Hello. Kelso here. Here's another chapter of Fall For Me. The big ending will be next chapter and I will be writing a lot more for this next month because I have a break inbetween school. So please bare with me a little later on. I will be busy with school and a baby and somehow squeezing time in with the boyfriend. Please review/give feedback. I love me some feedback.
Disclamer: I don't own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does.
Chapter 6-Feelings
At this point in Sasuke's new life; he was wishing he was dead. Or wishing that he was never Sakura's guardian angel and his whole 'falling to Earth' never happened. Or even, never getting his memories back. He was slumped in the middle of her apartment. In that moment, he was more alone than ever. Her scent, her possessions, even her presence still lingered around him; toying with his very soul. Teasing him with a fake sense of happiness of being with her again. Of her loving him again.
Sasuke tried not to let her hateful words echo in his head but they poked and prodded at his heart. The sting was still fresh wound throbbing in the place in his chest he would have called a heart. Sasuke came to the conclusion that he no longer had a heart; for it was ripped from his chest. The invisible sound of her voice still bounced around the room like a ball. Simply reminding him that her words were actually said. He looked down as his hands; they were bloody and raw from pounding his hands against her carpeted apartment floors. His hurt and rage needed an outlet and keeping Sakura in mind; he refused to take it out on her apartment walls again.
When the door had closed behind her; his eyes had felt heavy. The watery burning threatened to pool over. He would not cry. He did not want to cry. Real men do not cry or so Sasuke believed. Crying was for women and he was not this weak. Or so his mind made up excuses. He knew that he was weak for her. If, eventually, those forbidden tears fell; he would become a broken man. With no spirit or a heart. Sasuke would remain broken forever. If he was broken; there was no sense in living anymore.
He was seriously thinking of suicide; no matter the outcome. Whether it was heaven who greeted him again or hell. There was no sense of living if the woman he loved hated him. The word 'hate' would not be exactly the word Sasuke would use to describe the situation between Sakura and himself. He loved her. He knew he did; hell he even loved her the first time around. Somehow, he wasn't the same person he was before he died. That's bullshit. Sasuke knew that he would still have this 'I am amazing' attitude because, well he is. Somehow Sakura, thought differently. Therefore, if he died again, Sakura nor himself would suffer anymore.
There would be one person who try to kill him again if he ever managed to make it back up to heaven. Kakashi. The silvered-hair man would kill him or at least try to. That plan would not work so well; considering the situation. Instead, that man would beat him into the next oblivion. With the mention of Kakashi's name in his head; a small flicker of hope charged through his system. Maybe Kakashi could talk some life back into him.
With that small encouragement of hope; Sasuke lifted his body from the floor. He grunted as his body screamed in protest. He walked over to the kitchen sink and started to fill it with cold icy water once again. A smirk blossomed his lips as he remembered flash backs of the first time communicating with Kakashi and Sakura's reaction. Somewhere in his mind; he did have doubts that this whole communications thing would work again. Maybe, it was a one ticket ride like life. Sasuke shook his head; erasing the doubt. Sasuke had gotten the luck of the draw with his second life. He came to the conclusion that someone up there hated him; if communicating was only a one way trip.
Once the sink was full. Sasuke sighed and stared for a moment at the slowly smoothing water until he plunged head first again. The cold water bit into his skin and his dark black hair clung to his face. His eyes were open as he blankly stared at the bottom of the sink. Sasuke started counting in his head when his lungs started to burn. It took everything in his body to stay put and not rip himself out of the water. His vision started to spot. Somewhere in his mind; he compared the burning in his lungs to the feeling of drowning. Then, suddenly, the bright light of heaven greeted him.
Sasuke pinched his nose and inhaled a deep breath. Glad that he wasn't somewhat drowning in the sink anymore. Happy laughter and bright beams from the sun shined on his face. In the mood that Sasuke was in; happiness and cheerfulness wasn't up his alley. He was on a mission and he started his way to meet with Kakashi. Or he tried to start on his mission. His time on Earth made him rusty on floating around in heaven. Instead of looking graceful like everyone else; Sasuke looked like he was awkwardly swimming in one place.
