slipping through the cracks

falling, falling…

…you've hit rock bottom.

-

a/n: i`m TRYING to write something for dear sasu-chan. I love him. (; i`m sorry I missed the date for his birthday. DD:

"Happy birthday, Sasuke-kun!"

Sad smile. "Happy birthday, Sasuke-kun," you shove a neatly wrapped rectangle in his hands. He just stares at your back while you run away; your hands reaching up to your face to catch the glistening tears falling from your face.

His hands shake as they hold the rectangle you wrapped so nice for him. There was a nice, dark blue bow on the top and a card underneath it. He notices that this year, the wrapping paper is black. What a dark color, he thought. Through the holes of the bow, he sees an Uchiha fan drawn on the back of the envelope. He shakes his head and smirks because taking after you in the rain.

It was pouring – and it was exactly like the sky was crying for you.

"It's your birthday today, Sasuke-kun!" you give him an extra-big smile. "You shouldn't be scowling, you silly man, you should be smirking like you're amused!"

You shove a box neatly wrapped in dark blue paper. You know he likes the colour dark blue, so you wrap his birthday presents every year for him in dark blue. The bow, however, was red. Why red, he would question you after.

"Go on," you urge him, your hand giving him a slight push on his arm. "Open it."

He opens it and there, sitting in the middle of the box, is one tomato. He looks confused, you think, and when he looks at you, you start explaining right away. "I'm not an excellent gardener – actually I'm horrible at household stuff so I'd be the worst wife anyone has ever had – but for your birthday I decided to grow a tomato for you, since you love tomatoes. Your mom taught me how, because I asked her,"

"Why one?" you hear his deep voice ask.

"Well… I grew three. One for your mom – to thank you for her help, one for me – for me to try my handiwork, and one for you – for your birthday. Did you want more?" your grin comes back.

"One is okay," he gruffly replies, taking the tomato in his hand and scanning every inch of it. It is flawless.

You can hear his footsteps echo behind you – the splattering of water, the pants he lets out of his mouth… it's close to you, you think. You run faster, but you know he's going to catch you anyway. You were always a bad runner.

"Sakura!" you hear him call.

You're running out of breath, and you know you can't run anymore, and that he'll catch you even if you could run. So you come to a halt, and you sink to your knees. Your knees hit the cement floor with a stinging scratch – you're probably bleeding right now, you think – and a loud sob erupts from your throat.

You don't even realize it came from you. The rain is loud now; it's all you hear – or want to hear, because you are sobbing, wailing and crying a lot. You are soaked.

He's right in front of you now. His face is down, looking down at your pathetic form – ebony locks hiding his flawless face. You continue sobbing, and you refuse to look up at him. He knees in front of you.

"You know, Teme, you should stop," you hear Naruto's voice in the kitchen when you are about to go in to refill your cup of water.

"Why?" you hear Sasuke's voice – husky and cold. Emotionless; probably like his face at that moment, you think. You can't see anything.

"Because she's a really nice girl, teme! Seriously! She… she actually loves you. Don't lie to her," Naruto seems desperate, you think – who might he be talking about? Your heart tightens at the thought of Sasuke having another girl in his life. "I don't want to see Sakura-chan get hurt,"

Your eyes widen when you hear your name. They were talking about you, you realize.

"The point of this—"

"No, Sasuke!" This is serious, you realize. Naruto is calling Sasuke by his first name. "Stop pretending to be her boyfriend! She really loves you! Stop this bullshit, Sasuke!"

You decide to stop this. You knock on the door the separates the kitchen and the living room.

"Come in," you hear Sasuke uninvitingly tell you.

You open the door and give a forced smile. Sasuke has spent so much time with you these past five months, he can see right through it. He knows you heard their conversation, but he doesn't say anything.

His hands are cupping your face and pushing the drenched locks away. You continue to stare at the cement floor, and sob – tears were coming down furiously. You can feel his penetrating eyes looking at you. They're sad, you feel it. You continue to refuse to stare at him.

He sighs. "I know that you won't look at me," he says. "and I know that I don't really deserve to be looked at right now. But Sakura, just listen to me." Your breathing hitches and you feel like you can't breathe. "I know you heard Naruto talking to me in the kitchen on my last birthday."

He doesn't say anything after that, and you continue sobbing. His hands are moving from your face to your shoulders. You know he wants to pull you into his embrace. His hands move back to cup your face.

"Sakura," he calls. "I… I was lying to you at first," you weep harder. "but then I… I started liking you. I didn't know – until Naruto said that I was hurting you,"

You expect him to break up with you the next day, the next week…but he doesn't. He continues to lie to you, you think, he continues to hurt you everyday. On the Monday of the second week, you break up with him. He isn't shocked, he doesn't ask you for a reason – and you continue to hang out because of Naruto.

Your heart is breaking, and he can see it through your eyes. He's not doing anything – so he must not want to be with you as much as you'd like, you know. That's what you're thinking everyday for the rest of the time until his next birthday.

Days, weeks and months pass; he's still not making any action. It's really over between you and Sasuke, you think. You're hurting. You cry every night because of him.

He knows it, and you know he knows.

So why isn't he doing anything?

"I know I should've fixed this earlier," he gestures to you and him. "but I was scared." he hurt his pride for you, you notice. "I was scared that you didn't actually feel that way. And that the Dobe just wanted me to stop because you were his friend,"

You hiccup, and more tears leak. "Sa… Sas—Sasuke-kun!" you wail, probably shattering his eardrums.

"So I didn't do anything." he stopped for a while. "but when you gave me that gift… All these feelings started erupting inside of me." he pauses again. Is he trying to be dramatic, you think. "I had to fix this – that's what I thought."

You don't care about anything anymore. You just want him against you, holding you – and to feel his lips against yours. You fling yourself onto him – like that obsessed fan girl Karin – and smash your lips harshly against his.

His hands hold your face in place, and you feel his grip tightening – not enough that it hurts – on your face but you continue to kiss him ravenously. He responds hungrily and there is so much passion and need in this kiss that you cannot help but melt against him. His hands move from your face to your waist, and you wrap your arms around his neck to pull him closer.

His tongue is ravaging the inside of your mouth like there's no tomorrow, like you're dying – like you're never gonna see each other again. You're still crying, because there is so much emotion in this kiss.

You pull away, because your lungs are about to burst.

"I'm sorry I got your gift soaked," he holds up the melting piece of paper and you laugh so hard it hurts. "but I'll make it up to you," he's about to take something out of his pocket, you see, and you think it's money so you stop him.

"No, Sasuke-kun," you give him an amused smile. "I didn't pay for it. I made it myself, and it's just a piece of paper."

He smirks and continues to take out whatever he is looking for. He takes out a velvet box and it oddly looks like a—

"Marry me."

—engagement ring box…

You gape at him. "Yes!" and you smash your lips against his again in a smothering, happy kiss. Here's to your happily ever after.

a/n: WOOT! I'm done! Took me an hour to finish. ;DD Fastest fic I've ever done. xD Hope you enjoyed it. NOW REVIEW.