SasuSaku: One and Only

Chapter 8: The Pinkette's Heart

Sakura woke up in a daze... After her eyes adjusted, she looked around and realized she was in the hospital... At first the last thing she remembered was taking pictures with Takumi... Then her mind began to flash bits and pieces... Fragments of memories slowly came to her... Them walking toward the gate to leave, hearing screams, Takumi yelling at her, being pushed to the ground... Then just as she almost remembered one more detail, the blonde Jinchuuriki walked into her room and cut off her last thought...

"Sakura-chan, I am so glad you are finally awake! How are you feeling? Do you need anything...? Water...? Ramen...? Wait I want Ramen! But can I get you anything...? You had me so worr..."

The pinkette cut him off mid-sentence... "Arigato Naruto! I am ok... You don't have to worry about m... Wait, where's Takumi? Is he ok? OH No! He got caught in that blast didn't he...? Where is he...?" Sakura began to ramble just as Naruto did... It took everything she had to try to pull herself out of bed when the blonde stopped her...

"Hold on, Sakura-chan! You need to stay in bed... Don't worry... Takumi is just fine... He has some bruises, but thanks to Tem... Err... Um... Takumi's fast thinking, he got away with just some scratches... When you fell you may have hit your head and..."

Just then her mind flashed back to what she tried to remember earlier... She was walking with Takumi to the gate, heard the screams of the crowd, and saw those zombie like figures... Just as she was about to activate her Byakugou Seal she heard Takumi yell "Watch Out!" He pushed her out of the way... As she fell to the ground, she immediately felt a huge surge of chakra... She looked up to see a purple haze surrounding them... Just then she saw a dark figure jump in front of her... The loud explosion caused her to focus toward the ground... Her ears were ringing from the blast...  There was smoke everywhere...  Once it began to clear, she could see Takumi had landed on the ground and he wasn't moving... In a split second, she looked up at the figure... Her mind immediately flashed back to taking pictures with Takumi again... She felt a really weird feeling like her mind was purposely not remembering... It was as if her thoughts were rearranging themselves the more she tried to remember...

Naruto noticed she was trying to recall what had happened... In a panic he broke the silence and snapped the pinkette back to the present... "Hey Sakura-chan, are you hungry? Really, I will go get you something... You should rest and not strain your mind too much... They said that if you did hit your head your memories may be all jumbled up and..."

She could hear the worry and trembling in his voice as if he was hiding something from her... She decided to activate her Byakugou Seal to try to help focus her mind...

Naruto immediately noticed the seal on her head forming and yelled out... "No Sakura-chan, you don't want to do tha...!"

It was too late... In that moment her mind became crystal clear... She remembered... That huge surge of chakra she felt... It was a familiar feeling she thought she felt a week earlier... And it wasn't just any chakra... In her head she tried to reason with herself that it wasn't true... But the more she fought the thoughts, the more they became reality... She remembered looking up at the figure again and noticed that the purple haze surrounding them wasn't just a haze, it was a particular jutsu that she was all too familiar with... There was only one person alive that could use that jutsu... It was Susanoo... He had returned... And at the worst time ever... Tears began to flow from her eyes... She called out... "Sasuke-kun...?"  She looked up again and saw one Sharingan eye looking down at her...   Then she knew what he was about to do...  "Why...?" But before she could say anything else, everything went black...

The pinkette came back to reality as the tears were flowing down her face... The realization that he had returned and put her under a Genjutsu sank in... Naruto gave her a sad look as he already knew the raven had returned... She stood to her feet and cried out... "I can't believe he did it again... How could he...? That is why I spent countless hours studying Genjutsu and ways to counteract it! He is never going to change, is he...? Poor, Sad, Pathetic Sakura waiting four years for him to return... and for what? Thinking he would change? Thinking he was the same 12 year old boy that was so full of life? For him to do this to me again, over and over? He really is broken and will never be the same! I can't do this anymore...Naruto!"