Chapter 8 - Crumbling walls

"Stay for tonight, I'm sure we can find lots of things to talk about." She gave him an encouraging look, a kind smile changed the shy one.

Her green eyes widened when she noticed the smallest of smiles crossing his own features. "I'll let you have me for tonight then." She could've sworn to god she saw his dark eyes smiling softly at her and it made her heart flutter in a way she couldn't explain.

That evening they talked about lots of things, simple things really, they got to know the likes and dislikes of each other, their favourite colour and food. And for once Sakura felt as if she had a simple but an interesting conversation with someone for the first time in a while. It felt like a fresh breath of air. And for some odd reason pinkette felt as if she should appreciate the conversation that happened between them, she clearly understood about Shisui more and she felt grateful for that. She could even say she changed her mind about Shisui a lot, as before she imagined him as a completely different person and she could only curse herself for doing so. Shisui seemed like a type of person she could easily get along with and maintain a healthy friendship. Although, for some odd reason he reminded her so much of Naruto, it seemed rather suspicious.

The both of them were laying on her bed staring at the ceiling. It was late at night already, but they were still spending time together. Deep inside Sakura felt as if she had more questions, a lot more questions for him. A part of her greedily wanted to know about him, even more than she found out already, she felt as if the information she obtained from him today was too little to satisfy her. She didn't know why she was so drawn to finding out more about him, it was probably that time when they talked in the forest at night after he came back from his mission. It was as if someone ignited a spark of interest within her and before she could think even further, words came out of her mouth unexpectedly.

"Why did you become Anbu?" She asked looking at the ceiling, she was really curious actually, she knew Shisui was Itachi's level ninja, a prodigy amongst the Uchiha as well. It only made her more drawn to find out the reason. Although, it may be an Uchiha thing for all she knows.

Why? No one has ever dared to ask him this question before. The curly haired man was so lost and torn at the same time. What kind of answer was he supposed to give her? Because he wanted to become strong, to protect his loved ones? Or because he couldn't care less if he died on a S ranked mission? He felt both ways strongly at the same time, he wanted to protect the only two precious people life has left for him, but at the same time he felt lonely, he felt as if it would be even better if he would die, vanishing from this world seemed like a peaceful idea to him sometimes.

There was nothing left for Shisui Uchiha. His house was empty, there was no mother or father waiting for him to get back home safely from mission, the only sympathy he'd get was from Itachi's family. An orphan in Uchiha clan, pathetic. He was aware of the looks he would, passing by the compound, and it was alright, he managed to get used to it.

But at the end of the day he would still feel alone. Maybe that's why he was trying to be so cheerful around others, so friendly and inviting, because if others believe him to be like that maybe he'd feel like that on the inside as well? Maybe that's why he was trying to find comfort in different bed each night with a different woman. He knew women could be caring, caring like his mother used to be or just like her as well…

Was it too much to ask, just for a little bit of comfort to help him forget?

He didn't want to wake up in that old empty house, he didn't want to feel lonely... All he wanted was to feel happy, to feel as if there was someone that would actually care about him. He just wanted a normal life after all, was it too much to ask? There were only two people who made his existence bearable and he would thank them forever.

He didn't know why, why did he feel so pressured to answer her question in the first place? Was it because he paid her mind a visit, because he got to see her so raw inside out that it just made sense to answer her same way? Or maybe it was because he felt obligated to help her? Was he was trying to find comfort in her as well? He did that so many times before it became a regular routine, a different woman with a different name, name he couldn't recall later. Could he bring himself to remember any of their faces or at least their names? The answer was simple. No.

All he ever knew was that lust, desire all of this made it easier for him to forget about his problems even if it was just for a brief moment, it was like a pleasurable escape he would see himself coming back to each time he would feel down or frustrated.

"I want to protect people who are precious to me." It was only a few moments later when he finally decided to answered her question, Sakura was almost sure he wouldn't. She noticed the sadness lingering in his husky tone, she felt as if his black eyes stared into nothing and everything at the same time. She didn't know what to say so she decided to ask something else instead.

"Say Shisui, do you remember that time in the forest when you said you didn't want to go home?" she asked almost nervously, she knew she might be touching a sensitive topic, nevertheless she did it anyway, she felt as if she had to know. Naive and selfish if you think about it, two things she exceeded at.

"Hn." she heard a grunt.

"What you meant by saying there was no one waiting for you at home that night?" She bit her lip, her heart was pulsing into her ears, it was pounding madly. What right did she have to ask him something like this? She almost felt ashamed of herself, but something within herself kept pushing further.

She heard him inhale deeply and he closed his eyes, hiding the pure black orbs from her view.

"I don't have a family, no one is waiting for me at home." He simply said and for some reason Sakura felt as if she shouldn't have touched this topic at all. The sudden sheer pressure of sadness had nearly crushed Sakura, her breath hitched as she didn't expect an answer like this. She thought he may have had some family problems, but to be an orphan...Sakura felt sorry for him, although she could've sworn she felt that he didn't want any of this, he didn't want her to pity him.

