Unbreakable – A Sasuke & Sakura story.

By: MitsukiShiroi

Disclaimer:Naruto and all its characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi

A/N:Just a little SasuSaku to keep my muses in tow before they’ll go rampaging around.

Unbreakable

Two years, eight months and three days after Sasuke left, he came home.

Bloodied, battered, with his body covered in bruises and other injuries that were infected and oozing with pus. His once pristine white kimono was dirty and stained with both dried blood and mud. Sasuke’s raven hair was messed up, several twigs entwined with the long strands of hair, making Sakura feel compelled to reach over and remove the offending pieces out of his once so perfect hair.

But she was afraid to touch him, afraid that he might wake up and knock her out once again, so she just watched over him as he recovered from his injuries.

Sakura would notice the little things about him. The way he moved his fingertips slightly from time to time, as if he were still preparing for a battle and his fingers were itching to grab the nearest kunai.

She’d notice how often his eyelids would move, but Sasuke would never open them.

Tsunade said that his injuries made him lose a lot of blood; that he had fainted in front of the gates that led to Konoha and that a Chuunin on guard duty had brought him to the hospital immediately after realizing the boy was the famous runaway Uchiha.

After more observations, she found out that he had seemingly not had anything to eat for days in a row, which would explain why his cheeks were so hollowed, the baby fat from years ago now gone completely.

He was now just the shadow of the twelve year old boy who left her behind years ago.

She was a fool for still loving him. He had never given her anything but a simple ‘thank you’ before he knocked her out and everything ended for her. Her life consisted out of tears and training afterwards, all in the effort to finally get him back so that she could move on with her life; a life with him.

Sakura knew she was being foolish.

Fairytales do not exist.

In a perfect fairytale, Sasuke would have never left and would have asked her on a date. In their story, they’d have lived a happy, fulfilling life without revenge and massacred clans. But there was no such story and try as she might, she could never forget that one night. There was no Sasuke and Sakura. There was only raw pain and three team-mates that just weren’t enough. Not enough to outweigh Itachi and the burden placed upon the small boy Itachi had left behind.

Sakura swallowed hard, trying to ignore the tears that were stinging in her eyes and intertwined with the profound feeling of loneliness and incapability. It was bitter as bile in the back of her mouth as she resisted the urge to attempt to spit it out.

During those moments, Naruto seemingly felt the pain that shot through her and the uncomfortable feelings that came over her whenever she laid eyes on Sasuke. He’d come in and rest his hand on her shoulder, urging her to go outside. Sakura usually just followed up Naruto’s advice and the night’s ambiance proved refreshing.

Having wrecked its mayhem and retreated, the storm of that particular afternoon had left behind a sky shot through with bright stars. On nights like these, the usually dull darkness proved to be strangely tranquil and she’d enjoy the sheer calm that seemed to reign over Konoha as sounds slowly faded away until all she could hear was the chirping of crickets.

When she returned to the room, Sakura halted in front of the door and listened to Naruto, pleading softly to Sasuke’s still body to return to him, because he needed his best friend.

“We’re all in pain, aren’t we?” Sakura whispered to nobody in particular as she pressed her forehead against the cool wall.

Naruto is in pain because Sasuke is his best friend and he needs to save Sasuke. If he can’t do that, Naruto failed in his mission and won’t be able to become a Hokage. Because nobody can become Hokage if they can’t even protect and save their closest friends.

Kakashi is in pain because he wanted the best for his team and it ended up in ruins anyway. After all the hard work of drilling the importance of teamwork and friendship into his lessons, one man, one massacre and a thousand nightmares broke it all. Kakashi failed in his mission to teach the importance of friendship, and he knows it.

Sakura is in pain because she loves Sasuke and she knows he’ll never love her back. There’s only one person in his heart and that person is Uchiha Itachi. She’s in pain because she understands him and yet he’s still too far away for her to reach him. She wants to help him too, but he won’t let her.

Instead, she helps him while he’s unconscious, always tending his wounds until they’re completely healed. But they’re only the wounds on his skin; she’ll never be able to reach inside of him and heal those wounds.

No matter how talented she is in medical jutsu; she’ll never be able to heal those wounds, and she’ll doubt that anybody can.

