Disclaimer: Will Never Own Naruto.
Pairings: (SasuSaku, onesided NaruSaku).
Summary: He continues to hold her hand, like before.
A Lifetime of Eternity
He knows his smile is forced.
He feels the collar of his orange-turned-black jacket moving along the breeze of the wind. The wind scars his eyes, filling them with water and tears. Quickly, he wipes them away with the sleeves of the same jacket. They are gone as soon as they appear.
He wishes that perhaps, the wind will blow him away, to somewhere far away. He wants to go to a place where he can forget. The scene before his eyes is painful, and though there is nothing more powerful than the urge to run away, he stays. He stays and watches the scene unravel before him. His heart refuses to leave her. He wants to continue to hold her hand, even when there is someone else to do so for her.
He walks along the streets, hands stuffed in the pocket of his jacket. He lifts his neck to face the sky. It is filled with an assortment of black and gray clouds, all threatening to drop their weight onto the world. There is a glimmer of wetness in his eyes. That too is wiped before it can be seen by his beloved. He kicks at the dirt, turning to the ground for comfort. The colors are the same as the sky, black and gray.
Somehow, he feels those colors are the ones that fill the void in his heart.
The girl with bright jade eyes walks out of her door, taking time to check every lock, as if even one mistake would cost her insufferable consequences. Finally, she claps her hands and smiles at him. Her smile is brighter than any star. It is enough to lift mountains, to bring about hopeless miracles. The forced grin stays on his face, but a fraction of it is real. It is all because of her, her and her beautiful smile.
She stands on her porch, wrapped by a bright pink scarf. It nearly engulfs her whole. That forces him to clamp a hand over his mouth, to avoid the laughter from spilling from his mouth. The corner of her mouth turns, but soon, she is back to smiling. She shakes her head at his childishness, but he is not angry. It is not her who is engulfed, but him. Her smile seems to swallow him whole.
He stands merely a few feet away, wrapped by an orange scarf. It barely wraps around his whole neck. He hears her scolds, telling him that he should have brought a longer scarf.
Maybe.
It is winter, and though there is no snow, the times are merrier than ever. The seasons bring the best of times. That was what he was told.
Except that he feels even further away from that beautiful pink-haired girl.
Even when she is merely three feet away, even when he can feel the warmth radiate off her body, it feels as if they were thousands of miles apart. Maybe even more. There is an uncrossable barrier that he can never cross. She does not notice, but he does.
The smile slips on his face by a mere millimeter as he thinks this. She never notices. She is too busy waiting for someone that isn't him, someone that is opposite of him, someone that he can never be.
The black-haired rival of him arrives soon enough, wrapped around in a pink scarf as well. She had made it many months ago, after painful tries and experiments. He knows, for he was there with her, holding her hand while she practiced. He knows how hard she tries to please his rival.
She greets him with a smile and kiss.
He waves at his rival, pretending to scowl.
Is it really pretend? He asks himself this, knowing fully well the contempt he would have wished to feel towards the Uchiha.
But he knows that there is none.
He loves him like a brother.
He loves her like a lover.
They are the two most important people of his life.
But the Uchiha is never his brother and never will be. The two of them are not close, never speaking for more than a few seconds. Even then, the words are normal and generic. There is no brotherly feeling. They were strangers and always will be.
It is the same for his beloved pink-haired maiden.
Friends forever, she once said. He knows that she says to please him. She knows he cherishes, but never how much. She does not know the extent of his love for her. She thinks of it as the past. And when she once asked again, he replies with that same answer, that he no longer cares..
Even now, he continues to stand next to the couple.
Even her smile is not enough to heal his heart.
He knows his smile is forced.
-End-
How was it?