He mentally cringed; he would be embarrassed inside his mind. On the outside, however, he smirked and looked devilishly handsome. Like he was meaning to do the awkward swimming. If he looked handsome; it wouldn't matter how stupid he looked.
After awhile, he evolved back to floating with style. He quickly made his way to the silvery beckon in the middle of some crowded clouds. His eyes flickered from cloud to cloud; just checking out who was new while he was gone. He passed many faces who looked at him like they had seen a ghost. Sasuke began counting; with each person, his annoyance meter would go up. When the counting hit over twenty; Sasuke could swear his eyebrow he started twitching. His breaking point boiled over when a child let out a small scream upon passing and gazing onto his face. Sasuke would never hit a child but everyone staring at him like he was a freak was getting on his nerves. A lot.
Instead of hitting anyone like his fist wanted to do; he gritted his teeth together and floated onward. Though he was bound and determined to avoid all eye contact from anymore angels. To distract himself, his eyes began searching for his cloud. In a weird way, he missed it. The cloud was the place he called home when he was projected into heaven. Sasuke's black eyes found the usual spot and to his disappointment; he found the spot empty.
Then he stopped floating and ended up confused. Where the hell was his cloud? It's not like you can lose a black-stained cloud up in a sea of pure white. His confusion was settling in until his ears picked up words from two male passersby. The small boy with rosy cheeks and short brown hair was talking to an older male with long pale blue hair and dark green eyes. Sasuke's ears perked when he heard the words of 'black cloud.' Though when the boy and the man spotted him; their words died off and they quickly passed by him. Sasuke gave them a couple minutes until he decided to follow them in that very same direction. His eyes squinted when the silvery beckon blinded him. Kakashi was also that way. Pure coincidental.
Quickly floating along; Sasuke passed by the brown haired kid and the man. When Sasuke hit the crowd, a soft murmuring of voices echoed around him. Different voices, saying almost the same thing of, 'he looks so much like him' and Sasuke's favorite, 'this is all his fault.' The last accusation made Sasuke mad; just what the hell did he do? He finally breached the end of the crowd of angels and his eyes widened in surprise. All black, the purest deepest black that Sasuke had ever set his eyes on was now his home. The formation of his cloud was just as the same as he left it last time but the color. It was truly the dark stain in heaven. The black in all the white.
Sasuke gazed around the crowd; scanning for the silvery beckon of Kakashi's hair that he spotted earlier. Then his black landed on another familiar set of black. Once again, Sasuke had to mentally chuckle at Kakashi's comical reaction. Sasuke could swear that the silver-haired man's jaw dropped to the ground. Or something like that considering that there may not be a ground in heaven in the first place. Sasuke gave Kakashi a small nod of greeting. Kakashi returned the greeting with a head nod of his own and pointed over the crowd in a different direction. Sasuke's eyes followed from the finger tip towards the higher part of the sky. Where angels with wings could reach.
He parted with the crowd again and traveled over to the place where Kakashi had pointed to. Sasuke floated as close as he could without wings. It was still unfair in heaven. So much for the perfect place. Sasuke glanced around for Kakashi. They had left the crowd around the same time and yet, he was the one who got to the destination first without wings. Sasuke just sighed and started to wonder just what the hell was distracting Kakashi. Then his eyes flickered back to his cloud. A small pain in his chest made itself known as Sasuke grew to wonder why the color change. The place he had could his home was only stained with gray when he plummeted to the Earth. His cloud was truly a stain. Sasuke tilted his head, shortly thinking that the positive note was; he'll never be missed in this crowd. Not that he didn't stand already from his perfect cheekbones and pale complexion. Sasuke's dark black hair and eyes didn't help the situation either.
"Yo."
