Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or anything that has to do with the franchise. The only thing I do however own, is this plot.

Hi! It's me again! Wait, is this another update so soon? Meaning like, not another entire forever wait? What is this sorcery? I told myself that I wouldn't work on this until I gave Otherworldly an update even though this chapter basically was writing itself in my head. Then Otherworldly got an update and classes started up again. Le sigh. My apologies. *Grumbles about thesis and boy issues*

As a quick side note, this chapter takes place during the same time that Sakura's does. This is what was going on with Sasuke's end of the situation. I think it's important to see both sides of a situation before jumping to conclusions, yes? Understanding where both of them are is relatively important.

Dedicated to a certain someone, with all of my love.

"I guess we never really moved on/It's really good to hear your voice saying my name/It sounds so sweet/Coming from the lips of an angel/Hearing those words it makes me weak/And I never wanna say goodbye" – "Lips Of An Angel" by Hinder

Sasuke POV

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

"Wake the fuck up, dobe."

Silence.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Naruto."

I tapped my fingers on his apartment door in frustration as I heard a gurgle and a moan from the other side.

"Open the fucking door."

"Doyouhaveanyideawhattimeitis?" I heard the dobe groggily spit out from the other side as he approached and opened the door.

I pushed him aside and walked into his disaster of what he called an apartment. "I'm not going to find a nude Hyuga in your bedroom if I decide to go and sleep in there, will I?"

"She's home tonight," he started, rubbing his eyes. "It shouldn't matter anyway! She's my fucking girlfriend! Who the fuck do you think you are showing up here at 3 AM and telling me who I can and cannot have in my fucking bed and who I can and cannot fuck! Why the fuck are you sleeping here anyway, you have a place to live. You have a girlfriend. You can go and sleep in her bed. She can satisfy your needs way better than I can."

"I showed up at the hospital around midnight to talk to her and she wasn't there."

"Who, Sakura?" he yawned. "Ya know, she's a grown woman. She can walk herself home without you constantly by her side watching her like one of your hawks, Sasuke. She did train under Granny Tsunade ya know. She could kill just about anyone who even looks at her the wrong way."

"She never came home."

Naruto let out another yawn and squinted his eyes at me. "Why the fuck does it matter? She runs a hospital Sasuke. She has other responsibilities that she has to handle that don't revolve around you and what you expect and want from her on a day to day basis. She's not a toy that you can use and toss off to the side when you're done and bored with her."

"They told her to leave some hours earlier."

"Okay, and why did you decide to come here at this hour when you could have been looking for her and doing something about this?"

I walked over to his kitchen table and sat down, resting my head in my hands. "You're her best friend, Naruto."

"So is Ino, and you show up here."

"I don't want to talk to that fucking blabbering Yamanaka. Sakura's upset, and I know she would talk to you over anyone else. I think I know my own….I would like to think I know Sakura very well, Naruto."

I heard Naruto rustling around in his refrigerator. "I have Tomato juice which I'm going to assume is yours, water, milk, and some left over sake."

I grunted, knowing he was avoiding the subject.

"Tomato juice it is."

"Dobe," I began.

"So how long has she been at the hospital for this time?" he asked.

"Three days."

"What happened?"

"I told her that I wish she could understand that I didn't want to share my pains with a broken heart."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean, Sasuke? Where the fuck did that come from? Why the hell would you say that to Sakura after all she's done for you?" he screamed, something that I had been expecting.

"You know that I can't stay here forever."

"So you're being a selfish bastard, and trying to push her away because you're afraid of what distance is going to do to the two of you? Clearly you're the fucking idiot here, Sasuke. If you love someone, distance doesn't matter. If that person is worth it, distance shouldn't matter. What matters is the connection that the two of you have in your hearts. You know Sakura isn't going to cheat on you. You know Sakura isn't going to give up on you because you want to do this. From all the times I've been away from Hinata, do you think that has had any effect on us? No! It makes us stronger!"

"Hn."

"So teme, what's actually going on between you and Sakura?"

There was the question that I was looking for, because it was the question I had been asking myself ever since she walked out that door three days ago in tears. It was the question I was asking myself when I went and stood outside of that hospital waiting for her to get off of her shift, when I walked inside looking for her. It was the question I had been asking myself everyday when I went to wait for her outside of that damn hospital only for her to not come out.

