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teamwork 3 - chapter 3 scene 2 (but the fifth I post. yeah, I make sense.)
This goes after this scene where they disembark on the island's beach, and before all the team Kunoichi stuff (Part 1 Part 2 Part 3.)
There's still a scene missing just after this one, but I'm poking at it so hopefully it will be done soon. (hahaha. yeahright. *flops*)
She liked the bridge. It was her bridge -- their bridge. It was where she waited, had always waited, would always wait, because if she waited long enough they would come to find her and be together again. It was a bridge of promises. She liked the color of the pillars, too, rust-red, warm but not shocking, and the arches overhead that looked like temple gates. The trees around were green and so alive, rustling in the wind, offering patches of gentle shadows, and water ran underneath in a clean, sparkling stream of clear blue.
She liked waiting there. It was restful. When she was rested enough, she would (come out wake up) go find them on her own, but for now it was nice.
Then he came to find her but it was weird. He wasn't on the bridge. They were supposed to come on the bridge, unless they came on the arches. Hey, he said, standing on the water, and she stared in confusion. The river was for (fish water chakra life) other things.
You're not in the right place, she said. And he was making the river a little weird, a thin trail of gold-rust-red trailing downstream like a ribbon. It was pretty, though, like liquid fire in the middle of all the sky greens and spring blues.
Weren't you waiting for me? he said. He was tall and he was strong, wide shoulder, corded muscles, loose-jointed gait. And he was blond. Rusty? Blond. She'd been waiting for him. Him and SasukeInoKakashiMomDad, but they'd come too.
But you're in the river, she explained, very seriously. You can't be in the river. Because he couldn't. It wasn't a people place.
Then he grinned at her like a little sun and he held out his (paw) (claws) hand. So pull me up. You're strong, aren't you?
And she wanted to say she wasn't, but then she remembered she was. So she grumbled and smiled back and held out her hand and his eyes were liquid fire and she woke up.
Sakura tried to gather her memories before the dream evaporated into meaningless wisps. It frayed faster the harder she tried, though, and in the end she was left with the vague image of a bridge, a feeling like something not at its place, and a question she wasn't sure how to answer. 'Did I take his hand?' She couldn't say.
So strange. Pleasant on the surface, but a little eerie, too... Just like night on this island, with the darkness of an almost moonless night and unidentifiable animal calls in the distance that only managed to highlight the unnerving silence. Sakura wouldn't be going back to sleep just yet.
It was pitch black in the little hollow they had chosen to camp, and there was barely enough space for two people, but they'd been taking turns keeping watch, and it wasn't her turn yet. Naruto's turn had been first; he should have been beside her, but when she stretched her arms his spot was cold and there was no one to bump into.
Where was he? Frowning, she pushed her blanket aside and crawled to the mouth of the shelter they'd made, with dried, thorny bushes for walls and a camo-patterned cloth stretches overhead for a roof.
There wasn't much more light outside, but she relaxed a little when she saw the edge of Sasuke's body, a blacker shadow than the rest.
"Awake?"
"Ah, yes... I had a dream..."
"Bad?" Sasuke asked, and she imagined a little I'm-not-concerned-really frown on his face to go with his tone.
"Just weird. Something about a red bridge. And Naruto." She paused, frowned a little. Maybe not Naruto... And that reminded her. "Where is he, by the way?"
"I don't know. Around." Sasuke gave a short sigh of vague annoyance. "Go back to sleep," he advised. Sakura shook her head.
"I don't think I can yet." She crawled out of the shelter, squinting in the dark. It was cold, so close to the sea.
The Sasuke-shadow leaned back; her memory provided the image of the rock he was probably sitting on, but she was still disoriented enough to have a hard time judging distances. She stayed down in a crouch, feeling around with her hand. Sasuke nudged her with his foot, and she leaned on his knee to straighten up, shivering a little. The terrain was tricky and she didn't remember where all the ankle-breaking cracks were.
"Did he say where he was going?"
She tried to find a comfortable seat on Sasuke's rock. He didn't move away, so she leaned against his side tentatively, and shivered at his warmth. She sort of wished he would wrap an arm around her, but she knew Sasuke would refuse to compromise his mobility more than he already was.
