Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or anything that has to do with the franchise. I do though, own the plot and ideas that have come out of my own head for this series of one shots .

SO! I know I really should be updating Otherworldly, and I apologize for the lack of updates. Life has just been way too crazy and I haven't had enough time to sit down and finish the next chapter. (*proceeds to dodge getting hit by things*) Hopefully once things die down a little bit I can finish banging out that chapter and get it posted.

I've been going through some stuff lately and it's inspired the "Pain" one shots. (Basically some of this is in a weird way dealing with what my current situation is.) Now, all of these are going to be set in the same universe. Sometimes the characters will be a bit OCC (and that's just going to be a disclaimer now) but I'll try my best to keep them as in character as I possibly can.

Some will be longer/shorter than others.

Constructive criticism is always welcome.

Enjoy the first bit of "Pain"!

Bruises (Sakura POV)

Why?

Why is he doing this to me?

What did I do to deserve this?

How could I have let this happen to me?

Now, I can't say that many people agreed with my decision to be with this man. Myself and everyone else knows and is aware of that he has done some pretty terrible things to many, many people. He destroyed villages. He killed people. He was one of the reasons that the war broke out, even though in the end he was one of the reasons that the war had ended. Many people from the village have not just looked down upon me, but have spoken ill to me, and about me, for allowing myself to once again open my heart up to him and forgiving him as quickly as I have. For taking him back without batting an eye. I took him in when he returned from his travels of redemption, and helped him try to get his life on track. I helped him rejoin the shinobi ranks and establish some sort of normalcy in his life again. It was like things had never changed for him, and for us. He hadn't been fully accepted by most people in the village yet, but he was trying to prove himself to everyone that he really had changed for the better and that he wasn't the person who they thought he was because of his past actions.

Discovering that we had a baby on the way was a shock to the both of us. Like many people had experienced, it was an unexpected surprise. But we didn't let this stop us or tear us apart. We got married sooner than we were thinking, and a few months later our daughter was born. She was an exact replica of her father, down to the color of her hair and the color of her eyes, which he loved.

I remember him silently crying, whispering to her how he finally had a family again as he had taken her from my arms moments after she was born. He was happy to see that even though I was not born into his clan, that his clan genes were still as strong as ever. I was relieved that she hadn't inherited my pink hair or my forehead. I wouldn't wish my forehead upon anyone. Not even my own child.

He was happy. He was finally happy.

And he was no longer alone.

And I was happy that I was the one who finally brought him that peace and state of mind that he hadn't had since he was a little boy.

I just don't understand what made him snap. No one really does. I couldn't begin to try to piece together what made him leave again the way he did. What had made him so angry. Angry at me. Angry at our daughter. Angry at everyone who had been associated with the two of us. It came out of thin air.

Tears streamed down from my eyes as I slumped against my bathroom door, making my way down to the cold tiles. Memories flooding back of all of the times he and I had spent together in this room. We spent so much time making this place our home, and now it just felt that it was way too big for one person. Well, two people now. And he had mentioned to me in passing how he wanted to continue to grow our little family.

How could I allow myself to get ambushed? How could I allow myself to let him keep doing this to me? To our baby?

Thank Kami that Sarada had been with Naruto and Hinata tonight. Because if she hadn't, I don't think that she would even be alive right now. Taking a deep breath, I finally allowed my eyes to travel down to my legs to access the damage. Bruises lined my thighs; something that when I arrived to pick up my daughter, my friends were overly concerned about. (And Naruto on the verge of going on a killing spree to find the people who did this to me.) And the looks of worry that lined their faces when I told them that I couldn't identify the people who did this to me were haunting. The looks of rage when they saw how big the purple blotches were, and how they could make out the finger prints further up my thighs.

"Please tell us you were not sexually assaulted."

Those were the first words that were even spoken out loud, to which I quickly shook my head no to.

"You guys know that I know what that's like. I would know if that was the case. That didn't happen."

What concerned them more was the fact that I couldn't remember anything that had happened.

