Summary: When Sasuke finally returns from Sound, dragging the dead Orochimaru along with him, he notices that a lot has changed since he left. But the one thing that hasn't change was how he felt about the gentle cherry blossom and how she will love him, now and forever. But will things change once Sasuke's mission to kill Itachi resurfaces... will he break her heart, again?
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Naruto. If I did, would I be wasting my time writing fanfics about my own story?!
THE CHERRY BLOSSOM CHRONICLE
Chapter One: Realizing
FLASHBACKS are in ITALICS
It's always the same story.
GIRL LOVES BOY, BOY HATES GIRL, GIRL GETS OVER BOY, BOY WANTS GIRL BACK, AND GIRL DIES IN A HORRIBLE CAR ACCIDENT.
Now take out the words "girl" and "boy" and replace them with the names "Sakura" and "Sasuke" (In that order, because Sasuke is NOT a girl, as amusing as that might be). Okay, so Sakura never dies in a horrible car accident. But for all you know, it might happen!
(A/N - I don't even think they have cars in Konoha... xD)
All of this boy-girl non-sense is what brings us back to our current story, a story filled with sorrow, pain, happiness and love. A story featuring two of our favourite Konoha shinobi, Sasuke and Sakura!
Sakura skipped happily towards the bridge where team seven used to meet. Two years has past since the Uchiha heir came back, covered in blood from head to toe, dragging Orochimaru's limp, dead body back with him. Ever since Sasuke's return, Sakura's been dying to show him how she's grown and how much stronger she's gotten. But most of all, Sakura needed to prove that no matter how much the Uchiha heir ignored her and hurt her in the past, she'd always care. Sakura sighed as the painful memories came rushing back…
Sakura ran after Sasuke, blinded by her own tears. She had to stop him from leaving; she would do whatever it took. She continued to run towards the Uchiha heir, screaming "No! Don't leave Sasuke-kun! You're making a mistake!"
Sasuke stopped upon hearing the voice of the pink-haired kunoichi. He knew he had to leave. He had to leave to find Orochimaru and to gain power so that he could one day, kill his brother. No one was going to stop him, no one could stop him. He wasn't going to let anymore, let alone a weak, pink-haired girl stop him. Yes, that's what she was, weak, weak and annoying. He wasn't going to miss her at all.
Sakura stopped behind Sasuke, panting slightly, thankful that he stopped. "Please Sasuke-kun," she begged. "Please don't leave. We all love you so much. Naruto will be devastated if you leave and even though he never admits it, you're like the brother he never had. Even Kakashi-sensei will miss you. He didn't teach you the Chidori so you could one day betray the village!" Sakura paused for effect then continued. "And me, I'll miss you the most."
Sasuke looked down at the ground, balling his hands into fists. He felt somewhat guilty about what he was doing to his teammates, who he now might've even considered friends.
The tear stains on Sakura's cheeks were visible, even in the dark. "Sasuke-kun, please. I love you. I love you so much that it hurts. I will do anything for you, I'll help you train and maybe someday the hokage will let you go on a mission to kill him. But please, just don't leave. I will die if you do. That's how much I love you, Sasuke-kun. Please stay."
Sasuke smiled a little at her last statement.
Then, Sakura gasped at the sudden change in wind direction. She then realized that Sasuke is now behind her, and she could feel his breath on her neck.
"Sakura," Sakura waited, wanting to hear the words 'I'll stay', but they never came. "Thank you."
Then, everything was black.
The next day, Sakura awoke and found her sleeping on a bench. 'He left…' She thought.
'He left and he took my heart with him.'
Sakura arrived at the bridge, frowning at the sad memory. Oh well, she told herself. No need for dwelling on the past. She smiled and looked up at the sky, watching a few birds fly by. The important thing is that he's back, and he'll never leave again. Well, at least she hoped he wouldn't leave.
