Hello, everyone! Here is the fourth chapter of Healing Demons. Please review and enjoy! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. All rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto only.
SUMMARY: Sakura was a diligent medical student with dreams and aspirations of greatness. Sasuke's dreams had been crushed by a dark past, leaving him broke and depressed. What happened when these two crossed paths and their lives got interwoven together? Modern world AU
The harsh slamming of the worn door resounded throughout Sasuke's darkened studio apartment. Removing his boots and nearly tossing them across the living area, the young man huffed exhaustedly and ripped off the stupid apron he was forced to wear at his new job. He was afraid that his decision to drag himself out of bed and to the outside world would be misguided, and he was unfortunately proven correct.
It had been quite some time since Sasuke had put in the effort to do something productive. It was ultimately futile to put yourself out there just to have every little misstep thrown in your face. Things to him were much simpler when he merely cut everyone out of his meager existence and be on his own.
But that damned Naruto wouldn't let that happen.
The amount of time and energy spent trying to keep his friend at a distance was tiresome and draining, so it wasn't worth it to push Naruto away. At least that's the reasoning that Sasuke tried to convince himself of.
Sasuke trudged over to the closet hidden in the corner of the apartment without bothering to turn on the lights. Slivers of the evening sun bled through the beaten blinds hanging on the window above his unmade bed, giving him just enough light to see the outlines of what he needed. Stripping off his clothing to just his worn navy blue boxers, Sasuke dejectedly tossed his clothes on the floor next to the hamper, not caring where they went or when they'd be washed, if at all.
He didn't have poor hygiene, he reassured himself. Sasuke just knew that today was his first and last day working at the coffee shop. There were too many people, too much stimulation in one place, and after barricading himself within these four walls for such a lengthy time, it was all far too much for him to handle. His introverted tendencies only amplified a hundred fold in this past year.
Raking a hand through his dark hair, Sasuke sighed and decided to forego a shower that night for the comfort of his own bed. There was no edible food waiting for him in his fridge other than leftover pizza and beer from the last few nights, so dinner didn't seem appetizing at all.
It wasn't like Sasuke had a healthy appetite, anyway.
Peeling back the thin covers of his bedspread and crawling slowly into bed, Sasuke tried his best to relax his tense muscles and racing thoughts. To a normal, functioning human being, a day at work was a daily affair that took little to no effort at all. But to him, it took a tremendous amount of energy out of him and even though he was only gone for a few hours, Sasuke felt completely drained. He decided the best thing he could do for himself at that point was to bury himself in his covers and shut himself off to the world outside once more.
So, Sasuke tightly shut his weary eyes and willed himself to a dreamless sleep.
It was around one in the morning when Sasuke found himself waking back up. Those days, it was a gamble whether or not he'd get any sleep when he closed his eyes. It looks like the heavens had mercy on him that night, and he got a sturdy five hours of rest.
The past year had been rough on the young man, and life had not been kind to him whatsoever. Over time, Sasuke found himself regressing more and more into himself until he was merely a shell of his former self. Though he always seemed to have more problems than the average person at forging relationships, Sasuke never felt repulsed by having those connections. But, he had been burned far to severely to trust that it wouldn't happen again.
He was no longer the risk taker he used to consider himself.
With these intrusive thoughts creeping up on him, Sasuke attempted to box everything out and harden his resolve once more. The more he found himself dwelling on who he used to be and what went wrong to lead him to where he found himself, the more he hated himself. He reassured himself that it was far better to feel numb than to face those negative emotions head on.
Though his mind had woken up and tormented him, Sasuke's body had not and refused to inch a muscle. Bundled in a warm cocoon of his tired sheets, he knew that he wouldn't be able to get up and out of bed any time soon. There was no use, anyway. He was all alone.
And would always be on his own.
Instead of letting his mind devour him once more, he let the darkness and silence around him consume him until he was lulled to sleep once more.
Sakura was at an impasse. She knew that her job at the school hospital was officially over now that she had finally completed her last exam, and though she recently started a part time job at Konoha's local bookstore, she felt like she needed more. Unsure of what that meant to her, she couldn't decide whether to find a more fulfilling job, or just stick it out until who-knows-when.
She found herself lounging on her bed, with her rose-petal pink duvet cover draped over her lap. It was lingering close to midnight, but Sakura felt restless. She couldn't bring herself to sleep, though she no longer had any exams to stress over.
