[angst, Sarada]

Sasuke Uchiha, the final Uchiha in the world, put together the small bags he arranged into one larger box and brought them out of the empty house. People didn't pay any attention to him, as he was just the 20 year-old rogue ninja that left the village and never came back. Even after that final fight with his best friend, he claimed he'd never come back. But the funeral was today. He just had to. Even though the whole reason for him to stay was gone. He continued on down the bare road, people swerving out of his way, to the memorial site. He does remember that his sensei ordered him to never show his face in the village again, but this was his only exception. After the fight, he swore to never come back, and no one had a problem with that, they didn't want him there anyways.

"Sasuke. You came."

"Hn." Sasuke didn't make eye-contact with the same Uzumaki he swore he'd kill at the Final Valley.

"Thanks."

"I didn't come for your condolences. Nor did I come to give you mine, either." Sasuke glared at the boy, who just gasped, then looked at the ground.

"Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke shut his eyes, then looked to see Hinata Hyuga and Ino Yamanaka, dressed in black, approach him, Hinata winding her hand into Naruto's, "you two married?"

"Yeah." Naruto replied bluntly as he fixed the cuffs on his button-down, "listen. The ceremony is in a few minutes. We'd better--"

"I'll stay out here."

Naruto turned to look at Sasuke again, "look, Kakashi-Sensei told me not to let you out of my sight. You need to--"

"I don't plan on staying, and I don't plan on involving myself with the village ever again. You don't have to worry about me." Sasuke narrowed his eyes, clearly annoyed with the situation.

"But Sasuke-kun..." Ino urged, her cried-out, red eyes pleading with him, "Sakura--"

"I'm staying out here." Sasuke didn't even turn to look at her, "I'll wait until after the ceremony."

Ino glanced at Naruto, who only sighed and nodded.

"Sasuke, you have no idea what she thought of you. Even after you abandoned the village the first time and rejected her help." Naruto's tone was seriously cold, "you have no idea what she felt for you. You were her whole existence."

"I don't care."

Naruto stared incredulously, then shut his eyes, "fine." He nudged Hinata, and the three turned to leave Sasuke out in front of the memorial burial area. Unmoving.

The three passed the entrance gate, and as they did, the white-haired Hokage nodded to them. He walked out to join Sasuke, not saying a word.

Sasuke turned his head, "I don't need to hear another lecture from you, Kakashi."

The Hatake rose a brow, then motioned to a different area, "walk with me."

The two came to the same training fields Team 7 always trained at.

"Why'd you bring me here? Don't you need to be at the ceremony?"

"I should be asking you the same thing." Kakashi looked at Sasuke as he took a seat on one of the three posts that still stood. Kakashi sighed, then looked intently at Sasuke's emotionless face, "So why did you come?"

Sasuke didn't even respond. He only looked away.

"I see." Kakashi crossed his arms, "you know, Sakura went after you."

"What?"

"After you and Naruto fought at the Final Valley, she went to go help you two, but imagine her surprise when you were gone, and it was only Naruto, unconscious in a Genjutsu. After getting him to a hospital, she ran after you. Nothing stopped her, she said she needed to find you and tell you something important, but you never came back after that. She's gone out on missions in search of you, to no avail."

Sasuke pursed his lips and inspected the posts and noticed one of them had fallen over in his absence from the village, "what happened here?"

"Hm? Sakura had a little tantrum here after the war. I'm surprised you never noticed it." Kakashi eyed the Uchiha.

"Of course I didn't. I never came back here. You know that."

"Well, I thought I'd bring you back here to knock some sense into you." Kakashi stood back up and started to walk away, "oh, by the way."

"Hn?"

"If you really want to be honest with yourself... What would she think of you now?" Kakashi shrugged before continuing away, "don't forget your box. You left it outside the memorial."

Sasuke cringed as Kakashi just walked away, never turning back. He waited a little while before heading back to the memorial site. Everyone had already cleared out, and not even a trace of Naruto was left. So he walked past all the barren gravestones to the memorial that was put up just for the medical ninja that gave up everything after the war. He knelt down and hunched over the plot of the freshly dug dirt. His shoulders were still, until his whole body was shaking with sobs. His tears soaked the dirt below him. He didn't care if anyone saw him, if anyone even cared. No one payed any attention to him anyways.

"Long time no see..." Sasuke gazed down at the memorial, "Sakura?" His voice was muffled. He was silent, no one could hear him, let alone her.

He swallowed hard and tried again, "S-Sakura... Please, hear me..." He cried louder, until his voice rose to a scream, "Sakura!!"

The birds continued chirping, the sky was a bright blue, and the cherry blossom trees were giving off their spring scent. The sun was shining, not a single cloud was in sight. But Sasuke knew that this wasn't the real setting for a funeral. It was always the stereotypical always raining scene, but this funeral seemed too perfect.

