A Busy Life

by LoneWolf153

Sasuke Uchiha, twenty five year old CEO of Uchiha Corps is a vicious businessman, groomed for the business world since he could read. He refused to be second place, or deterred by anyone...that is until a beautiful girl with pink hair and green eyes catches his attention.

29. The Next Day's Laments

GAAAH! SORRY I'M LATE EVERYONE! SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY!

Sasuke: What the hell Lone Wolf...almost thought you were going on hiatus again.

NO! That's not what happened! I'm sorry!

Naruto: -scratching his head- Then why the almost three month wait?

Honestly, I just been going through a lot lately. ( ._.)

Sasuke: So? You're always going through "a lot".

Well this time it was more so than usual! Between work, traveling, and some more personal things going on in my life, I just simply didn't have a lot of time or energy to edit and revise and stuff.

Naruto: Eh? That so?

Yeah. I even feel this chapter is pretty subpar to my usual writing, so I even took a bit more extra time to write this chap. Even so, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, and I PROMISE to update as soon as possible. ( T-T)

Sasuke: Well better get on with it then. You've got more writing to do.

To the chap! And sorry again everyone!

---

Migi and Indra were silent. In silence, she was tending to his wounds, carefully assessing his injuries. She was wary and cautious over his current condition. She had already finished tending to his wounds and they were now at the hotel he should've resided in for the entirety of his time in Konoha; without incident.

Only for all this to transpire. She was wrapping his torso, when Indra finally spoke his first words since they left the penthouse.

"Why did you interfere the way you did, Migi?" Indra questioned and she paused. She was silent for a moment, before she resumed wrapping him up.

"My duty is to always ensure your safety, Young Mas—"

"That's not what I'm asking." He cut her off, taking her aback. Confusion set into her ice blue eyes, and she finished securing the bandages around him. He shifted to look back at her, and continued.

"The first thing you did was to try and appease Uchiha. You thought he was there about Suigetsu and offered him compensation for whatever he needed. Why?" He questioned. Migi tensed and her eyes lowered shamefully from his.

"It...was an instruction from your Father, Young Master. If ever a conflict were to come between our Houses, Hagoromo-sama advised compensation, compromise, cooperation and appeasement to settle any discourse with the Uchiha." She answered honestly and Indra's brow furrowed at that bit of information. He was left with even more questions.

The Uchiha said something similar. It was for a passing moment when Sasuke was addressing Migi, but the request his Father apparently made of Migi used similar language that Sasuke did in that moment.

"And one of the very first rules of my House is thatno one steals from me. And when or if someone has the balls to do so, I take it back and seek compensation."

"And for stealing my woman...I've decided the only compensation I want is his life."

And while he fully believed Sasuke wanted his life for his misdeeds, he thought it an odd discrepancy for his father to use the same word in his command to Migi. But why? Why was it an instruction for Migi to give any kind of appeasement to the Uchiha should there be conflict?

There should be no reason or need for any of them as a House to compensate the Uchiha so eagerly—

SLAM!

Migi and Indra jolted in surprise as his hotel room door was slammed open. Migi stood, her eyes widening at who was at the door before she bowed.

"Master Hagoromo." She greeted, only to go ignored as Hagoromo neared them. Indra stood.

"Father—"

He was cut off, with his father grabbing him and Indra grunted from being slammed against a wall, by his own father, who shoved his forearm against his chest and glared back into the eyes that matched his angrily. As determined a little earlier, his ribs were indeed fractured thanks to the Uchiha's violence and he felt the pain wrack his body for a moment.

All too used to it, Indra only glared back at his Father.

Migi was powerless. In front of the Head of House, she could only be silent and watch before orders were given.

But he couldn't help but note the way Migi flinched when he was grabbed. He couldn't help but note the stare she gave when Hagoromo was holding him like this. He honestly couldn't help but think Migi wanted to have his back and protect him, but only stopped because he was the Head of the Family and their House.

For her to attack him, even if just to protect Indra, was akin to a dog biting the hand that fed it.

"M-Master—" Migi still tried to intervene, considering Indra was still injured, only to receive a cold response.

"Leave us, Migi."

The maid hesitantly and reluctantly did as she was told, and left the father and son alone in the room. The Elder's eyes were glaring back at him, infuriatedly, into those of his eldest son.

However, Indra sensed something was wrong. His Father was a stern bastard and he got like this, especially when it came down to matters that affected their House, but this was different.

The man almost looked...terrified. His father was being...frantic?

Why was his Father afraid?

"What have you done? What the hell did you start?!" Hagoromo seethed back at Indra, for the first time ever since over ten years ago. The man never gave him this kind of behavior after he returned from running away. He never saw this side of his father before, but he wasn't going to tolerate it either.

"Elaborate, Father. I don't know what you're talking about." Indra shoved Hagoromo's hand off his collarbone, and gave the man a stoic glare of his own. His Father only glared at him.

"Don't play dumb! I go to the police station to try and question the woman who broke into your hotel room and hacked the penthouse systems, only to find out she was released. And guess who helped with that!" Hagoromo growled. Indra rolled his eyes.

He was slightly sure the Uchiha was most likely responsible for that, in his campaign to find Sakura by any means necessary, but he wasn't going to grant his father the dignity of that knowledge.

"Don't know; but I'm sure you're going to tell me." Indra growled resentfully. Hagoromo glared back, even more enraged with him.

"You're damn right, because the man who did that was Sasuke Uchiha! What have you done?! Why is someone connected to the Uchiha hacking our systems and why did the receptionist of the penthouse say the Uchiha was there now as we speak?! What have you done?!" Hagoromo yelled angrily. Indra scoffed.

"It's none of your business." Indra dismissed and Hagoromo scowled.

"I should have known something was wrong when the Uchiha himself called me, wanting to know where you were the other day! So tell me what you've done to gain the Uchiha's ire, so I can fix it!" Hagoromo snarled. Indra argumentatively glared back.

Fix it? There was nothing to fix. Nothing between him and the Uchiha would ever and could ever be fixed. Not while the Uchiha was the man who had Sakura's heart, and not while he still loved her the same way. And as he already knew and was aware, there was no getting Sakura back from him now. For him, having Sakura and being with her was the only way anything could be fixed.

And that wasn't going to happen. Nothing his Father did, would nor could make that happen. With the way the Uchiha loved Sakura, there was nothing his Father could offer for Sakura to be with him.

So the only thing that could be done in regards to him and the Uchiha was the understanding they had already come to. Their concurred conclusion and the understanding they had with each other was as close to a fix to the situation between him and the Uchiha as they were going to get. There wasn't anything else to do. If his Father actually wanted to help him, he'd do him the service of making the Uchiha disappear, so he could have Sakura the way he wanted.

But again, with the way the Uchiha loved her and with the way his Father was acting, he was certain it wasn't going to happen. The Uchiha wasn't going to just give her up, and his Father obviously didn't want his own quarrel with Sasuke. He was far too concentrated on making sure their relations were on good terms.

And now that they obviously werent, his Father could only focus on doing whatever to make the Uchiha happy. Even beyond his own son.

For that, he honestly didn't care for anything his Father wanted.

"I'm not telling you, shit." Indra suddenly cut off his Father. Hagoromo's eyes widened incredulously.

"How dare you—"

"Do not interfere with my affairs, Father. You haven't in over ten years, so don't start now. I said it's none of your business, so it's none of your business. Everything between the Uchiha and I has been rectified." Indra coldly dismissed again.

"It is my business, if you almost start a war with the Uchiha!" Hagoromo snarled. Indra glared harder now.

"Why are you acting so afraid of him? You always bend for the Uchiha and Migi told me how you ordered her to show 'cooperation, compensation and appeasement' if we have a quarrel with him? What the hell is your deal?!" Indra snarled at his Father, not understanding his sudden trepidation. Why was his father so quick to quell and appease the Uchiha? Did he have something on him?

No. That didn't make sense. The Uchiha would have held it over him if he had some kind of leverage on the Otsutsuki family as a whole. The Uchiha would have long since threatened him with it the day they talked in his office, especially if it was enough to keep him from ever trying to get near Sakura again.

But he didn't. The Uchiha had nothing on him or their House—nothing that couldn't be handled anyway, should the Uchiha decided to come out to the press about his and Sakura's misadventures.

So, why was his father terrified; even more so now, with the widening of his eyes and the tension shown all too blatantly on his body.

"Is that what happened? Did Migi have to offer him compensation? Was he that angry?!" Hagoromo hastily pressed and Indra glared even more harshly.

And at this moment, he hated his father. He was standing here, plainly injured, and his Father's main concern was the relationship between the Otsutsuki and Uchiha Houses. His main concern was everything else except his blood, as always, and Indra hated him for it.

In a roundabout way, he blamed his own Father for being the reason he lost Sakura. He took responsibility for abandoning her that day. He knew and was well aware his own actions were the reason for Sakura being lost to him now and officially forever, with her back in the Uchiha's arms as they spoke and stood here.

But he blamed that all on his Father's merciless and strict hold over him, his brother and their House. His Father instilled in him the need to deny her and Yota the instant he was recognized by others of their status. To not bring shame upon their House. That was the disgusting, dastardly instinct embedded within him that day and ever since he had lost both Yota and Sakura, he was fed up with it all.

Including anything the bastard of a Father had to say about this. He was never a Father to begin with, and with that acknowledgement, he resented ever listening to a word he had to say about anything.

"Why won't you answer me, first?! All you have ever done was given orders! You've never been a Father! Not even once in my life, so for once, rather than order me around just fucking talk to me! I am your son! Not the Uchiha!" Indra snapped angrily, silencing a taken aback Hagoromo. In his eyes, Indra saw that his sudden outburst had just awakened him to that said reality and he glared even more resentfully.

"You don't understand—"

"Then, make me understand! Talk! You have no idea what I've given—what I've LOST for the sake of this family so for God's sake, talk! Why are you so concerned about Sasuke Uchiha and doing whatever you must to stay in his good graces?! Even with his status and power, he's just one man. The Uchiha don't have the capacity to harm us financially or physically, even with his brother—" Indra started interrogating, only for Hagoromo to snap to him with an irritated and distressed glare.

"You truly consider that the only Uchihas are Fugaku's sons? I did not raise you that ignorantly!" Hagoromo seethed in a hushed voice, cutting his son off. Indra's brow furrowed, completely caught off guard with that question. The older man dragged a hand down his face and into his hair and stressfully back down again, making Indra officially concerned.

He had never seen his father so uncomposed like this. His father had never been this stressed and it was alarming, considering their power and status.

And it was all over the Uchiha, whom he had left Sakura in the arms of.

"I shouldn't have kept you in the dark...I should have taught you more. I should have told you and Asura the truth. Both about our family and the Uchiha…and all the others…" Hagoromo suddenly lamented. Indra's brow furrowed, now irritated and annoyed with his father's vagueness. What truth? What was the truth of his family, and how did it relate to the Uchiha?

And did it mean any harm to Sakura? Was her being in the grasp of the Uchiha a danger? Did he make a mistake within all the mistakes he made with her these days? Was letting her go a mistake, more than he already felt it was?

"...What are you going on about?" Indra asked all too cautiously.

"Sasuke Uchiha and his elder brother, are not the only ones I'm wary of, son…I'm wary of the currently docile lion you will anger and provoke with the goddamn stick you've been poking it with. I'm worried of what will happen once its ire falls upon you. On us; as a family." Hagoromo said, reaching for Indra's face and caressing it lovingly. Indra's eyes widened, staring at his father confused and concerned.

His Father had never seemed like a Father. He never stared at him so lovingly and also so worriedly. He never touched him like this and…he never felt as connected with his father as he did now. It was the first time ever, the man was acting something akin to a father, and it made him pause.

Also…there were other Uchihas? There were others besides the known Sasuke and Itachi Uchiha? It was known that Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha were dead from their car accident years ago, but his Father just implied there was more to the Uchiha House than he ever taught him, or cared to teach him.

Something that made him afraid.

And if there are other Uchihas, why weren't they publicly known as well? Public knowledge only listed Itachi Uchiha as the eldest Uchiha, disowned from taking his place that the youngest, Sasuke Uchiha, sat at.

"I've only wanted to protect you and your brother. I've only tried my best to keep you both protected and strong…and I'm sorry. I am sorry if it came off as strict and inconsiderate to you and how you felt. But I only did what I thought was best and safe for both of you. As I promised your Mother…I only wanted to protect you." Hagoromo proclaimed almost remorsefully.

So remorsefully the man might as well be speaking to his mom. As if he had already failed in the promise to protect their sons and he was apologizing for failing.

"Father…" Indra said warily. Hagoromo only held him closer.

"Please. Just tell me what you've done and how he was compensated. Tell me everything between you two and I will continue to protect you. I can't protect you, if I don't know the facts." Hagoromo stressed and damn near begged his son.

To the point that Indra felt no choice but to answer. His eyes lowered.

"We had a quarrel, Father. It's already been settled. There's no need to worry for whatever you're concerned about." Indra brushed off, only for Hagoromo to seem even more panicked with that information. His eyes widened and he now gripped Indra tightly at his shoulders.

"What was it about?"

"I…love the same woman he does. I sheltered her and cared for her at the penthouse on Juubi Avenue for a few days when there was a plot to separate her from him. And he came for her. That's it. As you know, he's there with her as we speak. After our fight...having her back was all he wanted." Indra answered honestly, the short notes version of it all.

And even though he left out the part where Sasuke actually said he wanted his life for his transgressions, he watched Hagoromo's face grow pale. He suddenly pulled Indra into an embrace; the first one he had for as long as he could remember. He didn't even remember the last time his Father hugged him and he never remembered hugging him like this.

He never hugged him like he was a cherished son.

"Then I fear...you may have already gotten the lion's attention, my son. But, believe I will still do all that I can to protect you. No matter what." Hagoromo promised.

And Indra could only think of Sakura. His Father was obviously afraid. The man was petrified for his safety and what the Uchiha's intentions for him were. And he could only worry about Sakura, who he thought he left in good hands. From their conversation, he thought and felt that the Uchiha loved her more than anything in this world. He even said so himself.

"All I know for certain is I love her, more than I can comprehend. I love her more than I can say and more than I can show and I can't stop loving her. I'll keep loving her...probably forever. She simply means more to me than my own life. She's simply everything to me."

The Uchiha wouldn't hurt her…or he at least believed so. He couldn't believe the Uchiha would ever harm her deliberately.

But now he feared he was wrong. He had already misjudged the calm and aloof character he thought Sasuke Uchiha to be. He couldn't be certain if, maybe, he had misjudged that too. Maybe the Uchiha's passionate words about her were all a pretense, but for what? He didn't even believe that was the case. Not with the way the Uchiha practically worshiped her.

Hagoromo finally pulled away, still holding Indra at his shoulders.

"I will tell you the truth, now. The truth about us and the Uchiha…"

---

Sasuke's eyes opened slowly, still sitting up against the headrest of the bed. Dazedly, he slowly blinked himself awake, still tired and exhausted beyond measure.

And yet, despite the slightly uncomfortable position he slept in all night, the weighted softness he felt against him, in between his legs, did not allow him to care for the stiffness of his neck. As his head lowered, to see her still peacefully asleep against him and in his arms, he truly didn't care at all.

Gently stroking her pink hair from her face, he stared down at her slumbering features, as he had a thousand times over and then some. She looked serene. She looked content and at peace.

Especially in his arms.

