Hello, hello. I'm back. Yes, please don't hate me, and I know I haven't updated on anything. I've just been so busy with school (final exams are coming up) and social issues that still haven't been fixed. Well, I thought I'd drop by because you guys really do deserve a fragment of my writing here and there. I hope this takes me back to fanfiction more often.

Don't give me any points for originality; the way I came up with this title was finding an item within a game and then simply recontextualising it to something more metaphorical and emotional. Hopefully it can be comprehended. :)

And, yes. This is dedicated to rawrchelle, because her stories inspire me for a mile—or a thousand. If you haven't already, read her stories, they're absolutely amazing in an unique way.

Simplicity Blade

(& cut me through with your absence)

When they were in Team 7 along with Uzumaki Naruto and Hatake Kakashi with flying colours and dazzling sunshine, there was no need for shadowed darkness and regretful replacements, because everything was fine the way it was—undeniably complete.

Sure, in the beginning, they might've not clicked just like that. Things took time, and originally Haruno Sakura didn't grasp time that well because of her shallow realms and idealistic measures. Uchiha Sasuke, on the other hand, regarded time greatly; so much that maybe sometimes it was overdone and he became paranoid of time disappearing when, really, it hadn't started at all. Nobody could blame him though (yet), he was just a lonely boy, driven into the corner of madness with whatshisname? Oh, yeah, him. Itachi. (Because according to Sasuke, he didn't deserve the family name he destroyed.)

And as the days went by, Sakura became more greatful of time and how to spend it. Getting up, fixing her hair, putting a Sakura flower in it, walking to the Team 7 fields, grinning at Naruto, smiling at Sasuke, yelling at Kakashi... She might not be shallow anymore, but she's still idealistic, and believes she has all the time in the world. On the other side of Team 7, time takes a hold of Sasuke, and for him there'snotimeintheworldatall!Itachi'srunningaround!I'mwastingtimeinthisstupidplace! and he leaves. Just like that. It takes half a year for Sasuke to connect with Team 7, and a second for him to leave. So, really, it should've been pitiful for him to think he could 'break bonds.'

When Sakura wakes up on cold stone covered in tears and Naruto opens his eyes to his bludgeoned body with a broken Konoha head band next to him, they both know better than to believe in the flying colours and dazzling sunshine anymore. Suddenly, making replacements and waking up at 2AM now seems like the only things they can do.

Three years later, and they've changed. Physically and... emotionally?

Physicality was a definite change for Naruto and Sakura, but more or so Sakura. Naruto always had strength within him; he just never understood how to use it. Naruto probably did change emotionally, Sakura then thinks bitterly. He may not be completely and utterly shameless without Sasuke, but she knows he can accept the fact that when they go to the Team 7 (is it really?) grounds, the Uchiha isn't going to be there. Sakura, however, is long from accepting that. Her hold on time and how she's going to spend it has been altered dramatically. Getting up, looking at the Team 7 photo, staring at the mirror, walking to the Team 7? fields, waiting for Sasuke to come home... She's not idealistic anymore, because Haruno Sakura believes.

Sakura knows better than to have faith, because Sasuke can crush it as easily as she can turn rock into rubble. But, with belief, Sasuke has no chance of shattering it, even if he shatters everything else in her body. This is proven three years after Sasuke's detachment, where Sai—or, the replacement—finds Sasuke standing upon an opening in all the hallways. They've been searching forever, but even with this discovery, they all know that they can't count it as worth it.

As Sakura runs in uncontrollably and hears his stunning voice, she knows she can pretend this is the Team 7's grounds because maybe Sai isn't there and there's no need of replacements because Sasuke never left and that Kakashi's there as well because they're not as broken as they really, actually, definitely are because now they have Yamato and that this is all untrue and—

Sasuke flies down next to Naruto (who's shaking, shaking, shaking), his Kusanagi being wielded.

—stop!

Her eyes fill with tears because it's true, Sakura realises, it's not just a dream.

And maybe it was time she woke up.

The next time she sees him again, she's by herself and he's with his team. His team.

Her resolve collapses at the sight, but she's able to hold herself together, because this time, this time, she has changed emotionally. She turns to him, and her eyes are now unfathomable. She passes her orbs over all the teammates, prolonging the stare on the female, and then to Sasuke. Is that your team? Because we're your home. And is that my replacement, that girl—? She bites her lip. She should know better than to think of such unimaginable things. And then pulls her leather gloves over her slender fingers carelessly, though her intent is not to fight.

"Hello, Sasuke." She makes sure not to attach the suffix, even though it would feel so good to finally succumb to the magnetism of nostalgia, to just give in. Giving in was always easy when it came to Sasuke, the memory of Team 7 and having blossoms in your hair.

She receives the reply she expected. "What are you doing here?" His jaw tightens.

Sakura shrugs. "I did not follow you, if that's what you're implying."

Sasuke looks at her for a couple of seconds, and then turns his back on him. Her heart leaps out in pain as she feels that he's leaving again, but instead he waves his teammates off, in which the girl is reluctant to do, but obeys otherwise. He then glances back at her, expectant.

