A/N: Been a long time, readers. This chapter was written last year I just hadn't gotten around to posting it. xD This will be the only story I'll be continuing. Thank you for the support ^ ^ 3
XxxxxxX
Summer: The Season of Heat
Seagulls beckoned to the distant sinking of the sun. Waves crashed rhythmically against the white sand. A lone figure stood amidst the panorama, his blue eyes glowing with the exuberance of summer heat. The day was ending, but the season was just beginning.
"OI! NARUTO!" Brown spikes of hair sparkled, drenched in salty sea water against red-orange sunlight, "Haruno and the others are looking for you." Kiba had a massive grin on his face, his huge dog lingering inches away from him. They were both dripping in sea water, Naruto could smell them, and it made his nose crinkle. He had to grin to stop himself from blurting out anything rude. "Alright, I'll head back then." He began to walk away without taking a second glance at Kiba.
Kiba cocked his head to the side, briefly side glancing at Naruto before scowling, "Hey dude, are you alright? You haven't been...cheerful lately. Almost like you lost your spunk." He gently scratched his head in awkwardness, "And to be honest, it's kinda weird."
Naruto stopped in his tracks and abruptly turned to Kiba, "Awwww! You're worried about me! I appreciate the worrying but, dude, stop that! You're giving me goose bumps!" He sheepishly grinned at the frowning Kiba who was ready to pound him to death. The heavy atmosphere had dissipated and Naruto took the opportunity to initiate a chase by quickly dashing off with Kiba right behind him.
It was summer. There was no room for the lack of 'spunk'!
XxxxxX
"Sasuke kun!" Cheery as ever, Karin pranced towards Sasuke with a plate of dango and juice, "I got you some dango, would you like some?" She grinned at him, giving her most attractive smile.
Sasuke, who sat on the picnic table, glanced at the dango for the briefest second before whipping his head away in refusal. It dampened Karin's efforts, but she wouldn't show it on her face. She straightened her glasses, setting the dango on the table, just in time for Suigetsu, recently coming back from a swim, to grab it and munch it down.
Karin fumed, rising from Sasuke's side, "HEY! Those were for SASUKE KUN! !" She had her teeth gritted, a clenched fist ready to jab at the idiot.
"Well," His words came out in food-muffled sounds, "It didn't seem like he wanted them."
This further infuriated the red-head, and thus another round of physical violence mixed with banter ensued. Whilst this went on, Sasuke could only shut his ears from the nuisance that were his "new gang" and turn his attention toward the sinking sun.
How and why the four of them stayed together was a mystery even to Sasuke. All he could remember was that it was a slow process that he hadn't taken part of. To be honest, it didn't even seem like "hanging out". To Sasuke, he was simply going about his merry way and a bunch of flies happened to enjoy sticking around.
It began in the latter part of the first semester. First it was Karin who was so annoyingly clinging to him like most of his fan girls did. Of course, he'd swat her away only to have her sauntering next to him the next day. Soon, even Suigetsu was sticking to him, calling him names and denouncing his reputation. To be honest, no matter how much he berated him, he just didn't care. It appeared that Suigetsu only stuck around for entertainment purposes—and because Karin was sticking to him. Then there was Jugo who appeared like a mist: slowly, creeping, and unnoticeable. Why he hung around with him, or with Karin and Suigetsu, was unknown to him. However, no matter the reason, in the end, it was the four of them, and everyone marvelled at this strange group that had formed without notice.
To Sasuke, however, this was the least of his worries. In his eyes, he'd follow that fluff of pink wherever he saw it. In the hallways, in the gym, in the courtyard, he'd always—even without meaning to—see a glimpse of that pink color he had began loathing. However, more often than not, it wasn't her. Instead, it was the drifting cherry blossoms that haunted him wherever he went as if mocking him in his every step.
He'd get glances of the real Sakura that he'd been so bitter about, but that mess of blonde was always nearby. Pink and yellow were never really that good of a match—at least, not to him. It infuriated to see them together, but the thing that made his heart sink was the very fact that they were happy together. There wasn't a hint of remorse or sense of guilt. And then he began to wonder somewhere along the way, did any of those memories of him and Sakura matter? Did they even exist? Or were their moments together nothing but cover ups for the truth?
What did Sasuke mean to Sakura?
Was he the only one suffering? It seemed like it.
Juugo approached the man quietly, opting to sit on the picnic bench and a good distance from him. "You seem troubled Sasuke san," He was demure and well in control although the rumors often said he wasn't the man one should anger, "Are you thinking about your ex girlfriend?" He wasn't prying. At least, that wasn't his intention. All he wanted was the downhearted Uchiha to air out some of his problems. Call it an act of goodwill, if he would.
"That's none of your concern," Was Sasuke's quick and fury-filled answer. He slipped off of the table, and began walking off with a hand in his board shorts' pocket.
