FLY AWAY –Part 7: Daymare

Chapter 35

The night took its time to sink in so that the burning colors of the dying daylight in the sky equaled the brightness of the campfire Sasuke had lit earlier. It crackled as it fiercely consumed what wood had been gathered in five minutes by the dark haired shinobi, the only sound to be heard among the trees –an ever present scenery for the past few days as they were in the most forested region of the Fire, a bit less than fifty miles away from Konoha now after almost a week of relentless walking.

Sakura had barely had a chance to talk to her teammate for the past few days –maybe the last- of their trip. He couldn't bear to walk beside her, instead choosing to stay way ahead on the road thanks to which the red and white fan symbolizing the Uchiha clan was pretty much embedded on the kunoichi's retina by now.

She more or less knew what was to come: if she didn't manage to discuss things with him, Sasuke would most likely drop her off in Konoha and depart again for who knows how long before they could settle their problems. Sakura couldn't allow this. But she was running out of options with the way things were going –quite literally since she had tried to chase after the proud Uchiha as they walked, only to have him jump into the trees beside the road to escape her annoying presence.

So of course, expecting Sasuke to come back that night to sleep at their camp would have been way too much to hope for, but he did, and panting slightly with a bloody cut on his cheek at that.

Now better in shape than a few days prior, Sakura left her previous observation of the dancing flames in front of her to stand upright in an instant. His name escaped her lips as per reflex when she noticed all the effort he was putting into concealing the slight limping in his gait as he plodded towards his bag, slumped on the tree a little way beside the stunned kunoichi. She knew what would happen if he reached it.

Sakura skipped next to the bag and planted her feet between him and the needed object, inquiring "Sasuke-kun, what happened?"

Charcoal eyes lit by a bright, blazing firelight narrowed, twice as much hostile as normal. The pink haired girl stayed rooted on her spot regardless, awaiting an answer. There was none besides a low "Tch" when he turned his back to her and was about to walk away, probably uninterested in whatever he had been looking for anymore –though she wouldn't have that and so made a grab for his empty left sleeve. The cloth was wrenched away from her grasp the next second as the young man glared his hardest at her over his shoulder.

"That's enough!" Sakura exclaimed before he could snap at her "You owe me an explanation, Sasuke-kun. And I won't let you go until I have it!"

Clenched teeth and the deep, stern frown apparent on her face didn't seem to impress him in the least, maybe because she had thoughtlessly let the affectionate suffix slip out of her mouth after his name. "I don't have anything to say to you. And I owe you nothing" was his icy cold comeback. He would have turned around again towards the forest had Sakura displayed any of the shock akin to that of the other night, but her serious stare remained as steady as ever, viridian orbs determined.

"I think you do –and don't tell me you don't care what I think 'cause that's just a childish thing to say."The held-back resentment beneath the surface of the kunoichi's voice sounded crystal clear. She was dead-set on her goal, with a rock hard resolve that would be her armor against anything he would throw at her –it was foolish of her to believe so, but without this hope, she knew she had no chance of succeeding.

"Tch. Worthless…"

He was walking away.

"Wait."

Something in the kunoichi's tone stopped him; not its power or vehemence –not nearly- but the real intensity of its complete emptiness. The normalcy of her speaking with her very heart on her tongue was gone, replaced by a voice that almost didn't belong to her for how cold Sasuke's ears felt its sound penetrating them like a gust of blizzard's wind; her stance even, as he saw when looking back at her, had become that of an ice queen. Rooted there, on her spot, uptight, arms limp at her sides, head high and gaze straight, fixed on him, Sakura appeared like a cold stranger. But this comparison couldn't have been more far off seeing the fire burning in her emerald orbs, both in reality and inside her whole being. Her pain and bitterness had melded into a much colder fury, one which seemed more than ready to erupt in the inferno of a blazing volcano.

But she didn't plan to let it do so. Sakura was resolute to obtain what she must, and in order to achieve such goal, she would have to bring out her A-game. "Sasuke-kun," Sakura began in that same tone "I want to know what happened." She knew he wasn't going to speak if she stopped there "You've changed ever since we escaped Orochimaru's hideout. Tell me why."

