Song of a Cherry Blossom
by Diana-san

Author's Note: The song used in this chapter is "Planetarium" by Ai Otsuka. I do recommend you listen to it as you read this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the song "Planetarium".

Chapter 23

The return to school after a long break was difficult. Mornings seem difficult to wake through as the weather remained in cold temperatures. Sakura walked to school as she wrapped a muffler around her jacket.

She stopped in the hallway as she saw Karin. Sasuke wasn't around which was highly unusual for her.

"Ah, Sakura. I assume you're coming to the wedding in March?" Karin asked as she got off her phone. "You'll be Sai's plus one right?"

Sakura wasn't sure what to say. She couldn't possibly imagine herself attending Sasuke's wedding. The thought of it made her stomach curl in all the wrong places.

"Are you in love with Sasuke?" Sakura asked. "You're always with him."

Karin laughed. "Love? I don't know if you can call it that. This is a business contract between our families. But of course, it helps that Sasuke is pretty cute."

"Then this is all just a business deal to you?"

"Of course. In fact, originally I was supposed to marry the son of the Hozuki family. But thankfully, I got out of it. That Suigetsu kid creeps me out. He always gets on my last nerves." Karin shuddered at the thought.

"What happens if you and Sasuke don't get married?" Sakura asked.

"Oh gosh, don't jinx it. Then I have to marry Suigetsu instead. Our family will probably pull the funding from the Uchiha Corporation since this was a business deal. My father is very particular about deals being seen to the very end."

"Pull funding?"

"Yeah, I mean technically, this wedding was pretty rushed. I didn't think the heir to Uchiha Corporation would wed until after he turned 18. Must mean some inner turmoil within the company to push him to marry so fast. Not that it matters once our families join together."

Sakura mulled over her words. "I guess this marriage is a big thing to the Uchihas," she murmured.

The bell rang.

"Ugh, class. Let's go." Karin walked past Sakura to go inside the classroom.

Sakura followed behind her and entered the classroom. Kakashi was late again so she chatted with Hinata and Naruto as they went over what they did during the break.

Kakashi finally walked through the door after fifteen minutes past the first bell.

"Good morning class. Welcome back to school after a long winter break. Finally, we are starting our third trimester. I guess you guys would be pretty excited since we'll be going on overnight school excursion this term." Kakashi smiled as he handed out flyers to the first student of each row. "Here are the details about the trip. We'll be going at the end of next week for two nights and three days."

Sakura took the flyer from Naruto as she passed one back to Sasuke. As Sasuke reached to grab the flyer from her, their fingers touched for a moment. Sasuke never said anything about the last time they spoke and Sakura hadn't brought it up herself either. They both had seemed to ignore it as they made small talk in public at school.

Sakura sighed as she glanced down at the flyer in front of her. An overnight school trip. This is going to be awkward.

The school trip seemed to be the only thing that everyone could talk about as the day finally arrived. Sakura didn't plan on going but Tsunade had found the flyer crumpled up in her school bag. Sakura didn't even want to know why Tsunade was digging through her school bag to begin with. It seemed as if Tsunade had a sixth sense for when Sakura wants to skip school-related events such as this one.

All the second year students gathered by the buses at the front of the school as they waited for the teachers to arrive. Sakura sighed as she waited in line. The sky was clear and it looked to be a good weekend.

Standing beside her, Naruto suddenly burst out into laughter. "Oh my god, Sasuke what are you wearing?"

Sasuke walked up to them in line dressed in a large winter coat over a navy blue sweater. "What?" he asked with an annoyed look on his face.

"Why are you dressed for a storm? It's going to be nice this weekend! The weather forecasts predicted it!" Naruto exclaimed as he pointed at Sasuke's getup.

"I don't believe in weather forecasts," Sasuke stated as Karin came up from behind him.

"You're an idiot," Naruto replied.

"No, that would still be you." Sasuke smirked as he climbed onto the bus.

Sakura couldn't help but smile. She knew he had an extreme sensitivity towards cold weather.

The bus drove several hours and Sakura fell asleep on Hinata's shoulder without realizing it. She woke up in embarrassment when Hinata gently nudged her and told her that they had arrived.

They spent the first night grilling yakitori and Sakura no longer regretted coming on the trip. She and Naruto spent most of dinner matching each other in how much meat they could consume.

The second day, their class went hiking up the trails and explored much of the area as they took in the sights of nature surrounding all around them. Many of the girls lagged behind as they grudgingly followed behind Kakashi. Sakura pulled Hinata along as they walked up to the top of the trail.

