Just a little info before you get started. Every chapter labeled Part 1: Before means that they occured before Sasuke comes back home. I'm sure you could have thought of that, but just in case. All of the chapter will be short, but not this short. I hope you enjoy it . Review when you're done, I want all the advice I can get.
Part 1: Before
Chapter 1
Sakura peered at the digital clock from underneath the cool white sheets; it read 3:51 am. Blowing a wispy pink hair out of her eye, she rolled over and stuck her face deep in the soft feather tick pillow. She breathed in deeply smelling the sweetness of the shampoo that had become all too familiar to her. Anybody else would say it was just shampoo and smelled like scented soap, but to her, it smelled like a cool breeze on a summer evening. The scent was so real to her she could almost hear the wind whipping through the trees and the birds chirping melodiously as it carried them to their destination. Yes, it was all very poetic and she could explain it all to well because of the many times she had tried to describe it to herself.
She looked around the dark room and focused on the window behind the desk. The room around her was so heavily shrouded in the darkness that she could see clearly outside. Trees lit up by the moon, which was whole and round and glowing like a beacon. She hoped that it was a beacon that would lead him home and waited for him every night. His room was almost exactly as she imagined it, simple would be the word. Sasuke was obviously a minimalist in so many ways; he only wanted things he needed. The room was tidy when she had first decided to come months before. She had debated on it for quite a while, mostly because it felt foreign to her. He would never have let her in his home, she knew that much. Everything was placed methodically around the room; everything had a spot that was intended for it. She moved nothing, liking the feeling of being in his room where everything was his way. It was almost like being with him.
Without her parents or team knowing, she spent a lot of time at Sasuke's. Sometimes, when missions came sparingly, she would spend a Sunday or Wednesday cleaning the house. Without anyone living in it, the rooms collected dust quickly. Those were her favorite days; walking around the house until it became familiar to her. She knew every nook and crack in the house because she had cleaned them all at least twice. The wooden floors mopped and polished lovingly, waiting for the owner's feet to cross it once more. The picture in her head was one she knew would never be true or factual. Sasuke would come home and find his home as clean and perfect as it was before he left. He would wonder who would do such a thing for him and discover that it was her. She didn't expect a kiss or anything of that nature. All she would want are those two little words he had given her many months ago: thank you. She had lost all hope of him loving her when she had confessed her feelings and he had turned her away.
Naruto was still dead set on bringing him back, but she had lost some of her faith. She would never tell Naruto that, of course. The idea of stealing him away was becoming less and less appealing. She wanted him back so badly it hurt, but the thought of dragging him back "kicking and screaming," as Naruto would say, just didn't seem right. They were, let's face it, being selfish. Sakura had realized this after three solid months of crying into her pillow. She had never stopped to think of how Sasuke might feel. When he left, she had told him she understood, but did she really? The answer was no, she didn't and never would. Maybe she would have gotten a more positive response if she had told him she knew that he needed to go. That she cared about him and would worry about him until he was back in the village. That she would wait for him and pray that he got what he wanted and was safe. If she hadn't talked only about herself and about her stupid girlish feelings for him. If she hadn't clung to him so hopelessly. . . If she had only been strong.
God he was so strong. She admired his strength more than anything else about him. She, who was always weak, always crying. How could she even think that someone so strong would want someone so weak and spineless like herself? She hated how she could never read him, or how he never paid any attention to her, but she also loved it. Many people in the village, especially her parents, couldn't understand her feelings for Sasuke. They just didn't see how she could love someone who would betray his village and leave her with a broken heart. The answer was that she just didn't see it like they did. She saw a boy who was hurt and determined to heal that hurt however he could, even if it meant going against everyone's wishes. She couldn't hate someone just because they wanted to be happy. Besides, more than anything, she wanted him to be happy.
Exhaling deeply, Sakura turned back to look at the clock; it read 4:01 am. Only ten minutes had passed and all of her thoughts had been filled with Sasuke. Getting out of the bed and putting her warm feet onto the cool wood floor, she wondered where he was at that exact moment and if he was maybe thinking of home. She also wondered if she would ever stop thinking about him.
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