Blooming Cherry Blossom & The Descending Raven [SasuSaku Fanfiction]

Repaying the Debt

Upon returning to the village by the afternoon, I was met with a couple of surprised faces. I noticed that Naruto and Kakashi-sensei were among them, along with others I knew that were on different teams. Though, I hardly paid attention to who was present and who wasn’t - I was too focussed on what Sasuke-kun had in mind when he said he had something to tell me. I had absolutely no idea what he could be planning, but it was severely tearing me up badly on the inside just anticipating what it might be.

"Sakura-chan! We were just about to go and search for you! Are you all right?" Naruto asked quickly, rushing over to my side with concern. I looked into his eyes and noticed that he had dark rings underneath them - I must have made him worry about me... it probably wasn’t right to make him worry further and tell him I met with Sasuke-kun again.

"Yes, I’m fine. These guys were just pushovers - I escaped easily." I told him with a fake smile crossing my face while gesturing to the guys that I was lugging around. Well, with Sasuke-kun’s help... My thoughts added, but I didn’t want to say it aloud.

"I see... great job Sakura." Kakashi-sensei congratulated me, taking some of the guys to ease my burden. He turned to Naruto after doing so, "Looks like the trouble has ended, Naruto. You can rest easy now while Sakura and I deliver these guys to the Hokage." I could visibly see the relief escape Naruto as he sighed out and an easy smile replaced his worried face.

"All right; sounds good to me!" Naruto said brightly as he turned around and walked back into Konoha. I watched his back, feeling really guilty that I didn’t find it in me to tell Naruto that I met with our old teammate... but it was difficult. Especially when he wanted to meet with me alone. What would I do if after telling Naruto about all this and he decided to come?

"Something tells me that it wasn’t as easy as you say." Kakashi-sensei stated almost the instant Naruto was out of earshot. I was shocked - did he sense something off about me?

"What are you talking about, Kakashi-sensei?" I asked, my heart pounding.

Kakashi-sensei faced me, "Sakura, I’ve known you long enough to know when you’re hiding something from us. Naruto might not have noticed since he was solely focussed on your return, but I noticed that you seem more... reserved. Tell me, did something happen while you were captured?"

I hung my head so as to not meet with Kakashi-sensei’s eyes. I knew he wasn’t a jounin for nothing, but I didn’t realize he would notice so quickly, "While I was held captive in the enemy’s camp, someone came along and rescued me from them...,"

"Sasuke, am I right?" Kakashi-sensei guessed.

"Yes." I answered. The wind blew through my hair at that moment, as if Sasuke was listening to us at this very second and was warning me that I had to come alone to the area where I was captured... if I said anymore, I wonder what kind of wind would be blowing? I shivered, wanting to throw my arms around myself, but I couldn’t - not with these guys burdening me.

"Did he say anything to you?" Kakashi-sensei asked next.

I juggled and played around with different thoughts while I tried to find an appropriate answer for this question. Should I answer honestly? Or should I keep it to myself? Or should I give a subtle hint as to what the truth was? I didn’t know what to do... it was all too confusing, so I went with, "No. He just defeated these guys, cut my bonds and left without a word."

Kakashi-sensei was silent for a long time, probably knowing that was a lie. Though, he began walking toward Tsunade-sama’s office and I kept a close pace behind him, "I understand. Though, Sakura...," I didn’t like the way he trailed off.

"...yes?" I wondered quietly.

"Be extremely careful." Kakashi-sensei told me, "Sasuke isn’t the same man we knew." My eyes downcast as I remembered myself also thinking the same thing. It was correct to think that way, but I couldn’t help but want to go to him when he wished to speak with me. It had been three years... Naruto was still searching desperately for him... and that little girl I thought I discarded lived on inside me - everything was telling me to go to him. Kakashi-sensei eyed me closely, "That’s probably not going to discourage you at all, is it?"