When the Flowers Cry

Written By: Banana007

Chapter 8: A Blossom in a Blizzard

The line between reality and fantasy starts to blur for Sasuke...

By the time, the group departed Kazahana Castle, the snow was already spilling down heavier on them than earlier, leaving a blanket of white everywhere they turned. It wasn't so hard to navigate on foot with Rina guiding them, but the weather did impede their travels. Sasuke knew it couldn't be helped but he didn't like how the disappearing sun cast dreary shades of grey across the land. It was a reminder of every second Sakura was still out there.

Trailing after Rina and watching the tail of her braid sway under the cold breeze, he thought back to the burn scars he'd glimpsed across her chest back in the infirmary. They were years old, that's for sure. But he didn't recollect anything in her story that would've explained how she got such a nasty wound. He then began to recall the end of their conversation, plagued by the questions that he'd walked out of that room with.

"Then why are you still alive?" Sasuke eyed the middle-aged woman, but she didn't flinch from the blunt accusation. "You said you were born and raised in that house for some time."

If there was a time to bring up her scars, now was as good a time as any.

"Why did I not fall victim to the curse? Yes, I've often wondered that myself… Why did everyone else die but me? If I must be honest, I... do not know," she admitted with a melancholic note in her voice. "Maybe I left before the curse could get a hold of me. Or maybe it's just not my time yet… Then again, it could really just be superstition after all? The older I get, the more I think so…" She shook her head, looking a bit dejected. "I'm sorry, I wish I could be of more help but that is all I have to offer."

"No, that was very helpful. At least we have a better understanding now." Kakashi said, smiling assuringly.

Naruto gave him a skeptical look. "We do?"

"Of course. If the rest of our investigation leads to nothing, then we might have to assume that the hut was involved in Sakura's disappearance."

A strong, fearful shudder rolled down Naruto's back at that and Sasuke frowned at the teasing glint in their leader's eye. "Don't put that superstitious nonsense into his head," he warned him, prompting the older man to chuckle sheepishly.

"Perhaps we can find a new lead at Yukigakure if nowhere else," suggested Sai. "We've already investigated all the most obvious places except for Yukigakure."

Kakashi nodded. "Agreed, we haven't investigated Sakura's destination. It's possible she did reach Yukigakure but just never had the chance to meet up with Rina."

"Yes, and I can lead you there since I must return to Yukigakure anyway now that I have Sakura-sensei's supplies," Rina added, gesturing to the cream-colored duffel bag still sitting at the foot of Kakashi's bed.

"But what if we don't find Sakura-chan there?"

Everyone fell silent at Naruto's question, but the answer rang loud and clear in each of their minds: they didn't know what to do. Sasuke frowned, wishing the loudmouth hadn't said a thing because, from then on, that idea had begun to fester in his head like a wound that couldn't be treated.

Lost in his thoughts about a pink-haired medic, Sasuke almost missed what Naruto had asked the healer leading them to the Hidden Snow village.

"Oh yes, you're correct. I was already Yukigakure's resident healer by the time Dotō Kazahana had usurped Lady Koyuki's father," Rina said in answer to the question proposed to her. She cast a knowing smile over her shoulder towards Kakashi. "And that's actually how I met your Sensei way back then."

Three pairs of curious eyes flitted to their team leader who straightened up from the sudden attention. Sasuke had suspected the woman had some ties to Kakashi, and he did recall Kakashi's words from when he'd probed the man on the matter.

'That woman seems to know you, but I don't remember her from our mission with Doto.'

'That's because it's from a time when you weren't even born yet.'

"Really, Sensei? You two already knew each other?" asked Naruto.

"That's right, it was that night when I was rescuing Lady Koyuki." Kakashi rubbed his chin, turning his gaze to the sky to think back on that night. "You saved my life and the princess's, although I never had the time to thank you for that. And I hope I didn't cause you any trouble?"

"Not at all! I'm just glad I was able to help the princess in some way. We were so young back then, practically the same age as your boys are now," Rina laughed lightly.

"But didn't Yukigakure become a shinobi village under the ruling of Dotō Kazahana?" Sai inquired. "With your line of work, business must have been booming then."

"Well, not exactly." Rina's smile became strained and she returned her attention to the front. "Lady Koyuki's uncle took me to the castle to become the resident healer there. I chose to quit instead of work for that monster, of course, but he forbade me from ever working as a healer again if it wasn't for him. I had to do everything under the table for almost a decade until your team helped restore the princess to the throne. So that's why… no matter how long it may take for Sakura to be found, you mustn't lose give up or hope."

"Hm, well said," replied Kakashi, and his eyes crinkled in agreement but he was looking at Sasuke instead of the healer.

Sasuke made it a point to not meet his eyes as Naruto crowed out, "Of course not! 'Cause that's my Nindō!"

"I think I can see now why Lady Koyuki said that Team Kakashi is the team that can make the impossible possible. You've guided them well, Kakashi. They're lucky to have you as their team leader."

The older man rubbed the back of his head in response to the woman's flattering opinion of him. "Oh, I just do the best that I can with them. You just need to have patience, that's all."

Sasuke had a feeling their former sensei had wanted to specify a lot of patience.

Sai was the one to speak up this time, but then Naruto was shouting through a strong, abrupt gust of wind that flicked a cold sheet of snow into their faces.

"Hey! Is it just me or is it getting harder to hear you guys?"

"What was that?" Kakashi asked, cupping his ear while slipping closer to Naruto.

Glancing back at the men, Rina shouted, "This is bad! It seems we're about to get caught in another snowstorm—"

"Another one already?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Yes, it's a freak storm so stick very close to me!" Rina pointed towards something in the distance but it didn't look like there was anything in particular over there. "Stone markers were placed during Dotō's ruling, but only natives like myself would know what they look like. All you have to do is follow me closely, understand?!"

The others nodded in acknowledgment, filing one by one behind her with Sasuke lingering in the back of the line since he possessed the best visual prowess. He clicked his tongue, wondering why did another blizzard have to hit them now of all times, It was bad enough that moving through the terrain slowed them down and it already felt like he'd wasted so much time here in this land with hardly any results to show from it.

Keeping his eye on Naruto's sunny blond locks, he lifted his hand to block another blast of snowflakes, feeling his poncho whip side to side. The cape of it lifted from the twisting gale and a small gasp escaped him when Sakura's photo slipped out from his flak jacket. His hand snapped forth to catch it, but she danced out of reach, vanishing into the white storm.

'Sasuke-kun' the wind seemed to sighed into his ear, playing with the raven locks around it.

He paused, wondering if he'd misheard, but he could've sworn it sounded like Sakura... Still, it didn't make sense to hear her when he couldn't even hear what Rina was saying from the front of the line. And why would he even hear Sakura here of all places? No, it was the wind howling just like Rina had explained.

Shaking his head, he moved to catch up to Naruto only to freeze once more when he heard it. The faint scream of a woman.

Was it the wind playing tricks on him again or… had it really been Sakura's voice? Did he miss her that badly that he was starting to hallucinate?

There was a soft giggle, nearly imperceptible to his ears, but the wind was brushing the bangs away from his Rinnegan eye again like a cold caress. It tugged him left and Sasuke couldn't help but turn his face in that direction.

In the distance, something pink flashed in between the barrage of snowflakes but it had happened so quickly that Sasuke had to blink and rub at his obsidian eye. When he looked again, there was nothing there. A sigh puffed out from his lips and he suddenly felt foolish for fantasizing something so stupid. Of course she wouldn't just be standing there. He turned to go but then there was that pink again in the corner of his vision. He whipped his head towards it and suddenly the whole world melted away as he focused his sight on Sakura smiling at him.

The snowflakes moved in slow motion as all he could perceive was her.

Her.

With those pale pink tresses fluttering playfully around those porcelain cheeks. And those eyes… those jade orbs that seemed to always stare directly into the hearth of his soul.

She stood so still like her photo had come to life.

Another blast of snow cut through his line of sight, but it wasn't enough to shake Sasuke out of his stupor. She came back into view, still smiling softly at him but with her hand raised to beckon him over, her finger curling.

"Sakura…" Her name tumbled out of his lips like another sigh and Sasuke found himself instinctively taking a step towards her.

He stopped after that one step, his battle-hardened instincts screaming at him. Was it a hallucination? A trap? Or maybe even a Genjutsu? A scowl began to wash over his face at the notion that someone might be toying with him. Closing his eyes for a second, he opened them to reveal his now-activated Sharingan. He wouldn't be so foolish as to think that it would be that easy to find Sakura after all that effort in searching for her.

Or so he thought, but as his red eye fell once more to the pink-haired woman from afar, he was left shaken at the fact that her figure did indeed have chakra running throughout, confirming that it was a person there. But what really sold him was the fact that the chakra coursing through this figure carried the same color chakra as Sakura's: a vivid spring-green that matched her eyes.

Could it really be her?

As if she couldn't wait for him any longer, she turned around and winked out of existence as another flurry of snowflakes stole her away from sight.

"Sakura!" Sasuke shouted, his desperation having clawed its way up his throat.

"What's tha—?" Naruto said from somewhere ahead, the tips of his blond locks hardly visible now. "Hey, Sa—! Did… say some—ing?! Te… I'm talk… to you!"

But Sasuke was already too far away to respond back to his teammate. He knew it was foolish to break off from the group like this, but if there was any chance that this might be the real Sakura… He wouldn't hesitate to take that chance.

The wind screamed all around him now, rising in pitch and moaning as if it were in agony. He pressed through, shielding his face from the brunt of the blizzard. As he continued in the direction she'd turned towards, his Sharingan remained activated in the hopes that it might help him catch a glimpse of Sakura again.

Instead of finding her smiling and waiting for him, however, he found nothing but the derelict hut groaning and shaking against Mother Nature's angry tempest. Even from afar, Sasuke could hear the harsh banging of the door swaying back and forth and slamming against the wall. But how could it be open now if Rina and the other natives had claimed it was sealed? Then again, he'd had no problem opening it earlier.

And maybe Sakura had gone in for shelter again? At the back of his mind, it did seem a little ridiculous but, even so… Whether it was an enemy laying a trap for him or just a whimsical hallucination brought on by his own deeper urges, he had to know.

But as Sasuke approached the porch steps, he stared into the dark mouth of the hut that yawned open for him and hesitated.

"Sakura?" he called out to her, but the wind seemed to carry his voice away.

He climbed the steps slowly, the stairs creaking in protest beneath him.

Standing at the threshold now, he squinted into the black void that was the hut's interior. Having stayed with Orochimaru in drabby hideouts, he usually had no problem seeing things in the dark… except for now. It was like staring into an abyss; just an endless darkness that stretched on for eternity, threatening to consume him whole.

Sasuke took one step into the pool of black, lingering at the threshold for a moment longer before finally stepping all the way in.

The wind let out a high-pitched scream as if a woman had just been murdered. He was starting to understand how the natives had come up with those rumors that—

BAM!

The crying wind had slammed the door shut behind him, allowing the hut to swallow the Uchiha into its dark void.

He tried the doorknob, jiggling the handle before pushing on the door, but it wouldn't budge.

Engulfed in the utter darkness now, Sasuke kept his Sharingan on even though he still couldn't see anything with it. Practically blinded, he held up his hand and charged it with Chidori. Instead of lighting up the space around him, however, it seemed the dark ate away the brilliant radiance of his lightning, leaving nothing more but a dim glow that even he could barely see at point-blank range.

Sighing in frustration, Sasuke noticed the temperature was starting to drop, forcing a shiver out of him. Numbness began to tingle at his fingertips and he frowned when his Chidori flickered off without his permission. Before he could reach for his sword to charge it with a more potent Chidori, the room was suddenly washed in shades of red and black as if he was peering through a fake filter of his own Sharingan. He blinked at the fire crackling beneath the mantel now, but then he heard the sound of rock grinding on rock and he instantly turned aside to the source of the noise, ready to defend himself of—

His breath caught in his throat.

There she was again, standing at a table that had somehow appeared when it was never there before. A million questions should've been racing through his mind, but Sasuke's brain seemed to turn into mush instead as all he could process was the sight of her.

She was busy grinding up something using a stone bowl and a pestle as if she belonged there. As if everything was perfectly fine and that she hadn't vanished into thin air since almost three days ago. And though the shades of red and black had drowned out the whole room, she remained as colorful and vibrant in life with her natural colors of pink and green with her red qipao dress outlined in white.

