A/N: Welcome everyone to chapter 20 of A Summer Apart! Yeah just in 20 chapters I reached over 200 reviews! I'm so happy! Thank you all!
But I'm also so sorry! I didn't realize that I haven't updated since last November! Homework and other stuff just caught up with me! Please accept my apology with this new chapter!
Text: Internet
'Text': thinking
"Text": talking
Text: Inner Sakuraw
Disclaimer: It's just been confirmed that I'm a sixteen-year-old girl! And since Masashi Kishmoto is a guy and older then sixteen that must mean one thing: I don't own Naruto! …But I do own Belle, Nicole, Meg, Chiyo, this plot, etc.
Edited: August 2008
Chapter 20: Keep Your Friends Close and Your Enemies Book marked (Or: Warning: Bashing)
"And then the paparazzi practically mobbed us in the lobby! I mean seriously you had to--"Ding!
"Oh crap! My croissant!" Belle yelled, practically leaping up and running full speed to her kitchen.
Sakura followed, frowning a bit as Belle grabbed something somewhat black out of her toaster oven with her hands
"Hot!" Belle exclaimed, grabbing a napkin quickly and placing it the croissant there.
"…Um Belle?" Sakura asked, a bit peeved that Belle interrupted her from her story of Sakura's life when Belle was away. "Can I go on with my story?"
"Of course!" Belle answered eagerly, sitting down at a chair and taking a bite out of her blacken croissant. "Just because I'm eating, doesn't mean that you can't continue! Oh by the way, do you want something to eat?"
"No, it's okay," Sakura replied, taking a sit next to Belle. "Okay so basically, we had to wait and disguise ourselves just to get out of the hotel. And then when we got there, I heard two girls talking about how I was like fake dating or something like that!"
"…"
"…Belle?" Sakura asked, raising an eyebrow because the blonde wasn't replying. It felt like déjà vu for her but with a different celebrity.
"…Yeah?"
"What's up with you people?!" Sakura exclaimed, hotly. "Sasuke had the same reaction to my story: nothing! Like to you people hearing slander about yourself is just a regular day!"
"That's because it is," Belle answered, slowly for Sakura's slow sake, which Sakura answered with a scowl. Belle sighed. "Sakura! Ever since you started going out with Sasuke and hanging out with me, you've been stocked by the paparazzi, right?"
"Yeah…" Sakura said, not really following.
"And do you know why they're following you?" Belle asked, still talking slowly.
"Didn't you just say why," Sakura pointed out. "Because I'm dating Sasuke-kun."
"Yes but dig in deeper!" Belle cried out, frustrated. "Sasuke has always kept a low profile so he won't be in the tabloids. He didn't date, didn't go out to any parties, nothing! And ever since he dated you, the paparazzi have been like stocking him to the max in hopes to get a scandal between you two! And since the London paparazzi are dealing with Sasuke now, the Americans are following you to get a scandal!"
"So… they follow me to find something that would be front page worthy?" Sakura asked, trying to get this all straight.
"Exactly," Belle nodded.
THOSE… THOSE B WORDS! NEXT TIME I SEE ONE I'LL SMASH THEM INTO A MAILBOX!
"Sakura, being famous means having lots of people follow you. It's something you have to get used to, not something you can avoid," Belle said wisely. "I'm actually surprise that you just noticed now! Don't you ever look yourself up on Google or something?"
"…Why would I want to do that?"
"I don't know," Belle shrugged, as she headed towards her living room, where her MacBook Air (A/N: Dude, those things are really thin!) was. "I was fifteen when I first showed on TV, premiering my music video on FF, you know the channel that's for like pre-teens and little kids (A/N: Like Disney Channel! …Even though I watch it but I'm not a little kid or a pre-teen!)--"
"--I remember that!" Sakura interrupted, laughing. "When Ino and I saw you and your music video we were like 'OMG! She's so awesome!'"
Belle smiled. "Well, I was aiming to make people think I'm awesome so that's good. Anyway, after a week I was in the same position in fame as you are today. So I was bored so I looked myself up on Google.
"And what did you find out?" Sakura asked, intrigued.
"I found out that I have to put 'Belle Akai' because if I put just 'Belle' then you just get a bunch of links to Beauty and the Beast," Belle said with a meek smile while Sakura just sweat dropped. "But after that I found out a very important lesson." Belle opened Safari in her laptop and clicked on her bookmarks and went to one labeled 'Warning: Bashing'. "Here, look at this."
