Deceitful (A Naruto Fanfic)

Chapter 61: Sakura

And how right he was.

Not pausing for a moment, I immediately crossed the distance between us, delivering a hard slap across the face to my former sensei, hot tears brimming and blurring my vision. I didn't have a plan in mind nor did I have any cohesiveness to my actions. I just wanted to let it all out.

With the guidance of chakra, I shoved him out of the way none too lightly with excessive force, knowing full well I shouldn't be using chakra in the first place. I didn't give a damn. If there was ever a time endangering myself and disobeying instructions was okay, it was now. Chakra pooled to my fingers and immediately was amplified, my anger fueling the rising growth reflexively without caution. I rushed forward with the intent to hit, but as if he knew what I was thinking, he weaved in and out of my range. 

Sidestepping, ducking and twisting around me, Kakashi was fluid in his movement, nearly silent while light on his feet.

When my hands started to blister and redden from the outpour of energy he easily picked my wrists out of the air, surprising me and stopping my use of chakra. It dawned on me that he stopped it not so I wouldn't hit him or because he was getting tired of evading, but so I wouldn't hurt myself.

"Don't you dare pretend that you care about me." I snapped, wrenching my wrists from his grasp and moving forward.

His form took the aggressive hits that my hands created, not even flinching in pain. His face was unreadable. Pushing him once more, his figure actually reacted to the force, stumbling backwards and landing against a nearby tree. A cleverly placed hand behind him softened the impact but an exhale of air told me he still had the wind knocked out of him.

My tears were now streaming as I passed by his slouched, shadowed figure. He took all of my violence with grace, and for a moment I contemplated giving him one good sucker punch to the jaw. I quickly realized it'd take more than that to convey the complex betrayal I felt.

"Thanks so much, sensei." I sneered mockingly, my eyes revealing the hurt underneath my hatred filled exterior. And he recognized that. He always said he could read me like a book. I was predictable.

When we locked eyes as he lifted his head, there was a blank expression on his face. He seemed to forget, I knew him. Just as he knew me. Two sides of the same coin, right? I'd worked alongside him for years after all.

The infallible Copy-nin was human, at the end of the day.

He had a few tells if you were smart enough to pick up on them, and he had emotions too, if you knew where to look. He couldn't always be a blank slate, despite how much he wanted to portray that through his usual uninterested nonchalance.

No. This time, his blank expression had another emotion lurking just beneath the surface.

Guilt.

But for once I didn't bring it up. To me, he was finally just another face, unimportant and irrelevant. Undeserving of my attention. I stopped analyzing underneath the underneath in that moment.

He was nothing to me, not anymore.

Though I decided that in my mind, my heart squeezed painfully as I turned on my heel. Just as I was about to leave him in silence, I saw Neji's figure flitting through the gates, straight to the Hokage tower. He was supposed to meet up with us first, but judging by his perceptiveness he must've known Kakashi and I were fighting. I realized that he probably thought I was going to run away from Konoha and was notifying Tsunade before I got the opportunity.

He didn't want me to throw my life away.

There'd be no third chance.

Glancing at a Kakashi who wouldn't meet my gaze, I smiled bitterly. In the past, that's probably just what I would've done. Whether it be for the better or not, I'd changed. I turned towards the village, and without looking back, I broke the silence.