A/N: This randomly came to my head a few weeks ago, and a paper napkin with this story written on it was sitting on my desk for the weeks after just waiting to be typed. I don't usually write Naruto fanfiction, but recently, reading stories by SouthSideStory and JinnySkeans sorta inspired this short drabble from me. Hope you like it!
I'll be taking a hiatus for a while, since college is predominately taking up all of my time and I hardly have the time to write. Even this tiny little thing to several weeks to put together. It may grow to something more, but probably will be a while before that happens.
~Five years of separations has never once dimmed the vision of her in his mind~
After years of wandering, with no real attachment to any place, he finally comes back to the town where so many memories were created and lost. Through the town gate he stumbles, because he is tired and sore from his travels. So much has changed here, he muses, setting down his musty pack and staring at the new, modern buildings that grace the horizon. They are unfamiliar, and they paint a new cityscape across the sky. Fresh paint still permeates the air. New plants are growing in places the old undergrowth used to be, and young trees replace the old oaks and maples that used to grow here.
This place, this new Konoha, is a stranger to him. It is unfamiliar and different. He knows it's the same town that built him, but the new appearance makes Sasuke Uchiha feel like an outsider.
It seems as if he is the only thing that hasn't changed, compared to the city. And he has changed, drastically, both physically and mentally. He's grown, become the man he hopes Itachi can be proud of. He's avoided this town until he was able to overcome his sins and atone for his past misgivings. He's lost track of the days, months, years, since he last saw this town, and now, he's seeing it with new eyes.
People recognize him, even after five years. They run up to him, smiling and greeting him with joy. He smiles and hugs people he remembers, nods politely at the people he doesn't.
A girl runs up to him, and his eyes widen, drinking in the sight of her. Her hair, still vibrant and pink, has grown out from when she cut it short, and now hangs slightly below her shoulders. Wide green eyes, like the color of Granny Smith apples, full of warmth, surprise, and happiness, meet his own, and a wide smile graces her plump lips. Five years of separations has never once dimmed the vision of her in his mind, nor should it. She is everything he wants- she's all he's ever needed in his life. Everything comes and goes, but she stays, a permanent resident in his heart.
She jumps into his arms, and he hesitates- slightly- before hugging her back. He buries his nose in her silky hair and breathes in the scent of cherry blossoms- flowers that she'd been so aptly named after.
You're back," she whispers, running her hands through his unkempt hair. "Kami- you're back."
Her shoulders are shaking, and he realizes she's crying. She pulls back to stare at him through tear filled eyes, and he realizes that those tears are happy ones. He raises a hand and wipes her cheeks, diverting the glistening streams down her face.
"Sakura," he breathes. "It's been a while."
She doesn't say anything, but simply smiles, and rests her head on his shoulder, tucked into his neck. He closes his eyes and rests his head against hers, inhaling her sweet signature.
It's taken years for him to atone, to accept himself, to forgive himself. In those years, she had been a constant presence everywhere he went. In the kindness of strangers he felt her gentle touch. A warm summer breeze reminded him of her smile. He could hear her musical laugh in the birds overhead, singing their sweet songs. While training, he pictured her by his side, the image of her jade eyes narrowed in concentration clear like cut glass in his mind. She followed him wherever he went, his permanent shadow.
The smell of sakura blossoms in spring as they bloom, the pale pink color, ignites the strongest memory of Sakura in his mind.
Cherry blossoms. It is a smell that reminds him that she is everything for him. He needs nothing else; no apartment, no city, no job. Just as long as she's there, he feels content.