Sakura took Belles' seat as Belle scooted away as she examined the screen. It was a simple black background (very un-Belle like) and in big white words were 'Anti-Akai Forum' and below it in a smaller font but still big were the words 'For those whom hate singer/songwriter Belle Akai. Haters only please.' Below that it read 'Members: 2,670,006'
Sakura just stared at the screen as she scrolled down to see all the topic titles. Some were normal like 'Her Singing… It's just Normal' but some were annoying and in internet chat like 'SHE SUX! U GOTTA BE KINDIN MEEH!!111!!'
"Oh! There's this one place thing where they talk about how the way I dress is horrible! It's hilarious!" Belle laughed, grabbing the wireless mouse and trying to find the place.
Sakura stared at the laptop and then Belle, staring like they grew an other head (which is especially weird since laptops can't grow heads)
WTF IS WRONG WITH THIS GIRL! THESE PEOPLE ARE INSULTING HER AND SHE THINKS THEY'RE FUNNY?! I KNEW SHE WAS WEIRDO!
"Here it is!" Belle declared, moving away from the laptop so Sakura can read.
Sakura would have declined and say Belle should belong in the nut house, but there was something in her mind that made her say 'okay, I'll read it'. 'She can kick me out and the paparazzi can get me, she can kick me out and the paparazzi can get me,' Sakura chanted in her mind as she started to read.
The title was in big letters reading "A Fashion Don't… Ever!" Sakura scrolled down and saw one that was added today.
Posted in: July 23
Posted by: TurtlesAreLove
Comments: Okay, I have to admit that I like the way she dresses now. But when she was 15 and was on FF she dressed so horribly! It was like in rhinestones and glitter! Today I saw her first music video on the web and I was like 'WHAT IS SHE WEARING!? SOMEONE SHOOT THAT OUTFIT OR HER!'
"Hm… that one is nice," Belle muttered sounding disappointed, as she took the mouse again. "Let me find an other one."
--
Ten-Ten was bored. Actually bored was an understatement. She was practically dead. When she came back to Japan, she thought she was able to fight today. And she was able to… but there was someone that told her no and to just stay in the room: Neji Hyuuga.
"Stupid Neji," Ten-Ten cursed her boyfriend, staring at the ceiling. There were one hundred logs that made up this room. But technically there were five hundred since she counted the ceiling five times. "Making me stay here. I've been to California and back in one piece and he said I can't do anything! My body is fine!"
It's been more or less a month. Ten-Ten thinks it was a little less then a month but either way, she could fight. Actually, that was sort of a lie. It was strange. Sometimes, just sometimes, she would just feel a pain in her legs. Ten-Ten first felt it when a couple days after she was conscious. She woke up to the pain. It was like someone was sticking a thousand needles in her leg and when she moved, they just stuck more. The pain subsided after a couple of minutes (although it felt like hours) and her leg stung for the rest of the day. After that, it happened about several times a week.
She didn't want to tell anyone, not even the doctors. She knew if she just told one person, it'll get to Neji in some way or an other and she just couldn't tell with him knowing. If he knew about this pain she was getting in her legs, it'll just make him… well Ten-Ten didn't really know herself but it'll be bad.
The pain in her legs made her agree that she would just stay in the room with no agreements. But now (with no pain all day) was regretting it. She was bored! She was talking to Hinata for a while, but she had to go to work, Ino wasn't online or answering her phone (which could be because it was night, but Ten-Ten wasn't sure), and Sakura… well Sakura was being to emotional right now and Ten-Ten didn't really want to hear about her famous problems. Then after spending worthless hours online just catching up with everyone she knew in high school by their YourSpace and HeadBook (A/N: Rips off of MySpace and FaceBook!), reading the entire books series Twilight (which Sakura bought her when they were in L.A),and then just lying there in her bed staring at the ceiling and counting the logs, which is what she's doing right now.
--
'Okay,' Sakura tried to make sense of this. She first thought this was a dream but she pinched herself and she felt pain. 'Belle, the person who I think now belongs in the asylum, wants to show me people who insult her because of… reasons I don't know why. Possibilities of why: she's crazy, she thinks it's funny and I thinks I need a laugh, or she's crazy.'
IT'S THE CRAZY ONE!
"Oh!" Belle exclaimed, sounding as if she remembered something that made her happy, as she opened her book marked stuff. "There's this one website that's full of rumors about me that's so horrible!"
"Why are you showing me all this?" Sakura blurted out. She couldn't take it anymore! After reading like five topics on why Belle sucks, Sakura just had to know why Belle seemed unfazed that they were insulting her! And now: rumors that are horrible?! Was Belle on drugs or something?!