"If I knew the answer to that, do you think I'd be here right now?"

"Don't answer my questions with another fucking question. What the fuck is going on, Sasuke. You either tell me now, or I will go to other measures to find either Sakura or Ino and find this shit out for myself."

"Do not involve that fucking Yamanaka."

"Then answer my question."

Now I was getting angry. "I. Don't. Fucking. Know." I said as I grinded my teeth together and slammed my fist into the table.

And that was the truth. I honestly couldn't tell him exactly what was on my mind when it came to that…annoying girl.

"Well, I'm waiting Sasuke. Because we both know that 'I don't fucking know' is not an answer. You do know, and you just don't want to admit it. Or you just don't want to hear yourself say it out loud. Pick your poison."

"She's annoying."

"How so?"

I glared at him, noticing the cocky smile that resided on his face. "What do you know, Naruto?"

"No answering my questions with more questions, teme. Now, what is Sakura-chan annoying this time?"

"She's not the same person she used to be."

"In what sense? She's still the same Sakura that I know." he said, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

"She's not the same girl I originally fell for when I first met her. She's not the same girl that she was when I left last time. She's changed since I've been back, since we've gotten closer again."

Naruto grew silent. So silent I could have sworn I heard the sound of crickets from the Land of Wind. The air grew heavy as I could feel him about to blow up on me as soon as those words came out of my mouth. I had no idea where to go from there or even what to think. Naruto being this silent was almost the most terrifying thing I have had to experience. But he was right, saying those words out loud almost felt like I had spoken an ancient curse that had long been forgotten over the years.

When I returned to the village from my journey this time, Sakura had seemed like a completely different person. Her green eyes, usually so bright and full of happiness, didn't hold that shimmer that I had grown used to anymore. She looked tired, depressed, and I could tell she had put on a façade as soon as she saw me to hide whatever was going on with her. She welcomed me home and then hurried off, claiming she couldn't stay because she had piles of work waiting for her on her desk that she had to finish up. Naruto and I had exchanged a glare as he shook his head in a 'don't ask' type of way.

She avoided me for days after that, and it took me tracking down that damn Yamanaka in order to find out what had been actually going on with her.

That damn ex boyfriend of hers.

How I wanted to hill the bastard once I found out.

When I had heard from Naruto and found out that Sakura was with someone, I was relieved. She was with someone. She wouldn't be lonely. She would have someone to distract her thoughts and make her smile in ways that I couldn't since I wasn't there. She would have someone to lean on, to talk to, to pour her heart out to who would listen to that girl ramble for hours.

And then the bastard had to go and fuck it all up.

And I had to pick up the pieces that she hadn't cleaned yet, which were very few and far between to find.

My heart yearned for the girl that I once knew. The girl who always had the smile on her face who cared a little too much for her friends. The girl who was more stubborn than Naruto and I put together, who put herself in dangers way more times than I would like to think about in order to protect to two of us. She was always trying to prove her worth to us, even though she didn't have to. Her perseverance to get better, to improve herself, to prove to herself that she could stand equally with us, that first drew me to her.

She had always wanted to be looked at as an equal.

I knew that.

Naruto knew that.

My heart had somehow bound itself to hers, even though she had put up so many walls and pushed me away from her. I was hers before I left the village that night, and I was hers when I finally returned. No one had been able to make a pull on my heart like she had. I knew I was an idiot all those years ago for not understanding how much I had meant to her, and I knew I was an idiot for not telling her how much she had meant to me.

But I thought she had understood that when I left her on that bench that fateful night.

I thought she understood that by me leaving her behind, I was protecting her from not only the dangers that lay ahead for me on that journey that I made the mistake of deciding to take, but from the danger that I knew I was going to turn into by taking it. She didn't deserve to be put through that. She didn't deserve to see what that bastard subjected me to throughout the years that I spent with him. I didn't want her to lose the innocence that made her who she was, who I wanted to remember her as so when I lost myself to the dark world I was entering, I would be able to pull myself back even in the slightest.

I care about her. She knows that. I know that. Why does it matter to anyone else about my feelings towards the girl?

