He was returning. The thought struck him many times as he made his way back into Fire Country, back into the awaiting village of Konohagakure as the light had disappeared. Was he supposed to feel this strange? Knowing that people would surely mistrust, mis-recognize, and maybe even hate him? Was he supposed to feel... relieved? He didn't care. Sasuke was going back home.
He looked up from his path, vaguely remembering his surroundings. He hadn't been here for... two and a half years. Orochimaru had finally let him go; Sasuke himself had begun to overpower the ex-sannin, and Orochimaru must have finally realized this. The risk of taking over Sasuke's body to house his own soul now... well, it was risky.
So he had be set free. Sasuke had no intentions of joining the Akatsuki, or any other nuke-nin group for that matter, and he... Sasuke wouldn't admit it, but he felt a bit homesick. Would his own teammates recognize him... would Naruto forgive him for their last fight? Would Sakura still be over-obsessed with him? He had so many questions to ask. Or, just to somehow find out the answer.
The path under his feet become somewhat smoother. He was no longer walking on pre-treaded sticks and stones; instead, a red cement-like trail wound its way over the top of a hill. A hill Sasuke remembered leaving on, the one with that bench that he had left his kunoichi teammate on, the one that overlooked his former village. Sasuke's steps slowly greatly, and he sighed, awaiting the sight that was to be layed out before him.
With a few more long paces, he stood, scanning the small, light-filled buildings still so far away in the darkened sky. He could see Hokage Rock up above even those lit-up buildings, five faces now carved into the sand-coloured stone. He felt a small breeze, and a small gasp from his right.
"...Sas...uke?" a high female voice squeaked shyly. He looked over to the side, to see a pink-haired girl, mouth agape and hand clutched to her chest. Her emerald-green eyes shone brightly, and Sasuke just stared.
"Hey... Sakura... it's you..." he commented quietly. He took a step towards her, noticing a glow radiating off her pale-ish skin. Sakura's eyes swelled up with tears, and she jumped at him.
"Sasuke! You actually came home in the end..." she wailed, clutching his half-open white tunic with her small, glove-covered hands. Sasuke looked down at her, and put his hands on her back. He could feel wetness sinking past the cloth of his silky white shirt, and realized that she was crying.
"Sakura... why are you all the way up here...? Why now, too? It's getting pretty late..." he pointed out coolly, guessing that it was nearing one o'clock in the morning. Sakura rubbed her eyes and smiled up at him, skin still radiating with a white glow despite the darkness that surrounded them.
"I was waiting." she whispered, snuggling her head cat-like into the crook of his exposed neck. "I was waiting for you. I knew you'd come back."
Sasuke's eyes widened a bit. She was still going to wait for him, after over two full years? "But, Sakura, I'd have thought that anyone would have given up waiting after a month or so... I had promised not to come back... it was lucky that I was actually able to..." he responded, looking down into her half-lidded jade orbs. "You wouldn't have actually kept waiting after that, would you?" he asked.
"Sasuke, you didn't understand..." she laughed quietly, and they sat down on the bench where she had last seen him. "...you wouldn't let me say goodbye. You meant so much so to me... and I waited, for so long... just for a chance to say goodbye. I didn't actually get to..." she glanced down, and it was obvious she was hiding something. Sasuke couldm't figure it out, so he asked a not-so-obvious question.
"Hey... Sakura... it's kind of sudden and all, seeing that we just re-met... but why are you all, glowy and bright? It's dark and you're... you're illuminating. You're lighting up the whole area. It's weird." he asked, shivering slightly. Sakura didn't answer, instead placing a cold hand on his and leaning into his face once more, averting her gaze from his. Her head found it's spot back in the curve of his pale neck, and she closed her eyes.
"Sakura...?" he nudged her, still waiting for a response. She just sighed.
"Nevermind it. I'm just glad you came back. I had wished for you to come earlier though, Sasuke. Then we would be able to stay together forever." she smiled sadly.
"Huh? Are you... engaged, Sakura?" he asked, startled at what she had said.
"No."
"...then..."
