Sakura Blooms (#1 Sakura Trilogy)

Sakura Blooms: [Chapter 27]

(A/N: Play music in media so you can cry your freaking eyes out like I did.)

"You were truly a formidable opponent," Sakura muttered, bowing her head down.

She sat back on her heels, staring at the lifeless body, shaking. Suddenly, she flew forward, catching the body in her arms. "Duckb—Sasuke. Open your eyes. Look at me," she commanded forcefully.

The bridge builder stared in shock as the usually calm and cold girl lost her demeanor. The only other time had been when she was running from her attacker.

"It seems I have broken at least two of the Shinobi Laws," she said, letting his body go again to mechanically rub the itch in her eyes. "Rule number 25 of the Shinobi Code states: 'A shinobi never shows their feelings, no matter what the circumstances. Feelings are a weakness that only clouds their judgment and weakens their sense of duty.'" Sakura continued, turning from him and rubbing at her eyes. "...and a shinobi must never show any weakness. So...why? Why is it I feel I am unable to control myself?" She gripped his dark navy blue shirt tightly and frowned, a deep sense of dread pitted in her stomach.

You are feeling.

"Why is it you cry for him? What does he mean to you?" Haku asked curiously, still determining if he should take her down or not.

"Sasuke is my teammate."

"He seems to be more than a teammate," the dark-haired Mist-nin pointed out.

"..." Sakura closed her eyes, trying to stomach the feeling she had felt when she was burning the man that had wronged her. Hatred. Haku watched in interest as she gritted her teeth.

Suddenly, a loud cracking sound came, and vines shot out of nowhere and began to strangle the boy.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto had been in and out of losing and gaining consciousness, but had woken up just as Haku was being strangled by thick vines that had broken through the bridge. "Stop!"

"No, it's okay. I have no more purpose, since I failed Zabuza." He bowed his head as the strength of the vines increased. They went slack as Naruto cut them with his kunai, and then turned to Sakura.

"Sakura-chan, what are you doing?! We don't want to kill Haku! Just—just look after Sasuke."

Sakura didn't respond as she kept gripping the dark blue shirt, her face blank and a single tear silently streaming down her cheek. His body is very cold.

:::

Sasuke groaned, then sat up in the short, green grass of his clan's training grounds. "Why am I here?" He wondered out loud, watching a bee land on a flower then buzz to the next. He looked up at the bright sun, and then back down when he heard a voice.

"Sasu-chan!"

Sasuke froze. That voice... "Okaa-san," he muttered in disbelief as he watched her walk in front of him. "Okaa-san, wait!" His hand darted out to grab her wrist, the hem of her dress, anything—it passed through, and he wondered what exactly was happening.

"Sasu-chan!" His mother called out again to him, but he realized it wasn't him she wanted, but was his younger self.

"Okaa-san!" A little dark-haired boy about five or six waved back to his mother. "I was training by myself!"

Older Sasuke winced in sympathy and nostalgia. He had trained whenever his father criticized his skills that could never be as good as Itachi.

"Oh, Sasu-chan..." His mother gathered Younger Sasuke into her arms, and as he watched, angry that he could never do that again when his younger self pushed her away pouting. If he had one minute to see her again, he would hug her and cry to her all his sorrows, and she would pet his black spikes down that stuck up in the back and whisper comforting things. But, of course, Younger Sasuke and Younger Mikoto had no idea of what was to come in a few years.

"Okaa-san..." Older Sasuke watched sadly, then turned his back and began walking away to the lake.

"Hey, Sasu-chan, where are you going?" He turned quickly to see his mother standing there, and Younger Sasuke gone.

"You can hear me?"

Mikoto nodded, smiling, "I can also see you." She came closer, and studied him. He was barraged with 'do you really eat well, you're a little skinny', and 'you many hours on average do you sleep, you look terrible' along with other questions.

"I'm fine, Okaa-san," he reassured his mother, glad that, just for a moment, she was there to nag and scold him.

"Really? Why are you here if you're fine? Something happened that made you see me." She crossed her arms and made the disapproving, scary face that all mothers seemed to have.

"I don't..." Sasuke trailed off, then remembered. "Sakura!"

"Sakura? A girl?" Mikoto asked hopefully.

"Yes, she could be in trouble! I have to—" He began looking around the field when his mother sidled up to his side.

"Do you like this girl?" Her grin was smug, as if to say 'I always knew you would fall for a girl eventually'.

"Not like that!" Sasuke ducked his head. "She's my teammate! She started fighting Haku after I..." He paused. "Am I dead?"

The surprise on Mikoto's face was evident. "Oh, no Sasu-chan! Well..." She grabbed the hem of her apron and fiddled with it. "You have two choices: You can stay with me, here," his mother gestured to the Uchiha compound that hadn't been touched by destruction, "Or you can go back, to Sakura." Her black eyes twinkled in amusement and affection.

"Do I have to choose?" Sasuke plopped down on the grass, noting he hadn't made a sound as he lied down, and looked up to the sky. His mother sat beside him. "I just want to stay here...with my Okaa-san..." He sat up, shaking his head. "No! Sakura needs me!"

Mikoto watched sadly at her son's internal struggle. "Sasuke," she did gently, "I'm already gone. This is just what your mind formed when you came here. However, you have the chance to still live...with Sakura. I don't know who she is, but I'm sure she must be important to you."

Sasuke nodded, then looked up to the sky once more, a droplet of rain hitting his cheek. He recoiled as it traced down his face like a tear. It began raining lightly, and when the leaves of tree rustles in the wind, it sounded like a girl crying. The Uchiha boy stood up, and listened to the cries and the sound of rain against the grass.

"Go, Sasuke," his mother urged gently. "She needs you more than I do. I'll see you eventually, not too soon, though."

Sasuke turned to see his mother's warm smile one more time before he realized he was lying down on something rough and hard.

I cried while writing this scene. Did you?

What will happen next?

Questions?