Posting from CHINA!! WOOT! I'm on the other side of the world, on vacation, and one day, at my grandparents house, I was pretty much stuck in a room with nothing but two beds, a closet, and a desk. Literally. So, bored out of my mind, I let my imagination take over. Then I hunted down a pen and some paper and wrote stuff down. And… here it is!
Witness
People believed, that at the mere age of 12, it was impossible to be in love with someone. Sure, even young children knew of the concept of love and could apply such feelings to family and friends, but the idea that a young girl could be in love with a boy was played off as infatuation, obsession, or more plainly, fangirling. It was nothing more than the idolization of an image or an idea.
And in this case, the idol came in the form of a reserved, seemingly emotionless genin named Uchiha Sasuke.
Sasuke was not stupid. He'd dismissed the idea of love at a very young age. In his case, it wasn't hard to do. How could love exist in the same world as a traitorous older brother who killed everyone he supposedly "loved"? Obviously, it didn't.
But despite the cruelty that polluted everything he knew, Sasuke had to admit there were exceptions. He was well ware of the many admirers he had, mostly embodied by screaming girls with oogly eyes. Sometimes, there were a few boys too, but he really preferred to just pretend they didn't exist. He was also quite aware of the rivalry and friendship he had with the infamous Uzumaki Naruto. It showed that he was, in fact, accepted by people, and even cared about. But he knew that the "I love you Sasuke-kun!"s he heard everywhere were empty compliments, brought on by an attraction to the outer image he radiated, as opposed to who he really was. Then again, he supposed it was near impossible for anyone to be attracted to his person, because he was awfully good at keeping others out.
Only one person was annoying and persistent enough to truly break through his shell. Sasuke knew it was simply by chance that Haruno Sakura was placed on his team and allowed ample opportunity to get close to him. But, regardless, she'd proven herself truly concerned with his well being.
She was the only support he had when that bastard of a snake bit him, the only one who cared enough to try and succeed in coaxing him to hold back the effects of the curse seal, and the last person he'd spoken to before he left Konoha.
She'd cried her heart out to him that night and Sasuke chose the only option he believed he had. He knocked her out, leaving her behind, where he felt it was safe for an emotionally-driven person to stay, to be protected.
And then he left.
People said Sakura eventually outgrew her childish feelings for her old teammate, or that, if she still claimed she loved him, it was now a different, more mature understanding of the emotion.
No one believed she still harbored the exact feeling she had for him now, as she did several years ago. No one believed she'd already stumbled upon the deepest sense of what love could be at such a young age.
Little girls could be attracted to cute boys, they explained, especially a genius like Sasuke, but no one could really love him. They ignored her protests. She was still relatively young, after all. Maybe she still didn't truly love him; maybe she was still too young to understand.
Sakura's desperate attempts at reaching out to her loved one was pure failure in the eyes of the villagers. Sasuke still left; she had been unable to get through to him, and she had placed herself in a position where she was vulnerable to danger. As a shinobi, she'd done everything she was taught against.
The only person whose opinion mattered, though, saw the truth. Sasuke walked calmly away from his home that night, but his thoughts were in chaos. He was an expert at reading people – he had to be to survived- and he saw everything going through the girl's mind. Her pleading words translated into promises. Her tears proved her genuineness, and her voice, though sometimes annoying, nearly convinced him to turn back and give up his revenge.
He left anyways, taking each step away from his home with a heavy heart. Part of him was eager to set out and join the Sound Five, take them up on their offer. And part of him, the part he was brought up to feel ashamed of, wanted to just live in the comfort of his normal life.
Sasuke shook his head to clear away all his thoughts as he approached the foot of the hill outside of Konoha. A single image appeared in his mind. The wind blowing, the girl crying. A heartbroken, "Sasuke-kun".
He really wished he hadn't witnessed any of it, though, because he couldn't love her back.
Reviews are very much appreciated. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks.