Story Title: Down with the Fallen

Author: XxToToXx

Full Summary: She's always been different, and it isn't always concerning her looks. The fact that she's always alone but fits in every anywhere, being too good and too bad at the same time, too much of a saint to be a sinner and too much of a sinner but too much of a sinner to be a saint, a walking contradiction. She's always wondered what meaning her life held and why she was spared death those twenty two years ago. All of her questions were answered hen she meets the beautiful man with the strange red eyes...

One

"You know what your problem is. You're so nonchalant about things. You never put up a fuss or fight with me about anything, not even with this. It's like you just don't fucking care!"

Maybe she doesn't. "And your point? that what you wanted to say? If so, you can leave now."

"Sakura..." his eyes turn sorrowful.

She lets out a laugh that's less than humorous and convincing. "The mayor's daughter." She shakes her head. "You could've picked a better one but who am I to judge? You should leave before I make you leave myself." Her threat may have been light and easy but that doesn't mean it wouldn't happen. She doesn't feel the need to go off the rails, act out of her character- she doesn't have to go around cursing people and being loud and psychical to others. "I don't want to hear anymore."

"Why won't you hear anything that I have to say? You were the main one saying that if you love someone you always love them and that it never stops. You'll either always love someone or you never did."

"You know what else I said?"

Hiten picks up his head from his hands, ruby red eyes gleaming with question. "What?"

"Anyone who values you would never put themselves in a position to lose you either."

.0.

Being a doctor you see all types of blood and gore and you have to have such a strong mind and stomach to deal with it all. Even though she's still new she sure is processing everything quickly and professionally, she doesn't let it get to her. If she keeps in mind all of the innards and screams of pain and agony she wouldn't be able to get her job done and she would crack.

And this is not the place to crack.

Unlike your typical twenty one year old she spends her weeks and weekends in the emergency room working long hours and not taking a day off until her boss tells her to do so. There's no clubbing, no fun nights out on the town and definitely no boyfriend to go home to. Her life revolves around work, twenty four seven three sixty five. She's always had a passion for humanity so it was natural she would be a doctor, either that or an activist. She's successful and that's something she doesn't have to be told, she knows she's worked hard enough for all the accomplishments she's gotten over the years. Somehow she still has reason to believe that she wasn't really meant to do this, like she's supposed to be doing more than what she is.

"Pain all gone now?" Sakura asks. One hydrocodone tablet should have done the trick. He's old and isn't that big so he didn't need anything heavier. He should be getting sleepy soon.

"It's fading more and more."

"Good." Sakura smiles softly.

"We're going to keep him over night just to watch him and make sure everything's really okay. I'll have the nurse send you to a room."

"Thank you so much. He's older now, I tell him all the time that he can't be behaving like he's still eighteen. He just won't listen to me but he's always been so hardheaded."

"Age isn't anything but a number. I'm just a twenty three year old in this old ass shell of mine."

Sakura laughs lightly. "You still have to take it easy and be more careful. No more motorcycle rides, alright?"

"Bah." He brushes her off.

The elderly couple proceed to have a light argument when Mrs. Tohsaka threatens to sell his bike and other collectible items he's gained over the years to teach him a lesson. Sakura shakes her head and smiles to herself on the way to the break room for a quick cup of coffee before going to her next patient. They're such an admirable couple and though she always sees them in the emergency room she still loves seeing them. She's never been in love with anyone but she bets it is an amazing feeling. She isn't sure how long they've been together but it has to have been a good while. That's the best type of love in her opinion, a love that never fades out no matter how years it's been burning for. In her mind and heart though, Hiten doesn't count. He did what he did and it hurt her but... it's like she had the feelings for him but it was no connection. She could barely take seeing him earlier after what he did to her, it's just a reminder that she needs to change the locks on her house.

She stops in a bathroom along the way to fix her hair that won't stay down flat. It's always a few pink strands of hair that won't cooperate no matter how long her stylist conditions and flattens it for. It's quite odd for someone to have pink hair, but at least it matches with her green eyes and slightly sun kissed skin. She's often thought about cutting it because it's almost down to her waist now and gets in the way unless she's got it up in a bun or something, which isn't something she likes doing.

