Somebody
By. Misery's-Toll
Chapter Five: Cut Short
Got my sights locked in and I can see you breathe
Then I watched you fall and somebody scream
It's the saddest thing when angels fly away
- "When Angels Fly Away" by Cold
Waking up
isn't fun
after
staying out
in the cold rain
for nearly an hour
the night before.
The first thing I hear
when I leave the
sanctuary of my
room
is
my mother and
father
fighting with each other.
The same screams you hear in your dreams.
I walk in
just as
my mother raises
her hand to
slap
my father
but he
grabs her wrist
tightly.
So tightly
that she
winces.
Dreams of moans and groans and screams and anguish and love and passion and life and death...
I ask a question
that I don't think I
want
to know the answer to
but
I probably
should,
bringing them
back
to the real world
with a
jolt.
"Are you two
going to
split up?"
Simultaneously
my father says
"Of course not,
sweetie,"
and my mother says
"It's a distinct
possibility."
And that's
really
all I need to
hear.
I put on a
light blue oxford
blouse.
I hope that it will
appease Tsunade
at least a little.
But,
it is too small
and I need to fold and button
the sleeves back
once to
make them seem not so
short.
You're better off than some people, remember that.
I put on my
denim skirt that was a
hand-me-down
from my
mother
in her slimmer years.
My clothes
don't really match
my shoes
but I hope that
maybe
knee-high socks will
make that
less apparent.
What are looks worth when others don't even get fed?
When Sakura is about to put on her yellow rain jacket by the door, Ino is already standing there, kicking a box.
"You got a package," the blonde says, before unwrapping it. She gasps as she pulls out a fancy black leather jacket with faux-fur lining the inside, "Who would send something like this to you?"
Because you don'tdeserveit.
Ino fishes around inside the box and pulls out a card.
Stay warm
-Sasuke
Ino scowls, "Well obviously he meant it for me, even if he did put your name on the package. He must have not known that we live together, and just thought that since we carpool that you could deliver it to me."
Does she feel loved? Is the feeling fading?
Ino pulls on the new coat, wrapping a periwinkle scarf around her neck, and walks out the front door shouting back at Sakura, "And you can find your own damned way to school!"
Sakura smiles softly, staring out at the window where the snow was just beginning to fall, white and soft as an angel's feather. She imagines she is soaring through the clouds. The higher she gets, the more snow begins to stick her feathered wings, and begins to weigh her down. Just as she is about to break through to the heavens, her mother's tired voice rings out to her, and her wings are so piled thick with snow that she falls back to earth, "Sakura, honey, you should probably be leaving for school or you'll be late."
The pink-haired girl steps out into the cold, her thin mustard-yellow jacket wrapped tightly around her.
Sakura feels like crying. Walking wasn't as much fun when you didn't have anyone walking with you.
You can't get attached. Nothing lasts forever.
Your parents relationship is proof of that, if nothing else.
The locker that Ino and Sasuke share is on the way to Sakura's first period, and Sasuke is there when she passes by.
"Sakura."
Sasuke is staring at her with his beautiful black eyes and his pretty face, an indescribable expression on his countenance, an epitaph upon stone, and it takes Sakura a few moments to realize that he is looking at the yellow jacket she's wearing, and she knows he has seen Ino, who is walking away, wearing the black leather jacket that will always make her think of him.
Even long after he's gone --because soon he will be. Because no angel will wait for you forever.
And then Sasuke is directly in front of her, gazing into her shining green eyes that look like they don't see anything, but he knows see everything, and he's once again tracing the lines of the slightly swollen purple bruises that are her face, but Sakura doesn't look back because in the distance she can see Karin
who is standing still,
just
staring
at them.
And Sakura thinks that maybe
that's a tear
she sees,
rolling down the girl's cheek
before
she walks away.
Does she suffer?
Will it ever stop?
When she comes back to herself, Sakura realizes that Sasuke isn't touching her anymore; he's walking away in the opposite direction from where she's to be going, and she sort of wonders what just happened.
Karin doesn't show up to first period.
Today, they learn more about the great Namikaze Minato, and Sakura establishes a great respect for the man, and she wonders about his family.
Disappear. Start a new life.
If she were to disappear, who would notice? Would she get a line written about her?
Sakura doesn't think so.
Neither Sasuke
nor Karin
is in Biology
when class starts.
When I sit
in the same spot
as I had attempted
the day before the previous
Gaara is immediately
by my side.
He
says nothing
but
he stares at me blankly
with his
vibrantly colored eyes.
The color of a rainy summer's day.
Kin
and a girl that
I do not recognize
are
turned around in their seats
and are
staring and
whispering about us.
"Do you
feel it?"
Surprised,
I turn in my seat
and
the crimson-haired boy's gaze is
so desperate
for a moment that I just
want to
hold him and
tell him that it will
be okay.
Even though it isn't.
"Do you feel
love?"
I stare at him
a moment longer,
before
locking my gaze
onto my brown wooden desk.
A minute later
I
turn back to him and
just smile.
