Please bear in mind that this is an attempted SasuSaku written by a NaruSaku shipper. (Although I do like both pairings. I just happen to prefer NaruSaku.)

(For i Silhouette (id 1110705), an awesome awesome friend of mine, simply because I felt like it. My muse struck. :D)

Oh, we all know I don't own Naruto.

The tree had begun to shed. Two of the smaller leaves had gotten caught in her hair, but even though it irritated her, Sakura made no move to brush them off.

"Sa-Sakura-san!"

"Oh, Hinata-chan." She finally decided to pluck the two leaves off her head. "What brings you here?"

"It's… it's…" Out of breath, Hinata took a deep, shuddering breath which she let out slowly. "Sasuke-san is… back."

And just like that, her world drew to an abrupt, silent halt for the third time.

Well, actually, no. Only for the first time.

Those two other times were different. She was frozen once, and had already thawed out by the time two and a half years had passed.

The other time was at Naruto's funeral. The world had spun far too fast for her to move with it, and she couldn't follow, didn't want to–

"Sakura."

The sound of her name made her feet stop. She knew that voice.

Oh yes, she definitely did.

"…Sasuke." Sakura looked up, and right then she knew it was a mistake, because those black, black eyes wouldn't let her move.

Funny how he seemed so helpless now, just like how she was, six years ago…

"I…" Somewhere in the back of her mind, a part of her was almost terrified at registering the hand which slowly rose to stroke her face. "Sakura, I–"

It was all too much for her. Sakura did the only thing she could – that is, she slapped him.

Twice.

"How dare you." Those three words were all she could manage. She didn't even know she'd pent up all this anger.

There was a long silence. Her fist stopped shaking uncontrollably.

"I should kill you. I should. You left us even though you knew – yes, Sasuke, you knew – that we would have stood by you to our deaths! I could forgive you then, because I was a stupid, silly girl who was in love. Three years later, I saw you again, and you brushed us off like flies – but even then, I could still forgive you, because I knew how much you wanted your brother dead for killing your family."

She was breathing heavily. Sakura knew she had his attention now, and about fifty others' too, but she didn't care. "And then…"

"Sakura…"

"…You killed Naruto." Hell, why was everything blurry now? She needed her vision, goddammit. "You killed him. Your own brother. My best friend."

"I–"

"But you know what the real kicker is?" Sakura laughed. She didn't care anymore. She didn't care that everyone on the street had gathered to see Haruno Sakura yell at the infamous Uchiha Sasuke, she didn't care that she looked slightly demented, and she definitely didn't care that Sasuke's eyes were transfixed at her.

So she laughed, and laughed, and laughed – until all of a sudden, she felt the familiar guilt and self-anger she thought she'd gotten rid of bubble back up to the surface.

"You wanna know what really hurts?" Nothing was amusing now. Sakura felt strangely sober.

His face pleaded, Tell me.

"I forgave you. Because I love you. You killed my best friend and I still fucking loved you."

And Sakura would have turned away and marched off with dried tears on her face, except that all of a sudden, like lightning, a pair of arms came from behind her, turned her around and embraced her with death's grip.

"…I love you, too."

And this time she cried – of happiness, of sadness, of guilt, of love, but most of all, she finally felt free.

And the world continued to spin.