Claude de Alger Obelia was a tyrant by day and philanderer by night. She was a dancer — an insignificant offering of womanly flesh from her nation to his. This was her beginning and his end.
A life of debauchery was the only way he knew how to live. After Claude had gained sole control of Obelia, he had been diligent in ridding it of troublesome folk. His cold reign struck fear in as many hearts as it enticed. A tyrant by day and philanderer by night, Claude was fickle.
Both of his reputations had traveled far and wide on the lips of visitors and gossips. It didn’t take long for other countries and nations to bring offerings of the womanly kind in hope of appealing to the mighty Sun of Obelia.
So when Siodonna’s ambassadors casually mentioned a dancer amongst their party, Claude already knew that they were aiming for the honor of entering his bedchambers. He didn’t mind playing along with their poorly concealed game. Even if the dancer had the luck to be beneath his sheets, most offerings never got to receive the honor twice.
He knew he had made a mistake the moment her dance began. There was an allure that he couldn’t resist. Claude found himself genuinely looking at the dancer and not through her as he did with so many other women. Instantly suspicious, he glared at every inch of her figure, determined to figure out if there was magic play involved. How else could he be so thoroughly enraptured by a mere woman?
When the dance ended, the Siodonna representatives waited with bated breath for Claude’s command. Either their offering had succeeded in enticing the cold tyrant or they, as a nation, had failed to secure any ties with the powerful Obelia Empire.
A chill blanketed the room, every second that crawled by served only to worsen the feeling. Siodonna’s representatives barely moved, hardly daring to breathe, the gravity of the king’s decision weighing heavily upon them.
“Her, tonight.” And with two words, lazily declared, Claude rose from his throne and exited the royal receiving chamber without even knowing her name.
With a quiet intensity, Claude entered his bedchambers that night. His palace as empty as usual with the exception of a certain dancer delicately perched upon the edge of his bed. As Claude closed the distance between them, even in the dim moonlight, he found himself contemplating, ‘Ah, tonight’s conquest is beautiful, indeed.’
‘What a shame,’ he thought as he pressed her against his silk sheets. Claude almost found it a pity that something so beautiful would be ruined by him tonight. For just one night in the king’s bed rendered her used goods, unable to be touched by any other man for the rest of her life.
But what he had never expected was that he would be the ruined one, unable to ever love another woman again.
I was digging through my files for a terribly old fanfic I wrote eons ago and while I failed to find it, I did unearth a few incomplete/unposted fics~
Not really sure if I’ll ever finish them so I’ll just post snippets from them here:
IN ANOTHER WORLD
“Tell him that I will wait for three days and only three days,” Sakura declared with her back turned to Suigetsu, “If he doesn’t return in three days’ time then tell him that he won’t ever have to return.”
Suigetsu chuckled awkwardly, his hands extending in front of him in disbelief, “You can’t be serious.” But even as the words fell from his tongue, he could see Sakura’s unwavering stance. Not knowing how long she had until her stubbornness gave way to her sadness, Sakura did not answer Suigetsu. Instead, she walked away.
Inside of her residence, Sakura waited a week. Although she had told him that she would only wait for three days, she still continued to wait. Sakura had spent years waiting for him, longing for him. Now that she’s finally received affection from him in return, she struggled to let it go.
But two days before their wedding, Sasuke had told her that he needed to go see Karin. He said that she was dying and he had to go save her out of the debt he still had with her mother. He said he would be back but on their wedding day, as their guests feasted, awaiting for the auspicious hour for the ceremony to begin, he never came.
Sakura kept waiting even as her parents had to usher the guests home. The next day, she had fetched Suigetsu and told him to give Sasuke a message. An ultimatum that even Sakura, herself, could not stick to. She waited the allotted three days and then another four. Food was hardly ever touched and water had to coaxed past her stubborn melancholy.
A week left her haggard. On the end of the seventh day, Sakura packed a few belongings and slipped away in the dead of night. She left behind a simple note for her concerned family: ‘I want to see what a world without him looks like. I’ll come back when I’m ready.’
Sasuke had always been the one to leave, to wander the world for years in search of revenge and redemption. Holed up in a village full of memories, Sakura had polished herself into an impressive kunoichi. But no matter how strong she had become, Sasuke was still her weakness. And it’s time to leave that all behind.
But fate had plans that even she couldn’t run from.
