Warning: Spoilers for pretty much everything up to Chapter 699.

Canon-Compliance: As close to canon as fanfiction can possibly be. With a few personal additions :P Takes place during the Blank Period.

Beta Read: Not yet

Two weeks from now, Sasuke Uchiha will fall in love for the first time in his eighteen years.

Granted, it will be less of a fall and more the culmination of a lifetime of subtle, gradual inching. But when his understanding of what's happened sets it, it will do so with a suddenness that will make his stomach lurch. He will feel as if he's been dropped from a great height (hence the association with falling) and wonder why the object of his realisation seems unaware that the entire planet has just shifted on its axis.

And then he will remember that Sakura Haruno has been in love with him since they were children, and perhaps her world has always been a little off its axis.

今

At the moment, he is much more concerned with his immediate prospects than entertaining inexplicable notions concerning affairs of the heart.

After months of confinement in a dank prison cell, bound and warded, Sasuke squints up at the moon and tastes freedom. It's no accident that his release was granted by night, providing the opportunity to avoid the curious and no-doubt scornful looks of the other villagers.

It is not a total freedom, of course.

He senses the eyes of ANBU scrutinising him from several vantage points, and after so long in cramped quarters, his entire body is stiff and aching. His cell was barely large enough for him to stand up in, and there are few exercises one can undertake when strapped into a straitjacket and blinded. Not that he bothered much—with his thoughts so consumed with his own deeds, it seemed like penance to simply sit and waste away. The only reasons his limbs didn't completely atrophy is due to Sakura and her weekly visits. He chooses to think of those simply as her fulfilling her duties as a healer and refuses to consider any other reason for them.

(He also pretends not to be curious as to why she isn't part of his escort tonight.)

His knees buckle beneath him, and if it weren't for Naruto stubbornly looping his arm around his waist, Sasuke suspects he might crumple to the ground.

His friend brings him to a small apartment that he distantly remembers belongs the Kakashi. The current Hokage is waiting for them there, and when he offers Sasuke the use of the place, Sasuke surprises them all (himself included) by accepting.

He shrugs it off as a lingering psychological effect of his incarceration. The only human interaction he's had in months, besides Sakura's requisite medical attention, have been Ibiki Morino's interrogations. Though Sasuke cooperated, his brain still aches like it's been through a meat grinder, and for once he is grateful for the kindness of others.

Certain others, anyhow.

将来

Two weeks from now, Sasuke will tune out Kakashi's last-minute warnings in favour of observing Sakura.

(He will have already heard several permutations of this speech, from several sources. Everyone from Ibiki Morino to Iruka Umino have been keen to remind him just how lucky he is. It's a waste of breath—he needs no reminder of a fact carved into his very soul.)

He will memorise her features and every subtle shift of her body, adding these to the mental catalogue he didn't even realise he was keeping and suspect that, in the coming months, the memory of her will be one of his few comforts.

今

Officially Kakashi's offer is meant to put him under surveillance, considering the potential threat he might pose to village security. Sasuke suspects an ulterior motive, however.

There's a certain dimension to Sasuke that neither Sakura nor Naruto will ever understand, but which Kakashi always has. He committed horrible acts, after all, even if they were largely not his fault; Kakashi knows how guilt and regret can poison every waking moment. No doubt he understands Sasuke's trepidation at the idea of returning to the place he grew up, and all the ghosts that still reside there.

It's just as well.

The Uchiha district still lies in ruins from Pain's attack, and Sakura has made it clear she has no intention of letting him stay there.

"You're in no condition to sleep out in the elements," she lectures him the next morning when she arrives to check on him.

Sasuke frowns at her, but it's half-hearted.

Once, his first inclination would be to scoff at the presumption that she lets him do anything; having seen her break mountains he thinks better of it. He takes issue with the idea of anyone checking up on him, as if he's an ailing child, but there's not much he can do but concede. Besides his weakened muscles and malnourished frame, the damp conditions of the prison have led him to develop a wet cough. Whenever Sasuke inhales, he is reminded of Itachi's laboured breathing during his last moments of life, and so he gives in to Sakura's care with less fuss than he normally might.

His time at Kakashi's apartment is meant for recovery, an opportunity to adjust to the outside world before he decides his next step.

Whatever that is.

He spends an entire day sleeping, availing himself of the comforts of an actual bed and the wonders of a shower. Konoha's prison cells are positively luxurious compared to Orochimaru's, but they're still a long way from comfortable.

He doesn't venture outside for several days, and even then, he only goes out once the sun has set, when there are fewer people to notice him. Confinement has not changed his preference for solitude though he has a new appreciation for fresh air, even with a hidden ANBU escort.

Throughout his recovery, he receives visitors.

Kakashi, of course, if very rarely. His new job seems to require him spending most nights at the office; it's only every other morning that he ventures into the apartment looking for a change of clothes. Sometimes Sasuke will off him a cup of tea, and they'll both drink it silently in the kitchen.

