It was nights like these that Sasuke couldn't sleep—nights when the moon was full and up in the star-filled sky, filtering through every crevice and casting dark shadows upon the world below.
The summer air was cool. The window was open. A light breeze blew inside the small hotel room, unsettling the curtains and washing over his body like a soothing balm on an angry wound.
Yet he paid no mind to its effects.
His eyes, dark and unreadable, were fixed on something else—on the woman lying beside him.
She was sleeping on her stomach, hugging the pillow her head was resting on with pale, slim arms. The blanket he had abandoned so long ago was tangled around her legs and covered her up to her waist, revealing her black tank-top and part of her matching shorts. Her pink hair—long once again—was caught in a high ponytail, with messy strands escaping its loose hold.
The moonlight reflected on her flawless skin, making her look almost ethereal.
It still amazed him, how this girl—no, woman, he corrected himself—could stand being so close to him, could sleep so peacefully beside him when she had witnessed his power and knew what he was capable of; when she had seen the darkness that coated his soul, the monster inside of him that, even now, only needed the smallest prompt in order to resurface.
When it came to him, she had seen it all. She had seen him go crazy, she had seen him attempt to kill her, attempt to kill their teammate, attempt to kill even the small child that had been hiding inside of him all along. She had seen him at his weakest, she had seen him at his strongest, she had seen him at his darkest.
She had seen him smile. But she had seen him kill without mercy, as well.
She had seen him willing and ready to break every bond that tied him to her, to them, to the part of him that was still human. She had suffered the brunt of his actions, the painful consequences.
But for some reason he could not fathom, she was still there. She still smiled at him in greeting, still added the affectionate suffix to his name, and still remembered his birthday. She still looked after him, and was still ready to be there for him when he needed her, no matter when that might be. She still offered him special treatment whenever he checked in the hospital, still healed all of his superficial wounds and scratches even though no other medic ever did that with their patients. She still laughed at the things he said—things that he never meant to be amusing, in the first place—she still packed him lunch when they met up for training and Naruto was on a mission and Kakashi was late.
She still did everything his innocent, untainted, thirteen-year-old, pink-haired teammate used to do back in their time, and even more.
And she had seen—she had seen his darkness. Her younger self had known next to nothing about him, nothing about the monster that lied dormant inside of him, nothing of the cruel destiny that he had been dealt. Yet her older self did—and she accepted it wholeheartedly. Sometimes, he even thought she loved him more for it.
"You're a strong person, Sasuke-kun," she had told him once, with admiration. "For someone to have been through everything you have been and to still be able to live…"
Only that he didn't feel strong. Physically, yes, he could destroy any enemy that crossed his path. Mentally, too, because he could do it without a care in the world. He had been through the worst already, so what was there left in this world to surprise him, what form of cruelty he had not yet discovered?
But his soul… his soul wasn't strong. It was tainted and it was filled to the brim with shadows, and for a while now, it had started to cling to her—to her light, to her optimism, to her happiness. And the more distance he put in between them, the stronger its hold seemed to become, the stronger its desperation, the stronger its will not to ever let her go, not to lose her, too.
And he wondered, in his weakest moments, if he should just let it be.
Was she his salvation? Without a doubt. Could she save him without tainting herself? A part of him answered with a clear, resounding 'no'—that part of him that told him to go, to leave, to run as far away as possible, to let her live her life, to let her forget him, because she would be better off without him. But then another part of him reminded him that he had done that once—and that she had remained there, waiting for him, never giving up, never stopping chasing him.
On an impulse, his hand reached out, hovering above her arm. Everything about her screamed vulnerability. She was never defenseless anymore, but in his presence, all of her guards were down. It was as if she trusted him to protect her, to take care of her. And it was as if all he had ever done was hurt her—take advantage of this, of her, and stomp on her heart.
But…
Gently, his hand laid over her pink locks, fingering the soft strands.
…Had he ever had a choice? Hadn't he always been manipulated?
Sakura sighed in her sleep at the feathery touch, and shifted, turning around on her other side so that she faced him. Instantly, her body latched onto his warmth, and she cuddled close to him, resting her head on his shoulder and burying her face into the crook of his neck, exhaling contently.
Sasuke was frozen as thoughts ran rampant in his head.
He could choose to make her happy, this time. He could choose to let her chase the shadows away. And perhaps he would manage.
Slowly, his fingers descended upon her cheek, his knuckles gently tracing the silk-soft skin.
In reality, he realized, there was only one question: was she worth it? And it had a firm answer.
Yes.
A/N: Written for SasuSaku Month. I wanted to try my hand at such a scenario for quite some time, and I finally got the chance with the prompt 'shadows'.
Please review!