The man Sakura stared at this time was not the same nightmares, and she was not the same Sakura. They were older, and she could feel her bones ache with the slightest tinge of hitting forty years old. Even Sasuke had a few wrinkles on his forehead and looked older, more mature. He stared at her, his Sharingan as blazing as usual, but this time, Sakura wasn't scared.

"Are you happy, Sasuke?" His forty year old face turned into a scowl, but he remained silent, refusing to answer. Sakura shrugged, and continued to talk, acting as if he wasn't there.

"I am. Somewhere out there, I'm lying in a warm bed beside my husband, and I know now that he wants a child as much as I do. And I'm slowly beginning to trust him again, Sasuke. You hear that? I'm slowly beginning to trust him.. I'm not afraid of him anymore."

"Are you afraid of me?" She shrugged once more at his response, and closed her eyes. She let out a small sigh.

"In a way, I am a bit nervous of you right now, yes."

"Do you love him?" Sakura's eyes snapped open, brimming with new tears. She smiled sadly.

"With all of my heart."

"Will you ever love me again?" She smiled softer, and looked up at him, seeing that his Sharingan was gone from his eyes. She could make out a small tear roll down his pale cheek. Uchiha Sasuke crying, now that was a sight.

"I already do. With all of my heart."

This time, he approached her first, his arms wrapping her into an embrace, and she hugged him back, her tears spilling onto his shirt. She felt him slowly raise his katana to her back, and she smiled. She felt the cold metal pierce her shirt when he stopped.

"Don't give up on me." He said, and the crack in her voice brought her to a sob, as he slowly, gently, killed her while keeping her warm in his arms.

Sakura opened her eyes, feeling the tears already falling down her face to hit- skin? She tried to hold back a sob, but a small noise emerged from her lips and the arm around her waist tightened, the hand giving her a small squeeze. She looked up and found Sasuke's chin on her head, his eyes closed in a calm slumber. She gagged, trying not to sob again, but Sasuke's eyes were already open, his arms snaking closer around her.

"Sakura-"

She let the sob go, and buried her head into his chest. Sasuke adjusted her in his eyes and laid there, silently, letting her just cry for a moment, waiting until she had calmed down. When she did, she pulled away, feeling his arms tighten around her, and looked up at him. His eyes were filled with worry.

"Tell me."

She took a deep breath and let out everything she could remember, leaving no small detail out. When she did, she placed her clammy forehead to his cool chest and closed her eyes. She waited for him to respond, not really knowing if he would. She didn't even have the heart right now to analyze how she had ended up falling asleep in his arms in the first place.

"Are you afraid of me?" She bit her lip, and shook her head.

"Not anymore. No, I'm not afraid of you, Sasuke."

"Do you trust me?" Her eyes widened, she choked back another sob, knowing that she had to answer honestly, and that he wouldn't like it. She closed her eyes and shook her head, tears resuming to fall down her face. She avoided his eyes.

"I don't know.."

She felt the warm embrace of his arms pull away from her gently, and he sat on the edge of the bed, with his naked back to her. She sat up in a kneeling position, her hand reaching out to touch him, when she hesitated.

He had his face in his hands, his whole upper half slumped over. In the moonlight, she through she saw the glitter of water through his fingers. She bit her lip and moved her hand out to touch him again.

"Sasuke.."

Just as her hand touched the warm skin of his shoulder, he jerked away and disappeared into the hallway, and into the darkness of the rest of the house. Sakura collapsed against the bed, curling herself into a ball, hugging Sasuke's pillow to her. She let out a large sob, and continued, not aiming to stop until she had nothing left in her.

When she finally fell back asleep, alone in the bed, it was a thoughtless, deep sleep.

She awoke late in the morning, her hair plastered to Sasuke's pillow that she was still clutching, her nails digging into the soft material. Her eyes stung from the tears, and her lips were dry. She swallowed a bitter taste, and pulled the covers back over her. She fell back asleep quickly.

When she awoke two hours later, it was the same thing. The bed was still uninhabited, the house silent. She pulled herself out of the bed, slipping the pillow out of her hands onto the edge of the bed and stood up. Without thinking she walked to the bathroom, looked in and continued down the hallway, doing the same thing to every room in the large house. She went back to the hallway and stood in front of the phone, glaring at the blinking light of a message. She hit play, listening to Hana's worried voice.

"Doctor Haruno, it's Hana. I guess you just overslept, you must be tired, but you missed your shift. I-I ah.. well give me a call and we'll talk about it." Sakura called the number back, apologized to Hana and requested the day off, feigning a large migraine once more. She hung up the phone and made her way back into the bedroom, crawled back under the strewn covers, and wrapped her arms around the pillow once more. She closed her eyes and willed herself back to sleep.

She was awoken late that night by the ringing telephone. She got up from the bed slowly, ignoring her aching muscles, bitter taste in her mouth, and burning eyes. She shuffled towards the phone, and realized that there was three messages on the answering machine. She frowned and picked up the phone.

"H-Hello?" Naruto sounded almost frantic on the other line.

