A Marriage of Convenience

Chapter 11

As reason clouds my eyes, the splendour fading

Illusions of the sunlight

The reflection of the light

Will keep me waiting
__________

The blood-red eyes he knew better then his own by this point, were all he could see as he lay there, unmoving, unblinking. He knew he had tears in his eyes but he could not make a single sound as those eyes looked on at him.

Itachi, he thought.

A surge of love and hate simultaneously passed through him as the name flashed through his mind. How many times had those same eyes haunted him as a child, showing him his clan's massacre over and over and over again until he'd learnt them by their shape, texture and the exact color.

Until he'd learned to hate the very person he'd loved more than life itself. Sasuke felt a flash of pain at this statement. His brother’s eyes...his eyes now.

These eyes...they see quite well in the dark.

He sat up straight in bed, in cold sweat, taking in deep breaths. It'd been more than a decade and the dreams never stopped. 

Only dark lonliness there to greet him whenever he woke. So he would try to stay awake. It would go to the point where he couldn't sit up anymore due to extreme exhaustion and he'd pass out. And still, the dreams never stopped.

The ghosts tying him down never stopped. He cursed as he threw the sheet away and his feet touched the wooden boards of his floor.

The moonlight streamed in through his open window as he looked out the window before getting to his feet to get a drink of water.

He walked out into the hallway and passed by Hinata's room. The door was open and he stopped involuntarily. She lay with her back to him, her long hair draping her like a dress. The moonlight on her hair looked almost like a halo.

He scoffed. Halo indeed. She looked so small on the huge bed. But so innocent, he thought, picturing her face as the light fell on it. Would she have the same nightmares a decade later after the same happened to her?

Or would she learn to forgive and forget?

All she was, was compassion and love. He could see the way it hurt her whenever her cousin tried to approach her. The love in her eyes for him, the way he'd never seen directed at him by anyone.

Not for a very long time.

Still, this wasn't the time to think about himself. It was to think about her. They'd had this argument before. When she'd refused to give up on him.

Although why was he dragging her down with him? It had been his initial intention as he'd asked for her hand in marriage. To take her down with him.

However living with her, seeing her compassion directed towards him had changed him completely for her. He couldn't do it anymore.

But she'd burnt all bridges when she'd gotten married to him. And she was too pure to be tainted by someone like him.

Too good.

But he'd vowed to try. He owed her that much.

He didn't know how long he stood there, contemplating about her, water and dreams long forgotten. It was only later he realized...something had made him forget his nightmares, if only for a while.
_________

Love gone, for so long