Author's Notes: Wow, so I just realized that with this chapter I'll probably break 2,000 reviews! That's incredible! Thank you to everyone. Oh, and in case you don't normally look at my profile, I've uploaded a new story called Catch 22. It's basically a feminist story, because Sakura honestly doesn't get much credit. It's going to be a pretty awesome story, so go check it out.
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Title Reference for Chapter Fourteen: "I Wonder" from Sleeping Beauty
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Title: Laying Claim
Rating: T (or PG-13)
Summary: (SasuSaku) An ancient law in Konoha permits people from prominent clans to buy people who aren't from clans at all. Unfortunately, Sakura just refused to believe it until her mentor confirmed that, yes, she was now owned by Uchiha Sasuke.
Pairings: SasuSaku
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Chapter 14: I Wonder
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Sakura awoke feeling rather…odd. She was comfortable, sure, but it was a different feeling than she normally woke up with. She was used to the weight of Sasuke's arm around her, that much hadn't changed, and she could feel his steady breathing against her hair. She seemed to have made a habit of waking up before he did.
Her head was beginning to throb, punishing her for the night before. She remembered sitting down at the bar and some idiot trying to…what was he trying to do again? After that, her memories had been sucked out of her. Sakura's alcohol tolerance was considerably better than her mentor's, but all it took was a few shots and her vision got fuzzy. It was kind of unnerving, not being able to remember anything.
Come to think of it, now that she was trying not to concentrate on the jackhammer in her head, the sensation she felt off was touch. She could feel more of the cotton bed sheets than normal. Not to mention she felt Sasuke's skin against her own. Uh oh. Not good, not good, not good. She hesitantly opened her eyes, the world spinning even though she was lying down. She took a few deep breaths and lifted the sheets off of her body.
What she saw made her want to scream.
So scream she did.
In fact, she jumped out of bed, dragging the comforter with her to hold to her chest. The quick movements weren't a good idea, because she had to hold onto the wall for balance and fight the urge to vomit. Sasuke was sitting up in bed, kunai in hand. When those onyx eyes saw her, he lowered the weapon but raised his eyebrows.
"You…" Sakura growled at him. She was finding it difficult to keep her voice from shaking in anger. "You pig!"
Sasuke began to stand up, and Sakura had to remember to stay mad at him once she saw the chorded muscles in his back rippling. Why was she mad again? Oh yeah…
"Sakura…"
"Don't even start to make excuses! I can't believe you!"
He was walking over to her now, hair tousled from sleep and his eyes smoldering. "Sakura…"
"Don't you "Sakura" me you—"
"Would it make a difference to tell you that I never touched you?"
"Oh?" Sakura asked him incredulously. "Then tell me why I woke up this morning in nothing but my underwear."
"You undressed yourself."
Pink eyebrows furrowed. "That's silly. I would never…"
"You were also very drunk." One eyebrow was raised in amusement. "Don't tell me you don't remember anything."
Sakura realized with a slight sense of horror that if Sasuke was telling the truth, there was no telling what else she might have done. She couldn't remember a thing! "What else was there?!" Sakura asked in hysterics.
The amusement still danced in Sasuke's eyes. "If you can't remember then I'm not going to tell you."
"Sasuke!"
He placed a hand on the wall by her ear and leaned in. "But it's really a shame you don't remember. You were very…" he dropped his voice an octave. "…entertaining last night."
Sakura froze, eyes as wide as saucers. "What…did I do?"
Sasuke shook his head. "Not telling." Partly because if she knew exactly what she'd done last night, she would murder him in the most gruesome way known to man. No…his lips were staying shut.
"Sasuke!" When said man refused to give her an answer, Sakura tried a different approach. She licked her lips and turned pleading eyes onto him. "Please, Sa-su-ke-kun?"
The kicked puppy look had the opposite desired effect. The shinobi's whole body tensed and he snapped her a stern look.
"Are you sure you don't remember anything?"
Sakura swallowed hard at the intensity in his gaze. "Positive." They really needed to make this man an interrogator, he could get you to tell him anything with a single look.
He narrowed his eyes at her, evaluating her response, then he backed off. Sasuke disappeared into the bathroom while Sakura collected her wits against the wall. What exactly had she done last night?! Surely it wasn't the question, he'd only reacted towards the way she'd said his name. Okay, so she doubted that she'd said his name in a sultry sort of voice. She'd probably added the suffix to his name in her stupor. That was it. That had to be it.
Right?