Yet it was so hard to maintain this façade. Would he see through it? Would he make it crumble down? Would he end her once and for all? No, Sakura couldn't afford to risk it! But she knew him; Sasuke was logical, reasoning would prevail where persuasion would only drive him further away. Sakura felt the frown tugging her eyebrows deeper down over her eyes, shadowing them in contrast to the light of the flames brightening her face and hair in their fiery tints. "You've got to tell me why."

Sasuke's eyes had disappeared from view under his bangs while she was speaking, but with her last word uttered, seemingly already bored by her insistent questioning, he lifted the two shiny, black stones back up with something like a contemptuous sneer in them though his tone came out flat "It's your choice to know, then." He was halfway turned to Sakura now in order to watch her reaction better when he spoke his next words in that deep, slow, condescending voice he mostly used on those enemies who earned his utmost loathing "You're weak."

Sakura blinked, her pupils sharpening into the smallest of holes, her eyebrows arching up, tense as she observed him fixedly and drank his every word, feeling them like a hammer hitting her repeatedly to bury her head-deep under the ground. "You know how I despise weakness. I hadn't realized before that you hadn't improved. Now that I see it, I don't want anything to do with you anymore" ruthless, cold statements spoken in this same voice that felt so much like a poisoned blade twisting in Sakura's deep wounds, dripping with abhorrence.

She wasn't moving; and he thought he had done the deal but after about half a minute –a very long time lap that neither realized had really just passed- the kunoichi advanced her foot and, albeit with an almost undistinguishable shakiness, took a step forward without reaching out. Solemnity appeared clearly in her expression still, though what was rendered more obvious by the lessening of her frown was the tinge of confusion in her eyes, a single drop of rain that put out raging flames "I don't understand."

It was undeniably genuine, but also a rod for her own back. "Don't make me repeat myself" Sasuke nearly snarled "You're a burden."

With these last four words alone, Sakura was rendered unable to breathe, for they hit her as a wrecking ball slamming with full force into her body. Although her feet stayed immobile, firmly planted on the earth, she felt herself begin to fall with no ground to hold onto; and slowly, her strength was breaking like the bones that seemed to support her no more, being drained like the blood leaking from an open injury. No, no, this couldn't be right. Her unseeing eyes were still round, straight on him. "You loved me. I'm sure you loved me" she muttered with a small voice she found he had not robbed from her just yet, unable to contain those two sentences of meager comfort within her throat because of the need to have them heard, to give them consistency.

A curt chuckle –more of a contemptuous hum- escaped him at her use of the past tense. "You aren't worth it. You probably never were." It stung. It tore. This was sick. He was toying with her, wasn't he? Did he not know how everything he said sent a kunai into her heart with precise aim? He did, right? Why would he continue otherwise? However, was he aware that she would always get back up, beaten down as she was, until nor pride nor soul were left in her, with only her rotten love for him – a promise for more future torture- subsisting? Sakura knew she was already sinking, but she bit the inside of her cheek, clenched her teeth tighter in a way that she deemed hard to notice as she listened to the blow he though would finish her off. "I may have recognized Naruto's value, but in truth you are too inferior. I couldn't see it before the encounter with Orochimaru."

Her agape mouth shut tight. There, Sakura opened her eyes to see again; and she stopped him. No magic could mend her wounds right now, but these words ringing in her mind had her regaining consciousness in the middle of this nightmare with the will to fight it. Fired up, she took another step forward –steady and strong this once- while he remained motionless a short way before her and she met his cold gaze without fear, merely lingering pain hidden behind deep green "You can't say that!" Charcoal eyes narrowed a little more, defiant. Forsaking the all but shattered composure that was intended to help pull herself together, Sakura bit down on her bottom lip with her clenched fist in front of her heart –not because of overwhelming stress or to give herself courage, for she knew what she had to say, but in a symbol of strength.

"I wasn't weak! Not then! I couldn't be weak against Orochimaru! Not when…" she trailed off, unwilling to finish this thought in her current position. "I didn't fail!" This was what he had to understand. He couldn't accuse her with so little fact to support his arguments. Right now, once and for all, she would prove him that she wasn't weak. So Sakura took a deep breath and let the fire light her eyes anew, straightening to look up at this terrible man she loved. "I held on until you arrived. I maintained myself alive –and this was all you were asking from me at the time, wasn't it?" she argued before he could interrupt, knowing he couldn't counter this with a sharp comment. "I fought against that snake. I fought and created a diversion for us to flee by breaking his damn bone when I had no chakra left! Yet you still blame me!?"

