Little Glass Slipper
Three- Snow White
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"I'm wishing."
-Snow White
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Sometimes when I'm alone, I'll pull out the old photo albums. The ones with the pictures from three years ago, back when Sasuke, Naruto, Kakashi and I were still happy. No, not happy. Happy was never really part of the picture. I was just too stupid to realize it. When we were still a family.
I'm not the same as I was before. I'm not stupid anymore. I know there's not going to be any happy endings when it comes to our family, as I still think of it.
Even if Sasuke did come back, he would no doubt be sentenced to life imprisonment, if not death.
And I know it's selfish of me to wish that he would come back anyway, just to show that he chose us. Because just to see him one more time without him trying to kill me would mean the world.
I know I'm selfish. But I wish anyways.
There is an old wishing well on the way to Tsunade-sama's office that I pass every morning, and every morning I tell myself I'll stop tomorrow.
But I don't, because what do I have to wish for? I have a good life. There's only one thing I want and I'm not going to give myself the opportunity to ask for it. I don't want to be selfish.
But today is different, because today was Kakashi's funeral, and Sasuke wasn't there.
Today I wore my pretty black dress and pearls, and no one even noticed.
I'm sure Naruto would have commented, if he hadn't been too busy looking like a part of him had gone missing, and it hadn't sunk in that it was gone. To Naruto, life is precious. Every light that blinks out is a waste.
I once thought like that too.
But I can't afford to think like that anymore.
So, during Kakashi's burial, while Naruto sobbed next to me, I tried not to cry, and instead busied myself by scanning the congregation's faces.
And he wasn't there.
And now I stand at the edge of the well, and just once I want to be selfish, because I know two other people who loved Kakashi the way I did, and three people who should have been at his funeral instead of the hundreds that were there, and one of them wasn't.
And just once, I let myself wish for Sasuke.
Naruto comes up to stand beside me, a fake smile already plastered on his face. I know it's there to make me feel better, but it only succeeds in making me feel worse.
I manage to choke out, "Don't pretend for me, Naruto."
And just like that, his pretense vanishes and I see my emotions mirrored exactly in his face. Then he turns to the well and I don't need to ask him what he's wishing for, because Naruto, unlike me, is a good person, and I figure he is wishing for Kakashi to come back.
For a second, I feel guilty.
But then he whispers, so quietly I almost don't hear it, "You bastard."
And I realize that maybe Naruto is selfish too.
He tosses a coin in, then another and another, and they echo as they hit the bottom of the well. The sound is empty, broken. Just like our family.
I laugh bitterly. Our family? What family? Our family died with Kakashi.
Although the truth is, our family died long before Kakashi.
It is this thought, this single truth, that pushes me over the edge. The first tear slips out since he left years ago.
I am not wishing for Kakashi. He's gone now, beyond my reach.
But Sasuke is beyond my reach too, so why do I wish for him? I only have one answer to the question:
I am selfish.
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A/N: There's that. These oneshots are getting kindof angsty! Well, hopefully the next one will have a happier ending. :) Review and a magical unicorn will visit you in your dreams! And really, who doesn't love unicorns?
