Naruto Shippuden Fan Fiction / Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Heroes and Thieves ❯ Heroes and Thieves ( Chapter 1 )

[ A - All Readers ]

Another fic for a fabulous friend of mine! She requested this one at the same time as Superman Tonight (Seiya/Usagi; unrequited), and I actually did finish them around the same time, I just… forgot to post this one. D:

Prompt: Sakura/Sasuke, relationship changes.

Uh, I'm not entirely sure how Naruto got in this. But somehow he did. >___>

Heroes and Thieves

Well disaster it strikes on a daily basis

I'm looking for wisdom in all the wrong places

But still want to laugh in disappointed faces

But you can't help me

I'm blinded by these

Heroes and thieves at my door

I can't seem to tell them apart anymore

Just when I've figured it out

Well darlin' it's you I'm without

When Haruno Sakura was a little girl, Uchiha Sasuke was her God.

The first time she saw the brooding, dark-haired boy in her class, she knew that she had found the only person she would ever worship.

And worship him she did. She was ever faithful to her God, in word and thought and deed. Everything she did was for him - to follow him.

There were other girls who worshipped Sasuke, but none of them also loved the Uchiha God like Sakura did. None of them were as close to him as she was. She was the one who knew him best.

And then the God left.

Well I'm stubborn and wrong

But at least I know it

I keep moving along until I can get through this

But maybe this song is the best I can do it

So I'm patiently waiting on these

Heroes and thieves at my door

I can't seem to tell them apart anymore

Just when I've figured it out

Well darlin' it's you

Darlin' it's you, oh

Darlin' it's you I'm…

There's a funny thing about worship and love that Sakura didn't quite realize, especially when it came to gods. Specifically dark, brooding, vengeful gods like Uchiha Sasuke.

You can only love what you know. And it is nearly impossible to ever truly know a God.

Worshipping a god - worshipping anything, really - is a simple matter of desiring to do so, of wanting to know the god. And Sakura was a very good worshipper.

But she did not know her god. She did not know Uchiha Sasuke. And by not knowing him, she could truly love her god.

The first inklings of this realization came to her the night that Sasuke left Konohagakure. Nonetheless, she remained faithful to her god, and went to the one person she knew could reach her god and bring him back.

Naruto.

Sakura went to him because she knew, without a doubt, that if anyone could retrieve the god that Uchiha Sasuke was, then it was Naruto.

She knew him.

Well it seems like I'm getting closer somehow

A flicker of peace that I've finally found

Thank you for believing in me now

`Cause I do need it

Well give me a year or two

And I'll mend my ways and see these mistakes and

When I see the truth

Well darlin' trust me

When I can't see

I'll be coming back; I'll be coming back to you

Over the years, Sakura kept her faith in her god - and in Naruto. She knew that Naruto was the one, if anyone, who could reach her god and bring him back.

She kept repeating this, to bolster her faith.

Sasuke would return. Naruto had promised to bring him back, and Sakura knew that the blonde ninja always kept his promises. She knew him. He was loud and brash and annoying - and so confident in himself. Sakura knew him. She ought to, after all this time.

That thought suddenly struck the Haruno kunoichi with all the force of a lightning bolt.

She knew Naruto.

Even after all her years of worship and fidelity, she did not know her god. She did not know Sasuke.

She could not love him in the way she wanted, no matter how much she wished to.

Sakura felt something twist in her gut. If she didn't love Sasuke, then what was she feeling for the dark-haired renegade?

And what was she feeling for Naruto? Naruto, who had always been there, who always came back, always kept his promises… Naruto, who she knew.

Sakura was almost certain that she wasn't in love with the blonde. But she was also fairly sure that she wasn't really in love with Sasuke - with her god.

She didn't know what to feel anymore. Even the happier emotions - joy, relief, curiosity - felt like betrayals.

She had - and did - worship the Uchiha god. But she did not love him. Sakura knew that, now. And if part of her was saddened by this revelation, she took it in stride.

The first time Sakura had seen Uchiha Sasuke, she knew he was a god, and knew she would always worship him.

But now, maybe she didn't need a god. Maybe she only wanted a mortal man.

These heroes and thieves at my door

I can't seem to tell them apart anymore

Just when I've figured it out

Well, darlin' it's you

Darlin' it's you

Oh, darlin' it's you I'm without