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(1.5)UGLY TRUTH

"/How long have I been staring?"/

-Friday-

It was raining that day.

Kakashi called Sakura out a few times in class for not paying attention and for glancing at the door from time to time.

Each time, Ino, Naruto and Shikamaru would all glance at her worriedly. And each time Sakura would just apologize to Kakashi and smile at them weakly.

Sasuke's seat was empty the whole morning.

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"Sakura.", Ino called her.

Sakura, who had been leaning on her desk, raised her head. She found Ino standing beside her. "Eh?! Is it Lunch break already?" Sakura realized as she looked around the almost empty classroom.

"Sorry Sakura!" Ino brought her palms together. "Tenten wants to go over the lessons. Could you wait a bit for me? I'll make it fast."

"It's okay Ino. You can take your time.", Sakura assured her. "I'm not very hungry today anyway." Sakura took out a stationery set. "I think I'll do some studying myself."

"Then why not join us?", Ino suggested, pointing towards Tenten's seat where the girl was waiting.

"Nah. If I'm there you can't focus on Tenten." Sakura stood up. "I'll be at the library. I need a certain book for reference."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Well if you changed your mind, we'll just be right here okay?"

"Okay." Sakura nodded then stood up from her chair.

Ino watched her as she left the room then looked at Tenten.

Tenten could only shrug.

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"Hi Sakura.", Hinata greeted Sakura as soon as she walked in the library.

"Oh hey, Hinata.", Sakura greeted back. "The librarian isn't here?"

"No. She's on her lunch break. Did you need something from her? Maybe I could be of assistance."

"Ah no. Not really. I know where to look."

"Okay. But if you need help with anything, feel free to come to me."

"Yeah sure. Thanks."

Hinata picked up a stack of books. "I'll just be around there, returning these books."

Sakura nodded then walked towards an empty table. She laid down her things while watching Hinata carry the books all the way to the back of the library.

Then she noticed a group of girls on the farthest table. There was another student - she wasn't sure if it was a girl or a boy - behind a bookshelf nearby.

Sakura then went to one of the bookshelf and started her search for a certain book.

As she was looking through the titles, she heard the group of girls laughing too loudly for being inside the library. She ignored the noise and went on with her search. She eventually found the book she needed but, before she could grab it, the girls broke into another fit of laughter and this time it was louder.

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows and moved back to the end of the shelf. She took a look at the girls and rolled her eyes as soon as she recognized who they were. It was the same group of girls who likes to gossip about her.

['Them again.']

They were snickering among themselves while looking at Hinata. One moment, one of the girls was pointing at Hinata and then the next, she suddenly looked out of character. She was playing with both of her index finger and pretending to be fidgety.

Sakura shifted her gaze to the lone girl that was now feeling very insecure. She looked back at the table, and found that the girls was now doing some sort of act which Sakura could only conclude as a supposed horrible impersonation meant to insult Hinata.

Sakura's face contorted as she felt disgusted by the bunch. Then she realized that one of the four girls on that table was now pointing at her, alerting the others that she was looking. The rest turned their attention to her.

One of the girls narrowed her eyes at Sakura as if daring her to do something about it.

Suddenly feeling intimidated, Sakura ended up looking away and the girls snorted and cackled.

"Hinata-chan!", one of them called the lone girl. "Come here a sec' would ya'?"

Hinata reluctantly approached them.

"Come sit with us.", they insisted.

Obviously against her will, Hinata sat where she was instructed to; between two girls.

"You're Neji-kun's cousin right?", asked one of the girls.

Hinata nodded in response.

"You would know if she has a girlfriend wouldn't you?", inquired another.

"I-I think h-he does-doesn't have one... but I'm not really sure.", answered Hinata. "I'm s- sorry."

"Then what about… Naruto-kun? You're the one who got paired with him, right?"

Hinata blushed. "Eh? N-Naruto-kun?"

"Look! She's blushing!"

"No way! So you really do like Naruto-kun?!"

"But, seriously girl, you don't really think he's gonna be... oh you know... interested in you. I mean, come on."

"Do you really think Naruto-kun will enjoy your company?"

"Just think of it like this, Naruto-kun deserves someone who can match his... energy. Someone outgoing. Someone bubbly and fun. Someone like... Ami."

"You see, Ami-chan here, is really interested in dating either Neji or Naruto-kun." The girl pointed at the one who narrowed her eyes at Sakura earlier.

"That's right Hinata-chan, I was hoping you could help me out with either of them, Naruto-kun preferably. He seems less... boring.", said the girl named Ami. "We are friends aren't we? I mean if we weren't, we wouldn't be this nice to you now, would we?"

