VitaminWater Fact Number 15: The VitaminWater craze has gone down, but I still love it. Don't be fooled.
Like VitaminWater
x. by ANGELforSHOW
Chapter Fourteen: Revive.
Purpose: Recovery.
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"Mama…?" Sakura repeated again, swallowing hard. She reached behind her back and found Sasuke's hand, gripping it tightly. "What are you doing here?" she asked, eyes narrowing.
Haruno Kaori's face quickly melted from being sweet and indecisive to hard and angry. "That's no way to speak to your mother," she said, lips thinning. "Especially when your mother has traveled all this way to offer her ungrateful daughter possibly the best opportunity in the world."
Stubbornly, Sakura folded her arms across her chest. "Sorry," she started sarcastically, "I don't consider the woman who walked out on me and my father when I was seven years old my mother." She flipped her hair cheekily. "Now if you excuse me, I want to go back to my dorm. I have a final to study for."
Kaori sighed. "Wait!" she called out to Sakura's retreating back. "Just hear me out!" Her face crumpled a tad, signifying defeat. "Please."
Sakura frowned. Even though she would never admit it out loud, she was curious as to why her mother had decided to show up after eleven years, and on a cold, Sunday night to boot. Her eyes softened just the slightest bit. "Thirty seconds," she allowed her with a small nod.
"I saw your father," Kaori started. "I got divorce papers signed, and we both agreed that it would be best for me to try and patch up things between you and I again," she continued, barely taking a breath, wary of her time limit, "I live in Wind Country now – Suna – and I want you to come with me and get out of this shithole."
The breath she was taking hitched in her throat. "What?" Sakura gasped out. "How could you – I don't even – why would you…I…dad – how on earth do you have the nerve to show up here and ASK me that?!" she ran a frantic hand through her hair, finger-combing pastel bangs in agitation. "You can't expect to go with you, I refuse!" She shook her head.
Sakura's mother rolled her eyes. "Be rational, Sakura. You want to be a doctor still? Well, getting out of here and going to Suna will help fuel that dream a lot better than just staying here in Konoha. The opportunity is something you can't just pass up."
It hurt Sakura to know that her mother had a point.
"You're slumming here, sweetie," Kaori's eyes flicked to Sasuke's face for a brief moment (Sasuke, in return, gave her a glare of his own), "and I know how smart you really are. You're barely in university yet, so you'll be able to transfer with practically no complications. With a brain like yours you'll be able to get into University of Suna in three seconds flat."
Sakura stopped shaking her head. "I…can't make a decision like that right now at all, mother," she hissed out through gritted teeth. "You've showed up at the worst possible time."
Kaori pursed her lips. "You're foolish just like your father," she said airily. "Sakura, you've never been away from Konoha for an extended period of time. You have no idea what kind of freedom there is out there," her eyes lit up. "It's amazing getting away from this place."
Sakura scowled. "Yeah, I'm sure "getting away from this place" was definitely worth leaving behind your husband and daughter, your family."
Kaori's eyes showed the briefest hint of irritation, but she waved off her daughter's scathing comment with ease. "Just think about it. I'll be staying in town for the week. Come see me with your answer on Saturday at noon after you finish your exams." She reached a hand into her purse and pulled out a pen and a scrap of paper. She scribbled down her address in light, elegant handwriting and handed the paper to her daughter.
Sakura took the paper, shoving it into the deepest corner of her coat pocket, not intending to ever look at it again. "Fine," she answered frostily. She walked away slowly.
"Fine."
"Are you going to go?"
Sasuke rarely took the initiative to ask questions so straight-forwardly, and his question temporarily caught Sakura off-guard. He stopped stroking her hair – a rare, sweet gesture reserved only for when the two of them were alone – and looked down at her expectantly.
Sakura, who had thrown herself onto her tiny, creaky bed as soon as she had fumbled the key into the keyhole and maneuvered the door open, shifted her face so and peeked out at Sasuke with one green eye, bloodshot from crying.
"I – I…" she faltered and closed her eyes. Sasuke could see remnants of mascara and eyeliner smudged on her eyelid. "I don't know," she finally whispered. "But for my career and my future going to Suna is something I just can't pass up." She made a noise of frustration and buried her head in her arms once more.
Sasuke frowned ever so slightly. When it came to matters like her future, even he couldn't stop her or sway her opinion. But her mother had chose correctly when she used the future-card on her daughter – their university was decent, but going to a world-renown university would be a major career boost.
