Within

Crawl Back To Me

The distance between the two of them made everything hurt.

It was like acid was boiling in his guts and his joints were put under pressure. His chest threatened to cave in with the overwhelming need of his nature to turn back into the arms of the one Sasuke never wanted to look at again.

His initial plan was to just move to a sibling pack ground, the one far at the other side of the mountains, making use of the summery warmth to do the travel. However, midway into his attempt to run away, his body rebelled against him. The omega wanted to laugh humorlessly at all of it because of course Naruto didn't stop him from leaving.

The alpha knew that his instincts would break him down to make him crawl back him.

But Sasuke was more than just stubborn, the pain from it all too great and maybe, just maybe, if this ache brought him his demise, he wouldn't mind it. Anything to not have to see Naruto's dark blue somber eyes and feel the scorching unwelcomed touch with feigned tenderness.

His eyes haunted him all the time, when Sasuke attempted to sleep they were right there, plaguing him in his dreams.

His nature has never disgusted him as much as when it tried to weave stories of what ifs .

What if he surrendered and accepted the alpha? Would the alpha treat him right?

What if he gave him a chance to make things better again?

What if he asked to mark Naruto and close the bond between the two, would Sasuke be able to forget the unimaginable cruelty he went through?

Whenever those thoughts crept on him during his moment of distraction, he simmered with them. And the pain in his body made the want, for these what ifs to be true, turn into need.

Nevertheless, Sasuke refused to turn back as the last glimmer of pride in him sparked, reminding him that he shouldn't submit to the monster who turned his everything into nothing.

He shouldn't, he couldn't, he simply could not-

Sasuke felt powerless as he fell to the ground, his legs refusing to carry him further. If he had any more tears to cry he would curl into himself and wail at the way his body kept, again and again, betraying him. It was so foul how much had been ripped out of his hands, the will of his own existence at the mercy of something he not too long ago looked so much for.

A mating bond was everything for their kind and it was so unfair that he couldn't have it. Because whatever he had with the blonde man wasn't one, he refused to recognize it as anything close to that.

And now, that he couldn't move forward, and only back, the strong refusal made him close his eyes, the shadows of the trees being the only thing close to the void in his heart.

The judgment had been there.

Everyone knew what Naruto did and maybe it was because there wasn't truly an effort to hide it in the first place.

It was a strange kind of judgment that followed him, some laced with fear and others with hesitant acceptance.  After all, there was nothing else that could be done. Sasuke was Naruto's, the mark couldn't be erased and the only thing the ones who hurt for the omega could do was pray to the moon that some mercy would come out of the evil.

Naruto didn't really pity himself when at communal dinners nobody really wanted to be close to him. Sasuke not being by his side just emphasized that his actions were far from being inconsequential.

He had been minimally trying to show a wicked gentleness to his one-sided mate, but Sasuke still wasn't even speaking to him. Naruto had to hold himself back to not further hurt the other, even if there was no more reason for him to choose to not touch the omega. He would be accepted, despite the unwillingness of it all.