Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

The Way You Used To

If could tell a thousand people only one thing. I would tell them about you.

About the way you used to smile.

The way you used to laugh.

The way you used to just look at me and know exactly what I was feeling.

I would tell them all of that.

I would tell them about the way you used to love me.

.

Theirs was a story of happy days.

Hot lazy summer afternoons.

Of fireflies.

Of picnics.


(Of wishing for the future.)


Theirs was a story of fights.

Physical and emotional scars that would never quite go away.

Of ramen.

Of butterflies.

Of laughter.


(Of wishing they would always be free.)


Theirs was a story of their friends.

People they loved.

Of Naruto's ceaseless shouting.

Of Kakashi's porn books.

Of her insistence.

Of his determination.


(Of wishing for each other.)


And no one could take that away. No one could hide the fact that this peace, this sort of heaven had existed once. No one could hide that this had once been a reality.


(Their story wasn't going to end in a happily-ever-after, no matter what they'd once believed.)


Looking back, it seemed nothing but cruel to have been given that.

That is, nothing but cruel to have been given that, and then stripped of it while they were still too clueless to understand the friendships (family) the care (love) they had all shared and had for one another.


(Because without Team 7, who did they have?)


She would give up the world to go back to that. To that little piece of happiness that had lasted throughout a small part (fragment) of her childhood.

She'd give up anything and everything to go back to sitting with her team and just…talking. Talking, laughing, or even sitting in silence.

For a minute of that, just a minute, she would give up her life.


(Because that is what she had unknowingly looked forward to everyday.)


They'd all been foolish, she now realized, looking back. They'd taken it all for granted.


(Thought it would always be there for them.)


Taking for granted the time they had together, and completely forgetting about the fact that they'd all grow up and never have time to do those things again.


(But secretly they had hoped.)


Gazing at the stars.

Having ramen together.

Training by the KIA stone.

Hiding Kakashi's porn books.


(Theirs was a story of what once was, and of what would never be.)


And to think, that once upon a time they'd all wanted to grow up. To think that once upon a time they'd wanted to have the exciting life of a shinobi with all its dangerous missions, rather than be together.


(They'd thought that they'd still glimpse each other, still train and talk and just be together.)


When he'd left a sort of shock had set in and it hadn't worn off for a while.


(They hadn't been prepared for that. None of them, not even him.)


Suddenly, things started to change.

Suddenly, they'd all had to grow up.

And suddenly, they had to realize that growing up wasn't what they'd thought it would be.


(They realized they'd never be able to go back to what had once been.)


In their childhood they'd been a complete puzzle, the pieces had fit all tight and snug.

When he'd left, it seemed like that puzzle had slowly been dismantled.

First his piece gone.

Then Naruto's.

Then Kakashi's.

Of course, pieces had been added, that was the thing about life, it always changed the game up on you, but the thing was, the thing was, the fact that there was still a huge gaping hole that had been left behind by her teammates.


(They had falsely deluded themselves.)


She wasn't sure anymore, if she still loved him. If she'd ever loved him at all. But sometimes, when she'd fall into deep thought, sometimes, his face would come up and she'd feel surprising warmth.

.

If could tell a thousand people only one thing. I would tell them about you.

About the way you used to smile.

The way you used to laugh.

The way you used to just look at me and know exactly what I was feeling.

I would tell them all of that.

I would tell them about the way you used to love me.


What do you guys think?

Those of you who're reading my story Not a Fairy Tale, sorry for being a horrible updater. I've been swamped with homework, and the only reason this is done is because I really wanted to do it and it was easy to do, it didn't take that long at all.

Last thing: The beginning and end, I think are in Sasuke's POV and the rest in Sakura's.