A Secret Love
Introduction:
It had been seven years since he had seen her last. She was the only one that made him actually feel wanted, not hated or despised. Sure, there was always Ino as well as those other girls in Konoha, but she was different. She didn't cling to him like there was no tomorrow. She didn't act like a little giggling girl that was 'oh so very' nervous around him, she was confident around him. She also treated him kindly, not like he was a treasured prize that the other girls would treat him like. They were always begging him to make-out with them to make others jealous that they finally got the Uchiha Sasuke. She was his only friend, well, besides that dobe. She was a beautiful cherry blossom he had had at one time, but ruined everything by leaving her, and putting her down.
Chapter One: A Terrible Mistake
Seven years. Seven wasted, fucked-up, damned years he had been in Sound. And what did He learn? Never trust a single soul in The Hidden Sound Village. Those fagots. He might have already killed Itachi and revived his clan by know, but no. He was in his stupid fucking room, with stupid fucking Orochimaru breathing down his neck twenty-four fucking hours of every single god forsaken day. But this was normal. It had been this way ever since he came here. For seven years.
Knock, knock, knock.
"What the fuck do you want," Sasuke said irritably.
"Orochimaru wants you in his office."
"Hn."
"That better mean 'I'm coming Master Kabuto'."
"Shut the hell up Kabuto, I'm not in the mood" Sasuke then thought for a moment. "In fact, I've never been in the mood for your rude-ass remarks."
"Just because you're in a bad mood, doesn't mean you have to take it out on 'poor-little-defenseless' me." Kabuto said with a smirk.
"Hn."
"Fine, Orochimaru is still expecting you"
"Hn."
"Well 'hn' to you to." And with that Kabuto walked away from Sasuke's room.
'He's at least gone' Sasuke got up from his 'bed' which was more along the lines of a straw mat on freezing cold stone floor. 'But what does He want.'
Sasuke trudged grudgingly along the hallway to Orochimaru's office and knocked nonenchantently on his door. His response was a grunted 'come in'.
"You asked for me." Was Sasuke's reply once he got through the door.
"That I did." Orochimaru said while watching him in thought, with a slight smirk on his disgustingly, unnaturally, pale skin. "It has come to my attention that you seem, lately, to be a little, how should a put this, stupid. The last mission I sent you on would have been a complete failure until I sent some other nins in to assist you. Can you explain yourself?" He said with a sinister look.
"I was careless. Your point?" Sasuke responded coolly yet with a tone of boredom.
"My point is, unless you want to get stronger you will perform well in the missions I assign you."
"I'll try harder next time, can I go now?" Sasuke replied impatiently. 'Get stronger my ass. For seven years I've been here, I've only gotten weaker.' Sasuke thought darkly.
With another sinister look that turned out to be more of a glare, Orochimaru nodded and Sasuke hastily took his leave.
When he got to his room it was getting late. He ate a small 'dinner' and took a shower. Then his thoughts came upon Sakura again as it did every night, if not about half of his entire day. He always felt guilt when he thought of her. Just leaving her like that, alone, without any hope. Then he thought that it may have been good for her that he left, even if he really didn't like that idea…for reasons he could not even comprehend why he felt that way. It was selfish and he may even have hurt her emotionally. But she could have found someone that truly loved her, that could tend to her needs, and not want revenge as he did.
'She probably had found someone. She was beautiful, and through traveling on missions had heard that she was stronger than Tsunade, The Hidden Leaf Village's current Hokage. Also that her medical skills were hard to match, let alone beat. What man wouldn't want her, unless they were already involved with someone. But he was sure even some men that were married must have looked at least twice at her.' Sasuke thought with a slight smirk to himself.
But his own selfish thoughts of her not finding anyone to love her, and that she was waiting for him, always relying on his 'return'. This thought always made him want to go back, even if she wouldn't be there to love him if he were to return.
He would always just want to see what had become of the village. Well, more of what had become of her.
Tonight was different however. He actually began to plan an escape. Go back to 'home', whether the people wanted him there or not, he would come back. Even if he was just going to be exiled again, he would at least be near her. Maybe even talk to her as a friend.