"I'm on a mission." Secretly, a smile is crossing her lips.

Sasuke walks over to a tree which Sakura doesn't fail to notice is filled with cherry blossoms, and leans against the trunk, bringing out his kusanagi and blading its acuteness with a kunai. He then stops after considering her statement, with one eyebrow raised. "By yourself?" After speaking, he resumes back to his kusanagi.

She continues to stand. "Since I'm a medic I'm normally with other people, but I have my fair share of assassination missions." Sasuke stops again.

A smirk graces onto his pale and defined face. "Who were you assigned to kill?" The tone of his voice is careful but ready. He would never admit that he was quite curious that Sakura, Sakura, that girl who always followed him around and was constantly in need of protection would be on an assassination mission. However, that didn't comprise the majority of his reaction, the feeling that he buried down as soon as it came. Worry.

Her inward smile emerges. "Sasori."

There's silence for a moment, but then he snorts out loud. "Attempted assassinations, then." Her smile turns into one edged with a tint of sadness. He's still as arrogant and inconsiderate as before.

"That's where you're wrong, Sasuke-kun," her voice turns soft at the suffix, allowing herself to be swallowed. Something flickers in his eyes as she continues quietly, "it's already been done. We've all changed, but have you?" He knows immediately that she's not talking about strength, crushing rocks or creating chattering birds of electricity, but mending the remains of a broken heart, having true smiles and only being injured by scars that just take a bandage to heal.

His smirk disappears as he places his kusanagi behind his back and stands up, towering over her once again even though he doesn't need the advantage of height to make her feel small. He clears his throat. "So you should be going—" he pauses, as if to sort out the thoughts in his head, "—to Konoha." He makes the word sound so foreign with his lips, but he knows as well as she does that it's nothing near to unfamiliar.

"Why should I go?" Her defiance, he reminds himself regrettably, has not faded.

"Because it's your home." Short, blunt...honest?

She shakes her head. "No, it's not," she replies soothingly. "It's yours." His onyx orbs flash with anger, daring her to continue, but she ignores the warning. "Konoha's not my home anymore because the person who makes it that is standing right in front of me." Her eyes begin to water, and he curses the world. He hates seeing anyone cry, and Sakura always had the ability to be the worst out of everyone. Well, that's the reason he's trying to convince himself with.

He growls. "Shut up, Sakura."

Amusement washes through her. "Okay," she says in a sing-song voice, coated with innocence. His eyes narrow.

Silence flows through them, filling the space between the two. The silence is not awkward for long, however, as it slowly melds into a stubborness contest of you-better-give-up-first. Sasuke's eyes remain narrowed, but his lips are twitching with the threat of a smirk, and colour rises to Sakura's cheeks, staining her skin with a faint blush. A crooked smile comes upon instead as Sasuke witnesses the emotion he hasn't seen for years, and then he chuckles, breaking the silence. The sound vibrates through her chest, and the nostalgia she had succumbed to washes through her, not causing sadness but the relief that Sasuke-kun is still there somewhere.

"I meant what I said before," she speaks carefully, afraid to ruin the moment. "You are my home."

This time, Sasuke's eyes do soften, and he motions to the Sakura tree behind him. With one hand, he reaches to the branches that seem so fragile, and grasps one blossom with his thin fingers. He scans it for a mere second before bringing it towards his lips, and with a shockwave of shock paralysing her, he kisses it. He then walks towards her, though she does not realise the distance lessening within her daze. He hands it to her, his expression once again covered with the facade of nonchalant manner. His hand covers one of her own, and as he retracts his hand slowly, she feels the blossom wavering against her skin, highlighted with the lasting presence of his warmth. "Go home, Sakura."

She then understands everything that he's trying to communicate—that even though he can't quite make home as complete as it was before, he can work towards it, and this is one step towards the light that seems so far away in the distance, but is reachable. She smiles tenderly, closing her hand gently so the blossom isn't smothered.

"I guess I can," she whispers. "I have a piece of you now, a piece of home."

He frowns. "You always have," he mutters, as if he's reminding her that one plus one equals two. She stares at him, and everything turns into the world where they'd be dancing on flying colours and chasing after that dazzling sunshine. She leans towards him on her tip toes as she kisses the corner of his mouth and his body turns rigid, but he's quick to loosen. Just like those cliche fantasies, time seems to stop, and she no longer needs to decide how to spend it without him, and he no longer needs to shake off the hold it has on him. As the moment finishes, time resumes, and she steps back, turning on her heel.

"I will miss you, Sasuke." He nods remotely, returning the statement.

And as she walks into the distance (yes, that distance that is far away but reachable), she knows she's finally learnt to accept.

P.S. My meaning of Simplicity Blade describes that one person who doesn't even need to try to be able to cut right through you. And here, it is Sasuke for Sakura, and vice versa. As well as that, I'm still critical of my work and bleck; I dislike this.