Sakura plopped down onto her bed, the bare mattress sinking beneath her weight. Her gaze swept over the familiar sight of her room, what with the many boxes of clothing and items long forgotten. She couldn't distinguish what box had what, only that her stuff was in those boxes, but not for long. Her mouth twitched. It irked into an unfathomably sad smile, twisting until both corners of her lips were upturned.
During the night, she would make it her goal to drop these boxes off at donation tins. She had scratched, cut, and/or erased her name from every object she had, leaving out only things she would absolutely need. Sitting against her bed, beside her right calve, a large travel pack was motionless. In it, there was an assortment of clothing, dry foods, an assortment of weaponry a blanket, and room for whatever she happened to pick up along the way. Tying the straps of her pack together was a large pouch that had once held weapons, and now held dozens of salaries beneath its cloth.
The shadows that played against her skin reminded her of what Kakashi-sama had said to her, the confusing thing about sunsets and time. Maybe this is what he meant, she inquired. Maybe that odd word choice of his from all those months ago was simply his way of addressing change. It seemed like just a few sunsets ago she was a young girl on this bed, her life vibrantly piecing together in her head. That was a long time ago, but it didn't feel like the years it actually was.
A breath left her lips. She reached out for the only two items left out and not encased in a box or in her pack. They rested where her nightstand had just three weeks prior.
Picking up the pictures, the sad smile on her lips dropped into a despairing one. In her left hand was a picture from her Genin days. It had been so easy, then. Life was full of everything and anything, and there was nothing keeping her from being where she wanted to be, because she was already there. In her right hand was a more recent picture. Kakashi-sama had requested they remake the photo, he proposed it to be like a before-and-after photograph. It had been odd, the boys having to lean down around her, and her having to bow down a little, so they could recreate the position they were in in the first picture, save for Naruto's glare. That had been replaced with a warming smile.
She put them back where they had been before she had picked them up, and laid back on her bed, her legs dangling off of the piece of furniture. She heard a shuffling just outside of her window, and the familiar signal tipped her sensory skills and let her know who was there. "Pakkun," She said loud enough to be heard from outside. "Come in." She rolled on the bed towards the pug, who was now nudging her window open as he usually did. He looked around the room, clearly confused, but eventually turned his attention back to her. "What has Kakashi-sama told you to tell me, Pakkun?" She addressed the task immediately. Pakkun only showed up when that baka needed her help with some paperwork or Hokage-duties.
"He just wanted me to check up on you," His familiar voice made her smile. She always found joy in this little dog, no matter how cynical or sarcastic he seemed to sound. His voice was tainted with curiosity, however, and his eyes continuously darted around the room as if trying to take it all in, trying to find her despite the fact that she was right there. "He said you didn't come in for work today."
She giggled softly. "I had the day off," She murmured. She didn't typically use her days off, so Kakashi must have forgotten that there were days given to her when she didn't have to come in for work. That baka, she would miss him. Her gaze rested thoughtfully on the pictures beside her, lingering for more time than needed, before returning to the pug who was still looking around.
"You did?" He asked. Finally, he moved away from the window, settling at her feet. She smiled and patted his head, petting him gently. He moved against her hand for a quick second before pulling away. She studied his aging face. He had pups of his own, and they themselves were getting up in age like he was. She wasn't sure how he was, but she was glad he was still alive. "He didn't mention that."
He took her pants in between his jaws and tugged gently. "He's drowning in paperwork, isn't he?" Pakkun nodded, grunting around the fabric in agreement. She sighed and cast one last glance around her room. The donation tins would have to wait until she returned from whatever Kakashi had left to do, which was more than likely to be every paper he had been given since she left last night.
She got up, scooped Pakkun into her arms, and set off towards the Hokage Tower, much to the small dog's displeasure.
All around Sakura, there were warm, friendly, and familiar faces. Some chairs in the large table were empty, but that was expected this late in the Shinobi game.
Ino, who sat across from her, was grinning as though she had a dirty secret. It was likely true, she always was the best at betting games. Sakura blamed that seeing-into-your-mind trick Ino could use at a whim.
A hand slapped onto the table, cards scattering lightly. Choji reset them back to their original places, and said, "Four three's."
"Bull." Ino hissed. When asked how she knew, she replied with, "There are four three's in the deck, and I have two of them." It was reasonable, although most still thought she used her special jutsu. Choji's cards were revealed, Ino was right, and he took the entire deck, grumbling lightly. Sakura wasn't sure if that was his stomach, or actually him.
The round went down the line, shouting and accusations rumbling like a storm in the large space, until it was finally Sakura's turn. Just in case Ino was using that jutsu of hers, Sakura didn't look at her cards as she plucked them from her hand. Placing them face down onto the large pile, "Two king's."