His eyes tendered and his chest warmed. He stroked her face, feeling a relief come over him at the fact that she was still here in his arms. She was still here, asleep and in his arms and good grief, he just realized how much he missed waking up to her. He missed sleeping with her in his arms and he missed her being the first thing he saw and felt when he opened his eyes.

RING

He flinched at the ringing of his completely forgotten phone, still on the bed beside him and Sakura from last night. He never even bothered with it. With that, he moved as quickly but as gently as he could to grab the device and decline the call quickly before it could disturb her.

And he was reminded, the moment he saw the caller ID, he never called Naruto. Even though he had the intent to, his quarrel against Indra and his grief over Sakura took precedence from that. He was more focused on his vengeance against Indra, and holding her all night to even think about Naruto and the tens of messages he and Sakura's other friends sent to him last night. They were probably in the hundreds now.

He mentally groaned. He needed to call Naruto and he needed to call him as soon as possible. The blond was probably frantic right about now, even though he gave no promises or even an answer to Naruto's request for him to call when he got Sakura. Looking at the time, which was now twelve-twenty, he imagined the annoying friend either thought he was blowing him off, or worse; that he didn't get to Sakura at all.

Sasuke blankly imagined that Naruto was already looking for any fires or unexplained explosions throughout the city, to try and find him and Sakura. Maybe Naruto wasn't too far off from doing so himself.

Either way, he honestly wasn't mentally prepared to deal with a screaming Naruto right now. He wasn't prepared to deal with all the questions he'd probably have and he didn't even know how he was going to answer them. He didn't want to deal with anything really.

His disdain for what he was going to have to deal with anyway was pushed to the side as he felt movement against him. Sakura shifted and moaned from the slight disturbance, but she remained in her slumber, nonetheless, thankfully. She moved to shift her face deeper into his chest, and her hand rubbed up to limply stay on his shoulder.

His eyes tendered, slightly upset that he'd have to part from her for a bit now. He didn't want to wake her, especially not to Naruto's obnoxious antics that would most certainly irk him into losing some of his composure, even if Sakura was in his arms. But it couldn't be helped.

There were other people worried about her through this ordeal besides himself and as selfish as he was over her, he wasn't that selfish. They wanted to know she was safe, just as much as he did before finding her and it was a highly felt and sentiment.

He was only selfish in his love for her. That's it. Everyone else that wasn't a rival for her heart or wasn't trying to take her from him, had an exclusive pass from his damnation; so long as Sakura approved of them, assured they were friendly and they didn't get too close. So long as he had the full confidence they wouldn't take her from him, he was fine.

So long as it wasn't some asshole like Indra looking to steal her from him again, he'd withstand the disdain and fury that had always filled him the moment another man's name even came from her lips.

As softly and slowly as he could, he moved. He shifted and lifted her gently from him to lay her down more comfortably in the bed, against a pillow. He had to hold back a grunt of pain that throbbed at his side, probably from when Indra slammed his caught leg to the affected area.

She hummed, and he watched her face scrunch already in disapproval of not having his body. With her body covered by the sheet, he moved his blazer from her, close to her profiled face as she laid on her side. And again, he watched her accept the substitute of his blazer for his body. She shifted her face into it, and her face relaxed again into a content siesta.

He wondered then, was it his scent she was currently reacting to? She had held onto him all night but, the fact that he could replace himself with his blazer for her, it appeared that just his scent or presence was all that was needed for her currently.

With his phone in hand, he walked out the bedroom and downstairs, hoping not to disturb her.

And he eyed the bar again. He really could still use a drink even with nothing in his stomach right now. As much as everything was put to rest, he still was distressed about it all. About everything, from losing Sakura, to his hatred of Indra, to learning of how much she suffered without him, to having to let the bastard live; he was still angry, stressed and exhausted from it all.

He sighed, already pouring for himself, and calling Naruto back.

The blond answered on the first ring.

"TEME! YOU NEVER CALLED! ME AND EVERYONE HAVE BEEN MESSAGING YOU LIKE CRAZY—" Sasuke's eyebrow twitched, and he drank as Naruto went on a full on rant, screaming in his ear for not calling like he knew he would. He knew Naruto was frantic, especially with the way he acted after speaking with Suigetsu and hearing that godforsaken recording.

But after the night he had, he really didn't need Naruto losing his shit right now.

"Naruto." He called tiredly, but with his screaming, he obviously didn't hear him.

"ASSHOLE! IF ANY ONE OF US FOUND HER, YOU'D WANT TO KNOW RIGHT AWAY! DID YOU EVEN FIND HER?! WHAT ABOUT THAT INDRA-GUY?!"

The name of the man made him glare. His fury almost instantly returned having heard the man's name, and now he realized he really was still infuriated by it all. He was still livid at the fact the said man and rival tried to take Sakura from him, and he was ever more enraged as he was reminded why he was here, and not home with her.

Because of that conniving asshole.

And he couldn't even kill him.

Not yet, anyway.

"Naruto…" He growled, trying to keep himself and his recurring wrath in check. But for all those times Naruto told him to calm down, the man was not doing a good job of it himself.

And that was even more irritating.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO SAKURA-CHAN?! IS SHE—"

"NARUTO!" He screamed, having lost all his patience and self restraint with the close friend, who he knew was just frantic and stressed about the entire ordeal. He wanted news and he should have at least texted him last night. He acknowledged he was at fault for that.

But he was too busy apologizing to Sakura. He was too busy holding her and loving her, after Indra gave him all the insight to her suffering, and he didn't have the conscientious thought to even think of Naruto, her friends and whatever else. Especially the moment he finally set his eyes on her. He couldn't think about calling them when he finally had her back in his arms.

And now, thinking about her, he hoped being downstairs, deep in the living room and by the bar was enough to keep Sakura from hearing him. He hoped she didn't wake up to his infuriated yell just now. She wasn't in his arms, and he was going to be upset if she woke up without him there.

Especially with her being nude in Indra's bed. He didn't want her to go through whatever thoughts would possess her if she woke up, naked, in another man's bed, alone. Especially because he wasn't sure if she'd truly remember everything from last night.

She might think it really was all a dream, and with still being in Indra's penthouse…he imagined she'd panic, and think she made a mistake last night. Where she had indeed reacted to and loved the right man, for her, it was just a dream and if he wasn't there when she woke up she might get the wrong idea; which he certainly didn't want. He didn't want her to think Indra was the one who had her last night.

That was all him last night. He made love to her until they both couldn't go any further. She moaned, whined and screamed his name the way she did and the way he loved throughout all of it. She held, gripped and scratched his body and he had grabbed, held and loved hers as much as he could.

And he'd be damned if that bastard would take any credit of that from him.

Naruto was finally silent on the other line, and Sasuke took it as his chance to speak.

But he needed to drink and take relaxing breaths first. Especially with those current and wrathful thoughts of his.

"...I found her. I have her. She's with me." He proclaimed quietly, staring down at his drink.

And he felt a relief with his own words.

He found her. He had her. She was with him. Here and now, although they were rooms apart from each other.

"Y-You...you do?! Is she okay?! Was she hurt?!" Naruto asked with all concern. Sasuke's eyes cringed and he decided to give Naruto the short notes of it all. Turning to look outside the large windows not too far off, the afternoon sky was partly cloudy, the sun barely shining through but still it was bright out.

"She's fine." He informed shortly, and he heard Naruto give a breath and sigh of relief.

"Really?! Then why didn't you call me?! You could have at least texted!" Naruto complained without thought or regard; making him regress again into the madness he felt last night. And Sasuke was hesitant to answer. Because, again, last night, he didn't have time to think about the others. He only had loving Sakura, and bringing forth the wrath of the Gods upon Indra on his mind last night, and there was nothing else he could think of.

"It...was a long night...for the both of us. But I have her and she's fine." He answered, rubbing a hand down his face and left it at that. Naruto's silence gripped him, and he wondered if that was the wrong thing to say. He drank, and he heard Naruto sigh in relief.

"I'm so relieved! Thank goodness she's okay. I mean, I knew she would be, just… she was more upset than I've ever seen her before and...I was really worried she'd be gone longer..." Sasuke stayed quiet, having received confirmation of Kakashi's hypothesis to him the other day.

This situation made her the most upset she had ever been, and like Kakashi said, she would have been gone longer. She would have stayed out of sight for as long as possible until he or someone found her. If she had known Indra was going to let her be found, she would have left to elsewhere. Naruto didn't need to say anything else.

He understood his burden. He had been just as afraid. They had all been terrified, having not heard a word from her. And not even the police could find her? He was scared he had lost her for good. He was scared that Danzo got his hands on her and hurt her.

Which is why, no matter how much he hated that asshole, he was grateful to him as well...to an extent.

"Can I talk to her?" Naruto asked almost desperately. Sasuke's eyes lowered.

"She's still sleeping. I'll have her call you as soon as possible. For now, you should let the others know she's with me as well." He said, drinking for his own relief.

"Okay. I'll get on it." Naruto responded. Sasuke was silent again, before he spoke.

And the words he said, he felt it was necessary to say.

"...I'm sorry, Naruto." He apologized quietly. He heard Naruto give a pause of surprise and he understood it was because the friend wasn't expecting an apology like that.

But he couldn't help it. He promised the friend he'd never hurt her and even though it wasn't by his designs or desires, Sakura had been hurt by all of this. She suffered and he felt it. Sakura lost her mind just as much as he did, and it was all his fault. Even though he had nothing to do with it all, truly, he still blamed himself for it all.

Of course, it was all Indra's and Karin's fault. But there was still room to blame himself.

"H-Huh? What for?"

"...For everything. For all this. For being the reason she…" He trailed, not sure how else to truly apologize for this. He felt he shared some blame in this. His leniency, his distraction...she left because she loved him the way she did and he got caught off guard.

"It's not your fault, Sasuke. Don't blame yourself. What happened is all Karin's fault."

He stayed silent, because the truth was, he wasn't sure if that was true anymore. He was at fault for letting her go and he could only believe that to be fact when Sakura so anguishedly cried out to him about the entire thing.

How could he not feel at fault, when he even bothered to let her get on the elevator that day? How could he not blame himself, when he couldn't throw Karin out faster? Hell, it even could have been avoided if he simply didn't bother to accept those ten minutes to speak to Indra in his office that day. Not to mention, he didn't keep a cool head and panicked most of the time.

He probably could have found her with Indra himself, if he had been thinking straight at all. So blindsided he was, that even though he did everything in his power to search the entire city for her, he didn't bother to check if the Otsutsuki had other properties in the city he could have stashed her at. All he did was check the hotel…

As if the Otsutsuki would really be stupid enough to keep her there. Especially when she apparently requested Indra himself to let no one find her.

So he just drank and he wanted to get back to Sakura now. He didn't want to spend a moment longer from her than he had to.

"I'll talk to you later." He said, and hung up, making his way to his destination with his drink in hand. He sent a quick text to Sebastian, giving him instructions for their departure tonight on the cruise.

His stride through the penthouse was rather normal, for his desperate want to get back to her. Maybe despite his eagerness to ensure and validate that last night and waking up to her this morning in his arms had not been some insane hallucination, he was also hesitant.

What if she wasn't there?

"I'll wake up...and this will just be a dream I had from missing you…I...I'm just dreaming, aren't I...I've gone crazy without you...Sasuke-kun."

He was starting to believe that maybe he had been dreaming too. Maybe despite that he furiously drove here, despite that he was still in Indra's penthouse, despite holding her all night and despite waking up to her still there in his arms, despite just talking to Naruto not more than a minute ago, maybe...he dreamt it all.

Maybe this was just a dream he had from missing and loving her so much. It was all an illusion and an all too real hallucination and the truth was he never found her here. He was still wherever he passed out at, and this was all just a desperate dream for the sake of his sanity. Maybe he was still passed out in her bed, and this was all a continuation of that nightmare he "woke" from.

He never talked to her. He never touched her. He never fought with Indra. He never woke up to her this morning. Maybe the stinging on his back from the scratches she left on him, and the throbbing pain he felt from his fight with the Otsutsuki, wasn't real. He never made all that love to her, as his fatigued body felt he did. He closed his eyes to collect himself and continued walking to the bedroom.

He wasn't sure if anything was real anymore. He was officially even questioning his own existence in this world.

He never once thought about that kind of stuff. He never once thought about what existence was, and what his existence even meant. He never once questioned if anything was anything at all. He was simply born and lived as he had for all twenty-six years of his life. But now it was a blank, but prevalent wonder in his mind.

What if the universe was just a projection of the mind? What if it was just consciousness, within another consciousness? What if someone just thought him up, and then he came to be? His entire life. His family. His origins. All of it, by a God? Or Gods? Or, something out there in the vastness of space?

Was Sakura truly here? Was he truly here? Or were they just trillions of bonded atoms and molecules reflecting off light, and following the laws of physics and their existence was as fleeting as the billions of cells that died on the human body daily without even being noticed?

And by that logic, was anything he felt, said or did even meaningful? Did any of it matter if he was nothing but a single grain of sand in the vastness that was the universe? Or was it that he and all other beings born on this planet and the miracle of a chance that they were born on said planet mean it was a gift of a plan? And by that logic, should he just be grateful to be here and have Sakura in his life?

Was it all just nothing but a huge coincidence and everything just so happened? A simple chain of events that weren't made by strings of fate, but simply coincidence. Everything from the formation of Earth to his life and the lives of everything else that ever lived, breathed and existed; all of it nothing but a perfect accident of circumstances that caused them to exist here.

What was life? What was the purpose of being here? Why did he live and breathe on this planet, floating out in the void of space? Was he part of some big plan or was it just an accident. Was space even anything they thought it was, or was it just something else they couldn't even conceptualize yet as humans? Was it all in his mind and reality was nothing but what they perceived?

And now, she was giving him an existential crisis. What couldn't this woman do to him?

She really did drive him crazy. He knew that much.

Between driving him mad and making him all too in love with her, he was almost, officially certain there was nothing she couldn't make him do or feel, even if she didn't tell him to do it directly herself. She could kill him herself, and he'd only love her for it. He'd kiss her as she drove a knife through his heart and tell her he loved her with his dying breath. If she wanted him to die and that would make her happy, then he'd do so.

That's how much he loved her.

"Goddamn annoying woman…" He murmured exasperatedly, and drank to distract himself.

He walked into the bedroom and the wave of relief he felt seeing her still in bed was almost euphoric. She really was still there. She laid in the bed, unmoving, but she was now on her stomach, turned away from him, and her face was partially buried into his blazer beneath her.

Sasuke walked straight to where she was. He stared tenderly from the edge and after taking another drink and putting the glass on the nightstand, he slowly got back into bed with her and wrapped his arms around her.

The events of last night replayed in his mind for the millionth time and he gave a remorseful sigh, as he gently caressed her marked neck. He couldn't see those dastardly marks from this angle right now, but he knew where each one was, straight from his memory. He couldn't forget them, especially as he remembered her whimpering and wincing at his actions.

"Aaah! S-Sasuke-k-kun! Th-That—Nngh!—Th-That hurts!"

His eyes pained, moving to kiss her neck and shoulder. Especially where his teeth were indentations on the back of her trapezius. His heart ached about what he had done, even as he had already made every excuse in the book last night for why he'd be forgiven and why he should be.

Still...there was no excuse he could make to ease the cringing strife and anger he felt in his heart with himself. He couldn't help but relive it, especially as he remembered her cry out in pain from his bite, stroking the indentations with his lips. His eyes shifted to her only visible wrist, since the other was beneath the pillow. It was beside her face and there the shapes of his fingers faintly outlined.