Hinata flinched between the two girls.

One of them was brushing Hinata's hair with her fingers a little too rough while the other one holds her in place.

Sakura had enough of them and gritted her teeth. "Hey! Stop it!", she yelled as she walked towards them.

The girls turned to look at her. Ami had an unreadable expression that made her scary.

Her friends braised themselves as if something interesting was going to happen while Hinata looked at her worriedly.

Sakura halted. She took a deep breath as if it would make her braver. "Y-You're bothering her, c-can't you see that? L-leave her alone.", she stammered, a single drop of sweat rolls down her left cheek.

Ami smiled at her in amusement then she stood up and slowly walked towards Sakura.

"Sakura-chan.", she said as she stopped just in front of Sakura. "Ino-san is not here with you?"

Ami look around then turned to Sakura again with a smirk. "So you're now brave enough to talk to me like that even without Ino by your side. My, how you've grown."

Ami reached out for one of Sakura's braids. "Your hair's longer too." Her hold becomes a grip and she suddenly pulled on Sakura's hair, harshly.

Sakura was pulled forward disgracefully.

Ami then grabbed Sakura by her cheeks. Her fingers pressing down on Sakura's face so hard. "But you're still as ugly as ever!" Ami scoffed while giving her a condescending glare.

"The only one making an unattractive face right now is you.", came a male voice.

Both of them looked at the boy between the bookshelves they were adjacent to.

Ami immediately released Sakura as soon as she realized that it was Uchiha Sasuke.

He stood casually with his hands in his pocket. His face showed no emotion whatsoever.

Sakura straightens herself as Ami stepped back. "D- Did you just call me ugly?!", she sneered. "Do you have any idea who I am?! Who my boyfriend is?!"

"Hn. Someone who's neither a certain Hyuuga nor a certain Uzumaki, unfortunately."

"Y- You heard that?!" she was flustered. "Fuck you Uchiha! You're nothing!" She glared at him then turned to Sakura.

"You and I aren't done yet.", Ami told her then trudged away.

Ami's three friends bolted out of the library after her.

"Ami!"

"Hold on."

"Wait for us!"

Sakura watched them slow down as they passed by the librarian who just came back from her lunch break.

"Sakura, are you okay?" Hinata stood from where she was forced to sit and walked towards Sakura. "Sorry for causing you trouble. And thank you!" she bowed.

"Huh? I didn't... really do anything though."

"That's not true. You stood up for me Sakura." said Hinata. Then she turned to Sasuke. "Uchiha-san as well; Thank you for coming to Sakura's rescue."

Sakura just remembered that he was there.

She glanced at Sasuke and saw that he was facing towards her and now that she had looked at him, he gave himself a moment to study her face.

She was suddenly aware of how painful her cheeks were. Her hands shot up to soothe her facial muscles. She still had a plaster on her nose and now her cheeks are probably going to get bruised.

"Do you have a superhero complex or something?", he asked.

"Eh?! N-" Before she could even touch her head, Sasuke walked away as soon as he was done speaking.

Hinata was watching them. "Is everything okay between the two of you?", she asked Sakura.

Sakura didn't know how to answer her. "Ehehe~ Oh! I just remembered, I need to... find this book... so..." she tried to talk her way out of it.

Hinata probably took the hint because she didn't ask anymore, "Oh, I understand... Thank you again for what you did for me Sakura."

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Sakura sighed. She was relieved as soon she was out of Hinata's sight but only tensed up again when she realized that she walked into the same aisle where Sasuke was.

Sasuke noticed that he was no longer alone.

"No! I'm not following you!" Sakura raised her hands and waved them. "I'm just here for a book."

Sasuke didn't say anything to her and went back to looking around the bookshelves.

Sakura held her braids as she walked further into the aisle. She tried to remember where she had found the book she was about to pick up a while ago. "So, you were at school after all." She tried to make light conversations. "Were you here the whole time?"

...

Feeling ignored, Sakura lowered her head and sighed in disappointment.

"I just got here."

Sakura's face lit up when he answered her. She loosened up but kept her movements small. With a smile, she resumed her search while trying her best not to steal a glance at him.

"Found it.", she murmured and reached out for the book she was looking for. But then, she noticed someone else's hands going for it.

'His' hands.

The two of them looked at each other; both their hands were still in the air, inches away from the book. They're proximity reminded Sakura just how tall Sasuke was and how small she was in comparison.

She was the first to withdraw. "Oh. So you were gonna do the homework too?!... You go ahead and use it first." she stepped back.

