"I'll see you soon."

That scene had replayed in Sakura's mind more than a million times.

It was as if Sasuke had indirectly reciprocated her feelings on that day - but thinking that only made Sakura feel silly and foolish.

She couldn't help thinking that only sometimes, though.

His smile, his touch, the sincerity in his voice was all centered towards her, and her alone.

When Sasuke had unexpectedly poked her large forehead, she felt her heart soar vigorously and was too stunned for words.

She thought she was in a dream.

There was no way that the man that she has unconditionally loved for so many years was tenderly smiling down at her, poking her forehead, and softly saying such short sentences to her that held such meaning.

"And thank you..."

Not only that, he thanked her - again.

•*•*• •*•*• •*•*• Soon •*•*• •*•*• •*•*•

"Mmm, Sakura-chan! Eat your ramen before it gets cold!" Naruto goofily lectured his female teammate while stuffing his face with his favorite food.

"Yeah, come on Forehead! Just eat already!" Ino urged somewhat annoyed, but slight concern for her pink-haired friend was detected in the blonde's voice.

Sakura has been hanging out with Ino and Naruto for awhile now at Ichiraku Ramen, but she's been rather quiet tonight around her friends.

Sakura looked down at her bowl of ramen with a blank expression and quietly stated, "Sorry... I just don't have much of an appetite tonight for some reason."

"You always say that!" Ino pointed out frustrated follow by a sigh. "Forehead, you need to eat more, especially if you want to keep warm in this harsh winter! It's already lightly snowing out and it's going to get even colder tonight too!"

Sakura rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Quit exaggerating, Ino. It's not that cold out."

Now Ino was the one to roll her eyes. "There you go again, Sakura. You're slyly changing the subject as usual."

The pinkette avoided eye contact with her blonde haired best friend and simply shrugged. "Think what you want, you just don't want to admit that you're exaggerating about the temperature."

Ino's vein popped and she clenched her right fist. "GRRRRRR! Who the hell cares about the stupid temperature! Why the hell aren't you eating?!"

Naruto frowned. "Yeah, why aren't you, Sakura-chan...?"

Sakura slowly rose from her seat and was quiet for a moment before she both honestly told them, "I already told you both why. What else do you want me to say? I don't want to lie... I'm sorry."

Ino and Naruto both exchanged worried glances, the two not knowing what to say back to her.

Sakura let out a hushed sigh and then flashed Naruto one of her signature fake smiles.

"Naruto, you should give my ramen to Hinata. She is on her way here after all. ... Well, I'm going to head home now. It was nice to spend time with the two of you, I'll see you guys later."

With Sakura saying that, she started to walk away from the ramen stand and that's when Ino cheerfully yelled at her from behind, "Okay, but be careful when walking home, Sakura! You have my number right? Text me when you get home, Forehead!"

Sakura turned her head back slightly to look back at Ino with a playful smirk and she scoffed once again.

"Tch. Of course I'll text you, Ino-Pig."

At that point, Ino got so angry that Naruto had to hold her back.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY BILLBOARD BROW?!"

•*•*• •*•*• •*•*•

Tiny snowflakes slowly made their way down to the ground as Sakura felt the arctic wind rush past her a couple times while the nineteen year old girl was walking home alone in the dark, the moon, stars, and street lights being her only light.

If it wasn't for this big but beautiful red jacket that Sakura was wearing, then she would be freezing to death.

Sakura stopped in the middle of the snowy path to pull out her cell phone so she could text Ino like she said she would.

It has been two years now since Sasuke has the left the village to go on his journey of redemption and during that time technology has really advanced throughout the village, thus explaining her cell phone.

A frown adorned her lips as she looked down at her cell phone with gloomy eyes.

Sasuke...

He was the cause of her lack of appetite lately, she just couldn't get him off of her mind.

She was confused.

For so many years she had been used to worrying about pulling him out of the darkness and bringing him back home, not even caring if he loved her back or not. Usually every night her heart cried for him and she worried for his safety, she worried if he was still even alive that very second.

