▌♚ amelliorate

sasuke hid himself in the comfort & security of the others arms.
he held him, pressing so close to him that the only thing he
could hear was the sound of his own sobs & the beating of
naruto’s heart. the shinobi focused on the steady rhythm,
counting… tapping his fingers on the others wrist in time. busying
himself any way he could in a desperate attempt to put an end
to his tears. it was like there was no end in sight. his sobs only
got louder, paired with the dull, sharp pain he felt in his lungs.
all this CRYING made it hard for him to breathe, nails moving to
scrapping at the flesh of his partners knuckles. 

what he needed, more than anything, was REST. not just sleep.
he needed so much more than to just be unconscious for a few
hours. broken as he was, rest was not something he got. EVER.
it wasn’t like karin, jugō & suigetsu didn’t try        they TRIED HARD
to help him. he was just too broken. their attempts to calm him… to
put him at ease were all in vain. they didn’t understand him the same
way naruto did. they wouldn’t dare try to hold him like this. they
wouldn’t know when to talk to him & when to keep silent, like HE did.
there was something CHILLING about how well they understood each
other. almost too well. like they were two parts of the same being.
maybe here       with HIM, he could finally find some peace. 

eventually, after what felt like HOURS, his sobbing began to dull
down. onyx hues flickered closed, the grip on the others hand starting
to ease and he forced himself to calm down. it wasn’t long after that 
that sleep started to take him once more, though for some reason…
THIS TIME, he felt like it was going to be okay. here, in his arms like this
the uchiha had a feeling that for once, his nightmares wouldn’t TOUCH
him. that perhaps he could finally sleep & get some REST… 

                  “            thank you. “

▒  ▍_◣✸^◥  ▍▒ ➤

He bit back a slight WINCE as the raven’s
nails dug into his skin, the warm burn that
indicated Kurama’s chakra in action
spreading across the AFFECTED area.

                 But that was the least of his concerns. A
                 part of him feared that Sasuke might have
                 become BREATHLESS. He could feel
                 the sobs wracking the curled up frame
                 reduce their intervals, panic steadily rising 
                 within him. His thumb rubbed slow circles
                 on the other’s hand, most likely unnoticed
                 by the other, but it RELIEVED him to hear
                 the Uchiha’s breathing regulate, a breath
                 he didn’t even know he was holding in,
                 quietly letting itself out.

He wasn’t SURE how much time had passed, for
the quantity seemed meaningless when it felt
like he was alone with the raven, in a tragic world
that had been conjured up by his own mind.

                But he could feel a semblance of peace
                seeping into the room yet again, the
                skies calming, the RAIN against his 
                window not so loud any more. Azure
                optics darted towards the other, a 
                small SMILE gracing his lips. Sasuke
                had won the battle ( at least, temporarily, 
                & that’d suffice, for now ). He DIDN’T
                look so fragile any more, even though
                his body never seemed to stop shaking. 

Vocables caught him off guard, causing his
grip to go lax, before giving the ivory digits
a light SQUEEZE, his chin brushing against
silky midnight locks as he simply nodded.

               & so he stayed, body crouched around the
               Uchiha protectively, hands held, as he
               listened to the soft sound of Sasuke’s
               peaceful breathing. There was NOTHING
               he wouldn’t give to keep the raven the way
               he was at that moment     so tranquil, so
               innocent. He looked nothing like the 
               broken boy he was, nothing like ruthless
               CRIMINAL he was seen as.

Perhaps in another world, in another life, Sasuke
looked the same, when he was AWAKE, too. In
a world that hadn’t thrown their lives away so
callously, in a world where they were FRIENDS.

             & even though he was certain that Sasuke
             would never admit it out loud     they had a
             BOND. It was inexplicable, yet it connected
             them, radiating every unsaid word, every 
             buried emotion. It was an odd feeling, to
             feel so emotionally INTIMATE with a
             person who had erected so many walls
             around his core. It made him feel privileged
             & afraid at the same time. WOULD he ever
             be enough ? After all, he was broken inside,
             too. What right did he have to go around
             fixing the one person who NEEDED it the
             most. He was too weak. & he hated it.

“ I’ll be your strength, & I will
be strong, for you.” he whispered 
in the SLEEPING raven’s ear, a
single tear sliding down his cheek  
as he fell into the comforting arms

of unconsciousness.