Standard disclaimer applies: All said characters and places belong to Masashi Kishimoto.
A/N: If you didn't hate me last chapter than definitely this chapter, I mean, even I gasped. I'm just waiting for the hating, though that sounds bad, don't hate me, please!
::Warning:: This chapter is little intense and a bit darker than the others so if you are easily offended or just don't want to see Sasuke like that then turn back now ::Warning::
xDanniBellex
Kateryn
Sindy
me-sakura-chan
Spread-My-Wingz-And-Soar
tangozgirlscout: Eh, I guess it's all a matter of opinion.
Shy Faery89: Do you myspace? Livejournal? I chucked my morals when I wrote Fade Away, which I took down long ago. So you probably never got to read it. It'll either be the second to last or the last chapter in which Sasuke (Author has been subdued and duct taped and left unconscious to keep from sharing valuable information) ::Wakes and rips off duct tape:: Wow, what happened? Ah, yes we were talking. I guess what I mean is that it just doesn't really matter if you write or not to some people, from what I've deduced a story that has more effort to it, more plot and better grammar and spelling has less appeal to a reader than a slapdash story, look at stories like A Forced Fate, by Insomniac247 only eighty-three reviews? Come on, that story is so brilliant it deserves more reviews than that, it deserves three-thousand reviews if not more. I saw an amazing picture of Sasuke in the second level of the curse mark and I was so inspired I had to put Sasuke into the mutation form in some of my chapters. I don't have my scanner, but I suppose I could use my digital camera and post up my works. Sasuke smells like the rain and burning cedar and fresh clothes right out of the dryer… sigh, doesn't that sound sexy… yeah, I didn't think so, but hey, those are my favorite smells. I know, I want to make them get caught but every time I start to write it, I have a change of heart, originally I was going to have Hinata actually catch them, because I think it would be easier to persuade her not to blab compared to Ino or anyone else. I thought Neji should get some play, I mean come on, the poor guy is being cheated on. I'm sorry, but I felt bad and some people actually want her to choose Neji… and if its anyone it's between Sasuke and Neji in my book. Which is weird, I mean does Neji even give Sakura a second glance, I'm sorry my knowledge of Naruto only goes up to manga 14 and whatever I learn from Wikipedia. It was only a few weeks ago I actually saw recent pictures of Sasuke in the second level and I've never laughed so hard at him. For shame! Oh, this chapter, let's just say if chapter 13 didn't get you this one will.
Rhonda21
Merridaine
al7r
llwild1992: Big enough for two people.
Sasuke0623
Sasukes-Angel0221
petite.ina
TarynCasey
xX Winter Doll Xx: I love your pen name.
Arciana
E-chan Hidaka
Baby Acoustic
The Angel Of Sincerity
FakeCompassion: OMG! That was so random and so funny, jeez, poor Sasuke-kun. (Dies of laughter) That chapter was totally for you.
DarkAngelRakell: What, no I was just being me… I'm sorry if it sounded like I was offended, I wasn't at all, you have a total right to your opinion.
Raefire: I know, I'm horrible, I should make Neji more aware of his surroundings, I mean, come on… he's one of the genius Shinobis, the possessor of the Byakugan, he should be more tuned to Sakura's deceit, but then again, he really loves and trusts her.
Fare thee well, little broken heart
Downcast eyes, lifetime loneliness
Whatever walks in my heart will walk alone
Constant longing for the perfect soul
Unwashed scenery forever gone
Whatever walks in my heart will walk alone
The ten no juin on his shoulder began to burn and ache, like molten gold under glistening ruby. It stretched over his neck, multiplying and creeping along his cheek and over the bridge of his nose, crawling over his face and growing down his chest.
Sasuke gritted his teeth, tightening his jaw. He gripped the edges of the bureau and opened his eyes to see his hands marked with the black splotches of the curse. He looked back up and stared at the ruby red of his Sharingan, the black tomoe spinning faster and faster.
All this because of one woman, Sakura, she had ruined him for life. He had become this headstrong, out of control, irrational… thing. This woman, this small, beautiful, frustrating woman turned him into a slave to her and this was how she thanked him, by torturing him, teasing him, denying him?
