So, this was originally going to be my second 1sentence set for SasuSaku...only I lost inspiration about 1/5th of the way through. Unable to completethe thing, yet too frustrated to waste some good writing, I took the less-awkward ones and collected them into this little gem. Forgive the fact that this is lacking some of the more hopeful!SasuSaku I love--I was on an angst kick. Enjoy!
Ten Exercises in Despair (And One in Hope)
01 Stained
He was dirty, marred; the darkness inside him staining him with evil--"Don't look at me!" he cried as the marks spread across his skin--he couldn't bear to have her see him like this.
02 Time
She had waited for him almost all her life; yearned for him to notice her, to feel for her the way she did for him…and then one day she realized that she just couldn't wait any longer ("I'm sorry, Sasuke," she says; "I can't; I've moved on…").
03 Paradise Lost
It's not having your family killed; it's not not being strong enough to kill your brother; it's not seeing him grow every day and not being able to grow yourself: it's her, watching you walk away and knowing the time will come when she will have to kill you…and knowing she won't be able to, because (damn it, Sasuke!) she loves you.
04 Bloom
She had watched them for so long (how strong they were; able to fight and even die for the people they loved) but now it was her turn to show them that she was strong, as well; she raised her kunai, cut her hair, and -If only he was watching me now- she bloomed.
05 Poison
Why was it that his kind words hurt her more than his anger and apathy?
06 Afterglow
He knows, though she meant him not to, that after they make love and he falls asleep, she walks through the night alone, hoping that the afterglow would some day illuminate the days when she was still happy.
07 Shatter
She was so weak, it made Sasuke sick--(how could she ever be a ninja?); there were times when he looked at her and just wanted to break her, to show her what real strength (real pain) was; but he never realized, no matter how many times he looked at her with hate in his eyes…that she was already broken.
08 Live
He couldn't stop running, couldn't look back at the life he left behind him, (because he knew exactly what he was doing by betraying Konoha, by joining Orochimaru, by breaking the heart of the girl who loved him) for he was an avenger and he couldn't allow himself to be saved.
09 Simplicity
She had said goodbye too many times before, so the day after he left, she placed her hitai-ate on the vanity table of her room and left Konoha without a word.
10 Breaking Point
He never loved her, just brushed her aside and called her annoying; there was no use in still feeling this way, after all he put her through…but she looked at his picture that night, and none of that mattered; she fell to the floor and cried "…He's gone…"
11 Whisper
"Don't do this…" she says to him quietly, their kunai leveled at each others' hearts; "Please…"