That simple familiar greeting made him jump. Apparently it was pay back from last time. Sasuke whirled around; so wanting to either a) Strangle Kakashi or b) Beating the old man up. Though neither would cheer him up. He decided to glare. Glaring would work. Sasuke glared at the happy cheerful Kakashi. As Sasuke glared; something in his stomach wasn't settling right. He gave Kakashi's face a once over, trying to find anything on the remotely happy man. Sasuke eyes landed on the fine small tired lines that dug themselves a home underneath Kakashi's eyes. Also, something in Sasuke's gut told him that normal Kakashi, at this time would brag about getting a one up on him. The lack of teasing was worrisome.
Ever since Sasuke had landed in heaven; he had never known Kakashi to seem tired or even look tired. The older man would either sleep or look at porn all day. There was nothing to be tired about in heaven. Sasuke just looked at Kakashi in silence. Waiting for at least something. Then Kakashi suddenly spoke up,
"What are you doing back here Sasuke? Please tell me you didn't do what I think you did?"
His arms crossed defensively as he replied with a snappy attitude, "No Kakashi, I didn't kiss Sakura if that's what you're thinking." Then Sasuke quickly added, so no confusion was to happen, "I didn't die or anything either. Apparently communicating can work anytime," smirked Sasuke. The smirk quickly died off his lips as Kakashi let of a long, shaky sigh of relief and proceeded to pace rapidly in front of him. This time, reuniting with Kakashi; Sasuke was already getting annoyed with the older man's actions. Kakashi pacing only meant one thing.
Shit had hit the fan or so to speak. Sasuke knew this habit from when Kakashi has to break the news about family members not making it into heaven to other angels. Every time Sasuke would thank his lucky star that it was never him. He knew that his piece of shit older brother would have never stepped foot here. Now, standing in front of him, was pacing Kakashi and he would be on the receiving end. It seemed like Sasuke lucky star had left him. Sasuke uncrossed his arms and threw a hand on Kakashi's shoulder to get him to stop pacing. Sasuke looked directly into Kakashi's eyes and said,
"Tell me."
Only one word on her mind was, 'Run.' Well maybe that wasn't the only word. Many 'Oh shits' has crossed her mind. Also every now and then, a small scream would echo through out her brain. Sakura felt like she was going crazy. Though the last time she checked, she was perfectly normal. Normal? Sakura came to the conclusion that she wasn't normal. Not since Sasuke fell from heaven and not since seeing the man she hated smirking at her in a shop window. Normal, doesn't cover anything of the sort. Sakura felt screams of protest from her legs and lungs. She didn't dare slow down for two reasons. One was the fear of seeing Itachi in Neji's body which had some sick twisted irony attached. Two, she didn't want to find out if she was the one actually screaming. Somewhere deep in her panicked terrified mind; it kindly reminded her that only one thing at a time can happen. She have to choose between running on overload and killing her lungs or stopping. The last one wasn't an option.
She only ran. Her ears picked up the crunching of gravel as she flew down the street in full force. She was unbelievably terrified at this moment in her life. As she ran, her shoulder would bump into different people. Each with different eye color. Each with different hair color. Though all she saw was, red and black. Shivers coursed over and through her body like some disease. Memories that were long-buried flew forward in her mind. Each touch. Each kiss. That one night. Made her sick to her stomach and all she wanted to do was stop running and vomit. Her body, once again, reminded her of her options. Throwing up would just have to wait.
One memory that she would given anything to forget rushed forward; she stopped running as the memory played. The one night, when basically used her and dumped her. Then later, killed of his family just for sick jollies. Killed Sasuke because of her. The sick taste of bile rushed forward as she fought with her body to stop everything. To stop the horrible memories of the lonely tomato on Sasuke's grave to giving the police the real truth of how her blood was at the scene. To stop being hunched over like a hobo on the side walk. To stop puking up on the side of the side-walk. She mainly just wanted to stop fucking puking. Instead, she screamed.