She sighs and calmly waits until Naruto notices her presence and steps out of the room. Without saying a word, he hugs her quickly and shoots her a reassuring smile before he pushes past her and walks away, his hands pocketed in his orange pants.

“Bye Naruto,” she almost whispers and Naruto raises his hand in a greeting, without even looking back.

In that instant, the image of Naruto waving in that manner to her transforms into a certain Uchiha making exactly the same movement. It came to her like a blow in the head and Sakura quickly banished the memory to a far corner of her mind.

She steps inside and quickly glances at Sasuke. “Still asleep, huh?” she says quietly, as she sits down on one of the chairs next to the bed, wrapping her arms around her knees as she rests her head on top of them, watching over the ever dormant Uchiha like she has always been doing. Perhaps she’ll watch over him for the rest of her life.

And perhaps the saddest thing is that she wouldn’t even mind it if things turned out to be like that.

--

Two years, nine months and sixteen days after Sasuke left, he opened his eyes.

Sakura was first to see the midnight-blue orbs focus on the ceiling before he spotted her and looked at her with a knowing look before masking his emotions, face now an unreadable mask.

“I should have known that it would be you,” Sasuke says in that deep, monotone voice of his. There’s no irony in his voice, or any other emotion. It’s blank, like Uchiha Itachi’s.

He passed out before she could even reply.

Sakura just cried.

--

Two years, nine months and eighteen days after Sasuke left, he woke up completely.

This time, Naruto was there to see his friend awaken while Sakura was gone to get a cup of tea with Tsunade.

“Sakura-chan!” he yelled through the glass as he banged another time.

As soon as his brightly smiling face peeked through the window, Sakura knew exactly what had happened. She did nothing but watch Naruto as he beamed, his former twelve-year old self shining through the mature Naruto she had gotten used to.

His mouth formed Sasuke’s name before he ran off and Sakura just sat still for a moment, before Tsunade and Shizune both urged her to go to the hospital; a smile on both their faces as they watched the roseate kunoichi disappear.

When she reached the room where Sasuke was, one of the medics called Hiroshi stormed out with a smile on his face. “Sakura-san!” he called out as he rushed towards her. “He’s going to be fine!”

The medic sprinted away, ecstatic about the news. He left Sakura alone in the corridor. The pink-haired kunoichi calmly eyes the characters that represented Sasuke’s name on the door and traced them with her fingertips.

She sighed before opening the door, quickly noticing the bed that was moved to the spot next to the window.

Naruto was standing next to the bed, still grinning widely, and his smile widened even more as he noticed Sakura standing in the corridor. He raised his hand and waved enthusiastically at her, but her eyes were focused on the man in the bed.

Sasuke was sitting, his pale hands clenching his sheets as he looked outside. Gradually, he seemed to pay attention to Naruto’s exuberant behavior and turned to face her.

His face was still the expressionless mask she saw the other day and he said nothing as he quickly observed her, his intense blue gaze locking with hers.

“Welcome back,” Sakura said finally, at a loss for words.

Sasuke said nothing in response, but then again, Sakura never thought he would have anything to say either way.

--

“Why?” Sasuke asked one day, after staring at her for a long time, watching her as she cut some apples for him, like she used to do so many years ago.

“Why what?” she replied, putting the small knife down as she looked up.

He said nothing in response, and after a tension-filled pause, he looked away, averting his gaze to the window and the world that was behind it.

Sighing softly, Sakura continued the job at hand, trying to block out all thoughts that roamed around her head about the Uchiha, all the yelling she wanted to do and the punches she wanted to deliver him for leaving them behind all for his selfish goal to defeat someone who was seemingly unbeatable.

“Why did you come to Orochimaru’s hideout?” Sasuke finally questioned.

The pink haired kunoichi looked up, meeting Sasuke’s calm and serene gaze as she sought the right words to say to him. “Isn’t it obvious?”

From the look on his face, she could tell that it was everything except obvious to him. She pitied Sasuke for not even realizing how much they all cared for him. Sakura felt sorry for him that he closed off his heart and wasn’t allowing the healing process that they, team 7, had initiated, to continue.

“You’re one of us,” she said quietly.

“No,” Sasuke said, equally silently. “That’s not it.”

