CHAPTER 20: Before a Beautiful Tomorrow

A/N: Heyoo there~ I forgot to thank you all for another thousand and five hundred plus reads! Thank you so so much, dattebayo! 🤗(Naruto claiming his copyright on "dattebayo" in the background)(^_^;)Also, this is just a reminder, but there will be sensitive content throughout the book, and I will put the signs only for extreme cases.Anyways, enjoy! (^3^)

~●~●~●~ SASUKE'S POV

I remember embarrassingly passing out in the hallway in front of Kakashi... so what am I doing here?

I was standing a few steps away in front of my house. The wooden door was locked as usual, and I couldn't see any lights shining through the window, which meant that Father wasn't home.

I walked to the front door and opened it softly out of habit. I stepped in with a light foot when I heard that dreadful voice again.

"Welcome home, Sasuke."

I turned around to see Father standing in the dark corridor.

It's just like yesterday...

Yesterday's events were repeating themselves in the perfect chronological order. First, he mentioned Sakura, then showed that dangerously beautiful picture of me and Naruto together on Father's phone.

It's a dream...

I realized and almost relaxed, but that was a mistake.

"Oh~ Now you know you're dreaming, huh?"

Father spoke with a cold voice, sending a chill down my spine. I was trembling even in my dream. My breathing was agonizingly fast as I still held onto the knob tightly in my hands. However, even inside my head, I was unable to gather the courage to escape.

"You can't escape from me, Sasuke."

Father said as he suddenly was behind me. Like yesterday, he shoved my head against the wall and dragged me by my hair to the cell.

He'll kill me...

"Damn right."

Father replied to my thoughts as I once again felt the knob slip away from my reach.

It's okay, you'll wake up soon, Sasuke.

I tried to calm myself because I could feel the pain coursing within me whenever I breathed too fast. I knew Father would kill me in this dream and that I was going to wake up soon.

Why?

Because even a dream doesn't know what to show after death...

~●~●~●~

Kakashi and Iruka were having their little chit-chat when they suddenly heard noises coming from Sasuke's ward. They stopped talking to confirm if what they heard was real when loud heaving sounds began filling the silence on the entire floor.

"Shit!"

Iruka stood up and rushed to the ward with Kakashi following him closely. Iruka slammed the door open, and they were met by a heartbreaking sight.

In front of them was Sasuke, who was panting and squirming in his sleep. His movements were not helping with his injuries.

"His wounds will reopen if he keeps moving around like this. Come with me."

Iruka said to Kakashi as they sprinted to Sasuke's bed. Kakashi was tasked with pinning the raven's hands down by his sides while Iruka was supposed to wake him up.

"Sasuke! Wake up!"

They could see the small amount of tears leaking from his closed eyes. It pained them to see the young boy like this. It angered them to think that they couldn't do anything to help him.

"SASUKE!"

Iruka moderately shook the raven's slender body by his shoulders, causing Sasuke to wake up, breaking the curse of his nightmare.

His eyes shot open, but his panting hadn't subsided as he was scared that maybe he actually died.

He hurriedly sat up, ignoring his pain as he moved his hands all over his body. He touched his limbs, his stomach, his face, and lastly, he hesitantly placed his palm over his chest, under which he could feel his heart beating.

'I am... alive.'

He let out a shaky breath as he loosened his limbs and back, slumping forward only to realize that his body was still throbbing. He muffled his cries as he tried to lie back down when he felt a tender touch on his back.

He lifted his eyes to see that Iruka and Kakashi were standing beside him, their faces laced with worry. It was only then that he realized that he was actually at Iruka's place.

"W- What am I doing here?"

He asked as soon as the entire situation became clear as day in his head.

"Well, I brought you here since you fell unconscious."

Kakashi informed him.

'Fuck... this means that I was marked absent today... What will I say to father? Do I make an excuse? Do I tell the truth? Shit...'

Sasuke went silent and numb realizing that he had no way to escape his punishment since Fugaku wanted Sasuke to even have a 'perfect attendance'.

"I'll take care of your attendance, don't worry."

The silver-haired man said, making the raven look up to him, his dull eyes filled with hidden admiration for the older male.

"Thank you, Kakashi... and Dr. Umino."

Kakashi smiled at once again being called only Kakashi by the young Uchiha.

Sasuke sighed as he tried to stand up, but as soon as he lifted himself from the bed, he stumbled and fell back on it with an "ugh."

"Where do you think you're going?"

Kakashi scolded in his usual monotonous voice. He did not wear any expressions, but internally, his emotions were all over the place on seeing his "son" in this state.

"I need to get to school, Kakashi. You know that better than anybody else."

Sasuke spoke, looking Kakashi in the eye. To anybody else, Sasuke's expression might have looked rude, but Kakashi knew exactly what that look meant.

'Let me go, or I'll be in huge trouble yet again.'

Kakashi sighed and nodded in reply. Iruka was about to protest when Kakashi held his hand and slightly pulled it back, signaling the doctor to let him go.

Sasuke gradually stood up, picked up his bag from the sidetable, and left for school after giving his final bow to the two men.

As much as Iruka and Kakashi wanted him to take a good rest, they understood that Sasuke had his own way of managing things and that he was too stubborn to let them interfere. So, all they could ever do for the raven-haired boy was bandage his wounds.

Sasuke hurried back to the school as he could still make it to the last lesson. But importantly, he had something he desperately needed to do.

*TIME SKIP* AFTER SCHOOL, INSIDE THE CLASSROOM~

Everybody had left since the school bell had rung ten minutes ago, leaving only two students behind.

Sasuke was standing in front of Sakura's desk with his hands clenched into fists inside his pockets while she sat on her chair looking at her crush with her green eyes glistening due to unshed tears.

"Why the hell would you take my picture? Are you a stalker?"