(There was no official name for this file. Instead, it was called ‘HOTHOT’. Don’t tell me I’m the only one with weird temporary file names, haha)
Feeling the sunlight burn her eyelids, Sakura squinted slightly against the sensation before bringing a hand up to shield her still closed eyes. Hesitantly opening her eyes, she noticed how the sun had flooded her entire room. It was already noon.
The realization settled heavily in her heart as she let her eyes roam her empty room. She was alone with only a few signs that she hadn’t dreamed of him the night before. The creased bedsheets beside her spot on the bed, her own nakedness, and the slightly sticky sensation between her legs told her that Sasuke had been there. And for a brief moment, they had spilled their love all over each other.
Now he was gone again. Gone to fight for revenge and retribution.
Not even a week later, Sakura found herself bloodied and beaten on the dirt beneath the feet of a cloaked enemy. Clenching her fists, she glared up towards her assailant only to meet a pair of cruelly crimson eyes. For a fraction of a second, his name fluttered inside of her heart but as her vision shifted and then faded altogether, Sakura realized that it wasn’t Sasuke.
She woke up bound in a dark room with walls of compacted dirt.
He’d rather have her tucked away safe in the medic tents than in the middle of the battlefield and even though she can fight, she knows there are lives waiting to be saved. So when Sasuke tells her to go, she does.
“Sakura--!”
His desperate scream ripped through the cacophony of war. Frantically searching for a glimpse of pink, his head whipped around, trying to rise above the battle. His body was driven by complete instinct as it countered an attack from the front and dodged a kunai whistling towards his back.
Damn it, Sakura, Sasuke thought as he landed a swift roundhouse kick on an enemy ninja’s unprotected head. Spying a flash of pink in his peripherals, he spun quickly to follow it with his Sharigan. There, meters away, the medic nin was easily crushing sternums and pulverizing ribs with her chakra fists.
Spurred forth by the sight of Sakura, he connected his fist to a daring enemy who stood in his path to her. Instinct forced his body to tuck and roll forward as kunais were launched at his ankles, most likely in a last ditch attempt by a fallen enemy. As he righted himself, Sasuke shoved another enemy aside, tossing him onto a comrade before they both tumbled onto the blood stained dirt.
Sasuke, determined to not lose Sakura again, stubbornly refused to look anywhere else as he forced the war to part, clearing a path to her. He felt her name rip from his throat again but it sounded so far away, even to him. The sounds of war rose higher than his desperation.
But Sakura had heard it and she immediately turned towards the source, their eyes locking. He was so close to her now, a quick empowered leap or two and she’d be within an arm’s reach. An enemy nin flashed in front of her, ready to slice her chest open but he made the fatal mistake of standing in between Sasuke and Sakura. Before he could bellow his war cry, he was cut down by Sasuke’s chokuto.
Their eyes locked once more before they immediately synchronized and pressed their backs together. Sakura threw a right hook, connecting it to an enemy’s eye and launching him back. Having turned around to see three more enemies advancing towards him, Sasuke reflexively parried their shurikens before flourishing his blade through the air and slicing their necks.
With his unoccupied hand, he reached behind to clutch hers. Sakura spare a brief glance over her shoulder at Sasuke when she felt him holding onto her. Before she could question it, her attention was diverted towards her front. She kicked up hard, connecting it with the wrist holding a kunai aimed towards her chest. Sensing the enemy’s wrist shattered against her chakra kick, she followed up with a punch to his sternum. He landed in a pile of bodies a few feet away.
Sasuke took her chance to talk away as he spoke loudly, trying to make his words clear above the chaos, “We have to go,” he paused to spear an enemy with his blade, “Fighting small fry isn’t going to win this war.”
“We still have to fight our way out,” Sakura countered his plan before she blocked a fist swinging towards her face. Easily wrapping her fingers around the ninja’s forearm, she twisted until she felt his joints pop out before tossing him aside.
Sasuke cut down a handful more enemy nin before offering, “I’ll throw you.”
Sakura hesitated at his proposition, understanding that if Sasuke tossed her from the battlefield, he’d still be surrounded. The hesitation costed her as she felt pain flare in her side. An enemy nin smirked in her face, proud that he had landed an attack but his small victory was quickly demolished as Sakura punched his head square on. He wilted before her feet.
He had felt Sakura’s hesitation and knew that she had been struck but feeling her strong stance, pressing determinedly against his back, Sasuke knew that it was a minor injury. Besides, Sakura was strong; a small cut would never tear her down. But the cut solidified his determination to get the medic nin out of the middle of this battle.
