Author's Note: Thanks so much for the reviews everyone! Honestly, I didn't expect many people to like my story. Thanks also for the follows I got, and the guests who will keep up with this story, too. Here's chapter two!
They were both just standing there and staring at each other, the onyx eyes meeting emerald, looking to see how much the other had changed.
Sasuke had noticed that Sakura had just gotten even more attractive than when he had last seen her. Her pink hair ending a little below her chin, slightly curving in. She was wearing the same shade of red she always wore. Her shorts came down about halfway between her thighs and knees. That small purple diamond still on her forehead, and he also noted that she had gotten a little taller, too. His gaze ended right back where it had started, her emerald eyes.
Sakura still could not believe that the boy she had loved for over ten years was standing right in front of her again. In the last few months, she had almost begun to give up hope that he would ever come back. However, she had pushed the thought out of her mind every time it would come. She had refused to give up hope. She hadn't done it when he left the first time, and she wouldn't do it now. It had been different this time though.
Sakura then started to look and see how much Sasuke had changed. His raven hair had gotten longer and didn't stick out as much as it had. His bangs were covering his left eye, the purple Rinnegan. His right eye was the one that he uses for his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, but his onyx eye was normal at the moment. He was wearing a long sleeve shirt, black of course. On top of his shirt, he had a small sort of vest, grey in color, with the Uchiha clan symbol printed on the right side of the vest, his blade attached to the back. His pants were baggy, and ended at the top of his sandals. She also noticed that his left arm was back. Probably recently. "He seems to only get more attractive as time goes on," Sakura thought to herself as she again met his gaze.
"Sakura," he began, " I-," he didn't have time to finish because she had appeared in front of him and punched him in the stomach. He collapsed to his hands and knees, the breath knocked out of him. He had been surprised by her sudden attack and didn't have time to block it. Luckily, it was a normal punch and not one filled with chakra. "What was that for?" he squeaked out as she helped him up.
"Just checking to see if you were real," she said casually. She then punched him hard on his cheek, knocking him down about five feet away from where he used to stand.
He watched the blood run from his cheek to the ground in small puddles in front of him. "What was THAT for?" He asked from the ground. That punch had been chakra filled.
"That," she paused, walking over towards him,"Was for leaving for another three years."
She then extended her hand, which he reluctantly took, afraid she might put him in the hospital with another hit. This time, however, he had gotten ready to block.
"Relax, I'm done now," she told him as she saw his cautious stare. Her right hand began to glow green as she reached toward his cheek.
He knew he could relax now because of that green glow. She was going to heal him with her healing chakra. The sensation of her hand on his cheek made him feel electricity shoot through his whole body. He didn't want that feeling to go away. "What is it about her that always makes me feel like this?" He asked himself silently. Whenever he had been around her, saw her, thought of her, or when they had touched the last time they had seen each other, he had felt like this.
After she was done, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a hug. "I missed you, you stupid jerk," she told him.
He then wrapped both of his arms around her, hugging her back. It was the first time he had ever hugged her back, and it was also the first time in who knows how long that he had hugged anyone. "Hn, I guess I missed you too, you annoying fangirl," he said, putting as much emphasis on the word "annoying" as possible.
They then broke apart and glanced at each other before staring at the ground. "Does anyone else know you're here?"
"Only Kakashi. I don't want to be attacked by Naruto tonight," he replied.
"Oh, so I guess that means you don't have a place to stay?" She asked, embarrassed.
"No, I guess not."
"You can stay at my apartment if you want," she said with a small blush.
"Hn, sure. You're apartment is pretty nice anyway," he replied, waiting to see her flustered expression.
Sure enough, she looked flustered right after that came out of his mouth. "Wait, when did you-"
"Kakashi told me where it was," he interrupted with a stoic expression on his face. However, the stoic look quickly turned into a smirk,"I waited there for two hours," he said, annoyance in his voice. "And you should really lock your door, too."
They started walking towards the apartment as she answered back. "Yes mother," she said sarcastically. "Why do you care anyway?"
"Hn," he shrugged.
"Sorry I made you worry, I fell asleep on my desk. I've been at work for two days straight now," she said, the exhausted feeling coming back to her.
"I noticed you looked half dead," he said coolly. "And I wasn't worried, just concerned," he added, defending himself.
"Whatever you say," she thought to herself. "You don't have to worry about Naruto as much anymore," she said aloud. "He's married."
This had clearly taken Sasuke by surprise. "Married?! To who?!" "Naruto Uzumaki, the most immature human being I have ever met, IS MARRIED?!" He then remembered the days before they had become genin. Almost every day his future best friend would get into some sort of trouble. Most of the time, Naruto would have to stand in front of the class and write on the board at least fifty times, "The middle finger is not a ninja hand sign."
