Blossoms & Ashes

Chapter 10: Scared to Death

Sakura once again prepared his breakfast; it was a habit by now. Something she had gotten far too used to. Every day after she finished her breakfast she would make his and bring it to him. She sliced the tomatoes and was done. She took a step backwards to see her work and to admire it, hoping, as every day that he would love it. She smiled to herself as she took the plate and made her way towards his office.

She had been living there a little more than a month and although she couldn't deny she missed Naruto, Kakashi, and Tsunade she didn't want to leave. She felt safe and content around Sasuke, something she had never felt back when she was over there.

Not everything was perfect in the Uchiha compound. There were days when she barely got to see Sasuke, Karin hated her, and she still hadn't regained all her memories. But Sasuke did try to make some time for her whenever he could and she barely saw Karin. Suigetsu and Juugo kept her entertained when she had nothing better to do.

As for her memories she remembered many things, but she felt there were some things missing, important parts of her memory she didn't seem to find. Even though she had a good idea who was Sasuke Uchiha in the same time she felt she didn't know him. He was still a mystery, a mystery she wanted to solve.

She was drawn to him, it was something she couldn't help and though he was indeed breathtaking it wasn't that which drew her in. It was his soft gaze, his smirks, his voice, and the rare smile he gave without noticing.

She didn't know how they were in the past, but she guessed they were probably good friends. She didn't have many memories of them in the past except the occasional comment that she was annoying. She wanted to know more about his past, but he barely ever gave any details. It was like he didn't want her to know something but she shrugged it off thinking she was being paranoid.

She knocked on the door to his office like she did every day. "Can I come in?" She asked.

"Hn." He grunted from the other side of the door and she smiled and entered finding him reading a book on his desk. He closed the book and placed it on a corner of the desk turning his full attention on her.

She smiled shyly and looked away to the plate in her arms. She placed it in front of him and he looked at her in question like every day. "I made you breakfast." She informed him, her smile bright.

"You don't have to do this." He told her and she thought she heard guilt in his voice, but she couldn't be too sure.

"We go through this every day, I like doing it; can't you just accept it and thank me." She laughed, but stopped awkwardly when she felt his gaze on her.

"Thank you." He muttered his onyx eyes gazing at her softly making her heart speed up slightly.

"I haven't told you about my dreams Sasuke…" She murmured softly after a moment.

"What dreams?" He asked between bites of his food.

"I haven't completely been honest with you even before I came here I've had this dream… In my dream there is a man walking towards me in the forest at night, but I can't see him, I can't hear him, and I can't see his face. He's like a shadow walking towards me…it was a dream that haunted my every night." She said taking a seat and stared at her hands folded upon her lap.

"What did they tell you about those dreams?" He asked watching her closely and carefully.

"Tsunade used to tell me they were just dreams… but they drove me crazy, there was this need to remember, I wanted to see him yet I couldn't." She shook her head slowly the dream filling her mind once again.

"Do you keep having that dream?" He asked her and as she looked once again at him she could see concern cloud his eyes and something else she couldn't quite place.

"Since I came here I hadn't…but I did yesterday night. Though there was something different this time, I could see his mouth moving, he was talking though I still couldn't hear him." Her eyes stared pleadingly into his, but he stared back not knowing what to say. He saw fear in her eyes and he couldn't help her.

"They're just dreams, probably fear." He concluded and finished what was left of his food pushing the plate aside.

"I guess you're probably right." She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.

Sasuke took the book in his hands and opened it turning his attention once again to the book, she took the hint without him having to say anything. "Fine, I'll leave Sasuke, but I'll be back later." She pouted and Sasuke smirked in response. She knew he wasn't really busy, he just wanted to be alone and although she respected that it annoyed her leaving her with nothing better to do.

She took the empty plate and gave him a smile before she turned around to leave his office. However she didn't notice the half smile on Sasuke's face as he watched her leave his office.

"N-naruto." Hinata smiled as she closed the door behind her, a blush spread across her cheeks when she saw Naruto smile brightly in response.

Hinata came to visit him almost every day whenever she had the chance, when she wasn't there she was helping Kurenai with her child along with Lee. In the times she's visited him they've gotten closer than ever. With nothing better to do there than talk they had gotten close.

"What brings you here?" Naruto smiled as he saw her slightly blush.

"Y-you know I like v-visiting you." She sat in her usual spot in his room and he grinned.

"And I like your visits. It's so boring in here, now I understand how Sakura felt being stuck in a room all day." Naruto pouted, but Hinata could see the guilt in his eyes, he had stopped visiting her. He had left her alone when she probably needed company, when she probably felt alone.

"You h-had reason for n-not going to see her." Hinata told him her gaze soft.

"It was hard being around her when she didn't even know who she was, I had hoped her memories would come back, but they didn't. It was like being around a stranger; I had lost the only team mate I had left. In the end I gave up on her, it was wrong." Naruto shook his head feeling disappointed in himself. He had abandoned Sakura when she needed him the most.

"It w-was hard on e-everyone N-naruto… we all d-did the same. We all stopped v-visiting her, it's all our faults. Not just y-yours…" Hinata tried comforting Naruto, but she knew nothing would work. He felt responsible, but they all were. If it had been any of them, Sakura wouldn't have abandoned them. But when she was the one lost they all shunned her away.

"But I should have been there for her!" Naruto shouted exasperated causing Hinata to flinch in response. "If I had been there that night none of it would have happened, I would have been able to protect her from him." Naruto's voice died in no more than a whisper, he blamed himself. That much was obvious. He had always trusted Sasuke too much and in the end Sakura got hurt because of it.