"Because it's an important lesson!" Belle declared, sounding a bit mad. "That when you're famous there will always be haters and people who make up stuff about you because one: they hate you, two: they just want to make up stuff for fun, three: making fun of you makes them feel better, four: they want you to make you feel depressed, or five: some other reason that I have not come up with yet!"
I thought the lesson is that you're a crazy person who thinks that we don't know this!
"…And I need to know this lesson why?" Sakura asked, fighting back on letting her inner self speak for her.
"Because you didn't even know the paparazzi will follow you so I suspected you didn't know you had haters! And since you probably don't, I decided to show you the people who hate me first!"
"…I have hater sites like this?" Sakura questioned, in disbelief. She was only famous since the summer. How could they hate on her already?
"See!" Belle cried out in victory with a smile on her face, pointing her finger at Sakura. "You didn't know! And I bet you thought I was crazy!"
"…No…" Sakura said slowly, knowing that her face was turning into a weird state. Whenever Sakura told a big lie, she talked really slowly and her face turned weird. Ino called it her 'lying face'.
But Belle didn't notice her lying face since she was looking up something new on her laptop.
"Here, this is the first one I found and the one with the most members," Belle said, moving yet again so Sakura can see.
Sakura looked at the computer. A pink background with big green letters that read 'Sakura Haruno Haters' in big words. In smaller white words it read 'A forum hating Sakura Haruno. Famous by being Sasuke Uchiha's girlfriend and Belle Akai's friend… yes, she didn't accomplish anything other then that.' and below that was a smaller font but still visible 'Members: 8,186'
SCREW SMASHING THE PAPARAZZI IN THE MAILBOX! I SMASH THEM INSTEAD AND THEN SET THE MAILBOX ON FIRE!
--
(Ten-Ten's POV)
"When are the boys going to be back?" I asked myself, glancing at the alarm clock which read 6:00 PM.
As if I said the magic words, the door burst opened with Rock Lee and Neji coming through the doorway. …I wonder if that would work all the time…
"Ten-Ten today was youthful!" Rock Lee informed me as I sat up on the edge of my bed. "I won against my opponent, as did Neji!"
"Really?" I questioned, trying to sound excited… it somewhat worked. "Good job. I wish I could have been there"
"Well either way we felt your youth and that's how we won!" Lee declared, grabbing a towel and his night clothes. "I'm going to take a shower now."
"Okay," I said, glad that he didn't say youth and shower in the same sentence.
After Lee left, Neji walked casually towards me even though I was glaring at him now.
"I can see you're mad," Neji pointed out, indifferently.
"You mean the fact you told me to stay here and that meant I had to spend my day here bored out of my mind doesn't mean that I'm mad," I replied, sarcastically.
"I'm sorry," Neji apologized, sitting down next to me. He didn't sound sorry. "But I'm worried about you and what might happen to you."
"I know," I sighed, hearing this a million times already. "Because you care and like me so much." I teased, with a light smile on my face.
He put his arm around my waist and pulled me closer. "Love you so much," I corrected me, as he kissed my hair (which was down). "I love you, Ten-Ten."
"…Love?" I asked, sounding like a retard.
And that's when my boring day got exciting and when my life got confusing.
--
(Sakura's POV)
If there was ever a time to go to jail for killing someone: it would be now. Those stupid low lives who think they know me and think I'm instantly a slut or an idiot or a attention whore! …What does that even mean?!
"Sakura… are you okay?" Belle asked me, as she looked at me as if I was some craze lunatic with a chainsaw in hand and a bloodthirsty look on my face.
"Yes," I gritted through my teeth. Oh yeah, that sounded like I was okay…
"…Are you sure?"
"HELL YEAH I'M OKAY!" …Oh gosh, Inner Sakura was taking over me. "Just because these bimbos are saying I'm an "attention whore" and I'm just using Sasuke-kun to be famous that doesn't mean I'm in a great mood!"
"Really? Because you seem angry," Belle commented. I wasn't sure if Belle was being sarcastic or was she really just this oblivious that I was actually mad.
"Of course I'm angry!" I snapped.
…I think I'm close to having my period…
"Just remember that just because they're saying this, it doesn't mean that it's true because you know yourself and you know it's not true," Belle said, trying to comfort me. I noticed she took one step away from me.
"I know," I said, taking a deep breath in and out. "They know nothing about me."
"Yeah!" Belle agreed with a smile. She then frowned. "Expect Nicole… she knows a lot about you and she's a meanie."
…Nicole?
"What about Nicole?" I asked, confused.
"You didn't know?" Belle questioned, astonished. "She, along with her friends I guess, runs this website. It even says here in the bottom!"
I stared at the bottom of the page and say in clear 'Website Provided and Made By: Nicole Spencer, Taylor Clarke, and other people whom don't want to be mentioned.