Sasuke was about to open his mouth and retort- she wouldn't let him. "For this whole time I have been fighting, Sasuke! I tried to help you! I'm tired of having to constantly prove my worth to you! I already did!" Her voice returned to its icy tone, peremptory "And even when I did show weakness, you accepted me in spite of it. So yes, this is why I don't understand."

Sasuke's stern expression stayed carved onto his features as he observed for one long moment the kunoichi standing there, for the first time truly furious at him. She wasn't desperately crying her heart out, begging him to stay anymore; no, she was scolding him for wanting to leave without a valid reason. It would appear immature or selfish presented as such, but how could it be when Sakura knew who she was and refused to be underestimated anymore? She would never have started this had it solely been a question on her part concerning his reasons to leave her. Sakura truly believed that she had come to know this mystery of a man more in those few months spent by his side than in her whole existence. Hence, she knew that Sasuke hardly ever took any decision on impulse and that he always had well analyzed, pondered reasons behind each act: The Sasuke Uchiha that she knew would not do anything based on a wobbly reasoning.

But he merely sighed again. "Tch, I'm wasting my time with you" was what he muttered before turning his back completely to her.

"You're just a COWARD!" It was a roar this time; eyes squeezed shut in deep ire, the lioness Sakura wouldn't let him go, she wouldn't let herself be beaten without putting up a decent fight. She despised defeat at least as much as he did. "You're being weak running away like that! You really think you can dodge the problem so easily?"

"YOU'RE the one creating a problem when it's all clear!" Sasuke thundered back, glare intense over his shoulder, the rage now filling his voice to the brim. "You're still pitiful like you were back then! There is no problem. You ARE the problem."

"You know perfectly well that it's not true! But if you won't recognize it, I guess there is nothing I could say that would make you change your mind."

Sakura lowered her head a little. With her fury more or less vented out in the seconds of silence that followed, a small, sad smile appeared on her lips for a brief moment. Naruto was right after all. Perhaps because of those ways that had always come naturally to him in dire situations, Sakura had never been able to claim her place in the young Uchiha's heart in the past. Sasuke was a rational person and yet Naruto clearly understood that the only way to get through to him wasn't with words, but fists.

Determined, the medic-nin tugged on the black leather of her right glove and set her hand in the position she had been taught all those years ago, back in the academy. "Sasuke. I challenge you."

She noticed that almost imperceptible quirk of his eyebrows, but didn't leave him any more time.

Pushing down on the ground with chakra-enhanced strength enabled Sakura to close the distance between them at light's speed. Her fist was already loaded with chakra for a punch that would show no mercy; because he had had none with his words and she was still bleeding from them, now desperate to let all the pain out.

Upon a speedy recovery, Sasuke dodged –she had expected him to. Sakura continued her assaults without a break under his wary, all-following charcoal gaze. She charged towards him with a left hook. He turned his body to the side instead of side-stepping so that her feint was rendered ineffective and the roundhouse kick she had left in store landed in his guard. The kunoichi wasted no time in jumping back a meter away in fear that he would grab her leg if she maintained her position a second too long.

His glare was of sharp ice spikes, so cold that it stayed strong as ever, unmelting despite the heat of the campfire still burning close by. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

"What do you think?" She replied while charging anew. Sasuke wasn't taken aback by her direct attack this time and simply jumped aside –how much longer would he underestimate her like this? Sakura grabbed the empty sleeve flying in the air with his jump, yanked it towards her and landed an upper cut on the Uchiha's jaw which sent him flying a few meters above the ground. Sakura followed; once in the air, she grabbed the back of his shirt and threw the young man to the hard earth. Dust and dirt formed clouds above the soil from the impact, but the air moved again and dispersed them when Sakura landed gracefully on her feet so that she could see Sasuke standing back up. Mouth agape, he was staring at the ground instead of her, but the look in his eyes –still as dark as midnight- was one of pure shock.

'He thought I wouldn't have the nerve to land a blow on him' Sakura observed mentally. Maybe now he would get serious after being beaten up by his 'weak' teammate.

