Here we are! The next promised update! So after this, I don't know how the chapters will go but I promise I will try to keep the updates coming as best as I possibly can okay guys? The next chapter although already written is a very emotional one so I'm going to be on that one for a little while. I would love to reach 200 reviews as my Christmas gift without passing 30 chapters, so I'm also working and hoping really hard to get that.

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Title: Natsu no kōrinoFuyu Kasai (winter's fire summer's ice)

Standard Disclaimer Applied

I formally apologize for any grammatical errors. Being my own editor and writer amongst other things is hard.

[Chapter Twenty Six]

Sakura sighed and held out her hand to a pacing Sasuke Uchiha. He hadn't slept in two days and even though he didn't need to, that bothered her. He'd slept with her since she got here and anytime he didn't she had unspeakable nightmares.

"Come please." She said, her voice low, strained and hoarse. She was just getting her voice back and it hurt to speak as it was. She didn't care.

Sasuke looked at her and pressed his thin lips together. "Sakura, I don't quite think you understand this." he said.

"I do but you can't stay up forever." She said, edging him to take her hand.

Reluctantly -she could tell- he took her hand and got under the sheets with her. This was all so different for her, over the past couple of days things had… changed. She couldn't help but believe that it was for good this time.

It was like waves rushing to the shore had eased into the concept of one another and the responsibility they both had. He treated her better than anyone she had ever known and he was always with her, never going anywhere; never wanting to go anywhere. They'd learned so much about each other it was unbelievable. She loved his company, he was an amazing person to talk to and it was starting to feel like that wall between them was crumbling down.

Never had she thought that Sasuke would hold her all night as she slept or that he would sing her nightmares away or that he would wait for her before he could even go to bed. They needed each other and to her it didn't seem like a bad thing.

Sasuke didn't take her into his arms then; he sat up in bed and looked at her. He was worried; it was swimming in his eyes.

"I'll be fine." She forced herself to say, wincing at the pain of speaking.

Sasuke shook his head. "I really don't think so…not without some help." He said.

Her eyes softened and she sighed silently. They had been going through this all morning. Sasuke was sure that the second stage Kitsumarvada would happen tonight. Sasuke knew that physically her body wasn't at its best and she wasn't ready for it. He was agitated. He was worried that she might not make it out.

Sakura didn't know what to really say or even do. Honestly she didn't want to go through something as painful as that ever again in her life but she had no control over it. It just had to happen and she didn't really want to think about it. They'd gotten so close and so in tuned with each other lately that she could feel all the anxiety he was trying not to show. She took his hand and held it. She smiled.

"See, everything will be fine. You need to sleep." She said.

"Sa-"

"Sleep." She insisted.

He ran his fingers through his hair. After everything that had happened to her, she hadn't even been able to sleep right. When she slept within Sasuke's presence she didn't dream of anything. She didn't have nightmares and that's all she wanted.

He made her feel like they were in some sort of relationship. As if they were in that kind of relationship. She kept having mixed feelings but she promised to cooperate and just let this whole thing ride and she was going to do just that.

When his hands wrapped around her body her heart sank into a deep and fast beat. She couldn't understand why he made her feel this way. She felt like she couldn't even breathe without him and he wasn't even hers.

"Alright fine." He whispered in her ear, making her skin tingle. "Sleep it is." He agreed.

Her own hands feel on top of his and their fingers intertwined. Did she deserve this kind of heaven? Had she earned this kind of serenity and love bubbling inside of her for someone she didn't even really know? Had she earned any of this?

Her mind drifted into the deep, calm place where she could rest. She ran into the open arms of deep sleep.

She was in that place again. She was home again and she couldn't understand it. The light was blinding and she looked down at the hand she was holding. Warmth ran throughout her body and she looked ahead of her with a smile. She was at this beautiful place once again. With the one she loved and couldn't live without again. This was where she always wanted to be and with him. She didn't want anyone else. No one understood her like he did…stayed with her like he did.

"You shouldn't be here." he said, his voice static ice.

"Why not?"

Inside her felt like he was pulling from her and that he was keeping something from her. There wasn't supposed to be any secrets between them. They were supposed to trust each other. Why was she getting that dreadfully bad feeling as if a nightmare was about to begin?

"You need to go." He said his voice hard.

"Why?" she couldn't help but ask.

This wasn't like him. She knew him, she knew who he was. He needed her. She knew that he needed her. She couldn't just leave him like that. Even he had wanted her to come back.

"I don't want to hurt you but the time is coming close where I will have to." He said, his voice tight. "Please go." He said desperately snatching his hand from her hold and pushing himself to his feet.

Sakura looked up at him. A tall Adonis before her, skin so smooth, thick and rippled with waves of muscles. His body was sleek and shun in the sun, dripping what seemed to be sweat. His shorts hugged his lean body, his abs crunching with his movement. She awed. Slender fingers ran through midnight hair but still, even now, she couldn't see his face.

