It's the first time Sasuke's returned to Konoha since he'd left after the war. As he approaches the gate, he can see the blonde-haired idiot waiting for him, Kakashi in his Hokage robes standing next to Naruto. The Uchiha rolls his eyes, but speeds up his pace nonetheless, raising his hand in greeting as the gate opens.
"Teme! Welcome back!" Naruto yells enthusiastically.
Sasuke sighs. "Dobe."
Kakashi smiles under his mask, digging his hand into his pocket to pull out the two bells. "Remember this?"
Before I left. When we first became genin. Naruto was still an idiot. I was also an idiot. And Sakura...
Sasuke doesn't voice his thoughts. He turns to Naruto, smirking. "I'll beat you."
Naruto laughs. "Don't be too sure of yourself."
As they start walking to the training fields, Sasuke's thoughts drift to something he had pushed to the back of his mind.
Sakura isn't here.
They see her waiting in the training field, and she grins at Naruto and Kakashi, pointedly ignoring Sasuke.
"Naruto! Kakashi-sensei! About time you guys got here. Can we start already?"
"This will probably last about two seconds," Kakashi notes. "Go!"
The Hokage immediately disappeared under Naruto's clones. Within a minute, one by one they all turned into smoke until only Naruto was left, holding a bell, grinning triumphantly.
Sasuke glances sideways at Sakura, before realizing that she's already moving, launching herself at Kakashi and punching him in the back of the head. She grabs the remaining bell out of his hand and lands lightly on her feet.
"Looks like Sasuke's not getting lunch today," she smirks.
He blinks, confused at her cold, dismissive voice. Naruto and Kakashi give him sympathetic looks.
"Let's go then, Sakura! I want ramen!"
"Go on ahead," she answers. "I'll make sure Sasuke doesn't follow us."
Naruto and Kakashi leave, both murmuring good luck as they pass Sasuke.
He turns to face Sakura, completely and utterly confused. For once he agreed with Sai, who had told him before, "There is nothing that will help you understand a girl."
"Sakura-"
She cuts him off with a punch to the side of his head.
"Damn it, Sasuke, why did you go and leave for so long?!"
Sasuke raises his hands as Sakura glares daggers at him.
What the hell is her problem?
He'd give anything to be eating ramen with Naruto and Kakashi.
"Sakura," he tries, keeping his voice calm, "what's wrong?"
Her emerald eyes blaze as she shrieks at him.
I said the wrong thing, didn't I.
"What's wrong? What's wrong? Oh, nothing, just that you went and left and didn't come back for a year!"
"I'm sorry! Look, I'm sorry, okay? I told you, I had to leave. And I told you I'd come back!"
"You know what? I'm done."
She storms away as Sasuke watches.
God damn it.
"Naruto, just tell me where she lives!"
His idiot best friend laughs. "No need to be such a stalker, Sasuke. Why can't you just ask her? She's your girlfriend, she should tell you."
"Screw off, dobe. If you don't shut up I'm telling Hinata that you still like Sakura."
"Why would I ever like Sakura? She's yours."
"Will you just tell me?!"
Naruto snickers. "Okay, okay. It's over there. In that apartment building to the left of my apartment. 7th floor. Unit 3."
"About damn time you told me," Sasuke grumbles, stalking away.
"Tell your crazy girlfriend I say hi!" he calls after the Uchiha.
"Screw off!" Sasuke snapped.
Stupid Sasuke. Stupid Sasuke and his stupid mission to redeem himself or whatever the hell he calls it. Stupid Sasuke and his stupid promises to come back. I thought it meant something. I thought his goodbye meant something. But no! Of course not!
Sakura whipped around when she heard the soft knock on her door. Sliding off her couch, she padded over, with a good guess of who was on the other side of the door. Angrily wiping away the tears threatening to fall, she throws open the door with a deadly glare.
Sasuke shifts awkwardly and pulls out a bouquet of flowers from behind his back.
"I'm sorry, Sakura," he mumbles, his face red.
She can't help but hide a smile as she realizes that the flowers are red roses. The flowers of love, as Ino had taught her a long time ago. But her vision is still turning blurry as she accepts them.
"I still don't forgive you," she whispers, as a tear traces its way down her cheek. She turns away from Sasuke, refusing to show weakness to him.
"Sakura..." He trails off, unsure how to comfort her. So he steps inside, closing the door behind him, and placing his hands gently on the kunoichi's shoulders, turning her around to face him.
"Just. Tell. Me. What. The. Hell. Is. Wrong."
She looks like she's about to punch him again, and he braces himself for the impact, but she surprises him, as she always does, breaking down and letting go of her tears.
"I...I was just scared...that what happened last time...would happen again," she manages to choke out through her sobs.
All those memories are brought to the front of Sasuke's mind; loneliness, fear, desperation, anger, and hatred all in a single painful flash of memory. He remembers his final goodbye to her before he left, when she tried to get him to stay.
And he told her, thank you.
He gingerly holds his arms out to her, fully expecting her to ignore them. But she exceeds his expectations, as she always does, and steps closer to him, her hands on his chest, her tears dampening his shirt. Somehow, he doesn't mind.
"I'm never going back there, Sakura. I'm not going to do that again. Not ever," he promises fiercely.
She sniffles and punches him on the chest, but it lacks her usual strength.
He tries to hide the fact that her punch still kind of hurt even though he could tell she put no effort into it.
"Damn you, Sasuke."
"What?"
"I had to go and fall in love with you."
He tenses, alarms going off in his head. Love? Everyone he'd ever loved was gone. His instinct was to run. To distance himself. He'd spent years building up walls, and he wasn't going to let all of that go to waste.
Then he thinks of Naruto. Of Kakashi. Of the pink-haired kunoichi in his arms.
He relaxes, leaning down to press his forehead to Sakura's. "You know what?"
"Hn?"
He wants to laugh at how she makes that sound that he's always made. Naruto had teased him before and called it his catchphrase. But he decides to make a remark later. He doesn't want to ruin this fragile moment.
"I think I might have too."
He can sense her confusion. Then she recalls her previous statement.
I had to go and fall in love with you.
She grins up at him. "Say it."
It's his turn to be confused. "What?"
"Say that you love me."
He rolls his eyes. "You haven't said it either."
"I've said it about a million times when we were younger."
"That's when we were younger. I want to hear it now," Sasuke counters.
She meets his gaze, emerald eyes locking onto his onyx ones.
"I love you."
And somehow it seems different than when she's said it before. Before, it had been from an infatuated young girl, just one of the many who idolized him for his looks and his strength. From a girl who had simply watched on from afar, who had never known who he truly was.
Now, this was Sakura, the Sakura he knows so well. Sakura, who sometimes knew him better than he knew himself. Sakura, who was his equal, his teammate, his friend.
"I think I might love you too."
She smiles at his words, at the monotone he uses, but she can see the softness in his obsidian eyes.
He thinks about his walls again, the walls he'd built so long ago, the impenetrable defenses to who he truly was.
Thoughts of Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi flash through his mind again.
And he realizes that his walls had been destroyed a long time ago.