http://erendhyl.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] erendhyl.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] ship_manifesto2009-12-26 08:16 am
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Under the Same Sky: Sasuke and Sakura (Naruto) Part 2


Counters to Some Common
Arguments Against the Pairing

Sasuke hates Sakura!

He really doesn’t, as the development section shows. Actually, Sasuke himself has referred to her as a precious comrade. He doesn’t love her romantically (yet), but he does care about her a great deal.


Sasuke rejected her the night he left; it means the pairing is dead!

This is one of those arguments that I just don’t get. Was Sasuke really supposed to accept Sakura’s offers and either bring her to Orochimaru’s lair (where she would likely be used as a test subject for Kabuto) or completely forget about avenging his dead family? While I personally loathe his decision to abandon Konoha in favor of training under Orochimaru, I can see his justifications for it. He’d spent the past five years training to become Itachi’s equal, yet their encounter at the hotel showed that all that work still hadn’t closed the gap between them even slightly. Against Dosu, Zaku, and Kin, he saw a bit of how powerful Orochimaru would be able to make him. He singlehandedly defeated three opponents at once, and their defeat of Lee proved that they were far from weak. 

When Sasuke found Sakura waiting beside the road that night, he could easily have just kept walking. Instead, he chose to stay and talk to her. We saw him lie to her, for no apparent reason other than to avoid mentioning a time when she had made him angry. And, even after she revealed that she cared for him far more than she should, he still didn’t outright reject her. Instead, he thanked her. 

If he was trying to tell her that they had no hope for a future together, wouldn’t it have been kinder in the long run to just say so? Rejection hurts, but letting Sakura keep believing in a false hope would be even worse.


Loving Sasuke made Sakura weak!

As mentioned in the beginning, part 1 didn’t show Sakura gaining her super strength or medical ninjutsu. Instead, what we saw was the development of a desire to gain those powers. She started the series as a twelve-year-old girl, and as Kakashi put it, girls her age are more interested in love than ninjutsu. Not true for every girl, but fairly accurate in regards to Sakura. 

The problem with this is that we don’t see Sakura remain weak. Indisputably, Sakura was in love with Sasuke until chapter 181 of the manga. During that time, can we really say that she made no improvements? 

In the development section, I discussed how we watched Sakura’s love mature over the course of part 1. As we witnessed that, we saw her character improve also. Sakura began the series commenting that orphans were lucky not to have parents around to scold them. During chapter 181, we see her show a genuine understanding of just what being an orphan means for Sasuke while still trying to convince him to stay.

During the Land of Waves arc, Sasuke had protected Sakura against the Demon Brothers when they attacked to kill Tazuna. Against Gaara, she was the one doing the protecting. We saw her choose to sacrifice herself rather than stand by and watch Sasuke be killed. Through this, Sakura fulfilled two of the key themes of the series: a person becomes truly strong only when protecting something precious to them, and your comrades should mean the world to you.

Earlier, we had also seen her protecting her comrades when she fought the Otonin in the Forest of Death. By cutting her hair, which she had originally grown long to impress Sasuke, Sakura symbolically shed her fangirl self, embracing instead the desire to improve herself as a ninja and a person. She was beaten there, as one would expect given how little effort she’d apparently put into her training previously, but that fact is rather insignificant. Physical strength isn’t the only type that matters, even in shounen series like this one. Through Haku, Naruto, and other characters, it has been repeatedly shown that strength in Naruto is gained by wanting to protect something precious to you.

Finally, we saw Sakura begin to show her real self. At the beginning of part 1, Inner Sakura had been created to express the feelings that outer Sakura was unwilling to show. Over the course of part 1, her appearances decrease. Her last appearance during part 1 was during Sakura’s preliminary match against Ino, where Inner Sakura shoved Ino out of Sakura’s mind.

All the events above occurred during the time frame where Sakura was confirmed to love Sasuke. They demonstrate her physical, emotional, and mental improvement during that time period. Loving Sasuke did not make Sakura weak. Her lack of desire to improve herself in the beginning of the series is what made her weak. Over the course of part 1 we saw her realize this weakness and begin to change it, even while still loving Sasuke. The growth of her feelings occurred at the same time as her growth as a person. Fancy that.

Sakura has given up on Sasuke!

The main problem with this is that Sakura is currently acting under incomplete information. Before his conversation with Madara, we'd seen Naruto himself doubt his former teammate. Yet afterwards, we see him defend Sasuke's decisions to Sakura, saying that he now understands Sasuke's need for revenge.