"K-Kami, Sakura thank God you finally picked up! Jesus fucking Christ, Sasuke just showed up and collapsed on my floor, he looks really beaten up, and he's bleeding. I've tried to get him to talk, but he won't say anything, he-"

"I'll be right there." She cut him off and immediately shuffled back to the bedroom. She pulled on sweats and one of Sasuke's shirts that was strewn on the floor, and wrapped her coat around her. She hurried towards Naruto's small apartment. When she got there, she raised a knuckle to knock on the door, but it was already being flung open, and Naruto grabbed her arm, pulling her in. He shut the door behind him, and Sakura hurried towards the couch where Naruto had put Sasuke.

He was on his back, his eyes closed, lips parted, and cut. She kneeled in front of him and turned to Naruto.

"Get me some warm water and a damp cloth." Naruto hurried past her into the kitchen, and Sakura shrugged out of her jacket, her hands immediately going to Sasuke's chest, ripping open his thin shirt. He made a small noise, and his eyes moved, but Sakura ignored it. She stared at the mass of cuts and bruises running down his perfect chest and stomach, and closed her palms over the first batch by his collarbones. She wiped her head, after healing them and focused on the large bruise in the center of his chest, right next to his solar plexus. She cursed out loud, and Sasuke's lips opened and closed. She ignored it once more, until he let out a small whisper.

"Sakura.."

"Right now, Sasuke I don't want to hear it, okay?" She gritted out, and continued to heal him, working on the tough bruise, trying to fix the broken blood vessels. She quickly did the rest of his chest and stomach and gaped at the small, hole-like wound on his abdomen. Was that a kni- She cut herself of and placed two fingers on either side of the slim, but deep cut, willing herself to slowly close it, layer by layer. Sasuke was lucky, it had been very close to rupturing a hole in his small intestine.

Naruto ran back with a bowl of water and a cloth. Sakura swiped the cloth from him, dipped it in the water and slapped it across Sauske's forehead, earning a noise of discomfort from the man. She ignored it, and wiped the sweat off of her eyes and dipped her hands in the water. She cleaned up the small scrapes on his thighs and knees and the ones on his cheekbones. When she was done, she put her thumb on his cut lip, quickly closing the bleeding wound. She stood up and turned to Naruto, who was just standing there, looking frantic.

"Sakura-chan.. Sasuke-"

"Yeah." She cut him off, acting as if she really know what he was going to say. Naruto rubbed his arm, nervously.

"Do you need help getting him back home or-"

"Its fine, go and get some sleep. I'm sorry this happened." She turned away from Naruto and helped her still half unconscious husband sit up on the couch. She used the cloth from his forehead to clean off any dried blood on his body and placed the bowl in Naruto's kitchen. She bid the blonde goodnight and wrapped Sasuke's arm around her neck, her arm around his waist. She hoisted him out the door, ignoring his grunts of disapproval at the help.

They walked slowly, but silently towards the Uchiha compound, their footsteps the only sound, until Sasuke began to speak.

"I got into a fight." It sounded like a confession, but Sakura huffed at his weight (no matter her strength) and continued on.

"I can see that. The knife wound was quite obvious." In the back of her mind she did wonder how Sasuke, the best of his kind, found another man of his expertise to pick a fight with so quickly. There were only two people she knew that could deal this kind of blow to Sasuke in Konaha; Naruto and Kakashi, but neither seemed the picking-fight kind. She wanted to ask, but held back.

"I let him." She pinched the bridge of her nose (a trait she had picked up from Sasuke in the first place), and sighed. She turned the key and opened the front door, lugging him into the bathroom. He stood there, his hands limply at his sides, as she stripped him of his clothes, and threw away the ripped shirt. She shoved him into the shower and turned the water all the way on cold.

She ignored the loud yelp from Sasuke at the ice-cold water, and grinned bitterly, hoping that had woke him up. She waited in the bathroom as he showered, her hands pulling her hair off of her face. She washed her face and brushed her teeth, as Sasuke stepped out of the shower, dripping wet. She handed him his towel and headed out of the bathroom and into the living room, where she stood, her back to the entryway and couch, arms folded. She waited for him to come in as she stared at the small frames of pictures she had placed on her bookshelf.

Two were of her when she was little with her mother and father, one with her cousins, and another with Ino. The last was of her, eighteen years old, at Ino's wedding, standing between Naruto and Lee, grinning. She smiled to herself, and listened as she heard Sasuke slip into the living room and sit down on the couch. She turned towards him, her arms still folded. This time, there were no tears coming to her eyes. She had spent her supply last night.

"I really thought we were progressing, I thought we were beginning to be happy, to fix our marriage, and then this happens!" She gestured with a hand at Sasuke's still beaten up appearance, and refolded her arms. He looked up at her, his eyes hurt.

"You don't trust me."

"And do you wonder why, when you disappear suddenly in the night and go and get yourself fucked up in a fight?!" She shot back bitterly, watching Sasuke's eyes blink slowly.

