Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not own Naruto or any of the characters within Naruto.
I hope you enjoy the story! It took me a few hours to think about how I wanted it to go. So enjoy and please, rate and review.
Also:
Regular narration of the story.
'Thinking'
"Speaking"
Dream/Flashback
Full Summary: TRAITOR! He had hurt her so bad; leaving her on that bench six years ago in the middle of the night. He'd ripped her heart out and shattered it right in front of her and then left her to pick up the pieces he'd scattered to the wind. That was the last straw for Haruno Sakura. From that day forward, she trained harder, practiced until she physically couldn't practice anymore. For six years she trained and forgot him. Six years she hated him, she loathed his very being. Sasuke never thought she would come after him, he never thought she could beat him, he never knew he'd return to Konoha a prisoner. He never knew how much she loved him, and he never knew how bad he could hurt her. Now the darkness had consumed her, just like it has consumed him. Only she can save him from his darkness, but first, someone has to save her before it's too late.
Chapter 1: All Because of Him
Sakura was lying on her bed, staring out the window into the darkness. Tonight, there was to be a new moon which meant no moonlight for the Hidden Leaf Village, Konoha. She glanced up at the clock beside her bed and sighed; it read 2:30 AM.
She hadn't been able to sleep properly since he had left them six years ago; but that didn't matter now, she was over him. She had finally pushed him out of her life and locked away the love she once had for him so long ago.
She dragged her tired and aching body out of bed just as her cell phone rang. She rubbed her droopy eyes tiredly. She checked the caller ID, it was Tsunade. With a click of the answer button, the female Hokage's voice echoed into her ears.
For a moment, she listened to all that her sensei had to say before replying, "I'll be right there." She snapped the flip-phone shut and quickly changed into her nurse attire: a short white skirt with a similar white button-up blouse. Her name tag hadn't been removed from the previous day so there was no need to look around for one. She slipped her feet into the soft white matching shoes and sighed as she walked out of her door and gently closed it.
She made a quick round on her two young wards to make sure they were safe and sound asleep before writing a quick note to explain her absence and then darted out the door; silently locking it tight. She nodded to herself, they'd both been asleep and their breathing wasn't erratic anymore. They were almost over their sickness, in fact, it looked as if tonight would be their last night of coughing and hacking.
She hurried to the hospital, which just happened to be on the other side of Konoha, all the while wishing she had enough energy to'poof' herself there like Kakashi always loved to do. With a sigh she decided to take a short-cut through the tangles of trees that wound themselves throughout the village branching off from the forest; this would help her keep whatever chakra she had left within her body in case someone needed it.
A twig snapped suddenly and caught the dashing kunoichi's attention as she came to a screeching halt to look around. A kunai was already in her hand as she glanced around frantically. She was in no mood to be fucked with. Her chakra began to build as she flared her senses out to find the intruder. She was too tired right now to do a thorough check of the compound before continuing off. Her bright, bubble-gun pink hair danced in the cool autumn night and her emerald green eyes glittered in the small light coming from the bright stars in the sky.
Unknown to Sakura, she was being watched by a pair of dark, onyx eyes that flared a slight red as she continued off. The figure was cloaked in darkness and therefore unable to be seen in the dead of the night. The figure glanced back to where Sakura had come from and made a mental note before disappearing into the forest. He would show himself when the time came.
Sakura finally reached the hospital; the weird feeling of being watched had long gone before she'd even reached the grounds of the Konoha Hospital. She rushed inside quickly and found herself in front of Tsunade. "Please forgive me for being so late." Sakura said. "I didn't want to waist my chakra by teleporting here." She gave a bow to the female Hokage before following after her.
"It's quite all right Sakura. I'm glad you were able to come at all, what with Suko and Ayaka just getting over their first flu bug." Tsunade said. She turned to the girl and took her chin in her hands. "I am so proud of you Sakura. You work so hard and you are so willing to help people, don't ever change, for anyone or anything." The larger woman kissed her pupil on the forehead before continuing towards the emergency room where there were patients waiting to be healed.
