Hands

At thirteen, a gennin, Uchiha Sasuke thought that his life was in a good, if not perfect routine. He would wake up at four a.m. and go train on his own for a good hour, take a shower and then meet Sakura on the bridge half and hour early. And rarely, on those mornings when she brought food he would accept her offerings and sit there quietly.

But, with the routine…

From 6-9 he would train with team seven, longer if need be.

From around 10, after he had gotten cleaned up of course, till about eleven he would go through old family records, he would one day be the clan head.

From then on, he would eat, nap, train, read, clean, eat, train, sleep, train, eat, train…and add some brooding and missions in between all of that.

Sasuke had gotten used to the solitude, no matter how painful it was, and he never once went to anyone for help, if he had a problem he left it alone, his goal came before anything else, even his most personal problems.

Like nightmares.

He had known, after that day when he was eight, that there would be terrible nightmares to accompany the loss and pain. He never really did ever sleep peacefully, even before the massacre, nightmares always seemed to attack him and send him into a world of fear and loneliness.

But, before the massacre he always had a mother that would somehow always know when he was troubled and would sit with him until he was fast asleep. Sasuke did not let himself think about those times when she would kiss his forehead and he would wake up to her embrace, all he needed to think about now was killing that bastard.

So, at thirteen, a gennin, Uchiha Sasuke welcomed those nightmares, they made him mentally prepared for what it was like to be a ninja. Seeing blood and gore and death and every little detail on how to kill a person is one thing, dreaming it, well, that is another.

He never really cared that he only got around three hours of sleep a night, the rest of the time he was training or going over information in his head.

When he was on missions though, it bothered him that whenever he woke up from a nightmare Naruto would turn over in his sleep and frown and Sakura would sometimes wake up and ask him if he was alright. He never answered her though, because there were times when he would see his mothers face, her tears, her blood and he, for the short minutes after he just woke up, did not know if he was.

But now, sitting outside of the tent, his head in his hands he can still hear Sakura's whimpers as Kakashi gave her some pain reliever and Naruto held her hand. He can still feel her neck in his hands, the look in her eyes of absolute fear as he strangled her.

He doesn't thing that he should be blamed though; it was the fault of his nightmares.

Sasuke could not really remember what he was dreaming about, all that he knew was that it was very, very painful and he can distinctly remember the cries of his mother. The rest though, he has already forgotten, the current situation still bugging at him.

Green eyes opened as hands enclosed around her neck.

He really did not know what was going on, he was still asleep, and he was killing Itachi, there was nothing wrong…

Cold, black eyes stared right at her unblinking as the hands on her neck tightened their hold on her. Her breathing became labored as her hands grasped his and she tried to speak.

His hands had dried blood on them, and stung slightly…

Her fingernails scratched his skin, making him bleed as he continued to strangle her. Her mouth formed words: stop, Sasuke-kun! Please, Naruto, help, stop, stop, stop….yet his cold eyes just stared right into hers.

The bruise on his face was already starting to form, Naruto had taken a good hit at him, and three actually and finally woke him from his nightmares…

Sakura's hand reached out and grabbed Naruto's hair and after he woke and saw his pink-haired love in trouble he did not waste time in looking at the person he just took one clean swipe, and another and another until the person fell off of his perch on Sakura and let go of her neck…

He closed his eyes and grabbed his hair, seeing her green eyes so terribly filled with fear and tears; he punched the ground and welcomed the pain in his wrist as he tried with all of his might to get that fear-stricken face of hers out of his mind…

Naruto pulled she shocked Sakura into his arms, she was not moving yet her eyes were wide open, Naruto made a yell, "KAKASHI!" and cradled her body closer, yet her eyes stared back at Sasuke, large and scared as she grasped the cloth of Naruto's shirt for dear life…

He glared at the tree in front of him, the tree where Kakashi was supposed to be sitting in and watching them. He was supposed to know when there was trouble and when he needed to help them.

Kakashi burst into the tent, eyes going from the shaking and crying form of Sakura, her neck red and bruised and then to the shaking form of Sasuke, who was now staring at his bloody hands, Kakashi pulled Sasuke up by his collar and said something, yet Sasuke just stood there his black eyes looking down at Sakura and her fearful eyes…

"Fucking damn," he mumbled, this would mess everything up. Team seven would fall apart now, there was no stopping it, he was just about to kill her, and he could have if she had never woken up Naruto. That thought stung him deeply, and Sasuke harshly shut his eyes, thinking of what would happen, had Naruto been left to sleep.

Kakashi threw Sasuke out of the tent and went back to Sakura's still shaking form as he tried to pull her away from Naruto she screamed she burrowed her head into the crook of his neck and cried even harder, this time she spoke incoherent words, "Stop, stop, let me go, Naruto, Naruto, stop, stop, help…Naruto..Naruto...Naruto..." over and over again she said Naruto's name and held closer to him.

Beside him, Kakashi sat down and pulled out his book, this time, he pulled out a second and handed it to Sasuke. He opened the book and then said, "You're giving porn to a minor." Kakashi just nodded and continued to read; Sasuke sighed, and read the book that Kakashi had given him. Not really interested in the book Sasuke waited for what Kakashi had to say.

