Distant Echoes

31 - Absence

It is a true pity not to see the sun rise every day. The dawn that scatters the shadows of the night seems almost an illusion.

She said the ivy, when she threw it at Garuda and sat in that tree. Sasuke was struck that day by that phrase, so he remembered, it had been a few hours since the poison ivy did not stutter anymore. And it's been over a year since then. Sasuke observed the thick fog that covered the buildings of the Uchiha district, a fog that made him even more ghostly that place of death.

He had left Hinata in the district of Hyuuga not even twenty minutes. It was five o'clock in the morning. On his chest he felt a weight that probably would never leave. Her perfume was still on, but in a few days she would have left that too. A few hours before he had kept her on his falcon, wrapped her tight to prevent her from catching cold, then he took her home and put her on his bed, spent hours checking for any side effects, regarding the mental maneuvers he had put her through, but everything was fine. He looked around confused, on the wall behind the sofa was Hinata's watercolor.

Now I see something beautiful because of you, Sasuke.

But the love she felt for him wasn't enough to heal her, it wasn't enough.

Why are you here if you're sick?

Because I wanted to be with you.

Now it was really over. Sasuke resolutely reached his room, taking the shoulder bag containing all the items he had taken from Hinata's house. Opening the drawer where her modifications were, she saw the rigid band, the first gift she had given her, then the necklace she had given her for her birthday. He looked up when he saw the picture together. He looked at him and Hinata on that Pagoda, she was smiling, he wasn't. Behind them both, there were mountains, sea in the distance. It all started with her voice, then with those bright, real eyes, those long, soft hair that wrapped her. He always wanted to touch them, even when he knew nothing about her.

Who would have thought? Sasuke Uchiha, who had always had difficulty communicating with everyone, and was a perfect wretch who had only one friend in the world who took care of him, unexpectedly, he had managed to find a girl who was exactly like him, and who really loved him. He had seen the ivy for two years of her life, and for almost a year she had been her woman. She had done everything with her. Looking up, Sasuke stared at the overseas blue curtains brought with Hinata last summer. He rubbed her finger on Hinata's face in that photo, she had loved him in many different ways, she had been a dear friend, a lover, a tender mother, a sister, a playmate, a storyteller. She was had been so many things.

The ivy won't come here anymore.

There would no longer be the pleasure of waiting in his house, while he heard Hinata open the door and greet him with that voice that sounded like a melody, there would not be the warmth that gave him, watching she, while cooking whistling or humming. He would never see her painting on the low table again, he would never see her smile for him again, he would never hear her talk about something he saw in the landscape.

You're too fast, Sasuke, you said you'd slow your movements.

There would be no more fun training, there would be no trip with her, to get out of that damn village, he would never hear her read it aloud on the couch or on the mattress of her bed. He would never again feel her hand caressing he hair while he slept.

The towel had plunged into the river, because it had become dirty during its swinging with earth and leaves.

There would be no more absurd story made up.

There was also a grumpy sword.

His life would simply slip away without even realizing it, with those walls around him again protecting him from everything.