It it ON TIME! Job well done! I might have been late updating around Midterms or Finals. But Not on Vacation. Yup, I'm on vaction, and no, I did not forget you! So here's the next chapter, I do hope you'll enjoy it!
-Lady-of-Laughter
"I, the woman Sakura and my Kōgō no Haru, claim you, the man Sasuke and your Naito Tennō." Not to be outdone her words flowed out, binding him to her just as effectively as his words had previously bound her to him.
The difference was, his was voluntary, and she had not meant to say it! It had come, not truly forced from her, but had come like an impulse she hadn't the time to consider or fight. It burst forth, words of power and binding. And she sagged, allowing the dark oblivion to take her from the reality of what had just happened. No matter how much she didn't want him, she could have none other. And even if he didn't want her, as she suspected he didn't really, he could have no other but her as well.
Her thought as she rested into the arms of sleep was simple: 'We're doomed.'
Not for a week could the women look at Sasuke without glaring. For three weeks 'incidents' happened, they denied having anything to do with them, but Naruto was left snickering every time. Having Sasuke walk into a room and watch his sleeve smolder until it burst into flames was only the first of many occurrences that had to be 'explained' to Itachi. Because he couldn't see but found the stories highly amusing, the men took it upon themselves to talk him through each innocent accident that happened to his brother.
The next little catastrophe happened when Sasuke reached for a tomato at lunch, only to find it withering in his hand, like it had sat in the sun for too long. Then while he sat far from the fire a day later, he found his garments had very suddenly frozen. There was a particularly funny event of a tiny dust whirlwind, which happened to rise up right in front of his face and die out after passing him. And as Ino was feeling the most vindictive, Sasuke dealt with two more fires randomly starting somewhere on his person.
He was irritated and angry, but his restraint was enough that he didn't simply reach out and snap the neck of whomever happened to be near. In addition, the Tennō held him tightly in check if he showed even the slightest break in his self-control. It was easy enough to put out the flames, change his clothes back from its frozen state, and wash his dusty face. What no one anticipated, and no one liked, was the way Sakura changed when she was around the Uchiha.
As they were assigned to stay at the Uchiha home all day, it was their nights they enjoyed. Only then did the three see the old Sakura, because when she was at the Uchiha Complex, she was very different. And although it would have scared them to see her sullen and quiet as she had been the first week after the night in the park, what she did now was far more frightening to them.
Because now, after they had claimed each other in the park, there really was no going back. No more choice in the matter. She belonged to him, more so than even a wife who had the choice of leaving. And he belonged to her, more than a husband who likewise had a choice to leave. But they had no such choice. It had been made, and they had spoken the binding words that would not allow them to choose another. She had no option now, but to eventually marry him, if for no other reason than to produce a male heir to the Uchiha line and a female heir to the Kōgō line.
But as exciting, devastating and worrisome as that all was, it was about to get more interesting. It was a bright morning, one month after the return of the brothers and their troupe. As they approached the compound three sets of eyes watched in resignation. The sparkle of green eyes died out, the softest mist of gold took its place. Her smile fell away and the rosy complexion of her cheeks fled. He steps, normally springing and energetic slowed so that she lagged behind. And every day, without fail, she would look at the closed door before taking a deep breath and knocking.
When she let out that breath, they watched what little part of Sakura was still there shrink away into the inner most parts of her mind, allowing the Kōgō to take control. It became obvious after the first week that she was having trouble accepting the path that lay before her. She had winced every time Sasuke was in view; stiffened anytime he shifted or moved, and cringed into herself if he looked at her.
Now, she was no longer Sakura. Sakura slept in a peaceful oblivion of ignorance while using her form and face the Kōgō bustled around, preparing meals, chatting with those who would speak. The real shock came whenever she passed Sasuke and occasionally touched his shoulder as she moved by. It was strange enough seeing Sakura this way, much less looking at Sasuke without the usual indifference, but seeing her touch him with a smile, or bending slightly to whisper something in his ear? That was when even Sasuke's team knew something was wrong with her.
