Quick Set-Up: Sasuke's turn.
----------[ Bed Time Stories: One Under the Stars ]
Perhaps this is strange logic, but her room seems to be a sure thing. Every night she would fall asleep in her room, so every night I would go there to find her. Surely enough, each time I went, she was there. Some nights she lay peacefully asleep, other nights she would be only partially asleep, as if she were waiting for me.
There are times—many many times—when I would enter her room slowly and let it all sink in. I would watch the moonlight glaze over her figure. The shades and shadows created by the fine lines of her body created a living reality. The interior of her room breathed her presence. At its heart was the centerpiece of that domain: Sakura herself. I'm drawn to the center. I don't feel like I can escape. Everything has a place in the world, my place is here. I continue to come back again and again to see her, to confirm that truth. Or maybe I come in to ask her the same question every night. Can I have this reality? She probably sees it differently. She might even think it's weird for me to just enter her just to see she's there. But we all need sure things in the world. Her room is a sure thing; it is the reality that exists for us.
Perhaps even more strange than my logic would be my response to anything different. If this reality weren't real, what would I do? It dawned on me once, what might happen. I entered her room one night… and she wasn't there.
At first, I stood there bewildered. The minutes I stood there staring at her empty bed, I didn't know what to think. My mind wouldn't think beyond her absence. Sakura was gone. I moved to the spot where she usually slept. Dropping to my knees, I buried my face into her sheets. Where did my reality go? My hands began digging through the sheets, as if in search of her. She wasn't there. It felt so strange to think that. Her presence in her room is an immovable fact. I couldn't accept anything else.
Her faint scent lingered in her spot. A gentle breeze blew her window curtain in my direction. She hadn't been gone for very long. Without thinking I jumped to the window sill. Looking a short distance I saw her figure standing on the edge of the fence. I kept her waiting for too long.
"You're late." she said, he back towards me. "I thought a jounin like you would have figured me out already."
"Gomen." I said with a sight of relief "You caught me off guard."
"You? Caught of guard?"
"For a second, I thought it was all just an illusion… All of it."
"Like a dream…"
Her voice was quiet. I observed the scene of our dreams and realities. We watched the distance between us. She stood on the edge of the fence with her back to me while I remained at her window sill, knees bent, my left hand holding on for balance. Her dreams and my reality. They sound different, but could they be the same?
Sakura suddenly made a jump from the fence, I soon followed. My mind was intent on following her swift and steady pace. She was leading me somewhere. It didn't matter where she was leading me or why. I just had to follow.
We arrived at a hill about a mile and a half from her house. The view from the top looked over most of the village. I could see the monument dedicated to the Hokage, the tribute to our heroes. It was a tangible expression of our love for them and their love for us. I was told by former Anbu members of Orochimaru's assertion about the monument in regards to an event involving the third hokage. As symbolic as those faces are, their forms will be subject to erosion. I hate to admit to his point. The Hokage are men of great honor and strength. Their stone faces are an appropriate form of homage to them. But Orochimaru made a point. Ultimately, time erases even the most truthful of realities. The monuments are stone testaments to the link between the village and the Hokages, but time will break that down if left on its own. Many things will break down against time. It is force that can't be resisted or fought. I lowered my head in reverence to the monument. Rest in peace.
Considering the eventual end of everything, I wonder what in life is really worth pursuing. The past years have opened my eyes a little in that respect. What is important in this world, what is important to me, and what realities do I want. In spite of Oorochimaru's pointed truism, there must be something that won't fade.
"Sakura…" I said with a slightly questioning voice.
She took a seat on the grass and motioned for me to join her. She fixed her gaze onto the sky. I sat next to her, my mind pondering a reality.
"The stars here are the prettiest." she said "It's like a dream looking at them."
A reality that won't fade.
"So pretty and so many." she continued in true admiration "You look up and realize how big the sky is; it just never ends. It's very beautiful."
Under the expanse of the sky, there must be at least one reality that time won't erode.
"Don't you agree?" she said wistfully.
I think I may have found it.
----------Author's Notes: Just a quick note about this fic as a whole. This was originally a one-shot deal, then I changed my mind and made it more like a series of one-shots. Each event in each chapter is related to the others (mostly because they are all occur with the same set-up), but they are all separate in occurance (as in they don't occur one night and then the next night and then the next night). They occur days apart and really, each chapter can be read on its own. This distinction isn't very important, but if you're interested in what I had in mind, that is more or less what it is.
