GhostofYou: Thanks for the advice. Yea- I already knew the dialogue etiquette, but I'm just too stubborn to use it .;; in reality- I've been meaning to start using it, but I never really used so much dialogue, so I never really HAD to use it- but in this fic, I've found I've used WAY more dialogue between characters. So; in short- to make it less confusing for everyone, including me, i think we'll go to the proper dialogue style...for the most part. lol. thanks :
Chapter 13
Sakura awakened slowly, her fingers smoothing over the muscles that she rested on. Her eyes fluttered open, keeping her head in place as Sasuke's hand ran over the soft pink strands that spread out like perfect silk. He smirked as she turned gently, resting her chin on his well-toned chest, jade orbs staring straight through his onyx globes. His face became stoic, matching hers well as his fingers reached up, stroking her cheek softly then moving the stray hair from her features. "Now will you tell me your secrets?" A rough thumb stroked the seal on her forehead expectantly.
"...what is it that you want to know?" Her voice was soft and submissive- yet still held that disconcerting distance that scared him. She was changing. That he could tell. Now he had to figure out if it was for the better or worse. He concluded to himself that it had to be better than what she had been. His eyes turned away from her- the morning sun, yet to be visible, was turning the dark scenes into a beautiful dawn. Sunrise. They would be in to check on Sakura within a few hours.
His charcoal orbs returned to meet hers, catching the weakness behind them. She was still tired. "Why did you and Tsunade leave the village so suddenly?" His eyes flicked up to the new mark on her forehead, then back to her eyes expectantly. He watched her face glimmer with a few emotions as her eyes dropped down below his chin, the emerald jewels catching glimpses of the morning light from the one window brilliantly.
"I'd been waiting for her to complete my training for as long as I can remember. But I love Tsunade like my own mother, and her fierce loyalty to me prevented her from giving me the seal. She wasn't sure I was stable enough to control my use of the seal, even though she swore it was because she was too busy. I knew what she was thinking. She was sure that I wanted the seal so I could defeat the men who killed Otousan & Okaasan, and then defeat Lee-kun's killer. It scared her to think that she couldn't stop me if I wanted to give my life to kill the Shirei. I think it scared her even more to know how easily I could end my life with her seal. My health worried her enough, especially back then." She sighed half-heartedly, offering her eyes up to him once more as they glittered against the growing daylight.
Sasuke studied the seal once more, thoughts of its power steadily streaming over his mind. He systematically compared it the now dormant seal on his neck. Orochimaru's seal hadn't disappeared, but was useless and no longer connected with his chakra channels. His eyes drifted back down to hers, a blank and hollow expression still covering their features. Why was she being so open all of a sudden? "So this seal, it can kill you...like the curse mark I have...or had..." Sakura's fingers traced up his chest, brushing over his neck unconsciously until they reached a place just out of sight, right above the shoulder. She nodded to him slightly, more with her eyes than anything, hardly moving her chin from its position on his chest.
She had memorized its position. That curse. It was no threat to them now, but it still stabbed her heart, causing pain as if it were there to effect her. The memories it brought...memories were just one thing she wished she could rid herself of. She laced her fngers through his hair, finally retrieving her hand back to its comfortable place on his collarbone. "It shaves days...years from my life, Sasuke. Each time I use it."
He raised a brow with slight irritation. "Then don't."
She matched his annoyed glance, yet hers was softer. "Sasuke- I-"
"Sasuke-kun." He corrected with a low baritone that vibrated from his chest, tickling Sakura's chin. "Not Sasuke. Not Uchiha. Sasuke-kun." She smiled slightly, but it was a sad and distant excuse for a smile- not even comparing to the light that use to exude from her pleasant demeanor.
"Of course... Sasuke...kun." She breathed slightly, turning her face towards the window so her cheek was now pressed to his skin. She could hear his heartbeating. 'He's...he's...warm. His heart is so rhythmic...so alive...if only- if only we could go back- back to before. Maybe that would fix it.'
