thirty two

S.U 

"Sasuke, this is the room where you'll be tutored."

The teenager turned to scowl at the teacher talking to him. "Do I really have to be tutored?"

His teacher gave him a stern glare. "Young man, you've been flunking and falling asleep in all of your classes. Do I really need to answer that question?"

"But, I'm obviously the smartest in the class."

"Your exam scores don't show that," the teacher said primly. 

"Well then, make exams interesting."

The teacher frowned. "Watch your tone, young man."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Father must be paying you a lot to do this."

Not wanting to continue the conversation, Sasuke pushed open the door and into the empty classroom where he would be tutored, wondering which nerd will be tutoring him today. 

To his surprise, a pinkette by the name of Sakura Haruno sat there, bent over some inequality equations. He knew her. They had been in the same home room a couple of times, and Naruto used to have a childish crush on her. 

Sasuke took back what he thought earlier. Sakura wasn't a 'nerd'. Yeah, she had some of the highest test scores, but she didn't study 24/7. They never really quite conversed before, but he had of her through many people.

Karin and her squad always talked about how ugly and stupid she was. Naruto and Ino talked about how chill and cool she was. He decided to trust the latter opinion, for obvious reasons. 

"Sakura, this is the first student you'll be tutoring," the teachers introduced Sasuke, but she continued to pour over her work. "Any problems?"

She shook her head absent-mindedly, focusing fully on the equation in front of her.

"Alright, the next hour you can tutor him in this room. I'll be leaving now."

With a sigh, Sakura shut her math book. Without even glancing at him, she leaned back and closed her eyes. "Hi, my name is Sakura Haruno and you are-"

"Sasuke Uchiha."

Instantly, her eyes opened and widened in pure shock. Sasuke could only smirk at that.

Onyx met emerald.

Little did Sasuke know, from that moment on, his future changed.

That memory faded away, replaced by pitch black, which was quickly replaced by a flurry of short glimpses from his past.

"Some people actually want to be friends with you."

Green flowers compared to Sakura's eyes, him whispering "beautiful" to her surprise.

Defending Sakura from Karin Uzumaki, angry shouts and soft promises of marriages and honeymoons and all the cliché but romantic details in between.

Then cutting words that left Sakura sobbing in the middle of the street while he walked away hand in hand with the very person he defended her from.

Nine years later, and onyx met emerald yet again, time stopping for them.

Accidental admiration for each other after she tripped.

Hugs that made him feel special.

Standing for her against his father.

Saving her from that psychotic ex.

The relief of forgiveness underneath the stars and amongst an uplifting atmosphere.

Running along the halls of the Uchiha residence, hand in hand.

Moments shared over coffee.

Plane rides to Paris in which she looked impossibly ethereal.

Cuddling and quiche and romance movies.

Sleeping against each other.

Compliments shared on a flowered balcony. 

A cute date that made him feel normal for once.

Cries and kisses underneath a tree and the afternoon sun.

Posing all intimate with each other, pink crystals clinging to their skin.

Officially dating at the Eiffel Tower.

And then...everything went wrong. Because of Kiba's words and Eloise's argument, but mostly, because of Sasuke's stupidity. He believed the two so quickly. It was so dumb, a pathetic way to chain a relationship that had begun to soar. 

I'm so damn stupid.

Sasuke awoke. Bright lights, hospital curtains and white ceilings greeted him along with a cry that sounded like Mikoto's. 

He turned on his side to face her, a crying wreck in the arms of a grave but surprised Fugaku. Then he became aware of the pain in his left eye, and the fact that he couldn't open it. His right arm felt lighter, no, it was completely - "Gone?"

It was exactly like Naruto's arm now. The blonde had lost his right arm in a car crash too when a drunk driver crashed into him. 

"Yeah," Itachi winced. Sasuke glanced over at him and Izumi who were standing on the side of the bed opposite to his parents. His elder brother held Izumi's hand tightly. "You did a reckless but brave thing. When the car crashed-"

"Hold on a second," he said slowly. "There was a car crash?"

The memories started coming back, details that were fuzzy and yet painfully clear. Fugaku nodded grimly, "Yeah. You, uh, let go of the steering wheel and your car crashed into another car coming from an alley way. Don't worry, the other people in the other car are safe and healthy. You and Sakura got the brunt of the crash."

Sakura.

"Where is she?" he demanded. "Where's Sakura? Is she safe? Is she uninjured? Is she...a-alive?"

Fugaku replied, "Thinking about my words now, I think I should've said that you got the brunt of the crash. Like Itachi said, you heroically grabbed her and pushed out of the car and covered her from the damage. She's healthy and safe, but the doctors are testing her right now for any signs of trauma. Luckily, she doesn't have any injuries, but you on the other hand..."

"Are littered with them," Sasuke realized, and Mikoto sobbed. "What happened, exactly?"

