I have discovered my love: Oneshots. Where there is no plot. I'm starting a series of oneshots inspired by Erina-chan's Alphabet. I'm doing a Alphabet thing for SasuSaku and, well, yeah. Here it is.

Disclaimer: If I owned this series, I'd be able to speak Japanese. Unfortunatly, my knowledge of the Japanese language hardly goes farther than 'Hai' and 'Iie'.

Again

As she stood cold in thin layers of clothing that clung to every inch of her skin in the rain, shivers erupted violently throughout her body. She pressed her teeth together as not to hear her teeth chatter incessantly. She stood in the street of a foreign town, visiting some relatives and enjoying a festival. Bad weather broke out and her extended family rushed home. She saw a familiar face and told them she'd be home later. Her red kimono was darkened by the sky's wetness. Cold needles pricking her skin constantly, strands of pastel hair grouped together, as if they could stay warm by being close. She was so cold. So, so cold.

"You'll catch cold." He said flatly, more in a tone of polite digression than honest concern.

"So will you." She replied with blue-purple lips. Downcast jade eyes searched the cobblestone path, tracing the gray path with intense focus. She summoned enough willpower to look at him.

He stood silently, back to her. His black shirt was soaked, the Uchiha crestglaring at her, but so small, as if the importance of his clan had dwindled to almost nothing from the day one till now.

"I still love you." She whispered.

"I know."

He turned his head, a pale white profile outlined boldly against the darkness of the night, a sullen eye stared out of his hollow face. His beautiful, bleak eyes seemed to have died, dark shadows pooling underneath them.

"Please don't leave me again." She begged, her voice a little bit

stronger.

"You know I will." She smiled a small, bittersweet smile.

"Yes. I do. But I'm going to cling to false hopes." She clasped her clammy hands together in a fruitless attempt to keep them from shaking, holding them close to her rushing heart. "If you knock me out again, can you at least bring me to a hotel or something? I'm borrowing this kimono from my cousin." Humorless banter.

"Let me go."

She froze.

"What?"

"Let me go. I'm suffering now because I had people I cared about. And I lost them. I don't want you to end up like me."

So he did care. A small spark of expectation lit up in her chest.

"Please don't hold onto me." He begged, his voice a little bit stronger.

"You know I will." He smiled a small, bittersweet smile.

"Yes. I do. Bit I'm going to cling to false hopes." She laughed at the deja vu. A crescent moon hung in the sky, suspended by a scattered string of stars.

"So please . . . stay with me . . . or take me with you if you can't stay here . . . " She said, for the sake of old times. He played along, to give her this one satisfaction because he disappointed her so many other times.

"You really are . . . annoying."

"Don't leave . . . if you do, I'll scream." She replied half-heartedly.

He moved behind her.

"Sakura . . . " He breathed into her ear, leaning closer into her.

"Thank you." He moved his arm to strike her, but she turned on her heel and caught him. In momentary panic, he lifted his right arm to punch, but she caught that too. She looked him straight in the eye, jade to onyx.

"Sasuke."

"Sakura."

"Thank you for doing this for me again." Sakura dropped his hands, smiled again, and walked away.


I did the bittersweet smile, begging, false hopes bit over again, a play on the title 'Again'. That was my attempt of being clever. So's the last , and since this is a collection of oneshots, the stories won't relate to each other in anyway.

Over and Out,

Mistress of Murder Rin-sama