Gallows of Heartache

by Vanity-chan

“She took the blow that was meant for me. Orochimaru was planning to kill me all along. He didn’t want me as a vessel anymore.” SasuSaku. Undergoing REWRITE.

"Sakura-chan

"Sakura-chan!"

Everything was a blur. My head was spinning to no end. I raised a weak hand to touch my head. When I looked down at my head, I saw blood. Lots of it.

"Sakura…"

I clenched my eyes as I feel the throbbing pain in my head and at the back of my neck. Something cold touched my cheek.

"Sakura…"

I touched it with my trembling hands and realized it was someone else's hand. Someone I feel like I know very well. But who?

"Sakura!"

I felt like something split my head into two before I succumbed to darkness.

--

Gallows of Heartache

By: Vanity-chan

--

"Sakura-chan!"

The young girl lying on the bed bolted up with eyes wide, gasping for air. She was sweating, and her slightly damp hair stuck to her cheeks somewhat. She crumpled the white sheets of the hospital bed tightly.

"Sakura-chan!"

Uzumaki Naruto grasped her shoulders and begun his never-ending series of questions. He furrowed his brows with concern and his eyes held worry in them.

"Are you okay, Sakura-chan? Is something painful? Can you talk? Can you see? Can you hear me? You don't feel anything numb? Sakura-chan, an—"

"Naruto, I think you're going to hurt her with what you're doing."

Naruto turned around to look at his silver-haired sensei, letting go of Sakura. For once, the infamous orange book, Icha Icha Paradise, was not in his hand. Hatake Kakashi smiled at him weakly, his right eye, since the other is covered by his forehead protector, crinkling slightly.

"Naru—"

Kakashi's sentence was cut short when they heard Sakura whispering things to herself. She was clutching her bandaged head, her eyes still wide with fear or maybe confusion. She placed her open palms in front of her and stared at them as they shook unsteadily.

And what she said next made the two men inside the room with her gape at her in shock.

"W-Who am I?"

--

Tsunade closed her eyes and clasped her fingers together, resting her chin on top of her hands. She sighed in slight frustration before she opened her eyes again and looked at the people across her desk.

Naruto was there, in front of her, clenched fists on top of her desk and looking at her with impatient blue eyes.

"So… what now, Tsunade 'baa-chan?"

Tsunade shook her head. "We can only do the usual process. We just have to make her remember everything. By and by."

Kakashi, who was farther behind Naruto, glanced at Sakura who was beside him. Before she was released from the hospital, they told her everything she has to know about herself, her family, her friends, her teammates…

And her only love, now, ex-crush.

As expected, she wasn't able to take it easily. She found it hard to grasp all the information, and just be like the person she was back then. Even if she memorizes all those information by heart, even if she implants every word that they said about her in her head, she wouldn't be able to revert to sweet, bright and cheerful Haruno Sakura.

They also told her how she lost her memory because of their last mission—to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke from the snake Sannin, Orochimaru.

As if reading Kakashi's thoughts, Tsunade asked, "Where is Uchiha Sasuke?"

Tsunade stared at Sakura to see how she'll react. She stiffened upon hearing the rather familiar name, before she returned to staring blankly at the wall on the other side of the room.

The Godaime sighed again. The Uchiha boy seems familiar to her, but not quite.

"He is under interrogation by the Anbu. He was released from the hospital yesterday."

Tsunade eyed Naruto who seemed quiet for a second. She then turned to Kakashi who was also looking at Naruto.

"Kakashi, Sasuke will be under probation for some months. And about Sakura…"

Sakura was looking outside the window, watching cherry blossom petals blowing in the wind from the sakura trees nearby. Every now and then, her expression will change, as if remembering something significant about the cherry blossoms (her name perhaps), or a vivid memory related to these pink flowers.

"We have to make her remember everything from her past. It won't be easy, since even if you've fed her up with all the information she needs about herself, she still doesn't remember anything. I will make you in charge of doing this, as her former teacher."

