Shiro-chan presents…

A place called home

Edited by Yunique

Inspired by my 9thgrade English class' study topic – home

Disclaimer: Seriously if I own Naruto, what am I doing here writing stuff like this?

Summary: Sasuke woke up to find himself back in Konoha again. But will the memories of his past leave him in peace? Will he forgive himself for his sins? SasuSaku

19th February – 21st February (Australian timeline)

He stared blankly at the white ceiling. How many times have I been here? He asked himself. He was once again badly beaten, his muscles ached at every movement he made, his mind shattered every time he thought of what had happened.

It was loud, the voices in his head, screaming out, crying, begging him to snap out of it. Yet he didn't, he continued, he continued hurting her, them. His sword slashed, his blood thirst rose to the level which he could no longer control. The black marks surrounded him. Engulfing him in darkness, the same cold darkness which he despised. But, at the same time. It was the same cold dark road which he chose.

It wasn't until he did it; he finally let out his rage. His thirst for strength had plummeted through a source of light inside him. It was then that he realized he had just did it, his betrayal was official. His teammate's eyes were no longer shining brightly; the dull color was that of his world, her face held a weak smile, one which didn't suit her.

His sword plunged through her body, her hands slowly, weakly lifted up. Her soft hands covered in blood caressed his face, merely whispering. He could hear her, perfectly. The sound of her sweet voice once again rang through his ears. It had been a while.

'Sa…ku…ra' he merely whispered as he realized what had just happened. His thirst disappeared along with the feeling of revenge. Her hands dropped along with her body.

Her head dropped upon his shoulder as she whispered something which was over used and had no value back in their Genin days. Yet this time, it carried something which he could not point out. He used to think it was annoying, everything about her was annoying. She was weak, she was useless, yet she was valuable.

Her words were valuable, he thanked her for that. She was the only one whom had offered him a place, a place which he could stay and could no longer feel the burden of his life, or even his revengeful goal. But at the same time, he was afraid of that place, it would take away his morals in life. Therefore he ran, leaving nothing but words of gratitude. Although, he never said good bye to the place, it meant he would return back someday…someday. But this time, under the influence of powers that wasn't his, he pierced through that place. He pierced through her heart.

He once again closed his eyes, and threw off the thoughts. He was once again in the hospital, the same one. He hated the place, he despised the place. It was a nightmare. Memories he wished he would forget kept flashed back.

Happy ones that made him sad, sad ones which made him miserable. Staring at the black ceiling, he stared blankly, at his old self, crying in the ceiling; he hated himself for being weak, but now he hated himself even more for being strong.

Closing his eyes, he forced himself to sleep, repeating the same lines, the same words. Running away, he once again sleeps, hoping that every thing was a dream, or even a fragment of his imagination.

----

Once again opening his eyes, his eyes met the same blank ceiling, it wasn't a dream, and he was filled with empty spaces in his mind again. Mustering the strength that was in him, he got up. A breeze of Konoha wind rushed through the open window. That's weird. It wasn't open before. He thought, his eyes spotted something familiar; the same smell erupted in the room.

Staring at the fragile flower by the window gave him hope, yet, he brushed them away. The flower, the daffodil, he stared at it, watching its indelible attempts to escape from the fragile glass vase. He watched, unlike him, he chose the prison for himself, yet the flower, the flower was trapped in a fate which it could not escape, and will someday kill it. Just like her. He thought, because of him she was trapped. Was it merely because she owed me for protecting her? He asked himself.

He kept on staring at it, without realizing the sound of someone approaching his room. The door opened as he turned around, snapping out of his trance. A bandaged Uzumaki Naruto stood at the door. He stared blankly at the blonde. Mustering a smile, Uzumaki Naruto entered the awkward place.

'Bastard you look beat up' he didn't say anything in response, his eyes shifted to the sheets covering his painful legs.

'Oi! Don't feel too bad that you lost. You did fight against the great Uzumaki Naruto-sama you know' Naruto's attempts were futile.

'Say something bastard!' Yelled Naruto. He gave no reaction, it took a while but he asked.

'Sakura' he paused, Naruto cocked his eyebrow, waiting for the rest of what his ex teammate had to say. 'Take me to Sakura' Naruto changed his expression from a smiling face to a frown.

'I don't think it's a good idea, you're sti-

'Take me to Sakura' he spoke in a calm voice, yet demanding at the same time without raising his tone.

'Alright' Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

----

Sasuke followed Naruto down the long hallway, the Konoha hospital had changed. From what he recalled, in order to head out they must have walked the other way. He was barely keeping up, his legs pained; the overexertion of chakra used did a major affect on him. He felt as if he's muscles were ripped and torn apart, then repaired again.

Stopping in the middle of the hallway, Naruto turned to a door, number 109 was printed on it. Knocking slightly, Naruto pushed open the door. Sasuke's eyebrow fused, forming a frown.

'I though-' but as soon as his eyes met the insides of the room, he would've almost fainted from shock. His face paled as the image stood in front of him like a genjutsu. A perfect genjutsu with no flaw. But it was completely impossible.

'Sa-Sa-Sakura?' he stuttered, for the first time in his life Uchiha Sasuke stuttered. The girl, in one piece sat on her bed in front of him. His hands instinctively formed a release genjutsu technique, yet the image didn't disappear. He activated his sharingan eyes, yet the image didn't disappear. It couldn't be. Could it?

