I know that my writing style isn't that good, and my english isn't better, but I'm doing all I can to adjust their level. Meanwhile, I'm very grateful to Sasusakuhart for her review and correction of the writing of this chapter and the previous one ! Enormous thank you !

Chapter 7: Recovery

The paint was peeling off from the Uchiha crest painted on the walls of the last standing house in the compound, releasing countless flecks that quickly dissipated into the rubbles before Sasuke's eyes.

Only a couple of years ago this scene would have enraged him, but now he felt completely detached from his clan's destiny.

Closing his eyes pensively, Sasuke thought about the different meanings behind the clan symbol. Uchiha. A fan, like Madara's lethal weapon, while the white, black and red colors were meant to remind of the sharingan. Such eyes would die with Sasuke, unless someone extract them from his corpse.

All what's left of the once grandiose compound was now the library, the sanctuary and its mausoleum. Those were the last places to hold the Uchiha symbol, and would soon turn into vestiges and artifacts.

Sakura run through the ruins of the Uchiha compound, looking for Sasuke. That morning, the Hokage had charged all the men available with the task of clearing away the rubbles from the compound, and one of those men, one of Tsunade's ex-subordinate who knew Sasuke, had told Sakura where to find him. Advancing further in the compound, she noticed that all the buildings have been brought down and felt a pang in her heart at the sight of the downfall of the once glorious Uchiha clan. She couldn't fantom how painful this view was for Sasuke.

When she finally found him, her mind went blank from the sight in front of her. Blood. That was the only thing her mind could register looking at the last Uchiha standing on the rubbles of a newly-demolished mansion, a crimson puddle slowly forming at his feet. His blood. Worried, she ran to him noticing that there was something muddy and white too, there, on his left side.

When she reached for Sasuke's left side, he gave her a rapid look before gazing back at the broken Uchiha emblem in the rubbles. Sasuke's expression was stoic unreadable as always, but Sakura could sense the inner turmoil troubling her lover.

"Sasuke-kun! You're hurt !" she cried in panic.

He reacted slowly and checked his left arm, just to discover that there was no arm anymore. His prosthetic limb had exploded, probably due to the extensive use of chakra he did while demolishing the compound with his Chidori. He had been cautious during the whole process, but something with this last house made him loose control; it was his home. His parents', Itachi's, and everything was gone now, forever.

"I'm fine. I just didn't control the chakra amount I channeled in my arm."

The loss of the limb caused some damage to the nerves near the edge of his stump. Sakura cut his left sleeve to check on his arm and started healing his wound. While she was taking care of his injury, she observed how Sasuke was painfully looking at that dear symbol.

The white and red fan meant a lot to both of them. If her chakra's nature was anything near Earth, she would have reassemble those rocks to fix the Uchiha emblem. At least as a token, just like she was fixing his cellular tissues. After all, Sakura couldn't change the past, couldn't change the Uchiha history, from Madara's imperialism and peace program to Itachi's sacrifice. But, as Haruno Sakura, she was at least able to cure the current Uchiha problem. She hoped so.

"Sasuke-kun. Please, open up to me! What's troubling you so much?"

After looking at her in silence for a longtime, Sasuke finally lifted his face to the empty blue sky and replied "It's the end. It's over. I have no reason to cherish this symbol or wear it anymore." Releasing a tense laugh he continued, while smiling at Sakura, "you may help me replace all the clothes having this symbol with new ones."

Hopelessness, dismay. That's what he was feeling.

He started walking to the exit of the compound, suddenly eager to leave that haunted place, soon followed by Sakura. Sasuke was pondering how his life was going to be from now on, as a simple shinobi – with not so simple talents – without the weight of the clan on his shoulders, with only a duty to his partner's happiness and the village's peace and security.

The word partner had a weird ring to him, and he stopped to look at the woman behind him. Sakura halted too, looking warily at him. He lost his second prothesis, and he probably wasn't going to replace it anytime soon considering that he was against the medical solution idea from the very beginning. Sasuke seemed to dislike medicine and all its revolutionary offerings. It would be very hard to impress him about trying to cure that illness.

Dumbfounded, she looked at Sasuke offering his only remaining hand to her. What did that gesture mean?

"What?" she questioned, perplexed.

