When he returns home, she's already there and lips touch his cheek tenderly. "Welcome home" she whispers and lets go of his hand. He returns the peck and acknowledges her greeting with a nod. Sasuke isn't supposed to say a lot of words.
"I already prepared dinner" her voice calls and he follows her into the kitchen where the smell of a meal cooked with love awaits him. His eyes scan over the table and he spots the carefully formed Onigiri. Sasuke is supposed to like those very much.
Quietly, he takes his seat and eyes her expectantly, waiting for her to strike up the conversation. He's never the first one to speak. Slender fingers tuck strands of soft, pink hair behind an ear and soft, pink lips pull into an affectionate smile. "What's with that look? Today barely anything happened at the hospital, if you don't count Akira running straight into a door as life changing" she tells him and he makes the corners of his lips twitch up in the smallest of smiles. Sasuke isn't supposed to show much emotion.
When she asks him about his day, he replies that it had been a rather uneventful but tiring day for him as well and that Naruto had made a fool out of himself once again. Her laugh rings out and she remarks how the dope will never change. "Maybe I punched him one too many times..." she muses, but the expression on her face is everything but remorseful. Again his lips form a faint smirk. Sasuke is supposed to enjoy taunting Naruto a lot despite their friendship.
"By the way, I met him today as well while he was training..." She trails off, realizing her mistake and her apple green eyes regard him with this sad look and unspoken words of regret linger in the air. Sasuke isn't allowed to work as a shinobi anymore; even training is off-limits for him.
"It's alright" he reassures her because she already suffered way, way too much and he doesn't like the sound of her crying and the look of her eyes overflowing with tears she tries so hard to hold back.
They go to bed earlier than usual and she falls asleep almost instantly upon crawling beneath the soft covers and he stays for a moment to admire her. Anyone who'd see her like this would believe it to be an illusion, because she seems so vulnerable like this. And only he gets to see this side of her and only he knows just how vulnerable she really is, even though he never asked for this.
Because beneath the smirks and the fists that can make boulders crumble into small pebbles and the fierce looks and the strong attitude, beats a heart that lies in shambles thanks to the man she loves.
Such a pity, such a pity. Sometimes he feels like she knows. She knows.
She knows that he isn't Sasuke. Maybe. He isn't all too sure. There are moments when it becomes oh so obvious that he isn't Sasuke (come on, she has to notice the constant flow of chakra!) and she dies a little more inside and he just can't understand why she still stays by his side. He likes to think that maybe she likes him, and his brain corrects him every times and says that it's because she's happy as long as she can live with the illusion that Sasuke returns her feelings of love.
That was their condition to make her happy. Condition isn't really the right word because he himself hardly had a say in this matter. They want to see her happy so much and they are willing to go to such length as to disguise someone else as Sasuke.
Originally, he was just a regular co-worker of her with nothing exceptional about him (besides his perfect chakra control that is required for medic nin). He's had a crush on the kind and strong woman and they got along very well and then war arrived with its full viciousness and it crushed her. They tried putting the shards back together, yet the pieces kept falling apart.
On nights like this he lets the Genjutsu down, leaves their shared apartment and contemplates his situation. No other time of the day is it this deserted on Konoha's streets and no one cares for a lone stranger strolling down the dusty lanes.
They needed glue, something to hold her together. But Sasuke was no longer there. A replacement was needed, someone to act as Sasuke.
Why did they choose him out of all people? Was it because he knew her somewhat? This was hardly enough, now was it. It is because they knew he wouldn't decline. He's too weak, his feelings make him too weak. Still, to entrust their dear friend to a practically total stranger seems so idiotic to him.
The wind's so very cold tonight and shivers run up and down his body.
Ah, he doesn't like them very much. They don't have to live with the constant knowing that it's not you that she wants, that she kisses every day, that she loves. They probably don't feel the guilt eating them up from the inside out when she smiles. Surely, they are aware that what they're doing will one day hurt her so much, though they must have managed to suppress these feelings and laugh along with her. He kicks a pebble across the street, frustrated.
It doesn't feel right to trick her, to lie to her.
When he returns home, she's already there and watches him through half-lidded eyes and once more he believes he can read in those eyes. 'I know.'
The Genjutsu is back on and he moves with this body that isn't his own over to the bed and whispers "Sssh. Just keep sleeping" and her face relaxes and she complies with this (sad) smile of hers. He occupies the spot next to her and holds her close and wishes he could protect her, tell her.
His now black hair mingles with her short pink tresses and for a second he has to smirk. Sasuke is supposed to hurt her.
Another (angsty) One-Shot... I hate to delay my fanfics like this...