A.N.
To those of you that are reading this please not that there are two stories before this one. They are called Slowly Slipping Awayand Gravity both are found on my profile. The other two stories followed the manga as closely as I possibly could, but this part of the series is completely original and takes place 4 years after the war.
Thank you for reading!
Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters do NOT belong to me. Naruto belongs to Misashi Kishimoto.
Sayuri and any characters that have not and will not appear in the manga/or anime are completely original.
Reviews are welcomed and encouraged! Thank you!
Caution
He was warm.
He felt a soft body pressed against his. "Sasuke…" it moaned his name and he looked up from her neck. The soft piece of flesh held a few bruises here and there, his hands were tangled in auburn hair as her body pressed closer to his. "Sasuke…" she moaned again, biting her lip as she stared at him through half lidded eyes. He went back to his ministrations, one hand sliding down the side of her body, moving up and down the slopes of her curves the other tangled in her hair as she squirmed underneath him. He dipped his head back to her neck where he continued to bite, suck, and kiss the reddening area.
He felt one of her legs slide up his side and wrap around his waist pressing him closer to her. He groaned at the warm sensation and rubbed his nose, softly, up her neck to her ear, where he nipped. She squirmed again when he kissed it. "Sayuri…"
Sasuke sat up with a sharp intake of breath. His heart was beating so fast he could hear it. He felt warm and put out. With a hiss he brushed his hair back as he realized where he was. The moonlight was the only thing illuminating the room, and on the couch lay Sayuri. He sighed and shook his head. This wasn't the first time his dreams had crossed the line from innocent and flirting, to more intimate. Sasuke attributed it before to teenaged hormones, and now…well…
Black eyes went back to staring at the sleeping young woman on the couch. Lips parted, one arm over her head the other over her abdomen, the curve of her hip visible as she was laying on her side, facing him.
It was definitely something more. The dreams were reoccurring constantly, sometimes with the same scenarios. Other times it started off with one thing, followed by them getting tangled up together, and ending with his frustration. What really should have tipped him off was the fact that he had both of his arms, but like always it never does. He stood up and made his way to the restroom for a needed cold shower.
XXX
Sayuri blinked her red and blue eyes open early that morning. This time she lived her nightmare out longer. She slowly sat up on shaking arms and cast a glance at Sasuke sleeping soundly on the bed. She felt a burning at the corner of her eyes but shook it off. It was just a nightmare nothing more nothing less. She was safe.
The sun began to rise when her trembling finally settled. She leaned forward still trying to calm her own heart beat before standing up and moving to change. Closing the restroom door behind her with a gentle click, she turned on the faucet, splashing cold water on her face. She looked up to see her reflection on the mirror, wet bangs stuck to her face here and there, her eyes standing out more than anything thanks to the dark circles beneath them.
Those red and blue colored orbs that she had gotten back during the war, when she stopped rejecting her chakra, only reminded her of what she had lost. Sometimes she wished they had remained the brown they were before. Sometimes it felt like rejecting her bloodline was the best option, rather than living like she was now. Detaching herself from people, not letting them get too close, not knowing if someone else would get hurt. Her bloodline brought nothing but bad luck to her. Taking her parents, her memory, her guardians, her friends.
Her grip on the corners of the white sink tightened. People got hurt because she was a Marihasha. People died because she was a Marihasha. Certain things were expected from her because she was a Marihasha. The red and blue of her eyes reminded her of that every single day since the war and it was beginning to wear her down.
XXX
"Got another message from the two." Moriyo said as she closed the door behind her, a couple of photos and a note in her hand. "They think these two men are involved." Kakashi picked up the photos she placed on his desk. "We don't have any information on who those two might be. We're completely in the dark about them."
Kakashi tilted his head up to watch the dark haired woman as she bit her lip, arms crossed under her chest. "Well they may be recruits." He laced his fingers together. "If it is Kenji there's a possibility that he lured ninja into helping him."
"They don't look like newbies…" Moriyo murmured and picked up the photo of the bald man. He was staring ahead, but not at the camera. They got a good angle of him. "…And they don't look too experienced either."
"True." Kakashi nodded. "But looks can also be deceiving, and we both know that Kenji was good at looking past appearances."
Narrowed, orange eyes turned to him. "We should look for any defected ninja from surrounding villages, of chunin…maybe jounin rank!" At Kakashi's firm nod she immediately rushed out.
