Till The Last Rose Dies

by xXAsuka-chanXx

The lord who had it all, yet nothing. The girl who was genuine, yet colored by her past. She saved him even though she despised men. He helped her even though women didn't appeal to him. They were finally happy, until tragedy struck.

10. Moving in

'Till The Last Rose

IM BACK!!! And I'm really sorry because I always make excuses and stuff for disappearing for weeks at a time, but I hope everyone had a great 07' and that 08' is doing better than mine has so far :(

Recently, I got into a car accident and almost lost my mom, and my aunt died awhile ago from kidney failure, so I lost the will to write for awhile. But my mom is ok and my aunt is in a better place so that's something to be thankful for. I'm also thankful for all my AMAZING readers and their comments.

Special SPECIAL thanks to:

xo M i M i

Namine-sama

cherryfire48

fleeting thought

ANBU Inu

Mitsukigirl

Daughter of Unending Darkness

Confuzzled239

Frog-Wallet

Kakashi500

WaterBlossom1

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"Kill him?" Sasuke asked her, slightly shocked at the anger visible in her eyes. "You couldn't just punch him a few times and call it-"

"I'm serious Sasuke," Sakura told him without the slightest smile. "He was the reason why my mother died so quickly and not the slightest bit peaceful- he's the reason why Ino and her family had to take me in so I wouldn't have to go live in an orphanage in a foreign village called "Sound". He-"

Sasuke covered her mouth. "I get it. Because he walked out on your guys you had a rough childhood, but getting revenge isn't the answer."

Sakura scoffed and turned away, trying not to listen. What did this pretty boy know about avenging his family?

"If you don't…you'll suffer the same fate as my brother Itachi suffered."

This got her attention as she stared into his obsidian eyes. "You had a brother?"

"Aah. Kaito forbade everyone in the village to never mention his name again, so he oculd be left in the past like my grandfather and father…"

"What happened to them?"

"He got into some trouble helping out a friend. He ended up murdering an important political power belonging to one of the neighboring royal families belonging to the Sand village. Furious, my grandfather had declared that he be executed, my father even agreed- but my brother rebelled." Sasuke explained, clenching his fists angrily.

"You mean…he could still be alive?"

"Aah, but if he was ever found he'd be killed on the spot, if he hasn't already. He felt so betrayed by my grandfather's declaration and the fact that my father agreed with him that he murdered them and ran away. That's why he hasn't shown his face in Konoha since…the coward…"

Sakura lost the will to speak as he went on. "…I remember just hours before they were murdered…Itachi's last words to me were 'Don't let them take away your freedom', but I never quite understood what he meant…"

'Wow, he lost his brother, grandfather, AND his father all in one night…he's had it tougher than I ever had…' Sakura thought guiltily.

Sasuke looked up to see the pain in Sakura's expression so his softened. "Don't pity me. Even though I have a heavy burden to carry on my shoulders, I'm alive and now that I'm the last Uchiha, until the day I die I won't let anyone else suffer if I can help it."

"Wait, you don't blame yourself, do you Sasuke?" Sakura asked him almost horrorfied.

He turned away from her as he gritted his teeth. "Who else is to blame? If I'd just stalled him a few minutes longer, maybe…just maybe-"

SLAP

As the wind rolled by it brung the silence as Sakura slapped him roughly. "Don't you ever talk like that!! You can't blame yourself for things you had no control over!!"

Sasuke held his cheek. 'This is the second time she's slapped me, and it hasn't failed to sting less yet.' He thought before he shook off the head rattling ring her slap had brought.

"You and I are alike, in a sense. You know that?" She asked as she looked up at the cloudless sky.

Though he said nothing, he looked at her for an explanation. "As a lord, you don't want to see your people suffer if you can help them, and as a doctor-in-training, I want to train as hard as I possibly can so I can save as many lives as possible, not just so I can find my father."

"Is there no changing your mind, about your father?" Maybe there's another reason why he left-"

"What other reason could he have had without telling his family? Haruno Hideaki was a selfish, cowardly man who walked out on the people he loved and the village who cherished him." She shot back coldly.

Sasuke looked away as silence fell. It seemed like every person he had come across he couldn't help.

"But there are some questions I want to ask him before he goes." Sakura told him more gently which made him look up and manage a light smile as Naruto called them from below.

"OI!!! Sousuke-teme!! Sakura-chan!! The kago's here!" (A/N: just in case you guys don't know what a kago is, a kago is a sort of old feudal way or transportation. It's sort of like a carridge, only used with man power. One man in the front, another in the back.)

"Let's go." Sakura told him as she waved to Naruto, signaling that they would be down with her bags in a few minutes.

"Sakura," Sasuke called as he grabbed her wrist. "In a few days there's going to be a meteor shower. If you want, I could take you up to the roof of the castle to watch it. It is the highest place in Konoha after all."

Sakura turned completely around to face him. She could've swore his cheeks were bright pink, and his gaze refused to meet hers as a failed attempt to hide it.

That's when she heard Naruto's words most clear:

You're special to him, Sakura-chan!! I've never seen him LOOK at a girl TWICE let alone go through so much trouble to come see you.

This was THE Uchiha Sasuke's first time ever asking a girl to do anything with him.

And he had picked her.

Then she smiled. After all, it had been the first REAL time that a boy (her age) had ever asked her to go anywhere with him. In fact, before Sasuke, she hadn't ever really talked to a boy unless it was serving insults to drive away a sleazy one from the flower shop.

'It feels kinda…nice, being special to someone.' She thought happily as she opened her mouth to reply

. "…I'd like that." Sakura replied as the two smiled at each other before making their way down to the front of the shop to watch Ino yelling at Naruto and Shikamaru to load Sakura's bags and the unconscious girl in carefully.

"Be careful Sakura, and be sure to tell you-know-who about me." Ino whispered to her with a wink when the bags were all in and Shikamaru and Naruto were in the kago, settling themselves and the unconscious girl.

Sakura smiled at her. "I promise. See you soon," She replied feeling a little guilty about accepting Sasuke's offer to star watch with him.

With one last hug, Ino watched her climb into the kago followed by Sasuke before the four watched Ino and a few passerbys get smaller and smaller.

'Goodbye, little flower shop, hello Uchiha Casle.' Sakura thought as she rested her head on the soft cushion behind her head as a small smile curled on her lips and an anxious knot appeared in the pit of her stomach.

Sakura didn't realize that this was going to be a life-changing experience she was never going to forget.

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The kago ride wasn't what Sasuke or Sakura had expected. Only Shikamaru and Naruto, who napped, were comfortable while the other 2 battled their inner thoughts and consciences.

'You're going to fall for him, Sakura.' Her inner self teased.

'That's not possible. Just because he's semi-tolerable doesn't mean I don't still despise men altogether.' Sakura sniffed without a second thought.

'Don't lie to yourself. That's worse than lying to someone else. You and I both know you don't hate men; you're AFRIAD of what they're capable of. After all your father-'

'Sure, sure. Who asked you anyway? Can't I enjoy my first kago ride without you bothering me??'

'Of course not. Besides, YOU'RE the one who's lying to yourself. It's my duty to change your way of thinking otherwise you're never gonna get any-'

'OK I'M SHUTTING YOU OUT NOW!!!!" Sakura thought as she covered her head with her hands and shut her eyes tightly.

'You know that's not going to help. I'm already IN your mind.' Her inner self smirked.

'Well no matter what you say to me I know that I won't fall for Uchiha Sasuke. He just pities me, that's why he's giving me the opportunity to become a doctor. We're alike, he doesn't see me as anything more than someone he can relate to.'

'Now you know that's a lie Sakura. Who the hell is talking anyway? Didn't you listen to anything Naruto told you back in the field? You mean something to him. Why else would he invite you to go star watching with him?'