He gave a caress over them, remembering her cried out words as he recklessly continued to make love to her and made the unintentional bruises from his grip.

Words he barely heard.

"Sasuke-kuuuunnn! No more! My body can't—I can't—! No m-more! SASUKE-KUUUUN!"

How could he lose control like that? His anger? His anger shouldn't have allowed him to get to this point. Not to the point where he hurt her. Especially because his anger wasn't with her. These bruises he made while making love to her shouldn't exist. No inch of her was ever supposed to be hurt by him, and he was certain that's why he apologized to Naruto.

Because he did hurt her. She was unharmed…until he got his hands on her and he was never going to forgive himself for it. He had hurt his beloved. To himself, he was lower than scum—even lower than those evil doers people heard myths of from the slums. He felt even lower than that bastard, Indra and that was saying a lot.

He really did succumb to madness. He was over-excessive again. He had gone off the deep end. He had lost his damn mind because another man had her in his grasp this whole time and just from the whole ordeal in general. His eyes shut and his brow furrowed from the only other troubled thought he had since last night.

Did Sakura need to be protected from him as well? Was it best that he stayed away from her, instead?

He wasn't sure about that. He wasn't even sure if he could even do that at this point. Just the thought of parting from her ever again, indefinitely, after this entire ordeal was enough to already start making his head spin.

And after last night, even if it was arrogant to think, he believed Sakura didn't want that either. After everything, there was no doubt in his mind, she wanted to be with him, no matter what. The incident simply broke her into leaving the way she did and that was that. The same way it broke him.

He would already have to leave her several times; sometimes for months on end as a CEO, but at least he could always come back to her. As much as he didn't want to ever leave her side ever again, for any reason, it relieved him to know she was waiting for him. She'd be waiting for him to come back to her and he had to provide for her, and that acknowledgement gave him all the meaning he needed to continue his work. No matter how much he didn't want to leave her.

To not have her ever again, to lose her and not have her love like this; to never be able to return to her, even with whatever distance was between them; just the thought already irked him to no end. It was enough for his grip on her to squeeze even tighter, to make sure he had her securely in his grasp.

No. The answer was no, he couldn't take it. Being unable to have her and unable to return to her or for her, it wasn't feasible to live like that anymore. These last few days without her had been too much of a hell for him and proved he couldn't be without her and her love in his life anymore.

She had to be the place he returned to. She had to be somewhere waiting for him to enter her embrace again after he left her arms and she left his. She had to love him and only him.

If he couldn't have her, no one else could, and that was a merciless truth that he learned was engraved into his very soul.

He was just angry last night. He was furious, and he lost his wits; and though it wasn't an excuse, surely at the very least, his actions were understandable. At the time he was just plain furious; yes, but he never, ever wanted to be the reason she was hurt. He never, ever wanted to hurt her at all. Not with Karin or another woman. Not with his own hands. Not with anything.

He'd never hurt her again. His hands were always meant to love her, as they were doing now...not hurt her. He swore and promised he was never going to hurt her again. He would never lay a single finger on her body, other than to love and caress her. To stroke his fingers through her locks or just to hold her, or to pleasure her; that's the only way he would ever place his hands on her.

He promised to find some semblance of control of himself. Especially with the knowledge of how much she suffered without him and that she deserved none of his displaced anger and aggression. He'd find a medium, at the very least.

"Every thought that isn't drowned in alcohol, I see you and her…and I just...want to forget it! I can't stand it! I want this pain to stop! I want to forget you!" He remembered her saying and his eyes couldn't help but glare.

After everything Indra told him, after everything he heard from her, he selfishly still questioned why she didn't just come back on her own. Could she really not bear to see him after what happened? Even though she loved him to such an extent, if she had just listened to him or came back sooner, none of this would have happened.

He wouldn't have lost his mind. It would have saved so much time and pain, even though he should've been the one to do so by not letting her leave at all.

"Just your name alone would be her undoing."

...Right. She couldn't hear or even see his name, Indra said. Even though she called it out, just his name was enough to break her...so she wouldn't have come back on her own, no matter how much she wanted to, other than the state of hysteria he felt she was in that nightmare. Seeing him would have probably made her lose all function.

Technically, that's what happened last night...she broke the instant she saw him at the door and it took for him to love her to fix it. That's probably even why she was so convinced she was just dreaming it all.

And even though he didn't want to admit it, just from what Indra described, it was thanks to that bastard that he got her back sooner. It could've even been sooner if he had just handed her off to Suigetsu.

He stubbornly still questioned, if that was the case, why didn't that bastard contact him sooner himself? Why didn't he give her to Suigetsu when he came for her? She cried for him. He said she was broken because of him. Indra said, himself; she screamed that very first night. So why couldn't he let him fix this sooner?

'Because the bastard is a selfish, conniving asshole who wanted to keep her for as long as possible.' His mind answered for him, begrudgingly.

With that reminder, his gentle caresses on her turned into a loving hold, whilst he brushed his lips on her shoulder. His arms around her body held her securely in a gently possessive grasp.

Screw it. Fuck it all, he was taking her with him tonight. He didn't want to leave her so soon after they just mended things. It didn't sit right with him. He wouldn't be able to focus on what he had to if he was on a boat and miles away, while she stayed here in Konoha.

And he didn't care what the Otsutsuki or anyone thought officially, and if they had a problem, he was just going to throw that stupid proposal Kaguya sent through Hagoromo at their faces. That ridiculous offer to marry into the House that was a root of many, to the entire ordeal he absolutely hated, to begin with.

Kaguya said she believed he should have an heir, and he wasn't ever going to change his mind about Sakura being his Matriarch. Whatever the Otsutsukis had to say about it, he'd dash it away with absolute indifference.

The only problem was the bastard would be there. Despite whatever injuries they inflicted on each other last night, he and Indra were going to both be there and in each other's presence, no matter how much they didn't want to be. The bastard was going to be on that same boat he had to board and it was the only grievance he had about taking her with him.

He meant it when he said he didn't want Indra within a thousand miles of her. He meant it, when he told the bastard he didn't want him even looking at her from afar. But, as large as the yacht was, bringing her with him on the cruise was almost begging for that to happen.

Somehow, the bastard was going to catch sight of her and after last night, he truly wasn't sure if he'd remain composed if the bastard got near her. If he just so much as stood within ten feet of her, without him at her side, the short fuse that was his ire for the man would become even shorter.

And if he touched her, he might throw him overboard without reservation. Despite that hundreds of eyes would witness him tossing the Otsutsuki Prince into the sea, the moment he witnessed Indra lay a single finger on her, he was probably going to enact the murderous instincts he had.

It was more trouble than what it was worth honestly; bringing her along. He'd have to keep a keen eye out for her and he'd have to make sure the other businessmen on the cruise didn't get any ideas. After all, there would be moments where he would be torn from her no matter how much he didn't want to be. There were people he had to speak to and conferences he had to attend, some of which she couldn't accompany him for.

He'd have to leave her alone for a bit...and he knew that his absence would cause other men to gravitate towards her by the dozens if she ever left the suite they'd be staying in. After all, he had learned—in a way he hated—that Sakura could effortlessly catch the eyes of any man. She could, without even meaning to, have men dream of her.

But he also couldn't afford to just be without her after all this. He didn't want to just leave her, after how much they had obviously missed each other. And besides, the only reason he didn't want to take her with him in the first place was that he didn't want the Otsutsuki's to take her away.

But the solution he had to that had already been obtained. She was officially off limits, and with the way he felt, she was already a member of the Uchiha House. She was his and they couldn't take her away from him now.

Indra sure as hell wasn't.

That bastard. That Otsutsuki bastard tried to take what was his and it still pissed him off even though he had her back. And it pissed him off more that the only reason the bastard had conceded his attempts at Sakura's heart, was from the realization that her heart completely belonged to him.

If it hadn't been for that...if it hadn't been for Sakura's love for him, maybe, Indra might have succeeded. If she had decided to throw away their love completely, Indra would have had her; hook, line and sinker.

That screwed him up the most, all night. If Indra had given in...if he had just went through with taking advantage of her state...damn it all; he could fucking see it, even though nothing happened before his eyes, and it made him feel so much more worse. It would be permanently burned into his mind forever. What's worse is his mind couldn't help but start thinking of all the scenarios that would have happened after that.

Maybe Sakura would feel guilty at first. Maybe she would realize she made a mistake and come back…

Or she would have stayed with Indra, and Indra would have won.

"I could have gotten her to forget about you. Especially that first night. I should have." He remembered him saying. And it made him hold her tighter.

That bastard could have won.

His teeth clenched as he buried his face into her back. He understood it all…and he was never going to forget it. And the fact that she had almost given herself to Indra, even if it didn't happen, he would never forget the lengths she was willing to go, just because she thought he was going to be with someone else. Just because she wanted to forget him and their love, she was willing to destroy herself.

And he couldn't help but wonder, was it that her heart instinctively knew that to hurt him to the degree she had been hurt, all she had to do was destroy herself? All she had to do was disappear and self-destruct, and he'd be a destroyed man for the rest of his life and it somehow knew that. All she had to do was give her heart to someone else and there'd be no saving him from the hell she had only just given him a preview of.

And he was certain Sakura wasn't consciously aware of that. He was certain she didn't know she had such a hold over him. Not after the things she said last night.

But...she was connected to him. More connected than he had ever thought before, proven by the fact that she apparently heard him call for her. And it truly made him theorize that she had been in so much pain, this was her heart's vengeful attack against him. Like an animal he was supposed to take care of, lashing out at him violently from a painful injury he both caused and should have prevented.

It wanted all the care for its wound, but nature would have it thrash and claw at anything nearing it, even those with good intentions—especially him; the one it recognized to be the source of its distress and turmoil even when it wasn't ever his intent. He didn't mean to hurt it, of course; but it didn't change the fact that it was in pain and it recognized him as the source of said injury. It ached for him and because of him.

And for not taking proper care of her heart, for the wound it sustained that day; because it loved him and he failed it, it chose to strike at him as fatally as possible for the transgression he didn't even mean to make. For not protecting her heart and causing it so much pain, it chose this vengeance and violence against him.

Trust and believe, it got its revenge on him tenfold and he never wanted to go through something like this again. Never, ever, again. This time, he was going to make sure he covered all angles. Not just the ones he was truly concerned about—everything. He'd be sure of everything and anything that even tried to come between them. This time, he was going to make sure she couldn't ever doubt him, even if she saw him in such a predicament ever again.

He promised her heart, it would be taken care of; this time to the highest degree he could muster, with all his power. If it would forgive him and give him another chance, he vowed he would allow nothing to hurt her like this again. He swore that never again, would it suffer like this, if it would let him love her again. He swore to her heart, she'd never have to worry about something like another woman ever again if it would just give him one more chance.

He promised; he wouldn't need another chance again after this. He would love her to the point where he'd never have to tell her how much he loved her again. Her heart would know his love, just from his gaze and he swore that to her heart by all the high heavens.

Especially because, if there was anything the last, grueling and cruel days without her had shown him, it was that his world was nothing without her. His life was null and void without her; it had been all along and he had always hated it. He truly didn't want a life without her in it. She was all he wanted. He didn't want anything else from this world except her. Since the moment he laid his eyes on her.

Like he told her, he needed her. He needed her, for his life to be worth living.

He started trailing soft butterfly kisses down her back, and his hands softly glided to caress the lines of her body that he had missed while embracing her. He was certain he touched all of her, but his body apparently needed to make certain of it.

"Mmmnn...Sasuke-kun…" She moaned, stirring from her sleep and he continued. He couldn't help when his tongue snaked out to have a taste of her here and there, even though he didn't want to wake her. His kisses on her back started moving lower, feeling her body react to each kiss the lower he went moving the sheet covering her to expose more of her skin.

How could he resist, when she moaned his name like that? He wanted to kiss her all over, now that she said his name the way he was addicted to.

It was his territory, after all. She was his. He could kiss wherever he pleased, whenever he pleased.

Now he was starting to get lost to his desires, thanks to her making those sounds he absolutely loved. He started removing the sheet from her for better access, as his kisses descended. His kisses on her skin became more passionate and adamant, because he was grateful. He was grateful she was safe. He was grateful he had her back. He was grateful to her love for him. Her unyielding and enduring love of him had kept her from giving herself to another and he was so grateful for it.

Her heart was his and he was absolutely, positively grateful for it.

He could relax now. He didn't have to go off the rails anymore. All the existential questions and feelings of madness were no longer relevant. None of that mattered, now that he had her. He had her back and he was beyond grateful.

He was at her lower back now, smooching and kissing every inch he could. He stopped at a spot a little near her hip, and his hands stroked down her body gently.

"Sasuke-kun…" She whined lightly, as he started making a mark there. The hand wrapped beneath her traveled to massage her breast while the other stroked and rubbed the lines of her body tenderly.

Her eyes slowly squinted open and blinked her blurry vision away. She felt his kisses and her hands around her, and for the first time in a while, she felt relief. His lips brushed up her back and towards her ear.

But her drowsy, pleasured awakening was bombarded with sudden fear and confusion. What she was staring at, she recognized as Indra's bed, Indra's nightstand, and Indra's balcony. Her mind instantly made the worst assumption even though the hands she felt on her nude body felt all too familiar. His lips, nipping on her ear were unmistakable.

But...that was all a dream right? That...wasn't real. As much as she wished it was.

Awake now, she gasped and thrashed, yanking herself away and hastily pulled to wrap the sheet around her body and he could already see the panic in her motions. She was saved from falling on the floor only by the king sized bed with how quickly she scrambled away from him.

But Sasuke felt a jolt of that murderous rage he had from last night. Her tearing herself from his grasp gave him a post traumatic flashback to that day. The way she kept pulling and tugging away from him and what it led up to when she escaped his grasp, made his fury return.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" She said the last time she pushed him like that.

He thought his anger had finally subsided. He thought he didn't need to be angry anymore and the unfortunate matter of the fact was, he still felt infuriated. He was indeed still enraged about everything.

And what happened next, did not help.

"I-Indra! What are you doi—" She froze when she turned to the man who was actually holding her. The man who was actually kissing and touching her the way she missed and remembered, so much so, she initially thought it was him in the drowsiness of slumber. And her initial thought was right.

That dream she had last night...was real. Like all the other times they made love, she had thought it was a dream when it was one hundred percent real. Sasuke was now staring at her with an extremely displeased glare in his eyes. He was dressed, except for a blazer and tie, in a gray button down and black slacks. His glaring eyes looked like they were contemplating murder, having heard the name of that man come from her lips.

He absolutely was. He was, for sure, considering murdering someone and he already had a target. Especially after having to hear that very asshole's name from her lips. While he had been kissing and touching her, no better and having torn herself from his grasp so unexpectedly, he felt wrathfully angry all over again.

He should go after the bastard right now—

"S-Sasuke-k-kun…" Her voice came out as a trembling and realized shock, clutching the sheet against her body.

He stayed for a moment, just glaring at her. He couldn't help but glare. The only thing that stopped him from losing his mind all over again over her saying Indra's name, was the fact that she had moaned his first. Even throughout the night, as she slept against him, she called for his name and never the bastard's.

Even if she thought he was Indra initially upon awakening, there was no changing that her heart called for him and only him. She called for 'Sasuke-kun'. She even said Indra's name without the suffix.

Most importantly for him and he noted it above all those things, was the fact that she ripped away from him, because she thought he was Indra. She even tried to cover herself as much and as quickly as possible.

