Damaged Pieces (SasuSaku AU)

I. Introductions

DAMAGED PIECES: INTRODUCTIONS

Stamps are funny. For more times than not, they give you the wrong idea of people.

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Sakura couldn't care less about the looks Kai's fiancée was giving her. It was nothing new then, nothing new now. She was indifferent to the woman. Just like she was to everyone else. Perhaps, her mother, Mebuki Haruno, was the only someone she could call an exception.

"So what I was saying was that we make some space for Sakura to-"

"I'll stay in the college dorm. Its closer and convenient", Sakura cut her brother off.

"But Sak-"

"Kai, if this is what she wants, then we shouldn't interfere. Sakura is a grown woman who can make her own decisions.", said Naneko, Kai's fiancée.

It was obvious to Sakura she was unwanted here. And she wouldn't be a burden to anyone.

"Okay then. You can visit anytime.", he sighed.

Later on, she went to ask her mother the one question she had been itching to ask yet again. Sakura had been begging Mebuki for it since she got out of jail. They had searched and searched for answers but came up blank. Some traces had come up but other than that, nothing. The trail had gone cold just a few months after she was put in jail. She got out a whole two years ago.

*

Sakura had found there was a school for the deaf and dumb, just next to the college building. It was part of the college's initiative to help, they told her.

She stood there talking in hand signs to the kids till she was late for class. Maybe she could find some refuge in spending time with these innocent young children.

As she walked away from the main building and out towards the school, one thought and one thought only, kept eating at her.

Sakura, honey, we tried. We tried so hard to find her. But we couldn't. She disappeared along with whoever the guy was. I am so so sorry, sweetie.

Her heart felt strangely clenched remembering the words that had been repeated to her many times over the past few years.

She felt a tug at her hand and looked down to see one of the kids from the special school pulling her hand. She kneeled to be at eye level with him.

He made handsigns to tell her he needs help. And off she went with her ever so kind heart, to pluck him and his friends some apples.

*

Later on, walking towards the dorm, she stopped to grab a coke from the vending machine. Her thoughts were occupied with everything. Everything about the mess her life has been so far.
As she turned a corner, Sakura harshly bumped right into another girl.

"Ow. Sorry. I wasn't looki-"

Sakura stopped talking. No, this was definitely not a girl. Because she found herself staring right into a pair of cold dark eyes belonging to a guy who was... very handsome, she noticed. Sakura thought he could be the hearthrob of girls everywhere. Not that he affected her at all.

She noticed his fine brow twitching and realized she was staring. Sakura blinked. She would normally never do that, but just something about him felt familiar. As if she should know him.

"Um, do I know you?", she asked the annoyed looking man.

He rolled his eyes. And right there, Sakura disliked him instantly. It was a genuine question. She wasn't hitting on him.