.Iridium.
Summary: Somehow their meaningless conversations aren't so meaningless as she thought they were.
She took a long, deep breath, taking in the scent of freshly washed pine and wet dirt. The wind hummed about her softly, making her locks kiss her cheeks. Occasionally, she would open her forest green eyes to drink in the darkness around her; the stars were hidden behind angry grey clouds that rumbled every five seconds and a flash of bright yellow light would strike the earth. At those moments, her retinas would explode with colours till her vision showed her nothing but white spots and then it would go back to being dark again. The ordeal made her slightly dizzy, and she would tap her forehead lightly, making the pain dissipate.
The wet grass tickled her exposed palms and wrists, the dew latching itself to her like a second skin till it tipped off her fingers, back to the foliage. She traced a particular drop down her elbow, to the front of her hand till the tips of her fingers, and watched as it drew itself to a tear-drop shape and-
Splash
It was lost among the countess dozens of small green blades.
"Hey," she whispered, her breath floating before her like white mist.
Sasuke gave a small nod in greeting and sat himself beside her, extending his arms behind him as he propelled his weight and stared at the grey sky above. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, before bringing her legs to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, placing her head on her knees.
"It's going to rain," Sasuke's deep voice made her turn her head to him and she watched him before humming in response. A raindrop fell on her button nose and she crinkled it slightly in irritation.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I'm missing Naruto," her voice was soft and reminiscing, but he could sense the slight undertone of humour there, "and that loud mouth of his."
She smiled lightly when she heard him scoff in amusement.
"He's not someone you can forget easily," he said, and even though it was dark and his eyes were closed, she could have sworn she saw his lips upturned a bit.
Silence flooded them while they listened to the soft howl of the wind.
"I envy him sometimes," she began, eyes glazed as she concentrated on some far object. "He doesn't let his failure put him down." She paused, fiddling with her fingers as she thought out loud, "It's a remarkable trait."
Bringing her jacket closer to her hunched form, she smiled.
"I wish I could do that."
A short tune played out, a scorching sound followed by a soft slip and a small blue flame to her left later-
"What's holding you back," he whispered, a cigarette plopped inside his mouth, eyes focused on the tiny red flame on its end. She stared at him for a while, studying his features till he felt her gaze and glanced at her.
"Nothing," she whispered back, blinking slowly, "and everything."
He took the bar out of his mouth, securing it between two fingers, and blew out the smoke. They both watched it mix with cold atmosphere.
"Does that even make sense, Sasuke?"
He didn't answer, and she didn't mind.
"I just want to live," she started again, her gaze falling on the barely visible stars and she puffed out slowly, "without the fear of my past holding me back."
She heard him sigh softly and she could already picture what was going to happen next.
"Sakura," he finally looked at her.
"Sasuke," she replied in the same tone, craning her neck slowly to face him. And suddenly, she felt like smiling.
"It's over." He replied levelly, ignoring the way her eyes sparkled with moisture.
"That's what everyone says," she shot back at him, grinning softly.
He still stared at her, a serious expression planted on his features while she hid her face under her arms.
"Stop that," she whispered softly, "please."
He decided to humour her, "Stop what, Sakura?"
She looked at him from under her barrier and pointed a slender finger at his face, in between his eyes.
"That. Stop that."
He shrugged lightly, closing his eyes while he propped the cigarette in between his lips again, working it to the end of his mouth like an expert would. A fucking perfectionist. His eyes opened again to the grey sky above.
"You're holding yourself back, Sakura." His voice reached her ears like a low hum. "Not your past."
She stared down the small hill, counting the small little dots of the traffic before they merged with the air.
"Liar."
He glanced at her again but then resumed watching the earth getting swallowed by the silent pitter patter of the rain
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"Sometimes," she began softly, twisting her fingers in front of her face, "Sometimes I think that I hate this city."
Her pupils dilated as she spoke, elbows perched on the soggy ground below as she balances her weight on them. Green irises bright and just so different from the grey sky she's under.
"I hate the lights, the noise, the smoke," she paused, blinking rapidly as she cleared her eyes again."And the sky, especially. It's just always so damn gray."
Sasuke blows the smoke and watched it diffuse in the wet atmosphere.
"Don't you hate it, Sasuke?" she inquired, turning her big green eyes in his direction as she waited for an answer. He shrugs, but doesn't say.
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With her legs sprawled out in front of her, she laid on the wet ground with her neck nestled between her threaded fingers, elbows barely touching the green moist grass. The jacket she wore was getting dirty-brown always did look prominent against black-but she ignored it, instead opting to close her eyes and fill her lungs with the smell of damp dirt.
"You know," she squeezes the breath out of her lungs as she whispers, turning her face to look at him, "that thing will kill you one day."
He glanced at her, staring her down from the corner of her eye like a ruthless killer but she manages to hold her chin high. The cancer stick is still there between his lips, painting them a soft black hue while he takes a slow drag at them before blowing the smoke towards the sky.
He shrugged a minute later, disregarding her comment like all the other things she says, and carries on while she stares at him with irritated eyes.
"Why are you eager to die?" She couldn't help but make it sound accusing.
He doesn't even look at her this time, never sparing a glance to her side while she burns her mind for what was going inside of his. Anxiety grips her shoulders with a vice grip, choking her, making it harder to breathe.
He blows another ring to the sky. "I've got nothing to lose."
She scoffs at his answer, rolling her eyes at the vague explanation but her heart betrays her because she knows what he means, she always knew.
Thunder rumbles overhead furiously and they listen to it strike down at an awaiting earth.
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"It's raining."
