I do not own Naruto. That's all you need to know.
"Once upon a time…" That was how fairytales started, right? "Once upon a time. Once upon a time. Once upon a time!" It was always the same. It always started with 'once upon a time.' Well, once upon a time, there was a handsome young boy named Uchiha Sasuke. Once upon a time, he had a loving mother, a talented older brother, and a father he wanted to please above all else. Then it happened and everything changed. He no longer had his mother or father or anyone else for that matter. All he had was the traitorous man he used to call 'nii-san.'
Once upon a time, Sasuke had dreams. Dreams of becoming one of the best, dreams of having a wife and a child, a house to call his own…but they faded away with time and he was left with wistful memories and a grudge that went as far as his soul.
And, once upon a time, he loved…a girl. A girl named…Haruno Sakura.
She was a foolish prat, always swooning at the sight of him and praising him with empty words, but she wasn't always like that. Before, when they were children, he found her crying one day in the shade of a tree…
Flashback
Birds chirped in trees as the sunlight kissed the pale cheeks of the six-yr-old running through the woods.
'I have to catch up to nii-san. He runs 50 laps a day. I have to catch up to him. I have to!' he thought as the browns and greens of the forest blurred around him when all of a sudden, the sound of crying reached his ears.
He skid to a stop, the rubber soles of his sandals screeching as he dug his feet into the dirt, scattering twigs and dead leaves as he slowed himself down and crept behind the cover of a bush before peering over the foliage. And there, back against a tree was a small pink-haired girl.
'Pink hair?' he thought curiously as he shifted to get a closer look. A twig snapped underfoot and the girl looked up in alarm.
"Who's there?" she asked, anxiety in her voice.
"No one," he replied.
"You're lying!" she shouted and her arms shifted slightly. "Just go away!" she cried.
But he didn't. Instead, he slowly walked out from the bushes, twigs and leaves jutting from his hair and clinging to his clothes as he approached the girl. At five feet away, she flinched and ducked her head as if it was a practiced thing and he looked at the girl who was covered in dirt and open wounds with tears at the corners of her eyes. He reached forward and watched her flinch again and whimper as she tried to shy away from him.
"Why are you crying?" he asked and she looked up in surprise. "I'm sorry?"
"Why are you crying?" he repeated and she shifted to face him before moving her hands away and a ball of fur met his eyes.
"They were hurting the puppy," she said quietly as she held the puppy close to her body, its whines reverberating in her chest. He knelt down.
"Why were they hurting the puppy?" he asked angrily and she looked down sadly, the tears beginning to stream down her face once more.
"Because of me."
He looked up at her in shock. "You? Why?"
She withdrew a bit more. "Because I'm not pretty and they said that if I'm not pretty, I can't have friends."
She turned her head, petting the white and tan puppy as it whimpered in pain.
"But this puppy didn't know that. He wanted to be my friend and I started playing with him yesterday. When I went to play with him again, the kids were throwing rocks and kicking him and I went to protect him," she answered as she pet the white and tan puppy's head, tears flowing freely down her face. She looked up at him. "Are you going to hurt him too?"
The boy looked at her in shock, appalled at the idea and shook his head. "No!" And he quickly clamped his hands over his mouth after seeing her wince at his shouting. "I'm not going to hurt him."
He sat down beside her, watching as she slowly lowered her knees and let the puppy lay in her lap. He looked at her.
"Can I pet him?"
"S-sure," she stammered, a bright pink blush painting her cheeks and Sasuke stopped petting the puppy to look at her. "Why are you blushing?"
"B-b-because no one's ever been nice to me before," she admitted. She looked down, gaze darting to look at anything but him as she fidgeted awkwardly with her fingers. "Ano…do you want to be friends?"
He blinked at her, once, twice, before smiling at her. "Sure. My name is Uchiha Sasuke."
"Okay! And my name is…"
The wind had picked up at that moment and a cloud of cherry blossoms were thrown into the air and swirled around them. And despite the loud wind and her shy voice, he heard her name through all the noise.
Haruno Sakura.
And he smiled warmly at her, watching her blush and begin helping the puppy with its paw and he helped her, but not before thinking, 'What a pretty name…'
End flashback
After that day, he vowed that he and she were going to get married, but times change. People change. Itachi killed their clan and he found himself an avenger, but he watched her from his seat in class. Watched how she changed from the little girl from years ago into someone shallow and two-faced—someone…different and it annoyed him.
Then, they wound up on the same team and he began to hate her. Hate her for her callousness, for having everything he wanted and not being grateful, for changing into someone he didn't know anymore.
And once again, times changed. They passed Kakashi's bell test, they plotted with Naruto, and they became a team. It was after they face Zabuza that he saw a glimpse of the girl he once knew and hatred faded back to annoyance and a question of if she could get off him because she was heavy.
