The second the words left his mouth, Sasuke became aware of the fact that he had a total lapse of sanity. There was no way in hell a sane person in his situation would say that…Share the bed? Was he fucking serious? They'd agreed to moving slowly—why was he trying to fuck that up? He'd make her feel uncomfortable and unsafe and she wouldn't want to stay here anymore, things would get really awkward between them, she'd go stay with Tenten or Ino or something, and then if something happened he wouldn't be there right away and—
"Ok."
His thoughts came screeching to an abrupt halt.
"Hn?"
"We'll share the bed."
Jesus. That was a shock. Why would she—she'd wanted to take it slow…How did she trust him this much? This was a bad idea, no matter how much of a thrill ran through him at her words.
"…Sakura…"
"I'm not taking your bed from you Sasuke-kun."
She was looking at him with that openness in her crystal green eyes, again. The look that lacked any guard or wall between him and all of her internal life. The look that set off an explosion inside him. He could clearly see her exhaustion, insecurity, guilt, and fiery resolve. Warmth radiated through his chest all the way down to the tips of his fingers while heat pooled below his stomach…He was so screwed.
"Hn." He let out his tacit acceptance and brushed passed her in his retreat to the bathroom. He needed to get his internal temperature under control.
Closing the bathroom door and leaning against it, he let out a breath. Sakura had just showered in here not too long ago, there was still a bit of lingering steam on the mirror, and the fresh soft scent of her soap and shampoo wafted through the air. Sasuke immediately ripped his thoughts away from the direction they were taking upon that observation, cause it was certainly counter productive. He did note that none of her stuff had been left in the shower though. He caught a small, overstuffed toiletry kit crammed into the corner of the sink counter. It was obvious how hard she was trying to take up as little of his space as possible. Part of him was annoyed by it. He didn't want her to feel this on edge about being here, but the other piece of him recognized that she was trying to be considerate because she understood him so well.
Sasuke had always liked his space. Even when he still had his family, he wasn't fond of uninvited intrusions into his personal space. After Itachi killed them all, and left him without anyone, he'd adjusted to the loneliness by welcoming it, choosing it over inviting others in. Being placed on squad 7 put a forced end to his self imposed isolation. He slowly began to let others in again, but there was still a clear boundary when it came to his space. Naruto had been to his apartment a couple of times very briefly, to wait while Sasuke picked something up or dropped something off. The only time Naruto had been there for longer than 15 minutes was when he was stressed about going to Hinata's for dinner for the first time. Sakura had stayed over a few times before but it was only ever for a night at most so she'd stayed on the couch and personal belongings hadn't come into play. No one but himself had ever been in his room, bathroom, and especially his bed before. It was a lot for him to share as much of his space as he had with her. And in return she was trying not to intrude on it too much. She said as much in her refusal to take the bed. But weirdly enough, that level of consideration towards him only made him want to share more with her.
It was an act of service, which according to Sakura, was likely one of his love languages. It seemed she was correct. Her entire analysis felt right:
Quality time—he was always the most comfortable with people when things were one on one and private. It was part of why he hated fangirls, they were so loud and public about their superficial affection. His relationship with Sakura had been and was currently largely private, and with the exception of a few vague or definitive statements, just so people knew there was something, that's how it would likely stay. And back when he idolized his brother, he always wanted one on one time with him, it didn't matter what they did during it, he just wanted to hang out with Itachi.
Words of affirmation—real praise and acknowledgement meant a lot to him. Prior to the massacre, it was something he was always striving to get from both his father and Itachi. His mother was more liberal with it, and he held on to every praise she spoke. And no matter how hard he'd tried to ignore it, Sakura's words from the night he left never fully left his mind. Her "I love you with all my heart!" was stored in the deepest parts of his subconscious to torture him with when he got too numb to the nightmares of his family.
Acts of service—It surprised and meant a lot to him when people were considerate of him, maybe cause he'd been on his own for so long that he didn't expect it. Naruto straight up slapped some sanity back into him, a service he would be eternally grateful and indebted to him for. But even smaller things…he never forgot how Kakashi had actually joined him at the graveyard to honor his family on the anniversary of their death, despite never mentioning it to him before. Or the time Sakura and Naruto threw him a very quiet and low key birthday party cause they knew he wouldn't like anything big, crazy or loud, even though he had forgotten that it was his birthday. Sakura had even baked him a super dark chocolate coffee cake that was more bitter than sweet, cause she knew he hated sweets. It was the only dessert he remembered eating and actually liking. And every time Sakura got him home after he became a drunken mess, or brought him his preferred coffee without having to ask his order, especially since she was low on funds, he'd felt far deeper gratitude than the gestures might normally warrant.
Physical touch—it was the only one he had to think twice about, cause he usually hated when people touched him, but now that he thought about it…He and Naruto's language was the intense physical contact of punching the shit out of each other. Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura…his team's moments of deep understanding usually came during sparring. And with Sakura, it was her arms around him that had awoken him from his rage when he was torturing Zaku. Now, whenever they kissed, all he wanted to do was pull her even closer, feel more of her, and wished that those moments of physical contact would never end.
He also now completely understood why Sakura had been so mad at him, knowing her love languages. It had been completely inadvertent, but at the time he'd really played with her emotions and lead her on. All of his actions towards her back then had spoken to her primary love languages. He hadn't known or realized that, but he had known she still liked him and strung her along. It hadn't been malicious—she was someone precious to him and had become something deeper than a friend. With more time, if he had been more open to it, it may have grown to be romantic the way it was now, but it hadn't reached that point by the time he left. He'd quietly and subtly manipulated her into fully falling in love with him, then completely rejected and abandoned her when she told him as much. And because he'd been so quiet, subtle, and private, no one else knew and wrote off her heart break as a crazy, melodramatic, overreaction. On top of that, she'd blamed herself for not being a caring or sensitive enough teammate, as if it was somehow her fault he left. Realizing that, it was truly astonishing that she forgave him at all—if the roles were reversed, he didn't think he'd be able to do the same.
