Sakura awoke the following morning, the sun was seeping through the curtains and for a blissful second she'd forgotten all about the previous day-The car chase, the gun shots, Sasuke finally telling her about what had happened those four years ago.
She felt strange. Then she froze. She wasn't on her side of the bed anymore. To be specific, she wasn't even on the bed. Half of her feminine body was sprawled across Sasuke's chest. Their legs were tangled together under the cheap motel sheets. One of his arms was around her waist almost like a boa constrictor. Her hand was on his stomach. She swallowed hard. She could literally feel his heart beating under her cheek, which was turning red as the seconds dragged on.
She lay there, frozen in place like an animal with no escape, her breath in her throat. There was something intimate about being wrapped around one another in a bed. Like lovers. Not that she would know from experience but she'd seen enough movies and read enough books to know that the position they were in was freaking intimate.
A honeyed, fiery feeling washed over her skin, and she shuddered as she squeezed her eyes shut. Every inch of her was super-aware of him-His scent, his warmth, his breathing. She was aware of it all. Of how her body fit perfectly against his, the way his muscular thighs were pressed against her creamy ones, the hardness of his stomach under her soft hand.
Her heart went crazy. Heat surged through her veins like an unrelenting volcano. For just a second, she pretended. No, not that there wasn't a mad man out to kill her, because that was impossible even with the close proximity of Sasuke's hot body, but she pretended that this was a perfectly normal occurrence in their life. That he actually liked her back.
And then he shifted and rolled. She was on her back, and he was still on the move. His face delved into the space between her neck and shoulder, snuggling. Oh, mother of sweet hot stoic men. His warm breath touched her skin, sending tremors down her body. His arm was heavy against her stomach, his leg between hers, pushing up and up. Sakura almost died from the sheer sexiness of it all. He was unknowingly setting her ablaze and her lungs felt scotched with each breath she took.
Sasuke mumbled something inaudible. Whatever it was, it sounded just about the sexiest thing she had ever heard. There was something about a sleepy boy's voice that just gave a girl visions. So freaking hot. Panty-incinerating hot.
She'd been trying with all that she had to stop her feelings for him from resurfacing full force, but we can't choose who our heart beats for. Or more specifically, who our heart skips a beat for. She could've woken him up but for some reason she didn't. The ecstasy of him touching her was far stronger than anything else. Stronger that the need for her next breath. Can you blame her?
His hand was on the edge of the borrowed pyjama shirt, his long fingers on the exposed flesh, her legs lay bare, her lace panties out for all to see. And his hand inched up under the shirt, across her stomach. She should have probably stopped him then. Heck, she should have stopped him minutes ago. Her heart was on the verge of exploding. The tips of his fingers brushed her ribs. His body moved, his knee pressed against her.
She inhaled sharply.
Her cell phone rung.
Sasuke stilled. No one moved. Time froze.
And she cringed.
He lifted his head. Eyes so dark, they shimmered with untold heat. Like pools of liquid midnight. They stared at her in confusion.
"Good morning?" She murmured.
He looked at her like she was at fault. His eyes travelling from her face, down to her chest until finally reaching the v of her panties. Sakura heated up. She'd forgotten that her borrowed pyjama shirt had inched so far up her body that she looked like she was asking for it. Like she was inviting him. She quickly fumbled and covered herself.
Sasuke gritted his teeth. Using his powerful arms, he lifted himself up. His eyes never left hers. Something passed between them, unspoken, heated and heavy. His eyes constricted. To Sakura it felt like he was blaming her for how he'd been acting a few minutes ago-His less than subtle sleepy caresses.
All the while the phone was still ringing but neither paid any mind to it.
With one last blame-filled look at her and a huff, he walked towards the bathroom. The door opened and slammed shut behind him.
The phone rung some more.
Sakura stayed there, staring at the ceiling, heart pounding. What the hell? She felt too hot to handle and she blamed Sasuke. Stupid hot body.
With a sigh of exasperation she picked up her phone.
"What?" she almost shouted into the mouth piece. Then a second later wanted to hide in a hole somewhere. "Oh, hello mom. No I'm okay. I'm sorry about that."
~xoxo~
Fucking hell!
