FicWad

A/N: So we come to the end. Sorry for any inconsistencies, grammatical errors or misspellings that I might've missed. Thank you for sticking to this story. Hope I was able to redeem every character at some point. You may have noticed, I don't like writing bad characters so no one really played an antagonist in this story.

OAN: With the plot and the characters I thought this story would be way too predictable so I had to throw in a lot of stuff in there to give all of you a hell of a ride. But were the clues still obvious or what? To anyone who still saw the ending coming, I'm so proud of you.

Also, did anyone realize the taxi/car thing? You'll know what I'm talking about soon.

(9.4)

Sakura slowly descends the stairs. She could hear all the commotion coming from the other room. Jun definitely sounded the happiest.

…

/"…He's really cool. He's my best friend… He takes care of me and my mom… He's the dad I never had…"/

…

…

…

Sakura peeked into the room and saw Sasuke – handsome as ever in his purple dress shirt tucked inside well fitted black slacks – standing beside Jun's mother as they listen to the young boy talk.

That's when an image suddenly flashed in her mind.

She recalled seeing Sasuke standing near a road with a woman that she once assumed was his girlfriend. Someone she once assumed was Rin.

['Taxi. He hailed a taxi. Rin had a car.']

...

"Miss Sakura. What are you doing just standing there?" Jun saw her and called her over. "I want you to meet my uncle."

Sakura was frozen in place as Sasuke's eyes were suddenly on her.

"Sakura?" Jun's mother looked worried.

...

Now that Sakura thought about it, the woman's height and built were similar to Jun's mother. she also had the same shade of brown hair that Sakura remembered despite the hat. most of all she had the very same mole under her left eye. Sakura thought that she was just mistaken about it before because Rin didn't have one.

Since Sakura remembered mistaking her for Rin once, she realized that she may have done it in another occasion. It was on the night that Sasuke had asked Rin to pick her up. She had assumed that Rin was the same girl who was wearing the all black attire at the bar. The girl that Sasuke dedicated his song to.

...

/"I dedicate this to… that- That… special person out there who makes… who made being alive feels like… a blessing."/

...

Sakura was still unable to move.

"Sakura.", said Sasuke.

Sakura snapped out of her daze. She looked alternately between Sasuke and Jun's mother. "I... Izumi. Eight years ago, y-you were in Konoha."

Rin looked at Sasuke and then turned back to Sakura. "Y-Yes. I was. I was in Konoha for three days. I visited the grave of Jun's father. It was the first time I could after hearing about his... his death so late."

"I'm s-sorry. I- I... Y-You were at Otogakure."

"I went to check on the place because I heard that it was open again. I met Sasuke for the first time and introduced myself as his brother's lover. But I never told him about Jun. I didn't know why Itachi kept his condition from me. Before then, I thought he just bailed on me after he got me pregnant so, I wasn't sure if his family wanted to have anything to do with us." Izumi smiled at Sakura. "Sasuke only told me a few months back that you were the girl on the motorcycle. You saw me- Us. We were talking about Itachi and we were so happy to have met each other. We just missed him so much and I... I missed him so much- Back then... I couldn't help myself, Sasuke reminded me so much of Itachi."

Sakura looked at Sasuke. "But... you told me that she was someone you adored."

"Back then, I knew that that was what you wanted to hear." Sasuke told her. "But yes. Izumi is very important to me. He was my b-"

"Is Izumi-san the one you were talking about?"

Sasuke was confused for a moment but then he realized what she meant. "W- … /No/! I was talking about y-"

"Izumi-ne~", Kiba suddenly walked into the room. "Sasuke! You're finally here! Oh. You two already met huh?"

"W-What?" Sakura was suddenly reminded of her own arrangement. "W-Wait! You mean-"

Kiba walked towards them unable to read the atmosphere. "Well Sakura? This is the guy I've been talking about. This guy's been stalking you for the past two years. Of course he only admitted his interest in you a few months ago but you weren't interested to meet him at all until now."

The whole time Kiba was talking Sakura and Sasuke were just looking at each other.