Sakura barely gave him the time to gather his bearings. As soon as he was up on his feet, she yelled "SHAANNAROOO!" (It felt so relieving to vent it all out). Her fist slammed into the earth, breaking it into fragments like glass to create a mini-scale earthquake. Sasuke jumped again to avoid the projections of rocks flying and colliding everywhere- he hadn't seen Sakura doing the same because of his dust-obstructed field of vision. Her fist met his stomach harshly again, but upon smashing down on his back on the ground, he rolled off quickly to the side; a good move considering that the next second Sakura landed with a crash on the spot where he had been. The kunoichi kept attacking relentlessly; a punch on the right, another on the left towards his face –he blocked, jumped over some rocks to step back without tripping- then she switched to her elbow aimed at his ribs and he almost fell when she tried to kick at his ankles. She chained with a high-kick after that, a couple more punches… Her pace was speeding up; she attempted another grab for his sleeve. Sasuke wrenched it away just in time but received a punch on his jaw as counterpart; he evaded the next by tilting his head and the following by somersaulting backwards, though when his feet met the ground a kick was already hitting his gut straight on, making him fall back a few meters.

The dust was only just plummeting down as Sakura observed her work: Sasuke was standing back up once again, panting hard, hand tense on his abs, eyes crimson red this time. Out of breath as she was, the pink haired medic-nin couldn't savor this victory as well as she would have liked to, but this sight gave her a little more confidence. What bugged her however was the fact that Sasuke hadn't tried to attack her even once. If he thought she wasn't worthy enough to fight properly against, she would definitely make him regret it. "So Sasuke," she said, half-sighing but deadly serious, almost reproachful in her tone "do you still think I'm too weak?"

He would fight now. After being provoked like this, there was no way he would just let her beat him up like a punch-bag. Sakura dashed towards him again, ready for a new assault. His body moved more fluidly now to avoid all of her blows without ever receiving damage thanks to the sharingan, but the pink haired girl was far from done. She side-stepped, used his handicapped shoulder for leverage and leaped behind his back. Still holding onto him to prevent his evasion, she aimed a kick at Sasuke's unguarded side.

He caught it. Somehow, he had managed to block it. Glancing down, Sakura caught the faintest trace of purple light vanishing before her leg dropped to the ground. Realizing the mistake she had made in spacing out, the kunoichi stepped back a meter in haste, then prepared to counterattack with a punch towards his head. Sasuke whirled around. Sakura guessed what he would do and withdrew her first fist to attack with the other instead- he caught it despite her efforts and held on tightly.

Sakura clenched her teeth in pain as he handcuffed her wrist in his large hand. What could she do now? Maybe some kicks would work to get her out of this bind… But wait, did Sasuke understand now? This was the whole point after all. Could he see that she was strong enough to stand up to him? Had she finally earned some esteem from him? If not…

"You think it's all simple, don't you?"

Sakura looked up in surprise when Sasuke suddenly spoke. Right then he had sounded…hurt, so very hurt that it made her regret to have attacked him so for a second. But then, panting a bit still, scratches and dirt covering his face and fierce gaze partly hidden behind a deep, dark frown and his bangs, he opened his mouth again to say more darkly "I can't have you. If you're weak, I can't."

Stung by his words, Sakura tried to shake her wrist out of his grip, meeting no success. "Shannaro! What are you talking about!? I was just kicking your ass!"

He tightened his grip even more. This time she yelped but bit her tongue instantly to hide her pain. At this moment she found his eyes; the dark crimson of the sharingan seemed ten times more blood-thirsty with the fire casting dangerous sparks inside them, but mostly because he was glaring at her with all his might, like she alone could make all the hatred left in him converge. "I can't have you."

"Why?" Sakura simply replied.

"I'll do it without you" he said in his seething low voice. Sakura frowned when he flat out ignored her question but didn't interrupt. "The Uchiha clan is cursed. I have to build it back without you, or Konoha." He saw the confusion written in Sakura's eyes. Sasuke yanked her wrist up, stretching her arm and bringing her on her tiptoes -she couldn't counterattack efficiently like this. He spoke in her face "That's why you need to leave me alone!"

Sakura staggered when Sasuke let go of her wrist to push her away. He turned his back to her again. His words didn't seem to make any sense with his previous reasoning. Maybe her doubts were not so unfounded after all, but if she had understood correctly then… "You want to leave Konoha permanently, even after all Naruto did to bring you back?" She asked tentatively, disbelieving.

