Okay, so, my guilty pleasure I guess is SasuSaku from Naruto. (Don't kill me!) I was not really sure what to update, and I really wanted to do a short somewhat romantic version of something, which just did not fit with anything that I have already.
Note: Part of this fanfiction is somewhat of a POV of Sasuke's departure from chapter 181 of the manga and is terribly unoriginal. I didn't really know how to do the story otherwise, because I needed that part to happen. I don't know, maybe it feels a little more canon that way.
He was leaving, and that was all there was too it. Over the past few months all of his priorities had been turned around. While at first his most precious desire was to avenge his family, he became distracted by his comrades. To his utter surprise, they brought back feelings that he hadn't recognized for years. He wanted those feelings, but a tugging sting simply would not let that happen. A sharp pain in his side kept him from seeing in this direction, and it always would, until he dealt with it. He would have to tie up his old ends before he started new ones, something his new comrades simply did not understand. He wasn't obtaining revenge to please himself, he needed revenge to preserve himself from a rage of insanity.
He wanted to stay, but it would never give him what he wanted. He needed progress before he could ever live in Konoha again. Until he achieved his revenge, he would have to avoid contact.
He strolled through the streets, nearing the gates with all necessary possessions. Nothing would stop him from leaving now.
There she is. One of his comrades, right in his path. This was the last thing he needed at that moment: to be confronted. There was no avoiding her now.
"Why are you prowling around here in the middle of the night?" he scolded her casually.
She knew him well enough to know exactly what he was doing. "I knew you'd come this way... if you were to leave... so I just waited here..."
"Get out of here... and go back to sleep..."
He continued in his path, walking away from her, but to his misfortune she wouldn't accept that.
"Why won't you say anything to me? Who do you always keep so quiet? You never say a single word to me..."
She was crying. Of course she was crying. He didn't turn around, but he knew that she was crying.
"I told you: I don't need your help. Don't try to look after me..."
A few moments passed, but he had no more words to share. He wanted to share as little as possible, and to just leave already.
"No matter what, you always hate me, don't you... You remember, don't you?"
He wasn't quite sure what she was getting at, and so she continued.
"The first time we were here by ourselves, you were so mad at me... When we became genins, the day when our three-man team was first decided..."
Of course she remembered that. She remembers just about everything.
"I don't remember that."
He could sense her shock, and she laughed nervously. Perhaps it would be easier to leave this way.
"Yeah, I guess you're right... That's all in the past, huh?" She was just stalling him now, but she continued on. "That's when it all began though. You and me...along with Naruto and Kakashi-sensei."
He didn't have any reply for that.
"We did all sorts of missions, just the four of us. It was painful and difficult at times. Even though that... I still enjoyed it."
She was to keep going. There was no escaping this. He could already tell where it was headed.
"I know all about your past, Sasuke. Even if you get revenge though... It won't bring anyone happiness. Not even you, Sasuke..."
She paused.
"...nor me."
He had to interject now. "I already know..." There was no real way to make her understand. "I'm different from you all... I can't be following the same path as you guys... But there is something else I must do... For that reason only, do I live."
His speech suddenly became colder. "I'll never be like you or Naruto."
"Do you really want to go back to being alone? You told me how painful it was to be alone! Right now, I know your pain! I may have friends and family... But... if you were to leave..."
She was almost hysterical now. "To me...to me... I would be just as alone as you..."
He had to close this conversation now. "From here on out...we all begin new paths..."
"I..." She seemed to be shocked, but she wasn't finished.
"I... love you with all my heart!"
"If you were to stay with me... there would be no regrets...because every day we'd do something fun, we'd be happy...I swear! I would do anything for you! So... please, just stay with me..."
She was hysterical now.
"I'll even help you with your revenge... I don't know what I could do... but, I'll try my best to do something..." She was utterly sobbing. "So please... stay with me... Or take me with you if you can't stay here..."
Now he turned to face her, a sinister grin on his face. "You really are... annoying."
He turned away from her, and walked away again. She had no reply to that. Of course she didn't. She poured her heart out to him, and he avoided all confrontation all while staring her right in the eye.
But apparently she wasn't done. "Don't leave! If you do, I'll scream!"
There really was no avoiding it; she was pushing him too far. "Sakura..."
A moment later he was behind her. It didn't take her long to realize it.
"Thank you."
Naturally, she wouldn't understand what he meant, but it was better this way. He never said that to her before, and caught her completely off guard.
A simple thrust to a pressure point, and she knew she was out cold, but still mumbled his name under her breath.
He caught her before she hit the ground for the last time, and walked over to the bench nearby to set her down. There would not be time to place her indoors, and he couldn't risk being found out before escaping again. She would be protected inside of Konoha, so there was no need to look out for her safety this time. But still...
He leaned down and kissed her forehead. She would never know of it, and he would leave her there, unanswered.
Years passed since then, and now they were both sitting on a bench in Konoha. It was not day like the first time they met, or night like when they parted, but twilight with a setting sun hidden by the clouds.
Orochimaru was dead. Itachi was dead. He earned back some level of respect, and could walk around in Konoha without the title of an S-rank criminal. In all irony, she was a jonin and he was still technically a genin and temporarily barred from the chunin exams for at least another four months.
The awkwardness between them still did not seem to settle, but it was particularly tense there.
"I remember this place... this is where you left me all those years ago... do you remember, Sasuke-kun?"
Of course he remembered that. He still didn't want to talk about it.
"What about it?"
"Well... You have changed, and I have changed, but... what I said back then, I still mean it now."
All of those years, and he still did not like these types of confrontations.
"I love you."
He simply couldn't leave her unanswered again. This time he had to answer her. He opened his mouth to speak, but he didn't have any words for this situation this time.
He turned to look at her instead. She was staring straight back at him, smiling with no tears falling down her face. She was older, more mature, and admittedly needed far less protecting than she did all of those years ago.
He was at a complete loss of words, but if he did not answer now he may never get around to it. She was sitting close to him. He hadn't noticed it before, but she was sitting very close to him, more than she usually did.
Before he really understood what he was doing, he was leaning toward her to kiss her for a second time, this time on her lips.