wow i can't believe we reached two k! thanks a lot guys!
S.H
Clutching a glass of champagne, Sakura Haruno sat down on a bench in the inside of the quiet church. She downed the alcoholic beverage in one shot, taking peace in the temporary euphoria it gave her.
She let out an exhausted sigh, letting her body recover from the endless amounts of dancing. Despite the son and the father being missing from Itachi's wedding, it continued on as planned. For better or worse for Sakura's body, she wasn't sure. Choji was quite, er, enthusiastic when it came to dancing.
"Shut up!"
A scream echoed throughout the whole church, clear over the muffled sound of music. Sakura wasn't an eavesdropper, but after noticing that it was Sasuke's voice, she couldn't help herself.
It seemed to be coming from the main area. Taking a peek, Sakura caught a glimpse of Fugaku and Sasuke engage in a heated conversation. They were both standing up with clenched fists and set jaws, fury burning in each other's eyes so powerfully it caught Sakura off guard.
"...you will not pull a trick like last time," Sakura caught snippets of Sasuke talking angrily. "You won't dare to involve yourself with my life, and don't involve another person like Karin was involved!"
Sakura's eyes widened when she realized that they must be talking about the plan that Karin told her about in the café. Did Sasuke know about it too?"
"Last time was a failure," Fugaku spoke calmly, a clear contrast to his son. "This time, I assure you, I will find someone better than Karin for you to be arranged with.
Arrange with? Sakura furrowed her brows. Was the Karin and Sasuke thing nothing more than an arranged relationship orchestrated entirely by their families? But, then that would mean all the hate she felt isn't supposed to be towards Sasuke, nor all of her sadness and disappointment...
"I will make you forget about Sakura."
Her heart rate quickened and she silently gasped when she heard her name. Is this about me? Realization hit her.Then that means that the whole point of Fugaku's plans is to make Sasuke forget about me...I've been angry at the wrong person this whole time!
No wonder it seemed like Fugaku had a grudge against Sakura, Sasuke really did like her after all. But I guess I wasn't good enough. I don't come from a rich family, I'm a drop out and I have plastic surgery.
She bit her lip, fighting back tears that threatened to spill any moment. She hated herself more than ever at this point. She hated her background, her choices, everything. Sakura didn't expect Sasuke to stand up this much for her, not when so much was at stake. Blood is thicker than water, after all.
"I won't agree to your plan."
W-What?
"I know what I want, and you can't stop me with your trickery."
Sasuke's...still standing up for me?
Fugaku glared towards his son, making up another argument that made Sakura so sure that Sasuke would obey his father, just like he did all those years ago.
Sasuke sneered, "You almost made me believe that if I pursued what I want, the whole clan would collapse in doom. But, you know, if this is all our clan is, then let it be collapsed."
He's going this far?
"Sasuke, you're entering a dangerous place with me," warned Fugaku, now struggling to contain his anger. "Are you willing to fight still, knowing that so much could be lost?"
He can't, there's too much that can be lost. It's not worth it for me...
"I'm willing to fight for Sakura."
Tears were now sliding down Sakura's face, not from anger, but from the overwhelming feeling of surprise and joy.
"Why?"
She leaned in closer, wanting to hear the answer as well.
Sasuke had his answer in a heartbeat. "Because even though you made the plan, I was the one who crushed her hopes and her future before walking away with her bully. I made such a big effect on her that day, Father. I broke her. Now I want to heal her, no matter what you say."
She wanted to scream, shout and yell that she didn't blame Sasuke anymore. That she wasn't angry at all. That all her hatred was gone and that she was wrong for pushing him out of her life even more.
And she almost did, she was about to run into the hall when somebody clamped tightly on her shoulder.
By instinct, she jerked away from the unknown touch. No, this wasn't an unknown touch, just a very familiar, unpleasant touch. Her eyes widened as she stared at the tall male who looked extremely sinister in the lighting. "K-Kiba?"