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After her shower—throughout all of which she had contemplated the enigma that was Sasuke—she knew she was going to have to ask him for a favor. True, she loved how her necklace looked on her neck, even though she hated what it stood for. Her owner had made sure to get a chain long enough to fit around her neck comfortably, but short enough that it didn't get in the way of sparring or healing. She actually liked the pendant on it very much. He had good taste. A few years ago, she had no doubt he would make her wear a ridiculous sign around her neck saying Property of Uchiha Sasuke.
While she loved the necklace, she also wanted it off very badly. Sakura missed the feel of having a bare neck, and it was time to put the small necklace to rest for a while.
She walked downstairs and saw Sasuke sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. The smell of the coffee almost made her sick, since she still had a slight hangover from last night, but she quelled it with a few threads of charka sent to her head.
"Hey Sasuke?" She hoped he didn't notice the nervousness in her voice. Truth was, she had no idea how he was going to react to her request. Sasuke was known to be possessive. He regarded her curiously as he lifted his eyes. "I was wondering—if you wouldn't mind—taking the necklace off. I mean, I love how it looks and everything, and it still doesn't change the fact that I belong to you, I just would like some time apart from it." Oh dear, she was babbling. "I really appreciate how tasteful it is and everything—"
"Sakura."
Said girl stopped her rant and looked to see he was beckoning her closer with two fingers. She kneeled down beside him.
Unexpectedly, he twisted his body and brought himself very close to her, his arms snaking around her neck. She could smell him clearly, since her head was sitting in the crook of his neck. Her body tensed, unsure. She felt his breath against her hair. His hair tickling her cheek. Felt his hands brushing her neck. In fact, she wouldn't mind those hands, well, everywhere. The thought of him holding her, sliding his hands across her back, her fisting her hands in his hair, his lips brushing against her collarbone…
The necklace slid off her neck.
Sakura blinked once, slightly dazed. The man before her redid the clasp and placed it back into her hand. Her head was fuzzy from the sensations, and she was sure she was blushing. Sasuke asked her if she was okay.
"I'm fine." She said a little quickly. "Just a little dizzy from the hangover. Just gonna go grab some aspirin." And with that, Sakura high-tailed it out of the kitchen.
She was out the door before she could see Sasuke smirk devilishly behind her.
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Thanks to an emergency summons, Sakura was now stuck at the hospital for the day. Outside, she accepted this, as she was one of the best medics Konoha had to offer. Inside, she despaired. Her once clean scrubs were covered in blood, and the shinobi she was operating on thought she was an enemy and kicked her square in the ribs. She hadn't been able to dodge in time because he would have died if she'd stopped healing him.
Thankfully, one of the other nurses offered her a spare change of clothes, dark blue scrubs with a white lining. They were a little tight due to her muscular frame, but they would suffice until she made it home.
Sakura paused on the way to the nurse's station. When had she started calling Sasuke's house "home"? It wasn't really her home, was it? Her home was an apartment across town which was slowly gathering dust. In fact, why hadn't she moved back to her apartment? Sasuke probably wouldn't mind, especially since he didn't really want to be her owner in the first place. Legally, she belonged to him. Practically, however, she was her own person.
For a moment, Sakura thought about going home—to her actual apartment. The thought itself seemed…lonely. Even though most mornings she woke up and Sasuke had already left, she still felt safer having him there during the night. For the last month, she'd been significantly more rested since she didn't have to keep up all of her defenses while she slept. Although this was probably a bad thing. One solo mission where she was attacked in the middle of the night and it would all be over.
Sitting down at the nurse's station to fill out paperwork, Sakura then thought about selling her apartment, since it was sucking her finances and she wasn't even using it. But she didn't want to do that either. Having her own apartment represented her independence. She'd worked herself to the bone to afford that apartment. So in essence, she was stuck.
And speaking of living situations, what did Sasuke expect of her now that she knew? Cain was locked away somewhere and was no longer a threat to her. Sasuke had no reason to protect her as he did before. Would he expect her to move out? She'd already told him to take the necklace off. Maybe he thought that she was done belonging to him. Oh, this was a pickle!
Someone cleared their throat.
Green eyes looked up to meet onyx. While Sakura's eyes were wide, and as a result Sasuke's eyes danced in amusement, like he knew he'd caught her in the middle of a fantasy. And while imagining his body being so close to hers taking off her necklace wasn't exactly a fantasy, it was close enough that she was daydreaming about it. She furrowed her eyebrows. Sasuke was too sneaky for his own good.
"Hey." Sakura greeted, noting how dashing he looked in Jounin uniform. Most of the women were drooling, both married and single. "I don't usually see you around here."
