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Sasuke out of character? Well I don't know about that, He's a really hard character to write sometimes though, but if anything like that is really off, please feel free to criticize me. I don't take it too badly. -
Disclaimer:
I'm crazy and I believe I have every right to these characters, sue me all you want but I'm not getting any money for this anyway, and I'll get off on the 'I'm poor damnit!' defense. -
Warning:
Graphic Dream Content. Children beware! It may seem gratuitous but it's important to the story!
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When we dream, can we see the future?
It made him wonder why it was so important. They hadn't been told many details about it. Or at least he hadn't. Sometimes things that Sakura did or said suggested that she might have more foreknowledge than he on the matter and it made him feel like he was being toyed with. He really didn't like that.
But there wasn't much he could do about it. He was driven by his desire to finally meet with his brother, and finish what he'd been wanting to do all this time. Driven as much as he was horribly afraid of it. A little boy who hoped to catch up to something beyond his grasp. What if it still wasn't enough? What if Itachi had still kept improving at the same rate...
There was little point in worrying about it. No there was absolutely no point in worrying about it. Killing Itachi was what he meant to do. The very reason he was still alive, he breathed every breath one closer to Itachi's last. Just thinking about it, Sasuke felt the slight chakara shift to his eyes, and the increase in senses that came with the sharingan.
It was a flaw that kept him from doing any real spy work for so long, partially why he was Anbu, not any other of the various jobs someone of his skill could be. He couldn't quite control it, despite his control over his abilities themselves. It was a second nature to him, and as he worked, he had gotten used to just never dropping the sharingan.
He raised his hand to his shoulder as he forcefully dropped the unconscious chance. He still remembered a time when using any chakara had been a big problem, due to the curse seal, that although dead, was still very much a scar on his neck. Maybe that had lead to his almost obsessive use of his own skills. He'd almost fallen to relying on someone else's power.
Yet in the end, it had been Naruto that had convinced him of his folly, he grimaced at the same time as he fought a slight sardonic smile. The dobe was the last person on earth he'd ever wanted to come to his aid, or be such a good friend. But over the years, they'd grown closer than either of them wanted to admit to themselves, each other, or anyone else.
Sasuke stood up and left the tent they had been staying in. It had become a ritual, Sakura woke up earlier than him no matter what time he woke up, and seemed to give him some time to his own on purpose each morning.
Or maybe she was taking some time for herself. He wasn't sure it mattered either way. They were both likely grateful for it, both having to spend so much time in each other's company. It never failed to surprise him how silent she could be. It wasn't a quality she'd ever displayed much around him before.
They had started acting as a couple only a week after Sakura had set up whatever loose ends she said they needed to leave. She didn't involve him at all in it, and didn't tell him what she had done afterwards either.
He made too many mistakes at first. Which was why she had suggested they start working on it even before they needed to. He had found no fault in that reasoning. He was even more grateful for it after all the messes he'd seemed to make.
At first she would correct him right away, this seemed to fake, that seemed to much, you're trying too hard. It was one thing after another, and he felt resentful of her being in the position of teacher. Yet he well valued the importance of her superior knowledge and didn't outwardly show what he knew were childish emotions.
Then when he still failed to improve much, she started ignoring when he did thing wrong. She fell one hundred percent into character, and he found himself wondering. Yet not even knowing what he should, or could even wonder about.
He started to puck things up by example, though after two weeks he still hadn't gotten it, there was only one or two mistakes he still made, and he could tell something wasn't quite right, but not what it was, because she wouldn't step out of character for even a moment enough to tell him.
Then she started pointing it out, in a way that it took him a while to catch on. She'd turn the conversations, or react in ways, or with emotions as if he had done something other than what he did. And then he caught on, she was reacting to what he should have done or said, not to what he had, so all he had to do was try to figure out what to do to make her react like she had been.
When he caught on, she started repeating conversations they had, with slight variations, in ways that they weren't either of them going out of character, but he could learn better.
When he finally got how everything was going to work, that the point was not to be flawless but natural, she finally paused a moment to explain things to him.
"My own teacher taught me in similar way" She had started. "I was in a slump as to what I could do to improve, and I was always trying too hard. No matter what she told me it didn't sink in." Sakura had looked at him for a moment there, as if measuring him. "It's only because you're so similar in mistakes to what I was that I could so quickly figure out a way to show you."
"We're both top students, used to dong exactly what is necessary to succeed, to pass, to learn, to excel. But in this there lies a problem of thinking too much. Sometimes we take what someone says to literally, try to apply it either absolutely, or precisely." Sakura had paused again at this moment. And sasuke had waited for her to go on, but while taking the moment to absorb what had been said so far. He had felt that he would need to know exactly what she had been talking about to understand what she had said next.
