One Shot

Summary:  It was a modern myth that she hated him, a modern myth that she forgot about him, a modern myth that she moved on without him, but it was no myth that she loved him.

A Modern Myth

She watched as the leaves danced in the wind, oblivious to her surroundings

She was thinking again, whispering again, wondering again…

This had become a custom to her.  Train, study, hospital, here.  A spot she often shared with her best friend: the loud, obnoxious, future hokage.

It was her routine; one that she had not changed for some time-ever since they last saw him.

She always wondered how things would come to end.  Would he die, would she die, or maybe, just maybe, was a happy ending in store?

She couldn’t meddle with such thoughts, couldn’t hope for such things.  She only had despair, and it ate at her everyday.

Where was that never-give-up spirit she always had-the spirit she was known for?

That girl was long gone, now a woman took her place-mature, understanding, no longer naïve about the world and its inhabitants; no longer believing in fairy tales.

She didn’t want this, but in the end, these were the cards she was dealt.  She would have to learn to play them whether she liked it or not.

And she definitely didn’t like it.

Why?  Why couldn’t things be simple?  Why did life have to through in so many curves?  Or what she really wanted to ask was: why her?

Why did she have to fall in love with him?  Why did she have to give her whole heart to someone who had shattered it into a million pieces more times than she could count?

She tried to act like she had moved on: that lasted one month.  She tried to act like she hated him: that lasted one week.  She tried to act like she forgot him: that lasted one day.  She tried to act like she didn’t love him: that didn’t even last a minute.

She knew there was no denying it, no fighting it.  She would always carry him in her heart, no matter what the end result would be.  She would love him forever, through all of eternity.  This was her curse...this was her blessing.

To love someone so much that no matter what they did the love would continue: this was Sakura’s destiny.

She griped the kunai in her hand tightly as a breeze blew chills down her back.  Her pink hair danced within, shielding her eyes from view.

You did not have to be close to know that the woman was crying.  It was subtle.  There was no shaking of the shoulders or loud cries in the air.  The only thing visible was the tears cascading down her cheeks, plummeting to the ground below.

She watched as her tears hit the kunai, making the metal sparkle in the moonlight.  She could end it now, end all the pain, and end all the suffering.  She could do it with one quick slash across the wrists.  It would be easy, so very easy.

Could she leave her parents, leave her friends, leave Naruto, leave him?  Would they even care if she was gone?  Would they mourn for days or years?  Would they always remember her or forget her like a piece of sand passing through an hourglass?

She wanted answers.  She wanted to know why she had to hurt so much.  She wanted to know what the future entailed.  She wanted to know if maybe things would work out.

She knew these were futile questions, ones that could not be answered. 

Her grip faltered a bit, and the kunai slipped through her fingers.  She watched it fall as if it was the only thing in this world.  It clattered to the ground, and the sound seemed to be piercing in the silence of the night.

Reaching down, she only managed to cause it to roll under the bench she was sitting on.  Shifting a bit, she reached under further and her hands came in contact with metal; not the metal of a kunai, but of something else.

Grabbing the object, she pulled it out, and things seemed to shift to slow motion.  In her hand was Sasuke’s forehead protector.  The deep gash still lined its front, drawing a line directly in the middle of Konoha’s symbol: the leaf.

She ran her hands over the front, feeling each and every contour of the object.  She was filled with memories, with thoughts of Sasuke, Naruto, Kakashi, of Team 7.  Of the good times and bad.  She thought about what must have occurred between Naruto and Sasuke that fateful night so long ago for the scratch to occur.

She figured that Naruto must have had this with him earlier, and left it.  Sakura thought about how Naruto must have been thinking about Sasuke just like she was. 

How could she leave him?  How could she ever think about taking her life and leaving Naruto to carry this burden on his own?  She could never do that, nor would she ever do that.

Forgetting the kunai, Sakura stood up, clenching the forehead protector to her chest.  She was not going to give up.  She would help Naruto, and they would ultimately save Sasuke.

Because even though a leaf can be ripped in two, it can always be reborn into another beautiful leaf, one stronger and less likely to tear.

And just like that leaf, Sasuke too, could be saved, could be renewed, and would be with them again…..someday. 

Not really that much is going on here, but it was in my head, and I wanted to write it out.  Hopefully you enjoyed it!