This is my first Naruto fic. And so I've emerged from other fandoms to test Naruto fanfiction! It's actually Sasuke-centric, since Sasuke is one of my favourite Naruto characters, though I have no actual preference.

It's not very serious. You can just consider it a character interaction study. Dunno if I'll be writing more of Naruto fanfiction, but review if you want me to.

Warning: This is SasuSaku. For those who don't like... Well... you can skip the end, I guess.

Change
By CM

Sasuke Uchiha turned his eyes towards the foliage overhead and counted the number of knots in the wood of the trunk pressing their imprint in his back. He was not particularly comfortable, but couldn’t really remember a time when he had been anyway. His face scrunched into a squinting frown as he focused on the sound of bird chirps and wings flapping. The wind brushed his pale, drawn face, into his tousled dark hair. His eyelids fell over his unreadable black eyes, and, to any passer-by, he could look asleep. In truth, he hadn’t been able to sleep for the past three days. His heartbeat was simply too harried and impatient for that. Every time exhaustion imposed itself, he managed to ward it off with images and memories of his goal—his goal.

Gone the pressure of power search, and on had come the profound desire to settle his past. He wished to see—just see—if the dust his clan had stirred up had fallen at last to oblivion. He would not speak, would not show his face, would not stay. How could he? He was an exiled, a traitor of the worst kind—the alive kind.

The young man rolled his shoulder, feeling the many knots of exhaustion there. How his disposition resembled that of an old tree’s bark. He opened his eyes again, and saw leaves being ripped from their branches under the wind. They fluttered to the ground, heavier than a feather and lighter than his thoughts.

There was something that bothered him, though he had trouble pinpointing it. Something uneasy within his chest. Perhaps tiredness had taken a toll on his weary muscles.

He carefully stood again, ensuring his imprint was erased from between the tree’s roots. As he’d decided, nothing of his passage would remain.

He brushed his dark hair from his eyes, and a small pain shot in his neck. He fingered the thick skin that had developed around the sensible curse seal on his nape. Rolling his head to stretch, he took a deep breath, and sighed softly.

He wondered, naturally, how much the others had changed. Without a doubt, he’d recognize them, though the question also extended to their talents—something he could only truly determine in a fight situation. He was not in the mood, nor did he plan, to engage into such boisterous and demonstrative challenges.

In truth, he simply wondered how they were doing, all of them, and his odd concern made his heart squeeze.

He looked at the sun’s position in the sky. It was quickly dropping. He was near now. He was surprised, actually, not to have met any Konoha scouts yet. As the day’s end was drawing near, they would be securing the area even more.

Now then, no time to waste.

He was about to continue his way when he froze, sensing a familiar aura nearby. He wasn’t sure the reunion would be warm or cheerful, perhaps it wouldn’t be friendly at all. In fact, if he was seen, it could ruin the whole purpose of this long journey.

And heck, could he truly outwit this person’s smarts? He doubted it. Talent and genius were only helpful to an extent, and could easily be neutralized by plain old experience.

Proof of this came when, from above, before he could even make a step out of the way, sounded an all-too familiar voice, cool and relaxed, though not lacking in edge.

“Sasuke.”

He did not need to look up to know who had spoken. He tightened his fist, in case, but did not respond.

The thirty-three year-old ninja—had he truly grown that old already?—was crouched on the branch overhead. He saw it in his mind’s eye. He could already portray the familiar and unusual white mop of hair, the drowsy eyes, the face concealing mask, and the hidden sharingan eye.

Indeed, as the young man looked back up, the sight was so strikingly familiar that a certain pain his chest told him he was more exhausted than he’d thought.

Begrudgingly admitting to himself that he’d been caught—he’d grown more relaxed during this journey here—Sasuke inclined his head once in acknowledgement, and said, “Kakashi.”

He could not see if the older ninja, his sensei, had smiled under his mask, but he was sure he heard a minuscule note of interest when he spoke in response.

