Well, welcome back to the show! I have been goaded into reviewing by two factors: one, Kishi has trolled both the manga and the anime this week, and I was despondent. Two, I have so many wonderful people to thank!
jayyee- welcome to the story!
hanika. starzone- lol, Sakura is so totally bad-ass!
maxridelover whahaha! Well, read on and find out!
princessofd OMFG! Thanks so much:)
Twixflix4fun why thank you- you're awesome!
Plain. Toast. II Thanks so much toasty-chan! I'm really glad you enjoyed the epic fight scene, I really worked so hard on it!
Makseryon Lol, I like that, he'll either win or die- that really made me laugh XD
MidniteCurse4Eternity haha, lol, I love you too! yeah, Sasuke really is an idiot:)
GaaraHinataWake Nothing like Sakura going on a rampage, hey:)
Popin Thanks!
TheAliensDidIt Nah, that part was meant to be kinda funny- I guess we're both a lil' twisted:) shannaro is Sakura's version of datteybayo, it means something like "Hells yeah!" It's such a good catch phrase:) OMG, I just love that you fell out of your chair- YOSH! That's a first for me, so thanks so much! Haha!
LuvNJewlz14 OMG, you read all the chapters in one sitting! You get a gold star, that's awesome! Well, welcome to the show, thanks so much for reading and reviewing!
ThriceJinxed lol, would you believe I'm also not the biggest SakuraxSasuke fan? However, this story forced me to write it- what can a girl do?
dazynl8: oh Dazy-chan, you are so sweet:) I'm glad you enjoyed the playlist- and yeah, sorry about the cliff hanger there!
Whew! Thanks so much all for your reviews! And thanks also to all the folks who made this their fav story, made me their fav author, subscribed to the story, and also subscribed to my community/C2 "Elite Ninja Ink"- wow, you all rock my socks!
And in return...! Here we go!
Blooper for Chapter 19:
A/N I just couldn't help myself- enjoy the blooper!
Sasuke smirked. "I think not." He concentrated lighting around his throat to protect it from his opponent's kunai- while tamping it down enough so the current wouldn't injure Sakura- and rolled on top of her, immobilizing her hands over her head with the weight of his forearm. A second later, it was dead silent, and Sasuke realized that he had made the wrong move.
Sakura didn't move for a moment- she felt Sasuke's body on top of her, his breath on her neck, her arms pinned over her head- and then flushed with anger. "THE FUCK!" She roared, gathering chakra in her leg and kneeing him in the crotch.
Sasuke flew a few feet in the air and landed painfully on his side.
"UCHIHA!"
"Gah!" He panted, curled up in a fetal position and clutching his injured bits, "So much for reviving my clan..."
XD
Chapter 20
Apologies, Alcohol, and Nightmares
A substitute for all the gods:
This self, not that gold self aloft,
Alone, one's shadow magnified,
Lord of the body, looking down,
As now and called most high,
The shadow of Chocorua
In an immenser heaven, aloft,
Alone, lord of the land and lord
Of the men that live in the land, high lord.
One's self and the mountains of one's land,
Without shadows, without magnificence,
The flesh, the bone, the dirt, the stone.
~Blue Guitar, Stanza XXI
Silence.
Sakura, shaking, replied in a tense voice, "What?" She was sure she had misheard him.
"Sakura-chan. I love you. I'm sorry. For everything. I'm a total ass."
The bloody kunai fell from her nerveless fingers and hit the hard ground with a thud, the dull noise hanging heavily in the air.
"Are-are you serious?" She spun around slowly to face him again, her anger growing- "You're just saying that so I don't murder you!" No- It's not true! I can't believe him. I can't let him destroy me like this... Sakura felt her tight grasping, her stone-covered skin, cracking.
Sasuke shook his head slowly, and replied without any traces of sarcasm, "I've been trying to tell you...for a while...I'm not...good with...words. Hn. You'd be justified. In killing me. If it makes you happy, take that knife and finish me off. I won't resist you."
Sakura sank down to her knees slowly. "S-sasuke..."
And of course, it was at that precise moment that Naruto appeared via hiraishin. "So, how'd it- oh shit. What the-" Naruto stood dumbfounded as he observed Sakura bawling on the ground, and Sasuke, beaten within inches of his life, tied to a broken tree, with a kunai sticking out of his arm. He whistled lowly.
Sasuke sighed. "It's ok dobe. Everything's cool. Could you actually...give us a minute?"
Naruto glanced at him incredulously, "You sure?"
Sasuke nodded, "Trust me."
All too happy to oblige, Naruto was gone in a yellow flash.
"Sakura-chan?"
But Sakura was convulsing on the ground, weeping. Sasuke sighed and wiggled a kunai out of his pouch, and slowly cut the wire holding him. He then removed the protruding knife in his arm abruptly, ripped off the sleeve of his shirt, and bound his wound. He knelt down next to his comrade and put a tentative hand on her shoulder. She flinched away, but stopped weeping and looked over at him.
"Oh Kami, I've beaten you to a bloody pulp- let me-" She gathered green chakra in the palms of her hands and started treating his wounds before he could protest.