He spent about three hours planning different escape plans, and back-ups if something were to happen unexpected. He would be leaving in the morning, travel for about two days without many breaks, then one more day at a slightly slower pace and then reach the village. After that he presumed that he would have to go to the Hokage for questioning and he probably wouldn't be trusted for a while, seeing how he had betrayed them.
Next Morning
He got up about three hours before most, five hours before Orochimaru; he stepped cautiously out of his room and looked around for the guards. Then he did some hand seals for his feet and began to sprint while avoiding guards. Once he was out with little trouble, he began his journey back to Konoha. He was now very thankful that he remembered to make a copy of himself, or else getting back to the Leaf Village would be a little more stressful.
The Third Day
Finally, he reached the gates of the Leaf Village. Although, he did have a lot of rather deep cuts, he had no problem with any of it, for he would to see her soon.
"State name and your resson to come to the Leaf Village." A voice rang out from above.
"Uchiha Sasuke, and I'm here for my own reasons." Sasuke replied coolly.
"Fine…hey, wait a minute you're the Uchiha Sasuke? You're the one who betrayed this village! You two, get him." Then out nowhere, two other guards came out and grabbed him, though Sasuke made no move to stop them and was then taken in.
"It was rather stupid you coming back" The first guard said.
"He's right you know. By the way, you will be going to the Hokage." The second one said.
Once he was inside the Hokage's office, three jounin came in to make sure he didn't do anything spontaneous, like kill their Hokage.
"Tell me…why." The Hokage said after deep thought.
"Why." Sasuke replied mockingly.
The Hokage gave him a death glare and continued, "Why did you come back after seven years. Is it perhaps that you want to ruin my student's life further…?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow slightly, as if confused. "Don't give me that look Uchiha, because you are the one who broke Sakura-san. She has never been the same!" Said a now infuriated Tsunade.
"I didn't know." Sasuke said with a new reason to feel guilt.
"You should know. She finally is coming around to being at least halfway normal again, but now you come back. If you expected her to just instantly love you when you came back and tell you how wonderful you are…that she is the luckiest girl alive because you came back to her, let me tell you this, she won't." Tsunade continued, "Why did you come back anyways. You probably knew that you would be taken in like this. Are you doing this for Orochimaru? Is Konoha going to be attacked by the bastard himself?" She asked heatedly.
"I came here on my own; I am no longer under Orochimaru's control. As for him attacking Konoha, I have know idea." Sasuke said simply.
"I still don't trust you." The Hokage said eyeing him up and down. "I have no reason to trust you of all people who betrayed Konoha."
"If you still don't trust me, I'll give you all the locations of all of Orochimaru's hidden hideouts." Sasuke said with his infamous smirk.
"Fine…you there, bring Kakashi and Naruto in…but not Sakura. She won't be ready." The Hokage said to one of the jounin accompanying her. "Uchiha, tell Rinkin-san," She pointed to another jounin, "Tell her all the locations. Rinkin-san, take Renalde Machika, and three of her siblings, on a mission to see if the locations Uchiha over here will be giving us are correct."
After Sasuke gave them the locations of Orochimaru's hideouts, his former sensei and teammate came in. Naruto's expression was a mixture of confusion, anger, sadness, slight happiness, and a little surprise. Kakashi had no real expression, or at least if there was one, it was hidden by his mask.
"Tsunade-sama, why isn't Sakura-chan here!" Naruto said, but Sasuke noticed that he wasn't his normal loud self that he had known for a couple of years.
"She won't be here for some personal reasons." The Hokage said.
"Oh."
"But the resson I called you two in here is, as you can see, Uchiha Sasuke has come back for reasons beyond my knowledge. For the mean time though, we need Mr. Uchiha to stay somewhere. Naruto, you and Kakashi will keep watch on him for the time being. You can decide where he is sleeping and what not…"
Little did the group in the Hokage's office know, Ino was listening to their 'little' conversation.
'Oh! Sasuke-kun has come back! Hmm, I'm with Shika-kun though, soooo, Sakura can have him. Buuutt… she is a little 'emotionally' unstable. Maybe I should wait to tell her' Ino thought to herself.