Something was sniffing her neck.
"Gah!" She elbowed back, stumbling off the rock and whirling around.
From the little puffs of breath up and down the back of her head, she'd been expecting some kind of predator, maybe a wild cat, but her palm bumped against a human cheek. But then there was a yip of pain, and then a growl, and what kind of human made those noises -- oh.
The realization came simultaneously with Sasuke's annoyed whisper. "Naruto, cut that out already."
She crouched against thorny bushes, eyes wide and still not seeing much of anything. Oh -- there, a shape, perched on the back of Sasuke's rocky seat. "Ah -- Naruto? Sorry -- you could have warned me!"
He made a strange grumpy half-growl and leaned back in to sniff some more, close enough for her to catch a faint glimmer of white in his eyes. She wasn't sure how he managed to stretch forward that far without tumbling face down off the rock.
"... Naruto...?"
"He's sleepwalking," Sasuke confirmed with an irritated sigh.
Sakura shivered, though she didn't move. "...Oh." Well, at least it sounded like she wasn't the only one he'd done that to.
Naruto slunk off his rock with animal grace, making her tense up, and then he just bypassed her and disappeared between the bushes, barely ruffling the leaves at all.
"...Brr." Sakura rubbed her arms, attempting to warm herself up. Sasuke settled himself back in his seat, making her realize that he'd tensed up too. She bit her lip, worried. "It's kind of..."
"Annoying," Sasuke said. "Not the best time to roam."
He nudged her with his foot, and she followed his leg back to his seat, grateful for the offer.
"No, I mean -- creepy?"
She didn't need to see to know that Sasuke was frowning at her.
"... Listen, I know it's not Naruto's fault, but -- it makes me nervous, you know? It's not Naruto -- it's not even Kyuubi..."
Sasuke snorted. "I'd rather he'd be like that than like Kyuubi. The way he is now, he might cross paths with someone he shouldn't, but if he were Kyuubi, he'd go looking for them."
Sighing, Sakura conceded the point. "Well, yes, but ... I can't even tell if he's thinking at all when he's like that." She bowed her head, fingers tangling and knotting on her lap. "It's almost like there's no one home. It's creepy. And I think -- I don't know -- when Jiraiya-sama said Naruto's seal wasn't going to cause problems -- I mean, that it would be a little inconvenient, but otherwise okay..."
Sasuke didn't say anything, waiting for her to finish. She did so in a whisper, so quiet she barely heard herself.
"I'm not sure he was telling the truth."
"...Hn."
Sasuke was silent for a few minutes, and Sakura huddled against the rock at her back to get out of the cold sea wind as she waited.
"What makes you think that?"
"I don't know. He said it was fine to the councilmen, but you know..." Jiraiya and Kakashi hadn't seen anything wrong about lying to anyone but Tsunade about Team Seven's experiments with the chakra pipeline. So just because he'd waved off their concerns regarding the seal...
"He'd have told Naruto."
Sakura bit her lip. Sasuke's tone was decisive, but then again he rarely allowed himself to sound unsure. And she didn't know Jiraiya that well; he was more secretive than his loud flashiness and frank words hinted at, and who knew whether he wouldn't hide some things for Naruto's own good... But if Kakashi knew anything about that, he would have told them. He didn't believe in sparing his students.
"You're right, I guess. I just... It really is creepy," she finished lamely. "He hasn't been doing it much since we moved in together -- maybe two times? I didn't expect him to start again in the middle of the test."
"... Huh." Sasuke sounded like he was scowling. "... Maybe the stress," he muttered, but he didn't sound entirely convinced. "He was doing it more when he lived with me. New surroundings, perhaps."
Sakura didn't reply.
She was cold, and tired, but Sasuke was warm and she still felt unsettled; it was hard to summon the determination to tear herself away from him and go back to sleep. She'd almost mustered up the resolve when an animal yowled somewhere close by. She slunk off the rock into a crouch and went still.
"...Sasuke-kun?"