He remained silent on his spot, more than enough as an answer.

No. No, this wasn't what she had been expecting. This wasn't right. Sakura opened eyes round like saucers in shock. "Sasuke-kun, you can't do that!"

"Watch me."

The weight of his words made her knees shake, nearly buckle –but she held on, she had too. True fear came over her senses "You…You can't be serious!"

"My name is still taboo everywhere I go" he declared, tone solid and void as a rock "You've seen it yourself. I can't bother with weaklings anymore. For my clan's sake."

Sakura was reminded of the snake's words. Logs from the campfire had scattered after the earlier quake but still burned on their own. It was darker around them now. The fire kept eating, ashes and sparks crackling. Neither two were moving. Sakura observed the red and white fan on the man's back, his silhouette as a whole. The fire lit it as plainly as daylight for her; she saw the dirt on the black cloth, the holes and rips everywhere on his sleeves, especially the empty one swaying limply with the hot air from the flames. Then there was this small parcel of his face that she could catch from her spot; the long, unruly midnight bangs, the cut pale cheek, and the tightly clenched jaw made it all the more clear to her: this man was damaged. He was hurt. She simply knew. Yes, it might have seemed stupid to anyone external to their argument who would have seen the strong back of a battle-built warrior before their eyes, but just as evidently Sakura saw the back of someone broken, someone who maybe, if she was still allowed to think of it as possible, wanted to protect those dear to him like he had always tried his best to do.

The sound of gloved hands balling into fists was heard. Sakura directed her determined green gaze at the emblem of this 'cursed clan'. And she took one step "This isn't so much about your clan as you want to think." Another step "You value Naruto's friendship so don't lie saying you don't care about it. You wouldn't leave the village after all he did for you. That's your sense of honor."

"Tch" the raven haired shinobi let out disdainfully, quite obviously more than annoyed at this point "And what do you know about all that?"

"I know you!" Sakura retorted louder than intended. "When you, Sasuke Uchiha, love something you hold on to it to the very end, and even if you actually don't love me anymore, I can't believe you'd just throw Naruto away without a reason because, truly, you don't think of him as a weakling!" One last step. Sasuke still wasn't moving so she took the chance to seize his shoulder and turn him around so he would face her when she yelled, bursting "If you really can't stand weakness, then man up and tell me the truth instead of running away, knucklehead!"

Sasuke's tiny pupils bulged in his eyes. From the deep onyx they had previously reverted to, they changed into dark red and purple in a flash, shining in the dark with a light far more blazing than that of the mere flames on the side. His teeth were clenched, apparent in the enraged scowl his expression displayed along with the creases around his eyebrows. "SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW IT ALL, HUH!?" he bellowed, exploding after his patience had ran to its limits and beyond.

Sakura cringed in the slightest, struggling in spite of the shivers his voice sent down her spine not to let the slightest trace of fear appear on her face. The Uchiha continued slightly lower but boiling all the same "You want to know the truth? I'll tell you." He pointed an accusing finger at the blood still drying on his cut cheek "You've been questioning me about it. This is a souvenir from a fight against Orochimaru's underlings."

Sakura stared aghast, unable to form a word with her mouth agape in the shape of an 'o'; but Sasuke continued "You're here telling me I'm weak when I've been repelling those guys all this time! And I'll tell you what, you may be right about Naruto, but this is all your fault."

A gasp escaped Sakura's lips. How? How could it be her fault that he was dead set on leaving the village again? What had she done? What had she not done? Why was he placing the blame on her?

The kunoichi clenched her teeth before talking back at last "Are you going to explain or what!?"

"Why bother!? You can't even see half of what those eyes have seen!" He hollered back, uncovering the rinnegan behind his bangs with the abrupt movement of his head. "You can't see anything!"

"So that's what you think? You won't even-" Sakura was about to yell something more in response, thinking how this discussion was going nowhere at all despite her willpower, but her eyes widened and she had to stop mid-sentence when Sasuke suddenly groaned, face screwed up in pain. She had noticed how he had grabbed his belly earlier but had dismissed it in the midst of their fight; now she could only observe the dark red tinting his palm when he retrieved his hand from said spot.

