She's been haunted by two words. Two simple words that once meant forgiveness, new beginnings and coming home; that once made her cry tears of relief. But now, she cries tears of heartache as those two simple words holds a different meaning: the end.
I'm sorry.
It's been months since Sakura heard his voice, that was once filled with love for her, mutter those words on a beautiful sunny day. It's been months since she's been repeating those words over and over in her head, like a broken record with no hope of ever being fixed.
I'm sorry.
She didn't bother fighting for him, fighting for them. She accepted the fact that she lost the war the moment she looked into his obsidian eyes and didn't see its usual gleam it use to hold just for her. In that moment, she knew everything was going to end when the man that held her heart returned it.
"Rain seems to change you," Ino says as she sits on Sakura's couch watching her stare out the window at the pouring rain.
"What do you mean?" Sakura asks with confusion as she turns her attention to Ino, drawing her knees to her chest.
"I don't really know," Ino confesses, "it's just, you seem so calm and at peace when it's murky out and miserable when the sun is shining." She laughs. "Shouldn't be it the other way around?"
Sakura shrugs her shoulders and turns her head back to watch the rain as it pours from the sky drenching the plants, giving it life.
To Sakura, the rain helps to soothe the pain that Sasuke caused. He was the dark to her light, the cold to her warmth and without him she was dying in her own drought. She recalls vividly the beautiful arrangements of red roses, purple lilacs, and carnations of red, pink and white that decorated her apartment when they were happily in love. She would place the arrangements on her kitchen table, by the window in the living room and on her nightstand by the picture of Team Seven taken in their genin days.
When he left her, she was reduced to a mere shell of herself. She stopped caring for the flowers that symbolized her love for him and allowed them to wither, dying of thirst.
"I feel like I can breathe again when it rains. Before, it felt like I was drowning even though I had plenty of air to breathe. I screamed so loud, but no one could hear me. It was then that I realized that I don't need anyone to save me because only I can save myself," Sakura simply states allowing a smile to grace her face. "I think I'm finally clean."
"What?" Ino echoes wearing a proud grin.
"I said," Sakura turns her attention back towards Ino, widening her smile, "I think I'm finally clean."
It's been ten months since Sakura has last seen him, ten months since she was reduced to a hollow shell of herself. She recalls their moments together and a bitter smile doesn't cross her face anymore, one of happiness does.
"You know Ino-Pig, even though it's been ten months and I'm clean doesn't mean I don't miss it," Sakura tells Ino one sunny afternoon.
Ino finishes filling the vase on Sakura's kitchen table with earthy tones of yellow and green roses and daffodils before walking over to her friend seated by the window, wrapping her arms around her.
"I've come too far, you know," she admits pulling one of the many daffodils out of the vase by the windowsill and twirling it between her thumb and index finger. "I may miss him, but I wouldn't give in, because I'm finally clean." She brings the daffodil to her nose and inhales it's sweet aroma.
"I'm proud of you, Sakura. I really am."
A/N: I really enjoyed writing this :)You don't need someone to fix your broken heart. Only you can do that. The advice I live by