Oh lawdy I am sorry! I have the first three chapters ready to go, and I was trying to see how far I could go before I decided to put this up!


Day 1

This is the end
Hold your breath and count to ten
Feel the earth move and then
Hear my heart burst again

-Adele, Skyfall


Sasuke gripped the handle above the door to the truck he was trapped in with a white-knuckled hold. Beside him, his best friend Naruto whooped in delight as the truck they were in flew through the pasture. The truck hit a hill hidden by the tall stalks of the grass and it was suddenly airborne. In the passenger seat, Sasuke let out a yell of terror as they flew through the air while his companion continued to whoop in excitement. It felt like the world slowed to a torturous pace, and Sasuke saw his life flash before his eyes before the truck plummeted to the ground. It tail-spun several more feet, leaving a wide arc of shredded grass and debris in its path. The black 2000 Ford F150 halted to a spot in the tall grass, its occupants in different states of shock.

"That was weak!" snarled Naruto. He pounded his hand on the steering wheel and glared at his truck. "I got way higher than that last week!"

Sasuke's chest heaved while his heart felt like it was about the jump out of his chest. The white-knuckled grip he had on the handle of the door did not loosen, but the hand that had somehow made it to the roof of the truck slowly lowered itself to his lap. He turned his head slowly to his friend, a look of absolute shock on his face at the sheer audacity this other boy had.

"It was because of your fat ass, Sasuke. You may have actually worked out or something while you were gone, but you certainly didn't actually lose anything-"

"Dude," Sasuke breathed. The cab was silent except for the harsh breathing in the back seat. A manicured hand shot out to grab the back of the front seats and their other best friend, Sakura, surfaced from the back seat of the truck with a disheveled expression. Her face was a stark shade of white as her wide eyes darkened and her nails threatened to tear into the cloth of the seats in front of her.

"Oh, hey Sakura!" Naruto exclaimed. He turned in his seat to grin at her. Sasuke only stared at him in shock. Sakura, on the other hand, reached with the hand that was on Naruto's seat and smacked the blonde head of the driver. "Hey! What the fuck?! Stop that!"

"You idiot!" Sakura screamed. "You could have fucking killed us! What the hell was going through your head to think this was okay?! You were supposed to get us to school, like, thirty minutes ago! We're late to our first day back to school, and it's only the first day of our second semester!"

"Well, I missed Sasuke so much, Sakura! It's not every day we get to go driving with our best friend who has been gone for over a year! I missed him."

Sakura huffed loudly, blowing up array bangs that hung in front of her eyes. She ran a hand through her hair and gave Sasuke a pointed look. "We both missed you Sasuke, but for God's sake, please drive next time?"

Sasuke grunted as he returned to his seat. His best friend beside him grinned with a boyish likeness and put the truck into drive. Turning the wheel to the right and, to the horror of his friends, did a few doughnuts in the field before shooting off through the field to hit the main road going into rural Atlanta. The ride was only twenty minutes from the home Sasuke Uchiha lived in with Naruto Uzumaki and the man that was Naruto's god-father. Sasuke had come back from spending a year in Japan with his father's side of his family, an experience that can only be described as awkward and stiff. The Uchiha family spanned back hundreds of years, and was one of the oldest families in Japan. They also owned one of the top ten most powerful companies in the world: Uchiha Corp. So, when Sasuke's older brother passed away in an accident, Sasuke was expected to travel to Japan to learn the ways of the traditional family. He was also expected to learn how to lead a company when he was only sixteen years old. His parents had divorced when he was thirteen years old, but when his mother died, he was taken in by Naruto's god-father. Now that he was back in the town he had grown up in, he was happy when his father, with the urging of his barely-older-than-him step-mother, moved back from Japan just as his last semester of his senior year started.