Maybe she was so used to the stress that it was unsettling when it was no longer there. It was an empty feeling she longed to fill.
Sakura took a deep breath and heavily exhaled, draping her arms over her eyes, willing herself to rest. There wasn't much left at the moment for her to look forward to; sure, she will eventually be a renowned doctor at Konoha's premiere hospital, but though that is what she had been working towards for years on end, there was something missing.
When Sakura vented to Ino about the hollowness that lurked within her bones, her best friend's response always turned to BOYS. She was convinced that once Sakura found her certain someone, she could finally soften the anxiety brewing under her skin. However, Sakura wasn't persuaded, and kept moving forward, pushing these thoughts to the back of her mind.
Drowning herself into her medical studies over the years, Sakura knew that eventually, she would gain her footing and stride to greatness. She desired the ability to help others and heal whoever she could with the power she had. From birth, Sakura knew that's what she was: a healer.
But, she couldn't even figure out what was wrong with herself. How could she even remotely begin to heal others when she was ignorant to her own problems? She could name all of the bones in the body and diagnose countless ailments in patients, but her lack of understanding socially really hindered her abilities as someone with the promise of cures.
How could she help someone without first understanding where they were coming from?
Deciding to stop dwelling on her shortcomings and underestimating herself, Sakura reached over to her phone on the nightstand to her left and checked the time. It was 12:02 a.m., the very beginning of a brand new day. Might as well make the best of it if she wasn't going to get a wink of sleep that night.
Sakura stood up from her bed and crossed her small bedroom to the bathroom connecting her room and the hallway together, deciding she could decompress with a warm, steamy shower and lavender tea. Once she entered the bathroom, she looked into the mirror and sighed once more. She came face to face with a woman with large green eyes framed by long pink lashes. These were complemented with a button nose and round, naturally pink lips. All fairly average features, though they were interrupted by an abnormally large forehead, soaking up all attention.
It was as if it was large enough to be a billboard, adorned with the message "Look at me!". This thought caused Sakura to huff in irritation.
There was nothing she could do about her insecurities, and once again, she felt powerless.
Ino was beautiful; there was nothing that could be considered a flaw in her features. With her curvaceous body, enticing lips, and mysteriously seductive eyes, men would fall at her feet left and right. It almost felt unfair to compare herself to her best friend, but Sakura could never feel even a grain of resentment toward her. It wasn't her fault she was naturally gifted with the looks of a goddess and personality of a siren.
Turning abruptly away from the mirror before she could tear herself further down, Sakura turned on the shower and stripped her clothes from the day, tossing them in the hamper to her right. Hopping in after shortly waiting for the water to properly warm up, Sakura loosed a breath as she willed the steam from the shower to calm her nerves.
She had no idea where her anxious, intrusive thoughts stemmed from, but she knew they were not welcome.
Sakura saturated her pink locks with strawberry scented shampoo and conditioner and washed her hair clean. Focusing solely on taking care of herself, she let her thoughts melt away with the heat of the water until she felt it was finally time to step slowly out into the cold air outside of the shower. Quickly wrapping herself and her damp hair in matching red towels, Sakura brushed her teeth and moisturized her body with coconut-scented lotion her mother gifted her when her parents travelled abroad.
Deciding to forego looking at herself once more in the shower, Sakura shuffled to the walk-in closet at the opposite end of her bedroom and threw on random white undergarments and a blue oversized tee shirt she found at the back of her closet. She had no idea where it came from, but it was comfortable and navy blue always seemed to have a calming effect on her.
Sakura travelled over to her small kitchen to boil a fresh pot of tea and sat at her round kitchen table with a romance novel she snagged from the library she worked at. It was about a young woman who was devotedly in love with a man who seemed to fall further and further out of reach each day. She couldn't wrap her mind around how someone could place all of their time and effort into someone who didn't seem to reciprocate their own feelings; it was a foreign concept to her.
Maybe it was due to her inexperience with relationships as a whole, but Sakura couldn't picture herself fighting for a love that seemed doomed from the start.
She only recently began delving into the story, but from what Sakura could tell, the two love interests felt an instant attraction to each other - where it was almost electric. She felt compelled to continue on with reading; not long ago, she would have scoffed at the notion that someone could be so inexplicably drawn to another in such a short instant. But, the events earlier that day at the coffee shop shook her resolve and proved to her that maybe, there was an inkling of truth somewhere in these cheesy romantic books.
They had always been her guilty pleasure, but only because they seemed far too fantastical to be real.
