A Marriage of Convenience

Chapter 8

By some miracle, make me yours
I'm yet someone else's
Make me yours
-Tera Ho jaoon (Translation: To be yours)
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"What the fuck are we doing? I don't know what i was thinking when I took the gods damned contract to your father." He snapped in frustration.

She'd known all this of course. But hearing it from him hurt somehow.

Because to him, she was another expandable toy. He'd wrecked all she'd had and now even he wasn't sure of what he had done.

She'd known they were a train wreck waiting to happen. But-

"It's too late now. We're stuck together." She informed him, bitterness creeping into her voice despite trying her best not to let it show.

He didn't say anything in reply to her. But she was afraid.

"I-I don't have anywhere else to go." She told him in a resigned manner, swallowing her pride.

"You're not leaving this place."

The deadly promise and the coldness of his words made her shiver. Was that a threat. Or a plea. Or a bit of both really.

She took in a gasping breath when the lightening lit up the sky, illuminating half of Sasuke's face. The effect made him look like a condemned spirit. A Gaki.

The demon posing as the charming prince.

"This is your home. It hasn't been mine for a long time." He said, more to himself than to her. He now seemed tired. The rain fell harder and harder outside.

"Sasuke-"

"You can't fix me. I-screwed up. And the only reason why I'm still here is becasue of Naruto." He took a shuddering breath. "I don't know what i expected to change but this was a mistake."

Hinata didn't have it in her to say anything . But the broken sound of his voice broke her a little too. And the thought of being in these haunted grounds alone made her skin crawl.

The silence...it had been here for too long already.

He was beyond damaged. Shattered more like it. He would never be whole again. He would never heal completely.

The wounds had festered too long for them not to scar. And he was full of scars. But that didn't lessen his value.

To her, he was just as deserving of redemption as anyone else. He was morphed into what he was today by a series of unfortunate and horrible events.

But he needed to know, he was loved. By Naruto, Sakura...Kakashi.

Maybe even her. Someday.

Sasuke sagged down on the wall in front of her. She took a deep breath.

"Sasuke."

He looked up. She'd apprpoached him quietly. And now she crouched in front of him.

"I told you-" he said.

"I can't fix you. You're broken. You'll never heal completely and you're wrecked beyond belief."

He didn't even flinch as she said all this. Maybe he'd told himself things worse than this. She hated that thought as soon as it formed.

"But-You're still here aren't you? That means something. Maybe you shouldn't try to fix yourself. Revel in the glory of what you are instead. You're a survivor. Maybe you should relish the pieces of yourself you have got. Maybe we should salvage them. Together."

She was cupping his face as she made him look at her while she said this. There was truth in her eyes.

She meant all this.

But Sasuke looked so afraid. His eyes were wide, as if he was waiting for her kindness to turn into hatred and into another one of his nightmares. He wasn't even breathing.

His paranoia was back in full force.

His eyes distrustful and scared. It broke Hinata's heart a little. So she did something he could never imagine.

She moved towards him, until their noses touched. His faint breath ghosted over her cheek. This felt more intimate than any kiss in the world.

Neither of them moved from their position while the rain continued outside.
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Author notes: This is sort of an Eid gift for all my readers. Lots of love and enjoy. Also, happy Eid to everyone in advance.