Author's Note – Good god, yall are turning me into a crabby cow… -.-;; Whenever I have to do work on my freelancing for more than a few hours I get crabby and can't wait to come back here to write. Lol YOU'RE ALL TURNING ME INTO A FANFICTION REVIEW WHORE!

Disclaimer: Do…Not…Own…WAH!

Chapter 11
Shrieking Nightmares

"Even the stealthiest ninja,
the most honorable samurai,
and the bravest knight
can still have weak moments of terror.
Where the fear drowns out everything else."

~Lady A.R.R.O.

Sakura Haruno Age: 19 Sasuke Uchiha Age: 20

~Sasuke watched with intrigue when Sakura huddled against a nearby tree instead of close to the warming fire. The air here in the land of the Mist was always cold on clear, cloudless nights like this and tonight was no different. Even with her cloaked in shadows, he could see she was shivering, but he chalked it up to her sheer stubbornness. That damn girl…No, that damn woman was more thick-headed sometimes than even Naruto, she hadn't spoken to him since the hot spring either, another reason the Shinobi was morbidly agitated with her distance.

~"It's warmer by the fire," he pointed out, but she hugged herself tighter and continued to allow her body to shiver in the freezing air.

~"I don't bite." He debated over his words for a second, remembering the bruise marring her collarbone and shoulder, "I won't bite."

~"Leave me alone." She was being irritatingly mulish now, a trait he found disgustingly annoying in her. If she wanted to freeze to death she could, but not before he got his fill of her.

~He rose to his feet and stalked over to her side, reaching down to grab her arm and yank her closer. She hissed at his touch and slapped his hand away, the willful defiance made his calm demeanor ooze anger. "Knock it off dammit! I'm trying to help you."

~Sakura bolted to her feet, there was a moment when they both glared at each other, him thinking she was an annoying Kunoichi while she thought he looked like a huge, ugly spider. She couldn't control her raging emotions and felt her chakra surging and fist flying before she could stop it. When it was all over, Sasuke was thrown back across camp and smashed into a tree, splinters spraying everywhere like shrapnel and the dust cloud rising up from the scene looked like a miniature mushroom cloud.

~He groaned and tried to pick himself up, rubbing his screaming face. Her blow had struck home on his cheek bone, what was more surprising was he hadn't seen it to felt it coming. She was too quick, leaving him to realize she was very much more than met the eye.

~"Fine," he said quietly, not bit of emotion hiding there, "you can freeze to death for all I care." He opened his thin blanketed bed roll and slid in, leaving Sakura standing in the darkness alone. If she didn't want his tenderness when he gave it, she wouldn't have it at all.

~Sakura's right hand twitched, the all consuming pain in her knuckles pulsed up her arm in tune with her heart beat, but she didn't say anything, allowing the pain to take over. She needed this to be painful, it needed to hurt… she had to hurt herself. Without this pain, she was nothing, could feel nothing.

~Minutes ticked by as the Kunoichi stood alone, never moving in the jet blackness away from the fire. She was waiting for the male ninja to fall asleep, then she could take her kunai's blade tip over her skin, feeling the sweet burning sensation taking over her body, mind, and soul.

~His breathing leveled out finally, allowing the medical nin to climb the tree shadowing her to find a good, silent place away from those dark eyes.

~"Always watching," she whispered to herself, drawing out her lethal weapon and playing with it between her fingers, nimbly flipping it end over end, making it almost dance on knuckles. A useless trick she'd learned through years of mission boredom and hours of practice.

~She took the blade's handle and touched it to her skin, the tip pressed against the porcelain flesh, but not yet piercing. Just feeling it there caused blood to rush through her temples. It had been awhile since she'd done this and she needed it.