She hummed in recognition when she realized he was speaking to her again. "Sakura. You have another seal. Its that mark on your back, ne? Where did you get it?" She felt his hand trace over the sheets to her lower back- betrayed once again as they had slipped down too far and her t-shirt had come up.
She winced slightly as his fingers reached the black marking, her own fingers tangling wth his over the mark, seemingly studying the skin with a pained confusion in her eyes. "Sakura?" Her hand retreated to holding the soft sheets, her eyes melting back into the soft expressionless gaze.
"That mark. Its probably one of the reasons Tsunade-shisou waited so long to give me her seal. Naruto, Hinata and Kiba were on my squad and we had been heading toward Sunagakure to scout reports of Akatsuki sightings near a small civilian village. Shikamaru's squad was scouting east of us, Neji's squad to the west. I remember it so clearly. The sky was a beautiful shade of blue that day." She smiled bitterly, her voice as distant as her gaze- staring into the past.
Sasuke's heart skipped a beat at the mention of the Akatsuki organization. His fingers hesitated in stroking her fine strands of hair for a slight moment, then returned to the gesture almost unconsiously as he listened intently once more, deciphering the information slowly.
"My squad hit the jackpot. We stumbled right into the middle of an Akatsuki group before we even realized that they were waiting for us. We hadn't sensed that our prey had really been hunting us." Her postition shifted as her face turned back to the window, her pink locks spraying out under his chin. "We held our own. Most of the members were ordered to retreat when HE showed up. Naruto was yelling something to me, but I couldn't tell what it was- he and Hinata were taking care of three remaining members, while Kiba and Akamaru were holding out against the other two. That left me and him."
Sasuke's mouth felt slightly dry. He hoped he was wrong. He really wanted to be wrong about this one, but he continued to listen distantly as she spilled her life secrets, knowing it was unlikely that he was wrong about any of his assumptions. Almost as an afterthought, he had to wonder why she was being so forward with this information. Perhaps it was some medication she was on? Or she was finally starting to trust her former teammate again? Perhaps even love him again? He decided it was more likely the medication, but either way, the past years of his absence were piecing themselves together.
"It didn't seem like the fight lasted too long, but we ended up far away from any of our comrades. I wasn't fairing as well as he was, but he also couldn't heal himself. I couldn't remember the last time I felt...so alive, Sasuke-kun." The honorific was only a breath, feeling uneasily familiar on her lips as she slipped back into a time when nothing mattered but bloodshed. She felt his chest purr slightly, as if in confusion. "I lost all sensation in battle long before that time. But this, this made me crave the next moment of life. It called out my emotions and started a fire within me. I hated it. I hated him."
She licked her lip almost in reflex, sighing gently. "And then it was over. The bastard said something about my hollow eyes and missing heart- then he told me that I wanted to die entirely too much for him to kill me. So he struck me with his katana, severing my spine. While I lay there, he tried to give me that mark. Its unfinished because I nearly took off his leg and burst his heart in the process. If it were finished, the mark would make it impossible for me heal my own wounds and force my body to reject my own flow of chakra. As is, it rarely interrupts my chakra functions, but can cause damage if it disagrees with my other seal. I should have killed him, but I had to act quickly to heal my spinal chord and keep from bleeding to death. I just remember staring at the sky for the longest time after he left me alone."
"What was his name?" His question seemed almost unnecessary on both parts. They both knew who she was talking about. But he wanted confirmation. He needed to hear her say it.
"Uchiha Itachi. S-class criminal and Akatsuki member. I can remember it so clearly. I remember thinking how he didn't remind me of you at all. Then I heard Naruto screaming again, but I still couldn't tell what he was saying. Then everything got strangely silent. The whole world was on mute. I saw Ino leaning down close to look at my face, but I couldn't tell if she was touching me. Her eyes told me that she thought I was going to die, and her mouth was moving frantically, but I couldn't hear anything coming out. She looked like she was crying hard enough to soak her entire face- that was when I noticed it had started to rain. I couldn't understand how it had changed so quickly. The sky was so blue...but then I looked up and it was a dark grey. Then everything was cold, but I couldn't feel the rain- I couldn't feel anything. I don't remember anything after that, but after I recovered, everything seemed different. It was like I was still in that fight with him because no one wanted to let me forget that I had almost died at the hands of Akatsuki's Uchiha."
