Oneshot - Everlasting Love

Summary: When he first met her, it was at a train stop. When he met her a second time, he learned her name. When he met her the third time, they became friends. When he met her the fourth time, they fell in love. When he met her for the final time, they were saying goodbye to each other.

Pairings: Sakura/Sasuke

Genre: Romance/Drama

Setting: (AU) Modern World (You know… us!)

One-shot's Featured Quote: "We meet again."

-FIRST MEETING-

Sasuke looked out the window of the train to see an empty desert filled with sand and flowers that looked to be long dead as he looked at his watch. The watch read 7:56 p.m. He cursed inwardly, knowing he was supposed to be meeting his family by 8 which meant he barely had 4 minutes left before his mother would call him and he had to say he was stuck in train traffic.

He thanked the heavens that the train was only filled with busy-bodies that were probably getting home from work and were dead tired so they didn't recognize him for he was Uchiha Sasuke, C.E.O to a very large corporation and the reason why he was riding on the train when he could be riding home on his very expensive Mercedes was because his car had run out of gas unexpectedly.

He cursed himself for leaving all his gas station credit cards at home and felt stupid that he never bothered to put in the number of a towing company inside his cell phone's contact list. He was pretty lucky he even had his cell phone, or at least what was left of it anyways. He had forgotten to charge it for the last time and it was near useless already.

He looked out the window a few minutes later and was relieved to see the view of a city meet his eyes. The train abruptly stopped a bit afterwards at the train stop and he looked at his watch and sighed to see it read 8:03. His mother would have his head now. He couldn't wait to see the look on her face once he got there.

He was trying to guess which one it would be. Annoyed? Concealed annoyed? Happy? Fake happy? Angry? Expressionless? That woman had so many sides to her. He was about to get off the train when he bumped into someone. He widened his eyes and looked at the girl. He was about to mutter an apology but his eyes couldn't help but admire her.

She had straight pink hair reaching a bit above her waist and cut across straight bangs ending a bit below her eyebrows and hidden slightly by a black beanie. She wore a white spaghetti strap dress reaching below her knees a bit with a long sleeve black crop-cut trench coat on top with polished brass buttons, white boots with black pull up socks under that reached above the boots a tiny bit.

Before she looked up at him for him to notice her tear stained face and beautiful viridian eyes, he caught a glimpse of a silver necklace around her neck that had a silver pendant as well in the shape of a sunflower. It was sterling silver that shone bravely against the light. Before he could see anything else though, she had gotten up and ran quickly away from him to the back of the train to sit in the last seat by herself.

He didn't know why but he suddenly felt as if he would give anything to comfort the pink haired girl sitting in the way back of the train. He knew better though and gave one last look to her before leaving the train, not noticing that she had taken something from him. She sat in the back, peering up at him as she looked at the photo in her hand. She flipped it over to read something.

Please return this to Uchiha Sasuke if found by someone at-

-SECOND MEETING-

It was a month later when they had met again, this time it was she who made the move to look him straight in the eye since he had no reason to find her. But she did to him. So when he had just woken up with the sound of soft knocking on his door, he was quite surprised to open it to find the girl he had seen months ago.

But this time, she wore a white t-shirt with a red heart shaped lock on it, casual jeans, and fingerless tan-colored gloves that reached above her elbows a bit, and now her hair was braided in two braids but the top of her head was still hidden by the confinements of a red colored beanie this time.

She had smiled brightly at him and handed him something he had been looking for days. "You dropped this a month ago on the bus, do you remember me? You bumped into me, I wanted to return it earlier but I was… busy. I hope this doesn't count as stealing, hehe." she gave him a bubbly grin.

He took one look at her smile and thought, Who could ever vindicate this innocent soul? He accepted the photo from her and gave her a thankful grunt in reply, she didn't know what else to do so she introduced herself reluctantly, "Err… I'm Haruno Sakura and you must be Uchiha Sasuke, I saw, from the back of the photo, again, sorry. Um, here's my phone if there was anything else you need." she handed him a finely handwritten note.

He took it hesitantly and skimmed across the note quickly. Haruno Sakura:------- he silently memorized the phone number and looked at her finally. "Hn… arigato," that was all he said before the door closed on her again. The first thought that crossed her mind after that quick second meeting was…

He's not a very social person.