Naruto is always by, joking and teasing and plying Sasuke with ramen or just getting on his nerves, but there's no enmity anymore. He spends the time where he isn't studying by helping to teach lessons at the Academy. Just like when they were kids, though, he spends a lot of time skipping out on anything he finds boring. It's pure mischief, considering he could just as easily leave a shadow clone behind to study, but when Sasuke points this out, Naruto laughs it off and says, "Where would the fun be in that?"

It's like their early genin years when their rivalry-friendship was still innocent, although there's a certain dimension of change in it now. Naruto doesn't just have commitments to his former teammates any longer. His actions in the war and for the village mean that everyone holds a part of him and he will never just belong to himself anymore.

Sometimes Sasuke wonders if his friend hasn't chosen a more difficult path than he has.

And, of course, there is Sakura.

Even after the need for her medical care fades, she continues to show up every morning. By the fourth day, Sasuke accepts that she's not going to stop.

将来

Two weeks from now, Sasuke will wonder if this is the point from which the rest of it all became inevitable.

今

Sakura visits whenever she has a spare moment, usually in the morning. She brings him books to read (Kakashi's collection and tastes leave much to be desired), and breakfast. Most mornings she has fresh produce, meant to help strengthen his system, and he finds himself inordinately pleased at the sheer abundance of tomatoes.

(Fresh fruit was a luxury in his years with Orochimaru—he basically lived on soldier pills and health elixirs. While travelling with Taka, their small budget meant the cheapest, most portable food.)

At first, he expects Sakura's presence to become tiresome, the way it always was before. However, he quickly finds the opposite is true.

Over the course of his recovery, Sasuke is treated to a version of Sakura that he rarely had a chance—or an interest—in knowing when they were younger.

This Sakura is confidant and forthright, at ease in her skin in a way he never saw before. She's the master of her trade and knows it. She's still an optimist, still someone who hopes for the best outcome. When they were small, she would sit back, wringing her wrists and hoping for fate to intervene, but she now she is the agent of action that creates that outcome.

This Sakura has a very sly, somewhat dirty sense of humour, which he would never have imagined. He doesn't know if she always had this and he ignored it, or if she just never showed him that side of her when they were kids. Possibly Naruto had some influence here, but Sasuke doubts it; their teammate was away from Konoha almost as long as Sasuke was.

She still lapses into flustered silence around him, probably more out of long-buried habit than anything else, but it isn't often. And, he also learns, that fluster vanishes very quickly when faced with his stubbornness in the face of his health.

While still fighting off his pulmonary infection, Sasuke tries to get out of bed and begin his physical therapy. When he ignores Sakura's first warning, she summarily picks him up without even breaking a sweat and deposits him back in bed.

"If you move again, I will sit on you," she tells him, and despite twin spots of red in her cheeks, he knows she's serious.

It appears the days of ignoring Sakura are long over.

In time, he sees that many of Sakura's other qualities remain unchanged from their youth.

She is still smart and kind and excitable.

One day after beating him at shogi (he is peevishly irritated to find she used to let him win when they were children), she drags him over to the apartment window to exclaim over a double-rainbow formed in the wake of a rainstorm. He shakes his head and marvels at her genuine excitement over such a small thing, but where once that sentiment might have been fueled by contempt now there is something like amazement.

Sakura fills their time together with cheer and chatter, catching him up on events he's missed and never alluding to why he missed them. Just like when they were younger, she seems to have an aversion to silence. Before, he tuned out the sound of her rambling, usually because it was over something inconsequential. Now, he finds himself interested.

She relates the puzzling medical cases she deals with at the hospital, and how she's overseeing the training of the next generation of healers. It appears that it is now compulsory for every squad above the chūnin level to have a trained and certified medical-nin.

"It's about time," he says, earning an approving smile.

When she tells him of being offered more responsibility in the hospital, Sasuke silently echoes her pride. He has always known she was capable of great things if she put her mind to it, and to see her finally embracing her strengths is cathartic somehow.

One morning, she shares an idea she's been considering, of opening a medical clinic for the children who were affected by the war.

"No one should ever have to go through what you and Naruto did," she whispers. Even if Sasuke wanted to answer here, he's not sure he would be able to.

Several days pass like this and soon, Sakura's visits become the best part of his day. For the first time in his life, he actually prefers to spend time with another person instead of alone.

He wakes in the morning, reminding himself to eat and care for the stump of his arm, lest he face Sakura's wrath when she arrives with breakfast to find he hasn't. He tells her that her cooking has improved (which is a blatant lie), or asks her questions that require lengthy explanations. At first this is a tactic to dissuade her from asking him questions, but eventually he finds topics that he genuinely wants to know more about. Like her years training with Tsunade and the theory behind her monstrous strength—that day he watches her expression brighten at his interest and lets her enthusiasm wash over him as she relates her tale.

He goes to sleep at night, analysing their (mostly one-sided) conversations and wondering if he should have said more, or said something different. Some nights he stews over the fact he always seems to become mute when the opportunity for a clever comment presents itself and wonders why he's angry about it.

The day he suggests they should spar once he's back to his full strength, he finds himself so dazed by the sheer wattage of the smile she graces him with that he can't form a proper sentence for the next hour.

