Just a dream- A Naruto Fanfic by:

Uchiha flower14

Sobs shook Sakura's frail form as her head shook in disbelief. Was she going crazy? Seeing things was not normal, was it? Was it an apparition or had her dreams from eight years ago really become possible? She had given up hope of this moment long ago. Did she still want it? A moment ago things had been so different. She was happily reading her favorite book, as she sat on the familiar stone bench near the gate of Konoha. The sky was a radiant blue and just being under it gave one a feeling of pure ecstasy. Suddenly the book was wrenched from her hands. She didn't need to look to tell that it was Naruto. She sighed heavily." I was enjoying that story, Naruto." (She was trying to quit slugging him after every little thing he did that annoyed her)

" It's not Naruto," said a strangely familiar, strangely unemotional voice.

" Ino," she said hopefully, although she knew perfectly well by then that it wasn't her bossy blonde-haired friend. She slowly looked up into the face that long ago she had made the mistake to think she knew better than anyone. The face that she had tried to understand so many times but always had been shunned away. The face belonging to the person who she cared about more than herself. The face that, after she had poured out her heart to him, had stamped on it and left it bleeding on the ground. She couldn't bear to go through all of that pain again, no, not when she had just truly recovered from it, when the pain had gone away enough so that she could genuinely smile when she was with Naruto and Hinata, when she could finally bring herself to laugh at Ino's jokes, and when she was finally strong enough to train with Tenten again. Why did he have to turn up now? She curled up in a ball and screamed for Naruto to come, to save her from this pain, to shine his warm understanding smile on the situation.

" Sakura," Sasuke said quietly, for yes indeed it was he.

He had returned to Konoha

" Sakura, are you alright?" Naruto came running dragging his wife, Hinata, by the hand. He froze when he saw Sasuke.

He picked Sakura up easily in his strong arms and stood her on her feet. Hinata slipped her petite hands in to Sakura's, and held her while she cried as she had done so many times before.

"Hinata, take Sakura back to the house." Hinata looked back at her husband. She trusted her husband, but leaving him alone with his archenemy did not bode well. He gazed back as if to say, "Well, are you going to do it?" Finally she complied and pulled Sakura along in the general direction of the house.

"Sakura," she coaxed, " we're having Chakin Sushi tonight. It's your favorite!" Both men watched their retreating figures in silence until they disappeared. Then Naruto spun around.

He growled, " What do you want here, Sasuke?"

"Whatever it is it's definitely not your concern," Sasuke replied coolly.

" Anything that has to do with Konoha is my concern, remember, I'm going to be hokage! Now talk to me!" " It's Sakura I want to see, not you!" There was stunned silence.

"What?" Naruto said in disbelief.

"Let me see her, Dobe."

"Why?" challenged Naruto. Sasuke stared at past Naruto's shoulder in silence. Then he walked past Naruto stirring dust in the air.

Sasuke said exasperatedly, "I don't have to explain myself to you, Dobe." Naruto blocked him with a kunai. "What are you doing, Naruto?" asked Sasuke condescendingly.

Naruto replied, "I'm not going to let you pass until you tell me what you want with Sakura."

Sasuke smirked. "Are you going to fight me, Dobe?"

"If I have to, then I will Sasuke. She's can't take another one of your blows. She all but went crazy when you left. She couldn't cook for herself so I took her in to keep her from starving. She cried every night. She's not even a chuunin yet. Even Hinata's already passed the exam." Naruto said sadly.

Sasuke paused. On one hand, he would love to fight Naruto. On the other hand, he needed to talk to Sakura. Each minute passing by made the distance between them seem to grow. Naruto was satisfied to see that Sasuke was momentarily stupefied.

"You need to think about what you've done. All the people you've hurt, Sasuke. Was it really worth it to get your revenge? You saw what you did to Sakura. Is the relief of killing really so much better than the relief of being loved?" Having said these strangely-profound-for-Konoha's-number-one-knucklehead-ninja words, he began walking away. Sasuke's soft words stopped him in his tracks.

"I never wanted to leave. From the moment I turned my back on her I wished that I could apologize, that I could stay, but I couldn't rest until I killed Itachi. I can't tell you how many times I wished there was another way. I thought that, because of my duty, I had to set all my feelings aside and live for my revenge. Every night I thought about coming home, and giving up on Itachi, but every morning I had to put aside my own pain. Sakura, of course, knew me better than anyone. She told me the night I left, that there was another way. She told me I would be happier with her. And to my detriment, I ignored her. Last year, I killed Itachi. But... She was right. It just made me feel... empty. Now, I know that, in truth, all my family would have ever wanted was my happiness, not this quest for death. I need to see her, Naruto."

Naruto turned back to look at him in shock. His disapproving frown softened when he looked at Sasuke's trembling hands. "Sasuke," Sasuke glanced up at Naruto. A single teardrop ran down the avenger's face.

Naruto tried again, "Sasuke, she still loves you. She never stopped loving you. When you left, she was ridden with grief. We all tried so hard to turn her back into the strong, happy person she used to be, and we were almost there, too. I don't know if you realize how rare a smile has become for her. Sometimes she wakes up screaming in her bedroom. You don't know what it's been like." Naruto ran his hand raggedly through his hair, feeling helpless. "Sasuke, you still have a chance. You're just going to have to dig deep into her heart to pull out her love. You already have the key, now all you need to do is earn it." Naruto walked away and he waved behind his shoulder. "You can come tonight. I'll tell Hinata to set an extra place on our table"

Sasuke stayed there for a long time. He couldn't believe that he was finally back at Konoha. How could he have ever left? He slumped in the bench that Sakura had been sitting in. He had made so many mistakes in life and there was no going back to undo them. He sighed; love is literally the slowest form of suicide. He got up slowly, and trudged back to his old house. His fate now rested on the shoulders of a small pink haired kunoichi.