Quietus

by Seraphina Scribes

When first he laid eyes upon her, he thought her the very personification of spring. He watches, from the depths of shadow; waiting to steal her away from the land of the living. Waiting to make her Queen of the Dead. Hades/Persephone retold. SasuSaku/AU.

50. Chapter 49

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Please visit my profile for the links to tracks for this one. A warning that this is full of major angst. Everything boils over and explodes. You'll know what I mean when you read it.

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Chapter XLIX

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The Fates continue to unravel their thread,
And woe! See what turmoil falls abound!
Chaos and deceit in the Land of the Dead,
As secrets concealed, are unearthed - unwound,
In cold blood is deadly treason spun,
More callous than cutting steel of blade,
Colder than winter's frost, in absence of sun,
By its cruel dagger – are hearts pierced, unmade.

---

He gazed into the ethereally luminous pool. Its tranquil, blue-green surface rippled in the large, deep, circular basin that contained it, casting mesmerising, moving reflections upon the rocky walls. Two long-haired, graceful, feminine entities constructed from gilded white marble flanked either side of the pool, pouring continuously flowing water from slender jugs.

Nestled deep in the heart of the Underworld, the sacred spring of Mnemosyne was hidden secretively away inside a cavern that could only be revealed and accessed by the King's hand. It was Lethe's counterpart; while the River of Forgetfulness erased memories, Mnemosyne was capable of restoring them.

After leaving Sakura in the palace, Sasuke, terribly troubled by her words concerning his supposed past with Kore, had headed straight to the pool in search of answers.

She'd insisted that her visions were real. And her knowledge of his hunting bow and the ever-bloom flower in his mother's garden certainly bolstered and added credit to her argument. There was no way she could know either of those things on her own, when he had not spoken to her of them. It was disconcerting to Sasuke that she did.

A small, defiant part of him still protested at the outrageousness of it all. He was far too proud and stubborn to admit to such a significant lapse in memory, for that was a grave weakness, indeed. And yet, the more composed and logical part of him acknowledged that he could not keep denying it. There were simply far too many coincidences for him to ignore and dismiss.

When Sakura had spoken of it, with such desperation, such conviction, he'd read seen the honesty shining in her eyes. He could not accuse her of fabricating any longer.

If everything she claimed was true – that he had somehow known her in her original form way back in the past, but for some reason did not recall it – then there were really only two possibilities that could account for his marked absence of memories.

The first was that he had made himself forget – a thoroughly ludicrous notion, and one that Sasuke plainly rejected. He had suffered a tremendous deal following the passing of his Clan, and could have reached for Lethe's amnesia inducing waters at any time to ease the anguish. Yet he hadn't. So why would he do so for a goddess, when the pain of losing his family was even more punishing than that?

The other, much more troubling possibility was that someone else had intentionally wanted him to hold no recollection of his acquaintance with the Goddess of Spring. Which begged the question - why? Just what, exactly, had happened back then to her? Had Naruto really told him everything? Did the surface deities hold knowledge of this? It did not seem to him that they did. After all, when Naruto had spoken to him, he'd clearly expected Sasuke to recall meeting Kore on a few occasions.

What if someone had wished for him to forget because they desired for him to stay away from Sakura? If so, the plan had failed spectacularly. He had found her - seemingly again. But if steps had been taken to merely ensure that he could never remember their apparent past relationship, then Sasuke supposed that it'd been a brilliant success.

Or had it been done as another measure to protect Sakura from the very one who'd destroyed her original body in the first place? What if Sasuke had never meant to discover the truth about the seal on her, because it was a liability for him to know?

But who would go to such painstaking lengths to do that?

He swallowed, discomfort crawling up his spine. Did Chiyo know about his strange case of amnesia, too? Suspicion spiked within him. He had a nagging feeling that the old crone knew everything.

Frustrated, he stepped forward. How was he meant to answer Sakura, to defend himself, when he could not even recall a thing – when he could not tell her that she was Kore, reborn? He imagined how upset she would be when she found out. He wondered if it would change how she viewed him – or whether it would make her even more afraid, drive her even further away. He contemplated what it meant for them both, if he could not recall the original Kore, and Sakura had no idea that she was the very same slumbering goddess she'd accused him of being involved with.

Sasuke dipped a hand into the glowing pool. It was cool, liquid silk, soothing against his skin, but did little to banish the cursed tension that coiled so tightly through his entire body. He wanted to be rid of it once and for all – this damned feeling of being so on edge, so entirely out of his element.

His heart raced thunderously as he cupped water into his palm. A single gulp, he knew, would be sufficient to make him remember everything he had ever forgotten in the past. But was he ready to know? To unlock anything that had been locked? If it did work, was he prepared to deal with the consequences?

The death deity almost faltered. Inexplicably nervous, an emotion he was not at all accustomed to experiencing, he furiously snapped to himself that he feared nothing, that he needed to know the truth for the sake of his own sanity, and without another moment of hesitation, lifted his palm to his lips, swallowing down a mouthful of cold, tasteless water.

Sasuke waited. With baited breath and hurtling pulse, he anticipated the moment when dreadful clarity would suddenly detonate inside him, when remembrance would rush up like a flooding tidal wave and leave him adrift in memories.

A tense minute passed. A second. Three minutes, and he felt no different. Four, five, and his thoughts were unaltered, remained as he knew them, with no new recollections.

He drank again. Another mouthful. Then another. Still nothing. Sasuke stared at the pool in numbed shock. Mnemosyne's powers were absolute. The spring always returned what Lethe stole away.

And that was when the implications of the second and only other possibility slowly began to fully dawn upon him. His heart pounded so hard, it physically shook his body, as the appalling and inescapable conclusion slammed into him.

He had not drunk from the River Lethe.

Someone had clearly resorted to more meticulous measures in order to steal - or permanently seal - his memories of Kore away.

---

Sakura sat in the armoury for a long time after Sasuke departed, holding the bow despondently in her hands. Her mind was overrun with head-spinning thoughts as she gazed down at the beautifully constructed weapon. It seemed to almost taunt her, and her agitation escalated, until, unable to stand it any longer, she stormed out and made her way back inside the palace grounds.

Her hands balled into frustrated fists as she crossed the entrance hall. He had vanished, as usual, to avoid her. Why was Sasuke so unbelievably stubborn? She had thought that he'd genuinely listened to her this time. Why would he reject what she had told him, when she knew for a fact that it was the truth?

He had been involved with Kore. But for some reason, he couldn't remember it.

In a way, Sakura couldn't blame him. It had to come as a shock. After all, gods were physically perfect entities. They didn't just go around randomly forgetting things. Especially significant life experiences. It had to be a major blow to his massive ego, to accept such a thing. Which surely meant that something had to have happened to rob the Death God of his memories – unless he had deliberately done something himself to permanently erase them? Maybe he had swallowed water from the river that washed away recollections – what had he called it? Lethe, Sakura remembered.

The more she considered it, the more it made sense. That had to be it! What other explanation was there? And of course, if he had, then he would have no way of knowing it, because his memories were all gone.

But he had left her before she could discuss the subject with him any further.

Ugh! Sakura silently vented to herself as she finally reached her room. She knew she had woken up a mess after training and then suffering an attack. With Sasuke gone, she became extremely conscious of feeling grimy. Entering the bathing room, she hastily stripped off her dirty clothes and washed the dirt and sweat from her skin. Once she was done, she returned to her bedchamber, where she found Chizu waiting for her.

Too distracted by her thoughts to resist, she allowed the elder maid to dry and smoothen down her hair, and then assist her in changing into a full-length, long-sleeved velvet dress. It had an off-shoulder neckline, which showed off Sakura's petite bone structure, and was emerald green at the top, gradually blending to a deeper hue from the waist downwards. Delicate gold stitching adorned the neckline, sleeves and hem of the skirt. The material flattered her slender figure, emphasised her natural curves in all the right places.

Sakura gazed at her reflection in the mirror and watched as Chizu secured a matching gold and emerald necklace around her neck. Each exquisitely cut gem was surely worth the price of Sakura's home on the surface. Next, she put on matching droplet earrings. The colour brought out the beautiful green of her eyes, and she was struck by how… regal she looked. But then, every gown in her massive wardrobe was fit for a princess.

Stroking back her loose hair, Chizu smiled admiringly, mirroring her thoughts.

"You look like royalty, my lady."

Those disturbing words echoed hauntingly in Sakura's head as she excused herself from her room and headed to the banqueting hall. She was simmering anew over Sasuke evading her again as she pushed open the door. He is the most infuriating, exasperating, and utterly impossible-! She couldn't even complete the insult. There didn't seem to be an appropriate enough word to accurately describe the Lord of the Dead.

Slipping inside and closing the door quietly behind her, Sakura stood for a moment, taking in the huge stone fireplace set in the middle of the farthest wall directly opposite her, beyond the food-laden table. Her eyes then briefly rose to the humungous, square tapestry hanging over the wide, arch-shaped hearth. It depicted the Uchiha Clan emblem, stitched onto fine black cloth. She found herself arbitrarily recalling the first time she had entered this room. How confused and frightened she had been. How intimidating and daunting she had found its sheer size. Inspecting the bright, candle-lit hall at that moment, she found it was still exactly the same, had not lost any of its stately grandeur. Sakura, rather, was the one who had changed.

Slowly, she walked toward the table. It had been a while since she had eaten anything, and it suddenly occurred to Sakura that she was famished. She supposed it was all the stress of unpleasant surprises finally catching up to her. Her eager eyes roved hungrily over the rich selection of dishes on display, and she proceeded to nibble at this and that, starting off with savoury finger food that tasted absolutely divine. It didn't take long for her sweet tooth to take over, and she found herself eying a beautifully decorated vanilla, cream and strawberry sponge-cake. It seemed a shame to break off a piece and ruin the pretty presentation, but really, who else was going to eat it? Sasuke had never struck her as a fan of sweet things. She certainly couldn't imagine him munching on cake, of all things.

Maybe that's what's wrong with him, Sakura thought moodily to herself. Maybe he just needs to have a good slice of cake stuffed into that arrogant mouth of his, and then he might actually be less of a grouch.

She sniggered a little at the mental image and helped herself to a slice, picking off the strawberries first, before savouring the light and airy sponge. Sighing with contentment, she was just about to move onto some cream-stuffed pastry – when something glistened crimson from the corner of her vision.

Sakura swallowed down the last of the cake, and stared in mesmerised fascination at the golden bowl of pomegranates. The fruits were all unpeeled – save for one at the top of the pile, which had been broken in half to reveal the plump garnet seeds contained within, so large that only several of them would make up a single mouthful. Like gleaming, lustrous jewels they called invitingly out to her, and Sakura was powerless to resist their mysterious allure. There was something so enticing about the pomegranates in Sasuke's realm. She remembered how delectably juicy and saccharine the one she'd sampled in his room had tasted, and her mouth watered.

Plucking one half from the bowl, she lifted it eagerly to her lips, intending to take a generous bite – when steely fingers abruptly clamped around her wrist and jerked her arm forcefully down again.

A startled Sakura turned her head – to meet Sasuke's stormy eyes. She hadn't even heard him enter the room.

"Sasuke? What-?!" she began in bewilderment. The tension was palpable in the furrow of his eyebrows and his tightly set jawline. He looked angry – but that wasn't all. To Sakura's astonishment, he seemed agitated. Anxious, almost. But she had to be imagining it, because Sasuke was never anxious.

