I'd Come For You
A SasuSaku Oneshot
Spoilers from Naruto Chapter 482 (ye have been warned!) I recommend listening to "I'd Come for You" by Nickelback while reading.
Sakura felt her breath catch, her thoughts crash to a halt as his breath ghosted across her neck. For few moments, they just stayed in that position, barely breathing, a perfect spell cast. She waited, not sure what would come next, just speechless, frozen by her most precious person's presence. He remained still, searching his mind for the best thing to say, the best way to respond to her confession.
They both waited for that single moment, trying to think of the best way to calm their racing hearts.
"Sakura," Sasuke said in a quiet tone.
She took a shallow breath, tears flowing down her face.
He almost bit his lip, trying to come up with the best way to tell her how much he cared for her without telling her. A way to achieve closure with her and still sever that bond.
"Thank you." He settled for that, hoping it conveyed his gratitude for her deep love.
She gasped, and he moved quickly before he could reconsider. He knocked her out as his unspoken word hung in the air.
"Aishiteru."
Sakura screamed his name as she bolted upright. Her green eyes searched the road for him. But even as she hoped to see him standing above her bench smirking that same old smirk, she knew—oh, she knew with such a horrible, bone-chilling certainty—that her love was gone.
She let the tears fall, shaking with quiet sobs. After all her effort, after all her pleas, he had still left her. Left her alone and broken on a bench all night. She… love had not been enough to make him stay. The emotion everyone claimed could move mountains could not keep him by her side, could not move Sasuke's heart.
"And if you can't stay… then take me with you."
She went to the one person she trusted to never let her down. He always fought. Never gave in.
"Naruto… please! Just bring Sasuke-kun back!" she begged, clutching her hands to her chest as if to keep her broken heart inside, to hold the pieces together.
The ghost of sorrow passed over his face as he looked at his teammate, his crush. He knew in that moment that she would forever be the teme's girl. That night… something had happened between them. Underneath the words, a thread of fate had bound them closer than ever.
He struck Gai's "Nice Guy" pose. "Don't worry. I'll bring him back! Promise of a lifetime!"
She couldn't even bring her head up to look at him, just cried. It hurt.
"Even you couldn't stop him, right?"
No… she couldn't. She had pleaded, threatened, cajoled, bargained, even laid her heart and soul on the line. And yet… she was still weak enough to fail.
She had felt her heart shatter anew when she stood outside Naruto's hospital room.
"He got away."
The final nail in the coffin. He was really gone. Those arms that had picked her up to carry her to safety would never hold her again. Those eyes that had always softened ever so slightly for her would never meet hers again. That proud back that she had been trying to catch up to… was impossibly beyond her reach.
Naruto… everyone had failed her. She had failed herself. Sasuke was right. She really was weak.
That was when she met her master for the first time. Outside Naruto's room. Together they had faced the future. Side by side, she and her shishou had stepped into the great unknown. Tsunade gave her the strength to make up her mind then.
If she was weak… she could change. In the chuunin exams, she had learned that much. In every person, there was the possibility for change. In each person was the Will of Fire. Like Lee, in each person dwelt a fragile lotus. And in Konoha, the lotus blooms twice.
So she will be reborn again. As someone who could bring Sasuke back all by herself. Someone who could stay by his side forevermore.
She didn't tell anyone of her silent decision though. Because… she didn't want them to know that she loved him enough to even betray her friends.
"We'll bring him back together."
And if he doesn't come back…or if things go too far… I'll stay by his side. I'll show Sasuke-kun that he will never be alone.
For two, almost three years, she clung to this silent promise. A promise to herself, a lifelong promise. That if the time ever came, she would join Sasuke against her own village. Through all the tears and bruises of training, she held it close, kept the tiny flame of a dream alive inside her.
And then the day came that she had to put the plan in action. She played her part then. Oh, the tears were real. It was killing part of her to betray them, to do exactly what Sasuke had done. But she had promised herself.
She would always come for Sasuke.
Sakura threw the gas bombs to the ground, fleeing before she inhaled any of the gas. She knew that they would be out in seconds. Lee, Kiba, and Sai had never stood a chance.
She ran, knowing that time was of the essence. Sasuke couldn't risk staying in one area too long. She had no way to know how long his business would keep him here. Just like a day earlier this year, she burst into the open at full speed.
The all too familiar sound of a thousand birds reached her ears. She took in a deep breath. Now or never. No turning back now. She was in too far. She had to keep going forward now.
"Sasuke-kun!" she shouted.
He froze and turned toward her, away from the broken heap of a girl at his feet.
It surprised Sasuke how everything else showed the toll of his Mangekyou except her. Sakura…
In the midst of all the slightly out of focus world, despite the hundreds of yards between them, she was sharp. Her green eyes as determined as the last time they met, they stayed locked on him. She panted slightly, her breath stirring her pink hair ever so slightly.
"Sakura," he said at last.
"Thank you."
"Why have you come before me today?" he asked instead. Loyal to Konoha, she was likely here to dispose of him.
Which is why his eyes went wide at her next words.
"Sasuke-kun! I'm abandoning Konoha, and I'm joining you!"
"And if you can't stay… then take me with you."
He stared at her. Did she truly say that?
She began to make her way closer, and he let his Chidori die. She still picked her way over the rubble the same as she made her way across the former battleground. She stopped, out of his range, emerald eyes serious and hard.
"I'm serious," she said, guessing what he was going to say.
"When you left, you took my heart with you. I don't care where we go or what we do! I told you that night, I'll do anything for you! I'm here to keep that promise. I'll stay by your side; I'll help you with your revenge."
"Go back," he said, dropping his head to shadow his eyes with his hair. Why? Dammit, why had she had to remind him?!
"I'm so in love with you I can't even stand it!"
His unspoken reply to that as she collapsed into his waiting arms for the last time. "Aishiteru."
She shook her head sadly. "I'm in too deep now, Sasuke-kun. I… by now Kakashi knows my intentions. I'm sure Sai alerted him before he passed out."
"I told you to go back."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm not asking you for permission. I'm telling you I'm coming. Last time, you got the final say. Well, this time, I'm claiming that right." She glanced down at a dying Karin. "Your medic's dying. I'm a good medic. One of the best. I trained all these years for this day under Tsunade."
He didn't respond, just listened to her. He needed help but not from her. He… he didn't want her here.
"I'll be everything you need, Sasuke-kun. So don't leave me behind this time!" She moved quickly then to embrace him.
He froze, much as she had that night, as he had in the Forest of Death. Her breath ghosted across his collarbone. Her arms slid instinctively around him, as soft and delicate as before.
For a moment, they stayed still, torsos melding. Just like that night so long ago now, they both tried to calm racing hearts, their age-old spell cast.
He remained stiff for another moment before relaxing, his shoulders dropping slightly. His breath puffed across her hair as he released his held breath and ducked his head as his arms slid up to pull her close.
And finally he wasn't alone.
The End?
A/N: Okay. Crappy ending. And we know it won't happen. But that's how I would've had it go. Instead of trying to trick her and trying to trick him, learning that they can't bear to be apart. I'm a hopeless romantic! Sue me!