Distance. There was so much of it between them. It had been there for so long, they could barely remember a time when it wasn't there. They could barely remember the happiness that use to overwhelm their emotions whenever the other was around. And now it was if there was nothing there. Except the distance. That was always there, haunting both of them. Both secretly longing to make it disappear. Both exhausted of the ever-constant tension that seemed to appear whenever they were together. They noticed it, hated it, and yet feared to dispel it.

Duty. The reason for the distance. The reason why they grew apart. The hated thing that continued to keep them apart. Separate. Alone. The cage that confined them. The chain that bound them together yet tore them away from each other. She was his duty. And her duty was to lead him, the stronger one, the smarter one. The one that hated her the most. The one that loved her the most. When it happened was a mystery. How it happened was yet another one. All he knew is what he felt. All he knew was that it was there, forever.

Darkness. What they both dwelled in, what they were surrounded by. It suffocated them, silenced them, disheartened them. It was mostly all they knew. The light was a memory, a dream, something that wasn't real. Like her love. She fought it, denied it, tried to forget it, telling herself to think of the blond haired, blue eyed man that she had always admired. Yet that nagging in her heart wouldn't leave her be. Always beating in time with her heart. She didn't understand why. It just was.

Damned. Was what they were, unknowingly sharing a secret love for each other that will never be revealed. A dream both knew could never be realized. A desire that would never be satisfied. An ache in their heart that would never leave. She will marry a man she would meet at her wedding day, a man her father chose, a man that wasn't him. And he'll continue to watch her, long for her, love her, want her, and never have her. He will never marry, never pass on the strength of his Byakugan, never be happy. They will meet in the courtyard, her children running around, playing not far away. And they will pretend. Pretend that they were a family, that those children were his, that they were married, that they were happy. But then they'll wake up and remember it was just a dream. Just a dream.