"Sakura."
His voice was someting she would never be able to forget.
His voice was something that would always make her weak heart suffer terribly for Sakura knew... that this would be the last time.
The young medic didn't know what hurt more.
The pain she felt every time she meets him or the fact that this would be the last time she would be able to feel the pain he caused at all..?
"Sasuke… kun..!"
Some things between them would never change and that, Haruno Sakura, was well aware of.
Every time she met him, her heartbeat stopped, turning into a wild inferno a few seconds later… making her feel like the love sick idiot she was so many years ago.
Because Haruno Sakura changed. A lot.
No longer was she a little girl with an innocent soul, much less innocent dreams.
Her life had changed so much after Sasuke-kun left, it almost felt… unreal.
With him being a criminal, Sakura was almost reminded of how terribly she failed for it had been her who wasn't able to stop the 13 year old Uchiha Sasuke from leaving.
Not only wasn't she enough, no, she didn't tell Kakashi Sensei about that sick feeling she had back then. A sick feeling that turned out to be more than just a feeling.
Because she had been right and Sasuke-kun really wanted to leave.
And now, for so many years, they tried to bring him back, Naruto and her trained like crazy to help him. But he didn't want help. Sasuke-kun… would even try to kill them to make them stop.
Haruno Sakura was no coward. More so, she was a powerful kunoichi, an exceptional medical ninja who was confident and strong without any insecurities regarding her abilities.
No. The pinkette wasn't insecure or weak for life left no space for such childish feelings.
In order to protect Konoha-gakure and those dear to her she had to keep her heart and soul clean from any weaknesses and actually, the 23 year old medic did manage that.
Her soul was strong, her mind sharp and her body deadly…
But how could she make her heart calm down when she was looking at that person she once loved so much. How should she tell her heart to stop being weak when it was reminded of that horrible, painful failure she tried to forget so hard.
"What do you want."
He looked a little more mature since she last saw him. His hair was jet black and his eyes sharp and calculating as ever. His facial features were left completely by his once boyish elements and Sasuke looked like… a man. A real, tall, dangerous and undeniably handsome man.
It almost scared her how tall he'd gotten, really, she had to get used to that.
"Don't worry, I'm not here to take you back to our home."
Nothing. He showed nothing, his gaze was hard, fixating her with no trust at all.
This man was nothing like the kid he once was, the way he looked at her was so strange, so calculating and so incredibly heavy that Sakura could barely withstand.
"Hn. Not like you could."
Something inside her hurt because yes… he was right. She could do nothing against him for that man was stronger and faster than her. So much he proved quite a few times.
Actually, he could even kill her if he wanted. Not like she wouldn't give him a hard time but he would be able to beat and to kill her.
Because this man was not simply Sasuke-kun.
He was Uchiha Sasuke. An avenger, a traitor.
A stranger.
However, his words angered her deeply and Sakura narrowed her eyes, sneering at him because knowing about your own failures was one thing. Being humiliated another.
"Not like I would!", she bit out harshly, her green orbs full of anger and poison.
Hadn't it rained so much, she would've seen the light twitch in his eyes but Sasuke was perfect at keeping back emotions. Too good, really.
"How important do you think you are?", she barked.
"Do you think I am still looking for you? Do you really think you are that important to me that I would still try to get you back?!"
Her anger was boiling inside her, green eyes flickering with fury.
Who did he think he was? Did he think so little of her?
After everything she'd been through, after everything she accomplished, after everything she did to become strong… did he still think she was little, love-sick Sakura?
"Pretty big words, Sakura.", he sneered, his eyes dark with devilish intents.
"Pretty big ego, Sasuke.", Sakura shot back, suddenly feeling a sharp pain inside her chest.
Sakura's body jerked for a moment and Sasuke was sure seeing her tremble for a second and the young kunoichi fought the urge to hold her hurting forehead.
Dammit. Not again..!
Without any more words, she turned away to hide her pain-shocked face from the avenger she had no time to deal with. She couldn't handle this, couldn't handle him and the pinkette knew that she had to turn away from this man or else her pain will get worse.
And that she had to avoid at any cost. That boy- That man was not worth the pain.
She had to try to stay calm or else she could lose consciousness and that she had to prevent from happening. She was not going to show any weakness in front of the Uchiha.
Without speaking another word, Sakura made her first steps to get away from him. She needed time so she could heal herself. Or try for that matter.
He flash-stepped right in front of the kunoichi, stopping Sakura from walking as he stood before her, fixating the pinkette with his deep, black gaze that seemed to bore her soul.
