Ch. Title: The Finale pt. 1
Theme: Girl literally forgets boy, boy had to prove himself to girl etc etc etc.
Genre: Angst/Romance/Comedy
Word Count: 3,829
Pairing: Sasuke and Sakura
Ch. Summary: Continuation of Chapter 11.
A/N: I'm very sorry for the late update.
I think this story will be just 15 chapters or less? I just don't want to drag the story longer than that.
Thank you all for taking a time to read my humble fic! ｡◕‿◕｡ *hugs you all*
Today I'll renounce them,
the doubts and the fears I've been nursing...
Do I need a Reason – D'sound
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It's atypical for the former Uchiha avenger to break his own creed in life.
The Uchiha survivor had always this aristocratic attitude lingering within him. His emotions were always guarded like he doesn't want anybody else to see his true persona.
After the Uchiha massacre he has sworn to himself that he wouldn't let himself to care for other people. But when he met Naruto and Sakura, everything changed. He became naturally relaxed and calm when he was around his teammates.
They became his new family. Being around them made him so beloved and needed.
Essentially, before meeting them, he thought that his obsession and desire for revenge only matters.
But he was wrong.
To hold back my fear
and feel you so near
I've never been this far before
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One of Sasuke's favorite parts of Sakura's facial structure was her mesmerizing emerald colored eyes. Every time he would look at those glimmering pair of green eyes, he knew he'll be hypnotized again in no time.
And that's one of the reasons why he can't look straight at her that night when he left Konoha. He doesn't want to see her watery eyes peering at him. He felt repentant by leaving Sakura's frail body at the bench, but he has no option, he needed leave.
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At Orochimaru's underground base.
(Sasuke's flashback POV)
Then two and a half years had gone by.
Orochimaru introduced a mysterious anbu agent from his former village. This idiot keeps blabbering about his former teammates and bonds.
Funny.
Is this pale-faced idiot is his replacement?
Why does he know so much about his former teammates?
After using his sharingan on the irritating anbu agent, he thought that guy would be scared to death. But he was wrong, he followed him into his quarters and it seems like he was there in a mission to kill him.
The nerve of this guy to attack him inside Orochimaru's territory.
Does he think he'll defeat him that easily?
What an idiot.
Then there's a sudden loud bang.
When Sasuke successfully defended himself from the pale-faced anbu's surprise attack, suddenly, Sasuke saw a flash of pink and red running towards the anbu ninja.
A woman clad in red tunic top matching with a pink skirt.
She seems so familiar.
That scruffy short rose-colored hair and that red ninja head-gear.
That mysterious young woman was now clutching that pale-faced traitor's shirt and judging on her expression, she was ready to pound him to the ground.
She seems so angry at him. She was shouting all over the place.
After hearing her screeching loud voice, Sasuke had realized that the temperamental young woman was his former teammate.
What is she doing here?
Sasuke saw how she has grown into a captivating kunoichi.
Ah, she was still the temperamental type. You haven't changed, Sakura.
Her moon-kissed long silky legs are really something though, he admits. He needed to call her name to make sure he wasn't dreaming.
"Is that you? Sakura."
He finally had the guts to call her name.
Two and a half years since the last time, I have seen those eyes.
Those eyes that used to haunt me at night.
When she finally turned her whole body into his direction, Sasuke saw that same pair of emerald orbs again, and when the moment their eyes collided, he briskly recalled the last time when he saw those familiar orbs that used to hypnotize him.
Her stare has the look of desperation and longing. He wondered if she was still the same girl who had confessed to him years ago. And he wondered if she still feels the same way about him.
Finally when Sasuke was done fighting with Naruto and the pale-faced bastard, he met her again face-to-face. Sasuke quickly noticed the spike of chakra on her left hand.
Not bad. She's directing the force of her chakra into her fists.
Sasuke had already heard from Kabuto and Orochimaru that his ex-teammate had become the Fifth Hokage's apprentice after he left the village and she was in the team who defeated the very first member of akatsuki. Sasuke inwardly smirked at the information.