After Zabuza came the Chunnin exams and he watched her mature and came to respect her, love her—covet her because she was who she was supposed to be. The person who loved with her soul, smiled with her eyes, and laughed and cared with her heart. And all was right with the world. But happiness is like glass, and it was only a matter of time before it broke.
The day it broke was the day that Sound extended its invitation to him and he swore he could actually hear the breaking of glass. He was forced to throw away all his old dreams, of being an honorable shinobi, of having a home of his own, of having a family again, but his dream of being with her was the hardest to let go.
The night he left, Sakura was there, as if she knew he was going to leave. He waved it off, pretended he didn't care as he feigned indifference towards her when it killed him to hear her words. She begged him to stay and he almost let himself become ensnared by her words and it hurt so badly because he had wanted to stay. Desperately he did, but he couldn't—not with the threat of Itachi over his head. He wouldn't stand for Sakura to get hurt and so, he knocked her out and left her with words of thanks as he severed his ties with his village and her for the promise of a better life for them all when he returned.
And when he did return seven years later at the age of 19, he felt relief as he stepped through the gates of his old home, but the relief became unease as he found that many things had changed in his absence. Neji and Tenten were dating; Nara was with Temari, and other things. They all came as a shock, but none could be as shocking as that cloudy September day…
Flashback
"You wanted to see me?" A nineteen-yr-old Haruno Sakura asked Sasuke as she stood in a sea of dead leaves. Sasuke looked up at her. She wore a cream-colored coat over a green turtleneck and a cream-colored skirt with a brown belt. Her hair had also grown back out to the length she had as a genin. She looked nice.
"Hn," he grunted, standing and dusting off the thin layer of dust from his black pants. Idly, he wondered if just wearing the grey shirt he put on this morning was now such a good idea.
"So what did you wanted to talk about?" she asked fixing her matching green scarf and he wondered how he could've missed her green scarf.
Minutes passed in strained silence and he looked up to the sky, admiring how the fall leaves contrasted sharply against the light grey clouds. Sakura sighed. "Sasuke, if you have nothing to say, I'm—"
"I love you."
And she turned to him, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. "W-what?"
"I love you," he repeated, features set in a stoic face as his raven hair framed his face and he stood resting his weight on one foot with his hands stuffed into his pockets. "I'm not going to repeat it a second time, Haruno."
"I wasn't going to ask you to," she replied quietly.
A gust of wind passed between the two of them and her scarf fluttered in the sudden breeze.
"So…"
"So?"
"So what's your reply?" he asked with emotions flickering over his eyes, but they were too fast for Sakura to decipher as other than a flicker.
"I…I'm sorry." And she watched the emotions that danced across his face. Watched the initial reaction of joy—of his eyes lighting up briefly and the half-smile that split across his face because he was so prepared for her to say 'yes'. Watched the dropping of his jaw and the widening of his eyes in shock at the realization that she had not said what he believed she would say. And watched as he looked at her darkly as hot, angry tears stung his eyes and threatened to spill, but he refused for them to. Instead, he furiously wiped his eyes with his sleeve and looked at her with bitter disdain.
"Why?" he spat and she looked at him with patience as if dealing with a petulant child. She sighed.
"People…they change, Sasuke-kun. I'm not the same little girl you knew when you left. I'm not the girl that believed first love was the only love. I thought we'd be together forever. I know better now. I know now a love redeemed isn't a love wanted," she said with a sad reminiscent smile.
She turned to him, the wind sending her hair blowing around her face to lash out at her cheeks as she fingered a promise ring on her left hand. How had he missed that? How could he miss that? He looked at her questioningly. Accusingly. She smiled sadly in return.
"I've found happiness with Kakashi, Sasuke. For once in my life since you left, I'm truly happy. Why can't you be happy for me?"
At the silence she received, she gave a small sigh and a regretful smile. Fondness colored her beryl eyes as a heartfelt smile reached out to him. "I did love you, Sasuke-kun. What I said the night you left was no lie. As naive as I was, I loved you. I truly loved you. Once upon a time."
And despite her kind words, he still remained silent. She saw the spite in his stance and her eyes dulled with sadness. Sasuke gritted his teeth.
"Sakura…"
"We can't go back to who we were, Sasuke-kun. We've changed too much. I belong with Kakashi now," she replied and he was inwardly stunned. She had been able to predict his question after so many years. Inside himself, he chuckled. A sad fondness lighted her eyes. "I hope one day, you can find a happiness of your own."
And he watched her leave, the distance growing between them as she walked further and further away towards her new love until she was a dot on the horizon before vanishing completely. That was two years ago. He was twenty-one now, past the bitter resentment and the well-wishing, now lost in old memories and wistful sighs with thoughts of what could have been and dreams of yesteryear.
Once upon a time, Sasuke had hopes of become an honorable shinobi. Once upon a time, he had aspirations to become like his brother and dreams of a quiet life with a happy family. And once upon a time, Haruno Sakura loved Sasuke Uchiha…
But that was once upon a time.