Sasuke wanted to touch her, but he didn't dare move in fear that this image of Sakura might somehow disappear like she did amidst the storm. Besides, a part of him wasn't sure if he was actually ready to meet her yet after having been away for three years since their parting. It was why he'd only watched her from the cover of Konoha's forest as she battled Kido, lingering only long enough to ensure her safety was secured with the arrival of Kakashi and the others. With how he was now, he chose to stay back and study the way she tucked back a loose pink lock behind an ear before she continued to grind at whatever she had in that bowl.

Suddenly, she perked up and raised her face to him and panic flashed hot in Sasuke's chest as he briefly wondered what he was supposed to say or do.

Was she even real? His Sharingan still picked up her chakra that had now faded to a pale white color. It certainly wasn't a Genjutsu, he knew that much. And yet, she seemed too surreal to be truly standing there before him without a care in the world.

"Did you hurt yourself again on your travels?" Sakura asked, tipping her head quizzically before setting her equipment aside to come over to him.

Too stumped by what was happening, Sasuke could only watch as she gingerly raised the flap of his poncho to touch the bandaged stump of his left arm. The cotton of his long-sleeved shirt kept her skin separated from his, but he could still feel her gentle touch on his old wound and his heart started pounding like a war drum in his chest. Nobody had ever touched his wound before in a way that she did. A delicious shiver ran through him from the surreal experience and he watched as Sakura peered up at him through her lashes, biting her bottom lip thoughtfully.

"You don't have to act so tough in front of me, you know," she whispered to him like she'd found out a secret of his. The corners of her lips curled up teasingly despite the concern in her gaze. "Especially when we're alone like this."

What did she mean by that? What was she talking about? Sasuke finally opened his mouth and voiced those questions aloud, but she just continued trailing her fingers up his arm and leaving goosebumps in her wake as if she didn't—no, couldn't—hear him at all.

Smiling coyly now, Sakura reached for his hand and tugged him along towards the door that had locked him in this place. "Come! Let's take off your shirt so that I can change your bandages," she hummed, opening the door so easily as if it'd never been locked in the first place. "If you behave for me then maybe I'll reward you, but we'll have to hurry before he gets back."

The wink she gave him had Sasuke nearly tripping over his feet. The Sakura he knew had never been so forward like this before—at least not since their Genin days but, even then, a wink was too much even for her.

Was it a trick after all? But if it wasn't a Genjutsu, then what was this?

Still, he allowed himself to follow her into the darkness once more but, as soon as he crossed the threshold, the grip on Sasuke's hand disappeared and he found himself back inside the hut with the temperature even colder than before. He shivered, catching his breath fogging in front of his face before noticing Sakura again at the table. But she was sitting with her arms crossed, biting her nail anxiously as she glared at a stained spot in the wood of the table. He tried to move again—towards her—but his body felt frozen in place, his feet and hands numb now. When she fixed her despondent stare onto him, he couldn't help but frown at the way her jade orbs were framed by a teary redness.

Did I make her cry again? he asked himself, but he had a feeling he already had the answer.

Sakura stood up abruptly, hands clenched at her sides as she seemed to bristle with an anger far more aggressive than the kind of anger she typically showed towards Naruto. The vivid green of her eyes flared as she stomped her way over to him. Sasuke had to tilt his head down to meet her hot gaze as she positioned herself right below his chin to yell directly into his face. "Who are you to tell me if I deserve you or not? I'm the one who gets to decide that!"

Her finger dug into his chest as she continued to seethe and Sasuke was too bewildered to even think of protesting such outlandish accusations.

"I told you already, didn't I?! I don't care what anyone says about you—about us. I don't care if your hands are stained with blood or if you think you're beyond redemption."

The fury in Sakura's expression began to crumble, giving way to anguish and despair that made him wonder if he was the cause again, and inwardly he cursed himself for it. The unshed tears in her eyes were falling now, fresh with pain. Sasuke felt her arms come around him, embracing him as if she thought he would be the one to disappear like smoke instead of her.

"I want you to touch me—I want to be stained by you. I just… want you," she whispered against his chest, and it felt like she was trying to speak directly to his heart in the hopes her message would get through to him.

Sasuke felt disoriented. There was a lump in his throat that he tried to swallow down but couldn't. It took every ounce of his strength to raise his arm, and it inched its way up as Sakura spoke through her tears. "You promised that you'd take me with you… to see the world together, remember? I… I want to walk on the same road with you for the rest of my life."

