I Do Not Own Naruto

Chapter 10

Sasuke bolted up in a cold sweat, his chest heaving and he threw off the blankets as he ran straight to the living area, she was sleeping on the couch and he collapsed on the ground in relief at just seeing her on the couch, he been terrified that she had been dead. He slumped down in relief as he rubbed his brow and tried to calm his heart down. Earlier this evening she had revealed she had fought the Akatsuki, and while it wasn't all too surprising, it was now scaring him as he shoved a hand through his messy hair.

She'd have fought the Akatsuki, the Haruno Sakura he was getting to know now was stupidly fearless, lacked all common sense where enemies were concerned and she was fucking indestructible. There was a seal on her brow which proved her to not be the girl he had just thought to die at the hands of the Akatsuki. Sasuke stood up and went to the corner he had claimed, even when he was rearranging all of her furniture he would claim this corner as his, and he put that couch where he could see it. He pulled his journal out and started jotting down the indistinct nightmare which had blurred into his family massacre and the death of Itachi.

He looked up at her when she mumbled something and rolled onto her stomach on the couch and then he looked back to the writings he had done.

Mostly because he was getting better at rough sketches and he wanted to remembered a good person in his life, alive and unaware of him at this moment. Struggling he sketched out the moment in his notebook, wrote a simple caption 'alive and annoying', then he shut his journal, put it back into the box as he leaned back against the wall. He propped his sword on his shoulder and slowly sleep captured him again.

The blurs of memories came again, he didn't like it as he snarled at the memories, the blurred faces, blood, screams, the smells of the coppery tang of blood staining the ground, the burnt flesh of war, and the feeling of pain, the indescribable sensation of being blown off his feet as he slammed into the ground. There were also the screams, the shouts of the dobe, Sakura, and the laughing of Madara, he flinched as his eyes flew open.

A weight on his side had him looking down at pink.

She didn't move, she was just resting against him, her head was turned away from him. He noticed the blanket on their legs and his head fell back against the wall again. He needed to leave, he needed to get out of this apartment. Quietly he stood up.

"Where are you going?" she murmured.

"Out," he answered.

"Gimme a minute," she sighed, he watched as she stood up, stumbled to her room and reemerged with a blanket, her sweatshirt on and she grabbed another blanket. "Kay, let's go."

She had his sword slung on her shoulder, two blankets in hand and her slippers on. Sasuke was leading her to where he wanted to go, she just held onto his left sleeve and tried not to fall when she yawned with exhaustion. They made their way to the Uchiha compound before she knew it, though he avoided the living district of it as he guided her alone. They made it to a lake finally, she handed him his sword back when he sat down, she just dropped the blankets and stretched out on the grass. She was happy for the sweatshirt she had grabbed, there was a cool breeze coming off of the lake as she pulled a blanket up over her.

"Why are you helping me?" he asked again. Sleepily she looked over her shoulder at him as he stretched out on the grass with the other blanket.

"Because Sasuke, I'd do anything for you," she mumbled as she curled up on her side again with her back to him.

"And I love you," she yawned.

She had just handed him all the power in this relationship and she knew it, however, she couldn't bring herself to care about that as she let her eyes shut with how heavy they felt. Sasuke had always had the power over whatever relationship they had, she had accepted that truth years ago. If he wanted her dead she'd probably hand him the blade to kill her, no questions asked. Sakura had no resistance to him, she tried, she had tried, it had never worked though.

Sasuke had what broken pieces of her heart remained and they were his to destroy or accept, and honestly she didn't care which he did. All she wanted was for him to find peace and to move forward with his life. Perhaps not move on, but to move forward, it wasn't going to be easy, but she knew he was strong enough to do it.

A heavy arm which wasn't hers wrapped around her then which had her eyes flying open as she stiffened where she lay. Turning her head to her shoulder she found herself staring at his sleeping form as he curled around her with his face buried in her shoulder. A slight smile tugged her lips as she then let her eyes close again and she relaxed to let sleep overcome them. A blanket separated them, however, it didn't lessen his grip as he clung to her.

"I'm sorry," he muttered in her shoulder.

"It's alright," she whispered as that stage between consciousness and oblivion wavered for her, had her teetering on the edge. "I forgive you."

That was the last thing she said before the oblivion took her then.

The grass tickling her nose and two voices calling her name had her cracking an eye. The Uchiha hadn't moved from where he was, he tightened his grip and curled around her tighter as she lifted herself up and looked around.

"There you are! We've been looking for you everywhere!" she looked up the hill to see Ino and Sai, Sai was on his cruches but Ino hurried down the hill to them as Sai slowly followed her.

"Huh?" she tried to sit up, the arm around her waist tightened it's hold even more, pressing on her bladder which had her squirming and him snarling in his sleep.

"You two are moving fast," Ino teased, Sakura looked around groggily then remembered the Uchiha was there. He growled, released her and rolled away from Ino's voice as he disappeared under his own blanket. Sakura rubbed her face.

"Not what you think Ino," Sakura sighed.

"Morning Ugly, you have grass on your face," Sai informed her, she pulled the grass off of her drool stained cheek with a sigh.

"Morning Sai, thanks," she sighed. "What do you two want?"