~A whirlwind of thoughts devoured her mind, leaving nothing behind but the rot of hopeless emptiness. No matter how hard she tried, no amount of washing away the guilt for letting Sasuke leave to turn into the thing he was now, would alleviate her fears. He had left because she wasn't strong enough to make him stay, she was pathetic for being unable to prove to him enough how ardent her love for him was, and useless to him now because she couldn't dissipate the feelings of aversion whenever he touched her. She was exactly as he'd said to her so many times before, "weak and annoying."

~The knife broke her skin, lightly at first, the blood pillowing up into a tiny pocket before she drew it down her arm from wrist to elbow. Her red essence dribbled leisurely, rivering down her arm and making bloody crevasses in her flimsy flesh. A soft sound erupted from her throat, the coo of pain quickly smothered as she bit her lip and willed away her weakness. She shut her eyes against the sting. Tonight she would be stronger, force herself to become what she wasn't when she was younger. Slowly, she was pushing her feelings and emotions from her shattered and broken mind, if they left her she could become strong.

~"What are you doing?" A question pierced her mind and her eyes flew open, staring almost innocently up into Sasuke's glaring gaze. He absorbed the scene before him, carefully trying to find his next words, her kunai's tip sat dangerously close to her pulsing vein just beneath the broken skin's surface. There was no way he'd have her death on his conscious, annoying or not, he felt something for the woman who used to be his teammate through thick and thin, no matter what came. She had even tried to save him, he had to give her credit and not let her die.

~"Nothing," she whispered, moving her hand away and letting her arms go slack. Hazy unconsciousness toyed at the failing edges of her mind, threatening to take hold before much longer. The darkness was closing in and she liked the feeling, enjoyed the drowning in sleepy sorrow that came with her bloodletting. No amount of alcohol or drugs could have possibly given her this kind of high.

~He knelt down in front of her and took her arm tenderly, turning it over to inspect the damage. His touch sparked something inside her body, a needy response she quickly tried to stifle, but his nimble fingers wouldn't allow her to shove the need away.

~For some reason he knew she wouldn't heal this wound, not when she had so many others littering her wrists and arms that had gone unhealed by her chakra, not to mention the ones he'd seen earlier lining her upper thighs. When she'd shown him her scars before, he'd brushed them aside as girlish fanatics, something to be gotten over with time and abuse, but the more he turned the thoughts over in his mind, the more he wondered about this woman's claims. She said she'd loved him, or at least had loved him at one time. He wondered if in some small insignificant way whether it was warped to not by pain and anguish, if she still cherished him.

~His wrap job on her arm had been slow and precise, ensuring that she lost no more blood and it wasn't so tight that she would try to claw it off in her sleep. He noticed as she slept the fitful eye twitches that swam under the surface of her lids. She was having a nightmare, probably about him, he hadn't exactly been chocolates and roses to her since he chased her down for the scroll she'd rightfully obtained. That thought pissed him off, he never let a woman get the better of him, and never let his emotions take such a gripping hold on everything inside him. He could easily have shrugged Karin off in a heartbeat, ignored her trashy come-ons, pushed away any woman's impertinence and never gave them a second thought, let alone have the gall to rape one for defying him. Sakura was this enigma he couldn't push from his mind. She was weak because she loved someone who honestly didn't want to be loved. She was annoying because she felt things he himself hadn't been given the chance to, yet or ever.

~Her pink locks fell across her tranquil face, covering up her eyes and lips and Sasuke haltingly reached down to brush them away. He couldn't believe how long her hair had gotten in just a few years since she'd cut it off in that attack with those ninjas, and though he hated to admit it to himself, he smiled because it framed her face beautifully. Tenderly his touch traced her strong jaw, curving up to her temples before he brushed his thumb over her lower lip. A need grew in him then, not a sexual tension he'd been feeling ever since he dragged her with him, but one he had forced himself to never give into.

~"Never kiss them," he muttered in his own mind, even as the battling need begged him to. "She'll never know you did it. Do it before she wakes, you may never get this chance again."

~"Dammit." His inner self was winning the one sided fight against his emotions. What little of them he had left intact.

