A C C E P T A N C E

E M O T I O N

Sasuke's POV

My heart sunk deeper into my chest and my shoulders slumped downward in defeat as Ayuka retreated from me. With my hand outstretched, still frozen in place, I watched as the misty air encased her body and made her appear almost etherial in the moonlight. The image would have been a remarkable sight if I didn't know that on the other side, her face was contorted into sadness and streaked with tears. Tears that I caused.

With a sigh, I slowly lowered my arm as she completely disappeared from sight.

Ayuka, I'm sorry it took me so long.

Over the past few years, I spent my time wandering the shinobi world in complete solitude. I was alone, just as I deserved to be, and in my loneliness I reflected on the past and analyzed the cause and effect of my actions. Every single one of them. I knew that I was to blame for a lot of heart ache and wrong doings in this world. I was too hungry for revenge, too blinded by the need for power to see the importance of certain people and events in my life. I used people. I manipulated people. I viewed camaraderie and friendship as weakness and abandoned those who cared about me the most.

But most of all, I neglected the one person who was actually able to make me feel anything but hatred.

Ayuka Yuna. 

Just repeating her name in my head made a smirk emerge on my face. Never would I have thought that that young, self conscious, Yuna girl from all that time ago would have had such an impact on me. Back then, the infatuation that I felt towards her was never something that I allowed myself to focus on. I never wanted to spend time trying to understand what I was feeling or why, so I blatantly ignored it. I viewed any time spent not getting stronger as a waste; the pursuit of my revenge was far too important for me to even consider anything else.

But now, looking back on everything that we went through, counting all of the times that I spent subconsciously thinking about her, I'd come to realize that she was the one person that I should have been putting effort into all along.

Sighing once more, I finally willed my feet to turn and walk in the opposite direction, towards the one wooded area that I spent so much time training in as a genin.

Yes, Ayuka had grown in our years apart from each other, that much was certain. Her golden hair was shorter than I remembered, falling just below her shoulder blades now as if she'd chopped it all off a few years ago and it was only just now growing back. Her body had grown more lean and muscular, showing clear signs that she'd been pushing herself to train harder than ever before. And her face, her purely innocent but slightly more defined features still housed those brilliantly blue eyes. Those eyes that always gave away her mood, even when she was trying so desperately to keep her emotions a secret.

She was beautiful, but she was also so clearly in pain.

I grimaced and kicked a small rock in my path. It silently flew forward a few meters before rolling and coming to a stop, only for my feet to catch up to it and send it flying again.

I was to blame for most, if not all of her turmoil, I knew. And even if I wasn't, I would still shoulder that burden gladly. She deserved to be happy--no, more than happy. She deserved to be loved, and I was going to make sure that she received all that I could give her.

Even if I don't exactly know how to go about doing that.

I had to try. It was the least I could do.

As I left the main street of the village and entered the thick layer of trees before me, I looked down at myself and lifted my left arm slowly. I stretched my fingers in what felt like a peculiar way, and tried to familiarize myself with the sensation of having a physical hand again. It was a strange sensation, finally having an arm after so long. While I didn't think that I deserved the replacement, I knew that it would be worth it in the end.