(end of Sasuke's POV)
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The pink-haired kunoichi was still dumbfounded from the sudden gesture of her teammate; she didn't know what to make up for it. But her own instincts were telling her that she needed to get away from his affectionate back-hug.
Unbeknownst to the Uchiha survivor, Sakura briskly elbowed Sasuke's abdomen and upon hearing his pained voice, she promptly grabbed his right arm and with her monstrous strength, she twisted his arm in an upward motion.
"That's for knocking me out that night! Sasuke-kun." Sakura growled at the Uchiha ninja.
'Heh, payback's a bitch, take that you moron!' Her Inner Sakura cheered.
He definitely didn't saw it coming, Sasuke realized he had underestimated her all this time, he knew about her monstrous strength, but never in his life he would thought she would actually used it against him.
The last time he saw her displaying that tantamount of strength was in the war with Kaguya and Madara. But this time, she wasn't punching or kicking Madara's clone or headbutting the God-like Kaguya.
Did Sakura just striked him in the stomach?
In a second, Sasuke thought if Naruto transformed in to Sakura and was just playing a trick on him.
But upon hearing those words, Sasuke rapidly realized that she was the real Haruno Sakura. And yes, she was still definitely enraged at him.
The ebony-eyed Uchiha was still in pain, but he still managed to growl at the pinkette,
"Sakura, running away from the truth won't solve anything. If you're really dying to know what happened back there at Iron Country—"
The emerald-colored eyed kunoichi briskly tilted her head against the Uchiha survivor,
"What?" Sakura shouted.
He paused and exhaled for a second, and then he continued,
"For your sake, I will tell you everything you want to know." Sasuke gritted. His smolder look was still staring back at her.
Those words echoed through her ears, the kunoichi was taken aback by the dark-haired's blunt words.
She then thwarted her tracks.
She was now staring back at his pained form.
Sea foam-colored orbs met dark soulless eyes.
The pink-haired kunoichi rapidly sauntered towards him. Sakura's facial expression was still stern and hardened.
This stuck-up Uchiha was right.
Running away now from the truth won't solve her problem might as well face it right now.
To hold back my fear
and feel you so near
I'm scared of falling into deep this time
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"Tell me everything." Sakura seethed.
After she slowly prowled back on his spot, the former avenger quickly reacted in front of the pinkette. He gestured his teammate to sit on one of the benches.
When the both of them had finally seated, Sasuke briskly went along with his story.
"I don't know if you'd remembered anything, but my clan were killed by my older brother, Uchiha Itachi when I was just eight years old. Since then I swore to myself that I will get revenge. When the chuunin exams came, one of the Sannins and ex-Konoha ninja, Orochimaru had put a cursed mark on me. At first, I was terrified. But upon attaining that I need a great power to avenge my clan, I succumbed to that cursed power so I can finally avenge my clan."
Sasuke's half lidded eyes were still staring at the ground.
Meanwhile, the medic kunoichi was really paying attention to the former avenger's story and upon realizing that her teammate was having a hard time telling his side of story, a twisting pain was felt inside her abdomen. She already knew about his family massacre, after all she did her own research at the library several days ago.
The medic kunoichi thought it must've been hard for him to tell those grim stories again detail by detail.
She felt a pang of guilt inside her. She shouldn't have elbowed him a while ago. What the hell is she thinking?
'You shouldn't have done that, look at him. He's so pained. You better apologize for striking him!' Her Inner whispered.
The pinkette jerked back upon hearing the former avenger's translucent voice again.
"After that, I left the village. I cannot forget that night when I left you here in this very spot. It's funny that we're back at this place and talking about the same things." Sasuke muttered while he half-smirked at those words.
Sakura was taken aback, maybe that's why she was remembering some things and she felt a great connection with this spot. Something about him in this very moment strikes her as being somewhat familiar. Is it a fragment of her lost memory?
"You told me, you can't live without me…and you would join me with my quest for revenge..." Sasuke continued.
Upon hearing those words from the Uchiha survivor, Sakura rapidly saw the change of demeanor towards the former avenger's expression. His monotonous tone became affectionate and calm.
