Our Eyes Met

Fifteen

"(Name), wait !" Naruto yelled after her, but he realized that she wasn't going to stop.

He turned to Sasuke and held him by the collar of his shirt. "Are you happy now ? Isn't this what you wanted ?" said Naruto, bitterly.

Sasuke struggled out of his hold but stood rooted to his place. He glared at Naruto, and then looked down at his feet.

"At least, let me finish." he said.

Naruto scowled but nodded at him to continue anyway.

"I was going to stop this. I realized it wasn't right. When I asked people to bully her, I only heard it from them that it happened, and never from her. I had decided that I would get it to stop once she tells me--"

"Oh, so you wanted to be her hero ? After you yourself were behind all of this, how could you even think that ?" Naruto yelled at him.

Sasuke took a deep breath and continued. "I saw it myself one time and, well, I felt really bad. It was so horrible to see her having problems, knowing that she was having problems, and being the reason behind them. And yet she would come smiling to me." said Sasuke.

"That is because she is a better person than you are !" said Naruto, poking Sasuke's chest.

Sasuke was getting angry but he was not going to snap at Naruto, because he knew that Naruto was right. In fact, he deserved being beaten up by Naruto for being a jerk to her.

Sasuke let out a shaky breath and leaned against the wall. "I saw that it was going way out of control. That day, you said some guys threatened her--"

"Wait, so you were behind that, too ? No wonder you didn't answer when I called you." Naruto yelled and grabbed Sasuke's collar again, pushing him up against the wall. He was trying so hard to not punch the daylights out of him, because then this matter would come out and they could get suspended for fighting on school campus. Of course, it wouldn't be Naruto's first suspension but it would be Sasuke's first and Naruto know how much Sasuke cared for his reputation.

Also, Naruto felt that he could never seriously beat his best friend up.

"No !" said Sasuke immediately. "I wouldn't do that. Why would I do that ? Oh, God, that is way too much. I found out that the people I told to bully her told these people to go mess with her. But I never asked them to !" said Sasuke. He was already losing his cool.

Naruto groaned at let him go. He slid down the wall beside Sasuke with his face in his hands. He rubbed his face and took deep breaths, to calm himself down.

"I kind of messed up, didn't I ?" asked Sasuke softly, sensing that Naruto had calmed down.

But suddenly, Naruto got up and punched Sasuke. Sasuke groaned and stumbled back against the wall, holding his bleeding nose which he was sure had broken.

"Kind of ? You totally messed up !" Naruto yelled. "What if she never told you about this ? What if she never told you that other students were disturbing her ? Would you have kept this drama going on forever ? Or, at least, until she couldn't take it anymore and shifted schools ?" he said.

Sasuke looked down at his feet. Itachi's words were floating in his mind. He had said that Sasuke would regret it. And he was right.

Sasuke felt that he should have just listened to his brother, the wiser one of the Uchiha brothers, and just stopped it while he could. He should have stopped it before it was too late.

"I think I should apologize to her." he said.

"You think ?! You definitely should !" Naruto pushed him in the direction (Name) ran off. "Now, go."

Sasuke looked back at him and then started jogging ahead, not too loudly because the classes were still going on and he did not want to be caught skipping.

"And I'm sorry for your nose." Naruti said, and gave Sasuke an apologetic smile.

Sasuke waved him off. "I deserved it." he said.

After going to the infirmary, Sasuke went to (Name)'s class first. The nurse had asked him a lot of questions about his nose, but he simply said that he ran into a wall.

Sasuke peeked inside the class quietly, without catching attention of the teacher inside. But (Name) wasn't in there.

He went up to the old Chemistry Lab. But, of course, she wasn't there either. (Name) was smart, he knew that. She would never go ti the obvious places.

Sasuke then checked the library. He even went behind the bookshelves and looked under the table, but he did not find her there either. He asked the students in the library if they had seen her, but they simply shook their heads. Sasuke even got some questioning looks because of his nose but he didn't mind it.

Then he went to the bench behind the school building. The area was isolated as usual. He checked the gym, the ground, went through every floor in the building, and even sneaked into the girls' washroom.

But he did not find her.

He had started to panic and thought that maybe she had left and gone straight home. If she had, then he was sure she wasn't going to let him in. Then he realized that he hadn't checked one place.

He raced up the stairs and pushed the door open and went on the roof. There, he saw (Name), sitting near the railing and sobbing quietly. Just as his eyes fell on her, she turned to look at him too. Her eyes widened when she took in the sight of his nose but she looked away quickly.

Sasuke ran over to her and kneeled down in front of her. "I'm so sorry, (Name)." he said, reaching out to wipe her tears.

She slapped his arms away. "That's wonderful. Do anything you want and then just say that you're sorry. As simple as that." she said and narrowed her eyes at him.

"I really mean it." said Sasuke. "I didn't realize what I was doing. And now that I do, I wish I could take it all back."

"But you can't." she said bitterly. "Now, go away. I don't want to have anything to do with a snobby brat like you who doesn't care about other people and their feelings." she said.

"But--"

"You know what, Sasuke ? I had started to like you. I thought you were a nice person. But you just crushed my feelings." she said.

Sasuke just stared at her. He was speechless. He realized that he had broken her heart without even letting her tell him what she felt.

"I don't ever want to see your face again." she said and grabbed her bag and left.