Halfways and In betweens
Fandom: Naruto
Disclaimer: No. As in, no it's not mine.
Pairing/Characters: Sasuke, Sakura
Summary: They're fundamentally different, but in a way, they're exactly the same.
Written for sasusaku_month . Theme: Chance Meetings, Prompt: Summer.
Although I'm not really sure what this has to do with the prompt.
If a June night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance.
-Bern Williams
Sakura thinks of him sometimes.
She thinks of him in the moments just before dawn, when she wakes up for no apparent reason, cold and shivering and not awake but not asleep either. She wakes and thinks of him, just before dawn, before the sun rises and it is not so much night anymore, and she recalls the night that he left, how his heart told him not to but he left anyway.
Sometimes, after an annoyingly long bout of rain clears, when it's not raining and not overcast but not quite nice either, she remembers certain things. Like how she used to run over to his house as a tiny girl, and wave to him from her place outside the Uchiha grounds, to the second floor where he'd sit by the window and wait for her to come call him out to play.
(And how they'd both get berated for playing in such awful weather, when it's slippery and humid outside and not fitting for a lady and a future Uchiha shinobi.)
And she smiles at the thought of Uchiha Sasuke and the thought of their team 7. How he wasn't particularly nice at times but he wasn't a deliberate asshole either.
She misses him most in summer though, between fresh new flowers reaching for the skies, and crisp red and gold leaves falling to the ground. There is something in the way the sunrays glide off the leaves, something in the colour of the sky and the lakes, something about the air and the smells and the smiles and the laughs on familiar faces that reminds her of herself and how she's halfway and in between.
Sakura has moved on, but she hasn't quite let go of the past yet.
.
Sasuke thinks of her sometimes.
He thinks of her before the door closes on his room (cell), when it turns from dim to pitch black, he thinks of her light hair and bright eyes and warm smile and how he walked away.
She pops up randomly in his head sometimes, unexpected; halfway through a mission or halfway through training, and it takes all of his willpower to paint over her wide green eyes, her carefree smile with a new vision of black and blood red.
It is unnerving, (and he will never admit it), but at times even he cannot repress, cannot completely nullify the surges of regret and longing that threaten to stretch as endlessly as silence does in the Sound. Sasuke remembers how she looked, how she always seemed to look, and it makes him remember the small things, like how hardworking she was and how she blushed and shied when he pointed that out, like the time he regained consciousness to her heartbroken tear stained face.
But mostly, it makes him think of himself, and how Orochimaru pretends not to seethe when he isn't ready to draw cold blood, how Kabuto finds him staring at his scrubbed but ohsostained hands, how he's left Konoha far behind him, but he can't quite take the next step.
.
Sakura wakes every morning to an empty apartment. She opens her eyes, counts to a million, sits up in bed, and turns to the picture of Team 7 placed by her bedside.
It becomes a habit, then it becomes a ritual.
She lives for tomorrow. She tells herself every morning that tomorrow, tomorrow, this dull aching throbbing pain will go away.
And after awhile, she starts to believe it.
.
Sasuke wakes every morning to a dark and empty hole in the middle of a mountain. He opens his eyes, counts to a million, sits up and removes the hidden blade from within his pillow case.
It is an almost meaningless practice. Orochimaru wants him alive and none of his minions would dare disobey.
As his feet touch the cold stone floor, he seals his mind, he locks away his heart, he teaches himself to forget how to smile and laugh and all things that humanize him, and tells himself that today, today, I will be ready for revenge.
He never once realises that he's living in the past.
.
They're fundamentally different, but in a way, they're exactly the same.
.
It's been a long time since the new Team 7 went on a mission. They're tracking a group of rogues; Sai is in the air, Kakashi is up front, they've split up and she finds that she's slightly off course. As she moves back, a whir of black to her right catches her attention.
And her heart stops.
It is Sasuke, swathed in black and red robes, perched on a branch above and dishing out curt instructions. He doesn't see her, and as she watches the remains of his gang disperse in different directions, Sasuke alone remains, his starred eyes half hidden by a low hood.
Sakura hesitates. She could signal to the rest, bring him in, bring him home, because he's here -
She makes the mistake of clenching her fist, and his eyes immediately dart towards her, hand going for his katana.
Their eyes meet, green on black (or red? She isn't sure anymore), and for a second her world stops moving. It's strange, this surreal and unlikely and twisted reunion, and she finds that she doesn't know what to do. So she widens her eyes a little bit and unclenches her fist.
And Sasuke, Sakura thinks, the Uchiha genius she trained with, ran around with, cried over, dead set in all his certainty on revenge, doesn't know what to do either. There is a dense smell of summer and rain in the air, Sasuke's eyes soften by a millimeter, and he moves his hand away from his katana.
She doesn't know how long they've been looking at each other, both unsure of what to do, but then she smiles at him, small and genuine and steady, because this is all they have. Fleeting moments of impossible possibilities, and she smiles and she smiles (and in her smile she says hello, I miss you, please come home), and Sasuke smiles back, small but sure. She turns her head to the loud sound of "crack!" to her left, and the next time she looks back, Sasuke is gone.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto bursts forth from the trees, heaving and panting, "Where have you been?!"
"Oh, Naruto," Sakura smiles, embarrassed, "I'm sorry, I must have lost my bearings for a moment back there..."
Naruto heaves a dramatic sigh, but the concern in his eyes is apparent. He looks at her questioningly for a moment, and she nods back at him.
"Let's go, Kakashi-sensei's found our target," and he leaps off.
She stays for a fraction of a second, but she doesn't turn around. Instead, her head tilts down, she smiles, blinks, and she is ready to run after Naruto again.
(Somehow, she knows, they will have another moment between them. Between fresh new flowers reaching for the skies, and crisp red and gold leaves falling to the ground.
And next time, she promises, she will tell him.)
Hello,
I miss you.
Please,
Come home.
FIN.
Why did I put that quote at the top, again?
Disclaimer: No. As in, no it's not mine.
Pairing/Characters: Sasuke, Sakura
Summary: They're fundamentally different, but in a way, they're exactly the same.
Written for sasusaku_month . Theme: Chance Meetings, Prompt: Summer.
Although I'm not really sure what this has to do with the prompt.
If a June night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance.
-Bern Williams
Sakura thinks of him sometimes.
She thinks of him in the moments just before dawn, when she wakes up for no apparent reason, cold and shivering and not awake but not asleep either. She wakes and thinks of him, just before dawn, before the sun rises and it is not so much night anymore, and she recalls the night that he left, how his heart told him not to but he left anyway.
Sometimes, after an annoyingly long bout of rain clears, when it's not raining and not overcast but not quite nice either, she remembers certain things. Like how she used to run over to his house as a tiny girl, and wave to him from her place outside the Uchiha grounds, to the second floor where he'd sit by the window and wait for her to come call him out to play.
(And how they'd both get berated for playing in such awful weather, when it's slippery and humid outside and not fitting for a lady and a future Uchiha shinobi.)
And she smiles at the thought of Uchiha Sasuke and the thought of their team 7. How he wasn't particularly nice at times but he wasn't a deliberate asshole either.
She misses him most in summer though, between fresh new flowers reaching for the skies, and crisp red and gold leaves falling to the ground. There is something in the way the sunrays glide off the leaves, something in the colour of the sky and the lakes, something about the air and the smells and the smiles and the laughs on familiar faces that reminds her of herself and how she's halfway and in between.
Sakura has moved on, but she hasn't quite let go of the past yet.
.
Sasuke thinks of her sometimes.
He thinks of her before the door closes on his room (cell), when it turns from dim to pitch black, he thinks of her light hair and bright eyes and warm smile and how he walked away.
She pops up randomly in his head sometimes, unexpected; halfway through a mission or halfway through training, and it takes all of his willpower to paint over her wide green eyes, her carefree smile with a new vision of black and blood red.
