Thank youu so much everyone for the support :) And let the reviews come flooding in, hehe. Wow. It's 2012! I can't believe it - and yet Naruto is still going on, yyeeessss. I love it like heck. Anyways...yes, I've made my decision. This will now become a new story I can begin working on. So I'll ensure I'll keep all of my readers posted for future chapters! :D

Will Sasuke go after Sakura? To be honest, I had NO idea who the characters were supposed to be. It was once a simple boy-girl draft, but it turned into this. Enjoy!

Chapter Two:

Confession

"The fist clenched round my heart loosens a little and I gasp [...] but it tightens again. When have I ever not loved the pain of love?"

- The Fist, Derek Walcott

Two brittle knocks sounded through the chirping of birds...the ironic chirping of birds.

Another knock.

"Ungh." He rolled flat onto his back, clutching the pillow against his damp face as tight as he could. Although the constant hammering in his head refused to go away, he didn't mind the soda bottle on his bed that was digging into his right side. It collided into his Blackberry with a loud clink.

Two more knocks. Drowsiness overcame him until he nearly slipped under.

"Go. Away," he groaned, his voice hoarse and muffled. He rolled onto his side again, restless.

He heard the door open with a creak, and a sudden rattling sound echoed, followed by footsteps entering his own personal dungeon.

No one was supposed to be here without his permission. Even the maids knew that rule, or else choose to die a painful death.

A hand tugged at his sweatpants, and he violently shook it off. He scowled as a foot, this time, connected with his buttock.

"What the HELL, Itachi!" Sasuke rose immediately, black hair standing up in all directions.

"Good morning, little brother." Sasuke's clone glided over to his desk, carefully setting down a fine china teapot and cup before turning to him, a subtle glint in his dark eyes.

"What?" Sasuke snapped, throwing the pillow out of the way, annoyance creeping into his veins. Who dared disturb him, especially if poking into such a dangerous, mad atmosphere such as his?

"It's one in the afternoon and I don't think that's so healthy, Sasu. You better drink tea before I leave."

Sasuke answered with a pointed grunt, and Itachi's soft smile was still glued onto his face. There must have been a deeper purpose behind him flying all the way from New York, as Sasuke sensed.

"I heard about...Haruno...and what happened to you yesterday." Itachi's angled features morphed into concern, and, if he wasn't imagining it, another expression other than concern seemed to lie underneath it.

Sasuke's gaze narrowed, legs spread out in front of him on the black bedspread. "So? Why do I think you're supposed to care?" His vision dropped to his Blackberry, and he sent the soda bottle falling onto the floor with a single push, the tinny of breaking glass having no effect on the older Uchiha.

"Everyone heard about it. End of story." Sasuke's voice was strained and bitter; to Itachi, his troubled, gloomy face told him more than he needed to know.

"Sakura left, didn't she? Left Japan?"

He didn't reply.

"She moved to Canada. Vancouver, I learned."

"Who told you that?"

"Naruto."

"The dobe-"

"I asked Naruto."

Sasuke sighed, agitated; pained. He fell back onto his mattress again with a plop, arms outstretched.

"She never told you about it, either - that she was leaving."

"Shut up."

"Did you love her-"

"I said SHUT UP!"

"No I won't shut up. Sakura managed to text me before her nine o'clock flight this morning."

Sasuke bore slits into the high-rise platinum ceiling, tweezers picking at his heart. And he felt each and every prick of it to the core.

"She said she was sorry. So, so sorry."

Sasuke said nothing once more. His brain was clouded - shrouding everything else that didn't have anything to do with Sakura, hence her text made it into his auditory canals.

"I'll read her text line by line to you. She really wanted this conveyed to you the way she wrote it. She wanted to make sure you read it."

Sasuke lay there silently, unmoving, yet Itachi had no idea about the storm of chaos and depression swirling within his gut.

"Oh, and she was crying over the phone."

He squeezed his eyes shut, fighting against a rising mass of salt and tears. He ached. His heart ached. His whole being ached.

Call it cheesy, but - this was an abandonment he was dealing with, here...a disappearance of the girl he loved.

Why did she leave? He kept on asking himself that miserable question over and over and over until it hurt to merely think about it.

"Please delete this after he reads it, Ita-kun! Dear Sasuke..."

No. Once her radiant face materialized in his mind, he would go insane.

"I hope you don't get mad I texted this to Itachi and not you."

A humorless laugh escaped him.

"I couldn't bear to tell you in person. What would you think of me? You wouldn't know how much it would hurt me if I did. So this is the only way."

Her blinding green eyes loomed before Sasuke's eyes, and soon enough, it was no longer Itachi's voice reciting the text orally to him, but Sakura herself.

Sakura...