Sakura exhaled. “Then what is it, according to you?”

Sasuke leaned back. “The Sharingan.”

“Don’t be such a fool,” she said, trying her hardest to keep her emotion out of her voice, but as usual, she failed miserably. “You know that’s not it. You just want to believe that’s all there is to it, because you supposedly severed our ties.”

The Uchiha closed his eyes, letting her words wash over him as if nothing could hurt him, no matter what she said.

Annoyed by his lack of response, Sakura stood up. “If Naruto didn’t care about you, he’d be hiding here in the village, instead of fighting Akatsuki. He wouldn’t be fighting and defeating Itachi.”

Sakura wasn’t quite sure why she had to add the last part of her speech. Naruto had warned her not to say anything, but part of her was cheering her on as she noticed Sasuke’s eyes open, the tranquil, midnight blue morphing into something beyond her reach. He now resembled Naruto if he went out of control, and it frightened Sakura, but she didn’t step backwards.

If she’d do that, Sasuke would interpret it as fear, and she was not afraid of him. Not anymore.

“What did you say?” he asked in a low tone, his crimson Sharingan blazing dangerously.

Sakura stood up, discarding the cut pieces of apple on top of the table next to him. “We tried to go to the hideout a second time. Itachi was there. He tried to steal Naruto away, but Naruto fought back, together with Kakashi-sensei.”

Sasuke glared at her, wordlessly signaling for her to continue her story. “Naruto hit him with a Rasengan and he died. It’s over Sasuke.”

What happened next was just a blur of motions to her. First, Sasuke was sitting in his bed, shocked, angered, and perhaps there was a small part of him that was relieved, until realization hit him. Sasuke was out of his hospital bed before she could even comprehend it and pushed her roughly against the wall.

Fear struck her as she looked up and saw the blood-red of the Sharingan looking back at her, his mouth deformed in a maniacal grin, reminding her of Orochimaru’s sickening smirk. “Is he dead?”

Sakura gritted her teeth as she quickly accumulated chakra to her fist. Before Sasuke even realized what had happened, she hit him swiftly in the stomach, causing him to fly across the room. He landed hard against one of the walls and didn’t move anymore.

Shocked because of what she had done to Sasuke, no, to a patient, who was still weakened, she ran towards him, falling on her knees as she checked him, only to discover that he was still fully conscious. The look in his eyes though, as he looked up to meet her gaze, was foreign and excruciating to see.

“Why?” Sasuke whispered quietly, the serene and quiet tone from earlier now vanished completely. His voice was now bitter. A representation of the feelings she kept bottled up inside. “Why did he steal my revenge?” he continued miserably.

The kunoichi stared at him, pitying him for throwing away his life, just to have his revenge on his older brother.

“Get out,” he said quietly, hands buried in his hair as he looked down. “Get out, Sakura.”

In the past, she loved it when he used her name. He pronounced it with certain flair, laying extra pronunciation on the first syllable. Now, his voice was broken and the dignity that once graced his deep voice was long gone.

Perhaps he wasn’t even the shadow of Uchiha Sasuke anymore. Maybe he was just a mere afterimage.

Sakura swallowed hard before obliging, leaving the room while two medic nin stepped inside to check on the Uchiha.

--

After that, Sasuke stopped eating.

Naruto had tried to visit him a few times, but Sasuke threw him out without a pardon, not even forgiving Naruto for what he did to his older brother.

Sasuke was the one who had to end it; not Naruto, who was just involved because Itachi desired his power… not Kakashi who had nothing to do with it in the first place. It sickened him that they’d do this to him.

After a few days, Naruto yelled at him before leaving, not coming back again. He swore to everybody who wanted to listen to him that he’d bring Sasuke back, no matter the cost. And he had. Sasuke returned because Itachi was nowhere to be found. Because Naruto had killed him.

Sasuke was back, but their friendship was frail and practically non-existent.

Sakura was there though.

She was always there.

And the thing that frustrated Sasuke most was the fact that he didn’t understand why.

At times, he pretended to be asleep, carefully regulating his breathing as he sensed her coming into the room, carrying a single flower every time she visited.

If Sakura noticed that he was faking it, she never spoke up. She probably did though; Sasuke knew how intelligent she was and how she’d notice things that even he wouldn’t see instantly.

