Ball and chain|| Sasusaku

Chapter 11

Sasuke staggers against the wall, closing the door to his room. He looks at his bathroom and acknowledges that Sakura is in there, alone, in the dark, bringing back memories of his own state years ago. He knows what it's like to have no one by your side, understands what loneliness is.

Maybe that is why he struggles to knock on that door, scared of facing it again, seeing Sakura in the state he is truly terrified of. He gulps and sighs, tossing his bag of files onto his bed, and stands in front of the bathroom door. Sasuke has to get her out of there. He has to reach out to her, tell her he's sorry, to apologize until his tongue bleeds, to let her know she is not alone. That he'll stay by her side. Always. Sasuke isn't even sure if she needs it more than he does, but he'll do it because he... because he...

Sasuke turns his back against the door, sliding down towards the floor, his feet touching the cold tiles as he rests an arm on his knees, mustering up as much voice as he can.

But all he manifests is a wretched sob. Why does it have to be so difficult? He covers his mouth with his hand, trying not to let Sakura hear him. She's the one in pain. He should be the one consoling her. Sasuke feels like an attention-seeker. But he can't stop it. And without his noticing, his eyelids fall.

Sakura tries to gather herself up from the cold, tiled bathroom floor, her fingers tracing the grainy texture and letting the sensation wake her up. She tries to find strength in her limbs but there's none, like a wall of wet sand poised to crumble away, and she has to remind herself the world won't stop even if she does. Work will have to come first—she needs that paycheck as if her life depends on it, not even for the money, but to remind herself what all her days of misery had been for. Sakura holds the doorknob, pulls herself up, stumbles and tries again until she is stable enough to turn it. The door unlocks with a click and she pushes it open, not expecting the loud 'thud' that falls into her ears, and light surges in.

Sakura blinks and squints ,until she can see what's in front of her, and when she does, she sees Sasuke on the ground, half-lidded eyes sticky and lost, and a hand wrapped around his knees.

He had slept against the door. The entire night.

She ponders how the gesture would have softened her up a few secrets ago, but now she feels no more than numbness for him , for she doesn't consider it for more than a second, and rushes outside to collect her clothes. She grabs whatever she finds first and strides back to the bathroom to find Sasuke, sitting up on an arm, scanning her face with an inscrutable look in his bloodshot red eyes. His hair, sticky with sweat and dust, stick to his forehead, and his mouth, lost between wanting to open or close, makes him look so distraught that Sakura averts her gaze, and runs off into the bathroom.

"Saku—" She locks herself inside before he can complete.

Sakura has to remind herself to breathe.