Hello :) I've been gone from the Naruto fanfiction for a while, but I was inspired recently, and this was the outcome.
The idea came about because I was listening to Mayday Parade, and they're completely amazing. Their songs: Jamie All Over, When I Get Home You're so Dead, Your Song, Without the Bitter the Sweet Isn't as Sweet, and finally A Shot Across the Bow were major contributors to the story. These songs are fantastic, and I recommend listening to them at least once :)
I had posted this before, however it was taken down due to content –I'm really not sure why it wasn't bad, I've seen so much worse- So I edited it some and here it is again. Hopefully it goes better this time.
Note: this contains some adult content.
I don't own any of the songs, nor do I own Naruto. Please enjoy :3
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Shooting Star
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Hair swirled around the base of her neck, thanks to the wind rushing in through the window. Clutched in her fingers was a blue BIC pen that shakily circled the name of a town written in black on a map of the country.
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The circled town was small and large, exactly opposite of what they were looking for, but it included everything they needed. People claimed it was beautiful, with lush trees and jade colored grasses. Surrounded by tall buildings that glistened like stardust at night. She had dreamed of going there ever since she was a little girl.
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"There." She spoke loudly, attempting to overpower the noise flooding in from the open windows. Other vehicles roared by, barely hiding the rattling engine of his beat up old car. Her green eyes flitted from the paper and up to the male beside her. "That's where we're headed."
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"Let me see Sakura."
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She passed the slightly crinkled object into his much larger digits. One hand gripped the steering wheel as the other lifted the paper into a safer line of vision. After glancing at it for a few seconds, he nodded and gave it back to her.
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Sakura folded it and clutched it in her lap; the circled city was at the top. Emerald outlined the rough edges of the BIC line, tracing and retracing their path.
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"That's okay, right Sasuke?" He made a noise that was somewhere between a grunt and a mumble. "Because if it's too far and you don't w-"
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"Sakura, you can have anything you want."
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There was an odd leap in her chest, but she couldn't help smiling a bit. Her fingers gripped the edge of the map, the pad of her thumb running over the corners. "Thank you." And that was all she could say.
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The car continued to rumble down the highway. Loose pieces of gravel crunched underneath the tires as lights flickered on and off like dying flames in the buildings they passed. The sun had long since disappeared along the horizon, but they were chasing it west.
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The moon showed up a few hours later, when she was just about to nod off. Nothing but a crescent, the only lunar piece to be left behind. A clouded gaze lifted as she watched with shinning eyes, and somewhere in her guts, she knew she wouldn't ever feel the same again.
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x. o. x. o.
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It was different with her beside him.
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The car ride took another day, but seemed to only take moments. The way she smiled when he pointed out the approaching coastline, and how she looked so young and peaceful in her sleep, he wanted to protect her forever. It made his heart beat in a way he hadn't ever felt before, and in a way he knew it would never beat again.
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The sun was rising, and everything was orange. Tinted and tinged in a healthy glow. The green in her eyes was vivid and deep. She smiled up at him again, reaching for one of his hands, which he immediately gave her.
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Sakura could have anything.
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"This is it," her head was resting against his shoulder. He wondered if she could hear the blood pounding hard, almost painfully, through his veins. "We're here Sasuke."
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The beach wasn't as lonely with her against his side, and the ocean wasn't so big. When he looked up at the stars, they didn't seem so far away. She made everything easier, and happier, and he just wanted to keep her around forever.
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She tasted like salt when he finally kissed her. Damp, with a bit of sweat and a lot of ocean. But it left his mouth dry, and wanting to taste hers again.
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The sand was rough, and the water was cold, but she arched her back, and she smiled in the silver moonlight, and he couldn't help but meet her in the act.
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There were dimples on her lower back he hadn't known about before, and a short scar right beside her navel. She saw the birthmark on his ribcage and she kissed it. He feathered his mouth over the marks on her wrists as the waves lapped up against their toes.
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Sakura giggled when he had to chase after his boxers, which had been floating away at high tide. Their fingers were laced together, two parts of the same chorus, and made their way slowly up to his beat-up car, following nothing but the sliver of light granted by the moon and stars.
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He kissed her again, once they were completely dressed and no longer soaking wet, but that time she just tasted like him.
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x. o. x. o.
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"I just don't believe in it Sasuke. I can't."
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His eyes narrowed only minimally, but he nodded none the less, before opening his own mouth.
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"You have to understand that I do."