~Sakura twitched in her sleep and murmured something unintelligible, her lips pursing into a tiny pout and Sasuke prayed with everything he had in him to keep control of his insistent urges threatening to take over if he didn't cap them soon.

~"Just one kiss," he told himself, just one couldn't hurt anyone, especially not her. It was the one thing she'd wanted probably more than anything else he could give her.

~He leaned forward, hesitant when her breathing accelerated softly and he felt her sweet breath on his face, the burning need to touch her was rising to new levels. Closing the gap between them, he felt himself falling prey to the need in this kiss and almost groaned against her yielding mouth when their lips touched. He had to be gentle for fear of waking her, but he didn't want to pull away just yet and touched her chin with his thumb, forcing her mouth to open to his. His tongue snaked into the slack orifice and touching, feeling everything there was about her softness.

~Sakura moaned into his mouth, apparent even in her sleep that she felt this gentleness and enjoyed it. It made the dark Shinobi all the more insistent. He wanted to hear those tumultuous, delicious sounds, his core practically begged for her to do it again, but he warded it back and pulled up from the kiss. His face hovered for a few seconds over hers, struggling to control his shrieking insides and to prevent himself from hurting her more with his unquenchable needs. Though, he couldn't help himself to touch his lips once more to hers and gave her a tiny peck, instantly regretting it when her body lurched unexpectedly and a agonized cry rippled from her throat amidst her nightmarish world.

~"There's so much fucking blood!" She screamed, the bodies piled high on this desolate wasteland that she assumed to be a battle field. There was so much death, so many were crying for help that would never reach them. It was too much and Sakura's knees buckled beneath her, throwing her helplessly to the arid soil that rose and stuck in her nose, full of the stench of death and blood.

~Her eyes darted about, hands clutching tight to her temples, "where are you?" She cried, "answer me!" But nothing came. She was alone here with the crying dead, there was no one here to save her this time, he was long ago gone to a place where he couldn't reach her.

~"I'm sorry," the tears bubbled over her lower lid and poured down her cheeks, "I'm sorry, my love. Please!" She wrapped her arms around herself and screamed into the turbulent sky, the ensuing downpour of rain spattered the ground, washing away the pools of blood. It began to river… the blood, rushing passed her body and turning her legs red.

~"Wait…" She murmured, looking herself over. She wore the tradition ANBU gear, the same protectors, the same tight fitting clothes, except these weren't her own. Hands reached up to her head and pulled down strands of black locks.

~"Why?" Her voice choked out, "why am I in his body?" The realization that she was Sasuke overwhelmed her. She was unable to understand why she continued to see through his eyes.

~Her eyes caught a flash of pink and it drew his attention away from the bleeding ground. Legs that weren't her own pushed into motion and flung themselves forward, the necessity to find the pinkette… his pinkette was all consuming, driving the body she inhabited onward at a breakneck pace, knowing he didn't have the energy to keep it up for long.

~"I knew you would come," the nin recognized her own voice and went to turn towards it, but it was too late. Searing, gut wrenching pain engulfed this body, centered in his chest and the eyes that saw looked down and glimpsed the sparkling shine of his own blade piercing his body. Instantly, his breath seemed stolen from him, oxygen almost too painful to take in and his black gloved hands reached for the hardened, bloodied steel.

~Sakura's figure blurred in front of him, her own ANBU gloved hand stretching forward and rubbing his cheek so tenderly it almost hurt more than the sword. Almost. She pushed him back, watching him hit a cliff base and the sword was driven deeper into his chest cavity, pilfering his breath as the Shinobi turned to the sky to screech, the sound more like a dying feral cat than a man's.

~"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I have to save you from yourself." There were glittering tears there, staining her cheeks and the red rim on her lids meant she had been crying for a long time. Such a long time, he knew. Both of them had felt so much pain in the past years, none more so than her, and mostly because of him.

~There was a darkening, hazy moment where the Sakura inside Sasuke felt herself slipping in and out of consciousness along with the body's inability to stay alive much longer. She saw herself standing at the blade's end, the tip touching her chest. It was then that Sasuke noticed the prominent bulge under her ANBU gear, she was pregnant… he didn't understand why he hadn't noticed her before.

~Sakura grabbed fistfuls of Sasuke's clothes and set her eyes on him, full of morbid determination, "I'll go with you… we both will." Even in his haze, even though she had been the one to betray him and ultimately kill him, the overwhelming feeling of dread for what she was about to do overtook him.

~"No-" he choked out, "don't…do…it…Sakura!"

~The Kunoichi smiled solemnly and pulled her Shinobi close, Kusanagi's end penetrating her chest. She made a soft whispery sound as pain flowered out from the point of impact, but she ignored it and drew Sasuke closer, inevitably impaling herself deeper on the blade. Everything was going in and out of focus so quickly that inner Sakura couldn't understand what was going on, the light struggled to show throw, but then there was moments of darkness and she fought to hear what her other self was saying.

~"…forgive you… We…tried harder for them… I'm… afraid to go." She brushed her knuckle down his temple and smiled painfully, knowing he was carefully watching her. Hands took hold tenderly on his face and brought him closer, their lips touching. It forced everything from their minds; the pain, the anguish, the hurt, nothing remained but their two souls in this one moment.

~Something within Sasuke burned deep, he hadn't been able to say it before, had shied away from it every chance he got, but he could say it now. With the last vestiges of strength he had, feeling the world falling away from them as their bodies fell to the cold ground, he returned the heartfelt gesture.

~"I… love… you," he mouthed.

~Sakura bolted up right, throwing herself into Sasuke's less then expectant arms. Tears flood her cheeks and she fisted his shirt front in her hands, begging for his intoxicating scent to whisk her fears away. "Don't," she sobbed.

~The dark haired ninja, caught aback by the pinkette's closeness, haltingly struggled in his own mind of what to do with her. He didn't want to throw her back, push her off him like he had done in his younger years, it would hurt her feelings and she was delicate, all women were in situations like this. But he didn't know if it was a good ideas he allow her to hug him like this, almost like she needed his comfort, men like him weren't able to show comfort very well.

~"Don't…" she cried harder, burying herself deeper into his body, her racking sobs shaking him to his core. Something had terrified her, brought her to this level of needing him even when she knew he was a monster to her.

~His arms slowly wrapped around her, pulling her into his lap and cradling her trembling body. This feeling of being needed was completely foreign to him, even Karin in all her wiles of slutty womanhood never went so far as to even pretend that she actually needed him. Both of them had an understanding, he would fuck her to satiate his needs, she would allow it because she was a whoring bitch in need of someone to focus her attention on. He just happened to be the one she set her eyes on.

~The longer he held her there, savoring her willing touch against his body, the more he wanted it. She held him, not because she was frightened, but because she needed him. It was that thought that cemented him to his spot and rocked her soothingly until her sobbing had ceased.

~"What did you see?" He asked as length, nearly expecting her to tell him nothing, but she surprised him.

~"I was in you," she started, confusing the Uchiha for a moment, "I was in your mind. I was you… Everyone was dying and there was blood everywhere." A pushed back memory of how Sasuke had found his parents that day in the compound danced in front of his eyes, and like he always had before, he shoved the meaningless information away.

~"Yes. And?"

~"I watched myself kill you through your eyes."

~Sasuke's hands tightened their grip for only a second, if this was just a nightmare, they could easily have shrugged it off without needing to worry about it. Although, if it had been a vision from Hibibiju, they knew there was no way to avoid what she had seen, nor could she unsee it. To comfort her, he relaxed his grip shook his head, "it was a nightmare. Ignore it."

~"I can't, Sasuke. I'm scared for you, I don't want to kill you."

