Leave a light on..
Summary: When Sasuke left to Orochimaru to seek power, Sakura took it upon herself to get stronger, but she always left that light on just in case Sasuke came back. sasuXsaku one-shot
Hope this idea interest some of you o so R & R
inner sakura
'thoughts'
Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto
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Sakura's POV
The night when Sasuke-kun left will always be clear in my mind. I can never forget how he left to seek power and how he had said "Thank you" to me.
There he stood,ready to leave in front of the gate. I had cried, telling him that I loved him and to take me with him. But all he did was appearing behind me. "Thank you" was all he said before he knocked me unconscious and placed me on a park bench.
The next night, I left a light on for him. I remember when I was younger, my parents would always tell me to leave a light on for them so they could find their way home. As I got older, I remember telling them to leave a light on for me; I was always being held up with missions. From that night on, I left a light on for my Sasuke-kun so he can find his way back to us, to me.
I remember when Shikamaru's team came back near death. Failed to bring Sasuke-kun back, back to Konoha, to me. It had scared me that someone like Sasuke-kun would do that. Looking over to Naruto and seeing all his injuries, I believe my Sasuke-kun could not have inflicted them.
Ever since that day I took it upon myself to become stronger for he would no longer be there to save me. With Naruto in the hospital and Kakashi-sensei overloaded with missions due to of the lack of shinobis, I was on my own. How can I become stronger?
The day I decided to go to the training ground on my own and train marked the beginning of the change in my life. I hadn't notice them watching me. I went there everyday from 6:30 in the morning to train 'til 3 in the afternoon. They watched me train for countless days; running laps round Konoha, push ups, sit ups, reading scrolls, dealing with weapons. I had tried my best to become strong. What had attracted them to me so much was that chakra control of mine. That perfect chakra control.
One day, I went to train as usual. On that particular day, they had revealed themselves. They had been watching me train everyday. For one of the two, it was also an excuse to get out of the paper work that would pile up on her desk. Yes, it was Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, and Shizune-san. Tsunade-sama became my new sensei, my shisou, she taught me how to become a medic-nin. In my quest for power and knowledge, I surpassed Shizune-san within four years; people even say I'm even as strong as Tsunade-sensei herself. Shisou had taught me more then just medic skills, she had also taught me taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu.
It has been five years since my Sasuke-kun left, three years since my parents died on a mission to the Sound. Even so, that light remains on in my house, waiting for Sasuke-kun to return to me. All my friends had asked me why that light is always on in my house. I simply answered 'to help find the way'. No one understood, not even Naruto, they all shrugged their shoulders and ignored it. At one point, Ino had threatened to sneak into my house at night and turn it off if I didn't give her a decent answer, but I just shrugged and gave her the same answer.
Present day five years after Sasuke left Konoha
The water felt so nice on my aching muscles as I soaked them in my bathtub, my training today with my shisou was much harder then usual, but nothing I couldn't handle. The scent of Cherry blossoms filled my bathroom, I flicked some bubbles in my bath. It had been five years since Sasuke-kun left, but it's not like I was counting, or that is at least what I told myself. I couldn't get caught up in that again. I was supposed to meet Naruto, Ino, Shikamaru, Hinata, Tenten, Kiba and Chouji at Ichikaru in fifteen minutes. There were some more people, like Neji, Lee and Shino, but they were all on A rank mission.
Reaching into my closet I pulled out my typical outfit that I wore everyday since Tsunade became my sensei. She had made me change my clothing so that I find it easier to move. I still wore my black spandex underneath my white loose Capri's. It reminded me of how far I'd come. Next came my red t-shirt; it was just like the outfit I used to wear except that it was cut into a sleeveless t-shirt with the circle on the back. My hair grew a little but I liked it at my shoulders with my hitai-ate still on top of my head. I was a Jounin and loved every minutes of it. It proved that I could become stronger. I even beat Ino in becoming one, but of course she still had her parents to go home to last year to comfort her about not becoming a Jounin, where I had no one to congratulate me and say how wonderful I did.
Locking up my parent's house I attached the key chain securely onto my sandals. Looking at the time, I still had another ten minutes so I kept a slow pace while admiring how much Konoha had changed. The Hokage Mountain now had my Shisou's face in it, next to the Fourth Hokage's. I snapped out of my thoughts as the number one loudest Jounin yelled my name.
"SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto was at his spot in Ichikaru. I smiled at him. After all these years, he still add that suffix after my name even though his feelings for me had changed now that he's happy with Hinata. In fact, I think all my friends have their someone; Ino with Shikamaru, Tenten with Lee though I don't know why she chose Lee over Neji, but hey, it's not like it was my decision.
