"Sasuke-kun, the wings would look great on you!"

For the past hour, Sakura had been trying to get Sasuke to don a pair of excessively feathered white wings.

"It's enough that I'm attending. The costume is unnecessary," he repeated as he continued to scroll through his phone.

"I tried to get you a pair of black wings but they didn't have any. I was going to paint it, but I don't want to ruin the feathers," she continued on, stroking the soft, smooth feathers. "It's really easy to wear too. The straps are comfortable."

"Why does the color matter? I still refuse," adding touches of annoyance into his tone. In his mind, the image of black wings on a shadowed figure appeared. The wings dissipated into feathers as the figure came into view. The long black hair tied in a ponytail moved to the left as the man slowly turned around —

"Because black wings suit you. Maybe in your past life you were a karasu-tengu" she mused quietly, more to herself than to him.

"I'm not a character in your shoujo manga," he deadpanned and waited.

At his remark, she immediately looked up at him. His focus was still on his phone, but a glance to the right revealed Sakura's rapidly reddening cheeks.

"I wasn't really reading it! I was just admiring the design—" Apparently realizing that the wrong words could further implicate her, she had immediately switched back to trying to convince him to wear the white wings, as he intended. "It's for charity!"

"Change in plans. I'm not going anymore," he declared after finally putting his phone away.

"What?! Never mind about the costume. You have to go! They're expecting a generous donation from you." She let go of the costume and approached him. Her previous embarrassment forgotten, she gripped his sleeve so tightly it would definitely wrinkle.

With his unoccupied hand, he pulled out his wallet and pressed it into her other hand. "Use the black card. Give them a generous donation. I'll make sure they accept your signature for the transaction."

After giving out his instructions, he left to put on his own pair of black wings and tried not to think about how easily Sakura associated him with the imagery of black birds.

-S-

The old shoe factory was held together by rusting pillars and half-crumbled walls bearing the artwork of the disgruntled.

"You! What are you doing here?! I let you take my girl out on a date and you ditch her!" The loudmouth popped up from behind a high stack of crates.

"I don't have time for your useless chatter. If you're planning on just getting in my way, I suggest you leave now," his voice was markedly deeper as he walked past him, surveying the nooks and crannies of the decrepit factory for anything out of place.

Insulted, Naruto had taken just two steps away from his hiding place before he was stopped by Sasuke's forearm. He paused in his retort as he noticed he was taking out cotton swabs and an evidence bag.

The stain was still wet, but was more brownish in hue than dark red. "That's not blood."

"Hn." Obviously. "I'll cover west side. Report to me if you find any more."

Finished with inspecting the ground floor, Sasuke unfurled his wings and headed for the second floor. The center of the floor had long ago given in to the agents of destruction, but there was still enough floor space intact around the perimeter that someone light-footed could navigate and turn into a hiding spot. Old, abandoned places were popular haunts for drug addicts, runaways, and common thieves. Neither his search nor Naruto's turned up any further clues. He chalked it up to Naruto's ridiculous dumb luck that they even found anything.

When he finished patrol that night and went home to an empty bed, he wondered, not for the first time, about Sakura's place in his life. If he had been like a bird in his past life too, then Sakura must have been the home he always wanted to return to, no matter how far away from the light he strayed. He wondered if he would ever escape the shadows, but the darkness hid him away and he wondered if he was becoming too comfortable. Maybe in a past life, they built a home together and he never needed to become a yokai. Maybe in this life, they can't have that. But he knows that even in multiverses, there are constants. In every reincarnation, Sakura rooted deep in his heart and soul.