Blossoms & Ashes

Chapter 14: One regret

He had never known why exactly he never told her what she had felt for him. He had decided that it would have been annoying, that it didn't really matter. But he knew that wasn't all, there was something else. Maybe it was shame, it made sense. But he didn't really think he was capable of feeling shame.

"Would you have believed me if I told you?" He asked her in return to her question, his eyes on her waiting for her reaction.

"Without a doubt, I would have believed anything that came from you." She spoke, her voice steady. And it was true, everything he had told her she believed, she never questioned him. She had always been naïve, but that was something he'd always known.

He chuckled out loud and she narrowed her eyes at him, he could practically feel the anger around her. "You would have really believed that you, Sakura Haruno, are in love with a man like me?" His question was challenging, but there was also curiosity in his voice. "You remember most of it, don't you? You know who I am." He spoke, his expression once again serious.

"Yes, I remember who you were. The last of the Uchiha clan, the cold boy who would always call me annoying, Naruto's rival. And yes, you were mean sometimes and distant, but you weren't all bad… You saved me various times, you saved Naruto, and you cared about us. But then, you left us behind. What went wrong? You were supposed to come back after you got your revenge!" Her words were pleading, she didn't really understand everything and Sasuke had to remind himself than just hours ago hours ago she didn't remember most of her life and most of his truth.

"But I didn't come back, not really. The only reason I came back was to kill." His words pierced through her as he took a step forward. "I ask again, do you really think you're in love with a man like me?"

"No. I'm not in love with a man I don't know, with a man who has lied to me about myself. But I can believe I was…" Her tone was soft and Sasuke was taken aback because of her first statement, she wasn't in love with him anymore. He suddenly felt cold but quickly shrugged it off.

"I don't want to see you suffering anymore. I'm afraid; I don't want to see you get hurt…"

"If you stay here there would be no regrets, I would make you happy."

After a moment she spoke again breaking him out of his thoughts. "Why didn't you come back after your revenge, after you killed your brother?" Her voice was no more than a whisper as she looked at him. She saw Sasuke flinch slightly because of the question.

"My revenge is not done." He spoke, his voice hard as he narrowed his eyes.

"Itachi is still alive?" A frown covered her features as she waited for an answer.

"He's dead." He spoke and she could see that his gaze was far away, as if it was in a distant memory, she watched his onyx eyes as she waited for him to continue speaking. "Everything I've ever believed in was a lie…" He chuckled and she could only stare at him confused at his statement.

"What do you mean…?" She asked as she watched him take several steps toward her.

"My father wanted to overthrow the village, my brother loved me all along, I wasn't the only survivor after all, Naruto had the demon that caused distrust against the Uchiha clan inside him, my clan fell to save the village, and the woman that claimed to love me went against me." He spoke and he walked until he was just two steps away from her.

"I don't get it… what do you mean?" She shook her head in confusion as she tried to process Sasuke's words, but it didn't seem to make sense to her.

"After I killed my brother I found out that the Uchiha clan was planning to overthrow the village and so Itachi was given a mission to kill the clan in order to keep peace in the Leaf village, but he couldn't kill me. In the end I killed my only family." He explained his right hand balling up in a fist.

"So you're going to destroy the Leaf because of that?!" She yelled at him, her voice shaking.

"That wasn't the plan. The plan was only to rid the village of the ones responsible for the massacre; the elders and Danzo. But the plans changed shortly after." His eyes narrowed and Sakura could see the anger in his eyes.

"Danzo…?" Sakura mused out loud. "Why did the plans change?" She asked him wanting to know the whole story.

"I killed the elders, the only one left was Danzo, but they sent you to stop me." He spoke and her eyes widened in surprise.

"The woman who claimed to love me went against me."

"They sent me to stop you…?" She asked out loud and she gasped in realization. "That's the night of my dreams isn't it?" She asked him as she bit her lower lip.

"Yes." He answered with a nod.

"What happened that night…?" She asked him barely remembering anything. Sasuke frowned as he recalled the events that happened that night.

He walked toward her his hands made fist at his sides while she stood there with her gloves on her hands ready to strike him if necessary. His eyes were red and his bangs fell on his face making him look even more breathtaking in the light of the moonlight.

"Get out of my way Sakura." He told her his eyes narrowing.

"Not a chance." She whispered but her voice was firm.

They stood across from each other; behind Sasuke there was a cliff and aside that they were surrounded by trees and the pale light of the moonlight that allowed Sakura to see him.

"What are you doing here?" He asked his voice hard.

"After everything…that's all you have to ask?" She asked herself before shaking her head and turning her eyes to him once again. "I can't let you do this." She told him her voice loud enough for him to hear, but her eyes pleaded him to stop.

