Standard disclaimer applies.
Author's notes: Firstly, Happy Valentines! I hope you had a wonderful day. (As a side note, Marketing is impressive, huh? xD) So my "gift" today is this update with a fluffy shot. This is a the third fic which I mentioned earlier would include an older Sasuke and Sakura and a bed. (And no, it's not even a lime, there are just certain... implied things there). Thanks for the reviews. I hope you like it and enjoy it!
Knowledge
01.02.2007
Sasuke watches her as she sleeps. The dim light from the lamp on his nightstand makes her bare skin glow; and the blue, satin sheets contrast against the pale curve of her back as they rest slightly above her waistline and get tangled down around her legs. He mentally savors the ivory column of her neck, her soft cheek, and her pink lips, and ultimately understands that she is like a drug to him. She's addictive; he always ends up wanting more.
He relishes on the satisfying feeling that makes his chest throb as his dark onyx eyes fall entranced with the dance of her even breathing. His fingers roam to her neck, slightly pressing them against it and feeling her pulse pounding under his fingertips. It makes his own heart beat grow stronger. He feels real and complete, because it's her that's really here – next to him, with him – and not some sad dream. He feels alive, because she is alive – breathing, her heart beating rhythmically – and not trapped in a bloody background.
Sasuke doesn't know why he is here, why she is here; he only knows that it feels right to be here with her and no one else. He doesn't know whether he loves her, whether it is just plain attraction that makes them stay around each other like satellites falling into each other's gravity force, but what is true is that that gravity pulls him to her, strongly and soothingly. Sasuke doesn't know why his stomach clenches when he sees her or why he thinks of her in the most unlikely moments. Sasuke doesn't know if he will be able to decipher what is it that makes him want to smile when she does, comfort her when she cries, and protect her when she gets hurt.
Sasuke doesn't know many things. Not knowing many things makes him uneasy, alert, and afraid. But it only takes a simple touch from her tender hands or to hear her twinkling voice to wash the worry away. Sakura brings him relief. She soothes him, she makes him forget, she erases his nightmares at night, and for all of this, he finds it unthinkable not having her beside him from this point onwards.
His fingers trace her jaw and linger on her cheek. There is no hobby like this of watching her in deep slumber, he thinks with shameless pride. No one else but him is able to watch her like this.
She stirs, making him inch away slightly to let her move. He's already waiting to watch her eyes open to find those jade-colored irises solely focused on him. He is greeted with blurry, sleepy gaze, but he is not disappointed. Those green, green eyes stare straight into his dark ones, boring into them.
"Sasuke?" She looks up at him sleepily, eye-lids heavy. A half smile is etched on her pretty, rounded face as she props herself on her elbows. She puts all of her energy to speak, sleep significantly laced onto her words. "Is everything alright?"
His hand reaches almost in an automatic motion to play with a lock of her glossy, pink hair that falls loosely over her forehead. He admires her a little longer, gaining a curious look from the girl and making her smile widen somewhat.
Sasuke doesn't know many things. Is this love? Is this real? How is he supposed to know when he was stripped from that feeling that feels so alien to him now? How is he supposed to give her what she deserves when he doesn't know himself how to handle this of jumble of emotions?
He tries to smile back, only for her.
"It's okay," he tells her softly, smoothly, and motions her to lay back. Sakura obeys without one word of protest. "Go back to sleep."
Sakura smiles for him one last time before drifting back into dreams, safe and warm in his arms.
Whether this is love or not, he knows he'll hold onto it gently, always.