That Damned Raven Haired Boy (SasuNaru)

Part 11

"Ah, good morning Sakura-chan!" he chirped at the sight of his pink-haired companion. "How's it going?" The boy stepped aside as she entered the room and watched with a smile far too fake as she moved to sit on Sasuke's bed. The girl didn't notice the way his grip tightened on the doorknob, his knuckles whitening with strain.

"Fine." Her tone was rather clipped, even bordering on being mean, Naruto observed as he moved to sit across from her on his own bed. She was watching him intently, her eyes narrowed in a calculating way.

"You're walking funny," she observed with a knowing look at the lotion bottle.

Naruto refused to acknowledge the blush that slowly crept up his cheeks and to his ears and to his nose and... oh hell, it covered his whole face. "I uh...fell..." he started awkwardly, "out of bed. You know me, always falling out of bed!"

The look that Sakura gave him stopped Naruto mid-pat on the back - it had been a rather good excuse all things considered - and he looked at his feet sheepishly. She was trying to be nice... - he could tell because she hadn't punched his lights out yet.

"I'd appreciate if you didn't lie to me and insult my intelligence," she requested in such a formal tone that it caused the blonde to wince.

"Ah, sorry, Sakura-chan," he said, still sheepish.

The blonde raised his gaze without lifting his head, watching as Sakura surveyed him with an awkwardly intense look. He really wished she didn't know. No one was meant to know that other people went around having sex. It was just gross...

He blushed and dropped his eyes, definitely not wondering if Sakura had ever done it. And then he realized she couldn't have because she was so faithful to Sasuke, even if she claimed to be over him - even if she kissed Naruto - and he felt his stomach drop to his feet and jump to his throat all at once.

He had promised to never hurt her...

"I should be apologizing to you," Sakura said after a moment's consideration, cutting into Naruto's thoughts, and the boy found himself staring at her in outright shock. "Do you know where he is?" she asked over his soundless questions, her tone approaching something like soft as she saw the way Naruto's face fell at the mention of Sasuke.

The boy hesitated, uncertain, and eyed his friend warily, - then finally: "Gonna kill him when I do know," he muttered dejectedly, balling his hands into fists, because maybe he could concentrate all of his guilt there, where it wouldn't sting so much. Sakura just looked at him and he couldn't help but notice that she had begun to wring the hem of her shirt awkwardly. The boy swallowed.

"You know, it wasn't supposed to happen," he started, trying to find a way to amend for what he'd done, "I've honestly never eventhought about it happening." He dropped his head into his hands and croaked out, "Shit, I am so fucking sorry."

The silence that followed this statement left Naruto's heart pounding in his throat, each beat pushing him closer to saying something more. But he couldn't. It wasn't as if he deserved her forgiveness, not really.

He could hear her steady breathing, quiet and comforting. Soft like her and still hitching every few breaths, so subtly he almost missed the pattern.

Finally she said, "I know you are," and it came out sounding like a revelation, as if she hadn't really expected him to be sorry - and her breathing quickened in agitation. "But..." she paused and he lifted his head, meeting the muted green of her eyes - green like mint. "Are you sorry because you hurt me, or are you sorry because you trusted him and he left?"

The room went stiff with surprise and both Sakura and Naruto stared at each other, unable to move, to blink, to breathe under the accusation that hung in the air between them.