MisoHime

Author's Note:

Good evening, all.

To be honest, I planned to update this chapter a few days ago, but I haven't been feeling well. I am in the midst of multiple project submissions and exams. In one week, I will have completed a quarter of my third year in University.

I wonder how many of you out there are also in their tertiary studies? If you are, let me know. I'd like to hear what courses you're taking, and how you're faring. Personally, I struggle most from either bad group chemistry or very... egotistical lecturers.

I'm planning on spending the next week or so revising previous chapters again. I'll most probably revise at least one more before the next chapter update.

I'm grateful for all those who favourited, followed and reviewed:

- Guest: Thank you for your review, once again. I'm glad to hear that you're following this story. I hope you like this chapter as well.

- guest: Thanks for reviewing! I'm happy to get a new reviewer. Here's the next chapter, do let me know what you think of it, too.

- dianaloveanime: Here's the next chapter! I hope I didn't make you wait too long. Apologies, if it's too short, I'll work on trying to make them longer as the story progresses.

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, and the inspired book for this story isn't mine either.

◊▫ 星の十字 ▫◊

Hoshina no Kurosu

Jūgo

柱

Hashira

With one hand on the control panel and another holding a cue sheet, Sakura's eyes traced over the words and letters, reading over the types of labels along with their designated cue.

She had never been part of a tech crew before. Her lack of experience served to do nothing but confuse her at the sight of all the different kinds of switches and buttons that laid out before her on a rather intimidating panel.

A green light blinked on one of the bulbs and she quickly scanned the printed sheet in her hand to find its meaning.

Catching that the light meant all cues were in place, the girl breathed a relieved sigh and leaned back into her swivel chair, which creaked with her weight - a sign of its years of misuse.

One of the springs in the cushion padding dug into her back, making her cringe with pain. Kurenai really needed to replace some of the older furnishings in the drama department.

Her head throbbed with a sharp pain and she flinched. She hadn't been getting much sleep lately, and it seemed as if it was finally catching up to her. Turning away from the sound check board, she looked out one of the windows in her little control room. It was one of those one-way windows, allowing those inside to see out, but not those outside to see in. Secretly pleased that she had privacy away from the prying eyes occupying the main room, she stretched her back and watched as the other stage hands rushed to move the finished rehearsal props and set up the ones meant for the next session.

Her eyes were careful not to stray too far from the area. She had been carefully avoiding looking for Sasuke the whole afternoon, her heart tightening slightly at the thought of him.

It had been almost a week since her tumble from the ladder and into his secure hold. While it felt like an eternity ago, Sakura knew that no real time had passed at all. Certainly not enough for her to get a grasp on her overwhelming emotions.

She had sustained no injury from her fall, although she knew it really was because Sasuke had caught her before it could happen. Had he not been there, she might have suffered from a broken ankle or something just as - if not more - severe.

Her fingers unconsciously traced over the buttons and switches on her right while she gazed out the window to watch Kurenai gesture wildly at the next set of actors.

A part of her was relieved that the afternoon session was reserved for more minor scenes. The last thing she wanted was to watch Karin go over her part with Sasuke and cause her to accidentally crash the circuit board.

Her head speared with another irritating pain and she looked away from the window, running her eyes over her panel again to keep them from seeking out his distinguishable form. She knew he was out there somewhere, he never missed a rehearsal.

Her hands loosened around the crumpled paper in her fist and she smoothed out the creases she made before closing her eyes and rubbing her temples.

God. She really needed to get herself together.

How was it possible that she even got to this point in her life? Just less than a month ago, she had been Juliet - holding the key to her future with a steady grip. Now here she was, in love with the man she used to despise and who most probably still despised her, hiding out in a light room while she tried to wrangle herself back to what she used to be.

There really was no question to it: love made you crazy.

It wasn't until a little while later, at the start of the evening rehearsal, when Sakura's control started to slip. Her eyes would involuntarily scan the room below in hopes of catching dark, spiky hair and a lean form. She would then realise her mistake, get frustrated over her lack of control, and force herself to go over another round of lighting & sound checks.

So far, it had been an hour into the evening session and she had conducted 22 checks.

She knew why she was so jumpy. The evening sessions were meant for the more crucial roles. With most of the upperclassmen holding the main parts, there were barely any classes for them after 5:00, making it convenient for Kurenai to go over the scenes without any hiccups in scheduling.

She was still scanning the panel again for any mistakes when the old door to her control room shuddered under the force of someone's entry.

