A/N: This is something I wrote ages ago for a contest in an online community I'm part of. It came first in it's category, so I decided to post it here, but then I forgot about it. Sorry.
This turned out really differently to the way I had planned it. A lot of what is written here is very significant to me, so it sort of snuck in by itself from my subconscious and morphed the story. This is more hinting at ItaSasu than actual ItaSasu, but since I have trouble staying below PG 13 it's probably safer that way. I hope it isn't too faint, though. I'd like to give a huge thanks to my friend MK, who beta'd this for me.
A boy tossed and turned on his futon, jet-black hair mussed and onyx eyes wide open. Sleep refused to embrace him tonight. Restlessness filled him, eyes of sharingan red plaguing his mind. His breathing was shallow and strained; the air in the room seemed stale.
Sasuke stood slowly, moving to open the window. Air that felt so cool – and somehow so very alive – caressed him. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. The scent of the night, of green life growing, of cold and comfort and peace, it was what met his senses and filled his lungs. The turbulent chaos that was his mind was mildly soothed by it.
A bat flew by, so close to silent, a beautiful thing to pick out from the darkness of the sky that was its backdrop. Sasuke took another deep breath. Nights like this, they had always brought him a deep serenity. Sadly, his raging emotions and thoughts weren't soothed as effectively as he would have hoped. They out-powered the night's influence, keeping his mind locked in a state of conflict and confusion.
'Aniki...' A tear slid down his cheek. He was wracked with conflictions, feeling both a void and a swirling mass inside of himself.
He glanced back at his futon, and then out at the inviting forest. He slipped out through the window with ease, heading into the trees. Everything was damp and cold, but exuded a deep sense of harmony and peace. Climbing onto a sturdy tree branch, Sasuke laid back comfortably. Finally, the majority of his chaos was eased. The dark shadows and illumination of the stars and gibbous moon, the scents, the textures, even the chilling wetness of the dew that was everywhere... It was all so calming.
Going lax and closing his eyes, he was soon in a state of being that made him hyper-aware of his surroundings while at the same time overtook and eliminated thoughts. He was finally able to push back the thoughts that hounded him. Glorious was a night like this, an evening that made it seem as though tendrils over everything and nothing twined around him, melding and enveloping him utterly. Haunting memories of the Sharingan, blood, lust, hatred... they were distant now, not banished but suppressed. There were few tangible thoughts now, the few that stayed prominent were of better times his past.
He allowed the essence of the night to seep into him and take over, banishing nightmares in both reality and dreams. Finally at peace, Sasuke' eyes slipped shut, and his mind fell away.