A/N: This was written a long while back when I was first starting the 100 Themes Challenge, so please forgive the crappiness. I'm only now getting around to posting it, but still like the premise of it, at the very least.

100 Themes Challenge - Gender Bender Style!

15. Silence

Summary: Though Sakaye rarely speaks, her words are still heard.

Words: 356

Characters: MaleSakura (Seiichi), FemSasuke (Sakaye), FemNaruto (Nariko)

Warnings: None

Pairings: None

Disclaimer/Claimer: While the original Naruto characters do not belong to me, these GenderBender creations are mine. Do not steal them... EVER.

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It was always silence with Sakaye. In fact, it seemed to be her favorite response to most situations when she chose not to use her infamous 'Hn' or 'tch' sounds, but even though no words left the dark-haired girl's mouth, there always seemed to be... something that hung within that quiet. As if she were speaking, but not.

It often puzzled the pink-haired male, but there were times that he almost, almost thought he could hear words in that silence. They were usually just indistinct murmurs, soft and faint within the air, so faint in fact that he often wondered if he were going crazy. Yet, somehow he understood it wasn't a trick of the mind. Somehow he knew that they were real, that they were there.

And in the same moment, he also couldn't help but think that, as unintelligible as the odd whispers were, he could almost hear them. It was rare that this occurred, but it had happened, and he questioned the strangeness of it. Was it just him? Or did others hear the quiet words within Sakaye's silence?

He could almost believe that Nariko did on the few occasions she'd annoy and banter with the female Uchiha and, amazingly enough, stop just before the girl released her wrath upon the jinchuuriki, almost as if Nariko heard the vague whispers that may have just told her she'd gone too far. Of course, most of the time the blonde continued to push onward all the same until Sakaye finally clocked her across the head or took off after her in a fit of rage.

At those times, Seiichi wondered if Nariko heard, but just chose not to listen, just for the angered reaction.

However, he quickly dismissed those thoughts. After all, how could she hear if the words, the mutters weren't there in the first place? (And he adamantly insisted that they were not.) You could not bring words from silence. It defeated the purpose of calling it silence. Silence was a lack of words, a long or short period of quiet...

Yet, strangely enough, Sakaye's silence forever remained the loudest in his ears.