…

/"So you're interested in someone?"/

/"Yes. But, I'm not confident enough to ask her out yet. … I'm just afraid that she hasn't moved on yet. A very horrible jerk broke her heart once. She might not be ready to be in a relationship again just yet. I heard she's not interested to date anyone as of now."/

…

"You." Sasuke finished his sentence. "It's always been just /you/."

…

/"You? How's your… heart? I mean are you…"/

/"Oh I'm- I'm okay. Well, I'm not 'in a relationship' yet but… my friends… They are really keen on introducing me to… someone… I- I think I'm going to go for it."/

/"Seriously?"/

/"Yeah. Why not?..."/

…

Sakura felt like she was played.

"… So… what do you think? Uchiha Sasuke himself?", Kiba continued.

"…"

"Sakura?"

Sakura took two steps back, turned around and ran away from Sasuke.

.

.

.

Sakura quickly made her way to the garden.

Tamaki was serving the three elder women who had started drinking Sake by then.

"There she is!", Tsunade pointed at her. "Sakura. Come have a drink with us. You should see this girl drink. She can hold her liquor."

"Is that so~" Chiyo seemed surprised.

"Join us Sakura."

"I'm sorry Granny. I- I can't stay. I have to go.", said Sakura as she walked into the gazebo and immediately fetch her bag.

"Is something the matter?", wondered Shizune.

"I- I just have to leave /now/. But… Happy birthday Granny and enjoy the rest of the evening. Bye everyone."

Sakura turned around and began walking away despite everyone's protest.

"Forehead? What the hell is going on?" Ino was confused as to why Sakura was suddenly very eager to leave.

Sakura suddenly stopped and that's when Ino saw Sasuke making his way to the gazebo with Kiba, Izumi and Jun.

"What the hell is he doing here?!", Ino blurted.

"Why? What's going on?"

"You mean Sasuke?"

Sakura decided to ignore the uproar building up behind her and made a move to get passed the man up ahead.

"Sakura.", Sasuke tried to talk to her again but she side stepped him.

"Leave me alone!", she snapped at him then ran back to the house.

Sasuke was very eager to talk to him and so he ran after her.

"Hey! Stop right th-" Ino wanted to stop Sasuke but Sasori held her in place. "S-Sasori?!"

"Let them talk."

"But… Wait! Did you know he was coming all along?"

.

.

.

Sakura ran all the way through the residential area and made her way to the store.

"Sakura. Wait.", Sasuke was right behind him.

Sakura stopped and stared into the dark room.

"It's locked." Sasuke spoke from behind her. "They closed the store already. If you want to leave you have to use the other door."

Sakura started looking around.

"You don't know where the other exit is do you?", Sasuke smirked.

Sakura glared at him before leaving him there.

.

.

.

"Sakura. Listen." Sasuke was still following Sakura as she backtracked into the hallway.

Sakura slowed down as she noticed a four way intersection up ahead.

"Take the left.", Sasuke suggested.

Sakura turned to glare at her before going right.

Sasuke sighed as she followed her. "Will you at least let me explain? Sakura. Talk to me."

"Talk?! You want to talk?" Sakura sneered at him as she continued her search for a way out. "What for? So you can sweet talk me again? So you can sweep me off my feet again only to… only to…"

Sakura stopped as she reached the end of the hallway and saw no exit. She then turned to look at him and so he stopped as well.

"You lied to me!"

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow. "I told you it was the left."

"You lied to me before and I forgave you! I tried to move on like you asked me to. I tried to be happy even though- Eight years. It's been eight long frustrating years/!" Sakura started poking Sasuke in the chest. "When I saw you again at the wedding, I realized that I was /still in love with you. But then, you told me you were already interested in someone… I- I was has happy for you! Even though you broke my heart again I was genuinely happy for you!"

Sakura drew her hand back before Sasuke could hold it. "So here I am, once again trying to move on and now you're telling me that I was the one you were talking about. That it has always been me… That all this time you've been… Looking out for me? Watching me? You knew how to find me. A few months back?! You had the chance to-" Sakura realized something as she was trying to get past him. "That dress! It was from you wasn't it?"

