^Sunset Rising^

So long as we are living under the same sky
silently, strongly, for that day I wait.


It wasn't really a tradition, but it was slowly becoming a habit. Sasuke could have easily stopped at any time. Right?

He wasn't sure why he always watched the sunrise at the same time each morning. He was equally unsure of why he always watched from the stone bench near the village exit. The very same bench where he had carelessly left a heartbroken girl to lay unconscious in her own tears.

It was the same place he had walked through upon returning to Konohagakure, an ANBU on each side because even in his injured condition and newfound loyalty they didn't trust him. Nobody did- there were times when Naruto's laughter became pained and awkward, because they were both thinking the exact same thing.

This was not the same. It probably never would be.

There were times during his required checkups when he would fidget and she would flinch away from him, eyes squeezed shut. It was not so much that he would hurt her, she probably thought, but that he would change his mind and leave her alone at any given moment.

She was not afraid of him.

Sometimes, when she stayed late doing paperwork, she would take it to his hospital room and finish it in the glow of the moonlight. The light shone in a way that paled her hair and skin. She looked like a spirit- an angel, even, watching over him though he never once slept in her presence.

But he wasn't in the hospital anymore. He lived alone in the main house of the Uchiha compound, the only one left undamaged after Madara's vicious attack on the village. The attack that led him back to fight the ghosts of his past, and the ones who'd never truly left him in the first place. It was somewhere in that battle where he had changed sides in order to protect those precious people who he'd once threatened to kill without regrets. For his help in winning, he narrowly escaped the death penalty, thanks to many testimonies by the Rookie Nine.

Sakura lost her house. Her parents moved in with the family of Ino Yamanaka- apparently they were friends. But for whatever reason, Sakura chose to crash at Naruto's apartment instead. He'd never worked up the nerve to ask her why. In all honesty, he'd rather not know.

It had been almost a year now; her parents had bought a new house and Sakura had moved back with them. It was mere blocks from his own home, not that he minded too much.

His probation was over, and the ANBU were finally allowed to leave him alone. He was free. Sometimes when he couldn't sleep, which was often, he would go on walks. There was no specific place he wished to go, but he always seemed to end up at her house.

A few times he found her there awake. She would be sitting up on her balcony, looking absent-mindedly up at the stars. Twice, he sat up on the railing next to her. Neither one of them said a word. It was not an awkward sort of silence. When seconds rolled into minutes and minutes rolled into hours, there was a soothing kind of peace to it.

To them, even.

Sometimes, she would gently rest her head on his shoulder for a while. Her hair would tickle his neck, but he didn't care.

Once, he stayed there until the sun rose. And she cried. For what reason, he did not know. But always he had a feeling that it had been his fault somehow. He never walked by her house anymore.

But he did watch the sunrise. Through the rain and snow and cold, there was no effort to exert- he rarely slept anyway.

The dark blue night would pass over him when the glittering sun crawled slowly over the horizon. It was pink. He never stayed until the sun had risen completely. The cheery blue of the late morning did not please him.

Today they were supposed to meet at Ichiraku's for a strange and unhealthy breakfast of ramen. As usual, Sakura would bring some more suitable foods for him as an incentive to come anyway.

Today, he knew, would be a different kind of encounter. Naruto was on a mission this morning with Sai and Kakashi, and wouldn't be back until tomorrow.

Today the dark blue and pink swirled above his head in a unique déjà vu. Every morning it was the same, yet somehow different in his eyes.

Today he wondered if she was awake as well, standing on her balcony. He wondered if she was alone or crying or smiling out into the world.

Today was a new day, and even though Sakura was halfway across the village at the moment, he didn't feel lonely.

After all, they were watching the same sky.

End


Super Special Note From Moi-In case nobody could tell, this is the first chapter of an anthology. It's mostly just drabbles I wrote in class on the backs of worksheets and stuff. So far I've found ten, for the couples SasuSaku, NaruHina, SuiKa, KakaRin and whatever they call Pein and Konan (PeiKo? Enlighten me, please. xD) It's something I'll update every once in a while when I feel like it, I guess. There might be less of a wait if I get some yummy delicious reviews from you amazingly amazing people. ;D

And the Document Manager is getting me super OCD! I always like making the stuff at the top and the word 'end' centered, but for some reason it wouldn't save like that. I kept trying to get it to save centered literally fifty times, but it wouldn't work! Does that happen to anyone else? The centering thing, not the extreme OCD. -__-

R.A.W.R- Read And Write Reviews!

Love meeeee! (And write some reviews while you're at it! =DD)
~Paisley May~