a/n: Glitter imitation indeed. :P
This fic was from a preeetty long time ago—enough for me to see the difference in my writing. I intended for it to be a oneshot, but depending on how it goes, the whole thing can have three or four chapters.
I'll like you guys guess what the title means; I'm not entirely sure myself.
dedication: To xfucktheglasses, Dictionary Ink, and of course, stillouette for inspiring this fic. Thank you. :)
summary: "I want to capture this moment and paint it—this exact scene. The glittered sky." She had only one dream, and he spent all of his life making it come true. Sasuke Uchiha, told in a single story. AU.
Glitter
Imitation
.
They sat in the backyard each Saturday night to watch shooting stars carve their way through the night sky.
"I want to paint this someday," Sakura told him one day. "I want to capture this moment and paint it—this exact scene. The glittered sky. After I graduate high school, I'm going to apply to the Konoha University of Arts to become an artist." She smiled to the stars. "I decided."
His earphones were on that time, and Sasuke was sure she didn't know if he heard her or not. But perhaps it was the tranquility of nighttime, or the unspoken hush of after a declared dream—or perhaps it was simply because Sakura had already fallen asleep on his shoulder—she didn't repeat her statement.
He listened to the distant howling dog and wind shuffling through tree leaves, until Sakura's mother exited the house to make sure "the nice boy from across the street" wouldn't grow complacent and pull a move on her daughter. Only then did he shake Sakura awake, more afraid of Mama Haruno's wrath than anything.
They were best friends, only fourteen years old. Still young, still innocent.
.
.
.
Two weeks after her sixteenth birthday, she tripped and accidentally planted a kiss his cheek while passing him his daily Sakura-made bento. Rice and fried eggs were dumped all over his favorite blue shirt, and Sakura wouldn't stop apologizing.
Sasuke's face was as red as a tomato for the entirety of lunch break.
When he caught Kiba and Shikamaru smirking during baseball practice that afternoon, Sasuke made sure to plummet both of them when Coach Hatake wasn't looking.
.
.
.
Just before their graduation, the economy took a nosedive. Stocks all over the world crashed. People were out of jobs. Suddenly, the previous recession grown into a full-blown depression as the threat of family starvation loomed above broken A.T.M.'s and closed banks.
Japan was one of the first countries to feel the impact, and while Sasuke's father was able to save his company, Sakura's parents, being real estate agents, went out of business immediately. At the very least, the family fortune was secured so Sasuke could follow his deceased mother's wishes and finish college, though the same could hardly be said for Sakura. After first semester ended, even the combined effort of three part-time jobs could not pay Sakura's second semester tuition.
On the day of her departure, Sasuke came to see her off at the university gates.
"I'll trade places with you," he blurted out again, as he had done so many times before. "I'm going to succeed my father's company anyway—Itachi's too sick these days to handle anything like that. I don't need to finish college . . ."
"You've done enough already, Sasuke. Remember? We sold all the photos of you to those girls? A nice shot of Sasuke Uchiha in his swim trunks, then comes the stampede." She laughed at the memory. The gray overcast sky had her face look paler than usual. "Besides . . . heck, I don't need to become a doctor, do I? What about my ambitions as an artist? I still want to paint that sky, you know. From when we were fourteen."
He frowned. "You shouldn't let fancy ideas like that get into your head, Sakura."
"Tsk, says Sasuke Uchiha, the Strongest Ninja Who Ever Lived."
His face burned. "Shut up, I was six."
"Ten," she corrected, laughing.
He smiled then, too.
"Oh, come on," she finally said, "aren't you gonna give your bestie forever a hug goodbye? We're not going to see each other until summer. And now, with the internet dead and phone systems virtually nonexistent, there's a chance we can't—Oof!"
He enveloped her in a tight embrace before she could finish.
"Sasuke . . ."
"You talk too much," he said. "It's annoying."
"And I thought some alien possessed you or something." She stroked his hair soothingly. "Nope, you're still here. The idiot Sasuke I've always known."
"Hn."
She rested her head on his shoulder. "You will write to me, Sasuke?"
"What do you think?"
"I'm taking that as a yes." Her laughter was like a bubbling spring.
A lumbering old bus entered the empty street. As the grunting and screeching noises drew closer, Sasuke's grip around Sakura tightened. He realized he didn't want to let her go. She squirmed in his hold.
"Sasuke . . ."
"What?"
"Please don't be childish. I have to go now."
"Don't, then. Stay. I'll use my college funds to pay for yours."
"I can't," she said. There was something strange about her voice; it was cracking. Slowly, she pried open his arms and held them down. Looking at him, she continued, "I won't let you ruin whatever future this university will be able to give you for me. You have Itachi and your father to take care for. It's not my money to take."
By now, the bus had shuddered to a stop beside the two. He stepped back, refusing to speak.
"Sasuke . . ."
He turned his head away.
"Sasuke . . . ?"
He crossed his arms.
"Well, guess this is goodbye . . ."
His fists clenched. She turned and he heard her feet marching toward the bus. Something seemed to slap him over the head.
Idiot, is this really what you want, knowing you'll not see her again for three years?
His heart stopped. He whirled around, but Sakura was already on the bus.
"Sakura! I . . . I LOVE YOU!"
She lifted her head to the bus window, shocked. A few people sitting around her went, "Aww . . ."
The bus engine sputtered and roared to life. She was shaken out of her daze.
Sakura smiled again. She cupped her hands around her lips and shouted:
"I know!"
It was the first time they were separate, and it was the first time Sasuke felt a pang of longing in his heart as the bus drove away.
.
.
.
The moment Sasuke got his diploma, they were married.