She ran back to the table to pick up her things and in her haste she didn't realize that one of her hairclips was loosened and had fallen off.

"Sakura?", called Hinata.

Sakura ran out of the library without even sparing the worried girl a look.

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It was still raining.

Sakura found solace in the stairwell. She was just fixing her left braid that almost got undone with the incident earlier.

She suddenly stopped fumbling with the ends of her braids and covered her face with both hands then lowered her head in frustration.

['After all that talk yesterday, I ended up running away from him. I'm so pathetic!']

She was about to find out that she was missing one hair clip when her phone rang before her hand reached the spot where it was supposed to be.

Her phone rang for a long time, went silent and rang again. She took a deep breath and answered it this time.

"Hi!" She tried so hard to sound happy.

"Hey there."

-came a silvery male voice.

"Is this a good time to talk?"

"Yes. Of course. Sorry I missed the first ring.", Sakura lied. "How are you doing? How's college?"

"Hectic. I've been really busy. I got a practice thesis coming up."

"Already?" she stood up and walk towards the railing.

"Yep. I'd really love to focus on it but I've got all this other homework to do as well."

"What kind of homework?" she started listening closely that she didn't notice someone walking down the stairs.

"The usual, Essays. Reports. You know."

"Oh. Can I help?"

"If you're not busy."

"Not at all."

"Thanks I'd appreciate it... Although, hearing your voice already makes me feel like I can do anything."

Sakura chuckled. "Oh Sasori. It's nice to hear your voice too." she relaxed. "I missed you."

"Hm. I missed you too. ... I gotta go. Call you again tonight."

Sakura lowered her phone holding it to her chest. She was feeling so bashful that her left hand tried to cover her lips. She was smiling softly.

"So you can smile like a normal person."

Sakura heard as she saw an arm appear from her left peripheral view.

She turned and came face to face with Sasuke - their nose, only an inch apart.

The wind blew in and it seemed to have blown everything away with it. It was suddenly silent. The surrounding became fuzzy.

"W-W-What was that?", she spoke just to break the deafening silence.

"You can… smile properly after all." he used his index finger to draw a curve at the corner of his lips for visual emphasis.

This made Sakura looked at his thin, firm lips closely. And then, she took in the rest of Sasuke's features;

His long, pointed nose. His beautiful, mesmerizing eyes. His elegant, expressive eyebrows.

['He's more handsome when his eyebrows aren't furrowed and did not form creases on his forehead.']

Sometime ago, the rain stopped.

['How long have I been staring?']

"I-I-I don't w-want to hear that f-from y- a person who doesn't smile AT ALL."

Sasuke straightened his back and was now taller than her again. She realized that he had placed the book and her hairclip on top of the concrete railing in front of her.

Sasuke looked away from her when he noticed someone else there.

Sakura turned her head to look in the same direction he was facing. She saw Naruto staring back at them from the landing of the stairs that lead to the lower floor. He just stood there unmoving. "Naruto, what were you- Where you headed to the library?"

Naruto nodded but kept his gaze at Sasuke. "I'm meeting Hinata-chan there."

"Hand in my homework will you?", Sasuke told Sakura then moved away from her.

Sakura was confused for a moment but she looked carefully at the book again and there was in fact a piece of paper between the pages. When she turned to look at Sasuke again, he was already moving towards the stairs.

"Why not do it yourself?", asked Naruto, finally ascending the steps.

"Can't stay. Got work today.", Sasuke answered as he descended.

Sakura stayed silent. Both boys had a serious, passive expression on their faces.

"You came to school just to do that one homework?"

"Aa." Sasuke stopped when he stood side by side with Naruto on the same step. "Since someone went through all the trouble of handing it to me the other day."

Surprised, Naruto turned his head to look at Sasuke as he descended the stairwell without looking back. Then he turned to look at Sakura and found that she was just as surprised as him.

"Er... He's something else isn't he?", Naruto implied as he awkwardly took the last steps up to the third floor.

Sakura nodded in response. She pocketed her phone, picked up her hair clip and ran the fingers of her free hand on the cover of the book.

Naruto hesitated as he was about to ascend the stairs all the way to the fourth floor. He stopped and walked towards Sakura instead.

"We had the same child psychiatrist!", he started too loud that he startled Sakura. He then lowered his voice as he continued. "That's how we first met. We lost both our parents at a young age. We were only about eight then."

Naruto moved closer to Sakura. He stood beside her, also resting his hand on the concrete railing. "We had a rough start, but somehow we just knew that we were gonna be good friends."

Sakura listened to him attentively.