"The art of subterfuge isn't about precise actions. Nor is it about knowing exactly what to do at all times. it's about trusting yourself, and your feelings. And also knowing that mistakes don't always mean death, you just have to be fast enough to go with your instincts and find a way to work anything to your favor. "
"And above all, you have to believe your role. No matter what someone says to you about how they know who you are, what you are, react as you would were you who you had pretended to be."
"You don't know the secret's they're torturing you for, whatever they're searching for you don't understand. Maybe even you think they're looking for something else and are frightened that they'll expose your dark secret."
"But no matter what happens, you life as a shinobi never existed, never will exist again. Especially not if you fail here." Sakura had looked at him intensely until she was sure it had sunk in.
"But also, the purpose of this, was also for you to get used to my character. It wouldn't do for you to be surprised at every little thing I did. We have to be natural, as if we have been around each other so long that some responses are so old that thinking beforehand is a forgotten concept."
After that, she'd left for a few hours, and when she came back, they were both different people, that knew each other well.
Sometimes it was eerie to Sasuke how easy it was, but he knew in the end it was because of her skill. If she hadn't been so sincere in her own 'acting' he wouldn't have been able to carry it off. He wouldn't be able to do it alone. He only grudgingly admitted it to himself, but it was too entirely true. He needed her help in this. But how much? He wouldn't know until later, when he firsthand saw the tension apparent in the situation they'd be going through.
Yet here they were, only a short few days from the border. Both looking as they had been through a long and haggard journey.
It was only beginning. Sasuke frowned to himself a bit. He was really pretty unsure of how things would go. Sakura looked at him and smiled a little nervously. And in the back of his mind, he knew she was calmer than that by far. He knew it was just an act, an he'd gotten used to it, but it still disturbed him, to see her acting so different, and so real, when it was mostly all a lie.
Yet luckily his professionalism served him well, and he used those emotions to feed into his own 'act'.
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The country was cold, and they were approaching the first vestiges of snow, coating both the ground and trees as far as they could see. They trekked slowly, not using their superior movement and balance to travel lightly over the snow. Having known the basics of movement from a very early age sasuke was still surprised with how heavy snow could seem even when all you were doing was sinking into it with each passing step.
He found himself glad for the warmer clothing he was wearing, used to moving more he wasn't used to the cold that threatened to penetrate with every pause between steps. There was forest on each side of them, but forward and behind them stretched a wide clearing as far as they could see. There were signs of trees having been recently cut, near where the forest started, and Sasuke found himself wondering if this entire area had once been covered in dense trees. The huge clearing was unnatural in it's shape, and he suspected it passed as a road, where none could be easily maintained due to the consistent snow.
It would have been even colder and more miserable, but it was late summer and even here, the cold season hadn''t yet begun. he wasn't looking forward to being here for it.
With the air clear of snow, it was easy to see anyone approaching for miles.
A border patrol confronted them first. Or at least what seemed like a border patrol, with the pair's experience in identifying others in the same trade, they knew otherwise, but were careful not to be overly nervous, or more so than fit the role they were playing.
They must have made quite a sight, dressed as they were, their clothes run ragged from what was supposed to have been a difficult flight. They obviously had taken off their forehead protectors, and all marks that designated them to konoha.
Sasuke had donned an outfit not unlike the one he'd wore as a genin, the only real change being that the white shorts were replaced by a pair of well fitted black pants, and he wore a dull grey travel wrap over his shoulders, which concealed even more of his face.
Sakura had donned a furred long coat, not something Sasuke had ever thought about her wearing. she wore the hood down, her hair pulled bac in a loose half ponytail, the bangs still hanging forward. Her pants were also well cut and both coat and pants were a deep purple accentuated only by the white and grey fur lining.
Yet they both looked a little worn, having had to run from their alibi, a group of ninjas that had chased them to the border, but no further. It would be helpful in backing up their story, and Sasuke wouldn't have thought of the play himself. He was glad Sakura was in charge of such things.
"State your business!" a tall guard who seemed to be the leader of the group demanded. Sakura looked at Sasuke a bit nervously, she was playing the role of a more submissive companion. She played it so that she still looked self sufficient, yet used to relying on the man beside her. Sasuke didn't think it fit his image of her at all, but she pulled it off amazingly well. He stepped slightly in front of her, in order to appear somewhat protective. He had to admit that sometimes her acting made him feel like he was just carrying out his own desires, not acting himself.
