The wonder years-Naruto chp22 con't

Con't chapter 22

*************************************************************************

Later that night

"Why are you looking at me that way?" Sasuke asked as he took the drug he'd been craving all day from his current partner.

Sai shook his head. He didn't want to say anything but the feeling from earlier had never gone away. He even felt like he'd been stalked the whole way to Sasuke's, it was creepy. "Actually-"

Sasuke raised his hand to cut off the other male. "At least lemme get high first." Sasuke said before Sai started on his bs.

"Sasuke." Sai stated firmly stopping the raven in motion.

The dark heir turned around and faced the other.

"I-I don't think I can keep doing this." He spoke in a voice just above a whisper.

Sasuke thought about the out come of this conversation. No good. "Then don't."

That tone was a forewarning but Sai pressed on. "What about Wednesday night?"

"What about it?" Sasuke growled.

"I thought, I thought after we talked about it, maybe we could give this another try...the right way." Sai asked with open arms.

"I never agreed to that."

"But Sasuke-"

"I NEVER agreed to that!" Sasuke repeated with more base.

"You, you're broken...I realize that." Sai countered.

"I told you, I can't love you-"

"I read in a book about recovery-" Sai began.

"A book? Recovery?" Sasuke interrupted.

"Yes, you need a strong foundation behind you. I can be there for you. You don't have to love me back..."

"Sai, just stop." The raven near laughed at this Tom-foolery.

"I'm not giving up on you. No matter how hard you try you can't push me away again Sasuke..." Sai stood his ground.

"And you think it's that easy?" Sasuke protested.

"I don't want to fight." Sai stated calmly. "I just, I just had this really bad feeling all day. I don't like this. I won't keep aiding you in destroying yourself."

Sasuke thought that was a lot of nerve. He had a bad feeling almost 24-7 and you didn't see him complaining any. "You know what...don't do it. Either way it's gonna get bought."

"It's not right..."

Sasuke turned his back and headed for the bathroom. "I've been doing this for years, don't act surprised." He said throwing his arms open along the way.

"And that makes it ok?" Sai asked. He didn't wait for a response before his next statement. "You were sober with Naruto."

Sasukes stopped short, his eyes shot directly to Sai's. "Don't-"

"Tell me, would you ever ask him to do something like this for you? To help you kill yourself?"

Sasuke knew the answer.

"It's obvious you wouldn't. He would never go for something like that-" Sai said before being cut off.

"Shut the fuck up Sai. You don't know what you're talking about." Sasuke cautioned.

"Why can't I be like that? Why is it so different for me?" Sai asked beginning to show even more emotion. He hated to feel this way but it couldn't be helped. He was actually envious of Naruto and all he stood for. "I don't believe what you told me the other night. You know how to love...you know exactly how to. Why can't I have that? Why won't you love me like you love him?"

Sasuke thought about the nice answer versus the real answer. He lowered his lids and opened his mouth. "Don't even make the comparison. You will never be like Naruto."

A single tear slid out of Sai's eye. It was time for him to go.

Sasuke watched as the door shut tightly behind the boy. What he said was true. It was the unadulterated, hard hitting truth and no matter how it sounded, he wasn't ashamed to admit it. No one would ever make him feel like Naruto did and he meant that.

Across town

"Really Naruto?" Asked the bossy pink haired girl as she stepped into the door with her arms out stretched.

"I know." The blonde responded while wrapping his arms around her. He picked her up and spun her around. She smelt like strawberry cupcakes.

"Oh my gosh! Catching up with you is like getting with the freakin' Pope!" She giggled excitedly as her feet made contact with the floor again. "How was work today?" Sakura asked as she hung her bag on the door knob.

"Ah, it was good." Naruto said with a smile.

"Looks like I got here at the perfect time." Sakura probed noticing the moist towel draped around his neck.

"Yeah, I just got out the shower." He said checking out her outfit. It was short and pink.

"I can see." She rubbed her hand through his flat wet hair. She also knew because his t-shirt clung to his still damp skin perfectly.

"Yeah, I wanted to wash away all the boy smell before you came just in case you wanted to go somewhere." He said raising his arm and sniffing his own pit.

"Yuck Naruto, you've been spending tooo much time with Kiba." They laughed. "Anyway, I really don't mind chilling here." She said leaning on the back of the couch.

Naruto laughed. "Ok, so what have you been up to all break?" He asked stepping closer to her.

"Oh, now you ask me?" She shrugged her shoulders. "You practically disowned me the whole time and now you ask what I've been up to? Hhm- some nerve." She said turning her nose up in the air.

Naruto rubbed his neck with his right hand. "Yeah, sorry I know I've been flaky but everything is back to normal pretty much." He said tussling the towel over his head.

Sakura moved quickly snaking her arms around his body. "So are you ready to tell me what was going on?" She asked as she took deep breaths and waited for his reply. Sakura was enjoying this position a lot more than Naruto could imagine. She was on a mission today. The goal was to figure out why he didn't return her feelings and make him understand why he should.

"I was just going through some stuff. No biggie." He wondered why she was hugging him.

"Right…" She pouted before snatching away.

"You mad?" He asked tossing his towel onto the bed. He could see the corners of her lips turned up in a smirk. "So I guess you'll be even madder if I did this-" He said applying his fingers to her rib cage.

"Ahhhhh!" She screamed at the top of her lungs as his tickled her all over. "HAHAAAHH! Stop! Naruto!" She squealed between laughter. Both parties tumbled to the floor right behind said sofa. "You are a maniac…" She smiled while wiping tears from her eyes. "You have got to stop doing that!"

"That was hilarious." He commented.

"Whatever, I was really mad and you caught me off guard is all." She said pushing his shoulder.

