What Could've Been

Chapter 10

"Sakura-chan." He greeted the girl back with a nod of his head. "I asked Naruto where you lived, and he gave me directions to this house?" Boruto asked nervously, wondering if she would buy the story.

Sakura smiled sheepishly. "Ah, I actually don't live here. I moved into an apartment with my friend TenTen a few weeks ago. Naruto keeps forgetting, haha. Um..." Sakura blushed deeper. "Why did you want to see me?"

Boruto smiled at her. "I would like to talk to you, if that's ok?"

"Yes, that's fine. I was actually just heading out, if you want to grab a cup of coffee?" Boruto beamed, making Sakura a little dizzy. "That's great Sakura-chan."

~°~

"So um. What did you want to talk to me about?" Sakura asked, the easygoing smile on her face dropping when she said, "You know I'm already dating someone, right?" Boruto grimaced. He shifted his arm so that it rested on the small table they were sitting at, careful not to touch his still hot drink.

"Yea, Sasuke. That's who I wanted to talk to you about. I am aware that you two have only just recently gotten together, correct?" Sakura furrowed her brows, nodding. She did not like where he was going with this.

Boruto frowned, then pinched the bridge of his nose. "Er, well, there's no easy way to say this, but uh, I want you to break up with him." The pinkette blinked softly. "Excuse me? Why would you want me to break up with him?"

The blonde flinched slightly, what the hell was he supposed to say? "Um, because I like you?" Sakura snorted at this. "Yea right, I could tell from the moment you laid eyes on me that you had no intention of feeling anything that's not platonic towards me. Naruto and Sasuke may joke around that I'm useless, but I notice more than I let on. Besides..." She pointed out. "That wasn't very convincing."

Boruto glanced at her, a thoughtful look on his face. "Why would D- Naruto and Sasuke call you useless?"

"If you don't know yet, then I have no intention of telling you." Sakura replied, leisurely sipping from a small coffee cup. "But, anyways..." The cup was placed down. "Why do you want me to break up with Sasuke? It's not like it'll get you anything, so there must be a juicy story behind it. Spill."

Boruto gulped. He knew what happened when Aunt Sakura wanted something. She would get it if she had to torture him to death. "I- it- I might be, er, helping... a friend?"

"So someone is in love with Sasuke. Alright, who is it? Tell me now and I might not destroy you later."

Boruto fumbled with his fingers underneath the table. Shit. She's got me cornered and she knows it. "L- listen can we talk somewhere else?"

The girl's eyes narrowed. "Are you going to run away from me?" Boruto gave what looked like a half smile, half grimace. "Er, no" I'm never going through that again...

"Ok then! We can talk at my apartment! Let's go!" Sakura planted her hands on the table and pushed herself up to her feet, practically skipping to the door. "Well, aren't you coming?"

"N-now?"

The girl rolled her eyes. "Yes, now. TenTen is out with Neji, so she won't be at home. It's the perfect chance to talk about forbidden romances." Sakura giggled at the last part. Boruto just sighed and shook his head. Not sure if it's quite a romance yet, Auntie, but ok. Who knew Sakura was such a fangirl?

The two headed back to Sakura's, the pink haired girl dragging Boruto along. When they arrived at the door (Boruto out of breath and Sakura as chirpy as ever...), the kunoichi quickly unlocked it and yanked Boruto inside the spacious apartment.

The blonde found himself in a large living room with two passages, one very obviously leading to a kitchen, and the other, well, he was about to find out. Before he had time to completely take in his surroundings, Boruto felt himself being dragged through the second passageway, and to a room at the end of it.

About three seconds later, the blonde was sitting on a rather soft bed, with Sakura on the other side of the room locking the door. "Alrighty then!" The pinkette chirped, swinging around to meet Boruto's face.

"So, then, tell me who it is." The boy gulped silently, a distressed expression on his face. "W- what are you going to do to them if I told you?"

Sakura frowned. "I couldn't care less about who likes Sasuke. I just need to know if the person you're talking about is the person I think you're talking about. So with that being said, I am going to take a wild guess, and you are going to tell me if I am correct or not, understood?"

She didn't let Boruto answer. Instead, Sakura placed two hands on each side of Boruto's legs, efficiently trapping him from escaping. The girl took a deep breath, then bore her eyes into the blonde's. "Is it Naruto? Be honest."

Boruto made what sounded like a strangled noise. Getting impatient, Sakura pounded a fist into the bed, the springs snapping audibly. Boruto nodded as fast as he could. Cursing, the (extremely dangerous) girl stood up abruptly and ran a hand through her strawberry locks. After a moment of silence, Sakura punched the wall next to her, shouting, "DAMN IT!"

Boruto flinched, and then noticed that the girl wasn't about to castrate him. Quite the opposite, in fact. Sakura was crying, her tears silently dripping onto the floor.

Unsure of what to do, the boy hesitantly walked over to where she was, and placed a hand on her shoulder. As soon as he did this, the kunoichi's knees buckled, and Boruto found himself sinking to the ground with her.

"Er, you ok?" Those three words broke the barrier of silence surrounding them, and sent Sakura into a rant, rambling on and on. Boruto tried his best to listen to what she was saying, and managed to catch a few words, despite the rushed sentences.

"I just don't understand... why didn't he tell me?... I thought he- thought he..." The tears welled up again, Sakura silently berating herself for not noticing sooner.

After a while, the girl seemed to calm down a bit. Sakura was now sitting on her bed, eye's red rimmed and a glass of water sitting in her hands, forgotten.

Boruto awkwardly sat next to her, hesitantly placing a hand on her back. To his surprise, the girl leaned into the touch, finding herself lying against Boruto's chest. The boy waited patiently for her to start talking, and she did. Her voice was quiet, nothing like the peppy girl not ten minutes ago.

"I knew. I- I knew that he was in love with Sasuke. Or- well, I at least suspected it. When I confronted him about it, he told me that I was spitting nonsense. He laughed it off, told me that it was nothing. And being the useless girl I am, I believed him. I convinced myself it was just my imagination." Her voices trailed off, falling silent before she began again.

"Maybe that was just what I wanted to think. I should've paid more attention. I should've ignored my nearly nonexistent feelings for Sasuke and just supported Naruto. I should've forced him to tell me, to admit it. But-"

"What do you mean your nonexistent feelings for U- I mean Sasuke? I thought you were in love with him?" Sakura snorted.

"That was when I was a stupid kid, and even then it wasn't love. It was a messed up obsession forced upon me by others. I pursued my feelings for Sasuke this time because he was familiar. A single thing to hang on to after everything changed."

The girl sighed. "Even now, it's not love. I just- I don't know. Maybe I'm still dwelling on the things my parents drilled into me." She laughed dryly.

"You know what hurts the most? It's the fact that Naruto trusts you, a person he met less than a week ago, over me, whom he's known nearly his entire life. Honestly though? I don't think I would've trusted me if I were him either."

Sakura sat up abruptly. "I'm going to make it up to him. I'm going to break up with Sasuke and help Naruto either achieve his love, or get over him if it turns out to be impossible. Which, knowing the broody bastard, will most likely happen."

Boruto frowned, nodding. He hadn't even noticed that the girl had lay down at some point during her monologue. Before he could comment though, Sakura was already out the door.