"I-I'm sorry…" the pink haired woman said anyways, her voice was quiet and laced with raw sadness.

"Don't be, it's not your fault." Came an immediate response, it felt as if it was almost too quick, it felt as if he knew the answer before it the words even left her mouth.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have touched this topic in the first place." She bit her lip, angry at herself, Sakura decided to spare a glance into her lap as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"I know things I shouldn't know about you as well Sakura, you don't have to feel bad about asking me." He sighed in irritation until he caught a sight of Sakura and noticed the way she was biting her bottom lip. He quickly turned his head away from the view. It wasn't the best moment to be looking at her like this. Was she trying to provoke him?

"Can I be your friend?" He heard her voice which seemed more like a whisper than anything else really, and once again he was facing her, she was still biting her lip, although she was doing this nervously as if out of habit. And Shisui couldn't help but feel off guard when he understood what her question meant, his expression probably gave it all away anyways, he felt so surprised that his eyes went wide, he was almost gaping with this mouth open at the pink haired woman.

He saw her shift from her place and within seconds she was almost sitting in his lap, vivid green eyes were staring into his black ones fiercely. He was staring into her eyes endlessly until her hand moved up to cup his cheek in a comforting way.

"I want t-to care about you…" She bit her already bruised lip again and closed her eyes for a brief second. "I want to help you as well, if you want you can always talk to me..." She looked into his eyes once again, he felt as if her eyes were burning into him, fiery gaze that lingered on his face made him feel almost hot under her touch. "If you feel in need of comfort you can always come to me." She turned her head away softly, her eyes facing a complete opposite side from his face, a slight blush crept over her cheekbones, the nervousness she was feeling was practically vibrating out of her. Just what the hell she was thinking suggesting things like that?

Shisui was stunned to say the least, the black haired Uchiha couldn't stop staring at the pink haired woman that was nervously wriggling in his lap and his gaze was becoming more and more intense. Seconds turned into minutes as Sakura was still sitting in his lap, refusing to move as well as refusing to leave without an answer. He was unaware just how close they were until she started wriggling in his lap more intensely, unaware of what she was doing, which immediately sent a pleasurable sensation into his groin.

He nearly grunted, and his train of thoughts shifted to something more interesting.

Sakura nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt his long slender fingers tangling into her long tresses and forcefully pulling her face close to his.

"There's no way going back then." Sakura couldn't help flinching at the suddenness of his silky voice breaking the silence. Her eyes were staring into pure crimson red and she couldn't help but find it erotic. Why, why on earth could she not keep her eyes off him? The dangerous depths of his Sharingan. The tempting lips that had graced hers once before, so fleetingly. It felt insane, surreal to say the least. Has she lost her mind? Sakura found her heart racing for more than just fear, it was excitement. Was he going to kiss her? She felt like she wanted him to do so, even after everything that happened during the day.

She felt him rub his thumb slightly over her swollen lips. "Don't bite them if you don't want me to come at you, Sakura." He said before pressing his own lips against her soft swollen ones.

He kissed her. Hard.

Sakura's lips were soft and nubile and perfect, moulding obediently to his mouth and he couldn't help but like the feeling of it.

Gentling his mouth, Shisui realised that this was more than likely her first proper kiss, one that wasn't a part of her training. He apologetically licked across her lower lip before sucking it into his mouth, tasting the tea she had consumed earlier and a subtle undertone of sweetness that was simply… Sakura.

Skin pounding and sending tremors of electricity throughout her body, Sakura was stunned into submission as Shisui claimed her lips, butterflies alighting into being in her stomach. Sweat broke out onto the palms of her hands where she fisted the collar of his navy, almost black shirt, wringing it between her fingers.

Something warm and wet slipped across the seam of her lips, sending a pulse of heat straight to her groin and a helpless gasp slipped from her, she couldn't control herself when she was with him.

Sakura felt a throbbing pulse her forehead, the pulse was starting to her more intense, but she dared not to open her eyes, nor did she sent her chakra to inspect the cause of it.

Shisui took the opportunity and plunged his tongue into her sweet mouth, drawing it along the ridged roof of her mouth, teeth and her own appendage as he consumed himself with tasting her. Sakura made a soft sound in her throat and it made his pants suddenly too tight. Gently leaning back so as not to startle her, Shisui licked her lips and began kissing her cheek, nose and any skin within reach as he allowed Sakura to get some of her breath back.

It was burning. Anywhere that his lips had graced, the skin was burning and pounding for him to return and soothe it. Sakura heaved in long draughts of air, unable to come to grips with what was happening to her. Despite the fact that it derived her of oxygen, Sakura wanted him to kiss her again and without conscious thought, her fingers threaded into his wild curly mane and guided his mouth back to hers. There was a flash of surprise in the onyx eyes before Shisui returned to her lips in less than a second, much gentler this time as he coaxed her tongue into his mouth, wrapping and caressing it with his own.

Though inexperienced and awkward, Shisui couldn't deny that there was an uncanny pleasure to have the holy Godaime's apprentice kiss him back. The tentative movements of her lips and the unsure caress of her tongue were causing his pants to restrict painfully once again, her innocence captivating and absolutely breath-taking. Even if he did have the honour and privilege of being her first, Shisui didn't think he would ever tire of her, and he also did not believe she would ever shake her natural innocence. It was simply part of Sakura, a trait that she carried unknowingly.