"She loved him, Naruto!" Hinata yelled in desperation surprising both Naruto and herself. Her eyes were teary; Hinata did always noticed that all he seemed to care about sometimes was Sakura. "She probably d-didn't want to be protected from him. Why do you think s-she sneaked away to go see him? She w-wouldn't blame you f-for not being there to p-protect her…because she didn't w-want you there." She finished her voice slightly bitter, but sympathy in her eyes. She didn't want Naruto to feel bad about something that wasn't his fault.

"You don't know that Hinata." Naruto spoke, his voice serious.

"I know s-she loved him, everyone knew… Y-you knew N-naruto!" She yelled and he could see tears forming in her eyes.

"You're right… it was something I knew well enough, she loved him. Yet somehow I hoped he cared about her too." Naruto frowned.

"You've al-always had faith in Sasuke… Where is it now?" Hinata asked gently her eyes searching for that overly confident Naruto whose goal was to bring his friend back, but there was none of it anymore. That dream seemed to be gone.

"It's gone… I don't believe Sasuke can be saved anymore." Naruto concluded and as he closed his eyes he could clearly see his rival and best friend back then when they were Team 7; before everything went wrong.

"Don-don't worry Na-Naruto… everything will be al-alright. We'll get Sakura back…" Hinata whispered as she laid a hand on Naruto's shoulder as she could only wonder about he felt after not being able to save either of his team mates.

"Isn't there something better to do around here?" She asked herself as she sat in the couch in what she knew was called a living room. She had grown used to the house but somehow she knew there was something missing in the house. It wasn't in reality a home and sometimes she wondered why.

She knew Sasuke was the last surviving member of the Uchiha clan but nothing else. Now that she thought about it actually she didn't really know much about him in particular. He barely ever told her anything and whenever she asked him a direct question of him, he evaded it. She never got a straight answer from him.

"Hey." A voice greeted her and she turned around to see Juugo smiling shyly towards her. From what she'd seen of him he seemed like the nicest person that hanged around her. Yet for some reason he sometimes didn't want to be near her, he told her he wasn't safe. It was something she didn't quite understand. She got along pretty well with him and most of the times he was the one to keep her entertained.

"Good afternoon Juugo." Sakura smiled back in response and Juugo took that as permission to get closer to her. He took various steps toward her before sitting beside her.

"What are you doing alone here?" He asked cocking his head to the side and slightly smiling at her.

Sakura smiled back, brightly. Juugo was one of the nicest people there. "Well I want to get Sasuke away from his office for a while…he spends all day there. I want him to take a walk with me, but I'm afraid he'll say no." She finished with a sad smile.

"I doubt he'll say no to you, you just have to go ask." Juugo chuckled before standing up.

"Where are you going?" She quickly asked not wanting to be left alone.

"We're going to Sasuke's office, you're gonna demand to go outside." He laughed when he saw the scared look on her face and added. "Don't worry, I'll be there with you, you won't be alone." He smiled and extended a hand toward Sakura waiting for her to take it.

Sakura took his hand and stood in her feet. "Thanks." She murmured as they both went to Sasuke's office. Her bright smile plastered on her lips as she walked beside Juugo.

Sasuke felt someone knocking on the door to his office and sighed. "Come in." He said knowing full well who it was. Sakura, he smirked to himself. Sakura entered the room with a small smile on her face and Juugo trailing behind her holding her hand.

His gaze stopped for a moment to the sight of their hands intertwined; somehow it felt wrong seeing that, he noticed how he didn't like someone else holding her hand. It was one of those selfish thoughts. That selfish thought, in which her love should be for him and no one else, even if he didn't reciprocate it. He looked back at Sakura who still smiled at him not noticing his trail of thoughts.

He wondered what she would think of his selfishness, but he concluded that it didn't matter as long as she didn't remember. He smirked at her before asking. "What are you doing here? I'm busy."

"You're not busy; you just want to be alone." She pouted and he almost chuckled in response.

"Your point?" He asked standing from his desk and walking towards her.

"I want to go for a walk." She finally told him and looked away to Juugo who smile trying to encourage her.

"You have Juugo; go take a walk with him." He spoke once again looking at their hands, he wondered if his voice sounded bitter.

Sakura took her hand from Juugo's grasp and sighed. "I want to take a walk with you. Please?"

Sasuke passed a hand through his hair as he considered going take a walk, but he knew he always gave in too easily and saying yes would be just that. 'Annoying' he thought as he looked at the small smile playing in her lips. He almost spoke the word out loud, but remembered the look of hurt that flashed in her eyes in the past.

In that moment he saw the smile disappear from her lips and her eyes starting to close and before he could understand what was happening she was falling. Out of reflex he caught her before she hit the ground, he held her in her arms his eyes wide.

"What happened to her?" Juugo asked in desperation.

"I don't know. She fainted." Sasuke spoke staring at the woman in her arms who didn't open her eyes. She looked dead just as he'd imagined her before. He started shaking her, silently pleading for her to wake up.

"What should we do?" Juugo asked Sasuke breaking him away from his thoughts. Sasuke stopped shaking Sakura looking at Juugo as if he had forgotten he was even there.

"I'll take her to her room, tell Karin and Suigetsu to bring her something to eat and drink for when she wakes up." Sasuke ordered before holding Sakura tightly and walking out of his office with her in his arms.

He wouldn't admit it to himself, but he was scared, scared that he might be losing her once again.