He'd make it up to her. He swore it to himself. He'd never put her through that again. There was still Itachi to contend with, cause he hadn't given up his thoughts of revenge, but he'd figure out a way that wouldn't hurt her in the process. A way that wouldn't leave her abandoned, empty, broken, and blaming herself.
Having gotten himself together enough, he left the bathroom to see Sakura sitting on his bed reading a text book. He'd never met anyone else who actually read text books for light reading. He was pretty sure Sakura didn't understand the meaning of light reading.
"Go to sleep." He muttered as he climbed into the bed. He turned to the side facing away from her, partially to give her space and partially to help keep himself in check, since despite his better judgement, his body seemed to instinctually want to pull her close to him.
The room was cast into darkness and Sakura shifted on the opposite side of the bed. Reassured that she was settling down to get some rest, he began the process of mentally prepping himself for sleep. There were always only three options when he slept:
Nightmares of the night he watched his brother murder his family (occasionally Kakashi, Naruto, or Sakura would join his brother's victims), The horrible, violent, abusive ways he'd treated Naruto or Sakura from the night he left until he finally regained some of his sanity, or If he was lucky, blank, not entirely restful but thankfully dreamless sleep.It had been the state of Sasuke's sleep since the Massacre. He usually averaged 5-6 hours of nightmares or nothingness, and without mentally preparing for the visions before hand, it made the return to consciousness much more rough. He drifted off, praying for nothingness.
It came. A murky haze that usually brought neither stressful feelings nor peaceful relaxation. The best Sasuke could hope for. Except this time was a little different, because for once the haziness did feel mildly restful. Not by a lot, but for Sasuke who hadn't slept "well" once since he was eight, the difference was noticeable. So much so that when he awoke four hours later, an hour less than the average amount of sleep he got, none of the usual feelings of grogginess or residual exhaustion were present.
He turned over, confused as to why he was awake. His body ran like clockwork, he never woke up before the five hour mark or slept longer than six hours without external interference. His question was answered immediately when his eyes landed on Sakura.
She was not having a good night. She had tossed her way more towards the center of the bed. He could make out the tears that were streaming silently down her face and she seemed to be trembling.
What was he supposed to do in this situation? Clearly she was having a nightmare, probably about the case, if he had to guess. Should he wake her up? Was that what you do when someone has a nightmare? How do you comfort them? He'd been dealing with his own nightmares without comfort for so long…She needed to sleep so he really didn't want to wake her up if it could be avoided…Did people want physical or auditory comfort when having a bad dream? If the answer was physical, was that even ok? He didn't want to do anything without knowing she was on board with it first. Was he overcomplicating this? Comforting your girlfriend (it was such a foreign term for him so he was trying to apply it to her as much as possible to get used to it) when she's having a nightmare didn't seem like something that should require so much internal debate…
"No. No more." Her whisper was so quiet and broken, but it completely shattered his inner conflict.
His body moved on its own, gently bringing himself closer to her, his arm wrapping softly around her side. There was still space between them, he didn't pull her or move himself closer than arms reach. He didn't know if she'd be comfortable with that. He just wanted her to be able to feel that he was there to hopefully disrupt the dream and give her some peace.
It seemed to work. Her shaking slowed to a stop, her breathing evened out, and no fresh tears joined the old ones, slowly drying on her face. He studied her as her sleep became more relaxed. Her pale pink hair almost seemed to glow in the darkness of the room, and now that her face was at peace, she looked almost angelic. It was interesting, normally he associated her more with fairies than angels. Nothing to do with personality, just if he were to add wings to Sakura, she always seemed more suited to intricate and delicate dragonfly wings than big feathery angel ones. Or maybe it was her diminutive size and fluid, graceful, agility. It seemed more inline with a fairy in his mind than an angel, which he always imagined as stiffer and rigid for some reason. It was a ridiculous thought process, neither of those things existed and he was never one to believe in fairytales, magic, or faith, even when he was a child. But regardless, "fairy" had always been the first word that popped into his head when looking at Sakura, though at first it was with disdain. Now, when he thought it, it was with wonder. It was so strange how drastically his opinion of her changed. He remembered the one and only time he ever truly disliked her.
It was in their academy days, Naruto had just successfully pulled a juvenile prank on Sasuke that resulted in him covered in flour. The kind of thing you'd expect from a 12 year old, not someone 19. After sending him a glare that promised murder later, Sasuke stalked off to clean himself up. He'd heard the sound of a hoard of angry fangirls attacking Naruto for annoying "their Sasuke-kun," in the background. As he stormed through the hallway, he became aware of foot steps running behind him.
"Sasuke-kun!" Perfect. One of the banshees followed him. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." She'd make a big, annoying deal of it if he said anything otherwise. "It's just flour."
"Ugh! That Naruto! He's so annoying! It's because he was brought up badly. You know he's never had any parents?" Sasuke froze mid stride. "He never had anyone to answer to ever and it's made him completely selfish! I mean, who spends money just to waste flour like that? I could never do that! I envy him, being alone. Not having parents to worry about all the time." This…Bitch. Did she even know what she was saying? How could anyone ever wish for his, or even that idiots, reality? "Kids without families always grow up so selfish."
"That and lonely…" He seethed.
"What?" She asked, taken aback.
"Being scolded by your parents doesn't even compare!"
"Wha…What's gotten into you all of the sudden?" Normally he just ignored his fangirls. He rarely responded, let alone with so much venom.
"You…make me sick!" He'd turned abruptly and stormed off, desperate to get away before he actually punched her.
It had been much later, after they became a team that the two received some context for this interaction. Sakura hadn't known about the Uchiha massacre at the time, nor had she known enough about Naruto or Sasuke to empathize with them. Sasuke, at the time unaware and uncaring of Sakura's family troubles, had assumed that her statements were about being scolded and nothing else. It was only after learning of her financial situation that he realized Sakura had been set off by the waste of resources. At that time, Sakura was working two part time jobs on top of her academy work to help support her family financially as well as cover all her own expenses. It had been a particularly low point where the stress and pressure had gotten to her, so she vented—with the wrong choice of words to the wrong person.
