15-History will always repeat itself. Human Nature sticks to what it knows will work, therefore we are doomed to live the same mistakes of our fathers, our mothers, our mentors, and our friends. We know nothing else. Yet those who dare to dream beyond history, those who dare to take chances.. are those who break the chain.-
Sakura awoke once again, on an all too familiar bench. Her green eyes stung from the cold that hit her unexpectedly. She sat up, rubbing her head, the memories of the night before sleeping in her memories. She felt another cool breeze, coming fro outside the city. She shivered and stood, her legs still weak from the blow to the head she had received the night prior. She felt the tears prick at her eyes as she looked at her surroundings.
"Bastard." She whispered, pushing back the tears. "I open my heart to him again, and he pushes it back to this bench.."
Her toes grew cold in the fall air of her small village. She could hear the distant calls of children heading off to academy. She smiled sadly as she began her journey to see the hokage. It was her duty to report all happenings to the Hokage, no matter what turmoil burned in Sakura's heart.
She closed her eyes for a moment and let the scene of all those years gone play in her mind. She hated herself back then, she was useless and pathetic. The old her didn't know what true love was, even now.. Sakura wasn't so sure of her feelings. She opened her eyes, letting them scan the area, she felt something behind her. Her hand unconsciously reached for her kunai. Before she could think his Katana was at her throat.
She smiled. "Good morning, Uchiha."
Slowly the katana slid from her throat, cutting her slightly. Small rivers of blood poured down her pale white skin. She turned around and faced him, her green eyes dead set. She glared at the man before her. He had left her, and yet he had the audacity to come back with her. He had the guts to leave her on a bench for a night.. and remain in the area. Her fist made contact with his face before he could react.
He rubbed his jaw, anger in his blood red eyes. "You never cease to amaze me, Sakura."
She glared at him, her eyes glowing with anger. "Never call em that again."
"What? Your name?" Sasuke asked, stepping closer to her.
"Only people who know me can call me Sakura." She bit, her voice well beyond anger.
Sasuke smirked, "Don't kid yourself Sakura, I've known you since academy.."
She glared at him, "The girl you knew from that time, died... five years ago."
He glowered slightly. "You haven't changed a bit, Sakura, despite what you want to believe...you'll always be the pining little girl I knew.."
"I only wish you could see me differently." She stated. Silence fell over the two, slowly a small smile graced her delicate features. "You broke the curse, Uchiha..."
He looked at her, his face emotionless aside from a hint of question in his black orbs.
She smirked, "You came back."
He frowned, "Only for a moment. I had to make sure you weren't harmed.."
She glared at him, "You came all the way here just to watch me sleep on this bench?" She asked, her voice disbelieving his claims.
He nodded, "It was only about five minutes ago that I sat you down. The distance from where we were to where we are now... is quite great.."
Sakura nodded, she felt his words held a double meaning. The distance from where the used to be as friends had widened considerably to where they were at this moment. "So what now? You going to leave us again?"
He nodded, replacing his katana in it's sheath. "I told you I can never come back here, Sakura."
She nodded, "I know that, Sasuke, but you could at least try. Naruto... misses you."
He nodded, "And you haven't?"
She looked away, "I told you everything last night, Sasuke."
He nodded, looking away, he felt it was best to forget the night previous. "I should go now."
She nodded turning her back to him. "I'll of course have to tell Lady Hokage that you were in town for a visit..."
He nodded, though his actions weren't visible, she could sense them. "I understand. Just give me ten minutes."
She glared at the ground before her. The same spot where she had cried so many tears, over him. "I won't give you one."
He turned around to catch her, but she was already gone. He sighed, the woman really was a pain. He leapt up into the sky, bounding through the trees. He was leaving the village again, just as before. He growled, he hated it when she was right. He leapt out of the city, leaving behind everything he once knew to be home. He was leaving her again, and Naruto. He leapt faster. The further he left his memories the easier it would be to deal with them.
-'-'-
"LADY TSUNADE!" Sakura burst through the door, her face dirty and her clothes slightly torn. Her neck was still slightly bleeding from the katana inflicted wound. "SASUKE!"