Confusion took over the pinkette's face as Shisui suddenly shifted away from her, his eyes were stuck on the bird that was gently knocking onto Sakura's bedroom window.

The older Uchiha moved his body away from the comfortable bed letting the beautiful crow in. Sakura's brows furrowed at the big crow that was now resting on Shisui's forearm. He took one look at the bird and Sakura saw both his and the crow's eyes turn crimson red, they even shared the same pattern, so easily recognisable to her by now that she could tell what it was without thinking. Sharingan.

"What's happening?" She asked somewhat anxious.

"A mission." Shisui said simply, whilst letting out a sigh, he seemed rather bored more than anything else by the message he received.

"Right now?" Sakura asked slightly moving away from the position the Uchiha has left her in, her voice laced with frusturation.

"Unfortunately." He said, rather amused now, in fact Shisui wasn't really happy being cockblocked by a crow of his own, but the sight of a flushed and slightly frustrated female was really amusing to him. He couldn't deny the fact that he would rather stay with her right now, instead of going on a boring mission, but duty came first, as it did for all of the shinobi that were anbu.

The curly haired Uchiha body-flickered behind the pinkette making her slightly flinch in response. Shisui didn't waste any time, he used his large warm hand to get rid of the long pink tresses that were hiding her slender velvety neck. Goosebumps arose on top of Sakura's skin merely by the slight and experienced touch of his long fingers.

Smirking against the vulnerable neck, the curly haired man caught the subtle flesh between his teeth and sucked on it gently. Sakura couldn't help but feel as if every movement of his taut, muscular body was a mirror to his personality; thorough and unyielding yet strangely gentle. Satin-soft lips started a warming trail from her abused shoulder to the column of her throat, fixating over the very prominent pulse. Sakura twisted in attempt to escape, wanting to kiss him herself, but she only felt the wet warmth settling over her skin, Shisui's tongue laving at her neck mercilessly until he reached her earlobe.

"We'll continue this later, Sakura." Shisui's velvety voice was pitched low, encouraging huskiness to it that made Sakura shiver delicately at the thought of his words. Somewhere deep in her mind she was sure as hell that she wanted to continue this later.

Without any more words said the curly haired Uchiha vanished from her sight leaving her alone in the dark bedroom. Sakura had a bad feeling that she was definitely going to find out what they'll continuing on later.

"Don't you think it's about time you open that door?" She heard a distant voice echoing through the darkness. Not again...

"It's time you stop building those tall, thick walls in your heart, Sakura." Another one nearly interrupted the first one.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura couldn't lie, she was pissed, since when did these voices start to appear in her head again? She really wanted it all to be just a nightmare, but that just wasn't the case, she glared into the darkness.

"I never built any walls around my heart." She said, voice stone cold, not intending to share the reality of the pain she went through. She wished for the voices to just leave her alone, she was already working on that goddamn kekkei genkai, what else could they want from her?

"Those walls of yours are keeping the love and lust…the joy and the sadness…All of your emotions at bay."

"And it's those goddamn walls that are keeping you from invading my heart." She screamed almost furious, a fucking voice in her head won't go out and about telling her what to do with her life, shannaroo!

"Then tell me, what does a simple human have if they have no passion, no love in their life?" she could've felt the dark voice narrowing at her, it got darker, more sinister.

"Peace and duty." The words left Sakura's mouth without thinking twice, she was a shinobi, not some helpless girl, she had her priorities straight, that's what she always told herself.

"You're lying to yourself." The voice simply said, ignoring her answer. "You always wanted to experience love, you just didn't have any luck with it." The voice said somewhat gentlier this time.

Sakura stared into the darkness, her gaze dull, she couldn't find it in herself to answer, they were right, she wanted to feel loved, to love someone, but for a shinobi like her it was just hopeless thinking, her life was always at risk, she didn't want to make it harder for herself, she wasn't that naive as to believe in fairy tales, this was a real, cruel world that she lived in.

Still her heart throbbed, painfully even, feeling almost foreign after being pushed away for so many years.

"Why don't I get this ball rolling by crumbling those walls of yours, what do you think Sakura?" she heard a whisper.

Author's note

Happy new year guys! Leaving you on a cliffhanger this time haha. Had more than a half of the chapter written before posting it today, but had no time to finish it as I was working lots and then had some problems with my flights as I booked holiday off from work to do some work for uni at home, overall it's been really stressful but I'm happy to finally post here. I have left some clues for you in this chapter so if you read carefully you might be able to spot them as a future spoilers! Let me know what you think about this chapter, and what are you looking forward to from my fanfiction this year? I set my goal for this year to finish off this fanfiction and write more! What about you guys? Let me know what you think in the review section, hope we can hit 60+ reviews in the upcoming days! As always thank you for leaving the comments I really do enjoy reading them even if they aren't in english, google translate all the way! Thank you and see you next time!