“Hey, hey,” he said, blinking his naturally drooping eyes, “That’s Kakashi-san, or Kakashi-sensei. Have you forgotten your manners?”

Sasuke said nothing, though the corner of his lip turned upward. “Sure.”

There was a pause, then Kakashi said, “You’ve grown.”

Sasuke looked down at his nineteen year-old body without much interest, despite the fact that he’d grown tall and lean and fit. “You could say that.”

“Back from exile?”

This time, Sasuke did not miss the edge to Kakashi’s seemingly innocent question. He was silent a long moment. Then, he cautiously said, “I’ll be leaving tomorrow morning.”

Kakashi seemed to consider those words with a blank eye. Then, true to Sasuke’s expectations, he said, “The only way you can manage to leave tomorrow morning… Would be to enter Konoha village without advertising your presence.” He narrowed his only visible eye. “Or else they wouldn’t let you go.”

Sasuke felt a tiny stab in his chest and rolled his shoulders, looking away with boredom. “I know that.”

“I’m not talking about the ANBU or the law enforcers.”

Sasuke glanced at Kakashi. “I… know.”

“Why are you here?”

Sasuke felt his lungs tightening up and avoided Kakashi’s intense, seeking gaze. “Do you need to ask?”

Kakashi sighed, as though he was also annoyed by the interrogatory. “Asking questions was in the job description. And also…” He shot Sasuke a sharp look. “I needed to know what your true intentions were in coming back to Konoha.”

Sasuke said nothing. Kakashi didn’t seem to need to add anything else either.

“Meh,” the older ninja finally concluded, in a choice of words that was somewhat ironic, if one considered their actual training and jobs, “I guess you’re harmless if you stay out of sight.”

“You won’t tell them?”

Kakashi, halted by the sudden question, turned back to Sasuke, and was silent a moment. Then, “Not part of my job.”

This answer seemed to satisfy Sasuke.

In a matter of seconds, they’d lost sight of each other. Kakashi was probably back on his scouting round, and Sasuke was rapidly moving towards the village. The sky overhead was turning light orange as it overlaid the pale blue of day.

Soon, he was standing atop the village’s high protective rampart, looking down at the nearly endless rooftops and poles and cramped streets and live network of pipes and wires. Beyond that, the Hokage cliffs had not changed—that is, he noticed the fifth head carving, but he had expected that. The same leader could not stay indefinitely, and since his departure, Konoha was bound to have found another leader to replace the Fourth.

Sunlight was coming now from the horizon line. The sky was a deep orange and the clouds were tainted in pink and purple hues. Somehow, the soft, warm colours reminded him of his old team.

Shaking himself free of the distracting thoughts, Sasuke dropped off the rampart and onto a rooftop, shielding himself into the shadows, which were made sharper and deeper by the fading light. Now, he had to decide on a first place to visit.

He thought of the hospital, but doubted any of his old companions would be there. Long gone were the days any of them could get injured, undoubtedly. He wondered if any of them had become instructors, and faintly smiled at the imaginative and humorous thought. The first surprise was the strange warmth this village brought him, sending him on amused thought patterns.

Rubbing his eyes to keep them open, he thought of heading to his old main house, then considered that bad memories were not what he had sought in coming here. True, Itachi was dead and his parents rested soundly now, but his own trauma had not settled. He preferred to turn to other places to visit.

He started with the ninja academy. For a short moment, he watched in mild amusement as an older Iruka-sensei and his assistant—Konohamaru! He’d grown fast!—tried to keep the children on track. Watching the children scurrying and laughing reminded him of the strange gap between his current ranking and strength and the state he was in less than a decade ago.

With a strange ache to his chest, Sasuke moved off to look for the busiest mercantile street of Konoha Village. It had not changed in the least. He had not expected it to. He saw Ino’s flower shop, and Ino herself. She had grown to be a smiling and graceful young woman. He saw her greeting Chouji, as the obese young man ambled by, munching on something or other. He saw Shikamaru, surprisingly trailed by a small group of giggling schoolgirls, to the young man’s never-ending annoyance.

