The Angel's Ambivalence [Naruto]

Naruto vs. Sasuke: The Final Battle

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Third Person's POV

This time, when she fell, he caught her.

She landed right against his chest, eyes closed and lulled into unconsciousness by the genjutsu he'd placed her under only seconds before. The arm he had wrapped around her waist and the other that was placed securely at the back of her head were the only things keeping her upright and preventing her from falling over, while the sound of her quiet heartbeat and the feel of her warmth in his arms were the only things keeping him grounded, tethered by invisible strings to both her and the harsh reality they never seemed to be able to shake.

For a moment, he just stood there, holding her and threading his fingers gently through her long, chocolate brown curls. The world was silent around them, almost as if it was holding its breath, waiting for him to move, to change his mind and do the right thing the way she would want him to. But doing the right thing was easier said than done, especially when he wasn't quite sure what the right thing was anymore.

She, of course, wouldn't agree with him. After all, doing the right thing was in her nature, every bit as effortless and natural to her as breathing. She always made it look so easy, so obvious, as if doing so was never a question, but a response, one that she didn't even have to think about. For him, however, things weren't that clear.

Before, he thought they had been. When the Sage had asked him what he wanted for the world, he'd given the older man a straightforward, concise response that had made sense to him at the time, one that he'd derived from the lives of his brother, the previous Hokage, and the former Takeda twins. It was one that he had been completely and without a doubt sure of... Up until now, when he was holding her in his arms.

It wasn't like this was the first time he'd held her since she'd left him. Throughout the entire war, they'd found themselves in situations where holding onto each other was practically unavoidable, albeit significantly uncomfortable, on her part, at least. Whether he was saving her from being killed by Madara or whether she was saving him from falling into Kaguya's interdimensional lava and burning to death, they always seemed to end up side by side, holding onto each other, as if some force outside of their control was pushing them together.

But things were different this time around. Now, there was no Infinite Tsukuyomi looming over their heads, no vengeful chakra goddess threatening to destroy them. Right now, it was just them, drawn together by nothing and no one else except him and his own actions. It was as if time itself had come to a halt, and for a moment, he wished that it had. Because being with her right now, holding her, was probably the calmest and most tranquil he'd felt in what seemed like forever. It was the first time in a long time that things finally made sense for him, that he felt he could actually breathe easily.

But time stopped for no one, not even for shinobi who could conquer gods, and no matter how much he wished otherwise, the two of them were no exception.

He glanced down at her, then, at the girl who, even after all this time, even without saying a single word, still held enough influence over him to make him question his actions. She wasn't even conscious, and yet there she was, still holding enough of his heart for him to make her his exception.

But then again, hadn't she always been his exception? Even when he didn't want to admit it, it was a truth that he had never been able to deny. He could cut off his ties with everyone else, could resign himself to a life of solitude and desolation, and yet, when it came down to this one girl... He just couldn't do it. And now, after everything that had happened between them, he finally understood why.