Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or it's characters! That's Kishimoto-senpai's job! c:

"Talking"

Thoughts

Author's Note: Before you read this story, I'm just saying as a forewarning to you all: there IS a reason that this story seems very jumped around in regards to emotions and the way they act. THERE IS A REASON FOR THAT. I won't spoil it now obviously, and I hope you guys see it throughout the story when you read the whole thing. If not, I'll explain it at the end to clarify it. But please, bare this in mind before you review, and god forbid, flame me.

"So…this is it?"

Uchiha Sasuke's eyes widen a fraction as he stared down at the pink haired kunoichi in front of him. How could she even dare to speak? Even in the situation she was faced with now—pressed against a tree; already bloodied katana placed against her neck, grazing it slightly; an even bloodied Sharingan boring into her emerald eyes; disarmed with no weapon, chakra scarce—even in that situation, she dared to speak. That…that showed something to Sasuke.

That showed that she wasn't the same 13-year-old girl he left on a park bench nearly 7 years ago. No. That girl had changed, formed into a new person with great strength and even greater heart (if possible). This was a whole new Haruno Sakura.

Her heart…he never understood it; even if she gave it to him, making it his. But he tried, oh how he tried, and he still wants to know. But this wasn't the time to try and figure it out.

Or was it?

His eyes returned to hers; bright green light shown through the darkness his held. His brows furrowed; tightening the grip on her hands, which were above her head, as well as his grip on the katana. "Why?" was all that left his lips.

"Nande?" Sakura asked, barely above a whisper.

"Why aren't you afraid?" the Uchiha asked again, pressing on every word.

Sakura tried to look at his eyes, but her attempts failed. His head was lowered, his bangs—which have certainly gotten longer in the past 7 years—hovered over his eyes, blocking them from her. Still, a faint smile graced her lips as she spoke, "because I've always had this twisted idea that I rather die at the hands of someone I love."

What a strange girl… In his shock, even though his emotional expression still remained plastered on his face, his grip on her hands loosening. She took this opportunity to free one of her hands. Slowly, she brought it down to his cheek. When she gently rested her hand, she felt a slight wetness there. A quiet gasp escaped her lips; he was crying. Crying? "Sas—"

"You're annoying."

She innerly cringed at the nostalgic phrase; memories upon memories flashing through her mind, some she preferred more than others.

Before she could ask anything, the Uchiha heir spoke again. "Why do you make me have this…feeling?" Her breath caught itself in her throat. "You make me feel uncomfortable. Like everything time I think of you, I get this pained feeling in my chest. What are you doing to me!" He took that hand that was holding hers together and punched hard into the tree behind her. The faint scent of blood filled her nostrils, causing her to wince. But she knew what he meant. She wasn't ignorant, ESPECIALLY to a topic like this.

Finally, she spoke. "Hurts, doesn't it?"

"More than anything." His voice was once again barely above a whisper.

"And you don't know how to deal with it, do you?"

"…iie."

A sad smile graced her lips once more. "Try having that feeling occur constantly; basically becoming a part of you, numbing you out. Now imagine that lasting your whole life. I think I know what you mean." Sakura could feel Sasuke's grip on her loosen completely, but he still remained in front of her. She moved past him, the hand that was resting on his cheek slowly falling off. Sasuke immediately took notice to the cold wind that hit the spot on his cheek where her hand kept warm.

He looked up; his eyes, which returned back to obsidian, stared at her retreating form. Matte. She kept walking away. Was this how she felt when he walked away? "Matte." he whispered, the cherry blossom still walking away from him. "Matte." This time, he spoke more audible. He knew she heard him because of the hesitation in her step, yet she still continued to walk away. Why? "MATTE!" This finally got her attention.

Sakura stopped in her tracks; her backing facing him, her head hung low.

He put a little chakra into his step, going over to her. He wasn't going to lose her this time. Not this time. "Why would you leave me…?" he spoke, his voice was quiet one more. "Why do you think you can just walk away? I came back for YOU. I fought my way for YOU. And you just leave? I don—"

Before he had a chance to finish his sentence, a loud SMACK echoed through the sullen forest. His eyes widen again, the stinging sensation slowly growing more and more on his right cheek. He saw the tears that finally spilt from her eyes, cascading down her flushed cheeks.

"How can you even dare to say that, Uchiha?" Sakura spat, glaring at him. She had never in her life felt this much anger toward him at that moment. "What the FUCK is your problem? Why am I leaving you? You think I'm acting like I don't care? You don't know SHIT, Uchiha."