'THAT BITCH! I'M GOING TO KILL HER SKINNY ASS WHEN I GET HOME!
A/N: …What?! Why is it only six pages! I wanted it to be more so you people will be happy that I updated and that I updated with a long chapter:thinks for a long time:
Hm… :eats candy: I got an idea! Let me just add more to the chapter!
"Bye Hinata-Chan!" Naruto said, smiling his trademark smile.
"Bye Naruto-kun," Hinata replied, looking down with a small smile on her face.
"I like it when you smile," Naruto commented, pushing Hinata to his eye level. "Actually I like everything about you."
"Thank you Naruto-kun," Hinata blushed, trying to put her head back down but Naruto stopped her and kissed her lightly on the lips.
It was a light kiss, Hinata noticed, but it was a great one full of what they're relationship was: deep feeling, a bit of awkwardness, and young pure love.
"Naruto, would you mean backing away from my daughter," Hiashi said coldly, as he closed the front door behind him. "Just because you're dating her, doesn't mean you can kiss her outside my house."
"Yes sir!" Naruto exclaimed, taking a big step away from Hinata, a bit frantic. "I will not kiss your daughter outside your house!"
Ever since… forever, Naruto has been scared of Hinata's father because of many reasons.
"Actually don't kiss her ever again," Hiashi said, his voice indifferent. "You two are broken up."
"…Father?" Hinata asked, her voice an octave higher then usually, paralyzed at the comment. She finally had Naruto…
"What?" Naruto asked, both confused and traumatized. His eyebrows furrowed. "Mr. Hyuuga, I love your daughter and I won't break up with her."
"Yes, but I will break you two up," Hiashi told the blonde boy, glaring at him with ice daggers. "You are never allowed to see my daughter again. You are both unfit and unqualified to even see her let alone be dating her. Goodbye."
Hiashi grabbed his daughter before either teenagers could comprehend what was happening and pushed her inside the house.
By the time Hinata did realize the fact that she won't be able to see Naruto again, the tears were already rolling down her eyes. She couldn't think, breathe, or even support herself. She crashed on the floor, her back on the door for support. Her eyes still wide in shock.
"You'll thank me for this later, Hinata," Hiashi informed his daughter as he walked away from his daughter, uncaring that her heart had just been ripped out of her body.
"…Naruto-kun…" Hinata whispered, hugging her knees and letting the tears fall freely from her face.
--
Love is defined as strong affection, warm attachment, and/or beloved person. Ten-Ten knows that because she looked it up on her electronic dictionary… one hundred times. (A/N: It actually does say that on my electronic dictionary!)
Of course people say I love you all the time and can say it because they feel all those three things for the person but for some people it's different. For Neji, Ten-Ten knew it was different.
For Neji, saying 'I love you' meant like 'Before either of us were born, it was destiny that both of us will be together. Marry me after a few years, please?'. But did she, Ten-Ten, love him back? She wanted to be a hundred percent sure that she loved him before she answered it back and that's what she told Neji, which he responded with a light "Okay, I understand" which for Neji meant 'Take your time. I understand'. So why did she feel so bad!
"Ten-Ten." Ten-Ten turned to see Neji staring at her with a look that Ten-Ten could only describe as nothing.
"Yeah?" Ten-Ten asked.
"It's been a day since I told you that I loved you and--"
"--I'm still thinking," Ten-Ten said hastily.
"I know but I've been thinking," Neji said, his voice revealing nothing. "I think we should break up."
--
Meilleurs Voeux.
It was a cafe that translated into "Best Wishes" in English.
But that was for most people though. For Ino it translates into 'Café where Ino goes when she wants to get more questions then answers so she doesn't get "Meilleurs Voex"'.
But when she told her auntie and uncle she was going out, she said she was just going to Meilleurs Voeux, not the long translated one (A/N: I changed the name because I didn't like the last one). Of course her auntie and uncle said she could go, even though she was going alone. They were happy she was just stepping out in the sunlight.
Ever since she'd gotten back from California, she just spent one day outside and that was just to go out with Anne-Marie and even then it was only for an hour. For the rest of the days, Ino just stayed in her room or in the library. Reading or listening to music.
Ino was depressed. Or at least that's what she thinks she is. She didn't feel like doing anything except think. Think about Shikamaru, think about why she misses him and his pineapple hair, think about if she loved him, think of anything Shikamaru related.
Sooner or later, these thoughts turned into questions. And when she had questions, she wanted answers. But Ino knew she could only get more questions and there was nothing she could do about it. So who better to get more questions then that waitresses she thought it was a spy.
