City of Night

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Sakura stood in the mind-control wing of the infirmary, a few steps away from the empty doorframe that opened into Sasuke's room. She realised that she was terrified, not of Sasuke, but what if being under Ino's control for so long had completely destroyed any feelings he had ever had for her? The thought made her feel nauseas.

She took a deep breath, silently so that he wouldn't hear her, and willed herself to be brave, for him, before she stepped into the doorframe.

She froze in place, just as she knew she would, when she saw the raven-haired vampire boy, so familiar but also completely unfamiliar at the same time. If her heart was still beating she knew her pulse would have quickened the minute her eyes fell on him.

Sasuke.

He was standing by the window, watching the commotion down at the bottom of the hill in the training grounds below, looking distant.

It's really you, Sakura thought out to him, having to force herself to believe it, suddenly unsure of what to say, the mixture of emotions she was feeling threatening to overwhelm her and she fought to keep upright now that her legs had turned to jelly.

As if sensing her there, Sasuke looked up.

He looked tired. There were dark shadows around his eyes and his coal black hair was untidy.

His dark eyes widened as he angled his body away from the window, a mixture of emotions running through them. "Sakura?" he whispered, sounding almost disbelieving, and Sakura didn't miss the tremor in his voice.

"Who else would it be?" she whispered back, staying in the doorway, hearing him say her name making her stomach flip with delight.

He didn't smile but Sakura could tell that he was taking everything about her in with his eyes, like he hadn't seen her for years. "You don't look like you," he stated, the ghost of a smile on his lips.

Sakura looked down at her clothes, the dark leather ripped and torn and bloody from battle up on the surface and brought her hand up to hold it in front of her face, examining it. Porcelain white and slender with long thin fingers, her skin glowing faintly and translucently.

The vague reflection of her in the mirror beside Sasuke showed long and messy hair; her face was more delicate now, but smudged with dirt and blood. Her eyes were also lined darkly with shadows; they were the most different. Sharp and glowing emerald orbs, wise and solemn and the eyes of an adult. She doubted she looked anything like the girl he had last seen in the Council Hall all those weeks ago.

But you look different too, Sasuke, she thought out to him. Because he did. There seemed to be a hard, defensive casing around him now, like armour and Sakura hoped, with a sad feeling, that it would eventually come down again slowly over time.

"I haven't had the chance to clean myself up yet," she apologized, pulling the stray strands away from her face. "I know I probably look horrible."

"You always look beautiful," he said, not like it was a compliment, but just as if it were an accepted fact, like the fact that she had pink hair and green eyes, but even so, hearing him say it made her stomach flip again.

"But you look, distant," he said softly, "Like I couldn't touch you." I'm the one that looks distant? She asked, almost wanting to laugh, seeing that it was almost like Sasuke wasn't even completely there at all.

Sakura gained control of her legs again and moved across the room to stand right in front of him. She held out her hand to him, but it was shaking slightly, just enough to be visible. "Touch me," she breathed, and then added self-consciously, "I mean, if you want to."