"Bull!" Ino cried loudly, and Sakura grinned. She turned up her cards, and when the truth came out, the beloved blonde was forced to take the large deck into her dwindling stock of cards. A few cheers for Sakura rang out, as well as taunting and teasing words directed to Ino, but Sakura paid them no mind.
They would find out eventually that she had actually not put down two kings, and in Ino's haste, the girl had not found the genjutsu Sakura had placed over the table.
And so the round went down, and the game began to die with it. Some of those who were playing, Lee, TenTen, Choji, Shikamaru, and Sasuke, went off, tired of feeling cheated. There was still a decent group of people left, some people Sakura didn't recognize had joined in, and the game continued.
Sakura shifted uncomfortably in her maroon skirt, dimly lit by a lantern an odd twenty some feet away. The night shadowed over the game, making it much harder to read her own cards when accompanied by the hazy buzz emitting into her senses from the alcohol she had consumed earlier. Not only that, but Ino must have found out her little trick, because she was glaring Sakura down from across the table, so she would have to be careful about playing this next hand. The deck in the center of the table was huge, and she didn't exactly want it to become her huge deck.
"Three two's." Sakura placed her cards on the table. Those were her last three cards, and she stood up to leave. She was halted by Ino, in her drunken stupor, shouting as though Sakura and the others weren't just right there.
Ino's fist slammed down onto the cards, ruffling them. She grabbed the top three cards, her voice loud and boisterous, "Kai!" Sakura watched with a smug smirk as Ino pulled the three cards up, and the deck now entirely belonged to the blonde.
The heart inside of her, however, had a spasm and jerked uncontrollably. She was suddenly thankful for the dark gloom that helped mask the tears that pricked at her eyes. This was the last time she would ever be part of this game with her friends, the last time she would get to bid them farewell. She wished the others hadn't left, and she wished Naruto wasn't too drunk to even partake in this game. Just before taking to the rooftops to get home, she called over her shoulder, "Goodbye!" She didn't bother adding the usual 'I'll see you guys again next time!', she wouldn't. They didn't know that, but she did. Whether they knew it was false or not, she wasn't going to go around belittling others friendships with false hopes.
When she arrived at her home, she dug around in her pockets for her key. During her time spent in this apartment, she typically hid the spare in the plant she kept beside her house, but the plant wasn't there anymore. Whenever asked where it went, she told others that it died, but in truth, she had gotten rid of it. There was no use she could find for it if she brought it with her on her travels, and it would just wither and die anyway if she left it here with no one to tend to it.
She stepped inside of her empty home, not taking her shoes off as she shut the door. She didn't plan on being there very long, even if she was lightly buzzed. The air was slightly staler than usual, and smelled like the home hadn't been vacated in a long time. Her long skirt brushed against the floor as she slid it off, trading it for a pair of dark green shorts. She would likely regret the choice later, the chill in the air having given her goosebumps during the card game earlier, but at the moment, it was perfect for travel. She replaced the shorts that she had found in her pack with her Hitai-ate, making sure it rested carefully atop the framed photographs. When it was securely tucked beneath a shirt, but still visible, she left the room, leaving her supplies in her bedroom.
Sakura made her way around her house, entering every room and inspecting every corner. She was passed the point of return, now. She had given away almost all of her things, aside from a few sentimentally important and useful items. She had enough money in the pouch attached to her hip to buy all these things back, having reserved countless salaries and saving a ton of money before by only buying what she needed, but she didn't plan to buy them back. When she made it around to her kitchen, she made sure to unplug everything, from the refrigerator to the cable that connected her lighting to a source of electricity. She had done this earlier with the other rooms, the only difference was that she had to empty the ice cubes in her freezer from their trays as well. There was no more food in the cupboards or in the fridge, it had all been cleared out and used up in the weeks leading up to this one.
She felt the odd need to speak, to say goodbye to everything, to finalize her leaving this housing space by wishing it well with the next owner. It was an odd wish, but she humored it for lack of having anything better to do, as she would have to wait until the streets were empty save for a few stragglers. It was also much better than dwelling on her soon-to-be situation, or thinking about what she was leaving behind by taking her leave.
"I wonder what will happen when I leave?" She whispered loud enough for her to hear. Her fingers traced over the marks left in the table her landlady had given to her. "Will the fridge be taken away, or will others who live here want it? Will the cupboards be filled with pots and pans, or food that's not meant to be refrigerated? Goodies, maybe?"
