Title: Falling

Summary: SasuxSaku When you're so far gone, your wasting away, what else is there to do but fall? Good thing there's more than one kind of falling…

XxXxXxX

She was an open book, in more ways than one, the thin pages filled to the brim with elegant, curved, cryptic script, tearing, fraying, falling from the seams and disintegrating to dust before even skimming the ground.

He was always closed, locked up tight in every possible way. The pages of him fading in on itself, words hidden as if written in invisible ink, unknown, unfound, unseen…even locked tight, every page was so fragile, as if infected, falling apart, deteriorating from the inside out.

So disturbingly alike, and yet so despairingly different.

They were so far gone already...

-x-

Her heart was weak, the walls suffocating around it, and crumbling into nothingness only in his presence.

But still beating…

Just barely…just barely…

He was empty, his mind blank, the words were leaving him now. He was a shell, nothing left, wasting away, and then overflowing only in her existence.

But he was there…

Just barely…just barely…

-x-

They didn't meet until it was almost too late, as it were on most occasions that they met.

She was surrounded by people, and yet he had never seen someone look so alone.

He was by himself, feeling both alone and claustrophobic all at once.

He saw her before she saw him, though it only took her two minutes and forty-seven seconds to lock eyes with him.

And then they were drowning, falling, and floating away in the middle of the street.

Her eyes were much too large for her petite face, but he liked it. He liked the way there was a sudden sparkling glimmer in the dulling apple color. The way her pale skin matched his own, shallow, bruising under the eyes. The way she moved so slowly and carefully, as if each step weighed her down and she just might blow away.

And he thought, maybe she will. And maybe he'd go with her.

She liked the way his eyes were so dark. So endlessly dark and she could just fallfallfall into them.

Because that's what she was always doing now. Falling. Endlessly.

But into his eyes, maybe she'd be safe?

She liked the way he stood, watching her, unabashed, like he could read past her fake smiles and laughs. She liked how his eyes brushed over her body, as if he knew exactly where to look for the signs, and how he would touch his own skin the exact place he saw them on her. She liked how he shoved his hands deep into his pockets and leaned back, still watching her, and just waiting…

He watched.

He waited.

And his lips twitched ever so slightly when she left and walked straight to him.

Her friends didn't notice her leave.

He knew they wouldn't.

She didn't care.

"Coffee?"

His voice was rough, deep, quiet.

She shook her head. "Hot chocolate."

Her voice was soft, sweet, almost lilting.

Their hands were a perfect fit, both thin, his long, hers so small.

The café was down the street, the store almost empty, and the seats small and worn. They stared for minutes on end, the few words said in between impacting more than any bystander would guess.

"Bitter."

She shook her head, pink tresses swinging, sending him a dazzling smile. "Sweet."

His touch was hesitant when he leaned forward to pull her arm across the table to him. Hers was much more sure as she did the same.

"Why fake it?" was all he asked, looking from the sweet smile curling her plump lips to the marks on her arms.

She lazily traced the ones on his with gentle fingertips, unsurprised to see the same amount as she bore. "Why make them suffer with you?"

"Some deserve it." He could think of many people—the ones that made him feel so absurdly worthless again and again.

"So do I."

But he didn't believe she did.

She was pure. He was not.

-x-

The color was seeping back into her eyes, the dull green, now a vivid viridian, a true smile lighting up her face.

His eyes no longer wanted to shut and never open, and there was a small smile curling his lips slightly.

"I'm falling, you know."

She spoke so casually, like it was a fact.

And he knew it was.

Because they were both falling, in so many ways.

So he just nodded.

And gripped her tiny body closer to his, not willing to let her go before him.

-x-

They didn't meet again, till months later, both on the edge once more.

Her eyes were dull again, his drifting closed, little by little.

"Sasuke, dear, have you met Sakura?"

He could barely turn her way, but the sight of the beat up Converses in his line of view had his head snapping up.

He didn't answer his mother. What was he supposed to say? She was a fallen angel living in his hell? That when they parted that day he felt like his already tattered heart was shredding to miniscule pieces?

No.

He nodded; not taking his eyes off her, and drank her in.

Her skin was just as pale, if not paler. Her long sleeve shirt was twisted in between her fingers, yanked downward, and he knew exactly why. Her full lips were no longer the deep red he remembered, but an almost pink shade, despite her nervous nibbling on the bottom of it. Her already petite body looked smaller, like it was wasting away, much as his own was.

And under his intense gaze, he watched her ever dulling eyes flicker with color once more.

She couldn't begin to fathom why he looked at her like that. Why he always seemed to never be able to take his eyes off of her. Like she was some sort of a miracle.

He had it backwards. Really, he did.

His eyes looked haunted to her, she thought, as she cocked her head to the side to observe, ignoring the curious glances his mother was giving them. His skin shallower, his mouth thinner.

And somehow, he always managed to look like a god.

His hand was in hers before either gave it a conscious thought. And both were walking away before they realized his mother was left, bewildered, behind.

But neither cared.

"I missed you."

With her, the words flew so easily. He didn't have to think. Didn't pause.

"I'm sorry. I don't want to leave you."