A tired smiled followed by a "your hand" was Sasuke's answer. He wanted to hold her hand, even if they were outside and someone could see them, especially since they were heading to the gates of the compound, where the majority of the workers were gathered. And after that, there were the familiar streets of Konoha, where they could meet or, even worse, her parents. If that happened, there was no doubt that they would be pestered by endless questions and inquiries. Damn it. Seeing her reluctance, Sasuke reached out and took her hand without waiting for her reaction, then he resumed his walking, this time pulling her with him.

Sakura felt a little embarrassed when they passed by the workers, many of whom noticed the couple and gave them weird looks and shocked face, like she was playing with a wild dangerous animal…

Sasuke led her to Ichiraku's restaurant, where the young couple decided to share lunch. Sakura noticed with surprise and excitement that Sasuke hadn't let go of her hand until they sat at a table. They ate their launch in silence. Sakura sent some wary looks at Sasuke with her reddened face, suddenly feeling embarrassed by his closeness during the meal.

"TEMEEEEEEEE !"

There was only one person in Konoha who addressed Sasuke with that rude personal pronoun: Naruto.

"SAKURA-CHAN! WHY DID YOU LIE TO ME ?"

"About… What?" Sakura, shocked by Naruto's sudden appearance and behavior, chocked on her food while simultaneously trying to hide her reddened cheeks and to feign normalcy.

"What what?! You two are going out together! I knew it!"

"No... Naruto it's not like that…" She looked at Sasuke waiting for him to deny Naruto's claims, but she was apparently the only one who cared to correct their blonde friend. Sasuke was silently eating, completely unmoved by Naruto's outburst, only slightly annoyed by his yelling.

"No! No! And NO! Last week in Kakashi-sensei's office you said that you were not dating anyone ! But…" looking furiously at Sasuke "you were dating this ENERGUMEN!"

Sasuke's eyes met Naruto's for an instant, and gave him his mocking oh looser's smile, before getting back to his food. Naruto was fuming, and even Sakura was puzzled by Sasuke's reaction and why wasn't him reacting in a more appropriate way.

"Kiba saw him holding your hand! And Shino had been very clear that he was holding your hand !"

"Ah… Haha… I felt a bit dizzy earlier… So Sasuke-kun helped me walking.. And… Emm… That's all !" tried Sakura with a fake smile.

"Saaa-suuu-keee ?" spelled Naruto, slowly turning to face his friend in such closeness their faces almost touched.

"What?" spat Sasuke, swallowing the last drops of his ramen.

"Teme… And Sakura-chan… Are…" Naruto stopped, a disgusted expression on his face "Is that right ?"

"Naruto, please sto-" Sakura's sentence was cut by Sasuke's unexpected answer : "Yes."

Stunned, Sakura's eyes widened and fixed on Sasuke's calm figure next to her. Naruto paled and put his knee slowly on Sasuke's chair. "Is that so?" he turned to Sakura with a bright face "REALLY SAKURA-CHAN ?"

"Eh… Well…" – Sakura didn't know how to answer.

Sakura had had a very long and tiring day. After finishing her shift in the hospital she couldn't wait to go back home and take some well-deserved rest. That lunch had been one of the weirdest she ever had.

Naruto was incredibly happy to learn about their relationship and expressed his hopes about seeing them married soon. Sasuke, unreadable as always, never reacted to his friend rambling about their future together and kept calm. She wondered for a moment if Sasuke ever get embarrassed by anything considering how it seemed that nothing could possibly disturb his mental peace, before Naruto asked cheekily, with a mischievous grin on his lips "Have you slept together already?". Sasuke instantly blushed, but quickly recovered and stood from his seat. It seemed that Naruto had finally managed to get on his nerves. Sasuke rose brusquely from his seat, paid for their meals and left without a word, leaving Sakura to face Naruto's countless questions. He was happy for both of them.

After parting ways with Naruto, who teasingly wished her good night, Sakura reached her home, only to be met by Sasuke's sullen form. It seemed like he was waiting for her.

Surprised, she approached him and asked "Sasuke-kun! What are you doing here?"

Sasuke turned his head to her and then move his index and middle finger to poke her forehead "I came to take you. I want you." What's all he said.

Saddened by his words, Sakura blushed and lowered her eyes in embarrassment. She understood the meaning of his words; he only wanted sex from her. She never deluded herself into thinking that he was in love with her, but the admission pained her nonetheless. She longed to be loved by him more than anything, but they just weren't there yet.