It still angered him that she refused him so utterly. Everything in him wanted to kill her for turning him into what he had to face in the mirror every morning. Had he chosen to, he could break her neck as easily as if he was snapping twigs. NO! He would not hurt her! He would rather die slowly, bleeding out rather than hurt the woman he loved ever again.
No matter how much she infuriated him, Sasuke longed to have her with him always. The pain shot through him again and he bit down on his lips hard, breaking the skin and tasting the sharp tang of blood. Control…! Control had never been so difficult! He had never wanted someone like this before either.
Sakura was right about one thing, she did not know him anymore. Kami, the things he said to her! She had a right to say no, he was unstable, what kind of man… what kind of husband would he be if he could not even protect Sakura from himself?
He was a demon, a devil, a monster, completely unworthy of someone like Haruno Sakura to love a beast like him. The pain shattered through him again and he clutched at his neck and shoulder, panting and wheezing.
A swelter came over him, he felt like an addict with an insufficient hit. The mere image of her in another man's arms was enough for him to go on a killing spree. He sated death with sex, but it had still left him with an unfulfilled sensation.
Clenching his teeth tightly, the pain of the Heaven Curse Seal seized his entire body. He had let it get out of control, had allowed his anger to warp his restraint. The pain really hurt, it was like pins and needles all throughout his body.
Sasuke surveyed his mutated flesh and narrowed his eyes; his lips curling back as he snarled at his reflection. Every pore now opened with cold sweat pouring out.
He clenched one hand into a tight ball, drew back his arm and shattered the glass. The glass tore the skin over his hand, the laceration stung and blood trickled from the jagged cut, bits of the glass buried under the wet, bloody flesh. The image of the monster ruined.
Sasuke's vision suddenly blurred and he could hardly keep the ground under his feet. Sasuke fell backwards, unable to keep upright. His other hand still clutching the bureau, it fell forward with him.
Sasuke's legs twisted out of the way of the falling chest of drawers and surprisingly had enough strength to roll out of the way just as the mirror made contact with the wooden floor.
More glass shattered and skidded across the floor. The curse mark continued to spread and grow, it stretched further down, disappearing into the waistband of his pants and he felt it, the sensation deepened and Sasuke tried to block the pain.
Pain, what a trivial word- agony was better. One does not call the sensation of being flayed alive 'painful.' His head spun and he closed his eyes and darkness swirled around him until he had gone deaf to the world outside, coming to life.
…
Sakura had been standing on the other side of the front door just long enough to hear the sudden crash of glass. Sakura's senses jumped alive, as if she had touched a live electrical wire. She tried to tell herself that he broke a plate or something and did not know she was there.
It was like a covert mission for her, just get in drop off the item and get out as quickly as possible without being found out, but something deep inside her nagged at her that there was more behind the breaking of that glass.
Shit! So much for a foolproof plan, Sakura pushed open the door and looked down to see Sasuke's boots placed neatly side by side on the floor of the foyer. The kitchen and living room were both empty and Sasuke's shirt was draped neatly over the back of the sofa. Sakura made her way down the hall, her fingers reaching for the flap of her leg holster.
Sakura took a deep breath and pushed open the door. The knocked over bureau came into view first. She walked around the bed and found Sasuke shirtless on the floor covered in black curvy marks over his chest and stomach, his forearms, up his shoulders, wrapped around his neck and stretched over his face.
There was glass all over the floor and drops of blood leading to Sasuke's wrist, where the deep red fluid pooled just under his arm, "Sasuke!" Sakura ran over to him, careful of the glass and knelt in front of him.
His body was completely blotched; she had never seen it this bad. Sasuke made a sound in his sleep, his brow furrowing and his lips drawing back, he seemed to be having a nightmare. Sakura reached her hand out and brushed his hair back.
A thin sheet of sweat covered his face and she looked down at his wrist. His body convulsed, his teeth gritted together as he flexed his fingers. Sakura hovered over him, wondering if she should move him. She knew with experience not to move a person having seizures, but to observe them and make sure they did not bite their tongue and such.