Looking around, Sakura was surprised that Sasuke was nowhere to be found. Funny, the Uchiha was usually the first to get here. Sakura shrugged and sighed. Sasuke was probably off finding some suitable young woman to bare Uchiha heirs with. Sakura sighed again. For someone as powerful as Sasuke, with such a powerful blood line, you'd think they wouldn't be so blind to what was in front of him. Sakura was the prefect candidate for Sasuke's future wife.
Over the years, Sakura has gotten more beautiful and powerful. The 17-year-old surpassed the level of the Legendary Sennin Tsunade and was now one of the best known medic-nins in her village (And other villages also). Sakura's body was now more developed and she left her hair short, knowing that it wouldn't in the way during battle. Her pink hair was held back by her Hidden Leaf Village headband. Her large forehead didn't seem so big anymore. Sakura switched from her usual uniform to a pair of short-skirt (Sort of like a mini-skirt but made of more flexible material for movement) and a black tank-top. In battle, she usually wore a pair of black combat gloves to protect her hands from her powerful chakra attacks. She also wore shin guards to protect her lower legs.
She was training to be an ANBU where Sasuke, although only back for two years, was already an ANBU captain. He has accomplished so much in such a short about of time! Even though he was constantly under the watch of ANBU during his first year back, he has managed to do what many ninjas hoped to do in many years.
Yes, they would make the perfect couple and would produce perfect children, a perfect heir with Sakura's wits and Sasuke's strength.
Meanwhile, our favourite Uchiha prodigy was up in a cherry blossom tree, staring at the back of our cherry blossom. Some might even call this activity "stalking". Ever since Sasuke's return to Konoha, Sakura's been acting, differently, but he couldn't exactly say what. Sure her body was more developed and she has grown to be a powerful Jounin, but something else has changed. What was it?
Oh, right. She isn't the clingy, annoying fan-girl type character anymore. Sasuke frowned in his tree; he missed the Sakura who always greeted him with a cheery "Ohayou Sasuke-kun!" Where did that girl go?
Sakura turned around from where she was standing and looked into the tree by the river bank. She smiled when she sensed a familiar chakra in the tall branches of the tree.
"Ohayou Sasuke-kun."
Sakura greeted her ex-teammate with a smile and a little wave. Sasuke sighed and leaped out of his hiding place in the pink of the cherry blossoms.
"Hn," He gave his usual reply. "Where's dead-last and Kakashi?" he asked as if he didn't know the answer already.
Sakura frowned and looked around, after a good five minutes of waiting in silence, the pair decided that the hyperactive blonde and their ex-sensei were simply not coming.
"I guess they aren't coming today." Sakura sighed. "Kakashi's probably reading that perverted book of his and Naruto… well, knowing Naruto, he's probably at Ichiraku's eating ramen and flirting with Hinata."
Sasuke smirked at this, knowing his female "friend" was obviously right.
Since the two years Sasuke's been back, Naruto has changed a lot. Not only was he just as, if not more, powerful than he is now, he actually had a girlfriend. Even Neji, the cold Hyuuga, had a girlfriend now! How Sakura managed to talk Neji into asking Tenten out on a date was a huge mystery itself. The once annoying fan girl, Ino, managed to get pass her crazy obsession for the Uchiha heir and has found an interest in the pineapple hair freak, what's his name again? Oh yeah, Shikamaru.
(A/N - Sorry to all Shikamaru fans out there that's reading this, I just had to make it sound more... Sasuke-ish.)
Sasuke's smirk turned into a deep frown. He was the only one without a girlfriend, maybe Sakura could pair him up with someone, but he knew he didn't want that. What he really wanted was Sakura, but he couldn't let her know that! What if she no longer had feelings for him? No Uchiha shall be turned down by a girl, no, not ever. Their pride wouldn't let them!
"So…" Sasuke broke out of his train of thought at the voice of the pink-haired kunoichi beside him.
He gave her an "I-really-don't-want-to-hear-your-voice" look. Sakura giggled at this.