No doubt in the back of Sakura's screaming mind; she was slightly worried about looking like a complete psycho. It wasn't every day that someone sees a pink-haired green-eyed girl screaming and puking her head off. She was completely normal. Completely. She could swim in the river all she wanted. When her voice was screamed dry and hoarse and she grew tired; Sakura, like a lady wiped the rest of the slime on her sleeve. She was shaking scared and her legs refused to run anymore due to the last of her energies were used to projectile bile all over. All she wanted to do was curl up in a little ball or hide under a rock. Or both.
Sakura closed her eyes for a second to think logically and to gather her thoughts. She had a brain in there; she might as well use it. Itachi was still out there; using her ex boyfriend as a meat suit. Her best friend was also a meat suit to a weird looking girl. They were still out there and she was still out there. Sakura did not want to be anywhere near them. Not now. Not ever. Sakura stood, on her own two feet and clenched her fist. Digging her fingernails into her palm. Instead of the terrible memories that tried to plague her. She controlled it to a certain memory. The memory of Sasuke. From before he died and now. To the small smiles that he had given her while alive. To the almost kissing in the elevator. In the moment of clarity. She realized she was a fool. He was the same person. He was Sasuke. The man she fell in love with.
With that motivation, she ran again. She loved him and she wanted to be in his arms again. Being in his arms was her perfect world. She was terrified of Itachi and her new found feelings but she knew that he would keep her safe from anything. He was the man she loved. Sakura bolted in full force to the direction of her apartment. Not caring about the small sprinkles of rain and not seeing the two faces that followed her from the shadows. All she needed was Sasuke.
Sasuke clenched his eyes shut as he tried to disgust the very last sentence of Kakashi's story. The words danced around like crazy. Toying with him. Some part in Sasuke's mind though, could not make sense of it. It was like his brain absolutely refused to make sense of it. Sasuke sat down on Kakashi's cloud. They migrated towards that direction when Kakashi had started the beginning of the story and they end up at his cloud at the end. The information in his head was sort of scattered due to many interruptions by nosy peons in heaven. The two main distractions were Sasuke, still on the receiving end of death glares and the growing crowd around Kakashi's cloud to hear some gossip. Several times, Kakashi and himself had to shoo angels away like dirty pigeons. So, after several moments of chasing and pausing; the situation left Sasuke, sitting in shock.
His mind couldn't wrap around it and decided to ask. To either confirm or deny what his ears just heard and what his brain was refusing to comprehend. "Could you repeat that last part?" His voice was small. So unlike him. Shivers ran up and down in the very depth of his soul. There was no way to play it cool or to be proud. Kakashi has seen all sides of him; unfortunately. Sasuke heard Kakashi sigh and scratch his head. Sasuke needed this. He needed to hear it again. Just to be sure. Or that was at least what Sasuke was telling himself.
"Your older brother, Itachi, is on Earth again."
Dread fell deeper into his body like a second skin. Those were the exact words that Kakashi had stated once before. Now there could be no denying on what he had heard. So many questions had plagued his mind. Like how? How did the son of a bitch get down to Earth? Why exactly was he there? What the fuck did he want? That psycho deserved his fate in hell; he was worthy of Earth. His piece of shit brother didn't deserve to share the same Earth as Sakura. When his mind thought of her name; it was like a switch clicked in his head. She was down there. By herself. With that psycho Threads of pain laced themselves into his heart. Sasuke had no doubt that the pounding of his heart could be seen outside his chest.
A small voice in his head; stated that Sakura could not be in any danger and there was nothing to worry about. There was never a moment when Sasuke wanted to hit himself more. Sakura was the love of his life. He wasn't taking that risk of Itachi finding her. No good would come of it. Sasuke would rather died himself then to let Sakura know that the devil now walks upon them. He could care less about his brother killing him. What mattered was her.
