So I finally finished Sense and Sensibility so I thought I'd celebrate by updating! (My friend Naeelah was bothering me about it.) And I got first place in my winterguard competition today as well so…. Cheers!

~*SASUKE*~

The morning after the party I stumbled down the stairs without bothering with a shirt to get painkillers. My head was in the process of imploding. Even my footsteps were too loud. I tried to remember what had happened, but every time I tried, pain would ripple from my temples to the crown of my head. I could come up with nothing more than vague recollections. When I reached the base of the stairs I heard a series of resounding claps. Each one zapped my brain like lightning. The hand that wasn't holding me up by the stair rail flew up to cover my ear.

"Congratulations." Of course it was Itachi. He was talking unnecessarily loud on purpose with a smug smirk. "I would recognize the walk of shame anywhere. My little brother finally got laid."

I shot him my deadliest glare, which just made him look smugger. "What the hell are you talking about?" I mumbled. "I didn't sleep with anybody."

He raised an eyebrow with a knowing gleam in his eyes. "Then where'd you get the bruises on your hips?"

I mentally groaned before looking down. Sure enough, blaring bright red hickeys glowered up at me. "Fuck," I cursed. "What did I do this time?"

~*SAKURA*~

I thought about it for a long time. By long time, I meant a day; but it was something I needed to figure out before I saw Sasuke again. I split my time between freaking out over sleeping with Sasuke and feeling guilty for betraying Kankuro. We weren't, like, seriously dating, but it was pretty clear he was into me. And I was way into him so in a perfect world there shouldn't be a problem. But in a perfect world there wouldn't be boys so perfect they mangle the hearts of unsuspecting females with every step of perfection they take.

Okay, so obviously he wasn't perfect. He was moody and a prick and dense. But that didn't stop me from torturing myself. That didn't stop me from giving up my virginity in the back seat of my car when we were both drunk out of our minds.

So the way I saw it, I had two choices concerning Kankuro. I could a) break-up with him because it was unfair to act all flirty when I was still immersed in my Sasuke-induced madness, or b) tell him the truth and hope he lets me ask for his undying forgiveness. And since I was in the habit of being self-destructive lately, I went with the option that would cause me the most pain in the long run.

"Okay, Sakura, what's up?" Kankuro asked the Sunday after the party.

"Nothing," I said with a weak smile. Pathetic.

"You have that look." He pointed out. "The kind girls have when they're putting off saying something they don't want to say but think they have to anyway."

I bit my lip and decided to blurt it out. "I'm breaking up with you."

Kankuro blinked, seemingly unaffected. "I knew that, Sakura."

"What?" I asked, legitimately confused. I thought everything was fine between us. That is, before I screwed up.

"I wasn't joking about waiting for you." He spoke seriously. "You're not ready. It's okay."

"Really?" I said earnestly. He sounded so sincere but I found it hard to believe he would be so sweet to me.

He brushed my bangs from my forehead and planted a gentle kiss. "I'll wait."

And my heart broke again, but in a different way. It was full of conflicting feelings, relief, regrets, and gratefulness. Bittersweet.

~*SASUKE*~

Sakura decided that we should eat lunch in the library that day, since we had some stupid test in chemistry later. I went along with it, of course, since you don't pass up one on one time with Sakura, especially when there's been a rift in your friendship that's your own fault. I didn't do much studying anyway. Mostly I watched her, hunched over her book furrow in her brow. Her enthusiasm for school always impressed me. She twirled her pencil in the air absentmindedly. She appeared so intent of the material, it almost startled me when she slammed her book closed and snapped inquiring eyes up to mine.

"Sasuke, it's been two days since the weekend," she said, no nonsense.

My expression remained neutral. "I know my days of the week," I responded, but her dynamic intent transferred from her book to my gaze made it obvious she was going somewhere with this.

"And we haven't breathed a word about Friday," she pointed. Instantly, I was on my guard, still uncertain about what went down that night.

"Correct." I said, playing along.

"Well, it's stupid. I don't regret it even if you do, though, honestly, I wouldn't see why you would, since with guys—but anyway. That's not really important. My point is, we can really ignore it if we're not comfortable with it. I mean, if we can't even talk about it, then it's just there, you know? Like clutter and stuff. And with the rumors and everything our friendship is cluttered as it is, you know?" She was rambling. It would have been cute if I understood what she was talking about in the slightest.

"Right," I agreed, slowly and cautiously. She gave a funny look.

"Sasuke?" She sounded kind of suspicious.

"Tell me again," I said, deciding it was better to come right out with it. "What happened Friday night?"

Without warning, the library was filled with a resounding smack as Sakura's palm came into contact with my cheek. Pure outrage splayed across her face, along with a sort of crushed emotion mixed in.

We collected a fair amount of attention by this point, but Sakura still leaned in and whispered, "I gave you my virginity, you asshole," then flipped over our books and binders and turned away.

"Wait, Sakura." I grabbed her wrist before even processing the information. She twisted it out of my grip, scowling all along.

"I loved you!" She practically screamed. "I still do. And yeah I get if I'm not exciting enough for you, but don't ignore me. I thought I'd at least garner the respect of having my feelings acknowledged, even if we couldn't be friends anymore. Instead, you decide to forget my feelings as soon as you hear wind of it. You're so self-centered. Instead of properly rejecting me, you leave me with inklings of hope. That's even crueler. I'm stuck on this emotional roller coaster as you get to sit there looking as perfect and in control as ever. And it kills me. And you know, I thought you'd at least have the decency not to mess with a girl the way you did, you know? You used me. You're my best friend. How could you?" She had sobs in her speech and tears in her eyes at this point.

I was so stunned by her rant; I couldn't move as she stomped away as I tried to process everything. The pieces were trying to fit together, but the end results seemed impossible. And I let her go again. You'd think by then I'd know to stop her.

Hope ya'll liked it! This was one of the more embarrassing chapters to post so….tell me what you think!

Love and Kisses~