Occasionally, he wondered how transparent he was in her eyes.

--

“How long are you going to keep this up?” Sakura asked one day, as she gently put the flower she had brought him into the small vase. “One day, you’ll die if you don’t start eating.”

Sasuke opened his eyes, resisting the urge to smirk as he was right all along. She knew he was awake. She hadn’t changed a bit. Still the observant kunoichi.

“I don’t have a goal,” he told her then, voice hoarse as he hadn’t used it in days.

Sakura turned as he uttered the words. “You do.”

Lifeless, midnight blue eyes looked back at her. “Which would be?”

“Rebuilding the Uchiha clan,” Sakura answered simply, recalling the introduction he gave to team seven when they first met up. “Wasn’t that your second dream… no, ambition?”

As if suddenly saddened greatly, Sasuke averted his eyes, focusing on the blankets rather than Sakura’s piercing gaze as he contemplated the thought.

In truth, he didn’t want to rebuild it. He wanted the clan back. He wanted to see his father’s stern look as he gazed upon his son, proud of what he had accomplished. Sasuke wanted to see his mother smile at him again and see his aunt swiping the grounds of the Uchiha district.

He wanted the district to be all lit up at night again while his relatives talked with each other on the streets, complimenting him for learning another hard jutsu, asking how his parents were doing.

Perhaps the thing that saddened him most was the fact that he missed the old Itachi; the brother who was worried about his little brother’s sprained ankle and carried him on his back. The brother who would flick his forehead and tell him he was too busy to teach him how to properly throw a shuriken.

“It was.”

“Was?” Sakura asked, genuinely mystified.

“Was,” the Uchiha replied.

The pink haired medic sighed heavily, focusing back on the flower as her hands gripped the edges of the wooden nightstand. “Why did you come back Sasuke?”

She closed her eyes, letting the silence overtake them, not daring to break it.

He moved a little, sheets rustling gently. “I don’t know.”

“How did you come back here?” she continued, determined to get some answers out of him.

Sasuke didn’t reply, but she knew the answer.

“Naruto was right. You really are a bastard,” Sakura whispered as she shook her head.

He made a sound which led her to think that he was thoroughly amused with her statement. “I was right.”

“Right about what?”

“You really are annoying,” Sasuke said calmly.

Sakura just smiled.

--

“Naruto?”

The blond looked up from his bowl of ramen, meeting Sakura’s emerald gaze.

He immediately spotted it. Sakura was so easy to read. She had always been this way, even if she convinced herself that her face betrayed no emotions after years of training hard.

She was sad.

And it was Sasuke who caused it.

“Do you think he will… be normal again?”

The wind user straightened himself on the chair, glancing at Sakura as he tried to see whether it was a rhetorical question or not.

Naruto exhaled softly as he pondered over the entire situation.

The Sasuke that left years ago and the Sasuke that came back weeks ago were two completely different people.

He still looked the same; older, but the same. But it was as if his inside had completely changed.

The younger Sasuke had a perpetual alert look in his eyes, as if he anticipated an enemy attacking at any time. He didn’t smirk much, but he did it occasionally. The old Sasuke would respond in short, monosyllabic tones.

The older Sasuke on the other hand, seemed relaxed and had a perpetual calm look in his eyes. He never smirked or smiled anymore, or even came close to that. Everything he did was a lie, fake, as if he tried to deceive reality.

In truth, Naruto was scared. Scared that Orochimaru might have killed the spirit and the fierceness that once resides in the Uchiha, and left nothing in its wake but this new person, who was the exact opposite of the Sasuke he once knew.

Unsure of how to comfort Sakura and say the right words, he grinned brightly, faking it almost as well as Sasuke did these days. “Sakura-chan, just see Sasuke as the wind,” he whispered, meeting her confused gaze.

“The wind?” Sakura asked, raising her eyebrows in confusion.

“We can’t change its direction,” Naruto said quietly, as he smiled sadly. “But we can adjust our sails.”

--

A/N:Don’t worry, I’ll return to writing Twilight! This is just part of a two-shot I’ve been working on for a while now and I figured I’d post it up. Hope you guys like it!

See you next time!

-- Mitsuki Shiroi