"What are you doing?" She was about to yell, along with ripping herself from his grasp; meaning she did not accept the said man touching her the way he was touching her. If he really had been Indra, she would have ripped away from him, and they would have gotten into a fight. She would have been upset.

Meaning the bastard really didn't touch her fully. Especially if she was in her right mind. She would have never offered herself or allowed Indra to touch her the way he had in a conscious state of mind and it was only with the consideration of all these things that he reeled himself back.

It was a reaction he honestly should have been happy and relieved with, more than the anger he felt with it currently.

Still, why did she say that bastard's name in his presence? Why did she have to say his name in his arms? Even if it was an accident, even though he knew it was because she thought she was being touched in a way she didn't desire from Indra; why did she say his name?!

The fury he felt was already starting to make his blood boil and he wanted to kill the bastard all over again, as well as a thousand times moreover.

"Tch!" He clicked his tongue and turned away from her. He intended to just give her his back for a moment, so he could calm down. He sat at the edge of the bed and hunched over, placing his forearms against his knees and looking towards the ground as he rubbed his hands over his face to try and calm himself, like he had to do thousands of times throughout this entire ordeal.

He didn't want to rage out again. He didn't want to take his anger out on her anymore. He didn't want to become the man he became last night. He didn't want to become the man who uncontrollably hurt her even unintentionally, and didn't care that he did; thanks to his fury with that bastard and everything about all this. He couldn't and didn't want to hurt her again...

But controlling his anger over this seemed damn near impossible.

'Calm yourself, calm yourself, calm yourself.' He told himself, before he did something extreme, like he always did when he had no control of himself or his feelings over her. He might just have to leave the room for a bit, so he didn't lash out.

Sakura's eyes widened with terror the moment he turned from her. He looked like he was about to leave and it shot Sakura with a spike of anguish and refusal to watch him go. She didn't think last night was real. She was pretty drunk and despite that, she still remembered a lot of last night.

Nothing about what happened between them last night could be forgotten by her at all. Even if bits of pieces were missing, a majority of it was all still ingrained in her very mind.

As if he had indoctrinated it directly into the deepest parts of her psyche.

"S-Sasuke-kun! Wait!" She slightly yelled, hastily crawling behind him, and wrapped her arms tightly from behind. He stayed sitting at the edge of the bed, watching her hands grip his shirt at his chest and torso. He felt her bury her face into his back and he felt her body tremble from its kneeled position behind him.

He stayed silent, holding back a grunt of pain, because she was squeezing him with all her strength and it was hurting whatever wounds Indra inflicted on him last night.

He deserved the pain. He felt he had no right to complain about it right now, especially with how he hurt her. The bruises on her wrist and the aggressive marks he made on her neck, especially the ones of his teeth, didn't warrant him telling her she was hurting him.

And he had nothing to say...other than he was sorry. He was sorry for everything.

"D-Don't...go. Don't go, Sasuke-kun...please. I'm sorry." She sniffled against his back. His hands, dangling from his knees, clenched into fist and his eyes cringed with his eyebrows knitting together as he stared at the floor.

Already? She was already like this and he hadn't even truly intended on leaving in the first place? He was honestly hoping she wouldn't get like this yet.

He just needed a moment. He just wanted to calm down and she was already terrified of him leaving? Even though last night, he insisted and declared that she was his and that he couldn't stop loving her, did she really think he was ever going to leave for any reason other than that she couldn't be at his side or in his arms?

He then desperately questioned; what was it going to take? How much of his mind did he have to lose? How insane did she have to drive him, before she was aware that there could be no one else? What in this world did he have to give before she realized he was head over heels in love with her to the point that it wouldn't stop, even if she asked?

Was it really going to take him killing someone over her to get the message across? Would thatfinally be enough to make her and this entire world understand that he was all hers and that she was his? Was she really going to make him kill someone over her, just as proof that he loved her that much?

Just…what in this world did he have to do or say?

"I-I'm s-sorry. I'm sorry for t-thinking...y-you were him. I'm sorry for saying his name. I'm sorry...I-I thought last night—I thought it was a dream. I-I'm sorry. Don't…Don't go...D-Don't leave me..." She apologized quietly. His eyes pained a bit more, remembering what she said last night. Remembering how he himself felt after speaking with Naruto downstairs and how he just had an existential crisis because of her.

Hell, was her holding him like this right now even real? Her very existence from the first day he met her felt like one long dream, so maybe it wasn't.

Maybe, as he thought before, this was all in his head—some sort of coping mechanism he had developed to ease stress and fatigue from his life of meaninglessness and nothingness. The feelings he had for her were impossible, incomprehensible imaginations and the way she loved him back just the same could be reserved for fantasy and fairytales. And he did have many fantasies of her. Almost too many to count.

So was this all even real? Or had he imagined her existence all along and everyone who knew him just went with it, for his sake? Everyone saw him hallucinating a woman named Sakura, whom he loved to the ends of the Earth and eased his agitated state of being, time and time again whenever he mentioned her; and they all acted like she was there to keep him somewhat sane.

And seeing as he had finally lost it, maybe Sebastian, Naruto and Itachi all came up with the narrative of her being a sister to Naruto, who grew up with him in the slums and Sebastian or Itachi paid the other so-called friends to go along with it as well. For his mental stability, and so he could continue running Uchiha Corps as he was supposed to.

It was an insane theory, as well as a miserable one. To think; not only had his life pushed him to a point that he delusionally hallucinated an entire woman he loved more than anything to cope with it all and not only did she love him the same—not only was she the best thing that had ever happened to his life, it wasn't even real?

That was just straight up miserable cruelty.

It meant that, in all of this, Sakura didn't exist and he had long since lost his mind before he ever knew it. Or maybe he did know, and his brain just straight up rejected a reality without her in it. It acknowledged the loss of sanity, and coped by hallucinating her into his life despite the fact that she didn't even exist.

For all he knew, he was already in a padded cell, in a straight jacket, in some discreet location while these fantasies, delusions and imaginations played out for him as vividly as this supposed real life of his.

And if that was indeed the case, he'd never forgive this entire life of his. Whatever God there was whose great plan was for him to go insane and be a prisoner in his own mind to a delusion he didn't even want to be free of; he'd never forgive it. Especially if said deity and/or deities had the so-called omnipotent power to make such a life for him a reality.

If he could imagine Sakura out of insanity, certainly a so-called deity could have created her the way they created him and placed her into his life as she was now. That had to have been doable. They could have actually planned to give him a life with her, rather than have him locked away and having lost his mind.

If he was really living life in delusions that everyone else was just going along with, he wanted to know what was the great plan for that. How did that benefit anything at all? What the hell was the plan for that to begin with?!

The only proof he had, and it was an outstanding piece of evidence that this wasn't all in his head, was, ironically, Indra. There was no reason for the rival to go along with such a delusion for his sake, and the bastard certainly acknowledged Sakura's existence.

There was no amount of money to offer the Otsutsuki, since he had enough money of his own. In fact, it would benefit all the Otsutsuki to learn of his insanity. It meant he was unfit to run Uchiha Corps and they would and could benefit from that. The bastard he hated was his one proof of this all being reality and still, he wasn't all that sure.

Maybe he made up Indra also, for a reason unbeknownst to him. For all he knew at this point, he made up everything, even the parts he despised and hated.

Until she confirmed it all for him herself, and that was backed by others acknowledging she existed again, he really had no reason to believe he was sane anymore. Honestly. Maybe even if that was all said and done, for all he knew, it was all still in his head and good heavens, he honestly didn't care whether or not it was real anymore.

Screw it. If it turned out he had just been insane the moment he "saw" her at Café Blanché, then so be it. There obviously was no remedy for his insanity other than giving into his delusions and having her in his arms. So he saw no point in caring about whether or not he was truly insane.

He couldn't live without her anymore. So, to him and his logic, there was no point in fighting or questioning his delusions, if that's what Sakura's existence in his life truly was. It didn't matter if he had no control of said delusions anymore. Why would it matter, when he was already a victim to his insanity?

It'd just be a waste of time.

Just as he thought. Like he already told Indra last night; there's no saving him from her. He was a goner, and not just at the moment she told him she loved him. He was done for the moment he set his eyes on her.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She whimpered again and his eyes cringed.

If this were a more lighthearted situation he might have chuckled. He might have laughed, because it was just absurd how much he loved her. Truly. He must have been all too honest when speaking to Indra last night.

His love for her was infinite. No end, no beginning; just there, indefinitely, no matter what happened and no matter what he did.

She really could never let him be angry, could she. Not even if he was in the right to be angry...he couldn't be angry. Well, not fully angry anyway. And even if he was, he could already tell he wasn't going to be angry for long. It was going to go away fast, just because he loved her more than anything on this planet. She simply had that effect on him.

He had no doubt that in a few minutes, when they were going to have this sober talk, his anger was going to just disappear like it was never there in the first place. He knew that like always, he was going to yield to her no matter what, when all was said and done. He was only going to love her after all was said and done and it was so…so annoying.

Goddamn, annoying—

"You've been so fucking annoying. You know that, Sakura?" At his angered choice of starting words, he felt her physically tense. Her hands became fists in his shirt, wrinkling the perfectly ironed attire. His brow furrowed and he already berated himself mentally for the horrible start.

He didn't have to attack her—there was no reason to but, fuck; he really was angry all over again, even though he was relieved to have her back. Having to just hear her say Indra's name and those memories he would never have the ability to forget, was enough for all his anger to come back no matter how relieved he was. Everything from last night replayed in a flashback for him and he was upset all over again.

He shut his eyes, telling himself to reel it back. Don't snap at her and take his anger of the situation out on her, like he had been.

But after hearing her say Indra's name, he only felt the swells of anger he had from last night. He was trying, but his anger wasn't just with her or about her. It was with everything. It was with Karin and the actions she took that day. It was with having Sakura gone missing, without a single clue of whether or not she was alive or dead. It wasmost definitely with Indra for being an opportunistic bastard and keeping her from him.

It was with the stress he had of thinking she was hurt and he'd never see her again.

It was with the woman he loved, being in the arms of another man and knowing she had been kissed and somewhat touched by that bastard. Even though he knew it wasn't too the same extent he had touched her, even though she obviously wouldn't have allowed something like that in her right mind, even though it meant nothing, the thought that she had been touched was still so enraging it filled him with murderous intent, even now.

Most of all, his fury was with himself, for all the reasons he felt he should be at fault for.

Just...everything. Not specifically with her, but everything about it all infuriated him to a degree he couldn't stand or tolerate, no matter how much he tried.

Still...his talk with Indra should have been enough to hold his tongue with her. She was not at fault. She was not to blame and he didn't blame her. She was hurting and suffering and she was beyond upset; and even if it wasn't his fault, it was because of him.

It didn't change the pain, wrath and distress he felt from it all. The same way she claimed she couldn't get over seeing him with Karin, the same way she couldn't bear it, neither could he. He didn't even witness it for himself. All he had was Indra's words and both their confessions; and it was enough for him to both rage and lose his mind all over again.

And that fact alone solidified for him that she could only be his. Sakura could not be anyone else's. He would not and could not allow it. No one else was allowed to touch her. No one else was allowed to kiss her. No one. They were not allowed even the thought of her being in their arms instead of his.

He'd become a mass murderer, if need be, to destroy any and all other options she could have, if it meant she would remain his. He'd kill Indra and any other man who just as much as looked at her with even a bit of desire.

"S-Sasuke-kun—" She whimpered to his silence, and he cut her off.

"Never...speak that goddamn name in my presence ever again, Sakura." He warned a bit too calmly for his own liking. He could hear the malice he still felt in his voice as it burned in his chest almost uncontrollably. All the way to the point where his eyes got that funny feeling in them again, burning with malice and relentless hatred; none of which was for her.

He couldn't hear her say that asshole's name. At all. For any reason.

And now he knew, hearing that asshole's name from her lips would probably always bring forth his wrath, until the end of his days from now on. It was a trigger that was always going to make him angry, and he knew why.

It was because Indra was the one man he almost lost her to. He was the first and one man he actually had to be concerned of, for being Sakura's suitor, even now; when he and Sakura were so entwined they were both broken from not being connected to each other. Even after she promised she'd never leave him like this ever again.

And unfortunately, he couldn't kill the Otsutsuki now. Not yet. Not when he offered invaluable resources to her protection and he was still considering taking the proposal Indra gave him last night, as much as he didn't really want to.

And if he decided he officially didn't need the bastard's support, then he'd kill him. To hell with his debt. To hell with his relations to the Otsutsuki's in general. To hell with all of that. He officially had no fucks to give about them, especially when Indra did something that was unforgivable to him. Especially when Indra tried to steal the most precious treasure he possessed.

Besides, before he ever had said debt, he made a promise to end Indra if he was keeping her from him and the only reason he didn't do it last night was for Sakura's sake. He only restrained himself for the sake of staying by her side and for keeping her burden free.

And in that regard, he could always keep his word, and kill the bastard later.

"Never say his fucking name in my presence, ever again..." He reinforced, leaving no room for rebuttal or argument; not that there was any. Save for her quiet hiccups and weeping, she was silent to his demand, besides the momentary sniffle and sob that came from her. His back was starting to feel wet. Her hands and arms held him even tighter if that was humanly possible.

"Forgive me, Sasuke-kun. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She shakingly whispered against him and his eyes cringed. He stared down, listening to her cry and he closed his eyes again in shame. His anger was still getting the better of him and he tried, again, to tell himself to calm down.

'It's not her fault.' He reminded himself. He had come to terms with that last night. After all that had been said and done, he understood Sakura's feelings and how she couldn't bear seeing him with another woman. Indra was an advantageous bastard who fed on her sorrows and kept her close. Karin was an overbearing and over-excessive woman who acted with selfish ignorance, obsession and arrogance.

Sakura had been a victim. As he claimed over and over, he wouldn't have taken it well either. She loved him to the point where that sight brought her absolute suffering and he obviously wouldn't have fared any better if he was in her shoes. Finding her the way she found him; he was all too certain at this point that he would have gone into a blind rage, as proven by his own actions last night.

He probably would have killed the man touching her, and he might have raged out on her as well when she had nothing to do with it all. Technically, finding her here with Indra was something of an equivalent to her finding him with Karin in the closet, he supposed; besides his side being completely without consent.

He heard her sobs into his back become harder, but it sounded like she was trying to hold them back.

She was, and it was because she was beyond sorry. She was so sorry and happy at the same time. She felt a relief wash over her, just from him being here. Just because she could feel him again, everything finally felt okay again, even if they still had so much to work through.

And she hoped this was real. She hoped this wasn't some projection of her mind.

She truly wondered if maybe she finally broke her own mind. Maybe with all the alcohol, what was left of her brain cells was being used to create this coping illusion of him finding her and him being here.

His eyes glared more than they ever had before.

Damn it. Damn it! Why did she do this to him? Why did she do this to them?

He knew he shouldn't blame her and he didn't. He knew she wasn't at fault. He knew she reacted within reason of their love. She truly did nothing wrong. Not even being with Indra, considering that she thought they were done and she was heartbroken over it. He really didn't blame her for that, especially after what happened that day.

But damn it all, just the look in her eyes made him wish she had just listened to him that day. He wished, so badly, that he didn't let her leave that day. Then, they wouldn't be here like this. They both wouldn't have lost their minds like this.

And he blamed himself for it.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun. I'm sorry." She whimpered and his chest started hurting again. He felt it; she was in even more pain right now, as she held him like this.