Sakura made her way over to her living room. "I wonder if kids will race around these floors like there's lava covering them, and they'll burn if they linger too long. Or maybe there wont be kids, and only one person?" She slowly made her way to her bedroom, adding thoughts here and there. When she got in there, she reached down for the pack that rested against the wall and when she rose, she slung it over her shoulder. It thunked against her back with an audible tap.
She closed that door, and went over to her front door. Maybe there was still too many people out and they would wonder where she was headed, and maybe she would be forced to come back. She didn't know what the next few minutes had for her, but she did know she couldn't stay in this haunting apartment for much longer, the one where she had lived for years on her own. With one final wonder, she said to herself, "I wonder if-and hope- whoever lives here will make as many memories here as I did."
The door closed behind her, the keys left on the outside beneath the mat, where the landlady would look when Sakura didn't pay her rent, or when she found out Sakura had left.
A figure was appearing to be much more visible as she drew closer and closer to the gates. Kotetsu and Izumo were out patrolling the other side of the village, and she could sense that those who were supposed to be watching the gates had accidentally dozed off. She couldn't detect the figure's chakra despite the fact that he was less than a hundred feet away from her, which only meant one thing, it meant he could only be one person.
Once she drew near enough to be able to speak and have them heard, she opened her mouth, "Hokage-sama."
She had suspected for the longest time that on one of the only days she had broken down in a public area, he had been there to witness it. She felt the meaning beneath his words when he offered her a team of her own, like Naruto's or Sasuke's. He wanted her to stay.
"Hello, Sakura," Kakashi greeted her with a wave and an eye crease. She wandered even closer, cautiously and slowly, until she was near enough for her arm to brush his if she moved. He had gotten rid of his Hokage robes in favor of his old Jounin uniform. She scowled, but did not bring it up. "May I guess where you're off to this evening?"
From the corner of her eye, she saw the faint light of dawn approaching over the horizon, and so she corrected him. Although the rays were extremely faint and far off, it was maybe one or two in the morning, it was still no longer evening. He nodded to her, and she finally answered with, "You may guess, Hokage-sama."
"I'm not sure I really want to guess. I would rather you just tell me." She avoided his gaze for a long time, until she heard a rustling of papers. When she did look up from the suddenly intriguing ground, she found a small stack in front of her. When she took them in her hands, she saw that it was the forms for a Shinobi dismissal. She looked up at him, confused as to how he had known she would be leaving, when, and why, and he answered. "I've been able to detect your wanting to leave for awhile, Sakura. I knew it would be soon when Pakkun told me how empty your apartment was when he last visited you two weeks ago, and so I've been staking out here every night since, so as not to miss you."
So that's why he was always half asleep lately? She felt a guilty pang hit her, but quickly dismissed it. When his hand hit her shoulder lightly and stayed there, she could no longer look him in the eye. Her breath was shaky and heavy, her heart trembled at the thought of leaving this man. She would never admit to it outwardly, but she cared for him. He was her former sensei, and her Hokage. He had saved her countless times, and had helped her become the Kunoichi she was today. "I may not be coming back,"
"That's fine," He responded gently. Her heart hurt worse, now. How had she nearly forgotten to say goodbye to her former sensei? He may not have been one of her direct friends, but he was a friend nonetheless. "Do as you desire, Sakura. You've done your best, and we're all thankful for that. I'm sure you know you are forever welcome beyond these gates, and we wont track you down to drag you back."
The tears that threatened to spill earlier were now pouring down her cheeks. She didn't want to make this harmful moment last any longer than it had to, her heart was breaking in her chest.
She thought about the old Team Seven and who they were now. Kakashi-sensei was now Hokage, and watched over everyone in much the same fashion he had watched over the original trio. Sasuke had three little Genin, and she heard he was teaching them well and he had lost his ruthless edge around others. Naruto was a successful overseer of three new members of the elite, the little Genin he had been assigned years ago now mature and grown into fine Jounin. And then there was herself, then there was Sakura. She didn't venture down her own path for long.
She encased him in one last hug. This was an image that would be forever engraved in her mind when she thought of Konoha or the people beyond these gates, and she was glad. It would be like a photograph, and would be treasured like the ones in her pack. "Thank you," She whispered, but knew that it was the time to say goodbye.
She pulled away from him, and didn't waste the words that would provoke more tears than those that were dripping down her cheeks. And then, without a word from either of them, she set off like the Sannin before her, disappearing beyond the gates. Just before she dipped beyond the trees, she heard her Hokage call after her, "Don't forget to write!"
No, she thought, she wouldn't forget to write. Whether or not she sent what she wrote to them or not was just a variable, but she would write those letters. Her arm raised above her head, and she waved one last time, slipping into the camouflage the trees offered.