Quote of the chapter: "You could never forget your memories, it just takes a while for you to remember them."

ADVANCE HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ONE OF ME CLOSEST FRIENDS IN THIS WORLD, @Kira_Yukomo !!! MY MESSAGE FOR YOU WILL BE ON YER BDAY AT FACEBOOK SO BE ALERT! I CAN'T PERSONALLY GIVE A GIFT TO YOU SO HERE'S MY BDAY GIFT FOR YAH BRO! :D

READ THIS STORY YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT I SWEAR IT IS BETTER THAN MINE, @shewillbelooved 's "The Next Uchiha" Here's the link>>> http://www.wattpad.com/story/6254605-the-next-uchiha-sasusaku-naruto-love-stories

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU READERS! I REALLY APPRECIATE ALL YOUR SUPPORT!

ALL MISTAKES ARE MINE

WITHOUT FURTHER MORE, HERE'S LE CHAP!

ENJOY :)

~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~

~cнαpтer 17: вeнιɴd ιт αll~

The holiday season is now over. Sakura spent her Christmas with the sand siblings. All the four of them had fun eating, watching movies, opening gifts and spending time together. Sakura slept along with Temari. At some point, Sakura still can't get over her problems so she consulted it with Temari. Turns out, Temari was pretty good at giving advices and in comforting her. Temari never understood the suffering of what Sakura must have felt but she knows what's the right thing to do. She was also like a big sister to Sakura. Guess that's why Kami-sama let her meet them and she was thankful.

She spent the new years eve with her parents. For the first time in her life, she enjoyed with her parents. Her parents didn't compare her ever since Sakura told them her current life. Sakura's mother smiled at the thought of her daughter growing up so fast. Sakura, at a young age, experienced a lot of trials and she endured the misery and torment in order to learn the mistakes from it to become a better person.

It was a bright afternoon at Konohagakure. The sun was up, giving warmth to the world as fluffy clouds roam. Sakura's parents left for their next trip as Sakura stayed home after bidding her parents goodbye. Once Sakura finished eating her afternoon snack, she grabbed her ice cream at the fridge.
Misa noticed that Sakura has been off lately. There was something not right about her. Like she was missing something though Misa can't point it out. She also recognized that she doesn't hang out with Ino and the others anymore.

"Are you alright, Sakura-san?"

Sakura turned, holding a cup of her favorite ice cream. "Y-Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" She smiled sheepishly.

"It's nothing." Misa replied with an authentic smile as she continued washing the dishes while Sakura went to her bedroom.

"Just like that." Misa told to herself. "She hesitated, Sakura never stutters unless she's nervous or shy. Something is definitely up with Sakura. I guess now is probably the right time to tell her what really happened before."

Misa ended her thoughts and clearly decided as soon as she finished her chores, she will admit it to Sakura.

~

Sakura's POV

Was the one that Gaara said before true? Is it true that HE was the one that was always been there for me? Or he told me that in order to lighten up my mood? Or did he just say it as a trick?

~ START OF 1ST FLASHBACK~

"So, why did you call for me? Temari said that you wanted to talk to me." I said as I sat down beside Gaara.

"I want to talk about your current state." Gaara replied without showing any emotion as he stared the clear sky.

"Current state? Why? I'm not sick or anything."

Gaara looked straight at my emerald eyes with a serious expression. "You know what I meant by that."

Of course, I knew what he was talking about my former friends I just tried to move the topic away. "...What about it?"

"Have you ever thought of someone that's been always there for you?" He broke the eye contact and averted his trance back to above.

I nodded in response.

"May I know who it is?"

My eyes widen a bit and looked away. "I-It's you..." I avoided his gaze due to humiliation.

He had a smug expression plastered on his face. "Thought so, but there is someone else."

I gave him a confused look.

"Think of the person who was always there to protect you and stayed by your side whenever you encountered a problem."

I shifted my gaze on the ground as thoughts flutter around my mind. Then I stiffen and my eyes widen a bit while Gaara observed my actions. "So, you know who it is?"

"...S-Sasuke?"

His lips curved into a smile as he took a glance and shrugged. "It's your perception."

"B-But how did you-"

"It was particularly easy for my part since me and Sasuke kind of similar in some terms though I witnesssd some of the parts and I knew your past."

I blinked. "Eh?"

Gaara sighed to refresh his thoughts and prepared to explain. "I'm not in the place to say but I think you should know that Sasuke was the who saved you from Ami a while back. I was at by the lockers at that time, on the way home and I saw Ami beating you up. I was about to move faster but suddenly I saw someone held you at the waist and I heard him say something then lef with you in a flash."

