A/N: I don't really know what Road to Ninja is about, but if it involves illusions, then I am all over that.
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"You were all I ever wanted," Sakura said. Her hands were clean and dry, but she rubbed them against the spandex of her shorts. Sasuke's eyes never strayed from hers. She could've pulled a weapon from her thigh, could've sliced his neck to ribbons, could've killed herself right there and then. His eyes were so bright.
"You have me," he said, and didn't even blink. His pointer finger curled around hers, pulling her hands away from her legs, opening them. Her knuckles were white. "I'm right here."
His necklace flashed in the sunset light when he dipped, lips brushing against hers. He smelled of soap and cologne, something subtle but at the same time so unlike him. Her stomach stirred, fluttered, melting inside her, heating her to the tips of her toes. She licked her lips before speaking.
"Sasuke-kun," she said, "what if I killed you?"
"I'd let you," he replied, his other hand pulling her closer again.
Naruto was breathing hard, closing the window to her room behind him, haphazard and awkward. He tripped on his feet, but straightened. She set down her hairbrush, looked at him in mock surprise.
"Is this real?" he asked, and his voice cracked a little. She knew he would not cry.
"Are you?" she asked back.
Naruto grit his teeth, the blues in his eyes shifting into dark sea before settling for morning sky. His hands were closed. Tight like her throat. He looked out of context in her room; she belatedly realized he'd never once set foot in there before. Real or imaginary, whichever it was, it was still disconcerting. She fiddled with the longer strands of her hair while he tried finding the words he needed.
"I'm—" he started, glaring daggers at her floor, shoulders shaking, "I am. I am real."
"And what makes you think I am?"
"Don't start that again, Sakura." The lack of an honorific startled her, but not enough to make her eyes widen. It dug another hole inside her. She could handle the emptiness just fine. "We're in this together. Right?"
Sakura looked at him, long and hard, and saw nothing but a little boy.
Sasuke gave her a rose one day. She kept it in water and watched it until it wilt.
She didn't have the courage to throw it out; it stood on her night-stand, dead and brown and hopeless.
"It's not real," she said one day, finally settling. Naruto, at her side, said nothing. Above them, the starry sky waited. "We're real, but they're not. I know that now."
"Why?" he asked, after a moment of silence. His voice was hoarse and quiet. He knew why. Probably.
Sakura was a smart girl. She knew how to handle her battle scars, but she was best at licking at her inner wounds. Deep inside of her, she recalled Sasuke's selfish fingers brushing across her neck, searching for a nerve to pinch. She pulled at the grass, wondering if her clothes would be stained, and then realized they wouldn't.
"Because Sasuke-kun would never love me," she finally said, and, behind them, the city began to fall apart, leaving nothing but white noise. Sakura breathed in, feeling the illusion come to a halt, the clockwork rusting."That's why."
She woke up with a loud, aching gasp. Naruto did the same. They traded a glance, and Sakura noticed how dark and tired his eyes were, but she said nothing. Looking away first, she locked her jaw.
When they got back to Konoha, victorious, she felt anything but.