I finally got my muse back, so I directly wrote a prologue for a new story. There will be some jumps between the years and scenes, so you better concentrate while reading. =) A big thanks to my dear friend and beta reader, who corrected my mistakes! Without her, it would not be uploaded so fast. I dedicate this story to emilyvedder, who translated something really special for me last night. Thanks to you, I finally understood his words. xD~ In the prologue won't be any direct speech or direct thoughts, it's just a summery and the beginning of the story. Please enjoy it and leave a review.
Years had passed since Sakura met Sasuke the last time. She couldn't believe that she was raising their child, while he was following traces of the past. But it wasn't a dream – they were officially married and had a daughter, who had one hell of a father-complex. Who could blame Sarada? Growing up with a photo of her father, knowing he was somewhere else and not coming back any time soon. For now it was the best to keep silent about Sasuke, no matter how much Sarada complained. Yet when it was night and her daughter was sleeping tightly, Sakura would grab the only photo of them together: when they became Team Seven along with Naruto – the Seventh Hokage – and Kakashi-sensei. In those nights silent tears of loneliness ran over her cheeks with the strong wish, that her husband would come home one day – alive and healthy. Although currently there was no sign that this would happen anytime soon.
While Sarada was spending her days in the academy, Sakura worked in the hospital as a doctor to earn enough money to keep them going. Sometimes she wondered if she made the right choice, when she followed her heart and not her brain. If she had chosen Naruto in the end, everything would be less difficult and painful. How was it even possible that Sasuke had such an influence on her? But if she had chosen otherwise, Sarada wouldn't exist and that fact alone was enough for Sakura to ignore her logical side and stick to her heart, which never gave up on the last Uchiha – the wet dream of all women. Even though she had serious rivals in the past like Ino and Karin, Sakura had faith in him and trusted him completely, while hoping she would be enough to rebuild his clan with him. For him she would bear ten children, if necessary. After all, the pressure of an entire clan was laying on Sasuke's shoulders. For her it meant that they were sharing this weight, since they were married and promised to support each other in good and in bad times. Although Sasuke didn't act that way so far, since he was travelling to redeem himself from the sins he had committed. But when Sakura was honest with herself, would that even change if he came back home one day?
The Sasuke she had known since they were little kids was not one to share anything with anyone. By now she was aware of what happened when they were still young, the massacre of his entire clan. That incident led him on the road to becoming an avenger, who only sought for revenge. It didn't matter how he would obtain power as long as he was able to kill his brother. As he reached his goal and they thought he would finally come back after spending years away from Konohagakure and training under the nuke-nin Orochimaru, they had been wrong. After hearing the truth of Itachi's life behind the mask of lies, all Sasuke wanted was revenge. And he didn't care about how he would act out this endless desire born from hatred.
Even after time had passed and he met his dead brother through Edo Tensei, his wish to kill never ended. Until the very end he even tried to kill his best friend Naruto, who never gave up on him. In that fight both of them lost an arm and Sasuke told Sakura afterwards that he was sorry, while she was taking care of their wounds. But even as he said that he was sorry and later that he would see her again, placing his fingers gently on her forehead and poking her with a smile which made her feel as if she was in Heaven, he only met her once after promising to see her soon and thanking her.
When he was gone, she got anxious after two years of waiting, Naruto approached her one day off, when she was wandering around the streets aimlessly. He invited her to eat some ramen together, because he wanted to have a proper talk with her. Uneasy she accepted and wondered, what the hero of the village – actually of the war – wanted to discuss with her and after they ordered their soup, Teuchi – the owner of Ichiraku's - left them alone when he received a wink from his usual customer, realizing that this would be a private chat that they wanted to have.
While eating in silence for quite some time, Sakura became more and more restless and Naruto stopped eating in the middle, as he looked towards a wall of the shop in thought, he started to talk about the things he knew and had never shared with her before. At first he spoke about meeting Itachi long ago, who entrusted his younger brother to his care. That time when they met Sasuke at the bridge where he killed Danzou and their fists met, he told her what he could see in their former teammate's heart. All the information he kept hidden for so long sputtered out all at once. The real story behind Itachi Uchiha's betrayal of Konoha and the massacre of the Uchiha clan and everything he knew about him and Sasuke, especially the darkness in his heart. Without saying a word, she just listened silently and eventually stopped eating, since her appetite vanished, she felt sick to her stomach due to the newly revealed truth. After Naruto finished once he was done talking, Sakura thanked him honestly for telling her all those things and entrusting Sasuke's problems to her, as she put down the money for both portions and then leaving Naruto, without giving him the chance to follow. The shock sank in deeper and later on when she came to the very bench where Sasuke had left her alone when they were twelve years old, she turned towards the bushes and threw up. At that point she was not ready to deal with all that information at once. Her emotional condition caused her physical pain. How was she not able to notice the pain behind his hatred? She was the one who loved and cherished him the most after all, yet she was a complete outsider in his world. Were his words even honest, when he said they would meet soon? By now two years had passed already and there was no sign of him. Slowly she started to doubt herself, when she dropped onto that too familiar bench. Her right fingers brushed over it tenderly, while she asked him in her thoughts, if he ever regretted leaving her behind, when his twelve year old self left their hometown, while she waited there due to her instincts telling her that something bad might happen. Back in those days she was useless and would not be able to help him exact his revenge, even though she promised him that she would. So it was no surprise in the end that he rejected her entirely and knocked her off, before he left. It was the time when he was gone, that she learned how to be a medical ninja and how to heal injuries. Sighing deeply and closing her eyes for a moment, she wished she could rewrite their entire past in order to not regret anything. After dwelling in the facts of what she heard from Naruto, she eventually got up and continued her day, while she promised herself that she would wait for him to come home as he promised this time – even if it took a lifetime.
Two more years after she heard everything from the most unpredictable ninja Naruto Uzumaki, the meeting of Sasuke and Sakura would be pure coincidence as she knew deep down in her empty heart by now.
It was on a trip through the countries she and Sai had done in order to deliver a scroll to each Hidden Village of each country which was part of the 'Five Great Shinobi Countries'. Usually they travelled the normal way, because they didn't want to catch any unneeded attention from flying on one of Sai's drawn birds. First of all they visited Sunagakure, since they were allies even before the Fourth Shinobi War took place. After that they travelled to Iwagakure and after some proper rest they headed out once again towards Kumogakure. On their way to the Land of Lightning, they had to pass through Takigakure, the Land of Iron, the Land of Sound and the Land of Hot Water, where they went to an onsen, where they planned to sleep overnight.
Nothing went as planned, as it was a bath shared with both genders. Sakura told her teammate to tell her later, when the old perverts would be gone and so she had dinner alone in the meantime. The hostess of this onsen – an old lady – asked Sakura, if there was something going on between her and that pale young man she was travelling with and as the pink haired kunoichi heard the question, she couldn't help but burst out laughing harder than she wanted to. Still laughing with teary eyes, she shook her left hand in front of her own face while denying.
At that time Sai was already dating Ino secretly and she was one of a small group of friends to know about it and since Sakura had told her best friend how she and Sasuke parted after the war, the blonde trusted her entirely whenever the both of them went on a mission together. Even if Sakura wasn't still in love with Sasuke, there was no way on Earth she would be dating that rude guy, even if he was the last man alive. She would rather end up alone for eternity.
While she was laughing on the inside, she silently ate the food which the hostess brought over to her room, which she had all for herself, since she didn't even want to sleep with Sai in one room, not because she didn't trust him, but because the thought was kind of creepy. After all she was still a young woman and didn't want any gossip to run through this onsen. And she told herself that she would do better, if she was alone.