A/N: Hope this chapter makes up for the last.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Demon's Fall

Summary: Sakura's life is a living hell. Sasuke, a demon from hell, is sent to earth to help Sakura through her awful life. Just one rule, they can't fall in love with each other. SasuSaku.

Chapter 4 – Help

A few hours later, brilliant jade eyes fluttered open.

Sakura blinked a couple of times, her blurry vision becoming clear as she gazed at her surroundings. She noticed that she was inside a house sleeping on a… bed? She sat up, blood rushing to her head, causing her head to throb slightly.

W-What? Where… am I…? she looked around nervously before recognizing the surroundings. Wait a second… I'm at—

"Hey, Sakura-chan, you're finally awake!" came the distinct loud voice of Uzumaki Naruto.

"Naruto?" she murmured, glancing at his deep cerulean pupils. She then saw his expression turn from cheery to serious. "Something wrong?"

He gazed at her for a few seconds before shaking his head slowly side to side. The pink-haired girl cocked her head to the side as Naruto lifted his face, eyes locking back on her face.

"Your cheek… did that bastard hurt you?"

Sakura put a hand on her cheek, wincing when she felt the bruise there. "Don't worry about it, it was nothing…" Seeing his disapproval gaze, she shrugged him off prior to starting with another question. "Err… what am I doing here?"

"Oh, I found you last night sleeping when I was taking a 'nightly stroll.' You scared me there! For a second, I thought you were dead!" Naruto exclaimed, having walked up to her, tightly grasping her shoulders. "What were you doing out there?! You could've come to me you know!"

Oh yeah…I could've come to Naruto's… Sakura thought, mentally scolding herself for not thinking of that.

"I… just didn't want to wake you up." She lied lamely, her face lowering as pink tresses covered her expression.

"Sakura-chan…" he lowered his voice, his eyes saddening. "I hate seeing you like this. Why don't you just leave your dad and come stay with me? You know I wouldn't mind…"

Sakura shook her head at his offer, "I don't want to be a burden to you, Naruto."

I don't want you hurt if he comes after you for helping me… she mentally added.

The blond-haired teen kept his cerulean gaze on her, his hands tightening their grip slightly on her shoulders. "Sakura-chan, come on. You know that he couldn't do anything to you if you didn't live with him!"

The pink-haired girl nodded, "I know, Naruto… but I'm not going to cower from him and hide." Her emerald eyes flashed, "I'm not a weak little girl anymore."

Naruto wasn't pleased at her answer, "Of course you aren't weak! But that's not the point, Sakura-chan… I'm tired of seeing you hurt and just sitting there and not doing anything!"

Sakura smiled, "Thank you, Naruto… but it's fine. Really. Don't worry about me." She climbed out of the bed she had been resting on and stood on her feet. "Thanks again, you know, for taking me in. I'll be going now, you-know-who's going to be wondering where I was."

Naruto opened his mouth to protest but Sakura held her hand up to silence him. She smiled at him as a sign of her appreciation before leaving her best friend's abode.

She roamed the streets of Konohagakure silently, using the free time she had to stall herself from going to back to her father's house. People glanced at oddly when they saw the wound on her cheek. Some asked about it, but Sakura shook her head and made up a lame excuse. She shook it off when people continued to gaze at her worriedly, giving them a fake smile to calm their worries.

"Hey, forehead girl!" Sakura heard Ino's voice call out.

Sakura glanced at her best friend, a smile forming it's way on her face. "Hey, Ino-pig," she joked teasingly.

The said blonde frowned as she drew closer as Sakura, piercing ice blue eyes gazed upon the girl's face. "Sakura… did he do that to you?" she asked, pointing to her bruised cheek with her index finger.

Sakura put a hand to cover her cheek. I need to go home and take care of this bruise, she thought to herself, tired of people asking her the same question.

"No, Ino… I just was careless, that's all."

Sky colored pupils looked at her sorrowfully. "I'm tired of seeing you hurt—"

Sakura let out a bitter laugh, cutting her off. "You too, eh? Naruto told me the same thing earlier."

The young Yamanaka looked at her questioningly, "You stayed with him?"

The carnation-haired girl shook her head, "I… went out of the house to take a breath of fresh air. I fell asleep and Naruto found me and took me to his house. I just left a while ago."

"In other words, Tetsuki got drunk and you left not wanting to get an unnecessary beating and have to make up excuses for it. Then you fell asleep and Naruto took you in," Ino corrected, knowing what Sakura had really meant.

"You can just read me like a book, huh, Ino-pig?" the latter replied, giving her friend a fake smile.

Ino frowned, "Sakura, I don't want you going back there."

"Look, I told my dad I had a meeting with the Hokage. He expects me back, if I'm not, he'll come looking for me and that'll only provoke him to beat hard… well, harder."

And I really don't want that… she thought to herself.

You know, Naruto and Ino-pig make tons of sense. Just stay with one of them, you know they won't mind! Inner Sakura cut in.

You know why I can't do that… Sakura retorted to her alter ego.

"Then I'm going back with you." Her tone was laced with stubbornness, folding her arms over her chest. "That way, you'll be safe," she added. "You can just explain that you met me on the way back, no big deal."

Sakura shook her head, "I don't want to be a burden. Really, it's f—"

"Don't even try and talk me out of it. I'm coming, and that's that." She cut her off, determined not to change her answer.