His grip tightened unconsciously and his lips parted. The words stopped. He wanted to ask. But he couldn't.

He couldn't.

But he didn't want to leave her either.

Ever.

They both supposed that would have to do for now.

-x-

"It's raining."

"I don't want you to cry." His hand brushed across her moist cheek.

"Silly Sasuke. The sky cries all the time."

There was a silence. The rain echoed dismally off the wooden bridge, and dripped softly into the river below.

She untangled herself from his grip and climbed unsteadily onto a rail. His hands automatically twitched with the urge to bring her back to safety.

"I'm falling, you know." She repeated, conversationally. She tilted her chin up and the rain flowed down her porcelain skin.

His arms encircled her tiny waist and he pulled her back against him.

"Me too." He murmured into her skin.

She turned to face him carefully in his grasp, sitting down on the rail now, legs wrapping around him, pulling him close till they were eye to eye. "How is Sasuke falling?"

"I'm falling. I fall more everyday. It was worse before I met you." He flickered his dark eyes up to hers, then lowered them to watch his fingers intertwine with hers. "But now it's a different kind of falling. It doesn't hurt when I'm with you—because that kind of falling is okay."

"What kinda of falling is that?" her head titled back again, and he watched the graceful curve of her neck tilt. He could see the her plump lips curling upwards at the corners.

"Falling in love…with you."

"Funny," she said, leaning back down to lock her eyes with his, the color now a glowing emerald. "I just so happen to be falling the exact same way."

-x-

It wasn't as long a time difference, the next time, before they saw each other again. Two weeks and four days.

And they had one foot off the brink.

His cheeks almost gaunt, the marks more vivid now, in the exact place hers were.

"I'm sorry… I just don't think…"

Her voice rang out to him, even as quiet as a whisper, like it had been directly in his ear. And his eyes latched onto her image, swiftly taking her in, looking for any more signs…

Then he caught sight of who she was with.

"Sakura, you never think. You have to start. Do you understand? This isn't good enough. You should know that by now."

He could only assume the woman was her mother—from the tone, and the bright pink hair pulled tight into a ponytail. She had something in her hand. A piece of paper, it looked.

"Yes. I'm sorry."

Her voice was robotic now, her head turned down in silent shame.

"Sorry doesn't cut it, Sakura. If you don't do better, how are you going to get into a good college? You'll make me look bad, for Heaven's sake!"

"Yes. I'm sorry."

Again, robotic.

There was an exasperated sigh from the elder woman, as if she had just repeated the same thing to a five year old. She turned on her heel and walked up the driveway, into the house beyond.

"Meet me tonight."

Her eyes widened, head jerking up unnaturally fast at his voice.

He saw the tears sliding slowly down her thin cheeks.

"S-Sasuke?"

"Meet me at the bridge. The one at the edge of the city. Ten tonight."

He turned and walked away, but not before brushing his lips gently across the wet trail on her cheeks. If he stayed any longer, he wouldn't be able to leave…

-x-

"My father doesn't know I exist." He struggled to keep his voice even.

"Your father knows nothing."

"He loves my older brother, though." This fact was easier to accept. He had known this one since birth.

"Your older brother is your older brother. You are my Sasuke."

He couldn't get over how sure she was. How utterly committed she was.

"He won't look at me. He says… I'm a failure. That I'm not his son."

"Hmm…" she cocked her head to the side, an unusual habit of hers, he had discovered, and sent him a brilliant smile. "That makes two of us. Does that mean I get to keep you?"

Sometimes, her words, so simple, so direct, shocked him to the core, and left him breathless.

"Yes. If I can keep you."

"Sasuke…" she frowned oddly up at him. "Don't be stupid. I'm already yours."

Another pause, spent with her head buried comfortably in his chest, his breathing shallow and ragged with nerves, knowing what he had to do.

"Sakura… I don't want to leave you." He wanted to go back to that day, the one when she told him those exact words.

But for now, he would have to settle for saying it right then.

"I don't want to leave you either." Her nose crinkled cutely. "I think I've said that before." She smiled at him.

His lips quirked slightly, despite the severity of the situation. His eyes bore into hers. "Then don't."

He whispered it softly, but the only sound around them, was the water falling from above onto the bridge.

"Sasuke? What…?"

"You said…" he inhaled deeply, her scent of cherries lulling him into calm. "You said you didn't want to leave. So don't."

"We can't stay here, Sasuke! On a bridge!" her laugh was light, sweet, but didn't reach her eyes. They stared up at him, filled with curiosity.

"No…but…come with me?" he didn't know how to say it. He just wanted her to be with him every minute of his life.

"Run…away…?" she spoke carefully, her expression unreadable.

He nodded slowly, scrutinizing her face for any sign.

A sudden, sparkling smile lit up her face, spreading into her beautiful jade eyes. "Funny. That just so happens to sound exactly like what I need."

And she pressed her lips to his.

It tasted like forever.

It tasted like hope.

It tasted like they were saved.

XxXxXxX

Honestly, I have no idea. It just popped up and I just started writing.

Er…it sucks huh?

I'm not sure if I can write a sequel to it… do you think I can? Should I even bother? I don't think it was good enough to begin with…