Title: Precipice
Pairings/Characters: Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke/Sakura.
Theme: Another Team 7 fic ^^
Summary: In which there is nothing (and everything) to forgive.
Note: I am such a sap.
--
Sometimes, through the cracks in the armor, through the chain mail linked and protective of their hearts, they feel the wounds from the blows that slip through the gaps.
There comes a time when everyone must learn that there are instances when solitude just isn't enough anymore.
Sometimes all you need to bridge the gap between here and there, you and them and hearts is-
Briefly, in moments so subtle and quiet, in the space entre past and future, Kakashi finds himself in the present. Everything is suddenly still then. There is nothing but the now, the wants and the hurts of the present. There are no plans, no repercussions, no memories or movement. He is pulled under by the shear force of if and maybe.
Kakashi is duty bound and proud. Right now. But he is also in mourning.
Sometimes all you need to bridge the gap is remember to stop.
--
There are times when Naruto stumbles. He trips on the messy things that litter the floor of his life and sometimes these piles of metaphorical crap are things he didn't even see coming.
Naruto trips, but he refuses to fall. He stumbles as his legs tumble out from under him. There are times when he stands straight and walks tall; he pretends that there was never a doubt. Other times, they are the ones who catch him.
And there is so much love that is unspoken in that simple gesture, in the act of protecting.
Sometimes, he learns, all you need to bridge the gap is let people catch you.
--
There is a time and place for obstinate bravery and heroism. War is not it.
Sakura has learned that when you go out on a limb, when you play the knight, you fail.
You lose.
She knows as well as the next broken, shattered person (ninja) that it's useless to try and justify. Because it doesn't really matter. There's no use in trying to change the fact that you just took a life. You. No one else.
You are the bad guy.
The monster that you thought you were fighting against.
(But that makes her wonder, what is she fighting then?)
But still she fights harder. She speaks no a syllable, and hacks and slashes and she's somewhere inside her own head screaming.
Because they're facing off again. She still loves him so desperately, it hurts so much to know that they're not quite on the same side anymore.
She is never going to have to watch his back again.
There aren't enough tears in the world to encompass and personify this moment's pain. And so, she doesn't cry.
She loves him, Sasuke, and she's so so tired.
Her fists drop. She stops fighting.
Sometimes, all you need to do to bridge the gap is put the knife down.
--
His whole life, the only constant companion, as old as he is his own crippling anger.
Sasuke has always found a reason to hate the world and fate. He hated what a collaboration of the two had done to him.
With reason, some might argue.
He went from anger at his father for overlooking him, to anger at his brother for shattering and killing and the pain. He was angry at Naruto for being stronger, at Orochimaru for holding him back, then finally the whole damn village. A place he once called his home. And it hurts him, but he couldn't, even then, make himself swear vengeance against them.
Now, he wants to be angry at her. Because all is said and done, he'd watched her village burn to the ground, he'd killed her kage, and still she refused to pick up her fists, swing that ridiculous, ostentatious axe.
Why the hell wouldn't she fight him?
She steps close and closer. Sakura isnt crying. He doesn't understand and his world seems to tip on its axis.
And he's just so damn angry all the time.
She bares her neck, tilting her head back so that the locks of her hair brush the apex of her shoulder blades. She's so close that he can see the Irish ring around her irises. The flat of his blade presses against her throat, as if to hold her off from making contact.
He calls her stupid and annoying and makes a cutting, would-be-eviscerating remark about putting her life in jeopardy, in an enemy's hands. He sheathes his sword, says she's not worth the kill and this is when the tears come. But these are happy tears, and after all these years he can still recognize the difference.
She must find what she was looking for in his face, because suddenly she's tackling him in a hug.
He's angry at her, the world. And no doubt in some way, she hates him for it. Because how could she not?
Somewhere in between her angry ranting and the kiss she presses to his forehead Naruto's arms encircle them both in a bruising, crushing embrace and Kakashi laughs somewhere in the background of his world.
He doesn't apologize, but he will.
Because he has spent his entire life being angry.
And because sometimes, all you need to bridge that final precipice is the act of forgiving others.
And maybe even forgive yourself.
A/N: Some parts I like, others I really hate. All and all I don't think it was my best work. Disjointed like all my pieces yes, but does it flow?
Let me know what you guys think!
~Sierra