Title: My Not So Sweet Slumber
Word Count: 194
Author's Note: I am still here, people! Don't worry. Living Metal shall be updated soon... but while you wait, here's a drabble for you.

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Sakura sat on the edge of her bed, knees being hugged tightly to her chest, refusing to sleep.

It did not matter that it was well past midnight, and that she had training with Tsunade in just a few short hours. It did not matter that her bones were so brittle with tiredness that even the slightest move she made caused a small creak to protest the shift. It also did not matter that the black was slowly encroaching her vision, because it was her steadfast resolution not to sleep.

Because if she did, she would dream.

She would dream of loved ones turning their backs, and she would dream of bleeding holes in her friend’s chest, and she would be haunted by ghosts of the one she loved and who had never wanted anything to do with her.

So for days she stayed awake, the same as she did tonight, staring blankly at the walls as the green lights that began to play in front of her eyes made her swoon with fatigue. But even now, the weakness that she so hated herself for overtook her, and she fell into the sleep she had so long deprived herself.

And she dreamed.

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