Had time frozen here, Sasuke wondered, or had the children he’d studied and trained with simply changed to become the people he’d always seen within?

He saw Neji and Tenten walking down the street farther off. He thought he saw Neji’s pale eyes turn to him, but Sasuke was confident his concealment techniques were amongst the best in the world. Though Neji was particularly perceptive—he still was and always would be—nothing could detect Sasuke if he chose it to be so.

Indeed, Neji only frowned and went on his way, dragged unceremoniously by a smiling Tenten. They joined Kiba and a monstrously huge Akamaru and turned the corner.

Sasuke sighed. He moved out of the crowded area with mixed feelings. If he was honest with himself, he did not know whether to be relieved that some things never changed, or rather struck by how life easily moved on. Without him.

Evening was moving in, and already the sun had set. Only remnants of light remained in the sky. He wanted to see some people still.

He found Rock Lee’s busy figure as the young, unattractive but talented ninja was teaching a team of three apprentices basic hand-to-hand combat moves. He knew Rock Lee, for all his strength and talent, could not sense his aura. His chakra detection skills were amazingly low for a high class ninja.

And so Sasuke watched Rock Lee train his three talented students for a while, until the stars were out and Lee announced that the lesson was over for the day.

Before Lee’s sharp eyes could detect him, Sasuke moved up to the dark rooftops.

Well, now the choice had been narrowed quite a lot. He’d been putting off the sight of his two closest friends. Something told him that, whatever he saw, he would feel pained.

Sasuke Uchiha, for the first time in his life, was frightened by good memories.

He wondered if they would sense his presence, and immediately used a concealment technique. He preferred not to take any risks. If any of the two others from team seven saw him, he’d be done for; he wouldn’t be able to leave.

They would hold him here, and he feared his resolve would melt. Where else, indeed, could he go?

As he looked at the many lights turning on in Konoha village, he knew that even if he left tomorrow morning, this place would remain his birthplace, his home.

Before the numbing thoughts took a hold of him, Sasuke jumped ahead and from roof to roof. He stopped right across from his best friend’s house. He saw the lights were out, and wondered where the loud, impetuous young man could be.

He hopped over to the window and peered inside cautiously.

Naruto Uzumaki was sleeping, curled onto his flat mattress and tangled in his covers, snoring inelegantly. Some things never changed, then.

Sasuke swept his eyes over the room. Aside from a few more victory tokens, it hadn’t changed. Naruto, on the other hand, had obviously undergone serious shape improvements. He was as tall as Sasuke, with larger shoulders. His hair had grown a bit, and was messier even than before. Sasuke noted the magazines lying in a pile beside Naruto’s bed. He was certain that he saw some of Kakashi’s favourites. In a way, it wasn’t so surprising that Naruto would turn to a teen pervert. It was even somewhat predictable.

Well, it was actually quite amusing.

Holding back a smile, Sasuke reluctantly prepared himself to leave. He didn’t want to risk being found. This was no ordinary town, after all. If ninjas were roaming, the chances of his discovery increased tenfold.

He turned, and froze. Almost grazing his nose, a sharp blade had been outstretched towards him. His eyes flew to the holder of the knife, and the shock made them widen.

“Long time no see,” Naruto said, retracting his knife and holstering it with an ease and familiarity that Sasuke did not remember. His eyes, a vivid blue, were sharper than before, and they didn’t look happy.

When Sasuke didn’t speak, Naruto sighed contemptuously, though Sasuke knew Naruto was unable to feel any sort of contempt for anyone. “You’ve been away for years and you still can’t make the difference between a shadow replication and the real thing?”

In truth, Sasuke simply hadn’t thought about doubting the veracity of the scene inside Naruto’s apartment. Had Naruto truly grown so much that he’d be suspicious in the vicinity of his own room?

