and faced her, his facial expression stoic. When he looked at her that way, it reminded her of when she first saw him after so long in his old apartment. He didn't recognize her then, and looked at her with this look on his face that told he didn't give a damn about anything anymore. "Why can't you be happy for me?" she asked, voicing her previous thoughts.

Deidara's facial expression remained plain and he shrugged. That was the only answer she got: a simple shrug.

"Why won't you say anything? You're acting like you don't even care…" she said, her tone softer as she turned her gaze to the floor. There was a pause, and her green eyes turned back to him, again angry. "You don't give a damn about anything, do you?"

At this, Deidara scowled, clenching the leather on the couch in his fist. "Don't start that with me, Sakura. You have no idea."

"Do I?"

His temper was finally gone. From the look on Sakura's face, hers wouldn't last another comment, either. "That's right! You have no damn idea, so shut your mouth!"

"I come home expecting you to be happy for me on my birthday and you can't even do that?" she yelled. "You're acting like a heartless bastard, Deidara! What are you talking about, 'I have no idea' anyway? I say I have idea enough for the both of us, damn it!"

Deidara grabbed her wrists, forcing her to maintain eye-contact. "You think its easy being around you all the time when you're with him? You think I like seeing you come home excited because you're marrying that bastard?"

Sakura's free hand flew over her open mouth. Unable to think of anything else, she only managed a soft, harsh whisper. "What?"

Deidara stood up and walked towards the kitchen, running an agitated hand through his hair. "Damn it…"

Sakura quickly got up and followed him. "What are you talking about?" she demanded.

"Why the hell are you with him, anyway?" Deidara asked, turning around to face her. "He treats you like shit! How many times have you come crying to me because of something Sasuke's done?"

"Who are you to criticize my relationship like that? It's none of your goddamned business!"

"Obviously not!" Deidara said bitterly. "I guess you just like being treated like shit. So tell me, Sakura, out of curiosity, why do you stay with him? I'm sure it's not because he makes you cry every night!"

"Because I love him, damn it!" Sakura retorted, trying her hardest not to cry out of frustration. She slammed her hands on the table for emphasis. "Why the hell do you care, then? What do you care if I cry so much because of him?"

"Because whether you want to believe it or not, I'm in love with you, Sakura!" There was a quick pause in which Sakura's eyes widened and she stared at Deidara in shock. "That's why I didn't want to move in with you! That's why I hate it when you cry for him! THAT is why it's so fucking hard to be happy for you right now!"

Sakura's hand covered her mouth, two tears finally falling down. This whole time… and she never knew. Her gaze drifted to the engagement ring on her finger for a few seconds. No… no, I'm in love with Sasuke. Sasuke. She slowly looked back at Deidara and with a quivering voice said words neither of them wanted to hear.

"I… I think you should leave for a while. You can get your stuff now or tomorrow… but you need to leave."