Without a word, he snatched the pomegranate from her hand and flung it aside with an aggression that alarmed her. It landed with a dull thud, scattering deeply hued beads upon the ground.

Sakura's pulse raced. She stared at the discarded fruit in shock for a moment, before lifting her eyes to gape, open-mouthed, up at him.

The death deity glowered down at her. She looked so beautiful – but he was far too shaken by what had almost come to pass to really dwell on how stunning the green dress was on her. Inside his chest, his heart hammered fitfully. She wasn't even conscious of what she had almost inadvertently done!

Had he arrived mere seconds later…

"Sasuke! What was that for?" she demanded. What in the world had gotten into him, to trigger such an unnecessary overreaction? She tried to disengage his hold on her, but it was useless. He was far too strong. Frustrated, she gave up, frowning. "I just wanted some fruit!"

"Do not eat from that," he ordered curtly.

"What?" Sakura's bafflement increased. The food she consumed had never been an issue before! Suspicious, she questioned, "Why not?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to tell her the truth – but to his frustration, the words suddenly did not seem to want to deploy themselves on the tip of his tongue.

He fumed at her for another few seconds, before snapping instead, "It's inedible."

"Huh?" Sakura's scowl deepened. The fruit didn't look spoiled to her; on the contrary, it appeared ripe and succulent. "But it looks just fine."

"No." Sasuke's hold on her wrist tightened. He seemed to become even more restless. Uneasy. "It," he continued stiffly, "is not."

"But Sasuke-"

"Sakura." He finally released her and turned his face away dismissively. "Enough."

She rubbed at her wrist and then folded her arms unhappily. As usual, she completely exasperated him by refusing to do what he asked, and pursued the matter instead. "First you just walk out on me, and then you suddenly reappear and randomly decide that I can't eat a pomegranate? You already let me try one before, now they're inedible?" Dubiously, she shook her head at him.

"They will spoil you," Sasuke again attempted to find a way out of the hole he had involuntarily dug for himself. It wasn't entirely a lie. The fruit would spoil her… spoil her existence. He hadn't exactly stopped to think when he'd entered the banqueting hall and discovered Sakura with the pomegranate inches from her lips. Sheer panic had run rampant in his mind and fuelled him to take immediate action. He'd had only one priority – to stop her at any cost. He hadn't considered how he would explain his behaviour to her.

She pursed her lips. "I know food doesn't expire here like it does on the surface. And you've never told me not to eat anything before. What's this really about, Sasuke?" she interrogated.

It was the opportune moment to answer her – and yet, Sasuke obdurately refused to meet her scrutinising stare. He wanted to be honest. Really he did. But how could he be? She had stated before that she did not hate him – but coming clean to her about the Forbidden Fruit surely would make her despise him for all eternity. She wouldn't believe that he hadn't fully understood the repercussions of his actions back when he'd seduced her into tasting it. She wouldn't believe that he genuinely regretted it, that if he could, he would go back and undo the actions he had so selfishly taken.

Sasuke had never been articulate when it came to emotional matters, and whichever way he phrased it in his mind sounded absolutely abhorrent, framed him as the very abominable fiend he knew she would think him to be – the villain she had every right to label him.

But he had never intended to harm her. He had merely been blinded by his self-centred need to keep her close. He had never intended for it to ever come to this.

That is the Forbidden Fruit. It will damn you and tie you to the shadows of my Kingdom.

You have already consumed six seeds. You must return here yearly, and stay here for six months. With me.

The Food of the Dead is not meant to be consumed by the living. When you willingly accepted the fruit from my hand, you bound yourself eternally to this realm. To me.

You belong to the darkness, now. To the Underworld. To me.

No. He couldn't say it! He couldn't. A long time ago, he would not have cared for the cruelty of the words, would have paid no heed to the havoc he knew they would unleash upon Sakura and her feelings. Sasuke might have even relished it, once, and smugly rejoiced in his conceited victory. But not anymore. Now, simply rehearsing those sentences in his head revolted him. He felt wretched, smothered by self-loathing and the bitterness of culpability. He wasn't anywhere near ready to confess to any of those statements – even when he knew that the time he had with her was almost up, and he would have to admit to everything before it ran out completely. She certainly could not return to the surface without knowing of her fate.

"Sakura," he swallowed, tried again to do the right thing. After all, he had brought this mess raining down upon himself. After everything he had done, he supposed he deserved her hatred – even as he subconsciously craved the exact opposite of that. She had already made it transparently clear during their previous argument that she didn't believe they could ever be involved. How would she react if he revealed that she had to spend six months each year of what remained of her life, in his realm, with him?

It stung, simply imagining her hysteria, her rejection. Sasuke felt even sicker. He detested, once again, the turmoil she provoked within him.

"I-" he clamped his mouth shut, grinding his teeth together. Why was speaking so difficult?

Sakura's heart pounded. It wasn't like Sasuke to be so hesitant. So conflicted. What was the matter with him? Alarm bells were clanging riotously in her head.

"I know," she said softly, and stepped forward, closer to him, to grip onto the left sleeve of his tunic. Her eyes found his, and she saw within them a flicker of vulnerability so foreign to her that she forgot to breathe. Something was evidently weighing crushingly on his shoulders, troubling him dreadfully – to such a great and profound extent that he was struggling to mask it and feign his usual air of indifference.

Perhaps that was what unsettled Sakura most. It was so out of character for the proud, stoic King of the Underworld, to display any manner of weakness, no matter how slight. His gaze was always so steadfast, so unwavering – and yet, right at that moment, he could barely seem to hold hers.

But why?

"There's something you aren't telling me, Sasuke. What is it?"

"…" He averted his face away once more. Sakura, however, was resolute and reached up, pressing her palm to his right cheek to force him to look back at her.

"Tell me," she insisted.

He looked into her bright green eyes – so green – like the verdant flourish of springtime. So fitting for who – and what – she was. Eyes that had captivated him at a funeral, so long ago. Eyes that still ensnared him in, no matter how much he tried to battle against their irresistible magnetic pull.

Those vibrant emeralds silently implored him for answers. But he questioned whether it was the right time. He needed to secure other arrangements on the surface first, before they had this conversation. And the shameful reality was, Sasuke still needed to figure out a way to reveal the truth to her in a manner that would not result in her screaming and lunging hysterically at him – or worse.

The death deity wasn't so sure that there was any way to soften the blow. He vowed that he would tell her. He would. He wouldn't let anybody else deliver what it was his responsibility to disclose. But she would hate him. And as much as Sasuke fiercely tried to convince himself that he could handle that - that it would be justice delivered to him, still he flinched from it. Yet, her right to know surely took precedence over everything else. The longer he kept this terrible burden from her, the worse it would be once she did inevitably find out.

Her hand slipped from his face when he turned his head away again. Sakura saw the tense line of his jaw. Knew from how he was evading her gaze that he had absolutely no intention of speaking any further about the subject. She recognised the inaccessible look on his features – and felt her heart sink.

Her eyes lowered and she swallowed down her own frustration.

"So that's how it is," she murmured softly. "You won't say." She made no effort to conceal the angry disappointment she felt. She'd had too many similar interactions with the God of the Dead before to know that he was obstinate to a fault, and that no amount of hounding him on the matter would get him to talk if he had fully and whole-heartedly decided to retreat back inside his titanium cocoon. She wasn't going to waste her breath. Not this time.

She was suddenly tired of the game they played. Sasuke mentally and emotionally exhausted her. She'd had enough.

Without another word, she began to turn away from him, holding her head as high as she could, trying her best to appear unaffected by his punishing silence. She would exit with dignity, she told herself. She was out of options. Sasuke hadn't agreed to return her to the surface, and was forcing her hand – forcing her to take the very route she had wanted to avoid. The only thing left to do was-

His left hand shot out, fast as a striking cobra, to grasp her upper arm, jerking her swiftly back around to face him. But his eyes remained fixed in the direction of the fireplace.

When he next spoke, his tone was abrupt. Guarded.

"Sakura…" he started, and she was perplexed and concerned in equal measures when she glimpsed the uncharacteristic way he swallowed thickly – a bad omen, surely, of what was to directly follow. It then occurred to her that he was about to respond, after all, and that made her heart gallop faster.

"The pomegranate-" he seemed to internally struggle with himself for a few seconds, before forcing out, "…it is no ordinary fruit in my kingdom. When it is consumed-" he suddenly tensed and broke off, inhaling sharply, eyes widening fractionally – as if he'd all at once become aware of something that seriously disconcerted him. Sakura winced when his grip on her arm unconsciously tightened.

His face then turned, and he met her gaze directly. He stared at her with knotted eyebrows, lips slightly parted, and gave her a look so disquieting, that Sakura was immediately afraid.

"What?" she asked uncertainly. "Sasuke, what is it?!" He couldn't seem to speak right then, however, merely continued to stare at her with the same awful expression. Shaking her head, she tried to snap him out of whatever state of shock had paralysed him. "What were you saying about the pomegranate? What do you mean it's not an ordinary frui- wha-!?"

She was yanked abruptly forward, close enough to stand foot to foot with him. Alarmed, she blinked and glanced up at him – only to suck in a disjointed breath when he lowered his face to within inches of hers. His eyes, suddenly a beautiful, arresting crimson, made her freeze in place.

"Stay inside the palace," he uttered sternly, and released her arm.

"What?" Sakura's confusion and worry intensified, and she frowned at him. "Wait, why? Sasuke, what's going on-?"

A second later he flickered out of her sight.

She gaped at the empty spot where he had stood just seconds prior. He'd done it again! Completely disappeared before properly answering her! But something whispered to her that it hadn't been deliberate this time. Something had evidently disturbed him. Had he perhaps sensed some disturbance in his realm that required his immediate attention?

Jumbled thoughts ricocheted around inside her skull. Sasuke's unnerving expression, his hasty, abrupt departure… but they all centred around one sentence that repeated itself, over and over, ringing incessantly like a damning execution bell.

'The pomegranate, it is no ordinary fruit in my kingdom. When it is consumed…'

She felt nauseous. What happened when it was consumed? What was it that was so horrendous, that made even breaching the subject so difficult for the King of the Underworld?

The need to know was pressing, like an incessant buzz in her head. Since Sasuke had been called away to urgent business, there was only one other person who could enlighten her.

Resembling a soldier on a fatalistic mission, Sakura marched straight back to her room. Chizu, she was relieved to discover, had finished already changing the bed linens and left. Locking herself in the toilet, Sakura turned the taps on full blast and filled the basin with water, trepidation snaking through her as she remembered the last time she had called out to the ocean deity.

Suigetsu had warned her that if she chose to go her way, he might not respond next time. She had seen for herself that Sasuke wasn't going to release her willingly. She had been foolish, to think that he might.

Fumbling to turn the taps off, she telepathically attempted to communicate with him.

'Suigetsu! I know you can hear me.'

Silence was her only response.

'I know you're there!' Sakura continued, undeterred.

Again, she heard nothing.

'Come on, Suigetsu! I need to talk to you!'

No response.

She rolled her eyes. 'This is silly. I know you're mad. Just talk to me!'

Once more, all was quiet in her head.

Sakura's features scrunched together in annoyance. 'I'm going to keep calling until you answer me.' She folded her arms huffily and looked unhappily down at the water. 'Even if I have to stay here for ages and Sasuke comes looking for me!'

Another long pause. Her heart then leapt when a snarky voice finally responded, 'Well, then that really would be stupid.'

'Suigetsu!' she mentally gasped in relief, as his face swirled into sight on the water's surface at last. He sulked moodily up at her.