"Since they're not coming, what do you want do?" Sasuke was about to open his mouth to answer when Sakura spoke again. "Wait, lemme guess, training, training and more training?"
Sasuke twitched. Okay, he hasn't been training THAT much! In fact, he wasn't training for more than an hour yesterday!
No… wait…
After beating the crap out of Naruto for the fourth time that day, Sasuke headed for Ichiraku, dragging an unconscious Naruto behind him. He was looking for another victim… er, person to train with. He spotted the Hyuuga heiress coming out of Ino's flower shop carrying a thin vase with a single rose in it. If Sasuke had to guess, he would say that was for Kiba, who was recently found unconscious near Sound. After getting beat up by one of the Sound ninjas while completing a mission, no doubt. Sasuke decided to train with the Huyuga since Neji was on a mission (If you would call going on a date with Tenten a "mission").
Hinata gasped at the slight of Naruto when Sasuke walked towards her, dropping the vase in her petit hands.
"Naruto-kun!" exclaimed the Hyuga heiress, running towards her blonde boyfriend. "What did you do to him, Sasuke-san?!"
Hinata knelt by Naruto, shaking him, constantly asking him if he was alright, and when Naruto finally regained consciousness, the Huuyga heiress glomped him with hugs while she dragged him off, telling him never to train with the Uchiha again. Naruto just shrugged at Sasuke's confused face, letting Hinata drag him away.
Okay, so he beat the crap out of Naruto four times, it still doesn't mean he trained 24/7! Sasuke shook his head.
"No, we can't train 24/7," he replied rather dully, "even a shinobi need to have fun, right?" Sakura stared, and stared, and stared. Okay, now Sakura thinks Sasuke is insane. "Hey, don't you know staring is not nice?" Sasuke asked, smirking.
"Fine," Sakura said, resting one of her hands on her hip. "What do you suppose we do then?" Sasuke shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"Whatever you want I guess…" He heard a high-pitched squeal before he realized that Sakura had grabbed him by the hand and started to drag him towards the town.
"Crap…" Sasuke thought. Okay, maybe "Whatever you want" wasn't the BEST answer… The Uchiha heir had no choice BUT to let his female ex-teammate drag him into the busy part of the town where Ino's flower shop was located. Sakura dragged a very annoyed Sasuke into her best-friend's flower shop where she found the blonde arranging a dozen roses into a vase for an elder ordering flowers for her apartment.
Ino looked up, smiling when she spotted her best-friend and the Uchiha arranging flowers together into a thin, blue vase.
"Ohayou Ino-pig!" Sakura gave her best-friend her usual greeting before dragging Sasuke to the counter to pay for the flowers.
"Hey Forehead-girl." Ino greeted her best-friend while punching a few numbers into the cash register, a dinging sound was heard.
After paying for the flowers, Sakura skipped happily towards the hospital. Sasuke subconsciously shuddered, he hated hospitals. How Sakura could work at one everyday without getting sick at the sight of blood was amazing. Sasuke observed the girl holding the vase, skipping happily towards the hospital but being very careful not to drop the vase.
"Hey Sakura," Sasuke spoke. "Who are the flowers for?"
Sakura smiled. "You'll see."
Sasuke frowned, he didn't like to wait. Not now, not ever. The "couple" entered the hospital; Sakura nodded, smiled and greeted a couple of the nurses as the male doctors drooled at her appearance. Sasuke glared at them, immediately sending them back to their business.
Sakura entered a room with a pale green door, smiling at whoever inhabited the room. Sasuke looked past her shoulders (it wasn't hard considering the fact that Sasuke was at least a head taller than Sakura) and frowned.
"Ohayou Lee." Sakura greeted the Green Beast of Konoha. "How are you doing?"
Sasuke felt something erupt inside of him. Hate. Pain, and… jealousy? Okay. Deep breaths, Sasuke. You cannot, and I repeat cannot fall in love with Sakura. DO NOT fall in love the Sakura. He glanced at the pink-haired angel in front of him.
Oops, too late.
m e d a r i