Hello, people! I am back! I am so sorry for not updating sooner because honestly I've been so busy these past two weeks, especially because this week was finals. I worked so late studying for finals that today I slept until like 12:30. But I set to work today because I wanted to give you guys a chapter so I spent all day writing this. I hope you guys enjoy it. Huhehuehuehue. So here is chapter 21!

            Sasuke stood still in shock as Sakura smashed her lips against his, but it didn't take him long to respond. He cupped the back of her neck, pulling her closer. She gripped his shoulders hard, moving up against his body so that there was nothing separating them except for their clothes. Sasuke's inner was going wild in his head, fighting for control. Sasuke was ready to give in to him too, his mind fuzzy as it felt like it was merging with Sakura's. He felt like they were melting into each other, and was reminded randomly of the yin yang sign Mina loved so much.

            He was exhilarated; it was unlike anything he had ever felt before, but of course the pessimist in him had to go and ruin it: what was he doing? He hadn't even confirmed that she was his mate yet. He hadn't seen a scar. What if this was all a farce and he would end up being horribly alone again after having let her in? He never wanted to feel that way again.

            He forced his inner down with some difficulty, and pushed Sakura away hard, stumbling back. Her cheeks were flushed as she breathed heavily, looking at him with confused green eyes. She stepped closer to him, but Sasuke panicked and yelled, "DON'T COME CLOSE ANY CLOSER!"

            She flinched back at his tone, and stayed rooted to her spot.

            "Sasuke-kun, what's—" she started, but he didn't let her continue, fear now controlling his speech.

            "What the hell do you think you're doing coming in here and doing that all of a sudden? Just who do you think you are?!" he yelled.

            "Wha—you kissed me back!" she retorted.

            "Yeah so what? You think that means something?" he yelled, smirking now as he pulled up the familiar wall of cruelty that he had practiced over the years.

            "Of course because now I know that you're my m—"

            He jolted as he realized what she was about to say, and his heart constricted painfully in his chest. It would be all too real.

           "DON'T SAY IT!" he yelled with as much force as he could.

           Sakura shut up, shock and even slight fear evident in her expression. Sasuke's ears picked up movement downstairs, but he didn't care. Words just kept spilling out of his mouth, and he couldn't stop them, or rather, he didn't want to.

           "You think you're so special, huh?" he said even as his door burst open, and Mina and Itachi came in. "You're just some pathetic girl we had to take back with us cause you happened to be a supernatural who can't even control her power. You think just because I saved you, you've become special to me or something. Stop dreaming! You're just—"

            Sasuke stopped as a fist came into contact with his jaw, and he was sent flying into the wall. He looked up from his sprawled position to see a fuming Mina, fist outstretched. She was glaring at him with such loathing that her golden eyes seemed to be glowing. Translucent crystals sprouted up from the floor at her feet, and from her skin, giving her a threatening aura. She straightened and glared down at him. From the corner of his eye, he saw Sakura run out of the room.

            "Ne, Sasuke, who the hell gave you the right to shoot your mouth off like that, huh?" Mine said in a deadly quiet voice. "You're the one who's pathetic, hurting people just because you're too scared to accept that you have a chance to be happy. Everyone around you just wants you to be happy, including Sakura, but if you're just going to make her, you mate's, life miserable, stay away from her."

            And with that said, her crystals retracted, and she stalked out of the room, probably to find Sakura, leaving only Sasuke and Itachi.

           "What? You going to lecture me too?" Sasuke asked snarkily, uneasy under his brother's steady gaze.

           "No, I think she said everything you needed to hear," Itachi said, turning to leave, but he stopped, looking over his shoulder. "I'm disappointed in you, Sasuke."

           His words pierced Sasuke as if he'd been shot with an arrow, and he looked down in shame, listening to his brother's retreating footsteps. Mina and Itachi's words echoed in his head, Sakura's hurt face at the forefront of his mind. He was an asshole. He buried his head in his hands, and gritted his teeth, his eyes stinging. What the hell was wrong with him? Why did he push everyone away?

            It's because you're a coward, his inner said in a dejected voice.

            Yeah, that was it. He was a coward.

            After Mina punched Sasuke, Sakura couldn't bear to even look at his face anymore. His words had been like a punch to the gut to her, it total contrast to how she had felt when he had kissed her back. Just like Hinata had described, it had felt like they were melting into each other, like they were two halves of a whole. There had been a desperation to how he had kissed her, and she could practically taste his loneliness, which was why she had been so surprised when he had pushed her off of him. His words and his actions didn't correlate at all, and she couldn't wrap her head around his behavior. It was all too confusing for her.

            Tears ran down her face as she tore out of the house. Her chest was tight. What was this feeling? She'd never felt this before. Was it supposed to be painful to have a mate? Since she was pretty sure he was her mate. All of this was just too much. She wanted to get away. Somewhere. Anywhere. She wanted to go home, to Shizune, but... that was impossible. She was dead.

            She didn't know where she was running, but she didn't want to stop. The burning she felt in her legs and the wind rushing through her hair distracted her. Eventually though, she had to stop, or else she feared her lungs would explode. She slowed and looked around. She had no idea where she was. She was in a part of Konoha she had never been to before, the stone heads looming above her. As she stared up at them, she wondered what had become of them, the previous Hokage. She couldn't imagine being responsible for the lives of everyone in the village on top of her own. She was barely even managing her own...