'Y'know, you should be begging me to hear you out right now, after all the shit I had to put up with last time.'

For the sake of smoothing things over, Sakura conceded, 'Okay. Fine. You were right.'

This seemed to appease him somewhat. 'News flash for ya - I always am. And you've got some nerve, crawling back to me.' He jutted out his lower lip almost comically and narrowed his eyes at her. 'What the heck do you want? I'm not in the mood to have my time wasted by some scatter-brained little girl who won't see reason.'

'I won't waste your time anymore. But there's something I need to know, before we go ahead.'

Suigetsu blinked and gave her an unconvinced look. 'Huh. Before we go ahead? So willing, all of a sudden?'

Sakura's gaze lowered. 'I confronted him about kidnapping me.'

Suigetsu seemed to immediately understand. 'And you finally accept that he's a heartless bastard who doesn't give a single fuck about your feelings? At last! Then we're back on the same page.' He grinned at her. 'Maybe I'll forgive you for being so thick. You're just a silly mortal, after all. It helps that you're looking super-hot in green, right now.'

It was awkward, how quickly he shifted in demeanour. Just like the ocean, Sakura supposed.

He peered curiously up at her, all flirting instantly cast aside. 'So what is it? You've got that dopey look on your face. The one you wear when you're thinking too hard again. Hurry up and spill it, before I change my mind.'

'…' She swallowed – and framed her question. 'What's the deal with the pomegranates?'

Suigetsu looked thoroughly startled. 'Uhh…' he scratched his chin, and averted his gaze, seeming oddly evasive. 'Heh. Why're you asking about something so random, all of a sudden?'

His reaction only made the alarm sirens that had started to go off in Sakura's head increase in volume. She watched his expression like a hawk. 'I tried to eat some just now…'

Suigetsu's eyes flew back to her in alarm. He now looked shadily nervous. 'You tried to?'

'Sasuke stopped me,' Sakura elaborated.

The ocean deity let out a loud sigh, visibly relieved. 'Phew! Hah… you had me worried for a second there, Pinky.' He rubbed the side of his face. 'I guess I should've mentioned it at the start, but it's not something that's allowed to be offered to the living. That bastard is very vigilant when it comes to pomegranates.'

Sakura's heart had begun to pound to a most unpleasant rhythm. 'What do you mean?'

'Ah, it's nothing to fret your pretty head about. Sasuke would commit a serious offence if he forced you to eat that fruit, but since you say he stopped you… then at least he's stuck to one rule. No harm done.' As if to himself, he muttered, 'Just as well, because your mother would have fucking throttled me.'

Sakura gripped tightly onto the side of the basin. 'Suigetsu…' she did her best to remain composed and calm. Casual. It was becoming increasingly challenging. 'What are you talking about…? What's wrong with the fruit?'

Suigetsu tilted his head. 'Down here, it's referred to as the Food of the Dead, or the Forbidden Fruit. Like I said, it's off-limits to mortals. Sasuke can eat as much as he likes of it, because he's bound to this place anyway. It doesn't affect him.'

'What happens… if a mortal eats it?' Sakura just about managed to get out, her instinctive sense of dread heightening considerably.

And that was when Suigetsu said it. Words that made the floor vanish beneath Sakura's feet, sent her plunging and spiralling uncontrollably down into the yawning abyss of chaos.

'What, you mean if someone is stupid enough to actually eat it of their own free will?' He didn't catch the way Sakura gulped at that. 'Then they become tied to this place, too.' He shrugged, and tapped an index finger to his chin. 'If I remember right, I think every seed is worth a surface month. So if you have one, you've gotta come back down to this shit-hole for a month in the year, if you have two it's two months, you get the drift.'

The room spun violently. Sakura's heart plummeted to her feet. She felt chilled to the bone, struggled to remain standing, for her legs had turned to liquid jelly. The world was fracturing and falling away around her all over again. She couldn't breathe. Numb with shock, she could only remain frozen in position, hands gripping onto the basin hard. Suigetsu's face blurred in and out of focus as a debilitating wave of nausea washed over her. And in her mind, one word reverberated over and over and over again.

No. No. No, no, no, no, no!

The Sea God sniggered, oblivious to Sakura's despair. 'If you have two or three mouthfuls, you're royally screwed. I don't know all the details about how they're activated, but I heard they stay in your stomach forever, and are never digested. It's a shame, though. Rumour has it, they're really delicious.' He linked his hands behind his head and closed his eyes, smirking. 'Figures, for a fruit that's essentially a trap.'

Sakura felt dizzy. Stifled. Sasuke had offered the fruit to her. With his own hand! His eyes had mesmerised her, lured her into taking a bite. And she had accepted! Of her own free will, she had taken an entire mouthful, could still remember the way the ripe seeds had bled their sweet nectar on her tongue…

Her heart was ready to burst straight out of her chest. What had she done?

She recalled how agitated Sasuke had seemed when he'd appeared out of nowhere, just in time to smack the pomegranate out of her hand. He had known all this time. He had known it the second he'd offered the treacherous fruit. He'd even licked the residue from her lips when he'd kissed her, right afterwards.

She felt faint. Sick. Furious, distraught, devastated. Betrayed beyond consolation. All this time, he had been working to set his trap, to ensnare her. And he had done just that.

If a few mouthfuls doomed one forever… then how many seeds had she swallowed? What if she could never leave?

To think, that he had kept such a secret from her for all this time… and all this time, she had grown to pity him! He had done everything that Suigetsu had warned her about; manipulated her emotions, played her for the complete fool that she had been. Never again, she swore to herself. Never again! Sakura's rage was a tumultuous, destructive, unstoppable force that tore through her chest. How could he? Had it not been enough for him to kidnap her? Was he not content with turning her life upside down? He had to bind her forever to this place - to him - as well?

No. No. She wouldn't let him! She would get out – and she would find some way to reverse it, even if she had to cut the seeds out from her own belly!

He had tricked her. Deceived her. He was selfish and callous, and her heart ached, heavy with the anguish of treachery. He deserved no mercy. He deserved nothing. If she had ever contemplated being able to eventually forgive him once she found her way back to the surface, it seemed utterly impossible now.

It was the final push. An eye for an eye. No more guilt. She would not hesitate for another moment. She would go back to the surface, and flee from this place.

Just as Kore's Essence had warned her.

'But like I said,' Suigetsu was going blithely on, as he opened his eyes again, 'Sasuke can't make you eat it, so you really don't have to worry, because that food wouldn't even be accessible to you…' he trailed off, when falling tear-drops rippled the surface of the water, and he looked up to find Sakura crying silently, without a sound. Her shoulders were shaking with the effort to keep her sobs contained.

But in her eyes, he did not see sadness or helplessness. He glimpsed a fierce, irrepressible fire that he had never witnessed before, an incensed flame that stunned the great water deity into silence.

Finally, he managed, 'Shit. Please don't tell me you-'

She interrupted, speaking aloud, fingers curling into tight fists. Her voice trembled from the force of her wrath as she met his gaze directly, and whispered with conviction, "I'm ready now."

'…' An uneasy Suigetsu watched her for a long moment, harsh realisation sinking into him. This wasn't welcome news – and he wasn't looking forward to informing Tsunade. Sakura didn't need to tell him what he could already read clearly from her distressed features. She had eaten from the fruit. He didn't know how much, and he feared swaying her resolve if he pressed the issue further – but he knew that Sasuke would be made to answer for his actions.

'Then listen closely,' he nodded. 'And do everything I tell you. Let's make that arrogant asshole pay.'

---

They watched him melt out of the shadows, as if cloaked by them, barely perceptible in the misty darkness but for the intensely glowing crimson of his eyes. Sharingan, Jiraiya noted. The dangerous, accursed blood-line of the Uchiha Clan.

He stood tall, arms folded across his strong chest, flanked by Kakashi on his right, and Sai to his left.

"A prompt reception," his voice boomed, echoing loudly against the vast cavern's rocky walls. "Perhaps your hospitality has improved, somewhat, young Sasuke."

Kakashi's visible eye drooped. He dearly hoped that Jiraiya wouldn't antagonise the volatile death deity. That was definitely the last thing they needed. He initially remained silent out of respect for the elder god, trusting that Jiraiya would secure them the outcome they desired.

Sasuke drew to a stop by the growling Cerberus. As if to remind them of the iron fist of his rule, he reached out a palm to the hound of hell, and Cerberus grew completely silent.

The Underworld King tilted his head back haughtily. So they had brought Jiraiya along this time, too.

Both sides stared each other down. Sai tried not to wince when that severe gaze turned briefly onto him. Finally, Jiraiya spoke again.

"It is our understanding that you have been keeping Tsunade's daughter in your realm. You confirmed this to Naruto, did you not?"

Sasuke did not blink. He said nothing, his left hand resting casually – but with quiet menace – upon the hilt of his sheathed blade, Kusanagi.

Undeterred by the lack of reply, Jiraiya went on, "We also understand that she has consumed of the Forbidden Fruit-"

"State your terms," Sasuke interrupted flatly. He almost sneered when he saw that he had successfully managed to capture them all off-guard. Well, the two elders, at least. Sai lacked an emotional spectrum entirely.

What had the imbeciles expected? That he would try to deny it? He hadn't come to engage in worthless small talk. They had nothing else to discuss but the arrangements for Sakura's release. Other than that, he had absolutely no interest in any of them.

Kakashi exchanged glances with Jiraiya, and began cautiously, "Sasuke. We first wish to know how many seeds Sakura has consumed."

Jiraiya expected him to smirk. To gloat. But Sasuke did quite the contrary. He continued to look austere and unforthcoming. His eyes narrowed, and for a long moment, he was quiet.

At length, he answered tersely, "Six."

Jiraiya's eyes widened. Next to him, Kakashi exhaled a quiet sigh of relief. He hadn't even realised that he'd been withholding his breath as he'd awaited Sasuke's response.

Six seeds! He heard Jiraiya communicate in his mind. Not all hope is lost, after all, Kakashi!

Yes, but that is still half the year, he replied. We must be careful here. May I proceed?

By all means. I'd rather say as little as possible to this pompous little scoundrel.

Kakashi took over. "Sasuke, we know that Naruto told you the truth about Sakura and what Cronus did in the past. If he was to somehow learn of her true identity, we have no doubts that he would try to utilise her abilities again."

"The seal keeps her protected," Jiraiya nodded. "It keeps her powers hidden, even from eyes like yours. What we are saying to you is…" he paused, before venturing, "…we cannot allow this information to reach him at any costs. If you are allied with Cronus in any way…"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Cronus," he spat out the name hatefully, "is of no interest to me."

"Then one would naturally question the motives behind your actions," Jiraiya gestured. "Is this an act of revenge, Sasuke? For the loss of your Clan? Do you seek to use her to punish us? You know the girl is innocent. She played no part in it."

Sasuke tensed at the mention of his deceased family. His fingers curled more securely around Kusanagi's hilt.

Kakashi's heart leapt. Though he was genuinely relieved to hear confirmation that Sasuke didn't seem to be in league with the Uchiha founder, he most certainly didn't want things to escalate!

"You will be called to answer for your actions, Sasuke," he intervened, trying to neutralise the tension that was rapidly escalating between them. "You know the laws of your Kingdom better than anyone. You know it is strictly forbidden to steal a mortal into your realm. If you give us your reasons now, if you help us understand that this was not done in spite to punish us, then perhaps we could attempt to negotiate on your behalf-"

"I did not come here to answer to any of you," the death deity's voice rang out frostily.