"Bonjour Ino," Aoi greeted in her normal soft voice, taking off her apron.
"Hey Aoi. Thanks for talking to me on your break time," Ino said wistfully, trying to give a smile or anything close to one.
"Qu'est-ce qu'il y a?"
Ino tilted her head to the side and gave a confused stare at the brown hair teen, who just smiled lightly.
"What's wrong?" Aoi translated in English (A/N: It is)
"…Everything," Ino said blankly.
"Still," Aoi said, even though it sounded more of a question then a comment.
"Yeah."
Ino honestly tried to do everything she can to get Shikamaru back. But even if she just thought about him, her breath gets shorter and faster, her heartbeat gets faster, and tears of despair show up in her eyes. Ino noted (after about the fiftieth time of feeling this) not to think about it anymore.
"You seem really… empty," Aoi said, choosing her last word carefully to fully describe what she was seeing from the outside.
"People told me that already."
"I'm sure they did."
Aoi was quiet. Not emo, even though people mistake her for it, just quiet. There will always a silent pause when she first meet someone and even if she knew them for a long time. After years of noticing this, she was used to it. She never felt awkward in the silent pauses anymore. But talking with Ino made it an awkward silence.
"Did you ever find out what love meant?" Aoi asked, trying to fill in the awkward silence. She hated silence right now.
"I think everyone has their own opinion."
Aoi frowned, or really scowled since she already looked like she was frowning. Ino was still acting like a hollow shell of human. Her voice, not happy and full of life, but empty and indifferent. It was like she's nothing.
"Do you think he's like… you're soul mate?"Soul mate
Those two (or was it one, Ino didn't really know) rung into Ino's ear. Belle used those (or that) word also.
"I don't know…" Ino said, trailing off in the end.
"Would you want him to be?"
"There's a big difference between what you want and what you get," Ino answered sourly.
"But you can always get what you want."
Ino gave her best effort to even come close to a smile, it didn't work and Aoi sighed in defeat.
--
"Where's Nicole?" Sakura asked with a look that could and wanted to kill.
"I think she's in her room," Meg shrugged, flipping through the channels on the TV.
"Thanks," Sakura said, storming her way to Nicole's room.Stupid girl who thinks she can insult me and get away with it! She's so dead!
"Nicole!" Sakura burst through the door, not caring if the door even breaks.
"Hello? Ever heard of knocking?" Nicole asked, glaring at Sakura.
"Ever heard of not making an anti me forum?" Sakura asked, hotly.
"Sakura, I'm just expressing my feelings through the internet and it just so happens that my feelings towards you is that you're just dating Sasuke because you want fame," Nicole said, trying to defend herself.
"Well I'm expressing my feelings towards you through right now and it just so happens that I think you're a bitch!"
"Well you're just a whore!" Nicole spat.
OH HHHEELLL NNNOO!
"What did you call me?" Sakura asked, her blood rushing through her veins as she clenched her fist.
"A whore, or better yet Sasuke's whore! He doesn't love you! He just using you like you're using him!"
The Hater Sakura Haruno people made Sakura notice that people will say anything to get to her. Most did, but Belle calmed her down in the end. But even with Belle's words running through her head, Sakura couldn't help but be affected by those words.
Sure she knew that all those stuff people say about her aren't true, but Sasuke was a whole different story. She had no idea what he was thinking in his mind. Nor did other people, but with emotions going wild Sakura couldn't help but listen to other people then herself.
A/N: There! Eleven pages! So, I found out that you can put polls on your homepage or whatever it's called and I decided that you get to choose who I'm going to write next! The poll stuff is apparently only for people with accounts but if you don't have an account then just say who you want to see next in a review! The poll will end… probably a week or so from now, when it's not there in my homepage!
So the choices (with some info) are:
1. SasukeSakura: Sakura is now doubting if Sasuke loves her. But can Sasuke convince that she really means something? …Wait what is Itachi doing here in L.A!?
2. NarutoHinata: Forced apart, want to be together. How will they see each other? Or can Naruto convince Hinata's dad that he's the best thing for Hinata?
3. NejiTen-Ten: Neji wants to break it up. Ten-Ten tries to keep it together. But when her leg starts to hurt, will it show that Ten-Ten is dishonest at Neji, which Neji hates?
4. ShikamaruIno: Can Ino ever get out of this depressed stage? Will Aoi's mysterious friend make it better by getting her and Shikamaru back together?
Okay those are the four choices! …The descriptions sound cheesy but I can't think right now! So please review but no flames!
(A/N: …I'm thinking about changing the rating from K to T, what do you think?) Internet Inner Sakura