"Life is funny, isn't it Sasuke-kun?" She mused as she sat next to his bed.

"What makes you say that?" Even while asking a question, he still managed to sound disinterested. As she reflected on said question, she paused to look at the man laying in the bed next to her. Black-as-night hair, matching dark eyes, lips that managed to constantly curve downward just so, and lines on a face too much like his brother's.

"You, shackled to a bed, completely at my mercy. Weak, useless Sakura." She smiled gently, despite her sadistic words.

"Hn." He turned his face away from her, slowly. He always was able to perfect a mask. She noticed his hands were gripping the sheets, as if he wanted to rip them apart.

"Did that mean 'I'm glad this is a power trip for you, Sakura'?"

"No." She trailed her fingers across the bands of his restrainers. There were four. One on each wrist, and two for his ankles. They had been reinforced with chakra (despite him being stripped of his) to ensure his prisoner-ship.

"Why did you come back?" She looked perplexed. Not because of the question, but because she wasn't sure why she'd asked it. He hadn't answered anyone yet, only silently accepted everything they threw at him.

This time wasn't different. He was staring at the ceiling now, clenching and unclenching his jaw.

Her hands moved from the bonds on his wrists, up his arms, straight to his face. She lightly traced the edges of his jaw line, stopping just past his chin. She turned his face to meet hers. "Why?"

This time, the question had more to say. Not just why, but why now, why this way. He wrenched himself away from her and angrily turned towards the wall.

"Itachi is dead."

"Why?"

"Orochimaru is dead."

"Why?"

"I killed them."

"Why?"

"I was an avenger."

"Why, Sasuke?" He finally heard her.

"I don't have anywhere else to go."

He continued to avoid her gaze, choosing instead of count the lines in the concrete bricks that made up his cell. One, two, three, four, five –

"Sas-"

"Why do you do this every time? Why are you still here?" He sounded spiteful. "Haven't you anything better to do than to waste your time?"

Her face rose an inch, to steady herself for the blow she knew was coming.

"So, you're still annoying after all this time." It seemed the insult could make him settle his face into what used to be his regular expression. Eyes straight forward, unafraid, eyebrows slightly raised, and a smirk to kill off any vestiges of pity you could feel for the man.

But, she didn't wince, or pull back, or cry as she would have once done. Instead, Sakura came forward, nearly laying her head on his shoulder.

"I can only be one way, Sasuke."

His bonds were itching, but he wouldn't attempt to scratch. Better to ignore the irritation than succumb. Succumbing was weakness, and he was not weak. He had killed two S-Class criminals and lived to tell of it (even though he hadn't, yet).

He could ignore itchy wrists forever.

She, however, was a different irritation all together.

"Please," This was new to him, allowing the desperation he felt to make its way into his voice, "stop."

"I don't know how." He shifted at her words, and made an effort to look straight into her. In that gaze, she gave him all of her self.

She rose, then. "I'll come back Sasuke-kun, and see you." She brought her hand to his wrist and loosened the shackle just a bit, "I hope that stops the annoyance."

"Thank you, Sakura." She tilted her head in acknowledgement, though she didn't miss the hidden implication in his words. Now was not the time to respond. She walked away without looking back, but she knew his eyes were on her.

Now he would think of her.

As she shut the door to his room and locked it, she fell against the wall and collapsed. Hand gripped tight against her mouth, knees pulled up to her chest, she stifled the sob that had threatened to come throughout the visit.

Staying that way for at least ten minutes, she realized her night wasn't yet finished. And once again, she stood up, cleared any remnants of tears off her face, and hoped to God that her eyes weren't as revealing as they usually were.

Making her way upwards through the building, she rounded corners silently and avoided every person that she could. Finally making it to the set of double doors she needed, she pushed them open.

"He killed them, Tsunade-sama." The woman in front of her looked up from her desk.

"Thank you, Sakura."

The words were less significant the second time she heard them that night.

"Are you alright?" Her sensei had noticed the red in her eyes.

"He came back for me."

Tsunade started.

"What?" She bit out the word more harshly than she'd intended.

"He loves me." She slammed a fist in her hand, determination hardened her eyes. She knew, without any doubt, "I'm saving him."

Shannaro!

A/N: Weird, right? I wanted to something about Sasuke going crazy. But it turned into this. Right now it's a oneshot. I don't know that I'll continue it. Maybe if you guys really, really, really like it or something.

I can't stop with the Sasusakuness. It's super unhealthy. But um, I kind of love it. And it's kind of awesome. So whatev.

I swear I'm at least thinking about working on the next chapter of ASTM. This was just some drama I wanted to get out of my system before doing that, because you know, that story's about the funny and less about the drama.

ANYway – thanks for reading, and don't forget to satiate mr. review button. He loves it when you touch him so XD