All of this told him she never truly wanted to leave that day, or be separated this long. It wasn't what she truly wanted. She didn't want any of this. But it was the only thing she could do to protect herself.

He saw it now, honestly. He saw the defense mechanism Sakura was displaying this entire time. She was getting away from a situation she knew would hurt her and for her it wasn't superficial. She was desperate to separate herself from him...before he could leave her first. The tightness of her grip; she was holding onto him as if he'd disappear, the moment she eased her hold even in the slightest.

The problem was, she wasn't able to disconnect herself from him. As much as she may have wanted to, she couldn't, as evidenced by the fact that she asked him to do it himself. She damn near begged him to, only for him to rightfully refuse.

And he just realized that was also the reason he felt guilty, even though nothing was technically his fault. She was in so much suffering for loving him, and he cruelly decided she'd just have to endure it, because he decided she couldn't love or be with anyone else.

So selfishly and cruelly, he decided she could only love him; no matter the burden or pain it was she had to endure doing so.

And he was, very minimalistically, sorry for that. He was sorry that the bastard who was a partial cause for all this had more consideration for her heart than he did, and it was because he loved her too much himself for otherwise. And the reason for his minimalistic remorse was that Sakura loved him the same, even in her suffering. Her love endured the pain even at the point that she didn't want to feel it anymore, but she felt it anyway.

Even when he never asked her to. At least not verbally. He never did ask for such dedication other than for her to be with him and through his soul, he begged it'd be forever. And yet, now that he thought about it, she was long dedicated to him before he even realized such a standing.

And not only did he appreciate it, he was going to selfishly indulge in such a privilege for however long he could.

So as selfish as it was of him, he'd keep relying on her to continue doing so. Even if he'd be continually sorry for burdening her like that. He'd rely on her loving him like this, even when he was gone and even as she missed him more than her heart could take. He officially expected her to.

"What are you sorry for…? You...have nothing to be sorry for." He mumbled, because she really didn't. Despite the way he was acting, he truly believed she had nothing to be sorry about.

Other than putting him through hell and madness, she had nothing to be sorry for about this. None of what happened was her fault. Her reaction wasn't a fault either. He was still hurt it all happened, but she was never at fault for it.

But she had an answer, and it was one he honestly wanted to deny. Because her answer was everything he could have prevented…if he never let her go that day.

"For running away. I'm sorry for leaving. I'm sorry for being with...him. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything." She whimpered and sobbed into his back. His eyebrows furrowed and he stayed silent. He enwrapped his fingers with each other and placed his hands over his forehead and eyes, a posture he had taken a million times throughout all this. He gave an exasperated sigh and shook his head.

That day just...shouldn't have happened. None of it should have happened.

"I don't blame you, Sakura..." He honestly proclaimed.

If only he hadn't been caught off guard by Karin. If only he hadn't let Sakura leave that day. He should have thrown her into the same closet, or dragged her to his office no matter how difficult she was being and locked it, so she didn't dare leave until he cleared everything up. With his superior strength, he could have made sure she never left and still would have been able to tell Karin to fuck off.

Sakura wasn't really able to snatch herself from her grasp that day, until he distraughtly let her go and when she furiously pushed him off her. He would have and should have been able to drag her to either space and keep her there, if he hadn't panicked and lost his wits.

And she never would have left the building without him. They would have stayed there all night if it had to be so. If that's what it took for her to calm down and listen to his explanation for what she witnessed, he would have stayed there with her all night into the next day.

At one point in all this, he had even imagined wrathfully tossing Karin out of the closet just before Sakura ever opened that door and she would have witnessed his ire. She would have seen it was against his will. He imagined she would have watched him angrily scream and attack the woman; only to probably save her on the account that he was a male—elite in status, mind you—about to kill a common woman without remorse.

Or simply, as he had previously thought; with all the red flags that Karin had thrown, he should have preemptively acted on the woman as well. He should've seen it coming a mile away, with the increased frequency of Karin showing up and trying to pine for his attention and he should've prevented it all.

But now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure how he could have. Other than instantly placing the restraining order on her that he felt was too troublesome to do, or straight up attacking her in front of Sakura, there was nothing he could do.

And he regretted that. He regretted being lazy and unwilling to go through hurdles for such a thing that had come back to bite him in the ass, and it bit him in the worst and most agonizing way. His eyes drooped, deciding to change topics, even if it was, technically, the same subject.

"...I've already told Naruto you're with me, but he's expecting your call. Let me know when you're ready…you can use my phone. He has all your belongings from Temari's…he just wants to know you're alright. Everyone does." He said quietly. Her eyes lowered guiltily, still having her face against his back, between his shoulder blades. She didn't know what to say right now.

What could she say? The last time she saw Naruto she shoved him and ran off. After that, she disappeared. Not only had she worried Sasuke, but she had worried everyone who loved her and all she felt right now was guilt. She even slightly remembered running off on Temari with the friend calling after her. And this wasn't the first time she'd done this. She was sure all her friends were looking for her the entire time.

Sasuke noted her silence and went on to his next thought. The one thing that made him hate himself more than anything. He might even hate himself for it, more than he hated both Indra and Danzo.

"...Does anything hurt…?" Sasuke suddenly asked quietly. Her eyes lighted with surprise, before she squeezed him a bit tighter. Her eyes shifted to nothing in particular, as her mind flashed back to last night. The bite on her neck slightly ached, as did her wrist. Even though she moved quickly initially, her legs hurt and felt weak and sore at the same time.

She stayed quiet. She had no right to complain that she was indeed hurt, even a little. Even if it was nothing but just an ache that caused slight discomfort, she had no need to complain. After running away, after staying away and out of contact,being here with Indra, she wasn't going to complain that anything hurt.

She didn't blame Sasuke. From some of the words he spoke last night that she could remember, she couldn't and didn't blame him in the slightest.

Even when he was holding her tight enough to bruise her wrists. At that moment, he was still making love to her and she couldn't take anymore.

"Sasuke-kuuuunnn! No more! My body can't—I can't—! No m-more! SASUKE-KUUUUN!" She had whined and moaned out, and as she felt what she claimed, her body tried to move from beneath him and her hands pushed his face from her neck to look at her, hoping to break him from his insatious state. He brought his fogged eyes to hers, only for his hands to grip her wrists and slam them against the bed, whilst continuing his actions mindlessly.

"Sasuke-kun! Hah! AAAH! SASUKE-KUN!" She screamed uncontrollably through the overwhelming pleasure.

All while he was staring hopelessly into her eyes. He panted and held her down to keep her in place, staring at her in this moment with absolute hopelessness and helplessness in his haze. As if everything he was doing right now was agonizingly out of his control and he couldn't stop. No matter what she said. He could only succumb to his insatiable need of her, and his eyes said as much.

"Sakura…I love you! I loveyou, Sakura!" He gruffed and groaned, gripping her wrists even more tightly. He then kissed her recklessly, continuing to love all of her. She didn't even fight his hold, staring pleasurably into his closed eyes while he thrusted mindlessly into her.

And she loved it. Not only did she accept it—because it was him, she loved it and she could only moan out loudly against his tongue for him. All she could do was whine and cry in pleasure.

"I love you too, Sasuke-kun! I love—" She barely got the words out from her lips, before he kissed her again, deeply. His hands were acting on their own as he gripped her wrists even tighter, now, as if she was his anchor to reality all while moving recklessly. As his tongue claimed hers, she could only succumb to him and the pleasure she felt.

And one of his hands released her wrist, to entwine their fingers.

When she stayed silent, his hands dropped from his face to hanging over his knees and he turned only his head back to look at her with his eyes full of concern. He could only see the top of her pink hair and she must have felt him turn because she shrunk into her shoulders and she buried her face even deeper into his back. Almost as if she was trying to disappear again, and this time completely.

And she shook her head; but something told him that was a lie. He had no idea how tight he had been holding her last night, and now here she was with bruises on her wrists. His teeth marks were still there on her skin, would probably start bruising soon themselves and he was barely conscious of doing that.

Either she was indeed lying about the pain or she just didn't feel it. He couldn't know which it was, unless she told him directly. So he said what he promised he would last night.

"...I'm sorry for hurting you. I...truly didn't mean to hurt you. I know it's not an excuse but I didn't...I didn't even know what I was doing, Sakura and I'm sorry—" He was about to apologize further, only for her sobbing voice to cut him off. Her shoulders and diaphragm heaved and wheezed, trembled and her hands clenched as much as they could into his shirt, wrinkling it some more in the process—not that he cared in the slightest.

Still? Even after everything she had done, from worrying him to being here with Indra, he was still so loving like always, and she could feel his love, despite his anger all last night and now. He didn't mean to hurt her or lose absolute control of himself.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She weeped. His lips frowned and his eyes cringed in dismay.

And he had enough.

With her arms still on him, he turned back around to face her in the bed. She wouldn't meet his gaze, and crystal tears fell from her emerald eyes without restraint. Both his hands reached to caress those tears away, as he had almost all last night before he passed out himself.

He had had enough of seeing her face like this. He had enough of her tears. He had had enough of knowing she suffered without him. He had had enough of all of this.

He should have never been a reason for her cries, wails, or sobs. Never. Not even once.

"Stop it. Stop, please. Stop crying." He requested and begged softly, his upset, remorseful and saddened eyes staring into her crying emeralds. The eyes he treasured more than anything he possessed wouldn't stop crying and it seemed to become worse with his pleas for her to stop doing so. Each tear he wiped away replaced itself instantly with another and it was from a number of things she felt.

She was happy to be with him again. She was relieved he was here, still looking at her the way he always had and touching her the way he always did. She was guilty and shameful for leaving him the way she did, and having him find her the way he had.

And she sobbed harder and she felt even more remorse for not listening that day, as he pushed his forehead against hers in an act of affection, and loved her with his eyes alone.

"I hate seeing you cry. I can't stand it...so please, stop. For me." He whispered pleadingly.

But she couldn't. The more he said that, the more she wanted to cry. Her face became all the more tortured, despite his obvious want to comfort her and he pulled her against his chest to further ensure he did so. He shifted himself to have her between his open legs, the way he held her all night before, and he held her tightly as she shook in his arms. He placed his lips against her forehead, while she quietly bawled in his grasp.

"S-Sasu-Sasuk-k-ke...k-kun...I-I'm s-sorry! I-I thought...I-I—" She sobbed into his chest, and he stroked his fingers through her hair for comfort. Both his and hers. Because seeing her like this, even while she was sober, was hurting and again, he was reminded that she suffered as much as he did. Probably even more, from what he felt.

"She even blamed herself. She thought it was her fault. She thought she did something wrong,"

All the way down to her blaming herself. And he promised to address that.

Where he was sure others would say he shouldn't feel this way, he couldn't help but feel like all of this was his fault. So many actions he could have taken, so many oversights he made, it could have been avoided ifhe had been better. He could have even found her sooner, if he kept a clearer head and checked Indra more thoroughly.

If he went at the entire situation with full and focused force the way he did last night, this would have been resolved quicker and before all this.

"No, Sakura...no, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything." He apologized against her forehead, hoping to appease and sooth her whilst he held her tighter. Sakura stared down into his chest, still sobbing and crying. He brushed his lips against her forehead, zoning out on nothing in particular.

Naruto said to not blame himself. He really wasn't at fault for the situation, but, for him and the way he loved her; how could he not take blame for some of this? Especially when he could have prevented all this in so many ways and he ignored and neglected all of them because he lost his composure, and was too lenient. Especially when he let her go that day.

He didn't do anything to prevent that from happening, even if he didn't have the belief that Karin would go so far to have him. He was too lenient and tolerant. He didn't take any action against Karin, and it led to what happened. It led to him losing her like this and he swore he'd never allow for something like this to happen ever again.

"I'm so sorry. In so many ways, Sakura...I'm so, so sorry." He whispered as her neck craned to look up at him, from her sprawled body being against his sat up frame. She was in between his open legs, and laid out against him. He didn't have the support of the headrest of the bed as he did last night, and the body shots he received were starting to throb again with her against him, but he didn't care. He didn't mind one bit.

So long as she was in his grasp, he didn't care for any discomfort he had. He'd endure all the pain and torture and then some more, if it was for her and if it was so he could have her in his arms.

And as he stared into her darling tear stained face and caressed her them away, he only wished, again, that none of this had happened. His other hand held her waist, and he stared into her eyes as earnestly and honestly as he spoke the words he promised he would.

"I'm sorry for allowing that sight to ever reach your eyes. I'm sorry for letting you go. I'm sorry for not finding you sooner. I'm sorry for hurting you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry a thousand times. I'm sorry it happened at all. I'm sorry for everything." He apologized with complete penitence. She weeped and whimpered, closing her eyes and pushing herself against him as much as he could.

She remembered when he said that. She heard him say that in her sleep. Another cruel trick of the mind, she thought it was. She thought that in missing him so much, her mind was straight up imagining all of him, right down to his voice and scent.

But he was here. He was really here, holding her like this and no one had any idea of the relief she had been brought from the turmoil of thinking she'd never have him again. She even thought he had given up on her with her absence.

She slapped him. She accused him without hearing him out. She said so many awful things to him when he had done nothing but love her. She disappeared on him and everyone, and she believed what she had already considered to be a lie, due to her emotions and love for him.

He should've just forgotten about her. He should have just abandoned her with the way she acted and she believed he would have been in full rights to do so. It's part of why she asked him to do so last night. He should have.

But he didn't. He never did and as far as she could tell, he was never going to. He loved her too much to do so, and she felt it as he spoke and stroked his fingers through her hair. He never abandoned her at all and she agonizingly felt it. All he did was try to reach her while she lost her mind and instead, she abandoned him at the first sign of trouble and turmoil, rather than stay by his side and trust in him like she should have.

Out of the fear of losing him, and loving him more than anything in this world, she fled and tried to forget him. She thought she was going to just be rid of him after that and she had no doubt it was going to hurt for the rest of her life.

But she was wrong. She was so wrong, thinking like that the entire time and she promised to not be so weak again. She was officially bound to love him and she wouldn't make the same mistake ever again.

"She shouldn't have gotten the jump on me like that. I shouldn't have let you go that day, no matter what. I should have chased you. No matter what was said, I should have dragged you back into my office, even against your will and locked you in there." He complained in his own agony, continuing to comb his fingers through her soft hair.

Because it was what he should've done. He shouldn't have let her go. He should've just kept her there.

Again; it would have saved so much time and pain, if he had done so.

"You have no idea how many times I've replayed that day in my head. There were thousands of things I should have done and of all the things I could have and should have done…I let you go." He gripped her tighter and rubbed his face against hers with turmoiled affection. Their cheeks and noses brushed against each other, as an animal would to show his love to a mate.

"Like an idiot,I let you go and I shouldn't have. No matter what, I shouldn't have let you go. Especially after I promised you, I would never let you go." He whispered somberly against her and he couldn't help but embrace her even more tightly, as her head dropped. Her eyes filled with remorse.

He was apologizing for hurting her, but she had obviously hurt him too. Her eyes welled with tears at what he said last night. She broke him. She didn't even mean to do so and yet, she broke his heart after he never meant to break hers.

"I-I was the one...I-I l-left. I r-ran away. I d-didn't hear you out a-and I was being irrational—" She tried to argue, only for him to shake his head in disagreement. He pulled back, caressing her face to look him in the eyes, the other hand still rubbing her back gently.

