A:N/ So, this is the improved last chapter of Crushes between friends. The whole story is the same, but at the end of the original chapter is where I started the new part of the story. I guessing that you don't' want to read the whole chapter over again so I'll leave some noticeable blank space so yeah. Enjoy the ending!!
Crushes Between Friends –
Chapter 21 – Walk Away, Come Back to Me
Sakura didn't know how to react to her reaction. What was going on with her? She doesn't even know who she is anymore. Things have just been all wrong in her life ever since Sasuke told her. She wished this just never would have happened, but for some reason she's glad that he fessed up about it though.
"Sasuke-kun, why aren't you paying attention to me?" the blonde girl whined.
Of course the reason that Sasuke wasn't paying attention to the freak next to him was because he was too busy watching Sakura walk away from him yet again.
'Please, just come back to me.'
Sasuke watched her disappear into the crowd of students until the very last pink strand of her hair was sightless.
"Sasuke-kun!!" came that freakishly whiny voice again, only this time she was doing a jumping motion.
Sasuke looked at the girl next to him. She was clinging on his left arm giving him a pouting look.
"Who are you?" Sasuke asked her.
"Hehe (in a giggling, high pitched voice). Oh Sasuke-kun, you're so funny!" she said pushing her body closer to his.
Sasuke looked down at her with a 'what the hell do you think you're doing?' look on his face. Sasuke pulled his arm out of the girl's grasp and started to walk to class. The girl called after him, but he didn't pay attention. His mind was all on Sakura.
It was impossible for Sakura to concentrate during class. First of all, she had already gone over this stuff with Sasuke. They both liked to work ahead. The second, and really the true reason why Sakura wasn't concentrating, was because she couldn't keep Sasuke out of her mind. In fact she could barely take her eyes off of him during class.
'Why is it that he has to look so cute when he works so hard? Wait, what am I thinking?'
Sasuke felt a pair of eyes on him. He looked straight up pretending to be looking at the teacher as he spoke. As he was doing so he took a side wards to the right of him where Sakura was sitting. He saw her looking in his direction, but just as he had seen her it was like she had also noticed that he noticed. Sakura bent back down over her notes and started writing again. Sasuke sighed then returned back to his work.
Sakura left quickly after class and Sasuke tried to follow, but by the time he had gotten out, Sakura was nowhere to be found.
'Crap, I think he saw me staring at him. Crap, crap, crap!'
Next class on Sakura's schedule was advanced language. Unlucky for her, Sasuke was also in that class. Along with chemistry after that, then history, and then home where his window was conveniently located right across from hers'. In all of these locations Sakura spent at least one minute watching Sasuke work until he would do his sideways glance causing Sakura to panic and turn away quickly.
After Sasuke had noticed Sakura staring at him while he was working on homework at his desk she didn't look again for the rest of the day. In fact she closed her curtains after awhile.
When her whole room was completely enclosed from outside viewers Sakura sat down on her bed. She grabbed at her hair pulling it backwards taking her body with her to fall onto the bed.
She laid there for a little bit then turned her head to the right, towards her night stand, where she saw a picture of her and Sasuke two summers ago when they went to the U.S. together to the state of California sitting in a black picture frame. In the picture, Sasuke was standing in the water with Sakura on his back. He had hold of her legs so she wouldn't fall backwards. The picture also showed a bucket, which Sakura was holding over Sasuke's head, with water pouring out of it onto Sasuke. That was one of Sakura's favorite summers ever.
As Sakura finished recollecting the memory she stood up with the frame still in her hand. She saw billions of other pictures of her and Sasuke on her walls, mirror, door, and posted on the cork board above her desk.
Sakura walked over to her desk and sat down in her chair. She zeroed in on one particular picture. It was when she and Sasuke had first met. They were each about three years old.
"Sakura, I'd like you to meet my friend Mikoto and her son Sasuke. He's the same age as you."
Sakura was gripping at her mother's skirt look out from behind her. Standing behind the taller lady was a boy that looked like he really was three, just like her. He had the most interesting hair; she had never seen anybody with hair like that. How did he get it to stay sticking out in the back like that? His hair was a dark navy blue and his eyes were a deep onyx. Sakura soon found that if you stared into his eyes too long you would get lost in the pools of onyx.
"Hello Sakura."
The woman that Sakura's mom called Mikoto was now kneeling down in front of Sakura. Sakura backed up a little and clung herself closer to her mom.
"Sakura, don't be rude. Say hello to Mrs. Uchiha," her mother ordered.
Mikoto gave Sakura a warm smile.
"H-hello Mrs. Uchiha."
"You can call me Mikoto." she said then stood up. "Sasuke, why don't you and Sakura go out back and play?"
The boy stood still next to his mom, and Sakura didn't even move a millimeter away from her mom.
