Title: the stars are still embracing
Pairings: Some NaruSasu, also platonic Team Seven love
Rating: PG
Warnings: Very confusing and strange. And possibly quite OOC.
Word Count: 1,343
Disclaimer: I don't own them.
Author's Notes: Un-beta'ed. WHY IS SAUCE SO OOC. D: D: But. Yes. And this is possibly the first time I've tried doing something more symbolic. Turns out symbolic doesn't seem to work with me.
the stars are still embracing
i.
He is standing in a hallway, directly in front of a mirror. He is aware that there is another mirror behind him. He looks into the mirror in front of him, and in there is the reflection of the other mirror, and so it carries on endlessly, mirror after mirror after mirror. They are all reflections, but to him, it seems that he can walk right through them, down a path of which he doesn't know the finishing point, the destination.
Strangely, there is no reflection of him in the mirrors. There should be, and yet there isn't.
ii.
Sasuke comes back to Konoha more than five years after he left. Naruto is the one to bring him back, Naruto and Sakura and Kakashi-- and Sai, too. Perhaps no one expected any less. Naruto's expression is a tired one, eyes soft and half-closed, but a small, triumphant smile slants across his face, because he's done what he wanted to do at last. And there is blood and dirt and rips in their clothes, and all of them spends the next few days in hospital. Apart from Sai, who only stayed the night.
iii.
Sasuke buys a dark blue cloak two weeks later, and Naruto never sees him without that cloak afterwards.
iv.
Three months after his return, Sasuke picks up the flute. Naruto thinks it suits him somehow, to play the flute. Sasuke hardly speaks a word to anyone, especially not to Naruto, but he's only comfortable with Naruto watching him play the flute, with the exception of the person teaching him (a common citizen who doesn't demand too much pay and gives two lessons per week).
Naruto visits Sasuke at his apartment sometimes to listen to him. He's good, for a beginner. The apartment is empty and the walls are bare and there is nothing but a bed and a potted plant on the window sill, and the shrill, delicate sound of the flute seems to echo faintly. Naruto notes absent-mindedly that the potted plant always looks healthy. Sasuke always remembers to water it.
v.
There is someone playing a flute in his dream. He doesn't see who, though. But the sound of the flute is the only thing different. The dream is the same, mirror after mirror after mirror, but the flute has never been there before.
vi.
Naruto wakes up and he feels as if he's left something behind during his sleep, but he can't quite figure out what it is. He goes to Sasuke's apartment and finds Sasuke just about to leave. Where to, Naruto asks, and Sasuke glances at him as if he's broken a rule, and maybe he has, by speaking straight to Sasuke like that.
Can I follow, Naruto asks. Sasuke gives no indication, neither yes or no, and Naruto follows anyway. Naruto realizes soon that they're going to a place both of them are very familiar with. When they arrive, Sasuke stands in front of the stone and stares at the countless names carved there.
I don't know any of them. Sasuke says this aloud, but his voice is quiet and hoarse and his face is void of emotion, and Naruto isn't sure whether this is directed at him or not.
Neither do I, Naruto replies, though he regrets it once the three words slip out of his mouth, because Sasuke closes his eyes and turns from the stone and walks away. This time, Naruto doesn't follow. He remains there until sunset and wonders about the stories of those whose names got carved on the stone.
vii.
The first time he sees his reflection in the mirrors, he is not himself. He is dressed in lavish orange robes and the colour is too bright for his eyes, and there is a dash of black here and there and he holds his breath and hopes that this will be himself in another few years.
viii.
Naruto hasn't seen Sasuke after the day at the memorial, but one day Kakashi knocks on his door and tells him to go and see Sasuke, because Sasuke has learnt a new piece for the flute and wants Naruto to hear it. Naruto is beyond surprised, and he enquires how Kakashi's doing lately and Kakashi smiles-- Naruto doesn't see the smile, of course, but the corners of Kakashi's eyes crinkle. This is the way Kakashi avoids the question and informs Naruto that he's doing fine, and Naruto won't know whether he's lying or not.
Naruto doesn't question any further and Kakashi leaves.
ix.
The second time he sees his reflection in the mirrors, he is himself, for a brief second. Then he melts away to blue feathers and maybe wings and he takes flight, and he thinks there is light at the end of the hallway, and that is where he will fly to.
x.
It's two days after Kakashi dropped by that Naruto finally goes to see Sasuke. The apartment is exactly as it was last time. The potted plant is in the same place, green and strong and Naruto supposes that this is perhaps the only living thing that Sasuke cares about anymore.
Sasuke plays him the new piece. It's crisp and quick and graceful and the notes dance off the end of the flute and fills the apartment. To Naruto, it sounds of freedom and dreams and--
xi.
feathers and light at the end of the hallway.
xii.
When the last note has lingered long enough and the flute leaves Sasuke's lips, Sasuke is smiling. It is the first time Naruto has seen him smile ever since sometime too long ago.
You like it, he says. Naruto doesn't deny that. Instead, he tries to smile back.
xiii.
Sasuke decides to go to the memorial again. Naruto accompanies him. He plays that piece on the flute in front of the stone, and it is a perfect day in midsummer and the skies are too blue and the sun is too brilliant, and the trees are whispering with the slightest hint of a breeze.
Sasuke looks like he is just playing an ordinary piece on the flute in front of an ordinary stone.
--Naruto thinks that they're honouring the dead and setting their spirits free.
xiv.
Sakura comes to visit with Naruto. Sasuke plays the flute, the piece that makes Naruto think of freedom and dreams. Sasuke plays with his eyes closed, fingers swiftly travelling up and down the instrument, and he doesn't notice when a tear leaks out of Sakura's eye.
Sakura raises a hand to wipe it away immediately, but Naruto notices. Naruto's heart is swelling up, and even though it hurts, he is happier than he has ever been in his life, because this feels like Team Seven again.
Naruto feels whole. His hand drifts over to Sakura's and clasps it tightly, and he grins. Sakura laughs. Sasuke stops in the middle of his piece and opens his eyes.
xv.
Sasuke lets him water the potted plant one day at the apartment. Naruto finds something behind the pot.
It's the photograph of Team Seven, in a wooden frame. His heart skips a beat at the familarity of this picture, the scowls on their faces and Sakura's blush and Kakashi's crinkled eyes, and he turns and Sasuke smiles at him from across the room.
You found it.
xvi.
They have ramen at Ichiraku together. The old man is still there, but he claims he's retiring next year. Naruto eats over ten bowls of ramen, and Kakashi remarks how he still eats so much even though he's past his growing stage now. With some shock, they discover that Sakura's turned vegeterian. Sasuke just manages to finish one bowl. And somehow, they all manage to coerce Kakashi into paying.
xvii.
There is no longer mirror after mirror after mirror.
There is only a young man with messy black hair and a dark blue cloak on the other side of the mirror. And at the end of the hallway, the light is growing more vivid with every single moment.
--fin.