He almost snarled at his pink-haired classmate.

"S-Sasuke-kun, don't you think it's me who should be angry? *sniffles*"

She said as she rubbed the corner of her eyes with her fingers.

"Yeah, right. The stalker should be angry at the one she is stalking? Talk sense at the very least..."

Sasuke might have talked calmly but made no attempts to hide the rage in his voice. Sakura flinched at his tone as more tears began flowing down her cheeks, but she continued her with explanation.

"Sasuke-kun, you're so mean! I just wanted to eat ramen, but then I happened to spot you cheating on me. So, I wanted to ask you what this was about and sent those pictures I took to you to ask-"

"We were never dating, Sakura. Please, just leave me alone."

Sasuke felt defeated. The entire picture was now crystal clear to him. He now knew how his father got those photographs.

He remembered that he had opened his chats on his laptop since his phone was charging. He had forgotten to log out in a hurry due to the excitement of hanging out with his blond crush.

'Father must've come in too early that day. He must've heard the notification go off...'

He sighed at his own stupidity, but that did not mean he was any less angry at Sakura. He was just glad that he had decided to always delete his chats with Naruto so his father wouldn't see them just in case he was careless, like yesterday.

Sakura knew that Sasuke was quite mad at her, so she thought to use one of her killer moves.

She coughed to bring Sasuke out of his thoughts, succeeding in her attempt. When she knew Sasuke was looking at her, she pushed her pink hair behind her ear, grabbing a strand of her hair along the way. She slightly turned her head and began seductively twirling the strand in her hand.

'He won't be able to resist this! SHANNAROO!'

Her internal monologue was interrupted when Sasuke spoke in his usual distant voice with his signature scowl.

"This would work better on Ino. To me, you look disgusting."

Sakura's hands dropped as soon as she heard it. She looked up at him with an expression Sasuke would define as 'a tinge of hope mixed with disappointment wrapped in surprise'.

They stayed there in a long, awkward silence before he sighed and turned around to leave. However, Sakura spoke once again, causing him to stop in his tracks.

"Sasuke-kun... what is so great about that baka Naruto? No matter how I see it, he is a complete idiot and-"

"First of all, Sakura, he is your sensei, so you better respect him. Second, you just proved why he is better."

Sasuke began walking again, leaving the crying pinkette behind. Respect for elders was, of course, a sensitive and important matter to him. However, the thing that angered him this time was that the insults were hurled at Naruto.

This was the first time someone had insulted Naruto in front of him, and he found that he hated it with passion.

"I'll kill her if she does it again."

He mumbled under his breath as he walked out of the school gates with quick steps, thoroughly pissed off at how his day was progressing when he was suddenly yanked to the side by his hands.

"Wha- Oh, so it's you, dobe."

He looked like he was disappointed that it was Naruto, but that was far from the truth. Naruto had just managed to brighten his day by just pulling him to the side.

'Why is he here?'

Sasuke thought as he looked at Naruto, whose cerulean orbs shined with anger and worry.

"Where were you today?"

He asked, feeling more annoyed than Sasuke was at the moment.

"I didn't even have lunch today, dattebayo."

Naruto continued whining as he pouted and looked away from the hypnotic onyx orbs.

"I- I am sorry. Here, heat it up and eat it at home."

Sasuke said while handing him the bento he had prepared for Naruto that day. Naruto's mood instantly lit up on seeing the bento. He had gotten used to receiving such hospitality from the raven.

"Thanks! Let's hang out again after your exams end!"

Sasuke flinched at the memories of yesterday and the aftermath of their hangout session, but his fear soon faded as he remembered the happiness he felt with the blond.

"Hn, whatever."

He said and smiled a small smile at his favorite blond. They parted ways in front of the gates yet again and headed back to their lives without each other.

*TIME SKIP* INSIDE THE UCHIHA RESIDENCE~

"I am going on a business trip to China tonight."

Fugaku informed Sasuke, who was kneeling extremely close to the fireplace in front of his father, who was seated on a couch with a glass of red wine in his hands. His head was hung low, and he could feel the heat from the fire aggravate his wounds, but he did not dare make a sound.

"I understand, father."

Sasuke was splashed with the red liquid on his face, and soon after, a slap followed.

"How dare you call me father!"

Sasuke could feel his scalp getting wet as drops of wine fell from his bangs onto his face and clothes. He looked up to see his father slumped forward on his couch. He quickly averted his gaze and bowed so low that his head was just centimeters away from the floor.

"I am sorry, sir."

He spoke with an unfazed voice, although he was trembling inside. Fugaku grabbed Sasuke's hair and pulled him up to take a look at his face.

"I'll be gone for a month, or it may take longer. Don't go around getting fucked by guys behind my back, do you understand?"

Fugaku warned the young Uchiha, straining his neck while pulling his hair with a painfully tight grip.

Fugaku yanked his son to the side by his black hair, causing Sasuke to fall sideways on the floor.

"Pathetic slut."

Fugaku snarled, and Sasuke took it as his cue to leave. He quietly treaded upstairs and locked the door behind him as he entered his room.

He went directly for a shower and spent a good 30 minutes inside before carefully redressing his wounds. He plopped on his bed, facing the ceiling.

He took a deep breath before letting today's events sink in. His lips tugged up in a beautiful smile as he finished recalling the events one by one.

'He is leaving tonight... for a month! I guess I can finally breathe.'

He rejoiced in his head before his eyes fluttered closed.

'Tomorrow's going to be better...'

A/N: And Finally!! Sasuke's good times are on the way! I am so happy I was able to write the story till this point, and it's all thanks to you all.(^з^)-☆(Don't let my words deceive you. Everything you see is always more than what meets the eye~) 😉Anyways, see you all in the next chapter!Author sound out ~ ✌🏻