His hand finally reached her shoulder but, just as he grasped her, she faded away, slipping through Sasuke's fingers in tendrils of smoke.

He stared at his palm where he'd just briefly managed to touch her. Was he not allowed to? Was this his own personal hell meant to torture him? To punish him for all the wrong he'd committed? To remind him that he didn't deserve happiness after causing so much pain to all those precious to him?

Karma, that's what this had to be. And perhaps this was also the curse Rina had proposed.

The numbness crept up his legs as the temperature plummeted to subzero. Sasuke fell to his knees, unable to feel any sensation in all of his limbs now.

"What's wrong?" a voice asked him from the side of the room, but it didn't come from the table this time.

Slowly, he turned his face towards the rocking chair by the porch window where Sakura was watching him, brows pinched in concern. Her hair was long, he noticed, just brushing the tops of her thighs in a rosy curtain. But it wasn't the long hair that stole Sasuke's breath away—no, it was the way her belly was so swollen that it stretched taut the cloth of her red qipao dress.

"Why do you look so sad?" she asked him, prompting Sasuke to wonder what sort of expression he had to be making when he was still reeling from the sight of her very pregnant state.

Standing up, Sakura waddled over to him and the strange but somewhat endearing vision tugged the corners of his mouth up despite her recently claiming that he seemed sad. But then Sasuke's little smirk subsided as she came close enough that her baby bump nearly grazed his nose, eliciting a peculiar, fluttery sensation to flip in his stomach. He blinked as she caressed both hands across the top of his head, smoothing his hair before sliding her hands down to the back of his head.

"I'll be lonely without you, you know?"

Hearing her say those words caught him off guard and he exhaled sharply.

"Don't do this, Sasuke—you don't have to be alone! You told me that day how painful a thing solitude can be. I understand that pain now…"

Did she? The two of them were from completely different backgrounds, so how could someone like her understand his pain?

She sniffed, but he refused to turn around. Still, he listened.

"I have a family and friends, but… if you were gone, Sasuke, it would be the same thing for me as being all alone!"

The guilt pressed heavy on his chest but, suddenly, she was guiding his head to rest against the heavy swell of her belly and his lips parted as the warmth of her chased away the coldness of his cheek.

"Promise you'll come back to me," Sakura murmured to him, gently weaving her fingers through the raven locks at his nape, and he found himself leaning ever so slightly into her touch.

But I already did promise, Sasuke thought faintly in his head, remembering the forehead poke he'd given her before leaving.

A light thump against his cheek pulled him away from that thought and he found his heart leaping at that sensation.

"Oof!" Sakura giggled and her baby bump rubbed against him from the motion. "Feel that? Our baby is also demanding for Papa to stay. His kicks are already this strong, but that's no surprise there. He must take after his shinobi father. Then again, maybe he's actually a she? What do you think—will it be a boy or a girl? I hope it's a boy."

I hope it's a girl, the answer had popped into Sasuke's mind without a second thought, and if he wasn't so freezing cold right now then he might've gone red at the cheeks for being so brazen towards someone he wasn't even married to. But then, would Sakura really be the kind of person to carry another man's child while still in love with him? No, she wouldn't. To be with another man would mean that her feelings of love for Sasuke had changed in the sense that she didn't want to be with him in that way anymore. It would be arrogant of him to think that she'd be forever in love with him and wait for him just as long too.

Ah, I must truly have walked into hell then, Sasuke thought as he closed his eyes to listen to the little heartbeat fluttering deep in her swollen belly.

"So promise you'll come back home to me soon, all right?" Sakura whispered to him, still running her fingers through his hair as if to comfort the both of them for just a little longer. "I'll be here waiting for you, ana—"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Somebody was pounding on the door and he felt Sakura quickly stiffen against him. She didn't move or speak.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"Don't… Don't open it," she finally said, voice trembling with fear now.

Sasuke frowned as the aggressive knocking persisted with barely a second in between, the door groaning in protest from whoever was on the other side. His frown deepened when Sakura drew back from him and he collapsed to the ground, his cheek against the icy floorboards that instantly replaced the warmth of her baby bump.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

He wanted to open it and reprimand whoever was out there, if only to assuage the fear that had Sakura slowly shuffling back until she fell back into the rocking chair, causing it to start moving back and forth under her weight.