Leafy thickets rustled wildly as a big predator gave chase to a smaller creature. Sakura was pretty sure it was Naruto -- the island just didn't have the ability to support many predators bigger than a coyote at most -- but pretty sure wasn't a hundred percent sure, and she wouldn't be surprised if the Mist ninjas had stuffed it full of exotic beasts.
There were snuffling sounds, and a faint, grouchy growl, and dry grass crunched their way. At her side, Sasuke relaxed slowly. "... Idiot. That's discreet."
Squinting, she caught sight of Naruto's shape. He ambled toward her and nuzzled her shoulder, and then slumped between her and Sasuke, his head propped up on her knee. "Uh -- Naruto?"
No reply. Wincing, she tried to find a comfortable position without dislodging him. Sasuke had no such compunction, and shoved Naruto's ass off his foot remorselessly. Naruto growled and snapped his teeth at him, and then slumped on them again, stubborn.
Sakura smothered a chuckle in her hand, only slightly nervous. That was such a Naruto attitude, even if the behavior was strange. And it was dark enough that she didn't have to watch the disturbing lack of expression on his face. It was still a way to signify affection. Gently, she petted his head; he sighed, wriggled a little, his cheek on her lap, and went still. Sakura combed his spikes with her fingers.
"You'll need a haircut soon," she mused, brushing long bangs away from his forehead.
Naruto sighed contentedly and buried his nose in her lap.
"...That does it, he's totally Naruto."
Sasuke made a little amused noise. "Like there was any doubt." He nudged Naruto's body with his foot again, but Naruto shifted his weight so that his hip crushed Sasuke's toes.
Sakura's chuckle was cut off by a yawn.
"He's done wandering," Sasuke remarked. "Go to bed."
"Fine, fine. Perhaps he'll join me and stay put..." Sakura started maneuvering to free herself. Naruto grumbled, making himself heavier, but she was cold, tired and sitting on pointy rocks, and she didn't want to deal with it any longer. "Goodnight, Sasuke-kun."
She crawled back in their shelter, burrowed under the blankets, and shivered. But a minute later a warm body crawled in after her and curled up against her back. It didn't take her long to go back to sleep.
She dreamed of the man in the river again, but the water was cold like sea winds and she didn't want him making a mess on her bridge, so she went and dreamed somewhere else.
Next
There's still a scene missing just after this one, but I'm poking at it so hopefully it will be done soon. (hahaha. yeahright. *flops*)
She liked the bridge. It was her bridge -- their bridge. It was where she waited, had always waited, would always wait, because if she waited long enough they would come to find her and be together again. It was a bridge of promises. She liked the color of the pillars, too, rust-red, warm but not shocking, and the arches overhead that looked like temple gates. The trees around were green and so alive, rustling in the wind, offering patches of gentle shadows, and water ran underneath in a clean, sparkling stream of clear blue.
She liked waiting there. It was restful. When she was rested enough, she would (come out wake up) go find them on her own, but for now it was nice.
Then he came to find her but it was weird. He wasn't on the bridge. They were supposed to come on the bridge, unless they came on the arches. Hey, he said, standing on the water, and she stared in confusion. The river was for (fish water chakra life) other things.
You're not in the right place, she said. And he was making the river a little weird, a thin trail of gold-rust-red trailing downstream like a ribbon. It was pretty, though, like liquid fire in the middle of all the sky greens and spring blues.
Weren't you waiting for me? he said. He was tall and he was strong, wide shoulder, corded muscles, loose-jointed gait. And he was blond. Rusty? Blond. She'd been waiting for him. Him and SasukeInoKakashiMomDad, but they'd come too.
But you're in the river, she explained, very seriously. You can't be in the river. Because he couldn't. It wasn't a people place.
Then he grinned at her like a little sun and he held out his (paw) (claws) hand. So pull me up. You're strong, aren't you?
And she wanted to say she wasn't, but then she remembered she was. So she grumbled and smiled back and held out her hand and his eyes were liquid fire and she woke up.