The view was breathtaking and Sakura was at a loss of words. She toyed with her pendant as she glanced out at the scenery before her. Suddenly, she wished her parents were here. They would have loved it.

She got lost in thought but was snapped back to reality when Hinata called out to her. The rest of the class was leaving to go back to the cabin. She hurried after Hinata as the two of them made the trek back down the trails.

It was when she was washing her hands in the bathroom that she noticed something odd in the mirror. She glanced at her reflection and her hands immediately flew to her neck. The chain was still hanging on her neck but the pendant was missing. Her eyes widened with panic as she glanced around the bathroom. Maybe it had dropped around the cabin.

Sakura ran out of the bathroom as she retraced her steps to the front door. She couldn't see her pendant anywhere.

"What's wrong Sakura-san?" Hinata asked as she glanced at Sakura with a worried gaze.

"I lost my pendant," Sakura said absent-mindedly as she tried to recount where it could have possibly dropped.

"The necklace you always wear?"

"Yes! Have you seen it by chance Hinata?" Sakura asked frantically.

"N-no," Hinata responded in apology. "Sorry, Sakura-san."

Sakura sighed. "Hinata, I'm going to go out to look for it. Sorry if I don't make it back by dinnertime," she rushed as she waved goodbye to Hinata and ran out the door.

"Sakura-san!" Hinata cried out but it was already too late as Sakura got further away from the cabin.

"Hinata? What's wrong?" Naruto asked as he came up from behind with a melon popsicle in his hand.

Hinata turned around. "Sakura-san! She lost her necklace so she went out back to the trails to look for it I think."

Hinata glanced out the door and saw that the sky was beginning to darken as clouds formed overhead. "Naruto-kun, it looks like it's going to rain."

Naruto scratched his head. "It shouldn't. Not according to the forecast lady." Naruto quickly checked his phone. "THUNDERSTORMS?!" he yelped as he read the forecast for today. "But..but..but… the weather lady…"

He quickly shoved his phone back into his pocket. "This is bad, Sakura-chan shouldn't stay out there too long," he said in worry.

"Oy, idiot. Did you take the last popsicle from the box in the freezer?" Sasuke asked as he entered the front hallway and waved an empty box at Naruto.

Naruto barely glanced at Sasuke as he looked at Hinata. "I have to go out and look for Sakura-chan. She's afraid of thunderstorms. It would be bad if she gets caught in one." He handed his melon popsicle to Hinata. "Here, watch this for me, will ya?"

Sasuke drops the box in his hand as he ran out of the front door.

"Sasuke!" Naruto cried out. He started to run after Sasuke but Hinata grabbed onto his arm. Naruto glanced back at Hinata.

"Don't go! You'll get in trouble if you're gone. Sensei will definitely notice that you are missing at dinner." Hinata looked down at the ground. "I'm sure Sasuke-kun will find Sakura-san and bring her back soon."

Naruto took one last glance at the open door. "I sure hope you are right, Hinata," he said as he stared up at the gray sky.

Sakura ran through the forest as she tried to remember what trail their class took earlier that day. The sky was beginning to darken and it was going to be a matter of time before it got too dark to continue searching. Her eyes quickly dart back and forth as she scanned the area. She quickly took out her phone as she scanned through the pictures she took throughout the day of her and Hinata.

One picture had her standing on top of a rock with Naruto in the background trying to climb onto one of the trees. She squinted as she tried to zoom in on the picture. The trees all looked the same to her but the rocks were unique to the area. They were smoothed out in a way that made them look more like tree stumps instead of rocks. She continued running up the path in front of her. She was sure the trail was nearby.

She spotted the stump-looking rocks and ran over as she compared the photo on her phone to it. They were the same. Quickly, she shoved the phone back in her pocket as the phone beeped, signaling that it was running out of battery.

Sakura shivered as she continued running up the trail. She was still in her outfit from earlier and that was only a light jacket over her t-shirt and jeans. She reached the top of the trail where they were at earlier. The view was no longer stunning anymore as the skies turned a darker gray. As she rummaged around some bushes, she caught a glint of a sparkle from behind a rock.

Quickly, running over to it, she crouched down as she brushed past some leaves in her way. It was her pendant. A little dirty from the residue of the dirt that fell on it but still intact in one piece. She hugged it close to her cheek as she breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness," she murmured to herself.