She takes a little longer when she's done fixing her hair to stare at her reflection in the mirror… she thinks nothing of what she sees and washes her hands again before leaving out. Luckily the break room is empty. They're short staffed tonight but Sakura can only thank God that they aren't busy. Any other time it would be hectic as hell in here with all types of problems but it's been so quiet and easy going. Her shift will be over in no time and she will be able to go home and get some sleep that she's desperately in need of.

While pouring herself a cup of hot steaming coffee, but then throws it out and decides for the hot chocolate instead, and reaching for the hazelnut creamer someone comes into the break room. She looks back, she's seen that face before.

She waves. "Hey, I'm looking for the maternity floor. Can you help me out?"

"It's right around the corner after you pass the receptionists desk. Take the elevator to the ninth floor." Sakura eyes the young girl's face and then her ID badge, she's new. That's why she's been walking around looking lost all night. She doesn't have anyone to shadow. "When did you start here?"

"Last week. Hunomaru is supposed to be training me but he's not here tonight so I've just been randomly checking in on patients."

"Oh, I see." Hunomaru is always training the new employees. She's really great with that and still manages to get her own work done. Sakura can't wait for her friend to come back from vacation.

"This way right?" She asks meekly with a sheepish smile as she's walking back out of the break room.

Sakura smiles. "Right."

They've been hiring like crazy because they've been losing employees everyday for not showing up to work or not during their work like they're supposed to be doing. Some people just don't understand that this is a hospital and people's lives aren't to be toyed with. She's been working simultaneously on two floors but it's not so bad since it's slow. Luckily tonight her fatigue isn't settling in and making her lock herself in her office and hide from work. She slips her hands into her the pockets of her dark blue scrubs. She's gotten so used to the clean and sterile smell of the hospital now it doesn't bother her.

"What strikes her first is how handsome, no scratch that, how beautiful this man is. He has this ancient beauty that reminds her of the ancient Gods she read about in college. His jet black hair is messy and his eyes which are hooded by thick eyelashes are even darker. His face was perfectly crafted judging by his amazing bone structure, that jawline would make any woman go a little bit crazy. The more she looks back into his eyes that's the more that she feels something-

"Are you getting in?" He asks in a bored voice. Velvet and deep, but rough and bored all the same. "Or are you gonna stand there?" He's at the back of the elevator leaning back against the wall with his hands stuck in his pockets and one leg crossed over the other.

"Oh, yeah." She scurries inside and presses the up button. As she's the elevator door closes and she's in such a close proximity to the handsome stranger she can feel the small hairs on the back of her neck rise up. She rubs the spot a few times before returning her hand to her doctors coat after reaching out to press the floor she's going to but the button is already illuminated. She's got a bad habit of doing that, sometimes she doesn't know what to do with her hands. They become sweaty and she's mentally blaming it all on the handsome stranger behind her.

The ride to the fifth floor is taking way longer than it usually does and no one else is getting on with them. Its making her get on edge and her rate has increased. She can't turn around and look at him, that'll make her thoughts about him way too obvious. Who wouldn't feel the way she's feeling at the moment? It's almost too much to bare. She's seen the blood and guts, heard the cries of agony and even witnessed more deaths than she can recall before her eyes. She dealt with all of that on the scene. She couldn't be emotional, sympathetic yes, but not teary and wailing at the losses. She withstood all of that but it was a different story when she clocked out. But here? In his elevator with this stranger? She's about to lose her head. He's putting her on edge and she could still feel those raven eyes burning into her backside. It makes it no better that the smell of amber and rain are clouding her nostril. God, could this elevator be any slower? She swallows and clears her throat, she's got a feeling he's remaining inhumanly still, but it feels like he's watching her like she's a baby hawk and he's a boa constrictor.

The elevator dings when it's made it to her floor and her prayers have been answered. She steps through the doors before they can open fully, good thing she's on the small side. She dares to steal a look back at him, but he's gone.

.0.

She always asks herself what's the purpose of life.

