REALIZATION

They are both standing perfectly still. Silent. Exhausted. Heavy hearted. Sweaten. Blood dripping.

And they are looking at each other. Only for a moment. Just this moment of peace.

And then Sakura falls down. She collapses onto the ground, her strength leaving her, but her eyes never parting from her beloved one.

He looks at her and for a second she can spot a hint of pain in his onyx magnets. Her smile is bitter.

It is the end. She failed to save him, to give him back his light. And for this, she is worth of her fate: death.

The raven angel of her personal hell, looks at her frozen. She turns her head to the side and looks back into his glaring eyes.

She feels the life slipping out of her slowly. But her desire to feel him, to sip every inch of his essence in her soul is burning strong. And so the life in her eyes remains, too stubborn to give up, even if her body has already began its shutting down process.

Sasuke seems wounded, but not deadly hurt. What did she expect? She never had any chances to win against him. Oh, doesn't love make you do stupid things? She is guilty…for more than just one…

She feels her eye lids heavier than ever. She can see him, in her wet blur, approaching her, slowly, almost hesitantly.

She closes her eyes for a moment to wipe out the blurry mess her tears have created. No, she cant afford to miss him, she wants him to be the last thing she sees before those eyes close for eternity.

If only she could control her tears, if only she could control her heart…she wouldnt be dying now.

But she doesn't care, because he is there now, by her side.

She opens her eyes in a flash, yet tired, when she feels a hand stroking her cheek, boring her emerald crystals in his onyx gems in confusion.

She notices he doesn't seem emotionless now. Sasuke seems to be frowning.

She uses all her strength to lift her left hand. Then, she touches his hand in response.

That startles him and he pauses any movement like a careful hunter. Is she the prey? She is too tired. Her heart is about to stop and she doesn't feel in the mood to shatter it worse just for the drama of it. Isn't it useless anymore? She has failed to save him.

''Sakura…Why?''his silken voice reaches her ears like a stroke. Oh how much she loves it when he calls her name like that.

''I failed...''she says and she cant help the desperate sobs that escape her lips.

Her eyes go blurry again but before she loses her clear sight she can notice Sasuke leaning his face closer to hers. Next second, her eyes closed and she can feel his breath stroking her cheeks cooly.

''Why did you….why the damn did you do this…?''

She smiles. Oh how much she loves that familiar voice. Her mind cant work out what he is saying and why, it is too weak to think of unimportant things right now. She feels like he is talking about their battle, though. She is vaguely aware of the main theme. Her words come out before she can think of them much.

While she was fighting with him before, after prolonged and exhausting clashings, both of them seemed to run out of chakra. Sasuke thought wise to use his katana. Sakura had nothing but her kunais.

Sasuke drew his katana out. She tossed her kunais on the ground and smiled calmly.

Sasuke thinking it was some trick striked. And the steal went right next to her heart.

Cause of death? Blood loss. Or even better, love...

It was when Sasuke said during the battle, that he wanted to get rid of her, by killing her , in order to sever any remaining bonds as to be calm again as he claimed, that Sakura decided she would do something to give him what he asked for. Not that he wouldnt succeed in the end, but this being the case, she decided to offer her life willingly to the one she loved, one moment sooner.

He had never accepted anything she was willing to give to him. But this time, she knew that was what he wanted. No matter how cruel it was, it was her answer to him. She would have the last word, cause love wins. And her victory was her love… made into sacrifice.

''I hope you can be happy now… I failed to save your soul,…so… so be it. But please, be happy, as you wished.''

Her breath becomes faster due to her exhaustion of the prolonged emotionally heavy talk. She closes her eyes, tired and weak, thinking she should have saved her strength to be able to look into her god's eyes.

She doesn't bother to open them again, too much effort. Not even when she feels hot liquid staining her pale cheeks. Instead, she takes in the scent around her, his scent.

He feels like a heavy sweet drug, luring her to a deep sleep. Always so distant, always so unapproachable. Her dark angel. Her death. Oh the irony. Death is so close right now.

''Sakura…''

She cant help but frown slightly. Is this Sasuke-kun? The Sasuke she knows? His voice sounds so broken, so pained. In fact, it stuns her. But she doesn't open her eyes. She cant handle her life anymore. She is happy to die thinking she made him happy. She cant face another failure again, no, she cant take this, that fool of a woman she is.

She can feel his breath getting closer to her and she shivers. Something makes her feel as this isn't the result she wanted. Cause it feels upset.

She feels the urge to yell, to ask him, why he isnt finally celebrating. She will never be enough for him, even with her death.