'How would I know what that Uchiha thinks? He could just be trying to get laid. How do you know that Sasuke didn't tell him to tell me all those things before he showed up at the flower shop?'

'I don't even know who you are anymore Sakura!! How could you honestly say that? On the roof he practically opened himself up to you and now you're putting him off as one of those sleazy bastards who flirt with you behind the counter during your work hours!!'

'I've only known him a day. No possibly sane person would open himself up to a complete stranger. He's just using me. There aren't any good men in this world. They portray themselves as innocent but then end up leaving you broken hearted and for death. This is why I hate men.'

'Fine. Lie to yourself and me. It's not gonna do you any good. Deny it all you want, but by the time that girl gets better you're gonna be head-over-heels for him, mark my words.' And after her warning her thoughts quieted.

Meanwhile, with Sasuke who was looking at Sakura strangely; as she had covered her head with her hands also had nagging thoughts as well.

'What's wrong with her?' he wondered as he raised a brow.

'Maybe she doesn't like kago rides.' His thoughts told him thoughtfully but then asked him something that made his cheeks redden. 'You're falling for her, aren't you?'

'That's absurd. Like I told Naruto, I don't know her.'

'Come off it. You and I both know she had you wrapped around her finger when she saved your ass from being trampled the other day.'

'Not possible. I haven't been controlled by a woman in my entire life, nor will I start regardless of what you or anyone else says.'

'Che. So stubborn. Alright Mister Ego; if you don't fancy her why did you go through so much trouble to find out her background and better yet invite her to star watch with you?' His inner thoughts smirked. Sasuke didn't have an explanation for this.

He let out a sigh. His thoughts sure did nag a lot when he let his mind wander. 'I don't know. She's…not like other women who fall to my feet when they see me. She didn't even know who I was. If she did, she wouldn't have saved me.'

'And you like the thought of not being known?'

'For the first time, I got to actually talk to a woman with pure intentions. She was ignorant to my identiy, I want to get to know her better; we're alike.'

'So in other words, you feel like you can be yourself around her?'

'Who asked you anyway? Just shut up and enjoy the kago ride?'He told his thoughts snappishly. They had never nagged him this way before. Was it because he had let a woman see a side of him he had never let anyone besides his mother see? 'Like I said before, no woman has controlled me nor will I give them the chance to. As soon as the mute girl's healthy it's to the curb with her'

'If that's what you think then fine,, but you're going to realize that the more time she stays by your side, the harder it'll be for you to think of life without her again.'

When they arrived at the Uchiha castle, they were greeted by two guards at the gates who were shocked when they looked inside to see a strange pink-haired woman with bright emerald orbs and an unconscious girl with midnight blue hair in the same presence as their Lord.

"Uchiha-sama, who…?" One of the guards asked as he pointed to Sakura. With a small gleam in his eye he spoke. "This is Haruno Sakura, the newest-doctor-in-training and our guest for the time being."

"It's- nice to meet you." Sakura told them as she nodded slightly. This baffled the guards as they opened the gates, watching as Sasuke listened to the pink-headed girl to talk to him. But what surprised them the most was the fact that he neither looked disgusted or annoyed in her presence, but looked unusually calm; maybe even happy for the first time in years.

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When they reached the entrance of the castle, Sakura was helped out by the two men handling the kago. "Wow…" she murmured under her breath softly. Never in her life had she dreamed of ever coming this close to such a huge castle let alone THE Uchiha castle.

It was as unusual as it was beautiful, crossed between a medieval one with it's size alone with the large metal gate, and a feudal one as it was more similar to a yamashiro (a/n: mountain castle)

"Don't stare with your mouth open. The guards and servants will think you're a spectator." Sasuke murmured to her as she gaped openly.

Blushing, she glared at him. "Well forgive me for gawking. This is the first time I've been close to a castle."

