My other half! Sasukex oc. [Slow updates] (under editing)

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The silence at the training grounds was so absolute you could hear the snap of the wind against the trees. Sasuke stood frozen, his eyes fixed on the journal in Asuma's hands, but his mind was miles away, trapped in a memory from a few months prior.

"I knew," Sasuke whispered again, his voice cracking—a sound so rare it made Naruto's anger vanish instantly. "I knew she was falling apart before the Forest of Death even started."

Kakashi stepped closer, his lone eye intense. "What are you talking about, Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked up, his gaze hollow. "It was right after our near-death experience on the bridge. I was training late—nearly midnight—trying to make sure I'd never be that weak again. I was walking home when I saw her."

He looked at Haruto, who was listening with a desperate, pained intensity.

"She was wandering the streets in a thin nightgown," Sasuke continued, his hands trembling. "It was freezing, and she was walking like a ghost. I thought she was crazy, or sick. When I stopped her, she didn't even seem to know where she was. I guided her to the park... I just wanted her to trust me. I told her I cared about her more than just a teammate—that she was the first person I ever saw as a friend."

A sob escaped Sakura's throat. She remembered how close the two had seemed, a bond she had been jealous of, never realizing it was forged in the dark.

"She snapped at me," Sasuke said with a bitter, self-loathing smile. "She asked why I cared. But then... she told me. She told me about the letter, about Zabuza, and the weight her parents put on her. That night... she didn't act like a weapon. She cried. And I held her until she calmed down."

The Hidden Life

Sasuke turned toward the direction of their apartment complex. "I walked her home holding her hand. That's when I realized we were neighbors. Our doors are right next to each other."

He described the next morning—how he had knocked on her door at six a.m. to find a girl with swollen eyes but a meticulously clean home.

"She let me in," he said quietly. "Her place was white and blue—simple, perfect. She made me breakfast. Scrambled eggs and bacon. I remember watching her reach for the seasoning... she was so small. I had to reach over her just to grab the salt and pepper."

Sasuke's voice dropped to a haunted whisper. "I thought she was just malnourished. I thought she had panic attacks because of her father. I even asked her why she didn't tell the Third Hokage while she was in the hospital. She told me she didn't want her father to be hurt any further. She was protecting you, Haruto."

Haruto sank to his knees, his face buried in his hands.

The Breaking Point

"We walked to the bridge together that day," Sasuke finished, his knuckles white as he gripped his own arms. "She told me her mother wanted her gone because she was a 'demon.' She told me she didn't think she was anything special. And I... I took her hands. I rubbed her knuckles to ease her tension until her eyes softened. I made her smile."

Sasuke looked back at the locked door of the apartment in the distance, the weight of his recent words in the hallway now feeling like a physical blade in his chest.

"I was the one person she let in," Sasuke choked out, his voice thick with a self-loathing so deep it silenced the woods. "I saw the girl behind the mask. I saw the girl who made breakfast and looked out for her dad. And yet... back there in the hallway... I called her a monster. I told her she deserved to hear what we thought of her."

He looked at his hands as if they were covered in the same blood Misaki had spilled in the arena.

"I didn't just kick her while she was down," Sasuke whispered. "I betrayed the only person who actually trusted me."