"Forget it, Sasuke. I just can't stay here now, all I wanted was to finally say goodbye." she stated, sitting up without looking him in the eyes. "Oh, I forgot... this is for you. I picked it, see?" she gleamed, pulling a perfectly fresh cherry blossom out of her skirt pocket. Despite being in the small area for who knows how long, the flowery blossom looked untoughed, and also glowed with bright glory.
Sakura placed the flower in Sasuke's outstretched hand, and he held it carefully, examining it. Indeed it was fresh-looking, other than the fact that there was a small heart engraved by a kunai on the upperside of a pink-white petal. Sasuke grinned at it, and looked into Sakura's illuminated green eyes.
"Ah, thanks, Sakura." he said, and tucked the flower carefully into his billowing robe, making sure not to squish or flatten it in the process.
"Sasuke... I wish you had been able to walk me home that night." she said out of the blue... or in this case, black. He looked up at her, face reading 'puzzled', and she smiled half-heartedly.
"What...? I can walk you home, if you want me to..." he offered, totally unable to figure out what she had just said. 'What does she mean by "that night"?' he thought slowly, but decided to ignore it. Sakura being Sakura. He looked at the pink-haired doll-like figure, and she gleamed at him.
"Thank you, Sasuke. But no. I'll go home. If anyone sees you... or worse, if anyone sees me..." she paused, and looked back up with him, eyes wet with tears once again. "Thank you for coming home, Sasuke. I missed you. All that time." she said, and reached up to brush a cold hand across his cheeks.
Sasuke felt his face getting hot. This was it. Sakura brought her face up to meet his, standing on the tips of her toes and grabbing his shirt once again. Sasuke helped by bringing his face down to hers, and her pink lips covered his.
Her lips were freezing. Was it unusual to have cold lips? Sure, winter had just passed and spring had begun to make it's mark, and cold hands were still normal, but not even the air around them was like this. Frostbite-ish. Nevertheless Sasuke returned the small motion of gratitude, pushing his own lips back against hers in an attempt to warm her up.
Sakura huffed in contentment, and pulled away. She stole a last glance at her past crush, and turned. The still-glowing brightly figure took off at a back up to the crest of the hill, paused, and disappeared over the other side. Sasuke watched for a moment, and then followed, remembering that he needed to tell her something. He dashed back up to the sight-seeing hill, and scanned the path downwards to the village, trying to find his lovely goddess-like glowing friend.
She was gone.
"Dammit," he cursed under his breath. A bright light strayed into his vision from beyond Hokage Rock. 'The sun...?' he wondered, then realised the sun would not be coming up at one o'clock in the morning. Then what was it...?
The figure only grew in brightness, and shot up at amazing speed in the sky, never faltering to defy gravity. Sasuke watched in amazement as it seemed to fly towards the heavens, and disappeared into the dark clouds hidden by the blackness of the night. The figure was then gone, and did not return.
Sasuke sat down on the bench, letting his mind wander over what had happened that night. Sakura... and he wondered if Naruto was okay, too. He would try and find him in the morning, without losing his head in the process. Who knew if the boy was still touchy?
Sasuke curled up on the cool bench, and closed his eyes. Another breeze softly blew by, moving several indigo locks of hair out of Sasuke's coal-black eyes. The boy snuggled his arms, and let his ming drift off to where he would be able to dream in peace.
Sasuke stood in the middle of the street, sulking. He had seen many of the former rookie nine pass him, without recognizing him at all. Kiba... Shikamaru... Hinata... Chouji... and even Neji and Tenten from Maito Gai's old team. Now that they didn't seem to know him anymore, he had absolutely nobody to ask for directions without making himself look like a complete fool.
He wanted to find Sakura's house. Where had it last been? He guessed that she had lived at her parents house... would she have moved? Or did she inherit the house on her own? It was a worthwhile guess, anyhow, he decided as he continued walking down the all-too-familiar streets towards her former home when they were all on Kakashi's team.
Remembering the route distantly, he took a turn and came face to face with a large white-bricked house that Sakura had resided in. He was sure this had been it. Nodding to himself to make his feet move again, he quickly climbed up her front steps. With a deep breath, he knocked on the door.
"Ahhhh... JUST A MINUTE!" said a deep male voice from inside. There was a lot of shuffling behind the door, and suddenly the red frame swund open. Inside stood a tall blonde boy in a black-and-orange jumpsuit, whiskers on cheeks and blue eyes extremely wide.
