◊ (Part 2) ◊ Wait For Me ◊
A long blonde haired kunoichi walked out into the doorway. "Where is she…?" Sasuke asked.
"Sorry but no Sasuke. Absolutely not." She said.
"Why not?" He begged.
"Dobe Baka," (Stupid Idiot1). Ino said punching him into a wall.
"I deserve that." He said sadly.
"Stop being such a dobe." (Idiot) Ino yelled.
"I was wasn't I?"
"Stop being a useless person. Even if she was dead, she wouldn't want you to be like this. I have no clue why I use to like you!" Ino said. Her words were harsh but true from her heart.
"Ino, is she alright?" Naruto asked.
"Of course she is… who do you think I am?" She asked.
"Ino?" Naruto asked.
Ino sighed. "How?" Tsunade asked.
"I spread the symptom in question, of death around to everyone in the world, at the small percentage it came over; it should be nothing but a tiny cut of pain to everyone."
"Interesting, I'm marking that down on my list of ways to save lives, in your honor."
"Thanks but no, put it in Sakura's honor. She's used it many times before." Tsunade nodded. Ino and Sakura had been working together secretly on many techniques to save lives but Ino promised never to share them with anyone, only Sakura was allowed. However, Ino was sure that Sakura would forgive her.
"Are you sure that it won't kill anyone?" I asked.
"Of course." Ino said. "As I said, Sakura's done it many times." Tsunade nodded making sure everyone would be alright."
"Can I see her?" Naruto asked.
"Can I go with you to see her?" Sasuke asked.
"Noooooo! Get it through your head. I'm keeping you away from her, Uchiha Sasuke." Ino yelled and punched him against the wall.
"Fine, tell her… I'm not sure what you should tell her. I guess, Sorry and I said what I meant and don't forget it." He said walking off.
"Sasuke." She said sighing in defeat with his efforts.
"Wait…" Naruto said.
"Why?" Sasuke asked.
Naruto walked over to Ino. "Will Sasuke see Sakura again?" Naruto asked.
"It's up to Sakura, once she wakes up she'll be back here again. If he comes here then fine by me but if he ever attempts to come here other than apologize, he's dead meat." Ino said storming out of the house and disappearing.
"I… want to." Sasuke said.
"Complete sentences Sasuke," Tsunade said.
"I want to… apologize to her, for all the problems I brought her." I said.
"Good, you better." Naruto said raising a fist to his chin.
"Naruto, we have to go back. Sasuke, leave the house and go home."
"If I had one, I would. I'll be in the forest, somewhere." Naruto nodded and walked off.
"You heard Ino Sasuke; you may see Sakura once more to apologize then I'm putting a Restraining Jutsu on you to keep you away from her." He nodded.
"I deserve it." He said wondering out of the house and into the forest somewhere to think about the events of the past days.
∆ (Ino's Place) ∆
"Dobe Sasuke," Ino said sitting next to Sakura's bedridden form.
"What did we see in him Sakura?"
Ж (Flashback) Ж
"You don't?" Sakura asked.
"Of course not, do you?" Ino asked surprised.
"No… no… I don't either." Sakura said quietly staring at her books. Each word she said was quieter and less assuring to Ino then the last.
"Sakura, it was our hugest mistake ever to like him." Ino said.
"How so?" She asked still quietly.
"He is a traitor to this village. He tried to kill you to get the Mangekyo Sharingan to kill his brother. You live to say lives; he lives to kill. See… he's the bad. We're the good. We are no longer even acquaintances of his, enemies is what we are." Ino said yelling.
"Yeah… you're right… I guess." She said quietly.
"What did we see in him?"
"What he use to be." Sakura answered still inertly thinking about her relationship with Sasuke in the past, did he really want to kill her, or was it just how Ino saw it. Either way, she knew that Ino would stop anything from happening between Sasuke and her if she got the chance. That means that unless Sasuke had made friends with some horrible women when he was with Itachi or Orochimaru, then, the Uchiha Clan might as well be dead and lost.
"What he use to be? What did he use to be Sakura? He was a coldhearted guy who we thought we loved, but didn't and he didn't give a care in the world about us. We saw him for nothing. It was fake, untrue, so stop mourning his departure." Ino said.
"17 years, we're 17. He could come back." She said.