With a newly lit flame of fury and determination; Sasuke bolted up. Erasing all panic and shock from his body. He had to do something about his brother walking around on Earth. Whether it would be beating the shit out of him or finding some way to send him back to hell where he belonged. Sasuke would do it. His brother deserved to rot for eternity in the place that he came from. Setting his black eyes on Kakashi's; Sasuke asked, "Just how the hell do I get back?"
To much of Sasuke's disappointment, Kakashi's only reply was a simple shrugging of his shoulders. The common meaning of 'I don't know' or as Sasuke would like to call it, 'Hell if I know.' frustration boiled inside his body as he raked a hand through his hair then pinched his nose afterwords. He encouraged his brain to form more ideas. Whether it was actually having Kakashi beat the living crap out of him or seeing if heaven was 'flat' and jumping off the edge. Both were rather stupid ideas therefore, he was all out. unfortunately. Apparently communicating was a one way trip. Sasuke was a little peeved. What kind of crap was it if he couldn't get back?
Sasuke refused to give up and whipped his brain into thinking again. His mind turned the wheels as fast as it could go. Which meant pretty damn fast. Sasuke wasn't an idiot. Then finally; like a light bulb over his head, as good feasible plan came along. He would go see the Hokage. Maybe, the Hokage would be able to do something. Though, in order to see the Hokage; Sasuke needed Kakashi's help. More likely his wings at least. Sasuke, without his wings couldn't fly up to the Hokage. Since the Hokage lived above and beyond where he could go.
His eyes flickered over to where Kakashi was standing. Was? Apparently the silver-haired man had disappeared on him. A deep channel of annoyance ran throughout his body. Then quickly calmed. Understanding that Kakashi had done more than enough just by letting Sasuke know about Itachi. He decided that he wasn't going to waste time looking for Kakashi. Heaven was a huge place and it would take to the end of time to search just for one person; Sasuke didn't have that much time. Besides Sasuke had a gut feeling that the older man was talking to the man who created his orange porn books. Kakashi would be no help at all once he was lost in Icha Icha Paradise. Also there were places where he couldn't search due to Kakashi having wings and all.
So, without Kakashi; Sasuke decided to try to see the Hokage anyways. Maybe, he would make it up there without wings. One could only hope. He started to float fast upwards to the even higher point of the sky. Then things began happening. The first sign that something wasn't right; he was shaking. A simple painful tremor would shoot throughout his body. The next sign was; his stomach was starting to churn a lot. To the point, where Sasuke had to stop to close his eyes. Closing his eyes didn't help, instead it made his world swim. He didn't have time to act like he was sick; Sasuke continued his travels. After a few seconds, his lungs started to scream at him and the pain in his head increased ten fold. Sasuke couldn't understand why he was in so much pain. He was in heaven; there should be a law about no pain in heaven.
He blinked his dry protesting black eyes slowly while trying to deal with the pain inside his head. Then he opened his eyes and when he did, he was laying flat looking up at a fluorescent light above. His head hurt like a son of bitch. Sasuke closed his eyes again to try to dim away the pain. A small groan escaped his lips as the back of his throbbed. In the uninjured, focused part of his brain noted about discovering a different way back home to Earth. Sasuke preferred the other way of coming home. It was less painful.
When the word 'Earth' had floated to the top of his thinking; his heart thumped. Earth was his home with Sakura. The face of bright green eyes and pink hair leapt forward in his mind; merely reminding him to focus on the task on hand. Waking up in scream worthy pain had chased all of those thoughts away. Now, he was awake and ready for action. Well, sort of. He was mentally focused. physically focused was a whole different battle.
Each part of his body screamed in protest at the smallest flinch of his fingers. Sasuke decided to launch himself into a standing position; just like the band-aid effect. Shoots of colors flashed in his eyes and the whole room swammed around him. His hand slammed onto the wall to keep balance or else he would land face first onto the floor. Sasuke knew if that happened; he wouldn't be moving. With just one hand on the wall; a simple light-headness replaced the sea of colors. He inhaled and looked down at his feet. Looking down made his world a little less swimmy.
