Author's notes
Okay, I have no idea where this came from. All I know is one minute I was eating a brownie, the next I was typing this out. Written by Obsessive.
Warning: Character death, shohen-ai (if that doesn't apeal to you, click the nice little green button in the left-hand corner)
Disclamor: If I owned NARUTO, why would I be writing this on FANFICTION, instead of like, a script or something?
I've been sitting here for days, I think. Days, weeks, months, I don't know anymore. Time has melded together since that day. The day that my whole world fell apart, leaving only a few remnants of the past.
I always knew I would never win. Even in the beginning, I saw through Naruto's infatuation, because that's all it was, infatuation. I was never the one Sasuke wanted to beat, or the one with the support Naruto needed. The only one Sasuke even bothered with, in the entire village, was Naruto. The only person Naruto wanted to prove anything to was Sasuke. It really wasn't fair, I never even had a chance.
I remember the day I realized Sasuke was leaving. He challenged Naruto to a fight on the hospital roof. He didn't even give me a second look. Neither of them did. It hurt to know they were harming each other, but it hurt even more to know that they didn't care about harming me. It all became painfully obvious, everything that I had been trying to avoid thinking about since we became a team. I wasn't wanted.
Naruto left to get him back a confident boy, and came back a very sad man. I don't know what happened while he was gone, and probably never will. No one asked, because they knew how painful Sasuke was for Naruto. I can't blame him; Sasuke is a painful topic for everyone. Even so, Naruto never really gave up on him, or got over what he did.
He left then. Naruto, I mean. Not too long after Sasuke, actually. I lost my two best friends and teammates in less then a month. They both left me behind, without even caring. Strange, right? Because I was the one both were 'in love with'.
When Naruto came back, I was over-joyed. I had realized my feelings, and thought that with Sasuke gone we could be together. But he wasn't gone. He lived on in his head; he was all Naruto thought about. We went on many missions together, to get him back, because he just wouldn't admit defeat and leave him behind.
That led my thoughts to our final mission. 'Get Sasuke back: the third'. I knew it was pointless, because of this nagging feeling in my heart that said we should turn back. Naruto was almost convinced when we felt Sasuke and Itachi's chakra swirling through the forest. Everything in me said to run, and I'm sure he felt it too. However, he kept going, regardless of everything he'd been taught. I followed him, to keep him safe. After all, he was the man I loved, and I loved Sasuke too.
We got there to see something truly horrifying. Unmoving bodies were lying on the ground, and I vaguely recognized them. A man who was identified as Itachi's partner, and three who were Sasuke's new teammates. Random body parts and more blood than I'd ever seen covered the area. Right in the middle of it all were the two remaining Uchiha. Itachi made one last jutsu, a suicide one, and aimed it at Sasuke. Before I could even react, Naruto was running, trying to stop the inevitable from happening.
If I close my eyes, I can still hear the horrific sounds that followed. A sickening squelching sound, followed by absolute silence. The image of my fallen comrades is permanently burned to my eyelids, haunting me. They are both dead. I never saw I coming, but in a morbid way, it made sense.
I was never the one either loved. Sure, it may have seemed that way to the casual observer, but if you looked closely you could see. They fought each other: They bonded with each other. They trusted each other. It was always the two of them. Naruto fought so hard to get Sasuke back, not to win me over. Sasuke was trying to shatter his bond with Naruto, not with me. It was a sick, twisted, morbid, doomed relationship that was based on the undeniable fact that they loved each other.
Now I'm here, sitting all alone in this hospital bed, the room reeking of death, my musings over my old team being the only thing left. No one has visited in awhile. I should feel sad, but I can't. I should feel something, but I can't. All I feel is numb, so numb I haven't even cried. Not once since before that day.
The monotony was broken by the sound of my door being opened. Standing there was Sai, a fake smile adorning his face, just like before he met Naruto. He looked unchanged, his stance, his face, his aura, holding no emotion. He moved to sit on the edge of my bed, still smiling.
"Hello Sakura."
"Hello Sai." My voice was weak from not being used in such a long time.
"Are you feeling any better, ugly?" I almost grinned from the pet name. It might have sounded like an insult, but if you knew Sai, you knew it wasn't really. He was just trying to mask his concern.
"I don't know." My answer was honest, and his smile dimmed a bit.
"Well, you're talking. From what I've heard, that's a first in a long time."
"How long has it been?" I asked after a few minutes.
"Almost a year, Sakura." His fake grin was gone now, replaced with a sad one. I was shocked. Almost an entire year had gone by without me.
"Sai…" What happened next was unavoidable. I cried. The tears that had refused to fall for months finally came. I was sobbing loudly, uncontrollably, as I was flooded with memories.
I almost gasped when I felt strong arms wrapped around me. Then, something unprecedented happened: I felt tears in my hair. Sai was crying too. I don't know how long we stayed like that. All I know is it felt more right than anything had in years.
Review please! I'll give you a brownie!