Looking at her now, he could almost think of that memory fondly. It just went to show how much she'd grown as a person. She'd never been selfish. Her dedication to her family, no matter how much they inadvertently undermined her self esteem, was proof of that. But she'd become far more understanding and aware of the situations those around her were in. Even her refusal to stay with Naruto, because she hadn't wanted to be in the way of him and Hinata…She'd become so much more sensitive to other's feelings. Especially Sasuke's. It thawed a piece of him he hadn't realized was frozen.
Her phone ringing shattered his musings. He shifted a little in suppressed surprise and glared at it. She was finally peacefully asleep and this had to ruin it. When it stopped ringing, he settled, shifting again to go back to looking at her, when she looked up, catching him in the act. Would she be pissed at him for their position? He hadn't thought this far ahead, about how he would handle when she woke up…
"Sasuke-kun?" Her voice was too hushed to decipher the tone. Was she mad?
"In your sleep…you were shaking and I…" For fucks sake, was he blushing? Thank god it was dark enough that she wouldn't see…
Her phone started ringing again, breaking the hushed spell between them. She rolled away from him to check the ID.
"Who is it?" Sasuke asked, sitting up. If it were a restricted or unknown number, it might be a case related threat.
"The hospital." She answered, sounding puzzled. She picked up. "Hello?"
There was a pause as the person on the other end of the line spoke, but he saw Sakura stiffen. Her eyes widened than narrowed. She hung up the phone and sat frozen for five seconds before turning to Sasuke.
"I need to go."
"To the hospital?"
She nodded, already up and throwing on pants.
"Why?"
She didn't answer, instead turning to look at him. His eyes granted him perfect night vision, and he could see Sakura's guard rising. Something bad happened. And it wasn't medically related, because she was calm during that. Whatever it was, it was causing her to suppress panic. She walked out of the room. Quickly pulling on pants and a sweatshirt, he followed. They were out the door in less than three minutes.
The hospital ICU was a buzz with panicked nurses, doctors, and uniformed officers. Sasuke followed Sakura to one of the patient rooms. There was too much chaos for anyone to try to stop them. Hinata and Kiba were standing by an empty bed talking to one of the nurses, with serious expressions. Kiba turned to Sakura as she entered the room.
Sasuke took in the sight: empty unmade bed, Kiba and Hinata, uniformed officers in the halls. The conclusion was simple, a patient was missing.
"Sakura, we're gonna need to ask you some questions." Kiba stated.
She nodded, her green eyes flashing towards the empty bed, shining with concern, before bouncing back to Kiba.
"What is your relationship to Takahashi Ageha?"
"She was my patient and I'm her emergency contact. That's it." Her voice was level and calm, but Sasuke could hear the tightness in it. Kiba narrowed his eyes.
"Why are you her emergency contact?" This idiot wasn't actually suspecting Sakura, was he?
"She's an orphan."
Sasuke's eyes widened a little in surprise. She really was too caring, to put herself down as the emergency contact for some random girl, just because there was no one else to care about her. A girl she was the doctor of, who was sick enough to be in the ICU. He didn't think that was even allowed—a doctor wasn't supposed to perform surgery on a family member in case something went wrong…wouldn't this be the same? She voluntarily signed herself up for emotional pain just to give this random person someone who cared.
"Where were—"
"If you want her alibi, she's been with me since 4pm." Sasuke growled out, glaring at Kiba. This mongrel had the audacity to suspect her?
"Why the hell are you glaring at me! Of course I don't think she did it! Have you met her? The only way Sakura'd ever kidnap a kid would be to rescue them from an abusive home! I'm just doing my fucking job!" Kiba barked, clearly enraged at the suggestion that he'd suspect his own friend.
Sasuke didn't take kindly to the insinuation that he didn't know Sakura well. His glare only intensified and his anger begged to be released in the form of a fist to Kiba's face. Before he could act on it though, Sasuke felt the increasingly familiar weight of her hand against his arm. Immediately, his anger calmed. This wasn't the time for it anyways.
"Ask me anything you need to, just find her." Her voice was still completely calm and level but Sasuke could hear the rasp of her desperation underneath it.
Kiba's face softened and filled with gentle concern as he looked at the pink haired woman in front of him, which annoyed Sasuke, but he didn't dwell on it since Sakura's hand was still resting on his arm.
"Sakura-chan, when was the last time you saw Ageha-chan?" Hinata's gentle voice cut in, having read the growing tension between the two males.
"Last night—or more accurately, this morning around 2am."
"Did she ever have any other visitors? Friends or enemies?"
Sakura shook her head. "No one's ever visited her. She's a refugee from the Land of Waves. She's only seven years old, and spent most of her life trying to escape a corrupt oligarchy, survive abject poverty, and a serious, rare immune disease. I don't think she had time to make friends or that anyone considered her important enough to be an enemy."
Hinata and Kiba exchanged a look.
"Child abductions are rarely random. They usually fall under four motivations: sexual, custodial, maternal desire, and 'other'." Hinata began explaining. "The 'other' category covers a range of motives from religious, too theft, too extortion."
"We can rule out custodial since that's always a familial perpetrator and she's got no family. Extortion's probably out too, since there's no one to pay ransom." Kiba added.
"What about trafficking?" Sasuke asked, thinking of the Akatsuki.
Hinata shook her head. "It's not an abnormal reason for child abduction. But traffickers wouldn't go after a child like Ageha-chan. Trafficking is modern human slave trade. Whether it's for sex or forced labor, they want victims strong enough to work. They'd never pick someone in the ICU."
"How long ago was she reported missing?" Sakura asked evenly.
"An hour and a half ago." Kiba answered. "Normally we don't consider someone a missing person unless there's a witness or they're gone 24 hours. But in a highly monitored facility like this, we respond more quickly. We're still in a critical period, so there's a chance we can find her."
"What about the security cameras?" Sasuke asked.
"Shino's checking now."
"Are you gonna use the K9 unit Kiba?"
