AN OLD FLAME
By Autumn's Wind
II. Friends
For almost a week she had been trying to convince that old woman to teach her the jutsu, and she always declined.
But, now, with the help of a divine miracle, the woman suddenly changed her mind. It looked like she was tired of being selfish, and wanted to pass the jutsu to somebody capable, before she died and took the technique with her.
And so, she realized Sakura was a capable kunoichi, and had agreed to pass her the jutsu.
As the pink haired medic left the building the old woman was, she noticed that it was already nightfall, and it was still raining. Glad that she had the scroll with the jutsu, she covered her head with the hood of her cloak, and walked slowly towards her house.
If someone would have walked next to her, they wouldn't see the tear that slid down her cheek, because of the hood and mostly because nobody walked outside their houses on such weather.
Mud was already all over the place and Sakura didn't even bother to avoid the swamps.
The feelings she thought she had buried in the deepest and darkest corner of her heart, were now emerging once again, just by the sight of him, in a life-threatening condition. But she managed to get control over her heart even before she left on her mission.
Team 7 managed to get Sasuke back to Konoha, after killing his brother. She treated his wounds, and so, not allowing him to fade away. He wasn't even conscious when they reached him , but he woke up for a short amount of time, asking if he really killed his brother and if they were going back to Konoha.
After that he fell asleep once again.
They brought him to Konoha and he woke up the next day in the hospital. Both her and Naruto were there when he did so. They hugged him and Sasuke barely moved.
Sakura was grieved at the moment by his behavior. She imagined how hard it must be to kill your own brother, even after he did so many things, and she didn't find the image attractive.
He barely spoke, more like staring at nothing in particular. When she got home, that night, she was feeling both happy and sad. Happy that team 7 could be reunited, but sad after she imagined the suffering he went through.
It wasn't easy, but as days and weeks passed, a new bond began forming between the three of them. It was a deeper friendship than the one they had when they were genin.
Sasuke confessed them how he felt, and immediately after that, Sakura and Naruto enveloped him into a big hug, which Sasuke returned this time.
And so, they were once again friends...best friends.
And by seeing that he only thought of her like that –as a friend-, she decided she should put an end to her sufferings, by moving on...by burying those feelings she had.
She didn't know how, but she managed to do it. So, every time she saw him, her heart didn't beat that fast, nor did she feel the urge to jump on him and kiss him senseless while confessing her love for him. He was slightly injured on a mission but she healed his arm with joy and relief that one of her best friends didn't suffer a fatal injury.
And so, she concluded she only loved him as a friend. That crush she had on him dissipated.
They achieved the jounin rank, and to everyone's amusement it was Sakura who did it first, due to her already chuunin rank, while the boys reached her in two months, as they had to upgrade two times, from genin to chuunin, and from chuunin to jounin.
A few months later they joined the ANBU forces together, as a team. They did an excellent job and everyone regarded them as some of the best shinobi in the village.
But everyone had to pick their road again, and so, Sakura found herself accepting a long term mission, consisting especially on research and collecting useful jutsu for medics. It was a solo mission, and therefore the risks were pretty high, but now everyone thought high of her and didn't consider necessary to doubt her abilities.
She was nineteen when she took the mission. The Hokage gave her the exact details and on her last night there, she went to a large restaurant together with the others from the Rookie 9. They formed one large group of friends and every time one of them had a long term mission they would dine there.
She hugged Sasuke then and he just told her to come back with a success.
The next morning she left for her research trip, with her cloak on.
She was now twenty. She knew she hadn't sent a report for a month but she was way too busy to write all the talks she had with the old woman in order to convince her to pass her the jutsu.
Her gaze lifted to the sky and a droplet of rain hit her eyelashes, making her close her eye. Now, she didn't know if the tear that slid down her cheek was from the rain, or she actually cried.
She never thought she would have this reaction on seeing him again, much less in the condition he was in. She began to doubt that she managed to seal those feelings. Her heart began beating faster just by thinking that she was going back to the house and he would probably be awake.
All she could do, now, was walking in the rain, as the mud stuck to her feet...
-x-
When she got inside, he was sitting on the edge of the bed, still shirtless, with a weapon on his lap. His hands studied the tool, as they slid near the sharp edges. He didn't lift his gaze when she got inside the room and stopped near the doorframe.
"Where have you been?" he asked smoothly.
"I had an appointment." She answered as she sat next to him "Are you in pain, somehow?"
He shook his head, before looking up in her eyes.
"Why are your eyes a bit red?" he asked.
"I'm tired." She lied.
Whether he believed her or not, he did not reply back.
"Where did you get this?" he asked pointing to the small blade.
"Spoils." She answered casually.
He gave her a smirk, when she spoke. She took interesting spoils, so he only concluded her past opponents must have been interesting too.
"Why haven't you sent a report for such long time?" he asked, curious to hear her reasons.
She remained silent for a while. Truth to be told, other than her laziness or her tiredness, there wasn't much.
"I...did I cause trouble?" she asked back.
"You did."
"I see."
"Rumors of your death appeared...you should have at least countered your laziness."
