"We're gonna go out to a bar," Naruto announced to Sasuke, who was on the living room couch. His guitar hung loosely from his hands. "And then probably stay over with Gaara, he's back in town. His new place is huge." The four of them had arrived back at the apartment, tired and frustrated.
"I'll be here," Sasuke muttered. He had no interest in going out, and Sakura was coming over later.
"Oh, come on, dude—"
Kiba came up behind Naruto and nudged him with a grin. "Just let him have the place to himself."
After a second, a grin of realization came over Naruto's face. "Oh, right. Have fun."
Sasuke glared at him, and then the three of them headed out. The apartment was quiet now, though Sasuke was glad that his bandmates were out of the way. He walked around, restless, before going back to the couch. He'd put his guitar away, knowing it would be futile to even try anything new. His fingers felt stiff and he couldn't focus. Deep down, he knew days like this were toxic. It was an overwhelming feeling, but he couldn't seem to change it.
Sakura arrived about an hour later, out of breath and looking happy. Sasuke felt something in him wrench just looking at her, and he hated himself for it. He knew he wasn't in a great mood, and he'd thought seeing Sakura would help.
So much for that, because realizing how much of an effect she had on him had made him twice as opposed to letting her change his state of mind. And maybe that was ridiculous, but he was too deep in frustration to care.
"I talked to my parents for the first time in a few weeks," Sakura said. They were sitting on the floor in the living room together, leaning against the couch. Nothing had happened; she had only been there for a few minutes. The room felt uncomfortably hot.
Sasuke raised his eyebrows. Here they were, back to parents again. He couldn't get away from that topic today, no matter how much he wanted to.
"Sometimes I'm sure they don't want me to be doing this," Sakura said.
"Hn," Sasuke said.
"They knew it's what I wanted, and I think that's the only reason they went along with it. They didn't want the whole fame mess. And my dad always thought I'd end up a doctor." She smiled slightly.
"Guess he got over it," Sasuke muttered.
"Oh, yeah. It's probably a pretty typical fear. Unless you're a stage parent." She rolled her eyes. "I wasn't an obvious child prodigy. I feel like you were, though."
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "No."
"But did your parents approve, when you started?"
"Wouldn't know. They're dead," Sasuke said.
"Oh, God. Sorry." The teasing look had dropped off her face. "Jesus, I'm stupid."
Sasuke rolled his eyes again. Why did she have to act like this? It was why he avoided telling people about his family. "It's fine. You're not."
Sakura shrugged and then frowned. "Why didn't you tell me?" She asked softly.
"Never came up," Sasuke said.
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Sometimes," she said, tracing a forceful line on the carpet with a finger, "I feel like we can't get past a certain point. Because your stage personality is so ingrained, and I know you're different with me, but sometimes you're not. At all."
"What's that supposed to mean." Sasuke looked at her through narrowed eyes.
"Sasuke, we've known each other almost four months!" Suddenly she was angry, and they both stood up instinctively. "And today is the first day that you've said anything about your family. That stuff is important!" She was getting extremely emotional, and it surprised him.
"Calm down," he muttered.
"No, I'm not gonna calm down," Sakura said. "I thought I could deal with all of it, because I knew who you were, really."
"Yeah?" He couldn't help challenging her. His irritation was finally coming to the surface.
"Yeah. Remember what Naruto said that one time, about how you hated talking about personal stuff? I was annoyed when he said it, because that's just who you are. Plus we'd only known each other for a few weeks, and it was still a whirlwind." She took a breath. "I know you're a private person, Sasuke, but come on, it would be nice if you could give me even a little bit, considering I'm...Well, I'm your..."
"What?" He sneered. "My girlfriend?"
Sakura just stared at him for a moment, and then her expression hardened. "Yeah. Yeah, I thought so."
"Guess you were wrong," he said, and didn't know why he was saying it but the anger was bubbling over all of a sudden, along with everything that was always closed up inside. And it was no one's fault but his own.
"Yeah, I guess so." Her tone was as cold as ice, and the emotion of a minute ago was replaced by a deadly finality. "Thanks for clearing that up." Sakura snatched her bag from the floor and walked out.
Sasuke couldn't move for a second, because he'd never, never expected that reaction. She'd left, just like that: voice hard, no tears. A minute ago everything had been fine. He'd wanted her to yell at him, he'd wanted an argument, something that would allow him to let it all out. But she'd shut down.
He'd been so fucking stupid.
"Sakura!" He said loudly, his voice still angry.
The door slammed, and she was gone.
Why the fuck did you do that why the fuck would you even let yourself say that. The anger had gone as soon as it had come, and he sunk down to the floor. Fucking idiot, he thought to himself.
It had taken him one minute to mess everything up so badly it was unbelievable.
He had to go after her.
Sasuke shoved out the door and down the fifteen flights of stairs. "Sakura!" He yelled, not caring who heard. "Sakura!"
She was gone from the building, and in desperation he asked some guy standing outside.
"Pink hair? She caught a cab a second ago." He said, and that was it.
Jesus Christ. He couldn't go after her, he couldn't stoop that low. The sheer power of that anger had overwhelmed him, and now...God. What would he say to her now when he saw her? If he saw her. Because after this, a reunion meeting didn't seem very likely.
The tears had come as soon as she'd gotten into the cab, and Sakura couldn't help feeling mortified in the presence of the driver, who had been extremely kind. He'd given her several tissues, and she'd mumbled out a thank you.
"It's gonna be alright," he said, and she'd felt awful so she had tipped him a lot of money and left the cab in a haze of tears. Somehow she made it up to her apartment, but once inside she just sat on the floor.
Sakura didn't know how she'd held it together in front of Sasuke, poker-faced and cool. Then again, it had come out of nowhere. And especially in front of Sasuke's sneer, she'd wanted to shock him. Show him that he didn't have power over her, and not give him the satisfaction of an emotional reaction. In the moment, it had been easy.
My girlfriend? His disgust had been the worst part, and just thinking about it made her want to cry like a little girl. God, she was dumb.
Guess you were wrong. How did he do that? He was so…Cold. It had taken almost nothing to set them off, the whole conversation had lasted about two minutes. But he'd made everything clear, hadn't he? She was just another girl.
Ino was right all along, Sakura thought. Of course. How could she have been so blind? This was Sasuke Uchiha, for fuck's sake. But it had felt so right, somehow. Had she made that up? After all, it had been mostly sex. Sex and the occasional conversation, and even with those (now that she thought about it), Sakura did most of the talking.
She sniffed sadly, feeling like a five-year-old. "Pull it together," she said out loud to herself. But she couldn't. All that time spent together, the conversations about music and the industry and…Everything. Was that it? Was all of it just nothing, in his mind?
Sakura crawled into bed. She deserved a few hours of wallowing, didn't she?
She pulled the blanket up over her head and tried to fall asleep, but Sasuke's face was burned into the insides of her eyelids.
A/N: A little drama is always fun, right?