Chapter 26

"How long has he been sleeping already?" Naruto asks, taking a swig of water. He sits at the edge of Sakura's bed and looks at the unmoving man.

"Almost two days now."

The leaves were changing slowly outside, and the wind carried the beginnings of winter in its grasp. Rain fell from gray skies and the soil overflowed with the moisture. Two days had felt like two weeks.

Sakura sent Ino away a short time ago. Her home was too small to house everyone sufficiently, and Naruto refused to leave Sasuke's side once he'd found out. Said man only awoke to use the restroom (and god, that had been a mess. Thank goodness Naruto was here.)—he hadn't even eaten.

She watches her hand move from his respirations—up, down, up, down—and it's the most beautiful thing she's seen. Even though Sasuke's lips are cracked and his eyes are squeezed shut in pain, she can't help but notice his timeless elegance. The second she pulled her hand away from him, he would smooth it back down over his bellybutton or between his pectorals.

Honestly, Sakura was considering moving a little, just to feel his pressure.

"Did Shizune make an antidote yet?"

"There's no need." She replies, blinking away her exhaustion and embarrassment. "If I can keep the toxin from nearing his heart, his body will naturally do the rest. I'm letting him sleep for now, though. It doesn't look like he's able to fight it off when he's unconscious."

The curtains shake violently from a powerful breeze. She shivers and cranes her neck to rid herself of the stiffness. Fatigue consumes her. It's been fourteen hours since Sasuke's woken up to pee, and fourteen hours since Sakura's moved from her position.

The room is silent, which is unusual in the presence of Naruto. He's worried and the evidence is on his face for all to see. He knows that Sasuke is in good hands, (literally), and although it's hard seeing him so weak, Naruto understands it's only fleeting.

They were ninja, and they didn't allow themselves time to heal. Sasuke was going to rest better in his unconscious state.

Hinata comes by every so often and switches out the untouched meals. She's the most generous person Sakura has ever met—she does things that wouldn't even cross the medics mind. The laundry was done and the pillows were fluffed and her house was as spotless as it's ever been. She was so motherly, so benevolent.

"You can watch some TV if you'd like." Sakura says, jerking her head to the abandoned remote on her vanity. "We can see how far along the exams are progressing."

Naruto obeys and searches through the channels emotionlessly. The announcer's voice is loud and plummy when she finally pops up on the screen, dressed in a blue pencil skirt and a purple cardigan. Upbeat music sounds off in the background as she spouts off her report.

"The first round of examinees will be wrapping up soon! There are only seven more groups of participants left, and then the next forty people will start."

"That doesn't sound like it's "wrapping up" at all, Suki!" A red-headed man replies. His hair is thinning at the top. "I don't understand why those people are even being recorded. The best have already made it through!"

Suki laughs and pats his knee. "Oh Joruri, you certainly have an attachment to the Rookie 9, don't you? Who all has made it?"

"Naruto and Hinata Uzumaki, obviously," He begins. "Sasuke and Sakura Uchiha—"

"Don't be so silly, it's Sakura Haruno! Uchiha's don't wed outside of their clan!"

Sakura watched as the two broadcasters bickered on, and the crowd let out a forced laugh.

"There isn't an Uchiha clan anymore. He's got to wed someone! I think there's something seriously strange going on between these two, anyways."

The camera pans to the audience where a green-haired civilian woman stands, allowing them to ask questions to the announcers. A microphone is shoved in her face, but she doesn't seem bothered. "I don't know much about the Uchiha's." She says. "I see their symbol in parts of our village that hadn't been demolished. Why were they so important?"

Joruri seemed to be an expert in the subject.

"The Uchiha have a very special kekkei-genkai—the Sharingan. It's one of the strongest visual prowesses in the ninja world. Way back when, the Uchiha ran the Konoha Police Force. Tragedy tore them down and they went from many, to two."

Another audience member stands. "I've always heard of the "tragedy". What exactly happened? Do we know?"

Suki clasps her hands together in excitement. She knows they are bringing in viewers, but Sakura cannot help but think how incredibly morbid the entire thing was. The Uchiha name, a clan born from the days of old, was simply being used to rope in extra eyes. It was absolute degradation.

