Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine. Plot elements borrow heavily from Amanda Quick's "Seduction".

Author's Notes: I am so sorry for the delay of this chapter. But I'm back and I will definitely finish this story. Thank you so much for all the reviews you left, it encouraged me to keep going.

Seduction

Chapter Eleven

Sakura had thought that if either one of them would ever be caught red-handed kissing another woman it would be Sasuke. She never imagined she would ever be wrong.

Sakura felt every inch the damsel as Sasuke pulled her roughly behind him while he faced off the redheaded kissing bandit. It was utterly ridiculous and the only thing stopping her from laughing out loud was that Sasuke looked an inch away from snapping and doing something he might regret, like yelling in a very plebeian manner.

Karin looked completely unapologetic as she stood up and brushed the mud off her scabbed knees. "I don't recall agreeing that you can invite your husband to our little soiree," she said with her voice as viscous as syrup.

Sasuke's jaw clenched, his hand wrapping itself tighter around Sakura's wrist. "Stay away from my wife. If I see you again within a hundred feet of her, heaven help you."

Karin sneered at him. "You don't deserve her!"

Sasuke arched a brow and scoffed at her incredulously. "Well, you don't either."

And with that Sasuke turned on his heel, pulling along a still dazed Sakura with him and leaving three women gaping behind them.

Hinata's pale eyes blinked several times as she watched the couple board the Hyuuga coach. "Um, did he just steal my carriage?"

Ino walked up to her and patted her arm comfortingly. "Don't worry, I'm sure he'll return it in no time. Grand theft isn't an Uchiha habit, as far as I know."

Karin let out an exaggerated scoff behind them, causing the two women to turn in her direction. "What an absolutely rude thing to do! Do you see that? Do you see what kind of man he is? He doesn't deserve her!"

Hinata stared blankly at her before she stuttered out, "I'm sorry, I don't know how to talk to you."

The ride back to the Uchiha compound was filled with deafening silence. Sakura busied herself with fiddling with her fingers and refusing to look anywhere near her husband's direction. Sasuke, for his part, focused on an invisible lint on his navy blue jacket.

As soon as the coach stopped in front of the couple's home, Sasuke jumped out and barked orders at one of his household helps to return the carriage to the Hyuuga compound. He then gave Sakura a look that compelled her to follow him inside their home. She quickly scurried out of the carriage.

They breezed past the foyer and up the stairs, leaving a bunch of curious housemaids in their wake. Sasuke held the bedroom door open for his wife. He waited for her to seat herself on the edge of their marital bed before locking the door with precise movements.

Sakura watched his feet as they paced back and forth on the wooden floor. He made no sound except for the heavy breaths coming out of him. When he finally ceased in his pacing, Sakura prepared herself for what she was sure would be a litany of curses.

"Are you alright?"

Sakura stopped her fidgeting and lifted her head up, surprised to be greeted with a look of concern on Sasuke's face.

"Excuse me?"

Sasuke kneeled in front of her before putting his open hands gently on her knees. "If you want us to file a complaint against her, we will. I will have her fired from Orochimaru's staff and thrown out of the village immediately."

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows. "What?"

He licked his lips and continued patiently. "I saw what happened, Sakura. That woman…that heathen, she forced a kiss on you."

Sakura's eyes widened at the implication of his words. "Oh, that."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her. "Yes, that."

She patted his hand awkwardly. "She didn't really force it, so to speak, not that I wanted it. More like she took me by surprise and if I had gathered my bearings long enough to ask her to stop, I'm sure she would've. Yes, I'm sure that's it."

Sasuke shot up to his feet so quickly that Sakura was startled backwards. She dug the heels of her wrists on the bed to keep herself upright as Sasuke glowered over her.

"Really? You're sure? Sakura, do you have any idea how utterly malicious and dangerous Karin is? She could've seriously hurt you!" he exclaimed, his usually calm baritone raising an octave higher.

Sakura looked as if she had been hit in the gut with a two by four. "Are your insulting my skills as a kunoichi? You don't think I could take her?"

Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not going to fall for your redirection."

He ran his hand through his hair in frustration and turned around and walked a few feet away from her. "It's about the letters, isn't it?"

Sakura grew silent at his conclusion.

"I don't understand Sakura." He paused briefly, breathing heavily through his nose. "You are the most confident and mature woman I've known, why would you let something so petty bother you so?"

"Maybe you overestimate my maturity," Sakura returned impertinently.