            Her eyes stung again, and her throat closed in on itself. She sank down against the wall of a building, and buried her face in her knees. It was dark out now, and slightly chilly, but Sakura didn't really care as she simply cried her heart out. Sometimes crying was really the only way to let out your emotions, otherwise you would just stay a tense ball of feelings that was constantly on edge. So, she cried. She didn't know how long she cried, but when she was finally done, she felt a whole lot better, and she was now very aware of how cold it had become. She stood up and wiped her face, looking around. Just as she did so, a familiar voice yelled, "Sakura-chan!"

            She looked to her right to see Naruto coming towards her, Mina and Itachi right behind him. He stopped in front of her, looking at her apologetically. He opened his arms to her, and she understood, going to hug him. Naruto was warm whereas Sasuke was not, and though she felt comforted in his arms, it didn't have the same feeling of security she had when she was in Sasuke's, making this situation all the more bitter.

            "I'm sorry about Sasuke," he said into her hair. She shook her head in his chest, telling him it wasn't his fault. He pulled away from her as Mina now took her turn to hug her.

            "Ignore what Sasuke said, none of it is true," she said firmly. "You're a strong girl to have been through what you've been through and still be holding it together. Sasuke's just being an asshole."

            Itachi nodded to punctuate his mate's point, and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

           "He'll come around," he said, smiling at her. "And when he does, he'd better have one heck of an apology prepared or this time, I'll be the one to punch him."

             Sakura giggled despite herself and smiled at all of them.

            "Thank you, guys."

            "Of course!" Mina said. "We're family now, but we should get going before Mikoto has a fit when she gets home from her date night with Fugaku with all of us gone."

            Sakura laughed, picturing the gentle Uchiha running around the house trying to figure out what happened to them. She nodded and they set off. Mina and Itachi walked ahead of them, hand in hand as they spoke in low tones. Sakura saw Mina giggle and push Itachi gently and smiled at the cute couple. That was what she wanted, that level of complete comfort with another person.

            "Listen, Sakura," Naruto started, making her turn to look at him.

            Mina had apparently gone to fetch Naruto to help her find Sakura because he could smell her. He was now walking her home because she knew he wanted to give Sasuke a piece of his mind, which she was not opposed to at the moment.

            "Hm?" she asked.

            "Sasuke... Sasuke's been alone for a long time," he started, looking angrily down at the ground. "I'm not trying to make excuses for him or anything, but I just want you to try to understand why he's acting this way."

            Sakura nodded, curiosity pushing her anger at said person down.

            "Sasuke didn't used to be so guarded and cold. He was actually a pretty cheery kid, but he was missing something: his mate," he said, looking at her pointedly. "He met her for the first time when he was a baby, but when the Zetsus first attacked, her parents attempted fleeing with her into the forest. They were ambushed and her parents were killed. The baby was said to have died too, but the thing is that they never found the kid's body. They just assumed that she was dead because they found her blood on the scene, and assumed she had died because a baby who had sustained a wound wouldn't survive."

            As she listened to the story, a strange feeling settled in the pit of her stomach.

            "So Sasuke spent his whole life thinking he was going to be alone forever, and then he meets you and his inner says that you're his mate."

            Sakura's heart skipped a beat. She had to be his mate then. She was found in the forest, bleeding, which meant it was more than a possibility that it was her whose parents had been killed and she had been injured. Which meant that Konoha was indeed her home as well as Shizune's. Everything made perfect sense, and yet, Sasuke had still pushed her away knowing all of this.

            Seeming to read her thoughts, Naruto said, "Sasuke's basically developed a wall, a defense mechanism, where he pushes everyone away because he's scared they'll leave him. He's only recently started to stop that and accept the fact that he wouldn't have a mate the rest of his life, but with your arrival, he's having to rethink everything again.

            "Think of Sasuke as a wild animal," he explained. "If you approach him too aggressively, he'll get scared and attack, which is why you have to approach slowly and with caution, worm your way in until he can't push you away anymore. Although the way I did it was that I was just super persistent... but that's not the point." He shook his head quickly.

            What seemed to be a memory from long ago came to her mind, and she remembered the black flower she had seen, the one that had thorns all over itself, the one that seemed wouldn't dare stretch up to the sun and join the other flowers.
"No, he's a flower," she said aloud.

            "What?" Naruto asked, looking confused.

            "Never mind," she said.

            She smiled to herself; she felt like she finally understood Sasuke. Being persistent, huh? Naruto was right, if she just gave up after one verbal lash out, she would get nowhere. So, she would keep at it, she would make Sasuke reach up towards the sun because like it or not, he wasn't alone anymore, and neither was she. 

So???? Thoughts?? Isn't Sasuke such an asshole? But there wouldn't be drama without his difficult personality so... Anywho, what are your predictions, guys? What is the fate of Sasusaku? I liked writing this chapter, so thank you for reading. I'm going to go watch Fullmetal Alchemist now, so I'm cutting this short, but please do stay tuned for next time. The next chapter of Dragon Boy and Princess should be coming out in the next couple days, so for those who read that as well, you won't have to wait for much longer. So see you guys next time! Ja ne!