Small slow moving drips of water fell down from his hair. They landed on the floor with little plops. He placed his forehead on the wall while bracing with both hands. Just waiting until his head cleared. After several minutes, Sasuke thought he was nice and clear. Then he looked up. Nice and clear wasn't the words he would use to describe himself now. The terms would be nice and dead once Sakura sees her kitchen. Dread and a mild form of panic sent it. She wasn't going to be very happy about this.
Black. The very some color as his cloud in heaven was everywhere. To Sasuke, it looked like something exploded. Or someone. Then the pieces finally click in his head. He blamed the soreness of his body for his slight moment of stupid . His cloud was only splattered with black when he had fallen to Earth. It only had a small black outline of him to begin with. This, the state of Sakura's kitchen was entirely too noticeable. The black stain erupted onto her white kitchen cabinets and countertop. Some was on the walls; blending in with the original tan color of the apartment. The blackness had traveled onto the floor. Just stopping a few feet away from him.
The kitchen looked horrible and was dreading Sakura's reaction but if a ruined kitchen was the price of Kakashi's information. A little mess was well worth it. He jumped when a clap of thunder bashed overhead. Light sounds of rain drops splattered onto the roof. Sasuke closed his eyes to gather himself. His brother was on Earth. The man who killed him and hurt Sakura. Sasuke refused to end up with the same way twice. It was time to put Itachi back into hell. Where he belonged.
Sasuke rummaged through Sakura's clothes to change. He changed into a white shirt that barely hung onto his shoulders and showed off his toned chest. Why would Sakura have a shirt like this? He didn't want to know. Well, actually he did. curiosity was a bitch. Sasuke luckily found a baggy pair of black pants that threaten to fall off his body. Again, the thought of why would Sakura have this kind of clothing. Some chord of jealously ran throughout his body; thinking that these clothes could be Neji's. Which he knew it was impossible since he had been her guardian angel a few weeks before she had met Neji. Something as personal as his clothing wouldn't be bypassed. Sasuke gave that thought a once over; at that point, Sasuke didn't care about Sakura as much as he did now. So the deep nagging thought burned at him; reminding him that he could have missed that.
His shoulders relaxed when he came across her belts. Apparently her closet didn't have his 'perfect' size but found her belts. Only one had fit. The light purple one. Sasuke had two choices. Either wear the baggy pants without a belt and risk either loosing his drawers. Or swallow his pride and put the purple one on. He grimaced as he already knew what the answer was. Sasuke decided he would pretend it was black.
Now the biggest issues was decent shoes. The keyword was decent. Sasuke absolutely refused to shove his feet back into the running shoes that Sakura had given him earlier. There was no way in hell. Instead, Sasuke rummaged though the floor of her closet. A major invasion of privacy considering that he wasn't even her boyfriend or her lover. Which he was completely set on fixing that. Once Itachi was handled.
The reasons behind his outfit change was comfortably. He didn't want his clothing to be hindering to him if he ever came across Itachi. He knew, since heaven when Kakashi had filled him in, that there was nothing saying that Itachi landed around Sakura when he had fallen to Earth. Sasuke wasn't willing to take that chance. On his new life or hers. She walked away alive once; there was no promising that she would walk away again. Besides, his outcome was far from pleasant and Sasuke had no plans for it to happen to Sakura. He could only cross his fingers that the scum landed somewhere far far away.
The feeling deep hunch in his gut gave other advice of being prepared anyways. It was always better to be safe than sorry. While all of his determination to protect Sakura was on his mind; shoe after shoe flew over his shoulder. The new question that was running through his mind was: Why did women feel the need of having so many damn shoes. He swore that he had seen just about one of every color and shapes. Some shoes looked so damn uncomfortable that they could be used as torture devices. One of his toes twitched in protest. It seemed like he wasn't having any luck. Until something unique and big caught his eye.