Letting go of her hand, Sasuke dipped to the ground and spun a kick in a wide circle, clearing away enough of the area to give him steady ground. Sakura had let out a gasp as he simultaneously stabbed his chokuto into the dirt and grabbed her by her waist.
“I can’t clear you past everything but I can get you close enough to the border of this battle,” Sasuke hurriedly informed her as he readjusted his hold on her waist. With both hands gripping her waist, he could feel her blood from the cut in her side but Sasuke tried to not think about how his grip must be hurting her wound.
Adrenaline coursing through her had numbed her minor pain as she stared into Sasuke’s eyes, pleading him to let her go. She could fight with him. She could guard his back. Sakura wanted to stay and protect him.
Sasuke knew what Sakura wanted but he was determined to send her back to the medic tents. At least there, she wouldn’t get hurt and then he’d be free of worry and start his hunt for the enemy leaders of this battle. Knowing that his Sakura wouldn’t be able to turn away their hurt comrades, Sasuke smirked and declared, “They need your help.”
Tossing her into the air, Sasuke positioned his cradled palms up to catch her feet as she began her fall. Her feet landing in his cupped hands, Sasuke sank with her fall to gather as much springing force as possible. Forcing chakra to the soles of his feet, he launched himself off the battlegrounds, propelling Sakura through the air and threw her towards the edge of the fields.
Falling back down, Sasuke landed with one hand brushing the ground before he righted himself. Pulling his chokuto out of the dirt, he whirled around to cut down more enemy forces. In the corner of his eyes, he tracked Sakura’s leap and descent. Once her feet had touched the ground again, Sakura spared a glance back at Sasuke before sprinting in the direction of the medic tents. He was right, they needed her. But as soon as the most serious injuries were dealt with, Sakura was determined to come back for Sasuke.
Notes: I had no plan for this prompt but I wanted to write so I just threw some words together and hoped that it’d work, haha.
Awake. Awake and alive, she realized before she closed her eyes again, hoping for a different outcome. But no further rest would grace her tired mind and slowly, painfully, she crawled out from beneath the tangled sheets.
With eyes too sad for her face, she surveyed the aftermath. A music box left open for too long now lay dead surrounded by a fortitude of empty alcohol bottles. An empty water bottle or two were camouflaged among the empty glass, sensibility had remained a powerful force even in her drunken haze the night before.
She felt herself sigh but it sounded miles away. Shuffling towards the mess, she gently pushed the empty bottles farther back on the table to clear some space. Fingers trembling, she closed the music box and picked it up. Fighting a suddenly overwhelming urge to throw the delicate box as far away as she possibly could, she held it a little firmer before tucking it away on a high shelf, out of sight.
Settling her weary bones into a chair, she closed her eyes and prayed for a different ending.
“Do you regret it?” She sighed, looking far away with sadness shining in her eyes.
Finding it unbearable to look at, he looked away and swallowed a sigh too large and coughed a small cough instead. The crickets chirped in the heavy silence as the question hung stale in the air. He ran a hand through his hair, fisting in the roots at the back of his head.
Frustrated, he grumbled, “I don’t know.”
He knows that he should probably regret it. He knows that he should feel remorse for leaving it all behind, for leaving her behind. The pain he suffered, the anguish he endured should all be regrettable things long forgotten but even if he won’t admit it, it all still haunts him late at night when the village sleeps and he lies awake.
Something inside of him, call it pride or arrogance, forces him to spit a cold, hard “No.” before he could bite his tongue. But as soon as the word spills into the night air, unstoppable, uncontainable, he regrets it. Yes, he regrets it all.
But he doesn’t amend his answer.
She exhales slowly, deeply; too lost in the pain that rippled through her body. Determined to not look at him, she murmurs a heart-breaking “I see.”
They sit in silence until the birds chirp at the morning light. They sit and let the words seep into their bones and fester into aches the way water grows mold when left alone in wet clothes. Neither able to take a step forward but neither willing to take a step back, they sit together knowing that this is the last time.
That after this moment, this time, she’ll be her and he’ll be him.
SASUSAKU month ( 2017 ) ... “even just for a moment”
“I have to go now,” Sasuke murmured, as though if it were soft enough, quiet enough, that it wouldn’t be true.
“Promise me, you’ll come back.”
Tenderly, Sasuke laced his fingers through hers. Sakura shifted closer to his body, nestling her body into the curves of his. Enveloped by the dark, they sat together on the couch, savoring the moment.
Sasuke closed his eyes and rested his head on top of hers when she leaned against his shoulder. Her blush locks felt silky against his face and he inhaled deeply her cherry blossom scent.