Turning back to the photos, shuffled through them and read the report. Sasuke and Sayuri were going to be following them, apparently one of them had approached Sayuri. "Well…Sasuke most certainly did not like that…" Kakashi chuckled, neatly stacking the photos and placing the note on top.
XXX
"This is the third restaurant they visit." Sayuri whispered as she peeked around a corner, watching the two men from last night enter another building. "Do you think they're meeting with clients?"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "No." Sayuri looked up at him puzzled. "I think they're looking for another victim."
Sayuri turned back to watch the street but the men were inside. She stepped out of the alley only to be dragged back and pushed against the wall of one of the buildings they were hiding behind. Sasuke's head dipped so that his mouth was near her ear.
"Don't move." Sasuke ordered, keeping her pressed against the building.
"Well!" a voice broke the silence. Sasuke pulled back and stared at an old woman. "I was beginning to worry that things were rocky between you two." She said, eying the two ninja as if she knew a secret. "This is the first time in two days, that I see you two kissing…and in an alley." She laughed. "It reminds me of when I was younger."
Sayuri gaped at the woman mortified as she laughed and resumed her walk. When in the hell did she see us!? Sayuri whipped her head back to Sasuke who had pulled away and stared off to the side.
"They're moving again." He said eyes trained on the two men as they emerged from the restaurant. He grabbed her forearm and pulled her around the corner. "Let's go."
Keeping their distance, the two followed the men. They stopped occasionally looking into shops but they never lingered like they did inside the restaurants. They walked further into the village and Sayuri recognized the area.
"This is where Kukiko's shop is." Sayuri told Sasuke who nodded. He glanced around them and found more people out in the street than yesterday. Sayuri stopped, pulling Sasuke back and watched them enter the shop. Exchanging looks the two picked up the pace and headed to the store.
The first thing they heard was Kukiko's laughter. Sayuri bit her lip and sidestepped a woman who was exiting the small shop. She and Sasuke saw the same man that had been trying to flirt with her at the bar flirting with Kukiko. Only she seemed to be more interested in him than Sayuri had been. Her giggling stopped when her honey colored eyes spotted them.
"Iriai, Tachi!" she waved hello, and the red coated man looked over his shoulder. He smirked seeing the couple again, especially now that he knew their names.
"Hey, Kukiko." Sayuri replied tugging Sasuke along making her way to the fruits.
"So cutie, ever been outside of this village?" He asked tilting his head back to Kukiko, who blushed and shook her head.
"N-not really."
Behind him were a couple of women, looking from Sasuke to their target, red dusting their cheeks as they giggled between themselves not being able to decide which one was more attractive. Sayuri absentmindedly began picking up fruit listening in on the conversation.
"Well how about I take you with me to see the other countries, you know have an adventure." He smiled at her.
"Actually I…" Kukiko looked nervous, but the man was attractive and well she couldn't help but flirt back. But now, he was talking about whisking her away and she had a boyfriend! She put a hand to her cheek in an attempt to keep her blush down.
Frowning, Sayuri placed her basket on the counter rather loudly, effectively ending the conversation. "I'll take these, Kukiko." Thankful for the distraction, Kukiko picked the items out of her new friend's basket, not noticing the slightly concealed glare the short dark haired woman was giving the man in the red coat.
"Oh, hey it's the pretty wife." He looked over his shoulder to the tall bald man behind him. "See, Hiro, I told you she couldn't resist me."
Hiro smirked. "Whatever you say." His response sounded almost strained, like he was annoyed.
"So what brings you here?" he leaned closer to Sayuri. Kukiko eyed the two but kept bagging away the fruit. When she didn't answer he smirked. "Name's Naoki."
"Back off." Sasuke interrupted, coming up to stand behind his teammate. Openly glaring at the man who pulled back and gave Sasuke a wolfish grin.
"Still haven't dumped this loser? Come on, beautiful…" Behind his teammate, Hiro turned to face Sasuke. Sasuke shifted his glare to the bald man, noticing how much taller than the two of them he was.
"Here you go Iriai!" Kukiko exclaimed, picking up on the tension between the four.
"Thank you, we'll be back to pick you up." Sayuri told the girl and followed Sasuke out the door.
"Ok, see you later!" Kukiko waved.
"We need to keep an eye on them tonight." Sasuke instructed once they were out of earshot.
XXX
Sasuke was perched on a roof top that cold night. Bellow him a few people walked, some ran to enter the bar or to go home. The sky above him was littered with stars, and the air cold. His eyes watched the people that went in and out of the bar, careful to note in which direction they headed to.
