Chapter 6: I'm Leaving But I will Come Back I Promise…


Summary: She was admired, she was worshiped; she was praised. She grew in strength and power, she grew distant towards people. Since five, she had trying to save the people around her, but then she just gave up after her closest friend left her. She had never cried since the slaughter of her clan, but she still smiled, but as soon as he left, everything changed, she stopped smiling, she had forgotten how to. She had saved people numerous times in battle with her knowledge and abilities, she brought them back healthy from the missions they came across, it didn't matter, as long as her whole team came back safely, even if she was on the brink of death, she wouldn't allow her self to die pathetically. She had saved everyone, yet she was the one in need of saving; saving from herself and her decaying heart. Sasusaku. Rated T for violence.
'Thoughts'

'Inner selves'

"Talking"

FLASH BACK…

P.O.V


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does.
Recap:

'Why does she keep avoiding people? What the hell is her problem?' Sasuke growled, trying to find the girl amongst the crowd of people. Suddenly a loud explosion from the forest side of Konoha could be heard, alerting all the villagers. Guessing it was her, Sasuke made a mad dash to the forest, non-to-surprised to find Sakura beating the shit out of the forest, and not only that, half the trees were gone.

'I thought Hyuuga blocked her chakra points!' Sasuke growled as he came in between her and the tree, catching her as she was about to punch another tree down.

"Enough!" Sasuke growled as he held onto the girl who kept struggling to get out of his hold.

"Enough Sakura, you need to stop this" Sasuke cooed, not allowing the girl to break free.

"Sakura, please just stop" Sasuke pleaded "Stop this whole thing!"

"Stop what?" Sakura asked as she stopped struggling, much to Sasuke's relief.

"Stop doing things on your own, you have to learn to allow people to help you, stop and let your body recover!" Sasuke said "Do you have any idea how I felt when I saw you battling those eight Akatsuki? How I felt when I saw you fall unconscious in the snow? I thought I lost you!" Sasuke murmured, holding her closer to him as if confirming that she was in fact alive "I don't what I would do if I had lost you, imaging life without seems impossible" Sasuke exclaimed.

"It's ok ne? I'm alright" Sakura smiled "I told you, it takes a lot for me to give up and admit defeat" Instantly; Sasuke's eyes widened in realization, remembering what she had said when they were just genins.

FLASH BACK…

As the new day drew nearer and nearer each ninja and citizen alike came to the Hokage monument clad in black to mourn the loss of the Third; the man who had ruled over the village for a long time and died respectively in battle to save the village and the inhabitants from almost certain doom. Like all the other ninja; even the happy and cheery Uzamaki Naruto wore a frown; showing his regret and sorrow the Third's death; as if feeling like he should have done something to help him. The emotionless Kakashi and Sasuke also held the grim look on their faces as they headed towards Naruto's apartment; as a unanimous decision that they would go the funeral together.

As Naruto joined the two other males of Team seven; the three walked towards the Hokage monument; but paused mid way when they found locks of pink waiting patiently for them. Like the males she was wearing black; a black yukata which showed her flawless silky cream coloured legs. Instead of the usual place where her fore head protector sat; the girl tied it around her neck; much like the fashion Hinata used. Bandages covered over her forehead where she head butted Gaara; as well as a patch over her eye and over various places on her skin. Her arm was in the cast that they last saw her in; evidence that bandages were still around the girl's torso were predominant as white showed under the girl's black yukata.

"Sakura-chan" Naruto muttered; shocked that Sakura was standing like she was and kind of angry that Sasuke was right; and that Sakura was out of bed.

"What'd I tell ya? You have got to do a lot to keep me down" Sakura smiled forcefully.

"How can you…." Kakashi murmured as he watched his pink haired subordinate lead them towards the monument.

"That Gaara boy would have to try harder that what he did to keep me down from protecting what's important to me" Sakura smiled; half confessing that team seven and the village was very important to her; the first ounce of compassion the girl had ever shown since they met her and became a team.

END FLASH BACK

"Sakura, I don't care, I was so scared of the thought that I would lose you" Sasuke confessed, hugging the girl even tighter than before "I thought because my brother was there he wanted another catalyst so I would kill him, but you and them…kept saying something about handing something over. Sakura what the hell do you have that they want?! Do you have a demon inside of you? Is that it?" Sasuke asked. Instantly at the word demon, the girl stiffened, which Sasuke noticed.

"You have a demon in you don't you?" Sasuke asked "It's the only plausible explanation to everything, why you have so much chakra, why they are always after you" Sasuke listed. Sakura had yet to answer.

"What demon do you have inside of you? Two tails? Three tails? Four? Five? Six? Seven? Eight?" Sasuke asked.

"There are more than just those demons Sasuke" Sakura muttered quietly.

"Then which one do you have? Tell me!" Sasuke ordered.

"No" Sakura growled as she began struggling again.

"Sakura! I don't care what demon you have in you, I'm your friend; I want to help you" Sasuke pleaded.

"NO!" Sakura shouted as she continued to try and break free "Why should I tell only a colleague something like that?!" Sakura shouted.

"It's not a requirement as a colleague to tell your tales, but don't I have a right to know as a friend?" Sasuke questioned.

"…" Sakura didn't bother trying to break free and instead focused on keeping her emotions in check as tears felt like they were about to break any minute.

"Sakura, I don't care if you don't tell me, just promise me you'll let people help you do what you need to do in your life" Sasuke pleaded.

"Funny, you sound like her" Sakura chuckled bitterly as she turned her head away and dropped her gaze to the ground.

"Like her? Who? Your sister? Mother? Friend?" Sasuke questioned.

"I'm sorry Sasuke, but I can't agree to that promise" Sakura muttered.

"Why not? What's stopping you?!" Sasuke growled.

"You choose to live your life how you like, as do I with mine, please do not interfere in it" Sakura muttered.