As irritated as this situation made him (he really did want to find Haruno Kaori and give her a piece of his mind. In very little words, that is.), Sasuke resumed calming Sakura down and leaned over to give her a soft kiss to her temple. Then, he got up and opened the door the Sakura's small, drink-packed fridge. Rummaging through it, Sasuke went through all the colors of labels until he found the right flavor.
"Here."
Gently, he touched the inside of her wrist, exposed from the nest her arms made, and placed the bottle in her gently curled hand.
Sakura knew by the size and shape of the bottle that it was a VitaminWater, but she still couldn't tell what flavor it was. Intrigued, she slowly propped herself up on her elbows and looked at the bottle. She recognized the purple label and the deep red-violet liquid inside of it.
In spite of her bad mood and unfortunate dilemma, Sakura smiled.
It was Revive, for recovery.
"So the bitch just came back and told you to move to Suna with her?" Ino asked incredulously, dropping her spoon into her yogurt cup. "What the hell, that's so messed up!" she sipped at her pulpy orange juice and then slammed the glass onto the table. "Augh!"
Sakura nodded and sighed, half-heartedly stabbing the waffle on her plate. "It's so depressing," she replied with a humor-less laugh. She dragged the a small chunk of her waffle through a pool of syrup, but didn't eat it. "And I have an exam today. She chose the worst day to show up, seriously. THANK YOU, MOTHER."
"Sakura, you aren't actually leaving though, are you?" Naruto asked through a mouth filled with so much Captain Crunch that his cheeks puffed out. He swallowed hard and spooned some milk into his mouth. "I mean…you can't go." He looked at her with piercing cerulean eyes, eyes that left no room for questions.
"I don't know, Naruto," Sakura finally mumbled out. "I love being here with you guys, but I…I have to remember that I have a future to worry about that might not involve all of you," she dropped her fork so it clink!ed against her plate and brought her knees to her chest, resting her forehead against them. "I don't know what to do anymore," she whispered softly.
Ino crossed her arms and shot Sakura a pointed look, despite the fact that Sakura couldn't see it. "Sakura, this is more about just your future," she told her, "it's about your happiness and your lifestyle too. What would your dad think if you left to go with your cheater-mom?" Her glossy lips twisted into a frown. "I don't he'd appreciate that after single-handedly raising you for ten years."
Sakura let out a strangled sound. "Ino, this is about more than who I eat breakfast with everyday, or who I party with – my whole life could change from this! I can't just let past prejudices against my mother cloud my judgment."
Ino sighed and gave Sakura a look with steely blue eyes, but didn't say anything further.
"What do you guys think I should do?" Sakura asked at last, breaking the heavy silence that had blanketed the table.
Sasuke pulled Sakura tray onto his own, piling his dishes on top of hers. "I think you should go take your chem. final," he said to her, pushing his VitaminWater towards her before getting up to throw away their trash and put away their dirty dishes. "And then you can worry about this."
Naruto nodded in agreement. "Yeah, good luck," he said to Sakura without a trace of amusement in his voice.
Somehow, Sakura didn't think he meant on the chemistry exam though.
Sasuke greeted her with a quick peck on the cheek when Sakura re-emerged from her chemistry lab. "How was the test?" Sasuke asked Sakura as he picked her up after her exam was finished.
Sakura took a deep breath and blinked tiredly a few times. "It was fine. I think I did alright on it," she answered quietly. She stopped abruptly to haul her bag over her shoulder again. He waited for her to adjust her bag before linking their hands together. Sakura noted this – Sasuke never held hands with her in or kissed her (even if it was only on the cheek) in public before.
He was afraid that she would actually leave.
It was less cold today, although the weather was still brisk, and the sun was shining happily. Sakura had to squint when she got outside until her eyes adjusted to the brightness.
"Hm, what other exams do you have this week?" Sasuke inquired while they strolled towards Sasuke's dormitory building. They were meeting up in Naruto's dorm and then going off-campus to grab lunch.
"Um, Calc tomorrow morning and Brit. Lit. tomorrow afternoon," she rattled off, looking up at the clouds while she thought, "and of course we all have our Psych. final on Wednesday together."
"Mm," Sasuke hummed in response, nodding slightly. "Okay."
They got to Naruto's after a couple more minutes of comfortably quiet walking, and Naruto waxed poetic about the "Awesome pizzeria with hot waitresses and amazing food!" and convinced his friends to make the pizzeria the location for their lunch outing today.
They walked off campus and Ino talked about how she saw Kiba totally trying to feel that mean Karin girl up during biology, and Naruto laughed in response because "Karin used to have these weird delusions that she and Sasuke-bastard were dating in high school!".
