Itallics are for Sakura. Normal script is for Sasuke.
It was night time, the moon was high in the dark sky.
She looked up to look outside through her window.
He lowered his head deep in thoughts.
She was in her bedroom, team 7's group picture clenched against her heart.
He was alone in a dark room lost between his thoughts and reality.
He was gone…
Itachi was dead
He would probably never come back.
He was left alone in this world again
Nothing would ever be like it used to be, she had already given up on this tiny hope.
His goal? Revenge. It had always been that way. So much that he could hardly imagine living his life for anything else.
Now as she watched the moon rise, she realized how truly miserable she was.
Rage possessed him so much, he started to believe he was the personification of hatred. But then, there were his memories…
She remembered everything, every single detail. He wasn't one to smile very much, but at the rare occasions when he did, she had made sure to burn it forever in her memory.
First came his oldest memories. Foreign feelings of a happy existence he once lived.
She didn't know which was worse, to cling onto these memories or to try to forget them, it was a part of her after all.
He could never forget. The pain, loneliness and hatred that stained his past were what made him what he was today but…
Somehow she couldn't give up on these memories and hopes, she still believed deep inside her broken heart that there was room, even just a little, for him to be happy one day.
There were also them: Naruto, Kakashi and Sakura. They had been a big part of his life and when he knew they wouldn't give up on him after everything he had done, it pushed him even further from them.
Even if she had to pay the price, she would help him no matter what. She would feel the pain these unrequited feelings gave her for the rest of her life, she would take anything that was thrown at her willingly if it was for his sake.
Even she hadn't been able to change his mind. Power was what he always sought. The power to surpass his brother, to avenge his clan, to kill Itachi and just once in his life, to protect his friends.
She had always been weak, a burden to her comrades. Even now that she thought she was stronger both physically and mentally, the shortest look at him had been enough to shatter her illusions. She was still the same girl, she wanted him to know who she was and maybe…to accept her.
Revenge led his life. It gave him a sense of fulfillment…Somehow. Only, when he had achieved his goal to kill Itachi, nothing but emptiness had filled his heart and made him doubt for the shortest moment. He was who he was, he couldn't change now.
She was the one with the biggest heart, able to love even a man lost in the darkness of his own hatred. She would never forget or give up on him. It would always be impossible for her.
He was the one who broke everything on his path. Dreams, hopes, even people… He sometimes thought about this but never regretted it. His mind didn't have any room for thoughts like 'What about them? Aren't you being too self-obsessed here?'
She gazed at the picture in her hands again and let her thumb linger on the grumpy raven haired boy on the left. The glass was icy cold and matched his ever present glare.
What upset him the most was that thoughts about his former comrades sometimes crossed his mind. 'Are they still after me? Do they honestly think they can help me? I don't need to be saved in the first place. Why do they believe I would ever come back?' He would always rub his forehead and frown after this kind of thought entered his mind and wave it off with a 'Why do I even bother?' It almost troubled him more when he asked himself that question, because no matter how hard he tried to ignore it, he kept on looking for an answer.
She couldn't pretend she understood what these icy obsidian eyes of his hid. The pain he had been through was way too much and too hard to fathom for her…Even though losing him probably hadn't been all that far from what he had felt. The feeling of your heart tearing apart when you realize your former happiness won't come back. The looks of pity everyone gives you, the memories that keep assaulting you, how you try to convince yourself that things will look up eventually because you fixed yourself a goal and you're dead set on achieving it. How you resent yourself when you realize it's impossible and are left with only emptiness in your heart again…
Sakura was also on his list of undesirable thoughts. She took too much space in his head whenever she entered his mind. She had been the only one to be truly affective towards him after team 7 was formed. Naruto had been nothing more than a bother, not even a rival at the time. Kakashi was stupid. So of course when the useless little girl Sakura was at the time started acting a bit less like a brainless fangirl, he couldn't help being surprised. She realized he was only human, she accepted him with his numerous faults and trusted him even though he never returned her affection. She believed in him, not in who she thought he was. What he didn't understand when he saw her again after all this time, was that he could still see that belief in her deep green eyes when he had done nothing but disappoint her.
How she had tried to cast these thoughts away, to move on with her life.
He sighed and let his back rest against the headboard of his bed.
She leaned back down on the messy sheets of her bed and put the picture back on her nightstand.
He would prove her there was nothing to save in him anymore.
She will prove him it wasn't too late, that Naruto and her still believed in him.
He was gone. She would realize that and live her happy life without him.
He will realize she was still there waiting for him all this time.
He knew she would forget. She probably already did.
She will have to wait only a little more, because she knows it won't take a lifetime for him to cross her path once again.
No one could understand who he had become, that was the sole reason why they were still chasing after him.
She wanted to let him know how she could somehow relate to these feelings of loneliness. Expose her theory and make him understand.
He closed his eyes tiredly.
She stared at the fading light of the moon.
Another sigh 'We're way too different to share the same road. I've been on this path for too long now' His eyes widened for a split second as he realized how he tried to convince himself of this.
Her eyes fell on his face on the picture once again 'We may be like light and shadow, but there's always something linking us to one another. I believe this as much as I believe in you.'
Light started to pierce through the clouds far in the horizon and soon a shy sun was visible behind the hills surrounding Konoha. Opposite the light rays filtering through the greyish clouds, the moon faced the sun, becoming whiter and paler with every minute. It was at the only moment when night and day were linked that two teenagers finally found sleep at two opposite ends of this rotten world of shinobis.
A.N/: Hello sasusaku fans!^^
This is my very first sasusaku...I had this oneshot in a dusty spot in my computer for a while and really wanted to post it. It's not so good but I tried to do something a bit different from my usual style. Oh, btw, I'm not fluent in English yet so feel free to tell me if I made big grammar mistakes or such!
I hope you enjoyed this, if so, please leave a review. It would be so great!