"What does that have to do with anything?!" Sasuke glared.

"Our lives may have been intertwined for a long time, but our lives weren't bound together. What happens in my life is none of your concern, so stop getting involved" Sakura murmured.

"Stop talking nonsense!" Sasuke growled, pulling her face up to face his by her chin, only to pause in mid action as he realized why the girl had her face down. Cascading down her cheeks were crystal clear waterways, leaking from her eyes.

She was crying.

For the first time in years, she allowed the tears to fall from her emerald green eyes. She allowed her self to wallow in self pity and in pain. She allowed her emotions to just take over and consume her.

Pulling back from Sasuke's grip, Sakura stood to leave, only to be brought back down to the earth by Sasuke, who had a strong hold on her wrist. Bringing her into a loving hug, Sakura made no motion to move away as she cried her heart out on Sasuke's chest who was stroking her back in a comforting matter, rocking her back and forth, leaning on the trunk of forgotten tree. Looking down at the wad of pink hair in his face, Sasuke sighed inwardly, slightly understanding how she felt, maybe she really wasn't as emotionally strong as he thought she was. Maybe she just locked away all her emotions to prevent people from pitying about her and worrying about her. Maybe all she needed to do was allow people to help her and she could live like the rest of them. Maybe she needed to trust her friends. Maybe out of all the things that needed to be healed after her battle with Akatsuki members, it was her heart that needed the most repair and care to get back to its original state. Maybe the defence around her broken and tattered heart was crumbling into a million pieces like it should have when that happened…

'See, it isn't so bad to allow people to help you after all, eh Sakura-chan?' her inner mind questioned, watching the fragile girl continue to leak the salty tears from the depth of her heart.

She cried the pain away. She finally mourned for her parent's, her clan's death. She cried, knowing that it was her fault that they were slaughtered. She cried because she was alone, and wanted help, but refused to allow anyone to get into her defence. She cried from all the pain she experienced over her sixteen years of life. She cried, knowing that some how, she was not alone, and yet still felt alone. She cried, missing Haku, her some what only true brother, she cried, missing Zabuza, her first sensei, and replacement father-like figure. She cried feeling like a burden, like she was weak, just like how she felt on the massacre. She cried, knowing the tears would do nothing to aid her quest in life…

"It's alright Sakura" Sasuke cooed, rocking her back and forth, kissing the top of her forehead continuously in a caring manner.

'Will you seek revenge now knowing the reason behind your clan's slaughter or will you just get over it?' Sasuke asked inwardly 'I don't think a path of revenge suits you'

End Recap


They worked into a routine, Sakura agreed to stay at Sasuke's upon the condition that she could go where ever she wanted without a guard, it was too troublesome, so most of the time she only came into the Uchiha residence to sleep, the rest of the time she was out training. Sasuke got used to having some one in his house, and while he questioned why Sakura trained for so long, he didn't press the issue through the first week, and so now moving onto the second week, Sakura spent less and less time in the Uchiha manor and was secretly sneaking into her own manor to do some final things that were going to occur soon. More blood was poured into the tall jar as it mixed with her chakra and the demon chakra inside of her. Though Sasuke was worried to why she spent less time in the Uchiha district, he didn't really care, as long as Tsunade didn't find out that he let her do her own things without surveillance. It was really just a mutual and unspoken agreement between the two, feeling the tension arising in the household of the Uchiha.

Walking quietly into the Uchiha manor, Sakura trudged into the room she had been given to sleep in and fell onto the bed unceremoniously, not bothering to alert the Uchiha that she had returned and fell asleep almost instantly. In the bag she had with her, was everything she needed for the next day, since tomorrow would be the 11th anniversary since her parents passed on, as well as her 17th birthday, which she didn't realize that some one was planning a party for her, nor cared.


Morning came as quickly as she returned into the manor (considering she planned on getting up at five and came back at around two). Waking up effortlessly, she quickly snuck out of the manor to gather the flowers from the Yamanaka shop, which was conveniently opened at the time. Collecting her flowers and paying for them, she returned to the Uchiha manor to find Sasuke still asleep. Smiling a small smile, Sakura disappeared from out of his room, and returned to hers. Breathing deeply, Sakura placed the delicate flowers onto the desk in the room and went to the bathroom to take a quick shower. By the time she was ready, Sakura's appearance had changed from a shinobi of Konoha to a beautiful maiden.

She wore a long Chinese styled sleeveless white, red and yellow top which fell to her mid thigh, making it seem like a dress. Underneath the top were many layers of dresses, the first was a ruffled styled knee-length dark red skirt, followed by a mid calf dark maroon skirt in a similar fashion to the previous and the final piece was a full length skirt which was black and like the others. On her arms were long red, white and yellow sleeve arm warmers and under those was black ruffled material which almost completely covered her hands. On her hand were beautiful white gloves, covering her pale hands. Over the top of the attire she wore two coats, the first an extremely long dark maroon colour which reached her mid calf while the one of the top was a brighter maroon colour and stopped mid thigh. All in all like any other outfit like this, it looked heavy and very warm to be wearing on a day like this.

"What are you doing up so early in that kind of outfit?" Sasuke questioned tiredly from the door as Sakura slipped on the final coat.

"Oh, hi Sasuke" Sakura blushed slightly not expecting him up at the hour.

"Well, what's with the get up?" Sasuke questioned walking into the room, taking notice of the bouquet of flowers on the desk.

"Things need to be done" Sakura said before she released her hair from the confines of the buns and allowed them to fall to the earth.

"Your hair never seizes to amaze me" Sasuke commented fingering a strand of hair. Sakura blushed.

"Err…yea…" Sakura nodded, turning around to hide her blush "A-anyway…I gotta get going" Sakura said hastily, tying her hair into a quick ponytail with a black ribbon and running out of the room with her bag.

"Sakura" Sasuke sighed as he appeared at the front door.

