Shattered Pieces

Chapter 3 - Promise

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
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Sakura's POV
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"You! What are you going here? You don't belong in Konoha...you left everything behind! You left me behind!" I yelled, releasing all of my pains and sorrow.

"S-Sakura," was all he said.

"You put me through pain, through sorrow, through so much! I hate you! Don't come back, don't ever come back!"

"I promised. I'm an Uchiha, and I hold pride and keep my promises. So here's my promise to be fulfilled, whether you accept me or not."

"I don't care about your stupid promise anymore! I'm dead inside, nothing's moving, nothing's working...and it's all because of you."

I emphasized the 'you' with extreme malice. He seemed taken aback by my statement, and for once in my life, I saw the Uchiha's face...full of emotion. I looked into his eyes, and I saw them glittered with extreme sincerity and sorrow. I looked at his face, and I read his hidden sorrow and pain...and when I looked at him, it was just a mass full of confusion and sorrow and pain...unable to restructure everything to the way it was. I began to sob, and I just looked into those mesmerizing eyes for one last time...

"Sasuke-san..."

I saw he was shocked at how I removed the -kun from his name, and I saw him shake his head, as if he was conversing with his conscience about something...

"S-Sakura"
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I jolted upright and found myself in a weird position on my bed. My sheets were wrinkled and misplaced, and I saw myself looking in the mirror. I saw a monster, full of bloodshot eyes, body trembling with fear and hatred, face drowned in beads of sweat. I sighed and ran my fingers down my cheeks, and found them sticky from salty tears. I sighed to myself and didn't bother arguing inside my head...that dream, what did it mean?
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I couldn't sleep afterwards. No matter how much I tried, closed my eyes, ridding myself of that horrid nightmare;I couldn't drift off into slumber. I cursed to myself and went down to brew up some early morning breakfast, around three o'clock AM to be exact. I walked slowly down the stairs, careful not to lose my balance. I began walking to my kitchen, and I froze. In the soft moonlight, I saw...him. He was bloody and cold, standing before my kitchen sink in the darkness. The moonlight showed me his bloody face, and I gasped in horror. It was full of scars and dry blood, nowhere near what it was before.

"Y-you..." I said, unable to bring out all of my pent-up hatred and sorrow.

"I'm s-s-sorry...S-Sakura...b-but I n-need y-your...h-help..." He said.

I noticed how much difficulty he had in speaking with me, having to pause and stutter due to pain in his throat. He coughed up blood when he finished, and I could do nothing but cry in front of the person that changed me.

"Why would I help someone how betrayed me?" I asked, glaring at him with hatred glimmering in my eyes.

"I-I k-know, S-Sakura...but...I...need," He had to take a brief pause and coughed out blood in his hands, and continued, "y-your...help..."

Looking into his bloody figure, I saw he truly meant it, and wouldn't just use me and run away once more. I took a deep breath, and took a few steps closer to him. From far away, his wounds didn't look severe. But looking at him feet away, they were fatal. I cried in horror and forced myself to shake them off of me.

"Wh-what happened to y-you?"

He just looked at me, and coughed up more and more blood by the seconds.

"Him...I wasn't strong enough...to even surpass...my sensei...but...I...need to go...back to him..."

I stared at him with all the sorrow I could muster, and nodded. I smiled, a real smile, which surprised me. I didn't know why he was making me smile, the one that stripped me of my happiness.

"Okay, Sasuke-san, I'll try to do my best...only if you promise that you'll come back next time, having achieved your goal..."

He stared at me in shock, and just nodded. I looked into his eyes, and found that he meant his promise, and that he'd keep it. I smiled and began to feed chakra into his wounds, helping them to heal faster. I gave him a slight chakra transfer, and I fell, exhausted. I could hear my heart beating, but that was not the end of my duties. I ran upstairs, and got ointment and herbs to plaster his wounds with, regardless of how much I'd be in pain the later on in the day due to exhausting my chakra. I found them, and ran back to him. He looked at me in utter shock, not understanding why I would help someone who I hated with such a passion. I just smiled at him, and began to plaster his wounds with ointment and herbs, wrapping them around in bandages. In time, I had finished, and his whole body looked like a living nightmare. Some wounds bled for some time more, staining the bandages, but they soon stopped. I smiled and nodded at my healing, and I just looked up at him.

"T-thank you...Sakura...I...promise...I'll...be back...next time...and...both of them...will be...dead."

The Uchiha smiled at me, and I was thrown into complete shock. The Uchiha Sasuke? Smiling? He chuckled, seeming to have read my thoughts.

"What's so funny? I still hate you, you know that, right?" I said, glaring at him.

He nodded, and just continued to softly chuckle.

"You'll hurt yourself more if you keep laughing."

He stopped, and we just stared at each other for minutes.

"I-better...go...thank you...Sakura..."

I stared at him, unable to believe that he would bring so much strain on his body and chakra, just to gain more power. I was in awe at his amazing determination, but I saw in his wounds that his power has increased drastically during the time he was gone.

"You're going to kill yourself if leave now. You'll exhaust your chakra and put dangerous strain on your body."

He shook his head 'no', and smiled at me once more.

"I'll...be...fine. I won't...die...if I have...promises...to fulfill."

I stared at him, and tears began to softly flow down my cheeks. I cursed at myself for my weakness...but it was him. He was my ultimate weakness. I just nodded, unable to say anymore to him. I took his hand and transferred as much chakra as I could into his body, and looked up at his puzzled face. I smiled, and he gently squeezed my hand. I began to laugh, my first real laugh in years, and I looked up at him, and just nodded.

"Goodbye, Sasuke...kun."

He looked at me with widened eyes, surprised that I could so easily trust him once more, after all the pain he had put me through. He just looked at me, and smiled. He disappeared with my hand clasped in his, and I held air for moments. I just looked out through my window, and looked at the oncoming sunrise, and smiled.
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I'll keep waiting for you, Sasuke-kun...no matter how long I have to wait, and no matter how much pain you'll force on me...I'll always be waiting...
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Blah! Rushed chapter! Sorry, next chapters will be better. (: