gifts
Day 2: Gifts
With the harsh winter winds blowing outside their window, Sakura woke up on Christmas morning staring at the face of the man she loves.
This was a sight she saw every day since his return and yet it was a view she’d never grow tired of seeing.
Sakura gazed at the slant of his nose, the point of his chin, the length of his lashes; she counted his steady inhales and exhales and savored the reality of him being hers for the moment.
She recounted the past few days they’d spent together, full of comfortable silences and peaceful glee. She thought of how the presents worth while never really came in boxes, as Sasuke Uchiha for all that he is, was the only thing she’d ever wanted.
Christmas is a season of giving, a time to be selfless, a time to give way for others, but in these early hours she let herself indulge in greed.
Because on this day, there was only one gift that she could give the man that lay beside her— only one thing that mattered.
She’d seen his far off looks as he stared at the sky above and the awe like nostalgia set in his bones when he talks of the roads he walked and paths he took. A wanderer, an adventurer, a traveler, freedom, him.
The moment he opens his eyes, it would be their last few moments of close proximity.
He’d peek with one eye open and a groan, his hoarse voice greeting her a low good morning and she’d kiss the top of his head, then his nose, then his lips and they’d make love. They’d cook breakfast, wander through the village, attend Christmas dinner with their friends and when they’d go home, she’d tell him.
She was giving him back.
She couldn’t keep him here near her heart as kindling for her own affections. She couldn’t chain him to a life that only fed her selfish desires of him and only him.
So on Christmas night as the winter winds blew outside their window, Sakura let Sasuke go and gave him the only gift she could give that mattered.
“I’m setting you free.”