The characters belong to the one and only Masashi Kishimoto.
It's been eight days, almost nine since he was gone. The evenings in Konoha were cold and dark… Well for her that is because everyone else seemed to be happy saying that spring finally came. But it didn't matter what time of year it was or what the others said to Sakura everything was depressing and loosing color. She didn't see the green grass and the petals on the trees starting to sprout, she didn't see how beautifully the sun would go down in the springs sky, she didn't even notice how much warmer it was getting outside because inside she was cold, feeling like in Antarctica.
The young pink haired woman sat in her favorite spot in their living room. Gazing bluntly with sad eyes at the nearby sofa where he used so sit every evening, telling her stories that will never be said to any other, no one else will ever hear them. The mug of not so hot tea stood before her waiting to be sipped but she had no intention of doing so. The cup was filled with jasmine tea and she oh so strongly disliked that tea, no, the cup of the warm liquid wasn't for her, it was for him. But as seconds and then minutes went by the once hot tea with no sugar was getting colder and colder along with her hands.
"I miss you" she said silently to herself and closed her eyes trying to imagine that he was here. In her head she could start hearing faint sounds of the house making like the annoying sound the floors made and the sound of him sipping his tea. The sound of harmony made her ears making her smile sincerely.
"Home" her lips let out the word with such love that anyone around could have felt her feeling but the thing was that she was alone. Sakura opened her eyes and met the same view she had imagined except the peace at her had now gone away because home wasn't all those sounds and even wasn't this place where she spent her days and nights. Home for her was him and he wasn't here. She and this now cold place had watched him leave with no emotion in his eyes.
Another evening went by and another day came along but nothing for her changed. The same routine, getting up, getting ready and going to work with the best smile she could manage. Her clients in the hospital didn't mind and her colleagues had given up cheering her because they knew that there was no way to make her smile the she would before him leaving. She was grateful that no one pestered her about everything saying the old saying that everything will be okay because every time she would fight the urge to yell at them and that it's not okay and how it will be is the future and she's not living there.
"So, how long now?" Ino asked with a smile. "22 days and I don't know how much more will it be" Sakura said her eyes now glowing with sadness. Almost a month has passed, it's been exactly 22 days from the last time that she had saw him and if anyone would ask her the precise time she could even tell how many hours and minutes have passed since she saw him or at least heard of him. This was painful, as she looked at the picture on her table which held the both of them her smiling like a child and him showing his oh so sweet smirk. Before he left she would always take a glimpse to the photo and look away with a big smile on her cheery face but now… now she looked away with tears and pain in those emerald eyes of hers.
"I'm scared of losing him… I'm scared that I already lost him, Ino" she said falling into oh so painful tears as her blond companion could only say the same soothing word of everything will be okay.
Sakura dragged her feet back home. She tried opened the door with hope that he would be back but the hope died out as soon as she saw no sigh of anyone being there. She wanted for him to return it seemed like she could give up everything just so that he would come home.
"Please, come back, Sasuke-kun, I promise that we could start over again so that you once more could forget the things that make you unhappy" she said to herself looking out the window in the direction that he had left. Sakura knew that if he would turn around and come home she would be able to make things better, make him happy again like he was when he first returned. "Please, Sasuke-kun…" and she kept repeating those words on and on until she could feel the energy leaving her body.
"Better clean up" she said to herself and made her way to put away the groceries she brought home. Milk, water, cookies, meat… and of course fresh tomatoes. "To the trash" she said and threw away the red vegetables she had bought just a few days ago and replaced them with new and fresh ones. Always she would be prepared to make his favorite dish if by any chance he would come home hungry and tired.
As a routine she boiled water and made two cups of tea, one green like she liked with a lump of sugar and one jasmine without sugar just the way he liked it. "Just in case" Sakura told herself preparing the hot liquid. "Just in case" she chanted washing tomatoes ready to get dinner started. Having already plates prepared for two.
"Sakura-chan!" a loud and obnoxious yell made its way to her kitchen as the utensil she yell fell down and immediately she made her way to great the imposter. "Naruto!" Sakura said in an angry tone "How many times did Sasuke-kun tell you to not barge in here like that"
"Ahh but Sakura-chan…" the blond cutie said scratching the back of his head "He's not here now" he added and immediately regretted saying it as his beautiful teammate looked at him no longer with annoyance in her eyes but with tears. "Ah no Sakura-chan! Don't cry! That teme would kill me if I made you cry! Stop stop!" the blond exclaimed as he ran to Sakura hugging her tightly putting as much love as he could in this hug.
"It's okay, he's not here…" she said "Well not yet but soon hi will be" the blond said with a wide smile and as soon as those words left his lips the pinkette showed away from him with large eyes "What do you mean naruto?" she said trembling
"What I mean Sakura-chan is that we finally got news from him saying that his mission was successful and that he's coming back home in a few days but they will be a bit late because they have some injured men with them but other than that they are fine" Naruto explained to her watching as his teammate started to glow in happiness and all of the pain she had held this past month was washed away with those words of his.
"Is he alright? Is he injured? Should we meet them?" she asked frantically about to started running around "No, Sakura, he is fine. I mean its Sasuke baka were talking about, he may be a teme but that bastard is as strong as hell"
A loud sigh of relief left her lips and it seemed like the place she lied in started to regain colors and peace. "Thank you, Naruto" she said and hugged her best friend having him blush at the sudden gentle contact. Something about her still made his heartbeat fasten although he had came into terms with the fact that she was already married to his best friend. Something about her made him feel warm inside. "Ah Sakura-chan don't hug me like that, if Sasuke knew I would be dead right now" he said laughing and making his way from her to see what she was doing before he interrupted her.
A giggle left her lips as she asked "I was making dinner, would you care to join me, Naruto?" "Of course, Sakura-chan!But ugh it's tomatoes… I hate those" he said inspecting the ingredients
"it's okay, I'll make something you like" Sakura said with a smile gracing her lips as the fought of her husband coming back home from the mission to take on the people who had the intention to disgrace the name of his clan, spreading rumors and pretending to be part of it. "Everything will be better from now on" she said silently and smiled. Seeing her smile again Naruto felt himself smile too, after Sasuke left there were a lot of people thinking that his mission was to dangerous and that he wouldn't be coming back, the rumor got stronger when time passed and there was no sign of him and no news. He himself was worried and Sakura was just broken. It made him happy to see that everything will be better as soon as Sasuke Uchiha came back to Konoha, to his wife Uchiha Sakura.