"Sakura," he smirked, leaning onto the wall. "What a surprise seeing you here. You know, I was actually sent here to get Sasuke and Fugaku, but instead, I found you. Not that I'm complaining or anything. I've been wanting for ages for us to have a...simple discussion."
Something about his tone suggested that that was the opposite of what he wanted. Sakura started slowly backing away, her tears frozen in place.
"You don't want to?" Kiba asked, raising his eyebrow. Then, without a sign or warning, he grabbed her forearm. Sakura let out a yelp, but it was muffled as he gripped even more tighter. "Come with me. Let's have a little talk."
He forcefully lead her to a small room before pushing her in. Kiba leered, "You know, I don't appreciate you being so flirty straight after our breakup.
Sakura clenched her fists. "I don't appreciate you being so flirty during relationship. How dare you try and hit on Hinata?"
Kiba let out a short, sharp laugh. "So we're having this conversation again?"
He was right. This was their second time having this conversation. All the memories began flooding back.
Sakura let out a sigh, content with her photos from her latest shoot. She began walking towards her apartment, a smile gracing her lips when she remembered that Kiba would stay over with her and the girls tonight.
Her and Kiba's relationship were doing wonders for her. At first she had only decided to date him because she needed to move on from Sasuke, and focus on something else other than the memories.
Not only did that prove to be reality, but she was, for the first time in a while, really happy. She still didn't like him the way he liked her, but she could only see that that was beginning to change.
With her smile growing bigger, she opened the door to her apartment.
Her smile dropped off her face.
All those happy things and feelings disappeared.
Replaced by shock, anger, disgust and hurt.
The foundation of her happiness that had only been beginning to build up now shattered.
The apartment was empty except for two people. Hinata was pressed up against the kitchen counter, tears streaming down her face. Her pale blue cardigan was ripped apart, exposing her in a white, tight top.
Her wrists were bruised and red, sore from the person who was hurting her so much, physically and mentally. The same person who had been healing Sakura.
"Kiba!" shouted Sakura, racing towards them. Shock was written on his face, and relief on Hinata's. The latter attached herself to Sakura's arm, tears continuing to pour down her face. Sakura clenched her fist before glaring at Kiba. "H-How could you?"
"The better question is how could she?" sneered Kiba, crossing his arms. "An empty apartment room, her quiet manner, her tight her top was, Hinata was basically asking me to have sex with her."
"You idiot," scoffed Sakura. "Don't tell me you tried to commit this sinful act just because a quiet girl was in an empty apartment wearing whatever she wanted to."
"You girls don't get it," Kiba shook his head. "If you have a one hundred dollar bill in your pocket, and you see a dollar on the floor, you pick it up, don't you?"
"But in doing so, that hundred falls out of your pocket and is lost. Just like you're about to lose me!"
"As if I ever had you," Kiba's face twitched in anger. "You're just using me as rebound. I love you, but you don't even like me back."
"I was starting to like you back. I already told you from the beginning of our relationship that you weren't going to be a rebound for me, but rather a healing solution. And you've gone and messed things up by dragging Hinata into our mess. Did you even love me?" Sakura lifted her chin up, tears forming in her eyes. "Tell me why you love me."
Kiba straightened his back up, "You're beautiful-"
"Wrong answer," the pinkette was crying, but she knew what the right decision was. "If you really loved me, you would love me because of my personality, not my looks. To me, beautiful is just an empty compliment. If you really loved me and knew me, then you wouldn't have said that. Kiba...it's over."
A lengthy silence, save for Hinata's sobs, filled the conversation. Kiba clenched his jaw. "Fine. I'll be leaving."
Sakura didn't even move as he exited the apartment, bumping into the rest of the group just as they entered.
"Sakura, Hinata...what happened?" Ino asked tenderly.
They both quickly rehashed everything that had happened. While telling the story, Sakura realized that ending her relationship with Kiba was like lifting a massive weight off her shoulders that she didn't even know was there.
