Months had passed. Life settled into a comfortable routine in the village. Peace prevailed, but for her, something was amiss. Despite the tranquility around her, she knew something was missing. Her heart was heavy.
As she moved on with life, moments would arise where she found herself lost in thought, imagining his return. Despite her efforts to carry on, she couldn't help it but to find herself thinking about what life would be like if he ever returned. She imagined that life would be like if he had accepted to take her along.
She gave herself routines and tried to stay as busy as possible. Every time she thought of him, she would find a task to do so she could take him off her mind quickly. But late at night it was harder. In the quiet of the night, she couldn't help but think of him. She would think of how things would have been if she had gone with him. She wondered what he could be doing. She wondered if he was happy, or sad, or if he ever thought of her.
It was a night like any other night. She was turning and tossing in bed. She was trying hard to fall asleep. The early morning lights were creeping through her window. Suddenly, she heard a soft but steady knock on her window. At first, she was surprised, there was no way somebody could be knocking on her second-floor window. The knocking continued and she got up to check.
A bird was softly knocking on her window with its claw. Something was tied around its leg. She quickly opened the window and let the bird rest on her arm. She removed what was on its leg.
There was a note and a picture.
"I thought you'd want to see her."
There was no explanation or signature. Then she looked at the picture.
There was a lady holding a child by her hand. The child was little and smiling. There was a shadow in the back.
She tried to figure out who the people were. She assumed the message was referring to the child but the more she looked at her the more confused she was. She was not familiar with this child at all. She tried to recognize the people around her. The lady looked familiar, but she couldn't remember who she was. She tried to detail the figure in the back. The figure like that of a man but he's face was out of the picture. He was tall and kind off leaning towards the child. That is when she noticed a white and red insignia on the side of his jacket. That is when she realized what she was looking at. The child was the baby whose life she had saved a while ago. The woman was the person who had come to take her…and the figure? The figure was him.
Her mind was flooded with pictures of him. He was thinking of her. He thought the photo would make her happy, which it did. He thought about making her happy. She didn't sleep for the rest of the night. Once again, she couldn't stop thinking about him.
The morning creeped him through the window and duty called. She made her way to the hospital. She routinely completed her tasks, but her mind was somewhere else.
"Hey, hey! Sakura!" an assistant yelled.
"Hmm?" she responded
"Are you okay? I've been calling you for a while" the lady responded.
"Oh yeah, sorry, I was distracted" she answered.
"I was saying the Hokage is requesting your presence" the lady announced.
"Oh, thank you" Sakura said.
She found someone to cover for her and made her way to the tower.
She was going to knock on the door, but it was open.
"Welcome in, take a seat" Kakashi said warmly.
"How can I help?" she answered with a smile.
"I have a mission for you" he announced.
"Whatever you need" she responded.
"Ninjas a massively disappearing in four of our neighboring villages" Kakashi responded "there is no apparent reason or connection, they are just disappearing" he continued "We have reasons to suspect the involvement of Aikawa Kenzo, a wealthy merchant from the land of tea. He has openly supported anti ninja movements in the past" he finished.
"What would you like me to do?" Sakura asked intrigued.
"I'd like for you to deliver a message to one of our ninjas in the land of tea. We cannot risk having our message intersected because we could lose our advantage and put our ninja at risk" Kakashi responded "he might need assistance depending on the complexity of the mission, be prepared to stay for longer than a week if needed" he added.
"Yes sir" she responded "who will I be delivering the message to?" she asked.
"Oh, yes, I almost forgot. You will find Sasuke in this place" He said handing her a card "I figured it would be less suspicious since you are someone he knows and not a complete stranger" he finished.
Her heart dropped, she tried hard to not show it, but she was struggling to keep her composure.
"Thank you" she said and quickly left.
She ran home. She didn't realize it, but she was going as fast as she could. She through a bunch of clothes together and left that same night.
The walk to the land of tea would be around three days. She managed to get there in two. She was exhausted but the closer to she came to the place, the more energy she'd draw from her will.
She stopped at a tea house to catch her breath and have some water. She made her way inside and ordered some water and a jasmine tea. She patiently waited for her tea.
"I'll have the lemongrass tea" someone said.
She knew that voice. She froze, her heart pounded in her chest. Unconsciously, she put her hand on his shoulder.
"Sasuke…"