Disclaimers: No, I don't own Naruto.
The whole chapter is about Sasuke-kun's take of the story.
When the Snow Melts..
Chapter V
Eschar
It's been years since the former missing nin, Uchiha Sasuke has returned to Konoha, around four years to be exact. After having his revenge and ending his vendetta by killing Uchiha Itachi, his older brother, he returned to Konoha in hope to continue where his life left off.
There were friends who despite everything he had said and done, welcomed him as a comrade once again, even the Hokage, as powerful as she was, settled for a three hour sermon about revenge, trust and loyalty to the village instead of passing punishment such as death, as the ebony haired shinobi expected.
However, in the midst of all the warm welcome of his return to his native land, he noticed that something was amiss. The candy haired shinobi who once followed him everywhere like a love sick puppy, who had declared undying proclamations of love at any given time, who had annoyed him to no end was nowhere in sight.
As much as he would like to deny it, she was the person he was looking forward to meeting again. How she would react to his return, if she would be angry or happy, if she would still accept him or if she had finally woke up to reality and found another man.
He hoped that it was not the last option that has come to be.
He had come to the conclusion that as annoying as she was, she was still his teammate. She was family. And at the back of his mind, with all her declarations of love for him, he had claimed her as his.
Upon noticing that she had not made any move to speak to him or even grace him with her presence, a very irritating one at that, he managed to ask nonchalantly about her location and her welfare to the sun haired shinobi who declared himself as his best friend. Not that he bothered correcting him anyway, since they both know that it was actually the truth.
Azure eyes turned glassy at the question, even adding to Sasuke's confusion. Now that he thought about it, not a single soul in the village mentioned a pin about the emerald eyed kunoichi. His question was answered by Naruto's sadly spoken words.
"Follow me..."
They moved through the village in silence, eliciting the stares of many who were practically amazed since no sound of argument whatsoever could be heard from the two. Sasuke did not even notice that they have stopped moving, and that they were in the middle of the village standing in front of, to his disbelief, the Konoha Memorial Stone, where the names of those who valiantly fought under the leaf and died for its sake were carved in everlasting memoriam.
He looked at his companion, waiting for an explanation, for his stubborn mind was not able to make the connection between the answer to his question and as to why they were here. Having heard nothing but Naruto's soft breathing, he swallowed the lump in his throat and stepped forward. Charcoal eyes scanned through the hundreds of names before stopping to rest at a single one, carved just like the others but something else about it stood out, perhaps, the name itself.
Haruno Sakura
It was like a huge bolt of lightning struck, burning his hopes of seeing her again. He did not understand, he could not understand. He dug in his mind a certain scene, nearly five years ago when he was in the territory of the country of Water.
Flashback
The moon was hiding behind clouds; darkness covered the lands, bathing it in an ominous aura. A lone figure stood beside a tree, a hand resting on the cold trunk while the other grasped his now bleeding wound at the stomach.
He was simply passing by the territory when a whole platoon of Mist ANBU spotted him. His name was known in all the countries and he was wanted in all of the Konohagakure no Seto's allies. Mist was no exception. His eyes gave it away, red commas swirling in a sea of black-Sharingan.
He had managed to wound all of them and escape, but not without being inflicted with several wounds himself. If someone had discovered him at his current state right now, death will surely come for him.
No sound was made, but he had felt a weak chakra, which disappeared immediately in a Genjustsu, coming towards him. He had been face to face with death so many times that the fear of it, as all humans harbored, has perished. More importantly, his mission since he was but a child of avenging his whole clan was finally achieved, making his cling to life relatively weaker.
He had closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable to pass. Sensing a presence a few feet away from him, he had opened his midnight eyes splashed crimson to stare at a single person.
Roseate hair was tied up in a messy bun by a pair of chopsticks, a white mask with blue swirls was covering her face form view. She was dressed in a black cheongsam which reached her thighs with black spandex underneath. Moonlight peeked behind the clouds illuminating the figure. Light reflected from a leaf forehead protector tied on her right arm. His eyes squinted at the patch of skin above it, stained with a tattoo he knew so well- ANBU.
He had smirked inwardly, thinking that fate was so dramatic, that it had somehow destined that an ANBU, from his own village will finish him off, and a person similar to certain young woman who he had left there years ago. Somehow, in his chaotic mind, he couldn't help but think that she might actually be that person, how many people with pink hair did he meet in hi journey anyway? She was the only one.
The figure's hands moved towards her pouch, grasping something inside. He assumed it was a weapon and placed his body in a defensive stance. With a movement so swift, an object was hurled towards him and with his shinobi skills he caught it with his left hand.
'Peppermint?'
