I know this is kind of long to be considered "drabble," but I have a tendency to get…carried away. And hey, it's only one page on Microsoft Word!! Lol.

--MC


BROKEN HEART

I watched Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Neji, and Naruto dash off into the distance, and I could feel my heart breaking all over again. I hadn't had much time to think between last night and now, but with Lee standing there and the silent wind sweeping around me, it all crashed down on me.

I knew I was guilty. I had been the last one he'd seen before walking away; I had been his last chance to turn around, I had been the last person who could have turned him around. I felt sick inside, knowing nothing I said had been able to stop him. I was disgusted with him, with everyone, but mostly with myself. Closing my eyes, I could picture him in my mind's eye at that moment, his beautiful face, the light behind his black eyes driving him towards his goal. When I opened my eyes again and stared into the distance, I could see Naruto's goal; glancing at the boy on crutches beside me, I could envision Lee's goal, as well.

And I was disgusted with myself because I knew that my goal had only been to win his heart. And while everyone around me, including him, had the determination to reach their goals, nothing I had done or said had been able to bring me any closer to mine.

My mind raced far back into my memories, and snippets of my life with him flashed in front of me. Suddenly I felt foolish for devoting so much of my life to him. I should have had a dream in sight that no one could deter me from, like he did. But when our dreams collided, there was no question as to whose would prevail. And now I could see that his determination was one of the reasons I loved him.

Love. What did it really mean? Through all these years, I had pined for him and tried to get him, made my love apparent in every way—yet none of it seemed to affect him. Was I really so insignificant that I could hardly make an impression in his existence? No. Having been born as a human being, I knew that love was as strong a force as anything.

Yet he had still been able to resist it. Ambition, apparently, was stronger than love. But did it not matter to him that he was shattering my heart into a million pieces? I knew I was still young, but what I knew what felt for him was more than a schoolgirl crush. So how could he not feel it? And was he so unfeeling that he couldn't see how much he was hurting me?

"Thank you." That was what he had last said to me. He had thanked me. Some of the things I had done must have made an impression on him, or else he wouldn't have said that.

Then it hit me.

I was the one who had made him leave.

And it all came back to guilt again, full circle. I could feel the hot tears welling up in my eyes; my vision was blurring. It was because of me that he had decided he didn't want to stay in this village anymore. He wanted only to achieve his goal, and I was the one who was holding him back. When he saw that leaving me would mean leaving his incarcerations, of course he had known that he had to go. I had made the decision for him

And that was why he had said thank you.

The tears froze in my eyes. I could feel the broken shards of my heart ice over. So this was how it was going to be. I knew how hard it would be for him to abandon his goal; he was showering the same pain on me.

But I would be the better person. When it's the right thing to do, there are some things you have to let go of. The tears in my eyes seemed to dissipate into thin air. I gazed into the distance, over the horizon, in the direction that Naruto had gone.

"Thank you." That was what he had last said to me, before he left me to rot with my broken heart. But I knew in my heart, however much shattered, that I knew better than to let a broken heart ruin me.

No, I thought. I thank you, Sasuke, for opening my eyes.


Okay, maybe, yes, this is did not happen and is not ever going to happen, but this is what should have happened. If Sakura had been more than who she is…not that who she is is all that bad. : - )

--MC