"Well you're obviously not ashamed of it. You're practically drooling." Sasuke smirked as her cheeks reddened. "It's not my fault your castle is similar to the Shirasagij."(a/n: White heron castle located in Himeji in the Hyogo Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. One of the "Three Famous Castles". If you have a chance, try and get a picture of it, it's pretty amazing so I don't blame her nearly drooling. :) )

Sasuke snorted. "Blame my ancestors. Now come on."

As they walked in, Sakura asked him what they were going to do with the girl, but before they could answer they were greeted by Kaito's kind old face.

"Welcome back, Sasuke-sama. And you must be Haruno Sakura- my you've gotten so big! The last time I saw you, you were about as tall as my knee! I'm happy to see that you still have your mother's uniquely pink hair; not to mention you're the split image of your mother, only with eyes equivalent to your father's-"

"Please, leave the past in the past, Kaito-san." Sakura interjected quietly as she clenched her fists behind her back. Sasuke noted this and decided to change the subject. "We have a patient that needs to be cared for. Kaito, could you get Ichiro and Sai to carry her to the infirmary?"

"Of course, Sasuke-sama. May I ask you what Sakura-san is doing here? She couldn't possibly be here to pay an old man a visit." He asked, chuckling softly.

"She will be helping Shikamaru with the girl, so she'll be staying with us for the time being."

"That's surprising, Sasuke-sama since you-"

"Uchiha-sama, you have a very important meeting to attend to. Please allow us to escort you." Two servants interjected as they gestured him to follow them.

Sasuke sighed. He hadn't been home 10 minutes and they were already pushing and pulling him away from more important things. Things were seeming to become more and more troublesome everday.

"Very well. Have Ichiro and Sai come immediately to take our patient to the infirmary. Kaito, please be kind enough to escort Sakura to a room of her choice and join me in the conference hall." And with that, he departed.

"Naruto-kun, I think that it will be better if you showed Sakura-san to her room. I'm sure that she'd rather have you than an old man like me anyway." Kaito told him with a smile, catching his attention and his mouth open.

"But-"

"As for me, I'll take care of the girl. May I ask who is she first?"

Naruto shrugged. "Hell if we know. She's mute and from what I've been told she's a possible rape victim, that's one of the main reasons why Sakura-chan's here."

"Aah, I see. Well, run along now. Shikamaru, would you be so kind as to help me carry the girl?"

'But you're stronger than I am!! Troublesome, lazy old man…' Shikamaru complained mentally but decided that it was best not to cross him and picked up the girl while Naruto showed Sakura up the long staircase to the second floor.

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"How do you like the Uchiha castle so far Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked her as they ascended up the steps.

"It's…big. Where is exactly is my room?" Sakura asked, looking around at the tapestries and intricate designed engraved into the wood rails of the steps then trying not to gawk at how big the second floor which were lined with rooms.

"Well, Sasuke didn't exactly tell me what room you couldn't have so I guess you could pick whatever room that appeals to you." Naruto told her as they wandered the halls.

"How many floors are there exactly?" Sakura asked, gaping at how big everything was turning out to be. "Well, considering the mini floors there are four main ones, and about five or six wings and several min-floorsThe first floors are broken up into wings like the infirmary, conference hall, kitchen, and where the first floor guards and servants are. On this one are more guards and servants along with a special wing where the elders stay so they don't have to walk so much." Naruto told her as they reached the second flight of stairs.

"You mean the floors are broken up into ranks?" Sakura asked as she looked up, noticing that on the ceiling was a large Uchiha clan marking.

"Sorta, I stay on the third floor with Shikamaru and some of Sasuke's closer friends. We're sorta like his close advisers, and I'm his wing man. Wherever he goes, I'm with him." Naruto grinned. "Kaito used to stay here, but I think there's something wrong with him. He must be getting old because he normally doesn't go up past the third floor unless he wants to get something from the hall of records which is up a mini floor."