"Hey! Sasuke kun! Don't leave me!" Karin, noticing her beloved taking leave, decided to drop Suigetsu and take chase of Sasuke. To her misfortune, however, Jugo got in the way with an extended arm and a face that told her to let him go.
She yielded, opting to settle down and stare at his retreating behind. "It's her fault, you know." Karin muttered out for Jugo only to hear as the unattentive Suigetsu was getting up from the sandy floor. "I can't forgive her for doing that to Sasuke kun."
Jugo watched Karin's expression change to one of hate and anger, but he always took notice of that hint of despair on her face. With a small smile, he placed a hand on her unkept hair. "You care for him a lot, don't you? Don't worry, all you have to do is stay by his side. It's the only thing you—any of us—can do."
"But it's not fair!" Karin lashed out, "If I were in her place I would NEVER make him sad! It's not fair...she had everything but she threw it away! She used him! And now she's happily laughing and smiling with that blonde good for nothing as if...as if..." She was vexed to ramble on, her glasses fogging up from the tiny tears that had formed in the corner of her eyes.
She would've said more had a strong hand pressed themselves against the frame of her glasses. "Wha—Sui—"
"Sh," Suigetsu, although reluctant on his act of kindness, attempted to stop Karin before she hurt herself with her own words. "Stop it. You don't know the whole story. Don't be so quick to judge."
Karin tore herself from his grip, throwing her hand to slap his face. Of course, Suigetsu was quick to dodge, "Oi oi oi! Trying to help here!"
Karin glared back at him, biting her lip in an attempt to stop herself from crying, "SHUT UP!" She whipped around, folding her hands across her chest and turning away from the two. She couldn't stand any of this. What help? Suigetsu Hozuki was incapable of something as 'good' as that.
"Kukuh! She's angry." Suigetsu dropped onto the picnic bench right next to Jugo, a leg folded across his other one with a shark like grin plastered on his face. "Whatever shall we do?"
XxxxxX
How long had he been walking across this stretch of the beach? Hands in his pockets, white shirt loosely fluttering against his bare skin, he marched languidly across the sandy shoreline. His felt the sand give with each step, footsteps he left washed away by the rhythmical waves. He heaved a sigh, running an exasperated hand over his spiked up bangs.
Why had he forced himself to come anyway? Why couldn't he, when his mother politely asked him if it was alright for her to sign the waiver allowing him to go, refuse? Why did he even bother turning in the damn form anyway? He could've ripped it and pretended there was no such thing as a class summer camp at the beach.
This was stupid.
But so was he.
It took him a long time before he figured that it was getting dark. When he had decided to go on a walk, he distinctly remembered the orange sun being halfway through the horizon. In his reverie, it had disappeared. He grunted at his own ignorance, stuffing his hands further into his pockets to brace the cold wind. He shivered slightly, his shirt barely saving him from anything, contracted his form, and then huffed a breath of warm air. He would've turned around and retreated to warmer ground had he not heard the ever familiar giggle of an all too familiar woman.
He froze, as if the wind itself had turned his feet into ice. He saw several figures amidst the shoreline that, to his misfortune, he recognized as his classmates. Despite the lack of lighting, the dim streetlight above the concrete sea wall was enough to shed light on their identities.
Shikamaru had his arm around Ino's waist. Chouji, munching on some seafood flavoured chips, stood a foot away from the couple. Shino stood a good distance away from the group, his gaze at Kiba and his dog who were causing a ruckus of sorts. Their third member, Hinata, was smiling quietly to herself, her gaze awkwardly directed at a certain blonde who made Sasuke's guts churn.
Then he saw her.
Amidst the laughing faces and rowdy bunch of teenagers, he found her. Like Hinata and Ino, she was wearing the traditional Yukata. He ogled her. From her pinned up pink hair to her cherry pink lipstick to her silken maroon Yukata to her wooden sandals, he was practically stunned. A Knockout, to put simply. But what caught his attention more than the dazzling smile on her face or her overall apparel was the tiny wooden stick that held her hair altogether. Wasn't that—it couldn't be? ...could it?
He narrowed his eyes, trying to focus his sights and confirm for himself if that little hair accessory was, indeed, the pin he had bought her on the same summer festival a good three years ago. He leaned forward, praying the darkness of the beach would mask his presence.
The hairpin was black, just as he remembered, but he had to see the ornament, for he knew that that would solve the mystery. He stretched his neck out, grunting in frustration when she turned away. Sakura, look this way. He mentally commanded her. She began to incline her head in a favorable direction, much to his anticipation, causing Sasuke to angle forward. Just a little bit more.
Then she turned, the pink cherry blossom that dangled gracefully at the edge of the hairpin swayed back and forth against the flow of Sakura's movements and the gentle caress of the breeze.