She jumped and glanced to the door to see Sai's pale self push away at the faulty hinge, juggling two take-away cups and a paper bag from their local coffee shop.

She berated herself for the small twinge of disappointment she felt for it not being a certain Uchiha and put away her cue sheets to help relieve Sai from the hot beverages.

Sai kicked the door shut behind him, taking a moment to struggle it back closed. He turned and chucked his painting bag on the floor nearby before looking at Sakura, immediately frowning at the strain on her face.

"... You look uglier than usual, what's wrong?"

Sakura's face twisted into a scowl. Trust her best friend to always be blunt when honest.

"Nothing's wrong, why would anything be wrong?" She replied blandly. Even her own ears didn't believe her words.

Sai's expression remained as blank as ever. Clearly he didn't believe her either.

"I think you should know better than to lie to me." He stated frankly as he pulled one of the spare chairs over. He busied himself with adding sugar to his coffee cup, stirring while he waited for Sakura.

The girl sighed quietly and took a seat back in her chair, her hands cradling the warm beverage in her hands and she ransacked her brains on where to start explaining.

It must have been a good handful of minutes before she spoke. Sai didn't bother to fill the silence with small talk, taking the time to add creamer to his coffee-to-go cup and disposing of the empty sachets in the bin. When she still had not spoken, the pinkette thought he was about to break open the newspaper nearby and catch up on the International Relations section before she spewed out the first words she could think of:

"I'm in love with him." She blurted

Sakura had to commend Sai for not totally spilling his drink all over his clean-pressed shirt from the shock of her revelation, although he did jostle it enough to almost scald his hands.

"KAMI!" he exclaimed uncharacteristically, swiping tissues to clean up the mess as he turned his wide eyes to meet Sakura's sheepish one.

Her cheeks burned 'Well, there goes explaining things carefully'

Taking a moment to clean up the residual caffeine, Sai tossed the soiled napkins in the trash and pushed aside his coffee to face the pink haired female, frowning.

"... I'm guessing there's more to this story that you haven't told me." He said patiently. His gaze was probing, making Sakura feel like a terrible friend for keeping things to herself when Sai had clearly been there for her the whole time.

"I... I just..." She struggled to find the words to explain, to somehow convey everything that had happened and to reason as to how she doomed herself to loving a man who she couldn't have.

She felt the frustration of the past few days build up beneath her, her lungs constricted with her difficulty to draw breath and her eyes burned painfully. She could feel the moisture building up at the ducts of her eyes, fighting to keep them back.

Sai's gaze softened, he looked away from her to reach towards the brown take-away bag and handed her a crumbly pastry as a distraction.

She swallowed down the roughness in her throat and took the baked good. Forcing a bite to claim her some time as her mind pieced together a coherent explanation.

"I don't really know how or why... But.. I won't deny what I feel," She began, "somehow along the way.. My dislike for him because something else entirely."

Her close friend remained quiet, sipping on his half-spilt coffee as he watched her.

"Or maybe I've loved him all along and my hatred was really just my feelings in denial?"

"..."

"To be really honest, I think it was because of our warring families that made me hate him more than I thought. He isn't like what he seems. Sasuke..." Her hands felt clammy, she placed the half-bitten pastry aside and she wiped them distractedly on her jeans, "he's... different... he's a jerk, and he's been nothing but spiteful, but... but he's everything that I want,"

"Sakura-"

"And I think that's what makes it worse because he makes me feel like when I'm on stage, like I'm more than alive! Everything feels like... more, when I'm with him." Her words flowed out, unstoppable now that she opened the gates.

Sai continued to watched her with a careful expression, saying nothing.

"I thought I despised him.. but when I look at him now, it's like... like..."

"Like you can't catch a breath?"

An unnamed emotion swarmed her, turning her stomach into knots, "Yeah... Like that." She finished lamely.

There was a moment of silence as they both sipped at their drinks. Sakura dared a quick glance at Sai, fearful of whatever expression she might find there. Afraid that he was going to look at her with pity.

"Do you think I'm just a complete idiot?"

Black eyes were faraway, "No. I don't..." His tone was far from pitiful, "But you seem pretty sure of how you feel, Sakura."

A weak laugh escaped her as she looked back down into the dark brown liquid sloshing in her shaky hands. The steam rose with graceful swirls, tangling and dissipating like her own grasp on life, "It's hard to ignore something like this."

