Summary: The past is never far behind.
Standard disclaimer applies here
Beauty defined
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And we all fall down.
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It's hard not to forget how she got here. It's hard not to hate him for bringing her here, for making her the servant of his needs. She's a prisoner in his mansion, with its dark walls and closed shutters and untamed garden, filled with weeds sprouting about. The estate itself is old, dark; emitting off auras of mystery and despair.
She doesn't want to be here at all.
But she has to.
-x-
Tsunade told her that he only wanted her to be there with him. There was no reason for his request, apparently, just the fact that she was his teammate and she was a medic and she could help him. She'd taken the news with shock and accepted like a shinobi, never to turn down anything. After all, Tsunade said that this was the only way that they would reintegrate him back in the village, cooperatively. So she would have to do this, for Naruto and Kakashi-sensei, for the people who still care deeply for him.
But she doesn't understand why. They'd never been really close, ever, because back then she'd been nothing but an annoying, shallow twelve-year-old girl, and he'd been nothing but a hateful, vengeful, angry boy. Years ago, she'd kill for this moment, to be with him alone… but not anymore. She wasn't like that anymore, nor would she ever be. She'd grown to respect herself; she was stronger and more reliable and more confident than she'd ever expected.
She'd changed.
He'd changed.
But the past is never far behind.
-x-
There's a soft knock on her door, and almost hesitantly a voice demands, "Sakura. Come out. Dinner's ready."
She refuses to answer. It's been two days already, and she's had nothing but the little food she'd packed with her-just a few fruits and a little bit of onigiri. She's starving, really, but she doesn't want to eat with him. No. Not today, not ever. She was here like he'd wanted, but that did not mean she would be sitting down and eating meals with him like they were friends. They weren't even acquaintances at this point.
No… they were merely strangers with familiar faces.
The knock is louder, more forceful this time.
"Sakura. I said come out. You can't stay in there forever," his voice taunts, a deep baritone that rang in the empty halls.
She bites her tongue to prevent herself from snarling a nasty response she knows she will regret later, and silently she curses him away.
"Sakura. Get out here now."
She turns away and looks out the window.
"Sakura, open this door or I'm going to break it down."
Fine, she thinks, like I care.
"Open the goddamn door, Sakura!"
No.
And then suddenly there's a loud crack and the door, with metal hinges, rips out of the wood frame; and then the door is down, revealing a very angry Uchiha.
She doesn't look at him.
"Sakura," he hisses, voice low and dark, "Dinner is ready, and I want you to come out and eat with me."
She doesn't respond.
She hears his footsteps approaching, and refusing to crumble she keeps her head turned in the opposite direction. She feels his cool fingers wrap around her bicep and pull her up, and anger suddenly engulfs her whole.
Like he has the right to touch her!
"Let me go," she snarls, tearing her arm away from him, emerald eyes flashing. "I don't want to eat anything," she spat, plopping down on the bed, promptly ignoring his frustrated face.
He stands there for a while, seemingly contemplating whether or not he should leave her be or to drag her down to the dining room. Finally, with a voice as cold as steel and as quiet as a predator ready to pounce, he says, "Fine. You can just starve here." He turns his heels and kicks the door aside.
"Doesn't matter to me!" she calls back. "This place is like fucking hell anyway."
She really, really hates him.
-x-
It's two weeks in when her food supply runs out, and she sits alone in her room (with the repaired door- he'd come in the day after their fight and patched up the mess he'd made, and left without a word), wondering if it is worth the risk to sneak out to buy some food.
She decides it is- just because he wanted her to stay with him, did not mean she was not allowed to go out. So she waits until she's sure he's asleep in his bedroom, somewhere in the depths of his dark mansion, when she slides her window open and leaps out quietly.
As soon as her feet hit the ground, she runs. She runs and runs and runs for what seemed like miles, enjoying the wind in her hair and the warm glow of the setting sun. She breathes in the fresh summer air, smiles as the soft breeze wisps by, and marvels at the illusion of flames, painted across the sky. She finally stops at the local market, and spends more than usual buying groceries and food that she loves.
On the way out of the store, with her arms loaded with groceries, she considers returning home, back to the safety and comfort of her own suite, instead of the gloomy Uchiha's. She wants to, oh so badly, but she can't. For Naruto she would do this.
She doesn't have a choice, she realizes, when she finally walks out the door of the grocery store. He's standing not a foot away, leaning against the electric pole. Wordlessly he walks up to her and takes her groceries in his hands, and walks to the direction of his estate, looking behind him to see if she is following.
When she finally falls into step beside him, he murmurs softly, "You don't have to sneak out, you know. You can use the front door." He looks down at all the groceries in his hands- the bags and bags of food she'd spent so much money on- and adds, "And if you're ever hungry, there's always food in the fridge."
She can't help but remark, "I thought you told me I could go and starve." He's trying, she knows, but she can't help it. She doesn't understand why he needs to keep her there with him, when she wants to stay away.
His voice is steady and quiet when he replies. "I didn't mean it."
She isn't sure if she likes how soft and genuine he sounds. It's not like him at all.
-x-
A month passes before she knows it, and things are relatively the same. She eats with him some of the time, but for the most part she eats alone; it's more of a matter of pride than anything else, since he was an excellent cook. They talk for a little bit- little scraps of dialogue here and there, mostly chatting about general things. Never about family or friends or even their feelings… just simple, harmless things, like the weather.
It's the first day of spring when she returns from her morning grocery shopping and sees, for the first time, a splash of colour in his mansion. He'd bought a bouquet of flowers- of all sorts and shapes and colours, and placed them in a pretty crystal vase in her room by the window. She stares wondrously before turning away.
He's not home that day, having gone to a meeting with Tsunade and the village leaders. She takes advantage of this time to explore the house. She'd never seen any parts of the house, besides the spacious room he'd given her.
Setting down her groceries on the kitchen table, she pads softly to the unexplored rooms of the mansion. She stares at the beautiful, yet dusty, paintings that cover the walls of the house. In a large room by the living room was a wonderful library, filled with scrolls and medical texts she'd never ever seen before in her life. She looks at the tattered garden, surrounded with gray-black rocks that give it a little dark beauty. She stares at the breathtaking sight of the clear lake in the back of the estate, bluish ripples creasing the surface of the water.
Last but not least, she wanders into his room. As expected, it's tidy and neat and dark, just like the rest of the house, but in his bedroom- and like every room she'd explored in the house- there lay a sense of sadness and longing.
His bed is covered in navy blue sheets and blankets, neatly folded at the end of his bed.
The things that catch her eye are the pictures, all placed in new frames, sitting on his bedside table. There's the team photo of all of them, back when they were twelve and naïve; there's a photo of Sasuke as a little child, hugging a young Itachi; and finally, a family photo, where Sasuke is smiling in front of his family.
Sakura feels her heart melt, just a little.
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To be continued…
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Note: I was in a disney mood today, and as a result here's my sasusaku version of beauty and the beast.
Enjoy!
-A