"Damnit, did you want her to die?! Is this how you wanted it?!" Sasuke screamed at nothing. The sky isn't mourning, the cherry blossoms are still in full bloom, and the earth is still turning. But why, why, is she still dead?

"Sakura Haruno, I know you loved me all your life. You never gave up on me, even when I never deserved your love. But in the end, from the very first day I knew you, I loved you. I never realized it until the war, when I only turned you away and denied everything that night... That night... Damn it, but you never gave up. I was ready to return to the village, retie my bonds with everyone, Kakashi, Naruto, just so I can be with you. Because... I love you. I love you too. I fell in love with you, because you loved me when I couldn't even love myself. Sakura, please... I'm begging you to come back, now... Why did I wait so long for this... Why did I wait until you died to tell you." Sasuke shook his head and clawed at the grass at his sides, "the past two years you've been gone... I've distanced myself away from everyone and completely severed my ties. I never came back, and I was officially banned as a rogue ninja. All because you left me like this, Sakura. Why would you love someone like me? Why?" Sasuke took a heavy exhale before standing, "That night, when we... I... When I only told you I used you. That wasn't... That wasn't true. I swear that night was everything to me, and I really did love you. I never meant to leave you, only to go fight Naruto then flee for good, I wanted to escape this hell with you, so we can revive the Uchiha clan, together. You don't know what it means to me to think that we could've..." Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut, "damn it all, I'm so sorry, Sakura... Why did I ever let you go like that. I would give anything to bring you back... Redo everything over..."

Nothing was heard, except for Sasuke's sobs and the sound of the birds chirping and wind bristling through the cherry blossoms. He looked up and watched as the soft, pink petals drifted down over him, wiping his tears across his face. He shut his eyes and let the feeling envelope him.

After a few more moments, Sasuke finally looked back down at the memorial, felt the engraved symbols on the tombstone, and leaned down to kiss it. It was cold, nothing like Sakura's touch, which was always warm and welcoming. He turned to leave, making sure no trace of crying was left on his face. He turned and was relieved to see none of his belongings in the box were stolen. He had found an Uchiha hideout outside the village that he plans to move into. He picked up the box of his items and moved on. He took one last glance at the memorial, knowing that because this was his only exception, he could never come back to see her. Just as he did, he felt a presence just outside the memorial watching him. He activated his Sharingan and walked closer to the presence. What he found behind one of the tombstones was a little girl only about five years old, crying and holding a kunai aimed at him.

"What were you doing over there?!"

"What are you talking about? Be careful with that." For some reason, the sight of such a young girl holding a kunai scared the Uchiha. So he quickly took the kunai from her hand, only making her cry even more, "are you okay? What are you doing out here on your own?"

"My mama died." The girl stated, not scared by Sasuke at all, but tears clearly stained her cheeks.

"Is this her?" Sasuke looked at the tombstone she was hiding behind.

"No! She's the one you were just at! I saw you, you were going to--"

"Her?" Sasuke pointed at Sakura's tombstone.

"Yes! That's my mama!" More tears cascaded down the girl's face, "don't you dare touch her tombstone!"

Sasuke's face went pale.

Sakura had a... But... With who?!

He looked closer at her face, "you have her eyes... But..." He turned and inspected her hair. It was onyx black. He then inspected her eye color, which he was expecting to be green like hers, but they weren't. They were blazing red with the Sharingan, "Sh-Sharingan..."

"Don't touch me!" The girl slapped away his hand defensively, "Mama told me not to talk to strangers, and if a stranger did approach me, that I kill him!"

"I'm sorry, wh-what's..." Sasuke's voice got caught in his throat, "what's your name?"

"Sarada Uchiha." The girl pouted.

Sasuke stared at the little girl, then turned to look at Sakura's memorial. He knelt down to look at her face-to-face. She doesn't wear the Uchiha clan symbol, but Sakura still named her... He watched her face as cherry blossom petals continued to fall around them. He shut his eyes and cried, throwing his arms around her and hugging her.
"Hey!! Let me go!!" Sarada screamed.

"Never."

Sarada looked at the man, felt an unusual familiarity, and gave in to the hug anyways, "did you know Mama?"

Sasuke released her to look at her, "knew her? I loved her."

Sarada smiled, "Mama told me Papa would come back some day."

"Did she?" Sasuke wiped his eyes, "I'm..."
Sarada ran to Sasuke and wrapped her small arms around him, "Papa!"

Sasuke felt tears escape his eyes once again as he hugged his daughter back, refusing to ever let go.

"I love you, Papa." Sarada cried into his shoulder, "don't ever leave us again..."

"I love you too, Sarada." Sasuke glanced away from his daughter back at the large box that still stood nearby, and in it was a healthy cherry blossom. He smiled and hugged her tighter as memories with Sakura flowed back through his mind.

I'm never, ever, letting you go.

_________________

written by xX_Fang_Xx for TheSunSailor

Quote: "I fell in love with you because you loved me when I couldn't love myself."

A/N

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