Sakura is 16 at the time in this. This is during the time that Sasuke's actions have taken a turn for the worst but before she goes to confront him.
Loving the Damned
No one quite understood my feelings for Sasuke.
Some thought I was foolishly holding on to a child's fantasy or that I had deluded myself into thinking he could love me. At one point I questioned myself too. I told myself that'd I'd get over him with time. That I was too young to even know love, so of course, my feelings for him were juvenile. Fleeting. My reflection told my eyes the truth, while I tried to feed my ears lies.
In the beginning of our time as a team, my feelings for Sasuke was a shallow puddle compared to the oceanic expanse of what I now feel. However that doesn't discredit my initial fascination of him.
Sasuke was strong, confident, and talented; he was everything I wish I was and everything I thought I needed. People assume that was all I saw in Sasuke, but they were wrong. Sasuke had character and a depth to him that I wanted to explore. He was more that just the pretty face and top graduate.
In that year as teammates, I learned things about him that amazed me, endeared me, terrified me, and made me come to a sad realization.
Sasuke would never love me the way I wanted him to love me. I would never have what my mother had. He has been through too much and seen too much. He has been cracked and broken too much. He has had to put himself back together so much that he'll never be able to love like he used to. He'll never be that smiling 8 year old that loves with every part of himself anymore.
And despite all this, I love him. I've fallen absolutely in love with him and with the path he is walking I may have to have a hand in his death.
People think me foolish for holding on to a childish dream of love. I think myself as foolish for actually falling in love with someone who I may one day have to kill. For falling in love with the avenger, the damned.