Here's Your Heart

by lemaybe

I thought I was hurting you, so I gave it back “It no longer belongs to me, it never did. You had stolen it when you were twelve believe it or not you had captured it long before then.” [S&S][complete]

Title: Here's Your Heart

Rating: T (pg;13)

Author: CBA & LK

Creation Date: Sunday, February 18th 2007

Dedication: This story is dedicated to my Grandfather, whom always found time to leave little messages.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and of course the locket, but all else anyone go ahead and claim, of course I'm not to blame if you later get sued, but ah well.

Times had changed so much for the both of us, leaving us in an unplanned world where all could be repented, but none could be undone.

Candidly I have no plans for my future, but though that is not a particular fault to all that surrounded me it was. I was always surrounded by great people, therefore in my own way I was pushed to be great as well. My heart ached to be like them, to show that I wasn't just a pink haired aspirant who would always need protected. I was tired of surveillance of the backs of the very people I admired.

My only will had been to be great, my only hope to exceed my own abilities. Though now I find that I have nowhere to go. I'm an ANBU and I have a nice apartment with a great view of the Hokage Mountain, but all I have to be admired for is my skills. I have no family left since the raid last year, and my friends are all settling down now that the war between sound and leaf is over.

I have nothing left here… It's the only thing I think of anymore. It's like my life was based on a complete lie, but for what point? I've been waiting for three years for Sasuke to stop his wandering and come back home, but since his brother was killed at Hieghts Peek last winter, he had been goading us all to let go and leave him to be alone. I had brought myself to believe him a lost cuase, yet every time he came home for a visit I felt my heart racing and my mind became focused solely on the man he had become. He wasn't Sasuke-kun, he wasn't even an avenger. He was a wanderer, a hired out shinobi who had only been complied such a place in society by a very fierce and fatal reprisal.

Time could only pass before I would see him again, he wasn't the type to stay too long, and most times he was just passing through. I found myself thankfully for his passing though. At least it had given me a chance to know the man he had blamed himself so harshly for making. Truth is I had wondered at many points if I should have begged him to stay again this past time, but my heart just froze at the thought of what he had done last time.

I couldn't erase the harsh images of him walking away, and I feared again that dreaded vision of his back turned. I couldn't bear to see him run, so I waited. I stood beside him sometimes, just standing there as we both really never found much to say to one another. Maybe this was how it was supposed to be. Maybe this was how it had been planned, but even so my heart still longs for him to hold me, embrace the broken me had left so far behind so long ago.

I had planned to carry on without him, but for what? I was a missionary of the leaf, and I was only consumed in that. All my friends were already married engaged and some even pregnant. I couldn't count the times I had been bridesmaid. It often made me think; maybe wonder how long it had been since I had thought about marrying. I think the last time was when Sasuke was still twelve and captivated my every waking and sometimes unconscious thought. I had lost all touch with that side of my life though, and even now I had to force myself to remember his face.

I carried this weight with me every day, remembering how hard it had been to wake up each morning, how hard it still was to try. I remember crying every night for the first three months… Pitiful really, but it was who I had become. I remember planning a life, and I still remember the feeling of that life coming to a complete end. I doubt that life will ever come back; it was crushed when Sasuke took that final step, nearly eight years ago.

So now I sit alone on the coldest bench in all of Kanoha, sure I could probably go see Naruto or go on a date with Lee, but in complete frankness I don't think I'd be able to stand it. My heart belongs a thousand miles away, with a man who hardly said a word to me to earn it. My heart has wandered along with a young boy set for vengeance, and sadly enough has witnessed the awakening of a strong young man who stole it up the second he could, and unfortunately forgot to return it.

I was reminded of the time he had left me a gift, a wonderful, beautiful pendant. Though I had never opened the locket chamber thanks to the clasp being permanently stuck, it was blue, with the Uchiha Fan printed austerely on the front. I remember the words he said, simple and true he had been as he handed it tersely to me.

