A/N: This was delayed by a week. But I made this chapter longer than usual, so I hope that makes up for it.
Rich Boy, Poor Heart II
Chapter Twenty
000
JULY 29 (1 more day left!)
"You look angry," Sasuke commented as he entered the room. Itachi looked up, and looked away again.
"What? Are you mad I proposed before you could?" Sasuke asked, smirking. Itachi reached into his pocket and took out a golden ring.
"Maybe," He muttered. Sasuke scoffed.
"Go do it now. She'll be ecstatic," He told him. Itachi turned to look at him.
"It's three in the morning, Sasuke," He pointed out. His younger brother shrugged.
"Not a lot of people propose at three in the morning. I think she'll like it if you do something unique for once," Sasuke replied. Itachi stood up and sighed.
"What do mean 'for once'?" He mumbled as he walked up the stairs.
000
"Rain…?"
"Rain, wake up."
"Hey. Rain."
Rain groaned as she flipped over. She cried out as she fell off the bed and hit the floor.
"…Baka."
The girl stood back up and flopped onto the bed again.
'I'm hearing voices inside my head…'
"Rain, don't go back to sleep."
'Hm…it sounds a lot like…'
"Rain."
'Itachi-kun.'
She opened her eyes.
'Oh. It is Itachi-kun.'
She frowned.
'Wait!'
"W…why are you in here?" She burst out, pointing. Itachi sighed.
"Finally." He muttered.
"That doesn't explain why you're in here," Rain huffed as she sat up. Upon crossing her arms, she discovered that one of her fingers felt strange.
She observed her to finger to see that there was something there. A ring. A pretty, shiny, gold ring.
She screamed.
000
"It's like, proposal city in here or something," Ino said as she watched Rain and Sakura talk excitedly.
"I wouldn't be surprised if there was another proposal," Ino added, rolling her eyes.
"I think you're just envious," Shikamaru shrugged beside her. She glared at him.
"Maybe someone's just too lazy to propose," She shot back, crossing her arms. Shikamaru snorted.
"Uh huh. I will sometime, but not now, Ino," He replied casually. Ino huffed.
"Ah, Sakura, we should have our weddings at the same time!" Rain exclaimed. Sakura beamed, and nodded.
"No," Sasuke and Itachi snapped at the same time. The two girls pouted at them before continuing to rave on about weddings.
"Ah…so nice to be young…" Mikoto sighed from the couch in the corner. Sasuke scoffed as Sakura looked over and smiled brightly at him.
"I don't want to ruin anything, but…we should all be packing up now," Neji pointed out. Ten Ten elbowed him hastily. Fugaku nodded.
"Yes. That would seem so. Getting to the airport takes four hours itself," Fugaku pointed out. Mikoto frowned.
"I guess it does seem like we'll have to pack up now…" She trailed off.
"…Let's all get started then," Naruto muttered as he helped Hinata up. Two by two, the teens left to their rooms.
000
Sakura sighed as she walked around the seemingly empty room. She patted her large, pink luggage back and sat down on the lonely bed.
"This really was…a short trip, wasn't it?" She asked herself as she took out the lavender ribbon from her pocket. She frowned as she put it back into her pocket and looked up at the ceiling.
"Sasuke-kun…Sasuke-kun…Sasuke-kun…" The pink-haired girl whispered.
"Hn?" A voice beside her said. She jumped.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted, shocked. He smirked.
"You were thinking so much that you didn't even notice me come in," Sasuke pointed out. She rolled her eyes.
"I was thinking…where we'll be going. Where you'll be going," Sakura said, glancing out the window.
"I'm going with you," He said in an instant. Sakura stared at him.
"R…really?" She asked. Sasuke nodded firmly.
"I'll go with you," He repeated.
"B…but the company"—
"We've forged a contract with the Hyuuga. And Itachi will be taking over the company. Everything's set," Sasuke explained. Sakura continued to stare.
"I'm…glad," She finally told him, smiling.
"Oh…but Rain and Itachi…" Sakura trailed off uncertainly.
"Rain's decided to follow Itachi wherever he goes. They'll be okay; I'm sure," He told her.
"And everyone else"—
"Sakura. That's their business. You don't have to worry about them," Sasuke cut in. Sakura frowned and put her head on his shoulder.
"I'm just…nervous," She admitted. He cocked up an eyebrow.
"Nervous?"