He stared at the object that he had assumed that was a weapon which smelled of herbs.
He moved his eyes again to the other person, surprised that her back was turned towards him, walking in the direction that she came from.
"Aren't you going to kill me?"
He heard himself speak.
Silence washed over them and without facing him, she spoke without any inflection.
"Are you in a hurry to die, missing nin?"
He did not say anything to that and still kept his gaze on her back, unmoving.
"I did not come here for you, Sasuke."
And with a puff of smoke, she was gone, leaving a bewildered Uchiha Sasuke staring off in the darkness.
End of Flashback
But that could not be her. She was gone. She was dead.
Sasuke's hands had somehow landed on Naruto's collar, tugging on it. The cobalt eyed man had his eyes cast downward, refusing to meet Sasuke's onyx orbs.
"What happened? How did this happen?"
His voice was dangerously soft, but the expression of his face, pure anger seemed to contradict with it.
"You weren't even going to tell me until I asked?"
Bangs covered Naruto's eyes and he still remained silent despite the tightening grasp on his collar.
"You were going to leave it in the dark?"
Sasuke's voice had become louder, deep baritone slicing in the silence of the afternoon. He abruptly let go off Naruto, who staggered a bit backwards.
"I lost her Sasuke."
Naruto's eyes were fixed at the cherry blossoms grove, which were now the color reminiscent of someone's candy colored locks as spring had come. He breathed a sigh before continuing.
"Around five years back, we were given a mission near the border of Fire country."
Naruto's eyes were closed, as he tried to remember the details of what has transpired years ago.
Flashback
The mission had gone completely wrong, the information that was given to the Leaf was a hoax, a trap. Their platoon of four was ambushed by more than fifty renegade Ame jounins who were planning on ousting the Godaime Hokage from her position of power.
During the commotion, the party was split up, with Shikamaru and Kiba battling in the front, clearing the route of escape, while Sakura and Naruto were behind, eliminating the other shinobi who were following in pursuit.
Naruto had a deep gash on his left leg, making even a single movement painful. He had refused the help of the Kyuubi in favor of his comrades, even though he had gotten use of the beast residing within the confines of his body, the rambunctious and unpredictable nature of the fox was yet to be trusted. Which is why at that moment, he was fending off his opponents with a huge disadvantage.
Sakura wasn't in a better condition than he was, at least Naruto's chakra was still beyond normal. Due to the arduous task of healing her teammates and her own wounds that she had, her chakra was becoming dangerously low. It would be near impossible now to heal the deep cut on her left shoulder blade and Naruto's gash without her chakra level going zero. And what was worse even, her physical stamina was nearing its limit, they have been fighting for almost seven hours non stop. But all was not lost for they only had five enemy shinobi left.
A high pitched cry from Sakura, due to a stab wound on her stomach distracted Naruto from everything else.
"Sakura-chan!"
He did not even see the katana that was zooming towards him, aimed towards his chest.
It was like it happened in slow motion. True to the skill and speed of an ANBU shinobi caliber and the loyalty and love of a true friend, Sakura had jumped in front of Naruto, taking the blow herself. It had pierced her side in a clean swoosh, splattering her crimson blood on Naruto's ANBU uniform. The fates may have decided it was her time for Sakura, after getting hit had fallen off the cliff, into the thundering waves of the sea below.
"Sakura!"
A growl echoed, alerting Shikamaru and Kiba that something awful has taken place. Clear blue eyes had turned the color of blood and appropriately so, for the Kyuubi vessel's bloodlust was yet to be satisfied. His emotions had set the legendary fox free, eradicating all the enemy shinobi in a frenzy resulting in pools of blood and dismembered bodies.
When his senses came back later, his other companions were above him, Akamaru was howling as if in pain and Kiba's face was reflecting anger and sorrow. Shikamaru's eyes which were usually lazy had an emotion of melancholy in them. But other than that, another feeling was showing more strongly-guilt.
He had tried to piece together all the occurrences during that day. The hoax, the ambush, the Ame nin, his wounds, Sakura.
An inhuman scream, drenched in pain boomed in the forest.
He had run towards the cliff where she had fallen, looking for any signs of life. Seeming to make up his mind, he was about to jump downwards to look for her when he was stopped by Kiba's strong grasp.
"Let go off me, Kiba! Sakura-chan needs me! What if she gets a fever! Or a cold! She's down there somewhere, I have to help her!"
He was squirming from Kiba's grasp who at the moment was looking at Shikamaru, pleading silently for help.
Shikamaru looked as tired as ever as evidenced by the lines under his eyes which were clearly showing.
