Sasuke stood there trying to interpret the words he had just heard. "What?" He said as though trying to make sure he'd heard her correctly.

            "I'm engaged," she repeated, not taking her eyes off him.

            "W, when did this. . ." his voice trailed off.
 

            "Sasuke kun, you don't know what I went through after you left. You didn't say a word; you just suddenly disappeared one day. The whole time, I didn't know if you were even alive! Kakashi sensei kept on insisting that you were only on a mission, that I didn't have to worry, but how was I supposed to know!?" A tear finally fell down her cheek, she brushed it away as she whispered, "I was lonely."

            Sasuke was speechless. He didn't think such words would come from her; this was how she felt all this time? "I waited three years," she continued, seeing he would make no reaction to her previous speech. "Two years ago I was teamed up with a man named Higashino Asahi. He told me I shouldn't wait; I should live my own life. He made me feel like I wasn't alone anymore, and so, it just became that way."

             Sasuke tried to find the words to say when he heard the library door open. "Sakura! You there?" It was a man's voice, and was followed by the sound of footsteps getting louder as the owner of them was coming towards them.

             "Hey, you ready to. . ." the man stopped short. He was quite tall, and he had neat brown hair, not at all spiky like Sasuke's. His eyes were a calm gray, he had the usual ninja costume (what Kakashi and Iruka wear) and he wore his Konoha headband on his forehead. His appearance was basically just an average man.

             "Asahi san you're early!" said Sakura reddening in the cheeks and running to his side.

              "Who is this," said Asahi glaring at Sasuke.

              "Oh, this is, you know that guy I was telling you about," Sakura began.
              

             "Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke interrupted her holding out his hand to Asahi.
            

             "Oh, so you're Sasuke," said Asahi as if he suddenly understood something. "Higashino Asahi," he replied shaking Sasuke's hand with his own.
 The two glared at each other for a while before they finally let go.

             "W, well!" Sakura exclaimed cheerfully sensing the heavy air around her. "I guess we should get going! What are you going to do Sasuke kun?"
 

             "I think I'll go visit some other old friends," Sasuke replied, eyes still on Asahi. "So you two are going on a date?"
 

             "That's right," exclaimed Asahi. "You can come with us to the corner."

              "Thank you, I guess I'll do that."
 

               Sakura sensed that it was going to be a long day.
 

              The three walked in silence until they got to the corner. It was only a two minute walk so there was not much meaning in them going together. Suddenly from behind them they heard a voice, "Sakura!" a girl ran towards them. She was also their age, a quite short girl with short blonde hair, Sasuke could immediately tell that it was Ino. "Oooh, what are you doing with these two hot guys? If you need another girl to make it a double date I'd be more than welcome." She said giggling. "She hasn't changed a bit," Sasuke thought.
 

           "Oh, Ino guess who this is? It's Sasuke kun!" Sakura said pointing at the tall and totally matured Sasuke.

           Ino's jaw dropped and she was speechless. "Sasuke kun?"

           "Well Asahi san and I have to go on our date! You two must have a lot to talk about, we'll leave you guys alone," Sakura quickly exclaimed, grabbing Asahi's arm and dragging him away before he even had time to say goodbye. 

            "You have quite a good nerve coming here after all that time," Ino finally said after about a minute of silence. "It's too late if you're after Sakura again, she's madly in love with that guy."
 

            "I've noticed," said Sasuke, gazing into the distance where Sakura had been walking off just a second ago. It was empty, and he couldn't help but to feel regret for his actions.
 

             Ino stared at his face, and saw that he was regretting what he had done, but after all he had made Sakura go through, she had to be rough with him. "Taking care of Sakura after you were gone was the hardest thing in the world," she said.
 

            "What?" he quickly looked at her.

            "You should have seen how depressed she was," she continued. "She locked herself in her room, not eating for three whole days. I'd gone to persuade her to come out several times, but she wouldn't respond to my screams. All I could hear was crying from inside." Sasuke looked to the ground. Seeing that he would make no remark Ino began again, "she almost seemed like a moving dummy when she finally came out. No facial expressions, not angry, not sad, not happy. She started studying like mad; she had nothing else to do. She was always either in the library or cooped up in her room with books. Naruto tried his best to cheer her up, but all she would do was make a really fake smile and go back to being dummy-Sakura.
 

            "I tried to help her get over it by introducing her to the best guys I could find, but she would only respond to all of them by saying, 'if only he was Sasuke kun.' She was really pathetic, no one could do anything to help her. Then HE came. It was decided that another Chuunin would join group seven; that was Asahi. It was love at first sight for him. She'd refused his dates about ten times until he finally got an ok 'as friends.' He didn't give up, and look at them now, she's completely back to normal." She stopped and looked at Sasuke's face.
 

            It was red with anger, "how could I do something like this!? I left her for five years, and now it's my own fault that she was taken by some other guy." He stopped.

             "Well, you're good looking. There are plenty of fish in the sea, you'll find another one soon enough."
 

            "Yeah, but none are as good as her. She was the first and only person after my family's death that had become important to me. Now I'm alone"
 "

            You should have thought of that before you left, do you think anyone would wait for their boyfriend for five years when they have no contact with them?"
 

            Sasuke clenched his teeth. Ino concluded their talk by saying these sharp words,
 

            "Well one thing's for sure, it's too late now. . ."

-TO BE CONTINUED-