A/N: SasuNaru from Sakura's POV? Oh my God, what am I sinking to? Really though, the facts are I don't hate Sakura, and she's the one I relate to most in the entire series. –sigh– Sad, but true. She's smarter and stronger than people give her credit for, especially by the time Shippuden rolls around. This isn't one of those things where Sakura lists the reasons she thinks SasuNaru is meant to be. This is what she observes as the two interact. So here you have it, SasuNaru from Sakura's POV.
Alright, now I have to give credit to my muse, Circius for helping me provide the closure in this drabble that these three desperately need.
When They Fight
Amarxlen
When I watch them fight, it's as if I'm watching an intricately choreographed routine, one that took months to perfect. They each read the other's movements as if predicting the plot of a novel they know by heart. They move and sway, the only thing cluing me in to who's who the striking contrast of tan across alabaster. To each jutsu one uses, the other counters.
But it's not planned, or choreographed, I'm reminded when a blow is landed and a grunt is the quick admission of pain or feeling before issuing a rebuttal. That's when I know how serious they are, serious about winning, serious about proving the other wrong, serious about being the strongest. The look on their faces is nearly identical, despite the strikingly opposite features. Both faces are twisted into looks of determination, the need to prove something to the other.
When I watch them fight, I feel like I'm trespassing on something intimate, something no one has the right to see. The words exchanged are so pure, so raw, so simple, and yet their deeper meaning eludes me. I'm not meant to decipher them, because this is theirs. The way they toss blows at each other is so rough and angry; they understand each other better than I ever could. It makes me feel incredibly lonely.
And I realize it's not purposefully intimate, it's just something that happened and they choose to ignore or don't know that it's there. Somehow, that makes me feel even lonelier. I think these two need each other, despite how much they claim they can't stand each other, despite the proclamations of hatred, despite the declarations of rivalry. Because when I look at them when they won't notice there's something in their eyes that is hauntingly similar. They're the same.
When I watch them fight, I realize how strong they are, how they use difficult ninjutsu and taijutsu with ease and grace. One conjures a thousand clones, while his opposite fends them off like it's child's play. He uses a katon jutsu that dissolves his comrade's clones in seconds. But when the smoke clears the other is already utilizing a second jutsu, and then their chakra is visible in their palms.
When I watch them fight, I realize how weak they are, how the simplest of words can make them easily lose their tempers. As far as I can see, they're equal, but pride won't let that acknowledgment come to light. Weak is what he desperately doesn't want to be, what he can't be, but it's so easy for a few words to break him. Strong is the image he tries to portray when he's falling apart at the seams – all it takes is one good tug to send him spiraling downward.
When I watch them fight, I feel my heart swell with so many emotions I'm surprised it doesn't burst. I'm proud of the strength they've gained, proud of their accomplishments. I envy that they advance in leaps and bounds, while I'm left to stare at their backs. I worry that, as much as I think they need each other, they're going to destroy each other and be left with nothing. I worry that they'll break and fall to pieces at my feet if I so much as breathe on them. Because, though I've loved one from the start, his opposite has found a place in my heart too, and they'll leave nothing behind once the smoke clears at the end of their fight. I love them.
I love them so much it hurts. I love them so much my entire world orbits around them. The ground moved and took me with it, and now they're at the center of my universe. I love them so much that it scares me. And they don't notice how much I love them. They're too focused on fighting. It's all they know how to do. They fought against loneliness as children, and that carried on when they were genin. They fight against each other now, and without a doubt they'll fight against each other in the future.
But I fear that one day, the fighting, the struggling that made them as strong and as weak as they are, will kill them. That while they're fighting, someone will die. That while they're fighting, both of them will die. And I'll be left with nothing. I don't think I can fight like they can. I'm tired. I'm tired of fighting. I'm tired of being afraid. I want the fighting to stop. The sad thing is, they're both too stubborn to change.