Dammit, he was fast, she didn't even see him move.
However, she wasn't feeling well so this could be one hell of an annoying result of her physical condition.
"Where do you think you're going?", he asked, his velvet voice deep and demanding.
She really was different than before. She'd grown out her hair again which made her look even softer than she already did. Her eyes looked weaker, more vulnerable than the last time he'd seen her but to him, that didn't make any sense.
He knew the pinkette had one hell of an intense training and her green orbs were burning from determination the last time they met. She was full of confidence, Sakura eyes did not show any softness or vulnerability at all.
So why should that change now? Why… did she look so soft?
Was that a trick? Was Sakura trying to fool him to get him back?
No. No, she made it clear that it was not her intention of doing so at all.
Or was it?
Dammit, why was he even thinking about that?!
"Step aside, Sasuke. I don't have time for this nonsense.", she just said, angering him by avoiding his coal eyes that were trying to read her.
"Tche. You're good at this, Sakura. Though, I'd never thought that pretending would be-"
"You know nothing about me, Uchiha!", she suddenly barked, looking absolutely angry again.
"I've come in terms with the fact that you don't want to be saved! I am not your damn puppet anymore and I don't care about you being a rouge! We both know that I already tried everything to help you but all I get is-"
Murder attempts, humiliation and emotionless looks.
She was sick and tired of this.
"I do not have the time to deal with you any longer. Whatever you do from now on… I'm not capable of helping you. I don't have the strength or power to do so."
Sasukes black eyes twitched and had Sakura looked up, she would've seen pure anger glowing in his orbs.
Just…
Just what the hell happened to his ex-teammate?
"If you really want to finish the job and kill me then just get it over with. Unless you want to attack me… you should just go and leave me alone. Apparently, that's all you're good for these days."
Her reproachful voice faded into a low whisper as Sakura didn't wait for his response. She didn't want so see his smirk, didn't want to hear a sarcastic remark-
Both, body and soul of the medic wouldn't be able to handle any of this.
She tried to get away from him again and this time, Sakura was sure he'd just let her go for she knew that he would never care. He… would never care for her, so why tell him the truth?
Why tell him that her fate was sealed with a deathly curse?
"Ah-"
However, the strong grip on her upper arm stopped her from making one more step and the thing she remembered were blood red eyes that where stabbing her from hot intensity, almost breaking her apart.
"What the fuck happened to you.", he demanded in a low, threatening tone as his strong hold became almost painful.
"You're either a good liar -which I know you're not- or you're hiding something from me."
It was almost frightening to her how well he knew her persona.
However, her chest started burning again, all the angst and fear really wasn't helping her condition at all. The Uchiha showed nothing as he had no problems with being rough with the young medic.
"Are you gonna kill me if I don't tell you, Uchiha?", she spat, trying to get away from him.
"Don't make me.", he threatened, narrowing his eyes at her attempts to get free.
"Tell me now or I will use tsukuyomi on you. You may be immune to gen-jutsu, Sakura, but in your condition even you won't be able to withstand. And be sure that I will break that medic mind of yours if you dare lie to me."
"FINE!", she suddenly yelled, ripping her arm free from his hold without acknowledging the harsh pain that followed soon after.
Then, she said it. Sakura... said something that almost made his heartbeat stop.
"I am going to fucking die! So just leave me alone and do what you can do best!"
She pushed him away from her, not able to fight off her boiling temper as Sasuke looked at her with wide eyes for he had definitely not expected her to… say those words.
"Get away or kill me, I don't care which! Because I will not waste my time on you, you hear me?! You have no power over me anymore, Sasuke, you have NO POWER OVER ME ANYMORE!", she continued screaming, her green eyes flashing with hurt and anger.
However, she calmed down after awhile and she refused to shed a single tear.
No, not anymore. Not for him. Not in front of the Uchiha.
"This is good bye.", she then said, her voice both dry and full with hurt.
"I hope that you will think of me though. I hope… that you will think of me and regret how you treated your team. And you will. Even if you deny it, you will never forget me because we both know that you might be the most powerful shinobi in the world..."
She swallowed the thick lump in her throat, fighting off her tears.
"But not even you can control death."
Never would she know how harsh his heart throbbed with pain, how… helpless the Uchiha suddenly felt even though his black, deep eyes showed nothing.
"I'm sorry, Sasuke. But this is the last time..."
.
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Well, I guess this is what happened when I'm bored during a lecture. University really sucks sometimes, but meh. I hope you liked my little OS a little ^^
English is my third language, so please go easy on me, yeah?