将来

Two weeks from now, Sasuke will marvel that it only took two weeks for him to fall for Sakura. He will wonder how far gone he might have been if he never left Konoha in the first place.

今

If Sasuke notices more about Sakura every day, he tells himself it's because she's his most frequent and dedicated visitor. If it were Naruto or Kakashi, he would no doubt observe them as well.

Although, he doubts their quirks would be anything quite as worth noting as the way Sakura's voice becomes comically low and rough when she's annoyed. Or the way her nose scrunches up when she laughs. Or how amusing it is to watch her strain on tip-toes for items that are beyond her reach, before shooting him a half-pleading, half-reproachful look of expectation until he helps her.

He finds himself inexplicably annoyed by the way she and Naruto carry on when the three of them are together. She hugs and touches him constantly, and Naruto still tries unsuccessfully to flirt with her. Sasuke knows that's just how they are together—it's all friendly, with no actual meaning behind it—but it still bothers him.

Possibly because it's a relationship where he will always be an outsider. While he was gone, they bonded over their shared goal to bring him back. He wonders if they would have the same ties if he had never left.

将来

Two weeks from now, Sasuke will think of how easy it would be to just…stay.

今

He wrestles with the decision to leave Konoha longer than he expected to.

Unsurprisingly, one of the major factors in his delay to action is Sakura.

When they were thirteen, he walked away from her without looking back, even knowing how she felt about him—in many ways because of how she felt about him. His time with Team 7 allowed him to grow closer to Sakura than he ever intended, and he was beginning to picture a future that had her in it. There were bonds there, no question, and he was so tempted that night to give in to her plea to stay. Or even to let her come along with him.

She would have, too.

She would have followed him into the depths of Orochimaru's world, and who knows what she might have been twisted into?

The idea of Sakura learning under the tutelage of someone like Kabuto, her mercy and goodness hacked out of her, makes his stomach clench. For that possibility alone, he experiences no retroactive guilt at knocking her out and leaving her asleep on a bench, for taking away her choice to follow him, and for—

He shies away from that thought.

The decision to leave Konoha now—to leave her—it reminds him of that night.

This time he is leaving for redemption instead of revenge, but once again he must decide despite knowing it will inevitably hurt someone he has grown to care about.

He wants to become a better person. For his own reasons, of course—there's a lot that he has to answer for: a family lineage worth of sins, and his own personal crimes—but also to live up to the unwavering faith of his friends. He needs to prove to himself that he deserves the forgiveness that Sakura and Naruto and a growing number of others have granted him.

There is also an infinitesimal need to protect Sakura from herself.

Because as strong and independent as she has become, he still sees the ghost of that young girl who cried and begged and would have thrown away her entire future to follow him into darkness if he didn't stop her.

There's no argument that hers and Naruto's preoccupation with saving him from himself led her to become stronger in her own right. But the downside to that is that she has never experienced a life where she isn't preoccupied with trying to save him. Even now, her visits are coloured by some expectation that he might lose himself again, and her stalwart determination not to let that happen.

Without having to worry about him, Sakura will do great things—he can already imagine her ten years from now, shouting orders in a hospital and healing entire villages—and he owes her the opportunity to find that out for herself.

Much as he values her intentions, it's high time that he took responsibility for his own salvation.

将来

Two weeks from now, Sakura will ask him to let her come along, and instead of knocking her unconscious this time he will simply tell her no.

Even before her shoulders slump forward, he will catch the crushed expression on her face and his chest will tighten painfully at the notion that he has once again hurt her.

His hand will move on his own, his body far ahead of his mind as he reaches out to her, and he will tap her forehead, just above the symbol of her strength. It's the only gesture of fondness that has ever meant anything to him, the only remaining shred of the last person he dedicated his life to.

The only promise that ever held weight.

It will also be the first time he is the one to reach out to her, with actual forethought and genuine affection. Her eyes will widen and her cheeks colour, and for a second the world around them will disappear.

"I'll see you when I'm back," he will promise her, amused by the astonished look on her face and filled with hope that she understands what he means.

今

The night before Sasuke leaves Konoha, his brother's last words ring in his ears.

'No matter what you decide to do from now on, I will love you forever.'

It seems oddly apt for the situation.

Though Sasuke's relationship with Itachi differed from what it is with Sakura, he thinks his brother and Sakura always had something important in common: an all-encompassing, often puzzling, unconditional love.

Even after everything Sasuke has done—and not done—Sakura has made it clear that she still loves him. It's a love she has held on to ever since they were children, despite everything.

Maybe because of everything.

He wonders if he will one day be the type of person who can return that love without reservation.

将来

Two weeks from now, Sasuke will tell Sakura, "Thank you," and walk out of her life, hoping that when he returns, he is worthy enough to walk back into it.

終わり

Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome! I'm only able to keep writing as I do thanks to the encouragement of readers like you, so every bit of support helps! And be sure to check out my tumblr (Typewriter Ninjutsu) for content you won't necessarily find on this site.

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