In Konoha's vast streets of many shops
"Argh! Tenten…I was trying to tell you something important! Come back here Tenten! Well at least you didn't leave me Hinata-chan!" Ino said rather loudly causing Hinata to wince. "As I was saying before the 'great weapons handler' ditched me! Sasuke-kun has come back!"
"A-are you s-sure I-ino-ch-chan?" Hinata stuttered.
"Of course I'm sure, when have I not been sure?" Ino said simply.
"W-well, should w-we t-tell Sakura-ch-chan th-this?" Hinata asked cautiously.
"I'm not sure" Said Ino pouting while Hinata sweet dropped.
Meanwhile, on the training grounds…
"You're late!" Said an infuriated pink-haired women, with a rather hard kick to Naruto, sending him very hard into a tree and leaving an impact in a very old oak.
"S-sorry Sakura-chan!" Said a very scared Naruto.
"You know I hate it when people are late! What's your excuses? Hmmm! Did you 'get lost on the road of many flavored ramen'!" Said a very angry Sakura.
"Hey! Are you mocking me?" Said the forgotten Kakashi. Sasuke is currently watching the scene play out from the safe harbor of the forest leaves.
"Nooooo, I'm complementing you! Of course I'm mocking you…you…you perverted-former-sensei!" She said with some trouble.
With a low growl from their ex-sensei, he pulled out 'Icha Icha Paradise' and walked to sit under the tree Sasuke was currently in.
"She hasn't changed that much," Sasuke commented.
"Oh yes she has! She has successfully defeated me around three to five times, while she continuously defeats Naruto on a daily basis. She is very strong, but her chakra control has improved, if that even possible from when she was a gennin. She also has created her own techniques, and can perform hand seals with one hand; Sakura is can perform some her better seals without any hand seals and do it with only concentration. She is very different from when you left." Kakashi said while finding his place in his favorite little orange book.
"I'll believe it when I see it."
"You'll be seeing it very soon to." Kakashi said with a shrug.
Just as he said that, Sakura and Naruto began to fight with no reserves. Sasuke had to admit that she had improved very much. She hadn't used any of her chakra, but Naruto had used about a fourth of his own trying to dodge her attacks.
"God Sakura, you hit like a guy!" Then she hit him extremely hard against and old oak tree while he left an impact in the tree's trunk. "Oooooow!"
"Serves you right for insulting me!" She said angrily.
"Grrrrrr." Naruto then lunged towards her while she easily dodged it and then hit him, while transferring some chakra to her hands for an extremely hard hit, square in the back.
With a "Humph." Sakura turned on her heal to go over to Kakashi.
"Why did you come with Naruto today?" She asked
"No reason."
"Why is someone in the tree your under than?" She said with a smirk up at the tree.
'Crap! How the hell did she know I was in here! I'm not that obvious, am I? This isn't good. The Hokage said I probably shouldn't see her for a little bit, I wonder if thirty minutes is what she would consider a little bit? Though I have to admit, her curves are quite nice. Gah! What am I thinking!
'What are you thinking?'
'Who are you?'
'I'm you.'
'No your not, I'm myself and only I control my mind!'
'Well I'm your dirtier side, so get used to it.'
'Huh?'
'Well, what are you thinking! You did come back here because of her, did you not?'
'Yes' grumbles about being right
'Now that that's settled, look down."
'Huh?'
'Look down, nimrod.'
Sasuke looked down. There, staring wide-eyed at him was the one and only Hurano Sakura. 'Fuck' Thought, he repeated it many times before—
"What is this bastard doing here!" Sakura said, breaking the silence and looked from Naruto to Kakashi, and then back to Sasuke.
'Bastard. She called me a bastard. Sakura, the one who used to adore me, just called me a bastard. She really has changed.' Sasuke thought, shocked at what she had said. Though he was careful not to show it at all.
"Well!" She said with more anger this time.
"He just got here Sakura." Naruto said timidly.
"You're not answering the question Naruto!" She responded, now turning on him.
"He left Sound." Kakashi said, now stepping in.
"Why the hell aren't any of you answering my one little question? Why the hell is this bastard here!"