"Konnichiwa Naruto-san" I sat next to him. Tenten and Lee were already there chatting away, like the couple they are but had stopped to greet me, and Ino and Shikamaru, who were just behind me.
"Hey forehead-girl, wait up!" Ino and I kept those silly names just for fun, though I also believe she does it for my sake. It was what we called each other when Sasuke-kun was still around.
When everyone arrived, we happily ordered some ramen. While we waited for the ramen to cook, we continued to chat. "Is Kakashi back from his mission yet?" Hinata asked when we got onto the topic of our senseis and some of their silly habits.
"No. Not yet, but I hear he went on an escort mission, an A-rank. I wonder who the person is." I stopped and thought, who would be so important that they would make it an A-rank mission, Kages were usually escorted by ANBUs so it must be someone slightly lower than them.
Once again Naruto snapped me out of my thoughts when I felt some of his broth hit my face. Wiping it off I looked down to see my shrimp ramen. "Ikidakimasu" I said snapping the chopsticks in half and began to eat.
Once we had finished the Naruto was the only one left with his typical- 'I know I have that coupon somewhere'. He kept refusing Hinata's offer to pay, saying he knows he has it somewhere. I smiled at the cute couple. All of a sudden, I felt like a third wheel like I always would, except when I'm around all my friends I'm normally the seventh wheel. Tenten had tried to get me to date Neji once, so that both of us wouldn't be alone but for some reason I just can't.
"Haruno-san." Sakura turned around to see a ninja she knows quite well who worked for the Hokage.
"What is it Kurokara-san?"
"Hokage-sama wishes to speak with you at the Hokage mountain, (don't remember what it's called but the place with all the hokage faces) come as soon as you can." Then Kurokara-san disappeared in a poof like all the other jounins do.
Ino nodded at me not expecting anything big. Shisou had always requested for my help or for some other reasons; once she had even got me to do some of that paper work.
"Well, I will see you later." I waved them goodbye and I was off at a leisurely pace, or at least for a ninja, jumping from roof to roof. Soon I could see a clear outline of their faces. I knew this very mountain well, not just because I see it everyday when I'm not on missions but because every time I go by with Naruto-san, he would say his face will be the next to be carved there.
I could hear my shisou even though I still have quite a distance 'til I reach her. She was yelling at some poor chuunin who works with her, apparently they were klutzes who had ruined a stack of papers that Tsunade had just finished. As I landed beside her, she dismissed them and turned her full attention to me.
"Ah, right on time Sakura." her face turned serious again as the wind blew, placing strands of her golden hair across her face. "The rumours of Orochimaru's defeat have been plaguing my office for a bit. I would like to send a group of ANBUs to investigate it, but I need some medic-nins to accompany them."
Sakura smiled "So you would like me and some others to go with them?" My shisou nodded her head slightly.
"Yes, I would like some of your more advance medic-nins to go, however, I wish for you to stay behind. Some ninja spies of ours from the Grass are returning and most of them are fatally injured. We had sent a group of jounins to retrieve them. I would like you to go to the hospital and prepare for some quick and major surgeries and repairings."
I furrowed my eyebrows in disappointment. I wanted to go and investigate for he was the man who took him away from me...Sasuke-kun. But maybe she knows better, after all I do have the best chakra control in konoha, and I have a lot of it.
"I understand, I'll go right away. Some medic-nins will be here within an hour." I bowed respectfully then headed towards that clean 'jail' that I have spend most of my life in, or at least that I what I believe.
As I had promised, four Medic Nin's were out the door of the hospital and headed towards the Hokage. I had also prepared for the large amount of casualties that would come my way, but first I made my daily rounds, checking on some patients then made sure we had enough rooms for the shinobis that were to come. Today would be a long day, that was for sure. The day was barely half over since I had lunch with the others. A wave of envy swept through me as I thought of them running around in the fresh air and doing missions that were much more exciting. Why did I have to become such a great medical ninja? But alas there was no time to dwell on it as I heard the front doors slide open and the sounds of many feet running towards the front counter yelling about the injured. They stopped momentarily before they began to run into my direction.
I look at the injured and quickly judge their injuries from life threatening to the least, then I quickly assigned some doctors and nurses to the patients as I take some of the others quickly into the O.R. Quickly performing the chakra scalpel with one hand and a healing tissue one with the other and cure the Shinobi's worst injuries; slicing here and there, then heal the rest. I could hear some nurses outside evaluating more patients as they find somewhere to put them and heal some of their minor injuries. The sound of his heart is starting to slow. "Come on," I quickly heal him back together.
