AN: hay guise. This be mah furst fanfiction. It's a oneshot, unbeta'd, most likely unnecessarily long. Sorry about that. As the series goes on I'm steadily beginning to hate Sasuke and in effect this pairing as well, so this may be the last SasuSaku thing I write in a while. Gah. ._.
Lightning seared white hot and brilliant against the stark mountains, revealing a livid night sky intercut by cross sections of torrential rain. The frigid air whipped needle-sharp points of water against the exposed skin of two ANBU-clad Konoha-nin, drenched to the bone, and at the immediate moment searching only for a place to rest their weary limbs until the storm died off.
They had been battling the elements for nearly an hour before they approached a damp cleft in the rock wall beside them; the fit was snug but they accosted the opportunity quite jovially, glad to be bereft of the frigid conditions at last. Closer inspection yielded they hadn't been the first ninja to occupy this cave; under a collection of rocks near the back of the cave they found assorted ninja weaponry, scrolls, but more importantly, a set of bedrolls and spare clothing.
Looking around, Sakura couldn't help but draw similarities between this night and what had happened, nearly three years ago, on her first S-class mission as an ANBU member. She was only eighteen years old, naive, inexperienced. Unaccustomed to the calamity of battle, and with Akatsuki nonetheless…
It was the rain. It was the rain that brought her back, that relentless, unforgiving barrage of ice water that refused to let her see clearly. She had been so stupid… weak. Whoever her assailant was had left before the knives even made contact, right under her ribs, her shoulder, her back. She collapsed, whether from fear or exhaustion or the cold.
The cold.
Naruto laid out the mats, offered Sakura one of the tattered, moth-eaten blankents, wished her goodnight and promptly fell asleep, leaving Sakura on night-watch duty. It didn't matter. She wouldn't be able to sleep anyway; despite the angry storm roaring only a few feet away, she felt as if it was one of these rare moments of tranquility where she was able to relive that night, those private moments of intimacy she had shared with him. A personal secret, her only connection to the man who had otherwise vanished from her life.
Naruto's snores assured her that he was out cold. With a sigh, bit by bit, she carefully began to retreat into the memories she had kept stifled for so long.
Sakura awoke in a not entirely comfortable position. So, surely she wasn't dead, indicated by her ability to feel the mild pain and stiffness in her torso. Then where was she?
There was rain. And lightning. That became apparent at once. The fact that she was dry and felt only a cool draft on her skin meant that she was probably in some sort of shelter area.
Slowly, the pink-haired kunoichi hoisted herself up on her feet, using the wall beside her as a support, steadily making her way out into the rain. Her abdominal muscles burned with every movement and her chakra levels almost depleted, but she was more or less unharmed. She received a momentary shock when she noticed the fabric of her ANBU vest along her stomach was pierced and stained with a dark ring of blood; curiously enough the skin underneath was intact. Someone was able to crudely heal her wounds somewhere between the time she had collapsed and the present.
The forest outside the cave was completely unfamiliar. Finding herself decidedly lost, hungry, cold, and now on top of that completely wet, she reentered the cave and sagged against the eastern wall.
She had almost dozed off when a figure appeared in the entrance of the cave.
It became apparent to Sakura at that moment that she was obviously dead. Those eyes… crimson, brilliant even in the dull light of the cave. There could be no other alternative, no other way for Uchiha Sasuke to be there. It was impossible. She knew that after their last encounter, she would never see him again; she had spent so long forcing herself to believe that she didn't want to see him again.
"…Sas..uke…" she whispered. He didn't acknowledge her immediately, only rifling through a previously unseen pocket of space in the back of the room.
"Get dressed," he said, tossing a white bundle of clothing at her. It landed with a dull noise at her feet. Sakura made no move to pick it up. He watched her, and made an irritated noise in the back of his throat when she failed to comply with his demands.
"If you don't change out of those clothes, you'll get sick. After the storm ends, you'll be unable to return to your village, and I'll be delayed even further. So, please, get dressed."
She picked up the object, turning it over in her hands. She pressed the Uchiha logo between her fingers pensively. His clothing. She seemed to have gained back some of her composure, looking from it to Sasuke. She stared blankly.
"Well, I'm certainly not going to change with you…being there like that."
"Don't be so childish." He muttered, but pulled himself away so that his back was facing hers.
The rain continued to fall. He stared contemplatively at the entrance to the cave, while Sakura sat a little further off. She made a comment about the rain. He grunted in response.
After a long while of silence, she arose, and walked tentatively to the entrance of the cave. The shirt was long on her, barely covering the short lycra shorts she wore. It was still far too big and hung open over her chest, but she managed to tuck it closed under her arms. The fabric slipped off her shoulder as she leaned forward to peer out the cave; Sasuke's eyes flicked up suddenly and with feigned disinterest.
But her feet had little traction against the slick ground, and she managed to tumble over the threshold of the entrance. But before she could make contact with the ground, she felt a strong arm supporting the bare dip of her waist; her shirt had managed to fall open.
His eyes, hovering above her own, regarded her with clinical curiosity. His hand was warm against her back as he lifted her to her feet, so that her gaze rose to meet his. For a moment she was entranced by his eyes, so dangerous, alluring. She could lose herself in those eyes…
"You really need to be more careful." He growled, breaking the silence. His hand lingered on her back for a moment too long before he relinquished it and moved away.
"I'm sorry I'm just… tired, that's all."
"You'll have another day to rest, I think. This rain isn't going to let up for at least that long."