She just wanted to save him. She wanted to take away his pain more than anything. She wanted him to be happy, even if she wasn't the reason why he was. She wanted Naruto's suffering to end. She wanted Team Seven happily back together again.

Now things are different.

There is a newfound light in Sasuke's eyes that she has never seen before and not only that - he told her that he would see her soon.

What is Sasuke's definition of "soon" though?

It's been about two years now since he's been gone.

Did his words to her indicate that he wanted her to wait for him?

She had no idea.

Sakura didn't want to get her hopes up by coming up with such conclusions.

Not only was she confused, she was scared.

She didn't know what was going to happen.

What will happen if she does wait for him?

There's no guarantee that he will return her feelings, and somehow, if that's the case, she'll be fine with that.

He will be the only one that will ever hold her heart - no matter how much it hurts her.

Even though she knows that Sasuke isn't lingering in the darkness anymore, she still has her worries.

She worries if he's safe out there.

She worries if he really ever will return to the village.

She worries if the darkness will consume his mind again.

And the one thing that scares her the most is... she worries if he's hating himself out there.

See - this is why she wanted to go on his journey with him.

If he got injured, she wanted to be the one who heals his wounds - both the physical and mental.

If he got lonely, she wanted to be the one who keeps him company.

If he got trapped in the darkness again, she wanted to be his light.

More than anything, she just wanted to shower him with her love - something that he is so starved of.

She just wanted-

Sakura snapped out of her thoughts when her cell phone began to vibrate in her hands and she looked down to see that an unknown number had sent her a text message.

Hey.

Sakura froze and suddenly began to feel tense.

Who could be texting her?

How did someone she didn't know get her number?

...Guess she's going to find out.

Who is this?

Sakura waited about a minute before the anonymous person texted her back.

Sasuke.

For a moment, she felt her heart almost stop as her beautiful green eyes became wide with utter shock, and then anger soon consumed her.

Whoever this is, this isn't funny. Sasuke-kun would never get a cell phone, let alone text me. Just please leave me alone.

Sakura felt the tears start to well up in her eyes as she fiercely struggled to hold them back.

How could someone be so cruel and pretend to be Sasuke?

What kind of sick joke is this?

Getting her hopes up and...

Man, this pissed her off.

How could-

Sakura's thoughts were interrupted when her phone started ringing like crazy and she looked to see that the same unknown number was calling her.

Ever so reluctantly, she accepted the call and shakily said, "H...Hello?"

"Sakura... It's me."

She almost dropped her phone when she heard his voice and went into stupendous shock, her even forgetting to breathe for a few seconds.

Her brain was screaming that someone had just transformed into him, imitating his voice, but her heart knew that this was no imitation, that this was the real Sasuke. She especially knew from the way he said her name...

Sakura struggled to make words come out of her mouth. "How... How did you get my number?"

"I asked Naruto for it."

She bit her lip and hesitantly asked, "Wh... Why?"

"Just wanted to keep in contact."

Sakura felt the blood rush to her cheeks at his choice of words and she didn't know what to say back; the pinkette was still in great shock.

"I'll text you tomorrow. Goodnight, Sakura."

He then hung up the phone.

Sakura stood there still entirely stunned as the snowflakes continued to slowly fall and the phone was still pressed to her ear.

She couldn't move.

His voice still sounded the same: serene, mysterious, and suppressing emotion.

She knew how good Sasuke was at hiding his emotions - she didn't know what he was feeling.

Unfortunately for her, she wasn't as good as him at hiding her emotions.

Tears started to cascade down her face as she looked up at the moon.

Sasuke-kun...

Author Note: Yay, a new fic! xD I actually randomly thought of this plot last night and a lot of the chapters are already planned out in my head. This story takes place after Naruto manga chapter 699 and after Naruto The Last movie too. Please tell me what you think by reviewing and I'll update when I can, thank you. (: