Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
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♥ Chapter XIX: Nothing More ♥
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"Please, Sakura. Let me in. Please? Pretty, pretty please?"
"Leave me alone!" was the screamed answer he received. Sasuke sighed.
"C'mon. Let's just talk. Please? I can stand outside, if you want. Let's just talk."
"NO! Leave me alone, DAMMIT!"
"And I thought you'd never get mad", he tried to tease jokingly.
"WELL, I AM NOW! SO LEAVE ME ALONE, DAMMIT!"
"C'mon, Sakura –"
"LEAVE ME ALONE, BASTARD! GO TO HELL WITH YOUR BELOVED CINDY!"
"Break-time?" Cecilia said, looking pitifully at him.
"OK…", Sasuke sighed.
---
In the kitchen, Cecilia poured some hot lemon-flavored tea in two cups, before sitting down opposite Sasuke with one cup, giving him the other.
"Arigatou", Sasuke muttered as he sipped the tea.
"Hey, Sasuke, what happened? You've already tried getting her out of her room two hours now. This doesn't seem like Sakura, getting so mad. Normally she's calm and controlled." Cecilia examined his face.
"Yeah… well…" Sasuke heaved another sigh. "That goddamned Hikari girl said during the party that I was friends with Sakura just because I saw Cindy in her."
Cecilia didn't react at first. After draining some more of her tea, she put down her cup and chuckled sarcastically. "This reminds me of when you were still Cindy's boyfriend, just that she was the one ditching you and not the other way around." Silence. "So… the important question – is it true? Are you seeing Cindy in Sakura?"
Sasuke pondered the question a while, before he thoughtfully replied: "At first, yes. Now I see Sakura as an important friend, not as Cindy's shadow. But still… she's just a friend of mine. Nothing more. Cindy… well, Cindy is Cindy. She's my one and only love."
"So you're still in love with her?" Cecilia shook her head disapprovingly. "You're hopeless, boy. And I thought all the sensitive talk I tried to force into your brain after she moved would work."
"It did. Almost. But now when I see her again, I can feel it. I can feel I'm in love with her again."
BANG!
Cecilia stared at the hallway where the door to Sakura's bedroom had just been slammed shut with abrupt force, and heaved a sigh. "Oh dear…"
---
Sakura flopped down on her bed, anger boiling within her. Why? Why do I once again feel like this? Upset, mad, sad… it's just like with Don! He just saw me as a friend… he was in love with another person who was close to me… just that this time, it's Cindy…
She thought for a while, and then came to think of the 'bathroom incident'. That's right! Last time I was here… it was a year ago, I think… me and mom just stayed here for a couple of hours… and I went to the bathroom…
Flashback.
"Sakura, you needed to go to the bathroom, right? Well, it's over there", her mother said kindly, gesturing at the bathroom door in the hallway.
"'Kay! See ya in a minute, then!" Sakura exclaimed happily, went to the door and opened it…
… to receive a real chock. Her eyes widened and she gaped at the sight. Inside was a pink-haired girl in a dark-haired boy's embrace. Their arms were entangled around each other, and their lips were… kissing. It wasn't like the first time Sakura had seen a couple kiss, but this was big stuff. Deep, deep French kissing.
It wasn't like Sakura hadn't French kissed with Don. But it reminded her of… Alisa and Don. She felt tears burning in her eyes again, and before she knew it herself, she was sobbing. The couple looked up, astonished.
"Oh, Sakura", the girl said, looking bored. Sakura recognized her as Cindy. The boy pulled free from their hug.
"See you some other time, Cindy", he said with disgust and walked past Sakura.
End Flashback.
Now when I think of it… he looked like Sasuke-kun… and now I know… it was Sasuke-kun…
Tears were streaming down Sakura's cheeks. Why? Why do I feel like this? Why do I wish that… that I were the one he loved and saw in other girls? WHY? Am I… nothing more than just a silly friend? Nothing… nothing more?
And for once, her Inner didn't reply.
---
"Sasuke-sama! It's time for school", a familiar butler's voice awakened him.
"Aa…", Sasuke murmured, sitting up in his bed and rubbing his eyes. He really didn't feel sleepy at all. He had hardly been able to sleep, even.