Sasuke leaned back in his seat and placed his head on the cold window. His breath fanned on it, and he frowned when he felt his seat get kicked by an angry seventeen year old girl in the back. Sakura was not only one of his best friends who was a girl, but she was one of his oldest, and closest, as well. They met when they were both four years old and in the same preschool, and Naruto later joined in a whirlwind of messy glue and an accidental kiss shared between the two boys. They were the terrible three, causing all kinds of mischief until they reached the time when Sasuke left. It was not an emotional goodbye between the three, and they did not part on good terms. However, when Sakura was called over to Naruto's house one evening a week prior to the current event, she was surprised to see Sasuke sitting on the couch across from the TV, playing Mortal Combat with a cursing Naruto as his character died in a finishing move. After much cursing and yelling on Sakura's side, she had grabbed him by the lapels of his Nike hoodie and pulled him into a tight hug. As soon as Sasuke moved to return the gesture, Naruto swooped in and finished the group hug with a happy laugh.

Now, the three sped down the highway to reach their destination. The cold Georgia winter air could be felt through the cracked window Naruto had opened in order to feel the cool air, and Sakura shivered in the back.

"Naruto, close the damn window. I'm freezing back here," she glowered.

"Where's that jacket you supposedly HAD to have?" Naruto blanched.

"I left it at home! I didn't know it was going to be twenty degrees outside!"

"You live in Georgia! How did you not know?"

The three friends climbed out of the truck, the two passengers moaning about having to ride with the monster driver of Atlanta. Sasuke adjusted his tie with a scowl, patting his jacket to get rid of any lingering wrinkles or dust. He was a stickler for professionalism, something he attributed to being a Japanese businessman for over a year. However, he can definitely say for sure he was like that before he traveled all the way across the world. Sasuke felt something pat the back of his navy blue uniform jacket, like someone was brushing something off. Turning around, he saw Sakura with a determined look on her face as she brushed off pieces of grass or dirt from it. Her uniform, which consisted of a mid-thigh length, navy blue skirt and a white dress shirt that buttoned up, was already immaculate. Like him, however a little more lax, wanted to look snazzy and well dressed. As a part-time nursing assistant, she always wore scrubs and her hair up, so she chose to look nicer at school since she is in her nursing scrubs often. The navy uniform jacket she wore covered her white shirt, and in order to keep warm she also wrapped a bright green scarf around her neck. His ears turned red at the thought of her hands on him and took a step forward from her moving hands. He smoothed his sweaty palms, despite the cold January air, against his navy slacks.

"Uh, thanks," he murmured. He missed the scowl she gave him, but she did not say a word as they walked into the preparatory high school they went to. The school was found just outside downtown Atlanta, but also laid near the more rural parts of the county Atlanta was in. The campus was large, with an even larger supporting staff. It was a relatively new school, so the student body had yet to grow in an alarming rate. Upon opening, the trio of friends' parents had immediately enrolled them into it –except for Sasuke's, since his only remaining family was in Japan. Only with special given permission, he was enrolled through Naruto's guardian, since he was the one Sasuke was living with. Sakura's parents were an entirely different story; she lived with her aunt and uncle due to her mother passing away and her father cruelly beating her. With her father in jail, she was adopted by her aunt and uncle, who lovingly took her in. As an outlet for her pent up rage towards her father, her family had her try out for the high school's softball team, where she was one of the top hitters on the team as well as the main pitcher. Despite the awful upbringing, she was a kind, sweet, intelligent, and beautiful girl and person to be around. Perhaps that is why Sasuke sometimes found it hard to breathe when she was around.

"I am SO mad at you, you idiot!" Sakura shrieked as they ran into the school. Her messenger bag thumped against her thigh as they ran, empty save for a spiral-bound notebook and pencils. Sasuke's jacket was still unbuttoned while Naruto's tie was undone, as usual. Naruto did not under any circumstance follow the dress code. While he wore the uniform, his top two buttons were undone while his tie was either loosely tied or not tied at all. He believed, as told to his friends, administrators, family, that it was restricting his freedom. However, everyone knew it was because he was lazy and he typically slept in so late that he just threw everything on with haste and ran out the door.