"She is sleeping in Naruto's arms, if you would like to know. I think that she just got scared, so there is no need to worry."

Sasuke turned away, and dropped the book so that he could hide his hands, Kakashi picked up the book and put it away and sighed after putting his own book away. Kakashi put a hand Sasuke's shoulder and said, "If you explain why you almost killed her, I will talk to her for you."

Sasuke shrugged the hand off of his should and pulled his knees closer to his face and let his head down. After a few minutes Sasuke said, "I will talk to her," Kakashi nodded but then said, "I would still like to know what happened."

Sasuke looked up at him and then looked back down at his bloody hands and sighed, "I thought that she was Itachi,"

Kakashi raised his eyebrow and said, "Nightmares?" Sasuke just nodded to that and then Kakashi left it at that. That is what Sasuke liked about Kakashi, all he had to do was give him a few words and he was able to understand it, he did not have to give a life story to explain his behavior.

Kakashi stood up and cracked his neck and said, "You can go start training if you want, I doubt being around Naruto right now is the best thing for anyone."

Sasuke nodded and stood up, he was about to walk to a nearby forest opening when a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned to see Kakashi handing him a small roll of gauze. He stared at it for a second, then grabbed it and put the roll in his pocket. Turning around Kakashi spoke once more, "There is a small river not to far from here, go clean your hands, and those are really deep."

Sasuke mutely nodded and ran off, Kakashi was right. Sakura's nails had scratched his hands deeply, and not that he wanted to acknowledge it, but they stung painfully. Running past some trees and bushes, it took him about fifteen minutes to get to the small river.

He sat down by the edge and stared at himself, he really looked like crap. His hair was slightly mussed and there was dried sweat on his face. Not to mention the beginning of bruises on his face. He closed his eyes and sighed, things were going to be so fucked up now.

Putting his hands in the water, he splashed his face with some water to get rid of the sweat. After washing his hands of dried blood he dried them off on his shirt and proceeded to cover them in gauze. He stared at some of the marks on his hands; they were deep and all over his hands. How long had he been dreaming? Surely she could have not scratched him so much in such a short amount of time.

He sighed and rubbed his eyes, he really needed to train to work off all of this stress. And anger. He felt so angry with himself, so ashamed. He had hurt her, for no reason. She was just there. Within arms length and he had almost killed her.

He growled and once again hit the ground. He punched the ground with all of his strength, and again, and again, again, again. He could not stop, he was just so fucking angry with himself, she so was sweet kind and loving, and he….

Sasuke dismissed the pain in his hands, they were sure to be bleeding by now by the brute force of his blows, but his anger took him over and all he could think of was to just let out all of that anger by hitting the closest things to him. He could not decipher how long he had been there, just hitting the ground.

His mind was lost in guilt and anger beyond anything that he had felt before. Sure, being a ninja he had to have hurt people at some point in his life, but, Sakura was Sakura, and she was fragile. She was a girl, one that trusted him with everything, her life, her innocence everything.

And he nearly killed her.

When they finally reached the village, Kakashi was fast to poof away to the Hokage with the report. That left the three gennin alone for the first time in two days after Sasuke had almost killed Sakura. As per usual, Sasuke was quiet, staring away from everyone, but this time it wasn't just him, but both Naruto and Sakura were both muted.

Naruto put a fake smile on his face and said a very unconvincing "great mission" and then told Sakura that her parents were probably missing her. She smiled to him, a fake smile, and then ran off, not bothering to look back, running so fast that within seconds, she was gone.

Naruto stared after her retreating form; his eyes still staring into the distance even after her body could no longer be seen. He closed his eyes, clenched his fists…and…

Punched a clone.

As the shadow clone of Naruto disappeared into a cloud of smoke, Sasuke almost wondered when Naruto had summoned his clone. But, as Naruto turned around, stared him straight in the eyes, he stared back with detached eyes. Naruto glared, and Sasuke could see that he was biting the inside of his mouth, trying to keep the harmful words at bay, but, to no avail.

"Bastard."

…..

"Dead Last"

Sasuke coughed up blood, punched the figure before him and cringed as the wound in his side opened. He grabbed the tree next to him, turning his face he tried not to wince as Naruto got one last hit at him.

Naruto stood there, before him in just the same shape, his body worn out, bruised but healing. He glared at Sasuke, whom was lying on the ground staring at the sky. Naruto fell to his knees and crawled over to Sasuke. When he was at his side, he pulled at Sasuke's collar, hoisting the boy up so that they were face to face.

Naruto stared in to his eyes, and with a scratchy voice he accused, "I know you fucking are not a big fan of Sakura's, but fuck, "

At this point Naruto had tears in his eyes, "You…you fucking nearly…"

His voice was cracking, "What the hell were you thinking? She, she trusts you so ….so fucking much."

