Chapter 4. Worth It
Heart stuttering, Sakura froze at the edge of the kitchen, eyes glued to the man pouring himself a cup of tea.
"You were expecting someone else." It wasn't a question, but she nodded dumbly.
"And you're so out of practice that you didn't even notice the difference?" Again, not a question, but more of a insult than an inquisition.
Sakura scowled. "Forgive me for not immediately assuming the man suppressing his chakra in my kitchen is the same person I haven't seen or heard from in two years."
Sasuke sent her a reprimanding look. "I didn't want to bother you."
Green eyes narrowed at his weak excuse. "No, you were trying to avoid me."
"Don't act like you understand, Sakura," Sasuke said lowly, his tone warning her not to test his patience.
Sakura, however, was beyond caring. Crossing her arms over her chest, she hissed back at him, "Don't treat me like an idiot, Sasuke."
"Hn."
Lifting the cup to his lips, Sasuke took a moment to take in her appearance. Starting at the ruby red of her painted toes, his eyes traveled upward, tracing the soft curves and contours of her long, lean legs until they disappeared beneath her choice of short yellow shorts and over-sized black T-shirt. Her loose attire couldn't hide everything, though, and Sasuke couldn't help but appreciate how well she had filled-out over the past two years.
Careful to keep his eyes from lingering longer than necessary, Sasuke watched as a shapely pair of hips led to a small waist and modest chest beneath the almost overwhelming amount of black cotton. When a soft growl rose in the medic's throat, he lifted his gaze to soft slope of her shoulders and noticed several shoulder-length tendrils of petal-pink hair.
"You grew out your hair," he mused softly, his eyes following the silky strands up the cream-colored skin of her neck until he reached her heart-shaped face.
Her cheeks had lost some of their baby fat and without her bangs to frame her face, her bright green eyes drew his attention almost immediately.
"You're actually angry," he observed mildly.
"Did you expect me to be happy?" she asked, watching with growing irritation as the Uchiha avenger finished his tea and turned away from her to set his empty cup in the sink.
"I expected you to be faithful," he replied, his tone clipped as he turned back to face her, his expression blank.
Sakura gaped.
"You're kidding." But of course he wasn't. Sasuke never joked - about anything - least of all about the things he believed belonged to him.
Suddenly, she wasn't feeling so nervous about his unexpected visit. Instead, she felt years of frustration and hurt begin to bubble-up inside her, threatening to boil-over. And so, riding the violent surge of emotions, Sakura stalked into her kitchen and boldly jabbed a finger into the avenger's chest.
"You left," she hissed, happily digging the tip of her finger into his sternum as she pressed on, "no letters, no visits, nothing. For two whole years, Sasuke. You have no right to judge me for choosing to move on with my life."
"Who is it?"
Sakura recoiled at the sharpness in his tone. "Excuse me?"
"Who is it?" Taking hold of her wrist, Sasuke removed her aggressive index finger from his chest and stared down at her. He then tugged on the hem of her T-shirt with his free hand. "Because this isn't my shirt, Sakura."
Scowling up at the dark-haired jonin, Sakura growled, "No, it's not," before slapping his hand away when his fingertips brushed against the exposed skin of her outer thigh.
Sasuke frowned deeper before tightening his grip on her wrist and pulling her body flush against his.
"You move on quickly," he sneered, raising his free hand and slipping it under her chin. "What happened to all those years of you professing your love for me? Of promising to wait for me to come home? Did any of it mean anything, Sakura?" Turning her head to left, he ran the pad of his thumb almost gently over the dark red mark under her ear. "Or is your new fling just physical?"
Sakura snapped her head to the side, out of his grasp, and snarled at him, "What? So now you're going to play the part of the jealous lover? Once I've finally been able to start over with someone else... When I'm finally happy?"
Sasuke's upper lip curled back in a sneer as his gaze danced with dark humor. "Happy? Don't be ridiculous, Sakura. You could never be happy with someone who isn't me."
She saw red, and not because of Sasuke's harsh gaze. No, just as she felt her anger start to overwhelm her desire to try and be civil with Sasuke, Sasuke dealt the last blow, ruining any chance he'd have at redemption.