"H-hai?" Sakura spluttered as she looked up to him. Slowly, Sasuke's hands come towards her face "Err…S-sasuke!" Sakura exclaimed as he passed her face and finger her hair, untying the ribbons.

"You tied it wrong" Sasuke whispered in her ears as he released her hair before tying her hair up again, tying the ribbon into a cute head band instead, putting the bow onto the side.

"T-thanks" Sakura nodded.

"Where are you going?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm sure you know the date" Sakura mumbled, turning her gaze away from him.

"Oh, I see, then, I assume you need these then?" Sasuke questioned as he pulled the flowers from behind his back which she left on her desk.

"A-Aa" Sakura stuttered taking the bouquet from Sasuke.

"Also…happy birthday and, you look beautiful…" Sasuke murmured into her ear.

"…A-arigato" Sakura nodded before she ran out, not wanting to experience any more awkward moments. Watching her run, Sasuke couldn't help but smirk.

"So then Sakura, if you are just visiting your parents' graves, what's with the massive bag?" Sasuke questioned, deciding to follow the girl.


Ten minutes after she arrived at the graveyard, Sakura prayed a silent prayer, dropped off the flower and disappeared into the woods, going deeper and deeper.
"Just where are you heading?" Sasuke murmured as he began chasing after her.
Coming to an abrupt halt, Sakura stared out into the lush valley before her. Standing on top of the wide spread cliff, Sakura smiled slightly before getting to work on what she had to do, fortunately, this had all been planned and all she had to do was prepare her self. Stripping her self of the long robes, Sakura left her self with only a black sports bra and short black bike shorts. Her shoes were discarded, showing that the marks were not only on her arms and back but also travelling almost entirely down her legs, the only place not affected by the black and white markings was the skin she already showed the world. Getting out the jar of blood, Sakura focused her chakra on it one last time and mixed the blood, fusing everything together again. Breathing deeply, Sakura flipped the cap off the blood and dipped in a small brush into the liquid, holding her breathe to avoid passing out from the pungent odor coming from the jar. Within a matter of seconds, the girl was covered in an array of symbols, all going down her back and over her arms and legs. There was the dragon seal on her forehead which was in the middle of a yin and yang symbol, next to a kanji symbol for fish.

'You ready?'

'Just about'

Creating six shadow clones, Sakura ordered them each to move into six different directions, which ended them in six different points so from above it looked like a hexagon with the original directly in the middle. Performing five hand seals, Sakura concentrated her chakra, focusing it to where her clones were standing and mimicking her action.

"Sakura inner seal barrier no jutsu" Sakura whispered as a clear force field arose from the ground into a dome shape, surrounding all seven Sakura for at least a good few metres each way.

--

"What is Sakura doing?" Sasuke whispered, watching her from the bushes behind her. She performed another jutsu, and with his sharingan on, he was able to tell that it was called 'Sakura inner mind seal release no jutsu'. As the jutsu seals were completed, the girl emitted a bright white light as she screeched in pain. Coming out of her eyes and mouth appeared to be black and white bubbling ooze that continued to increase in size, bubbling as if it were boiling like lava. All while she was screeching, another set of markings came onto her forehead that read 'Inner Sakura'.

"Inner Sakura?" Sasuke questioned "Is that her demon?"

As she regained control of her own pain with much struggle, she moved her hands into another series, and this time the jutsu was called 'Sakura Inner Mind Demon Release no jutsu'. Again another bright light emitted off the girl, only this was at least ten times brighter, she was lifted up into the air and her screeching lasted for at least three hours as another Sakura appeared at her side while the black and white bubbling ooze kept pouring out of her being and kept increasing in size and chakra, while Sakura seemed to be losing chakra at unbelievably fast rates. Sasuke couldn't believe the shape of the ooze; it looked just like her; only this one looked like when they were genins, and still had a sense of innocence in her. What was scarier was that she was practically see through and had a white outline, as if she were a spirit and that this…thing held so much chakra, it was like the Shukaku or something, the power was incredibly frightening! As the spirit became clearer and clearer and began to actually form into an exact duplicate of the pink haired girl, the black and white markings along her skin began to change shape into a new set of markings while at the same time slowly fade into an almost oblivion, the only indication that something was there were faint outlines that were practically invisible and the black markings that remained seemed to stand out a great deal on her skin as she began to become paler and paler.

Sasuke then growled. She was right when she said she couldn't keep her promise on relying on other people, because here she was doing something which Sasuke could immediately tell was life threatening and didn't allow any one to know about it. Stupid girl! Even without the Byakugan, he could tell she was becoming extremely low on chakra while the other held at all the other chakra that she had previously, and couldn't keep much of this for long. Jumping from out of his hiding space, he ran towards Sakura only to be thrown back by the barrier she had set up earlier.

"Sakura! Let me in! Let me help you!" Sasuke growled as he pounded on the barrier. As the last of the bubbling liquid formed into a being next to Sakura in the air, there was no doubt that it was an exact copy of her, only this one had markings different to Sakura and was mirrored from black and white to white and black.

"I don't want your help, nor need it!" Sakura growled "Inner demon reform no jutsu" Sakura muttered as she completed another sequence as the Sakura before her slowly turned into a black and white dragon fish, screeching as it reformed and revealed it self to be at least twenty times the girl's height in length. Floating in mid air, the dragon seemed to smile at the girl. As the form of the demon changed, so did the markings on her skin, moving into yin-yang symbols all down her body, which also changed on the demon as the white and black markings shifted and swirled into cherry blossom prints along with the twelve kanji symbols for the zodiac animals.

"Sakura! Let me help you!" Sasuke pleaded.