"He's married to-," she had paused to take a huge yawn.
"Wait a minute," Sasuke inwardly thought, "Naruto has always had a crush on Sakura..." His eyes widened slightly at the realization. He then nervously glanced at her left side, trying to see if she had a ring on her left hand. "No way! She's always liked me! No way she would marry that idiot!"
"He's married to Hinata Hyuga. You remember her, don't you?" Sakura said, interrupting his thoughts.
A small frown had settled on his face. Relief slowly flooded his system. "What was I thinking? She's always liked me. Why would she ever marry him? She's always thought of him as a close friend and nothing else. Am I... Am I, jealous?" He began inwardly cursing himself for his last thought.
Sakura had started to stare at him after noticing his expression. She then gave him a questioning look.
Sasuke had stopped cursing himself and had noticed her look. He quickly changed his expression to look like a stoic one. "Ya, isn't she Neji Hyuga's cousin?"
"Ya. Was," she answered back.
A sad look had crossed both of their faces. Neji Hyuga had died fighting in the Fourth Great Ninja War.
Sakura vividly remembered watching him bravely sacrifice himself.
The gigantic wooden shards that Obito, Madara, and the Ten Tails had shot came straight for them. The Allied Shinobi Forces were trying to cover themselves in any way possible. Sakura had pulled up a huge chunk of the earth, shielding her and some others from being hit. She looked over in terror to see Naruto lying on the ground. He had just noticed the shards coming for him. He didn't have time to move. Then, Hinata Hyuga jumped in front of him, got down on her knees very close to him, facing him, her arms held out protectively in front of him. Before the shards had connected with her however, her cousin had taken the hit and fallen to the ground. Four gigantic shards were sticking out of his chest. Naruto had picked him up and Neji's head sat on his shoulder. Blood dripping from Neji's mouth and chest, he was looking at Hinata.
"Why did you do that for me?" Naruto asked him, tears threatening to spill from his eyes.
"Because, you once called me a genius," Neji replied, smiling.
Hinata stared at Neji, tears pouring from her eyes.
"Remember, Naruto, that you hold more than one life in your hands," he said, looking at Hinata. The curse mark on his forehead started to fade. "Lady Hinata is willing to give her life for you." The mark had fully disappeared from his head, and Naruto had laid him down on the ground and began to cry. Neji Hyuga was dead.
Sakura could not bear to watch the memory any longer, and began to stare straight ahead.
This was a regret that Sasuke could never fix. Neji Hyuga had died right before Sasuke had shown up on the battlefield to help. He had never talked to Neji much, in fact he never really liked him; but, after hearing how Neji had been on the mission to save him and almost died in the process, he had felt a change of heart. Then he heard the details about how he had sacrificed himself in battle for Naruto and Hinata. He had heard all of this while he was in the hospital after the fight with Naruto. At that moment he felt a small pang of regret. He would never get to ask for Neji Hyuga's forgiveness.
They had reached the apartment building and walked up to the top floor. They both wanted to get off the subject of the deceased Hyuga, so they turned the conversation back to Naruto and Hinata's marriage.
"So that little idiot is married," Sasuke said, smirking.
Sakura gave a small laugh. "They're the first ones from our age group to be married."
They walked into her apartment, Sasuke locking the door behind them.
"Look, I'd love to stay up and catch up with you, but I'm about to pass out. So, just help yourself to any food you find. You can take a shower or just do whatever. Good night," she quickly said before going in her room and collapsing on the bed.
"She must be really tired if she doesn't want to stay up and talk to me," he thought to himself, smirking. He then headed over to the small kitchen space and looked for food. He hadn't eaten since that morning. Something red caught his eye, tomatoes. Sasuke Uchiha for some reason had somewhat of an obsession with tomatoes. He hadn't eaten any for about four months and he immediately grabbed three of them. After he had prepared them, he practically inhaled all three of them.
He then went to sit at the end of Sakura's bed, watching her sleep. He didn't know why, but it felt like he needed to come in their and watch her. He moved to the side of her bed so he could see her more clearly. "She looks so peaceful," he thought. He then noticed how beautiful she really looked to him. While he stared, he didn't notice his right hand reaching out to touch her cheek. When he noticed, he had almost touched her when a memory flashed before his eyes.
His hand was around her throat, squeezing the life out of her. His vision blurred from overusing his Sharingan, blood dripping from his left eye, sliding down his cheek. He reached for her hand and pulled the poisoned kunai knife from her grip. He then swiped towards her.