"But I knew better, I wouldn't just let you leave the village for someone like me. You have your family and friends back here. I have nothing left and yet you still want to look after me…"
Sasuke paused momentarily. He gazed towards the starless sky.
"…and for that I'm very thankful to you, Sakura." The former avenger conveyed. He turned to her direction and met her eyes.
The medic kunoichi gulped at his sudden reaction and statement. Sakura tried hiding her flushing cheeks from the Uchiha survivor.
Barely lit light post and noisy crickets was heard from the distance. It seems like the villagers were all gone and asleep even though it's still early to settle for the night.
The Uchiha survivor continued to share the details about Danzo's obsession with power and the truth about the Uchiha massacre.
How his brother, Uchiha Itachi was really a good man and not a traitor to the village.
The story behind Obito the masked man manipulated him and how he got Itachi's eyes and how he joined the war against Madara.
After all, Sasuke was pardoned by the Konoha Council to return to the village he had once tried to destroy. Given he should be on probation for the next years and re-enlisting again as a shinobi of the village. His newest goal was to become a Hokage. So he can eradicate the twisted shinobi system in this world.
But he was having second thoughts so far regarding his newest goal. He even felt that his idiot best friend would be a good leader than him. He realized that he should be focusing in the restoration of his clan's glory. After all, he was the only Uchiha survivor living now.
Sasuke continued to talk, "At the Iron Country, You appeared out of nowhere, I didn't know why you appeared suddenly in front of me, but I know you're not there to join me in my quest for revenge. You wanted to eliminate me. I don't know if Konoha had ordered you to."
Upon hearing those words, the medic kunoichi gulped.
"I wasn't." Sakura interrupted, still shaking her head.
The dark-haired ninja widened his eyes, "What?"
"I wasn't ordered by Konoha. I think…I think it's my personal decision."
"I see. I guess you've really hated me that time."
"No—I mean, I guess the past Sakura wanted to kill you because…because she really loves you. By that, I mean she wanted to pass the burden to herself. You said you've become a wanted criminal. Maybe that's the reason she wanted to kill you by herself. She doesn't want to see you going insane with your revenge stuffs."
Sasuke heard her words and he paused for a minute. His ambiguous expression turned in to a confusing one while he pouted his lips unknowingly. His voice deepened.
"Hn. That's a plausible reason for attempting to kill me." Sasuke uttered while half-smirking at her.
The medic kunoichi then stood up from the bench they were sitting on. Sakura laughed a bit at him. She thought it was funny, but cute how he was now smirking his lips.
"Uhm…Sasuke-kun, it's already late at night and I still needed to deliver these herbs to Shizune."
She smiled at the Uchiha survivor's direction. Sakura was thankful that her teammate had shared those sad stories just for her own sake. She was hopeful that it would bring a full circle to her lost memories.
But Sakura was desperate for something more, something that can lessen the pain inside her heart. She wanted to know if Sasuke feels the same way about her. She was already tired of waiting. After years of telling herself that if she patiently waited long enough for his return, then Sasuke will see her in another light.
Staying in love with him for the rest of her life knowing that he can't love her back will just cause more heart aches.
Now that she had slowly regaining her lost memories of him, she was unsure about her feelings.
She was now standing beside him and then she turned to him,
"I respect people who had looked at me in the eyes and told me the truth, no matter how difficult it may be. For that, I'm really thankful that you made your way here just to share your side of story, Sasuke-kun."
Sasuke gulped at her response. Upon hearing those words, Sasuke also stood up from the bench they were sitting on,
"It would be unfair for you not to have knowledge about the truth. Forgive me if I haven't told you sooner." Sasuke drawled.
His hands were now inside his pockets.
His eyes were still staring at the ground, avoiding her persecuting stare.
Sakura immediately narrowed her eyes.
"Sasuke-kun, I don't know if I still—"
The Uchiha survivor raised his left hand from his pockets. Gesturing his pink-haired teammate to stop.
"Don't. I'm not stopping you from leaving. I'm just here to share you those details."