Still, Sakura found herself drifting off into thoughts of being swept off her feet by Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome with a grand gesture to prove his love and devotion. She dreamt of falling asleep in the warm embrace of a lover and sharing stolen kisses in the night. She craved the kind of intimacy that only a soulmate would be able to provide; she desired security and tender affection.
Sakura was picky and did not feel compelled to pursue men. She never really felt a strong attraction to many others, save for the few celebrities she spotted during her late-night movie sessions she occasionally had to distract herself from her studies. Maybe that was why she had been single for so long, she convinced herself. It was all about the attraction, she would repeat.
It wasn't because she pushed others away to protect herself, right?
Sakura sighed heavily and trudged over to the kitchen once more to pour her lavender tea. She truly needed to relax. After such a long time stressing out over school, her mind seemed to find comfort in latching onto other unnecessary things to distract itself. It worried Sakura that it may get out of hand if not dealt with properly.
The only solace she needed was the fact that her future as a doctor was finally laid out in front of her, and there was finally light at the end of the tunnel.
Glancing once more at the book she decided to read, Sakura guzzled down the rest of her tea, grimacing as she felt the heat of the liquid drip down her throat and choosing to disregard the novel for the night. She really didn't need that kind of encouragement for her love life. The interaction between her and Sasuke was merely a figment of her overactive imagination. Nothing more, and nothing less.
Sakura snuck a peek at her phone and noticed it was well past one in the morning. She was pleased to feel drowsiness pull at her eyelids, demanding her to finally go to sleep. Neglecting her mug at the dinner table to be washed when she woke up later that morning, Sakura trudged over to the only bedroom in her small apartment, turning off all the lights and tossing herself onto her full sized bed.
As the minutes dragged on, Sakura felt sleep slowly begin to take over and her consciousness begin to fade. The last thought she remembered before she fell into her slumber was that maybe, just maybe, falling in love with someone wouldn't be all that bad.
Would it?
Sakura awoke to the sunlight pouring in her small bedroom and the insistent vibration emanating from her cell phone. She groggily reached over to the nightstand to her left and checked the caller ID. Of course it was Ino. Honestly, who else would it be?
Wiping the sleep from her tired eyes and raising her phone to her ear, Sakura cleared her throat to speak for the first time that morning and greet her best friend.
"What's up, Ino?" she inquired, still trying to shake the remnants of her slumber from her voice. It couldn't be all that early, judging by the brightness of her bedroom. It was probably closer to noon, which was abnormal for her. Sakura wasn't usually one to treat herself to sleeping in. Unsurprisingly, Ino interrupted her much-needed rest, but Sakura couldn't bring herself to feel an inkling of resentment towards to her friend. She was a morning person, after all.
"Sakuraaaa...why do you sound so tired? It's practically the afternoon at this point!" Ino exasperatedly remarked. Judging by her boundless energy emanating through the phone, Sakura could tell that Ino had been taking on the world for several hours by that point. Knowing her best friend, Ino had probably made a few friends and taken a few names by then, and the day had merely just begun for Sakura. Ino continued. "It's time to drag yourself out of bed, missy! Naruto had the bright idea to go to the lake this afternoon with all of us and I want to get there before the sun goes down!"
Groaning and draping her arm over her eyes, Sakura weighed her options. Either she could rest in bed all day and recuperate the remaining energy she needed to take on the rest of her day, or go along with Ino and quite possibly have the time of her life. Though the former sounded very appealing to Sakura, she knew that she would never hear the end of it if she decided to lounge in her bed all day.
So, against her better judgment, Sakura heaved herself out of bed and headed over to her closet while lovingly chiding Ino along the way.
"You really know how to wake someone on the wrong side of the bed, you know?" Sakura began as she sifted through the clothes hanging inside her small closet. She didn't own many swimsuits since she previously spent most of her time concerning herself with studying and not much else. She made a mental note that before she began hopefully working at the hospital of her dreams, she should get out and see what the world really had to offer.
Reaching for a simple white one piece swimsuit bordered with lace and sheer teal cover up to go along with it, Sakura decided that it was best to go along with Ino's absurdly spontaneous plans and go out and enjoy herself every once in a while. She didn't have to work at the bookstore until the next day, and her nearly sickly pale skin craved the warmth of sunlight it was severely lacking.
