"They keep coming. They keep coming," she muttered over and over again. Her eyes were like pits of fire, and she couldn't bear to dig them out even if they were worthless. Was this one lost somewhere in the flame? Had she known him only to let him go when they burned out her insides? There was no mistaking the recognition in his voice, and each moment she remembered that it was like a knife digging deeper and deeper still. River whimpered, simply shaking her head at something that was beyond Sasuke.

She wasn't his River. And at the same time she was.

"River. There's a possibility I'm not," she finally said, peeking through her hands to peer at him curiously. Story-telling. It was time.