~"You won't." He slowly let her go, relinquishing his grip and climbing to his feet. Exhaustion plagued his mind right now, that's all her wanted to deal with at the moment, not the ramblings of some terrified little girl whose dreams held no hold on him. He climbed into his bedroll and turned away from her.

~"Please," she begged, "stop being selfish…" More tears slipped down her cheeks, "stop thinking about your own problems and put someone's else's before your own, dammit, Sasuke!"

~He turned to look at her, so many memories clashing within his soul right than he didn't know how he was able to deal with them all at once. It was frustrating how much he remembered from his past when those crystalline tears fell from her eyes…

~The moon was bright that night, shimmering its rays off of everything and sending out a warm glow, but the entranced Shinobi didn't notice. This was where he left everything he knew and felt comfortable with to do as his brother instructed. To become stronger so he could kill him.

~He couldn't believe that that damn girl knew he was leaving too, saw it in her eyes as she pause in his vision from her hiding place. She knew him almost better than he knew himself some days and that pissed him off, but he shook away the emotion and stopped a few feet in front of her, "what are you for? It's a little late for a stroll."

~"This is the only road out of the village."

~"Go home, Sakura." His voice said her name gently, sending sparking shivers down her spine even then and he knew it.

~"Why?" He already walking passed her and she turned to face him. "Why won't you say anything to me? Why did you shut everyone out? Why won't you tell me any-"

~"Why should I tell you anything?" Temper pricked only slightly, he cut her off, knowing what she was going to say. He couldn't turn around though, knew he would see her tears, could hear them hitting the cement road, but didn't have the strength to turn around to face her yet.

"You meddle too much, Sakura," that spiteful jab hit her home and her tears increased. It was hard to watch someone she adored so much, hurt her in such a way. "Stop bothering me all the time."

~Sakura looked down at her shoes, overwhelming pain taking over her soul, but in her grief she smiled, "you act like you hate me, Sasuke." It was agonizing to know he did indeed feel this way sometimes about her, although she knew better. He wouldn't have saved her so many times, wouldn't have helped her, eased her worries or her pains if he didn't feel something for her.

~"You're clan died. I know that your brother did it, but taking vengeance won't heal you. It won't bring them back, you won't find happiness on this path, not me… not you…"

~"I know that. I'm like you, Sakura. I'm not happy and cheerful. I'm not like that idiot either, how he's always straight-forward and helping. I…" He couldn't finish, didn't know what else to say to her. His feet started to go again, but her voice rang out.

~"Don't go!" She was saying, "don't go alone. I'll come with you, I can help." He couldn't allow that, she would be tainted by his revenge, turned from the pretty little flower she was now into what he knew he was slowly becoming. This wasn't a road for a cherry blossom to follow.

~"I know I'm not much, but I can become stronger, I promise you I can," she was still trying so hard even when she knew it was futile to push against him. He was like fire, hot and scorching, burning everything that he came in contact with, while she was a cool spring river, bending with the ebb and flow of the winding rapids. She would never be able to become what he was, they were too different. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Sakura Haruno meant something to him, enough so that he was willing to let her go to become a strong and good ninja without his tainted soul screwing her up.

~"No." He wasn't sure what he was going to do, but he knew he had to do it fast, blurring behind her faster than her eye could catch. She had to accomplish things here on her own before she left the village and secretly inside his mind, he hoped she would one day leave the here to find him, to bring him back when his mission was completed.

"I could scream." He knew she would if he didn't let her have her way.

"You won't," he breathed right on her neck, taking in her addicting scent. It was so strong now, mixing with the scent of her tears, he wanted to hug her and make the pain stop, all the pain he caused her.

~"Please… Sasuke… I love you…"

~Those words pierced him, he'd heard them from others before, but they meant nothing to him. Here… here was a tiny, weakling of a Kunoichi bearing her soul to him and he felt his ice cold insides pulse slightly with heated life. If he brought her with him he wouldn't be lonely, she could be useful to keeping him on his mission, but an image of her bleeding and dead flashed across his mind. No! She had to stay alive, he needed her to stay alive for him. So long as he knew she was all right, she long as she continued to get stronger without him, he could be satisfied that she would be okay and that it was all for the better.

