Author's Note: Sorry it took so long for this chapter, but thanks for all reviews! I didn't get the chance to reply to everyone this time (this was because I would have to sift through my email to find the review reply links since most of the reviews were about a week ago). Congrats on being the 50th reviewer, fleetingthought! Sorry for all typos.
On the Contrary
Chapter Nine
.: Shinobi's Anguish :.
"You want me to stay here."
Sakura had broken the silence, something she had fully intended to do. She knew Juugo would not bring his request up, but she knew he wanted to talk about it as much as she did.
It was her second day, but the night before she was restless. It was strange—creepy even—that Juugo wanted her to stay as his guard. She wanted an explanation, not from Tsunade, but from him, Juugo.
The large man glanced up for a better view of the owner of the voice and nodded. "Yes."
"The Hokage told me," Sakura sighed, kneeling down by the cell bars. She let her bag full of books fall down her shoulder; it was not like she was going to read anything today anyway.
Juugo studied her face and spoke. "You don't want to do this."
Sakura's eyes widened. "I—that's not true! I'm just a little surprised, that's all."
Juugo's face filled with apprehensive at her inarticulate response and Sakura sighed.
"It's true Juugo. And…I am honored that you want this." She managed to beam at him, and to her astonishment, he smiled back. He looked out of it for a moment, shortly after he brought up the one close to both of their hearts in the conversation.
"He always spoke highly of you and Naruto. If he could, I would let him be my guards. Since I've never really spoken to the other one, I wanted you to…"
"It's okay," Sakura softly told him. "I know you're closer to him than me."
"Because you don't seem aggressive," Juugo continued, as if answering a question. "And…you don't make me angry. That is very rare with my condition."
"Tell me more about your condition," Sakura prodded as he gave her a wary look. "Don't worry; I'm not doing this to pull info out of you."
She sat on the ground and crossed her legs as if she was a small child, listening to a story. Juugo seemed uneasy, but soon relaxed when she gave him a reassuring smile. After listening to a few faraway voices and the small raindrops from outside of the thick walls, he began.
"When I was younger, I—I didn't know what I was in for. I remember that he said he would make me powerful while experimenting on me. Of course, I was naïve back then, so I didn't question his motives. He reassured me that he was experimenting on something very important and after that, I felt more important than I ever did."
Sakura winced as she knew what was to come, but tried not to show it. In his presence, she wasn't supposed to know much about his condition yet.
"It was a seal, but it didn't seem good to me. It made me violent and I murdered others. It felt good at the time," he said while throwing her an ashamed look, "But afterwards I would always lament over it. Orochimaru called himself helping me by instilling my ability in others. He said it would give other people more power. What he said made me angry because…I wasn't going to be special anymore, even if I did kill others. I was upset for a while, but he didn't care; he locked me up anyway.
"I don't know if he told you this," he continued, "But while I was locked up other prisoners told me that many people, including the last Uchiha had that cursed seal. They said the seal changed them and it made them extremely violent, just like me."
Sakura gave a short laugh at his comment about Sasuke. "Oh, I definitely knew that."
"Really?" Juugo asked, surprised.
"Yeah. It's…a long story," Sakura whispered. One she would rather not talk about for a long while. "Go on," she urged him.
Juugo frowned. "There isn't much else to say…besides talking about killing sprees."
Sakura gave a forced laugh. "Well, even though you're a killing machine, I don't think you're that bad."
"That's because you haven't seen me Sakura," he warned her. "And you're my guard because I know you never will."
Sakura took in his expression and decided it was best to say nothing. He closed his eyes and leaned against the wall, something he probably did much of in the past while incarcerated at Otogakure.
"So you're locked up again," Sakura sadly pointed out.
"Yes," he said, and turned around.
"I—" she sighed and studied his back. "I'm so sorry."
oOo
It was early afternoon when Sasuke finally returned to his home. Although his small trip was only a little over a day, he was extremely tired. He figured that like Sakura, most of his fatigue was due to wedding plans. He really couldn't wait for everything to be over.
At the mere thought of his fiancé, as soon as Sasuke sauntered over to his apartment he decided to call her. The unanswered phone rang many times before Sasuke finally gave up trying to reach her. She should be home by now, he thought. Maybe she was just…tired. Like him. Even so, he hoped she was okay.
