Disclaimer: ...not even.


7. As If It Were Yesterday


A little over an hour later, Sasuke could see lights from the city. While running, he never stopped to tell the others where he was going. He realized now that he probably should have.

Oh well. Too late for that idea.

Sasuke slowed his pace a mile away from where people were. While walking, he fixed his hair and brushed off any dirt on his cloths. He wasn't too concerned with how he was dressed for public—it was late, so most people wouldn't care anyway. And for the ones that did—well, he couldn't say he looked like a slob.

Sasuke's feet led him blindly throughout the city, showing him how it had transformed in a matter of hours. He passed the night club that the group had gone to a while back. Even now, months later, he could still remember how Sakura had felt against his body, the sensations that had flowed between their bodies, pulsing to the music. It seemed as if that night were only yesterday. Those moments, he recalled, had felt good and insane at the same time. He had danced with girls before when he and Naruto once snuck into a night club junior year. Those girls didn't compare to Sakura. He didn't think there would be one that would.

Minutes later, he came across the local park. Sasuke walked towards the center of it, staring up at the large tree. He sat down, looking out over the distance. The lights twinkled, looking like fireflies frozen in midair—a totally different atmosphere than the last time he sat in this very spot.

.

.

.

Sasuke and Sakura were walking through the city, she giving him a personal tour. They had passed at least five different restaurants.

"So why can't we eat food, again?" Sasuke asked. Sakura sighed sharply; he had already asked this twice so far that day.

"Because it'll be like eating toxic dirt. You could eat it, but it won't be any good." Soon, they came up to a public park in the middle of the area of the part of Paris that they were in. The two walked up to a large oak tree and sat down under it. Sakura lay back, putting her hands behind her head, crossing her ankles, closing her eyes. As she stretched back, her shirt came up a bit to sow some of her stomach. With the position she was in, Sasuke could make out almost every curve of her body. The skin on her stomach looked smooth, her pink hair silky.

Sasuke didn't even realize he was trying to imagine what these two areas would feel like under his finger tips.

Sasuke's wandering eyes moved from her legs to her torso to her hair, eyes, and then her slightly parted lips. He stared at them. 'They're probably really soft,' he thought to himself. Without even realizing it, he himself started to lean forward, parting his own lips only slightly, closer—

.

.

.

Sasuke blinked, forcing the images out of his mind. The last thing he needed was to be thinking such thoughts. It seemed that every time he thought about her, or acted upon his instincts, it all ended too quickly. The last time he was here, he had nearly kissed her. He would have done it, too, had he not remembered who he was and that at the time, she was still wearing the engagement ring to Deidara. And then there was the club, when their better judgment was thrown out the window. The dancing, extreme grinding, the taste of the skin on her neck, and the atmosphere itself had driven Sasuke to the point of delirium. The man couldn't deny that their actions probably would have gone further had it not been for Itachi, Naruto, and Hinata getting tired.

He also couldn't forget what he did at the airport. The first time, when he took his chances and kissed her goodbye. He knew it would feel nice. But it felt like more. When their lips touched, the ache in his chest grew, a desperate need taking over. The overwhelming disappointment that this was the first and last time. It had been so short. When they had been reunited later, and they were loading on the bikes, he could feel almost every inch of her against him.

There was no denying that Sakura had a major affect on him. The real question was just how much. For all Sasuke knew, she could do anything and it would make him want her. If she only knew what she did, there was no telling what she'd be able to get him to do. He was that weak, and he damn well knew it.

Sasuke ran a hand through his hair, sighing out loud. Then he stopped. Slowly, he breathed in through his nose, smelling the air. He coughed violently, nearly having a gag reflex. Something in the air smelled really, really bad. And Sasuke doubted that it was from the dumpsters a few blocks over. 'What the hell is that?' he thought. Whatever it was, it was purely disgusting. It almost reminded Sasuke of an experiment back in his sophomore year of high school in Honors Biology when they dissected they baby pigs. Except this was stronger, and definitely did not have chemicals in it. Remembering what Sakura mentioned earlier, Sasuke tried to listen for anything strange off in the distance.

"How long is this gonna take?"

Slowly, Sasuke rose to his feet, listening harder.

"Well, excuse me. You could help, you know."

Sasuke easily determined the voices were male and female. Judging by the pitches of them, the male had to be around his age, possibly a little older. The girl however, was just that: a girl. Probably ten, maybe eleven. Sasuke turned slowly, listening for more of the conversation, trying to pin-point its location. 'I bet they're the ones to blame for the smell,' he thought to himself. An old memory triggered his mind just then, of when he was here with Sakura. Another time, but a similar situation. Trusting his instincts, Sasuke followed the conversation, almost positive on where it would lead him.

"There is no way you can get me to touch that thing," the male stated, clearly disgusted by whatever he was seeing. Sasuke quickened his pace, doing his best to stay quiet, so as not to be detected.

"You are such a pansy! My goodness, Tim, you freak out over the smallest things. I mean, really, it's just a body—nothing I'm sure you can't handle."

At that point, Sasuke knew where they were, immediately remembering the path Sakura had showed him when they found the two empty graves a year ago. He remembered that Sakura had tried linking the grave robberies to the group known as Akatsuki. The man sprinted, silent even to his own ears as he picked up on more of what the two were saying. Luckily, he was able to remember the way to the cemetery.

When he got close enough, he noticed that the gates were locked—gates that were ten feet high, almost impossible to climb. Carefully, he leapt over the steel-bared gates surrounding the area. Once landing quietly on the balls of his feet, he hid behind a tree, his eyes roaming the flat land. In the light of the moon, he caught two silhouettes not too far from where he stood. From his hiding spot, Sasuke watched the two figures in the center of the cemetery, guessing they were a good quarter of a mile away. the girl stood with her hands on her hips, a pile of dirt and grass nest to her, a shovel thrown beside it. She was definitely young and very small for her size, too.

The man behind her wasn't much different. Tall, lanky, not much on him. His arms were crossed; both were very relaxed.

In front of them was a large hole. Sasuke put his hand over his nose and mouth, trying to block out the smell of rotting flesh. He could almost see the stench rising out of the ground. How were those two not repulsed by it? Even if they didn't have heightened senses like himself, they still had to be able to smell it—were they used to something like this? Sasuke deeply hoped that wasn't it. He never thought that people so young would involve themselves in something so . . . well, disgusting for lack of a better word.

"Sick," Sasuke mumbled under his breath.

The man's head shot up, turning around in an instant. "Who's there?"


School got out yesterday. After everyone else in the freaking country. Stupid schools...

Anyway, I'm going to change the way I make this story: for the past few years, I've been writting everything down in a notebook, and then retyping it all into the computer. But after doing More To The Eye all on the computer, and making this story's storyline on the computer as well, I figure I'm just going to go ahead and switch over completely. It makes things easier, and I've realized that I'll have chapters posted faster this way. So, expect more :).

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