Sakura entered the room and saw her teammate, Sai, lying on the medical bed looking quite feverish. She was at his side in an instant and assessing the damage. "What happened?" She asked him as she ran her hands over his wounds and found the poison that had wormed its way all the way to the veins just outside his heart. In another minute, he'd be dead.
Sai grimaced as he looked up at the pink-haired kunoichi. "Ambush… Poison senbons." Sai coughed specks of blood landing on the white sheets that he lay on.
Sakura's face was pale as she placed her glowing green hands over his chest and heart. "You must continue to talk to me Sai, it's the only way I'll know you're still alive. Understand?" Sakura demanded from him. Her face was almost emotionless as she said this, there was a bit of panic in her voice and her deep emerald gaze shown with worry and fear. She didn't want to; no she couldn't lose another teammate! "Understand me?" She asked again, her voice a little higher than normal.
"H-Hai," Came Sai's reply as the poison readied itself to strike into his heart.
Her hands were pressed against his chest as she poured chakra into him and began to dissolve the poison, but it still needed somewhere to go. So she used her chakra to push it through his veins to his arm and then, tearing a piece of bed sheet, tied his arm tight to stop the circulation in his arm. She had to act quickly! If she didn't, Sai would die in a matter of minutes because he needed all the blood he could get!
Sai was suffering; all those years of training to get rid of his emotions were useless as several of said feelings passed through him all at once overloading his brain. He could feel fear, worry, pain, and most of all anger, anger at those who ambushed him, anger that he was so weak, and anger that Sakura was worried and afraid for him. He was so caught up in his emotions that he didn't notice Sakura had the kunai until it was at his arm. "Haruno, what do you think you are doing!" He shouted.
She sliced the kunai down his arm about an inch before tossing the bloodied kunai to the floor and bending down to his arm. Her lips found the wound as she sucked out the poisoned blood. Her chakra killed whatever was left as she spit it out into a nearby cup. She did this several times; around the tenth time she couldn't taste the bitter poison anymore and pulled up from him. Using the last bit of her chakra, she sealed the wound and then untied the bandage to let the blood return to his arm. She used whatever remained of her chakra to slow the blood rushing to his heart to keep him from going into shock and then finally collapsed to her knees beside him.
Sai couldn't believe it, he was alive, and Sakura had saved him! He pulled himself up from the table and looked at his newly healed arm; he didn't feel anything, no pain, just a bit of exhaustion. He glanced down to Sakura who was kneeling by the bed for some reason. His fingers traced over his arm until they reached the spot where her lips had been. They rested there for a moment and Sai could feel a new emotion rise within him, but he quickly squashed it; afraid of it.
Sakura slowly stood up, kunai in one hand the cup in the other, and staggered towards the door. Her foot caught on something and she felt herself falling forwards, unable to stop herself, she braced herself for impact. But she landed into a pair of muscular arms and was pulled into a strong embrace. She was completely depleted of her chakra and her strength; she hadn't had time to sleep and regain her strength and therefore she was abnormally tired.
Sai had caught the kunoichi before she hit the floor. The cup of blood had hit the floor and spilled all over the once clean linoleum floor. Her hand still clutched the bloodied kunai; just a normal ninja defense. He pulled Sakura up into his arms and kicked open the door to look for someone. "Someone, help!" That was all Sai managed to say as Sakura groaned in pain. Sai didn't want to take her back into the bloody room so he moved to the clean one across the hall and set her down. His hand came up to her forehead; no fever, which was a good sign. He sighed as Tsunade came striding through the door.
Tsunade's hand came up to Sakura's face and she exhaled a breath she hadn't known she was holding. A small smile formed on the Hokage's face as she moved some pink strands of hair from the kunoichi's face. "Don't worry Sai, she'll be fine. She used too much chakra to heal you, but she did what she had to do to save you Sai. I will take her home, then, she can finally rest as much as she needs." Tsunade moved to pick Sakura up but Sai beat her to it.
"I'll take her Tsunade-sama; after all, you must have work to do. And it's the lease I could do after she saved me." Sai said gently, his gaze trained on Haruno's face.