Ironically, Sasuke was reassured of Sakura's well-being only a few days later, but he had found out in the worst way.
Sasuke had come home from Naruto's one afternoon to see his fiancé's mother standing outside of his home. He was surprised she was there as it looked like a storm was coming and the perfectionist actually had no jacket on. She was holding a few boxes, obviously more weight than what were little body could handle. He cast a vexed expression in her direction, hoping that his action would scare her off. Instead, she enthusiastically waved at him.
"What is all of this?" Sasuke asked her as he walked up, trying to remain calm.
"You should know!" she shouted. "I left a note on your door the other day, but I guess you probably didn't see it."
Sasuke shook his head. "No." (He actually did see a piece of paper on his door, but he threw it away. He had figured it was a love note from some desperate fan-girl).
"Remember the other day when I said I invited the other girls to send and make invites to the wedding? Well, today is the day to do it. Hmm," she added, looking at his appalled expression, "I am sorry for the late notice, but I did leave that note for you…"
"Why my house?" Sasuke asked her. "What business does anyone have at my house?"
"It's your wedding," she curtly told him, "So they should make invites at your house. Now, let's go inside and set things up. I told Sakura to come straight after work and the others should be showing up soon."
Sasuke glowered at her as he held the door open for her. All he had to do was stay on her good side until the wedding. That was all…
She set the boxes, which he later found out were filled with colored pencils and paper, on a table. Once she was done, she sighed contently and looked at Sasuke.
"You are so kind," she told him, and she looked like she was actually about to pinch his cheek. At this, Sasuke backed up. "You let me in your home and you don't seem to mind about Sakura's new choice about the job."
"What?" Sasuke asked. "I didn't hear anything about a new choice."
Confusion enveloped her visage. "She didn't tell you? She said the other day that she was about to quit or tell the Hokage about the wedding for a break."
"Really?" Sasuke asked relieved. "Then why has she been going back? I haven't seen her in days."
"Because," she began, "The prisoner wanted her to stay."
"What?" Sasuke angrily inquired. "So she up and stayed because some prisoner wanted her to?"
"Yes!" Mrs. Haruno exclaimed. "That's so sweet."
In silence, Sasuke seethed while Mrs. Haruno examined the room they were in. Ino, Tenten, and Hinata arrived soon enough, and Mrs. Haruno because her loud, buoyant self once again. Although the girls greeted Sasuke, he ignored their presence. He wasn't in the mood to see them, and he was still shocked at himself for not only letting his future mother-in-law invade his home, but the fact that Sakura was staying at the job because Juugo wanted her too…and not even telling him about it.
It was completely ridiculous.
The female shinobi, apprehensive on what to do as they knew there was no way Sasuke invited them to his home, huddled in a corner and quietly spoke with one other. Mrs. Haruno eventually told them to sit down at the table and not too long afterwards Sakura and Sai came in.
"Sorry I'm late," Sakura said to her mother, completely oblivious to Sasuke's piercing stare.
"At least you showed up." Her mother smiled. Sakura shrugged and gave an unsure look in Sai's direction. It was as if he followed her to Sasuke's apartment; he kept insisting that he was invited over.
"And, erm…Sai?" Sakura asked her mother in a hushed tone.
"He's pretty much the local artist," Mrs. Haruno responded. "He's the only one who can make designs that are good enough for your invites, so be grateful!"
"Um…"
"Now, I have to go," she addressed everyone. "Be good and make some nice invites." She gave everyone a smile and a nod, and left the home before anyone else could object to her decision.
The door clicked shut, and Sakura shifted her attention to Sasuke when she heard him instantly speak.
"What the heck is Sai doing in my house?" he angrily inquired. His eyes narrowed down on the pale root ninja. It seemed as if he had forgotten what he was initially angry about. Unfortunately, Sai's appearance was just adding fuel to the fire. "He isn't even invited."
"Hmm," Sai began with a semi-amused tone. "I thought we were friends."
"Sasuke-kun," Sakura groaned. "Calm down. You just heard my mother explain everything."