"It could be the trauma." Hinata said, anxiously twirling her thumbs around. "Her mind could be protecting her from it."

"THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME THIS HAS HAPPENED!" Naruto had roared, slamming his fist on the table. "They are obviously doing something to her! That bastard is covering his tracks so he, and whoever else he is getting involved with this, are protected. This is fucking getting ridiculous."

I had sighed, and looked down at the table. "He didn't want her at first…Sarada…he wasn't ready for a baby." I admitted out loud, in which Naruto and Hinata gasped at.

"But he always wanted to revive his clan!"

"We were very good at keeping up appearances." I sighed, hating that I was admitting this out loud to them and to myself. "We didn't let it tear us apart. But with everything that had happened with him and the war…" I took a deep breath. "It wasn't something that he was too thrilled about."

"Then the bastard should have took the proper precautions if he was going to be a dick about something that he had been going on about since he was twelve years old." Naruto said.

"But he had changed her views on it so quickly, so I thought he was okay. What if this is all because of that? What if he's doing this because he's trying to get some sick revenge on me for making him a father when he wasn't ready?" I started sobbing.

"We know it was him, right?"

But we all knew without saying it aloud, who had been behind this attack, and all of the ones before that as well.

It was him.

The man who I fell in love with.

The man who also was one of their best friends.

The man who we thought had finally moved past his inner darkness.

And not even they could understand what had made him snap.

I had thought that it would have been like every other morning when I had gotten up. I usually got up before him, took care of the baby, got ready for work, moved the monitor next to his side of the bed, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before making my way to the hospital for my shift.

That morning had been different.

Scratch that. Even the night beforehand had been different.

"Sasuke! I'm home!"

"Sakura?" Sasuke called out to me as I walked into our house earlier than normal.

I ran over to him to give him a quick peck before checking on Sarada. But she was sound asleep in her playpen in our living room.

"Sasuke, why isn't Sarada sleeping in her room? You know I don't like when she's out at night. I don't want anything to affect her sleeping schedule."

"I didn't want to disturb her."

"Since when?"

"Why the fuck does it matter what I decide to do with my daughter? Who the fuck do you think you are questioning what I do with my fucking child?" he said, raising his voice slightly.

My eyes widened at his sudden outburst.

"You will learn your place, Sakura."

The next morning I had awoken to find him gone. No note. No trace of him. I had to scramble around to find someone who could take care of Sarada for the day while I went to the hospital and tried to figure out where my husband had run off to.

Days had turned into weeks. Weeks had turned into months. And there was still no sign of Sasuke. Even the most highly trained ninja hadn't been able to locate him. The only news we had was no news, which was taken as somewhat of a good sign because it had meant that he wasn't going around doing anything stupid. That was until the first attack.

I had ended up running to Ino's at some ungodly hour in the morning and banging on her door after waking up and trying to figure out what had happened, and where I was. She performed a quick exam on me in her kitchen to only confirm what we both were thinking.

I was assaulted.

The slight bruising only confirmed it even more.

Now here I am, for some unknown reason allowing him to do this to me. Allowing him to send people after me to torture me, scare me. I now have to live my life constantly looking over my shoulder, which could be considered funny to some, because of how I am considered the second strongest in this entire village. How could the fifths disciple let this happen to her? How could the fifths disciple be so weak?

Because I cannot put my daughter's life at risk by doing something reckless.

Knowing that I have to come home each night to that little girl sleeping in the next room, keeps me from doing something that I know I will end up regretting.

Even if it means getting covered in bruises.

Even if it means getting my ass handed to me when I least expect it.

Even if it means that he is going to win this fight.

All I know is, I don't think I can love him anymore, and not only am I officially afraid of him, but I am afraid for my life.

Side note: I know this seems confusing. But I wrote her POV kind of from my own, which is basically a state of confusion of being assaulted multiple times by someone who you thought loved you at one point.

Reviews are appreciated!

Bunny.