"Don't touch her." I remembered those words that came from the person I never knew. Oh no no no no no no. Hell no. Not in a million years. "Was that really Sasuke?"

Gaara nodded in reply. "How about your past? Who got you out from the bullies' grasp?"

An image of Sasuke entered my mind, the time he and Ino took my side and defend me from the vicious people that wouldn't stop bullying me. Saying malicious and cruel terms towards me, until it reached to physical battle that's when my savior came into the picture, also the fuming Ino if I may add.

~A FLASHBACK WITHIN A FLASHBACK (START OF 2ND FLASHBACK)~

A broken 10-11 year old Sakura was sitting at the stone bench located at the garden territory of their school, trembling with panic as soon as she caught a glint of familiar kids that threatens her for having such a large forehead even though it is not THAT big.

"Heh. Well lookie who is here, if it isn't billboard-brow, Haruno Sakura." A girl walked up closer as her friends followed her trail. Sakura refused to talk back, she just stared at the ground while foughting back the substance from her eyes.

"I see you still have that huge forehead of yours." The girl poked at the center of Sakura's forepart, above her eyebrows. "No wonder you have no friends. You're a freak!"

With that last statement, the girl slapped Sakura at the face as she grabbed her collar and laughed menacingly. "I mean look at your pair of weird green eyes and that pink hair..." She scanned Sakura's pale face as tears flow at the edges of her eyelids and looked over her hair. "Ugh. Yuck!" She immediately dropped her grip with force and disgust in her actions as she kicked Sakura at the stomach and attacked more bringing pain to Sakura, both emotionally and physically.

Sakura, being too kind of a person, just endured the soreness of the attacks.

Another female tried to stop the girl as she held her shoulder. "Hey, you're going too far! She had suffered enough."

The girl reacted by spanking the hand of her friend. "Enough?! She doesn't even deserve to live with her ugliness!"

Sakura held her stomach as she slowly stood up to prevent any discomfort though that just earned her another kick from the 'beast'-let's just call her beast due to her attitude.

"Oi! I said that's enough!" The other girl stopped the beast-again-since she sees the misfortune that Sakura carried.

"Don't you dare stop me or maybe you want to join Sakura, eh Lana?" The beast turned to Lana. "So what's it gonna be?"

"I-I..."

Sakura saw Lana secretly doing a hand signal for Sakura to escape though she had second thoughts to get out when the beast was off guard. Sakura moved slowly as she sat up to get away faster but to her dismay, the beast turned around and kicked Sakura where it really hurts.

"GAAAH!" Sakura howled in torture, finally she let out the pain that she's been hiding.

"Oh? Guess you do have a voice. Scream all you want but that won't reach your friends. Wait I forgot, you DON'T have friends!" The beast laughed evilly as she hit Sakura again and again. Sakura just kept on accepting the grievous insults and soreness of her body until she felt the punches and kicks stopped.

Sakura gently opened her eyes though she did not expect to see a young male in front of her, blocking the beast's attacks as he was raging in fury. With one punch, the beast flew a few feet away from them and the boy looked back at Sakura.

Sakura blinked a couple of times to have a clearer sight of her knight in shining armor. She knew that by anytime she would collapse, so she took the moment to recognize the boy in order to thank him later. She realized that the boy who saved her was the hottest guy that she ever laid eyes on. He has raven locks, pale skin and onyx eyes.

Obsidian orbs staring back at emerald eyes.

Dugdug.

In that moment she felt her heart beating rapidly within seconds. Is this true? Or is this a dream? She thought as she shook her head slightly but it was all a reality though their eye contact broke when they heard a blonde girl yell. "Are you okay?!"

Sakura faced to the voice's direction as she sat up to check who it was but to her bad luck she felt her body ache which caused her to fall back and gritted her teeth while the blonde girl went to Sakura and helped her sat up as the blonde girl saw her body full of bruises. "Oh my gosh! You're badly hurt!"

"Well well, maybe pink DOES have friends after all."

The blonde girl who helped Sakura stood up and stretched her arms to her sides as if she was blocking Sakura. "I won't let you hurt her." She spoke with her anger rising.

The boy that saved Sakura just kept silent as he prepared himself for a fight.

The beast stood up. "This isn't over, Sakura."