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Her eyes looked like broken stars, filled with ocean water and tears. There were still pieces of sand sticking to her skin and she pressed closer to him. Glancing into his dark irises, she bit her lip and then looked at the water. "I know."
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But she said it quietly and weakly. It left him thinking of almost anything else.
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He let her hold onto him for another second before taking her hands and resting them on his neck. His fingers reached back down and took her waist against warm palms. With a breath and no music, he started to walk them from side to side, switching steps now and then.
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Soon she was twirling and smiling again. Her feet kicked up the sand, and the ocean made crashing sounds somewhere off behind them. Silver light clung to their skin, and caused her eyes to look even larger in the darkness. Their feet carried them to the empty streets, not even the homeless were there to mar the emptiness.
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"You have to know I mean it, Sakura."
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She stopped mid-twirl, fingers flinching a little in his. But she remained quiet, letting him hang there with an incredible weight pressing in his guts. When she nodded he found that he could breathe again.
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"I know."
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x. o. x. o.
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Light at night was cold and heartless to him. Neon bar signs, advertisements for naked and dancing women. When Sakura wasn't with him ladies would walk up to him, with barely anything on. With large breasts and exposed thighs, they smiled and asked if he wanted a good night. They told him they could make him happy.
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He always replied no.
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She loved looking at the lights. The neon ones, the glancing kind that ricocheted from windows and mirrors. The type that reflected off the churning ocean water. They were mesmerizing and beautiful, fleeting and temporary. Just like she was. A flame being smothered.
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But her favorites were the ones that traveled from millions of miles away. Ones that could be dead or dying light-years away.
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"Sasuke, they're all wishes. All of them up there…. Each one is someone's wish. Stuck up there… just waiting to come true."
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He let her watch them in silence, because it was the only way to see her smile anymore. Running away hadn't helped, and he couldn't stop himself from thinking about the map in his glove compartment. The one with the BIC circle. The desired town they had reached; the one that was supposed to hold some twisted salvation. But after a handful of heartbeats, even with his fear of a broken smile, he opened his mouth.
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"What about the falling stars? What do they mean?"
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The grin on her face widened to his relief, and she brushed damp pieces of bubble-gum pink hair over her ear. There was a moment where he could see the scars that laced her together. Emerald glanced from his darkness back to the glistening silvers and golds.
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"Those are the wishes that come true. They fall to you through the cosmos, through the damn atmosphere and down here…. Down to us on Earth."
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x. o. x. o.
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She was crying, diamonds on cream colored skin. And blood was everywhere. Across the bathroom floor and splattered in the white, basin sink. Red ran from her fingertips and she couldn't help but whimper on the cold, tiled, hotel flooring.
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"Sakura?"
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He spoke her name softly, and didn't flinch at the sight that met his black eyes. She was thin, skinnier than what would be considered healthy, and he picked up her bones before cradling her against his chest. She borrowed his warmth with permission and he felt her relax.
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"My damn wishes." She nuzzled into him, fingertips leaving crimson smudges on his t-shirt. Her blood felt hot against his flesh. "My goddamn wishes never come true. I just want to forget, why can't I just forget?"
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"I don't know," he whispered and placed a kiss on her forehead. "I don't know Sakura, but I'd do anything if I could just help you."
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Her toes curled as noise escaped her throat. Her pretty features were twisted. Fuchsia brows furrowed low and her mouth warped in a grimace. Crimson and clear water mixed together as her eyes continued to leak. The blood was still coming out of puckered and mutilated slashes.
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"Sasuke, I'm sorry." Her voice was barely recognizable, somewhere between a moan and a whisper. "I'm sorry I'm a screw up…. I'm sorry for doing this to you… I'm so sorry I'm broken and used."
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"It's not your fault." He murmured, folding her arms closer to him. She was always so cold when these episodes happened. "He did this, it wasn't your choice. You have to understand it's not your fault."
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"Then why did he do it—Sasuke why did this happen?"
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He wanted to answer her, with every atom and nucleus in his being he wanted to have an answer. One that would make her understand she wasn't truly broken. But there wasn't an answer for that, there would never be an answer for that.
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"I don't know." It was weak, and he wanted to punch himself, but what was there to say when you knew a beautiful girl who had been raped?
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x. o. x. o.
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The ride back wasn't nearly as promising. With summer finally coming to a close and fall looming around the corner, it was a ride stuck in a time warp.
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She had one of his hoodies wrapped around her shoulders and a shell necklace strung along her collarbone. The deep green sleeves still smelled like the ocean, but they smelled like him too. A mix of salt water, car oil, something with spice, and a little bit of her pineapple perfume. It was an odd combination that was borderline insanity, but she loved to breathe it in. It was her third favorite thing in the whole world.