"Are they still inside?" he heard Sayuri ask as she landed on the rooftop. The light tapping of her boots letting him know that she was approaching him.
"Yes. How was the walk?"
He heard her jacket rustle, in a movement he could only imagine was her shrugging her shoulders. "You should know. Your clone was with me up until she stepped inside." She replied leaning over the railing. "She gave us food, by the way. I left it in the room."
He cast her a glance, she was no longer concealing her form. Her hair spilled over one shoulder, still in the pony tail, mismatched eyes lighting up as the light hit them. She suddenly extended a black cloak and a lion mask to him.
"You'll need this." She said as he took the items from her hand. He pulled back and noticed that she too wore a black cloak and in her other hand was a monkey mask. "ANBU winter cloaks are warmer than the standard shinobi one, an even more so than a civilians'." She looked over her shoulder to watch Sasuke pull the cloak on, lifting the hood over his head.
She was right, his jacket was not as warm as this. He moved back to stand beside her just in time to see their targets step out of the bar. Both crouched lower to prevent themselves from being seen at all. The two men stood in the middle of the street talking before splitting up heading in different directions.
"We should split up." Sayuri started as she began to rise, but her companion caught her arm and held her down. "Sasuke?"
"There's no need." He nodded towards Naoki's direction, blue and red eyes widened when she saw the man enter a hotel just a few buildings down from where he had been with his companion.
"Ok, what about the bald one?" she asked and both turned to watch the tall bald man suddenly take off running towards the forest. Both quickly stood and leapt from rooftop to roof top, putting on their masks as they did so.
XXX
The snow bellow glistened here and there with the moonlight hitting it. Some of the snow on the branches fell to the ground with a plop as they leapt from one tree to the next. Sasuke's sharingan was activated as he followed the man's movements.
"He's fast." Sasuke noted picking up speed, Sayuri fell slightly behind, face paling the further into the forest they headed. Images of the forest in her dreams flashed in her head, but she shook them away. Now's not the time for this! She chastised herself.
Sasuke came to a sudden stop, behind him Sayuri slid to a halt grabbing hold of the tree to keep herself from hurdling forward. The cold air was burning their lungs, breath coming out in white puffs.
"What's-" The Uchiha raised a hand interrupting her. Frowning she jumped onto his branch and looked down. Further ahead was the bald man, Hiro.
He was kneeling down on the snow, digging through it as if he was searching for something. He suddenly stood up and looked around him. Sasuke pushed Sayuri against the tree to keep them out of sight. Sayuri on the other hand fought the urge to push him away. She settled on swatting his hand off her shoulder.
"You've been shoving and pulling me around all day!" she hissed quietly, but Sasuke ignored her, eyes on their target. With a huff, Sayuri turned to watch as the bald man stood up.
Hiro looked down at his hands holding a piece of red paper. Unfolding it, the two Konoha ninja watched as he quickly read it then taking out a pen from his pocket, he scribbled on the red paper and folded it again. Hiro knelt down on the snow placing the paper on the ground and covered it again. Satisfied with his work, he stood up and patted snow off of his pants and continued to make his way further into the forest.
"Why is he heading away from the village?" Sayuri whispered as Sasuke stepped back.
"I don't know, but we shouldn't follow him. Our goal to keep an eye on the girls in the village, if we leave and we're right about them, they could kidnap and murder another one." She nodded in agreement.
Sayuri jumped down her vision of the clearing obscured by the trees that surrounded them. Kneeling she placed her hand on the ground. The feel of the cold snow making shivers run down her back. "He's not in the area." She said just as Sasuke landed behind her.
"I can't sense him either." Sasuke looked around him through the holes of the tiger mask.
He heard the crunching of snow and turned back to find Sayuri on her hands and knees, digging in the same spot that the bald ninja had buried the note. After a minute of digging she sat back and sighed.
"I thought as much." Sayuri mumbled, standing up and shaking her cloak. "I was hoping the note would still be there, but it's not. It's most likely a summon." She turned back to Sasuke who shifted his weight to his right leg. "Kind of like when you summon more shuriken from a hidden reserve, maybe the note was rigged alerting who ever placed the note here in the first place that it had been picked up and written on, and through that he summoned it…But...How would the other guy know that the note was here…?" she wondered.
Sasuke on the other hand looked around them, trying to catch something unusual, something that they missed. Eyes landed on a spot on the tree trunk, just above Sayuri's head. He moved forward and extended his hand to trace the mark, a circle with a line drawn across it.