"But you will have to eventually, if not now, then when you are summoned before the High Court. You understand this, do you not?" Jiraiya informed him. "You are not completely beyond the reach of our laws, Sasuke. When you take something that is ours, you must offer explanation for it."

Sasuke lifted his nose disdainfully at him. He appeared entirely bored by the lecture. "I said, state your terms, sage," the final word was loaded with weighty, discourteous sarcasm.

Jiraiya's eyebrows twitched as he became increasingly irked. Sasuke was arrogant and completely unapologetic. He had always been ridiculously obstinate, but he seemed to have gotten even worse over the ages. It was rather infuriating.

"Do you acknowledge that your actions have had serious consequences on the earth?" he demanded, in a manner that resembled an angry adult berating a wayward teenager. "Do you even comprehend what it is that you have done? Crops have failed to grow in abundance this year! Many have perished, and Tsunade will not bless the harvest without Sakura. If the girl is not restored to the surface before the end of summer, she and many more will die!"

Sasuke angled his head slightly. "Have you finished, old man?"

"Why, you insolent little brat," Jiraiya muttered. "I'm of a mind to discipline you, right now."

In a second, Sasuke had drawn his sword. Holding his arms out, he mockingly goaded, "Try."

"Stop this!" Kakashi intercepted, once more trying to avoid confrontation. He knew from past experience that it was the wrong way to handle Sasuke. "We did not come here to fight, Sasuke, but to negotiate."

"A pity," Jiraiya rued. "He could do with a good hiding. He has absolutely no respect for his elders, even you, his old sparring partner and teacher, Kakashi."

One corner of Sasuke's lips curled back. Not quite a smirk. Not quite a sneer. He had never battled Jiraiya before. The eager warrior within him who was always searching for a fresh challenge wondered whether Jiraiya was really as legendary as Naruto had always gushed about in the long ago past.

Kakashi, desperate to keep them on track, attempted another route. "Do we have your word, Sasuke? That Sakura will come to no harm while she is in your world?"

Sasuke was silent. They half expected him not to respond. But he surprised them, by clipping matter-of-factly, "Yes."

Jiraiya and Kakashi exchanged uncertain glances again, and the death deity knew they were communicating telepathically in their minds. Finally, Kakashi nodded at him.

"Then these are our terms. Sakura must be on the surface in order for springtime to be triggered each year. We propose that she spends the spring and summer months with her mother. We will watch over her, as we have always done, and keep her hidden from Cronus and his spies."

"Then, when autumn falls, and all through the winter, she will return here," Jiraiya finished gruffly, wishing that such a compromise didn't have to be made. "Her powers are dormant in those seasons. While she is on the surface, she is to be free, and live as she lived before she came to this place. You are to have no interaction with her. Are these terms acceptable to you?"

Sasuke considered this. Then he said, "I accept. On one condition."

Jiraiya raised his eyebrows. "And what might that be…?"

"While she is here, none of you will interfere."

Jiraiya sighed, and conceded, "I suppose that is only fair." To Kakashi, he muttered, "Although that intolerable shrew will likely have both our heads for this."

Kakashi dreaded to envisage Tsunade's rage once she found out. But they were trying to make the best of a very awful situation. It could have been much worse, however. Sakura could have eaten more seeds. She could have been cursed to remain trapped in the shades of Sasuke's realm forever. What would the repercussions of that have been?

As he looked upon the stoic King of the Dead, Kakashi found himself bewilderedly questioning just what Sasuke was really after. What were his true reasons for abducting Sakura? If not to strike out at them, then what else? He could not possibly have an interest in the girl. That just wasn't like Sasuke at all.

Was it…?

A sliver of apprehension filled him. Kakashi supposed they would find out once Sakura was returned to them, and when Sasuke came to account for his behaviour in front of the High Court.

"Then it is decided," Jiraiya declared. "But before this can come into effect, it must be settled and formally decreed by the High Court. Sakura must be returned to us before summer's end. You know this, Sasuke."

This was it. The point of no return. But Sasuke reminded himself that he was doing it for Sakura's sake. It gave him no pleasure to respond, "I'll see to it."

"How will we know when to come for her?"

"…" Sasuke's eyes narrowed once again. Wasn't the answer to that obvious? "You will be contacted."

Jiraiya nodded, satisfied. Kakashi, relieved that they had managed to reach some sort of settlement with all their limbs intact, added one last point.

"There's just one other thing. When do the seeds activate, Sasuke? Do you hold any influence over this, or is the countdown to six months effective as soon as she sets foot on the surface? Because as it stands now, the timing of our agreement is reversed. She cannot come here in spring."

Sasuke decided that he had lingered for long enough. He already knew precisely how he would handle the so-called 'High Court'.

"You will find out," he informed them cryptically, nonchalantly, as he turned dismissively away, signalling that their exchange was over. "Now leave," he said ominously, "Before I fulfil my word, and slay your Messenger for returning here."

Sai tensed at that. With those words, the death deity blurred out of sight, leaving them to depart alone.

---

When he next alighted, it was before the imposing front doors to his palace. Entering into it, Sasuke came across Sakura's personal handmaids, both carrying laundry baskets.

"Your Majesty," they curtsied low.

"Sakura," he said expectantly, an indirect question about her whereabouts and well-being.

"She is resting, My Lord," Chizu kept her head reverentially bowed. "In her chamber, Majesty."

Sasuke nodded briefly. Then he stunned them both with what he instructed next.

"Gather her surface belongings."

Chizu blinked rapidly at the ground, taken aback. Ume had to fight back a gasp of astonishment, and wrestle back the urge to question why their king would issue such an order.

Was Sakura leaving them? But she barely had any surface belongings, save for the clothes she'd arrived in, and the bracelet the Master had gifted to her.

Chizu was the first of them to recover. "Yes, at once, My King," she curtsied again. Ume mirrored the action, and both women then bustled quickly away, disappearing through the door that led toward the laundry room.

Sasuke turned, and looked up at the staircase, meaning to head straight to Sakura's room to tell her everything, when he suddenly halted, detecting an unanticipated presence moments before the front doors behind him parted again.

He stared askance at the new arrival, suspicious and displeased in equal measures. What did she think she was doing, turning up out of the blue, unannounced? She had no place setting foot inside his palace. How impertinent! She hadn't even thought to request his explicit permission to enter.

But something about her anxious and flustered expression gave Sasuke pause. She seemed breathless. Like she had rushed to arrive in time to find him. The doors closed again with a resounding thud, and they stood for a stretching moment in heavy silence, regarding one another.

Seeing him standing in the halls of his resplendent abode was almost too much for Karin to handle. So majestic. So magnificent. She gawked in awe at their surroundings – before returning her gaze to gape at him. She had to make herself focus, to remind herself why she was there, to keep from openly salivating over how darkly alluring and handsome he looked.

Sasuke let her know just what he thought of her disrespectful, unabashed staring, and glared daggers at her.

"Why have you left your post?" he demanded icily. "Karin."

The river nymph, still cloaked entirely in the black robe of her uniform, took a deep breath.

"My King," she addressed him formally, straightening her spectacles. "I am your loyal subject, and I've come to warn you!"

"…" Sasuke frowned. What was she saying? Why hadn't she called to him, instead of daring to come to him, uninvited and without appointment?

What she uttered next, however, caused him to swivel his entire body toward her, attention fully caught.

"There is something you need to know," Karin said, internally relishing her trouble-making words. "About that girl you brought here. About Sakura."

---

Sakura secured the final straps of her black sandals around her calves, before straightening up to tie her belt. She had swapped her velvet dress for a sparring outfit. The sleeveless top was crimson, had a sweetheart neckline. It moulded closely to her upper form. The short skirt reached halfway down her thighs, was constructed from strips of black leather pleated together. On her forearms were matching leather arm guards. Hastily, she pulled her long hair back into a ponytail.

She had changed for practicality. In order to be able to move around freely. Slotting her sword into the sheath that was attached to the belt at her waist, she stared resolutely at her reflection in the mirror.

Her eyes were red-rimmed from crying, but she had long since spent all her tears. In place of despair remained only iron-will and the steady blaze of anger.

Suigetsu's instructions rang clearly in her head. She knew what she needed to do. There would be no faltering. No hesitating. Not this time.

Nodding to herself, she turned away from the mirror and strode with purpose toward the doors. She had no belongings, nothing that she wished to take with her. Sasuke could keep his riches and his gifts.

She did not want any of them.

As she walked through the warmly lit hallways, she was hyper-aware of the small poison phial which she had tucked down her top, nestled snugly in the space between her breasts. It was the safest place to conceal it. She hoped that she wouldn't have to make use of any more of the venom. She dearly prayed that the strategy she'd assured Suigetsu would work with Sasuke being none the wiser would unravel smoothly, without a hitch. Even if the manner in which she intended to execute it was utterly despicable.

She hadn't told Suigetsu what it was. She had simply just reassured him that it would be more surreptitious and less dicey than spiking Sasuke's drink. The ocean deity had nodded, trusting her to deliver.

Sakura was determined – but that didn't mean she wasn't edgy or frightened inside. Her heart raced, fully conscious of the peril she was in. She was about to partake in treason against the Lord of the Underworld, the King of the Dead. Who wouldn't be apprehensive about that? She was defying and betraying a god. And not just any god; the very one who had the power to fling her into the scorching pits of hell for all eternity if he somehow caught on. If her plan backfired.

The risks were substantial. And yet, somehow, she drew strength and courage from her fury and hurt, from the sense of betrayal she, too, felt.

After everything Sasuke had done to her, this seemed inconsequential in comparison. He would recover from the poison. She, however, would never recover from her ordeal.

And there were still no guarantees that he would not follow her once she returned to the surface. Sakura supposed she hoped that her mother and the other deities would be able to protect her, somehow. Though deep inside her heart, she knew that nothing could escape from Sasuke's terrifying powers. If Death came again for her and sought to end her life, not even her mother could prevent it.

Sakura swallowed. She couldn't give into defeatist thoughts. There was no sense in worrying about the future while she was in the present. She had to concentrate on the here and now. As long as she played her cards right and remained level-headed, she stood a decent chance of implementing the plan, and stealing Kusanagi.

She was still required to act for a little longer. Although it seemed harder than ever to mask her true emotions, to pretend that everything was normal between her and Sasuke, after she had found out the truth about the Forbidden Fruit. What if he was able to read her right away?

She wondered how much longer he would have buried it from her. Perhaps he really had been about to tell her in the banqueting hall, before he'd gotten preoccupied by an outside matter. But even by that point, it had been far too late.

As she took a left, the corridor wall opened out on the right hand side, forming gilded columns as Sakura finally neared the majestic staircase. She would hurry to the training arena, as agreed. But she drew to an abrupt, surprised stop at the sound of a voice she could not initially place, echoing up from the entrance hall below.

"-pretending all along! She's been planning to betray you from the start!"

The blood in Sakura's veins instantly froze over. Every muscle in her body locked, and she stood, rooted to the spot in shock.

No, her thundering heart jolted painfully. No, it couldn't be-!

Forcing her feet to move, she inched forward so that she could peer between the columns that flanked the top of the staircase. And what she saw confirmed her fears, caused her heart to plunge to her feet, as she stared down at a scene from her nightmares in abject, open-mouthed horror.

Karin was leaning into Sasuke, speaking words that openly framed her treachery.