Her mind drifts back to the guy from the elevator. Boy, she has never seen anyone like him before. So handsome, dark, mysterious and intimidating- that strong and lean build, pale skin, dark and messy hair and obsidian eyes. He gave off the bad boy vibe and made her nervous as hell. She's worked two weeks straight before, has been tired as hell with a lot of cases of fatigue. Her mind is sharp and it never plays tricks on her but she knows good and damn well that he was in the elevator with her. He was already there when she got in so where was he when she got out? There's no possible way he could have disappeared into thin air. It wasn't all in her head she knows better and there's no way he got out before she did. He was real. She remembers his velvet voice and the way he smelled. She puts a hand on her forehead to checks for a fever or anything relating to any type of sickness just in case she really was seeing things. Someone that looks like that probably was only made up in her imagination so it's a good chance she won't ever see him again. That happens to anyone though, you meet someone one day and then you never see them again. It's rare if you do. There are some old tales about things like that but Sakura was never much of a believer in things like that. It's a big city, plenty of room for anyone to roam around and hide in. .

.0.

She called in from work today to take some time to herself. She's been feel really lost lately and just doesn't know what to do. It's like somethings going on in her mind and heart but it's something she just can't grasp a hold of. Whatever it is it keeps her up at night but she doesn't know exactly what. She's conflicted about herself and her life at the moment. She doesn't feel as energetic and light as she used to. She wouldn't call it slipping into depression, that surely isn't it.. is it?

She parks her car at a meter on the Main Street in the busiest section of Konoha and walks aimlessly through the streets, occasionally stopping in a store or two to look around. Konoha is such a bustling and busy city, extremely prosperous and kind of on the expensive side too. Here you'll need a career and education to get by depending on what type of lifestyle you want. Well really that's anywhere but Konoha has way more opportunity.

"Oh, uh..." She's speechless right about now. Standing before her in his ethereal glory is the guy from the elevator. He's eyeing her passively while he's holding her around her stomach and her back. He caught her from hitting the cold concrete just in time. His arms are safe and secure around her almost like if he lessened up a bit she'd slip through his arms and injure herself. All she can see right now is him, the cars, other people and sounds of the city don't exist. Everything is him. There she goes again, drowning in those endless pools of dark mystery that entrance her and make her lose her train of thought. He is really warm in this cool weather and his breath smells of the chocolate that she could never go a day without drinking. That's just how close his face is to hers, so close she can see just how thick his lashes are. The next thing she knows she's on her feet and his hands are in his pockets. He wears nothing but a black Henley t shirt that showed off his lean form and some lightly colored jeans and black shoes, to put it lightly even though he was casual his attire looked expensive.

"You're clumsy." Her face immediately turned bright red at his words.

"I-It could've happened to anyone!" She defends. He gives her a disbelieving look.

"Hn."

"What does that mean?"

He begins walking in the opposite direction without looking back at her and tells her to come. Strangely, she follows without having to be told twice and steps into stride with him. Her legs aren't as long as his but he slows down a little bit for her to keep up. She has no clue on where they're going but she can't ignore the looks of the women he receives as he passes by. Good, so she isn't the only one he affects. They shoot her envious glares even the ones with men on their arms but they don't that She doesn't even know his name!

"Where are we going?"

He looks down at her curiously. "Aren't you hungry?"

"No." Her stomach growls upon the lie.

He turns his head to the left to face her and the intense stare almost dares her to lie again, he's quite intimidating, but she only shrugs a shoulder and follows her into a small cafe which happens to be her favorite one. He seats them himself in the farthest corner of the dimly lit homey cafe away from the other customers. Maybe so that they could have their privacy? But why? She unconsciously ticks her pink hair behind her ears and crosses her legs, sitting sideways in her seat with her hands in her lap. She puts her eyes on any and everything to avoid looking at the glorious man across from her who is eyeing her almost bored.

"Is there a reason we're here or did you just bring me in here to stare at me?"

"Both."

Her checks turn red. The fact that she can be so blunt but so clumsy over her words at times is annoying. She doesn't know this man and damn sure doesn't know what's running through his mind and what his intentions are with her. She's sitting in a cafe with him and still doesn't know his name and he doesn't know hers. Maybe she can guess it? No, she thinks nothing quite suits him. He's the first male in a while who has shown the least bit of interest in her or at least that's what she thinks he's doing why else would have her here? If he's some cocky, womanizing bastard who thinks he could have any woman he wants, even though she's pretty sure he can, he can take his leave now. He doesn't look like he's in a relationship but he doesn't look like he's single either if that makes sense.