"Sasuke?"
He stumbled over, realizing that she had done more than simply glanced in his direction. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!
She had caught him in an awkward position, with his upper body oddly bending forward in her direction, his hands in his pocket, and a peculiar expression on his face. Sasuke saw her blink as if in an attempt to faze off his awkward countenance. In reflex, Sasuke quickly whipped upwards and straightened himself, his face turned away to hide the light blush of embarrassment on his face. Pathetic.
In response to her, he simply grunted and kept his gaze averted at the ocean. There was an awkward silence after that. The group didn't know what to say to Sasuke nor did he have anything to say to them. He could see from his peripheral vision that they were sending out telepathic messages to one another of which the greatest pressure was given to Shikamaru who they expected was smart enough to get them out of the situation.
Despite his internal protests, Sasuke saw Shikamaru mutter something—he read his lips as 'troublesome'—before stepping forward. "Ah, Uchiha kun," there was an awkward pause between his name and the honorific. He supposed that between the classmates and himself, even when he was dating Sakura and hung out with Naruto, there had been a socially uncomfortable distance between them. "H-have you been to the festival?" he fumbled over his words, a hand nervously scratching the back of his head. Sasuke could see that he was hesitant to have any conversations with him, not that he cared: he felt the same.
He shifted his gaze from Nara towards his ex-bestfriend who was staring at him with the most curious expression on his face. Was that fear? Or was that anger? To tell the truth, he couldn't tell. Nonetheless, he shrugged it off. "No, but I hear there'll be fireworks." He had said this as he, somehow in the dark, managed to compose himself and began walking towards the group.
As the distance between Sasuke and the group lessened, they flinched altogether. He could see the fear in their eyes—the worry. Did it look like he was going to bite their head off? That's how he felt, true, but he wasn't insane enough to do that. Yet somewhere deep in the crevices of his mind there was a faint voice telling him he was capable, but he shoved the thought away. He stood a few inches from Naruto and Sakura, eyeing them down with the blankest stare. He let his gaze linger on Sakura before shifting it to the hairpin on her head, the cherry blossom on it still mercilessly dangling for him to see.
Just looking at the ornament, he felt something stir within him. He leaned towards Sakura, shoving his hands into his pockets, a smirk imprinted on his features. Naruto, sensing some sort of danger, quickly came between Sakura and Sasuke, his hands stretched out and his cerulean eyes staring intently into Sasuke's gray ones. To Sasuke, Naruto appeared like a dog protecting its master. His eyes were fierce, and for some reason that irked him.
There was a tense atmosphere in the air, and the scene before everyone's eyes seemed to freeze. Sakura cowered behind Naruto who had his hands on guard from Sasuke who had a callous expression on his face.
The wind blew.
"Dobe," Sasuke called out, "Move." He commanded in a stern voice. He saw Naruto's eyes waver for a brief moment before he tensed.
"I won't let you do anything to Sakura chan."
Sasuke gritted his teeth, his eyes narrowing at the blonde, "I said, Move."
"Naruto kun, stop it." Sakura whispered from behind Naruto.
"No."
"Naruto kun!"
"You should listen to your girlfriend," He had said this with an intense disgust for the term, "Get out."
"Make me." Sasuke saw Naruto's eyes narrow dangerously at him, but it didn't faze him.
The wind blew again. Hearts were hammering within chests. No one knew what to do. Even Shikamaru who was often calculative with these things, felt that it was a lost cause to jump in between.
Disregarding Naruto's threat, Sasuke simply grunted, and, feigning ignorance, took a step. As soon as he did, however, he felt a strong force overcome him. Naruto had pushed him off, much to his annoyance. He was force to take a step back, his brows wrinkling in anger. His hand had curled into a fist, a sarcastic smirk growing on his face. He straightened himself, darkening the aura around him with a deadly glare. He counter attacked with a right hook aimed at Naruto's face.
It came too fast and Naruto was soon on the sand, rubbing his cheek with his hand. "Damn you, Teme." He muttered out. He took one glance at Sasuke who was, with just a look, berating his very being. He shot up, hurling a fist at Sasuke which he dodged effortlessly. He threw another one, but Sasuke took a step back, twisting his body to evade his predictable punch.
Sasuke took another step back and lifted his leg, as Naruto rushed forward with a readied fist, to deliver a strong kick to Naruto's middle. The blonde winced, letting out a gasp of pain, his knees buckling beneath him. With a prudent grunt, Sasuke side stepped by the crouched Naruto and walked towards Sakura who had mixed emotion on her face. As he approached her, he noticed that her gaze wasn't towards him, but to the pained Naruto. This made his blood boil.