All it took was me cornering her one night and making her talk to me. I knew that Sakura wasn't one for confrontation, and from what I had heard she had stopped opening up to just about everyone except for a select few people. She cried. She avoided the questions as much as she had been able to. She tried shutting me out even more by telling me that it was something that shouldn't have been any of my concern and for me not to worry about it. And then she told me.

She didn't tell me everything, which I know. But she told me enough.

I took her in my arms and told her that it was why she shouldn't prefer talking and spending time with anyone but me, and she laughed. She wiped away her tears and laughed.

It was the first time I had heard her laugh since I had been back.

She had gone from completely avoiding me, to curling up next to me every night. She said it was because of the nightmares. But to me, it didn't matter as long as she was by my side. I couldn't wrap my head around when change between us fully happened, but it didn't matter. She was finally mine, and I, hers. I had finally convinced her to get out of the hole of an apartment that she was living in as to get away from all of the shit memories that came with it.

We found a decent sized place of our own.

At the end of the day, she knew that I had other obligations and responsibilities when it came to the village and what lied outside of it. My leaving for periods of time was inevitable, something that she had grown to expect and accept because of my journey for redemption. Because of my Rinnegan, I was the only one suited for the types of missions regarding the instance with the moon and the aftermath of the war. I was the only one suited to be the outside protection that Konoha needed.

It was too dangerous for me to be here for long periods of time. Not only was I putting Konoha's lives at risk, I was putting Sakura's life at risk, and I will be damned if something ever happened to her again. I don't give a flying fuck about what happens to me, but I know that not even she would be able to handle the evil that lies outside of the village.

"You're playing a dangerous game, Sasuke," I heard Naruto say, pulling me out of my thoughts. "You are going to end up regretting doing this to her, and you know it. She's been hurt enough by you in the past, so why would you continue to hurt her again now?"

I tapped my fingers against the table, attempting to mask my irritability at the stupidity that I was trying to convince myself that was coming out of his mouth.

" She knew what she was getting into when she agreed."

"Did she? I didn't think that she was agreeing to your acting like a selfish prick because you think that everyone is like you. Not everyone is selfish Sasuke, and you need to accept that."

I growled. What the fuck was he going on about? Sakura wasn't like that at all. She was the exact opposite. She cared too much.

"At this point I'm convinced that she's waiting to see that change in you that I saw when I brought you home. Maybe she thinks it's a matter of time that you're going to snap out of that dark place that you still think you're in. I understand that you became a different person during that time, Sasuke. We all grew up and became different people, but that's what happens when you get older. You change. We are constantly changing. You are not that same person that you were, even though you think you are."

I sit there in silence, because I know he's right, and I don't want to give him that satisfaction of my admittance to fucking up yet again.

I could tell even in his tired state, Naruto was starting to get emotional. "With the way you're acting, I think Sakura does deserve someone else. Someone who hasn't done anything bad to her. Someone who has hurt her, or told her she wasn't good enough. Kami, you left her unconscious on a bench in the middle of the night all alone. Who knows what could have happened to her. What if she was violated? Or attacked?"

"I didn't leave her alone, you did."

"How the fuck did I leave her alone? Because I went looking for your sorry ass because she asked me to?"

I knew he would protect Sakura when I left. I knew she had her friends and family to lean on during what I assumed was going to be a time of depression and despair for her because of her unhealthy obsession with me back then, even though I had known that her obsession had died and she began to see me as more of a friend and teammate than a boy she could fan girl over like the rest of the female population in our class had done.

"How about you think about her feelings instead of yourself for one fucking minute. All I'm hearing is you thinking nothing about yourself and not that poor girl. You're fucked up, we get it. You're a basket case. You don't know how to properly deal with your emotions because of what that fucked up bastard put you through. We understand. But did you really forget how to consider what other people are thinking and feeling after all these years? Stop fucking wasting her time if you aren't going to love her back the way she deserves you to. At least give her that, after everything."

"Shut up dobe. My patience is wearing thin."

"You make no fucking sense. You're patience is wearing thin? What the fuck! You show up here in the middle of the night because you fucked up and your patience is wearing thin? Once again here you go with thinking about no one but yourself because you can't handle hearing the fucking truth!"

I know that she deserves more than my fucked up being. I know that she deserves someone who can love her unconditionally. Someone who can talk to her, and listen to her. She deserves someone who wasn't so damaged, and someone who would understand that Sakura was damaged too from everything that she had gone through.

