Verses of a Broken Heart

I've seen too many SasuNaru attempts where Sakura's either neglected entirely, or her character is brutally mutilated, and the poor girl is forced into the role of the evil villainess. Well, since everyone and their little sister (or mother, as the case may be) has written a SasuNaru, I figured I'd write Sakura's end of it, and try to do the girl some justice.

And, once again, no I'm not going into the gritty details of Sasuke and Naruto's relationship. If you're interested in the yaoi, there's plenty of it elsewhere in the archives, I'm sure.

Verses of a Broken Heart: Chapter One

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Have you ever had a time when it feels like the world is laughing at you? As if nothing you could do would save you from being the eternal cosmic joke? There's no feeling more painful in the world, I think, barring that dibilitating lonliness that Gaara and Naruto had to live through.

Although I think I'm beginning to understand how they felt.


She felt the knife that pierced her chest give a nasty twist, burying itself a little deeper as she looked on numbly. A black, gaping emptiness had replaced her heart, sucking the warmth from her as she watched, forgotten, from the doorway. If Sasuke and Naruto had noticed her prescence, they never showed it, as they were too busy being wrapped up in each other. So, she simply dropped the report on a discarded chair and left.

It was as if the ground had dropped out from under her, taking her stomach with it. Of course she'd heard the rumors, who hadn't? But yet, there had always been that faint trace of hope that Sasuke would someday love her. A small part of her felt betrayed by Naruto, who had grown to be something of her little brother over time. For the most part, though, the icy numbness had prevailed. Her appetite had dropped off to nearly nothing, though she forced herself to eat so she could stay healthy.

When looking back on it, she had to laugh at how stupid she must have seemed to everyone. Naruto didn't have the heart to tell her, and Sasuke didn't care. Ino had tried to tell her, but Sakura had defended the boys with a passion. Which made her feel worse in the end when she stumbled in on the truth.

The missions still came, and she accepted them, as it gave her a break from working at the hospital. Over time, Naruto and Sasuke began to notice the shift in her mood. Scolding and swift punches didn't come when Naruto was being particularly tactless, and she could feel their gazes following her as she ignored Sasuke's blithe condescending remarks. It was a few months after she found out, and they were two days out on an escort mission when Naruto confronted her about it.

Sakura didn't acknowledge his prescence until he stood next to her. Her voice was calmer than she thought it would be when she spoke. "It's my watch, you don't have to be out here for another few hours."

He shifted uncomfortably next to her, his inability to hold still doubling at the silence. "Sakura, you aren't sick, are you? I mean, you haven't been yourself lately. You sure you're feeling okay?"

"I'll be fine. How're things with you and Sasuke?"

The breif widening of his eyes, the almost shocked expression told her volumes. Turning on him, arms crossed over her chest, she met his eyes full on. "When were you planning on telling me?"

He had the grace to look uncomfortable as she bored into him with her gaze. He ran his fingers through his hair, grimacing. "I - we didn't want to hurt you, we were trying to figure out how to tell you, really we were."

"I'm not a child Naruto, don't coddle me. The whole village knows, and you waited to tell me? I wish you'd told me sooner. Go sleep, Naruto, we've got a long day tomorrow." She turned away, and that was that.


Once the mission was over, she locked herself in her room. Tears of frustration poured down her cheeks, and she was unable to quell the flow. Her life had revolved around two constants, and it felt as if they'd shoved her out of their lives. It wasn't true, but that sick jealousy rotted in her soul all the same. The only thing she could hope for was that she could get over it so that they could be happy.


It's not so bad, I think. Ignoring my feelings becomes easier all the time, and things are back to normal. Well, I try to keep it that way, at least. There are still some times when I catch myself watching them. Coming to terms with rejection is a painful process, but I think I can handle it. At least I hope so, at any rate. Being reminded of your failures daily gets to be too much sometimes.


A part of her always rebelled, even as she accepted them on the outside. The whispering at the back of her mind, that tiny, treacherous little voice always haunted her, whenever she looked at them.

Look at them. That could've been you. Would've been you. Should have been you. But she pushed it back, knowing in her heart she'd never be able to fully get rid of it, but smiled for Naruto's sake, as Sasuke didn't care. He was happy, so why should he care what she thought? He never had in the first place, right?

Failure. It whispered to her in the night. Failure.


She was the only one who knew she sometimes cried herself to sleep from the sheer frustration of it all. And she'd keep it that way until the grave.

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A/N: Comments and crits are always appreciated, and flames amuse me. And yes, there's at least one more chapter in the works, so never fear.