"The Hokage asked me to drop this off." He handed her a paper bag over the small counter, stapled at the top and a little folded note attached to the side.
"You're her messenger now?" Sakura asked amusedly.
"Hardly." And then under his breath he called her a "sadistic hag", which was a phrase that he would deny under oath that he ever said.
"Well thanks for the package anyway, it's probably some herbs we've been needing." She thought of something. "Oh! And I'll probably be home kind of late. All this paperwork."
Sasuke nodded. Then, in proper Uchiha fashion, he made the seals to transport out of the hospital. Sakura unfolded the note.
Sakura,
STOP UCHIHA FROM LEAVING!!!
"Stop!" Sakura barked. The whole area froze in their tracks and looked at her. Sasuke froze as well, and she felt lucky she'd just barely managed to stop him from leaving. He looked at her curiously, but she could tell he was slightly antsy. Since she had no clue why she was stopping him, she read on.
The little brat probably conveniently forgot to mention that he is overdue for his annual physical.
"Physical?" Sakura said to no one in particular. She glanced at Sasuke and saw his facial muscles constricted in an emotion she could only call "repressed horror."
Since you are the only medic he can't con out of doing his physical—not to mention the only one who won't drool on him the entire time—you are to do his physical. Please do it as soon as possible, as I need him for a mission but I can't send him on one until he's deemed perfectly healthy. Council's idea, not mine.
I appreciate you doing this for me, especially on your day off. I'm working on a pay-raise for you as we speak. And to make Uchiha's examination more entertaining, I've included some things in the bag.
Have fun.
Tsunade
And next to the woman's signature there was a winking smiley face.
Hesitantly, Sakura opened the bag and looked inside. As she suspected, her herbs were there, sitting in bags that were waiting to be labeled with the herb's properties. But the paper bag felt oddly heavy to contain only a bunch of plants. Sakura dug around to the bottom, and her heart stopped when her hand gripped an aluminum can. She fearfully looked down to find herself holding a can of whipped cream. And she'd rifled around in the bag so much that she'd exposed several condoms that had been sitting on the bottom of the bag.
Sakura felt herself go beet red. She scurried to drop everything and close the bag, thankful that she'd been sitting at an angle where Sasuke couldn't see anything. She was going to take her herbs and bury the rest. Sasuke was regarding her curiously.
"S-So," She cleared her throat. "I'll be doing your physical." She called a nurse over. "Take him to Examination Room Four, I'll be in there after I get his file."
Sakura gripped the bag so hard her knuckles turned white as she walked away. She walked into the staff room and threw the bag in her locker. She was going to dispose of it better when she had more time. If she took too long to start the examination, Sasuke would disappear on her. Literally.
Walking back into the nurse's station, Sakura grabbed his file on the way. It was thick, but then again shinobi's files usually were. Although getting them to actually come into the hospital voluntarily was another story. Shinobi would get stabbed by everything from kunai to swords to poisoned senbon and be fine, but show them a needle and they would disappear on you faster than you could say, "Roll up your sleeve."
Sakura was slightly surprised to see Sasuke in the examination room. He was more squirrely of hospitals than any shinobi she knew. This wasn't really surprising considering he'd woken up in a hospital bed after the Massacre. Honestly, she didn't blame him.
Emerald eyes scanned over his chart, looking at the last time he'd had his immunization shots. Uh-oh. He needed two today.
But she'd start with the easy stuff first. She had him take off his shoes and took his height and weight. His height was still the same (impossibly tall) but he'd gained two pounds since last year. When Sasuke heard this news, Sakura had to tell him, "it's all muscle anyway, stop being such a girl."
Naturally he'd glared at her.
He sat back down on the paper-covered bed, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else.
Sakura was filling in his chart, in professional mode. "Alright, take off your shirt." When she heard no rustling of clothes, Sakura looked at the grumpy man on the bed. "Sasuke, don't make this hard. Off with the shirt."
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because."
"Because is not an answer!" Sakura blew her bags out of her face. "The sooner you do, the sooner this physical is over with. Isn't that what you wanted?"
"Hn."
"Which is also not an answer. I'm not going to grope you or anything." And then she added under her breath, "It's nothing I haven't seen before."
Sasuke looked torn for a minute, and then he smirked unexpectedly, predatorily.
Sakura's muscles locked down as her fight-or-flight response took over. She had a bad feeling about this.
