To Heal a Broken Heart (Sequel to Torn Between Two)

Chapter 16

"Y...Wh...What are you doing here?"

My heart immediately started racing.

My eyes met with crimson-colored orbs and I had to look twice. It was Kurenai.

She's alone. She's not with anyone, so it's clearly not a mission. 

She had an unreadable expression on her face and she sighed before speaking.

"Are you busy? I just wanted to talk to you," 

"No, I'm not busy. You can come inside," I replied.

My hands were a little shaky right now since I was nervous.

"Um, do you want something to drink?" I asked awkwardly. 

She shook her head.

"Uh, do you want to sit at the couch and talk?" I asked again, kicking myself for sounding so awkward.

God, even at 26 years old I'm still awkward as hell.

She nodded and we both sat down on my couch. She was silent and looked like she was thinking about what she was going to say.

"I...I don't know where to start," Kurenai sighed. "I just wanted to say is that I'm so sorry for what happened eight years ago,"

I let her continue. "I realize that you needed someone and that I was a terrible 'best friend' to you, since I didn't try to be there for you when you needed it,"

"I'll admit," I finally spoke. "It hurt. It hurt losing both you and Anko. I was pretty pissed off when it first happened and I even held a grudge against you guys for a while after that,"

Kurenai's eyes grew misty.

"But that doesn't stop me from caring about you both," I said. "I don't even hold that grudge anymore, Kurenai. It killed me when we went on that mission a few months back because I realized when it was too late that I was the problem,"

A tear finally slipped down her face and seeing her tear up, made me tear up too.

"I'm so sorry Hana. You weren't even the problem. It was just the fact that I was overwhelmed with everything going on at that time and I just didn't know how to help you. It hurt me seeing you in such immense pain that you resorted to drinking,"

"And I'm surprised you could even forgive me for that. I should've been there for you, instead of pushing it away," She sniffled.

"I haven't even touched a drink since that day," I replied. "Kurenai, I just want my best friends back. I lost everything. I lost my soulmate, my Aunt and Uncle, my parents, and my close friends,"

I finally started breaking down.

I wanted everything to go back to the way it was.

I wanted Rin and Obito here, I wanted Kurenai and Anko to just be friends with me again, and I wanted my family back. 

I explained to Kurenai about how I was the problem. She said it was all of us and that we should've been there for each other rather than trying to face our issues alone. She lost her parents when the Nine-Tails attacked and was forced to live on her own as well.

"Hana, do you know what made me realize that I was being stupid?" She asked.

I looked at her, wiping tears away from me breaking down.

"I overheard you and Kakashi talking about some people in the war targeting you. It worried me because I still care about you and I couldn't live with myself knowing I let things go, if anything were to happen to you,"

I walked over to her and hugged her.

"Well, we fixed things now, right?" I asked her.

She leaned into the hug and nodded.

"I'm glad we patched things up, Hana," She said. "Asuma caught me looking through an old photo album I made of our younger days and he noticed that I was staring down at an old picture of you, me, and Anko,"

I let go of her and smiled a little. 

"You still have those pictures?"

She nodded. "Of course. Asuma opened my eyes to everything. He tried to get me to talk to you for a long time and I should've listened to him sooner,"

"Well, now that we're talking again, I guess I should tell you that Anko and I are both the proctors for the second stage of the chunin exams," I sighed. "I don't know what to do. I feel so awkward about it and I'm dreading every second because of how close the exams are coming,"

"She's a stubborn one," Kurenai said. "But she still cares about you,"

I gave her a look of disbelief and she took notice of the look.

"She does," Kurenai insisted. "Every time your name got brought up, she'd want to avoid the topic and I could tell every time it pained her to hear it. You know how I said we didn't handle our struggles very well? She lost someone close to her too, and that's what made her untrusting of everyone and everything,"

I rose an eyebrow.

"Who?"

"She doesn't like to talk about it. She won't even tell me who this person is," Kurenai replied.

"Okay, but Lord Hokage told me he paired us together on purpose to get us to talk again and I'm going to tell you the same thing I told him, the damage between me and Anko can't be undone. I don't think it's going to happen,"

I wanted Anko back, but if I got my hopes up, I'd have to deal with the pain again. 

"Seriously, don't assume things already. I'm sure this will push Anko to actually talk to you again," Kurenai replied.

"We'll see," I sighed.

As time passed, I opened up to Kurenai about how the criminals were targeting me, how I'm still heart broken by Obito and Rin's death, and how hard it's been for me to manage ever since they passed. She told me that they're watching over me and want me to be strong, but it's hard.

If Obito truly was watching, I hoped that he knew my feelings for him haven't changed. I wasn't lying when I said I knew he was the one for me ever since the day we met. I also can't open up to another person like that again, because I definitely couldn't handle it if I were to lose another person I care about like that again. 

And I hoped that Rin knows I deeply regret the way I treated her at first. I should've never have gotten mad at her for the whole situation. It wasn't even her fault. She turned out to be one of my best friends and she's gone.

I lost two best friends in that war, but now that I resolved things with Kurenai, I feel a little better.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kurenai is back now. I planned this part for a long time and I'm glad I finally got it in the story. I'm a little closer to where I want this book to be now. I also decided I'll make a third story to finally end everything there.