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"What's your dad going to say?" she questioned quietly. There hadn't been an authorized vacation for him, and knowing his family Sakura knew the older man would be having a heart attack.
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Not for fear, or worry. But for irritation.
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Sasuke shrugged. "It doesn't matter."
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She bit at her lips, and breathed his scent in again. She glanced out the window. It wasn't fun driving in the day. The only things to look at were trees and houses. There wasn't any light except that from the sun, and it didn't swim and coruscate like the nightlights did. "I'm sorry," she began to mumble. "You're going t-"
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"Please," he cut her off gently. "Please stop apologizing to me." He glanced at her. "I made the decision. I wanted to take you." He reached for her hand and wrapped it in his. "It doesn't matter what happens, Sakura, I'm with you."
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When she smiled he knew she didn't truly believe him. She never did.
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x. o. x. o.
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"Sasuke?"
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Her tiny voice came from his window, from the middle of the leafy bushes and dying flowers. "Sasuke?" she repeated, tapping quite delicately on the glass of his window. It woke him with a start, but when his eyes landed on her fluorescent pink hair, he jumped up and opened the latch, quickly collecting her in his arms.
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She was shaking, cold and thin, with tears glistening over her cheeks.
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He mumbled her name and pressed his lips to her temple. Murmuring soft words of encouragement and whispers of love into the petal-pink of her hair.
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It became normal, as the year moved on, for her to show up in his bed somewhere in the middle of the night.
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Nothing but shivering bones and tear-stained cheeks, she'd look at him with broken eyes, but she always came to him. Wrapped herself in his arms, and his warmth, and found some sort of safety net in the vicinity of his heart.
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And for him, that was enough.
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Breathing in his scent, the spice and oil, with some of her perfume still sticking to his skin, it calmed her nerves and caused her blood to flow just that much slower. The moon would paint them in silver light, and Sasuke would get up and lock the bedroom door. They would fall silent when footsteps could be heard from the hallway behind his wooden barricade. When the sounds would fall away he'd kiss her again.
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When the sun rose outside, peering behind clouds and peeking around leaves, it flowed in from the windows. Waking the male, but the female was still tucked safely against his side, shielded from the entire world, even the sun, as long as she stayed beside him.
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She breathed in even clips, and her lashes lay pale and long against cream skin. Sasuke nestled closer to her, holding her to his chest, because if he could just get her close enough to his heart, he could protect her from everything. She'd never have to worry or panic again, and the skin on her wrists might actually have time to heal correctly. She'd look peaceful and happy in her waking hours, as much as she did in her sleeping moments.
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He became accustomed to seeing her face every day he woke up.
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x. o. x. o.
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And then one day, he didn't.
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It was a day in early spring, she didn't show up, and she didn't contact him. There was nothing but an empty part to his bed, and something in his chest that ached with the idea that she wasn't there beside him. It threw his whole day off when he woke up and didn't see her pretty face, or kiss the pink hairs on her head.
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There were calls made, and text messages sent. Where are you?'s and Sakura, please talk to me.'s, and a few Are you okay?'s. But the phone turned out disconnected and when he went to her house, her mother shook her head.
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"Sasuke, I'm sorry. I don't know where she is. She just decided to leave. We tried to stop her, but she's nineteen. She refused to tell us where she was going and just said that she'd be in contact with us."
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There was an awkward silence as the male stared blankly at his only connection to the girl who meant everything to him. He could remember kissing her wrists and how warm she was against his stomach. Especially the way she smiled and how her tongue felt when she discovered his new belly button ring.
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"Y-you don't know?"
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The woman shook her head, and after another round of apologies, and I'm sure she's fine. He was turned away from the door, and sent on his way back home.
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The sky above him seemed to dull. From the vibrant and deep sapphire blue to a washed out, cheap version. The clouds lay in lazy wisps, no tufts or towering entities. The sun dimmed without her by his side. Puttering coming from passing cars fell into a haze, mixing seamlessly with his father's new lawnmower and his older brother mixing power drinks in the blender.
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Tweeting from the birds didn't even sound the same. It was springtime, that was their time. When they met, six years previous. When they were just young, before either one of them had been blemished by more than a scraped knee. Before he found out what her uncle had been doing to her. The flowers were usually so vivid, rubies and amethysts strewn across a base of jade. But without her? It was nothing.
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x. o. x. o.