"No!" Sakura growled "Yin-yang demon Kuchiyose no Jutsu" Sakura exclaimed, punching the ground which released another sealing circle onto the ground. Suddenly a bright light emitted from clouds above as a white and black dragon fish came soaring down towards the girl with incredible speeds. The white and black serpent looked identical to the other dragon, as if the two fitted together in a circle, the only difference was instead of black markings, this dragon appeared to have white markings in the place of the black ones on the other dragon. Around the dragon seemed to be an attachment of the barrier as it came closer to the dome. As the two dragons met up with each other they intertwined, circling each other in a continuous circle, seeming very happy that they finally met up with each other again.

"Sakura stop! You are on way to little chakra! Stop before you kill your self!" Sasuke begged.

"Only a little more" Sakura murmured "Yin-yang, yang-yin merging no jutsu" Sakura exclaimed as the two dragons slowly became connected at the tails as the continued to circle each other in their dance in the sky. As the finally connected in their circle a bright light shone out of their heads and tails, blinding Sasuke.

"Sakura" Sasuke pleaded, watching the two spirits before the girl.

"Thank you for finally releasing me"

"You're welcome"Sakura smiled in her trance like state.

"As promised, we will now leave you be in your life and keep the balance" the other dragon spoke.

"Arigato" Sakura nodded "Now, let's finish this" Sakura proclaimed, performing her final set of hand seals for the day "Dispersing spirit no jutsu" Sakura smiled as the final seal was completed and the two connected dragons disappeared into the clouds, going higher and higher as the jutsu continued, soaring even further than the eye could see.

"I will never forget you Sakura-chan, please remember to accept people, you can love again without worrying for their safety"

"I can't ever forget you, I will miss you" Sakura smiled "Good bye"

"Good bye" her former inner demon whispered as the two dragons finally disappeared. Smiling to her self, she released her barrier jutsu as the clones exploded into thin air before she collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, landing on her hands and knees as she breathed in deeply.

"Sakura!" Sasuke exclaimed as he ran over to her, coming to a skidding halt on his knees in front of the girl and picking her up, allowing her to lean on him for support "Sakura you baka-girl! I said next time you do something this crazy get some one involved" Sasuke murmured as he hugged the girl lovingly and closely to his face. Looking up into the sky, Sasuke's eyes widened in shock when he realized it was already late afternoon, her little ceremony had lasted quite a long time, which was rather amazing.

Slowly her impassive and exhausted face smiled the brightest smile he had ever seen from anyone.

"Ne, Sasuke-kun, I told you, it takes a lot to get rid of me" Sakura smiled exhaustedly.

"Sakura, please, just tell me you're okay!" Sasuke pleaded.

"I'm not going anywhere Sasuke-kun, I promise" Sakura smiled weakly.

"Why? What was that?" Sasuke exclaimed.

"That was her" Sakura said, resting comfortably on Sasuke's chest, watching the sunset in front of her.

'Her?' Sasuke questioned, looking at the contempt smile on the girl's face.

FLASH BACK…

"It's not a requirement as a colleague to tell your tales, but don't I have a right to know as a friend?" Sasuke questioned.

"…" Sakura didn't bother trying to break free and instead focused on keeping her emotions in check as tears felt like they were about to break any minute.

"Sakura, I don't care if you don't tell me, just promise me you'll let people help you do what you need to do in your life" Sasuke pleaded.

"Funny, you sound like her" Sakura chuckled bitterly as she turned her head away and dropped her gaze to the ground.

"Like her? Who? Your sister? Mother? Friend?" Sasuke questioned

END FLASH BACK

"What do you mean by her?" Sasuke frowned

"I mean her! The Kyubi is to Naruto as she is to me" Sakura said.

"Don't speak in riddles dammit!" Sasuke growled, shaking her angrily.

"I'm not!" Sakura sighed tiredly.

"I'll repeat my question! Who is she? What was that?" Sasuke snarled.

"Kyubi to Naruto, Shukaku to Gaara; Yang-yin to cherry blossom" Sakura explained.

"That…was…the demon inside you?" Sasuke gaped.

"Aa" Sakura nodded.

'It seems like you're finally free my little Blossom-chan' Sasuke smiled hugging her even closer to him 'That demon, it had so much power! It was like you got Naruto's Kyubi power and multiplied by infinity, and it still wouldn't be enough to compare! That's why she trained constantly! If that's how much power it has, and wasn't sealed that kind of power had to be incredibly unstable!'

FLASH BACK…

"I-" Sakura gasped as shots of pain burst through her system, becoming stronger with each passing second.

"What's wrong Sakura?" Sasuke asked hastily, now holding the girl closely.

"…Argh!!!" Sakura screeched in pain as she doubled over falling into Sasuke's arms. As minutes passed the pain eventually died down to something bearable and allowed Sakura time to breathe and recover.

"Sakura, what the hell just happened? Why did you cough up blood?" Sasuke repeated.

"I…need…"

"Need what?" Sasuke asked.

"To…go…train" Sakura rasped.

"Are you crazy?! You were just coughing up blood! You're in no condition to go train!" Sasuke reprimanded.

"I need to! Other wise I'll just keep coughing up blood!" Sakura choked.

"What do you mean?!" Sasuke frowned.

"I need to train!" Sakura insisted.

"No, you're in no condition to keep training while you're sick" Sasuke frowned.

"Please, just take me to the Haruno district if you don't think I can train!" Sakura pleaded as she began coughing violently. With no choice, Sasuke held onto the girl tightly before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

END FLASH BACK

FLASH BACK…

It seemed as soon as she placed one foot on the ground she began bolting madly around the district towards the centre with Sasuke right on her tail. Opening the door to the main house, Sakura gasped in surprise when she found Sasuke on the other side glaring at her.

"Stop, just relax, you can't do any training today" Sasuke ordered.

"Move, you don't understand! If I don't train today Konoha won't exist anymore!" Sakura exclaimed before she fell to the ground coughing up more blood.

"What do you mean?!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"Unlike you, if I don't use my chakra up through training it could end up in a life or death situation" Sakura rasped.