"Forget about her, Sasuke," the red-head was purring. "She's nothing but an untrustworthy backstabber! As soon as that idiot Suigetsu told me about what they were planning, I waited for the right moment to tell you." She slid a sensual hand up his left arm, slowly, carefully. The God of Death did not move or push her away.

No. This wasn't happening. NO! The blood in Sakura's ears roared. She felt sick, and her entire body began to tremble. Karin had ratted on them at the final moment! Right before they had been about to carry out their plan! Her eyes fell onto Sasuke. He stood in silence at the bottom of the steps, with his back turned to her, but she could clearly detect the tightly coiled tension in his shoulders.

Even from her height above him, she could sense the tempestuous fury of his unbridled rage.

She lifted a shaking hand to her mouth, horrified. This had been the last thing she'd planned for! Hatred for the interfering Karin exploded inside her, mingling with the fear. Suigetsu had assured her that Karin would cooperate-!

Now what did she do? Frantically her mind raced, trying to find some way to salvage the disaster that was unfolding. Would it be best to make her presence known? To try to deny it?

What Karin said next, however, damned Sakura even further.

"Search her. She'll have the poison on her for sure! She wants to use it to steal your sword away, so she and Suigetsu can open the gates and escape from the Underworld!"

That… that double-crossing bitch! She'd participated too! But there was no way Sasuke was going to believe Sakura. Aghast, she shook her head, unable to tear her gaze away from Karin, who was now daring to latch her other arm around the motionless death deity.

Disgusted and appalled, a stricken Sakura found herself wishing that she could break those arms. She had never wished ill on anyone as much as she wished it on Karin, right at that moment. She had ruined everything before Sakura had even had the chance to try and execute her strategy.

Karin's gaze suddenly shifted and she caught sight of Sakura watching them. She directed a small, smug, satisfied, gleeful smile over Sasuke's left shoulder. Like the cat that got the cream, she cooed at the death god, her eyes not leaving Sakura, "Such a traitor isn't worthy of your high favour."

Sakura's eyes pooled with furious tears. She swallowed them back. Her hands closed to form enraged fists.

"I…" Karin angled her head to whisper seductively into his ear, "...have always been loyal to you, for all these years… I would never let anything harm you, Sasuke…"

Sakura, sickened, could not bear to see any more. She didn't want to watch Karin throwing herself at Sasuke, simpering and fawning all over him. But Sasuke suddenly moved, reaching up to untangle Karin's arms from around his neck. Firmly he pushed her back.

Then he turned his head slightly - and angled an impaling, deadly glare directly up at her.

The air abandoned Sakura's lungs. His eyes were bloody crimson. The cold rage she could glimpse within them chilled her to the bone. She felt like that dreadful, intimidating gaze was physically skewering straight through her chest, searing right through her soul. Her heart had never drummed so hard and fast.

Her legs seemed to move of their own accord, then. Shaking her head, she backed away from the banister – and bolted straight back down the hallway. She wasn't thinking about it. In her frenzied state of panic, she sought only to place distance between herself and Sasuke. Even when she knew that he could hunt her down and close the space between them quicker than she could draw a breath. If he wanted to, he could flicker into sight before her, and intercept her right at that second.

The awareness of that only made her legs wobble even more unstably. Like dead-weights they were beneath her, obstructing her movements. She felt like she stumbled and tripped over her own two feet all the way back to her room, and when she entered it, she senselessly locked the doors.

As if they could keep him out. As if they could somehow protect her from the immense strength of a god.

Her brain was overrun with discord, in a scattered state of utter pandemonium. She needed to talk to Suigetsu- to tell him what had happened- she needed to- she needed to get out! She had to- what did she do? Sasuke was coming to kill her. She wouldn't even have a chance to pull off what she'd intended. He wouldn't let her. She had never seen him so angry before- the moment he got his hands on her, it was all over.

The window! She thought wildly to herself. She had to climb down the balcony-

The rattle of the door-handle, however, informed her that her time was up. Sasuke had already arrived.

No, she thought to herself in despair, heart palpitating unpleasantly. Now that she had finally gathered the guts to go ahead with the escape attempt, everything was going catastrophically wrong!

A small voice then suddenly reached her through the chaos of her thoughts. It was the voice of logic. The same one that had helped her stay focused on previous occasions.

Calm down, Sakura! Calm down right now!

Like a deer caught in headlights, she halted, listening.

Yes, he's here. The voice of reason grew in volume. He knows. There's nothing else you can do! At the very least, keep your dignity in tact! Maybe, just maybe, you can find an opening and try, if he doesn't kill you first. You've had your moment to freak out, now get it together! Don't you dare let him see that you're afraid!

She gulped, as a sense of impending doom settled over her. It was worse if she fought against it. Perhaps, if she just accepted her situation, instead…

It worked. She fought to steady her shallow breathing, to think.

It's what he's expecting, she told herself, and once more, anger gave her courage, the mettle to find strength from within again. He's expecting me to be terrified. It's what he wants! But I'll show him! I won't go down without a fight!

The sound of the doors unlocking made a strange sense of composure snap over Sakura. She turned her back to the doors, faced toward the fireplace, and acknowledged that there was no use in fighting against the tide, no physical way she could evade him. No way out of this horrible confrontation.

She would not… she would not grovel and beg for her life before him!

She remained resolutely in place at the sound of the doors parting and closing as Sasuke stepped inside.

She waited, heart hammering against her ribcage, for him to break the smothering silence, to act first. The crackling tension that hung in the air between them was so thick that Sakura was convinced it could be cut up with a knife and served on a platter.

Sasuke, who had been standing by the doors and staring at the floor, finally lifted his eyes to her. He could see the fine tremors that afflicted her body. But he felt no pity. No compassion. There were no words to describe the breaking feeling inside his chest. The splintering, fracturing sensation of having his heart feel like it was being squeezed mercilessly by a sharp clawed, iron fist, shredded and punctured and ruptured beyond what he could physically withstand.

And above the crippling shattering, was a frightful emotion he could deal with. The turbulent storm of incensed wrath. He feared that he could not control it, this time. He could not recall the last time he had felt such damaging, dangerous rage.

For all this time, she had been communicating with Suigetsu. Oh, he had expected such a thing from the Lord of the Oceans – he was the conniving and underhanded sort, after all. Sasuke was not at all surprised.

But Sakura. Sakura, who was everything light and innocent and good in his mind; at least, she had been – until Karin had told him the unpleasant truth. A truth he had still foolishly hoped was false, a mistake – but he had known, the moment his eyes had found Sakura at the top of the staircase – he had known, from the way something had sunk and snapped into a million fragments inside him – that it was no lie.

She wasn't the demure, harmless flower he'd first thought her to be. In many ways, she had proven him right – but in the most painful fashion. She was a rose. A rose with sharp thorns. In her desperation to get away, she had been prepared to resort to treachery. To physically harm him.

A grave error and misjudgement she had made, indeed. To think, that he had left her to secure the terms for her release – that he had returned and intended to go straight to her and tell her that he was willingly going to take her back to the surface – only to learn of this treason! She was ready to poison him, just to get her hands on Kusanagi! All this time, she had faked compliance, cooperated with an ulterior motive in mind. Her laughter, her interest in his world, all the emotions he had seen sparkling in her eyes… had they been nothing but lies?

She had played him - the mighty King of the Underworld - for a fool! And he'd been so taken by her light that he had turned a blind eye to her scheming, had lowered the guard he'd been so careful to maintain at first – when he ought to have anticipated such duplicity at any moment. Instead he had let her close. She had gotten in, wormed her way, somehow, past his defences, and he had afforded her a degree of trust.

He had shown her the Blessed Isles! He had taken her to Elysium! He had shared pieces of his past with her, told her things he'd never spoken to anyone else. And now… for him to realise, that she had been plotting to betray him all along…

The death deity's eyes narrowed into slits. He hated her. At that moment, he hated Sakura with every fibre of his being, for what she had done to him. What she had been prepared to do. What she was doing to him, even now.

The ringing, distinctive sound of metal scraping against metal resonated in Sakura's ears. Sasuke had drawn his blade from its case.

She exhaled a tremoring breath. He was going to run her through, without as much as a single spoken word-!

Her eyes widened and she gulped at the cold kiss of steel pressing against the vulnerable skin of her throat, as Sasuke held the sword directly above her jugular vein.

"This," he hissed emphatically into her left ear, and she could hear, all too clearly, the alarming depth of his ire, "is the blade you would betray me for."

Sakura kept as still as she could manage, continued to stare into the hearth. As if the flames could somehow return warmth to her chilled body. As if she could somehow absorb strength directly from the fire. She felt the front of his torso brushing against her back, and this close, was overwhelmed by the rumbling, malevolent aura of his potent chakra signature. It was malicious, unstable. A volatile force that filled the air with electricity. Perilous. Devastating. Deadly.

"How ironic," he continued, "if it delivered your end."

Sakura released a quivering breath.

"Do you know?" Sasuke intoned, his lips brushing against her earlobe, summoning hateful tingles there. "What the penalty is for treason, Sakura…?"

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut. "Go ahead," she whispered. A part of her just wanted to get it over with. "Do it. Kill me."

One corner of his lips curled back to form a derisive sneer as he pressed the sharp sword more firmly into her skin. Sakura bit her tongue to keep herself from whimpering fearfully as she anticipated the sting of metal slicing across her throat.

It never came. In a split-second, the death deity had lowered his arm and grasped her shoulder, spinning her roughly around to face him.

Their bodies were mere inches apart. The King of the Dead glowered down at her, his crimson eyes fiery, blistering. A glare so menacingly scorching and intense, that any ordinary person on its receiving end would have shrivelled away, reduced to little more than a pile of ashes.

It was a marvel, then, that Sakura even remained standing.

"Do you think I need this blade?" he snarled. "Do you think I need any weapon? Have you forgotten who I am, Sakura?" He extended his right hand to her neck, as if he sought to wind his fingers around her throat in a choking hold - but did not touch her. "Have you forgotten," he went on, his voice lowering balefully, and somehow, the quieter tone was even more intimidating, "what I can do…?"

Sakura bravely held his ferocious eyes. As he raised Kusanagi under her chin and forced her face to tilt further upwards, she refused to cower before him.

"You were willing," he seethed, "to jeopardise your life, in order to return to the surface. And what if you had succeeded?" He angled the slicing blade across her throat again. "Did you think there would be no retribution?" His intense eyes singed through her skull, made her mind feel like it was on fire. "Tell me, Sakura," he uttered coldly, "Where would you run? Where could you hide, that would shield you from me?" She swallowed again, as he finished, "There is no place in this world, where I cannot find you."

She didn't dare to talk, out of fear of his sword drawing blood.

"You risked everything," he sneered, lifting his free hand, ghosting his fingers just above her left cheek, "for a blade."

A moment later Sakura felt a sharp stab of pain radiate deep inside her chest. All at once, she could not draw a breath. Within seconds, she was gasping for air. Automatically, she reached out to Sasuke in alarm, clutching thoughtlessly at his black cloak. Her vision was rapidly greying. Becoming a blur. Distantly, she realised that he was strangling her – without even touching her. It was a ruthless reminder of the fatal power that flowed through his veins. When his merciless grip on her windpipe did not abate, she could not keep her knees from buckling underneath her, and she crumpled to the floor, wheezing for oxygen at his feet.

But still she did not plead for mercy. She would not.

