Until Then

Chapter 4~ Maybe

• • • •

Maybe she was paying too much attention to him and began seeing things that weren't there, but somehow that evening Sakura could tell there was a different vibe coming off of Sasuke. Just like she always could.

Once they finished their meal, the trio walked down the pathway that led to their separate homes.

There were strings of lights stretching from one tree to the other and the space felt as if there was more of a crowd now than earlier during the day. Greetings were exchanged and by the time they got to the first stop, it was already dark.

Naruto stopped to talk to a villager, and so Sakura took the opportunity to finally speak to the Uchiha walking beside her.

"Sasuke...kun." it was the first thing she'd said to him all evening, and although adding the suffix to his name came naturally, she was still just abit hesitant.

Upon being called, he looked down at her, his dark bangs covering parts of his face, most likely to hide the rinnegan that was an obvious attention grabber.

She knew she had to speak now. Her hands reached for the hem of her red shirt fidgeting nervously, "I mean we, we are really glad to have you back with us in the village."

There was a silence, and she took it as as a sign to continue. ""If you need anything, don't...don't hestitate to ask me or Naruto."

She knew he wouldn't ask her, she had nothing to offer that he might need. But Naruto was like a brother to him, it would not be so hard to go to him but, she wanted to make sure he was aware that he could come to any of them.

Sakura felt out of place under his gaze, and refused herself to look at him.

"Thank you."

It was barely audible but she'd heard it. She looked up at him in surprise. This must have been the third time he had said those words to her. And each time it felt different.

"You don't have to thank me." She said while trying to hide the blush that crept onto her cheeks.

Suddenly the feeling she had before was back, and she decided to ask what seemed to be bothering her, or in this case, him.

"I know it's none of my business, but..is something wrong?"

Her face was serious and she wanted an honest answer.

'How did she know?' He wondered, as his hopes of everyone being too caught up in all that was happening to notice if something was off with him, were gone now.

He sighed, of course she picked up on that. Even when they were younger, she always had cat-like eyes with her surroundings.

He glanced over at Naruto who was still in the middle of a conversation expect now there was a few more people who joined in.

He decided to tell the pinkette now while Naruto was busy, instead of tomorrow like he planned, just before he left.

"Being in the cell before, it gave me time to think." He began, not fully sure why he was explaining it to her when he knew she would only try and stop him again.

Her attention was fully fixed on him as he spoke, "And there is so much in this world that I have yet to see."

She had a feeling of where this was going, but she let him continue before jumping to anything. " I want to go out and explore while I still can. I'm leaving tomorrow."

'Leaving? Again?' She thought as she took a deep breathe in, digesting the information.

"Tomorrow? That's so soon." Sakura asked as her voice got lower at the end. We just got him back after such a long time, and now he was going away.

Not knowing what else to do or say, he nodded slowly.

"What about Naruto? What about the whole Hokage thing?" She challenged, as if she could persuade him by reminding him of his goals to help Naruto.

But his goals were different than they were before, and he was still figuring them out himself. It felt like a jumble now.

"Naruto will always be my friend." He admitted, looking away.

Right now, everything was peaceful. Pessimistically, it would not remain that way forever but, while it was, they wouldn't need him here.

Sakura stared at the ground beneath her, weighing up her options. It's now or never she thought. "What if...what if I were to come along with you?"

Her eyes shut, scared of his reply.

There was a warm feeling in his chest, it was no secret that she still loved him. Everyone was quite aware of it.

But he knew he couldn't take her on his journey, especially when he didn't even know where that would take him. Especially when this was a time for him find out what he was really meant to do.

"I have to atone for whatever I have done. My sins have nothing to do with you." He didn't mean to make it come out so harsh, while seeing her shoulders slump in defeat.

"Maybe next time." He said, as a small smile unknowingly graced his face.

His attempt at softening the blow worked immediately, and she returned the smile even more so.

It was hope. And this time she felt like it was different. Something more tangible now.

But despite the conversation they shared, there was a weird and uneasy feeling that this might have been one of the few they would share again. At least for now.

••••••••••••••••

Hey! Hope everyone's good.

I don't know if you've read Sasuke Retsuden, but I have been reading bits and pieces of the translations whenever someone put it out, and it's honestly written soooo incredibly well, but duh! We already knew that!

And I just finished the Naruto game, and I actually prefer the Japenese voices, but it was great, so many memories and many tears were shed!

HOPE YOU HAVE A NICE DAY!!!