"It's been said that they were wiped out in a single night," the red-head begins, as if speaking about some dark fairytale. He leans towards the camera, showing the hardness of his face.

Sakura pushes her hand deeper into Sasuke's chest as Naruto raises the volume. She needs to calm herself—a flux in emotion was a flux in chakra, and Sakura didn't want to project such feelings into her teammate.

"A single child slaughtered everyone. Men, women, children—they all fell at the hands of their kin. Itachi Uchiha wasn't even a teenager at the time. He was an ANBU captain when he defected. Some say he went insane, some say he was acting on order. The truth may never come out."

"Sasuke Uchiha was a traitor, too, right?" Suki asks, even though she already knows the answer. "It seems that the teenage years are rough for their mental state. It might be better if their clan dies out with this one, what do you all think?"

It's a slap to her face, a jolt to her system. In a sudden flood, hot tears start to flow from her eyelashes. She's not sad, or hurt—she's fucking infuriated.

Naruto stands, feeling her same wrath tenfold. His hands clench into fists, his brow furrows into a deep scowl. "Who they hell do they think they are, the bastards!"

Spreading her fingers along Sasuke's bare sternum, Sakura tries to stop the tremble of her palm. This man had suffered more than any one should ever have to. No one deserved this.

Sasuke, to others, might seem fearsom. He judged and killed with a precise intelligence, doing whatever he could to reach his goal. Those mismatched eyes were always calculating—always watching, he had once been a terrifying and brutal young man.

People grow. People learn from their mistakes, and constantly evolve by experiencing new things; from learning new information.

Behind Sasuke's guarded and fierce exterior sat a man that only wanted what he thought was best. There had been many like him—doing bad things for reasons they thought were just. His thoughts and ideals had been jaded from abuse and neglect. No, it wasn't an excuse. Anyone with a heart, however, would know that it was a reason.

"Is that what our village thinks of him?" She asks. Carefully, Sakura brushes a thick lock of hair from his forehead and he stirs from her touch. Her hand caresses his cheek, his jawline, the curve of his ear. "He's so broken, Naruto."

Naruto leans back in his chair and listens as she speaks. The TV does not interest him anymore. There's something about her crestfallen expression that has always stilled him—Sakura had a way of taking the attention of an entire room when she spoke. Her voice could be both authoritarian and harsh, when needed. In this moment, it's splintered, shattering between her pausing sobs.

"I feel like I'm not doing enough for him—I feel so useless. We kissed you know."

Naruto didn't know.

"When I was a girl, I thought true love could fix anything. I leaned into him and—would you believe it?—I kissed his nose." Her laugh holds no humor. In fact, it's devastatingly sad. "I kissed him over and over until he fell asleep, thinking I was finally able to save him from something."

"He cares about you," the man says genuinely. Naruto isn't sure if Sasuke even knew. He couldn't see what others saw of him. Sasuke's eyes always trailed after her, he thought of her first when in the heat of battle. If he allowed her to kiss him, then wasn't that proof enough? It was never easy for people like Sasuke. He's loved and lost, and now, maybe he's lost in love.

Sakura shakes her head. "I…I think he feels obligated to care, either by your blackmail, or because he has no idea how to repent for his sins. Like "Sorry" isn't enough. He'll let people do whatever they want to feel better."

"Or," Naruto repeats. "Maybe he cares about you."

After all, Naruto hadn't used his "blackmail" against him since the second exam. This—his willingness to stay around Sakura, getting closer to her—it was all on his own accord. In all honestly, no one could make Sasuke do anything.

Sasuke did what he wanted to do.

"There was no sign of a struggle, Naruto. He let someone poison him. He knew who did it and he didn't even try to fight back. Just like," She pauses and shuts her eyes together tightly. "…just like when I asked to kiss him."

Sasuke's finger twitches, but he is not alert. He's drifting in and out floating through trees and walking among seas.

"I'm going to kill whoever hurt him. I swear it," She says, grating her molars together. Her resolve was hardened, but Naruto knew better. He stands to close the window, although wasn't all that cold. He fears the prying ears of ninja.

"You can't take care of Sasuke and me if you're in jail."

