It was an earnest statement, and it caught Sasuke off-guard. He opened his eyes and saw her averted gaze.
He appeared confused, "Why?"
Sakura looked at him again, the fire crackling and creating dancing shadows on his face.
"I don't know." She smiled. She realized then she hadn't smiled in a long time, "I guess I'm kind of foolish." Sakura turned around to face the ceiling again and laughed as she raised her right arm to rubbed her forehead. Her own laughter sounded strange against the crackling fire and soft rain falling on the roof. She cupped her own cheek.
"You should try harder to forget about me," Sasuke said firmly, not moving from his original position.
"Did you forget about me?" she asked softly.
Silence.
Hmm...maybe that was too much.
"I guess a strong shinobi like you cannot let emotions get in the way, right?" She gave him a sideways glance.
"Right," he replied. Only this time he didn't sound so sure of himself. Sasuke shifted uncomfortably. He closed his eyes again.
After some time, Sakura's voice penetrated the silence again.
"Will I ever see you again, Sasuke?"
"..."I can't exactly go back to Konoha."
Sakura looked desperately at him, her face was filled with empathy and wonder. She shook her head in disbelief.
She hesitated, but eventually whispered, "Sasuke...what...what have you done?"
He opened his eyes slowly. They looked tired, like they've seen too much, and made his face seem older than it was.
"You don't want to know."
Sakura leaned in closer to him and reached for his shoulder, curiosity getting the better of her. "I do..."
Sasuke grew angry and tossed her hand away. He turned around so his back faced her.
"We live in different worlds, Sakura, so stop pretending that you know anything about me."
"But I want—"
Her hand was on his upper arm again.
"Sasuke, please..."
Sasuke grew impatient, threw off the covers, and sat up suddenly.
"You really want to know? Okay here it is. Once a businessman that hired me for an assassination mission couldn't pay fee once the job was done. I thought he was lying so do you know what I did? I tied him to a tree with chakra strings and slowly and painfully made the chakra strings constrict his body."
Sakura sat up and her eyes grew wide with disbelief and horror as Sasuke continued maliciously, "He was begging for mercy which annoyed me so I gagged him and broke both his legs. I could see the blood starting to ooze out of the lines I carved on his body. He was crying, but I kept going. I threatened to kill his family if he didn't pay. I told him I'd slowly slice up their bodies one by one, piece by piece, until they died. He looked so pathetic it made me laugh. At that point I figured, heck, might as well end it now so I---"
"STOP, STOP, STOP!" Sakura screamed as she covered her ears. She sobbed, turned away from him and said, more softly, "Stop..."
Sasuke's voice dropped as he sat looking at her screwed up face.
Realizing that was probably too harsh, he softened slightly. For a minute or so he searched for the right thing to say.
"Look," he said, awkwardly putting both hands on her shoulders.
"I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to..."
No response, but Sakura dropped her hands from her ears.
"Well...it's better for both of us if you hate me."
Still crying.
"Sakura," he began uncomfortably, "aren't there any other boys in Konoha that you've felt something for? Don't tell me all these years..."
Sakura wiped her face. Her eyes were puffy and her nose was red when she lifted her head up but refused to look at him. She was resting one elbow on her knee, biting a fingernail. Sasuke noted that she looked utterly miserable.
He let go of her and smiled slightly, "you're a real mess, you know?"
Sakura sniffed and sighed. She seemed annoyed at her own emotional fragility and somewhat determined to regain her composure.
Sasuke took this as a good sign and said, "Let's get some sleep, okay? I'm tired, and you must be too."
He learned back down and covered himself with the blankets again, lying on his back.
Sakura sat for awhile longer, staring at the hypnotic shapes in the fire. Seven years, and now he just wanted to sleep? There were so many things she had to ask him.
But...
Sakura yawned, her eyelids felt heavy. The warmth of the fire was starting to burn against her face.
She broke the settling silence, "Sasuke- the fire is too hot."
"Come over to my other side," he muttered.
Sakura moved her mat, pillow, and blankets to the other side of Sasuke and arranged them properly. She also gave the blanket covering her body a healthy tug.
She crept in between the sheets, back towards him. She shivered.
Damn, bad decision. Who knew it would be that big a difference?
She curled up slightly. "Now I'm cold," she whispered.
Sasuke, who was tired of talking, sighed and rolled on his side towards her and slung an arm around her waist. She could feel the warmth of his chest on her back, his nose and breath against her neck. Her pulse quickened for a few minutes, but soon she felt overcome with exhaustion. The events of the day had indeed worn her out and the makeshift bed was surprisingly comfortable. Sakura laced her fingers over his and drew his left arm tighter around her.
Who knew what would happen tomorrow, but today- right now- things felt right.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A/N: just barfed it out in 1 day, it kind of took a life of its own. Wanted to make LeeSaku a bigger deal but couldn't. Wanted to make Sakura hate Sasuke but couldn't.
Hope this fic wasn't angsty or OOC. Maybe I made Sasuke too nice- but I like to think he's a different person around Sakura. Sorry I have no sense for chapter divisions.
I didn't want to make Sakura jounin (let's be realistic) so she's a chuunin. Let's all assume chuunins can be medically trained.
Sorry to all Kakashi fans! I killed him off! I love Kakashi myself but I think he would be problematic in this fic.
I can't write battle scenes- lo siento.