"You had fun and you know it!" Naruto cackled. As they ran through the halls and up flights of stairs, Sasuke was the only one who noticed how unusually quiet the halls were. Typically, there would be some stragglers who would be as late as they were. Sakura looked towards him when she saw him give a curious look around, one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows shooting up questioningly. When he caught her eye, he shook his head. They rounded a corner in the hallway and stopped short when they saw a group of students standing around the doorway of a classroom. The students were all murmuring as they watched whatever was happening in the room. They looked at one another and walked forward. Suddenly, there was a loud bang inside the classroom and the wall in front of them shook like something had been thrown against it. A loud, animalistic scream echoed from the classroom. There were shrieks from the girls surrounding the door as well as some that were still inside the class. A few students backed away from the door when they realized whatever was going on was not just fun and games.

Sasuke walked up to one of the students who was still bravely standing in front of the door. "What the hell is going on?" he growled.

"I don't know, man," the other boy said with a freaked out voice. "Marcus walked into the class this morning, acting all human and shit. When everyone started coming in, he got real quiet and put his head on his desk. When we asked if he was okay, he said his head hurt and he had been feeling shitty all night. Halfway through the morning lesson, he all of a sudden started throwing shit around, screaming like some deranged animal. An administrator came running in after he bit Ms. Yoshiro, and someone had to go out to find them and we all ran out as soon as shit started going down. The dude went psycho on Fernando when he tried to stop him. He actually tried to bite him! There was blood everywhere."

Another inhuman roar rattled through the room and into the hallway, causing some other students to back away and run. Naruto marched forward and shouldered past Sasuke and the other boy, followed closely by Sakura who stopped next to Sasuke.

"Naruto, stop!" Sakura said urgently. Naruto ignored her and stepped into the room. Sasuke, ever the cautious friend, followed after him with Sakura on his heels. When they entered the classroom, Sakura gasped at the sight of the chaos that was once their homeroom. Desks and chairs had been flipped and thrown everywhere. The teacher's desk was leaning haphazardly against the whiteboard. Two of the six windows were smashed from being broken by hurling objects. There were nail marks along the wall, and stains on the tile floor that suspiciously looked like blood had been spilled on it. In the center of the room, their classmate Marcus was hunched over as a placating administrator stood in front of him with his hands up in a surrendering gesture.

"Now, Marcus," the administrator said in a calming voice. "You need to calm down. We can go to my office where we can call someone to come get you."

The response he received was another guttural roar from the student. His once perfect, straight teeth now looked mangled and stained. Eyes that were once a dark blue were now completely black, as if the whole eye was consumed by darkness. Those same eyes followed the path of the newcomers in the room as they cautiously walked into the room.

"Hey, buddy," Naruto said slowly. "Why are you being like this? Didn't get enough pussy last night?"

"Naruto," Sasuke deadpanned. Naruto ignored him and sidled up to the administrator. Sakura stood in the doorway, hands clasped to the door frame in fear for her friends. Naruto shot him a look and turned back toward their friend. Marcus, who was now baring gross teeth, eyed Sasuke when he took another step forward.

"Has someone called the police?" Sakura whispered to a classmate somewhere behind her.

"Yeah," the girl whimpered. "But that was almost thirty minutes ago! Shouldn't they be here by now?"

"I don't know…"

"Hey, man," Naruto spoke up, catching Marcus's attention. The deep, dark eyes pierced into the blonde's body, jerkily shifting up and down, back and forth. "What's wrong with you, dude? You need to chill out-"

All of a sudden, Marcus opened his mouth and hissed. He leapt at the administrator, who was turned away from him to order Naruto to get back with the other students. The man screamed in terror as the boy, who was only slightly smaller than the older man, floored him into the tile of the classroom and sank his teeth into his shoulder. Another scream left the man's mouth, this one frantic and full of fear. The students in the doorway screamed as they watched him sink his teeth into the man until blood squirted from underneath his white collared shirt and onto the floor. Without thinking, Sasuke ran further into the room and grabbed an overturned chair that was laying on the floor and stepped quickly towards the preoccupied monster. Before Marcus could react, Sasuke swung the chair as hard as he could into the other boy's head. Screams quieted almost immediately as Marcus let out a deep whine and slumped off the administrator, who was clutching his shoulder and scooting away from the unconscious body.

