Let Me In

When she had asked him to sushi after a round of training, Sakura never expected the young Uchiha to say yes. The slight nod of the head was the only answer she had gotten, but it awakened something in her. With her fluttering heart and her wobbling knees, she fell into step beside him.

Should I say something? I don't want to ruin this...

Sakura stole a glance at Sasuke as they were walking. His black locks hung stringy and they stuck to his face slightly, hiding his sharp black eyes. Sweat drenched the front of his shirt, while bits of dirt and twigs stuck to the side of his face, yet 'He still looks beautiful,' Sakura thought.

After another ten minutes of walking, the silence became unnerving. Shouldn't two people talk on a date? Hold hands? Something? Anything?

"Sasu-"

"Don't."

Sakura could feel the tightening in her throat beginning again - why did he always make her feel like this? With a simple glance he could have her trembling with insecurities and unanswered questions. I feel like I shouldn't be here.

She was on a date. With Sasuke Uchiha. So now that she got what she had been wanting since the ninja academy, why was she still not happy? 'Something is missing.'

"Why did you say yes, Sasuke-kun?"

The question was left lying empty in the air. The only indication that Sasuke had even heard her was the slight twitch in his hand.

--

It was the end of a long day of training for team 7. Kakashi still remained the supervisor of their training, now that Sasuke was reinstated into Konoha as a shinobi once again. Something had changed in Naruto when he held the trembling body of his once best friend in his arms for the first time in three years. Sasuke had taken down Orochimaru, and the piercing hot pain in his seal returned. When Naruto found him, Sasuke was crouched in a corner of a building of the now destroyed Sound country shivering. His shirt was torn to threads, and he had a kunai embedded in his hand. 'He's so pale.' was the first thing Naruto thought as he aided his best friend. The most disturbing part was that Sasuke would not look at him. His eyes stayed unfocused and dry, giving the illusion that he was dead, had he not been shaking so uncontrollably.

At last, Naruto returned with a sleeping Sasuke home. As he reached the front gate of Konoha, Naruto fell to his knees. All the emotions he had kept bottled up inside as he had trained harder than ever for three years caught up to him. He vaguely felt Sasuke slip from his arms as he sobbed into the ground, pounding it relentlessly, hoping that maybe, possibly it could provide some much needed comfort.

But none came.

And none ever did come. Everyone had rejoiced when Sasuke came to. Nobody noticed the blonde tearing himself apart over this. 'What now?' he asked himself. Now that Sasuke was back, what was there to do? Was he to forgive his teammate for leaving him alone?

He's not better than anyone in this village. They all leave me behind.

Naruto and Sasuke still haven't spoken. Sure, they sparred, but they both avoided eye contact and speaking at all costs. In truth, it was tearing Naruto apart. He'd never admit to himself that he subconsciously had forgiven the cold bastard. He'd never admit that the pain of feeling even farther away from the shinobi had caused him to strike himself physically. No one knew that under the wide grins and boisterous laughs, an empty cast-away boy stood.

And no one knew the intense gravity that seemed to weigh him down as he saw Sasuke disappear with Sakura.