𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆, 𝘏𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘓𝘰𝘸

𝟬𝟭𝟴 𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦

Sakura had left Oya Kou after talking with Murayama, her best friend promising her that he'll get Daruma to join them and form the SWORD alliance to protect White Rascals.

She had been on her way out the gate when she had encountered him again.

Her breath had went short and feet slowed down upon spotting his lone figure waiting by the gate. She had wanted him to say it, wanted him to tell her about his feelings so she could tell him she reciprocated them, she had wanted to hear the words from him in all their sweetness, wanted to feel the joy wash over her, yet she hadn't been able to feel anything like that.

She hadn't been able to relish in the feeling of happiness of his confession, she hadn't even been able to hold onto that moment for longer than a minute.

The situation was overwhelming for her to actually realise the severity of his words.

Sakura knew she hadn't been fully able to register the words due to the concern she was feeling for her brother overpowering her mind. The burdening panic and concern that Sakura held in her mind was unparalleled to anything, her whole life she had been guilt ridden of ruining her brother's life just because of her mere existence, the fact that Rocky had to give up on his dreams, aspirations, friends and hopes to raise her like a parent weighed down at her to such extent she had made her life to revolve around her brother just to feel some sort of validation of not being an absolute ungrateful little shit.

When Todoroki had asked her to stay and not go back to her brother, she had not been able to make out his masked concern or his feelings towards her, rather she had felt as if he was restricting her from her duties, holding her back from something that she had made her life mission.

Forget comprehending the words about him liking her, Sakura had been on the verge of punching him on the face for even thinking about making her stay.

Todoroki looked messy leaning by the gates, Messier than Sakura had ever seen him. His glasses no where to be seen, shirt slightly crumpled and hair looking as if he multiply run his hands through it. Upon spotting her figure walking towards the gates, he had straightened himself and closed the distance between them, coming to stand face to face infront of her.

There was nothing but silence between them, silence as he stared at her with those same fond eyes that she found herself wanting to be trained on her 24/7, yet those fond eyes filled with sadness were currently something she wanted to escape.

"Can't I convince you to stay?" His words looked as if they physically pained him, as if his heart was physically aching inside him.

You can.

Sakura didn't voice out the words, not wanting to let him know just how much power he held over her, because of Todoroki tried convincing her, he would definitely be successful.

He was a guilty pleasure something that she needed to stay away from but had found herself knee deep in. If he asked her just one more time to walk away with him and not return to the fight, Sakura was afraid she would agree. Afraid that she would drop everything to seek refuge in his arms, afraid she'd let her brother fight another war just to have Todoroki's eyes trained on her, afraid she'd let her gang collapse just to stay inside the protected walls of his apartment.

Instead she gave him a sad smile. A sad smile as she slightly leaned forward and spoke, "Wait for me, okay?"

He understood, he understood the unspoken words, realising just what she meant when she didn't give him a clear answer. So instead of pushing forward, he took a step back, he nodded with an ached look, "I'll wait for you."

He'd wait for her till forever.

Sakura made him feel emotions that he had never felt in his life, she gave him such immense joy by just her appearance he could wait for her a whole millennia if she asked. She was something he had never seen anywhere before, something that was just a once in a lifetime experience that he wasn't ready to give up on. Maybe that made him borderline obsessed, but for Sakura he was ready to be a crazy obsessed person just to see her smile at him.

Sakura leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his waist in a tight hug, engulfing him tightly as she hid her face in his chest. Todoroki slowly wrapped his arms around her back, his head head coming to rest on her shoulder as he closed his eyes and relished in the feeling of her in his arms.

"I'll be back before you know it. Just wait a little while." With that she broke away the hug, gave him another smile before rushing away.

He watched her as far as his vision would go. Watching her figure rush away, he sighed. He'd wait for her, Todoroki Yosuke would wait for Sakura Mutsugi, even if it took a millenium for her to come back. He'd still wait for her.

Author's note

This chapter was initially 2000 words long, but Wattpad ended up fucking with me again 🥲 half of it was all of a sudden erased so I had to write it again and with all the deadlines i currently have to complete it was a little hard to write a long chapter😔 I'll publish extra chapters on the weekends please forgive my unprofessional behaviour due to Wattpad being shit😞

Also if anybody wants to know where Ren is knowing all these Yakuzas from? And what his connection with Suzuran and Ryu is, head over to the other book on this series called 'Love on the brain' everything would be cleared up over there soon😌