"We're here to ask for sanctuary" Sasuke spoke up on a matter of fact tone. The guard frowned at him as he contemplated this.
"Explain." He said, wanting them to further expound on their reasons.
"We've been hunted by the fire country suspected as spies, and we'd like political sanctuary." The guard narrowed his eyes, and for a moment Sasuke had a twinge that maybe it hadn't worked, that the other ninjas had seen them for what they were. But no, it wouldn't be an issue, as he never said that they weren't spies.
It seemed more like the guard was put off by the trouble this would cause more than anything else. Sasuke smirked, glad for the wrap that would cover his expression. They had no right to refuse them entrance, if Sakura had been correct in her information. He knew it wasn't good to lapse like that, and when sakura stepped a little closer behind him, tentatively grabbing his arm, he knew she had noticed. He dropped the smirk, feeling a little chagrinned, but not about to admit it, even mentally to himself.
"Go head" The guard finally aid gruffly after a long pause. He obviously wasn't happy with this, and Sasuke was quite sure now that the man suspected something, yet couldn't prove to or do anything about it at the moment. He could only hope that it was more due to a suspicious nature than any slip up on his or Sakura's part, because it likely wouldn't be her that had messed up.
Sasuke and Sakura passed by them after a slow pause in which the groups stared at each other, until the guard looked away as if to dismiss them entirely. When they had almost completely passed the guards, sasuke turned his head sharply looking back at them. A man in the back was looking a him with a malicious half smile, he shook his head as if to shake an image that had falsely presented itself to him, how had he not noticed the man before.
He fought to control the impulse for his eyes to change over, shutting off his chakara fluctuation as unobtrusively as possible. For a moment, out of the corner of his eye, the man had looked like Itachi. He could only half brush it off, since the man was the same height, but otherwise there was no resemblance.
He turned forward again, noting that Sakura was looking at him with a sharp expression. He didn't want to do anything too suspicious while the guards were still around.
"I'll be watching you" the man in the back whispered, and it seemed to echo in Sasuke's mind. He was about to look around again, but sakura's grip tightened slightly on his arm. Something didn't feel right, and he wasn't free to follow his instincts. He really wasn't cut out for such duplicity, when just keeping to himself seemed more than he could handle at times.
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Sakura was a bit perturbed. She had also sensed something wrong as they had left the company of the guards. It felt like genjutsu. Yet she hadn't seen anything strange.
She had only figured out it had been directed at Sasuke when he continued to look back at the space behind the guards, but nothing was there. The feeling faded only seconds after it had arrived, and although she wanted to brush it off, it sunk deep into her mind, waiting for further occurrences that might back up her uneasiness
She didn't want trouble this early in what would prove to be a difficult mission.
Soon night arrived, and they both found themselves tired from trudging through the thick snow. They detoured into the forest a ways for a camp site that wouldn't be too obvious from the road. They set up a fire and ate. Sasuke called the first watch, and Sakura didn't object.
She suddenly felt rather sleepy. She had wanted to muse on the future of their trip, and what course of action she would take to make sure she wasn't too lax in her observations. She knew that here was something going on but she couldn't put her finger on it. She didn't want it sneaking up on them while they were too vulnerable. Not when they had to hold so much back. Sasuke wasn't near as good as this as she, and although he was a stronger fighter, she had a feeling that this time, it might be more of a problem than a help.
She rolled up in blankets, and pulled the sleeping bag around her as the fire started to slowly die. Sasuke was standing at attention still just in her range of sight. She slowly let her eyelids drop into a deep sleep as she looked longingly at his back.
Sasuke wasn't standing in her sight. He had picked a tree with a good vantage point of both the campsite, and the surrounding area. He thought it odd that Sakura had insisted on taking the first watch. Since she had picked up this role, she had pretty much let him lead by all appearances from someone who might have been watching. That included letting him take the first watch, usually.
He still refused to sleep on the ground though, something she had become used to and didn't object too much about. It seemed not to interfere with their masquerade. He looked down at her, as she stood diagonally from him looking outward. He could see the top of her head at a birds eye view, and he briefly noted to himself that she was standing a bit different, her body a little straighter than she usually stood. Her legs were probably tired as well from the snow. He turned away and closed his eyes, determined to sleep while he could.
That night they both dreamed.
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In the darkened room they could barely make out the outline of each other. The pradicament they were in was an unplanned for one, but not an unexpected possibility considering the nature of their charade.
The room they were in was small, not much more than a closet. It seemed to have been used as one at one time, because of the cold temperature of the air. The walls were barren except for one window on the wall perpendicular to the door filtered in light that only his barely above their heads in the high ceilinged roof.