Creak… Creak…

"Don't let them in," she muttered, more to herself than to him.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

She wasn't even looking at him anymore, but was staring wide-eyed at the door that seemed to bow inward under the force of the stranger beyond.

Creak… Creak...

Don't let who in? he wanted to demand.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Suddenly, she hissed in pain, both hands falling down to cup the swell of her belly. Sasuke could only let out so much as a grunt of consternation as he watched a dark red spot bloom across her baby bump like a flower. His eyes rounded with panic as that red soaked her qipao dress before spilling down her inner thighs in thick rivulets of blood against her milky white skin.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The house seemed to be moaning in agony, pressing in on him from all around as if it was about to collapse. The wooden panels of the walls shuddered violently, a black liquid oozing in between them like ink, although it crawled down the wall slowly similar to how blood did. Similar to the blood still dribbling down Sakura's legs right now.

Creak... Creak... Creak...

"Ah!" She cried out in agony as the knocking grew louder and Sasuke was helpless to watch as her blood started dripping onto the floorboards, pooling at her feet.

Of course, it wouldn't be hell without him having to lose those most precious to him even if it was in the form of a hallucination or dream.

But that didn't mean Sasuke Uchiha would just sit still and let it all happen. Not so long as he still had breath in him.

Creak… Creak…

He grit his teeth and let out a strained groan as he struggled to move his body—just move! But it was like he was back at the Valley of the End again when he'd been too drained of chakra and blood and, on the verge of death, he could barely turn his head to watch Sakura heal his severed arm, pouring her own life energy to mend him.

Creak...

He managed to flop onto his back, body completely stiff and numb like he was a walking corpse now, although walking was a privilege he no longer had, it seemed. With just as much effort, he turned his head towards Sakura but stopped when he noticed that all that remained on the rocking chair was a pile of cherry blossoms soaked in blood. One of them fell to the floor, swimming in the sticky red pool.

Dread burned hot in Sasuke's chest like someone had taken a hot iron poker and stabbed him straight through.

For too long a moment, he waited with bated breath for her to reappear again—to come back to life and strike up another bizarre conversation with him even if he couldn't exactly talk with her. He just didn't want to stay here alone with the ghost of her presence to mock him of his failures and sins.

But when another Sakura didn't pop into existence, Sasuke merely closed his eyes in defeat, his Sharingan fading away as he was no longer able to even do so much as twitch his fingers. The oppressive atmosphere of the hut seemed to be sucking all the life out of him, claiming his every labored breath and using it to invigorate itself like a parasite. And for one of the few times in his life, fear began to trickle down Sasuke's back as he lay helpless. Perhaps the curse of the hut had truly killed him. But, as strange as it was and despite having to suffer for eternity in this hell, he found solace in the fact that he got to see Sakura one last time even if she wasn't real.

That same solace, however, was followed up by the regret that he wouldn't be able to fulfill the promise he made to her that day...

He smiled at her, his fingers lingering on the warm diamond seal on her forehead. "Next time, I promise."

The numbness began to dominate even his consciousness now, but just as an eternal slumber began to pull him under, a familiar warmth brushed aside the bangs over his forehead.

The numbness clouding his mind retreated.

Sasuke blinked, peering through bleary eyes at her pretty face again. Relief flooded through him as he observed the lack of blood and pain this time, though she wasn't pregnant either. But there was something about this Sakura that tugged at his core, filling him with this strange yearning that he hadn't felt as strongly as he did with the previous apparitions of her.

There was something about this specific Sakura that had the others that appeared before him pale in comparison. He couldn't put a finger on it.

She cocked her head, giving Sasuke a curious look as if she was the one bewildered to find him here. A lock of pink slipped down, the silky ends of it tickling his cheek for a few seconds before she gingerly—almost shyly—tucked it back.

"S-Sa… ku… ra…" he managed to rasp out with great effort.

A slow smile began to lift at her rosy lips and she started to mouth something. Although he didn't hear her voice and he couldn't use his Sharingan to read her lips, she spoke slowly enough for him to understand what she was saying: 'You found me'

Bang! … Bang! … Bang!

There was someone pounding at the door again, but it was accompanied by a voice that Sasuke couldn't quite hear very well. It sounded as if someone was yelling for him through water, his name coming through all muffled into his clogged ears. Almost in answer to that noise, Sakura straightened up, brushing at the mauve knee protectors clothing her legs. But his lids were becoming heavy again and his breathing was starting to slow, and Sasuke knew he'd run out of time.