"Naruto, she's gone. There are many sharp rocks below, and with the height of this place, the force of the fall would be too great for anyone to survive."
"You don't know what you're talking about! She's strong and she's down there somewhere! Sakura-chan, I'm coming, hold on!"
Naruto was becoming hysterical by the moment, blocking out everything-noise, sounds, reality.
Usually, Nara Shikamaru would never resort to physical violence, the thinker that he was. But at the moment, emotions were getting the better of him, and the nightmare that was this mission the crap that it was seemed to bring him to his boiling point.
A well aimed punch to the jaw by Shikamaru brought Naruto out of his stupor.
"You think I'd let her die Naruto! Do you! Do you think I'll just let my friend die if I think she's still there! I've gone down the cliff to check! She's not there!
Normally, Shikamaru would never raise his voice, but at the moment, nothing else but Sakura mattered. When he saw that Naruto had come launched to a killing frenzy, he had come to a conclusion that Sakura had gotten hurt badly or worse. But when he saw a blue ribbon floating in the waters below, his worse fears were realized.
His voice was softer when he spoke again.
"It's all my fucking fault. I should have made sure that the mission was real. It was.."
"It's my fault. She saved me. Sakura-chan saved me."
Naruto had finally calmed down. Tears were flowing from his eyes, as everything finally sunk in.
Shikamaru placed the blue ribbon in Naruto's hands, which the latter held tightly against his chest.
"If there was someone to blame, it's me..me.."
Naruto's voice drifted off as he surrendered to his bodily protests of slumber.
Godaime Hokage, Tsunade was outraged by the mission report. Haruno Sakura was more than just her apprentice, she was like her daughter. She had refused to drink sake for weeks and simply locked herself in the office. Despite the small number of available shinobi, she had secretly sent out shinobi to look for her protégé, most of the volunteers were her friends and other shinobi that she had healed. To her dismay, along with the rest of them, their efforts were fruitless. After nearly two years of searching, she had declared her dead and her name was carved in the Memorial stone with the rest of those who had died protecting and serving the Hidden Village of Konoha.
End of Flashback
Sasuke had listened silently to Naruto before walking off alone.
The topic of Haruno Sakura was never breached again by both friends, since memories of her brought out pain, guilt and sadness.
Uchiha Sasuke lived his life in Konoha as an ANBU like Uzumaki Naruto. As it was expected, he never mingled with anyone else except for the golden haired man, only going out to train early in the morning to return late in the evening, or in missions.
Some say he could be spotted in front of the memorial, with a branch of cherry blossoms as an offering to his departed female teammate.
He had lived his life as he expected to be, without barriers, with freedom and without the presence of the ever annoying girl. He had accepted his fate that he would one day die, without seeing her face again.
The mission to track down Mizutani Kazumi and the group of missing nin had been one of his missions, like the others where he would stake his life for the sake of his country.
Just like the others which he would finish with his expertise in combat.
He never expected that the world, his world would turn upside down with a single word.
"Kai."
It was the word that shattered the illusion to reveal lovely flowing roseate hair and glowing emerald eyes that haunted his dreams. He hasn't confirmed her identity yet but deep in his soul he knew that it was her. The annoying little girl who used to follow him everywhere.
She had changed so much ever since he last saw her. Her jade eyes no longer showed happiness and love, it burned deep with hatred and sorrow. Somehow, the look in her eyes reminded him of something. It was the same look he saw in his orbs when he looked at the mirror, born out of vengeance and ill fate.
He had watched her fight, she was no longer the weak little girl they had to protect. She was no longer the warm dainty blossom they had to handle with care. She was frozen to the core, having almost no emotions except for anger, hatred and sadness.
Just
Like
Him.
Though he'd never admit it, he can't help but feel guilty with what happened previously. He had left for power to avenge his clan, giving her wounds that would never heal, scars that would never fade. Even the annoying amber eyed Ryuuzaki brat had told him so.
It was the painful truth.
He felt responsible for what happened, just as much as Naruto was.
And now, as he gazed at her sleeping, fatigued figure held protectively by her so called brother in law, he made a silent promise to himself.
'I won't fail to protect you again.'
Notes:
Poor Naruto-kun. That's why he was so fricking guilty about Sakura-chan's "death" if you can call it that.
There, I hope that was a mind clearer! Hope Sasuke-kun wasn't to out of character.
As mentioned, done completely in Sasuke-kun's view.
Next chapter is done in Sakura-chan's POV. Probably what happened between her and Yukito. It's probably going to be really long and I might have to break it in half.
Oh and for those who were wondering, eschar means charcoal. Like Uchiha-kun's eyes and hair:)
Reviews are welcome!
Arigatou gozaimasu for reading!