"Or maybe you're finally so far gone that you've mistaken a good f*ck for love?"
Eyes wide, Sakura felt her chakra begin to gather violently in her clenched fists. However, before she could even flinch, move an inch to pummel the vile man in front of her into next week, another, much darker and ominous voice rose from the doorway.
"Now that is rich."
Sakura watched with wide eyes as Sasuke stiffened in response to the sudden surge of chakra in the room. And, had he not shoved her behind him a moment later, she would have laughed at the rare look of surprise that appeared on the Uchiha's face.
Standing by the entrance of the kitchen with a takeout bag in one hand and chakra strings spinning angrily in the other was a rather bored-looking Sasori. However, Sakura could see from the tense set of his shoulders that the redhead was less than pleased to find Sasuke manhandling her in her kitchen. Eyes narrowed, Sasori's gaze flickered between the Uchiha and the squirming medic he had pinned to counter behind him. When he was satisfied that Sakura seemed unharmed, Sasori settled his gaze on the Sharingan-Rinnegan wielder.
"You're supposed to be dead," growled the Uchiha, unsheathing his chokuto in preparation for a fight.
"Obviously, I'm not." Sasori said blandly, ignoring the infuriated man across from him as he leaned over to set down the bag of food. When he straightened back up, he nodded towards Sakura. "Thanks to her."
"What?" Sasuke whipped around to glare down at the irritated medic.
Folding her arms across her chest, Sakura glared back. "You would have known if you ever bothered to write."
"Tch." Turning back to face the puppet master, Sasuke snarled, "I guess I'll have make sure you stay dead, this time."
Not a moment later, Sasuke launched himself across the room, his blade slicing through the opposing drywall like butter as Sasori ducked out of the way. Reacting quickly, Sasori pulled a kunai from his thigh holster and dashed for the living room, parrying Sasuke's powerful thrusts and swings with ease. However, when his leg caught the edge of the coffee table, Sasori faltered and Sasuke took the chance to drive his blade into Sasori's shoulder.
Grunting as his back hit the wall below the living room window, Sasori retched when Sasuke slammed into him and pushed the blade of his sword through Sasori's back, pinning him to the wall. The pain was excruciating and Sasori could hear the blood thumping in his ears. Gripping the kunai in his hand tightly, he glared up at the smug Uchiha. He had held back because he knew, despite her anger towards the young avenger, Sakura still cared for the Uchiha brat. Now, though, as his vision started to blur from the pain, he was regretting granting the Uchiha such courtesy.
However, before he had the chance to shove his kunai into the arrogant ninja's side and twist it violently, Sasori watched instead as a bare fist made brief contact with the Uchiha's temple and sent the man flying across the room. Smooth legs and pastel pink hair were the next things to fill his vision as he heard Sakura screech angrily.
"Enough!" she bellowed as she came to stand between the two, completely ignoring the unconscious Sasuke in favor of crouching down to tend to the heavily bleeding Sasori. "Idiots, the both of you."
"Hey, I was trying to keep your apartment from turning into a warzone," Sasori defended weakly, eyes squeezed tightly shut as blood continued to seep from the throbbing wound in his shoulder.
"Shut up," she scolded harshly, her green eyes hard and focused as she knelt in front of him and tore his shirt open. Placing a warm hand on his chest, she wrapped her other hand firmly around the hilt of Sasuke's chokuto. "This is going to hurt."
Not waiting for him to nod, Sakura ripped the sword from its place in Sasori's shoulder and immediately poured healing chakra into the wound. Gritting his teeth as pain tore through his entire right arm, Sasori cracked open an eye to glare at the medic as she continued to pull pieces of blood-soaked fabric from his chest with the hand not filling him with her chakra.
Hands clenched into fists in an attempt to ignore the pain, Sasori barely noticed Sakura straddling his legs until he felt her weight settle on his lap and she placed a wet hand over the hole in his shoulder.
"Lean forward, if you can," she commanded calmly, pushing glowing green chakra directly into wound as she wrapped her other arm around his neck to help ease him forward.