Or so he thought.

He felt her take his hand firmly into hers and suddenly the warmth of her fingers coursed up his arm and throughout his body, chasing away the icy slumber that'd been dragging him under. She yanked him up into a sitting position and he gasped, raking in a lungful of musty but brisk air. His eyes snapped open to find that the horrible red and black filter had been replaced with the darkness of the hut once more.

But Sakura's apparition was also no longer to be found.

So it truly had been just a dream after all… Sasuke wasn't entirely sure if he should've been disappointed by that or not. Although, he was starting to feel a little ridiculous knowing that he really thought the curse of the hut had been real enough to have actually killed him—or at least tried to. Even if the house did collapse, that certainly wouldn't have been enough to kill the last Uchiha. Such a notion was almost laughable.

But how could a dream feel so real?

As his eyes strained to adjust to the pitch blackness, the knocking at the door returned and he almost thought he was back to that vision of a pregnant Sakura begging him not to open the door in fear of what awaited outside.

Bang! … Bang! … Bang!

"Hey, Sasuke!" Naruto's boisterous voice cut through the aching silence inside the hut, clear and loud like birds on a sunny morning. "Sasuke!"

He stumbled towards the source of the noise, guided through the dark by Naruto's yelling. The door shook as his friend tried to open it from the other side to no avail but, as soon as Sasuke's fingers touched the frigid knob, the door swung open, slamming against the wall. The bright light that washed over him was nearly blinding as his vision adjusted. Just outside the threshold, Naruto stood, panting with his hands clenched into fists. The blue of his eyes was vivid with ire and a hint of concern as he grabbed the Uchiha by the folds of his poncho.

"The hell were you doing in there?! You can't just run off on your own like that—you know how sick and worried I was, calling your name but you wouldn't respond?!" The ire on Naruto's face melted away as he took a proper look at Sasuke. "H-Hey, what happened? Your face is lookin' a little blue..?"

Blue? Sasuke grazed his fingertips across his cheek where the skin was tingling, the nerves coming back to life now. So he must've fallen asleep from the freezing temperatures… and then dreamt about her until Naruto banging on the door woke him up.

"Well, your color's coming back already but—oh yeah! Why'd you lead us back to this creepy place again?!"

Grimacing at the angry volume of Naruto's voice piercing his eardrums, Sasuke pulled his poncho free of his friend's hold. He turned to peek over Naruto's shoulder and at Kakashi approaching the porch steps now as he fumbled for a decent excuse. "I… I thought I saw—"

"S-Sa… Sakura-chan?!"

"Yeah, how did you…" Noticing Naruto's befuddled gaze directed over his shoulder, Sasuke whipped his head around to follow it towards the tangled fluff of pink hair that spilled into the pool of light the open door cast into the hut. Facedown, she had a slim white hand stretched out like she'd tried to reach for the rectangle of light pouring through the doorway.

And she wasn't an apparition.

She wasn't a memory or a dream.

She was real, and she was lying there, prone on the floor as if she'd just fallen asleep while waiting for him this whole time.

I found you.

A/N: Confused yet? Feel free to comment any theories or guesses you might have so far! Although I can't say I'll be able to deny/confirm any, hehe~

In the manga, each individual has their own distinct chakra colour that gives their chakra a unique identity. However, the anime just gives everyone that blue chakra color to make it simple, I guess. But that's why I wrote Sakura having a light green chakra color. And yes, the chakra color does matter in the context of this story.

Also, I just realized that when Sasuke forehead pokes Sakura, he specifically says "Mata kondo NA" (また今度な) which translates to "Next time, I promise"... as opposed to Itachi's "Mata kondo DA" (また今度だ) which translates to "Maybe next time". Now, I was watching the subbed clip of the SasuSaku forehead poke scene from the anime and I guess whoever did the subbing missed the distinction between Sasuke's "NA" vs Itachi's "DA" because they used Itachi's "Maybe next time" translation instead when Sasuke is specifically promising to himself and to Sakura that she'd definitely go with him next time. Ooh, that explains all the more reason why she made that face! Anyway, I'm 5 years late on this but I still wanted to share this tidbit because I think it's so sweet.