This is my third Naruto one-shot that was actually finished.
Enjoy.
You'll find out the pairing at the end of the story…or you can just ask what it was in a review if you did not get it.
Either way, this is one story I will definitely not be continuing.
So please do not ask me to try.
-x-x-x-x-
Sakura sighed as she sat on a bench in the fading fall sunshine, pausing in mid-sketch, deep in thought. Said girl brushed a strand of her cherry blossom colored hair out of her eye almost automatically as she critically surveyed at what was her sketch so far.
It was the cherry blossom tree in front of her.
When Sasuke had left her that spring, the first thing she had seen when she woke up was the cherry blossom tree in full bloom. Down stairs, she found a certain hyperactive teammate waiting for her…he had looked almost melancholy, and she realized both of them needed someone to cling to right now.
So they had sat together, just the two of them, in the branches of that big old tree. Cradled and comforted by its gentle embrace, the two leaned against one another, sobbing. They let their feelings out, and told one another everything…just…everything.
After that, no one saw either without a smile…no one except each other.
That day, they had overcome all the boundaries between them…they still had not returned. Whenever one of them needed help, the other was there, instantaneously.
And it was all because of the tree.
Both of them had agreed it was.
So here Sakura sat, making her second-to-last tribute to the tree that had helped her grow and learn so much in such a short time. Without Sasuke.
This tree was Sakura's reminder: she did not need Sasuke. All she needed was her friends and her parents. They served her just fine…she loved them all, even Ino.
She paused in her sketching again, and mentally yelled at herself.
This tree was much more than a reminder about Sasuke.
This tree was everything. It had showed her how to live, how to just keep going. It showed her strength through her weakness; it was her rock to cling to when the storms set it. Then again, it was not just hers.
It was Naruto's too.
It represented everything, and nothing at all. Somehow, it managed to do both.
Smiling, Sakura compared her finished sketch to the real thing. As real as it could get. Her smile widening, she took it inside, slipped it inside a frame and hung it on her wall next to summer and spring before snatching another drawing pad.
After pulling her pencils out, she sat on her window sill and drew the great tree again. This one was not for her.
No, this was for someone who practically was her…all because he knew her so well. Just like she knew him so well she was practically him. A melancholy smile wormed its way onto her face as she finished her drawing of their monument for Naruto.
Then she saw it.
Something in dark blue. Was it a person? She squinted and her eyes widened in shock. Someone in orange walked next to them.
'Naruto…' Her numb mind realized. 'It's Naruto and Sasuke!' Feeling as though her body was not her own, she set the finished drawing down on her bed and stood, her legs quivering. Trying to stop her tremors, she slipped silently down stairs.
She did not know what was going to happen, but she did know this: her resolve would not crumble. As long as the cherry blossom tree was there, so would her resolve be.
The door opened as she got to it; Naruto had gotten so comfortable around her and she him, they no longer bothered to knock. They just let themselves in.
So he did, and his shadow followed him in. Sakura met them in the hall.
Unexpectedly, her eyes did not fill at the sight of Sasuke's familiar form, nor did her heart ache. The Avenger of Konoha stood in her house, and she did not care.
Her determined green eyes met his calm onyx ones.
"Hello, Sasuke," she offered in a bland voice. Surprise quickly made itself known on his face and in his eyes. "Long time no see, Naruto…"
"Hey Sakura," Naruto returned easily, his posture indicating he was quite at home.
"Hello," Sasuke muttered in reply.
"So…what are you doing in my house," she got straight to the point tonelessly. Now Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, but only for a fraction of a second. He suddenly remembered her resolve and smiled. Our favorite avenger was not smiling.
And he refused to answer.
"If you can't even answer me, get out," she commanded coldly. "You abandoned us all, left us behind like old playthings, and then waltz right in here and expect us to still trust you? Still accept you?" By now her voice was choked with emotion and her voice was shaking.
Her resolve was breaking.
"Wrong, Sasuke. I refuse to be an old plaything, dropped and left in the dust for selfish reasons, then picked up again once a use is found for me. Now get out," her voice broke on the last sentence, and she fled upstairs to hide her tears. No one knew more than her how much that had cost her. No one…but Naruto.
The Avenger complied, leaving Naruto standing in the hall. He turned and left, his arms behind his head, and walked back to his own apartment at a comfortable pace.
Sakura collapsed on her bed and drowned in her sorrow.
Light blared through her eyes, waking her. Her green eyes slid open and she sat up, sliding her feet out from under the covers, her gaze traveling to the window out of habit. What she saw almost made her scream. The tree was gone.
Suddenly, a pair of arms snaked their way around her waist.
"Where are you going," a soft, sleepy voice inquired from behind her on the bed. She smiled as it all rushed back.
No, the tree was not gone.
Suddenly, the bedroom door banged open and someone with gorgeous jade eyes and onyx hair raced into the room.
"Mama, Mama!" The little girl cried. "I wanna go see the tree!" She cried, leaping onto the bed before hopping up and down on it.
"Alright," she laughed and scooped her child into her arms and gently set her on the floor. "Mommy and Daddy need to get dressed now, okay?"
"Okay!" She chirped and toddled happily out of the room; she closed the door and slipped into clean clothes. Her husband of four years followed suit.
The two dressed their daughter and hurried out the door, leaving a note taped to it incase someone else came by.
It was not long before they reached the tree where it had all started. Laughing, the little girl toddled over to it and hugged it like she would an old friend.
Her parents, who were watching, shared small, soft smiles.
"Alright Aika," her father said. "It's time for breakfast." The tyke toddled over and walked ahead with her dad as her mother approached the tree.
Sakura placed her hand on the rough bark.
'Thank you,' she thought, hoping that somehow the tree would hear her.
"Mama!" A voice called ahead.
'For everything,' she added before tearing her hand away and racing after her small family.
A pair of golden eyes watched her go from a nearby corner.
The owner of the golden eyes walked closer to the tree, her blonde hair showing clearly in the morning's sunlight.
"So you did it again, huh," the woman murmured softly to the tree as she ran a hand over the familiar rough bark. "Thank you…not only for me, but for her…you did a good job." The woman turned and walked away. She had much to do, but figured stopping would help relieve some of the tension she had felt building up.
As she walked away, the tree straightened and its branches creaked, though there was no wind. It had been planted long before either of their times, and it had been the guardian of the first Sakura Haruno more than a century before.
It knew how to protect people…or more specifically, the reincarnation of the person she had been planted for.
-x-x-x-x-
Owari!
Yeah, I know it's kind of weird, but it felt good to write it…
It makes almost no sense in some parts most of you will think, but it makes sense to me, so I don't mind…
Hope you liked it!
Emma