"Alright, I just need to change my clothes and maybe take a shower and I'll be right back."

She stepped closer to him in order to enter her home when Sasuke suddenly grabbed her wrist, not letting her pass. He then entangled her arm with his and spoke, this time very careful to make himself understood: "I want you to move in with me. Come settle with me."

To say that Sakura was flabbergasted by Sasuke's recent behavior would be an understatement. In the laps of 3 months he have revealed one of his deeper secrets to her, declared his intention to be with her, kissed her, made love to her -scratch that- simply slept with her, made their relationship public and was now asking her to live with him. Obviously, that last thing meant that she had to move out from her parent's house… And tell her parent where she was going to live and with whom! Great.

"I… You mean that… I should tell my…"

"Ah, Sakura!" the familiar voice of her father resonated from behind Sakura. That couldn't possibly be real, her dad had just arrived! He still wasn't close enough to notice the closeness between Sakura and Sasuke, but he was steadily getting closer and would eventually notice it. Sakura struggled to free her arm from Sasuke's grip, but she only managed to bring their bodies closer when Sasuke strengthened his grip on her.

"Sasuke-kun" she whispered, embarrassed by the situation.

"Is there something wrong Sakura?" asked Kizashi, who was starting to be unsettled by his daughter's strange behavior and her closeness with this dark stranger. He didn't recognize the man, and that was weird: Kizashi knew all of Sakura's friends personally. He observed the man in front of him closely for a few minutes, trying to catch something that could help him identify the stranger. Unfortunately, neither his face nor his clothes gave away any hints about his identity.

Sakura tried again to push Sasuke away, without results. What was he trying to do? Sasuke was behaving strangely again. Kizashi stepped even closer now, it was too late to try to hide their closeness. Turning to face his daughter, Kizashi got a glimpse of Sasuke's back, that still held the proud Uchiha crest. Sakura saw her father's expression morphing into one of pure terror. She understood what her father was feeling right now; anger toward Sasuke, fear that he might hurt her again, and finally hurt because his only daughter hadn't told him about her relationship with him. Surely they, as her parents, had a right to know about her only child happiness, hadn't they?

But more than anything, more than the secrecy and the night flirting, what really unsettled Kizashi the most was the fan-shaped symbol on the man's back.

"Uchiha." Kizashi spelled glaring at Sasuke, his usually joyful voice now cold and somehow dangerous.

"Dad – it's… let me explain.. We.."

The old man remembered all the times his young daughter would talk about the Uchiha boy when they were still in the ninja academy and, later, in the same genin team. He was only a civilian, but even he knew about the Uchiha massacre that occurred over a decade ago. When his daughter fell into depression some years ago, he learned that the Uchiha guy had left the village. He easily linked the events. If they were together now, that surely meant that Sakura was happy in a way, but the aura this guy was releasing was too cold for Sakura to handle. Flowers need warmth and sun. But the cherry blossom's flowers bloom in darkness and cold after all. Meanwhile, Sakura's attempts to explain the situation only made him even more suspicious and cautious; why was she trying to hide her relationship from him? Was something going wrong? Did he hurt her?

Kizashi's line of thoughts was cut by Sasuke's blunt and laconic declaration "Haruno-san, I'm dating your daughter."

Sakura froze, her face now completely red. She tried for the last time to free herself from Sasuke, and when he refuse to let her go she buried her face in his shoulder, way too embarrassed to face her dad now.

"I came to her today so we could inform you, her parents, about our relationship."

It was a weird situation for Sasuke. He spoked firmly as always, but a slight blush had crept his way to his neck and ears. Sasuke pondered if to add another declaration but hesitated, afraid of Sakura's reaction.

Kizashi smiled at the man and lifted his hand to him asking for his to shake hands. Only then did Sasuke release Sakura's arm and, after straightening his posture so to fully face Kizashi, took his hand. Sakura, still embarrassed but somehow relieved, gripped Sasuke's long and empty sleeve. She noticed he had changed his torn clothes after lunch. When she took it, Kizashi noticed the absence of his left limb wondered what type of unfathomable hardships this man had faced in his young life.