From what Sakura knows, Sasuke completed his revenge and immediately went on to join the organization that wants to kill her remaining teammate. She knows nothing about the truth of the Uchiha Clan Massacre, nothing about how the Elders never specified against killing the innocent eight-year-old or how they had a thirteen-year-old commit the deed. She doesn't know that the village she wants Sasuke to return to is the true cause of the death of his beloved family. Learning that would definitely change how she views things and would probably convince her that Sasuke still has a chance for redemption. He may not be reacting in the most perfectly logical way, but after being mind-screwed as much as he has I honestly don't blame him. He appears to have abandoned his "wipe out Konoha" plan, and chapter 476 showed him choosing to question Danzou about his guilt rather than attacking him on sight.

Even now, even when she believes that Sasuke is so far beyond redemption that he can only be saved through death, in chapter 474 it is still openly declared multiple times that Sakura still loves Sasuke. Sai and Naruto, the two insisting this, had just listened to Sakura say that she no longer cared for a criminal like Sasuke. And yet neither one believes it. Naruto especially is amazed that she'd be willing to kill him because, "Sakura-chan loves Sasuke so much!" Even after everything Sasuke has done, Sai says that she doesn't want to kill him because she hates him. She wants to kill him because she loves him. She wants to save him.

In the past, we've seen Sakura waver only once in her determination to save Sasuke: after Naruto's battle at the Valley of the End. After giving Sakura his Promise of a Lifetime that he would bring Sasuke back to Konoha, Naruto returned coated in bandages "like a mummy". Sakura hadn't been at the battle to see him gain these injuries. She didn't know that Sasuke very clearly turned his hand at the last minute so his Chidori didn't impale Naruto; she didn't know that he'd refused to follow in Itachi's footsteps even though it was the "only" way for him to get strong enough to avenge his clan. All she knew was that Sasuke had tried to leave the village, Naruto had gone to stop him, and Naruto had returned coated in wounds. If ever there was a time when she would give up on Sasuke, that would be it. And, at first, we did see her give up. Despite Naruto shouting to anyone who will listen that his ninja way says he’ll never give up, I didn’t find this surrender to be negative. We, the readers, knew that Sasuke wasn’t far enough gone to kill his own teammate, but when Sakura finds the one person she thought would be able to get through to Sasuke coated in bandages, what else is she supposed to think?

That is why I don’t think Sakura’s actions there were a bad thing. I think she was trying to save Naruto. He’d made her a promise, and he’d gotten the living daylights beaten out of him trying to fulfill it. Was Sakura supposed to sit back and tell him to do that again? No. Sakura wouldn’t do that to one of her precious people. Even though it clearly hurt her to do so, she told him to give up in order to protect him. When he insisted that he would still keep his promise, Sakura didn’t take it as a free ride. Instead, she vowed that next time they would bring Sasuke back together.

Now, like then, Sakura has just had it slammed in her face that Sasuke isn't some kind and perfect person. At the Valley of the End he almost killed Naruto; here, he's joined the organization who possesses the same goal. But the manga still shows us that, dark as Sasuke may be, he hasn't been lost completely. Prior to his fight with Naruto, Gaara killed probably hundreds of people purely for the sake of murder, but he still went on to become a Kazekage his village would mourn the loss of. With people like Gaara or even Nagato already redeemed in this manga, Sasuke is far from lost. And, despite the fact that she was nearly killed by Gaara herself, we saw no protest from Sakura when she participated in the mission to save him from the Akatsuki.

Piror to that rescue mission, Sakura's only real interaction with Gaara had been his attempt to kill her, an event which wouldn't leave a very positive impression. However, with Sasuke, Sakura has been shown plenty of times that he isn't a bad person. He's saved her at least three times, possibly four if you count when she fell after Gaara's sand released her. Naruto and Sai believe that she still loves him, and Kakashi and Yamato made no move to protest that assertion. A recent interview by Kishimoto for Jump Festa 2010 also confirms that she still loves Sasuke, "as expected". Prior to this recent barrage of negative information, we hadn't seen Sakura hesitate on her and Naruto's shared quest to save Sasuke. Early on, she mentioned that over the timeskip she had spent years studying so that when the time came, she would be able to protect them both.