"Ohayou, foolish little brother!" a happy voice greeted him. He looked up with a grim expression, seeing his older brother standing in the door, grinning broadly.
"Ohayou, Itachi", he mumbled, and scrambled out of his bed.
"I see that you're still tired from the party. Where did you go anyway? Cindy asked for you."
Sasuke winced, and blinked at him curiously. "Cindy? Looked for me?"
"Yeah." Itachi raised an eyebrow. "What's up with that? Isn't she with Daiki?"
"Hn."
"Sometimes I get tired of your attitude", Itachi sighed. "Can't you improve your vocabulary?"
"Itachi?"
"Yeah?"
"Have you ever needed to… apologize?"
Itachi looked as though Sasuke had asked him to dress as a girl and pretend to sell cookies to the neighbors. "'Course I have. Why wonder?"
"I don't mean the normal apologizing, like just saying sorry for bumping into someone or so. I mean… apologizing to a girl… for –"
"What? You did something to Cindy?"
"No", Sasuke answered irritably, "It's –"
"Geez, Sasuke, I thought that your social skills had improved since last. You mean you said something nasty again? You really haven't changed at all since you were a kid."
"Listen", Sasuke snarled, "It's –"
"Don't tell me. You were untrue?"
"No, I wasn't!" Sasuke snapped. "Never mind."
Itachi looked at him with an amused smirk, shrugged, and then turned around to exit.
---
"Ohayou, Tenten! Ohayou, Hinata-chan! Ohayou, Kari-chan!" Naruto greeted happily.
"Hey, you forgot me", Ino complained.
"Okay, okay. Ohayou, Ino", Naruto said with a grin. Ino sulked.
"Beat him up, Shika!" she demanded of her boyfriend.
"Nah. Too troublesome", he commented, crossing his arms.
"Do you want me to start dating James?" Ino spat with a warning glare. That awakened Shikamaru, who marched forward and punched Naruto on the head.
"Ow! What was that for?" Naruto whined.
"For Ino", Shikamaru muttered, going back to his original position – crossing arms.
"Arigatou, Shika-kuuuun!" Ino exclaimed, sticking her arm under his. Shikamaru didn't respond, but he didn't need to; Neji and Sasuke entered.
"Hi", Neji greeted everyone, and then walked forward to Tenten and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Hi, Tenten."
"Hi", she giggled.
"Yo", Sasuke mumbled.
"What's up with ya, teme? You look like you just lost a game of Dancing Petals", Naruto teased, and when Sasuke didn't reply, his eyes widened. "You did?"
"No, I didn't, dobe", Sasuke snapped.
"Whoa, somebody is in a bad mood", Naruto commented.
"Whatever", Sasuke muttered. "Where's Sakura anyway?"
"Sakura-chan?" Naruto blinked. "I don't know. We were supposed to meet outside the gates after the party, but we didn't see her. She must've left early. Why do you wonder?"
"Nothing…", Sasuke said, hardly audible.
"Sasuke-kuuuuun!" Kari burst out and threw her arms around his neck. "Ohayouuuuu!"
"Get off", he snarled and pushed her away violently, making her fall right on the floor.
"Don't be so violent, Sasuke", said Tenten with a glare, as she helped her friend up. "What's up with you?"
"Nothing", he replied shortly.
"He has PMS", Naruto said tauntingly.
"You idiot, only girls have PMS", Neji smirked.
"Well, he's a girl", Naruto sneered.
"And who said so?" a voice said behind them. They all whirled around to see a certain girl with short, brownish-gold hair and blue eyes, dressed in a black Ralph Lauren top, a white Versace skirt, a pair of black Gucci high-heels, holding a brown Louis Vuitton handbag. She had a smile plastered onto her face that showed her rows of perfect teeth. (A/N: Yes, Cindy is a kind of a Mary Sue, but she's not entirely a Mary Sue because if she had been, she would've been kinder and smarter and all that stuff. All Cindy is, is good-looking. But I made her a Mary Sue just because I wanted to make a contrast to Sakura, who's all casual.)
"Cindy…", Sasuke breathed, who could hardly think because of her breathtaking beauty. In fact, the entire corridor was staring at her – especially the guys who were drooling because of her quite daring and showing clothes. The girls cascaded her with looks of awe, admiration and jealousy.