She did not know what to do for Sasuke except that she needed to stop the bleeding of his wrist, lest he bleed out. She lifted his wrist and his blood slicked her fingers and fell in rivulets down his arm, dripping onto the floor.
Upon further inspection, she caught bits of glass fragments in the bleeding lacerations of his wrist and knuckles. Without warning Sasuke's eyes shot open. His Sharingan was active. He grabbed her around the throat with his other hand.
Sakura gagged as he narrowed his eyes, not really seeing her, he seemed trapped in the illusion of his nightmare. Sasuke growled at her, his fingers tightening around her throat and closed off her air passage. "Sakura…" he snarled, "Sakura is mine."
"Sa… suke-kun…" She rasped trying to reach past his dementia, to the man she was sure was in there somewhere.
"Sakura is mine," he said again in that dark, smooth voice. "She's mine; I'll never let anyone take her from me!" Sasuke vowed and Sakura felt her vision turn black, her throat and nose hurting as she tried to breathe and break his strangle.
Sakura deduced that pain would break his hold. She applied pressure to his cut up wrist and his fingers unlocked from around her throat and she fell back. Sasuke turned his head, cutting his cheek on a piece of glass.
Sakura coughed and spluttered, massaging her throat. Sasuke was panting hard, confused as to where he was. He turned his head to see Sakura, sitting there holding her throat. "Wh-" Sasuke stopped and swallowed. "W-why are you here?" Sasuke swallowed, tongue flicking over his dry lips.
Before Sakura could explain, Sasuke rolled onto his side, grunting in pain. "What's going on, Sasuke?" Sakura demanded grabbing his shoulder. The black marks covered Sasuke's back as well. "What did you do?"
"I don't know." He ground out feeling Sakura circle his waist and ribs, trying to lift him. Sasuke cringed, resisting her tug.
"Sasuke-kun, get up." She snapped at him. Another wave of pain and Sasuke convulsed. He did not want her touching him while he was like this, that monster so close to the surface. She seemed to bring out the darkness inside him. The conflict raged within him:
…blood…
…I won't hurt her…
…get her, get her…
…hunger…
…desire…
…I'll disgust her…
…need…
…release…
…I love her…
…want, want, want it, want it…
…fuck…
Fuck.
His turmoil grew. He was trying to resist the siren call of savagery with reason, but that did not seem to be working. Sasuke tried to knock her away with his uninjured arm, but she grabbed his forearm and straddled his waist, pinning him down on his back.
The demon woke.
Sasuke grinned up at her. Sakura could not fathom what was going on with him, with the curse mark and his mind. "If you're going to sit on me, at least let's get out of these clothes."
Sakura shook her head, his wrist was bleeding, she had to do something about that, but he was proving to be difficult. It was as if the curse mark was affecting his mind. "Sasuke, shut up, I need to take care of your wrist, don't make me restrain you."
"Hn, do that, I might like it," he said slyly, lifting her up with his hips. Sakura moaned at the pleasing contact of his pelvis against hers and then realizing what he said, blanched. She stared down at that devious smile and Sasuke looked right back at Sakura, giving her his full attention. He stared at her, eyes roaming her body in a slow, intimate dance.
Sakura had Sasuke pinned at the shoulders, leaving his hands free… her mistake. Sasuke lifted his injured hand and cupped her thigh, leaving a bloodied handprint on her black leggings. Shit! She thought as he began to rub her thigh up and down, that salacious smirk still there on that tilde-marred face.
"Why are you wearing this Sakura, yesterday's outfit was more appropriate, it made for an easy fuck." Sakura grabbed his wrist and pried his hand off, Sasuke hissed through his teeth, now giving her an ear-to-ear grin. What, now he was a masochist?
Sakura sighed, it would be easy to use her Chakra on the wound, but there was glass in the lacerations. If she closed the wound up with the glass inside there might be complications later in… life.
Why should she or he care about that, in three more weeks he would be executed… damn him, damn him for coming back to Konoha! Sakura gasped as she heard Sasuke talking again, how she wished he would just shut up.
