Disclaimer: Naruto and all related characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.
Still Ice
This novel sense of tranquility between them, she didn't know what to do with it.
They were a blur of black and red among the snowy pine forest, and when their round finally ended outside the patrol station, he handed her a water canteen without words. She muttered thanks and took a few mouthful of icy water before turning to join the rest of their team in the warm vicinity of the wooden cabin.
He remained unmoving, so Sakura hesitated, taking in his dark blue shadow against the pure whiteness of winter in the vast clearing. When she approached him, his head inclined just the slightest to acknowledge her presence. She came to stand next to him, gazing at the pale grey sky overhead.
Sakura was wary to address this sense of tranquility between them. In contrast to Naruto's immediate welcome, Sakura felt that their acquaintance still came too quickly, even after six months since they have marched out the war as victors. The completeness of Team 7 was all she had wanted, but now that they were actually together, she didn't know what to do with it.
They were Team 7 again, but not the same. They will never be the same again. The war had poisoned their innocence. It had shifted their reality so fundamentally that each and every one of them was left with their own personal deep scars.
"It's nice out here during the winter, isn't it?" she asked after a while, breaking the deafening silence.
"Aa," he replied.
"Quiet?" she wanted to clarify, to understand the stranger he had become.
Sasuke shook his head. "Peaceful."
She saw exactly that quietude within the dark depth of his eyes, and everything suddenly became very clear. What she felt may not be not the same thing: a gentle flowing adagio as compared to the ardent allegrezza she'd felt as a child. But the melody was familiar. It was a song of tomorrow and yesterday, singing softly in her heart once more.
Fin.
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A/N: Written for rosaxx50, her prompt was 'angst' and 'snowpatrol'. This story is unbetaed, please excuse the errors. To make requests, go to my LJ page (links in my profile).