But now, he last few chapters alone have had multiple instances of Sakura being confronted with how evil and irredeemable Sasuke is now. Naruto's declaration at the end of 469 tells us that this wasn't enough to make her move on from him, as do the comments by both Sai and Naruto in chapter 474. However, wouldn't it seem to her like it should be? Sakura's heart hasn't changed "like the autumn sky", but wouldn't it sound to her like it should?

That's why I don't view this as something negative. Sai tells us quite clearly that she isn't doing this because she wants to. She's doing it because she believes it's the only way to save Sasuke. She told Naruto to give up on him, not because she's stopped caring, but she wants to end the suffering of one of her closest friends.

It's often argued against the pairing that Sakura's feelings are selfish, especially during her confession in chapter 181. This idea shows that that couldn't be farther from the truth. We'd already seen during scenes like Sakura's choice of a daffodil that her feelings had matured beyond just idolizing the pretty boy. She genuinely cared for him. We were shown during chapter 181 that she'd do anything to help him. Now, we've also been shown that even while Sakura loves Sasuke, while she is willing to give up everything she has to be with him, she isn't going to force her friends or Sasuke to suffer to reach that end. Now, from what Sakura has heard, it sounds as though the only way to stop Sasuke from sinking any lower is to kill him. She wants to rescue him from the evil path he is on, even if the only way to do it is by staining her own hands with his blood. Sai also reveals that even while she was planning this, a part of her was also acting purely for Naruto's sake to try to cause him the least pain as a result of her decision. She wanted to protect Sasuke; she wanted to keep her friends from starting a cycle of revenge; she wanted to keep from hurting Naruto. In the end, when Sakura acts on her supposedly selfish love, she tries to spare the pain of everyone except herself.

SasuSaku ignores Naruto! The idea of their relationship hurts him!

With chapter 469 and chapter 474, I think we can safely say that Naruto has accepted the idea of this pairing, and it seems as though he supports it. In the past, we'd seen him step out of the room to allow the two of them a moment in private when Sakura hugged Sasuke at the hospital. And, as mentioned in the development section, it wasn't Sakura's reaction that caused Naruto to do this. It was Sasuke's.

When Sakura begged for him to return Sasuke in chapter 183, we saw Naruto hesitate for only a moment before remarking that she really liked Sasuke. Then he promised to bring Sasuke back.

If there was ever a scene that caused Naruto to realize that Sakura's feelings were serious, it was that. Yes, we do see him express brief pain over the idea. But in under a page, he's pushed that pain aside. He wants his precious people to be happy.

More than three years have passed since then, but those two chapters show us that Naruto still remembers. This time, there was no pain or hesitation. 'Sakura loves Sasuke.' This time, Naruto wasn't expressing any grief over that idea. This time, he was the one encouraging her to continue.

Fandom Guide

(In reverse from the rest of the manifesto, this section was written/compiled by Ngure and beta'd by Erendhyl.)

The SasuSaku fandom is one of the best there is in Naruto. This section is intended to help you navigate this very large fandom.

Shrines:
These are websites, made by fans, dedicated to the pairing. All of them are in English.

Heart of A Shinobi:
http://sasusaku.tripod.com/

Harmonia:
http://www.geocities.com/kunoichi_cherushi/sshome.html

Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura--A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://www.freewebs.com/purplecat14/index.htm

Windswept-A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://laced-up.org/winds/info.php

Yin and Yang-A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://www.amourae.com/sasusaku/


Dwindle- A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://www.geocities.com/anomynousgurl/bu.html

P O L A R I T Y- A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://magicalwings.net/sasusaku/

Far Away: A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://www.freewebs.com/sasusaku/

Only Hope: A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://www.freewebs.com/xhiddenlove/

Thank You: A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://naruto.mokora.net/sasusaku/

Saku to Sasu- A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://www.freewebs.com/punksakura/index.htm

Warrior x Cherry Blossom- A SasuSaku Fan Work Listing/ Shrine
http://sasusaku.tsuki-hana.org/fanworks/


Communities/Forums:
Interested in talking to other fans of SasuSaku? Check these sites out.

SasuSaku: Under The Same Sky FC; NarutoFan:
http://forums.narutofan.com/showthread.php?t=52501

Sasuke x Sakura; LiveJournal:
http://community.livejournal.com/sasusaku/

SasuSaku Love; LiveJournal:
http://community.livejournal.com/chiharu_euphie/

Sincerely Yours: Sasuke x Sakura Guild; GaiaOnline:
http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/?guild_id=15169

I Love You With All My Of Heart!- A SasuSaku Fanclub:
http://www.freewebs.com/sakura_loveangel/index.htm

Moon and Sun- SasuSaku and NaruHina Forum:
http://sunluna.proboards.com/index.cgi?


