Haunted by the Past
Main: Sakura & Sasuke
AU, Sakura was in the eighth grade when it happened. Her parents away, she walks to her house alone in the dark and a man jumps her from the shadows, rapes her, and then leaves her broken to suffer the pain for the rest of her life.
A/N: Okay, next chapter. So, given her past I know it may seem like Sakura is OOC but she really isn't. Sasuke doesn't know that she thinks he's hot and Sakura will make sure it stays that way. Ino, meanwhile is trying to mend her friend's broken heart from the tragedy of four years past. Will she succeed? You have to read to find out!
It had been three weeks now since the start of school. Sakura was hiding her feelings from Sasuke and unknown to her, so was he. Sasuke had told Naruto about him dating a girl called Karin back home and Naruto wasn't pestering him about dating now. The two had surprisingly enough become the best of friends.
Sakura had over half of her classes with Sasuke and even though she'd sworn to herself not to get to close to him, she couldn't help socializing with the alluring dark-haired Uchiha. If nothing else, he was a nice guy and he did make her feel safe from the other guys.
So, today was like any other school day, a Friday, and only one hour away from being finished. Sakura watched the clock as her English class seemed to drag on. They were studying poetry in class and today was the assignment day.
"Write a poem expressing deep feelings. Any feelings will do, just as long as it's clean but emotional. This assignment is due Monday." That's what Ms. Shizune had said just five minutes earlier and right now, Sakura was struggling to think of a single line to write.
"What's the matter Sakura?" Sasuke asked. He'd leaned over in his chair and was looking at her curiously.
Sakura glanced at his paper. He'd almost covered the entire front page with lines. She sighed. "I just...don't have anything I want to write about," she said in a soft voice, not looking straight at his face.
"Nothing? You can't write about an emotional experience you've had in the past? That's what I'm doing."
Sakura gasped, a knot forming in her throat. There they were, the horrible images. The dark house, the stranger on top of her, the pain. She felt a tear slide down her face and she quickly wiped it away.
"Are you okay? I-I'm sorry, Sakura," Sasuke said in a rush.
"N-no, it's not your fault. I...um...I just don't want to write about that, okay?" Sakura said in the lowest voice she could muster.
"Okay, Sakura. Maybe you should write about your friends. You like them, right?" Sasuke said, trying to fix the problem he felt he'd created.
Sakura nodded, but her pen remained still over her paper.
"I'm sorry," Sasuke whispered after turning back to his paper. Sakura looked at him with saddened eyes. She overreacted, like always.
...One hour later...
Sakura walked out of the school building and began walking to her usual hangout spot with Naruto, Ino, and Hinata. They were all sitting under the oak trees on the north side of the schoolyard on the new park benches. Hinata was apparently helping Naruto with homework, while Ino was checking herself out in her pocket mirror.
Sakura was halfway to the park bench when something caught her eye. A streak of pitch black hair flew past her and she immediately realized who it was. Sasuke. But he wasn't heading for the hangout spot, he was instead making a beeline for a dark purple car that was parked right outside the school.
Sakura watched curiously as a girl with long red hair got out of the driver's seat and came around the side of the car. She smiled as Sasuke approached her and then Sasuke, yes stoic, vampire-like Sasuke, picked her up in his arms, twirled her around and then...kissed her!
Sakura was in shock. He hadn't mentioned a girlfriend before. For a moment, she was frozen in place, then she sighed. This made things easier. Now, at least, she would not be tempted to get too close to this guy. The dangers she feared could be avoided with ease now.
She walked over to her friends, content with what she had seen. Perhaps this was how it should be. Burying her feelings of jealousy beneath a stone visage, she sat down between Ino and Naruto, turning her eyes away from the dark-haired boy that was now getting in the car with his...girlfriend.
"My heart is like the weather
One day it's warm, another cold
One day it's raining, another snow
One day it's sunny, another all clouds
But it just serves to shroud
My innermost feelings of love and hate
The one that I want another to blame
Hiding away from the rest of the world
Are the greatest of feelings
That I've left untold
Not wanting to get hurt
Not after a repeat
I lie to myself
And still try to defeat
The truthfulness in my heart
That can only set me free
The truth that I like you
And you don't even know.
This is the truth that I hide
And it's also true that I lied
When I acted like I didn't care
When I saw you standing there
The truth behind the rain
My weathering heart that's scared
I hope you understand
The truth behind the rain."
Sakura finished reading her poem and looked up at her audience. Everyone in the classroom was silent, but mostly him. He looked at her with intrigued eyes. She began to feel nervous and quickly sat down, hiding her face from her classmates.
Ms. Shizune started clapping slowly and then said, "Good job Sakura, I could feel the emotion in that poem. Okay, next is Sasuke Uchiha."
Finally, the weight was lifted from Sakura's shoulders. He'd been staring at her, she knew it, but why she did not know. Did he understand her poem that fully, was she that transparent?
He walked to the front of the class and Sakura chanced a glance at him. He was no longer looking directly at her, he looked down at the paper in his hand, his fist clenching nervously. Sakura saw him look up out of the corner of his eye at her.
He looked down at his paper once more and then laid it to rest by his side. He took a deep breath and then looked at the teacher. "I don't have a poem that I wish to read in front of the class," he said, even though she could see what he held in his hand.
She pointed dumbly at the paper and asked, "Well then, what is that?"
"My assignment but I do not want to read it in front of the class," he said in an equally dumb fashion.
"Okay, but that was part of the rules so you're going to have a letter grade deducted," Ms. Shizune said as she took the paper from Sasuke and he sat down.
Sakura looked at him, confused. She was looking forward to hearing his one-page (or more) poem and yet he'd backed out. Why? She was about to ask when the bell rang.
"Okay class, the rest of you, turn in your papers to me now and tomorrow you will be reading," Ms. Shizune said as she beat the class to the door and held out her hand for the papers as we left.
Sakura rushed out of the class after Sasuke only for him to disappear in the crowd. She huffed irritably. He was avoiding her. That only made her more curious as to why he didn't read his paper. She sighed and then began to trudge to her locker to get her books for her homework that night.
-End-
A/N: In case you guys didn't know, the poem that Sakura read was one of my very own. I wrote that poem so yes, I do own that! Yay! Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed. The next chapter should be intense, in the emotional SakuSasu way, but that's all you get. For now, Enjoy and Review Please!