Week
He never stays. When she's lucky, he's gone for weeks, if not, for months. This time it's reached an all-time high---11 months and a week. She's been hoping he'd be back for New Year's, next week, but at this rate, he might as well take forever.
She stops hoping on December 26, the second day of said week. It's practically a year of hoping, if you blur all the days and the weeks.
She starts to dread walking up to the festival alone---well, not really alone, but as a third wheel. It's not exactly the same, but it feels equally lonely. Like being outside and looking in.
On December 27, Ino comes by and coaxes her to buy a new kimono. Her old one is still pretty, and she suspects her blonde friend of cheering her up, but she goes anyway. She needs cheering up.
They swim through the year's last merchandise and emerge wet with purchases. They're broke, but Sakura's momentarily happy, and for that, Ino would risk losing her entire paycheck.
When Sakura gets home, she lays her newest kimono at the foot of her bed and takes the old one out from the closet. She also places it on the bed. And then she lays herself down on both of them, crumpling their smooth lines and cries.
This is her way of letting go.
The 28th and 29th pass by quickly---the hospital staff is busy, and in effect, so is she. New Year's Eve is fast approaching and preparations for the inevitable are underway. Konoha may be a nin village but nin are still susceptible to fireworks accidents, as proven by the sudden influx of patients on that certain date every year.
She volunteers for a shift on said night, as an excuse to leave the celebration early. She's long realized that she's loneliest in crowds, and the last thing she needs is to be jammed against couples and families awaiting the close of another year.
She doesn't mention her commitment to any of her friends because then, they'd make her feel bad, even if they really didn't want to.
The morning of the thirtieth, she joins Lee in the first half of his self-afflicted exercise. When he begins spouting numbers more than a hundred and the words 'laps' and 'Konoha' in the same sentence, she knows it's time to get back to work, even if it's just supervising the new medic-nins (they're on the same shift she volunteered for and she can't help but feel bad for them, since they want to be at the festival, not in a hospital that smelled clean and wouldn't stay that way).
She bids Lee goodbye, and though he looks a bit disappointed at her declining, he offers her a toothy grin.
In the afternoon she manages to get off early. She visits her parents and ends up on an errand to the market. The groceries she brings home are more than what she actually pays for---she's a regular and some of the shopkeepers remember her as the medic kunoichi whose healed them once or twice.
Her mother sends her home with the excess. The brown paper bag that she is given almost tears at the bottom. To lessen the load, she returns the tomatoes (instead of the eggplant even though she is not fond of that vegetable at all).
The older Haruno protests, but Sakura is adamant. She is not taking the tomatoes.
The same night she cooks the eggplant and eats it by herself.
When Sakura wakes up on the thirty-first, she feels that the tide is shifting; change is in the air, and she welcomes it with open arms.
The day flies by, and the next thing she knows she's wearing her brand-new deep green kimono and walking up the temple steps with Naruto and Hinata in front and Shikamaru and Ino bringing up the rear. They breeze through the rituals and everything has fallen into place except her. The delighted expressions all around bring a small smile on her face despite the sadness she can't help but fall back into.
The only person she excuses herself from is Hinata. Ino and Shikamaru have long wandered off, and Naruto is engaged in winning goldfish so only the Hyuuga watches her slip off into the night. She prefers it to be like this.
The hospital is bright against the cover of darkness. The two medic-nins on duty are slumped on the desk, bemoaning their fate. Sakura feels for them, she really does. She's experienced the same in her early days. They fall to attention when they notice her silhouetted in the shadows, and she reassures them that there's no need.
Because in the end, they are all people who want to save lives.
Their shift goes smoothly; it's the calm before the storm and the night is still silent. One of her companions, Yukari-san, if she remembers correctly, comments that it's almost twelve and the countdown must have started by now. Both Yukari and her partner, Jyuushiro, watch the clock tick away the seconds and count down in anticipation.
Sakura, on the other hand, is sick of waiting for this year to end, like how she waits, waited, for him. She contents herself with watching the entrance of the hospital as Jyuushiro calls 'eight', followed by an eager 'seven' by his female counterpart.
Six!
Five!
Four!
Three!
In the dim light, she spots a figure coming to their direction. It is dark outside, but her trained eyes find him like how she found him that fateful night many years ago.
Except now she's not the one walking toward him.
Two!
One!
He is right in front of her now and all she can do is whisper his name. "Sasuke."
Zero!
"Happy New Year, Sakura."
Notes: It's not New Years yet but I long for the cold weather that comes with the season. Tropical countries and their fluctuating temperatures. Bah. You know the drill.