"You want to what?" Sasuke impatiently cut in, his voice laden with potential danger. It seemed he was still angry at her hesitation in obeying his final command just moments ago.
"I-I want to take…a shower." Sakura spoke honestly, and weakly.
She hated how pathetic she was when it came to Sasuke. Why couldn't she be that strong, independent, chunin from just a year ago, on her way to becoming Mei Terumi's disciple?
What had happened to that Sakura Haruno?
But right when Sasuke forcefully pulled her to her feet and started dragging her off, the answer came to her: that Sakura had died.
And in its place was a girl that neither resembled nor could match up to the previous one's image, in either strength or independence.
Sasuke pulled her down a short shadowed corridor and entered the first room on the left. Again the lights came on of their own accord.
Sakura knew only rich homes could afford automatic light switches so she guessed he was quite wealthy. Well duh, how else do you think he could afford to kidnap and take care of another person for an entire year? This guy obviously has money to spare. Inner Sakura chided quickly.
They were standing in a bathroom of awing extravagance. Sakura gaped in pure astonishment at the marble walls that surrounded her on all sides, even on the soles of her bare feet. The stone was cold to the touch and Sakura was both reluctant and too stunned to move further inside, at least initially.
Sasuke saw this and casually picked her up in his arms, laughing when the terrified expression appeared across the girl's face. "Still afraid of heights, I see."
Sakura shut her eyes at this comment. From the first week he'd taken her, Sasuke had shown her that he knew quite a few tidbits about her personality and life. Odd idiosyncratic things that she didn't think anyone would know unless she actually told them and she definitely didn't remember telling a man like Sasuke anything.
So how in the world did he know so much about her?
The sound of hard industrial water running broke her out of her thoughts. Sasuke had set her down on the rim of the tub as she'd contemplated and was now drawing a bath for her, quickly filling up the nearly five feet in diameter porcelain tub.
When Sasuke stood up and came to meet eyes with her, the pinked haired kunoichi instinctively cowered back. The black haired man tsked and motioned for her to step in. Sakura obeyed and waited for the inevitable: when he came in to join her.
"Clean yourself, I'll be back to check on you in twenty minutes," was all he said before standing up and stepping out.
Sakura was in awe of this freedom. He never let her bathe alone, always wanting to join her or even just stand by watching with the door open.
She…didn't know what to think of this development.
What was she supposed to think? That his conscious had finally started grating on him, to treat her just a little bit more like another human being?
No…that didn't sound like him.
Was he…trying to trick her into a false sense of security?
That one actually sounded plausible.
But Sakura was too tired to delve any further into this; her mind and body were still quite tired from Sasuke's earlier attention. She just wanted to soak and let the hot water envelop her.
And that's exactly what she did.
She took her time in lathering on the shampoo in her hair and then the body wash, rubbing the soapy slough deep into her skin so as to mask the dirty grime that had just occurred on it. The soap, shampoo, and conditioner all smelled of vanilla and cinnamon, for that was what Sasuke claimed her "scent" was. Sakura had originally been unaccustomed to the scents because she'd always liked unscented things in the past…but she'd gotten used to it by now.
She'd gotten used to so much of Sasuke by now.
A heavy sigh escaped Sakura's lips as she let the hot water run down her entire body, flushing away the soap.
Just who exactly was this man?
And why did he care so much about her?
She wasn't particularly pretty looking, having very little breasts and hardly any curves. At her best, she just looked cute. So what made her appeal to him?
HELLO, HE'S A CRAZY PERSON. What other reasoning do you need? Inner Sakura chided.
The pinkette couldn't help smiling at this thought. Yeah, if nothing else, the fact that he'd chosen her proved, more than anything else, that he was insane.
Too soon the twenty minutes came up and Sakura's haven was disrupted by a loud racking of knuckles upon her door. The girl immediately stood up in the tub, covering her breasts while doing so. She wrapped a towel around herself before opening the door of the bathroom.
Sasuke wasn't there anymore but a stack of folded clothes and one white towel was, placed right on the dry ground outside.
Sasuke didn't have to wait long before the girl came out dressed in the clothes he'd given her.
The man immediately smiled.