"Can I take your order?" The boy, who looks like he's no older than seventeen seems to be more interested in what she wants instead of what her companion wants. He's shy, he was blushing as soon as he began walking over to us. He looks nervous, maybe it's his first day or something. He's cute to her with short and messy brown hair and darker doe eyes. He's got a bit of a tan too. She bets he gets a lot of attention at his school, if he's in school, with the girls. She can't decide if he's in high school or college, either way he be sure is cute.

"Can I have a morning bun with hot chocolate, two shots of hazelnut." She throws her head at the man across from her who is still watching her, she looks away back at the boy. He scribbled it down and then turns to him.

"Anything for you, sir?"

"No." Comes his cold reply.

"O-oh kay. Uh..." the boy stutters over his words after he sees the way the dark man's eyes remain on the woman. "She's very pretty. You're lucky. I'll be right back with your order." The man across from her only glares coldly and doesn't respond. They aren't together, she doesn't even know his name but no one else knows that but them.

"You could have been more nicer about it." There she goes again. She could be poking at s serial killer. It looked like he was a little bit scared of him, hell so is Sakura. "Why do you have me here?"

"You don't have anything else to do. You're off today." It's more than a statement instead of a question.

"How would know?"

"It's obvious."

"Maybe so." She is just itching to ask him how he got out of the elevator before she did especially if she was ahead of him. There's just no way he could've gotten out.

He would've had to pass by her which he didn't. She was actually starting to believe he never even existed and that she was just overworked and tired. Now he's here, in the flesh, in all of his dark and mysterious glory with the aura that feels as if it's compelling her to stay seated where she is. As alluring as he is, something about him screams danger and trouble.

She's still confused as to why he's here with her, not saying much, just sitting with one arm behind the neck chair and the other holding up the menu with bored eyes looking over it with little interest. Then it drops down onto the wooden table and his brows come in showing signs of frustration.

The fierceness in his eyes burn through her flesh and scold her soul. His mouth turns into a thin and unpleasant Doreen yet somehow he's still oh, so beautiful to her. "You don't know anything do you?"

Sakura blinks, obviously lost at his sudden outburst. "About what?"

The waiter comes back with her order and tells her to enjoy. He leaves in a rush to get to his other customers, occasionally glancing back in her direction which goes ignored by the pinkette.

She lazily stirs her spoon around in the dark liquid with her chin propped up in her hand. She had to add a few more packets of hazelnut that she found in her purse. Yes, she carries around the delicious addition. It's perfect with hot chocolate and sometimes even better by Itsself.

"So... you live around here?"

"Hn."

"Like in what area? The west side or uptown..." She's never been one to judge a person based on their looks but he looks like he could be an uptown liver- where the models, lawyers and other rich and wealthy people live. Then again she could be wrong. He could be in the down Downtown area where the roughest of men linger, the more dangerous side. Then there is the west side where it's upper class but not as upper class as uptown, more like upper middle class while the east side isn't so extravagant but it's decent enough. The crime rate downtown is worse than any other area of the city, Sakura would know because she's lived in all four. When you're an orphan your entire life with no idea of your biological parents and couldn't seem to fit into any household you get moved around a lot whether you liked it or not.

"Hn."

"What does that even mean?" When he doesn't answer and only stares at her with those black depths, like she's supposed to find the answer hidden somewhere down in them she tries a different approach. "Where are you from?"

"Konoha, and yourself?"

"Same."

"You've lived here your entire life?" If so, what schools did he attend? Maybe some five star top tier elite private school.

"I've traveled a lot."

"Like where?"

"Everywhere." Is his short and curt reply.

"Oh." She finally raises the cup up to her lips and takes a long drink from it, savoring the warm feeling as it slid down her throat. He watches her like she's some type of science experiment- his raven eyes watching her movements carefully, even when she puts down the cup and adjusts herself in her seat, when she looks out the window at the passing civilians for a good four minutes. When she looks back at him he's still staring, observing her or whatever. She's so uneasy under his intensity. When she looks at him though, again, everything blurs and all she sees is him. Why does he feel so... familiar? Not by looks, it's just something else.. something else about him.

Her phone ringin snaps her or of her thoughts. Her hand instinctively reaches into her bag for her phone. She missed the call from the hospital but her supervisor sent her message saying that they needed her to come in.