Ino smacked her hard, knocking her to the ground. Sakura held her cheek; she was hurt. "He- tried- to –kill –you- you!" She yelled. "He – hates – us – not – likes – us, – stop – mourning!" Ino said.
Sakura broke into tears. "I don't care what you say but I'm sure I love him. You may have a boyfriend, and be engaged but I'm not Ino." Sakura held up her hand. "I'm waiting." Ino said.
"You're going to die saving him you know? I'm not going to let you because you're the most Mottomo Baka Dobe itsumo." (Stupidest Idiot ever2)."
"Really?"
"Yeah Sakura, you are. You are going to save him when he comes here dying one day aren't you?" Ino asked.
"Of course, I promised to save anyone who came here."
"What about Itachi or Orochimaru?" Ino asked.
"Ino…"
"He's the same as them Sakura, get it through your head. Itachi hasn't even done anything to you, Sasuke has. I'd save Itachi before I helped Sasuke, got it." Sakura nodded.
"Then I'll have to."
"I won't let you die for him though, I promise you that Sakura. You deserve to live so much more then him. Moreover, you're heart is in the right place as in noble if you save him but your mind is in the wrong place, saving someone who killed you. Want to know something else?"
"Sure?" Sakura asked.
"I don't care if all moral values say be good to those that mistreat you and such… I will not care for Sasuke ever, got it!" Ino yelled and stormed out.
Ж (Flashback Over) Ж
"I'm sorry I'm not as good a person as you are Sakura." Ino said.
"You don't have to be Ino. You just have to accept and understand why I do it." Sakura answered smiling.
"Sakura…" Ino said sighing and sitting next to the bed.
"I love him, and you were wrong." She said.
"About what? You've proven me wrong so many times, I lose track. On what?"
"Sasuke." Ino rolled her eyes and walked out the door.
"He told you to tell me anything?" Sakura asked.
"He said quote: I'm not sure what you should tell her. I guess, Sorry and I said what I meant and don't forget it." Ino said as she was about to close the door and leave.
"Thanks for the truth." Sakura said.
"Someone has to be the logical one." Ino answered.
"I've always been the more love struck one haven't I?" Ino nodded.
"You sure are."
"It paid off… because you're wrong."
"About what?"
"He does love me. He apologized to me. Did you say one time that you forgive those who come with a humble heart and apologize?" Sakura asked.
"You're right but I also made a promise to never forgive Sasuke." Ino answered back.
"So they cancel each other out and you now get a choice, which word do you want to go bye? Don't choose now, choose when it's time right." Sakura sat up and rested her body against the wall.
"Don't push yourself too hard Sakura." Ino said.
"I'm fine; you used all the death and made it to a small curse mark that's invisible on everyone so I'm not affected." Sakura stood up and jumped around to place emphasis on her words.
"Alright, alright, go on home but you'll have a visitor."
"I know." She answered and returned to her place. "Hm. He's not here."
"Wrong." He said as she turned around. She gave a somewhat gentle smile, walked over to him, and hugged him.
"I'm glad you're alright." She said.
"You're glad I'm alright?" He asked skeptical of her words.
"Of course, I thought you'd want to go with me."
"Eh?"
"You said 'Can I go with you?'" He laughed.
"I said that twice, when Naruto was leaving with Ino and when you were dying. Which did you mean?"
"You said it twice, I'm sorry. I was being healed." He rolled his eyes.
"One day will you promise me in your perfect life with your perfect family to one day care about yourself more?" He asked.
"What do you mean?"
"You know that you always…
… No, not that. You said with your perfect family. You do mean ours don't you." He leaned over and kissed her cheek.
"Nope, I said what I meant. I love you and all but there are millions of people who hate me. I'm not allowing that hate to spread to you. If Ino, your best friend wants a restraining jutsu placed on me from you. It's not going to happen. Sorry again Sakura, but bye." He turned around. He couldn't face the sad truth that rested in her eyes if he turned around.
"Ino… don't make sense." Sakura said.
"What do you mean?"
"That's my line but, I mean is… she said she'd forgive anyone who apologizes with a sincere heart like you did but she promised she'd never forgive you so she and I are both confused. However, I don't plan to let you leave me."
"I'm sorry, but I have to. Once I leave this house, the jutsu is activated and I can't come back… ever." He refused to turn around, and wouldn't because he knew she was crying. He had known her to do this. Cry through a whole conversation without a sound, and when he paid attention the base landing tears hit him hard so hard they could break his Uchiha façade.