-THIRD MEETING-

Their third meeting was longer than the second one since it had now been three months and he had never called her once since he found no need to. He was attending a meeting with his business partner, Hyuuga Neji and had recently discovered minutes later that Haruno Sakura, the woman from before, was Neji's PA (Personal Assistant.)

He felt slightly jealous because when he saw her again after three months' time, she was clad in more mature clothing that suited her appeared age of 23. She wore an ivory colored silky puffy sleeved blouse with chiffon lace flares at the neckline to make it seem more elegant, a black pencil skirt that hugged the curves of her legs greatly, the skirt ended at her knees, and high black stilettos.

Her hair was in a tight bun with ringlets left down to frame her small face. She had smiled at him invitingly when he met her at the reception counter, she was, apparently, getting something for her charge. "Sasuke-san right? We meet again! You must be Neji-kun's 3 o'clock meeting. Follow me right after I get the files here," Sakura said in a sweet business voice.

The receptionist, a blonde, handed her the files as she thanked her. Sakura turned to Sasuke and signaled for him to follow her. They walked through the first floor of the building until they reached the elevators and Sakura pressed the 'up' button patiently waiting until an elevator arrived a minute later.

She allowed Sasuke to step inside first before getting inside herself. It was just the two of them as she smiled at him yet again. They were enveloped in silence afterwards as they waited for the elevator to stop on the 28th floor. He took his time on pondering about this amazing woman that seemed to be bustling around everywhere he went these months.

She seemed to be close to the Hyuuga C.E.O as well, referring to him as 'Neji-kun' and not 'Hyuuga-san' or the formal preference an employee would call a man of his stature. They finally arrived and yet again, she allowed him to exit first. He nodded his head at her as she led the way to the meeting room.

She finally stopped in front of a soundproof bulletproof glass room. The only thing that covered the room from view was the fact that only the people inside could see through the glass while the people outside when staring at the glass wall was consumed into believing it was indeed a mirror. Sakura turned the knob to the mahogany double doors and the room inside was silent as Sasuke entered first, followed by her.

She closed the door after herself as she looked at the room, presenting a pleasant smile. "Good afternoon everyone. This is Uchiha Sasuke from the Uchiha Corps. He's very sorry that he's a few minutes late, but it is my fault for keeping him." he was about to protest when the room nodded in understanding, they obviously understood this woman's nature more than him.

A tall man stood up at the head of table with long brown hair in a low loose ponytail with cool silver eyes turned to look at Sasuke. "Uchiha-san, I am Hyuuga Neji and I see you've met my PA. Excuse her for your tardiness," his voice was as cool and sleek as his own was and Sasuke merely inclined his head in a nod to greet him.

Sakura stretched out a hand to show him to a seat on the left of Neji and 1 seat away from the man himself. Sakura turned to walk up to sit beside the C.E.O of this company. She sat in a polite posture, her legs crossed in a lady-like way with her hands folded on her lap. She looked… dignified.

Sasuke made the notion to examine her for a bit more until Neji spoke through the silence. "Our meeting here today is to benefit us in the partnership of the Uchiha-Hyuuga. We will discuss our two companies' goals and future goals since we have high expectations…" the meeting went on as Sasuke began talking about their plans.

Soon Sakura stood up and went to show something on the overhead. The meeting lasted for an approximate time of an hour and a half before the meeting was dispersed and ended. Sakura was walking in between the two business tycoons and was smiling. "Ah! Another meeting has gone!" she giggled.

She noticed the two tried grunts of the males by her side and side as her hands moved to stop the men from walking. They stopped as expected and looked at her in disgruntled annoyance. She smiled motherly at them, "Don't overwork yourselves, you're still young you know? Try to insert in some fun every once in a while! This isn't good for your health!" she doctored them.

The two men sighed and looked at each other before smirking. Sakura suddenly screamed when she felt herself being lifted into four arms. "Who's overworking?" Neji asked in a mocking voice. Sasuke smirked as he said his own thought, "You're the one that can't walk straight." and with that, Sakura squealed in annoyance as the two men ran around with her in their arms.

"Whaa!! Put me down!!"

They became friends.

-FOURTH MEETING-

Their fourth meeting was 2 weeks later when he had managed to summon the guts to ask her on a date. So now here they were, sitting awkwardly opposite each other. He had wanted to go to the beach and had obliged willingly and now she was dressed in a white camisole with that black trench coat he knew so well, black flowing skirt ending at her knees, and those black boots she loved.