"I was happy to have someone who just... understood me, you know? Unlike other people who were just pretending to know what it feels like to lose someone they love."

Naruto went from smiling weakly to a serious expression. "I had to live with my mother's relatives. Sasuke was in the same situation, with his father's relative. We both felt like we didn't belong. We were the only ones who understood each other. He was all I have then. He was my only friend. And I thought that it was the same for him. That I was also all he had."

Sakura remained silent.

"Then, I found out that he had an older brother. Itachi - he was forced to grow up so fast. He didn't have time to mourn their parent's death unlike Sasuke. Their grandfather took him in and raised him to be his future heir... They had to grow up separately.

But seeing Itachi again someday was what kept Sasuke going. The reason he tried to be a good boy. The reason he did his best at everything. He had hoped that if he was good enough, his grandfather would take him in as well and then he and his brother could be together.

All that time, I thought Sasuke would eventually just forget about him. But all he wanted was to be with his brother."

…

/"They knew from the start... They knew what I wanted the most. And back then, it was okay. No one tried to talk me out of it. Everything was fine since I was just... there. Until..."/

…

Naruto smiled again but this time, it was filled with regret. "When we were thirteen, Itachi found a way to see him again. He came along and I felt betrayed and left out... I literally made him choose between our friendship and his relationship with his brother. He obviously chose Itachi.

That's when I knew, we wouldn't always be together. When we got into our freshman year of high school, he spent more time with his brother and I made other friends. I started living a life that was just all about me because I thought that that was what he was also doing."

Sakura could see every emotion behind Naruto's words.

"And I enjoyed it. Having lots of friends. Having the respect and attention of a lot of people. I became popular and the distance between as grew." Naruto paused and suddenly seemed like he was in so much pain.

"Naruto?"

"Itachi died of Cancer in early March.", he continued.

Sakura fell silent again.

"He had been battling it for a while and... he lost... He was only 22... All he wanted was to spend some time with Sasuke before he-... Sasuke attended to him alone while he was slowly deteriorating. Sasuke was alone when he watched him die. Sasuke was alone when they had a burial for him."

…

/"It's my life! My decision to make! My consequences to face! My burden to carry! ... It was my family! H-He was MY BROTHER! HE ASKED ME!"/

…

Sakura was fighting her tears at that point.

Naruto turned around and rested his elbows on the railing instead. "By the time I found out, Itachi had already been buried. I had too much on my plate with being the Student council president, and Sasuke just didn't have enough reason to live anymore."

Naruto started rubbing the back of his head. He smiled at Sakura painfully. "When I finally got to talk to him, he just acted like nothing big ever happened between us. He went on with his life but he just seemed different. I tried to go back to the way we were but... as you can see~

And I can't blame him because, I set up this situation. I told him, we were his family. We were his home. But I couldn't trust his decisions and made it obvious how weak and stupid I considered him to be. I fought him and told him that if he went to his brother he was throwing away our friendship.

I had him make a choice. I wanted him to choose us and got mad when he didn't and in so doing, I made him feel like he didn't belong with us anymore."

…

/"I only made a choice okay... I made a choice and that's it. They didn't agree with me... so here we are."/

…

Sakura blinked and one tear escaped, rolling down her cheek. She looked up at the clearing sky as she wiped the rest of the tears forming in her eyes.

Naruto lowered his head. "In Sasuke's eyes, it's like I'm transparent now. He doesn't see me anymore. I'm not who he wants to see."

…

/"You're worried about the wrong person. … Naruto's the one who's... lonely. He's the one y- everyone should be worried about. … He's surrounded by people who love and respect him but- Let's just say he acts as if he's got everything he ever wanted but that's not true at all..."/

…

['He's wrong. Uchiha has never stopped worrying about him.']

"That's not true! He-"

"But he sees you!", Naruto suddenly pointed out.

Sakura was taken aback by that statement. She wanted to look into Naruto's eyes but he was looking away on purpose to hide his face.

"Sakura-chan", he murmured. "I'm not sure why you're suddenly going out of your way just to reach out to him but..."

Sakura felt like she needed to explain herself. "I..."

"Well, this has gotten extremely depressing!", Naruto cut her off. "But, it felt sort of good to get that out of my chest. ... Sorry I just started blurting out those words." He cheered up but it was forced. "You changed Sakura-chan! You wouldn't usually take the time to listen to me."

Sakura lowered her head feeling guilty. She held on to her clip tightly.

He started walking back towards the stairwell. "I gotta go. Hinata's been waiting long.", he said without even looking at her again.

"Wait! Naruto!", she called him and he halted without turning around. "Thank you. For telling me." she bowed her head.

