A Flame In The Dark

DestinyDevistation

I do not own Naruto

Sakura awoke early that morning to an empty bed. The candles were still burning, but were almost to the end of the wick. She suspected that Sasuke went to et supplies, or something to eat. Considering they had a long journey ahead of them. The cloak from last night was gone, he probably was wearing it, or having it washed. Due to the lack of windows she had no clue what time it was, or where she even was. According to the information they required before Nartuo's battle with Pein two years ago, the Akatsuki were located somewhere in the land of rain. A country Sakura had never visited, so that still left her clueless. She decided to wait on Sasuke to return. She thought of last night, her heart hurt. She hated they had to part ways but, she had to go home. She was needed there. Besides, The Akatsuki leader would probably have killed her the minute he saw her anyway. Sasuke wouldn't allow it, but she had no clue if Sasuke was powerful enough to stop him. she'd seen him a few times before, him and Zetsu. That man gave her the creeps. She shuttered at the thought of him. She let her body fall back onto the futon, and she waited.

Sasuke was in the laundry room, there were no workers here this early, and he knew there had to be clothes here somewhere that would fit Sakura. He'd found some clean chest bindings, a shirt and some underwear. Now he was searching for some pants or something to cover her legs. Why did Sakura have to be so small? He couldn't have her walk around naked, he was the only man that could ever see her like that. But, he'd never see her again. Finally, he found some damned pants. He hid them under his arm inside his cloak. He didn't want to think of what kind of rumors would spread, and how many people he'd need to kill, if anyone saw him carrying women's clothing around.

The next stop was the kitchen, He had to find enough food to feed Sakura and to last him the rest of the mission. This was the easy part. He usually just took whatever he liked from the kitchen with no problems. He grabbed and empty potato sack and filled it with whatever he saw lying around, and lots of tomatoes. He always made sure to bring his favorite food. He saw a bag of sweets lying on the counter and decided to take them for Sakura, he knew she had a sweet tooth, even if he hated them. Once he believed he had enough he made his way back to the room. He didn't see Sakura when he opened the door.

"Sakura?"

He saw a head toped with pink hair peer out from the bathroom door, she must have hidden incase anyone decided to stop in. She stepped out, wrapped in his blankets. He threw her the clothes he had collected and she slid them on.

"i'm going to use my Genjutsu to sneak you out, don't make any noise"

He grabbed onto her hand, activated his sharingan and walked out the door.

Sakura made sure to keep her breathing low. She was in a building full of criminals, and the only thing protecting her was the man she loved's jutsu. She knew she had to do as he said. This was an extremely large area, and a powerful jutsu. She followed close behind him. Avoiding the bodies of men and women that didn't see her. Watching as they moved out of Sasuke's way like his skin would melt them. Was Sasuke-Kun really that dangerous? She'd seen him angry, and she'd seen him when he was fighting against Naruto and herself. But, she'd never been afraid of Sasuke, she'd never actually thought of him harming her. He could kill her if he wanted to. He could have done it that night she tried to stop him, he could have done when they found Orochimaru's hideout, he could have done it when she tried to kill him, and he could have done it last night, she knew that. But, there was always something holding Sasuke back, even if he didn't know it, after all he couldn't kill Naruto all those times as well. The more Sakura thought about it, the more it made sense. Sasuke still thought of his former teammates as precious to him. She noticed the way he was holding her hand, it wasn't by her wrist. His fingers were between hers. She savored the feeling of his hands, she wouldn't feel them until he'd decided to come home. She was certain he would, he just needed time.

The sunlight broke her chain of thought. She sighed in relief they'd made it through the base with no problems. Sasuke shushed her. She then realized there were still people around them.

Sasuke picked up the pace, keeping this jutsu up without getting any sleep was extremely difficult. Once they were a good distance away from the hideout he let the jutsu drop, and let go of Sakura's hand. He leaned up against a nearby tree, catching his breath. He opened his bag of food and pulled out a tomato, then threw the bag to Sakura. She immediately grabbed the bag of sweets then looked at Sasuke, she knew he hated them, so they must have been for her. She stuffed them into her pants pocket, she'd snack on them along the walk. She looked in the bag until she found a nice piece of fruit. That would make an excellent breakfast. She threw the bag back to Sasuke. When they both were finished they stared on their way. The walk was quiet for a while. It was awkward, leaving each other after a night like that, knowing these were the last moments they had together. They walked in silence, until Sasuke grabbed her hand and held it in his. He didn't want to let go, even if he could just hold on for a little while longer. Sakura stopped, then he did too.