"I'm leaving. I'm moving halfway across the globe. And of course you know where Canada is. I know I'm making such a big deal out of this, but why aren't you not supposed to know? It's all my fault I didn't tell you sooner."

Damn right she didn't. Faint pangs of agony began to stir in his stomach.

"My parents negotiated about getting a more stable life there. They wanted me to go to a private school and said it was better for our family's future and...for me."

"They already had a freaking stable life here in Konoha already!"

Itachi paused, yet went on after figuring it was safe to do so.

"I tried to tell them I couldn't just leave everything and everyone else behind like that: Naruto, Ino, my friends, relatives, my whole life here - there was no way, especially you, Sasuke."

He grimaced, allowing her words to freely flow. He could handle it. Hopefully.

"But they're right. I love my parents too. I always want the best for them. And I guess...if it meant leaving Japan, then so be it. Haha, such a fancy life we might get there: Vancouver. Everything is just so - high standard."

Sasuke let out a low chuckle tinged with sarcasm. "It's already high standard here." He still could not see the point.

"But remember I never ever wanted you to even start thinking that I didn't want you anymore. I still do! I love you. I love you so much, Sasuke. And I'm thankful there's somebody in this world that loves me like I am. And I know there will never be somebody who'll love me the way you do."

"I know that. The question is, then: why did she leave?"

"We don't know the real truth, little brother-"

"Then I'm GOING to find the truth!" Sasuke slid off the bed as quick as it took Itachi to blink in a fraction of a millisecond.

Realization was written in his eyes as the younger Uchiha bounded over to him in a furious determination, snatching the iPhone swiftly from his grasp. He held up the metallic, shiny gadget in front of Itachi, brandishing it violently.

"If this is what it takes to see her again - to get her back - then I...", he trailed off, his guard slipping away for a moment. And it was then that Itachi truly glimpsed the little boy within Sasuke, a boy now capable of loving.

Sakura had indeed succeeded in melting what was once his heart of ice. He caged it off, restricted to everyone. He did not trust anyone. And little did he know that this wonderful, bubbly, pink-haired girl had the key to unlock all the emotions he was afraid of controlling.

With her, his foolish little brother was human. Life is genuinely unpredictable.

"You really do love her, do you? Although you two were together for only one and a half golden years." Itachi's tone grew gentle; condescending. Sasuke looked away, pressing a hand to his temple.

He could tell the last whirlwind of days had dropped on Sasuke like two tonne bricks upon his shoulders, dragging him down, and he now had a clear, possible idea of what he wanted to do.

"Yeah. I do love her. I've loved her the minute I met her."

Itachi whistled, taking the iPhone from him unawares. Sasuke was preoccupied with staring at a fragile framed picture of both of them on his desk. Vines adorned with stained glass berries curled around the frame, refracting the sunlight into a million hues of vibrant rainbow colors. His insides lurched.

Sakura was grinning, her eyes a dazzling emerald as she held up a peace sign, while her other arm snaked around Sasuke's side, who did the same. She was beautiful, even more so with the cute lace top she wore that day.

They both stood in front of a deluxe luxury candy shop in downtown Konohagakure for the photo, and his gaze at the camera was steady and laidback: a typical cool guy feel.

Although it was a recent photograph, Sasuke felt the need to keep it for himself, as selfish as it was. He needed to see her everyday before setting out on his twisted paths in life.

His lips moved of its own accord, coming from the very main branch of his heart. His tone became firmer as he spoke. The longing to see her again - hug her again; kiss her again, was overwhelming. He really was going crazy.

"I'm going after her."

Itachi suppressed a wide grin, one very much unlike himself at his little brother's decision.

Sasuke, with an instant blazing determination, grabbed another book-sized picture of only Sakura from his cabinet, eyes downcast with the ghost of a smile, and stormed out of the room, snatching his leather jacket on the way.

"Get out of my room, Itachi!"

The older Uchiha chuckled, shaking his head.

"Well. My job's done. Good luck, ice cube."

"I HEARD that!" Sasuke's distant shout frightened the pretty maid who arrived to clean up the soda bottle mess, face afraid.

Itachi acknowledged her presence by nodding. "Thanks, Misuke. And please book me a three o'clock flight to the city of lights after that, yes? I need a break."

"Y-yes, Itachi-san. Is the 'City of Lights' Paris?"

"Right you are. See you."

"Sayonara."

As Itachi swiftly left Sasuke's room, which was bigger than five king-sized beds put together, Misuke's skin reddened at the sight of a Playboy magazine peeking out from under a pair of her younger master's black skinny jeans.

Ta-da. I'm so sorry nothing much happened in this chapter, but it was all I could work with, besides the only part of the plot I can give you for now. Hehe, Sasuke's a pervert O.O

Or maybe it's just Naruto's. And please revieww! :3

Yama-chan