SasuSaku - A Quick Visit

Leaves rustled in the darkness as a figure dashed through, leaving nothing but a small whirl of dust behind him. Sasuke tried to hold himself together as he came closer and closer to the place he had once vowed never to return to. He continuously told himself that he was not technically "returning." He was simply visiting someone for a few minutes, and then he would leave and never come back. The only reason he was coming in the first place was to see the one thing that he could not let go of, no matter how hard he tried to forget.

Sakura. He had been running for three hours straight just to see her one last time before he moved on with his life. Sure, one could call him crazy, but Sasuke had found, over his year away, that not seeing her was driving him truly insane. So, needless to say, the pros had beaten the cons for him whether he liked it or not.

Konaha's beautiful landscape slowly started to appear at the top of the hills. Sasuke's stomach twisted into knots as he approached the small yet powerful village. He was not nearly as worried about getting caught as he was about Sakura rejecting him. Surely she had moved on after he left, and he had no right to see her even if she had not. His idea was that he would just sneak a peek at her through her window and go, but it sort of picked at his mind when he thought about traveling for three hours and not even getting to speak to her. Then again, how did he know that she wanted to talk to or see him anyway? He did not, and so he would not, no matter how much he wanted to.

After carefully jumping the outer defense wall, Sasuke hopped onto the nearest roof and headed towards where Sakura lived. He was surprised at how easily he found her home, since he had not been there very often. Yet, he found himself climbing up the tree by her window without even thinking about it. It was like he had always known, or maybe he was just loony.

Feeling quite a lot like a stalker, Sasuke pulled himself onto the edge of Sakura's window and peeked through the glass. She was asleep. Her little, pink head was half-hidden between her pillow and sheets, the picture of comfort.

Sasuke let a small grin show on his face as he gazed at the beautiful girl. How precious and innocent she was in comparison to his ugly and evil self. She was the definition of pureness and light. Sasuke could not help but imagine Sakura clothed in white and blushing like a tomato as she was wed to the man of her dreams.

While Sasuke was lost in his daydreams, Sakura was awaking. "Sasuke?" she asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

The young Uchiha froze instantly, his mind kicking into ninja mode. Without another second of hesitation, he hopped down from the tree, ran as fast as he could out of his former home, leaving nothing but his heart and a note behind him.

Sakura pulled herself off the bed and stumbled over to her window. A small, folded piece of paper was half tucked under the glass, taunting her until she opened the sill and snatched it up. She was surprised to find that the note only contained a drawn sketch of a cherry blossom, the stem stretching underneath and curling until it appeared to spell the words,

I miss you.

With a confused smile, she clutched the paper to her chest as she looked up towards Heaven and thanked silently whoever might be listening.