Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, its characters, its storyline, or any related trademark.
Genre: Angst
Pairing: SasuSaku
Summary: Sasuke and Sakura talk over the phone and try to avoid acknowledging the distance between them.
Prompt: Conversation
Rating: T
Author's Note: My story for July 2 will not be posted on FFnet as it contains mature content (of the sexy kind). If you want to read it, visit my profile to see how you can.
46 Days
by: theevilmuffin
x-x-x-x
"…How have you been?"
Sakura is oddly silent on the other end of the line, but Sasuke can hear her breathing.
"Alright, I guess," she finally responds. She is hesitant, trying not to crack under the weight of everything. Sasuke knows this because he knows her. "I'm good, even," she lies. "Work's been keeping me busy."
"That's good," Sasuke murmurs. He knows there is nothing he can say to soothe her frayed nerves. "How's the idiot?"
Sakura scoffs. "He's doing pretty well, all things considered. His orange abomination of a car is totaled, though. He drove it down an embankment and into a tree."
Sasuke snorts. "I take it he was unscathed?"
"The only thing that saved him was the same thing that got him in that mess in the first place," Sakura says angrily, trying to hide the worry that has been so prominent these last few months.
Sasuke frowns and knows that this is his fault. It's his fault that Naruto is drinking and driving. It's his fault that Sakura is worrying to the point of fracture.
"…Sasuke, promise me you'll talk to Naruto. He's being a reckless idiot and he won't listen to me. I'm scared that one day his luck is going to run dry and… and… I can't even think of what I would do if he…"
She stops talking. Sasuke hears her labored breathing. He knows she is already starting to break down. "I promise I'll talk to him."
She chokes on a sob and then sniffles. "Thank you…" she whispers.
There is a long pause as the conversation dies. Sasuke knows what he wants to say to her, but even now he is struggling to admit his emotions to himself – to her.
"I miss you," she says suddenly.
"I know," Sasuke manages to force out. I miss you, too, he thinks, but he can't voice it out loud. The emotions inside overwhelm him. He leans on the payphone box on the wall.
"46 more days."
"Until what?" he asks, but he knows exactly what she is talking about. He just wants to hear her to say it, to hear her like she should be.
"Until I can finally see you again," she says, softly and with hope. Sasuke heart swells and he suddenly feels so stupid. He should be there with her, so he can always hear her voice sound this way, so he never has to hear her sound so broken. But he's always been a disappointment, hasn't he?
"Sakura, what I did-" he starts, but she cuts him off.
"I know. I know why because I know you. I should be angry or scared or hysterical or something, but I'm not. I'm not because I still love you, and that's all there is to it." Her voice is loud and shaking.
Sasuke can almost see every tremble that wracks her body, the tears that start to crawl down her cheeks.
"Sakura…" he says to try and calm her, but he can think of nothing to say.
There is a gruff cough behind him and his hand curls into a white-knuckled fist. He hates leaving her hanging like this – hates that he's always left her hanging. "I've got to go," he says.
He can hear her start to sob as he hangs up.
"Time's up," the uniformed guard behind him says. "You've got laundry duty this week, Uchiha."
The guard chews his gum obnoxiously, adjusts his belt – draws attention to the nightstick holstered there – and stares mockingly at Sasuke.
Sasuke ignores him and starts towards the laundry room.
"That was your girl back home, right?" the guard continues sarcastically. "I'm sure she'll be there, waiting for you when you get out in, what, 14 years? I have to wonder, though, what kind of man kills his own brother?"
Sasuke freezes and his jaw clenches painfully, to the point where it feels like his teeth will crack under the pressure. He flexes his hand and tightens it into a fist. Every muscle in his body is telling him to turn around smash his fist into this guard's obnoxious, disgusting face.
"46 days left," Sakura's voice whispers in his head.
46 days until he'll be allowed actual visitors. 46 days until he can actually see and touch Sakura again. He couldn't disappoint her, not like this. One wrong decision could easily turn those 46 days into 2 years, and he couldn't do that to her. He'd already done so much.
Forcing his jaw to relax, Sasuke starts to breathe deeply, hoping to calm the rest of his body.
"Problem, Uchiha?" the prison guard says. He walks up next to Sasuke and smiles viciously.
"No," Sasuke says. Remember Sakura, his mind says. "No problem at all."
He starts to walk again.
x-x-x-x
END