She stared at their woven fingers for a long while before her eyes shifted to the uncovered window. Outside, the village was asleep and the stars were awake. “Sasuke..” She whispered as though she was afraid that any louder and their peace would shatter, “You haven’t promised me yet.”
Slowly opening his eyes, his gaze shifted to the dim stars, high and low in the dark sky. A long sigh fluttered past as Sasuke gauged his time based on the colors dyeing the horizon.
“Don’t doubt.”
His words were crisp, resolute in their message. Sakura sat up straighter and lifted her head to look at Sasuke. Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears as they stared into his, full of questions and longing.
‘Don’t go,’ her eyes pleaded.
‘I must…,’ his eyes sadly answered.
A tear slowly trailed down her cheek as she bit her lip in failing restraint. Softly, Sasuke pulled his hand free from hers to cup her delicate face. His thumb tenderly brushed the tear away.
Sakura quivered under his affectionate hold, already feeling the pain of a loss that had yet to occur. With eyes too sad for the desire they held, Sasuke carefully pulled Sakura’s face closer before he crushed her lips with his in reckless, needy abandon.
A hand crawled up to his chest, fisting itself in his shirt. Her other hand unsteadily reached up to hold onto his wrist, her thumb rubbing gently across the veins on the back of his hand. His hand pressed against her face a little harder, a little needier, in response.
Too soon, Sasuke pulled away. His lips lingered briefly on her bottom lip before he ended the kiss. Their hands stayed, reluctance prevented their grasps from letting go. Another tear was quickly brushed from her face by his touch but it was in vain as another easily replaced it.
“I have to go now,” Sasuke murmured, as though if it were soft enough, quiet enough, that it wouldn’t be true.
Sakura’s grip on him tightened, refusal pulsing in her limbs.
“Stay,” she commanded, “Just a moment longer.”
“The sun is rising soon,” he reasoned, “I’ve already stolen a moment too long.”
SASUSAKU month ( 2017 ) ... “lights out, words gone”
Late at night, when the lights are out, she waits for him. And when he comes back, no words are spoken because none was ever needed.
Instincts never rest and even in the haze of deep sleep, Sakura felt the sheets around her shift.
Moonlight framed by the night flooded her vision. The first thing that splintered the fog of sleep was how the luminous moonlight highlighted the ripples on the bedsheets beside her, casting harsh shadows in the depressions left behind. The seemingly unending illusion of lights and shadows weaving together in the space beside her sent a shock through her veins. Her heartbeat pounded inside her head, reverberating through her limbs.
Sasuke was gone.
Numbs hands stretched and tangled themselves in the creases of used bedsheets. They didn’t feel warm against her skin but they didn’t feel cold either. Sakura tenderly ran her hands along the entire expanse of her reach. A part of her knew that no matter how far she stretched or how tenderly she caressed, an empty bed was an empty bed. But a part of her heart hummed beneath the harsh palpitations that if she kept going, maybe she’d be able to feel him again.
A noise in the distance shook her free from her thoughts. Her kunoichi instincts flared, making her immediately and incredibly aware of the stillness around her. Eyes now cleared, scanned her perimeter, lingering on the opened bedroom door. The glowing edges of golden artificial light lay splayed on the floorboards of her hallway.
Her mind sighed, ‘Sasuke-kun..,’ as it eased to a relaxed state, no longer hyperaware. Her body, slowly following, sagged out of its previous rigidity. Sakura stared at the subtly faded edges of light stretching towards her, catching itself on the spaces between floorboards.
She knew that Sasuke was just down the hallway, most likely relieving himself in the bathroom. But she laid awake, carefully listening for any further disturbances. Even knowing that if she fell back asleep, everything would be fine, Sakura couldn’t bring herself to close her eyes again. She laid there, staring, waiting.
The soft click of an opening door was followed by a rush of bright light, intensifying the previously barely tangible glow. Just as quickly as it flooded her hallway, the shockingly vivid burst of light disappeared with another quiet click.
Knowing that Sasuke was done, Sakura glanced at her outstretched moonlit limbs before silently retracting them back into her warm embrace, freeing up the space beside her. She closed her eyes and took slow, steady breaths in the hopes of successfully feigning sleep before Sasuke came back to bed. Having mostly lulled herself to sleep once more by the time she feels the bed shift again, Sakura barely had enough energy to crack her eyes open to watch him slide into bed.
