Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Summary: The path to becoming unbroken is long and hard.


Unbroken


Cause I'm broken when I'm open

And I don't feel like I'm strong enough


It's still raining so hard today, Sasuke. Though I healed my wrist you snapped yesterday, a dull pain continues to throb inside me.

My black umbrella is gone, but in the morning, I stepped out into the rain, anyway. Somewhere within me, I was scared of seeing you again, but a better part of me told me that you wouldn't even be out in the rain today.

Thirty seconds later, I was completely soaked.

Five minutes later, I realized why I had come out at all. It was the black cat. There was a stray cat before me, and disregarding the puddle, I sat down. I outstretched my hands and, ironically, the black creature wholeheartedly trusted me and leapt into my arms. Even in this rain, I felt warmth emanate from it. In an entranced motion my hands gently crawled to its neck.

How did the twelve-year old Sasuke feel when his own hands snapped the cat's neck? This innocent, warm cat, so trusting…

Rain mingled with my tears and my hands shivered, though from the cold or just fear of a new realization, I did not know.

My hands gently enveloped around the cat's neck, and though the cat gazed at me like it knew what I was capable of doing, it remained still.

Why, just like me…

Suddenly, something cold and hard pushed me back to reality. There you stood, creating a shadow over me, and the only sound was the sharp intake of my breath. It had been ten years since the last time I felt your touch… your cold, freezing touch, something I should fear yet –

"Don't break now," your low, impassive voice was the first to break our silence.

I smiled sadly, almost tempted to laugh at how ironic your words were, and muttered, "We're broken people, you and I."

"You still have hope."

Oh? And you don't, Sasuke? I wanted to question out loud, believe me, I did, but no sound came out.

Suddenly conscious of the tears I had shed previously, my hands reached up to cover my face, but it was okay. The rain had washed away my tears…

Was this why you stood under the rain so frequently, Sasuke?

When we parted, I wondered if I was the black cat you broke. When my hands had encircled the cat's neck, I knew that there was no way I could break it. I was a healer, after all.

But you had just been a boy then… if I was the black cat you broke, then I guess it's you who know best how broken I am now.


Notes: Lyrics of "Broken" by Seether ft. Amy