When the Flowers Bloom
"Sasuke." The name feels foreign on her tongue. Her muscles feel as though they are being pricked with needles, while her heart feels like it's being ripped apart by the man himself (which technically, it was). She refused to let it show, especially with him watching. "Welcome back."
"Hn."
It is their first meeting after the war, and she watches as he is surrounded as if he were some sort of hero (which yes, he was).
They treat him like the prodigal son he was, the person he could have been, but does not deserve to be.
Sakura does not understand it, but then again, when Sasuke is around she has a tendency to not understand anything.
After a week or so, everything goes back to normal.
The talk passes, and the whispers and glances as they all walk down the street begin to lessen.
She is split between gratitude and envy that she is not being spoken about.
It was only Naruto and Sasuke did this, Naruto and Sasuke that.
Yes, they were the heroes, she knew.
But where would they be without the help of everyone else?
Sakura was seventeen with a good head on her shoulders, but her mind did not think to wonder where everyone would be without them.
Training is boring and just as it used to be, but there are no real fights or blood or scars, so everything is okay in Sakura's eyes. She pushed all of the hatred and disgust she felt towards the back of her mind.
No one acknowledges that she is the only chuunin out of she, Naruto and Sasuke. No one acknowledges how awful she must feel when put next to them, the Uchiha and the Jinchuuriki, how normal she must feel.
They go on their first mission two weeks later.
Not once does she hear anyone thank her for healing their life threatening wounds.
Not once in a battle is she not told to guard the client.
Sakura is scared that if she goes on like she is twelve, like she hasn't changed, she will surely snap.
She does not want to let her walls down. She does not want them to think that she is so weak that she can not even contain emotions - what kind of shinobi would that make her?
She hit the ground with a thud, her body finally going limp.
Distantly, she could hear Naruto and Sasuke's yelling. She would not let herself cry for them though, their loss. After coming this far, she could not show weakness.
It was probably the poison making her hear things.
Even as she watched the two boys run towards her numb, broken body, she did not allow herself to become the tragic sacrifice. No, she would not let herself believe that she was cared about.
It was best not to hope.