Sasuke silently slips back under their sheets but remained facing the filtered moonlight. With blurry eyes, Sakura watches his illuminated silhouette, her eyes unsteadily tracing the curve of his neck to his shoulder and down the slope of his back.
Lying sideways, he slightly leaned towards the uncovered window, letting the moonlight wash over him. Sakura’s gaze lingered on the highlighted sections of his side and back, the bright moonlight seemed to glow on Sasuke’s white shirt. She breathes a slow breath and then another. Then the light suddenly became too compelling to resist and her body shifts closer to his until her face rests gently against his shoulder blade. Her pale arm reaches over again.
This time, it finds purchase against Sasuke’s still form. The moonlight blending her pale skin into his white shirt as Sakura draped her arm on his body, her limb notching itself in the dip of his waist. Feeling his warmth against her skin, she exhales the easiest breath she’s taken since she woke up and settles into the lull of sleep. She swiftly fell asleep, the fatigue of the day pulling her away. Sakura wasn’t even awake long enough to feel Sasuke tenderly grasp her draped hand.
Smiling into the moonlight, Sasuke soothingly brushed his thumb back and forth across the back of her hand until he too could no longer fight against the lure of sleep.
Returning to Konoha, Sasuke complied to the terms and conditions, including being placed under constant supervision. Unfailingly, Sakura offers to be his warden, a proposition that Sasuke is ultimately grateful for.
His turbulent return to the village was wrought with rigid protocol and tenacious fear. Sasuke had already foreseen the indisposition but remained steadfast in his pursuit of upholding Itachi's wishes. He would return to Konoha and safeguard it with his life.
A plethora of terms and conditions plagued his reintegration. Other than a full, hopefully temporary, prohibition of weapons, Sasuke was required to be under constant surveillance. The ex-criminal had to be continuously monitored by the Anbu unless he was being supervised by a high-ranking shinobi that was preapproved by the council. Whether by sheer luck or pure coincidence, Sakura was one of the preapproved and had graciously offered to house the Uchiha. She knew that Sasuke, while a reformed man, was still an eminently private man. At least with her, he wouldn't have to endure the constant scrutiny of unknown Anbu strangers. Secretly grateful for her amiable considerations, he did not decline the offer.
Monotonous days blended together into a colorless passing of time. Initially, they had been wary and cautious around each other but their constantly close proximity slowly cultivated the seeds of long buried affection. Hesitant brushes evolved into careful touches. Behind closed doors and away from fearful stares, their affection for one another flourished.
Six seasons passed before the council tentatively began to loosen the tight leash they had on Sasuke. He no longer had to be monitored as long as he continued to adhere to the rest of the conditions. Dropping one condition wasn’t much but Sasuke understood that it would take time for the council to trust someone who was once an international criminal.
Although he was relieved that he didn't have to be chaperoned like a small child anymore, Sasuke found himself feeling an odd, tightening sensation in his chest. He didn't want to lose Sakura's companionship now that he's grown so accustomed to it. But as a man of few words unable to comprehend emotions he's been trained to discard on demand, Sasuke was incapable of vocalizing his reluctance to leave her. He’s had to walk away from her before and even then, biting the inside of his cheek and clenching his fists until his nails left crescent wounds in his palm did he barely manage to do it.
Likewise, Sakura had gotten used to Sasuke's constant presence in her home and while he never voiced it, she felt that he cared about her, even if it was only in the most meager amount. Otherwise, why would he remind her to eat when endless work consumed her and hunger became a foreign sensation? Or when exhaustion claimed victory over her stubbornness and she falls asleep at her desk, only to wake up carefully tucked in bed? She didn't want to lose this.
One early morning, Sakura studied Sasuke through a series of glances, glimpses, and peeks. Picking at her omelet in between her careful observations of the Uchiha, Sakura finds her appetite dwindling as anxiety took its place instead. Exceptionally perceptive, Sasuke had noticed Sakura quietly surveying him all morning. Spearing the last bite of his omelet, he finally raises his head to meet Sakura's contemplative eyes.
Her eyes widened slightly in shock at being caught staring but Sasuke simply stared right back as he brings his fork to his mouth and chews the last bite of his breakfast. Sakura breaks eye contact first as she quickly lowers her head and continues to pick at her plate. No longer able to gaze into her viridian eyes, he took a sip of his tea to wash down the bite before he stoically asked, "What is it, Sakura?"
Sakura winced at Sasuke's question, suddenly feeling embarrassed at being caught. Feeling far more like her younger, shier self than the strong, resilient woman she's become, Sakura hesitantly approached the topic she's been trying to avoid for weeks. Anxiety twisted inside her.