Sasuke gave the pink haired woman a rude look, as if to say, 'That isn't a good enough reason to let that pansy into my home.'
"Just calm down and be grateful my mom left," Sakura told him. She knew she was glad the older woman was gone, as Sasuke looked like he wanted to wring her mother's neck. Not a good thing to imagine. "Now," she said, "Let's get started."
She pulled the box of papers from the side of the table and gave a clean sheet to Sai. "Sai can draw the pictures on the invitations first. After he's done with each one, everyone can write down the names of the invites. Simple, isn't it?"
"Let's start with some of my close friends," Tenten decided, as Sasuke scowled at her. 'My close friends…?' As if this was her wedding or something!
"Oh…okay," Sakura tentatively agreed while giving her fiancé an apprehensive look.
"Lee?" Tenten asked.
"Lee can be invited," Sakura happily conceded as Sasuke nodded. "He's a good friend of both of us."
"That means Gai will probably want to come too," Tenten warned them, as Sakura cringed. The brunette flushed, and spoke once more. "And Neji…?"
"We don't speak to him," Sasuke informed her.
"You don't," Sakura corrected him. "I do. Also, he's the one who helped us with our little problem," she added with a hiss.
"Just put that one on hold and we'll come back to it later," Ino suggested with a slight tone of authority. A small smile on her face appeared, and after a moment Sakura was sure it was not because people went along with what she proposed. The confident blonde had happened to be sitting next to Sai and Sasuke was coincidently standing behind her chair.
"All right then," Tenten muttered.
"W—what about Kiba or Shino?" Hinata, who was sitting quietly up until now had finally made a suggestion. Embarrassed that her voice had turned everyone's attention to her, she quickly pretended to watch and be interested in Sai drawing the designs.
"No!" Ino protested, as if the wedding was a high school party that was for the cool kids only. "No way," she repeated.
Tenten shrugged and Sasuke was definitely with Ino on this one. Sakura gave Hinata a sorry look.
Ino smiled contently at the supposedly final decision and shuffled her completed stack of invites. Hinata gave a small cough, and Ino grudgingly turned her head to acknowledge the sound.
"I—I don't know," the shy girl meekly protested. "It might offend Shino."
"Shino gets offended over everything," Tenten butted in with a slight eye-roll.
"And Kiba?" Ino chimed in, "He will just have to suck it up." She gave a brisk nasty look towards no one in particular and continued to do her task. She was probably still bitter about Kiba breaking up with her when they were 15. "Here are Chouji and Shikamaru's invites," she announced after a small moment of silence.
Tenten and Hinata exchanged glances and the brunette decided it was crucial for her to speak up.
"What? Okay Ino. So Kiba, Shino, and Neji can't be invited, but Shikamaru and Chouji can? Sasuke and Sakura are not really even friends with them either!"
"Fine. Let's just invite everyone then," Ino snapped. "Who's with me?"
The girls and Sai earnestly nodded as Sasuke looked dangerously around the room. Jamming his hands in his pockets, he abruptly left to go outside. The others watched him leave in silence, and Sakura gave a nervous laugh.
"Hold on ladi—everyone, Sasuke has left the building." She quickly followed the Uchiha's path to see him fuming in the distance. Sakura walked up to him and took his perspiring hand.
"Okay, look. If you're so angry about Sai being in your house, then we can make an agreement and tell him to get out."
Sasuke gave her a look full of contempt. "This isn't about Sai."
Sakura took her hand from his and folded her arms. "Then what's wrong with you this time?"
Cross at the tone she used, Sasuke angrily made his problems clear to her. His problem, which had been plaguing him for perhaps weeks.
He gave a sadistic laugh and began, his voice rising as he made his tirade. "Even though you're smart, you just never get it, do you? Sakura…I have four women sitting around in my home, who I neither care about nor speak to, writing invitations to my wedding. Come summer, we're going to be bombarded with a bunch of fools we don't even know."
"That's it?" Sakura scoffed. Sakura already knew if Sasuke had things his way, the wedding list would only consist of Naruto and Kakashi. "You really make a big deal—"
"I'm not finished," Sasuke growled, cutting her off. "So shut up and let me continue. There's also the fact that my fiancé, the one's who's always preaching to everyone about wanting to spend more time with me, is staying guarding a prisoner because he wants her too. Yes," he said to her questioning face, "I know you're not still going over there because you have to. It's because he asked you to. It was bad enough when you always followed the Hokage's wishes in the first place, but this?"