Conflicted by her dark-haired teammate's vague response. She briskly questioned him,
"Then why did you hug me?"
Upon hearing Sakura's inquiry, Sasuke quickly reacted and shook his head. Confusingly, he wanted to avoid her question. He still doesn't know if why he suddenly acted like that.
Simply confused by her inquiry, Sasuke shrugged and he simply replied,
"I don't know."
Her forehead creased, crossing her arms in front of her, Sakura raised another eyebrow,
"You don't know?"
The pink-haired kunoichi was still standing still with her arms crossed. But she realized that forcing him for an answer would be totally unfair for the both of them. She doesn't want to get hurt by his response.
She knows deep inside her heart Sasuke-kun doesn't feel the same way as her.
Sakura mentally slapped her forehead.
'Who am I kidding? Sasuke-kun still sees me as his teammate and friend. Nothing more than that. You're an idiot SAKURA. IDIOT!'
Upon realizing this, she quickly avoided his stare while her eyes softened,
"I'm sorry for my action earlier. That was so very immature of me. I shouldn't have striked you in the stomach." Sakura murmured.
Upon hearing Sakura's apology, the Uchiha survivor smirked and somehow he found her cute while she was rambling timidly.
Sakura was preparing to walk away from him, while Sasuke quickly grabbed her arms,
"Sakura. One more thing…Thank you for staying and listening." Sasuke's voice sound deeply rough.
This made Sakura jerked back and stared back again at his ebony looking eyes.
Then her head started to spin.
Whirring sound.—
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"Thank you for staying and listening."
"Thank you for staying and listening."
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!
"Sakura, thank you."
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!
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Those words seem familiar.
So damn familiar that Sakura was even sure she had heard it before.
She felt the weight of those words.
It triggered something inside of her repressed memory that night.
That night.
Under the starless night sky.
You and me.
That cold-hardened bench.
The moon was shining down over us.
Hear my last pleads.
Please…Don't…go…
"I'm so in love with you, I can't even stand it!"
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"Sakura, thank you."
Sasuke can feel the weight of Sakura's stare. He swiftly avoided her gaze and warded off his eyes to the opposite direction.
Then Sasuke heard the emerald-eyed kunoichi's warily voice,
"You know Sasuke-kun, it's much better if I had completely forgotten my memory of you." Sakura detested.
Upon hearing those words, Sasuke gulped silently and he looked over at her emerald-colored eyes. He knew she was still mad at him.
"Sakura." Sasuke breathed.
Her lips still pursed and she was deliberately shaken. Sasuke have taken to notice her shaken demeanor and he perceived that her words are none other than lies.
The Uchiha survivor continued,
"You're still annoying after all this time."
The dark-haired ninja slowly walked away from the scene, leaving the emerald-eyed young kunoichi alone and puzzled by his ambiguous statement.
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As long as we're under the same sky…
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Silently and strongly…
I will wait for that day…
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After that fervent event, Sakura lazily went to the hospital and gave the medicinal herbs to Shizune and directly went home.
Lying in her bed, tugging her favorite pillow on her side, Sakura wondered if Sasuke's vague words have some deep meaning. Knowing Sasuke by now, he was always silent and obviously he is a man with few words, but after talking to him earlier she was now fully aware that the Uchiha survivor is not that cold-hearted as he used to be to her.
But upon discerning his vague last words to her, she briskly shook her head,
"He called me annoying again. Am I that too annoying for him?" She asked herself dejectedly.
'Well, you just declared to him that you want to forget him aka. I hate you Sasuke-kun' Her Inner uttered.
"He deserves to know that. I thought if I could forget his memory, then it'll be easy for me to move on. But I guess not. What am I going to do? I…I…I still love him."
She slowly squeezed the pillow she was hugging.
After discerning the mortifying action that she had done towards the former avenger, Sakura sobbed guiltily.
Her bed sheets and pillow cases were now soaked of her tears.
One hour and a half had passed.
Sakura was still tearing up.