"Then obviously what you feel is real," his eyes remained carefully balanced between understanding and curiosity, "so what's the problem?"

Her fingers absently played with the cardboard sleeve of her take-away cup, "There are plenty of problems, Sai."

He remained silent, watching her as he waited for her elaboration.

"For one... Our families-"

"Your families aren't you. If you care for him, you shouldn't let your family feud stand in the way."

She shook her head, she treasured her parents dearly, and she knew Sasuke took strong pride in his. There was no way she could imagine being happy with Sasuke when her family wouldn't be able to accept him. And what of her? What would his family say about her?

"There's more to it than that..." Her voice was small, "there's no point in even discussing this..."

"Why?"

"Because he doesn't love me!" Frustration bubbled up and the declaration blurted past her lips before she could swallow it back down. Sai would have never settled for anything less than the truth, and the truth was that Sakura knew Sasuke didn't feel that way about her. Admitting it to him, she never realised how scared she had been the entire time - scared about the uncertainty of whether he could ever feel the same way. Or that she was now stuck in an unrequited love - the most cliché of all clichés.

The irony wasn't lost to her. She had auditioned to play one half of the most iconic romantic pairs in history, only to fall in love with her enemy, harm him, and then end up alone. It was as if her whole life was one big, fat, disgustingly tragic play. One that didn't seem like it would end with 'happily ever after'.

Her hands clenched around her cup, denting the matte surface. Sai's long, artist's fingers reached out and gently pried the cut from her grasp. Placing the discarded drink to the side. He drew her hands in his, clammy palms wedged in between his cool ones.

Her eyes shied away from his, staring blankly at their joined hands in shame.

"Sakura..."

"Please." Her voice was quiet but hard, "I don't want to hear about how I have to at least try or something just as useless."

He didn't speak for a while. Sakura waited for his lecture, for his hope speech, but when he did finally speak, it was not what she had expected.

"Then what do you want to do now?"

She was stunned with speechlessness for a moment. What did she want to do now?

Her hands slowly slid out of Sai's. Her head tilted back up and her green gaze was watery with vulnerability as she met his flat black ones.

"I want to move on."

His silent question probed her further.

"With or without these feelings," her hands clenched at her sides, "I need to move on. I need to live my life as I've always done."

"Without him?"

Sakura didn't answer, she turned in her chair to stand and look out the window again, eyes scanning the crowd to immediately find Sasuke's strong silhouette around the dark corners of the stage.

Her eyes traced his figure, from his steady legs, upwards to his narrow waist, strong shoulders and to the profile of his face. His hair was more tousled today than usual - as if his hands had been running through it. While she couldn't make out his expression from such a distance, she knew it was probably drawn in unwavering concentration. He would always look impeccably perfect to her.

Longing bore deep into her soul.

Without shifting her gaze, she felt Sai stand.

"You can't run away from this, Sakura."

"No." Her eyes blazed with her defiance, "It doesn't matter. Why should I believe he would feel the same? And if we did, what would you think he would do? Defy his family and choose me?" She felt the tears build up again, and she angrily scrubbed her fingers across her lids to rid them before they dropped.

The fact was simple. The chances of him feeling the same were slim, and the chances of him choosing her over his family were even slimmer. The Uchiha's were a big, influential family. One of the founding clans of Konoha, they had a lot of power and a strong sense of family pride. Being born from such a tight-knit unit was something she couldn't compete with. Sakura knew how loyal Sasuke was to his family- he had always put his family name first and foremost. There was no way she was going to fight against that. She would've been disregarded as a joke; as the silly pink-haired girl who attempted to bewitch the Uchiha prince.

Sai didn't say anything else. He strode over to join Sakura and drew her small form into a firm hug. They stayed that way for only a short moment, but Sakura felt that after releasing all her worries with Sai, the constant pillar in her life, she could make it through things.

'Eventually'

He released her gently, and stood with her as they looked out onto the floor of the auditorium, watching the cast & crew bustle around with their jobs.

The silence hung over them, neither solemn nor peaceful.

End Note:

This is a short chapter, but I wanted it to be one on it's own.

When I started this story years ago, I chose Sai because I wanted someone who's honesty and simple personality would become a pillar in Sakura's life. Although Sai seems more 'OOC' than he is, I do like the dynamic of their friendship.

The next chapter is one of my favourites... and also one of the most daunting to write.

Hope you look forward to it.

Leave me reviews! I'd like to hear some response.