She squeezed her eyes closed and brought her hands together and wrung them in hopes it would stop her from checking on him. It was always the worst in the mornings. That was when her two selves argued the loudest.

She heard him move against his bedroll, back and forth. He was dreaming. She didn't want to imagine what he saw when he finally slept. She didn't want to imagine the blood and the pain and the death and the loneliness. She had had her fill of that in her own nineteen years. Tragedies were not meant to be compared or commiserated in – she would not sully her own against words like massacre and traitor.

Despite her earlier words, she did not hate Sasuke. She wanted to, God knew she wanted to. God also denied her the genetic make up necessary to hate her dark haired avenger or deny his shackles. Now that it was her, he was hers. Whether he would ever acknowledge it or not, part of him always had been.

No, she did not hate him. Where she wanted there to be hate, there was only pity. Pity for this boy who would never know or understand what it meant to be real, who would stay stagnant. A child, thrust into inopportune happenstance beyond his understanding far too early. A monster who lost everyone who would have saved him.

"Ni…"

Her hands moved to her ears. This was not fair. She'd done nothing to deserve to be here, it should have been Naruto. It was always supposed to be him. She should have been in Konoha, waiting to welcome her wayward team back from a successful mission. She should have been at the gates as they walked up, arms around each other in an effort to keep the other up. Ready to welcome one with a hug and one with a fierce punch to the face followed by the soft glow of healing. He would have come home by choice. He would not have fought. That is how it should have been.

She would have kissed him. She would have taught him happiness.

…………

His eyes opened. His body was drenched, his covers kicked to the side. As always, the night gave him no chance for rest. He wasn't sure he knew how to rest, he wasn't sure he'd rested in over ten years.

He turned his face towards Sakura. Her hands were covering her ears. He must have said something. He hoped it was nothing – no, what did it matter. Let her hear everything.

She must have sensed the change in his chakra, because she broke the silence a moment later.

"How are your injuries?" He sat up slowly, caring not to wrench the already ruined bandages any further. He shrugged in response. She cast a critical eye from her side of the camp. "You'll need to be bandaged again."

"Does it really matter so much that you present me to the executioner as a healthy prisoner?" He wasn't sure why he had spoken that particular thought out loud. From Sakura's face, she had a similar thought going through her head. This wasn't like Sasuke, she'd be thinking. He used his words sparingly. And he never asked her questions. He had no time for such wasteful habits. He had to bite back a laugh. No time. He realized she was still staring at him. "You don't have to answer."

"I am performing my duty as best I know how." This was the response she deigned to give him. He did not know this woman, he realized then. It shocked him, this realization. She had moved next to him to remove the damp rags around his middle; he couldn't stop looking at her face. He could tell she was doing her best to ignore him.

"I don't know you." Her hands stalled for the briefest of moments.

"I don't know why you're so surprised." She picked up the roll of clean wraps from her pack. "You've never seen me before." She stood, dusting off her knees and moving to put her pack together. She threw some words back at him as she walked away, "And now it's too late."

He couldn't help the way his lips turned up at that. It was just too typical.

………….

She couldn't help but glance back as she let her parting shot go. He'd lost interest, staring into the distance with a strange smile on his face. She'd have questioned the emotion, but it didn't reach his eyes.

………….

"Why are we moving so slowly?" He'd been doing this all day. Asking questions. Despite the inanity of his queries, she was unnerved. He walked after her with his empty eyes and empty thoughts and empty words, and she wasn't sure how much longer she'd be able to stand under the weight of all that emptiness. As with every answer, she schooled her voice to monotone and responded,

"Because you need to heal." And I need time.

"You should kill me." She stopped short and answered him honestly.

"I can't."

"Weak." She hoped her laugh was mocking enough.

"You're not as good of an actor as you used to be, Sasuke." She turned around and looked into those open eyes. "I can see right through you." She waited until they'd started walking again to continue. "Because there's nothing to see."

…………

He wanted her to be the one to kill him. He did not want to die in a room with people he did not know. He wanted one good thing before he died. The only hope he had left was a good death at the hands of someone who deserved to own his death. It needed to be her. She would understand how the moments fell together to get them to that point.

He wasn't completely naïve, he knew there could have been other endings. He also knew he couldn't really have had those endings. Now that his Nii-san was gone and he knew the truth, his life seemed so much sadder. He'd always understood on an intellectual level that his was a tragic figure. But he'd been so angry, there was no time to dwell on pathetic sadness. There was only power and anger and vengeance. If there was no room for sadness, how could there have been room for happiness. No, those endings could never have been his.

Or hers.

A/N: Chapter two. And it only took me 4 months. Okay, I'm a jerk. I know. And I'm sorry!! I'm not going to make any false promises anymore. But I will say that I'm going to finish as many stories as I can, I sweeeear. I just don't know how long it will take me :-/

Did I ever mention how much I love you guys?

:D

Read & review as ever, sainkyuu.

(also, let me know if I suck at this angst thing. we all know it's not my forte)