"Naruto... why are you at Sakura's house?" Sasuke asked, extremely confused and somewhat hurt. Did Sakura actually get married to Naruto?
His thoughts were abruptly interupted as a tan fist was swung rather roughly into Sasuke's cheekbone. The blue-haired boy stumbled backwards against a black railing, cursing at his former teammate. He glared up at the vessel for the demon fox, and pushed himself back to his feet.
"You ass, what was that for?!" he growled in frustration. Sasuke had been so glad with himslef that he had actually located the house, and this was his welcome home.
"Why did you come home?! And why so late...?" he cried out, holding his fist back again and lunging forward to lash out. He swung the balled fist at Sasuke's jaw once again, but the stronger shinobi easily caught the would-be punch. Sasuke glared at the other boy, eyes betraying him and giving Naruto a true sense of confusion.
"I came home because I missed you guys, goddammit! What a nice way to welcome me back to Konoha, eh? Screw you, dobe!" he growled back, slamming Naruto's back against the white-washed brick. Naruto gasped in pain, and as Sasuke backed up a bit, proceeded to brush himself off.
"Sakura missed you too, you know, and now she's not around to see you! You killed her, dammit, broke her heart! And it was my job to clean up the whole mess!" Naruto half-snarled, half-sobbed. He motioned to a packing box behind him, filled with Sakura's old clothes and the sort. On top was a picture of the three of them and Kakashi, posing for a group photo.
"I didn't kill Sakura! Naruto, just tell me where she is! I forgot to tell her something." he pointed out, and Naruto huffed.
"Fine. Go 'tell' her whatever you want. She's on Thirty-second street, right across from Ino's flowershop. Say hi to her for me, will you? I'll be there soon, anyways. Gotta move all her stuff out... new people are moving in next week."
Sasuke glared at the fox-boy, finally looking away and beginning his trek across town. After two minutes of walking, he decided it to be quicker to jump. So, he leaped up to the roof of the house and jumped quickly towards the well known shop by the name of 'Yamanaka Flowers'.
Moments later he landed on the store's roof with a dull 'thud', and stared across the street. No. That wasn't right... Naruto must have gotten the directions wrong. The Uchiha jumped down off the roof, and heard a girl loudly 'eep!' behind him. Spinning on his heel, he came face-to-face with none other than Ino Yamanaka.
"Sasuke..." she muttered under her breath in surprise. "Sasuke!" she glomped him cheerfully, causing the boy to stumble for the second time that day, and he looked for something to grab onto. In this case, the wall.
"I knew you'd come back home for me!" Ino squealed, giggling like a little girl and cuddling Sasuke like some kind of over-favoured teddy bear. Sasuke grunted his disapproval, and pulled Ino away from him gently.
"Eh, Ino, sorry. Naruto told me to find Sakura over here, but I think he had to get his directions wrong, because there's only a few shops, the park and the-"
"The graveyard..." Ino cut him off, shrinking back and focusing her eyes on the ground. "So Naruto couldn't bring himself to clearly tell you, huh? Well... Sakura's... gone, Sasuke. She was always waiting for you on the hill that overlooks the town, and she was so terribly sick... yet despite her health she would go out every evening to the same spot. She would just sit there, until me, Naruto or Kakashi brought her home. Then... she got sicker, Sasuke... sorry, but the funeral was two days ago."
Sasuke looked at her, unable to believe his own ears. How could he, after all, when he had just spent the previous night with someone not only proclaimed dead, but six-feet-under as well? He shook his head and knitted his eyebrows together, as to silently bid Ino wrong.
"Nah... no, that couldn't be. When I returned home... here... last night, she was with me. She was the one who welcomed me up on the hilltop. We were talking, and she kissed me, and everything..." he trailed off as Naruto roughly landed beside him and nodded greetings to Ino.
"Sasuke... you're not making any sense. She's dead. Buried, too." Ino sniffed, rubbing an arm over wet eyes in remembrance of her best friend. Sasuke shook his head.
"No! No... hey, see look! She gave this to me last night!" he insisted, pulling the still perfectly-intact flower out of her robe and shoving in Ino's face. Naruto, clueing into the conversation at last, peered at it with curiosity.