He turned around to face her, lips set in a grim line. "Those letters meant nothing, Sakura."

Her hands fisted around the hem of her shirt.

"I can't even remember half the things I ever wrote to her."

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut; she could hear her heart beat heavily against her ear.

"They were nothing but trivial gibberish that I wrote to pass away the time."

She clutched her chest as her breathing became erratic. She felt like a dam close to overflowing.

Sasuke threw his hands up in the air as he felt himself beginning to run out of things to say to make her see just how pointless it was to even talk about those damn letters. "If you think there was anything special about those letters, then you were gravely mistaken. There was no effort or thought there, Sakura. It was nothing."

"If it was nothing for you to write her those letters then how come you never answered any of mine!"

Sasuke's breath was caught in his throat as her words hit him like an avalanche. His mouth parted but all that came out was a whimper.

"I wrote you a letter for every single day you were away at Sound. I would tell you about everything you were missing in Konoha, all the dumb things that Naruto would do and all the lewd things that Kakashi-sensei would say. I would ask you how you were and I would tell you how I missed you in hopes that you would just…see me."

Sasuke took a step forward, her name at the tip of his tongue, but she raised a hand to stop him, wordlessly telling him not to come near her. He never knew one movement could cause that much pain.

"I would wake up at five in the morning everyday, waiting for the postman to arrive. I kept telling myself that you would eventually write back," she paused and let out a bitter laugh, "even just to tell me to stop wasting paper." She sniffed, willing her moistened green eyes to not to let a single tear fall. "But you never did… My mother would ask for my help with breakfast or go shopping with her or even just talk to her but I would tell her I was too busy. I was always too busy for her because I was so consumed with-"

Sakura halted so suddenly, the words coming out of her mouth finally catching up to her brain. She'd admitted out loud what she had tried to suppress for too long.

Sasuke made another move towards her, this time quick enough so he could wrap his arms around her. But she slithered away from his hold. Her movements were jarred and shaky as she made her way towards the locked door.

"Sakura, please stay."

She never looked back at him as she shook her head and said clearly, "I think I need to be away from you right now."

He could do nothing but watch her leave.

The only comfort to be had was knowing they were still cloaked in the same darkness together. At least then it still felt like they were in the same place. And maybe he could still reach her. He wanted nothing more than to reach her.

Sasuke had no idea how much time had passed since she had ran out of their home. He only knew that the moon had replaced the sun and it shone brightly in the night sky, as if mocking the dull ache in his chest. His stomach grumbled for food but he refused its demands. He didn't want any sort of comfort, not when she was hurting.

He remembered her letters. He had read every single one of them. But he was young and he was selfish and while he had cared for her, he had not cared for her the way she did for him. He had never cared for anyone in that way…not until now.

Sasuke wanted to go after her; he wanted to be the one to make her stop hurting. But his resolve was clouded with doubt as he remembered her words. How could he make her feel better if he was the one who caused her pain?

But he could at least try, couldn't he?

He tilted his head to the side, his hair matted into the white linen pillowcase. He'd found the letters earlier in his attic, bound in twine and yellowing with age. It took Sakura two years to finally give up on him when he never deserved a second of her attention.

The least he could do was never give up on her.

"Do you know where my wife is?"

Ino moved the receiver away from her and stared at it confusedly. Her mind tried to place the owner of the very familiar voice but she was coming up blank. She put the receiver back in her ear. "Is this some sort of call-in game show?"

"Blondie, just tell me if my wife is at your home."

Ino rolled her eyes as realization finally dawned on her. "Oh, it's you, the carriage robber."

Sasuke scoffed on the other end. "Are you ever actually going to answer my question?"

Ino gurgled indignantly. "You have a lot of nerve demanding anything from me after you left me and Hinata stranded in the middle of nowhere. We were stuck there for hours."

"I saw your husband arriving right before we left."

"Okay, so maybe not hours…"

Sasuke sighed deeply and when he spoke his next words a teensy bit of desperation bled out of his voice. "Ino, please, if you know where she is…"

"She was here earlier but she left," Ino said, cutting him off. It was unnerving hearing the proud Uchiha sound so fraught. "I'm sure she's at Kakashi's. It's always been our routine. I provide the ice cream and the pillows and the hugs and then she goes to Kakashi who…says dumb things that for some reason she thinks are profound."

There was a short pause as he let out a relieved breath. "Thank you."

