Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Naruto
Chapter 1: Utterly Hopeless
One day, everything became perfect. Konoha was restored, all problems with the Akatsuki were solved, and Sasuke returned. And much to everyone's surprise, Uchiha Sasuke returned with a girl.
. . .
"Did you hear? The Uchiha returned with a girl named Mayuri…"
"Ah! I saw her this morning. She was really cute."
The two men bantered lightly about Mayuri as one of them fidgeted with his cast.
"You should stop that, Samuro-san." A pink-haired girl stepped lightly into the room, holding a tray of shots and medicine in one hand. "Any more and the cast would come off."
"Ah-ha! Is that so, Haruno-san? I mean, of course, I knew that, but –" Samuro-san tried to divert the topic away from his embarrassment. "Oh! I heard that Uchiha Sasuke was your former teammate! Do you know anything about him and Mayuri-san's relationship –"
The man beside him cut him off by giving a noticeable whack on the shoulder as he quickly whispered, "Shush! I heard that Sakura-san had a crush on him or something back when they were teammates."
'I can hear that, idiots.' Sakura thought as she bit back an annoyed remark and instead gave the man a shot slightly sharper than usual. Then, Sakura was just about to leave when the door burst open to a man catching for breath.
"Recent news, everyone! Uchiha Sasuke is now engaged to that girl, Mayuri!" The man by the door then saw Sakura, and backed away uncomfortably. With an awkward goodbye, he stormed out of the room to spread the news.
The two men left in the room gulped loudly as they braced themselves to face Sakura's anger. After all, she was – for those who knew – quite known for her hot temper. To their surprises however, the pink-haired girl eyed the floor as if the plain white tiles suddenly interested her greatly. Her pale hands then reached for the tray and quietly slipped out of the room.
. . .
Once her shift was over, Sakura met with Naruto for lunch at Ichiraku's. Not wanting to catch the blonde's attention, Sakura plastered on a calm smile and lightly conversed as usual… which ended up barking at Naruto for what an idiot he was, until the customers beside them caught their interest – they were talking about Sasuke.
"Hey, so I saw that girl, Mayuri, yesterday. She had flowing, warm brown hair… She was quite plain yet captivating at the same time. Ah! Speaking of which, the Uchiha boy becamed engaged –"
"AHHRGH!" Naruto suddenly stood up and dumped his ramen on the man, stopping him midsentence.
"WHAT THE HELL! Oi! What's wrong with you, brat?"
"Hey! Calm down! He's Naruto – the hero of Konoha!"
"Argh! What kind of hero dumps a bowl of ramen?"
At this, Naruto interjected with clumsy bows of apology. "Ah! I'm really sorry, ojii-san! I thought I saw a bug in my ramen… Hehehe." He laughed sheepishly.
Sakura saw through this immediately and tried to keep herself from sighing. "I'll apologize for this idiot."
The men recognized her as the doctor and laughed away. "Oh, it's Sakura-san! My leg's as good as new thanks to you! I guess I'll forgive him this once. Haha!"
Naruto made a face while the pink kunoichi let out a sigh of relief and pulled Naruto to the side.
"Sa-sakura-chan?" Naruto's confusion formed to a grin as he joked, "Are you, perhaps, making a move on me? Hehe."
"Naruto." The graveness of her voice ceased all previous humour in a second and the blue eyes widened as they met hers.
"I already know, Naruto. Sasuke's engaged to Mayuri-san. I know…" Her words led to a lengthy silence as Naruto averted his gaze to the ground, smiling sadly. "What… are you going to do, Sakura-chan?"
"Nothing… I guess there's nothing I can do…" Sakura's voice trailed off again, and Naruto could read the pain in her voice. And, the hopelessness she felt.
"But. I'll talk with him. I… I have to, don't I?" They gazed into each others' eyes as Naruto broke into a smile.
"Hehe! That's the Sakura-chan I know!"
"Sakura's lips cornered upwards slightly at his words. The blonde's hands quickly reached for Sakura's shoulders as he gave her a light push.
"Go, Sakura-chan. Now. Before you lose this determination."
Sakura gave a small nod and Naruto watched her walk away in the distance.
. . .
There, she could see them by a tree. Perhaps Sasuke was taking a break from his training. Mayuri was right beside him, with a bento by her side. This was the reason why it was so hard for Sakura to approach Sasuke. It pained her to see them together like that, as if Sasuke had forgotten everything about Sakura.
'It was one-sided love from the beginning…' A battle of swarming thoughts began in Sakura's mind. 'But.. what about the times we held hands? Whether he loved me or not, he held my hands quite… a lot of times.'
Her dimming green eyes caught side of the couples' hands. There was grass between them. 'He's not holding hands with her.'