Sasuke pushed her away when she stormed to his side, glowing green palms ready "Back off, damn it!" His teeth clenched harder. Sakura let him through to his bag resting against a tree as he fished out a roll of bandages –knowing perfectly well that she had two rolls of better quality ones in her back pouch. She watched as he held up the hem of his shirt with his teeth, baring a large, red, open slash pouring out blood onto his abs –Sakura had probably opened it up again during their fight; she winced at the thought. Sasuke somehow managed to bandage himself up with only one hand but unsurprisingly, his best attempts amounted to nothing as red soon stained the white bands.

He cursed, one eye closed from the pain. Because of this poor state of his, Sasuke didn't detect Sakura's presence behind him in time to prevent her from seizing his shoulders. Crooked, exhausted and sore as he was, Sakura had little heart to rough him up some more though it was her only option in such situation; she pushed him against the large oak and, two kunai already in hand, pinned his shirt to the trunk. The Uchiha let out a growl, just about to tear the cloth and break free as Sakura started working on his wound.

"Move" he all but ordered, voice seething low.

Her body was close, mere inches away from his own to prevent his escape. She stayed focused on her task and replied without looking up "No."

"Sakura" He uttered her name for the first time in days, although not nearly with the same tenderness as before. Cold, harsh and ruthless as it was, she still blinked in slight surprise instead of fear. But he continued louder despite their proximity, raging, on the verge of roaring "Get away from me now or you'll regret it!"

A short silence. Then a gasp.

Sakura opened wide green eyes.

Most unpredictably, it clicked. He had just dropped the most obvious clue she could have wished for and yet she hardly believed she had managed to pick it up –could it be called subtle or was it simply his inner voice trying to reach out to her in spite of his mind's liking? Yes, all along she had been right. She wasn't weak, she wasn't stupid, a deluded lover or at fault; Sakura had figured it all out.

The pink haired girl stepped back just a little; she didn't pin him off because he did it himself and threw the blades to the ground angrily. At the brief instant when his now black gaze met her green one, she captured it –hers was an open window, shining with a light so pure that it contrasted strikingly with the wrath still present in his.

Sakura knew this man. And because she didn't want him to make a misguided decision but was certain that a blunt declaration of love wouldn't bring him back to the right path, she chose to bare this quarrel of all lies.

"Sasuke-kun, now I understand" the girl began, calm even under his glowering –slightly disbelieving- stare. "What you've always tried to do in your life is become strong to protect those you care for. You came to the point where you would even sacrifice yourself for a cause you believe is just." Sakura lifted gentle but serious eyes to his wild ones, speaking with the honesty and cleanness of crystal clear water "But you have the right to be happy too."

He twitched for the shortest of seconds before frowning deeper "What are talking about? This-"

"It has something to do with it!" Sakura interrupted, her gloved hand traveling to her heart of its own accord "Right now, what you're doing…I understand why you want to stay alone but I don't think it's the right decision." The kunoichi summoned up all her courage to speak out before he could prevent her "You can't live a life of pain! You know what loneliness is like better than most people, so no matter what reason you may give, I won't let you do it!"

"This choice is not yours to make."

Sakura didn't waste any time to retort "Yes, it is! Because…" but then her voice trailed off only for a minute during which she took a deep breath, tightened the fist held to her heart and prepared her voice to declare "Your name. I want it."

To say that he was taken aback would be an understatement. Sasuke stared at his teammate as though she had just admitted to being the reincarnation of Kaguya Otsutsuki, but with something more than disbelief to it, something like fear.

Now extremely red in the face, Sakura tried to continue steadily but found the emotion was too much to not let it sound through her voice at least a little "I don't care if the Uchiha clan is cursed or whatever, you and I can change that!" She squeezed her eyes shut for a second –her last effort before the finish line that would determine her victory or defeat "I won't be hurt so easily so let them try if they want! And even then I don't care if it's painful! I'll be strong, like I trained so hard to be…for us. And then you won't have to be alone! I promise-!"

"You CAN'T promise!"

And right then, what she found in his voice was true fear, the one he had experienced when noticing her disappearance, when imagining the worst scenarios of her death during the excruciating hours it had taken him to reach Orochimaru's hideout, when killing blindly in search of her in those dark hallways, when finding her covered in blood with the snake's blade on her neck, when holding her that night, her practically lifeless body.

"I…I can't but…" Sakura mustered as a whisper. She lifted her head up, giving him a look that could only be hopeful "…we'll find a way."