The room was silent. Sasuke's shoulders heaved as he gulped for breath, eyes wide in shock. The adrenaline coursing through his body hummed, making his body shake and tense. Naruto stood off to the side, eyes wide as well as mouth agape. He stared at the body twitching on the floor, at the blood shining on the floor, and the sight of his friend. Sakura was kneeling next to the older man, having rushed forward as soon as he was close enough. She staunched the blood flowing from the wound on his shoulder. Concerned green eyes looked up at Sasuke, and she bit her lip hard enough to sting. The entire was silent, save for the quiet sobbing from the doorway of several of the female classmates and the incoming sound of the police sirens.


School was cancelled for the rest of the day. Police cars, multiple ambulance, fire trucks controlled the scene. Frantic parents were held behind police lines in order to keep the crowd from spilling into the crime scene and prevent chaos. Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura were all taken to the police precinct for questioning along with many of their classmates. They did not know how their teacher, administrator, or their fellow classmate who had run rampant in the classroom were faring at that moment. The three were separated into three different interrogation rooms. Inside these rooms, men in suits waited for them patiently, dark sun glasses pushed to their heads. There were two in each room, and Naruto immediately jumped to conclusions.

"I know my rights!" Naruto yelled as he was thrown into the room.

"You're not in trouble, kid," the officer who was escorting him inside sighed. "We just want to know what happened. You're coming up with your own assumptions."

"I plead the fifth!"

Suddenly, there was a muffled shout of, "Shut up, Naruto!" from his two friends in their own rooms. Naruto crossed his arms and sat in his chair with a pout. The officer heaved another sigh and left the room, leaving Naruto with the two men in suits.

"Now that we have that taken care of," the first man said as he shuffled some papers in front of him. "Tell me what happened. Starting from the beginning."

"We were running late to school because we drove with Naruto," whispered Sakura. She was rubbing her upper arms against the cold of the room. "That idiot wanted to show us his new suspension in his truck."

"What kind of truck does he have?" one of the suited men asked. He was jotting down notes as she recounted their events.


"A Ford F150," Naruto beamed proudly. "I got her when I turned sixteen."

"The suspension is new," his questioner stated off handedly.

"Oh yeah! I worked really hard for it…wait, how did you know it was new?"

"Your friend told us. Anyway, what happened next?"


"We walked up to our class and everyone was standing in front of the door. When we heard all the yelling and stuff being thrown, we ran over and one of our classmates told us what happened," Sasuke said with a serious tone. His posture was straight in the chair, hands clasped in front of him on the table. It was the business man coming out of him, and he hated it. He hated how his father brought the cold out of him. The investigator thumbed through the file that was in front of him. Sasuke took in his unusual appearance: gray hair even though this man was obviously young and held back by his dark sun glasses, a tight mask that let him see the faint outline of his mouth as he talked, and an eye patch covering one of his eyes with a faint scar appearing from the top of the eye patch.

"What did the scene look like?"

"It was completely destroyed. It had obviously been going on awhile before we got there."


"How come you won't tell us how our classmates and teachers are?!" Sakura cried. Her hands were balled into fists against the suit's attempts to avoid the subject of their injured peers.

"They are doing just fine, Miss Haruno," the man said offhandedly. He placed his dark sunglasses on the table, revealing startling blue eyes that pierced into her eyes. "So I see you are a med student in the program your school offers? That's quite impressive. What is also impressive is how you managed to tourniquet your teacher's arm correctly. Normal seventeen year olds don't know how to do that."

Sakura paused, giving him an eyeful of disbelief. "Is that seriously what you're more worried about right now."


"Why are you so interested in the fact that I can work on my truck?" Naruto asked. "She's my baby! Of course I know how to work on her!"

"We're just curious, son," the man said. "What about your friend Sasuke Uchiha? What is he good at?"


"I played baseball all the way up until I left for Tokyo."

"Why did you leave?"

"…I had family business I had to take care of." The tension in Sasuke's shoulders increased at the further mention of his responsibilities in the other country.

"You accomplished a lot in Japan, I take it?"

"I tried. My father wanted me home after he found out my mom died here in America. He thought I would benefit better there."