"Uchiha," Ino blurted out before he could put down the phone. There was silence on the other end but she knew he was listening. "I love that girl to bits. The worst years of my life was when we were not friends. She's gone through a lot so just…just get it right. I can't threaten you with bodily harm but I can do drastic things to you. Like throw away all your hair gel."

"I don't wear any hair gel."

"Oh, so your hair's just unfortunate by nature."

"Didn't you try to steal my underwear when we were fourteen?"

"I also wore crop tops and a fishnet body suit when I was fourteen. What's your point?"

Sasuke let out a strained guffaw on the other end.

"Go get back your wife."

In her mind's eye, she could see a small smile playing on his lips. "I will."

Before she could put the phone down he spoke just once more. "And Ino, I will get it right."

It was almost ten in the evening when Sasuke arrived at Kakashi's residence. The porch lights were still on and he could still see shadows of movements behind the drawn curtains so he figured it was alright, not that he cared all that much if they were already sleeping. He really was kind of a rude bastard.

Sasuke rang the doorbell and counted to ten before he heard the unlatching of the front locks. Kakashi's masked face peered behind the open door.

"Took you long enough," his former sensei said with a hint of teasing.

"Is she here?"

"Always direct," Kakashi said offhandedly. "She's resting for now. It would be best to come back tomorrow."

Sasuke nodded. He took out a package hidden within his coat and handed it to Kakashi. "Will you give this to her once she wakes up?"

Kakashi readily took the package from him, staring at it curiously. "Will do."

The masked jounin was about to close the door when Sasuke stopped it with a hand.

"Did you need something else?"

Sasuke gulped, feeling incredibly self-conscious. But he couldn't just leave without saying anything. "Can you just tell her that I…I miss her. I saw her just this morning but it feels like such a long time ago. Just tell her that I wish she could come home."

Kakashi looked at the young man before him, eyes red and skin so pallid, so different from the difficult swot he knew him to be when he was younger and just a couple of months ago when he had demanded for Sakura's hand in marriage. He had half a mind to let Sasuke in and give him the comfort he seeks from his wife. But when they were genin, all his attention had always been with Sasuke and Naruto. This time, he would put Sakura's need before theirs.

"I promise I will."

Sasuke simply nodded before turning around and with weakened steps walked away from his sensei's house, the Uchiha crest still blazing proudly on his back.

Kakashi locked the doors once more and walked towards the kitchen. He found Sakura sitting on the floor, her back to the wall and hugging her knees to her chest.

"Did you hear what he said?" he asked.

"Yes," Sakura answered weakly.

Kakashi sighed before sitting beside her, his legs stretched out before him on the linoleum floor.

"I really thought I was over it, Kakashi-sensei. I thought I'd moved on," she said so lowly that if not for the complete silence around them he would not have heard her at all.

"The thing about regrets is that you don't have it until it's too late to do anything about it," he said sagely.

Sakura chuckled darkly. "That doesn't exactly make me feel better."

"It wasn't meant to make you feel better."

Sakura bit her lip and rested her head on her knees. "I miss them, Kakashi-sensei."

"You will always miss them, Sakura. But you can't let it hold you back from living your life," he told her.

"Easier said than done." She played with the hem of her pants, pulling at loose threads as if she wanted it all to unravel. "Do you have any regrets?"

"Oh, a lot."

"What's the biggest one?"

"I thought I had all the time in the world. Turns out time's a vindictive motherfucker who doesn't like being taken for granted," he said cryptically. He handed her the worn out package that her husband handed to her earlier. "Don't fuck with time, Sakura."

Kakashi stood up and left his former student to wallow in her thoughts. Her heart was in the right place, she just needed to figure it out for herself.

Sakura recognized the stack of pink stationery immediately. She had remembered stealing it from Sayuri's collection, her little sister always bought the prettiest stationeries. She unwound the twine binding the letters all together. Her letters to Sasuke. She recognized her careful and girly writing. How long was it ago that her writing had been this legible?

She pulled out a letter from the topmost envelope. The page had yellowed and the creases were worn from time…he had read them a long time ago.

He did care for her then, just not enough.

And she had cared for him so much and lost so much more.

She blinked back the tears threatening to fall. She muttered prayers to her mother and litanies to her father, asking them to forgive her for not treasuring them when she had the chance, all for a boy who had not cared for her enough.

To be continued…

Next Chapter: Sasuke and Sakura talk about stage plays and get philosophical.

End Notes: Thank you so much for reading and please don't forget to review!