"We've got to make it look real" Sakura whispered to Sasuke, holding his face in her hands as she stood close enough to him that they could feel each others body heat. Sasuke sucked in a breath and breathed out shallowly, his warm breath visible in the cold air. "we can't afford to fail this, not now."
He nodded at her, knowing that they were left with no choice but to follow through, yet he felt an odd sort of anticipation bordering on longing. It was a foreign feeling, he looked a little deeper at Sakura. He could see it in her face, and in her eyes. He wasn't surprised by it either, only relieved that it was still there. She wasn't a stranger to this longing. Not when he was involved.
Sasuke closed his eyes softly as they leaned toward each other, engaging in a kiss. His hand found it's way up her side under her shirt, skin to skin. He thought vaguely that this was too simple, something was wrong. He found himself sinking to easily into the sensation. What happened to his detachment he never felt this passionate unless his brother was around.
Itachi, his eyes opened wide, was he here? Yet instead of going on the alert, he groaned as Sakura's hands fell down his body, trailing down his chest. His eyes closed again, half against his will as he opened his mouth to devour Sakura's.
He had no experience, he had no idea what he was doing, but it felt too good to matter. He stepped towards her, backing her into the wall and running his hands up her arms, pinning them above her head. He stepped even himself closer, leaving absolutely no space between them.
His mouth pulled away from hers and he almost thought he heard her whimper. He tuned his attention to the corner of her neck, eliciting a moan as he nibbled and then sucked on it. He smirked at he sound, letting his unoccupied hand run under her shirt again, this time going higher and resting just under the mound of her breast.
She arched towards him and he let go of her arms to slip his other hand under her shirt. He stepped back slightly, letting enough room between them for his hands to slide up simultaneously, a thumb resting on each nipple.
He paused there, realizing that Sakura was holding her breath. He looked at her and he eyes looked slightly desperate, as if she wasn't sure whether moving or staying still would help her cause more. He moved his thumbs slightly and she sucked in a breath, which placed her breasts more firmly in his hands.
He stopped his exploration in anticipation and started to explore her body all out. He pulled her shirt off, aided by her lifting her arms to allow him to do so, and afterwards his hands started at her face caressing down her neck and then further down her body slowly.
His mouth followed the trail his hands made, stopping on her breasts, where he had two hands but only one mouth. He divided his attention between them as his hands continued the journey down, pausing only momentarily on the hem of her pants, before slipping past the barrier and tracing the line of her hips to where her legs attached to her body.
She was arching against him now, both in order to give him better access to her breasts and to encourage the exploration of his hands. But his hands stopped, pulling out of her pants. She almost protested when his hands were back on her, this time pulling her pants off as well as her underwear.
When he had finished disrobing her, she stepped forward, grabbing the hem of his shirt and pulling upward. He lifted his arms to help her remove it. She ran her hands from the top of his body and kneeled before him as they trailed lower, resting on the hem of his pants. He briefly thought that she knew exactly what she was doing, but he was distracted from that thought by her kneeling there. The submissive position turned him on more than he would have thought possible.
She pulled his pants down and when he lifted his leg so she could remove them completely, she pulled his other leg out from under him. After a moment of not knowing what she was doing, and taking back any thought of submissiveness he might have applied to Sakura, Sasuke thudded to the ground. The ground was cold, but it felt good, his body felt like it was burning up, all his blood was rushing through his body and concentrating downward.
Sakura straddled him, her nude form barely haloed with the slight amount of light that filtered in the otherwise dark room as she crawled up his body. He felt content to lie there and see what she was about to do next, though the anticipation was definitely getting to him in a painful way. And the skin to skin contact wasn't helping.
He let his eyes rove her body, pausing as the bad light revealed what seemed to be scars across her body, but she moved again and they were gone. He couldn't be sure it wasn't just a trick of the light, and she was currently grabbing his hands and guiding them up her sides which lowered the importance of that thought to insignificant.
She placed his hands on her breasts, and for the brief moment that her hands still held his there he smirked at the optical illusion that she was herself holding her own breasts. His smirk fell as she let go and grabbed him at the source of his desire, he closed his eyes as she guided him to her, sinking down on him.
His throat closed to all sound and his hands reflexively tightened, reminding him that she was in his hands. He let his hands tease her breast as he reveled in the new sensation, the warm hot tightness around him. Despite the tightness, it was with ease that she sunk down on him, and the slick friction had him golding his breath.
She moved slowly after an unbearable moment of silence, and he let his hands run down her sides and settle on her hips, fighting the urge to take control of the excruciatingly slow pace.