"Very well Sai, but make sure she'd in bed before you leave. And do not tell Naruto, he will freak out if he finds she overworked herself again and the poor girl doesn't need him on her back about it." Tsunade said as she moved towards the door.
Sai nodded to the Hokage as she walked out of the door and disappeared down the hall. Sai looked at Sakura once more before picking her up in his strong arms to take her home. He couldn't help but notice that she was extremely light, not just because of his strength, but because she was so thin. He was sure it was unhealthy but he would have to ask her about it later.
He arrived at her apartment in a matter of minutes. When he opened the door, he discovered two things about Haruno, Sakura; she was very neat and very lonely. Her house looked empty and dreary, like a morgue. The walls were white, the couch was black, the carpet was black, the kitchen floor was black with white walls, she only had one table and one set of chairs which were a beautiful waxed mahogany, and as he neared her bedroom, he found her room to be the loneliest of all places.
The room was quite spacious even with its king-sized bed and the large wooden oak dresser across the room from it. He pulled back the black silk comforter and set her on the bed. He gently placed her head against the matching black pillows and pulled the comforter over her sleeping form. He stood back and just stood there for a moment watching her sleeping form. She looked so peaceful when she was sleeping, her face didn't have that hardness to it and her eyes weren't narrowed, her lips were curved-even if ever so slightly-into a very small, serene smile instead of drawn together in a thin line. Her body didn't seem as tense as it normally was, her back wasn't stiff and she laid there relaxed. Sai almost envied her at that moment but not quite. Her life had been hell for the past six years. Only one man was responsible for Sakura's pain, and Sai swore he'd never let that bastard hurt her like he'd done in the past.
With one last glance at the sleeping woman's face, he walked out of her room and out of the apartment, gently closing the door making sure it locked. With that, he disappeared into the night.
But Sakura didn't stay sleeping for long, her pleasant dreams turned into horrific nightmares. She began to toss and turn as the images of all she'd seen haunted her mind like mist to a graveyard.
"Please! Don't leave. You can stay here in Konoha. We can grow strong together, all of us. You, Naruto, and me! And even Kakashi-sensei. We can help you defeat Itachi. Please Sasuke, don't leave!" Sakura had yelled.
Sasuke didn't turn around as his cold voice drifted towards her. "You're weak and pathetic Sakura. I can't stay here and have you drag me down. I am leaving, so go and tell everyone if you want, but you won't stop me. He moved to walk out of Konoha when suddenly two arms wrapped around him tightly in a bone-crushing hug.
"Please Sasuke-kun. I know I'm weak, but I can become stronger. Don't leave..I...I... I LOVE YOU!" Sakura had shouted as her tears glistened in the moonlight as they slipped down her face.
He pried her hands off of his body and continued forward. Her tears meant nothing to him because she would never be strong enough for him, none of them were. They were all just liabilities and he would be the only one to avenge his clan. Not Naruto, not Kakashi, and definately not some stupid little love-sick girl.
She stood there silently as the tears coarsed down her pale cheek and dripped to the cold, hard ground. "I'm sorry." She whispered.
Sasuke paused and barely turned to her. "What?" He had asked.
"I'm sorry I'm weak. I'm sorry you had to protect me. I'm sorry I'm a failure and I'm sorry I can't help you. But no matter what you do or what you say, I love you. I always have, always will. I will do anything for you Sasuke, anything. Please, don't leave." She had said with a surprisingly strong voice.
He disappeared and reappeared behind her. He knew she was hurting, but in all honesty, it didn't matter to him right now, he had revenge to exact and nothing and no one, especially not her, would get in the way. "Thank you." His hand came crashing down to a pressure point and knocked her out.
Sakura had awoken the next morning on the bench, cold and stiff. She realized that he didn't care, not for her, not for anyone. And that was the day that she realized what a fool she was.
Okay, hope you all enjoyed this chapter. It took me an hour or so to write and then type so please rate and review.
If you don't have something nice to say/type, don't say/type it at all.
I do welcome constructive criticism.
I know there wasn't any love between the two in this chapter but there will be soon!