Sasuke shrugged out of his Jounin vest. His arms crossed and he grabbed the hemline of his shirt, slowly bringing it above his head. He made sure that all of his muscles rippled as they were exposed. His abs, his chest, his arms.
Sakura felt her mouth go dry. There was no way that was an accident. She'd seen her owner take his shirt off casually before, and that was sexy in and of itself, but when he was actually trying? When Sasuke felt like being sexy, women ran from miles away.
In response, Sakura kept her face blank. She wouldn't let Sasuke know that he was getting to her, even though he was in a huge way. She had butterflies in her stomach, she was sure that breathing was getting more difficult, and her knees felt like Jell-O. But she wasn't one of the best kunoichi for nothing. She wouldn't let him know any of that.
Sakura put her stethoscope in her ears and lifted it to his heart, placing it on his chest muscles, knowing immediately what was going to happen. She saw a pectoral tighten due to the cold metal. Sakura looked up at him innocently.
"Cold?"
"Hn."
A wicked smile broke across Sakura's face. Green locked with black as she brought the cold metal to her mouth. Sakura pouted her lips a little before blowing hot air across the metal Even though Sasuke's eyes were fathomless, she barely managed to make out his pupils dilating. The medic put the metal back over his heart.
"Better?"
"Much," Sasuke said, sounding a little tense. He had his eyes closed.
Sakura moved around him so that she could put the stethoscope on his back. "Okay," she said. "I need you to take a few deep breaths like this." The breathed in deeply and saw that Sasuke did the same, when she breathed out, she blew moist air on the shell of his ear. Sakura made sure that her fingers ghosted over his back and smirked when he went as tense as steel.
"Something wrong, Sasuke?"
"No."
"Are you sure?" Sakura asked innocently, coming around to look into his eyes. "You seem a little tense."
"Hn." Sasuke's eyes were hooded, and he leaned back against the bed, resting all of his weight on his hands behind him. He looked like he was just waiting for someone to jump his bones. He knew what game she was playing at, and he wouldn't let her win. He'd had more experience with the opposite sex as a twelve-year-old than she had in her whole lifetime. "On second thought," Sasuke began. "I am feeling a little tense. Care to loosen me up, Sakura?"
Sakura smiled, determined not to fall for his trap. "I'd be glad to. Turn over and lie down."
He did as instructed, turning over and lying on his stomach on the bed. Sakura ran her hands down his back lightly before returning to his shoulders. She pushed down, kneading at his shoulder blades, feeling beyond the knots to the pure muscle that was hidden beneath skin. Well not hidden, exactly. She could see lean muscles rippling under her touch as she pressed down.
Sasuke let out a long sigh when she was working around his spine, so she pressed down even harder there and was rewarded with a grunt. For Sasuke, a grunt was as good as any moan.
"You're tighter than I thought you'd be."
"Hn." Sasuke drew out that one syllable unintentionally. Opposite his intentions, the tables were turning on him, and Sakura was getting control. As soon as Sakura finished his back, Sasuke abruptly turned over. He noted with a sense of male satisfaction that Sakura went tomato red as she now found her hands resting on his abdomen. "Here, too."
This time, he saw the woman before him swallow heavily. She slowly drew her hands up his chest to have them rest on his shoulders. She leaned in closely, smirking, attempting to gain back the upper hand. "I think you're abusing your doctor."
Sasuke sat up and balanced his weight on one elbow. He laid his free hand at the side of her neck, suddenly wishing that he hadn't taken off her necklace. His thumb traced her jawbone. "Perhaps." Wickedly, he skid his hand down to rest where the necklace's pendant should have been resting—barely below the base of her throat. He could feel her quick heartbeat from the skin-on-skin contact. "Of course, as my doctor, I have to tell you everything. Right, Sakura?"
The Uchiha smirked devilishly when her grip on his shoulders tightened—a sign he knew meant that her knees went weak.
They were close now, close enough to feel the other's breath on their lips.
"It's not fair," Sakura began with her eyes dilated. "That you can use your control over me like this."
Onyx eyes became amused. "Who said I'm controlling you?"
The pink haired girl's lips parted in sudden knowing and embarrassment. "I—" But thankfully she didn't have to say anymore than that, because a knock on the door suddenly made her remember where she was. Sakura backed up, taking her hands off of her master's shoulders and straightening her clothes. "Enter!"
A young nurse opened the door. "Doct…" Her vocal chords froze at the sight of a half naked Uchiha baring his chest to the world. Sasuke rolled his eyes and reached for his shirt.
"Was there something you needed?" Sakura snapped impatiently.