Around her neck again was always the same necklace and her hair was done in two French braids with her bangs clipped up into a poof. He looked at her before looking at the waters again, she followed to where he was looking and smiled. She wasn't surprised when she heard his velvety voice carry throughout the beach.

"I wanted to go here because this was the first place I was truly amazed at. I was amazed at how calm the water always seemed at night and how it was always kept at bay, and I loved looking up to spot a gazillion stars awaiting my view…" Sakura let herself melt into his artistic adjectives as if she was listening to poetry.

It was quiet afterwards until Sakura decided to tell him a little bit about her past as well, "That day we met on the train, I was crying because my father had passed away unexpectedly due to cancer while my mom had long passed away because of leukemia. I was scared you know, I was really scared because I was by myself in a world I couldn't fight against. And also because… I found out that I have a 90 percent chance of gaining leukemia as well, I wanted to just kill myself and get it over with until I bumped into you on the train, and I thought, I have to get this back to him before I die." she smiled at Sasuke, "So you're basically my savior."

Sasuke looked at her for a moment's time and she looked up at him as well before turning to look away but was surprised though when she was suddenly caught midway as he slammed his mouth on hers. He was being gentle with her because he knew he couldn't risk the chance of hurting her.

He felt though… the most wonderful feeling on Earth when he felt her wrap her arms around him and respond to the kiss.

It was the feeling of being filled by a blinding warmth that caressed his insides gently and made his mind fail to cooperate because all he could think of at the moment, was the woman beside him.

-FINAL MEETING-

Their final meeting and the last he was to ever see of her again was one year later when he turned up at the hospital, dripping wet with the soaking rain as he sprinted to the hospital after being informed by Neji that the most precious person to him had just collapsed after a major blood loss.

He could nearly imagine her as the way Neji described her fall from grace. She was helping him with things in the office when blood suddenly rushed down from her nose at a fast pace. She had tried her best to subdue it and he said that she was crying helplessly as she collapsed onto her knees, clutching a white cloth to her bleeding nose.

She had fainted a few moments afterwards since she was quite exhausted when she was attacked by the sudden nosebleed. And now as he rushed to find her in the hospital, he felt his heart break when he saw her on a rolling bed being rolled to the emergency room. She was dressed in the hospital nightgown and she looked so fragile.

He ran over to her after seeing there was Neji and people she knew crowding around her as well. He screamed her name loudly over and over again, "SAKURA!" he shouted, wanting her so badly to open her eyes as something he hadn't felt in years dripped down his cheeks. Wet tears, and they weren't stopping anytime soon.

She had reluctantly and slowly opened her eyes and he promised himself to remember that glimpse of viridian as she gave him a pale smile as she took something off her neck and placed it in his callused hands. He felt tears rushing faster and faster as he heard her whisper a quiet sentence, but his heated ears picked up every single word she said. "I love you… Sasuke-kun…"

A teardrop dripped down her cheek as she smiled at him that smile of hers before her eyes almost closed, he glared at her and he held her hand in his tightly as his other hand gripped the object she gave to him tightly, "Don't you dare close your eyes, S-Sakura…" he murmured, almost begged her.

Sakura looked at him and giggled softly as she placed a cold hand on his warm cheek. "Don't cry, s-silly… we'll meet a-again… I know we will…" Sakura whispered as she almost lost breath. Her lips became paler as her heartbeat became fainter as her body temperature dropped at fast pace.

"R-Remember… you'll always, be in… my heart…" she whispered, one finger pointing to her heart before the other hand's index finger shakily pointed to his, "And you'll always h-have m-me in y-yours, no matter w-where you go… ok? A-Aishiteru… Sasuke…" she murmured one last time as his eyes widened in horror when he saw her smile one last time before her eyes closed silently.

"No… no… Sakura…" he whispered, not believing it, he had to stay behind as she was sent into the ER. They had only entered for a few seconds before the doctor came out again, looked at them in sorrow and shook his head helplessly. Sasuke widened his eyes, "No… no… damn it, no!" he shouted as tears overcame his eyes.

Neji placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "No… no fucking way… no…" Sasuke whispered to himself before he felt the necklace in his hand. He shakily opened his palm and flipped the pendant over with his finger slightly. His eyes widened an inch as he read the words engraved onto the back of the sunflower shaped pendant.

Don't Let My Sunshine Leave

One final teardrop.

One final cry.

"SAKURA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Yet both filled the midnight sky equally.

Because... this was the story of their everlasting love. His wish to protect her smile would pass on.

Owari