Sakura shrugged, knowing that there was no point to argue with the blonde-haired girl, especially since she could be really stubborn. The two girls walked back to Tetsuki's house silently side by side, both not knowing what to say to each other.

When they reached the door, Sakura bit her lip in a nervous manner as she raised her fist, knocking gently against the wood. The door opened almost a second later, like the person behind it was waiting for the knock, and Tetsuki's form came into view.

"Sakura, what took you so long?" he asked suspiciously, changing his tone when he saw Ino beside her. "You had me worried," he added with feign worry in a convincing manner.

Ino mentally rolled her eyes. Sure, to someone who didn't know Haruno Tetsuki was abusive, they would've thought that he was just a worried parent, but the Yamanaka girl knew better.

"Hokage-sama needed her at the office overnight and when she left she and I crossed paths. I decided to tag along with her, do you mind, Haruno-san?"

"No, of course not, come on in," he replied simply, stepping aside to let the two girls inside.

Ino shook her head, not moving an inch. "Actually, Haruno-san, Tsunade-sama needs Sakura back and I'm going with her to assist. We were just stopping by to let you know that."

Sakura nodded, silently making note to thank Ino later. After all, she knew it was a lie.

Tetsuki glanced at his daughter with an ominous look before nodding. "You should get going then," the male Haruno said. Just as the pair was about to turn their backs, he added, "Oh, Sakura?" Said girl turned upon hearing her name. "I need to speak with you for a moment." Seeing Ino follow her, Tetsuki added, "Alone, if you don't mind, Ino."

The girl halted her steps as Sakura sent Ino a worried look before glancing back at her father. "O-Okay," she meekly replied.

Ino bit her lip, worried for her best friend. Please, don't come out hurt, Sakura… she pleaded in her mind.

Tetsuki pulled Sakura aside, making sure they were out of Ino's view. He pulled her inside the house, closing the door so they could have their "privacy." Once he did so, the man scowled at her.

"Don't think you're getting away so easily," he growled in a threatening tone. "When you come back, you're going to tell me why you left the house last night, understand?" Upon the last word he gripped her arm in a manner so tight Sakura could feel her blood flow discontinue.

She helplessly whimpered quietly, nodding her head rapidly. He shoved her roughly into the wall behind her as the pink-haired girl felt a bruise forming at her back.

Ino, having heard the noise, burst inside. "What's going on?" she instantly questioned, absent-mindedly glaring at Mr. Haruno.

"Sakura!" he exclaimed, covering up his abusive act. "You should be more careful next time, you could seriously hurt yourself."

Sakura groaned from the searing pain in her back, "Yeah, sorry," she mumbled, following Ino out the door while rubbing her back to ease the pain. When she and the blonde were out of her father's view, the latter glowered heavily.

"He hurt you again, didn't he!"

Sakura heard the serious hatred etched deep Ino's voice. "Stop worrying, will you! I'm fine! It's just a bruise!"

"That's what you say everyday!" the blonde-haired beauty was beginning to get frustrated. "I'm going to tell someone, Sakura, I'm sick of this!"

Upon hearing the words, the abused victim clamped her hand over Ino's mouth, harshly whispering to her, "If you really care for me, you won't say anything, understand?"

Ino's icy look saddened, pulling Sakura's hand off her mouth, not speaking another word.

Then, realization dawned the blossom-haired girl. Where's Sasuke?

Inner Sakura rolled her eyes, Oh, now you notice!

Sakura glanced around in search for the raven-haired demon, ignoring Ino's confused expression. "Where is he…?" she murmured, not realizing she had said it out loud.

Her companion, hearing this, gave her an even more baffled look. "Where is who? Your father? Don't worry, Sakura, he's not following you, you're just being paranoid."

"What?" Sakura said, glancing at Ino before realizing what she had said out loud by accident, "Oh yeah, you're probably right." She gave her a fake smile before continuing looking for Sasuke.

Maybe he left, she concluded. …But, why would he?

Inner Sakura sighed, Wow, look at you! You've gotten really attached to him, haven't you? You're pretty clingy to him. If he left, it's not that surprising. I mean seriously, did you honestly believe that we ever had a chance to get out of the hell we live in? I'm even smarter than that!

But, weren't you the one who told me to trust him? To give him a chance?

I didn't think you'd actually listen! Since when do you listen to me, anyway?

I was 'clingy' to him… damn it, I'm not a burden to anyone!

"Forehead girl? Hello?" approached Yamanaka's voice, snapping her fingers in front of the pink-haired girl's face.

Sakura blinked her apple green orbs for a few seconds, bringing her out of her thoughts. "H-Huh? Ino? What is it?"

Said friend looked at her curiously, blinking her eyes. "What were you thinking about?"

The Haruno lass shook her head, "That's not important. Were you saying something? Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

Ino shook her head, "Don't worry about it. I was just saying that you should check up on Tsunade-sama to see if she really does need you to do anything."

Sakura gave her friend another pretend smile, "Yeah, you're right. Now that I think about it, Ino… thanks, for helping me back there with my bastard dad."

Her comrade gave her a breathtaking smile. "It was nothing."

A silence dawned the two as they made their way towards the Hokage Mansion.

If I could survive this long with my dad… she thought, and still be able to deal with it… She pursed her lips silently as she continued her thoughts.

Maybe… I don't need Sasuke, after all…