The pizzeria was a warm little restaurant with a brick oven in a shady little alley that branched off the main road. Unfortunately for Naruto, their server was male with strange aqua hair and sharp teeth. Not exactly datable to Naruto.
"Um, we'll have two large pizzas, one with pepperoni," Naruto started, skimming the menu.
"Mmm, with extra cheese, please!" Sakura chirped.
"…tomatoes," muttered Sasuke.
"But only on half of one," Naruto interjected. "And on the other one can be a supreme pizza with everything,"
"But no olives, those are gross," Ino chimed in.
Sakura nodded, "No mushrooms either. Fungus is nasty."
"Try to make there less grease and stuff too," Ino added.
Everyone rolled their eyes.
"Four Cokes too," Naruto added.
"Make mine Diet!" Ino insisted.
"Some water to go around would be nice too," Sakura said, smiling.
Naruto "Ooh!"'d. "Don't forget the lemon slice!"
The waiter – Suigetsu – stopped scribbling frantically on his notepad and looked up with a strained smile. "Is that all?" he asked, slightly afraid of what barrage of orders was next to come.
Naruto grinned brightly and nodded. "Yeah!" he answered. "For now, anyway."
Oh, goodie, Suigetsu thought. He could hardly wait. "I'll be back with your drinks," he told the four, before walking away and weaving through other servers and customers.
--
"Oh, so did you know that Tenten-the-ice-cream-girl is dating the Hyuuga dude?" Ino asked her table excitedly. "I found that out today when I was walking past the library and I saw the two of them sucking each others' tonsils out!" she reported to her friends dutifully.
Sakura chewed on her pizza and tugged on her slice to try and cut off a gooey strand of cheese that trailed from her mouth to her plate. "Seriously?" she asked. "Isn't the Hyuuga dude Hinata's cousin?"
"His name is Neji," Sasuke told the two, bored.
"We've known him since waaaay back," Naruto supplied the two girls. "He's pretty cool, if not kind of girly. I mean, have you seen his hair?" he asked incredulously. "It's shinier and more perfect than Ino's!"
Ino, who was taking a sip from her Diet Coke, glared at the other blond. "Hey, I resent that!" she told him angrily. "My hair is SO much better than Hyuuga Neji's."
Sakura laughed and took a long sip of her drink. "Ino, seriously. You've seen Neji's hair. It's flawless."
"Yeah, but he has split-ends," Ino argues, wrinkling her nose.
"Yeah, but so do you," Naruto pointed out with an impish smirk.
Ino, turned to face Naruto. "Look, ya wanna go, bitch?" she asked him, flinging her arms out like a gangsta.
Sakura laughed again, and finally, finally. finally, thoughts about her mother and Suna and her future started to fade and slip away from her mind.
The rest of the week passed smoothly. Sakura diligently studied for her exams, and she was rewarded with the satisfaction of understanding (and hopefully answering) most of the things she had encountered on the tests.
The Calculus final was relatively easy and straight-forward, although the British Literature exam was the hardest. Sakura never did enjoy that class anyhow.
The Psychology exam was by far the most satisfying though.
It seemed odd, but knowing nearly all the questions on the Psychology exam made Sakura prouder than a potential full score on her Calculus exam could have. Ibiki was a hard teacher who created even harder assessments, and being able to recall all the small details of the subject really made Sakura feel good.
Psychology had ended up being her favorite class, and it meant the most to her. More than just learning happened within the lecture hall, and the class had set the basis for her university life. She met her best friends, found an interesting subject, and even emerged with a boyfriend.
At the end of the hour, Sakura turned in her Psychology exam with no regrets and a huge smile blooming on her face.
"Good job in this class, Haruno," Ibiki told her, accepting her test.
Sakura's grin stretched even wider. "Thank you, sir," she answered, cheeks flushing.
But as soon as she woke up on Saturday morning, a forgotten burden embedded itself in Sakura's heart.
"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked her as she sat down at the table. Naruto and Ino were chattering between themselves, but stopped when they saw Sakura approach them.
Sakura was pale, trembling slightly, and looked like she was on the verge of either vomiting or bursting into tears.
Ino and Naruto peered at her with concern etched into their faces.
"Guys…" Sakura started, licking her dry lips and frowning. A faint look of horror registered itself in her wide, frantic, green eyes. "I'm supposed to meet my mom today and give her my answer."
Everyone's breaths hitched in their throats, and the table was dead silent.
Dude, guys, Like VitaminWater is seriously almost done. Next chapter will be the last. Holy shit.
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