Title: negative space
Prompt: Day 2—unfiltered
A/N: Ah it's so hard to get back into the right frame of mind for this series. :/
Summary: It's a question he doesn't want to hear the answer to. He asks it all the same.
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"Do you hate me?" Sasuke bluntly asks, straight to the point. There's nothing to lead up to this question, nothing to indicate it at all, and Sakura almost chokes on her tea in surprise. As it is, she lets her cup land on the plate with a loud thud.
"Wha—" She recovers quickly and gingerly picks up the cup, inspecting the set for any cracks. Sighing with relief when she finds none, she looks at him. "What?"
"Do you hate me?" he repeats, putting his own tea cup down. Their breakfast, spread out in front of them, remains untouched.
And maybe he should have left that question untouched as well. She's quiet for a bit, quiet and withdrawn and he might have ruined the rare time she must spend with him.
(His fingers tremble, softly, as he tries to pick up his cup again. He shouldn't be afraid of the answer, it's not the Uchiha way.)
"Hate…" She stares at him, then back at her teacup. Slowly, Sakura stirs it with her spoon, picking her words carefully. "It would be easier if I did."
"I see." Sasuke looks away now, down at his own cup, at his own plate. At the meals they have shared and will share in the future.
At the dozens of possibilities that lie there. "So you don't hate me?"
"No," she admits, frowning. "I want to. It would be easy to. But it's not like this is your fault."
She doesn't hate him. Something bubbles with him, something that feels akin to hope. It's bright and it's foolish, it's irrational and he shouldn't feel this way, but he feels lighter all the same.
She doesn't hate him.
(Sasuke remembers how she looked in that first meeting, the ice in her eyes, the sharp edge to her words. Remembers her dancing with him, a single secret shared.
Remembers and tries not to smile.
He can work with this.)
"Ah," he replies, picking up his tea cup again. "I see."
Sakura gives him a calculating look. "Yes, I don't hate you."
Her next words promise to hurt.
"But, that doesn't mean I love you either."
(And he tries not to feel that the possibilities are closing up, that there is only one way this path can take them.)