The Surprising Reunion (PRIVATE)

Ryuumaru Shimazu, the 16 year old who wore his grandfather's old Battle Armor, walked through the Leaf Village, pushing people out of his way. As he walked, he saw none other then Sakura Haruno, the old love of his life heading in the opposite direction he was heading. Things between the two were never the same. Ever since they're argument, those words spoken to him by the pink-haired kunoichi, he seemed to have become colder and hateful. He seemed to act like her teammate Sasuke did after he got the Cursed Seal from Ryuumaru's father Orochimaru. He just seemed colder and driven by vengeance, having given in to his hatred. Strangely though, since that day on his birthday, not that she knew that, Sakura had never seen his mother Kimi again and Ryuumaru never bothered telling her why.

Sakura was currently fixing her gloves after she'd just finished clobbering Naruto into next week. "Jeez, if he does that damned Sexy Jutsu one more time he might not live to use it again," She muttered. She fixed her shirt as she looked up and saw none other than Ryuumaru heading her way. 'Oh no...' She thought to herself as she looked down again. She knew she'd been horrible to him, and she'd thought about going to apologise to him so many times but she could never find him. Now, she knew that he hated her but she didn't want it to be that way.

Ryuumaru narrowed his eyes into a glare as he grabbed the back of his neck where his father Orochimaru marked him with the Cursed Seal. Amazingly, despite being under the influence of the Cursed Seal, despite it attempting to control him, he seemed to completely dominate the seal and showed surprising control over himself. Once again, his true amount of hatred for his father being revealed again. He snorted as he passed by her, Sakura being able to see what appeared to be a bouquet of blue roses in his right hand. From what Sakura was told from Ryuumaru, his mother Kimi absolutely loved blue roses, her all time favorite flower. Ryuumaru never told Sakura of what happened to Kimi or why she seemed to completely disappear. However, from where he was going, it appeared he was going to the graveyard for some reason.

"Ryuumaru-San," She slowly called. She used to call him Ryuu-Kun, but she knew she was far past that now. "You can strike me if you want. You were right. Sasuke left and I was stupid to fawn over him," She told him as she turned towards him and shut her eyes, preparing herself in case he took her up on her offer and did actually backhand her across the face. She knew that she deserved it.

Ryuumaru's eyes flashed as he raised his hand and viciously backhanded her across the face. "You're damn right you do you insensitive bitch. You should consider yourself lucky I didn't do anymore" he snarled at her as he turned on his heel and continued on the graveyard without a care that he struck his former friend and his old love.

"Then do it," She replied. "Whatever you wanna do, whatever way you could possibly wish to hurt me, just do it," She shrugged, not wanting to touch the angry red mark he'd left on her cheek. "Please, just let me feel a fraction of the pain you had to feel," She bowed her head, shutting her eyes. "I won't bother you a moment longer if you don't even want to breath the same air as me. I know it'll be hard to believe that I've changed,"

"You have no idea the pain I was going through on that Shinigami-Damned day. You do not deserve anything more. Count yourself lucky I don't do anything else. Now, I need to pay my respects. Follow if you desire, I do not care either way, though it would definitely disturb her if you did come" he said cryptically. Paying his respects? Disturb her? Bringing blue roses that his mother loved? Going to the graveyard? His words and the general direction he was heading was slowly starting to make more and more sense if Sakura was going to put the pieces to the preverbial puzzle together.

She paused for a moment, her eyes widening as she slowly placed the pieces together. The day they fought, he'd seemed to distant, now it made sense why. His mother had passed. She took a step back, bowing to him. "I...Understand. I wouldn't want to disturb her spirit. Nor would I wish to cause any more distress. Just recognise I'm not the spoilt child that I used to be. That's all I'll ask and I'll be gone from your life forever if you so desire," She told him as she turned away, finally rubbing her cheek as it was still very raw to touch.

Ryuumaru paused in his steps, frowning in surprise when she said that. She finally managed to figure it out. "What made it a more crushing day was the fact that was the very day of my birth" he said in a softer tone to Sakura as he continued on his way.

"What you didn't know was I had a gift for you. I was going to give it to you, but then we fought. I still have it," She replied as she turned and jogged up to him, slipping it into his back pocket. "It isn't much but it was all I could afford at the time," She told him with an apologetic tone. It was a rather cheap locket, with a circular shape. Inside, the frame had a picture of Ryuumaru and Sakura on his birthday the year before, Sakura pinning both sides of his mouth up to make him smile.