But suddenly, she snaps out of it as all her world collapses at once. She can feel a soft pair of lips pressing against hers. She cant help but flinch. But it is a sweet kind of surrender.

What is happening? Where did Sasuke go? Is she dead already? Is that only a dream?

There's only one way to know…She opens her eyes again as her hold back tears find now their chance to escape. But this time she manages to see…Because he is too close…Sasuke is kissing her and she looks at his closed eyes, who seem to writhe in pain.

She lifts her tired hand and strokes his cheek slowly. She isn't really fully aware of what is going on, her reactions are more of instinctive.

Sasuke opens his dark eyes, and their glances clash. He doesn't bother to hide his hurt and she won't bother to hide her confusion.

His lips never part from hers. He closes his eyes once more as he loses himself in the kiss, this time asking her for entrance.

She is too weak to resist, either way and she weakly opens her lips. Soon his tongue is everywhere inside her mouth, stroking gently every corner and side of it, exploring it needily. But that hunger isn't lust. She can explain it because she has felt it many times, when it came to him.

But right now, she isn't sure what's truth and what's fake anymore.

She is too weak to kiss back but he seems to realize this. Neither of them needs to sugar coat the sad of the situation. She can still feel drops falling on her cheeks and rolling down to her mouth. Is it raining? It tastes salty… tears. No, it's not.

Even though their lips have parted, she can still feel him close.

''I am in pain…'' She hears his soft voice again and only then she is convinced that this is her Sasuke-kun.

She opens her eyes and looks at him. She spots the wet trail his tears have left on his skin. A question registers in her mind…Why is Sasuke crying?

''I di…did what you wanted me to. Don't cry.''she says trying to manage a sweet tone, not aware if she made it.

She assumes she failed, when she notices Sasuke's face acquiring an even more pained expression.

''You're such a fool, Sakura. …Why did you do this? I don't get it.''his voice sounds broken, like before.

She doesn't have the mental clarity to analyze why Sasuke behaves like that.

She only says what she had been ready in all of her waiting years to say to him.

'' Because… I…I wanted you to be happy.''she looks kindly into his eyes before closing hers and turns her head weakly to the side, allowing a brief silence to follow.

She feels him lying down next to her, so close that she can feel his heat on her skin. And she knows it is her beloved one, when he takes her in his arms in a soft embrace. She knows it is him, because he is the only one that can make her feel so heavenly like when he touches her.

She forms a weak smile, which seems unintentionally as more of a bittersweet grimace.

''I am sorry.''He murmurs.

She almost flinches when she feels the little soft whisper stroking her ear. She leans her head slightly to the left, opening her eyes half way.

They immediately sink into two onyx orbs who are looking back at her with an emotion she cant quite understand. It could be pain, only that pain is too little of a word to describe what she is reading in them. It strikes her.

''Sasuke,…please, dont be sad.''she whispers.

A frown takes over his cute face as he shuts his eyes, tears streaming down his pale cheeks.

He doesn't reply. Instead, he keeps his eyes shut tightly, and the flow of the salty mix seems to grow bigger each passing second.

She looks at him confused.

''I am so…''she doesn't have time to finish her phrase, as she feels a soft hand coming gently in contact with her lips.

''I cant be happy if you're gone.'' Her eyes widen in shock.

''Sasuke?...''she whispers, as she recloses her eyes too exhausted to struggle for anything anymore and striken by great disbelief in the same time.

''I don't want to live under this sky without you.''she can feel a pair of lips connecting to her cheek. It isn't a kiss or anything. Just the feel of his soft lips on her side and his warm hands pressing her gently on him.

''No…''she denies weakly, her heart and mind not able to understand this, struggling to accept it…After all these years, she had been convinced that she was nothing but a mere annoyance to him and he changes it at her dying moment? She isn't so sure anymore if she hasn't already passed in a coma or isn't having illusions.

''Don't leave me.''she feels his hot breath on her cold ear and she nods her head only slightly.

''I am sorry…cant…cant do it this time…, Sasuke-kun.''she clenches her fist on his shirt as she feels a sudden wave of pain agitating her heart. And then everything goes numb on her body. She feels losing herself slowly into the darkness.

She tries to open her eyes but her body is being stubborn. Somehow, three words manage to escape desperately her lips, and even though they aren't anything but a mere weak whisper, it feels as an intense cry of love ripping the heavy atmosphere around them apart, under the darkened sky.

''I love you.''

And with that, she feels her body giving up on her bitter wills.

Just a second before her conscience fades into nothing, a whisper comes to stroke her heart for the second and last time in her life.

''Sakura,…Thank you.''

And her soul is released.