Alright, so I realized how terrible I am with the whole deadline thing. Thankfully, Mizu Hime asked me if I was still here so it reminded me how bad the delay has gotten and I set a deadline for myself.
"Forgiveness is love in its most noble form." -Anonymous
They had given her a quaint room. She knew it was for privacy but all she found herself wanting as the door shut was someone else in the room. A small cushion for her to sit on was nestled on the hardwood floor. Instead she stood, staring blankly at the table centered in the room and the small arrangement of flowers on it's wooden top. Her thoughts had become a dull rambling the moment she'd come face to face with the people she left behind. Only survival instincts seemed to play correctly. Thoughts such as 'run'.
As her thoughts began to slow and unwind in the silence she could latch onto one definite thought: why had she come? She could still picture the looks on their faces when she'd been caught, one shoe on and looking completely disheveled. They hated her. She kney they had too. Even if they didn't portray their feelings it had to be true. She'd deserted them all for the idea of a guy. Her chest began to hurt and she dropped to the floor, gulping in air while trying to ignore the burning in her throat. How could they not hate her? Friendship only went so far, right? Remembering how much she hated the fights Sakura and Ino had over guys, she furiously rubbed her eyes. Somehow she had done even worse than they had. She'd underhandedly left all of her friends for a guy. Just some guy.
'No, not some guy,' she hesitantly corrected herself. She wrapped her arms around her legs and laid her head on her knees. Seconds later a dry sob racked her body and despite her best efforts she began to shake helplessly as tears drew thin rivulets down her face. Hiding her face from the empty room she could feel the warm tears soaking into her pants.
Something warm slid across her back startling her from her tears. Her head jerked up and she turned to see Sakura crouched down beside her. The girl's soft gaze burned more than any shock or hateful stares and Emiko immediately turned away, hastily brushing away the tears from her cheeks. The thought of how she msut look at that moment simmered in her mind. 'Like a wreck,' she answered herself.
Sakura's hand rubbed her back for a moment, encouraging Emiko to look at her former friend. She searched Sakura's face tirelessly, looking for the dreaded verification of hatred in the girl's face. When she found nothing but a quiet smile she felt only worse.
"Are you okay?" Sakura asked gently. Emiko could only nodd mutely. "Liar." A small laugh escaped and Emiko felt a smile crossing her face. It seemed to long since the last time she'd smile and the movement seemed almost foreign. Glancing at Sakura, she saw a smile on her face as well.
"Why," she paused to clear her throat. "Why are you being so nice?" Sakura didn't pretend to be shocked by the question. Rather she took a seat on the floor and donned a more somber expression.
"That's what friends are for, right?" She proposed lightly.
"What," Emiko replied, her tone a bit callous. "There to forgive all betrayals? To love no matter what?" Instantly she regretted her tone but found the words couldn't surface for an apology. Unable to force them out, she stared at her hands, wondering how long she'd been away from true friends to allow words like that flow so easily.
"Alright," Sakura began, her tone much more like a mothers. Emiko bristled but managed to bite her tongue. It would be too much to ask them to forgive her when she came back to them snapping at their every word. "Yeah, we were hurt. And mad. It was hard to take in the fact that you had chosen someone over us. You really hurt Naruto," Emiko winced. "When he went to confront Sasuke and ended up seeing not only him there but you standing behind him, it really hurt. You choose him above Naruto. Above us."
Silence fell in the room. Emiko was trying diligently to push away the echoes of what she'd said by continuously picking at her nails. Pain hitched in her chest the more she thought and she desperately wished for some kind of pill to wash out all the thoughts like toxins.
"I-I didn't want to," she mumbled weakly.
"He didn't force you," Sakura pointed out factually. Another wince and another nail being picked at.
"Not that," Emiko replied. "I didn't want to...to hurt anyone." Even in her mind it sounded like the weakest attempt for approval. Maybe that was all she wanted, she wanted Sakura to say she was okay with what she did, that she woud've done the same thing.
"Would you have gone?" Her eyes flicked up to Sakura's as they widened in surprise. "If he'd let you?" It was a dangerous question that Emiko asked timidly, completely aware of the land mine she'd put herself on. Sakura didn't respond, only studied Emiko so steadily that the girl had to turn away again. No harsh words came though, and Emiko felt a small spring of hope in her chest.
"I-I didn't want to hurt anyone. And I definitely didn't want to hurt Naruto." The images from that night replayed like a broken horror film in her mind and she closed her eyes tight. "He was like a brother." A picture of the shock and anger on Naruto's face seared in her mind. The way the atmosphere changed when he had shown up. The sleek black cars that had silently appeared on either side of her and Sasuke. The arguement. The fight. The gun and the malicious smile she'd glimpsed on a pale man's face as he watched from the car. And most of all, how she'd just stood there.
