The fire was growing dim, and the pile of firewood looking scant.
"I'm going to get some firewood," Sakura smiled, standing from where they had been speaking.
"I can do it," Sasuke began to stand, when a strong hand held him down.
"Not yet," she instructed, "Just a few more days and I'll discharge you from this cave, but...I want to make sure everything has healed properly before I do."
He protested but the look in her eyes was absolute. Don't mess up my work.
Eventually, he accepted and watched her leave the cave as the sun went down.
"I'll be back soon," she promised.
Yet she didn't return that evening.
The light of day grew dim when he had the sick feeling in his stomach.
He had only felt this sensation once before.
Right as he gazed at the telephone pole, back in Konoha as a 10 year old boy, only to witness the ghost of Itachi disappear against the full moon. Right before he entered the Uchiha compound, only to find his entire clan - his friends - slaughtered ruthlessly, by his own brother.
His breath caught in his chest at this feeling.
He leapt to his feet and sprinted out the entrance to the cave. He didn't know where he was going, but his fear lead him down the steps of the forest path and out into the clearing -
He found her, lying there in the meadow; her gloved arm was twisted awkwardly to the side, revealing the gawking lacerations that lined her side and the amount of blood she lost that formed a puddle beside her. There was a katana, similar to his own, thrust through her side...
"S-Sasuke...kun...," her voice was merely a whisper. He watched as the light in her shining green eyes slowly faded. Blood was pooling beneath her head and staining her beautiful pink hair.
"S-Sakura!" he was panicking as he reached to pick her off the crimson ground. She was limp and unmoving in his arms. Who had done this to her?! He gazed around the meadow frantically looking for anyone alive, the obvious signs being the scuffle in the dirt, bloodied kunai and so many...too many fallen ninja - then he realized it - the ninja were after him. He should've known...that they'd be back... She had protected his location, and his weakened state...and had succeeded, yet the price was too high...
She coughed, interrupting his thoughts and as he gazed down at her he watched her mouth barely open, whatever she was trying to say lost to him forever. Tears had pooled in her eyes,
"No, Sakura, stay with me!" he screamed at her, attempting desperately to infuse his own chakra into her body.
He just caught a glimpse of her blood-stained smile when she breathed her last.
"Sakura, no!" he yelled, "Shit...shit...! What do I do?!" I wasn't there for you, I never was, you can't leave now!
But it was too late, and grasping her wrist beget no pulse.
His head fell, but his eyes searched for anything.
GASP!
He sat up with a stifled cry, sweating and shaking uncontrollably. Nightmares were never foreign to him, rather they were his constant companion. Agony held him every night, tormenting his unconscious with memories of his mother, his father, Itachi...
- and now, Sakura.
"Sasuke-kun..." he had woken her from across the cave, and she stood sleepily to approach him. Her eyes offered sympathy; she knew he had nightmares...but she couldn't understand that she was now in them. Never had he been so thankful to see her as now - alive, beautiful, her messy pink hair framing her delicate features, her gown loosely covering her feminine form.
He realized then that he had something to fight for, something besides revenge or redemption, besides life and death, survival and perish...someone. Someone to live for. A family...to go home to. She had been here all along.
Her warm hand gently grasped his own, and his spinning crimson eyes quickly gazed into her soothing green ones.
"When did you get back," he demanded flatly.
"From where?"
"Gathering firewood."
"About a half hour after I left...you were asleep, so I decided to just let you rest."
"You should have woken me."
"You needed your sleep..."
Sasuke avoided her gaze.
"What time is it."
"6:30 AM."
~~~~~~~~~.~~~~.~~~~~~~~~.~~~~~~~~~~~~.~~~~~~~~~~~~.~~~~~~~~~~
She had only heard the one cry, the "stay with me," that he had yelled so desperately. That was what had woken her. But she could have sworn she heard the echo of her name precede it...
Regardless, she knew it was another nightmare. Sometimes he would have them while on missions when they were younger, and Kakashi would push him softly until he stopped yelling or shaking. She wasn't sure that he knew she was aware of this, given that each time it happened, she had pretended to be asleep. Naruto slept like a rock wherever they went, she knew he wasn't aware...
How little she understood back then...about the internal pain that he never shared with any of them...
Sasuke interrupted her thoughts. He was now sitting up, the seams of his shirt falling to reveal his sculpted chest. His scarred, sculpted chest.
"...Why...did you come...?" Sasuke wondered.
"You should know, by now..." Sakura murmured, blushing and gazing away from him.
He was silent, again, much to her dismay.
Yet after a long pause, he continued:
"...Thank you."
His words brought her crumbling back down to the day he left, leaving her sprawled out across the cold evening bench. How she had cried and screamed, pleaded with him to stay, if only for her. How he had turned around, after all that she confessed, and said only two words:
"Thank you."
And just recently, how he had left again, on this crazy journey of redemption that almost killed him. He had tapped her most insecure forehead, stating simply.
"Thank you."
How she had always wondered what he had meant.
"...What exactly...do you mean by that...?" Sakura asked.
Sasuke paused.
"You should know by now."
She smiled as she gazed upon his serious visage.
What's that supposed to mean, anyway, Sasuke-kun?
She tapped his forehead playfully, and as he sat reeling in shock from her gesture, she was distracted by a beam of light that shone through the cave entrance.
"Ah, the sunrise...," Sakura smiled, her eyes gleaming in the morning sun.
It was a red and pink sunrise, that only emphasized her own sakura-colored hair.
His breath caught in his chest.
Had he never noticed...?
Avoiding her passively in the shadows, only coming to her rescue when she needed, or didn't...waiting if another man, a better man, would court her...questioning his very value, measuring to see if he deserved her (he didn't)...he decided these all need be things of the past.
"Shit...did you hear that?" Sakura whispered breathlessly, bringing him back from his thoughts. A small crack of a twig, that of shinobi moving in the undergrowth near the cave.
"Ah...They're after me."
"What...?"
"The villagers...They weren't pleased with my quick release from prison, and even less pleased with my presence here."
"...You're in no condition to fight right now."
"I'll manage."
"Let me handle this," Sakura stood, but he grasped her arm.
"It's better to avoid a fight, at this point...don't give them something further to hate Konoha for."
Since when had he become this way...? There was a maturity in his eyes that she hadn't noticed before.
"...You're right... So then...we leave?"
"Yes."
She quickly packed her medical supplies and their bedding, putting out the fire and helping him up. He stood, and although he had put on weight the last few days he still felt sickly...
He allowed her to pull his arm around her shoulder, and together the two shinobi took off into the dark woods again.