Sasusaku: Out of reach
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters! They belong to Masashi Kishimoto!
I landed perfectly still on the pinkette's balcony. The full moon shone brightly and lit up Sakura's room a little. I knew that I shouldn't be doing this. If anyone saw me here, or if Madara noticed my absence, I would be in huge trouble. But I had this craving to see her. Ever since I left I had regretted my coldness towards her after she confessed to me. It must have been hard to gather all of that courage, and I crushed her feelings completely, and broke her heart. What a fool I had been. A huge jerk who didn't know what he was missing. But I had realized shortly after, that I loved her. That was the reason I had been looking for. The answer to why I acted so tough around her. But as always, I put revenge first, and realized later.
Yes, I had managed to kill Itachi, but so what? I thought that killing him would be a relief. Instead it left me empty. Now I have no reason for living. I dedicated my life into killing my brother, but didn't even cast a thought at what to do afterwards. Now I am all alone, and I knew that there was no way I could return. I was already too caught up in this mess. But before I returned to the hideout, there was one more thing I wanted to see.
And that's why I was standing there, looking at Sakura sleeping peacefully. Her pink hair covered half of her face. I wanted to remove it so that I could see all of her beauty, but I knew that I shouldn't go inside. If I did, I could risk that she woke up, and that was the last thing I wanted right now. But I longed to touch her. Too feel her soft skin and smell her lovely scent. If I remembered correctly, which I always do, she smelled just like cherry blossoms.
My attention turned to the shelf by her bed. The pictures were different from the earlier ones. I remember the time when she had several pictures of me on that shelf. She took them whenever there was an opportunity. Most of them had been of my back or my shoes, as she had to be certain that I didn't notice. I remembered the one time I did though. All of a sudden I got really mad and tossed her camera at a tree. It broke. She cried the rest of the day. But even though I did that and even more terrible things to her, she kept trying to get my attention. She never gave up. I used to hate her for that guts, now I admire it. She always got straight back up, no matter what happened.
I noticed that it was a large amount of pictures including Naruto. The young, clueless idiot that I had once called my best friend. Was it possible that they were dating? No, it couldn't be. Sakura would never sink that low. Or, when I think about it, liking me might be sinking even lower than liking someone like Naruto. Since I'm rude, annoying and always complain. Indeed, I am an egoistic jerk. And the blonde was all over her when I still lived here. Maybe she came to the point where she started to return his feelings…
I scanned the pictures again. Yup, it was no doubt about it. They were a couple. How come I didn't notice before? Although I have been away from the village, I have met them at several different occasions. Come to think of it, she seemed more attached to him than before when we met last time. But I was too busy being obnoxious towards them to even give it a second thought. At least Sakura was happy. She smiled on each picture, and she even blushed at some. I never imagined that I would lose to him. I was a strong, intelligent, good-looking avenger. I had managed to kill Orochimaru, avenge my family and lead my on squad, but I couldn't win Sakura Haruno's heart.
At the very end of the shelf, there was a last picture, almost hidden behind the others. I recognized a younger version of me, slightly annoyed at my sensei Kakashi, who ruffled my hair. In the middle was a young, extremely excited Sakura, and at the far left was a sulking Naruto. Then I realized something. It was our old team-picture! The one I tossed away the day I got it. The only picture Sakura had where you could actually see my face. Without thinking, I pushed the balcony door open, and went inside.
I smirked a little to myself. She was as careless as ever, always leaving her door open, so that any uninvited visitor could sneak in if he liked. I scanned the room, as if I expected that someone would jump out of the shadows and attack me. But of course, no one was there. It was really way too easy to get inside her house.
All of a sudden I heard the pinkette scream as she tugged her bed-sheets. Tears were forming in her eyes. There was no doubt about it. She had a bad dream. I felt kind of helpless as I looked at her. She screamed once more. I wanted to comfort her, but there was nothing I could do. But I wanted to make the bad dream stop, I really did. It's too risky, I told myself over and over. But the third time she screamed, I just couldn't stop myself.
I went to her bed and lied down beside her, hugging her from behind. My touch seemed to calm her down a bit, and a peaceful face replaced the scared one. She started moving a little. Pulling her arms over her head as she mumbled: "Naruto…" For the first five seconds I was slightly confused, but then I realized it. She was about to wake up.
I swiftly removed my arms from around her waist, and leaped elegantly out of bed, landing on the floor as silent as a mouse. Being a ninja was at least good for something, I thought. She must've been sleepy, cause seconds after Sakura had returned to her peaceful dreams. That was a close one, I thought, and let out a huge sigh. At least she doesn't have any bad dreams now.
I sighed and opened the balcony door once again. It was time for me to leave for the night. Maybe I would return one day, but for now, this was goodbye. I went out on the balcony and got ready to jump. Right before I took my leap into the darkness, I blew a kiss and whispered: "Goodbye, my cherry blossom."