He left her nothing. She was alone.
"Damn you, Sasuke," she cursed under her breath. She sat on the bench where he'd left her. She'd sat there all day, everyday, hoping that maybe he'd come back if she waited long enough. "Why did you leave?"
In one hand she held a rose. The same one she'd been holding since she found it. It was withered and dying, the color fading from it's once-lush petals. It fragrance was gone, but some of the beauty still remained. She put it to her lips and twirled it.
"Kakashi-sensei," she acknowledged. He hadn't been hiding his presence very well. If he didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be. He stepped out from the shadows, book in hand, the same as always. It almost made Sakura sigh.
"I see you've stopped crying," he noted. She chuckled.
"I don't see a point in it anymore. It won't bring him back." She leaned back on the bench to look at the sky, stars twirlling slowly in complex patterns invisible to the naked eye. She was silent for a long while, and just as her teacher was about to leave, she spoke.
"Kakashi-sensei?"
"Yes?"
"If the rose is a symbol of love, why must it die?" She looked up at him with innocent green eyes. He was taken aback by the question, and unsure of how to answer. He put away his book and scratched his head.
"I don't know, Sakura," he said. "I can't think of a reasonable answer for that."
"Then what's the first answer you think of? It doesn't have to make sense..." She looked back at the rose, here face becoming sad. She stretched her legs out in front of her and slumped a bit, making herself look melancholy.
"Well...if I had to guess," Kakashi said at last, "I'd have to say...that it dies so that a new one can grow." He reached out and ruffled her hair and, unlike usual, she didn't protest. "Don't stay out here too late, Sakura-chan." He got up and walked away slowly, his gait even and confident.
When he left, she was alone again, left to determine the meaning of his words. She put down the wilted rose on the bench next to her and found another there as well.
A small, budding rose.
A/N: Yeah, this was something my sister inspired by randomly asking me why roses die if they symbolize love. I was like "I smell a oneshot" and then, at school, mind you, I wrote this in about 15 minutes.