- Semi-sequel to Complimentary Colours but it can stand alone. Slight shounen ai, can be taken as a rivals/friends kinda thing
Flicker
Sakura shivers in the cold. The night is dark under the cover of the trees, and it feels like the only warmth is the light of the fire. She knows that that's wrong, of course, but it's lonely here, even with her teammates on the other side of the fire. She's worried, too, but she knows they would want her to leave these moments to them alone. Wrapping her arms around her legs, she stares into the fire. It flickers, and Sakura's eyes are caught there, entranced.
A movement out of the corner of her eye, and she looks up to see-
"No!" A scream. A whisper, in her mind- not quite in, not quite out, but maybe both at the same time 'Please don't die...' Sasuke, desperately running, dodging, fighting, for-
-Naruto. He lays, unconscious and unmoving at the vicious woman's feet. There is red there, and Sakura is afraid to ask, afraid to know-
"Is that blood?" Because if it is, that means that Naruto is hurt, and Sasuke is hurting, inside, and Kaka-sensei is fighting to save them, and it's All. Her. Fault.
"I'm-" her throat is thick with fear and panic and guilt and the words stick in her mouth, "so sorry-"
-Sasuke. Pale, beautiful Sasuke, staying beside Naruto, even in deep, relieved sleep. There's a cloth on the ground beside the fire and the white is stained with red. Sakura bites her lip and looks away.
The flames lick at a piece of wood, sliding against it until it, too, burns. The fire grows. It's all about taking that chance, bending with the change, grabbing this one shot which could just be enough to bring victory. Flames, almost incontrollable, spreading and destructive. Burning. It hurts. But that's okay, you'll get better. And you try again, and if you fail it doesn't matter, because you've gotten a little farther, this time 'round.
Sometimes, to her, Sasuke is fire. He hasn't failed, but he isn't going to stop trying to make that impossibility smaller, he hasn't given up on what he still hasn't done, and he's not about to.
"Sakura" Kaka-sensei tells her quietly. "I'm going to bring medics back from the village – we don't know why Naruto hasn't woken up, so he shouldn't be moved."
Her eyes widen. "But, Kaka-sensei-!"
"No, Sakura." He sighs, and she is reminded of how much he worries, that he has seen too many of his comrades die. "Stay here and watch over them for me."
She looks at Sasuke, even quieter than usual, sitting by Naruto, wiping at the blood that won't stop flowing. She remembers, again, that her boys always worry too much, hurt too much, that sometimes it seems the sadness is in their very souls.
She knows she is their light in the dark, their reminder that life isn't always tragedy, and she knows that she should be strong. If not for them, then for herself- for the"herself' in the past who read about famous kunoichi in the thick books taller than she. The one who told herself- I'm going to be one of them. The now-young-woman who asked herself- why am I so weak? The girl in the mirror to whom she says "I'm going to make it", everyday.
She smiles up at him. "Don't worry, Kaka-sensei. It's going to be okay."
Kaka-sensei looks at her and something in his eyes soften. "It wasn't your fault, you know. But I'm not going to say that you couldn't have prevented it. Sakura, some advice to you – stop saying you'll do it, and just do it. If you don't know it's impossible, then for you, it isn't."
Sakura falls onto her back on the grass, and she tries not to remember the blood. A light, streaking past the darkness where nothing shines. Comets. They sparkle so brightly as they shoot by the stars, but they seem so lonely, so far away sad. She wonders, if someone believed in them, urged them on, told them- there is nothing you believe in that you can't do. Would they stop falling in brilliance only to disappear? Would the sky be full of stars that shone forever with their own glittering light? She is a comet who tries too hard, and yet not hard enough.
Naruto stirs. Sasuke's breath catches in his throat, and he waits for blue eyes to open. They almost don't, but then there they are, dazed and confused but so, so blue and Sakura finds it hard not to break down and cry.
"You..." Sasuke struggles for words. Frustrating, reckless, hasty. There are so many things he could say, so many questions he could ask. Why do you make me worry? Why do you have to do something so stupid, but come out fine in the end, with this stupid grin on your face? Why do you have to tell me you'll be more careful next time, when we all know you'd do it again without thought?"...dobe."
And there is nothing more to say.
There is a light. It's not the fire, not anymore. It went out hours ago, but here, curled warmly in her sleeping bag, it doesn't really matter. This light's inside her, and it warms her soul with none of the fire's burn. She likes it. It reminds her of Naruto, but Naruto is more of a flicker- fiery in his own way, warming in his own way. He's not like Sasuke, though, - you don't need to wear gloves to handle this flicker, because he wears his heart on his sleeve, and he expects you to do the same for him.
This light is born of a flicker called hope, belief, faith, trust. Confidence, the ability to try and get up again when you fall. There are so many names, and all of them apply to Naruto.
They fall asleep this way. Sasuke, curled around Naruto in a sleeping bag that they are still small enough to share, holding each other in an embrace that tells her "I would die if you were to disappear." Sakura watches them, curled in the roots of a tree a little ways off. She wonders what it would be like, to love like that.
Sakura will hold her head up high. It's all about belief, and using that belief to try. She's going to be careful with this little light in her heart. It's going to go out, she knows that, but that's okay. It'll stay as a flicker until she feels like she's strong enough, brave enough, tough enough. She knows this day is coming, and she can tell it's getting closer by the moment.
And when that moment comes, she wants this flicker to burst, into flame.