title: aurora
prompt: #16 - "even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise"
summary: some things never change, he muses.
a/n: set after yesterday's prompt but can stand alone :-)
Despite the muted pain still resonating through him, Sasuke wakes comfortably, not sprawled out on the softest portion of forest dirt he could find, curled in the warmest corner of a frigid chamber only illuminated by a single oil lamp, or laid back against a threadbare bed that would creak and protest with every breath. He wakes in the main Konoha hospital, soft sheets drawn over him, sunlight filtering through blinds in luminescent columns.
The silence of the room makes it easy for Sasuke to listen the steady rhythm of the heart rate monitor beside him, and it is positive reassurance that despite everything, he is alive. Many a restless night has he woken with the overwhelming need to close his eyes and shut off the world for a few minutes longer, but today he is thankful that he is awake and breathing. He inhales, the new feeling rushing through him.
When he turns his head to glance over to the side of his bed, he notices Sakura still asleep, her body leaned over from the chair she had brought to his bedside, face lax against the white of the mattress. Even in her sleeping state, the sight of her fills him with comfort. He feels a smile coming on at the thought that his darkest nights are finally are over.
Sasuke lifts a hand to wipe away the strands of hair clouding Sakura's face, just as she had done for him the day before, and drops two fingers against the diamond seal at her forehead. He swells with pride as he thinks of how she has come so far since her youth, their earliest genin days, but even with all her changes and growth, he knows Sakura is still Sakura, and she is as sunbright and unwavering and lionhearted as she has always been. He is thankful for this.
He closes his eyes and returns to the prior day, remembering how Sakura was at his side through it all. Some things never change, he muses.
His vision blackens, but although it becomes dark again, his sun rises eventually, stretching her arms over her head and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Sasuke feels her fingers curve at his wrist and leans in to her touch.
"Good morning," says the sun, and the moon finds himself thinking that he has never witnessed a sunrise that has been any more beautiful.
A smile graces his lips. "Good morning," says the moon.