It's a Promise
"Best Friends, it's not a title, it's a promise." Sasuke said to me on our first date. I had asked him if we would still be friends if this romance thing didn't quite go as planned. We made sure that no matter where life took us, we would always be friends. And it stayed true. He was the best friend I could ever ask for. And I hope that I was as a good of a friend to him as he was to me. From that moment on, we were inseparable. We would go on missions and have a picnic in the forest after. We were the embodiment of true love. Soon, we became so close that we could sense each others presence even if the other was miles away. Villagers would just wait for one of us to come back from a mission, just to witness the pranks we would pull on one another on arrival. I remember one instance vividly. It was after Sasuke had been gone for a month long mission. He was sneaking up behind me. Or at least he thought he was.
"I know that evil chuckle…" I exclaimed loudly to the seemingly empty (except for the disembodied laugh) room. Pinpointing his location, I launched myself at him, laughing. We became this chaotic jumble of appendages on the floor laughing our head off. That was the Sasuke only I saw. The one not burdened by everyday ninja life. The one whose inhibitions were gone, making room for a laid back, down to earth man that I loved. Something was different about this time though. This time he was carrying a little black box. This little black box contained a ring. The only thought running through my mind was, "I do."
"I do. It isn't just an affirmation of our love, it's a promise." He said as we read our own vows. He looked strait into my eyes as he said this, showing all the love in the world, and it was just for me. I felt like the only person in the room. It was as if we were in our own little world, where nothing mattered but us.
We thought that we would grow old together. We were going to watch our kids run off to ninja academy, make friends, and hopefully follow in our footsteps. We seemed to have forgotten that we are shinobi. And sometimes our jobs are fatal. Sometimes one person doesn't make it out alive. Even though that person was an astonishingly high-quality ninja with plans for kids and watching the sakura blossoms fall from the trees. He will be missed. And the memories of him will always be cherished as my most preeminent thoughts. As I'm sure they will for everyone whose life he touched.
"Avari? Will you be reading the eulogy for Sasuke?" Sakura poked her head into the small room holding a newly widowed, dark haired girl named Avari. She looked up slightly, her black hair falling into her face, casting a shadow over her eyes. The only visible part of her countenance was her mouth, which was drawn into a tight thin line, keeping the sobs from escaping into the deafeningly silent room. She looked back at the piece of paper which held the words she would speak at the funeral of her dearly departed.
"No." She said, crushing the paper in her hand while making a fist. Sakura looked at her with pity laced in her eyes. Looking Avari over once more, she left the room, heading towards the grounds where her friend was to be buried. Avari was alone. Utterly, irrefutably, and indisputably alone. Making her way to the window she watched the as her lifeless spouse was slowly dropped into the ground. Once all the friends of this fallen hero walked away from the pristine grave, decorated with all sorts of flowers, Avari walked out of her place of observance. She lethargically made her way to his resting place, letting her hair blow freely in the ominous, and appropriate, stirring weather. Her arms swung at her sides, seemingly boneless. She stopped at his gravestone and placed an entwined red and white rose. Red to signify the fall of a hero. White to signify true love. She fell to her knees, staring at the stone, the words blurring before her visage. She placed one hand delicately on the face of the grave, tracing his name with a slender finger.
"I will love you forever. Until we meet again, my love. And that's not a date, it's a promise."