Her last sentence was more of question than the determined statement she had wanted to express. Would he let her try? Would he give them a chance? Would he turn his back to her, to the love he had found in her heart and in Konoha to instead walk a lonely path his whole life? Sakura didn't want to contemplate this latter possibility. She couldn't bear to, for this would mean an existence where neither of them would be able to find the happiness they had sought so relentlessly all those years. Even with this painful thought in mind, Sakura wouldn't let her eyes close and escape the reality of the situation. She kept them half open under a frown as she bit down on her bottom lip and lowered her head under the weight of silence.

A step forward, a little heavy because of sore limbs; all the rage directed at the girl who wouldn't let herself be protected was gone from his voice when Sasuke spoke low, blank safe for a tinge of longing "…Am I allowed…to believe you?"

The smallest, shortest, bitter laugh left her lips, almost a sigh "What do you think?" She murmured dejectedly. Maybe he was right. Maybe she wouldn't be able to give him the happiness he was looking for. What could she say to her defense now…?

Another step; and the weak Sasuke fell into her arms. Sakura let out a small gasp, not expecting it at first, and then her lips wouldn't close. She found the night air coming into her mouth through this small 'o' was the only thing left of reality around her as the scent of ashes, leaves and earth belonging to the man she loved captured her senses. Sasuke was there, so close to her, his hand the only one left to hold her in place when her knees were about to give out. His fingers were in her hair –like he always liked- they brought her head closer to his which rested bowed against her shoulder. His face found the crook of her neck to drink in the feeling of her skin that he had missed. When she suddenly emitted a sound of pure relief and gave in to his touch, her hands traveling in turn to his back, then his shoulders, Sasuke's warm charcoal eyes shut tight. With Sakura already tracing soothing circles on his back, he found there was no point in holding back the tears anymore. So he let them fall, silent, one after the other down his cheeks, his nose and onto her collar bone. Perhaps it was shameful of an Uchiha but this thought didn't even pass by his mind as he was finally able to let all the feelings he had bottled up inside go: the frustration, the anguish, the despair, the pain, the excruciating agony. All Sasuke could feel now was Sakura's body against his and it would be in vain to pretend that this, her love wasn't all he had craved for.

There were more tears slowly falling down his temple that weren't his own, so Sasuke figured he had scared Sakura quite a bit –it was only normal, after all the violent acts, all the sharp words he had cut her with… Asking for forgiveness seemed a selfish thing to do, but right now he couldn't help holding her tighter and threading his fingers through her messy pink hair. This woman's unwavering trust and loyalty had earned something so deep and true from Sasuke, something so unbreakable that he had to let her know of right now.

That was when he whispered it. "I love you."

A.N./: Heeeeeey! ...Please don't hurt me...! Before you murder me, I have to say to my defense that this chapter is suuuuuper long (6,533 words)!

Okay, now is time for me to explain. You must be bored to see all authors say this, but yes, I have been busy. I have a lot of work to do for school lately and exams to prepare for...The only solution I found is to slow down my publication pace a little, which is why I will start posting a chapter every two weeks from now on. I hope you guys won't mind too much and will keep enjoying the story nonetheless!

About that, thanks very much to eliimg for her/his (?) support on this topic!

~Now, about this chapter~

I had a lot of fun watching Naruto Storm 4 videos on Sakura's moveset to write her fight against Sasuke (yes, I admit, I always wanted to see these two spar seriously!). Although it's almost unnoticeable, I also added a Final Fantasy 7 reference when Sakura threw him on the ground. In the movie Advent Children (which is sooooo beautiful) Tifa (who is sooooooo beautiful) also did this in her battle against Loz. COOKIES to anyone who actually saw this!^^

I will also answer the guest review saying that Sasuke would have normally sent Orochimaru straight to Hell in a moments notice. The keyword here is 'normally': Sasuke was in a bad position against Orochimaru since the sannin held Sakura hostage. It was precisely because he knew that it would be hardly possible to win against his former pupil that Orochimaru chose this tactic. Since you're asking about their escape, it just reflects how desperate Sasuke was that he didn't even think about the most accurate plan and simply got them both out of there. Besides, the fight with Momoshiki was way after that, although we can argue about when exactly Sasuke's prime was...

Anyway, tune in again in two weeks (tell me what you thought until then ;) )~