Compliments, Memories, and Midnight Dreams

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When we reached the spot, he glanced at the target. I noted the disbelief in his voice when he said; "You made that shot?"

"Yeah, those too," I pointed smugly over to the tree.

"Impressive you've done this before, I wager?"

I nodded as I bent down to pick up the bow, then I saw that he was interested, so I said, "I'll tell you over dinner. Which reminds me, what is for dinner?"

He gave a shrug, then went and picked up the other arrows. We put the equipment up and then headed to the kitchen in silence. Okay, abrupt mood changes much?

I walked over to the cabinets, if I remembered correctly, there was pasta in one of these. Bingo. I pulled out the box. "This okay?" I held the box up for him to see from where he sat at the table.

He nodded. I turned to the stove, and began to cook, setting some sauce in another pan to heat, then, as I began to drop in the pasta I realized something else.

"Do I need to make any for your brother?"

"Huh?" He looked up from the table, obviously distracted, by what, I could not fathom.

"Your brother, Itachi." Hello Sasuke, are you still alive?

"Oh, no, Itachi takes care of himself."

"Okay then."

I dropped in the pasta and waited for it to cook. When it was ready, I made up two plates and walked to the table.

I sat down across from him, and he didn't even look up. Wherever his mind was, it wasn't here. I waved my hand in front of his face.

"Hello, anybody home?"

"Huh?"

"You keep spacing out on me. Are you okay?"

"Fine, so how do you know archery so well?"

Well, that was a quick subject change. Obviously hiding something. I'll find out later. It can't hurt to distract him for a while.

"My mother taught me when I was younger. She loved to shoot the bow, and she passed on that love to me. Although, I was surprised. I hit the mark, and it's been years since I've shot. I guess once you learn, it never really leaves you."

"I guess not." He's still distracted. Gotta think of a way to get him to stop brooding.

"Sasuke," he looked up from his plate," why didn't you have me go to school today?" There now he has to talk.

"Huh?"

"School, why didn't you let me go?"

"I figured you would need a break, and it gave me a chance to file your change of address with the school, and make other arrangements."

"What kinds of arrangements?"

"Well, asides from getting your home space changed to my house, I also got a restraining order on your dad pending investigation. If luck holds, you won't be dealing with him again for a long time."

I was so happy. He had gone to all that trouble to help me? I lunged across the table to give him a hug," Thank you so much."

He tensed before returning my hug, as if he was unused to the contact. I felt his neck beneath my fingers and immediately noticed the tightness in those muscles.

I came around the table with my hands resting on his shoulders. I stood behind him and felt his neck again. No doubt about it, his neck is in knots. Well, I can fix that.

"Hey Sakura, what are you doing?" Sasuke asked from his chair. His voice seemed a little hesitant, and unless I was imaging it, there was a slight blush on his cheeks.

"Come on, stand up." I motioned for him to follow me into the family room.

He followed me and I turned around. "Take off your shirt and lay on the couch."

"Why?" he asked skeptically.

"Because, you're back is in a fricken knot, and that's something I can fix."

He gave a sigh, peeled off his shirt, and laid down.

"Good, now just relax." I got on to the couch and sat down to survey my project.

Well, one things for sure, he's not considered 'hot' for nothing. I blushed at my thoughts. This is a favor Sakura, stop staring, and start working.

I set to work on massaging his back. I started with the tense muscles of his upper back and began to slowly work my way down, easing out the tense muscles as I went along. Just how stressed out is this guy? His back has more knots than any normal person ever could.

I continued on in my job, and when I hit a particularly tense spot, I heard what could only be considered a moan escape from Sasuke's lips. I smiled lightly and continued on. I could feel him fighting off relaxation and sleep, and I'd be damned if I didn't give the guy who had saved me from hell, quite literally, something in return.

When he finally fell asleep, I found that the fringes of sleep were on me as well. My body was still recovering, and hour-long back massages were probably not part of the repertoire for recovery.

I intended to get off Sasuke, and go to my room, but when I tried to move, I found that I was more fatigued than I realized, I couldn't even bring my self to get up. I fell asleep, right on top of him.

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I was running.

Running from him, but he was gaining. A knife in hand.

He was going to catch me. Hurt me. Kill me. And I couldn't escape.

Then, I saw Sasuke.

He ran to help me. Holding my father back. He told me to run.

But I couldn't. I wanted to help, but all I could do was watch.

Watch as my father killed the one guy I might love.

I screamed.

I was still screaming when I woke up.

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I was awoken by a scream and the sudden removal of warmth from my body. Then I heard crying. Slowly, I pieced together what had happened.

I must have fallen asleep, and Sakura, Sakura was crying. I rolled over and saw the tears streaming down her face. Instantly, I was overwhelmed with the desire to make her stop.

I reached out and pulled her into an embrace, and she kept crying. I rubbed a hand against her back, trying to figure out a plan to comfort her. Eventually her tears quieted, and her breathing returned to normal. I pulled her back slightly. She was asleep.

I began to pull away, but the second I did, she grabbed onto my hand and wouldn't let go. I did not want to wake her, so I resigned myself to sleeping there with her that night. I grabbed a blanket and laid down next to her, placing my arms around her and pulling her close against my chest.

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The next morning when I woke up, I felt safe and warm. I snuggled into the warmth and began to drift back to sleep when I realized that some things were very wrong.

One, there were some pieces of black hair in my face, two, I was not in a bedroom, and three, the warmth was breathing.

I slowly turned around, and found myself face to face with a sleeping Sasuke.

If he's beautiful awake, then he's most definitely gorgeous asleep. A look of peace graced his usually stern face and it made him look even more handsome.

I found myself leaning forward ever so slightly to get a better look at him. That was when his eyes snapped open.

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Wow, I haven't updated in forever. Sorry for the wait.