"I feel like I'll never see them again. Itachi and Neji will be too busy managing companies. Everyone else has their own lives too. They'll all be busy. And I…I don't have anything special to do," Sakura explained. Sasuke scoffed, and she looked at him, offended.
"You'll be my wife Sakura. You don't need to get a stressful job or anything. You just need to be you. Your special job is to keep me sane," He told her, kissing the top of her head. She blushed.
"I'm glad I met you, Sasuke-kun."
000
"You seem…sad," Sasuke mumbled. The other boy stopped strumming his guitar, and looked up.
"Sai," Sasuke said.
"I don't really want to talk, Uchiha," Sai replied. Despite these words, Sasuke sat down next to him.
"I know Sakura's important to you," Sasuke started. Sai stayed silent as he began to strum the guitar again.
"But to me, she's more important. And my importance means more to her than yours," The Uchiha explained. At this, Sai sent him a light glare.
"But…Sakura hasn't been acting the same lately. She's still hung up on you. You've been ignoring her, and she's hurt," Sasuke said. Sai sighed.
"I don't feel like facing her. Rejection is…painful, Sasuke," Sai told him.
"It's probably a feeling you've never felt," He added emotionlessly. Sasuke scoffed.
"Sakura's made me feel that before. Nothing's perfect for us. But still, talk to her. I'm letting you," Sasuke said before standing up. The Uchiha brushed off his hands on his pants, put his hands into his pockets, and walked away.
Sai listlessly strummed the guitar, thinking.
000
"I'm sorry."
Sakura froze, startled. She looked up at Sai, who looked emotionless as usual.
"You don't have to be sorry," She finally told him.
"I think I do. I did wrong things," He replied simply. To his surprise, Sakura smiled.
"Okay…thank you. You'll do great in life, Sai," Sakura said.
"Yeah…" Sai muttered back.
"You too…" He said awkwardly, without looking at her.
"Where will you go after this vacation?" Sakura asked nervously. Sai looked at her this time.
"Home," He told her. She rose an eyebrow.
"And that is…?" She asked.
"Back to the countryside of Japan. So I can draw again," He replied.
"Oh…maybe I'll visit sometime," Sakura said, offering a smile. He shrugged.
"It'd be better if you didn't," Sai told her. She rubbed her arm uncomfortably.
"R…really? I don't want you to be lonely," She said. He sighed.
"Get back to your life, and I'll get back to mine. Bye," Sai finally said before turning around and leaving. Sakura stared down at the koi in the pond.
"You'll be lonely, huh?"
000
"Don't look at me like that," Karin snapped at Sasuke, who was glaring lightly at her.
"Sai told me that you guys are leaving tomorrow. I just wanted to say goodbye," She explained.
"You don't have any tricks up your sleeve?" Naruto asked. Karin rolled her eyes.
"No, I'm afraid not," She said sarcastically.
"Now, where is she?" She asked. Sasuke frowned.
"I don't want you to see her," He told her.
"I know you guys are like…engaged now. I just want to set some ground rules with her," Karin told him. Sasuke observed her expression before sighing.
"I have innocent intentions this time, Sasuke-kun," Karin said, smiling. Sasuke side stepped out of the way to let Karin come in.
"Sakura!" Karin bellowed. After a few seconds, the girl emerged from the backyard. She widened her eyes.
"You…" Sakura whispered. Karin scoffed.
"Yeah. I…I heard about you and Sasuke-kun. And…congratulations," The red head admitted, looking away.
"But listen. If you decide to throw him away, he's mine again, got it?" Karin demanded. Sakura beamed, and nodded.
"Loud and clear," She replied. Karin sighed.
"Contact me if you have any problems," She muttered before walking back to the door.
"Karin-chan! Thank you!" Sakura said as Karin shut the door. Sakura frowned.
"What?" Sasuke questioned.
"This vacation was too short," The pink-haired girl sighed.
"We only have a few hours of tomorrow, and then we'll be driving to the airport…" She added. Sasuke put an arm around her.
"I'll never forget the memories we had here," He told her firmly. His finger brushed against the ring she was wearing, and they both blushed.
000
"This is the last night here…" Rain sighed to herself as she crossed her arms. She paced the living room impatiently.
"And Itachi"—
"What about me?"
The girl jumped. Itachi came down from the stairs calmly. She smiled at him reluctantly.
