Naruto came home to the sight of a frantic Uchiha Sasuke packing his travel bag while simultaneously booking a flight with a probably terrified airport worker. Approaching him cautiously, he watched the dark haired man for any signs of sudden violence before clasping a hand around his shoulder. "Hey, what's going on?" he ventured slowly.
"Sakura's in danger," he answered tersely, shoving past his friend to get to the door.
"Wait, what?" Naruto chased after him. "What do you mean? When did you talk to her? How did you talk to her? You didn't go to hook-up with someone after you left me?"
The stiff glare he received as an answer was enough.
"Okay, okay," he waved his hands, "then just calm down for a second. Let me call Ino. I'm sure it's not as bad as you think—"
"—she was scared."
Naruto stuttered in his movements, eyes falling softly on his hunched over friend. Sasuke wasn't looking at him, his pale, normally steady fingers shaking where they gripped the laces of his shoes. Silently, the blonde waited for him to speak further.
"Sakura doesn't get scared." He shot the quiet man a look. "Not like that." He tried to leave, but Naruto stopped him again, gripping his arm firmly.
"Just let me call Ino to make sure. I believe you," he nodded solemnly, "but I also believe in her friends there. Besides, it's also impossible for you to get there in time." The phone rang several times before a male voice answered.
"Eh? Naruto?" Kiba's crackling voice sounded through the line, "Since when do you have the money to call internationally?" he joked.
"Hey, sorry, we'll have to catch up another time. Is Sakura okay? She called Sasuke earlier," Naruto tightened his grip on the tensing man, "we're just worried. The call got dropped before he could find out what exactly happened."
There was a beat of silence in which Naruto was positive his friend had stopped breathing altogether. And then Kiba's raucous voice boomed through the speaker. "Yeah, she's fine!"
Sasuke dropped to the floor in a heap, head falling between his knees. The heavy rise and fall of his shoulders was enough to understand his overwhelming relief. Naruto tried not to laugh at the intensity of his reaction, patting Sasuke's back comfortingly. The Uchiha half-heartedly shoved his hand away.
"But it was fuckin' scary for a second there," Kiba stated, sounding like even he was confused. "I mean, it was just by chance that I saw her being carried out of the back alley by this dude with glasses. Sai and I were walking over after a couple of drinks at a nearby bar and when we saw her, we stopped the guy to ask what had happened. He was real smiley and polite, but there was something dark about him. I don't know."
"What was his name?" Naruto inquired, eyebrows knitting together.
"Kabuto."
Sasuke looked up at that, murder twisting his normally cool features. The look sent Naruto reeling. What the hell? Shaking it off, he urged Kiba to go on.
"Ah, right, well, Kabuto explained that they're acquaintances from the hospital and he found her passed out in the alleyway. Seems like she may have gotten sick or something. Anyway, he said he was going to take her home since he wasn't sure who she had come with. Makes sense, y'know? And then I said she came with us, so he handed her over. I mean, nothing weird really happened, just the vibes he gave off were freaky. Kind of like he didn't want to hand her over. But that's strange, right?"
"Calm down, teme," Naruto barked, kicking Sasuke's back.
"I dare you to kick me again," he snarled.
The blonde eyed him warily. "Thanks for the update, Kiba. I gotta deal with a pissy Sasuke now. Tell Ino to text me later with updates."
"Sure thing. Good luck with the princess."
"Thanks, I'll need it," he rolled his eyes, snickering at the unconcealed fury on the pale man's face. Hanging up, Naruto dodged a well-aimed lunge. "Why are you still angry? Everything is fine! Sakura is in good hands and that creep Kabuto didn't—"
Sasuke slammed the other man against the wall, glaring daggers. "What do you know?" he sneered coldly, "You weren't listening to her cry. You didn't hear her tell me that he touched her." The fist he had curled in Naruto's collar shook. The emotions were running haywire across his features, uncontrolled and deep. "If he had taken her," the words caught in his throat, dark eyes shaking as he cast them away, "if he took Sakura…the last thing I would've heard from her was an apology." His lips trembled. "Stupid." His voice lowered, barely audible as his eyes glazed over.
