Kakashi: You never told me.
Sakura: mhh …?
It was one of the rare nights where Sakura was free and Kakashi as well. He always nudged her to take some days off from her duty at the hospital, but she never indulged him. Except on that day, she is never working on that day.
Kakashi: About the Genjutsu he put you in?
She stopped breathing for a minute. Remembering the war was not something she was fond of, in fact they never talked about this moment of their life. So many things happened, so many deaths, so many people that they knew, that were dear to them, that they'll never see again.
Sakura: Why the sudden interest?
Kakashi: I am curious on what my cutest student saw, that s it.
Even with his mask that he was still wearing, even though she had already seen his face, she could see that his smile didn't reach his eyes.
Rolling her eyes at her sensei's antics, Sakura was reminiscing about the genjutsu, she was put in.
— FLASHBACK —
But Sasuke-kun, if I still have a place in that heart of yours, even if it's a little…. Please don't go!
You are so annoying...
It was the last thing she remembered before she opened her eyes. And what she saw had caught her off guard. There, in front of her was…. Her. Her younger self, screaming and crying at ... Sasuke-kun? She heard herself say but neither do little Sakura heard nor did the younger Sasuke.
Obviously, she reminded herself, if she was seeing this, it only meant that it was a Genjutsu and she could only watch not interact.
She was so intrigued. She wanted to see what he had to show her, what he wanted her to understand.
She wanted to close her eyes. She knew that scene by heart, she had already lived it. But she didn't have the heart to.
There she was, watching little Sakura trying to keep Sasuke from running away from Konoha. Until he knocked her unconscious and put her on the bench. But he didn't leave right away. She saw him then. Watching her, with gentle eyes she had never seen before. She heard him say sorry… sorry ... I am sorry Sakura. She saw him put one of her locks behind her ear and smiled at her one last time.
She didn't know when the tears started to fall, but she let them. And she watched him turned his back on Konoha, their team, on her.
—
Then the scenery changed. It was still her little self, but 2 years later, some time after the beginning of her training with Lady Tsunade. She was looking at her training.
She felt a sudden chill on her spine recalling how it felt to have all her little bones broken, healed, broken then healed again. All of that to be stronger. All of that to not feel so helplessly useless in her team. To show everyone how strong a kunoichi can be. That she had her place in team 7 as much as Naruto and Sasuke had. All of that to prove everyone how wrong they were about her. That's why she had asked Lady Tsunade to train her. Women have to be strong in order to survive.
She didn't understand why he wanted her to see that. She knew all of that already. That is when it clicked. He had to be there that day. Otherwise, how could he have this memory? That is when she saw him, hiding in the shadow of a tree, far away from the training ground. But still here nonetheless. Watching her.
—
She didn't have time to think deeper about that, that the scene changed again. This time it was nighttime and she was at the hospital. It was the first time that Lady Tsunade let her operate alone on a patient. It was a minor surgery and Tsunade was beside her monitoring. But still she remembered the joy she had felt when she succeeded.
He must be somewhere if she saw that. And again, here he was, on the rooftop from the other building. But that is not what shocked her the most. It was the genuine smile that he had, gazing at her, watching her being crushed in one of Tsunade hug.
—
The next scene was the day the new team 7 encountered Sasuke at Orochimaru's hideout. She didn't forget what she felt when she saw him. How he called her. How her heart stopped when she heard him. He didn't look like the little boy that left them. He was more mature, tall and … dark… Sakura felt his dark aura when he gazed at them.
Just as before, her heart clenched. Sakura had felt it again the distance. The same distance that she had felt when she saw him that day. A new Sasuke that they weren't familiar with.
She wanted to scream when she saw him again lifting his katana near Naruto even though she knew what happened next.
But this scene was so different because it wasn't about what she was supposed to see from his point of view, but what he felt. She felt his dark aura, but she also felt it trembling like the wind. It was subtle, but it was there.
She understood that it was a way for him to show her that he somehow did feel something from the encounter with his previous team. His way to show her that deep down inside him, even if at the time he would have not believed it, he cared. He cared for them. But he was so caught up with his revenge that he didn't wanted to think about that furthermore.
And again, she watched him turn his back on them, on her.
—
She never knew what really happened. She only knew that Itachi had died by the hands of Sasuke. And now she watched them, face to face, brother against brother, the two last Uchiha with blood everywhere. She watched Itachi speaking to Sasuke, she watched Itachi doing a poke to Sasuke, watched him fell on the ground. She paid attention to the tears that fell of the face of the youngest and last Uchiha.