He slightly turned around just enough for her to see the corners of his lips forming a smile. He looked forward again and ascended the stairs.

Sakura gave herself a moment to appreciate the warm rays of the sun as it peeked out from behind the clouds.

She set her hair clip back in place and nodded to herself.

['It's not just about me anymore. I know too much now. In order to make up for how bad I've been treating Naruto and in order to help Uchiha as well; I definitely need to make our pair work.']

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-Saturday-

"Hey Ino?"

"Hm?" Ino looked at Sakura as she pulled out her slippers from the shoe locker.

"Do you think it's possible to have like... a very brief moment but feel like you're experiencing it for a lot longer than that?", asked Sakura with an absent expression. She had her hand on her own shoe locker but was not making any move to open it. She just stared at nothing in particular, keeping still.

"What?" Ino raised an eyebrow.

"A moment wherein… you know that the wind was blowing but you can't even feel it? ... Or you know that it was raining but you can't hear the sound that the raindrops make as it hits the ground or any other surface? ... Like everything around you is suddenly just... a white blur?", she continued without even sparing Ino a look.

"Did you read that from a new romance novel?"

"R-Romance?" Sakura looked at Ino. "I mean yeah. Something like that."

"Well, tell me how it turns out so I can borrow it if it's a good one."

"S-Sure."

Ino suddenly elbowed Sakura's side to alert her of Sasuke's arrival.

Sakura quickly noticed him. "Good morning.", she greeted but this time she did not force a smile. She just kept it casual. "You're early?"

"Aa." Sasuke took his time, as usual, studying her facial features. "It didn't bruised.", he noted.

Sakura's hands shot up to touch her own cheeks. "Y-Yeah."

"Hn." Sasuke proceeded to change his shoes.

Ino was gaping at them the entire time.

"Oh, before I forget." Sakura took something out of her bag. "Here." she handed Sasuke the book from before.

Sasuke placed his black leather shoes inside his locker before looking at her again.

"You borrowed this from the Library yesterday and you're supposed to return it not later than today.", she reminded him.

"Aa." Sasuke took the book and then went ahead.

Ino was suddenly pulling on Sakura's hand. "You… He… But how… Since when?!"

Sakura couldn't focus on her though. She just kept her eyes on Sasuke's back. She hesitated but then decided to call him; "Uchiha-san!"

Sasuke stopped and slowly looked back at her.

"Uhm... Next time! ... Next time let's do the homework together okay?" She lowered her head and braised herself for his rejection.

"Aa."

Sakura raised her head to look at him.

As if Sasuke knew that she wanted to make sure she heard him right, he nodded at her.

Sakura's face lit up

He went on his way.

She smiled.

~/This changes everything, /

I could tear you up to shreds

It don't mean anything

If I live to regret

Going through the motions

When there's no emotion

Left to feel

Left to feel

You don't know

You're so oblivious

To words I've never said

Isn't it obvious

That we would always get

To a place

Where we would make mistakes

All you've seen is beauty

Well, this is the ugly

This is the ugly truth

You're gonna feel the sting

From my black and yellow heart

The walls are caving in

They're not strong enough to last

We are void but open

To a life we've broken

Shall we leave?

Shall we leave?

You don't know

You're so oblivious

To words I've never said

Isn't it obvious

That we would always get

To a place

Where we would make mistakes

All you've seen is beauty

Well, this is the ugly,

This is the ugly truth

This is the ugly, this is the ugly truth

You're so oblivious

To words I've never said

Isn't it obvious

That we would always get

To a place

Where we would make mistakes

All you've seen is beauty,

Well this is the ugly

This is the ugly truth

This is the ugly truth

This is the ugly truth

/(UGLY TRUTH - Lauren Aquilina/)~

"Tell me forehead! What did I missed?!", Ino questioned Sakura

"Hai. Hai. Hold on." Sakura reached for her shoe locker.

END OF FLASHBACK

Sakura checks her reflection in the mirror inside her locker. She had changed back from the scrubs to her casual clothes.

The brown-haired woman appeared in the back. "Sakura?! You're still here? Don't you have a train to catch?", she asked Sakura.

"Oh, Dr. Shizune. I- uhm..." she met the woman's eyes through their reflection.

The woman sighed. "I'm calling Doctor Yamanaka. She knew you would do something like this." She took out her phone and walked away.

It was Sakura's turn to sigh.

She closed her locker. The mirror reflects nothing but darkness.

~CLACK, CLACK, CLACK, Clack, Clack, clack, clack, cla- ~

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/Noir/

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/TBC/