"You weren't irrational." He stated definitively, wiping a tear away tenderly. Her eyes widened and her brow lifted, as if she was surprised he would claim such a thing, and he understood why anyone would be absolutely flabbergasted at such a statement, especially with how he reacted last night.

Sure, she could have come back to him sooner. Sure, she could have heard him out before disappearing on him and everyone else completely. That could be considered irrational, but she wasn't in the wrong. To him, she wasn't wrong especially when she only reacted as she should have; loving him the way she did. For Sakura to love him the way he loved her, the reaction she had was expected.

It could have and should have been worse.

'I would have done worse.' He couldn't help but remind himself mentally.

After last night, it was obvious he would have done much, much worse, if he had caught her the way she caught him and Karin. There was nothing rational about him last night and that was just learning she had been with Indra this whole time. That was without seeing her with Indra at all.

She wasn't partially undressed—although the pleasing sight of her in a silk, short nightgown and the knowledge Indra was the first to see her like that was just as upsetting as well. She wasn't in a provocative position.

She was in the bedroom, alone, by herself.

Imagining finding her half undressed, as he had a thousand times since that day...in a storage closet with another man, in his building, on his office floor; he was certain he would have gone blind with madness. Seeing her wrists pinned the way only he had done to her would have sent him overboard. He was certain he would have killed someone in that instant, while her reaction was to simply run away and disappear for a while.

She did the most rational thing one could do in such a predicament. Especially with the way they felt for each other; she acted in the most rational way one could in such a situation.

Moreover...there was something he needed to confirm, and if he was right about the assumption, it only proved just how rational she truly acted. He was curious to know his a theory of his was right, and so, he asked her;

"...You were actually holding back that day...weren't you..." He said all too knowingly. The surprise on her face became slightly hurt. Sakura's eyes shifted from his and she said nothing.

'I knew it.' He thought plainly and angrily.

He saw that momentary flash of fury she shot at Karin that day. It looked like she would have attacked the woman right then and there, had he not regrabbed her attention in a desperate attempt to get her to listen to him. He even remembered the way she looked at him, the pure wrath and pain that came from what she thought was his betrayal.

And rather than punching him like she normally would have done to someone, all she did was slap and push him. Considering Sakura had punched Naruto on his head or shoulder for less, more times than he could count on his fingers, it wasn't an expected reaction. She even put Naruto in a headlock in front of him, just for being an idiot more than once.

Yet, her response to the man she loved so immensely, being supposedly caught with another woman, was only a slap and a push. He didn't think about it before, but now that he thought about it, Sakura wouldn't have really reacted as she had, in the right state of mind.

A slap, instead of a punch. Screams with tears, rather than lashing out in absolute outrage. Running away instead of tackling the problem head on. It just wasn't like her, from everything he knew about her.

Meaning she held back on everything...and he didn't know the reason why, other than she loved him and that sight of him hurt her that much. To the point where she couldn't even react correctly and she had to just get away from him and the scene altogether. He truly wondered how it would have all played out if she had gone straight for Karin.

If he had kept his mouth shut the instant she gave Karin that look, would she have dashed for her? Was that yet another action he could have taken? He would have let her do as she pleased, and he wondered if maybe after that, they could have worked things out more differently than this.

Surely after that, they could have talked things over, if he let her lash out on the woman instead of refocusing her attention to himself.

So many stupid oversights. So many things he could have done with a clear head and as always, all his life training, all his knowledge, everything flew away whenever it came down to her. He panicked that day and he swore to work on that. He had so much to work on, in regards to her, from controlling himself and being in control of his love for her.

But, he honestly felt that wasn't possible. It had never been possible in the first place, and as he told Indra, containing himself and his love for her, especially when she was in his sights or in his reach wasn't possible. It was impossible for him, unless she wasn't there physically and even when she wasn't there, his love never stopped.

So maybe it was hopeless. Again, he'd just have to have the blind reliance of her loving him like this, whilst he tried to find some semblance of control over himself. He'd just have to rely on having as much of her love and trusted protection around her as possible, because there just might be nothing else he could do in that regard, especially if all he did was lose his mind in a situation like this.

And it frustrated him more; as that meant that there were indeed more pros than cons to letting the Otsutsuki live for the meantime.

As much as he really didn't want to.

"I hated her…so much. I didn't even know what to do...I-I just…" She whispered. He stared at her face; so full of displeasure and disdain he could tell she was remembering it again. He could see it in her eyes, she was reliving finding him and Karin in the closet.

Her lips scowled bitterly and she turned her head a bit from him. He caressed her face from the side she turned from to pull her back, but she wouldn't look him in the eye. A tear escaped the side he wasn't touching.

His hand grabbed the bend of her overlapped legs and pulled it over his thigh, and he spoke.

"Come here." He murmured, pulling her to straddle his lap, which she almost scrambled to do, so he could hold her closer than this.

She began crying into his shoulder again and her arms wrapped around him, as if she was never going to let him go. She was holding him so tight as she started to sob. He hushed her, holding her just as tightly, massaging her back in soothing and affectionate vertical gestures, kneading her to relaxation for her comfort. The sheet she wrapped herself in fell a bit, with his touch.

And truth be told, he wasn't even controlling his hands. He supposed he still hadn't had enough of touching her, despite how much he touched her last night and now that he had her this close, and like this, he had to touch and rub her, everywhere. The more he touched and rubbed her back the more the sheet around her fell whilst the front was only slightly remaining over her chest from their closeness.

Now that she was in his grasp, he had to become reacquainted with the contours of her body and the softness of her skin. He shifted his face to be buried in her bare shoulder as well. His eyes closed and, like this, he felt as if they had become one. Their very souls connected instantly like bluetooth devices and not even distance was going to disconnect them. Not now and not at the end of their days.

And Sasuke fully understood her. He understood, she lost her mind, the same way he had. She went insane the same way he did, and with the way he felt about her, he was so sorry she ever had to feel such turmoil. Especially after having to experience it himself, no matter how different it was between them.

She simply went mad, as she herself had proclaimed. She lost herself and her sanity because of that day; and by the Gods, he didn't blame her.

He was far from sane himself.

"I hated her so much…I never hated someone so much, than when I saw her with you...a-and..." She cried quietly near his ear and he held her tighter in response.

Oh, he knew the feeling. He understood what that hatred for Karin felt like, because it was the same hatred he officially had for Indra. She seemed to hesitate for a moment, sniffing and crying still before she said her next sentence.

"...Y-You...You had her a-against the wall..." Sakura murmured through her tears and his eyes opened just slightly to irritatedly glare into her skin.

'I fucking knew it.' He mentally grumbled again when she said that. Sakura was really that detail oriented. She really did take that part into account. Then again, he supposed he couldn't expect anything different from the calculative and observative woman she was. She saw everything. Nothing was able to hide from her sight and if it did, it was because of a situation like this. It was because she didn't know all the facts or her thinking had been misconstrued.

It happened before with Karin supposedly being with him at the bar and she had confronted him about it when he made the mistake of accusing her for being with Kakashi, and it happened now. She got lost in her thoughts and the information she had and came to the wrong conclusion through said misinformation. He fully believed that.

Besides his open shirt, disheveled and undone tie, and Karin's leg wrapped around him, the way he was restraining the woman was the icing on the cake. It made it real, because he had done it to her before. And he forgave her for it.

Sasuke shook his head instantly, and his hands around her body held her even more tightly, as he pulled to look her in the eye both pleadingly and strenuously.

And through his gaze alone, he wordlessly begged her to believe him.

"No. It wasn't like that. I swear. I was pushing her off. I couldn't see a thing and she wouldn't stop, even when I told her to. It was the only way I was able to get her off. I had just stopped her and I was going to throw her out, but instead...it was you who got to the door first…and then you know the rest." He was finally able to softly explain, his brow furrowing and shuffling his nose affectionately against hers, as he gripped her tighter.

And he spoke nothing but honest words.

"I knew it wasn't you. I knew, the instant she touched me...I knew it wasn't you. I didn't kiss her back, and other than to get her off me, Ididn't touch her. I was just trying to get her to stop. I swear, Sakura." He whispered to her. Her eyes cringed and she took a deep breath before she began to speak.

"W-What...happened...? H-How...did she...w-why were you…" Her voice trembled. He knew what she was having trouble asking, and his hands held her as tight as they could.

She wanted to know; What happened that day? How did she get you in a closet? Why were you undressed?

Finally. Finally, he was going to be able to state his case. He could tell her his side of what really happened, detail for detail and it would all be the truth. And they could finally put all of this behind them. They could finally end this torturous saga and put all of this behind them.

That's all he wanted from when this all first started. Like he told her, he just wanted her back. He wanted her back the moment she left.

"Before I start; I beg you, Sakura...please; please, believe me when I say I didn't want any of that happen. Please believe I'm telling you the truth. Please, believe me...and just listen…" He pleaded with her, his eyebrows knitting together from the memory of that day and burying his face into her chest.

His hands gripped her and he felt her nod against his head in silent agreement to his request, besides her quiet sniffling. He took that as his cue to start explaining and lifted his head back over her shoulder, so his voice wasn't muffled in the slightest. So she'd hear every word of his honest testimony.

"That day, right after you went to get those files for me...started with a surprise visit from the bastard Otsutsuki himself. He wanted to talk to me about you. So I told you to stay off the floor a bit, while we talked. So you didn't have to see him and he didn't have to see you." He added that last part, remembering how she also questioned why he told her to stall coming back that day. She flinched at the information.

Indra was there that day...he caught her outside the building, just as she was making a run for it. And she remembered, faintly, Sasuke telling her Indra lied about his apparent marriage. That it was never going to happen and it was never going to happen because of her.

"A-About me…?" She inquired and he tensed, hesitant to tell her the next part.

"More or less...he was there to declare that...he loved you...to my face. Even after all the years of you being apart. He was basically there...to declare war against me...for you." He told her the truth, reluctantly.

He didn't really want to inform her that there was another man, with his same status, money and even a bit more power than him, that loved her after all these years. A man who loved her nearly as much as he did and whom she had prior history with. Well, he still doubted Indra could ever love her more than he did, but he acknowledged the man did indeed love her nonetheless.

She could run to Indra and be with him, if she felt it in her heart to do so and he knew all too well that the Otsutsuki would be more than ecstatic to take her. Not only that, but he did acknowledge that the Otsutsuki was just as able, and would be willing, to give her the world and then some.

And as history had proved, he wouldn't be able to come to grips with that, should it ever come to pass. He would not tolerate it. Any and all be damned if they thought he was just going to accept it, ever. All be damned, if they thought his love for her would allow for her to be with someone else.

If he couldn't have her, no one could.

So he'd rather her be without that knowledge to begin with. He'd rather her think she had no other options in love, other than him and him alone. It would make things simpler. It would keep him sane—for the most part—and at ease and he would love her as much and more than she would ever need him to.

But he wasn't going to ever leave a single detail out of her knowledge. She was going to know everything around him, so there was never any kind of misconstrued misconceptions between him and her ever again. That was the only reason why he was telling her. So that she knew he was telling her everything about the truth.

With the way she was clinging and crying to him, he knew Sakura would never do this to him again...but he didn't want her getting any ideas either. He didn't want her to have the knowledge that she could have someone else, if she decided so.

No. He should just stop thinking like that and he told himself to do so. After last night, and with the way he had her now, there was no way she'd leave him like this again. Not again.

After all, when he told her last night to never leave him again, her sweet, moaned out response was;

"I-I—Hah! Haanh!—I-I promise! I won't, Sasuke-kuuun. Never again—Hah! I—HAAAaaaaaahh!"

Never again. She promised. She was never going to leave him like this ever again; she said so and he believed it. She never wanted to be without him in the first place, as he felt all last night and now.

"While he left, I received an unknown message, telling me to check the hallway closet and I worried it was Danzo finally making a move. I didn't want him to hurt you...not again. If there was a chance it was him, I didn't want him to hurt you when you got back, so I checked the closet myself, before calling security. All I cared about...all I wanted was to make sure he never hurt you again." He murmured, now frustrated with his own shortcomings.

If only he had been more on top of things. If only he made sure Karin couldn't take such an action. If only he had been more thorough of all the things that could separate Sakura from him, even when he didn't think it would affect them. Maybe despite Karin's plans he could have stopped it before they even began. If only he had complete control over Danzo.

And still, even now, he wasn't sure if all of what happened could have ever been truly avoidable. He wasn't sure if the actions taken by a desperate woman could have been stopped, even if he had the foresight to place a restraining order on her. Even if he had the foresight to ban her from the building and an order to keep her away, he simply wasn't sure if that day still wouldn't have happened, because of the nature of it happening.

She plotted with Indra. She got herself into the building and got him into a vulnerable position, despite him blatantly telling her to stay away from him. She said what she said and did what she did anyway, despite his warnings and it only took him threatening her life after the fact, for her to finally come to grips with the reality of him not wanting her.

Was there any stopping that?

He pulled back, his hands moving to hold her face at both sides and their eyes locked; so she could be certain he was telling her the truth. Her crying eyes stared into his sincere and loving own and he spoke.

"And then, like I tried to explain that day; it wasn't what you thought. When I opened the closet, she pulled me inside it. She forcibly undressed me. She kissed me and I was trying to stop her Sakura. It wasn't me. I promise. I wanted none of it. Not unless it was you." He left it at that, moving to kiss her jawline.

He wasn't going to include the detail that Karin had even groped him, because he didn't want her to be even more upset than she already was. It was obvious seeing him holding Karin the way he did, and the state of undress, was enough to tear her apart. If she knew the woman had groped him also, he was almost certain she'd go on a warpath. She was already so upset with thinking he had consensually touched another woman.

If she found out he had been touched even more than that, he had no doubt she'd just revert to anger.

"I swear, that's the truth. I swear, Sakura, that's the absolute truth. It wasn't what you thought it was." He mumbled into her skin, lowering his kisses. Her eyes gave a pained look. She had caused him distress and she felt even more guilty, now that she knew what happened. If she had just listened to him, none of this would have gone as far as it did. They wouldn't be here like this. They wouldn't have suffered so much.

'It's not what it fucking looks like! It's a fucking setup, Sakura!' She thought about his words that day again. She was seeing it now, with his words, no doubt. And she was comparing it to the time Indra held her; the time he bounded her arms and forcibly kissed her before she could get away at all.

Now hearing this, it was almost the same. He was trapped, by an assailant, forcefully kissing him and worse, forcefully undressing him and she felt even more guilt about not listening to him. He listened to her when she told him about Indra kissing her. He didn't lash out on her and comforted her instead.

She couldn't even hear a word he had to say that day, and she began crying even more from the guilt of that.

"I...I should have…l-listened—" He stopped her starting whimpers with a soothing hush. Rubbing a hand from her face into her hair, he pulled her to kiss her lips, tenderly; effectively stopping her in her tracks just as he hoped to.

He didn't want her to blame herself for any of this, as Indra claimed she did. Not even for whatever regrets she had right now after learning the truth about it all. He blamed Karin, Indra and himself. For all of it. Himself for being too lenient. He blamed Karin and Indra for obvious reasons. But she had done absolutely nothing wrong.

Other than not coming back to him sooner, making him lose his mind and staying with that bastard, she didn't do anything wrong.

"No, Sakura...don't talk like that. I understand...I know it was impossible to unsee. I know what you felt...especially after just thinking about you and him. I understand exactly what you felt and I don't blame you. I know. I know how much it hurt you. I know." He soothed though his tone became slightly tortured.