Sasuke's features contorted. He wanted to end her. To be free of her shackles. Just a little more pressure and she would perish. But he could not. By Elysium, how weak and pathetic had he become! He just couldn't. In a brief moment of uncharacteristic unguardedness, all the pain that was tearing him to tatters inside passed across his face.

Bent over and close to hyperventilating, Sakura did not glimpse it.

"I need nothing," he whispered bitterly, "but a passing thought to finish you."

She knew it all too well. She knew he was stronger than any weapon constructed by man. Asphyxiated, she clawed at the ground, telling herself that if this was indeed her premature demise then she would endure it in silence, without the humiliation of begging to be spared.

Sasuke held her prisoner for another few debilitating seconds – and then finally released her. Sakura immediately gasped and sucked in greedy gulps of air, eyes watering. Slowly her aching lungs regained their normal function. When she felt that she could, she pushed herself up and got back to her feet.

Sasuke watched her stand again, eyes narrowed into resentful slits. Just looking at her made him livid. He wanted to maim something. He knew it ought to be her. But his sword remained lowered, and he did not touch her again.

Sakura, meanwhile, couldn't believe she was still alive. Her gaze found his. "I admit it," she panted. Too angry and upset to stay quiet for any longer, she burst out, "Everything Karin told you is true! I have been communicating with Suigetsu all this time. He insisted that the only way to escape was to use poison to knock you out. I agreed to it at the start, because I was afraid and desperate. I just wanted to go back home. I didn't care how!"

He hadn't slain her. Yet. That made her grow a little braver.

"But the more time I spent with you, the more I began to hesitate. Because I was stupid! Stupid to think that maybe you had a heart, a conscience, somewhere underneath that stony exterior! But you don't," Sakura pointed an index finger at him. "You're just as dead inside as the souls you rule, Sasuke! And I can't believe," her voice trembled from the staggering intensity of her emotions, "that I almost started believing you. That I almost started feeling sorry for you, when all this time, you've been toying with me, and stringing me along!"

Everything she was saying was making him even madder. Sasuke half wanted to strangle her at that very moment. He wanted to rip out her heart, in the same way she was doing to him. She didn't even know. She had no idea of the destructive magnitude of the earthquake that had rumbled inside him and displaced the very plates of his being, the second he had found out about her plan to stab him in the back.

"You-" he bit out, infuriated. "You accuse me of deception? I gave you knowledge, showed you places forbidden to mortals." He pointed Kusanagi at her throat again. "I told you the truth about the power you hold within you and you…" he shook his head at her in disgust. "You pretended to take an interest in this realm, while weaving your own deceit, all along."

"It wasn't all pretend," she said in hushed tones. "I really did want to know more about your world, really did start thinking of you as a person. When I learnt about what happened to your clan, I… I almost started to care about your feelings." Her features were awash with anguish. "And because of that, I kept stalling Suigetsu's plan. I kept hoping that maybe I could get through to you another way! A way that could've avoided this!"

"You lie," he downright rejected.

"I wish it was a lie!" she retaliated. "I wish it really had been a game, like how you treated me… maybe then I would've accepted a lot sooner that you care about nobody and nothing but yourself! Just like Suigetsu warned me from the start! I should have listened and done this a long time ago!"

A game? How she mocked him! She dared to taunt him, when she had no clue of what pain he endured for her. His eyes widened, rage absolute. As swift as striking lightning, he lunged forward, and Sakura fumbled to draw her sword, heart battering inside her so hard that she could feel her entire body pulsating to its frantic beat.

This wasn't a training session. This was real. Wrathful Death was even deadlier than the Kraken they had faced together.

But at full speed, he was far too quick for her to defend against in time. Before she could even blink, Sasuke's blade had viciously parried hers aside and sent her weapon flying from her grasp. She gasped when she felt his hand snatch roughly at the neckline of her top. A moment later, she realised what he had done. He'd taken the phial she had hidden there. She clutched at her chest and whirled around, just in time to see him hurl the small ampoule aggressively into the hearth. The glass shattered, and the flames, reacting with the liquid, flared and exploded wildly behind him, forming a wall of fire around his profile.

Sakura stared at him, horror-struck. How had he known, right away?! Dread trickled through her. She no longer had a back-up supply of venom! Nothing but what she had already made use of, which meant that she absolutely had to find a way to make her initial plan work, somehow. It was either that, or she would die.

Her thoughts spun in a riotous cyclone. She had to try and shift the dynamic between them. Shaking with her own fury, she said, "You have no right. No right to stand there and judge me after everything you've done to me!" Genuine tears pooled into her eyes, and she exclaimed, "When were you going to tell me, Sasuke?"

The death deity, caught somewhat off-guard by this outburst, stiffened. He could only listen, as she demanded, "When were you going to tell me the truth about the pomegranate?!"

He inhaled sharply. A knot of jagged ice formed in his gut. Suigetsu. He had told her. There was no other way she could possibly know. He had wanted to do it himself, damn it! He had intended to in the banqueting hall, but then his unannounced guests had shown up at the most inconvenient time possible…

Quickly noticing that she now had him on the defensive, Sakura did not hesitate to continue her verbal onslaught, "It wasn't enough for you to kidnap me. To turn my entire life upside down! You planned this all planned to trap me here!" She bravely closed the gap, and grabbed a fistful of his shirt, even when she knew that any second could be her last. He did not stop her.

"Didn't you?" Sasuke could see that she was inconsolable. "Didn't you?!" Letting out an unsteady breath, she went on, "And then you judge me, when you forced me to do this, when you're the one who gave me no other choice! I tried to ask you to let me go!" she advanced at him. He swivelled fluidly around to avoid the fireplace, and she followed, her eyes alight with anger. "I tried to reason with you. Nothing worked! You manipulated me. Preyed on my confusion! And you probably only told me the truth about my mother and the others because you wanted to turn me against my family and friends!"

The last statement wasn't entirely accurate, but Sasuke couldn't deny the rest. Because the disgraceful reality was, he had intended precisely that at one point – to bind her regardless of her feelings. It had definitely started out that way, when he'd seen her as little more than a possession. He had come to view her as so much more, however, and his feelings on the matter had quite altered.

And as for the mouthful of pomegranate he had allowed her to take… he had been a fool, back then. But she affected him so much, that he couldn't contemplate parting from her forever. As selfish as it was, he had only wanted to ensure that regardless of what happened, there would be a way for him to see her again, a way for her to return to him.

"You did all of this," she said, "and you still think that you have the right to be angry at me?!" She pushed at his chest unthinkingly, and he deflected her blows with his free hand, irritated.

"Stop," he grimaced. He had never seen her so angry, either. Through the buzzing haze of his discontent, he was still conscious that another attack would come over her.

"You have no right," she vented, "no right to accuse me of betraying you, when you did the same to me and so much worse! You knew what the seeds meant!" she sobbed. "You knew exactly what you were doing when you offered me the fruit!" She shook her head. "How many seeds did you give me?"

He bristled. "I did not," he ground out. "You tasted it of your own free will."

Sakura almost released a hysterical laugh at that. "I didn't know what it meant. I thought it was just like any other food here! You tricked me! You think if you'd told me beforehand, I would have eaten from it?"

Her words were akin to a physical slap. They merely highlighted to Sasuke, again, what he found so difficult to accept - that she desired nothing to do with him or his realm.

When he simply stared mutely down at her, she pushed him back again. "How many, Sasuke?"

"Six," he snapped irately. He couldn't quite believe that their confrontation was turning into this – his fury being nullified and him having to fend her off – but he knew that everything she was saying was valid. She, too, was understandably upset, had every right to be outraged at him.

Six! Sakura didn't know whether to wail or count her lucky blessings that it hadn't been more. If each seed bound her for a month like Suigetsu had informed her, then that meant fifty-fifty; she would be tied to Sasuke's kingdom for half the year, and free for the rest.

But she still wanted to hear it from Sasuke.

"Suigetsu told me that every seed is worth a month in the year. Is that true?"

His eyes slunk away from her. "Yes."

"So I have to come back here for six months?" she relentlessly interrogated. "Every year?"

"…" He said nothing.

"Sasuke, every year?!"she pressed.

For someone who had gotten what he'd been after from the outset, Sasuke looked oddly subdued. Unhappy, almost.

"Yes."

Sakura was horrified. "Forever?"

He swallowed. Still made a point of avoiding eye-contact. He seemed to wrestle with himself, for his answer was uttered with great effort. "…Yes."

Sakura's face crumpled and she did wail, then. It was an awful, heart-breaking sound. Sasuke closed his eyes briefly. Her reaction was everything he had dreaded – and so much worse.

"No!" she choked out. He'd seduced her into eating from a fruit that would bind her to the Underworld – to him – for the rest of her life! He'd taken the liberty to decide her future! "No, how could you do this to me?" She covered her face with a despairing hand. "Why?" she wept. "Why?" Turning hysterical eyes back to him, she cried, "What do you want from me? Tell me what you want!"

He did not look at her.

"Are you doing this to get back at my mother and the others?" she confronted. "Sasuke, is that what this is all about?!"

"No." He rebuffed sharply, his eyes darting back to her again.

"Then why?"

The death deity's blood was boiling. Didn't she get it? Did he have to spell it out?! As a living mortal, she could not remain in his world. The fruit had been the only way to allow her the option of returning to his realm in the future.

It was now apparent to him that it was an option Sakura did not want. Or perhaps it was the manner in which he had bound her, without her knowledge, which was the real root of the problem, rather than the concept of coming back.

"If you really cared even a little about me," she went on tearfully, solidifying the latter theory, "you would've been honest about the fruit. You wouldn't have let me eat it – not without knowing the consequences! If you did it because you wanted me to come back here, then you should've given me that choice, Sasuke! But you didn't!"

Sasuke's gaze fell away from her again. He wrestled to retain composure. It was always a battle when Sakura was in front of him.

"It was," he finally erupted through clenched teeth, pride taking a massive blow as he conceded, "a mistake."

Sakura's breath hitched. "A mistake?" she echoed in disbelief. "Now you're telling me you didn't mean for it to happen?!"

His tongue felt like it had been tied with barbed wire. His mind couldn't supply the words he needed. He could only manage an inarticulate, resentful, "No."

Sakura recoiled, taking a step away from him. Did he actually expect her to believe him?

"I don't believe you," she exhaled.

This didn't surprise Sasuke.

Her brain was anxiously trying to find a loophole, a way to overcome the dreadful situation.

"I've already been here for almost five months," she said. "If I stay one more, will that count? Will I be free until next year?"

Free. Like staying with him was a prison sentence. This wasn't… this wasn't at all what he had wanted! This wasn't the way he had envisaged it would turn out.

But who else did he have to blame, other than himself? Self-loathing gnawed away at Sasuke. He had made Sakura hate him. His actions had damaged any possibility of winning her over. But he'd seen it far too late. Because he hadn't even realised, from the beginning, that winning her over was what he'd come to yearn for, so terribly. His fury at her, at her willingness to betray him, turned completely onto himself.

He was the one who had done this.

"It doesn't work that way," he answered dully.

"Then how?" Sakura exclaimed. When he did not respond, she stepped forward and pushed at him again. "You- you jerk! You're so much trouble! Kore's fragment was right about you!"

Sasuke's eyes widened. The Essence had mentioned him?

"I should run far away from here," Sakura went on. "You're nothing but trouble! You think you can do anything you want, without thinking of the consequences your actions have on others! You've ruined my life!"

He lashed out, unable to stand it anymore. "Is this place so unbearable to you, Sakura?"