"But she's fine." Naruto spoke quietly, trying to erase the pain visibly clawing at his friend.
"She was lucky."
He couldn't argue with that. Ino had mentioned Kabuto's odd behavior and interest in Sakura. And although he was definitely going to chew her out for being a shitty friend, it was probably impossible to understand how Sasuke was feeling. How could he, really? He knew pain, and he knew helplessness, but right now, the sheer anguish on his best friend's face seemed incomparable. It was as if Sakura had become the last remaining thread tying him to sanity.
How much more could be ripped out of his hands before it was too much?
"Sorry," Naruto looked away.
Sasuke was quiet, panting harshly as he tried to reel himself in. It wasn't the blonde's fault. If he hadn't been here, Sasuke probably would've spent several more hours in senseless hysteria. There was nothing logical about his behavior. Shutting his eyes forcefully, he released the other man, stepping away.
"Well, you know," Naruto began, straightening his wrinkled shirt, "I think this was a pretty decent wake up call."
"…ah."
Neither of them said anything more, the silence conveying everything.
"Stay."
He blocked her path. The oddly sweet scent of fading summer twirled around them, warming the space left unclosed. A large red suitcase sat on the front steps, a duffel settled atop it. Her eyes found his own, immediately noting the bruises beneath his normally alert onyx orbs.
Brushing her thumb across the delicate skin, she murmured, "You haven't been sleeping well?"
"Don't ignore me," he pushed her hand aside, latching solidly onto her wrist. "I said stay."
"Sasuke-kun..."
He shook his head, not facing her. "You told me you wouldn't go if I asked." His shoulders shook, but his features remained hidden behind raven locks. "I'm asking you. Don't go. Stay here with me."
Sakura watched him for a long time, feeling his fingers slide down until they no longer grasped her wrist, but instead warmed her hand. Trained digits threaded between her own, clasping tightly. She tilted her head down, pressing her free hand against his cheek. Delicate fingers brushed through his messy hair, pushing it away from his slowly rising face.
"…I can't do that."
"Yes, you can," he retorted, the red of his eyes overtaking more and more of the black. Sakura watched it change, and as it spread faster, so did her resolve solidify.
Her head shook back and forth, almost of its own accord. The heaviness of the silver band around her finger dared to drag her down, told her that she had chosen incorrectly. Sakura shut away the warnings, lips parting gently. "If I left, we would be done…right?"
He scowled. "Marriage takes two people."
She cast her gaze down.
"If you're going to look like that, then why are you leaving?" His hand broke away from hers, suddenly gripping her shoulders crushingly. Their bodies were pressed flush, the ache in his eyes overwhelming. "No one is forcing you."
Those red eyes told a different story.
"Something is. Something I know I can't shy away from." She smiled at him, knowing then and there that she would forever be trapped in a sea of bleeding ink. "I love you more than anything. More than happiness. More than any amount of money or materials. Even more than the promise of marriage." Her hands shook as they lifted back up to caress the planes of his face, trying to soothe away the searing tears burning his cold cheeks. "Please don't cry," Sakura pressed her thumbs against each drop, smudging the trails as if they might scar him should they stay.
"Same to you," he croaked, the stillness of his expression so detached from the endless stream falling from darkening eyes. He brushed away her tears gently. "Are you leaving me because I make you cry?" The question was so innocent, so fragile, that Sakura felt her vision blur.
"I need to do this," she whispered, shutting her eyes, unable to look at him any longer. Unable to stand the visions of him swallowed by darkness. "You have fought against grief and hatred and loneliness over and over again," her lips quivered, forehead lowering to rest against his shoulder, "you escaped so many times. I won't let you lose any more of your light."
"So you'll take it away from me instead?" His words were soft, nearly a trick of the wind fluttering across her ear.