"Sasuke-Kun..."

He didn't speak he just looked at her

"I don't want this to be..."

He knew what she wanted

"I don't want this to end"

"Neither do I"

There was something in his eyes she'd never seen before. There was sadness. She knew it hurt him just as much as it hurt her.

"Sasuke-Kun, you can come home"

"I can't, they'll kill me, Sakura"

"I won't allow them too"

"Sakura, I have committed crimes you can't even imagine. I have killed the innocent, directly attacked the leaf village, attempted assassinations on the kage, killed a leaf council member, and so much more. The people of the leaf won't allow me to live. I'd be sent to the executioner the moment I stepped foot in the land of fire."

"let me go with you"

"you can't"

"the leaf will find out your with me and either believe I kidnapped you, in that case the Dobe would think i'm entirely evil and lead the village on a quest to kill me and rescue you; or think that you've joined me, in that case you'd never be able to go home, and if they ever caught you they'd kill you; I can't put you in danger, Sakura."

"wouldn't I be in less danger if I was with you?"

He knew what she was trying to do. He sighed.

"No, Sakura, you wouldn't."

She frowned, she wouldn't be able to convince him, she knew he was right, about everything. She nodded, and they both continued to walk. Their hands still intertwined with each other.

They didn't talk much the rest of the journey. Sakura was sure she'd break down when she was the sigh that indicated they were in the land of fire.

He looked at her, memorizing every feature of her face. She did the same. The moment seemed to last forever. Then she wrapped her arms around him. His slowly made their way around her. She was crying into his chest. It hurt. Sasuke hated the hurt. He rested his cheek on the top of her head, and let her cry. Sakura deserved so much better. She deserved a man that would be with her everyday, she deserved someone that would never hurt her, like he had, she deserved someone that would marry her, and help her raise children. More than anything Sakura deserved someone better than him, someone he couldn't be. That future was taken away from him when he saw everything he loved die. Sasuke couldn't let her be near him, no matter how much it hurt them both. Because he couldn't stand to see someone he loved die again, and him not being able to save them. The dreams of having a son surpass him, a daughter to walk down the isle, and a wife to love him, were taken away before he could even understand how much they would mean to him. The fact that he couldn't be the man she deserved hurt him more than leaving. The fact that he knew they could have been if it weren't for the massacre made him hate it even more. He wanted to avenge his clan, so he killed his brother. He regretted that, now he regretted ever listening to Madara. Why did his revenge get in the way of everything he thought he'd have. He thought he could come back after he killed Itachi, he thought he could have been happy. But, his death only made things more complicated. The longer Sasuke stood there, holding the woman he loved the more it became clear to him. He'd been making the wrong choices from day one. What if he was still making them. Why had he listened to Madara back then? Why did he leave five years ago? Why did he ever think revenge was the answer? But still, it was the path Sasuke had taken, even if it was the wrong way, he couldn't turn back. The path back had been destroyed, a long time ago. No matter how much he wanted too Sasuke couldn't go with her, and she couldn't go with him. It didn't matter if they loved each other, not after all the things he'd done. She'd be safer in Konoha. He hoped she'd always love him, because he would always love her. He knew it was selfish, and he knew it was wrong. But, he didn't want her to love anyone except him. It had been that way from the beginning. It was all he knew, and he didn't want it to change. He pulled away from her. Wiped the tears from her face, then gave her one last kiss. One that was gentle and loving. He hoped she'd look past the fact that he was leaving again, and see that he loved her. Even if he couldn't say it.

"Sakura, thank you for everything."

She gasped

He turned and walked away.

Sakura watched as the man she loved disappeared without a word. She stood there for a while, then went home. It was going to get dark soon. She knew her friends and family were searching for her. She took her time walking to Konoha. She had to think of an explanation for her absence the past two days, and her change of clothes. She pulled the sweets from her pocket and began to eat them. She couldn't think on an empty stomach.