DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto.

EPILOGUE

"Sasuke, is that you?"

The black haired man standing in front of a delicately carved statue looked back at the person who called his name.

"Ah. It really is you! It's been a long time since you came here." The man who looked a lot like him said.

"Hn."

"You're still emotionally constipated and inarticulate. Haven't you learned any vocabulary from where you came from?"

"Tch. And you're saying you've learned some nice words to say to others?"

"So you can talk longer than your two-letter remark. Congrats, really."

The newcomer faced the artwork his cousin has been staring at and his face contorted to his usual smiling face.

"This one really looked a lot like you; only, this one has more expressions inside than you do. It's unfortunate, you know, how a statue have more feelings within than the human himself."

"I wonder who carved this and made it look a lot like me. I bet he's a stalker for being able to make a lifeless replica of the real one. I want to sue him for copying my looks without even telling me."

Sai laughed at his cousin's remark while Sasuke just glared at him… hard.

"Seriously, Sasuke!" He laughed even more before continuing what he had to say, "I'd be more than happy if that sculptor would be put in jail. He's hurt a lot of people, you know."

Sasuke looked back at his lifeless replica, "Tell me about it."

"You see, the guy who carved this was an arrogant narcissist man I've ever known to step on this planet. He said that he wanted his girl to still be in love with him despite him going away for a while for some important business."

"And what important business would that be? Bet he's just a bastard making excuses-"

"Yeah, a bastard full of excuses." Sai confirmed chuckling bitterly, "He's been sick for a while and everyone knew about it except his girl."

Sasuke's smirk faltered and was transformed into a frown as he looked sideways to his companion to see his desolate expression, "Why did he not tell her?"

"Because he didn't want her leave him." He answered flatly.

"That's bs! If the girl would leave him after knowing the reason behind his leaving, then, he doesn't deserve her."

"I see you're taking sides-"

"Why not? Her boyfriend's sick and he just meant well for their relationship to remain intact while he's getting himself cured for whatever disease he had."

"You're right and wrong at the same time, Sasuke. He does meant well for their relationship to remain intact until the end but he didn't trust his girl enough to tell her everything."

Sasuke fell silent upon realizing his cousin's point.

"The day she received this statue as a gift was the same day she learned about the real reason why he was leaving. Without wasting any more time, she drove as fast as she could to the airport."

Sasuke was frowning while listening to his cousin's story.

"I don't get it. He's getting himself cured and he'll be back to her once it's all done, so why is she so frantic about it?" He asked feeling confused.

"Same as he was: she's afraid she might lose him."

"Was he that sick that she's afraid to lose him?"

He asked this hoping that it would enlighten him better of what kind of situation the two protagonists were facing.

"He had a brain tumor and there was a big risk for him to acquire memory loss; another reason why his family sought for the best neuro-surgeons around the world to operate on him. They, too, didn't want him to forget… even for a while. The girl, on the other hand, wanted to be by his side so that when he wakes up, she's the first one he'll see."

Now getting more engrossed with the story his cousin was telling him, he urged him to continue where he left, "What happened next?"

"The rain started pouring hard." Sai smiled bitterly as he continued his story, "It was almost zero-visibility due to strong winds and continuous downpour of rain. The road was already slippery yet she was still driving at a fast pace. Maybe you can guess what happened next?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes at his cousin's attempt to slightly lighten the mood.

"Car-"

"Car accident that almost killed her life." He said cutting off his cousin's response.

Sasuke's eyes widened as if he was the receiving end of the news.

"She was asleep for a month or two. They thought they lost her until she finally woke up; only, she can't remember anything."

"He was supposed to be the one forgetting not her." Sasuke chuckled sadly to himself, "What happened to the guy then? Did he survive the surgery? Did he know that his lover lost her memories? Did he come back for her?"

For the first time in his entire lifetime, Sai saw a lot of unanswered questions in Sasuke's expression.

"He woke up."

Sai wanted to know what kind of expression his cousin would have upon knowing the "good" news.

Sasuke, on the other hand, heaved a sigh of relief knowing that the male protagonist survived his operation but there were still a lot of questions in his mind.

Getting the response he was waiting, Sai began supplying the missing details he knew his cousin was dying to hear about.

"And no he didn't know about his girlfriend's situation. He never knew about it until now. His parents and friends, upon knowing what happened to both parties, decided not to disclose everything that has happened."

"WHAT!? That's bullshit! Why didn't they let him know about his girlfriend?" Sasuke, who was so lost in the story, lost his temper and shouted at his cousin.

"Because he didn't know her."

"W-what?"

"He, too, lost his memories." Sai, whose hands were deep down his pants' pockets, faced Sasuke.

"Since the two both lost their memories, they decided that it's better not to let them know about their past relationship and go on with their new lives."

"I don't think that it's for their parents nor friends' to decide on that matter. Had they told them about their past, I knew they would've remembered."

"A lot of painful things happened that no one would dare to remind either of the two about it. Everyone would want the two to remember their love for each other on their own because if not, it would've seemed forced. You could say that it's not for them to decide but only fate could bring the two back together although that's impossible now."

RING! RING!

Sai pulled out his phone and put it in to silent mode and looked back to Sasuke.

"There were a lot of instances wherein their paths crossed, Sasuke. They still have common friends whom they are in contact with. For the girl, it was unexpected that she just suddenly blurted out the name of her ex-lover to name it coincidentally with the gift she received from him."

Sasuke was now looking back at Sai listening to whatever he was saying.

"Her friends thought that it was a sign that she's remembering but that's as far as she can remember, his name. Despite that, we believed just how much she loved him back to still remember his name."

"That name sounded too familiar and it looked a lot like if he were a person, that would be his name so I'd name him that."

"What about him?" Sasuke interrupted.

"Well it's unfortunate that I think he will never remember his first love."

Sai looked at his wrist watch and patted Sasuke on the shoulder.

"I've got to go now. Appointment calls."

"Hn."

"By the way, how long will you be staying here?" Sai asked looking back at his cousin.

"A month."

Sai started walking away again when Sasuke decided to ask him yet another question.

"When will you put up the information for this work?"

Sai stopped on his tracks and looked back again at him with his all too familiar smile.

"Tomorrow? Next week? A month from now? I don't know. Why do you even want to know who made it? It's not like you will really do something to him when you know him."

He faced the direction he was going and waved a hand, "Ja! Anyway, I'll give you a call when the info's up for viewing. I'd have to clarify that with the owner first."

"It was really weird talking about him to him." Sai talked over his phone as he was walking out the hall.

'Well, it's your fault you didn't tell me that he's here. I would've been the one to tell him everything. Where is he now?'

"Easy for you to say, Dickless. He's still there staring at his own image."

'Yeah! I would've knocked some sense in to him so he'd remember and stop calling me that. Anyways, Hinata's here so I'm hanging up now. Bye!'

Sai clicked his phone off and pocketed it as he made his way to the parking lot.

"Hn. Troublesome best friends."

A few weeks after the fateful meeting between the cousins, Sasuke decided to visit the museum one last time before he left for England to study.

He walked towards his favorite sculpture staring once again at it until a small silver plate beside it caught his attention. He stepped towards it and read the content of it:

The man who didn't want his love to be forgotten,

Uchiha Sasuke

"Sasuke"

Donated by

Haruno Sakura

Realizing the information he just learned was enough for him to admit to himself that the sculptor was a real bastard because up until that point, he still can't put a face to the name of the statue's owner.

All he remembered was the girl with pink hair, green eyes, porcelain skin and a sweet, sweet smile. Seeing her was like falling in love for the first time. Unfortunately for him, she has just married.

End.