She sat by the window, staring out into her small front yard. She'd had Ino help her pick out things for her garden when she had first moved into the small house on the edge of Konoha, and it had turned out beautifully. The blooms of the sakura trees were especially beautiful, and she loved to sit beneath it to read.
She turned her attention the the high fence that bordered the property. She had lived in the house since becoming a chuunin last year, and every day she saw the wall. Part of the reason she had been able to buy the property outright was that it literally was next to the abandoned Uchiha compound. It was deserted and the empty houses still stood, decaying without the proper attention. As the compound still technically belonged to Sasuke, the village couldn't do anything with it. However, she'd been through the records, and found that the property taxes had not been paid in several years. It was something Sasuke had seen to, but now he wasn't hear to handle it. It would not be long before the elders decided it was time to sell the property. However, Sakura sincerely doubted any of the villagers would buy it- it was, after all, the place of a great tragedy.
Naruto and Sasuke had been out of the village for five years now. Sasuke still pursuing his twisted dreams of vengeance, and Naruto traveling with Jiraiya in hopes of becoming stronger. Sakura had passed her jonin exams a year ago, and she marveled at how the supposed weak link of Team 7 was of the highest rank. It was an interesting twist of fate.
She still saw Kakashi regularly- they even took missions together from time to time. It wasn't often, though. She was in high demand as one of Konoha's senior medics, and was often called for diplomatic relations in regards to public health. Those were always fun, tedious long meetings with the councils of allied villages wanting to know how best to help their civilian populations and keep their ninjas alive. Kakashi was in high demand for solo missions. She suspected that he had gone back to ANBU now that he no longer had the responsibility of a team.
She occasionally heard from Naruto, nothing too frequent of course. It was extremely sporadic, as he was never in the same place for too long. He would send her letters about his progress and the places he had seen, but she was unable to write back because he was probably already gone before she even received his message.
As for Sasuke, she hadn't seen or heard from him since the night he left her on that bench. In a way she wanted to thank him- it was probably the best thing he could have done for her. But in a way she hated him. She used to idolize him, look up to him, even harbored feelings for him, and he had left them there on that cold, dark bench when he had walked out. She knew what he was doing of course, word spread fast in the ninja world. When he had first left, he had gone underground for a year or two, presumably training under Orochimaru's tutelage. But then the crimes had started. There were rumors that Sasuke had attempted to kidnap the Raikage's brother. Whether or not he eventually came back to Konoha, there would be no saving him from his fate.
Sakura looked out into her garden to see how much her Sakura tree had grown, and thought it was fitting how much she had grown as well.
A/N: So, I'm not really sure where I'm going with this. It was just a nagging idea in my head that I had to get out. With that said, please don't expect to much action in this fic, and expect the pace to be sort of slow at first while I get everything out in the open.