AN

This is where the picture that inspired the story comes in. The picture is currently my Avatar. I don't own the picture

This quote also had its part in the inspirations.

Spike: Look at my eyes, Faye. One of them is a fake because I lost it in an accident. Since then, I've been seeing the past in one eye and the present in the other. So, I thought I could only see patches of reality, never the whole picture. I felt like I was watching a dream I could never wake up from. Before I knew it, the dream was over.

Sasuke/Sakura

Sasuke almost faltered when he walked through his bedroom door to find Sakura sitting up in his bed wrapped haphazardly in a sheet. messing with a black wrist wrap. He almost let go of all hesitations and confessed his deepest feelings to her. Thats when he noticed the black blindfold hiding those inviting green eyes of hers.

"Do you need help?" He asked, his voice gruff from the shock and want that came from seeing her in his bed.

"Sa... Sasuke?" She shook as she said his name hoping, no, praying that it was him and not someone else while at the same time she didn't want him to see her so... so... weak.

"Yes. It's me. Do you need help?" He asked again after confirming her question.

"H... Help?" She was quiet for a second then she continued. "No! I don't need any help! I am ANBU. I won't let something like this make me seem anything less."

"Aa." He replied nodding, even though he knew she couldn't see it. He understood how she felt. As odd as it sounds. It was how he felt as a child, taking on the revenge of his clan. He knew she needed time. "Very well. I have been surrounded by bodies all week, I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I took a shower." He said heading towards his bathroom.

"Fine." She replied, going back to working on the wraps.

"I'll leave the door open. If you sense a chakra that I do not, let me know."

"Okay..." She spoke quietly.

When Sasuke returned from his shower, draped in a large silk bathrobe, he found Sakura where he left her. A few things had changed however. The first he noticed was how she had moved to sit on her feet with her knees in front of her causing the sheet to show him an expanse of creamy skin. The second being how tangled her hands had become in th wraps. The third being how hard she was trying to keep from crying.

"Sakura..." He felt her pain, knowing the feeling of being helpless. He crawled up on his bed behind her. One hand resting on her hip as the other pulled her back to him and reached for her hands.

"Sasuke..." She breathed his name out.

"Sakura..." He started again as he gently pulled the wrap from her hands. "You know you don't have to be ANBU with me... Even ninja have emotions, Sakura. You should know that better than any of us." When the wrap was free he tossed it to the side and grabbed her night gown from the base of the bed where shizune must have tossed it when she gave up

"Your one to talk you know." She said with her head still down. "You said yourself, you just got out of a week long mission where you were surrounded by bodies of men you killed and your as calm as can be."

Pulling the sleeves of the nightgown over the correct arms, Sasuke winced. "What do you want me to say Sakura?"

She took control once the sleeves were in place and pulled the night gown on over her head. Pulling it down to cover the sheet, she replied, "The truth Sasuke. I am no less of an ANBU then you. Why is it okay for me to be weak and not you?"

Sasuke pulled her off the bed to stand with him so he could pull the sheet that still clung to her from under her sleepwear. "Fine." His tone was angry but he continued any way after helping her back to the bed. "You want to know the truth. I got over the thought of going to hell for my sins as a child. I planned to kill my brother until I was strong enough to think I could try. I got over the guilt, the nightmares of seeing their familys, wives and children who were innocent of crime. I was what, twelve when I joined Orochimaru? I torchered a woman for him that day... to proove to him I wasn't there for Konoha. She was pregnant. She begged me for hours as I made her bleed. She begged me to spare her for the sake of her child. She died in that room. Tied to a chair with a sword through her stomach after thirteen hours of torture..."

Sakura sat stock still on the bed at a loss for words. Sasuke kept going though. "Withen the next week I had killed three innocent men, four criminals, five traitors, two leaf ninja, and a prostitute. The guilt never really set in though. I was too angry. I had lost everyone... why couldn't they lose a few? The next week a man stubled upon the encampmentlooking for his pregnant wife who was supposed to arrive in his home two weeks prior. Appearently he was expected because he woke up tied to a chair next to the body of his wife that hadn't been touched yet. I was set to torcher him for information. All I could get out of him for the first few hours was him asking for whoever killed his wife. Finally I told him that it was me and that his future didn't look much better. He told me that I could torture him for as long as I wanted and it wouldn't matter, and that one day I would understand. What a fool I was to not have beleived him."

"Sasuke... I get it. You don't have to keep going."

"As a teenager... say seventeen?... Orochimaru began to take pleasure in watching me torcher women. He brought prostitutes to the emcampment, none left, of course. Then one day he had me fuck her first. Then I drove a kunai into her neck. Just enough to knick the artery so she would die as I finished with her body."

"Sasuke..."

"A month later he brought me a farm girl. She was beautiful. She wouldn't have lasted sane long with the men that surrounded her. I killed her on the spot. She was thirteen. Her father had owed him money. I killed him that day as well. Along with many of his lackeys."

"Sasuke! Stop!" She looked as though she were sobbing by the reflection I saw on the window.

"And thats just skimming the top... Sakura. I have killed thousands of people. Men, women, children... It all makes no difference. How many have you killed?"

Sakura shook her head not wanting to answer.

"How many Sakura!?"

"None! I've never had to kill anyone!"

"Do you get it now, Sakura? The fifthteen bodies that surrounded me this last week have made no difference to me."

"Yes, I get it."

"And you, Neji?" Sakura looked up in Sasuke's general direction in shock. Sasuke looked over towards the window where Neji stood in full ANBU gear, listening.

"Eighty-Three. Konoha would rather take prisoners then bodies, but, yes. I understand." Sasuke nodded at him, taking his answer as truth.

"What is it you needed?"

"Hokage sent me to check in. I didn't want to interrupt a tale that needed telling." Neji nodded respect fully before leaving.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke... I... I don't know what to say any more."

"Nothing is best, Sakura. Sometime only silence can cure our frantic minds."