"Shut up!" Sakura had enough. Enough of the pain she went through. It was about time to return what she deserves. She weakly stood up with the help of the blonde girl as soon as she got her balance. All attention on her. "I had enough of your insults. Is it MY fault that I have a large forehead? Or maybe MY fault that I was born with pink hair? MY fault that I have jade eyes? No. It's not my fault and who the hell asked your opinion about it, huh? I don't really care of what you people think of me but what I hate is the fact that you went overboard." In a split second, Sakura was behind the beast as she hit her at the nape of the neck using her elbow which made her unconcious. "Also, it's over."

Sakura felt she did the right thing though suddenly she also felt her eyelids beginning to be heavy as the world spun then before she even knew it, she blacked out.

...

A ray of light shined through Sakura's eyes which made her snapped awake. She flickered her eyes open and close to catch her clear eyesight.

"You feeling better?"

She heard as she turned to the girl that asked. "Y-Yeah." Sakura nodded slightly as she sat up. She recognized the person that questioned but she saw a couple of new faces then to the boy that saved her. Sakura gasped silently and faced back to the blonde girl who asked. "Umm...T-Thank you for defending me last time..."

Sakura looked down and realized that she was sitting at a bed, based from the surroundings, she was at the school's infirmary.

"No problem that's what friends are for!" The blonde girl smiled with her eyes closed. She was sitting on a chair next to the left side of Sakura as the raven boy was sitting on a chair at the right side while other new faces are at inside the room.

"Please don't take this the wrong way but we're friends? A-And how did I get here? What happened?" Sakura asked as kindly as possible while shifting to her surroundings as she held her head that discomfort occurred.

"Well we were supposed to ask you to be our friend a few days before school started but I guess we got shy." The blonde girl scratched the back of her head as she continued. "Oh and we brought you here. You blacked out after you hit that bully at the neck but don't worry he got you before you fell at the floor."

"H-He?"

"Yup, him!" The blonde girl pointed at the boy who saved Sakura as she flushed in embarrassment.

"T-Thank you." Sakura grinned and bowed slightly as a sign of respect.

"Aa."

"What is that suppose to mean?" She thought to herself and rubbed her head. "Umm...may I know what happened to those who hurt me?"

"Well the slut and her friends got expelled."

"Expelled?!" Sakura shrieked as she leaned up but again, her body ache then she groaned in pain.

"Hey don't move that much, you'll get hurt more." A guy with brown hair and sharp eyes warned Sakura while he put his hands over her if ever she lost balance even though she was at the bed.

"Yeah and don't worry about them, they're just mean people who has no life." The girl with brown hair that is tied up into two buns huffed.

"But one of them named 'Lana' defended me and supposedly helped me to escape until the other turned and kicked me..." Sakura stated as she relocate her view at her blanket, her hair covering most of her face to hide her approaching tears.

"We can talk to Tsunade-sama about that later." The young male who saved me replied.

"So that's his voice..." Sakura muttered in her mind.

"Setting the bad things aside, I haven't introduced myself yet haven't I? I'm Yamanaka Ino!" The blonde girl reached her hand out for a handshake.

Sakura returned the favor with a smile. "Haruno Sakura."

"Sakura? That's a nice name, Sakura-chan! It suits your cool hair!" A blonde boy with whiskers or marks at his cheeks complimented as she moved closer to her and brought up his hand with a huge grin on his face. "Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo!"

Sakura shook his hand still with a cheerful smile.

"I'm Inuzuka Kiba!" The boy with brown hair and sharp eyes did the same.

"Tenten! Just Tenten." The girl with two buns laughed a little as she sent a toothless smile.

"Hyuga Neji." He nodded as acknowledgement.

"Hyuga Hinata. Neji's my cousin." The girl with short dark blue hair and pearl eyes smiled though she seems very shy.

"Wake up!" Ino smacked a sleeping boy that has a hair that has a similar shape as a pineapple.

He sighed in defeat and made a slight wave. "Nara Shikamaru."

They all rotated to the last but not the least, the guy who saved Sakura.

"Oi! Introduce yourself, teme!" Naruto shouted while putting up his fist.

"Tch. Dobe."

"BASTARD!"

"Idiot."

"DUCKFACE!"

"Moron."

As the fightning continues, Ino whispered to Sakura. "They are always like that, even though they are best friends so better get use to it."

Sakura chuckled and nodded at Ino's remark.

"Just shut it and introduce, Uchiha." Neji stated as he brought up his hand over his forehead, obviously got a headache due to the rantings of Naruto and Sasuke. 

"Uchiha Sasuke." He rolled his eyes at Neji as he faced to Sakura and put up his hand.

