Daylight

Moonlight Pt.1

His heart heavy full of burdens, like a bag full of broken glass, he trudged along the jungle of trees with twigs cracking below the soles of his feet. The light had fled his eyes and his heart like a candle in the wind. He was alone. Again. 

The days felt like years and the nights felt even longer. That sun that used to lighten up even the darkest shadows had hidden itself away, and in its wake lay only lightning and thunderstorms. During the dull days, through the mornings until the evenings he would overuse his rinnengan to jump from one dimension to another, looking for clues and search for invisible trails of white Zetsus. And rest in the woods once night had fallen. But even the moonlight could not calm his sorrows; nothing could heal the cracks in his heart. 

As he lay atop the branches of a high tree at midnight, he fought to not give in to sleep. His dreams only tormented him, full of pink strands of hair and airy laughs that crushed his soul; dreams full of a delicate touch as two bodies merged into one as he so hungrily once desired, only now the memories were hands throttling his windpipe. His days were full of the remains of his left arm throbbing in discomfort and agony, a pain he hadn't felt since returning from his journey of redemption, which felt so long ago now. The pulsating of both his eyes as he overworked them on this life-long mission  he had dedicated himself to were enough to make him lose all traces of sanity and cower into the darkness once more. No, not again. That was one promise Sasuke vowed not to break. He may have tarnished one of the lights in in his life with his transgressions, but the other one, the blonde fool, still emitted a blinding force of light, like a lighthouse in the dark searching for lost wanderers. He vowed to himself not to break that promise of bonds.

Hours stretched into days, and days stretched into weeks. His body ached, but more so did his heart; battered and bruised in a never-ending tunnel of darkness. He found that although on his previous travels he may have convinced the good people of the world of his changed heart, there were still people who would die, or die trying, to get a hold of his crimson sharingan. He could not stay in one place for long and so avoided towns unless necessary to refill provisions. The few times he did enter towns it was inevitable to bump into women, eyes full of lust and words cloaked  in flirtations. 

On the fifth week of his travels, he found himself low on food. The town he entered was desolate and quiet, the ground wet from the midday rain. The stalls denied foreigners resources, even vegetables, as it was scarce. Instead, he was pointed towards an inn that cost an eighth of the money he had earned from the small missions he had fulfilled whilst in Konoha. At the inn, his room was bare, save for the sleeping blanket on the floor and a wooden cupboard opposite the door. Dinner had been sent to his room, rice balls and tomatoes as he had ordered. The tomatoes were small and dried up, lacking of juice. He had been told he would have to take his tray and cutlery to the reception or he would not be given the breakfast which he had paid. 

He ate his humble dinner deftly, and returned his waste to the reception on the lower ground floor. He felt a padding of feet pace behind him. When he turned it was gone, save for a glimpse of pink hair that escaped behind a wall. He activated his chakra but did not sense any familar chakras nearby, although he knew that his abandoned lover had always been the finest out of Team 7 in chakra control, meaning she could easily conceal her presence. He followed the footsteps, silent as a cat prowling towards its prey. The pink woman slipped inside a room - before she could close the door, he teleported himself inside, swapping himself with a flower pot he noticed whilst the door was still ajar. 

"Sakura, I'm sorry...", Sasuke began to explain himself. 

"Who?" The woman turned around, and staring back at him were hazel-eyes flecked in gold. 

Sasuke was taken aback. Had he fallen this low? She moved closer to him, her hips swaying with every step she took and laid a hand on his face, cupping his right cheek. He pulled her arm away, earning a soft laugh to slip from her lips. "So you're the famous Sasuke." She put her hand on her waist and admired him, her eyes undressing him as she shifted them from top to bottom. "I must say, you're more handsome than the rumours would suggest". 

He grimaced. He turned to leave without another word, but the temptress blocked his path  and forced herself on him, stealing away a kiss. His mouth became numb, and he could feel the poison from her tongue already take into effect. His eyes started to blur and he struggled to move his limbs. In a daze, he could see her hands reaching towards his right eye and he instinctively activated his mankegyo sharingan and awakened his purple susano, guarding himself from the pink-haired woman. He staggered slightly, under the effect of the poison, but managed to use his rinnengan to escape with the portal he had opened, into another one of Kaguya's dimensions. He slowed his rapid breathing and went into a fetus position like Sakura had taught him and focused his chakra onto a single point: his tongue. 

The lone Uchiha had turned into the hunted once more, his lineage a curse that knew no bounds. Once upon a time he had wanted nothing more than solitude, but that dream had dissipated and in its place he had accepted daylight. But now, full of regrets, he no longer knew what he wanted, other than to protect his loved ones from the darkness. From himself, if need be. 

 He lay there, on the grainy bed of sand which the medic had once previously saved him from another lifetime ago. At that moment, he was overwhelmed with a fierce desire to feel her warm hands on him, as she healed him with her strength and soothing words. He longed for her plump pink lips to graze against his, and to become lost in her leafy green eyes: a field of love and comfort. But he lay there, skin cold under the moonlight of a different world, and a single tear strolled down his face.