When he still didn’t speak, Naruto raised a thick blonde brow. “Well? Weren’t you going to wake me up and say hi?”

“Not really.”

Naruto was silent too, this time, for once. For what seemed like an eternity, silence stretched between the two awkward friends. They considered each other’s strengths mentally, calculating the intelligence of trying to engage in battle. It was nearly unpredictable.

Then, with a suspicious look, Naruto asked, “And? What have you been up to all this time?”

Sasuke held back a smirk. “Training.” And the word seemed to suffice for Naruto. “You?”

Naruto shot him a large, toothy grin. “Training.” He was silent, then added, “I’d probably be able to beat you up.”

Sasuke almost chuckled. He couldn’t help his contemptuous sneer. “I wouldn’t be so confident if I were you.”

Naruto shrugged, eagerly tightening his fist at his side. “I don’t think we can settle this verbally.”

Sasuke refrained from commenting that he was shocked Naruto could actually think now. Instead, he sobered up and glanced away. “I’m not here to fight.”

Naruto gaped a little and even forced a small laugh. “What? You such a wuss? You’re afraid of me?”

Sasuke rolled a shoulder. He avoided Naruto’s friendly banter with a simple, “I just didn’t come here for battle.”

He did not mention he was leaving the next day, but Naruto took notice of that, surprisingly.

“You’re not here to stay.”

Sasuke looked up, saw Naruto’s grim face, and did not respond. Naruto let out a loud breath. “Geez,” he said, “You really are a wuss, Uchiha.”

“You’re one to talk. Leaving a shadow replication to use your bed while you’re on the lookout. Grown paranoid much, Uzumaki?”

Naruto’s features scrunched in offence, but he simply said, “I’ve been itching to go looking for you.”

Sasuke couldn’t dissimulate his surprise. “Looking for… Why?”

Naruto shot him a combative smirk. “I still haven’t forgiven you for that beating you gave me when you left. And…” His smile melted to awkward embarrassment. His eyes turned to the roof tiles at their feet. “I’ve been missing my brother in arms.”

Naruto’s frank honesty was not surprising in itself, though Sasuke could not help but feel ill-at-ease. Never before had Naruto been quite so open about how he felt for his friends in front of Sasuke Uchiha.

As though he too could barely withstand the strange confidence he’d just made, Naruto looked up with his signature determination and continued as though none of his words had been said, “I totally could butt your ass now. Jiraiya-sensei taught me all these new techniques—I’m on my way to becoming the best, heard me?”

“You haven’t changed, with those delusions of yours,” Sasuke said, and though he was smirking in challenge like before, his mind was elsewhere. He wondered just how much Naruto had grown. It was true that aside from Naruto’s predictable personality, the boy, now a young man, seemed steadier, smarter, more controlled. It would be, Sasuke considered, an interesting challenge to battle him.

Naruto, still looking vividly offended by Sasuke’s open put-down, prepared a punch, but interrupted his insurrection when he saw his old team-mate’s thoughtful face. Unexpectedly, he gently said, dragging Sasuke out of his thoughts, “Have you gone to visit Sakura-chan?”

Sasuke’s lungs tightened again, and this time it was a bit more painfully than before. “… No.”

Naruto, contrarily to his usual positive mood, said, rather darkly, “She’s been kind of distant lately. Just yesterday, when he came for an official visit, she yelled at Gaara—I mean, the Kazekage—for no reason. And then she didn’t want to hear me out.”

Sasuke’s eyes widened. “She—She screamed at—”

“Well, yeah,” Naruto sighed, looking tired. “But he took it well. He’s been pretty mild tempered since I kicked his ass seven years ago and since he became Kazekage. It’s cool.”

Sasuke let out a breath. “Kazekage, huh?” He let his eyes wander off over the rooftops. The stars had begun to twinkle overhead. “Why is she so edgy?”