Sasuke stared at his reflection in the mirror. He sprinkled some cold water on his face and cursed himself for what he'd been doing in his sleep. Why did she have to sleep so close to him? He should have slept on the cold floor. Maybe that would have kept his mind in check. Instead he woke up to find his hands groping her and his knee going to places he had no claim to.
Damn it!
He had bigger things to worry about without the addition of hormones on overdrive. First on the list was making sure she was safe. Wow. He surprised himself. For years, first on the list has been to kill Madara.
What the hell was she doing to him?
~xoxo~
The day had gone surprisingly quick. Sasuke had left the motel room for a while and came back with some food and a change of clothes for Sakura. She was grateful that she didn't have to go back into that muddy mess. The happenings of the morning were still fresh in her mind but Sasuke went on like they hadn't been about to dry-sleepy hump.
She was fine with it though. The last thing she wanted was to have any more awkwardness than was necessary. She was having a hard enough time trying not to bring up his mother's shooting, how he'd spent the last four years and the shallowest of questions…what his redhead girlfriend was going to say about all this.
"So what now?" she asked him as they munched on more fatty foods.
"Now we eat." He said it matter-of-factly.
"I mean about this mess…how long am I stuck in this motel?"
He stopped chewing for a second, like he was counting and estimating the time it would take before this was all over. "Honestly, I don't know."
"Great." She felt defeated. "I feel better already." This was so not how she envisioned her college years. At all.
"Hn." He got up and walked to the bin.
"Why can't we just go to the police? You know, like normal people."
"The police can't do anything about this. They are too scared to go after Madara. Everyone who has ever tried to go after him has ended up dead." He looked at her like he wanted to scare her and it worked. "You think I want any of this? I don't, okay? I just have to end this once and for all."
She understood the need. He had to get closure for his mother's murder.
"But you need help. These men have guns and what do we have? All we have are our lives."
"Hn." He put his hands in his pockets.
"What?" she asked.
"We?" his brow rising.
"Seriously? You still believe you're in this thing alone? Last time I checked, it was my head that this psycho was threatening." She shook her head, "You're unbelievable."
He stiffened and put his hand to his lips in a gesture that she stops talking.
"No! We have to talk about this." She got up from the bed, stood with legs apart and arms folded. "I know you're scared of talking and always want to be this indifferent blob but I'm not having any of that."
He stalked towards her in two quick strides and an image of the first time he kissed her came to her mind. How he'd just planted one on her and shushed her good. If her shoes weren't so tight, her toes might have just curled. This time, however, he did not kiss her. Instead he covered her mouth with his hand and held her close.
"Not another sound." He whispered.
Sakura's first instinct was to rip him a new one. He had no right to act like such a brute. Then she heard the footsteps outside their motel door and her heatbeat quickened.
Oh boy.
He let go of her once he knew that she got his request and he slowly walked towards the only other piece of furniture in the room apart from the bed and the side table. He listed the small wooden chair up and gestured that she pack up their stuff in his back pack.
Sakura felt like the walls were closing in on her. Could it be that they found them? Or was it just a motel worker loitering outside…probably about to start sweeping or making sure that people were checking out on time.
"The bathroom. Now." He mouthed and Sakura didn't need to be told twice as she tiptoed towards the small room. Before she went in, she saw the door handle start to turn slowly and she knew without a doubt that it was not a motel worker. Why would he be trying to enter a room without knocking first?
She heard the door open and a loud thud reached her ears. A gun shot was next and her knees went weak.
No.
She forgot about herself for a second as she rushed out of the bathroom. The first thing her eyes saw was Sasuke banging the door on the intruders arm over and over again. The gun fell to the floor. There was another man lying unconscious on the floor with pieces of broken chair around him. Sasuke open the door wide. The assailant fell through and tried to punch him with his other fist. Sasuke sidestepped him. The Uchiha countered with his own punch and almost broke the guy's jaw. He lifted his leg and connected his knee with the guy's gut. An elbow to the assailants back and he passed out on the floor, joining his fallen friend.
Sasuke didn't even look fazed.
"I told you to stay in the bathroom."
"I heard a gunshot." Sakura replied.
"And your first instinct was to come charging back in here?" he sounded upset.