And the fact that he almost read her thoughts infuriated her, but she pushed that feeling aside.
"I wasn't lazy." She lied "I just didn't have time." Maybe she spoke the truth there.
He didn't answer as she got up from the bed. He took notice of her muddy feet and the rain soaked clothes. She opened the wardrobe and pulled some clean clothes and then headed towards the bathroom leaving prints of mud on the floor.
She had been traveling for a while in the rain, he concluded.
Sasuke got up from the bed and went towards a high shelf, where he found the blade. The water from the shower could be heard, but he didn't pay much attention to it.
Instead, his inner turmoil was what troubled him. He hadn't seen her for an year and now that they met again he was amazed to see how much a person can change in a year. The aura surrounding her seemed more powerful and she seemed to have learnt a myriad of things from all the traveling she had had.
The proof stood right in front of his eyes. Scrolls, papers, all kinds of plants and medicines, and even weapons could be found in her new place. These were the things she gathered throughout all this year.
He wondered what would be the Hokage's opinion about all these.
Then, his mind went back to her features. With them all in Konoha, he barely noticed how much she changed over the years.
But as he met her again after a year, he was slightly amazed by her matured features. Her eyes, even though they showed how worried she was when they met, now seemed to have an experienced spark in them.
Her hair was still the same, yet it seemed so different.
And he was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't realize Sakura finished her shower, until she was out of the bathroom, clad in a dark green shirt and black shorts.
He noticed her glance at his bare chest and she seemed lost in thoughts for a moment. He felt the urge to smirk at her ogling and then she suddenly walked towards him.
But to his dismay, she just passed by him and went to her wardrobe, searching thoroughly, while he stared.
He would have bet she was coming his direction and she would jump on him and hug him to death or maybe he expected a kiss from her, judging by the way she looked at the revealed skin of his body.
"Aha...there." she said as she got up again and tossed him a dark brown shirt, which he grabbed quickly and put it on him.
"Where did you get this?" he asked, suddenly intrigued by the reason she would have for having a man's shirt in her house.
"Oh...I found it when I got this house...I forgot I even had it." She said as she laughed a bit, arranging her things back.
"What happened with your mission?" she asked softer as she stopped laughing.
"Ambush." He simply replied, as she turned around to face him completely.
"Did no one else survive?"
"I don't know...we split to better cover the area and that was how it began."
"I see." She said gazing at the floor "But how did you know I was here?" she asked the question she forgot to ask before.
"It seemed that the stupid Hokage received information about a medic being spotted near the place our mission was supposed to be completed."
"Why do you keep calling him stupid?" she asked a bit enraged by his cocky attitude.
"Isn't he?" he asked back with a smirk.
"He is a kage and if he reached that level he can't be stupid Sasuke." She said trying to calm herself down.
"Fine..." he sighed.
"Go on."
"We already knew the risks were high and it was perfect to have a medic nearby, just in case everything went wrong."
"You could have taken a medic with you, then." She said.
"It isn't that easy."
"Explain..."
"If we brought a medic with us, then our whole strategies would have been crushed."
"And what if the rumors of me being here weren't true?" she asked back.
"Then I guess it would have been just bad luck."
And then the room went silent, and they stared at each other, before her gaze traveled outside her window.
"What did I miss while I was gone?" she asked him out of the blue.
"The dobe's orders." He replied as another smirk appeared on his face, when noticing her struggles to keep her anger in control. Though she seemed so different, her anger problems were still there and he wondered if she would ever get rid of them. But then, that would no longer be Sakura.
And the fact that he still called their blond teammate 'stupid' even after he became Hokage, seemed to have pushed a wrong button.
"Anything else?" she groaned loud enough for him to hear.
It was exactly how he thought. She would still be a moody person, always fighting her emotions. She could be angry a second and then the next second she could appear as calm as ever...like she did now. Though he knew that was just on the outside. On the inside she probably wanted to rip his mouth for insulting their friend
"The others also miss you." He said. And by the way he said it he hoped that she would realize that he meant he missed her too; though he would never openly admit it.
"I know." She whispered, closing her eyes.
The obscurity of the night was like a black curtain on her window...it was already midnight and she felt tired.
He could tell it by her body language.
"You can have the bed." She whispered as she turned around.
"And you can have it too." He replied, making Sakura turn around with a smirk on her face.
"If we agree that much, we could easily share it." She said, the smirk still in place.
"Hn." He replied with his trademark smirk.
And she didn't know why but she felt the urge to run over the bed to get the best part of the blanket, which she actually did.
He joined her seconds after, having to pull the blanket a bit to cover himself as well. Her smirk was still there.
"You really shouldn't have invited me here." She said as she pulled the whole blanket on her, leaving Sasuke with nothing.
"You shouldn't have invited me either...and that's not the only blanket I can use." He said as his smirk grew wider.
He, then, grabbed Sakura and pulled her to him. He was going to use her as a blanket and thanks to the heat she, now, emanated it would be just perfect for him.
To be continued
A/N: I hope I did this chapter well
Review please...