“You mean Sakura-chan?” Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and scratched his head. “I don’t know. Could be those weird women impulses they get all the time, she and Tsunade-sama. Though,” his eyes became uncharacteristically serious, “I think it has to do with the fact that she’s getting lonely.”

Sasuke frowned. “Lonely?”

Naruto forced a laugh, as though the heavy tone of the conversation was unneeded, but even he could not hide that he was preoccupied. “Yeah. She’s been kind of cold and sad looking, but yesterday, it really hit us all. I don’t know. She’s been isolating herself a lot, training for days in a row, and when she comes back, she hardly speaks. She forces some smiles, but her eyes never smile anymore. She’s a bit like—”

‘Like we were’, they both wanted to say, but they could not find the strength to say it.

Naruto sighed. “Well, I won’t lie.” He shot his friend a grin. “I’d be really disappointed if you left without asking for Tsunade-sama’s forgiveness. She’s really cool with people, and if you tell her everything, for sure you’ll be allowed to stay.”

“Don’t tell anyone you saw me.”

Naruto’s smile melted, and turned to resentment. “Geez, why’re you so touchy about this place? You were born here, weren’t you? And you’ve got friends—for sure, everyone here would be really happy to have you back.”

Sasuke sighed, and Naruto took notice of the dark circles under his eyes. “I betrayed this village. They’d never trust me again.”

Naruto forced a laugh, then began to laugh for real. “I almost freaking destroyed the village and killed all its inhabitants before I was even born and I can still go eat some ramen without being stared at now.” He sobered up, and his laugh turned to a warm, happy smile, eyes distant. “The people of Konoha… They’re the kindest I’ve ever known. This is my home.”

Sasuke said nothing. Naruto let out a loud, long breath, and headed towards his own window. From the inside, his shadow clone opened the window, then vanished into thin air. Naruto climbed inside, and looked back towards Sasuke. He yawned, rubbed his eyes, then said, with a tiny smile, “I’ve missed arguing with you. Feels just like the good old team seven days.” He furrowed a brow. “You should go check on Sakura. She hasn’t let anyone into her place today. Maybe a ghost can slip in unnoticed?”

With that, Naruto slid the window shut and disappeared into the darkness of his own room.

Sasuke Uchiha, in retrospect, found that perhaps Naruto had changed more than he’d thought at first.

Now then, what had this bit of unusual news about Sakura been about? As far as he could recall, Sakura had never been the type to let depression get to her. In fact—guilt started nagging at him—he had, in the past, been the only one capable of destroying her joyous mood, with often a few words alone.

How had she become lonely? Sasuke hopped over to a shadowy rooftop, and pondered his next move.

As far as Sasuke knew, Sakura had been surrounded by people who cared for her a lot. She was admired, back then too, for her impressive knowledge. How could a person be lonely in these conditions?

Before he knew it, Sasuke had reached Sakura’s rooftop. He furrowed a brow and peered over the roof side.

There she was, standing on the doorstep and talking in hushed tones with her mother. She was clutching a small pack of brown paper, probably food, and he saw her lean forward, probably to kiss her mother’s cheek. He could not be sure. He’d ducked in order to remain hidden.

Then, he heard quiet goodbyes and the thin sliver of warm light disappeared, and Sakura was left on her doorstep. She hesitated, eyes darting around, let out a long breath, then slowly made her way down the deserted street.

So, she didn’t live with her parents anymore, it seemed.

Sasuke followed her carefully, slowly, from above. She didn’t seem concerned by the dark or afraid to be attacked. It was true that Konoha was a particularly safe village. He noted her tired movements. Had she slept at all of late?

She hadn’t allowed her hair to grow out, to his surprise. She had, if he remembered well, always been one to adore wearing long hair. She wore loose, practical clothes and her forehead protector held her hair out of her face, as it always had. In that sense, she hadn’t changed, though Sasuke couldn’t help but notice that she’d grown slightly more shapely. Her legs were longer, perhaps, or her waist was slimmer. He could not decide. She was, for sure, no longer the young girl he’d known.