"Explain" Sasuke ordered as he helped the girl up and brought her inside the main house.

"If I don't use up my chakra from the previous day it builds up and stores in my muscles. If I keep this process up, sooner or later my muscles won't be able to hold much and begin to puncture, thus causing me to cough up blood. It get's worse when my lungs become to full of chakra and burst which makes it much harder to breathe. In the worst case scenario, I could literally become the first human time bomb" Sakura explained quietly.

"How could you have so much chakra?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't know! It just comes to me, you have no idea the trouble I go to, to keep my self from blowing to pieces, what you saw yesterday was only a minute version of what could happen to me" Sakura choked again.

Sasuke's eyes seemed to soften a fraction 'You train not to improve your self but to keep everyone else around you safe. How long have you been living like this?' Sasuke wondered.

"Please, if not for me, just allow me to train for the sake of Konoha" Sakura pleaded.

END FLASH BACK

"Then what was the other?" Sasuke asked.

"The pair" Sakura answered.

"To the demon?" Sasuke asked.

"Aa, his name is Yin-yang" Sakura said.

"As in good and evil stuff?" Sasuke questioned.

"Yea, it has to all be done equally for this stuff you know, if one is gone, the world could be and most likely would be thrown into chaos" Sakura said sorrowfully.

"How come no one ever knew about it?" Sasuke asked.

"Because no one did" Sakura replied.

"Then how did you end up with…her?" Sasuke inquired.

"Because she came to me, to save my life" Sakura replied monotonously, staring straight into Sasuke's eyes.

"W-what d-do you mean?" Sasuke spluttered.

"I mean, without her, I would have never been able to live passed one" Sakura said "When I was born, I was a terribly weak baby, I lacked the chakra or physical strength to live healthily, and I guess she just took pity on me since she merged into me while no one was around and gave me strength" Sakura explained.

"Then why release the strength you were given?" Sasuke asked.

"I didn't only train to keep her under control and suppress any killing urges, I did it to get stronger so my body could withstand anything thrown at me" Sakura said "Besides, the other spirit you saw, that was her lover" Sakura chuckled "I made a promise that as soon as I was strong enough and I had found the correct medium to remove her of me, I would let her go and…"

"And?" Sasuke frowned.

"If I didn't, my body wouldn't have been able to stand it for much longer and I would have literally been destroyed from the inside out" Sakura chuckled bitterly "Imagine, what a way to die, it's not like I'd be missed any way" Sakura chuckled as she trudged over to the pile of her neatly folded clothing.

'A…life without…you…' Sasuke gaped when he thought of the idea that she could have been killed, watching her change into her large and heavy robes. Sliding into her skirts effortlessly, all that remained were her top layers but before she was able to even lift her arms to slid them over her pink head she was engulfed by a deep and loving hug from Sasuke.

"S-sasuke?" Sakura stuttered, turning her head to look at him.

"Don't even joke around when saying you wouldn't be missed" Sasuke whispered into her ears from behind.

"I-I w-wasn't" Sakura gulped.

"Then don't you don't ever consider being serious about it either" Sasuke said seriously, turning her to face him.

"Nani? Daijobou-mmph" Sakura exclaimed as she stared wide.

Sasuke had just locked lips with her.

And he tasted…

Heavenly…

Giving into the mind numbing kiss, Sakura moved her arms around his torso, hugging him closer to her exposed top half.

As minutes passed the two finally broke free, breathing heavily, each stared into each others eyes.

Silence ensured, engulfing the entire scene.

Until one broke the silence.

"Y-you…m-me…t-that" Sakura stammered, blushing a deep red.

"Sakura, I'm sorry if you weren't expecting it, but I have no regrets" Sasuke breathed, continuing to hug her tightly.

"T-then…y-you…" Sakura stuttered.

"I guess I do" Sasuke said.

"Why?" Sakura sniffed, lowering her gaze.

"There's just something about you that I lo-"

"N-no! Don't say it!" Sakura exclaimed, pushing away from him, stepping away in a frightened manner.

What?" Sasuke frowned, following her in the steps she took.

"This, why are you doing this to me!" Sakura screamed, holding her head in a confused manner.

"Doing what?" Sasuke frowned.

"Why do you keep breaking everything of mine down?!" Sakura exclaimed, moving her hands down to her heart where she clenched the material of her sports bra tightly. Widening his eyes in realization, Sasuke sighed inwardly as he watched the girl drop to the ground, confused at what was happening with her own body, her own heart. She didn't what him to do anything to her, and there he was penetrating and breaking down her carefully constructed walls around her fragile heart.

"You can't keep avoiding your emotions forever" Sasuke sighed, bending down to her "Maybe that's why here hearts so much for you" Sasuke said, putting his hand over his own heart. Slowly the girl's hands unclenched her hands and let them just rest where she was previously clenching.

"You said you didn't mourn over your parent's passing on, perhaps now you should try and let your emotions out" Sasuke suggested "To lock up something like that for so long, it isn't healthy" Sasuke sighed.

"You're one to talk" Sakura spat, standing up angrily.

"I let go of my parent's death a long time ago, I only aim to kill Itachi because I feel it's only right" Sasuke said.

"Tch, as far as I could tell, if you're doing it because it only feels right then you are still doing it for revenge and you haven't gotten over your clan's demise, nor will you be any different from your brother" Sakura said monotonously, sliding on her previously discarded shirts and over coats, Sakura disappeared in a cloud of smoke a cherry blossom petals.

"I am NOT the same as my brother!" Sasuke growled, punching the ground before he too disappeared in a cloud of smoke, oblivious to the fact that the forest they were just in disappeared slowly, leaving no traces that it existed before that day, oblivious to the fact he had just over come her genjutsu without even realizing it.