"Koishii, koishii… don't you know what you're doing to me?" His voice sounded rough, strange. "You make me forget myself. When you are near me all I can think about is how your lips would taste, how you would feel beneath me, how soft and warm you would be, wrapped around me. I want you. I want to strip you of all your clothes and shove myself inside you and just be inside you."
It had to be the curse mark talking, because that sickening smile never left his face. He looked down between her legs, and she looked into his Sharingan, the black tomoe chased around the pupils so fast it looked like a narrow black band. "That has to be the least romantic thing a man has ever dared to utter to a woman."
"What does romance have to do with me wanting to lick your c-" Sakura slapped her hand over his mouth with her free hand and she felt his lips curl under the palm of her hand, lowering lashes briefly only to use his free hand to caress the back of her hand.
"Don't talk, just shut up, lay still and let me take the glass out of your wrist so I can heal you." Sakura warned him with her eyes and slowly lifted her hand off his mouth, to which he kissed her palm quickly before her hand was gone.
Sakura glared at him and he continued to smirk as she grasped his injured wrist and then reached for her leg holster. All she had with her were kunai, senbon, shuriken. All her medical supplies were at the office and home and she did not much feel like getting off Sasuke to look, in case he got any ideas.
"I can't help myself." Sasuke confessed audaciously. "I've needed you all my life and I didn't even know it. I love you Sakura," he tried to sit up, but she pinned him down again. "I love you."
"Sasuke… it isn't enough, it can't ever be, just lay back and let me take care of your wound." Sakura turned back and started digging out the glass with the senbon, the tip turning crimson as she dug out the glass, loosening more blood with each freed fragment.
She met his gaze from time to time, concerned for him, but he was a big boy, he seemed to be just fine, smirking all the while at her. She wanted to tell him to stop smiling at her, but she needed to hurry, he had lost a lot of blood already.
"Sasuke," She flickered her eyes to his. He never took his eyes off her, even when she stayed focus on his wrist. "Why did you do this?"
"The pain was… too much. I just wanted it to stop."
"The curse mark, doesn't it react to your anger?"
"Other things too." he said, his hand reaching up and caressing her other leg. Sakura stopped for a second and looked at him.
"Stop it; I can't concentrate if you don't behave yourself."
"I thought I was behaving myself." He stretched his body so that she had to notice the way the muscles moved under that curse marked skin. Sakura just shook her head and went back to looking for any more glass she might have missed.
"You'll make me forget something, Sasuke-kun, you don't want that."
"I want you, Sakura, now. I want all of you, with no holding back." He sat up suddenly, while she was working on his wrist, peering so close to her face that she almost- accidentally, of course- stabbed him, but he grabbed her hand. "I want to be what you need, Sakura."
"I have a fiancé who wants to be what I need." She dropped the needle and curled her hand around his wrist, using her Chakra to close up the jagged cuts where the glass had torn his skin.
"He doesn't know you, because as much as you try to deny it you really do want passion in your life, raw and unbridled, the kind only I can give you."
"You're not yourself."
Sasuke held Sakura's wrist like a vise, fingers digging in when she struggled. The strength in his fingers was enough to crush her wrist if he squeezed. He licked the blood off the inside of her wrist and up into the hollow of her palm, in slow lingering licks.
Sakura almost screamed until he put her finger in his mouth and sucked hard, his hot tongue swirling over her finger. The sensation was almost tickling. He watched her face with those red wolf eyes and she failed to repress a moan when he finished with her little finger.
With the blood cleaned off her hand, Sasuke ran his hands through her hair, letting it slide through his fingers so that he held her face in his hands. "There's no one else for either of us."
"I don't understand." She said about the marks. His body still covered in the black patterns splayed across his white skin, like war paint over his face, arms and torso; even the tops of his feet were covered.
"It's alright, I don't expect you to." He kissed her, mouth lingering on her, his tongue probing, opening her mouth so the kiss could be more. Taking advantage of her off-guard state, Sasuke wrapped his arms about her, lifted her up off the floor and lowered her onto the bed, everything else forgotten.