Aware of the agony the small movement was causing him, Sakura worked quickly to peel what remained of his T-shirt off his back and place a second hand over the opening in his back. Groaning softly, Sasori leaned heavily against the pretty kunoichi in his lap. After having spent nearly twenty years as a wooden puppet, he had forgotten how painful it was to be mortally wounded and he was never more grateful to be in the good graces of a highly-trained medic.
"Just a little longer, I promise," she assured him gently, sitting back on her heels to support his weight as she finished stitching together the severed blood vessels in his shoulder and moved on to reconnecting his torn muscles. When she felt him tuck his head into the side of her neck she tensed. "Sasori?"
When he said nothing, she quickened her chakra flow and used her shoulder to jostle him. "Sasori," she spoke more firmly.
"Sorry," he breathed quietly, taking a deep breath before continuing, "It's hard to stay awake."
Frowning, Sakura pressed the heel of her palm harder into his shoulder, eliciting a sharp hiss from the injured puppeteer.
"I need you to stay awake, Sasori," she said unapologetically when she felt him growl. "Please."
After a few more moments of tense silence, he responded, "Only because you asked so nicely."
Nodding slightly, Sakura shifted his head on her shoulder once more before focusing on knitting together the last layers of his skin and reactivating his primary nerve branches. She'd spend some more time later tending to the rest.
"I'm done." Shaking him gently, Sakura breathed a soft sigh of relief when he lifted his head and tried to sit back against the wall. When he was finally up and resting against the wall, Sasori sighed.
"Thank you, Sakura," he breathed, his slate-colored eyes still a little dazed as he tried to meet her gaze.
Smiling softly, Sakura placed a hand on top of his and leaned over to kiss his forehead gently. When she pulled away, she touched her forehead to his and whispered, "I won't let you die so easily."
Somehow, Sasori found the energy to chuckle at his green-eyed savior before shutting his eyes, ready to succumb to his exhaustion. "You should check on the brat."
He didn't bother to look for her reaction, he was too tired to care, but he knew she was taking his advice when he felt her presence leave his side and move across the room.
"Sasuke." Gone was the gentle tone she had used with Sasori. "Get up."
Sasori heard a groan rise from the other side of the room, followed by a soft growl from their pink-haired caregiver. A few seconds later, the rustling of fabric and another groan had punctuated the Uchiha's return to reality.
"Are you hurt anywhere?" Sakura asked the scowling man.
"No." Watching the Uchiha wince as he opened a bloodshot eye, Sakura sighed.
"Liar." Lightly batting away the hand Sasuke had lifted to stop her, Sakura raised a pair of glowing green hands and placed them gently on either side of his forehead.
She sat quietly for the next few minutes, healing the burst optical vessels and relieving some of the intracranial pressure that had built up as a result of the small fracture she'd made in his temporal bone. Normally, such injuries didn't take long to heal, but she had already spent a significant amount of her reserves on Sasori and didn't want to completely drain herself in case things got out of hand again. When she was finished, she lowered her hands and carefully rose to her feet. Taking a moment to glance from one man to the other, she sighed.
"Now that neither of you are on the verge of dying, I will be right back."
"Where are you going?" Sasuke asked. Sakura's eye twitched when Sasori snorted from across the room.
Shooting her lover a sharp look, Sakura decided to humor the paranoid jonin as she moved towards the hallway that led to the bedrooms.
"To put on a bra."
When Sakura returned, she was relieved to find her apartment still intact and the men exactly where she left them. Pointedly ignoring the brief glance Sasuke sent towards her chest, Sakura walked over to Sasori and handed him a damp wash cloth and the small bundle of fabric in her hand before taking a seat beside him on the floor. Leaning her back against part of the wall that hadn't been splattered with Sasori's blood, she crossed her legs and spared a quick glance at her redheaded companion.
"Are you okay?" she asked, watching him carefully as he wiped the blood off his chest before taking the cloth from him and wiping his back.
"Sore," he replied, his voice still sounding somewhat strained as he carefully stuck his arms through the sleeves of the clean T-shirt and gingerly moved his shoulder to lift the cotton garment over his head and slowly pull the shirt down the rest of his torso, "but alive."