By the Gods, he knew. In fact, he was all too aware. After everything she said to him and everything Indra told him, he knew full handedly how much she suffered from that sight and he knew he would have been worse if it was all flipped.

Her eyes teared even more with remorse. She truly wished she had been able to hear him out back then. She wished her love for him didn't turn into instant grief at the sight of him and Karin, even though she was sure she wouldn't have been able to contain it even if she tried. She wasn't able to then, and she'd be just as upset, if not more.

She shuffled her face to be buried as far as it could into his shoulder and neck, unable to refute him. Seeing that sight was too much. It was too real, no matter how much he yelled and argued against it and it was her love for him that made her feel all the more guilty.

But, she also felt she should've known. The way he begged for her that day. The way he held her before she tore for his grasp, she should've known it wasn't what she thought, even when she had her doubts. Even when she was in pain at the sight of him, she should have known he was trying to tell her the truth.

And if she had just gone back to him, this would have ended sooner. She let her pain and her turmoil cloud her mind and judgment. She let it consume her and it dismantled her cognitive thoughts. All the grief and confusion did not let her think clearly and it led to this.

"I'm so sorry, Sakura. I'm sorry for it all." He repeated, burying his face back into her neck. She was quiet for a moment, sniffling before she had no choice but to ask her next question.

"S-She...then why did she say you'd marry—?" Sakura started to question and he beat her to it. He moved to lock his eyes on hers again, to make sure his side of the story truly imbedded itself into her. Despite what she thought, she needed to know what she saw that day wasn't true. None of it was real and he wouldn't allow her to think otherwise.

"It was all a lie. She wanted to take me from you, Sakura. She plotted that day for that purpose. She and Indra wanted you to leave me. That was her goal. It was all her and Indra. He told her about that bullshit proposal and she used it to make you leave me. That's the truth." He answered for her, rather vindictively, because never again was he going to take the fall for anyone else's conspiracies against them.

He'd throw anyone and everyone under a speeding train before that happened again.

The only way she would ever doubt him and his love ever again was if it was by his very own fault and he doubted he would, ever give her a reason, with how much he loved her. He was going to ensure the next time someone approached Sakura and disclaimed his affections for her, that she herself would look them in the eye and call it bullshit; because she'd know the truth. She'd know he loved her, without question and that anything else was false.

And he hoped she'd tell him about it. He hoped she'd run into his arms and complain about who said what about his love for her or she'd point out whoever was trying to tear them apart and as always, he'd love all of that away.

And then, he'd deal with those who tried to part them next, without mercy. He had been unbelievably merciful in this ordeal that had tested his sanity and his human limits. He didn't kill Karin and he was even going to let Indra live; at least for a while. And where he declared that there couldn't be a next time, Indra proved there were assholes out there, willing to do anything for even a chance. If they had even the smallest chance at her, they'd take it.

And now, if they did, he was going to make them regret it. There was no way he was going to be as lenient as he had been, if this happened again; especially since he was sure he was making himself and his love for her as clear as possible. He told Indra, he was done, being any kind of civil or tolerant.

So, if there was indeed a next time, if someone wanted to try and take her from him again, it shouldn't be a shock when he instantly committed murder.

"After all, that's what he told you, right? He told you I was expected to marry, right?" He pressed, remembering her claim last night and watched her eyes widen in horror and turmoil, proving that claim of hers true. The truth and its supporting details had completely hit her and he saw it and in reaction to it, he caressed her face. And as he watched her eyes fill with realization and regret, he knew how deceived she had been by everything.

"And like I told you last night, Sakura; I refused. There were no expectations of me getting married. Just the suggestion of it. And I said no. Because there's no one else I want. There's nothing and no one else I can want…but you, Sakura." He further elaborated, still looking into her eyes with honesty and passion.

"She delusioned herself into thinking she could somehow ever replace you for me. She thought she could take your place, just like that if you left me. And I made her understand that would never happen. Not for her, or anyone." He watched comprehension come to Sakura's eyes first, before a flash of anger and resentment. His eyes remained locked with hers, making sure she knew everything he was saying was the truth.

"I would have never done that to you. If I had known that was going to happen when I opened that door, I would have prevented all of it. You're everything to me, Sakura. I swear. You're everything to me." He murmured earnestly, kissing her wholeheartedly to back his statement.

He felt the hand in his hair and the hand around his shoulder grip with possessiveness as they kissed and, frankly; he loved it. He didn't ever really think about it before, but Sakura being jealous was quite interesting.

What would she do? What was running through her mind right now, after the reveal that another woman did all this to steal him from her? What did the woman he loved think about that? Did it drive her crazy just as much as it drove him when all he had was just the thought of it?

If they were as connected as he believed, he could only assume it was something along the lines of what he felt when another man just so much as looked at her for too long. It was something along the wrath he felt as he imagined her kissing Indra. He honestly liked the thought. He liked thinking that Sakura could feel such an outrage over him. It made him feel that much more special to her. It was what she had done to him constantly, albeit innocently.

He had long decided he would fill her with the same feelings she filled him with and it appeared he was accomplishing that particular goal, although he wished it wasn't accomplished like this. He would have very much preferred to find out that Sakura got jealous and territorial over him in any other way, rather than this.

He could sense it. She was upset at the thought of another woman trying to take him away, the same way he felt enraged at just the sight of another man in her presence. The fury he had was welling inside her and her eyes were slowly filling with that same wrath he had, despite the tears in them.

And he felt his thoughts on that were an understatement. Sakura was livid. Her body began emitting a cold aura from the wrath he felt all too instantly from her. Sasuke's hands massaged her body to comfort her again. He rubbed his face softly against her neck again, kissing and nipping her skin in hopes it would soothe his now angered Goddess as much as it possibly could.

Yes; all of what he testified happened, but it officially didn't matter anymore. He was in her arms and he had her in his. He was here, loving her and she was here, loving him. There was no reason for either of them to be angry anymore. He finally had her back and she knew the truth now. The officiality of their love for each other was final and there was nothing to fight about it anymore.

He didn't want to be angry anymore. He just wanted to put all of this behind them and never have to think about it again, even though he was certain he would never forget this.

But for now, it didn't matter. All that mattered is she now knew the truth of what happened that day. All that mattered was that she understood he loved her and only her. All that mattered was that he had her back. They were together again, finally, and that's all he could care about.

The world could be burning, and he would still only care that he had her in his arms right now. If a catastrophic event were to take place right now, and this would be their last moments together in this life, he would be happy with the fact that he was the last person to hold, kiss and love her and she, vice versa.

"That's the truth, Sakura. The whole truth. That's what happened that day and I'm so sorry it did." He reaffirmed, continuing his kisses on her neck and trailing them to the exposed parts of her chest and cleavage. Sakura felt the heat in her cheeks rise as his kisses started to excite her. Her breath started laboring and her hands moved on their own when one caressed his face and the other wrapped into his hair.

"I'm sorry…Sasuke-kun..." She whimpered. He kissed her again, as an acceptance of her apology whilst giving his nonverbal own for the hundredth time. She kissed him back just as passionately.

And as always, as her hands caressed his face and stroked into his hair, as she kissed him back and as he held her in his grasp, his restraint and control was slipping.

Then again, like he told Indra and as he already knew, it wasn't like he ever had any control in regards to her and the way he wanted her in the first place.

"This reminds me...last night; I told you when you woke up, I would make love to you all over again...I told you, you'd be in my arms..." He murmured against her lips. His massaging hands started traveling to their desires. One palmed and massaged her rear and the other rubbed up her spine. She started moaning and her body was already responding to his touch.

He was so angry last night, he really didn't have the mind to appreciate those sounds he had long been addicted to. Last night, he didn't and couldn't take his time to truly love all of her. He was too enveloped in his wrath to fully appreciate all of her; not just the nightgown that still laid, torn and destroyed by the door.

Last night was nothing more than his vengeance against the entire ordeal he had suffered through. It was his anger and his fury acting upon her. Not his love—not the full extent of it anyway.

Now, he could.

Now, after all of this, he could actually make love to her the way he wanted to. He wanted to make love to her all over again, without the anger, without the anguish and without the pain they had felt last night. As his hands ran up her spine and lowered the sheet from her fully, he could have every moment he wanted as he wished.

Having her back and like this, he was still so infuriated knowing another man had claimed her lips besides him. Another man had touched her, even if it was just a little bit and not to the extent he had. His possessiveness was starting to take hold of him again and he felt a fire burn in his chest when she gave a light moan and his hands gripped her.

He couldn't forgive it now. He'd never forgive Indra and Karin for this now. Even if they both had redeemed themselves somewhat, he'd never forgive them for being the reason he almost lost this. He almost lost everything because of them and he'd never forgive it. Now that he was back in his right mind and now that he had her like this, he decided it was absolutely unforgivable.

As his hands traveled on her soft skin and as his mind filled with nothing but the desire to love her, he officially declared that anyone who tried to take her from him was unforgivable.

And he questioned again, whether or not he could truly let Indra live for such a sin. Even if it was for her sake…now that he had her and her love back, he wasn't sure he could hold true to letting the bastard live, even with his offer to protect her.

Damn it. He just said he wanted to make love to her without his anger. He didn't want to think of that bastard anymore. It was just going to enrage him all over again and—

"Sasuke-kun…" She moaned suddenly, bringing him from his angered thoughts.

And he mentally thanked her for that.

"Sakura…" The husky call of her name and the squeeze of her rear made her shiver. He moved to lay her against the bed again, already kissing down her body.

"You're everything to me, Sakura. Everything." He said, his hot breath against her neck, closing his eyes to subsume and relish in her moans. His right and less bandaged hand shoved two fingers inside her, making her moan out loudly.

'She's already so wet…' He couldn't help but lecherously note. Her moans became even more erotic and his eyes hazed as they always did when having her like this.

He relished and worshiped her, starting to pump his fingers as deep as they could go. And he relished as Sakura seemed to be losing her mind.

And she was. Sakura was losing her mind from the pleasure he was giving her now, and she gripped at him to maintain a sense of reality. The moment his fingers were inside her, she could tell her body was still reeling from last night and it made her lose even more thought.

The pleasure from last night mixed with the pleasure she was getting now, and she was absolutely losing it from the sensations she felt. She held him tight and her hips grinded to the rhythm of his fingers. She was already climaxing. Her body couldn't take anymore. Between last night and now, her body was too overwhelmed with pleasure but it apparently also didn't matter.

The last few days had been his personal hell and now, as she kissed him greedily, he understood why. Now, he saw that it was because without her, he was back to hating life. Because she gave him life. Because his life had, all along, been nothing without her in it.

It had all been a waste of time. The one thing he still hated the most in this world.

Well, truthfully, it was now the second thing he hated most; only to someone else touching her. Or maybe it was the third, considering he hated his time with her being interrupted a bit more than that. And maybe it was fifth, behind his hatred for Indra and Danzo.

"S-Sasuke-k-kun!" She moaned his name so sensually against his lips, it sent shivers down his spine.

"Remember that, always. No matter what anyone else says, no matter what anyone else does, you are everything to me, Sakura Haruno."

And he made love to her, as he promised last night, this time, as slow as possible before he couldn't hold back between her moans and his needs. Just as he did last night, he touched every inch of her there was to touch, this time able to relish in the feel of her fully. He kissed her lips and skin a thousand times and told her he loved her throughout it all.

As always, and again, he and Sakura lost themselves to each other.

---

He laid beside her now, kissing her panting lips and holding her as close to him as was possible. One of her hands was against his chest—having gotten his shirt off again at some point he didn't remember, whilst the other rested sweetly against his neck and a little in his hair. Their legs were entwined with each other's as they laid together.

"Sakura...I love you." He murmured against her lips, claiming them several times after.

"Dude, don't be in such a rush to get her pregnant." Naruto had joked prior to the start of all this, and frankly, Sasuke didn't care for the advice. Not anymore.

It would make her permanently his. She could never leave him if she had his child. And while he had no intention of forcing her to have his child or even to keep it if she was already pregnant—because after last night and today, unless the alcohol in her system interfered, he definitely got her pregnant—he didn't mind it at this point.

Child or not, it wasn't going to change that she was his, from now and into the next life. It wasn't going to change what she was to him. In fact he already knew, it would just make her all that more important to him. She'd just become even more than everything to him. It would just be yet another reason to love her more than he already did. She being the mother of his child would cement her place as his woman; his Matriarch. She would be an Uchiha.

He remembered how he had already thought of giving her his name and how he already liked the sound of her being Sakura Uchiha. It suited her rather well, just as much as her birth name did. It had a certain ring to it, that he loved and he intended to make it happen.

And he was certain, he was going to make it happen. Especially now. Especially because she was already his.

"I love you too, Sasuke-kun. So much...I love you so much." She whispered distinctively against his lips. His eyes were low and half lidded—smitten with her and her words as he kissed her again. He really did have her back and the relief he felt right now could be synonymous with euphoria.

His world was back in his arms and he felt nothing but complete.

And as he caressed her face back within his embrace of her, he found even less of a reason to keep Indra alive. He was starting to decide he didn't need the bastard or his resources for her. Itachi and his already thought out plan would do just fine.

Even if the bastard was right in the fact that with their combined power she'd be the most protected woman on this planet, he simply didn't care for it. Not like this. Not when he didn't want any inkling of the bastard to do with her. Sasuke was damn near certain, he was just going to kill the bastard as previously promised.

He cared for her safety; yes. Sakura being safe and protected was the most important thing to him. But, her protection coming at the price of cooperating with the asshole, officially and simply didn't sit right with him anymore. It didn't feel right when the bastard first proposed it, and it didn't ease him at all the way he thought it would now.

And when their lips parted from each other's, and he was met with her eyes, he was absolutely spellbounded. Again, he fell deeper in love with her. Somehow, he fell in love with her even more, if that was even possible at this point.

Her hand lowered to feel and toy with the metal necklace she gifted him on his neck.

"You're still wearing this…?" She shyly questioned, wondering if it really was the one she gave him, or if he was wearing something else.

"Everyday...just looking at it would comfort me throughout all this...somewhat. At the very least, it made me feel connected to you still." He answered tenderly, lifting the hand that wasn't beneath her body to caress her cheek.

"Whenever I held it…I felt you." He murmured, kissing the cheek he wasn't touching. Her eyes shifted to the bandaged limb gently stroking her hair behind her ear, and she touched it gently.

"What...happened to your hands? And your lip?" She asked, having just been aware he was injured. She wasn't aware before because she had been too focused on his eyes throughout their talking and was too distracted from all the pleasure he gave and because his hands were touching her the way she missed and longed for.

She didn't pay attention to the bandages wrapped up to his knuckles with only his fingers exposed, the left; bandaged far more than his right. Even through kissing him, she wasn't aware of the small cut that was just barely noticeable on the right side of his lip.

But now, she couldn't help but notice and she couldn't help but ask.

He gave her a slightly troubled look. He didn't want to talk about it really. It would just bring up what happened that day and last night again. On top of that, between the last few days and last night, they had been through enough distress and turmoil than to have to bring up how he destroyed his office that day.

He didn't want to admit he had lost even more control of himself than she knew when it came down to her. It would just upset her all over again. He didn't want to recall how he was in so much pain from her leaving, he didn't even feel his skin breaking, or the cuts of glass shards embedded in his left hand as he caused it himself. How he wasn't even feeling it, even as it was removed of glass and stitched up, because all he could think about was her and wherever she was.