"Come on Sakura, you'll be okay."
Sakura shook her head. The boy had his arms crossed, but just then a strand of his bangs had gotten in the way of his eye sight so he blew it out of the way. This action made Sakura's heart leap.
"Come on Sakura. How 'bout Mikoto and I come out there with you for a little bit?"
Sakura's mom grabbed her hand and followed Mikoto and Sasuke out to the back yard. They helped them get off the porch, and then left them out there all alone.
Sakura had her arms crossed behind her and she was rocking on her feet. She got a little too rockity and almost fell backwards had it not been that she put her left foot behind her to keep her from falling. Sakura noticed then that they owned swings; and Sakura loved to swing. Her face lit up, and she ran over to them. Of course you can just imagine what Sasuke's face looked like when she did that. He had one of those 'what the crap is wrong with you' looks on his face.
He watched her run down to the swings and climb up on one. He also watched as she tried her best to get the swing to actually move, but with no prevail. In the next moment he was walking down towards her, which Sakura didn't notice because she was concentrating too much on trying to get the swing to move. Sasuke placed himself behind her and started to push. Sakura was frightened at first when the swing started to move without her doing a thing. She looked behind and noticed then that Sasuke was the one making the swing move. It soon got too high for him though, and when he tried to push her one last time he reached so far up and so far back that it made him fall backwards. Sakura heard the thump so when she was coming back down, she slid her body off the swing, but still holding onto the sides, and brought her swinging to a stop. She ran behind the swing and stopped in front of Sasuke.
"Need help?" she asked extending her hand out to him.
He sat for a little bit, looking back and forth from her hand to her face. He finally took her hand, and as she was trying to help him up the exact opposite happened. There was still morning dew on the ground, so when Sakura was trying to pull Sasuke up her feet slid out from underneath her and she fell also. All was silent for a moment before Sakura started to laugh, and Sasuke soon started to laugh also.
--click—
This was the picture that Sakura was currently looking at.
Their mother's were watching them from inside the house. They had just taken a few pictures of the current scene.
"I'm telling you Ukiah your little girl has got some affect on my Sasuke. He practically near never laughs. In fact, this is probably the first time he's laughed since he turned one."
Ukiah smiled at her friend's comment. She lifted up her camera again and took a picture of Sasuke helping Sakura up off the ground.
"Well Mikoto, with the news you're giving me now, I'm not going to be the least surprised when they go off and get married."
They both started to laugh, for it was in a mother's instinct to know when their little child had found just person for them to marry; no matter at what age they had found each other.
Sakura got up from her desk and walked down stairs. Her mother was with her father at the moment. For he and Fugaku, Sasuke's dad, needed more help with their business trip. This probably meant that Mikoto was away too. Sakura decided to make herself some macaroni and cheese for supper. As she was waiting for the noodles to soften she walked around her living room. She didn't know why but she had this sudden urge to go look at the picture books that they owned. Each had a title on the binding that faced outward. There was one in particular that caught her eye.
It was titled "Sasuke and Sakura". She had never noticed this book here before. She pulled it out and skimmed threw pictures and pictures of her and Sasuke growing up together. She brought the book with her to the kitchen and started to look through it. It had older pictures of when her and Sasuke were younger.
One of the pictures was of their first day of kindergarten. Mikoto and Ukiah had made sure that they were in the same school and class. Sasuke and Sakura were walking into the building with Sakura's arm hooked around Sasuke's and holding tightly onto him.
"I didn't know mom took these pictures. I wonder how long she's been doing this."
The next picture she saw was when she and Sasuke were in second grade. They were outside for recess, but on this particular day the third graders had joined in. One of the boys had been bullying Sakura. Sasuke had stepped in between the two, Sakura clutching at the back of Sasuke's shirt as he talked off the third grader. Sasuke had a serious look on his face and he was obviously yelling at the third grader.
"Why was my own mother stalking me? And why, when these kinds of situations occurred, didn't she step in, instead of taking pictures of Sasuke doing it."
Sakura stared at the picture intently. She flipped through other pages, having all kinds of recollections of the moments her and Sasuke had spent together.
On the last few pages were pictures of events that had happened this year. First was the annual before the school year sleepover, where Sasuke and Sakura had awakened in each other's arms.
"So Mikoto is in on this also?" Sakura asked herself.
The second was when Sasuke, Sakura, and all of the rest of their friends had gone on the little camping trip at Sasuke's cabin. The picture was taken on the day when Sasuke and Sakura spent the whole day walking together, minus the break they took when it started to rain. The picture was of Sasuke and Sakura kissing in the rain. Sakura blushed at the picture, and then moved onto the next.
Of course, as you can imagine, the next was not better. It had been taken on the day that she and Sasuke had been helping each other with their chemistry homework. Sakura remembered that day so clearly:
Sasuke went over to Sakura and explained to her that she had been comparing the two wrong ingredients.
