the weight of her breaths is burning its way inside his skin. this is a catastrophe they're in now and he resembles all of her crestfallen asters, dried and dusty in her laboratory — now caught in a forest fire. this is a catastrophe they're in now but shinobis like him don't burn down, and he has loved her with such fatality he didn't once possess. he has loved her, like a stray coil of wind in a firestorm.
this is the calm they're in now — and he loves her to the point of no return.