The morning is gray. Shaded. Blah.
She comes out in black.
"Are you ready?" Shizune asks, her attire also of a similar shade.
Sakura hesitates, then nods.
"Yes."
She feels nothing.
She is the second to put a flower next to the picture.
Iris—Happiness of the believer.
She passes Ino, her friend giving her a consoling smile.
She passes Shikamaru, who surprisingly gives her a hug, which makes her give a small smile.
She passes Shizune and Kurenai, who mirror her expression with understanding.
She passes Kiba, who just looks away uncomfortably, and Shino, who gives a small nod.
But she sees something else.
Blurs.
The black spreads like charcoal.
Her feet light upon fire.
She sees nothing.
Just him.
It's a dot in the distance that becomes larger with each second. Her beating heart does nothing.
"Sasuke..."
Somehow, she finds herself at the place where he first asked to walk her home.
It's the tree.
It's the bench.
It's the fence.
It's amazing how she can remember all this with such detail.
He stops walking.
"So you found me."
With a puff, the unfamiliar boy in front of her turns into someone she once knew.
He doesn't turn around. All she can see is the fan insignia.
She's waited for this moment for eternity.
Every night.
Every day.
And now that she's here, it's happening all too fast. The time slips through her hands like sand, her daydreams and thoughts breaking into nothing.
Yes, nothing. She has nothing now…
Just...words.
And she says them.
"I don't forgive you."
He says nothing.
"But...I don't hate you either."
Dead air. Like a summer breeze.
Like a bright sun.
Like a gray morning.
Like...her mother.
The rivers that slide down her cheeks speak much too loud.
She's lying.
Why does her heart feel like it's breaking? Why does she feel so rejected? Why does she feel so mad?
Why?
Why?
WHY?
It's the unspoken question.
Sasuke makes a weird noise and his body starts to shake. It's like he's choking, like he's hiccuping, like he's...
...laughing.
She's lying and he knows it.
Answer me already!
As if hearing her silent cry, he starts to turn around.
His face...as each second passes, his face becomes clearer.
A wind blows...
Blink—Black. Cold.
"Thank you..."
And she feels herself falling.
End
AN: Tell me, how do you interpret the ending? I'm not completely satisfied with it, because it felt so anti-climatic, but making it really BAM and all wouldn't have fit in.
Thank you for reading (and reviewing, to those few people), and I hope you enjoyed it. It's one of my best stories and I enjoyed writing it.