Night had consumed the village of Konoha. The moon glowed so bright it created streaks of shadows. Street shops were closed, a slight breeze blew through the many different streets making the dirt dance to the different bangs and clacks of the wooden street signs. The only other light came from Sakura's kitchen, it shined in the darkness of the village. She was eating a late dinner of rice, vegetables and chicken after a long and hard day of training.
Tsunade had practically ran the girl to the ground. She cleaned off her plate with one last mouth full of rice before proceeding to the sink to hand wash her utensils. As the water warmed under her hand she let it run for a bit, she let the steam greet her exhausted face and welcomed it. Sakura quickly washed her plate, shop sticks and cup before placing them in a plastic rack to air dry over night. She was too tired to dry them and put them away herself. Her feet seemed to drag back to her room, when she reached her bed she fell face up on top of it.
"I'm going to be so sore tomorrow." the words came under her breath.
She looked at the clock to see it was near ten, her eyes paused for a moment like they did every time she looked at the clock. Next to the clock was a picture frame, now face down in attempts to put it the pain behind her, in the frame was a picture of squad 7. It was a picture when everything was normal, everyone at least acted like friends not enemies, it was taken during a time Sakura whished so desperately she could return to.
She quickly looked away, "Stop it, move on."
Her words were easily said than done, she pushed her thoughts to the side like she did almost every night and was mustering up the energy to go and take a shower when a knock came from the door. Three soft taps echoed through her house. She sat up confused at who could be out this late at night. She walked back out to her door and opened it a crack, just giving her enough space to see who it was.
"Sasuke?" his name seemed unreal as it escaped her lips.
She let the door go letting it slowly open. Sasuke stood there with no emotion on his face, a splotches of red shown through his white shirt.
"Are you really here?" Sakura took a step back away from the door.
"May I come in?" his voice, though deeper, was familiar to Sakura's ears.
"Sure," her voice was quiet as she still could not believe her eyes.
Sasuke walked in to the kitchen as Sakura closed the door behind him.
"Forgive me for dropping in so suddenly, I didn't know who else to go." Though his voice seemed firm he wouldn't not make eye contact with Sakura.
"Why?" Sakura asked after a short moment of awkward silence.
"Well as you well know there are not too many people who like me in this village." His answer had a sad tone to it.
"No, why did you leave? Why are you back now? Why everything?" Sakura held back the tears that were fighting so hard to break loose.
"Its difficult," the words sounded almost painful as Sasuke spoke.
"No, it's not. They are simple questions," Sakura pressed on.
"It's difficult because most people won't believe me." Sasuke slowly made eye contact as he spoke.
"Let's see if I'm most people then." as Sakura spoke she crossed her arms.
"I didn't want to leave, all I wanted to do was kill Itachi. I never signed up for the rest. I know it's not an excuse but even though I don't think Konoha is my home, it's all I've got left. It's the closest thing to home I got, and I didn't want that taken away from me to." You could hear the emotion in his voice. "I came back because, they want to destroy Konoha. I can't let them."
"You came back to defend us? After all this time your elegance still remains with Konoha?" Sakura's questions were soft.
"Wasn't easy," Sasuke gestured to the red spots on his shirt, "But yes I came back."
"Let me look," Sakura walked towards Sasuke who had a hesitant look on his face. "Don't worry, Tsunade is a great teacher, I know what I'm doing."
She pulled out the chair for Sasuke to sit down. After letting his shirt fall and hang by his waist he sat down.
"They are not as bad as they look." Sakura stated after inspecting the cuts on his shoulders." Clean them up, throw a bandage on them and they should be healed in a few days."
She walked over and grabbed a first aid kit from the cupboard. with a dull click the plastic lid popped open and Sakura retrieved the supplies she needed. The room was silent as she worked, she returned to Sasuke and began her work.
There was another reason I left." Sasuke said after he quickly sucked in a breath as Sakura cleaned out the cuts.
"What is that?" Sakura continued her work.
"There are people that are too close to me, that if they were to get involved and get hurt, I would never forgive myself." He remained looking at the floor.
"We kept coming after you, that must have ticked you off." A small smile appeared on Sasuke's face.
"A little, in a way it showed me I made the right choice to leave. There was one person who didn't really get involved, they did one or twice, but I don't blame her for it." Sakura could feel her face getting slightly warm as she grabbed the spoiled dressings and walked over to dispose of them in the trash can. When she turned around Sasuke was right there. He was so close to her she could almost feel his heart beat. She could feel her face getting extremely warm and her cheeks gaining color.
"I came back because every night before I slipped into the darkness of sleep you face would appear. In the dead silence your voice would ring in my ears. Everyday my heart would quiver and cripple my whole body as I remembered how I left you." As Sasuke spoke his head slowly fell till his forehead rested on Sakura's and his hands found her hips. "Out of all the things I've done in my life, leaving you, especially the way I did, is something I will never forgive myself for."
Tears slowly began to trickle down Sakura's face. Without even thinking or a shimmer of resistance Sakura tipped her head up letting her lips meet Sasuke's. Her hand found their way up and around his neck. Sasuke brought his hand up to the small of her back pressing them closer together, deepening the kiss. The kiss was almost rough, forced. They broke apart not breaking eye contact before Sasuke leaned down giving Sakura another kiss. This time it was soft and gentle. She jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist, Sasuke walked forward setting Sakura on the counter. They pulled away, both breathing heavy. To Sakura's surprise she could see a faint blush appearing on Sasuke's face.
"Do you think we should let Naruto or Kakashi know your back?" Sakura's face was so close to Sasuke's he could feel her breath as she talked, "I know they are two other people who would be glad to see you."
Sasuke thought for a moment, "They can wait till tomorrow."
~END~