The shoes were black hybrid between sandals and running shoes. Sasuke mind flickered back to previous paranoia of why? His mental note grew larger as he added another question to the list of questions that he would ask Sakura. Sasuke slipped the shoes onto his feet and strapped himself in. Then he stood. It was time to go warn her.
Without a second glance and not caring about the rain. Sasuke took off running at full blast. He knew that he probably wouldn't have much luck finding her due to not knowing the area in person. The point of view was different from heaven. Sasuke bolted across the street without taking a second to look for cars. Rain pounded onto his head; flatting his hair to his head as he thanked his lucky star that he made it across the road unscathed. Now Sasuke ran harder; while trying to remember the map inside his head.
Her pink strains of hair clung onto her neck uncomfortably while the rain dribbled down her back. The coldness of the water soaked into her skin. Her teeth were chattering while she ran back to her apartment. She was tired after the shock, throwing up and screaming. All Sakura really wanted to do was go to bed and potentially take Sasuke with her. Before anything; Sakura needed to make amends with Sasuke. Now it was pure adrenaline running her system. If it wasn't for her body's spare energy; there was no doubt she would be laying in a puddle somewhere, possibly drowning. She was just that tired.
She smiled knowing that she was half-way there. Knowing that Sasuke was waiting for her. Knowing that she could lauch herself in his arms and apologize for being an overthinking idiot. A crash of thunder bolted two feet behind her; hitting the tree that she had just passed. Sakura stopped and was debating on getting into a ditch. For being so clever and smart; she couldn't remember if ditch diving was for tornados or for thunderstorms. She jumped when another clash of thunder rumbled overhead. Her ears picked up a different cracking; the tree that was behind her was split in two and one of the sides was heading her way.
Wetness soaked into her jeans and froze her rear. The frozen water quickly soaked into her jeans like a sponge. Shivers flowed over her body from the top of her wet dretched head to the bottom of ther toes. Well, maybe not her toes due to her shoes but her ass? It was freezing.
Sakura lifted herself from the ground and resisted the urge to wipe her wet hands on the side of her thigh. The only dry spot on her body. Once she stood, her eyes flickered over the tree. It was an odd coincidence . The dead tree or Sakura assumed, was a cherry blossom tree. Her namesake. She mentally laughed; an awkward chuckle after today's events. Sakura refused to take this a sign or anything. The tree was just zapped that was all. It wasn't like she was next or anything. With her paranoid thought running through her head; her ears perked up with the sound of something vaguely familiar.
A slap crunch. Slap crunch. Both were going at a fast rate and she wondered why that sounded so familiar; until her own feet twitched. Those were footsteps. Her heart threaded with panic that Itachi had followed her. Deeper panic gored a hole in her stomach. If it was Itachi with the Neji meat suit, then she was leading him right to Sasuke. She absolutely did not want that to happen. It would be catastrophic. More than that. Total apocalyptic. Sakura would do anything to stop the two brothers from meeting again. Pure determination to protect Sasuke, Sakura whirled herself away from the direction of her apartment. If Itachi was following her; then she would lead him away. As the footsteps drew closer; Sakura waited until she had a feeling she could be seen. Not that anyone would miss bright pink hair then she ran.
More thunder crashed overhead and her eyes and ears were drowning in the storm. Her town basically turned into a sea or that was Sakura's opinion. She highly doubted that others would agree since their roofs overhead protected them from this raining downpour. The water poured into her eyes so much that the only way Sakura knew where she was heading were the lights. Through all the rain; her clouded eyes could spot familiar lights of the shopping center in the distance. Sakura focused on breathing. Inhaling and exhaling. She blinked long and hard to keep the blasted water from her eyes while still running. confident that she could manage navigating without her eyes.
When she opened them; she was passing building after building on a lonely street. Her original plan of blending into the crowd was gone due to the rain. For some odd reason; people act like rain will make them melt. Instead, her quick thinking thought of plan B. Hide. With the giant shopping center lights quickly approaching; Sakura decided to hide in there. No doubt that there would be tons of people taking shelter in the center. Her feet quickly carried to the center; the place that Sasuke and herself were aiming to go to earlier.