He saw her head for the village outskirts, and frowned. Wasn’t she heading home?

Eventually, she was walking on a forest path he’d known by heart at one point, and after ten minutes, she came to the training grounds where he, she and Naruto had first trained with Kakashi, and learned their first lesson.

The three upright logs were still there, and beyond there, he saw the memorial for the dead. She stopped near the logs, motionless. He’d had to stay behind, between the trees, where she could not see him. The area around her was too open for his secrecy.

Why was he following her?

After a moment, Sakura put her packet down and outstretched a hand towards the logs. She ran her fingers over the worn wood, and though he could not see her face, he felt deep sorrow from her disposition. He was torn between the unexpectedly powerful desire to comfort her and the plain knowledge that if she saw him, there was no way Konoha would let him leave again.

Naruto and Kakashi understood his wish to come then leave. She would not, and he knew why. She had admitted it herself, years ago. He did not know if it was still truthful, but he feared being unable to obey her wishes again.

Then, to his surprise, she turned and faced the exact location where he’d skilfully hidden. “Sasuke,” she softly spoke, and though it was not loud, it carried well over the still air.

This time, he saw her aqua eyes and saw the deep, inexplicable sadness etched in them. He came out of hiding.

You saw me, he wanted to say; he wanted to ask her since when she’d known he was there, and he wanted to know why she was so unhappy. Instead, all he could manage to say was, “I’m leaving.”

“When?” He was surprised to see her ask it so blankly, so softly. He was not even graced with a tiny smile.

“… Tomorrow.”

She was silent for what seemed like an eternity.

In the moonlight, she looked… a ‘beauty’ was the word that came to his mind first, though he hurriedly corrected it. She was not beautiful. She could not be. Not Sakura. Not that little girl from team seven who could not fight. This woman—Sasuke gave up. She was beautiful, dammit.

“I see,” she finally breathed, emotionlessly.

He was surprised, and it hurt his chest, that she did not hurry to his side, laugh and smile, ask how he was doing, ask if he was doing anything and if they could go on a date. He could not explain it to himself. Somehow, the behaviour he’d been most annoyed by during childhood had morphed into the behaviour he’d most waited for, and in that instant, it was gone.

“And will you come back?” She asked, suddenly, leaning against the log she’d touched earlier.

Sasuke Uchiha stepped into the clearing and into the moonlight. Her eyes swept over him once, but she made no face or sound. Sasuke said, after a pause, “Maybe.”

“I… See.”

Her eyes avoided his. Sasuke took a few more steps forward, looking around at the familiar clearing. In the dark, memories of past training sessions echoed in his mind. He could still see Naruto tied to that tree by his feet, and that bush under which he’d hid to avoid Kakashi’s gaze, and that patch of grass where they’d eaten the lunches Sakura made for the whole team.

“It’s funny,” Sakura hoarsely said, slowly, tugging him out of his memories, “how things change.”

Sasuke, uncertain, looked back at her. She was still staring at her feet. “I was actually thinking that some things don’t change, no matter the time that goes by.” She said nothing. Sasuke took a few steps closer to her, and though he noticed her posture tense, he continued his approach. Finally, he stopped when they were face to face. “Though, I’ll admit some things change—and I don’t know why.”

He stared at her down turned face intently.

“Why did you come back?” She whispered in question.

He did not answer. Instead, he asked, “What happened? Naruto was worried for you.”

Sakura refused to answer. They were left to stand in front of each other in complete silence. Sasuke was the one who became impatient first.

“Well?”

She finally smiled, though it was mirthless. “You’d have known if you’d come back earlier.”

Sasuke snorted, and said, “If I’d been there, I would’ve ensured you didn’t get to this.”

“How?” She asked, and sensed true curiosity, and he felt his chest constrict and his eyes droop. He was getting tired, and he’d just put himself into an awkward situation.