She glanced at Naruto, who has a determined look on his face, and then at Sakura who now has her attention back at her shisou. Kakashi stood not far behind.

"Team 7 will be reformed."

--

"Any plans of Orochimaru against our village that you can remember?"

Uchiha Sasuke eyed the masked face of the Anbu in front of him with stoic eyes, getting slightly impatient of the questions being directed at him. Frowning, he searched his brain for an answer.

"He doesn't tell me of any of his plans. He just calls me when he needs me to train me as his vessel, other than that, nothing else."

The ANBU interrogating him eyed him suspiciously before scrawling down what he said rather hesitantly. It seemed rather strange that this Uchiha boy didn't even bother to know about any of Orochimaru's plans, especially to his own village, though they thought that Sasuke might not care that much anymore if Konoha is endangered.

"How about Akatsuki? Do you know—"

"No." Sasuke replied sternly.

The ANBU glared at him through his mask. It was true indeed that Akatsuki was taboo around this Uchiha boy, since his older brother is a part of it.

Setting that thought aside, he continued his questioning.

"We've already asked your companions about this. How was your last encounter with Orochimaru, along with your former teammates?"

"What did my teammates say?"

"Answer the question first, Uchiha."

Sasuke placed a hand on the cursed seal on his neck. The ANBU tapped his foot impatiently at the silence of the boy in front of him.

"I heard that Haruno Sakura lost her memory because of their last mission to retrieve you."

There was a long silence.

"She took the blow that was meant for me. Orochimaru was planning to kill me all along. He didn't want me as a vessel anymore." Sasuke replied tersely.

"Didn't want you as a vessel anymore? Is that why you chose to come back?"

"Hn."

Sasuke clasped his hands together and leaned it on the desk. He had a feeling that the last question wasn't exactly needed, and that the ANBU only asked him out of curiosity.

"You may go. The Hokage said she wants to talk to you about something. Go there now."

Nodding slightly, Sasuke stood up and left the room, hands in his pockets.

--

"Ne, Tsunade 'baa-chan. I just realized it now… it was our mission to retrieve Sasuke, but it's not only that, isn't it?"

Tsunade's eyes widened for a moment as she stared incredulously at Naruto. She shot Kakashi a look, asking him if he told him.

Shaking his head, Kakashi can only smile a little smugly. It seems that he was a good teacher after all.

"How—"

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in!"

The door creaked open, revealing none other than the sole Uchiha survivor himself.

Sasuke glanced at Sakura who had been staring at him with an odd look on her face since he entered the room. He averted his eyes immediately.

"I called you here, Sasuke, to talk about your probation." Tsunade turned to all of them.

"Before Sasuke came here, I told you that Team 7 will be reformed." She paused, seeing Sasuke's stoic expression change into slight surprise.

Smirking inwardly, she continued, "I won't give this to you as an official mission, but you just have to do it, all right?"

Naruto scrunched up his face in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You have to bring Haruno Sakura back."

She raised a hand when she saw Naruto about to retort. "You may leave."

"But Tsunade 'baa-chan!" Kakashi placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder, shaking his head.

Sasuke was the first to leave the room, before they all followed him outside. Naruto ran up to his side.

"Ne, Sasuke-teme, how did the questioning go?"

"None of your business, dobe."

"Nani? I asked you oh so nicely and this is what I get from you?"

Sasuke was about to retort when he saw a glimpse of Sakura behind them, walking beside Kakashi-sensei as if the world never existed. Naruto followed his stare and also looked at Sakura.

Right away, he remembered how Sakura used to stop them when they were fighting, saying that Sasuke is right. Sasuke this, Sasuke that. He suddenly missed how she usually bonked him on the head for being stupid.

Sakura is the one that brings joy and brightness in their gloomy days, especially when they felt like giving up on their mission. And when Sasuke left…

She was on the brink of giving up, and it was his turn to cheer her up that time.