"You got to believe me now!" Sasuke yelled frantically as Ino recieved the cherry blossom from him, and looked at it. She gasped as she rolled it between her fingers, and tears leaked out of her eyes to roll silently down her cheeks.
"It's cut... it's cut the way Sakura always used to cut it... so terribly cut the wrong way, on an angle that she always used to brag about..." Ino sobbed, running a finger over the roughly-cut end where it had been attached to some sort of cherry tree. "And yet, it looks and feels as if it had been cut only yesterday... it's so strange..."
Naruto shushed the weeping girl, and the three quietly stepped across the street, pushing past the gates to the small graveyard and stepping inside the white compound. Small and large stones of multiple sizes and shapes were layed out in neat rows, and Naruto lead the way towards a particularily large one standing near the south-west corner of the compound, still covered in brightly coloured flowers and gifts.
"It's so big because Sakura had been training under Godaime Hokage before she died. It was, least to say, a large funeral. Over 200 shinobi, mostly patients that Sakura had saved the lives of. They were, and still are, very grateful to her and Tsunade-Godaime." Naruto explained, an arm wrapped anround Ino's shoulders.
"S-she was fated to die th-that week, Sasuke... and yet she insisted that she would go out to s-see you again. And, you n-never did come. That night... she said that she would only d-die when you came home. She was waiting t-to say goodbye. She never d-did stop waiting." Ino sobbed out between hiccups.
"Last night, though, Ino... that's exactly what she said. When I offered to bring her home, she said 'No', and that she had just wanted to finally see me one last time... dammit, it doesn't make sense!" Sasuke cried out desparetly, kneeling on the ground before the large stone carved with his friend's name. "And she wouldn't stop glowing!" he added.
"Eh... glowing, Sasuke?" Naruto commented quietly, raising an eyebrow at his teammate.
"Yes, dobe, glowing! She was like, radiating light or something! It was midnight and she was the brightest thing around. Like a human flashlight!" he tried making sense, but the others gave him funny looks.
"N-nevermind that, Sasuke." Ino stuttered. "I c-can't explain the cherry blossom, or what happened to you last night, or, in fact, the r-reason Sakura knew you were coming..." she started, clearing her throat. "But, you're here."
Sasuke nodded wihtout looking up at the girl. If he wouldn't ever see Sakura again, then he'd better say what he had wanted to say now and then leave. To go to who knows where.
"I loved you." he whispered. Ino gasped, and looked at the blue-haired boy sadly. Naruto sighed. He had known.
"I loved you, Sakura." Sasuke said again, a bit louder. "And I wish you were still around so that I could tell you." he layed his head softly against the cold, hard rock, remembering the coolness of Sakura's hands and the frostbite-lips from the night before. As he closed his eyes and concentrated his mind on the stone, he could have swore he heard a small female voice call to him through his mind.
'I loved you too. I still do. Join me.' it whispered, and out of Sasuke's own instincts he knew that this was something neither Ino nor Naruto could hear. This was for his mind alone.
"I'll join you." he mouthed, and felt what could be a smile within his head. Sasuke felt light, suddenly, as if he weighed nothing, and stood up.
"Sasuke... you're...! You're glowing!" Ino screeched, and Naruto hollared out.
"You bastard, what have you done to yourself!?"
Sasuke locked gazes with him, and, still feeling as though he had lost both his body and mind, walked calmly out of the gates and down the street. Naruto watched him carefully as he disappeared from sight. He ushered Ino up off the ground, and soon the were standing on the roof of Yamanaka Flowers, watching the sun slowly fade over the horizon.
That night, Naruto swore he saw a lone figure, glowing whiter than fresh snow, standing at the top of the Konoha hill. The figure looked down upon the village as Naruto stared up at the glowing light, and within moments had disappeared over the crest of the hill.
A bluebird flew that night, landing on a fresh headstone that read:
Sakura Haruno
Born- March 28, 1943
Died- May 15, 1958
-I waited
beside it, was an even newer stone that had just appeared, it was just there, standing tall.
Sasuke Uchiha
Born- July 23, 1943
Died- May 20, 1958
-I followed
Nobody had bothered to notice two small hearts scribed into the bottom of each stone. Of course, those too were probably just an illusion.