Author's Note: MERRY CHRISTMAS MINNA-SAN! I hope you have had a fruitful day. I sure have. :3 Here is the promised sequel chapter. Please enjoy!

Playlist: "哀しみの讃歌" (Kanashimi no Sanka/Hymn of Sorrow, my favourite Sadie song) by Sadie and "Baraado (Ballad)" by Inoue Marina.

Melt the Mistletoe

Fourteen: Mission (Part II)

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Characters: Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto; with mentions of the rest of Team Kakashi

Categories: Romance, Family, Friendship

Rating: M (for heavy? coarse language lol)

Sakura woke up aching all over four days later, in a shabby little inn in the middle of nowhere. Dense shrubbery surrounded her for miles, and she knew then that they had made it back to the neutral territory of Ame in one piece. Mostly. Her throbbing body distinctly protested at the notion of being referred to as wholly "there" after her horrific beating, and the pinkette winced when she attempted to shift unsuccessfully into a seated position.

Left eye sealed shut under the voluminous swelling that had puffed up like a bird on display, Sakura rolled her head slightly to her right, taking in the dimmed surroundings lit up by the flickering flame of a waning candle. She was in a small room, no bigger than her apartment's tiny kitchen, boxed in all all sides by decaying walls stained with rain water and peeling apart like flaky tuna. There was a damp, musky scent pervading her senses, hanging ominously with every breath she took into her system as she scanned the remaining space with her bruised right eye. Not doubt she was sporting a killer blacky.

There wasn't much in the way of interior decorating in the bedroom, the entire space consisting of an old, decrepit dresser, a precariously wonky rocking chair in the far corner (which wasn't really all that far away, realistically), and a wardrobe whose door was hanging by a tenuously loose fixture. The key feature, it seemed, was the bed upon which she was lying, and even that was a creature comfort at best. It offered only a little more elevation for her wounds to set and heal, and creaked with every shaky inhalation she took into her lungs. The mattress was thinning out, sagging deceptively deep under her light frame so that she was cocooned in springy cushioning.

The only redeeming feature seemed to be the over-fluffed pillow beneath her head, which offered a level of support that the rest of the squalid room did not; she felt increasingly gloomy in that confined space, even more so since she was limited in her capacity for movement. All in all, Haruno Sakura was incredibly unsettled, and that fickle disposition was evident in every slouching muscle in her broken body. Sighing―and hissing when a sharp, unrelenting pain shot down the length of her trembling figure at the mundane habit―was really the only way to exhale the mounting sense of shame that was quickly filling her after her more than embarrassing encounter with the enemy.

She had fallen into the habitual weakness that had made her so useless on the battlefield in the days of her youth, when she had promised herself that she would not. She had been adamant about standing on equal grounds with her beloved teammates, about having them watch her back for a change, and here she was, one big bruised container of self-assurance and tattered ego.

It wasn't as if the situation could have been remedied in her state. But therein lay the problem; she was a medic nin, the one who had to endure through the battle when her comrades had long since fallen underfoot, the one who had to put them back together again in their time of need, and the disparate sense of unmitigated failure filled her to the brim with contempt and despair.

She had not only been unable to fend off her pursuers, but she had also allowed herself to be lured into a false sense of security and had paid the price for it dearly. A jolt ran through her then.

Naruto! Sai! Yamato-taichou!

Were they alright? Had they escaped from harm's way? Amidst total exhaustion, Sakura's frantic thoughts travelled out to the three irreplaceable members of Team Kakashi, her worry nearly tangible as she struggled to raise herself onto her elbows. The rattling of a shaky doorknob had her recoiling in pensive agitation, her hand fumbling for her kunai holster when the door opened with a resonant groaning; a familiar bundle of blonde peering in through the crack of the doorway.

Dull blue eyes brightened instantaneously when they met with misty green irises, a jubilant grin breaking over the roguishly handsome face of Uzumaki Naruto as he nearly threw the door off of its hinges with the force of his casual dismissal of it.

"SAKURA-CHAN, YOU'RE AWAKE!" He all but screeched at the top of his lungs, tears pooling in his eyes as he bounded over to her bedridden form with all the grace of a drunk puppy. Sakura coughed when she tried to stifle her laughter, her mood rising pleasantly at the entrance of the happiest person she had ever had the privilege of knowing. His presence was just what she needed in order to stave off her growing depression.

Naruto's arms were spread out wide, as if he were about to tackle her; at the last moment he pulled himself to a halt, remembering with a sharp flinch the condition that her body was currently in, and so he treated her fragile frame with the delicacy of fine china as he wrapped his arms loosely around her shoulders, pressing a gentle kiss to the dark diamond upon her forehead.

"I'm so glad you're conscious, Sakura-chan. Teme and I were going crazy with worry. I know taichou and Sai were anxious too, but I guess all that specialist training helps them to cover that up―"

"Sasuke-kun is here?" Sakura interrupted his tirade with a stunned look impressing itself upon her face. Naruto paused, pulling back to look at her in the eye.