"What else did you do while you lived in Atlanta?"

"Why are these questions necessary? This is not about what happened this morning anymore is it?"

The men in front of him were silent as they stared at him. The surrounding atmosphere felt thick with suspicion from both parties; there were secrets being kept from Sasuke, and he did not appreciate being in the dark. Suddenly, the door opened and Sasuke looked up to see Naruto's guardian, Jiraiya, standing in the doorway with a scowl. A nervous, yet frustrated Naruto was standing off to the side behind him, his arms crossed over his chest in a pout.

"Sasuke," the older man said gruffly. "Let's go. We're done here, gentlemen."

"Of course," one of the men in a suit said. He turned to Sasuke, who had stood up from his chair and was walking to the door. "We had a nice conversation, son." He reached into a pocket inside his jacket and handed him a card. "If you need or remember anything, do not hesitate to give me a call."

Sasuke hesitated before taking the card. It had the investigator's phone number and email on it, so he slipped it into the back pocket of his uniform slacks. "Sure."

"Sasuke," came Jiraiya's irritated voice. The boy turned away from the investigator and headed toward his guardian. He heard murmured whispers behind him as the men talked to one another, but they were muted as the door shut behind him. As Sasuke focused his attention in front of him, he saw Sakura running towards him and Naruto before he was pulled into a hug by the girl. Naruto's complaints were unheard by either of them while Sasuke reciprocated the action. His arms slipped around her waist and kept her close briefly until she pulled away from him.

"What did they ask you?" she asked. Sasuke shrugged the question away.

"Nothing serious. They just wanted to know what happened."

"Those guys kept questioning me about my baby!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Hey, kids," Jiraiya said. "Let's get you all home. Sakura, I have contacted your aunt and uncle. They couldn't be here to pick you up because there was an incident at the hospital today. They said you could stay at my house tonight since they won't be home."

"No way, you pervert!" Naruto exclaimed while they walked out the precinct doors. The hairs prickled on the back of Sasuke's neck at the feeling of being watched. He inclined his head back towards the building behind them, and furrowed his eyebrows at the sharp gaze being directed to him. The investigator who had been questioning him, with his unusual gray hair and half-covered face shadowed by dark sun glasses, was staring at him. His arms were crossed over his suited chest, and the faint outline of his mouth showed the frown he was expressing. It was as if the world slowed and the droning of Naruto's exclaiming voice deepened in his mind as he focused on the man in the window.


"I still can't believe that happened today," Sakura sighed. She pulled her legs closer to her on the couch. They were at Naruto's house, already dressed for bed even though it was only early in the evening. "What was that?"

"I don't know," Sasuke said. He and Naruto were laid out on the floor of the living room, Xbox controllers being abused while their characters shot at zombies. "All I know is it's suspicious as fuck and I don't appreciate being kept in the dark."

"Dude, shut up and concentrate on the way I'm beating the shit out of these zombies. Fuck!" Just as Naruto killed a zombie, he did not notice the other one coming up to the left and grab his character, dragging the character down with it and several other zombies. He threw the controller down on the floor while the countdown to respawn at another location began. "Cheaters."

"Yes, because the computer is the cheater," Sasuke said with a roll of his eyes.

"Like, we haven't even heard how Marcus and the teachers are!" Sakura exclaimed. She swung her legs back around the edge of the couch and crawled on all fours toward her friends. Sasuke refused to look at the girl, who was leaning over to Naruto's controller to take over for him. She was so close to him that their shoulders were barely brushing and her arm was lightly brushing his thigh.

"I think we would have heard something by now if it was important," Naruto grumbled. "If it wasn't for me and Sasuke, Marcus would have probably done something worse besides attack an administrator who doesn't even know how to properly do his job!"

"Oh, and you did such a perfect job of stopping him when he attacked," Sasuke murmured. When Naruto's character respawned, Sakura's finger gracefully flew across the controls, pressing the correct buttons to shoot and execute. Sasuke always admired how their friend could easily become one with a group of people, and adapt to her surroundings. She was always calm and collected, even though she has a quick temper as a result from her past. He respected her, and she in turn respected him and Naruto. He always knew she had a crush on him, especially before they got into high school, but when they returned for their freshman year, she was definitely a changed girl. Gone were the days of blushing and squeaking out hasty hellos, and good day to the strong, independent woman Sakura had become. She had changed so much since he had left for Japan that it frightened him.