"Good." Turning to face Sasuke she nodded, "And you?"
"I'm fine."
"Good, because you're paying for the holes in my walls." When the Uchiha grunted, Sakura sighed.
"What are you doing here, Sasuke?"
Raising an eyebrow, Sasuke's lips formed a thin line at the accusatory tone of Sakura's voice.
"I wanted to see you," he said calmly, watching her carefully with his one dark eye.
"Well, you've seen me," she said sharply, her gaze narrowing. "Now, tell me the truth."
Turning his head away, Sasuke parroted his usual response. "I can't."
"Then leave." Surprised, Sakura and Sasuke both whipped around to stare at the puppet master leaning up against the wall.
"Stay out of this," Sasuke hissed, glaring at the reclining former Akatsuki member with a mixture of disgust and hatred.
"I refuse," Sasori responded, his gaze shifting from Sakura to Sasuke. "Sakura is my business, so by extension, so is this."
"That's a terrible reason."
Sasori smirked, he was getting under Sasuke's skin.
"I could say the same to you, Uchiha," he said smoothly, as he set cool, gray-brown eyes on the younger man. This time, though, Sakura piped up.
"What are you talking about?" She asked, looking between the two men with a raised brow.
"Nothing," Sasuke answered, glaring at the redhead.
Sasori never took his eyes off of Sasuke. "You've been using your missions as a convenient excuse, but you've worked quite hard to avoid Sakura for the past two years, haven't you, Sasuke?"
"Shut up."
Sakura gaped and turned her gaze to a tense Sasuke who refused to meet her eyes. "Sasuke?"
"I have my reasons, Sakura," he said gruffly, jaw clenched.
"What the hell?"
Sasuke ignored the kunoichi and glared balefully at the redhead. "So she brought you back to life and now you're sleeping with her? What's up with that?" he asked harshly, earning a sharp glare from both shinobi.
"I'm-" Despite her own irritation with the brooding man before her, Sakura was too afraid of what words were about to leave her lover's lips to let him finish.
"-serving as an information broker to Konoha." Sending Sasori a meaningful look, she continued, "He stays with me when he is in the village."
Sasuke's brow furrowed. "You're sleeping together."
"Well, we actually have separate rooms," Sasori responded, watching with amusement as the Uchiha shot him a vicious glare before looking at Sakura.
"Sakura," he said stubbornly, staring intensely at the medic as he waited for her to speak.
"Yes, Sasuke," she said with an exasperated sigh. "Sasori and I are together."
To her chagrin, her former lover nodded before standing and moving towards the door. "You're actually leaving?"
Sasuke sent her a scathing look as he set his hand on the doorknob. "I have no reason to stay."
Letting out a heavy sigh, Sakura stood and met him at the door, hands clasped behind her back. "How long will you be in the village this time?"
Sasuke shrugged, "I don't know."
Sakura nodded before smiling softly at him. "Well, all things considered, I'm glad I got to see you, Sasuke."
"Hn." he grunted, looking down his nose at the bright little female. "I hope you know what you're doing, Sakura," he warned, gaze flickering in the direction of the living room where the puppeteer had remained to give them space.
Following his gaze in the direction of the redhead, Sakura smiled tenderly before looking back up at her old teammate. "I do."
Nodding, Sasuke turned back to the door and twisted the knob. As he stepped through the threshold and out of her apartment, he called over his shoulder. "Goodbye, Sakura."
When Sakura returned to the living room, she found Sasori sitting against the wall with his eyes closed. Sighing at the thirty minutes of chaos that had just transpired in her apartment, Sakura walked over and sat down beside the resting puppeteer.
"Well, that was interesting," he commented needlessly. Sakura nodded as she stared at her ruby-painted toes and sighed again. Sasori looked over at her and asked, "Are you okay?"
Sakura smiled at his thoughtfulness before nodding. Eyeing his shoulder, she asked him the same question. Sasori chuckled.
"This is why I avoid indoor battles," he said, trying to lighten the somber mood that had fallen over the apartment ever since Sasuke's departure.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Sasori sighed, he knew this was going to come up.