"Ne... Sakura-chan... you don't remember?"

"Should I...?" Sakura furrowed her brow in thought, wincing when a sharp stabbing pain flickered behind her eyes. Not a good idea right now.

The blonde looked mildly concerned as he ran placating hands through her pink tresses, blue eyes large and expressive as he processed her confusion.

"Uh, yeah? I mean, he did kinda save you and shit. Remember? You were ambushed by the nukenin we were sent out to eliminate in the outskirts of Ame Forest. They were the ones who," Naruto stepped back, appraising her with a scowl that raised the hairs on the back of her neck unpleasantly. "Put you into a coma for four days. Teme was on his way back from Kumogakure to intercept the rogues before they hit the coast and caused more chaos."

He focused on her face, carefully gauging her reaction as he filled in the blanks of her last battle before, well, this happened.

"Sasuke said that when he stumbled into that field, having tracked your chakra signal down, they had already begun killing you." He flinched violently, as if jolted with electricity, and Sakura felt her heart drop into her gut as little flashes of memory danced behind her vision.

Pain. Lots of pain. Smirking faces, gaunt and pulled back tautly against jagged bone. Bloodthirsty eyes. Metal sinking indulgently into flesh―her flesh.

And then... a stifling darkness that would not lift, like a veil that had been stitched over her retinas and had grown roots into her mind like parasitic weeds.

"And you know Sasuke. He kind of lost it, when he saw you being tortured like that. Out of the twelve missing nin, none survived his temper tantrum, and quite frankly I'm glad for it. 'Cause if he hadn't finished the fuckers off, I most definitely would have." Naruto spat venomously, eyes narrowed into deadly slits as he reminisced on the feeling of her limp, bitingly cold hand in his own as he interlaced their fingers together, feeding her his chakra as if his life depended on it.

Kurama had been more than happy to oblige him, having grown fond the pinkette himself.

"Sasuke did a lot of the leg work before Team Kakashi and I made it to your side. He was pumping his chakra into you like his life depended on it, trying desperately to stop the bleeding and keep you alert so that you wouldn't get hypothermia from all the rain that had sunken into your system before his Susano'o could stave it off." Naruto continued admirably, face admiring in its thoughtfulness as he was reminded of just how caring Sasuke actually was in the face of the woman he loved so profusely.

"Even when Sai, Yamato-taichou and I had poured everything into saving you as well, Sasuke still bore the brunt of it all, making sure to revive you enough for you to heal all of the critical damage. From there, he carried you for four hours before we finally stumbled upon this place. And here we have been ever since, waiting for you to wake up." Naruto finished, eyes searching Sakura's face for any sign of recognition.

The pinkette frowned, digesting his words as electric blue spectres flickered through her mind's eye, the chirping of thousands of birds the reminder that she had needed to jostle her sleeping memory. Black flames engulfing the earth. The vibrant purple hue of Sasuke's doujutsu settling protectively over her stilled frame.

Burning red eyes, filled with the promise of pain and destruction of the worst kind. And then warmth. Sweet nothings, whispered frantically into the shell of her fuzzy eardrums, that even now she could not recall for the life of her. A tender kiss to her throbbing forehead. A hand clasping her own in utter desperation.

Sasuke-kun.

Sakura gasped, short of breath as she called out for her renegade lover, who was nowhere in her sights and thus causing her a great deal of distress. Naruto, perceptive enough to read the need in her voice, slipped stealthily out of the bedroom, door closing quietly behind him as his harsh footfalls sounded through the thin barricade.

She moaned in pain when she shifted a little too quickly to one side, throwing her legs over the edge of the bed, only to shudder at the ghastly sight that greeted her tired eye.

Legs blackened with terrible bruising, deep slashes and welts raising the once silken skin in vulgar plumes of scar tissue that unsettled even her specially trained stomach, Sakura knew then that the beating that she had taken had truly been traumatic. And if her body had shut down for four days because of the extent of her injuries, then perhaps she was far worse off than she had first anticipated.

Thankfully she didn't have to ponder for long, for her door was opened with a total disregard for its degradation, the tall profile of her handsome lover filling the narrow entryway with casual ease as his dark eyes―expressing cloying relief―met with her own. Butterflies settled in Sakura's tummy as his intense gaze pinned her where she half sat, half sprawled, at the edge of the small bed she had been occupying for some days now.

When his eyes narrowed imperceptibly, the pinkette knew that he was not happy with her movements, for the displeasure curled upon his lips before even he himself was aware of its presence upon his handsome face.

"S-Sasuke-kun..." Sakura began with a start, her stutter the cause of pain more so than jittery nerves of anticipation coursing through her as the raven haired Uchiha all but strode across the enclosed space, expression neutral as he stopped alongside her shaking form.

Huffing quietly, Sasuke reached out to her, hands absently brushing over her broken cheekbone before both of his hands came to rest upon her shoulders. Without any hesitation, he helped her climb back into the sinking mattress, his expression just short of irritated as he settled carefully alongside her. Her heart thumped painfully behind her bruised chest, and for the first time she cursed his damned thrall over her every molecule to hell and back; for the discomfort it was causing her did not seem worth the effort.

