[Fanfiction] SasuSaku: Departure
It's the first time I write something of this kind. Turned out okay, I guess, though it hasn't been properly proofread. Now, if I could only go back to IchiRuki... SasuSaku has been on my mind too much, lately. Thinking about it, this ficlet's theme is fitting for today. ¡Feliz Día de Muertos!
Title: Departure
Series: Naruto
Pairing: SasuSaku
Date: October 17th, 2006.
Warning! Character death.
Notes: Romance, ANGST, lots of that. PG-13.
Summary: It's not their last meeting.
+++
She liked to think he felt something. Long, long ago, deep within the walls of his heart, there was something warm. She liked to think that under the shell, there was something akin to an emotion, whatever that could slightly resemble to love. She had tried to uncover what lay beneath the anger and the hurt. Layer by layer, one after the other, she had hoped to find that he was still human, after all.
But his blade is cold and the blood on his hands is hers. His eyes, unforgiving, stare at her. No widened pupils, no visible shock, just the serenity of a killer. She doesn’t expect that, she doesn’t want that. Her lungs constrict painfully as he twists the sword still embedded in her chest.
Quickly, quickly...
He wants her to part soon and she can tell. Whether he wants to go because he deems this as a waste of his time or because he is disgusted she doesn’t know. Part of her wishes that it is because it’s painful for him to see her like this: so ragged up, so weak, so lost.
Broken.
Her hands reach for his face, dirtying with thick, bloody traces his pale cheeks. He grimaces, the first actual gesture he makes after all this time, but doesn’t step away. It seems that regardless of being used to the stench of blood, he is still uneasy. Or maybe it’s because now there are tears in her eyes and it’s becoming harder to breathe for her, making her pant... It must be a fairly ugly sight because the sword twists further.
Quickly, quickly...
The sword is actually the only thing that’s holding her up on her feet, pinned by it as she is against the tree behind her. Her knees are wobbling, almost limp. Everything feels too heavy. It’s only a matter of time before she can close her eyes and rest. For now, her gaze lowers to his grip on the sword. The knuckles are so white... She almost smirks.
She looks up at him again and sighs when realization dawns upon her. His red eyes are so black now, and wet. The frown and the grimace remain on place, and his jaw is set in hard line. He is breaking too, at last. She realizes and it’s even more painful than it had been seeing him there unfazed because his sword has pierced her.
‘You can let go, I’m ready,’she wants to tell him, but she has no strength. The words escape her throat in a gasp. Instead of speaking, her hand drops to his chest, where she finds a heart beating wildly beneath her palm. She thinks that perhaps she isn’t that quite ready to part with him, after all, but now it doesn’t matter.
“Sakura...” he murmurs. The young shinobi’s voice is deep and mostly tired, just about the kind of voice coming from an old man that has lived far too long and has seen far too much.
She liked to think he felt something, anything. These are her last moments and she knows. All these years haven’t been worth for nothing. These have been worth it because he feels, he worries, he hurts, he cries. He isn’t made of stone or ice like some people had wanted her to believe. She always trusted him to prove them wrong, and he did.
“I’ll be...” she gasps for air, it really is rather excruciating to breath now, “waiting for you... Sasuke-kun...”
Sasuke looks away and nods as he pulls out the sword. She tries her best not to whimper, for his sake. As soon as the blade is out, her knees give out and she drops against the floor but he catches her in his arms before she can even hit the soiled and bloodied ground. Her body is small and frail and cold, and his arms are warm and everything else she had dreamed when they wound around her.
A last smile.
“Goodbye, Sakura,” his voice is hoarse and tired, like when you’ve cried during a long time, almost as if he knew beforehand; but somehow, it’s still so very soft and gentle, and so him, “for now.”
A last breath.
Title: Departure
Series: Naruto
Pairing: SasuSaku
Date: October 17th, 2006.
Warning! Character death.
Notes: Romance, ANGST, lots of that. PG-13.
Summary: It's not their last meeting.
+++
She liked to think he felt something. Long, long ago, deep within the walls of his heart, there was something warm. She liked to think that under the shell, there was something akin to an emotion, whatever that could slightly resemble to love. She had tried to uncover what lay beneath the anger and the hurt. Layer by layer, one after the other, she had hoped to find that he was still human, after all.
But his blade is cold and the blood on his hands is hers. His eyes, unforgiving, stare at her. No widened pupils, no visible shock, just the serenity of a killer. She doesn’t expect that, she doesn’t want that. Her lungs constrict painfully as he twists the sword still embedded in her chest.
Quickly, quickly...
He wants her to part soon and she can tell. Whether he wants to go because he deems this as a waste of his time or because he is disgusted she doesn’t know. Part of her wishes that it is because it’s painful for him to see her like this: so ragged up, so weak, so lost.
Broken.
Her hands reach for his face, dirtying with thick, bloody traces his pale cheeks. He grimaces, the first actual gesture he makes after all this time, but doesn’t step away. It seems that regardless of being used to the stench of blood, he is still uneasy. Or maybe it’s because now there are tears in her eyes and it’s becoming harder to breathe for her, making her pant... It must be a fairly ugly sight because the sword twists further.
Quickly, quickly...
The sword is actually the only thing that’s holding her up on her feet, pinned by it as she is against the tree behind her. Her knees are wobbling, almost limp. Everything feels too heavy. It’s only a matter of time before she can close her eyes and rest. For now, her gaze lowers to his grip on the sword. The knuckles are so white... She almost smirks.
She looks up at him again and sighs when realization dawns upon her. His red eyes are so black now, and wet. The frown and the grimace remain on place, and his jaw is set in hard line. He is breaking too, at last. She realizes and it’s even more painful than it had been seeing him there unfazed because his sword has pierced her.
‘You can let go, I’m ready,’she wants to tell him, but she has no strength. The words escape her throat in a gasp. Instead of speaking, her hand drops to his chest, where she finds a heart beating wildly beneath her palm. She thinks that perhaps she isn’t that quite ready to part with him, after all, but now it doesn’t matter.
“Sakura...” he murmurs. The young shinobi’s voice is deep and mostly tired, just about the kind of voice coming from an old man that has lived far too long and has seen far too much.
She liked to think he felt something, anything. These are her last moments and she knows. All these years haven’t been worth for nothing. These have been worth it because he feels, he worries, he hurts, he cries. He isn’t made of stone or ice like some people had wanted her to believe. She always trusted him to prove them wrong, and he did.
“I’ll be...” she gasps for air, it really is rather excruciating to breath now, “waiting for you... Sasuke-kun...”
Sasuke looks away and nods as he pulls out the sword. She tries her best not to whimper, for his sake. As soon as the blade is out, her knees give out and she drops against the floor but he catches her in his arms before she can even hit the soiled and bloodied ground. Her body is small and frail and cold, and his arms are warm and everything else she had dreamed when they wound around her.
A last smile.
“Goodbye, Sakura,” his voice is hoarse and tired, like when you’ve cried during a long time, almost as if he knew beforehand; but somehow, it’s still so very soft and gentle, and so him, “for now.”
A last breath.