It is unnerving, (and he will never admit it), but at times even he cannot repress, cannot completely nullify the surges of regret and longing that threaten to stretch as endlessly as silence does in the Sound. Sasuke remembers how she looked, how she always seemed to look, and it makes him remember the small things, like how hardworking she was and how she blushed and shied when he pointed that out, like the time he regained consciousness to her heartbroken tear stained face.
But mostly, it makes him think of himself, and how Orochimaru pretends not to seethe when he isn't ready to draw cold blood, how Kabuto finds him staring at his scrubbed but ohsostained hands, how he's left Konoha far behind him, but he can't quite take the next step.
.
Sakura wakes every morning to an empty apartment. She opens her eyes, counts to a million, sits up in bed, and turns to the picture of Team 7 placed by her bedside.
It becomes a habit, then it becomes a ritual.
She lives for tomorrow. She tells herself every morning that tomorrow, tomorrow, this dull aching throbbing pain will go away.
And after awhile, she starts to believe it.
.
Sasuke wakes every morning to a dark and empty hole in the middle of a mountain. He opens his eyes, counts to a million, sits up and removes the hidden blade from within his pillow case.
It is an almost meaningless practice. Orochimaru wants him alive and none of his minions would dare disobey.
As his feet touch the cold stone floor, he seals his mind, he locks away his heart, he teaches himself to forget how to smile and laugh and all things that humanize him, and tells himself that today, today, I will be ready for revenge.
He never once realises that he's living in the past.
.
They're fundamentally different, but in a way, they're exactly the same.
.
It's been a long time since the new Team 7 went on a mission. They're tracking a group of rogues; Sai is in the air, Kakashi is up front, they've split up and she finds that she's slightly off course. As she moves back, a whir of black to her right catches her attention.
And her heart stops.
It is Sasuke, swathed in black and red robes, perched on a branch above and dishing out curt instructions. He doesn't see her, and as she watches the remains of his gang disperse in different directions, Sasuke alone remains, his starred eyes half hidden by a low hood.
Sakura hesitates. She could signal to the rest, bring him in, bring him home, because he's here -
She makes the mistake of clenching her fist, and his eyes immediately dart towards her, hand going for his katana.
Their eyes meet, green on black (or red? She isn't sure anymore), and for a second her world stops moving. It's strange, this surreal and unlikely and twisted reunion, and she finds that she doesn't know what to do. So she widens her eyes a little bit and unclenches her fist.
And Sasuke, Sakura thinks, the Uchiha genius she trained with, ran around with, cried over, dead set in all his certainty on revenge, doesn't know what to do either. There is a dense smell of summer and rain in the air, Sasuke's eyes soften by a millimeter, and he moves his hand away from his katana.
She doesn't know how long they've been looking at each other, both unsure of what to do, but then she smiles at him, small and genuine and steady, because this is all they have. Fleeting moments of impossible possibilities, and she smiles and she smiles (and in her smile she says hello, I miss you, please come home), and Sasuke smiles back, small but sure. She turns her head to the loud sound of "crack!" to her left, and the next time she looks back, Sasuke is gone.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto bursts forth from the trees, heaving and panting, "Where have you been?!"
"Oh, Naruto," Sakura smiles, embarrassed, "I'm sorry, I must have lost my bearings for a moment back there..."
Naruto heaves a dramatic sigh, but the concern in his eyes is apparent. He looks at her questioningly for a moment, and she nods back at him.
"Let's go, Kakashi-sensei's found our target," and he leaps off.
She stays for a fraction of a second, but she doesn't turn around. Instead, her head tilts down, she smiles, blinks, and she is ready to run after Naruto again.
(Somehow, she knows, they will have another moment between them. Between fresh new flowers reaching for the skies, and crisp red and gold leaves falling to the ground.
And next time, she promises, she will tell him.)
Hello,
I miss you.
Please,
Come home.
FIN.
Why did I put that quote at the top, again?