What an evening, Sakura thought while walking to Sasuke's apartment later that night. Her mom had cried when she learned about her relationship with Sasuke and her intention to move in with Sasuke, but when she finally told them she was heading out with Sasuke, they understood and wished her a good night.

Everything went well. Sasuke had what he wanted, but again was too cold and showed no interest in her needs and well being. His every touch made her burn with desire and wanting, craving for him to please her, but she couldn't bring herself to ask. She didn't want to bother him or make him upset. What if he was simply inexperienced or even unable to do so? That was a weird thought. The almighty Uchiha Sasuke was too weak to please his woman. She laughed inwardly at the idea while playing with his hair. He was laying beside her, his back to her, again.

She had been having sex with him daily for a week, but she never felt the desire rising in her as strongly as tonight. Maybe she was getting frustrated by every time she got no pleasure from the act.

Sakura pondered waking him up and ask him, but didn't want to disturb his slumber. He was sleeping peacefully for once, and he deserved that. She just needed to sleep, too. Forcing herself, she tried to think about anything but her desire and pleasure, she spent 2 hours moving restless on her side of the bed, but in vain.

She was about to wake him up, but stopped when she thought again about the possibility that his sterility made him sexually weak. If that was the case, maybe her request would appear to him as a critic or a reminder of his illness. Bringing out the side of her that was Tsunade's prized pupil and best medic of the leaf, she revalued his sexual performances, trying to identify any possible symptom of disfunctions, but she found none. His performances were strong even if uncaring, and even in matter of release it felt normal. Obviously she could only rely on her medical knowledge, since she had no experience in bed besides Sasuke.

What if she woke him up and tried to seduce him ? Would she succeed? Suddenly she felt awfully self-conscious. Sasuke never praised her body, never made her feel beautiful. Or the opposite, for the matter. Probably she just wasn't attractive enough for him. These negative thoughts seemed to calm her libido for a moment, but her chakra was still furiously circulating in the 7th circuit, the one connected to the sexual energy. She thought of his earlier touches on her breast and how good they made her feel, and unconsciously she started touching them in the same way.

It felt good, and it slightly calmed her desire. She thought that if she stayed there she could end up waking him up, so she moved to the bathroom and entered the bathtub. Turning the lights off, laying in that darkness, she silently enjoyed herself while images of the man she loved never left her mind.

It was bad to think of him. Not because of what she was doing, they're officially together after all, but because thinking of him made her feel good as much as it made her feel bad. Was she going to be forced to please herself every time ? were there no chances that Sasuke would ever please her like that? Maybe she's not attractive. Maybe all she deserved in bed was being next to him and please him and anything else was just too much to ask for her. Her body was going hotter and colder within moments, she felt sick. She couldn't feel anything but the burning desire that was torturing her. Crying over her miserable self, she thought that maybe all of that was karma. She had probably been an awful person in her past life and had committed awful sins. And now she was paying for it. She should work on keeping herself calm and accepting the minimum of attention, love, care and pleasure Sasuke was going to provide her, because there couldn't possibly be more than that. And who knows, he could even leave her. What was she to him after all? Just… A date. Or a partner.

Walking in the corridor, Sasuke stopped in front of the bathroom. He could feel Sakura's chakra beyond the door, it was very disturbed but no danger in sight. Not just her chakra, but her voice was strong enough to hear that she was trying to stop a crying. She was crying again after a sexual intercourse. Checking her chakra could give him a hint or two about her situation. The inspection with his Sharingan perplexed him. What wasn't going well with her is the 7th circuit, the sexual one. It was extremely perturbed.

"Sakura ?"

When Sakura opened her eyes, she saw Sasuke above her. It was day already. She had slept in the bathtub, naked. She was happy Sasuke didn't saw her hands anywhere near her sensitive areas, it would be so awkward.

"Why did you sleep here ?"

Still having wet reddened eyes, Sakura couldn't answer but bow her head down, hiding slowly her parts. Her desire was still devouring her. Lifting her chin up, Sasuke asked with a more serious tone, activating his Sharingan this time "I'm asking you, why ?" He sounded so authoritarian on her. It made her heat go stronger.

"I don't know what's wrong with you. But if you're getting sick, I can take care of you that way."

"Someone's words may save me.
Therefore, my surroundings won't change.
Anything I may think of is dreadful."

MEJIBRAY - Paradigm Paradox

Next Chapter : Cure