But Sakura is damaged, and I don't know what to do.

I don't know how I can just wipe those painful memories out of her mind so she didn't flinch at the slightest touch, or jump at a shadow she wasn't sure of that was coming around the corner. I want to make it so she would be able to accept anyone affection again like she used to. I want her to be able to smile at the dumbest things again. What happened to her haunts me. No one deserves that. No one deserves to be put through that.

And from what she told me, she remembers every vivid and crisp detail, which is something she wishes she wasn't able to do.

But that didn't mean that I didn't love her.

I've never had feelings like this towards anyone before. I've looked at plenty of girls on my travels, and I have had plenty of girls try to throw themselves at me. I couldn't deny the way my heart felt when I'd hear the sound of her voice saying my name, how sweet it sounded coming from her lips. I couldn't deny how my body would get covered in goose bumps when she would brush up against me. How I would hope she would not hear my heart pounding a mile a minute when she would occasionally rest her head on me. I would just sit there and listen to the soft sounds of her breathing as she would drift off to sleep, enjoying the warmth of her body against my own.

This is not something that I want to tell the dobe.

This is something private between Sakura and myself.

"What makes you think I don't have feelings for her?" I asked him, trying not to show how annoyed I am in my voice.

"I just wish you could understand, I don't wish to share my pains with a broken heart. I love you for your flaws, your imperfections, the things that make you uniquely you. Unlike other people, you're human. You have the ability to truly be able to love." He said, almost mockingly. "You don't think I don't already fucking know? That's not fucking love, Sasuke. That's pity. Don't tell her you fucking love her when you don't mean it."

"And what do you expect me to do? Continue to get her hopes up for a future that can't fucking happen? She knows what will happen!"

"Am I supposed to spell it out for you, or can you do that yourself since you think you're so smart?"

I sneered. "You finally learned how to spell? How charming. Hinata must be so pleased that she's no longer dating the biggest idiot that's walked the planet."

"Don't you know how to act like a fucking man? Didn't you learn anything when we were younger about how to treat women? Or were you too concerned about yourself because you were just as big a selfish prick as a child as you are now," he yelled, attempting to cut me with his words. "Fuck Sasuke! You really must be fucking stupid! Buy her flowers, grab her ass when other men are looking at her, tell her that she's the most beautiful woman you've ever laid eyes on, kiss her when everyone is around just to make her blush! Just do fucking something! "

At the rate things are going, we're probably going to end up destroying another training field, if not the interior of his apartment.

I'm surprised the neighbors haven't woken up yet.

"I'm fucked up, Naruto!" I shouted back. "You don't need to keep reminding me of what a fucked up individual I am! I've killed people for my own benefit! I've pushed everyone out of my life because I'm a selfish prick in your own words that cares only about himself! But just because I'm the most fucked up individual that's walked the streets of this village does not mean that I have to treat Sakura like a piece of meat on a slab waiting to be devoured by some horny fuck. Are you telling me that I need to show the entire village how much I want to climb in bed with her? How badly I want to fuck her? Are you telling me that I need to assert my dominance over the most stubborn woman in the entire village? That's the last thing that she needs, is to be beaten down yet again."

Naruto's mouth dropped.

"Just because I'm a selfish prick, doesn't mean that I don't care about her. My intentions were never to hurt her. I wanted to protect her. The last thing that I ever wanted to do was hurt her as much as I have. She knows that. Life isn't the way I wish it was when it comes to being with her. I love her, but that doesn't mean I can be with her. I know how I feel. That should be enough for her, and for anyone else for that matter."

"Why?" he manages to get out.

"You know why."

"Does she really know? Or do you think she knows? All you do is jerk her around, Sasuke. She's smiling and holding your hand one day, and the next day I have Ino knocking at my door asking me what's going on because Sakura is nowhere to be found once again, or she hasn't left the hospital again for days on end because she's hurting."

"Why are you fighting her battles still, Naruto? I thought you've claimed she's her own woman now."