"Thanks Sasuke." she said, then lifting up her head towards his.
They noticed how close they were, but didn't move. Their eyes seemed to drag them both in closer to each other and soon they felt the other's forehead against their own. They finished off the space by locking their lips together.
Sakura dropped her pencil from her hand and brought it up to the back of Sasuke's head. Sasuke wrapped his arms around her waist. Pretty soon he brought one up to her hair and started messing with it. They soon fell down on the ground both on their sides. They took occasional breaks to get air. Whenever their eyes met, they started kissing again like it was their first time. Sasuke would move his hand up and down Sakura's back, messaging her in a kind of a way. Sakura would twist her finger around Sasuke's hair, then untwist it, but then twist it again. They stopped before it got to far. Then just laid there staring into each other's eyes again. Both were blushing. Sakura still had her hands tangled in Sasuke's hair and Sasuke still held Sakura close to him. Realization hit them. They quickly sat up and broke their gaze.
Sakura raised her hands to her cheeks; they felt like they were burning up. She looked over at the stove and noticed a lot of steam rising from the pot. She ran over and put the noodles off the stove. After straining the noodles of all water, she added four tablespoons of butter, ¼ cup of milk. She then stirred all that together. When it looked like it was well stirred she added the packet of cheese powder that had been supplied. She stirred in all the ingredients so that they were all equally, or mostly equally, distributed among the noodles.
She poured some of the macaroni into a separate bowl and brought it over to the table where she had left the photo album sitting.
The next picture was after Sasuke had asked her to the Valentine's Day Dance. In the picture Sasuke and Sakura were both blushing madly. Sasuke was looking down at his feet, and Sakura was just looking at anything but him while biting her lip.
Sakura kind of chuckled at the scene. She could hardly believe how many wonderful memories her and Sasuke had made together; even the awkward ones. Sakura put her two hands on her forehead and leaned over the picture book. Her shoulders started to shake and drops of tears landed on the pictures of her and Sasuke.
...
"Bye Sasuke! Ah!! I'm going to miss my plane! There's leftover meat loaf in the fridge if you get hungry!" Mikoto called before she left the house to join her husband on the business trip.
A car with a waiting Ukiah was sitting in the Uchiha's drive way and Mikoto jumped into it.
"Yuck, meat loaf. Leftover too." Sasuke said.
Sasuke started to roam around the house not knowing what to do with himself. He walked over to the couch and turned on the TV. After going through all of the channels that they had he turned it off, not finding anything that suited is liking. He sat on the couch for awhile. Then he decided, 'maybe I'll read a book, or something.' He walked over to the shelf and skimmed the different books that they had. One in particular attracted his eye though. The title was "Sasuke and Sakura."
"What is up with this?"
Sasuke removed the book from its place and was about to open up the first page when the door bell rang. He put the book back and went to answer the door.
When he opened it he was surprised to see who was standing there. It was Sakura. Her eyes were red and puffy as if she had been crying, but why?
"Sakura?"
Sakura had her head down and refused to look up. Sasuke put on hand on her right shoulder, and used his other hand to lift up her head. Yet, she averted her eyes away from his.
"Sakura." he said more sternly.
This made Sakura look into his eyes. She took a big gasp of air then threw herself at Sasuke wrapping her arms around his waist tightly and crying into his shirt. Sasuke was shocked at first by this action, and didn't get why she was crying, but nonetheless he would comfort her; that was his job after all. He wrapped his arms around her and tightly brought her closer to him. He turned their bodies so that he could close the door for some privacy. After doing so he continually rocked her back and forth. Her crying would strengthen, but then she'd be calmer again. After about fifteen minutes, not nearly long enough for him, she seemed to have stopped crying completely, but she didn't want to let go of him, and he didn't want to let go of her. Sakura clung herself closer to Sasuke's body, suddenly feeling a small chill, but feeling warmer, and safer, as she clung onto Sasuke more and digging her face into his shirt so that she can smell his cologne.
"I'm sorry," Sakura mumbled into Sasuke's shirt.
Sasuke was confused by this comment. He pulled Sakura away from him, much to his disliking. She didn't look up at him.
"I'm sorry," she repeated.
Sasuke grabbed her shoulders firmly.
"Sorry about what Sakura?" he asked.
"I didn't mean to run off like that. I was scared. My head was spinning. I didn't know what to think or say." she said, tears starting to stream down her face again.
'I didn't mean to do this to her.'
"I'm sorry, I was just so confused. But now-" Sakura had continued.