Sakura tried to gather her memories before the dream evaporated into meaningless wisps. It frayed faster the harder she tried, though, and in the end she was left with the vague image of a bridge, a feeling like something not at its place, and a question she wasn't sure how to answer. 'Did I take his hand?' She couldn't say.
So strange. Pleasant on the surface, but a little eerie, too... Just like night on this island, with the darkness of an almost moonless night and unidentifiable animal calls in the distance that only managed to highlight the unnerving silence. Sakura wouldn't be going back to sleep just yet.
It was pitch black in the little hollow they had chosen to camp, and there was barely enough space for two people, but they'd been taking turns keeping watch, and it wasn't her turn yet. Naruto's turn had been first; he should have been beside her, but when she stretched her arms his spot was cold and there was no one to bump into.
Where was he? Frowning, she pushed her blanket aside and crawled to the mouth of the shelter they'd made, with dried, thorny bushes for walls and a camo-patterned cloth stretches overhead for a roof.
There wasn't much more light outside, but she relaxed a little when she saw the edge of Sasuke's body, a blacker shadow than the rest.
"Awake?"
"Ah, yes... I had a dream..."
"Bad?" Sasuke asked, and she imagined a little I'm-not-concerned-really frown on his face to go with his tone.
"Just weird. Something about a red bridge. And Naruto." She paused, frowned a little. Maybe not Naruto... And that reminded her. "Where is he, by the way?"
"I don't know. Around." Sasuke gave a short sigh of vague annoyance. "Go back to sleep," he advised. Sakura shook her head.
"I don't think I can yet." She crawled out of the shelter, squinting in the dark. It was cold, so close to the sea.
The Sasuke-shadow leaned back; her memory provided the image of the rock he was probably sitting on, but she was still disoriented enough to have a hard time judging distances. She stayed down in a crouch, feeling around with her hand. Sasuke nudged her with his foot, and she leaned on his knee to straighten up, shivering a little. The terrain was tricky and she didn't remember where all the ankle-breaking cracks were.
"Did he say where he was going?"
She tried to find a comfortable seat on Sasuke's rock. He didn't move away, so she leaned against his side tentatively, and shivered at his warmth. She sort of wished he would wrap an arm around her, but she knew Sasuke would refuse to compromise his mobility more than he already was.
Something was sniffing her neck.
"Gah!" She elbowed back, stumbling off the rock and whirling around.
From the little puffs of breath up and down the back of her head, she'd been expecting some kind of predator, maybe a wild cat, but her palm bumped against a human cheek. But then there was a yip of pain, and then a growl, and what kind of human made those noises -- oh.
The realization came simultaneously with Sasuke's annoyed whisper. "Naruto, cut that out already."
She crouched against thorny bushes, eyes wide and still not seeing much of anything. Oh -- there, a shape, perched on the back of Sasuke's rocky seat. "Ah -- Naruto? Sorry -- you could have warned me!"
He made a strange grumpy half-growl and leaned back in to sniff some more, close enough for her to catch a faint glimmer of white in his eyes. She wasn't sure how he managed to stretch forward that far without tumbling face down off the rock.
"... Naruto...?"
"He's sleepwalking," Sasuke confirmed with an irritated sigh.
Sakura shivered, though she didn't move. "...Oh." Well, at least it sounded like she wasn't the only one he'd done that to.
Naruto slunk off his rock with animal grace, making her tense up, and then he just bypassed her and disappeared between the bushes, barely ruffling the leaves at all.
"...Brr." Sakura rubbed her arms, attempting to warm herself up. Sasuke settled himself back in his seat, making her realize that he'd tensed up too. She bit her lip, worried. "It's kind of..."
"Annoying," Sasuke said. "Not the best time to roam."
He nudged her with his foot, and she followed his leg back to his seat, grateful for the offer.
"No, I mean -- creepy?"
She didn't need to see to know that Sasuke was frowning at her.
"... Listen, I know it's not Naruto's fault, but -- it makes me nervous, you know? It's not Naruto -- it's not even Kyuubi..."
Sasuke snorted. "I'd rather he'd be like that than like Kyuubi. The way he is now, he might cross paths with someone he shouldn't, but if he were Kyuubi, he'd go looking for them."