Jiraiya popped his head in to the game room the three friends were in. He watched them interact with each other and smiled at the view of the friends. The three were practically inseparable, besides when Sasuke left. His young charge was devastated when his friend left, and very uncharacteristically moped around while Sakura scowled every day. The day that Sasuke came back was the day Naruto finally smiled a real smile. Sakura, on the other hand, refused to speak to Sasuke for the first week he was back. She finally confronted him outside of the house one day, standing outside in the freezing Georgia cold in only a pair of fleece pajama pants and a light jacket at one in the morning. After spending a good ten minutes yelling at him for leaving without telling them, she then proceeded to yell at him again about how much they missed him. When she was done, he could only stare at her in shock. He did not expect her to throw herself at him, pulling him into a hug that left him breathless. Ever since that moment, they have ignored what they were feeling. There were moments, however as Jiraiya was now noticing as Sasuke's stiff form clenched even more at the feeling of Sakura's leg brushing his.

"Hey, kids," he interrupted their conversation. Their heads turned toward the door as the older man stood within it. "Since school is cancelled tomorrow, I would prefer if you stayed until the day after tomorrow, Sakura. Your aunt and uncle called saying the situation at the hospital will demand their attention for the next couple of days and they would let you know when they would be coming to get you."

"Okay. Thank you!"

"Boys." The two boys turned to look at him and winced at the expression they were receiving. "Behave tonight."

"Get out of here, you perv!" Naruto exclaimed. "We would never defile Sakura!"

"That's…not quite what I meant, Naruto, but okay. Good night."

"Good night," Sakura said with a smile. She turned back to the game, which had been paused while they talked to the older man. Jiraiya smiled at the group of friends as they turned back to their game. He shut the door with a soft click and Sasuke sighed.

"I hope school is cancelled for the rest of the week," Naruto sighed hopefully. "That traumatic experience left me scarred."

"You're such a liar," Sakura scoffed. "You were more than happy to put yourself into the action."

"Sakura, you're so mean to me."

Sasuke scowled at the conversation. "Are we going to play or not?"

"Yeah! I'm going to beat your ass, Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed. He snatched a wireless controller from its charging station and logged himself back in under his account. Sakura grinned at the prospect of a challenge and the three engaged in a battle against the Nazi zombies. Out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke felt more than saw Sakura scoot closer to him to put her head on his shoulder and Naruto prop his feet on his lap. He smiled softly to himself, his thumbs racing across the controllers.

Later that night, while they slept with a scary movie playing in the background, things in the world began to crank into motion.


Day 2

Sakura awoke with a start. Sweat dripped down her temple, becoming a cool trail with the whir of the ceiling fan above her. She sat up slowly, the blanket that had been placed on her pooling around her waist. Loud snores roared on her left side, and a hand larger than her own clenched and unclenched against the side of her right thigh. Grabbing her phone from behind her, she squinted against the light that was right in her face. The time read 3:20 in the morning, and she groaned lightly under her breath. The hand on her thigh twitched, and Sakura pursed her lips at the feeling. When she looked down at the culprit, her mouth softened.

Naruto was snoring and sprawled out on her left, mouth wide open. While she used to spend the night all the time when they were younger, Sakura was still not used to the way her friend slept. Now that they were older and did not have opportunities like this anymore, she forgot that he was an all-over-the-place sleeper. As if not to let her forget it was there, the hand on her thigh spread itself further across the expanse of her leg, and she blushed when she realized who it was. Sasuke was turned on his side towards her, face buried into the body pillow they had brought from Naruto's room and were conveniently sharing as a pillow. While his left arm was tucked underneath where his head met the pillow, his right one had found its way to the spot on her leg, involuntary twitches causing it to migrate to different areas. When she had sat up, his hand had clenched and unclenched, squeezing with enough pressure to make her aware of its presence.