Inner Sakura was doing a victory dance as Sakura just held Sasuke's hand, feeling it was warm and they shook their hands while her heart automatically speed up its range. She felt her face beginning to show hints of blush though she just ignored it.

"So Sakura-chan, why did those girls beat you up?" Naruto asked, breaking the sudden silence.

Tenten pinched Naruto's arm. "Naruto..."

Sasuke whacked his head "Baka."

"No, it's alright. You guys saved me and you have the right to know what happened." Sakura defended.

"I just wanted to know..." Naruto muttered as he folded his arms.

A sweat dropped Kiba's forehead. "Technically, it's Ino and Sasuke who saved you."

"Well you are all my friends right? Either way, you have the right to know." Sakura gulped as they all smiled or nodded for her to proceed. "Ever since preschool, they would always tease me for having a huge forehead, natural pink hair and emerald eyes though Lana never hurt me, only the other two. It would only hurt me emotionally, it's the first and the last time that it went this far, physically though sometimes she would slap or kick me."

"Why didn't you fight back?"

"It would only cause more trouble." Sakura answered.

"But t-that must've been hard for you, Sakura-chan." Hinata spoke with a glint of sadness and pity in her words and Sakura just nodded as reply.

"Well don't worry anymore. We got your back!" Kiba sent a wink as he pat Sakura's head.

"You got it!" Tenten added and she swung her toy kunai with her index finger and stopped with her thumb.

After how long she finaly has friends and with that thought, she smiled. "Arigato, minna." She bowed, once again and was truly thankful.

"Awww, you look so cute when you smile! You should smile more often to get boys." Ino said and she wiggled her eyebrows as Sakura's pale face turned into roseate within seconds as she stared at space along with wide eyes open.

All of them laughed-or chuckled in Sasuke's and Neji's case-due to the reaction of Sakura and some of the girls would say. 'Kawaii'

And that was the start of their friendship.

~END OF 2ND FLASHBACK~

"It was Sasuke...then Ino came in to save me too." I tried to defend but it was no use.

"Still Sasuke, right?" He stood up and placed his hands inside his pockets. "From now on, it's up to you what to do and what to think."

Before Gaara could walk out, I quickly grabbed his wrist. "Wait! Why did you tell me this, Gaara?"

"To help you think straight and figure out your thoughts." Without adding more, he left. Leaving me curious and trying to connect the dots from his answer.

~END OF 1ST FLASHBACK~

Who do I believe now? What should I do? I mumbled to myself while staring at the ceiling, laying down at my bed.

I grabbed my ice cream at the top of my drawers as I took the spoon filled up with ice cream that's left into my mouth.

Yes, for one thing. Food is always the answer. Or at least it can let go of your worries.

I heard a person knocking on my bedroom door. "Sakura-san? May I have a word with you?"

I quickly identified the female's voice. "Sure Misa-san, come in!"

She opened the door and closed it behind her.

"Take a seat." I pointed at my comfortable computer chair as she sat down. "So, what is it that you wanted to talk about?"

"Sakura-san, I believe that it's time for you to know the truth of what happened before."

I gasped a little. "What truth?"

She noticed how frightened or shock I was so she laughed at my reaction. "Don't worry, Sakura-san, it's not a bad news. Well, that's what I suppose."

Sighing in relief, I motioned over for her to continue.

"Do you remember the time you asked me about who was the one who brought you here when you collapsed during gym class?"

I nodded.

"The truth is, Sasuke-san was the one who brought you here."

I can see in her eyes that she's telling the real deal.

I literally jumped out of bed and dropped my empty ice cream bowl at the floor. "WHAT?!"

"My apologies for not telling you in a long time." She bowed at me in a sincere manner.

"How? What? Why?" I muttered with my eyes open in shock as if it was going to explode and I tremble a bit, not believing what I just heard.

"Sasuke brought you here-bridal style-and he told me that you got knocked out  during gym class as I've told you before then he brought you up here to your room. He requested for you not to know that he was the one who brought you here but I don't know why. I just told him that I will be the one responsible to tell you when the right time comes and now I told you."

"Don't touch her."

Now, I'm certified that it was Sasuke's voice. It all matches up. So what Gaara said WAS true after all...

"HA! I told you Sasuke has feelings for us!" Inner Sakura skipped merrily around and around.

"What the-? You haven't even talked to me in a long time!"

"Eh, I was bored."

"And you decided to come out just now?"

"Whatever, Sasuke likes you! Not just because he saved you for the second time but like Gaara said he was always there! From the time he saved us from the b*tch, when he defended you from Ami and when he hugged you last time right?"