Sighing, Sakura conceded the point. "Well, yes, but ... I can't even tell if he's thinking at all when he's like that." She bowed her head, fingers tangling and knotting on her lap. "It's almost like there's no one home. It's creepy. And I think -- I don't know -- when Jiraiya-sama said Naruto's seal wasn't going to cause problems -- I mean, that it would be a little inconvenient, but otherwise okay..."
Sasuke didn't say anything, waiting for her to finish. She did so in a whisper, so quiet she barely heard herself.
"I'm not sure he was telling the truth."
"...Hn."
Sasuke was silent for a few minutes, and Sakura huddled against the rock at her back to get out of the cold sea wind as she waited.
"What makes you think that?"
"I don't know. He said it was fine to the councilmen, but you know..." Jiraiya and Kakashi hadn't seen anything wrong about lying to anyone but Tsunade about Team Seven's experiments with the chakra pipeline. So just because he'd waved off their concerns regarding the seal...
"He'd have told Naruto."
Sakura bit her lip. Sasuke's tone was decisive, but then again he rarely allowed himself to sound unsure. And she didn't know Jiraiya that well; he was more secretive than his loud flashiness and frank words hinted at, and who knew whether he wouldn't hide some things for Naruto's own good... But if Kakashi knew anything about that, he would have told them. He didn't believe in sparing his students.
"You're right, I guess. I just... It really is creepy," she finished lamely. "He hasn't been doing it much since we moved in together -- maybe two times? I didn't expect him to start again in the middle of the test."
"... Huh." Sasuke sounded like he was scowling. "... Maybe the stress," he muttered, but he didn't sound entirely convinced. "He was doing it more when he lived with me. New surroundings, perhaps."
Sakura didn't reply.
She was cold, and tired, but Sasuke was warm and she still felt unsettled; it was hard to summon the determination to tear herself away from him and go back to sleep. She'd almost mustered up the resolve when an animal yowled somewhere close by. She slunk off the rock into a crouch and went still.
"...Sasuke-kun?"
Leafy thickets rustled wildly as a big predator gave chase to a smaller creature. Sakura was pretty sure it was Naruto -- the island just didn't have the ability to support many predators bigger than a coyote at most -- but pretty sure wasn't a hundred percent sure, and she wouldn't be surprised if the Mist ninjas had stuffed it full of exotic beasts.
There were snuffling sounds, and a faint, grouchy growl, and dry grass crunched their way. At her side, Sasuke relaxed slowly. "... Idiot. That's discreet."
Squinting, she caught sight of Naruto's shape. He ambled toward her and nuzzled her shoulder, and then slumped between her and Sasuke, his head propped up on her knee. "Uh -- Naruto?"
No reply. Wincing, she tried to find a comfortable position without dislodging him. Sasuke had no such compunction, and shoved Naruto's ass off his foot remorselessly. Naruto growled and snapped his teeth at him, and then slumped on them again, stubborn.
Sakura smothered a chuckle in her hand, only slightly nervous. That was such a Naruto attitude, even if the behavior was strange. And it was dark enough that she didn't have to watch the disturbing lack of expression on his face. It was still a way to signify affection. Gently, she petted his head; he sighed, wriggled a little, his cheek on her lap, and went still. Sakura combed his spikes with her fingers.
"You'll need a haircut soon," she mused, brushing long bangs away from his forehead.
Naruto sighed contentedly and buried his nose in her lap.
"...That does it, he's totally Naruto."
Sasuke made a little amused noise. "Like there was any doubt." He nudged Naruto's body with his foot again, but Naruto shifted his weight so that his hip crushed Sasuke's toes.
Sakura's chuckle was cut off by a yawn.
"He's done wandering," Sasuke remarked. "Go to bed."
"Fine, fine. Perhaps he'll join me and stay put..." Sakura started maneuvering to free herself. Naruto grumbled, making himself heavier, but she was cold, tired and sitting on pointy rocks, and she didn't want to deal with it any longer. "Goodnight, Sasuke-kun."
