Chapter 115: The Cage
"Sasuko."
A familiar voice suddenly sounded.
Sasuko's eyes brightened immediately. She turned around, undisguised joy rippling through her voice: "Yu, you're back!"
Yu's figure appeared silently in the courtyard, night wind stirring his robes.
Sasuko quickly rushed forward into his embrace. Yu habitually stroked the top of her head, his tone gentle: "Why are you still outside so late? Be careful not to catch cold."
Sasuko nuzzled against his chest, saying softly: "Thinking about you."
Yu asked no more, silently taking her hand and walking toward the house.
Borrowing light from the veranda, Sasuko glanced sideways at his face and suddenly felt he was somewhat different—his features seemed even more refined, especially those eyes, clearer and more profound than usual, as if capable of reflecting one's heart.
A trace of unease quietly swept through Sasuko's heart.
Yu escorted her to the room, saying gently: "Sasuko should sleep first. I'm going to bathe."
Sasuko gazed into his eyes, her heart suddenly sinking—those emotions transcending boundaries that she'd worked so hard to capture had now vanished without trace.
His gaze had recovered that pure, unalloyed gentleness from before.
How could this be?
Sasuko froze in place.
She hurriedly grabbed Yu as he was about to turn, her fingertips trembling slightly: "Yu, did... did something happen?"
Yu's wrist was tightly gripped by Sasuko's cool fingers.
She raised her face, those beautiful eyes already covered with mist, stubbornly looking into his eyes, wanting to find that answer that made her panic.
Feeling the trembling at her fingertips, Yu stopped walking without breaking free.
He quietly looked back at her, his tone gentle yet carrying depth: "What's wrong, Sasuko?" This calm response, like his clear eyes containing no impurities, was like a thorn piercing Sasuko's heart.
"It's different..." Sasuko's voice choked. She clutched him tightly, as if loosening her grip would turn him back into that unreachable older brother. "The way you look at me has changed back... Why?" She gathered courage, almost laying bare her humble hopes before him. "Is it because of what I said to Naruko this afternoon? Or... have you finally decided I'm too willful, that I'm a burden?"
Watching her vulnerable, uneasy appearance, a ripple passed through Yu's eyes.
He sighed lightly, raising his hand to wipe tears from the corner of her eye with his fingertips, movements still gentle.
"It's not your fault, Sasuko." His voice was especially clear in the night's silence. "I've just understood some things."
He paused slightly.
"In the past, I was indeed confused, trapped by our relationship and by promises. Father and Mother entrusted you to me, instructing me to take good care of you. I also hoped you could obtain true happiness and freedom. You shouldn't become my shadow."
"This IS my happiness!" Sasuko urgently interrupted, tears falling. "Staying by your side IS the freedom I choose!"
"Is that so?" Yu's voice was light. "But why does your 'freedom' fear so much that my gaze toward you differs? Sasuko, you weren't like this before."
He gazed at her, expression carrying sorrow: "All these years, I've watched your changes. My preferences, my behavior—you remember everything. But I've always felt heartache—have I made it so you can't be yourself?"
"I can sense your inner heart. You have love for me, attachment, but more than that is fear of loss. When your mind is completely filled with another person, when you have no joys and sorrows of your own, when you live as someone else's shadow... that's not love. It's shackles. It's a cage."
He didn't want to watch Sasuko, who'd grown from infancy, become like this.
"I've also considered simply following your wishes, being together as husband and wife. But I can sense your thoughts are entirely me, with nothing else. You have no friends or teachers you truly care about, no hobbies, future, or expectations of your own. You're like a shell filled with 'Uchiha Yu.'"
His voice carried deep regret: "You're only this age, haven't experienced anything yet. Must you live the rest of your life as my shadow? Living only to satisfy my preferences? If I agreed to you like this, I'd be betraying Father's deathbed instructions, failing their trust."
Sasuko stared blankly at herself reflected in Yu's eyes—that tear-streaked, disheveled reflection.
Yu had never looked at her with such serious yet sorrowful eyes.
That gaze was like a mirror, forcing her to see clearly her own obsession and loss over these years.
"So..." Her voice was barely audible. "Are you pushing me away now?"
"Not pushing away." Yu's voice was steady and clear. He still held her hand, warmth transmitting through skin. "I hope you can truly stand up, go see this world, go find goals that belong to you."
He leaned down slightly, meeting her eyes level: "Sasuko, do you remember saying at six that you'd revive the Uchiha? Back then, your eyes held light and anticipation."
Speaking, Yu's eyes darkened slightly. "Not like now, with all emotions tied to me and nothing else..."
"But you're my light now!" She almost blurted out.
"Light doesn't extinguish." Yu gently shook his head. "It's only temporarily obscured. What I need to do isn't become your light, but help you part the fog so you can rediscover your own radiance."
He raised his hand, fingertips lightly touching her moist cheek: "I'll never leave you. I'll always be here as your shelter, your support. But what I want to see more is a complete Uchiha Sasuko who possesses her own life."
Sasuko gazed into his eyes, clear as spring water. They held heartache and concern, but no longer the romantic feelings between man and woman she'd always craved.
In this moment she suddenly understood—perhaps Yu was right. Her so-called love had long since twisted into pathological dependence through year after year of obsession.
But, but she didn't accept it!
Sasuko shook her head violently, tears scattering with the motion: "I don't need to see any world! I just want to stay by your side forever! Not going anywhere!" She clutched Yu's lapels tightly, knuckles white. "What gives you the right to decide what happiness is for me? What makes you think this is dependency?"
Yu gazed at her agitated face, deep sadness rising in his eyes.
"Because I watched you grow up."
His voice was low and hoarse. "Watched you gradually lose all friends, abandon all hobbies, even stop living for yourself." He gently gripped her trembling hands. "This isn't love, Sasuko. This is my greatest failure."
"You're always like this..." Sasuko choked. "Always using such reasons to escape! Clearly you'd also be moved by me, clearly that night you..."
"Yes, I truly wavered."
"It was precisely that wavering that made me realize—I almost became an accomplice imprisoning you in a cage forever."
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