That Sasuke acted as if it were all completely normal sent panic through the gathered observers. They expected nothing from him; he was a stone cold cube after all. But when she touched him for the first time and he did more than ignore her, more than just Naruto stood with jaw hanging. As her hand rested on his shoulder Sasuke's hand rose to rest over hers, going so far as to slightly squeeze it, although his face remained as empty as Orochimaru's heart. When she whispered close to his ear, his eyes kept their flat and blank stare but he still turned towards her with the faintest of smiles curving his lips.
It was so wrong, so strange and off that most of the time they stood around thunderstruck at the newest interaction between the two that defied reason. And it seemed as though they had no notion of what happened during those times. Sasuke had been asked thoroughly, but had merely frowned and said he had done no such thing, and he couldn't remember her doing anything of the sort either.
On Sakura's part, when they left the house she would slowly come back to herself and when she left the gates of the compound, became her normal self. Hinata had asked what was going on, but Sakura had given her a confused look before asking what she meant. As TenTen explained, Sakura shook her head and said she wouldn't speak so near Sasuke, let alone touch him. It worried them, how both could be so clueless.
As another month passed in this fashion, TenTen and Neji went to the Hokage, but he simply shrugged. It had to be accepted, it was their way of coping until they could work things out in order to be themselves with one another. Their trust of one another was damaged; their ability to function with one another after these new developments was obviously not working if they chose to retreat inside themselves whenever they were together.
Only during the fourth month of the Uchihas being back did it finally change. It was a night of silence that gave way to a day of chaos.
Settling Taimu in for bed Sakura laughed at her brother as he sneezed so hard his eyes watered. His crooked smile gave away his thought that he had accomplished something great, because obviously bodily functions like that required effort on his part. He gave a great sigh and flopped back onto his pillow and blew her a kiss before yawning and snuggling into the warmth of his bed and promptly fell asleep.
Moving outside her apartment, needing fresh air, she gazed at the stars. She contemplated the night sky, hardly believing that it would be the four month mark in three days. It seemed such a haze, and for some reason the villagers hadn't rioted or given any real protest. They had been unsettled, but eventually the novelty had died away when nothing extraordinary happened. Only the ninja remained vigilant in their suspicions of the group. But the most exciting thing that could be talked about was the four different female ninja that had each found a way to hurt Suigetsu for touching them inappropriately, during their guard duty, whenever they ventured close enough for him to reach with his strange watery arms.
Leaning on the railing, Sakura glanced to her left, where the stairs stood empty in the silence of impending night. Gazing at the stars helped her in no way, but then neither did staring pointlessly at the ground one level down. It wouldn't be a difficult jump to the earth below, as she longed to do, but she had to go in for sleep. Taimu couldn't be left alone, even if she did want to be on the ground with her toes in the dust and connected to her element.
Spending a few minutes staring up at the sky she contemplated everything going on. She had been avoiding it all, making the Kōgō take control whenever they got to Sasuke's house. It troubled her, the stories that the girls told her about the behavior of her Kōgō, but not nearly as much as Sasuke's behavior was. But she attributed that to his Tennō, because Sasuke was truly emotionally dead, it wouldn't be like him to touch or smile at her. More likely he would react as he had before, by slamming her into a wall with eyes promising death.
Sucking in a long breath of the crisp air Sakura shook her head. Letting that air out in one short release she straightened her shoulders and set her jaw, her eyes sparking with determination. As if she were going into battle she stood ready, and that's what she planned on doing. It had gone on long enough; it was time to face facts and reality. In the morning she would face Uchiha Sasuke and his Tennō. They were going to work something out, and she was going to set ground rules regarding Taimu, because he wasn't going to be touched!