He pulled out the locket and looked at it. At first, he looked like he was going to crush the locket but before he did so, he really took the time to look at it. He remembered the day the picture was taken. He was upset that day since his mother was forced to remain in bed for the next year because she was too weak and she eventually died. His heart clenched at the memory, seeing his mother's depressed expression when she was physically unable to be a kunoichi anymore. Kimi loved being a kunoichi and for her to know that not only crushed her spirits but his as well.

"It's not much," Sakura murmured. "And you don't have to keep it if you don't want to but it didn't feel right to keep it. You needed to know that I actually did care enough...Even if i was too much of a child to show it," She shook her head then turned her back again. "I do love you though, Ryuumaru. That much has never really changed," She told him quietly as she took a few steps away although she did want to see his reaction, be it good or bad.

Ryuumaru turned away from her, his face hidden but his body started shaking slightly. Any person that had a decent amount of intelligence would know that usually meant someone was crying and Ryuumaru probably was though he made no sound or moved from his spot to show it.

She took a glance over his shoulder, and saw his shaking. She debated whether or not she should go back but, once again, she couldn't bring herself to leave. "Ryuumaru-San," She slowly murmured, raising her hand then rethinking it. He probably wouldn't permit her to touch him. "May I ask what's wrong?" She was being strictly formal now that she was actually standing close to him.

"N-Nothing" he said quickly as he tried to swallow a sob but it still came out as he tried to quickly walk away from her. It was obvious he was crying but he didn't want Sakura to see. He was never the type of person that would cry in front of anyone except for his mother perhaps but she's dead unfortunately.

"Ryuumaru!" She called as she grabbed onto his arm. "You might hate my guts but you KNOW that I still care about you. Always have and I always will," She muttered. "Don't hide things from me. What's wrong?" It was true, she did have some nerve to proceed with all of this but she was determined to make amends for the mistakes that she'd made and this was probably the best, if not the most direct, way to do so.

"Nothing's wrong" he choked out as sobs started escaping from him. It was obvious to Sakura now that he was, in fact, crying. The strong, stubborn, confident, skilled Prince before her, who she has never seen cry or even shed a single tear once, was actually crying.

She shook her head. "You're so stubborn," She sighed as she turned herself so she was in front of him, taking hold of both of his shoulders and pulling him to her, doing her best to reach up and hug him. "So stubborn," She repeated, waiting for him to tear her off of him and backhand her again. She hoped that that moment never came.

"D-Don't hug me. I'm fine" he said as he turned his head away from her so she couldn't see the tears sliding down his face. Even back when they were children, Ryuumaru had never actually cried in front of her. Even on the day everything changed, he didn't cry, or at least she didn't see him cry. Knowing how strong and stubborn he was, it would have to take a lot to get him to even shed a tear.

Sakura sighed, taking his arm and practically dragging him out of the streets and away from prying eyes. She led him to the bridge where Team 7 used to meet, not too far from the graves he was going to be visiting. "There. At least now people won't stick their noses where they don't belong," She muttered. "I'm not leaving until you at least smile, Ryuumaru. I'll do whatever it takes,"

"I have no reason to smile anymore. All I have is my hatred" he said as his crying slowly came to stop.

And with that, it was HER turn to backhand HIM. "Don't you DARE say you have nothing to smile for!" She hissed, clenching her fists. "Your life isn't perfect, granted, but you're failing to see what's right in front of you! Your parasite of a father clouded what you could see with hatred, and.." She sighed. "And your mothers passing made it worse but, believe me, you are NOT alone in this,"

He looked surprised when she backhanded him and turned to glare at her. "Oh, so what? You saying that that filthy Uchiha parasite is like me too? Going to compare me to that filthy fag?" he hissed at her. He usually considered himself above such scathing remarks but when it concerned the Uchiha, he always let his anger, hatred and annoyance for the Uchiha show, taking whatever chance he got to make a scathing remark pertaining to Sasuke.

"This isn't about Sasuke and you know it's not!" She yelled in return. "Sasuke can go to hell and come back a flaming wreck for all I care!" She saw where this was going, it was a similar setup to the arguement that tore them apart in the first place. Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself down. "...I'm just saying, that if you took the time to notice it, is there are other people in your life,"

"Like who? My mother's dead and we all know what you did. Aside from you two, I had no one else" he humped as he crossed his arms and turned away from her.