"I'm grateful that you survived." His voice was low and stoic. She could easily tell that he was upset, and it was even easier to tell that he didn't know what to say. She couldn't face him. She refused to look into his eyes now that she had told him she was wounded by his brother, nearly killed at his hand. She judged it worse that she had almost killed Itachi herself, nearly taking the one thing Sasuke had lived for.
There was a long silence. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it was thick with thought. Finally, Sakura sighed heavily, but just as she was going to speak, Sasuke cut her off. "It doesn't bother me, Sakura."
She raised a brow, but continued to look out the window, which was starting to brighten from the rising sun. "It should. I compared you to him. When I looked at his face, I tried to imagine how much you were alike. I couldn't see you anywhere in him, but still I looked, searched for you somewhere in your brother. But the only thing I could find was my hate."
Sasuke shifted slightly. "Look at me Sakura." There was an expectant pause, and Sakura's eyes shifted across the window, but she made no other attempts to move. "Sakura." He took a hand and gently lead her head to turn toward him until he could see the crystal green of her irises perfectly. "I understand. I never wanted this for you and I'm sorry you had to fight that monster. If I could take that away from you, I would. He's dead- and none of those things can hurt us now."
Her brow furrowed. This wasn't the Sasuke who left her at the gates of Konoha to kill his brother. This wasn't the Sasuke who left her on a bench to join Orochimaru. This was a man who looked at her with an understanding gaze, and studied her pain so deeply it hurt. This look. It reminded her of the days before his second departure, back when he would sneak to her window just to talk. They would have long and quiet conversations in the dead of night, revealing more information than they should have under the cover of dark. They were torturing thoughts after he left- always tricking her mind into believing he would be back at the windowsill the following night, speaking with her casually, as though he never left. And so- here he was. Speaking with her casually as though they were back in her room under that blanket of darkness, with carefree hearts.
Her jade orbs disappeared underneath a waterfalling blanket of pink as she buried her face into his chest. He smirked slightly. His fingers began their ritualistic gesture of stroking the silk strands as he layed back, his eyes now staring at the ceiling. A breath escpaed his lungs with deep thought. "Ino. What happened between Ino and Sai?" The question was out of place, but he thought to take advantage of her generous information while he could. He certainly couldn't directly ask her what she did to Ino that day- he had to ease into it, as if he were ignorant of the circumstances. Yes- this would do.
Sakura stiffened slightly. She let out a short huff, almost a sarcastic laugh. "Naruto told you, didn't he?" Sasuke only raised a brow, keeping the composure that he had sharpened over so many years of practice. Sakura didn't bother to see if he would answer. "Baka. He really needs to learn to stay out of other's business."
Sasuke sighed. "Explain it to me Sakura. What happened between Ino and Sai?" He felt Sakura sigh, her heavy breath tickling against his bare skin in a warm tone.
She wasn't buying his innocence, but she let it go, willing to play along and fill in the blanks. "Sai and I train alot together, at least we did. Naruto was always off on missions as captain of the Anbu black ops, and Neji would never take it far enough. Lee started refusing to train with me, but he really didn't have the time then anyway. Sai, being a former ROOT member, never saw the line that everyone else drew when training. We understood that neither of us would stop- and that was the only way to progress."
She shifted, inhaling his scent so it filled her lungs completely, drowning her with nostalgia. "Back then, Ino was head of the ANBU's Recon and Interrogation squad and Shikamaru had just gotten his position as ANBU's head tactician. The Konoha twelve had really shaped into legendary ninja. I was offered a captain position in ANBU several times, but I turned it down. Ino tried to talk me into it, she tried to talk me out of training with Sai. It never worked. She hated it so much. I would usually come by her house when Shikamaru was away to check in on her, and she would bandage the wounds that I had left untouched from training- usually due to lack of chakra."
