REPOST! Because it seems like everyone missed it the first time around *cries in the corner*.

A/N: I'll just leave this right here...

Sasuke braced his forearms against the top of his thighs as he sat on the edge of his bed, thinking about what Sakura had said.

A smile automatically spread across his lips at the thought of his pink-haired, green-eyed cherry blossom. His. It felt so good just thinking about it.

Then he smirked as he thought about Suigetsu's reaction after he came back from work. The blue-white-haired man had immediately noticed that something had happened and that something had changed. It took him only a few more seconds after they greeted him for a Cheshire cat grin to appear on his face.

Sakura then proceed to blush like crazy, concluding what Suigetsu had suspected. Sasuke only sighed, she would never be able to act as an undercover agent, not that they've ever talked about it or anything...

Suigetsu took his time teasing the two of them through dinner until Sakura got angry and blew up on him. But they could see just how happy he was for the two them.

And for himself.

Apparently, Itachi now owed him ten-thousand yen.

Both Sasuke's and Sakura's eyebrows had twitched violently when they found out that their brothers had bet on how long it'd take for them to get together officially.

Let's just say that Suigetsu was thoroughly bruised and battered, courtesy of Sakura, by the end of the night, Mari only laughed and cheered on the beating up of her daddy from her high chair. Sakura was proud of her.

It was official, violence ran in the family for the women.

Sasuke slightly feared for his daughter's temperament.

That thought gave him pause as another, smaller, smile appeared on his face. That would be nice.

But he needed to focus on the present and not the future, not just yet. He needed to get over this mountain of a problem before he can even think about the future.

He needed to confront his demons, as Sakura had said. But he didn't even know what his demons were, also as Sakura had said.

He buried his face into his hands, trying to dig deeper into his mind.

This was going to be painful, he knew that, but he wasn't sure if he was truly prepared for it.

He had even mildly entertained the idea of Sakura being completely wrong, something else she had said. Maybe there really wasn't something wrong with him. Maybe they were over-thinking this. Maybe he really didn't remember because he had been too young.

Memories. If you don't remember them, do you still have them?

Memories. Why must they be so elusive when you need them most?

Memories. Why do we need them?

Wouldn't it just be better to not have them?

All the evil and hurt in the world would be forgotten. There would be no animosity between anyone as grudges are the bastards of memories and hurt. Without grudges there would be no bad blood between anyone.

Memories are vices. Keeping you in their clutches, never letting you forget them. Never letting you forgive, never letting you move on, never letting you be at peace with your past.

At the same time, memories are also soft caresses of good times passed. A reason to look forward to the future to create many more of them.

But if you can't remember them, do you still know how to make them?

Was it an intrinsic property of human nature to remember the happy memories? And forget the bad ones?

If so, then why couldn't Sasuke remember his happy memories and could only remember the bad ones?

What there something truly wrong with him?

Or did he just not have any to remember?

He let out a groan and buried his face into his hands.

He was trying, he really was.

But he didn't know where to start.

There was no easy way around this.

There was never a easy way.

If life was easy then it wouldn't be worth living. But was that really the case?

Was humankind doomed to trudge and stumble through life and all its obstacles just for the learning experience? Wouldn't it be better to not have any obstacles and just live life without a care in the world?

But without obstacles, humankind would never grow. Life would be stagnant, dull, boring. Conflicts, no matter how much everyone hated them, were a necessity to live a fuller life.

So was this problem of his, not remembering the happy times before his parents' death, necessary?

Sasuke rubbed his hands roughly on his face.

There was no easy way around this.

He's never questioned why millions turned to end their lives by their own hands. He always understood why. But he's never pondered upon it for himself.

He never saw a reason to.

He may have lived a vapid, bland life but he never turned to thoughts of self-harm or thoughts of suicide.

Why not?

Because he just didn't value life enough to care to end it just because he wasn't getting much from it.

He was indifferent to the hand he's been dealt. He has never questioned it, never hoped for a different life.

This was his life.

This was all he knew.

There were no happy memories to compare the sad ones to, nothing to put the tragic events in his life into perspective.

This only made him realize that he has been living life the easy way.

There were no memories of happy times to break him down when he never got to make new ones. Nothing to bother him when it didn't come back. Nothing to incapacitate him.

So shouldn't he be glad that he didn't remember the happy memories? If he actually had any?

So should he continue to live life aloofly? With no way for happy memories to be made?

He scoffed at himself.

That possibility was out the window the moment he caught Sakura in his arms.

There was not turning back. Sakura was his life now, as was Mari-chan, Suigestsu, and the the slowly mending Itachi. He's made more happy memories these past few months than he had in over a decade. Now he had much more to lose.

He would be devastated if any of them were taken away from him. He would know the true meaning of loss and pain and helplessness.

He doesn't think he'd ever survive if that happened.

His mind now armed with a multitude of happy memories that he'd never be able to forget, that he'd never ever let himself forget, was slowly cracking from the pressure.

The pressure to know if these new happy memories weren't alone.

Were there really more happy memories from his childhood?

Playing mental hide and seek was tiring him out.

But the question was, who was hiding and who was seeking?

A/N: How depressing (T^T)... The first update in a while and it's so full of angst and deep shit. Much melancholy in this chapter. I have no idea how I wrote this chapter. Honestly, it's been half-done for a while but I just couldn't bring myself to finishing it until now. Gotta get into the mood for something like this, ya know what I mean?

Yes? Yes?

No? Okay...nevermind then...

I haven't written anything in quite a while so the words might have been a little jumbled up or awkward. And I feel like some of it was quite redundant... I just hope this chapter reads seamlessly from the last one.

Did any of this even make any sense to you guys?!

To end on a positive note, thank you for reading and please review!

Updated – 11/14/2014