Sakura looked up at Sasuke intently. A huge blush appeared on Sakura's face. She stood up on the tips of her toes and put her lips on Sasuke's. He moved his hands down to her waist and she wrapped her hands around his neck. He pulled her closer to him. He moved his hands up and down her back and her hands went from around his neck to tightening her grip on chunks of his shirt and loosening it again, then moving her hands back up to his neck. They both broke off the kiss. Sakura went back to her original height and looked up at Sasuke.
"Sasuke, I love you too." she said.
Sasuke gave her a smirk.
"Yeah, I realized that when you lunged at me." he joked.
Sakura bit her lip and looked down. Sasuke lifted up Sakura's head and waited for her to make eye contact with him. Once she did, he leaned in for a kiss, but this was a shorter one. Afterwards, he held her in his arms and started to rock her back and forth again.
Sasuke took a glance outside and noticed how dark it was getting. He should probably get Sakura home.
"Come on, I'll walk you home," he said.
Sakura smiled and nodded.
Sasuke grabbed Sakura's hand opened the door, locking it as they left. They walked over to Sakura's house.
After getting her safely to the door, and saw her unlock it, Sasuke gave her a light kiss on the forehead and started to leave.
"Sasuke, do…" Sakura started.
Sasuke stopped and turned around.
"Do you think you could stay here tonight? I don't want to be alone." Sakura finished.
Sasuke gave her a smirk and began to walk back towards her house. When he entered Sakura closed and locked the door. Awkward silence.
"So, um, you had dinner right?" Sakura asked.
"No. My mom left leftover meat loaf." he said.
Sakura made an 'ew' face. She also started to laugh.
"It's not really that funny," he said. "I'm starving."
Sakura suppressed her giggles and headed into the kitchen with Sasuke following. Sakura pulled down another bowl and poured the rest of the mac & cheese into it.
"Here ya go," she said.
They both walked over to the table and ate their macaroni. When they were done, Sakura suggested a movie.
"How about Monty Python and the Holy Grail?" Sakura suggested.
Sasuke laughed, for he and Sakura had seen it once before and had found it hilarious, so he agreed.
Sakura popped in the movie, and her and Sasuke sat themselves next to each other on the couch, Sasuke's arm around Sakura, and Sakura's head leaning on Sasuke's shoulder. They almost finished the movie before both of them had fallen asleep.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
The next morning the two were lying down on the couch. Sakura was on the edge and Sasuke was behind her. Sasuke's left arm was draped over her, his right hand was underneath her head, and their bodies left little vacant area in between.
Sasuke woke up before Sakura and decided to go over to his house and get a change of clothes
While getting his clothes:
Sasuke was rushing so that Sakura wouldn't wake up and find him gone, so as he was walking around his house trying to get his shirt on he tripped over something lying on the floor. After getting up and correctly putting his shirt on, Sasuke picked it up.
Sasuke and Sakura
"What the frick is this?" he mumbled.
He opened it up saw the pictures that made up Sakura's and his relationship throughout their lives.
Their first meeting, him mouthing off third graders, the sleepover at the beginning of the year, the camping trip, and the chemistry help session.
"Now I know what my mom does in her spare time."
Sasuke flipped through every single picture and memory that the book held. Seeing the past made him realize what he hoped for in the future.
6 Years Later
They've been married for about 1 year now. They decided it would be best if they wait until after college to get married and start their life as Mr. and Mrs.
She can still recall the day that he proposed to her.
They were in the back yard of his house and he was swinging her on the swing that caused their friendship. He stopped her after awhile. She asked him why. He said because.
Sasuke rounded the swing to get in front of her, and got down on one knee. His proposal went a little like this:
"Sakura, this is where it all started for our friendship. Now, I want this to be the place where we start our lives together, forever. Will you marry me?"
She said yes of course.
They both said the"I do's" at the alter, and went on the traditional honeymoon.
Now, they live on the same street as when they grew up. Across from their house are their parents' houses. They no longer preoccupy themselves with school and homework. They have new duties now. They have a little girl they need to raise; turquoise eyes, and purple hair. And, they too, have already begun the stalking.
--click—
A:N/ So I hope you liked how I ended this. It's weird having this be done. Review please, if you can that is. Thanks to everyone who has read this story the whole way through, and has put up with my constant procrastination. I know it gets annoying, and I'm sorry.
Maybe I'll be seeing your reviews in some of my other stories. Bye!
Note From Beta - I've had a lot of fun editing this story for Maximum Ridegirl. It's the first story I've ever edited and I'd like to thank her for this great opportunity of doing so to an outstanding story. I also feel very special that I'm the first one to read the chapters, well other than Maximum Ridegirl. Thank you for taking some time off your hands and reading this story, we both greatly appreciate it. Well, Maximum Ridegirl appreciates it even more than me, I mean she IS the one who wrote this story, I just edited it, but had a lot of fun in doing so. She doesn't even know that I left a little message, hope she doesn't mind. Hehehe
Yours Truly,
SasukeGirl567