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There was a lot of threatening and cursing coming in torrents from his father when Sasuke finally decided to pack his bag and find her.
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"You won't be coming back here, I'll be damned if you throw your entire life away from some screw up who doesn't dese-"
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The door slammed shut then as the teenager stalked out to the dilapidated car. It banged open again with another bout of cursing. His small mother stood in the empty doorway, watching him with similar black eyes. She didn't smile or frown, but simply watched as he tossed the backpack into the passenger's seat and started the engine.
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"I'm telling you that you're not going!" it was another scream from his father, who had moved to stand in front of the hood, blocking the pathway. "You're not going, and if you come back here I'll call the cops."
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"Okay."
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There was a moment of stunned silence as the two males faced each other, but when the older man had a sharp intake of breath, Sasuke's mother finally spoke.
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"Fugaku, let him go."
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Shock colored his face, but her words caused him to stumble around the vehicle to have a better look at her, and when she said nothing else, the twenty year old sped from the driveway and hit the open road.
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He started with her favorite restaurants, and the clubs she went to when she wanted to try and forget things. He visited the college she went to for a brief period, and found no one with any information about a Sakura Haruno.
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He kicked one of the tires, about a week later, when it went flat along the highway as it started to rain. He cursed and told himself that the water running over his face was only there because the sky was pissing on him. But he couldn't deny the awkward gasps that pushed their way out of his lungs.
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His wrenched open the passenger's door and dug through the glove compartment, searching for a wrench, hair dripping water down into his eyes, when his fingers caught on a crumpled piece of paper. Pulling it out delicately, trying to keep it as dry as possible, his heart gave a lurch.
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There was a city typed in black on a crumpled map, and surrounding it was a shakily drawn circle, in blue ink.
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A crumpled map that he had looked at over nine months before. He swore to himself and set it carefully back down onto the fabric covered seat. Reaching gently for the wrench, he looked outside and suddenly there was a little more color in his world.
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x. o. x. o.
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The ride took forever when he was just by himself. She wasn't there to laugh with him or brighten the small spaces with her smile. The gas pedal remained firmly pressed against the floor. He was getting closer to her with every passing mile, and he had to try to remind himself that she might not be there.
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When the coast line came into view his chest ached again, and could remember the way she grinned when he pointed it out to her the first time they had decided to pass through. That summer seemed like years ago.
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The sun started to sink by the time he made it to their hotel lobby. There was a blonde woman behind the receptionist desk, bubble gum cracking between her teeth; she looked bored with blank blue eyes. When he stepped forward she sat up a little straighter and smiled, quickly forgetting the gum in her mouth. "May I help you sir?"
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He bit at his lower lip, and looked around the lobby area. There were a few people waiting on the paisley couches.
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"I just…" he coughed and tucked his hands into his pockets. "Is there a pink haired girl around here?"
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"I-I'm sorry but I can't-"
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"You don't understand." His voice came out more desperate than he wanted; the colors were already starting to drain. If she wasn't here he didn't know where she'd be. "I'm not… I'm not asking information about her, or how she's paying or where she comes from. I just need to know if you've seen a pink haired girl around."
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The blonde woman opened and closed her mouth, shocked and surprised, with pale brows raised up into her hair line.
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"Please," he repeated, and he felt the back of his neck warm with embarrassment. "I need to know."
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He was about to turn around and leave when she finally nodded her head, and tapped a BIC pen in her fingertips. "Yes." She said softly. "A really thin, really broken looking pink haired girl." She nodded again and glanced down at the papers in front of her. "Yes, she's been around."
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Relief flooded through his guts. "Thank you." He gave her a smile and pivoted on his feet and started to walk quickly towards the entranceway.
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"She likes the pier." He stopped and turned to look at the woman. She had stood up, and watched him with her brows still knitted. "She goes down every night. I don't know why, or what for. But that's where she goes." Sasuke went to leave again, but once more the female's voice stopped him. "If you know her, please help her. She needs someone to take care of her."
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He spared her a glance, and then headed quickly for the pier, a picture fresh in his mind of the way she stared up at the stars.
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x. o. x. o.
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When he found her, she was laying on her back, watching the stars waltz slowly across the stratosphere. Her shoulders were still bone-thin and her shirt stuck to her skin, laden with saltwater. She was humming some sort of song he never heard before, and he wondered somewhere in the back of his mind if she had been drinking that night.
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"Sakura," he said softly, and took tentative steps towards her.