"You..You're no longer required to have supervision," she stammers out the obvious, "You don't have to stay here anymore if you don't want to... "
Unable to meet his eyes, Sakura had looked at everything in the room that wasn't Sasuke. As such, she did not see how his eyebrows slightly furrowed and his nonchalant mouth tightening into a thin line in response to her statements.
"Sakura," Sasuke said slightly more stern than he had intended.
Noticing Sasuke's colder tone, Sakura hurriedly continued, "I mean, you can stay if you want, I don't mind!" Swallowing the lump in her throat, "I'd love for you to stay. I just don't want you to feel like you're forced to stay." It was true; she'd absolutely love for Sasuke to continue to stay with her. But she knew better than to beg the Uchiha to stay.
Sakura would simply present the possibility to him.
"No one can force me to do anything," Sasuke bluntly declared. If he wasn't willing even in the slightest bit, he just wouldn't. He wasn't being forced to stay with her, he wanted to be there. Despite how much he had tried to deny it at first, he'd grown attached to Sakura.
Comprehension dawning upon her, she felt the anxiety dwelling in her stomach begin to dissipate. A warm smile graced her face, brightening her complexion, "You're right, Sasuke-kun."
Skewering a chunk of omelet rather than just pushing food around her plate, Sakura happily offered, "You're welcome to stay as long as you like." Bringing the bite to her mouth, she finally started eating.
Sasuke brought his tea cup back up to his lips as he watched her start to eat. Using the cup as a cover, he concealed a smile before taking a real sip.
Sometimes, she gets jealous. But when he holds her close and murmurs her name, she realizes that it’s more than enough because Sasuke Uchiha doesn’t say he loves you, he shows you.
Sometimes, Sakura gets jealous. Eyes sparkling green with envy rather than delight gazed at Hinata and Naruto's intertwined hands. Biting the inside of her cheek in an effort to quell her jealousy, Sakura lowers her gaze to her own empty hands. She stares at the crease lines that some say can tell her future and the painfully empty spaces between her lithe fingers.
Konoha was having a festival tonight and couples are running rampant in the streets. Deliciously sweet smiles and hesitantly trembling touches could be seen in every direction. And what Sakura would give to be like Naruto and Hinata tonight. To have intertwined hands, airy laughs, coy caresses, and more. But Sasuke wasn't that kind of guy. So Sakura relented.
She tries to enjoy the festival as is and does her best to ignore the aching emptiness she feels in her hands and the burning envy in her heart. As Sakura drops her hands and lifts her gaze, she paints a bright smile on her face as she exclaims, "Let's go see what they're up to, Sasuke-kun."
Weaving through the crowds, Sakura makes her way towards Hinata and Naruto, never realizing the way Sasuke was looking at her when she was staring at her hands.
The crowds begin to thin as the night gets later. Sakura's spent most of her evening chasing the sunshine couple around with occasional glances back at Sasuke to ensure that she hadn't lost him either. Sasuke follows silently, watching her as she bounces forward. She never seems to look back in time to see his tender smile before his stoic expression has surfaced again. Always just out of his reach, Sasuke saunters after her.
"Hey there, are you here by yourself tonight?"
Sakura turns to her side to see a fresh-faced boy with a nice smile looking at her expectantly. Stunned into silence by the sudden flirtation, Sakura stumbles over her tongue and her feet. But before she could even close her eyes to brace for the fall, she feels a large hand clasp her own and an arm loop around her waist.
Straightening herself, she looks up to see Sasuke's face but his eyes weren't on her. He had managed to catch her before she fell and without letting go, he answers for her, "She's with me."
The boy smiles wider and laughs a little to dispel the awkward atmosphere before he says something similar to an apology and quickly fades into the crowd. As Sakura watches the boy disappear, she suddenly realizes how warm her hand feels and looks down at her hand clasping Sasuke's.
Color creeps onto her cheeks as she fumbles with an apology of her own while trying to pull her hand from his. Sasuke tightens his grip on her hand.
She stops trying to pull her hand away and looks up only to finally meet his obsidian eyes. Losing herself in his gaze and their close proximity, she thinks about how little she's seen his eyes tonight. How she'd miss watching them watch her.
"S-sasuke-kun?" Sakura stutters.
In response, Sasuke pulls her body closer to his. Smelling her strawberry shampoo, he fleetingly wonders how her hair would feel tangled in his hands.