The next patient seemed to undergo some form of torture; their whole right hand's bones where shattered, their was a giant cut along his arm where mass amounts of blood was leaking out, a slice of his earlobe was cut off, both wrists where twisted at funny angles -obviously broken- four ribs where broken, an eye was stabbed, more blood leaking out. His left ankle was broken, along with three of his toes in the same condition as his hand.
I perform the necessary hand seals and begin the place the shattered remnants of his hand back together, if he's lucky he'll be able to use it again like before, if not…. I dared not to think about it as I moved to the next finger. The sad thing was that I still heard of other patients coming in with more injuries. How many are there? If they were spies, then why was there so many injured?
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Normal POV
By the time Sakura left the hospital, it was nine thirteen. It was hard to believe she had spent eight hours in there, healing all of them. It appears that a group of shinobis had come across the spies and the Jounin that had gone to retrieve them, and so, all of them were ambushed. Five of them died before they reached the hospital, another three died while being treated, and ten lay in the hospital barely alive.
Pulling the long forgotten key out of her shoe, Sakura unlocked the door and turned on the living room's light on low, and planned to head straight upstairs to the bathroom to have a quick shower before going to bed. However, Sakura was sure she wouldn't be able to stay awake during the process of her shower and the idea of drowning due to falling asleep in the shower didn't appease her. Brushing her teeth quickly, Sakura then fell face first down on to her bed completely exhausted without changing her clothing. She was asleep by the time her head hit the pillow. The only advantage of being a medical ninja over normal ones was on normal days, they start their day later; eight o'clock instead of six-thirty. Her dreams were filled with pleasant scenery, joyful days without treating gruesome injuries and living happily, which were far from the reality of her life, but hey a girl can dream, can't she?
Sakura was woken up, unfortunately, from the sound of her alarm clock beeping at her to get out of bed and on with her day. Reaching over to hit the snooze button, Sakura remembered moving the alarm clock to the other side of the room so she would have to get up to turn it off; that annoying loud beeping. Rolling over to the right side of her bed, Sakura pushed herself onto her knees and crawled to the door hitting the button on her alarm clock. Gradually standing up she looked in the mirror to see how messy she actually was. Her hair seemed to go in every direction imaginable, even up. She had a make up smeared at all sides, and giant bags underneath her eyes indicating just how tired she still was. Dragging herself towards the bathroom, she closed the door and turned on the water adjusting the right temperature. Pulling up the clip on her tap, the water sprayed out her shower head. It was definitely a shower morning; she would fall asleep if she were to take a bath. Waiting for the water to reach the desired temperature, she climbed in after the last article of her clothing was removed. The cold water hit her first, waking her up in a burst of cold, and gradually she turned up the heat until she was all warm and clean.
Wrapping a towel around her wet body, she walked out with the towel tucked securely around her breasts and under her arms. Going downstairs, she walked into the kitchen to heat up some food. Since she was the only one who lived in this house, Sakura walked around in a towel a lot, she just had to make sure that the drapes were closed so people wouldn't be able to peep in. Pulling out some food from her fridge she began to chop it up, then diverted her attention to the rice cooker and placed some rice and water in it. Once the preparations were done, she returned to her room to get changed while her food was cooking. Due to the pleasant weather Sakura switched to a pair of white shorts instead of wearing my normal Capri's, they reminded her of Sasuke-kun's, but she didn't have time to dwell on him again, else her food would burn.
The street was starting to fill up with people as Sakura locked her door and headed out into the street. Tsunade-shisou said that she couldn't train her today because of missions and too much paper work that had to be finished by the end of the day. Sakura figured she could train herself today. A man passed her on the street, just another person, but he tapped her shoulder when he saw the pink hair; it was a trait she had that wasn't easily forgotten. It seemed that when she was younger and when team seven was still whole, they had helped him with a D rank mission.
"Did you hear the news?" Sakura turned and looked at him in confusion.
"News?" He pulled out a newspaper from his coat and handed it to her showing her the front article on the page. Sakura read it out loud. "Orochimaru Defeated! Sound's end?" Sakura looked up to see him smile and walked away.
"Sir what about your paper?" Sakura called after him, but he just waved and told her she should read the rest of the article.
