Redemption |complete| (SasuSaku)

The Rise of Buried Emotions

Friday, 9th of June

Sasuke walked back to the village listening to the silence of the forest around him. The wind was blew softly making the leaf dance on the trees, the sun shone bright as always and he looked straight up ahead and sighed. The once familiar gates stood tall in front of him. Two years had passed and he felt a bit of nostalgia making his way into his body.

Nothing had changed since the past. The trees were still standing tall and the sun rays were still kissing his skin the same way they did seven years ago. The mind of the still very young man wandered, this time it will be different because there was one thing that had changed and it was him. With a heavy feeling in his stomach he walked into the village.

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"Sakura, go home you have been working for twelve hours now, go get some rest," said Tsunade.

"I don't feel tired Tsunade-sama,  besides I still have a few patients I need to check up on and documents I need to work on. I'll go after." replied the pinkette.

She turned her back on her mentor and walked towards her office closing the door behind her. She contemplated the idea of lying down in her bed for a minute and shook the idea off her head remembering the loud silence present in her house. No, she felt better here in the hospital surrounded by people. She hated being by herself. She needed someone by her side at all times now. When the nightmares weren't waking her up in the middle of the night, her thoughts were keeping her awake. It was a vicious cycle that started happening about a year ago. Actually it started happening after she gave up on the idea of Sasuke coming home one day. She could still picture the moment when he poked her forehead making a silent promise that he will eventually come back. She selfishly assumed that he would come back for her but she had soon realised that this wasn't going to happen. Sasuke was Sasuke. He had always been a solitary person who pushed people away so how could she even imagine that she will be the reason for him to come back and settle down in the village?

Once the idea that Sasuke was not coming back because she wasn't good enough had been planted in her brain she had started to spiral down. Over the last year her self-confidence had dropped to the point that all the accomplishments she had done since the end of the war didn't matter anymore. She started to function but she forgot to live. She didn't say anything to anyone. She was a doctor and doctors were supposed to be able to take care of themselves.

After making sure she couldn't hear any footsteps she walked to her desk and she opened her drawer with a trembling hand. She somehow managed to take out a dark red pill out of the glass jar... One more wouldn't hurt her today, right?

She put it in her mouth, still shaking and put the jar on her desk. The sour taste slowly made its way to her stomach and after waiting a minute for the effect to fully kick in she took her clipboard and left her office. Maybe this will get her going for another shift... or two.

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Knock, knock, knock

"Come in."

Shikamaru's head appeared on the frame of the half opened door.

"Hm Hokage-sama, someone is here to see you."

"Who is it?" Kakashi asked a little bit confused his finger resting on his chin. He was still staring at the stack of paper sitting on his desk that he was supposed to read but didn't find the will or the motivation to open. Without looking at Shikamaru he sighed and tried to remember if he had any meeting scheduled today. From what he could recall from the schedule of the day he was supposed to do paper work only.