"I was…" she wanted to say worried but he didn't give her a chance as he picked up the bag and grabbed her hand. He peered around the sides of the door and when he was convinced there were no more of Madara's men, he dragged her out of the motel room and ran towards his car.
"How did they find us?" Sakura asked, panting as she ran by his side.
"I don't know." He threw the backpack in the back seat, "Get in."
Sakura didn't even hesitate. Was there any place they could run to that was safe for them? Here they were in the middle of nowhere but still shots were fired. What the hell? Just who was this Madara?
She looked at Sasuke as he looked at the only other vehicle in the parking lot. It had to belong to those men. He reached into the glove compartment and got out a small pocket knife. Like a man on a mission, he headed to the car and punctured all four tyres.
That ought to stop the bad guys and give them a head start.
"Where are we going now?" she asked as he took the driver's seat and started the car.
"The place I should have taken you to in the first place."
"The police?"
He gave her a look. Then concentrated on the road ahead.
"So, not the police, then?" she wasn't even shocked.
~xoxo~
"Sasuke is not going to like this." Suigetsu said to Jugo as they left the police station.
"I know, but we still have to tell him." Jugo replied.
"You do it, I hate giving him bad news."
Jugo just shook his head.
"Where is Karin?"
Suigetsu shrugged. Why would he know where that weirdo was? It wasn't like he liked her or anything. Her stupid red-hair and tiny purple shorts.
~xoxo~
"What do you mean they let them go?" Sasuke was on the phone with Jugo as he drove down the lonely road and cursed himself that it had reached this point.
"Apparently, they didn't have enough evidence on them to keep them in custody." Jugo explained.
Sasuke tightened his grip on the steering wheel and cursed. Of course this would happen. It was like he couldn't catch a break.
"Keep me posted on anything new. I'm heading back to that place." he cut the line and could feel her eyes on him.
"What happened?" she obviously sensed his frustrations.
"The police, who you believe in so much, just let the only link to Madara that we had go."
"Maybe that's a good thing." She said it and he shot her a look, "this is too much for us to handle. Now isn't the time to be acting like vigilantes on the run. Let the police handle this for a while. I just want to go back to school and be a normal college student."
He scoffed. "College? Funny."
"Hey, I didn't ask for any of this. I just want things to go back to how they were. I just want to be a doctor, okay?"
Her phone vibrated in her pocket. She hesitated for a second before she answered.
"Hey, Ino." She faced away from him and looked out the window, "Yeah, I'm okay. How did it go with your artist?"
Sasuke got a lump in his throat. He really was bad for her. He'd already disrupted her life. How was he going to fix this? He couldn't remember the last time he felt this concerned about someone.
"I'll be back before you know it." She hung up and sighed.
Should he apologise for messing up her life? His was already shitty; he had no right to ruin hers as well.
"So, if we aren't going to the police where are we going?
"I'm taking you to the place I spent the last four years."
He felt her eyes on him and he didn't even need to look at her to know how she felt about that.
"Wow." She said and that was all that came out of her as she leaned back into her seat.
Desperate times call for desperate measures and in that moment he felt more than desperate. He couldn't think of any other way to protect her. He didn't know who to trust.
Maybe once this was all over, he'd have a normal life. Maybe once all this was over, he'd let his heart thaw out.
The funny thing was, being with her like this was already breaking down his walls.
~xoxo~
A/n:
Bet you didn't expect to see this alert ever again, huh? or such a pathetic word count. I suck, right?
Shorter than usual, I know. Especially considering my long MIA thing. I apologise for the absence, my life was too much the last couple of months. Freaking hard and stuff. But I had some time and felt like writing something at least. I was re-reading one of my fav YA books and that inspired this chapter. Can you guess the book and the scene?
I missed FF and hopefully now that my life has settled down a bit, I can be active again. Got so many fics to catch up on. If you read my ItaSaku/KakaSaku fic, that will be next. I hope.
I hope you like the direction the story is going (I know nothing much happened in this chapter), I'm a mystery/action/hot-fest lover so I want this story to be like that now.
Thanks for the reviews on my previous chappie. You guys are the best.
Tell me what you think, and EJ if you're still around…I've missed you girl.
xoxo