Youdon'tdeserveit.
There is
a loud smack
as a ruler
is slapped down
against my desk,
and I jump.
"If you two
lovebirds are
finished,
could you tell me
what part of the ear
it is
that
controls motion sensory?"
The door opens
and
Sasuke walks in
and
the attention of
Orochimaru-sensei is
averted.
Humanity, always fruitlessly trying to pair up members of society.
"Why don't you say something, bitch?"
Hinata's head jerks to the left as Karin's hand comes in contact with her cheek.
"You're supposed to be the great Hyuuga heiress, aren't you? How is a failure like you supposed to be so great? You're pathetic!"
The redhead lifts her hand and clenches it into a fist, before aiming it at the smaller girl's stomach.
Hinata keeps her eyes shut tightly, wincing in preparation for the blow. There is a resounding smack that lingers in the air for a moment, but Hinata feels no pain. She opens her eyes slowly, one at a time.
Sakura has enclosed her own hand around Karin's fist.
"So what, Hina-chan? Are you going to let another failure protect you? Are you going to let Saku-chan get punished in your place?"
Karin raises her other hand and smacks Sakura roughly across the face, sending her to the linoleum floor.
"Psh. Can't even protect herself."
The redhead stalks over to where Hinata stands, trembling with tears in her eyes. She aims another fist at the girl.
Sakura stands in between the girls, her arms outstretched to the sides to prevent the girl from passing, blood trickling from the corner of her lips.
"S-Sakura!" Hinata squeaks.
Sakura peeks back at the blue-haired girl, a smirk on her face, "I don't let my precious people get hurt."
Karin hits Sakura in the stomach, knocking the girl back a few steps, but the pink-haired girl does not back down. Karin hits her again in the jaw.
"How does it feel to know that your precious Sasuke won't even protect you?" the girl sneers, clenching her fingers around the pale green-eyed girl's throat.
Suddenly, Karin is on the floor, in pain, and Gaara is in between her and Sakura. Sakura hugs the crying Hinata to her chest, murmuring softly to her as Gaara kicks Karin in the side.
"Gaara, please stop!" Sakura exclaims, her brittle voice cracking as the tears spring to her eyes as well.
People have gathered all around and are murmuring to each other and shouting in encouragement.
A whiskered-looking face appears among the crowd, and immediately the blonde boy's hand is on Gaara's shoulder, firmly holding him back.
"Gaara. Stop."
Naruto and the crimson-haired boy slink back, disappearing into the crowd and reappearing on the other side. Eventually the group of bystanders dwindles and then completely vanishes, Ami pulling Karin away sometime in the middle.
Sasuke is at the end of the hallway, just watching the pink-haired girl hold the smaller girl tightly.
And Sakura
watches right back.
And then Sasuke just
walks away.
Hinata goes home for the day. Kurenai takes her home and misses the first half of her after-lunch class.
No one sees what happens to Karin.
Sakura sits in front of Tsunade's desk, holding a cold compress that the nurse named Shizune handed her when she entered against her bruised face that has swollen up again.
"I warned you, Sakura."
Sakura wants to tell Tsunade that it wasn't her fault, that she didn't even throw a punch, that she just stood there to keep Hinata from getting hurt, and that all this time it has been Karin…
But she keeps her mouth shut.
"I don't want to have to punish you, Sakura. You seem like a bright girl, but you lack the motivation do to good things. Why would you go after Karin? She's such a nice girl; she wouldn't hurt a fly."
No one understands.
Sakura trembles. Tsunade doesn't understand.
Sakura stands, her bangs hiding her face, her fists clenched at her sides, "It's not my fault! She was hurting Hinata! And Hinata doesn't…Hinata doesn't..." her voice starts as a shout but fades to a whisper, "She doesn't deserve it."
Tsunade purses her lips and crosses arms over her chest, waiting for Sakura to calm down. When Sakura resumes her sitting position with her head down and her long hair pooling into her lap, she speaks, "I'll have the counselor look back over the tapes on the security camera. I'll get back to you. We've called your mother, and she's coming to pick you up."
Sakura sniffs, and smiles slightly, "Arigato."
As soon as she gets home, Sakura goes to her room, not bothering to shed her rain jacket or her shoes. She just drops her book bag and crawls under her bed, making herself as small as possible, not caring how uncomfortable the position is, or how dusty the hardwood floor is.
Because she can feel things on all sides of her.
And it feels great.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Naruto does not belong to me. Blargh.
A/N: So yeah. Sorry about the sucky chapter. And some of you won't be able to review because you reviewed when I had the Author's Note chapter up...But anyways, if for some reason you didn't read the Author's Note I had up, the delay was due to my old computer failing to work anymore…And my stupid Microsoft Word SUCKS. It's a different year than the one on my old computer, so it does different things and it looks different, and AUGH!
But yeah.
Anyways, please review!
And can you believe it? My story got put into a C2! That's radtastic! Oh, and also it's on 30 people's alerts list! I love you, you guys!
-MT