"Because of you." Sasuke said quietly.
"Well, Naruto and I will be taking our leave now, buh-by!" With that Kakashi and Naruto left quickly while Sakura was glaring at them.
Then she turned back to Sasuke, "Why are you really here? Was it because Orochimaru told you to?"
"I just told you; and no, Orochimaru did not send me here. I came on my own."
"Sure ya did." She said rolling her eyes.
"I did!" He said earnestly.
"Fine. Good day Sasuke." She said and disappeared in a whirlwind of smoke and flames.
'Well that went well. NOT!'
'Shut up.'
'You'
'I can't shut up with you yapping, you're me.' He thought to himself with a smirk, and then glowered, "Great, now I'm talking well, thinking, to myself and having arguments with my self!"
Dinner with team seven
"Isn't this great!" Kakashi said with fake glee. "Team seven is finally back together!"
"Oh yes, just wonderful." Sakura said with sarcasm.
"Can I have another bowl of ramen?" Naruto asked innocently. Everyone sweet dropped.
"Dobe."
"What did you call me, Sasuke-bastard?" Naruto said very loudly.
"You haven't changed Naruto, and that isn't exactly a good thing." Sasuke said with a glare.
"Shut up Sasuke-teme!" Naruto said angrily.
"Naruto, isn't that Hinata-san…Ino-san and Tenten-san appear to be with her as well." Kakashi commented.
"Huh, where…oh, hi Hinata-chan! Oh its you Ino…oh. And Tenten-san hi!" Naruto said happily.
"H-hi, N-naruto-k-kun!" Hinata said while blushing madly.
"Hello Ino-pig, Tenten, Hinata-chan. What brings you guys here?" Sakura questioned simply.
"Oh we just stopped by to see if the rumors were true, apparently there true. Uchiha has come back to Konoha." Tenten said slyly.
"God, Tenten! Stop being so intimidating!" Ino said shrilly.
"C-calm down I-ino-ch-chan!" Hinata said quickly.
"Its okay Hinata-chan, Tenten is just being herself." Ino said simply before mumbling, "unfortunately for us."
"Shut up Ino-pig!" Tenten yelled.
"T-tenten-chan! C-calm down, I-ino-ch-chan d-didn't mean i-it, right Ino-ch-chan!" Hinata said while desperately trying to calm her over reactive friends down.
"Both of you, shut up!" Sakura said, now annoyed has hell.
"O-okay Sakura-san!" Tenten and Ino said simultaneously.
"Well, why don't I'll let you young children chat!" Kakashi said quickly while disappearing in a pouf of smoke.
"Stupid pervert…probably watching us all from the roof tops. Oh look, there he is, right on that shop across the street." Sakura commented simply with little care.
Everyone looked at where she was talking about, sure enough, he was there. When he saw them all look he quickly left with a wave.
'Idiot.' Sasuke thought to himself. Then he stole a glance at Sakura, she wasn't eating much. It was more like glared at her meal with absolutely no means to eat it. 'Wonder what she's thinking. Her welcoming was the least likely I would have expected. She must really hate that I left her. Wonder if we'll ever be able to talk like friends.'
He then stole another glance at her and continued to eat.
'Why does he keep on looking at me? It's not like ever liked me, let alone loved me. I wonder if I'll ever be able to talk to him as a friend? He betrayed Konoha! It's his own fault that he left, it was his choice to come back to be hated. He doesn't even deserve my love, nor anyone else's! He should have been killed! But…he won't stop looking at me!' Sakura thought angrily, and then looked up to meet his gaze, but instead glared back at him.
'Shit, she caught me looking at her! What to do, what to do! Wait, why is she making me feel like this!' Sasuke thought to himself.
'Well duh! You're in love with her! It's pretty obvious you know. You should try harder to conceal your emotions, dobe.'
'Why, of all times, must you bother me?'
'Because I'm you.'
'You've got a point there.'
'Of course I do.'
"What are you looking at?" Sakura's voice rang out, snapping him out of his own thoughts and bringing him back to the dinner. Then he realized that he was still staring at Sakura, who was getting quiet angry, as well as fidgety under his gaze.
'Shit.'