...Amaranthyz Presents...

Escaping Fear

Chapter 14: Nightmares and Beauty

Character(s) [By appearance]: Yamanaka Ino, Uchiha Sasuke

Pairing(s): slight SasuIno

Characters from Naruto - rightfully belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

I strongly disclaim all rights on the characters but the entire story was originally and rightfully created by me

The Konohagakure Memorial was once again visited by the villagers as they went to mourn for the sacrificed shinobi. Spring has invited itself into the village and the fallen petals of the cherry blossom flew freely in the sky. As they danced gracefully in the open air, they soon fell down to the ground; onto a gravestone with the name Yamanaka Ino engraved solemnly on it.

Uchiha Sasuke stood in front of the gravestone which was decorated with white roses around it. His face was whiter than the roses and his eyes were wide in shock and confusion. "What the hell?" he thought.

The people around him were very familiar. There was Ino's beloved adoptive brother, Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, Ino's best friends Shikamaru and Chouji, her father Inoichi, the current Hokage Tsunade and many others. There was something that led Sasuke into utter speechlessness; there wasn't any mourning or sadness. They were expressionless. They were there and they were real but they looked not alive.

Sasuke blinked a few times but the situation has just gotten worse. Naruto's expressionless face carved a smoother expression of a smile and he stretched his arms up.

"Let's leave," Naruto, the idiot who Ino had came to care for, said with a straight face.

With his words, everyone else followed and their faces also carved out happiness; in front of Ino's newly made grave. Naruto was laughing while he talked with Sakura as they made their way out of the memorial.

Sasuke, as furious he can ever be, shouted, "Where the hell do you think you're going, you bastard?"

The blonde stopped and slowly turned around to his friend. A happier look appeared on his face, "Hey Sasuke, let's go to Ichiraku Ramen and have lunch already! I'm starving! Oh, don't worry about the bill. I have coupons for free meals!"

"What the…" Sasuke was completely snapped by Naruto's invitation.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Ino just died and you just wanna eat your freaking ramen?"

Naruto blinked, "But it is lunchtime…"

"Don't screw with me!" Sasuke exclaimed furiously.

The blonde sighed and smirked. Sasuke was taken aback by his action. What the hell is wrong with everybody? But Sasuke could never let Naruto off the hook when he is smirking and thinking of ramen when his sister had just died.

"Wasn't it your fault she died? Your damn carelessness led to her death when you went and tried to find the bandits rather than bringing her to the village. Now you're blaming me, Sasuke? You're screwing with me now."

Sasuke felt his chest tighten. He couldn't swallow Naruto's foul words. Naruto walked away leaving Sasuke behind speechless.

How can that be? How did everything happen? Why was it his fault? Ino died because of him? What the hell?

The Uchiha's body started to shiver violently. Fear engulfed him. The thought of himself letting Ino die was…was…tragically stupid and horrible. How could he? His hands began to feel an extreme cold followed by his legs getting weaker and weaker.

Sasuke dropped onto his knees and his shivering mouth open before letting out a scream filled with disbelief, regret and horror.

The raven haired Uchiha woke up jolting from the chair he was sitting on and let out a startled breath. He found himself shaking from head to toe and he was sweating. His head ached badly and his vision was still fuzzy. He tried to calm his breathing as he gripped tightly onto the hand he had been holding.

A hand?

Sasuke looked down and a gush of unbelievable surprise and relief went through his aching chest and blew all the confusion away. He saw Ino lying on the hospital bed wearing a simple purple long-sleeved shirt and was covered by the hospital's white blanket. Her eyes were closed but it was clear that she was at peace. Her chest was rising and sinking steadily and the pulse Sasuke felt in her hand was beating steadily.

"I…Ino…" Sasuke mumbled as his whole body fell onto the chair. He swallowed a breath of happiness and absolute relief. He had to laugh slowly to himself in the joy of reality being bright and fair.

He was wearing a dark blue T-shirt and black baggy pants and he still had the hospital tag on his wrist. He laughed again as memories slowly came streaming back into Sasuke's mind.

If he was remembering correctly, it had been at least a week after the incident on the forest happened. It was not a pleasant memory but the fact that Ino was there sleeping peacefully with colour on her face and breathing like an average person was enough for Sasuke to forget the fact that they also failed their mission when the incident happened.

7 days ago…

Sasuke zipped through the mighty rainstorm as he finally saw the gates of Konohagakure. He was breathing unevenly now after an hour of vast speed running from their mission's base straight towards the village. His face was covered with small cuts and scratches and his legs were aching badly. His forearm was covered with big bruises as he used them to cover himself and Ino who he was carrying safely in his arms from getting hit by the big branches of the trees in the forest.

Without any moment wasted, he went through the entrance gate of Konohagakure forgetting to stop at the checkpoint. He ran through the empty streets soaked in the rain. His vigorous footsteps echoed loudly even in the rain as he forced out the last of hi energy and chakra to reach the village's hospital.

The hospital was big and it looked very lonely in the rain. Even so, Sasuke took his last step which could be more accurately described as a leap when he burst through the entrance of the hospital and alarmed all of the people in the lobby and registration area. Out of all the people surprised, Tsunade who was making a visit to the patients in the hospital came rushing towards Sasuke when he made his entrance.