"No one could find you or the Uchiha," Ino said suddenly. "The shift changes were freaking out, and I found you two finally! Shikamaru and Temari are requesting Sasuke for evaluation at the hospital."

"Huh?" she blinked, it was too early in the morning to be dealing with this. Laying down again with sleep plaguing her, Sakura yanked her blanket back up as she scooted to the warmth of the Uchiha again. "Five minutes," she sighed.

"Sakura! it's noon already! Time to get up!" Ino snapped, her blanket was gone, and Sakura bolted up.

"NOON!?"

"Close enough, we've been looking for you two for forever, up!" Ino snapped. Sai was over the Uchiha.

"Touch the blanket and I will set you on fire," was the voice beneath the blanket snarling which had Sai looking to her in a panic. She just shrugged, Ino blinked.

"We'll meet you at the…" she looked to Ino then for an answer as to where they were to go.

"The hospital, it's time for Sasuke's evaluation," Ino repeated.

"We'll be at the hospital in thirty minutes," Sakura sighed.

"Alright, come on Sai, time for your physical therapy," Ino said.

"UGLY!" Sai panicked.

"You promised, Sai," Sakura shot back as she got to her feet and stretched languidly.

"But…!" Sai started, Ino was up the hill so Sakura grabbed his ear to stop him and reached up to his level.

"Shut up, you promised to watch after Ino until I was finished with the Uchiha and she promised me she'd look after you, so shut up Sai and move your ass or I'll knock you to the Mist and back for kicks. Then you'll really need the physical therapy," she hissed. He was quick to hobble after Ino. Sakura reached down to Sasuke shoulder after a minute and pry the blanket from him, she was greeted with the sight of the Rinnegan.

"Alright Sasuke, time to get up," she said firmly.

"Hn," he grunted then yanked the blanket over his head again.

"Stop being a child!" she snapped as she yanked the blanket from his grasp, he scowled at her, she scowled back.

"Go away," he ordered.

"No," she snapped. He sighed as his head fell back then he scowled again.

"Why can't one day be easy!?" he snapped as he slowly got to his feet.

"Because the only easy day was yesterday, so let's go. You have grass in your hair," she said as she tugged it out. He didn't swat her away as they walked back to her apartment. His sword on her shoulder, a blanket in his arm, she was carrying her own blanket and held onto his left sleeve. She took a fast shower, the Uchiha did the same and while she dressed he showered. Once they were ready to go she had his sword on her shoulder again and his left sleeve in her hand as they walked to the hospital.

Sasuke was twitchy as he sat in the room with the therapist; he hated being here, he hated this room and he really hated the fact Sakura wouldn't let him have the sword at least.

However, he found himself sitting across from Shikamaru, who was analyzing him with lazy, sharp eyes which had Sasuke feeling on edge.

"Let's play a game of shōgi," Nara finally said as he stood up and went to his pack. Sasuke said nothing, if Nara wanted to play a game then he'd let Nara play his game. The sooner this was over and he could leave, the sooner he'd be able to retreat back into the apartment and hide from everyone. All he wanted was to get this over.

A memory flitted through his mind, he winced at the headache it gave him, a scream echoed in his head and he held his throbbing head then.

"Are you alright?" he looked up to Shikamaru then and nodded as he slowly pulled his hand from his throbbing head. They started the game, Sasuke was quick to figure out and counter Shikamaru's strategies, however, Nara was not a fool and a challenging opponent.

In the end Sasuke won the game, Shikamaru was frowning but Sasuke only felt anxious to leave now. His fingers were twitching with his irritation as his eyes scanned the white room then.

"Relax Uchiha," Shikamaru said calmly. Sasuke's eyes narrowed on him. "You passed," Shikamaru stated and stood up. Sasuke noticed the door open then, he stood up and was quick to retreat as he scanned the hospital for the pinkette. She was sitting on a bench in a room where he saw other's working on learning to walk again. She was sitting with bushier-brows- sensei; or something like that.

"You can do it Lee!" Sakura encouraged. Sasuke looked around the room as he quietly entered it, she looked over to him with a smile.

"It was nice talking to you Guy, and I'll see what I can do about your legs," she said as she stood up to walk to him. Sasuke looked at all the other injured and recovering and he suddenly felt terribly lost and alone, then a hand grabbed his left sleeve and he walked with her out of the hospital.

"How did the evaluation go?" Sakura asked him.

"Hn," he shrugged as they avoided crowds. He noticed how she did this for him, he was relieved and anxious with the gesture. He could still hear her mumbled answer in his head from the night before and it was making him twitchy. He had only one question for her now, but he didn't want the answer so he kept silent as she opened the apartment again and he darted in as he snagged his sword from her shoulder and grabbed the journal to jot down the few snippets of memories plaguing him.

A special thanks to the original reviewers of Before the Day I Die; before I deleted it and moved it here.

Thanks: twilightstinks, Guest, crazymel2008, Guest, KHB123, Guest, tdbrooks, Guest, akwardllama, Guest, xoanneox, Guest, Waterlilly333, Guest, MikoScorus, Guest, Guest, Beta117, Guest, Guest, fireshock, cathycloud9, and Gagster for the reviews on the original Before the Day I Die, know that they meant a lot to me!

That's all for now folks!

Enjoy Until the Day I Die! =)