"This is so pathetic, Sakura! This isn't like you. Show him you could start a new life without him. I bet he'll be glad if I was no longer here at Konoha. Hmph!" The pink-haired kunoichi cried while still clutching her pillow.
Not knowing on the other side of the village that Sasuke is having some trouble of sleeping through that night because the Uchiha survivor was also thinking of her.
The next morning.
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The dark-haired ninja was now lying in his bed thinking about what happened last night with his pink-haired annoying teammate.
The former Uchiha avenger knew better. Sasuke had already seen through her lies before. And for that, Sasuke reckoned that Sakura was such a bad liar.
He wanted to call off her bullcrap last night, but he wanted to give her more time to think about her feelings for him.
Suddenly he was disturbed by a loud knock coming from his front door.
"Sasuke! Sasuke! Are you in there? There's an emergency!" The voice shouted outside his door.
Sasuke immediately ran towards the door and when he finally opened it, he saw his idiot best friend's delightful grinning face.
"Naruto…what is it this time?" Sasuke infuriatingly inquired. Obviously he wasn't amused that this idiot is bothering him early in the morning. He wanted to wipe that silly grin on Naruto's face for disturbing him.
The former kyuubi host continued, "I heard from Ten-ten that she heard from Lee, that Kiba heard from Ino that she heard from Shizune that Baa-chan—"
Sasuke's temples were beginning to throb from pain. He was now at the verge of punching his blonde-idiot best friend straight in the face.
"Stop bothering me." Sasuke hissed.
The ebony-eyed Uchiha tried to close the door from his best friend's face and when he was about to do that, Naruto quickly stopped the door by using his right foot.
Uzumaki Naruto raised his left hand motioning the former avenger to shut up and persist to listen to him.
"I'm not finished yet, teme! This is some crucial news, listen up!" Naruto still continued while ignoring his best friend's deathly glare.
The former Uchiha avenger was now starting to get irritated. Even a calm person like him can lose his patience and even the Buddha too loses his patience.
Sasuke just scowled at the former kyuubi host. Sasuke knows he won't shut up for a while. So he just glared at him intently.
"I heard from Ten-ten that she heard from Lee, that Kiba heard from Ino that she heard from Shizune that Baa-chan that she heard from the Raikage that—"
He was now really losing his hard-earned patience for his best friend.
"You're testing my patience, dobe. Cut the crap and get to the point already." Sasuke seethed.
"…that Sakura-chan had accepted the deal with Kumo. It's just this morning that I've heard the news. I wonder why she didn't even tell us." Naruto promptly gossiped.
In Naruto's amusement, it was ten times funnier to piss off his best friend than any other people in Konoha. He mentally giggled at his best friend's reaction.
Upon hearing those words, Sasuke widened his eyes in shock.
"Why didn't you tell me quickly?" Sasuke creased his eyebrows. Irritation was now seen on the Uchiha survivor's handsome features.
"Well… if you haven't got a pole up into your ass. Then she wouldn't leave Konoha and Team 7 for that pissy face, Shi!"
"What did you say?"
"About the pole stuck up into your ass—"
"Not that, Idiot. What do you mean that she was leaving because of that blonde-know-it-all?"
"Well, I heard from Ino that she heard from Shizune that she heard from Baa-chan that Baa-chan heard from someone, that pissy-face was asking her hand for marriage."
After saying those words, Naruto had noticed that his best friend was now gone inside his house.
"Eh? Sasuke?! Where did he go?" Naruto croaked, still bewildered.
Naruto wondered where his teammate did went to, but on the other hand, the former kyuubi host knew better. The only time the Uchiha survivor reacts so fast is when it comes to their pink-haired teammate.
And just mentioning that Kumogakure's name, Naruto comprehended that Sasuke's stoic façade will change indifferently and he'll act as fast as lightning just to stop their certain teammate to leave Konoha.
He just let out a deep sigh and scratched his head,
'Heh. I knew he'll be pissy in no time. Go and get Sakura-chan before it's too late.' Naruto smirked.
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tbc
P.S: Thank you all for your feedback guys. ಥ‿ಥ I appreciate it so much.