Sakura smiled slightly, but it faded soon enough. "She would scold me and give me the usual lecture while patching me up. Then I would make her laugh and she would do my hair, explaining a mission or one of Shikamaru's lazy habits. Those were the only times I felt...content." A sigh escaped her lips as Sasuke continued to listen intently, trying to picture the old Sakura that was buried beneath this shell. "Ino-chan...was afraid. She was afraid of me for such a long time after that. She would put on that smile and tell me everything was fine, but I could see it in her eyes. Everything had changed. It took a long time for that look to subside...and I can still see it there somedays."
He raised a brow slightly. "But Sakura...what happened? What did you do?" He felt her shift slightly, then looked down to reassure himself she wasn't too upset. Surely enough, her veridean hues were still staring blankly into the expanse outside the window.
"Ino and I were in a coma. Mine only lasted a few weeks, but Ino was out for a month. Her heart rate kept jumping, and she would scream unusual things in her sleep, but she wouldn't wake up. I don't think Shikamaru has ever fully forgiven me. Everyone thought I had killed her, until the day she woke up. She looked at me. She looked me dead in the eye and ask me what I was. She looked at me as though I was a monster."
Sakura sighed, an expectant pause following for several moments. She simply listened to his heartbeat, as though it were her own heart monitor. Then, without warning, her eyes snapped back to meet his.
She let her gaze linger there, then blinked slowly with a sigh. "Sasuke- " She stopped herself momentarily, hesitating in her words before she seemingly gave up. "You should go, Shizune is coming and the guard is changing." Her voice was soft as she sat up, a hand still supporting her against his chest.
He cocked a smile, smirking at her avoidance of the situation. He swept a stray lock of pink from her eyes, gently rubbing against her cheek and stroking it up behind her ear. "Aa. Its about time for the dobe to start looking for me anyway." In a matter of moments, Sasuke had dressed and Sakura was again fidgeting with her IV. He walked back to the bed, giving her a chaste kiss on the forehead. She was slightly suprised, giving animation to her features. "Stop doing that- you'll hurt yourself."
She looked up with a smug annoyance as he gestured her fingers away from the tubes in her arms. Before she could say anything, the door behind her opened and Shizune walked in with Ino- Sasuke was already out of sight.
"Ohayo Sakura-sama. Dattebayo?" Shizune commented, checking the IV & changing the fluids before taking a light and shining it into Sakura's brilliant jade hues.
Sakura sighed tiredly. She hated this, it was if she could never sleep well enough to regain her strength. She truly hoped it wasn't going to last long- it was rather annoying to feel so weak, as though she were twelve again. "Sakura-sama? Dattebayo?" Shizune repeated, earning a slow reaction from the distracted Haruno.
"I told you not to call me that, Shizune." She moved her head away from the offending light subtly, looking towards the corner where she knew Sasuke was probably hiding. Heaven forbid Sasuke leave before spying on her diagnosis. She looked back towards Ino when she realized she was being spoken to again.
"Sakura? Did you hear me?" Ino looked slightly disconcerted when her best friend didn't seem to hear her.
"Gomen Ino, I wasn't listening." She caught the looks between the two women, which caused her to roll her eyes. "Anyway, is the exam done?" With that, Shizune continued her procedures of looking over Sakura's seals, then dismissed themselves as the guard changed and a younger chunnin girl took her place at the door.
Sakura was relieved to be alone. She didn't know how long she could stay awake. Granted she had just woken up, but she felt as though she had been kept awake for endless days and nights and her body was screaming to sleep. She layed back on the bed, letting out an uneven breath as she began drifting to unconsciousness, completely forgetting that she had still sensed Sasuke's presene during the exam.
Said Sasuke was suprised to see Sakura passed out when he pulled himself from hiding. She quivered slightly in her sleep, despite the growing warmth of the morning sun- so he gently pulled one of the white sheets over her. He kissed her sealed forehead and disappeared.