"Where's Sasuke's room?" Sakura asked as she looked at all the doors, each seemed to have a marking of some sort; as if saying it belonged to someone already. As she passed one she could've sworn one had the picture of an engraved deer on the frame of the sliding door and the word troublesome on a DO NOT DISTURB sign hung on the doorknob

"He stays on the top floor normally, but I'll let you in on a secret; this entire castle has hidden rooms and floors. That's why we call them mini floors. Even I haven't found all of them."

"How many have you found so far"

Naruto had to think a minute as they paused now and then to look in a room to see if it was to Sakura's liking. "I've found…about 50 hidden passage ways, 45 hidden rooms, and 13 mini-floors."

Sakura gawked at him. How big could this castle possibly be???

Naruto hid his smile as he glanced at the look on her face. "The castle isn't as big as you think, but if you stumble into a hidden room and lose your cool, you could be lost for awhile. But normally, the hidden rooms lead to one of the main floors. The ones I've seen so far haven't reached up to the last floor."

"Have you ever been up there?"

He shook his head. "The last floor is hardest to get into. On the outside it seems as though you could just scale the building and break through one of the windows, but if you look close enough, about 10 of the windows are fake. Rumor has it that one window leads to a bottomless hole…"

"But aren't you Sasuke's best friend?" Sakura asked, a little confused by the whole thing as they climbed up to the third floor. How could he live there so long and not seen the entire castle?

Naruto got quiet. "The last floor isn't something to mess around with. I don't remember how, but Sasuke tried to bring me up there once, but his dad caught us and he got beaten for it. It contains all of the Uchiha secrets on that floor, so only someone of Uchiha blood or someone extremely devoted to the clan like Kaito; who's been here for decades and is the most trusted out of everyone in the castle."

"Why is that? Are the secrets that big?" she asked. The whole thing was starting to seem pretty ridiculous to her.

"Heh, you could say that. Only Sasuke and Kaito know how to get up to that room. There are probably things up there that we're better off not knowing. But if you marry Sasuke I bet he'll let you-"

"I found a room." Sakura told him, ignoring the last part of his sentence as they came to a room that had a cherry blossom petals engraved of the frame of the door.

As she opened the sliding door they walked into a large, empty room with a large window with the white silk drapes open so they could clearly see the orange setting sun. The floor was wood, but the wall paper on the inside were of a cherry blossom tree with petals flowing onto all of the walls.

"Wow…it's perfect…I think it's as big as the flower shop…" Sakura murmured as she stepped in.

"It's convenient for you, the stairs are just around the corner and my rooms 2 doors down from the left. Don't forget where your room is alright-?"

"…Sure." Sakura murmured absently as she wandered to the large window and stared out. Naruto left with a small smile on his face. She reminded him of himself when he first arrived at the Uchiha castle and Sasuke had given him a tour. He seemed to gawk at everything, not matter how big or how small, yet in some way, the look in her eyes seemed to remind him of Sasuke's beautiful mother who had died of a mysterious illness the doctors could never diagnose.

'I have a feeling Sakura might change this clan entirely…' Naruto thought before shutting the door softly behind him and walked to his room.

FINALLY I got ch. 10 uploaded. I apologize for any mistakes I failed to correct, but I REALLLYYY wanted to upload this for you guys because I feel bad for disappearing FOREVER.

PLEASE don't stop reviewing, they all make me feel really good. I love constructive criticism or anything you guys would like to see in here whether it's a filler chapter, some fluff between characters of your choice or a turn of events that won't completely alter the ending I have planned (which are of 2-3 choices.)

But what I really don't like and I've been seeing with some of the other authors, some of you reviewers are REALLY MEAN saying that they have no talent and they suck. There's no point in doing that and it doesn't help our self-esteem. There's a difference between constructive criticism and being a TOTAL ASS. After all, we're not forcing you to read our writing. If you don't like it, then don't read it. Don't tell us we suck as writers ect ect.

I'm glad that I have such a amazing readers who don't do that to me I love you guys!!!!

Till next time!! (WHICH I PROMISE WILL BE IN A FEW DAYS!!!!)

xxasuka-chanxx