Notes:

I don't own Naruto or any characters associated with it. All credit goes to the respective author

This one-shot was primarily inspired by something I recently experienced. Maybe some of you can say the same. Hope you enjoy!

Unfollowed

Lost Follower: Sasuke_Uchiha

Sakura's emerald eyes widened in disbelief as she stared down at the small cellphone clutched in her right hand. It was just a couple of words on a dimly lit screen, a seemingly normal notification for many, but for some reason it felt like someone had just walked by and punched her in the gut. Sasuke Uchiha, the very man who used to be the center of her universe, had officially severed the last remaining tie existing between them.

The small, pale fingers that were once loosely wrapped around the mug at her side suddenly tightened as the pinkette resisted the urge to throw it against the beige colored walls of her living room. She knew she was being irrational, she knew that she was reading into this too much, but something about this small gesture made her angry. It made her blood boil, it caused her whole body to start shaking, but more importantly, it shattered the delicate heart she thought she had fixed so long ago.

You would think that she would be used to it by now. For as long as she had known Sasuke, she had known what it was like to have someone just outside of her grasp. It seemed like his entire purpose in life was to run away from her, make her life a living hell, tear her down piece by piece, torture her…but for some reason, Sakura always found herself running back to him. Hoping, praying that he would somehow come to his senses and allow her the privilege of understanding his tortured soul. Call it love, call it infatuation, call it naivety, she had heard it all before, and she didn't care.

Once the war ended, it seemed like everything was finally falling into place. Her raven haired teammate was finally home and it looked like he was beginning to overcome his antisocial tendencies and habit of shutting himself off from the people who loved and cared about him. After waiting and waiting for him to break down those walls himself, Sakura soon found out that all the progress she assumed he was making was all in her head.

Even after becoming a reformed man and apologizing to her, the pinkette was shocked to learn that Sasuke still found it in his best interest to run away again, leaving behind one of the few people in his life who he knew loved him unconditionally. When he approached her with this idea, his plan to leave and explore the world with "new eyes" as he put it, Sakura allowed it, accepted it, and even encouraged him to do so, because for the first time in his life he had promised that he would come back to her in the end. Even though she wasn't allowed to accompany him on his journey, Sakura had hoped that the recent technological advances in Konoha would help them keep in touch with each other, or at the very least, help her keep track of his travels.

At first everything was perfect. Their communications were regular, long, meaningful. But as days turned to weeks, and weeks turned into months, and months turned into years, the contact they had with one another slowly began to dwindle until it became nothing at all.

Sasuke was her world, her greatest fantasy, her first love…and after years of false promises Sakura began feeling all the bitterness she had pent up coursing through her veins. In almost no time at all, he became to her what she was to him: nothing. This was probably why she thought that if anyone had the right to unfollow the other first, it was her. But as always, Sasuke had the upper hand. He never failed to make her feel like absolute shit with such minimal effort on his part. Maybe that was why she hated him…hated him with every fiber of her being.

A wry smile tugged at her lips as she felt a dull ache begin to make its way through her chest. Even after all these years he still managed to cut away small pieces of her being. How pathetic was that?

As if on cue, a gentle hand traced its way up to the pinkette's shoulder and began softly rubbing the now tense muscles residing there. It was almost as if they were holding her in place…grounding her.

"Sakura-chan, sweetheart, what's wrong?" Naruto's worried voice entered the medic ninja's ears for the first time in several minutes, effectively drawing her out of her thoughts.

What was wrong with her? Why was she sitting here torturing herself over the actions of someone who was consistently terrible to her…someone so insignificant?

Sakura stared down at her lap and into the sleepy blue eyes of her former teammate before letting out a soft sigh, gently running her fingers through his messy blonde hair. "It's nothing, Naruto. I just finished reading something sad I found online." She lied smoothly, biting down on the inside of her cheek to still her now quivering lips.

The blonde's eyebrows began to crease ever so slightly with worry as a sympathetic look began settling into his azure eyes. "Something sad?" he mumbled, trying to coax out another response from her.

"Yeah…it was just a small piece about saying your final goodbyes to someone. Stupid, I know, but it was a rough read nonetheless."

Naruto observed the beautiful face above him, noticing that it was now marred with trace amounts of unexplained anguish and pain. He knew Sakura well enough to know that she wasn't telling him the complete truth about what was going on with her. For a split second he found himself torn between pressing the issue further and just letting it go. After a split seconds worth of deliberation, he decided on the latter. There was probably a reason why she was hiding whatever she was thinking from him…and that was okay. It was okay because she was simply allowing him to be there with her, comforting her, instead of pushing him away.

On instinct, Naruto willed his free hand up to softly cup his palm against the medic ninja's smooth cheek. Soft strands of her candy pink hair rubbed against the sides of his palm as a warm feeling began coursing through his body. This was the reason why Sakura had consumed his mind since childhood. She was beautiful, she was strong, she was loving. She was his.

"For what it's worth, you'll never have to worry about me saying goodbye to you, Sakura-chan. You already know how important you are to me…yanno?"

Without her permission a soft, genuine smile touched her lips. Even after all these years, Sakura didn't quite understand how Naruto always managed to make her feel better. In the middle of his toughest battles and even in his roughest of times, he always found some way to encourage her. To make her feel wanted.

"If I knew you were going to be this sappy after waking up from a nap I would've been more careful," the pinkette muttered playfully, rolling her eyes. "You should head to bed though, for real this time, it's getting pretty late. I'll join you in a few minutes, okay?"

The blonde's whiskered face lit up in the sweetest of ways at Sakura's words, and for a split second she resisted the urge to flip on her phone and take a picture of him. This was why the pinkette was so angry about what Sasuke had just done. As spiteful, immature, and selfish as it was, Sakura wanted the raven to see what was going on in her life since she wasn't able to physically will herself to speak with him anymore. She wanted him to see snapshots of where she was going, the experiences she was having, but most of all, she wanted him to see how happy she was without him…how happy she was capable of making someone else. Every fiber of her being longed for him to stare at her pictures with his cold, uncaring eyes wishing, thinking about how different his life could have been if he had given her a chance…if he had loved her as selflessly as she once loved him.

A single, thin finger glided across her dimly lit phone screen as she brought up her former teammate's social media profile. Not much was on there, outside of his name and identification photo, however, Sakura still found herself hesitating…waiting. If she decided to reciprocate what Sasuke had just done, there would be no turning back. Was she really okay with cutting the last remaining link she had with him?

As if to answer her question, Naruto's warm hand wrapped around her wrist as he gently began leading her to their now shared bedroom. As they laid down on his small bed, and his strong arms enveloped her, Sakura did what she was so scared of doing just a few seconds prior. She unfollowed the raven, fully releasing herself from the unseen hold he unwillingly had on her. Sasuke may have decided to stop keeping tabs on her life, but that didn't take away from the fact that it was she who had really won in the end.

A/N: This was a lot easier for me to write than my other stories…I guess it's because this one-shot pertains to a topic we are all vaguely familiar with. Please feel free to rate, follow, or review. As always, it would mean the world to me! I usually don't like writing one-shots, but if any of you have an idea you would like me to pursue please PM me! I'd be more than willing to give it a try since I'm trying to get back into the swing of things.