"You have to go." He says, standing from the table. Her head jerks up and she sees him already standing, laying money on the table for the waiter that's way more than the tab price. She was going to object at first but remembered that it wasn't her money to complain about and besides, the waiter was pretty cool she's sure he'll appreciate it.

"I took off and still got called back in."

"Hn."

"You just bought me food and now you're walking me to my car? What is this?" Sakura asks suspiciously. Her arm accidentally brush up against his as they walk. It sends a surge of electricity through her body, she tries to keep her head straight and face blank to conceal the sensation that just went through her.

"Is it a crime?"

"Not that I know of."

"Are you being ungrateful?"

"E-Excuse me?"

"This is you." He says casually, gesturing towards the sleek white car that's parked on the strip. Luckily for her the parking meter still has three minutes left on it. The last time she had a ticket waiting on her when she came back.

"Yeah." She says with a short nod and reels back and forth on her heels. She almost nervously adjusts her scarf around her neck. "I'm uh.. not ungrateful. It was just weird."

"What was?"

She shrugs a shoulder. "Because you came out of nowhere and fed me but you didn't hold a conversation about anything much."

"I'm guessing that doesn't happen frequently."

She laughs. "It doesn't."

"You're as blind as you are clumsy." He opens her door for her, very gentleman like, and she drops into the leather seat and throws her bag into the passenger seat. He closes the door and then leans down into the window, something else he wants to say? Maybe like his name? She totally forgets his earlier comment.

"I never even got your name."

"Sasuke."

Sakura's mind blanked a little bit at the name. Why does it sound so... when she looks up again, he's gone.

Well Sasuke sure is good with disappearing tricks.

.0.

One heart attack and the other needing emergency surgery for a rut tired spleen. Once again, understaffed but overpaid and overworked. She was able to get them both out of the emergency rooms and into their own private rooms until they're recovered enough to go home. She's working with three other doctors so it takes a load off. At least tonight they have more nurses to help her out and some medical assistants. One day they were so short Sakura found herself dealing with patients and taking them in as well as doing computer work.

She sits in her office after the small storm is over with her head down on her desk, atop of her folded arms. She hasn't been this tired in a long time, probably because she didn't eat breakfast or lunch today, plus she skipped dinner. That most likely bought on her headache and slight fatigue, along with Hiten's multiple text messages expressing his apologies that she really doesn't want to hear, or see rather. Is done an emotion? Because she can def feel it in her heart right now. Maybe he is truly sorry, everyone makes mistakes. But then again some mistakes can easily be avoided. He only fueled her ignition of trust issues.

She lifts her head and clicks on her computer. She clicks thru all of the patient's visits and triage results. She's about to click out of the system when a thought pops into her mind. She hesitates at first, and then proceeds to typing in the woman's name. She's never been one to have an ear for gossip and rumors but she is a doctor after all and she sort of has the authorization to check a person's file even though said person isn't one of her patients. Black hair and blue eyes stare back at her once she finds her file, Sakura scoffs and scrolls on down to her past visits. Nothing out of the ordinary, routine checkups by the primary care clinic, one case of streptococcus earlier this year followed by a slight cold a few months ago and a visit to the gynecologist, turns out she's three months pregnant.

Nothing wrong with-

"Wait, what?" Sakura asks herself. She clicks back into her file and reads the pregnancy visit again, three months pregnant and she was sent home with some prenatal vitamins. Three months? Sakura can almost feel her world collapsing inside of itself. Three months ago her and Hiten were on a "break" but not officially broken up. It was only because his consistency had lacked and Sakura felt like he had his interests in everything and everyone except for her and she guesses now that it was true. She tries to calm down her racing heart, tries to convince herself that it could be for someone else and not him... but there's a strong possibility.

He did sleep with her, he admitted to it. She doesn't love him though, but why does she feel so betrayed and shaken by it?

"We need you in room four-"

"I can't." Squeezes out while trying to use as little emotion as possible.

Yue, the head nurse look at her in a concerned and skeptical manner that almost crumbles the strong facade Sakura is trying desperately to hold on to. "We have a five year old with a sever head injury and cardiac trauma we need you out here!"

This is not the place to crack.

Of course she loves the children, they all have a special place in her heart. There souls are so precious but she can't operate on anyone in her current state. She's not as collected as she usually is and if she goes in there she may just mess something up and end up losing a life. She's well seasoned in the medical world but she never really is able to get over the death of a child.

