A short and sweet semi-fluff piece! Set in an AU where Sasori is still human and struggles with the ghosts from his past in the form of nightmares keeping him up at night, except for this particular night...
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Sasori doesn't remember falling asleep, but he nonetheless finds himself in a familiar dream.
He's with his parents and they're walking back from the playground at sunset. A part of him knows this is a dream, he knows how it ends. But right now, he's with Mother and Father and he doesn't care about that part. When he trips on a rock and falls hard on the ground, skinning his hands and knees, he doesn't want to look up. But he does because it hurts and he knows Mother will make it all...
Where's Mother? And Father, too? They were just here.
Granny Chiyo is suddenly there, smiling that fake smile he came to know after Mother and Father left...
Sasori is having trouble breathing because he wants to wake up now and he knows what she's going to say.
"Where'd Mother and Father go?" He can't help but ask even though he doesn't want to. He already knows. He needs to wake up. Why won't he just wake up?
"I'm sorry, Sasori. They're on a mission right now."
Stop talking.
"They'll be back soon, I imagine."
Stop lying.
They're not coming back.
When Sasori gets up and looks around again, he's alone. No Mother or Father. No Chiyo. No one.
Just himself.
Or so he thinks.
It's dark now and he finds himself more lucid than dreaming for once. But he's not alone.
Someone's holding his hand.
His breath still comes too quick, but the nightmare is fading. He realizes it's only so dark because his eyes are closed. When he opens them, he squints and blinks against the too bright images playing on the tv screen, the sound turned down. He remembers watching it with someone before he fell asleep.
Her. That's right.
Turning his head, his cheek presses against something soft and firm. She's warm, curled up next to him with her head on his shoulder, her dark hair tickling his neck and cheek. Her hand loosely curled around his. Still half-asleep, Sasori doesn't want to move.
He wonders how she knew. If she knew what she was doing reaching out to him. If she'd even been awake when she did.
Even when you don't, how do you manage to know?
But she's not awake to ask.
Carefully, he intertwines their fingers, wondering why does.
He's tired, he decides. One too many sleepless nights and for once, he's tired enough to fall asleep again after a nightmare. He closes his eyes, ignoring the other factor.
The fact he woke up and he wasn't alone.
I suppose you have a point; nightmares are scarier when you're alone.
He rests his cheek against the soft crown of her hair, catching the faint scent of cherry blossoms as he falls back to sleep.
He's not plagued by nightmares again for the rest of the night.
I leave outside details like who this young woman is and how does Sasori know her, etc. up to you folks! Might edit this later and add more, but I got what I wanted out of this. Let me know what you think! I'm curious to hear what others have to say about it. :)