"She said; 'it's not about you', 'it's not about you, it's me.'"
AN; It's been a while. Inspired by both the lyrics of 'Scouting for Girls' "it's not about you, it's me" and the brief plot summary of Vertigo by Cynchick as relayed to me by a friend... (continued at the end)
Disclaimer; Naruto is the property of Kishimoto
Meetings
"This isn't about you."
She slipped her hand from his, the wicker of the floor creaking slightly in the residual damp of the rain earlier as she got to her feet. There was a muffled rustle, before she paused at the hand on her arm, carefully empty viridian gaze rising slowly with the slow tilt of her head to meet with darkening sapphire.
"What?" His grip tightened as he got no response, and he scanned over her features briefly before meeting her eyes once more, brow furrowing at the emotion –or rather lack of- on the usually so expressive features. A rustle lower down and his gaze immediately shifted onto a tattered scroll as it was shifted from her hands to a pocket, his stance hardening as he recognised it for what it was. The declaration. So what he'd heard was right. A slight shift of displaced air; his attention was returned to her as she turned her back to him, hands rising as she tried to shrug out of his grasp but he only shifted his grip lower to her wrist. A second passed in awkward silence before he brought her back around with a slight tug, and she was forced once more to face him, his piercing gaze- "How can it not be?"
"It was my decision- my mistake. And I made sure you weren't involved, so there is nothing binding us. Don't you dare think this changes anything;- you are after one of the most important people to me in this whole entire god damn world-"
"-Who tried to kill you."
"-and you can't just expect me to just join you and your- that is not the issue here! That is-" She snarled as she realised she had been diverted, swiftly clenched fist flying narrowly past his ear as she forcefully shoved aside her turbulent emotions– keep this simple, Sakura-; before she was falling through the air, the hand gripping her arm dragging her irresistibly her towards him. She fell into his arms, the discharged energy from the attack causing the air to crackle around them; and she froze, momentarily stunned by the impact, before- Shit. She was a second too late to react as his arms wrapped around her; and she felt her breath leave her as she was swung forcefully to the floor, arms locked in a pincer grip behind her as he settled his obstinate weight on her back. Eyes flashing with anger, she twisted, teeth gritted as she fought to keep herself together as she only found herself more and more caught up- before she finally found herself facing him, wrists secured firmly by her sides as his brilliant sapphire gaze bore into hers. There was silence.
"…Why are you here?" The words were choked and half muffled through gritted teeth, and she forced herself to look away, gaze shifting to stare at the ground as his eyes widened slightly, features creasing into a frown as his tight clasp around her wrists loosened to a more comfortable grip and he bent his head down to the side, trying to catch her gaze again. Seeing the movement, she took a deep breath, before forcing herself to meet his eyes, searching them.
"…Why not?"
His words caused the predicted -yet futilely protected against- uncontrollable bubble of emotion to escape the tangle, and she found herself shaking uncontrollably as she attempted to stop the final barrage of emotions that broke through the tightly built barriers she had attempted to confine them to for the past year, head turned fiercely away as she tried to hide as little as she could. Why must it be him? He couldn't be here; he couldn't put her in this situation. He couldn't see this, react this way- how can he, with what he is? Screw the opportunity, screw this approach; she couldn't do it this way. It wasn't right. Couldn't be right.
"Leave."
She struggled to maintain her breathing, regain her mind, and concentrate on the mission, the one sole strain of sanity that weaved reason into her, into everything. She couldn't make it with this, not with him- she would wait it out, use this opportunity to let the word out, wait for another cloud to chase her. Mission enacted, notes sent, then she could complete it.
"Leave."
This- this was just too personal, too close; she could not risk jeopardising this mission, not with so much at stake. Not with Naruto's life- not with Naruto-
"No."
A swift movement. There was a flash of blinding light, and- pain? But there was no pain, well, not exactly, not yet- She watched herself fall towards the marble floor, wincing faintly in preparation as she half expected the collision- and wondered faintly why it never came.
"Not this time."
AN (continued); ...A brief emotional travel - confusing, as always, but what else can you expect of me? I've picked this up and dropped it for a couple of months, believe it or not. xD; I blame my lack of time, but it is mostly based on my procrastination. Hence this is chock-a-block full of multiple writing styles, and has only had a brief read through by me and my beta.