Tsunade rose from her desk and quickly got to the side of her apprentice. Sakura collapsed slightly, falling into a chair. Her eyes were getting heavy from her lack of sleep and the actions from the night prior.
"What happened Sakura? Did you ever make it to Suna?" Tsunade asked, healing the bruises on her students arms. Sakura breathlessly shook her head.
"No, On my way I ran into Sasuke.." She stated, trying to catch her breath. "We got into a fight. I was so close to killing him Tsunade..." She felt the salty tears fall from her eyes, "I wanted to kill him, so badly."
Tsunade nodded, knowing half of the young woman's pain. "Where is he now?"
Sakura took a deep shuddering breath, "He's gone by now. He knocked me out and brought me to village."
Tsunade nodded, "I'll send out Anbu to capture him.."
Sakura shook her head, "No... let him go. It's time I stopped dwelling on him and started looking for something else."
Tsunade looked at her student in question.
"When Orochimaru betrayed you and Jiriya... you eventually stopped looking.. you stopped trying to get him back.. because you knew.. you knew he wasn't who he used to be." Sakura cried.
Tsuande rubbed her young students back, "He was never who he claimed to be, he was evil from the start. Sasuke was born good, he was raised in good, and he trained with the best. He was corrupted by two evil men, never give up on some one who has the potential for good."
Sakura shook her head, "he may look like Sasuke and talk like him, but he isn't the boy I knew five years ago."
"People change, look at yourself, you're living proof of how much some one can change, yet remain the same on the inside." Tsuande stated, getting up from her spot beside her student. "I'm calling Anbu, I don't care if they have to search all day and all night. I will not let another person run away. I won't let my past become your future. I won't let history repeat."
'-'-'-'
"I saw him, Naruto." Sakura stated, gently placing a bandage over her neck.
Naruto glared at her neck with hatred, "He hurt you Sakura."
"No on purpose." She stated, looking down at the ground.
"You drive me crazy, you know that Sakura?" Naruto asked, looking at his sandaled feet. "I don't know why you hold on to him."
"It's nothing make up can't fix," she stated, looking at her feet.
"We won't live forever Sakura, you can't stay stuck on some one who will never treat you right.." Naruto stated, "He feels all mighty when he pushes you around Sakura, he's just a monster.."
Sakura bit her lip and looked away. "I know, Naruto. He's hurt both of us... so much."
He sighed.
"I've begun to realize it Naruto.. I've nearly had enough.. next time I'll kill him." She stood up, ignoring the pain in her legs. "Next time I won't let him walk all over me." Her fists clenched at her sides. "I'll make sure there will never be a next time, after I see him.."
Naruto nodded. "Just remember who you are Sakura..never let him change that.."
She smiled sadly and looked to Naruto. "Too late."
She walked out the door of the hospital and into the streets. She ignored the looks of the villagers and her fellow ninja. They all saw the bruises and cuts on her body. They all heard the stories. They all knew that the traitor Uchiha was near by. She walked through, ignoring it all. She walked into her house, just as sun was setting. She looked out her window as the sun fell on her village. Tomorrow was the beginning of a new era. Tomorrow she would no longer let history take the reigns in her life. She would kill Sasuke Uchiha, unlike Tsuande who never killed Orochimaru.
Sakura sighed and laid back on her bed, the process would be hard at first. She would make it through though, because she was smart and she was skilled and above all she was better than him. She turned her head to face the down turned picture of her team. It was time to put her past behind her, forget all that she had known of Sasuke and become the person she needed to be in order to kill him. She grabbed the picture and sat up. Her eyes scanned the familiar yet strange faces of the children she once knew. The one that looked most like a stranger to her, however, was the one that reflected her own image. She slipped the picture out of the frame and grabbed a the edges, she was about to pull when a pair of hands rested over hers.
Her heart spend up as she suddenly felt his chakra all around her. His arms circled her from behind and his hot breathing echoed in her ears.
"I wouldn't do that, Sakura.." He whispered, "And don't think o killing me, I heard your chat with Naruto... it will never happen."
She bit her lip.
"It's like you said, history is doomed to repeat." He eased her hand from the photo. "In the past you weren't strong enough to do anything."
Sakura let go of the picture and watched it float to the ground. "That is where your forgetting something, Sasuke-KUN." She let her hand fall to her side.