Essays:
Written by fans, expressioning their love and views on SasuSaku.

Original SasuSaku Manifeso: Blooming by Zauberer_sirin
http://community.livejournal.com/shi...58.html#cutid1

In Defense of SasuSaku; By Des_Butterfly
http://community.livejournal.com/chuunin/2620814.html

Why SasuSaku is Plausible; By -Blue-n-Pink-
http://www.fanfiction.net/topic/15292/10587452/1/

FanFiction:
Stories written by fans of SasuSaku.

Sakura and Sasuke, Flower and Shadow; FanFiction.net
http://www.fanfiction.net/community/..._shadow/17670/

Forever Devoted; Fanfiction Compilation
http://hokage.fifteenth-moon.net/sasusakuff/

sasuXsaku Shrine; FanFiction.net
http://www.fanfiction.net/community/..._shrine/22102/

Sasuke x Sakura Recs; LiveJournal:
http://community.livejournal.com/sasusaku_recs/

Paper Fans are Bounty in Spring; LiveJournal
http://community.livejournal.com/springpaperfan/


Fanart:

English:

Japanese:

PhotoBucket Albums:
Other References:
This is a Photobucket album with references to SasuSaku outside the chapters themselves.

http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r...%20references/
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Re: Good job. . .

[identity profile] erendhyl.livejournal.com 2010-01-11 02:51 am (UTC)(link)
Probably the biggest thing though is that Sasuke isn't Itachi. Sasuke is a little kid who had his family murdered when he was seven, and then got to watch it over and over for seventy-two hours. He wasn't the guy who selflessly volunteered to do that. He was thrust into it completely unprepared. Because he had no way to anticipate the massacre, he reacts to it. He wants to kill the people who made it so that he was forced to watch the murder of his beloved parents. While the way he's carrying it out lately is bad, that motive isn't a bad one. He's acting so stupidly, I think, because he's an incredibly screwed up little kid who didn't have anyone to guide him or show him healthier ways of dealing with that until he met Team 7, five years after it had happened. From everything we've seen, the village viewed him as the Uchiha survivor rather than a seven-year-old kid who needs a therapist, and no one really tried to reach out to be his friend. (Not that he'd really be in the mood to make friends right after having his trusted older brother kill everyone else...)

Long response, but hopefully it wasn't too bad. Again, thanks a lot for commenting, and I'm glad that you enjoyed the manifesto even if you no longer support the pairing. :)

Re: Good job. . .

(Anonymous) 2010-01-11 06:13 pm (UTC)(link)
**While the way he's carrying it out lately is bad, that motive isn't a bad one. He's acting so stupidly, I think, because he's an incredibly screwed up little kid who didn't have anyone to guide him or show him healthier ways of dealing with that until he met Team 7, five years after it had happened.**

See, this is what really ticks me off about the Sasuke haters. He's in an emotionally bad place right now and he's a trained warrior for cripes sake, what else does everyone think he should do, break out the china and have a tea party with his mortal enemies? Seriously if anyone's got a right to be pissed off, it's him.

**No one really tried to reach out to be his friend.**

This is the tragic part. Nobody cared about Sasuke (except team 7) until it was too late. It's kinda like everyone's caring about him after the fact and he's not there to see and feel it. Kind of an absentee recipient of the love that he desperately needed while he was still in the village, but you never know what you have until it's gone. Konoha is suffering a lot because of this, and it hasn't felt the same since Sasuke left. Plus Sai in his place doesn't feel right; no matter how much people care for him he'll NEVER take Sasuke's place and Sasuke is well aware of that fact.

SasuSaku is the OTP of this series. End of story. =]

Re: Good job. . .

[identity profile] erendhyl.livejournal.com 2010-01-12 03:04 am (UTC)(link)
Are you the same anonymous poster from the original comment? Sorry, but your attitude towards the pairing seemed pretty different and I wanted to check. XD

I agree with both things you said, especially the tragedy of Sasuke. The only thing I disagree with is that I think Sasuke might someday feel as though Sai could be a better friend to Naruto and Sakura than him, if he has self-doubts after returning to Konoha and thinks that he caused too much pain to Naruto and Sakura for him to be good for them. Of course, we as readers know that they felt a lot more pain because they missed him than because his actions hurt them, but Sasuke hasn't been around to see that and I doubt he'd be thinking logically.