"I'm trying, Sakura." He sounded exhausted and almost sad. She bit back a bitter laugh.

"Yeah, it really feels like it." That's when he stood up, his whole physique looking enraged, but his eyes still showed hurt. He clenched his knuckles until they turned white and gritted his teeth.

"Do you know how hard it is to watch your wife have nightmares every night about you killing her? And then to watch her go about her day like nothing happened? Do you know much it breaks my heart to see you cry into the same shoulder of the man who you don't trust and I can't do shit about it because I learned that you don't trust me? How hard it is to adjust to the fact that your wife sleeps in the bed with you, the same bed where your parents were murdered, plays your mother's music and slowly becomes your mother in all ways? How hard it is to hear your own wife scream at you to kiss her the next time you fuck her?"

Sakura stood there, motionless, not knowing what to say. She watched as tears brimmed in Sasuke's eyes, and tears slowly slipped down her own cheeks.

"I-I-"

"Don't you realize I know you aren't happy? That it hurts to watch you smile at me and be with me when I know your heart wants something more?"

"I want you!", she screamed, interrupting him, and he looked taken aback, "All I've ever wanted was you, Sasuke! I want you to open up to me like this, I want to know what you're feeling! And I'm not unhappy here. I love you so much, and being Uchiha Sakura was all that I ever wanted!"

"I'm trying-" Sasuke tried again, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Try harder!" She yelled and threw her arms above her head in desperation. She calmed herself down. "Try harder," she repeated, calmly this time, "come home with warmth in your heart, tell me tales about your mission and whats on your mind, open up to me, and make love to me, Sasuke, leave yoruself naked to me, just as I do with you." She sighed gently. "Please."

There was silence as the two calmed down, and it was minutes before Sasuke spoke again, but his words shocked Sakura. He was stood right in front of her, his head down, but his eyes looking right at her.

"My mother." He said gently. Sakura's eyes widened in confusion. She opened her mouth to ask him what he was talking about, but he continued.

"My mother was the one playing the piano on the CD you were listening to. Every since you moved in, it's been hard for me to adjust having a motherly figure in the house, and seeing you play her music.. seeing you fall in love with it.. it was a lot to take in." He closed his eyes and bowed his head. His eyes opened when he felt Sakura's lips on his forehead, her hands cupping his head. She pulled away from him gently, her own eyes closed.

"This was all I ever wanted, Sasuke. Just this."

He pulled her against him, and she felt the cold dampness of tears on the top of her head. She hugged him back, and stood there quietly, not wanting to end such a precious moment.

"I got into a fight", he continued, his voice muffled by her hair, "because I didn't know what to do with myself. My own wife didn't trust me. So I picked a fight and I just let the guy hit me and stab me, because I knew I was worthless. I couldn't even open up to my own fucking wife, but all this time I had been confiding in my best friend."

Sakura's eyes widened. He had been talking to Naruto about-

"Every time I saw that you were unhappy, I didn't know how to make you feel better, how to comfort you, so I left. And every time, I found myself outside of Naruto's door, and all he did was listen while I poured out everything and angrily let all my frustrations out on him. The day after you got drunk, I lost it and ended up at Naruto's door, and when I told him what happened, I let him scream at me, and somehow, we got into a fight."

She remained silent, just letting him say everything he needed to say.

"I don't know how to socialize. When I courted you I had no idea how deep I had gotten myself in until you kissed me that night after our movie date. I didn't know how to tell you, how to show you, that I cared for you as much as I did, so I kept it bottled up. I tried my best to cater to your needs without growing any closer to you than I had. I was scared, scared that if I got any closer, I would loose you, or fuck up, or hurt you. And now it seems like I've done all three."

He let out a bitter laugh, but stopped talking. They shared the silence for a few more minutes, before Sakura spoke again, confidently and loudly.

"I love you." Sasuke hesitated, his lips still in her hair. He sighed, and tightened his hold around her.

"I know."

She escorted him back towards the bedroom, arms around each other, and he laid her gently in the bed before lying down next to her, on his side, turned towards her. He pulled her against his chest, his arms wrapped tightly around her.

"Don't give up on me." He murmured and closed his eyes. She smiled and kissed his cheek gently.

"Never."

Sakura was stood in front of a tall, silver mirror. She looked herself in the reflection, taking in her pulled back hair, beautiful face, and bridal robes. She looked like her nineteen year old self, innocent as the day that she was married. She continued looking into the mirror, before Sasuke appeared behind her, however, he looked like his twenty year old, married self. He was also clad in his wedding robes. His hand stroked the back of her neck, his lips by her ear.

"What do you see?" He whispered. Sakura frowned, and continued looking at their reflection. She smiled brightly.

"I see happiness!"

He 'hn'd and a small smile came to his handsome face. Sakura continued looking at herself in the mirror, watching as Sasuke's hands slowly came around to her front and placed themselves on her large, rounded stomach. Her eyes brimmed with tears.

"Me too." He said gently, and her hands cupped his own on her pregnant stomach, intertwining their fingers.