She got up as she safely placed the pendant in the zipped up pocket of her jacket. As she started walking back down the trail, she heard it. Or rather, she felt it first. The clouds seemed to have gathered in a bunch and the heavens opened up as a downpour of rain fell. Sakura quickly put the hood of her jacket over her head as she tried to crouch underneath the protection of a large tree nearby.

Suddenly, a flash of lightning lit up the sky and Sakura froze. Her face looked up to the darkened gray skies as her heart slowed to a still beat. "No," she whispered. She immediately crouched down to the ground as she jammed her fingers into her ears. The loud boom of thunder roared through the forest as she shivered in her jacket.

Tears began streaming down her face. "No, no, no," she repeated over and over as she tried to drown out the sound with her voice.

The memories came flooding back to her. That same night that her parents died.

Sakura opened the door and ran outside into the cold. The skies were gray and it looked as if a storm was approaching. Sakura shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket and walked off into the woods. She didn't know how long she was walking but the fresh smell of cedar and pine made her feel comfortable as her feet stomped on the crunching leaves. The wind whipped through her hair and against her face. Sakura brushed back a strand of hair in surprise. The wind was stronger than earlier.

She ignored it as she walked further. She didn't care if she was caught in a rainstorm, there was no way she was going to go back to that house. She marched angrily on as she thought back to the dinner and the fighting between her mother and her grandmother.

"Stupid, we were supposed to go out to celebrate my birthday at the cherry blossom festival afterwards. Now it's all ruined," she muttered as she kicked a rock. It suddenly began to rain and Sakura glanced up in surprise at the skies as a drop fell on her cheek. She continued to run until she found the old shed she used to camp out in when she was mad. It was still worn down as usual but it served its purpose of shielding Sakura from the rain. She saw a flash of lightning as thunder rumbled afterwards. She counted the seconds in between the flash and the thunder. It wasn't that far apart. The thunder was booming and it scared her a little. She huddled in a corner. The distance of the lightning flash seemed close. Too close for comfort.

She wasn't sure how long it had been when she woke up and realized she fell asleep in the shed. She opened the door a crack and saw that it had stopped raining.

The pink-headed girl sighed. "I guess I should head back now," she muttered. The sky was already dark and stars began to litter across the night sky. As she walked closer back to the house, she heard loud screams and lots of shouting and yelling. Quickly, Sakura started to run and when she came to the edge of the woods, she stood with her feet planted firmly on the ground as she stared in shock.

The magnificent house was now erupted in flames and smoke rose into the night sky. Two fire trucks were parked out in front of the house and firefighters were busy trying to put out the flames. Some other people who drove up in cars stopped to stare in horror.

"It's a lightning fire!" someone shouted.

Sakura ran from her frozen place and up to one of the firefighters. She grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and shook him hard. "My parents," she screamed. "Where are they?"

The fireman placed his hands calmly on top of Sakura's shaking hands. "Is this your house?" he asked calmly.

Sakura removed her hands from his jacket. "I-it's my grandparents' house."

Several men came out of the burning house and came up to the man who Sakura grabbed. "Chief," one of them said. "There seems to be no survivors."

Sakura felt like throwing up. Her head was spinning. 'What did that guy just say? No survivors?' Sakura stared at the ground with a stunned look on her face. This was her fault. If she hadn't run out like that. No, if she had only stayed calm and stayed inside the house. Then they would have gone out as a family to the festival for her birthday. They wouldn't have been inside the house when the lightning struck. They wouldn't have died. They would have lived.

Tears began to fall freely down Sakura's face. She wasn't sure if it was the rain or her tears in front of her face as she began to cry.

"I'm going to play a song for you Sakura. I want you to listen to it and tell me what you hear," Kurenai said as she pressed play on the laptop.

A familiar melody played as Sakura recognized her voice. "Isn't this my audition tape?"

Kurenai placed a finger to her lips as she shushed her. "Just listen," Kurenai said.

"Yuuzukiyo kaodasu kieteku kodomo no koe
Tooku tooku kono sora no dokoka ni kimi wa irundarou
Natsu no owari ni futari de nuke dashita kono kouen de mitsuketa
Ano seiza nandaka oboeteru?"

The moonlight evening shows it's face, and the voices of the children disappear
Somewhere far far off in the sky, you're probably out there
We snuck away into the end of the summer, and we found this park
Do remember what that constellation was?