Her eyes burst up, and immediately the worst headache of her life sent her retreating back to the confines of her blanket. What happened last night? A sharp pain in her hands and knees distracted from the headache as she inspected the cleaned and treated wounds. Bandages covered cover legs and her feet appeared to be wrapped in gauze as well.
Just what the hell did she do? Jump off a building?
Sakura snorted at the thought, but then winced at the horrible repercussions of simply moving her head. Wincing, she carefully laid back down, looking around the dark room. The door creaked open and Ino appeared, worried eyes finding hers. "Oh thank god you're awake," she breathed, coming over to sit on the bed. She brushed pink locks off her best friend's face, giving her a tired smile. "You're one serious party animal. We better not let you go out again, Forehead."
"What happened?" she mumbled, achy all over.
"Well," she began softly, so as to not jostle Sakura's probably sensitive head, "from what I heard, that creep Kabuto found you in an alley and was graciously going to drive you home." The skepticism was impossible to miss. "But I call bullshit. I smelled your breath and I know for a fact that you didn't drink a lick of alcohol beyond pre-game. Plus, I think it's more than a little convenient that he was the one who found you. Of all the people to run into, why was Kabuto just wandering around alleyways? Yeah, he's weird, but he's also interested in you which makes everything he does extra strange."
Sakura nodded absently, flashes of color and voice swimming around in her mind. "Before everything starts getting hazy, I remember him apologizing and offering to buy me a drink. It wasn't alcohol so I didn't really think anything of it…," the urge to smack herself grew stronger, "I shouldn't have trusted him. I just wanted to believe he…I don't know. I thought I saw something sincere in him."
"I'd say your judge of character is one of the best," Ino stated definitively, but cautioned with, "you forgive too easily." She wiped at a smudge of dirt on Sakura's cheek. "After this, I think you'd better make sure you're never alone with that guy. Who knows what he'll try next time? Clearly it's not just some crush. And as much as I hate him, I don't think he's into pointless kidnapping."
"He wasn't this aggressive before he heard about my research."
Sharp eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"
Sakura tentatively sat up, reaching for the glass of water on her bedside table. After taking a sip, she cleared her throat and spoke in a measured voice. "You already know I'm looking at degenerative diseases in eyes, but recently I've been reading about something called the Heaven's Eye or another name is the Mangekyo Sharingan, though I'm not sure if they're exactly synonymous. The point is, neither of those things are based in medical fact. They're from old folktales that originated with the Uchiha clan."
"Have you told anyone about this?" Ino licked her lips nervously, knowing that when her friend was onto something as crazy as folktales coming to life, then she should be afraid. Haruno Sakura didn't pursue dead ends, after all.
"If you mean Sasuke-kun, no, I haven't," she shook her head, playing with the edge of the blanket. "I don't want to bring up something like this without more evidence, or at least something. I already sound crazy enough without suddenly saying that his childhood stories may be more real than he thought and a man named Kabuto is highly interested." She sighed, seemingly exhaling her very soul in the process. Heavily shadowed green eyes drooped. "Tsunade-sama knows though. She gave me permission to continue studying it so long as I don't lose track of my toxicology work."
"Well," Ino stood, dusting her skirt off, "I hope you know what you're doing, Forehead." She poked the other girl's cheek gently. "But, I trust you. I know that you'll do whatever you have to do in order to protect that undeserving Uchiha brat. Just make sure not to let Kabuto catch you off guard again. I doubt you'll be as lucky as you were this time."
Sakura watched her friend silently shut the door before slinking back into the warmth of her bed. Before she could fall back to sleep though, the door creaked open again and she shot the intruder a bleary glare.
"I almost forgot," Ino grinned, "Naruto told me you may have called Sasuke last night hysterically crying, and he may have been a second away from boarding a plane to come save you. But that's all just second hand knowledge. Sleep tight, Forehead!"
And then the door shut again.
As expected, sleep did not come.