Sakura walked down the street reading the article intently as it went on telling about his fall, 'Orochimaru's newest body, Uchiha Sasuke, had killed the Sannin three days ago. The village of Sound was conquered yesterday by the Sand, Leaf and Falls as they found his body rotting away in his chambers. Yakushi Kabuto's body was found next to his also in the same state. Although the Uchiha had killed them, he was found no where near the scene but foot prints were found leading away from the complex, towards the mist.' Sakura stopped reading, a wave happiness over came her at hearing the fact that Sasuke was still alive, and had killed their number one threat, but after reading this she knew what he would be doing now- hunting down Itachi. He must have received a lead, what else would make him go to the mist?
Reaching the glade of Cherry Blossom trees, Sakura decided to start off with just a simple meditation, but all she could do was think about Sasuke. Would he come back afterwards? No. He wouldn't, why would he waste his time here? He probably has found someone else out there that is his special someone. Why would he want to come back here? Unconsciously, a teardrop fell from her closed eyes as she opened them slowly, her jade eyes holding a glossy look. Sighing briefly Sakura stood up, she had to get her mind off it, how would she train with all these things running through her head. Then the thought hit her. Just because he killed Orochimaru doesn't mean he will be able to kill his brother. A queasy uneasiness was felt in the pit of her stomach. Sasuke will totally defeat him! HELL YA! Inner Sakura screamed giving Sakura a bit more confidence, it didn't matter if she was just trying to cheer her up, it was the thought that counted.
Going straight into some push ups and sit ups, Sakura easily did the 500 without really thinking about it. Doing some hand seals, Sakura did the jutsu she made herself. "Sakura: Bunshin no Jutsu" Two clones appeared, made out of cherry blossoms. They were just like Naruto's kage bunshin but had her own unique touch. "Taijutsu" Sakura said as they both speed away concealing themselves. This is how she trained; creating her own clones then picking what type of way she wanted to fight, and then she would fight with her own clones which were around the same level as her.
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After fulfilling her shift at Konoha's hospital, it was late. Lately she was being assigned the night shifts, it wasn't like it really mattered; most of what she did were checking on the patients and healing any that would come in. Of course the night shift was much less busy then the day but you still had some people coming. "Room 126-B, Urataki Kiro" Looking up the stairs Sakura ascended from the bottom floor- she preferred walking up the stairs then taking the elevator, it helped her from feeling lazy.
It appeared that Hiro had been doing some last minute house repairs while the sun was still out, and had accidentally injured a major muscle in his arm. "Was a saw the cause of this injury?" He nodded when she looked up from reading over the paper on her clipboard. Green Chakra was now over his wound as Sakura cured him, she slowly put the muscle back together then moving the skin where she patched it up, not leaving hint of a scar.
"You can go at any time but take it easy, and stop when it starts to get dark, okay?"
"Of course," he replied getting up from the bed and walked over to the elevator.
Walking down the streets Sakura looked ahead seeing in the distance, her familiar light on while the rest of the area were pit black apart from the street lights. Looking at the gate she couldn't sense his chakra and a sad smile crept onto her face.
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He stared down at the dead body. His own blood mixed with his as it covered the ground. Finally, he was dead; all that was left was to bring back the glory that was once the Uchiha clan. Her words rang through his head once again as they had did all through out the time that he had left Konoha- "I love you, don't leave me". That look on her face had haunted him as well, he promised himself that once his revenge was done he would go back and try to make up for that look; the way her tear stained face pleaded with him to stay. It kept him going, he wasn't allowed to give up. He will apologized, and never let her feel that pain ever again. He just hoped he wasn't too late.
Sasuke forced his tired muscles and sleep deprived body onwards. He had to return to Konoha now that he was through with that bastard Orochimaru. He would not allow himself not to make it, he was now the final Uchiha.
After about five hours of travelling as fast as his body would let him, he finally saw those gigantic gates. He knew that she would be on the other side. The village was pitch black with the exception of the streetlights and all people were asleep. It was late, around two in the morning, he knew no one would be up. Getting through the gates easily without detection, Sasuke walked towards his old house, the one his parents were murdered in. It felt great knowing that he was finally dead, that his duty as an avenger was not for nothing.
