Title: Porcelain
Author: Your Existence
Fandom: Naruto
Date: 27/12/08 (Dec. 27, 2008)
Chapter: Nine
Pairings: SasuNaru (main)
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em…
Author's Note: Oh, wow! It's a new year! 2008 went by so fast… Anyway, you guys wondering why I'm updating so early (it's not really early, but it is earlier than usual)? Well, because it's a gift, from me to you. Today, the 17th is my birthday! So, you all get two chapters for the month of January instead of the usual one!

So, without further ado, please enjoy chapter nine of Porcelain!

Achoo!

I was moving. Not with my own energy though. Someone was carrying me. On… on their back, I believe. This someone was talking to another someone. Their voices were familiar. They sounded far, far away even though they were so close. My head was spinning and I felt cold, then hot, then cold again. It was terribly annoying. I tried to speak, to tell them of this annoyance, but my lips didn't respond. My voice was trapped in my throat. I tried to open my eyes, but they to didn't respond. Maybe because they were so heavy. What was happening?

It had been two days since Shino and Shikamaru dropped me off.

"Sonnenblume?" Chlodna Pani's voice cut through the darkness of my now conscious mind. "Sonnenblume!" A big smile spread across my face as I opened my eyes slightly. She squealed a little and hugged me. With a touch of concern in her face, she asked me something in German, but all I could do was look confused. She put the back of her hand to her forehead, then did a thumbs up, then a thumbs down to show what she meant. I nodded and put up two thumbs. I felt better. A lot better really.

Sasuke's irritated voice sounded (more like croaked, really) from the hall. Chlodna Pani frowned and got up and went out to the hallway. I wondered what Sasuke had said to make her frown.

She soon came back, a weary smile on her face and she kissed me on the forehead. She had opened her mouth as if to say something, but she hesitated. A thoughtful expression appeared on her face, as she seemed to think about what she wanted to say. I didn't know why she was putting so much thought into it; I most likely wouldn't understand it anyway.

But she finally seemed to find the words she wanted, and what she said next really took my by surprise, "It's time rest. Feel better soon." She smiled a hopeful smile.

"Thank you so much," I replied. She put her hands up and together and tilted her head so that it was lying on her hands and made soft snoring sounds. I nodded to show that I understood and slid down further under the heavy comforter. Her smile got a little brighter and she got up, dimmed the lights, and left.

There were eyes on me. I could feel them.

I quickly sat up in the purple and pink murky light of the early, early sun. I carefully looked around, looking for something out of place, looking for that someone laying their dark eyes on me, but everything was normal, as far as I can see. Though, I do remember Chlodna Pani closing the door when she left. It was open, the ever growing light of the sun sneaking in through the slight opening. I slipped out of the bed, the thick under sheet wrapped tightly around me.

It was very quiet. The halls looked bigger and a bit scarier without the usual lighting. I felt my way a little the in darker part of the hall to the stairs. I believed that Chlodna Pani's room was on the upper floor along with Sasuke's. I had made it up easy enough, save some of the embarrassing stumbling and damage to my shins.

It was still and peaceful, just like the rest of the house. More doors littered the walls on this floor. This really knocked my confidence of finding Chlodna Pani's room on least my third try way down. Just threw it down and burned it to the ashes, then burned the ashes (it was really that bad…). I had already made it a quarter of the way down the hall when I started to contemplate turning around and forgetting about the open door and the eyes. I sighed and turned to go back to my room when I bumped into a firm bodied somebody and fell to my rear. I prayed to anything that was awake enough at this hour to be listening that it was just a wall or Chlodna Pani (though, I don't think she would be that muscular… more squishy, maybe…) and not Sasuke (hmm, hopefully he's not squishy…).

I opened my eyes to see what, or who, I had run into; I almost pissed myself I was so scared. It was Sasuke. But then I noticed that his face looked older and his hair longer than the last time I saw him. There was no way he could age this quickly in such a short amount of time. Impossible.

"I… uh…" I remembered that was a German family and that Sasuke was probably the only one able to speak Polish. That sucked.

The man towered over me, staring me down. I felt like I had grew to the size of an ant and he was about to step on me and grind me into the ground. All my insides hurt.

"So," I was surprised to hear Polish. "You're Sasuke's little infatuation." The man finally said, his slightly deep velvet-like voice penetrating my being and paralyzing it. I tried to move to get up and sadly failed, only able to get my hand over my mouth.

Infatuation? I wished I knew what that meant.

"Looking for Mother?" He said in a hushed voice. I felt like crying I was so scared. I didn't know what to do or what this man would do to me. I just sat there, looking up at him, my eyes wide, my fear dancing all over my face. His eyes, dark and mysterious like Sasuke's, narrowed.

"You are never to come up here without permission again, do you understand?" I nodded so fast I thought my head might have snapped off and, finally being able to move, rushed past him and down the stairs. It's a miracle I didn't fall or trip, or even die, on my way down.

I had slept three straight days after that encounter, waking up in a cold sweat screaming at the end of third day. Chlodna Pani was horribly worried and had not eaten the whole time.

I didn't know what was wrong with me.

Nothing had happened to me. No one did anything to me (the man's warning did me no true harm, just scared the living shit out of me…). The whole time I was sleep, I had not one dream, so nothing could have sent me screaming myself awake. I was scared, and I was beginning to get weak. I had not eaten but once the whole time. My stomach just wouldn't take in anything after that one time.

It was late in the afternoon, almost a full week since I'd been there, that I had finally seen Sasuke for the first time. Chlodna Pani was bringing me some hot tea and honey because my throat was all irritated and I couldn't stomach anything else. Sasuke had followed close behind her. But when I looked up at him, expecting him to have his usual snobby look on his face and his bastard-ass attitude, I was completely devastated.

He was all broken. His face was sullen and tired. His right arm was in a cast and was held up by a sling. Bruises littered his left arm and his neck. And his walk was a really bad limp. My chest twisted to the point where it just tore and I started to choke. My eyes watered and I couldn't stop the tears from falling nor could I hide them before Sasuke saw me. I hid my face in the comforter, which was not comforting at all, and cried and cried and cried. I knew Sasuke would hate me forever for crying for him, but I couldn't help it. Seeing him in the state he was in that day ripped a huge, empty void deep in my soul.

End Note: Yay! Happy Birthday me!

Hmm, even though this is a happy day, this chapter doesn't seem very happy. Well, this chapter was going to come up sooner or later, on a happy day or not, I guess, though, I didn't really plan this chapter out… well… I don't plan any of my chapters, really, but this one was really just out the blue. I fail when it comes to planning out a story. I have is a general idea of what I want to write and then I just fit in chapters and subplots where they fit and make sense. Makes the story more fun to write and hopefully more fun and enjoyable to read, right?