She hurriedly wiped at her eyes, feeling the warm liquid smeared over her cheeks.
"He still thinks of you as a sister," Sakura murmured. Breath halted in Emiko's throat at the simple sentence and her eyes fixed with disbelief on Sakura's face. She couldn't be serious, Emiko thought, yet all she wanted was for it to be true. "You know what he told me about that night? About you?" The uncertainty must've showed on Emiko's face as Sakura didn't wait for an answer. "He said you looked terrified."
"Sakura!" The door slid open, allowing the young man's yell to fully echo throughout the room. The peices of what was going on didn't quite fit in Emiko's head, it seemed in a haze as she kept thinking over what Sakura had said. She could recognize Naruto with his shock of blond hair and unique dress, standing in front of Sakura who was on her feet and reprimanding him. The same line, 'he still thinks of you as a sister', reverberated in her mind, growing louder each time until it finally seemed to register. Emiko abruptly stood up, rushed to Naruto and hugged him tightly, surprising the young man so much that he stumbled, tripped over his own feet and fell to the ground with a loud 'crash'.
Naruto's first words were more along the lines of a shriek as he toppled. Finally, opening his eyes and gathering his bearings, he looked down at the young woman latched onto him.
"Emiko?" She didn't respond, and she didn't let go. He looked to Sakura for guidance and she knelt down the gently pulled her off him. Emiko moved off reluctantly and sat quietly on the floor, head bowed. Naruto sat up and gathered himself before studying his attacker. Sakura seemed equally surprised but a little more knowledgable than Naruto who was still trying to put together the peices. A sniffle interupted his thoughts and he looked to Emiko to see her rub her nose.
She could feel the attention gathering on her and said the only thing on her mind, "I'm sorry."
It was her turn to be bowled over as he pounced on her, enveloping her in a energetic hug. "Emi-chan!"
Emiko laughed as she tried to keep upright and alive under the force. She could hear Sakura joining in for a few moments before pulling Naruto off and reminding him that she needed to breathe. He didn't seem to pay attention though, much to Sakura's annoyance, and bounced on his feet while she tried to lecture him on decency. Seconds after she was done he grabbed Emiko's wrist and pulled her to her feet saying something about finding the others.
The walk to the others seemed much brighter than her walk to the seclusion. Naruto spent his time desperately keeping conversation up-beat and constant. Sakura helped, occasionally acting animatedly to a statement to fill the air. Emiko knew it was for a reason; they were still on a bumpy road. How would they handle silence? Could they fight fairly after this? Could she give them the answers they wanted? Still, they had made it over the first hurtle, two words had helped them see that they did in fact want the same things.
The room she was lead to was much bigger than hers with cushions spread hap-hazardly over the floor and empty food cartons resting on the table. A television stationed in the corner was playing a high-action movie as they entered but Hinata instantly muted it, leaving a kind of static tension in the air as their entrance was announced. Ino turned immediately to them, her pretty blue eyes fixating on Emiko who shifted but didn't look away. Shikamaru was sleeping on the floor. Or at least she thought he was considering he had a pillow covering his face, although he might've decided it to be too troublesome to move. Hinata was sitting neatly on a cushion, her feet tucked under her and a bowl of untouched food beside her. Last to notice the entrance was Kiba. Naruto readily took the opportunity to wake him by lightly kicking his leg. He woke with a start and immediately looked to the t.v. before demanding to know why the sound was off. Sakura cleared her thoat loudly, drawing his attention to Emiko as she stood silently in the doorway.
The silence in a full room was worse than anything in the empty room she'd come from, Emiko instantly decided. It took her hardest resolve to meet their gazes and even more control to not flee the scene entirely.
Hinata spoke first with a small smile, "Are you hungry?" She picked up the bowl of food beside her. "It's a little cold," she fixed a cushion for Emiko to sit on and offered the bowl to her. She took it gratefully and sat down, managing a small smile and word of thanks to the Hyuuga.
"You guys changed the movie didn't you?" Naruto complained loudly, plopping down on a cushion and pointing an accusatory finger at Kiba.
"The food channel doesn't count as a movie, Naruto," Ino replied dryly. "And Shikamaru get that stupid pillow off your face!"
Sakura sat down beside Emiko and sent the awkward girl a comforting smile before trying to mediate between Ino and Shikamaru. Emiko was content just to be allowed in the room. Exhaustion began to replace the stress as it melted off in small waves, and she felt her eyes close slowly despite the loud argument between the friends over movie and food choice.
Thanks for all the reviews and for the patience most of all.
Leave a review so I can improve. Rhyme? Hehe.
I judge to have about two more chapters left. I was hoping to squash everything into this one but it doesn't seem to want to work. So two short chapters left. Man, this keeps getting longer and longer. Hope you enjoy it though.