"Let's ditch the dobe," he huskily exhales beside her before he releases her waist but not her hand. Shifting his hand, he threads his fingers through hers and starts to pull her away from the crowds.
Confused on what just happened, Sakura hurries after him while staring at their connected hands. As the shock fades, she lets a small smile grace her face and tightens her grip on his hand. In front of her, Sasuke feels her squeeze his hand just a little harder and he can't help the smile that creeps onto his face either.
He takes them through winding streets and twisty alleyways at a brisk pace that leaves Sakura slightly breathless by the time they arrive at his doorstep. Having yet to release his grasp on her, Sasuke opens the door and pulls her in. And she suddenly recognizes the needy way he pulls her to the bedroom and the heaviness in his breath.
Not the first time they've been intimate, Sakura lets Sasuke roughly undo her yukata as she tries to find openings in his embrace to undo his. As he gently frees her from her underlayers, Sasuke inhales the scent of her neck and exhales her name. Sakura lets her fingers trail along his exposed skin and shivers under the weight of her name on his lips.
Night fades to day as she cuddles close to Sasuke's chest. His breathing, slow and even, indicates his sleeping state and as she watches the rise and fall of his bare chest, Sakura smiles to herself.
Sometimes, she wants something more than what they already have. But those thoughts dissipate as quickly as they transpire because Sakura knows that no one gets to touch him the way she does. No one gets to love him the way she does.
And that's good enough because although Sasuke doesn't say he loves her, he never ceases to show her.
He was determined to burn the world down even if it meant burning with it. He had no qualms with setting life ablaze but there was one thing, and only one thing, that he refused to burn. He refused to let her burn down with his sins.
The metallic tang of life drowned his palette, numbing his tongue. Whether it was his blood or hers, it all tasted bitterly the same. He tried to swallow the taste away but it was a dry swallow that left his throat raw.
Unflinchingly, Sasuke gazed at her with indifference.
Colder than frostbite, Sasuke Uchiha was not one to willingly yield. Forsaking the last remnants of kindness and friendship, he had accepted the bitter chill of winter as a turbulent blizzard of hatred and revenge latched onto his core. He was no longer the bright summer child with easy breezes anymore. Sasuke was now the unforgiving, hard winter kin and he certainly didn't deserve a tranquil, benign spring child like her.
Steeling his resolve, he shifts half an inch closer to her unwittingly. For all the wrongs he's done in this life and all the wrongs he will continue to make, let this be the one thing he does right. If the world had even a shred of pity left in it for him, let Sasuke sever these bonds and allow Sakura to be as free as her namesake.
"Surrender," he says more to the whistling wind and stirring dust clouds than to her. Sasuke's rigid resolve manifested itself through coloring his eyes as red as the spilled blood drying on the ground. The air shifted and so did Sakura.
A step forward, her eyes betrayed the time that has passed. Sakura was no longer the soft spring child more suited for twirling among blossoms. She was a warrior now. She's killed and seen blood spilled, knowing that she was the cause of it. Frail could no longer describe her.
Clenching her fists, she adopted Sasuke's terse manner of speech by responding with a simple, resolute, "No."
"Tch," Sasuke frustratingly exhaled.
As his mind wondered on how he could convince her that while he needed to burn with the world, she did not. How could he get her annoyingly firm idealistic goals to unravel? How could he make her understand that she doesn't need to burn with him, that she's the only thing he's not willing to set on fire? Unknowingly, every question that ran through his mind had brought him one step closer to her. And now, he's so close to her that if he merely extended his chokuto, Sasuke could kill her.
She chisels away at the tense air in the small space between him and her, "Come back with me."
This was the closest they've stood without punches flying and kunais piercing since he’s left. The air was thick and sizzled with electricity but Sakura couldn't tell if it was the remnants of Sasuke's attacks or merely the conflicting resolutions battling one another. It made her hair stand on end regardless.
"Aren't you tired?" he remarked before he thought it all through. Wasn't she tired of chasing after his summer shadows? Wasn't she tired of watching the sands of their past slip through her fingers? Wasn't she tired of getting burned whenever she pleaded with him and he walked away anyways?
Sakura's eyes softened in shock at his question. She hadn't expected such a.. caring, almost sentimental, question to part from his lips. For a second she considered that maybe he'd already trapped her inside of a genjutsu and that she had just been horribly slow at recognizing his abilities.
But no, he had asked.
"I'm always tired," Sakura replied achingly honest. She was exhausted. Tired of chasing him when she knows they could be happy. Exhausted with training and honing her skills to provide him with something more. Fatigued with the brutality of the shinobi world they live in.