"It isn't the place!" she retorted. "It's you! How can you ever expect me to forgive you? Maybe… maybe I might have eventually found it in my heart to hold no further grudges, if you'd just taken me back to the surface. Because I thought I understood why you took me, even if your methods were completely wrong. But this…" she shook her head at him. "This is something you can't justify! You want to force me to return here, without even asking me for my opinion on the matter!"

"You would have refused," he accused. "And as a mortal, you cannot return here!"

"If you really cared, you would respect my decisions!" she shot back. What she said next stunned him. "Not make them for me! How does that make you any different to my mother or my friends, if you try and control everything that I do?"

The death deity, thoroughly perturbed by this thought and the staggering truth behind her words, could only stare at her, appalled.

"It isn't this place," she repeated sincerely, making Sasuke feel even more wretched. "It's dark and gloomy and some areas are frightening, but there's so much beauty in this world, too. Did you think that I'd just go back to the surface, and forget all about everything I've seen here, about a secret kingdom I never even realised existed before?" She laughed sadly, a short, abrupt sound. "Who wouldn't want to see Elysium again? It's not like I'm going to get anywhere near it now when I die. You'll throw me into Tartarus for what I've done!"

Sasuke's eyes widened incredulously. The possibility of Sakura wanting to come back of her own free will had never crossed his mind.

Suddenly he found himself questioning why. What if he had relented and returned her to the surface sooner? What if he had offered the seeds to her and let her have as many as she wanted before they parted, instead of doing what he'd done? Would Sakura have accepted? Would she have agreed to consume them, if he'd made it clear that it was the only way for her to be able to come back?

The errors of his ways were now so obvious to him, they were practically blinding. It was strange, how for all his supposed wisdom, he had failed to see the shortcomings at the time. When he'd offered her the pomegranate, he'd thought only of binding her to him. He hadn't wanted to lose her.

But now, he was losing her anyway. What good would it be, if Sakura returned to him every year, unwilling and unhappy? He could almost envisage it. She would lock herself in her room and refuse to come out. That most certainly wasn't the future he'd had in mind when he'd watched her bite into the Forbidden Fruit.

Which begged the question… what could he do to fix this mess? Because surely he had to fix it. Somehow, he had to find a way – as implausible as the odds seemed.

"But you chose not to tell me," she spoke in a hushed voice. "And I won't ever forgive you. Not unless you undo it!"

He clenched his teeth tightly. Closing his eyes again, he confessed, "It cannot be undone."

Sakura stared at his face. Her brain refused to acknowledge and accept the words. They were gibberish to her. Abruptly she grabbed his left hand, the one that still held Kusanagi, and pressed the tip of the sword above her gut.

"Get them out of me!" she cried. "I don't care how, if you have to cut me open and bleed out my insides, I want them out!"

She could see that she had visibly unsettled him. The tables of power had turned entirely. Sasuke looked disturbed. More than that, he almost looked… she blinked up at him, the red of her vision clearing enough for her to register his disconsolate expression, the way he was still avoiding her eyes.

He looked… guilty.

But Sakura didn't feel any satisfaction. For some reason, it only made her cry harder.

She pressed the tip more forcefully against her stomach. "Do it," she wept. "Free us both!"

He opened his mouth. Could not seem to form any words. Like the words she had hurled at him had reached his very core and rattled him greatly.

"Sakura-"

"Do it!" she urged. "You're going to kill me anyway! So do it!"

"I-" he swallowed. "I can't."

That wasn't what she wanted to hear. "You can," she insisted.

He finally met her gaze. "No." He repeated glumly. "I can't."

Sakura gaped at him in dismay. What was he saying? That it was permanent? Tears streamed down her cheeks. How could he let this happen to her? Had he no heart? She already knew the answer to that question.

But then he spoke. His voice was oddly thick. Strained. As if he was struggling to get words out.

"This isn't-" he simmered in silence for a second. "This isn't how I- not what I-," he growled in frustration, "…it wasn't meant to be this way."

She searched his face, bewildered to find what appeared to be genuine dissatisfaction – genuine remorse. Thrown by it, she exhaled shakily once again.

"You made it this way," she finally whispered. "You have to undo it."

She still didn't understand. Sasuke didn't recognise the sinking sensation in his chest as sadness. He could not comprehend it, right then.

"I can't," he muttered again, moving to draw back his arm.

"You're the God of Death!" Sakura insisted, holding fast onto his arm, keeping the tip of the sword angled at her belly. "You can do anything!"

His eyes locked onto hers. She watched as the Sharingan receded, blending back into the familiar dark irises that had sucked her in so many times. It was as if the last of his anger had just drained away. Snuffed out. He shook his head slightly in negative of her statement. And all of a sudden, to her, he looked…

He looked so tired. So defeated.

Sakura was stunned speechless.

"I am not capable of anything." He inhaled deeply. What he forced himself to articulate next was monumental. Sakura would have thought she was imagining it entirely- were it not for the sullen, sincere look of dejected guilt on his face. "I cannot undo my past actions."

Fresh tears welled in her eyes. The corners of his lips turned down marginally upon witnessing this.

"I cannot force you to accept this," he continued quietly.

She released a quivering breath. What cruel manner of emotional manipulation was he spinning, now? Her entire body felt like it was on the verge of collapsing.

"Don't…" she was all at once the one finding it difficult to talk. "Don't pretend you're sorry… like you actually care… you should hate me now. You- you should want to kill me…"

"I cannot make you believe me," he added, disregarding her words entirely, and Sakura felt smothered. Dizzy. Sick. He was apologising, in his own indirect way, and she didn't want to hear it.

He was turning then, reversing their positions. She scarcely realised it. Could not tear her eyes from his. Confusion muddled her mind. He was looking at her so intently. Like she was all that mattered in the world.

No, she yelled at herself. No, he's just doing it again; trying to make you hesitate, to lose focus…

Don't listen. Don't!

"And I cannot…" he finished harshly, jerking his arm out of her grasp, angling the blade away from her, before he tossed it aside to the floor, "kill you."

She blinked down at the discarded sword – only to look up again, inhaling sharply as Sasuke's hands lifted to her shoulders. Before she knew it, he had her pushed back against the wall beside the four-poster bed.

Sakura's heart thundered. She had a split second, in which she clearly read the intention in his eyes – to act, to warn him, to prevent what would follow. And in that fraction, all time seemed to suspend between them, and she was pierced once again by a guilt she furiously told herself she should not be feeling.

She placed a palm against his chest, looked up at him with wide eyes. "Sasuke," she started hoarsely. "Wait-"

But she broke off, did nothing else to stop him, as his head dipped and his lips found hers, and he kissed her passionately, with a senseless desperation that stole the very strength from her bones. Like he could not breathe without her, like she was the water he needed to live, as if she was formed from the most basic elements he required to survive. His lips moved feverishly against hers, and Sakura, knowing that it was already far, far too late to change the course of fate, squeezed her eyes shut and finally yielded to his touch, lifted her arms and wrapped them around his neck, pressing her body against his.

And for the first – and she told herself, last time – she kissed him back, just as deeply and wildly, with trembling, reckless abandon, like they had kissed many times before, like they were not warring enemies but long lost lovers who belonged together, reunited after a heart-breaking separation. She kissed him angrily, without reservation; her hands raked through his silky hair – so soft, so fine beneath her fingertips - and her blood was kindled from the spark of his touch. The death deity's strong arms wound around her, crushing her to him, and when his tongue probed her oral cavern for entry, Sakura did not deny it, allowing him to plunge into her mouth, to drink her up, to consume.

Everything else seemed to disappear around them. Sakura kept telling herself, ten more seconds. But now that she was really reciprocating, she couldn't seem to halt the hazardous chemical reaction that accompanied the meeting of their lips. His proficient mouth was making her come undone, and she dazedly thought that it would be quite easy for a girl to lose herself entirely to such impassioned kisses.

They broke apart briefly, and Sasuke dragged the tip of his nose along the bridge of hers, as he exhaled, "Sakura…" the anger all but drained from him, replaced by a gladness and confused wonder that made her heart constrict. His hands lifted to cradle her cheeks, in a gesture of such unexpected tenderness, that fresh tears blurred her vision. She could only stare in bewilderment at him as he traced a thumb over her lower lip, wiped away at her tears.

"I…" she swallowed thickly, distressed by how fast her pulse was hurtling. She could feel his heart too, beating fitfully inside his chest.

"Enough," he breathed against her lips. He did not need to say anymore. She understood what he meant.

Enough fighting. Enough war.

He kissed her again, more slowly, more sensually, and she felt him tug her hair free from its ponytail, felt her tresses tumble loose around her, and then his hand was in it, fingers lacing through her long locks. Everywhere he touched tingled and tantalised, was crackling lightning, molten fire, numbing ice.

"Mmph…" she whimpered, as he deepened the kiss once more. Again it became ravenous, hungry. Terrifying in its intensity. What was this potent, explosive force that flowed between them? She gasped when his mouth abruptly moved away from hers and trailed along her jawline, sending sweet shocks of electricity pulsating through her. When his lips then brushed against her neck, she gulped. A moment later, his rough tongue was sliding over her throat, licking, sucking, devouring. He could feel her pulse there, racing erratically – and his heart swelled and soared.

She could not deny it. For all her words, she could not resist the attraction between them any more than he could. He knew his touch affected her. And all the pain and darkness and fury he'd experienced when learning of her backstabbing intentions fizzled out, replaced by liquid sunshine that poured in an enraptured rush through him. The sweetness of it hurt dreadfully, but somehow, the splintered fragments of his shattered heart were regrouping, slowly mending.

She said she could not forgive him. Claimed she wanted no involvement with him. But how could she mean it, how could he take her word, when she kissed him back this way, when she melted in his arms and filled him to the brim with her warmth and light, to the point that she made him ache so terribly inside?

Did she not see? That it was useless to fight against the devastating tsunami raging around them. They could not swim. Only go under, and drown together.

Just a little more…! Sakura's eyes were open. She knew she had to stop this soon. But her limbs felt like dead-weights. It was all she could do to clutch onto him. She was quickly losing track of everything, mind unravelling, descending into a dizzying spiral. She frantically wondered if Kore's fragment had something to do with her sudden paralysis. Were old feelings that were not hers somehow resurfacing? What else could explain the way her body just seemed to fit against Sasuke's so perfectly? The way they seemed to merge together? The undeniable sparks flying between them?

Her eyelids fluttered shut again and her head fell back when he pulled at her hair, exposing her vulnerable neck more openly to his seeking lips. Sakura lost herself to the dark, disarming seduction of his electrifying touches, and only snapped back to awareness when she felt the softness of a mattress beneath her. Her eyes flew open in alarm. Sasuke had moved them to the bed-!

Things were suddenly moving way too fast.

Her lungs strained for air. She could see that his chest was heaving, too. There was a wild light in his eyes. Raw, predatory lust.

"Sasuke-" she began nervously.

"Be quiet," he commanded. His hands encircled her wrists, pinning them atop her head as he lowered his face to within inches of hers. "You really are…" he rained small kisses upon her cheek, "…so annoying," he whispered angrily – and then claimed her lips gluttonously once again.

The sense of déjà vu, of hearing those exact words before, slammed into her, and Sakura was sent reeling from it.

Stop, a small voice spoke feebly in her mind. Stop him… that's enough… surely he's taken enough!

When he released her hands, however, her arms wrapped around his neck and she yanked him more closely down on top of her. This was, she furiously insisted to herself, goodbye. She'd allow just one more minute, for good measure.