"We have to rule out she's not still in the hospital first. I'm not allowed to bring dogs in here cause of contamination and germ risk or some garbage like that. But it does bring up another problem. Ageha's scent might not be strong enough—she's been in the hospital so long that her scent and the disinfectant's are too similar."
"What about her blood? Would your dogs be able to track that?" Sasuke asked.
"The more trained ones could. Akamaru would definitely be able to."
"She gets blood work done routinely. I can tell a nurse to get a vile from the lab."
Shino walked into the room, bringing all eyes to him for once. Normally he was only one to observe, and was so quiet that he was frequently overlooked. It didn't bother him too much, he was better with bugs than people. But it was mildly offensive that Naruto forgot his name after he'd gone to work with Jiraiya for a year and a half.
"We have a problem. It's because the surveillance videos show nothing abnormal or suspicious."
"That would mean she'd have to have been taken directly from this room." Kiba said studying the space.
"That's not possible. The air vents aren't big enough to crawl through and the windows are reinforced, double-paned glass that can't be opened. The only way out or in is through the main hallway." Sakura said. There was a growing edge to her voice, though still well hidden.
"So someone must have known a way around the cameras." Sasuke said.
Hinata's brows furrowed. "This hospital uses Hyuga security systems. They have the Byakugan, our families best surveillance program. It's doesn't have blind spots. There shouldn't have been a way for someone to slip past."
The Hyuga, on top of commonly sending members to the KPD, also ran the best security and surveillance business. Like the Uchiha, the Hyuga also had genetically enhanced vision. They could see 24 meters in front of them, to the average human's 6, as well as wider peripheral vision. Using their eyesight as a model, a member of the family had designed a surveillance program with a similar range, which sparked a multi million dollar corporation. Most of Konoha employed their security services, especially major facilities like the hospital, town hall, police department, and court.
The three missing persons detectives grouped off to plan.
"We should proceed under the assumption she's not here. It's because the nurses, hospital security, and police have all swept the building and found nothing."
"I'll send out an amber alert and get a press release together." Hinata said with a grave nod.
"I'll get the dogs ready. We'll start with a fifty meter perimeter sweep around the hospital to see if we can catch anything." Kiba put in.
"None of the statements we've taken have been useful so far. It's because none of the nurses seemed to have seen anything."
Sasuke stopped listening. Instead his attention turned to his pink haired girlfriend, who was looking at a white board facing the hospital bed with a stony expression. Her guarded eyes narrowed at Shino's statement, before she turned abruptly, grabbed the chart at the end of the hospital bed, and stalked out of the room, heading for the nurses station. Sasuke, who'd never seen Sakura in this state, followed her out with an almost morbid curiosity.
A loud crack reverberated down the hall as she slammed the chart on the station counter. Immediately the scramble of nurses and doctors stilled as all eyes landed on the seething co-head of the hospital.
"I have been gone for three days, and you already manage to lose a patient." She wasn't yelling. In fact, her voice was low. But it carried. Everyone in the hallway could hear her clearly, and it was terrifying. "Your job here is to attend to, monitor, and care for every patient, from the time they come in to the time they're released. Yet none of you saw anything related to Takahashi Ageha's disappearance?" Her tone was like a sharpened sword, and her absolute zero eyes seemed to drop the temperature of the hallway as they swept around. Her glare finally settled on one nurse in particular. "Miyagawa-san," Sasuke saw the nurse flinch and pale at her name, "you were her attending nurse. She's a high risk pediatric case. You should have been looking in on her every fifteen minutes." The terrified, guilty looking nurse squirmed and kept her gaze locked on the floor. Sakura's glare somehow managed to intensify more, after a couple seconds, her eyes swept across the hall as she spoke to the paralyzed crowed at large again. "Get your shit together. We don't need unobservant nurses who neglect their patients. If you can't do the basic requirements of your job, then get out."
Even in her seething rage, Sasuke couldn't help but admire the grace with which she walked to the stair well—more like a glide really. Her words hung in the air long after the echoing slam of the door behind her. No one moved or spoke. It took a full fifteen seconds before nurses and doctors alike started resuming their tasks with more purpose and organization than before.
He, for one, was amazed. He never knew Sakura could be so terrifying. He knew she could now fight, knew about her insane strength, knew of her explosive temper (which was much closer to the surface than it was three and a half years ago). Despite that, he'd never thought she could be intimidating. But that's what she just was. Impressively, beautifully, intimidating. Hell, she didn't even need the inhuman strength—give that glare and her opponent would run for cover. He prided himself on glaring and giving off intimidating auras, and apparently, Sakura of all people could give him a run for his money. The thought of it, weirdly enough, made him smirk as he pushed open the stair well to follow her.
A cold morning breeze swept through Sasuke's hair, as he leaned against the door to the roof. He watched quietly as Sakura folded in half at the waist, hugging her upright legs to her chest. So, stretching and gymnastics were still her go to activity when she was stressed or had a lot on her mind. She gave no indication of being aware of his presence, which was mildly troubling. She was potentially being stalked, and should have more awareness of her surroundings. His brow furrowed at the thought of how open she left herself. She straightened and he could see her back muscles rise as she stretched up, before bending backwards towards him. Her back arched as she dropped down further until her hands made contact with the concrete. Immediately, her eyes locked with his, and there wasn't a trace of surprise in them…maybe she was more aware than he realized. She calmly held his gaze, the earlier iciness completely gone, though her guard was still up. She brought her legs up into a handstand before gracefully rotating her hips and helicoptering her legs to her left, pushing off the ground and righting her self in one fluid motion.
"That was impressive." He wasn't sure whether he was referring to the gymnastics trick or her earlier outburst at the nurses station.
"You've seen me do cooler moves." She shook her head with a small smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"I meant the nurses station." He half lied.
"Oh. That. Sorry you had to see that." Her eyes pulled away from his.
"I just said it was impressive, didn't I?"
She let out a humorless laugh.
"How close were you with this girl?"
"Honestly, not very…It's likely she's going to die. She got to us too late for all the known treatments we've got to be effective. I was trying to find a new treatment to help her, but the odds are against her."
"What's the real reason you put yourself down as her emergency contact?"
"Because no one else would take responsibility for her…I didn't want her to be alone."
"Why would you open yourself up to the potential loss?"
"I'd rather take that than her having to go through all that pain and die alone."
Her statement hit far closer to home than he'd been prepared for, causing an explosion of warm heat to course through him. He pushed away from the door, moving to her to study her face carefully.
"You don't expect to see her again."
"Not alive, no. I don't doubt Squad 8, they're renowned trackers, but her condition wasn't good. However the kidnapper did it, it probably destabilized her…in the end, I couldn't do anything for her…" Her voice didn't quaver, completely level, albeit quiet. She was blaming herself, and it didn't sit well with him. His body impulsively pulled her closer, one hand wrapping around her shoulders while the other gently rested in her silky hair. If she was surprised, she didn't show it, accepting and returning the embrace immediately.
"You've done far more for her than you realize."
She looked up at him, searching his face with unsure eyes. Whatever she saw there must have been enough because the doubt melted, being replaced with a small, honest, smile.
"Thank you." She murmured quietly, her head settling against his chest again.
Sasuke tried not to focus on how right it felt to have her pulled against him, or on how his internal temperature couldn't seem to make up its damned mind. So instead, he replayed what Hinata had said about kidnapping victimology. There was no point in kidnapping Ageha for extortion, custody, ransom, trafficking…that left religious, maternal desire, and sexual. Odds are it wasn't sexual. She lived in the ICU and never got any visitors. The ICU was not a common hunting ground for pedophiles, it wasn't even like she was in the pediatrics ward. Maternal desire didn't really fit either, because those kinds of perpetrators targeted kids even younger in the hopes of raising them as their own. The goal was to raise a child, so they'd aim for a healthier kid they'd actually have a chance at raising. It could be religious, but that usually fell into cult behavior and again, Ageha hadn't received any visitors. There was no reason to kidnap her, she had no value. Unless…his eyes fell on Sakura. Unless it was to get to her. She'd even said it herself, the next victim would likely be a young female under the age of 26…
"Sakura…" Her big green eyes looked into his. He hesitated. He knew he had to tell her his suspicion, he'd promised not to leave her in the dark. But he really didn't want her to blame herself even more, which he knew she would. Her head cocked a little, waiting for him to continue, in a way that was so innocently captivating.
"What if…what if this is connected to our case?"
For a millisecond, nothing on her face changed as she absorbed this suggestion, then he watched her face flood with guilt. He'd been afraid of this. He was trying to come up with some rebuttal that this wasn't her fault, but the words died in his mouth when the strangest thing happened.
The guilt drained from her face, replaced by calculation, as she took in his suggestion and ran it through her own algorithm, placing these new pieces of the puzzle. She broke away from his hold and began pacing, muttering under her breath too quietly and quickly for him to hear.
He watched her with fascination—despite the far away look in her eye, she was so mesmerizingly present and alive when she was like this. He wondered about the way she organized her thoughts—what her internal headspace looked like. A whiteboard with all her charts and calculations drawn on? A messy library with books piled on the floor as she checked or added new data? Suddenly she stopped and looked up at him, brows furrowed.
"Are you suggesting this because of paranoia, or is there a tie?"
"It was a suggestion based on motives."
"What Hinata-chan was talking about earlier?"
"Hn," he gave an affirmative nod, "As a refugee orphan suffering from a deadly disease in the ICU with no visitors, she negates all points of motivation for a child abductor. Unless it's not about her…"
"If you're right, it proves your suspicion that the person watching me would be hospital personnel. They're the only ones who would know of my contact with her."
"It's a more direct and aggressive attack than what we've seen so far. Up until now everyone they've been using have been random low lives."
"But she is a female under 26, which follows my hypothesis. Threat to me or not, they were probably gonna go after a kid at some point for the sake of the experiment."
"Would that still apply to a kid as sick as Ageha though?"
Sakura bit her lip, her eyes clouded in thought. When she looked up at him again, she'd paled and looked nauseated.
"I doubt she'd be a successful…test subject. But it might be interesting for them scientifically…Those sick fucks!" She growled. Her disturbed look giving way to rage.
"Let's tell Squad 8 our theory."
Sasuke and Sakura drove back to his apartment to change quickly before heading into the station. They'd informed squad 8 of their theory, who after some quick discussion, decided that it was the motive that made the most sense. However, it didn't change much about their investigation since squad 7 hadn't found the lab location yet. Sakura ordered Ageha's terrified and guilt riddled attending nurse to get two phials of Ageha's blood and patient files, one set going to squad 8 while Sakura took the other. With the agreement that the two teams would keep each other closely informed of their cases and any new leads, Sasuke and Sakura took their leave.
Sasuke took a quick shower and threw on some clean clothes, finishing before Sakura, who was changing in the other bathroom. Deciding to be productive while he waited, he made some coffee, rice balls, and sliced up a tomato. He figured that while she needed to eat—he'd force her to do so if she argued—she probably wouldn't have much of an appetite given the circumstances, and that a more full breakfast wouldn't be appealing to her. But Sakura liked sweet things and this sort of meal appealed more to him than to her. He dug around his kitchen until he found an apple which he cut up. He didn't find much else, in fact he realized his kitchen wasn't all that well stocked. He made the mental note that they'd need to go grocery shopping.
"You made breakfast? I figured we'd just go straight to the station."
"It's still early." He said, turning to her and stopping dead. His insides grew incredibly hot, his mouth felt dry, and he could feel sweat prickling at the back of his neck just looking at her. "What…are you wearing?" He could hear the tightness in his voice and hoped to god she'd missed it.