~He had to steel himself against his feelings, nothing else mattered and he smiled gently at her, glad she couldn't see, "…you're annoying." She flinched and almost touched her back to his chest, not a wise move, he was still trying to take hold of his flying emotions. "I could never love someone who looks like you."

~Her knees buckled and she clutched her face in her hands, "how can you be so cruel? What's wrong with you?"

~His resolve was slowly shattering, he had to be out of here soon or he would break and that wasn't allowed, "Sakura. I cannot be saved, not me. I am all ready condemned and all I'm doing now is running on borrowed time. So I'll do what I need to do while I'm still breathing."

~"Then what! You kill Itachi and what then? Where will you go?"

~"I suppose then I'll go find a place to die." He heard her audible gasp.

~"I'll come find you," she hissed, but her words were laced with a needy emotion, one he knew little about… Love.

~Sighing heavily, he grabbed the back of her collar and flung her into a standing position, bringing a kunai to her neck and touching the razor sharp blade to her throat to prove he was very serious, "if you come and find me, I will kill you." He regretted having to do so, but brought the edge of his fist on the nerve of her neck and her eyes grow wide in shock as consciousness slipped from her grasp. His strong arms caught the falling pinkette, lifting her up before turning towards the bench behind them and setting her down gently. She was fragile like glass, only more beautiful, like a glass cherry blossom.

~"Don't follow," he pleaded into her ear and pulled something from his pocket, a small, satin ribbon the color of obsidian and left it in her hand. It was the only thing he'd ever been given in his life that meant anything, and the only thing he would ever give to someone else.

~"Sasuke," the Kunoichi murmured from her seated position on the ground, her chin was glued to her chest as she brought him from his passed memories. "C-can…" She paused as if debating her words, "can I sleep with you?"

~He thought about it for a moment, apparently a moment too long and Sakura hugged herself tighter, afraid to go back to sleep. "Come here," the words broke through her reverie and she peered up at him, seeing him open his blanket to her, scooting over slightly to give her room. She crawled in next to him and huddled up close to his endless warmth, fanning her fingers on his chest.

~The feelings that rose in his throat as he watched her succumb to exhaustion and eventually sleep cracked him slightly. He'd spent so long telling himself he needed no one and nothing except his eternal hatred for his brother. That was all he needed to be comforted at night, but the way this nin buried herself into his chest, the feel of her hands planted on his body soothed him more than anything had ever soothed him before. She was an incredible Kunoichi; breathtaking, powerful, strong, beautiful, feeling, kind, generous… yet had a hard edge about her that warned you she was infinitely dangerous even with her weak emotional setbacks.

~Sasuke gasped when he realized what he was thinking. He covered them both with the blanket and settled down at her side, his hand and arm holding up his head as he watched her sleep. It was unmistakable the thing he was feeling towards her. The gentle nudgings of his heart were telling him so… he was beginning to love her again.

Author's Note – AWWWWWW! Sorry, I needed to be "slightly" OOC, I mean you can't tell me that wasn't adorable and totally something Sasuke would do when he was taken totally aback by it. I mean this IS a Sasu/Saku story, you have to have him warm up a little bit before the story can progress. Anyway, I'm still sick as a dog and still writing, I'll have another chapter up before long today, keep watching it, and don't be afraid to look up my profile and see the other workings of stuff I have in the making, it'll be bold printed and italisized, not too far down from the top. And do go look at my Akatsuki story with Sakura, though it is a smut fest, it's still good I think lol.

P.S. Please excuse the liberties taken when I give Sasuke his flash backs, sure it's a little different then the anime or the manga, but I do it to progress the story in a particular way, if you don't like it. I don't suggest you read fanfictions, all of them tend to bend the story slightly. It wouldn't be a fiction otherwise lol TY! Review!