Author's Note: I haven't updated in a while, but it's been even longer since I wrote a SasuSaku fic. I hope you guys enjoyed it, because it took me a while to think up of. Don't hesitate to criticize my writing, but at least try to be nice about it! lol!
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The gates of Konoha had always been so comforting and reassuring. A sure sign that you were nearing the impenetrable fortress, which was composed of an elite militia of ninja. Of course that view of the gates of Konoha could be debated upon by many. Namely convicts and shady groups of figures.
Maybe though, it was wrong to assume that a born and raised Konoha boy or girl would feel safe passing under those foreboding gates. For it was assured that if you turned your back on Konoha, Konoha would turn its back on you. So it was safe to say that when Sasuke was brought back, there were few people who rejoiced. No one expected though that Sasuke would come back with an aura so thick and dark, you would easily get smothered in it. It was like putting a wounded wolf in the center of an armed mob. The results would not be pretty, not in the least.
Many nights after the events of the utter demise of his sensei, Sasuke would wake up drenched in sweat and ready to kill. Whatever Orochimaru had done to the young man was brutal to the point of inhuman. However, there was one thing Sakura was only privy to see, as well as his gruesome nightmares. She was the one who saw what Sasuke really was. The years he had been gone had wracked his once porcelain white skin, to scarred and ravaged flesh. Scars to long unattended, left to fester and bleed, were now battle scars against his back and chest.
His moaning sighs at night, chilling her soul, his trembling body, leaving her trembling as well. And so she stayed, to fix what had been broken. To mend what had been shattered, and to pick up what was left behind. Sakura saw Sasuke for what he really was. A broken man, with a broken soul, wandering the barren earth in his dreams forever. And even though he wasn't affectionate, romantic or even gentle. He was a man who stayed, and protected her, even though he seemed incapable of doing that for himself. Sasuke was broken, but lucky for him she liked to fix things.