"You can't leave me…" She said crying; now audible sounds of tears were heard. It wasn't the tears making the sounds but her heart crying out for him. It hurt him more then it hurt her to do this, because he was physically tearing himself away for her better for he knew she was the only one who has ever and will ever understand him. To leave that perfect chance for love and all his dreams was hard. For her she would go back to how she's been for the last 5 years.
"I have to."
"Can I… go with… you?" She asked. A smirk came to his face and he gained the courage to turn around.
"You'd suffer the ridicule for me?" She nodded. "Traitorous Pain?" Nod. "Hatred?" Nod. "Horrible Life?" Nod. "Death Threats?" Nod. "For me?" She nodded.
"Anything… for you." She answered.
"Why so easy?" He asked.
"Hm?" She asked.
"Why is it so easy for you to give up everything you have going for you here, to get up and leave with me?"
"Because… I love you too." He smiled.
"I knew that answer. You always really have, haven't you?" She smiled through her tear filled eye summit and He smiled back at her.
"So can I, can I go with you?" She asked begging him.
"You know Naruto would drag you back, all the Genin would, especially Ino."
"I don't care, as long as I'm with you."
"Then I have to tell you one word, alright."
"Yes Sasuke?"
"No." He said plainly.
"What?" She asked about to cry. He wrapped one arm around her waist. The other was used to hold and caress her face as he used his thumb to wipe her tears.
"No." He said. She dropped to her knees and he went down with her. He hugged her and held the back of her head.
"Why?" She asked.
"Because… you're just too perfect."
"Hm?"
"If I died, you would too. If I cried, so would you. If I left, you'd come with me. And why… all because you love me." (A/N: It rimes, sort of, how I say it.)
"It's nice but why is my perfection a reason to leave me here."
"Because… I don't deserve you. Ino was right, I've made to mistakes, unforgivable mistakes. We're just too different. True love is when you love something that a lot different on one side, but alike on the other, we're too different to be able to make a relationship. That's why. You'd follow me anywhere, and so would I but Sakura, I want you to stay here."
"But haven't I suffered enough?" She asked.
"You wouldn't suffer if it wasn't from me. Pretend I don't exist like the rest of the world, move on and marry some perfect guy. If you do… I'd be happy." She slapped him and fell to the floor.
"I deserve that and so much more. I love you Sakura. Don't ever change. Be happy, alright."
"But… I can't." She said.
"Want to bet on that?" He asked. She shook her head.
"I thought not."
"Can I go with you?" She begged once more.
"Come." He said. She walked over to his side and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Sorry but you can only come this far until I'm gone." Then he hit her point and she collapsed in his arms. He laid her in her bed, tucked her in and left.
He went out the door when a voice stopped him. "You're leaving her?" The voice said in tears.
"That's what you wanted… isn't it?" He asked back talking.
"No, I want her happy. I just don't want her with you."
"That's what I want to. I apologized and said good-bye properly, isn't that good enough for you?" He asked.
"No Uchiha Sasuke, because the only way she can be happy with her memories is with you."
"How do you plan to succeed in making her happy then?"
"I can't, you have to."
"I can't either."
"Huh?"
"Nope, she won't happy being hated by everyone, I know her. She needs happiness and she won't find that with me. She loves me and I love her but it just wasn't meant to be."
"But…"
"Ino, don't make me shut you up to. It's too dramatic after leaving her. Go home, and pretend it didn't happen." Ino punched through a tree.
"No, I will not forget or pretend it didn't happen. I'm not five Uchiha Sasuke. I don't pretend. I know and what I know is you're not leaving." She went to attack him again, and he was gone.
∆ (Naruto –Hokage- 's Office) ∆
Naruto was sitting at his desk looking at everything that was going on when Ino showed up. "What's going on?" He asked.
"He's gone."
"That's what you wanted, isn't it?" Naruto asked more confused the smart talk like Sasuke did.
"No, no, no!" She yelled.
"Because I thought for sure that's what you wanted." Naruto said.
She grabbed him by his uniform collar and lifted him up. "I wanted her happy."
"So isn't she?"
"No idiot, she loves him, he left. She's definitely not happy!" She yelled pushing him down into his chair.
"Cool it Ino, just go get him."
"I don't know where he is. He has no place to go."
"But home." Naruto added.
"Of course, thanks. I'll try. Should I bring Sakura?"
