AN: ... Yeah, I don't have anything to say, but I always put this here, so enjoy!


Chapter Four: Resistance

That night, Sakura woke up to Sasuke screaming. Shuffling around absent mindedly in her sleeping bag, Sakura finally released herself from its confines and turned over to see Sasuke shaking and sweating. His entire body was trembling in fear as he muttered things she couldn't understand. Frightened, Sakura shook him

"Sasuke!"

"Sasuke! Wake up, you're having a nightmare!"

Sensing a change in his unconscious state, Sakura leaned back. Suddenly, Sasuke's eyes opened, and the bright red of his sharingan was boring through her. Immobilized by genjutsu, Sakura panicked, realizing Sasuke was still asleep… His sharingan shouldn't even be able to work… and yet, she was slipping further and further into his genjutsu.

Unable to fight it any longer, Sakura fell on top of him, lost in his genjutsu. As she stood in a shadowy room, Sakura realized she was already in the jutsu. Trying to understand how he activated his sharingan in his sleep, Sakura thought back through all the ingredients in the medicine she made…

"Damn it!" Sakura muttered.

One of the drugs she had given him was a hallucinogen, but one that normally affected very few people, but when it did, it took hold of them. Looking around, Sakura finally noticed the child in the floor, crying.

"Sasuke?" Sakura whispered. The child looked up at her, startled, but before she could reach out for him everything was changing. She was in a strange world where she couldn't tell what was up or down and everything was black.

"Sakura."

Sakura turned around and saw Sasuke standing a few meters behind her. He was looking at her, seeing her clearly, his sharingan activated. Seeing his reflection in the shiny black surface beneath them, Sakura glanced at her own, surprised to see her old outfit and yet, long hair.

"Sasuke," she said, her voice startled, "What is this?"

Sasuke looked around as if he were seeing something that she wasn't. "I don't know."

Suddenly, Sakura slipped, and as she fell through the endless black, memories flashed before her. His brother leaving him after telling him to kill his best friend for power, Sasuke looking at her thirteen year old self as she told him she loved him, Naruto unconscious beneath him and Orochimaru handing him a katana. Everything seemed to fade into the background except the blade. As she stared at it, blood began to fleck its shiny silver surface until it was drenched in red. Feeling the tears rushing down her skin, Sakura finally stopped falling and saw Sasuke raising his bloodied sword to her, clearly feeling his intent to kill her should she attack. Alarmed, Sakura tried to call out to him, but she couldn't. She was trapped with no way to communicate.

The scene faded away again and all that was left was Sasuke in the endless black void on his knees, his head in his hands and tears streaming down his skin. The memories were no longer wisps of smoke too distant for him to recall, but suffocating him.

"Sasuke!" Sakura cried, realizing the drug was tormenting him with his memories.

She rushed to his side, but the floor she couldn't see seemed to collapse beneath her making her fall. It was like it was turning so she was sliding away from Sasuke, so that she couldn't reach him.

"Sasuke! You have to take my hand!" Sakura yelled, trying to get through to him. "You can't break this genjutsu alone… because you cast it. You have to take my hand!"

Barely hanging on, Sakura saw Sasuke glance down at her, his face an expression of agony… but he saw her.

"Sasuke! You have to hold onto me! Or we'll both be lost in this… please, Sasuke," she said.

Just when Sakura felt she couldn't hold on any longer, she felt Sasuke's hand grab her wrist and pull her into his arms.

Sakura felt a deep breath of air spread through her veins as she panted against Sasuke's chest. She could feel the bed beneath her, and smell the alcohol Sasuke cleaned with the night before… they were back in the room. Looking up at him, Sakura pressed her hand to his forehead and felt the fever getting worse.

"Sasuke!"

Lying him back on the bed, Sakura put him into an induced coma while she desperately tried to reduce the fever and calm his mind.

Finally stabilizing him, Sakura stared down at his face, red streaks running down his skin. Sakura held back her tears as she realized what she did to him before she thrust herself down against his chest and held him, the pain he felt still fresh in her mind.

Holding him tighter, Sakura tried to get the images out of her mind. Everything Sasuke had suppressed was now in the forefront of both of their minds and Sakura was having a hard time accepting what she had seen. Itachi… how could Sasuke have… dealt with such a thing? And seeing her from his perspective… shocked her. She had had so much of an impact on Sasuke that he felt the need to bury the memory? Fisting her hands in his robe, Sakura resisted the urge to wake him up and hug him.

When Sasuke finally woke up on his own, Sakura was sitting beside him with her knees crossed, meditating. Noticing him, she opened her eyes and looked over.

Sasuke sat up and rubbed his head. "Did something happen last night?"

Sakura smiled. "You just had a bit of a nightmare."

Sasuke nodded and disappeared into the bathroom. When he returned, Sakura handed him a plate of breakfast and sat down with him to eat.

"I remember when you used to have nightmares when we were genin," Sakura said.

Sasuke hmphed.

Sakura thought back to those times, recalling how it scared her… she had no idea how terrible they actually were though. Maybe if she had understood them she would have understood why Sasuke felt so obligated to leave.

"It's funny," Sakura went on, "how ever since that night you woke up with Naruto sleeping curled up next to you they seemed to stop."

Sasuke actually laughed. "Yeah, because I was too scared to fall asleep and find the dobe snuggled up next to me again."

Sakura stared at him, wondering if the reflux of memories had made Sasuke a little more like his old self. Either way, she was glad he had smiled.

Sakura chuckled too, responding, "You started to only sleep with me in the middle after that."

Sasuke smiled, but it faded soon. "Yeah, but that didn't last long."

As if his mind had been plunged back into darkness again, Sasuke's smile was gone.