Her shoulder relaxed as her eyes spotted many glass double doors. She braced herself and slammed into one. The door jolted with the force of her gravity against it then it slammed onto the wall behind her. Sakura, while still at a slow run, did a double take at the doors. That was a good thing. Sakura's ears picked up the sound of the annoying alarm from the door; jammed from when she crashed. She cringed as her feet hit tile the flooring. Horrible squeaks echoed the quiet store. Sakura eyes flickered around; not a person was in sight or even a sound was heard.
Sakura continued to run towards the shopping center entrance; where all the stores were connected. To her disbelief, a giant metal grained fence blocked it. There was a sign hanging on the other side of the fence. Sakura squinted and tilted her head sideways as she made out the letters. Closed due to weather. Dread overcast her just as the clouds did before the rain. She quickly realized that she was trapped and it was quiet.
The obnoxious piercing of the door alarm was gone. Sakura knew that she didn't do it, of course. So it only meant one thing.
Someone was also here with her.
In her gut, she just assumed that Itachi was following her. Why? It was just the smirk on his reflection that churned a deep survival fight or flight instincts from her. She knew that the footsteps that she heard could have been some random stranger and she just ran how many something blocks from a streak of paranoia. Her mind came to her defense; when she thought she had heard her name in the wind. Sakura was having an inner battle with herself, her gut versus her mind when another pair of squeaking startled her from her thoughts.
She quickly bolted over to the carpeted area to avoid detection. Then she just stood there. Scared. Her poor heart was beating like a drum in panic as she dunked and hunched behind endless racks of clothing of different colors. Then frantically stepped inside a circular rack when the small squeaking of the shoes had gotten closer to her location. She could swear that her poor heart could be heard from the outside. When the owner of the shoes stopped a few feet away from her; she forgot how to breath. Then Sakura, pulled something stupid. Or, if she was in a horror movie, it would be considered a stupid move and would most likely end up getting her killed. Luckily, this wasn't a horror movie.
Slowly peeking up her hunched down head up; she decided that she was going to found out who this was. Crossing her fingers that it was just a normal person. Until she saw a familiar shape of shoulders and black hair reflecting deeper blacker highlights from the store dimmed lighting. Her knees began shaking. No doubt quaking together in fear. Her gut had a mere moment of triumph until it was quickly settled by ducking down and hiding. From Itachi. Sakura knew that she wasn't safe in the open because if she was Itachi; she would start looking for feet underneath the clothing racks.
Her eyes scanned the room for something to hide it. The dressing rooms. They were a small cavern in the wall; an easy to miss observation if the person wasn't familiar with the set up. Sakura dropped to the floor and carefully army crawled in that direction. She continued to crawl until she curved around the entrance of the dressing rooms; then quickly climbed up and ran to the last stall. Quietly, she locked the large solid door that only had five inches from the floor. These dressing rooms were super private since all of the other ones she had been into had a few feet gap between door and ground. Somewhere in her mind mentioned that was just more protection for Itachi.
A sense of hopelessness plagued her; she was cornered, without anything to protect herself and she was alone. The odds weren't looking up for her. Sakura leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes. Just trying to listen to herself breathing and ignore the squeaking shoes in the store. For some odd reason, an urge to cry overwhelmed Sakura. Before she could even shut off her emotions; her eyes grew swimmy with tears. All she wanted was Sasuke. Her heart was too heavy but if her hurt feelings was the price to pay to protect him. She would gladly do it over and over again. She knew that she was in the right place in protecting him; she would give her life for him. All of her good, pure thoughts still didn't stop a few tears from running down her wet cold cheeks. She gave in. Sakura sat there. Cold, wet and trapped, crying her eyes out. Wondering if she would ever be able to make amends with Sasuke again.
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