Sakura deadpanned. Wh-what was making him so happy? He never looked at her like that. She looked down at herself. Was it because of the clothes she was wearing? He had never given her this outfit before but it didn't seem too special:
-a red zip up vest top that was sleeveless.
-tight thigh high leggings, like athletic wear for bottoms, on top of which was a sported pink sliced skirt.
-on her right legging was a series of white wraps securing a leather pouch that seemed to be made for carrying shinobi tools but now was empty.
-and last she had black simple boots that reached to just below her knees.
The entire ensemble said battle wear but Sasuke didn't seem to see it as that.
No, instead he drew close to her with dark heavy lidded eyes to seal her lips with his.
The kiss swept through Sakura and she cowered back, without thinking. Immediately Sasuke's palms locked behind her head, keeping her against him as he whispered menacingly: "BEHAVE."
Sakura whimpered in despair but stayed where she was until he'd had his fill of her. When Sasuke finally separated, her mouth was swollen and red from abuse. Her hand came to instinctively cover the sensitive lips and Sasuke just smirked.
He forced her head into the crook of his neck, right beneath his chin and Sakura didn't bother fighting him. His arms suddenly scooped her up into his hold and Sakura cowered in fear from the sudden loss of balance but still didn't fight.
All she could hear, as her head rested against Sasuke's chest, was his raging heart line.
"Don't let go of me," was all he gave as a warning before Sakura felt the world around her melting.
They were travelling using chakra.
In a way, it was almost like teleportation. They moved at break neck speeds for a moment, seemingly vanishing before an untrained eye before stopping and then moving at the same speed again.
Sakura couldn't even distinguish her surroundings outside of the aura of power that completely encapsulated her and Sasuke. Everything just looked like a blur of shapes and colors to her unseeing eyes.
She'd spent too much time not training that she'd forgotten how to see through Chakra and justu anymore. Sakura couldn't believe how much she'd regressed, without even realizing it!
She knew this was Sasuke's fault too. If he hadn't kidnapped her…
…who knows how much she would have learned by now from the Fifth Mizukage?
Now's your chance. Today, you're finally outside! When you get the chance, run as far as you can from this psycho! Inner Sakura shouted.
But how? He still was eons stronger than her since he'd crippled all her chakra points and if she failed to escape, she would be in for a world of hurt from him.
…oh yeah. Inner Sakura conceded despairingly. Well…maybe, you should try to earn his trust, let him think that you've grown completely dependent to him, so then he would give you more slack…and then you could run and find help from someone!
From who though? She asked herself as her myriad of surroundings turned from dark black square-looking shapes to dark green. They must have been travelling in the forest by now.
Inner Sakura contemplated the question on who could possibly help her…Tsunade could, if you could just somehow get a message to the woman. Or maybe even some of your comrades from Ninja Academy?
Sakura wondered if any of them still remembered her.
You have to at least try. Inner Sakura chided and Sakura knew she was right. She had to try-
-which meant she had to gain more of Sasuke's trust.
Sakura shivered, not entirely out of insincerity, from the chill night air and cuddled closer inside of Sasuke's grip. Immediately, a surge of warm emotion erupted from where her face met his throat line and the dark haired man couldn't help smiling at the simple action.
There were few times in Sasuke Uchiha's life in which he found himself genuinely happy. The majority of the times he found himself in one such time…was when he was with this girl.
The hooting of an owl woke Sakura up.
She gasped awake and found that she was in silk bed. The padding beneath her was soft and obviously cotton filled while the coverlets drawn to above her breasts were made of white satin. She turned on her side and saw that Sasuke was resting next to her.
She must have fallen asleep during the trip here, wherever 'here' was.
Sakura gently sat up, careful not to wake Sasuke, to look around.
By the looks of the decorated fixtures on the walls, the ornate paintings and even the small koi tank in the back, Sakura guessed this was some kind of inn. The mattress she was on was huge and obviously made for a couple. Why had Sasuke checked out this room for them?
Some sort of pseudo-anniversary vacation?
She almost laughed at the absurdity of that idea. Celebrating the year of her captivity? As if.
And yet, as Sakura looked back down to see Sasuke's sleeping, tranquil expression…a part of her heart couldn't help wrenching in…sour melancholy. And almost…pity.
Just what exactly was it that had happened to him, to make him treat her like this?
