Missing Me

Missing Me

The sound of shuffling feet echoed down the otherwise empty corridor, and, not for the first time, Sasuke wondered why he'd decided to leave Konoha. The hyper-alertness required of all the denizens of Hidden Sound was merely one reason for his doubts. Among others were his fears about those he'd left behind in that peaceful village - fears both for them and of them.

His room was a simple stone cell, like a monk's chambers in a monastery. A monk he was, but the god he served was Revenge and he worshiped him through his own Pain and Self-Sacrifice.

At least, that's how it was supposed to be. But lately, the surviving Uchiha couldn't say he was at all focused on his life-long goal. In fact, his mind had been straying back to his hometown so much, he had actually decided to go back. Not to stay. No, he didn't let anyone, not even the gate guards, know of his presence. He simply wanted to see how things were in his absence.

And that was when he saw her. It was ridiculous, really. They'd been teammates since their graduation, had fought side-by-side countless times, and yet, he'd never really seen her before.

She had merely been walking down the street when her soft pink hair caught his eye, and he found himself following, slipping from roof to roof, always keeping her in sight. Though it had been more than two years, her hair was still short, as it had been since their first attempt at the chuunin exam; it suited her.

Through the shopping district, she made her way carefully, never once jostling anyone nor dropping the large box she held. It must have been fairly light, since her slender arms carried it with such ease. But when he finally got close enough to see it's contents, Sasuke determined it was a crate of sake bottles, and a quick glance with the sharinghan revealed that they were all full.

'Huh,' he thought to himself, reevaluating the situation, 'she's gotten a lot stronger. It looks like she's not even trying.'

Sasuke found himself admiring the way she wove through the crowded streets, how her muscles slid underneath her skin as she moved, and was caught off-guard when she abruptly stopped. Hiding himself carefully, he watched as she eased her burden to the dirt of the Hokage's personal training ground and wondered what she was doing there.

Just then, a buxom blond emerged from the administration building, and Sasuke looked on as the two of them chatted quietly for a few moments. Then, they stepped back, Sakura pulling on a pair of black gloves before taking a fighting stance.

"Don't think I'm going to go easy on you, Sakura, even with a bribe of sake," the blond taunted, and Sasuke tried to reason out why her face was so familiar.

"I wouldn't bribe you to go easy on me, Shishou," this comment startled and distracted the hiding shinobi.

'Shishou? Since when does Sakura have a master, and what happened to Kakashi-sensei?'

"If anything," the young kunoichi continued in an impertinent tone, breaking his revere, "I have to bribe you to go all out. You know I can take it, oh-mighty Hokage-sama."

'What?!' his mind was on overload. 'Her master is the Hokage?' Glancing upward, he finally realized why the woman's face seemed to tickle the back of his mind as he saw it's likeness carved into the mountain-side. Suddenly, Sasuke was even more glad he had followed his former teammate, since he would now get to witness the fighting style of the Godaime Hokage.

The bout didn't last long and Sakura lost, but not by much, which left her stalker sitting on a tree branch, completely stunned. 'Where did that come from? When I left, she could barely throw a kunai competently, and now she's standing up to the Hokage!' He recovered from the shock only a little before she did from her fight, and sable eyes watched her move to the older woman, green chakra already forming in her hands as she leaned over her opponent.

In a few minutes, they both rose, and every injury the blond had was completely erased, giving him a third surprise for the day. Not only was she incredibly strong, inordinately skilled, and rather feisty, but she knew medical ninjustu.

The pair broke apart, two guards coming out to haul the crate of sake away, both of them straining red-faced from the weight, and Sasuke waited until they had cleared out before tailing Sakura once again.

It was only a little time later that Sasuke got his fourth shock of the day, but this one proved too much, and he left the city immediately, so quickly, in fact, that one of the outer guards in the forest managed to see his poorly hidden trail. He didn't kill the man, though he knew he should have. Now they knew he was close. They'd come after him, and after what he'd just witnessed, Sasuke wasn't sure he could handle seeing them again.

Lying on his futon, heart thudding from the remembrance of his flight, his mind was no longer on Konoha, per se. He was fixated on a pair of pale jade eyes and the darkened, cloudy look they'd held as she was taken in a pair of masculine arms, kissed ardently, and led away into the crowd. But the man she wore that look for was not him.

The third member of Team 7 had been forgotten, and it was probably better that way. But wasn't someone, somewhere missing him? Was he that unimportant, so insignificant they brushed him aside the moment he was gone?

'Don't they realize that I'm the sacrifice, here? Because of Itachi, I've lost everything, my family, my friends, my home. I'm the one about to die on the alter of Revenge, even if it's his life I'm taking, and still she smiles. Even if it's fake, is one tear really too much to ask? I'd die for her, doesn't she realize that? She's the reason I came here in the first place. I had to keep her safe!'

"I'm sorry, Sakura... chan," the name just didn't feel complete without the endearment, "but I won't be home again."

He knew what she'd done to herself, how hard she'd tried to remake her little world without him. If he came home, it would throw off the balance, hurt her more. She had finally adjusted to life without him. Who was he to demand she open her heart again, even if it was only for friendship? She was happy; that was all he wanted for her. The best thing he could do was end it all, quickly. Kill Itachi, go far away, find someone to help him re-found his clan, and then let it go. Let life go, because the one person he wanted to share his goals with couldn't help him now.

He knew it had to be like this, but still, it was lonely, so unbearably lonely, lying in that cold room by himself.

"Isn't someone missing me?" he asked the dark stone ceiling, but there was no answer, just the whispering madness of his dreams as they dragged him down to sleep, to hell.

She had pledged him her love for ever. That promise had been the single ray of light in this hell-hole, one of two things he had to hold to, and the only thing remaining in him that was pure.

Now, all he had to cling to was his promise of Vengeance, and what a cruel god that was turning out to be.


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Inspiration for this story: "Missing" by Evanescence.
I don't believe in making my chapters insanely long by posting lyrics, but feel free to look them up yourself. They can be found at:
http:// www. lyricsmode. com/ lyrics/ e/ evanescence/ missing. html
Minus spaces, of course.

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I love feedback, so please read and review. Harsh criticism is welcome, but flames (especially those bashing certain characters or pairings) will be used to roast marshmallows. Hope you enjoyed!

Crimson Iris