"I should've sent you to jail," growled Sakura. "Regardless that your dad owns the police force."
Kiba smirked smugly. "It never would've worked. Anyways, I've always needed to do this..."
He leaned towards Sakura and held her wrists tightly, the same way he did for Hinata. Except it was unlikely nobody would rescue Sakura. Tears began to pool in her eyes as she twisted and moved, but couldn't break free from his grasp. Bruises started to line her wrists. Kiba planted an unwanted kiss on the side of her mouth.
She let out a scream as he started kissing her jaw roughly and started trailing down her body. By now tears were falling like waterfalls. She shook her head and tried to pull away, but he grabbed her hair and tangled the strands in his fingers. His smirked widened. "You're not going anywhere. Nobody's here to save you."
"Take a look again."
Kiba and Sakura froze before taking a look at the door. There, dressed in a pristine tuxedo stood the younger brother of Itachi Uchiha and the youngest of Fugaku Uchiha. He clenched his fist angrily and sent a death glare towards Kiba. Anger seemed to be radiating off him. "Back away from Sakura."
"Ne, Sasuke, why should I-"
Sasuke swung a punch towards Kiba, a punch that seemed to be packed with all of the anger he had felt during this night. Kiba sank into the walls, unconscious. Onyx eyes flitted towards Sakura, and Sasuke didn't hesistate before grabbing her hand. "C'mon, let's leave this scum."
The two of them ran through the dimly lit corridors of the church before arriving at the garden, a place of the garden where people hadn't ventured and the music could barely reach it. The cold wind caressed both of their faces, wiping away Sakura's tears.
She gazed in amazement at the night sky, which seemed so clear for a bustling city like New York. The moon was full, shining delicately on the earth, along with the twinkles of several stars. Flowers lined this small section, small, pale green flowers which Sakura could've named if she was paying attention.
Sasuke still held her hand as they both sat down on the grass. He took a deep breath, and, looking her straight in the eye, said, "I'm sorry."
She smiled gently. "I forgive you."
He looked bewildered. "But, you don't even kn-"
She shook her head before gazing at the stars again. "I, uh, kinda accidently eavesdropped on your conversation with Fugaku. And you shouldn't be the one apologizing. I should. I was the one who pushed you away, who blamed everything on you without even trying to understand what could've been happening behind scenes. I've been so dumb-"
"No, you haven't. You don't need to apologize because you did nothing wrong."
"But," she looked crestfallen. "You and your father had a falling out because of me."
"That's a good thing, not a bad thing."
A silence ensued for about a minute before Sakura tentatively piped up, "Did anyone know about the plan besides a few select Uchihas and Uzumakis?"
"My whole dorm knows," Sasuke admitted before his lips nearly twitched into a smile. "That idiot Naruto wouldn't stop pestering me, and Shikamaru's too smart for his own good."
Sakura smiled, happy that Sasuke was happy with his friends. "I thought so. Just before the wedding Sai told me not to worry about you. I wonder how he could have complete faith that-"
"An asshole actually isn't an asshole? Yeah, I would've wondered about that too."
The two of them laughed in unison, truly happy together for the first time in years. It was the most beautiful sound you would hear, the sound of relief and joy and warmth all wrapped into one. Sakura's smile widened. "So, we're good again?"
"Of course," Sasuke smiled, for once, an actual genuine smile, not a smirk. It made Sakura's heart skip a beat. "Of course we're friends."
Friends.
They hadn't gone back to their previous type of relationship, but Sakura figured that it was okay. Both of them were still healing after all, and healing is a fragile process.
Baby steps, Sakura. Baby steps.
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happy new year, guys! so so sorry this took forever, i went overseas and i didn't have time to write at all
kinda wanna start a Naruto chatfic so tell me if any of you are into that
REMEMBER...VOTE...COMMENT...SHARE!!!
Word count: 2307