"Wait…" Sayuri walked up to the tree then turned back into the direction that they had come from, recalling their journey. "He never turned…he kept a straight track from here to the village." She turned to look around them. "This is the only tree in the middle of a perfect circle."
At that Sasuke took a look around him again, she was right, the clearing was small, but this tree was the only one in the middle of a perfect circle of trees. "What does this mean…?"
"Who knows…" He watched Sayuri form three hand seals in quick succession, and pressing the palm of her hand on the ground. A fox suddenly popped out, it licked its paw and tilted its head to Sayuri sniffing the air.
"Oh hey, it's you again!" The fox grinned.
"You've gotten bigger, Aki." Sayuri replied. "Think you can handle delivering a message to the Hokage?"
The fox scoffed. "That old scare crow? Who do you think you're talking to?"
Sayuri smiled behind her mask and pulled out a paper and pen. Sasuke watched as she scribbled on it. The bald one is Hiro and the other is Naoki. The one named Hiro is communicating with someone through paper. He left the village. We'll keep an eye out for him in case he returns. She held out the note to the fox who took it from her and saluted before disappearing with a poof.
"You summon foxes?" Sasuke asked when Sayuri stood.
"They are Moriyo-sensei's. My contract with them is only temporary." Sayuri looked up trying to see the sky that was obscured by the tree branches. "We should head back, there's no point in staying out here if we're not following that man."
Sasuke agreed and the two leapt forward, unaware of the dark shape that emerged from the shadows.
XXX
"Eh?" the old owner of their hotel looked up from his book. He was about to close up for the night when the two ninja returned. "It's late." He grumbled eying Sayuri and Sasuke.
"Yes…well we were looking around." Sayuri smiled at the man. Nosy old man!
"Right…" he said not believing them but decided that it was too late for him to try to get them to talk. They paid their money and that's all he really cared about. He nodded taking his little black box full of yen. "Whatever, good night." He turned off the lights leaving the two to make their way to their room.
I need a shower. Sayuri thought when she stepped inside. Her fingers were freezing cold from digging in the snow, and she already knew that the tip of her nose was red. "I'll take the shower first." She told Sasuke who was just removing his coat.
Looking over his shoulder he watched as she picked up her towel and hurried into the bathroom, door clicking shut behind her. He sighed and sat down on the couch, eying the cold food on the counter. With a shrug he picked up the box and began eating.
XXX
Her face hit the cold hard ground so hard it rattled her teeth. Pushing herself up she sprinted across the field, tripping here and there on branches. The snow on the ground wasn't helping so she decided to take to the trees. She wondered why she was so cold and looked down only to find that she had no coat. Ignoring it, she leapt forward onto another tree, knowing too well that her attacker was just behind her.
Letting out a yelp her hand slipped and instead of taking hold of the branch above her, it caught air. She rolled onto the ground, hair falling over her face as she did so.
"You're not going to get away." A deep voice sang behind her.
In a panic she scrambled to her feet and once again tried to run on the snow. The cold air was burning her through and her lungs, but she pushed past that. Surviving was her priority right now.
"Ah!" she groaned feeling something heavy land on her, knocking the air out of her lungs as she hit the ground.
"I got you!" the deep voice hissed above her, grabbing her by her shoulder and twisting her around.
Red and blue eyes widened as the assailant's hand went to her throat, pinning her to the cold, snow covered, earth. Eyes shifted to the glinting kunai that he rose above her head as he smiled wickedly down at her.
"Ze-Zetsu…" she barely croaked out as he brought the sharp kunai downward towards her chest.
XXX
"Shit!" was Sasuke's first word as his eyes snapped open. The loud screaming pulling him out of his slumber. He turned, wide sharingan and rinnegan eyes to the girl on the bed. "Sayuri!" he pushed the sheets of him and ran to her.
When he grabbed her shoulder she began kicking and punching blindly. He struggled to keep her down, when a fist flew to his face. He hissed at the sharp pain he felt on his chin. "SAYURI!" He called louder, climbing over the bed and pinning her legs down with his while at the same time catching her right hand than her left and holding them over her head. His actions causing her to squirm and scream louder.
"Keep it down in there!" he heard a male voice yell from the other side of the wall.
"Crap! Sayuri!" he said again hitting his forehead to hers. Now this caused her to stop. He watched as her chakra moved violently around her network, shifting from one element to the next. Bellow her the auburn haired nineteen-year-old opened her eyes.
Chest heaving, and mismatched red and blue eyes, staring up at him in a panic, she began to cry. "Sasuke…" she choked between sobs as the tears rolled down the sides of her cheeks.