Yet just when he was about to loose the battle, she leaned further forward and started to increase the speed, her entire upper body brushed against his with every movement and a feather touch. He felt a familiar building sensation. He knew what would be coming soon, and despite the fact that the pleasure was tenfold what he was used to, he was determined to hold back until she reached the same line.
He looked at her face and for the first moment realized that she wasn't as indifferent or in control as she seemed, her eyes were straining to close and a look of unfounded pleasure was etched across her face.
He grabbed her face with his hands and claimed it in a brutal kiss as he rolled them over, placing himself on top and taking control of the pace. He softened his hiss, but in no way slowed it as his tongue claimed her mouth. She met every thrust with her own, matching his movements and barely resisting the sounds that threatened to escape her mouth, thanks only to the fact that it was occupied.
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Sakura woke up sweating, awakened by a silent Sasuke. It must be time for her watch. She stood, composed. A skill she had perfected over years of such dreams concerning the same object of desire. Her breath was still shaky and her pulse racing, but thankfully, when she looked towards Sasuke, he was gone. She looked up to see him already asleep in the tree above them. He was fast.
She put her hands to her face, feeling the blush that she could no longer fight back, she snuck a look at Sasuke, letting the longing show on her face, her true, untainted emotions, only to be seen by the face of sleep. He looked so peaceful, despite the slight frown that always seemed to grace his face.
If he had been any closer, she had no doubt that she would not be able to resist reaching out to touch him. She cursed whatever creature carried the dreams to her that made her feel so vulnerable. Yet sometimes they were the only thing that carried her through troubled times, silver lining on the pitch black storm-cloud that was the life of the kunoichi. Yet it could never be more than fantasy. She tuned away from him forcefully, gazing off into the pure snow of the landscape, at the two sets of footprints, side by side, that still marred the scenery, yet added a bittersweet note to an otherwise flawless horizon.
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Sasuke was yet still dreaming. Caught up in the maelstrom of feeling, approaching the culmination of the event that had been stirred from him by their joining. He had held back well so far, and was fast approaching the moment he could let go with Sakura. She had trusted herself into his hands and was no longer holding back the breathy moans and occasional squeaks that came from her mouth.
He was lost in the sexiness of those sounds. And in a moment he would be lost entirely in her. Yet that moment was interrupted.
Sakura threw her weight to the side, flipping them so that she would be above him, and he was about to admonish her for not being more careful when he was inside her. He forgot his slight disturbing jolt of discomfort though, when with a slight gurgle, blood spilt like a fountain over her lips, stopping after only a moment.
It streamed down the sides of her mouth, the red on her lips contrasting with the fading pallor of her skin. It was quickly becoming white, and the warmth was fading from her face, though the rest of her body was still warm
Yet he heard it, her heartbeat, erratic, choking. He panicked, afraid to move her, as she coughed, her eyes staring at him as if pleading, blood flecked across his face, and for the second time in his life, the substance burnt like poison.
His hands shook as he lifted her up, standing up at the same moment. Metal clanged to the ground, a shuriken covered in blood. He could almost taste the coppery tang that would accompany the substance. Then he realized that some of her blood had dripped down his face to the corner of his mouth. He looked about, searching for the perpetrator.
Adrenaline hadn't kicked in yet, not as it usually did when there was an attack eminent. He hadn't even sensed anyone. She had been as much into the deed as he, so how had she noticed when he hadn't, he looked down at her. She smiled feebly, more of a grimace, the light fading from her eyes. His grip tightened on her.
Don't go.
The though barely escaped his shocked mind before she spoke.
"If..." She started, gurgling a bit from the blood in her mouth, then coughing up the offending substance, making way for the words she forced past her lips. "If you died, the mission would surely fail" She said, clasping at him with her hands, desperately, as if she were saying something completely different than the words she had spoken. She strained to lift a hand to his face, but failed halfway, her entire body going lip at once, a spurt of blood hitting the ground with the exhalation of her last breath.
Sasuke placed her on the ground, looking up as he felt the crystal clarity that came with the sharingan eyes, yet this time there was a detachment from the change that he couldn't even begin to understand. Warm liquid dropped down his face, but he couldn't even distinguish whether it was blood or tears.
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Sasuke woke up with nothing more than the effort it took to open his eyes. It took a moment for him to get reoriented. He blinked a few times, lifting a hand to his forehead and brushing it through his hair.
"What the hell was that." he said quietly, not sure how to be effected by the strange dream. He stood up and dropped from the tree, too distracted to even wonder at the fact that Sakura had never woken him for his watch.