At this point, his head was bowed, and he let go of Sasuke, letting the boy fall to the ground with a thud. Naruto laid his head on Sasuke's chest, and cried. He had not been so scared, so scared in so long. The moment he woke up to see him above her, the tears, the anger; all of it had scared Naruto so badly. In his grief he stayed there, head on Sasuke's chest and cried. Sasuke on the other hand, he just sat there, eyes to the sky he could feel every sob, tear, wail of pain coming from the blond boy. At one point, he thought that he had heard him name he looked down at Naruto only to see blonde locks of hair.

When Naruto finally stopped his painful tears, he looked up to Sasuke. After wiping his nose on his sleeve he coughed and looked away, almost ashamed of himself for showing such an emotional side of himself to Sasuke. Naruto sat up, letting Sasuke sit up and held his knees to his face.

Sasuke tried to look as unfazed by the show of emotion from Naruto as possible. But, when Naruto spoke to him, it took all of his will power to not turn his head and stare at Naruto.

"I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Sasuke smirked, looked at the blonde who was shyly peeking over his knees to stare at him, "Like a dead last like you could ever hit me."

Naruto pulled his head up completely and smiled brightly, his eyes shining mischievously and accused, "Bet you couldn't beat me at eating ramen…."

Kakashi sighed, flipped a page in his book and coughed slightly. He stood up and jumped off the tree branch that he was on, landing on the ground in front on Sakura's house. He stared up at her window, locked and closed, and decided that it was better just let the kids work out their problems together.

It was too troublesome to watch over her all night any ways….

There was a new edition of Icha Icha in stores…

Sasuke stared at the moon, sitting atop the roof of his apartment.

From his position, he could see the roof of Sakura's house and if he tried hard enough he could see her window too. He sighed, looked away from her direction and stood up. He cracked his neck, a bad habit that he was getting from Kakashi. When he looked back at her house, he glared and jumped off of the roof and landed on his window sill.

It was too late to try to talk to her anyways.

When the next morning of training came around, nearly two days later, Sasuke stood on the bridge, early as per usual. He lay back against the wood and let his head fall back, giving him a full view of the blue morning sky.

It was expected for him to be early, but not an hour early. So, he was expecting some good time to stand there alone and think of what he was going to do not to make things uncomfortable between the team.

His cheek was still slightly bruised, and his stomach still felt like shit after all of the ramen that he had to ingest just to shut up Naruto. He stared up at the sky, noting that there were barely any birds out, only some ravens.

"I thought those were a sign of bad luck to come…" he mused to himself, not really thinking any one would hear him.

"That's black cats that are bad luck."

When he heard that feather light voice, he turned his head left, and there she was. Clad in her red clan dress and modest saving shorts, was Sakura. He took one second to stare at her, and then looked away.

Sakura stood there for a couple of seconds. She wasn't really sure why she decided to come to training so early; she supposed she wanted to have some time to think to herself before she had to see everyone.

The two of them stood there, quiet and unmoving for a few minutes before Sakura moved to her same rightful spot and closed her eyes. Sasuke looked at her through the corner of his eyes. He could see that she was thinking, in her moments of deep thought she always closed her eyes.

He sighed and pretended to be detached as per usual. But, when he heard her voice he opened his eyes and looked at her once again.

"I thought about that night, trying to piece together the parts." Her eyes were focused on a tree on the other side of the bridge.

He looked at the same tree, wondering if they saw the same thing, "I was scared, of you…." He used all of his will power not to cringe at this.

"But, when I thought of it, I remembered something…."

His hands tightened around her neck, her eyes pleading with him to let her go….

He closed his eyes harshly, trying to block out the memory.

"You, you had called me Itachi." At this point she turned to him and walked so that she was right in front of him. When he opened his eyes, he stared straight ahead, bringing him to the sight of her forehead.

The next thing he knew, her hand was holding his, and then it was on her neck. He stared hard into her green eyes, questioning her. She just smiled at him and mouthed the word: Trust.

His hand cradled her neck, gently, almost afraid that he would do the same thing to her that he had done in the tent. His eyes landed on her neck, noting that the bruises had already healed for the most part. His other hand came to rest on her neck. He held them there, staring at her neck and then he moved them upwards.

He looked into her green eyes, seeing a part of her that he never had seen before. He cradled her face in his hands. Both hands cupping her cheeks. He could feel her body heat, the softness of her cheeks, and he pulled her close to his body.

He tilted her head upwards….

And blew a piece of hair out of her face.

She smiled at him, and giggled slightly. When he raised an eyebrow at her, his hands still cupping her cheeks, he could feel the curve of her lips in his hands. She cupped his hands and tilted her head sideways.

"For a moment, I thought that you would kiss me…"

He scoffed at her comment, and stared at her hands that were atop his. He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. He felt her face bury itself into the crook of his neck. Her arms wove around his midsection and he felt her sigh into his neck.

He leaned his head down and whispered by her ear, "What makes you think I won't?"

Well, I will leave the rest to you all. FOR ALL OF MY READERS! I WILL BE UPDATING MY OTHER STORIES SOON! PLEASE READ MY NOTE ON MY PROFILE!

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Standard Disclaimer Applied.