“I… Don’t know,” he admitted, and Sakura didn’t even smile.

“Are you done then?” She asked, to his surprise. He frowned.

“What?”

Sakura, he suddenly noticed, had tears in her eyes, threatening to spill down her cheeks. She avoided his gaze, but the movement made tears come out. She pretended to rub her eyes in tiredness to keep him from noticing, though it was in vain.

“You’re twisting the knife in the wound.”

His silence met hers and the air stilled, for the longest time.

Then, he took a last step forward. Enough to reach her and he was at arm’s length, and she seemed to grow small. He had heard of her immense strength and he knew her amazing energy control. At this distance from her, she could probably place a fatal wound to his chest and he’d be unable to keep her from it.

But Sasuke Uchiha, in that instant, did not fear any wound Sakura Haruno could inflict to his chest. At that moment, he felt she had harmed him quite enough.

He fleetingly saw her fist tighten. She’d bandaged those weak hands and turned them into powerful tools. He saw her face tense up, as though she expected a painful blow, and the movement forced a tear down her cheek. He watched all this without expression. He watched all this without moving. He did not wipe her tear, and she let it drip to the ground.

He watched her eyes widen and look directly into his. They were still as pale as before. They were still as easy to read. Memories of the emotions he’d seen in them last came back to him, and he was the one who lost the staring contest.

With a weak, capitulating groan, he plunged in for the kiss.

Forgive me, he tried to tell her, but he could not tear himself from her. He tried to tell her everything. He slanted his lips over hers harder, as though he could convey everything with that touch. He wanted to tell her about his exile, about his many missions and experiences, about his fears and his successes and about his every day thought, and about his dreams and memories and about the prayer he sent to her and Konoha every night. He tried to convey his hopes and his plans, he tried to show her he believed in a future, alone or with her and his companions.

He wanted her to know, but all he could manage to ease out of her as a response was a sob and a sigh.

He tried to keep her up and steady, but she collapsed at his feet and she was sobbing against him, and all he could do was watch her cry.

And he knew what had hurt him all this time in his chest.

“I loved you, Sasuke Uchiha,” she mumbled unsteadily. “I loved you and you left and you can’t come back now—not now—”

She broke into another sob and mumbled something incoherent. He did not stop her. He was as dry-mouthed as her eyes were humid.

“I loved you,” she repeated, and he could not respond.

And then, “Would you love me again if I stayed?”

The question came so unexpectedly, she could not find words to answer him. Her fist tightened in his shirt, and she held back her sobs now.

“What… What would that change?”

His heart seemed to rip in time with the tear that fell down her cheek and off her chin.

“If you want to leave, if you want to stay, my own love will not change that. I wanted to help you—I would have died and killed for you. And I did… I did… I did love you. And you left anyway.” Her fist tightened again, and she was sobbing again. “You left!”

“Have you changed, Sakura?”

Her shoulders quaked, but she shook her head. He reached up to finger a strand of her pale hair.

“The outcome can change,” he softly said, and she did not see his eyes grow gentle and caring. “You have not changed. No one in Konoha has. But…”

He lifted her chin and brought her head to rest in his neck. She was hardly breathing now, not daring to bother his speech, unable to sob more.

“… I… changed,” Sasuke Uchiha said.

With that, he repeated his question.

“Would you love me again if I stayed, Sakura?”

Her eyes examined his. And she sobbed again. She did not turn him away. He took it as an answer.

He’d always known he would be unable to leave again. He’d always known. He’d seen Kakashi’s welcoming gaze, and he’d seen Naruto’s large grin, the one he kept for victorious outcomes. It had only been a fleeting thought that if those he’d loved would hate him he’d leave.

But the reason he loved all those companions was because they’d go to the ends of the earth for friendship and team-mates. Sasuke Uchiha had always known. The consequences would be dealt with in due time. The heart of the Leaf was larger than any other.

And thus…

A return to Konoha was final.

Love,
CM