A/N: Hey, every one this chapter is short but will leave a bit of spoilers so you have been warned. Hope you won't kill me. Please R n R.

Chapter 2: The Stars Will Cry For Me

That night, she dreamt about the things she kept dreaming about ever since the day Naruto and Sasuke returned. The dream that kept plaguing her subconscious until she never wanted to sleep but she was human and she needed to sleep. And every night she fought to keep awake but it was hopeless. Again and again, she kept seeing their return and…

The all-too-familiar scene again played in her dream

As the gate of Konoha opened, she saw people she cared about the most. Two ninjas supported each other as they entered the gates. "Sasuke…Naruto." She cried as she ran towards them. There were just no words when the three of them were reunited. Sakura just kept on crying as she hugged the both of them. "Sakura, I've completed my promise," Naruto said that with a grin but his smile was way different from before. Naruto? What's wrong? She kept that thought as they struggled to get to the hospital.

She kept visiting them everyday. The three almost forgot the past and somehow things were back to the way it was before Orochimaru even came to their lives. Soon Sasuke and Naruto were released from the hospital and started to train once again. The team 7 has been reformed and that almost made her the happiest person in the world except.

"Sasuke…" Sakura said as he approached him while he's training. And of course, the Uchiha protégé stopped. "I… what I want to say is that… um ever since you left… I" Sakura stammered. "You still feel the same way. Is that what you're trying to say? That you love me?" Sasuke replied calmly. The tension was so thick you can cut it with a knife. "Sakura…you are more than a friend," he said as he looked at her with an expression in his eyes that she never ever wanted to see again. "Because I treat you as my sister, but… I'm sorry that can never change." Sasuke apologized. "People change and I'm sure if you give me enough time. You see me the way I see you. I can be strong. I promise I can." She pleaded. "It's not that Sakura. It's not the strength that matters. You're smart you must know that. Sakura, I love you but only as a sister and that can never change. No matter how you try," Sasuke said as he looked at her with pity in his eyes. Upon seeing his eyes, she fled to the one person that she knew could help her, understand her and comfort her… to Naruto.

She stared at Naruto's apartment door for the longest time. "Sakura?" Naruto has just arrived from somewhere. When she heard him, she immediately embraced the blond shinobi but she didn't cry. "Naruto!" "What's wrong, Sakura?" he asked as he led her inside his apartment. "Naruto, what's wrong? Why are you like that ever since you came home?" Sakura asked to keep herself from crying. "Why are you asking me when it was you who came into my apartment?" Naruto said almost coldly. "Naruto?" "Listen, Sakura… I know I could never be like Sasuke in your eyes and I now I never will. I'm just trying to well… I'm adjusting. When I keep seeing you or even calling you with familiarity, I could never move on." Then it happened again.

Naruto? Why are you looking at me like that…it's the same as Sasuke's eyes a while ago? What's wrong? Is it me? Say something, damn it! Sakura stared long and deep into Naruto's eyes trying to find the answers that will never come. Then she forced a smile "I see… I was thinking of something else. He he," she forced a laugh. "Sakura, I and Hinata are here if ever you need a… friend…" Naruto tried to reassure her. He and Hinata then the two of them are… "But it's not a friend I need…You know ever since you left I've been worried about Sasuke but most especially about you. You know, I came to your apartment to tell you that Sasuke dumped me. And the funny thing is that it didn't hurt as much as I imagined it would but when you dumped me…" Sakura continued. "I didn't dump you…" Naruto tried to rationalize. "Naruto, I didn't imagine the pain could be this unbearable. Considering the fact that I think I'm not even in love with you…" Sakura said as she again fled.

Naruto didn't follow her as he always did. Half of her wanted him to follow, her other half wanted him not because even if she denies it, she loves him. From Sasuke's revelation to Naruto's rejection, she held her tears until her eyes hurt, she bit her lip so hard that it bled so that she would not sob, whimper or anything that showed her weakness. That night, she told her parents that she would be training in the mountains for a while. And as soon as she heard their approval, she sprinted out of the village. Running as fast as she could away from the village that caused her too much pain, she ran for hours until her body couldn't take it any longer. She stopped…panting. Damn it! I'm too weak even to run this much! She laid her hand in one of the trees as she broke down. She choked back her tears. Trying too much not to cry she looked up to see the universe above her. Even with this effort, her tears flowed at the slits of her emerald-green eyes. Her angst was heard all through out the forest but she couldn't care any less. No one would hear and even if they did, they wouldn't care.

That's right, nobody cares. I'm just a piece of crap lying on the ground. "Nobody in this damn world cares! Not Sasuke! Not Naruto! Nobody!" she cursed until her voice slowly disappeared. She cried until her eyes dried out of tears. Her limbs hurt from running, her larynx hurt from screaming, her eyes hurt from crying but most of all her heart hurt from…everything.

She took her kunai and was ready to stab her heart. Then her body shook. Look at you. That's how weak you are. You don't even have the courage to kill yourself. A tear dropped at the very point of the kunai. Then the cycle of cursing and crying again began, only this time she cursed and cried about herself about how weak she was, she being a burden to everybody, she being a loud-mouth-know-nothing shinobi and most of all she being a stupid girl not even realizing that she had the man of her dreams right under her nose.

Then she laughed hysterically. What am I doing? What if they dumped me? What if they don't value me? So what? It's not the end of world, is it? I still have my whole life ahead of me. I'll show them what they missed. I'll train so hard that they'll want me back. But when that time comes, I will let them feel the rejection they gave me. She stopped laughing and slapped her face, literally. What the hell am I thinking? Revenge…against my second family? No way! Okay, maybe I'll train harder but not because of them but because of me. I don't ever want to feel this self-pity ever again! I'll train so that I will be proud of who I am.

And surely enough she did, after five days in the wilderness she marched right up to the fifth's office demanding her to train her. When Tsunade agreed, Sakura did her best in all the training she had. The results were astonishing. And surely enough, Sakura felt good about herself. But still when she saw Naruto and Hinata together a slight pinch was felt in her heart as if a wound was reopened. But she kept her façade not wanting to cause any more trouble to any of her friends. Even if she wanted to cry so badly she stood her ground and kept repeating mentally her promise to herself that, that night was the last night she'll ever cry. At least consciously because when she sleeps the tears that were denied were freely shed in her dreams but she kept saying "The stars will cry for me."