Hovering over her, Sasuke took her face in his hands and kissed her forehead, the line of her eyebrows, each eyelid, softly, gingerly. He kissed the tip of her nose and then each cheek and finally rested back on her mouth.
Sakura melted into the kiss, hands stroking over his naked chest, feeling the muscles of his stomach moving under her hands. Her hand slid lower, over the front of him, finding him hard and ready.
The feel of him thrilled through her body like a jolt of energy. That was when she realized that she was enjoying herself and had forgotten why she was there in the first place. Sakura drew back from the kiss and tried to focus, to think.
She did not want to think. She wanted to touch him and have him touch her. Her breasts ached to be touched. Her mouth almost burned with the need to close the distance between them. Sasuke leaned in for another kiss, and Sakura crawled backwards, falling onto her back in her rush to put a distance between them.
Sasuke crawled to her on knees and hands. He straddled her and they were kissing again, and she had not meant to. It was as if the more they kissed, the more she wanted to be kissed as if the need fed on itself.
He was as much her weakness as she was his. No matter how talented, how powerful, nothing could rival her desire for him. She could never forget his touch. She could never fight the dreams of his alabaster flesh and eyes as thick in color as onyx, the sweep of his forelocks against her face.
The desire was always there. Just under the surface, like an alcoholic who could never take another drink for fear that that one drink will never be enough to satisfy the thirst.
She pushed up on his shoulders, breaking the kiss and she swallowed, trying to think, as much as she wanted to lay with Sasuke, she also wanted to be faithful to Neji. His hand went under her sweatshirt, his hand petting her stomach and moving down until his fingers curled in the band of her leggings and underwear.
With his other hand, Sasuke lifted her hips and pulled down the material that hid her body away. "Please don't, Sasuke-kun."
"Don't worry, it'll feel good, I promise." He said, moving his hand to the zipper of her sweatshirt, pulling it down. He grinned at her, evidently pleased that she was only wearing her chest bindings underneath.
He lowered his lips to her stomach, opening and closing his mouth over the soft, toned flesh of her tummy, tongue tracing the scar there at her navel. His fingers touched her lightly, but enough to make her gasp.
Sasuke then laid his finger flat against her, rubbing gently at first, then a little faster and before she knew it, she was turning her body to follow his hand. He was ravenous, his mouth sucking her breasts through the bindings, sucking her so hard that her nipples began to ache and throb.
He slid down her body and parted her legs, blowing cool breath in a soft stream of air where he had rubbed her moments before and then she felt Sasuke's mouth tugging, his tongue inside her. Sakura squeezed her eyes shut; it was awful and wonderful all at once. He kissed, sucked and licked, just the way he said he wanted to.
Sasuke eased some of the ache she felt by soothing his hands up and down repeatedly over her thighs while he continued to lap her up. He stopped and she heard him whisper something about it not being enough. He turned his head and kissed the inside of her thigh then push up so his face was level with hers. "I want to fill you, koishii."
She felt his fingers inside her and he kissed her neck. Sakura felt her mind scream no, but she pressed her hands to his back and pulled him closer. His tongue lathered her neck and he withdrew his fingers and hurried to get the last bit of his clothing off.
Sakura grabbed his head and held his face back; her eyes staring into his Sharingan as she felt the blunt tip of him met her opening. "I'm going to hell," she whispered as he began to fill her.
"I'll meet you there." He said with a little teasing smile. He slid all the way inside her until his cheek rubbed against hers and her face pressed against the warm bend of his neck, his scent infiltrating her senses.
Sasuke tore off her sweatshirt and pulled at the cloth of her chest bindings and her body jerked with the force of it as the cloth ripped. Sakura cried out, and it was half protest, half pleasure. She did not want this, she did and she did not.
Sasuke jerked Sakura forward, his hands sliding under her and lifting her hips with each thrust. Her skin felt like it was swelling, stretching with desire that narrowed the world down to the need to be held, to be had. She wanted him inside her, wanted it more than she had ever wanted anything or anyone.