"Why did you have to do that Uchiha?" Sakura sighed, silently rejoicing in the fact the markings were finally gone from her being and the feeling of being free washed over her. Glancing down at her hands, Sakura seemed to smile a small relieved smile as her fingers traced her lips slightly dreamily.

'Hmm…it's quiet' Sakura noted, despite the fact she was on the Hokage monument away from the view of everyone and could still hear the liveliness of Konoha, especially the knuckle heads of the town and loud mouths that never stopped talking, even with all that noise, all that sound, all that aliveness, it was quiet to the girl upon the Hokage faces…

"What do you think Guyver? Is it about time we move on to another place?" Sakura asked to the bird resting on her shoulder. With no reply, the girl was left to wonder, what path would she follow since her main aim in her past few years of life had been completed?

"You don't want to move eh?" Sakura chuckled, "come on, let's just go home" Sakura announced before she stood up and disappeared in another cloud of smoke.


"Damn, maybe I shouldn't have done anything" Sasuke cursed, noting that it was almost midnight two days later and the girl had not returned to his abode to live as ordered by Tsunade "Tsunade-sama is going to kill me" Sasuke sighed, deciding to head out and look for her, who knows where she could have gotten to in two days.
"Where the hell is she?" Sasuke cursed while he continued to do rounds of the town looking for the pink haired girl.

'I think the only place I haven't checked is the Haruno Estate area, but I can't get in there without eleven other people and I'm not in the mood to be dealing with the dobe today' Sasuke analysed. Without any other thought in his mind aside finding the pink haired girl, he dashed towards the Haruno district in hopes of finding the girl, and if he was extremely lucky, she wouldn't have put the genjutsu up.


"I guess I'm lucky today that she forgot to put up the genjutsu" Sasuke mused, as he gazed at the flowered estate in front of him. Stepping forward, Sasuke braced him self, preparing to be attacked by an onslaught of different elements from a surprise ambush attack.

Nothing.

There were no attacks. Maybe she forgot about that too. Turning on his sharingan, Sasuke stared wide-eyed. His sharingan told him the genjutsu was still up, yet here he was viewing the Haruno estate without any hindrances of any sort what so ever. Maybe, subconsciously, either he managed to break through it, or Sakura forgot to do something to her genjutsu. Tracing a path that he had only traveled once or twice before Sasuke soon found him self in front of the main house, where Sakura ran to last time, helping him assume that this was the deserted home that she lived in. Knocking on the door, the Uchiha survivor received no reply, and so turned to the handle, to find it unlocked and so pushed the mahogany brown doors open to reveal a whole maze of rooms and hallways. Recalling the direction Sakura headed once, Sasuke followed her path and walked down the hallways in hopes that the girl would be in her room. Going through the mysterious maze of rooms Sasuke found a room wide open and decided to peek inside.

Upon looking in the brightly lit room, Sasuke's curious gaze stared in an unknown and indescribable emotion as he watched the pink haired girl flip through one of her many large books with bangs covering her eyes so he couldn't see what ever emotion was played in them. In a way, it saddened him, because some how, he knew she was drowning her self in her own self pity and sorrow. It was truly a unique and bland room if Sasuke had say so himself, but then again, he couldn't really speak him self considering his room was also bland…just not as bland as this one…some how, it did suit Sakura, but it didn't as well. Wearing a plain blue sundress which had white flowers on the right breast and looked like it fell to the knees with her hair completely out, Sakura continued to flip pages, not noticing his presence or acknowledging it, with what appeared to be a pink rabbit plushie in her hold, bring her whatever comfort it provided for her. Next to her on the pillow of the bed, Guyver appeared to be sleeping happily. On closer inspection of the book (still at the door way), it looked like a photo album of her family, when she was younger, before her own tragedy. Watching her, he quietly stepped into the room and leaned on the door frame watching the girl had yet to look at him.

Suddenly, one tear dropped from her face and splattered onto the picture book telling the story of her life before the slaughter and horror she witnessed.

He was right; she was drowning in her own sorrow and self pity, and perhaps a bit of regret. Deciding to break the silence, he stared at the girl for one last moment, before he spoke.

"You know, it probably isn't good for you to be drowning your self in sorrow" Sasuke said, shocking the girl as she lifted her saddened gaze and stared in surprise at the Uchiha at her door.

"What are you…? How…?" Sakura gasped quietly.

"You've been gone for two days, what if Tsunade-sama found out?" Sasuke asked jokingly.

"O-oh…b-but…how'd?-"

"I don't know, I just walked in" Sasuke said, walking over to the girl and looking over her shoulder at the photo album.

"How could you? My Genjutsu!" Sakura frowned.

"This before the massacre?" Sasuke asked, flipping a page on his own 'She looked so cute when she was younger' Sasuke thought as he looked through the photo album slowly, from start to end. It was definitely different seeing her at such a young age, when she actually smiled without a care in the world with her brother and sister happily. Those three looked like an inseparable trio from what he could tell in the photos, the only time they weren't together was when Sakura had a picture with Ino or Daiki and Hikari had a picture with his own brother, even he had to say that Itachi (the man who he had sworn to kill for revenge) looked happy, like the old Itachi he remembered, not the merciless killer, that was his brother, he would have known, her brother and sister, and his brother were team mates? What a coincidence! If he had to make a resemblance to any team now, he'd have to say, their siblings team was some what similar to Team seven at the beginning. Hikari looked like the bright and loud person of the group- Naruto; Daiki seemed to be tolerable of anyone and was some what emotionless-Sakura and Itachi, the Uchiha- which is obviously the closest to him self. Funny eh?

"Y-yea" Sakura nodded, moving so Sasuke could sit down on the bed. Taking the silent invitation, Sasuke made him self comfortable and sat on the soft bed covers, next to Sakura.

"You looked pretty cute then too" Sasuke noted.

"A-aa" Sakura mumbled, blushing slightly.

"I didn't know Itachi and your brother and sister were all in one team" Sasuke said.

