A/N: I hope I'm not going to fast nor too slow :) read and review, please! :D

Chapter THREE:

here comes goodbye

"here comes goodbye, here comes the last time..

here comes the start of every sleepless night,

the first of every tear I'm gonna cry."

The girl, no, the woman lying in the hospital bed was sleeping so peacefully. Her face was free from scrunches, her lips pulling upwards into a tiny smile. Viridian orbs were covered by her eyelids, long, curly lashes standing out for everyone to see.

She looked so peaceful.

But her mind, what she was feeling, was an entirely different matter.

Sakura stared hard at herself through a make-shift mirror in front of her, eyebrows meeting in confusion as she wonders how on earth she could see herself while she was trapped here in this dark void, confused and alone.

How long has passed? An hour, a day maybe? Or maybe even a week? She didn't know. She had no idea, and she has lost count of the hours that ticked by. During her stay here, however, millions of memories has passed her by.

Some good, some bad. And some horrifyingly terrible.

She sees Sasuke and her in their early teenage years, when they were still clumsy and infatuated with each other. Her emotions were clearly painted on her face, brightening it up wherein Sasuke was a little more subtle. His face was still emotionless as ever, his obsidian eyes narrowed and his mouth set into a grim line. But it was there. It was subtle enough to be hidden from those who didn't know him, but obvious enough so that Sakura would be reassured of his feelings.

Oh, how adorable they looked together.

And it only made Sakura miss him even more. It pained her to even think about Sasuke and the past they shared together, and thinking about Naruto wasn't even an option, so she stopped thinking altogether. She struggled to make her mind blank, void of any thoughts except for how to escape this oblivion she has landed herself into.

Why the hell is she even here, anyway? Last thing she remembered, she was walking home at 1 am in the morning from the cemetery, where she visited Sasuke. She sighs, it was his seventh anniversary that day, which dampened her mood considerably.

Suddenly, her throat felt constricted and something was pulling, tugging at her heartstrings. The feeling made her want to cry.

No, she would not cry, not again. Not again. She cried, she always always cried. It was tiring. But most of the time, she couldn't stop. She couldn't help it. It's overwhelming, the things she feels. And nobody understood her.

Why was she walking home alone at 1 am in the morning? Certainly, she didn't stay at the cemetery for that long. Ah, she tried approaching the friends she haven't talked to in so long. It was the seventh anniversary of that day, of that horrifyingly terrible event.

Which is why she wanted to visit, and be with someone. Anyone from her past. Anyone, even Lee, would've sufficed.

But hours later, she couldn't find anyone. She looked everywhere. Their usual hangouts, Ichiraku's, the training fields, everywhere they could possibly be. Even their homes, where she went to look as a last resort.

Apparently, it was a bad idea. Because she stood there for who knows how long, knocking at a door that wouldn't open. Not for her.

It's sad, it's like they've shut her out of their lives. They've run away from her, just like they did all those years ago. Every year, this same thing happened. And she was getting tired of it. She's growing tired of hoping, but only being disappointed in the end.

Enough is enough.

Which is why she decided to let that night be the last. She would mourn, mourn for one last time. Mourn the loss of the love of her life, the broken friendships, the family that will never ever be complete again.

And the loss of him. Naruto.

Tears fell down her face, awfully hidden by the raindrops that kept pouring on her that night. They slashed down on her mercilessly, soaking her from head to toe. Pitiful… she looked pitiful.

But no one was there to see her. She remembered everything now, how she felt, why she felt that way, and why she was walking alone in the wee hours of the morning. But she asked herself, why am I in an endless void when I was walking home?

And then it hit her.

The bright headlights. The car. The panicked screeching of a familiar voice, screaming at her to get the hell out of the way. She remembered now. She took one last look at the car on her side before it crashed onto her fragile body. The pain, it was nothing compared to what she felt inside.

But it was painful, nonetheless. She felt every bone in her breaking, along with the beat of her heart being erratic. She felt every single thing, and then everything went black.

Naruto. Naruto was the one who ran over her.

And the realization made her heart sink low in her stomach. Then she hears it, a voice. That voice. His voice.

It echoed along the walls of the void, surrounding her with the voice of the one person she least expected to encounter again.

"Sakura, I'm so sorry."

He was pacing back and forth the white tile floors of this dreary hospital, his mind in complete turmoil. Oh no, oh no, oh no, he repeated in his head the entire time he was walking. He had his hands on his head, gripping his hair so tight that it looked like it would come off any second.

The frustration and the agony he felt only intensified by the minute.

He took a glance at the sleeping girl on his left, his coral blue orbs wandering to the peaceful look on the girl's face. The bright aura and atmosphere of the body breathing ever so softly may have fooled anyone, but years of practically living beside the pinkette's side made him aware of one simple fact.

She was far from peaceful.

To him, she looked like a wreck. Honestly, the girl looked broken and tired. Not physically, because she was still as beautiful as ever. Her long, pink hair still flowed so freely, her face free from creases and wrinkles and her soft, supple lips were parted slightly in order to take in the oxygen she needs to breathe.

No, not physically, but mentally and emotionally. She looked emotionally tired, emotionally broken. Who knows what thoughts ran through her mind every day, every single day since he left.

And the thought only intensified the guilt that was building up inside him.

Sakura…. The girl he's loved ever since he was born. He lived with her, grew and matured alongside her. She was his friend, his sister, the love of his life. It was perfect – it was meant to be. In his eyes, there was nobody else that could ever compare to the beauty and perfection of one Haruno Sakura. No one could separate them, nothing could ever destroy them.

But everything changed when she met him.

Suddenly, the times she spent with him were becoming less and less, because she started to like his company better. When in the past, he was so confident of her love for him, now he wasn't so sure.

His arrival destroyed everything.

But he knew, of course he knew. He knew that it wasn't an excuse, because what he did was unexcusable. Unforgivable. And he knew that no matter what he says or does, he can never make it up to her. All the lost time, the broken hearts and promises, everything.

With that thought, he slowly trudges up to her and sits on the chair by her bedside. He takes her soft hands in his calloused ones, and starts talking, pouring her heart out to her. Because he knows, he knows that she can't hear a word. And that's better.

It's for the better.

Before it ends, before he leaves, he says one more sentence to her as a goodbye. Again, he's leaving. Again, he's running away. He feels terrible, for doing this to her again. For repeating every mistake he's done to her in the past.

But he doesn't have a choice.

So with this, he slowly stands up, places a last kiss on her forehead and mutters with all the courage he can muster, "Sakura, I'm so sorry." The tone he used, it was laced with fear, and with longing, with care, with love, with guilt, and with regret.

He stood up, taking one last look at the girl he loves and imprinting her image onto his memory. With the thought of goodbye hanging thickly in the air, he slowly walks towards the door.

But before he could even reach for the handle, a voice he hasn't heard for almost seven years stops him and makes his entire form turn rigid.

"Where do you think you're going, Naruto?"