Re: Good job. . .

(Anonymous) 2010-01-12 08:45 pm (UTC)(link)
naw i'm a different anon, lol. i support this pair like crazy because there's so much pain and hardship, but at the same time rays of hope and second chances and i think in the end sasuke and sakura's relationship will come out stronger than before. imo, that's what makes my heart ache every time they get mentioned or get panel and screen time.

Re: Good job. . .

[identity profile] erendhyl.livejournal.com 2010-01-13 02:14 am (UTC)(link)
Okay, I thought so. ^^

I agree very much with your description of the pairing. It isn't all rainbows and sunshine, and that means that it's all the more beautiful in those moments were we do get genuine happiness and in their potential future. There's beauty and sorrow in this pairing at the same time, and that's what makes me love it to bits. Even when you reread their happier moments from part 1, you know what's inevitably coming after Sasuke leaves, and you realize just how precious those moments were.

Re: Good job. . .

(Anonymous) 2010-01-23 06:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Yo, it's the first anonymous commenter :D (never should’ve deleted my livejournal)

Naw, I don't mind a friendly debate. See, I did use to ship SasuSaku, because I thought, well, even though Sakura could never understand him, she (along with Naruto and Kakashi) could still bring him out of his darkness. Which was just heartbreakingly sweet. Then, Sasuke left and it seemed to me like SasuSaku ended before it could even start. And her love for Sasuke is getting a bit old for me, especially since he's said exactly one sentence to her in three years.

Ooh, totally agreed on the whole Sasuke and ignoring what Itachi wanted. Wow, I had never even thought of that! Still, Sasuke IS being a douche, even though he’s a mentally screwed up person and with his whole ‘severing the bonds with Team 7’ thing, SasuSaku doesn’t seem too probable. And then we get Karin who Sasuke honestly respects and likes. . . (Please don't kill me for that comment)

Ah yeah. I think right now, Naruto just wants everyone to be happy, and if it means giving up the girl he loves, then so be it. The most annoying part of all this though, is how Kishimoto seems to keep changing his mind. I honestly thought there weren’t going to be any pairings, and then Shippunden hits us over the head with NaruSaku, but then wait, Sakura still loves Sasuke? It’s like “Make up your goddamned mind buddy” >:(

And thanks for the detailed response by the way :D Another issue I have with SasuSaku is the screaming preteen fan base that has never heard of logic or grammar but you are the polar opposite =D

Re: Good job. . .

[identity profile] erendhyl.livejournal.com 2010-01-25 02:32 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! =D I'm glad to talk to someone who enjoys detailed responses and civil debates. :D

I guess the main thing we disagree on is whether or not it's reasonable for Sakura to still love Sasuke. Myself, I think that if Sakura "loved him more than anything", then that love would and should be able to remain after three years of separation. I actually really like how 474 presented it: Sakura isn't turning a blind eye to everything Sasuke's done (and from her limited knowledge, those deeds probably sound even worse), but that doesn't stop her from loving him.

Your old idea of SasuSaku is pretty much what I believe now. Sasuke needs the people who love him to remind him that he still has a present and a future, not just his past. They're his new family: Kakashi is the father Fugaku couldn't really be, Naruto is the brother Itachi would have liked to have been, and Sakura is the person with whom he'll start a family of his own.

Oh, I don't think that Sasuke doesn't have his very douche-y moments (some of them lasting a very, very long time...). Glad you liked my theory! While he does try to deny his bonds with his old team, the fact that they were the last thing he pictured before awakening Amaterasu says that, even if he won't let himself admit it, Team 7 is still valuable to Sasuke. After all the focus devoted to how he is Naruto's best friend in the whole entire world and Naruto will have a panic attack from worry over him, I don't think that Sasuke won't be reunited with his old team in some way.

As for the SasuKarin comment, don't worry. I dislike the pairing myself, but I don't see the point in flaming someone just because they disagree with you about the pairings of a fictional manga. Now, if they disagree with you about pairings and use that as an excuse to insult you first, that's a different story, but you've been a very nice and respectable person. :)

My view of the extensive Naruto-Sakura bonding in Shippuuden is that it establishes their bond to be strong and mutual, like the other bonds of Team 7. During part 1, Sakura thought that Naruto was "a pest out to ruin her life", and she didn't formally take that comment back until he made the Promise of a Lifetime to her. Naruto himself concentrated on his rivalry with Sasuke more than his bond with Sakura (probably helped by the fact that she initially disliked him), as well his bonds with every character he reformed. They needed time to interact to really form a bond, and part 2 provided that. They have a common goal, which helps them relate to each other, and, well, I can go on very long rants about why I don't see their time together as romantic, which I'll spare you in the interest of keeping this discussion at a length that's reasonable for you to actually read.

