Dedication: To the shadows that stay in the dark. You know who you are.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything copyrighted or recognizable as someone else's.
A-side Tracks: Written while listening to "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman; just because that fits my mood. Not really an influence over the story; just felt like writing SasuSaku and that happened to be playing. Also going to update Antebellum before I graduate (May 2014, guys, too soon too soon), I swear.
One-Shot; maybe series of drabbles?


She forgot to breathe once.

Just once.

It wasn't like the movies – what's the word, romantic? She saw blood – not his – dripping from the knife – his – as the bus she was on idled by an alley, waiting for the light to change. It was a cold day that pained her fingertips before kissing them numb. Inside the bus, it was warm. Few people had decided to venture outside, but those that were on the bus sat with their back against that same window.

None of them saw the look on his face, just the way she shivered. A woman asked if she needed to borrow her scarf and Sakura just shook her head. Her hair had fallen out of its ponytail holder somewhere along the way. But his eyes, oh, his dark eyes – they were dead. Their glance bypassed her as he raised his weapon again.

There were three of them and only one of him, but by the time she'd wiped away the condensation, two of them were sprawled against the dumpsters, slowly making for the ground. The last tried to run away.

He failed.

Her veins and arteries felt stiff, and her heart was frozen inside the icebox in her chest, beating ignorantly just as she watched and said nothing.

Why was everyone else looking away?

At that moment, a girl rushing outside happened to glance inside the dark strip of street. Her scream was audible from inside the bus and everyone swung around. She ran even faster in the direction she was going, barreling forward as if she was afraid to stay.

Sakura… wasn't afraid. She was caught up in –

"Call the hospital!"

"The fuckin' good that'd do – they ain't sewing those heads back on. Just call for an emergency."

Everyone was animated and had their phones out, but Sakura stared outside, trying to see him even as the bus driver locked the vehicle down.

He was slinking into another alley, eyes casting around for any witnesses. He caught her this time.

There was no smile on his face, but he held a finger up, held it to his lips with his head tilted like a bird's. His dark hair blew back in the hard wind, leaving a face with a straight nose and thin mouth that seemed stern for a man about her age.

Then he was gone.

Just as when he'd first shown up, no one noticed him disappear but her.

Sakura slowly turned around and leaned against the window. She didn't consider what to do – even though she was one of the best surgeons in the city, she wasn't an angel. She was human, limited by thread and the body's will and ability to perform.

No, she felt like a protagonist in one of her favorite books, filled with a desperate and morbid curiosity.

Who was he?

Her mind supplied the answer: Death.

And she breathed again.


B-side Tracks: Yes, Sasuke is real. This isn't a la City of Bones or anything. Sometimes, people are just so fixated on their lives they miss things.