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"Shouldn't you tell someone, Saku-ko?"
"Why should I worry them? I'm only tired...Shisou said I would be exhausted for awhile..."
"...well its not that I mind spending so much time with you, but you shouldn't be falling unconsious like this either...its just not right. You know the risks- you might have internal bleeding, the seals could be minimizing or cutting off your chakra flow, it could even be poisoning you. Saku-ko? ...there's- something- ...Saku-ko! SAKURA!"
---------
"What?? Saku-ko, I can't...Saku-ko...I can't- I can't hear you anymore..."
"Sakura? Wake up."
A darkness rushed from everywhere as two green orbs fluttered open reluctantly. She looked around hesitantly- the room was dark again? She had slept all day?
"Sakura?" A rough finger touched her chin gently, pulling her eyes towards his.
"Sasuke. You're back." She blinked several more times at the distressed look in his eyes before looking away and studying the room further.
"You've been asleep. Who the hell is Saku-ko?" He questioned curiously, worry still evident in his voice- as though he thought she were crazy.
"Saku-ko? Thats what my father use to call me. Why? Where did you hear it?" She gave no emotion, no confusion- simply a tired, stoic study of the walls around her.
"You were saying it in your sleep..." His concerned eyes never left her, which was starting to annoy her again. "Sakura...have you been coughing up blood?"
The question caught her offguard, but she was immediately baffled. "What do you mean? Of course not. Why would you think such a thing?" She struggled slightly as he grabbed her wrist, revealing that she had failed to notice the traces of blood splattered across her small palm. She looked back at her pillow with a bewildered expression, noticing the drops of blood staining her pillow.
"Sakura- how long have you been bleeding like this? Tsunade needs to take care of you immediately." His face was hardened with a familiar concern, but Sakura's thoughts were running so fast she hardly noticed him for a moment.
After a slight hesitation, she sighed lightly. "Don't worry about it Sasuke...I must have pulled my IV too hard in my sleep- it happens all the time." She shook her head tiredly, leaning back on the bed to face the wall.
Sasuke's brow furrowed in irritation. "Sakura- this is serious. There is something wrong."
"Please Sasuke-kun...I'm tired- can't we just drop it...just lay down with me." Her voice was exasperated, which did nothing to disconcert the Uchiha's worries, but it was late and he couldn't do anything about getting her checked out at this hour without blowing the fact that he was disobeying a direct order from the Hokage. Sakura could be so stubborn. This was absolutey annoying.
He removed his shirt, his weapons holster was hung from the bed, and he took his place by her side, his strong arms wrapping around her from behind. He wasn't sure he was going to sleep tonight, but she needed her rest...
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alright...i've tripped over writer's block fallen into a black hole, but I'm coming out! hopefully the updates will come a little faster a little more often...blahblahblah...anyways- hope you enjoy! R&R please!!!
Translations:
Otousan, tousan- Father
Okaasan, kaasan- mother
matsuri- regional fall festival in japan
obon- festival for souls, celebration of the dead a buddhist holiday typically celebrated in Japan during August, the beginning of the festival is marked with the lighting of fires and lanterns either at the ancestral home or graves to guide the spirits in, the end is marked with the lighting of lanterns or fires to guide the spirits out, often floating lanterns(Toro Nagashi) that are set out on the water or river.
chouchins- hanging lanterns at the ancestral family graves to guide spirits to & from the spirit world, painted with the family crest.
Toro Nagashi- floating lanterns lit for obon that are set out on the rivers to guide spirits back to the other side, marked with the ancestral name.
bon odori- traditional folk dance that takes place during obon
yukata- summer kimono, typically worn for obon
domo arigatou- thank you very much, very formal thank you
matte- wait
Iya- no
dattebayo- are you alright? how are you?
Chikai- red earth, earth (an earth summon, hand of red earth)
Hai- yes
Gomen nasaii- my apologies, I'm sorry