Chapter Six

Sakura

I looked over at Sasuke, careful not to stare for too long. His brow furrowed as he read over my note; had I been too frank? I knew that Naruto wanted to hurt both of us. He'd slammed Sasuke into a wall, and that awful smell he'd unleashed in his bedroom still scorched my nostrils. At the moment, there was nothing that would make me happier than scoring my nails across his face again and again and again.

***

"Sakura!" it was after school, and I was on my way home. The gray storm clouds were gathering overhead as I glanced behind me. Sasuke was chasing after me, his bag flailing in the wind, his arms pumping. He came to a stop beside me, breathing hard. "God, did you forget or something?" he snapped, his hair falling over his left eye.

"I was going to meet you further from school," I said, blushing.

"Oh," Sasuke muttered.

We walked in silence for a while, pretending to ignore what we knew was begging to be said. I kept my eyes rooted to the ground; my palms were shaking. Even out here, far away from Naruto's watchful eyes, I still wanted to crawl under my bed and never come out.

"Sakura," Sasuke said.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"How did Naruto hurt you?"

"I went to his house, to…" I didn't want to say it outright; he might've thought that I was a pervert.

"To what?" he asked, abruptly stopping.

"To play a joke," I replied in a small voice.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Sasuke didn't respond; he seemed as if he was off in another world. I wondered what could possibly be going through his head, and I hoped that it was about me. His eyes were distant, slightly glazed over, and constantly avoiding my face. "What are you thinking about?" I asked him, feeling immensely bold.

"Nothing," he murmured.

"Really?" I swear that my tongue was dripping with sarcasm.

"Yeah," Sasuke said through his teeth, glaring at me from the corner of his eye.

"Er, sorry!" words spouted from my mouth, uncontrollable as the storms that plagued Hinamizawa during the winter months.

Again, he remained silent, taunting me with his secret thoughts. What was he thinking about? I knew that he'd never tell me, but I couldn't help from wishing. There was nothing wrong with that, was there?

I sighed, hoping that Sasuke could hear me. Wishes, while I continue in vain to make them, have proved themselves useless once again. I wrung my hands together nervously. The cloudy skies laughed down at me, mocking my despair. "He'll never like you!" they teased, stabbing through my heart over and over again.

"You're lying; it'll happen!" I snapped abruptly in my mind.

"About what?" Sasuke asked, and I jumped as a response.

I flushed scarlet. I guess that speaking in my head doesn't always work, especially when I have a tendency to speak whatever's going through it. My mouth worked faster than my brain, which wasn't the best way to make your way about trying to get the cutest guy in school to like you. "Nothing!" I retorted, and then flinched at my own stupidity.

He gazed at me curiously, one eyebrow raised. I rooted my eyes to the dirt road, finally averting them when I saw my house. "I-I really should get going," I stuttered. "My house is just over there."

"Wait," Sasuke commanded, grabbing my arm.

"Yeah?" I said, as time seemed to stop.

"Please," he said softly, leaning down to whisper in my ear, "Sakura."

"Yes?" I breathed.

"I-I like you. A lot."

I finally drew my eyes away from the oh-so interesting ground to peer up at Sasuke. He had regained the distant look in his eyes, which were constantly avoiding mine. "Really?" I asked, feeling the blush creeping up my cheeks.

"Yeah," he whispered, his voice cracking. "I-I really like you."

Ignoring the falter in his voice, I rushed forward, embracing him warmly. Words wouldn't, couldn't escape from my mouth. I had no words for this joy, the feeling that I was complete, that he loved me at last. For a quick moment, he recoiled in shock, and then settled into ease. I grinned sheepishly, laughing in delight. Expressions flitted across his face, never staying for more than a second or two. His eyes watched the area behind me, so I turned to behold what was so interesting to him.

A woman trudged past us, head down, blonde hair covering her face. She clutched a notebook full of letters to her chest, and her violet eyes never failed to look away from it. Her clothes were tattered and worn, hanging on her thin frame like clothes on a clothesline. She swayed suddenly, fumbling with her papers and scattering them across the ground. Her eyes widened, and a shriek pierced the air.

Pulling myself apart from Sasuke, I rushed to the scene, snatching up some of the dropped letters and trying to hold them all within my arms. A letter, then another, and then another one, too, slipped from within my grasp, floating to the ground. Damn it. I gritted my teeth, bending down to continue my upward battle. There was no way that I was going to give in to something as silly as this, and I especially wasn't going to lose to a bunch of letters in front of Sasuke.

Sasuke remained standing alone, simply watching my attempts to contain all of the letters without anything but my arms. Come on, Sasuke! I pleaded to him without speaking, begging for any help that he could offer. "Whoops!" a letter flew from my pile, being pulled along by the air until it was caught between Sasuke's thumb and index finger.

"Give them back!" the woman cried, finally speaking. Her voice was shrill, even when not screaming. It echoed through the valleys, eerily resonating on every rock, every stream. I shivered, offering the papers to her. "Here you go," I said, mustering up a cheerful, kind voice to try to calm her nerves, and then muttering under my breath, "I hope that you're happy."

"She said that, too!" the woman, face paling by the second, wailed. "She said it, and it… and it…"

"It what?" Sasuke said roughly, still holding the letter that had flown his way.

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY ANYTHING!" she snapped violently, her whole form shaking. "You hear it; you hear it, don't you? Don't you!?"

Sasuke flinched as if he'd been smacked, and as he began stepping back, his pupils shrunk in fear.

"Oyashiro-sama, yes, you know the name! You know the footsteps! You know what they mean!" she continued, faster this time.

"What?" Sasuke whispered, more to himself than anyone else. "Besides what, besides the fact that they mean something bad, something awful, something terrifying. Right?"

"Stop it!" I intervened, sliding to the right to stand in front of Sasuke. "What did he ever do to you?"

"It never ends," the woman said, her eyes seeming to see through me. "Everyone, all of you, all of me, all of us. We know it."

A retching sound rang in my ears, along with a weathered panting afterwards. I wheeled around, facing Sasuke. His face was white, and I mean white. The only color embedded on its surface was his dark, penetrating eyes. Beads of sweat dripped down his forehead. He shuddered, vomiting again in the bushes. "Sasuke!" I leaned over, huddling over him like he was a lost child, desperately searching for his mother, who was probably off in some bar, hooking up with a fellow crack whore. I blinked at the sound of the woman's soft footsteps, which were finally taking flight.

"It never ends," the woman murmured, hobbling away, all but one of her letters re-tucked into the worn notebook. "It never ends…"

Author's Notes

Oh my god, I am so sorry for the huge delay in chapters! First I ran out of motivation, then I came down with Writer's Block, and now, finally, I'm getting this chapter done! I'd like to thank liobis on DA and Mikopuppy for the huge help! Liobis, your ideas were excellent! Madeline, thank you for being an awesome beta! I should like to end this story with fifteen chapters, and, yes, I have an ending somewhat planned. Thank you for reading~! x3 *hugs readers*