Why did this have to happen when they were already reunited?

Team 7… A three-man cell…

"Naruto, I have to talk to you. Sasuke, could you bring Sakura home?"

Kakashi held Naruto by the arm and disappeared in a poof.

Sasuke grumbled. He didn't even give him time to talk back. Turning around to face Sakura who was looking at the children running around nearby, he sighed inwardly. Where did she live again? After being away for years, he had already forgotten where she lived. In fact, he can't remember any instance that he walked her home before, so he probably didn't know even from the beginning.

"Sakura, let's go."

Waiting for her until she was beside him, he walked, not knowing where he was heading at all.

"Do you still remember the way to your house?"

Shaking her head slowly, Sakura blinked at him. "I was just released from the hospital today."

Momentarily gaping at her, Sasuke noted how her manner of speaking changed as well. It was the first time he heard her speak after being released from the hospital. Amnesia sure changes people from what they were before they lost their memory, doesn't it?

Thinking about it, he was the reason why she's going through this in the first place. If he didn't leave… if he didn't seek power from that snake sannin… if he wasn't bent on revenge…

Maybe this could've never happened, right?

… right?

Passing by Ichiraku's, Sasuke noticed that Naruto was already there… and alone. Now where was Kakashi-sensei? He said he had to speak with Naruto…

He walked over to Naruto, momentarily forgetting the girl beside him who did nothing but to follow him where he goes.

"Oi, dobe. Where's Kakashi-sensei?"

Naruto looked up from his ramen to stare at him for a moment. "He changed his mind about talking to me and left. I wonder why he was such in a hurry…"

Sasuke nearly scoffed. "Usuratonkachi. He was planning to read his dirty book."

Naruto laughed. "Right, right."

Sasuke looked at the girl beside him and remembered that he still had to walk her home. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he decided he had to ask Naruto for help. Even if it will bring his prideful self, his over-inflated ego (which he thought wasn't inflated enough yet) and his whole being to shame.

"Dobe, do you know where Sakura lives?"

Naruto stared at him in disbelief. "This feels funny. Are you actually asking for my help?"

"Yeah. So what?"

Naruto chuckled to himself. So all it takes to make Sasuke beg on his knees to him is the dear cherry blossom herself! I owe you one, Sakura-chan…

"Say 'please' first, Sasuke-teme."

Sasuke turned his head to the side, mumbling. Naruto furrowed his brows, pretending not to hear what he said. "What? You said something?"

"Will you tell me where Sakura's house is? Please?"

Naruto nodded his head. "But then again, Sakura's parents are already… dead. She's already living alone in her apartment.

Now that's news to Sasuke. He just left for three years and Sakura's parents are already dead?

"I never knew…"

"Of course you never knew. You left us because of your thirst for power and revenge. As if that Orochimaru will help you. Look at you now, coming back empty handed."

"Would you rather I stayed with him than be here?"

Naruto shook his head, his eyes turning distant. "Of course not. Honestly, I think what happened now is a big reality check for you. You never realize what you have… until it's gone."

Sasuke knew very well that what he's talking about is Sakura losing her memory. True, she could've lost her memory, but did that also mean… her feelings as well?

"I love you so much!"

"…But without you, it's the same for me as being alone!"

Shaking the thoughts off his head, he remembered he has a task at hand. Now where is Sakura supposed to stay? She can't possibly be left alone in her apartment. But then again, that can help her regain her memory.

"Dobe, walk us to her house."

"But I'm not yet finished eating!"

Sasuke placed a wad of cash on the table and dragged Naruto up.

"Fine." Naruto crossed his arms, but smiled nonetheless.

Sakura stared at them before following the two boys who never seemed to stop arguing. Have they been quarreling since birth? They were somewhat alike, but also completely different. Even though she can't remember anything, she felt like they had some sort of connection, be it they treat each other like enemies, or the best of friends.

She smiled wistfully at them, even though no memories came to flash in her mind.

I wish I could remember everything now…