"Aenakutemo kioku wo tadotte onaji shiawase wo mitainda
Ano kaori to tomoni hanabi ga patto hiraku"

Even if we can't be together, I want to follow my memories, and see the same happiness as you do
The fireworks burst in a flush, together with that scent

"I'm sorry," Sakura cried as she sat there on the wet ground. "I was the reason you all died."

The rain continued to pour as it ignored her cries.

Ikitaiyo kimi no tokoro e imasugu kakedashite ikitai yo
Makkura de nanimo mienai kowakutemo daijoubu

I want to go to where you are, I want to run off right now
You can't see anything in the pitch darkness, it's alright to be scared

Sasuke ran through the forest as he looked for Sakura. The skies looked like it was about to give a downpour and he had no clue where she went. He gritted his teeth as he continued to search. She couldn't have gone too far.

Kazoe kirenai hoshizora ga imamo zutto kokoni arundayo
Nakanaiyo mukashi kimi to mita kireina sora datta kara

The starry sky with countless amounts of stars is always going to be right here, even now
I won't cry, because a long time ago, I saw a beautiful sky with you

Sakura couldn't control the sobs as she hiccupped in between each sob. Her heart felt like it was falling out of her chest and she couldn't see anything in front of her anymore.

Ano michi made hibiku kutsu no oto ga mimi ni nokoru
Ookina jibun no kage wo mitsumete omounodeshou
Chittomo kawaranai hazu nanoni setsunai kimochi fukurande ku
Donnani omottatte kimi wa mou inai

The sound of shoes echoing out on that road is still left in my ears
Staring at my large shadow, I wonder if you still think about me
Even though they shouldn't have changed at all, sad feelings swell in me
No matter what I feel, you're not here anymore

The sound of thunder continued to echo through her ears. Maybe she was still in that shed from before. Maybe it was all just a dream. A really bad nightmare. Sakura closed her eyes shut. She had to wake up from this nightmare. Then she could see her parents again. Alive, perhaps a bit angry at her for running out, but definitely alive.

Ikitai yo kimi no sobani chiisakutemo chiisakutemo
Ichiban ni kimi ga sukidayo tsuyoku irareru
Negai wo nagareboshi ni sotto tonaete mitakeredo
Nakanai yo todoku darou kirei na Sorani

I want to go to your side, even if just for a little while
I love you most of all, it's stayed a strong feeling
I tried silently wishing on a shooting star
But I won't cry, the wish will go through, into the beautiful sky

Sakura wondered to herself. What if this was her punishment? She was left in this forest to die the same way her parents did. Maybe this was nature's way of punishing her. For forgetting and blocking out the memory of how her parents truly died. It wasn't just a fire. It was her. She left them in the house. Maybe she wasn't supposed to have survived the fire. The thunder seemed to mock her tears. Her family had left her all alone. She was all alone.

 Aenakutemo kioku wo tadotte onaji shiawase wo misetainda
Ano kaori to tomoni hanabi ga patto hiraku

Even if we can't be together, I want to follow my memories, and see the same happiness as you do
The fireworks burst in a flush, together with that scent

Sasuke rushed through the rain as he frantically looked everywhere for any sign of the pink-haired girl. Though almost as seeming of a miracle, he heard the sound of crying through the rain. He ran in the direction he hoped it was. Sakura… wait for me.

 Ikitaiyo kimino tokoro e chiisana te wo nigiri shimete
Nakitaiyo sorewa sorewa kirei na sora datta
Negai wo nagare boshi ni sotto tonaete mitakeredo
Nakitai yo todokanai omoi wo kono sora ni

I want to go to where you are, clenching my small hands
I want to cry, it was such a beautiful sky
I tried silently wishing on a shooting star
But I won't cry, the wish will go through, into the beautiful sky...

Lightning flashed again through the night sky and Sakura shrieked as she closed her eyes shut and huddled her knees closer to her face.

"Sakura!"

Huh? Did someone say my name? Sakura's mind went a little fuzzy as she peeked out from her position. She didn't see anything. She hiccupped as she wiped away some tears from her eyes.

"Sakura!"

Suddenly, a face came to view. She stared blankly back at the face.

"Sasuke?" she murmured.

Sasuke breathes a sigh of relief as he envelops Sakura in a hug. "You idiot. Why would you come out here in the rain?" he scolded her.

"Sasuke!" she cried out as she collapses in his arms with her tears streaking down her face. She wasn't alone anymore. Maybe, she was meant to live on. She holds him tighter as her heart continues to pound. She was so thankful he was here.