"Good morning to you too, grumpy," Ino chuckled on the other side of the line. She was so used to Sakura's temper that a light teasing was nothing compared to the eruptions that came from her best friend in the past. The poor girl had been so stressed out, partially of her own doing, that she didn't realize she was lashing out at the ones who cared about her much. She was truly blessed to have friends who understood her and wouldn't leave her behind due to this, Ino mused. She continued, "Make sure you're looking your best, Sakura! You clean up so well when you actually try, and I hear Naruto is bringing his tall, dark, and handsome friend along with him. Maybe you could finally score with someone!"
Sakura could practically hear Ino's eyebrows wiggling over the phone. She visibly cringed, but something churned deep inside her. She wasn't sure what was going on internally, but she pushed the feeling to the side, deciding it was nothing to concern herself with.
Even though it was a consistently warm feeling that enveloped her when Sasuke was mentioned. And even though she'd only had a brief encounter with him.
"Fine, fine, Ino. I'll try to look my best. Whatever that means to you," Sakura replied dismissively. Ino's definition of dressing to the nines today probably meant donning a skimpy blood red bikini with her skin decorated in heavy makeup that would likely wash off the moment she reached the water. And Sakura wasn't having it. If she were truly going to enjoy this day off, she was going to do it right.
Sakura stuck with the simple one piece she originally chose and stuffed it in the duffel bag that laid in the corner of her room, usually reserved for the days she chose to actually work out, though those days seemed to recently be few and far between. She made another mental note to get back into her ideal shape. Letting herself go wasn't in Sakura's plan for the future, and she refused to let it happen.
"Good girl," Ino sang melodically, "I'm going to be at your place in twenty. Be sure to be ready and douse yourself in sunscreen. Your skin probably isn't used to being in the sun anymore and I don't want you to burn and become a soggy tomato."
"Well said, Ino-Pig," Sakura responded annoyedly, nearly palpably grimacing. She was irritated; not that Ino used her condescending ways to lecture her, a doctor, on how to be safe that day. No, she was used to Ino mothering her, though they were merely a few months apart in age. What got under her skin was that she was right; Sakura had spent most of her time the past few years indoors under artificial lighting. She knew this, but having it confirmed by an outside party was disconcerting to her. Gritting her teeth, and biting on a snippy remark that threatened to slip its way past her lips, Sakura continued. "I'll bathe myself in the stuff if I have to. Just don't keep reminding me of the lack of life I've been leading. It'll pay off in the long run."
"I know, I know. You're Konoha's next star doctor, raking in millions and saving every life possible. Yada, yada…you know I support your endeavors, Sakura," Ino continued, going on for long enough that Sakura debated cutting off the line there and then, "But, you really should get out, and I will be the one to drag you by the hair if I have to."
Ino meant to come off as loving and concerned, but the sensitive part that resided within Sakura felt disgruntled by the repeated revelation. Once again, she set aside the feelings creeping up within her chest and moved on. Tossing the duffel bag over her left shoulder while keeping the phone to her right ear, Sakura made her way to the bathroom to lather herself in sunscreen and apply a light coating of makeup.
It was for herself, and no one else, Sakura reassured herself. There was no one to impress. She didn't anticipate needing to look her best when she would be actively swimming and bathing in the sun.
"There's no need for that. I'm basically ready to go," Sakura said, letting the notes of irritance that lingered from her interrupted sleep wash away as she placed the phone call on speakerphone and splashed cold water on her face. "I just need to brush my teeth and decide what to do with my hair. Let me know when you pull up so we can head out!"
"Don't take too long," Ino began, her voice reverberating throughout the immaculately porcelain bathroom, but caught herself just as soon as she did, "Though I guess I don't have to worry too much about that. You'll be done before I even hang up."
"Tsk, you know me so well," Sakura replied, her voice laced with amusement and levity, all signs of her grumpiness gone within the moments of the phone call. The anticipation of a much needed day in the sun outweighed her craving for more sleep. Letting a smile break through her bare face and be felt through her words, Sakura ended the phone call with a brief goodbye.
"See you in fifteen. Bring what Mother Nature has given you, and let the laws of attraction work for themselves."
Hello everyone! This was chapter four. I hope you enjoyed it! Things are somewhat picking up at this point, so stay tuned for the next chapter! I was excited to write the interaction between Sasuke and Sakura at the lake, and I truly hope you enjoy it. There is a clear picture in my mind where I would like everything to go, but the reviews will definitely help influence everything and nudge it all in the right direction for us all. :)
As always, please like/subscribe/review and let me know what you think! Have a great week :)