Re: Good job. . .

(Anonymous) 2010-01-27 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
Che. Everything you say I find myself agreeing to. It's kinda funny :D

Really, that's one of my three reasons for disliking SasuSaku now. Three years is such a long time! It all depends on someone's view of love I suppose. I was angry at Sakura's fake confession to Naruto but when Sai revealed that she was going to kill Sasuke to help Naruto and prevent Sasuke from falling even further, my heart went out to the poor girl. It must suck to be a teenage ninja in love with the enemy.

I love Team 7 and I miss the way they interacted :( You described the bond Sasuke had for them perfectly, even the Sakura part didn't seem to farfetched heh (although the Valley of the End arc was kinda. . .nonbrotherly)

Thank you for that :) SasuKarin is rather unpopular pairing and I get a lot of angry flamers for it. It's like honestly? It's a fictional manga. Get over it.

I completely agree with most of that xD During part one, Naruto and Sakura were basically just teammates
who became friends slowly. It was Sasuke leaving that really brought them together. I never reallycould see
NaruSaku until then. Now, I like them together because he respects her (which is a huge thing for me personally) and the way they interact is just so sweet it gives me cavities :3 but that's not really relevent :)

By the way, I want to add something to what you said in response to the arguement "Sasuke hates Sakura!" That one honestly irritates me. Yes, Sasuke thought she was annoying but at the end, he meant it affectionately. True, their bond was never as strong as his and Naruto's, but he's said so himself he cared about her!

Re: Good job. . .

[identity profile] erendhyl.livejournal.com 2010-01-29 02:16 am (UTC)(link)
And I find myself agreeing with everything you've said here as well. :)

I've been pitying Sakura for a while now, but Sai's explanation in chapter 474 really amplified it. Poor girl...

Even if I don't like NaruSaku as romance, I like the friendship between the two. Part of it comes from being a huge Team 7 fan and wanting all the bonds on the team to be strong, but it mostly comes from the fact that Naruto really has matured a lot in how he behaves towards Sakura, and their bond has grown because of it.

I agree so much with your last paragraph. I support SasuSaku, but that doesn't mean I don't think that Naruto and Sasuke have the strongest bond in the manga (and one of the most amazing bonds as well). I hate how it's often treated as though that stronger bond means that Sasuke felt absolutely nothing for Sakura, despite all the evidence to the contrary. He didn't fall in love with her, but she was still his precious teammate.

Re: Good job. . .

(Anonymous) 2010-02-05 12:35 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I mean she's being stupid (the thought of her fighting Sasuke is laughable) but it's the most mature thing she's done in the whole series. (I <3 Sai, I swear the manga should be about him!)

I find their relationship sweet :) Yeah, I like their friendship too. It's very healthy and postive for both of them.

Thank you! It's annoying how a lot of people dismiss the relationship both Sakura and Sasuke have with Naruto. I mean, if it wasn't for him, they would not have even become friends. But yeah, he DID care about her.

Personally, I can't stand Sasuke now. Him killing Karin made me want to scream a little bit. It was sick I don't get how he's redemable now. He's not even close to the same Sasuke he was in part one. He probably just likes killing now and using Itachi as a really horrible excuse.

See, I wouldn't mind SasuSaku if most of the (fanbrats) fans wrote it or portrayed it to how it would be. It would NOT be a healthy relationship which makes it actually interesting. Sakura would just give him everything and Sasuke would just stay emotionally distant. She would try as hard as she could to understand him but she couldn't. Ever. He would be annoyed with how much weaker she was than him, but wouldn't like it if she became stronger because that would hurt his inferiority/superiority complex. Sakura is the type of girl who likes grand romantic gestures and Sasuke sure as hell is not the type of guy to even get her flowers. That's just how their characters are, you know? Sasuke is insane, Sakura isn't going to be his light in the darkness, they aren't just going to skip off into the sunset together with him calling her Sakura-chan (which if they were really in love he wouldn't do silly fanbrats).

Ok, rant done. Sorry ;)
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