Summary: He never understood the reason for her unconditional love or why she was able to get under his skin so easily...
It was at a time such as this when Sasuke wished he would listen to what he told himself. The same inexperienced boy who was in constant conflict with listening with either his brain or his heart stopped slowly when walking away from what had just transpired moments ago.
He hated himself for thinking about his past actions when what was done was done. But he mostly hated how he almost regretted what he had done.
Her words deeply resonating within him as he walks away to the place where it all started to battle Naruto again, the final obstacle in his path. He doesn't understand why Sakura does what she does. So he leaves in the opposite direction. And he tells himself that he isn't running away from his problems.
His mind, as if betraying him, brings up memories on what had just occurred.
When involved in any of his inner affairs, his emotions had always seemed to tip the scales.
-
-
He remembers the slight tinge of pain that crashes into him while heeding her pleas... again.
"If there's even a little corner of your heart that thinks about me, please don't leave again!"
Remembers halting a bit in his sure movements when her words strike a chord within him.
"If we stick together, I know it can be like old times again..."
A chord that he thought he severed off a long time ago.
"You're... really annoying." He vents out. He remembered his brutal words almost as if they came out of his mouth just now. Hopefully this time he could make her comprehend that he didn't need her.
He remembers his eye prowess capturing her mind and inprisoning her in his mind. He remembers bathing her in his violet flash. Subjecting her to his created fantasy.
'Annoying', that was what he said to her when she yet again stunned him with a confession. He was startled with her words - so much - that he had almost slipped up.
It wasn't because he mutually reciprocated her feelings at the moment. No... it was because he had genuinely thought that she would've hated him and descarded herself of feelings for him long ago.
She honestly did annoy him. Her ability to make him question his own actions so easily when he was so hellbent on accomplishing them. Not even Naruto and Kakashi were able to get under his skin as effectively with just expressions like hers. No one could make him question himself except-
It wasn't the same with them. He couldn't feel their shattering words weighing him down so heavily with every step he took. It was so... annoying.
"You didn't need to put Sakura under a genjutsu!" he heard Naruto yell from a farther distance, close to where Sakura laid. He regretted it the same but he refused to acknowledge his remorse. It had to be done.
"If I didn't, she would've chased after us and gotten in the way!" his demolished voice astonishing himself.
But he was right, it had to be done, he convincing himself. A rather unconvincing statement.
As soon as he said this, he heard Kakashi's calloused voice, "Sakura... Sakura just wanted to help you, all this time." His voice stating it so painfully, as if he also felt Sakura's pain through her words. Like a father pitying his daughter's heartbreak.
He, however, could not feel the same. It had to be done.
"So you're suggesting I enjoy a little romance?" he scoffs, "Well, I have no reason to love her or be loved by her."
He doesn't understand why his former teammates don't get his goals.
He had something more important to do. He didn't have time to play romance with anyone - 'even her ' as he once told her. He wanted to revolutionize the present world, to eliminate all the pain and suffering he had faced when younger. When no one could save him, when he had no power or reason for belonging anywhere.
He did now. He doesn't have to suffer in this agonizing world anymore. He could convert the world himself, with his own power. No one could stop him, the last obstruction of this goal was standing across him at a farther distance - his bright blond hair contrasting with the dark color of his own.
It was inevitable, it wasn't like he intended to hurt the people once close to him. He had warned them to leave him be and follow their own path.
Why couldn't they just leave him be?
Why did they have to stand in his path, why did she...
His thoughts were cut off with the deep voice of Kakashi.
"The only time you need a reason is when you hate someone!"
Sasuke kept his stoic face plastered on his face, his emotions contradicting greatly with how he appeared. He knows that fact better than anyone, he should, he knew yet...
"And Sakura's not trying to make you hers!" he heard his former sensei proceed, "She just wants to help you!"
He was aware of it all the same as well. But...
"She almost died by your hand. But she still thinks of your welfare and sheds tears for you..." he could make out Kakashi's voice fighting with every word, "... because she suffers from loving you!"
Sasuke turns his head away from Kakashi and Sakura. The guilt overwhelming him. He doesn't want to linger on this discussion because...
He already knew this.
No one had to tell him Sakura Haruno loves Sasuke Uchiha. Everyone around could tell, even when they were younger, it was seen by how beautiful her voice would get when speaking to him, how much brighter her eyes would get when looking at him, and... how much she would lament when he would say the cruelest thing to create more distance and make her stay away from him.
He knew it and it wasn't like she ever tried to mask it. She was clingy when they were first were put into a team, yet she later learned to give him space when needed, learned when to approach him when he felt lonely. Because as much as he refused to admit it, she could tell how he was feeling all too well.
But as much he learned to appreciate this side of her, he began to despise it as well. Why? Because she saw through him. She knew what he was thinking just by looking at him. That was why she was the only one who figured out when he'd leave the village when Kakashi and Naruto brushed it off quickly. She knew how he would act.
He always hated how transparent he was in her eyes and he hated how transparent she was to him - letting down her guard and emotions around him at all times. He hated feeling vulnerable.
It reminded him of people he loved that he lost, all because he let himself become vulnerable. The same thing was happening all over again...
... and he just didn't want that.
That was what he convinced himself. He didn't want to get attached again.
So, he did what he could do to let go of such bonds before they could hurt him again. He cut off all his relationships with people close to him in the village and left. He left his home, his loyalty, and his friendships behind.
"That's... just chains from a failed past..." he uttered in a melancholic tone.
It had to be done in order for him to be able to reach his goals.
Yes, he definitely believed that.
And so he closed up his emotions and buried them to the deepest depths of his mind, the most shameful part of his mind - where he kept them there for no reason - except to keep them.
-
-
His mind taps back into reality again as he realizes he's been thinking back again.
'How low have you fallen Sasuke?'
No.
He refuses to turn back now.
What has been done has been done.
He continues walking with his back facing the direction in which the girl with blossom-colored hair laid. He could feel her tears disinfecting his contaminated soul, burning deeply into his reopened wounds. He could feel it even as he's walked a considerable distance away.
Every step with his foot pressing more into the eroded terrain, as if grappling into the ground to make him stay and go back. Despising the way every ounce of his heart was defying him, he continues on steadily though - as if in ignorance.
He refuses to turn towards them... and her feelings at this time.
-
-
-
-
-
He continues to live in his 'reality' and she lives in her 'fool's paradise'.
-
-
The Reality of a Fool's Paradise.
END
A/N: Ahh we have come to the end of this story. It was interesting writing from both the pov's of Sakura and Sasuke. Well, I hope you enjoyed this short two-shot fanfic!