because drabbles are fun to write.
sasusaku.
Her heart left her almost a year ago now.
It hadn't been an act of leaving for the sake of another one of his ambitions. It hadn't been a willing desertion for the sake of his long-gone blood family.
It had been a decision for the sake of his - theirs, she silently hopes - future.
She remembers bidding him goobye at the gates and asking to come with him. He had shaken his head and said she had nothing to do with his sins. And then-
"I'll see you soon... Thank you."
-he had flicked her forehead, with eyes the gentlest she had ever seen them and a smile so foreign yet so right on his pale face.
And then, he was off.
She had watched his back fade into the horizon, until she could see no more than the top of his jet black hair.
Almost a year later - ten months if she wanted to be precise - she is still waiting for a sign of that spiky jet black hair.
Naruto walks with her throughout the village every time he was free. They talk about all the pointless things while meandering in the bustling village. At one point, she tried asking about the forehead flickering, but Naruto just shrugged and told her to ask Sasuke when he gets back.
At the end of the day, they walk by the gates and sit in one of the benches - the same one she woke up to all those years ago, she notes with a smile - and sit in silence.
They'd gaze into the horizon beyond the gates and looks for any hint of raven.
Sakura is reminded that she isn't the only one waiting.
He walks in the day they were too busy to go about their ritual.
Naruto is miffed when he finds his best friend walking about the streets of Konoha three hours later. "You were supposed to let me welcome you back dammit!" He shrugs, because he is still Sasuke no matter what his realizations were, and he is looking for a place to stay because the Uchiha district was nothing more than a memory now. The blond grinningly offers his messy apartment.
They surprise her in the hospital later. She was on her way to retrieve her things when she was ambushed by a familiar blond mop of hair and the spiky black head that she has been dreaming about. One offers a huge grin and an enthusiastic wave and the latter gives another one of his rare, small smiles.
"Sakura."
She resists the urge to run to him and engulf him with a hug. Her eyes are wet with unshed tears, and she hastens to wipe them before they could fall. She smiles.
"Sasuke-kun."
He walks toward her then, stride steady and with a purpose and she is frozen where she stands.
He raises his hands and two fingers flick her on the forehead.
"I told you I'll see you soon." he says, "Tadaima."
She wants to say that soon couldn't be soon enough, but shuts her mouth because he is home and that's all that ever matters.
A stray tear makes its way down her face. She smiles again, this time with all the things her mouth refuses to say.
I love you.
I miss you.
There is one thing she says, because it is appropriate and she wants to welcome her heart back to its home.
"Okaeri, Sasuke-kun."
Finally, her heart is home.
XOXO
NARUTO IS OVER. UGH. I WANNA CRY. BUT HOOORAY FOR US, BECAUSE SASUSAKU IS CANON 3
FINALLY.