"Take care of this for me." Was his only word, not of companionship, not of love, not even of loyalty? He had left the next moment, and my heart had broken in the next, though I was almost certain he had done so way before that point.

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!" Konahamaru was screaming from the street below the Hokage tower. "Sasuke's back!" His voice brought me hastily to my senses, and my arms reached for the knob on the window.

"Where is he?" I asked, my head hanging out of the upper-floor window.

"Town square, and he asked me to find you, say's its urgent." His smile was broad, and I could only assume the worst as I made my way to the town square, not bothering to inform of my leave. I snapped my door shut, and walked to the center of Kanoha, where I was sure that once again my heart would be broken.

I caught my first glimpse of him through half closed eyes, as the light was shining brightly in the park. "Sasuke?" I asked conspicuously.

"Sakura." He nodded to me, his eyes showing no derision. "I need something from you." He asked as he leaned against a tree, his smirk hiding any trace of kindness he might have carried for me.

"You don't take long to get to the point do you?" He was always like this, just too forthright to beat about the bush. I sighed in frustration but just as soon looked back to him. "What is it you need?" I asked in trepidation of what he may say next.

"I need that locket back; you know that one I gave you on my last trip through." My heart seemed to die at that point, I felt my world collapse upon me, and in that moment all my hopes were dashed of ever earning his respect, and even more insufferably his love. I clenched my teeth and dug into my pocket, taking out the pendant and slamming it hard into the tree he had leaned on as tears took over my eyesight and I started bawling like a broken child. It was aimless; all my life had no point. I struck at the tree again, earning an oddly concealed barking laugh from Sasuke. He shook his head, and leaned down.

That's when I saw the look of prudence on his face, as he picked up the now smashed locket. He sat down at the base of the tree, and nodded for me to come nearer to him. "Did you ever open it?" He asked with his eyes staring at the tree across the park and to my left, very clearly avoiding me.

"No, it was sealed shut." I mumbled through the tears that still stung my eyes. I was pulled forward by him, my chest very nearly coming in contact with his forehead.

"Look." He said, holding the opened locket in his hands, and for a brief moment my world stopped, colliding with one I had thought was very nearly deceased. I felt my hand reach to my mouth, and more tears willed their way out from my jade green eyes.

"Bu- Wha-?" My voice died out at that point, leaving me leaning over him as he smirked once again, placing the locket to his side, and poking me harshly in the forehead.

"I thought that maybe if you knew you had the choice, you would have chosen what you'd wanted. I wanted you to be free of me; I wasn't going to hold you back. You see I wanted you to have what you deserved. Not a traitor, not an avenger, but a man, someone who would accept just who you were, and know just how strong you could be. I didn't think you'd want someone who had known all your weaknesses, and used them to break you so many times before. I blamed myself you know, for every look you gave me when I came back. I thought I was hurting you, so I gave it back, if only for a while. 'Cause you know what, I can't stand to live without it in my life. It was the only thing I had with me for so long, please, will you return it to me. Correctly this time?" His voice had died off at this point, and my eyes glanced down to the open locket. I contemplated what he had said for a moment, but my eyes returned to his.

"It no longer belongs to me, it never did. You had stolen it when you were twelve; believe it or not you had captured it long before then." I picked up the locket, placing it into his hand and watching as another smirk made its way onto his face. "Here's your heart." My words were lacking only in touch as I found myself drawn into the arms of a man I had once thought sadistic. Now though I realized something, I had never had a choice in how my life would turn out, for it had always been in the plans for my heart to return to him, as it had been in his hands from the beginning.

Sasuke let the locket fall, the silver encasement opening to reveal a picture of Sakura after passing her Chunin exams. Her eyes were closed, her mouth open, and her hand on her chest, and on the other side was a caption to sum it all up, in thin black lettering it said: "Here's Your Heart".

OWARI