"What the fuck were you thinking, Sakura?" Sasuke muttered tersely, tone severe as he locked furious eyes with her. She shrunk back a little from his sudden wrath, the mattress both aiding and hindering her in that respect―she could sink into its depths, but she could not escape his lingering death stare.

Her apple green eyes were wide with panic as he closed the small gap between them once more, his fingertips coming to tilt her chin back gingerly until she was looking into his face without an escape route in sight.

"Running off on your own, knowing that they were well-informed murderers, and backing yourself into a corner because you didn't think it through first is the single most foolish stunt you've ever pulled, and you should be fucking grateful that I made it to you in time. Otherwise your head would have been pawned off to the highest bidder right about now." Sasuke hissed with an angry sneer in her direction, eyes cold and unrelenting as he released his frustrations on her baleful form.

"You never think, just do, and fucking dammit it all to hell! If you think I'll merely stand by and watch the one I love get herself fucking killed because of her thoughtlessness, you are sorely misin-fucking-formed, Sakura." He trailed off, anger dissipating with his shuttered exhalation, tears falling relentlessly from Sakura's aching eyes as she saw the reflection of despair in Sasuke's icy orbs.

He had been scared, frightened to the point beyond reasoning at the thought of losing her, like he had lost his beloved family members years beforehand, and the pinkette's heart clenched tautly in her chest, burning in the flames of potent regret. She had caused this wonderful, gorgeous, precious man such heartache that it weighed his words down with venomous grief, and she knew then that he was not angry at her, but at himself for allowing it to have gotten so far out of hand in the first place.

Sakura reached out a tentative hand, faltering when he stiffened at her movement.

When his sole hand wrapped around her thin fingers, riddled with cuts and fading blemishes, she smiled softly up at him, his left hand coming to wipe away her tears; a little clumsily, considering his consideration of her pain.

"I can't lose you, Sakura. Never you." Sasuke murmured hotly, voice thick with emotion as his expression twisted with overwhelming sadness. He pressed his lips to her forehead, cupping her face timidly, mindful of her botched appearance as he gripped her hand with a strength that left her breathless.

Sakura felt her throat constrict with an influx of raw emotion, and she leaned into his careful caresses, surrendering her battered body to his affectionate ministrations with a watery smile tugging futilely at her heavily bruised jaw. At least she had had the foresight to heal that dislocation before she had passed out, else she'd be in a world of agony far more intense than what she was already immersed in.

"It's... alright... now... Sasuke...-kun." She raised her remaining hand, a sharp flare of pain reminding her of how sensate her body currently was as she ghosted her calloused fingertips over Sasuke's left cheek. Dark, indelible smudges peppered the hollows beneath Sasuke's eyes. He looked positively drained, as if he hadn't slept in weeks. And perhaps he had not, least of all while she was in need of his constant caring. Sakura's heart brimmed with a hot spark of emotion when she considered this. He really did love her.

"I'm... fine now. You're... here with... me."

Sasuke's dark eyes bore into hers, the tortured soul of his youth returning full force as he looked into her one good eye, a pang of horror encumbering his usual judgement, as he pulled her into a tender embrace―face buried in the depths of her shoulder as she felt the first wet spatters of tears sinking indulgently into her sore skin.

"I can't live without you." Sasuke intoned quietly with convinction, arms tightening their grip on the trembling kunoichi as he voiced his inner turmoil with her for the first, and only, time.

"Don't ever leave me. Please. Don't ever let go of me."

"Never." Was all Sakura had the strength to summon in the form of words spoken; her eyes closing in an attempt to fend off her rising hicups and tears. She clung onto him, ignoring the biting protest of her aching body as she succumbed to the decadence of his unbridled warmth.

Vulnerability was not one of Sasuke's strong suits, but in that moment, Sakura firmly believed that it was his most powerful attribute. And as he held her even closer still to his imperceptibly trembling frame, she knew then that nothing in this world or the next could ever begin to dissuade her of her love for him.

My love for you runs into forever, Sasuke-kun. Don't ever forget that.

*.*.*.*.*.TBC.*.*.*.*.*

Ending Remarks: OKAY, SO I AM LAZY ON THE SMUT, BUT SERIOUSLY GUYS, I NEEDED THE FLUFF AFTER THE WONDERFUL DAY I'VE HAD. LEMONS ARE TOO SERIOUS FOR THE FESTIVE CHEER OF CHRISTMAS, AFTER ALL―

All just an excuse to delay the inevitable. But don't worry, because there is a third part to this little trilogy of chapters. So I guess if you want me to work my citric magic, then you shall have to leave me a review! C;

Now that I have established the tone for these drabbles, I feel more comfortable tackling The First Time. /insert melodramatic DUNDUNDUNNN here/ -le shocked gasp-

Look forward to it guys. Imma need all the liquid courage in the world to get this one right jesus― D:

Until tomorrow!

-x-R i n-x-