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They don’t meet often. Sasuke’s become good at hiding the past few years, good at finding the small towns and villages that no one will find him in.
And even though they want to bring him back, want to drop their arms around his shoulders and laugh as they walk the familiar route to Konoha, they don’t.
Sasuke needs his peace of mind more than he needs a home right now.
Sakura remembers, vividly, the blank look in his eyes, the clenching of his fingers, the tension that ran down his spine. Remembers how he seemed on the verge of saying something before disappearing into the night.
And because she remembers that, remembers the haunted expression that crosses his face whenever they cross paths, she leaves him be.
He has enough ghosts on him without having to handle the ones waiting here.
And at each meeting, the number doesn’t seem to be less. She isn’t quite sure what these chance meetings are for, if they are a way of apology or a sign that he’s alive.
So it’s not entirely unexpected when she comes across him on her way home. She doesn’t turn to look at him when his shadow falls parallel to hers. Just calmly breathes in and walks and watches the path as it meanders across the field. He’s close, so close, but if she were to reach out and touch him, he’d probably hide once more.
As it is, she just listens to the silence, to the soft steps he makes and the slight rustle of clothing. There have been some changes, since the last time. There’s less tension in the air for one.
She’d like to think his rage is gone now, that his madness calmed. Like to think it but her neck throbs a reminder to be wary and she keeps herself an arm’s length away.
In the distance, she can see the trees that define her village, the towering oaks and pines that hide her home from the world. The moment she steps in their shadow, he will disappear.
“Will you come, this time?” It’s the only question she asks anymore. It answers all of the other ones.
A pause, the raspy sound of a man who doesn’t talk too much anymore. “...no.”
“I see.”
And there is nothing more to say. Nothing more to do, but to look at him and take in everything, because this is all she and Naruto will have for the next few months.
She memorizes everything, the length of his bangs and the sway of his arms, the—
Oh, and she smiles now as he disappears, the path beside her clear of every trace. Immediately, she breaks into a run, shooting through the woods as she hastens to Naruto.
It might have been her imagination, but she could have sworn he didn’t have a single ghost on him.