Her heart wrenched though as she looked at her hands; hands that were once tangled in his. She didn't understand. She pushed herself to her feet and stood next to him, her feet sinking in the suddenly not so heavenly sand. She looked directly ahead of her. She felt cold and distant and she couldn't put her fingers on it.

When he touched her again, fire so cold blazed through her. She jumped but he didn't let go of her this time. His fingers intertwined with hers and he held on tightly to her.

"The gate is now closing." He said.

Her heart beat sped up, the world started spinning around her. She didn't feel like she knew him anymore. He seemed like a stranger to her all of a sudden. A feeling of betrayal rose steadily inside of her but she couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe that he wasn't who she thought he was. That wasn't possible. She loved him. She knew she loved him. That's why she always felt this way with him. He wouldn't betray her. He wouldn't hurt her. He promised.

"Then I have to go." She said. "I'll come back, I promise."

He shook his head. "I have no choice. I can't let you go now." He said. "You have to stay here."

"I'll be trapped here." she reminded him panicking.

"You should have left when I begged you to." He said remorsefully. "I don't want to do this." he said more to himself than to her.

"Do what?"

"This." he said. "I don't want to hurt you but I have no choice. I have no will over this part of me." he said.

She didn't understand what he was talking about but as she looked ahead of her, out to the waters, she saw a storm rolling right in. No. This was paradise, storms didn't brew in paradise. The clouds were an electric blue she had never seen, lightning so fierce flashing as it neared. She couldn't move, he was holding her down, forcing her feet to be cemented in the sand. What was going on?

Her heart raced and her body filled with panic.

Sakura's body launched forward and a wad of blood flew from her mouth. She didn't even have time to react as more blood flew out and somewhere on her snapped. Her head spun and dread washed over her. It was happening wasn't it? Her hands blindly felt around her but the bed was empty. Where was Sasuke?

Her hands shook like a leaf in a storm as she ran the back of her hands under her nose. Blood was leaking from her nose and mouth. She gasped and fumbled out of bed. Her head pounded terribly and another terrible snap echoed in the room and this time she couldn't hold the scream. She shrieked as fire blazed through her entire body. She was breathing hard as she collapsed to the floor.

Her back arched and there were a series of thunderous snaps. It felt like something was being drawn out of her body. Her body pulled itself up until she was in the air, her mouth open and only god knows what coming out of her stomach. The fear and panic that she felt, the pain touching every cell in her body was just like the last time.

"Sasuke…" she rasped, her mind flickering in and out of reality.

She was gasping, the pain subsiding to something deeper, smoother, drowning her. She felt like she was drowning from the inside out, submerged under water with her eyes open. Her hair fanned out around her and her hands stretched out to reach for something above the surface. She felt like she was falling deeper and deeper into the water, so much further from the surface. Her eyes rolled over the moment a hand grabbed her, pulling her body down onto the bed.

"Sakura?"

His voice was so far away and so sweet. It was lost above her on land as she drowned in the water. Her mind started to flicker in and out of her dream.

"No, no, no!" Sakura screamed as his hand locked harder onto hers, dragging her through the rough sand.

"Don't make this harder than it is. I want Sasuke, I need to get rid of you."

"Please!" Sakura shrieked when the frigid water touched her flesh. It stung, hitting her flesh like wet leather.

With a hard thud he threw her into the water. Hard hands grabbed her shoulder, shoving her down right under. Her mouth opened as her hands and feet moved wildly. No! Why was this happening? She trusted him with her deepest darkest secrets. She held his hand through his terrible days. Why was he doing this to her?

He pulled her body up, the water splashing all around her. She gasped, water filling her lungs as her eyes shot open. Her heart raced and the world spun around her. It was hard to breath.

"Why did you have to come here and make this harder for me?" he asked angrily and her eyes rolled over when she finally saw his face.

Nausea rushed through her, bile rose in her throat and the world seemed to have stopped, regardless of the fact that he was trying to drown her. She was looking right into the onyx eyes of Sasuke Uchiha. No…that was impossible wasn't it?

"Sakura," Sasuke said, cool hands touching her face.

"Sasuke…" her voice was barely audible as his was too far away for her to hear it.

"You're going to be fine."

"I trusted you." She said gasping.

"Sasuke, we need to get started." A wistful, far, deep smooth voice said.

Sakura's body shook and shivered as cold chills travelled down her spine. Sasuke rose and cracked his knuckles.

"It'll start coming out soon." He replied his voice tight. A hand touched her face and his voice sounded so close to her ear yet so far away. "You'll be fine, I promise."

A hand came down so hard on her stomach, crushing her pelvis she screamed so loud and high-pitched it felt like she going to burst a vein. It came down again. No…no more…please…stop.

Honestly guys, I swore this chapter was longer. I mean, really I thought it was like 14 pages and here it is, it's only six. I hope you don't feel like I robbed you, I'm so sorry. I would have included the next chapter, you know to make it longer but that just wouldn't have worked. Thanks for all the support, the reviews etc. it means a whole lot to me, I hope you guys are having an okay time and making it through your days.

Always here for you guys,

D.V