Without Warning (Naruto Fanfiction)

Chapter 19: Rage

WITHOUT WARNING
CHAPTER 19

RAGE

Sakura couldn't believe it when she had first heard about the rumors. So she walked straight to the Uchiha compound in the evening, knowing Sasuke would most likely be at his house at this time. He shouldn't be able to evade her now. She can finally ask him all her questions.

But she was still uneasy as her feet carried her to his place.

She heard Hinata and Naruto were staying in the Uchiha compound, and there was even a mentioned female stranger who was also staying there. And it had sounded so preposterous she almost punched the nurse whom she had overheard gossiping about it. How can Hinata even start living there when she has her own fully furnished place in the Hyuuga territory? And what was this about a female stranger?!

The pink-haired kunoichi's mind whirled with thoughts of Sasuke falling for another woman, and perhaps avoiding her so he wouldn't need to reveal about his woman.

Sakura clenched her fists. If there is another woman in there, she is going to get the pain of a lifetime.

Upon arriving, Sakura was able to notice how a house that wasn't Sasuke's had a garden growing around it. She noticed upon closer inspection that Hinata's favorite flowers were the ones planted here, giving life to the dreary scene. She couldn't in her wildest dreams picture Sasuke gardening thus...

So that's fifty percent confirmation that Hinata's been living here. But why would she be?  Sakura looked at the house sitting directly atop the beautiful garden and saw how clean it was from the outside. The essence of life was present there. Hinata must have been living there for a while now.

"Hinata?" Sakura called out. There was no response so she moved onto the next house right across the one with the garden. This one had the front door left ajar but it looked equally clean on the outside. Inside the partly open door was rather dark. No lights had been left on.

"Hello?" Sakura ventured through the front door and found that there were signs of life here as well. Furniture were already set up and nothing seemed to be coated in dust. There were just a few items, but it all seemed sufficient for simple living.

She walked a little further and found a table in the middle of the kitchen, cups of instant ramen neatly piled on the table top.

"Naruto," she stated, confirming another of her friends lived in the Uchiha compound. But why? Why would they be here?

Sakura exited the house, making sure to close the door behind her and walked towards the main house she knew belonged to Sasuke. It had been so familiar to her since she frequently visited the place, trying to grow plants the way Hinata could with her green thumb. But nothing had been brought to life by her hands. Yet she still visited, at first daily, then after some weeks, she visited every other day. Until her visits went by less and less.

At the beginning she had come here to search for any sign of Sasuke, some sort of remembral with which she can keep him close when he had left to join Orochimaru. Over time she had chosen to visit less and less as more responsibilities were put on her shoulders. And the other reason she often tried to deny was, her aching heart felt even more hollow as she kept visiting the empty house.

A part of her hoped that Sasuke would suddenly come back and appear in the house again, and that he would find Sakura there and realize that she had been willingly and faithfully waiting for him all this time. She hoped for that every single day and every single time she spent in his house. 

But he never came. He never passed by. There was no sign of him whatsoever as the days turned to weeks, and the weeks turned to months. And months to years of course.