She snarls. "Jail, that's another thing. These people have no idea what Sasuke went through. He had reasons for leaving—I'm not sure I wouldn't have sided with our village either if I would have known what they did to him! This whole system is messed up. They put Sasuke in jail when he returned. They repay him, for saving literally everyone, by throwing him in prison?" She places both hands on Sasuke, letting her energy flow into him.

"I saw him once, Naruto. They wouldn't let me speak to him, but I saw him. He was in a straightjacket and his eyes were sealed like a makeshift muzzle. As if he couldn't break out of there if he wanted to."

Her voice cracks but Naruto doesn't pay any mind. He lets her vent the feelings she'd bottled up for too long.

"How could they do that to him—to you? You were just kids. You were just kids, all you needed was love, and friendship, and no one ever bothered to offer it to you. It sickens me. I hate myself for it."

Sakura can't stop her tears from wetting Sasuke's exposed skin. The sheet crinkles from her pressure.

"I was just as disgusting. I hated you because it's what my mother told me to do. "Watch out for him. Oh no, you're in his class? Don't let him touch you. He doesn't act right because he doesn't have any discipline." She didn't know anything, and she taught that to me—she taught me to judge others based on what I heard and not what I saw."

Sasuke's eyes open briefly during her speech, slowly coming to. He sees her—her face is rosy and salt trails stain her cheeks. What is she saying? What's wrong?

Naruto's takes a seat next to Sakura and carefully tucks her pink hair behind her ear, trying his best to console her.

Naruto used to think that he must have been a very, very bad person in his past life. Maybe he had been murderer or a thief; some kind of degenerate who was destined to be cursed for all of eternity, because he couldn't understand why he was always treated so poorly. He remembers lonely nights and cold rooms and numbness—tears that wouldn't fall any longer.

It wasn't like that anymore.

In his bed, his wife lays. She is curled between the sheets that smell like him. Hinata wears his shirt around their house, and wakes up early every morning to make sure he eats well. And after long days, when the sun falls and the moon finds its place among the stars, he takes her—tastes everything she has to offer and devours everything she has to give. They fall asleep between huffing breathes and in gentle embraces, just like a man and a woman should—like any couple in love should.

Naruto had found his true peace in her arms.

Life was funny, the way it worked. "You didn't know better, and I don't blame you. It will all work out in the end. I know it did for me." Naruto says, and it is full of truth. There was no point in crying about the past, because the future was too bright to ignore. "Our Hokage did what they thought was fair for everyone. I'll make sure I do things right. You don't have to worry."

"Why is Sasuke doomed to live a life of repentance? How is that fair?"

The kyuubi sucks up a deep breath and takes another swig of his water. He knows just how unkind this world could be firsthand. Bad things happened to good people and vice versa. Sasuke was neither bad, nor good. He was simply a perfectly flawed human being who leaned more towards "bad" for a while.

"Sasuke made his own decisions, Sakura. Just like Itachi did." She stares at him, in that moment, shocked at how mature he'd sounded. "There's no other way to look at it. Sasuke made horrible choices. I know that he was influenced, Sakura, but in the end…his choices were his alone." He fists the cloth of his pants, as if he needed something to squeeze.

"I…would rather die than harm an innocent person. I would take my own life before I worked alongside someone as evil as Orochimaru was. Sasuke…wanted power so badly, he stopped caring. Sasuke had a plan to kill each and every person in Konoha—you, me, everyone we've ever glanced at and never spoke to. Not everyone will welcome him like we do. Not everyone has the capacity to forgive something that huge."

His shoulder is sturdy so she leans on it for support. He didn't smell like cheap ramen and woods anymore. Perhaps that scent would be nostalgic, from now on. She burrows her face into the skin of his neck.

"Why does it hurt so much, knowing that he may never be accepted? It feels as though my heart is splitting in two, because I know that he truly doesn't deserve any of this. "

Naruto looks up at the ceiling. "He needs you now, more than ever. You just have to decide if you're willing to be with a man that can't love you like those silly novels Jiraiya wrote."

