Boy meets girl. Girl loves boy. Boy leaves girl. Girl is reunited with boy. Boy tells girl he loves her.

-

-

Girl has cancer.

-

One Thousand Paper Cranes

By: Xmarksthespot

He could feel her watch over him intently as she healed his wounds. Her rate of chakra was a lot slower than it should have been, especially for a famous medic like her. He was curious, but he never questioned.

"Are you feeling okay?" His low voice said in an almost whispered manner.

It shocked her, almost. Any sounds coming out of him were like rare diamonds that were far too expensive for her.

Smiling, she replied, "Yeah.." But her voice was soft. She lifted her arms from his. "I'm finished." She looked up at him, and for the first time, she could see through his eyes; it looked like they were full of anxiety.

The truth was, after Naruto had left to meet up with Hinata, Sakura felt a lot more nervous being around Sasuke.

Despite what Sakura had previously dreamt of, their relationship with each other was the same as always: there was no relationship. Not even a friendship. They were merely two people who both hung out with the blond on a daily basis.

"I shouldn't have made you heal me," his voice came up again, "You look really tired." He eventually got up from the ground.

Sakura gave a small laugh, remembering that she had forgotten to bring her hat to save her from the penetrating sun. "Sasuke-kun, since when have you been a worrier? Worrying about me, how cute," she teased. Her steps stumbled a few times as she got up; she frowned.

Sasuke looked at her curiously as his heartbeat fluttered a bit quicker than usual. His arms lengthened, gently holding onto hers until her klutzy self was stable on the ground; he noticed that her arms were slimmer than he had remembered them to be, but didn't fixate on it.

The man gave a small smirk as he gazed at her, but the mouth immediately dropped when she noticed this.

"...What?" Sakura questioned. She blinked several times as she stepped out of the shaded area.

"Your hair color changed," he noted. He walked over to the side, picking up his shirt from the ground and put it back on. "It's darker."

It certainly took Sakura by surprised. She had never thought that Sasuke would be one of the first few to realize that her hair was a different shade. Nervously, she ran her fingers lightly though it. "Heh, yeah, I dyed it," she said. "It didn't work out that well, so it just made my natural hair darker."

"Aa." Sasuke threw his weapons inside his bag. When he was done, he looked back at Sakura who was also ready to leave. "Sakura," he started again.

"Yes?" She responded almost too quickly. Her excitement only increasing the more Sasuke talked.

"Can I walk you home?"

Sakura took a deep breath, preparing for the answer that popped up in her head the moment he asked the question. Yet somehow, that breath took more energy than she thought it would. Trying to forget the pain that lingered in her chest, she quickly nodded. "Of course!"

The first half of their walk had been silent. Sasuke had his hands shoved in his pockets as Sakura played around with a water bottle in her hand.

"How have you been?" Her voice was sudden, but quiet. It was like she didn't have enough strength to pitch it up any higher.

"Aa. Good." Sasuke pressed his lips together, throwing his head back as he stared at the bright sky. "I..." he began, "I wanted to let you know that I'm sorry."

Sakura's head tilted to the side. A part of her conscious told her to carefully watch in the corner of her eye, where she was going. The other part, however, focused on the Uchiha. "What do you mean?"

He smirked. "I left you on a bench, remember?"

Sakura gave a small chuckle. "Oh..right. That."

The man next to her breathed heavily through his nose, as if he was preparing to unload everything in his mind. "It's not just that, Sakura," he said her name carefully, as if she were fragile. "You have always been there for me even when I pushed you away, even when I wasn't even considered a member of this village – when I was a criminal."

"I care about you, Sasuke-kun," Sakura smiled with lips slightly pursed. "You know that." The girl could feel beads of sweat trickle lightly down the side of her face – the sun's rays were trying to defeat her.

"Aa." The Uchiha paused for several moments before continuing. "I want to thank you. For everything and I also wanted to say that...despite everything that has happened in the many years," he gulped, "I care about you too."

Her tracks froze and apple green eyes looked up at him in shock. "Are you ..wait, what?"

"I've been a jerk, Sakura, I know that, but – "

Sakura felt confused. It was like Sasuke was speaking another language. Besides, he was using all these words that probably has never left his lips before.

"I think I'm in love with you, Sakura."

The very words that she had been dreaming of for many years shook her. Her panicked expression clearly showed that she didn't know what to say, but the moment she heard the sentence repeat in her head again, the girl smiled.

"Thank you." Sakura gave a small laugh. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun!" But when her legs tipped over again, the smile plastered on her face disappeared instantly. Sakura glanced at her watch, noting the time.

Confused at her sudden change of facial expression, Sasuke looked back at her. "Is something wrong?"

Sakura shook her head. "I just have to go to the hospital...for something."

"I'll walk you there," Sasuke offered. Inwardly, he wasn't sure whether to take that as a sign of rejection or not.

Again, Sakura made a motion with her head. "No, no, it's okay, Sasuke-kun. I'm, uh, sorry, but I really – " Mixed with her sudden excitement, the young woman found it hard to breathe.

"Sakura," Sasuke murmured, holding onto her arm to keep her from falling. He could hear breaths escape her lips at a quick rate. "Sakura?" His one arm lifted, wiping the sweat off her forehead.

That's when he noticed her hairline moving and he was sure that Sakura felt it too, since she remained still after. Saddened forest green eyes closed as his fingers slowly ran through her hair, pulling it away.

His charcoal orbs widened when the fuchsia hairs were in his hand and there was nothing but a beautiful paleness on the top of Sakura's head.

-

-

Hi guys! I know you all think that I'm retired or dead, but I assure you, I am not. Er, not yet. If you've been reading my other stories, I know you're all miserably mad at me for not updating since, well, April? Sometime around there...Well, I'm afraid that with my writer's block and my schoolwork, it might be a little longer until I update My Pretend Boyfriend or Issues.

This is also the reason why I'm posting up this fic and possibly others in the near future. I'm trying to get rid of the writers block by writing other stuff.

But other than that, please review and tell me what you think of this story. Its been a while since I've written something.