Disclaimer: No, I unfortunately do not own Naruto the series or the characters involved in it, I'm just borrowing them for a little while and promise to put them back exactly where I found them, hopefully no worse for wear.

A/N: Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed. I really and truly do appreciate it and am anxious for your impressions on this chapter. I'm not sure how I feel about it…it feels a little off to me but it's the best I could do. So let me know what you think and if you have any ideas, please send them my way. I'm really just writing this as it comes to me and have no real destination in mind with it.

~~~

The Butterfly: Chapter 4

By: Tea Leaf / Banana Soap

~~~

For a long time he just stared.

The sun slowly sunk behind the horizon and clouds blew in overhead. The light died.

Still he stared.

Slowly, almost lazily, fat drops of cold water began to fall. They soon picked up speed though and it became a race between thousands upon thousands of drops, from the heavens to the earth. He was soaked.

He didn't notice.

Tsunade watched sadly. He'd been there for over two hours now. The guards had sent for her, he was starting to unnerve them. With a soft sigh she walked towards him, an umbrella protecting her from the onslaught of rain. She crouched down beside him covering him with the umbrella as well as she placed a hand on his back.

He didn't react.

"Its time to go home now Sasuke." She said softly.

His eyes shifted away from the gate, down to the ground then up to the rain. He seemed confused, how could he have not noticed the storm.

Then it hit him: she was out in the storm.

His eyes snapped to the gate again in sudden alarm and his muscles tensed as he was about to rush after her.

Tsunade grabbed his arm, stopping him.

"Its time to go home Sasuke" she said again, her voice a little firmer, a little more convincing.

He looked at her. She was tired. She was weary. She looked old. She was sad too. She was telling him he couldn't go after her, at least not yet.

He nodded slightly and the pair stood up. He walked away, soon disappearing in the rain.

Tsunade watched him go then turned and walked to the gate placing her hand on its seam.

Good luck kid

~~~

She walked. She couldn't stop walking. She couldn't look back.

She didn't hurry, she knew that no one would come after her.

She was a butterfly, out of sight out of mind. Just a detail in the scenery.

She walked on.

Then the rain started and she stopped as she raised her face to the cold droplets.

She loved the rain. Nature's shower. She always felt clean after standing in the rain.

Butterflies couldn't fly in the rain.

She started walking again and the rain poured down for hours. Finally, she decided on a rest. She was tired, but not sleepy. She still couldn't sleep.

She reclined under a tree, letting the water soak her clothes and coat her skin. She smiled ever so slightly at the sky.

This was a good sign, she was sure of it.

~~~

Naruto sighed in contentment as the village came into view through the mists left by the continuing rain.

Finally some decent ramen!

He couldn't wait to see everyone, he'd been away for a week and had gotten a new scar, it had a cool story to, and he was going to tell it to everyone.

And brag to Sasuke! He thought with a foxy grin.

"Alright boys, just two more miles!" He cheered before taking off again.

Jiraiya, Kankuro and Kiba all groaned. Naruto had been running at breakneck speed since this morning, it was all they could do to keep up.

"Bah, let him go, we'll catch up later." Jiraiya muttered before taking out his spyglass and aiming it towards a river in the distance hoping some girls might be swimming despite the rain.