Sakura had to know that any romance with Sasuke Uchiha was bound to be full of more angst than fluff. Could she handle waking up to an empty bed, when he left her once more? Sasuke would probably never hold her hand openly or kiss her for all to see. He wouldn't declare his unfathomable love—nor would he probably even say the words. What was better; being in love with him, or being in love without him?

To Sakura, none of that mattered.

She didn't love Sasuke for petty reasons, and it wasn't something she could simply turn off with the flick of a switch. She didn't care if she'd never get to flaunt their togetherness. And, even if he found his place in some other woman's arms, Sakura knew that, more than anything, she wanted to be there for him.

If Sasuke wanted to belong to the stars, she would be the night that cradled him. If Sasuke wanted to drift like a feather, she would be the wind that took him far, far away.

Forever and for always, she wants to remain by his side.

"I'm more than willing." Sakura feels her throat closing. "Even if Sasuke can never return these feelings, I know that my resolve will never falter. I don't care if I become an outcast." Dropping her head onto Sasuke's chest, Sakura continues. Her voice is small but it carries in the dull drone of the room.

"I don't care if loving him kills me, or that my soul and spirit are slowly being broken, b-because…"

…they are his for the taking.

She does not get the chance to speak her final words.

Sasuke has awoken.

Pink forelocks stretch down the length of her face, dancing in his vision like the petals of a cherry tree. Her smile is genuine, but tired as she checks his vitals professionally. Tapping her fingertips along the skin of his throat and the swell of his inner wrist, Sakura murmurs to him. "Everything is finally normal."

She is happy, opposing her morose words.

Nebulas of emotion twirl around his core—confusion, guilt, anger to name a few. Sasuke knew what he was and wasn't entitled to…his feelings weren't justified. He'd reached an epiphany, however, and he wanted nothing more than to distance himself from Sakura.

She was in so much pain.

Again.

Because of him.

Sakura was dulled by Sasuke; the brightness within her eyes just didn't seem to shine in that moment. He had always thought of Sakura as heaven, even as a young boy. She was headstrong but fragile, too innocent to belong to a world of killing and death. Sasuke belonged to that place. He refused to clip her wings. There were weights that even Sakura couldn't carry.

"I'm so happy you're alright." The woman says breathlessly. She wipes her cheek with the back of her hand and, against better judgment, leans forwards to gather Sasuke in an embrace. It seems as though it's too soon for such intimacy. Sasuke pushes past her, trying to sit up.

"You can't move just yet. What do you need? Are you hungry? Are you thirsty?"

"No," The man says. His voice is gruff and strict.

Naruto makes his way to the kitchen anyways, searching for a cup to fill with water. He isn't as much help as Sakura is, but he could at least do something. Sakura adjusts the sheet, draping the cloth low on Sasuke's hips so she can check the color of his skin. He feels her grab his hand. She massages blood back into the unfeeling digits. The pads of her thumb rub circles against his knuckles.

"I want a shower," I want to go.

Sakura looks up at his face, as if she'd heard his innermost thought. His eyes are covered behind his black fringe of hair, successfully blocking her view. There was something different about him—the way his shoulders sat stiffly and his spine was pin straight. Every feather light touch she pressed to his skin caused him to recoil. Curiously, she wonders if she'd missed something in his healing process, or if she was causing the reaction.

Naruto reenters and climbs onto the other side of the bed with a beverage. He presses the too cold glass to the side of Sasuke's cheek, stinging his flesh. "Hey, fucker," He greets.

Sakura thumps the Kyuubi's ear. "Stop teasing him. Help him to the bathroom and bring a change of clothes with you."

Now, it's Naruto's turn to groan. He is half-hearted in his pestering, but still genuine for the most part. "Gross, you want to me help him bathe? Am I supposed to undress him, too?"

"He's already undressed." The woman says, making her way off the bed and rolling up her sleeves. She had a lot to clean, sure that Hinata couldn't have possibly fixed the entire house. There was still the mess of abandoned alcohol bottles to deal with.

"You say that so easily." Naruto replies, looping his bandaged arm around Sasuke's upper chest. "I'm just gonna assume this isn't the first time he's been in your bed, naked."

This time, Sasuke is the one who thumps his ear.