"I wouldn't recommend it." Naruto said. She nodded and ran to the Uchiha Complex.
∆ (Uchiha Complex) ∆
"This place hasn't changed at all since I left." Sasuke said walking around.
"You figured it would little brother." A voice said. Sasuke looked around; it was Itachi's voice.
"I killed you!" Sasuke yelled.
"Sasuke?" Ino asked.
"Ino?" He answered/asked back.
"I've lost it. I hear Itachi speaking to me, in my head."
"He was your sole purpose for living, he and your clan being revived but you can't do the second now can you?" She asked.
"Uchihas deserve to die."
"Now you realize that, yeah for you. There's a whole rest of the world who highly disagrees. If Sakura heard you talking like this she'd punch you threw a wall." Ino said shaking her head at his stupidity.
"Uchihas made a way, to improve their eyes at the cost of their best friends."
"Hai, Mangekyo Sharingan. Nai?" (Yes, no).
"You're right. A good clan…
"A good clan, yeah right. There isn't one. There is no good clan. Shikamaru's clan used shadows to kill their owners. Mine kills through mine departure control. Hyuuga kill their own through the seal: others with the Byakugan. A Clan is a bad thing in my eyes. Sakura doesn't belong to one, so, she is as good and perfect as life can get."
"I know but Uchiha's made a way to obtain power through killing people close to them. More deaths equal more power. Look at Itachi and how much suffering I had to do to get that power, enough to kill him. I made a lot of stupid mistakes that I shouldn't have. So I as well as all Uchihas deserve to die." He finished.
"So what, you're going to commit suicide when I leave?"
"I was thinking about it." He answered.
"I'll stop you." Ino said.
"Why do you care?"
"You want Sakura happy, right?"
"Of course, I do love her after all." He answered.
"Then go to her, be happy, make her happy. There is no other way. She'll take her own life, and she would, if she wasn't guilty of ruining a life of someone who saved so many lives. She can't do it, she can't at all."
"That's good, that means there are still at least one humane person in the world, most aren't but yet again… some are."
"I don't care, go back to her… got it?" Ino said with tears in her eyes.
"Why are you crying?"
"I'm crazy and confused. I promised to forgive pure souls who ask for forgiveness like you did, but I promised not to forgive you so my mind is contradicting itself."
"Forget promises, what do you think is right?" He asked.
"You being with her definitely is, and so is forgiving you because you're the person that can make my best friend happy, and I can't live me life hating the person my best friend loves. It's against all human nature. So, I forgive you." He smiled.
"Thanks, I knew you would eventually. You never did hold grudges long when it came down to it. I know this from your feuds with Sakura over the years." She nodded.
"Bye." She said, disappearing returning to her house.
"Yeah, bye." He said, disappearing himself.
∆ (Sakura's House) ∆ - ¤ (An Hour Later) ¤
Sakura woke up and looked around her room. "No here." She said aloud. She jumped up and ran around her house. "Not here." She opened her door, "No here." She cried. "It was all a dream."
"What was?" Sasuke asked. She looked to see Sasuke leaning against her door.
"Sasuke…?" She questioned.
"The one and only…"
"Was what happened real?"
"I'm here aren't I?" She walked over to him and touched his face.
"You're real."
"No." He said sarcastically. She looked down and was about to cry. He used his index finger to raise his head. "I was being sarcastic. I'm real." She smiled and hugged him. He hugged her back.
"Where were you, and why did you knock me out?" She asked.
"Because I thought you could be happy without me but…
"I told you, I can't."
"So did my head, and Ino but until a recollection fell upon me it didn't make enough proof to agree. Now that it does…" He got down on one knee. "Will you marry me?" He asked Sakura.
"Yes, of course Sasuke," He stood up and hugged her.
"I'm glad you said yes, because here." He said placing a small box in her hands. "That's yours." He said smiling. She smiled back. He picked her up and set her on the couch.
"So Sasuke-kun…"
"Yeah Sakura-chan," He replied.
"From now on, Can I go with you wherever you go?"
"Fine by me." He said.
The Sequel to this is called, Take Me With You. It covers what happens after this.
Alternative Notes:
1: Dobe Baka- Stupid Idiot - Japanese Compounds require backwards noun adjective agreement.
2: Mottomo Baka Dobe itsumo - Most Stupid Idiot Ever- it's confusing to tell what Japanese is really saying so that's really what it says.