Kiba and Kankuro sweat dropped but didn't complain, they were grateful for the rest as they sat down under a tree, hoping to get some shelter.

~~~

He lay on his side, curled slightly into a ball and staring at the wall below the window. It was still raining. It had been raining for days. Ever since she left.

He hated the rain. It was cold, it was wet, it was miserable. He was miserable.

He wouldn't move. He wasn't hungry. He couldn't sleep.

Ino and Shikamaru had stopped by a day or so ago (he wasn't really keeping track of time) and had tried to get him to eat something. He hadn't wanted to.

Tsunade had come by the next day and tried to help him sleep. None of her remedies had worked.

Suddenly there was a large bang as his front door was thrown open. The heavy stomping of feet followed as the intruder ran up the stairs.

He didn't move. He didn't react.

With what seemed like an explosion of energy, Naruto burst into the room.

He was about 5'10" now and had really filled out; he could easily have become a football player (if you know, they played football or knew what football was). Despite his heavily muscled bulk though, he was still as quick and agile as a fox. And right now, this fox had a huge grin slapped on his face and his blue eyes were practically glowing with restraint excitement.

He ignored him.

"Yo, Sasuke!" Naruto boomed out in his characteristically loud voice.

"Go away." He muttered.

Naruto frowned. "What the hell's wrong with you?" he asked, kinda ticked that Sasuke wasn't as lively as he was.

"What the hell do you think?" Sasuke responded sarcastically.

"How the hell should I know, I've been out of town for the past week!" Naruto replied with equal sarcasm.

Sasuke was quiet a moment and Naruto was starting to consider asking again.

"She left." He finally answered in a quiet voice, as if he didn't really want to admit it out loud.

"She? She who?" Naruto continued to pry, concern starting to creep across his features.

"Who do you think?" he responded harshly

"Would you just tell me?!" Naruto yelled back.

He glared at the wall and curled in on himself a bit more. He didn't answer.

"Sasuke, who left?" Naruto asked in a calmer tone.

"…Sakura…Sakura left." He said, some indistinct emotion straining his voice.

Naruto froze but his shock was quickly overcome by anger.

"I don't believe you!" He yelled harshly before taking off, running as fast as he could to Sakura's apartment.

Sasuke didn't move.

~~~

He pounded on the door and when there was no answer, he broke the lock and went it.

The room was empty, but the room had always been empty. He checked the drawers under her bed. The clothes were all gone. He checked the cupboards. They were all empty. He checked her window seat. The faint impression of a human was rapidly fading from the cushions; the blood on the windowsill had dried several days ago.

A small blue and black butterfly was perched by the blood.

He sat down on the sill.

"Hey." Came a quiet voice from the doorway.

Naruto looked up to see Hinata standing there and watching him.

"Hey." He said back in a withdrawn tone.

Hinata walked over and hugged him tightly.

Naruto hugged her back; she always knew just what he needed.

"She came to see you two days ago but you weren't home." Hinata began in her soft voice.

"She asked me to give you a message though." She continued. Naruto looked up a little hopefully.

"She said thank you, thank you for everything. And she said goodbye." Hinata said, sadness creeping into her voice as she locked eyes with him.

He hugged her closer as he felt tears start to sting his eyes.

She was gone…

Now, of course he knew she wasn't the same person anymore and of course he knew that he couldn't help her but still…

He'd known this would happen. Sakura had never been the type to go down without a fight once she was trapped in a corner. And she'd been living with her back pushed harder and harder against the wall for a long time now. And now she was trying to fight back. He knew that, he understood that.

But she was still his friend. And it still hurt that she had left.

~~~

Sakura looked up at the clouds as the rain started to calm, it looked like the storm was clearing up.

She kept walking, her pack feeling a little heavier now that she had raided the group of bandits she'd stumbled upon. She was still in the fire country, she knew that much but she really had no idea where in the fire country. Honestly, she didn't really care.

She still wasn't sure was she was looking for; something just kept pushing her to keep moving.

The sky was clearing and the sun was setting, she decided to find an inn to stay at tonight and try to dry her clothes out.

She found a main road easily enough and about a mile after she'd started following the well-worn stretch she'd come to a comfortable inn with a spare room for the night.

She set her pack down in the room and took everything out, spreading it across the room in hopes of dispelling the dampness. As for the clothes she was wearing, they were soaked but so was everything else so she didn't bother to change before heading back down to the common room for a meal.

She took a small table in a shadowy corner, watching the room. No one looked familiar.

She didn't suppose anyone would ever look familiar again.

In another corner of the room there was a stage that was well lit and currently empty. The sign on the wall promised live entertainment later tonight though.

She enjoyed live music.

~~~

Tsunade stared at Sasuke. He hadn't moved since the last time she'd seen him. From the slight gauntness in his cheeks she'd bet good money that he hadn't eaten since then either. The dark smudges under his eyes proved he hadn't slept.

Man! What a pain. One ghost leaves only to create another one!

She had no idea what to do.

"Sasuke, you can't just lie here. You have to do something. Even Sakura at her worst still moved!" Tsunade exclaimed in frustration.

He winced at the sound of her name and pulled a pillow over his head.

Tsunade could have cried in frustration. Of all the stupid things to say!

She stomped over to him and grabbed the pillow pulling it off his head. He hid his head with his arms.