"What?" He asked, amused.
"You're forgetting that history has already been ignored. You stayed." She stated, quickly pulling her kunai out and running it across his throat. His black eyes went wide, his throat spilled blood all over her bed. She smiled as he gasped, holding onto the throat. "I won't let you command my emotions anymore Sasuke."
Blood stained her bed sheets as he slowly felt life slipping past his eyes. He never thought she would do it. He never should have underestimated her. What was that phrase his brother had taught him those years ago? 'Hell hath no fury, like a woman scorned.'
As consciousness left him Sakura knelt beside him, placing her hands on his neck, letting herself heal his wounds. "You're right though, Sasuke-kun... I'm not strong enough to kill you, not yet."
-'-'-
Slowly Sasuke's black orbs were flooded with vision. His dark eyes met those of Sakura's jade green. He blinked slowly, feeling a head ache coming on. She moved her calloused hand to his head, soothing away the pain on his head. She whispered to herself, anger in her words. She bit her lip as she looked down at the stitches she had put in his neck. She only had enough chakra to heal him part way, the rest she had to do old school.
he smirked, despite the pain. "You couldn't kill me after all?"
She glared down at him, "I didn't have the will to kill something so helplessly pathetic..."
He sighed, "Just your way of saying you couldn't do it... too scary.."
She pressed down hard on the gash across his forehead she had given him by accident when he slipped into unconscious after she cut his throat. "I should have put you down in your sleep, like an ailing pet... it would've suited a coward like you.."
His hand shot up and grasped her neck, causing her eyes to widen. "Sa-Sasu-" Her hands grasped his and ripped them off her throat. "I told you not to touch me..."
He wrung out his hands, glad to feel the pain fleeting. "I won't lie to you Sakura.. you've certainly grown stronger.. an even match to many people I've run into during battle. Of course they've all died..."
Sakura smirked, "There is one thing those people didn't have that I do.."
Sasuke licked his lips, unconsciously. "Pink hair?"
She slapped him. "They didn't know you're weakness."
"I don't have a weakness." He stated, growling.
She moved in close to him, her breath mixing with his. Her green eyes sparkled with hidden secrets. "Yes you do, Uchiha."
He glared into her playful eyes, threatening them. "What?"
She smiled, "Your defense lowers twenty percent whenever I'm close enough to you."
He scowled yet made no claim to deny it. She laughed, her breath smelling of peppermint and cherries. The scent was intoxicating...to say the least. He let his eyes slide close for only a moment, so he could take in her sweet scent and trap it away in his most sacred memories. She took this chance to move closer.
"I don't know what's wrong with us, Uchiha," She whispered, "I can't seem to hate you.."
He smirked, "I'm too sexy, Haruno, no woman can hate me too long."
She frowned, "It's well beyond that Sasuke. I think I still love you... Though I realized years ago the Sasuke I thought I had fallen in love had only been a dream. This time you came back... so it can't be too far from reality... to love some one.."
He frowned. He hadn't intended on staying, this little testimony of her undying love towards him would only keep him in a standstill. She had ruined his plans of running off and never returning. History could be a bitch, but new experiences were hell. He pulled her towards him and locked lips with her once again/things were only getting more and more hectic as time wore on. Soon he would repeat the history of his father. He pulled back from the woman he had just kissed.
"Sakura-" A small finger covered his mouth. His black eyes met with tear-filled green ones.
"I told you," she stated, as tears rolled down her cheeks, "You can't call me that."
She shot up and ran out of the room, locking the door behind her, to prevent his escape. She leant up against the back of the door and slowly slid to the ground. She had lost her resolve in his eyes, she had reverted back to the person she once was. The one she wanted to disappear. History was indeed hard to avoid.
A/N: Yess I made a second chapter... by popular demand... I pathetic really.. with enough coaxing I'll do anything. Anyway.. I hope this was just as good as the last one. Erm.. If you can't tell Sakura is a confusing state, she wants to listen to her mentor's brave words of hope... but Naruto wants her to let go.. so she's being pulled in two directions. Also I tried to really stress the importance of History.. because that is what this story is about.. it's about people and the mistakes they make over and over.. no one ever relaly seems to learn...