"I aim to please." He snickered.

"Naruto?" She asked upon relinquishing her giggles.

"What's up Sakura-" Naruto was partly able to question before his sentence was cut short by lips. His eyes widened as he fell backwards realizing what was happening. Before he could react he was pinned down to the floor by the soft lipped Kunoichi, her tongue hungrily prodding his mouth. Sa-Sakura… He thought as his hands began to guide themselves once the initial shock was over. He rested one hand in the small of her back and the other on the back of her head. It felt just like the other time they kissed. He felt like he could get used to it. And why not? He asked inwardly. They were both consenting teenaged kids. Neither of whom were in a committed relationship…but still something about this wasn't right.

"Wait-" He said pushing her up.

Once again she was jilted. "Naruto, I-I'm in love with you!" She said sharply as she forced the words out of her throat. She didn't know what he was about to say to her but she needed to get that off her chest first.

Naruto furrowed his brows. He wasn't expecting that. He thought they were over this phase in their relationship the last time he told her no. He thought she was ok with being friends. But what now?

Her chest rapidly moved up and down. "I'm sorry." Sakura squeaked quietly putting her hand to her mouth.

"It's ok." He said trying to comfort her though embarrassment was written all over her features.

"Can you just, can you tell me, what's wrong with me?" She asked faking a laugh while avoiding his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"I just, I don't really get it…" Sakura picked at her knee high.

Naruto was afraid of where this was going. "There is nothing wrong with you."

"So then why won't you go out with me? Is it because you're friends with Sasuke? I'm sure he doesn't care…" She hated how desperate she sounded but she trusted Naruto not to make fun.

"Sakura," Naruto said solemnly. "It's not about that. I like you a lot actually. You're pretty and funny and I have fun with you." He said lifting her head with his hand.

She rolled big green eyes to his blue ones. "Then why won't you date me?"

Naruto felt his heart tighten. How could he answer her? "It's not you. Things are just really complicated with me right now."

All hope she mustered up for the evening had faded away with that statement. She could tell when she was getting a 'pity-let-down'. She had dished out enough to know for sure. "Just forget I said anything." She said standing from her seated position. She was sure it was more to the story but she couldn't face him any longer. The next words out her mouth were going to be something to the tune of 'we can't be friends'.

"You don't have to leave." He said standing and gripping her arm firmly.

Her warm face glowed under the basement lighting as she looked everywhere but at him. She was rather beautiful, there was no denying how attractive she was. Maybe it wasn't a bad thing that she was pursuing him. Maybe he should get with her if she wanted him that badly. Naruto moved forward, he was a guy like any other, he couldn't help his urges so he kissed her.

She fully accepted his advance, Sakura leaned back in the chair and lifted both legs wrapping them around his waist. She felt his hand roam up her thigh and rest on her butt cheek, she pulled him closer as Naruto kissed the length of her neck before stopping.

He just didn't know what the right answer was. He thought about Neji and he thought about Sasuke...right Sasuke. He could go no further without her knowing.

"It's ok. Don't stop, we can keep going..." she whispered to him touching her feet down on the floor.

Naruto exhaled deeply. He didn't want to deepen her feelings for him knowing he was on a trial basis. "You have to promise me two things before…" He begins after deciding to be honest with her. It wasn't fair to keep her in the dark after she'd confessed to him. If she was ok with it after, maybe they could continue.

Sakura reached up and pushed the bangs back out of her face. Her cheeks were rosy with lust right now. Whatever it was, she just wished he'd hurry up and tell her so they could get on with it already. "Ok."

"You have to promise me you won't tell anyone and you won't get mad." Naruto bartered.

Sakura smiled sweetly and nodded her head. "Scouts honor," she said in anticipation of good news. She was thinking something along the lines of 'Sakura, I really do love you too but I have a girlfriend in my old town...blah blah blah,' that she could deal with easily.

Naruto took a deep breath. "Remember how you were asking me about Sasuke?"

"Yeah." She recalled keeping him between her legs by pulling on the waist of his pants.

"Sasuke and I we were dating but we broke up. That's why things got crazy for me last week." Naruto felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders with simple sentences.

Sakura didn't move, she didn't speak, she didn't even breath.

"Sakura?" He called her name after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence.

Slowly her brain computed this new information. She let out an uneasy chuckle. "Naruto, stop kidding around. You aren't funny…" She said shaking her head.

Naruto maintained his solid face. "Sakura…it's not a joke."

Suddenly her face went from befuddled to offended. "Naruto, you can stop now. I said you're joke isn't funny." She said pushing him away.

Naruto turned his head.

Sakura thought back to a lot of instances of SasuNaru. Wasn't it obvious? "Oh my…" She said suddenly slapping her hand to her mouth.

"Sakura, you promised." Naruto reminded her while watching her react as if tasting the most vile of dishes.

"Oh my Kami…" She repeated as she stepped back and went for the door.

"You promised you wouldn't freak out." He said stepping toward her.

"YOU, YOU knew how I felt about him…" She said in a threatening manner as the situation over whelmed her psyche. All her Sasuke issues came back and smacked her at once. She had loved him so much, for so many years; to think how she poured her heart out to Naruto so many times only to be the ass of the joke. It was enough to make her want to die.

"Sakura-" He called her again.

SSSLLLAAAPPPPPPPPPP!

The sound of her hand hitting his face forcefully echoed through the quiet room.

Naruto grabbed his jaw. "I guess I deserve that..." he said with a jolly tone hoping it was now out of her system.

"DON'T!" She yelled with tear filled eyes. "Leave me alone and don't ever, ever speak to me again." She cried out turning for the door.

"Sakura!" He called her name as she passed the threshold. It was too late.

Before Naruto could react good, she was gone.