A/N: well... I wrote this in the middle of the night and I don't really know what it is... Anyways, I hope you like it and not identify yourselves with it.
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Emeralds fixated on the ocean hid behind a window. A shallow breath escaped her lips as she brought her legs closer to her in a hug. During the night, staying alone on a white couch in a complete different village was surely depressing. The girl wasn't hungry enough to go to the kitchen; wasn't cold enough to grab a blanket and the television had nothing good enough on to entertain her during that time of the night. Looking at the ocean was said to help those with insomnia, but her eyes didn't twitch a single time for the last one hour she spent looking at its darkness and deepness majesty. Her expression, instead of sleepiness, showed something more. Something like fear.
Even though the people from the Land of Waves generously offered an ocean facing apartment for her during her staying, watching and listening to the breaking waves weren't bringing her any good feelings. In fact, the medic nin of Konoha who was curled up in a ball, was afraid of it. Afraid of its darkness and intensity and uncertainty of what's really hiding on the bottom. Sakura feared the unknown. She was terrified by that vast darkness of the sea during the nighttime. So terrified that, inside her ribcage, her heart wouldn't slow down for any reason. How come, after so long, Sakura Haruno would become afraid of the sea? Well, not that the sea was really her problem.
[BREATH]
The clock was already striking midnight when she returned from her own intern world. She had wondered about her first time in that hazy village. The picture of his stabbed and bleeding body still haunting her thoughts. The coldness of his body still real in her hands. If only she was a medic ninja back then, none of them would have hurt themselves like that. She would have taken care of them and would have made sure none of them died. But that was not how it happened. Sakura wasn't a medic ninja back then. She wasn't strong or confident back then. All she was, during the spring of her life, was annoying. She is still annoying now. While she watches the sea with those fearful eyes and loses her sleep, she is annoying. And he was the first to ever tell her so. Perhaps he did know her a lot back then.
[DIVE]
The moon was covered by a carpet of clouds that were about to cry any time. They would cry just like her when he almost died on that bridge. That night was destined to be sad. That whole trip was, in fact. Her only reason for being there in the first place was returning two bodies for its graves. Yes, the Hokage himself- aka her sensei- had asked her to return Zabuza and Haku's bodies to their own place on that mountain. For being the medic nin she is, Sakura had the complete access to the retrieved bodies from the war. She and the other medics had been assigned to identify and bury the bodies that belonged to their own village. Even if the mist wasn't her home, she was the only one who could save the body of those men. And she did. Just like when they were genin, she left a crown of flowers decorating their graves. The pinkette just hoped they would still be together, unlikely her own team.
The whole mission lasted a whole morning plus some hours of her afternoon. After that, they took her to meet the central hospital and to receive a letter for the Hokage. Only at night she was able to return to the place they had prepared for her so she could take a shower and, preferably, rest for her journey back home in the next day. Time passed so fast that Sakura didn't really meet any of the most commented places nor any of the best restaurants. All she did there was work and, now, the girl with pink hair is standing up in front of the large window of what seemed to be the living room offered to her. Her eyes still looking at the sea as If looking for something. Looking for someone in the middle of those dark waters, perhaps. By the time she does so, her fear, among with her sleep, simply disappear. Looking at the sea isn't surely a great idea...
[BREATH]
The girl sighs one more time before opening the window to welcome the soft marine breeze. The salty and warm wind plays with her pink locks that refuse to stay tied and with the hem of the large shirt she's wearing over a black gym top. It's interesting how the moonlight manages to escape through some openings and how they go directly to the ocean. Yes, they go to the ocean and, without realizing, she's also going to the ocean. Sakura jumped from the balcony, landed with her bare feet on the cold sand and walked towards the waves. It all lasted just one minute. Just one moment of courage and curiosity that made her chase the waves that are constantly coming and going. Bringing shells and marking the beach, kissing the shore and returning to the unknown. The waves are travelers and the sand is home. No matter how much time passes, the sands of the beach shall never abandon the sea. They will always be there to welcome it home. And that's when she realizes that he is the sea and she the sand. Two inseparable elements that can never really be together. Always trapped in an endless cycle that, no matter what, can't be broken. Not even the crashing waves are strong enough to do so. Not even her whole hearted love could do anything to make him stay.
[DIVE]
The warm water is already tickling her ankles when she remembers another reason for accepting the job of taking care of the dead bodies of the war. She wanted to meet him. Someday, at some point of her rotten journeys, she wanted to bump into him as if it was a simple coincidence. As if she hadn't been looking for him for the past six years. She wanted to believe that destiny would bring them together, but, if even the waves never really met the sand, what would be her chances? What would make him stay with her? ...
Exactly.
By the time the dark sea of the night was already reaching her tights, Sakura finally understood why people follow the darkness. Even if she's afraid, her body can't stop moving forward. She understand now why some people choose to drown themselves on the ocean during the night. It's like belonging to the unknown forever. It's like being a part of something big even after your death. Did he feel like it back then? Did he really think that his life was worth wasting in order to reach a true objective? Her face is already salty and wet and she's not sure of where that water came from. All she knows is that, if she gives a few more steps, she won't make it tonight. And it doesn't seem like the worst of the ideas.
[BREATH]
Her feet stop and half of her shirt is already soaked. She's afraid of taking one more step. She's afraid of never seeing him again, none of them again. If he ever hears about it, he will definitely call her a coward... A quitter... An annoying weak girl. She wonders if he would even cry alone for losing her like when she lost him. Would he even save her if he was there? Probably not... Because he is not there by her side. Would he even forgive her? It's hard to believe... Because she still has so much to do and so much to show him. She can't take another step before he acknowledges her. She can't let his words go to waste.
-I'll see you soon... Thank you.-
A drop of cold water falls on her lips and her eyes shoot wide as if she is releasing herself from a genjutsu. What is she doing? Is she insane? Was she even going to take away her life like that? No... She just wanted to see the sea at night... She wanted to feel the waves and feel how insignificant her worries are among the ocean. Killing herself was never an option. Wanting a better view isn't really that bad, right?
Sakura finally returns to sand and she takes one more deep breath before turning around. The fresh and salty air, mixed with the rain that started to fall, are surely refreshing and she can even feel her sleepiness coming back. She wants to go home and that empty apartment is the closest thing to it now. The sand is also wide and she knows it will also be a long way back to that melancholic couch, but, this time, she's not feeling that lonely anymore. In her hands, a glass bottle filled with sand and sea is something to remind her that, even if they can't really be together, he will always come back... Someday, they will meet again.
The End
