Hidden Meaning.

Harmony: Ok. Sorry, I forgot to leave a sneak peek in the end of that last chapter, but here it is! Miss American Teen Princess… anywhoey, here we go.

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Chapter Five: Confused Love: Sasuke Challenges Sakura!



“Finally,” she said, her hands on her hips. She smiled and looked around the room. “I have my own place. No more staying with Naruto and Hinata; they can have their ‘alone time’ now.”



“What about you?”



She whirled around. Sasuke stood in the door, his hands in his pockets, the light glaring off the long, wide scar across his face.



“What?” Sakura asked him. “What do you mean?”



He took a step toward her. “What about your ‘alone time’? What are you going to do now that you’re all alone?”



She glared at him. “Thanks for reminding me that I’m single, Sasuke.” She turned and began to walk away, ending up in the kitchen.



He followed her. “Listen,” he told her. “I need you to leave Ino alone.”



She laughed a little. “Now, tell me, why would I do that?”



“Why are you fighting her?”



She slammed her hands down on the counter. “Because we are competing once more. And the prize is you.”



“And my feelings don’t matter?” he yelled. She ignored him. He grabbed her shoulder and jerked her around. “You need to look at me! Do my feelings mean anything to either of you? My children, what about my children? They are Ino’s children! Not yours!”



She shoved him away, both hands on his chest. “Fuck you!” she shrieked. “I know how you feel, and I can’t believe that you’re not acting on those feelings!”



“What feelings?” he asked. “What are you talking about?”



“Your feelings for me!” she screamed at him, throwing him against the nearest wall. “What are they? Do you love me? Do you hate me? What is it?”



“I love you, all right!” he yelled in her face.



“Then why don’t you fucking tell me?” she shrieked, crying now.



He took a breath. “I just did,” he whispered. She stared at him.



Suddenly, he grabbed her face, held it in his hands, and he kissed her, roughly and passionately. And it felt so wonderful to him, to be able to channel those ten or so years of never letting himself know how much he loved her.

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Naruto sat back in his chair and sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “What are you going to do about all this?”



Sasuke stared at the floor. “Honestly, I have no idea.”



“Are you going to tell Ino?”



Sasuke coughed. He looked up at his best friend. “How can I turn around, after years of blissful married life, and tell her that I don’t love her like I did yesterday?”



“Is that basically what it boils right down to?” Naruto asked him. “You loved her yesterday, and now you love Sakura instead?”



Sasuke shrugged. “Not really. It’s weird; it’s like I still love Ino, but it’s more of a passive, understanding kind of love. But… Sakura…” He shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut and tilting his head back. “It fills me, like liquid fire. It’s so overwhelming and so powerful… it just about takes me over.”



Naruto smiled, looking out the window. He watched as his wife played in the sand and dirt with their son. “It’s like every time you see her, she only gets more and more beautiful,” he whispered.



Sasuke clapped, standing. “Exactly!”



Naruto stood with him. “Then you know what you need to do,” he told his old friend.



“But I don’t have the guts to say these things to Ino,” Sasuke replied. “She IS still my wife, after all.”



“So… you’re just going to keep going, having a secret affair with your wife’s archenemy?” he asked.



Sasuke nodded. “Damn right.”



Naruto snorted. “You’re a coward.”



“Damn right,” Sasuke said, leaving the house.

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Hinata opened the front door of their home, Yume right at her heels.



“Oh,” she said, her hand on her hip. “Ino.”



“Hinata, I don’t know what to do!” she cried out, stepping inside. “He told me he was out with the guys tonight, but Lee and Naruto are out sparring! I know because I saw them at the training grounds! So where is he?”



Hinata shrugged, rolling her eyes at Ino’s back. “I don’t know, Ino.”



Ino suddenly growled. “Oh, I know where he’s at,” she mumbled, an angry look passing over her face. “He’s at that skank Sakura’s house!”



Hinata coughed. “Now, calm down, Ino, I’m sure he’s not over there! He must be at the bar or something! Did you try there?”



Ino sighed. “No, no, I didn’t. Thanks, Hinata. I was about to make a serious mistake. I’ll go look at the bar for him. I’m sorry for the disturbance.”



Hinata smiled at her. “No problem. Good night, Ino, and happy hunting.”



Ino nodded at her.



Hinata sighed in relief as she shut the door behind her.



Yume tilted his head, watching his mother. “Why did you lie to Mrs. Uchiha like that?”



“Because,” she answered. “We’re trying to protect Mr. Uchiha and Sakura. And we can’t do that if they get caught.”



“Mom, you’re teaching me bad things,” he replied, walking into his room. “Did you know that?”



She sighed, patting his back. “Yes,” she answered. “I know.”

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They lay in bed together at that exact moment, Sakura’s head on Sasuke’s chest, her arm wrapped loosely around his bare waist. With her finger, she traced every wrinkle, every muscle, every imperfection in his side and smiled.



“What are you gonna do if Ino finds out about us?” she asked him.



“I don’t know,” he answered. “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”



“What are we doing here?” she asked him, sitting up. “I mean, what happened to that man who was saying before ‘Screw my feelings for Sakura, I’ll stick by tradition!’”



He laughed and sat up, leaning against the wooden headboard. “I did NOT say that.”



She now had a very put out expression on her face. “Well, you didn’t, but that’s basically what it all boils down to.”



He stood and began to dress. Sakura just sat there on the edge of the bed and watched him with quiet eyes.



Sasuke glanced at her as he buttoned his shirt up. “What’s the matter?” he asked her.



She shook her head abruptly. “Nothing.”



“No,” he told her, sitting down on the bed beside her. “You’ve got that upset, pinched look on your face. That means something’s wrong.”



She turned her head slightly and looked up at him, her eyes catching the light suddenly, and he noticed just how alive she looked.



Sakura whispered, “Are you going?”



Sasuke held his breath for a moment, staring at her. “Yes,” he answered. Then, snapping out of it, he stood and started for the door of the small, simple bedroom.



“Sasuke?”



He turned to look at her one more time. She was standing now, her head tilted slightly the left. Her long, sleek, bright pink hair hung long enough to curtain sharply around her thin, slender frame, covering her bare body. Her bright eyes shone in the light fiercely, and it took him a moment to realize it wasn’t her eyes that were shining. ‘It’s not her eyes at all,’ he thought.



“When you leave Ino,” she started to ask him, “are you going to have the guts to turn around and say that you don’t love her like you loved her yesterday?”



He held his breath once more. He shook his head. “I have no idea.” He left to return to his family. She turned, still not satisfied, and returned to bed.

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A/N: Yea, my main inspiration for this WHOLE friggin’ chapter was, you guessed it, “I Don’t Love You,” by My Chemical Romance. It’s on their new album, and I found the music video on both Myspace and Youtube. Yep, it’s official; I am an Internet junkie. Ah, who cares? G’night, folks.