"Hm?" She looked down at herself. He'd asked the wrong question. He could clearly see what she was wearing. A long sleeved low cut red shirt with white trim that crossed in the front and trailed down her sides in two tails ending a little below her hips, exposing her midriff and lower back. Tight black pants clung to the curves of her hips and down the length of her legs, blending seamlessly with the kitten heeled sleek black boots she was wearing, making her petite legs look longer. Her silky hair looked extra soft and was curling slightly at the bottoms. Her eyes were lined with gold and her long lashes looked darker and more full than usual, making the green of her irises pop.
He'd never seen so much of Sakura before. She'd always dressed more conservatively than many of the other girls in their class. Even her training clothes weren't so form fitting. He could clearly see the hint of abs peaking through her flat stomach and she wasn't even flexing…it was a lot to take in this early in the morning.
"Oh. You said Suigetsu had a weakness for women, so…" Immediately he felt his mood turn stormy. Suigetsu would salivate over Sakura if she were makeup-less in sweatpants and a baggy sweatshirt. It was becoming increasingly clear to Sasuke that Sakura was unaware of how gorgeous she was. And the thought that his girlfriend dressed like this for that piranha toothed jackass was gnawingly infuriating. She shifted uncomfortably, making him soften.
"You didn't…" He wanted to tell her that she didn't need to do that. But they had no leads, the case was escalating quickly, and Suigetsu was their best bet for information. And looking like that, if Sakura so much as looked at him, he'd tell her anything she wanted to know. She was doing what needed to be done for the case. He knew that. He could tell she was self conscious to by the way she kept shifting her weight. "…Hn."
Sasuke turned to pour their coffee, not even thinking as he added a spoon of sugar and some cinnamon to hers, the way she liked. He handed her the mug without looking at her.
"I don't have cream…I'll pick some up when we go grocery shopping."
"Ok." She settled at the table, her eyes scanning the food he'd laid out. When they landed on the apples she paused before looking up and giving him a smile that made his insides melt.
"Thanks for breakfast Sasuke-kun!"
His body acted on impulse as he leaned in and kissed her hard. Though caught off guard, she was quick enough to respond, and it wasn't long until he'd pulled her onto his lap, his hands roaming the expanses of skin her shirt left exposed. He'd never touched this much of her, having always kept his hands locked on "safe zones," but he couldn't seem to stop himself and Sakura didn't seem to mind in the slightest. Her skin was so soft and the gentle ridges of her abs were so gratifying to his sense of touch.
She pulled away first, far too soon for his liking, cocking her head to the side in a way that made him want to crush her lips back onto his again.
"What was that for?" He regarded her flushed face not entirely sure how to answer. She'd said words of affirmation was one of her love languages…but Sasuke wasn't good with words.
"That…was so I don't kill our witness later." Sakura was smart. She'd figure out the implications of that sentence. It took less than a second for her cheeks to tint pink and her lips to pull into a breath catching smile.
"Well, in that case…" She pressed her mouth against his clearing any thoughts from his mind.
Sasuke was clinging to the memory of her lips against his that morning in a jaw clenching attempt to stop himself from pummeling the white haired fish fucker across from him. The interrogation had started out well enough. The plan was for Naruto, Kakashi, and Sakura to listen from behind the two way glass, while Sasuke questioned Suigetsu alone. Sakura would join in earlier or later depending on how forthcoming he decided to be with his answers.
At first, Suigestu answered Sasuke's questions easily—but these were the questions that covered what they already knew: Orochimaru was the one who experimented on Suigetsu, their had been someone else in the lab with him that he never got a good look at, many of Orochimaru's test subjects came to him willingly looking for boosts to their physical strength and power, and the rest of the subjects were trafficked to him by the Akatsuki. At that was the point Suigetsu decided to become a little shit. So in came Sakura.
She walked in with three coffees. "Sorry I'm late Sasuke-kun!" She said placing a coffee in front of him before turning to give Suigetsu his. "You must be Suigetsu. It's a pleasure to meet you." She said with a brilliant smile.
"It certainly can be later." Suigetsu said with a sharklike grin. Sasuke's eye twitched. "You are way too hot to be a cop."
"Well actually I'm a doctor."
"Mm. That's more like it. I'd let you examine me any day."
"Speaking of examinations," Sasuke cut in sharply, "What exactly did Orochimaru do to you?"
"He had me in a tank of salt water most of the time, he injected me with a bunch of shit—don't know what exactly…hurt like hell, but the experiments gave me full conscious control over my biochemistry." He smirked at Sakura. "I can go as long as you want, sweetheart, and I recharge quick, all I need is a drink of water and I'm good to go." Sasuke felt the urge to commit murder grow in his gut.
"What was it like in the tank? Were you conscious?" Sakura asked, her eyes glittering flirtatiously.
"Yeah sometimes. But I was pretty out of it."
"So how'd you know someone else was working with Orochimaru?" Sasuke asked.
"I heard him."
"Even through the tank? The water didn't distort your hearing? That's impressive." Sakura praised, leaning in a little. She was too good of an actress.
"My perfect ears aren't the only thing about me that's impressive." He said with a wink. Sasuke fought desperately to hold in his growl. There was a pounding against the two way glass and some inaudible shouting that could only be caused by Naruto. That shit was thick and soundproof, just how loud was that idiot being? Not that he could blame him. The loud mouth was something of a protective brother towards Sakura and clearly Suigetsu's disgusting flirting was getting to him as much as it was getting to Sasuke.
"Could you describe his voice then?" She asked with interest, completely ignoring Naruto's banging.
"Yeah. He was a baritone, smooth toned. Real intellectual sounding—big vocab words and medical jargon. Respectful of hierarchy, always called that snake faced weirdo 'Lord Orochimaru.' Pronounced consonants. He had a really sharp way of speaking."
"That's amazing! You really caught that much detail." Suigetsu smirked at her compliment. "While you were there, did you happen to catch anything about the other experiments?"
"Specifically one that causes black marks to spread across the body before causing extreme bodily mutation?" Sasuke added.
"Sounds like the curse mark." Suigetsu said. "That's been an ongoing experiment. He was working on that before I got there and I guess he's continued it since I left. I think I was a side project, honestly. Although I heard him say that whatever they did with me was gonna be a useful benchmark for the curse mark project."