Sasuke flipped them over so that she was on top. It tore a gasp from her throat, made her writhe from his touch. His hands rolled over her breasts, kneading them, massaging them. A small part of her hated that this man could make her body react.
His hands slid lower, to her waist and he pulled himself up halfway and covered her mouth with his. Sakura pulled back and frowned at him. Even as her body rolled with his she asked, "Don't you ever get tired?"
"Of you…? I don't think it's possible and I don't want to find out." Sasuke chuckled then sat up and pressed her against his body, tilting his head up so he could suck on her lips.
Sakura raked her fingers through his hair and bit down on his bottom lip. Sasuke moaned and pulled her even closer, if possible. Sasuke pressed his face in her shoulder when she started to pick up the pace.
Her mouth hung open and she panted hard as her climax came rushing through her like a brushfire. Sasuke grunted and gave one final thrust before he fell back against the mattress.
Sakura collapsed on him and sucked the black and white skin of his shoulder, pulling gently with her teeth before releasing him and moving her lower body off his.
Sasuke fumbled for the sheet, covered the lower half of their bodies and stroked her back, tracing patterns on her moist skin. Sakura combed back his hair from his face and watched his eyes. His eyes bled back to normal and the curse marks began to recede, reverting back to the three tomoe that seated on the base of his neck.
Sakura touched his perfect, unmarred skin and then looked up into his obsidian irises. "Oh, Sasuke-kun, what did he do to you?"
"Nothing that should concern you, he's dead, koishii; you don't have to worry anymore." He was searching her face, the way he had last night and then he lifted his hand and touched her forehead, his fingers stroking across the sheen of sweat across her brow. His voice came soft and serious as he whispered to her, "Let's do it again."
A little light buzzed on inside her mind and she opened her eyes when his fingers started to rub her bottom lip, slowly so they tingled. "No, I have to go to the hospital and see my tousan."
Sasuke furrowed his brow as if he was thinking hard. "You can go later can't you?"
"No."
"He's your excuse to get away from me."
"Nothing seems to work."
"Because we're supposed to be together, you can't fight your destiny, Sakura."
"I can escape it if you're dead…" She muttered then snapped her mouth shut, instantly apologetic. Sasuke sat up, bracing his weight on his hands and elbows as he looked down at her. "I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun, I don't know why I said that."
"Whatever."
Sakura sat up and held the blanket to cover her chest, not because she was embarrassed or shy, but because it was still cold, just only warming up now. "I- I let Neji-san see me."
"You slept with him, didn't you?" His voice was low, almost soft, as if he was trying not to yell.
"Not that you have any right to tell if I can or can't sleep with my fiancé, but no, I didn't." Sasuke looked at her and then pressed his lips together; his eyes looked past her to where her sweatshirt laid halfway off the bed. He reached forward, grabbed the little box and snapped it open. There sat his mother's engagement ring and a piece of paper stuck to the top.
"Did you tell me that because you thought it would keep you safe from me?" Sakura watched as he unfolded the paper and he frowned. "No, huh…?" Sakura bowed her head and pulled the blanket more secure around her chest, embarrassed at last.
"I can't marry you, I'm already engaged to a man who really loves me, so much that he's not as weak as I am. He told me that he doesn't feel the same way about Tenten and that I'm the most important person to him."
"You were just going to leave this here, weren't you? Don't even have the guts to say no to my face."
Sakura nearly screamed, she said no to his face earlier and he was treating her as if she was the coward when he went off the wall for her telling him no shortly after he proposed. "You wouldn't let me!" She defended. If any of the two of them were cowards, it was Sasuke. He could not even let her go and allow her to try to find happiness with a new love.
"Is it really that hard for you to wait thirteen days?" He asked, tossing the paper out and closing the ring back in the case and then looking up to meet her eyes.
"Sasuke, I want to be the type of woman Neji-san can be proud to call his wife. Our time together was wonderful; I'm not going to lie, but its over."
"You've said that before, I have the words all memorized up here." he tapped his forehead once with two fingers for affect.
