our loss is only time
.
.
"Oh, c'mon. Smile, Sasuke-kun!"
His expression remains unimpressed, but he allows Sakura to take a picture anyway. A bright flash fills the room, and then her mother's old camera spits out a freshly developed photo, Sasuke's face serious, sharp with fond annoyance.
(And here is the truth they both know: he never tolerates anything if he doesn't want to do it.)
The picture is better this way, Sakura decides. It shows Sasuke, her Sasuke, as he really is.
The day before he set out, Sasuke took a picture of Sakura. In it, her smile is gentle, her eyes soft but sad. She was missing him already, he realizes. Missing him before he'd even left.
Now Sasuke carries the photo with him wherever he goes, a loving weight in his pocket, to remind him of important things. Why he's on this journey, and the kind of man he hopes to be when he returns: the kind Sakura deserves.
.
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AN: I created two photo edits to represent the pictures described in this drabble. They can be found at my graphics masterpost on my tumblr, where I'm also southsidestory.