"Can't let me do what, Sakura?" He asked, but the question was meant to mock her as he raised an eyebrow at her.

"I can't let you keep walking this path, I can't…" Her voice broke at the very end, but Sasuke didn't notice as his gaze hardened.

"You're going to stand against me?" He asked a smirk on his face.

"If that's what it takes, then yes…" She spoke as she took a fighting stance across from him.

"I'll give you one last chance to step aside, Sakura." He said and watched her as she shook her head.

"You'll have to go through me." She spoke glaring at her opponent.

"Then it seems I have no choice." He spoke as his eyes narrowed for an instant before rushing towards her unsheathing his katana.

She reacted quickly and dodged his upcoming attacks, she jumped backwards and her hands glowed green before she punched a tree sending it his way. His eyes widened slightly as he witnessed her strength he had very little time to react and to dodge.

He had never seen Sakura fight and didn't expect such strength coming from her, but he didn't believe she would really try to stop him, never had he known Sakura to turn against him. He rushed back at her with an attack and she easily evaded it sending a punch his way. Sasuke jumped backwards so he wouldn't be hit. The fight continued like that for several minutes and Sakura was already breathing heavily.

Sasuke didn't really want to fight her, she was making everything harder than it originally should have been, he was only supposed to round the village and return to his team to plan an attack, he wasn't supposed to fight anyone, much less Sakura. He didn't want to have to hurt her and so he was holding back, the only death he wanted was Danzo's. He didn't know why the Leaf had sent her to him, why her of all people.

They now stood at opposite's sides of each other staring each other down before Sasuke rushed once again at her, attacking with his katana in hand and she dodged moving backwards and getting closer and closer to the cliff that was now behind her. She was no more than a step from falling to her death and his katana on her neck ready to strike the final blow and end it all.

"There's no reason to continue this fight." He spoke his face just inches away from hers.

"There is… I can't let you continue this path even if that means I have to kill you." Her voice was firm and determined even though she was in the verge of dying.

"You already lost." He declared his eyes on hers.

"You've always underestimated me." She told him, her eyes burning with determination and her tone was light.

Sasuke was taken by surprise when she raised her hand and threw his sword aside in a swift move, he watched his sword fall through the cliff and the next thing he knew she gripped herself to him. He tried to free himself from her grip but it was no use, she was too strong.

As he looked at her eyes he understood where her thoughts were going, she had always been too easy to read, her green eyes were too expressive.

"There are better ways, if you do this you won't survive the fall." He told her, silently pleading for her to rethink her plan.

He saw her smile at him gripped him more tightly to her and said, "I'm not planning on surviving, there's no point in trying to live without you." She threw herself backward and then they both fell.

Her eyes never left his as they fell down and his eyes were glued to hers.

He didn't see his life flash before his eyes as many people said it would, all he saw was green and pink. She filled his line of vision. Even though he was sure he was going to die as they both fell he couldn't bring himself to hate her for ending his life like that. He knew there were worst ways to die than looking at the love filled eyes of the woman leading him to his death.

Because even though she was going to kill him her eyes were filled with love for him as they had always been. She would die loving him. In her eyes he saw the girl that had come to love him and the faithful woman willing to die alongside him. Sakura. The only thing he seemed to regret was that her life would end so soon.

Sakura's eyes refused to leave his, she searched his eyes for the Sasuke she loved and found him there in the death of those onyx eyes that watched her intently. In that moment she didn't see her life flash before her eyes, she had already prepared herself for her death and for his, but it was the thought of his death that pained her the most. She was filled with regret of having to end it this way. She regretted not finding another way to save him from the path of revenge he had chosen. But no matter how much she had thought of it the only answer she had could come up with to free him was always death. Death seemed to be his only salvation. Yet, even though she knew that, she didn't want him to die, the thought of his life ending pained her to no end. She wanted to cry and mourn his death, but she didn't have a right to do so… not when she was the one leading him to his end.

She saw the Sasuke she had always loved in his eyes, his life hadn't been fair. Being stripped of the chance of living since he was young he had no choice but to strive for revenge, but it was a never ending chain. It would never stop for him it seemed. He never had a chance to live.

She closed her eyes for a moment as she found out she really couldn't go through with it, she couldn't possibly kill him. There had to be another way to save him without him having to die. He had a whole life ahead of him. But, as she opened her eyes she knew it was time to decide.

"That night I'm sure Sakura's only intention was to save the one she loved. She's always loved Sasuke and she probably felt the need to save him from the path of evil he walked even if it meant killing him with her own hands." Kakashi's voice filled the silence in the room as his gaze turned to Tsunade.

Tsunade's eyes widened slightly. "You're telling me that you think Sakura tried to kill Sasuke?" She asked.

"I know she did, that's how committed she is in her love for Sasuke." Kakashi whispered a frown on his face.