"Yea, they were often over here discussing battle plans or something, some times just hanging out" Sakura said.

"Who was their sensei?" Sasuke asked, noting how none of the pictures with the three had a jounin with them.

"Oh, I think his name is Miyuki or something, he came over once or twice to talk to my parents, but they weren't in a team often enough since they graduated into chuunin on their first try" Sakura said, chuckling inwardly at the irony of the whole situation.

"Oh, I think I remember him, he came over once to speak to my parents too" Sasuke nodded "You and Ino were friends?" Sasuke gaped.

"Yea, we used to be the best of friends, but I broke it off" Sakura said.

"Why?" Sasuke asked.

"Because after that we moved to Suna since of the whole incident and according to Daiki, the district was going to get rebuilt, which took five years" Sakura explained "It's kind of funny, I used to envy Ino and wish I could be like her, we can all see where that went" Sakura chuckled.

"We don't need two Inos' here, that'd be disastrous!" Sasuke exclaimed "But if you went to Suna, you would have known Gaara and that before wouldn't you?"

"Of course, who wouldn't know about the late Kazekage's children? And the kid who held the Shukaku demon in him" Sakura snorted "You learn a lot of things just by walking around"

"You eaves dropping?" Sasuke sneered.

"How do you think I got my 'excellent information gathering skills' eh? I certainly didn't get it off Kakashi" Sakura scoffed.

"Then how'd you meet Zabuza and Haku?" Sasuke asked.

"Zabuza-sensei was my first sensei who taught me things on the shinobi arts, I think I must have been six when he came to Suna with Haku, he was on a mission or something like that at the time, by that time I was already living on my own and so while they were in Suna, I tagged along with them and trained, continuing the studies from Konoha" Sakura explained.

"You came to them?" Sasuke gaped.

"Yea" Sakura nodded, inwardly recalling the day that she saw Zabuza and Haku training and decided to join them.

"Didn't you know they were criminals?" Sasuke stared.

"I did, but I guess my curious six-year old mind decided to ignore it completely" Sakura shrugged.

"I guess you never heard of the saying curiousity killed the cat" Sasuke snorted.

"Nah, I did, when I was in Konoha, I was topping the classes and passing with flying colours when I entered the academy at five" Sakura said.

"You're absolutely weird" Sasuke concluded.

"Aa" Sakura snorted "Look, Sasuke, I've got some things I need to do, could you please leave?"

"Like?"

"Just leave please" Sakura muttered.

"Fine" Sasuke nodded. Silently lifting him self off the circular bed and trudging out of the Haruno district, wondering what she was going to do.


"knock, knock"

"Come in" Tsunade called from inside the room. Opening the door, Sakura (wearing her usual training gear) stepped into the office, noticing that Shizune was also in the room.

"Sakura-chan? What are you doing here?" Tsunade gaped.

"Can I speak with you for a moment?" Sakura requested.

"What is it?" Tsunade asked.

"Shizune-san, can I request that you leave for a moment" Sakura asked, turning to the black haired medic.

"Hai" Shizune nodded, behind her, the small pink pig followed at the heel of the woman, both disappearing behind the oak door.

"Now, what is it you wish to talk to me about" Tsunade asked, concerned that Sakura actually used the 'san' suffix with Shizune's name

"I know you're not going to like this, Tsunade-sama, but I'm leaving Konoha for a while" Sakura said monotonously, yet seriously.

"W-what?!" Tsunade exclaimed.

"I'm leaving Konoha, I don't know for how long, but I have things I need to do" Sakura explained.

"B-but why?" Tsunade frowned.

"I'm sorry, but I don't believe I need to explain my reasons. I am going, whether or not you wish to tell others is your own decision, but I am leaving and when I return, if the option of entering the ANBU squad is still available, I will accept the offer" Sakura smiled half heartedly.

"B-but-"

"I'm sorry, but if you do try to stop me and get in my way, I will be fighting, either way, I am leaving. If you must know when, I will be leaving as soon as your clock, and everyone else's hits midnight, Goodbye Tsunade-sama" Sakura announced before she silently stepped out, non-to-surprised to find Shizune outside the door, in a suspicious position, obviously that meant she was eavesdropping.

"I assume you heard it all Shizune-san, please, keep your comments to your self, I can already pressume what they are" Sakura stated as she walked out of the Hokage building and towards the Uchiha mansion.


"I'm surprised you returned at all" Sasuke scoffed, watching her enter her temporary room.

"Aa" Sakura nodded as she began stuffing all her clothing and training gear into the bag she came with.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke frowned, watching her pack everything neatly and slowly into the black duffel bag of hers. As she finished packing everything of hers, she zipped up her bag and slung it over her shoulders.

"I'm sorry Sasuke" Sakura whispered, leaving the boy stunned to death and frozen as she passed by him and walked out of the Uchiha residence. Trying to turn around and face the fleeing girl, Sasuke's eyes widened as he realized she had used a paralyzing jutsu on him to prevent him from catching her.

'W-what does she mean 'I'm sorry', what's she apologizing for?' Sasuke growled as he tried to break free from the binds she put him in.

As hours passed his blonde haired, ramen/Hinata-loving companion stormed into the Uchiha household and towards Sasuke.

"Damn it looks like she got here before we could get to you!" Naruto cursed as he stormed into the Uchiha mansion in a hasty manner.

"What are you talking about dobe?" Sasuke growled as he was shaken by Naruto.

"Sakura-chan…Sakura-chan" Naruto wailed.

"Sakura? What about her?" Sasuke asked.

"She's…she's…" Hinata stammered.

"She's LEAVING!!!" Ino exclaimed.

"She's what?!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"She's leaving" Neji repeated.

"Nani? Do you know why?" Sasuke frowned as he slowly regained control of his body.

"No one knows" Shikamaru frowned.

"Then how do you know she's leaving?" Sasuke asked.