"…Oh." Sakura's eyes remained downcast. She hadn't realized how much Sasuke had changed. He had always been cold, but never…unfeeling. The Sasuke she knew was never the dispassionate, mechanical…thing that stood before her. She lifted her gaze, and reacted with a small start when she realized he was still looking at her. Only his expression had changed, his deep red eyes bore into her own, unreadable. Curious. The faintest stain of pink spread across Sakura's cheeks. As she looked at him, her heart tightened, and she began to forget why she had ever tried hating him in the first place. Sasuke took a step forward, and before Sakura could move away he had her pressed against the wall, her hands pinned above her head, the blade of his katana hovering over her neck.
Her mouth parted in shock; Sasuke smirked, and lowered his lips to the shell of her ear.
"I could kill you. Nobody would know. I could kill you right here…Sa-ku-ra."
Despite their close proximity, her eyes remained curiously unaffected, meeting his gaze coolly. Questioning.
"Or," he pulled away slightly, tucked the sword into its sheath, let go of her hands. She instinctively brought her hands to his chest, a feeble attempt at resisting him; the taught plane of his body showed no sign of yielding.
"Well..."
He lowered his hands, his fingers dancing along the outside of her thigh, tugging at the white fabric of her shirt.
"Sa…suke…" the word slipped out involuntarily.
Despite her greatest efforts to control herself, she couldn't help but offer a sharp intake of breath as his hands began to slip inside the soft cotton fabric. She regretted it the moment she heard the low growl that tore from his lips in response, his hands moving faster, tracing their way up her waist and chest until they rested against her shoulders, poised to slip off the white shirt. There was a pregnant pause, a heavy breath of silence.
"Or...I could make you mine. " Sakura lifted her gaze to match his, wavering, but defiant, as ever.
She had expected to see his eyes, hungry and red and burning into her own. But he had disarmed her. They were even more beautiful like this; dark and weary, unfathomable. Deceptively vulnerable. Without the crimson shroud of Sharingan, he reminded Sakura more than ever of the Sasuke she used to know, the one she had wrongfully fallen in love with.
He grew almost tender, almost gentle. Sakura found her hand shifting from his chest to his face, removing a displaced lock of hair, her fingers lingering on his cheek. He made no response, only kept his intense gaze on her, mesmerized. In all their years apart, she had grown strong. Naiive, dangerously inexperienced, but strong. Warmth blossomed somewhere within him, a feeling he didn't care to recognized. Sasuke was too used to disregarding his feelings. Whatever it was, he would call it respect. Nothing more.
But she pulled away, shrank away from him. This was too wrong. There could never be anything between them except for lies, they were pitted against each other. He betrayed her village, her teachers, her friends, herself. In fact, he was ready to destroy all the things she loved. She had been taught to place feelings second next to the safety of her village; her feelings towards him had to be a lie. Everything between them had only ever been a lie.
So why did she feel like this? As shocked as she was, she hadn't wanted him to stop. Holding her, caressing her, boring into her with those unfathomable eyes. And for a brief few moments, she felt that he had honestly reciprocated those feelings. But she couldn't trust herself; she wasn't prepared to. The lie needed to end.
Her eyebrows knit together in frustration, her hands turning to fists on his shoulders. She gritted her teeth and shoved, pivoting her heel so that his back was now against the wall; but as she looked up at him, his gaze remained passive, staring back at her coolly. It infuriated her.
"What do you want from me, Sasuke? What the hell do you want?"
He stared at her for a long time, his gaze pensive, questioning, unreactive as her hands balled into fists against his shoulders and shoved once again.
"You know as well as I do that this is a lie. Killing me now would...be better" There was a pause, a lapse in judgment. Sakura flinched as his hands found hers, uncurled her fingers, and lowered them to her sides. The silence seemed to solidify in the space around them. It was his turn to beg.
"Please…"
I barely a moment the girl found herself lying on her back, the weight of Sasuke's body hovering lightly over hers. She gasped, her breath turning shallow. Was he complying with her suggestion? Was he actually going to…
Sasuke's fingers found her wrist, resting lightly in the shallow dip of her wrist. She couldn't help but notice how warm his hands were – warm and rough. Calloused. Scarred. He picked up her hand deftly, holding it up to his face, his lips hovering over her fingers. In contrast to his hands, his lips were deliciously soft, velvety; the almost-contact sent shivers down her spine.
"Sakura…" he murmured, his gaze meeting hers. He replaced her hand, lowering his head until his cheek was flush with hers. Dangerously close. Sakura fought to control the heat that was collecting in the pit of her stomach, bit her lip; a small whimper escaped her lips as she drew blood. Sasuke's mouth hovered over the shell of her ear, a smirk twisting the twin contours of his lips.
"I want…" his breath tickled her ear, making her dizzy with pleasure. His lips found their way to her jawline, traced their way down to the hollow where her neck joined her shoulder, his hands deftly removed her shirt, his fingers exploring her stomach and resting on her ribs as he stared up at her, his gaze confident, assured; yet with the slightest undercurrent of desperation. Sakura couldn't refuse…
"I want you to lie to me."
Sakura remembered every detail. How could she forget? And yet it was a secret she would never reveal to anybody.
She shifted noiselessly in her thin sleeping bag, her gaze resting on her lightly snoring partner.
She had faith that Naruto could bring him back. She was confident he could shatter the lies Sasuke had crafted around himself, confident that he would beat him half to death and drag his broken body home if it came to that. Naruto would save him.
But her? A soft smile found her lips. She wasn't so sure about that one.