His voice was shadowed by the thunder that growled. Lightning flashed down from the heavens, booming in the atmosphere, leaving the air electrified. She blinked the rain drops from her eyes and looked at the sky above. Colours burst behind her eyes, blinding her till black tears appeared to erase the white light away.
Sasuke pushed himself off the ground beside her, discarding the cigarette form between his lips and stubbing the end under his sneakers. Threading a hand through his slightly wet hair, he glanced at the city lights below while she stared up at him questioningly.
"You're leaving?" her voice was barely a whisper in the air.
He shook his head slightly, pulling her up suddenly by her elbows. She scrunched her eyebrows in confusion but allowed him to yank her up, blatantly ignoring the sparks that exploded on her exposed arms where he held her. The close proximity made her slightly uncomfortable but Sasuke's face betrayed nothing of what he could have been feeling inside.
"No," his breath floated on her lips, leaving tingles, sending the strong scent of pine and tobacco up her nose and into her lungs, "we're leaving."
She drew a shaky breathe and followed him down the moss ridden path.
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"Do you ever," she began, eyes trained on her numb fingers, "have this urge to just pack up and leave this place for good?"
Craning her neck, she looked back at Sasuke. He had pushed his hands in his pockets as he made his way down the hill, sure footed and confident, so unlike her hesitant steps. The blinking lights of the moving traffic and lightning reflected on the whites of his eyes, so clear and translucent that she had to force her eyes to look away.
He flicked his hair from his eyes and clicked his tongue when he turned to look at the grey highway and the cars and the dots of lights. She glanced back at him from the corner of her eyes, wondering, thinking, speculating how one human could be so perfect that his every move, every twist is graceful. To the rest of the world, he was the Uchiha survivor, last of his kind, Greek God perfectionist, but in her eyes, his very imperfections were what made him so damn perfect and that made her angry sometime, because how is it fair that someone as fucked up as him still be so, so flawless.
She frowned at her selfish thoughts-is this what you've come to Haruno Sakura, you're making jibes at your best friend, your only friend-and instinctively, her hand fisted themselves again and tears of frustration welled up in her eyes.
"It's not fair," she bit out and the metallic taste of copper exploded in her mouth, "not fair, damn it!"
She could feel his eyes at the back of her skull, all black and deep and oh so honest, but the tumult inside her head, her mind and her soul due to her raging emotions and toxic hormones and venomous memories makes her want to scream till her throat aches and burns and she can't scream no more. This city, this fucking metropolis, with its grey skies and glass sky scrapers and crime rates and businessmen and senators and serial killers had destroyed them all and she wanted nothing more to burn it all down and watch it turn to ash and gravel and dust and hear it shriek in agony. Because living here was like breathing on fumes and surviving on shredded glass and no one cared for anyone but themselves. She hated it, despised it and wanted nothing to do with it.
"Sometime," Sasuke's voice resounded from where he was his, soft and delicate and cautious and she blinked furiously to prevent the tears from falling. "Sometimes, I wish it were that easy, for you, for me."
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She kept her eyes on her feet, counting the pebbles on the wet ground, fisting her hands inside her pockets. The cars on the highway continued to speed ahead, their tail lights flickering across the wet horizon like a blur. She huffed.
"What are you doing tomorrow?"
Her nose crinkled when a stray raindrop splashed on her numb nose.
Besides her, she felt Sasuke shrug his shoulders. Another cigarette was rolling between his lips, the white cover almost invisible against his alabaster skin. This one wasn't lit though; he was just pushing it from one end of his mouth to the other like bubblegum.
She flicked a piece of hair from her forehead and twirled it in her fingers before pushing it behind her ear. The silver stud in her ear lobe felt as cold as ice against her fingertips.
"You know," she tried to match his lazy steps with her own, but it seemed near impossible when his stride was so large and she had to nearly jog to keep up, "I haven't been to the observatory in a while. Have you?"
He looked down at her, amusement dancing in his orbs. She grinned at him through her lashes.
"Whaaat?" her tone brimmed with laughter. He shook his head.
"Let's go."
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The docks were silent when he passed them on his way home. He paused and looked at the dark horizon where the water merged with the midnight sky, wondering what made him stop.
A cigarette lay propped by the corner of his mouth, its red end a beacon to lost memories in the bleak blackness that surrounded him. He squinted his eyes and tried to look past the silent water, past the wooden deck and the voices inside his head that were telling him to turn and move and never look back. But he realised for the first time in many years that he was achingly tired of running away.
The emerging sun glared at him. Hands in his leather jacket, he watched as the darkness bled way to dawn, and the water reflected the light like a thousand diamonds sparking in glee. Looking back at the docks again, he didn't see anything; there was nothing left to see anyway.
The sun was high in the sky now. His phone vibrated in his jeans; he had class in four hours.
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She sees him standing outside the science building, mouth devoid of the ever present cigarette he always has propped by the corner of his lips. The early morning light makes him glow, and she feels her heart skip a beat when he opens his eyes and looks at her through his utterly black lashes.
"What are you doing here?" she breathes out, eyebrows furrowing to back her question.
He doesn't respond (not that she's surprised) but continues to stare at her face, eyes as dark as the midnight sky. His silence makes her feels somewhat awkward, so she asks again.
"Sasuke, what gi-"
Her breath hitches. The hand at the back of her neck softens and he pulls her in, closer to his eternal warmth and light. The pressure on her lips fades as he opens his eyes and looks at her.
"You talk too much," his breath hovers over her mouth, a mixture of mint and smoke. She loves it, and when he brings his face down again, she closes her eyes and meets him there halfway. And then she explodes.
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A.N: First ever thing I uploaded here. Do drop a comment to tell me if you liked it.