He quickly pulled his hand back and crawled out of her room. He stood up and grabbed a chair to hang onto in the living room. He was breathing heavily, his vision blurry. He tried quickly walking to the couch but didn't make it in time. Collapsing to his hands and knees, Sasuke put his forehead on the ground and closed his eyes.
Kakashi could not make it in time. He was slow from using the Sharingan. Naruto Uzumaki, quick as a flash, had saved her just in time. He had pulled her away from him and had set her down where Kakashi was. All three of them now looking at him, a horrified expression on their faces.
"I don't even recognize you anymore," Naruto said, a pained expression on his face.
Sasuke discarded the last part of the memory for now. "Thank you Naruto," he whispered, eyes still closed. When he finally opened his eyes, he slowly looked up at the clock. It was 2:00 a.m. He got up slowly and decided to go to sleep.
"The truth is," Sakura paused,"I've always known in my heart, there was nothing I could have done for you. BUT I LOVE YOU!"
This froze Sasuke in his tracks.
"No matter what's happened," she continued,"I still care about you more than I can bear..."
Sasuke tilted his head to the right, still not facing them.
"If I could have taken all your pain onto myself to comfort you, I would have..."
She kept going," And here we are again, and still all I can do is set here and cry. I'M SO PATHETIC!"
Naruto and Kakashi looked on in silence. Both of them had a look of sadness and worry on their faces. Sasuke then told Naruto to go with him so they can have their death battle.
"Sasuke wait!" Kakashi called, then collapsed. Sakura knelt beside him and looked back at Sasuke, an angry look forming on her face. She then started to cry again.
"But, Sasuke... If I still have a place in your heart, even if it's just a little... PLEASE DONT GO!" She had paused again. "If we're together again... I'm sure we'd be able to go back to those days..."
Kakashi looked at her with a look that defined sorrow.
Sasuke had turned to his left to look at her with the Rinnegan. He smirked. "You're... such an annoyance."
The next instant he was right in front of her, the lightning in his hand shining brightly. Then he ripped his hand through her heart with Chidori. She fell to the ground in an instant after he pulled his hand back out.
Sasuke woke up on the couch, a cold sweat drenching his entire body. He was glad he had put his sword on the floor beside the other end of the couch. If it had been next to him, he probably would've ended up stabbing himself. He sat up and put his elbows on his knees, his hands running through his hair, his gaze looking at the floor. He then closed his eyes and remembered the rest of what happened.
Naruto was angrily screaming at Sasuke,"WHAT THE HECK!? YOU DIDN'T NEED TO CAST THE GENJUTSU ON SAKURA!"
"Genjutsu," he said to himself. He had momentarily forgotten that he had used Genjutsu on her. "It was just an illusion that she could see," he said, trying to calm himself down. His thoughts then drifted back to the memory.
"Well, she'd just come after us. Saves us the trouble," Sasuke replied emotionlessly.
Kakashi had lifted his gaze from Sakura to Sasuke. A sad and angry look visible in his eyes. "Sakura," he began,"Sakura really wanted to save you. This whole time..."
Sasuke interrupted and replied with a harsh tone,"What, was she having fun daydreaming about love? I don't see what she likes about me and honestly, I'm not interested in her at all."
"The only time you need a reason is when you hate somebody! Didn't she just say that she wanted you by her side!" Kakashi yelled back. "She wants to save you, there's nothing more to it! This girl here, who nearly lost her life to you... She still cries whenever she thinks of you... AND THE ONLY REASON WAS BECAUSE SHE LOVED YOU SO MUCH THAT IT HURT!"
Sasuke could not bear to think about the memory anymore. She really had loved him that much. He knew that now. The way he felt about her now was different than any other time. He couldn't describe it in any other word but different. It was a foreign feeling that he hadn't felt in years. He looked up at the clock. It was 5:30 a.m.
"The way I feel... Do I... Do I lo- NO! I can't. Not now. I like her as my friend. I can't rush to conclusions." He was right. He couldn't rush to conclusions about the way he felt. He needed time to think. He hadn't even been back in the village for a day. "What am I doing?! I shouldn't even be thinking like this!"
He turned to look back towards her bedroom door, a frown on his face.
A sickening thought crossed his mind. Something he had begun to worry about. He then wondered to himself, "Does she even feel the same way she used to..."
Author's Note: I tried making this chapter longer. I tried to describe how they looked from descriptions of The Last or art I've seen so sorry if it seems a little off. I included the memory of Neji's death because I wanted to show how Sasuke felt about not getting the chance to apologize. Next chapter will include Naruto and Sasuke's "reunion". I don't know how long it will be for chapter three. Haven't gotten all the details worked out yet. Hope you enjoyed! Please review! Thanks for reading!