"Can you stand up?" he asked as he tried to lift Sakura up from the ground. She nodded as she slowly stood up, all the while holding on to his arms.

"There's a shed not too far from here. I saw it on my way over here so we can seek shelter there," he said as took hold of her hand. Sakura followed him as he led the way to an old abandoned shed. It looked similar to the one that Sakura had camped out in when she was little. Except it was a different shed inside. Firewood was stacked to one corner but it looked like it hadn't been touched in a while.

Sakura shivers. She realized she was soaked from top to bottom in her clothes since she had been out in the storm the entire time.

"Take off your clothes," Sasuke ordered as soon as they were inside the shed. He takes off his winter coat and hands it to her. She holds on to it and watches as he takes off his sweater to reveal a t-shirt underneath. He throws the sweater at her as he turns around so that his back was facing her.

"I'll look this way so you can change. You'll get sick if you stay in your clothes. Don't worry, I won't peek," he said as he crouched down and stared at the wall.

Sakura hesitantly removed her jacket as the water dripped from the sleeves. She stripped her wet t-shirt from her skin as she wrung it out and placed it on top of some firewood. Quickly, she pulled Sasuke's sweater over her head as she looked over to Sasuke. True to his word, his head remained facing the wall. She tugged on the sleeves of the sweater. It was a bit bigger than her and the sweater came down to her legs almost as if it was a dress. She picked up the large winter coat from the ground. It was waterproof so it was still dry inside and moderately wet outside.

Quickly, she removed her jeans since the sweater was long enough to cover her bottom. The jeans were sticking to her skin and it was a struggle as she tried to get her legs out from them. Placing them on the firewood, she wrung out the bottom of the jeans so that the water would drip through.

The shed suddenly got brighter and Sakura turned around to see that Sasuke had found a small electric lantern. It was barely lighting up as it flickered on and off but Sakura presumed that perhaps the shed hadn't been abandoned too long ago if the batteries still worked on that thing. The lantern suddenly gave a dim glow as the flickering stopped.

"I'm done," she replied and Sasuke turned his head around and nodded at her.

"It sounds like it is still raining hard. It might not let up until morning. We probably should stay here instead of risking getting lost in the dark. I barely found my way here even with light," he said. He moves aside some firewood to set up a clearing in the corner of the room.

"You can sleep in this corner and I'll sleep over in the other corner," he said as he pointed to their respective corners.

Sakura nodded and wondered if he was going to ask her why she was crying or why she ran out to the woods. He didn't say anymore as he walked over to his corner and lied down.

She watched him as his back was turned towards her again and he was shivering in his t-shirt. She touched the fur-lined hood of his winter coat as she slowly got up from her spot and walked over to him.

He glanced up at her when she placed the jacket on top of him.

"What are you doing? You'll be cold without it!" he exclaimed as he shoved the jacket off. "I'll be fine," he muttered as he turned his head back to face the wall.

"I don't want to be in the corner alone," she said, her voice breaking a little as she spoke. Sakura lied down beside him as she placed the jacket on top of them so that it covered them both. "It's warmer being next to you," she murmured as her eyes closed.

Sasuke's back flinched as he felt Sakura lie down beside him. He slowly turned over to his other side as he gazed down at Sakura's face. The dim glow of the lantern reflected against her features as her chest rose up and down with her every breath. Sasuke caught a whiff of her shampoo given the proximity she was at. It was the smell of strawberries mixed in with the smell of pine and rain.

Sakura opened her eyes slowly as she gazed into Sasuke's onyx eyes. "Thank you for coming," she murmured. Sasuke said nothing as he nodded. Sakura closed her eyes again. Her eyelids felt heavy all of a sudden. Maybe it was from all the crying she did earlier.

He instinctively reached out to stroke her hair as he watches her slowly drift into sleep. "She fell asleep fast," he murmured. His hands reached down to wipe the dried tears on her cheek. He wondered what happened. It couldn't have just been being caught in the rain that made her cry. Sakura's face flinched and Sasuke wondered if she was having a bad dream.

He pulled her in closer to him as he hugged her underneath the warmth of his winter jacket. There was no way he was going to be able to fall asleep in this matter. He sighed as he placed his forehead against Sakura's before raising his lips to her forehead and giving her a soft kiss. He inhaled the scent of her hair again as he observed every detail on her face.

"Sweet dreams," he whispered as he tightly held onto her hand.