"I know why you left, Sasuke, but that's all in the past now. Itachi wanted you to return… you can do that now. You don't have to be alone anymore. Naruto is busy and all, but we will still see him. We could all go out for ramen again…"

Sasuke leaned back on the bed, staring at the ceiling as he listened to Sakura talk. He could envision everything she said, and as he did, he felt himself smiling… until he realized it was all nothing but a dream that he could see as he fell asleep…

A few days later Sakura sat down beside Sasuke to begin another session of pouring all of her chakra into him to combat the poison since she couldn't give him the medicine. This was a tedious way of treating him, but clearly necessary since she almost killed him the other night. It took nearly an hour, but afterward, Sasuke seemed to be feeling much better. Leaning against the head board, exhausted, Sakura smiled.

"You know, Sasuke, everyone will be happy to see you back in the village," she said.

Sasuke seemed lost in thought and asked, "What about Naruto?"

Recalling the last time they saw each other, Sakura felt her heart grow cold and a great desire to comfort Sasuke.

"Of course he will," Sakura said, feeling drowsy. "He was the one who sent me on this mission after all."

Watching him carefully, Sakura thought for a moment he looked sad.

"He has become Hokage, you know," Sakura said.

Sasuke looked up at her, surprised.

"And the wedding is in a few months," Sakura said, not catching Sasuke's eyes widening in shock, "everyone was hoping you would be back in time for it."

Sasuke turned away from her. "So… you and Naruto?"

Sakura's eyes shot open and flew to his back before she laughed. "Naruto has been dating Hinata Hyuuga for years now… How could you think me and Naruto…"

Sakura felt wide awake now after hearing Sasuke's tone… he seemed shocked and confused, and it made her equally confused.

"Why did you seem so shocked, Sasuke?" she asked.

Sasuke turned back to her and smirked. "It was just the thought of you and Naruto… it made my stomach turn."

Sakura laughed. "Yeah, makes me sick too."

"You know, Sasuke," Sakura said, curling up on the bed. "I'm really glad you're coming back."

Sasuke looked at Sakura, curled neatly on the bed, and couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

"What is it, Sasuke?" she asked, sensing his eyes on her.

"Nothing. I'm just glad you're not with Naruto."

Sakura laughed and asked him why, but he didn't answer her.

Picking up a magazine, Sasuke stared at it, trying to make out the images. His vision had begun slowly coming back to him as Sakura had begun to break down the source of the genjutsu, and he was surprised at how quickly he was beginning to see. He thought the massive presence of foreign chakra in his body was also speeding along the progress.

Sakura got up and mentioned she was going to take a shower, and as she moved across the room, Sasuke could almost make out her pink hair. He couldn't understand it, but for some reason, every time she recalled some old memory, or said something familiar, a memory he had long forgotten was rushed to the forefront of his mind and seemed to overwhelm him. He felt like his mind was at war with itself, fighting over whether to suppress the memories or hold onto them…

Sasuke sighed, realizing he had zoned out. Hearing the bathroom door open, Sakura walked out, and he realized that he could see her much more clearly than before.

Soon, Sakura was walking from the bathroom to her clothes wearing nothing but a towel. Suddenly, Sasuke's vision was perfect. He could see the water droplets dripping down her skin, the wet tendrils of hair cascading down her back, the soft swell of her breasts under her towel, the curve of her hips….

"Can you see me?"

Sasuke's eyes snapped on hers for a moment before he immediately looked away. He could sense Sakura's blush as she grabbed her clothes and rushed back into the bathroom.

"So you can see better?" Sakura asked upon returning.

Sasuke nodded.

"Good, I need your help," she said.

Handing Sasuke some ointment, Sakura glanced at him nervously, still awkwardly aware of the way he was looking at her earlier, before she pulled up her shirt. "I got a wound the other day when I went out… it doesn't seem to respond to my chakra, so I will have to let it heal on its own."

Sakura winced as she touched the long gash just along her rib cage

"I don't see a wound, Sakura," Sasuke said.

Sakura lay down, "You need to use your sharingan."

Sasuke frowned. "Are you sure that I can?"

Sakura nodded and watched as he activated it and winced a bit at the pain. "I see it… what is this from Sakura?"

"Umm, it was a genjutsu trap," she said.

Sasuke seemed to stare at is a bit longer than necessary before he dabbed on the ointment across her entire torso.

"Thank you," she muttered, standing up. Feeling Sasuke's hand grab her, she realized he was behind her and pressed his other against her ribs, frowning.

"Why didn't you tell me you got hurt," he said, closer to her than he had ever been.

Sakura turned around and watched as his sharingan faded and she muttered, "It's nothing, really."

Then, unsure of what exactly he was doing, Sasuke touched his hand to her face, and looked at her, trying to see the little girl he used to know in this woman.

Sakura looked at him like he was having some kind of mental lapse, and for a moment, Sasuke almost leaned in to kiss her, forgetting momentarily who this beautiful woman before him was…

As if she suddenly understood something, Sakura's expression became relaxed, and Sasuke's senses became unclouded as he saw Sakura and recalled the scar she had kept hidden.

"You know, don't you?" she asked.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at her. "Why didn't you tell me, Sakura? I can tell my sharingan caused that wound, I just don't know how you got it."

Sakura bowed her head. "I don't think you want to know, Sasuke."

Sasuke felt almost like something foreign was invading his mind as he stepped closer to Sakura. "I want to know about anything that hurts you, Sakura."

Tilting her chin up to him, Sasuke noticed the sparkling green irises shining with confusion.

"Sakura," he murmured, and even as he said it, it sounded like someone else. But Sasuke couldn't stop himself as he pulled her closer to him and kissed her.