"Cindy", said Kari, looking utterly displeased, as well as Ino.
"Ohayou, everyone", Cindy smiled brightly and walked towards them, her high-heels going 'click-clack, click-clack' as she proceeded through the corridor.
"Hi… Cindy", Naruto said uncomfortably. "Uh… nice-looking you are, today."
"Cindy. What're you doing here?" Neji said with a kind of dry, hard voice, narrowing his eyes.
"Neji", Tenten whispered, but Cindy did a gesture towards her.
"Ah, Tenten, no need to worry. I don't feel insulted at all", she said with a melodic voice that made all the boys in the corridor (with the exception of the four standing in front of her) drool even more. "And… hello, Shikamaru", she added, winking flirtatiously at the genius who merely frowned. But Ino exploded.
"Don't you dare flirt with my boyfriend, Cindy Stewart!" she yelled.
"Flirt?" Cindy grinned 'innocently'. "Oh no, I'm not, Ino. I'm merely blinking. I got something in the eye. Got a problem with that? And oh… I didn't know that such a dumbhead like you would go out with such a genius. Kind of amusing."
"You…", Ino began hissing, but Shikamaru put a hand on her shoulder.
"Never mind her, Ino. You're great in my eyes", he murmured in her ear. Ino calmed down, but still looked protectively at her boyfriend, and then furiously at Cindy.
"Well, well, well. Seems like things haven't changed much since last I was here", said Cindy cheerfully as though nothing had happened. "Ino and Shikamaru are together… hmm, what more. Oh, Neji-kun! I didn't see you at first!"
She looked with a sweet smile on her lips at the Hyuuga prodigy, whose eyes narrowed even more, pulling Tenten closer to him.
"Ah… so you and Tenten are together, ne?" She glanced at the brunette who frowned slightly. "Interesting, interesting… and you, Sasuke-kun, are free, I can guess? Still waiting for me, hmm?" She looked smugly at her ex-boyfriend, who stared back.
"Actually", Naruto said loudly, "He's been hanging around an awful lot with Sakura-chan lately –"
"But I've heard rumors that he's only been doing that because of me, hasn't he?" Cindy interrupted him with a meaningful look at Kari.
"… Well, he has me", Kari responded with a shrill voice as she noticed everyone looking at her, attempting to cling to Sasuke's arm, but Sasuke pushed her away once more.
"Get off", he snapped.
"Doesn't seem so", Cindy said over-sweetly and walked over to Sasuke, now sticking her arm under his. "Why don't you show me around, Sasuke-kun? I've missed Sakura Mankai High."
"Sure", Sasuke shrugged, and began to walk away, the others staring after him. Kari bit her lip angrily.
---
"You know… it feels kind of empty without Sakura here", Tenten remarked during the silence of lunch break, if you didn't count with Cindy of course, who was babbling happily about her stay at US. Otherwise, everyone at the table was silent.
"Yeah…", Ino sighed with a dark look in Cindy's direction. Cindy, however, noticed nothing and continued to babble with Sasuke, who seemed, though as impossible as it may seem, interested of her nonsense-talking.
"Where's Kari-chan, by the way?" Hinata asked, who had by now stopped stuttering at times.
"With James, as always", Tenten responded, wrinkling her forehead. "I wonder what the two of them are up to…?"
Suddenly, James appeared from nowhere, and grinning broadly, he asked: "Where's my beloved cherry blossom?"
"If you mean Sakura", Sasuke answered coolly, "She's not here today."
"Oh, sick is she, my cherry blossom?" James smiled scornfully with a smug look at Sasuke. "I dare say she's sick… but sick of a certain person…"
"Shut up", Sasuke snarled.
"My, my, Sasuke-kun… don't get so upset", said Cindy sweetly. "After all, you're hanging around merely with my cousin because she's like me, don't you? And now that I'm here… you've no worries, do you?"
"Really, that's interesting… that explains your protectiveness of her", James smirked.
"Sasuke-teme…", Naruto began, half-startled and half-angry, but was interrupted by Ino, who stood abruptly up.
"Sasuke!" she thundered. "How could you do this to Sakura? I thought you two were friends, least to say! And now you tell us you've only been hanging around her because of her!" She pointed accusingly at Cindy.
"I –", Sasuke began, but was cut across by Cindy, who was sneering.
