Butterfly Masquerade 3:

CLOSING TIME

(Sasuke feels Sakura no longer remembers)

akai kinoko

Sasuke was searching for that all-familiar place of warmth and comfort, so he did not mind leaping over the countless wet rooftops under the rainy midnight sky of Konoha. In fact, he was willing to sacrifice and get wet just to feel the heat run through his veins once again.

His feet stopped at the rooftop of the house he once called his second home, where he learned all the basics in being a great genin. Slowly he lifts open a bedroom window and silently slips in.

And the beauty to behold captures his sight as he enters the room. He approaches her, she who slumbers peacefully and lets her soul wander into the vast lands of dreams.

He gently turns her head towards him and kisses her on her lips as he tries to remember the fateful night that defined their relationship status.

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"Please, don't go." Sakura's begged, "Or if you really have to, then take me with you!"

"No, I have decided. And from this moment on, you are not to follow me" Sasuke's voice was firm enough to conceal the sadness growing inside him.

"Sasuke, is there anyway I can make you stay? I promise to be with you always. I will give my heart to you!"

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That last sentence made his heart stop. In that point in time, he wanted to turn around and look back. He wanted to give in to her proposed warmth and hold her. He had felt safe under her attention and he realized how painful it was to leave that comfort and journey to the unfamiliar and cold land that promised, albeit without certainty, the power he longed for.

At that moment, he felt torn between his dream and his love.

But because he had decided to leave, he wanted to give Sakura his response before leaving. He wanted to look back one last time and kiss her and make her feel that he loves her and after his mission of revenge he will return and be with her forever.

He wanted to shower her with reassurance and promises but…

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"Thank you"

Sasuke quickly appeared in front of Sakura and punched her on her stomach.

And he was gone.

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And so now he pays the price of being a coward; like a curse bestowed by the evil witch that is the lost love, Sasuke keeps on coming back every night to find warmth in the responsive and supple lips of his cherry blossom princess. He steals a kiss every night to remind him of hope and reasons to live, because in the place where he lives now, those are non-existent but are extremely needed to survive.

He kisses her softly, careful not to wake her up so as she can remain in that place between sleeping and dreaming—in that place where he can believe that she is still waiting, in that place where he can continue on loving her without hurting.

Because in reality, somebody owns her now and she has forgone the fact that he can come back to her.

Sasuke ends his kiss as Kakashi's sleeping form unmindfully wraps his arms around Sakura. The female relaxes on his touch and Sasuke prepares to leave.

He looks at his beloved for the last time tonight, and admires her features which were chiseled cautiously by time, creating a goddess of warmth and life. Unknowingly, his eyes became watery and little droplets fell gently on the cheeks of his princess.

Then he finally opens the window and leaps out into the night, its hopeless and melancholic tentacles embrace him tight and bring him back to the place of the unloving and the lifeless.

With the warmth he carries in his lips and treasures in his heart, he is again equipped for another day of sacrificing himself to the snake devil that is Orochimaru.

The rain has stopped for a long time now, but Sasuke wonders why raindrops still fall every time he leaps across rooftops.

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"He might have grown more numb, but his eyes know what he truly feels inside", Sakura whispers as she stands by and looks out the window sill. She can't help but feel sad as she runs a finger on her wet cheek.

She had been awake the whole time.

--------------------------------------owari

June 22, 2006

8:47 pm