Yin and Yang

Chapter 4

Sakura

She woke up in a clean hospital room, that she was all too familiar with. For a second, she felt like she was dreaming. Everything was too hazy and bright.

Sasuke-kun!

She bolted upright, her thoughts suddenly surfacing. He had been there. She had seen him.

Or had she?

She sighed and leaned behind, sinking into the softness of the pillow. She stared at the ceiling, wondering if all of it had been a dream. If he had been a dream.

"Sakura-chan! You're awake!" Naruto bolted in, with Hinata, Shikamaru, and Temari, following suit.

"Lee, Sai, and Ino left an hour ago." Shikamaru said, gesturing to her right. She saw the Yamanaka flower shop's best lilies arranged neatly in a vase, with a note that said "Get well soon, billboard brow." she smiled despite her exhaustion.

"Oi, oi. My student needs to rest. Don't annoy her." Tsunade walked in, with a concerned smile on her face. "How do you feel now?"

"Better. But still... worn out." Sakura answered, sounding evidently tired.

"Of course you would be! But thanks to Shikamaru and Naruto, we were able to find you in time." Tsunade remarked.

Shikamaru and Naruto had saved her?

So it was a dream after all. Of course Sasuke Uchiha wouldn't cry in front of her. Or would even come back. He hadn't come back even for the most dire of circumstances after he'd left. She wondered why her dreams tortured her like this, making her believe that she meant something to him.

"She took out 15 men by herself! Men who had the tailed beast chakra pills!That too despite the state that she was in! Give her some credit, Obaa-san!" Naruto protested.

15? That didn't sound right...

If she recalled correctly, she took out four in the basement, and four when she came out...

The realisation struck her instantly.

He was there.

It wasn't a dream.

Her eyes widened and her heart beat faster than ever. Her throat felt painful, and she felt tears well into her eyes. The sedatives in her made her mind too hazy to resist the emotions welling up in her throat. She didn't even realise when she had started sobbing.

"Get out of my way! And leave the room! She needs to rest!" she heard Tsunade usher everyone out, worrying about her student crying.

"It's alright child, you fought well. It's..." Tsunade began comforting her, holding her shivering frame cautiously. Sakura wrapped her arms weakly around her sensei.

"Don't you get it?" she said between her sobs. "It wasn't me. It was him."

A puzzled expression of Tsunade was the last thing she saw before she blacked out again.

..........................................................................................

I know you must've thought that I was a dream. So I decided to send you this, assuring you that you're not going crazy, and it was me there that afternoon.

Sorry for leaving you alone. Again.

I got Naruto's message in Mosugimo, telling me that you were kidnapped, and that he was going to rescue you. I knew you could take them on. You're not a weak woman. But I had to know for myself, that you were okay.

I know I have not been in touch. I have never been the kind, you know me. But I still have things to do. Sins to atone for.

Maybe you'll be surprised to hear this, but I have thanked you more than anyone in my life. But hearing you say those words to those men, defending me, (she realised with a surprise that he had overheard their conversation from the window of the room she was kept in) made me realise that you know who I truly am, unlike most people. Thank you, again, for standing up for me (the ink was blotched in this place. He must have thought long and hard, leaving the brush on the paper) no matter what I did. (she could feel the regret burn through the words, and she knew he was thinking about all the times he'd hurt her and abandoned her.)

My crimes cannot be forgiven, but I'll be selfish one last time, Sakura. (she shuddered thinking of him, somewhere in a remote forest, writing her name.) Wait for me a little longer, will you?

The letter didn't have any signatures, nor a lot of words, but she knew who it was from. She knew the moment it arrived, before she even opened it.

Mosugimo was a week or week and a half away. A week away, if you were as strong and fast as Sasuke. He'd travelled that distance in a little over three days.

I had to know for myself, that you were okay.

She re-read it, over and over again, finally realising that everyone was wrong to think that he'd forgotten them.

Sasuke Uchiha.

The boy.... No. The man who never begged. Who never pleaded. Who never asked anything of anyone. He was too proud to. But inside the broken shell of a bitter man everyone saw, she knew, he was still a boy, seeking love to fill the void that had existed in him since he was a child. And her forgiveness was the first step towards the love he sought, she realised, remembering the tears that he'd shed after listening to her defending him, before defeating her captors.

Baka, I never blamed you in the first place. She thought, with her eyes misty, and the corners of her mouth gently lifting up.

Wait for me a little longer, will you?

You didn't even have to ask me that. She smiled.

Miles and miles away, Sasuke smiled in his sleep, under a cherry-blossom tree.