"I just came to see if there was anything you needed, Doctor, since this examination was taking such a long time." Sakura looked at the clock. Normal examinations took maybe ten minutes. This one was bordering on twenty-five.
"Are you implying that I am incapable of doing my job?"
"No, Doctor, I was…"
"Did it ever occur to you that this exam was taking such a long time because this man goes to different countries, picking up who knows what diseases, to defend all of us in the village?"
"Doctor, I…"
"Don't you have paperwork to do?"
"Yes." The nurse looked relieved to see her way out of the conversation. "I have to go…um…file something. Sorry for disturbing you." And she left, almost slamming the door behind her in her haste.
"Help my ass." Sakura muttered. "Little chit…"
She felt a hand rest on her head, ruffling her hair a little. "Making your subordinates cry, Tsunade-sama would be so proud."
Unintentionally, Sakura turned her anger onto Sasuke. "Your examination wasn't done yet. Sit back down."
Sasuke cocked a black eyebrow, looking intrigued and willing. "Oh? Were we just getting to the good part?"
Sakura smiled. "You need two shots today."
All amusement left the Uchiha survivor's face. "No."
"Yes." Sakura insisted, already prepping the first syringe. "Because let's face it…you go to all these different countries and get all these nasty diseases, and who's going to have to work extra hard to make sure you're back in tip-top shape? Me. So you're going to get this shot right now so I don't have to work so hard later."
It was then Sasuke decided he hated the interrupting nurse. He was having such a lovely time and then the idiot had to go and remind Sakura that he needed his stupid shots.
To his credit, he didn't say "Ow!" or start crying—as Naruto often did. Sasuke took it like a man, only sharply inhaling to show his discomfort and showing no sign of emotion when Sakura stuck the Barbie band-aid on the injection site.
"See that wasn't so bad." She kissed the bandage and looked up at him with steamy eyes. "Was it?"
Sasuke glared at her.
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"Okay, Sasuke, so just sign here, here, and here and you're free to go."
Sasuke grumbled something incomprehensible. When he finished signing, he turned his eyes towards her form standing behind the nurse's station. "When are you off work?"
Sakura glanced at the clock. "Oh, probably in another hour or two. I just have to finish some paperwork and should be able to come home if there aren't any emergencies." And then something occurred to her. She'd just called Sasuke's place home again. Was she really getting that used to it? To him?
But whenever she even thought about wanting to move back to her apartment, a feeling of cold emptiness washed through her. She wanted to stay with him, even though they both knew she didn't have to anymore. Cain was out of the picture, and she was safe now. So why did she have this horrible feeling whenever she thought about moving out?
The medic's train of thought was interrupted when a man she knew only too well came running out of a corridor to stand in the middle of the lobby. Sasuke was looking at the man curiously, wondering why Sakura was furiously pressing a red button while rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Oh Lord…" She murmured.
Before Sasuke had a chance to ask, the man opened up his trench coat and flashed everyone in the vicinity. He ran around the lobby with his coat open, scaring mothers and baffling small children. Since he had a mental disease, Sakura didn't hold it against him, she even saw him naked enough times not to care anymore. When she did start caring was when he seemed as though he wanted to give Sasuke a private showing, running towards the ANBU Captain with his ding-dong flopping about, scarring the poor man for life.
Thankfully for Sasuke, who had been scarred enough for multiple lifetimes, the man shut his trench coat and ran down another corridor, trying to escape the recently arrived hospital security.
Sasuke turned back towards Sakura, who was trying to arrange papers to keep her head from thumping repeatedly against the desk. "What the hell was that?!"
Sakura shrugged. "You get used to it."
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Author's Notes: Ha ha, I just had to add that last part in. Anyway, to make up for my…um…extended absence, I made sure this chapter was extra juicy. Oh and in case you didn't see it up top, I now have a NotifyList account, which will let me tell you whenever I post a new chapter or a new story or whatever. The link is (without the spaces): http:// jan-eclipses. notifylist. com/ . The link can also be found on my profile. And another note, you're going to want to sign up to get notifications because I have a one-shot that I plan on posting soon! If you don't have me on author alert or don't have a FanFiction account, sign up to get the notifications. You're really going to want it. (Hint, hint…wink, wink). Oh and if you get bored, I've uploaded a new story called Catch 22, which is Naruto from Sakura's point of view. Right now it's a little boring, since it's just a recap of everything we already know about, but I promise you it's going to get better, especially in the next chapter (which is also going to be uploaded soon!) As always, please review and tell me what you think, and have a very merry Christmas.