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king & lionheart

If only things had been different.

(for ImmaBeForever and mistressinwaitin)

"What would happen if history could be rewritten as casually as erasing a blackboard?"

—Michio Kaku

SHE'S GONE SHE'S GONE SHE LEFT YOU DIDN'T STOP HER YOU DIDN'T DO ANYTHING YOU'RE A COWARD THIS YOUR FAULT YOUR FAULT YOUR FAULT

It's YOUR fault.

Sasuke didn't sleep, that night. He only sat at the edge of his bed, eyes wide open and cloudy, but still unwilling to release tears. Over and over, his mind replayed him and Sakura—her crying and frustration, his idle attempts to get her to stay. There was a nagging feeling at the back of his head, clawing like a dead man wanting to escape his grave. It told him that there was something else he should've and could've done, something that he knew that could've possibly changed her mind, but what?

The raven-haired and -eyed boy laid back, staring at the plain ceiling in his room. His eyes traveled over every crack, every speck of dust, trying to decipher their unintentional meaning. A breeze wafted in through the open window of his bedroom, ruffling a few papers on the walls—drawings, mostly, of his family—his other family—and drying the fresh tears he hadn't realized traveled down his cheeks.

"This is ridiculous," he said, to no one in particular. Sasuke grabbed fistfuls of sheets, clenching his teeth tightly. Sakura had been such a good actress that he was sure Naruto was completely unaware of what was going on. Kakashi probably could tell that she wasn't genuinely happy, but he might've attributed it to ninja stress. The only reason Sasuke had even found out Sakura was leaving was because Itachi was supposed to be coming home from a rather long mission that night and, although he knew the team was going on a mission of their own the next morning, he wanted to greet his beloved older brother at the gate.

The young kunoichi had bumped into him and, when Sasuke had asked her about the bag, she was carrying and just what was she doing out so late, she'd gotten defensive, leading him to ask her if she was planning on leaving. At Sakura's silence, Sasuke had gotten his answer. He gave her a speech on how she shouldn't leave, only to be told he didn't understand, much to his dismay. Although sometimes a little serious, Sasuke was a friendly person who did his best to put himself in the shoes of others and held a great deal of empathy for his friends, especially those close to him. Being told that he didn't understand or that there wasn't a way he could help was a great blow to him.

Sasuke had watched her run away, had watched her leave in a sudden flicker as if she were a dying bulb, and had watched her disappear. And in the instant before she had disappeared, he could have sworn he had seen some light blonde hair, the trademark shade of Lady Tsunade.

Itachi had told Sasuke the legend of Lady Tsunade many times. She was a very beautiful, promising kunoichi, who always gave one hundred percent, even if the outcome wasn't always ideal. The story went that she had been done a great injustice by those who governed the village, and she left, leaving destruction in her wake that'd been caused by the impossible strength she seemed to have hidden from others. She supposedly trained for years, honing her strength—her inhuman strength which was now said to be that of ten thousand men in some versions—and creating fearsome techniques that had the potential to wreak absolute havoc, along with some that could perform miracles when it came to healing the injured.

Once when Sasuke had asked what the injustice had been, Itachi got a rather sympathetic look in his eye. He said, "They accused her of killing a comrade in the attempt to preserve his life."

Even at the tender age of seven, Sasuke knew what that meant. He felt something like pity for the woman in the story, being accused of something she surely had not done. Vaguely, he was now reminded of Sakura. Many times other ninja had said she was the weak link, the one holding back the awesome power of Sasuke and Naruto. Like Lady Tsunade, it wasn't her fault, and it wasn't something she could control. Naruto had ridiculously large amounts of chakra, and it was strong too, while Sasuke was very advanced in several techniques some Chuunin were barely beginning to ponder, thank to his older brother. Sakura, on the other hand, had little chakra compared to the other two and didn't have much endurance. She was somewhat wiry but lacked sufficient skills to specialize in close combat, and yet she contributed.

She contributed. If not then why would her sudden departure affect him so much?

"No one treats me seriously in Konoha!"

…Not even you.

Thank you very much to all you lovely people who have read and reviewed, and to my lovely beta mistressinwaiting ❤

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Review!