Content to have her stop the agonizing pain, he lay down on the ground and sighed. After a few moments, Sakura finished her work and stuttered, "Gomen, Sasuke-kun- your wounds aren't serious, but you'll be feeling it for a few days."
Sasuke scratched his head and replied simply, "Thanks." He could feel her hot tears dropping onto his face. "Sakura-chan?"
"Sasuke-kun, gomen-"
He held up a hand and stalled her. "Friends?"
She sniffled. "Yeah. Ok..." She took his proffered hand and gently helped him to sit up against a tree. She sat next to him and closed her eyes. I'm such an idiot... She thought, sad and tired.
They sat in awkward silence for a moment. Then Sasuke ventured, "Sakura-chan?"
"Uh-huh?"
"Come visit me sometime. I miss you."
"Oh...ok." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
"Sasuke?"
"Yeah?"
"You mad at me?"
"For what?"
"Um...for almost killing you."
"You weren't going to kill me. Hn. Probably."
"Well...are you mad?"
Sasuke shook his head. "Mostly just mad at myself." He took her hand in his. "Not at you."
"Not even a little?"
"Nope."
She sniffled.
Naruto appeared in a yellow flash. "Oi! Well, that looks better...I'm assuming, from what I saw earlier, that Sakura won?"
Sasuke smirked, "She pretty much kicked my ass."
"Well, then this belongs to you-" He dumped an envelope on Sakura's lap.
"Nani?" She asked, confused. She opened the flap and fished out-
"Oh yeah... A hotel voucher... To the hot springs... Shannaro..." She called out in a shaky, lackluster voice.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow- "Don't tell me- you guys made a bet on the match?"
That was not a part of Sasuke's original plan...
"Welcome back, Sakura-chan! Did you have a nice time?" Naruto chirped at her as she entered the village gates.
"You bet! And here, my dear, is the tab." She handed him a piece of paper, and as he read it, he turned white.
"Nani? How was it humanly possible for you to consume that much alcohol?"
Sakura smiled evilly. She was not about to tell Naruto that Tsunade and Hinata had come to join her at the hot springs, partaking of the endless, free sake. Nor was she going to tell him that she drank more than usual herself, as she was slowly weening herself off of Codine.
"Sorry, I'm not a cheap date like you!" She grabbed him in a bear hug and messed up his hair with her knuckles. "You want to go get some ramen? My treat?"
Naruto glared at her, "It will hardly make up for small fortune you've cost me, but I'm not one to say no to free ramen!"
As they made their way to Ichiraku's, Naruto couldn't help but notice that Sakura walked with a bounce in her step, that her cheeks held more color than they had before. "Looks like that vacation did you good, Sakura-chan."
"Hai!" Sakura smiled at him and sat down at the counter. After they placed their orders, Naruto asked, oh-so-casually, "So, Sakura-chan, I was going to go visit Sasuke-kun this afternoon. You want to come along?" He took a bite of his noodles, nonchalant.
Sakura shook her head, "Not...today. Maybe I'll go...tomorrow." Sakura blushed slightly, and remembered a conversation she had had with Tsunade and Hinata a few days prior:
"So that's how the fight went down Sakura-chan? Remind me to never get on your bad side!" Hinata breathed, in awe of the power of her friend's anger.
Tsunade chuckled, "That's my girl!"
Sakura looked up in horror at her mentor- "Nani? How can you say that Tsunade-sama, I was completely overreacting and strung out from drug withdrawal- and the whole fucking time, all he wanted to tell me..." Sakura had made the firm decision that weekend to ween herself off the painkillers, no matter how many nightmares wound their thorny vines around her heart when she closed her eyes. The terror she felt at being so out of control that day...it was more than enough motivation.
Hinata nodded, appreciating the situation, and replied, "I'm amazed he said the 'L word' to you. It's kind of romantic...in a twisted, creepy, sadistic kind of way..." Sakura was always surprised at how Hinata's stutter disappeared when the kunoichi was inebriated, and how forward she was being at the moment.
Sakura lowered her head down to the table and raised her cup of sake, replying dryly, "Cheers. That makes me feel a ton better, Hinata-chan."
Hinata giggled while Tsunade chimed in, "You should just get together with that idiot already. Kami knows it would both do you a lot of good."
Sakura eyed Tsunade menacingly- "You want me to date a convicted criminal? What the fuck?"
Hinata countered thoughtfully, "I guess it wouldn't be very romantic for him to take you back to a prison cell after a date...not that he even could go on a date..."
Tsunade broke in with a chortle, "Nani? Come on Hinata-chan, these two are meant to be. And Sasuke is basically under house-arrest right now, it's not like he's rotting in solitary confinement."
Hinata shook her head, "You'd really date a guy who was looking forward to another 14 years of prison?"
"House arrest!" Tsunade spat.
Sakura held up her hands and stalled their arguments, sighing, "Logistics aside...I just don't feel that comfortable around him...even after..." An image of larger-than-life snakes popped into her mind and she shivered. "I just don't know...and I don't want to hurt him..." She shuddered, the cold realization that she had lost her ability to hold her reality together, to hold back the feelings of dread and emptiness that flowed through her at night; as she tapered off her dose of opiates, she had starting weeping in her sleep again...