She crawled back in their shelter, burrowed under the blankets, and shivered. But a minute later a warm body crawled in after her and curled up against her back. It didn't take her long to go back to sleep.
She dreamed of the man in the river again, but the water was cold like sea winds and she didn't want him making a mess on her bridge, so she went and dreamed somewhere else.
Next
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I like prowling Naruto way too much. Wayyyyy too much. >:3
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Okay, now that I'm done being a dork... I love the disconnected floatiness of that first bit, while Sakura's dreaming. It's...well...dreamlike, for lack of a better word (XD), and the tone is beautiful and fits well (a lot of authors I read either write dreams too lucidly or from the post-waking-up viewpoint). Naruto's sleepwalking description amused the hell out of me, and was equally vivid; I have a cat and two guinea pigs who all do that sniffing thing, and the mental picture I got of the sniffing bit was so strong that the little hairs on the back of my neck actually stood up XD.
Also, the last line? LOVE. Very Sakura.
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*^__^* Well, dream logic is fun to play with. If only there was a way to bring Sasuke to share the inner world thing as well, I'd do it so much more often. I wonder what it looks like for him? Naruto sees rooms as representing people, I bet he'd see Sasuke's as his house the day of the massacre x__x, but I wonder how Sasuke would see things. *ponders*
Thank you~
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I also love how you folded that dream snippet of Sakura's into the main fic, too. (And Opalinesque is right: that last line is wonderfully Sakura. Such a sensible, orderly mind, even when she's dreaming...)
Reading the scene which comes just before this, which I somehow missed the first time around, I find myself wondering all over again about that cat Kyuubi wants to eat: Is it a cat, or is it a... "cat?" *Wiggles eyebrows* Maybe I've been reading too much Alice in Wonderland again, but I'm wondering if Kyuubi has a deeper reason for feeling predatory around it...
Naruto in need of a haircut would look like a sunflower with whiskers.
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... this sounded less dirty in my head, strangely enough.
A reason to feel predatory around a poor, poor kitty? Apart from the fact that it's snack-sized and would scream a lot? Surely not. u.u
... bwahahaha! Oh, the mental image. Socute.
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lovely!
Re: lovely!
Well. I do love my feral characters. XD; Mmm, werewolves.
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The last line of the story "didn't want him making a mess on her bridge, so she went and dreamed somewhere else" just cracked me up. That soooo Sakura. ^_^
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Heh-heh. Naruto still manages to be amusing while sleep-prowling.
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oh wait, maturity level measured in microseconds, nvm.but but but you actually do things with plot and character and perspectives and narrator-reliability and the difference between what's said and what's unsaid and and and also sleepprowling Naruto rules just on principle. XD (And if that cat was a ninja's familiar or a ninja in disguise, well, serves 'em right...)
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(And if that cat was a ninja's familiar or a ninja in disguise, well, serves 'em right...)
ö.ö Would I do that.
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i loved the little interactions between sasuke and sakura - when he nudged her with his foot so she'll find him... it was sweet (in sasukes way of showing affection)
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Thank you ^___^
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I wonder if there’s any meaning to the dream. . . . Is Sasuke really not concerned, or is he just having a hard time showing it, I wonder. ^^ . . . . Naruto’s on the hunt, isn’t he? . . . . “Not the best time to roam.” Nope. I’m surprised they’re not keeping an eye on him. What if something happens? . . . . “No one home.” Good analogy. Love it. ^^ . . . . I wonder if Jiraiya and Kakashi really do have something to hide. . . . New surroundings makes sense. Get to know the area. . . . I love this creepy scene. . . . “the island just didn’t have the ability to support many predators bigger than a coyote at most.” Does that mean that the Forest of Death is more — I dunno, bountiful? Cuz the animals in that were huge. . . . Lol, love it when Naruto cuddles up to them and how they all react to each other’s movements. ^^ ♥ . . . . That last paragraph was interesting. She just “went and dreamed somewhere else.” Curious. And do you think Sasuke’s ever going to lighten up any more?
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The last line struck me as extremely sad. Like she went and abandoned him in the cold water because he was too much to bother with. Again, maybe I'm reading too much into it.
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~Sara