Why did he have to take her…so obsessively? Why did he have to hurt her?
Sakura could tell that just with his looks and powerful chakra moves, she would have admired him easily from afar. If not fallen in love with.
So then why?
Sakura sank back down into the silk mattress, much to Inner Self's anger: NO! Don't get back down! Use this moment to runaway, while he's asleep!
He's probably got some trap justu laid across the threshold of the door, she argued truthfully. She could feel no restraint on any of her limbs right now which meant the man must have taken some other precaution to prevent her from leaving, should she wake up while he was asleep.
Or perhaps he wasn't even really asleep right now.
The man was too careful for her to take a risk in outsmarting.
Inner Sakura was about to rise again in absolute fury, about to bring up a slew of insults about her being a spineless cowardly shell of her past self-
And besides, running away would do nothing to help her endeavor in getting him to trust her, would it?
Inner Sakura fell silent at this.
Remembering her vow to lure him into trusting her, Sakura decided that now was just as good as any to put the plan into motion.
Regardless of how she felt for the man, Sakura knew she had to get away from him. It was the best healthiest option for her…and probably him too. No one should be as obsessed about anyone else, as he was with her.
Thinking that Sasuke was most likely not asleep all the way, the pink haired girl purposely lowered her head and brushed her lips against his forehead, kissing him chastely in an adoring manner.
This was the first time she'd ever done such a thing to him, her captor and it sickened Sakura on the inside when she thought about it…but she kept this from leaking in her actions.
Now was not the time to be emotional.
She sunk into the bed deeper and curled herself up against his front, while wrapping her arms around his waist to draw him in closer.
A sigh of content reached her ears and Sakura wondered if it was genuine or not. There was after all no way she could tell if he was truly asleep or not without him revealing it.
And he didn't.
Sasuke stayed motionless, chest rising and falling in a normal resting manner and Sakura wondered if all of this was just a waste of time for her.
It would do her no good to feign affection to him when he wasn't even aware of it!
Patience. Patience. Her Inner self chided in quick. Don't get bogged down by minor inflections. Even if he doesn't know this, just consider it as practice.
If someone had told Sakura, a year ago, that she would one day be pretending to love a man that had raped and kidnapped her, she would have probably pounded that person within an inch of their life. For underestimating her.
Because back then Sakura took pride in taking care of herself. She took care of all her problems using honest methods. And while that didn't mean she had never lied before, especially when it came to enemies, Sakura preferred to solve her problems head on, instead of with chicanery.
Like she was doing right now.
How could she have fallen so much that pretending to have Stockholm Syndrome was the only way for her to avoid pain?
And suddenly, she was crying within his chest.
Sakura didn't mean to but the tears refused to stop and she sobbed into his white half-zipped shirt like it was the only thing good in the world.
How pathetic was she that the only thing she could find comfort in was the very person that had caused her this misery?
She hated herself for who she had become and she hated the man before her for turning her into this but she didn't know how to revert back.
Sakura buried her head into the crook of Sasuke's neck and cried out all the misery in her heart.
Sasuke stayed completely motionless against her.
Yes, he had been awake from the instance she'd woken up…but had chosen to remain still when he'd felt her cuddling up close to him. What was she up to? He'd thought to himself, for he wasn't foolish to think she had actually fallen for him after everything that had happened. And yet, she drew even closer to him, choosing to revel inside his unconscious hold instead of say staying as far away on the other side of the bed (as she'd always previously done whenever he chose to lay down with her).
How was he supposed to make of this?
When she started crying Sasuke nearly lost all resolve…but he remained still and let her just cry everything out.
He was never good with her when she was sobbing, namely because he'd never dealt with sobbing girls before her.
"Don't leave me! If you go…I'll scream and-"
Sasuke blanched at the memory, pushing it back. In Sakura's depressed state, she didn't notice his slight movement and thought he was still asleep.
Sakura moved so that the right side of her face fell right up against the unzipped section of his white shirt that had turned almost gray from too many washes and usage. She now sobbed right against his skin as she spoke weak and pitifully: "I don't know what I did to you to deserve this…but I just…wish you would stop…"
She was speaking softly and hardly enough for anyone to hear, unless they were awake.
"I just wish I knew who you were."