Standing straight and pushing off the metal safety rail she turned around, ready to head inside and to bed. Before she reached her doors handle her world went hazy before it fell into blackness. She couldn't move or see, but she was aware of what was going on, letting her know she was not completely unconscious. She sent a signal out, reaching for help, but found she could not access her Chakra, nor could she touch or speak to the other Kōgō. It was like she had run into a stone wall full speed, in the dark without knowing it was there.
A moment of panic washed over her, both herself and the creature that was her Kōgō felt a spike of fear. There was only one way to silence a Kōgō, but everything screamed it couldn't be what had happened. Only a Kōgō or Tennō had the power to silence another of their ranks, and even that was temporary. But if she had been silenced, who could have done it? Rage billowed through her as she contemplated who might be responsible for this.
Arms snaked below her knees and back, lifting her from her slumped position. There was little sound other than the music of night; all she could make out was the gentlest whisper of feet walking with near silence. There was nothing spoken, and from the sounds of the feet, this person worked alone. She was confounded, she might not be on the ground and aware of whom was around her that way, but she was a ninja. She should have heard someone approaching! Was she losing her touch now that the Kōgō was there, helping her all the time?
With steely resolve Sakura forced herself to think logically. And so the process of elimination began. Naruto would never do this, he would sooner die. Hinata might have been something of a doormat in her younger years, but she wouldn't be bullied anymore, and silencing Sakura like this went against everything Hinata was. TenTen was like a mother hen, and her first instinct was always to protect, she wouldn't have done this, she would have fought whoever wanted this done.
Ino would have sent up an alarm with only her voice that would have woken the entire village had she known someone attempted this, especially to her best friend. Neji wouldn't do this either, he was too much of a warrior, this was a cowards way of getting something. Neji would have faced her straight on if he had something to say to her, and if she knew something he didn't want known to the world, he would have come to her.
Shikamaru was a lazy bum and a genius, this wasn't his style either. If there was something weighing on his mind, he would seek her out to talk. And this strategy wouldn't be his way either, because Shikamaru might be lazy, but like Neji, he wouldn't take the coward's way out. Which meant there was only one left; Sasuke. But why would he do this? There had been nothing in his thoughts about silencing her or any of the others, and why would he risk this when he wanted to stay in the good graces of the Hokage, council and village? And added to that, after the way everyone told her he was acting around her, she didn't think this was his work either. But she couldn't be sure.
That she was more than sure none of them were doing this, her head told her someone must have done it. If none but their own could make them quiet, then there was no other option than to admit someone had betrayed them, or at the very least her. And it stung worse than the first time as a child when he had betrayed them, but Sakura knew that if any had betrayed her, it was Sasuke. Her Kōgō rebelled at the thought, letting her know in no uncertain terms that his Tennō would have stopped him before it came to this, even if it meant taking full control.
Sakura felt her head lolling backwards, her neck protesting the abuse of every bounce as her captor jumped from branch to branch. She could hear the familiar creaking of bark below their weight as she moved, the breeze made by their motion tickling her face and making her hair sway. Slowly she felt herself coming back, even as she kept her body limp, hoping her conscious state wouldn't be noticed.
Finally she felt the connection snap into place, and sent an alarm home to Konoha that would wake all the Kōgō and Tennō from their slumber, indeed, she was sure that her panic probably would have woken them from the dead. The instant after she woke the arms holding her shifted, and as she sent the message she again felt a finger press against her forehead and found herself silenced yet again.
Indefinable words echoed in her head, giving her hope that her plea for help had gotten through; she allowed herself the relief of complete surrender. She drifted away, resting for when she needed her strength and complete awareness. Even amidst the chaos, fear and horror of these events, Sakura felt the pain. And it made her bitter, tasting the familiar pain of betrayal.
Back in Konoha seven people woke from deep sleep at a desperate cry for help, eyes blazed bright in the darkness as they sprang into action. A voice echoed in their minds warningly: "Time waits for no one; your choices determine your fate. Choose your paths wisely."
Hope you liked it! Review? Anyways, see you next time to find out what's gonna happen on this new strange adventure!