Sakura couldn't help herself crying harder. For him, for him the boy she loved, the boy that had to kill his brother. The one who had taken everything from him. The one who put him under such a strong genjutsu that they had to find Lady Tsunade. She watched the boy who had left Konoha succeeded in his revenge.
Why was she feeling so empty? And Sakura knew the answer and knew that it was Sasuke's feeling that she felt. She knew deep down inside her that that day a part of Sasuke died as well. That they will never retrieve the Sasuke they once knew.
—
It changed again. She was on the bridge. That bridge. Thinking about that day she thought how stupid it was to have thought she could have killed him. That she could have lived with that. But she was so tired at the time, so tired to feel the void in her heart. To not have been helpful when Naruto and the others failed to bring him back. Helpless to see the emptiness in Naruto eyes every time his name was said. And when Shikamaru and Saï had spoken to her, it was the last straw.
She knew back then that it was more likely that she was walking to her death. Perhaps her 17-year-old heart thought that she could do it, that she could end his suffering and hers as well. Sakura knew though, that even if she had succeeded, it would be the last thing she ever did.
Sakura didn't know when her tears began to be louder and stronger. She didn't know when she started sobbing like that. But through her tears she witnessed her attempt to stab him, his attempt to kill her before Naruto came. But this time she saw, she saw how his lips were trembling, how his eyes reflected his inner turmoil… Don't make me do it … don't make me kill you Sakura ... not you ...
She had felt it then, the regret, the hesitation, the remorse, but she saw the resignation as well in his eyes. I don't want to do it Sakura … but I need to do it… I need to break all my bonds... they only make me weaker.
She then watched him turn his back on them once again.
—
She was in the battlefield now. And here he was. The current Sasuke, walking towards her. With the same soft eyes that she had seen before.
She knew because she felt it, her body was fighting the genjutsu. So, she knew that she will wake up and that the fight between Naruto and Sasuke will be over soon. She just didn't know what the outcome will be. But Sakura had always been a positive person. So once last time she tried.
Sakura: Please … Sasuke-kun… don't do it. Don't fight each other. I am begging you! Please! I love you don't leave me,not again.
She was still crying from the previous things he made her watched, but now his face was so close to her, that she saw in his eyes, something she had never thought she will be able to see. Onyx eyes that she had longed to see again all these years when he wasn't there. Onyx eyes that were gazing at her now with fondness and what she could understand as love.
Sasuke: I am sorry Sakura. Tell them I am sorry too.
Sakura: Please, please… I can't lose you, or the both of you. Any of you! Don't do it. Please come back to Konoha with us. The war it's over. Come back home, with us, with me.
He was closer than ever now. She could feel his breath, saw all the emotion, the turmoil inside him. What he did had caught her off guard.
With his 2 fingers, he had poked her on her forehead right where her seal was. The same way Itachi did to him before dying.
It was the last thing she saw before opening her eyes to Kakashi gazing at her in the middle of the battlefield.
— END OF FLASHBACK —
She didn't know how long it passed since he asked the question.
Sakura: Maybe next time Kaka-sensei… I'll tell you another time, ne?
Kakashi felt it. The changed in the air. He knew it was a difficult topic for her, for them. But before he could say something, they were interrupted.
"Kakashi-sensei? Ugly? It's time. Everyone is searching for both of you".
Kakashi: We are coming Saï. Give us a few minutes.
Turning his head on his student, Kakashi let out a deep sigh.
Sakura: He is right. I did promise to Lady Tsunade that I will bring you on time. It would be bad omen for the future 6th Hokage to be late on his ceremony.
She chuckled. It was a rare occurrence since the end of the war 2 years ago. He wasn't even sure if she had truly smile, nor if he had had a genuine smile since then.
None of them spoke for a while, when Kakashi decided to break the silence.
Kakashi: I missed them too.
Sakura's heart clenched once again. She didn't trust herself to speak without crying. So, she said nothing and squeezed his hand.
—
After quite some time they both left the memorial of Konoha, where the names of the two people they loved the most were now engraved after they had held their last breath in the Valley of the End.
UZUMAKI NARUTO
Beloved friend, lover, brother,
Hero of Konoha.
UCHIHA SASUKE
Beloved friend, lover, brother,
Hero of Konoha.
— END —