Title: Teardrops
Author: Sahara Storm
Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: Sasuke/Sakura
Rating: PG/K+
Word Count: 871
Summary/Description: A sound so hollow it made the room stop. Such magnitude coming from a teardrop…
Warning/Spoilers: No warnings. Possible spoilers up to the filler arc of the anime.
A/N: Urgh. The angst.
Dedication: For the wonderful Goldberry-san, on her birthday. Thou art the nonpareil when it comes to The Art of Being Awesome, and I luff joo! Hope you enjoy this.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't sue.
She was crying, again. He blinked stolidly at her, then turned away, walking to his chest of drawers on the other side of the room. She choked gaspingly on her sobs, a hand at her mouth, trying to stop the tears that flowed down polished cheeks. It was a futile effort. They ran like rain, accompanied by the mournful whimpers that escaped the barrier of her fingers.
Sasuke spared her nary but a glance before going back to methodically stocking his pack with shuriken, kunai, invisible wire, exploding tags and scrolls.
"Your tears will not move me," he remarked flatly, slipping a shuriken beneath his hitai-ate.
In response, Sakura's shoulders shuddered violently, and her emerald eyes brimmed anew.
The Uchiha survivor did not turn to look at her; he knew what he would see. A picture-perfect image of the girl he had left near the gates of Konoha on a moonlit night seven years ago. A girl, who, in his four year absence, had accumulated a steely fortitude of body and mind; a quiet determination. The girl who had, inexplicably, kept on loving him, and had been the only one waiting on the borders of the Fire Country when Naruto came dragging his stiff, limp, bloody body back home three years ago. The girl whose seemingly indomitable resolve and willpower had been irrevocably splintered with only two simple words: "I'm leaving."
Sasuke gave the contents of his bag a quick perusal. He had enough provisions to last him for a week or two, and a full arsenal. Word had it that Itachi had been seen a couple miles south of the Water Country; on quick feet, with sparing rest, he could make it there in two days.
Sasuke was well aware of the repercussions of his actions; he did not care. Tsunade would undoubtedly be furious (she had yet to stop furrowing her golden eyebrows every time she saw him), and Kakashi would be disappointed… but this… this transcended all. He would not falter, not even…
He swivelled, shrugging on the backpack. As he did, the girl wiped away her tears hastily, and opened her mouth to speak in earnest. He did not let her.
"You will not follow me."
The diameter of the emerald eyes increased, giving away that this was exactly what she had made up her mind to do.
"But, Sasuke-kun, please…" The cherry blossom kunoichi spoke for the first time since she had arrived at the Uchiha residence and found her childhood teammate packing. The words were soft and shallow, said in a pleading inflection.
"No." Succinct and sharp, but not quite harsh. "You will only get in the way."
Indignation flared momentarily; quiet, but strong.
"Sasuke-kun, you know that is not true," she said levelly, a fist clenching briefly.
You will only be a distraction, he did not say. In lieu of voicing the slightly telling words, the blue-haired man crossed over to her. His footfalls echoed in the innate silence of the Uchiha grounds. His features were stony and resolute.
With every step he took, Sakura battled the growing feeling of helplessness welling in her chest. Inertia wrapped cold arms around her form. She knew that she should move, she should attack, she should do something to make him stay, but her body refused to obey her mind. It made sense, she reflected humourlessly. He was the one for whom she had worked so hard to gain her strength. How fitting that he should be the one with the power to so effortlessly take it away.
Sasuke came to a stand-still in front of her, and repeated, blandly,
"You will not follow me." It was a possible complication he did not need. It would be all he could handle to deal with Naruto when the blond found out, and came after him. (Which he would. It was a surety, and Sasuke would not even bother trying to deny it, or stop it.)
"Sasuke-kun," she whispered. The treacherous salty liquid filled her eyes once again. "Please… don't do this to me. Don't do this to me again."
Black eyes that betrayed no emotion flitted away from hers fleetingly as he searched his pockets for something. Coming up with a plain blue kerchief with a tiny Uchiha emblem in one corner, he brusquely cleaned her face with it as he commented candidly,
"You will always be annoying."
Pink lips trembled like hapless leaves as the kerchief was pushed into her hand. Sasuke's calloused fingers bruised her through her clothes when he grasped her shoulder, half in earnest.
"And I shall always be grateful."
She was dissolving into sobs again when he hit the pressure point on her neck that made her eyes flutter back and her body go limp. He caught her easily, one arm going around her shoulders and the other between the crook of her knees. For a moment, the avenger was completely still and silent as he watched a tear slide off of her cheek and onto the wooden floor. It made an oddly hollow sound.
He was careful when he set her down on his bed, tucking in a stray germanium lock. In moments, he was gone, a dark shadow through the window.