Before Sasuke could fill the lingering silence, Sakura whispered, "But never of you."
Her bright green eyes hardened once more, her resolve burning in her veins.
"Come back with me," She commanded.
Stunned by her sudden confession, he quickly recovered with a cruel smirk, "Tch, go back by yourself."
One foot in front of the other, Sakura closed the short distance between them until she was a mere half-step from touching him.
"Come with me."
Inhaling deeply, he willed himself to not falter. Sasuke refused to take a step back but even more so with a step forward. He would not yield and he would not give in. This was for her sake. He won't let her burn with his sins.
Her viridian eyes narrowed ever so slightly, ever so delicately, "What are you so afraid of, Sasuke-kun? Why are you doing all this?" Her hand gestured out towards the ruined battlegrounds but her eyes never left his.
"I'm not afraid of anything," Sasuke bluntly declared though he could feel his heart falter just half a beat. He looked down at Sakura, determined to be cold and imposing, hard and untouchable.
Sakura countered, "Then take me with you. I only fear losing you."
A pregnant pause grew as the two entered an unspoken battle full of hard-set mouths and stubborn eyes. The longer he looked, the more he hesitated. Sasuke was meant to see red, not green. His gaze was destined for spilled blood and raging flames. Not this cool viridian that taunted him with promises of lush grass and teased him with promises of blue skies.
"I can't," Sasuke breathes as his heart skips another beat.
In that one moment, he sounded as frail as a lost child and he hoped that he sounded firmer than that in her ears. But it was in vain because she had heard it and her eyes had softened once more.
Relentlessly, she demanded, "Why?"
Thousands of answers flash by. All of which are as cold and cruel as the next. His hand tightens instinctively around the hilt of his chokuto. She was so close. It would be embarrassingly easy for him to knock her out and leave her once more.
And yet, "I won't let you burn," was what slipped from his parted lips, nearly silent in its breathlessness.
Green eyes widen at him and Sasuke can't help but notice the traces of blue that lines the edges of her irises. How beautiful, he fleetingly thought. His hand twitched, causing the chokuto to catch some of the sunlight. It burned bright white, looking deceivingly pure when it has tasted blood more times than he can remember. The glint of steel distracts him for a second, if even that. But it was long enough for her hand to reach up and brush his cheeks.
His eyes flash back to hers, his hand twitched again in its pounding ache to touch her back. She's seen the raging desire in his eyes and now she knows, she can still bring him back.
"Sasuke-kun, don't you understand?" Sakura gently mumbles as her hesitant hands brush against the locks of hair caressing his cheek.
"First love burns the brightest," She smiles, "I haven't stopped burning since."
Her cheeks flush as though emphasizing how her love had yet to cease, as though the flames themselves were licking at her cheeks. His empty hand moves on its own as it cups her cheek and slowly, softly, his thumb brushes against her blush.
She shivers under his touch and he notices.
His resolve dissolves.
The chokuto clangs once, twice, as it falls onto the dirt. Sasuke blinks first and Sakura follows suit but before she can open her eyes, she feels his lips on hers and his hands cradling her face.
He had yet to meet his friend’s gaze. With stoic melancholy, he answered so softly that had the wind been just a little stronger, it would have carried his words far from anyone’s ears, “Because I don’t deserve her.”
His friend sighed, his frustration was tangible. “So you thought that pushing her away, breaking her heart, and fucking her friend was a good plan?” his frustration was tinged with an incredulous sensation. Never did he think that such a smart man could think of something so stupid.
There was a pregnant pause before he whispered, “I just wanted to get away. I wanted some time away from her.”
The atmosphere got increasingly heavier as the silence rang louder than any sound. His friend mumbled a few words to the wind before he walked away. But as fate would have it, he heard the it anyways.
“Take all the time you want because she’s not coming back. She’s dead.”
"So, when will it be your guys' turn to get married?" he smirkingly asked.
The alcohol was beginning to permeate the air as it diluted everyone's judgement. But what would a mixed bachelors' party be without a little liquid fire. She, as an honorary 'one of the boys', had been invited to sit among the friends she considered as brothers. Seemingly very intrigued by her fifth shot of the night, she didn't answer him.
Tossing back the rum shot, her flighty eyes looked anywhere at him other than his glazed over eyes, "I've wanted to marry him since the first day I met him."
Immediately, tossing back a sixth shot, she finally looked him in the eyes. With a rueful smile, "But he won't ever marry me."
