stardust, a naruto fanfic

stardust
by: BokchoiBaboy

1. seven

I looked at the tiny boy who sat by the lakeside. I heard his quiet sobs, saw his chest heaving as he inhaled and exhaled.

"Kaa-san –"

"Sakura-chan, leave him be."

"But Kaa-san, he looks so...so lonely."

I let go of my mommy's hand and ran towards the boy. I heard my mommy yelling for me to come back, yelling at me that if I didn't turn around immediately she'd tell my daddy and then –

"You should go back to your Kaa-san. She's worried about you."

My eyes widened as I stared at the boy. His eyes were red, but they were dry. He was handsome, even though he looked distraught. My hands shivered as I reached out towards him, almost as if he were out of reach and, and he wasn't real.

"But – I – I'm –"

The boy smiled.

"It's okay."

I bit my lip. He was getting up in front of me, ready to walk away –

"W-Wait!Y-you l-looked so..."

He smiled again.

"Arigatou."

And then, he walked away.

Thirteen years old. And nothing's changed.

I still – I still –

"W-wait!I – I love you more than anything! Pleasedon't go! If you do, I'll scream and – and - "

"Sakura..."

Why does this seem so familiar?

"...Arigatou."

And then he walked away.

I – I'm so in love with Uchiha Sasuke.

Even though he's a bastard.

Even though he left everything he needed behind.

I'm so in love with him!

I can't help it.

I think about all the bad things he's done every single night.

Every single night I have to tell myself that he isn't worth it, and there are plenty of other ninja that are worth my time – like Rock Lee and those boys from the medical squads – but no!

Uchiha Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke.

The man who tells me 'thank you'.

The man who walks away from me without second looks or a second thought.

Uchiha Sasuke.

The man I'm hopelessly in love with.

"Sakura-chan, he's back!"

"What?"

I looked at my teammate skeptically. His cerulean eyes were so full of life, so full of excitement and of hatred.

"I – I swear! I think he's in the hospital. I think he collapsed, and the scouting ANBU found him!"

We were supposed to find him.

But this is good enough.

So I disappeared with a flash.

The man who left five years ago was back.

The man I'm hopelessly in love with...

...Is back.

And so I ran into his room, saw Tsunade-shishou speaking with him. I stopped when I was by his bedside, just looking into his tired onyx eyes. Tsunade-shishou looked at me skeptically; it wasn't a secret about my "hatred" for Uchiha Sasuke. My eyes took in the amount of bandages around him, the amount of blood beginning to stain them.

I heard the beating of his heart through that annoying monitor...

"...Sasuke," I choked out.

"Sakura."

I frowned and kneeled beside his bed. He looked at me, just as confused as I was. Tsunade-shishou quickly got up from her place and left the room, quietly and professionally. I looked into his eyes, the same way I looked at them when I first saw him when we were little. Since the last time I saw him when we were thirteen.

I put my face over his bed, on his chest, and I began to cry.

He looked at me, surprised as I was, and tangled his hand through my hair, massaging my scalp.

"Y – You're real," I managed to say between my sobs.

I couldn't see him smile.

"I am."

"You're – You're back."

"Sakura," he began, "Arigatou."

I smiled into the bandages of his chest.

Six years since he came back. Six years of progression, hardships, and success.

We were the best of friends at first.

He opened up to me, told me he was thankful that he had something to come back to.

"What were you thanking me for that day?"

"...I was surprised."

"...About?"

"To be honest, Sakura, I wasn't expecting you to be there."

And then we became something more. On an S-Ranked mission with Naruto, Kakashi-sensei, and the two of us, just like the old times, he was seriously injured. We stopped and made camp for the night, knowing strain on such an injury would be bad for us and for the mission.

So I was in his tent, fixing his bandages.

"Sakura –"

I smiled.

"Lemme guess, 'Arigatou'?"

"...Well, not this time."

I stopped taking off his old bandages and looked at him, eyebrow raised with curiosity.

"...Then, what is it?"

There was an awkward silence.

"Sakura, I love you."

He slapped his hand over his face. I guess he didn't intend to blurt it out. I laughed and finished up changing his bandages.

"I love you, too, you teme."

I kissed him on the forehead and left the tent.

And so today, when we were in our ripe age of twenty-four, after he accomplished his crazed goal of killing his brother, I sat beside him at his hospital bed. He returned from his solo mission of killing Uchiha Itachi, badly injured, but healing rapidly.

"Silly. You could have gotten yourself killed. You should have let us come with you."

He looked at me with sincerity that I haven't seen since the night he confessed to me.

"Then you could have gotten injured."

I smiled.

"I can deal."

He smirked.

"Sakura –"

"You're welcome," I playfully replied.

He lightly chuckled.

"Not this time."

I looked at him with curiosity once more. I gasped when he pulled out a velvet box from under his blankets, and opened it up. It was a wonderful ring, probably custom made, shaped like a cherry blossom, with one diamond in the middle, emeralds and rubellite (pink garnet type gemstones) along the lines of the silver cherry blossom shape.

"Marry me."

I smiled and hugged him, spilling tears from so much joy I couldn't comprehend it. He returned my embrace, and when I let him go, I smiled as he slipped the ring on my finger.

"Sasuke, I love you," I whispered.

He brought me down in a tender kiss that took my breath away.

"Arigatou," he whispered.

I happily looked at the child in my arms with a tired smile. Sasuke stood next to me, smiling, his hand gently touching our new son. I handed him our son, Uchiha Seiji. I smiled when I saw his eyes lighten. I closed my eyes, begging for some rest. That delivery was a pain.

"Sakura, arigatou," he whispered into my ear.

He kissed my forehead and I fell asleep, lulled by his gentle humming to our new child.

"Tou-san, you're back!"

I smiled. Sasuke came back from a month long mission last night, tired and sore. He instantly fell asleep when he got into bed, but I remember him kissing my forehead before pulling up the covers and taking in the comfort of our mattress and his pillow.

Seiji, our first son, currently seven years old, Saya, our first daughter, currently five years old, woke and jumped onto our bed, excited to finally see their father again. I carefully got up and picked up our youngest son, Sanosuke, from his crib, and sat back down next to Sasuke, holding our three-year-old carefully for him to see. At first, Sasuke refused to wake, but after more persuasion from our children, he grumpily got up, but with a smile, nonetheless.

"Tou-san, I missed you a lot!"

I laughed when Saya hugged him tightly, smiled when Seiji joined in, and smiled when Sano cried for his father to hold him.

My heart lifted when I heard him laugh when his children tickled him and played with him, lifted when I saw my husband so happy and so complete.

When I ushered our children out of the room, telling them to go into the living room and wait for me to prepare their breakfast, he turned to me and smiled. He kissed me tenderly once more.

"Arigatou," he said when he broke away.

I smiled. He pulled me into another tender kiss before releasing me from his spell.

"Arigatou," he whispered.

"Like all the other times, Sasuke-kun," I replied, "You're welcome."

I smiled, kissed his cheek, then got up, walking out of our room to prepare our children breakfast.

Seven times when he told me 'thank you'.

Seven times when I realized how much I was hopelessly in love with this man.

Seven times when I realized how much we needed each other.

Arigatou. Arigatou. Arigatou.

Seven times when I realized how much we loved each other.

A/N: Random one-shot thing!
So a new collection.
All SasuSaku.
Oh joy!

Hope you enjoyed this.