"I mean it Sasuke, the only reason we're in the same room together is because I heard a crash."
Sasuke shrugged as if what she said did not matter to him. "I'm not giving up."
"Sasuke, I won't change my mind after I leave this place." Sakura reached for her sweatshirt and pulled it on, tugging the zipper up and then her underwear that lay near the pillows.
She was about to reach for the rest of her clothes, but Sasuke grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back onto his lap. "Careful, there's glass everywhere," he reminded her. The feel of his lips moving against her ear made her sigh.
Sakura missed him. Even now, seeing him almost every day a month after since his initial return, she missed him. She was not all that certain of her self when she was with Sasuke, her pleasure sensory always seemed to override her logic.
She tried to think, her brain rusty to the old argument, struggling to remember how it went. As she thought, Sasuke's lips traced over the rim of her ear. "Stay with me…" he whispered into her ear.
"Sasuke-kun, no…"
Eventually her luck would run out, she had almost been caught three… four times now with Sasuke and she was lucky to have escaped by the skin of her teeth without being caught. If Neji were not off on missions and such he would probably be questioning her whereabouts. If Neji were not off on missions, she probably would not be cheating on him.
"Don't make me beg, koishii, I'm not very good at it." Sakura smirked. That could very well be true. Sasuke probably never begged in his life, what with all that dexterity and better than average physique. His glare was enough to make grown men give out a shriek.
"My tousan's sick, I don't want to be neglectful to the man who had a hand in raising me. I should be down at the hospital with him when Neji-san is away."
"How long is he gone for?"
"…Until tonight." She found herself telling him everything so readily. Thankfully, they were not enemies and he was not interrogating her for information, she was singing like a canary.
"Then stay with me until then."
"Are you joking, everyone will start looking for me and if they find me here…"
"Then you'll have to stop all this nonsense and just come away with me before they try to separate us. I'm looking forward to the day this little ruse is up and everyone finds out about us."
A spark to the kindling, glass or no glass, she tore out of his arms and grabbed her leggings and slipped into them, careful of the glass anyhow. Sasuke reached out for her and she glared at him. "Why don't you then, what are you waiting for?"
"You, to come around, as much pleasure as I would derive from letting everyone know you aren't as innocent and pristine and righteous as you try to be, I wouldn't do that to you. I'm trying to show you that I'm not lying, that I've been completely honest with you since I told you I loved you and you've done nothing but shun and punish me for it."
"Don't you even dare try and make me feel guilty, Uchiha Sasuke!"
"Is that it; are you ashamed that you love me? I have heard your declaration of Hyuuga's love for you, but where's yours for him?"
Sakura took the ring case in her hands and held it up, in a fit of anger she yelled at him, maybe for the first time since he came back into Konoha to fuck her life up.
"I don't love you, I don't want you and I don't want this!" She catapulted the box towards the window, it smashed through the glass panel and Sasuke's neck snapped, his head turning in the direction following the white whirl as it smashed through the window.
Black eyes snapped and she dove for her shoes, shoved him back before he could touch her and she ran as fast as her legs would carry her. Sasuke's enraged howl followed her, she threw open his door and slammed it behind her and she bolted for the street, running faster than she ever had in her entire life.
She ran until she was almost home when she tripped, she fell to her knees and the skin scrapped. She gave out a little muffled cry and lay there on the ground for a few moments.
Sakura shifted her legs out from under her and drew her knees to her chest, the cuts stung as blood specked the edges. She set her boots down and pressed the heels of her palms over her eyes as if trying to erase the memory of her chucking that ring out the window and Sasuke's horror-stricken face.
She screamed mentally. The tears fell and she could not stop them. She leaned into her stinging knees, tears spilling down her cheek. She gave a few convulsing gasps and her hands trembled as she held her knees just below the torn skin.
Marionette, Chapter 14 preview:
Tenten sat down in the extra chair at Sakura's table. Sakura met her relatively plain brown eyes, big and doe-like; she was smiling politely at Sakura as if she knew something Sakura did not. Sakura had to admit, she did not like that smile one bit, watching intently as Tenten stirred her tea.