B r o t h e r

•18•

"UNO." Gaara stated, a smug smile on his face.

Sakura sighed, they'd played about six games so far and Gaara had won all of them.

"Let's take a break and get a snack." Sakura said, throwing down her remaining cards with a huff.

Gaara laughed, but agreed with her nonetheless. The two quickly cleaned up the mess of cards, before grabbing some change and making their way to the lobby. The only places the could get food at this hour would be a restaurant outside of the main building, or the vending machine. With Gaara's insistence of not going outside no matter what, the two agreed upon getting some snacks from the vending machine downstairs.

However, as the two descended the stairs they overheard shouting. It was quiet, as if the people involved were trying to whisper but were getting too caught up with their emotions. Gaara and Sakura looked at one another, before slowly making their way down to snoop some more. As they were about halfway down the stair case, Gaara gently grabbed Sakura's arm to stop her. She looked at him for a second, before following his gaze towards the lounge. The view was slightly obscured due to the large chandelier blocking their vision, but Sakura could recognize those two anywhere.

Ino and Shikamaru were arguing.

"Ino, please! It's not like that!"

"You've been hanging out with her so much, there's no way you just slowly 'lost feelings' for me!"

"She has nothing to do with this!"

"Shika, you look at her the same way you looked at me!"

Sakura gasped, before grabbing Gaara's arm and pulling him back upstairs. They could get snacks later, they clearly weren't meant to see what they just saw.

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The next morning, Sakura wasn't surprised to hear the gossip going around the lobby. The outcome of that argument was something she could easily predict, and the way Hinata was anxiously typing away on her phone that morning simply sealed the deal. Ino and Shikamaru had broken up, and everyone thinks it's because Shikamaru fell for another girl. As terrible as that was, Sakura was glad he broke up with her instead of cheating.

She was curious as to who the other girl was, but that was none of Sakura's business. With the way the students in her school gossiped, she's sure she'd overhear that bit of information eventually. With this happening however, she wondered what Sasuke would do. He had told her he wanted to stick by her this weekend to avoid the couple, but now that they've broken up, she wondered if that changed. This would be the perfect time for him to go in and play prince charming, Shikamaru wouldn't be able to be mad considering the situation and Ino would have the boy she dreamed of for almost two years.

The thought, despite being a happy ending for everyone, made Sakura frown. Sasuke dating Ino; just imagining it made her face scrunch up in distaste. Not only that, but if they started dating wouldn't Sasuke no longer have a need for Sakura anymore? He wouldn't sit on the rooftop anymore, or even worse, he'd bring Ino up there with him so the blonde wouldn't have to see Shikamaru. Sakura sighed, she supposed it wouldn't be a happy ending for her.

But when was it ever?

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Sasuke didn't know what to think.

He almost wanted to fight Shikamaru, just staring at the crying blonde before him made anger bubble up in his chest all over again. He knew, after talking to his friend, that it wasn't his fault entirely though. Shikamaru had explained to them long ago that it's been a while since he noticed he no longer felt romantic feelings towards Ino, he no longer wanted to hold her hand, give her goodbye kisses, or even cuddle with her. This breakup was inevitable, but the rumours that another girl was involved is what made Sasuke mad.

Shikamaru and Temari were great friends, they had met last year and their friendship had only gotten stronger since then. It wasn't surprising that Ino thought Temari was involved in this in some way, but Sasuke clearly remembered seeing the other blonde hanging on the arm of a light-haired boy the day before. Obviously, Temari was seeing someone. Despite her friendship with Shikamaru, she had nothing to do with this.

He turned his attention back to what was happening in front of him, as the group tried to console Ino in her and Tenten's room. Shikamaru had chosen to stay in his room, knowing that as of right now it wouldn't be best for him to just show up like everything was normal.

"It's alright Ino, take deep breaths." Hinata encouraged, patting the blondes back.

The blonde nodded, following her friend's suggestion. Despite her breathing slowing down a bit, her tears continued to stream down her face, and her heart still hurt as if it were being crushed.

"I loved him, why was I not enough?" Ino questioned, her question going unanswered.

Sasuke sucked in a breath. Despite the situation, he would be lying if he said he never felt a bit happy about all this. He truly thought he'd be able to just snatch Ino away, as if she wouldn't be completely heartbroken and still head over heels for Shikamaru. He put his hands in his pockets, making sure he had his wallet, before looking back at Ino.

He patted her head, making her look up at him.

"You said you like chocolate pudding, right?" He asked, receiving a slow nod from the girl.

He nodded back, turning to the door. "I'll be back, does anyone else want anything."

Receiving no response, he took that as a no and left the room. Heading down to the lobby, he planned to go to the supermarket just outside of the resort and buy the snack for his blonde love interest. On his way out however, he came across his pink-haired friend.

"Sakura." He greeted.

As she turned around, the person next to her turned around as well. Sasuke felt anger bubble in his chest again, though this one was different. It's not like he would admit it to himself, but the redhead next to Sakura made Sasuke feel jealous.

"Sasuke! What are you doing down here? I thought you'd be with everyone else." Sakura said, looking up at her friend.

Sasuke looked between Sakura and Gaara. "Are you guys going somewhere?"

"No? We were just going to play pool or something." Sakura shrugged.

"Get your jacket."

"What? Why?"

"You're coming with me, I don't want to go alone anyways."

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