Title: Wrong Choice
Prompt: Misspent Youth
Summary: Every time she looked in those pitch-black eyes, she saw regret. Not for betraying his village, but by wasting his youth with the enemy when he could've spent it with her.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Rating: K+
So many years later, she could still see regret in his eyes. Every single time she looked at those onyx eyes, she could see them swimming in the depths of sorrow and loss, and she ached to know why. She wanted to know what caused him so much pain.
When she told Naruto about it, he had no idea what she was talking about. "Regret? Pain? Sakura, I know he mopes around all the time like some emo guy, but trust me, that's happy by his standards."
Then she'd grumble in frustration about 'shallow boys' and 'idiot' then stalk away. It was only a week later at their usual team get-together at Ichiraku Ramen that she realized that Naruto couldn't see what she was seeing. Because when Sasuke looked at Naruto, the pain, the guilt, the anger in his eyes…it all disappeared. In fact, when he looked at anyone else, his eyes were the normal, angry, scowling Sasuke eyes everyone was used to.
It was only when he looked at her.
Only when his gaze laid on her did it all come back – all the guilt, all the disappointment, all the utter sadness in his eyes would come flooding back, and it hurt her that she was the cause of all of it. After all, why would he look that way only when he was looking at her?
She wracked her brains over it for a while, until he asked her out. Then all her concerns vanished because Sasuke the love of her life just asked her out and now they were dating and, well, she was so caught up in the joy of all of it that she completely forgot about what she saw in his eyes.
A few months later, when the elation had died down, she realized he still hadn't stopped looking at her like that. And it nagged her for awhile, because she couldn't understand why.
So when they curled up on the couch one night, watching a movie with her head against his chest and his arm wrapped around her shoulder and she noticed him looking at her that way again, with all the pain in his eyes, she gave up. She turned to him, speaking softly. "Sasuke, what's wrong?"
He immediately looked away saying, "Nothing. The movie's nice."
She looked at him again with those soft, green eyes of hers, placing a delicate hand on him arm. "Sasuke…I know you. You've been looking at me like that ever since the war ended."
"Like what?"
"Like that." She tried to emphasize, propping herself up to look at him properly. "With your eyes full of guilt and pain and sadness. And you only ever look at me like that, Sasuke. What's wrong? Did I do something?"
"Nothing." He said gruffly, still staring at the TV screen. "Watch the movie."
"No, Sasuke!" And he finally turned to her, his eyes as stoic as ever. "I want to know! You've been looking at me like I've done something to hurt you, and I want to know what! I want to know! Sasuke…I don't want you to hurt anymore."
And they glared at each other, green clashing with black. She finally broke it, turning to the TV screen, and so did he. But both of them knew that the other wasn't really watching.
"I left you."
Her eyes widened slightly, and she turned to look at him, though he continued to stare straight ahead. His black eyes seemed glassy, and she could see the light reflecting off of them.
"I was stupid." He said, still not looking at her. "All I wanted was power, to kill Itachi. And I left you."
She stared at him, a pang in her heart as she remembered that day. The day he left the Leaf Village. The day she pleaded with all her heart for him to stay, and he went anyway. The day her Sasuke left for Orochimaru.
"I got stronger there." He continued, his voice cracking. "But I would've gotten strong here too. With the Konoha 11. With Naruto. With you."
"Sasuke…"
"I shouldn't have left you. I shouldn't…I shouldn't have wasted my time there, when I could've spent all my time, all my youth with you. Sakura…I–"
And he was cut off as she wrapped her arms around his neck, placing her chin on his shoulders as he instinctively hugged her back. Her face was streaked with tears as he tried to hold back his own.
"Sasuke…I forgive you."
And it felt like a huge burden had been taken from him, as if he had been carrying the universe on his shoulders and now she had taken it away. He allowed himself one, solitary tear to run down his face as he wrapped her in his arms and buried his face in her neck in relief. They both stayed like that for what seemed like years but in reality was only a few minutes.
From that day forth Sakura never saw the regret in Sasuke's eyes again. Instead, she saw happiness. Happiness, because he knew that although he had misspent his youth, he knew that she had given him another chance. A chance he wouldn't take for granted. Never would he make the wrong choice ever again.