"I didn't want to upset you," he said, watching her reaction carefully as he continued, "I also didn't feel that it was my place."
Sakura laughed bitterly, "What? Were you hoping he would tell me himself?"
"I was," he admitted lamely as he watched Sakura's lips twist into a sneer.
"Fat chance of that ever happening," she remarked, wrapping her arms around her knees before leaning her head on Sasori's uninjured shoulder.
"So it seems," he acknowledged, staring at the pale yellow walls on the living room. "I will let you know the next time something comes up."
"The next time?" Sakura asked, looking surprised.
Sasori gave her a sidelong look. "Your teammate is up to a great deal more than you might think, Sakura."
Eyes wide, Sakura fell silent. She knew she couldn't ask how he knew because, even if she was the Hokage's former apprentice, there were limits to what the he could reveal about his missions and what Sasori knew could also jeopardize Sasuke's missions - it was better for her not to know.
And so they sat there on the floor in silence, content with one another's presence, for several minutes before Sasori spoke.
"So, do you dress in my T-shirts to entertain all of your guests?" he asked cheekily, grinning when Sakura tore herself away from his side and glared.
"Of course I don't!" she snapped, face bright red as he chuckled beside her. "Don't laugh at me, you jerk!"
"Oh, come on, you didn't really expect me to say nothing about it, did you?" he asked, thoroughly amused by blush covering her cheeks and the tips of her ears.
"You brought back food, right?" she grumbled, ignoring his statement in favor of getting off the floor and going into the kitchen.
From his spot on the floor, Sasori admired the way his T-shirt slid over his lover's lithe body with each sway of her hips, clinging to her curves in all the right places.
"If that food isn't on this table in the next thirty seconds, I'm changing!" Sakura called from the kitchen as she set the teapot back on the stove to reheat the tea Sasuke had made.
Chuckling to himself, Sasori hauled himself up off the floor and grabbed the bag of takeout he'd left outside of the kitchen before waltzing to join his fiery girlfriend at the table.
Grinning at his obedience, Sakura walked over and peeked inside the brown paper bag before withdrawing the pre-made bento boxes and setting them on the table. Accepting the chopsticks that Sasori handed to her over her shoulder, Sakura then flopped down in one of her wooden kitchen chairs and dug-in. She only paused to look up when the redhead slid into the seat across from her and began to eat. And when he lifted his head to meet her gaze, she couldn't help but smile.
"What is it?" he asked, lowering his chopsticks to give her his full attention. When she shook her head, he frowned.
Smiling softly at his attentiveness, Sakura looked shyly down at her food before meeting his curious stare. "I'm just glad you're here," she said carefully, watching his reaction as she continued, "I don't think I could have stayed calm if you hadn't shown up."
Nodding slightly, Sasori gestured towards her food with his chopsticks. "Eat."
However, after a few more seconds of silences, when she still hadn't moved to touch her food, Sasori reached forward and picked up a piece of the shrimp tempura and popped it in his mouth. When she still made no move to reprimand him or defend her favorite food, the ex-Suna nin reached for another morsel, only to earn a startled shriek from his spacey companion and a swift slap on the wrist.
"Hey!" she exclaimed, pulling her bento box out of his reach and pouting, "Eat your own food!"
Pinning her with a serious look, he gestured once more to her food, "Only if you eat yours."
Grumbling under her breath about pushy, food-swiping men, Sakura set her bento down and began eating under Sasori's watchful eye. And when she finished, he set her empty bento in his and stood, patting her gently on the head before walking over to toss the containers into the receptacle. When he returned, he took her chopsticks and his empty teacup to the sink.
And, as his skilled hands made quick work of the dishes, she couldn't help but feel a deep sense of appreciation and affection blossom in her chest for the man standing in her kitchen. Calm, caring and reliable, Sasori had, at some point, become the rock that kept her grounded through hard times, her silent strength when she needed it most. And she was sad that it had taken an unexpected encounter with Sasuke to make her realize just how important Sasori had become in her life. Rising from her seat at the kitchen table, Sakura walked quietly over to her redheaded companion as he dried his hands with the dish towel.