As if on cue, Sasuke placed his left hand on top of Mayuri's. The brunette blushed quite noticeably and Sakura felt her legs give out. She really couldn't approach him like that.
Sakura was about to turn back when Mayuri brightened up from spotting her.
"Ah! Sakura-san!" Mayuri quickly got up and started walking cheerfully to Sakura.
'If this girl had any idea who I am, she should be backing off…' Fighting the urge to push her away so she could talk to Sasuke or just simply run away, Sakura breathed a light "Hello." Her green eyes quickly searched for Sasuke's but they were spacing out to the side, as if Sakura was invisible.
'He should have felt my presence before Mayuri-san saw me… So why act like I can't even be seen?' Sakura's anger bitterly rose up, but clenching her fists tightly instead, Sakura turned to face the brunette now standing before her.
"Mayuri-san, right? I've heard about you a lot." Sakura extended her hands and the brunette shook it warmly.
"Sakura=san! I've also…" Her voice trailed off. "Heard about you from the villagers… They say you're a great doctor!" She finished somewhat lamely.
'So, Sasuke hasn't said a word about me…' Sakura suddenly felt how little existence she was to Sasuke.
Uncomfortable with the silence, Mayuri quickly gestured a goodbye as she began, "I guess I'll see you, Sakura-san. Sasuke-kun's waiting for me…"
Sasuke-kun. Ugh. Every word from the brunette seemed to send daggers to Sakura, but she reached out to stop Mayuri in time.
"Wait." The brunette turned back, curious. "I'd like to talk with Sasuke."
After a momentary pause, Mayuri agreed. "Sure… Can I ask… whatever for?"
"Huh?" The simple question threw her off. "Uh, well, I washis former teammate after all so –"
"WHAT? You were his former teammate?" Mayuri gasped aloud, bringing out a silent groan from Sasuke behind her in the distance.
"I guess… Sasuke hasn't told you that." Sakura bitterly spat out the words as she averted her gaze.
Smiling – without the usual cheerfulness – Mayuri replied, "Sasuke-kun… He doesn't tell me much." Looking up to meet the surprise in Sakura's eyes, Mayuri flustered. "Haha.. I.. I guess he's just like that… Ah! You said you wanted to talk with him…"
"Ah. Yes." Mayuri's words reminded Sakura of her purpose. "It… probably won't take much time."
In the distance, Sasuke saw the two women talking for quite longer than he wanted them to. He should have just left the instant he felt the approach of Sakura's chakra. He should have, yet he found himself unable to move – to run away – like he had the first few weeks of his return.
When they seemed to be done talking, he got ready to pack up and leave with Mayuri when he noticed it was Sakura coming his way. With a sigh, Sasuke held his ground as he waited. 'I had to confront her at some point… this is just earlier than I wanted.' Sasuke thought.
"Sasuke-k-" Sakura caught herself in time and frowned at herself for giving into the habit years ago.
"Sasuke."
The raven-haired stayed silent until he finally let her name slip out as if to nod.
"Sakura."
"I-I…" Sakura realized that she really had no idea what to say. Exasperated, she let the words out without thinking. "I wish you happiness." She said, admittingly. "So.. So I waited for you… I trained to become stronger. I… I thought it was possible for us to… I mean, I thought we were possible… I thought I could give you happiness."
Sasuke heard the helplessness in her voice, and the full mix of various emotions that drove her against the wall. Just as it had that night of Sasuke's leave years ago.
Sakura continued on. "But if… mayuri-san was the one who was able to bring you back.. I guess.. I've found my answer."
Sasuke just stood there, as if to silently acknowledge everything Sakura said. Especially the last two sentences. She couldn't take this anymore. She understood now: it was finally time to give up.
Whereas before Sakura couldn't give up on Sasuke because he was so caught up in darkness, now, Sakura had to give up for the better of both. And Haruno Sakura was not about to wave the white flag so submissively, not without the pride of her own.
With a pained smile, Sakura said, "I guess I'll just find someone like you, then. Goodbye, Sasuke."
She turned to go, and nothing stopped her. As if remembering suddenly, the pink kunoichi glanced back a final time. "I forgot… Congratulations for your engagement."
Somehow, Sasuke's eyes looked darker than his usual pool of black, but it was probably a play of her own illusion.
When Mayuri came back several minutes later, she found the raven-haired with his head hung low towards the ground.
"Sasuke-kun…?"
Sasuke kept his head low, and without looking back, he turned towards the training grounds.
"Training." Was all he muttered before Mayuri had a chance to give any sort of reply.
Mayuri replied anyway, to no one in particular.
"Ok… Ok."
To be Continued.
a/n: Sort of inspired from the song Someone Like You.. I only have a vague idea of how it'll turn out though.. Sigh.