Sakura bit her lip before placing her hand gently on his and grasped it for a moment. Then, she picked it up and placed it on the floor next to him. Slowly standing up became a chore when she had a hard time squeezing herself from between the two suffocating boys. When she accidentally bumped Sasuke next to her, she froze when he gave sharp inhale of breath at the sudden disruption but settled back by rolling onto his back. She chewed on her lip and dropped to her knees instead of standing up. She crawled away from them all the way to the door and towards the bathroom. Behind her, due to her light accidental jostling, Sasuke's eyes cracked open as he slowly awoke to the sound of the bathroom door closing. He turned his head towards the bathroom and watched it for a minute until the sound of the toilet flushing caught his attention. The absence of the body beside him confirmed his suspicions of who was currently in the bathroom, so he laid back down on the soft down blanket the three of them had been sleeping on.

Sakura opened the door as quietly as she could while turning off the light. Sasuke watched her under a sleepy haze while she slowly crept back to her spot on the floor between the boys. Just as she was lowering herself to the blanket, her hand slipped and found its way into Sasuke's arm. She whipped her head to him and froze when she saw his gaze directed to her.

"Uhhh…" she stammered.

"You're fine," he whispered. He watched her as she lowered herself all the way down to the floor beside him. They laid beside each other and stared up at the ceiling fan that was lazily circling. The only sound in the room was the overbearing roar of their friend's snores.

"About today," Sasuke whispered. Sakura turned her head towards him and scooted closer as he continued. "I was scared shitless. I don't think I've ever seen that much blood before."

"You? Scared shitless? No way."

Sasuke scowled at her sarcasm. "Yes, stupid. I get scared too."

"Well, I was scared for you guys. I'm happy you're okay," Sakura whispered with a smile on her face. Sasuke smirked down at her and did not say anything when she scooted closer to him. Their hips and thighs were barely brushing as Sakura continued. "I'm really scared, too." Sasuke's hand clenched against the side closest to her, and grabbed her hand as it ghosted across his knuckles. She stiffened against the contact, and turned her head towards him with wide eyes.

"We'll be okay," he whispered. Sakura smiled as their hands entwined with one another's.

"Yeah," she whispered back. They both turned towards one another with their hands in between them. This was a pose that was not unfamiliar to them, including Naruto. When they were younger, they would all huddle together and fall lying next to each other. So, while this position they were in was familiar, it had become an intimate pose for the two of them.

They inclined their heads together until their foreheads touched. Sakura closed her eyes against the warmth of his breath and smiled.

"Your morning breath smells," she whispered. She opened her eyes to look back up at him and giggled silently at the aghast look he was giving her. Sasuke made a noise in the back of his throat and leaned closer to her, silencing her effectively.

"Yours doesn't smell like roses either," he growled. Before she could retort with a nasty remark, he smirked and grabbed the back of her head with his free hand. "Shut up, and don't talk."

He leaned in all the way to close the space between them and placed his lips gently on hers. It stole the gasp that threatened to escape her currently occupied mouth, but she fell silent again as she melted into his hold he had on the back of her head. Her free hand, much like his, moved to his head, but her hand cupped his cheek as they moved closer. The kiss was sweet and simple, and they laid there just enjoying the other's company. It was not until Sasuke's hand strayed from her head to her waist did Sakura arch into his body and sigh at the contact. His tongue made it into her mouth, but Sakura still found this moment oddly intimate rather than sexy. He released her waist and ran his hand through her hair at her temple, pulling the loose strands from her face that were falling out of her high messy bun. The movements were slow, just like his tongue against hers, and almost sluggish.

The two finally broke apart after a few more moments, and Sakura's face hazed over with a bright red. There was a smudge of red across Sasuke's nose and his eyes opened to stare down at her. Without a word between the two, they linked hands again and fell asleep. Unknown to them, their friend behind them laid awake, his eyes staring up at the ceiling in thought. Naruto's hand was clenched against his stomach, a pit having formed in stomach at the thought of things changing. Things were changing, and he did not know if it was for better or worse.


Thank you,

KD