"No one can ever replace you." Those words played back in my mind, causing my eyes to-if possible-widen more.

"Pfft. I would probably the last girl that he'll love."

"Seriously?! You expect THE Uchiha Sasuke to even LIKE a fangirl?"

"News flash, I was a fangi-"

Misa-san walked to me and covered me gently into a hug, causing my battle with my inner to be held in a break. "I know that you have been meeting with problems. I can see it in your eyes, but don't worry you are not alone." She was now holding me to my shoulders tightly. "There is always someone who will always be there for you in every situation."

I sighed in defeat, I guess it's time to tell her. I told her everything about my life. From the second day of school until now.

"Hmm...in my opinion, Ino-san and the others are being held off by that Ami girl and I believe that Sasuke-san is on your side because he saved you twice. The same for Naruto-san, Ino-san and Kiba-san. Naruto-san and Kiba-san voted for you when that Ami girl hurt you then Ino-san didn't complain during the volleyball tournament that you and she joined, right? As for the others, I'm sure they have their reasons but soon they'll have to know too." Misa-san gave me more advices and bomboarded me with her words of wisdom along with questions. The chat proceeded as we ate dinner.

When dinner was finished, I thanked Misa-san for the conversation we had and she welcomed me to talk anytime. We do live in the same house after all. As I walk back to my bedroom, I glanced at my digital clock only to find out that it was already 8:03 in the evening. I realized that I have an essay to finish to prepare us for our finals exams while on our break.

Damn, time flies so fast. My shoulders slumped as I breathed out heavily. Stupid school giving is a lot of stupid issues to create stupid essays. All of our tests has at least one essay with the maximum of all the items in an essay writing form. Not everything in life you have to write an essay.

My curses and complaints carried on as I was writing my essay, giving all of my opinions and ideas about the assigned topic. I leaned carelessly at my computer chair then checked the time. 8:21 PM, it showed. I placed my essay at my bag and prepared for sleep. Another day and it's back to school. Such joy.

Before crashing into sleep, I reflected what Misa-san, Temari and Gaara said in the past days.

"I guess I should just forgive and forget but why is it still bothering me? Especially Sasuke...GRRR WHY THE HELL AM I SO STUCK UP WITH THIS?!"

"That's because you are still in love with him, you dimwit." Inner Sakura spoke as I froze in conception.

Oh Kami-sama after all these months, I'm still frickin in love with him. That I cannot deny. It's the truth. Until know I am still in love with THE Uchiha Sasuke, despite the fact that an incident has happened which caused our separation.

"So you admit that you still love him, don't cha?"

"I see you're back. Maybe I should just give up huh? I mean it would only cause me heart breaks and I'm constantly asking and answering to myself, how weird can I get?"

"Okay, first of all, I am a PART of you so I'm not your whole self. Technically, I am just your CONSCIENCE. YEAH, I SAY WHAT IS RIGHT, YAH HEAR ME SISTER? Moving on, giving up is NOT an option. Why? Even IF you give up, your heart won't stop, you can't force yourself to love someone else because you already fell in love with someone and your heart chooses not your brain. In addition, what's love if there aren't risks to take? Also, this is UCHIHA SASUKE we're talkin' about! THAT WELL-BUILT DUDE IS HARD. TO. READ. Do you copy, you crazy-dumb-in-love woman?"

"For a conscience, you're awesome. I'll give you that so I guess forgive and forget right?"

"There's a good girl, well that is the right thing to do for now."

"I still miss them though..."

"Which reminds me, YOU SHOULD'VE LET ME OUT BISH! WE COULD'VE KICKED HER SOUL OUT OF HER BODY WHICH SERVES HER RIGHT HMMPH!" Inner Sakura crossed her arms with a puff.

"Like I said, it would only cause trouble for hurting Ami. Besides, it's not worth it. It wouldn't change anything."

"Psshhht. Like hell it will! We can force her to tell the truth.........and kick her ass!"

"I'll just let karma hurt her."

"You are such a kind person. I hate you."

"You just wanna beat her up."

Inner Sakura scowled. "Exactly. She crossed the line. Well she already went overboard when that kisama claimed that Sasuke is hers which is OBVIOUSLY a frickin lie. Sasuke is NOT a toy, that kisama..."

"So that's your nickname for her? You do know that 'kisama' is a word for a curse, right?"

Inner Sakura's eyes sparkled. "Isn't it perfect?"

Their discussion went on until Sakura swamped into deep slumber.

~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~

PUBLISHED.//5.19.2014//

Thanks for reading!

:)

~TheSketcher