Izumi bit her lip, "The car fell onto your right arm damaged it so badly, the doctors thought it would be better to remove it to prevent any infections. A shard of glass pierced your eye, which is why you can't open it. Not to mention, the debris fell on you and bruised your skin..."

She faltered into a silence. 

Sasuke stared at the ceiling again. "How long have I been out?"

"Seventeen days."

He bolted upright, but Fugaku and Itachi forced him down again. Sasuke's eyes were wide, "Seventeen days?"

"Yeah," Itachi grimaced.

Sasuke pondered over everything. His injuries, the fact that he was unconscious for seventeen days, and then he came to a conclusion. "I deserve it."

"W-What?" Mikoto stuttered, tears staining her face. Sasuke held her hands with the only hand he had left.

"I'm sorry for saying things like these, Mother. But I deserve it. All of the pain."

"Maybe not all of it, but you do deserve some punishment," Itachi added. "Sakura hasn't been crying at all. She's just been...empty."

Sasuke clenched his one hand into a fist. "It's all my fault."

"Don't blame yourself too much," Fugaku frowned. "Kiba Inuzuka and a few Uchiha elders are at fault too."

Sasuke had forgotten about them.

Fugaku continued, "Michi rang me about five hours you fell into a coma. She apologized on behalf of Kiba and the other elders, and said that this was their fault although they never wanted the crash to happen in their plan."

"What was their plan?" Sasuke asked curiously.

"Kiba wanted Sakura to be miserable after she dumped him," Fugaku answered. "Michi and the others wanted you two to break up and for you to marry a better woman for the sake of the Uchiha family. She thought I wasn't being harsh enough so she took matters into her own hands.

"They met up and concocted a plan. Michi put some kind of chemical into the meal you ate last at the Uchiha residence, a chemical that makes you drowsy, gullible and confused easily. In short, you were drugged. Kiba was to target a weak spot of your relationship and let you two destroy it yourselves.

"Relationships always have arguments, so they planned to set it in motion when you did have an argument. The rest...well, you know it better than anyone.

Sasuke's heart was racing. He had been drugged. He knew Michi was a schemer, but he didn't expect the frail old woman to go that far. And he couldn't overcome the drug. Love was supposed to overcome everything, but he guessed that his love was too weak to banish the drug.

"Sakura knows this, by the way," Izumi added. "And she..."

"I'll tell him myself."

All eyes were on the figure standing by the doorway. Her pink hair was tied back into a tight ponytail, her skin pale but her eyes as hard as steel. Sasuke throat went dry and he sat up again, but this time, Fugaku and Itachi didn't bother to push him down.

Fugaku coughed, "We'll give you two some privacy."

The main Uchiha family left the hospital room. 

Onyx met emerald yet again.

This was it. 

If Sakura didn't love him before, she certainly didn't now. Sasuke knew it. And now his looks, the only thing good about him, was gone. His right arm was gone, his eye bruised and cut and ugly. He had hurriedly styled it so that his hair covered it, but its presence was impossible to ignore. Sakura's eyes flickered to it.

Time stopped for them once again.

Sasuke knew that she would say that she would never forgive him and then leave the room, this time leaving him instead of the other way around. 

And she did just the opposite.

Sakura ran forward and enveloped him in a hug, tears cascading down her face. "I-I'm so glad you woke up..."

Slowly, he wrapped his one arm around her tightly, his own tears falling down. "A-Aren't you angry? I broke up with you for such a dumb reason and I-I got us both into a car accident."

Sakura caressed his face. "Yeah, I'm mad at you. But right now I chose to forgive you because I'm just so damn glad that you're alright, well, minus the eye and the arm."

"But you should hate me!"

"I'm mad, but I don't hate you," she lowered her eyes. "No matter how harsh your words were, it didn't change the fact that I am very much in love with you. Sasuke, I love you unconditionally."

"B-But why?" he asked, genuinely bewildered. "I'm a jerk, I'm cold-"

Sakura interrupted. "Okay, I agree with the 'jerk' one, but you're definitely not cold. At least, not to me. Were you cold when you kissed me? Were you cold when you complimented me so many times? Were you cold when you saved my life? I don't think so!

"You've proved to me time after time that you are one caring, considerate, insecure person," Sakura was crying again. "You're not arrogant at all like the paparazzi say. I think the hurt you caused on the night of our 'break up' is far less than the love you have shown me. I chose to look at the love instead of the hurt. Like I said before, I love you unconditionally."

"I-I..." Sasuke was at a loss for words. He was crying again too. "I love you unconditionally so much."

The two smiled at each other before leaning in for a kiss, for they had finally found someone who saw the other as something more than a pretty face.

-----------------------

that was the final chapter, but an epilogue is coming !!

and as for sakura's decision to forgive sasuke,  i personally wouldn't have done it, but i feel like sakura is the type of person to do so. after all, she basically did that in the actual show.

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