"None of this was planned Sakura." Sasuke told her as she walked past him. "You found your own way to be connected to these people. Two years ago, when I finally got the chance to go back here in Japan, I checked on them and... I wasn't expecting to find you here. But I was glad I did. I was glad that… at the end of that 'journey', it was you that I found."

Sakura turned around to face him once again. "Two years? Then… you should know everything I've been through! You knew where I was yet you never once showed yourself! You never talked to me! … This is it. This is the one time I actually gave myself a chance to meet somebody else… a chance to probably open my heart again and… it's /you/! It's you again! You want me to go through 'this' again?! And you knew all along yet… knowing everything I've been through… you had the guts to go through with this and show yourself to me?! Just what kind of game are you playing here?! What exactly do you want from me?!"

"All of you." Sasuke said matter of fact. "I want all of you."

"Stop it!" Sakura walked away from him again. "Just stop messing with me!"

"I'm not messing with you. I'm not playing with you!" Sasuke went after her again. "I wasn't ready then. I had nothing to offer you then. But now… Sakura, I'm not going back to the States!"

Sakura slowed down.

"I'm staying. /For good/. I know I lied to you… again and again. And I ended up hurting you /again and again/. I'm sorry! I'm sorry that I'm always hurting you. But I'm so selfish and I want you so bad that here I am again."

"No! No more! I can't-"

"I want to tell you the truth. I want to tell you everything now. And if you give me a chance, I promise I'll make all your insecurities go away. This time for good."

Sakura came to a full stop. "And how will I be sure that you're not just going to lie to me again?!" Sakura slowly turned to face him. "You've pretty much proven how good you are at lying when it's convenient for you."

"You know how sometimes you have to lie?"

"What?!"

"Lie to yourself for the sake of others. Lie to others for the sake of yourself. Let others believe in those lies. Let yourself believe in your own lies because if not, then what was the point of lying about it from the start."

Sakura was starting to recognize the words that Sasuke was telling her at that moment.

Sasuke suddenly grabbed Sakura's hand.

"What are you-"

Sasuke fetched something from his pocket and gave Sakura back something she had long lost.

"These are my- Y-You had it all this time?"

…

~Those hardest to love need it most …~

…

"Those hair clips made me believe in my own pretence. In lies that would comfort me. It made me think that sometimes it's okay to run away from the truth. It helped me make selfish decisions and be stubborn enough to live with it despite knowing that I was doing something wrong, something I would regret because, I felt like I was doing it for the right reason and that it was something I had to do no matter what."

Sasuke finally let go of her hand that now held the hairclips.

"Just like when I told you that I was only fooling around with you because I didn't want to admit that I… ended up falling in love with you. I ended up falling in love with the same girl that my best friend liked. I guess… I realized too late as well that I was already a goner."

Sakura looked into Sasuke's eyes.

"I was holding really tight onto it inside my pocket when I told you all those horrible things that night. I didn't know where else to borrow the strength to turn you down. I- I… knew that I was in love with you but… I was afraid that if I allowed myself to love you then… I was afraid to push it too far. I had tried to kiss you even before you told me that you love me. I didn't know what I'd do to you after… I was afraid that I won't be able to stop myself and just… I just didn't want to do something to you that you would end up regretting afterwards. That I would end up regretting afterwards. I couldn't stay. I had to leave no matter what."

"…"

"Do you remember that time my uncle's men picked us up because he wanted to talk to me?"

Sakura nodded.

"A part of me already knew then that I wanted to spend more time with you. Instead of resuming my travel, I had asked my uncle for a favor then. I asked him to find the young girl in a picture that my brother had left at Otogakure. When you saw me talking with my grandfather in front of the hospital, it was that moment when my grandfather had come with the result of the investigation. Izumi was my brother's girlfriend. The same girl I met at Otogakure. He disappeared from her life right after he learned that he had cancer. The reason why he didn't want other people to know of his condition was because he didn't want the news to reach Izumi who was pregnant when he left her. By the time we found out about her, she was raising Jun on her own despite her family not doing so well then. My grandfather offered to give them money, but I had to work for it. I had to fulfil my brother's obligation to his son in his place. I couldn't say no. I also didn't want to. Yes, I could've stayed and took over Rinnegan instead. I'd still be able to support Jun then and be with you but… What does that leave my uncle and Rin? And just who would my grandfather sacrifice next just to fill the position in the U.S. headquarters? It was a practical decision for me to inherit the company as planned.