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There was a soft giggle before she actually sat up. "Oh," emerald orbs were glazed over. "I thought I was hallucinating." She smiled and let herself fall back onto the concrete. "It seemed like this would be the time to start hallucinating again." There was another chuckle emitting from her throat. "I mean, there's a lot of blood."
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Once she mentioned it, he noticed it. Outlined in the moon glow, he could see the crimson glittering against the pavement. Her arms were slashed open again.
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"Sakura, what are you doing?"
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"Hopefully I'm dying, Sasuke." Her eyes rolled back into her head a little. "It's been my new wish for a while now, and I saw a shooting star tonight."
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He jogged the last few feet to be by her side, and picked her up once again. Cradling her against his chest, he could feel where her vertebrae connected and the way her shoulder blades stuck out like knives.
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She was immediately struck by his warmth, and wondered why she hadn't realized she had been so freezing cold. There was a breeze blowing past, and his scent drifted up into her nostrils, and calm fell over her, just like it had before. The aroma of salt and spice, mixed with oil and sweat. The only thing that was missing was the underlying tone of her sweet pineapple, and she recognized with some sadness, how much it affected the entire smell.
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"This can't be your new wish, Sakura." She felt something wet fall against her face, and realized with wide eyes, that there was water coursing down his cheeks. "This can't be it; I wasn't here to protect you."
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"It's not your-"
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"Yes it is," he shook his head. "Don't you get it? It's my responsibility; it's my right to protect you. It's my fault that you're here right now. Sakura, when I said I loved you, I meant it—I do mean it. I don't care if you don't believe in it, I do. When I said that, I didn't say it for you, I said it for me. I want to protect you; I want to be the person you turn to." She opened her mouth but no words came out. "Damn it, Sakura, that wasn't your star. Your star didn't fall yet."
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"I'm sorry." She whispered.
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"You better be. Do you know what it's like to not be with you?" he kissed her. "Don't make me wake up without you ever again…. Please, I can't stand it."
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"Okay."
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x. o. x. o.
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They were holding hands, walking along the sand. It washed in the tide over their toes, and the pink haired girl couldn't help but look up at the male beside her.
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Seeing a psychiatrist had helped. With the impulse to cut herself, and the desire to always blame herself. Sasuke smiled when she would come home and tell him all the things she started to see, and she could tell how happy he was when she actually began to eat. She realized that it wasn't her fault, even though she'd always struggle with it.
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Ino, the receptionist, popped in now and again. They had become fast friends, all three of them, and quickly introduced a blond male named Naruto into the group. He could make Sasuke smile as much as Sakura could.
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They lived together, in a small apartment somewhere a little off of the beach. With a view of the city and the ocean, it gave the pink haired girl all the lights she could look at, at any time of day. They spoke of his family once, but there wasn't much to say. Fugaku didn't want to hear from them, and cut them away from the family.
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The scars on her wrists started to fade, but they would always be there, a permanent reminder of the destructive years, but also a monument to what she would become.
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Her bubble-gum pink hair fluttered a bit, the sun started to sink below the horizon and the beach dwellers began to disperse. Children ran laughing and screaming as their parents stalked after them. Other teenagers held hands and flirted before vacating the sand and leaving it for only them.
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"Did I ever say thank you?" Sakura asked gently.
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He shrugged. "For what?"
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She grinned and bounced up onto her tiptoes to kiss him. "For being the salvation I've always looked for, for being my star."
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He pulled her closer to him as his tongue pressed against hers. "You don't have to say thank you, I told you, I love you."
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"I… I love you too Sasuke." She giggled when he picked her up and twirled her through the air; she laced her arms around his neck. He let her back on the ground and they watched each other for a moment before heading back to their own apartment, hands still tied together.
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"Sasuke?"
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"Hm?" he asked quietly, pulling the blankets up over them, black eyes glancing up at the framed map that hung on the wall. There was a shaky circle around the name of a town. Lights danced in through the multitude of windows, but for once her emerald eyes weren't glued to their coruscating paths.
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"Did I tell you I saw a shooting star on the way home from the hospital, those weeks ago?" he shook his head and pressed close to her, wrapping his arms around her before she had the chance to move away. "Do you know what I wished for?"
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He shook his head again, and when she smiled he couldn't help but smile back. "What did you wish for Sakura?"
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She bit at her lip. "I actually wished for two things… I wished that you'd always be with me." Her fingers trailed down his stomach. "And I wished that I'd have the chance to play with your bellybutton ring again… If you'll allow it."
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He couldn't help but smile at her. "Sakura, you can have anything you want." And then he kissed her.
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