"Um…" She trailed off nervously.
"Let's go somewhere," He said suddenly. Rain blinked in confusion.
"It's midnight right now, Itachi-kun," She pointed out. He rose an eyebrow.
"I can see that," He replied casually. Rain remained perplexed.
"Are you feeling okay?" She asked, concerned. He put his hands on her shoulders, and took in a deep breath.
"The end of this vacation marks the end of my youth. After this, I'll have to manage the Uchiha company, and I won't have a lot of time for you," Itachi explained. Rain frowned.
"I know that…" She said sadly. He opened the front door.
"Then take my hand. And we'll go somewhere," The Uchiha smirked, reaching out his hand. She finally smiled happily at him. She grabbed his hand, walked out with him, and the door was shut.
000
"N…Naruto-kun…?" Hinata spoke, sounding surprised. She had wandered into the kitchen, and found Naruto there, eating a cup of noodles. He looked up and grinned through a mouthful of ramen.
"I'll make you one!" Naruto shouted out, gesturing to the cup of noodles. Before Hinata could speak again, the blond went off into the pantry once more.
She smiled lightly as she sat down and waited patiently. A few seconds later, Naruto began boiling the water, and came back to wait with her.
"So…" He started awkwardly. Hinata blushed.
"Naruto-kun, where are you going after this vacation?" She asked.
"Wherever you go," He said automatically. His cheeks turned red and he cursed lightly.
"Well…um…where are you going?" He asked.
"Wherever…Naruto-kun goes…" She replied, looking away.
"Heh, then we'll have a problem there. We'll have to decide where to go, huh?" Naruto said, grinning again.
"I want to be as far away from Neji as possible, please," He joked. Hinata giggled.
"We can go to Japan," She pointed out. He jumped up excitedly.
"We should! We can live together around where teme and Sakura-chan are, and"—
He stopped.
"I guess you could say…that was my unintentional way of proposing," He said when he saw her startled expression.
"But I've been thinking about it for a while!" Naruto added quickly.
"And it's not because teme proposed either! I…I really like you, Hinata-chan. And I can't imagine being with anyone else," He told her, grabbing onto her shoulders.
"I…I like you too, Naruto-kun," Hinata breathed out. He showed her his infamous grin.
"Good," He said before kissing her.
The bubbling sound of the boiling water was unheard, and then ignored.
000
"Ino, don't tell me you're still mad," Shikamaru sighed as he watched the girl stuff her face in a pillow.
"I'm not mad…just disappointed," She huffed back. He sighed once more and went over to sit next to her.
"And why's that?" He asked even when he already knew the answer. She glared at him and said nothing.
"Look, getting married is troublesome. I'm not saying we'll never get married…but right now just isn't the time," He explained carefully.
"You probably have feelings for Sakura," Ino snapped. Shikamaru groaned.
"She's a friend, Ino. I like you. Don't act like an Uchiha," He said. Ino stared at him before giggling lightly. He rose an eyebrow.
"What?" He demanded.
"Nothing!" The blonde replied, hugging him.
"Let's watch the clouds together when we get back, okay?"
"I thought you said it was boring."
"Well…I'm just trying to make you happy!"
"Okay then. We'll go shopping after."
"I thought you said that it was boring!"
"Just trying to make you happy."
000
"You'll be busy, won't you?" Ten Ten asked as she glanced over her shoulder at Neji. He sighed.
"I don't want to be busy. But it's inevitable now, Ten Ten," He replied calmly. She half laughed.
"Yeah, I guess so…" She said, smiling lightly. He frowned at her.
"Do you want to help me?" He asked. She stared at him, slightly startled.
"Huh?" Ten Ten questioned.
"Be my secretary in the company. That way, we could see each other more. That way, we could be more dependant on each other," Neji explained.
"But…don't you already have one?" She asked nervously. He shrugged.
"I have to power to fire people," He told her. She shook her head furiously.
"T…that's unfair!" She said loudly. He sighed.
"Okay, I'll just have her assigned to some other job. Better?" Neji asked.
"Uh…but I don't know anything about being a secretary…" Ten Ten trailed off. He smirked.
"You'll learn," He told her, putting his chin on top of her head.
000
Mikoto sighed as she stared at the computer screen. She smiled faintly at the photos of the trip.
'These children…are amazing.'
A/N: The next chapter will be the last! Thank you for reading!