Slowly he pulled back, letting go of her hands all the while the Marihasha sobbed. Crying women were not his forte, he had very limited interaction with women to begin with. They were always all over him and when they did cry, it was always crocodile tears, and he always walked away. But now, seeing Sayuri bring her hands to her face, obscuring it from his view, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. But what could he do?
Thinking back to a time when he was the one scared and crying, he recalled that his mother held him close and stroked his head letting him ride it out. Without much hesitation he did just that.
Shifting his weight to lay beside her he reached over and pulled her to him. A gesture that she did not resist as she would normally have. Instead she buried her face to his chest, fingers curling into the black shirt he wore. He on the other hand tangled his hand in her auburn hair gently massaging her scalp as she calmed down.
"You're safe." He said gently once all he heard were sniffles coming from her. "No one is going to hurt you here." She shuddered, but nodded nonetheless, repeating his words like a mantra. "Those dreams of yours…they're the ones causing you to lose sleep." He felt Sayuri nod under his chin. "They're the reason why each time I visit Konoha, I've seen you tired." He felt her stiffen but once again she nodded. "What are they about." He demanded softly. When she didn't answer he pulled back, watching as she chewed her bottom lip.
Gulping, Sayuri turned her eyes to him. "I'm being chased, every time I can't outrun him. I always wakeup before I know who it is, before he hurts me…" her voice hitched. "This time I saw Zetsu…he was the one chasing me...I knew it was him before…but I never got to see his face until now." Her eyes shifted downward in shame.
He kept quiet for a moment, watching her as she wiped her eyes. "You're experiencing post-traumatic stress. The events of the war left a big impact on you, psychologically." When the words finished coming out of his mouth she looked up at him. Her expression was tired, but angry, he could almost see her walls coming back up.
"I know what I have and why I have it." She hissed.
"Well if you know that you're experiencing it then why don't you seek help?" he reasoned with the tired ANBU.
"I'm…" She shook her head. "I don't have time for that! I need to keep working. To make sure that nothing like the war happens again."
"It's not healthy, you need help." He tried again.
"Look who's talking!" she replied sarcastically pulling away from his grasp and sitting up, hugging herself. "You never got help for your nightmares!"
Sasuke moved to sit up as well. "And look where that got me." She flinched and looked off to the side. "Keeping these kinds of feelings to yourself is not ok. You're doing more harm than good, trust me."
"I can't…" she whispered. "If I go to a doctor, they'll take me off duty."
Sasuke clenched his hand at his side. "It doesn't mean you're weak if you get help. Especially since it's taking away from your sleep. If you want to keep your sanity, I suggest you go to the doctor when we return to Konoha." Moving to get off the bed, he felt a gentle tug on his shirt. Turning back, he watched as Sayuri slowly pulled her hand back.
"Please…stay." She pleaded just above a whisper. "I…I can't…I'm…" she peeked up him from under her lashes. The gesture causing him to hold his breath. "Please just stay here."
Not trusting his voice, he gave her a short nod. Padding over to the sofa he picked a pillow and brought it back to the bed before pulling the covers back and lying beside her. Slowly Sayuri laid on her side facing him. He watched her from the corner of his eye as her eyes began to flutter shut and her breathing slowly deepened. With a sigh he shifted his eyes to the dark ceiling above him.
One moment she wants me far away from her, the other she wants me close…There's no pleasing her. Sasuke frowned, turning his head to face her. At least he finally got the bottom of her sleepless nights. He had noticed it the day that he left, and every time he visited her. Sayuri was always on edge and tired. He wondered if he had stayed behind in Konoha instead of going to Orochimaru, if she would still be going through all this. At that he sighed. It's too late to think about that now. He reasoned with himself. Just focus on the what's happening now. He urged himself, eyes falling shut as sleep took over.
A.N.
Sorry for the delay! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Also some of you are wondering if Sasuke's rinnegan is permanent. It is, I noticed it during The Last Naruto the Movie and Boruto: Naruto the Movie. It is permanent, like with Nagato he can't turn it off. Also great guessing about the nightmares, I was originally planning on them to be her experiencing the murders but I decided to go through the PTSD approach. It's very common for people to experience it after traumatic events, such as a war, and most of the time people with it don't want to seek help. They tend to be angry or on edge, opting to try and 'fix' their problem themselves, I hope that explains Sayuri.
Thank you for all the lovely reviews and I hope you keep reviewing my story! Until next time!
