A.N: So sorry for the long update, I've recently gotten over Laryngitis and a mild case of pneumonia. But, I am mostly cured!! Just a smidge of a cough but other than that, I am ok! I was really pissed at myself because I had been wanting to continue with Beauty is the Beast earlier, but I may as well have been chained to the bed. Apparently a temperature of 103 degrees means I'm not allowed to leave a bed, which is perfectly fine with me!! Anyway on with the story…!

Chapter Seven

Control

The gentle wind felt refreshing in the hot weather as Sakura trotted her horse forward. Manda apparently liked cantering despite the sweltering heat because every time Sakura tried to slow him down so she could look back at Sasuke, he would stubbornly push forward, he never seemed to like stopping.

Sasuke had been content going at a steady pace with Gambuta, who was obviously annoyed at his new master. It wasn't until he saw Sakura having problems with Manda when he galloped his horse faster to catch up with her.

It was then that Sasuke thought back to what she had asked earlier.

Flashback

"So, Sasuke, about last night…" Sakura asked in a nervous tone. She shot him a sidelong glance before blushing and looking down. It didn't take a genius to figure out what part of last night she was currently thinking of.

"We'll talk about it later…" he said trailing off. He was saved by a potentially disastrous conversation when Manda had decided that they weren't moving fast enough.

Sakura squeaked when her horse was suddenly thrown into a trot and looked back at Sasuke with pleading eyes. Sasuke had merely smirked, knowing that she was probably safest with Manda. Obviously the horse knew that this new rider wasn't his master so he was trying out his restrictions, seeing how much he could get away with, which with Sasuke as his rider, was very little.



End Flashback

As Sasuke got up with her, Manda immediately slowed down to Gambuta's speed, seeming to recognize his master's presence.

"Jeez, this horse just won't listen to me!" Sakura fumed as she rested the reins down on the horn of the saddle, crossing her arms.

"He's just teasing with you, you need to show control or he'll be doing the riding." Sasuke said still smirking at her.

Sakura turned to look at him with an skeptical look, "That would sound really perverted if I weren't riding a horse tight now." She said smiling slightly.

Sasuke smirked turned into a teasing frown, "Let's try and keep our minds out of the gutter, shall we."

As he said this Sakura's cheeks flushed red and suddenly he had urged Gambuta into a canter, making Manda follow suit.

Sakura shrieked as she quickly grabbed on to the reins, trying to steady herself.

"You Bastard!!" she yelled as they continued to gallop into the moors. Sakura was suddenly taken away by the view that was soon presented when they galloped further on. They were surrounded by a meadow full of purple poppies and in the distance she could see a crystal blue lake, which seemed to look like it was beckoning to them in this sticky weather.

Sasuke slowed his steed to a stop when they reached the lake shore and dismounted. Walking over to a nearby stump, he loosely tied Gambuta's reins to the rough wood. Sakura, following Sasuke's earlier actions, dismounted (though not nearly as gracefully) then proceeded to tie Manda to the same stump.

She then walked over to where Sasuke had sat down on the beach. He had his knees up and was resting his elbows on them, bringing his hands up to be placed near his mouth. He looked as though he was contemplating something and Sakura couldn't help but notice that he looked so cute when he was in this pose.

He then sighed and Sakura could feel the air of a heavy conversation coming.



"Look, I don't know why it happened last night, but it did, I lost control and I'm sorry. But it would probably be wise if you kept your little excursion last night a secret." He said, his tone turning even more serious.

Sakura pouted a little then sat next to him becoming quickly annoyed. "Don't worry I didn't tell anybody, even if I did I doubt anyone would believe me. But you can't leave me in the dark Sasuke; I need to know what it was that happened last night and why." She said sounding a little concerned towards the end.

Sasuke looked at her then seemed to mentally resolve something that seemed to be conflicting in his eyes.

"Alright, but it's kind of a morbid story." He said frowning.

Sakura gently touched his shoulder which seemed to relax him, because he continued on with the story.

"When I was younger, about eleven I guess, my father employed a new advisor, since the last one had proved… insufficient." He trailed off at this giving Sakura a look that basically said 'we killed him'.

Sakura gulped but urged him to continue.

"Anyway, this new advisor was a weird one. He had long hair and piercing yellow eyes, almost like a snakes. (A.N: Guess Who!!) His name was Orochimaru and the guy gave me the creeps. He was always staring at me in this weird way and he seemed to be always with my father or Itachi. It was like that for a couple months before I noticed that many of the servants had gone missing and were starting to disappear and…" he trailed off again this time looking furious. "… It was also around the time that my mother started getting sick." He looked down refusing to meet her eyes.

Sakura remembered hearing about the Queen's illness and laid her hand on Sasuke's arm, an attempt to soothe him and to continue his story.

"One day, I went up to my mother's room, she and I were supposed to go out riding together and she hadn't met me in the stables for some time. Only when I got there I found that she wasn't there and I started to get worried. I headed down to the servants kitchen to see if they had seen her, my mother was always conversing with our servants, she was always so nice to them. 

They claimed they hadn't seen her except that morning and I was about to leave when I noticed the trap door."

Sakura was quickly thrown back to last night when she herself had discovered the trap door. She got chills just thinking about where the door led, to the dark and cold dungeons' underneath the castle.

"When I had gotten far enough to the holding cells, I could already hear whimpering and screaming, and I could also smell the scent of blood. I discovered the room you found me in last night. It was full of dead corpses piled off to a corner and it smelled terrible. Then I saw my mother laid on this metal table off to the side of the room and that bastard…" his fists clenched so tight that the knuckles turned white and she could feel his aura suddenly turning dangerous.

Sakura shrank back a little and seeing this, he visibly tried to calm himself. He then reached up to the collar up his shirt then pulled it down, making the backside of his neck visible. She gasped when he revealed a black mark etched into his neck, it swirled in malice and the markings stretched across his jugular.

"Next thing I know, I wake up with this, a monster. Orochimaru disappeared after that, and my mother was put in intensive care. Apparently the snake bastard had been experimenting on the servants in the kingdom, I guess he got bored with them and decided to have his way with my mother…" he trailed off after that and Sakura understood then that the story must have ended.

"I'm so sorry Sasuke; no one should ever have to go through that." Sakura said as she laid her hand on his shoulder in comfort.

This time Sasuke didn't shrug her off, but they both remained silent. Looking into the horizon they sat there in comfortable silence, each forgetting about the world they had left behind even temporarily.

A.N: Ok, I understand that this chapter was a bit choppy and not as good as my others, also I felt it was a bit rushed. However now you have the general idea of Sasuke's "condition". I didn't realize that I promised a lemon in this chapter until I looked back at my last A.N, so I apologize for that and hopefully (this meaning I will try my very hardest) I will work one in. Sasuke and Sakura are definitely 

working into the romance so I don't intend to let up on that at all. Again sorry for the long update, I'll take extra care to keep myself healthy; in fact I was suffering somewhat of a Benadryl hangover while I wrote this chapter so that may be another reason why this chapter wasn't so polished.

Any, who things will be easier now that it's Spring Break!

Make sure to review!! Amber Out!!