Why were there cuts on my wrists? My eyes adjusted to the darkness, and I barely knew that a laugh escape me until it echoed off the walls around me. Darkness…What a familiar word it was! It made me want to laugh again, only louder. Wetness flowed down my cheek with each miniscule and stupid thought that passed through me.
Why was I even here? The pain was so surreal and so different. It was so different from the numbness I had learned to enjoy feeling from dawn till dusk. When feeling actually coursed into my veins, it made me inhale so sharply. Almost gasping, I hated the new feeling and begged my subconscious to rid me of this reminder that I was alive. The cold on my body was no longer there, replaced by warmth. It was so…inviting – so different from what I had fallen a victim to taking part to.
My brother's cold body was forever burned into my skull, no matter if my eyesight dies away before my heart stopped. For all I know, the eyes lived longer than I had. The words he told me were a permanent bruise to the face: Sorry Sasuke, this is it. His smile was so full of the life that was seeping from him faster than his blood – my blood. Madara's words were so chilling because, though the part was so tiny and so iced-over, somewhere deep down in my brain actually wanted to believe him. What part of me, limb or mind, could deny that my Nii-san was great? What bone didn't ache for his presence to soothe and comfort me like the old days?
I couldn't feel my breathing, or anything for that matter. The warmth was taking over any thought I had. It was so addicting now, and I felt like I was waking up from a coma. It felt like numbness didn't even exist anymore, even in my vocabulary. The inhalation and exhalation that bodies do automatically didn't have a giant weight hovering over it, feeling like an anvil on my chest. My heartbeat was so loud I heard it in my ears, or was I just so unaware of it before? I moved my arms around, twisting them and letting my hands open and close to their delight. Oh, delight! It almost felt human to want that word! I liked it!
With the twists, I definitely felt scabs twitch to break, pain followed in immense values. Had I just been so blind to pain before? It was a good possibility. My eyelids fell and rose again and again, trying to see my surroundings. The cause of some positivity had to be here. I felt the feeling swell, and swell. It was energetic, almost, and moving closer and closer. The addiction grew, and as soon as I knew there could be more of it, I had to get it. Please, come closer. By now, I could almost make out the shape of that energy, place colors to it: orange and yellow, and taller than me by a good few centimeters. Why should it feel so familiar? Then again, it had changed from my memory.
My ears pricked as I heard footsteps so close that I should have been able to see shoes. They were walking at a bright pace, so droll and hopeful. My eyes wouldn't care to adjust any further, but I didn't need vision now. The wind from an opened door hit me in the face and my hair blew slightly. The footsteps stopped, and I wanted to keep my concern bottled up as best as I could. My breathing never sounded so loud.
I heard a switch click, and everything was illuminated like my body now. For a second, the brightness blinded me. When I adjusted, I saw the source of my energy and the sounds. Blonde hair was so shaggy and untidy down to above deep sky eyes. Pink lips against a tan face twitched in shock. Scars ran down their cheeks and almost outdid the little whisker-like markings. Every aspect should have felt familiar and missed, but I couldn't name it. Whatever their calloused hands had been carrying shattered to the floor. My eyes watched only the face, the bright face that couldn't stop smiling.
"Sa…su…ke," the rough and almost shaky voice said in pure disbelief. "You're up." Eyes lit like flames and then I saw it.