"She told Tsunade-sama" Tenten said.

"The thing is…she actually used the suffix of 'sama' and 'san', she's never done that before. Ever" Ino scowled.

"Something must have happened" Sai concluded.

"Why does it matter what happened we have to stop her!" Naruto exclaimed loudly as he dragged Sasuke out of the Uchiha mansion and towards the Haruno district, to find the genjutsu back up again, and that it was even immune to Sasuke this time.

"What's going on?!" Naruto cried.

"Why is she leaving?" Tenten cried.

"I don't want her to leave again" Ino exclaimed.

"Then we have got to stop her!" Hinata proclaimed.

"Let's go before she leaves Konoha for good!" Neji announced before the Konoha twelve and Sai dashed towards the gate where Sakura would most likely leave from.


The clocks stroke midnight and while the majority of the city of Konoha lay peacefully in bed sleeping the night away, unaware of the fight that was about to arouse between many shinobi, a girl with pink hair adorned in a new attire walked the streets of Konoha, alone, all to aware of the twelve sets of eyes which kept a steady watch on her movements. Her new attire was hard to explain, but like many of her previous attire, it was designed carefully; it was meant to practical over beautiful however it was still quite an outfit that flattered her figure. The top consisted of half a tank top and half of an off the shoulder top. Split in the centre on half was red and black while the other half was a white; on the black side it began sloping up, showing a small section of her stomach. From her right hip a black belt was stitched onto the shirt diagonally and had two compartments on it, obviously meant to contain something she was as a necessity. Underneath the shirt on her left a fishnet arm band hung wrapped around her arm until her elbow and on the other arm, another fishnet band was placed half way in between her arm. On her hands were metal plated black fingerless gloves.

The lower half like the top half consisted of belts that had many compartments on it; only this time instead of one there were two and were both lay diagonally on her hips, forming an 'X' shape. Like usual, she wore mid thigh length bike shorts and underneath that were knee length fishnet leggings. The skirt was basically a normal white skirt which had two slits up each side. Hiding her calves were black leg warmers which also hid the usual weights that she used for training and on her feet were black ninja sandals- it seemed she had reformed back to the typical ninja sandal instead of boots. Around her neck was a fishnet styled black choker and as usual her hair was tied into two buns on either side of her head with her usual black buckle hair bands. On her thighs were her kunai and shuriken holsters and on her hip was another pouch which held anything extra that she might have needed, considering all the compartments on her belts seemed to go around the back and fitted everything she needed. However, she still carried a bag which carried things like food and clothes and other things.

"So you really are leaving" Sasuke stated from behind her as her feet passed the Konoha gates. Pausing for a moment, Sakura turned around and faced the Konoha shinobi.

"Should you really be wearing the Konoha head band un-scratched if you are leaving?" Neji glared.

"On the contrary Hyuuga-san, I am temporarily leaving. I never said I'm not coming back, there are just a few things I need to fix up" Sakura answered with a serious expression.

"What's so important that you can't just stay here?" Ino cried.

"Gomen nasai Yamanaka-san if this is making you worry and cry, but there are just some things that don't concern you, so don't get involved" Sakura answered before she turned around and began walking.

"Why?" Naruto exclaimed.

"Hmm?" Sakura turned to face him slightly.

"Why? Why are you leaving? Did we do something wrong? Are you angry? What's happening Sakura-chan?!" Naruto cried.

"Gomen nasai Uzamaki-san, but that is information you do not need to know" Sakura smiled.

"NANI?!" Hinata shouted "What are you hiding from us?! Why are you hiding it from us?"

"Sorry Hyuuga-san, but I really must be leaving, if it makes you feel any better, I will scratch out my head band and become an official missing nin, however, I do promise to come back" Sakura vowed. Stepping forward slightly, Sasuke's eyes widened in shock as the girl disappeared with the wind, leaving a trail of leaves and cherry blossom petals to dance in the wind behind her.

"SAKURA!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Sasuke shouted out of frustration as he felt his eyes sting with pain.


"I'm sorry Sasuke-kun, I really do want to return your feelings, my heart has already chosen you, from the day we met, when we became genins, I was just too stupid to realize them, if you're willing to, wait for me to return, I aim to get stronger than I ever was before, and find who exactly I am inside my own heart, because, I am indeed very confused. Gomen nasai Sasuke-kun" Sakura whispered as she watched him fall to the ground in anger that he had lost her before he could even do anything.

"Aishiteru (sp?) (I love you)" Sakura whispered.


"Aishiteru" the wind whispered (strangely in Sakura's voice), tickling Sasuke's ears. Looking up, Sasuke averted his gaze around the forest, trying to spot a glimpse of pink. 'Okay Sakura, I'll wait for you, but promise me you won't die'
Notes:

-Hehe, well this basically concludes the end of THotCB but I will do any epilogue in the near future I promise!

-Sorry but this may be the only thing I can post for a while ;--; I have school cert coming up in about a week and I really should start studying for it

-I hope you guys like ThotCB and I hope to return before the end of the year (loves you all)

-And as a small but very important note, I want to thank everyone of you for reviewing/adding to fav. Story/author lists, your undying support does not go unnoticed, I just have barely anytime to answer any calls –cries- maybe I can answer them in the future but until then, I want to say thanks for all the reviews so far and all the reviews in the future and any other comments I will take into consideration if it concerns my writing.

Special thanks to:

-DJ Hihi Kimiko for always supporting me near and far and becoming one of my very first friends on here.

-acechi-anghel for always giving the longest reviews that make me feel all warm inside

And

….

-drumroll-

-Everyone who has supported me through the entire story so far by just even considering to click the link to the story and read something as most likely crappy as this –sweatdrop- And I'm sorry for the too long chapters, I think I went over the top and added too much stuff into a few chapters along the way e.e;

-I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

dolphie-chama


Sequel: The Mind of the Cherry Blossom