"So he really just let you go when the experiment was complete?"
"Yup. Although if he'd had your legs, I would have found every excuse to stay."
Sakura giggled a little making Sasuke picture slow and painful ways to kill the man in front of him. "I'm a bit surprised he let you go so easily. If I were conducting an experiment like the one done on you, I'd want the test subject monitored, at least for the first few years after."
"Nope. No monitors that I know of. He did tell me to find him if anything went wrong biologically."
"Did he leave you a calling card?" Sasuke asked.
"Nah. It's on me to track him down."
"How?"
"Find the people that know." Suigetsu replied with a shrug. "I'd go to that redheaded psycho. She knows everything about everyone in the criminal underworld. Actually, you met her—that bitch, Karin. She was all over you. Hey you two never fucked, right?"
Sasuke felt Sakura tense next to him and shot Suigetsu the dirtiest glare in his arsenal. The white haired man ignored it and continued. "I'd hit her up if you're serious about finding that freak. She'd be thrilled to get your call. Probably wouldn't even charge you for the info. Well, not money at least, she might ask for something else though." He finished with a smirk.
"Would you mind if I run a few tests before you go?" Sakura asked, and Sasuke heard the barely audible traces of tightness in her voice.
"I wouldn't mind being prodded by you…of course, I wouldn't mind being the one doing the prodding either." Suigestu said, positively eye fucking her. Sasuke nearly snapped the pen in half.
"How often does he buy from Akatsuki?" He asked sharply, trying to divert that assholes attention from her.
"They check in once a month but he usually buys twice a year."
"Did they come to him or did Orochimaru go to them?"
"They came to him."
"Is it always the same agent he deals with?"
"No. I heard him say a couple of different names: Sasori, Kakazu, Konan—that voice was female, and Itachi." Sasuke stiffened.
"Itachi?"
"Yeah he came through a couple of times. I only saw him once and he wasn't wearing that black coat with the red clouds that the rest of them wore so I thought he may have been a private client separate from them. The other times I only heard his voice and like I said—I was pretty fucked up with all the shit they were pumping me with. Heard him talking about shipments—probably for some tailor made stimulants or steroids but hell, maybe it was about new test subjects."
"That was a detail you left out the first time we started working together." His tone had become murderously glacial, in contradiction with the burning rage shooting through his body like wildfire.
A long buzzing silence pervaded the interrogation room. The homicidal energy Sasuke radiated filled the space and made the two others still with tension. No one moved. It was a whole three minutes before Suigetsu braved speaking again.
"Like I said man, I was pretty out of it…I didn't realize it was the Uchiha Itachi or that he was connected to the Akatsuki until I caught wind of that rumor waaaay later." Suigetsu paused briefly but when it became apparent that his placation had no effect he added, "It wasn't exactly a good time for me that I was trying to remember. And hearing Itachi and shit—I never thought that was important or anything—I don't fuck with Akatsuki, they're bad news, and—" He was cut off by the abrupt scrape of Sasuke's chair as he stood and stormed out of the room, the door slamming shut loudly behind him.
The small basement gym of the station completely emptied very shortly after Sasuke came storming in. Immediately he went to work terrorizing a sandbag, making it swing wildly around on its chain.
He shouldn't be this angry, it wasn't like he'd gotten new information. Before, it had been a highly likely rumor that Itachi was an Akatsuki member. Now it was confirmed. It shouldn't be effecting him this strongly…apparently he was a part of the human trafficking aspect of the group too…why was that surprising to him? Why was it hurting him so much? His brother was a family annihilator. He'd killed their beloved parents, in front of him. Of course he was capable of human trafficking—had he really tried to hope otherwise?
Apparently. Because he felt such a crushing amount of disappointment, disbelief, and bitterness mixed in with the blinding amount of rage racing through him. He needed to catch him before Itachi could disgrace the Uchiha name any further. In the farthest back corner of his mind, a small guilt ridden voice whispered that this must have been how Naruto and Sakura felt while he was away—that surely they must have heard some of the crimes he'd committed and wanted to do whatever it took to stop him from sinking lower—but it was such a quiet whisper that he didn't hear it over the way the rest of him screamed for Itachi's blood.
"If that punching bag's giving you trouble, I'll break it for you." Her voice dowsed him, cooling the flames and clearing the smoke from his mind.
"Hn." He stopped his assault on the sandbag, and caught it, steadying it from its wild swinging.
He felt Sakura draw up next to him, but didn't look over. Both just stood there. After a while, he heard her sigh.
"Go sit." She gently pushed him towards a bench, the contact stilling his anger. He numbly complied. She wandered away but returned in less than a second with a first aid kit, gracefully settling on the bench next to him. She took one of his hands in both of hers and began cleaning it. It was only then that he became aware of the throbbing pain in his knuckles. In his rage, he hadn't pulled on any gloves or hand wraps.
"I must be an idiot…" He murmured numbly.
"There's nothing wrong with wishing that someone you're bonded to isn't completely drowning in darkness."
He finally looked at her, eyes wide with shock. How did she know? Her gaze stayed on her work as she tended to his hand.
"I've had this thought a lot—you and your brother, you two were close, weren't you?" She asked gently.
"Hn." That surprised him even more. He never told anyone how close he and Itachi once were.
"Thought so. To be so untrusting with me and Naruto—even now you still have a wall up with us—it wouldn't be like that unless you were betrayed by someone you fully trusted. Someone you told everything to…you and your brother must have been incredibly close."
His breath caught in his throat. He dropped his gaze to her hands as they tended to his wounds. After a few dry swallows, he finally found his voice.
"My brother, he…my father never had much time for me, and my mother was…loving but, she didn't always have time either and my brother…he was…perfect. He was good at everything…He always made time for me…to help me train or with my homework or…if he couldn't he'd po—" It abruptly occurred to him what he was about to reveal and immediately stopped himself. That, she didn't need to know about. At least not yet. He wasn't done though. For so long, he'd buried what Itachi had meant to him, and now that he started digging up that grave, he felt the need to show her the mangled corpse of him and his brother's relationship.