Sakura's face contorted. "He said he didn't feel so destructive when he's around me—"
"And you believe that?" he sneered. "He told me to keep you away from him. I know you just said yes because you felt compelled to keep doing the job."
"Well, maybe things have changed," Sakura hissed. "So stop talking about things you don't know about."
"Maybe you two twits just like spending time together. Are you two in love with each other or something?"
"Y—you know that's not true," Sakura said, her voice shaking. "I just told you to stop accusing me of things you know nothing about!"
"Maybe I would know about things if you bothered telling me."
"Maybe you would know about things if you hadn't randomly run off to Tea Country," Sakura argued. "The hell was that for anyway?"
Sasuke ignored her and proceeded to elaborate on his point. "You know, I found out about your plan from your own mother. And speaking of that woman," he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. "Don't you ever let her invite people to my home without my permission. How offensive and controlling can someone be?"
"You should know," Sakura sneered. He was not going to get away with insulting her mother, no matter how annoying she could be. Frankly, after eight years she was completely tired of his arrogant and rude attitude. "Well what do you want me to do?" she asked Sasuke, "Since you seem to hate everything my family and I are doing?"
"Stop being such a damn pushover," Sasuke told her. "Say no to Juugo, the Hokage, and your mother for once. Stop letting people tell you what to do."
"Maybe I will," Sakura coldly told him. "Not the best advice from someone who told me that we're getting married. Yeah, just randomly out of the blue one day you tell me we're getting married without even asking! How romantic!" Sakura quickly blinked and swallowed the lump in her throat. She was just now figuring out what her own problem was.
"You know," she continued, "from the rude way you treat me sometimes and the way your proposal was so out of the blue…I—I don't even know if you really feel that strongly about me in the first place. But I know what you're going to say. You're going to point about that I said, 'okay' to your proposal, right? So I'm somehow already bound to you for life and it's too late to complain."
"Sakura." Sasuke took her arm. Whether his face softened with sadness, regret or guilt, she didn't know. And honestly, she didn't care.
She shrugged his hand off and gave a wave of her hand, avoiding his eyes. "You know what?" she mumbled, "Whatever, I'm going for a walk."
She stomped off the compound, swallowing the lump in her throat once more. Somehow, she knew something like this would happen. She was sure her visage was flushed from the anger and she brushed her hair from her face before it started sticking to her cheeks. That's what always happened when she cried.
It had started raining, so she ran up the Hokage's office. Sakura thrust open the door to witness Tsunade alone in the room. She was quietly reading something until she was rudely interrupted. Sakura was glad Tsunade was alone, because that was exactly how she wanted things to be when she finally told the Hokage.
"You're back…?" Tsunade asked. "What is—?"
"I'm getting married," Sakura abruptly told her. She was not going to hold off any longer; everyone in Konoha was going to receive invitations in the next couple of days anyway. "I'm getting married to Sasuke-kun." She gave a short, sarcastic laugh. "Surprise! Since he's a jerk ninety nine percent of the time, I'm requesting some time off to recover. Hokage-sama, there are other people who can watch Juugo, okay? Tell him I'll be back in a few days."
Tsunade stood up, a worried crease forming in her forehead. "Sakura…" she softly started.
"I'll talk to you later," Sakura mumbled. "It's been a long day and I want to go home." She rushed out of the office, not taking another look at her old teacher.
Once she arrived at her apartment, she flopped down on her bed and looked outside the window in silence. It was only after a moment when she decided the dreary weather was too depressing, so she examined the contents of her room. Sakura's eyes quickly scanned for something to occupy her mind, but they halted once she took notice of what was on her dresser.
Her engagement ring.
Sakura stifled and sob and gently hugged her pillow close to her face. She never even got the chance to wear it yet.
Author's Note: You know that part when Sasuke tells Sakura that there are four women he doesn't care about in his home? That was a typo at first, but I decided to leave it because I wanted Sasuke to be insulting Sai, by basically calling him the fourth woman. XD