Up ahead a light was on, Sasuke couldn't tell what house it was, but he found it odd that just one light was on in all of Konoha. Shouldn't it be off? Going to investigate, Sasuke found himself getting closer and closer to the bubble gum haired Kunoichi that he had left behind, and in her he also left part of him behind. He stopped outside the house seeing that indeed it was her house; just like her, it stood out from all the others. Sasuke was about to continue on to his house to get the needed sleep and shower that he desired, but his legs didn't move in that direction. Instead they went up her stairs and to her front door. His fist went hesitantly to the door. It had been five years, and showing up at this time just didn't seem right. Finally listening to what his mind had been saying earlier, he walked back down the steps and left her property, but not before stopping at looking at the light one last time. Just then, a familiar chakra was approaching him from behind and Sasuke slowly turned around to see…
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Sakura pulled the key out of her shoe and started to approach her house, but not before seeing a figure standing in front of it. IF IT'S INO-PIG I'M GOING TO KILL HER But her body was too tired to care, Sakura continued forward to face the stranger. The figure turned around and in the moonlight Sakura saw his face.
"S-Sasuke-kun?" She choked out as he stood right in front of her house facing her. 'It has to be a dream, this isn't real.' Her hand that held the key started to shake slightly at seeing his beautiful face staring back at her. He had defiantly matured over the years; his face was nicely shaped, he looked like a man who had seen many things in his life. His long raven locks looked almost like Itachi's with its length, although it was not tied back.
He turned around fully to get a good look at Sakura. If you thought she was cute when she was young then this woman in front of him would be deemed beautiful, and she probably had a fan club twice the size of his. Her shoulder length pink hair swayed slightly in the warm breeze and her still bright green eyes stared at his in shock. He noticed the change in clothing that fitted her curves perfectly, making nothing seem overly larger or small.
"Sakura." Sasuke acknowledged.
In truth he was surprised she was still out, and especially in clothing that wouldn't keep her warm at all. On the side of her arm, almost impossible to miss, Sasuke saw the ANBU mark tattooed into her skin.
Sasuke's eyes widened. He had never imaged Sakura would be an ANBU, especially at her age. His face softened as he slowly approached her. Sakura's face turned into a smile when he finally stopped.
"I left the light on for you, and it did help you find you way back." Sasuke was surprised, he had expected his return to have more of an effect on her, she had definitely matured.
"Sakura, thank you." Sakura's hand was shaking even more now, from the cold and the shock.
"For what?" He took another step forward so he was barely a step away from stepping on her foot.
"Your words. They helped me get through those days and motivated me to come back." Sakura face flushed pink, was he really saying this? "And I'm sorry for knocking you unconscious, I'm sorry for everything I've done to you."
His face inched closer to hers and Sakura could feel his breath on her lips, as her face turned a much darker shade of red. Next thing she knew his lips were on hers. HELL YEAH! IF THIS IS A DREAM I'M NOT WAKING UP! Sakura kissed him back and their kiss deepened, it was no longer the innocent kiss it started to be. It grew passionate as Sasuke nibbled her lip to seek access to her mouth. Sakura gladly obliged and his tongue roamed her mouth savouring the taste of her mouth, he felt drunk of her and his pain forgotten. Breaking apart for air, Sakura stared at him in a daze.
"Sasuke-kun...I-" But he silenced her, placing his finger over her sweet lips.
"Sakura, I-I love you. I've wanted to tell you for a while now. Do you still feel the same way?" He stared down at the beautiful woman awaiting her answer.
"Of course Sasuke-kun, my feelings for you have never faltered." She went to kiss him again but he pulled back.
"Say that you love me, tell me those words." Sakura was utterly surprised, was this really Sasuke? He had never showed this much emotion before, never. But it was way too late for anyone to be playing a practical joke.
"Sasuke I love you, I always have, and I always will." She smiled. Her lips were immediately crushed by his as he kissed her hungrily. Their tongues then clashed, battling to win. Sasuke had heard all he wanted from her, and all the emotion he had held back from the very beginning was flowing out into these kisses. Feeling her heated skin against his, Sasuke couldn't help but get caught up in the emotions. He moaned her name as he started to kiss her jaw line then down her neck.
"Sasuke lets go inside." Sakura managed to spill out, and he pick her up bridal style caring her up the steps. Meanwhile, his conscious commented with a sly grin, 'and you where going to leave.'
Easily finding the key hole, Sakura opened the door and Sasuke kicked the door close behind them. His onslaught of chaste kisses over her skin slowly made their way back up to her lips. Placing her down on the couch, Sasuke continued kissing her knowing that she was his and only his.
Finally, Sakura could turn off the light. She no longer needed to wait for him to return from his revenge. Her Sasuke-kun was back, and it was all that mattered.
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So what did you think?
A special thanks to my editor Yufin-Valentine for editing this whole thing - and for all those who read my other fic Arranged Meetings, you'll be glad to know that the chapter is almost completely written!