Tsunade poured Sakura another round of sake, "There, there. I'm sure it will all work out in the end."
Without lifting her head from the table, Sakura lifted her glass- "Cheers. Arg."
"Sakura-chan?"
"Hmmm?"
"You kind of spaced out there..."
"Ah! Gomen! Must've soaked in the hot springs too long this morning!" She grinned and began gulping down her soup greedily.
"Sakura-chan..."
"Hmmm?"
"You're not still mad at Sasuke-kun, are you?"
Sakura gulped down her noodles and smiled, "No, of course not!"
Naruto nodded, "Good."
Well this is awkward... Sakura hid her grimace in her bowl of ramen. As she slurped, she felt a familiar presence behind her-
"Sakura-chan?"
"I-Ino? Ino-chan, you're back from the Sand!" Sakura stifled the urge to hug her old friend, as she wasn't sure where she stood with her at the moment, but couldn't hide her wide smile- "It's good to have you back!"
"Thanks Sakura-chan, it's good to be back!" Ino scratched the back of her head and looked down at the ground- "Oi, Sakura-chan..."
"Nani?"
"Gomen nasai..."
Sakura looked at her askance, "Why are you sorry?"
Ino sighed, "You know...for keeping my distance." Ino giggled, embarrassed. "When Choji found out, he was totally pissed at me...so I guess snubbing you was just me being bitchy."
Sakura shook her head, "Not at all, Ino-chan. You were trying to be respectful of Choji's feelings..."
Ino punched her playfully in the arm, "Come out drinking with me tonight!"
The pink-haired kunoichi smiled, "Hai! Meet you at our favorite spot at 9!"
Ino squinted her eyes in a smile, "Arigato! See you later Hokage-sama, Billboard-chan!"
"Later piggy-chan!"
Naruto looked at Sakura from the corner of his eye- "You girls really have weird nicknames for each other..."
"Ino-chan! That's great! Oh my goodness, congratulations!"
Ino, her face flushed with alcohol, put her finger over her lips and shushed her friend- "Sakura! Shhh! It's not public information yet!"
"Eeep! Sorry! I get a little loud when I'm drunk! I'm just surprised is all- and happy! When did Choji-san propose to you?" Sakura whispered that last part.
"He took me out to the desert to watch to full moon rise over the expansive horizon." Ino grinned, "It was totally dreamy. But listen, that's not the only news- guess who else got engaged!"
Sakura scratched her head- "Don't tell me lazy-ass and wind-bag?"
Ino leaned in conspiratorially and whispered, "Yeah! Shikamaru and Temari for ever! But the best part- she proposed to him!"
Sakura guffawed at that- "Well duh, if she waited for him to pop the question, she'd be an old maid forever!" She downed another glass of sake and smiled, "Gosh, you guys really had a wild trip to the Hidden Sand."
"Well enough about me, I've been babbling for like half an hour- what have you been up to Sakura-chan?"
Sakura thought briefly- Hmm, accidentally shot up heroin, became addicted to pain killers, was terrorized by the Uchiha bastard who is quite possibly in love with me...hmmmm...
"Oh, nothing much really! Just work, work, work, you know me!" Sakura smiled, lying through her teeth.
"Oh, really? Because I heard a rumor in the village that you and Sasuke caused a mini-earthquake and nearly destroyed an old training field!"
"That? Oh, Naruto just made me spar with Sasuke, and we got really into it..." She hid her nervousness behind her cup of sake and gulped noisily. "It was nothing."
"Aw, that's too bad! Tenten was totally going on about it, and she told me he totally declared his love for you or some garbage, but she must have been lying- that's sooooooo unlike Sasuke-kun, I could never see it happening."
Damn! Hinata! Who did you spill to? But in a moment, the answer came to her- obviously Hinata had told Neji, who had in turn told his teammate. Kuso!
Ino, noticing her discomfort, shot her an evil smile, "Unless, of course, it diiiiiiiiiid happen!"
Sakura waved her hand, "I'd rather not talk about it."
"Oi, come on Sakura-"
Sakura shot her a glare, "Ino. I'm just...it's complicated. He's a mess I don't want to clean up, and I'm a mess I can barely manage by myself. Ok?"
Sakura bit her lower lip and poured herself more alcohol, debating about whether or not she should elaborate. No. We've just become friends again after a long absence...I just don't feel like I can trust her yet. Kami, I don't even feel like I can trust myself. Downing the cup in one go, she lightened the mood- "So tell me, how is the Kazekage doing? Are his wounds healing up nicely?"
Ino nodded slowly, "Yeah, he was injured pretty good, but he received the best medical care from yours truly and..."
Ino rambled on, and Sakura was grateful her friend had allowed her to change the subject. Sakura's statement echoed hollowly in her head, He's a mess I don't want to clean up...
Don't want to? Or can't?
A/N Thanks so much for reading! I probably won't be able to update until after June 4rth, as I have an art show coming up (!) and need to concentrate on painting. So please wish me luck, and as always your reviews are the highlight of my day! Much love!