"Uchiha, what the…" Tsunade started but was soon on the same page when the raven-haired groaned out of exhaustion and fell onto his knees before revealing the unconscious Ino wrapped tightly in his arms.

Ino was still breathing but just like an hour ago, her breathing slowed down and her pulse was beating unevenly.

Tsunade immediately signalled for all the available medical-nin to move in for action. One of them took Ino from Sasuke's hold and they quickly rushed into the emergency treatment room. Tsunade kneeled down in front of Sasuke and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Sasuke was breathing hard for air and he found his sight getting blurry. He inhaled a last amount of air enough to utter a few words, "Take…care…of Ino…" before falling unconscious himself.

It had been a week, for sure. Sasuke walked through the corridors of the hospital with a cup of hot coffee in his hand. He needed a walk to calm himself down from the nightmare. As a matter of fact, he was sure that he was still shaking; if not on the outside, but maybe on the inside.

Sasuke leaned against the wall of the corridor and breathed slowly. He closed his eyes and tried to think of something…positive. It was hard to push of the vision of having to stand in front of a gravestone with Ino's name engraved on it. It was terrifying.

But that is what was causing Sasuke's chest to ache again. Why was the nightmare so terrifying? Sasuke knew himself very well and he knew that nightmares do not scare him as much as the one he had a few hours ago had scared the wits out of him.

That brought back the memory of his late elder brother, Uchiha Itachi. His death had became a tragedy so shocking to him that he nearly lost him mind after Itachi dropped down dead right in front of him during their last battle. Sasuke couldn't even think after his death.

But it was Ino that brought Sasuke back to his old self once again. He still remembered her words when he was interrogated. It was her words that relieved him out of his misery and his sanity came back straight afterwards.

After the interrogation, even Sasuke came to accept his old friends he abandoned once again. He even felt more comfortable than he imagined he would be when he decided to return to the village. He felt…happy.

And that was all he needed to smile in his heart once again. Sasuke smirked and continued walking back to Ino's room. He looked out of the window in the corridor and saw that the sky was a complete opposite to yesterday's dark storm. The sky was in perfect blue and the white clouds shimmered in the sunlight. He saw the small children of the village running around happily in the sun.

Smiling, Sasuke opened the door of Ino's room. She was still sleeping peacefully even when Sasuke deliberately closed the door loudly. Sasuke took a sip of the hot coffee and placed it on the side table beside the bed. He then sat back on the chair and put his palm onto Ino's forehead.

Her forehead was just warm and it wasn't too hot signifying the fact that she didn't have any fever and that wiped away one of Sasuke's worries.

He still couldn't figure the reason for his worries. Itachi's death triggered off all his feelings of worries for his comrades. Why was he feeling that exact emotion at a random time now for a girl who clearly has grown to hate his attitude?

Sasuke slowly moved his hand from Ino's forehead to her cheek. It was soft; not that Sasuke was used to touching a girl.

With that, Sasuke abruptly pulled his hand away and felt his own cheeks getting hotter. He was once again drowned in confusion when his heart started beating in an unusually fast pace. He gripped his shirt and started breathing slowly, calming himself down.

What in the world is going on with him? He had never felt so confused and so flustered about anything at all. And now, he's going all unexplainable for a girl?

"I really need to see a therapist or something…" Sasuke mumbled to himself.

Sasuke reached for the coffee and started gulping it down, ignoring the noticeable heat. He stopped for a moment and looked back at Ino. Her face was smooth and she looked so at peace. Her eyes would flicker at times and her eyelash swooned over her eyelids. Her eyebrows were in a calm position. It wasn't narrowing down or anything that made her wrinkle her brow.

Her lips were quite dry but it still had a moist pink look on it. To top it all off, her golden silvery hair went over her shoulders and it brought out her fair skin's colour perfectly. She didn't look like a person who had a week's worth of comatose in the hospital. She looked as if she was sleeping soundly in her own room anticipating another joyful day.

She was beautiful.

Sasuke couldn't doubt that fact and he also couldn't doubt the fact that he was mad! He shook his head once again as he felt his cheeks getting hot and drank the coffee straight down to its last drop.

He exhaled a breath of coffee and silently burped. He glanced outside the window and saw the same birds he saw at his house. It was the golden feathered birds that reminded him of Ino's hair. It wasn't the rich golden colour that brought out an unexpectedly large amount of might.

It was the colour that could be the cold side of the sun itself if anything such as that would ever be possible. It was the colour that brought out a mysterious feel and a cold manner in a place where everything shone as bright as the sun.

It was a mysterious and a rare colour that could be seen right in front of Sasuke himself.

Sasuke continued staring at the birds fluttering outside of the window when a hand reached for him from under the covers that kept Ino warm for the past seven days.

Okay, this one was pretty short. I'm at my dad's office and I was already going home so I had to cut it short.

Gomenasai... But anyways, what do you think? Yes, a frantic Sasuke is hard to imagine but if Kishi-sensei made Sasuke a psychopathic rouge, can't I make Sasuke a little confused and in a little emotion disorder? I hope it wasn't overly OOC... But I really think that the characters should have a change in attitude for once. Not like, a really HUMONGOUS change in attitude... Just a little... =D

Other than that, expect the next one to be a little bit more longer both in length of results and time used. Reviews are welcomed! =DDD

-Amaranthyz