"Sasuke! Please move! Eat! Do something! You're really starting to worry, not only me but all of your friends!" Tsunade said, desperate for some kind of reaction.

She didn't get one.

"Oh I give up!" she exclaimed as she tossed her hands into the air.

"Eat something at least, Ino and Hinata have been stocking your fridge with homemade food all week. The least you could do is eat some of it." She said with a final "hmph" and left.

He'd tried eating but everything tasted like ash. It made him feel sick.

He was sick.

Sick with worry, sick with guilt. Sick with misery.

He didn't understand it. It wasn't like he even talked to her anymore but at least when she was here he could have, had he wanted to.

Then why hadn't you?! His inner voice yelled at him.

He winced.

Why hadn't he? Maybe if he had he could have helped her and she wouldn't have had to leave.

He stared at the wall.

His eyes started to droop closed but he snapped them open again.

Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her. But he didn't really see her. He didn't see the real her, he saw the her that she used to be. The one he'd destroyed.

His eyes stung.

Why did she have to leave? Why did she have to remind him? Why did she have to force him to acknowledge the damage he'd done. He just wanted to forget everything.

Don't you understand? That's what I want to do too.

He tried to shut his ears to her voice but he couldn't, it was coming from inside his head. His eyes closed again and he saw her as she had been that night, when she'd looked at him with those wounded eyes, when he'd finally seen how broken she really was.

Her arms had been bandaged; there had been dried blood in the gauze. The gauze had been black specifically to hide how much blood there must have been.

She'd been skinny, too skinny. He could see her bones. Her cheeks had been gaunt and shadowed.

But it was her eyes. Her eyes had been open to him for the first time since the night he'd left.

He'd finally seen it.

Her ravaged soul, that gaping wound that just wouldn't heal. The wound he had caused.

He'd seen her desperation.

Through everything he'd gone through, she'd always been right beside him. She had always been the first to defend him, the only one to protect him.

And how had he repaid her? He'd repaid her in pain. He'd told her off countless times, he'd brushed her off even more. He'd ignored her. He'd intentionally hurt her.

His memory provided him with the vivid picture of her back with three shirukens protruding from between her shoulder blades. The lowest one, the one that had been a centimeter short of severing her spine…he'd thrown that one.

He'd almost killed her.

But still she had saved him when she should have been the first to condemn him.

He couldn't lie to himself anymore. If there was any reason that he had finally been able to live a normal life, it was she.

And he'd stolen her normal life.

He'd left her. And then he'd been part of the attack that had killed her parents. Then he'd almost killed her.

She should hate him, like he'd hated his brother.

But that was what he loved most about her. She wasn't like him.

Even more, she'd always brought out the best in him.

~~~

Sakura's eyes fluttered open. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so good.

She'd slept.

She had actually slept!

A soft smile of contentment curved at her lips as she closed her eyes again and snuggled deeper into her bed.

Rafael smirked at the latest addition to his gypsy tribe. She looked like a cat that had just had all the cream.

He grinned mischievously as he prodded her ribs with his foot.

She winced and her eyes snapped open in a glare.

Her glare lessened slightly as she noticed the shock on his face.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't realize you were hurt there!" he said quickly as he raised his hands in a defensive way.

She scrutinized his appearance from the messy ash brown hair to the dark blue eyes, down his strong nose, past his thin lips beyond his stubbled chin and jaw, then over his lean body with his various layers of miscellaneous clothing.

Finally she sighed and rolled over onto her back.

"Time to go?" she asked.

Rafael sighed quickly with relief (he'd seen what she did to the last guy who'd pissed her off) before smiling easily and nodding.

She sighed and sat up then proceeded to start packing her things.

She'd med the gypsies at the inn she had stayed at a week ago. They had been the live music. She'd stayed up late, listening to the tales of their travel and becoming enchanted with the idea of simply wandering wherever you felt with fascinating people for company and no real goal other than to appreciate life.

Most of them had a secondary goal of making good music though and so she was currently being taught to play the guitar and had started secretly writing every now and then.

It wasn't a rich life, it wasn't a glamorous life but it was a good life. She could lose herself in it; forget the past and maybe even start to recover.

Despite that though, something in the back of her mind gave off a vague warning that something was wrong. But the voice was so weak the chatter of the misfit company she traveled with easily drowned it out.

And so she walked on, the unnoticed butterflies trailing after her.