I never was the best to you
Sasuke laid his head back on the chair. The kitchen was empty and dark. The whole apartment was impersonal except for the bare necessities. Whenever Sasuke stayed in Kohona he rested in Naruto's childhood apartment. Naruto moved onto a nice apartment and got recently engaged to Hinata, he wouldn't stop talking about it to Sasuke.
Hours earlier, Naruto came by with a bunch of instant ramen, as if Sasuke would willingly eat that garbage. Yet here he was waiting for the ramen to finish. It finished 10 minute ago.
The smell of ramen made him lose his appetite. Flashbacks of his genin days with Naruto and... Sakura. His days in Kohona were nothing but filled with agony. Normally Sakura was always there, and yet when he came back she was a ghost. Only her name echoed in the village, he didn't see her apparition anywhere.
Breathing in and breathing out. He tried steadying his heartbeat.
It had been so long since he broke her heart for the final time and since then he's regretted it.
When Sasuke first arrived to the village he told no one. He wanted to see the village in anonymity.
Sasuke stealthily followed Sakura from her apartment to the hospital. When he first arrived, she had longer hair but the next day she cut it to a shorter length. Sakura's days were long and tiresome at the hospital. She was barely in her office and if she was it was no longer than 10 minutes.
The next day, Sasuke made his presence to Kakashi. “Hm I thought you’d be here by yesterday.” He teases his former student. Sasuke shakes his head. “I just took my time.” A lie. He had a feeling Kakashi knew but didn’t prod further. Sasuke went to the hospital for a routine check up. He was hoping to see her, to talk to her. He had a lot to say to her, but figured she never wanted to see him again.
Truth was on his lips and he was nervous for the sermon. Lies, lies, lies he told himself again and again. He never wanted to lie to her except that one time.
”You know it won’t work like that.”
He told her that, hoping that both of them could believe it or at least try.
Could it work? Travels, new people, lands he’s never seen or could imagine. His side felt empty. His mind grew, his heart expanded, his mind going back to the one person his heart belonged to.
Self-isolation and defecting from the village, she still tried to wait. Wait for him.
On dark nights, when the stars were out his mind ran to eyes that matched the same radiance.
When he left her on the bench, when he put her under genjutsu, and finally when he left her stranded at the gate.
Entering the hospital the next day for a checkup he knew that Sakura was going to be the one to conduct it. His reputation preceded him still and his name rang out fear.
In the exam room, he was surprised to see black hair enter instead of pink.
“Where’s Sakura?” Her name always the first thing out of his mouth.
“Hello. She is currently unavailable.” The women gives a polite smile.
“Is she busy? Is she in surgery?” He asks, “we’re old team mates.” He mutters.
“Yes…” the women says, holding a file. “She has a lot of patients.”
“She can’t do a quick check up?” He asks, his tone veering on rude.
”My, from what I’ve heard you don’t speak this much.”
That shut him up. A scowl on his face throughout the whole check up.
Sasuke stood up, grabbed the ramen and dumped it down the sink. Sitting down on the old uncomfortable bed, he looks out the window. The half crescent moon shining.
He kept tailing her, but simplicity is Sakura’s life. Her home and the hospital. He wondered if she was resting enough or making time for her friends. Ino, Naruto, whoever.
Sasuke decided he was going to talk to her. No more dancing around this.