Sasuke collapsed backwards onto one of Naruto's beanbags. He said nothing even as Sakura appeared in the doorway courtesy of a Hiraishin and did not even glance her way when she sat down on the edge of a sofa beside him. He did not cry, but neither did he seem to care about Sakura's presence beside him.
"Are you alright?" she asked quietly.
Sasuke did not respond.
"'Suke, at least Itachi-san's not going to die this time. Naruto's fixed that already. There isn't any reason for you to brood like this," she tried to reason.
Sasuke sighed even more gloomily, his hands moving to cover his face as he seemed to bury himself deeper into the beanbag.
"Things are better now," Sakura persuaded.
Sasuke snorted, finally looking Sakura in the eye.
"I don't know about you, but I think that more than anything else I hate the fact that Naruto is doing pretty much everything all by himself. It's like I came back for absolutely nothing. Tell me, just what did we vow to ourselves when we had come back to the past? I was so ambitious; had even told myself that I could change everything for the better. Sure, things are better now, but I have done nothing to contribute!" Sasuke burst out.
He panted for a moment to catch his breath before shaking his head helplessly.
"I could only watch as everything slipped through my grasp. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I couldn't save anyone. I tried to warn Shisui, but he didn't listen," Sasuke spoke in a self-deprecating manner.
Sakura fell silent. It was true, after all. It really did seem that they had not been able to make a difference. Naruto could have done all of that just fine without any of them. Even she was just useless in the face of the complicated projects that Naruto wanted to carry out. Naruto did not bother to give her tasks to complete anymore. She could not keep up and his own scientific knowledge seemed to far surpass her own by now. Neither of them could help lessen Naruto's burdens.
She also felt a little hopeless at the thought.
She was still useless even now, it seemed.
As such, Sakura could only shake her head and whisper lowly to herself, "I don't know. I really don't know."
ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ
A blond smiled kindly at a raven-haired lady.
"Mikoto-san," he uttered, "it's time."
The woman, Mikoto, sat straighter in her chair.
"Was it supposed to be today?" she asked with a slight tremor in her voice.
The blond's smile widened.
"As a matter of fact," he spoke slowly as he dragged his words out, "it isn't."
The raven-haired woman seemed to wilt at that statement.
"However, I decided to do it early," he continued, causing her to perk up.
"You mean...?" she whispered with renewed vigour.
"That's right. Now shall we go greet that person whom you've been longing to see? It may not be his birthday yet, but today's... still a rather important date," the blond agreed.
The woman's expression softened as she stood from her seat and walked up to the small blond whose back faced her and carefully placed one hand on his shoulder.
The blond turned around, both surprised and confused by the unexpected physical contact.
Mikoto giggled a little, covering her lips with her free hand.
YOU ARE READING
Reborn!
FanfictionNaruto, Sasuke and Sakura, the last remaining members of Team Seven, as well as the last ones left in their world. They had killed Uchiha Madara and ensured that he was gone for good. However, that was not without a heavy price. It had gone wrong s...