"Naruto!" She called out as she attempted to run towards him. Unfortunately, Sasuke got in the way, forcing her to come to a halt as he grasped her wrist. "Let go of me!" She tried to yank her hand away from him but his grip was too strong. "You monster!" She yelled out, "You bastard! Why did you do that?!"
Why? At this point in time, Sasuke was enraged. 'Why?!' she asks? That, clearly, was the stupidest question on earth—in the whole universe.
He let out a dark chuckle, shoving Sakura forward with a rough pull of her hand. "Why?" She had the nerve to ask that?
"Sakura!" Naruto managed to call out. He was helped up by Hinata and Kiba who had rushed onto his side and aided him up the second he buckled down. He grasped his abdomen, attempting to reach out towards Sakura. He had to get to her before Sasuke did anything that even he would regret. In response to Sasuke's brisk and threatening movements, Shikamaru and Choji had darted to Sakura's rescue.
Sasuke, however, was too quick. Thus, the scene unfolded.
XxxxX
Shikamaru and Choji had flinched on the spot, eyes wide and gapping. Ino, Hinata, Kiba and Naruto had instinctively done the same.
Sasuke had Sakura's wrist in his hand, his arm extended upward from when he had pulled Sakura towards him. His free hand was on firmly placed on her nape. His lips were on hers.
Sakura, realizing her position, had used her monstrous strength to shove Sasuke back, a rush of adrenaline pumping through her veins. Then a crisp sound was heard. On impulse, Sakura had slapped Sasuke hard—square on his cheek. She huffed out, breathing hard and trying to keep her tears from falling.
"You!" her voice was quivering, "BASTARD!" She screamed out, "Don't you DARE come near me! EVER!" She had her eyes squeezed shut, her voice leaving her, the meaning of her words not reaching her. She said whatever she said until she felt her breathless. When she had had enough, she opened her eyes only to find herself flinching back.
What was that expression on his face? Why did he seem so—
Sasuke took a step closer. She took a step back.
"St-Stay away from me!" She warned him, but alas he kept moving forward and she kept moving back. When he had drawn too close for danger, she held her hands up.
But Sasuke made no such threatening or violent movements. Instead, with soft and deft movements, his hand maneuvered its way to the top of her head.
"I see, you hate me this much?" he spoke with a tone that was foreign to Sakura. For all the years that they had been together, there was never such a time when he used that tone with her. Until now, that is. He bent forward, his lips an inch away from her ear, "As you wish. I hope you'll be happy with Naruto."
Sakura froze. She lifted her head up to gaze at Sasuke but was met with a pair of intense gray orbs that appeared, in all his fury, to glow red—an illusionary metaphor of some sort perhaps? Then she saw it. The glass ornament that he had given her on a festival just like this one was hanging delicately from his palm. "You shouldn't be wearing things from your ex-lover. People will think you're playing around." He said in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone before he, with all the rage he could muster, crushed the hairpin with one single shut of his fist.
Right before her eyes, and everyone else watching, the object fell in bits and pieces onto the sandy shore.
"Ah but that's right," he said as he began walking away from the group, "You've always been playing around though, right?" With that, he ambled on, leaving behind the broken pieces of a mess he had made and disappeared into the night.
XxxxX
The scene he left behind was a broken shamble. Naruto was held up by Kiba and Shikamaru, Sakura half bent and trembling, eyes watery from the earlier encounter. Hinata and Ino were behind Sakura, hands reaching out toward her as if to hold her but were unsure and hesitant. To them, Sakura appeared fragile as if a touch would break her. Gaps in the shapes of footsteps were all Sasuke left behind—aside from the broken scenario. The shards of the hairpin were right before Sakura, threatened to be blown away or buried into the sand.
In a single movement, the wind blew and the scene played itself. Sakura fell to her knees, diving forward to gather the shards of the hairpin into the palm of her hand. She picked them up gently into her hand, tears slowly dripping from her cheeks onto the sandy bottom. Ino and Hinata could only kneel beside her and watch the frenzied Sakura. Naruto watched mercilessly as he limped, hand on his abdomen, toward Sakura. He fell to his knees before her and gathered her cream hands to stop her. "Sakura," he called out, but the pinkhead would not respond. Her eyes stayed averted onto the shards, "Sakura!" He held her tightly, arms around her shoulders, "Stop."
Sakura broke. She shoved her face and hid it in Naruto's chest, bawling out in loud, uncontrolled sobs. She had the shards in her hands, dainty pink glass that once symbolized their love no more.
"It's alright Sakura," Ino softly said, a hand rubbing her best friend's back.
"S-sakura ch-chan don't you think it's better i-if y-you"
"No, no, no, no." Sakura shook her head, tears falling, shoulders rising and falling from the soft gasps of air "I can't."
A silence filled the air before a series of loud explosions were heard and a cascade of colors filled the sky. The tiny sprinkles of multicoloured stars filled the sky before fading into the darkness of the night.