"I wanted…I wanted to be just like him. He was my hero…what he thought meant everything to me…He was so…caring and—" His rage surged again, his hand clenching into a fist. "And to think the whole time I was looking up to a lie. I wanted to be just like a mass murderer."
"No." Her gentle but firm declaration made his gaze jump back to her pure green eyes, which were trained on his face as she released his bandaged hand. "You wanted to be just like your perfect, caring brother who always made time for you. Clearly you didn't want to be just like a mass murderer, because when you almost went down that road, you turned around and came back."
She spoke with utter confidence and there was no trace of doubt on her face. As quickly as it surged, his anger dissipated, replaced by warmth. Her eyes dropped to his other hand, gently picking it up and cleaning it. When she spoke again, the confidence in her tone was far less pronounced.
"I don't think you were looking up to a lie either."
"Sakura he—"
"He left you alive."
That brought his mounting disbelief and annoyance screeching to a halt.
"He left you alive," she repeated. "I'm sure he gave you some bullshit reason for it, and leaving you alive after all you'd seen and lost was undoubtedly cruel, but I don't think he could kill you. The same way you couldn't kill Naruto that day he tried to bring you back, right after you left. You gave him some bullshit reason too."
"…I left him alive on a whim…" He whispered. The same words he'd said to Naruto a year and a half later, during their next confrontation. Sakura gave a small laugh.
"You gave him that weak a reason and expected us to believe it?" Her face became serious again, pausing mid bandaging to look into his eyes. "Your bond with your brother wasn't a lie. You felt it. That makes it real. There's nothing wrong with wishing that someone you're bonded to isn't completely drowning in darkness," she repeated. "It doesn't make you stupid. What he did to you is unforgivable. But you're not an idiot for wishing that that's where his crimes would end."
How she managed to simultaneously be the rain that put out his fiery rage and the sun that thawed his glacier of a heart was baffling to him. She was incredibly precious.
"Sakura…Thank you." She gave him a warm smile before focusing her attention back to bandaging his hand. She worked in a calm silence while he observed her, unable to pull his eyes away. She only broke the silence when she finished securing the bandages.
"By the way, if you ever leave me alone with that perverted ass goblin again, I will rip his dick off, chase you down, and impale you with it." He smirked.
"You sure you want me there? I'd end up holding him down for you. Or just killing him myself." It took a second for his brain to catch up and realize that he had left Sakura in a room alone with Suigetsu. For who knows how long. His smirk was quickly replaced by a scowl.
"He didn't try anything, did he?"
"Nah. Just made a couple more gross comments, shook my hand, and checked me out in the most obvious way possible. Ugh, I feel unclean." She sighed.
"Don't. There isn't anything that bastard could say or do that would taint you."
Sakura's hair flurried around her as she whipped her head towards him. Her clear open eyes wide with surprise and her cheeks tinting pink. Then she was smiling. Brilliantly. His heart stuttered a little.
"Did you run your tests yet?"
"Nope. I wanted to check on you first."
"I'll go with you."
"Not this time."
"Why's that?" He asked sharply.
"Too many sharp objects in the lab. You might kill him."
"What happened to don't leave you alone in a room with him?"
"Already covered. Kakashi-sensei will babysit."
"Hn." He didn't like it, but she had a point about not letting him near sharp objects while in the proximity of Suigetsu and Sakura.
"Besides. You and Naruto have work to do. His statements gave us a lot of leads on the accomplice."
"You mean the vocal profile…we should share that info with squad 8 too."
"Yeah…and you should call that girl." Her tone was tight.
"Sakura. You don't think this girl's a threat to you, do you?" He threw her question from the day before back at her.
She turned her face away. "Of course not." Right. That was believable. It's not like she didn't have fair reason to doubt him, and her standing in his life, given what happened the first time around. But it seemed like she assumed she meant less to him than he did to her, and that did not sit well with him.
"You're the only girl I ever kissed, the only person I've let stay in my apartment, the only person I've shared a bed with…the only person I've ever talked about my family with…I know you don't trust that I won't leave—I deserve much worse than that…But on the off chance that I do, it'll never be because there's someone else."
Sakura didn't move right away, her face still averted. After a very long pause, he finally heard her murmur, "Fuck it, we're alone." And then her lips were moving against his own, sparking electric shocks down his skin.
She pulled away quickly, which was a mild relief but highly disappointing at the same time.
"Don't worry I won't do that again—while we're here at least. It's not the place for it and I know you don't like that kinda thing. I don't either, really. It just felt like it was needed."
"Ah." He nodded with a small smile. He understood. She hadn't had words in that moment—that was the only response she could give. And they were alone, so while it wasn't the most comfortable, it didn't cross any lines. He stood up, taking her hands and pulling her up with him.
"Come on. The sooner you get those tests done, the sooner fish dick leaves."
Author's note: I don't know why Sasuke's so much easier to write. Maybe cause Sakura gets the brunt of all the science/medical stuff it's harder. I think I may have done the Suigetsu Sasuke relationship a bit of a disservice. Sasuke doesn't hate him or anything. He just doesn't like when he flirts with Sakura. He doesn't like it when anyone flirts with her. But I feel like he'd have a scale of who is more worthy of her and thus receives less hostility. Like Lee. Lee's a good guy so while Sasuke doesn't like Lee flirting with her, it doesn't trigger the same homicidal instinct as Suigetsu...It also might just be the level of crudeness though.
I'm thinking of starting another story (I'd still keep going with this one, I'm not jumping ship or anything). It'd track with Naruto, just like, if Sakura had been treated as a main character along side Sasuke and Naruto, and if they'd given her a little bit more to work with. It's something I've had in my head for a while, I'm just debating on whether to actually put it on paper or not. If that sounds interesting to you, feel free to let me know, or just keep an eye out.
Thank you so so so much for all the favs/follows and reviews! Please keep reviewing, I love hearing what you have to say! It inspires me to keep going and gives me ideas when I'm stuck so please keep it up! Thanks for reading :)