I could almost guarantee at this point that Sakura was in the clutches of that damn Yamanaka. That blonde was probably whispering some sort of shitty advice into her ear, and Sakura was soaking it in like she always had done. Nothing that came out of that fucking blondes mouth did Sakura any good. They were two completely different people, who came from two completely different lives and lifestyles and were brought up two completely different ways. Sakura being the more conservative and mindful of the two, keeping to herself and making sure she presented herself in a proper way. The blonde was too outgoing for her own good, always craving the attention of everyone around her. She thrived on it, while Sakura enjoyed the solitude. Why Sakura listens to a word that comes out of that girls mouth baffles me even to this day.

I could never understand the 'power of friendship' that happened between girls.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" he growled. "Sakura is my sister! She's my family! I can't just let my family get hurt ya know. It's not right."

"You've always enjoyed playing the part of her big brother, haven't you? Was it nice when I left, and you were able to hold her in your arms everyday while she sobbed and poured her feelings out to you? She told you everything, didn't she. Her dreams, her wishes, her goals," I sneered, the words tasting like venom coming out of my mouth. "Did you think that with me out of the picture that she would finally accept your love and go running into your arms and the two of you would live happily ever after? "

"What the actual fuck Sasuke. I'm sorry, but unlike you I'm not an expert on abandoning my friends in the middle of the night for some psycho without saying two words to them."

"Why the fuck can't she rely on me like she does everyone else?" I finally admitted out loud.

So many people have loved her; have fought for her. Have stayed by her side in her darkest of times.

"I hate to say it, but you lost that right when you abandoned her, Sasuke."

There was no one's opinion that I valued more than Naruto's. There was no one elses ideals and morals that I valued more than his. Naruto was my brother, the only other person I considered to be family. I knew he was right. I knew that everything that I could have had, I threw away.

"I did what I did to protect her."

"if the world was coming to an end tomorrow, who would you want to spend your final moments with?" he asked, softly.

"Sakura."

"Why?"

"Because there would be no one else that I would want to be with. I love her, Naruto."

Naruto smirked. "Finally he fucking admits it!"

"It's just…its not her Naruto, it's me. It's always been me. I can't put her through more pain than she's already gone through. No one deserves to go through what she has. All I want is to see her smile again, to see her be her carefree self that she once was. All I want is for her to be that same girl that I met all those years ago where her biggest worry was about pleasing a boy."

"What are you trying to say?"

I sighed. "I can't handle it. I can't handle her. I can't handle this. I don't know what to do and –"

CRACK!

And my world went black.

-x-

Chirp.

Chirp.

Chirp.

I cracked open an eye to find myself on the dobes couch covered in a random sheet.

"How the hell…"

"You're a fucking asshole, Sasuke. I just want you to be fully aware of that." I heard Naruto say as I looked over to see him leaning against the doorway of his bedroom.

"What…"

"You deserved it, ya know."

"How long…."

"A few hours, give or take. You slept like a baby though. Maybe you need that more often; a good punch in the head."

I put my head in my hands as an attempt to stop the throbbing. "You're a fucking asshole, dobe."

"No teme, you are. You're the biggest one I know, ya know. I spoke to Ino after you fell asleep," he smirked as I scowled at him. "You will be having a conversation with Sakura today whether you like it or not."

"Ino found her?"

"Not that it's any of your concern, but Ino found her wandering the streets in somewhat of a daze last night. Took her home and Sakura poured her heart out to her. You two need to talk and get your shit together, and you either need to stop jerking her around or you need to move on."

I opened my mouth to retort but he put a finger up.

"You finally admitted you love her out loud to me last night. Now it's just time you stopped running from the truth when it comes to her. Sit down, have a talk. Apologize. Be the man you claim to be. Either you stop hurting her once and for all, or you get the fuck out of her life. She'll hurt again, but she'll move on."

Perhaps Naruto was right, maybe I was tired of running from the truth about my feelings towards her.

He's right, I need to man up.

I've already begun to miss the sweet sound of her voice, saying my name.

Coming from the lips of an angel.

Because men obviously can't have a emotional type of conversation like woman can. They just act like assholes and hit each other.

Sasuke is just emotionally challenged, which we all know.

My original intentions and where I wanted to go with this ended up changing as I was writing this, so I hope you all enjoyed where it ended up going.

The final part which is Sasuke and Sakura's meeting is up next! It's gonna be a doozy!

Constructive criticism is welcome, and reviews are always welcome.

Bunny.