Her Eyes
A/N: It's been awhile. I know. This one's dedicated to two people. Miss Aerith and s-makn. Because I've owed s-makn a story with starfish, dragon's breath, and moon dust for awhile now, and I pretty blatantly stole the concept of Aerith's story, A m b r o s i a, which is amazing. I hope all of you enjoy this.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. That's the problem with being under eighteen.
Song Choice: The lyrics are from Pat Monahan's "Her Eyes", but the songs I listened to repeatedly, to the extent my mother asked me if I was mentally stable, while writing this, were, "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" by Celine Dion, and "Keep Holding On" by Avril Lavigne.
"Her eyes, that's where hope lies.
That's where blue skies
Meet the sunrise.
Her eyes, that's where I go
When I go home."
Ino looked at her nails critically, trying to ignore the customer in front of her. There was a chip in the paint on her ring finger. She'd have to touch that up when she got home. If only she knew where she'd put her purple-
"Ahem."
She continued to ignore him. If she could figure out where her purple nail polish was, she could touch it up. Wait. Had she lent Forehead-
"AHEM."
She sighed. Unfortunately, it was inevitable. She was going to have to help him if she ever wanted to be left alone. Or find her Passion Purple nail polish. That didn't mean she had to like it.
"What do you want?" She asked him with gritted teeth.
He moved his black bangs out of his face slightly, and muttered something unintelligible.
Ino rolled her eyes. Why was it that Uchiha's were always such pains in the ass? "What?"
He glanced down at her, and pushed all of his hair off his face. He looked tired; there were heavy bags under his eyes. He now had a thin scar running down his cheek, and his lips were chapped. His hair was greasy and his nose looked like it'd been broken a few times. But it was his eyes that made her double take. His Sharingan eyes were so full of pain, agony, bitterness, hurt, sadness… but mostly tribulation. Just like Sakura-chan's had been when he left…
And then he repeated himself. "Sakura."
Ino couldn't help herself. She laughed. In his face. "As if you have a chance. She's moved on. You're no longer a god worthy of devotion. You'd be lucky if she even gave you the time of day. You almost killed her, Uchiha. Almost killed her. And you want her now? Well, Sasuke, it's not all starfish, dragon's breath, and moon dust anymore. You're too late. You can't always get what you want. You're not the prodigious, tormented guy all the girls ran after. You're… scum." With that she turned around, pretending to reorganize some tiger lilies, hoping her message would sink in and he'd leave her alone.
A few moments later, he spoke. "I know."
She sun around. He knew? Huh. That surprised her more than it should have. Her only retort was, "Then why are you here, Sasuke?"
"… Her eyes."
Ino turned her eyes to his face, and suddenly knew he everything he was trying to convey to her. He wasn't here to play her friend's emotion like an old guitar. He needed Sakura like he needed air. He had come back for her, because she was hope, she was wonder, she was love, and the part of him that held those emotions was empty. He might've said, "Her eyes." But he mean, "Her." He did know. He wasn't lying. He meant everything he said, even though what he'd said was few.
It made her pity him.
Because Sakura hadn't moved on. She'd cried for him, every year he was gone. She'd strived for him. She'd wishedprayedhoped for him. But there was very, very, very little chance she would hold him in open arms.
Ino tore her glance away, quickly wiping away the tears that had formed in her eyes. She really did feel his pain. So she muttered a, "Give me a moment." And went into the back room, where a small bouquet of ambrosia were waiting for her. She'd known she would need this some day, especially when that day came out of ambrosia season.
She tied a green ribbon- a close match for the emerald of Sakura's eyes- around the group of flowers and went back to the counter. Trying not to sniffle, she told him, "Give her these. They might help." She truly and sincerely hoped they would.
With a quick thanks and a, "There on the house.", he left.
She could swear she saw those eyes fill, if only for a second, with what he was missing. What he was trying for. With Sakura's eyes.
A/N: What did you think? Send me a review, okay? Especially constructive criticism; it's good for me to hear what I could improve. And don't forget to check out Miss Aerith and s-makn. Ciao for now.
-SakuraDouble