For #SasuSakuTwitFest2020 Day 3:
"She was his Everything" :D

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It was almost dusk. Like usual, Shinkuju was filled with people wherever he glanced. Sasuke maintained a slow pace on a straight path, wishing he had brought his car today instead of having to stroll around with nothing to keep his mind alert and his eyesight focused somehow.

“Hey! Would you look at where you’re going?!”

“Hn. Sorry.”

There. It wasn’t the first time. He hadn’t worn his eyeglasses for two years now. He knew he needed it, but wearing it, even buying a new pair, awakened a pang in his chest that he just couldn’t seem to set aside.

Yet, nearsighted or not, he seemed to be surrounded with a blur for the longest time. It doesn’t even matter if it’s inside his head or in front of him. Clarity was nowhere to be found. Even colors seemed to have dimmed compared to how he saw them years ago, back when a certain shade of pink and green was familiar to him even with his eyes closed.

He still had no idea where it went downhill, and how it all ended with a huge question mark that he couldn't delete even as the time passed by. Part of him blamed himself. But a huge part of him wanted to put all the blame on her, because three years of being in a relationship went down the drain in a blink of an eye with a wordless goodbye. 

She was his everything, he knows. That's why up to now, everything around him looked like a clouded monotone. He knew he deserved an explanation, but he also thought that maybe he deserved to be left alone. It was nothing new to him anyway.

It was when he reached the stairs towards the train station that his eyesight adjusted to vivid colors. Jet black eyes zeroed in on a figure from across the street. And despite the murmurs of the people who were annoyed with his sudden halt, he decided to shift his direction and crossed the street as quickly as he could. Much thanks to the red light that he didn’t even consider checking anymore.

His heart raced as he increased his pace when he caught a glimpse of the woman's face. He was right. It was her. Because who else has that certain shade of pink as a natural color for her hair?

“You’ve been following me." Her gentle voice made his heart skip a beat. 

He stopped on his tracks when the woman – Sakura – halted her steps and turned to face him. His usually stoic expression was then replaced with astonishment, for there was something different with her captivating eyes. They were curious, not knowing; cautious, not familiar.

He was about to mutter her name, demand explanations from questions that kept running inside his head for two long years, when she beat him to it.

“Who are you?”

Sasuke’s eyes widened at this. Are you playing around with me? After what you did?

But there was something completely wrong about her, and her eyes that he used to know so well were telling. She then added, “Do you need anything from me, sir?”

That's when the realization hit him like a bus. His heart constricted as several scenarios entered his exhausted mind. There was denial, and then relief, frustration, and then longing, all tugging each other in the recesses of his heart while he drank the situation he was in. This woman was far from the optometrist he knew so well.

She continued to stare at him, cocking her head to one side in anticipation to whatever it is that he would respond to her. Another proof that his realization wasn't just a theory at all.

His throat suddenly felt dry that he had to force himself to speak before this woman even turned away. Before he even loses her again. 

“I’m...Sasuke,” he breathed. I was your boyfriend before you—He cleared his throat this time, carefully forming words that wouldn't threaten the woman in front of him. “You seem to be...looking for something. Is there anything I can help you with?”

He was expecting her to want to have nothing to do with him, to roll her bright green eyes at him, or even shoo him away. But to his surprise, she chuckled sheepishly. And it gave an additional tinge of pain in his chest. Two years and I still love hearing you laugh. Two years and it's still you.

“Oh. Uhm...is it too noticeable? I'm Sakura, by the way. Actually, Sasuke, I’m really glad you asked…” She looked down and fiddled with the keychain on her bag. 

And Sasuke couldn't help but remember the first time he told her that he loved her. He waited.

"Well, I'm…" She glanced at him again, eyes now expectant despite being shy. "I'm looking for this flower shop?" She moved her hand to show the address written on her phone to Sasuke.

Dumbfounded, what he had read made him shift his gaze from the phone to Sakura, and then back again. Because how in the world would Sakura Haruno not know the location of the flower shop owned by the family of her best friend?

"Hey, it's okay if you don't know. I really appreciate it that you offered to help." She suddenly bowed. "Thanks anyway and it was nice meeting you, Sasuke!"

"Wait!" His arm quickly wrapped around her wrist when she turned away. He was simply standing there, perplexed with all that's going on but his heart was suddenly racing and his mind was quickly jumping from one thought to another. He had to do something. He couldn't let her go now. Not again. Never again. "I know where it is."

"Oh." 

The relief that he saw on her face was enough to calm his nerves as he let go of her hand. She wasn't threatened. She wasn't leaving anymore. And he felt more accomplished now than the time he got promoted at work.

"I'm glad then." Sakura's lips formed his favorite smile. And it took a lot of willpower for Sasuke to stop himself from enveloping her in an embrace and telling her that his feelings for her never changed. "I know it might be too much to ask, but, can you show me the way to this place? I haven't been around here for a long time."

Even he was surprised when his lips twitched upwards with her request. "I'd be glad to."

So he began to walk beside her to lead her to her destination. And as she babbled about how her mom gave her an errand to claim an order at the Yamanaka Flower Shop, the past two years finally made sense to him.

Now, even without his eyeglasses, Sasuke knew that from here on out, things will be clear again.

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May 2020 © AriannJS

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Let me know what you guys think! It's so amazing getting back to writing at such a time as this wherein everything just feels so draining. Hope you're all doing well! - A