It was because I fell in love with you that I knew how important Izumi was to my brother and Rin to my uncle."

Sakura cast her eyes downwards. When she finally understood everything, every bit of anger and frustration was replaced by compassion and admiration for Sasuke.

"Ever since Naruto told me that he had no place in your heart because it was already taken up by me, the desire to come back home and be with you has haunted me.", continued Sasuke, making Sakura looked at him again. "Whenever Rin or Karin or Suigetsu would bring you up, the hope of being able to have another shot with you would resurface inside of me. Sakura I didn't spend the past years getting over you. I wasn't even trying to. I spent it all to reach a compromise with my grandfather so that I can get back here and finally be with you. But yes. Like you said, it took eight long frustrating years. /Eight years/! Eight years and I, now a grown man still held onto your accessories!"

"W-Why didn't you just tell me everything at the wedding?"

"I- I told you I was afraid! I really was! I was afraid that you weren't ready. I saw how hard you tried to avoid me that day. I thought that deep inside, you might still hate me. But then, things suddenly… Things started going smoothly and it was good. It was suddenly all too good and I could've told you then. I tried to. But, I couldn't because I was afraid that everything that was happening between the two of us that night was just on the... spur of the moment – a moment that you weren't expecting to last and so you would just want to make the most out of it. But that's not what I want and, I wasn't sure what you wanted but, I know what I wanted and I... I wanted you. I really wanted you. I want no one else but you. I- I love you. I love you! But do you still-"

In one swift motion Sakura dropped her bag and the hairclips, grabbed Sasuke by his shirt and pulled him down for a kiss.

…

…

…

Sasuke sighed as Sakura parted her lips from his.

…

~… The two of us so out of place

My feelings written on my face

Got what I want but now I'm scared

What if we ruin it all, and we love like fools?

And all we have we lose?

And I don't want you to go but I want you so

So tell me what

Tell me what we choose

What we choose

/What we choose/~

…

"Well?" Sakura was still holding him by his shirt as she alternately looked between Sasuke's eyes and lips.

Sasuke was doing the same thing.

"Eight long frustrating years just, for /this/?" Her voice was shaky.

Sasuke finally held Sakura as if he was never ever going to let her go. "Worth it.", he told her before kissing her in an unrepressed manner.

…

~/What if we ruin it all, and we love like fools?/

And all we have we lose?

And I don't want you to go but I want you so

So tell me what

Tell me what

Tell me what we choose

(FOOLS – Lauren Aquilina)~

…

Sasuke gently pushes Sakura towards a door while kissing her fervently. He turned them both around, reached for the door knob and led her into the room.

She closed the door behind them.

.

.

.

/Noir/

(9.4)

FOOLS (Reload)

…

…

Call it magic, call it true

I call it magic when I'm with you

And I just got broken, broken into two

Still I call it magic, when I'm next to you

And I don't, and I don't, and I don't, and I don't

No I don't, it's true

I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't

Want anybody else but you

I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't

No I don't, it's true

I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't

Want anybody else but you

Ooh ooh ooh

Call it magic, cut me into two

And with all your magic, I disappear from view

And I can't get over, can't get over you

Still, I call it magic, such a precious truth

And I don't, and I don't, and I don't, and I don't

No I don't, it's true

I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't

Want anybody else but you

I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't

No I don't, it's true

I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't

Want anybody else but you

Wanna fall, I fall so far

I wanna fall, fall so hard

And I call it magic

And I call it true

Call it magic

Ooh ooh ooh

Ooh ooh ooh

Ooh ooh ooh

Ooh ooh ooh

And if you were to ask me

After all that we've been through

Still believe in magic?

Well yes, I do

Oh yes, I do

Oh yes, I do

Oh yes, I do

Of course I do

(MAGIC – Coldplay)

…

/./

/./

/./

/END/

Thank you for reading.