He didn't want her to worry about him fighting Indra over her. He didn't want her to blame herself all over again, over a fight that was inevitable whether she had been with Indra or not. He was certain, one way or another, he and the Otsutsuki still would have fought each other over her, considering the rival loved her and went all these lengths to get his hands on her.

If Indra hadn't gone along with Karin, he was certain the bastard would have tried other means of trying to take her from him, and the fight was simply inevitable.

He'd do it again. He'd fight the bastard again and again, for her. He'd fight anyone for ever, for any reason pertaining to her. It didn't have to necessarily be this kind of situation. He simply wasn't going to allow for anyone to take her from him, ever again.

"It's nothing. Don't worry." He answered vaguely, and kissed her forehead.

It was absolutely nothing, especially now that he had her back. Now that these very hands could hold and touch her, it was nothing at all. It was nothing compared to these days of torture without her. It was nothing compared to the fear he had about having lost her forever. It was nothing.

"Are you sure? Doesn't it hurt?" She still questioned regardless, whilst grabbing his available hand and holding it near her lips. And he thought it was a rather silly question to ask.

After the way his hands had touched her all over, all last night and now, you'd think she'd assume he was just fine. Instead, here she was, worriedly holding his hand and staring down at it with her lips against the bandages.

Goddamn annoying woman. Worrying about him after everything she had been through, how annoying could she be?

"No. It doesn't hurt anymore." He mumbled and reassured meaningfully, moving the hand to stroke her face and to brush his nose against hers.

It hurt. He would feel aches and pains, and he was sure he needed his left hand restitched again. But the glass that had stabbed his hand, the blood he spewed, the pain had felt nothing but numb that day. He truly didn't care for it. Injuring his hands was nothing compared to all of this. His fight with Indra was nothing compared to it all.

None of it compared to the excruciating pain of just thinking he lost her forever.

This woman...this annoying woman truly was the love of his life and he didn't know how he had ever functioned without her prior. If anyone in this world wanted him to live his life the way he did before, without her, they'd either have to give him a massive amount of amnesia or kill him, because he couldn't.

Not after this. After this confirmation that he loved her more than there were stars in both the known and unknown universe, there was no going back to the way he lived before her.

It was absolutely out of the question. He personally refused it. If she no longer existed in this world, then he couldn't continue to exist either. It just wasn't plausible. The end of her would be the end of him. And the thought made his eyes lower to her wrist, which he gently grabbed and his eyes pained at what he had done.

Rage or not—insatiable need to love her or not, he'd never forgive himself for it.

"I'm sorry." He suddenly spoke, confusing her. But his distressed tone concerned her.

He had already apologized, even though she was the one who should be sorry. What was he apologizing for now?

"For what?"

"I'm sorry for hurting you. I'm sorry for everything. I swear, it won't happen ever again. I swear nothing will ever hurt you ever again, including me—especially me. I promise, Sakura." He whispered quietly, his hand wrapped around her waist beneath her body gripping her tighter with his claim. Her eyes widened with strife before she looked away.

"It's okay. You didn't really hurt me and I know you didn't mean it...I know." She responded quietly. His eyes cringed and he continued stroking the marks made by his fingers.

Didn't really hurt her? How was he supposed to believe that? Especially when she herself said those words of pain when he bit her. Especially with the evidential bruises on her wrists. Even if what she said was true, and in the moment she didn't feel any pain from him, that didn't mean she wasn't hurting now.

"It's no excuse. The last person I ever want to hurt is you. I'm supposed to be the one to protect you...and yet...I…" His brow furrowed and he wished he didn't have the reminder of his actions on her neck and her wrists. If he hadn't been so aggressive, he might be able to forgive himself and move on.

But this was nothing but mindlessness. This was his rage for Indra on her. Again, he didn't even know what he was doing to her at that moment, he just knew he did it without regard to her and with the all too insatiable need he had in the moment.

This—those dark marks on her neck, the red shapes of his fingers on her wrists that were made from pure uncontrolled malice and fury for someone else touching her, and an insatiable need to reclaim her; he'd never, ever forgive himself for it. He hurt the woman he loved more than anything in this world, from that rage he never knew could be birthed from him.

And she watched him hate himself for it.

"...It's okay." She suddenly whispered, stroking his cheek and his cringing eyes lifted to hers with incredulity.

"Sakura—" Placing her hands sweetly on both sides of his face she kissed him, already feeling he wasn't going to get out of that inner turmoil. The man she loved, who loved her so much, was probably never going to forgive himself no matter what she said. He wanted to protect her. Always, and she could already feel the hatred he had for himself when he didn't need to.

But Sakura also knew it wasn't going to change anything. She knew it wasn't going to change that he loved her like this and that she loved him the same. She never wanted to be without him again. She never wanted to leave him or for him to leave her, for any reason. She wanted to just forget about everything.

And she knew, now more than ever, his rage had stemmed from loving her to the extent he did. So, just this once, it was okay.

"It's okay. I'm okay. I'm not hurt. I'm safe with you. I'm here. I'm here with you and I won't go anywhere. I won't leave ever again." She assured him repeatedly against his lips, hypnotizing him into kissing her more deeply, so he could confirm it himself. So much so, he was already turning her back to her back. Through his kiss, he apologized to her a thousand times more than he already had and loved her more than could be humanly comprehended.

And of course. A kiss itself...no matter how profound he made it, and no matter how true it was, it was never going to be enough to convey what he felt towards her. It wasn't enough. It would never be enough. He would never get enough of her and it annoyed him to no end that he'd never be able to display the whole of his feelings for her.

Even if he gave her everything this world had to offer, it would never be enough. He knew she didn't even want the world and he would still give it to her anyway. His love for her would just have to be excessive. He'd just have to hope she'd be able to deal with him and his "overmanagement"; as one would call it in the business world.

Because he loved her more than anything on this planet.

"I'm okay...Anata…" She whispered against his lips. His kisses froze and his eyes widened. He pulled to look down at her only to watch her give a shy blush and her timid eyes shifted from his.

The last time she had called him that, her voice was shaking and broken. She was crying and breaking. And this time, it was said with so much devoted love and adoration, he watched as the barrier that was his infinite love for her broke into a deeper abyss.

It shouldn't have been possible. There shouldn't be anything beyond infinity and yet, he had sentimental proof it existed, as circumstantial as it would be to the world outside of himself and her. Scientists and mathematicians would call him mad for claiming that there was anything beyond infinity, but the love he felt for her was enough proof that there was indeed something further.

Because, somehow, he fell in love with her even more than before, when he claimed his love for her was already infinite. Somehow she already became more than everything to him. Just like that, Sakura Haruno became more than everything in this world to him. Because she said one word.

And he had to make it known.

"I-I j-just thought it'd make you feel better—" Her slightly frightful backtrack was stopped as he moved to heavily kiss at her neck and shift her on her back again. He was already getting on top of her while she could only mewl at his kisses.

And, as incredulous as it may have seemed...that sound he was long addicted to was not what he wanted to hear right now.

"S-Sasuke-kun, w-wait, I'm not ready yet...Sasuke-kun—" She moaned only for his hand to start rubbing her core. She gasped, still not yet recovered at all from their active night and morning. Her body wasn't ready for another round and she felt if they did, she wouldn't be able to move or even walk.

She was already worried about walking like this. She wasn't sure if she had the strength to. She wanted a bath.

"I want to hear it again…call me 'Anata' again." He murmured, lowering his kisses to her collarbone.

RING! RING!

Saved by a ringtone. Sasuke groaned irritatedly against her as he always did when something interrupted them and unfortunately, he was all too aware he had to pick up the phone that was somewhere on this bed. Despite all this, there was still so much to do. With a few hours left to the cruise he had to attend, which he had no choice about, he could only hope that was Sebastian calling to tell him everything was prepared.

And by the Gods, he didn't want to. He didn't want to get back to life outside of her. He wanted nothing, outside of her being with him like this. Her heavy breathing and the way she was already surrendering herself to him, despite her claim of "not being ready" wasn't helping that desire either.

He parted from her, eyeing where the device was. Grudgingly picking it up, he sat on the edge of the bed, and answered, while Sakura turned to her side, staring at his scratched back.

And she couldn't help herself when she moved a bit closer.

"What is it, Sebastian?" He answered the phone, only to flinch when he felt Sakura touch his back. He had to repress the shivers he felt throughout his entire body, as Sebastian spoke to him, and he felt her fingers softly graze the scratches she made from their love making last night and today.

And goddamnit, it was making him all the more impatient.

"Young Master, I have completed the tasks you asked of me. Everything has been prepared for your departure tonight. Both for you and Lady Sakura." Sebastian responded, just as he perceived. His eyes lowered, pleased to hear it.

Pleased with that, and how Sakura was now wrapping her hands around him and kissing the scratches on his back.

"Thank you, Sebastian." He responded absently, his free hand gently touching one of hers. Her kisses were trailing further upwards and he felt her chest in his back as she did so. His mind damn near blanked and he almost didn't hear Sebastian at all as her hands grazed around him completely and she was kissing his shoulder.

"Shall I meet you at the dock, Young Master?"

"Come to 328 Juubi Avenue soon. We need to change. And…bring Mari. I need her to tend to Sakura…we'll depart from here." He added, gently rubbing her wrist, meaningfully.

"Very well, Young Master."

With that the call was ended, and he had no more patience. He couldn't stop himself as he turned around and to her surprise, was already pushing her back into the bed. She gasped and moaned as he went to kiss down her cheek and neck.

"W-Wait...S-Sasuke-kun, wait—I-I want a bath." She sighed and panted out, as he continued his demonstrations. Probably to proclaim once again that she still wasn't ready for another round again, he assumed. He had long completed the goal of loving her until she couldn't take it anymore. Now, he was just being greedy.

As she always made him. Another fact she made him learn about himself. Not only was he a selfish man, he was a greedy one as well. He had an insatiable greed that would never be quelled or satisfied especially over her.

And now that it was an understood and undeniable fact that they belonged to each other, he could allow her the leeway and power she had over him. It was almost the same as him succumbing to his desires of her but, she now had a say in said desires. Her word was law for him. She was everything to him, after all.

For that reason only, he heeded her. Keeping his face against her neck and staring lovingly into her skin, he only rubbed and brushed his face affectionately against her and held off his ever so needy advances.

He still couldn't help but groan in protest, only for his next words to show he conceded to her plea.

There was just a few hours left until the cruise anyway. It probably was best they started showering now, while he still had the chance to be completely alone with her and unbothered. Sebastian and Mari should be here in at least an hour. Maybe a little more than that.

"Where's the bathroom?" He asked quietly, trying his best to hold back his anger with the fact that he had to ask her that question. But having to ask that question made him revert to the possessive side of him.

And when she answered all too knowingly, his wrath returned just slightly. Even though all of this was over, even though he had her back and things were fixed between them; the fact that she knew where the bathroom was in the bastard's penthouse angered him again.

Because it meant she was familiar enough with the place. It reminded him that Indra kept her here and it was to the point that she knew where things were. In Indra's house.

He really, really wanted to kill the bastard all over again and more.

"It's right there." She said, pointing to a closed door, just across the bed. He followed her finger before moving off towards the specified location while she remained in bed.

As she remained there, her face grimaced as she heard the running of water.

She didn't want to be alone here. She didn't want to stay alone in Indra's bed like this. Not after having Sasuke beside her this whole time. Not after Sasuke had made love to her as much as he did and with how much she admittedly missed him. She didn't want to be without him. She spent long enough away from him and now all she wanted was to be by his side.

And she was relieved, as just a few moments later, he came back. Slowly she rose to meet him as he approached and grabbed her for a kiss.

And she definitely needed a little help getting into the bath, whilst he joined her.

---

In the large bathtub, she sat with her back against him. His hands never stopped stroking her.

"Sasuke-kun…" She mumbled as his left arm rubbed the mesh body sponge down her left arm gingerly, she felt him brush his lips against her neck. He stared down at nothing in particular in their soapy bathwater, continuing to rub the body scrub along her body as gently and as carefully as possible. He loved her. With every bit of his being he loved her and that was all she could care for and all she could want.

He was completely successful in his goal at making his love the only thing she could feel. He had succeeded in imposing his love so into her that it would exist even without his presence.

However...she did have another concern. One that played on the back of her mind after their first night.

"Hn..." He sounded out as a cue he was listening, still rubbing the scrubber along her body.

"W-What if...what if...I'm pregnant?" She asked him. She had none of her contraception here. Sasuke didn't use a condom at all and he didn't appear to have plans to. And after last night, with how he kept going and going, and even today, she couldn't help but think of the possibility.

And what did that mean for them? Despite their love and how much they loved each other...what would having a child all of a sudden do to him, to her and to them?

"We've never spoken about it. We've...been loose with protection and...I just...want to know what will happen…" She explained quietly and he sensed it was another insecurity of hers. Was she worried he didn't want a child with her? Was she still thinking he'd leave her even after all this?

Sasuke already had an answer. An answer he gave into her earlobe.

After all, he already confirmed said answer within himself a while ago. Her being with his child would do nothing but make her more than everything.

"It doesn't change anything. It'd just be another way you're mine. You and that child will be mine, and I will allow nothing to ever take either of you away from me." He whispered meaningfully, his empty hand stroking down her navel beneath the water and caressed at where her womb would be. Sakura stared down in silent warmth, not able to see his hand through the bubbles but feeling it and the warmth that filled her with his caress on her stomach.

"I will take care of you. I will take care of our child. I'll protect and love you both no matter what." He promised, releasing mesh cloth, and that hand turned her head to look at him.

"But...that's still your choice to make. It's your body and your choice…so if it isn't what you want or if we meet some complication...that's fine too. Whatever you want to do Sakura, I will be by your side, always. Nothing changes. So...if you're not ready or don't want to, the other option is okay. Whatever you want...I will stand by you and love you always. Even when I'm not there." He whispered tenderly and with loving support.

She turned her head, kissing his lips grateful for his words and his love. Her hand reach back to touch his face lovingly, as he kissed her back and held her against him a little tighter.

"What do you want, Sakura?" He asked tenderly as they parted, and he kissed her cheek. He asked because he wanted to hear it from her. He wanted to be sure to give her everything she wanted to the best degree he could muster.

"I...just want you. I want nothing but everything with you." She confessed. She wanted everything. She wanted to be with him. She wanted to wake up to him every morning and she wanted to go to bed with him every night. She wanted him to kiss her every day, and make love to her every night. She wanted his heart, his mind and his name. She wanted to be the only woman he loved they way he did.

She wanted all of him...now and forever more.

His hand lifted, gently turning her jaw and face towards him.

"Consider it done." He murmured and kissed her.

---

That's all folks! Sorry again, about being late.

Sakura: -glowing- It was a great chapter Lone Wolf! You were worried for nothing.

Meeehh. I honestly still think it could've been better. I'm just not sure how. ( ._. )

Naruto: -barges in- HIDE. ME. NOW.

Sasuke: What the hell is wrong with you, Dobe?

Naruto: I...I-I may have been rough housing with Boruto a bit in the house and...well...

Sakura: What did you do...

Naruto: We...well, broke Hinata's favorite vase...

Ooooh, you're screwed.

Naruto: I KNOW THAT'S WHY I SAID HIDE ME!

Okay, okay. Geez. We all know you've saved my life plenty of times for me to deny...just one question though.

Naruto: What?

How do we hide you from a woman that can literally see through objects? And huge distances?

Naruto: ...Crap.

Yep. You're screwed. See ya next chap everybody!