Although he cringed internally at her words, he knew she wasn't wrong. What just came over him right now? Why did he even dare to say that? He was just pushing her further and further away, unintentionally at this point. It was official.

Uchiha Sasuke was losing his mind.

"I'm sorry." he whispered.

"Are you really this time!" Sakura blew, not bothering holding back her anger or her tears. He had done it now. He crossed that thin line. It was a now or never situation. "KUSO. You kept jumping back and forth with everything. Make up your damn mind! First, you were going to kill me. Then, you let me go. Next, you're telling me that I give you this 'feeling'. Then, you demand to know what MY problem is? Get your fucking priorities straight, Uchiha."

"I'M SORRY." he blew, shaking in his anger. What was coming over him? He definitely was losing his mind. "I'm sorry, okay! I've been messed up these 7 years. I've been lost, focusing on ONE thing and one thing only. And now that that's done, I don't have anything to focusing on. Frankly, I can't even fucking think straight anymore. Everything's shooting at me at one fucking time and I just don't know what to do, Sakura! I don't know what to do!" Where was this confession coming from? That, that he actually knew the answer to. It was the truth. The long awaited truth that was lingering in the back of his mind the very day he left her all those years ago.

And finally, she knew what he meant. She finally understood why he did what he did; it all made sense. He spent practically his whole life dedicated to ending Uchiha Itachi and avenging his clan. Never once had he focused on anything else, but that.

He grabbed her hand tightly, holding it in his much larger one. He looked into her eyes, and at that moment, Sakura could see the psychotic-ness. She could see the hysteria that he was driven into as a result to these past years. She pulled the hand that held her, pulling him toward her and into a strong, tight embrace. Sasuke immediately hugged back, burying his head into her shoulder. He held her in his arms, taking in this moment as if it were his last. He was not going to let this moment slip by him. He wouldn't dare to.

"I'm sorry I left…" he finally spoke, slightly raising his head from her shoulder. "But for once in my life, I was focusing on something that wasn't my goal. I was focusing on you. That's why I had to leave… If I stayed, I wouldn't have my FULL attention on my goal. But either way…"

Sakura, still stunned to even be hearing all of that, asked in a quote tone "E-either way what?"

"I still focused on you."

She gasped quietly as he looked up at her, staring into her eyes. His hand reached up gently, brushing her hair back and placing his hand on the back of her head. He leaned in; eyes closed, and placed a chaste kiss on her lips. Their lips lingered a while before they parted, their lips still only centimeters away. With eyes half-lidded, they looked at each other. A smile graced both of their lips as they leaned their foreheads against each other. Never once did they break contact.

"So," she began, a small hand reaching up and placing itself on his cheek, he automatically leaned into the new found warmth. "Where does this leave us now?"

"I'm going home." he answered, keeping his arm wrapped firmly around her petite waist, keeping her close to him.

Another smile graced her lips, this being the brightest out of all of them. "Aisheteru, Sasuke-kun."

He smirked at the return of the nostalgic suffix. "I love you too, Sakura."

"So can you focus now?" a small giggle escaping her lips.

He smirked once more, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Hn."

To those who didn't catch on to why they jumped around with their emotions ALOT: Sasuke kind of went into hysteria after he killed Itachi. When he meant how he was only ever focused on ONE thing (which was killing Itachi to avenge the clan), he never really planned or gave attention to anything else. That was all that mattered. So when he finally accomplished that goal, he didn't have anything else to go on. So he was lost. He was never used to focusing on anything else (except for Sakura, which he realized made him loose COMPLETE focus on his goal, which resulted in him leaving. Well, for the purposes of this story at least lol). So because of this, he can't even get his own thoughts straight and "focus" (keyword) on one thought. I know this seems jumbled up, but I hope you guys noticed this before reading this explanation. Leave a review for any type of improvement? (:

Whoa, now that I think about it, this is the first real fanfiction I've written in about 3 years. asdfghjkl. The fuck. I need to get my priorities straight haha. But it really does feel good to write again, especially about these two lovely people! I do love how I wrote this all, and about half of part 2 during ONE class period today (blame/thank whoever broke into my gym locker and stole my uniform. again.), which was roughly 70 minutes? I probably wrote this in an hour's time though; I'm pretty damn impressed lol. It just came to me randomly. Well, probably not randomly, because I HAVE been drowning myself in countless fanfictions for about a week or so. Oops.

RxR please? Thank you. c:

~Cherry-chan