Sensing her approach, Sasori set down the towel and was about to turn to face her when her arms slipped around his waist and she hugged him from behind, her cheek pressing into the back of his uninjured shoulder. Choosing to stay quiet, Sasori carefully rested his dry hands over hers and gave them a gentle squeeze.
It had been a few months ago, at one of the Konoha 11's biannual dinners, that he had learned - mostly from Ino - the full story about Sakura's relationship with the elusive Sharingan-user.
"She loved him so much," the blonde had told him, "but even after all this time, that bastard has done nothing but leave her behind."
The amount of contempt with which the Yamanaka had spoken about her former classmate had surprised him at the time, but, after watching the brief interaction between the kind-hearted medic and her former love, he was beginning to think things were a bit more complicated than anyone was willing to talk about. And while he had come to accept that their bond, however strained, could never be severed, he still hated seeing the impact Sasuke had on Sakura.
"Just let her know that she's not alone," had been Ino's advice to him and, as he felt the arms around his middle tighten and the woman behind him take a deep, shaky breath against his back, Sasori silently thanked the noisy blonde.
Careful not to break the circle of her arms, Sasori gently pried himself loose of Sakura's grip and turned around. Leaning back against the kitchen counter, he wrapped one arm around her shoulders and slid his other hand around to cradle the back of her head before pulling her against his chest and letting her bury her face in his shoulder. Seconds later, he leaned down whispered, "You can cry if you want, Sakura."
Shoulders stiffening, Sakura felt her lower lip begin to tremble as the salty tears welling up in the corners of her eyes spilled over onto her cheeks. Releasing her arms from around his waist, she clutched at the fabric covering his back and bit her bottom lip, trying hard to keep herself from completely falling apart. However, as Sasori tightened his grip on her shoulders and gently pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, Sakura felt the dam in her heart that had held back years-worth of loneliness and painful emotions burst. Leaning against his chest, she sobbed.
This is what she had be longing for for so many years.
To not need to be strong every single second of every single day. To be accepted.
Feeling Sasori's long fingers carefully release her hair from the confines of her topknot, Sakura hiccuped. However, when she tried to lift her head, he tucked her further into the cage of his arms and clicked his tongue.
"Don't even try." he scolded her lightly, knowing full well that she would try to apologize for her breakdown the moment he let her. "I won't accept it."
Hiccuping, Sakura felt her heart swell and her tears renew as his words sunk in.
This is why she had chosen him.
Sure, he was gruff and he was anti-social; and he could be so grouchy and difficult sometimes that she wanted to wring his neck. But, unlike Sasuke, unlike almost everyone else, he had made the effort to stay beside her.
He hadn't coddled her like her teammates, and neither had he tried to distract her from her problems like her parents. Instead, much like what he was doing now, he forced her to face them head-on and on her own terms, while he quietly supported her from a distance.
Shifting slightly within his firm hug, Sakura sniffled softly and tried to relax against the warmth of Sasori's chest. When he felt her breathing become more even, he loosened his grip ever-so-slightly and peered down into glistening green eyes. Frowning at her puffy eyelids, he swiped the pad of his thumb across her cheek and wiped away any lingering tears.
"Thank you," she said softly.
Sasori gave her a small nod before closing his eyes and resting his chin on top on her head. Sakura giggled softly, watching as the tension left her lover's shoulders and he breathed a soft sigh of relief before carefully intertwining the fingers of one of their hands.
'Yeah,' she thought to herself, smiling tenderly when the light squeeze she'd given his hand was returned, 'he'd been worth it.'
Yes, yes, it was a very short and rather anti-climactic fight scene, but I assure you Sasuke will make a return at some point and there will be more action later. For now, I would just like everyone to enjoy these sweet SasoSaku-centric moments while they last because later, when the story really gets underway, they may be less frequent.
I also do believe that with the next few chapters, the rest of any questions about background information should be answered and Sasori and Sakura will be heading out on their journey! (Still sorry/not sorry about Sasori's OOCness, hopefully it hasn't gotten out of control yet)
But, all of that aside...
Chapter Four... Thoughts?
~Smash41KMF
- 01.13.2021