Sasuke drags his nails against his scalp and down the length of his chest. He washes away layers of grunge under the steaming tap, watching his skin redden under his harsh scrub. Soap runs freely, frothing from the powerful spray of water. Pink remnants of blood splatter the white tile of her shower.

He spreads his hand across his lower belly, remembering that her blood had been on him, too. Down the drain it goes, leaving microscopic traces only the sharingan could possibly ever see. He turns off the cold water, leaving only the heat.

"What's taking you so long? Are you jerking off or something?" Naruto yells, banging on the door. Without the smallest shred of decency, the man turns the lockless knob and makes his way into the steamy bathroom. Naruto coughs from the steam. "It's so hot in here, I can't breathe."

"Good, die." Sasuke bites out, cleaning under his fingernails, letting his thoughts slip down the sewer as well.

"Big words, coming from someone who really did die," the man replies, propping himself up on the sink's counter. He swings his legs back and forth, drumming his heel against the drawers beneath. The knock, knock, knock gives Sasuke an even bigger headache.

"If you think those are big words, you're even dumber than I thought." Sasuke barks. He turns off the shower and steps out, pulling a towel off of the rack. "Why are you in here?"

"Sakura can't hear us right now. We need to talk about what she said." Of all the times for Sasuke to wake up during Sakura's speech, he'd chosen the worst time. It wasn't his place to prod between them, but that had never stopped him before.

"We don't need to talk about anything,"

"Then listen, and I'll do all the talking. Just like old times, ne?"

Sasuke shrugs on his shirt, even though his back is still damp and it sticks to him uncomfortably. His muscles are still aching, as if he'd strained and pulled every single one, but he still manages to brush past Naruto and make his way to the foyer, looking for his shoes.

Sakura comes around the corner, eyebrows raised in confusion. "Sasuke? You can't leave, you need to rest!"

"Shoes," He orders, pulling on his cloak. It billows around him, draping from his shoulders to hide the hesitations from deep within his tissue and tendons.

Sakura gnaws her lip as Sasuke buttons his top, onehandedly, as if he's forgotten about his new appendage. "Where are you going?"

"I need my shoes, Sakura." This time, he stills, turning the heat of his gaze fully unto her. It feels as though she's swallowed cotton. Sakura is tired, too, from pouring her energy into Sasuke's heart. She feels weak—weak, like the thirteen-year-old girl who couldn't stop him from leaving his village.

"Are you…mad at me?"

Sasuke turns his head sharply to the side, showing utter annoyance. No, he wasn't mad at her. He was mad at himself, for Sasuke had always been selfish and Sakura didn't deserve the inevitable sorrow he was bound to cast. Sasuke was going to leave this village, regardless of what transpired between them. He was a ninja, bound by duty and obligation.

Getting close was just careless.

"I'm not," He finally says.

Closing the distance between them, the woman presses herself into Sasuke his back is pressed firmly against the wooden door. Her arms capture his waist, her face presses into his ribcage.

"What have I done?"

I don't care if loving him kills me.

Nothing, he wants to say. Nothing but get yourself involved me. Sasuke was unthankful, hateful, and arrogant. He could never be the man of her dreams, the man she deserved. Sasuke needed time. Sasuke needed to learn how to leave her in better shape than he found her in.

And Sakura feels his turmoil. She's losing him before he was even hers.

She's desperate—more than anything she wishes CYLAN could share his thoughts with her. It was so much easier to understand him when his barriers were down. She wants him to tell her what she did wrong, what has him so bothered and furious.

Sakura had shattered one barrier, at least. She knows it's awful to exercise her will unto him, but he feels like he's slipping away again. Sakura still has this, no matter how wrong it really is to ask. "Can I kiss you?"

Sasuke automatically answers. "Do whatever you want."

So she does.

Ignoring the quiver of her hands, Sakura stretched out onto her tiptoes. Of course, she's much too short to reach him. Sasuke hesitates, but dips his head low, allowing her to press her lips against his and linger.

Naruto and Sasuke could portray emotion though their fists. Sakura hoped that Sasuke could understand her feelings in this way.

The Uchiha doesn't seem fazed, it seems, because he pulls away and turns his head upwards, facing the ceiling. "I have to go."