This is not the place to crack.

But it would kill her even more if she knew there was a chance she probably could save someone but chose not to because she was afraid. She's supposed to try everything, she should try everything despite her emotional shock... where is her mask, her facade? Where is her cover?

Yue's dark face softens a bit. "What's the matter? You look a bit flustered."

"I'm fine." She rises from behind the desks and walks swiftly around it to the door of her office. "What room is he in again?"

.0.

When she was a little girl, around the age of six or seven she would paint. On weekends, after school, she would sit in her room by the window and paint the glorious glowing beings she would remember seeing in her dreams, the orbs of light that would sometime linger in the corners of her room when she was upset and couldn't sleep at night. She felt warmth and comfort from them so she didn't feel the need to tell anyone of her secret friends, she felt that in some strange way she knew them, they were protecting her but Sakura never knew from what. She was a kid with an imagination though. She hasn't seen those things in over ten years.

The last time she saw them, well one of them was when she was fifteen. She was in her room at the time while her third set of foster parents were downstairs arguing. Her room had low lighting in it from the lamps and decorative lights that were spread around the top

Perimeter of it. The topic of the argument was her, for the second time this month. They wanted a child, loved her when they got her but Sakura guesses they got tired of her two month stay and wanted someone fresh. They would never tell her that of course, not to her face.

She was troubled at the moment and had a lot on her mind and heart, on the brink of tears staring up at the ceiling with the music playing softly in her ears. She could still hear her the heavy footsteps coming up the stairs and the excessive knocking on her door. She thought about opening it and face the confrontation but that wasn't too tempting when her bedroom window was right there with a balcony which she could have easily used to climb down to the driveway. She was a flight risk, she just didn't feel right or welcomed anywhere. On some occasions she still doesn't.

When her green eyes darted to the door after she head a few hard knocks she was surprised to see a big, pulsating light about the size of a basketball. It was levitating in the air right at her door and even though it gave off a warm and happy feeling, silently telling her it was alright, she could also sense something terribly powerful about it, like a protective shield it placed over the room and she didn't feel so scared. It was white in the center and orange around the edges, so bright t almost made her squint but it was then she noticed the hard knocking had stopped. The footsteps went back down the stairs and she didn't hear them the rest of the night or the next day or the next.

This one stayed longer, ever so often it inches closer and closer to her. She got a feeling from it like they were close, like they knew each other like they were best friends. But as soon as she reached out her hand to touch it it made a beeline and flew out of the open window. She never saw it again after that. All of her pairings of them, she threw them away when she made eighteen. She thought of them as childish things from the past.

If it actually was something protecting her during hard times where is it now? Or had she really outgrown them or did they abandon her? Where did they come from? What was the main purpose of their existence? Some of the tales she remembers recall about angels and other spiritual beings protecting humans from harm, being sent from heaven on missions to do their master's bidding- something like that. If it was something of that sort, she kinda hopes they do come back, even if only for a minute.

Tonomaru Hikaru, the little five year old boy who came in with all those injuries had finally succumbed to them after being stable for three hours and twenty six minutes and Sakura can still hear the cries of agony from his mother in the hallway, the cursing and yelling of his father. Tonomaru was their only child and though in the future they're liable to have more, that was still their child. Sakura could never imagine the amount of pain they're feeling right now. She clocked out way before she was able to and drive straight to the levee to clear her head of the little boy's bright eyes turning dull and lifeless. Pulling her coat tighter she walks along the sidewalk with her hands stuck into her pockets. The wind is way colder tonight and it doesn't help that she's right by the water. The slashing of the waves used to make her relax some but tonight they aren't working.

She walks up to the edge of the pier and looks down at the vicious water.

She then turns around, spreads out her arms and falls backwards. She hits the water harshly and it twists her long hair all around her but still she holds her breath, allows the chilling water to sways her left right, back and forward as watches the bright moon.

Did she really try her hardest or was it just his time to go? She tried to bring him back multiple times but it wasnt anything else she could do. People have died in the ER and came back to life, was she just not skilled enough? Either way she can't get it out her head or heart. It's almost as if she was born to be cursed. She could never figure out what the purpose was in her life. She's about done trying to find it out.

So she closes her eyes and inhales.

.0.

Please if you see any errors in this let me know also leave a review