Live…

She could hear his voice whisper the word in her ear. Her legs stretched out on the smooth rock they sat upon, as she clung weakly to his chest. In his arms she breathed heavily as he caressed her back. Her eyes slightly opened and felt the penetrating light of the sunset before them. They remained still on a side of a mountain in an expansive forest. He had found her here long ago. That day she was to him a maiden with no name or recollection of her past.

Stay with me…

He never expected to care for her so deeply. The simple, beautiful, yet fragile woman was inanely quiet. However, she had a power over him. He could not object to her needs. She never asked much of him, except that he stay with her until her time would come. He never understood her pleading words that particular night. He had come home from a mission, ate her cooked meal, and watched her sleep waiting for him.

Tonight would be the very last they would see of each other. He hated the fact that he had no idea of the pain she underwent these three years.

Promise me you won't forget…

She cherished everything they had done together. Their small dates, conversations, even the arguments, and the feelings they had developed over time. She never once imagined she could love him – a man so intertwined with ambition and darkness. When she realized she cared for him deeply it was because he held such a pure heart. However, he refused to acknowledge her observations about this matter whenever she brought them up. His subtle smiles made her feel special.

"You should smile more, Sasuke."

There are no such things as tears for a man who kills for a living.

He may only eat and sleep.

Happiness is only a temporary state.

He enjoys what he has because he knows it will not remain forever with him. He watches as the lily in his arms grows weak. A white lily that he picks from all the roses, daisies, and tulips he sees in the field. She stands out to him most because he does not like the color white. He abhors anything devoid of color because it only means he can only taint it – worsen its pure complexion.

The smell is what first attracts him. The honest, sweet smell that he has never found anywhere else calms him.

The very look of her sends him next off his senses. She does not have the rose's flaring beauty, the daisy's vivacity, nor the tulip's creative allure. However, she does have a kind expression that only a white lily unexposed to corruption can create.

The fact that the white lily remains with him despite the times he feels he has ripped off her petals and forcefully planted her near him makes him guilty at this moment.

She doesn't deserve to wilt.

But a man who kills for a living knows death is inescapable.

"You should smile more, Sasuke."

The white lily dies in his arms.

He doesn't weep for her.