with you. || sasuke uchiha / au

part 04 -- tattered string

She slowly sunk down to the ground, her cheeks soaking in tears that dropped down the sides of her neck, staining the collar of her black, long sleeved top. She brought her knees up to hug them closely against her chest, rocking slightly as she allowed her emotions to get the best of her.

Everything hurt. Her body, her mind, it all ached as a painful reminder that she was broken.

She reached down into the pocket of her jeans, carefully pulling out the piece of broken porcelain. She held it up, her tired eyes tracing the sharp edges that stuck up, begging for her to use it.

TW

Hana hooked her pinky finger under her sleeve, pulling it up. She inhaled sharply through her teeth. The most recent cuts still hurt, yet, when she felt that pain, warmth rushed through her body. Like a soft, comforting blanket being pulled around her by someone, telling her not to cry, and that everything will be okay even if she didn't believe it.

She pressed it between the skin that held her old and her new ones, holding her breath.

A knock on the door caused her to gasp, pulling it away from her skin and rolling her sleeve back down. She stood up, running over to the bed and shoving it underneath the mattress.

"Who is it?" she called out in her normal, cheerful voice. She hastily wiped at her cheeks, drying her tears.

"It's me," Sasuke said in his usual, cold tone.

Hana swore to herself. What did he want? To apologise? She doubted it. Sasuke didn't seem like the type to ever apologise for his actions, no matter how wrong he was in the situation.

"I'm changing," she said to ensure he wouldn't attempt to open the door.

"I-" Sasuke seemed slightly embarrassed. "I wasn't going to come in. I just wanted to see if you wanted a cup of ramen, since I'm making one for myself."

Hana raised her eyebrows at his offer. Maybe this was Sasuke's way of saying he was sorry?

"Sure," she replied and he was silent behind the door for a moment.

"Great." he finally said frigidly.

•

Sasuke and Haru stood in the open backyard, each with a baseball glove on and taking turns throwing and catching the small ball. He went easy on the throws for Haru, who still continued to miss every throw.

Still, he was determined to get that ball into his glove.

"This one's coming in high," Sasuke said, naturally sounding unenthusiastic even though he was sort of enjoying his time with the youngster.

Haru held his glove up in the air, his eyes glistening with determination.

The ball hit the top of his head, making him let out a high-pitched scream and fall backwards onto his butt.

Sasuke's dark eyes widened and he walked towards him, pulling his own glove off and tossing it to the ground.

Haru held his head, screaming hysterically as tears lined his lashes.

"Are you okay, little man?" Sasuke asked with genuine concern, crouching down in front of the boy. The way he was acting, Sasuke knew it had to be serious. Great. He just damaged another one of Sora's kids.