'Sasuke-kun?' his eyes darted towards Naruto who was just staring at his two teammates blankly.

'I'll just leave you two alone' he said in an undertone, slowly retreating back out of the door. Naruto smiled. Smiled for the way things have turned out.

----

With bandages wrapped all around her, Sakura mustered a weak smile, a true one. Slowly she slipped weakly out of her bed, trying her best to keep her balance, and slowly she approached him. He didn't move. He was once again afraid of the contact.

His morals would disappear, but at the same time, he wanted to go there. He couldn't decide. Therefore he stood there, staring blankly, not knowing what to do. He thought he had killed her, but then when he tried to recall, all he remembered was screaming out, and after that, it was total darkness consuming him. He had assumed that he had killed her.

Maybe if she were to take hold of him, he would never be able to leave the place again, she thought. Her arms once again wrapped around him. It was like that time during their Chunnin exam. He entered the place, his troubles and worries disappeared…vanished. His marks retreated. There was a kind of warmness that he could not describe, one which he had felt a long time ago. A lost feeling that returned. Her head rested upon his shoulder, her tears soaked through his dark blue shirt. Her short pink tresses tickled his neck as she tightened her grip on him, not wanting to ever let go. She wanted to remember this moment.

He was lost during that long minute, frozen in solid time, he stood there. The only thing that wasn't frozen was his heart skipping a beat. Why? He asked himself. He had lost control of his own body, and the next thing he knew, his hands instinctively reached out, wrapping itself around her smaller frame. Her silent cries sunk into his very soul. He stood there, his mind tried to comprehend what was going on. She was dead, I killed her. He told himself. But everything seemed too real.

'Why?' He asked. Her crying seized. 'Why are you still alive?' His voice was weak, weaker then the usual tone. The strong vibe disappeared showing the inner layer. The inner him who was always running, weak, he was weak, he had to run. She let go of him. Fighting hard to keep herself balanced, she opened her mouth to answer.

'I was saved in the last minute. Tsunade-shizou sacrificed her life for me' he cocked his eyebrow.

'Shizou?'

'She was my teacher' she answered softly; guilt was sensed through her words. Guilt which affected him. Silence conquered the room as they stood there, both stared at the ground. Awkwardness that had never existed between them suddenly appeared.

It was new to him, and he hated it, he despised it. He wanted to break it, but it was an un-Sasuke-ish thing to do, he couldn't let himself, he couldn't make himself. He was the cause, the cause to her pain. Maybe that was why Naruto didn't want me to see her. A strange feeling emitted from inside him, it was imprisoning him, taking away his freedom to act with his own will.

'I'm sorry' he muttered, still staring at the ground.

'Sasuke-kun' she softly said with the same affection as she did the night he left. He had thought that the affection disappeared a long time ago, along with those tears. But they were still there, pouring out onto him. He was confused. His face slowly lifted up, staring at her smiling face. She forced it again. An inner voice said, making him feel even guiltier, he made her feel bad, and this made him feel even worse.

'I'm sorry' he apologized. It was also another un-Sasuke-ish act, but he felt as if it was his role to say sorry. He owed her those words, he had the chance to say thank you, now he had the time to say sorry.

'Sasuke-kun, it wasn't your fault' she softly said, but they both knew it was just a lie. A bitter look appeared across his stoic face, his hands gripped into a tight fist. Once again he said the same useless thing.

'I'm sorry' her face gave a small indescribable frown. Reaching out her small healing hands, she wrapped it around his larger ones. He backed away as soon as she made contact. Perplexedly staring at her, he also frowned. And before he knew it, he was tackled down to another hug. Once again he entered that place.

'Sakura I-'

'You don't have to be, you're here and that's enough' she answered. Her soft voice muffled through his top. He was speechless and motionless.

'Don't go' she cried.

'You're still-

'Yes'

'But I-

'I don't care'

She knew what he was going to say and sometimes things were best if they were kept silenced. Therefore he didn't speak. She knew what he was going to say, she understood his language. There was no need for him to say anything. But he still did, it was something which didn't translate through their silent language of understanding.

'Sakura…arigatou' smiling, she responded.

'Ah, Okairi'

His arms once again wrapped around her smaller frame, he was in that place again. He came back to the same place that provided him the comfort, the warmth which he had lost nine years ago. A place where he belonged. Where he could come back to. It was a place called home.

Owari –

Home is a place where you belong, a place where you can come back to. Home means happiness – Shir0-ChaN English class19th October 2005.

----

Author's note

You have just spent the last few minutes of your life reading a random drabble created from the pure boredom of Shiro.

I randomly opened a Microsoft word processor and started typing random stuff. And I happened to remember a topic I did last year on picture books and it involved 'Home' and how many ways people can use it. So I thought I can use it this way.

Sorry to the ones that don't read random drabbles. I couldn't be bothered telling that on the summary or the top of the fic. So did ya like the random work?

I hope that wasn't too OOC, I really want to hear Sasuke say sorry. And it didn't occur to me at the time whether it's OOC or not. I just kept writing, and as soon as I finished, I sent it straight to my beta (who didn't respond). So I got my friend to edit it.

Anyways thanks for reading, if there are any tips on improvements please tell me through a review

- Shiro

P.S – the hospital room that Sakura was in was room 109, based on the anime episode of 109 when Sasuke left.