"Jealous, Ino? Why, I thought you were over Sasuke…"
"So I am! I've a boyfriend I love, and I'm proud of it, unlike you who flirt around with a dozen men or so!" Ino spat back.
"I don't!" Cindy burst out with a shrill voice.
"Hi, have you guys seen Sakura –", Gaara started as he came to their table accompanied by Temari, but was rudely interrupted by Sasuke who shot him a cold death glare.
"No, we've not. She's ill today. Why wonder?"
"Well, uh… she just phoned Temari and asked whether or not we could do the homework together…", Gaara replied, looking clearly uncomfortable. (A/N: Poor, poor Gaara-chan... T.T)
"She's in our group, if she wants to do homework, she'll do it with us", Sasuke responded.
"Sure about that, Uchiha? Of what I can recall of the rumors I've heard, she's a bit mad with you…", James commented with a smirk.
"What's going on, really? Is it something about yesterday?" Tenten wanted to know.
"Sure it is", James laughed meanly. "But I've got to go now. I just wanted to know where Sakura-chan was… Kari is waiting for me. See you around."
He waved and left, followed by Gaara who didn't seem too comfortable with what had just happened, but Temari raised an eyebrow.
"May I be informed of what's going on?" she asked.
"Nothing, my dear Temari", Cindy smiled. "It's merely –"
"Oh, don't you 'dear' me, Cindy", Temari interrupted her, looking annoyed. "Of what I can remember, we've never been 'dear' and we'll never be."
"I see. Well, it's fine by me."
"I've no clue what's going on either", said Hinata confusedly.
"Sasuke… you said to Sakura that you were just hanging around with her because she was like Cindy…?" Shikamaru said quietly.
"WHAT!" Tenten exclaimed, and then fire appeared in her eyes and she charged at Sasuke. "YOU… YOU…!"
"Calm down, Tenten!" Neji cried and caught hold of her arm, holding her back.
"BUT HE… HE…!"
"Let's listen to his explanation", Neji said calmly and dragged her back to her seat. Sitting down, still with a sour face, Tenten glared daggers at Sasuke, who remained icy and calm.
"I didn't say anything", he said coldly.
"Then why does everyone know about it?" Ino exploded again.
"Well, because it's obvious that it's true, Ino", Cindy responded with sickly sweet again.
Silence. Then…
"Let's go, Shika. I don't want to sit with slime", Ino said in disgust, dragging away her boyfriend who didn't utter another word.
"Yeah, and I've lost my appetite", Tenten said, apparently disgusted too, and walked away with Neji.
"C'mon, Hinata-chan", Naruto urged her, and took her wrist, much to Hinata's embarrassment who blushed, but didn't protest.
"Well… seems like only you and I are left", Cindy said with a silky voice to Sasuke, leaning close so that her hot breath tickled his cheek. He shivered out of pleasure.
I'm sorry, Sakura…, he thought as Cindy kissed his cheek softly. He turned around, and for one shocking moment, he almost thought she was Sakura. Pink hair… green eyes…
Wait, green eyes? Weren't they blue?
He looked again, and bent forward to touch her lips with his own. No, it was Cindy, not Sakura.
But why did he then feel as though it was Sakura he was kissing?
Tsukiko: Sorry for the delay, I'm ill and busy, and yesterday when I had almost finished answering all reviews, my dad got really mad at me and just exited the window without even giving me a chance to save, and he didn't even apologize -.-; Gomen nasai... the next chapter is up September 6th.
Reviews Corner:
I'm really, REALLY, sorry, guys... T.T I really wanted to reply all the wonderful reviews, and I love y'all, but I'm sooo tired and hungry right now (I need to eat after this), so I don't really think I can respond them... x.x; I hope it's okay... but I just want you all to know that you're great, and I love your reviews:D Keep on reviewing!
And oh, I'm going to respond your reviews in next chapter instead ;) I hope you won't mind... gomen nasai x.x
Sneak Preview of Next Chapter: Troublesome Trouble! Shikamaru's Plan
"I've no plan as of yet. But listen", he added, lowering his voice as a giggling Cindy, clinging to Sasuke, walked past the library's open door. "I've heard some rumors… that Sakura is dating James."
Everyone stared at him, gaping.