His hands trailed down her sides. Down the smooth, exposed skin of her legs as his hot, swirling tongue danced with hers. She was warm and soft and pliant under him. By the heavens! She was a drug, an intoxicating addiction. She made him crave every inch of her and he could never have enough. The death deity, at that moment, was completely absorbed by her. Completely unguarded. Completely vulnerable.

"You asked," Sasuke breathed raggedly, in between blazing, bruising kisses, "why. Does this…" he kissed her deeply, long and hard, "answer you?"

She felt his fingertips trail underneath her skirt, tracing the outer contour of her left thigh, and foreign, throbbing warmth started to pool into the lower depths of her belly. Her back arched, pushing her body more firmly against his as she released a throaty moan against his lips.

This was wrong, Sakura knew guiltily. So wrong. The chemistry they shared was utterly terrifying. Like an unstoppable force of nature that had the power to destroy them both. And she knew, at that second, that this was perhaps what she had feared most all along.

But she fiercely told herself that he was simply receiving a taste of his own medicine. That she had every right to manipulate his feelings – just as he had done so cruelly to hers.

Enough! The order roared inside her head deafeningly. That's more than enough!

Focus and steely resolve slammed viciously back into her, chasing the fogging cobwebs of physical longing out of her mind. She redirected her hands to his chest – and shoved hard. The force of her push caught Sasuke by surprise, made him lift his weight off her. He stared down at her face, blinking through the swarming haze of desire, his breathing laboured.

"Stop!" Sakura panted. "This- this is insane!"

If it was madness, then Sasuke never wanted to be rational again. He wanted her so much – no – he needed her, and gripped her wrists once more in an unbreakable hold. The eagerness with which she had reciprocated convinced him that she needed him, too.

For a sickening, petrifying moment, Sakura panicked. She didn't know what she would do, what she could do, if he did not cease.

"Please," she gasped in alarm, as his head began to lower greedily again. "Sasuke-!" She resisted and turned her face away from the lips that tried to capture hers in another fervent, sanity-stealing kiss. "No! Stop it!" She struggled, writhing under him, trying to get away, as the terrifying possibility of her losing something other than her life suddenly flashed across her mind, and she summoned the last of her strength to push at him again. "You're scaring me!"

Those final words seemed to reach him at last, for he released a frustrated growl, and with great reluctance and mighty effort, tore himself away from her. He sat tensely at the edge of the bed, hands balled into tight fists. Fighting to regain control over his displaced senses. His blood was like gasoline, strewn alight, making his body burn.

Shakily, she sat up. Her heart was ready to burst out of her chest as she watched him intently with apprehensive eyes. His own were closed. She could see that he was wrestling to restore restraint.

Sakura counted the seconds. She wondered how long it would take.

"I'm sorry," she said.

Sasuke's eyelids lifted as his breathing gradually settled. He scowled lightly. Sorry…? What was the irritating girl apologising for? She had plotted to betray him, yes. But she hadn't actually done it. He couldn't even recall why he'd been so furious to begin with. Not when her words had more than justified her intentions. It was the least he deserved, wasn't it? For all the atrocious things he'd done. And he certainly couldn't maintain anger after she'd kissed him like that, and robbed him of his logical thinking.

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "I shouldn't be. But I am. I'm sorry that I had no other choice. That it had to end this way."

He heard the words – but could not seem to process them. His head turned, to glance confusedly back at her – and then he saw her expression, so transparent.

He read the sadness. The regret.

The tangible guilt.

"…!" Immediate alarm detonated inside him. He stiffened and leapt to his feet, taking a step back away from the bed, his armour fully raised once more. He told himself he never should have lowered his guard. Not around her. He couldn't afford to underestimate Sakura, of all people. Sakura, who he was just newly discovering could get closest to him, could hurt him most, more than anyone else…

But he could tell from her face that the damage had already been inflicted.

"I'm sorry," she whispered again. "But I have to leave."

Uncertainly, he shook his head slightly at her, an instinctive sense of foreboding washing over him. And then, with a devastating suddenness that made his breath hitch in his throat, Sasuke felt it. The first stab of pulsating pain inside his chest. It seemed to radiate directly from the chambers of his heart, and flowed jaggedly throughout his entire body.

Sakura slipped off the bed. She watched him with wide eyes that shimmered with fresh tears. Her jaw, however, was firmly set.

Within seconds, Sasuke's bloodstream was scorching, a deadly, sizzling inferno of heat. But it was nothing like the exhilarating, euphoric flames of passion that had consumed him just minutes earlier. No. He recognised it far too late. The excruciating, blistering sensation was unmistakeable.

The merciless, incessant, biting sting of venom. It coursed through his veins like icy fire, freezing and searing, crippling eyes lifted to her face. Focused on her lips as horrific realisation dawned upon him.

And the heart that had begun to tentatively mend cracked and shattered all over again as the King of the Dead understood, at last, what Sakura had done. The full, devastating extent of her treachery.

She had kissed him with tasteless, invisible poison applied to her lips. It had been her intention, all along, to lure him in, to proceed with her treacherous plan. And like a fool, he had fallen for it, played right into her hands. He'd hungrily tasted her and doing so had transferred the venom into his mouth. It was evidently a greatly potent kind, dangerous to immortals alone, because simply kissing her had been enough to make it seep into his bloodstream and contaminate him.

From where had they acquired such a poison? He had underestimated just how intelligent and cunning Sakura was. How ruthless and unwavering she had it in her to be. Even though Karin had clearly thrown a spanner in the works by bringing the treason to light, Sakura had kept a level head, had rallied herself and waited for the opportune moment to tilt the tables back in her favour. The ampoule she'd hidden had been a backup. He understood that now. This had been her true plan, all along, to exploit his one and only weakness - her - and use it against him.

And in that moment, Sasuke realised the extent to which she had grown and was continuously changing. The Sakura he had first kidnapped would never have possessed the mettle to execute such a perilous act.

He had taught her to fight. Encouraged her to channel the feisty spirit he knew slumbered within her. And she had done just that. She had proven, right then and there, that she was no weak pushover. She had it inside herself to be a warrior – to summon the courage required to do what was necessary to defend herself and act in what she deemed were her best interests. He might have been thoroughly impressed, in any other situation - but it paradoxically and cruelly turned out that she'd finally passed the rite of passage and become truly initiated in the art of battle at his expense.

She claimed she'd had no other choice. He hadn't even had the chance to tell her. That he'd arranged for her release and had been about to take her back himself…

His eyes, ablaze with wrath, met hers, incensed beyond reconciliation.

"You-" he began to hiss, enraged, but even speaking felt like an unbearable chore. He stepped forward toward her, meaning to reach out to her, to grab her – but his entire body screamed in protest. He ground his teeth and doubled over, clawing at his chest as if he sought to scratch himself open and bleed the poison out.

The pain constricted his windpipe. Made every nerve-ending inside him scream in agony. He had never experienced anything so physically tormenting. Within minutes, his body was shutting down. His feet stumbled, and he began to cough.

Sakura's frantically pounding heart palpitated wildly. She told herself he deserved to hurt as much as she had after everything he'd done. But it made the fall of this magnificent god no easier to watch. She drew no satisfaction, in witnessing his physical suffering.

All at once, she felt oddly hollow.

When he fell to his knees, fingers digging into the floor, she felt strangely numb. Like she wasn't really experiencing this at all. Like she was watching everything as it unfolded from a safe distance. She gazed down at him, a proud, fierce king, reduced to his knees by a mortal girl. It was a deplorable sight, and at that moment, she pitied him.

But he had taken advantage of her goodness. Of her compassion. He had brought this punishment hailing down upon himself.

Her legs carried her to where his sword lay on the ground. Sasuke's left hand shot out, clamping around her ankle as she passed him. He gripped tightly onto her, wheezing, but could not summon the strength required to do anything else. His surroundings had become a miasma of throbbing, crimson pain, and his vision was starting to blur. He could not seem to focus no matter how many times he blinked. His head throbbed and nausea made it impossible to move without making the room whirl violently around him.

He tried in vain to talk. To say something. Anything.

But the torturous pain stole away the very air in his lungs, and the only sounds he could summon were tortured grunts.

"Ghn…!" He was completely disabled. Powerless. Could do nothing but bend over, curling up in pure anguish, as the scalding venom choked him, ran its raging, brutal course through his helpless body.

Sakura continued to stare at him for a long moment. He was still holding onto her – though whether it was in distress or because it was a final, desperate attempt to stop her from leaving, she could not tell. "You did this to yourself, Sasuke," her voice was a hushed murmur, and hot tears rolled down her cheeks. She did not know if he could hear her, but ventured regardless, "You made me do this; you gave me no other choice. What you're feeling now…" she shook her head. "It's nothing compared to the way you've hurt me…!"

She shoved aside the guilt, the insane little whispers that pleaded with her to drop to her knees and offer him comfort as he released another strangled groan. It was done. She could not go back. Could only move forward. She focused, instead, on everything he'd done to her. That gave her the courage she needed to soldier onwards. With little trouble, she jerked her ankle out of his severely weakened grasp, scooped up Kusanagi, and without looking back - for she feared she might hesitate if she did - exited the room.

And she ran. She ran faster than she had ever run in her life. Her entire body was shaking badly, but fuelled by adrenaline, she did not slow down. She passed startled servants, almost knocked into Karin as she rounded the corridor that led toward the staircase.

The nymph blinked at her in surprise. Sakura halted, equally shocked to find her still lingering about in the palace. They both stared each other down.

Then Karin noticed Kusanagi, and shrieked in shock, pointing a finger at her. "You- you little traitor! You actually did it? Have you hurt him?!" Her hands flew to her cheeks. "Where's Sasuke?!"

Sakura glared but did not respond. Karin could go and tend to the very king who had absolutely no interest in her. She merely shoved the nymph bodily aside and continued steadfastly along her way.

She nearly knocked Ume over as she crossed the entrance hall.

"Mistress?!" Ume gasped in alarm. Her eyes widened when she saw the tears on Sakura's face, and Sasuke's sword in her hands.

"I'm sorry!" Sakura shook her head but did not stop. "But I can't stay here anymore!" She regretted leaving without a proper goodbye, but knew she had no time to waste. If Sasuke was to somehow recover sooner than expected… she knew that he would change his mind about killing her for sure. Ignoring her maid's desperate calls she rushed straight to the stables, to her horse, Eos. The same stable-boy she'd seen before had thankfully saddled her up already. A stroke of fortune for Sakura.

The boy blinked at her in surprise as she grabbed the reins from him without a word.

"M-my Lady?"

She ignored him and clambered hastily onto her mount. Behind her, Sasuke's steeds were kicking up a fuss. As if they sensed their master's plight. As if they knew of her treachery.

"Take me to Suigetsu's cell," she cried. "Quickly!"

Eos dutifully obeyed. The world passed in a stream of movement as her horse departed the stables and carried her to the stretching, tree-lined front path that led up to Sasuke's palace. The deafening rush of blood in her ears and the thundering of hooves was all Sakura could hear as her mount tore through the towering gates and galloped into the mist beyond.

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Author's note

More reaction from Sakura next chapter, which will be even more dramatic, and feature an explosive battle between ocean and an incapacitated death god.

I'd absolutely LOVE to hear your opinion on what I hope was an action-packed and exciting chapter. Please, if you have a minute or two to spare, I'd really appreciate some feedback.

Thank you for reading, and see you next update.